Chapter Text
Nie Huaisang is a liar.
Well. Whoever it was calling himself ‘Nie Huaisang’ is anyway. Lan Zhan is still sceptical about whether he actually is or not.
He knows the story of the woodcutter who had stopped to watch a weiqi game in an ancient forest, only to find that the handle of his axe had rotted away when he stood up to leave.
But Lan Zhan had simply closed his eyes at Haishi and opened them at dawn like normal. As far as he knows, he hadn’t been foolish enough to overstay his welcome anywhere and became lost to time.
It is very possible that the man using his friend’s name is lying to him for some nefarious purpose. After all, the Nie Huaisang that Lan Zhan knows says that he would “rather die than be a sect leader ever!”
That’s why, when the so-called Nie Huaisang had reached out to touch his shoulder that first day, Lan Zhan had used the only weapon he had on hand to launch a preemptive attack.
It had taken the man’s guard almost a full shichen to first stop laughing and then pry Lan Zhan’s teeth off of his arm.
Uncle would be proud of Lan Zhan’s strength of will. He managed to gain the upper hand in the negotiations without saying a single word.
As a result, he’d been left free and unbothered for most of the weeks that he has been staying in the Unclean Realm. Sect Leader Nie had only checked in with him once a day - usually for the evening meal - and otherwise left him to his own devices.
Lan Zhan had debated making his own way home, perhaps hitching a ride on a wagon heading south, like the gallant heroes in the stories do when they need to get to someplace and their horses get stolen. But Uncle had told him to stay put if he finds himself in a strange place and wait for someone to come get him.
And Lan Zhan knows that someone will come. He’d watched Sect Leader Nie write the letter and send it off with one of his birds. So all Lan Zhan needs to do is be patient and wait while staying on guard in case the fake Nie Huaisang reveals his evil intentions.
Because like Lan Zhan said, this Sect Leader Nie is a liar. He has everyone else tricked, but Lan Zhan knows better. Knows Nie Huaisang better.
It’s in his eyes, the split second before he smiles.
Lan Zhan doesn’t really know why, but that look had made him feel… small. Like somehow Nie Huaisang was taking his measure, weighing him on a scale, and trying to decide whether Lan Zhan was worth his time.
Nie Huaisang had never looked at him like that before. Nie Huaisang had always been warm, if a little skittish, when they met on sect visits.
Lan Zhan hopes that he is alright, wherever they have hidden him away. He has already checked all the hiding spots Nie Huaisang had shown him. He’d even waited on the ledge inside that one tree hollow for a long time before Sect Leader Nie found him and brought him back.
He worries a little. Uncle says that the Nie sect are good people so Lan Zhan is sure that they wouldn’t have hurt Nie Huaisang. But there are things you can do to people that don't involve hurting them but will still make them very unhappy. Like with his A-Niang. He hopes Nie Huaisang isn’t locked away somewhere where no one can see him.
All the Nie disciples insist that Sect Leader Nie is who he says he is but what if they too are lying? Lying is forbidden, and even if it’s not a rule in the Unclean Realm, Nie Mingjue, the next sect-leader, had said that it is still bad and to never do it because people can get hurt.
But this new Sect Leader Nie lies a lot. Lan Zhan doesn’t know why. He does it so easily, to almost everyone.
One of the hiding spots Nie Huaisang had shown him on a past visit is located in a hidden space behind a hanging tapestry in the sect leader’s office. Lan Zhan had watched through a little hole for almost a whole day as Sect Leader Nie conducted his business, sending off messages, writing missives. When an attendant had come into the office to offer him a meal, Sect Leader Nie had smiled and waved him off, saying that he had already eaten. But Lan Zhan had been watching the whole time and knew that to be a lie.
The man lies about so many odd things.
He said to the delegate from the capital that the treats sent from the Emperor were delicious, even though Lan Zhan had seen him make a face at them and then offer Lan Zhan the whole box, untouched.
He told his guards that he’d be retiring early when in fact he was still working past Haishi (Lan Zhan had fallen asleep watching him from the little alcove and woken up in his bed in the morning somehow).
Sect Leader Nie had even said to a visiting sect-leader that he had fallen asleep in a sunbeam and that was why he had missed their meeting.
(That one does seem like something Nie Huaisang would say though.)
Lan Zhan didn’t want to hear any of his lies, so he had ignored him on his evening meal visits, refusing to respond to his questions (talking during meals is forbidden anyway!).
Eventually, Sect Leader Nie stopped coming to mealtimes. By the end of Lan Zhan’s second week at Qinghe, Sect Leader Nie had stopped seeing him entirely. In fact, it seemed like he was actively avoiding all the places Lan Zhan could be, his routine deviating from the one Lan Zhan had observed in the week prior.
It had left Lan Zhan somewhat at a loss. Though he could not write anything down using the paper and ink that had been left in his quarters without running the risk of giving himself away, Lan Zhan had been planning to compile a comprehensive report for his uncle when he gets back. Without opportunities to observe Sect Leader Nie, he feared that any potential strategies he draws up would be ineffective.
(And perhaps, he felt a little lonely eating by himself. Also maybe a little worried that the man wouldn’t be eating anything all day. The only times he reliably hadd a meal was if he was eating with Lan Zhan.)
So he had taken to trailing Sect Leader Nie, ducking behind trees and doorways and ensuring that he had his mark in his eyesight at all times
The attendants Sect Leader Nie had assigned to watch over him had given up corralling him rather quickly. Another mark against them. Nie Mingjue had said that true Nie sect disciples never give up.
Sect Leader Nie had given no signs of noticing him at all, even when Lan Zhan had clumsily tripped over a corner in his haste to not be spotted once.
But that too had been a lie.
He had reacted with no surprise whatsoever when Lan Zhan’s stomach growled loudly in the middle of a long afternoon spent in the sect leader’s office, only pushing a fruit platter towards the edge of the table with an absent hand as his eyes remained on his letters. He’d clearly known that Lan Zhan was there hiding in the alcove all along!
Lan Zhan had almost refused to take any of the crisp apple slices out of principle, but his stomach had complained profusely at that decision and he was forced to appease it lest it embarass him further.
Uncle was right. Worldly desires exist to betray you in the end.
Sect Leader Nie continued to share his food from the on and Lan Zhan continued to observe him.
Sect Leader Nie had known about the alcove. Did Nie Huaisang tell him? He can’t have known on his own. Nie Huaisang said that it was a secret only for special people to know.
But what if Nie Huaisang hadn’t told him?
What if… What if Sect Leader Nie hadn’t been lying?
Because come to think of it, the only person that has ever said that Lan Zhan and Nie Huaisang were friends, was Lan Zhan. He had assumed that they were close enough to be called that, even though they scarcely saw each other once, maybe twice a year.
Maybe it would be possible after all for a grown up version of Nie Huaisang to look at him so coldly. Lan Zhan could be assuming that they were friends all on his own while Nie Huaisang had only thought of him as someone to mind while the elders are busy.
This sect leader likes painting too. He likes the same tea that Nie Huaisang likes to drink, nibbles his thumb just like Nie Huaisang does when he’s thinking. He prefers peach slices over osmanthus cakes, just like Nie Huaisang.
If the sect leader isn’t lying, would it be alright for Lan Zhan to want to be friends again?
Sometimes, when Sect Leader Nie forgets Lan Zhan is there, he looks tired and sad, looking out of the window at the birds as if he wants to sprout wings and fly away too. Lan Zhan thinks he would make a very beautiful bird, big and green, but it would be sad too if he flew away and didn't come back. Nie Huaisang... Nie Huaisang is Lan Zhan's first friend, and he doesn't want to lose him.
Lan Zhan thinks that if Sect Leader Nie wants, Lan Zhan could take him to see Cloud Recesses to meet uncle. Uncle says that if a problem is too big for Lan Zhan to solve, that Uncle would likely have better tools to help him solve it because he’s old.
Sect Leader Nie is quite old himself, at least as old as Uncle is, but he doesn’t seem to be managing his problems very well. If he was friends with Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan bets that Uncle would help him.
And then Lan Zhan can see if being old is what made Nie Huaisang cold, or if it’s because he has to solve so many problems all by himself, like Fuqin, who Uncle had said was “a complicated man with many problems to resolve”.
(And then Lan Zhan would be able to see Sect Leader Nie at mealtimes again, in silence still because they would be at Cloud Recesses, and watch him paint rabbits and birds, and then afterwards perhaps Lan Zhan could apologise about biting him at their first meeting.)
But only if Sect Leader Nie isn’t lying.
“I’ll be all the way at the back,” says the sect leader, eyes darting away to watch over the preparations. “My disciples are strong, I’m just accompanying them to save face.”
Lan Zhan frowns. Night hunts are still dangerous, and he had not once seen Sect Leader Nie on the training fields during his stay.
“I’ll bring you back something tasty,” says the man.
But Lan Zhan shakes his head. “Don’t go,” he says. “Send someone else. Someone stronger.”
“The disrespect I have deal with...” Sect Leader Nie mutters, shaking his head. “I’m going, Hanguang-jun. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.” He taps Lan Zhan’s forehead with his fan. “You’re not even a disciple of my sect.”
Lan Zhan bats the fan away. “Not Hanguang-jun," he says. He doesn't know who that is, doesn't like that Nie Huaisang is calling him by someone else's name. "A-Zhan.”
Sect Leader Nie sighs. “A-Zhan, then. What do you want exactly? Surely not to come along. You don’t even have a sword.”
Lan Zhan huffs. He doesn’t. Uncle said he won’t get one until he is at least ten. Until then it would be wooden practice ones only.
“Then-” he bites down on his lip. “Then Nie Huaisang is not allowed to get hurt.”
Nie Huaisang blinks. “What?”
“Promise.”
“...Sure,” the man shrugs. “This sect leader promises. Would you like to draw up a contract?”
Lan Zhan scowls, arms crossed. He's not a baby. He knows when he’s being made fun of.
“Kidding, kidding, alright. I’ll do my best to come back in one piece, Lan-gongzi.” Nie Huaisang smiles. “Here, keep this as collateral,” he says, handing Lan Zhan his fan. “It’s one of my favourites, so don’t lose it.”
He nods solemnly. “I won’t. And Nie Huaisang will come back?”
“Mn, if you be good and eat well at mealtimes, I will be back before you know it.”
And then Lan Zhan sends him off at the gate, watching plumes of dust fly out from beneath his horse’s hooves. He watches the disciples leave until they could no longer be seen on the horizon. He is good and cleans his bowl for three whole days.
But despite his promises, Nie Huaisang is a liar after all.