Chapter Text
A/N - This fic is an idea I want to explore. It is NOT prewritten, so I don’t have a specific timeline for updates. As with most of my fics, I have an outline, so I know where it’s going and how it will end. This is novel canon, meaning (amongst other things) that there is no Yin Iron, and the Wen siblings did not attend the lectures. It also contains canon Madam Jin, who is much less fun than fanon Madam Jin (whom I adore). Canon divergent after the CR lectures.
The fic begins with Wei Wuxian at 16, a few months after the ending of the guest lectures ended (which he missed a lot of, having been sent home after punching Jin Zixuan). The Jin are hosting a discussion conference that did not occur in canon. This fic also has Nie ZongHui from Fatal Journey since he was such a great character and Nie Mingjue deserves a right-hand-man in this fic as well.
Title is modified from Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”. Thanks to ZazGeek for beta'ing this chapter!
Wei Wuxian felt his entire body freeze as he registered the words that the Jin cultivator had said.
"What do you mean? I've been the Jiang Head Disciple for over three years," Wei Wuxian said, feeling confused.
"Not according to this,” the officious Jin cultivator said, holding the official scroll of the Jiang Sect Registry. “There's no head disciple listed. In fact, your name isn't even on the Jiang registry as being a disciple at all.”
A sinking feeling came over Wei Wuxian, and he turned and looked over at Madam Yu. She slanted him a smug look that confirmed that the Jin disciple had not made a mistake.
"My Lady," Jiang Fengmian said, sounding tired.
"What, Jiang Fengmian? Do I not have the right to enact a punishment? Am I not able to direct the disciples in my own clan? He is the reason that your daughter’s betrothal fell through. Or did you forget about her? Is all of your focus only on this son of a servant?”
Jiang Fengmian grimaced as he glanced around the room, likely noting that their discussion was drawing attention.
"Madam, could you not have at least let us know that you had removed him before we presented our registry for the discussion conference’s competition?” Jiang Fengmain asked quietly, but not quite quietly enough that those close to them didn’t hear.
Madam Yu arched a brow.
"Oh? Are you so concerned about him losing face in public? That boy had no issues disgracing the Jiang in front of everyone while a guest at the Cloud Recesses earlier this year. It is only fitting that he faces public consequences as well," Madam Yu said sharply.
Madam Jin looked at Wei Wuxian consideringly. He had not expected to find favor in her gaze and, in that, at least, he was not disappointed. She looked at him as though he were an unpleasant task that she was deciding whether or not to continue.
Perhaps that was why Madam Yu had done this. Having the engagement broken had caused Madam Yu to lose face with her friend. Neither had been pleased that it had been ended, and Wei Wuxian was guessing that this was Madam Yu’s way of appeasing both her friend and Sect Leader Jin.
He had thought it was odd that both Jin Guangshan and Madam Jin were attending the registration session, which was typically more of a simple administrative proceeding. He had thought maybe it was in deference to the close ties between the two clans. Evidently, it was so Madam Yu could properly humiliate Wei Wuxian instead for the breaking of Jiang Yanli’s engagement. She must have asked them to attend in advance.
While Jin Zixuan had been the one who had insulted Jiang Yanli, and Sect Leader Jiang had been the one who had made the decision to break the engagement, it was much easier to place all the blame on Wei Wuxian’s shoulders.
"If he is not a Jiang disciple, then why does he wear your robes? " Madam Jin asked, her voice pitched to carry across the growing crowd of onlookers.
Madam Yu’s sharp gaze shifted to Wei Wuxian—a cat toying with a particularly distasteful rodent.
"You're right, Madam Jin. He should not be. Only true Jiang disciples who are loyal to our clan have permission to wear our robes. Of course, we cannot have him wearing our colors and continuing to bring shame to the Jiang during the Discussion Conference."
She made a gesture with her hand and her two maids instantly came forward. One held his arms while the other untied his outer robe before pulling it off him.
"I would have removed them if you had just asked!" Wei Wuxian said, feeling his face burn in humiliation.
He could hear gasps and tittering laughter around him as more people gathered to see what was happening. Typically, the checking-in of a sect and listing out the roster of which disciples would be competing was a boring affair, attended only by the host sect officials as well as the presenting Attendee sect.
Unfortunately, the unusual presence of Jin Guangshan and Madam Jin, as well as the drama currently playing out, had drawn the attention of some of the smaller sects who were always looking for opportunities to ingratiate themselves with any of the Major sects (or at least get good gossip on them). Evidently, the spectacle of watching a head disciple being thrown out of a sect and forcibly disrobed was interesting enough that more and more cultivators had abandoned the tables of refreshments to come and observe.
Wei Wuxian felt his stomach clench in shame as he stood before a growing group of cultivators in his under-robes. At least he didn’t see any flashes of white robes in the crowd so far. As bad as being whispered about by random, faceless cultivators was, it would be a thousand times worse if the ever-rigid Lan Wangji were here to witness him being publicly cast out in disgrace.
The only one who could intervene on his behalf was Jiang Fengmian. Wei Wuxian looked over at him but the sect leader seemed resigned to letting it happen. It was not the first time that Madam Yu had stricken Wei Wuxian’s name from the registry… she’d done it twice before. But both of those times had been in the privacy of their own sect. Jiang Fegmian had simply sent Wei Wuxian on a night hunt and told him to come back in a week.
At the end of the week, Wei Wuxian returned and Jiang Fenmian had quietly readmitted him to the sect, having him re-swear the Blood Oath that every disciple had to perform in order to be fully bound to their sect. Madam Yu had been nowhere to be seen, but she hadn’t been surprised to find him training the disciples the next morning.
Part of him felt like Madam Yu enjoyed knowing that Jiang Fengmian had to stick his blade into Wei Wuxian's palm to extract the required blood for the ceremony. But the bigger motivation for her, of course, was that it reminded Wei Wuxian that his place in their sect was precarious, and could be taken away at any time if Madam Yu decided it.
No one would stand against her. Why should they, if even their own sect leader said nothing?
"Well, if that is all, then it appears as though all of the eligible members of the Jiang Sect have been officially registered for the competition," Jin Guangshan said, casting a smug look at Wei Wuxian. He definitely did not approve of the fact that Wei Wuxian had dared to punch his son and heir, and was taking great pleasure in seeing Wei Wuxian put in his place. “We have rules of decorum in polite company here. Please go and find appropriate robes on your way out of Koi Tower.”
That, at least, finally got a reaction from Jiang Fengmian. His head snapped up as he looked at Jin Guangshan.
"Surely Wei Wuxian will be allowed to stay with our sect for the duration of the conference, even if he is not allowed to compete," Jiang Fengmian said, sounding concerned for the first time. "He is... He was the Head Disciple, and has been the one training our Juniors to get them ready for the exhibition."
Jin Guangshan gave Jiang Fengmian an arrogant look. Perhaps Wei Wuxian wasn’t the only person that the Jin Sect Leader was holding a grudge against. Jiang Fengmian was the one who had made the final decision to end the engagement.
"The Discussion Conference is only open to members of sects who have been invited. We do not want to dilute the event by having random spectators. I'm assuming your heir is more than capable of directing your Juniors through the competition."
Jiang Fengmian opened his mouth as though to protest but realized the trap as soon as he did.
"Of course my son is more than capable," Madam Yu snapped out. "To suggest anything else would be a grave insult. Don't you agree, Jiang Fengmian?"
Jiang Fengmian shot a slightly apologetic glance at Wei Wuxian, but said nothing.
Wei Wuxian felt like he was having an out of body experience. It was clear he was going to be not just barred from competing, but kicked out of Koi Tower entirely.
He was frozen for a moment, not sure what he was supposed to do. Should he go home?
But if he was not officially a Jiang disciple, then would he be allowed back into Lotus Cove? Had Madam Yu sent word to the steward there to bar him from the gates for further humiliation? She’d obviously planned this enough to have Madam Jin and Jin Guangshan present. He didn’t know how far she intended to carry it.
He didn’t have a lot of money on him, and he was sure that the inns nearby would be full in any case.
The Discussion Conference would be a full week, and that was assuming that it didn’t run long. What was he supposed to do? Where was he supposed to go while he waited for Madam Yu to decide that he’d been sufficiently reprimanded and allow him to re-swear to the sect?
He couldn’t ask in front of all these people. It would only make it worse.
He needed to get out of that room, away from everyone who was staring and whispering and snickering. Jiang Fengmian was the only one who could have said something to stop it, and he hadn’t. The longer Wei Wuxian stood there in his under robes, the more of a spectacle he was making of himself.
He felt a churning mix of shame, anger, and resignation as he turned. He forced himself to give a proper bow before leaving.
He caught Jiang Cheng's gaze as he walked away. It was clear that the other boy was just as shocked by the turn of events as he was, looking angry and embarrassed, but also surprised.
Wei Wuxian didn’t know how much of Jiang Cheng’s anger was directed at him or his mother… it was always a toss-up. But he was at least glad that his sect brother hadn’t been involved in the setup. He knew better than to expect Jiang Cheng to go against his mother for him. After all, if his father—who was their sect leader—couldn’t manage it, why should anyone expect his son to? But it still stung as he walked away and no one called out to him.
No matter how hard he tried or how much he gave—it would never be enough.
Wei Wuxian walked blindly away from the registration tables, unsure of where he was even going. His throat was tight and his eyes were stinging, but he would not make the situation even worse by letting tears fall in public. He needed to get away from Madam Yu’s mocking gaze and the whispers of the onlookers that followed him.
As hard as it was on him, it was also going to be hard on his shidis. They looked up to him and found it upsetting when he was punished unexpectedly or with extreme measures. He could only imagine how stressed they would be after what just happened. There had already been a lot of pressure put on them to perform well, given that the Jin were hosting it and the engagement had just been broken so recently.
This would make it a hundred times worse for them.
If the disciples did well, then Madam Yu would give all the credit to Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Fengmian would disagree and they would argue. If the disciples did poorly, then Madam Yu would blame Wei Wuxian for having disrupted their preparations, and Jiang Fengmian would defend him and they would be arguing again.
There was no avoiding a fight between Madam Yu and their sect leader at this point. No matter what happened, though, in the end, Wei Wuxian would be the only one punished.
Again.
Jiang Fengmian might make the occasional disagreeing comment to Madam Yu, but he would never actually stop whatever punishment she saw fit to inflict on Wei Wuxian. Even this public fake ‘expulsion’ would be allowed because Jiang Fengmian knew that—as always—Madam Yu would eventually allow the Jiang sect leader to take Wei Wuxian back into the sect in the end.
Wei Wuxian knew he was far too useful to throw away entirely. As long as he was reminded of his place, she would tolerate him.
Sometimes Wei Wuxian wished she wouldn’t, but the thought made him immediately feel guilty.
Jiang Fengmian had brought him in from the streets and given him the clothes on his back and the food in his belly since he was nearly 9 years old. He had cultivated his core under their instruction. Everything he owned in this world was due to the fact that they let him stay.
But sometimes a small voice in his head wondered: would it really have been worse to continue living on the streets? He had already survived the most dangerous time: when his parents had died when he was just four years old, leaving him alone with no one to fend for him. He’d learned how to survive the worst dangers of the streets over the next four years, and had been big enough by the time Jiang Fengmian had found him that the dogs had stopped following him as closely.
If Jiang Fengmian had bowed to his wife’s will and thrown Wei Wuxian back out onto the streets when he’d first brought him back, Wei Wuxian would have had a lot less in terms of food and clothing, but at least what he had would have been his . He wouldn’t have to feel indebted for every meal he ate or every item he owned. Maybe he would have been able to carve a niche out for himself somehow.
He’d always been a quick learner.
He forced himself to stop thinking that way. That wasn’t how it had played out, and now his loyalty was owed to the Jiang. There wasn’t any point being upset about things he couldn’t change.
He wondered what Madam Yu was going to require him to do to earn his way back into the sect. Given how public his expulsion was, he supposed she’d make his penance to be public as well. He was dreading it, but he’d deal with it like he always did.
He had more urgent matters to deal with at the current moment, like where he was going to sleep for the next week, whether he had brought enough money to pay for his food, and how the shopkeepers were going to react to him walking through the market in his under-robes when he went to purchase a new outer robe.
At least he had his sword. Worst case scenario, he could just fly away and find a remote spot to night hunt while he waited for the conference to be over.
He had his head down, trying to avoid attention as he headed towards the steps that lead down into the city. He was hoping to draw as little attention as possible as he left.
Of course, the gods weren’t about to let that happen.
“Shameless!” a familiar voice said, just as Wei Wuxian had almost made it to the top of the steps.
He’d been so focused on his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed that some of the Lan and Nie disciples were gathered in the courtyard, greeting each other.
Wei Wuxian supposed it shouldn’t be a big deal that Lan Wangji was yet again voicing his disdain and disapproval of him. But unlike the times during the guest lectures at the Cloud Recesses where he’d been more prepared for it (and sometimes even provoking it on purpose), this time it cut a bit deeper.
Anger surged up at him at the judgmental tone in Lan Wangji’s voice, amplifying the hurt and resentment he was already feeling from what had just happened. The only things Lan Wangji had ever said to him while he was at Cloud Recesses—when he bothered to talk to him at all—were to call him boring, shameless, or ridiculous. All Wei Wuxian’s attempts to be his friend had only ever been pushed away.
Wei Wuxian flinched, thinking back to how pathetic he must have looked back in Cloud Recesses, constantly chasing Lan Wangji’s approval and attention, only to be coldly rejected each time. He would be lying if he said it hadn’t bothered him back then, but he knew a good part of it had been his own fault. He could be too much a lot of the time.
But this time, Wei Wuxian was just trying to get somewhere where he could lick his wounds in private. He wasn’t trying to get Lan Wangji’s attention, or cause a disturbance.
For once, he couldn’t just laugh off, not with his throat already tight and his eyes already burning.
“Piss off !“ Wei Wuxian said harshly, turning briefly to look over his shoulder and glare at the white-robed boy without breaking stride.
Lan Wangji‘s eyes widened and Wei Wuxian abruptly turned to continue walking away as fast as he could.
He’d never said anything so rude to Lan Wangji. He’d always bounced back from things with a laugh or a smile, brushing off the twinges of hurt at the other boy’s constant rebuffs of his friendship. Lan Wangji had probably been glad Wei Wuxian had been kicked out, since he’d always made it clear he didn’t like Wei Wuxian’s presence.
“Wei Ying!” Lan Wangji called out at a volume that was loud enough to potentially even be considered breaking one of the precious Lan rules.
The last thing Wei Wuxian needed was another person telling him all the things that were wrong with him and all the ways in which he was a disappointment.
“I said piss off , Lan Wangji !“ Wei Wuxian snarled, using the boy’s courtesy name to reinforce he was serious. After all, it was Lan Wangji who had stated that they were not friends… not close enough to use birth names.
He had nearly reached the top of the stairs and considered simply drawing his sword and flying away when he heard another voice calling out to him
“Wei-Xiong! Wei-xiong!” Nie Huaisang's voice sounded out of breath as he ran up to him. “I heard what happened. Come on, let's get you somewhere private. I’ll get some robes that you can wear. You can stay with me while we figure things out.”
The genuine worry in his friend’s voice nearly was Wei Wuxian’s undoing. It was the first kind words he’d heard since the Jin disciple had announced that Wei Wuxian was not on the Jiang register. He bit the inside of his lip to keep control on his emotions.
“Nie-xiong,” he managed.
“Hush now,“ Nie Huaisang said. “We’re going to go find Da ge.”
Wei Wuxian let himself be led away, tilting his head down so that no one could notice any wetness on his cheeks.
He did not see the pair of worried golden eyes that followed him. Nor did he hear Lan Wangji call out in distress to his older brother.
Wei Wuxian followed Nie Huaisang, barely paying attention to the surroundings. The entire way he could feel the weight of the stares and whispers that followed him as they went.
As soon as the door closed behind them, shutting out the rest of the world from the large, private suite Nie Huaisang had taken him to, Wei Wuxian drew a shuddering breath. The Nie Sect Heir gave him a sympathetic look as he guided Wei Wuxian down to an opulently carved and gilded table surrounded by golden cushions.
“All right. First things first. I’m going to order some food and drink, and send one of the disciples to see if we have a spare set of robes that might fit you,” Nie Huaisang said.
Wei Wuxian looked over at him.
“But won’t they be in Nie colors? I just had one set of robes ripped off me for wearing sect colors when I wasn’t part of that sect. I’m not exactly looking to give an encore performance,” Wei Wuxian said bitterly.
Nie Huaisang waved his words aside.
“No need to worry. The Nie sect colors are dark enough that they’re not as recognizable as the purple, gold, or red of the other clans. There are enough seamstresses in town that we can have a set of plain black robes made for you within a day or so. In the meantime, you can stay with me.”
Wei Wuxian gave a weak nod. He felt completely exhausted. All of the driving energy to escape had bled out of him now that he was finally in a safe place.
“I have no idea what to do,” Wei Wuxian admitted. “I’m not sure if they want me to go back to Lotus Cove or if I’m supposed to wait here.”
Nie Huaisang frowned. Wei Wuxian heard the sound of a door opening and closing somewhere else in Nie Huaisang’s suite of rooms, but he didn’t pay close attention to it.
“Why would you want to go back to Lotus Cove?” Nie Huaisang asked. “To get your belongings?”
Wei Wuxian blinked.
“What? No. This isn’t… this is only temporary,” Wei Wuxian said.
“I hate to break it to you, but getting kicked out of a sect is pretty permanent, Wei-Xiong,” Nie Huaisang said with a grimace.
“No, you don’t understand. This isn’t the first time that Madam Yu has taken me off the sect registry. She’s done it a couple of times before as punishment. She says it reminds me of my place and that I shouldn’t take my position in the Jiang for granted. Eventually, she comes around and lets Jiang Fengmian reinstate me as Head Disciple.”
“What?!“ Nie Huaisang asked, disbelievingly. “Removing a disciple from the registry is usually only done in the most extreme circumstances, like… like for treason against the Clan or a killing offense. Why did she remove you?“
“This time? Based on what she said during registration, it sounded like this was because of the fight I had with Jin Zixuan. She had punished me earlier for it, and I thought that was the end of it, but…,” Wei Wuxian shrugged.
Nie Huaisang looked appalled.
“You mean she didn’t even let you know she’d removed you when it happened?!”
Wei Wuxian grimaced.
“It’s complicated,” was all he could think to say.
They were interrupted by a disciple bringing in a tray of food and several jars of wine. As soon as they left, Nie Huaisang poured Wei Wuxian a drink then continued his questioning.
“Look, I understand that it was a serious matter that the engagement was broken, but the Jin and Jiang sects have a good relationship. From what I heard, the broken engagement didn’t materially damage it. Besides, it was Jin Zixuan who insulted your sister and Sect Leader Jiang who decided that the engagement should be broken because of it. It wasn’t like Sect Leader Jin broke the engagement because you punched his son.”
Wei Wuxian sighed, tossing back the alcohol in his cup. It was high quality and strong. Not quite as good as Emperor’s Smile, but enough to hopefully take the edge off the mess of emotions churning inside him.
“It doesn't matter. In the end, I am the son of a servant who punched a sect heir and caused the engagement to be broken and Madam Yu to lose face. And now I’ve caused the sect to lose face again.”
“What do you mean? “
“You heard the whispers just like I did. Most of them were directed at me, but some of them were directed at Jiang Fengmian. It’s viewed as very bad form to not know who the disciples on your roster are.”
“Especially the head disciple,” Nie Huaisang said thoughtfully. He had a calculating look on his face as he sipped from his cup.
Wei Wuxian grimaced, pouring himself more wine.
“Yeah I’m not looking forward to the punishment that is going to be waiting for me when Madam Yu comes back from the discussion conference. If our disciples don’t do well, she’ll blame it on me for not being there to keep them in line. And a lot of them get upset whenever this sort of thing happens. Even though mostly she directs her anger at me, it scares the juniors because they wonder if it could ever happen to them too. I’m glad that the little ones weren’t allowed to come.“
“But why would she be able to punish you if you’re no longer a member of her sect?”
Wei Wuxian paused at the question. Hadn’t he already explained that this was temporary?
“Well, I mean, that was mostly just to embarrass me and put me in my place. Like I said, she always lets Uncle Fengmian add me back, eventually.“
“If you’re off the registry, that means you’re out of the sect. You don’t have to go back and face punishment from the Madam of a sect that you don’t belong to!” Nie Huaisang said, looking both angry and horrified at the thought of Wei Wuxian returning to the Jiang for punishment.
“Of course I have to go back. Where else would I go? They always keep me working on sect business, even when they took me off before. Usually they just send me on night hunts until Madam Yu calms down. Though I guess it’s messier this time because it happened in public. Uncle Fengmian seemed upset that I couldn’t stay and at least supervise the Juniors, but Jin Guangshan said I couldn’t stay since I’m not in the sect. I don’t think Uncle Fengmian expected me to be thrown out of Koi Tower entirely. I don’t even know if Madam Yu did. That’s probably another thing that she’s going to be mad at me about. It caused such a scene and now there won’t be anyone to help manage the younger disciples.”
“OK we’re definitely going to come back to the part where you feel like you still need to obey the leadership of a sect that has publicly expelled you, but how could anyone think that this is your fault? The only one who knew that you had been removed from the registry was Madam Yu, and she’s the one who made the decision to not communicate that to anyone before your sect was being presented for and registering disciples for the competition. The rules about needing to prove that the disciples actually belong to your sect have been true for over a century, ever since one sect leader decided to basically hire a bunch of rogue cultivators because their disciples were not performing well that year but he wanted to win the prize money. Madam Yu knows that. She’s been going to these for years now. If anyone is going to bear responsibility for bringing shame onto the Jiang sect, it’s Madam Yu."
Wei Wuxian almost laughed. He couldn’t imagine a scenario where Madam Yu was actually the one blamed for what just happened. He felt a shiver of fear run through him at the thought of how angry she was going to be if this did end up blowing back on her. It wasn’t often that she used Zidian on him, but he had a feeling that this would be one of those times.
“Ah, fuck. I’m really gonna get it when I get it when she gets home,” Wei Wuxian said, opening another jar of wine.
Nie Huaisang watched him for a moment and whatever it was that was showing on his face, made his friend's expression pinch with worry.
“Then don’t go back,” Nie Huaisang said, his voice oddly intent.
Wei Wuxian wondered if the wine were stronger than he'd realized.
“What do you mean? It’s only going to be worse if I don’t go back and she has to come find me,” Wei Wuxian replied.
He didn’t even want to think about how bad that would be.
“She’s the one who just expelled you from the sect. In a very public way in front of a lot of people who saw it. You said she’s done this before, but I’m really sure I have never heard of it. If she was doing this kind of thing earlier, she made sure that no gossip of it reached beyond the walls of Lotus Cove. She can’t take it back as easily now. You’re free to leave with no obligation. Whatever reputational damage you were going to take from being publicly cast out from the Jiang has already happened. It won’t surprise anyone now if you don’t return.”
Wei Wuxian frowned.
“But I know that she’s only doing it to embarrass me. Uncle Fengmian has made it clear in the past that she’s not allowed to actually throw me out of the sect. Plus, who would take over the work I do? I train all of the juniors and organize all of the night hunts and go on the most dangerous missions. Jiang Cheng doesn’t have as good of a rapport with the younger disciples because he doesn’t have the patience, and Uncle Fengmian has been focused on managing the sect business and political relationships with things being tricky with the Wen these days.”
Nie Huaisang‘s eyes narrowed in a way that Wei Wuxian recognized from their days in Cloud Recesses when the younger man was scheming
“That sounds like a ‘them’ problem. From what I heard, Sect Leader Jiang didn’t do anything to prevent Madam Yu from publicly kicking you out of their sect. He let them literally tear their robes off your back. That sounds like he’s given permission.”
Wei Wuxian felt a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach at the memory. But it didn’t mean he could just… walk away .
“No, he’s just like that. He won’t ever disagree with Madam Yu publicly, but he brought me into the sect, even though she really, really didn’t want me there. She’s been mad about it for the last seven years. I think that’s probably the only time in their entire marriage where he’s crossed her.“
Nie Huaisang only looked angrier at his words.
“So he forced her to allow you to be in the clan, but then basically let her punish you and humiliate you anyway she wanted without ever once standing up for you. While at the same time, taking advantage of you and making you do a bunch of work without proper protection or respect.”
“I mean… They pay for the food I eat and the equipment I use. I stay in the Head Disciple’s quarters they provided, and they allow me to train and build my golden core,” Wei Wuxian said. “It’s not like they make me live in some cave and starve me. I owe them everything I have.”
Nie Huaisang studied him with a shrewd gaze, as though trying to puzzle something out.
“So if you thought it would be better for the Jiang if you left the sect for real, would you do it?”
Wei Wuxian paused. He would be lying if he said he’d never thought of it, but the thoughts had always been fleeting and quickly suppressed.
“I… I guess I would,” Wei Wuxian said.
“You said you owed the Jiang everything. So if you thought that it would be worse for the sect if you went back, would you leave for real?”
“Yeah. I suppose so. I’m not sure where I would go, but if it really was in the best interests of the sect, then I would defect,” Wei Wuxian said slowly.
Nie Huaisang let out a short breath of air in an impatient huff.
“You don’t need to defect. You’ve already been publicly expelled. And in terms of where you’d go, you could join the Nie.”
“Huaisang!” came a disgruntled shout from the room next door.
Nie Mingjue entered the room, glaring first at Nie Huaisang, then looking speculatively at Wei Wuxian.
Nie Huaisang didn’t appear at all concerned at his elder brother’s appearance. He hid his face behind his fan, but not before Wei Wuxian saw the pleased smile on his face.
To be continued…