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Chapter Text

Finally. Finally, Wei Ying thought happily as he walked into an abandoned alleyway so he could eat in peace. This was his first real meal in weeks (months, maybe years....). A pretty lady, who had seen him all by himself on the streets, took upon herself to buy him a couple of steamed buns from a nearby vendor. They were freshly made and filled with plenty of meat, Wei Ying thought he could cry from relief.

“Thank you!” he said to the lady. She smiled down at him sadly as she had to leave. Wei Ying didn’t really care about that factor so much, he had been alone for so long that it didn’t bother him anymore when adults left. He was just happy to have food.

As he began to tuck into one of the buns in his hands, Wei Ying heard a sound that had him frozen to the spot. It was a bark.

Ever since Wei Ying started living on the streets, dogs were always a bother. Whenever he would look for scraps of food, they seemed to always be there, waiting to scratch at or bite him. The boy knew that the animals were also just trying to survive but why did they have to pick on him?

Soon, Wei Ying could hear more barks approaching him as he tried to shrink into himself. After being attacked so many times, he couldn’t help but fear dogs. And just his luck, many stray dogs seemed to have smelled his food and had entered the alleyway. Wei Ying shivered in fear when, what he assumed was the leader of the pack, a big black mangy thing came close to him and growled menacingly. It obviously wanted the food in Wei Ying’s arms but he didn’t want to give it up. He was hungry too!

But it turned out that holding onto the buns was a bad idea because soon, the black dog wrapped its jaws around Wei Ying’s skinny right arm and pulled him forward. Hard. Wei Ying cried out in pain as he felt sharp teeth dig into his arm making him drop his steamed buns on the ground. Many of the dogs ran forward to pick them up but the black one stayed attached to Wei Ying. It thrashed it’s head around and Wei Ying cried out again.

“Stop! Let go!” he screamed. “Please, I’m not food!”

But that didn’t stop the dog as it’s teeth remained clamped down on the boy’s arm in a death grip. And those dogs that didn’t even get a crumb of the steamed buns seemed to follow the scent of blood and they too began biting at his arm. Tears poured out of Wei Ying’s silver eyes as more and more jaws locked onto his arms, ripping through it like it was a piece of steak.

In a flash of horror, when Wei Ying felt like his muscles were ripping, he bravely tried to push the dogs away with his other hand only to be violently clawed in the face by one of them. The little boy screamed when he felt the skin near his right eye break with blood starting to spill out of it.

When the pain became too much, Wei Ying screamed for anyone to save him.

“Help! Please someone!”

“Save me!”

Help, help, HELP!!”

Wei Ying’s prayers seemed to have been heard for the first time since he began living on the streets because a bright purple light flooded his vision. It made the dogs attacking him stop as it seemed to have hurt them.

“Get away from him!” A loud voice yelled. With another flash of purple, the black dog and his pack scurried off, having been successfully sacred away.

Wei Ying weakly lifted his head to catch a glimpse of his saviour as he was still in a lot of pain. His gaze was met with a worried brown one. An older man had come to his rescue. He was wearing expensive dark purple robes that had lotus designs stitched into them. The man knelt down beside Wei Ying and gently took him into his arms.

“Are you ok, boy?” The man asked with worry in his warm voice.

“I’m...I’m...i’m...” Wei Ying had tried to answer him but the severe pain and blood loss made him black out.

*******

When Wei Ying finally woke up, he was no longer outside. He slowly opened his eyes to see that he was clearly in some building. The walls were made of a dark wood and there was some sort of incense burning by him.

As he gained some sense of his surroundings, Wei Ying noticed the bandage that covered the right side of his face. The injury still hurt but at least it seemed to have been taken care of. Speaking of injuries, Wei Ying had expected his arm to be throbbing with pain but, surprisingly, there was no pain. Actually, he couldn’t feel his right arm at all. Strange, Wei Ying thought to himself. He remembered rather clearly there were definitely dogs trying to rip his arm apart. Then, something flashed through his mind. What if the dogs had ripped his arm apart? Or worse, actually bit it off?

Reluctantly, Wei Ying slowly turned his head to the side to catch a glimpse of what was left of his right arm. To his relief, it was still there. His arm was covered in heavy bandages with some blood staining through. He was glad that his arm seemed to be ok, but why couldn’t he feel it? Wei Ying didn’t have much time to think of this because a man in purple robes had entered the room that he was resting in.

Wei Ying recognized the man as his saviour, the one who made the dogs go away. The older man was carrying a bowl of what Wei Ying assumed was soup and he gingerly carried it in his hands. When the man looked up, he was surprised to see that Wei Ying was awake. He smiled gently and made his way over to the boy’s side.

“You’re awake. How are you feeling, boy?” The man asked, sitting the bowl down beside Wei Ying’s bedside. Wei Ying was reluctant to answer the man. Sure, he had saved him, but Wei Ying had learned from others on the streets not to trust strangers so easily. But his injuries were being taken care of, surely there were no ill intentions?

“I-I’m fine,” Wei Ying started slowly. “Thank you for helping me, sir.”

The man in purple again gave him a gentle smile. “Of course. I couldn’t just let those dogs keep attacking you, I had to help,” he said. He turned to the bedside and grabbed the bowl he had been carrying earlier. “This is some soup for you. The doctor said that you were very...weak when I brought you in and advised that you eat something when you woke up,” he explained.

The man gently helped Wei Ying sit up in the medical bed and began feeding the soup to him. Wei Ying thought that it tasted like heaven. To others it would have been bland but Wei Ying was just glad to be getting food in his belly. When he was done, Wei Ying looked back up to his saviour curiously. “I hope you don’t mind me asking you sir, but, what’s your name?” he asked. Again, the man smiled at him.

“That’s alright. My name is Jiang Fengmian and I’m a cultivator. Do you know what that is?” Jiang Fengmian asked him. Wei Ying nodded his head.

“Yes I do sir, my parents were cultivators,”

“Your parents? What were their names?”

“Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren,” Wei Ying answered him with certainty. He may not remember a lot but he would never forget the names of his parents. Jiang Fengmian’s smile faltered and his eyes widened.

“W-wei Ying?” he asked, almost in disbelief. Wei Ying furrowed his eyebrows when he heard the man say his name.

“Yes, but, how do you know my name sir?” he asked curiously. It took a while for Jiang Fengmian to answer him as he was still trying to grasp that this was Wei Ying in front of him. The boy wasn’t dead as everyone believed him to be. He was alive.

“I knew your parents well. They were....they were my best friends,” Jiang Fengmian answered him quietly. Now it was Wei Ying’s turn to be surprised. How lucky was he that the same man who had saved him also knew his parents? Before the boy could ask anything further, another man entered the room.

By the look of him, Wei Ying guessed this was the doctor that Jiang Fengmian had talked about. He was an older man, older than Fengmian, and he looked rundown and exhausted.

“Ah, you’re awake,” was all he said when he caught sight of the two. He made his way to the bedside rather quickly and immediately began to look over Wei Ying. He decided to keep the bandage on Wei Ying’s face but ‘tsked’ slightly at the bandages on his arm. “I’ll have to redo these,” he muttered to himself.

The doctor gathered even more bandages and medicine before settling on the bed next to Wei Ying. He took the boy’s arm in his hands gently and began stripping away at the old bandaging.

Wei Ying felt strange. He could clearly see with his eyes that the doctor was holding onto his arm, but he just couldn’t feel it. And when he tried to move his fingers, he found that he couldn’t even move them. Wei Ying panicked inwardly. This wasn’t normal was it? He’s never been this injured before but this couldn’t be normal right? Another pang of panic came when Wei Ying looked at the state of his arm.

The doctor had finished peeling off the rest of the bandaging to reveal Wei Ying’s still bloodied and damaged arm. He can see all of the bite marks and scratches that the dogs left behind. The injuries are pretty deep and it looks absolutely horrible but Wei Ying couldn't seem to look away as the doctor started to apply some medication to his arm.

Wei Ying shook a little. Not because it hurts but because he can’t feel anything. He couldn't feel it.

The doctor took notice of Wei Ying’s shaking and immediately stopped what he’s doing. “Is it too much?” he asked in concern. In all his years of treating people, he doesn’t think he’s ever seen a case quite like this. Stray dogs were known to attack people on occasion but never like this. Jiang Fengmian also looked at the boy with worry. He touched the boy’s shoulder gently.

“Wei Ying, are you alright?” he asked.

“....I can’t feel it,” was Wei Ying’s reply. Both the doctor and Jiang Fengmian shared a look. What?

“What can’t you feel, Wei Ying?” Fengmian asked again. Wei Ying looked up at him with panic in his grey eyes.

“I-i can’t feel my arm!” he exclaimed. The doctor furrowed his eyebrows at that and gripped onto Wei Ying’s arm tightly.

“You can’t feel that?” he asked hesitantly. Wei Ying looked at him and shook his head.

“Oh dear...” the doctor muttered to himself. Jiang Fengmian snapped his head towards the older man.

“What does that mean? Will he be alright?” he questioned. The doctor only shook his head grimly. He didn’t know.

*******

“If he starts bleeding through it again, you’ll need to reapply the medication and bandaging,” the doctor tells Jiang Fengmian as he walks him and Wei Ying out of his house.

Hours later and the doctor still couldn’t figure out why little Wei Ying couldn’t feel his arm or move it. The boy in question hadn’t talked much after that, seeming to still be shocked by the revelation. Jiang Fengmian thanked the doctor and pulled Wei Ying along with him with his good arm.

As the two made their way back on the streets, Fengmian couldn’t help but glance down at the boy in pity. His damaged arm had been put in a sling so that it would heal and he didn’t jostle it. His silver eyes seemed distant and Fengmian found that he didn’t like the broken look on the boy’s face. He was the son of Cangse Sanren, he should always be smiling.

Jiang Fengmian sighed deeply to himself and let one of his hands fall onto little Wei Ying’s head. The boy blinked slowly before looking up at the man. Jiang Fengmian gave him a gentle smile.

“Wei Ying, how about you come live with me and my family in Lotus pier?”

Chapter Text

Jiang Yanli sighed quietly to herself as she made her way to her little brother’s rooms. 

The servants had explained to her that her brother had been throwing a fit all afternoon. Yanli knew that her brother wasn’t going to take the news well after they had received a letter from their father earlier that day. He had explained that he had saved a homeless boy while he was away and that the boy would be staying with them from now on. Their father had also mentioned for the Jiang servants to get rid of Jiang Cheng’s dogs as the homeless boy had been attacked and suffered injuries from dogs. Yanli had felt bad for the poor thing when she read that but her brother on the other hand....Yanli winced when she neared her brother’s room.

She could hear Jiang Cheng screaming inside as he threw things across his room.

“Why!? Why did I have to send my puppies away? Why?!” He yelled loudly. Jiang Yanli stepped into the room and knocked on the wall to get her little brother’s attention. At the noise, Jiang Cheng whirled around wildly to face her.

“A-Cheng, what are you doing?” she asked looking around. Everything in the room had been destroyed and thrown around. Jiang Cheng only growled out angrily.

“Why do I have to give up my puppies for some brat I don’t even know?” He asked, crossing his arms. Jiang Yanli gave him a look as she moved closer to him.

“A-Cheng, you and I both read the letter, you know why. The boy that a-die is bringing home was attacked by some dogs, it isn’t wise to keep dogs in Lotus pier if he’s to stay with us,” she tried to explain gently. 

“But mine aren’t bad and they won’t attack anyone!”

“I know A-Cheng but-“

“No A-Jie! They’re mine! ” Jiang Cheng cut her off. 

Yanli sighed deeply. Sometimes it was hard reasoning with her brother when he was like this. He was still so young but he already had such a bad temper, a trait he acquired from their mother. And because of his temper, Jiang Cheng found it hard to make friends with the other children of the clan. He was hard to get along with sometimes and Yanli thought that this was the reason that he played with his puppies so often. He must be lonely.

Jiang Yanli gently placed her hand on top of her brother’s head. The action seemed to have calmed him a little as he took a really deep breath and seemed to lean into his sister’s touch. “When the boy arrives you’ll have to be on your best behavior, ok A-Cheng? We can’t scare him away,” Yanli said. At the mention of the kid that their father was bringing home, Jiang Cheng’s glare returned.

“Why can’t he just stay on the streets and away from here...” the boy muttered darkly. Yanli looked down and gave him a stern look.

“A-Cheng, that was not nice. This boy has been through a lot. We don’t want to upset him when a-die is offering him a home,” she said. Jiang Cheng only huffed and looked away. Again, Jiang Yanli sighed. They would have a long way to go.

*******

The next day, Jiang Fengmian arrived back in Lotus pier. Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng were there waiting for him and Wei Ying to arrive.

On their journey back to Yunmeng, Wei Ying had been out of it for most of the short trip. Ever since the attack, the boy had been hyper-aware of his right arm, the one that had seemingly lost any sort of feeling in it. It shocked the boy all the way to his not yet developed golden core. He just couldn’t believe it. Questions were also constantly running through his little mind. Like, would his arm ever recover? Will he ever feel anything in his arm ever again. Will....will he ever be normal again?

Whenever Wei Ying seemed to retract into himself, Jiang Fengmian would try to tell him stories to distract him. He would talk about Yunmeng and Lotus pier and the clan that he led. He would talk about his wife and his children that were back home. “A-Li and A-Cheng are good kids. Don’t worry, you get along just fine with your new shijie and shidi,” he had said. But the stories that worked the most were the ones about Wei Ying’s parents.

Wei Ying seemed to just soak up any of the information that the clan leader was willing to share with him. It had been a while since Wei Ying had last seen both his mother and father. They both had gone off on a night hunt and never came back. After some time, Wei Ying would forget some of his memories of them and even their faces. But Wei Ying promised himself that he would never forget their names. He could forget everything else but not their names. It was refreshing to hear all about his parents and about their interesting lives. 

“What....what was my mother like, uncle Jiang?” he had asked the older man. Jiang Fengmian had smiled at him and gently patted the top of his head. 

“Your mother was a very beautiful person Wei Ying,” Fengmian had told him. “She always wore a smile. I hope that you can grow to smile a lot, just like her,”

Hearing that, Wei Ying had tried to give the clan leader a smile to show that he was willing to try just that. It was small though, and didn’t reach his eyes, but he was attempting and that was all that mattered.

But Wei Ying didn’t smile now. When they arrived at Lotus pier, his small body shook anxiously. As their little boat docked at the pier, a million negative things popped into his head. What if they don’t like me? Uncle Jiang promised that he would find a doctor to help me. What if he can’t find one? What if I remain broken like this forever? Will they kick me out? All of this was going through Wei Ying’s head as he was carefully led out of the boat. 

When he was back on land, Wei Ying looked around curiously. He found that this place was quite beautiful and was bustling with people. Wei Ying and Jiang Fengmian had arrived in the late afternoon, the prime time for business. There were plenty of vendors out and people buying things from said places. Strangely, this calmed Wei Ying down some, he was used to this.

As he was looking around, Wei Ying quickly noticed that he and uncle Jiang were being approached by two people. They were both wearing purple robes, that was a sign that they were definitely a part of the Jiang clan. Uncle Jiang had told him that the members of the Jiang clan only wore purple. First was a girl who looked to be a bit older than Wei Ying. She had soft features and pretty brown eyes that reminded him of uncle Jiang. Holding her hand was a little boy who seemed closer to Wei Ying’s age. He also looked similar to uncle Jiang but he just looked....angrier. The other boy’s dark eyes were glaring ahead and it frightened Wei Ying, making him shrink closer to uncle Jiang.

When the girl and boy stopped in front of them, they both bowed to uncle Jiang.

“A- die ,” they said together, greeting the older man. Jiang Fengmian smiled at both of them.

“A-Li, A-Cheng,” he replied. “I trust everything has been ok since I left?”

Oh, Wei Ying thought to himself. These must be uncle Jiang’s children, no wonder why they all look similar. He watched as the girl glanced at her brother before dipping her head to her father. 

“Yes, A- die. Everything has been fine,” she said.

“And did you do as I requested?”

Beside the girl, the boy left out an angry huff of air before his sister squeezed his hand tightly. “Yes. We sent A-Cheng’s dogs away. Our guest will definitely feel safe here in Lotus pier,” she said. 

Uncle Jiang nodded. “That reminds me, A-Li, A-Cheng, I would like you to meet-“ Jiang Fengmian gently pulled Wei Ying out from behind his robes where the boy was trying to hide himself. When he was fully in view, Wei Ying saw the looks of shock that the Jiang children threw his way when they saw him for the first time. 

Wei Ying automatically felt his anxiety from earlier start to rise up in him again. He also felt self conscious about his appearance. Though the doctor that uncle Jiang had taken him to had briefly cleaned him up when he was taking care of his arm, he still looked like a mess compared to these children. Not to mention how skinny he was and the fact that he had a bandage covering the right side of his face and his arm still in its sling. But Wei Ying found that he couldn’t blame the other kids. He would be just as surprised if he saw himself.

“-Wei Ying. He is the one who will be living with us now,” Jiang Fengmian finished introducing him. Wei Ying flushed slightly as the two Jiang children kept looking at him like that. Finally, Jiang Yanli seemed to remember herself as she stepped closer to Wei Ying.

“Hello, Wei Ying,” she greeted him gently. “I’m Jiang Yanli, but you can call me shijie. This-“ she said turning to her little brother. “Is my brother Jiang Cheng. We’re happy to have you staying with us.”

But Jiang Cheng doesn’t look happy to have me here, Wei Ying thought to himself. The other boy was currently glaring at him from beside his sister. It scared Wei Ying and he tried to avoid the other’s gaze by looking back up at his new shijie. She smiled warmly at him when their gazes met and Wei Ying felt some of his anxiety met away. He already liked her.

“A-Li,” Jiang Fengmian spoke up, getting his daughter’s attention.

Yes A- die ?” She asked. 

“Would you mind taking Wei Ying into Lotus pier for me? I must discuss a few things with your mother,” he said. Yanli smiled and nodded her head in understanding. She walked forward and gently grabbed onto Wei Ying’s good arm. She tried not to look too long at the boy’s various bandages on his body.

“Come, Wei Ying. I’ll show you around Lotus pier, how does that sound?” She asked him quietly. Wei Ying nodded his head slowly. That didn’t sound too bad. He gave one last glance up at uncle Jiang who smiled at him encouragingly before going along with his new sister. Jiang Cheng followed angrily behind them.

Jiang Fengmian followed their retreating forms into the crowd as he sighed to himself. It was time to go have a talk with his wife. 

*******

“Why have you brought him here?!” Yu Ziyuan shouted at her husband when he tried explaining the situation to her. “Have you seen the boy with your own eyes, clan leader Jiang? He’s crippled! What use is he going to be for the clan?” She asked.

Jiang Fengmian took a deep breath. “My lady, that is not important right now. And there’s a possibility that he will be able to regain some sense of feeling in it as it heals-“

“And what if it doesn’t heal?” Madam Yu cut him off. “What if he remains like this forever? What good will he be then? The only reason you’ve even brought him here is because he’s the son of that Sanren-“

“My lady, that is enough!” Jiang Fengmian cut his wife off in return. Again, he took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. “Wei Ying is going to be a part of our family now, and that is final. If he doesn’t end up healing correctly, then so be it. He can still train just like any other disciple.”

Madam Yu scoffed at that. Please, a cripple becoming a disciple of one of the great clans? Don’t make her laugh. Let her foolish husband believe in the boy, she wouldn’t.

She then motioned for her two female servants, Jinzhu and Yinzhu, to follow her out of the clan leader’s study. But before she went out she glanced back at her husband. “Goodnight clan leader Jiang,” she said coldly before swishing the sleeve of her violet robes and marching out. 

Jiang Fengmian let out a long sigh before sitting down at his low desk. He knew that his wife wouldn’t be happy with his decision, but what she thought wasn’t important right now. What mattered was for Wei Ying to settle in and for Fengmian to find him a healer. 

Jiang Fengmian got out paper and ink and began writing a letter to any of the skilled healers in the area.

*******

Later that evening, when he was supposed to go to sleep in his new room with his new brother, Wei Ying was thrown out by Jiang Cheng.

“Go away!” the other boy had yelled at him. “You’re the reason my puppies are gone! You don’t get to share a room with me!” Jiang Cheng then began throwing another fit over his dogs and blocked the door so Wei Ying couldn’t get in.

So Wei Ying sat outside, listening to Jiang Cheng’s shouting. He kinda felt bad for the other boy. His puppies were thrown out because of him and now he had to share a room with some stranger. Wei Ying probably wouldn’t have been happy either.

He shivered slightly as a breeze blew by. It was getting really late and Jiang Cheng still wouldn’t let him in. The cold didn’t really bother him, he had spent winters on the streets after all, but he was just so exhausted after the last few days. Wei Ying was probably crippled for the rest of his life and now he had been taken in by a bunch of strangers. The weight of everything just finally hit the young boy.

When another chill rocked through his tiny body, Wei Ying decided to try and reason with Jiang Cheng. He got up from his spot on the ground and walked towards Jiang Cheng’s room. He knocked on the sliding door loudly to get the other boy’s attention.

“ Shidi ! Please let me in! I need to sleep!” He called.

“Who’s your shidi ?” Jiang Cheng called back angrily. “Give me my puppies back! Give me back my Princess, Jasmine and Little love! They were my dogs and this is my house! Why did they have to send them away? Just because you’re scared of them? They’re mine! Why are you even here?!” he ranted. 

Wei Ying watched Jiang Cheng’s shadow disappear into the room and then come back. Jiang Cheng opened his sliding door only to throw out Wei Ying’s new bedding. 

“Go away! Get away from here!” The boy screamed at him. “If you come back I’ll make sure to send a group of dogs to you!” 

This caused Wei Ying to panic. He didn’t want dogs to come after him!

“I’ll go, I’ll go! Please don’t send any dogs!” Wei Ying whimpered as he ran away from Jiang Cheng. 

Jiang Cheng growled loudly as he watched Wei Ying retreat. And stay away! He thought angrily. He went back into his room and slammed the door shut. 

After almost an hour crept by without Wei Ying coming back. Jiang Cheng began to feel guilty.

He didn’t mean most of the things he said, he had only said them because he was upset. There were no dogs, and even if there were, Jiang Cheng wouldn’t actually let them go after Wei Ying. He saw how scared the other boy became when he only mentioned them. He also saw the bandages that Wei Ying had on his body. The injuries must be pretty severe if he was that scared.

There was still a little anger left, but it was actually more directed at his father more than Wei Ying. His father never held him that close. 

It’s only because Wei Ying is so scared, Jiang Cheng told himself as he quietly made his wait out of his room and to his sister’s. A- jie would know what to do. 

But A-die never seems that worried when I’m scared, the angry part of Jiang Cheng’s mind thought as he knocked on his sister's door. 

There was some commotion from inside before Jiang Yanli opened her door to find her little brother standing outside. She furrowed her brows worriedly at him.

“A-Cheng, what’s wrong?” She asked. She  then watched as Jiang Cheng bowed his head, almost shamefully.

“A- jie , I did something wrong,” came his quiet voice. Again, Jiang Yanli furrowed her eyebrows.

“You did something wrong? What did you do?” She asked.

“Wei Ying....Wei Ying ran away because of me...” he answered her. Yanli sighed to herself and shook her head at him.

“A-Cheng-“

“I know what I did was wrong!” he cut her off. “But Wei Ying ran away and he won’t come back. I didn’t mean anything that I said before. Will you please help me, A- jie?” Jiang Cheng said rather quickly. Yanli had to blink a few times for her brother’s word to sink in. When they finally did she smiled and patted the top of his head.

“Aw, you do care A-Cheng. Don’t worry I’ll go out and find him, you stay here. I’ll be right back.

*******

Currently, Wei Ying was bawling his eyes out as he sat next to a tree somewhere in a forest.

He was so scared. Jiang Cheng said that he would set dogs loose on him and Wei Ying couldn’t hide anywhere. The reason he came into the forest in the first place was so that he could hide up in a tree. But then he remembered. His arm.

There was no way that he could climb up a tree with only one arm. He had tried to see if he could finally use his right arm, but he was once again disappointed that he couldn’t. The realization that he couldn’t hide himself all because of his stupid arm finally hit him and he broke down in tears. 

He was crying so loud that he barely heard the call of his own name.

“Wei Ying! Wei Ying where are you?” 

Wei Ying quieted his crying when he heard the feminine voice. His eyes grew wide when Jiang Yanli came into view, holding a lantern and looking around worriedly. 

“Wei Ying!” She called again. When Wei Ying sniffled rather loudly, pretty brown eyes met his grey ones. “Wei Ying! There you are!” Jiang Yanli made her way over to him and knelt down beside him.

“Wei Ying, what are you doing out here?” she asked as she looked over him. Wei Ying sniffled again.

“J-jiang Cheng said that he would send dogs after me if I didn’t leave so I wanted to go hide,” he said pathetically.

“In the middle of the woods?”

“I wanted to climb one of the trees but I couldn’t. My arm...” Wei Ying trailed off, looking like he wanted to cry again. Jiang Yanli looked at him sadly. Poor thing.

“Don’t worry Wei Ying, I promise there aren't any dogs,” she said, trying to cheer him up. Wei Ying looked up at her disbelievingly.

“Do you promise?” he asked. Jiang Yanli let a smile pass her lips as she nodded.

“Yes, no dogs. If there was, I would fight them off for you,” she said. She then stood up from her spot and held her hand out for Wei Ying to take. “Come on, let's go home.”

Wei Ying took her hand and stood up. Jiang Yanli gave him another smile and they began walking back home.

“I’m sorry about A-Cheng,” Yanli started after a few minutes of walking. Wei Ying looked up at her curiously. “I know he said some harsh things but I promise he didn’t mean any of it. He has a bad temper but deep down he’s a really good kid. Those puppies were really special to him and that’s why he was so upset. But he felt really bad after and he came to get me when you didn’t come back. He’ll get over it eventually and then I’m sure he’ll be happy to have you as a friend,” she finished. 

Wei Ying was about to speak when suddenly they both heard someone crying in the distance.

“That sounds like A-Cheng!” Jiang Yanli exclaimed as she rushed toward where the crying was. Wei Ying followed close behind her. 

They found Jiang Cheng alone and crying behind a bush. Jiang Yanli walked over to him quickly and knelt down in front of him.

“Oh, A-Cheng...” she murmured when she saw that there was a small cut on his forehead. She pulled out a handkerchief and began to gently pat away the blood. When Jiang Cheng continued to cry, Yanli soothed him gently. “It’s ok. You’re ok now,”

When it seemed that her brother was calming down, Yanli looked at him seriously. “A-Cheng, I thought I told you to stay at home.”

Jiang Cheng sniffled. “I wanted to come and help...” he hiccuped, looking over to where Wei Ying was standing. Jiang Yanli looked between them and then back down to Jiang Cheng.

“You have something to say to Wei Ying, right?” She asked. Jiang Cheng nodded his head and then tearfully looked back up at Wei Ying.

“I’m sorry....” he apologized. 

“I-it’s ok, it doesn’t matter anymore,” Wei Ying replied to him.

Jiang Yanli gently helped Jiang Cheng up and took his hand. She then walked over and took hold of Wei Ying’s good hand. The two new brothers looked at each other, their earlier misunderstanding already evaporated as they both smiled at each other. Jiang Yanli could only giggle at the two’s behavior.

“Look at you two! What am I going to do with you two, hm?” She asked them teasingly, squeezing their hands with her own. Both boys looked up at her blushes matching their little faces. Yanli shook her head fondly.

“Come on, let's go back home.”

*******

When they were back in their room, Jiang Cheng looked over to his new brother who was getting ready for bed.

“You don’t have to worry anymore, Wei Ying, I promise I won’t let any dogs come after you anymore,” he said. Wei Ying looked up at him and gave him a sunny smile.

That was a promise that Jiang Cheng intended to keep for a very long time.

Chapter Text

Wei Ying’s arm never fully recovered. Even after Jiang Fengmian had found one of the most renowned healers of the area to come and look at it, his arm was officially crippled forever. But at least the injuries on his body healed quite nicely.

His right arm, the one that no longer had any feeling in it, was still covered in scratches and bite marks from that fateful day. Wei Ying didn’t like looking at it for too long as it brought back painful memories. So he opted to just keep it bandaged up so he didn’t have to see anything. The scratches on his face also scarred over too. They covered most of the right side of his face, starting from his eyebrow and almost down to his chin. Wei Ying didn’t like looking at his face either.

“I look so ugly shijie !” he had cried to his sister. It was a few weeks after he had arrived in Lotus pier and the Jiang clan’s head healer had given him the ok to finally take the bandaging off of his face. Needless to say, there was not a positive reaction to the end result. Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng had tried to calm him down all day after the boy had seen his face.

“Nonsense,” Yanli had said to him, pulling her brother into her lap. She rocked him back and forth as he cried on her shoulder. Jiang Cheng sat beside his siblings, awkwardly patting Wei Ying’s back in reassurance. “My Wei Ying is still so handsome. And I bet all of the cute girls think so too. You know girls love boys with cool scars,” Yanli had tried soothing him. The comment had calmed Wei Ying down just a bit, but he was still upset for the rest of the day.

These past few years haven’t been the easiest for Wei Ying. Well, some things haven’t been easy. Learning how to move around the world with only one functional arm wasn’t the hardest thing ever.

Before Wei Ying had come to Lotus pier, he didn’t know how to write or how to use a sword so learning how to do those things with his left arm wasn’t that bad. Sure, his right arm had been more dominant but he never really used it unless he was stealing food so it wasn’t that big of a deal. 

The learning process of using a sword was a bit difficult though. The sect’s sword style called for swiftness and agility, it was almost flashy in a way, and Wei Ying struggled quite frequently with it. He could grasp the basic concept but it was hard for him to actually put it to use. When your sword style was as unique as that, the main focus was to have balance and Wei Ying found it difficult to do so when he didn’t have control of both of his arms.

He could go through the motions just fine on his own but he seemed to fail whenever he was put up against someone.

Wei Ying remembered the time when he was sparring with another disciple and Madam Yu had been there to see him stumble. It was probably one of the worst days of his life (the first obviously being when he was first crippled).

The disciple he was set to fight against was younger than him and a couple of inches shorter than him. Wei Ying had gritted his teeth bitterly as he faced the other disciple. Their instructor had most likely done it on purpose. He bowed stiffly to the other disciple when he was told to, made sure his right arm was secured in its sling, and attacked.

The fight, unfortunately, didn’t last very long. Wei Ying had been determined to win, as he always was, but it always seemed that luck was never on his side. He had a good start though. He had matched each thrust evenly and had put in a lot of power behind each attack. His left arm was quite strong as he always used it but this didn’t matter in the end. His opponent had shifted to the side in a way that had caused Wei Ying to lose his balance and stumble onto the ground. He could have caught himself if he could use his right arm but because he didn’t, he had fallen. Embarrassed, Wei Ying yielded to his opponent. 

On the sidelines, Wei Ying could see most of the other disciples laughing at him while others gave him pitying looks, his instructor also was shaking his head in annoyance. What really bothered Wei Ying though was the look on his brother’s face. Jiang Cheng had been watching the whole time and was now glaring at him. Wei Ying looked away from him shamefully and was about to get up when he heard a loud yell from the crowd.

“Wei Ying! What on earth was that?!” 

Wei Ying looked back up to see Madam Yu  storming at him, fury clear in her dark eyes.

Wei Ying had learned early on that Madam Yu did not like him. He wasn’t ever really sure why, only that she and uncle Jiang would get into arguments over him a lot . He had tried to get her approval and when that didn’t work he tried to give her a wide margin. He didn’t have to hear her badmouth him if he wasn’t near her. But of course, nothing ever went Wei Ying’s way.

When Madam Yu had stopped in front of him, he quickly bowed his head to her.

“Madam Yu I-“

“Shut up!” She screamed at him. Wei Ying flinched at her tone. She began stalking around him, her disdain clear on her face. “The Jiang clan has taken you in, and this is how you repay them? By stumbling around like some fool?” She asked him. Again, Wei Ying flinched. Madam Yu also liked to bring up his injury a lot. Carefully, he raised his eyes to look at her.

“Madam-“ he had tried again but this time Madam Yu had brought out her whip, Zidian. That shut him right up. Madam Yu then glanced behind to see that the disciples were still watching intently. She glared at them.

“Clear the yard!” She commanded. At the tone in her voice, the disciples, the training instructor, and any servants that were in the yard scattered. No one wanted to be around when Madam Yu was this angry and had her whip out.

Out of the corner of his eye, Wei Ying saw Jiang Cheng leaving with the rest of the crowd. Now, he was all alone with Madam Yu.

When the rest of the disciples had left, Madam Yu wasted no time and whipped Wei Ying with Zidian. When the whip met his body, Wei Ying yelled from the shock that came with it and fell onto his back. 

“Pathetic!” Madam Yu hissed at him. “How could my husband bring in a useless cripple like you?” she asked, whipping him again. Another yell of pain fell through Wei Ying’s mouth. “You’re nothing but a burden to the clan, Wei Ying. You’re a burden on this family! Clan leader Jiang was a fool to allow you to train with our disciples. What will the other clans think if they find out about your arm, huh? You’ll only bring shame to us!” She screamed at him, whipping him again.

All throughout his beating, Wei Ying had to endure the countless insults that Madam Yu threw his way.

“You’re nothing but the son of a servant!” Whip.

“You’ll never be good enough!” Whip.

“Pathetic!” Whip.

“You’re a burden on this family!” Whip.

“Useless!” Whip.

“ Cripple! ” Whip.

And all throughout his beating, Wei Ying began to believe what she was yelling at him. He was just the son of a servant. He wasn’t good enough. He was pathetic and a burden on the Jiang clan. He was nothing but a useless cripple. He spit out the blood that had produced in his mouth and glared down at his right arm. Somehow, he could feel Madam Yu getting angrier by the second. Isn’t this enough? Wei Ying thought pathetically. He was hurting all over, why couldn’t she just get it over with? 

After another hard whipping came down on his back causing him to cry out again, Wei Ying saw a flash of purple out of the corner of his eye.

“A- NIANG STOP!” came Jiang Cheng’s loud voice. The boy put himself in between his mother and brother, and blocked Wei Ying from Madam Yu’s sight with his arms. Both Wei Ying and Madam Yu looked at him in confusion. Jiang Cheng had never dared to stand up to his mother before.

“A-Cheng!” Madam Yu spluttered out. “What do you think you are doing?” 

Jiang Cheng tried not to glare at his mother. “A- niang, please stop hurting Wei Ying. I think he’s learned his lesson,” he said. Madam Yu widened her eyes in disbelief. 

“Are you really going to defend the cripple?” She asked him, pointing a finger done at Wei Ying. Wei Ying was surprised to see that Jiang Cheng looked offended for him. 

“A- niang, please, Wei Ying doesn’t need to be whipped anymore. It wasn’t his fault that he was injured. He’s been trying his best all this time so please don’t punish him,” Jiang Cheng pleaded with his mother. Madam Yu stared down at him for a moment, still shocked that he would go against her so boldly. When she finally came back to herself, all she could do was shake her head at him.

“You’re a fool just like your father,” she said, venom etching through her voice. Jiang Cheng flinched at her tone and watched her storm away from him and Wei Ying.

Once Madam Yu was gone, Jiang Cheng turned back to Wei Ying and crouched down beside him.

“Wei Ying, are you ok?” he asked, concern in his voice. Wei Ying shook his head as he slowly sat up, tears running down his cheeks.

“J-jiang Cheng I’m.....i’m sorry I-“ Wei Ying started to apologize but Jiang Cheng cut him off.

“What are you apologizing for? You didn’t do anything wrong,” Jiang Cheng said. 

“Earlier though....Madam Yu was right. If I can’t fight properly how am I ever going to repay your family? I’m nothing but a burden to the clan,” Wei Ying murmured, looking away. 

“You shouldn’t listen to her,” Jiang Cheng murmured back. “That’s all she does. You shouldn’t let her get to you,” But they both knew how hard that was. Madam Yu liked to stab where it was most painful. It wasn’t like Jiang Cheng hadn't felt the sting of it before. He knew exactly how his brother was feeling. After a moment of silence, Wei Ying spoke up again.

“Jiang Cheng, do you think it will be better if I just....went away?” he asked hesitantly. Jiang Cheng looked up at him, surprised.

“What are you talking about, Wei Ying?” he asked in turn. Why would his brother even think that? Wei Ying ducked his head down, not looking into his brother’s eyes.

“It’s just.....what if I can’t ever learn how to fight correctly? What use will I be to the clan then? I know Madam Yu isn’t happy when I’m around and she and uncle Jiang always get into fights about me. The other disciples always laugh at me and our instructors hate having to deal with me. So maybe I should just go-“

“Shut up.”

Wei Ying looked up, surprised. His brother was now glaring at him. 

“How stupid can you be, Wei Ying? Who cares what other people think? Don’t you know how heartbroken I- I mean my sister would be if you left? Where would you even go? Back on the streets? Well, there’s no way I’m letting you leave if that’s the case,” Jiang Cheng crossed his arms over his chest angrily. 

Wei Ying’s eyes widened at his brother’s words. He’s never heard Jiang Cheng talk like that before. Did...did his brother really threaten to keep him here? A small, shy smile crossed Wei Ying’s face.

“Do you really mean that, Jiang Cheng?” he asked. Jiang Cheng snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Of course I mean it! If I find you trying to run away, I’ll lock you in your room forever!” he threatened. Wei Ying only smiled wider at that. To anyone else this would have been weird but Wei Ying knew better. This was just Jiang Cheng’s odd way of saying he cared. Wei Ying scooted closer to him and punched him in the arm affectionately. Jiang Cheng glanced back at him and he couldn’t help the smile that passed his lips. 

After a comfortable silence had fallen between the two, Jiang Cheng looked back at his brother.

“Are you feeling ok now?” he asked. Wei Ying looked up at him and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he said. Jiang Cheng nodded along with him and stood up from his spot on the ground. He then held out his hand for Wei Ying to take.

“Come on. I’ll take you to see A- jie .”

At the mention of his senior sister, Wei Ying quickly took his brother’s hand and stood up. He winced painfully when he stood though, remembering his whipping. His whole body ached. At Jiang Cheng’s questioning look, Wei Ying only shook his head and smiled in reassurance.

As the two brothers made their way to see their sister, Jiang Cheng glanced over to Wei Ying. “You know...” he started. “If you want, I can help you with your sword skills.” 

Wei Ying blinked at him, surprised. “Really Jiang Cheng?” he asked. Jiang Cheng was much better at fighting then he was. Was he really offering to help him? Jiang Cheng only rolled his eyes.

“Yes really. I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t sure,” he said. Wei Ying grinned at him. Aw, his brother really did care about him!

Once they had reached Jiang Yanli’s room, Wei Ying immediately burst through the doors.

“ Shijie! ” He cried when he saw his senior sister. He then jumped into her lap and hugged her. 

Jiang Yanli didn’t have much time to process what just happened but she held Wei Ying close to her on instinct. “A-Ying, what happened?” she asked the boy in her lap. Wei Ying didn’t speak, he only shoved his face into her shoulder and groaned.

“He fell down when we were practicing today,” Jiang Cheng’s voice came as he entered the room. Jiang Yanli’s eyes widened. “And mother yelled at him for it,” he finished. He sat beside his big sister and pressed up against her, laying his head on her shoulder. He didn’t tell her about the beating Wei Ying endured. His sister would have been upset if she knew about it. Jiang Yanli looked down at the boy in her arms.

“Are you alright, A-Ying?” She asked. Again, Wei Ying groaned and shook his head. 

“No, it was terrible shijie. Everyone was laughing at me. And then Madam Yu yelled at me in front of the other disciples! It’s too embarrassing! I’ll never go out again and only stay with my shijie forever!” he cried out dramatically. Beside them, Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. Wei Ying only acted this dramatic when he wanted to be pampered by their sister. Wei Ying let out a fake sniffle and pouted up at her. “The only way I’ll feel better is if shijie makes her lotus pork rib soup.”

Yanli let out a quiet giggle and shook her head fondly at him. She hugged him tight and kissed him on his forehead. “Of course I can make some soup for my A-Ying. Does A-Cheng also want some?” She asked her other brother. Jiang Cheng looked up at her and nodded furiously, pressing up against her even more. Yanli giggled again and also gave him a forehead kiss. She just couldn’t say no to her little brothers, could she?

Later that evening, after a wonderful dinner that their sister had made for them, Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying had snuck back into the training yard. Jiang Cheng had kept his promise and he was going to help out Wei Ying.

*******

Wei Ying was fifteen now. He had his own sword, which he had named Subian (Jiang Cheng had given him shit for naming it that for weeeeeeks) and he had his own courtesy name. Wuxian. To be without envy. If only that was the case. 

There were a lot of things Wei Wuxian envied in life. 

Currently, Wei Wuxian sat beside his senior sister as they watched the disciples shooting their arrows at kites. He couldn’t use a bow with only one arm and envied how much fun the other disciples were having. But as Jiang Cheng shot down one of the farthest kites, Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but feel proud. Instead of clapping like the other disciples (because he literally couldn’t), he gave his brother a thumbs up. 

With his brother’s help, Wei Wuxian had surprisingly become one of the best swordsmen in the clan and had been made the head disciple. No one had believed that he could do it, hell, he didn’t even think he could do it but with his siblings there by his side, he slowly began to develop some confidence. There still wasn’t a lot there but at least it was something. Uncle Jiang had been proud of him while Madam Yu had been furious. It seemed like he had proved her wrong after all. Attempt the impossible, right?

Just as his brother and the other disciples were finishing up with their shooting, a servant came running towards them.

“Young master Jiang, young master Wei, lady Jiang,” the servant bowed to all three of them, clearly out of breath. “Clan leader Jiang would like to see you,” 

The three siblings all looked at each other. It wasn’t often that their father called on them. What did he want? 

“Did he say why he wanted us?” Wei Wuxian questioned. 

The servant only shook his head. “No, but he said it was important,”

Wei Wuxian then turned to his siblings. “Come on, let's go see why uncle Jiang wants us,” He helped his sister up from her spot on the ground and they waited for Jiang Cheng to put away his bow. Once he was done, the three of them went off to see their father.

Once all three of them had arrived at the clan leader’s office, Wei Wuxian knocked on the door.

“Come in,” was the voice that answered from within. Wei Wuxian slid the door open and he entered along with his siblings.

“A- die. ”

“Uncle Jiang.”

All three of them bowed to the older man sitting at his desk.

Jiang Fengmian looked up at his children and smiled. “Ah, A-Li, A-Xian, A-Cheng, I’ve been expecting you.”

“A-die,” Jiang Yanli said, stepping forward. “Has something happened?” Jiang Fengmian smiled at his daughter and shook his head. 

“No, nothing has happened. Earlier today I received this invitation,” he held up a letter that was decorated with blue clouds. The three siblings eyed the paper curiously. “The Lan clan has invited you all to attend their lectures this year in Gusu. All of the young masters and mistresses of the other clans will also be attending. You all will set out in a couple of weeks,” Jiang Fengmian informed them.

Despite the fact that they would be going to Gusu , Wei Wuxian felt excited. This was the first time that he would be leaving Lotus pier in years. Madam Yu never let him attend any of the cultivation conferences, afraid that he would bring the wrong kind of attention to them. So he was always left at home, only hearing stories of the outside world from his siblings. But now he can see everything on his own, no matter if he was going to the Cloud recesses or not. This was going to be fun.

As soon as Jiang Fengmian had dismissed them, he had called Wei Wuxian back to talk to him privately.

“What is it, uncle Jiang?” Wei Wuxian asked curiously. He didn’t like the look of concern that was on the clan leader’s face.

“You know A-Xian, if you don’t want to go, I won’t make you,” Jiang Fengmian said. He had always worried about how others would treat the boy. He knew that Wuxian continued to struggle in some areas and didn’t want any of the children from the other clans making fun of him. Wei Wuxian huffed out loudly.

“Uncle Jiang, I’ll be fine! I don’t care what others think of me anymore. I still have my left arm. If anyone has something bad to say about me, I’ll beat them!” he said confidently. But in truth, Wei Wuxian himself was also worried about how the other clans would react to him. Already, people in Yunmeng liked to stare at his face or look at his arm funny. It always bothered him and he knew that the clans also weren’t going to be so forgiving. But for now, he didn’t care. He wasn’t a child anymore, he could do this.

Jiang Fengmian smiled down at him and patted the top of his head. “Of course A-Xian, I was just looking out for you,” he said. 

“Thank you for worrying uncle Jiang, but I promise I’ll be fine,” Wei Wuxian said. Jiang Fengmian nodded and let him go. Wei Wuxian bowed to him and left the office to go catch up with his siblings.

*******

“If you really aren’t ready A-Xian-“

“Ugh!”

Wei Wuxian groaned for what felt like the hundredth time that week. He and his siblings were set to leave for Gusu in a few days and everyone around him seemed to be treating him like he was made of glass. He was going to be fine!

“I appreciate your concern sir, but I’ll be ok. I’m not a baby,” Wuxian said. 

The Jiang sect’s head doctor, Bai Xieren only shook his head fondly at the teenager in his office. 

Xieren was an older man and had taken on this profession many years ago. Wei Wuxian’s condition was unlike anything he had ever seen in his years of being a healer. Cultivators injured themselves all the time during night hunts but Wuxian’s case was so different. A young boy who was attacked by some stray dogs and then lost all feeling in his arm? Now that’s something you don’t hear about everyday. Some affection had also grown between the two as Wei Wuxian visited him often. Wei Wuxian was a sweet kid and Xieren had grown to see him as another son.

“A-Xian, there’s no shame in having people care for you. We all just want to make sure that you are going to be alright,” Bai Xieren explained to him gently. He then made Wei Wuxian take off his outer robes so that he could get a better look at that right arm. 

As the healer began to take the bandages off, Wei Wuxian looked away so he didn’t have to see all of the scars that covered his arm. Bai Xieren glanced at him and sighed quietly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do this quickly,” he said.

The two did these kinds of appointments all the time. Xieren would touch and poke at Wei Wuxian’s arm to see if he could finally feel anything. But the answer was always the same. Wuxian could feel nothing.

When the healer began squeezing at his arm, he glanced up at the boy. Wei Wuxian shook his head. When Xieren rubbed from Wuxian’s shoulder down to his hand, again, Wuxian shook his head. Even when Bai Xieren took out a needle and stuck it into the arm, Wei Wuxian shook his head. Bai Xieren sighed to himself and took out the needle. He then began wrapping Wuxian’s arm back up.

“Seems like nothing has changed. Darn, I kind of wanted my arm to start working again randomly when I went out into the world,”

“A-Xian....”

“That was a joke sir, just a joke!”

As soon as his arm was bandaged back up, Wei Wuxian immediately jumped up from where he was sitting. Bai Xieren raised an eyebrow at him.

“Where are you off to in such a rush?” the older man asked. Wei Wuxian grinned at him.

“I have to go start packing!”

“You didn’t pack before now?” 

“Of course not!”

“A-Xian, you leave in only a couple of days,”

“That’s why I’m going to do it now!”

With a quick wave, Wei Wuxian skipped out of the doctors room. Bai Xieren let out a huff of amusement and shook his head. That kid was really something.

*******

On the day that they were set to leave for the Cloud recesses, Jiang Fengmian was there to see his three children off. 

“You all be safe on your way to Gusu, ok?”

Jiang Yanli smiled at her father. “Don’t worry, we’ll be just fine,” she said. Jiang Fengmian smiled at her and nodded his head. 

“Alright, I trust you. Now off you go,” 

The three siblings bowed once to their father before boarding their boat with a few other disciples. They waved back to him as their boat departed and they were finally off to Gusu.

When Lotus pier was behind them, Jiang Cheng turned to his brother. “Wei Wuxian-”

“I swear Jiang Cheng if you tell me-”

“Can you shut up for one second and let me finish?” Jiang Cheng glared at him. Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes and crossed his left arm over his chest. He was annoyed but he was listening.

“Like I was trying to say….If anyone dares to mess with you while we’re at the Cloud recess, come find me and we can beat them up together,” Jiang Cheng finished. Wei Wuxian let a smile pass his lips as he shoved his brother affectionately. He would definitely do just that.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean you’ve run out of rooms?” 

Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli had just arrived in Caiyi town. They had wanted to rest there before heading to the Cloud recesses, only to find out that every inn was full.

“I’m sorry sir,” the owner told them. “Usually our business is booming but earlier today a wealthy young master came in and booked all of the rooms.”

The three siblings all shared surprised glances. Who would book a whole tavern? The owner carried on.

“He had specifically said to drive anyone away except for his own party. Again, I’m sorry, but I think it will be better if you find another inn.”

Wei Wuxian wanted to cut in but there was a call from the entrance. Just then, two young female cultivators dressed in gold walked into the building. At the sight of them, the owner immediately went over.

“Ah misses, I’ve done what was asked. All of the rooms have been cleaned and I have sent any other guests away,” he said, motioning to the group from Yunmeng. The girl closest to the group only spared them a short glance before handing a box that she was carrying to the owner.

“I need you to put these perfume bags in our young master Jin’s room. They keep any mosquitoes at bay,” she said. Beside her, her companion giggled.

“Mianmian, you’re so considerate! No wonder our young master favours you!” The girl named Mianmian elbowed her companion.

“Don’t talk like that,” she said. The companion only shrugged before turning back to the owner.

“You should be very careful with this and take our young master into account.”

“Don’t worry misses, I fully understand,” he assured them. The Mianmian girl smiled happily and turned to her friend. 

“Let’s go check our young masters room,” she said. At that, the owner led the two girls away and up the stairs. The Yunmeng group stared after them. Jiang Cheng huffed beside Wei Wuxian.

“They must be from the Jin clan. I’m guessing they’re here for the lectures as well and decided to rest in Caiyi town,” he said. Wei Wuxian watched the girls climb up the stairs curiously. He had never seen anyone from the Jin clan before but ultimately, he wasn’t impressed. When one of the disciples that had traveled with them questioned Jiang Cheng on their next move, Wei Wuxian thought of something.

“I have an idea,” he said aloud and walked after the two girls. 

“Wei Wuxian, what are you doing?” Jiang Cheng called after his brother. Wei Wuxian looked back at him and gave him a cheeky smile. 

“Don’t worry Jiang Cheng, I just wanna try something,” he said before moving up the stairs. When he was almost to the top he called out to the girls.

“Miss Mianmian.”

At the sound of her name, Mianmian and her companion both turned to see who had called them. They were both shocked by the appearance of the young man climbing up the steps. It wasn’t everyday that you saw someone with their arm in a sling and a huge scar on their face. Wei Wuxian was aware of their staring but elected to ignore it. He smiled charmingly at them anyway.

“Miss Mianmian, can I borrow one of your perfume bags?” he asked as he walked up to them. Mianmian cleared her throat and tried looking away from the side of Wei Wuxian’s face. I knew people were going to stare at me strangely, Wuxian thought bitterly. 

“Who are you?” Mianmian asked him. “And who gave you the right to call me Mianmian?” Wei Wuxian looked at her curiously before pointing to her companion.

“It was her,” he said innocently. The other looked a little dazed at that. “She called you Mianmian, why can’t I?”

“Who even are you? Don’t call me that!” She said back at him. Wuxian pouted at her.

“Then why not tell me your real name?” he asked. The not-Mianmian scoffed at him and looked away.

“Why should I tell you when you haven’t even said your name?”

Wei Wuxian crossed his arm over his chest. “Ok, ok I’ll tell you. My name is....Yuandao,” he told her. He smiled to himself at the little joke he made.

Both girls looked confused as they processed the name. Mianmian’s friend then pulled her close to whisper something to her. Wei Wuxian leaned in to listen in on what they were saying.

“Mianmian, I don’t think there is anybody from the clans that has his name. But from his....looks, he doesn’t look like a nobody,” she summarized. Just as she said that, Wei Wuxian watched as Mianmian came to the realization at what he had just told her. She looked back at him only to see a shit eating grin on his scarred face.

“You! You teased me!” She cried looking away. Wei Wuxian chuckled as her friend looked at her curiously. 

“What happened?” her friend asked. Mianmian then pulled her close and explained it to her. The companion then spoke it out loud causing Mianmian to shush her. All the while, Wuxian watched on in amusement. He was having way too much fun playing around with these girls. It was funny to see the blush that had spread onto Mianmian’s pretty face. 

“How shameless,” she muttered. Wei Wuxian chuckled again before tilting his head.

“Miss Mianmian is from the Lanling Jin sect, correct?” he asked. “I have never seen it, but people always tell me how the girls from there are all as pretty as fairies. Now that I have seen it for myself, I have to say that these sayings are definitely true.” 

He watched as Mianmian’s face grew even more red than before. “Shameless,” she repeated. Wei Wuxian gave them one more amused glance before bowing. 

“My name is Wei Ying, courtesy name Wei Wuxian, and I’m from the Jiang clan of Yunmeng,” he finally introduced himself. “We of Yunmeng are also attending the Lan lectures and want to rest in Caiyi town. As fellow cultivators, I assume that Miss Mianmian wouldn’t want us to sleep out in the streets.” 

Mianmian hummed at his explanation and smiled to herself. “Oh, so it seems that this Yuandao actually has a decent name,” She said. “But, as for the rooms...” she trailed off and looked away deep in thought. Once again, her companion pulled her close. 

“Mianmian, young master isn’t going to bring a lot of people with him, it’s a waste to let all of these rooms remain empty. They arrived here first anyway,” she said. The two girls shared an agreeing nod before turning back to Wuxian who had to act like he didn’t just hear everything that they had just said. 

“As this is the case,” Mianmian started. “We will allow you and your party to stay. I won’t bother our young master with this,” she said. Wei Wuxian grinned and again bowed to them.

“Thank you ladies,” he said. The two girls bowed to him before he gave them one last smile and went back down the stairs. 

Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, and the rest of the Jiang disciples were there waiting for him. Jiang Cheng looked up at him as he walked back toward the group.

“Where did you go off to?” He asked his brother. Wei Wuxian laughed at him. 

“No where. Only persuading two pretty girls to allow us to stay,” he said as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Jiang Cheng looked at him in complete shock.

“And it worked?!” 

Wei Wuxian gave his brother an offended look. “Of course it worked! Just because I have a bad arm and a terrible looking face doesn’t mean that I still can’t woo girls better than you!”

“You!-“

Jiang Yanli laughed loudly and stepped in between her two brothers. “Ok, ok you two. Let’s not make a scene,” she then turned to Wuxian and gave him a stern look. “And your face is not terrible looking. My A-Xian is very handsome,” she said, bopping her brother on the nose. Wei Wuxian smiled shyly at her and wanted to give her a big hug. He held back though as she addressed everyone there. “Come on, let's see our rooms.”

Wei Wuxian then guided his siblings to the back of the inn. This place would be out of the way of whatever young master Jin that would also be staying here. He slid open one of the doors and walked into the room. Jiang Cheng was still fussing about how he took the rooms from those girls even as they settled around. Wuxian only grinned at him. He poured himself some tea that had been set up on one of the nearby tables and looked up to his sister. 

“Anyway shijie, who is the young master Jin that Mianmian mentioned?” he asked. Beside him, Jiang Cheng snorted.

“Who else could it be? It must be that Jin Zixuan,” he said with annoyance clear in his tone. Wei Wuxian glanced up to see his sister give a little smile at the name. Of course, Wei Wuxian had heard all about the heir to the Jin clan, he was engaged to his shijie after all, but he had never met him before. Well, he hadn’t ever met any of the young masters and mistresses of the other clans. He was curious to see what type of person was set to marry his precious sister. Jiang Cheng had described him before but he wanted to create his own opinion.

Just then, the owner of the inn came into the room looking like he was in a rush. “I’m sorry everyone, but I’m afraid there aren’t enough rooms. You will need to empty these rooms.”

The siblings all glanced at each other. Didn’t they just win over these rooms? Curiously, Wei Wuxian walked out of the room to see what was the deal followed by his brother and sister. Outside, they were met with a group of Jin disciples. In the center of the group was a tall boy, about the same height as Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian. He had very expensive looking golden robes on, a perfectly powdered face, a vermilion mark on his forehead, and half of his long black hair was tied up with a golden hairpiece. The boy looked very surprised to see them there.

When the boy kept looking at Yanli awkwardly, Jiang Cheng cleared his throat  rather loudly. 

“We’re pleased to see young master Jin here,” he said though he didn’t sound pleased at all. He bowed to Jin Zixuan and Wei Wuxian was almost too surprised to follow. This was Jin Zixuan? The one that was supposed to marry his sister? Wei Wuxian wanted to throw up at the thought. Jin Zixuan bowed back at them.

“I suppose young master Jin is also going to the Lan clan to attend their lectures, right?” Jiang Cheng politely asked. 

“And I assume young master Jiang is also passing by?” Jin Zixuan asked in the same manner. Jiang Cheng nodded his head.

“Yes, we were thinking about resting here too,” he said. Jin Zixuan nodded thoughtfully at that before one of the Jin disciples spoke up. 

“That’s too bad. Unfortunately, all of the rooms here have been booked by us of the Jin clan. We think it’s best if you just find somewhere else to go,” the disciple said arrogantly. Wei Wuxian glared at him.

“We arrived earlier though,” he pointed out. It was then that the Jin disciples and Jin Zixuan finally noticed that Wei Wuxian was there. Needless to say, they were all taken aback by his appearance. He wore different colours from the other Jiang disciples, his hair was tied up by a bright red ribbon, his sword was hanging from his hip (he couldn’t carry it and unsheathe it with only one hand so he had someone craft a belt to hold his sword in), and the obvious, his right arm was held up in a sling and the huge scar over the side of his face. Wei Wuxian rolled his grey eyes at them. The Jin disciple gapped at him.

“Who even are you? And who cares if you got here first? Maybe you should go complain to the owner,” he said. “We already booked the whole inn, we suggest you not bother our young master with this.” Jin Zixuan then shushed him with the flick of his hand and turned to both Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian.

“Young master Jiang, I assume that this is your brother that we have all heard so much about?” he asked out of pure curiousity, eyeing Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian nodded at him.

“Yup, I’m Wei Wuxian,” he introduced himself. He then glanced behind Jin Zixuan. “This is my first time going to the Cloud recesses but I thought I heard that every young master could only bring a few servants with him?” he asked innocently. “But I see that you have brought quite a few people here with you young master Jin. Why is that?” The disciple from before again answered him. 

“We’re young master Jin’s servants, what’s wrong with that?” he asked. Wei Wuxian looked back at the group of servants and glanced over to him.

“I guess what they say is true, the Jin clan is overly extravagant,” he shrugged. Jin Zixuan huffed as he continued. “I also heard that the Lan clan is very strict. The fact that young master Jin has brought so many people just seems like you wouldn’t be able to handle such pressure,” he said, a smirk on his face. 

“A-Xian...” Yanli chastised beside him softly. Wei Wuxian just crossed his arm over his chest. 

“I was only giving him a friendly suggestion, shijie, ” he said. The disciple from before put his hand on his sword. 

“How dare a cripple insult our young master! Where is the manner of the Jiang clan?”

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian both glared at him.

“What did you just say?” Jiang Cheng asked the disciple, coming to his brother’s defense. “Where was the insult? Please name it but don’t you dare say anything bad about my brother or our Jiang clan,” Jiang Cheng said angrily. The disciple looked away and took his hand off of his sword. 

Beside Wei Wuxian, Jiang Yanli touched his arm comfortingly. “A-Xian, A-Cheng, lets just go. We’ll find another place to stay. Goodbye young master Jin,” she said dipping her head towards him. Jin Zixuan dipped his head back as she took her brother’s hand and led him away. Jiang Cheng gave the Jin group one last glare before following his siblings out. 

“That Jin Zixuan is so arrogant!” Jiang Cheng said angrily as he and the rest of the Jiang disciples stepped out of the inn. He looked to his brother and gave him a concerned glance. “Are you alright Wei Wuxian?” he asked. Wei Wuxian smiled at him.

“I’m fine. But I agree, he flaunts around like a peacock,” Jiang Cheng nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, did you see the look on A- jie’s face? She looked quite upset...”

Both boys watched as their sister walked away with a couple of the female disciples. Wei Wuxian sighed quietly to himself.

“Why would uncle Jiang choose somebody like that for our sister to marry?” he asked. Jiang Cheng looked at him and just shrugged. He then crossed his arms and glanced around. 

“Maybe we should just go ahead and head to the Cloud recesses at this rate,” he said. Wei Wuxian nodded his head thoughtfully, it sounded like a good idea. 

“Come on let's go,”

*******

The Jiang group arrived at the Cloud recesses a few hours later.

They had changed out of their usual purple and blue attire and into white robes with Lotus symbols stitched into the fabric to show which clan they were from. Wei Wuxian wasn’t the most fond of the white robes. He much preferred his darker clothes to these ones. He also had to switch out his red ribbon for a silver hair piece that looked like leaves. 

Currently, Wei Wuxian was arguing with one of the Lan disciples who was standing guard at the gate. In their rush to leave the inn back in Caiyi town, the Jiang group had forgotten their invitation to enter the Cloud recesses. Things just weren’t looking up for the Jiang disciples today.

“Come on sir, I already told you, it was an accident that we forgot our invitation,” Wei Wuxian whined. The Lan disciple gave him a blank stare. 

“I’m sorry but without your invitation, we cannot allow you to enter,” he said. Wei Wuxian huffed out in annoyance. 

“It’s getting dark, we can’t just sleep out on the streets! How about you go get your clan leader, if he sees my shijie , I’m sure he’ll know who we are,” the Jiang disciples behind him all nodded in agreement. At that, the Lan disciple looked thoughtful.

“If that’s the case, then you will have to wait here for a few hours until we can change our shifts,”

“A few hours? It will already be dark by then!” Wei Wuxian argued. 

“A-Xian,” Jiang Yanli called out softly to him. “Behave,” Wei Wuxian pouted at her as he walked over. She gently put her hand on his arm. “We can’t lose our composure, we’ll just have to come up with a plan for what to do.”

Wei Wuxian nodded and reluctantly agreed. It was their best bet if they weren’t going to be allowed in. Just then, the Jiang group heard someone approaching from behind them. When Wei Wuxian turned to see who it was, his grey eyes widened. Holy shit. 

The young man walking down the stone pathway was probably the most beautiful human that Wei Wuxian had ever seen in his life. The young was obviously a Lan as he had the famous light blue headband wrapped around his forehead and was wearing flowy white robes with blue cloud prints all over them. His long black hair was done up neatly in a tight bun with the rest running down his back. His eyes were also a very pretty golden brown colour. Wei Wuxian thought he would melt on the spot.

When the beautiful young man had passed them to talk to the other Lan disciple, Jiang Cheng leaned in close to Wei Wuxian.

“This must be Lan Wangji. He’s one of the twin jades and their clan leader, Lan Xichen’s, little brother,” he explained. Wei Wuxian nodded along to the new information. 

At the sound of his name, Lan Wangji turned his head to look back at the group from Yunmeng. His pretty golden brown eyes met silver and he was instantly taken aback. Wei Wuxian didn’t know if he should feel insulted or honoured to be stared at by the twin jade. Seeing that his brother was being stared at, Jiang Cheng stepped up and introduced himself.

“Second Young master Lan, I’m Jiang Cheng from the Jiang clan of Yumeng and I’m the son of clan leader Jiang. This is my sister Jiang Yanli and my brother Wei Wuxian,” he said, also introducing his siblings. Wei Wuxian gave Lan Wangji a polite smile when his name was called. “We’ve heard a lot about you, it’s a pleasure to finally meet face to face,” the Jiang disciples all then saluted him. Lan Wangji’s blank face watched as Wei Wuxian didn’t salute properly, only bending his torso. Lan Wangji blinked before saluting back.

“The pleasure is mine,” he said.

Jiang Cheng continued on. “The thing is second master Lan, is that we forgot our invitation at an inn. It’s getting really late and...”

“If you do not have your invitation, you cannot enter,” Lan Wangji said, his cold gaze turning stern. 

“But second master Lan, we’ve come all this way. Isn’t it a little heartless not to let us in?” Wei Wuxian asked him. Again, Lan Wangji looked directly at him.

“No invitation, no entry,” was all that he said. Wei Wuxian pouted at him.

“It was an accident! Can’t you please make an exception?”

“If you find it, you can come back,” Lan Wangji said. He then turned away from the group and started walking away. From behind him, Wei Wuxian began arguing.

“But second master Lan, it’s so far away! Can’t you just....Mn!”

Mid sentence, Lan Wangji had put a silencing spell on Wei Wuxian. He heard Wei Wuxian struggle while the Lan disciple standing guard explained to him that the spell would expel itself if he just calmed down. Lan Wangji didn’t get to hear the rest of what the disciple had said because he had continued walking down the path. He did hear Wei Wuxian continuing to try and talk.

Lan Wangji sighed to himself and kept walking.

*******

Later on, Lan Wangji had gone back to the entrance and had let the disciples from Yunmeng into the Cloud recesses, even without their invitation. He had honestly felt bad for them and had explained the situation to his older brother. 

With his brother’s permission, he had allowed the Jiang disciples to enter. Curiously, that one disciple that Lan Wangji had taken notice of earlier, Wei Wuxian, was not present. Wangji assumed that he had actually gone back to Caiyi town to get the invitation. 

Wangji would be lying if he said that he wasn’t interested in learning more about the other boy. Sure, part of the curiosity cane from wanting to figure out why he had such a scar on his face and why he didn’t use his arm. Also because Wangji found him handsome. Handsome and annoying. 

Lan Wangji tried not to think of the annoyingly handsome boy that he had met earlier as he patrolled throughout the Cloud recesses. His uncle, Lan Qiren, had put him on patrol duty that night, to make sure that no one was up past curfew. Curfew. Wangji was sleepy just thinking about it. But he forced himself to pull through it. All he had to do was check the entrance and then he would be all done.

Just as he was finishing up though, he heard a sound coming from outside the wall. Lan Wangji turned in the direction of the sounds. It sounded like someone was trying to get up the wall but was having a hard time doing so. Wangji stood on the watchtower, his careful golden eyes scanning for whoever was making those noises.

Eventually the culprit revealed himself to be Wei Wuxian. The boy looked out of breath as he hoisted himself over the top of the wall. Lan Wangji watched as he looked around the place. Whether he was admiring the Cloud recesses or making sure no one saw him, Wangji wasn’t sure. It was then that Wei Wuxian felt that someone was looking at him. He jumped when he met eyes with Lan Wangji for the second time today.

“Ah, second young master Lan, I’m surprised to see you here,” Wei Wuxian laughed nervously. When Lan Wangji only blinked at him, Wei Wuxian glanced around awkwardly. “So uh, second master Lan, did you come out this late....to look at the beautiful moon?” he asked pointing up to the full moon shining brightly in the night sky. When all Wangji did was stare at him again, Wuxian huffed and looked away. “Second master Lan, I came looking for my brother and my sister, have you seen them? Oh! And I found the invitation, I have it right here,” he said going to pull it out of his robes.

Of course Lan Wangji had seen Wei Wuxian’s siblings, he had met them in himself after all, not like he was going to tell Wei Wuxian that. He was breaking the rules.

“You broke through the gate. This is a violation of the Lan rules,” he began. Wei Wuxian stopped what he was doing and looked over to him curiously. “You came late. You should not be allowed in until seven in the morning, another violation,” Wangji glanced at the other’s hand. Wei Wuxian had a bottle of wine with him. “And carrying alcohol, a third violation.”

Wei Wuxian gaped at him, clearly processing that he had already broken three Lan rules. After a moment, he looked back up at Lan Wangji.

“Well second master, I’m new here to the Cloud recesses and I don’t know many of your rules here. But I promise that it won’t happen again, I was just in a rush to find my siblings. Can’t you just let me in for a second to see them?”

As he was getting up, Lan Wangji moved over to him quite quickly, unsheathed his sword Bichen, and placed it only a few inches away from Wei Wuxian’s neck. Wei Wuxian laughed awkwardly and stepped away from him. 

“Wow second young master Lan, you’re really scary,” he gave one last look and Lan Wangji before attempting to escape.

Lan Wangji was quick though and immediately sliced the air near Wei Wuxian’s face. He wasn’t trying to hurt the other boy but if this was the only way to get him to learn, then so be it. Wei Wuxian had moved back in time before the sword could hurt him and he leapt back. There was no way that he could defend himself with the bottle of Emperor’s smile in his hand so he just settled for running. If Lan Wangji wanted to punish him, he would have to catch him first.

And so, Lan Wangji chased after Wei Wuxian along the rooftops. It was only when Lan Wangji sent Bichen towards Wei Wuxian again did the other boy lose balance. The bottle of Emperor’s smile that had been in his hand had fallen to the ground. Wei Wuxian had attempted to catch it but the bottle had smashed. Angrily, Wei Wuxian looked back up to Lan Wangji who was still on top of the roof.

“Lan Wangji, come down here! You need to pay for my Emperor’s smile!”

Lan Wangji leapt gracefully off the building and down to Wei Wuxian’s side. Wei Wuxian was still glaring at him but he only gave him a blank stare.

“Turn around,” he said. Wei Wuxian gave him a quizzical look.

“What?”

“Turn around.”

Wei Wuxian huffed in annoyance but did as he was told. When he turned, he was met with a large stone slab that had plenty of characters carved into it. Wei Wuxian glanced back at Lan Wangji.

“What are these?”

“The Lan clan’s rules.”

“This many?” Wei Wuxian gaped at him. How could anyone live and follow all of these rules at the same time. Wei Wuxian gave Lan Wangji a disbelieving look. “It’s a good thing that I haven’t been raised in such a clan, I would have already died by now!”

With a mischievous smile, Wei Wuxian leapt up back onto the rooftop. Lan Wangji watched him go with a surprised look in his golden eyes. Once he was up there, Wei Wuxian glanced back down at him.

“It’s been fun second master Lan, but I’m afraid I have to go. See ya!” 

Lan Wangji then watched as Wei Wuxian hopped off of the roof and over to the other side, not reappearing.

Lan Wangji blinked after him for a solid five minutes.

Did that really just happen?

Chapter Text

Early the next morning, Wei Wuxian made his way to where the guest quarters were with a yawn.

After last night, he forced himself to sleep outside the main entrance. There was no way in hell that he was climbing back over the wall. Climbing over a wall with one arm was hard. It wasn’t all that bad though, it was definitely worth seeing the Lan disciples surprised faces when they found him sleeping on the ground. His back was a little sore though and it was all that fuddy buddy’s fault. How could someone so pretty be such a cold person?

Wei Wuxian grumbled about stupid pretty boys and stupid rules as he found the guest quarters. Once he had found where the Jiang disciples were staying, his siblings and fellow disciples started piling out of their housing. When they caught sight of him, Jiang Cheng stormed over to his brother.

“Wei Wuxian! Where the hell were you last night?!” he asked angrily, punching his brother in his good arm. Wei Wuxian winced at the slight pain.

“Jiang Cheng, that hurt!” he whined.

“Good! Do you know how worried my sister was when you didn’t come back?” Jiang Cheng asked. Jiang Yanli had also walked over to the two boys and was checking over Wei Wuxian to make sure he was alright.

“I’m fine shijie, I promise. And it wasn’t even my fault I didn’t come back, it was that fuddy buddy.”

“Fuddy buddy?”

“Mhm, that Lan Wangji. I had gotten over the wall but then he stopped me. Then when he saw that I had Emperor’s smile with me-“

“You had Emperor’s smile with you?!”

“Yes! And then he chased me-“

“Lan Wangji chased you through the Cloud recesses?!” 

Jiang Cheng groaned into his hands. How stupid was his brother? Already, Wei Wuxian was causing trouble. Well, he better not act up anymore or he’ll break his legs. He sighed and grabbed his brother by the wrist.

“Whatever I don’t care what you did, just make sure you don’t make any trouble again. Come on, breakfast is early and then we need to haul ass to the Orchid room. Master Lan isn’t going to be happy if we’re late on the first day,” he said, pulling his brother along. 

When the disciples of Yunmeng arrived at the dining hall, Jiang Cheng was approached by a young man wearing the same white robes as theirs only that his bore the sigil of the Nie clan of Qinghe.

“Jiang- xiong !” He greeted happily. Jiang Cheng smiled at the other boy.

“Hey, Huaisang. How are things in The Unclean realm?” he asked curiously. Beside him, Wei Wuxian raised his eyebrows. Since when was his brother so civil? But then his eyes widened in understanding. Ah, so this must be the Nie Huaisang that Jiang Cheng always goes on about. Nie Huaisang’s face immediately fell.

“I would have been fine if only Da-ge didn’t make me come back here again. I swear I won’t survive another year here!” he complained. 

“Why’s that?” Wei Wuxian asked, finally speaking up. Nie Huaisang’s pretty brown eyes widened when he looked over to Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian looked away when he thought that the other boy was judging him but Huaisang only smiled at him.

“Oh my! You’re Wei Wuxian aren’t you? Jiang- xiong has told me so much about you!” he said excitedly. Wei Wuxian blinked at him. That was definitely not what he was expecting. He doesn’t think anyone’s ever been this excited to see him. He listened as Huaisang went on.

“It’s really terrible what happened to you, but Jiang- xiong tells me that you’re a great cultivator! Well anyone is a better cultivator than I am anyway. In all honesty, I think the whole fighting with one arm thing is cool and I think the scar on your face is pretty badass. Wait, is that offensive to say? Am I allowed to say that?” Huaisang asked with wide eyes. Wei Wuxian only let out a surprised laugh as they entered the dining hall.

“Wow Nie- xiong , I don’t think anyone’s ever complimented me like that before, thanks,” he said. Nie Huaisang grinned. “Would you like to eat with us, Nie- xiong?” he asked as he and Jiang Cheng sat at a table. Nie Huaisang nodded at him and sat down beside the two brothers. It was then that a bowl of food was placed in front of Wei Wuxian. He blinked at it for a moment. It looked so.....

Nie Huaisang giggled from beside him.

“What’s with that face, Wei -xiong?” he asked, teasingly. Wei Wuxian slowly turned to him.

“What is this supposed to be?” he asked in turn. Again, Huaisang giggled.

“Only the most bland thing you’ll ever taste. The Lans are basically vegetarians. No meat and barely any flavour,” he told him. Wuxian groaned. He wasn’t even worried about the lectures at this point. How the hell was he going to survive the year without any spices in his food? Beside him, his brother rolled his eyes.

“For goodness sake Wei Wuxian, just hurry up and eat your damn food.”

Wei Wuxian pouted but did as his brother said.

Ok, the food wasn’t that bad. It just tasted so....bland. That was the only way Wuxian could describe it. Gods, as soon as he could, he would definitely need to go out and get some spices to sneak into his meals. And wine. He definitely wanted to sneak some wine in.

After a while, Wei Wuxian had finally finished his meal. Apparently it was a rule that you weren’t supposed to talk while eating so he had to eat in silence. It was awkward and boring. How were these Lans living with such bland food and silent meals? Wei Wuxian didn’t understand it. At least it was pretty here at the Cloud recesses. Not long after breakfast ended was there a warning bell for the salute ceremony. 

Wei Wuxian followed his brother and sister as they made their way to the orchid room. He looked around curiously at all of the disciples that were present. Of course, the Jin clan had the most disciples (Wuxian rolled his eyes at that) but there were also quite a few Nie disciples there too. As they stepped into the orchid, Wei Wuxian noticed that most of the Lan disciples were already present. He guessed that most of the disciples who live here wouldn’t need these lessons or something like that. And seated closest to the front of the classroom was Lan Wangji in all his cold beauty.

Wei Wuxian glared at the back of the other boy’s head. Lan Wangji didn’t even spare him or the other disciples a glance though, keeping his golden gaze up front. Wuxian huffed grumpily as he made his way over to where the rest of the Jiang disciples had situated themselves.

All of the disciples from the different clans had sectioned themselves all across the room. At the far right of the room were the Nie’s, then the Jiang’s and Lan’s were both in the middle, and then at the left were the Jin’s. Good. Wei Wuxian wanted to stay as far away from Jin Zixuan as possible. At least he had a good view of Lan Wangji from here. And at the front of the classroom was the grandmaster of the Lan clan, Lan Qiren.

The older man was seated at a low desk at the head of the room, his dark eyes scanning over the disciples. When his eyes fell on Wei Wuxian though, his eyes widened a bit. Wei Wuxian grew uncomfortable under the man’s stare. Why did people always have to stare at him like that? Thankfully, as soon as an older Lan disciple began to speak, Lan Qiren finally looked away from him.

“The natural world is the origin of everything. The Lan clan upholds this belief. Every rule in the world is clearly defined. You must understand fundamentals, you must clarify any queries, must strive for any passion, and must study diligently. These are the requirements for these lectures.”

Wei Wuxian and the other students all bowed in unison. Well, Wuxian couldn’t exactly bow like everyone else but he still tried his best. Once they were done with that, the Lan disciple started reading off the most important rules of the Lan clan. As the disciple went on and on, Wei Wuxian hid a yawn behind his sleeve. With so many damn rules, we won’t be finished up for hours!  

He grumbled to himself as he stretched out his back. He pricked back up again when he heard a bird chirp. It sounded close by. Turned out that the noise was coming from Nie Huaisang who was sitting beside him. He gave Huaisang a sneaky smile as he leaned in close.

“What are you hiding there?” he asked very quietly. Huaisang shushed him and looked around panicked. The only one who seemed to be paying attention to the two was a disciple behind Huaisang. He looked a bit older but he didn’t seem to be disapproving, only curious. Huaisang leaned over to him.

“Before we came in here, I caught this bird,” he whispered, taking out a tiny bird cage with a golden bird inside of it. “Doesn’t it look beautiful?” 

As Wei Wuxian watched it, he nodded. “Mhm, very interesting.”

“There’s actually something even more interesting. See...” Nie Huaisang stopped abruptly when he got caught talking. Wei Wuxian stood back up straight and glanced over to the side to see who caught them. Of course it had to be Lan Wangji. The other boy was glaring in their direction. Wei Wuxian wasn’t that bothered by it and sent him a little wave. Lan Wangji gave him one last glare before turning his attention back towards the front of the room. Wei Wuxian pouted and rolled his eyes. Wow, rude.

Up next, the older Lan disciple called on each of the young masters to present Lan Qiren with a gift. Up first was Jin Zixuan. Wei Wuxian didn’t like him but he was curious to see what the Jin clan had brought.

“Jin Zixuan from the Jin clan of Lanling is here to learn from the grandmaster,” As soon as he saluted, Jin Zixuan motioned to the disciple behind him. “I know that the master values knowledge. My father collected classics especially for the master and it has been bound in gold string. I hope that this can gratify you,” the Jin disciple behind him then stepped up and a Lan disciple came to collect it. Wei Wuxian blinked as he got a glimpse of the book.

“How luxurious...” he whispered under his breath.

“With no integrity...” Jiang Cheng whispered back. Wei Wuxian nodded in agreement. Beside them, Jiang Yanli gave them a stern look.

“Stop it,” she said quietly. Both boys immediately stopped after that. 

Next up was the Nie’s turn to salute. Nie Huaisang discreetly (not really) placed his little bird cage under his desk and straightened himself up. He, along with the curious disciple from before, walked to the front of the room and bowed to Lan Qiren.

“Nie Huaisang from the Nie clan of Qinghe is here to see the grandmaster,” he then glanced back at the disciple behind him. “Meng Yao,” he whispered. The disciple smiled at him and then turned back to Lan Qiren. 

“Deputy of the Nie clan of Qinghe, Meng Yao, is here to present a dark sand elixir box on behalf of our Clan leader Nie.”

Sometime during the disciples little speech, Wei Wuxian heard some of the other disciples whispering among themselves. When he heard the word ‘Jin’ and ‘bastard’ coming from them, he turned and gave whoever it was a cold glare. Once the disciples guilty for talking caught sight of him, they immediately straightened up and looked forward. How rude of them to talk so shamelessly about someone when he was right there to hear all of that stuff. It made him angry. Beside him Meng Yao gave him a small appreciative smile before turning back. Another Lan disciple came to collect the gift and the two Nie’s went back to their seats.

After that, It was finally Jiang Cheng’s turn to present Yunmeng’s gift. Wei Wuxian watched as his brother and another disciple moved to the front of the room. They both bowed to Lan Qiren and Jiang Cheng started to speak.

“I am Jiang Cheng or Jiang Wanyin of the Jiang clan of Yunmeng and I came here to-“

“Who would have thought it would be so difficult to enter the Cloud recesses?” A voice interrupted.

At the sudden intrusion, everyone in the classroom turned to look at who had spoken. Wei Wuxian blinked curiously as he watched a young man dressed in red, white, and black robes strut into the room. He was followed by a boy holding onto a dark wooden box, a young woman, and a whole entourage of disciples. These must be people from the Wen clan, Wuxian thought to himself. But what are they doing here? Jiang Cheng told me that the Wen clan never attends the lectures at the Cloud recesses.

From his seat, Lan Qiren cleared his throat. “We did not know that young master Wen would come this year. We of the Lan clan should apologize,” he said. “It’s just that in recent history, the Wen clan has never attended any lectures here in the Cloud recesses. Is young master Wen here on behalf of his excellency?”

Wen Chao gave him a look.

“I am afraid you are wrong master Lan. I am not here for any lecture. I’ve just come to escort these two,” he said motioning to the boy and young woman behind him. He went on. “Besides, us of the Wen clan are always educating others, we don’t need any lecture from here.”

Wei Wuxian saw Lan Wangji glare at Wen Chao from across the walkway. And beside him, Nie Huaisang muttered about him being arrogant. Wei Wuxian decided to speak up.

“Then why has young master Wen come?” he asked innocently and out of pure curiosity. Not only did Wen Chao give him a withering look, almost all of the disciples present finally took note of him and began whispering amongst themselves. Wen Chao scoffed at his appearance.

“How dare a crippled nobody talk to me?” 

Wei Wuxian stiffened at the remark and he could feel Jiang Cheng’s anger boiling from beside him. “Young master Wen, there is no reason to be so hostile. Please refrain from insulting a disciple of the Jiang clan,” Jiang Cheng said. Wen Chao glanced at him.

“It seems that your disciples have no etiquette, young master Jiang. Perhaps I should teach this disciple some manners?”

At the flick of his wrist, Wen Chao’s men unsheathed their swords and pointed them at the disciples from the Jiang clan. Wei Wuxian wasn’t able to grab his sword in time, so Jiang Cheng pushed his brother behind him, also drawing Sandu.

Jiang Yanli grabbed Wei Wuxian’s hand as she looked on in fright. Wei Wuxian bitterly cursed himself about not being able to stand up for himself but squeezed his sister’s hand back in reassurance.

At the front of the room, Lan Qiren sighed quietly to himself. He got up from his seat gracefully and made his way over to the quarreling disciples. As he approached, the Jiang disciples lowered their swords. The older man stopped calmly in front of the Wens despite them still pointing their swords in his direction.

“Young master Wen, today is the salute ceremony, I really wished that you could restrain yourself,” he said. Wen Chao looked as if he was about to argue when the young woman behind  him walked up and bowed to Lan Qiren.

“Master Lan, I am Wen Qing of the Wen clan of Qishan. Under his excellency’s order, I along with my little brother Wen Ning, are to attend the lectures. This is our first time here at the Cloud recesses and are not familiar with the rules. I hope that you can forgive us sir,” she said. Lan Qiren gave her a considerate hum. At his sister’s glance, the boy Wen Ning, gave his sister the wooden box he was holding. Lan Qiren guessed it was the Wen clan’s gift.

“If that is the case, then I will accept it,” he took the box from her and glanced at Wen Chao. “Young master Wen, the ceremony is over. Please feel free to rest in our guest quarters.”

Wen Chao scoffed at the man. He gave one last glare at the Jiang disciples and left the room along with his own disciples. Once the Wens were gone, the remaining disciples all started whispering amongst themselves. Jiang Cheng turned back towards his brother.

“Are you ok?” he asked. Wei Wuxian gave him a reassuring nod. He’ll be fine but he had a feeling that this year wouldn’t be as easy as he originally thought.

*******

“That Wen Chao is truly arrogant!” Nie Huaisang said again as he, Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Cheng walked around the Cloud recesses later that day. “And to think he would make such a fuss over an innocent question, it’s really annoying.”

Wei Wuxian was feeling a lot better now that it was just him and his brother and his new friend. He nodded along to Huaisang’s words. “That’s right. I was just trying to ask a simple question, I didn’t know that the Wen clan gets offended easily,” he shrugged. Nie Huaisang sighed to himself and shook his head. He then opened his fan and began fanning himself. Wei Wuxian looked over.

“Did you make that yourself?” he asked. Nie Huaisang immediately brightened while Jiang Cheng groaned loudly beside him.

“No! Don’t even get him started!”

“Hush Jiang- xiong !”

As they continued to walk, Nie Huaisang went on and on about his painted fans and anything else that had to do with art. Wei Wuxian listened intently. He liked listening to people who were passionate about things, even if they talked forever about whatever it was. Even as they turned a corner into an open courtyard, Wei Wuxian continued to nod along to whatever Huaisang was talking about. The only time he interrupted the other boy was when he caught sight of Lan Wangji walking across the way. He brightened when he saw him.

“Ji- xiong, Ji- xiong!” he cried out to get the boy’s attention. Lan Wangji only glanced at the three before turning away from them and walking in the other direction. Wei Wuxian pouted at that. Was he really still angry about last night? Wei Wuxian had already forgiven him in his head, why couldn’t he? Beside him Nie Huaisang poked at his good arm.

“Wei- xiong, are you trying to get yourself killed by provoking one of the twin Jades of Lan?” he asked, lowering his voice as if Lan Wangji could still hear him from far away. “He’s truly scary, as long as I’m here I try to avoid him.”

Wei Wuxian let out a disbelieving laugh. “Come on, he can't be all that bad. But what’s even more funny is that I’ve already fought with him,” Nie Huaisang’s pretty brown eyes widened at that.

“You what?!”

Chapter Text

Wei Wuxian tried to pay attention in class.  He really did. But it was just so boring.

It had been a month since he and his siblings arrived in the Cloud recesses and everyday Wuxian was tempted to run away.

Currently, Lan Qiren was going on and on about some part of cultivation history and Wei Wuxian was trying not to fall asleep listening to it. These lectures were so drawn out and boring. Seriously, couldn’t the Lan’s make these a little bit interesting?

Thankfully he wasn’t the only disciple who was bored out of his mind. Beside him, Nie Huaisang was dozing off, his head dipping behind his fan. Discreetly, Wei Wuxian grabbed a piece of paper and balled it up, throwing it at the other boy. He watched as Huaisang jolted awake when the paper hit his shoulder and looked around to see who could have thrown it. He rolled his eyes though when he saw Wei Wuxian giggling quietly. He huffed and threw the paper back at him. Wei Wuxian gave him a quick grin before turning back to the front of the room.

Lan Qiren had gotten up from his seat now, pacing up and down the rows of desks, still going on with his lesson. As he walked closer and closer to Wuxian’s side of the room, he got a little idea. He grabbed a brush and pretended to be taking notes. Instead, he was sketching a little picture of a turtle. As soon as Lan Qiren went by his desk, Wei Wuxian placed the piece of paper on the man’s backside. 

The disciples around him took notice of it and started laughing quietly to themselves. Wei Wuxian hid a grin behind his sleeve. Finally, a little bit of excitement in this place. 

At the sudden burst of laughter, Lan Qiren turned and glared at the students. “What’s so funny? Quiet!” When the disciples had stopped, Qiren huffed and turned back. The disciples immediately laughed again when they saw that the turtle was still attached to his robes.

From behind his uncle, Lan Wangji caught sight of the paper and quickly took it off of his robes. Once it was off and Lan Qiren had failed to notice, Lan Wangji glared over at Wei Wuxian who was still laughing. As Lan Wangji continued to glare at him, Wuxian huffed and looked away. Gosh, why wasn’t that Wangji any fun?

Ever since their first meeting, it seemed like the jade would always avoid him. Even when he tried to apologize for all the rule breaking, Lan Wangji would walk away. What was the deal? He couldn’t avoid him forever!

Wei Wuxian glanced at Lan Wangji before taking out a paper talisman. This would get Lan Wangji to notice him. He then watched as the paperman flew through the air towards the other boy. Unfortunately, Lan Qiren looked up and caught him at the exact moment as the paperman landed on Lan Wangji’s arm.

Wei Wuxian laughed when Lan Wangji glared at him and crushed the talisman. Such a fuddy buddy.

“Wei Ying, it seems like you don’t need these lectures anymore,” Lan Qiren said, placing the scroll he was reading from down and looking to Wei Wuxian. “Then let you ask you these...”

Qiren then fired off a round of questions all of which Wei Wuxian answered perfectly. It seemed to infuriate Lan Qiren but most of the disciples were looking at him, impressed. When he looked over towards Lan Wangji and he wasn’t glaring anymore. Granted his face remained blank but Wuxian wondered if he was also impressed.

He continued to look at Lan Wangji curiously and it only made Lan Qiren angrier. 

“Wei Ying!” he shouted. Wei Wuxian snapped to attention when he heard his name. He had been watching Lan Wangji for so long that he didn’t hear Lan Qiren’s last question. He could feel his ear reddening at that. Qiren was glaring at him now. “Wei Ying, what did I just ask you?”

“Um....”

Lan Qiren snorted. “Of course you don’t know. If you aren’t going to listen then just get out.”

Wei Wuxian blinked and shrugged. Well, if Qiren wanted him to get out then fine. He grabbed Suibian from beside his table and walked out of the classroom. 

Lan Qiren and the other disciples all stared after him in shock.

*******

Wei Wuxian strolled through the Cloud recesses. He figured that this would be a good time to explore. He didn’t know why he didn’t know why he hadn’t done so before now but it was whatever.

He hummed as he passed a few old buildings and made his way down a stone path. It seemed to be leading towards the back mountain and Wuxian pressed on. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to go there but he just couldn’t help himself. It just looked so beautiful.

As Wei Wuxian got closer and closer to the back mountain, he came across Wen Ning. 

Wen Ning hadn’t noticed him as he was right in front of a waterfall. The boy had a bow with him and had already cocked it with an arrow. Wuxian watched as he pulled the arrow back and concentrated ahead. Once Wen Ning has found his target -a rock falling from the top of the waterfall- he let the arrow loose. 

When the arrow split the rock into tiny pieces, Wei Wuxian finally spoke up. “Young master Wen, you’re really good!”

Wen Ning jumped at the sudden voice and turned to see Wei Wuxian standing behind him. Wei Wuxian gave him a sheepish smile. “Ah, sorry that I scared you. But young master Wen is very skilled!” he said.

Wen Ning dipped his head shyly at the compliment. “You flatter me, but I’m afraid I’m not very good,” he said. Wei Wuxian shook his head.

“I don’t think so. I just watched and you did really good. I’m sure if you practice more, you can be even better!” 

Wei Wuxian then blinked curiously at Wen Ning. 

“Right young master Wen, why are you here instead of attending the lectures?” he asked.

“I’m still young and am not qualified to take any classes,” Wen Ning answered. He then tilted his head at the older boy. “But why are you here young master Wei?”

Wei Wuxian looked away and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Ah well....I kinda walked out on master Lan.”

Wen Ning raised his eyebrows at that.

“But let’s forget about that!” Wuxian quickly said. “You were just shooting right. I’m no expert at it....as I guess you can tell, but I think your posture can be a little better, do you mind?”

When Wen Ning nodded, he got in position and Wei Wuxian got up behind him. Wei Wuxian himself could not use a bow but after years of watching Jiang Cheng and the other Jiang disciples shooting arrows, he had a vivid idea of how your posture was supposed to look. He gently pulled Wen Ning’s right arm down and helped him push the left one up. He then straightened Wen Ning’s torso. In no time, Wen Ning was looking a lot better.

Both boys didn’t notice her but Wen Ning’s sister, Wen Qing, had also come into the back hill.

“Wen Ning!” she called out when she saw the two together.

Wen Ning had been surprised again by another sudden voice and had accidentally shot the arrow towards his sister. Thankfully, the arrow didn’t hit her because Wei Wuxian had sent a talisman to deflect it.

“Ah! Sorry A- jie !” Wen Ning called to his sister. Wen Qing huffed at him.

“A-Ning, why are you with him?” She questioned. 

“This is young master Wei!” he said smiling. “He’s really nice and was helping me with archery!”

Wei Wuxian smiled at the boy beside him and turned towards Wen Qing. “Hi there miss Wen. I was just helping out Wen Ning, I hope that’s ok.” he said waving over to her. 

Wen Qing only glanced at him before looking back at her little brother. “Come A-Ning,” She said. She waited as Wen Ning gathered his bow and arrows and giving Wei Wuxian an apologetic look.

“Sorry Young master Wei, but I have to go. I guess I’ll see you later?” he asked hopefully. Wei Wuxian gave him a friendly smile.

“That’s alright. And yes! I’ll make sure to see you again,” he said. Wen Ning also gave him a smile before walking away and leaving with his sister.

Wei Wuxian watched the two siblings go curiously. He wondered why Wen Qing was acting like that around him. As he thought about it, he hadn’t really seen her in any of the classes.

As he walked towards the waterfall, he continued to think about how strange it was that the two Wen’s were even here at all. He was so deep in thought that he didn’t notice the person coming up behind him. When he did though, he turned and screamed rather loudly when he came face to face with Lan Wangji. 

“Gosh, Ji -xiong, you really know how to scare someone, don’t you?” he asked, a little annoyed. Lan Wangji only blinked at him.

Wei Wuxian huffed and was about to say something when Lan Wangji suddenly grabbed his good arm and started dragging him off somewhere.

“Hey! Why are you grabbing me like this? Ah, it hurts! Ji- xiong !”

Chapter Text

Apparently, Lan Qiren had been so angry at him for walking out of the classroom, that he was forcing him to copy all of the rules. Three hundred times. With Lan Wangji watching him. For the rest of the week. Great.

He grumbled as he dipped his brush in the ink beside him. It wasn’t his fault that Qiren had told him to get out, he was literally ordered to! It so wasn’t fair. Why did it seem like Lan Qiren had some kind of grudge against him? He knew he looked a little funny but that wasn’t a reason to single him out!

Wei Wuxian huffed again as he sat his brush down on its stand. He then stretched out, looking back towards Lan Wangji. The other boy didn’t look bothered at all as he worked across the room. He looked so graceful and beautiful while working. Wei Wuxian had to give him props for not being bored while stuck with him for the rest of the week.

He smiled to himself as he got up from his seat. It felt really nice to be up when he had been sitting for hours. He walked across the room and stopped near Lan Wangji’s desk. He was awed at how neat his work was.

“Woah. This is such beautiful calligraphy. It’s beyond the best,” Wei Wuxian praised. Lan Wangji didn’t pay him any attention though. Wei Wuxian made a face as he leaned closer. 

“Wangji- xiong,” he said softly, trying to get Lan Wangji’s attention. Still he ignored him. Wei Wuxian leaned even closer. “Lan Wangji,” he said. Again, he was ignored.

“Lan Zhan!”

That got a reaction. Lan Wangji finally looked up at him and glared. Wei Wuxian stepped back. 

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. You’re the one who ignored me, that’s why I had to call your birth name,” he said. When Lan Wangji only blinked, he smiled and leaned back in. “If you like, you can call me by my first name, you can call me Wei Ying.”

Lan Wangji glanced down.

“Put your leg down,” was all that he said. Wei Wuxian looked down at his leg and let out a little chuckle. He sat down beside Lan Wangji instead.

“By the way, Lan Zhan, I have a question. Why does it seem like you hate me? I’ve been trying to apologize to you for a long time now,”

When Lan Wangji kept quiet, he carried on. “I admit that it was wrong for me to break in and bring alcohol, but I swear I had no idea about any of your rules here. This is my first time out of Lotus pier and I didn’t know,” he said. At that last part, Lan Wangji did look at him only for a second before going back to writing.

“Go back and copy,” he said. Wei Wuxian pouted at him.

“Oh come on Lan Zhan, I just apologized and that’s what you have to say?”

“You have apologized, now go back to copying.”

“But second master La-“

Wei Wuxian’s words were cut off when Lan Wangji put a silencing spell on him. Wei Wuxian grunted and whined as his mouth remained firmly shut. Really? What was with this guy?

“Go back to copying,” Lan Wangji repeated. Wei Wuxian groaned as he picked himself up and walked back over to his own table. After he had plopped himself down back into his seat, he sent a glare over to Lan Wangji.

This was so not fair!

*******

Finally, it was Wei Wuxian’s last day of punishment. 

All throughout the week, his days followed pretty much the same schedule. He would meet Lan Wangji in the library pavilion and then he would start copying down all of the rules. Whenever his hand started hurting or whenever he was bored enough, he would go over and try to talk to Lan Wangji. Though all of his efforts in trying to talk to the jade would end up with  him getting silenced. It was all fun though to try and see what kinds of things would get him silenced but today he hadn’t done that.

He had come in and had set himself to work. In all honesty, he was just trying to get the hell out of here as fast as he could. His behavior seemed to confuse Lan Wangji though as the other kept glancing over to him like he would do something. The thought made Wei Wuxian want to laugh.

But due to his diligent work, he was done with his copying in only a few hours. Fucking finally. He definitely did not want to come here ever again. He sat his brush down on its stand and stretched. When he glanced over to Lan Wangji, the other wasn’t working either, instead he was reading from some book.

Of course, in all things it seemed, Lan Wangji just had to look beautiful even while reading of all things. As Wei Wuxian continued to stare, a thought came to him. Excitedly, he picked up his brush again and got out a fresh piece of paper. He’ll have to accept my apology if I give him this!

Wei Wuxian hummed a little to himself as he got started on his little project. He kept glancing back and forth between his paper and Lan Wangji to make sure that his drawing came out perfect. 

During his early years, Wei Wuxian found that he had a passion for drawing. Especially when he was younger and trying to cope with the loss of use in his right arm, he would practice drawing in his room when he wanted to be away from everyone. Drawing didn’t really require the use of both hands so he found it easy to focus on something he was at least useful at. 

Once he was done, Wei Wuxian gently blew on it so that it could dry quicker. While looking at it and then glancing back over to Lan Wangji, he smiled to himself. He had to like it.

He excitedly got up from his seat and went over to Lan Wangji. He held out the paper to him. 

“Have you copied everything?” Lan Wangji asked without even looking at him. Wei Wuxian nodded.

“Mhm, it’s all done. I promise I won’t come back here from now on,” he said. He then placed the paper down on the table in front of Lan Wangji. “This is for you by the way.”

When Lan Wangji continued to read and didn’t spare the paper a glance, Wei Wuxian had another idea.

“Wait, actually don’t look yet, I need to add something.”

Lan Wangji sighed quietly to himself as Wei Wuxian sat down beside him to fix whatever was on that paper. Wei Wuxian grinned when he had finished finalizing his drawing.

“Ok, you can look now!”

Lan Wangji made himself put his book down as he glanced down at the paper on the table. His golden brown eyes widened a tiny bit as he realized that it was a drawing of him. Wei Wuxian had drawn him. It was very realistic with him sitting down and reading like he was a little bit ago the only difference was that Wuxian had added a flower into his long hair. The whole thing made Lan Wangji’s stomach do a weird flip.

“Do you like it Lan Zhan? Do you?” Wei Wuxian asked, looking at him expectantly. Lan Wangji sighed and looked away.

“Boring,” was all that he said. Wei Wuxian leaned close to him.

“Is that a yes Lan Zhan? Come on, can’t you tell me if you like it or not?” he asked. Lan Wangji didn’t look at him.

“If you are done, you can leave now.”

Wei Wuxian pouted at him. Really? That was the answer he got? But Wuxian ended up smiling to himself. Well, he didn’t rip it up or say that he didn’t like it, so that had to count for something right?

Wei Wuxian stood up, a happy grin on his face.

“You keep that, ok Lan Zhan? That’s your gift, so don’t lose it. I’ll go now but we have to spend some more time together some day alright. Bye Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian said all that as he collected his stuff and made his way out of the library. He gave Wangji a little wave though as he exited.

Lan Wangji watched him go with a blank face. Though when he was really gone, he glanced back down at the drawing that Wei Wuxian had given him.

.....I love it.....

Chapter Text

“What are you thinking about?” Jiang Cheng asked his brother as they walked back to the guest disciples quarters.

The two were returning from spending another day with Nie Huaisang. These past few days, Lan Qiren had been called away to attend some cultivation meeting so most classes were postponed until after he got back. Wei Wuxian looked lost in thought the whole way back to their rooms. Said boy looked up at his brother.

“Hm? Oh it’s nothing Jiang Cheng,” he said. Jiang Cheng had to raise his eyebrows at that.

“Are you sure? Ever since your punishment with Lan Wangji, it seems like that’s all you’ve been thinking about.”

Beside him, his brother gave him a look.

“Please Jiang Cheng. I’m only thinking about how cruel and awful the whole week was. It was so bad, I think I’m a changed man.”

“You’re a fucking liar is what you are,” Jiang Cheng responded, rolling his eyes. Wei Wuxian gasped dramatically beside him.

“How can you think so lowly of me Jiang Cheng?” he asked.

“Because you’re my brother and I know you better than anyone else?” Jiang Cheng said. Wei Wuxian gaped at him and then turned away.

“Whatever! I’m going to see my shijie. She won’t treat me as bad as you!”

“You!”

Wei Wuxian skipped away from him and towards his sister’s room. It was midday so she had to be in her room. When he got up to the door, he knocked on it quite loudly.

“ Shijie, shijie!” he called out to her. Unexpectedly though, it was not his senior sister who had opened the door, instead it was Wen Qing. He looked at her curiously as Jiang Cheng came up behind him.

“Miss Wen,” he bowed politely to her. The young woman returned the gesture.

“Young master Jiang,” she said. 

“Miss Wen, why are you here?” Jiang Cheng asked curiously. Wei Wuxian also gave her a questioning look.

Wen Qing was about to speak when a familiar voice responded from within.

“A-Cheng, A-Xian, you’re here,” Jiang Yanli said.

“Yes, we’re here.”

Wei Wuxian then scooted past Wen Qing and went inside the room. When he saw his sister lying down on her bed, Wei Wuxian immediately rushed over, worried. He sat down on the edge of the bed.

“ Shijie, what happened ?” he asked her. Jiang Yanli gave him a smile as she gently sat up.

“It’s been rainy these past few days. I felt dizzy when I took a walk by the river bank this morning. I was lucky enough to have met Miss Wen as she was passing by. She brought me back and gave me some medication. I feel much better now,” she told her brothers. 

“ Jie, why didn’t you tell us that you were feeling unwell?” Jiang Cheng asked from where he was standing from beside her bed. Wei Wuxian nodded.

“That’s right, shijie. If we had known that, we would have stayed with you all morning instead of going out to play,” he said. Jiang Yanli shook her head fondly at him.

“Hm, I think it’s best if my A-Xian went out and played. He needs to get his energy out so he doesn’t go cause any trouble,” she told him, booping him on the nose. Wei Wuxian pouted at his sister’s words. 

Jiang Cheng smiled at his two siblings before turning to Wen Qing who was gathering her supplies on a nearby table.

“Miss Wen, thank you for treating my sister,” he said. Wen Qing dipped her head to him.

“You are welcome Young master Jiang. I’m a doctor. It is my duty to help people,” she replied. Jiang Cheng gave her one last appreciative smile before going back over to his siblings.

“ Jie, Wuxian, I’ve actually heard something strange lately,” he said to them. That got Wei Wuxian’s attention and turned to look up at his brother.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Apparently Caiyi town has been plagued by water ghouls recently.”

“Really?” Wei Wuxian asked, his eyes widening in surprise. Jiang Cheng nodded.

“Yeah. Zewu-jun is going into town to hunt them and perform an exorcism. I bet if we went now, we could catch up to him. You up for it?” he asked his brother. Wei Wuxian smirked at him arrogantly.

“I’m always up for a hunt!” he said, hopping up from his seat on the bed. 

Behind them, Wen Qing has also stood up.

“You said water ghouls?” she asked. Jiang Cheng turned to her.

“Yes. It’s really strange though. Caiyi town is a fishing town so usually these things don’t really happen,” he told her. Wen Qing hummed in agreement.

“If that is the case, do mind if I go with you all?” she asked.

Both brothers looked surprised at her but eventually, Wei Wuxian nodded enthusiastically.

“That sounds great! You’re really good with medicine, right? so you should definitely come with us.”

Wen Qing gave him a very small grateful smile at that. The two brothers then turned to say goodbye to their sister.

“You two be safe, ok?” She told them, though she was mainly looking at Wei Wuxian. He sighed.

“ Shijie, I’ll be just fine. We’ve dealt with water ghouls before back in Yunmeng, this time will be no different,” he promised. He gave her hand a firm squeeze to reassure her before waving one last time and exiting the room with Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing. 

The three then made their way through the Cloud recesses and to the entrance. They followed down the stone path before they finally caught up to Lan Xichen who was accompanied by his little brother. Wei Wuxian brightened when he saw Lan Zhan.

“Zewu-jun!” Jiang Cheng called out to the Lan clan leader when they were close enough. The two twin jades ahead both turned at the sudden voice. Wei Wuxian was taken aback by what he saw.

He had already known that Lan Zhan was very handsome but he should have expected that Lan Xichen would be just the same. The older man was a bit taller than his brother but they looked very similar. He wore darker blue robes than regular disciples and his forehead band had the Lan sigil at the center of it. Lan Xichen seemed to have a sort of elegance about him as Lan Wangji did, only he seemed a bit more open as there was a gentle smile on his handsome face.

Jiang Cheng bowed to the clan leader when he stopped in front of him. “Zewu-jun,” he said respectfully. Lan Xichen smiled at him curiously.

“Younger master Jiang, you...?” he had a questioning look in his eyes. 

“Ah, Zewu-jun, this is my brother Wei Wuxian and this is Wen Qing,” Jiang Cheng introduced the two people behind him.

At the name Wei Wuxian, Lan Xichen had turned his attention to the young man beside the Jiang heir. Oh, so this is the disciple that has caught Wangji’s attention, he thought, taking in Wei Wuxian’s appearance. His little brother had told him about a certain injured guest disciple that he had met. At that, Xichen had been beyond excited that his little brother seemed to be interacting with other people but he was also curious about this Wei Wuxian.

This was Wei Wuxian’s first time outside of Yunmeng and all of the other clans were invested in the Jiang clan's injured disciple. There had been rumors for years about Wei Wuxian ever since Jiang Fengmian had taken him in. Lan Xichen didn’t care for any of that gossip though as he gave Wei Wuxian a kind look.

“Zewu-jun, it’s said that there are water ghouls haunting Biling lake. We don’t have any classes right now so we wanted to come join you,” Jiang Cheng said. Wei Wuxian nodded in agreement.

“Yes, please let us go with you. Yunmeng is filled with plenty of rivers and lakes and we’ve dealt with water ghouls before,” Wei Wuxian said. 

“Don’t need assistance....” Lan Wangji muttered from beside his brother. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng caught it but Lan Xichen just smiled in amusement.

“Then please young masters, come with us.”

“Zewu-jun, I would like to come too,” Wen Qing spoke up from behind the two boys. 

“Zewu-jun, Miss Wen is really good with medicine. If anything bad happens on the hunt, we could use her,” Wei Wuxian pointed out. Lan Xichen nodded in acknowledgment.

“Then Miss Wen Wen can join us,” he said. 

Both Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian turned to give her a smile when they all heard a young voice call out in the distance.

“A- jie, wait for me!”

Just then, Wen Ning came running down the stone path and stopped in front of his sister. Wei Wuxian gave him a questioning look. 

“Wen Ning?”

Wen Ning acknowledged him before turning back to Wen Qing.

“Wen Ning, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to...” Wen Qing cut herself off, a frown now adorning her pretty features. Wen Ning’s head was bowed as he shuffled around awkwardly.

“A- jie, I-i heard that you were going after water ghouls and I wanted to go with you,” he admitted, his voice soft. Wen Qing sighed.

“A-Ning, it might be very dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt. I asked you to stay, why didn’t you listen?” She asked him. Wen Ning kept his head bowed as Wei Wuxian spoke up. 

“Miss Wen, you’re brother is really talented. I’ve seen his archery skills. I’m sure nothing will go wrong. And plus we have all these people, we can protect him,” he promised.

Wen Ning looked absolutely happy that Wei Wuxian had spoken up for him. At the boy’s expression, Wuxian shared a grin with him. Wen Qing sighed again and turned back to Lan Xichen.

“Clan leader Lan, my brother is still young and inexperienced. He’s very curious but I will make sure he stays out of trouble. Please forgive us and let him join us.”

Lan Xichen gave her an amused smile.

“Do not worry about it Miss Wen. Since he has come, I will allow him to join us.”

*******

Wei Wuxian laughed happily as he made his way out of the main gate. Beside him was Wen Ning and Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng were just behind them. Trailing a little ways behind them was the twin jades and the rest of the Lan disciples.

Wen Ning tapped Wei Wuxian on his good arm.

“Ah, Young master Wei, may I ask you something?” Wen Ning asked. Wei Wuxian turned to him.

“Yeah, what is it Wen Ning?” he asked in turn. Wen Ning then dipped his head in embarrassment. Wei Wuxian raised his eyebrows at that.

“W-well I just wanted to know um....” Wen Ning trailed off as they continued to walk. Wei Wuxian tilted his head to the side.

“Hm? What’s wrong?” 

Wen Ning looked back up at him though he still looked quite embarrassed.

“I just wanted to know if Young master Wei would be ok during the hunt because....” Wen Ning glanced down at Wei Wuxian’s right arm that was secured in its usual sling and Wei Wuxian understood. Oh, he thought. 

Wei Wuxian was not at all offended by the question. It was kinda cute that the boy seemed to be so worried about him. He placed a hand on Wen Ning’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry Wen Ning, I’ve done this type of thing before. This will be easy for me, promise,” he said. Wen Ning let out a relieved smile.

Behind the group up front, Lan Wangji turned to his brother.

“Brother, why did you let them come? This is no time to play,” Wangji said. Lan Xichen smiled at him.

“I just looked at you and you seemed to want the two boys to go together,” he stopped for a moment and glanced at his younger brother. “Isn’t that what you wanted?” he asked. 

Lan Wangji blinked at him for a moment but he didn’t say anything. When Wangji’s gaze shifted to the ground and away from his brother, Lan Xichen let an amused chuckle escape from his lips. He shook his head softly and continued on, following after the guest disciples.

Aw, how cute. His baby brother seemed to be taken with that young master Wei. He was secretly excited to see how this friendship would play out.

Chapter Text

Lan Xichen was having the time of his life as he and the other disciples with him were making their way down to Biling lake.

They all had arrived in Caiyi town an hour earlier and the whole way here, Wei Wuxian never seemed to stop talking. Not like that was a bad thing of course. Lan Xichen was actually quite interested in hearing what the other had to say. Sometimes he was telling stories about water ghouls to the young Wen Ning, other times he was joking with his brother, and then he would point out something unique that had caught his eye in the town. He just seemed to have such a bright personality despite his injury and Lan Xichen immediately took a liking to him. It also helped that his little brother also seemed to be interested in Wei Wuxian.

Even though currently, Wei Wuxian was trying to get Lan Wangji’s attention. His little brother had turned his golden brown eyes to him when Wei Wuxian had gotten too close to him. His eyes seemed to scream help me, but Xichen just smiled at the two of them. It was just so adorable how his brother was acting. He turned his head in another direction, keeping an amused smile on his face.

Soon, the disciples had arrived at the dock of the lake. There were six boats waiting for them in the water at the end of the pier. Lan Xichen decided to have a little pity on his brother and split Wangji and Wei Wuxian up in two different boats. Lan Xichen himself had taken the lead boat with a few Lan disciples. Jiang Wanyin was in a boat by himself and the Wen siblings were on another one. The rest of the Lan disciples were then placed at the rear in the last remaining boat.

Talismans had been placed at the front of the boats so that they could move on their own towards the center of the lake. Once everyone had been situated. Lan Xichen turned to all of the disciples.

“Let us set out,” he said.

Wei Wuxian hummed in delight when the boats started moving. The fog over the lake was dense but it just excited Wuxian even more. This was his first night hunt in months. This had to be fun. 

To his right was Lan Wangji’s boat. He smiled at the other boy’s serious expression. Behind them, Jiang Cheng gave those two a look. Why was his brother looking at Lan Wangji like that?

“Everyone, be careful,” Lan Xichen’s voice sounded from ahead. “We’re heading towards the haunted area.”

“Zewu-jun,” Wei Wuxian called out to the Lan clan leader. “Water ghouls are very clever. What if they hide away from us and we can’t find them?”

Lan Wangji answered from beside him. “It’s our job to stop them. We’ll wait.” 

Wei Wuxian was about to retort when he glanced down at Lan Wangji’s boat. For some reason, his boat seemed to be sinking lower into the water than what it was supposed to be. He grabbed a paddle from inside of his own boat. 

“Hey Lan Zhan, look at me!” he shouted. 

Lan Wangji’s golden brown eyes widened a bit when he turned to see a splash of water coming towards him. He jumped up from his boat and landed in Wei Wuxian’s. He glanced behind him to the other boy. “Boring...” he muttered. 

Wei Wuxian gave him a playful smile before turning back to Lan Wangji’s now overturned boat. When a creature slid down from the top of it and back into the water, Wei Wuxian furrowed his eyebrows. “What is that?” he asked aloud. 

“I’ve never seen a water ghoul like that before,” Jiang Cheng said from behind them. 

“Don’t tell me that they have been mutated....” Wen Qing murmured worriedly.

Lan Xichen turned toward all of them. “Young master Wei, how did you know that the water ghoul was under the boat?” he asked. 

“That’s easy. Lan Zhan’s boat had only him on it but the boat seemed to sink deeper than the boats with multiple people in them, so I guessed that there was a water ghoul under it,” he explained. 

Lan Xichen hummed in acknowledgement. “You’re truly experienced,” he praised, sending him a kind smile. 

Wei Wuxian grinned from the praise as he turned to Lan Wangji. He immediately turned sheepish as he walked closer to the other boy. 

“Uh, Lan Zhan, I didn’t mean to splash you on purpose. I was just trying to get the water ghoul away. You aren’t mad right?” he asked. Lan Wangji’s eyes glanced at him and blinked.

“Wei Ying, focus,” was all that he said. A smile crossed Wei Wuxian’s face when he realized that Lan Zhan wasn’t mad with him. 

Lan Xichen tried not to smile as Jiang Cheng eyed those two weirdly. 

As the boats moved forward, a relative silence had fallen over the disciples. Of course it was ruined when another water ghoul bumped into the side of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s boat.

“Watch out!” Someone shouted. At the noise, Lan Wangji had unsheathed Bichen and quickly killed it. 

“Watch the other side!” Jiang Cheng warned.

“Get it!” Wen Qing yelled.

This time, it was Wei Wuxian who had killed the second water ghoul. He had unsheathed Suibian from its belt and put the ghoul to rest. Lan Wangji turned to him.

“What’s the name of your sword?” he asked. 

“ Suibian,” Wei Wuxian answered. When Lan Wangji only blinked at him, he decided to repeat himself slower.

Lan Wangji glanced at the sword at Wuxian’s hip and furrowed his eyebrows. “This sword has a spirit, it is offensive for me to address it whatever I want,” he said. 

Wei Wuxian let out an amused laugh at that. “I’m not asking you to call it whatever you want. It’s name really is Whatever, see,” he lifted his sword up for Lan Wangji to see. “I know what you want to say. You wanna know why I picked this name, like if there’s a special meaning to it. Well, the thing is there really isn’t any meaning behind it. When uncle Jiang gave it to me, and asked me to name it on my own, I had thought of so many names but none of them really fit. And when I said to just call it ‘Whatever’ it really was Whatever!”

At the end of his explanation, Lan Wangji didn’t say anything in return and only turned away. Wei Wuxian laughed happily and put his sword away. Ok time to get serious again. 

He and Lan Wangji surveyed the waters but the fog around them was becoming thicker and thicker. If this kept up, it would be even harder to find the water ghouls. 

Suddenly, from behind their boat, Jiang Cheng let out a painful yell. Wei Wuxian immediately panicked and turned in the direction of the yell.

“Jiang Cheng are you ok?” he called out. The fog was so thick now that he couldn’t see where his brother was. His heartbeat quickened. “Jiang Cheng where are you?” he called again.

“I’m fine!” Jiang Cheng grunted out a reply. “A water ghoul attacked but Miss Wen is here with me.”

Wei Wuxian let out a breath of relief. As long as his brother was fine. But his temporary relief was cut short when more water ghouls attacked the sides of their boat. There was more than before and both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian we’re forced to leave their boat. They landed over onto Jiang Cheng’s boat. When they had landed, Wei Wuxian went over to his brother. His brother’s leg was scratched but otherwise he was fine.

“Look!” Wen Ning called out, clearly frightened. “Look at the colour of the water!”

Wei Wuxian looked over the side and was surprised to see that the water had turned almost black. What the hell? Just then, the boat began to shake again. 

“We have to go back,” Lan Wangji spoke seriously from beside him. Wuxian looked at him questioningly. “The water ghouls led us to the center of the lake on purpose. We have to go now,” again the boat began to shake. 

Wei Wuxian’s breathing quickened as he finally figured out what was happening. “It’s a waterborne abyss! They all want to eat us!” he exclaimed.

“What should we do, young master Wei?” Wen Ning asked.

“Mount your swords!” Lan Wangji instructed quickly. As soon as the disciples had gotten onto their swords, a whirlpool seemed to have formed in the middle of the lake. Just as all of the disciples had all flown up, their boats had started to all sink. Lan Xichen was about to order everyone to make their way back to land when one of the Lan disciples let out a frightened shout.

“Su She!”

Wei Wuxian Looked back down to the water to find a disciple still stuck on one of the sinking boats. His sword was not in his hand and Wuxian could only guess that he  had tried to send his sword to kill the water ghouls. 

Wei Wuxian didn’t want to leave the disciple behind no matter how stupid his decision was to send his sword into the water. Wen Ning, who had flown beside him, seemed to have the same idea because the boy started to dive after him. Wei Wuxian didn’t want Wen Ning to be in danger either so he pushed the boy out of the way and went for Su She himself.

He knew it was a stupid idea, especially when his brother and Wen Ning called out for him form above but he just couldn’t leave the disciple behind.

He dived down and grabbed onto Su She’s shoulder. Wei Wuxian’s left arm was very strong but his strength only went so far. Su She’s weight was pulling him down and the fact that the disciple was wiggling around was not helping either. Wei Wuxian almost dropped both of them when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he was pulled back into the air.

When he looked up, he found that it was Lan Wangji who had caught him. Woah, that Lan arm strength was no joke. Wei Wuxian gave him a grateful smile. “Ah, thanks Lan Zhan,” he said. Lan Wangji gave him a stiff nod as he lifted them both higher in the air.

“Wei Wuxian, you idiot!” Jiang Cheng screamed at him. His brother looked angry but there was clear concern in his eyes. 

“I’m sorry Jiang Cheng,” he apologized. Lan Wangji had let him go and he had mounted back on Suibian. Lan Wangji was still holding onto Su She though. Jiang Cheng glared at him.

“Try that shit again I’ll fucking kill you myself!” he warned. Wei Wuxian smiled softly and turned to Lan Xichen. 

Lan Xichen had calmed the waterborne abyss with his xiao. The waterborne abyss wasn’t defeated but it was enough to soothe it for now. Once he had sealed the calming spell, Lan Xichen turned to the rest of the disciples.

“Let's go back. There’s nothing we can do now. I’ll have to come back with some elders to finally put this to rest,” he told them. 

Wei Wuxian nodded seriously and followed the rest of the disciples back to land.

*******

The group was heading back to the Cloud recesses the next day. It would have been easier to travel there by sword but everyone was still exhausted from trying to deal with the waterborne abyss yesterday so Xichen had decided to give them a little more rest.

They were all slowly traveling down the waterways of Caiyi town. Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji were both in the head boat. From where he was behind them, Wei Wuxian assumed that they were discussing something. He was munching on some loquats in his own boat. 

Some sisters had been selling them by the river. Wei Wuxian had wanted to try and flirt with them to get the loquats for free but he wasn’t sure how they would react to his......looks and so he just bought them like normal.

After he had finished a loquat, he picked up another one. He had wanted to eat this one but when he looked back up to where the twin jades were, Lan Wangji had a troubled look on his usually blank face. Wei Wuxian didn’t like it.

“Hey Lan Zhan, have a loquat!” he called out, throwing the loquat in his hand to Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji had easily caught it but then he threw it back at him. “No,” was all that he had said. Wei Wuxian pouted when he caught the loquat. Still such a fuddy buddy. He glanced back at his brother and tossed it over to him.

“Here Jiang Cheng, you can have it!”

Jiang Cheng was surprised by it but he gladly took the loquat.

Ahead, Lan Xichen turned to Lan Wangji.

“Wangji, you want loquats. I can buy you some if you want,” he offered. Lan Wangji only glanced at him.

“Don’t want,” he responded.

Lan Xichen sighed but let a tiny smile pass his lips as he turned his head forward. His little brother would learn to ask for what he wants one day. But sadly, it was not going to be today.

Chapter Text

“Elder brother, I need your help,” Lan Wangji said.

He and his brother were sitting in the Hanshi together after classes had ended. Their uncle had returned from the discussion conference about a week ago and his lectures had resumed like normal. Lan Xichen tilted his head to the side curiously.

“Hm, what is it Wangji? What do you need?” he asked. He was willing to help his little brother with anything.

The truth was, ever since the whole ordeal with the waterborne abyss, Lan Wangji couldn’t seem to get Wei Ying out of his head. Well, actually, he had been on Wangji’s mind ever since he arrived in the Cloud recesses but that wasn’t the point. 

Wei Ying had really proven himself that day. He had shown how brave and selfless he was. He went back to save that disciple even if it meant putting himself at risk. A new found respect for Wei Ying had blossomed and Lan Wangji wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.

He was also starting to really like Wei Ying even though it wasn’t really obvious. Every time the two would interact, Lan Wangji seemed to always push Wei Ying away. He never meant to do so but he didn’t know how to act around the other boy. Wei Ying was so different from anyone he had ever known.

Wei Ying was a very bright person. He was very smart and had an interesting imagination, especially when it came to making up new kinds of talismans or different kinds of cultivation techniques. Though he seemed to be a troublemaker and someone who had no regards for the rules, Lan Wangj knew that he was a good person. 

But then there was the issue of Wei Ying’s injury. 

Lan Wangji knew that Wei Ying was not weak, far from it, but something inside of him made him want to protect the other boy. It was such a weird feeling and Lan Wangji didn’t know how to go about it nor did he want Wei Ying to be offended by his feelings, never that. 

He also wanted to know how he got his injury (he was sure everyone did) but didn’t know how to ask. Wangji had never been good with words so that’s why he had gone to his brother for help. Elder brother would know what to do.

“Brother...it’s about Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said. A soft smile stretched across Lan Xichen’s lips. Ah, of course, he thought amusedly.

“What is it about young master Wei?” he asked. Lan Wangji dipped his head down.

“How do I....how do I...” Wangji trailed off, his ears beginning to turn pink. Why was this so hard to say? 

Lan Xichen had waited patiently for his brother to continue. He knew how hard it was for Wangji to express himself so he waited for him.

“I think I want to be friends with Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji finally said after a while. 

“That’s great Wangji,” Xichen responded happily. Finally. It was time for his brother to make some friends. Lan Wangji nodded.

“Mn. But brother, how do I...?”

“Ah,” Xichen said, now understanding why his brother seemed so frustrated. “You want to know how to approach him, correct?” he asked. Wangji nodded again. Aw, his brother was so adorable. His smile widened.

“Wangji, I think you should just go talk to him. I’m sure young master Wei would listen to you,” he said. Lan Wangji sighed to himself. Why did his brother say it like it was so easy? Words were so hard. How would he even begin a conversation with the other? 

Of course being the brother reader that he is, Xichen immediately caught on to his little brother’s internal battle. His eyes softened.

“Wangji, I promise that it’s not going to be as hard as you think. I’m positive he would be happy to have you as a friend. Oh, you also want to know about his injury right?” he asked. He watched his brother nod. “Well, does that really matter? Young master Wei is a cultivator just like the rest of us. You saw him that day in Caiyi. His injury doesn’t matter when it comes to helping people. He must have gone through a lot though. If you treat him like he isn’t made of glass, I’m sure he’ll be happy about that.”

His brother was right, he always was. Lan Wangji nodded at his brother’s words. He’ll try his best to do all of that. He really wanted Wei Ying as his friend (his first friend) and he didn’t want to mess it up.

“Ok. I can do it,” Lan Wangji said. Lan Xichen grinned at him.

“That’s good Wangji. Here, have some tea.”

*******

Turned out, Lan Wangji didn’t need to go to Wei Ying, Wei Ying had come to him.

It was a few days later when it happened. Lan Wangji was playing his guqin in the Jingshi. It had been stormy these days and so his uncle had cut classes short. Wangji spent most of his time to himself reading, visiting his brother, or playing music.

He was also still quite unsure of how to approach Wei Ying and whenever he would get the courage to go up and talk to him, something always stopped him. It was so frustrating. Why couldn’t he be open like his brother? Xichen had no problem talking to others, why did he have to?

That’s why he was holed up in his Jingshi. Today had been another failure at talking to Wei Ying after class and he wasn’t about to go try again when it was raining so heavily outside. Oh well. He’ll just have to try again tomorrow.

Wangji picked at the strings of his guqin, it’s sounds echoing through the almost silent room. He always liked playing during a rainstorm, it brought a strange peace to him. It also helped that the piece he was playing was one that was used to calm the mind. He needed it right now with Wei Ying constantly plaguing his thoughts. 

When the song finished, he placed his hands one top of the strings. He took a deep breath. He instantly felt calmer.

That calm was ruined though when a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Woah...”

Lan Wangji’s golden eyes widened as he sharply turned his head to the entrance of his Jingshi. 

Wei Ying was standing in the open doorway, awe clear in his grey eyes. Though when their eyes met, his gaze turned apologetic.

“Ah, sorry for bothering you Lan Zhan, I was taking a walk and I heard the music and it sounded so nice,” Wei Ying explained. Lan Wangji blinked and nodded. He was so surprised to find Wei Ying there but he wasn’t at all upset by it.

“Uh, Lan Zhan, do you mind if I come in? It’s a little cold out here,” Wei Ying said sheepishly. He was holding onto an umbrella to keep himself from getting wet but Wangji was sure that the strong wind was making it chilly.

“Mn,” Lan Wangji replied, motioning to the seat across from his. Wei Ying’s smile looked so happy as he entered. He sat his umbrella over by the entrance so that it could dry and then he happily made his way over to where Lan Wangji was sitting.

“Wow Lan Zhan, I didn’t know you lived so far out here! It’s very nice by the way,” Wei Ying said, looking around the room. “I had heard that Lans are extremely talented musicians and I’m glad that it’s true. I’ve always wanted to play an instrument myself, especially a flute,” Wei Ying went on. He kept glancing down at the guqin in front of him with what almost looked like longing and Lan Wangji felt a sad pang in his chest. 

“Wei Ying....likes music then?” Wangji then asked. Wei Ying blinked up at him surprised. Honestly Wangji was surprised at himself for saying something. But it was worth it to see Wei Ying slowly start to smile.

“Yeah! I’ve always loved music,” Wei Ying replied. Lan Wangji swallowed.

“Does Wei Ying want to hear another song?”

A bright grin blossomed on Wei Ying’s as he nodded enthusiastically. “Yes please! Uh, as long as it’s not bothering you,” Wei Ying said. Lan Wangji shook his head. Something like that could never bother him.

Once again, he placed his hands on top of his guqin. What would Wei Ying even like to hear? He thought for a moment before he made up his mind. 

He began plucking and strumming at the strings a moment later. The warm sounds of the guqin filled the room. Lan Wangji had decided to play an old Gusu folk song that he had learned a long time ago. Usually, he did not play for recreational purposes, only using his skills for cultivation or during training but he figured that Wei Ying would appreciate it. It seemed that he did because Wangji let himself steal a glance up at the other boy in the middle of the song. Wei Ying once again looked awed by the music and Lan Wangji knew he picked right. 

After he had finished, Wei Ying gave him a bright grin.

“Wow Lan Zhan, you have such talent! Ah, if only I could clap for you,” he said. Lan Wangji blinked at him, surprised that he had made light of his injury. Did Wei Ying normally do that? He didn’t know but he knew that he didn’t like hearing it. 

“You do not need to,” be said. “As long as you enjoyed it then that is enough.”

Wei Ying’s grin was then replaced by a small smile. And maybe even the beginning of a blush.

“Then I hope that second young master Lan does not mind me asking for more songs at a later date,” Wei Ying said.

It took Lan Wangji a moment to fully process what the other had just said. When he did finally get it, he felt his ears heat up. Did he really mean that he wanted to come visit him again? Lan Wangji secretly hoped so. When Lan Wangji gave him a questioning look, Wei Ying let out an awkward chuckle.

“Ah, what I mean by that is....is it ok if we can spend more time together, Lan Zhan? Like as friends?” he asked hesitantly. Lan Wangji blinked at him.

“Friends?”

“Mhm, friends.”

Somehow, somewhere in the back of his mind Lan Wangji could hear his big brother yelling (well, not yelling, more like loudly telling him) at him to say yes. He’s sure that if this was anybody besides Wei Ying, he wouldn’t have hesitated to say no. He would have told himself that he didn’t need anybody else besides his brother for company and he would have left it at that. But the thing was, this was Wei Ying and Lan Wangji had wanted to be his friend anyway. That’s why he ended up nodding his head a moment later.

“Mn, friends,” he said. The bright grin returned to Wei Ying’s face.

“Really Lan Zhan? You mean it?” he pressed. Lan Wangji nodded again.

Mn. Yes. Friends. He could do that.

*******

That’s how their friendship started.

For weeks after their classes had finished, Wei Ying would come visit him in the library pavilion. If he wasn’t there, it usually meant he had other arrangements with his siblings or other friends. That didn’t bother Lan Wangji though. As long as he got to see Wei Ying, he would be fine.

Whenever Wei Ying visited him, when the two weren’t talking until dinner time, Lan Wangji had come to expect a whole manner of gifts that Wei Ying had decided to give him. Sometimes it was paintings of the Cloud recesses or maybe of Lan Wangji himself, other times it was flowers that Wei Ying had found while he was taking a walk (Lan Wangji had found a vase to keep them in for as long as possible so Wei Ying’s flowers wouldn’t be ruined). Wei Ying even gave him paper talismans that he had enchanted to do all sorts of silly things like flying around the room or messing up Wangji’s papers. He couldn’t be mad though because Wei Ying’s laughter was worth the mess.

Today though, today had been a bit different. 

Lan Wangji was in the library pavilion like usual. He had been reading over a couple of notes that his uncle had given them during class that day when Wei Ying had burst through the open door.

“Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan look!” Wei Ying had cried. Lan Wangji looked quickly at the sudden noise. He was almost worried until he saw the bright smile on the other boy’s face. He sighed in relief.

“What is it Wei Ying?” he asked in a much quieter tone. Wei Ying giggled as he walked closer to Lan Wangji’s desk.

“Look Lan Zhan! Look at this cutie!”

Wei Ying then revealed a small bundle of white fur that he was holding. Lan Wangji blinked when he realized it was a bunny that Wei Ying was holding.

“Isn’t he the cutest thing ever?” Wei Ying asked as he held the bunny close and made kisses at it. You’re the cutest thing ever, Lan Wangji suddenly thought but he quickly banished it from his mind. What was wrong with him? He shook his head and got up from his seat gracefully, walking over to Wei Ying and the bunny. 

Lan Wangji gently pried the bunny from Wei Ying’s arm without bothering it too much and into his own. The bunny’s fur was very soft as he ran his fingers through it. It was cute just like Wei Ying had said. 

When Lan Wangji had looked back up, Wei Ying was grinning at him.

“You two are very adorable, Lan Zhan,” he said. Wangji felt his ears and face starting to heat up at that and he looked away.

“Shameless,” he muttered under his breath. Wei Ying giggled at him.

“But it’s true! Lan Zhan is very cute and adorable.”

Lan Wangji was very tempted to run away and hide himself to get away from all of Wei Ying’s teasing but on another hand, he really liked it. It was such a weird feeling and he just stayed there. 

Wei Ying didn’t even seem to notice Wangji’s inner turmoil as he flicked at the bunny’s fluffy little ears. “So, are you gonna keep him Lan Zhan?” he asked. Lan Wangji shook his head.

“I cannot. Pets are not allowed in the Cloud recesses,” he replied. Wei Ying hummed in disappointment.

“That’s too bad. I thought you two looked great together,” he paused for a moment. “Well I guess that rule isn’t too bad. As long as there aren't any dogs around,” he said. 

When Lan Wangji gave him a questioning look at that, Wei Ying laughed awkwardly. “Ah, don’t worry about that Lan Zhan. Anyway, what are you planning to do with him?” he asked, motioning down to the bunny. 

Lan Wangji thought for a moment. The back mountain was largely unbothered. No one would bother the little bunny if he put him there.

“Have an idea,” was all he said as he made up his mind. He didn’t wait for Wei Ying as he was already making his way out of the door.

“Huh? Wait Lan Zhan! Wait for me!” Wei Ying called. Lan Wangji watched Wei Ying run up to him out of the corner of his eye. There was a pout of Wei Ying’s face when the other boy began walking backwards so they could look at one another. Cute, Lan Wangji thought again at Wei Ying’s pout.

“So mean Lan Zhan! You just walked out on me without even saying where we were going!” he whined. Lan Wangji almost let a smile pass his lips at how silly Wei Ying was being. He hadn’t even gone that far, why did he have to be so dramatic? But he guessed that’s just Wei Ying. Silly and dramatic and brave and selfless and cute..... gods he was losing it.

“Back mountain,” was all that he said after a while. Wei Ying blinked at him.

“Huh?”

“We’re taking him to the back mountain. No one will bother him there,” Lan Wangji explained. Wei Ying’s pout immediately turned to a smile at that.

“Why didn’t you just say so Lan Zhan? I think that’s a great idea!”

Wei Ying skipped ahead, looking for the best place for the bunny while Lan Wangji walked behind him. There was a soft look in Wangji’s golden eyes as he watched the other boy. Wei Ying looked so happy and Lan Wangji wanted him to be like that forever. Wei Ying deserved to be happy. He was once again pulled out of his thoughts when Wei Ying called to him.

“Lan Zhan, come here! Look!”

Lan Wangji went over to Wei Ying.

“Hm? What is it?” he asked. Wei Ying pointed to something in the forest.

“There’s another bunny!” Wei Ying exclaimed excitedly. At first, Wangji didn’t see the bunny that the other boy was talking about. It wasn’t until the other bunny hopped out of a pile of dead leaves did he catch sight of it. No wonder he didn’t see it, it’s fur was so dark that it perfectly blended in with the leaves. It was the complete opposite of the white bunny in his hands.

“I think we should go over to it. Maybe they can be friends?” Wei Ying suggested. At Lan Wangji’s nod, the two carefully made their way over to the brown and black bunny so that they didn’t startle it. Once the two boys were close enough, Lan Wangji put down the white bunny in his arms.

They watched as the white bunny hopped over to the other bunny. He sniffed curiously over the black and brown fur, trying to decide if he was a friend or not. The brown and black bunny seemed excited by the white one and immediately snuggled close to the other.

Wei Ying squealed from beside Lan Wangji.

“Aw! Look how cute they are together, Lan Zhan!” he said. 

“Mn, very cute,” Lan Wangji agreed. Wei Ying laughed happily.

“They seem to like each other. Just like you and me, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji startled as he looked over to the other boy. 

“Wei Ying....likes me?” he asked hesitantly. Wei Ying gave him a soft smile while nodding.

“Of course! Lan Zhan is my friend,” he said. 

Wei Ying likes me, Wei Ying likes me, Wei Ying likes me, Wei Ying likes me, Wei Ying likes me, Wei Ying likes me. 

Wei Ying laughed again, clearly unaware that Lan Wangji was going crazy on the inside. 

“Come on Lan Zhan, it looks like it’s getting late we should-“

“Like Wei Ying too.”

Wei Ying turned back to him, surprised. 

“What did you say, Lan Zhan?” he asked. He watched as Lan Zhan turned his head away from him. He looked to be embarrassed as his ears had turned red.

“I like Wei Ying too,” Lan Wangji repeated for him. Lan Wangji turned back to see a grin spreading on Wei Ying’s scarred face.

“I’m glad Lan Zhan. I’m glad I have you to call a friend.”

The two boys stared at each other in silence. They stared like nothing else in the world mattered, it was only them. Wei Ying had a smile on his face and while Lan Wangji’s face remained blank, his golden brown eyes had turned soft. A few more minutes had passed before Wei Ying turned away with a short chuckle. Lan Wangji unfortunately missed the blush that was painted on the other boy’s face.

“Ah, it’s almost dinner time, Lan Zhan. I think we should start heading back now. We wouldn’t want to break in rules right?” Wei Ying asked teasingly. Lan Wangji nodded in agreement.

“Mn.”

Lan Wangji then followed Wei Ying back down the path that they had followed, leaving the bunnies in the clearing. Lan Wangji secretly hoped that he would see them again. 

Along the way, Lan Wangji listened to Wei Ying ramble about all sorts of things. For once, Wangji didn’t mind the senseless talking one bit. He felt like he could listen to Wei Ying talk about nothing forever. 

They made their way back into the main part of the Cloud recesses and to the dining hall where all of the disciples were gathering to have dinner. When he had caught sight of his siblings, Wei Ying turned to Lan Wangji.

“I had a lot of fun Lan Zhan. We’ll see each other later, ok? Go enjoy your dinner now. Bye Lan Zhan!”

Lan Wangji watched as Wei Ying ran over to his siblings. He batted shoulders with his brother who was eyeing him curiously and latched onto his senior sister's side like a little kid. Lan Wangji already missed him.

“Bye Wei Ying....” he murmured quietly and went off to join his own brother for dinner.

Chapter Text

Wei Wuxian knew Jiang Cheng didn’t like him hanging out with Lan Zhan but he just didn’t know why. In all honesty, it was probably Jiang Cheng just being overprotective again. He loved his brother, he really did, but sometimes he could take it a little too far. Seriously, he was a big boy and older than Jiang Cheng! He knew he was a cripple but, seriously, he could take care of himself and make his own friends!

“Ok, what is it?” he asked his brother who was walking beside him. Jiang Cheng snorted at the question.

“Wei Wuxian, If you like Lan Wangji so much, why don’t you go join his clan and stay here in the Cloud recesses? Don’t think about coming back to Lotus pier either,” he said. Wei Wuxian let out a disbelieving laugh. What the hell?

“Jiang Cheng, what are you going on about? Lotus pier is so much better than this stuffy place. These rules would kill me if I actually had to live here. And what’s so bad about liking Lan Zhan? He’s my friend!” 

Jiang Cheng shrugged his brother off when the other boy had attached himself to his arm. “You know, friends don’t usually flirt with each other,” he said. Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes.

“What flirting? In any case, I could say the same thing about you. Huaisang flirts with you all the time. You don’t think that’s weird?” he asked, nudging his brother’s shoulder. Jiang Cheng spluttered beside him, his ears turning red.

“Huaisang does not!” he tried defending himself. This only made Wei Wuxian smirk as he crossed his arm over his chest.

“Uh huh, sure. Want me to go ask him?” Wuxian jutted his chin ahead of them. Jiang Cheng's eyes widened as he turned to the direction his brother pointed out. Sure enough, Nie Huaisang was walking towards them while fanning himself, completely oblivious to what the two brothers were talking about. Jiang Cheng grabbed Wei Wuxian’s good arm and squeezed it tightly. 

“Don’t you dare fucking say anything,” Jiang Cheng leaned in and whispered harshly into Wuxian’s ear. Wei Wuxian nodded vigorously as he tried getting out of Jiang Cheng’s grip.

“Ok, ok! Ow, Jiang Cheng it hurts!” he whined. Jiang Cheng snorted and shoved his brother away. Wei Wuxian pouted and held his arm close to his chest.

“So cruel...” he said, making himself sound close to tears. 

“Who’s cruel?” Nie Huaisang asked when he joined the two brothers. Wei Wuxian sniffled and pointed at Jiang Cheng who rolled his eyes.

“It’s him. I was just making a joke and he had to grab me so roughly. So abusive...” 

Nie Huaisang giggled behind his fan as Jiang Cheng side-eyed his brother.

“Abusive? Want me to actually abuse you?” Jiang Cheng lifted up his hand threateningly which made Wei Wuxian squeak. He hid himself behind Nie Huaisang and poked his head out.

“Huaisang, you have to save me!” he cried dramatically. Huaisang only giggled again when Jiang Cheng got closer to the two of them. When Wei Wuxian let out another loud yell, a new voice called out his name.

“Wei Ying!”

The three boys looked up to see Lan Wangji across the way giving them all a stern look. At the sight of the jade, Wei Wuxian’s fake-scared face turned into a happy grin.

“Hi Lan Zhan!” he said, waving to the other boy. Lan Wangji sighed as he turned his eyes solely on him.

“Wei Ying is too loud. Yelling is not permitted,” he reminded. Wei Wuxian gave him a sheepish look as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Uh, yeah. We were just playing, sorry for bothering you Lan Zhan,” he said. Lan Wangji gave a stiff nod. He had been going to visit his uncle when he heard Wei Ying. At first, he had thought that Wei Ying was actually in trouble before realizing that he was just messing around with his brother. He gave the group one last glance before going back on his way.

Wei Wuxian watched him go before remembering something. “Lan Zhan! Don’t forget about the lanterns tonight, ok?” he called. Lan Wangji didn’t give any indication that he had heard him but he was sure he must have. If not, Wuxian was going to drag him out there.

Beside him, Nie Huaisang let out a chuckle as he looked over to Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng was glaring after Lan Wangji. For some reason, Jiang Cheng seemed to dislike the jade. Perhaps it had something to do with Wei Wuxian? At the thought, Nie Huaisang nudged Wuxian’s good arm.

“Ah, I see why Jiang- xiong was mad at you earlier. He must be upset that you’re going to make a lantern with second young master Lan instead of him,” he said. Wei Wuxian smirked and crossed his arm over his chest.

“Well now that you mention it...”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes as he began walking away from the two. Someone get him away from these two idiots! 

He could hear his brother laughing at him as he tried to catch up with him. 

“Aw, A-Cheng! You know that I love you second best in the whole world right? Shijie has to be first but no one can replace my little brother!”

“Who’s your little brother? Get the fuck away from me!”

*******

The lantern ceremony was a sign that the guest disciples time in the Cloud recesses was coming to an end. Though there was still a few weeks left before they all returned home and one last formal ceremony, Lan Qiren allowed the disciples an evening of a little ‘fun’.

Wei Wuxian hummed happily as he painted his lantern. Just as Huaisang had said, he was making his lantern with Lan Wangji. Jiang Cheng was still pretending to be upset with him and was sitting with a couple of Jiang disciples. Wuxian wanted to laugh at his behavior. And people called him the dramatic one. He turned to Lan Wangji.

“You know Lan Zhan, we have to set our lantern together since you’re helping me,” he said.

“Mn,” was the only reply. 

“Especially since my lantern is made for you. Look!” Wuxian held his lantern up for the other boy to see.

Lan Wangji glanced over to the lantern like Wei Wuxian requested. On the paper he saw that Wuxian had painted the bunny that he had found a few weeks ago. He couldn’t help the very small lift of his lips. Wei Wuxian didn’t miss it either.

It was very small and subtle but there was definitely a smile on Lan Wangji’s face. Wei Wuxian let out a disbelieving laugh as he stared. Gosh, who knew Lan Zhan could become even more handsome?

“Lan Zhan....you smiled,” he murmured in awe. But as soon as he said that, Lan Zhan’s smile was gone. Before his face went back to being blank, he almost looked surprised. At Wei Wuxian’s soft smile, he turned his face away. It was so embarrassing. Wei Wuxian was sure he saw the pink tint on Lan Zhan’s ears.

“Lan Zhan, you should smile more often. You look very handsome.”

Lan Wangji glanced back up at Wei Wuxian and stiffly nodded, not knowing how else to respond. Was Wei Ying reply telling the truth or was he just teasing him? It must be true though from the way Wei Ying was looking at him. 

After that, the two finished their lantern in silence. With the arrival of Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen a few moments later, the disciples knew that it was time to set their lanterns free and make a wish. 

It was a very bittersweet moment for Wei Wuxian. He felt like he was letting go of his days here in Gusu. Sure he hated it here, but he made a lot of good memories and friends here too. In a few weeks he’ll have to return to Lotus pier and leave all of his new found friends behind. Who knows when he’ll be let out of Lotus pier again? But he couldn’t let himself think about that for too long. It was better to just live in the moment. 

Wei Wuxian glanced over at Lan Wangji whose eyes were still trained on the lanterns floating higher into the darkening sky.

“Lan Zhan,” he said to get the other boy’s attention. Lan Wangji looked at him when his name was called. “Lan Zhan, do you want to make a wish with me?” he asked. At Lan Wangji’s ‘Mn’, Wuxian excitedly clasped his hand in Lan Wangji’s. He couldn’t clasp both of his hands so why not just join their hands together? 

When Wangji gave him a questioning look, all he did was give him an amused chuckle.

“One arm, remember?”

Lan Wangji closed his mouth and watched as Wei Wuxian dipped his head towards their joined hands and closed his eyes.

“I, Wei Wuxian wish to stand with justice and live life with no regrets.”

Once he opened his eyes again, he slowly let go of Lan Wangji’s hand. He grinned at him. “Lan Zhan, what did you wish for?” he asked curiously. Lan Wangji blinked at him before looking back up at the sky.

“Secret,” was all that he said. Wei Wuxian pouted at him. Wow. When did Lan Zhan learn how to tease people? His pout remained and looked around at everyone else.

Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang were now beside one another, talking quietly as they watched the lanterns. A little ways away from them was his sister, also still watching the sky. Wei Wuxian hurried over to her.

“ Shijie, what did you wish?” he asked. Jiang Yanli looked over to him and smiled teasingly.

“I wish for my A-Xian to grow up soon and to be well behaved for the rest of his life,” she said. 

“You’re lying to me,” Wei Wuxian pouted again. “I bet you wished for a good marriage.” To someone who is not that stupid peacock, he thought quickly after. 

At his words though, a few female disciples from each clan came and surrounded them and started talking about how exciting it was that his shijie would be married soon. It definitely was not exciting! Especially when my shijie will have to leave me and be married to that peacock! Wei Wuxian thought, becoming more and more annoyed. It was all interrupted though when Jin Zixuan called the Jin disciples to leave. 

Good, let them go, Wei Wuxian thought as he watched the Jin clan flee into the forest, their white and gold robes flowing behind them as they went. He was glad that they were gone but he quickly changed his mind when he saw his shijie’s face. She looked so sad and Wuxian didn't like it one bit. And it was all because of that peacock. Angrily, Wei Wuxian stalked after Jin Zixuan. He could hear his brother and the other disciples calling after him but he didn't listen to them.

As he got closer and closer to the Jin disciples, he could hear Mianmian asking why her young master didn't set a lantern with his shijie when they were supposed to be married soon. Wei Wuxian watched as Jin Zixuan rounded on Mianmian.

"Listen Mianmian, I don't want this marriage. Now drop it," he said angrily.

"Wait!" Wei Wuxian called down to them. Jin Zixuan glanced up at him, a frown on his face. "What do you mean drop it?" he asked. Jin Zixuan rolled his eyes.

"Wei Wuxian, does any of this concern you?" The Jin heir asked in turn. Wei Wuxian growled at that. If it had anything to do with his shijie then it had to do with him. He ran up to Jin Zixuan and glared.

"I'm going to ask you one more time Jin Zixuan, what do you mean drop it?"

Jin Zixuan snorted. "Wei Wuxian, are you sure your arm is the only thing that is damaged? Has your hearing gone too? I said to drop it."

Wei Wuxian was stunned and the only thing he could do was to stare blankly at Jin Zixuan. He heard Mianmian gasp at the insult while the rest of the Jin disciples openly laughed. Wei Wuxian didn't know why the words hurt so much. Maybe it was because this was the second time the Jin's had insulted him or maybe it was because his stay here at the Cloud recesses had been relatively calm. Everyone here didn't treat him like he was broken. Nie Huaisang didn't seem to care one bit about it, young Wen Ning had voiced concern over it but only because he was truly worried, Lan Zhan saw him as his equal and even Lan Qiren treated him just like any other disciple (though he still seemed to hold some grudge against him but that didn't bother him as much anymore). Maybe that's why it stung so bad.

Wei Wuxian couldn't stop the fist that his hand was forming nor could he stop the tears that were pricking at his eyes. They thought he was damaged? Well, they'll see just how damaged he was once he kicked Jin Zixuan's ass! He brought his fist up to connect it with Jin Zixuan's face but a call of his name stopped him.

"A-Xian!"

Both boys looked up to see Jiang Yanli and the rest of the other disciples watching them from on top of the hill. Yanli rushed over to her little brother and blocked him from the Jin disciples view. Jiang Cheng was right behind her looking absolutely murderous. Lan Wangji followed though when he saw the looks on the three siblings faces, he knew that it was not his place to step in.

"A-Xian..." Yanli murmured as she took his still clenched fist into her hands. Wei Wuxian was still shaking but he was instantly calmer with both of his siblings right there. But it still hurt. Seeing that her brother's breath was quickening, Yanli placed her hand against Wei Wuxian's scarred cheek to calm him.

"My A-Xian is not damaged. He never has been," she said quietly, too quietly for anyone else to hear. These words were only meant for him. Yanli glanced behind her to Jin Zixuan.

She had heard everything that he had said. He knew that he had disliked her from the beginning but she didn't realize that Zixuan wanted to break the engagement between them all together. It tore her heart in half to know that he'll never have the same feelings for her. It hurt so much. But when Yanli turned back to Wei Wuxian, she realized that he was her priority right now. Jin Zixuan had stepped over the line when he insulted her precious little brother.

"A-Xian, let's just....let's just go back," she said. At Wei Wuxian's nod, Yanli led him away from everyone else and back towards the guest quarters. Jiang Cheng was close behind them, casting a glare at the Jin disciples as he passed. The rest of the Jiang disciples followed suit leaving the Lan and Nie disciples to talk amongst themselves while the Jin's stood there shamefully.

*******

I'm going to fucking kill that peacock , Wei Wuxian thought angrily as he poked at some ants with a stick.

Lan Qiren had been made aware of the situation between Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixuan and had promptly punished both of them. They had both been made to kneel in opposite courtyards to reflect on their actions. Wei Wuxian was pissed about it of course. Why did he have to kneel when it was the peacock who had started this whole mess? Well, ok, he knew why he was kneeling as he almost punched Jin Zixuan (he deserved it), but that wasn't the point. Then again, he guessed his situation wasn't all that bad when Nie Huaisang snuck in to tell him that Jin Zixuan had received twenty hits for the remarks he had made about Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian. It gave Wuxian a sick satisfaction just thinking about it. But it still didn't help that he was being punished though.

He continued to poke at the gathering ants until a flash of purple caught his eye.

Wei Wuxian looked up from the white rocks in front of him to see Jiang Cheng following behind Jiang Fengmian. Wuxian's eyes widened at the sight of him.

"Uncle Jiang, what are you doing here?" he asked standing up from surprise. Jiang Fengmian turned his eyes to the boy.

“Kneel," was all that he said before turning away and walking towards Lan Qiren's study.

Wei Wuxian blinked as he watched the man go and slowly knelt back down. The situation must not be good if uncle Jiang was here. Shit. He didn't think he messed up that badly. Jiang Cheng sighed at him from where he was still standing.

"Lan Qiren sent a letter to father to come and meet with him," he explained to his brother. "Apparently clan leader Jin is to arrive soon too."

At Wei Wuxian's anxious look, Jiang Cheng only gave him a short apologetic look before running off to catch up with his father.

Wei Wuxian sagged as his brother left him. It wasn't fair. He wouldn't have almost punched the stupid peacock if the other boy wasn't such an asshole. He was mean to his shijje and then he insulted Wuxian. Jin Zixuan deserved to be punched in his stupid powdered face.

Stupid. Fucking. Peacock.

Angrily, Wei Wuxian threw a rock at the ants. It wasn’t the ants fault but he needed something to vent his frustration on. After more rocks were thrown, Wuxian heard a voice call out behind him.

“Wei Ying.”

Wei Wuxian turned around to see Lan Wangji walking towards him. Almost immediately, Wei Wuxian’s mood was brightened at the sight of the other boy.

“Lan Zhan!” he called back. Lan Wangji stopped in front of him, looking down.

“Wei Ying seemed upset,” Wangji said quietly. Wei Wuxian blinked up at him. Was Lan Zhan worried about him? A smile crossed Wei Wuxian’s scarred face before he sighed and nodded.

“Yeah. Uncle Jiang just arrived here and I think clan leader Jin is here too. It seems like I’m in trouble,” he murmured, his bad mood coming back. 

Lan Wangji was silent for a moment before  he knelt down next to Wei Wuxian. Wuxian’s eyes widened at that.

“Wei Ying does not deserve to be punished,” Lan Wangji told him. “Jin Zixuan was wrong to call you damaged.”

Once again, Wei Wuxian was surprised. He also felt his heart melting. Who gave Lan Zhan the right to talk like that? He doesn’t think he could survive if Lan Zhan kept saying stuff like that. But....it was really sweet.

“Lan Zhan, you defending my honour is not good for my heart,” he pouted. 

You’re not good for my heart either, Lan Wangji wanted to say but he kept his mouth closed.

“And anyway Lan Zhan, you shouldn’t be kneeling here beside me. You’ll get in trouble too,” Wei Wuxian said.

Don’t care about that, Wangji thought stubbornly. Wei Ying was more important.

“Wei Ying seemed upset,” he ended up saying again. “Wanted to make sure you were ok.”

“Do you mean that Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian asked, a shy smile crossing his face. Lan Zhan nodded seriously. “You’re too good, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji wanted to say something else but the two were interrupted by Jiang Wanyin’s urgent shout.

“Wei Wuxian!”

The two boys watched as he jumped over a wooden rail to get to his brother. Jiang Cheng was mildly surprised to see Lan Wangji beside his brother but he wasn’t worried about that right now.

“What is it, Jiang Cheng?” Wei Wuxian asked, standing up. Jiang Cheng panted softly as he motioned behind him.

“Sister....sister is to break off her marriage with Jin Zixuan.”

Wei Wuxian clenched his fist at Jiang Cheng’s words.

“What the hell? Does that peacock really want his ass beat?” Wei Wuxian asked, intending to go off and give that peacock a piece of his mind. Jiang Cheng stopped him with a hand on his good arm.

“Wait! It wasn’t him. It was my father who suggested it,” Jiang Cheng told him. Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened at that.

“Uncle Jiang really said that?” he asked. Jiang Cheng nodded his head.

“Yeah. That isn’t it. He said that because of what happened.....it would be best if we left the Cloud recesses early.”

“What?”

Lan Wangji watched as Wei Wuxian’s whole body seemed to slump down at the news. He honestly looked heartbroken at the thought. 

“We’ll have to say goodbye to everyone soon..” Jiang Cheng murmured to his brother, glancing over to Lan Wangji.

At that, Wei Wuxian turned to Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji hated seeing the other boy so sad.

“Lan Zhan…” he murmured quietly. This was really goodbye... 

*******

"I'm gonna miss you Lan Zhan."

Wei Wuxian stood in front of Lan Wangji with a sad look on his face. Uncle Jiang and his siblings were waiting for him but he had to say goodbye to Lan Zhan before he left. He already bid farewell to Nie Huaisang and Wen Ning earlier and that was already painful enough.

Wei Wuxian had no idea when he'd be able to go out of Lotus pier again. Madam Yu may lock him up forever now that he was the reason that Yanli and Jin Zixuan would not be married. He could already feel the whip across his skin.

Lan Wangji looked to the ground. “I will miss Wei Ying too,” he said quietly. Wei Wuxian let a sad smile pass his lips.

“We’ll see each other again, we have to. While I’m gone, please take care of those bunnies, ok? Make sure nothing happens to them. I’ll be really sad if those bunnies got hurt.”

Lan Wangji looked back up at him with a serious expression and nodded. Wei Wuxian couldn’t help the little laugh that escaped him. Lan Zhan was always so serious. 

“Goodbye Lan Zhan,” he said to the other before reluctantly turning away to go join his siblings and uncle. Jiang Yanli gave him a pitying smile as Jiang Cheng led him away.

As Lan Wangji watched them go, a sad look passed over his usually blank face. He truly is going to miss Wei Ying. He’s going to miss his smiles and his company and his little gifts and how loud he is. He could already feel a dull spot in his heart.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, Lan Wangji’s expression turned back to normal as he saw his big brother walking towards him. 

“It’s going to be a lot quieter now that he is leaving,” Lan Xichen remarked, coming to stand next to his brother. “All will go back to how it once was.”

Lan Wangji didn’t reply to the statement as he continued to watch the Jiang’s retreating forms. Lan Xichen gave him a comforting smile.

“You two will meet again, I’m sure of it,” he said. Wangji only gave a stiff nod to his brother’s words. They will meet again.

Lan Wangji sighed once when Wei Ying was finally out of view.

Goodbye Wei Ying.....

Chapter Text

Almost a year had passed since they had left the Cloud recesses and everyday Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but miss his friends that he had made there. Not that he didn’t enjoy spending time with his siblings, especially on a day like today.

Currently, he and Jiang Cheng were drying off in a grassy area next to the lake. 

They both had been helping out the other disciples with gathering lotus pods. Their gathering had gotten a little out of hand and some of them may have fallen into the water. When Jiang Cheng had started berating them for being childish, Wei Wuxian had dragged him into the water too. It had been hilarious when his brother spluttered out water and angrily started trying to drown him. Of course his brother would never actually drown him but it was still really funny.

After that whole ordeal, Jiang Cheng had made the other disciples go back before he told Madam Yu that they were all playing around. Of course with the threat of Madam Yu hanging in the air, the disciples quickly made their way back. With them gone Jiang Cheng had gotten out of the water angrily and onto the grassy bank. He then started stripping out of his wet purple robes and laid them out to dry. Once he was left in nothing but his pants, he flopped onto the ground. 

Wei Wuxian giggled as he followed his brother’s example. He also stripped out of his black robes and sat down on the grass. The sling that he usually kept his right arm in was soaked through and so were the bandages, so Wei Wuxian opted to take those off as well.

Jiang Cheng was surprised by that. He knew how uncomfortable it was for Wuxian to see the horrible scars lining his arm but if his brother was fine with it then he wouldn’t say anything.

The two brothers then laid next to each other in a comfortable silence. As they laid there, Wei Wuxian was having a good little time just watching the clouds in the sky above them. It was a little childish but it was still fun to pick out the little animals that the clouds made. He giggled to himself as he pointed up.

“Look Jiang Cheng! That cloud looks like a  cat!” he said. Beside him, Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes at his brother’s childishness.

“It looks like a fucking cloud,” he said. Wei Wuxian pouted at him.

“You’re no fun Jiang Cheng! See that one over there? It looks like a little bunny,” he said pointing again. But as soon as he said those words, a sad look passed over his face. Just thinking of bunnies made him think about Lan Zhan. He hadn’t seen his friend in almost a year and it made him sad just thinking about it. Well, he hasn’t seen any of his friends but still. He was currently being grounded and he wasn’t even allowed to send out letters. It upset him.

“What’s with that face?” Jiang Cheng asked from beside him. Wei Wuxian blinked as he was brought out of his thoughts.

“Huh?” he asked. 

“That face. What’s wrong?” Jiang Cheng asked in turn. His brother only looked like that when he was being bullied or if something was wrong. Jiang Cheng leaned over and grabbed hold of his brother’s hand.

“Wei Wuxian, is someone bothering you?” he asked, squeezing his hand. “I’ll go beat them up for you if that’s it.”

Wei Wuxian let out an amused laugh at his brother’s behavior. He was glad his brother cared about him (though usually it was indirect and aggressive) but sometimes his overprotective nature was a little too much. He squeezed his brother’s hand back.

“Jiang Cheng, calm down, it isn’t like that. I guess.....I guess I’m just bored,” he said, shrugging. Jiang Cheng stared at his brother as he sat up.

“Bored?” he asked, not believing a word his brother was saying. But Wei Wuxian nodded at him.

“Yup. Bored,” he said again. It was mostly true. And besides, the other Jiang disciples didn’t bully him much anymore. The ones his age respected him enough and the younger ones admired him. It was usually outsiders that had something bad to say. 

The main reason he was bored these days   (just as he first feared) was because Madam Yu had forbade him from going out of Lotus pier again. It was because of what happened back at the Cloud recesses. Madam Yu and Madam Jin had arranged the betrothal between Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan when they were both very young and she had been furious to find out that Wei Wuxian was a part of the reason that it was called off. How could a useless cripple mess up all of her plans? Wei Wuxian could still feel the sting of the whip on his back. He also wasn’t even allowed to go on night hunts. It was awful.

Jiang Cheng hummed quietly as he leaned back on his hands. He knew all about his brother’s little predicament. It had been like that for months. He honestly felt bad for Wei Wuxian. Every time he went to the nearby town or on a night hunt, he was forced to leave his brother behind. It felt so weird to do that. Sure, his brother was annoying as hell but it was supposed to be them together. Not Jiang Cheng going out by himself and coming home to tell his brother what happened. It wasn’t fair.

Now Jiang Cheng would never say this to her face, mostly because he valued his life  far too much, but he didn’t agree with his mother's treatment of Wei Wuxian at all. He’s heard all the rumors concerning his father and Wei Wuxian’s mother, and while he resented his father for paying more attention to Wuxian then him, he knew that there was no reason to put blame on his brother for any of that. Wei Wuxian was still his brother, no matter that he is the son of a servant or a ‘cripple’. That's why an interesting thought came to him. Jiang Cheng turned to his brother. 

“Wei Wuxian.”

“Hm?”

“Do you want to go into town with me later?”

Wei Wuxian gave him a look. “Um, I’m grounded remember? I’m not allowed to go outside.”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “I know that idiot, that’s why we’re sneaking out.”

Wuxian was surprised by this and sat up, looking at his brother with wide grey eyes. “Who are you and what did you do with my brother? I’m the one who usually thinks these things and gets into trouble,” he said. Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes again and huffed loudly.

“This is the only time I’m offering, asshole. It’s a yes or a no,” he said. He watched Wei Wuxian’s face light up with a grin. His brother then wrapped him up in a hug.

“Aw, thank you Jiang Cheng! I knew you were my favorite brother!”

“I’m your only brother, idiot! Now let go of me or I’ll change my mind!”

“Ok ok, I’ll get off. Let’s go!”

The two brothers then quickly changed back into their now dry robes and made their way down to the docks. It was going to be hard to just sneak on a boat without anyone noticing so the two decided to hurry it up. But of course nothing ever went their way.

“Where are you two off too?” One of the uncles selling vegetables asked them when he saw the two boys trying to sneak past. Wei Wuxian turned to the man and gave him a sheepish look.

“Uh, we’re just uh....going for a boat ride,” he awkwardly tried to explain. Beside him Jiang Cheng wanted to facepalm. Really? That’s what his brother came up with? But the uncle just gave them an amused laugh.

“Hm, a boat ride. Well you two have fun then,” the uncle said, winking. Wei Wuxian gave the man a grateful smile as Jiang Cheng grabbed his wrist and hauled ass out of there in case anyone else wanted to stop them. 

“That’s the best you could come up with? I thought you were the smarter one,” Jiang Cheng remarked as they entered a small boat. 

“Well I’m glad that you admit that I’m smarter than you,” Wei Wuxian grinned at him. Jiang Cheng huffed loudly as he realized what he just said. At his brother’s obnoxious laughter, Jiang Cheng sighed and hung his head. 

This was a mistake wasn’t it?

*******

For what felt like the hundredth time today, Wei Wuxian laughed in joy as he skipped through the streets.

Usually Jiang Cheng would be annoyed by this but he was glad that his brother was having a good time. This is what he wanted after all. He even glared at any passerby’s who were giving Wei Wuxian dirty looks. He wouldn’t let them ruin his brother’s fun. 

Jiang Cheng then watched as Wei Wuxian ran up to a stand selling candies in the shapes of different kinds of animals.

“Look Jiang Cheng! It’s a bunny! Isn’t it interesting?” his brother asked, looking excitedly at the candies. Jiang Cheng crossed his arms over his chest.

“Uh huh, they’re great, now will you please come on? I said that I was going to buy us dinner,” he said. Wei Wuxian pouted at him.

“So boring...” he muttered to himself, going to stand next to his brother. 

“Do you really want to call me boring? I can and will let you starve,” Jiang Cheng threatened. Wei Wuxian ended up giving him a sheepish smile.

“Ah, there’s no reason for that. Go ahead and lead the way to the restaurant,” Wuxian said, motioning for Jiang Cheng to go. Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and grabbed his brother’s wrist, leading him to the restaurant that he had picked out. Why does it feel like he’s the older one sometimes?

When the two got to the restaurant, Jiang Cheng dragged his brother to a table in the farthest corner, away from everyone else. He knew nobody here would eat them out to Madam Yu but it was better to be on the safe side. Wei Wuxian didn’t seem to mind either as he excitedly gave the waiter his order.

“...and your best wine!” Wuxian called after the waiter went back to get their food. Jiang Cheng sighed. He wasn’t surprised in the least. His brother looked over to him with a grin.

“Hey Jiang Cheng, we should definitely get shijie something while we’re out,” he said.

“And risk getting caught by my mom? I don’t think so,” Jiang Cheng told him. At Wei Wuxian’s little pout, Jiang Cheng sighed again.

“Ok ok, we can get a- jie something. But you’re the one who has to sneak it in to her,” he said. Wei Wuxian smiled happily and excitedly started naming off things that he was thinking of buying for their sister. 

Jiang Cheng was getting annoyed by how childish his brother was acting but he was trying his hardest not to be too bothered by it. This was the happiest his brother’s been in months, who was he to dampen the other boy’s spirits? He was also secretly happy that they were out spending time together. Not like he would tell Wei Wuxian any of that.

Their food came a few moments later. 

They both had ordered noodles but Jiang Cheng was not surprised that Wei Wuxian ordered his with spice. Don’t get him wrong, Jiang Cheng also enjoyed spicy foods but the amount of spice his brother added to any meal was ungodly. Seriously, how the hell did Wei Wuxian’s taste buds even survive?

 As if his brother could read his mind and was trying to spite him, Wei Wuxian held his chopsticks up, a few bright red noodles dangling off of them.

“Jiang Cheng, wanna try some?” he asked innocently. Jiang Cheng shoved his hand away.

“Get that shit away from me! Where the hell are your table manners?” Jiang Cheng asked in turn. Wei Wuxian frowned at him.

“I was just trying to share with my brother,” he said. Jiang Cheng huffed.

“Like I wanna try that abomination. Just eat your damn food Wei Wuxian.”

“But Jiang Cheng-“

“Shut up! Eat!”

Wei Wuxian stuck his tongue out at his brother and shoved his noodles into his mouth. Jiang Cheng wanted to reach across the table and throttle him but he chose to eat his food instead. He ate his own noodles and glared over at his brother.

A little ways away from them, some customers were gossiping amongst themselves.

“Did you hear?” One of the customers closest to them said to their friend. Jiang Cheng elected to ignore them but Wei Wuxian was curious. He continued to listen in.

“Hm? What is it?” The other asked.

“I’ve been hearing rumors that there are ghouls and corpses haunting the nearby forest,” the first customer responded.

“Then those are probably just rumors,” his friend told him. “And in any case, cultivators would take care of it.”

The customer nodded and shrugged, returning to his meal.

Jiang Cheng glared at Wei Wuxian when he turned to him with a hopeful look in his eyes. Even with an injury, his brother still had a little bit of a hero complex. He always wanted to help people.

“Jiang Cheng-“

“Don’t even. Let’s finish our food and then we can go investigate,” Jiang Cheng cut him off. He really didn’t want to get caught up in this mess but if he didn’t, his brother would ignore him and go alone. Right. Like Jiang Cheng would leave his brother alone.

Wei Wuxian let out a happy smile as he slurped up the rest of his spicy noodles and drank from his wine bottle. Jiang Cheng once again sighed deeply as he also finished up with his food.

They were going to be in so much trouble when they get back home. He could already see his mother yelling at the two of them, especially Wei Wuxian. She would probably blame everything on him and whip both of them with Zidian. 

Jiang Cheng was worrying but when he saw how happy his brother was, he couldn’t regret doing any of this.

*******

The forest next to the town was dense and misty when the two brothers entered it. Jiang Cheng wasn’t surprised. Monsters loved making trouble in places like these.

“If only they said a specific direction...” Wei Wuxian murmured from beside him.

“Maybe you just dragged us out here for nothing,” Jiang Cheng said rolling his eyes. “I knew we shouldn’t have listened to gossip.”

Wei Wuxian nudged his brother with his good shoulder. “Don’t be like that Jiang Cheng. We should still go check just in case. Let’s see....let’s go in that direction,” Wei Wuxian pointed in a random direction and started walking. Jiang Cheng shook his head but followed after him. He keeps a tight grip on Sandu just in case they really do run into something out here.

They walked around, being careful in case anything snuck up on them. The mist seemed to grow thicker but the two brothers kept their eyes open. It wasn’t long until Wei Wuxian caught something out of the corner of his eyes.

“Jiang Cheng over there.”

The two brothers took off in the direction that Wei Wuxian had pointed out. Sure enough, there were plenty of walking corpses ahead of them, taking refuge in the thick fog. They took their swords out, ready to attack the monsters when a flash of white light flooded their vision.

“What was that?” Jiang Cheng asked, shielding his eyes. Wei Wuxian was curious too until he saw a young man in white robes ascending from the mist.

“Wait, Jiang Cheng look,” Wei Wuxian whispered, nodding towards the young man who was now fighting the monsters. He looked to be around their age but he was very skilled. Right behind him was another young man dressed in all black. Wei Wuxian put his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Let’s just watch,” he said quietly. Jiang Cheng huffed but sheathed his sword.

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng watched the two cultivators in awe. They both fought so elegantly that it was hard to keep your eyes off of them. Suddenly, Jiang Cheng gasped from beside Wei Wuxian

“Wait, I think I know them,” he said quickly. Wei Wuxian furrowed his eyebrows.

“You know them?” he tilted his head to the side. Jiang Cheng nodded.

“Yes. I have heard of two rogue cultivators going around and helping civilians, I think this is them.”

Wei Wuxian hummed quietly at the new information. It was certainly interesting. The two rogue cultivators had already finished the monsters by the time Wei Wuxian turned back to look. Not bad.

The two brothers would have already left but alerted the other cultivators to their presence when Wei Wuxian stepped onto a pile of leaves. The one in white whipped around and unsheathed his sword.

“Who is there?” he called. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng both looked at each other before sheepishly stepping out into the opening. The rogue cultivators looked confused to see them there. Wei Wuxian gave them a friendly smile.

“Hey there. Me and my brother here had heard the rumors of monsters haunting these woods. We came to help but....we see you’ve beat us to it,” Wuxian laughed awkwardly. The cultivator in white smiled kindly at him.

“Apologies then,” The one in white then bowed to the both of them. “I am Xiao Xingchen and this is my closest friend Song Lan,” he motioned to the young man beside him. Song Lan nodded at the brothers.

“Xiao Xingchen the bright moon and gentle breeze,” Jiang Cheng said from beside Wei Wuxian. “And Song Lan the distant snow and cold frost, it is an honour to meet you,” he bowed in return.

“You flatter us young master, we do not deserve such compliments. Apologies, you are...?”

“I am Jiang Cheng or Jiang Wanyin of the Jiang Clan. This is my brother Wei Wuxian,” he introduced them. Xiao Xingchen gave them a polite nod.

“We were just passing by. We are actually heading to Yueyang,” Song Lan told them. Jiang Cheng furrowed his eyebrows.

“Yueyang?” he asked. Xiao Xingchen nodded his head gravely.

“Yes. We heard the clan residing there were having problems and we were on our way to help them,” he said. Jiang Cheng dipped his head.

“Then please do not let us hold you up,” he bowed to the two. Xiao Xingchen smiled at him.

“Nonsense. We will always try to help those in need. If you ever need our help, Song Lan was a disciple of Baixue temple and I was a student of Baoshan Sanren. Please feel free to call on us.”

Jiang Cheng once again bowed to him in acknowledgement 

“Baoshan Sanren?” Wei Wuxian blurted out. Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan blinked at him but nodded.

“Yes, She was my teacher,” he told him.

Wei Wuxian shared a look with his brother. This young man was a student of Baoshan Sanren? Maybe....maybe he knew of his mother?

“By any chance did you...did you know Cangse Sanren?” he asked. Wei Wuxian watched as a soft smile passed Xiao Xingchen’s lips. 

“Yes I did, she was my shijie,” he said. “We were close when we were younger but she left the mountain years ago. I had heard she passed away and...” Xiao Xingchen trailed off when he realized who the boy standing in front of him must be. “Ah, I see now. You must be her son, correct?” 

Wei Wuxian nodded at the question. “Yes I am. Heh, I guess since my mother was your shijie, that means your technically my shishu,” he said. Xiao Xingchen let out an amused chuckle.

“It seems so. When I heard that shijie had a son, I was worried for him when I heard she passed. But I am glad to see that you have found refuge with another clan,” Xiao Xingchen glanced at Jiang Cheng.

“Speaking of which-“ Jiang Cheng suddenly gripped his brother’s good arm. His eyes were wide as he looked up to the sky. The sky was darkening and it was getting late. Surely someone back home would have noticed they were gone by now. He looked back to Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan. “I’m sorry but we really have to get going. We’ll be in trouble if we don’t leave.”

Another amused smile passed Xiao Xingchen’s lips as he bowed to the two boys. “Then please be on your way. We would not want you to get in trouble.”

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian both saluted the other cultivators before Jiang Cheng took his brother’s hand and ran out of the forest. Wei Wuxian gave them one last wave before they really left.

“Goodbye shishu! It was nice to meet you and I hope to see you again one day!” he called.

He saw Xiao Xingchen wave back at them.

*******

“There you two are!” Jiang Yanli said when she caught sight of her two brothers  running into the training grounds. The two were panting hard and looked like they had been running for a while. She crossed her arms and attempted to look upset with them. “Where did you two even go?” She asked.

“ S-shijie we...”

“A- jie did...did mom...?”

Both boys were too out of breath to properly respond. Yanli shook her head and smiled at them fondly. She knew sooner or later they would go off somewhere together. 

“Don’t worry, a- niang was mad but a -die persuaded her with this.”

Jiang Yanli held up a note in her hand. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng squinted at it.

“What is that shijie?” Wuxian asked. 

Yanli smiled excitedly at him.

“This is an invitation to the discussion conference in Qishan. A-Xian is to attend as well.”

Chapter Text

The discussion conference at Qishan was supposed to be a grand event. It would last seven days with all kinds of activities for the various clans to enjoy. Though the clan leaders would hold their meetings, the disciples were all looking for a chance to show off their skills to one another. It was especially exciting to some of the nosy disciples because the Jiang sect was apparently bringing their injured head disciple with them for the first time.

Eyes. That’s all Wei Wuxian felt as he stood beside his brother and the rest of the Jiang disciples. The staring had been much worse yesterday when they had first arrived in Nevernight. This was supposed to be exciting for him, but as soon as they had arrived, all of the staring and whispering had started to ruin the excitement. 

At least his brother was a comforting presence beside him and so was the blue and white robes of the Lan clan in the distance. He couldn’t wait to see Lan Zhan. He had missed the other boy so much. He had caught a few glimpses of him last night at the opening banquet but that was it. Maybe after the archery competition Wei Wuxian could talk to him. That instantly put him in a better mood and he bumped his brother’s shoulder.

“Good luck, Jiang Cheng. Don’t get distracted out there ok? All you have to do is concentrate and I know you’ll be in the top!” He said enthusiastically, cheering his brother on. Jiang Cheng gave him a look.

“How will I be distracted when you aren’t there to annoy me?” he asked, making sure his bow and arrows were secured. Wei Wuxian pouted at him.

“Don’t be like that. I know you’ll miss my face.”

“I’ve seen your face almost everyday for the last ten years. I think I’ll be pretty happy without seeing it for an hour.”

“Jiang Cheeeng!” Wei Wuxian gasped in mock hurt. “How dare you bully your dear older brother like this!”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “Who’s my dear older brother? Get away from me, idiot.”

“Ah. Of course you two are arguing,” an amused voice said from behind them. The two brothers looked up from their stupid argument to see Nie Huaisang walking towards them, his usual fan in his hand. Wei Wuxian grinned when he saw him.

“Nie- xiong! It’s been a while. How have you been?” he immediately jumped into the questions. Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes again.

“Wei Wuxian, calm down. At least let him breathe before you pounce on him.”

Wei Wuxian stuck his tongue out at his brother while Huaisang shook his head fondly. “It’s alright Jiang- xiong. I missed his face after all,” he said, winking at Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian giggled and latched onto the boy’s arm.

“So Nie- xiong, tell me what have you been up to since we last saw each other.”

At that, Nie Huaisang and Wei Wuxian launched into a conversation about what they did over the summer. Wei Wuxian recounted his boring time in Lotus pier. But he did bring up the one time he and Jiang Cheng had snuck out. Huaisang gave Jiang Cheng a smile.

“Wow Jiang- xiong, who knew you could be such a good brother?” he teased. There was a bit of red on Jiang Cheng’s face and he turned away. 

“Shut up, idiot,” he muttered. Wei Wuxian shook his head at him and turned back to Huaisang. 

“He’s just being weird again, don’t worry. So what did you do?”

Huaisang of course had started on many different paintings and drawings and fans. He even told him how he talked his brother’s ear off when he wasn’t busy.

“Which one’s Chifeng-zun? ” Wei Wuxian asked curiously as he looked over the Nie delegation. Nie Huaisang shrugged. 

“He’s not hard to miss. He’s over there with Zewu-Jun,” Huaisang pointed to the head table where all the sect leaders were situated. Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened when he caught sight of the Nie sect leader. There was only one word Wuxian’s mind could supply as he looked at the man. Huge. 

“That’s really your big brother?” Wei Wuxian asked quietly as he continued to stare. Chifeng - zun was also extremely handsome. Nie Huaisang snorted but nodded.

“Yup. But don’t worry, he might look all big and scary but he’s really just a big teddy bear,” Huaisang paused and blinked. “But, uh, don’t tell him I said that.” Wei Wuxian laughed at him.

Just then, the announcement for the start of the archery competition went up. Wei Wuxian turned back to Nie Huaisang.

“Are you joining the competition, Nie- xiong?” He asked. Nie Huaisang shook his head.

“No, I won’t be joining. Nie Zonghui and Nie Zhihao will be leading the hunt for our sect.”

“Which ones are they?”

Once again, Nie Huaisang pointed out the members of his sect to Wei Wuxian. Nie Zonghui was one of sect leader Nie’s most trusted men. He even wielded double sabers which Wei Wuxian found so cool. Nie Zhihao was one of Huaisang’s cousins. She was also just as tall as the rest of the Nie’s and just as intimidating. How Huaisang was related to all these people, Wuxian couldn’t guess. But there was one familiar face Wei Wuxian didn’t see as he looked over the Nie disciples.

“Hey, Huiasang,” he asked before they parted ways. 

“Hm? What is it?”

“That disciple that was with you on the first day of the Cloud recesses, is he with you today?”

Nie Huaisang furrowed his brows but shook his head. “You must be talking about Meng Yao. No, he’s not here with us. Da-ge left him in charge of The Unclean realm while we were gone. My brother trusts him a lot,” Huaisang explained to him. Wei Wuxian hummed and nodded.

A moment later, Huaisang was called away by said cousin and waved back to the two brothers.

“Bye Wei- xiong! I’ll make sure to talk to you later. And good luck with the competition Jiang- xiong!”

The brothers waved to him as he left them alone again. Jiang Cheng turned to Wei Wuxian.

“I’ll have to go too. Try not to get into any trouble while I’m gone,” he said. Wei Wuxian huffed and gave him a look.

“What kind of trouble would I even get in? Calm down Jiang Cheng. There’s plenty of people here.”

“That’s what I’m worried about...” Jiang Cheng muttered under his breath.

Jiang Cheng wasn’t thrilled by the way some of the disciples and the leaders had been looking at his brother throughout their short time here. Every time someone even remotely stared at Wei Wuxian for too long Jiang Cheng tried his hardest not to glare at them. He felt so annoyed for his brother. Cultivators got hurt and crippled all the time. He knew it was rare for one so young to be this injured but that didn’t give anyone a reason to look at his brother like that. Wei Wuxian had been so uncomfortable last night and it wasn’t fair.

“What was that?” Wei Wuxian asked, lifting an eyebrow. Jiang Cheng glared at him. 

“Nothing. Just don’t be stupid. I’m leaving. Bye,” he said. He once again made sure his bow was secured and walked away to the starting gate with the rest of the Jiang disciples. He heard his brother call to him.

“Good luck, Jiang Cheng! Kill all the fierce spirits you can ok! I won’t  dishonour the sect or whatever you tell me! Oh and Jiang Cheng, If you see Lan Zhan, tell him I said hi, ok!”

Wei Wuxian watched as Jiang Cheng waved him off and entered the archery arena. There was a feeling of longing as he watched his brother and clan mates go but he quickly pressed it down. Jiang Cheng was one of the best archers he knew, he didn’t need him pulling him down. 

Wei Wuxian sighed to himself and looked around. He had been left entirely alone now that Jiang Cheng was gone. He would be just content to watch but he wasn’t sure how friendly any of these other disciples would be. So, he opted to go exploring around the area.

He ended up in a small garden a little ways away from everyone else. Though from where he was, he still had a good view from over here and he was alone. Or at least he thought he was.

Wei Wuxian heard something hit behind him and he went to investigate. There was a boy in Wen robes hiding behind some bushes, shooting arrows at a target and hitting it dead on. Wuxian brightened when he realized who it was.

“Wen Ning!” he cried happily. Wen Ning looked up in surprise but his face broke into a happy smile when he saw Wei Wuxian standing there.

“Young master Wei! It’s good to see you,” Wen Ning said, the sweet smile still on his face. 

“Wen Ning, I missed you so much,” Wei Wuxian said. He grinned at the boy but also noticed the bow in his hand. “Oh! You were practicing! Did you want to join the competition? I bet there is still time for you to-“

“Oh please no!” Wen Ning cut him off. Wei Wuxian blinked at him in surprise. “I couldn’t join. Please I really don’t want to. I-“

Wei Wuxian waved his hand around, trying to stop Wen Ning’s panicking. “Ok, ok. You don’t have to join, it’s ok.”

He steered Wen Ning over to a bench in the garden and sat down beside him. “See? You can just sit here with me and we can just watch from here, ok?”

Wen Ning gave him a grateful smile. 

“Young master Wei, didn’t you want to stay over there?” he asked, nodding his head toward where the clan leaders and other disciples had stayed while the others competed. Wei Wuxian shrugged.

“I don’t really know anyone so I just wanted to go explore instead. This is my first time in Qishan after all. Speaking of which, what have you been up to since we last met?” Wen Ning’s face turned sad and Wei Wuxian leaned close to him. “Huh? What’s with that face Wen Ning?” he asked.

“I’ve been left alone mostly,” Wen Ning started, but he began rubbing both of his hands together like he was nervous. “A- jie has been away a lot to serve uncle so I usually keep to myself,” he said.

“What about the rest of your family?” Wei Wuxian asked. Wen Ning shrugged.

“My cousins they....they aren’t really friendly.”

Wei Wuxian frowned as he patted Wen Ning’s back. “I hope they aren’t being too mean to you?” he asked, ready to fight any of the Wens who were messing with the younger boy. Wen Ning turned to him and waved his hands frantically.

“No! It’s really ok! Like I said, I stay clear of them and practice medicine while my sister is gone. I promise I’m ok,” Wen Ning said. Wei Wuxian wasn’t pleased but he let it drop.

“If any of them start messing with you, come get and I’ll kick their asses.”

Wen Ning let out a startled laugh, “But young master Wei, you live in Yunmeng, there is no way you can come and save me.”

“Nonsense! I’ll help anyone in need, no matter where they are!” Wei Wuxian declared confidently. A shy smile passed over Wen Ning’s face.

“Thank you young master Wei. I’m glad I have someone like you as a friend,” he said. Wei Wuxian smiled back at him and nudged him playfully.

“It’s nothing. You’d do the same for me, wouldn’t you Wen Ning?” he asked, winking at the boy. Wen Ning giggled and nodded.

“Of course!”

The two boys continued to talk until the archery competition was over. The voices of the disciples coming back from the competition caught Wei Wuxian’s attention and he turned his head in the direction of the noise.

“The competition must be over,” he said excitedly. “Let’s go see how Jiang Cheng did!”

Wei Wuxian stood up quickly and was about to run over to find his brother when he noticed Wen Ning hesitating behind him.

“Huh? What’s wrong Wen Ning?” he asked. Wen Ning glanced nervously over to the crowd.

“Most of the clans aren’t fond of us Wen’s,  I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble because of me,” he said. Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes and grabbed onto Wen Ning’s hand.

“Don’t worry about that. Almost everyone doesn’t seem to be fond of me anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal anyway. Besides, we’re only going to Jiang Cheng. He knows you, it will be fine.”

Wen Ning was still uncertain but he let Wei Wuxian pull him up and over to the rest of the disciples.

Jiang Cheng had an annoyed expression on his face when Wei Wuxian approached him. Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow at Wen Ning being tugged around by his brother but he didn’t pay attention to him as he looked at Wei Wuxian.

“So how did you do Jiang Cheng?” Wei Wuxian asked him. Jiang Cheng huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest scowled.

“Third place,” he grumbled. Wei Wuxian blinked at him.

“Then who won?”

“The Lan clan got first. The Jins grabbed second.”

Wei Wuxian didn’t even have the decency to look upset. Instead, his eyes grew wide with excitement and he looked around wildly. “That means Lan Zhan won! Where is he Jiang Cheng?” 

Jiang Cheng glared at his brother. Really? Wei Wuxian was more worried about Lan Wangji than them losing? Unbelievable. Jiang Cheng moved his glare from his traitor of a brother to who had appeared behind him.

“Your precious Lan Zhan is right behind you, asshole,” he bit out. Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened as he turned around quickly. Standing right there was Lan Zhan in all his beauty.

“Lan Zhan...” Wei Wuxian breathed out as he came to stand before the jade. He knew he had missed Lan Zhan throughout these months but seeing him now, Wei Wuxian felt a strange longing towards the other. All he wanted to do was reach out to Lan Zhan but he stopped himself before he embarrassed himself. Instead, he gave him a huge smile. “Lan Zhan, I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed Wei Ying too,” Lan Wangji said, eyes turning soft at the sight of the other boy. He had missed Wei Wuxian just as much as the other boy missed him. 

“Lan Zhan, how have you been since I left? Have you been lonely without me?” Wei Wuxian asked. Lan Wangji glanced at the ground and gave a tiny nod.

“Mn.”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened and he tried not to smile. Lan Zhan really did miss him, huh? “Lan Zhaaan,” he whined. “You can’t just say things like that, it’s not good for my heart. I might blush!”

Jiang Cheng was making gagging noises behind him but Wei Wuxian couldn’t care, not with the way Lan Zhan was looking at him.

“It’s the truth,” Lan Wangji said. “I was lonely without Wei Ying. Brother and the little bunnies kept me company, but I wanted to see Wei Ying.”

“The bunnies, Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian said excitedly, trying not to think about the other things Lan Zhan had said. “You’ve been taking care of the bunnies, right? Feeding them and giving them pets for me?”

“Of course,” Lan Wangji replied. “I think they miss you too, but I’ve been taking care of them when I have time.”

“That’s great, Lan Zhan. I’m so happy,” Wei Wuxian grinned. He then blinked up to see Lan Wangji’s forehead ribbon was slightly crooked. It must have come out of place during the competition.

“Hm? Oh Lan Zhan, your forehead ribbon is crooked. Here, let me just fix it-“

Before Wei Wuxian could grab a hold of the ribbon, Lan Zhan caught his hand in a tight grip. A hushed silence fell over those closest to them and a nervous pang fell in Wuxian’s stomach. Uh oh. He messed up again, didn’t he? With the way Lan Zhan was looking at him, he must have.

Lan Zhan’s golden eyes were staring at him unblinkingly while his hand was still wrapped around Wei Wuxian’s in a death grip. A little ways behind Lan Zhan, Lan Xichen was staring at them in shock as well as a few other nearby Lan disciples. Out of the corner of his eye, Wei Wuxian also saw Wen Ning looking at them with a scared expression on his face and Jiang Cheng who looked like he wanted to throttle him. 

When Lan Zhan’s grip on him became even tighter, Wei Wuxian winced and tried to pry it away.

“L-lan Zhan. Please let go, it hurts,” he said. Lan Wangji finally blinked at him as he loosened his fist and slowly let go of the other boy’s wrist. Wei Wuxian pulled his hand rather quickly and took a step back away from him. Lan Wangji seemed to come back into himself again and worriedly looked at Wei Wuxian who was holding his wrist close to himself. Wangji’s eyes were wide but he didn’t move towards Wei Wuxian. 

Oh no. He hurt Wei Ying. He hurt Wei Ying. He hurt Wei Ying.

He hadn’t meant to of course, but the other boy had reached for his forehead band and he panicked. Lan Wangji’s breath quickened and he took a few steps back from Wei Wuxian and looked away from him. “I’m sorry...” he murmured. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Brother, help me , Wangji desperately called out in his mind as he hurried away leaving Wei Wuxian to stare after his retreating form. 

“Lan Zhan...” Wuxian moved to go after him but Jiang Cheng held him back.

“Oh no you don’t. You’re staying the hell away from Lan Wangji. You probably insulted him and the rest of the Lan clan,” Jiang Cheng almost yelled at him. Wei Wuxian blinked before looking at his brother.

“But Jiang Cheng, what did I do wrong?” 

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and groaned out exasperatedly, “Wei Wuxian! You are one of the smartest people I know, how can you be so dumb sometimes?”

“But I don’t understand-“

“Dear gods Wei Wuxian. The headband is sacred to them! No one is supposed to touch it except for their family members or whoever they fall in love with! And you almost touched it! What are people supposed to think now?” Jiang Cheng screamed. 

Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened and his face started to turn red. “Is...is that really what it means?” he asked quietly.

“YES!” Jiang Cheng yelled. People were continuing to stare at them and Wei Wuxian turned even more red from embarrassment. 

“Hey Jiang Cheng, can we just...go?” Wei Wuxian asked, glancing around. Jiang Cheng glared at him.

“You really think I wanna be seen with you in public after all of this?”

“It wasn’t my fault! I didn’t know!”

“It’s common knowledge! Lan Qiren even warned us about it! You would have known if you had actually paid attention!”

“Jiang Cheng!”

“Fine! We’ll leave! But don’t think I’m sitting anywhere near you at dinner tonight!”

*******

It was the next day and the sword competition had already started early that morning. It was past noon now and Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng were sitting together and watching the duels, waiting for their turns. 

“Who did you get?” Wei Wuxian asked his brother. Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Fucking Jin Zixuan,” he grumbled. Wei Wuxian made a face and sympathetically patted him on the back. 

“Ugh, that sucks. I’m also fighting a Jin disciple. I don’t remember his name though,” Wei Wuxian told him. Jiang Cheng snorted and sat back.

“Well this should be easy for you so good luck,” he said. Wei Wuxian gave him a look.

“Are you trying to imply something, Jiang Cheng?” he asked, crossing his arm over his chest. Jiang Cheng met his stare.

“You know that’s not what I met. I know you’re more than capable of fighting on your own. I’m just saying that most of the Jin are incompetent. The fight will be over before you know it,” his brother explained. Wei Wuxian hummed as he scratched at his nose and sat back. 

They were currently watching a match between a Wen disciple and a Nie disciple. The match was over rather quickly though. The Wen disciple had tripped over his own feet and the Nie disciple used it to her advantage and smacked them out of the ring. Wei Wuxian tried not to laugh at that. He leaned over to Jiang Cheng.

“Looks like the Wens are even worse.”

Jiang Cheng smirked. “I would do anything to put that Wen Chao in his place,” he said, eyeing the head table where Wen Ruohan and his sons were seated. Said son wasn’t even paying attention to the matches and was too busy with the whore in his lap. Wei Wuxian was promptly disgusted by the display. And people called him shameless.

“One day we’ll do it together.”

Up next, the announcer called Lan Wangji and another Jiang disciple to the ring. Wei Wuxian’s eyes brightened at the sight of the boy. Lan Wangji looked just as beautiful as he always did and Wei Wuxian excitedly tugged on his brother’s sleeve, forgetting about the whole ordeal yesterday.

“Jiang Cheng, look! It’s Lan Zhan’s turn!” 

Jiang Cheng glared as he shoved his brother off of him. He still hadn’t forgotten about what happened yesterday. Apparently his brother did as he stared at the jade. “I’m not blind, I can see asshole,” he said. Wei Wuxian wasn’t listening though as he continued to stare the other boy down.

“Lan Zhan is the best right? Then this match will also be over quickly too,” he said, almost to himself.

Wei Wuxian has been right.

As soon as the two opponents had saluted each other, and the other Jiang disciple charged at him, all Lan Wangji did was sidestep and push the disciple out of the ring with the butt of his sword. The push must have been hard though as the disciple landed awkwardly on his arm, probably breaking it. Wei Wuxian flinched away from the sight and turned back to look at Lan Wangji. 

Lan Wangji was blinking blankly down at the disciple. He brought his hands up in a short salute again and walked off the elevated platform. As he went past, Wei Wuxian yelled rather loudly, “Good job Lan Zhan!” 

Lan Wangji turned his head slightly at Wei Wuxian’s voice, blinked, and gave a tiny dip of his head to show that he had heard. 

Wei Wuxian grinned widely as he sat back. “That was so cool,” he giggled to himself. Jiang Cheng gave his brother a disgusted look as he scooted farther away from him. It wasn’t that impressive. Lan Wangji was just showing off. Yeah, that was it.

After that, it was Jiang Cheng and the peacock’s turn to dual. Wei Wuxian gave his brother a thumb’s up as he stepped onto the ring. Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes but glared as Jin Zixuan also stepped up. He reluctantly saluted the other and gripped Sandu tightly. This will be for insulting my brother and sister!

As soon as the announcer called for the match to begin, Jiang Cheng lunged at the young master Jin.

Wei Wuxian watched the two fight with a look of shock on his face. His brother was fighting with an unusual fierceness. Sandu danced through the air like he had never seen before. Jin Zixuan looked like he was having a hard time keeping up with Jiang Cheng’s relentless strikes as he tried blocking each blow. 

Jiang Cheng was fighting hard and fast and a swell of emotion swelled up in Wei Wuxian. His brother....his brother was doing this for him. Every swing of Sandu, every blow upon Jin Zixuan’s sword was for him and his sister. Wei Wuxian's scarred face morphed into that of immense happiness and he cheered his brother on as loudly as he could.

In the end, neither Jiang Cheng nor Jin Zixuan could truly get an upper hand on the other and their match ended in a tie. Wei Wuxian was a little disappointed but he reluctantly agreed that the Jin heir was a talented swordsman. 

Jiang Cheng stepped off of the elevated platform and Wei Wuxian ran up to him. 

“Jiang Cheng, that was great!” he exclaimed. A tiny smile crossed Jiang Cheng’s face before he quickly wiped it off.

“I didn’t win though,” he said. Wei Wuxian nudged him with his good arm.

“Who cares about that anyway. I’m really proud of you Jiang Cheng and....and thank you,” Wuxian said, giving his brother a genuine smile. Jiang Cheng allowed himself to smile back at his brother before Wei Wuxian was called up to the ring next.

“Looks like it’s your turn now. Good luck,” Jiang Cheng told him. Wei Wuxian dipped his head to him and stepped up onto the platform.

A hushed silence fell across everyone gathered when Wei Wuxian walked onto the ring. Once again, all the staring was starting to bother him but he couldn’t let it get to him. Not right now. He had to prove himself. He would show them. He would show everyone that he was more than just a cripple, that he was just like every other cultivator here.

Wei Wuxian took a deep breath before training his eyes ahead as his opponent stepped up. Apparently, he was facing off against Jin Zixuan’s cousin, Jin Zixun. 

Jin Zixun looked just as haughty as his cousin and just as prideful. Wei Wuxian tried not to glare at him as they faced each other.

Before the referee called them to start, Jin Zixun smirked at him arrogantly. “Are you sure you don’t want to forfeit now? I would hate to embarrass you in front of everyone,” he said. A Few people close enough to hear them laughed rather loudly. Wei Wuxian just smiled at him.

“Apologies, I think it’s going to be you who will be embarrassed today,” Wei Wuxian replied easily.

Jin Zixun snorted. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that, cripple.”

Wei Wuxian kept the smile on his face even if he wanted to scowl at his opponent. He gripped onto Suibian as he unsheathed it from his belt. He could hear a few jabs coming from the onlookers but he couldn’t bring himself to care. This was it. This was his chance to prove himself.

As soon as the ref called them to start, Wei Wuxian’s grip on Suibian tightened and he lunged.

Chapter Text

Cripple.

Burden.

Son of a servant.

Worthless.

Trouble maker.

Useless.

Wei Wuxian had heard these insults more times than he could even begin to remember throughout his life. He’s probably heard them more times then his own name. Be it from Madam Yu, or the other disciples, or even from strangers on the street. Even now, as he sent Jin Zixun flying from the ring, some of the disciples amongst those cheering were whispering. Wei Wuxian wanted to glare at them. He had won hadn’t he? Why were they disappointed? As he sheathed Suibian and stepped down from the elevated platform, Wei Wuxian heard clearly what they were saying.

“It was an easy fight,” he heard someone say. “We all know Jin Zixun isn’t as talented as his cousin. They should have let the cripple be beat by someone better.”

That made Wei Wuxian stop in his tracks. It was easy, they said. Of course it was easy. It was easy because of Wei Wuxian’s skills, not because of the easy competition. Angry tears pricked at Wei Wuxian’s eyes. Even after all of that, after beating Jin Zixun fair and square, they still insulted him and thought that it was too easy for him. Wei Wuxian couldn’t handle it anymore. He needed to just get away from everyone. Well, not before talking to his brother first.

Jiang Cheng was giving him a proud smile as he walked up. To make sure his brother didn’t think anything was wrong, he returned it with a fake smile. He learned a long time ago that he was good at faking his emotions. 

“You did good,” Jiang Cheng told him, patting him on his good arm. 

“Thanks,” was all Wei Wuxian could say. He wasn’t feeling up for putting on this mask for long but he also didn’t want Jiang Cheng to worry too much. He made himself smile wider. “I won. It was so easy!” he laughed, though his heart wasn’t truly in it.

Jiang Cheng blinked at him, a flash of emotion passed through his eyes. 

“Wei Wuxian, are you alright?” he asked hesitantly. Wei Wuxian’s smile faltered. 

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” he shrugged it off even though a thin sheen of sweat ran down his back from lying to his brother. A pang in his chest and a short gasp of air told him that a panic attack was coming on. 

“Sorry I-i need to go.”

“Wait! Wei Wuxian!”

Wei Wuxian walked away from his brother briskly. He wasn’t sure where he was going, he only knew that he had to get away. 

His breath was coming out in short gasps as he finally collapsed against some building when he thought he was far away enough from the clans. The tears that had been pricking at his eyes before finally fell and Wei Wuxian let out a choked sob.  

It was always like this when things became too much. Jiang Cheng and Shijie didn’t even know he had panic attacks sometimes. He always hid himself away when he was having a hard time. He was already bothering his siblings enough by just being in their presence, no need to bring this up too. It was lonely and painful to go through it alone, but it’s what he thought he had to do. 

He spent the next few minutes trying to calm down. It was easy to stop crying but his chest still ached painfully, and it made it hard to breathe. The Jiang healer had taught him breathing exercises and he tried to put those to use, but it was hard in this mental state. 

Wei Wuxian glared down at his slinged arm angrily and not for the first time in his life. This is all your fault. Why couldn’t you have just healed right? Then I would be normal, then no one would hate me. 

Wei Wuxian felt more tears coming on and he angrily wiped them away with his sleeve. Fucking useless. 

It was then that a figure in white came into view before him.

“Wei Ying?” a worried voice called to him. Wei Wuxian let out a surprised gasp when he looked up. Lan Wangji was standing in front of him, his amber eyes looking over him worriedly. At the sight of the other boy, Wei Wuxian quickly wiped the tears from his face and straightened himself up. He let out another fake smile and looked at Lan Wangji. 

“Hi there Lan Zhan,” he said awkwardly. “What are you doing here?”

Lan Wangji took a step forward, his eyes sliding over the tear tracks on his face and worry present. 

“Jiang Wanyin was looking for you. He asked me to come find you and take you back.”

Wei Wuxian sighed deeply. He knew his brother would be worried. Another sigh left Wei WUxian as he forced the smile to remain on his face.

“You can go tell him i’m fine. Just wanted to...get some fresh air,” he lied rather lamely. Lan Wangji didn’t buy it either, his golden eyes furrowing in seriousness.

“Wei Ying is not fine,” he stated plainly. “And I know you aren’t fine. What happened?”

Wei Wuxian let a humourless laugh. “It’s always the same thing. I’m a useless cripple Lan Zhan. That’s all I'll ever be. I’ve worked so hard, I've trained just like everyone else, I’m head disciple, I beat Jin Zixun in front of everyone! And it’s not good enough. I’m not good enough,” More tears were falling from Wei Wuxian’s eyes when he was done speaking. 

It was the first time he had really ranted about his problems to anyone. It sounded so stupid but it was how he really felt. And now it was all out in the open. He waited for Lan Wangji to agree with him, to tell the truth that he was nothing but a useless cripple who would never be good enough. But that’s not what happened. Instead, Lan Wangji stepped up into his space and brought his hand up to his scared cheek. Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened as Lan Wangji brushed the tears away from his face.

Lan Wangji’s face was soft as he looked into Wei Wuxian’s eyes. It was probably the most emotion he had ever seen on Lan Wangji’s handsome face. It almost took his breath away. 

“Wei Ying, listen to me. Your brother was really proud of you, I could see it with the way he was watching. The Jiang disciples along with the other disciples were impressed by you. I even overheard my big brother and Chifeng-zun talking about you…I’m proud of you. We’re all here for you. We don’t think you’re just a useless cripple. You’re among the best disciples, Wei Ying. You are good enough.”

Wei Wuxian stared at him wide-eyed. Those were the most words he had ever heard Lan Zhan say. And those words were to lift him up. He knew Lan Wangji would never lie but he just had to know for sure.

“D-do you mean that Lan Zhan?” he asked, new tears welling up. Lan Wangji stepped even closer to him, their faces inches apart.

“Wei Ying is not useless. You are good enough. You are important to me and the rest of your family and friends. I would never lie to you,” he said honestly.

Wei Wuxian huffed out a wet laugh. “Oh Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan. How can you say things like that? I’ll die if you keep speaking.”

“But I mean it,” Lan Wangji said. “Every word.”

Wei Wuxian smiled up at him. He wasn’t completely convinced but he did feel a lot better. Or maybe the shock from hearing Lan Zhan say so much had brought him back. He giggled at the thought.

“WEI WUXIAN!”

Both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji looked up in surprise at the new angry voice. 

Jiang Cheng had walked up to them, anger (and a bit of worry) clear on his face. Wei Wuxian was now uncomfortably aware how close he and Lan Zhan were and he laughed awkwardly, and stepped away. He turned back to his brother and gave him a little wave.

“Jiang Cheng, what’s wrong?” he asked innocently. Jiang Cheng stalked his way towards them, casting a glare to Lan Wangji as he went past and grabbed onto Wei Wuxian’s good arm. “Ow, ow, ow! Jiang Cheng that hurts!” Wei Wuxian whined.

“Good! How can you just run off like that? I was worried and sent Lan Wangji after you only to find you two like this! What the fuck is wrong with you!?” Jiang Cheng screamed at him. 

Wei Wuxian gaped at him. “We weren’t even doing anything but talking!”

“Yeah fucking right! Come on, we’re going back,” Jiang Cheng started to tug him back to where everyone was gathered. Wei Wuxian gave an apologetic back to Lan Wangji whose face had turned back to neutral.

“Sorry Lan Zhan! Thank you for the kind words! I’ll see you again later!” he said while Jiang Cheng pulled him along. Lan Wangji watched them go, with a blank face, though his heart was beating fast in his chest.

Wei Ying…

******

The two brothers made it back to the clan's gathering place.

The other Jiang disciples ran up to them.

" Da-shixiong, is everything alright?" One of his Shidi's asked. Wei Wuxian smiled at the boy and patted him in the shoulder.

"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry about me," he said. The disciples didn't look convinced but they let Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng pass them. Wei Wuxian shook his head fondly. The younger Shidi's and Shimei's were always impressed with him and worried over him just as much as Jiang Cheng. It was very endearing and made him feel better.

When he and his brother settoedback with the disciples, Wei Wuxian felt eyes on him for maybe the thousandth time. He huffed loudly, annoyed at the continued staring. He turned to see who it was, expecting it to be some disciple from one of the other clans but no, Wei Wuxian faced Wen Ruohan.

The Wen sect leader’s dark eyes bore through him and made him shiver. He wasn’t scared. But he did not like the way the sect leader was looking at him.

Wen Ruohan blinked at him once more before sliding his black eyes away, something else catching his attention. Wei Wuxian followed his gaze and furrowed his brows at what Wen Ruohan was now caught up with.

The Wen sect leader was eyeing the Lan delegation.

Chapter Text

Madam Yu’s angry voice rang out across Lotus pier like thunder. No one knew what had made her so upset this time and none of the disciples wanted to find out. Everyone tipped toed around or stayed away until the storm blew over.

Wei Wuxian had been curious of course. For once it seemed that Madam Yu wasn’t angry with him. It had been a few months since the discussion conference at Qishan now. Wei Wuxian had tried to be on his best behaviour, but as always Madam Yu always had a problem with everything he did. That’s why he wanted to know what had made her so upset. 

He snuck around towards where the sect leader’s office was. Madam Yu and uncle Jiang were having a heated discussion inside, and Wei Wuxian could have swore he heard them before he was even close to the hall. When he got close, Wei Wuxian was surprised to find his brother also there.

Jiang Cheng was standing in the hallway, an ear turned to where his parents were arguing inside. When he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, he turned around like he had been caught. When he saw that it was just Wei Wuxian though, he quickly shushed him and beckoned him over. Wei Wuxian moved over beside his brother and gave him a questioning look. Again Jiang Cheng made a shushing gesture and pointed towards the adjacent hall, telling him to listen. Wei Wuxian nodded and listened closely.

“How can you be so calm about all of this?! The letter says that if we ignore or disobey the order for indoctrination and refuse to give up our heirs, we’ll be accused of treason against the gentry and be wiped out! ” Madam Yu had shouted from inside.

Wei Wuxian let out a surprised sound. “Indoctrination?” he whispered. Jiang Cheng nodded his head. 

“Father got a letter this morning from the Wen clan, requesting that all clan heirs and inner disciples be brought in for indoctrination. We’ll have to leave in seven days,” Jiang Cheng quietly explained. “But when has the Wen clan ever asked us to go there? We’ll be treated more like hostages than anything.” 

Wei Wuxian nodded along to his brother’s and continued listening.

“And of course we’ll have to send A-Cheng. How can A-Li go with how she spends her days leisurely?”  

“ A-Cheng is my heir, of course he’ll have to go .”

“Your heir? More like the heir you reluctantly claim ,” Madam Yu spat out in displeasure. There was a pause for a moment. “ And will that cripple be going ?” Madam Yu asked, a hint of venom in her tone. Wei Wuxian flinched at her tone and saw Jiang Cheng tense and clench his fist. He heard uncle Jiang sigh.

“ A-Xian can go if he wants to .” Madam Yu scoffed at that.

“ How nice! So Wei Wuxian can go if he wants to but our A-Cheng doesn’t have a choice, does he?”

Both boys heard Madam Yu start angrily pacing around.

“ And Clan leader Jiang, how nice you are! Raising other people’s children, raising a cripple. You give him so much thought but can’t give a glance to your own son? Tell me, clan leader, which of them is better at cultivation and fighting? Which of them is whole and healthy? Which of them isn’t some servant's son? Which of them is your son? ” She asked. Jiang Fengmain sighed. “ Ah, but I cannot compare to his mother can I? Is that why you hate our son so much?”

“ My lady! That is enough! ”

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian couldn’t hear any more of this. Jiang Cheng grabbed a hold of Wei Wuxian’s wrist and pulled him away from their little corner. They both ran until they were as far away from the clan leader’s office as possible. Once they were sure they were far enough away, they collapsed on the nearest wall, trying to catch their breaths and to calm the bitterness welling up inside of them. It was always like that. They were always compared to each other. As if they could help anything. 

Wei Wuxian glanced over to Jiang Cheng to see that anger was burning in his eyes. It made him flinch, thinking that Jiang Cheng might also be angry with him.

“Jiang Cheng, I-” Wei Wuxian tried before a soft voice called out to them.

“A-Cheng, A-Xian?” 

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng looked up to see Jiang Yanli walking up to them, worry clear on her face. Both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng stood up straighter when their sister stopped in front of them. “Is something wrong? You two don’t look well,” she said. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian shared a look. Wei Wuxian let out an awkward laugh as he straightened up. 

“Uh shijie, Jiang Cheng and I just found something out,” he said.

“What is it?” Yanli asked, her concern growing. Wei Wuxian looked around.

“Ah...it would be better if we went somewhere else.”

Jiang Yanli nodded seriously. “Ok. Come on then, I’ve made lunch, we can talk while we eat.”

*******

“Indoctrination?” Yanli asked once they were outside, finishing up lunch on one of the pavilions. Both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng nodded gravely.

“Yeah, apparently we’ll have to leave in less than a week,” Jiang Cheng said, his gaze a little distant. 

“How long will you be gone?” 

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng shared a look.

“Who knows with them. Probably a while if they want to ‘educate’ us further,” Wei Wuxian replied. Jiang Yanli’s worry grew even more at that. Just thinking of her brothers being stuck in Qishan for a long time without knowing if they were ok, it was….it was almost too much for her to think about. Seeing their sister become more and more upset, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian ran over to her.

“ Shijie!”

“A-Jie!”

The two stared at her worriedly, while Jiang Yanli gave them a watery smile.

“Ah, don’t worry I'm fine it’s just…” she sniffled and grabbed both of her brother’s hands. “Please look after each other while you’re gone. I want you both to be safe.”

Wei Wuxian smiled confidently at her. 

“Don’t worry shijie, I would never let anything happen to my precious little brother,” Wei Wuxian laughed as he bumped shoulders with Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and sighed.

“I would be more worried about you. Besides...I wonder what I did in my past life to get a brother like you…”

Wei Wuxian pouted at him and pounced on his back. “Aw! Don’t be like that A-Cheng! Tell you what, let’s be brothers again in our next life, ok?”

Jiang Cheng growled and shoved him off with a “Get off me asshole!” Secretly though, he wouldn’t have minded being brothers again with Wei Wuxian. 

Jiang Yanli giggled at them. Maybe they would be fine as long as they were together. 

“Just promise me ok?”

“I promise shijie!”

“I promise A- jie.”

Yanli smiled at them and patted them both on their heads. Wei Wuxian giggled happily while Jiang Cheng smiled sadly. Wei Wuxian gave him a look.

“What’s with that look?” he asked. Jiang Cheng shook his head.

“These peaceful times...they'll become fewer under their sun…” Jiang Cheng murmured looking up to the sky where the sun was blazing over Lotus pier. Wei Wuxian looked up too and ‘hmphed’.

“Then we’ll just have to attempt the impossible, right? We won’t let them take anything away from us!”

Jiang Cheng let a small smile pass his lips and bumped shoulders with Wei Wuxian. 

Yeah. The Wens wouldn't touch them.