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Chapter Text

The tension in the room is so thick that Lan Wangji can only do so much to ignore it completely. 

His jaw is set as he stares straight ahead so he does not have to look at Jin Zixun, who has a glass of wine pointed at him, daring him to take and drink it. Lan Xichen is standing behind his table next to him. He seems poised as ever, but Wangji can see how tense he is, his shoulders tight and one hand behind his back balled into a fist. 

Wangji knows how it would go if he drank this. He is in fact not able to do that trick his brother had told him about to burn the alcohol away, and he regrets more than ever to not have asked Xichen to teach it to him. It had just not seemed necessary, as most sects know that the Lans don't drink alcohol and usually all sects respect this, too. How does this insolent Jin cousin dare-

Suddenly, someone is in front of his table, black fabric passing his view, and before he knows it, someone has grabbed the wine glass with a confident smile on his face. 

Lan Wangji looks up to see Wei Ying, head cocked to the side provocatively as he holds the wine cup. 

"I'll drink this for him. Is that okay?", he asks. Lan Wangji feels his mouth open slightly. He wasn't going to protest, far from it, but Wei Ying's look as he stands there, confident, cocky, defiant...defending him? Lan Wangji knows that his own hands are balled into fists now. Not from the previous tension but from the one inside him, trying to keep himself from shooting up, grabbing Wei Ying by the neck and bringing that smug smile right to his own mou-

Wei Ying doesn't wait for an answer and chucks the wine down, drawing Lan Wangji from his thoughts. Taking a small breath of surprise, Wangji finds himself watching Wei Ying's adam's apple bop up and down with the swallow, then he turned the cup around in midair to prove that it was empty and Wangji really has to swallow himself now and to look away, because that urge from just now only multiplied itself tenfold. He's glad that all eyes are not on him anymore, because he's pretty sure it's written all over his face, and if his practiced stony facade helped, the red on his ears can probably not be fully hidden.

He doesn't even hear Xichen say Wei Ying's name, so concentrated is he to reign in his thoughts. After a few seconds of closing his eyes it is manageable, and he looks back up to follow the conversation. 

"When did you arrive?" Jin Zixun snaps, clearly displeased but not able to dispute Wei Ying's move. If Wangji was pleased before, he certainly was even more so now. Wei Ying's smile also only widened as he answered.

"Just now.", in such a calm tone of voice that it was almost intimidating. Wangji takes a deep breath. 

Jin Guangyao apparently decides it's safe to insert himself into the situation, and he bows to Wei Ying, offering him to sit after subtly chiding him for coming late. It is true that it's a bit strange to come in so late, but Wei Ying was away ever since they ended their quarrel on the hunting grounds. Honestly, Lan Wangji thought he either returned to his quarters or returned home completely. At least it's a pleasant surprise to see him here at all. 

"Don't bother.", Wei Ying says now. Wangji finds himself slightly frowning. Is he not staying? "I have something urgen-"

Whatever Wei Ying wanted to say dies on his lips. He blinks rapidly, his eyebrows draw together, and he stumbles back slightly, his right leg catching him just in time. For a second, he starts raising his right hand to his throat, makes a weird little sound, and then the eyes roll back into his head and he goes completely limp on the spot, collapsing. 

It is all thanks to his fast reaction time that Wangji manages to lunge over his table to catch him. Several dishes land on the floor with a loud clatter, but he honestly doesn't care because Wei Ying is collapsing and he can't hit the ground and why is he collapsing-

"Wei Ying!", he finds himself exclaiming as his hand meets Wei Ying's shoulder, the other grabbing his arm and guiding him as gently as possible into his lap. It wasn't as gentle as he wished it to be, because since Wei Ying collapsed so suddenly, the speed in which he did barely offered any grace. It was a bit similar to when he'd collapsed on the stairs of the Nightless City palace and the mere thought of him having been unconscious for so long after that made Wangji's heartbeat accelerate rapidly. 

To say that Lan Wangji was worried would be a massive understatement, because he was panicking . 

It took him a second to notice that he was not the only one. 

Behind him, a crackle sounded, and voices were raising around the room almost immediately. 

"Wei Wuxian!" a scream of another person panicking sounds, before the sizzling gets closer and Lan Wangji sees a blur of purple in front of him, putting up a sort of shield between Wei Ying and Jin Zixun. "What did you do to my brother?!", the voice growls, which Lan Wangji absentmindedly recognizes as being Jiang Wanyin's. 

"I-" Jin Zixun is obviously confused and panicking a little himself as all the armed and clearly alarmed cultivators surrounding him and maybe at Zidian clearly about poised to strangle him right this second, judging by how white Sandu Shengshou's knuckles were. "It was only supposed to weaken the cores of those two slightly over a few hours! It would have been hilarious! It's a joke! I don't know why he would just collapse like that!" he steps back a bit, half hiding behind Jin Guangyao, who seems frozen in place, unsure of how to react, for once not pleasantly smiling. "He wasn't even supposed to drink it!" 

"You poisoned Xichen ?!" Nie Mingjue thunders, now also standing when before he had only had his hand on his saber. Wangji quickly looks over to his brother, just as worried, but Lan Xichen looks fine, if only he seems clearly irritated now, frowning deeply. He chides himself for having been glad for Wei Ying to drink his wine for him now, because he would gladly favor to drink poison himself if it meant that Wei Ying just opened his eyes...

But he can't pay attention to all this, he needs to concentrate. So his own golden eyes roam Wei Ying, his -distractingly pretty- features, his brows were drawn in what looks like pain, but his every other muscle was lax and useless as he was now draped in Lan Wangji's lap. To see his condition more clearly, Wangji lifts Wei Ying's wrist to his own, pressing two fingers to it as the screaming match around him swells, more and more people rising to their feet. 

The first thing he notices is that Wei Ying's pulse is racing. With a frown of his own, he wonders if it's from the poison or because he hurried here. Didn't he voice his urgency earlier? Next was the feel for his spiritual energy, as Zixun had said it was supposed to weaken the drinker as a cultivator. So he send a bit of energy into Wei Ying's system to see how his core was doing-

And the energy dissipated into nothing. 

Wangji's eyes snapped open from his concentration, and he knew that the color was draining from his face very rapidly. He whirls around to his brother and the entourage behind him. 

"Get Lan Yun immediately!" he hisses, voice loud and icy enough to slice through whoever was trying to remedy the situation at the moment. All Lan's eyes fly to him and Xichen's eyebrows rise. 

"That bad?" he asks, only briefly lifting a hand to feel his own spiritual pathways. Lan Yun was a Lan healer, and she was the best one they had taken with them to the night hunt. She was currently in her rooms. Xichen didn't further protest however, sending one of the others to comply with his request with a wave of his hand. Nie Mingjue's eyebrows had almost united, he was clearly deeply worried himself. Jin Guangyao stepped forward a fraction, bowing deeply and trying to placate the room. 

"We have adequate healers at our disposal ourselves, let me-" 

"Excuse me if I don't entrust Wei Ying or my brother into the hands of the sect that just poisoned him.", Wangji growls, and he knows it's against several rules, not just the one about interrupting, but he doesn't care, because he is livid . He doesn't know what's going on with Wei Ying's spiritual paths and the way they seem to just lead into nothingness, and it starts to sink in that his brother has also drunken whatever that stuff was, was pressured into it without Jin Guangshan stopping it, even being amused by it, and he is honestly short before drawing Bichen and handing out a few drops of his own feeling of what was right and wrong, only held back by Wei Ying clearly needing his attention more right now. 

"I agree.", Jiang Wangyin hisses, surprising even Lan Wangji. The sect leader's anger is practically rolling off of him, he is basically snaring at half the room dressed in gold. "We are out of here as soon as possible. You" and he points Zidian at Jin Guangshan in a way that would have probably gotten him killed in any other situation "Are not going to see me, my brother OR my sister again anytime soon." Lan Wangji only now notices that the remaining sect members of the Jiang had positioned themselves around himself and Wei Ying dutifully, hands on their swords and probably ready to strike down anyone who dared approach. One of them seems to have disappeared, maybe to warn the others who still remained in their rooms.

Now being addressed directly, Jin Guangshan can no longer ignore the gravity of the situation. He stands and starts to talk, but honestly, Wangji is not listening, because the disciple Xichen sent has returned and with him comes the rest of the Lan who had been in their rooms, including Lan Yun, who hurries over to Lan Xichen first. She checks his pulse and energy, looks at his pupils and apparently declares that he can wait for a second, fine enough for her to check on Wei Ying next. 

Lan Yun approaches the circle of Jiang soldiers and Jiang Wangyin gives a small nod, to which the two soldiers blocking her path respond with letting her through. She kneels down beside Wangji and doesn't say a word, getting right to doing exactly what Wangji had done, next to also looking at Wei Ying's eyes, shining a light on the tip of her finger and checking his pupil's reaction to it. The rest of the Lan dutifully stand to the side and outside, so to not crowd the room but clearly there to support their sect leader in whatever decision is made. 

"What was he given?" her voice rings clear in the room, sure of herself and high in volume, cutting through words just like Wangji had done earlier. Jin Guangshan did not appreciate being interrupted, but he did look at Jin Zixun, eyebrows raised. It was very apparent that he could not avoid having to give his nephew hard consequences for this, but Wangji was not in the mindset to worry about that right now. 

Zixun squirms under the attention, the one he had craved so badly just a few minutes ago. 

"It was just supposed to make them a little extra whoozy, the seller said it would bring down their level of spiritual energy for a bit, draining their core for fighting against it." he shrugs. "I don't know what it is." he crosses his arms, affronted at them expecting him to know what plants had been in the toxin he mixed into the wine.

Wangji's hand around Bichen was drawn so tight that, would it not have been a great cultivational sword, it would have left marks. He sees that Jiang Wangyin is not faring much better and probably really was short before strangling the guy with his whip. Wangji had seen him do it to Wen Zhuliu, so he was pretty sure it wasn't an empty threat. 

"Let us get him to a bed. I will start an analysis of the poison with the help of Zewu-Jun's condition. You should also join us, Sect Leader.", she says to Xichen, who just nods. But he is looking uncertain. 

"We have this handled, right, Sect Leader Jiang?", Nie Mingjue suddenly interjects, his hand is on Lan Xichen's shoulder. Xichen smiles at him, nodding gratefully and turning to leave, after he tells the disciple behind him that he is in charge, apparently knowing that he cannot get Wangji to stay here to clear things up while Wei Ying is unconscious, and Wangji can't help but be glad for his brother's perceptiveness of his affections for once. Jiang Wangyin looks to his brother on the floor uncertainly, then to Lan Wangji. His gaze is searching for something and Lan Wangji returns it, unwavering. He is going to do everything in his power to keep Wei Ying safe, and he tries to convey this through his own eyes. Finally, Jiang Wanyin nods, lips pressed together. 

"Yeah. You two, go with them.", he gestures to two of his soldiers, who only nod with a shallow bow before turning and stepping closer to them. They look like they want to offer to carry Wei Ying, but Wangji only gives them a look and then elegantly waves his hand under Wei Ying's knees, his other still where it was on his shoulders, and picks him up without a problem. He neither comments on how light-weight Wei Ying is nor does he waste another second besides giving Jiang Wangyin a last nod of reassurance. 

Then they are out the door, back to the nearest rooms they consider safe.

Chapter Text

They arrive in Lan Wangji's room, someone holds the door open for him so he can slip through with Wei Ying in his arms. He gladly offers his bed for Wei Ying to be treated in, of course, and he tries to completely ignore the ulterior motive of having Wei Ying in his bed. 

This is for practical reasons. 

After all, his room is fairly close to the main buildings but far away enough to protect it better. Yes, this was the main reason, nothing else. Lan guards are now posted around the room as well as at the inside of the door and Lan Xichen sits himself at the desk, immediately going in a meditative position and closing his eyes. Wangji supposes it is easiest to keep himself calm and keep his blood from spreading the poison in this position, and he can also monitor himself easiest. As much as he is worried about his brother however, his main concern is with the man in his arms, who now starts to stir slightly just as Wangji is starting to level him onto the bed. 

"Mhhm." he mumbles, his eyes squinting and his breath picking up a nudge. Sweat has begun to build on his forehead and while his head had still been on Lan Wangji's shoulder, he noticed the heat radiating off Wei Ying while they walked here. 

"Wei Ying.", he carefully sets him down on the bed, drawing his hand away from below his knees and putting a hand on Wei Ying's shoulder instead, squeezing there. 

"Lan Zhan?" Wei Ying grumbles, as if not sure. "What happened?", his grey eyes are barely opened, unfocused, but staring in Lan Wangji's general direction. 

"Jin Zixun spiked the wine. You were poisoned.", Lan Wangji explains frankly. Wei Ying groans, closing his eyes again and then wincing. 

"Bastard", he curses quietly, his voice drawing farther and farther away. Wangji frowns, worried that Wei Ying will lapse into unconsciousness again and without thinking about it much, he grabs for his hand. "Hey, but good I drank it for you then. Can't believe he tried to poison Lan Zhan." In typical Wei Ying fashion, he grins, then, making Wangji question his lucidity and also making him hold on to his restraint very hard in not wanting to go back to the celebration hall and behead Jin Zixun right that second.

There are a few seconds of silence in which Wangji thought Wei Ying might have started to drift away again, but then his eyes suddenly shoot open, and he grabs Lan Wangji's hand tighter. 

"Wen Qing. I met Wen Qing in the market, Lan Zhan! She needs help, I can't...I can't stay here. Wen Ning-" Wei Ying is suddenly struggling to try and get himself up, pulling on Lan Wangji's hand to receive some leverage. Wangji stays steady, but his frown only deepens, and he shakes his head.

"Wei Ying. You should not move.", he says, gently pushing the other back down to where he is not firmly planted on the bedding. Wei Ying is so weak that he flops down after even a slight touch like that, a strangled breath of pain leaving him. "I can send someone to the market." he pauses. "Wen Qing is a doctor, if I remember correctly?"

"The best", is all Wei Ying mumbles, but then shakes his head. This seems to give him another round of discomfort however, so he stops and groans again. "Can't risk her getting hurt. Lan Zhan" he looks him directly in the eyes now and his gaze is pleading. Lan Wangji will do anything for him. "Can you go? Anyone knows you're a good person. Maybe they'll listen to you-" he stops, coughs, before his head suddenly lapses to the side again and he's out as a light once more. Pressing his fingers to Wei Ying's pulse, Wangji makes sure he's actually just passed out and nothing worse, then tries to calm himself when that seems the case.

Wangji swallows, pressing his lips together and nodding to himself. He sees Lan Yun from the corner of his eyes, preparing a tea of some sort. Maybe medicine?

"Would the presence of another doctor help Wei Ying?", he asks the other. Lan Yun looks up, apparently not having wanted to interrupt their conversation and seems to contemplate this carefully. 

"I don't know exactly what poison the young master gave him. I can try and stifle the effect of it but without having it it's nearly impossible to make an antidote. Wen Qing is well known throughout medical cultivation. I thought she would have probably been dead by now, but I suppose....she is an expert on golden cores." she pointedly looks at Wei Ying. 

So she also noticed. 

Wangji swallows thickly, drawing his fists together. Of course she did, she is a healer and checking for his golden core after a poison like that was probably the second step right after his pulse. The emptiness he had sensed when he tried to send Wei Ying spiritual energy had been so jarring that at first, he hadn't really known what it meant. But now, looking at Wei Ying and hearing the words come out of Lan Yun's mouth, he was very certain.

Wei Ying had no golden core.

There is no poison that does that...right? So it must have been somewhen else.

Wangji thought back to the times they had seen each other and when it would have been possible for him to lose it. He had been in Yunmeng with his siblings the last months, before that had been the war. And then before that...Those three months were still a mystery. Wei Ying didn't talk about them, not where he was or how he got there or if he was trapped or where the hell he got a black bamboo flute or Yin iron for the tyger amulet. None of these things made sense and Wei Ying had never elaborated to share about it. It was only logical, then, that the loss of his core had been somewhere in there, either in those three months or directly before. Because before that had been...the destruction of Lotus Pier. 

His eyes shot over to the two Jiang soldiers, who had positioned themselves close to the bed, keeping an eye on their senior disciple. It couldn't be that they knew about this, right? Did his siblings? Who did this to him in the first place?

There were a lot of questions going on in Wangji's brain and he was getting nervous with the certainty that he would not be able to answer them anytime soon, because there were really a lot of more pressing matters.

Like what happened with a poison that attacked the golden core when there was no core to attack?

Looking back at Wei Ying, Lan Wangji didn't really know what to do. He wanted to stay with him of course, but Wei Ying had insisted that he should go and meet Wen Qing. So finally, he decides to do just that, gets Bichen from the floor next to him and stands. His brother opens his eyes for a second, meeting Wangji's with his gaze. He seems calm, unbothered and not nearly as sick as Wei Ying looked.

"You will fetch Wen Qing?"

Wangji nods.

"It will not be well received," Xichen warns. His tone is calm, not threatening, it's more of a caution than a warning, really, but Wangji understands. He nods, but doesn't think it's a big concern.

"Neither is poisoning you or Wei Ying. If she can help, I will get her. And if she needs help, I will provide it.", he says. There's a last lingering look at Wei Ying, brows drawn together in worry. But he finally tears himself away, bows to his brother, then to Lan Yun, briefly gives a nod to the Jiang soldiers, and then he's headed to the door. 

Just as he reaches it, it opens. 

"A-Xian!" Jiang Yanli is obviously in distress as she hurries into the room. The two Jiang soldiers bow to her, while she inclines her head towards him and hurries forward right after, obviously focused on her little brother. 

Wangji returns the greeting, but doesn't hesitate to turn around again to leave. It would be good if Wei Ying's family was here, aware of what had happened, that Wei Ying was in peril. But exactly because he is, Wangji needs to hurry. 

So he leaves Jiang Yanli alone with his brother and the doctor, while she gasps at what she hears.

~~

Jiang Cheng is tense.

The muscles in his jaw are drawn so tightly that he doesn't know if they've ever been that short before ripping before, that short from his teeth just giving in and breaking.

The hall erupted in chaos as soon as Wei Wuxian collapsed, and so did his mind. He acted on instinct to stand between his brother and the guy who had handed out the wine, and he was stunned to find that he had been right, that Jin Zixun was in fact this stupid and had in fact tried to poison the twin Jades of Gusu.

Of course, Wei Wuxian had to insert himself into this somehow, had to play the hero and drink the poisoned wine for his silly childhood obsession and Jiang Cheng wanted to scream.

It had felt good though, admittedly, to tell Jin Guangshan off. He had never liked the guy, not in his childhood when he was said to be good friends with his father but they basically never saw each other. Or in the Sunshot Campaign when he had joined in the last second and claimed all the glory for himself. How had they let him be chief cultivator, he asked himself sometimes. Why had they just exchanged one old asshole for another? Honestly, Nie Mingjue or Lan Xichen should have done it. Both had been sect leaders a few years already. But no, the war had decimated all their sects and therefore, power. The Jin were the ones who suffered the least, most of that was because...they didn't join the goddamn war. 

"If you don't know what's in it, where did you buy the poison?", asked Nie Mingjue. His hand was still balled in a fist and he was clearly similarly mad as Jiang Cheng. Good. The combined rage of the two of them without the Lan to calm them would be a solid front against whatever Jin Guangshan cooked up as an excuse. 

"Da-Ge", Jin Guangyao started. 

"Don't you dare " da-ge" me right now, Jin Guangyao!" Nie Mingjue thundered over his sworn brother. "I asked Jin Zixun a question."

"I don't know, some vendor in the market last week." he gestured outwards in a careless manner and rolled his eyes. 

"Jin Guangshan", Jiang Cheng hissed. He did not care right now that addressing him by his name was improper. Nothing this man did today was, so he deserved the same. "Are you going to let this slide?" he gestured to Jin Zixun. "How can the chief cultivator let a member of his own family poison the leader of another sect? And then not do anything about it? Do you seriously believe this will not end in another conflict?" 

"Conflict? What are you going to do, Sect Leader Jiang?" Jin Zixun huffed. "run into one of our walls with your 20 men you acquired after the war?" 

While Nie Mingjue growled next to him, Jiang Cheng suddenly felt himself grow colder. It was a different kind of fury and he knew that Zidian responded to it especially well. Maybe to outsiders he might have looked like his mother's true son in that moment, when a cold chuckle left his mouth. 

"So confident for someone in whipping range.", he said, head tilted, and then Zidian flashed like lightning and even though he warned him beforehand, Jin Zixun had no way to dodge the attack, the purple lightning paralyzing his movements instantly. Zidian wrapped around his neck and he started screaming, trying to grab it but quickly learning that this was a bad move, as he burned his hands the second he did. If Nie Mingjue gave a quiet, satisfied chuckle next to him, Jiang Cheng didn't react to it. 

"Jiang Wangyin. I didn't take you for a murderer.", Jin Guangshan says, his voice is calculated. Jiang Cheng does not care. 

"A-Cheng", warns a calm voice from behind him. It's not exactly a warning, more of a...chiding. Which from her, goes for a warning. Jiang Cheng looks up, only to see his sister walking in, and her gaze is calm, not friendly. Hah , he thinks. Jin Guangshan better prepare to be annihilated . With her chide, he loosens Zidian a little bit, but Jin Zixun still faints to the ground in a miserable heap, and that is very, very satisfying to watch. With a small little smile that probably put a shiver down everyone's spine, he withdraws his whip as his sister comes to stand at his side.  

"Young Mistress Jiang. You've graced us with your presence!", Jin Guangyao is sweating, Jiang Cheng can see it under his prim little hat. His eyes dart between the two Jiang siblings and he seems to calculate what he can expect. Jiang Cheng gives his sister a side glance.

"A-Jie.", he greets. "You've been to see him?"

"Yes, I have.", she says, tilting her head. Obviously, their first move had been to let her know. She would never see that another sect was taking care of her brother on their own. "The poison has burned him deeply. The Lan medical professionals are searching for a solution. They're currently on the search for an adequately experienced doctor.", she pauses and her gaze falls from the fainted Jin Zixun up to Jin Guangshan, who seems weirdly tense and has not uttered a word to her since she entered. Maybe he could spot the certain spark in her eyes as their mother's and knew not to open his lips against her. That is when she drops something Jiang Cheng has hoped never to hear.

"It seems to have burned the golden core out of him,'' she says. 

Jiang Cheng's eyes widen so far that he thought his lids would burst. His stomach goes through a series of emotions, but they land, finally, as so often, on fury.

"What!?" he hisses, but he's not the only one in the room. "Is there such a poison?!" He shoots his eyes to Jin Zixun, still unconscious on the floor, not moving and with burn marks on his neck. Almost nothing is holding him back from wrapping his whip right back around and this time not holding back, from severing that miserable head from his miserable body.

"I did not know so either", Jiang Yanli says. She's really far too calm. Something's coming and Jiang Cheng's jaw is clenching at it. "I would like to request a proper statement from Jin Zixun on this matter. He is to point us to the vendor that sold him this poison and Yunmeng Jiang does not accept any further contact with Lanling Jin at this time.'' She pointedly does not look at Jin Zixuan in this second, who is looking absolutely devastated at the whole situation and definitely out of his depth. Now is the moment that Jin Guangshan apparently decides to finally speak up. 

"No contact? You're in our home-"

"Jin Guangshan." A-Jie straight up interrupts him, her tone so sharp and cutting that Jiang Cheng feels his own eyes widen. It is of course extremely rude to interrupt the chief cultivator, but then again the chief cultivator's nephew doesn't often poison sect leaders, either. "My little brother has been poisoned, as has Sect Leader Lan. They are currently being looked after, but my brother, the Jiang first disciple, has already suffered severe, maybe permanent, injury. I demand the person responsible for this be set on proper trial with an appropriate punishment."

"Proper punishment, surely a little prank like that-"

"He poisoned Xichen in front of all of us. How are we supposed to interpret that other than a declaration of war?", Nie Mingjue speaks up at exactly the perfect time to shut down Jin Guangshan. 

"Da-Ge, war is surely a bit mu-"

"I said shut up with the Da-Ge. I've had enough. I tolerate many things, but I will not stand by while your sect harms Xichen. Or anybody else for that matter." The last sentence is added as a polite courtesy but Jiang Cheng still nods to him. 

Before anybody can say anything else, a whirlwind of white enters their midst through the open pavilion door. Lan Wangji strides forward with a poise of his own personal fury and he walks through their little barrier to stand right before them and addresses the chief cultivator with nothing but a biting ice in his tone and without a greeting bow. And then he speaks more than Jiang Cheng has ever heard him speak. 

"Wei Ying has entered this banquet today on the behalf of a person that helped him throughout the war, him and his family. As I understand, the remaining Wen are under your jurisdiction, Sect Leader Jin?"

There is a small silence in which everyone in the room is too stunned to react. Then, finally Jin Guangshan seems to find his voice again. 

"Yes. They are put to work in prison camps as decided in the post war meetings."

"These prison camps, what types of prisoners do they hold?"

"Wen Cultivators.", Jin Guangshan answers easily, brushing it off. "The scum that raised many of our own men. If you ask me, a far too gentle punishment."

"Then why was I told that they were housing civilians, innocents? That they were being killed, there?", Lan Wangji's voice is still cold, still unyielding, his grip around his sword is like iron while the other is a tight fist behind his back. 

"Killed? Civilians? That was not the deal", Nie Mingue growls from beside him. 

"That is just false information", Jin Guangyao interrupts, sweat still clearly glistening on his forehead. What did they expect? The sect leaders just assuming since it's Wens, nobody cared? Maybe right after the last battle that might have been true for some of them, but now their lust for revenge had cooled down, the war was over. Civilians had no part in this. Jiang Cheng feels himself frowning. Civilians...a person that helped them? Wen... he whips his head around to his sister, who nods minutely while still staring at Jin Guangshan. 

"A-Xian met Wen Qing in the city. That's why he came storming in here. Her brother is missing.", she explains in a quiet whisper and suddenly Jiang Cheng himself is about to storm...somewhere. Because last time he saw Wen Qing she was just freed from a dungeon. How had she ended up in these camps? She had obviously not been on Wen Ruohan's side, there was no way she had any right to be in a labor camp, and neither did her brother. Wei Wuxian's cold fury before he collapsed started to make sense now, the fact that he did not even spare him a glance had been in urgency of a crime uncovered that in his brother's too big sense of justice obviously needed to be addressed that very second. 

Typical. 

Well, Lan Wangji had indeed sworn those same principles with him, if Wei Wuxian's own bustling words could be believed. So it is no wonder that Lan Wangji, honorable Hanguang-Jun, is standing here right now, staring Jin Guangshan down as if that alone could turn him to stone in conviction.

"I do not believe you. And today's events make me question several other circumstances." he turns around suddenly, his hair, headband and elegant white robes swirling prettily. Heavens, Jiang Cheng wants to hate the guy but he is, unfortunately, a picture of elegance. "Sect leaders. Xiaozhang has requested your council in this matter as he is afraid that the Jin are partial. However, before we leave this room, I would advise them to be restrained and under watch, lest they begin to clear up any potential evidence. Do you have objections to this course of action?"

"Restrained? How dare you, in my own house-" Jin Guangshan's protests fall silent, his voice only a muffled moan. Lan Wangji's gaze meets his wide eyes and Jiang Cheng is now torn between laughing hysterically and storming up there himself, because Hanguang-Jun, the second Jade of Lan, has just silenced the chief Cultivator with a Lan silencing spell. 

This day is getting better and better , he finds himself thinking, shortly before his thoughts go dark again, because his brother is poisoned and apparently without a core and that is not 'better' but rather classified as a straight up 'nightmare', so he sobers quickly. 

It's all solved very efficiently, after that. Jin Guangshan and Jin Zixun, the two most hostile forces once Jin Zixun wakes up, are bound with Zidian, to one another. This would not release until he wills it to, so it's a pretty efficient system. Nie Mingjue volunteers his first guard to watch them, placing the two sons, Jin Zixuan and Jin Guangyao, under his watch as well. They are to not speak to any servants or anyone else while they are held. Jiang Cheng also gives them his two oldest disciples that he has with him, two seniors who had been on a mission when the Wens attacked. 

Finally, he sends another disciple to take the rest of the poisoned wine to the vendor that Jin Zixun describes with a sword to his throat, instructing her to bring the vendor to them, and then they disappear from the hall and towards Lan Wangji's rooms, where he has apparently brought Wei Wuxian as well as Wen Qing and his brother.

"Wei Wuxian!" he finds himself saying, probably too loudly, when they enter the room and he sees his brother, sweating and shivering under Wen Qing's expert hands. A-Jie is already back and sitting at the table with Lan Xichen while Wen Qing is at the bed, wiping Wei Wuxian's forehead. Beside him, Lan Wangji ignores him beside shooting him a glance to warn him not to raise his voice further, and hurries forward, semi-gracefully falling to Wei Wuxian's side and ...taking his hand? What, exactly, was happening? 

"Wei Ying." he visibly swallows, then looks up at Wen Qing. "How is he?", he asks. 

Wen Qing, meanwhile, has bowed her head to greet them, her gaze lingering on Jiang Cheng for a second longer than necessary, making him wonder -for some god-awful reason- if she was thinking of the last time they saw each other, too. Because all he can suddenly think of for a second are the chains falling from her thin wrists and the comb he put on that table. Then the vision is gone and he's back in this nightmare of a present, where his big brother whimpers miserably in his unconscious state, making Jiang Cheng's eyebrows draw together in worry without him having a say about it.

"As well as he can be, for now. I need to know the exact poison to do more, but I've strengthened his meridians. Sect Leader Jiang.", Wen Qing looks up to him and beckons him over. Jiang Cheng gets to actually sit by his brother's side as Lan Wangji makes room for him. "Please give him some spiritual energy." 

Jiang Cheng complies immediately and without hesitation. After all, he has been itching to be able to do something ever since Wei Wuxian collapsed at the banquet. So he leads a steady stream of purple spiritual energy into his brother's wrist, gripping his hand with the other. To stabilize the transfer, of course, and for no other reason. 

Just seconds after, he feels himself gasping. 

"His core-" he can't say it. The memory of the emptiness in the pit of his own stomach comes back to haunt him in such a strong wave that he finds his breath hitching, staring up and searching for A-Jie's reassuring presence. Their eyes find each other, but her gaze is sad and somehow knowing and Jiang Cheng doesn't understand-

"I'm sorry. I will explain that later. For now, keep that stream up, please."

"Explain? Why would you- So it's not from the poison?", Jiang Cheng knows it's not, but he still needs to ask, because he needs to know. After the end of the war, he had thought there would be peace, he'd thought he had survived with both of his siblings by his side, that he'd gotten lucky. But now the back of his throat is itching and he has to hold himself back from crying, because Wei Wuxian is so damn still right now and his lower dantian is a gnawing pit that lets his own spiritual energy just dissipate shortly after feeding it to him.

"It is not. I'm afraid that was a... preexisting condition."

Lan Wangji next to him shifts, and on his normally so blank face, Jiang Cheng sees his own horror mirrored back to him. He knows that he himself is too numb to speak, so he's glad when Lan Wangji does, asking the question on the back of his own mind, clinging to the back of his throat and keeping him from actually asking it. 

"How do you know about it?", his voice is level, but weary, and his hands are balled into fists in his lap. Jiang Cheng grips his brother's wrist more tightly. 

"Because I'm the one who cut it out.", Wen Qing says, her voice is also level, and she meets Jiang Cheng's gaze head on without flinching. 

The room descends into chaos.

Chapter Text

Wen Qing’s words made something in Lan Wangji’s chest constrict in a painful way, a twist churning his stomach. 

"What?!" Jiang Wanyin next to him hisses in a dangerous tone, and Wangji would have sneered, had he not felt so frozen in place. The Jiang sect leader was still holding Wei Ying's wrist, a steady stream of purple spiritual energy flowing between them, illuminating the room in a different way than the sunlight through the generous windows. He looks like he is about to let go and grab Wen Qing by the collar to demand answers, though, so Lan Wangji forces himself to loosen his frozen tongue. 

"When? Why? How ?", he asks, at the same time as Jiang Yanli whispers:

"You cut out A-Xian's core?", in shock, her face a sudden stark white, one hand on her mouth and one on her stomach, as if she had felt the same twist as Wangji and tried to keep her dinner from resurfacing. 

Wen Qing looks between them and sighs deeply. She has a needle out, which she very carefully positions in one of Wei Ying's temples, slowly and gently pushing his hair aside. Lan Wangji has that same impulse that Jiang Wanyin's twitching hands indicates. He wants to shake the answers out of her, demand how she could do that to Wei Ying, and why, and for what purpose that could possibly be a course of action that would cross anyone's mind . He wants to fear that she has done it against his will, but a voice inside his head demands that the way she treats him now, has immediately agreed to help him when she heard, doesn't speak of any ill will towards Wei Ying from her side. So what had prompted such an action? 

"I'm going to answer all your questions. He made me promise not to tell", she huffs, while another needle goes into Wei Ying's other temple. Not to tell- Wei Ying had walked around with this huge secret, for....for apparently most of the war, at least? Wangji grits his teeth so hard they almost mask the twist his heart gives. "But you need to know now. I think I know roughly what the poison does and if we don't want him to die, he needs a steady stream of energy in his meridians, especially in the area where his core used to be. And that's going to be the least damaging when that energy is his." 

Her dark eyes keep looking at Jiang Wanyin while she says this, and a sudden gasp from Jiang Yanli, followed by something that could only be described as a pained whimper, made half the room look at her in confusion. She seemed to have realized something that nobody else had, and she stared at her youngest brother, tears forming in her eyes. 

"Oh A-Xian...no..."

"A-Jie? What- What is she talking about?", Jiang Wanyin seems just as confused as Wangji felt, his eyes shooting between his siblings while he tried to keep up the concentration for the energy transfer. Wangji himself feels his hands draw into fists in the fabric of his outer robes, and he knows that his mind is reeling. His own energy...but why? Why would-

"When Lotus Pier fell, A-Cheng was captured by the Wens." Jiang Yanli's voice is quiet, so quiet, but the room is otherwise silent as a grave, so everyone is still able to hear her. 

"A-Jie!", Jiang Wanyin hisses, his jaw and shoulders visibly tightening. He looks around the room pointedly, as if telling his sister that these people did not need to know that. From the look on the faces of the Jiang soldiers that Wangji can see from his position, even they seem confused, brows drawn together. 

"No, A-Cheng, listen." Jiang Yanli's tone is more secure now, more firm, even though the first tear starts slipping from her round eyes. "Wen Zhuliu crushed A-Cheng's core. A-Xian got him out of there in time before they could do anything...worse, but the damage was done. Wen Ning helped us to get somewhere safe, to his sister's residence, in Yiling." 

"Her residence? The supervisory office?", asks Xiongzhang, reminding Wangji that he is even still in the room. He has been sitting very still, at the same table Jiang Yanli is sitting at, drinking some of the medicinal tea that Wen Qing and Lan Yu brewed.

"Yes. She took us in even against the risk for herself and her brother. She nursed A-Cheng's wounds as best as possible, but she told us his core would never be restored." 

"But-" Xiaozhang starts, but then his eyes widen, his eyes on Jiang Wanyin's glowing hands. "Oh no. Is that....that's possible?", he asks. Slowly, Lan Wangji blinks. Very slowly, his mind recounts what has just been said, combining it with the information that Wen Qing previously provided.

Jiang Wanyin's core had been melted. That was a sentence to mediocrity, as many cultivators had to experience throughout the war, when they had the misfortune to meet in battle with Wen Zhuliu. But somehow, Jiang Wanyin was still cultivating, and well. Maybe even...better....than before....

And that's going to be the least damaging when that energy is his.

Oh. 

No. 

No, surely-

"What are you talking about?" Jiang Wanyin's voice is tight, his brows drawn together. "Baoshan Sanren restored my core. Wei Wuxian brought me to her mountain and-" that's when he also becomes very still, and then the stream of energy suddenly stops. Wei Ying's brother blinks, then squints his eyes together. His hands are shaking, cramping around his brother's wrist. 

"No...no, you're lying. That's not even- Why would he- How-" his lips are suddenly trembling, reminding everyone in the room how very young he is. How young they all are. 

"He found the method in a very old medical text in my library. It was only ever a theory, really. Golden Cores are my specialty, I have formed several of my own theories about how they could possibly be extracted while keeping them intact. But it's obviously hard to actually perform such procedures on willing subjects. Still, I did not want to do it, even as he begged me. It was too risky, I gave him maybe 50% that he would even survive all of this."

"Fifty?" Jiang Wanyin's voice is barely a whisper. Wen Qing sighs, but continues. She has stopped her ministrations with the needles and folds her hands in her own lap carefully. Her voice is steady, but slightly forced so, as if she's trying to keep the emotions out of it on purpose. 

"We finally agreed, because it's what I would do for my brother, were our roles reversed." She swallows, her hand carefully going to Jiang Wanyin's– freeing the iron grip around Wei Ying's hand that would probably leave a bruise. Then she keeps talking, while she lays Jiang Wanyin's hands together and presses her own fingers on Wei Ying's pulse point. It seems now that she has started speaking, she presses on. Wangji wonders if she has ever told another soul about this and doubts it deeply. Swallowing himself, he tries to keep the stubborn liquid out of his own eyes at the images this tale creates. 

"We met on top of the mountain, and at first I thought I could do it with both of you under anesthesia. But we quickly noticed that it wasn't possible to cut at the core without him being awake. Otherwise, the energy just started to dissipate."

"Awake-", Jiang Wanyin is choking the word out like it blocks his throat completely, and Lan Wangji can do nothing but give up on schooling his expression, his eyebrows drawing together as a scene forms in his mind. Wei Ying, awake, on a mountain top. Wen Qing, trying to keep her composure like she is now, cutting him open. Wei Ying, lying there, awake, possibly screaming- 

He closes his eyes, not able to stop the first tear. Without him being able to do anything about it, his hand shoots forward, and he finds Wei Ying's knee, squeezing it slightly. The darkness behind his closed eyes only makes the vision more vivid, so he pries them back open, trying to concentrate on anything else. Lucky for him, nobody was paying attention to him, so he quietly let the tears fall down his cheeks. 

"It was my longest operation to date. Two nights and a day, but we succeeded, in the end. I did not want to let him walk, but Wen Chao was closing in on us, and we had to separate. I guess we miscalculated how close they really were..." Wen Qing swallows and is finally quiet, plunging the room into a deep, shocked silence. 

Nobody speaks or moves, least of all Jiang Wanyin, who is looking short between a temper tantrum and a full out collapse right next to Wangji. 

With a sudden rustle of fabric, Jiang Yanli is the first to stand, making her way over to her brother in sure steps before kneeling and enveloping him with careful hands that still tolerate no argument. Jiang Wanyin sinks into them almost instantaneously, burying his face in his sister's shoulder. 

"Why would he-" he chokes, but can evidently not continue. 

"Because he loves you. I should have known. Why else did you send me away?" she sighs and rubs his back, and Wangji suddenly feels like he should not be here, in his own room. 

"I'm very sorry, Sect Leader Jiang. Can you continue sending him energy? I'm afraid he does not take to mine that well." Wen Qing's voice is gentle now, apologetic to even interrupt. Lan Wangji is about to surge forward to offer his own energy, but Wen Qing only looks at him and shakes her head, smiling slightly, apologetically, and Wangji retreats. His whole body is still tense, and he loathes not being able to do anything, but he can also not tear himself away from the situation, could never not know if Wei Ying would be alright again. So he stays exactly where he is, and clenches his fists.

Jiang Wanyin untangles himself from his sister very slowly. He looks shaken to the bone, even actually shaking, but he nods, face contorting as he shifts and reaches for his brother's hand. 

"Idiot", he mumbles under his breath, but it sounds strangled and not like an actual insult. "You're such a fucking moron." all this while letting the gentle, purple stream of energy flow again. 

On the bed, Wei Ying's face seems to relax, and Wangji closes his eyes again, taking a deep breath and wiping the tears from his face. Jiang Yanli is about to open her mouth again to say something, probably reprimanding her brother for insulting the other one, when the door opens. It's a Jiang soldier, bowing deeply upon entrance.

"We found the seller. She said she sold Jin Zixun everything she had and gave specific instructions to only put a few drops, but if the effects are like this it was probably overdosed. She also gave us a list of ingredients in the poison." the soldier steps closer, taking out a sheet of paper from his pockets and quizzically, her gaze goes from person to person. It looks like she tries to not judge, but she clearly notices the misery on their faces. Jiang Yanli schools herself the best first, and she gestures to Wen Qing.

"Lady Wen is taking care of A-Xian, Lai Ping. Give the list to her, please. Thank you." Lai Ping steps forward, and Wen Qing immediately takes the list, her eyes roaming it, narrowing at some of the things on it. Wangji feels himself swallow, uncertain what to do, what even could be done. 

"Of course, Lady Jiang. Can this one do anything else to assist with Da-Shixiong's recovery?" she bows, but now without shooting a nervous, maybe worried glance towards the bed. 

"I need several of these ingredients for the antidote", Wen Qing speaks up from having skipped her eyes over the list in her hands. She shows it to Lan Yun, who nods and copies down the ingredients on a piece of paper for them to keep. "And additionally some cubeb seeds to counteract the effects-"

She interrupts herself when Wei Ying suddenly starts to spasm on the bed. Not fully, not flailing, just visibly trembling, struggling to move. Maybe the needles she put into his temple are constraining his movement somehow. In fact he has several needles all over his body by now, and these are what Wen Qing touches right now, her lips set in a straight line.

Wangji watches, helpless, and finds himself holding Wei Ying's legs down so he would not kick out in his unconscious state. 

"You will not die on me right now, you promised me to help A-Ning, remember?", Wen Qing mumbles under her breath, but Jiang Wanyin and Wangji next to her both stare at her in shock, obviously now even more panicked when she reveals how serious it is by this. "Get me those herbs, quickly.", she hisses to the soldier. Lai Ping raises her eyebrow at Jiang Wanyin and then Jiang Yanli, obviously not wanting to be bossed around by a woman from another clan -the Wen Clan no less-, but Jiang Yanli nods sharply, and she disappears out the door with a very quick courtesy bow. 

"I have some herbs here, but I do not think they are the most important ones in there.", Lan Yun says and lays them out on the table from her medical bag.

"Give me some ginger root," she instructs, stretching out her hand. When Lan Yun complies, she crushes the leaves between her fingers, rubbing vigorously at it and spreading its aroma through the room. It makes Wangji -inappropriately- think of a certain tea his uncle favored. Finally, Wen Qing lifts Wei Ying's chin, opens his mouth that started to drip blood from the side, and shoves the herb under Wei Ying's tongue, closing his mouth again. Then she reaches for the tea she brewed for Xiongzhang earlier and pours it down his throat, over the herbs, massaging his throat, so he would swallow instead of choke on it. 

"Don't stop the flow.", she finally manages to say, and Jiang Wanyin nods furiously, his face still stained with tears.

~~

Nie Huaisang hates going anywhere by saber. Personally, he prefers the violent shake of a carriage or even the gentle sway of a boat. Anything but having to actually exercise spiritual energy to get himself anywhere. 

"Why, exactly, do I have to come with you, Da-Ge?" he fans himself when they dismount their sabers, alongside five of their cultivators. The rest had been left behind to guard the Jins that they had tied up and left in a room where they wouldn't be able to talk to anyone. One of the Lan had silenced them, and finally his brother had decided to just knock them out and leave them guarded until they returned. 

"Because something is telling me that this is going to be either infuriating or tragic and I need your level head." 

Nie Huaisang feels his eyebrows rise. A rare compliment from his brother on top of everything? Well, this day was certainly going even further off the rails of how he had thought it would go. But that had already happened when Wei-Xiong had waltzed into the banquet, so they were way past that, anyway. 

He looks around, finding mostly barren hills without much to look at.

"Well, alright. Where's this camp, then?" he sighs, his fan moving lazily as they start walking to whatever destination his brother apparently has in mind. 

"It should be around the co-" Nie Huaisang's steps get ground to a stop when he straight up runs into his brother, who is suddenly standing stock still and unusually quiet. 

"Huaisang. I need you to go back and get healers." 

"But-" 

"Right now." 

"Da-Ge, I don't have the energy to go back and forth and then back again. Can't-" that's when he finally dares to look around his brother's body and sees the view in front of him. 

The blood in his veins freezes. 

They are standing in front of a path, and this path is filled with bodies. 

All over, there are flags sticking out of the ground, sometimes even out of the bodies, and Nie Huaisang gasps audibly, immediately tearing his eyes away and hiding behind his brother's broad back. 

He has been lucky, to not have seen much of the war, and he knows this. It isn't that he is squeamish, it's just....a truly gruesome sight and he was not prepared-

With a sigh, Nie Mingjue turns to another one of their men. Nie Huaisang barely hears his voice over the rushing in his own ears. The sun is shining above while clouds start to move in from the west, but he doesn't pay attention, only stares on one of the bodies on the ground that looks suspiciously like a boy he had last seen in Cloud Recess, so long ago...

"Go and get healers. We will look for survivors. You two, check for the guards on duty and make them report to me immediately.", his brother's orders go over his head as Nie Huaisang steps forward towards what he is suddenly very sure is Wen Ning. 

He sinks to his knees on the dry, brittle ground next to him and takes no heed of the blood. 

It is a pitiful sight, the impaled flag in his stomach, and Huaisang quickly notices the pouch he is clutching in his hand.

Wei-Xiong made that for him , he thinks, and then he shakes his head, forcing himself out of his trance. Wetting his lips, trying to wipe the frown from his face, he leans forward and feels for a pulse.

~~

Wangji knows that his hands have been shaking, his whole body tense, until he sees Wei Ying finally calm down, sees the blood flow from his lips stop. 

"They better hurry with these herbs.", Wen Qing sights, and closes her eyes. A hand on her forehead, she wipes away the exhaustion and risks a glance outside. 

"Sect Leader Nie is taking a look into Qiongqi path. I am sure they will do their best." Jiang Yanli reassures Wen Qing, obviously able to read her mood somehow. She pats the doctor's forearm, and Wen Qing smiles back at her with obvious hesitation. 

"I hope. A-Ning..." 

"I am sorry. We did not know that the Jin were abusing their power to this extent.", Wangji says, finally finding his voice again. If he's clinging to Wei Ying's legs and anybody notices, nobody says anything about it. But Wen Qing only huffs, shaking her head. 

"I am Wen Ruohan's niece. It is understandable to me, to a degree, to want revenge on your enemy. I just didn't know the Jin in particular held such a grudge. I would have expected the Nie, with how Wen Ruohan always pestered them, I would definitely have expected the Jiang with what he did to Lotus Pier," she glanced to Wei Ying, then Jiang Wanyin, who does not say anything, but has his brows furrowed as if that idea of cold-blooded revenge towards Wen Qing upsets him more than anything that has happened today. "Or even the Lan, with the Burning of your precious Library. Then again, I gathered maybe you weren't the vengeful kind." she smiles, as if that is a nice thought to her, believing in the righteousness of at least one of the other sects. Wangji bows his head to her, thanking her for the estimation. It is indeed true that they teach forgiveness in the Cloud Recesses as one of the biggest virtues. Personally, when it came to his family and the people he loved, Wangji has never been a very forgiving person. 

Of course, he does not say this.

"But you helped us, during the war. Are all the people in those camps people that helped Wen Ruohan remain in power?" Jiang Yanli asks, tilting her head. 

Wen Qing shakes her head again, busying her hands by turning around and mixing different herbs into a bowl, violently pressing them with a mortar and pestle. 

"The people in this camp are not cultivators. They are civilians, people who had not even lived in Nightless City. As far as I understood-" a more violent stab to the herbs occurs "- The Great four sects have executed every cultivator of the Wen Clan that partook in the war while they were still in Nightless City."

Wangji raises an eyebrow and looks over to his brother. After all, after the war, he himself had barely been in meetings, instead being glued to Wei Ying's bedside....just like now. He tries not to huff at the comparison. 

To his surprise, Xiongzhang nods. 

"Indeed, they were. It was not so much decided what to do with the rest of the captured Wen as it was just left in the hand of the Jin because the other sects did not really have a leg to stand on in terms of power after the war," he sighs, pouring himself another cup of tea. "Cloud Recess was decimated, the Jiang were rebuilding completely from the ground up  and Qhinghe Nie was regrouping after their losses during the war. Ultimately, the Jin were the only ones who could even think about housing that many prisoners." He frowns, and downs the tea like it was a cup of alcohol. He seems uncomfortable, by the way he shifts around, but he does not try to draw attention from Wen Qing to himself. 

"Well, I always thought Jin Guangshan was a shithead", Jiang Wanyin says, pressed through his teeth, and Xiongzhang surprises Wangji again by chuckling at this. 

"Indeed.", he says, and then he stands. It’s a bit wobbly, in the first second, but he soon catches himself. 

“I will-” someone knocks at the door in the next second. 

Everything is a bit of a blur after that. 

The Nie soldier at the door is frenzied, tells them that they found a bunch of attacked Wen, some of them dead, a few still alive and barely clinging to life, in dire need of medical attention. 

Wen Qing is clearly distraught, knowing that this must be her family, that there may be many dead, but some in need of her help. Her hands are knuckled white with indecision if she should go and leave her current patient or not, having been under the Jiang protection inside Koi tower until now. Finally, Jiang Yanli sits beside her and puts her own hand on top of her trembling one. 

“I will care for A-Xian if you leave me instructions on the antidote. I’ve helped in the infirmaries throughout the war, so I dare say I’m not completely incompetent. You and Lan Yun should help your family.”

Wen Qing’s lip trembles, and she bows deep in thanks, then they are deep in conversation about eventualities and how to care for Wei Ying. Unbidden by anything else and wanting to help, Wangji feels himself lift and sit next to Lady Jiang, wanting to also know what to do. 

“I am not the most proficient in medicine, but I know the basics. Mostly musical healing.”, he admits the last part quietly, but Wen Qing only huffs. 

“Of course, Lan-Er-Gonzi. Under the care of you two I hope he will be fine until my return.” 

Then, it is quiet. 

It is unnerving, sitting here and not knowing what exactly is going on. They get bits of information every few minutes, when a Jiang, Nie or Lan disciple enters to report to them. 

Wei Ying does not change, until the Jiang they had sent for the ingredients stumbles in, and sits them down on the table in front of her lady with a thump. 

“This was all I could find. They had no fresh wolfberry, so I brought the dried.” 

“Thank you, Lia Ping. You may relieve one of the guards from duty and send them to help Sect Leader Lan and Nie.” she immediately bows and follows her new orders, only shooting a short glance to the bed as she goes.

“I should be out there with them”, Sect Leader Jiang mumbles, but his reluctance bleeds through his voice so even Wangji can hear it. Wangji himself is transferring energy to Jiang Wanyin now that a direct transfer to Wei Ying is apparently fruitless. This way, at least, he can help. His core is vast enough to last for quite some time like this. 

“A-Cheng, they will not leave you out of any important decisions, you know this. They are permanently sending messengers to keep you updated.” At this, Jiang Wanyin seems surprised. 

“I thought those were for Hanguang-Jun, honestly.”, he admitted, and Wangji stared at him, eyebrows slightly raised at the use of title in this situation. 

“No, A-Cheng, they are for you . Lan Xichen knows you cannot leave A-Xian’s side right now and is keeping you updated as a sect leader.” she’s gentle in her words, apparently knowing her brother’s insecurities in this.

“Oh…okay then.”, Jaing Wanyin blinks a few times, but then he focuses back on his brother, huffing slightly. “Still can’t believe he got himself poisoned drinking your wine. How ironic.” 

“Mn.”, was all Wangji says to that, not wanting to draw out of himself the deep regret and mixed feeling at the whole predicament. If he had just drunk that wine, Wei Ying would be okay right now. Wangji himself would be passed out, but that did not matter remotely…

“Let me give him this. The first dose.”, Jiang Yanli sounds from where she had studied Wen Qing’s notes over and over and minutely mixed what could only be the anti toxin. It looked vile where she held it in her hands, a dark, slightly viscous liquid with a strong, poignant scent. 

Both him and Jiang Wanyin shifted to accommodate her, and she gently lifted her brother’s head to tinkle the liquid down his throat, working his muscles with bits of her own energy to guide it down to his stomach instead of having him accidentally breathe it in. 

“And now we wai-” but they did not have to wait, as the effect was almost instant. 

Wei Ying began to spasm, even through the needles still in his body. Wangji found himself holding down his flailing limbs, biting at his own lips in concentration, and trying not to voice his doubt that the antidote was mixed correctly. 

It didn’t take long for Wei Ying to collapse just as suddenly, limbs powerless and motionless. With shaking hands, Wangji felt for his pulse, fearing for the worst.

He withdrew just as quickly when the pulse underneath his fingertips was instant and actually quite strong. A sigh of relief goes through all three of them, when they see the rise and fall of Wei Ying’s chest.

“Ugh.” The voice comes slowly but clearly, and Wangji has never been so glad to hear a sound of complaint. “What are you all crowded around me like this for?” Wei Ying asks, and his groggy voice is the best thing Wangji has heard all day.  

“We were afraid you’d hit yourself with your spasms, you idiot.”, Jiang Wanyin says, and hits his brother’s shoulder none too gently. Wangji feels his eyebrows draw together in disapproval, but does not say anything, because Wei Ying is suddenly smiling, almost smirking. 

“Well then thanks for making me not hit myself, Shidi .”

“You-”

“A-Xian. A-Cheng.” Jiang Yanli’s voice instantly shuts both of them up, and Wangji is suddenly glad that she is here, that he does not have to endure this unnecessary sibling banter by himself and that she seems to have some kind of spell over her brothers, the way they both guiltily look at her. Though Wei Ying manages to still have a pout on his face. 

“What did I miss?”, he asks. His smile turns to Wangji, and finally, after the most tense afternoon, Wangji feels his shoulders relax. He knows he’s grabbing for Wei Ying’s hand, but nobody stops him nor does Wei Ying draw back, and that is enough.

They tell him everything.