Archive of Our Own

"Jiujiu, calm down, we'll be fine," Jin Ling complained.

"And you said Hanguang-Jun is supervising you all?" Jiang Cheng demanded.

Jin Ling nodded.

"Fine... Just- be careful, okay? Come back injured I'll break your legs!"

"I'll be fine Jiujiu, we're not even tracking anything super dangerous," Jin Ling assured him.

"Young mistress Jin, glad you could make it!" Lan Jingyi called.

"Who's a young mistress?!" Jin Ling demanded.

"Guys, please..." Lan Sizhui sighed.

"Hey, where's Hanguang-Jun?" Jin Ling asked.

"Not here," Ouyang Zizhen said. "Wei Ying got sick, has a pretty bad fever. Hanguang-Jun is the only one who can make sure he stays in bed resting instead of doing who knows what until someone finds him passed out in Lanling or something."

"So then who's supervising?" Jin Ling asked.

"Nobody," Lan Jingyi said.

"Oh," Jin Ling said. "Better not let Jiujiu know then, he'll break all our legs. Or threaten to if this happens again anyways."

Jin Ling rolled his eyes while the other three juniors started laughing.

"Come on," Ouyang Zizhen said finally. "Let's go!"

They ran into trouble just a few hours later, in the form of fierce ghosts, an unexpected downpour, and a mountain with an array that blocked spiritual energy.

"There's too many, why the HELL are there this many?!" Lan Jingyi yelled, dodging a large branch thrown by one of the fierce ghosts.

"They're creating a swarm! We need somewhere to hide!" Lan Sizhui called out.

"There!" Jin Ling pointed, he could just barely make out a cave through the rain. "We can hide in there!"

"Jin Ling, look out!" Lan Sizhui yelled just then.

Jin Ling went to dodge, but slipped in mud, twisting his right ankle. Slipping as he scrambled to get up, Jin Ling managed to stand, but when he tried to step forward, his ankle gave out on him.

Jin Ling turned around to see the fierce ghosts were practically on top of him, and screamed in terror as they closed in.

"Jin Ling!" Ouyang Zizhen was closest and scrambled towards Jin Ling.

Jin Ling was picked up by the fierce ghosts, and he kicked out, thrashing. They threw him at Ouyang Zizhen, who instinctively dodged, and Jin Ling landed on his injured leg with a sickening crunch.

Ouyang Zizhen rushed over to him, and froze in horror at the sight. Jin Ling took one look and looked away, feeling sick.

His leg was bent at an angle, but it wasn't at his knee, but rather in the middle of his shin. It was a bloody mess, and the bone was sticking out of the skin, the muscle inside all torn up.

Ouyang Zizhen jerked back into reality when a large rock was thrown at the two of them. Fortunately it missed by a long shot, but Ouyang Zizhen quickly looped Jin Ling's left arm around his shoulder, helping him stand on his uninjured leg, and guiding him towards the cave Jin Ling pointed out earlier.

They swiftly entered the cave, but right after there was a rumbling noise, and suddenly a bunch of large rocks fell from the mountain slope above them, blocking the caves entrance.

"Is there a back way out?" Ouyang Zizhen asked frantically.

"I don't think so," Lan Jingyi said. "But we need light. Jin Ling's injury was really bad."

Suddenly light filled the cave. Lan Sizhui had lit a matchstick. (Wrong word, but idk the right one. Basically think ATLA secret tunnel episode. Look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about)

"I also have medical supplies," he said when they looked at him shocked. "But the light only lasts so long and we need to treat Jin Ling's leg."

"Great, what do we need to do?" Lan Jingyi asked.

"Hold him down. One of you hold his shoulders, one of you his legs, not too close to the injury," Lan Sizhui instructed.

"I don't need to be held down," Jin Ling groaned.

"Your body will naturally react when I reset your bone," Lan Sizhui refuted. "It's the natural response, even if your brain is telling you to stay still. If you're not held down it'll make your injury worse."

Ouyang Zizhen crouched by Jin Ling's head, a knee on each of his shoulders and holding his elbows. Lan Jingyi knelt on Jin Ling's uninjured side, one shin on his stomach, hands on his hips, and uninjured leg pinned underneath Lan Jingyi's left leg in between thigh and calf at the knee.

Lan Sizhui pulled out his qiancun pouch with medical supplies and rummaged through it. "Open your mouth."

Jin Ling obeyed, and Lan Sizhui pulled out a short metal rod.

"I normally have something else, that's much softer, but I'm afraid I lost it, so this will have to do," Lan Sizhui said apologetically, before putting it in Jin Ling's mouth, effectively preventing him from closing his mouth. He then took a small dagger and cut off Jin Ling's pant leg shortly above the knee.

"This is going to hurt," Lan Sizhui warned, before carefully kneeling next to Jin Ling's broken leg and snapping the bone back in place.

Jin Ling jerked and screamed, the sound muffled by the rod in his mouth, movements stopped by Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen pinning him down. Lan Sizhui carefully pushed the bone back into place the best he could, Jin Ling jerking and screaming, tears streaming down his face.

"It's okay Jin Ling, you're doing so good," Lan Sizhui said soothingly, pulling out a cloth, water pouch, needle and thread.

He wet the cloth with the what was inside- pure alcohol to disinfect the wound- and cleaned Jin Ling's leg while the sect leader whimpered and whined in pain, unable to form words. Then he threaded the needle and began to stitch up Jin Ling's leg, before carefully wrapping it with a long strip of cloth.

When he'd finished, Lan Sizhui carefully lifted Jin Ling's leg, setting it on a wooden plank covered tightly in a thin layer of cloth. He took three more of these planks, in two different sizes, and positioned them against Jin Ling's leg.

Carefully, and with a little help from Lan Jingyi, Lan Sizhui tightly tied the planks together around Jin Ling's leg, before wrapping another cloth strip around them, around his leg, ankle and foot.

"I'm done," Lan Sizhui said, taking the metal rod out of Jin Ling's mouth.

The three juniors helped Jin Ling sit up against the wall, broken leg propped out.

"Well, we're trapped in here," Lan Jingyi said finally. "What do we do now?"

"I have supplies to make a fire," Ouyang Zizhen said, pulling a few things out of his qiancun pouch. "It'll help us dry off. But I can only make one."

"That's fine," Lan Sizhui said. "Each of these," he gestured to the matchstick. "Lasts for an hour. I only have three so we'll be in the dark for most of this. But we need to get dry before we all catch a fever."

Ouyang Zizhen nodded, and quickly made a fire, which they all crowded around, wringing water out of their clothes, and taking off their outer layers, which Jin Ling needed help with.

Lan Sizhui used two of Jin Ling's arrows and some rope to make a clothesline and after wringing as much water out of their robes as possible hung them up to dry.

"You're... Surprisingly efficient at this," Jin Ling commented.

"I learned a few tricks living in the burial mounds. Not many since I was a child, but enough to get us through this situation. Not enough to feed us or give us water though," Lan Sizhui said casually.

"Why were you living in the burial mounds?" Ouyang Zizhen asked.

"Hm? Oh all the Wen remnants lived there when Senior Wei finally rescued us from the Jin sects labour camps. Before sect leader Jin died and the Jin sect demanded retribution. I was the only survivor, Hanguang-Jun found me and took me in." Lan Sizhui spoke calmly, almost dismissively.

But there was a faint tremor in his voice and a saddened wistful look in his eyes that didn't go unnoticed by the other three. Like he was trying to convince himself it wasn't that big of a deal more than them.

"Sizhui," Lan Jingyi said softly. "It's okay. You don't have to act like it's not a big deal."

Lan Sizhui blinked, seeming surprised. "But... The rules..."

"Fuck the rules," Jin Ling snorted. "And you can't seriously expect me to believe that you follow all of them all the time? You don't act anywhere near close enough to Hanguang-Jun for that."

He paused. "Well, before Da-jiu anyways," Jin Ling admitted.

They all chuckled at that.

"I mean... I have broken the rules plenty. Almost as much as Jingyi," Lan Sizhui admitted.

"What?! But I've never seen you get in trouble!" Lan Jingyi cried out.

"I just know how to get away with it. But for all that you break the rules, you haven't gotten in trouble too much either."

"I'm Shufu's favorite," Lan Jingyi bragged.

They all laughed again, and continued to talk until they fell asleep around the fire.

"Ugh, I'm sooo hungry!" Lan Jingyi complained.

"Well we don't have any food, so you'll just have to deal with it," Lan Sizhui said. "You won't even notice the hunger after long enough. It'll be faint in the back of you mind."

"Have lots of experience with that don't you Sizhui," Lan Jingyi grumbled.

"Yes," Lan Sizhui answered.

"Oh, yeah. Right. Burial mounds."

"Ugh, shut up you two, I'm trying to sleep!" Jin Ling huffed.

"Just be awake," Ouyang Zizhen suggested.

"In case you've forgotten, I have a broken leg. I barely slept last night," Jin Ling grumbled.

"Oh boo hoo, does the princess need his beauty sleep?" Lan Jingyi said sarcastically.

"Sleep is also a nice distraction from the pain," Jin Ling said flatly.

"Shitty distraction if you ask me, but suit yourself," Lan Jingyi said.

"You're impossible," Jin Ling snapped.

"Stop fighting," Ouyang Zizhen sighed. "It's too early for this."

"We don't even know what time it is," Jin Ling pointed out.

"Well whatever the time, it's too early."

"Guys, our clothes should be dry by now, why don't I light another stick and we can get dressed," Lan Sizhui suggested before a different fight could break out.

There were a few murmurs of agreement, and Lan Sizhui lit a second matchstick. They all blinked rapidly, eyes adjusting to the light. When they had, Lan Sizhui stood up and handed everyone except Jin Ling their clothes. They got dressed, then Lan Sizhui helped Jin Ling get dressed.

"Now what?" Lan Jingyi asked.

"Now we sit here, bored out of our minds, and wait for someone to find us," Ouyang Zizhen said.

"Can't we try and move some of the rocks and get out?" Jin Ling asked.

Lan Sizhui shook his head. "Too risky. We don't know what it looks like outside, there's a chance we could cause another landslide and get hurt or crushed."

Jin Ling grimaced. "Right, yeah. Dumb idea."

"Ugh, who knows how long it'll take for them to notice we're gone!" Ouyang Zizhen groaned. "Nobody was supervising us, we're the only ones who know that, and we said we weren't sure when we'd be back!"

"We're dead," Lan Jingyi said flatly. "Absolutely dead."

"If we're not found shortly, sure," Lan Sizhui agreed. "We might be able to survive for a month or so if we're lucky, but that's not super likely, we most likely won't survive past a week."

"How would we survive a month?" Lan Jingyi demanded.

"Like I said, if we're lucky," Lan Sizhui interrupted. "But I'm not too sure how hydrating or clean our blood is."

"Sorry, what?!" Jin Ling exclaimed.

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Lan Sizhui assured them.

"I still have concerns!" Jin Ling exclaimed.

"And questions!" Lan Jingyi added.

Lan Sizhui claimed up, refusing to speak.

The other three kept trying to get him to elaborate until they eventually fell asleep after losing their light source, sleeping until the next day.

"How long do you you think it's been?" Lan Jingyi asked.

"I'd guess about a day or two," Lan Sizhui said. "Seeing as I feel hungry more than anything else."

"Why would we be feeling anything else?" Ouyang Zizhen asked confused.

Lan Sizhui just groaned faintly as though in pain.

"Lan Sizhui?" Jin Ling asked, worried.

"I'm fine, it's tolerable..." Lan Sizhui said.

"What's tolerable?" Lan Jingyi asked alarmed. "Sizhui, are you injured?!"

"No," Lan Sizhui gritted out. "But I never ate dinner the night before we left... I hadn't been feeling hungry. Regret that now, because everything hurts. I'm all stiff and sore, and cramping everywhere."

"What does that have to do with not eating?" Lan Jingyi asked.

"It's the beginning signs of my body beginning to shut down," Lan Sizhui explained. "Due to lack of food and water."

"Are you okay, is there anything we can do?" Jin Ling asked.

"I'm not exactly okay, none of us are, but the feeling is tolerable right now. I'm going to sleep though."

Lan Sizhui curled up against the closest person, Lan Jingyi, for warmth and went to sleep, his body feeling so stiff and sore. But it was tolerable... He needed to tolerate it and try to help the others.

When he fell asleep, Lan Sizhui dreamed. He imagined he was back as a small child, living in the Burial Mounds. Starving and hungry, but the adults gave him food, even if they didn't eat because of it.

But Wen Yuan was a child. Even if he noticed, he didn't understand at the time what it meant. He was just happy if he got to go to bed with food in his belly. Then one day he woke up with a pretty man, and no memory. He knew something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what. He felt confused, lost, scared. The man was injured, but took care of A-Yuan, told him A-Yuan could call him baba when asked. Said A-Yuan's name was Lan Yuan. Something about that felt wrong, but Lan Yuan didn't understand what. All he knew is that he was full, he had baba, he was happy. Then he remembered. He pretended to be happy, still was actually, but he was also sad. Mourning the sect he once belonged to, the home and family he once had. He still had baba, and mama now too, still had Wen Ning. But he'd lost everyone else.

Lan Sizhui woke with a start, gasping for air.

"Sizhui? Are you okay?" Lan Jingyi asked.

Lan Sizhui winced, feeling his stiff back yell in protest to his every movement. "I'm fine... Just a nightmare."

"Ugh... Everything hurts," Ouyang Zizhen whined, cracking his neck. "My neck is so sore too."

"Yeah, it's gonna start hurting," Lan Sizhui said with a grimace.

"Hurting how?" Lan Jingyi asked.

"I'm not too sure how to describe it, since I haven't felt that pain for a while, not since I was a kid," Lan Sizhui said.

"Oh," Lan Jingyi replied.

"I haven't heard Jin Ling say anything, is he okay?" Lan Sizhui asked.

"He's asleep," Ouyang Zizhen replied. "I know because he fell asleep on me. I'm not too sure he realized it was me though."

"As long as he's sleeping," Lan Sizhui sighed. "I know he hasn't been sleeping enough since becoming sect leader."

"That's right!" Lan Jingyi exclaimed.

"Ssshhh!," Ouyang Zizhen hissed sharply.

"Sorry," Lan Jingyi said, much quieter. "But still- Jin Ling's a set leader! They'll notice he's missing and come to find us!"

"They still need to actually find us first," Lan Sizhui pointed out. "And he also said he'd be gone indefinitely on this night hunt. It's only because of sect leader Jiang that he was allowed to come at all."

"Yeah," Ouyang Zizhen recalled. "He was suspicious because Jin Ling said we'd just be hunting down a spirit causing minor mischief but we'd be gone indefinitely. I think it was just because he wanted Jin Ling to take a break he agreed."

"Yeah, Jin Ling's been over working himself since the death of Jin Guangyao," Lan Sizhui said. "It took a lot of begging to get him to agree to take a break and come."

"And now he has a broken leg," Lan Jingyi said.

"And a fever I think," Ouyang Zizhen said. "He's way too hot."

"Why didn't you mention this sooner?!" Lan Sizhui cried out.

"Because there's not much we can do."

"What if his leg is infected?" Lan Sizhui asked.

"Do you have anything to help with that hypothetical infection?" Ouyang Zizhen asked.

"Well... No." Lan Sizhui admitted.

"Then it doesn't matter. All we can do is try to keep him cool and hope for the best."

"He's right," Lan Jingyi said. "There's nothing we can do. We're stuck, it's dark we don't have food or water or a way to contact the outside world. All we can do is hope and wait."

Lan Sizhui blinked back tears, frustrated. They were right but it was still painful know there was nothing he could do to help his friend.

"I don' feel good..." Jin Ling mumbled.

"I know, I'm sorry," Lan Sizhui said. "Just try to endure..."

He fumbled around and found his dagger. He pressed it against his wrist and sliced it with a wince and a gasp of pain. Lan Sizhui groaned as his organs curled in protest at his movements, his entire digestive system feeling like it was trying to eat itself.

He pressed the wound to Jin Ling's lips, and the younger boy drank until Lan Sizhui pulled back.

"Tastes funny..."

"I know," Lan Sizhui whispered, pressing the wound to his lips and drinking.

"What tastes funny?" Lan Jingyi asked.

"My blood," Lan Sizhui replied honestly, cradling his injury. It hurt, but he knew it would help, if only barely.

"Why the hell are you drinking your blood?!" Lan Jingyi cried, leaping to his feet then quickly sitting down again to dizzy.

"Because it helps," Lan Sizhui said. "Not much, it isn't water, but it helps. Just barely."

"That's disgusting," Lan Jingyi said.

"I like the taste," Ouyang Zizhen said.

"How and why the hell do you know what blood tastes like?" Lan Jingyi demanded.

"Whenever I cause myself to bleed from a small wound, like say I got a thorn in my hand and it bled when I pulled it out, I'd just lick the blood or suck on the wound to clot it," Ouyang Zizhen said. "I always liked the taste."

"You're weird as shit, but okay then," Lan Jingyi grumbled.

"As long as you aren't eating people," Lan Sizhui said.

"Says the one basically eating himself," Lan Jingyi snorted.

"This is different."

"Different how?"

"...Just different."

"Whatever."

" Everything hurts," Lan Jingyi whimpered. "It feels like my organs are trying to eat each other."

"Yeah, dying like this is more painful than one might expect," Lan Sizhui sighed.

"I don't feel hungry anymore but it's because I'm in too much pain to tell if it's hunger or my stomach trying to eat itself," Lan Jingyi groaned.

"Both," Lan Sizhui said. "I'm pretty sure it's both."

"I'm scared to sleep," Ouyang Zizhen whispered. "What if I fall asleep and just... Don't wake up?"

"We rotate who's awake. If someone is nearby, we need to be awake to hear them. So we rotate every hour. Two people awake and two asleep for about one hour, then switch," Lan Sizhui suggested.

"How will we know an hour has passed?" Jin Ling asked.

"Jingyi and I will have to be on alternating shifts," Lan Sizhui said. "Lans are taught how to track when an hour passes for situations like this. It became a new thing after Hanguang-Jun and Senior Wei were trapped in a cave with the Xuanyu of Slaughter when they were younger."

"Oh," Jin Ling said.

"Lan Jingyi and I will go first," Ouyang Zizhen stated.

The others agreed and Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling went to sleep.

"Sect leader Jiang, Hanguang-Jun is here to see you," Jiang Cheng's head disciple said.

"Fine, whatever, bring him here," Jiang Cheng replied dismissively.

The head disciple left and came back shortly afterwards with Lan Wangji.

"I take it you guys are done with night hunting?" Jiang Cheng asked.

Lam Wangji's brow furrowed. "You were with."

"I wasn't. They told me you were."

Lan Wangji shook his head. "Wei Ying was sick. Said you were with them instead."

Jiang Cheng frowned. "Wei Wuxian was sick?"

"Mn."

"They never told me."

"..."

"They're unsupervised," Jiang Cheng realized. "What were they tracking, and where did they go?"

"They're on Heian Mountain..." Lan Wangji said.

"HEIAN MOUNTAIN?!" Jiang Cheng leapt to his feet. "That's closed off for a reason! There's a whole bunch of fierce ghosts there and nobody can use spiritual energy on it because of a mistake in the array trapping the ghosts! Were you even aware of this?!"

"I knew," Lan Wangji said. "Thought they were supervised."

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath. "Is Wei Ying better?"

Lan Wangji seemed confused but nodded.

"Good. Get him- we're going to Heian Mountain to find them."

"Do you think they've noticed we're gone yet?" Jin Ling asked, huddled up against Lan Sizhui for warmth. He still had a fever.

"I don't know... We can only hope."

"I really don't feel good..." Jin Ling muttered.

"You have a fever," Lan Sizhui said, carefully wiping the sweat off Jin Ling's brow.

He sliced his wrist again, pressing the wound to Jin Ling's lips. "Drink, then go to sleep."

Jin Ling quietly allowed the blood to enter his mouth, swallowing.

"Now sleep," Lan Sizhui said, pulling his arm away from Jin Ling. Jin Ling leaned against Lan Sizhui with a hum of agreement and fell asleep.

"It's so cold," Lan Jingyi said, shivering.

Ouyang Zizhen pulled Lan Jingyi into him arms, and the two curled into each other. "Better?"

"Yeah," Lan Jingyi admitted. "Still cold, but better."

"I hope we're found soon," Ouyang Zizhen said, stomach curling. "Everything hurts so bad."

"I wonder if Lan Sizhui's trick with the blood will work?" Lan Jingyi asked.

Ouyang Zizhen fumbled around until he found Lan Sizhui's dagger. He sliced his wrist open and drank, then let Lan Jingyi drink as well.

"It tastes kinda funny," Lan Jingyi said.

"That's because we're dehydrated," Ouyang Zizhen stated.

"Weirdo," Lan Jingyi grumbled.

"It's true."

"Whatever."

"I really hope we're found soon."

"Jin Ling?!" Jiang Cheng called. "Lan Sizhui?! Jingyi?! Zizhen?!"

"I don't hear anything," Wei Ying said.

"You, shut up and keep playing!" Jiang Cheng snapped as soon as they heard the fierce ghosts start to wail.

Wei Ying quickly put his flute to his lips and began to play.

"It looks like there was a rock slide here," Lan Wangji commented. "Not good."

"Let's keep moving," Jiang Cheng said.

"Guys, wake up!" Lan Jingyi shook Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling.

"Huh? What- that's a flute!" Lan Sizhui woke up with a start.

"Hello?!" Ouyang Zizhen called out. "Is anyone there?!"

There was just the sound of a flute for a minute, then a voice called out.

"Ouyang Zizhen?! Is that you?!"

"Sect leader Jiang!" Lan Sizhui yelled. "It's us! We got trapped inside!"

There was muffled conversation then Jiang Cheng yelled back at them. "Hang on, we're gonna get you out!"

"Be careful," Lan Sizhui called. "If there's another rock slide-

"I know, calm down!"

After a little while, the rocks finally cleared away, fierce ghosts being controlled by Wei Ying preventing another rock slide.

"I never thought I'd say this, but it's a good thing demonic energy still works here," Jiang Cheng said, grabbing Lan Jingyi's hand and helping him up.

"I'm glad you're all okay," he added.

"We're alive," Lan Jingyi corrected. "We're far from okay."

"Guys," Lan Sizhui said urgently. "Jin Ling's fever has gotten worse. He isn't waking up."

"What?" Jiang Cheng cried out. "Hand him to me."

Lan Sizhui and Ouyang Zizhen carefully picked Jin Ling up and handed him to Jiang Cheng.

"His leg-" Lan Wangji noticed.

"He slipped on mud, twisted his ankle then was thrown at Zizhen by the fierce ghosts," Lan Jingyi explained. "Landed on his injured leg."

"I don't feel very good," Lan Sizhui said. His face was flushed, eyes cloudy.

"You caught Jin Ling's fever," Ouyang Zizhen said, grabbing Lan Sizhui's uninjured arm and looping it around his shoulders, holding his wrist but exposing his own wrist injury. He ignored it and slipped his own uninjured arm across Lan Sizhui's back, supporting him.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Lan Jingyi said.

Lan Wangji nodded, and led the group down the mountain, Wei Wuxian still playing his flute.

The group was only halfway to Gusu when Lan Jingyi collapsed, shaking, suddenly unable to support himself.

"It hurts!" He wailed. "Make it stop, please, it hurts!"

Wei Ying hurriedly picked Lan Jingyi up, carrying the crying boy on his back. "We need to find a doctor. Now."

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji nodded in agreement and the group hurried to the nearest town, and went to their local infirmary.

Upon seeing the group, the doctor had the kids each put to bed, and checked their wounds and meridans.

"Their meridans are okay, I'll need to stitch up their cuts and then resplint his leg."

The doctor stitched up Lan Sizhui's cuts first, then made him lay down with a cool washcloth on his head to lower his fever, doing the same with Jin Ling. Then he unbandaged Jin Ling's leg, and they all sucked in a sharp breath at the sight.

The leg wasn't too damaged, but the amount of stitches was concerning, and there were nasty bruises all along the leg from the bone having been forced back into place by Lan Sizhui. His ankle however was swollen to nearly twice it's normal size and almost black from how bruised it was.

"What exactly happened for his leg to end up like this?" The doctor asked.

"He twisted his ankle and then got thrown by the fierce ghosts and landed on his injured leg," Ouyang Zizhen said. "Specifically he was thrown at me."

"That explains the ankle and splint but not the stitches."

"The bone snapped. Bad. It was sticking out of his leg. Lan Sizhui pushed it back into place the best he could and stitched it up before putting it in a splint. There wasn't anything we could do for the ankle though- we were stuck in a cave, no food, water spiritual energy or way of contact. We were lucky to be found." Ouyang Zizhen kept picking at his sleeve while he talked or reaching to pull someone closer only to draw into himself when he realized no one was there.

"That's impressive," the doctor said, finishing Jin Ling's splint which he'd been working on while Ouyang Zizhen talked. "He did a really good job."

"Thank you," Lan Sizhui said from his bed.

"You should sleep," the doctor told him.

"Can't. Cold."

Ouyang Zizhen slipped out of his bed and into Lan Sizhui's, putting the older boys' head on his chest, wrapping him in a hug. "Better?"

"Mn," Lan Sizhui hummed, falling asleep within seconds.

The doctor frowned. "You could get sick."

"I don't care. We were all sleeping like this in the cave, I'm probably sick already."

The doctor sighed in resignation. "Fine. I'll go make you all some congee. Don't eat it too fast, and don't try to force yourselves to finish it."

"Why not?" Lan Jingyi asked weakly, before whimpering in pain.

"Your body won't be able to handle too much food too fast after not eating for so long, it'll make you sick," the doctor explained.

"Oh." Lan Jingyi seemed disappointed, which wasn't a surprise. Everyone knew how much he enjoyed food. But the disappointment quickly disappeared from his face as it twisted into a grimace. He was still shaking. Bad. Everything hurt and ached all over. He was trying to convince himself it was tolerable, but he desperately wanted to cry, to scream, to hug someone and beg for it all to be over, if they were still in the cave he'd be begging for death.

It wasn't that bad, but it was still so terrible at the same time.

It didn't hurt that much, but it hurt everywhere and he would rather just be hurting really bad in one area.

"I'll be back shortly," the doctor said, before leaving.

"How are you holding up Jingyi?" Wei Ying asked.

"Hurts," Lan Jingyi whispered.

"It's okay, it won't hurt soon," Wei Ying said.

Lan Jingyi just stared at him with dead, hallow, bloodshot eyes. They were so empty and dull, all his senses consumed with the overwhelming pain he felt. Even if it wasn't that bad, more of a dull throbbing ache accompanied with cramping, it was over stimulating all his nerves and made it terribly unbearable, even as he tried to convince himself otherwise.

The doctor returned shortly with the congee, giving it to the two boys who were awake. They were hesitant at first after surviving Wei Ying's terrible and horribly spicy congee, but they were so hungry they would have taken even that.

Ouyang Zizhen ate it first, and struggled to keep his eating slow, it was clear that if the doctor hadn't warned him before the entire bowl would have been gone in just a few seconds before anyone could stop him.

Seeing this, Lan Jingyi tried it, but surprisingly ate it slowly without struggle. The main struggle seemed to be eating it while being so shaky he couldn't sit up on his own, propped against some pillows.

The adults didn't understand this, but didn't think too much into it since at least they were eating. None of them realized the reasoning was because Ouyang Zizhen had more tolerance to spicy food than Lan Jingyi and was thus less traumatized by Wei Ying's spicy congee.

Jin Ling woke some hours later in the middle of the night, and instantly panicked when he couldn't feel any of the three curled against him in the cave, and he sat up with a start, breathing heavily. But as his eyes adjusted to the light he somewhat relaxed upon realizing he was no longer in the cave.

"Jin Ling?" Lan Jingyi was still awake.

"...Jingyi. Where are we?"

"Some local doctors clinic. Sizhui's dads and your uncle found and rescued us. We were heading to Gusu for recovery when I collapsed."

"Are you okay?!" Jin Ling asked alarmed.

"I'm fine now. I was just too shaky and weak to support myself. By the way there's some congee, I can bring it to you if you want."

Jin Ling shook his head. "I have literally been unable to stomach congee since Da-jiu forced me to eat it during that incident with Xue Yang. I'd rather eat something that won't make me throw up and feel worse and more sick than I already do."

"I'll see if I can find something," Lan Jingyi said, getting up. He returned some minutes later with a cut up orange and a glass of water.

"The doctor said to eat slowly," Lan Jingyi said, sitting on the edge of Jin Ling's bed on the side his broken leg wasn't on. "Or we'll get sick."

Jin Ling nodded, and slowly ate the oranges and drank the water too shaky to do otherwise.

"Sleep next to me?" He asked after Lan Jingyi came back from taking care of the dishes. "I don't think I can sleep again."

Lan Jingyi nodded. "I haven't been able to sleep either."

Then he climbed under the covers, curling into Jin Ling's uninjured side like a cat.

"I'm not eating it," Jin Ling said, pushing away his bowl of congee.

"You need to," a nurse insisted. "Doctors orders."

Jin Ling just glared at him. "I can't and I won't."

The doctor glared back. "You're going to eat it."

"I'll get sick," Jin Ling snapped.

"You won't get sick, it's to help you because you are sick!" The nurse cried, exasperated.

"I literally cannot eat congee," Jin Ling said.

"This is why I hate helping spoiled rich kids like you," the nurse huffed. "You're so nitpicky about everything. You can eat it just fine."

Jin Ling blinked. Had he just been called a spoiled rich kid for refusing to eat something that literally made him throw up?

He couldn't deny being rich, as he literally ran the richest sect, and his uncles spoiled him a little, but he wasn't that spoiled, he just really couldn't tolerate spicy things as they made him violently ill, and after being forced to eat Wei Wuxian's spicy congee when he got corpse poisoning, also being accused of simply being picky (the juniors that had to eat it quickly apologized), he was unable to stomach congee of any kind.

"Just eat it!" The nurse yelled, causing Jin Ling to flinch back, amd the other three juniors to wake up.

"What's going on?" Lan Sizhui asked.

"He's being a picky brat," the nurse said.

"I'm not being picky," Jin Ling protested. "I'm-"

"Oh shut up," the nurse snapped. "Eat your congee or starve!"

Jin Ling stared at the nurse in shock, but she stalked out of the room.

"That bitch," Lan Jingyi snarled. "I'll kill her."

"I'll help," Lan Sizhui said coldly.

"Count me in," Ouyang Zizhen said, a dangerous edge to his tone. "Nobody speaks like that to or about my ffriends. Any of them."

The juniors came to a silent and a not-so-silent agreement that they'd make the nurse pay for her words and her actions.

"Get up, all of you," the nurse said.

The three juniors and one sect leader blinked at her in confusion.

"Now!"

The juniors, scrambled to their feet, while Jin Ling just stared blankly.

"I said all." The nurse said coldly.

"I have a broken leg," Jin Ling said. "And my blood sugar is a complete mess, I can't stand even if my legs were fine."

"You're being dramatic. We have people coming, we don't have room for you. So get up, and come on," the nurse snapped.

Jin Ling stared at her dumbfounded.

"Oh for fucks sake," the nurse said. "Fine!"

She marched over to Jin Ling's bed, grabbed him by his robes, and dragged him to a different, bare, room, the juniors following her quickly, trying to pry Jin Ling from her grip.

She shoved him into the room, and the juniors hurried to help their friend. But then the nurse closed and locked the door, and the four felt their spiritual energy vanish as the nurse, a former cultivator, placed a mixture of talismans on the door.

"Shit," Ouyang Zizhen said.

"Sounds about right, but at least this time there's light and a window," Lan Jingyi said.

"Think we can break the window?" Lan Sizhui asked.

"Worth a shot," Jin Ling said thoughtfully.

"Great," Lan Sizhui said.

He then proceeded to practically throw his body at the window, to the horror of the others but succeeded in breaking the glass- and falling three stories down into the the street.

Horrified, Ouyang Zizhen and Lan Jingyi rushed over to the window, helping Jin Ling, and looked out, where they discovered a very dazed but alive and seemingly otherwise uninjured Lan Sizhui.

"Gods damned idiot," Jin Ling muttered, but he was relieved.

Down on the street, people were panicking because of the person (Lan Sizhui) who had just fallen out of a window from three stories up, checking to make sure he was okay and hurrying to fetch the doctor.

When the doctor came outside, he was absolutely horrified.

"Why are you out here?! And why did you fall out of a window?"

Lan Sizhui blinked and tilted his head as though considering the question. Then he grabbed the doctor's wrist and dragged him inside and to the locked room, pointing.

"Mean lady locked us in here," he declared.

"Mean lady?"

Lan Sizhui nodded, face serious and grim. "Mean lady very mean. Try to make Jin Ling eat congee even when Jin Ling said congee makes Jin Ling sick. And she try to have Jin Ling walk on a broken leg."

"Okay, you definitely have a concussion," the doctor muttered, unlocking the door.

"Lan Sizhui you idiot," Jin Ling huffed as soon as the door was open. "When I said we should try breaking the window, I didn't mean for you to throw yourself through it!"

"A-Yuan is sorry," Lan Sizhui said.

"Okay what the hell, why is he talking like he's three?" Jin Ling asked.

"I'm fairly certain he has a concussion," the doctor sighed. "And I assure you, my nurse will be fired. Now I'll check him for injuries, and if he isn't too badly injured, I'll discharge you to go to a better healer."

The three unconcussed kids nodded in agreement, while Lan Sizhui just hummed happily.

After a quick examination of Lan Sizhui, the doctor sent someone to get Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji, and Wei Wuxian, writing a transfer sheet to have the four transferred to Gusu.

Lan Sizhui's concussion was bad, but when they got his eating back on schedule, albeit with difficulty, his concussion began to heal as his cultivation slowly returned to normal.

Ouyang Zizhen and Lan Jingyi were back to normal at around the same time. However the three of them struggled to eat for long enough that Lan Sizhui and Ouyang Zizhen still had scars where they'd cut themselves.

But three weeks later, and Jin Ling still picked at his food. They'd tried to give him congee, but he refused to touch it. The doctors at Gusu assumed he was just being picky, and sticking to the rules, refused to throw it out until it went bad since Jin Ling never touched it, instead growing increasingly pale and thin, his cheekbones sinking in.

Once the juniors told Wei Ying about Jin Ling not being able to eat spicy food or congee as it made him physically ill, Wei Ying, horrified, had Jiang Cheng help him remake Jiang Yanli's Pork Lotus Soup, non spicy, and they fed it to Jin Ling until he could feed it to himself, Wei Ying apologizing repeatedly.

However Jin Ling developed severe trauma from the doctors mistreatment, and struggled to eat most foods now, staying underweight, not dangerously so thanks to Jiang Cheng and the juniors randomly dropping in on him, but enough so that his robes hung loose on his frame.

Okay, Idk how to finish this properly, sorry for the bad ending, I'm done traumatizing y'all now. Here, have a meme I found on Pinterest: