When Xuemi's chopsticks clanged on her bowl, the other disciples immediately set down their utensils as well, much to her amusement.

She raised an eyebrow at them. "Not hungry?"

"These disciples are no longer hungry and will not waste Bai-guniang's time." They choroused. Some, she noted with even more amusement, changed it to "These unworthy ones," namely Jingyi, Zizhen and a few others.

My reputation is effective.

"Then I suppose I won't beat around the bush." Xuemi said out loud, rising slowly from her seat. "We heard your argument earlier."

Sizhui froze, suddenly wondering whether or not he overstepped by offhandedly mentioning that perhaps the Yiling Patriarch didn't want to use demonic cultivation to do evil. After all, the Lady of White is known for her righteousness.

But instead, Xuemi turned to the Jin disciple instead.

"Jin Rulan. Will you please explain why you said that the Yiling Patriarch's intentions must be evil."

Jin Ling immediately snapped back, "Don't call me that."

"Why?" Xuemi asked smoothly.

Jin Ling clenched his hand, clearly looking displeased and stood up. "It's a bad name!"

"Do you hate the name, or the one that gave it?"

"Who wouldn't hate a name given by the Yiling Patriarch?" Jin Ling shot back.

Xuemi shook her head in disappointment. "You seem to be unaware that Sandu Shengshou was the one who proposed the idea that Wei Wuxian would give you your name."

"My jiujiu- what?"

The others were similarly shocked at the revelation.

Wenxin nervously laughed. "Um, dad doesn't seem to be one that would associate himself with Wei Wuxian."

"It's the truth." Xuemi said, unfazed. "But back to the topic, how can you be so sure that Wei Wuxian invented the path for evil?"

Jin Ling grew increasingly flustered. "Of course he did! If his intentions were righteous, then he would've stuck with the proper path of cultivation! He wouldn't have murdered those people at Qiongqi road, or defected from the Jiang Sect in its most vulnerable time, or murdered all of those people at Nightless City. You should hate him too, didn't you die at Nightless City the first time?!"

"Jin Ling!" Sizhui admonished.

Xuemi studied his expression. She saw full vindication, and absolute confidence in his words.

There was a moment of silence before Xuemi stated, "You don't know how I died."

Jin Ling was a bit confused. "Didn't you die at Wei Wuxian's hands?"

Sizhui and Qingxue immediately grew pale and both shot up, bowing quickly. "These unworthy ones apologize on behalf of Jin-gongzi for concerning himself in these sensitive matters-"

Xuemi held up a hand and effectively silenced the former. "Sizhui… you know."

Sizhui swallowed. "Yes, Lin-qianbei."

"Inform them. It still pains me to talk about it."

Sizhui looked at her with wide eyes, but saw the hurt twisting her features, so he turned to the rest of the disciples. "Lin-qianbei wasn't killed by the Yiling Patriarch. She had been fighting his resentful energy, yes, but... " Sizhui paused here. He received an encouraging look from his shijie and continued. "She was fighting alongside Zewu-jun. In the midst of battle, Zewu-jun's blade pierced her body and killed her."

Jin Ling sat down abruptly. The Lan disciples tried stifled a gasp and didn't quite succeed. The Jiang twins were shocked, but that also explained why Jiang Wanyin seemed to loathe Zewu-jun.

The air grew silent and the atmosphere felt heavier by the second, suffocating all the cultivators. No one dared to say a word.

"So." Xuemi started again, breaking the uncomfortably long silence. "I do not hold my death against anyone. It was an accident." She stated firmly.

"In regards to the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian indeed wouldn't have given up the conventional form of cultivation if he had a choice."

Wushan and Wenxin narrowed their eyes in perfect unison. The former spoke. "Lin-qianbei, do you mean that Wei Wuxian was forced to give up his cultivation?"

Xuemi nodded. "Not only that. He was thrown into Burial Mounds, which made learning demonic cultivation a necessity to survive. He only ever used his cultivation for the chivalrous spirit."

Jin Ling scowled. "Right, he totally didn't murder overseers, or cause the Bloodbath of Nightless City, or kill my mother and father!"

Xuemi's eyes flashed. "The overseers were murdered because they abused prisoners of war."

"People that deserved to be prisoners." An Ouyang disciple shot back.

Xuemi bore her eyes into that disciple until they shrunk. "Tell me, did the elderly who broke their backs on the farms deserve the whips that scarred them? Tell me, did Wen Ning and Wen Qing deserve to die, even though they were healers and only ever healed, never killed, even though they had their family held hostage by Wen Ruohan?"

Xuemi took a deep breath, and for some reason, looked directly at Sizhui. "Tell me, did a ten-month child deserve to be put in a labour camp?"

Uncomfortable silence stretched out, as the juniors learned the other side of the story.

She wasn't done. "The Bloodbath of Nightless City was not caused by his intention. Although some can argue that he shouldn't have lost control, each human has a breaking point. And Wei Wuxian is still human."

No one could argue with that.

Xuemi turned back to the Jin disciple, and allowed her voice to soften. "Jin Rulan, your father was a good man. He offered to deliver the invitation personally to Wei Wuxian, but disappeared. There is no solid evidence that it was done by him."

Jin Ling sniffed. "He disappeared at Burial Mounds! Who else could it be?"

"Chifeng-zun died at Jinlintai. Do you dare accuse Jin Guangshan of murder?" Xuemi countered.

"As for your mother… Jiang Yanli was no less courageous than your father. She rushed to Nightless City to stop Wei Wuxian from losing control. People say that Wei Wuxian killed her." Xuemi's voice became heavy with grief. "In reality, she died to save him."

Jin Ling's eyes widened, and his head started spinning at all these new facts. He didn't even know what to think of anyone anymore.

The Jin disciple all but ran upstairs to his room, pitying looks following him.

Xuemi smiled at everyone tiredly. "It's been a long day. Get enough rest."

The disciples all stood up and bowed, mumbling many thanks for her teachings, but they were all too exhausted from the jam-packed day.

Jingyi sat in his cot, tossing and turning. The rooms were four each, so he shared with Sizhui, Qingxue (Even though Qingxue was a girl, she was basically Sizhui's sister, so the seniors didn't see anything wrong with the arrangement.) and Zizhen, who all seemed asleep.

Maybe Sizhui wasn't. Jingyi learned from his time rooming with him that Sizhui could be very good at staying still. He wasn't sure about Zizhen, though. Qingxue was almost definitely asleep- she's the perfect model of a Lan.

Another turn, and apparently Sizhui wasn't asleep. "A-Yi, you can't sleep?"

Jingyi sighed, and sat up, even though it was well past hai shi. "A-Yuan," he slipped into using Sizhui's birth name, "can you? I mean, with all that Bai-guniang revealed, I feel like I'm questioning my own existence."

"You're not alone." Zizhen sat up as well. "Father rants often about Wei Wuxian's crimes, but now that Qianbei has revealed the other story, I don't know how to feel."

Sizhui gave a non-committal hum.

"What was that, A-Yuan?"

Blankets shifted as Sizhui finally sat up. "I mean, I've always known that there was a different story to this. Fath- Hanguang-jun often tells me not to see the world in black and white. And I always have this feeling…" Sizhui trailed off.

There was a short silence.

"Are you living up to your name, A-Yuan?" Jingyi teased.

Yuan; Sizhui. To want; to recollect and long for.

"I've always had this feeling." Sizhui repeated. "That Wei Wuxian wasn't what the world condemned him to be."

Zizhen seemed to shrug. Jingyi couldn't tell; his outline was barely visible in the dark. "Well, I do feel like I should give more thought to this, but it's not easy, since the very foundations of our teachings are being questioned."

"But that doesn't mean we shouldn't." Jingyi could almost hear the frown in Sizhui's tone.

"Mn?"

Ah. So Qingxue wasn't asleep.

"Qingxue-jie, I don't know."

"Sizhui." Zizhen pointedly said. "Not everyone speaks Qingxue as fluently as you do."

There was a light laugh. "She was asking about the others. There are definitely many others that knew the truth, so why didn't they say anything?"

Jingyi stared at Sizhui's outline thoughtfully. "The other sects were weak at the time. It made it easy for Sect Leader Jin to assert his dominance."

He was fairly sure that Zizhen scowled. "That's despicable. Taking advantage of the other sects' weaknesses."

"Mn."

"She agreed. But she also said Talking behind others' backs is forbidden." Sizhui provided helpfully.

"Mn." There was a tone of admonishment that even Jingyi could detect now.

"Let me guess. It's well past hai shi and we should sleep."

Sizhui chuckled. "Yes."

There was slight creaking as Sizhui lay down. "Leave the questions for tomorrow, guys. Thinking is easier on sleep."

Zizhen mumbled his agreement, already tired.

Jingyi, however, would stare at the ceiling until zi shi, before he would be able to drift away.

The rooms were in four, but since Jin Ling was irritable, only Wenxin and Wushan wanted to share with him.

As it stood, they were having an extensive discussion.

"I always thought that Wei Wuxian had reasons for defecting from the Jiang clan. I mean, he had it all- two loving siblings, the head disciple position, a strong golden core. If he were forced to take up demonic cultivation… doesn't that mean that he was wronged this whole time?" Wenxin mused.

The twins were giving it much thought, evidently, but Jin Ling didn't want to. And so, he stayed still, hoping that the two of them would believe him to be asleep, even though his candle was obviously lit.

It didn't work.

"A-Ling, come on. If Aunt died to save Wei Wuxian, and he really didn't murder Jin Zixuan, then you don't have any reason to hate him." Wushan said.

Jin Ling sat up, giving up. "Then who killed my father? Who else could it be? His name was already sullied by the time father went to give him the invitation- would the others really need to frame him further?" Jin Ling grumbled. "It doesn't make sense. Grandfather isn't that bad."

The twins shared a look.

Wushan started fiddling with a tassel at his belt. "Mother used to tell us stories of the time when she was in Burial Mounds." In the cultivation world, only four people knew of Qing-furen's identity, and three were in the room at that moment. "She said that he was selfless, and that he often didn't eat much to give the others the food they needed."

Half-Wens, Jin Ling could tolerate, but not when they were garnering pity. "She's biased." Jin Ling snorted.

Wenxing frowned, uncharacteristically quiet. He began playing with the tassel on his belt, identical to the one on his brother's. "Mother told us… stories." His voice was pained. "Often, she would tell us of the barbaric treatment of war prisoners. And she told us of that child mentioned earlier… she said that he would've been our age if he had survived."

And at this moment, Jin Ling knew where they were coming from, because treating a ten-month baby the way they treated enemy cultivators is beyond cruel.

Wushan swallowed. "Mother loved father. Despite everything."

This was news to Jin Ling.

"B-But I thought that jiujiu only married her to protect her!"

"No." Wenxin said softly. "Mother loved father. Father just didn't love mother. He continued to pine after Lin-qianbei."

Silence stretched between them.

"We don't blame her." Wenxin added quickly. "It's not her fault that father loved her, and she's so obviously infatuated with Zewu-Jun. And despite everything, we are still father's sons, and he treats us as such."

"Yeah." Wushan agreed.

Another loud silence passed.

Jin Ling sighed. "I guess I can forgive the Wen remnants. They were wronged, but… It's not easy to just forgive someone you've been taught to hate for sixteen years."

A pause.

Wushan blew out his candle silently and lay down, presumably to sleep. His twin did the same, prompting Jin Ling to darken the room completely.

As the twins' breathing evened out, Jin Ling stared up at the ceiling. Shifting in his bed, he lay awake for a long time before his breathing finally fell into rhythm with his two roommates.

The next day, everyone was sleep deprived.

The Lans didn't get much sleep, and since their internal clock woke them up at mao shi, they couldn't get more.

Ouyang Zizhen was woken with his companions, so he was quite disgruntled as well.

The other disciples woke up later, and some of them left. However, the important sect members went with the four seniors to the upcoming discussion conference.

Xuemi would much rather not be at Jinlintai, and Xichen saw her discomfort. He offered to let her leave, but she resolutely said that they would need to announce her return at some point. So, half of their company masked their face. One in a mask, one in a veil.

As courtesy required him to do so, Jin Guangshan stood proudly at the top of the steps at Carp Tower, Jin Zixun smirking beside him.

She exchanged a nervous look with Wangji before the four of them walked up the steps.

Sadly, Jin Guangshan saw them as soon as they came up.

Swiftly, the Sect Leader and Heir moved to block their path, disguising it behind a bow.

The four of them bowed in reply. "Your Excellency."

Jin Guangshan smiled, but there was no mirth. He turned immediately to the veiled lady in red. "Xue-guniang, I was surprised to hear that you had left so abruptly last time. Was our hospitality not suitable?"

Right, he doesn't know who I am.

She dropped into another bow. "This unworthy one-" she saw Xichen bristle at her calling herself "unworthy one," but she didn't comment "-regrets that there was a matter that required this unworthy one's immediate attention. As Sect Leader Jin was busy with sect matters, this disciple chose not to interrupt."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Which matters, if I may be so forward, required your attention more than a sect leader's hospitality?"

Xuemi smirked inwardly. "Perhaps Sect Leader Jin has heard of the unusual spikes of resentful energy in Yi City."

Jin Guangshan's whole frame tensed. However, his poker face quickly came back in the form of another diplomatic smile. "Surely, the resentful energy could have been handled by the Second Jade of Lan, who, I recall, was with you until he left."

Xuemi smiled faintly as well, though her veil hid it. "Surely, Sect Leader Jin, us cultivators should stick to our morals, and help, even when matters seem to be handled. In fact, the case was particularly strange. I regret to inform you that Daozhang Xiao Xingchen's body had been found in Yi City, as well as one other."

The Jin Sect Leader feigned indifference. "Whose body, may I ask?"

"No one of consequence to you, Sect Leader Jin." She bowed the third and last time. (If she was imagining the bows with Xichen doing them with her, in robes as red as hers, she will never admit it.) "This one will no longer occupy any more of Sect Leader Jin's time, and will make her way to the hall."

The four of them quickly escaped, Wei Wuxian uncomfortable beneath Jin Zixun's stare, Xichen and Wangji restraining themselves from shooting scathing looks at the Chief Cultivator, and Xuemi being as composed as always, gracefully gliding up the steps to the tower.

(If Lan Xichen believed that the robes of red are beautiful and that she would look lovely in wedding robes of the same colour, he will never admit it either.)