Once upon a lifetime

Bound - Part one

Wei Wuxian raised an eyebrow, "Please what?"

"Please let me copy your test!" said Nie Huaisang earnestly. "I'll give you two books from my special collection...no, three! I'll give you three!"

"Erm...none would be preferable, to be entirely honest," said Wei Wuxian quietly. "And I can't help you, 'cause I'm already being punished by—"

"Oh please!" snapped Nie Huaisang. "Wei-Xiong, punished? You're being given an honour! Getting to watch the noble Lan Wangji all day...oh, the paintings! I've always wanted to paint the twin jades, but neither of them stays still long enough! Well, there's Lan Wangji, but...he's scary."

"Scary," repeated Wei Wuxian flatly.

"Scary," agreed Nie Huaisang, nodding.

"Huh? Lan Wangji? Really?" A voice exclaimed over many equally loud murmurs, coming from the large crowd of people.

"Yeah! You never would have believed it, but he admitted everything after being confronted by Lan Qiren himself!"

"I'd expect nothing less from Lan Wangji! But to think he actually did those things...come, let me through! I need to see this!"

"What's all that commotion about?" asked Wei Wuxian, tentatively walking towards the throng of people.

"Excuse me," he tapped the shoulder of a tall Jin disciple, who was standing at the back. "Would you mind telling me what has happened?"

"Did you sleep in late?" The Jin disciple regarded them with a sneer. "Don't tell me you aren't aware; the whole of Cloud Recess found out about it in a matter of minutes!"

"I heard Lan Wangji being mentioned," said Nie Huaisang quietly from beside Wei Wuxian, his open fan concealing his lips. "Is it perhaps something to do with him?"

"Why, of course!" The Jin disciple shook his head disbelievingly. "I never would have expected it! Lan Wangji, confronted by Lan Qiren just this morning! Apparently, he'd broken many of the sect's rules last night with one other disciple...but come to think of it, he never actually named anyone—refused to. Perhaps that's why Lan Qiren's so infuriated."

"No..." Wei Wuxian whispered, his eyes widening. 'Lan Zhan wouldn't!'

"Do you know where Lan Zh- er... Young Master Lan is now?" asked Wei Wuxian hastily.

The Jin disciple looked irritable, his lips curling like his patience was wearing thin at the barrage of questions. "He's being punished, of course," he said, nodding his head in the direction of the building adjacent. "Despite their blood relation, knowing Lan Qiren, I doubt he's being very lenient."

Wei Wuxian's mind zeroed-in on the words, nodding shakily. "Right, er, thank you. I, er... I have somewhere I need to be." And he sped past the crowd, pushing his way through without looking back.

"Wei-Xiong!" said Nie Huaisang in a whine. "Hold up! You're walking so fast, you—" and all of a sudden, he was crashing into a broad back, almost doubling over had he not caught himself just in time.

"Wei-Xiong, what's wrong...?"

Wei Wuxian stood silently, his arms at his sides and lips opening and closing multiple times, at an apparent loss for words: there Lan Wangji knelt before his uncle; two Lan disciples on either side of him, both holding identical planks of wood; his lips were tightly pursed and his eyes were closed as if in silent prayer.