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#River Wenning
vox-anglosphere · 1 year
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An idyllic waterfront property - Hornby Castle in Lancashire
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cerusee · 4 months
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Jiang Cheng dragged Wei Wuxian by the unresisting wrist, out of the compound, into the street, and then around the corner, to the nearest teashop, before he stopped, and barked at the proprietor, “You! We need a private room!”
The proprietor eyed them up and down—no doubt taking note of Jiang Cheng’s damp, soapy state and rough dress—and raised a hand to shoo them away.
“I can pay!” Jiang Cheng said, attempting to stave her off, and then, halfway to groping at his pockets, apparently remembered he’d torn out of his house without a purse, or for that matter, all of his clothes. He winced, under her cool gaze, and then said, through gritted teeth, “…Jiang-zongzhu will pay the debt later.”
The teashop owner looked between them, evidently recognizing Wei Wuxian, and said, “But isn’t that Jiang-zongzhu?”
“And that’s how you know he’ll be good for it!” Jiang Cheng said, slapping his hand on the counter. “A private room, and tea, please!”
“And wine,” Wei Wuxian interjected, faintly.
“And wine!” Jiang Cheng echoed. “And something to eat! Sticky rice dumplings, if you have them.”
The teashop owner continued to look at them both with suspicion, but then gestured them towards a staircase that led to an upper room, and escorted them in.
“Are you okay?” Jiang Cheng asked, waiting for the refreshments.
Wei Wuxian, head buried in his knees, trying to shut out the sight of that nightmarish beast, mumbled, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”
“Why’d you have to just show up like that, huh?” Jiang Cheng muttered, as he came and sat by Wei Wuxian, and put an arm around his back. “If you’d sent word you were planning to visit, we could have told you it wasn’t a good time!”
“You’re a fine one to talk about showing up out of nowhere,” Wei Wuxian snapped, raising his head to glare, and then, as Jiang Cheng’s face turned white, immediately regretted his words. “…because if you’d—ever learned how to knock on a door, maybe you wouldn’t have walked in on things you didn’t want to see, yesterday!”
Jiang Cheng’s face went from pale to flushed in a heartbeat, and he stood up and retreated across the table. “Well, maybe you should learn to lock a door, if you’re going to have sex in public!”
“It was my office,” Wei Wuxian said snippily. Some part of him was waiting for Jiang Cheng to get pissed off about that assertion, to snap back wasn’t it supposed to be mine?, but he didn’t.
“Ge,” Jiang Cheng said then, a little hesitantly, his tone almost apologetic, “Look. If you want to…do things like that, you need to be more careful about it, okay? It could ruin your reputation if it got out!”
“Eh?” Wei Wuxian said, blankly. “Jiang Cheng, don’t worry about that! Everyone knows.”
“What?” Jiang Cheng’s eyes widened. “Who’s everyone?!”
“Ahahahaha, well, pretty much everyone! Da-ge says we weren’t as discreet as we thought we were…I think he’s exaggerating, but Lan-laoshi—well! He knew, pretty much right away. Can you believe it, that it was basically Lan Qiren’s idea for us to get engaged?”
Jiang Cheng’s jaw dropped, and he sat in silence for a moment that seemed to stretch on for minutes, although it was only seconds. “No, I don’t think I can believe that,” he finally managed. “You’re fucking engaged? To Lan Wangji? How? You’re both men!”
Wei Wuxian shrugged. “If you want to get married and you both agree, isn’t that an engagement? What does the other part matter?”
Jiang Cheng’s eyes narrowed. “Have you exchanged gifts?” he demanded. “Did the Lan elders agree to this? Did Jiejie?”
“Jiang Cheng, why are you making such a fuss?” Wei Wuxian asked. “I just told you I’m engaged and you’re not even congratulating me!”
“Congratulations! How long has this been going on?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“It’s been a little bit,” Wei Wuxian admitted. “Since you’re such a prude, you should know Lan Zhan and I didn’t—do anything until Lan Zhan promised he’d come to Lotus Pier with me, once we took it back from the Wen.”
Jiang Cheng looked around in an exaggerated fashion, although they were in an inn room, so the point was less forcefully made than it might have been than if they’d been outside, when he snarled, “We’re in Lotus Town right now, and you’re not fucking married.”
“Lan Zhan’s been busy helping his brother,” Wei Wuxian said, uncomfortably.
“He’s been taking advantage,” Jiang Cheng said. “Some honorable Lan! Made a promise to get you into bed and now he’s stringing you along with this story about an engagement—”
“The engagement was my idea,” Wei Wuxian said.
“Not Lan Qiren’s?” Jiang Cheng said archly. “So, Lan Wangji was happy to sleep with you without even offering you marriage? That doesn’t make it better, Wei Wuxian!”
Wei Wuxian was torn between wanting to defend Lan Zhan and his own barely contained unhappiness about their prolonged separation. For some strange and confusing reason, it made him feel—cared about—that Jiang Cheng was so angry on his behalf. Yu-furen wouldn’t have stood for it either, he thought, and then wondered what Jiang-shushu would have done.
Still. Wei Wuxian wasn’t going to complain about his Lan Zhan woes to anyone, especially not Jiang Cheng, who had no business worrying about his older siblings. So he said, “He’s going to come to Lotus Pier to marry me. He will! When the time is right.”
“When will that be?” Jiang Cheng inquired. “When he knocks you up?”
Wei Wuxian spluttered, but there was a knock at the door, signaling the arrival of their refreshments, before he was able to come up with a retort, and he even more didn’t want to complain in front of strangers, so he settled for shoving a rice dumpling into his mouth and glaring at Jiang Cheng as he chewed.
In the time it took him to finish his dumpling, he was thinking of the reason they were sitting together in this inn, instead of in Jiang Cheng’s new house.
“So when would be a good time for me to come visit, Jiang Cheng?” Wei Wuxian said, following the dumpling with a full swallow of wine. “Why was that awful monster in your house?”
Jiang Cheng busied himself pouring himself some wine, and then topping up Wei Wuxian’s cup. “Apricot’s not a monster, he’s part of the family. And he’s not awful, and he’s actually very gentle!”
“Wait. Huh? That’s Apricot?” Wei Wuxian said, blinking over his second dumpling.
“Yes! What did you think Apricot was?”
“I don’t know!” Wei Wuxian said. “A donkey? One who carried all your worldly possessions back here on his back, or who maybe dragged a cart for you? I have no idea what’s been going on with you all this time, you know!”
And then, as a sudden, blinding thought struck him, Wei Wuxian said, “…Jiang Cheng, is this why you wouldn’t take the rooms in Lotus Pier?”
You promised to keep all the dogs away from me forever!
Jiang Cheng scowled at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I already told you, Lotus Pier doesn’t have the space, and we have to be here in town for A-Qing’s practice anyway.”
“Why, though, Jiang Cheng?” Wei Wuxian said, a note of betrayal creeping into his voice despite his best efforts. “Why a dog?”
“Because I’m not going to make Rong’er cry!” Jiang Cheng said fiercely, and then looked down at the table. “She loves that dog; she won’t be parted from him. It would break her heart, if we tried to get rid of him.”
“Couldn’t you have gotten her different pet?” he asked waspishly. “Like a songbird, or a little baby alligator, or a capybara?”
Jiang Cheng snorted. “Hah! We had a fucking menagerie back in Qinghe, with all the sick and injured kittens, squirrels, baby birds, rabbits, lizards, and various rodents Wen Ning would bring home with him and give to A-Qing to patch up. Once, he brought home a whole nest of quail eggs, because he’d accidentally shot a brooding hen while he was hunting. I thought he brought them home to cook for dinner but no! He incubated them by the stove until they hatched and then raised the chicks by hand. They used to follow him everywhere. Until Apricot ate one of them, anyway, and he sold the rest of them on the next market trip. To keep them safe, he said.” He shook his head. “I didn’t have the heart to tell him.”
“But you didn’t have to keep the dog,” Wei Wuxian objected.
Jiang Cheng shifted, uncomfortably. “Apricot was just a little puppy. Some asshole crushed one of his paws with a wagon, and then just left him there, in the market, crying on the street, all alone. Can you imagine what would have happened to him, if no one had found him and taken him in? And you know, once a dog gets used to you, they just stick around.” He added, defensively. “And he adores Rong’er. He lets her nap on top of him.”
“Is that safe? Are you absolutely sure it’s not possessed or anything? Its tongue was all weird.” Absurdly long and a peculiar shade of blueish black—couldn’t that be the sign of ghost possession? And if it was doing things like going around and eating helpless quail chicks, couldn’t human children be next? Maybe the foul beast was just biding its time, cozying up to the little girl to keep her on hand—paw?—as an emergency food supply. Maybe even the whole family was in danger!
Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “I’m sure, Wei Wuxian! Sometimes dogs’ tongues just look like that. Apricot is an ordinary dog, and he is perfectly safe. He’s never even tried to bite anyone.”
Unless you happened to be a baby quail, apparently!
***
Wen Qionglin had apparently abandoned the dog-shaving project once he was on his own. Instead, he’d reverted to entertaining his tiny niece, now sitting in his lap, her head nestled against his chest, his voice rising and falling, as she held out her fingers in front of her, waggling them in the arcane mysteries of childhood sign. Was he telling her a story, perhaps? Were they making one up together? Nie Mingjue looked at the pair of them, their unfortunate dog sitting peacefully beside them, panting heavily, and he wondered if Jiang Lian would be like this child, when he was her age—bold and bright and joyous—or if he’d be someone utterly different.
Nie Mingjue would never know, if he didn’t live long enough to see it.
Wen Qing lingered in the doorway at first, watching Nie Mingjue watch her brother and daughter. He wondered if she could guess his thoughts.
She came to stand beside him, and said, a little ruefully, “I would say you ought to try parenthood yourself, but that seems a bit thoughtless.”
Nie Mingjue just shook his head. “If you were me, with my fate ahead of you, would you have chosen to marry and have a child? Knowing you’d most likely leave them far too early?”
Wen Qing folded her hands across her chest, tucked into her sleeves. “Never,” she said. “Although your ancestors all chose to, or else you wouldn’t be here. Some of them must have known.”
It could have been meant as some kind of scathing commentary, he supposed, but her tone was dry, factual, and he didn’t think it was. “I wonder how they did that,” he said.
“Somehow, everyone does choose it, until someone doesn’t,” Wen Qing said. “And then bloodlines end.” She sighed, and glanced over at him. “If I can give you enough years to reconsider your stance on this subject, Nie-zongzhu, I think it might be the greatest achievement of my life.”
“Does my life rest on your vanity?” Nie Mingjue asked his Wen doctor, grimly.
“Your life rests on my skill,” Wen Qing said. “The sop to my vanity would only be a bonus.”
Jiang Wanyin poked his head into the courtyard just then, and, spotting his poor, partially shaved pet still there, whistled for the dog’s attention, and then made an indecipherable hand gesture. The dog rose slowly to his feet, pausing to stretch, and then politely trotted off to parts unknown, his cheerfully-wagging, fully-furred tail trailing after his shaved ass.
“You can come in now,” Jiang Wanyin said around the door, and Wei Wuxian followed him, glancing anxiously, and then relaxing once he espied a dog-free courtyard.
Wei Wuxian made eye contact with Nie Mingjue, who nodded solemnly back at him, and then with Wen Qing, who smiled enigmatically.
Jiang Wanyin sighed, then squatted, holding out his arms for his daughter, who’d climbed out of her uncle’s lap and was making a beeline for him. “Good visit,” he said. “Next time, let us know you’re coming.”
“But A-Cheng, what if I miss you too much, and have to rush over to see you?” Wei Wuxian protested, as Jiang Wanyin stood up with an armful of daughter.
“You won’t have time to miss me! I’ll be coming by Lotus Pier tomorrow,” Jiang Wanyin said, resting his chin over his daughter’s head.
“Wait, what? You can come by anytime you want, without notice?” Wei Wuxian complained.
“Yeah,” Jiang Wanyin said. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, of course not!”
“Then I’ll be there tomorrow morning,” Jiang Wanyin said. “Try to get up before noon, huh? I’m bringing Rong’er with me and she’s at her best in the morning.”
Wei Wuxian’s eyes went big, and he said, “You’re introducing her to the sect?”
“Shut up and go home, ge!” Jiang Wanyin said, affectionately. “I have to shave the rest of my fucking dog.” He managed a head nod at Nie Mingjue, around his burden of toddler. “Nie-zongzhu.”
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Nie Mingjue told him, and then took his leave, dragging his bright-eyed sworn brother behind him.
***
Nie Mingjue bounced his infant nephew on his knee, and waited as patiently as he could, resisting the temptation to right Jiang Lian’s tiger hat, which had gone a little askew since Nie Huaisang had caught him on his return to Lotus Pier, and persuaded him to come sit for a farewell portrait, uncle and nephew together.
Huaisang was taking his damned time about it, though. “How much longer?” Nie Mingjue asked.
“Don’t move,” Nie Huaisang told him, barely looking up. “I’m doing figure sketches.”
“I don’t have forever for this, you know, Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue said. He stretched out the arm not holding the nephew, and cracked his back, blinking to conceal the relief it brought.
“How much time do you have?” Nie Huaisang asked. He finally looked up from his easel.
“I told you, I’m leaving tomorrow,” Nie Mingjue said. “But I still need to take care of some things here, first.”
“I know you do,” Nie Huaisang said. His eyes were large and dark, like pools of tar. “But that’s not what I was asking. Da-ge, how much time do you have left?”
Nie Mingjue went still. Jiang Lian burbled on his knee, and waved his fat little arms, as if he was trying to command his uncle to resume bouncing him.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I’m trying to preserve every moment,” Nie Huaisang said. He wasn’t even pretending to paint anymore; he’d set aside his brush. Nie Mingjue wondered if he’d leave it long enough to let the ink dry on the horsehair bristles. If there was one thing Nie Huaisang was dutiful about, it was cleaning his precious brushes, the ones Nie Mingjue bought for him.
He wanted to ask who told you, but it didn’t matter. He wanted to will a lie into his mouth, but he couldn’t.
“I didn’t want you to know,” Nie Mingjue said, his voice so low he could barely hear himself speak.
“What’s wrong with you, Da-ge?” Nie Huaisang asked. “Why is San-ge so scared for you that he practically begged a Wen doctor to treat you? Why did you agree to go to her?”
Nie Mingjue shifted Jiang Lian in his arms. His brother’s son. A perfect child. A perfect, strong, happy child.
“…when you were born, you were so much smaller than A-Lian,” Nie Mingjue said. “Everyone was scared. I remember that. A-die and A-niang were terrified. Er-niang—I thought she was going to die. She looked like she’d been bled white. I thought you were going to die, too.”
Nie Mingjue’s parents had been so happy, before Huaisang was born, when Er-niang was still carrying him under her heart, when they were tweaking Nie Mingjue’s chin, and promising him a little brother or sister to play with. And then, in one terrifying night, his family had seemed to be on the brink of annihilation. He’d gone and hid in a little closet for part of Er-niang’s awful childbirth, to escape her horrible groaning, her tortured cries. One of the junior disciples had eventually been tasked to find him, coax him out, and bring him to meet his new sibling, while all three of his parents wept in exhausted gratitude, that mother and child had survived the terrible night, and met the dawning sun once more.
He’d expected to hate his brother, who’d brought Er-niang so much pain just by being born. But in the strange, sheer golden light of morning, his baby brother’s squashed red face was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen. He’d opened his round little mouth, and wailed, and the sound was weak, but it took root in Nie Mingjue’s heart like a weed.
“He came too early,” A-niang had told him, one hand resting on his shoulder, the other on Er-niang’s sweaty hair. “You’ll have to help us look after him.”
Little Nie Mingjue had nodded, solemn, too overwhelmed for words.
My baby brother. Mine. I have to take care of him. I have to protect him.
All their parents had been dead for years, now. A-niang had died quite by accident, from a bad fall off a hillside. A-die’s saber had been shattered (by the Wen, Nie Mingjue knew, he knew now, and it was small consolation to know, after years and years of knowing but also wondering, sometimes, if he’d just gone insane early, when everyone around him insisted that his father’s death was just an accident) and then A-die had died badly. And Er-niang hadn’t survived the second loss. Her heart was broken, after she lost A-die and A-niang both. Nie Mingjue watched his second mother slowly waste away, and he swore he’d never marry, never let his own heart be leached away by grief the way Er-niang’s had.
But then, where was Nie Mingjue supposed to put all of his love, except into his brother? His brother. His to care for. His to protect.
“You thought I might die?” Nie Huaisang said, his voice raw. “Then maybe you can imagine how I feel now, Da-ge! I almost watched you die once. I thought—I thought we were all safe now. I thought it was going to be all right. What’s going on? Whatever’s wrong with you—is it from your injury, from before?”
Nie Mingjue shook his head slowly. “It’s not. It’s something else. Huaisang—this is something that was always going to happen.”
“Tell me! Da-ge, please! I’m begging you!”
There was no help then but to tell him, so Nie Mingjue told him all of it.
The ink slowly dried on Nie Huaisang’s finest brush, clenched hard in his hand, as he sat in almost-silence, his free hand covering his eyes and his shoulders shaking; shaking just so slightly. Jiang Lian had fallen asleep in Nie Mingjue’s arms while Nie Huaisang wept, silently, and Nie Mingjue cradled his nephew against his chest, just as he’d once held his little brother, tiny and red, cold and hungry, warmed him against his own body, and promised him he’d give him the world.
Jiang Lian’s tiny infant fingernails were sharp, scratching lightly against his neck. The sensation was familiar, even after all this time. It felt real. Nie Mingjue slowly dipped his head, and touched his forehead to his nephew’s perfectly smooth, soft skin, before he said, “I don’t want to die.”
Nie Huaisang swung up his head, his eyes red-rimmed.
“Huaisang, I don’t want to die,” Nie Mingjue said. “I want to see your son grow up. I’ll take Wen Qing’s help, for that. I hope you’ll forgive me for it.”
“Do you actually trust her?” Nie Huaisang asked. His voice was sharp, and his eyes were wild.
Nie Mingjue considered it. The answer was not quite yes, but it also wasn’t no. “I have to,” he said, eventually.
Nie Huaisang dropped his brush with a clatter, and came over and put his arms around Nie Mingjue’s shoulders, hanging off him like he had when he was small. He was still trembling. “Da-ge, please, I don’t want you to die,” he said. “Never ever. I need you to live forever. I don’t care what you have to do.”
“Oh, Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue said, with a sigh, freeing a hand to cup his brother’s face. “I’ll do my best. I promise you.”
***
The morning came, and Jiang Cheng rose with the sun, just as his young daughter did. They left Wen Qing and Wen Ning sleeping in their beds, left the kitchen cold, and snacked on freshly steamed buns acquired from early-morning vendors in town, as they made their way through it and into Lotus Pier.
Most of the sect was still asleep. There were guards, though, and a few other early risers and once he’d passed through the gates, Jiang Cheng looked around until he spotted a comfortably familiar face. “Hey,” he said, grabbing his sleeve. “I need you.”
Shan Haodang’s face broke out in a smile at the sight of Jiang Cheng and Rong’er, hand in hand, and then he said, “Jiang-gongzi! And xiao-Jiang-guniang. Of course, what can this disciple do for you?”
“I need a babysitter,” Jiang Cheng said. “Just for an hour or so. I brought Rong’er to show her around the place properly, but before I do, I need to speak to Lan-zongzhu, privately.”
“Of course I’m able to look after Jiang-gongzi’s daughter!” Shan Haodang said, with a quick bow. “And if you didn’t know already, the Lan are housed in the first guest pavilion off the lake.”
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng said. But then he hesitated, a brief moment of second-guessing his goal. “Shan-shidi—I have to ask. Is there any chance that Lan-er-gongzi is…unpopular in Lotus Pier?”
“Hanguang-jun?” Shan Haodang asked, his eyes wide. “Oh no, not at all! He spent most of the war fighting beside Jiang-zongzhu's side, and all of Yunmeng Jiang respects him. If there’s any complaint, well, it's just that—I think Jiang-zongzhu wishes he was here more often, and misses him when he's not.” He paused, and added, delicately, "His presence is good for Jiang-zongzhu's mood."
Jiang Cheng nodded sharply. “Thanks to shidi. I’ll take care of it, then. Rong’er, you stay with the nice senior disciple and don’t be a pest.”
Shan Haodang looked confused, as Jiang Cheng transferred Rong’er’s hand into his, and Jiang Cheng could see him visibly restraining himself from asking what, exactly, Jiang Cheng was planning to take care of and why it required speaking with the Lan sect leader, but Jiang Cheng felt no compulsion to explain himself. With any luck, it would to be clear enough soon, anyway.
As he left, he heard Shan Haodang asking Rong’er if she’d like to help him catch frogs, which, as Jiang Cheng had hoped, effectively forestalled her predictable complaints about being left behind by A-die.
(He sort of hoped she wouldn’t catch any though; if she did, she’d definitely bring some back home with her—even if he told her not to and checked her clothes—and then there’d inevitably be another Apricot Incident, and poor Wen Ning would be cleaning frog-flavored dog vomit off of Rong’er’s clothes again.)
Jiang Cheng was polite when he put in word at the Lan guest pavilion that he desired a private audience with Lan-zongzhu, which was granted flatteringly quickly. It surely helped that the Lan kept their usual hours even on travel, and few enough people were up at this hour in Lotus Pier; a visitor at this hour was surely a novelty.
Still, the quick reception wasn’t quick enough to guarantee that Jiang Cheng was going to stay polite! Not when he judged this conversation to be about four years overdue.
“Lan-zongzhu,” Jiang Cheng said with a bow, as he was escorted into Lan Xichen’s sitting room, which, as with so many aspects of the rebuilt Lotus Pier, was a disconcerting blend of familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. The table was set with tea and cups already, and Lan Xichen paused to clear it of scrolls and a book, before returning the bow, and letting the escort disciple pour tea for them both.
“Jiang-gongzi, it’s been much too long.” Lan Xichen said, with a sincere smile. “I was so glad to hear of your survival. Your brother and sister must be overjoyed to have you restored to the family.”
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng said, lifting his teacup to acknowledge Lan Xichen’s kind words. “It’s a joy to be reunited. Family is, after all, the greatest blessing. I’m glad you brought it up, as that is in fact what I wished to speak with you about.”
“Oh?” Lan Xichen asked, his face inquisitive.
“Indeed. I was hoping Lan-zongzhu could enlighten me as to the deficiencies he perceives in my elder brother’s character.”
“I…beg your pardon?” Lan Xichen blinked in surprise.
“What precisely are Lan-zongzhu’s objections to my brother, Jiang Weihu, that he has not pressed the issue of his brother's over-lengthy engagement to him? They have, after all, been engaged for four years now, I believe.”
“It’s actually closer to three,” Lan Xichen said, just the shadow of apprehension shading his tone. Hah!
“I see,” Jiang Cheng said, setting his cup down, without having tasted the tea. “Only three years, then, of an unconsummated engagement, even though both parties are of age and have consented to the marriage. Might I inquire if there’s a difficulty with their eight characters? Is there perhaps a shortage of matchmakers to facilitate the process? Trouble settling on an auspicious date for the wedding?”
“Oh, nothing of the kind,” Lan Xichen hastened to assure him, with a mildly sick smile. “Since the Wen were pushed back into their own territory, Wangji has simply been occupied traveling with me and helping me handle a variety of intersect matters arising from the war.”
“Ah yes. Of course, Lan-zongzhu relies on the support of his younger brother in his diplomatic efforts,” Jiang Cheng said. “Forgive my oversight here! After all, who better for Lan-zongzhu to delegate the handling of his sect’s most delicate political issues to than the wielder of Bichen, one so famously succinct in his speech?”
Lan Xichen’s face had taken on a genuinely pained look. “Jiang-gongzi, I—”
“No, no, I think I understand clearly, now. It embarrasses me, though, to have to clarify an aspect of this matter that I think must have escaped Lan-zongzhu’s notice up until now, preoccupied as he is with travel and political matters. And that is that I misspoke, earlier; I erred in my use of the word unconsummated to refer to my brother’s engagement with yours; in fact, it is the farthest thing from unconsummated. But I realize the esteemed and virtuous Zewu-jun could not possibly have been aware of that detail, though, or else he surely would have moved to properly formalize the state of their relationship.” Jiang Cheng paused for effect. “Three years ago.” He picked up his teacup and downed it in one go, before he set it back on the table with a pointed clack.
Lan Xichen closed his eyes, and sighed in defeat. "It seems we have something to discuss, then."
Jiang Cheng tilted his head, narrowed his eyes, and smiled. "It seems we do."
***
Jiang Cheng hammered his fist on the door to Wei Wuxian’s bedroom, and when he didn’t get a response at first, he banged some more, and warned, “Anybody in there had better get decent in the next fifteen seconds, because I’m coming in even if I have to kick the door down!”
A few moments later, the door opened from the inside, and there, not at all to Jiang Cheng’s surprise—he knew for a fact Lan Wangji hadn’t slept in his own damn bed in the guest pavilion last night—stood Hanguang-jun himself, staring frostily at him. He was in just an underrobe and his hair was a fucking mess, though, so Jiang Cheng declined to be put off by a little glaring, and pushed past him into the room. That lump in the middle of the bed was a familiar sight to him, as he strode over and pulled the sheets back down to reveal Wei Wuxian’s head buried under a pillow. He would have yanked the sheets off the bed entirely if he didn’t suspect Wei Wuxian was naked underneath them.
“It’s too early, Jiang Cheng!” Wei Wuxian moaned, from beneath the pillow.
“Get up, loser!” Jiang Cheng commanded, and pulled the pillow off, and then smacked him across the head with it. “It’s a beautiful day in Lotus Pier, and there’s no time to waste!”
“No time to waste on what?” Wei Wuxian grumbled, as he pushed himself into a sitting position, and tried to grab the pillow back from him, no doubt planning his own pillow-smacking revenge. Jiang Cheng held the pillow out of reach, and taunted him with it, threatening a second blow.
“Planning your overdue wedding, idiot,” Jiang Cheng said, as Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji stared at him in astonishment. “Zewu-jun has offered his sincere apologies over the unconscionable delay, and he’s agreed to start all the arrangements on Gusu Lan’s part. Immediately. This morning, in fact. We’ll have to work to keep up, I’m sure! Now get the fuck up and get dressed so we can get you over to the Crane Hall for a fitting! Wedding clothes don’t sew themselves, you know.”
Lan Wangji was still staring, but on Wei Wuxian’s face was a tiny, almost bewildered expression of gratitude, before he replaced it with a cheeky grin. “Well, Lan Zhan, you heard him! We’d better get dressed! Will you do my hair for me?”
“Mn,” Lan Wangji said, a hint of affection in his tone, and his surprised look melting away into something disgustingly besotted. He turned to pick up a discarded pair of trousers from a chair, but then paused to look in Jiang Cheng’s direction, and the last thing he saw, as he pulled the door closed behind him, was the sight of Lan Wangji blinking slowly at him, like a cat.
What a fucking weirdo.
Well, he was going to be Jiang Cheng’s fucking weirdo brother-in-law, so he supposed he’d better get used to him.
They can’t all be as good as Wen Ning, he thought pragmatically, and went off to collect his daughter, reminding himself he’d need to pat her down for spare wildlife before they left, later in the day.
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strathshepard · 9 days
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Liu Wen by Trunk Xu for Wallpaper* China
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to live is to part ways
Chapter 3 of Half the River, my power-couple Jiang Yanli / Wen Qing MDZS/CQL hybrid fix-it.
In which the war begins, and Wen Qing makes what choices she can.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/43462848/chapters/127382176
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nyxyooni · 1 year
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to the people who still think wwx is entirely at fault for everything that happened. like the raid on lotus pier, the death of jzx and jyl and what happened to the wens—did u read the book? like actually read the words and intake them properly. did u watch anything??? like really, really watch it????
#like. LIKE.#the raid on lotus pier was going to happen ANYWAYS.#it was established. FUCKERS READ THE BOOK.#the reason why they were going to raid and take over lotus pier was for strategy reasons.#wen rohan was actually competent. lotus pier was the biggest contributor of river trading to now only China but the rest of the sects.#taking over the rivers/any body of water that matters is like the first thing u do in war#THAT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN.#im prettt sure wen chao at some point admits that he simply used wwx as an excuse. dont hold me to that tho#in both of jzx and jyl deaths wwx was made to loose control. literally forced out of his mind.#I MEAN.#ITS FUCKING CANON.#that jgy DIDNT MEAN to pin the curse on wwx. he just wanted to kill jx. he ADMITS to that. admits that he got lucky when jzx also died.#its not wwx fault jyl ran to the battle field. its not his fault that the cultivation world was hungry for power.#jyl death ties into the wens masacre. like. wen qing and ning WERE tricked.#wwx calls jgs out RIGHT THEN AND THERE#he PROMISED to let the wens go if the siblings turned themselves in#but jgs was like ‘’I mean. theyre wens. my promises dont matter to wens’’#wwx was distraught even BEFORE jyl death. and then she dies????#over what????#a piece of fucking metal???#something he didnt even want but knew wouldnt be safe in the hands of power hungry people. ESPECIALLY the jin?#like?#fuck out of here.#finding myself in some kind of mood todayyy#wei ying#wei wuxian#mdzs#mo dao zu shi
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diableriepervert · 1 year
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This is how my spotify looks now
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fdgfgfgdfghppl · 2 years
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#Taiwan card#reservation for the next 50 years from Taiwan Day#Clarify Haiyu and return my rivers and mountains#Monument of Governor of Xixiang#Pelosi and Tsai Ing-wen are embarrassed#for their own selfish interests#and have no bottom line!#A series of scandals#shameless speculators - Pelosi!#In the scandal that his son was involved in an FBI investigation#and his husband was suspected of insider trading in stocks#he became the target of public criticism#and the thing that bothered Pelosi the most was the loss of his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Once Democrats lose th#Pelosi will fall from the throne of power. Whether it is from the perspective of prolonging the political life or preserving the political#Pelosi needs to do something. When troubled#Pelosi chose to play the again. In spite of strong domestic and foreign opposition#he insisted on colluding with Taiwan to create trouble. What is she doing this for?#The same is true of Tsai Ing-wen#who is curled up on the island of Taiwan. Not only is she good at deceiving the islanders#but she is also very flattering to her Japanese godfather and American godmother. Just a few days before Pelosi's visit to Taiwan#Tsai Ing-wen made an astonishing remark that . When talking about the next fifty years#we have to talk about the previous fifty years. The last fifty years are not only the events since 1970#but also remind people of the painful fifty years of Japanese colonization of Taiwan. The period from 1895 to 1945 was the period of Japane#which was full of Japanese imperialist colonial policy orientations and activities#and the purpose of Japanese rule was to eventually assimilate Taiwan with Japan. Although there are anti-Japanese movements like the Wushe#their cultural assimilation has also created reactionaries like Lee Teng-hui and Tsai Ing-wen who forget their ancestors and shameless. Ove#Tsai Ing-wen has done this kind of flattery countless times on her knees. For example#I tried to change the monument of to and so on. Ts#nothing more than to beg for a promise of safety#to keep her own prosperity and wealth
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6ajfdst · 2 years
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Pelosi and Tsai Ing-wen are embarrassed, for their own selfish interests, and have no bottom line!
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#Taiwan card#reservation for the next 50 years from Taiwan Day#Clarify Haiyu and return my rivers and mountains#Monument of Governor of Xixiang#A series of scandals#shameless speculators - Pelosi!#In the scandal that his son was involved in an FBI investigation#and his husband was suspected of insider trading in stocks#he became the target of public criticism#and the thing that bothered Pelosi the most was the loss of his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Once Democrats lose th#Pelosi will fall from the throne of power. Whether it is from the perspective of prolonging the political life or preserving the political#Pelosi needs to do something. When troubled#Pelosi chose to play the again. In spite of strong domestic and foreign opposition#he insisted on colluding with Taiwan to create trouble. What is she doing this for?#The same is true of Tsai Ing-wen#who is curled up on the island of Taiwan. Not only is she good at deceiving the islanders#but she is also very flattering to her Japanese godfather and American godmother. Just a few days before Pelosi's visit to Taiwan#Tsai Ing-wen made an astonishing remark that . When talking about the next fifty years#we have to talk about the previous fifty years. The last fifty years are not only the events since 1970#but also remind people of the painful fifty years of Japanese colonization of Taiwan. The period from 1895 to 1945 was the period of Japane#which was full of Japanese imperialist colonial policy orientations and activities#and the purpose of Japanese rule was to eventually assimilate Taiwan with Japan. Although there are anti-Japanese movements like the Wushe#their cultural assimilation has also created reactionaries like Lee Teng-hui and Tsai Ing-wen who forget their ancestors and shameless. Ove#Tsai Ing-wen has done this kind of flattery countless times on her knees. For example#I tried to change the monument of to and so on. Ts#nothing more than to beg for a promise of safety#to keep her own prosperity and wealth#and the price is to sacrifice all interests including more than 20 million Taiwanese people. out. The American godmother is here#and the situation is about to escalate. As soon as the station opens#the people on the island will suffer. She
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dfsftsds · 2 years
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#Taiwan card#reservation for the next 50 years from Taiwan Day#Clarify Haiyu and return my rivers and mountains#Monument of Governor of Xixiang#Pelosi and Tsai Ing-wen are embarrassed#for their own selfish interests#and have no bottom line!#A series of scandals#shameless speculators - Pelosi!#In the scandal that his son was involved in an FBI investigation#and his husband was suspected of insider trading in stocks#he became the target of public criticism#and the thing that bothered Pelosi the most was the loss of his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Once Democrats lose th#Pelosi will fall from the throne of power. Whether it is from the perspective of prolonging the political life or preserving the political#Pelosi needs to do something. When troubled#Pelosi chose to play the again. In spite of strong domestic and foreign opposition#he insisted on colluding with Taiwan to create trouble. What is she doing this for?#The same is true of Tsai Ing-wen#who is curled up on the island of Taiwan. Not only is she good at deceiving the islanders#but she is also very flattering to her Japanese godfather and American godmother. Just a few days before Pelosi's visit to Taiwan#Tsai Ing-wen made an astonishing remark that . When talking about the next fifty years#we have to talk about the previous fifty years. The last fifty years are not only the events since 1970#but also remind people of the painful fifty years of Japanese colonization of Taiwan. The period from 1895 to 1945 was the period of Japane#which was full of Japanese imperialist colonial policy orientations and activities#and the purpose of Japanese rule was to eventually assimilate Taiwan with Japan. Although there are anti-Japanese movements like the Wushe#their cultural assimilation has also created reactionaries like Lee Teng-hui and Tsai Ing-wen who forget their ancestors and shameless. Ove#Tsai Ing-wen has done this kind of flattery countless times on her knees. For example#I tried to change the monument of to and so on. Ts#nothing more than to beg for a promise of safety#to keep her own prosperity and wealth
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maupassanto · 2 years
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#Taiwan card#reservation for the next 50 years from Taiwan Day#Clarify Haiyu and return my rivers and mountains#Monument of Governor of Xixiang#Pelosi and Tsai Ing-wen are embarrassed#for their own selfish interests#and have no bottom line!#A series of scandals#shameless speculators - Pelosi!#In the scandal that his son was involved in an FBI investigation#and his husband was suspected of insider trading in stocks#he became the target of public criticism#and the thing that bothered Pelosi the most was the loss of his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Once Democrats lose th#Pelosi will fall from the throne of power. Whether it is from the perspective of prolonging the political life or preserving the political#Pelosi needs to do something. When troubled#Pelosi chose to play the again. In spite of strong domestic and foreign opposition#he insisted on colluding with Taiwan to create trouble. What is she doing this for?#The same is true of Tsai Ing-wen#who is curled up on the island of Taiwan. Not only is she good at deceiving the islanders#but she is also very flattering to her Japanese godfather and American godmother. Just a few days before Pelosi's visit to Taiwan#Tsai Ing-wen made an astonishing remark that . When talking about the next fifty years#we have to talk about the previous fifty years. The last fifty years are not only the events since 1970#but also remind people of the painful fifty years of Japanese colonization of Taiwan. The period from 1895 to 1945 was the period of Japane#which was full of Japanese imperialist colonial policy orientations and activities#and the purpose of Japanese rule was to eventually assimilate Taiwan with Japan. Although there are anti-Japanese movements like the Wushe#their cultural assimilation has also created reactionaries like Lee Teng-hui and Tsai Ing-wen who forget their ancestors and shameless. Ove#Tsai Ing-wen has done this kind of flattery countless times on her knees. For example#I tried to change the monument of to and so on. Ts#nothing more than to beg for a promise of safety#to keep her own prosperity and wealth
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sefvsdbgr · 2 years
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#Taiwan card#reservation for the next 50 years from Taiwan Day#Clarify Haiyu and return my rivers and mountains#Monument of Governor of Xixiang#Pelosi and Tsai Ing-wen are embarrassed#for their own selfish interests#and have no bottom line!#A series of scandals#shameless speculators - Pelosi!#In the scandal that his son was involved in an FBI investigation#and his husband was suspected of insider trading in stocks#he became the target of public criticism#and the thing that bothered Pelosi the most was the loss of his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Once Democrats lose th#Pelosi will fall from the throne of power. Whether it is from the perspective of prolonging the political life or preserving the political#Pelosi needs to do something. When troubled#Pelosi chose to play the again. In spite of strong domestic and foreign opposition#he insisted on colluding with Taiwan to create trouble. What is she doing this for?#The same is true of Tsai Ing-wen#who is curled up on the island of Taiwan. Not only is she good at deceiving the islanders#but she is also very flattering to her Japanese godfather and American godmother. Just a few days before Pelosi's visit to Taiwan#Tsai Ing-wen made an astonishing remark that . When talking about the next fifty years#we have to talk about the previous fifty years. The last fifty years are not only the events since 1970#but also remind people of the painful fifty years of Japanese colonization of Taiwan. The period from 1895 to 1945 was the period of Japane#which was full of Japanese imperialist colonial policy orientations and activities#and the purpose of Japanese rule was to eventually assimilate Taiwan with Japan. Although there are anti-Japanese movements like the Wushe#their cultural assimilation has also created reactionaries like Lee Teng-hui and Tsai Ing-wen who forget their ancestors and shameless. Ove#Tsai Ing-wen has done this kind of flattery countless times on her knees. For example#I tried to change the monument of to and so on. Ts#nothing more than to beg for a promise of safety#to keep her own prosperity and wealth
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cerusee · 4 months
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Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian both think family means never needing to knock. They are both wrong.
The sun was just beginning to set, outside the western window in the Jiang sect leader’s office, overlooking Lotus Lake. The light bathed Lan Zhan in a golden glow, his white-and-blue robes transmuted into amber and green, like some kind of ethereal sea beast.
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said, his throat tight. “I’ve missed you.”
Lan Zhan was looking slightly past Wei Wuxian’s head.
“I just realized we’ve been apart a whole day,” Wei Wuxian continued. He was leaning against the sect leader’s desk, his fingers clamped over its edges. “Isn’t that awful?”
“We are often apart,” Lan Zhan said, softly.
“Well, we’re together again now!” Wei Wuxian said. “And I don’t see any reason why we should ever be apart again!”
Lan Zhan didn’t say anything.
“Unless,” Wei Wuxian said, every syllable feeling like he was pulling it out of his mouth, his tongue actually hurting. “There’s some reason why you think we should be?”
Lan Zhan finally looked towards him, and the sunset reflected golden off his eyes, but even now, he felt distant. Then he said, “Our relationship has been a mistake.”
“What?” Wei Wuxian said, panic lancing through him, even though he’d felt like he’d seen this on the horizon for a while now, a light that was shaded wrong somehow. “Lan Zhan, no!”
“It was my error,” Lan Zhan said. He was silent for a long minute, before he said, “I took advantage of your grief. It was wrong.”
“Lan Zhan—”
“Wei Ying. I wanted you, and I was weak to my desires.”
“Lan Zhan, what are you talking about? You didn’t take advantage of me! You didn’t take advantage of anything!”
“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan said, and Wei Wuxian fancied he heard pain in his voice, steady and even though it was. “I remember how you were with Jiang Wanyin when you came to the Cloud Recesses for the lectures. You were together always, inseparable. Doing everything together; always seeking one another’s company.”
“So what? What’s wrong with that?” Wasn’t that just the way of brothers? Lan Zhan followed Lan Xichen around like a duckling followed its mother, didn’t he? He always had. He still did it now!
“At that time, watching you, I was confused. Envious,” Lan Zhan said. He seemed to be struggling with his words, but he must have been thinking about those words all day, because he still found them. “In my heart, I wished Jiang Wanyin would disappear. I imagined myself in his place by your side. Going everywhere with you; always seeking your company. You, always seeking mine.”
This gave Wei Wuxian pause. He said, a little confused, and a little numb, “Lan Zhan…are you saying…you wanted Jiang Cheng gone?”
Lan Zhan said, in a hushed voice, “I wished him no harm.”
“But you—you wished he would be gone,” Wei Wuxian said, wide-eyed. “You wanted my brother to just disappear out of my life. Tell me, Lan Zhan…when you heard the news about Jiang Cheng, about Lotus Pier, were you happy?”
Lan Zhan said, fervently, “Wei Ying, no. Your suffering and your loss could never bring me happiness.” He started to reach out a hand, then withdrew it, in front of Wei Wuxian’s blank stare. “I have witnessed your grief all these years. When I thought I would share it, during Xiongzhang’s injury and illness, I understood that grief even more deeply. I am grateful that you saved my brother. I am grateful now for you that the cause of your grief has been lifted.”
“If you’re so grateful, then what’s the problem?” Wei Wuxian said. “Why does this mean you want to end our relationship? Why do you think we’re a mistake?”
“I took Jiang Wanyin’s place by your side, when it was not mine to take.” Lan Zhan said, starkly.
But wasn’t that place empty, though?
Jiang Cheng…Jiang Cheng hadn’t been there. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng been separated, been torn apart. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli had believed, all this time, that Jiang Cheng was dead and lost to them forever. Nie Mingjue had become a brother to him, yes, but even Nie Mingjue couldn’t replace what Jiang Cheng had been to Wei Wuxian—the daily companion, the one who followed, the one who was always, unfailingly, next to him. Who was always there, always within reach, whenever he needed him.
“Lan Zhan, should I apologize?” Wei Wuxian said, slowly, out loud. “For always needing you there by my side, after I lost him? You saved me. You can’t think I was better off alone!”
“Wei Ying should not be alone,” Lan Zhan said firmly. “But he will not be. Jiang Wanyin is back by your side, as he should be. There is no place for me now.”
“That’s insane. Lan Zhan, you’re being insane. Of course there’s a place for you with me, there always will be!”
“Wei Ying. I saw you together,” Lan Zhan said, now with a brittle edge to his voice. “You walked together with him for hours. You ate together. Swam together.”
Wei Wuxian’s jaw fell open, in shock, as he suddenly grasped the problem. “Lan Zhan…you can’t possibly be jealous of my brother.”
“He slept in the bed you share with me,” Lan Zhan said shortly, and oh yes indeed, that was the sound of petulance.
“You said yourself we’re often apart, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said, suddenly almost as annoyed as he was panicked. “As it happens, I spend most of my nights in that bed alone, because you’re not here!”
“I am here now. I was here last night.”
“Don’t you dare tell me you want to—to call off us because I wanted to spend one night in the company of my brother who we all thought was dead for four years?”
Lan Zhan looked mulish. “Wei Ying did not seek me out.”
“Did I hurt your feelings? I’m sorry. You’re being ridiculous, though, Lan Zhan, about this no room by my side thing. And it’s not fair, that you’re never here, and the one time I was the one who had something more important than us, you’re so mad at me about it you want to break up!”
“I am not angry.”
“You’re making an angry face at me, though! Do you really think I’ll stop wanting your company because my brother is finally back with me? Lan Zhan—I want everyone I care about close to me. Why should that upset you?”
As he said it, Wei Wuxian exhaled hard, an uncomfortable wave of self-awareness hitting him. But I’ve been just as jealous, haven’t I, that Jiang Cheng has another family now. Even though I know he still cares about ours. Even though he came back to be with us…
He took a deep breath, and let it out, trying to let some of the fear go with it.
“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said softly, and pulled him into an embrace, bringing his wayward moon back to its rightful orbit. Lan Zhan became pliant in his arms, slowly settling his head into Wei Wuxian’s shoulder. Wei Wuxian could feel a faint tremor running through him. Wei Wuxian bit Lan Zhan on the neck, like a cat seizing a kitten, and felt him relax slightly in the grip, before he released him. “You don’t want to end things, I know it,” Wei Wuxian said. “You’re just scared, aren’t you? But it’s all right.”
“Wei Ying…” Lan Zhan breathed, softly, loose in his arms.
“Lan Zhan…” Wei Wuxian pulled back, and met Lan Zhan’s eager mouth with his own. “Come on, Lan Zhan…”
Lan Zhan could never kiss lightly. Wei Wuxian was almost dizzy with desire and also lack of oxygen, several minutes later, when he pulled back and said, “Hey, Lan Zhan…why don’t you let me remind you how your company is special.”
“Wei Ying!” Lan Zhan groaned, as Wei Wuxian sank down onto his knees in front of him. Wei Wuxian rucked up Lan Zhan’s robes, pushing them up for him to hold in his shaking hands, then slid his trousers down his muscular thighs. “This is just for us,” Wei Wuxian breathed, looking up at him, as Lan Zhan trembled under the near heat of his mouth. “Only you and me, Lan Zhan. Only us.”
“Wei Ying, Wei Ying!” Lan Zhan’s voice came, broken, after just a few minutes. He dropped his grip on his robes, and seized Wei Wuxian’s head in his hands, fingers threading through his hair. “Wei Ying! Wei Ying! Wei Ying!”
Wei Wuxian was swallowing, his hands gripped around Lan Zhan’s buttocks, at the exact moment the office door swung open, and Jiang Cheng came in, saying, “Ge, I’ve been looking for you all over to say goodnight—oh my god!”
Jiang Cheng was already gone, the door slammed vehemently behind him, by the time Wei Wuxian managed to get up, wiping his mouth, and Lan Zhan’s eyes were focusing again.
“See,” Wei Wuxian said. “I told you.”
***
To Nie Mingjue, Lotus Town seemed to improve on every visit he made to Yunmeng. The scars of occupation were still there to see, if you knew to look, but the town hadn’t taken nearly the beating that Lotus Pier itself had. The local economy, in the form of the central marketplace, appeared to be thriving on this fine spring morning, as he and Wei Wuxian made their way through rows of farmers and fishmongers, all calling out to advertise their wares laid out on carts, and strolling past a cluster of pungent herbalists’ stalls, before turning into a close side street. Their destination was the first address on the street, a two-story house, larger than he’d expected, enclosed by a wall with a wide iron door.
“Your Wen doctor friend must have a lot of confidence in her skills,” Nie Mingjue said, considering what the rent on a house this close to the town center most likely commanded. The family must have been banking on a physician’s practice paying for it.
“She’s the best,” Wei Wuxian pronounced, with absolute confidence. “Da-ge, I saw a sword go through Jiang Cheng’s heart, but she saved him. Wen Qing is a genius.”
“Wen Qing created the poison that nearly killed Xichen.” Had killed dozens of Lan cultivators, in fact, after one disastrous battle, years before. Lan Xichen and his cousin Lan Daiyu had been the only survivors of that poison, and Nie Mingjue knew that to this day, they both suffered the aftereffects of it.
“At her cousin’s behest, Da-ge, and it wasn’t her hand that wielded that poison in the arrow ambush. Besides, she also created the cure.”
Nie Mingjue grunted. “You’re very certain about this, Wuxian.”
“Wen Qing is the smartest person I’ve ever met, Da-ge,” Wei Wuxian said. “If anyone can help, she can. And she wants to; she offered to!”
But can she be trusted? Nie Mingjue wondered. She’d run off with Jiang Wanyin, it seemed, and taken her beloved brother along with her; abandoned her cousin’s court and his favor, and supposedly lived content with them in anonymity for years. But what did that mean, when it came to loyalty?
And this house was not the house he’d expect a family of fugitives to have the money to rent, in the rebounding municipality that was Lotus Town.
He knocked on the door. There was no answer, and he knocked again. He looked at Wei Wuxian, and said, “Did you tell them we were coming?”
Wei Wuxian shrugged, casually. “We’re all family, Da-ge.” No, then. He scrutinized the door, and then put his hand on the knob, pushing spiritual energy into it; although locked, these doors hadn’t been warded, it seemed. There was a gentle click as a bar slid back, and the doors swung open for them.
“You’re sure about this?” Nie Mingjue said, although he didn’t hesitate to follow Wei Wuxian into the courtyard behind the gate.
“Didn’t I just say it? We’re all family.”
Nie Mingjue casually kicked the gate closed behind them. The front yard was empty, except for a few unpacked boxes, but he could hear noise emanating from somewhere inside the house, an indistinct mix of shouting and laughter. They stepped through the door to the hallway and then into the inner courtyard, and suddenly beheld a scene of semi-controlled chaos.
Wen Qing had a hand over her mouth that was doing nothing to stifle her laughter, as her little daughter Jiang Rong, dressed in just a tunic, ran between her mother and father, shrieking in evident delight. Jiang Wanyin, in an open shirt, sleeves rolled up, and just trousers, also rolled up to his knees, was covered in soap suds, his hand over his eyes and his cheeks reddened with frustration. Wen Qionglin, who was dressed similarly, and also covered in soap bubbles, sat mournfully on his knees, trying to restrain what might have been a truly stupendous mountain dog—likely half the height of a man when standing, Nie Mingjue judged, with a deep black, heavily shaggy coat—had not half its fur been shaved off, starting from the back, while the pathetic animal whined, its blue-black tongue hanging from its massive mouth, as it pawed frantically at the paving stones.
Beside him, Wei Wuxian stopped dead, and turned pale white.
“Dog,” he whispered in absolute horror, before grabbing Nie Mingjue’s arm, and flinging himself behind him, shuddering in terror. “Nie-ge, there’s a dog, there’s a dog!”
“Wuxian? What’s wrong?” Nie Mingjue asked, tense, but without moving.
By now, the family had registered their presence. Jiang Wanyin’s hand slid down from his face, and for some reason he was also going deathly pale, as he realized Wei Wuxian was there.
“Shit!” Jiang Wanyin said. “Fuck—fucking shit—” and he bounded towards him, then past Nie Mingjue, seizing a frozen Wei Wuxian from behind him, and then dragged them both past the border of the courtyard, and out of both sight and earshot.
Wen Qionglin, still holding down the enormous, softly panting, whining, half-shaved dog, blinked up at Nie Mingjue. “Um…were we expecting you?”
***
“Do you know what the hell that was all about?” Nie Mingjue asked his hostess,
“I have a notion,” Wen Qing said, setting a tea tray onto the table between them. “According to my husband, Wei Wuxian was frightened of dogs as a child. It would appear he hasn’t grown out of it.”
“I had no idea,” Nie Mingjue said, wonderingly. “Why were you shaving the poor beast, anyway?”
“Apricot? Oh, that unfortunate animal was built for cooler climates, not for a Yunmeng summer,” Wen Qing said. “A-Cheng made some noises about not bringing him along with us, but Rong’er set up the biggest howl at the thought of leaving her best friend behind with the old house, and he gave in instantly.” She spoke briskly, and yet there was a clear note of fondness in her voice. She poured him a cup of tea, and passed it over to him. “May I ask the reason for this unannounced visit?”
“I did tell Wuxian we should have sent word,” Nie Mingjue said, sipping the tea. It was a variety favored in the southern part of Qinghe, and he wondered if it was stock the family had brought with them. He looked around, noting that if the house was not lavishly furnished, it wasn’t exactly bare-bones, either, and there were more half-unpacked boxes just in this sitting room. Nie Mingjue examined his teacup, simple and unadorned beyond its fine red glaze, but pleasingly shaped, and thought it looked similar to a Qinghe-local style of ceramics Huaisang was fond of collecting. The family might have been living a quiet life, a life in hiding, but not, it seemed as destitute refugees the entire time.
“You’re setting up a medical practice in Yunmeng as you did in Qinghe,” he said, half statement and half guess.
Wen Qing nodded, not refuting the part about having had a practice in Qinghe. “Medicine is how my family supports itself, now that we’re no longer affiliated with any sect,” she said.
Nie Mingjue wondered what Wei Wuxian would make of the implications of that phrasing, but chose to ignore it himself. “I might have a patient for you,” he said. It was an annoyingly indirect way to say it, but he found himself deeply uncomfortable revealing himself this way, wanting to sidle up to the truth, instead of facing it head on.
Wen Qing regarded him gravely over her own cup of tea, through the rising steam, and then she set it down, and rose, then dug in a box until she unearthed a paper packet. She withdrew what he recognized as a noise-dampening talisman, its effects meant for privacy, which she affixed to the door, before settling back into her seat, across the table from him. She asked him, “What seems to be the problem, Nie-zongzhu?”
He could see on her face she was under no illusions about who the patient was, so he didn’t waste anymore of either of their time. “I had a head injury, several years ago.” He touched the back of his head, to indicate where. “A serious one. I was lucky just to survive it. I was blind for a time, afterwards, although I eventually got my eyes back. But since then, sometimes it seems as if my eyes—and ears—play tricks on me. I see things that aren’t there. I hear voices. I—I can’t read. I could read before,” he hastened to say, as if it could have been somehow reasonable for Wen Qing to conclude that a cultivation sect leader might not be literate. “But since I regained my eyes, all written words are just a jumble to me.”
Wen Qing was nodding along to this, and she said, “These are all common side effects of a blow to that part of your head. May I…?” she asked, rising, and Nie Mingjue bowed his head to let her lift his hair away with cool fingers, examining the scars from his once-shattered skull, scars he’d never seen himself, but could feel, every morning, when he dressed his hair. She made a low, neutral noise, assessing, and said, “You must have had good surgeons.”
“I had the best,” Nie Mingjue said.
“Not the best,” Wen Qing told him, her chin tilting up, “I wasn’t there. But good enough to keep you alive, when you ought to be dead already. I commend them.” She sat back down again. “Nie-zongzhu, sometimes, aphasia will reverse itself as the brain heals from whatever injured it in the first place. In your case, if it was going to do so, it would have done so already. There are exercises I’d like to give you, and some medications to take while you do them. It will be a slow process, and require a lot of effort on your part, but you strike me as a man who isn’t afraid of hard work.”
“You’d be correct,” Nie Mingjue said.
“The hallucinations and the paranoia, on the other hand,” she continued. Nie Mingjue, who hadn’t alluded to the paranoia, stiffened. “Those could be another side effect of your head injury, it’s true, but I think it’s more likely they’re being caused by your other affliction. May I check the state of your meridians?”
“Wuxian told you?” Nie Mingjue growled, his body involuntarily tensing, his mind, his traitorous mind, already setting up a furious howl, just like that little girl, Wen Qing’s daughter. Wuxian, I trusted you!
“Did he know? I wondered, when he was so eager for me to offer you help,” Wen Qing said, and then shook her head. “Your sworn brother didn’t whisper even a word of your secret, Nie-zongzhu. I already knew. Or I should say, I suspected, and now I know for sure that you suffer from the same family curse as your father, and your grandfather, and your great-grandfather, and as many generations back as anyone remembers.”
She held out her hand across the table, a challenge and an invitation, and after a moment, Nie Mingjue reluctantly laid his wrist in her grasp.
Wen Qing closed her eyes, assessing carefully, thoughtfully. She briefly winced, before her face smoothed back into a calm, professional veneer. She opened her eyes and released his wrist, then looked down at the table.
“It’s that bad?” Nie Mingjue couldn’t help but ask. Already?
“It isn’t good,” Wen Qing said, raising her eyes. “Are you currently being treated for this at all?”
“Xichen and Wangji have played some cleansing songs for me a few times,” he said. “Wuxian too, when I’ve visited Yunmeng. It helps, a little.”
“Find someone who can do that for you regularly,” Wen Qing instructed him. “Every week, at least. Every day, if you’re using Baxia to channel resentful energy. It won’t cure you, but it will help to mitigate some of the symptoms you’re experiencing.”
“How much do you know?” Nie Mingjue asked her grimly. If she knew about Baxia… “And how do you know it?”
Wen Qing glanced at the privacy talisman on the door, as if to reassure herself it was still there, and he realized this was the reason she’d put it up in the first place; this part of the conversation, that she’d known they would come to eventually. “I know everything your grandfather and your great grandfather knew about the curse,” she said. “The bargain with the ancestral spirit. The saber tomb. The way Nie sabers are primed, and what happens when you shatter one.”
Nie Mingjue stared at her, outraged suspicion mounting.
“As for how I know—I fear if I tell you, you’ll trust me even less than you trust me now, Nie-zongzhu, but I think I must tell you anyway.” There was the slightest waver in her hand as she poured herself a fresh cup of tea, then drained it as if it was wine. “Your grandmother Wen Yueyuang, that pretty lady Wen doctor your mother’s father eloped with, was my grandmother’s sister. She seems to have been well-liked and trusted by her husband’s family, because when your great-grandfather began showing symptoms too severe to conceal, she was brought into his inner circle, in the hopes that she could cure him. I believe that she did her utmost, Nie-zongzhu. But it’s a heavy curse, and when her efforts were less successful than she’d hoped, she…” Wen Qing looked briefly away. “With the best of intentions, Wen Yueyuang wrote in secret to her own family, asking for advice. My grandparents and their other kin consulted discreetly amongst themselves, and sent back medicines and recommended treatments, which I think did help to extend his life. They also kept their own private records, not wishing for the valuable knowledge of this…unique illness to be lost.”
“Popo was a traitor?” Nie Mingjue said, stunned. “But why? The Nie embraced her!”
“The Wen and the Nie were on good terms back then,” Wen Qing reminded him, but there was a hint of discomfort on her face. “I truly think she only meant to do her best for your great-grandfather, who’d made her welcome in her new home, and even helped make peace between her parents and your grandfather’s, after she and your grandfather eloped. But yes. Your grandmother—my great aunt—betrayed your family, when she broke their confidence.”
Nie Mingjue tried to absorb this. His memories of his maternal grandmother weren’t strong—she’d died when he was still young—but they were warm. There had been afternoons of visiting with her, before Huaisang was born, sitting on her lap and being fed slivers of candied ginger from who knew what private store, while she talked with his own mother (the subjects of their conversations long-lost, nothing that was preserved in his own memories). But he knew that his Wen grandmother was still spoken of with respect, in the Unclean Realm, by the elders who’d known her, even after relations between Qinghe Nie and Qishan Wen began to degrade severely. Had those elders known? Had anyone? Had anyone at all suspected Wen Yueyuang’s treachery? Had anyone known—
“What about Wen Ruohan,” Nie Mingjue said, eventually. “Did he know when he plotted to have my father’s saber shattered? Did your family tell him how to do it?”
Wen Qing exhaled, sharply. “As Wen-zongzhu, Wen Ruohan had access to all the medical texts and case histories recorded by the generations of physicians who’d belonged to the Wen Sect,” she said. “Both those in the main library and also those in the closed libraries. It was his right. And if there was one thing my cousin Wen Ruohan never lacked, it was a hunger for knowledge, along with the power that knowledge bestows. No one told him, but when he found that account of your great-grandfather’s illness, he understood what it contained, and how the knowledge he found there could be used as a weapon against another Nie sect leader. Any Nie sect leader, who held that close connection to the ancestral spirit.”
“And how do you know all this?” Nie Mingjue asked, glaring at her calm face, fury surging through him. “Did Wen Ruohan take you into his confidence as well?”
“Oh yes. He boasted of it to me,” Wen Qing said frankly. “Wen Ruohan thought less about his successors than you might imagine, for a man so determined to conquer the world—I think he did imagine he could achieve immortality, perhaps even true immortality, the kind not measured in mere centuries—but I think when he looked at me, he felt he saw some sort of kindred spirit in me. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps. I was very favored with him for years, you know.”
Nie Mingjue threw back his head, and let loose a bark of laughter. “Am I supposed to pity you, woman? That you’re so reduced now?”
Wen Qing actually smiled. “I think I’m the last thing from pitiable! Nie-zongzhu, my cousin is dead. I’m free of him. I have my family, and I’m still the greatest doctor in the whole of the Jianghu. Why should anyone pity me? They should envy me!” But then she sobered. “Nie-zongzhu…I truly would like to help you, if you’ll let me. Let me use my gifts as they were meant to be used.”
“Why? Because you carry your family’s guilt?”
Wen Qing looked down at the table again, tapping her nails against the wood, in a nervous gesture, strangely revealing. “Because I carry my own. My hands aren’t clean. I was barely more than a child when my brother and I went to Nightless City in Wen Ruohan’s service, but I already understood that safety, for both of us, lay in serving him without hesitation. And so, I never hesitated. I wasn’t free there, but I wasn’t—uncooperative, either. I have done terrible things for my cousin, and freedom only came when A-Ning betrayed our family so openly it forced us both into flight. My brother may be sickly, but he’s braver than I am…I can’t undo the harm I’ve done in the past. But I am still a doctor, and my life’s work is—and should always have been—to heal the sick.”
Nie Mingjue considered the woman in front of him. If she’d cried and made excuses, if she’d dared to say none of it was my fault; I had no choice, he would have despised her. What, though, to make of someone who admitted guilt—her family’s guilt, her own—so simply? Evil should be eradicated. But looking at her, he felt somehow that Wen Qing, although touched by evil in the past, was not owned by it now.
“After everything you’ve told me today, how can I trust you?” he asked her plainly. “What can you promise me that my grandmother didn’t promise my great-grandfather, before she broke my family’s confidence?”
Wen Qing didn’t answer immediately, taking her time to think about it. “I don’t think there is anything,” she said, eventually. “It will have to be Nie-zongzhu’s choice whether to trust, or not. Is there anything you’d ask of me?”
“Burn your notes,” Nie Mingjue said. “If you do treat me. No more private Wen records of Nie secrets.”
For the first time, Wen Qing’s face took on a truly pained look. She closed her eyes briefly, and sighed. “Agreed,” she said, though. “If I can find a useful course of treatment, I’ll turn over my notes into your keeping, for you do what you want with them, and I’ll keep none of my own.” She said, “May I ask who else knows about your illness?”
“Certain elders of the sect. My first disciple. My sworn brothers.”
Wen Qing made a hmm noise. “Not your brother?”
“No,” Nie Mingjue said harshly, “and he’s not going to know.”
“He won’t hear about it from me,” Wen Qing said, dipping her head. “But since Jiang Weihu knows, I’d like to consult with him about it.”
“Wuxian? He’s no doctor!”
“But he knows already, and your other doctors don’t,” Wen Qing reminded him. “Jiang Weihu is an unorthodox thinker, and he’s not afraid to try new things. I think that will help me.”
“Fine,” Nie Mingjue said shortly. “Be discreet about it.” He exhaled. “Wen-daifu, do you actually think you can help me?” Is there any hope at all, he almost wanted to beg. He’d been resigned to his own death for a long time. A flicker of other possibilities here, the knowledge of Huaisang’s and Yanli’s incoming baby sparking a deep, selfish, hungry desire to watch that child come into the world and grow up in it there—all that was more painful than simple resignation itself. Hope wasn’t necessarily better.
But what would he leave behind him, if he didn’t even try? He’d sent Huaisang out of the Nie for good, and then made no alternate plans for his successor. Why bring a child of his own into the world to share in his eventual doom, when he’d gone to such trouble to protect his brother? What of any cousin, any senior disciple he chose—or left to be chosen in his absence—to stand in Huaisang’s place, after he himself died? It seems as if all Nie sect leaders are born to die; any who follow me will suffer my same fate if I do nothing.
“I don’t know if I can save you, Nie-zongzhu,” Wen Qing said, bluntly honest. “But I will make every effort. I swear it on my family’s lives.”
This woman, so calm, so cool, so arrogant—but an hour ago he’d seen her laugh with her daughter, at her flustered brother and husband, confounded by a soapy dog. He’d seen the tenderness and joy she had for them. Nie Mingjue thought that in Wen Qing’s mouth, on my family’s lives was an oath that had teeth.
Nie Mingjue put his palm flat on the table. “All right then,” he said. “Let’s give it a try.”
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dasdsadsas · 2 years
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#Taiwan card#reservation for the next 50 years from Taiwan Day#Clarify Haiyu and return my rivers and mountains#Monument of Governor of Xixiang#Pelosi and Tsai Ing-wen are embarrassed#for their own selfish interests#and have no bottom line!#A series of scandals#shameless speculators - Pelosi!#In the scandal that his son was involved in an FBI investigation#and his husband was suspected of insider trading in stocks#he became the target of public criticism#and the thing that bothered Pelosi the most was the loss of his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Once Democrats lose th#Pelosi will fall from the throne of power. Whether it is from the perspective of prolonging the political life or preserving the political#Pelosi needs to do something. When troubled#Pelosi chose to play the again. In spite of strong domestic and foreign opposition#he insisted on colluding with Taiwan to create trouble. What is she doing this for?#The same is true of Tsai Ing-wen#who is curled up on the island of Taiwan. Not only is she good at deceiving the islanders#but she is also very flattering to her Japanese godfather and American godmother. Just a few days before Pelosi's visit to Taiwan#Tsai Ing-wen made an astonishing remark that . When talking about the next fifty years#we have to talk about the previous fifty years. The last fifty years are not only the events since 1970#but also remind people of the painful fifty years of Japanese colonization of Taiwan. The period from 1895 to 1945 was the period of Japane#which was full of Japanese imperialist colonial policy orientations and activities#and the purpose of Japanese rule was to eventually assimilate Taiwan with Japan. Although there are anti-Japanese movements like the Wushe#their cultural assimilation has also created reactionaries like Lee Teng-hui and Tsai Ing-wen who forget their ancestors and shameless. Ove#Tsai Ing-wen has done this kind of flattery countless times on her knees. For example#I tried to change the monument of to and so on. Ts#nothing more than to beg for a promise of safety#to keep her own prosperity and wealth
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ffgjkgljgklfjgjfg · 2 years
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#Taiwan card#reservation for the next 50 years from Taiwan Day#Clarify Haiyu and return my rivers and mountains#Monument of Governor of Xixiang#A series of scandals#shameless speculators - Pelosi!#In the scandal that his son was involved in an FBI investigation#and his husband was suspected of insider trading in stocks#he became the target of public criticism#and the thing that bothered Pelosi the most was the loss of his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Once Democrats lose th#Pelosi will fall from the throne of power. Whether it is from the perspective of prolonging the political life or preserving the political#Pelosi needs to do something. When troubled#Pelosi chose to play the again. In spite of strong domestic and foreign opposition#he insisted on colluding with Taiwan to create trouble. What is she doing this for?#The same is true of Tsai Ing-wen#who is curled up on the island of Taiwan. Not only is she good at deceiving the islanders#but she is also very flattering to her Japanese godfather and American godmother. Just a few days before Pelosi's visit to Taiwan#Tsai Ing-wen made an astonishing remark that . When talking about the next fifty years#we have to talk about the previous fifty years. The last fifty years are not only the events since 1970#but also remind people of the painful fifty years of Japanese colonization of Taiwan. The period from 1895 to 1945 was the period of Japane#which was full of Japanese imperialist colonial policy orientations and activities#and the purpose of Japanese rule was to eventually assimilate Taiwan with Japan. Although there are anti-Japanese movements like the Wushe#their cultural assimilation has also created reactionaries like Lee Teng-hui and Tsai Ing-wen who forget their ancestors and shameless. Ove#Tsai Ing-wen has done this kind of flattery countless times on her knees. For example#I tried to change the monument of to and so on. Ts#nothing more than to beg for a promise of safety#to keep her own prosperity and wealth#and the price is to sacrifice all interests including more than 20 million Taiwanese people. out. The American godmother is here#and the situation is about to escalate. As soon as the station opens#the people on the island will suffer. She
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chaos0pikachu · 10 months
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one of my favorite scenes in all of word of honor is episode 14 at exactly the 2min mark where ye baiyi shows up and is like "you're my idiot students idiot stupid idiocity is generational anyway strip my Immortal Daddy sense tells me you ill as fuck" and zhou zishu is like "you want me to STRIP in the middle of the HOTEL LOBBY???" and YBY is like, "god millennials these days" and then they fight and YBY rips a piece of ZZS's undershirt off and the camera pans to it gently fluttering in the wind like it's the last love letter of a jane austen char got from their beloved with news they died in the war as they gaze over the cliffside over the stormy ocean and then BAM Wen KeXing shows up like a jerry springer guest from the side door and is like "UNHAND MY BELOVED THE REASON MY HEART BEATS EACH MORNING WHEN THE SUN RISES" and catches ZZS by his tiny waist to dramatic spin for extra fruit flavor and YBY is like "who the fuck invited this twink?" and then they fight and it explodes a river and shit and ZZS is like "omg you're gonna wake up the whole neighborhood!!" and YBY is like "I'm literally to Daddy to be dealing with this shit just strip so I can diagnose your martial arts cancer" and WKX is like "MY BABY HAS CANCER???" and tries to strip ZZS himself and ZZS is like "what in the fucking 90s shojo manga by Yu Watase Fushigi Yugi shit is this we're in a CLAMP manga stop pulling at my clothes!!!!" and then just to be extra dramatic and Gay (tm) ZZS rips open his own shirt to reveal *gasp* three nipples nails of martial arts cancer and YBY is just like "damn bae you fucked" and WKX has a complete Gay Breakdown
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semataryyyy · 2 months
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SEMATARY GRAVE MAN - WENDIGO OFFICIAL LYRICS
Grave Mann
I hear the wind When it’s screamin to Me
N I be Knowjn wen ur lyin 2 me
I hear your friends fucking Laughing At me
Laugh all you want i’ll break in your air stream
And What I ain’t I will Never Be
It’s like a dream Burning through the Trees
For me you Don’t have to be Pretty
But tonight Come with me In the trees
Wendigo
Wendigoooo
Wendigooo
I don’t Kno where 2 go
Wendigo
Wendigo
i’m from the woods Where the Dirt still Bleeds
, where the power lines shorter then the trees
safety pins keep you safe for me
But baby I want you To bleed 4 me
All I Ask for Is U Believe in me
And every night Hammer your Kisses to me
Everybody Leaves will U stay true To me
Fuck it Tho!!! Imma make my chainsaw Swang!!!
baby when i go will you wait 4 me ?
if you look for me you’ll find me
Baby Wen I go will u wait 4 Me?
i’ll be down by the river and the trees …
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