#/and/ he has to pretend to scold jin ling for not paying attention and acting un-zongzhulike

[evakant]

can you imagine the first time, post-canon, that wei wuxian hears jiang cheng laugh?

[ibijau]

and another thing for the lingzhui winter exchange :D this one for HamsterQinghua

Sizhui smiled, looking absolutely devastated.

“I really would love to hang out with you, but I already have plans with someone after school. Another time?”

Jin Ling scowled.

First of all, because he hadn’t cornered Sizhui on the way to his next class to invite him to hang out. It was a date. He was trying to ask Sizhui out. Sure it’d be at the fast food place they always ended up after school, because Sizhui had an early curfew on week nights and too many activities to attend in the weekend, but they would have gone there with intent, and so that would absolutely have counted as a date.

Second of all, Sizhui had exactly two other friends: his annoying cousin Jingyi, and Zizhen from the art club they all went to. And Jin Ling, prudently, had made sure that neither of them had plans with Sizhui that afternoon. Which meant that Sizhui had plans with someone that Jin Ling didn’t know about.

Before he could ask about that, Sizhui’s phone started buzzing, its screen lighting up to warn of an incoming call. Because Sizhui had it in hand at that moment, Jin Ling was able to catch a glimpse of the screen, which was enough to turn his blood to ice, especially with the way Sizhui’s eyes lit up and a small smile crept up on his face.

“Ah, I’ve really got to take that!” Sizhui apologised. “And you have English next, right? So I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He dashed off without so much as a last glance at Jin Ling, all his attention on his phone. 

-

Jin Ling sat with Zizhen at the back of the English classroom, and they both proceeded to ignore anything the teacher intended to share with them, too busy whispering about the crisis that Jin Ling had just discovered. And it had to be a crisis to distract Zizhen, who usually at least tried to pretend he was paying attention. But the situation was too dire for that.

“Are you sure it can’t have just been his father?” Zizhen asked in a hushed tone.

“Sizhui would never call him ‘daddy’,” Jin Ling assured him, careful to keep his voice low as well. “He’d never be so informal, he’s not Jingyi. So it has to be someone else. And he looked so… happy.”

Zizhen rested his chin on the palm of his hand. He glanced at the teacher, just to make sure their lack of attention hadn’t been noticed yet, then glanced sideways at Jin Ling.

“Do you think he has a sugar daddy or something?”

“But he doesn’t need the money,” Jin Ling grumbled. “His family owns half the town.”

“Yeah but Jingyi says his dad checks how he uses his allowance,” Zizhen pointed out, “so maybe Sizhui wants to have money he doesn’t need to explain how he spends? Also, it might be his way of rebelling. I mean, he’s overdue for some real teenage rebellion. Nobody can be that good all the time. Or maybe the guy is just, like, insanely hot and Sizhui is super into him.”

Jin Ling checked that the teacher wasn’t looking, and kicked Zizhen’s chair.

“So what?” he hissed. “I’m hot too.”

“Cute at best,” Zizhen retorted, unphased. “On a good day. Nothing that could compare to the appeal of an older guy with money, ready to spoil him and buy him everything he likes.”

“I always buy him milkshakes,” Jin Ling pouted. “When he lets me, anyway.”

In truth, Jin Ling would have loved to spoil Sizhui more, but Sizhui refused most of the time and even insisted on paying for Jin Ling’s snacks frequently, like Jin Ling was some sort of little sibling who needed to be looked after. It didn’t help that Sizhui had weird hang-ups about debts and owing things to anyone. Jingyi said it was because he had gone through some difficult things before being adopted by the Lans, but on bad days Jin Ling felt it was just because Sizhui wanted to put distance between them.

Today was definitely a bad day, because Sizhui had a cool older boyfriend, maybe.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Zizhen asked.

“Nothing.”

Zizhen’s eyebrows rose high on his face. “Your crush has a sugar daddy and you’re not going to do anything about it?”

“It’s his life,” Jin Ling hissed. “I’ll get over it easily.”

There were people he might have hoped to convince with that. Zizhen definitely wasn’t one of them. He had been Jin Ling’s confidant through the whole ordeal, from the slow realisation that he had a crush on Sizhui, to trying to get the attention of the older boy. Zizhen had brainstormed with him through dozens of ideas for a first date to ask Sizhui on. He knew how much Jin Ling liked their friend. More than liked, perhaps, though it wasn’t something Jin Ling felt ready to face, especially not after this new development.

“Okay,” Zizhen whispered. “That’s very mature of you and all. Then I guess I’ll be the only one following Sizhui after school to catch a glimpse of his mysterious super hot sugar daddy. I understand how that doesn’t interest you at all.”

Jin Ling kicked his friend’s chair again, this time attracting the attention of the teacher who glared at them. They both put on their most innocent smiles, and their usually good grades meant the teacher let it go for that time, only warning them to be quiet and let others work.

“So, are you coming with me or not?” Zizhen whispered when there was less attention on them.

“Only to make sure you don’t get in trouble,” Jin Ling retorted. “I don’t care at all about who Sizhui may or may not be dating. And I swear if we’re spotted, I’m blaming you.”

-

Sizhui’s date was an older man who was at least in his mid-thirties. He didn’t look particularly rich though, not with his patched up leather jacket, ripped jeans, and long messy ponytail. He looked rather like the sort of person who some of Jin Ling’s relatives made fun of sometimes for refusing to grow and act their age, and who obviously didn’t have a real, serious job like they did.

He was very handsome though. Movie actor handsome. And he smiled so wide when he walked to Sizhui that it illuminated his face, like Sizhui was the best thing to have ever happened to him. And he wrapped an arm around Sizhui’s shoulder as they walked together to the café across the street from their high school.

It was awful. Sizhui really had found himself a 'mysterious super hot sugar daddy' as Zizhen put it, and it was obvious that they both cared a lot about each other, and there was just no way Jin Ling could compete with that.

“I’m going home,” he grunted as they watched the couple sit on the terrace.

“No you’re not,” Zizhen retorted, grabbing him by the elbow and pulling him ahead.

With how much Jin Ling struggled and complained, it was a real miracle that Sizhui and his mysterious date didn’t notice them coming to sit at the nearest table, nothing but some potted plants hiding them. But apparently the couple was just that into each other, and Sizhui had his back on them anyway and he was too polite to turn around and look at the commotion, while his stupid hot date didn’t know the two weird teenagers peering at him through the leaves of some small palm trees.

He was even more handsome from up close, the bastard. However, the older man’s face had something very punchable to it. It might have been just Jin Ling’s jealousy speaking. At the same time, the waiter very pointedly rolled his eyes at something Hot-and-Mysterious said, so obviously he was, in fact, a universally annoying person.

Still, he had such a soft expression when looking at Sizhui, Jin Ling didn’t know how anyone could allow themselves to show their emotions so openly, especially at that age. He wanted Hot-and-Mysterious to stop already, especially because of what Sizhui was saying to deserve such an expression.

“It’s just so much, you know?” Sizhui explained, almost shyly. Jin Ling could just picture that smile his friend had sometimes, with just a hint of insecurity, like he feared to bother people just by being around. “I’m… it’s too much. I’m sure I’m not supposed to feel this much. My great-uncle would say I’m too young for this.”

“But you’re feeling it,” Hot-and-Mysterious retorted, clearly a little amused. “You can’t be too young if you’re already feeling it.”

Sizhui nodded. “It’s a little scary though, isn’t it? Every time, it feels like my heart is going to explode, and… and I keep wondering if I’m going to ruin this by saying too much, or doing too much, or…”

Hot-and-Mysterious leaned toward Sizhui, and took his hand, gently brushing his thumb against Sizhui’s knuckles.

“Love is scary,” he said. “But it’s good as well, right? Don’t listen to people who tell you to be reasonable or to wait until you’re older. School’s important, studies are important, but… you’re young. You’ve got to live a little, right?”

“You think this could be love?” Sizhui gasped.

“Sounds like it to me,” Hot-and-Mysterious replied with a fond chuckle. “Hey, it’s fine. I don’t mind. If anything, I’m happy. I’m glad the two of us can talk openly about something like that. I’m glad my baby can tell me this.”

That, it turned out, was exactly as much as Jin Ling could put up with. He stood from his chair so fast it fell behind him, and strode away from the café and from Sizhui being in love with someone else. It had been a stupid idea to follow Sizhui and his boyfriend, anyway, so Zizhen could pay their tab for having suggested that in the first place. Jin Ling had been raised better than that, and if his parents heard about it, they’d have his head for acting like such a creep.

He hoped Sizhui would find joy with his stupidly hot boyfriend.

Personally, Jin Ling knew he would never be happy ever again.

-

The following day, Jin Ling didn’t see Sizhui until lunch break at school. It was unusual, because they always chatted a bit before their first class, and would at least smile at each other when they met between lessons. That morning though, Jin Ling changed path to make sure it wouldn’t happen. It got him scolded by the teachers when he arrived late, but it was better than having to see Sizhui and be reminded that the older boy was in love with someone else.

It worked until lunch, when Sizhui managed to spot him trying to buy a sandwich he’d eat in a hidden corner.

“Hello, A-Ling!” Sizhui greeted him as he joined him in the queue. He was smiling brightly, a touch of colour to his cheeks. It was unfair, really, that someone so pretty existed in Jin Ling’s life. How was he supposed to not have fallen for Sizhui? “I didn’t see you this morning, I was starting to wonder if you were sick maybe.”

“I’d have texted you,” Jin Ling grumbled.

“Not if you were very sick,” Sizhui replied. “So I’m glad I found you. Especially since I have something I want to talk about, if you have time?”

“Sure. Let me just grab lunch.”

Sizhui nodded, clearly in an excellent mood. They both got a sandwich, and walked toward a deserted corner, under the stairs to the science classrooms. It was a quiet place to hang out at, especially at that hour of the day. They only ever went there when it was just the two of them, because the space would have been too small if Zizhen and Jingyi had joined them. In fact even for two people it was a little cramped. Normally Jin Ling secretly enjoyed that forced closeness. That day he couldn’t bear it and sat a little further away, even if it meant he’d be visible should anyone pass by.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Jin Ling grumbled, glaring at his sandwich.

He wasn’t sure why he’d bothered buying it. He really wasn’t hungry.

Next to him, Sizhui nervously nodded, also looking down at his lunch.

“Right. That. Right, right. Here is the thing,” Sizhui explained. “I’ve been wondering… would you like to go to the cinema with me on friday? Just… just the two of us, I’m not inviting Zizhen and Jinyi. And it’d be my treat of course. And if you want, we can grab something to eat after? I’ve already asked my father, he’s okay with letting me stay out a little later.”

“You’re making it sound like a date,” Jin Ling huffed.

“Well, yeah, that’s because it would be one. I’m… I’m asking you out, A-Ling.”

Jin Ling looked up at his friend with round eyes. It was everything he’d ever wanted to hear, and Sizhui didn’t look like he was joking. If anything, Sizhui seemed so embarrassed that he couldn’t even meet Jin Ling’s face, his entire face red, his knees drawn against his chest.

It should have been the best thing ever, except…

“What about your boyfriend?” Jin Ling blurted.

“My what?” Sizhui gasped.

“I know about him!” Jin Ling announced. “I saw you with him yesterday, and Zizhen too saw you! You were at the café, all cozy and happy with that guy! And he was holding your hand!”

“A-Ling, that’s not… it’s not like that, I swear!”

“Of course it’s like that!” Jin Ling exploded. “And I like you a lot you know! I like you and I want to go out with you! But I know you have a boyfriend and I’m not desperate or stupid enough to go out with you when you already have someone! I’d have thought you liked me a little better than that, and I’m so disappointed that you’d try something like that, and…”

“A-Ling, that was my dad!” Sizhui exclaimed, hurriedly putting away his sandwich.

Jin Ling blinked a few times, shocked into silence by that very stupid lie.

“Well, not my real father obviously,” Sizhui hurriedly corrected. “You’ve met my father. But that’s my… my other dad, I guess.”

“You said your birth parents were dead!”

“They are,” Sizhui confirmed, drawing his legs to his chest once more and resting his forehead against his knees. “It’s… it’s a little complicated. I don’t even remember all of it, honestly, but my dad told me some of it, and my father confirmed it. So… when I was very young, my parents died, and I went to live with some relatives of mine. There was my great-aunt, an uncle, and some cousins, as well as a friend of my cousins.”

Sizhui turned his head so he could look at Jin Ling, and smiled. 

“It wasn’t a bad time. I was pretty happy there, and that friend of my cousins kind of informally adopted me. Or I adopted him?” Sizhui chuckled. “Well, I started calling him daddy, anyway, and nobody corrected me. It was… it was really great. I stayed there for a year or two. Until there was that fire.”

Sizhui hid his face again, while Jin Ling nodded along. The rest was new, but Sizhui had already told him about losing his family in a fire. He had just assumed that meant his parents.

“Dad managed to get me out,” Sizhui whispered. “But he couldn’t save anyone else, so after that it was just the two of us… but not for very long. It really hit him hard to lose everyone like that, and he didn’t really have a steady job at that time, or any family to turn to, you know? So for a while we lived in the streets or in squats here and there, until I got sick and he realised he couldn’t keep me anymore. He managed to get social workers to take me away, and he just disappeared from my life. And then a few weeks ago, he contacted me again. He’d finally managed to land on his feet again after struggling for years, and he’d found out I was adopted, and… and it turned out my father and him knew each other in school, so my father agreed to let him talk to me. We’ve met a few times, and we text a lot and call sometimes. It’s nice.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jin Ling mumbled.

Sizhui raised his head, blinking away some moisture at the corner of his eyes before smiling at Jin Ling.

“It’s okay. It’s not so bad, I’m glad to have him back. And one of my cousins actually survived the fire, so I’ve been in contact with him as well. It’s… it’s kind of cool to have family again. I mean I have my father and his family, but this… this is different, right?”

“I meant sorry for forcing you to share that,” Jin Ling corrected. “It’s… you didn’t need to tell me that. I messed up. Fuck, I messed up again!”

Sizhui laughed, softly, a fragile little sound that made Jin Ling’s heart beat faster.

“It’s okay,” he repeated. “If it’s you, I don’t mind sharing that sort of things. I’ve wanted to tell you about it actually, but I was waiting to make sure that things were going fine first. Plus I was kind of hoping that maybe when I introduced you to my dad, it’d be as my boyfriend. It’s… I’ve been telling him about you.”

“You have?” Jin Ling gasped. “Oh no. What did you say?”

Sizhui laughed again, a little lighter and more cheerful this time.

“I’ve told him that you’re clever and determined,” Sizhui announced with a warm smile. “That you always try hard to do the right thing, and even though you have an awful temper sometimes, you’re never afraid to admit when you’re wrong. I’ve told him also that you’re… you’re very handsome, that I like you a lot, and that I’ve been wanting to ask you out for a long while. And I have, now. So, uh. Friday night?”

“No way!” Jin Ling exclaimed.

When he saw Sizhui’s pretty smile fall, Jin Ling almost slapped himself.

“No way you’re asking me on a date,” he clarified, “because I’m the one asking you out. I’m the one taking you to the cinema, and taking you out to eat after! It’s the least I can do after...” Jin Ling made a vague hand gesture. “So, yeah. I’m asking you out, and I’m taking you on a date!”

Sizhui stared at him with wide eyes. He blinked a few times, his mouth dropping open, and burst out laughing.

“Sure, let’s do it like that,” Sizhui agreed, smiling beautifully once more.

Jin Ling smiled back.

It was going to be the best date in the history of dating, he’d make sure of it.

[a-very-fond-farewell]

Wen Yuan and the Prisoner of Koi Tower

*

the only HP!au I will consider for mdzs is the one where WWX acts as Sirius and LWJ as Remus.

also Cloud Recesses already acts as a magical school of sorts so I would not go as far as plant the entire cast in England, but a modern Chinese setting would be a very nice touch and will allow many writers to play around with both pieces of media imo.

my take would be:

*

- WWX has escaped a secret and hidden magical prison 13 years after protecting the remaining Wens from facing justice after the entire Sect had been accused of being a threat to the laws protecting the cultivation world.

- while some of the Wens (Wen RuoHan and his sons) had actively tried to oppose the allicance by messing with commoners and revealing themselves to the non-cultivation world, other Wens were completely innocent and yet they were still persecuted after the war (Sunshot Campaign) that had exterminated the rest of their Sect.

- WWX sacrificed himself by pretending to be completely unable to control his demonic cultivation and causing the explosion of resentful energy that destroyed the Burial Mounds (the Wen Remains’ hideout), turning the lush forest in a wasteland. the magical barrier dividing the premise and the non-cultivation world was compromised and WWX was accused of having sided with the Wen-dogs to jeopardize the anonymity of the cultivation world.

- by attracting all the attention on himself and destroying their hideout, WWX convinced everyone he accidentally killed the Wen Remains to allow them to escape. with the barrier growing weaker, the Wens slipped into the shadows of the non-cultivation world and pretended to be commoners for the time being.

*

- Wen Yuan (i assume he would not have a courtesy name if he were to live outside of the modern!cultivation-world, before enrolling in school) has lived 13 years in modern!Yiling with Wen Ning and he’s now 16 under a different name (idk what name, but they certainly don’t plan to be sought out by announcing the world they are called Wen). they live pretending to be commoners and can only rarely see Wen Qing, who was able to work at the “magical school” as a physician only bc the headmaster Lan QiRen is more interested in her talent than her last name.

- Wen Ning and Wen Qing decided not to reveal their little cousin about the happenings of 13 years ago. when they tried to step into the common world the first time after the explosion, A-Yuan had slipped from their grasp and they didn’t know where he had disappeared to (imagine the mishaps of the Floo Network and such or when someone disappararates). A-Yuan, “splinched” and feverish with no memories of his past, was found by LWJ who brought him back to the Wen siblings and helped their entire clan to disappear from the radar.

- upon discovering A-Yuan had, in fact, a golden core at 10/11 years old (although I would also like to see him enrolling in school at 8 or 9 tbh), LWJ offers to pay for his education but asks the Wen siblings not to reveal his identity as a benefactor. so A-Yuan only knows someone in the Lan Sect saw potential in him and... offered him a scholarship? I guess?

*

- he enrolls under the name Lan SiZhui and tries to find out more as he grows and learns. his suspicions fall on LXC at first, because he’s very kind and pleasant to talk to and he frequently visits the school even though he’s not a teacher. then he suspects LQR or one of the elders to be his benefactor. but when he enters the third year and he’s finally allowed to study with the Qin Language Master (either that or an Array Master or even Spellwork Master, you choose) LWJ... A-Yuan knows.

- so A-Yuan spends roughly two years trying to crack LWJ’s exterior... but it’s actually easy bc LWJ is very fond of him. yet, the elusive teacher doesn’t even try to talk about WWX with him. nobody does. Wen Qing looks after A-Yuan while he’s at school, but they have to pretend they don’t know each other: all the school staff knows she’s a Wen but none of the students have a suspect; if their families were to discover this fact, they would take the children away from the school in retaliation against LQR for having betrayed the alliance by protecting a Wen.

- A-Yuan spends a lot of time with her anyway, sharing meals and gossip in the medical wing late at night. he also tries to injure himself at times during night hunts so that he can meet with her and be scolded by her. it is a delicate balance and a dangerous game they’re playing, but only LWJ knows about it. not even LQR is aware that A-Yuan is a Wen: he trusted his nephew when LWJ told him he found a promising child to bring to the cultivation world and he trusted him.

- Lan JingYi was also “found” in a similar way and he adopted the Lan name and lives with LXC during the summer bc he doesn’t have a family. OuYang ZiZhen is one of the few representing his Sect while Jin Ling leads the way for his Sect and its many members. Jin Ling tries to be a rival to A-Yuan so bad (just bc A-Yuan seems perfect, not bc he’s a Wen. only Lan JingYi knows about that) but they end up being friends.

*

- Jiang FengMian leads Yunmeng as a Sect Leader while Madam Yu teaches how to wield spiritual weapons. JC was born without a golden core, but WWX sacrificed it for him with a forbidden spell and developed demonic cultivation to balance the absence of his core. LQR saw potential in him and offered him an opportunity to form another golden core... but his attempts failed miserably and WWX graduated following the demonic path before studying to become a teacher himself to explore other cultivation methods.

- Jin GuangShan’s alive and kicking [*cough*sons from staircases*cough*] at the top of Lanling and three of his bastards kids are teachers: JGY, MXY, and Qin Su.

- Nie MingJue rules over Qinghe and sent Nie ZongHui as a teacher and protector of the students from their Sects. Nie HuaiSang visits sometimes to discuss Sect matters with him

- LQR’s older brother is the head of Gusu and only LWJ is a teacher, taking his mother’s place (I envision his mother as an outcasts of sorts, similarly to Trelawney, but less............you know. we still love a cryptid woman in this house tho. basically she was kept away bc she knew too much and went mad with the knowledge she held and vowed to never speak again or something + also I like the idea of LWJ teaching in a secluded place. not necessarily a tower, but I remember Lupin’s office to be quite fetching nonetheless and the Jinghi can still keep all of its minimalist furniture and still be cooler than anything else ever existing in-universe).

*

- when WWX escapes from prison, the first thing he wants is to find the Wens. the teachers think he’s after Wen Qing and they make sure to destroy every corpse surrounding the school so that WWX cannot summon them. night-hunting is put on hold for the entire year (which would be a parallel with quidditch championship being shut down... also sports being put on hold bc of an emergency sounds oddly familiar...)

- JC still has his brother’s dizi, protected under spells in one of his mother’s cabinets at the school... but Jin Ling is a silly boy and wants to prove to his friends that he knows that his grandma Madam Yu is hiding something important in her office. so during a late exploration night after curfew, the juniors find the cabinet, take the dizi to inspect it and flee the corridors. Madam Yu finds them first, but LWJ defends them and feign ignorance when the woman demands to be the one punishing them. LWJ then asks Jin Ling to give him the dizi and the boy begrudgingly does as the teacher says.

*

- people start disappearing soon after. one by one, people from MoLing and Baling from the school staff vanish into thin air, then it’s the Jin and Jiang’s turn. By the time LXC disappears as well, LWJ gets worried but he trusts his brother.

- Jin GuangShan’s however, after his younger son’s disappearance, point his finger against the Nie Sect and its dangerous method of cultivation: why nobody of the Nie Sect had disappeared? the culprit must be one of theirs! and if MXY cannot be found, then the Jin Sect will demand reparations from Nie MingJue himself... with his life.

- when the dizi disappears from LWJ’s office, JGY suggests the Yiling Patriarch has finally made his way inside the school and that maybe he’s after the disappearance of so many cultivators and students. then, when the dizi is found among Wen Qing’s possessions, LQR expels her from the school to save himself (?) and his Sect from being accused of shielding someone hiding the Yiling Patriarch... but she is able to snatch the dizi and flee, promising A-Yuan to be back for him when nobody is watching.

*

- ...nobody aside from Jin Ling, who sees Wen Qing embracing “A-Yuan” one last time. the heir of LanLing demands an explanation from his best friend, asking him why that woman had called him with a different name and why was he talking with such familiarity to a Wen dog even though he knew what the Wens had done to his family. how JZX, his father, had died because of a Wen and how his mother had died because of WWX. on top of that, if Wen Qing was really helping WWX, then it was still a Wen’s fault if his uncle MXY was now missing!

- feeling betrayed, Jin Ling disappears on his own volition and Jin GuangShan accuses the Yiling Patriarch of having abducted even his grandson now. the rest of the juniors look for Jin Ling and they travel into the night until they find a lead: JC, apparently, has found a way to lure WWX out by calling the sword-spirit Suibian through his lend-me-down version of a golden core. feeling someone “pulling” him in, WWX was certainly bound to come back and meet with the heir of YunmengJiang , right? (is this the equivalent of the Patronus thingie? maybe not?)

- the juniors figure out that Jin Ling would follow his uncle JC and so they follow the man as well. they end up where everything started, in the Burial Mounds. but Jin Ling has arrived there even before his own uncle. the juniors see WWX holding an unconscious Jin Ling in his arms when JC arrives wielding Sandu. they duel and in the cave there are a lot of ancient corpses WWX can order around with his dizi. JC is close to have the upper hand... when LWJ enters the cave and knocks JC to one of the walls in WWX’s defense.

- [just like in the movie, I would like the narration to be hinting at LWJ having helped WWX all along. even if there were to be POV from LWJ’s part up until this moment, I would still not let it show he’s still in love with WWX. (eg: is he were to look at an old photo with WWX, maybe LWJ’s POV would show him tossing the picture aside and A-Yuan would accidentally see the scene and the POV would switch... so the kid would assume LWJ had beef with WWX instead)]

*

- A-Yuan, who up until then has never had any reason to think of WWX as anything but a menace to the cultivation world, feels winded. why does his mentor, his father figure, his benefactor... side with a criminal? and why does WWX have the dizi? did Qing-Jie really give it to him? but wasn’t she framed? the dizi must have been planted in her closet when they found it... right?

- LWJ tries to explain that WWX was not behind the disappearances. and that Wen Qing had not taken the dizi from LWJ’s office: Nie ZongHui had. After so many people disappeared, after Jin GuangShan’s accusations against the Nie Sect, Nie ZongHui panicked and wanted to protect his Sect. and since he knew LWJ was hiding something... since he knew how LWJ and WWX were close during their youth... he snooped around until he found the dizi and planted it on the only person every teacher was suspicious of: Wen Qing.

- Wen Qing, after being framed, seeks out WWX and helps him hide in the Burial Mounds, taking down the barriers the cultivation world has set around the area. she then sent a message to LWJ telling him that JC was being lured as well by WWX into the cave to talk... but that Jin Ling had attacked first.

- tired and still incredulous about being finally, finally free, WWX himself explains the truth about the Wen Remains and what he had done to save them. LWJ holds him tight as the other explains that he cannot use resentful energy as he used to and that -when he had tried to protect himself from Jin Ling’s attacks using the dizi- his first attempt had knocked down the kid. JC had found him at the worst possible moment, really.

- but then... who was behind the disappearances? then appears Su She. who had followed the juniors pretending to be invested in their well-being.

*

- the first cultivators to disappear were from MoLing after all, but not because they were abducted... but because they were the one abducting people to begin with. leaving out cultivators from the Nie Sect had been done only to satisfy Jin GuangShan’s request to find Nie MingJue at fault: the man’s only sin being that he would have never voted in favor of Jin GuangShan for the position of Chief Cultivator (something like the Minister of Magic, I suppose??) wishing to get more power for his Sect, Su She accepted to give an opening for Jin GuangShan’s plan... after being ordered as much by JGY.

- JGY... who had been very quick to “suggest” WWX was behind the disappearances after finding out the dizi Madam Yu and LWJ were hiding had disappeared.

- LWJ duels with Su She, but eventually has to take a step back after the other uses a transportation talisman and disappears himself. if they let him go he will tell everyone that WWX is back, that LWJ is with him and they they both took JC and the juniors as hostages. a siege will be called upon them and they need to flee ASAP.

*

- WWX takes them to Wen Ning’s and A-Yuan is really confused. if it’s true that WWX helped the Wen Remains, then it’s probably right to assume that WWX and Wen Ning were friends... but why did that never occur to him? why neither Wen Qing nor her brother told him anything??

- Wen Ning cries of happiness upon seeing WWX and they embrace for a long time. Wen Qing is there and has put barriers around their apartment in Yiling to protect them from being found. there are spirits (invisible to the commoners) lurking around and flying in the sky, prodding at every window and door. A-Yuan looks out for danger close to the widows, trying to find a solution... and also as a way to stay away from his family for a bit as he tries to figure the truth out all on his own.

- however, he cannot help himself from listening in on what is being told, not with Lan JingYi asking a million questions per minute to an exhausted Yiling Patriarch. Jin Ling and JC are still unconscious on the sofa and A-Yuan holds his friend’s hand by the window for comfort -more for himself than for the other boy- when he learns that Wen Ning defended WWX by accidentally killing Jin Ling’s father JZX 13 years back. and then how, in one last attempt to save her own step-brother, even Jiang YanLi had died in the explosion that should have destroyed Burial Mounds completely.

- WWX had seen her only at the very last minute, dragging her body over to the mostly ruined cave before he could lose his senses to prevent her to turn into a vengeful corpse. to preserve her body until other Sects could arrive. he had truly no idea his sister wanted to talk to him and he accepted to go to prison for it.

- (JC had been the one to find his sister’s corpse and WWX’s unconscious body in the cave 13 years ago. he cried and took both of them back. after his sister and brother-in-law’s funeral, soon after WWX’s incarceration, JC revealed his mother he had found the dizi. she decided to hide it in the school, where nobody could have found it, all to prevent the rise of another demonic cultivator. WWX’s sword was believed to have been destroyed in the explosion... only JC can feel its existence through his lend-me-down golden core. but he doesn’t reveal this to anyone.)

- WWX reveals he should have been brought to the “magical prison” (maybe on Phoenix Mountain?) but he was instead trapped within the dungeons of Koi Tower, the ancient residence belonging to Jin Ling’s family. Jin Ling had spent most of his life there... unaware that his uncle WWX was there.

- WWX also tells them that someone helped him run away, a man younger than him that used to keep him company in the shadows, listening to his stories. someone who brought Suibian back to him... even if he would not be able to wield it without a golden core (he tried in school under LQR’s tutelage a la “Legilimens lessons” you feel me?).

- WWX has met with this person for a long time, even if he cannot be sure how many years exactly. maybe five or less. still, he would like to find this person and repay him in kindness, even if he doesn’t know what his name is. when asked to describe him, WWX tells them his eyes had been shut close all along with talismans and that he would be able to recognize the man only by voice alone.

- Jin Ling is awake by the time the story ends and squeezes A-Yuan’s hand back. they both discovered horrible things about their families and they can barely share a glance between them before they start silently crying. LWJ notices and steps in to try to comfort them... but Jin Ling asks him why he helped WWX instead. demanding to know if he helped him 13 years ago in destroying his family as well.

*

- LWJ only looks back at WWX and smiles as he shakes his head. then the two of them reveal they had lived together for a while in secret before the fallout. they even got married without anyone but Wen Ning and Wen Qing knowing, just right after the war (Sunshot Campaign)... before WWX’s control over the resentful energy grew unstable and he had to flee to prevent LWJ to be caught in the aftermath of his actions.

- WWX pretended he didn’t love LWJ anymore and asked to be left alone. heartbroken but still mindful of the other’s boundaries, LWJ thought he didn’t have any right to control WWX and let him go. in the following year or two, WWX found a home with the Wen Remains and defended them until the end.

- LWJ had tried to defend them from the hatred festering the cultivation world from within... but treaded maybe too carefully in the attempt not to disrespect his father and the elders of his family.

- when the Burial Mounds exploded, LWJ disappeared to help the Wens find new homes instead of lending his hand in containing the magical power from spilling over into the non-cultivation world. this was seen as an insult from his family’s standpoint and he was forced into seclusion for years. so while WWX was trapped in a jail covered in suppression talismans, LWJ had been forced into a prison of his own, in a freezing cave where he had to focus all of his attention on developing his cultivation in order to survive such temperatures.

- this led both of them to develop a trauma they don’t know if they will ever be able to overcome, unless they learn to live with its consequences one step at a time. during seclusion, LWJ figured that WWX had lied to him, but that he had been too in love and to young to see the truth at the time. so after he left seclusion he looked once more for A-Yuan, who WWX had loved like a son, and was willing to adopt him... but the child already had a family and it would have been cruel to separate him from them.

- that was why he offered to pay for his studies and never wanted to be found out... but A-Yuan was too smart not to find out and so LWJ allowed himself to hope for a future when he could tell the boy the truth. he wouldn’t dare to hope for WWX to ever leave prison, but he could still dream to see him again.

- at the end of the touching story, JC punches LWJ square on the jaw. he was still weak and couldn’t handle the dizziness, but he had listened to everything and now is furious with LWJ. he demands to know why he didn’t tell anyone WWX and him were married; why he thought possible that such a lovelorn idiot like JC’s brother could ever not be in love with LWJ after obsessing over him for the entirety of their academic career. JC and the entire Yunmeng would have helped them! JC would have even convinced Madam Yu to wield Zidian to protect them and the Wens if necessary! why did they have to do everything by themselves?!

- WWX finally sits close to his brother and lets him punch his chest and arms as much as he wants, until the younger man collapses back on the sofa, exhausted. A-Yuan observes all of this and yet he cannot understand: he doesn’t remember WWX at all, nor to have ever lived in Burial Mounds. he will not trust WWX until he finds out the truth by himself.

- Wen Qing, ever so practical, reminds them they have the entire cultivation world breathing on their necks and that no amount of family drama will save them from execution if they keep hiding doing nothing. that’s when LWJ receives a spiritual butterfly (this is the Patronus thingie! I guess??) from his brother LXC: the butterflies goes under the radar and slips inside the barriers set by Wen Qing easily; it says that “Nie MingJue is innocent and that JGY is helping them”.

- none of them could see how that’s possible, since it was JGY the one ordering Su She to kidnap all of those people just to give Jin GuangShan an opportunity to mess with the Nie Sect. yet, LWJ trusts his brother and decides to send another spiritual butterfly in response, asking where they should meet with LXC.

*  

- while they wait, they eat and try to get along. the Wen siblings distract the kids while WWX and LWJ talk by themselves for a while. they need some alone time and they move to the guest bedroom to figure things out (i doubt they would go for the papapa after all that distance, longing, exhaustion and touch-starvation... especially because last time they saw each other WWX told LWJ he didn’t love him anymore. but... you know.... they did miss each other a lot, and WWX desperately needs a shower, so.......................... yeah.)

- Wen Qing coax the juniors close with food and tells them all sorts of stories about the infamous Yiling Patriarch and how he didn’t even know how to properly cook for the Wen Remains. she tells them how interested he was in the non-cultivation world (Arthur vibes anyone??) and how he was the one teaching the Wens how to use all sorts of common objects, like cars and toasters, washing machines and ovens. Wen Ning sadly suggests that maybe WWX had already imagined how they would need such knowledge for when they were going to leave the cultivation world for good. everyone becomes somber afterwards.

- Jin Ling is still wary of Wen Ning, but he accepts his food and doesn’t try anything funny. Lan JingYi asks Wen Qing to teach him how to make a television work and he eventually blasts the volume up until he wakes JC and receives a knock on the head for the trouble. OuYang ZiZhen starts flipping through the romance novels Wen Ning collects and gets hooked on at least three of them at the same time bc none of them are related to the cultivation world. A-Yuan spends time with Wen Ning and they promise to talk about everything that happened as soon as this nightmare will be over.

*

- the following morning: the kids are sprawled on the floor, JC somewhat surrounded by them and cushioning their heads with his limbs; Lan JingYi slips and calls him “dad” for some reason; Jin Ling boinks his head with a fist and tells him he already has A-Yuan as a cousin and he doesn’t need another one; A-Yuan sobs a little when a sleepy JC tells the kids he has enough love for everyone; OuYang ZiZhen declares he wants to be a cousin too; Wen Qing slips the equivalent of Veritaserum down JC’s open mouth as he snores and they ask him all sorts of questions just to mess with him.

- all is well and the wangxian lovebirds come out of their room: all combed out and clean, WWX looks almost a respectable member of society, but dressed in non-cultivation clothes he still looks too skin for comfort. Suibian held close, LWJ’s hand in his, WWX properly introduces himself and asks for forgiveness.

- still under the effects of the potion, JC reveals that he’s just glad he’s still alive and as annoying as ever. WWX cries of happiness and LWJ has never looked more serene and moved since A-Yuan got to know him properly.

- right then, a spiritual butterfly (a shouting one! like the Howlers this time around!) passes through the window of the apartment and only says: “they’re coming. hold onto Suibian, all of you”. the group has barely enough time to huddle around the sword when the windows of the flat explode and spirits swarms their way inside!

- the sword activates (like a Portkey!) and they get sucked in through a passage until they reach a dungeon in Qinghe Nie. WWX realizes the engravings in the metal had been slightly changed to accommodate a transportation spell that would be invisible to the eye. LWJ takes his sword and point it at their host... but he only finds his fellow teacher MXY. for a moment he had thought the butterfly had come from JGY, because that had been the man’s voice screaming at them to take Suibian... but he couldn’t be sure. spiritual butterflies only speak to the one they are directed to, so nobody heard when the message had been opened aside from him.

- but... what did MXY have to do with all of this? the younger teacher doesn’t speak, simply gesturing them to follow along. then they reach the throne chamber through a secret corridor and there they find... NHS. who finally explains to them what is happening.

* (flashback)

- NMJ and JGY had planned to stop Jin GuangShan’s plan to take over the non-cultivation world. initially they thought they could postpone the inevitable by letting NMJ voting against the Jin Sect Leader in the election for Chief Cultivator... but then the pig ordered JGY to find dirt on NMJ and to orchestrate something to trigger a new war between Sects.

- JGY asks Su She (who he knows he’s a spy under Jin GuangShan’s wing) to start taking people away from the school and help him “frame” the Nie cultivators. JGY has full permission from NMJ to do so and LXC is informed as well. LXC pretends to be “kidnapped” and protects the teachers, students, and members of the staff that had been taken away in the meantime.

- JGY needs to take one specific person out of the school (out of sight from his father’s spies): his brother MXY, who had learned how to use transportation talismans long ago. MXY gives JGY some low-level talismans for Su She and his cronies from MoLing, just to make his older brother appear more trustworthy to the spie. but he’s otherwise preoccupied with perfecting a spell to lead an activated Suibian (aka, the Portkey) all the way in Qinghe.

- JGY needs MXY to finish the “receiving end” of the spell and the array that would have welcomed the Yiling Patriarch back. and to achieve that JGY has to sneak MXY out without people from the Jin Sect suspecting him.

- Qin Su conveniently “suggests” to Su She to take MXY away for good measure: she got news from her brothers of their plan to dethrone their father and she’s on board. so her suggestion was taken seriously by Su She and he himself sneaks MXY out of the school despite the (uuuuuuuuh) lockdown (??? too soon? too soon)

- Jin GuangShan now has what he wanted: an opportunity to seek NMJ out... but Nie ZongHui panics and steals WWX’s dizi, planting it in Wen Qing’s belongings. JGY knows his father will still try to ignore the WWX situation in order to pick on NMJ no matter what... but if the cultivation world hears about how the Jin Sect didn’t care if the Yiling Patriarch was behind the disappearances... JGY knows a siege will come for his father all right, but it will come for him and his siblings too.

- so JGY suggests WWX is the one behind the kidnappings, reminding his father -this way- how the entire Sect will be under scrutiny if he refuses to acknowledge the disappearance of the dizi. JGY doesn’t want for the name of Jin to be followed by hatred and disgust just like it happened with the Wens.

- his father luckily catches up on the tension in the room and for the time being accepts to look for WWX like the others instead of trying to come for NMJ’s head (ahahah)

- while MXY works on the array to activate Suibian from afar, LXC is confident LWJ will find WWX all on his own and convince him to help them. but in case LWJ will fail in convincing him... well, activating Suibian they will still be able to summon WWX whether he likes it or not. but LXC doesn’t have time to send the butterfly that LWJ has already left the school (after receiving Wen Qing’s message). so the little butterfly looks for LWJ for the entire night before he finds him... and a bunch of children (including JC).

- which is unexpected, but LXC trusts his brother. he informs JGY and the two of them entrust to MXY the task to send another butterfly to LWJ, activate Suibian, and welcome the group in Qinghe. all while LXC, JGY and NMJ meet in Gusu to plan a siege against Jin GuangShan.

* (end of flashback)

- NHS finally reveals how he had been the one suggesting MXY to give Suibian back to WWX after transforming it into a (raw and unpolished) transportation talisman before freeing him from Koi Tower (roughly at the beginning of the school year). MXY would have needed more time to finish the work on Suibian, but rumors had it WWX was soon to be executed bc now useless to Jin GuangShan after 13 years.

- tense under the scrutiny, MXY remains silent as WWX slowly falls at his feet and thanks him for keeping him company all of those years. MXY still refuses to speak when WWX marvels at the wonderful job he had done with Suibian as he kneels in front of him and tries to take one of the younger man’s gloved hands in his.

- “Finally, Yiling Patriarch,” utters MXY as he graciously accepts WWX’s offer and takes his hand. but WWX tenses, trying to take his hand back, still kneeling in front of MXY, who is smiling down at him.

- “You’re not him,” is all WWX is able to say before Xue Yang reveals his real identity (the changing-faces thingie is apparently called “face-changing technique” and works here in place of the Polyjuice potion). XY activates Suibian (still in WWX’s hand) once more and disappears with WWX.

*

- now that he has the whole story (and the Yiling Patriarch all for himself to play with!), XY can go back to Jin GuangShan and be given his two fierce corpses back (SL & XXC), who had been held captive for experiments in Koi Tower.

- XY took MXY’s place upon discovering JGY’s younger brother had secretly let the Yiling Patriarch run away with an unfinished transportation talisman. Jin GuangShan’s ordering him to keep the traitor MXY under control and to find WWX. retracing the spell-work backwards only from MXY’s notes would have taken ages so XY hid MXY behind a mirror in a secret chamber, torturing him to force him to tell him how to find WWX. but MXY refused over and over again.

- XY transformed his features into MXY’s ones, but his missing pinky would have jeopardized his mission, so he wore stuffed gloves on both hands, shrugging it off as a stylistic choice. his acting so spot on, not even Qin Su or JGY noticed anything missing, not even NHS, MXY’s best friend, or Jin Ling.

- but JGY never told him the whole story. and now that he knew the truth about Jin GuangShan’s intention to conquer the non-cultivation world... now XY has leverage to get what he wants and flee with his (partners?? lovers?? guinea pigs??) fierce corpses.

- working on a double array to activate Suibian (whatever that means) took almost an entire school year, but in the end he got to drag WWX all the way back to Koi Tower... where the siege will soon take place.

*

- WWX gets nails in his skull (which I assume could work in place of an Imperius Curse, even if he’s not a fierce corpse) in order to defend Koi Tower from the siege by organizing the corpses against 3Zun’s army of cultivators.

- LWJ looks for his brother as the others and NHS look for more help. they still don’t know WWX is in Koi Tower or for who XY I start working, but NHS knows Jin GuangShan will not wait for the siege to take him down so he suggest they move to LanLing.

- the juniors are exhausted and yet they fly to Koi Tower in the attempt to warn LXC of what had just occurred, when they hear the dizi Chenqing summoning the dead. the battle begins, but doesn’t culminate until 3Zun show up and destroy most of WWX’s corpses.

- WWX himself is fighting against the nails in his skull and his demonic cultivation is deeply unstable, so much his corpses crumble down easily enough. still, there are so many: Koi Tower must have harvested them against the laws of the cultivation-world (XY being one of the mad scientists/magicians behind the project under Jin a GuangShan’s guidance... all in order to terrorize the commoners and eventually rule over the non-cultivation world)

- eventually, LWJ is able to face WWX and take him down, forcing him to come to his senses after taking the nails out. Jin GuangShan is captured and will face trial. Madam Jin takes over the Sect and makes JGY her General.

*

- during the battle, A-Yuan gets hit in the head and the other juniors try to use a spare transportation talisman (disapparate) to get him back to Wen Qing... but they don’t know where she is fighting and so they go back to Cloud Recesses.

- A-Yuan gets (Splinched) injuried even more and the pain reminds him of his past, of WWX and the rest of his family in the lush mountain of Burial Mounds.

- the school is empty, but Jin Ling finds a way back to his uncle JGY’s office where he knows there are medicinal herbs and talismans they can use. inside, they only find XY who’s looking for something by the desk in a hurry. XY tries to kill them (with an hex??) with a curse... but Madam Yu saves them by capturing him first with Zidian.

- Jin Ling embraces his grandma and explains what happened and where JC and WWX are, but he also insists on the need to save A-Yuan. once that is settled, Jin Ling forces XY to tell him where his younger uncle is -fearing he may be dead- by pointing his father’s sword at him.

- after getting what he wants, Jin Ling runs to MXY’s office and finds the bronze mirror... but he cannot step inside of it. he wishes and wishes and wishes, but nothing happens! he slides on the floor and cries his heart out.

*

- WWX and LWJ arrive with JC and Wen Qing at the school. Madam Yu is cold towards WWX and accuses him of destroying their family and of disrespecting the debt he owed them. WWX listens carefully and then embraces her anyway. it doesn’t last long, but he doesn’t care.

- LWJ steps inside JGY’s office and asks XY to tell him where MXY is. the other offers to tell him only if LWJ helps him find something in JGY’s room: a key to the (magical, I guess) cell where SL and XXC have been trapped.

- LWJ tells him they already freed them and that they are waiting for him downstairs. restless and eager to meet them, XY tells him nobody aside from someone with MXY’s face can open the mirror door in MXY’s office.

- tired of all that nonsense, LWJ drags XY over to the office, Zidian still cracking and squeezing him in place like a snake, and forces him to perform his imitation magic once more.

- WWX runs behind them and they find Jin Ling sobbing on the floor. WWX smashes XY’s now transformed face into the mirror and they barge inside. MXY is there, some fingers missing, a lost ear, too skinny for comfort, traumatized beyond recognition. but he immediately recognizes WWX and weakly allows the older man to embrace him and hold him tight.

- A-Yuan sees all of this, after Wen Qing got to work her magic on him and starts to cry. he too once had been too skinny and weak, he too had been saved by WWX and then once more by LWJ.

- he remembers everything now. LWJ hugs him tight as they made their way to WWX and MXY. A-Yuan holds WWX tight as MXY marvels at him.

- “Is this... is this A-Yuan? Wen Yuan?” MXY asks, smiling even in his weakened state, “Your dad told me so much about you... so it was you all along, Lan SiZhui?”

- and even if MXY had never been anything but one of his many weird teachers, now that A-Yuan finally sees him after one entire year, knowing he kept WWX company in Koi Tower for so many years... A-Yuan cannot do anything but feel a great deal of affection for him too. so he hugs MXY as well and he laughs as WWX and LWJ hold him tight.

*

[what a ride. what a fucking ride. I want 150k words for this but I cannot do it. any volunteers? anyway you can interpret the WWX/MXY thingie as strictly platonic, but you are talking to a wangxianyu shipper so........yeah. no but really, I just wanted these poor characters to be happy. also, even if this is a “HP: POA” inspired au, I’ve always loved the mindfuck that was discovering the truth about Mad-Eye Moody in “HP: GOF” so..... sue me.]

[XY will face a trial don’t you worry]

[ignore all the plot holes, Su She would be proud of me for them]

[bigbadredpanda]

Chapter 116: Family Feast 3

Final translation of the Family Feast extra, don’t forget the first two parts! You will also see how this ties in with the Yunmeng date extra that I translated before.

Enjoy! ٩(◦`꒳´◦)۶

This chapter contains some mild spoilers for the main story.

Family Feast 1 / Family Feast 2 / Family Feast 3

The more deadpan Lan Wangji was, the less Wei Wuxian was able to hold back his inner desire to cause mischief.

Fingers lightly tracing the small cup made in black pottery, he let out a minute sound audible only for the two of them. Hearing it, Lan Wangji's line of sight imperceptibly deviated a few inches in his direction.

Wei Wuxian knew that the change in Lan Wangji's line of sight meant that the latter could certainly follow his every move from the corner of his eyes while remaining proper in appearance. Thus, he lifted the small cup and shifted his posture as if he meant to drink. He turned the cup in his hand until he faced the same place where Lan Wangji had just drunk. Then, his lips covered the rim of the small cup.

Lan Wangji's hands were properly placed in his lap but as expected, his fingers curled slightly beneath the white sleeves in reaction while his posture was still unchanged.

Wei Wuxian felt smug at seeing this and momentarily relaxed. Returning to his former posture, he was on the verge of involuntarily slackening his bearing when a stern cough suddenly came through from Lan Qiren's direction. Wei Wuxian hurriedly straightened up and resumed a properly still and upright sitting position.

The soup finished, a moment of calm followed before the meals were formally served. On each table [1], there were three sorts of small side dishes and each tiny dish was either green or white. It was identical to the food Wei Wuxian ate during the time he studied there. In so many years, nothing has changed except the increased bitterness. One's taste was determined partly by one's region of origin, partly by one's innate nature. In Wei Wuxian's case, his tastes were decidedly marked, he enjoyed eating spicy and the lack of meat displeased him. Faced with these bland dishes, he lost all appetite. After two or three of these going down his stomach without him paying attention, he was completely unable to say what he has eaten. Meanwhile, Lan Qiren's gaze would occasionally flick in his direction, staring at him fiercely in the same way he did in the past during lectures, ready at any moment to yell his name and shout at him to get lost. But contrary to his expectations, Wei Wuxian quite uncharacteristically behaved himself. Left powerless, he had no other choice but to give up.

After finishing the insipid meal, the house servants removed the plates and tables. Lan Xichen began a customary summary of the recent family affairs. But after only a few sentences, Wei Wuxian noticed that preoccupation seemed to weigh on Lan Xichen's heart to the extent that he recalled wrong the places of two night hunts. He did not realise it even after finishing speaking despite the sidelong glances cast by Lan Qiren whose goatee quivered several times. After listening for a while, Lan Qiren couldn't refrain from finally opening his mouth to interrupt. Thus, the terrifying but ultimately harmless family feast was hastily brought to an end.

A gloomy beginning, a gloomy process, a gloomy end. Being forced to partake in the gloomy atmosphere for nearly two hours with neither delicacy to eat nor song for entertainment, Wei Wuxian felt as oppressed and restless as if he were covered with fleas. After the conclusion, Lan Qiren stubbornly called in a severe tone Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji, looking as if he wanted to admonish and lecture them. Without anyone to reproach him for acting wildly, Wei Wuxian wandered around. He saw several young disciples walking together in small groups of two or three. He was on the verge of greeting them and grabbing them to have fun when Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi and the others saw him, their faces changing abruptly. They turned round and left.

Wei Wuxian understood clearly and made his way to the deserted depths of the forest. He waited for a while before the same young disciples from before sneakily appeared. Lan Jingyi said, "Senior Wei, we didn't want to ignore you on purpose but Sir said that anyone speaking with you would copy the family rules of the Lan Sect again…"

'Sir' was the title used universally by the juniors and the disciples of the Gusu Lan Sect for Lan Qiren. The word 'Sir' could only refer to him alone. Pleased with himself, Wei Wuxian said, "It's fine, I already knew that. Your family's Sir has long been protecting you against fire, thieves and Wei Ying. Did you see that? He probably thinks of his own family members as carefully-nurtured cabbages in danger of being dug out by a pig [2]. It's unavoidable that he gets so angry, hahahaha…"

Lan Jingyi, "…"

Lan Sizhui, "… Hahaha."

After finishing laughing, Wei Wuxian said, "Oh, that's right, you were copying as punishment earlier. I heard it was because you went on a night hunt with Wen Ning." Addressing Lan Sizhui, he asked, "How is he these days?"

Lan Sizhui replied, "At the moment, he is probably hiding in some nook at the bottom of the mountain. He is waiting for us to find him the next time we go night hunting." After thinking a bit, he added in a worried tone, "Anyway, Sect Leader Jiang seemed extremely furious when we parted, I hope it didn't make things difficult for him."

Wei Wuxian, "What? Jiang Cheng? How come you ran into him during a night hunt?"

Lan Sizhui, "We decided last time to meet up with young master Jin for a night hunt together, so…"

Wei Wuxian understood straightaway.

He could guess that Wen Ning was unlikely to stay idle when Lan Sizhui went on a night hunt with the others. He must have followed them in secret to protect them with the intent to come to their help in case of an emergency during the night hunt. At the same time, Jiang Cheng definitely followed Jin Ling surreptitiously himself lest something might betide him. Thereupon, the two ran into each other during a moment of crisis. Wei Wuxian naturally wanted to inquire what happened next and was torn between amusement and dismay at the situation.

After a pause, he asked instead, "How are Sect Leader Jiang and Jin Ling?"

After Jin Guangyao's death, the only one close in lineage for the succession of the Lanling Jin Sect was Jin Ling. However, there were numerous old people belonging to branch families who eyed covetously from the sidelines and who were beginning to stir upon seeing an opportunity arise. The Lanling Jin Sect was met outside with the ridicule and scorn of a multitude of sects and every person within the Sect itself harboured sinister designs in their minds. Jin Ling was only a teenager, how could he keep the situation under control? In the end, it was Jiang Cheng who intervened by climbing up Golden Koi Tower raising Zidian. He settled things down by taking the position of head of the household for the time being. It was difficult to predict how the situation might evolve in the future.

Lan Jingyi pouted, "They seemed pretty well. Sect Leader Jiang is the same old, he loves taking out his whip at any change he gets. The young mistress' temper improved a lot. His uncle used to scold him for every three sentences he spouted, now it's ten sentences."

Lan Sizhui admonished him, "Jingyi, how can you speak of people like this behind their backs?"

Lan Jingyi defended himself, "I would obviously speak like this to their face."

Hearing Lan Jingyi's manner of speaking, Wei Wuxian let out a small sigh.

He knew inwardly that these were not the questions he truly wanted to ask but since it sounded like Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling were doing all right, there was nothing else to say.

He stood up and patted the hem of his clothes, "That's fine. It's pretty good this way, they can stay like this. You guys go on playing, I have something to do first."

Lan Jingyi blustered, "You have been idle the whole time you've been in the Cloud Recesses and now you have something to do!"

Without turning back, Wei Wuxian retorted, "I'm going to have a nibble of cabbage!"

Unused to waking up this early in the morning, he returned to the Jingshi and covered his head to sleep for a while. Day turned into night and it was already dusk by the time he woke up. He had missed dinner and there was nothing for him to eat. Wei Wuxian didn't feel hungry, while waiting he resumed rummaging around to find Lan Wangji's old copybooks and papers in order to take a look at them. He kept waiting until nightfall came and yet his cabbage still did not return.

At this moment, Wei Wuxian noticed the hollow feeling in his stomach. Estimating the time of the day, he realised that it was already past the curfew of the Cloud Recesses. According to the family rules, people without fixed duties couldn't go out during night time and even less venture beyond the walls. Wei Wuxian wished he could trade places with his younger self who didn't have to care about 'do not do this and that', 'this and that is forbidden' and whose only concerns were eating when he was hungry, sleeping when he was tired, running away when he got into trouble. But now the circumstances were different. If he did not abide by the rules, it would reflect badly on Lan Wangji who was the one accountable. No matter how hungry or tired he was, he had to endure it and could only let out a deep sigh.

A faint sound outside the Jingshi came through at this precise moment and the door was softly pushed open.

Lan Wangji had come back.

Wei Wuxian lay on the floor, pretending to be dead.

He could only hear the sounds of Lan Wangji's light footsteps as the latter went to the writing desk to place several objects on it, all without saying a word. Wei Wuxian wanted at first to keep playing dead but as Lan Wangji seemed to open the lids of the things he placed, a compellingly strong fragrance instantly overwhelmed the crisp scent of sandalwood that formerly pervaded the Jingshi.

Wei Wuxian rolled on the floor and got up, exclaiming, "Er-Gege! I'm forever grateful to you!"

Lan Wangji's expression was unchanged as he took out the dishes from their cases on the writing desk. Wei Wuxian fluttered to his side and saw five or six snow-white plates all containing fiery red bits and slices. At the sight, his heart was filled with joy and a red light was kindled in his eyes, he said, "Hanguang-Jun, you're way too polite, that's so thoughtful of you to bring dishes especially for me. Just call me if you need anything in the future."

Lan Wangji took out last a pair of chopsticks made of white ivory and lay them across the bowl. He intoned, "Eat without speaking."

Wei Wuxian, "You also say rest without speaking. Why don't you stop me when I speak so much and scream so loudly every night?"

Lan Wangji glanced at him. Wei Wuxian, "Fine, fine, I won't speak anymore. We're both the way we are, you are the easily flustered type who can't bear to lose face, that's how I like you. Did you bring them from the Hunan restaurant in Caiyi Town?"

Lan Wangji did not give an answer and Wei Wuxian understood it as tacit agreement. Taking a seat by the writing desk, he said, "I wasn't sure if that Hunan restaurant had closed or not. We used to go there to eat in the past, otherwise we could only have your Sect's food. I was afraid I wouldn't survive these few months. Hey, look at this, this is called a family feast."

Lan Wangji, " 'We?' "

Wei Wuxian, "Me and Jiang Cheng. Sometimes, there was Nie Huaisang and a few other people."

Casting a sidelong glance at Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian said with a smile, "Why are you looking at me like this? Hanguang-Jun, don't forget, I did invite you to eat with me at a restaurant in the past. I used so much enthusiasm and put so much effort. It was you yourself who refused. You would glare at me whenever I spoke to you and every one of your sentences would start with the word 'No'. I hit so many snags because of you. I haven't got even with you and yet you're actually displeased. Speaking of which…"

Rubbing against Lan Wangji's side, he said, "I was worried about breaking the rules at first so I had to resist the urge of sneaking off. I waited for you inside the room nicely and obediently. Who would have thought it would actually be you, Hanguang-Jun, who broke the rules by going out to find me something to eat. Your uncle will have a heart attack if he knows about this."

Lan Wangji bowed his head and embraced him, wrapping his waist. He stayed still without moving, looking peaceful. However, Wei Wuxian could feel distinctly the gentle strokes made intentionally or not by the fingers at his waist. The warm fingers left a burning hot trail that seeped through his clothes and into his skin. Wei Wuxian returned the embrace and whispered, "Hanguang-Jun… I drank your family's medicinal soup and now there's this bitter taste filling my mouth. I can't eat anything, what's to be done?"

Lan Wangji, "One sip."

Wei Wuxian, "Right. I only drank one sip. I don't know who made your family's soup but the aftertaste is really strong, the bitterness spread from the tip of my tongue to the back of it and into my throat. Tell me quick, what's to be done?"

After a moment of silence, Lan Wangji replied, "Neutralisation."

Wei Wuxian humbly asked for his advice, "How to neutralise it?"

Lan Wangji lifted his face.

There was a wisp of medicinal fragrance suffusing the space between their lips. The faint bitterness made the kiss linger even longer. 

After separating with great difficulty, Wei Wuxian said softly, "Hanguang-Jun, I just remembered. You drank two cups of that medicinal soup, you should taste even bitterer than me."

Lan Wangji, "Mmh."

Wei Wuxian, "But what I taste is pretty sweet, that's really strange."

"…" Lan Wangji, "Eat first."

After a pause, he added, "After eating, we can do things."

Wei Wuxian, "I want to eat cabbage first."

Lan Wangji slightly knitted his eyebrows, appearing somewhat puzzled. Why the sudden mention of cabbage? Wei Wuxian laughed happily and wrapped his arms around his neck.

It was more appropriate to close the door of the so-called family feast than to open it.

Translator's notes

[1] What I translate as table looks more like a tray for one person sitting on the floor. I picture the scene as similar to this image.

[2] 'Cabbages dug out by a pig' (好白菜都让猪拱了) is an idiom referring to good things being wasted. Chinese cabbage (also called napa cabbage or bok choy) is a staple in Chinese cuisine and also a symbol of prosperity as it is pronounced similarly to 'one hundred wealth'.