At some point, it had started raining. The sound on the rooftop would normally lull him back to sleep, but the only thing he could hear at the moment was-

I would have done anything for you to live …

Jiang Cheng sucked in a sharp breath.

The words pierced him like Wen Qing's needles must have.

Wasn't… wasn't that his own thought when he'd led the Wens away from Wei Wuxian? It didn't matter what happened to him, he'd just needed Wei Wuxian to live. He had fully expected to die that day. All he knew was that he wouldn't.. couldn't let them take Wei Wuxian. And now… now he couldn't ever tell him about that. He wouldn't.

Because it would break Wei Wuxian's heart.

If he ever found out that he was the reason for Jiang Cheng being tortured and losing his core….

No.

Wei Wuxian would never know. Better to let him think he went back for his parents' bodies to be filial. He wouldn't blame himself then. And of all the things Jiang Cheng blamed him for and wanted him to acknowledge and apologise for… that was definitely not one of them.

Stupid he wanted to say. And did you ever think about what you would do afterwards? How would you have explained to me where your cultivation went? If you hadn't been caught and thrown into the burial mounds, you would have had no demonic cultivation to fall back on. What would you have done then? He wanted to shake Wei Wuxian for his complete lack of thought about himself. It was always this way with him. Playing the hero for everyone, not caring about the consequences. Not caring about himself and what could happen to him.

But how could he? How could he when he did the same? How could he when they felt the same way?

He cradled the back of Wei Wuxian's head for a second then pulled him away from where he was tucked into Jiang Cheng's neck to make him face him. His eyes were red and swollen from all the crying, tears still sporadically making their way down his face.

Jiang Cheng exhaled tiredly, leaning his forehead against Wei Wuxian's and closing his eyes tightly.

"You..." he said weakly. His own eyes were starting to well up.

"I know you're angry with me," Wei Wuxian mumbled wetly, "I don't blame you."

He wanted to hide his face again but Jiang Cheng's hand was on his nape, keeping him right where he was.

"I'm not sorry for doing it," he said in a fit of bravery, "It was the only way I found to help you. But I'm sorry that you didn't hear about it from me. I just… I didn't want to hurt you."
"A-Cheng," he said brokenly, "I'm sorry I hurt you." He felt Jiang Cheng's hand tremble and he raised his own hands to cup his shidi's cheeks, once again wiping tears from it.

His voice was soft and melancholic. "For all the times I hurt you. I'm sorry. It was the last thing I wanted to do. And if you had to find out about the core it should have been from me. It wasn't Wen Ning's place to say it. I should have told you myself."

Jiang Cheng barely contained a whimper. He couldn't open his eyes to meet Wei Wuxian's or he would surely break down too. They'd never talked to each other like this before…they'd never even addressed each other so familiarly (both would rather say it to Yanli than to each other's faces). But it felt necessary. It felt right . After everything they'd been through, didn't they deserve to have someone to be familiar with? The only one he had left in the world was Jin Ling. And who did Wei Wuxian have? A displaced soul and a donkey? It felt wrong that Wei Wuxian, who'd been the life of every place he'd ever been to, should be left to travel the world all alone.

"A-Xian…" he whispered hoarsely.

At Wei Wuxian's surprised intake of breath, he finally opened his eyes. Wei Wuxian's eyes were blown wide and he looked amazed and astounded at the same time.

"A-Xian…" he slowly raised his hand to rest it on top of the one Wei Wuxian still had on his cheek.

"I'm sorry too."

Wei Wuxian made a strangled noise.

"I should have done more. Something. Anything..." he started, but Wei Wuxian covered his mouth with his free hand and spoke before he could get annoyed.

"No," Wei Wuxian shook his head, a stern look replacing the previous shock. Removing his hand before Jiang Cheng could pull a teenaged Wei Wuxian's move of licking the offending limb, he continued, "I never wanted to drag the sect down with me. You couldn't have done anything to help without ruining everything that you'd worked so hard to build up to that point. You know I'm right."
"A-Cheng, I gave up my core because I wanted to see you succeed. How could I drag the sect through the mud when you were just starting to be acknowledged? You might have been able to protect me but you couldn't protect them. And I needed to protect them. I owed them for helping me. The sect was in a precarious position. You couldn't have helped. It was true then and it's even more so now that we know what the Jins were up to; even if I had gone home with you and abandoned them, it was only a matter of time before they'd have found some pretext to get to me or the sect for the seal anyway. You said..." he paused, sorrow lining his face again, "You said that I should accept that...that… you and shijie chose to… to jump… to p..protect me." He still couldn't quite get those words out fully.

"Well I chose to protect the sect in the only way I knew how. By not dragging you down with me. I've never blamed you for putting the sect first. It was your duty. I wanted you to do it. I pushed you away so you could focus on the sect."

Jiang Cheng frowned. "Fine. I won't apologise for that then. But I... You know I tried to protect you. But you said you didn't need anyone to speak for you. And you wouldn't leave them. Now I know why."

He shifted his gaze to look at a point over Wei Wuxian's shoulder rather than directly into his eyes. This was too much vulnerability for him already. "So regardless, I'm sorry. I wish I could have protected you."

Wei Wuxian's heart swelled with a light feeling. It felt like a weight he didn't even know he was carrying was being lifted from his chest. He was indeed the one who wanted the Jiang Sect to denounce him so they wouldn't get the backlash from his actions. He did tell Jiang Cheng he didn't need him to protect him. But being free of the seal's influence and in a relatively stable state of mind now…. He was happy that Jiang Cheng wanted to. That he'd tried.

"You said it wasn't Wen Ning's place to tell me and it wasn't. But I needed to know. After the war I thought you didn't care anymore. You were always drinking and playing around instead of being by my side for meetings or anything else. You idiot, why didn't you come up with a better lie huh?" He actually grasped Wei Wuxian's shoulders this time but didn't quite manage to shake him. His reddened eyes watered and Wei Wuxian was about to apologise again but Jiang Cheng cut him off before he could, in a thin agonised voice. "You could have said that... Why didn't you at least blame the Core-Melting Hand? It would have made sense. You could have said something ...anything! You let me think you were fine and playing the fool. Of all people, don't you think I would have understood what it was like without one?" His voice had gotten close to a whisper.

Wei Wuxian gave a mirthless laugh. "And if I had, wouldn't you have wanted to take me back to Baoshan Sanren? And if I'd said it was one chance only to get it restored then wouldn't you have felt terrible that you used it up? How could I say it to you without hurting you A-Cheng?"

"So what if I would have felt bad!? At least I would have known that you were hurt, you fool!" he burst out, "And when you wanted to pretend to defect, I wouldn't have stabbed you like that! You always pretend everything is fine up until it very obviously isn't. But by then it's often too late to turn back. I didn't believe Jin Guangshan's blatant lies about all those supposedly innocent Jin cultivators you had Wen Ning kill in Jinlin Tai. It was fairly obvious after they ambushed you in the first place that it was a set-up. You wouldn't have done anything like that without a reason."

"But when A-Jie died... I blamed you. You said you could control the demonic cultivation and then you didn't. You lost control and A-jie was dead, struck down first by one of your corpses and finished by someone who wanted revenge on you. I was so angry with you. Then some barmy old Sect Leader openly blamed you for A-Die and A-Niang and A-Jie's deaths right next to that insufferable Sect Leader Yao who didn't even care that the boy you killed had just murdered A-Jie. Let go of him my ass. If you hadn't killed him I would have. But then you lost it totally and killed hundreds of people. And the mob looked to me; everyone expected me to go with Jin Guangshan to lead the charge. Who else was wronged by you more than the Jiang and Jin they asked?" his voice cracked, "What was I supposed to do? Tell me. What should I have done?"

And that more than anything reminded him of the last time he saw his friends. He hadn't had any memory of reaching back to the Demon Slaughtering Cave after he accidentally killed his shijie's husband… but he distinctly remembers the feeling of pure devastation when he came to himself. What am I supposed to do now? he had cried. And Wen Ning and Wen Qing had answered him by taking the initiative...they'd paralysed him and walked straight to their deaths.

What should I do?

He remembered the feeling well. The hopelessness. The hysteria.

He had gone on to Nightless City and there his shijie had died and the last shred of sanity he'd been clinging to at that point was gone... he had started a massacre because if it was a monster they wanted it was a monster they'd get.

He was so far gone he'd had no idea how he made it out of the battle unscathed (until Zewu-Jun clued him in).

What should I have done? Jiang Cheng was asking him. He knew what Jiang Cheng did do. Or partially at least. Jiang Cheng and the others had stormed into the Burial Mounds… Well he remembered nothing but the pain of being ripped apart. He couldn't say who killed who though by the end all the Wens were dead, all he knew was that his shidi's face was the last thing he saw before being engulfed by his own corpses. So what should Jiang Cheng have done other than to go after the man everyone thought responsible for Yunmeng Jiang's problems? What should he have done as the last Jiang standing?

Nothing. There was nothing he could do but go along the path that destiny set for them. He had to keep his sect safe and avenge his sister. In his grief, what could he really have done? Because what Wei Wuxian did in his grief, he regretted bitterly till this day. And so did Jiang Cheng it seemed, whose tears were being freely shed and who was looking at him with an expression of desolation that pained him to see.

"There was nothing different you could do shidi. But it's okay,"Wei Wuxian said, "I've never blamed you for it. It was my fault."

"No! It wasn't!"

"A-Xian. It wasn't your fault. Not all of it. You certainly didn't help matters but the blame can't lie solely on your head. Didn't you say you wouldn't shoulder what you didn't do? So why are you taking responsibility for everything again?"

Wei Wuxian couldn't believe Jiang Cheng remembered what he'd said at the second siege. (Jiang Cheng would scoff at him if he knew... He was the one with the bad memory. When did Jiang Cheng ever forget things that Wei Wuxian said?)

Jiang Cheng had told him that it was difficult to save someone but there were a thousand ways to hurt them. In the end he was proven right wasn't he? He wished he wasn't but he was. Wei Wuxian had never listened to him (though now he understood why he didn't in this instance). They'd all paid the price.

Jiang Cheng laughed, sounding just on the edge of hysterical, "The cultivation world is always looking for a scapegoat. It just happened to be you then. Now it's Jin Guangyao… look how quick they were to turn against him. They're waiting to pounce on anyone who steps out of line again."

Well that was a conclusion he'd come to himself actually. He hadn't liked how quick they were to believe the worst of a man they'd lauded up till that point. He had been the one to have to question why the women bothered to come forward only then. They'd been so quick to latch on to tales of Jin Guangyao's degeneracy. The cultivation world was always just waiting for an opportunity to bring him down. Though Jiang Cheng had spent a long time questioning the women before bringing them to talk to the assembly, so at least his shidi hadn't just taken their word for it. But then, Jiang Cheng would have been well aware of how insidious rumours were, especially with no proof. The rest of them didn't care. They hadn't been affected after all.

Wei Wuxian sighed, "Well, now that Nie Huaisang is Chief Cultivator we can only hope he'll stop anything like that again before it gets too far. That man's information network must be amazing."

Jiang Cheng shook his head and said self-deprecatingly, "I never imagined that Nie Huaisang would be the one to figure out everything. I was so blind. And Jin Ling was in that man's care for so long. He was close to him. Lianfang-Zun's betrayal broke his heart."

"Oh shidi, you couldn't have known. How would you? He was an expert at manipulation. Even I would never have suspected Jin Guangyao of all of this if it wasn't for Huaisang's machinations."

Jiang Cheng was silent for a moment, his eyes roaming over Wei Wuxian's face. Wei Wuxian wondered what he was seeing.

"Was…" he raised his hand after a moment and tentatively touched Wei Wuxian's face, "Do you think he planned for Mo Xuanyu to sacrifice his body to bring you back?" He was running a thumb over that unfamiliar face, knowing that the soul belonged to Wei Wuxian, but wondering about Mo Xuanyu, who had sacrificed his life for it to happen.

Wei Wuxian frowned slightly. "That I don't know. I can only surmise that Mo Xuanyu found the ritual and planned to do it. Whether Huaisang pushed him into it or simply gave him advice... I can't say for sure. But what I can say is that Huaisang knew he would do it. Because Nie Mingjue's arm was let loose on the same night and made its way to Mo Manor. Regardless of whether he had a hand in it or not, he certainly made use of the opportunity."

"I want to be mad at him," Jiang Cheng said sadly, "He knew everything yet he let Jin Guangyao get away with it for years. He wanted to completely ruin his reputation rather than just getting rid of him. He let Jin Guangyao get away with many horrible things while plotting his revenge. But…"

"But?"

"But if it wasn't for him and Mo Xuanyu… you'd probably never have come back," he said, not meeting Wei Wuxian's eyes.

"Sh..shidi," he said, heart suddenly warm, "I thought you didn't.. Weren't you hunting demonic cultivators looking for me?"

" Of course I was looking for you, you idiot," he rolled his eyes, "Do you know how many of them were using your name to do horrible things? And with the way you died, who wouldn't expect your soul to be building resentment? How could you reincarnate if you were stuck here as a malignant spirit? Someone had to free your soul if it was in fact you."

"Who else was going to care about releasing the Yiling Patriarch's spirit? They would have eliminated* you on the spot! People tried to summon you, you know. Nobody could find a trace of your soul. They said… they said it was ripped apart and destroyed," his voice wobbled slightly.

Wei Wuxian was struck dumb. Everyone said it was because Sandu Shengshou hated the Yiling Patriarch. And he himself believed it. But the first thing Jiang Cheng did when thinking he was possessing Mo Xuanyu was to hit him with Zidian, which would have expelled any malicious spirit. It.. Jiang Cheng was right. He'd been dead . Nobody expected to find him alive. They wouldn't have been looking for him, they'd be looking for his ghost. And 13 years later only two** parties were still interested in finding his soul… demonic cultivators and Sandu Shengshou (and well apparently the Mo Xuanyu-Nie Huaisang duo but that was a different story…).

"A-Cheng."

"What?"

"I… I died."

Jiang Cheng gave him a look that said well yes, that's been established .

But.. for the first time Wei Wuxian was actually letting that fact sink in.

He had died .

"You're shaking!"

"A-Cheng." He really was trembling.

"I was dead," he looked shattered.

"I died."

He didn't cry but his throat seized up and he'd not managed to stifle a grief-stricken whimper.

And it was grief. Grief for the life he'd had and lost. For what could have been as opposed to what was. He hadn't truly processed what had happened to him, not really. He'd acknowledged it in the vague way that one might simply repeat a fact but he hadn't let himself feel it before.

For the first time that night, Jiang Cheng initiated an embrace. "I know," he said somberly, holding Wei Wuxian's shaking body close.

"Believe me, I know ."

The anguish in his voice had Wei Wuxian clinging tightly to him. Jiang Cheng hugged him just as hard. It was a comfort to them both. Things between them were so complicated, so tied up in knots that he hadn't had a hope of untangling their relationship. So he hadn't even tried. He'd resolved to just put everything behind him and move on and he advised Jiang Cheng to do the same. But moving on wasn't an easy task when you had unresolved trauma. It was more like he was compartmentalising rather than actually healing.

Jiang Cheng just held him silently, making soothing motions on his back until he had sorted out his thoughts and stopped shaking. "You're back now," he said looking at Wei Wuxian intently, "Thanks to Nie Huaisang and Mo Xuanyu you have a second chance. And now at least you have a core again so you can cultivate. Jin Ling had said Mo Xuanyu was training in Jinlin Tai before getting kicked out, not so?"

He laughed somewhat shakily, "It's a small meagre little thing. Mo Xuanyu really was pitiful. It's certainly not enough to wield Suibian again, which I could do at fifteen."

"It's fine if it's small as long as it's there," Jiang Cheng said softly, "It can be grown if you practice. Suibian is waiting for you."

"Mm ChengCheng, have you been taking good care of my Suibian? Chenqing was shiny and so well tuned, Suibian will get jealous~" he joked.

He snorted and teased, "What do you mean yours? Wen Ning gave it to me, it's mine now. Of course I'll take good care of it."

"It wasn't his! He can't give it away!" Wei Wuxian pouted, "I'll be having words with him when he gets back!"

Jiang Cheng's expression shifted.

"Hey," Wei Wuxian said softly, sensing the change in mood, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Cheng just shook his head.

"Are you.. Are you upset because he went to Qishan?"

Jiang Cheng sighed and said nothing for a minute, but eventually said, "I can't be upset with him for that. It's his duty to his family after all."
"Then what's wrong? Is it because of that night when he gave you Suibian? He never told me what he said to you..."

Jiang Cheng laughed bitterly, "Don't worry about that. Other than telling me about the transfer, he didn't say anything I didn't hear before. Just that I should have known that I would never have been able to equal you. What's new there? It isn't anything my own parents didn't imply. He was right, I should have known."

Wei Wuxian's face went dark. "No he wasn't! Your parents weren't right either. And anyway, I'm the one who doesn't equal you now." Wei Wuxian hadn't known what exactly Wen Ning had said but if he had he would've definitely had something to say about it. He kept this secret so as not to hurt his shidi and Wen Ning ended up stabbing him where it hurt the most anyway. (Though he knew he had a big part to play in their falling out in the ancestral hall. But he'd have to apologise for that another day. They seemed to be making progress but with all those misunderstandings between them one night certainly wasn't enough to resolve everything.)

All their life since he'd been at Lotus Pier they'd been compared, Madame Yu scolding Jiang Cheng to do better than him and Uncle Jiang just giving his patented disappointed-in-JC-why-can't-you-be-like-wei-ying spiel. Jiang Cheng was never that much weaker than him anyway. He had his own strengths and merits. His personality was never the easiest but it didn't mean that he couldn't be just as good as Wei Ying in cultivation.

Things just came easier to Wei Wuxian, that's all. He'd tried to make him see that there wasn't only one way to be a Jiang but what could his words do in the face of a parent's disapproval? He hated being the reason for Jiang Cheng to be criticised by his parents. And now he had to find out that his friend had gone and done the same thing they did to his shidi; he put Jiang Cheng down because of Wei Wuxian. The exact thing he feared when he thought of Jiang Cheng finding out, had happened...and it wasn't simply brought on by his shidi's insecurities, it was thrown in his face. Suffice to say, Wei Wuxian was not pleased.

"Oh don't look like that," Jiang Cheng said upon seeing Wei Wuxian's black expression, "You'll give Mo Xuanyu's face premature wrinkles; his core isn't strong enough yet to prevent them." Jiang Cheng poked at the furrow in between his brows causing him to pout again. "It happened a while ago, I've had time to accept it. It wasn't his place but he did it in his attempt to protect you. Shouting at me was probably a bonus. He has to resent me after all. His family killed mine and then I co-led the siege that killed his. We both have reasons to dislike each other. He had an opportunity to let loose on me and he took it. We both just ignore each other for the most part now. He protected Jin Ling so I'll let it be. Besides, I'm not surprised he got angry on your behalf and not his own. He always did admire you a lot." He tried to say it nonchalantly but it was clear that he wasn't unaffected.

Wei Wuxian sighed, "Fine, I'll let it go. But if it isn't that, then what's bothering you? Don't say it's nothing, you got quiet earlier too when I told you about his trip."

Jiang Cheng couldn't meet his eyes. "I know what it's like to be the last one standing," he said finally, "To have to mourn your family alone." If Wei Wuxian weren't so close up in his space, he probably would not have heard him over the still pouring rain.

"To want to lay them to rest but not have a body left to bury," he continued, as he shot a forlorn look at Wei Wuxian whose heart clenched painfully.

"You identify with him," he whispered.

Jiang Cheng said nothing but his face reddened slightly.

"Shidi…"

"What?" he snapped, "I'm not heartless. The Wens are gone and though he's dead he still lingers here. Without anyone. He's stuck here, unable to enter the reincarnation cycle to be with them. What is he going to do after burying their ashes? Follow Jin Ling around forever or until he assuages his guilt?"

"He's by himself. He's the only one left. I know how it feels. If it wasn't for A-Ling I don't even know how I would have made it," he admitted, "I may not particularly care for The Ghost General but he's lost everything too, including his literal life . And after all this I just wonder if it wouldn't be kinder to ask him if he'd like to be at rest. What does he have remaining to tie him here? I don't for a moment doubt that in the future he will realise these things and it will hurt. He might stick around for your sake but loneliness can be a more potent poison than anything else."

Jiang Cheng didn't mean the words to be sharp but they cut him nonetheless. After all, they could apply to himself just as easily. His shidi must have seen something in his face because he softened.

"Don't make that face. You still have places you can go. He can't fit in so easily. I heard Master Lan punishes the Lan juniors for even associating with him. A-Ling seems to have forgiven him but he certainly can't show up in Koi Tower even if A-Ling allows him. And if people knew he was frequenting Qishan what do you think they'd say? Maybe the mob will rise up again. He might seem fine now but it's bound to wear a person down eventually."

"I never thought I'd see the day that you were concerned for Wen Ning," Wei Wuxian said wonderingly.

Jiang Cheng sputtered. "Who's concerned? I'm just saying!"

"Mhm and this has nothing to do with you and Wen Ning spending time together behind those bushes eh?" he snickered.

Jiang Cheng's jaw dropped in disbelief. "You!" He pounced on him, hooking his arm around Wei Wuxian's neck and rubbing his knuckles on his head painfully.

"Ahh noo not the noogie!" Wei Wuxian whined, "Mercy! ? A-Cheeeng ."

"You want mercy but you can never control that mouth of yours," Jiang Cheng said, letting him go after thoroughly messing up his hair.

Wei Wuxian rubbed his sore head and fixed his hair again, pretending to be insulted.

That just earned him a flick to the forehead and he pouted again.

But after a minute he became serious. "I'm not so different from Wen Ning now," he admitted, "The whole world's moved on without me. I don't have a place here anymore, not really. And you're not my shidi anymore are you?" He laughed without humor. "You're Sect Leader Jiang now. I mean obviously you have been since after the war but… I wasn't really ever there to see it was I?"

"No. You weren't," Jiang Cheng agreed solemnly. Wei Wuxian had been too busy drinking his pain away before he saved the remaining Wen cultivators. And then well, it snowballed from there until his death. And Jiang Cheng had had no choice but to grow without him. He wasn't a naive little boy anymore. He understood now that his shixiong did not in fact have all the answers. That Wei Wuxian could not uphold all the promises he made as a youth. It hurt having to accept it. But he did accept it. He was an old man now, jaded by years of political struggles and grappling with his personal demons. He understood what it was like to be all alone in the world but to have to carry on anyway. And Wei Wuxian had been unceremoniously pulled back from the dead to carry out someone else's revenge plot then tossed aside when it was complete. It was a little too cruel wasn't it?

He cleared his throat, "You weren't there to see it then, but it doesn't mean you can't be now."

Wei Wuxian's heart raced. Eyes widening he looked up at JC barely daring to hope.

"Jiang Cheng… are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Jiang Cheng grunted, "I'm saying do whatever you want. Go travel with your ugly donkey if that's what suits you. But there'll always be a place for you at Lotus Pier. "

"Hey! No need to insult Lil Apple!" he feigned indignance.

" That's what you took out of that?" Jiang Cheng said incredulously.

"Well…" fresh tears sprung to his eyes. He never thought he'd be welcome in Lotus Pier again.

"Ahh alright alright, stop that now, your eyeballs will fall out with all this crying," Jiang Cheng said uncomfortably. His quota for vulnerability was reaching its limit.

Wei Wuxian laughed wetly and finally moved out of his space, propping himself up next to Jiang Cheng again and leaning on his shoulder.

"Jiang Cheng, thank you."

"Shut up, what are you thanking me for? Just don't be a stranger…"

"Okay," he said timidly.

Things seemed to be settled between them, much better than it was before at least. And now he was less worried about Jiang Cheng's reaction, though a sliver of doubt was still there, but he felt like it needed to be said. Because he was so proud of that little boy he rescued who managed to grow into a fine young adult. He couldn't help but want to share. But also Jiang Cheng had, in his roundabout way, been concerned about Wen Ning's own isolation even though he hated him (and Wei Wuxian was pretty sure even though they tolerated each other that it was for Jin Ling's sake and not because any feelings changed.) So he steeled himself, hoping he was making the right decision.

"Jiang Cheng… Wen Ning he.." he paused.

"What about him? If you're about to ask for him to come to Lotus Pier too, don't. I don't know if I'll ever be ready for that ."

"No.," he shook his head, "It's just.. He didn't go to make the memorial alone, you know…"

Jiang Cheng was surprised. "Who would go with him to do that?" It was a very personal journey. And most cultivators did not like going to Qishan if they could help it. And The Ghost General didn't exactly have friends other than his erstwhile shixiong.

"Do you remember when you first came to talk to me in the Burial Mounds?"

"How could I forget?" he scowled.

He winced, yea okay he deserved that, that wasn't a conversation that went well.

"Remember there was a baby that grabbed your leg?"

Jiang Cheng's eyes widened and his face became downcast. "I.. I'd forgotten about the baby," he admitted. He felt a twinge of regret. After raising Jin Ling, he'd learned to care more about children than he did before. "I'm sorry," he said, "Truly I had not even considered the baby. He was the last thing on my mind that day. I'm sorry that he was lost as well. He was an innocent." Personally, he wouldn't kill children but he knew there were some people who wouldn't give it a second thought. Like a certain Jin Guangyao who even killed his own baby to further his goals. And with a bitter taste in his mouth, he remembered Wang Lingjiao, who had it out for their innocent little shidi.

"That's just it," Wei Wuxian said, fiddling with his fingers nervously, "He wasn't."

"Don't be stupid, what do you mean he wasn't? What could a baby possibly have done?"

Wei Wuxian resisted the urge to facepalm. "I meant that he wasn't lost…"

Jiang Cheng blinked.

"You managed to save him before you….?"

"No. I didn't even know he was alive until after everything went down with Jin Guangyao..."

"Huh. Did Jin Guangyao save him? He kept the Ghost General around to use him but what use did he have for a Wen baby? Can't have been that he felt bad..."

"It wasn't Jin Guangyao. It was Lan Zhan," he said.

"Lan Wangji? How did Lan Wangji save him? He wasn't at the siege. I don't know if you know but he went into seclusion and didn't come out until three years had passed."

"I know. But apparently he wanted to see the truth for himself so before he secluded himself he visited the Burial Mounds and just happened to find A-Yuan hidden in a tree with a strong fever. He saved him but A-Yuan lost his memories so he didn't even know who he was. He remembers only bits and pieces now of living in the Burial Mounds, after he saw ChenQing. Wen Ning… well they reconnected and he went with him to bury their family together."

Jiang Cheng was silent for a moment. "So the Lans took him in as their own. Lan Yuan is it?"

"Yes. But you may know him as Lan Sizhui," Wei Wuxian added.

"Lan Sizhui?! The one that goes with A-Ling on all those night hunts?"

He nodded.

"Well no wonder The Ghost General hangs around them like a particularly large fly."

Wei Wuxian felt brave enough to swat him. "You do too!"

Jiang Cheng elbowed him. "Don't compare me to him!"

Didn't you do that yourself earlier , he thought. But he backed down.

Jiang Cheng sighed. "I'm glad," he said soberly.

"Lan Sizhui is an exemplary Lan disciple. Not like that noisy one who likes to backchat. You'd think he was the one who spent time with you."

"Hey!"

"I suppose Lan Wangji was good for something."

"Jiang Cheng!"

"Fine fine I'll say nothing more about your precious Hanguang-Jun. I did wonder how come they'd been on this hunt without Lan Sizhui. He's usually glued to the hip with the loud one."

"Well...now you know." Secretly he was really glad Jiang Cheng was taking this so well. He'd hoped but he didn't know what to expect.

"Anyway, Lan Sizhui may have the Ghost General with him, but the rest of those brats don't. If we want to follow A-Ling back to Jinlin Tai we'll have to get some sleep."

Wei Wuxian punctuated his agreement with a loud yawn as they settled back down to try and catch a wink of sleep. Morning would come very soon.

As he was starting to drift off, Jiang Cheng spoke again.

"Do you know the thing I blame you for the most right now, Wei Wuxian? It's that out of all those people who you managed to kill in Nightless City, Sect Leader Yao remains alive and kicking… You had one job!"

He'd panicked at first but after that declaration he pouted, "But A-Cheeeng I couldn't help it. He's like a cockroach. Hard to kill and always underfoot making a nuisance of himself."

Jiang Cheng snorted. "Sounds about right. Anyway, go to sleep. It's late."

"Yes, zongzhu. Whatever you say zongzhu."

He earned himself another elbow, but he fell asleep with a smile.

Notes: *First, release the spirit from suffering. Second, suppress it. Third, eliminate it. For the initial approach, use the loving memory of his parents, wife, and children to comprehend his deepest desires and fulfill them. If this fails, move to suppression. But if the crimes are too great and his resentment too bitter to dissipate, eliminate him root and branch; his continued existence must not be permitted. - MDZS Elegance IV

**LWJ playing inquiry for 13 years is fanon, not (novel) canon. Even if we're going with this headcanon though, WWX has no idea that LWJ would have been looking for his soul.