Author Notes: Hello again, everyone! You guys are so awesome, here's the next chapter earlier than expected. Enjoy :)

Beta: JeanGirl

- Chapter Start -

As soon as XiChen-xiong and a reluctant Chen-yishi left, Wei Ying's smile disappeared. He liked the old Healer with his brisk, no nonsense approach that somehow reminded him of Wen Qing... except for her penchant of threatening people with her needles.

Still, he shouldn't have made another promise he couldn't fulfill. Perhaps once he left Cloud Recesses, Chen-yishi would forget about him.

"Wei WuXian."

"I didn't say or do anything!"

"What about sharing WangJi's bed again, and for an entire night this time?" If Master Lan's voice was any drier, it would catch fire.

Wei Ying darted a sheepish look at Lan Zhan who looked supremely unconcerned.

"Ahaha, but we didn't do anything! I mean-"

"Enough." With a martyred sigh, Master Lan moved to the low table. "Sit down. We have something to discuss."

Wei Ying's embarrassment turned to dismay. That sounded ominous. Like a lecture about the dangers of resentful energy, or a few hours of calming music.

"Master Lan, while I appreciate your concern, I'm not in danger of losing control or-"

"That isn't what I mean."

"Oh. I don't need to listen to a lecture? Or music?"

"Of course you do, to both!" Master Lan looked annoyed. "But not now. Sit down."

Pouting, Wei Ying took a step forward only to turn back at a movement from the bed. Lan Zhan was swinging his legs to the floor.

"Lan Zhan, what're you doing?"

"Getting up. Enough of lying down."

Wei Ying helped him to his feet and wrapped an arm around his waist. They had just settled down at the table, Lan Zhan with perfect posture, and Wei Ying... not, when the door opened again. Seeing XiChen-xiong balancing two trays, Wei Ying jumped up to help him, catching a whiff of ginger from one of the trays.

"Let's eat before the food gets cold," XiChen-xiong suggested and smiled to see Lan Zhan sitting at the table. "WangJi, your medicine."

Wei Ying, never one to pass up an opportunity for mischief, held out the first cup of medicine to Lan Zhan just as Master Lan took a sip of tea.

"Lan Er-gege, be a good boy for me?" He purred.

Master Lan's tea promptly went down the wrong tract.

"Wei-" coughs "-WuXian!"

As XiChen-xiong reached over to pat his choking uncle on the back, Wei Ying winked at Lan Zhan and took the empty cup from him.

- o -

Lunch was vegetable congee with soft boiled eggs for the three Lans and an omelette for Wei Ying which smelled like it had a ton of ginger in it. He wasn't fond of that spice, but it was still preferable to the runny eggs which didn't even have a drop of soy sauce on them to add flavour.

With his appetite restored by sufficient sleep and good humour restored by teasing, Wei Ying finished eating first and cleared his throat.

"It's time I returned to Yiling," he announced. He was loathe to leave Lan Zhan's side, but Cloud Recesses wasn't his home. The Burial Mounds was.

The three Lans stopped eating at once.

"Wen Ning and Wen Qing are sure to be worried," he added.

"Please stay a few days more, young Master Wei," XiChen-xiong urged. "I sent a message yesterday to inform them that you are well. Maiden Wen sent back a reply that they would manage."

"Thank you, XiChen-xiong," Wei Ying replied, chagrined he hadn't thought of doing that himself. "But our food supply was already running low and I told them not to go anywhere until I returned."

XiChen-xiong smiled, glancing at Master Lan.

"According to uncle's suggestion, we also delivered some rice and vegetables. It should be enough for a few days."

Putting his hands together, Wei Ying bowed low.

"Wei Ying thanks you for your kindness," he replied. He didn't like accepting aid, but it would be churlish to refuse when he was being fed here. Besides, the food had already been delivered.

"Wei Ying, you wish to visit them?" Lan Zhan looked worried.

"I live there," Wei Ying reminded him. "I thought my visit here wouldn't take more than a couple of days."

Lan Zhan pressed his lips together before giving a reluctant nod.

"Return soon." His eyes were as solemn as his voice as he reached for Wei Ying's hand.

Dropping his gaze, Wei Ying blinked hard. Even with the three thousand plus rules governing this place, he had never felt less like leaving. He looked up when Master Lan cleared his throat.

"How many Wen survivors are there in total? Twenty? Thirty?"

Wei Ying stared at him in surprise.

"Around twenty."

"And they are children, women and the elderly?"

"Yes."

"The guest quarters of Cloud Recesses can house up to eighty people."

Wei Ying's heart skipped a beat.

"Master Lan, what are you trying to say?" He didn't dare assume anything.

"Are you dense, boy?" Master Lan snapped. "They can stay there!"

For a moment, Wei Ying thought he still hadn't heard right, but a glance at Lan Zhan showed he looked just as shocked. Turning back to Master Lan, he chose his words carefully.

"For now long can they stay?"

"For as long as you do."

The words 'You're joking' danced on the tip of Wei Ying's tongue, but he held them back. Instead, he dragged up a smile. It felt fake. Brittle.

"We've already put down roots there. Our efforts are beginning to bear fruit."

Too much effort for too meagre results... but that land, as godforsaken as it was, was all they had.

"I can't bring them here only to uproot them again when I leave."

"You are being deliberately obtuse!" Master Lan looked more and more annoyed by the minute. "I already said they can stay as long as you do!"

Wei Ying smiled again, feeling something strangely akin to fondness for this grumpy man.

"Master Lan, you should know better than to make me an offer like that," he chided gently. "My skin is thick enough that I might decide to stay forever."

"Wei WuXian! Are you-"

"That is exactly what uncle and I are hoping for," XiChen-xiong cut in with an apologetic look at Master Lan. "I am sure WangJi feels the same way."

Wei Ying stared at him and then his gaze traveled to Master Lan who gave a curt nod and then to Lan Zhan who looked as shocked as Wei Ying felt. But when Lan Zhan turned to meet his gaze, his eyes were shiny.

"Wei Ying, stay here. Forever."

"Wha-what're you..." Wei Ying couldn't say anymore. His heart had lodged in his throat, making it hard to breathe. His hand was trembling in Lan Zhan's grasp. Or perhaps Lan Zhan's was.

Master Lan was gripping the edge of the table so hard that his knuckles showed white. His face looked like it was set in stone as he took a careful breath.

"I offer the Wen survivors a safe home at Cloud Recesses for as long as Wei WuXian stays, providing they abide by our rules and a few additional ones. I promise they will not be extreme."

Again, Wei Ying's stunned gaze went from him to XiChen-xiong who nodded and smiled.

"As Sect Leader, I authorise this invitation and hope it will be received by the Yiling Patriarch and all the Wen survivors under his care."

Sanctuary for all the Wen survivors!

Was he dreaming?

Lan Zhan squeezed his hand and he turned to see those eyes already brimming.

"Wei Ying, say yes. Stay here with me."

Wei Ying's vision blurred in response. He took a deep breath and shook his head, forced down the hope that surged inside him.

"The other Sects will never agree to it," he said shakily. Freeing his hand, he placed both of them together and bowed, first to Master Lan and then XiChen-xiong.

"Wei Ying thanks you for this most gracious offer, but the Lan Sect will be looked on as an enemy for harbouring us."

"Not if they are family," Lan Zhan said.

"Family? What family?"

Lan Zhan shifted to face Wei Ying fully and grabbed both his hands again.

"Ours."

"What?"

"Wei Ying, you address them as your relatives - A-Yuan, Granny, Fourth Uncle, Sixth Uncle. You consider Wen Qing and Wen Ning as close friends, maybe even siblings. Am I right?"

Wei Ying nodded.

"You consider them family."

Wei Ying nodded again.

"They can become mine as well."

Wei Ying opened his mouth to speak although his mind was a blank. But Lan Zhan wasn't finished yet, his hands tightening on Wei Ying's.

"I remember what I told you when I had fever. Like Wei Ying."

"No. No, you didn't say-"

"Love Wei Ying. Love Wei Ying so much."

Lan Zhan's hands were trembling and the tips of his ears a bright pink; yet Wei Ying had never heard his voice so resolute, his gaze so steadfast.

"Wei Ying, marry me."

"What - you're joking!"

"No. Marry me. Be my cultivation partner."

Wei Ying's heart, halfway on its impromptu journey to the stars, plummeted right back to earth.

"I can't," he said, his voice cracking.

"Why not?"

"Because I can't cultivate with a sword anymore!"

Wei Ying tried to pull his hands free, but Lan Zhan's strength didn't allow it. He pulled harder, his breathing coming out in stuttering sobs, ignoring the pain.

"Wei Ying, stop. Stop struggling."

"Let me go."

"No."

Let me go!"

Lan Zhan shook his head, looking so sorrowful as if someone had died. His eyes were wet before but now, so were his cheeks.

Wei Ying froze at once. Lan Zhan had already shed tears for him when he learned about his golden core. Once was enough. More than enough.

"You're crying," he whispered.

Lan Zhan shook his head.

"Yes, you are." Gently, Wei Ying tugged one hand free and this time he succeeded. He brushed away the wetness with trembling fingertips.

"HanGuang Jun should never cry," he said.

"Neither should Wei Ying." Lan Zhan reached over to wipe his face in turn.

I'm not crying."

"Wei Ying is crying."

"I'm not. Lan Zhan is crying."

A familiar 'Harrumph!' cut their arguments neatly in two. They turned to see a hugely vexed Master Lan glaring at them.

"You are both crying," he said testily. "Stop this nonsensical arguing at once!"

"Ah. My apologies, uncle."

But Lan Zhan didn't look in the least bit apologetic. For some reason, Wei Ying found that hilarious. He started laughing, but it sounded like a sob and he stopped.

"Wei Ying?"

It was too much. Knowing he had to leave this place... being invited to stay... and then getting a marriage proposal on top of it.

Wei Ying felt like his brain would explode from the combination of all three. Jumping to his feet and almost tripping as his knee caught on the side of the table, he fled the Jingshi again. Just like that day, he only managed to sprint past the small gate before two voices followed, loud enough to break any rule in existence.

"Young Master Wei!"

"WEI WUXIAN!"

Just like that day, he didn't stop running. He shouldn't have told them last night. Then they wouldn't have known, and they wouldn't have made those offers because they were nothing more than charity.

And the last thing that Wei Ying, Wei WuXian, the notorious Yiling Patriarch wanted from a sect that prided itself on Righteousness... was pity.

- Chapter End -

A/N: Thank you for reading! Apologies for that tiny cliffie. Please leave a review if you enjoyed it :)