this body yet survives
by Rose Thorne
Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with The Untamed, and make no money writing fanfiction.
Chapter Eight
Wangji woke, warm and comfortable, to the sound of shufu's throat clearing, and sat up to find he had fallen asleep with Wei Ying curled close, both the Jiang siblings also asleep, Jiang Wanyin curled at the foot of the bed, Jiang Yanli seated on a chair, but with her upper body on the bed, one arm around Wei Ying.
He had the wherewithal to be careful extricating himself from Wei Ying so as not to disturb his much-needed sleep, and stood to bow to his uncle.
"Shufu, Wangji apologizes for his conduct."
"No need," Lan Qiren replied, looking uncomfortable. "Last night was fraught for you all."
Jiang Wanyin was the next to stir at the conversation, and he also greeted shufu politely before moving to gently wake Jiang Yanli.
"Wen-zongzhu has arrived," Lan Qiren informed them. "His niece would like to assess Wei Wuxian's recovery. I did not… inform them of the stress that he has faced."
"The healer said his meridians seemed unharmed," Wangji said, troubled.
Shufu favored him with a gentle look, one likely meant to calm, but it raised his anxiety over Wei Ying's condition.
"Likely they are correct," he said. "But Wen Qing is the foremost medical cultivator and would be able to assess him with more expertise."
Wangji felt frozen, uncertain as to whether he should wake Wei Ying, but Jiang Yanli decided the matter for him. She murmured softly to him, tousled his hair gently, easing it out of the braid she'd put it in the night before.
Wei Ying looked beautifully disheveled when he did sit up, eyes half-lidded as he murmured questioningly at his sworn sister, his words barely recognizable—something unsurprising after the late night.
When he saw shufu, he jerked awake more fully, attempting a bow that unbalanced him and would have sent him off the bed, had Jiang Wanyin not grabbed his arm.
"None of that, Wei Wuxian. Wen-daifu wishes to check on your progress while her uncle discusses trade matters with myself and Xichen. Aside from that, a day of rest is in order for you all. We are investigating matters."
"Lan-xiansheng, do you know if Wen Ning came with?" Wei Ying asked, sounding hesitant.
Though Wei Ying had befriended him at the competition at Nightless City, Wangji knew he hadn't been able to see the boy since, with Wen Qionglin's weak constitution. They had exchanged letters, prior to the incident at the Lotus Pier discussion conference. Wei Ying had not written, or at least sent, letters since his arrival at the Cloud Recesses, though.
"He was not fit to travel," shufu told him softly. "But you can ask after him with Wen-daifu."
Wei Ying nodded, disappointed.
Shufu excused himself to see to Wen-zongzhu, letting them know Wen Qing would be by shortly.
Wen Qionglin's illness was well-known, the injury suffered when Wen-furen and her newborn, Wen Chao, were poisoned. Their firstborn, Wen Xu, had died under mysterious circumstances that had also left Wen-furen weak to the point of often being bedridden, and so Wen-zongzhu had called upon his cousins in a medical branch of the clan to attend her second pregnancy personally.
As it had turned out, the firstborn had been murdered, Wen-furen's illness the result of poison. Unfortunately, it was only discovered when Wen-furen, her newborn, and Wen Qionglin and Wen Qing's parents were dead, little Wen Qionglin, barely a toddler at the time, himself poisoned. Wen Qing had been lucky, at a lesson at the time and thus untouched.
It had obviously been foul play, and an investigation revealed that a secondary branch of the family had been behind it, seeking to usurp the sect leader through assassinating his heirs in infancy.
After having the ringleaders executed for high treason, Wen Ruohan had exiled every man, woman, and child from that branch of the clan to Dongying. It had been considered mercy, as he could have instead determined justice could only be served through miezu. He had announced that he did not believe justice would be served by executing or enslaving children for the non-crime of being born to a family and did not believe creating more orphans by executing only the adults would be just, either. The alternative of exile had been graciously accepted by the secondary branch.
He had never remarried, nor sought to have more children, instead taking the orphaned Wen Qing and Wen Qionglin into his household, naming the former his heir and ensuring her sibling received the best care available.
Wen Qionglin's illness left him often bedridden and weak like his aunt had been, though he was quite kind and soft-spoken, and painfully shy. Wei Ying had met him on a rare day when he was feeling better and practicing archery, having gotten lost in the area around the tournament. He had given him tips and encouraged him to enter the tournament, at least to show his skill in the segment that involved stationary targets.
With his coaxing, the boy had scored several bullseyes in front of the crowd, increasing his standing among his peers despite his illness. Where previously the cultivation world had looked upon Wen Qionglin with pity, it was now impressed that someone with such a difficult chronic illness had become an accomplished archer.
"I am sure Wen Qionglin would enjoy hearing from you again," Wangji said softly. "Perhaps his sister can bring him a letter if you wish to write him before she leaves."
Wei Ying nodded again, frowning slightly.
"I've been a terrible friend."
"Don't be an idiot, Wei Wuxian," someone said from the hallway, and Wen Qing entered the room a moment later. "You've been ill. A-Ning understands."
That elicited a deeper frown from Wei Ying.
"I haven't been sick," he objected.
Wen Qing snorted.
"Maybe not physically, but I've been receiving regular updates from the healers here. You suffered a traumatic event, and it injured your mind. Illness comes in different forms."
Wei Ying looked away, frowning—it seemed he hadn't considered his struggles an illness, despite being treated by healers in the Cloud Recesses.
"Honestly, Wei Wuxian… A-Ning really understands. He misses your letters, but Lan-zongzhu and the healers have kept me apprised, so he knows you've had difficulty. Stop being so fucking hard on yourself."
If Wangji hadn't met her at several points during his life, her profanity might have surprised him, but instead he was simply glad it made Wei Ying smile.
"Ah, Wen Qing, your bedside manner is refreshing," he said lightly, and she rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion.
"I overheard that there have been… issues," she said after a moment.
Wei Ying's jaw clenched, a slight tremor running through him at the reminder.
"Some asshole put lotuses in his quarters, and then ours," Jiang Wanyin supplied. "On purpose."
"That's why A-Xian is in the infirmary," Jiang Yanli added softly. "He was ill when he saw them."
"And smelled them," Wei Ying said, his voice catching.
"The healers were concerned about his meridians and… the possibility of qi deviation," Wangji said, nearly choking on the last part.
He kept his eyes on Wei Ying so as to stave off the image of him bleeding from his eyes and nose and ears and mouth in the mud.
Wen Qing looked almost murderous for a brief moment before her face smoothed.
"They induced a flashback, I'm assuming, to what occurred," she said, somehow managing to keep her voice level and calm. "Not surprising."
"Seeing lotuses on clothing and ornaments, and in food, too," Jiang Yanli offered. "A-Cheng intends to go through Wei Ying's belongings to remove anything including the lotus."
"A-Jie and I ordered clothing from Caiyi to be delivered when it's complete, so he won't have to see lotuses on our robes."
Wei Ying looked surprised, gratitude and denial warring on his face. His eyes flitted to Jiang Wanyin's crown, and Wangji's followed. Instead of his typical silver lotus with amethyst stones that announced his station as Jiang sect heir, he was now wearing a simple unadorned jade guan. Jiang Yanli, who typically wore a lotus hairpin, had replaced it with a golden peony, clearly a courting gift from Jin Zixuan.
"You didn't have to, A-Cheng. It's stupid, just—"
"Is your fear of dogs stupid?" Wen Qing cut in brusquely.
He flinched, and her voice gentled. She sat beside the bed in the chair vacated by Jiang Yanli.
"Wei Wuxian, you've been through a trauma, just as you were when you were on the streets after your parents died. It's not stupid. It's your brain seeking to protect you."
"But they're just flowers," Wei Wuxian muttered.
"They remind you of fighting for your life, just as dogs do," she said. "It's a natural survival response, whether it's rational or not."
Wei Ying looked frustrated but nodded.
"I know you hate it," Wen Qing told him. "Maybe it's a trauma that can be worked through. Same with dogs. The mind healers can help you when you're ready, but it's not easy work."
She reached forward slowly and patted his shoulder, clearly giving him time to acclimate. Wangji knew he also hated that he sometimes panicked if he was touched without warning, as well. They all wished it was easy for him to go back to being relatively carefree.
"I don't need to use my needles to check your meridians for any disruption or damage," Wen Qing said, breaking an uncomfortable silence that had fallen among them. "I may need to if you need treatment, but I'll let you know, okay?"
Wei Ying simply nodded again in acknowledgement, and Wangji realized with a little bit of horror that he had grown accustomed to his quiet. He longed for the chatter and noise that had once accompanied him, but he had spent so much time locked in his own head in the last year, it would probably take more to break him of the habit.
"Lie back and relax," she ordered gently. "And tell me what you've been up to of late, so I can let A-Ning know."
Once Wei Ying was situated, he spoke hesitantly, starting with Wangji writing him a song and feeling like a fog had lifted.
"I don't really remember a lot before that," he said. "It was like I was under… underwater."
His voice broke at the word a little, as though he realized the implication of that word after what he'd suffered at the hands of Madam Yu, and Wen Qing's movement checking his meridians hesitated slightly before she continued.
At first it was just information, but by the time he reached their outing to Caiyi, the details were leaking in to make it a story. The purchase of Tang became a rescue, with perhaps unconscious undertones of Wei Ying's own—unconscious because he didn't seem aware of it, though the Jiang siblings exchanged heavy looks.
He largely skimmed meeting Madam Jin, only commenting that she wanted to let him know she had dissolved her sworn sisterhood. He was taking her request for confidentiality seriously—Wangji didn't know if he had told his siblings, even, though it was possible Jiang Yanli knew from Jin Zixuan.
Wen Qing finished her examination before he was finished, but let him keep going, smiling when she learned of their betrothal, of his ribbon, of the swearing of brotherhood to make true in the eyes of the cultivation world what was already true in the hearts of Jiang Wanyin, Jiang Yanli, and Wei Ying.
She sobered when he recounted returning to his rooms after having his sister's newly-reformulated soup, and finding the lotuses inside.
"And then A-Cheng went to their quarters later," Wei Ying started, then stopped, his jaw tightening, his breathing quickened with distress.
"I heard what occurred," Wen Qing said softly. "You have many people who wish to protect you, Wei Wuxian. Let them."
"Is he… are his meridians okay?" Jiang Yanli asked, the words bursting from her as though she was no longer able to wait.
Wen Qing nodded.
"His pathways and meridians are much better than they were last I examined them. There is no lasting damage."
The last time she had examined him had been shortly before they had undocked from Lotus Pier on the way to Gusu, but she was careful in her wording.
"You had a panic attack last night," she added. "Obviously staying calm and feeling safe is important moving forward, but your meridians and qi were not disrupted."
"Thank you," Wei Ying murmured.
"Take it easy today, though. Doctor's orders. You didn't have a qi deviation, but panic attacks take a lot out of you."
"I—I should greet Wen-zongzhu and thank him, though," Wei Ying said as he sat up, sounding stressed at the very idea.
Wen Qing snorted.
"Nope. You don't need the stress of having to greet anyone—you've had enough of that lately. My uncle understands, and you're not expected to do anything but focus on your recovery."
When he looked like he might argue she frowned at him.
"Wei Wuxian, you aren't to concern yourself with whatever idea of propriety you've got in your head you need to observe. It's largely a bunch of bullshit, anyway. If you want to do anything, take a bit of time and write A-Ning a letter. He really wished he could come see you."
That got a little smile from Wei Ying, likely happy that his friend wanted to hear from him. Wangji resolved to let him use his desk in the jingshi if he was uncomfortable returning to his quarters yet—chaperoned, of course.
"You need to return to a healthier weight," Wen Qing said as she left. "I'll arrange for breakfast to be sent."
They took turns behind the screen dressing in the clothing retrieved the night before. Jiang Yanli insisted on combing Wei Ying's hair, refreshing the citrus scent in it, before she tied his ribbon and arranged his crown with the gentian guan, his red ribbon, and the jade plum blossom hairstick.
The delivery of breakfast was accompanied by Jin Zixuan, who had brought his own tray to join them, and he was welcomed without fanfare in a way that implied he'd been accepted by Jiang Wanyin and Wei Ying. Likely, his honorable and kind conduct yesterday at both the banquet and after the lotus incident had helped matters.
Wangji hoped the day would be quieter and less stressful than the preceding one.
灭族 (mièzú) is "family extermination" and was used as a collective punishment. There's a lot of interesting meta on this in the fandom, regarding the extermination of the Wens not as genocide, but as an idea of retributive justice. There's a wikipedia page on the nine familial exterminations; the children under a certain age would usually have been enslaved rather than killed, but not always (like, it isn't light reading). There have been similar ideas of collective punishment in some Western cultures, as well. Famously, the Nazis used Sippenhaft.
I wanted to explore what might have prevented Wen Ruohan from becoming a megalomaniac at least briefly, and decided on this scenario. Tragedy changed him. I'm largely going with novel canon for this (not that it really matters since it's a no war AU).