Author Notes: Hello again, everyone! There's a small time skip in this chapter otherwise we'll never get to the next subplot. But we will meet the bride and groom again before the visit to Koi Tower is over. Enjoy :)
Beta: JeanGirl
- Chapter Start -
Almost twelve hours later, close to midnight...
The celebrations inside Glamour Hall were still in full swing after a sumptuous feast that held far too many courses to count, dances by exquisitely dressed ladies, and acrobatic performances by skilled artists. At this late hour, what remained of the food had been cleared away, and the entertainers retired to rest. What was left was little more than a drinking session with more liquor poured down the front of fine robes than into gaping mouths. The air was stuffy and overheated, rich with the sweet smell of liquor and the sour tang of sweat.
In contrast, the two buildings housing the guestrooms at the other end of Koi Tower were dark and quiet, especially the furthest room reserved for the Lan Sect guests. But not all of them were asleep. The door opened and someone in dark robes emerged, looking around before closing the door with care. The figure walked along the corridor and down the steps into the small courtyard before looking around again. At the wave of a fan from the neighbouring rooftop, he nodded and spread his arms to rise into the air.
"Here at last," Jiang Cheng noted in a dry voice. "We didn't expect you to leave the feast when your boyfriend and his family did."
Sitting cross legged on the roof tiles, Wei Ying accepted a bottle from him and nodded his thanks.
"It was too bright, too noisy, too... much."
There was a time when he would have thought nothing of drinking half the night away with Jiang Cheng by his side, laughing and teasing each other. That time had long since passed. For over two years, he had lived at the dark and silent Burial Mounds where everyone turned in early to save on precious candles. Even when Wei Ying stayed up late, and that was more often than not, he did his work quietly and in the semidarkness of his cave. The only night sounds were Fourth Uncle's snores, Granny's sleepy reprimands to A-Yuan to settle down and go to sleep, and the occasional grinding sounds from the kitchen when Wen Ning had herbs to crush to make medicine.
When Master Lan and the Twin Jades got up to leave Glamour Hall as soon as good manners allowed, Wei Ying decided to join them. The bridal couple had already left and so had Madam Jin. Wei Ying could have stayed on, for the liquor was free flowing, no one dared to bar him from it, and Jiang Cheng and the Nie brothers were still there. But so was Sect Leader Jin and the disagreeable Jin ZiXun and his friends who had returned to enjoy themselves. Besides, the tipsy laughter and increasingly ribald jokes grated on Wei Ying's nerves and gave him a headache.
He had enjoyed the quiet walk back to the guestrooms a lot more, exchanging the stuffy atmosphere of the hall for the cool night air and holding hands with Lan Zhan behind Master Lan and ZeWu Jun's backs.
"Wei-xiong, why didn't you come out sooner?" HuaiSang asked. "I thought you'd gone to bed already."
Wei Ying chuckled.
"I don't plan on going to bed early even after I'm married," he said with a mischievous glance at Jiang Cheng, "unless Lan Zhan makes it worth my while, of course."
"Wei WuXian!" Jiang Cheng growled through gritted teeth, his face turning red as HuaiSang snickered behind his fan.
Also blushing a bit, Wei Ying caught the bottle of liquor flung at his head and feigned a look of horror.
"Jiang Cheng, are you crazy?! What if I hadn't caught it?"
"Serves you right for being so shameless!"
"I was just teasing you. Lan Zhan and I haven't done anything... well, except kiss and even then Master Lan-"
"Enough! Enough already!"
"Shh, you two," HuaiSang begged, waving his fan in agitation. The two siblings had been whisper-shouting, but if anyone walked by, they could still be heard.
Grumbling to himself, Jiang Cheng took a swig from his bottle and the other two copied his example.
"The best liquor in Lanling still can't compare to Gusu's Emperor Smile," HuaiSang commented, apparently deciding that a change in subject was due.
"True. So," Jiang Cheng jerked his chin at Wei Ying, "what took you so long if you weren't sleeping? I'm sure the other three are."
Wei Ying sighed, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"ZeWu Jun and Lan Zhan fell asleep almost at once, but Master Lan kept tossing and turning, muttering about how he would drum all of Gusu Lan's three thousand plus rules into Jin ZiXun's head if it was the last thing he did. Only I'm sure that idiot wouldn't dare set foot in Cloud Recesses after this."
That brought amused chuckles and a spate of fond recollections about this afternoon's incident.
"I'll never forget Master Lan's dressing down," HuaiSang declared with a shiver and a dramatic pose with his fan. Then he closed it and grinned at Wei Ying. "He likes you now."
"Surprise of the century considering he threw a book at him during class that one time," Jiang Cheng deadpanned and received a poke in the ribs from said fan.
"Well, Wei-xiong saved his nephews from yin metal poisoning."
"So all's well that ends well, huh?"
Wei Ying saw the morose look on Jiang Cheng's face, but chose not to comment on it.
"I'm glad I got to see shijie get married," he said instead.
"Yeah. I wonder how she's doing now." Jiang Cheng stretched out one leg and bent the other so he could rest his arm on his knee.
"Oh? Who's being shameless now?" Wei Ying asked at once. "It's her and the Peacock's wedding night. What do you think they're doing?"
He received a shove that almost sent him tumbling off the roof as HuaiSang squawked, torn between alarm and amusement.
"I said how not what!" Jiang Cheng hissed, his face turning red again as he shuddered. "You idiot! Now you've made me imagine-"
"Well, you were the one who brought it up!"
"I didn't mean that! Ugh!" Jiang Cheng shook his head violently as if trying to dislodge unwanted images. "I meant being part of the Jin clan. With Jin GuangShan for a father-in-law and that jerk ZiXun for a cousin-in-law."
"They're your relatives now too."
"Shut up!"
"Jiang-xiong, please keep your voice down," HuaiSang implored, looking around. "This isn't Lotus Pier, you know."
"I feel sorry for Jin GuangYao," Wei Ying said. "He seems to be nothing more than their servant. Has he always looked so rundown?"
The other two shrugged.
"Must be the stress of organising the wedding," Jiang Cheng said in a dismissive tone. "All I know is the Peacock had better take good care of A-Jie, that's all."
Jiang Cheng was really making it too easy for him to tease, Wei Ying thought, but refrained from it this time.
"Hear hear," he said.
The three of them clinked their bottles together and drank some more.
- o
It was HuaiSang who heard the voices after about fifteen minutes. Frowning, he held a finger to his lips and soon, they saw two servant girls crossing the courtyard, one of them carrying a tray with two bottles of liquor on it.
Wei Ying frowned when he saw them heading for the last room at the end.
"Don't they know the Lans sleep early?" He made as though to stand up, but Jiang Cheng grabbed his arm with a hissed "Wait."
The girls knocked on the door which was opened by a sleepy looking ZeWu Jun minus his forehead ribbon, outer robe thrown on and hastily belted. He nodded at their bows and accepted the liquor with a smile of thanks. The girls bowed again and left.
"Peace offering from Jin GuangShan?"
The sardonic note in Jiang Cheng's voice made Wei Ying frown.
"Might as well bring them here since the others don't drink," HuaiSang suggested. "We've already finished what we brought."
"If you don't come out in five minutes, we'll assume Master Lan caught you trying to sneak out," Jiang Cheng added helpfully.
"ZeWu Jun might have discovered Wei-xiong's missing already," HuaiSang pointed out.
"Very funny," Wei Ying told the two of them.
"Wait. Look over there," HuaiSang whispered, pointing.
Someone else had appeared, wearing a mask and dark robes. They looked around and crept from shadow to shadow before making their way to the last door, moving with extreme caution. Instead of knocking, they crouched down to slide a piece of paper under the door and then went off with rapid footsteps.
The three looked at each other.
"I'll go see who that is," Jiang Cheng said.
"No. I'll go." Wei Ying slipped a hand inside his robes and brought out one of his paperman talismans. "You find out what that note says."
"Master Lan will drum the rules into me for interrupting his sleep," Jiang Cheng muttered.
"You're a Sect Leader now," Wei Ying told him. "He wouldn't dare."
"After that smack down he gave? I'm sure he would."
Wei Ying smiled, feeling again that tiny burst of pride when Master Lan defended him against ZiXun.
"Hurry, he's getting out of sight," HuaiSang urged.
"Right." Wei Ying laid the paperman flat on his left palm and looked at Jiang Cheng. "Take care of my body, won't you?"
It was an exercise in trust after all the things that had happened between them. Jiang Cheng swallowed and nodded.
"I will."
"Thanks." Wei Ying smiled at him and transferred his soul into the paperman. Jiang Cheng caught his arm when he slumped forward, slinging that arm around his own shoulders.
"Be careful," he said to Paperman!Wei Ying who looked up at him and nodded.
"Wei-xiong, that's awesome!" HuaiSang said and stood up as well. "I'll go tell Da-ge about this."
Paperman!Wei Ying waved at him before gliding off the roof, heading in the direction of the masked person. Jiang Cheng wrapped his free arm around the unconscious Wei Ying's waist and floated down from the roof before heading for the Lan Sect's room. HuaiSang followed him down and strode off in the opposite direction.
- o -
The masked figure was shorter than Wei Ying and very familiar with Koi Tower, judging from the many shortcuts he used without hesitation, turning right and left and ducking behind a wall or pillar whenever he heard footsteps. Paperman!Wei Ying was hard pressed to keep him in sight as he dared not fly in the open in case he was spotted.
In a few minutes, he realised they had reached the back of Glamour Hall where the merriment inside could still be heard. After another quick look around, the figure removed his mask.
It was Jin GuangYao.
His habitual smile was missing and his thin face looked pinched and anxious. He shrugged off his dark robes, revealing the pale gold Jin Sect robes he wore underneath. Bundling up the mask and dark material, he stuffed them deep inside one of the rubbish bins in the corner. Then he dusted off his hands, plastered a wide smile on his face and took a step forward, only to jerk to a halt, eyes widening in shock.
The edge of a long and familiar looking sword was pressed to his throat. Wei Ying had only seen that sword once, but he recognised it on sight.
Jiangzai, belonging to the infamous young murderer Xue Yang.
"Sect Leader Jin suspected you might try to warn them. Turned out he was right." The light, amused voice was exactly as Wei Ying remembered.
"Xue Yang? What're you talking about?" Jin GuangYao was smiling again, sounding indulgent as if Xue Yang was merely playing a game with him.
"You can plead your innocence in front of your father."
"But I don't understand. I did exactly as he told me to."
"Let's go. He's waiting for you."
"But he's still entertaining our guests inside Glamour Hall."
"Not anymore. Walk."
"Then where is he?" Jin GuangYao sounded calm, but he was no longer smiling. Fear was painted on his face which Xue Yang, standing behind him, didn't see.
"In his rooms, of course. Start walking."
As the two of them moved off in a different direction, Wei Ying hesitated.
He wanted to follow them to find out what was going on, but he also wanted to get Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng first. He was much faster in his paperman form, but he couldn't talk or fight.
The sound of someone running up the long flight of stairs at the front of the hall caught his attention. HuaiSang appeared after a moment, face red from exertion. He was puffing for breath, one hand gripping his fan and the other clutching his side. He staggered a bit, clearly winded, before rushing inside the hall.
Paperman!Wei Ying launched himself into the air and started flying, faster than he had ever flown before.
- Chapter End -
A/N: Thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you enjoyed it :)
