Chapter Text
It didn’t take long for Wei Wuxian to find out what Lan Qiren’s infamous bad habit was. Apparently, not only were his lectures long and boring, but he also liked to give out long tests after each lesson.
Wei Wuxian watched with amusement as Nie Huaisang slaved away copying Virtue two times for him. Honestly, Huaisang should have just asked him to help him study if he was working this hard anyway.
But Huaisang had begged, saying, “Please, Wei-xiong, if my grade is lower than yi, my brother would really break my legs!”
Well, whatever. At least he only had to copy Virtue once now.
…Actually, maybe he should be a bit more concerned that Huaisang was able to copy his chicken scratch-like handwriting perfectly.
On the day of the test, Wei Wuxian had strips of paper hidden in his sleeves. For every odd number on the test, he would write down the answer, roll the paper into a ball the size of a bead, then toss it at different students discreetly.
[Mini Game: Pass the Message]
[Rules: Pass the answers to the questions without getting caught]
[Reward: 1000 points]
He managed to pass around five answers before a hand reached out and intercepted his sixth one.
Lan Wangji pulled his hand back and opened the ball of paper. His eyes scanned the strip of paper for a moment before his brows furrowed and he burned it to dust.
[Mini Game: Pass the Message] [FAILED]
[Reward: 0 points]
Huaisang and him shared a glance. Fuck.
Lan Qiren was so livid he wrote several scrolls worth of letters detailing their misdeeds before sending it to the clans of each student that was caught. Lan Qiren’s Antagonism level increased just thinking about the time before Wei Wuxian arrived; although the disciples couldn’t sit still, they at least did not cause trouble! Now, the originally well-behaved (at least in front of him) disciples started drinking liquor and sneaking out at night. And now, this!
Lan Qiren’s blood pressure rose when he read the reply from Jiang Fengmian, “Ying has always been like this. Please take care to discipline him. : )”
Lan Qiren did not know what “: )“ meant and why Jiang Fengmian was suddenly incorporating dubious symbols in official letters, but he had a feeling that menace had something to do with it!
This time, the amount Wei Wuxian had to copy increased. Normally, Wei Wuxian had people to copy for him in exchange for test answers, but suddenly his most valued customer, Nie Huaisang, backed out.
“Wei-xiong, even if I want to help you, I can’t anymore. You’d have to endure it on your own,” said Huaisang mournfully.
Wei Wuxian’s brows rose. He doubted Huaisang was turning over a new leaf.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Old— uh… Lan-laoshi said that you have to copy both Virtue and Conduct,” Huaisang winced with sympathy. Conduct was so long that you only have to copy it once to lose all interest in life. “He also said that, for the duration of your punishment, nobody is allowed to fool around with you or copy for you.”
“How would he know if someone was copying for me? It’s not like he’s going to make someone watch me while I copy texts, right?”
Huaisang remained silent.
“…right?” he asked as he looked at Jin Zixuan.
Jin Zixuan averted his gaze.
“That’s exactly the case,” Jiang Cheng spoke up.
“…” Wei Wuxian took a deep breath. “Please tell me I heard wrong.”
Jiang Cheng barely kept a smug smile from appearing on his face, “He said that you’re not allowed to go outside and have to go to the Library Pavilion to copy, and also to face the wall and reflect upon your mistakes. Naturally, someone will be there to watch you.” Finally, Jiang Cheng couldn’t help but smirk as he said, “I don’t need to tell you who he is, do I?”
Wei Wuxian pouted. When did his little brother become so mean to him?
Inside the Library Pavilion, Wei Wuxian laid face-down on his desk after copying ten pages, while Lan Wangji sat in the desk next to him, a book in one hand and a brush in the other.
Wei Wuxian sighed and turned to face Lan Wangji, still sprawled over his desk. Lan Wangji, for some unfathomable reason Wei Wuxian would like to learn the secret to, had not even a single speck of dirt on his body. Wei Wuxian tapped idly on his desk with ink covered fingers as he took in how ethereal Lan Wangji looked under the afternoon sunlight. Lan Wangji’s fingers suddenly tightened on the book.
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
Wei Wuxian blinked in surprise.
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
Wei Wuxian continued to stare with fascination as Lan Wangji’s ears slowly turned red.
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with—
‘System, I thought you said there weren’t any bugs!’ Wei Wuxian called out to the System.
There aren’t!, the system replied. I’ve scanned everything multiple times already.
‘Then why is he glitching?!’
Wei Wuxian could barely hear himself over the barrage of notifications.
The system took a moment to think.
This is just my guess, but perhaps the character, Lan Wangji, is experiencing unstable emotions.
‘Okay, so how do I stabilize him?’
I have heard that communication is the key to most human problems.
‘So I just… talk to him?’
More or less.
Wei Wuxian pursed his lips, then sat up to face Lan Wangji.
“I like your handwriting,” he said lamely.
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 1!
Wei Wuxian listened for a while, but no other notifications came. Oh, wow, that worked? But the relationship was romantic and Wei Wuxian didn’t need anymore ‘harem members’. He needed to turn it into friendship somehow. He needed to lessen Lan Wangji’s favorability, but not to the point of antagonism. Maybe if he annoyed him like how he annoyed Jiang Cheng?
Wei Wuxian leaned forward and whispered, “Wangji-xiong.”
“…”
Maybe he should try again?
“Wangji,” he called.
“…”
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now decreased to level 0.5!
Wei Wuxian gasped slightly. It worked!
“Lan Wangji,” he called a little louder.
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now decreased to level 0.1!
And now, for the finishing blow.
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian said with a grin.
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now increased from level 0.1 to level 5!
[ACHIEVEMENT: Soaring Love] [UNLOCKED]
“Fuck!” Wei Wuxian cursed.
Hearing the profanity, Lan Wangji finally turned and stared at him with narrow eyes.
“Uh, you can call me Wei Ying to be even?”
Lan Wangji’s mouth twitched, “Sit properly.”
Wei Wuxian rearranged his legs immediately.
…Lan Wangji was still staring – glaring? – at him.
Shit. With how tightly Lan Wangji was holding his brush, it felt like he was about to stab Wei Wuxian, but he was also at romance level 5? Does Lan Wangji hate him or not?! He’s had enough of this.
“I’m gonna be frank here,” Wei Wuxian suddenly said.
“Who is “frank”?” asked Lan Wangji.
Wei Wuxian, caught off-guard, opened, and closed his mouth several times before rephrasing his sentence.
“I mean, I have something to ask you. Can you answer me truthfully?”
Lan Wangji’s face didn’t show it, but Wei Wuxian could feel his apprehension when he answered, “Mn.”
“Do you hate me or not?” Wei Wuxian asked, straight to the point.
Lan Wangji stilled, then averted his gaze. He set down his brush. It was a long time before Lan Wangji answered with a quiet, “No.”
“Well,” Wei Wuxian said, “you look like you do.”
Lan Wangji visibly frowned, “I do not.”
“Then does that mean,” Wei Wuxian glanced briefly at Lan Wangji’s relationship level then grinned mischievously, “you like me?”
This time, Lan Wangji’s face did a funny little spasm that Wei Wuxian would have laughed at if it weren’t for the sudden barrage of notifications.
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan –
[ROMANTIC] Relationship –
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wan—
The status was changing so fast, the notifications weren’t even able to finish their announcement.
Player, please make it stop! The system practically begged. I am experiencing extreme whiplash. I do not know if systems can vomit, but I think I am about to find out.
“Hey! Uh-! I want to apologize!”
There was silence as the barrage stopped completely.
“I shouldn’t have broken the rules the night we met and made you fight me. I swear I wasn’t trying to antagonize you! I really didn’t read your sect rules and we just arrived that day. If I knew, I wouldn’t have done that!”
In front of you at least.
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with Lan Wangji has now reached level 6!
Oh shit. Abort! Abort!
“But then again, you were the one who attacked first. If you didn’t attack me, we would have been able to resolve things without any violence. I only fight back when someone hits me first –"
His mouth suddenly slammed shut.
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 2!
Oh no. He overdid it.
Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened. Wei Wuxian tried to talk to Lan Wangji, but his jaw wouldn’t move. He let out a series of muffled grunts and noises before hastily snatching a piece of paper and writing on it.
“Lan Wangji, I’m sorry!” was written with barely legible characters.
It took a moment for Lan Wangji to understand the message.
“You do not feel any remorse,” Lan Wangji said coldly.
Another note, “Don’t be like this! Have mercy, please.”
“Copy Virtue one more time,” Lan Wangji replied.
And with that, he turned back to his work and ignored Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian hastily wrote another message and tossed it at Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji crumpled the paper without even reading it.
“Pathetic,” he said.
Angry, Wei Wuxian kept tossing paper balls at Lan Wangji, but he remained unruffled. Eventually, Wei Wuxian lost steam and worked on finishing his quota of copying for the day. Once he was done, Lan Wangji finally unsealed his lips.
Wei Wuxian sulkily got up and walked away. He sighed as he walked out of the Library Pavilion. Man, why is Lan Wangji so difficult?!
Throughout the duration of Wei Wuxian’s punishment, Wei Wuxian kept trying to get into Lan Wangji’s good graces. Most of the time it felt like he was taking two steps forward and one step back since Wangji continued to rapidly change relationship status.
At night, just before he would go to sleep –
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan –
[ROMANTIC] Relationship –
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wan—
[ROMANTIC] Relatio—
Which was surprising, considering that Lan disciples were supposed to be asleep by nine and Wei Wuxian usually sleeps at one.
During class, while Old man Lan continued to drone on –
“And so the core will gather a large amount of –”
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wang–
“The first of head of the clan of –”
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji–
“ – the inventor of the talisman’s ideals were – “
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wan–
While talking to Jiang Cheng –
“I think we should –”
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now–
“ – attack from above. So, do you think you can design a talisman that will –”
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has—
“What was that?” Wei Wuxian interrupted.
Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue, “I’m asking if you can –”
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now rea–
“What?”
“If you can –"
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reac—
“Can you say that again?”
“THIS ISN’T FUNNY WEI WUXIAN!”
However, what Wei Wuxian did notice was that as the end of his punishment grew nearer, Lan Wangji’s emotional state started to stabilize. The notifications were able to finish their announcements and there was usually more than an hour distance between each notification.
By the second to the last day, Lan Wangji only changed his emotional status 15 times for the whole day. This was a considerable change since last week averaged at about 50 notifications a day.
Slowly, but surely, Lan Wangji was coming to terms with whatever he was feeling.
So why doesn’t Wei Wuxian help him out and speed things up for him?
On the last day of Wei Wuxian’s punishment, Lan Wangji noticed said person behaving suspiciously.
Instead of leaving it wherever in the Library Pavilion, Wei Wuxian placed his sword on top of his desk. Then, he started writing without a single word to Lan Wangji.
Lan Wangji’s mouth twitched slightly. He felt strangely irritated.
From time to time, Lan Wangji would steal glances at Wei Wuxian. He did not believe Wei Wuxian had finally reflected on his actions.
Disappointed, but not surprised, Lan Wangji looked at the piece of paper Wei Wuxian had slid onto his desk. At first, he expected it to see lame jokes or even the weird doodles that Wei Wuxian drew sometimes that he called “memes”.
He was supposed to throw it away as usual, but accidentally glimpsed at the contents. He froze. It was a beautiful painting of a young man. The lines were confident, the anatomy accurate, the folds on the person’s clothes were incredibly realistic, and the expression on the person’s face was so vivid, it was as if the painting would suddenly turn to him and speak.
This person… was himself. But that cannot be. This person that Wei Wuxian had painted was like an untouchable immortal – graceful and otherworldly. Was this how Wei Wuxian saw him?
Lan Wangji looked at Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian curled his lips and raised his brow with a wink.
Lan Wangji’s heart skipped a beat.
Then, Wei Wuxian startled lightly before looking somewhere above Lan Wangji’s head. Wei Wuxian had such peculiar habits.
Lan Wangji spoke slowly, “You should stop wasting time on scribbles and focus on your texts.”
Wei Wuxian waved his hand nonchalantly, “I already finished, so I won’t be coming tomorrow.”
Lan Wangji was in the middle of turning a page in his book and paused briefly. He… did not like the thought of that. Why did he not like the thought of that?
“Ah!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed. “I forgot to add something.”
He took back the paper and picked up his brush, and added a few strokes. With a mischievous grin, he gave it back.
He glanced at the paper and felt his mouth twitch. Wei Wuxian had added a flower on the side of his head.
“I know, I know, ‘Pathetic’, right? How about saying something else?” said while still grinning.
Bemused, Lan Wangji said, “Extremely pathetic.”
“Thank you!” Wei Wuxian said sarcastically.
Lan Wangji decided to ignore his antics and picked up the book he was previously reading. He opened the book and immediately hurled it to the other side of the room.
Wei Wuxian laughed hysterically and started rolling on the floor.
“Wei Ying--!” Lan Wangji roared.
“Present!” he could barely talk from laughing too much.
Just as Lan Wangji reach for his sword, Wei Wuxian froze and looked somewhere above his head in horror. Hastily, Wei Wuxian reached for his own sword and raised it between them like a shield.
“Wait, second master Lan!” Wei Wuxian said, a little panicked. “If we fought here, do you think the Library Pavilion would still be standing?”
Lan Wangji still unsheathed his sword and pointed it at him, “Shameless!”
Wei Wuxian smiled teasingly, “What? Don’t tell me you haven’t read something like this before?”
With a glare that could freeze, Lan Wangji spoke, “Go outside. We shall fight there.”
Wei Wuxian’s eyes flickered somewhere above his head again before saying, “Young master Lan, fighting without permission is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses!”
Wei Wuxian inched closer to the – to the --- porn book and picked it up.
Lan Wangji quickly snatched it away.
“Oh, did you actually want to read it?” asked Wei Wuxian. “I borrowed it from someone just for you!”
Lan Wangji felt his jaw clench tighter.
Wei Wuxian continued, “Now that you’ve seen my porn, we are now officially friends! If you want some advice or want to read some more, you can just ask me—”
Lan Wangji summoned his spiritual energy and burned it to ashes.
Wei Wuxian clicked his tongue and with fake regret and said, “What a waste! That was one of the best ones, you know?”
Lan Wangji couldn’t take it anymore.
“Get lost!” he thundered.
“Yes, sir!” Wei Wuxian saluted and hurriedly hopped onto the windowsill and jumped down the Library.
Lan Wangji could hear a few voices conversing excitedly somewhere outside the library. He paid them no mind and closed his eyes to continue focusing on taking deep breaths. Once he has sufficiently calm, he walked back to his desk to sit down.
On top of it was the painting Wei Wuxian did of himself. He felt a spark of irritation and gripped it in both hands. Just as he was about to rip it, he stopped. He stared at the painting for a long time. Eventually, he sighed deeply then tucked the painting carefully between the pages of the book – the real one this time – that he was reading.
When Wei Wuxian landed safely, he ran towards the edge of the forest while laughing.
Nie Huaisang was the first to come out of hiding.
“Wei-xiong, that was my first time hearing Lan Wangji shouting ‘get lost’! How did you do it?”
Wei Wuxian rubbed his nose “Well, let’s say I shared with him a little yellow book…”
Jiang Cheng came out and scolded, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“What? Don’t friends share their porn? I just wanted Lan Zhan to be my friend!”
He wasn’t lying. He really did want Lan Zhan to be his friend. But either he hated Wei Wuxian or l-loved him. There was no in-between and Wei Wuxian had finally accepted that. Now, Wei Wuxian just wanted to be able to sleep at night without getting woken up by constant notifications.
Huaisang mouthed ‘Lan Zhan’ from behind his fan with furrowed brows.
Next to come out was Jin Zixuan who was frowning, “I don’t think that’s a normal way to make friends.”
Wei Wuxian scoffed, “How do you think Huaisang and I got so close?”
Huaisang squeaked and hid behind Wei Wuxian to hide from Jiang Cheng’s and Jin Zixuan’s twin glares.
“Knock it off,” Wei Wuxian said as he rolled his eyes. “Like you two haven’t read any before.”
Jiang Cheng huffed, and Jin Zixuan spluttered indignantly.
Jiang Cheng moved closer and poked Wei Wuxian’s chest, “You’ve seriously offended both Lan Qiren and Lan Wangji.”
It was punctuated by a notification ringing out:
[ANTAGONISTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 4!
“Just wait for your death tomorrow,” Jiang Cheng said. “Nobody’s gonna bury your corpse!”
“I would!” Nie Huaisang piped up from behind Wei Wuxian.
“No! No corpses! Especially Wuxian’s!” Jin Zixuan shouted.
Wei Wuxian put his arm around Jiang Cheng.
“You’ve already buried my corpse so many times,” he pinched Jiang Cheng’s cheek. “What’s one more time?”
Jiang Cheng slapped his hand away with a red face. “Whatever! Next time you do something like this, don’t let me know! And don’t ask me to watch either!”
“So you’ll leave me to cause chaos unsupervised?”
“…”
“Hehe.”
“Don’t ‘hehe’ me!” Jiang Cheng said as he raised his fist threateningly.
Wei Wuxian made placating motions, “Relax, Jiang Cheng. It’s not like I can get close to him anymore, since he hates me now.”
An then he was proven wrong when a notification rang out:
[ROMANTIC] Relationship with [Lan Wangji] has now reached level 6!
What?! What happened while Wei Wuxian was gone?!