Chapter Text
Wei Wuxian sighed in pure exhaustion as he could feel the resentment creeping up on him. "It's not fucking creeping up on me!" he snapped, sounding offended. "Firstly, I can sense it, and secondly, I AM OFFENDED!!"
Wen Qing looked up at him, confused. "Uhhh, Wei Ying? Are you.. alright?"
Wei Wuxian looked at her and smiled. "Yes, I'm quite alright. I hit a... breakthrough with my talismans, and am currently experience.... that effects of it...."
She raised an eyebrow. "Alright... well, can you go with A-Yuan to the marketplace and get some vegetables?"
"Why A-Yuan?" Wei Wuxian asked. Turns out the child was bored and getting cranky, so Wen Qing figured if he spent some time with his favorite gege out in the world, he'd surely calm down.
Wei Wuxian said yes, and off they were! 'It's not a damn adventureee!' Wei Wuxian pouted.
Little did Wei Wuxian know... Wen Qing did something very GRAVE a few days ago, and is trying to figure out the best way to break this news to him. 'What did she doo?? Huh?? Why would she want to apologize to me so bad? She could kill me, and not apologize? Whattt?'
So as he and Wen Yuan walked through the marketplace in Yiling, hoods up, so no one would recognize him, instead of hearing the usual chatter about how horrible the Yilling Laozu was... he was hearing... praises? Were they praising him??
'They are praising me...' Wei Wuxian thought with growing wonder -'obviously "with growing wonder"! i thought they hated me!'- as he listened to the chatter.
"I heard he he was helping the Dafan Wens!"
"I heard he gave his core up!"
"I heard-"
"I heard-"
There was only a pounding in Wei Wuxian's head as the voices faded away. How did they know all of this? Who could have told them?? What was going on?? Turns out, Wen Qing was tried of the shit being thrown Wei Wuxian's way, for she cared for him like a younger brother -'Ha, i knew it!'- and decided, to fuck it.
At a Conference with all the Cultivation Sects, Yumeng Jiang (Sect Leader Jiang Wanyin and others), Gusu Lan(Sect Leader Lan Huan and others(LWJ), Qinghe Nie(Sect Leader Nie Mingjue and others (NHS), and Lanling Jin(Sect Leader Jin Guangshan and others (JGY/JZX), she revealed EVERYTHING. This Conference, originally brought together to plan on how to take down the Yiling Laozu was now just Wen Qing revealing everything Wei Wuxian had done under covers, hiding all the sacrifices, the pain.
'Whaaa...?' Wei Wuxian thought as he listened to this... voice(?) narrating what happened.
It took everything in Wei Wuxian's power and will not to run back to the Burial Mounds and beg Wen Qing to tell him this was all a lie. He hid all this, he did all this so they didn't have to! So they didn't have to worry! He- HE!
why? he gave up so much, and was so hated. he even named his dizi Chenqing, 'to state ones feelings,"'so people could understand, see the truth behind his actions. but-but.... he didn't want to crush them with the guilt. they were only human, they couldn't handle it...?
he was also only human... he couldn't handle it...
"A-Niang?" Wen Yuan said. He started calling Wei Wuxian that after something he said to him and Lan Wangji. "The father is the one with gold, the mother is the one with milk."
Wei Wuxian suppressed a sigh at the memory. He missed Lan Wangji. 'I really do...' he thought sadly, before snapping out of it. "What did you call me!" he gasped in mock horror. "Ohhh, you little rascal!" But he didn't know how much he was like a mother. Always caring, scolding sometimes, kind, etc, etc. 'No way.... what?' Wei Wuxian realized in horror. 'I am like a mother duck!!'
He picked Wen Yuan up, mussing his hair and then placed him on his shoulders. Wen Yuan laughed, and Wei Wuxian could feel his heart soar again. This- this was why he kept on doing all of this. For Wen Yuan. For all the innocent Wens who did nothing wrong.
For him, it was against all of his morals to massacre the innocents -'damn right'- and that's why he did all of this. And now... Wen Qing had gone ahead, and revealed everything?
'Oh no...' Wei Wuxian thought with growing horror as it clicked. 'The golden core... all of it?'
He ran to get his errands done, Wen Yuan barely clinging onto his head, before SPRINTING back to the Burial Mounds. He put Wen Yuan down, and told him to go "Play with Ning-Gege!!" before running to Wen Qing.
She was standing outside the Demon Slaughtering Cave, talking with a few Wens. Wei Wuxian was out of breath when he arrived there, chest burning, and literally everything hurting. 'Courtesy of having no golden core,' Wei Wuxian thought with a wince as he could feel the resentment creeping up again. After his fall into the Mounds, he'd broken so many bones, he was sure that even if they healed correctly, he would be feeling the pain for centuries to come. 'Centuries? More like a millennia.'
She finished talking with the people, before turning to Wei Wuxian with a worried look on her face. "We-"
She was cut off by Wei Wuxian dragging her into the cave, breathing heavily. "Tell me-" his voice cracked, and he looked away. "Tell me it's not true."
Her face mottled red, as she grabbed his face turning it towards her. "I don't want to see you suffer. I care for you so much, and yet-" she cut her own self of, looking away. "Why do such kind people always suffer?" she finished, whispering as a tear streaked down her cheeks. Wei Wuxian reached to brush it of.
She leaned her forehead against his. "Wei Wuxian, I did this not only for you though. By doing this, the lingering threat on us, all of us is gone." She knew that by telling him it was not only benefitting him, but helping the Dafan Wens out, Wei Wuxian would feel better. 'That's true... but besides the point!' If anything was done for him alone, he would never accept it. 'Not.... true...'
Wei Wuxian pondered this, and realized how true it was. He never truly could accept anything if it was done under his name alone. If she truly did expose everything at the conference to also protect the Dafan Wens... he could accept it. But if she did it for him alone, he wouldn't. He could suffer alone, he didn't need anything. But if she were coincidentally helping him by helping others... Wei Wuxian shook his head, dispersing the thought. 'I'm not... that self-less?'
Wen Qing pulled away. "So... yeah," She swallowed, the sound barely audible, yet the only sign of her nervousness. "I... did what I thought was right for my family."
Wei Wuxian blinked. Then he positively broke down. How long had it been since someone called him "family"? How long had it been since someone truly cared, truly understood the meaning of their words the effect it might have on him??
'Too long,' Wei Wuxian thought wryly. 'Far too long.'
"Nonetheless!" he couldn't help but argue back. "You... really! That's... What about my right to privacy!" he sputtered out, grasping at threads.
She hesitated -'Obviously, I raised a good point'-, before saying, ignoring his comment, "There's... going to be another conference in the upcoming week... you should... no you MUST attend."
Wei Wuxian didn't look at her. "So they can launch another surprise attack and try to have me killed? How do I know you haven't switched to their side, Wen Qing?"
She looked hurt, Wei Wuxian realized with a wince. 'Too harsh? Now she knows how I feel?' his mind added darkly, and he pushed the thought away. "Wei Wuxian," she started. "I would never. After everything you have done for my family, I-" she cut herself off, and looked away as well. "Wei Wuxian, Wei Ying. I just want the best for you. Don't let others dictate your life."