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Wei Wuxian hadn't anticipated being personally antagonised by Lan Jingyi at any point in his university career, let alone right out the gate at the beginning of the semester, but here he was.
Over a popsicle of all things! He was being victimised by a 19 year old over a fucking popsicle that, apparently he had not bought for Jingyi, which was of course a matter of highest offense. Or so he had been told.
"It's not my fault I wasn't there!" Jingyi had insisted during the very tense phone call Wei Wuxian had set up to figure out why the kid suddenly resented him out of the blue, "You could have couriered it to me! Or doordashed or something! If you wanted to you would!"
That had been the main issue, and also the fact that Sizhui, Jin Ling, and Zizhen had received one of the 6 yuan popsicles Jingyi was so infuriated about. It was a whole thing. Wei Wuxian hadn't anticipated it being as much of an issue as it was when he had bought the things for them all the weekend before, but if he had he probably would have tried harder to remember to get an extra. If anything, just to save himself the confusion.
He had tried to apologise! How was he supposed to know this would offend the kid so badly? He had offered to buy Jingyi a new one as penance for his mistake, and it earned him a relenting noise from the other end of the phone line.
"We'll talk after you buy me that specific popsicle thank you very much have a great day."
And then he hung up. Just like that. So now Wei Wuxian was wandering the streets of Jianghu city on the hunt for that specific popsicle stand he had found at random to buy a very particular confection.
Luckily, he wasn't alone though.
"A-xian, are you sure it was around here?" Yanli asked.
She scanned the marketplace crowd around them with unsure eyes, pressing her lips together firmly as she looked from vendor to vendor trying to find anything that could remotely be a popsicle stand. Wei Wuxian did as well, his gaze flicking up and down the wide street in search of his target. They had been at this for almost an hour now to no avail, and he was beginning to think that maybe the old woman who ran the little stand had already packed up and left.
He crossed his arms over his chest, "I mean, I'm pretty sure?" He said, sounding distinctly unsure, "This looks right."
Of course, they both knew his memory was not to be trusted, but it wasn't as if they had anything else to go off of anyway. Unless he wanted to get the other freshman involved in this, which he did not.
He kept an every watchful eye as the two of them picked through the crowd together.
"It was a red one," he told his sister as they walked, "With a little umbrella on the top? This nice old woman ran it with her husband I think, and-"
Wei Wuxian stopped dead, his eyes stopping on a cluster of trees across the street, or rather, the person walking along that cluster of trees.
"Shijie!" He exclaimed suddenly, grabbing her hand, "There it is! Quick, she's leaving!"
Indeed she was. Wei Wuxian yanked his sister along, much to her shock and confusion, racing after the woman now slowly pushing her cart out of the main market street most likely on her way back home. He didn't know if she would even let them buy something off of her when she was already closed up and on her way back, but he had to try!
"Hey!" He called, waving one hand above his head, "Ma'am! Wait, I need to talk to you!"
Miracle of miracles, the woman stopped, turning around to regard them with deep confusion on her face.
"Yes?" She asked as Wei Wuxian and Yanli came to a stop in front of her.
"We- Hah…" he gasped, putting his hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath, "I need to buy one of your popsicles, ma'am. It's an emergency."
"Only if you're willing to open up shop for us, that is," his sister corrected politely, offering a kind smile.
The woman seemed to decide to take pity on them, or else they were just very, very lucky.
"Well, I suppose if it's an emergency," she chuckled as she stepped around the cart to pull open the top door of the cooler.
There were a lot of options, and in Wei Wuxian's haste to venture on this popsicle quest and win back Jingyi's good favour, he had forgotten that. He had also forgotten which ones he had gotten for everyone else.
"Ah…" He muttered, scanning the options over and over again to buy himself some time.
'Just call him,' his brain supplied and that was probably the best idea he had ever had. Of course!
Jingyi picked up his face time on the fourth ring as if he were purposefully making it seem like he didn't care. "Yeah?" He asked.
"I found them," Wei Wuxian replied, turning the camera to show the popsicles to him, "Which one do you want?"
"Oh!" Jingyi's eyes widened, and he seemed to abandon the uncaring air he had been trying to put on all week when talking to Wei Wuxian, "Get the melon one! No! The coconut one! No, wait…. Agh, there's too many options!"
Wei Wuxian laughed as he continued to deliberate his popsicle choice. As he did, Yanli leaned over to speak close by his ear, "We could get a few. I'm sure A-Ling would be happy to eat whichever ones Jingyi doesn't."
She was quiet, but of course Jingyi overheard anyway.
"Do that!" He said with a nod, "Wei qianbei, you could just get, like, all of them if you wanted."
He would not be doing that, but he laughed anyway, "I'll get the melon one, the coconut one, the strawberry one, and a few others, okay?"
"And the chocolate dipped raspberry!" Jingyi demanded.
"And the chocolate-dipped raspberry," Wei Wuxian nodded fondly, "Sounds like a plan."
He hung up after that, purchased the popsicles they had discussed, and, after thanking the stand owner profusely, headed back down the street towards Wei Wuxian's dorm. His wallet hurt after dropping a few dozen yuan on treats for a 19 year old and his friends, but it was worth it.
He smiled as he stepped to the side to put an arm around his sister's shoulders, "Thanks for coming with me, shijie. This was way more fun not by myself."
"Of course," Yanli smiled in return, "Hopefully this puts you back in Lan Jingyi's good graces."
Wei Wuxian wrinkled his nose, "I hope so. I don't know what to do if not."
But that was tomorrow's issue. For now, he made his way back to his flat with his shijie, knowing that, at the very least, he had had a good time.