Tok tok tok.
Lan Zhan paused while undressing, vaguely puzzled. Wei Wuxian groaned.
"Who is it?" he called in a falsely cheery voice.
Lately, he would have ignored the sound altogether and chalked it up to yet another auditory hallucination. But Lan Zhan had reacted to it too, which meant that it was real.
"Me… Huaisang," came the muffled response through the door. "I was wondering if you might speak with me privately, Wei Wuxian?"
Lan Zhan scowled. Wei Wuxian couldn't blame him. They had sort of been in the middle of something.
"Right now?" Wei Wuxian called back. "Can't it wait?"
"Erm… not really…"
Wei Wuxian groaned again and fell back against the bed. He could feel Lan Zhan watching him.
"I do need to speak with him," Wei Wuxian said to the ceiling.
"Privately?" Lan Zhan responded. "Didn't you say that you don't trust him?"
"That's why I need to speak with him. I've been meaning to do it since we got here."
It was true. He'd meant to speak to Huaisang when they'd arrived, but with everything that had happened with Sizhui and then his confrontation with Lan Xichen, it had slipped his mind.
It seemed that Huaisang was still very good at going unnoticed when he wanted to.
Lan Zhan crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed. The faint scent of sandalwood drifted over and Wei Wuxian felt the overwhelming urge to tell Huaisang to fuck off so that he and Lan Zhan could finish what they'd started.
Instead, he only whispered, "You smell nice."
"Mn."
Lan Zhan leaned over and kissed his neck. When he pulled away, he was frowning again.
"What?" Wei Wuxian asked him.
"You're sweating. You feel feverish. Is the miasma making you sick again?"
Wei Wuxian flashed a wry smile. "I tell you that you smell nice and you call me sweaty?"
"Wei Ying…" Lan Zhan said testily.
Wei Wuxian sighed. "I never stopped being sick. I just got better at hiding it."
Tok tok tok.
They continued to ignore Huaisang.
Lan Zhan brushed Wei Wuxian's hair behind his ear. The way he looked at him with such adoration, Wei Wuxian knew that he didn't deserve it.
"I don't think you should speak with him like this," Lan Zhan said. "You should rest."
Wei Wuxian let out a breathy laugh. "I can't rest," he said. "But maybe I'll get a little more sleep if I can allay some of my fears about him."
"Mn."
He seemed dissatisfied with that answer. Lan Zhan stood and stared at the door for a moment before looking back down at him.
"Use this room," he said. "If you must speak privately, I will wait outside."
"Why?"
"If you won't rest, I want you to be somewhere more comfortable."
Wei Wuxian laughed again. "You want me to chat with Huaisang while lying in bed?"
"Mn," Lan Zhan said with a curt nod.
"You are a strange man, you know that?"
"Mn."
Lan Zhan leaned down to kiss him as Huaisang rapped on the door for a third time.
When at last they broke apart and Wei Wuxian could draw enough breath to speak, he asked coyly, "We'll finish here once I've sent him away, yes?"
"No," said Lan Zhan. "You need to rest."
"But I thought every day meant every day!" Wei Wuxian pouted.
Lan Zhan smiled softly and kissed him again. "A different day," he whispered.
It took an extraordinary amount of self-control to keep Wei Wuxian from seizing the front of Lan Zhan's robes and pulling him back down.
"Fine," Wei Wuxian said sullenly. "I guess I'll just have to make it up to you even more later."
Lan Zhan shook his head. "You are never indebted to me."
Wei Wuxian watched Lan Zhan walk to the door. One of these days, Lan Zhan was going to realize that he deserved better. But until then, Wei Wuxian would do his best to commit every part of him to memory.
Lan Zhan threw open the door as Huaisang was raising his hand to knock again.
"Oh!" he squeaked, his eyes flicking from Lan Zhan's disheveled clothing to Wei Wuxian lounging on the bed. "I can come back another time…"
"I thought you said that wasn't an option!" Wei Wuxian called.
"Use this room," Lan Zhan said, stepping back to allow Huaisang to enter.
Huaisang flicked open his fan and fluttered it nervously in front of his face as he shuffled forward.
"I – um – I need to speak with Wei Wuxian alone, Hanguang-jun," said Huaisang, his eyes darting around to look anywhere except at the person with whom he was speaking.
"Mn."
Lan Zhan glanced back at Wei Wuxian, seeming like he would very much like to tell Huaisang to forget about talking to either of them.
But, he turned on his heel without another word and closed the door quietly behind himself.
"You must have a lot of energy," Huaisang mused, speaking before Wei Wuxian could say something quippy himself. "Everyone's exhausted and it's the middle of the night. Yet, here you are with Hanguang-jun."
He clamped his fan shut with a loud thwap. His entire demeanor had changed.
Huaisang stood in the center of the room, straight-backed with an unwavering gaze upon Wei Wuxian. It reminded him of the time he and Jiang Cheng had gone with him into the woods.
Right now, he was speaking with the real Huaisang… the scary Huaisang.
"What do you want?" asked Wei Wuxian, not wanting to spend more time with him than was necessary.
Huaisang tilted his head to one side. "I had meant to ask you the same question," he said. "You don't seem to like me nor trust me, but you give up the pretense of both by refusing to let me return to Qinghe. Why?"
Wei Wuxian sat up. Was there any point in pretending not to know what he was talking about? Huaisang was in no position to do anything about whatever Wei Wuxian could say. He had appearances to maintain. Wei Wuxian did not.
"You already know," said Wei Wuxian. "But I know why you ask. Can't accidentally show our hand early, can we?"
Huaisang said nothing, apparently waiting for him to continue.
"I know about all the things you did," Wei Wuxian went on, "I know about Mo Xuanyu and the curse you gave him. I know what you did while I was at Mo Manor. I know that you were the liar at Guanyin Temple. And, maybe most importantly, I know about your involvement at Yi City."
Huaisang had stiffened at the mention of Guanyin Temple. When he spoke again, it was with obvious restraint.
"Are you threatening me, Wei Wuxian?"
Wei Wuxian laughed. "How could I?! I have no proof!"
"Then why do I feel as though you've been threatening me for the entirety of our travels?"
A grin pulled at the corners of Wei Wuxian's mouth. "Why does it work?" he asked. "Surely you already knew that I had no proof to back my claims."
Huaisang's face relaxed into a more detached expression.
"Proof or not," he said mildly, "you would cast the shadow of doubt between myself and the only family that I have left."
"Zewu-jun?"
"Well it certainly isn't you or Jiang Cheng, is it?" Huaisang retorted. "Try as I might, you hold to these claims of yours. And Jiang Cheng… I have no clue as to why he doesn't trust me."
Wei Wuxian chuckled. "He doesn't trust anyone anymore."
"You know it's different with me."
Wei Wuxian bowed his head. It was true. The way Jiang Cheng treated Huaisang was not unlike the way he treated Wei Wuxian. It was as if he already knew of something that he'd done.
Except that there was almost no way that he could have known anything. Huaisang had left no evidence and Jiang Cheng had been so hellbent on pinning every crime on Wei Wuxian that he would have been blinded to anything he might have found to the contrary.
"Did you tell him something?" Huaisang asked.
"You think he would have believed me even if I had?"
"I don't know."
There was a pause between them. For Wei Wuxian, it was no thoughtful sort of quiet. He wasn't taking the time to reflect on anything. He was taking the time to try to catch his breath. His chest was hurting a little more than it had been, and if he didn't want the miasma to cripple him again, he needed to focus on shutting it out.
Wei Wuxian had no idea why Huaisang was silent, but he didn't stay that way for long.
"If you think that I did all of those things," he said, "then you must believe me to be exceptionally ruthless. Perhaps you'll think on that. Perhaps it will convince you to continue to hold your tongue in front of Er-ge."
Wei Wuxian's eyebrows shot up. A jolt of excitement coursed through his blood.
"Are you threatening me now?"
"Not exactly," Huaisang said. "I don't need to do that. Like you said, you have no proof."
"Hm."
This was a fun game. It had been a while since he'd played at stakes like these.
If only he had the energy for it.
"But if you believe that I gave Mo Xuanyu the curse that brought you back," Huaisang continued, "why would you push me like this? Would you not owe me the second chance that was given to you?"
Wei Wuxian laughed darkly. "My debt is to Mo Xuanyu. Not to you."
"You think Mo Xuanyu's intention would have been to give a second chance to a man he never knew?"
"I think Mo Xuanyu died for me," Wei Wuxian replied. "No matter his intent, it was his sacrifice. You sacrificed nothing and gained everything."
Huaisang smiled then, but not in amusement. "Everything, huh?"
Wei Wuxian waited for him to elaborate, but he did not.
So, Wei Wuxian did what Wei Wuxian did best. He pushed him.
"Well you got what you wanted," he said. "Lianfang-zun is dead and disgraced, and there's even been talk of making you the new head cultivator since Zewu-jun isn't currently available. I wonder if your brother would be proud of all of your scheming. He didn't seem to take kindly to Jin Guangyao's."
Huaisang was unfazed. So, Wei Wuxian kept at it.
"How can you expect me to believe that you did any of that for me?" he asked. "You wanted to use me for your own ends. Make no mistake, I'm not mad about that, but I'm annoyed that you would think me so stupid."
"And am I not supposed to be offended that you think me so single-minded?" Huaisang asked. "You think I did all those things – made all those plans – and couldn't have had more than one goal in mind?
"And between the two of us, who really considered the other a fool? The only way I would have gotten away with all those things – which I don't admit to doing – would be if you and everyone else considered me no more than a helpless idiot."
Wei Wuxian frowned. "I never thought that of you."
"Sure," Huaisang said flatly. "I was never just the idiot boy who needed your help with everything. No. You never could have seen me how everyone else did. You're too special for that. Too good and pure."
"Hey! Now you're being unfair!"
"Me? Unfair?" Huaisang said, putting a hand to his chest in mock surprise. "Isn't that what you already think of me?"
Wei Wuxian opened his mouth to reply but closed it again without a word.
"Yes," Huaisang murmured, "it seems Er-ge is all that's left to me now. I would appreciate it if you would not endanger that, whether or not you see yourself as indebted to me."
"Let's strike a deal then," Wei Wuxian said, sitting forward, "you and me."
Thwik.
Huaisang's dark eyes watched Wei Wuxian over the edge of his newly opened fan. When he didn't speak, Wei Wuxian continued.
"You and I will continue to be friendly," he said. "You will stop seeking the opportunity to remind us that you're not a fighter. And in return, I will do nothing to endanger your relationship with Zewu-jun. He will not hear the truth from me."
Blood pounded in his ears. Would he go for it? He seemed worried that even without proof, Wei Wuxian would be able to cast doubt in Lan Xichen's mind. Would that be enough to make him settle down and stop challenging him when the journey became dangerous? And even more importantly, could he trust a deal with Huaisang to begin with?
That last question would only be answered in time, he supposed.
"Stand and swear it," Huaisang demanded.
Wei Wuxian shrugged and started to get to his feet. Before he had fully risen, however, he was startled by a commotion outside the door.
"You cannot be here, Jiang Wanyin," he heard Lan Zhan say from the other side. "Go back to the others. Wei Ying is unwell."
"Unwell?" said Jiang Cheng incredulously. "Where is Huaisang, then? Or do you expect me to believe that he didn't enter that room like I watched him do?"
"This does not involve you."
"Clearly it doesn't involve you either since they left you out here. Step aside, Hanguang-jun."
Huaisang's eyes flicked to the wall.
"Are you really going to climb out that window?" Wei Wuxian asked him.
His gaze returned to him. His fan fluttered in front of his mouth.
"Better than facing Jiang Cheng's wrath," Huaisang said, a hint of teasing in his voice. "We've done wilder things, haven't we?"
"We were younger then."
The crackle of Zidian could be heard from the hallway… and the reverberation of Bichen being drawn.
"We're about to find out exactly how old I am," Huaisang said hurriedly. "Swear to me now so that I can go."
Wei Wuxian placed one hand over his heart and gave a shallow bow. "I swear it," he said.
Huaisang mirrored him and said the same.
He then made his way over to the closed window.
"If we're pretending to be friends again," Wei Wuxian said as Huaisang fiddled with the latch, "maybe we should sneak out together."
Huaisang paused but didn't turn around.
"Would Hanguang-jun not find that suspicious?" he asked. "We weren't friendly before I came in here."
"Lan Zhan won't be surprised."
Huaisang turned slowly to face him. "How much have you told him?"
"That wasn't-"
"Answer me."
Wei Wuxian bowed his head.
"I've told him everything," he said. "He knows all of my suspicions. But there's no proof. And he's not one for gossip. Nothing has reached Zewu-jun, I assure you."
"This deal might be proof enough for him."
"You haven't confessed anything."
"Neither did you," Huaisang said. "It didn't stop you from looking guilty all those years ago."
Wei Wuxian sighed. "I won't tell Lan Zhan about this."
Huaisang nodded. He didn't ask him to swear it again, but he didn't have to.
"In that case," he said, smacking the latch on the window, "I do think friends would sneak away together, don't you?"
Wei Wuxian grinned. "You need me to open the window, don't you?"
Huaisang snapped his fan closed with a shrug.
"As much as I don't want to deal with Jiang Cheng," said Wei Wuxian, "I told Lan Zhan that I would stay here…"
"I think he would understand."
As he said it, more voices sounded in the hall – all equally angry.
"You might be right," Wei Wuxian chuckled.
He glided over to the window and easily unlocked the latch. There was no wind outside to greet them. A bird, probably an owl, soared high overhead, silhouetted by the moonlight. It was the only wildlife that Wei Wuxian had seen in Qishan for a long time.
Wei Wuxian leaned out to look at the dirt below. It wasn't a long way down, but the window was set a little high in the wall. It would be a troublesome climb.
"Who should go first?" he asked.
"I don't know," Huaisang replied. "Whichever makes it easier for me. Even in your second life, you're still younger than I am."
And so, Huaisang grabbed the window ledge while Wei Wuxian helped to boost his feet.
"Unfortunately," Wei Wuxian panted, giving one last push to get Huaisang up onto the sill, "I'm a bit shorter in stature in this life."
Huaisang smirked and held out his hand to him.
"I think there's room for you here beside me," he said. "Come on."
Wei Wuxian doubted it, but he had a different idea anyway. When Huaisang helped to pull him up, he pretended to fumble and knocked heavily into his shoulder.
"Ah!" cried Huaisang as he leaned back beyond his balance point and fell, heels over head, onto the ground below.
"Oh sorry!" Wei Wuxian called down to him. "Are you all right?"
Huaisang picked himself up and brushed the dust from his fancy robes. "I'm fine," he replied.
Wei Wuxian buried the smile that threatened to surface. "Good."
He dropped down lightly next to him. Though he had promised to keep his secrets, he didn't have to make his life easy.
The sounds of the rest of their group fighting had died to almost nothing now that they were outside.
"We don't have long," Huaisang said. "Where should we go?"
"We're going to have to face them anyway," Wei Wuxian said. "Wouldn't it be funny if we snuck into Jiang Cheng's room?"
Huaisang opened his mouth to answer, but his voice wasn't the one that Wei Wuxian heard.
"Not as funny as you think it would be."
Violet flashed to their right, brilliant in the night.
Instantly, Huaisang and Wei Wuxian tried to leap behind one another and ended up doing an awkward dance over each other's feet until Wei Wuxian finally succeeded in pushing Huaisang between himself and Jiang Cheng.
"Sect Leader Jiang!" Huaisang squeaked. "What a surprise!"
Jiang Cheng's dark expression grew even darker. He held Zidian rigidly by his side.
"How did you get down here?!" Wei Wuxian asked, seizing the back of Huaisang's robes to keep him from wiggling away. "You were up there just a moment ago!"
"Sure about that, are you?" Jiang Cheng sneered. "I come knocking and everyone else comes to stop me. But, I wasn't the only one who wanted to know what you and Huaisang were plotting together. The others got into a fight over it while you snuck away, like you always do when I come knocking. So I snuck away too."
"That was… that was a lot of planning, Jiang Cheng," said Wei Wuxian, genuinely impressed. "You anticipated all of that?"
Angry as he was, Wei Wuxian noticed Jiang Cheng puff his chest a little at his words.
"You're predictable," he replied.
"Sure," Wei Wuxian said lightly, "but you anticipated the others too. Well done."
"Don't expect that compliments will save you."
"No, of course not!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed. "Lan Zhan will do that! It's only a matter of time!"
Huaisang whimpered as Jiang Cheng began to reel back Zidian.
"What are you doing?!" Huaisang hissed over his shoulder. "Don't provoke him!"
"Anything I do provokes him," Wei Wuxian hissed back. "You're doomed as long as you're with me… friend."
Jiang Cheng laughed hollowly and advanced. Wei Wuxian took several quick steps backward, dragging Huaisang along with him. He only stopped when Jiang Cheng did.
"Whispering, consorting again!" Jiang Cheng said. "Don't think that I can't hit you even with him there, Wei Wuxian."
"And what will that get you?" Wei Wuxian shot back. "I don't think the others will take kindly to you attacking me again."
Jiang Cheng smiled, or rather, bared his teeth at him. "I won't start any fights if you two tell me right now what it is that you're up to."
Huaisang backed up against Wei Wuxian and whispered very softly, "I will be of no use to you if you let him kill me now."
Wei Wuxian couldn't stop the smirk that spread across his face. "He'll know if I lie," Wei Wuxian murmured.
"Then say what you must and no more."
CRACK!
Jiang Cheng had lifted Zidian up and brought it down with enough force to split the earth beside him.
"Stop scheming and confess!" he shouted.
"Ah! Stop that!" Wei Wuxian yelled back, half at Jiang Cheng and half at Huaisang who had launched himself backward into his chest.
"Answer me!"
He was lifting Zidian again, but this time, his arm was aligned to hit them.
Oh and it was going to hurt! Zidian shone so brightly that it was practically pink.
"We're not working together!" Wei Wuxian screamed.
He closed his eyes, bracing for the strike he knew would come. Huaisang's shoulder blades dug into his collarbone as he tried to back up further.
"Explain," said Jiang Cheng.
Wei Wuxian continued to wait with bated breath. He wouldn't be so easily fooled. Jiang Cheng wasn't one to offer up the opportunity for explanations, even if he asked for them. Inevitably, he would resort to violence. It seemed to be his only method of communication anymore.
And yet… the whip did not come for him.
"Stop cowering and answer me," Jiang Cheng said sharply.
"What?" Wei Wuxian said, peeking between his eyelashes to see Jiang Cheng's slackened grip on Zidian, which was now sparking a dull purple.
"Surely my orders aren't so difficult for you to understand."
"Please, Sect Leader Jiang," said Huaisang, holding his hands up in surrender, "I assure you that Wei Wuxian and I aren't planning anything. I was worried about continuing on the rest of this journey. So, I went to speak with Wei Wuxian about it and he promised to keep a closer eye on me. I needed his help. That's all."
He wasn't convinced. Not in the slightest.
Jiang Cheng's stormy gaze flicked to Wei Wuxian. Zidian's purple light grew brighter. It sparked fervently.
"Is this true?" he asked.
A very simple question. What could Wei Wuxian do except offer a very simple answer in return?
"No," he said.
Huaisang flailed his arms as if he were about to fall over. "What do you mean, 'no'?!" he shrieked. "This isn't funny, Wei Wuxian! Don't try to make him think I'm part of some conspiracy! He'll kill me!"
"Yes, he absolutely would," said Wei Wuxian in a calm but deadly tone. "If you keep lying to him, that's exactly what he would do. Trust me."
Huaisang stilled. He knew what Wei Wuxian was really threatening and was undoubtedly calculating his next move.
Would Wei Wuxian go so far as to tell Jiang Cheng who was responsible for Jin Ling's presence in Yi City? Would Jiang Cheng believe him? Was it a bluff? Was it not? Hard for Huaisang to know, especially since Wei Wuxian was the one who knew Jiang Cheng the best between the two of them.
And that was what Wei Wuxian was banking on… because he was absolutely bluffing.
He'd grown somewhat wary of playing with things when he couldn't anticipate the outcome (assuming his curiosity didn't get the better of him). Wei Wuxian had learned his lesson the hard way on that.
Would Jiang Cheng kill Huaisang for endangering his nephew? Usually the answer would be a resounding yes.
But Huaisang wasn't just anyone; he was a clan leader. As such, there would be a huge fallout for the Jiang Clan if Jiang Cheng took such action.
The massacre of Lotus Pier was not so easily forgotten.
So, Jiang Cheng would, at the very least, require proof of the claim. And that was something that Wei Wuxian couldn't provide.
That last bit, sadly, was something that Huaisang was fully aware of. The more Wei Wuxian thought about it, the more he realized that his threat probably wouldn't hold Huaisang in check for long, if at all.
He could do the math. It wasn't very complicated. No special knowledge of Jiang Cheng required.
The soft chuckle that escaped Huaisang's lips confirmed it. He had called his bluff.
"Fine," he said. "You've already backed me into a corner."
Meaning: you've backed yourself into a corner and now it's on you to talk your way out of it again.
Jiang Cheng was watching them, foot tapping impatiently.
Externally, Wei Wuxian flashed him a sheepish smile.
Internally, he was doing mental gymnastics that put the athleticism of his teenage self to shame.
He had to tell the truth. That much was certain. Whatever he told Jiang Cheng had to be true.
It wasn't actually a given that he would know if he'd lied. Wei Wuxian simply didn't want him to find out later that he had. The result would be… not pretty.
So the truth then.
But what could he say that wouldn't backfire on him and make Jiang Cheng think he was lying even though he wasn't?
Goodness it was hard to think with Zidian crackling there!
"We were talking about some things that Huaisang has been keeping secret from the rest of us," said Wei Wuxian.
Jiang Cheng's fingers tightened around Zidian's handle. "Like what?"
"He was the one who brought me back from the dead."
His reaction was as Wei Wuxian expected. His grip slackened, his brow furrowed, and he even tilted his head a little.
Jiang Cheng recovered quickly, though, and his anger returned.
"Mo Xuanyu brought you back," he said. "I'm not an idiot."
"Yes, Mo Xuanyu is the one who sacrificed himself," Wei Wuxian explained. "But Huaisang provided him with the curse to be able to do it."
"And why would he have done that?" Jiang Cheng asked, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two of them.
"To get rid of Lianfang-zun," said Wei Wuxian. "He knew about his crimes long before the rest of us did. He brought me back and dropped leads here and there for me to chase down."
Jiang Cheng's expression soured. "He knew about Jin Guangyao? All of that nonsense Jin Guangyao accused him of was true? Why didn't he tell anyone?"
"It's not true," Huaisang said. "The ramblings of a man who knew he was going to die if he didn't say anything to save his skin."
He had to say that. He couldn't confess. But Wei Wuxian had only promised not to talk to Lan Xichen about this. So, he figured he was free to continue to speak as he wished.
"It's true," Wei Wuxian said, "but who would have believed him about Lianfang-zun? He had no proof, but he knew where to find it. He needed help getting it."
"So he sent you in for it instead?"
Wei Wuxian frowned. Jiang Cheng had sounded so… furious. Granted, he always sounded furious. But, if Wei Wuxian hadn't known better, he might have thought that Jiang Cheng was angry on his behalf.
"Yes, he did," said Wei Wuxian. "He was manipulating all of us to get what he wanted. He set Mo Xuanyu up to die for me. So, he and I were having a little chat about his constant efforts to abandon us and-"
"Why do you want him around?" Jiang Cheng demanded. "If what you've said is true, he's a liar who would prefer to risk the lives of others rather than endanger himself. We should get rid of him."
Huaisang tentatively held up a finger. "When you say 'get rid of'," he started to say, voice trembling, "do you mean-?"
"I mean, go back to Qinghe if that's what you want to do," Jiang Cheng snapped. "We don't need you here. You're not helpful."
As soon as Zidian reverted to its ring form, Wei Wuxian released Huaisang.
"Trust me, Jiang Cheng," Wei Wuxian said, choosing his words carefully so as not to push his good luck too far, "we want him around."
"Why?"
"Because otherwise, we leave him free to manipulate everyone from the shadows again," he said. "You'd rather be an active part of his plan this time, right?"
It wouldn't be long before the others came looking for them, especially Lan Zhan. If Wei Wuxian was going to achieve his goal, he needed to seal the deal quickly.
"You make me out to be a villain," Huaisang said sadly. "You know that I'm not capable of doing all of that. And even if I was, do you not believe that I would do what I could to work toward the greater good?"
It was unclear whether that melancholy in his voice was sincere or not. Erring on the safe side, Wei Wuxian elected to believe it was not.
"Tch," Jiang Cheng scoffed. "And we're to think that your constant efforts to abandon us are also for 'the greater good'?"
"In a way, yes," Huaisang said. "My leaving would benefit all of you. I'm slowing you down."
Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and then fixed Wei Wuxian with an odd look.
"This whole time," he said, "I thought you and he were up to something. I should have known you were up to your old 'keep the enemy close' charade."
"I'm not the enemy!" Huaisang squeaked.
Wei Wuxian grinned. "I've been away for quite some time," he said jokingly to Jiang Cheng. "I can't hold it against you."
"Hm."
"What do you say?" Wei Wuxian continued now that it seemed he was a little more receptive to his suggestions. "Will you join in my efforts? Do you want in on our deal?"
Jiang Cheng scowled and crossed his arms. "You and your plots again," he said with a click of his tongue. "What if your theory about him is wrong? What if he didn't do any of those things? Haven't you noticed that things rarely work out in your favor? Why would I want to board a sinking ship?"
Because you also get mad if you're excluded…
"Because it'll be fun," Wei Wuxian said, " pretend fun at least, which can be real fun if you try hard enough."
"What are you talking about?"
"We're going to be friends again!" Wei Wuxian cried, taking a step forward and throwing his arm around Huaisang's shoulders. "Isn't that right, Huaisang?"
"…right."
Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow. "How does this solve our problem? I don't understand the deal."
"Huaisang stops trying to run away," Wei Wuxian explained, tapping Huaisang's shoulder a few times for emphasis, "and he finally starts helping us with that genius mind of his. And in return, you and I agree not to tell the others how he's manipulated them."
Skepticism was carved into the creases of Jiang Cheng's face. Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian had reached the limit of what he could safely say.
It was likely that Jiang Cheng didn't see how this agreement served Huaisang to any great degree. If Jiang Cheng believed that he had manipulated people, why should Huaisang care about them finding out after the fact? It wasn't like providing Mo Xuanyu with the knowledge of a curse or helping to uncover a backstabbing murderer were punishable offenses…
…well, not greatly punishable anyway.
The curse business was a bit illegal, but in the grand scheme of things, helping to uncover Jin Guangyao was probably enough to offset that crime in the eyes of the public.
What Jiang Cheng didn't know was that Mo Xuanyu wasn't Huaisang's only attempted sacrifice for the cause. But Wei Wuxian had already decided not to tell him about any of that.
And he also probably couldn't tell him that Huaisang had tricked Lan Xichen into killing Jin Guangyao on his behalf.
"Why should Huaisang would care about losing face?" Jiang Cheng asked, proving Wei Wuxian's fears right. "There's no proof to damage his reputation in the first place."
Oddly, before Wei Wuxian could answer, Huaisang spoke up.
"I'm thinking of trying my hand at head cultivator," he said. "These wild fantasies of Wei Wuxian's may cast enough of a shadow over me to cause me trouble. Will you help me, Sect Leader Jiang? I'll help all of you in return to the best of my abilities, though I'm really not a mastermind like Wei Wuxian would make me out to be. Just please don't spread these unfounded rumors around."
Wei Wuxian frowned but said nothing.
"This is stupid," Jiang Cheng said. "I don't know what to believe about you two anymore but I'm sure that I don't want to-"
He cut off at the sound of angry voices that drifted around the corner from the entrance of the inn.
"Fine," he hissed. "I'll play your stupid game. If you make me regret this, though, I'll break your legs."
No sooner had he finished his threat than Huaisang had thrown his arms around him with a flourish.
"What the fuck did I just say?!" Jiang Cheng shouted, trying to push him away as Wei Wuxian howled with laughter. "Get off of me!"
"You said you'd play along," Huaisang murmured, speaking so quietly that Wei Wuxian had to lean forward to hear him. "I'm helping you. So play along."
Lan Zhan was the first to arrive. His eyes glinted with malice directed at Jiang Cheng… and maybe Huaisang too? It was hard to tell since they were so close together.
"Oh I'm so happy you still consider me a friend, Jiang Cheng!" Huaisang wailed. "I thought you hated me just like you hate Wei Wuxian-" he paused and looked back at Wei Wuxian sheepishly, "-sorry he hates you," he said.
Wei Wuxian couldn't suppress the snort that escaped him.
Lan Xichen arrived moments after Lan Zhan had. Immediately, he placed himself between his brother and the two who were still struggling against one another.
Wei Wuxian narrowed his eyes. When he'd confronted him about it, Lan Xichen had denied anything romantic between himself and Jiang Cheng, but the sudden frantic note of embarrassment that had now entered Jiang Cheng's voice made him more than suspicious.
"Get off of me!" Jiang Cheng bellowed. "I said I didn't hate you! I never said we were friends!"
"But we could fix that!" Huaisang whined, his fingers scrabbling for purchase on Jiang Cheng's uniform as it became increasingly difficult for him to remain stuck to his side. "Things could be as they were!"
Lan Xichen chuckled at the scene before him. Lan Zhan, however, still seemed to be in a towering rage by the time the kids had caught up with them.
Luo Qingyang and Yu Qingqi were nowhere to be seen even though Wei Wuxian was sure he'd heard them outside his door as well. Most likely they'd decided it wasn't their fight and there were enough people involved already to resolve it. Luo Qingyang could use the extra rest anyway… all of them could.
"See, Wangji?" Lan Xichen said placidly. "Everything is fine. Everyone is okay."
Lan Zhan's hand didn't move from its place on Bichen's hilt. He fixed Wei Wuxian with an intense stare.
"Are you okay?" he asked him.
Keenly aware that he was still soaked in sweat, Wei Wuxian grinned. "Never better," he said. "I'm enjoying the show!"
Jiang Cheng growled as he tried to pry each of Huaisang's fingers off of him, one by one.
"How are you so strong?" he asked angrily as Huaisang replaced each digit as soon as Jiang Cheng had released it.
"I'm not strong," Huaisang replied, panting slightly. "I'm tenacious."
Jin Ling, Sizhui, and Jingyi all looked out of place and confused by what was happening around them.
"Why don't you boys get some rest?" Wei Wuxian suggested to them. "We're leaving tomorrow. You three don't want to be as tired as Sect Leader Nie and Sect Leader Jiang are going to be, do you?"
He got smiles from the Lan boys and a scowl from Jin Ling.
"What's going on here?" Jin Ling demanded.
"A reunion," Wei Wuxian said simply. "There's nothing you three can do to help anyway. Don't worry, Sect Leader Nie is in no real danger with the rest of us here."
"I wasn't – I don't care about – he's harassing my uncle!" Jin Ling spluttered.
"Oh he'll be fine!" Wei Wuxian assured him with a flick of his wrist. "They're just-"
Upon hearing the characteristic crackle of Zidian's release, Wei Wuxian instinctively jumped away.
Huaisang shrieked and did the same.
"Jiang Cheng!" Huaisang cried. "You said-!"
"I said I didn't hate you!" Jiang Cheng snarled at him, brandishing Zidian when Huaisang lurched forward as if to attach himself again. "I didn't say that it would stay that way if you annoyed me!"
Wei Wuxian half-expected Lan Xichen to come to Huaisang's aid, but he stood exactly where he had been, his face inscrutable.
Jin Ling, however, moved to draw Suihua.
"No!" Sizhui cried desperately, seizing his arm to stop him. "Jin Ling, no! Have you forgotten yourself? He's a sect leader!"
"So am I!" Jin Ling said, wiggling against him. Sizhui held fast.
"That's even worse!" he said. "Wei-qianbei is right. We should go to bed. This doesn't involve us."
"It involves my uncle," Jin Ling insisted. "So it involve-"
"No it doesn't," Jiang Cheng interrupted flatly. He had put Zidian away and was holding Huaisang in place by his glare alone. "Don't be ridiculous. This doesn't involve you. Go with your friends. Get some rest. You're not yourself."
"But I-!"
"Do as I say!"
Jin Ling looked like he was going to argue. Wei Wuxian would have bet the next words out of his mouth to be something along the lines of 'I'm not a child' or 'I don't have to follow your rules anymore'.
But he said neither of those things. He just eyed his uncle reproachfully for a moment before spinning around and stomping back toward the inn, both Lan juniors in tow.
"You know," Wei Wuxian drawled as he watched the boys disappear inside, "you really can't keep telling him what to do. It's going to reflect poorly on both of you."
"Shut your mouth, Wei Wuxian," Jiang Cheng growled. "I didn't ask you for advice."
"Of course you didn't," Wei Wuxian said lightly, "and usually I'd say that you shouldn't. But I'm pretty confident on this one."
"Don't you agree with him!" Jiang Cheng shouted at Huaisang, who stopped nodding immediately.
Lan Xichen cleared his throat, easily calling all attention to himself. Wei Wuxian wished he'd mastered the art of commanding a room so quickly. He wasn't bad at it, but as soon as Jiang Cheng was present, people tended not to take him as seriously for some reason.
"Has your curiosity been sated, Jiang Ch- Sect Leader Jiang?" Lan Xichen asked quietly. "Are you satisfied that Wei Wuxian and Huaisang are not planning anything?"
He'd almost called him 'Jiang Cheng'! And Jiang Cheng had called him 'Lan Xichen' that other night!
Wei Wuxian knew it! He'd known it all along!
After speaking one on one with Lan Xichen, he hadn't been convinced when Lan Xichen had claimed that he and Jiang Cheng were no more than travelling companions, but he had eventually been convinced that the upsetting conversation between him and Jiang Cheng had not had anything to do with that. So, Wei Wuxian had more or less returned to his old feelings about Lan Xichen once he'd cooled down a little.
All those times in the Cloud Recesses when Jiang Cheng had claimed he was 'trying to read something on the wall' or 'just happened to be looking that way'… He'd had his eye on Lan Xichen for a long time, even if he hadn't really been aware of it.
But Wei Wuxian and Yanli had known. And they'd waited for him to tell them in his own time. They would have shielded him from Madam Yu or Jiang Fengmian. They would have kept him safe. But that time never came.
So, even though he and Wei Wuxian were far from being on good terms with one another now, part of Wei Wuxian was truly happy for him. Lan Xichen was the right amount of gentle to soothe the monsters that haunted him, but he also had enough strength to fight them off if need be.
And surely after everything with Jin Guangyao, Jiang Cheng's brutal brand of honesty would be refreshing. Not to mention that Jiang Cheng wouldn't suffer anyone to show even the slightest bit of discourtesy to a man so impeccably polite.
Almost opposites though they were, Wei Wuxian and Yanli had struggled to think of anyone else who would complement Jiang Cheng so well. And Jiang Cheng had certainly waited long enough to decide to pursue something for himself rather than whatever notions of destiny or responsibility that his parents had hammered into his head.
Though Wei Wuxian couldn't get his hopes up just yet.
Lan Xichen might have almost addressed him as 'Jiang Cheng', but he'd stopped just short. And for some reason, neither of them would look at each other. They seemed almost afraid to.
"Tch. There's no way those two idiots are planning anything together," Jiang Cheng said in a tone that was probably softer than what he'd intended. "Apparently Sect Leader Nie thought that asking Wei Wuxian was a better way to ascertain whether or not I was angry with him than asking me directly."
Huaisang and Wei Wuxian exchanged a look. Jiang Cheng was doing much better at playing his part than either of them could have expected. Maybe it wasn't an entire loss that Jiang Cheng had gotten tangled up in their little dance.
"Great," Lan Xichen said. "Why don't we all go back to bed and forget about this whole thing, yes?"
"No!" Huaisang wailed. "You don't understand!"
"Don't understand what?" Lan Xichen asked, bewildered.
"I need to fix things! I can make Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian remember why we were friends!"
"No way!" Wei Wuxian yelled, recalling every unpleasant detail of the last time Huaisang had tried to 'fix things'. He could still feel the painful echo of Zidian's paralyzing touch.
"Not a chance in hell," Jiang Cheng said sourly.
"But-!"
"Wei Ying needs to rest," Lan Zhan interrupted at last. He seemed much calmer than before and was no longer looking at Jiang Cheng as if calculating how much strength it would take to break every bone in his body.
"No!" Huaisang insisted. "Just one night! Then he can rest as much as he wants! I mean, I expect I can at least win Wei Wuxian back. He was always the best at drinking and generally having a good time."
Oh ho! Huaisang really never stopped his manipulation did he?
A few sparks flew from Jiang Cheng's index finger.
"Is that so?" Jiang Cheng asked darkly.
Huaisang shrank down and popped his fan open so that he could hide behind it.
"I didn't mean to offend you, Jiang Cheng," Huaisang squeaked. "I only meant that you were better at being responsible and Wei Wuxian was better at being… fun, I guess…"
"Oh really?"
He was pushing all the right buttons. Goodness it would have been entertaining to stay up and watch Jiang Cheng try to outcompete everyone else at being fun!
But sadly, Wei Wuxian knew better.
The night would inevitably end in broken bones and bloodied fists. Wei Wuxian was far too tired for all of that. He was done participating in Huaisang's half-baked fix-it games. He wanted to go to bed.
When Lan Zhan held out his hand to him, Wei Wuxian moved to take it.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay with us?" Huaisang asked him.
"What makes you think I'm staying?!" Jiang Cheng snapped.
Huaisang continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "I brought something along that I thought you might like."
"I'm not interested. Thanks," Wei Wuxian said without looking back.
He and Lan Zhan followed the path that the boys had taken earlier.
"Not even one glass?" Huaisang asked teasingly. "You could go to bed right after…"
Wei Wuxian spun back around just as Lan Xichen was imploring all of them to get some rest.
"You brought Emperor's Smile, didn't you?!" Wei Wuxian asked.
Huaisang's face split in a wide grin. "Are you interested?" he asked.
Damn he was good!
"That's obviously a trap," Lan Zhan said, voicing the same thing that the annoying little voice in the back of Wei Wuxian's mind was already saying.
"Yes, but I think he actually has the wine, though," Wei Wuxian said. "One glass couldn't hurt."
"Yes it could."
"Fair enough, but it won't hurt enough to make it not worth it!"
"Wei Ying, please."
He hated when Lan Zhan looked at him like that. He knew he was worried about him, but he was always worried about him.
Wei Wuxian needed enough freedom to risk his life from time to time, especially when it came to liquor.
"Look," he said levelly, "I promise to scream very loudly if either of them tries to kill me, okay?"
"That's not funny."
"It's only serious if it happens, and I don't think it will," Wei Wuxian said quickly before turning back to Huaisang and shouting, "I'm in!"
"Great!"
Lan Zhan seized his forearm. He didn't hold him tightly as he had that time on Dafan Mountain. His grip was fairly loose, but his stance was rigid.
"Wei Ying, don't," he breathed. "Last time, you – I hadn't seen that look on your face in a long time. I don't want you to be hurt like that again."
He understood his concern. He really did. But what he couldn't bring himself to tell Lan Zhan was that the miasma had been killing him ever since they'd entered Qishan. Drinking was a last ditch effort to feel better (though he wasn't sure how drunk he could get in a short time). And he couldn't tell him that because he knew it would only serve to make him worry more.
Not to mention that he certainly hadn't told him about the voices he'd been hearing.
"I know what to expect this time," Wei Wuxian assured him. "It's going to be okay. You trust me, don't you?"
"I trust you," Lan Zhan said. "It's them I don't trust."
"Then hopefully it makes you feel better to know that I don't trust them either."
"It doesn't."
Wei Wuxian tilted his head to one side and frowned at him. "You're really going to make me leave you on that awful note?"
Lan Zhan stared at him for a few moments and then sighed. He wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close. "I trust you," he whispered. "I hope this ends the way that you want it to."
"Me too," Wei Wuxian mumbled into his robes.
"Please tell me that Lan Wangji isn't planning to come too," Huaisang said as he and Jiang Cheng approached them.
Lan Xichen trailed behind, looking curiously between them all. He didn't seem quite as defeated as Wei Wuxian would have expected from a man who'd been ignored by everyone else.
Lan Zhan fixed Huaisang with an icy look.
"Uh – I mean – you can join us," Huaisang said, fiddling with his fan. "I don't think you'd have much fun, though."
Lan Zhan didn't answer and his gaze didn't waver. It looked like he was trying to strike Huaisang dead by staring at him.
Huaisang waited an appropriate amount of time for Lan Zhan to declare whether or not he intended to join them. When he still said nothing, Huaisang did a weird sidestep around him and continued up the hill toward the inn.
"Are you coming then?" Jiang Cheng asked sullenly without looking at Wei Wuxian.
"Uh," Wei Wuxian said, taken aback that he'd said anything to him at all. "I guess that depends. Are you actually going to try being fun?"
Jiang Cheng's hands curled into fists. Wei Wuxian inched backward.
"I don't have to try," Jiang Cheng snarled. "Watch your mouth."
In his periphery, Wei Wuxian saw Lan Xichen raise his hand to cover his own mouth. From the creases in the corners of his eyes, he was pretty sure it was to hide a smile.
"Why? Because you're going to punch me in it?" Wei Wuxian taunted despite the fact that his legs had turned to jelly. "You're not off to a strong start here."
Wei Wuxian flinched when Jiang Cheng lifted his hand to twist Zidian around on his finger. Jiang Cheng noticed and smirked.
"Come along or stay. Doesn't matter to me."
With that, he followed Huaisang up the hill and the two of them disappeared inside the dimly lit inn.
"Come, Wangji," Lan Xichen said softly, motioning for Lan Zhan to follow him. "Let's leave those three to their own devices for a while."
"Xiongzhang," Lan Zhan said with an air of surprise and disapproval, "I don't think-"
"We'll be nearby," Lan Xichen said, turning his attention to Wei Wuxian. "Don't leave the inn, and I assure you that we will be there to help if anything goes wrong."
"But last time they-"
"I know, Wangji," Lan Xichen said calmly. "Last time went poorly indeed. But they're all in agreement. They can make their own decisions."
"That's true, Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian said. "Just let me make some bad decisions."
Lan Xichen frowned. "If you think it's a bad decision, perhaps you should go to bed," he said. "You won't get your wine, but you will get the rest you desperately need."
"Hey!"
"That wasn't meant to be an insult," Lan Xichen said. "You can't deny that you're unwell."
"Neither can you," Wei Wuxian snapped back.
Lan Xichen smiled in that painfully polite way of his. "I'm not telling you what to do," he said. "But I do wonder if maybe this time things will be different for you."
Wei Wuxian squinted at him. Surely Jiang Cheng had given Lan Xichen no reason to believe that he had any feelings toward Wei Wuxian except hatred. Was Lan Xichen just that optimistic about people? Hadn't he learned his lesson on that?
Regardless, Wei Wuxian had already made up his mind about the wine.
"I'll only stay for a little while," he said to Lan Zhan. "It'll be fine."
"Mn."
His lips were pressed into a hard line and the edge of his jaw was more defined than usual, but Lan Zhan didn't argue.
The three of them meandered up to the inn. When Lan Zhan pulled open the heavy door, Wei Wuxian was immediately assailed by Huaisang shaking the bottle of Emperor's Smile in his face.
"I told you I had it!" he cried. "Now you have to join!"
Wei Wuxian sighed but followed him over to a seat across from Jiang Cheng where three glasses were set out – one filled, one barely filled that sat in front of Jiang Cheng, and the last empty. The jar of Emperor's smile was unopened but the lid thankfully came off easily, so he didn't have to fight with it when he was still feeling weak. Jiang Cheng didn't look at him.
"When I finish this glass," Wei Wuxian said, spinning around in his seat to address Lan Zhan, who was idling with Lan Xichen by the hallway, "I'll come to bed, all right?"
"Mn," was all Lan Zhan said before taking his leave.
As soon as he was gone, Wei Wuxian's anxiety increased tenfold.
"Why haven't you started yet?" Huaisang pouted, jabbing a finger at Jiang Cheng's cup. "And why'd you pour so little?"
Jiang Cheng glared at him. "I think we should use this time to formulate a plan for Nightless City. Time to prove your worth."
Huaisang smiled smugly. "I already have a plan. We should use this time to convince the others that we really are friends."
"No one is going to believe that Jiang Cheng and I are friends," Wei Wuxian said dully. "Loath as I am to agree with anything he says, I do. If you have a plan, let's hear it. The real one this time. Not whatever nonsense you drew in the dirt before."
Still, Huaisang refused to talk. He wagged a finger at them.
"Not so fast," he said. "I do promise to tell you, but you'll have to earn it.
"But-!"
"We've already tried making the two of you play nice with one another," Huaisang went on, ignoring Wei Wuxian's interruption. "That was a catastrophe. So instead, you're both still going to be civil to each other but you're both going to win my affection rather than each other's."
"You're a fool, you know that?" Wei Wuxian said.
"Absolutely not," Jiang Cheng growled. "I don't want your affection. I'm out."
"But you want my plan, so shut up."
Wei Wuxian's eyes went wide. The Headshaker of Qinghe really was gutsy.
And there he was, smirking at the bewilderment of his prisoners.
"Let's play a drinking game, shall we?" Huaisang said.
"Can't," Wei Wuxian said, clinking a fingernail against the side of his cup. "I said one glass."
Jiang Cheng clicked his tongue against his teeth but didn't say anything.
"Fine," Huaisang said with agitation, "Jiang Cheng and I will play. He still has to prove he can be fun."
"You have to prove that you have a plan," Jiang Cheng snapped. "And I don't think drinking is a great idea."
"Play and I'll tell you more."
"You're pushing your luck, Huaisang."
"Well I have plenty of luck. Ready to play?"
"I said I don't think drinking is a good idea."
"And I said it was," Huaisang replied shortly. "What? Are you scared that I'll outdrink you?"
Jiang Cheng glowered at him before slowly taking a sip from his barely filled glass.
Huaisang smiled and took a drink from his own. "All right. Let's play."
Wei Wuxian observed while Huaisang proceeded to explain a set of more than forty rules and conditions for their game. Wei Wuxian was struggling to keep it all straight, so he knew for a fact that Jiang Cheng was lost.
"Are you done yet?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"Yes, I think I am… no, wait! I forgo-"
Jiang Cheng seized the edge of the table so tightly that the wood creaked. Wei Wuxian carefully rose from his chair and wandered to the next table over since it looked like Jiang Cheng may very well throw the one he was seated at.
"This is a drinking game!" Jiang Cheng roared. "Why are you making it so complicated?!"
"The drunker you get, the more fun it is!" Huaisang said excitedly.
"You won't know what you're doing anymore!"
"I know! It's hilarious!"
They had equal but opposite energies. Jiang Cheng's boiling frustration matched against Huaisang's unhinged giddiness. Wei Wuxian fully intended to make his cup last as long as he possibly could. As long as he could remain a spectator, this should be fun.
"There's no way that this is a real game!" Jiang Cheng insisted. "You're making this up!"
"No, it's real! I played it with Da-ge and some friends in Qinghe many times!"
"You're lying."
"Are you scared I'll win? Is that what this is?"
"No!"
Jiang Cheng aggressively took the brush from Huaisang's hand. He knelt down to the ground and without putting any ink on the end of it, began to trace a large pattern on the dusty floorboards.
He had actually remembered more of the rules than Wei Wuxian had expected he would. He climbed over tables to avoid knots in the wood and even used some exceptional acrobatics to trace a pattern in the ceiling – one that, according to the rules of the game, Huaisang would have to memorize and copy.
However, it still didn't take long before he'd made a mistake and was forced to drink.
"I told you," he said huffily as Huaisang made his way over to the jar of Emperor's Smile to refill his cup with it, "I'm not drinking that."
"I don't understand. You used to drink it all the time. I thought you liked it."
"I grew out of it. Get me the kind you gave me before."
"Ugh, fine."
Huaisang meandered behind the counter and ducked down. The sound of clinking glasses could be heard from the other side.
"You put it back there yourself," Jiang Cheng said shortly. "You should know where it's at. What's taking so long?"
"They're all unlabeled! I don't know-!"
"They're not unlabeled! Who would even do that? It's very clearly written on the side, did you not read it?"
"Oh! This must be it!"
Huaisang straightened at last, bottle in hand. "They were all in there backward, so I couldn't read them."
Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. "Why did you put it back like that?"
"I put it back the way I found it!"
"Whatever."
They went back to their drawing game. Naturally, Huaisang was very good at it. Wei Wuxian was also suspicious that it was a game of his own creation. The odds were stacked in his favor, though Jiang Cheng did his best to even the playing field by using his athleticism to his advantage.
Surprisingly, Wei Wuxian was feeling the beginnings of a tingle in his fingers and a warmth in his face. He'd taken perhaps four sips from his cup. It shouldn't have been enough to affect him at all. He must have been out of practice.
Jiang Cheng, too, was unsteady on his feet after starting the drink that Huaisang had poured him. Was he out of practice too?
Pretty soon, he was unable to maneuver well enough to keep his athletic advantage, which only made the show that much more enjoyable.
Wei Wuxian laughed when he tried to balance on the edge of the counter and ended up teetering and falling off with a loud crash and an unimpressed 'Really?'.
"Ha! I win!" Huaisang cheered. "You have to drink a whole glass of my choosing this time! But I don't really care, so you can have the same stuff you had last time."
Jiang Cheng was much less frustrated with losing than Wei Wuxian had ever seen. He just grumbled under his breath as he drunkenly moved toward the table where he'd left his bottle. When he spilled while trying to pour it the first time, Huaisang glided over and did it for him.
"But," Huaisang said, handing his cup to him, "you win too."
"What do you mean?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"You proved that you can be fun. Congratulations!"
"Ha. Told you."
He tipped his head back and downed the entirety of his drink like he was back in the Cloud Recesses. Wei Wuxian looked away.
"I've never had this before," Jiang Cheng said, slamming the cup down so hard that it cracked, "but it doesn't taste like it should be this strong."
"Uh, I agree," Huaisang said hesitantly, eying Jiang Cheng's tense grip on his damaged glass. "It's nice to feel numb though, isn't it?"
"Not numb enough. Guess we need another game, huh?"
There was something very off about his tone. Even through the fog of his own mind, Wei Wuxian heard it. And he saw the way Jiang Cheng kept looking at the exit, like the flash of white in the eye of a cornered animal.
"We could play ano-" Huaisang started to say.
"I have a game," Jiang Cheng announced suddenly.
He turned and started walking toward Wei Wuxian. Instinctively, Wei Wuxian dove under the table.
"Hide and seek wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Jiang Cheng said, annoyed.
He stopped and bent down to fix Wei Wuxian with a deadpan look. "Would you stop being so dramatic?"
"Once you stop being scary," Wei Wuxian said.
"Get up. You're playing this next game."
"I said once I finished my drink, I'd go to bed! I can't play a drinking game with you!"
Jiang Cheng raised his eyebrows. "So you keep your promises to Lan Wangji, but not to me?"
"Jiang Cheng, I-"
He rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist dismissively. "No, we're not doing that again. Going in circles… soooo many circles…"
He really was a lot drunker than he should have been.
"Anyway," he went on, "pour yourself a different glass. You said you'd go to bed after you finish this one."
Wei Wuxian was taken aback. "That's… really clever for you, Jiang Cheng."
"What the fuck does that mean?"
"It means that maybe I'll accept your challenge… depending on what it is."
After all, Wei Wuxian's mind wasn't yet hazy enough to block out the miasma. What could a few more drinks hurt? Jiang Cheng was too clumsy at this point to pose much of a threat anyway.
"Race me."
"What?" Wei Wuxian said, looking around the dining room. "Here? There's no space."
"No, outside."
"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea," Wei Wuxian said, remembering that Lan Xichen had warned him not to leave the inn.
"And why is that?"
"Because we've only placed enough talismans to protect this building. I don't want to deal with more corpses, do you?"
Jiang Cheng shrugged.
"What about knife throwing?" Wei Wuxian suggested. "You and I are both pretty good at that. Should still be an interesting game."
"Aw knife throwing? I'm no good at that!" Huaisang whined.
"Like I was good at art?!" Jiang Cheng retorted.
"Well…"
"If you don't want to play, forfeit."
"Okay, I forfeit," Huaisang said.
"Then drink," Jiang Cheng said, filling his glass and handing it to him. "All of it."
Huaisang eyed it for a beat but eventually accepted. He didn't down it nearly as fast as Jiang Cheng had, but he did drink all of it as demanded. He popped something into his mouth immediately after, claiming that he 'didn't like the taste' of what Jiang Cheng had been drinking.
"Knife throwing it is," Jiang Cheng said, turning back to Wei Wuxian. "We're going to make it more interesting, though."
"Oh?" Wei Wuxian said, raising an eyebrow.
He didn't explain. Jiang Cheng stalked off down the hallway without a single word. Wei Wuxian ignored the inquisitive look from Huaisang.
He heard a door open and close and then Jiang Cheng returned with his pack in hand.
"No questions from Jin Ling?" Wei Wuxian said.
"He knows better."
"Since when?"
Was that… a smile? Not a full one, no. But one corner of his mouth had definitely turned upward.
"Since tonight, apparently."
Jiang Cheng set his pack on the floor and began rummaging around inside. He pulled out two identical daggers and laid them down next to the bag.
"Choose one," he said, pointing at them.
"Why?" Wei Wuxian replied. "They look the same to me."
"So you know that it's fair and can't claim I tampered with yours when I win."
Wei Wuxian laughed. "You're pretty confident, aren't you?"
"I have a few extra years of practice on my side," Jiang Cheng said casually. "I'm technically older than you are now."
"Ha! I guess I'd never thought of that," Wei Wuxian said.
Wei Wuxian considered jokingly calling him 'shixiong' but quickly dismissed the idea. He was no longer actually a member of the Jiang Clan, and he didn't want to ruin Jiang Cheng's weirdly good mood by bringing attention to that fact.
He took one of the daggers and Jiang Cheng picked up the other.
"Huaisang!" Jiang Cheng barked suddenly.
Huaisang froze midway in his reach for the bottle to refill his cup.
"Set some targets on the counter there."
"Uh," Huaisang said, "what do you want me to use?"
"Whatever you want," Jiang Cheng said. "This place is abandoned anyway since people would rather face slaughter than sink so low as to ask me for help."
Maybe he wasn't in such a good mood after all...
"Um, okay."
Huaisang fumbled around behind the counter for a time before coming up with a few plates which he rested against upside down cups as makeshift targets.
"All right," Jiang Cheng said when he was satisfied there were enough targets on the counter. "Grab a chair."
Wei Wuxian did what he was told. He and Jiang Cheng dragged their chairs to the opposite side of the room.
"Now we try to hit as many targets as fast as we can," Jiang Cheng explained.
"So we throw at the same time?" Wei Wuxian asked.
"Yes."
"Easy enough. Ready when you are."
"No," Jiang Cheng said with a smirk. "We also have to balance on the chairs."
"Uh, okay," Wei Wuxian said, climbing up onto the seat.
"No. The back of the chair."
"What? No, that's stupid!"
Wei Wuxian was pretty sure he was still sober enough to balance like that, but he was certain that Jiang Cheng was not. He couldn't say that to him though. He would either get smacked or encourage him to stand on the chair… or both.
"What? Are you scared?" Jiang Cheng taunted him.
"No, I just – we don't really want to be risking injury right now, do we?"
But Jiang Cheng wasn't listening to him. He was already clambering onto his chair.
"Unbelievable," Wei Wuxian breathed.
He wasn't about to let Jiang Cheng show him up, though. So, he climbed up onto the seat next to his and waited until Huaisang announced the start of their game.
As he'd predicted, Jiang Cheng was not sober enough to balance on the chair. When he reeled back to throw his first dagger, he also tried to readjust his feet and stepped too far to one side. His chair promptly tipped.
And of course, everything went as wrong as it possibly could, which was the only way that things involving the two of them ever went.
Jiang Cheng's chair crashed into Wei Wuxian's, sending both of them toppling over. Wei Wuxian seized Jiang Cheng's arm and tried to pull him away from the wreckage, but he was met with immediate resistance.
The resulting fall was worse than it would have been had Wei Wuxian done nothing.
Somehow, he ended up with his top half sprawled across Jiang Cheng while his bottom half landed on his chair, breaking one of the wooden legs with a loud snap. Huaisang yelped.
"ARGH! That was a terrible throw!" Wei Wuxian said. "I told you-!"
Whack!
Jiang Cheng backhanded him so hard that Wei Wuxian was practically thrown off of him. Perhaps Emperor's Smile hadn't been enough to completely fog his mind, but that certainly had.
"OW! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO FELL INTO ME!" Wei Wuxian shouted, clutching his jaw and scrambling away.
"GET OFF OF ME!"
"I'm off! I'm off!" Wei Wuxian cried as Jiang Cheng pulled back his fist to hit him again. "What's wrong with you?!"
He didn't answer. Jiang Cheng's skin was ashen. He sat up, clutching his chest and breathing hard. He'd gone as rigid as stone. The muscles in the back of his hand were so prominent Wei Wuxian was surprised his tendons still held fast to his bones.
Jiang Cheng rocked forward a little bit, wincing when he pressed his other hand against his abdomen as if holding pressure to a wound.
"Jiang Cheng?" Wei Wuxian said tentatively as he leaned a little closer to inspect him. "Are you all right?"
"Stay away!"
"Is your talisman still intact? Is this Xue Yang? Let me-"
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Jiang Cheng screamed.
Wei Wuxian barely dodged his next swing.
"I won't. I won't touch you," he assured him. " Show me your talisman. Would that be better?"
Jiang Cheng took a while to comply. Still wheezing, he reached down the front of his uniform and drew out the jade talisman. It was pristine.
But Wei Wuxian had partly expected that.
It had only been a suspicion before, but when Jiang Cheng inhaled sharply and clutched his leg, Wei Wuxian knew what it was that the miasma was making him relive. Strikes from a discipline whip across his chest, massive bruises and internal bleeding in his abdomen, and a broken leg – they were all injuries that he'd sustained from Wen Chao.
Wei Wuxian's stomach wound itself in knots. As it turned out, he still felt the guilt as strongly as he had the day he'd recovered Jiang Cheng from the wreckage of Lotus Pier.
He'd promised to protect him and he'd failed.
It was odd, though, that Jiang Cheng seemed to be in physical pain. So far, the miasma had toyed with Wei Wuxian's emotions, but it hadn't made him feel anything… except when he dreamt of being thrown into the Burial Mounds.
He didn't re-experience the same injuries per se, but Lan Zhan told him that his body tensed so much that when he awoke, it felt as if he'd been beaten.
Seeing how rigidly Jiang Cheng sat there on the floor, he guessed that this was what was happening to him too.
Huaisang took a step toward them. Wei Wuxian vigorously waved him away until he sat back down.
Jiang Cheng either didn't notice or didn't care. He looked like he was going to pass out. Wei Wuxian was at a loss for what to do.
"Does this mean I win the game?" he asked him, hoping that a poke at his competitive nature might be enough to pull him out of it.
It didn't work.
"Just… shut… up…" Jiang Cheng said between labored breaths.
Wei Wuxian folded his legs and sat back, thinking.
Should he and Huaisang go to bed and leave Jiang Cheng alone? That didn't seem like a good idea. What if he got worse?
But if he did get worse, what were either of them going to do? Maybe once upon a time, Wei Wuxian had been able to help him but certainly no longer. Jiang Cheng neither trusted nor liked Wei Wuxian or Huaisang. And although he probably tolerated Huaisang more between the two of them, there was no way that Wei Wuxian was going to leave those two alone together.
"Should I go get Zewu-jun?" Wei Wuxian asked.
The response he got was not the one he'd expected.
Jiang Cheng's already pale face grew paler. His wheezing halted and a wave of tension moved through his already tense body, causing him to double over like he was going to be sick.
A groan of pain escaped him before he said hoarsely, "Why would you suggest that?"
Wei Wuxian winced in sympathy. He saw Huaisang look away.
"I don't know," Wei Wuxian said. "It seemed like you two were friends. I thought that maybe you would let him help you."
Jiang Cheng, face screwed up in misery, was somehow still able to fix Wei Wuxian with the 'that's the worst idea I've ever heard' look that he knew so well.
"Okay, forget that," Wei Wuxian said, caught somewhere between amusement and concern. "Is there something… that I can do?"
"Go away," Jiang Cheng rasped.
"I don't – I mean, I don't think – uh-"
"Unless you're going to tell me that you have some secret array that can clean this fucking air," Jiang Cheng growled, "there's nothing you can do. Leave me."
Wei Wuxian sighed heavily.
He got to his feet and walked around Jiang Cheng, giving him a wide berth as he did so. He grabbed the jar of Emperor's Smile from the table and collected the bottle that Jiang Cheng had been drinking from as well. On his way over to Huaisang, he set Jiang Cheng's bottle down near his foot and then moved far away from him again.
Huaisang watched him pensively as he took a seat across from him.
"I don't think that'll help," Jiang Cheng said, sounding a little better than before.
"It's the best I've got."
"Hm."
The table creaked as Huaisang leaned over it to whisper to Wei Wuxian.
"He looks as bad as he did when we tried flying. Why did he react like that when…?"
He trailed off at the furious look Wei Wuxian directed at him.
"None of my business?" Huaisang asked.
"Absolutely not," Wei Wuxian confirmed.
Huaisang nodded to himself, and they sat there, taking sips of their respective drinks in silence. After Jiang Cheng's breathing levelled out, there was nothing but the quiet sounds of drinking inside and eerie nothingness outside.
"I feel disgusting," Jiang Cheng said at last, banishing the awkwardness in the air.
His eyes were closed and his head was resting on the chair behind him. He was sitting up but still hadn't risen from the floor.
"You are pretty gross," Wei Wuxian replied without thinking.
The contented tingle of liquor in his skin was unhampered by the dagger Jiang Cheng flung at him. He missed by a whole arm's length.
"Fuck," Jiang Cheng grumbled as the weapon bounced off the wall.
Huaisang's snort was muffled by his sleeves. He had his face buried in his arms on the table. Wei Wuxian had thought he was already asleep.
"Do you know if Luo Qingyang left that water bucket in the washroom?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"Uh, no idea," Wei Wuxian said. "You're not actually going to collect water for a bath in the middle of the night, are you?"
"I feel disgusting," Jiang Cheng repeated. "I'm covered in sweat."
"But you bathed like three times yesterday! Why are you so obsessed with hygiene?"
"Why are you so obsessed with pissing me off?"
"You'll probably end up dumping most of the water out when you stumble back here," Wei Wuxian went on. "Actually, you'll probably end up getting attacked by corpses before you get that far."
Jiang Cheng opened his eyes and sat up to glare at him.
"Are you going to try to stop me?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"No," Wei Wuxian said. "If the corpses carry you away, then I have one less person trying to kill me. Ah no! Don't throw that! Don't-!"
Too late.
Jiang Cheng hurled his bottle at him. Of course, he missed again, but the glass shattered against the wall, scattering hundreds of sharp sparkling pieces and splashing wine throughout the dining area.
"Tsk tsk, always so violent," Wei Wuxian said. "I'm not cleaning that up."
"I didn't tell you to!"
"You two sound just like you used to," Huaisang interrupted dreamily without lifting his head. "How nice."
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng exchanged a look of disbelief.
"Any moment now, Lan Wangji is going to come out here and tell you off for disturbing the peace," Huaisang mumbled. "Maybe this time around, I'll be strong enough to carry Wei Wuxian on my back."
An unpleasant feeling settled in Wei Wuxian's stomach. He looked away from both of them but not before he saw Jiang Cheng do the same.
"Haha! Who am I kidding? I'm still not strong enough for that."
As soon as he'd finished talking, Huaisang slipped out of his chair and fell hard onto the floor. Wei Wuxian didn't try to help him. He just watched him lie there giggling near his feet, his fine clothing covered in dust.
His laughter sounded like sobbing.
"I'm scared to get to Nightless City," he whispered.
"If your plan is as good as you claim, we should be fine," Wei Wuxian said. "Care to tell us what it is now?"
Huaisang looked up at him, his gaze sharper than expected given how drunk he was.
"Not tonight," he said, turning away. "Tomorrow morning. I'm not myself tonight."
"Tch. What good are you then?" Jiang Cheng asked.
Huaisang shrugged. He then looked at Wei Wuxian again.
"I'll do my best," he said. "Do you trust me?"
"I think you know the answer to that," Wei Wuxian replied.
Huaisang smiled sadly. "Yes, I think I do."
There was a beat of silence before he spoke again.
"I really am scared to get to Nightless City."
"Tch," came Jiang Cheng's response from the floor.
"I'm scared too," Wei Wuxian admitted quietly before continuing on at a louder volume. "But maybe Jiang Cheng will finally get his wish! Since we found those graveyards and Xue Yang is actually probably a hundred times stronger than we thought he was, I'm sure Jiang Cheng will be praying that I'll be the first to go!"
He paused to allow Jiang Cheng time to put in some snide remark, but he didn't say anything. Huaisang looked upset.
"I mean," Wei Wuxian continued when no one spoke, "we know that I don't have the kind of luck to be resurrected twice, but I can definitely die young twice!"
Still nothing. Not even a chuckle.
Wei Wuxian glanced at him, but Jiang Cheng wasn't looking. His eyes were trained on the rafters overhead.
"What? Finally run out of things to say?" he asked when Wei Wuxian didn't carry on.
"Hard to keep talking with no group effort," Wei Wuxian replied.
His gaze slid back down to Huaisang whose eyelids were drooping. Wei Wuxian considered putting a pepper in his open mouth, but he wasn't sure where he would find one and he was even less sure he could walk in a straight line without knocking into every bit of furniture along the way. Plus, he was beginning to feel quite tired himself.
So, he stayed where he was.
"You've never needed a group effort before," Jiang Cheng said mildly.
"You want me to keep talking?"
"If you can annoy me enough to keep me from falling asleep."
Wei Wuxian was skeptical. It had to be some sort of trap. Had he made a secret deal with Huaisang?
"Why don't you want to fall asleep?" he asked just as Huaisang began to quietly snore.
"Seriously?" Jiang Cheng replied. "Do you like sleeping here?"
"What? On the floor?"
"No, you idiot. In Qishan. In this place."
"Oh," Wei Wuxian said softly. "No. I can't stand the nightmares."
"Hm."
"Is it just Lotus Pier that you dream about, or are there-?"
He stopped when he saw Jiang Cheng glower at him.
"Right," Wei Wuxian said. "We're not doing that."
"Definitely not."
Jiang Cheng tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling again. Wei Wuxian drummed his fingers on the tabletop.
"I dream about him sometimes," Wei Wuxian said after a while. "Wen Chao, I mean."
Jiang Cheng didn't move, but there was an unnatural stillness to him that indicated he was listening. So, Wei Wuxian continued.
"I dream about the massacre and of Wen Chao throwing me into the Burial Mounds. On a good night, I dream of killing him."
He earned a chuckle for that last comment.
"I dream of Wen Ning killing Jin Zixuan and of how I was also responsible for…"
His throat constricted painfully. Wei Wuxian couldn't say her name.
"A-Li?" Jiang Cheng finished for him. His tone was a little harsher than it had been, but not as much as he would have expected.
"Yes," Wei Wuxian breathed. "It seems I ruin everything I touch. I'm waiting for the day that I somehow ruin the Lan family too."
No answer.
"But really," he went on, watching the hazy glow around the lanterns that lit the room, "whether I'm here or not, I dream about those things. They're just… more vivid here, I guess."
He thought he heard a quiet sound of affirmation but he couldn't be sure. When he looked over, he could no longer see Jiang Cheng. He'd slid all the way down to lie on the floor.
"But the closer we get to Nightless City," Wei Wuxian said, "the more often I dream of dying."
Again, no response.
Wei Wuxian leaned forward to look at him, but Jiang Cheng's face was turned away from him. He watched his chest rise and fall for a while before deciding that he was probably asleep.
Getting to his feet, Wei Wuxian took care to avoid stepping on Huaisang while he made his way over to the table where his first glass of Emperor's Smile sat. When he was still barely out of reach of it, his hip caught the corner of a different table, sending him straight to the floor with a pathetic thud.
He raised his head to look at the other two. They were still sound asleep – Huaisang snoring and Jiang Cheng breathing rhythmically.
Wei Wuxian tried to get back up, but he was too tired to make any coordinated effort. Eventually, he gave up and closed his eyes, deciding that taking a quick nap couldn't hurt anything.
The unyielding wooden floor dug into his shoulder and he was pretty sure he could smell spilled wine on the boards by his head, but the sound of Huaisang's snoring was oddly soothing. He definitely would have fallen asleep there if Jiang Cheng hadn't spoken again.
"Are you awake?" he asked.
Wei Wuxian didn't answer him though. He was awake, but he didn't plan to be for much longer. If Jiang Cheng thought he was sleeping, surely he wouldn't keep throwing things at him.
And he didn't. But he didn't fall silent either.
His face was still turned away from Wei Wuxian and he spoke more quietly than he had before, but his words were clear.
"I don't want you to die in Nightless City," Jiang Cheng murmured. "I don't think I ever really did."
A dull ache filled his chest.
Wei Wuxian didn't know how to feel. What did he mean? Just because he didn't want him to die, that didn't mean he didn't still hate him. Wei Wuxian was useful to him. That could have been all he'd meant by it.
But what did he mean by 'I don't think I ever really did'? He hadn't ever wanted him to die in Nightless City, on this mission, specifically? Or he hadn't ever wanted him to die?
It couldn't have been that second one, could it? No, Jiang Cheng had definitely wanted him dead.
Right?
Yes. Definitely, yes.
And yet, Wei Wuxian couldn't calm the ache in his chest.
He couldn't lie there. He couldn't fall asleep there now. He had to leave.
But he didn't dare move.
Not until he heard Jiang Cheng turn over onto his side and mumble something in his sleep did he finally allow himself to wipe the silly tears from his face and hair. He picked himself up off the floor and stumbled to his glass on the table, downing it in one go.
When he made his way quietly to the hallway, he saw both Lan Zhan and Lan Xichen waiting for him there.
"We heard a commotion earlier," Lan Xichen explained. "Wangji wanted to go immediately, but I asked him to wait. I apologize if that was the wrong decision."
He was staring at the spot on Wei Wuxian's face where Jiang Cheng had hit him.
"Oh, I tripped," Wei Wuxian said. "Drank a little too much."
The Lan brothers were unconvinced.
"You were going to finish one glass and go to bed," Lan Zhan said. "That's never been enough to affect you."
Wei Wuxian scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.
"Uh yeah… I saved that glass for last. As soon as I finished that one, I came down here."
Lan Zhan sighed. He wasn't surprised. He couldn't have been. Wei Wuxian did that sort of thing all the time.
"Are you okay?" he asked simply.
Wei Wuxian feigned interest in a scuff mark on his shoe.
"Yes, I'm-"
"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan said, voice as soft as flower petals, "look at me."
Wei Wuxian did as he asked. Tears slipped down his cheeks, but he didn't bother to hide them.
"Are you okay?" Lan Zhan asked again.
"I don't know," Wei Wuxian whispered.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing."
He shifted his weight a little and quickly lost his balance. He accepted his fate and passively tipped to one side, but Lan Zhan caught him and scooped him up before he could hit the floor.
"There's no way I drank enough to be like this," Wei Wuxian mumbled into his shoulder.
"Mn."
Lan Zhan turned and started carrying him back to their room. Before they could go inside, though, Wei Wuxian snapped to attention again and called back to Lan Xichen who was staring off toward the dining area.
"Carry those two to bed, will you?" Wei Wuxian asked. "It isn't right to leave them there. That floor is disgusting."
Lan Xichen looked back at him curiously.
"I can carry Huaisang to his room," he said, "but I made a promise to Sect Leader Jiang that I intend to keep."
Wei Wuxian scowled at him. "You promised not to help him?"
"Not exactly," Lan Xichen said. "But I will not touch him."
He wasn't satisfied with his answer, but Wei Wuxian didn't have the energy left to argue.
"Fine," he said sullenly. "Leave Huaisang there too, then… so he's not alone."
Lan Xichen laughed pleasantly. When he agreed to do as he'd asked, Wei Wuxian rested his head against Lan Zhan's shoulder again and closed his eyes.
He never felt his body touch the bed nor did he notice when Lan Zhan covered him with the blanket. The gentle kiss that Lan Zhan planted on his forehead was the last thing he felt before drifting off to sleep.
That night, he didn't dream of Wen Chao, nor of fire or blood or even of dying.
No, that night he dreamt of Lotus Pier, the old Lotus Pier. And he dreamt of a voice that called his name with all the vigor and brilliance of youth and all the love of family - the same voice that now laced every syllable of his name with venom. He dreamt of gray eyes that gazed at him with admiration and boundless trust - the same eyes that could hardly bear to look at him now.
All the while, the same seven words echoed in his head.
I don't think I ever really did.