Wen Ning P.O.V (Dafan, one week before the tournament)
The last thing Wen Ning remembers is being on a night hunt with the juniors, Wei Ying and Sect Leader Jiang. He wakes up in a cold sweat, unsure of his surroundings and is completely lost, the urge to breath shocks him when it hits and (after gasping for air) he fumbles for an oil lamp in his dark room. What Wen Ning sees when he turns on the light shocks him, he's in his old bedroom in Dafan, his bow is leaned against one corner where he'd always left it. His hands aren't the gray, ashy hands of a corpse anymore, instead their flush with life and color. "I'm alive." he whispers to himself, then the reality of it hits and he starts crying... he's alive and warm and he needs to breathe and it's overwhelming, he's also home, what happened? Is he dead, as in actually truly dead and in the afterlife? Or is he in the past somehow? He has so many questions. Before he has too much time to process, his bedroom door is opening, and Wen Qing enters.. one look at her face and he knows she's followed him, somehow they're both in the past.
"A-Ning, what is the last thing you remember?" His sister's voice is shaky, she's panicking as much as he is.
"I was on a night hunt with Master Wei, A-Yuan and Sect leader Jiang." He answers, "And there was some sort of flash and then I woke up here."
"My last memory was feeling flames licking my skin, and choking on smoke." Wen Qing cringes, "how did we end up back here?." his normally brave sister looks like she wants to gag right now, her face is more than pale.
"I don't know, maybe one of Master Wei's experiments went off?" Wen Ning guesses. "Master Wei is always tinkering with spells after all."
"He definitely didn't change after I died then." Wen Qing sighs, and Wen Ning can see the barely hidden amusement in her eyes "did he at least stop trying to plant A-Yuan?"
"Master Wei still liked playing pranks" Wen Ning admits, "but A-Yuan no longer fell for them." Wen Ning and his sister talk until early morning, he tells her everything that had happened after she died. They agree to keep it between them as to what has happened, as well as deciding it's time they make friends with YunMeng Jiang and Gusu Lan if possible. The two also decide that, because they don't know that Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng will remember, they will simply try to enter communications with Wei Ying at the archery tournament (Wen Qing had found the day marked on a paper in her office). They also agree that they will play their original roles until the tournament, that way, should Young Master Wei and Young Master Jiang remember, they can work together with them to fix things.
In the next week, Wen Ning works his tail off on his archery skills. He hasn't used anything other than his hands to fight in years, and at first the lack of practice shows. He's pleased to discover that his body still remembers how to shoot however, and makes fast progress to his previous level with archery.
Wen Ning can tell his sister is delighted to have access to her tools and medicines again. Over the week he watches her slowly stockpiling medical supplies and herbs with a good portion of her funds from their uncle. The upside with the time spent in the burial mounds is that they are able to stretch their food funds out, buying supplies they will need during and after the war.
The week seems to fly for Wen Ning, he's barely used to breathing again, and seeing all his aunties and uncles, as well as Yuan's birth parents, alive and well is jarring to say the least. Wen Ning isn't sure whether to hope Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng came back with him, or hope they have forgotten. Both of them have been through so much, and part of him hopes fate will spare them the pain...The more realistic side of him realizes changing fate will be easier with their help.
He still feels torn when he arrives at the training area where he had first met Wei Ying, he has trouble focusing on the targets and thus almost hits Wei Ying this time around too. This time though it's Jiang Cheng standing next to Wei Ying, who knocks the arrow away... Jiang Cheng wasn't there the first time around, that can only mean one thing, and Wen Ning's logical reasoning goes out the window as he drops his bow and runs to greet them. "Young Master Wei! Sect-Young Master Jiang!" he cries, basically throwing himself at a very startled looking Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying, He almost says Sect Leader Jiang out of habit.
Wei Wuxian P.O.V
They arrived at the area where the archery tournament was being held two hours early, as before. This time however Jiang Cheng went with him when he decided to wander around, Wei Ying naturally remembered which way he'd gone the first time he met Wen Ning. "I'm still going to pull off Lan Zhan's headband." Wei Ying jokes, "It's required."
"How does he put up with you?" Jiang Cheng groans, "you're going to make our sect look bad." he snips sarcastically, as usual, an eye roll following close behind.
"My Er-gege loves me." Wei Ying declares, fluttering his lashes dramatically.
"Gross." Jiang Cheng mutters, shoving Wei Ying playfully "leave the rest of us out of your dog food."
"It's not gross!" Wei Ying whines playfully, "Lets see how much you care about image when you find the right person!" he teases.
"Not fucking likely." Jiang Cheng scoffs, looking salty as usual "Or did you forget I was almost 40 and still single in the other timeline?"
"You were 37 and weren't looking actively." Wei Ying argues.
"More like nobody in their right mind was even interested." Jiang Cheng rejects, "Who wants to spend their life with someone who's always angry? I don't even blame them." his tone on the later sentence is that of someone who's just accepted it as fact that they would be alone. But Wei Ying has always thought Jiang Cheng would find someone eventually, he isn't always angry, Wei Ying's just good at pissing him off and he knows it.
"I'm going to see if Shijie will help me find you someone then!" Wei Ying exclaims, "I'm sure there's someone who would be perfect for you!"
"I'm Not going to treat some other poor soul to what A-Niang put A-Die through." Jiang Cheng hisses stubbornly "I refuse." Wei Ying is surprised by those words, but it reveals something deeper about what created his brother's bitterness in the other timeline.
"You're more patient than A-Yi is ChengCheng." Wei Ying says, his tone turning teasing towards the end of that sentence. "And She's working on being more patient." he reminds his sibling. They walk in silence after that, the next turn in the trail is where Wen Ning is shooting. When they round the corner, everything happens fast, he sees the arrow fly at him, but Jiang Cheng is in-front of him before he can even react. Jiang Cheng stares at the arrow in his hand for only a second before they both hear Wen Ning.
"Young Master Wei! Sect-Young Master Jiang!" Wen Ning cries, basically throwing himself at them. Wei Ying wasn't expecting this response and from the look on his brother's face, Jiang Cheng wasn't either. This reaction can only mean one thing.
"A-Ning! You followed us back!?" Wei Ying asks as soon as Wen Ning lets go of him.
"Not just me, Qing-jie remembers too!" Wen Ning answers, "Are both of you well? How long have you been back here? It's been a week for Qing-jie and I."
"Well that makes things easier." Jiang Cheng snorts, "We've been back here for over a year." he answers one of Wen Ning's questions. Why did they arrive at different times? Wei Ying wonders.
"I wonder why we were sent back further?" Wei Ying wonders aloud. "Either way, we're all together now." Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning nod in agreement.
"Have you told anyone? We warned the Lans and my parents, the Nies are also aware." Jiang Cheng says, they do need to get an idea of who else might have been told.
"Qing-jie and I haven't told anyone yet." Wen Ning answers, "We wanted to see if you remembered first." he explains. "I knew you did when I saw you together."
"That's probably for the best, no one can overhear who we don't want to." Wei Ying says, "you should probably go through the motions of what happened before."
"I was thinking the same thing, Young Master Wei." Wen Ning agrees, "I want to stay in touch with you after the tournament though."
"We were thinking about that too." Jiang Cheng tells him, "Wei Ying developed a method of messaging that won't be track-able." Wei Ying nods.
"I have one of the spell sheets with me, just copy it whenever you want to contact us." Wei Ying says, pulling the spell paper from his sleeve. They all seem to be in agreement about keeping anything really important from being spoken here, with that in mind, Wen Ning 'leads' them back to the main area.
Immediately after arriving at the entrance, Lan Zhan catches Wei Ying's eye, he's wearing the hanfu with the brilliant red collar, just like last time. "Not that I told him about that, he must have just decided to dress up..." Wei Ying muses, either way, his Er-gege looks lovely. Walking over to him he teases "Your head band is crooked." Cracking up when Lan Zhan starts to check it, "I'm kidding, Er-gege looks as beautiful as ever." he whispers leaning forward slightly. When Wei Ying pulls away, the 2nd jade's ears are bright pink. "Er-gege is adorable." Wei Ying giggles.
"Wrong. Cute one is Wei Ying." Lan Zhan refutes. Wei Ying feels his face heat up.
"Aiya, You have to warn me before you say such things!" Wei Ying whines, trying to cover his cheeks with his hands. He can hear other disciples chattering and giggling, some of it about his and Lan Zhans interactions, but he doesn't really care. Flirting with his Er-gege is something fun to do before the events begin. He sees the others beginning to line up however and heads back to the group from YunMeng Jiang.
Finally with all sects having arrived the beating of the drums began and a speaker began reading off the name of the major sects as before. "Zhuren of Lanling Jin, YunMeng Jiang, Qinghe Nie, and Gusu Lan sects have arrived!"
Wei Ying watches as his uncle and the other Sect Leaders walk towards the viewing area, he notices Sect Leader Nie start to leave and what appears to be a disagreement between him and Qingheng-Jun. He can't hear anything from where he is however, it's none of his business anyway so he moves on. "A-Cheng, I bet I can hit more targets than you!" Wei Ying boasts, picking at his brother.
"Not if you keep flirting with the 2nd jade, lovebird." Jiang Cheng snorts, "You'll be lucky if they don't disqualify you for indecent behavior!"
"I'm not that bad!" Wei Ying whines, "If I didn't know you better I'd think you were jealous!" he adds closing his eyes and sticking his tongue out. (he totally misses the brief look of panic on Jiang Chengs face)
"Who would be jealous of you!?" Jiang Cheng snaps, "You are the one who's going to marry into the sect with 3,000 rules!" Jiang Cheng reminds him. "You are going to be in trouble constantly, you can't even follow your own rules!"
"When have I not followed my own rules?" Wei Ying demands, "besides, A-Zhan won't let them punish me constantly." he adds matter-of-factually.
"So you really are courting the 2nd jade?" One of their fellow disciples pipes up.
"Yup! Er-gege can't get enough of my cuteness!" Wei Ying bragged; Jiang Cheng's eyes rolled for the 15th time that day... several of the other disciples look mildly exasperated with their head disciple.
"So that's why the Lan's have been coming and going from Lotus Pier." Another of the disciples speaks up.
"Part of it, Xichen-ge is teaching Shijie fan cultivation." Wei Ying volunteers, "She's getting really good at it too!" A moment later the speaker announces Wen Chao's arrival and they fall silent. It's almost time for the events to start. Wen Ruohan has only just been announced and taken his seat when the Wen sect disciples all kowtow and begin their chant, just like last time. Wei Ying barely suppresses the urge to roll his eyes. Wen Chao once again speaks up, telling someone to kick Wen Ning out, saying he can barely shoot, and Wei Ying steps forward again.
"Who says he can barely shoot?" Wei Ying responds, "Not only can he shoot, He's quite good with a bow."
"Your Wei Wuxian, they say you are pretty good with a bow." Wen Chao answers him directly as before.
"Good enough for shooting pheasants." Wei Ying says humbly, how he'd like to brag but he doesn't want to put a target on his head in the contest.
"Unfortunately for you, our spiritual targets are nothing like pheasants." Wen Chao boasts loftily, Wei Ying thinks how satisfying driving him insane was. "Wen Ning, He says you can shoot. Let's see what you've got." Wen Chao challenges Wen Ning, and Wei Ying sends him a 'you've got this' smirk.
Wen Ning steps up to the challenge, taking aim at a target that has been brought forward. Unlike last time, Wen Ning isn't shaking from nerves, he easily nails the target dead center. "None of us are the same as we were the first time, it will be interesting to see how this changes things." Wei Ying muses as Wen Chao splutters, clearly not having expected his distant cousin's skill with the bow.
"Fine! So you can shoot, but spiritual targets aren't going to stay still." Wen Chao snaps at Wen Ning, "If you make us look bad, it will cause problems for your sister!" Wen Chao threatens.
"This one will do his best, 2nd Young Master Wen." Wen Ning says humbly, bowing himself, Wei Ying is grateful for Wen Ning's quiet and humble personality, if he was more like Wei Ying himself or Jiang Cheng, he likely would get into trouble. This Said, Wen Chao waves dismissively, and Wen Ning steps back into line.
The speaker announces the start of the contest, explaining that the spiritual targets have been set up to sense the signatures of each sect. Every time they hit a target it will send up a signal flare with the insignia of the sect who shot it. The number of targets hit by each will be tallied at the end, along with the individual tallies of disciples who shot the most targets. Disciples who miss a target are immediately disqualified and must exit the arena. This part is exactly the same as before, with the exception that Wen Ning will be joining them in the arena. Each sect has a separate entrance into the expansive mountainous event area, Wei Ying remembers clearly where he had found targets before so the moment they are told to enter he splits off.
"A-Ying, Wait up!" Jiang Cheng barks running after him, their fellow disciples however split off in different directions, after all, there is a higher chance of finding a target if they split up right?
"Aiya, A-Cheng hurry up." Wei Ying fusses "who knows when A-Ning will find the targets, if we want to be on top we have to reach them first!"
"YOU are the reason he's in the tournament in the first place!" Jiang Cheng snaps impatiently, "You should have considered THAT first!"
"It's called friendly competition A-Cheng!" Wei Ying jokes, "It's good for growth."
"You're going through the cave first this time." Jiang Cheng grumbles, "You can enjoy bashing your head into rocks." Wei Ying vaguely recalls how annoyed his brother had gotten over the darkness and narrowness of the cave in places.
"Whatever you say." Wei Ying says begrudgingly, "It's not that big of a deal, A-Cheng."
"You're Not the one who had a concussion for several days." Jiang Cheng gripes. Wei Ying has already started walking into the cave and thus, he doesn't respond, he can hear his brother following him however. The path continues to get narrower the farther they go, at first they can walk side by side, then single file, then the roof drops. Wei Ying was expecting the dip in the roof however (thanks to Jiang Cheng's loud complaining) and switches to crawling before he can hit his head on a rock. The curse from behind him tells him Jiang Cheng still managed to hit it, he tries hard not to laugh at the irony.
After they exit the cave (Jiang Cheng had ended up hitting his head for a second time just like before), Wei Ying looks up and sees the same four spiritual targets as before. "A-Cheng!" is all he says, but its enough, both he and Jiang Cheng are quick to draw their bows and take out the targets.
Jiang Cheng P.O.V
He just wants today to end already, is that wrong? Wei Ying's comment earlier had briefly sent him into a panic, Wen Ning is actually competing with them this time, and he has a concussion again because fucking low cave ceiling. They have shot just as many targets at this point as last time, they might have gotten more if not for the fact Wen Ning had actually beaten them to the punch twice! Jiang Cheng knows that Wen Ning and Wei Ying are close, he just hopes this doesn't change that.
As they continue tracking down and shooting targets, they notice fewer and fewer Wen disciples, just like last time. It seems like Wen Ning is the only good archer among the group, "Maybe he's enough to keep Wen Chao from butting in this time." Jiang Cheng thinks, hopefully. Unfortunately, Wen Chao sniping Wei Ying's target a few minutes later proves otherwise.
"Wei Wuxian!" Wen Chao barks at his martial sibling from up above them on a cliff, "I won't let you guys win, now that I'm here." Jiang Cheng doesn't have to see Wei Ying's face when he turns around and walks on to know that he's rolling his eyes... or to know that he and his martial brother now have to contend with a bunch of thieving pests, because there is no way Wen Chao won't start following them. As if to prove a point the next three shots are also stolen by Wen Chao and his helpers.
"Might as well get disqualified!" Jiang Cheng mutters when he's close enough for Wei Ying to hear him.
"He gets disqualified eventually, so just put up for now." Wei Ying mouths, Jiang Cheng nods that he understood. They continue trying to get targets first, and eventually, Wei Ying is proven right when Wen Chao misses a target, and Wei Ying hit's instead. "Thanks!" Wei Ying says cheerily upon hoping down onto the path.
"WEI WUXIAN! You.." Wen Chao snaps, snatching three arrows from the helper holding his quiver he attempts to aim at three targets at once, totally ignoring the disqualification flare.
"Do you have a problem with your eyes?" Wei Ying asks Wen Chao smugly, "That has to be why you can't see the big 'Out' sign." This is the same thing he said before and Jiang Cheng still wonders how his martial brother didn't get killed earlier in the timeline with his skill at picking fights. Even so he's standing behind him this time and is ready to spring forward when necessary.
"What did you say?" Wen Chao's voice is angry and threatening as ever, but Wei Ying apparently isn't done playing along with the old timeline and poking a bear.
"Wrong shots, and missed shots are disqualifications." Wei Ying quotes, copying Jiang Cheng's own line from the previous timeline. Wei Ying's arms are folded and he looks both cheerful and smug. Jiang Cheng feels his chest swell with pride in spite of himself.. stupid pointless feelings.
"Are you going back on your own rules?" Jiang Cheng finishes, to heck with it.. if they're going to stick to that line he might as well share in the bear poking.
"Rules? I AM the rules!" Wen Chao sounds in-censed at the first and angry at the second.
"Why bother setting rules in the first place then?" Wei Ying says, rather loudly with his typical devil may care smirk, once again copying Jiang Cheng's line from the first time, why is he doing this?
"He thinks he's above the rules..." Young Master Ouyang speaks up from the left of them and Jiang Cheng internally cringes... suddenly this scene is far too familiar. "Just because he happens to be a Wen." That last line said the idiot turns around and starts to walk away.
"What. Did. You. Say!" Wen Chao Barks, turning towards the unfortunately outspoken disciple and firing all three of the arrows in his direction.
"Young Master Ouyang! Watch out!" One of the Disciples from BaLing Ouyang sect yelps upon seeing the arrows fly, causing Ouyang to turn around. Like before though Lan Zhan makes his appearance at that moment, managing to nail both the arrow that would have hit Ouyang and a target in a single shot. Lan Zhan lands in-between them and Wen Chao, glaring at the Wen Heir like he insulted his ancestors.
"You.. People.. Feh!" Wen Chao spits, throwing his bow at his helper childishly, apparently not wanting to further cross the 2nd jade. Wen Chao turns and leaves, followed quickly after by his helper.. good riddance! Unlike last time, Lan Zhan doesn't immediately walk away once Wen Chao leaves. great, he gets to enjoy more dogfood.
"Nice shot Er-gege!" Wei Ying praises Lan Zhan, "Er-gege, your headband is coming loose." Wei Ying tells him, stepping closer to him. Wei Ying isn't kidding of course, it really is loose, it's about to fall off actually, but Jiang Cheng can't watch them anymore after Wei Ying leans into the 2nd jade. "Let me help you with it..." He hears Wei Ying say, and then hears the gasps from the BaLing Ouyang disciples and looks up from the ground. Wei Ying actually did untie the ribbon and is carefully retying it, this is when Jiang Cheng remembers that only those in YunMeng and Gusu know of their engagement. "Great. Scandal here we come." he mentally gripes.
Eventually the archery tournament wraps up, the disciples gather back into the main area and the winners are announced. The results of the tournament are different from before, while Wei Ying does still win, he and Lan Zhan are tied for the top spot, behind them are Xichen, Zixuan, then Jiang Cheng himself surprisingly tied with Wen Ning. This time Wen Sect is in the top four, but only because of a disciple they didn't allow to compete before. "Maybe we will have more time this time around." Wei Ying suggests to him quietly on their way back to lotus pier.
"or they will cause trouble for Wen Ning and his sister." Jiang Cheng huffs, he hates to be negative, but at the same time, Wen Ruohan and Wen Chao aren't exactly known for patience or reason-ability.
"True, either way we're prepared." Wei Ying responds, "Oh! I gave Lan Zhan the shield spell earlier and told him to make sure Su She didn't get it."
"Did you also tell everyone about your engagement?" Jiang Cheng asks dryly, when Wei Ying gives him a clueless look, Jiang Cheng pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs loudly. "Do you know how much of a scandal that incident with the headband is going to cause?"
"It doesn't matter, we can just tell them later if they ask." Wei Ying says, as if it's that simple... one thing Jiang Cheng doesn't like about this timeline is having to do damage control for Wei Ying, he decides.
"Do you realize how many rumors are going to be going by the time we get home?" Jiang Cheng asks incredulously. The announcements happened in the late afternoon and it's a long flight back to Lotus Pier, the sun has since set.
"People start rumors even if you don't do anything scandalous." Wei Ying sighs, "Why bother trying to stop it?" Wei Ying has a point, Jiang Cheng remembers all of the rumors that went around about Wei Ying being a monster who deflowered beauties from poor sects and had countless offspring. Little did they know that Wei Ying had died a virgin in that timeline, he hadn't been in any sort of relationship and definitely hadn't fathered any children. Jiang Cheng had tried to correct people on this at first but had eventually given up, because no-one believed him.
Sighing Jiang Cheng admits "Maybe you have a point about that."
"A-Cheng, did you just admit I'm actually RIGHT about something?" Wei Ying gasps in mock shock, Jiang Cheng resists the urge to shove him off his sword...
"Shut up!" Jiang Cheng huffs, glancing away for a moment.
"Never!" Wei Ying says laughing, "I will still be annoying you when we're old and gray!" Wei Ying is smiling radiantly when he looks back at Jiang Cheng who briefly loses his footing and scrambles to right himself as a result. He's never been more grateful for the cooling effect of moonlight, at-least Wei Ying can't tell he's blushing.
They are quiet for several minutes before Jiang Cheng finally speaks up, "You'd better be." it takes Wei Ying several seconds to figure out what he means... Jiang Cheng sees it in Wei Ying's eyes when it clicks what he'd meant.
"Of course! You'd be bored out of your mind without me making things interesting!" Wei Ying proclaims dramatically. Jiang Cheng can't help but amend mentally 'more like lonely and depressed', even if Wei Ying can never know how he feels... Jiang Cheng still loves him, he doesn't want to live in a world where Wei Ying no-longer exists, not again.
"I can't wait until you're Qiren's problem." He snorts, but he's thinking, "It will be lonely when your in Gusu.'' After all, in spite of everything they've gone through, Wei Ying is still his best friend, his only friend.
"If he doesn't Qi deviate at my wedding to his nephew you mean." Wei Ying laughs bitterly, the old man has been giving Wei Ying and Lan Zhan a hard time, it's been less than a week since Qiren tried to suggest a 'more appropriate' marriage match for his favorite nephew. Jiang Cheng knows his brother wants Qiren to accept him even if lack thereof changes nothing.
"You'll grow on him eventually." Jiang Cheng says, rolling his eyes.
"Aiya, A-Cheng! You make me sound like some sort of disease..." Wei Ying whines, and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes in fond exasperation, But Wei Ying is smiling again... if Jiang Cheng's stomach does a flip every time he sees that smile, it's nobody's fucking business.
The rest of the flight back is uneventful, when they arrive at the docks, Yanli and Yu Ziyuan are waiting for them. "How did it go!?" Yanli asks almost immediately upon their landing,"Did you meet your friend?" The second question is aimed entirely at Wei Ying who nods enthusiastically.
"A-Ning remembers everything! He said Qing-jie remembers as well; he told me he would try to contact me at some-point tomorrow so we can compare notes." Wei Ying Chatters, his depression over Qiren seeming to vanish the moment he mentions Wen Ning.
"That will definitely make things easier." Yanli says smiling, "it won't be as hard for us to protect them this way."
"I know you created that untraceable spell, Zhizi, but I think you should reach out to him normally as well and ask him to visit." Yu Ziyuan suggests to Wei Ying, "we should make it clear that we're on friendly terms with Dafan before the war begins."
"I was thinking the same thing, A-Niang" Jiang Cheng admits, "Maybe Wei Ying can suggest it to Wen Ning over the untraceable spell, so that it looks like he's reaching out to us?"
"That might be for the best, that way it just looks like A-Ning wants to be friends after the tournament." Wei Ying says, "A-Ning and Qing-jie are very isolated outside of their village; they don't know many people."
"Well we have a year to fix that." Yanli says decisively, "The rest of the cultivational world needs to know that Dafan and YunMeng are on good terms." They all are in agreement then. Good. Fengmian had taken a boat with the rest of the disciples after the weaker ones had been afraid to fly at night, they arrived a few minutes later and Yu Ziyuan caught up with him on the plan.
The next day, Wei Ying does get a message from Wen Ning, as well as an attached message from Wen Qing, asking about his health and demanding that he back off on the drinking, Jiang Cheng can't help laughing when he reads it over Wei Ying's shoulder. Yanli asks what's funny and He tells her, resulting in her saying she likes Wen Qing already, and a disgruntled whine from Wei Ying about 'I don't drink THAT much'. Wei Ying sends back a note telling Wen Ning and Wen Qing of their plan and asking Wen Ning to send a message asking permission to write to him, so that it can seem like Wen Ning wanting to be friends.
The rest of the year before the events at the cave seems to fly, Wei Ying finally manages to finish the fans he's made for Yanli and Huaisang a month before. Jiang Cheng had watched his brother adding blood seals to the finished fans so that they would only recognize their owners bloodline. Jiang Cheng couldn't help but feel pride over his martial brother's inventions, Wei Ying was capable of so much more than he'd been allowed in the previous timeline. Watching Wei Ying grow more comfortable and confident for the first time in years was amazing, Jiang Cheng hopes this time it will stay that way.
"A-Cheng! A-Ning and Qing-jie say they're coming for a day visit!" Wei Ying's excitement breaks him out of his thoughts.
"I thought You were going to give A-Li and Huaisang their fans today?" Jiang Cheng asks, confused.
"They're already here, Qing-Jie and A-Ning are coming in the afternoon." Wei Ying clarifies, "Actually I can bring them their fans now, we just need to find them." Yanli and Huaisang had been practicing in the training field this morning, but they'd since moved on to meditation time.
"Get the fans." Jiang Cheng sighs, "I'll go find A-Li and Huaisang, we will meet you at the inner courtyard pavilion."
"Thank you ChengCheng!" Wei Ying chirps happily, Jiang Cheng shoots him a glare that isn't anywhere near as harsh as normal and shoves him lightly.
"Jerk..." Jiang Cheng grumbles he still hates being called that, but it's becoming harder and harder to find the energy to get mad about it. "get going already! Knowing you their buried under something"
"I'm Going... I'm not that disorganized A-Cheng!" Wei Ying complains back, sticking his tongue out before he turns to head for his experiment area.
"Oh! If A-Niang and A-Die don't know about the visit yet, tell them before you meet us!" Jiang Cheng shouts at Wei Ying, who waves in response, letting him know he got the message. As it turns out, Yanli has finished meditation and is talking to their mother when he tracks her down.
"I'm saying that I think you should watch Huaisang and I spar first." Yanli is saying as he walks up, "I'm much stronger than I was even a few weeks ago" Yanli explains, and Jiang Cheng wonders what they are arguing about. The next thing Yanli says makes a spike of dread shoot through him. "I should attend the indoctrination camp with A-Xian and A-Cheng"
"No!" Jiang Cheng snaps, and they both turn and look at him in surprise. "Wen Chao went after women like a dog after a bitch in heat, he is sick in the head." Jiang Cheng rejected, "Wei Ying got a red-hot brand burned on his chest for protecting one of the women from another sect." Yanli and Yu Ziyuan both look thoroughly disgusted.
"Even so! I can protect myself A-Cheng, as your older sister I should be with you." Yanli asserts stubbornly. "I have my fans now!"
"The first thing they did was confiscate our weapons A-Li." Jiang Cheng argues, "we were burned when they attacked later because we had nothing to defend ourselves." He reminds her of what he'd told her before about Lotus Pier being burned. "I know you can fight A-Li, but this event is a mess, once we entered the cave they trapped us down there and waited outside." He elaborates "There are other events in the future where your help will be welcome, but this event is too risky... "
"I didn't think my brother needed a lesson on women!" Yanli hisses, "I'm capable of more than being a nurse or a cook!" Jiang Cheng sighs and mentally curses, why is this so difficult?
"I didn't say you couldn't fight, fuck this is hard to explain..." Jiang Cheng tries his best to stay calm sounding, but he can't help expressing his frustration at his inability with words. "If humans were the only problem it would be one thing, but the Xuanyu in that cave picked off a lot of us last time." He says carefully after a moment's pause, "I don't want to risk you getting caught by IT." he can see on Yanli's face that she had forgotten about the slaughter tortoise, he can't blame her, all he'd told them was that Wei Ying and Lan Zhan had killed it. He may have glossed over the gore and carnage that had taken place before he'd escaped (he didn't relish reliving that particular moment of his life).
"Was it really that bad?" Yu Ziyuan speaks up, she'd been listening quietly up til now, seeming unsure what to say.
"yeah it was." Jiang Cheng grits his teeth, "That thing is massive and has a neck like a snake, it woke up when A-Ying hopped on it's back.. he had captured Wen Chao and needed to create distance, he thought it was an island" the size description seems to get the point across, good. "I can tell you about it more later." Jiang Cheng groans, "I told Wei Ying I'd find A-Li and Huaisang and bring them to the pavilion in the inner courtyard." he explains quickly, "The fans he's been working on are complete."
"You aren't getting out of further explanation later." Yanli chides, but her face lit up at the mention of the fans. Jiang Cheng relaxes, at least he has some time to think how he wants to describe what happened before. "Huaisang is still in his guest rooms. Do you want me to go find him?"
"I will go get Huaisang." Jiang Cheng huffs, why does he have a feeling that brat isn't meditating? He's either asleep or doing something inappropriate. "A-Niang, A-Ying heard from the Wen siblings, they are making a day trip to visit today." He also speaks to Yu Ziyuan.
"Not much warning." Yu Ziyuan complains, "You'd think Zhizi would at-least give us time to prepare."
"We apparently have until noon." Jiang Cheng snorted, rolling his eyes "You will have to ask A-Ying for details, A-Niang."
"Oh I definitely will." Yu Ziyuan says, playing with Zidian on her finger, Jiang Cheng finds himself remembering both Yu Ziyuan's lashing of Wei Ying and his own in the past timeline. He suppresses a shudder, his stomach feeling sour suddenly, he really wishes he could go back and slap himself. Yu Ziyuan notices his discomfort at the action and immediately stops. "I won't hit him A-Cheng." she promises.
"I know, it's not just you." Jiang Cheng says, "I was equally guilty if not worse." he admits, his mother is trying her best to change, just like he is. In the end they're both flawed humans but they're working on it and that's what matters. "I was thinking about when he first came back in the other timeline." He explains, "It's past now, so it doesn't matter. I'll see you in a few." He says turning and walking towards the guest housing.
Unsurprisingly, Huaisang isn't meditating, he's reading some of his porn scrolls, and Jiang Cheng really wishes he had either Zidian or a bucket of water. "I'm glad I came to get him instead of A-Li." he thinks, "Huaisang, I was told you were meditating." He snorts, tapping him with his foot where he's currently sprawled on the floor reading with his back to the door. Huaisang startles and drops the end of the scroll he's reading, resulting in it unwinding on the floor.
"Jiang-xiong! I was meditating for a while! Honest!" Huaisang squeals in surprise, "It's just that. I started falling asleep, it's sooo booring sitting still-"
"Frankly, Huaisang, I don't care! Just be glad it wasn't my sister that came to find you." Jiang Cheng scoffs, "Wei Ying finished the fans, he wanted me to bring you and A-Li to the inner courtyard." at this Huaisangs eyes light up and he begins hurriedly rolling up his dropped scroll.
"Is Jiang-Guniang already headed there then?" He asks, as he finishes. "I can't wait to see how Wei-Xiong finished them! He showed me his plans but it's hard to imagine." Huaisang banters.
"I guess we will see how they turned out, I just know he's been working hard on them." Jiang Cheng responds. That said, they head for the pavilion in the inner courtyard, when they arrive, Madame Yu, Yanli and Wei Ying are already there.
"What took you so long?" Wei Ying asks, "I was already here when A-Yi and Shijie arrived."
"Ask Huaisang, apparently meditation is super bor~ing." Jiang Cheng says, rolling his eyes.
"Jiang-xiong surprised me and I dropped my scrolls." Huaisang whines, "Don't tell Da-ge? Please?"
"We came up with this partially to help you ya no.." Jiang Cheng snarks, "at least try to take it seriously."
"I am, but meditation makes me sleepy." Huaisang fusses.
"Maybe I should make a focus charm next." Wei Ying chimes in, and Huaisang sends him a grateful look. "At any rate! We have guests coming later, so let's get to the reason I asked you to meet me here." With those words said, Wei Ying produces two velvet pouches from his sleeve, one is deep scarlet, the other is near black with a green undertone. He hands the scarlet pouch to Shijie and the black to Huaisang. "Both of the Fans I made for You Shijie, have koi spirits in them, their best for water based fighting. Sang-ge, yours are myna bird spirits, they are best for wind based fighting." Wei Ying explains, "It took me a while to figure out how to make them channel energy, but then I realized that there are spirits in our swords and decided to ask a blacksmith how it was done. He helped me a lot actually!" Wei Ying admits, "I also put a blood seal on these Fans, once they have been activated they will only work for people who carry your bloodline."
Yanli is the first to remove her fans from the velvet pouch, she gasps when she does, and Jiang Cheng finds himself remembering when he'd seen his sword for the first time. Yanli's fans look like lotus petals when closed, the metal frames are aged brass with gold leaf accents, a cushion cut emerald sparkling at the center of the hand grip on each, when spread out they form the shape of a beautiful dancer lotus. "A-Xian! These are beautiful!" Yanli says, opening and closing them a few times, admiring the way they snap open with ease.
"Very nicely done Zhizi!" Yu Ziyuan praises Wei Ying after Yanli hands her one of the fans to look at. "These are very high quality indeed, Truly A-Ying, you should design spiritual weapons more often, a lot of the other sects would definitely commission you."
"Maybe, I wouldn't be against it!" Wei Ying practically glows at the praise, "It was fun, figuring out how to make them work!" Wei Ying smiles and Jiang Cheng forces himself not to stare.
Instead, he turns his focus to Huaisang who is looking his fans over with excitement, when closed they appear to be larger versions of the glossy, iridescent feathers of a myna bird, and when open the feathers give a scalloped edge. The metal frames of Huaisangs fans are aged Stirling with bright silver detailing and sapphires set in the hand grip. "These are beautiful Wei-Xiong! Prettier than I could of imagined even with the sketches you showed me!" Huaisang praises as well, he's clearly very happy with his fans.