Chapter Text
“A-Ying?” Xie Lian called, entering the room and sitting on his sons bed. “10 more minutes, Ma!” Wei Ying turned and buried his head in his pillow. Xie Lian giggled at his son’s childish behavior. “Come on A-Ying, you have to start heading to Gusu for your lessons,” His parents had already given him all the information needed about Cloud Recesses such as the peoples names, the rules (Wei Wuxian didn’t really want to know them), etc. Knowing this, Wei Ying slowly got up and lazily rubbed his eyes. Xie Lian also got up and headed towards the door, “Also… breakfast is ready, so come down when you’re done preparing.” And with that, he left his son alone in his room.
As the family was extremely wealthy, they lived in Paradise Manor with several maids to accompany them. Some of the maids that serve Wei Ying went to prepare the bath while the others went to get his clothes ready, and Wei Ying was guided to the warm bath of rice water and rose petals. He soaked for a while before he got out and changed into his clothes. He was wearing black robes lined with red and a white inner robe. He had black shoes and had two dice hanging from his waist, along with a Jiang family bell. It was gifted to him by the Jiang Sect since he was close with their Young Master & Young Miss. They were practically siblings! His maids put his hair half up and secured it with a jade hair pin. Before he left the room he hid some wrath butterflies in his sleeves.
He headed downstairs and sat at the table with his parents. Seeing the contents of the “dish” he was given, is indeed, questionable. He was served a bowl of something that looked along the lines of… stew? But purple and green?….. Wei Ying wanted to puke. Die in a hole, even. Even so, despite having felt nauseous to the stomach— Is this what period cramps feel like?— he built up the courage to take a bite. But first, he had attempted to hide the taste with his usual dose of, ‘That’s way too much spice!’ Finally, the time had come to take the first bite, he took a spoonful and put it in his mouth, he immediately regretted it. He looked around for a trash bin when his eyes landed on his A-Die, Hua Cheng. He was looking at him, holding a hanger. Under his breath, he said, “Swallow it...” Wei Ying had no choice but to swallow the contents in his mouth with a sour face…
This is child abuse— pure and utter child abuse!
After that horrible meal he was forced to eat, Wei Ying ended up praying to the heavens for Xie Lian to cook better, which, honestly, didn’t really help because his Ma is the literal essence of god.
He finished packing and his parents escorted him down to the Jiang Sect where he was greeted by the bright fragrance and blessed warmth of the Jiang family. “Welcome, Young Master Hua!” The Sect Leader, Jiang Fengmian, greeted with a warm smile. “Good morning, Wei Wuxian.” Madam Yu did a small bow to the young teen. “Sect Leader Jiang, Madam Yu,” Wei Ying said with a smile as he bowed in respect. “You took so long to get here!” Complained a young boy named Jiang Cheng, who looked about the same age as Wei Ying. “Good to see you too ChengCheng!” Wei Ying replied with a wide smile. A girl, a little older than the two young masters, came up to Wei Ying and hugged him. “Hello, A-Ying!” She said with a small, petite smile on her face. “Ah, so beautiful, Shijie!” This comment made the girl laugh.
Wei Ying’s parents had long since left, so the two adults waved goodbye to their kids and wished them a safe journey.
The journey was long and tiring, but eventually they made it to the gates of the Lan sect of Gusu. There at the door they were greeted by Second Young Master Lan. He was a handsome youth with long, straight, and smooth black hair, his golden-yellow eyes were cold and serious, with a sharp, shattering glare. Wei Ying thought that he would be the perfect target to tease…
’Attractive? Check! Probably smart? Check! …Uh, now that I think about it… why did I think attractive…?’
The Second Young Master Lan, on the other hand, was silently scanning the students quickly before turning his attention to a particularly unique individual.
‘A handsome young master wearing unfamiliar robes, maybe a Rouge Cultivator? A guest disciple?—‘
Lan Zhan was cut from his thoughts when he saw the boy cheekily smile at him. ‘Eh, so cute…. hold on, cute!? What am I thinking… Keep it together, I’m a Lan,’ He turned away with the most barely visible-but-still-visible red ears and told the group to follow him. They were led inside and were showed to their rooms in groups by other lan disciples, while Lan Zhan made his way to his afternoon tea with his elder brother, Lan Xichen.
“Ah, Wangji! Come sit with me.” Lan Zhan made his way to his seat and drank the tea his brother poured him. He has since then pushed the most enthralling boy he saw to the back of his mind and tried to go on about his day like normal. His brother, however, has known him for years and was a master at reading his brothers emotions, even if it seemed, to the common eye, that Lan Wangji was as stoic to the women who tried to catch his eye, to his other fellow disciples, and to even his own family. Seeing his brother so flustered and confused made him quite curious. In the end, he decided to ask,
“Is something on your mind, Wangji? You seem a little flustered.”
After receiving almost no response he decided he could push it a little. Lan Xichen, still with a smiling face, said, “Is it not a something, but a someone?” Lan Zhan looked up from his cup with a stern face and red ears. To be completely honest, Lan Xichen was surprised. He had never seen his brother this embarrassed before! What a rare opportunity! Lan Xichen will remember this! Lan Zhan stood up and made his way to Hanshi.
From that point onward Lan Xichen made it his mission to find out who made his brother act like this.
Wei Ying entered his room and made himself at home. They didn’t have any classes until tomorrow so he really had nothing to do— not that he was excited about classes, of course, but maybe it would be interesting. You never know, after all. In the end he got really bored and snuck out to town. He asked around on his way to Gusu and it is said that the best wine in Gusu is called Emperor’s Smile. ‘Why is it even called Emperor’s Smile, anyway?’ The way that some mortals name their “antiquities” are quite funny, Wei Ying will admit.
After a bit of looking around, he found a wine shop that sold it and bought 2 jugs to enjoy. He took a while to get back because he was flirting with all the maidens the way his uncle, Pei Ming, a martial god who probably multiplied half of the world’s population by now, had taught him to.
When Xie Lian had found out about this, he just facepalmed himself and sighed.
By the time he arrived at the gates it was somewhere around 9:00 at night, which makes Wei Ying wonder how long it’s been since he left. He hopped onto the wall when suddenly he was stopped by a sword blocking his path. “Guests are not allowed in past curfew.”
Internally, Wei Ying groaned; Is there night patrol in the Cloud Recesses or something?! He looked to the left and saw the prestigious Second Master Lan staring at him.
“Uh.. Ahaha.. Second Young Master, how about I give you one of my jugs of Emperors smile, and you let me go? Do we… have a deal?” Wei Wuxian said with a sheepish smile. “Bribing others is forbidden, wine is forbidden,” Lan Zhan made an attempt to grab the jugs of wine from Wei Ying, when Wei Ying jumped up and dodged proficiently. “Lan Zhan! Lan-er-gege… how about I drink this outside the gates?” Lan Zhan tried once again, but his attempt was blocked.
“No? It’s a good solution… but alright then!” Wei Wuxian, finding a spot to land while also not being “distracted,” proceeded to open a jug right in front of Lan Wangji and chugged the whole thing in one go; Since Wei Wuxian never had this brand of alcohol before, he was quite curious about the taste, too. If you asked Wei Wuxian what the taste of ‘Emperor’s Smile’ was, he’d say it is divine; truly one of humanity’s greatest creations.
Lan Wangji was furious, and he suddenly started to chase Wei Wuxian around on the wall. During their little chase, Lan Wangji managed to hit the second jug out of Wei Wuxian’s hand. Wei Wuxian reached out to catch it on his sword, but to not much avail;
Unfortunately, it tipped over and smashed on the white rocks below them. Seeing as his beloved second pair of ‘Emperor’s Smile’ shattered on the ground, he pouted and turned back to face Lan Wangji. “I can’t believe you! That was one of… Lan-er-gege, you better pay me back!” Wei Ying said with what had seemed to be a disappointed tone.
Wei Ying managed to escape after a while of tirelessly dodging and blocking Lan Wangji’s attacks and headed back to his room for a good nights rest after having messed around with the Second Master Lan all night.
The next morning, Wei Wuxian met up with Jiang Cheng.
“Where were you last night!? You weren’t in your room!” Wei Ying chuckled and was about to answer when he was cut short from a loud shout from down the hall, breaking the rule of no yelling.
“Jiang-Gongzi! Wait for me!” Called a young boy running, breaking yet another rule of the Lans. He ran up to them and tried to catch his breath, “G-Good Morning, Jiang-Xiong, And.. who is this?” The boy asked with a confused look, turning towards Wei Wuxian. “Ah, Nie-Gongzi, this is my elder brother.. He messes around with people a lot and always gets in trouble,” Jiang Cheng said while rolling his eyes. Wei Ying bowed and said with a smile, “Wei Wuxian,” Nie-Gongzi returned the action and introduced himself, “Nie Huaisang,”
The three continued on their way to their morning class. “Wei-Xiong, you should be careful who you mess around with here.” Wei Wuxian turned to him looking confused. “You mean… with that old goat who’s supposed to be teaching us? He’s not scary, is he?” Nie Huaisang shook his head. “No, not him, you should be aware of his prized pupil, Second Young Master Lan, Lan Wangji.” Wei Wuxian smirked, “You mean Lan-er-Gege? The one I met last night?” Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng stopped in their tracks. Wei Wuxian turned around to look at them. “Wei-Gongzi, you met him? Face to face?” Wei Wuxian just nodded.
“When, where!?” Nie Huaisang asked. Wei Wuxian pointed to the wall he stood on last night, “Up there, I even managed to have a short spar with him.”
Jiang Cheng facepalmed,
“What kind of trouble did you make this time?” Wei Wuxian giggled, “I tried sneaking two bottles of this one drink, ‘Emperor’s Smile,’ in, and I drank the first one in front of him, but I sadly dropped the second one before I could enjoy it… a shame!”
Nie Huaisang looked at him in no small amount of amazement. “Wei-Gongzi, I’ve never met someone as daring as you!” Wei Wuxian chuckled at the compliment. “You’ll be a huge mark of shame on Grandmaster Lan’s career..” Jiang Cheng muttered. It’s true, Lan Qiren has taught many troublesome students before. Their parents sent them away for his lessons and cried when they saw even a sliver of improvement in their children’s behavior.
“Come on, we need to get to class before we’re late,” said Jiang Cheng, ushering them along.
“Mood kill..” muttered Wei Wuxian.
The trio entered the class and took their seats. Wei Wuxian took the seat next to Lan Zhan with great pleasure, while Jiang Cheng sat next to his sister, Jiang Yanli, with Nie Huaisang right behind him. Before Wei Wuxian could say anything to Lan Zhan, an older man in Lan robes and a goatee entered the room. “Silence.”
The Lan sect had a tradition of producing beautiful men from each generation— who knows how that became a thing— and that same tradition also applied to Lan Qiren, who was a tall, thin (but not too thin) man. He had a straight back, and was seemingly not very old, however, he had a pedantic and stiff air around him. As such, calling him an old man didn’t feel very wrong.
He walked to the front of the room with Lan Xichen following close behind him. He pulled out a scroll and rolled it out across the entire walkway. “These are the Lan Sect rules posted outside on a wall, and since no one took the time to read them, I figured I should start this class by reading them out loud. This way, no one can use ignorance as an excuse to break the rules.” Wei Wuxian scoffed, not just because he felt that warning was… aimed more at him, but more so that he wondered if anyone actually followed these rules even after being told again and again. The old man then proceeded to read each individual rule out one by one for the entire class.
Wei Wuxian gets bored easily, especially when he has to sit in one place for a long time without doing anything. Sure enough, He eventually got bored after the 6-7th rule was read so he started to slouch and propped his head up on his hand. Wei Wuxian looked to his side and saw Lan Zhan listening attentively, sitting straight up, facing forward. Wei Wuxian was amazed.
‘How does he pay such close attention to such a boring thing?! Such skill!’ As Wei Wuxian was thinking this, Lan Qiren noticed he was not paying attention. “Wei Wuxian!” Wei Wuxian narrowly dodged a scroll flying straight at his head. “I’m here, i’m here!” Wei Wuxian said standing up raising his hand. Lan Qiren looked him up and down, He didn’t recognize his robes to be any sect disciples.
“Which sect are you from?”
Wei Wuxian stretched a bit before responding. “Sect Leader Lan, I am Wei Wuxian, a Guest Disciple of the Jiang Sect.”
Lan Qiren stroked his goatee, “Wei Wuxian, are Yao, Demons, Ghosts, and Monsters the same?” Wei Wuxian chuckled lightly due to how easy this question was and answered, “No.” Lan Qiren narrowed his eyes, “Why not? How are they differentiated?”
“Yao are beings formed from living, non-human beings; demons are formed from living humans; ghosts are formed from the dead; and monsters are formed from dead, non-human beings.”,
“The beings ‘Yao’ and ‘Monsters’ are often confused. What is an example that distinguishes the two apart?” An easy explanation.
Wei Wuxian pointed outside. “This is simple, if a living tree had been tainted with the energy of books, cultivated into a conscious being, then caused mischief, then it would be a ‘Yao,’ however, If I had taken an axe and cut the tree down so only a dead stump was left, and then it cultivated into a being, it would be a ‘Monster.’”
The students were all holding their breath, their heart skipping a few beats here and there, hoping and praying to the heavens that Wei Wuxian would continue to get all the questions right so they didn’t have to answer. Maybe they could slack off a little! Of course, they’re not sure if they could slack off yet, because Lan Qiren continued to ask question after question to Wei Wuxian.
“What was the profession of the founder of the Nie sect of Qinghe?”, “A Butcher.” Lan Zhan, the Second Master Lan, was looking at Wei Wuxian the whole time.
“The symbol of the LanlingJin Sect is a white peony. What type of peony is it?”, “It's Sparks Amidst Snow.” Amidst the questioning his uncle bombarded this “poor disciple”, Lan Xichen had noticed his younger brother staring at Wei Wuxian, and was intrigued at Lan Wangji’s interest in Young Master Wei; this was a rare occurrence! After all, to think his usually calm, collected and respectable younger brother would be caught—by his older brother, no less— staring at a guest disciple of the Jiang Sect… Of course Lan Xichen would be intrigued.
Lan Qiren asked another question, “Who was the first in the cultivation world to focus on the rise of his clan instead of his sect?”, “The progenitor of the QishanWen Sect, Wen Mao.”
Lan Qiren spoke up, “As a Guest disciple of Jiang Sect of Yunmeng, you should’ve been very familiar with these questions and know them by heart long ago, so there is nothing to be proud of even if you answered them all correctly,” Wei Wuxian payed the small lecture no mind; of course he knew this, but he’s still proud of himself either way.
“Let me ask you another, there is an executioner who had parents, a wife, and children, but before his death, the man had executed more than a hundred people. He had died in public and, to punish him for his deeds, had been left on the streets for seven days. With all the repressed resentful energy, he started to haunt and kill. What should be done?” Wei Wuxian didn’t answer right away this time, instead looking like he was on “power off mode,” an empty stare with no reaction, with the way he stared off in the distance. Therefore, his classmates, excluding Wangji, of course, started panicking, thinking he wouldn’t be able to answer. Lan Qiren scolded these disciples, saying, “What are you looking at him for?! Think about this as well, and don’t open your books!” The disciples moved their hands away from their books, now sweating profusely from their forehead, to the back, and to the soles of their feet. After a while of Wei Wuxian’s silent pondering, Lan Qiren smiled (whether it would be because of some kind of dislike for Wei Wuxian or because of finally stumping him, there’s no clear reason as to why), “Wangji, answer for him,”
Lan Zhan stood up, “Yes shufu, The three steps are—“, “Ah-ah!” He was cut off by Wei Wuxian’s hand,
“I know the answer, Grandmaster Lan.” Lan Qiren quirked up an eyebrow, now surprised. “Oh? Do go ahead then,” Lan Zhan sat back down. Wei Wuxian smirked,
“First, liberate; second, suppress; third, eliminate. The initial approach is to utilize the gratitude of his relatives and grant his dying wish, set free what he could not let go of. If it fails, suppress it. If the crimes were extremely wrongful, and its resentful energy does not dissipate, exterminate it completely. We should precisely keep to this order and no errors should be allowed.”
Everyone had let out a long breath. They thanked the heavens that he was able to answer— Somewhere else, Xie Lian was very proud and happy to receive those thanks—
As everyone was silently celebrating, Wei Wuxian spoke up, “No offense, Grandmaster Lan, but was that all?” The room went silent. “What do you mean?” Lan Qiren asked, getting very annoyed. “Like, is there any other questions you could ask that aren’t so easy to answer, or is all that you got?” Lan Qiren looked flabbergasted. The rest of the students were staring at Wei Wuxian in disbelief— after all, if they were to say this instead, they would definitely get absolutely crushed with the hardest questions that they could not answer themselves, which is embarrassing!—
Lan Qiren then said, “Fine then! Who are the 4 great calamities of the Ghost realm?”
Wei Wuxian stifled a laugh; ‘What kind of question is this?’ and replied, all while grinning like a fool, “Easy! Xue Yu Tan Hua, Crimson Rain Sought Flower, Hua Cheng. Qing Deng Ye You, Night-Touring Green Lantern, Qi Rong. Hei Shui Chen Zhou, Black Water Submerging Boats, He Xuan. And Bai Yihuo Shi, White-Clothed Calamity, Bai Wuxiang.” Wei Wuxian gives a silent thanks to his parents in his head, because if he hadn’t been familiar with the calamities at such a young age he wouldn’t have understood as much as he did now. Bai Wuxiang still gives Wei Wuxian the shivers, though… The students listening in had wide eyes by now. Who were these people? They had yet to learn of these figures being mentioned! Even the twin Jades were surprised!
Lan Qiren fumed, “Who is the current heavenly emperor?” Wei Wuxian was very happy to answer this question, “Tai Zi Dianxia, Flower Crown Martial God, Xie Lian.” Wei Ying pondered silently to himself; ‘Does this old fart know who my parents are, or what?’
The Old Ma— I mean, Grandmaster Lan proceeded to ask Wei Wuxian a series of questions with Wei Wuxian answering them all fluently.
The Twin Jades were just as stunned as the rest of the disciples, for not even they had learned these subjects. Lan Zhan was amazed and couldn’t take his eyes away from Wei Wuxian for even a second. Lan Xichen, turning away to look at his younger brother, immediately smirked.
‘Looks like I found my brother's new interest.’
Wei Wuxian was sitting playing around with his brush. He looked up from his desk just to see Lan Wangji sitting across from him on the other side of the library recopying ancient books.
Now you’re probably wondering how he got into this situation. Lets just go back to a couple of hours ago—
Lan Qiren had veins popping out of his head by now and his face was turning purple, Wei Wuxian on the other hand was still smiling like an idiot,
“That’s it! Get out!” Lan Xichen looked at his uncle shocked. He’d never really seen Lan Qiren THIS mad before… Wei Wuxian, however, couldn’t have been more glad, so he said, “Alright!!” And left the room, Leaving a shocked Lan Qiren and a room full of laughing kids. After class ended, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang went looking for Wei Wuxian. They found him sitting on the same wall he fought Lan Wangji on; drinking emperors smile.
“Hey Wei Wuxian!” Called out Jiang Cheng,
“What—“ Answered a bored looking Wei Wuxian. “Lan Qiren asked us to show you to the Library Pavilion for your punishment, Second master Lan is already there waiting for you.”
At the mention of Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian perked up, “Lan Zhan?” Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes, “Yes, Lan-er-gongzi, He was told to watch over you during your punishment.” Wei Wuxian hoped off the wall, “And that is?”, “To copy the Virtue section of Righteousness three times and Conduct ten times.” Wei Wuxian Groaned, “Why am I even being punished!? This isn’t fair!” Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes, yet again— this was a very bad habit of his— and said, “Did you already forget your first encounter with Second master Lan? The night you were so proud of?”
That’s when it finally hit him. He never really did go in for any punishment yet for breaking those three rules, did he?
“Wei-Gongzi! How admirable of you! He told you to get out, and you really did!” Nie Huaisang said while laughing so hard tears started to form, “He asks, I answer. He tells me to get out, I get out. What else does he expect me to do? Stand there crying, begging for forgiveness and for me to stay? Who would stay for a boring lecture?” In the end, Jiang Cheng dragged Wei Wuxian to the Library Pavilion.
And that’s how he ended up here. He was pondering about how to apologize to Lan Wangji for drinking the wine in front of him and breaking those rules. Jiang Cheng had told him that Lan Wangji must’ve hated him, just like his uncle.
For some reason, the thought of the teen hating him made his heart hurt. He quickly shook that thought away, and copied his scriptures for a little before he inevitably got bored.
A smile plastered on his face, he got up and made his way to the boy opposite of him.
“Lan-er-gege~” Lan Wangji ignored him and continued to read.
Back in Yunmeng, many girls were jealous that he could come here and study with Lan Wangji. If only they could see how bitter his expression is as if everyone he met ever had offended him. Do they have no taste at all?! How could anyone be excited to study with him?! But, Wei Wuxian couldn’t help to sincerely compliment his beautiful writing, His brushstrokes were slow and steady, and his handwriting was neat yet vigorous,
“Woah! Lan-er-gege, these characters are beautiful! They’re top level!” ..No response.. Wei Wuxian felt suffocated. It was rare for him to be quiet for such a long period of time. ‘How will I survive a month of sitting by such a stuffy person? If only A-Niang was here… It’d be so much better— I can’t contact him right now… such a shame,’
“A-Niang..” Wei Wuxian quietly whined. Lan Wangji looked up from his paper. Hearing Wei Wuxian mention his “mother” got Wangji curious as to what he was thinking, but eventually he left it alone and went back to writing.
Wei Wuxian was bored of this overwhelming silence, so he lifted his head and leaned forward. See, Wei Wuxian was skilled at finding fun for himself. He had a talent for seeking joy amongst dull & boring circumstances. He decided it was a good chance to tease Lan Wangji.
“Wangji-Xiong!” Nothing, “Wangji,” again, no reply. It seemed as if he hadn’t heard anything, like he’d turned off his hearing, or whatever. “Lan Wangji, Lan Zhan!!” Lan Wangji looked up from his paper with a cold gaze. ‘At least that was a bit of a response…’ Wei Wuxian thought, before saying, “Don’t look at me like that! You weren’t responding,” He said as he raised his hands as if surrendering.
“If you want, why not call me my name as revenge?” Lan Wangji paused. “Wei Wuxian, Given name, Hua Ying.” He smiled at the silent Wangji sitting in front of him.
“Put your legs down,”
Wei Wuxian was sitting in a rather improper posture. His body was slanted and legs were propped up. Seeing as he got the boy to finally talk, he chuckled to himself as he fixed his legs. His posture was still unacceptable though.
“Lan Zhan! l wanna know… Do you really hate me so much?” Lan Zhan looked down, ignoring the question. Wei Wuxian felt hurt, but he didn’t know why, “Lan-er-gege, I want to admit I was wrong, I want to apologize for that night, look at me~” Seeing that Lan Wangji had no intention of looking at him, he decided to just start talking, “It was my fault that night, I was wrong for climbing the wall, I was wrong for drinking, I shouldn’t have fought with you. I didn’t read the rules because the ones in Jiang are all taught verbally, I didn’t provoke you on purpose!” Wei Wuxian finished his apologetic-sounding speech, and looked at Lan Wangji for something, anything. Unfortunately… It looked like Lan Wangji didn’t hear a single thing he just said.
‘Fine, maybe this will get your attention,’ A Golden wrath butterfly flew out of his sleeve and hovered around Lan Wangji’s paper. He stopped writing and looked at the butterfly, he watched as it flew up around his head then flew back to Wei Wuxian and landed on his nose.
‘Cute..’ His ears turned red and he turned away. He needed to erase that image from his brain, but it wouldn’t go away.
“Did you like it?” Lan Zhan turned back confused, “The butterflies?” A few more flew out from his sleeves and landed by Lan Wangji, He held one on his finger. “Mn,” A small smile formed on his face, “Ah! Lan Zhan, you smiled!” Wei Wuxian said with a grin. Lan Wangji turned away again. “Copy it again,” Wei Wuxian’s smile disappeared. “Don’t do this to me, It was my fault, okay?” Lan Wangji exposed his lie, “You do not feel any remorse, nor any regret.” Wei Wuxian slouched and pouted, “Ok, maybe I don’t regret it, but I do feel remorse!”
Lan Zhan did not believe him.
“I’ll say it as many times needed for you to believe me!” He spoke like a man with no dignity,
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Do you want me to kneel and say it, cause I can!” Lan Wangji watched him silently. Wei Wuxian couldn’t take it anymore and put on a goofy grin, But just as he was going to say something, he discovered his lips were sealed shut.
His face quickly changed and he dropped his grin, “Mmph?? MMMmphhHH!!?”
Lan Zhan took a shallow breath and that calm look returned to his face. He picked up his brush and went back to writing as if nothing had ever happened.
‘Of course… this is the silencing spell. Lan Zhan, why?!’ Wei Wuxian hated the silencing spell more than anything, and tried to break free, Scratching the corners of his lips until they turned red. He marched back to his desk and started scribbling all over his papers, his brush practically flying from one paper to another. He threw the pieces of paper at Lan Wangji. He caught one of the many pieces of paper that Wei Wuxian had tossed at him, he glanced at it.
“Pathetic,” he crumpled it and tossed it behind him.
Wei Wuxian was annoyed. He acted like a toddler that wasn’t allowed to have candy and rolled around on the mats. Lan Zhan continued to ignore Wei Wuxian’s attempts and discarded every piece of paper tossed at him. Once Wei Wuxian finally finished copying, Lan Wangji removed the spell.
The second day of his punishment; The same happened, The third day; again. This kept happening over and over, However, on the last day of Wei Wuxian having to “face the wall and reflect,” Wei Wuxian seemed a bit different.
Ever since he first came to Gusu, he noticed Wei Wuxian’s habit of leaving his sword all around the place and not carrying it with him, but today he took his sword with him and slammed it down in his desk.
Without harassing Lan Wangji any way possible like normal, he went straight to his desk without a word and started to obediently work. And he will not lie— mostly because it was forbidden— It was kinda freaky.
Lan Wangji couldn’t help but look up at the younger male to see what he was doing. He missed the smiling face that came up to him everyday and tried to talk to him.
‘What is he doing? He’s never this quiet…’
Almost like he could read the older’s thoughts, Wei Wuxian stood up holding a paper and walked over to Lan Wangji. He placed the paper down in front of Lan Wangji and he saw that it was a portrait of himself. Lan Wangji picked up the portrait and looked at it in awe, The drawing was absolutely beautiful. It portrayed himself sitting straight up with a book in hand reading.
“Ah- Give that back, Lan Zhan, I forgot one thing!” Wei Wuxian said as he snatched the paper back, Lan Wangji had to use up all self restraint he built up over those 15 years he’s been alive to not snatch that paper right back.
Wei Wuxian drew something on the portrait then handed it back, Lan Wangji took the paper, smiling inside that he got it back, and looked at the addition that Wei Wuxian drew oh so happily. It was a flower tucked behind his ear.
Lan Zhan’s ears turned bright red.
Wei Wuxian saw the embarrassed Lan Zhan and raised one of his brows and winked. It was plain to see what he was asking,
‘How is it? Do you like it?’
Lan Wangji placed the portrait down gently and picked up his book again. “You can keep it if you like it,” Lan Wangji glanced up. “You have the spare time to finish your punishment, yet you spend your time scribbling instead. I think that your release from your punishment may never come.” Wei Wuxian chuckled, “I finished copying, so I won’t come tomorrow.” Lan Wangji’s actions seem to have faltered for a moment before he flipped to the next page of his book. He felt hurt that he wont have this time alone with this boy in front of him again after today. “Say Lan Zhan, you didn’t say if you liked your portrait or not,” Lan Wangji glanced at the drawing, “Pa-“ Wei Wuxian cut him off, waving his hand. "‘Pathetic’ right? Can’t you say something different, or add another word at least,” Lan Wangji paused, “extremely pathetic.” Wei Wuxian clapped and smiled, “Ah, that was one word more! Thank you!”
Lan Wangji turned his attention back to his book. he was originally reading buddhist scriptures, but after only one look at the page, he hurled the book away as if it was on fire. Wei Wuxian was on the floor cracking up. Instead of buddhist scriptures, Wei Wuxian had somehow replaced them with a very eye catching book— Lan Zhan supposedly never noticed— the page that was opened had two intertwined figures that was very intolerable to the eye. Wei Wuxian wasn’t bothering to cover up his mischievous deeds, as he was hitting the table, laughing his guts out.
Lan Wangji retreated to the corner of the pavilion and yelled in anger, “Wei Ying—!!” Wei Wuxian raised his hand after much difficulty, “I’m here, here I am!” Lan Wangji unsheathed his sword, Bichen, and pointed it at Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian quickly grabbed his own sword. He pulled it out so that a third of his sword could be seen, “Watch your manners, Second Master Lan! I brought a sword too today!” Wei Wuxian wasn’t stupid,
—He was dense—
He knew that Lan Wangji would be very angry and went out of his way to carry his sword today for self defense. He didn’t want to accidentally get stabbed to death. “If we start fighting, I doubt your library pavilion will be alright!” The rage in Lan Wangji’s eyes were evident, “What kind of person are you!?” Wei Wuxian laughed as he responded, “What else?! A man!” Lan Wangji lashed out, “Shameless!”, “Do I need to be shameful for something like this? I won’t believe you if you say you’ve never seen something like this before!” Lan Zhan was so well behaved that he didn’t really know how to argue.
After a while of failing to think of a good argument he pointed his sword to the door. “You, me, outside. We have fought before,” He said coldly. Wei Wuxian almost shivered. He shook his head, “Don’t you know, Lan-er-gege? Unauthorized fighting is prohibited.” Lan Zhan quickly grabbed the book he had thrown, ‘Oh no! He’s going to use it as evidence!’ Wei Wuxian put his skills to use, “Eh? Why’d you grab the book? Oh! Are you going to read it? Good! I borrowed it specifically for you! Now you can be my friend and we can share opinions!”
Lan Zhan’s ears went red, but the rest of his face turned pale. He choked his words out,
“I. Will. Not. Read. It.”
Wei Wuxian pretended to be confused, “Then why did you grab it? Will you read it when no one is looking? If so you can’t do that, I borrowed it from a friend and I have to return it after.” Lan Wangji moved closer, “Hey, hey, hey! You’re making me nervous, don’t come so close! Second Young Master Lan! Do you plan on turning it in to that old- ah, your uncle? He’ll surely think that you’ve already read it before. With a face as thin as yours, you’ll surely be ashamed!” Sure enough, Wei Wuxian’s teasing worked. Lan Wangji got so mad that the hand holding the book filled with spiritual power and the book was torn to shreds.
Wei Wuxian was relieved, but a little disappointed that such a good book was now destroyed.
“What a waste!” He said in fake remorse, while pretending to catch the pages falling down. Wei Wuxian never helped clean up any of the paper rubbish made during the day, and today was no different.
“Lan Zhan, you ripped it! So, you clean it! I’m not helping.” Lan Wangji was done putting up with Wei Wuxian, “Get Lost!!” Wei Wuxian chuckled, “Lan Zhan, People say you’re an excellent gentleman, a rare pearl in the world, carrying yourself with incomparable courtesy, And yet here you are! Causing noise is forbidden you know? Yet you actually told me to ‘get lost!’ I bet this is the first time you’ve used such words!”
Lan Zhan threatened to attack so Wei Wuxian hopped on the window and said, “Luckily for you, getting lost is my specialty! No need to see me out!” He then jumped out of the window, laughing with a goofy grin on his face, as he fell into the forest of trees behind the pavilion.
There was already a group of disciples waiting for him when he landed. Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng stood at the front of that group,
“Wei-Gongzi, how was it? Did he read the book? How did he react??” Wei Wuxian cracked a large smile and laughed, “How did he react? Did you not hear that loud shout he gave?” Nie Huaisang’s eyes were full of admiration, “We heard it alright! He told Wei-Xiong to get lost! I’ve never seen Second Master Lan lose his composure like that!” Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes.
Satisfaction was painted all over Wei Wuxian’s face. “Wei-Xiong, How did you do it?” Wei Wuxian smirked, “All of you here saw it, right? All the self-restraint and etiquette that Lan-er-gege built up over the years that that old man takes so much pride in, were all useless when used against me!” As expected, Jiang Cheng was the only one in the group that was not happy.
“Wei Wuxian! What are you so proud of? Being told to ‘Get lost’ isn’t a good thing, you know! You bring so much shame to our sect!” Wei Wuxian pouted and wrapped one of his arms around Jiang Cheng’s shoulders, “But ChengCheng, I really meant that apology I gave, He was the one who decided not to listen! Tell me, is it so wrong for me to have a little fun? And besides… I’m a guest of the Jiang sect, not an actual disciple! Is it really that bad?” Jiang Cheng tried to escape from his brother’s grasp, “Get off! And don’t call me that around all these people! Also, yes! It’s still an embarrassment!” Wei Wuxian giggled and let Jiang Cheng go.
“Nie-Xiong, I gave him that wonderful, WONDERFUL book of yours with good intentions. He just doesn’t appreciate such beauty of couples. What a pity, I didn’t even finish it!” Nie Huaisang gave a light chuckle, “It’s not a waste at all, Wei-Xiong. Feel free to borrow them at any time!”
Wei Wuxian made a mental note about this; at least Nie Huaisang has some more “provocative” books at hand… Or so he thinks. ‘If he said it was fine to borrow, it must mean he has more!’ Wei Wuxian thought.
“You’ve greatly offended both Lan Qiren and Lan Wangji! You better prepare for your death, because no one will bury your corpse when that happens.” Jiang Cheng turned around and started walking.
Wei Wuxian ran to catch up to him and said with a smile, “You’ve already buried my corpse so many times! What’s wrong with one more?” Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes while he cracked a small smile.
That night, Wei Wuxian contacted his parents using his butterflies, “Hey A-Niang! A-Die!” The God and his husband hadn’t heard their son’s voice in so long, so they were very happy to finally talk to him again.
“Hello A-Ying!” Greeted Xie Lian. Even though Wei Wuxian couldn’t see the man, he knew his Baba had a soft smile on his face.
“You brat! Don’t you know how worried we were??” Hua Cheng scolded his son. Wei Wuxian awkwardly smiled, “Sorry I didn’t contact you sooner.” Xie Lian was just happy to know his son was ok,
“So, tell us about your time in Gusu so far!”, “Oh I have so much to share! So first, there’s this fuddy-duddy named Lan Zhan, then there’s-“ The three talked for a long time before Xie Lian told Wei Wuxian to go to sleep because of how late it was getting.
Since Wei Wuxian was technically “mortal,” he, of course, needed sleep. This did strike a question in his mind, though; ‘Do gods need sleep? At all? If they don’t, why do I have mortal-like needs? My parents are the strongest god and the ghost king…
Ugh, Wei Wuxian, just go to sleep already— I’ll slap myself unconscious if I can’t!’
The next morning he had to answer the door early in the morning for an overjoyed Nie Huaisang,
“Wei-Xiong! You struck it lucky! Grandmaster Lan canceled our lessons over the next few days for a conference he had to attend.”
Wei Wuxian quickly got up and put his boots on, “Very lucky indeed! The heavens must be watching over me,” Wei Wuxian beamed. ‘Thanks Ma!’
“Don’t think you escaped your punishment.” Jiang Cheng said, he had his eyes on his sword as he carefully cleaned it with a rag. ‘Why would a prince of three realms care about something as trivial as that?’ Wei Wuxian started his way out the door,
“Why should a living person care about what happens after their death? I’ll just live freely as long was possible. Let’s go, I refuse the believe theres no pheasants on this mountain.” And with that, they headed out to mess around.