Xichen found himself scanning the crowd at the Discussion Conference in Qishan.
He normally wouldn't have felt overly-concerned with trying to find someone outside of his Sect – except, of course, for Mingjue; but Mingjue was never a difficult man to find in a crowd; his best friend was by no means subtle, silent, or inconspicuous – however Jiang-guniang had mentioned in her last letter that she intended to be present.
They had written to one another often over the past year.
The old suspicion he'd held regarding the probability of a good friendship forming between them, given the opportunity, had borne fruit.
Her letters had been a source of much pleasure for him; they provided him with a sense of easy going, pleasant companionship with someone who possessed a quick, clever mind and a delightful wit.
The opportunity to discuss his less martially-focused interests with a friend was quite welcome, and she never shied away from engaging with him when he found himself delving a bit further into philosophical and theoretical discussions than most of his other acquaintances cared for.
Her questions were logical, insightful, and often helpful in making him consider previously unnoticed points of consideration.
When she gave advice, he invariably found it useful; even wise. Even though he did not always take her advice, he found it prompted him to think about problems from a different angle; to recognise aspects of issues he had been unaware of, or to see details which he'd previously overlooked.
So when she wrote to him and told him she had decided to attend the conference, he found himself quite eager to meet with her again and finally have the opportunity to speak with her face-to-face.
He saw her waving to her brothers, and found himself feeling oddly breathless at the sight.
She had grown up quite a bit since he'd last seen her, and despite the distance between their current positions he could tell that the pretty little girl he remembered had become a beauty.
It was strange; even though he'd known, intellectually, that Jiang-guniang was a young woman nearly grown. Yet subconsciously, he'd still been thinking of her as a child.
The five years that had passed since the last Discussion Conference held at Lotus Pier had changed her; but he did not find the change in her to be in any way unpleasant. Just unexpected.
It occurred to him then that she was not much younger than he himself was, and that the difference between sixteen-almost-seventeen and nineteen did not feel nearly as much of an obstacle as the distance between eleven-almost-twelve and fourteen.
He shook his head, puzzled at the direction of his thoughts.
It was only natural that his friend had changed over the years; after all, they had both grown up since then. The fact that his mind seemed determined to fixate on unimportant and obvious details he was already aware of was quite odd.
Refocusing on the members of his Sect, he turned his attention back to his duties, pushing thoughts of Jiang-guniang to the back of his mind for after the day's competition had ended.
If his thoughts returned to her from time to time as he competed, wondering if she was watching him, what she thought of his performance; that was fine. He'd never really had anyone before who would watch him compete without wanting to offer him a critique afterwards. So it was a bit novel.
It made sense that he would care about her opinion.
And he was swiftly distracted from worrying about it, anyway; there was an incident with Wei Wuxian pulling off Wangji's forehead ribbon, and his poor didi was over-wrought.
Did Wei Wuxian remember the significance of the Lan forehead ribbons?
He wondered about it. Doubtless, Jiang-guniang would know.
As the older sister of the boy in question, she was certainly more of an authority on Wei Wuxian in general – and likely his thoughts and feelings regarding Wangji, at that - than Xichen himself.
He would have to speak with her about it later.
If it turned out that there was a chance of his poor didi's not-entirely-platonic feelings towards his friend were returned?
Well then; it was practically Xichen's duty as an older brother to help secure Wangji's happiness.
Learning that he placed second in the archery competition shouldn't have been disappointing; he had to chastise himself that losing to her little brother was in no way letting Jiang-guniang down.
She may have cheered for him at some point, but the ones she was truly eager to see triumph in the competition were her little brothers; Wei Wuxian's victory would therefore undoubtedly please her.
And second place out of all the cultivator under the age of twenty was quite an impressive accomplishment as it was.
There was no reason for him to be unhappy with himself for that.
And it wasn't like he was competing for Jiang-guniang's sake, anyway; if there was anything to be unhappy about, it was the odd musings and strange tangents that kept drifting through his mind!
He really needed to get a handle on the aberrant twists and turns of his thoughts today.
"Congratulations on the competition," called a gentle voice. It came from behind him, and when he turned around his eyes widened as he caught sight of the one who'd addressed him.
A pulse of excitement rushed through him as he found himself standing in front of his friend. His smile widened abruptly, and he had to stop himself from grinning outright.
"Jiang-guniang," he greeted her. "I hope you enjoyed it."
"Lan-gongzi was certainly impressive," she replied.
Xichen found himself feeling oddly captivated by the sweet shape of her mouth as she smiled.
It was quite odd; after all, it was just a mouth; everyone had one. Yet for some reason at this moment he felt arrested by the pleasing shape and pink colour of hers, the curve of her lips… He wondered if they felt as soft as they looked.
He blinked, and forcibly redirected his gaze to meet her eyes. Which were also quite distracting.
But they were at least a suitable place to stare.
"Thank you," he said, his voice coming out slightly lower than he meant it to. "But please; call me Xichen."
She flushed very prettily; and his eyes followed the startlingly lovely flow of red that spilled across her delicate cheekbones and down her elegant neck without any permission from his brain.
Internally shaking himself, he found he had to exert an unexpectedly stronger than normal effort of will to make himself refocus before his lapse could be noticed.
"Then you must also call me Yanli," she offered in return.
He felt unusually thrilled at the thought.
"Yanli, then," he agreed somewhat breathlessly.
"It's good to see you again, Xichen," she told him, sounding oddly shy.
Hearing his name from her lips made him swallow, a shiver running through him at the sound of it in her voice.
Curious, how he'd never reacted to hearing his own name spoken this way before. Yet the thought of hearing her call him by it again made butterflies swim through his stomach. He tried very hard not to let on just how very much he liked the idea.
"It's good to see you again, as well," he assured her.
He tore his eyes away from her after a moment of staring, where he grew increasingly panicked by the odd blankness in his thoughts that prevented him from speaking.
Fixing his eyes on a distant point above the crowd, he finally recalled something he wanted to ask her about.
"Do you know if Wei Wuxian happens to remember the meaning of the Lan forehead ribbon?"
As he focused on the topic he wished to discuss, he found himself calming down considerably. Which was good. After all, Wangji's happiness was on the line!
With that motivation in mind, he was finally able to speak to Jiang-guniang – Yanli – normally. It was quite a relief to feel less out of control; he honestly hadn't the faintest idea what was going on.
Yes, it truly was all very odd.
A/N: In case it wasn't clear - JYL is almost (ie: will be in less than a month) seventeen, and LXC is nineteen. I'm placing them at a little more than two years apart (something like twenty-seven months).
JYL in this is eleven months older than JC, and nine months older than WWX. She's four-five months older than LWJ.
I'll break down the rest of the ages for the characters in this and do an actual timetable later.
ALSO:
I will be posting the second part of this fic side-by-side with this; telling the story from JYL's POV. It's called, "Like Flowers Blooming" and is quite popular on the archive which we own.