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Chapter Text

"I want a new brother." Was the first thing he heard as he opened his eyes and found that the weight on his chest was Huaisang, staring creepily close to him. The day had just started and he was already so done with it. 

"Did you hear me, ge? I want a new brother!" Huaisang repeated, scrunching his little face up. "You are always busy and keep on leaving for days and days. Even if you are too big and don't want a brother anymore, I do! I want one! A cute and small one!"

Nie Mingjue was so tired . He had returned from the night hunt before sunrise knowing that he would only get a few hours of sleep at most because he had a reunion with the Elders before lunch; and while he didn't expect to have a good rest, he certainly didn't know he would be woken to such complaints. 

When his brain started working up as it should he found out that indeed it had been a while since he could enjoy time with his little brother. There were a lot of things to do now that he was suddenly the new Sect Leader, but if someone had made his little brother think that he wasn't wanted then obviously he had more work to do. 

"Huaisang, brothers don't appear just because you want them to" he grumbled, pushing the bane of his existence off him and sitting up. There wouldn't be any more sleep for him.

"Where do I get one from, then?" Nie Mingjue decided that anything would be better than trying to explain where babies come from to his little brother, so he dressed as fast as he could and got out of his room. 

He had a few elders to torment.

“This would be so much easier if only I had a brother to help me” Huasing mumbled, sending him what a child considered a discreet nasty glare.

“You already have a brother. Me ” Nie Mingjue sighed tiredly from where he stood behind his brother.

“I mean a younger brother!” Huaisang threw down the brush he was using, splashing ink on the talisman he should have been practicing on.

“Believe me, younger brothers are not as good as you’re imagining” Mingjue should have known that the sudden presence of Huaisang in his office wasn’t just to spend time together. The little devil probably wanted an audience for his tantrum.

It’s been almost three months since he started with this new whim of his, and even though Mingjue thought he would give up on the idea soon as with all the things that caught his passing fancy before, it doesn’t seem to be the case this time.

“You can’t just get a new brother all ready to play with you out of nowhere, that’s not how these things work”

“Yes, you can! Nie Zhihao became a brother of the main family already grown up”

“Nie Zhihao was a special case, besides- since when do you know the history of our clan?”

“You are always complaining that I don't pay enough attention in my classes and now that I do you get mad anyways!” Huaisang got up and his eyes started watering dangerously fast “Maybe you don’t want to give a brother because you know you would like him better than me!” he managed to shout despite the wobbling in his voice and pushed past him in the second it took him to wonder at how the situation had turned south so fast.

Hours later, Nie Mingjue was still sitting in his office, wondering about the confusing ideas Huaisang seemed to have about what a brother was and how you go about aquirem them, and if the sudden death of their father had created a new fear of being left alone on the child.

Nie Mingjue blames Huaisang for his current predicament. Had he been in this situation a couple months ago, before having to spend day and night hearing his beloved little nuance yammering about his tragically lonesome life, then things would have gone differently. 

But now he has a little street urchin climbing to his leg, smiling as if he hadn't been screaming his little lung out just moments ago and he already knows that this isn't going to be something that will pass in a few days.

It’s not that strange, Nie Mingjue tries to reason with himself, to bring a child back with him to the sect. Qinghe Nie accepts any disciple that proves themselves to be strong and brave enough to withstand their cultivation method, and certainly won't turn their backs to those who besides that were just and of righteous character.

So what if the little recruit he brings this time is a couple years younger than the ones that would show up at their door? He’s a the right age to start forming a golden core and he wouldn't be the only kid running around- he’s likely just a couple years younger than Huaisang.

And wasn’t that a terrible thought? A little kid about the same age as his brother, but all alone without anyone to protect him, by himself on the streets at the mercy of the world with winter just around the corner. The moment he saw that tiny shivering body, all Nie Mingjue could think of was Huaisang crying in his arms just a few days ago about being left for the wild dogs to feed from.

So now he had a freshly bathed and warmly wrapped (in an oversized robe) orphan child happily eating a bowl of congee in front of him.

“Once you finish that you can have some soup, but not much or it will make your stomach hurt” Mingjue reminded him, and was relieved that his stern tone didn’t frighten him. Fortunately it seemed that besides the dogs he had to chase off earlier, nothing else seemed to scare him much- not him or his saber, his loud voice or ‘mean face’ and neither the two senior disciples who were accompanying him.

Once the meal was over and one of his disciples came back with more appropriate clothing, Mingjue made sure that the robes were the right size and the shoes fitted well so as to not hurt his little feet more and then payed for another night at the inn for what was possibly going to be the last night of good rest he would get for a long while.

Early afternoon of the next day, they were touching down on Qinghe and Nie Mingjue had discovered that the fact that Huaisang was afraid of heights should be considered a blessing and that when Wei Ying told him he wasn’t scared of flying he meant it .

“Zonghui” he greets his cousin ignoring the questioning gaze “How’s Huaisang?”

"The young master made some fuss about being left alone, but besides that first night there hasn't been more crying. He was worried about you".

Nie Mingjue gave a sigh and looked once again at the little child hiding behind his leg.

Well, at least one of his problems would be solved.

Chapter Text

Nie Mingjue gets to the end of the hallway and takes a moment to listen in the laughs and scuffle of little feets in the private grounds outside. 

All the doubts that had crossed his mind during that dreadful trip back home five months ago were banished the moment that Huaisang took a look at the child in front of him, and decided that he was his new and cuter brother sent to him by the heavens, and thus the best thing that happened to him since he discovered watercolors. Despite all attempts to explain the situation, Huaisang was as set in his ways as any other Nie, and after declaring them the "best of friends forever" managed to get the new kid a room of his own right next to him, instead of having him sharing with the rest of the outer disciples. 

Most complaints about it had been thoroughly shut down not even two weeks later when Wei Ying -now well fed and with triple the amounts of energy somehow- was started in his education as a disciple and became utterly enamored with cultivation, taking to it as if he had been destined to become a cultivator all along. Of course, being in a new place surrounded by people he didn't know, the child had shyly asked his new best friend to 'please go with him if it wasn't a problem, please?'. And so they had two kids trying to understand the basics of Nie cultivation.

Now, if only he could get Huaisang to stop showing all the secret passages of the sect to a newcomer...

The first time that Wei Ying had joined them for a meal, he was being dragged by Nie Huaisang to the main family table at the front of the comedor they shared with the disciples for the mid afternoon meal. The little guy was smiling as always, but judging by the way he was dragging his feet behind Huaisang as he was being yanked by the arm, he wasn't eager to eat there instead of his usual place at the other side of the hall with the younger disciples.

“But Da-ge, how are you gonna make sure he finishes all his broth from over here?” Huasang excused as he forced Wei Ying to sit down beside him.

“The only one here who fuzzes about what's on his plate is you” Nie Mingjue grumbled as he pushed a jug of fresh water closer to the kids. Since day one Wei Ying had never once said anything about the food he was served, and always made sure to finish even the last grain of rice. In fact, according to Nie Zonghui, that exemplar attitude combined with his charming smile and cute eyes had melted the frozen hearts of the cooking staff, who were starting to coincidentally always have something to slip to the young boy when he passed by the kitchen to thank them for the meal and give his compliments.

Still, he would need to put more weight in those bones.

“Have another dumpling” he said and pulled a plate with meat dumplings closer too.

From that day on, Wei Ying started having his meals with them.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Wei Ying was a prodigy with the saber. During the next year he learns the sword forms easily and in half the time of other disciples, making it look effortless and graceful (something that no one would have dared to accuse the Nie cultivation of). Of course, his fast mastery of the saber is anything but effortless, as he spends hours and hours long after everyone has left the training fields practicing his stances and honing every move to perfection.

Once he had all the basics down, he moved on to the arts -much to the delight of Nie Huaisang who then had someone who was happy to spend hours discussing calligraphy and painting with him while actually understanding what they are talking about. 

Trough some machinations that no one can comprehend, Wei Ying manages to reach a compromise with Huaisang in which they will paint together four times a week (including at least one outing to observe the nature) and some sort of competition of bird painting in exchange of Nie Huaisang picking up his saber and at least attending (participation not guaranteed) one lesson of combat per week.

Nie Mingjue is so happy with this outcome that he gifts them each a set of high quality brushes for them to do as they please.

On the third anniversary of Wei Ying joining them (that Huaisang insists they celebrate as if it were a second birthday) they gift him a dizi. They as in, Nie Mingjue paid for it and accompanied Huaisang on the five separate outings they went on to find the perfect artisan for it. All those hours spent watching his little brother harass merchants and crafters alike demanding perfection are worth it in the end; the dizi is truly a thing of beauty -the dark green bamboo dyed to almost black with some very small and delicate detailings in gold, with a clear and powerful sound. The only input Nie Mingjue had on it was choosing the thin red tassel that hangs from it, but he’s sure that it was only because Nie Huaisang agreed with his choice that he was allowed to buy it.

The delighted smile and shining eyes that adorns Wei Ying’s face for the rest of the day are almost worth that first week of him tormenting that poor flute and all of the Unclean Realm while he learns how to play it.

By the time that the cultivation conference comes around to Qinghe, Wuxian already has his own saber.

Unfortunately for him, after weeks of going through every book on poetry or mythology in their little library and discarding list after list of names, he still couldn't choose one and at the last moment panicked and asked Huaisang to pick whatever for him. Once again - unfortunately - because with his little brother stupid sence of humor that’s exactly what the name of the saber ended up being, and no matter how much Nie Mingjue screamed at Huaisang for having disrespected a saber spirit like that and taking adventage of Wuxian’s trust for something so importatnt, Wei Wuxian only laughed delightedly and proclaimed how much he loved it.

Both of them were grounded for a week, but neither repented.

So now Nie Mingjue has a front row seat as his newly appointed first disciple uses it to make fun of Lan Xicheng’s little brother.

“It seems they get along” Xicheng remarks with a little smile. Nie Mingjue looks from his friend's amused face to Lan Wangji’s increasingly affronted one not far from them and wonders if all that frigid mountain air won't be messing up with their head.

Despite Nie Mingjue's concerns, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji did end up getting along (and it only took two sword duels, none of which even drew blood!). Even though it seemed as if Lan Wangji was simply putting up with his little brothers for the sake of courtesy, Lan Xicheng assured him that his brother was actually enjoying their company and incentant blabber, and it was why Lan Xicheng kept on bringing him along every time he visited.

Nie Mingjue still didn’t completely believe him, until a late afternoon he found Huaisang fast asleep under the tree in the courtyard and Wuxian discussing in excited whispers cultivation theory with Lan Wangji a couple chi from him. 

He, as the rest of the gentry, had of course heard about the young second master of Lan and his ability, and with the way people were talking about Wuxian now that he had mastered the sixs arts and proved himself in competitions before starting his duties as a head disciple maybe both did have more thing in common than one would expect. Great minds think alike and all that; two little geniuses could be a good pair of friends.

Chapter Text

Wei Wuxian was meditating late at night the first time he noticed an abnormalcy in his qi.That day he had mastered a new set with his saber and had overexerted himself a little, perfecting it until Nie Mingjue yelled at him to go have dinner and rest. He meditated until his qi regularized and the slight headache he hadn’t noticed until it was gone disappeared.

But then a week later, after an eventful night hunt the anomaly came again. He couldn’t think of anything that could cause it, and there was nothing in the texts he consulted either, so he cleared it again with a little more effort than last time and resolved to pay more attention to posibles causes.

Two months later he came to the conclusion that it was some kind of backlash caused by his own advance in cultivation, and having grown up listening to Huaisang and the senior disciples' terrible stories about qi deviation decided to pass by the sect healer’s office the next day.

“I told you, didn’t I? The Nie Sect cultivation method is really no good” Huaisang said quietly that night after he finished recounting what the healer had explained to him earlier. He looked mad in that way where his eyebrows would barely scrunch and his lips thinned in the same way Nie Mingjue’s did when he was displeased. When his voice went quiet like this it meant he was truly angry. “I would be alright for a couple years more because my cultivation is lower than the other disciples and I don’t like to practice the saber; but what about you?” his voice shakes as he puts down the fan he was twisting in his hands and looks him in the eyes. “What about Da-ge?”

“Is something wrong, Wuxian?” Wei Wuxian emerges from the pile of texts on cultivation that he has been studying all day to find Nie Mingjue standing over him wearing the expression that means he’s going to try to do some parenting.

“Just got caught up in some interesting texts again, Nie Zhongzu” he answers with a big smile. And “Da-ge” immediately admens when he sees a tiny frown.

After he became a Inner Sect disciple the year before he was named the Head Disciple, Huaisang had insisted that he was now officially part of the family and that as the youngest brother he now too had to address Nie Mngjue as Da-ge.The first times he did it just to get a laugh out of Huaisang, and because Nie Zonghui jokes about Nie Mingjue now having double the trouble were funny, but soon realized that everyone else in the Unclean Realm took it as if it was natural and started treating him as if he was really a part of the Nie family, going as far as to insist on being called by their inexistent family bonds unless it was strictly necessary

“You haven't been training with Huaisang lately” He said as he took a seat across from him.

Of course he hadn’t been practicing the saber with Huaisang as he used to. How could he force him to now that he knew the consequences? Wei Wuxian tried to put on an innocent face, but Nie Mingjue still gave a big sigh and pushed some of the scrolls on the table to the side.

“The Head Healer told me about your conversation. I’m sorry, I should have told you when you were named Head Disciple, but I thought you were still too young” Wei Wuxian understood; back then no one could have predicted that he would be so good with the saber, or that he would advance so quickly in his cultivation. If he were a normal disciple, its possible they wouldn't be having this conversation until he was in his twenties.

They both looked at the few texts there were on Nie cultivation now scattered on the table.

“It’s the price we have to pay for our cultivation and the saber spirites” Mingjue said with a heavy tone. They remain in silence for a while after that, each one lost in their own thoughts.

“I’ll make sure that Huaisang can protect himself” even without his saber, Wei Wuxian vows.

Da-ge gives a resigned little huff at that and reaches over to ruffle his hair as if he were a little kid.

“Just make sure you are safe too”. He reaches into the inner pocket of his robe as he is standing and takes out a letter “By the way, Lan Wangji’s reply arrived”.

It wasn’t difficult to convince Da-ge to let them attend the Lectures a year early. After that conversation he believed  Wei Wuxian needed some rest and to be away from those problems for a while. He also seemed to have the impression that the mountain air of Gusu had some strange qualities on people's minds.

The first six months of his stay there he spends it holed up in the library, reading everything and anything about cultivation and qi that he can get his hands on, leaving only to attend classes and to play around with Nie Huaisang when he gets too whiny about ‘being abandoned by his own brother in favor of some dusty books and a pretty face’.That ‘pretty face’ being Lan Zhan, who also spends most of his afternoons on the library and working on his own things close by.

And how could Wei Wuxian have such a beautiful sight and waste it away? By the third day after he starts investigating in the library he has moved his desk as close as possible to the Second Young Master so they can discuss texts and poetry in between the stories Wei Ying tells him during the breaks on their work. And he is Wei Ying to his best friend, having won the honor to call him Lan Zhan in turn.

The next four month he spends it as Lan Qiren’s shadow, tailing after him with unending questions about cultivation theories and the differences between each sect’s cultivation methods. He tries asking other teachers too, but Lan Qiren usually ends up being the only one who can answer his most difficult inquiries and so he’s the one that has to bear the weight of his curiosity. If this wasn’t literally a matter of life and death he would probably feel bad for him, but later Lan Xicheng assures him that despite Lan-laoshi’s loud and constants complains about him, deep, deep down he does like having a student who truly enjoys learning and with whom he can share his love for the Lan Sect’s cultivation.

By the end of the lectures, when Wei Ying clutches Lan Zhan’s arm and proclaims that he will miss his beautiful face so much that he’ll die without his company, and how he just doesn’t have any other choice but to come back again the next year so they can spend more time together; Lan Qiren only puts a token protest at his shamelessnes and presumption to invite himself before ‘threatening’ him with having him learn musical cultivation if he dares show his face again next year.

Da-ge was so angry that Huaisang failed all the tests, even though he knew that Wei Wuxian surely had tutored him, that he was sent to take the course again the next year with the heirs of the other major sects. Wei Wuxian tagged along because he missed his er-gege and had been promised new things to learn.

When the students heard that this was his second year assisting the lectures, they called him crazy for wanting to come back again by his own free will.

Having learned all he could about their particular cultivation problem the year before in between the texts on the Cloud Recess and their own library, and later talking with the senior Nie disciples and healers, Wei Wuxian thought he had narrowed down the causes and cures of the 'Nie curse'- so now he could follow his brother's advice and enjoy more of his time in Gusu.

So in between music lessons with Lan Qiren, Wei Ying goes fishing, explores the back hills, accidentally starts a bunny colony with Lan Zhan, tries every good restaurant and licor store in Gusu with Huaisang and makes friends with the other students. 

"Lan Zhan, Lan Wangji, Er-gege!" Wei Ying spots him down the road coming from the classrooms and runs to catch up where Lan Zhan stopped to wait for him.

"Oi, Wei-xiong! Pass by our dorm room later!" Yells after him one of the Ouyang disciples he was talking to. Wei Ying laughs good naturedly and waves goodbye at them. After the tenth time that he abandoned a conversation to run after Lan Zhan, the other disciples had accepted that it was something bound to happen every time he saw the second jade, and though they teased him about it they never got offended.  

"Wei Ying" Lan Zhan greets him and they start walking together. Wei Ying has no idea where they are going, but he has followed Lan Zhan into the restricted Lan family section of the Cloud Resses often enough that nowadays no one even bothers to scold him. "I heard from uncle that your classes together are going well".

"Careful, Lan Zhan, that sounded close to gossiping!" Wei Ying laughs delightedly when the comment earns him a little scoff. "But yes, he lectures me about musical cultivation until he runs out of air and then I play my dizi until I run out of air; we are having a great time together!"

"We could play together, when you have free time" Lan Zhan said in that modest way of his and Wei Ying latched on his arm, shaking it a little in his excitement.

“You will play with me, really? You are truly the best, Lan Zhan!” He hugged his arm tightly, internally thanking the heavens that he had permission to touch and hug his friend now, even if it wasn’t as long or as regularly as he would like. But no matter, Wei Ying would win him over in time.

Chapter Text

This time, when time comes for Wei Ying to leave the Lan sect, Huaisang has to pry him away from Lan Zhan; and even with all the hard earned strength that his brother uses, Wei Ying only lets go when Lan Zhan promises to write every week and visit the next month with his brother. And to take care of their cute and fluffy children, of which Lan Qiren definitely doesn’t know anything and Lan Xicheng had totally not found out after the second batch was born.

Still, it's a relief to be back home. Da-ge even allows Huaisang to throw a small banquet to celebrate his good scores on the tests and Wuxian's mastering of music cultivation.

While the disciples laugh and try to eat their own weigh in meat, exchanging stories boisterously across their tables at the top of their lungs, Wuxian takes in his sect and family surrounding him, so warm in this cold environment they made their home in, and vows to protect them the same way they have done for him all this time.

There's no knowing how long this could take, and the only path of reference he has on how to go about dealing with a problem that is as old as their sect is the fact that he's not the first one to try. So at least knowing what specific things don't work, Wei Wuxian goes to the base of the problem: the greater his connection with his saber' spirit, the greater his power and chances of a fatal qi deviation. 

Now, Wei Wuxian already has an affinity with his saber spirit stronger than most people, and since he found out just how truly sentient the spirits are, he has worked on deepening their bond even more. So even if he was inclined on testing his theories on someone else, he would be the best candidate to experiment on.

Taking advantage of Nie Mingjue increasingly busy night hunting schedule and Nie Huaisang  spending almost the whole day in his room writing and reading never ending letters, Wei Wuxian starts working on applying the methods he came up with as discreetly as possible while pushing for another breakthrough in his cultivation.

With how tense things are right now in the cultivation world, no one questions him when he stays on the training grounds hours after having exhausted all the other disciples. But it's not until a couple weeks later, when he snaps at Huaisang while he was catching him up with all the comings and goings of other sects, that he realizes that his temperament is getting affected.

After apologizing profusely and promising to make it up to him another day, Wei Wuxian goes to his room and ponders about the incident. 

He hasn't noticed his mood changing at all, and except for that brief moment of irritation everything seemed normal. Wuxian takes out the notes he made about the Lan’s musical healing, more specifically the ones he made on the songs like Clarity and Rest . Obviously such acclaimed technics hadn’t been taught to him, no matter how good of a relationship he had with the Lan main family, but he had spent months discussing about the theory behind it with Lan Qiren and even had the pleasure to see it in action on a couple of occasions when he managed to convince Lan Wangji to go night hunting with him. And he wasn’t called a genius for nothing.

That night, instead of meditating, he puts up the privacy talismans he made when he was learning to play the dizi and giving Huaisang headaches around his room and starts messing around with the notes that control the qi.

Lan Xicheng and Lan Wangji come to visit before the cold season starts and Wei Ying takes a break from his secret experiments to show Lan Zhan around all his favorite places in Qinghe while their older brothers are busy.

Wei Ying takes him over to the city and introduces him to all the old and grumpy merchants that he managed to charm over the years. He takes Lan Zhan on a tour of the best views while telling him stories of how he and Huaisang found them when they were just starting to paint nature and weren't allowed to climb the mountains alone yet. He wanted to show him how to hunt birds too, but Lan Zhan declined because of the rules of his sect, even though they would be for Huaisang, and not for eating. So they ended up sitting on a little clearing, listening to the birds singing and enjoying each other's company.

Wei Wuxian has his first minor qi deviation after the first snowfall.

He wakes up in the infirmary, covered up to the nose in thick blankets to the sound of Huaisang faintly crying beside him and Mingjue arguing with the healer in charge.

When they notice that he's awake the ruckus becomes ten times worse, and after they make sure he's okay now, he has to go thru another examination and a lot of nagging with Huaisang still hanging from his neck and wetting his robes’ shoulder as if he had almost died, and Mingjue looming over them as if he could fight a qi deviation with his fists.

Because the healers aren’t sure what could have caused it when Wuxian is always careful with his cultivation (because he obviously won’t tell them otherwise), both brothers spend the night in the infirmary with him while the healers have him under observation.

But even after the lights are dim and the moon is high in the sky, with Nie Mingjue snoring on the chair against the wall and Nie Huaisang curled up in the bed with him like when they were children, Wei Wuxian can’t turn off his brain.

If resentful energy is energy, just like spiritual energy, and the Nie sabers cultivate the resentful energy of beast and other creatures… then doesn’t that mean that it is possible to control restful energy as one would with spiritual cultivation?

Suibian is a powerful and wild spirit, really the perfect match for him. Wei Wuxian is not sure of what kind of beast her spirit comes from, doesn't even know if it was the spirit of just one creature or the combination of several that gave life to it, but whatever it was resulted in something pretty spectacular. Suibian is also extremely loyal, even for sabers that are known to only serve one master forever; his saber wont even let anyone else pick it up. Until now the only ones who are able to touch it are the Nie brothers.

But even with the most loyal and protective saber in all of Qinghe, when Wei Wuxian finally manages to control the resentful energy with his saber, the backlash burns his hands.

He swears he can feel Suibian’s regret over the next couple days while his wounds heal.

With that fiasco as a first try, Wei Wuxian has to let the matter lie down for a time while his -supposedly wounds of a talisman- heal and the members of his sect pay closer attention to what he does. 

By the time a letter from a very concerned Lan Zhan makes its way to his healed hands, Wuxian had almost gone crazy in his room being kept from training, and ended up using what he learned of resentful energy to create a spirit attraction flag to make night hunting easier. Lan Zhan says it's a ridiculous name, but the flag worked as it should when he finally convinced Nie Zonghui to give it a try, and Huaisang even managed to get permission from Mingjue to sell it under the name of their sect. 

So now he has a pretty good income, and the certainty that working with resentful energy can help. 

He buys Lan Zhan a new poem book and sends it with a spirit flag for him with his reply.

With the success of the spirit attraction flags even the more grumpy and stuck up elders are pleased, and they finally left him alone to experiment as he pleases instead of complaining that he should just focus on the saber and that Nie cultivators don't use talismans. 

He ends up creating a new binding made entirely of pure qi (and a secret one made of the opposite) to help restraint criminals and beasts before he manages to move the resentful energy on his saber close to how he wanted to -this time only resulting in some not deadly bleeding from all the orifices on his face.

With the attention that his inventions inadvertently ended up bringing to the Nie sect it takes a while until he can go out night hunting alone again far enough to continue with his dwellings into resentful energy without raising concerns with his prolonged absence. But all his precautions pay off, and he thanks the heavens for being alone in the middle of nowhere when he comes to the ill-fated discovery that he now can control the resentful energy of the corpses too.

Wei Wuxian makes sure to burn the few secret notes he made that could give him away if someone were to find them and understood what to make of them. But still, his mind had already cataloged everything from that terrible incident and now it feels like after all this time finally there's a hazy pathway in the distance to his goal. There's still a way to go, but he can see the end of the road now.

Chapter Text

Nie Huaisang puts down his brush as he hears a strange thump come from outside. Silently he goes to the window and peeks outside. Between the shadows he can barely make out the figure of Wei Wuxian against the moonlight as he sneaks back into his room through his window, probably coming from the forest. He must be really exhausted if he’s careless enough to make noise; that or he’s hurt again. Lately, Wuxian has been unusually cagey about what he’s working on, but it’s easy to see that it’s taking a strain on him. Huaisang goes back to his desk and resolves to pass by Wuxian’s room early come morning to leave some things for the pain and posibles injuries close to his bed were he can see and grab them easily, and to leave word in the kitchens to have a good breakfast ready for when he wakes. He’ll need to wake early anyways if he wants to finish checking all these reports.

“Huaisang” comes the angry voice of Nie Mingjue right as he was about to take a well earned rest and sit his lovely bottom down. Really, it is as if no one here appreciates his hard work.

“Da-ge, whatever it is, I didn’t do it!” he whines, but it only earns him a scolding look. “And if I did do it, can’t it wait until after I've taken a nap? I promise I will only resist a little when you punish me”.

“Not everything is about you; but whatever it is that you've done recently it better not cause more paperwork or Nie Zonghui will kill you” Mingjue warns him before heaving a big sigh and sitting down next to him on the luohan bed. “...Wuxian skipped up training again” he finally reveals his reason for coming here.

“He was working until late at night again, Da-ge, let him rest a little” Huaisang tried to abate him a little, but could tell that Mingjue was still concerned.

“He’s been working hard lately. Harder than usual, I mean” he mused out loud. “With all that has been going on with that damn Wen sect, his inventions have been beneficial to all the sects and us Nie have won a lot by it, but he shouldn’t be forcing himself to the point that is even affecting his cultivation”.

Ah, so he had noticed it too. It was true that Wuxian’s qi felt inestable lately and his cultivation was suffering because of it.

“Aiya, but saying he’s forcing himself… Da-ge, Wuxian truly loves what he does. You know how he is when he gets absorbed in a mystery or some problem he can't solve. His brain just works weird like that, must be for all those hits he got when he was learning the saber” Huaisang tried to joke a little, but seeing how it didn’t work he lied semeasly “I’ll talk to him and see if whatever it is, he can drop it for a while”.

Of course he wouldn’t. Nie Huaisang had a good idea of what Wei Wuxian must be working on, and even if it was dangerous, it was better to leave him to it so he could go through whichever problem he must have found with his ideas by himself.

“I won’t get too involved though. We've all learned the lesson with that fire talisman” Huaisang added when he saw his brother relax.

“You two are a bigger problem with every year that passes” Nie Mingjue replied, but he looked less tense now.

“You would get bored otherwise”.

Nie Huaisang is revisisng the contracts with the new merchants at the south of Henan for the distribution of Wei Wuxian’s new treatise on the classification of spirits and monsters, when an explosion of qi so strong that sends all his papers flying washes over him from the room besides his. Immediately all those who felt it go into action, alerting the rest of the sect too. By the time that Huaisang is able to react from where he fell down to the floor in shock, senior disciples are already trying to trow down the door of Wuxian’s room.

That terrifying wave of qi came from Wuxian’s room.  

Huaisang is on his feet before he knows it, running out of his room to crash straight into the arms of Nie Zonghui, screaming for his brother -elder, younger, whichever- it doesn’t matter which one answers him first as long as they are able to assure him that both are fine.

The door is torn down before he can work himself into a bigger panic and Nie Mingjue appears at the end of the hallway with two healers hot on his heels. His elder brother barely spared him a side glance to confirm that he wasn’t hurt before he went into the room with the others. Huaisang, still being restrained by Nie Zonghui, wasn't allowed inside.

It takes the servants the whole afternoon to clean the blood from the room, but the healers assure him that Wei Wuxian is out of mortal danger after he made it through the first night, and that his internal injuries are not as bad as they could be, even if he’s also pretty roughed up on the outside too. They tell his brother that the injuries and the wave of qi they all felt was most probably caused by a qi deviation. They can’t tell why he doesn’t wake up. They can’t explain why there was so much resentful energy in his room either.

The elders, or what pass as elders in their sect where no one lives long, come in to check on Wuxian’s saber for the signs of corruption that are usual in their kin when their owners are at the end of their lives, but Subian won’t let anyone come close to do it and even him isn’t able to pick it up.

Huaisang is running out of tears to cry.

On the tenth day after the accident, with We Wuxian still in coma, Nie Mingjue sent a letter to gusu. On the evening of the third day after the letter was sent, a barely windswept Lan Wangji lands at their door requesting to play for Wei Wuxian to aid with his recovery.

Three days after the second master of Lan’s arrival, Nie Huaisang goes into the room at first light bringing a simple breakfast for their guest, as has become his new routine,  to find Lan Wangji seated amicably at the bed instead of his usual place on the low table where he plays his guqin, with one hand on Subian -which is resting on his lap as if it were completely natural- and the other hand resting lightly over Wuxian’s, who’s giving him a exasperated sweet little smile.

Huaisang is at the other side of the room, throwing himself at his arms, before the image of that gentle scene even registers on his mind; the tray he was carrying crashing noisily behind him and poor Lan Wangji grunting for what may have been a knee at his kidney.

He's crying so much that what he says is barely understandable, but Wei Wuxian knows that he's being reprimanded and has the decency of looking admonished while he apologizes. They are still hugging when Nie Mingjue comes, possibly called by Lan Wangji who disappeared at some point without them realizing. 

"This better be the last time you do something so stupid" their brother commands gravely as he joins in the best hug ever.

"I promise" Wuxian says wobbly, and then has the nerve to look affronted when they give him doubtful looks. "Really, I swear!" He struggles out of their embrace to sit properly on the bed and gives them a cheeky smile. "I won't do something like this again because I won't need to. I achieved what I wanted" his gaze turns solemn. "Sect leader Nie, I know what causes the fatal qi deviations, and now I have learnt how to stop it. Never again will you have to lose one of your cultivators". 

Nie Huaisang loses a little time after his elder brother chokes out on his answer and has to take a moment to regain his composure.

His brother won't die.

After everything he had to go through, all he had to sacrifice and fight for, it's finally worth it. His brother won't die. 

Not only do they finally have an answer to the problem that has been haunting them for generations, but it's only a matter of months until the Wen sects falls because of all the in-flight that has been brewing for years, so there will be no war either; and Huaisang made sure that there was no 'Jin Guangyao' in this life while keeping a close eye on Lan Xicheng. Even if the minor or branch sects of the Wen survive their little civil war, they will never again be the threat that they had been when they were all united under Wen Ruohan.

And thanks to Wei Wuxian's mind and inventions, the Nie sect has reached a prestige greater than ever before. The gamble he made all those years ago on his late classmate -half on the hope for him to archive what was thought impossible once again, half hoping for him to have a better future than last time- gave fruit in all the best possible ways, and even though Nie Huaisang did end up loving him as a brother too while they growed up together, he's not sure what he would have done if he had lost his Da-ge again, so he truly is in eternal debt to Wei Wuxian in this life.

All these long ten years of planning, in this and his late life, were really worth it.

"I won't allow any miracle idea of yours to be put to test until you're completely recuperated and a healer assures me that everything you do is safe for you" Nie Mingjue is nagging now that he's had a moment to absorb everything. 

As Nie Huaisang goes to the window to take some air and dry a little his tears, he sees Lan Wangji enter the room again with a new tray of tea.

Despite what anyone who had seen these two together in their last life would expect, they ended up having a very close and good relationship. He wasn't sure what had changed this time for it to be like this, but they both looked so much happier together than as supposed mortal enemies…

Actually, now that all his plans had come to fruition, he had a lot of free time.

He already made sure that his friend had a happy past, why not make sure he had a happy future too?