He hadn't expected to wake up, to be completely honest. The pain coursing through his body has been so intense, so all-consuming, he thought his soul had burned up from the inside. So when his vision focuses on the wood beams above him, confusion is next in line.
There are two figures standing beside his bed. Both are dressed in dark robes, one with accents of silver, the other of blue. Their conversation is quiet and hushed, mentioning words that Wangji thinks might be resentful energy, core recovery.
His core thrashes against the edge of his ribcage and a muffled cry of pain escapes his lips as its tendrils scrape inside his chest. Instantly, the attention is drawn to him in an uncomfortable, hot sort of way.
It is Xichen who is dressed in the blue-accented dark robes that make him look more Nie than Lan, leaning towards his brother's face. "Wangji, how do you feel?"
He can't form words to respond, the air is too stifling and thick, choking him. Another voice speaks up in his place, "He is likely delirious. The fever is still quite high while his core settles."
Xiongzhang's voice is gentle, "Go back to sleep, xiongdi. It will be alright."
Sleep tugs wearily on his aching and delirious body. Who is he to deny such an earnest request?
The next time he wakes, there are no dark robes standing guard, no tender words from brother to brother. Just the same beams on the ceiling and a bodily ache that screams of tension.
"Hanguang-jun, I thought I told you to stay away from here for a few days." The doctor laughs lightly next to him. A tremor rattles down his body and the man's brows knit in concern. "How do you feel?"
He grits his teeth against the ache of his muscles, "Cold."
"Hmm. May I examine your core?"
"Mn."
Warm fingers encircle his wrist and despite everything, he still tenses up. Tie-daifu forges ahead anyways.
"Your core is intact but damaged. There's leftover resentful energy in your system that needs to be cleansed, but your core will heal completely fine. Zewu-jun is also a musical cultivator, correct?"
"Yes."
"Have him play one of your clan's fancy healing compositions while you flood your system with qi. It should clear up any residual energy, diluting it enough to let your core heal. And then you will need to rest for a day so you can heal. Do you want me to call for Lan-zongzhu to take you to your quarters? You'd rest better in your own bed and then you're not using up one of mine."
He doesn't want to bother his brother any more than he surely already has. But as he pushes himself upright, he realises just how lightheaded he is. The doctor doesn't need to ask again and steps away to have a servant fetch the man.
The Twin Jades stumble back to Wangji's quarters, thankful for the midday meal bell keeping corridors relatively empty. It reminded him too much of a broken leg, a burning home, and an infinite darkness.
His older brother's fingers dance across the top of the qin as memories flood Wangji's head of a younger Xichen, with fingertips already calloused, combing through his hair. He drops his gaze to his own hands, held aloft and hazy with blue energy as they focus the notes of Clarity to soothe his core that still lashes out painfully against the remaining resentful energy.
"It was Wei-gongzi, wasn't it." It's not a question. Wangji looks up sharply and his qi stutters at the interruption but Xichen remains looking down at the instrument. "Do not fear, I won't speak to anyone. But, xiongdi, I must warn you: he is dangerous. He is not the man you want to believe he is - at least not at this moment." The man quickly adds as his younger brother opens his mouth to defend his friend.
"How did you know?"
"Last time I checked, no one at Lotus Pier except you wears white… Where was he?"
"I do not know. He will not tell me, it is too painful for him. But the resentful energy is strong."
"What can we do?"
Confusion flares in the air as he reads no judgement in his brother's question, "Xiongzhang? You are going to help?"
"There is still time for him to return. Give up the dark path."
Wangji pauses, silently questioning the offer. There is no guarantee Wei Ying would give up resentful energy. He had seen firsthand how distressed the man had become at the prospect before. And Xichen does not know Wei Ying is without a core. That knowledge would surely complicate things. As much as Wangji wants the support of his brother, the man's gentle guidance in this, he must not be involved.
"Wei Ying is very reserved about this matter. I'm afraid your involvement would be more destructive than helpful."
Xichen's face crumples for just a moment before he nods. "I understand. I would like to be of help anyways. Let me know if you need help, xiongdi. This is not something one should take on alone. But I will not force myself upon the situation."
"Jiang-zongzhu, where is your head disciple? Where is Wei Wuxian? Should he not be part of this conversation?" Jin Guangshan's voice is cantankerous as it echoes in the hall, "he allowed an intruder into the compound on his watch. You have the leaders of the four great sects here, if you cannot assure our security, I will be leaving."
"Wei Wuxian is currently occupied. He is… conducting security tests of our boundary walls. I assure you, all of you are safe in Lotus Pier."
Jiang Wanyin glances over to Lan Xichen who is standing off to the side, silent. The other man's eyes stare right through the lie but he does not mention it, thankfully. From here, it's striking just how similar and yet different the man is to his younger brother. They share a few facial features but their eyes are worlds away from each other. Xichen's are sharp, not as a knife but as a cup of bitter tea or the heat of a too-close candle. Deeply soothing and effortlessly dangerous all the same. His brother's… well, his brother's are just cold and calculating. Scraping the surface only yields you layer upon layer of stone, there's no hidden warmth. And yet somehow, Wuxian sees something in them. Ugh, gross.
He leaves the hall first, the other clan members clamouring out behind him. Somehow his feet lead him to the ancestral hall, the lotus doors pulled open in the watery light after a storm, but he doesn't enter. No, the lies on his tongue are too fresh and impure for him to enter such a sacred space. So he hovers there, foot raised near the threshold, wishing his father would just appear and tell him the right thing to do.
"Jiang-zongzhu, are you alright?" A spectre of blue has stepped up beside him.
"Thank you for your concern, Zewu-jun but I am quite alright."
"I think we have been through enough to at least call each other by name rather than title." the man laughs, "Xichen please, or Lan-xiong if you prefer."
"Wanyin, then… Xichen." He bites out between gritted teeth.
"I do not wish to intrude on the private affairs of your clan, but do you have any intention of providing sanctuary to Wei-gongzi at Lotus Pier?"
"Why? So you can reveal to the entire jianghu that we are harbouring a murderer?"
Xichen's face twitches in confusion and ice water rushes through Jiang Wanyin's veins. He only knows about the attack not the murders, he doesn't know about the murders, he doesn't know about the murders. "At least, that is what everyone believes."
"No. I wish to bring him to Cloud Recesses, to heal."
"Funny, your brother suggested something nearly identical."
Xichen smiles one of those dangerously charming smiles and looks up at the washed-out sky, "Wangji cares deeply about Wei-gongzi. I cannot say I am surprised to hear that he offered such a thing."
"It seems that you too care a great deal about my brother."
"I often find myself at odds with the opinions of the other clans. I do not feel that Wei-gongzi is the heretic they make him out to be. He is in trouble, yes, but he is a good man."
The evening gong chimes in the distance, echoing across the canals of the compound.
"Ah, please excuse me Wanyin. I promised I would take my dinner with Wangji tonight." He bows and steps away.
Maybe the two brothers aren't so different after all.
Xichen nudges the door to the room open with his foot, a tray of dishes in his arms. Wangji is sitting on the bed, fully dressed with his guqin on his lap. "I do not recognise this piece, xiongdi. A new composition?"
"Yes."
"It is strong, you could use it as a cultivation piece."
"It already has power, in a way." He doesn't elaborate, returning the guqin to its pouch and joining the man at the table.
"I brought dinner. Or at least, I believe it's dinner." Xichen frowns at the unusual ingredients in the bowls. "The kitchen staff assured me that the dishes aren't spicy but I'm afraid I don't know what's in them."
"That is lotus root. And those are silver ear mushrooms. They don't grow in the mountains."
"I see my brother has grown to be quite a connoisseur of Yunmeng foods."
"I have spent time with Jiang-guniang in the kitchens. I have discovered chopping vegetables can be quite… meditative."
The mirth in his older brother's eyes stays for a little longer this time, just a little closer to normalcy. By the time the dishes are empty, Wangji has summoned enough courage in his throat to force out the question he has practised in his head all day.
"Xiongzhang, I do not know how much you know about… the situation, but I believe that Wei Ying is still in Lotus Pier. I was wrong when I said your help would be destructive. I have thought about it and I now believe you can help him. Would you come with me to see him?"
"Perhaps someday you can tell me how he won over your heart so fiercely." Xichen teases lightly before turning serious, "Of course, Wangji. I only want what is best for the both of you."
His brother guides him silently through a series of twisting walkways, deep into the private sections of the compound until they reach the farthest wing.
Wangji addresses the darkened room beyond the door, "Wei Ying, please don't run away. Not again."
There's a pause so long Xichen is sure the room is truly empty but then, "Lan Zhan, don't come in, I don't want to hurt you. Please, just let me go."
"I can't, Wei Ying. I can't let you go." He slides the door open and then shuts it behind him, leaving his brother outside.
With a superfluous use of qi, Wangji lights the candles inside and a warm glow illuminates them. The other man is hunched, trying desperately to stay in the irregular shadows.
"I can't let you go. You consume me, Wei Ying. What you're doing to yourself terrifies me because the you I bowed with in the Cold Pond Cave, is further away than ever. I can't let you go but I will go with you anywhere."
Wei Ying looks stricken and stumbles a step backwards, knocking a metal stand to the floor with a clatter.
"Wangji, are you alright?" Xichen's voice is uncertain as he darts in, pulling Shuoye from its sheath first rather than Liebing, subconscious thoughts about Wei Wuxian's cultivation making him afraid. He knows the man is not of his right mind but he had seen Wangji screaming in the courtyard and it had looked so much like qi deviation that he believed he was about to witness his brother torn apart. Whether or not Wei-gongzi had intended to, harm had come to Wangji; and Xichen would die on his own blade first before any more harm befell his brother.
Wei Wuxian's eyes catch sight of the sword and he bolts for the back garden. Shaking hands struggle to open the door and there's a sharp inhale of breath from both sides of the room as the delicately-painted paper rips.
Xichen immediately sheathes the sword, "Wei-gongzi, wait! I mean you no harm."
Fearful is something very few have ever looked when they see Xichen. He prides himself on presenting a face that portrays benevolence. But looking at Wei-gongzi, one trembling hand clutched around that dark flute, he feels a grotesque swell toss in his stomach.
Wangji's voice is higher than normal, agony twisting his deep timbre into something wicked and wrong. "Wei Ying, please. Xiongzhang will not hurt you or turn you in. He wants to help."
"I know this isn't you, Wei-gongzi. I know this isn't the mischievous, perceptive boy I met in Cloud Recesses. And I know you can't control it, not in the way you probably once could. It is consuming you and I cannot sit idly by while that happens. It is unfair to you, and to Wangji." He turns to look at his brother with this last phrase and sees the younger man staring at him as if Xichen holds the entirety of Wangji's universe in his hands. It is a level of understanding so deep, it is flesh and blood.
"Wei Ying, I thought we could handle this alone. I thought you and I would be fine but I overlooked so much of what you faced. And I still don't know what you faced, not completely, but it is so much deeper. Come back to Cloud Recesses with me, I will keep you safe. You have my promise, Wei Ying, as your best friend, as your zhiji, as whatever we are, that you will not be harmed." It is more words than Wei Ying has ever heard the man speak but it is so full of fear that tangles itself between each character that he can't find the heart to tease him about it.
Wei Ying's eyes drop to the ground, the gravity of all that had been revealed like a stone in his chest. "...can I bring chilli oil?"
"Yes, of course. Wei Ying can have as much as he likes." Anxiety oozes free from Wangji like a wound left to bleed.
"Okay… okay. I'll go." There's hope in Wei Ying's eyes, real and tender, and the breath that leaves Wangji's lungs is the clearest he has felt in a long time.