Luo Qingyang was going through rudimentary sword forms with A-Yuan when Wei Wuxian barged out of the cave with a strangled cry that startled her so badly that she almost nicked A-Yuan with her sword. And no, she didn’t usually wave a live sword around but there had been a slight disturbance at the wards and Wen Ning had gone to investigate. Luo Qingyang was just being prepared. Just in case.
Wei Wuxian ran to her, a slightly hysterical look in his eyes. ”We did it! Or not me, it was Lan Zhan but it worked! It actually worked!” And then he burst into tears.
”Don’t be sad, Xian-gege!” A-Yuan hurried to hug Wei Wuxian who was crying and laughing at the same time.
”I’m not sad!” Wei Wuxian bawled. ”I’m happy!”
”You’re a mess,” Luo Qingyang said dryly. ”What, exactly, did you do?”
”My core,” Wei Wuxian hiccuped. ”I have a new core.”
The fragile wonder in his eyes made Luo Qingyang’s eyes sting. It was annoying.
”What the fuck happened to your old core?” A voice snarled from behind them.
Wei Wuxian froze and his face went white. Luo Qingyang turned around, wary.
”Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Wanyin growled slowly. ”What the fuck happened to your old core?”
Wen Ning stood behind him, looking as apologetic as a corpse could. ”Um, it’s Sect Leader Jiang,” he said.
”Yes, thank you,” Luo Qingyang said and didn’t add I can fucking see that. Instead, she plastered on a smile and said, ”Would you like some wine, Sect Leader Jiang? You might need it.”
”Start. Fucking. Talking,” Jiang Wanyin said through gritted teeth.
They were sitting at a table, Jiang Wanyin on the other side and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji opposite to him. Wen Qing and Luo Qingyang sat at the head of the table and Wen Ning hovered a bit on the side, trying and very much failing to blend into the background.
”Uh,” Wei Wuxian said.
”Wei Ying didn’t have a core. Now he does,” Lan Wangji said with a completely smooth face.
”I got that,” Jiang Wanyin said. ”I want to know what the fuck happened to his old core.”
Wei Wuxian let out a forced laugh. ”See, funny thing—”
”No, it wasn’t,” Wen Qing said.
Wei Wuxian shot her a look like she’d personally betrayed him. Then he swallowed and mumbled, ”Igaveyoumycore.”
”Ex-fucking-cuse me?”
Wei Wuxian seemed to shrink on his seat which made Lan Wangji puff out like an affronted cat and he shot Jiang Wanyin an icy glare.
”It’s fine! It’s totally fine, don’t worry about it, I have a new one, we can stop talking about this, right? Right! Good talk!” Wei Wuxian stood up, looking like he was about to run but couldn’t because Lan Wangji was holding on to his wrist.
”Sit. Down,” Jiang Wanyin snarled. Then he closed his eyes and turned his head a bit to the side. His jaw worked as he tried to get himself under control but his crackling ring—Zidian, wasn’t it? His mother’s spiritual weapon—belied his feelings.
”So let me get this straight,” he finally said in a low voice. ”I came here because I got a letter from fucking Nie Huaisang, suggesting me to perhaps visit my brother for oh-no-reason-at-all which in the Huaisang-language means to get here the fucking yesteryear. I thought I’d just have to deal with your usual idiocy but instead, I walk in on you crying about having a new core. What the fuck, Wei Wuxian?”
”Ah…” Wei Wuxian said.
”Wen Zhuliu took my core and you said Baoshan Sanren could put it back,” Jiang Wanyin spat. ”But it was your core that you cut out of your fucking body and put into mine without fucking asking me why the fuck would you do that you fucking moron?” His voice rose word by word and he yelled the last sentence on Wei Wuxian’s face.
Next to Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji looked ready to remove Jiang Wanyin from the premises with extreme prejudice.
”Well, if I asked, you would’ve said no, wouldn’t you?” Wei Wuxian said like it made sense. ”And to be clear, I didn’t cut it out because I had to be conscious and it really fucking hur—” Wei Wuxian snapped his mouth shut and dropped his gaze to his lap.
”You said you were asleep,” Lan Wangji whispered, appalled, and his murderous intent forgotten in the face of Wei Wuxian being hurt. ”Wei Ying—” His voice broke and he leaned his forehead against Wei Wuxian’s.
Wei Wuxian, naturally, tried to make him feel better. ”Oh no, no, Lan Zhan, it’s okay—”
”Wait,” Jiang Wanyin said. ”If you didn’t then—” He paused and slowly turned to look at Wen Qing, narrowing his eyes. ”Of course.”
Wen Qing held her head high and said nothing, and the way she faced Jiang Wanyin’s fury made Luo Qingyang really fucking proud (and a bit horny, if she was being honest).
”How did you know it would work?” Jiang Wanyin asked lowly.
”I didn’t,” Wen Qing said calmly.
”And you fucking did it anyway?”
Wen Qing raised a brow. ”Your brother can be extremely insistent.”
Jiang Wanyin looked at Wei Wuxian who held a hand on Lan Wangji’s cheek, took a deep breath and shook his head, and downed his cup of Uncle Four’s fruit wine. Luo Qingyang handed him the whole bottle and, without a word, Jiang Wanyin took a drink without bothering with a cup.
”So. When Wen Chao caught you and threw you into the Burial Mounds—here—he…you were here three months without your core?”
Wei Wuxian shrugged and looked around. ”It’s not so bad, is it?”
”Wei Ying, it wasn’t like this back then,” Lan Wangji said quietly and he stared into Wei Wuxian’s eyes like they held the answers to all his questions. In return, Wei Wuxian’s eyes did the thing where they turned luminous and widened until they were almost too big to his face.
It was annoying (and endearing and heartbreaking at the same time).
Jiang Wanyin made a disgusted face. ”Are they always like that?” He asked, glancing at Luo Qingyang from the corner of his eye.
”No,” she said dryly. ”Usually, they’re worse.”
Jiang Wanyin let out a grumble and took another drink from the bottle.
Luo Qingyang made a mental note to check how many bottles they had left.
Later that day, Luo Qingyang found Jiang Wanyin standing next to a renovated house, looking at the settlement with sharp eyes. He glanced at her when she stopped by his side and asked, ”What the fuck is actually going on?”
Luo Qingyang sighed. ”I’m not sure. The idiot Jin Zixun tried to launch an attack some while ago. He’s a fucking piece of manure who’s always coveted his cousin’s position but I don’t think he would’ve managed it all of his own.” She frowned. ”The way he reacted to my jibe at trying to remove Zixuan was suspicious.”
”Hm,” Jiang Wanyin grumbled. ”I don’t think anyone would miss him if he was dead.”
”Oh, believe me, Wei Wuxian was ready to march straight to Lanling to deal with him. Wen Qing and I told him no.”
”How did he take it?”
Luo Qingyang grinned. ”He threw a tantrum.”
Jiang Wanyin snorted. ”I bet.” He fell silent for some time. ”So, what now?”
”We wait,” Luo Qingyang said. ”There isn’t much we can do from here and no fucking way am I letting Wei Wuxian out. That would only end up in death and destruction, and if Lan Wangji gets involved, the world will burn.”
”Lan fucking Wangji…” Jiang Wanyin muttered sourly.
”They’re annoying for sure but if it’s of any consolation, he’s completely devoted to our resident idiot.” She paused and sighed. ”Which is also why I want to scrub my brain on a daily basis.” She shook her head, trying to get rid of the many, many, many things she wished she’d never seen or heard, and said, ”Would you believe me if I said I ended up here by accident?”
Jiang Wanyin snorted.
”Well, I sure as hell didn’t plan it,” she said. ”But I found myself in Yiling and met Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning. I ended up taking over their pitiful excuse of vegetable selling and then followed them here. And stayed.”
”Is he building a sect now?”
”Who? Wei Wuxian?” She asked, amused. ”He can’t even build himself a fucking bed let alone run a place like this. No, he’s building a safe place for vulnerable people.” She paused, sighed, and turned to fully face Jiang Wanyin. ”Sect Leader Jiang, at the moment, there are exactly five cultivators in the Burial Mounds: Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Wen Qing, me, and you. There is no cultivator army or a hidden horde of vengeful Wen eager to wage war on anyone. There’s just a ragtag family of mostly old people and one kid.”
Jiang Wanyin frowned. ”One?” He asked sharply.
She turned to look at A-Yuan helping Granny Wen weed the vegetable patch. ”He’s the only one left,” she said softly. ”You can figure out yourself what happened to the rest.”
”Fuck,” Jiang Wanyin muttered under his breath and stared at A-Yuan with a scowl.
They stayed silent for a moment, just sharing the space in peace—until it was broken by a high-pitched moan.
”Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Luo Qingyang hissed.
”What—” Jiang Wanyin started and then he went red when the moaning turned into Wei Wuxian screaming Lan Wangji’s name. ”What the fuck?”
”Yeah,” Luo Qingyang said. ”Wanna guess how he got his new core?”
”I really fucking don’t,” Jiang Wanyin said flatly.
”You’re a wise man,” Luo Qingyang sombrely and clasped his shoulder. ”Unfortunately, it won’t save you from knowing. More wine?”
”Fuck yeah.”
(Later that evening, Jiang Wanyin said, ”Wait, what do you mean he doesn’t even have a bed?”
”He sleeps on a fucking stone altar,” Luo Qingyang said. ”Which in some twisted way is proper at least in Lan Wangji’s mind because he’s determined to worship Wei Wuxian—”
”Stop fucking talking.”)
Jiang Wanyin left early the next morning and only because by evening the previous day, he’d been too drunk to fly. He gave Lan Wangji a cool nod and Wei Wuxian an awkward hug that left their resident demonic cultivator, demon incarnate, a heretic walker of the ghostly path, etc etc in tears and with a wobbling smile on his face.
A week later, someone left a carriage right next to the barrier. Wen Ning went to collect it and after checking there were no traps or curses or other nasty surprises waiting, Wei Wuxian opened the carriage to reveal building supplies, fabrics, medicinal herbs, dried meats and fish—and a bed. The frame was light wood and carved full of both protective and silencing spells.
(Bold of Jiang Wanyin to assume Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji would limit their activities to a bed but at least the thought was nice.)
When Wei Wuxian saw the bed, he went bright crimson until he saw the note pinned on the mattress. And then he just stared as all color drained from his face.
Curious, Luo Qingyang leaned over his shoulder to read it.
’I told A-jie. You’re fucking in it now.’
”I’m going to die,” Wei Wuxian whined in distress.
”No dying,” Lan Wangji said.
”Oh, you’re not going to die,” Luo Qingyang said cheerily. ”You’re going to sit like a good boy while Wen Qing, your sister, and I talk.”
Wei Wuxian stared at her for a moment, horrified betrayal all over his face. ”Oh, gods. There’s three of you now.”
Luo Qingyang really didn’t see how that would be a problem.