Chapter 22: Poison

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Jiang Cheng went back to the bedroom, sat on the bed and pouted. Wen Qing left him halfway through their room as she had a plan to cheer Jiang Cheng up. She went to the doghouse where Chicken was staying and picked up the puppy. She pat her and said:

"We must see someone."

Chicken was excited. She carried the puppy back to the bedroom, opened the door and said:

"Wanyin."

Jiang Cheng saw the puppy and smiled, he immediately ran towards them and hugged both of them, he buried his face on Wen Qing's shoulder, he spoke while tightly hugging her:

"My lady, I..."

Jiang Cheng stopped talking as there was no point of talking, he thought "I what? I didn't want things to be like that? I didn't want Wei Wuxian to sacrifice his golden core? I didn't want revenge?" he took a deep breath and let go, Wen Qing gave him the puppy and said:

"Wanyin, you can't overload Wei Wuxian."

Jiang Cheng was shocked, he sat on the bed and said:

"He promised to revitalize the Yunmeng Jiang Sect with me, is this how he keeps his promise?"

Wen Qing:

"Are you trying to kill him? Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have been running around, doing errands. Lan Wangji has been helping with the injured people, he had to meditate many times, he is wounded, thankfully his cultivation is high, his golden core is strong, he isn't affected much but, Wei Wuxian isn't like that. Yes, his body is strong but, without his golden core, he can't keep up. If his body wasn't so strong, he would have been dead by now. He doesn't have to run for everything! Am I dead? Are your A-jie and Jin Zixuan dead? Even A-Ning is helping you, but it isn't enough for you, is it? You aren't satisfied if Wei Wuxian isn't doing even more than all of us."

Jiang Cheng looked at her with tears:

"He promised... he told me that we would be Pride Twins of Yunmeng just like the Jade Twins of Gusu."

Wen Qing sighed and said:

"Wanyin, you are so competitive, you care about loss and gain too much, carrying a golden core you are not worthy of carrying. Let it go, you are only hurting yourself and your family."

Wen Qing stood up and started walking away, Jiang Cheng:

"Stop!"

Wen Qing:

"I am the lady of the Lotus Pier aren't I? I also own every piece of land here. Wanyin, see you at dinner."

Wen Qing stormed out of the room, she made her way to the ancestral hall. She put some incense and started burning it, she was crying, she looked at the memorial tablets and said:

"Sect Leader Jiang, Madam Yu, I am sorry. I am sorry for the massacre of Lotus Pier, I am sorry that I fell in love with your son. I am sorry that a battle happened here."

Wen Qing bowed and started crying. Jiang Yanli heard enough to make her way into the ancestral hall, she silently bowed, sat next to Wen Qing and said:

"Qing"

Wen Qing looked at her with tears:

"Shi... Shijie, when did you come?"

Jiang Yanli:

"Qing, we don't apologize for something we didn't do in the Lotus Pier."

More tears streamed down Wen Qing's face and she said:

"Shijie, my people caused you all that pain."

Jiang Yanli:

"Blaming you will fix nothing! What should I blame you for? Deaths of my parents? Massacre of Lotus Pier? A-Cheng's golden core? A-Xian's illness? Battle that happened a while ago?"

Wen Qing cried even more, Jiang Yanli gave her a napkin, but instead of taking the napkin, Wen Qing hugged Jiang Yanli and cried even more, she said:

"Shijie, I am sorry and thank you."

Jiang Yanli kept hugging Wen Qing for a while and then said:

"Dinner must be ready, let's go."

Wen Qing took the napkin and wiped her face, they bowed again and left the ancestral hall. Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan were already sitting on the table, Wen Ning was serving food with some disciples. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji came to dinner a few minutes later, Wen Qing turned to Wei Wuxian:

"Wei Wuxian, do you feel any pain?"

Wei Wuxian shook his head, Wen Qing nodded, just as they were about to eat they heard A-Yuan:

"Charcoal brother, charcoal brother!"

A-Yuan was calling Wen Ning "charcoal brother" as Wen Ning's face was covered with charcoal, everybody noticed it and they giggled, the heavy atmosphere dispersed thanks to A-Yuan. Wen Qing stood up and wiped some charcoal from Wen Ning's face.

The next day they all packed to set off. Wei Wuxian carefully put the box in a chest and used a suppression formation to suppress it, he then carefully took the chest to Wen Ning. They were all on the dock, getting into two boats. Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and Wen Ning were on a boat while Jiang Cheng, Wen Qing, Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan were on another one, journey to Lanling this way would take around five days. Wei Wuxian put his head on Lan Wangji's shoulder, Lan Wangji said:

"Wei Ying"

Wei Wuxian:

"I am fine, I just have a bad feeling about this box, it is from Xue Yang, he came with Jin Guangshan and his troops, we don't know what Jin Guangshan was up to."

Lan Wangji:

"We don't know how far Xue Yang went."

Wei Wuxian:

"True, also Yueyang Chang Sect is fully annihilated, the corpses had traces of Yin Iron."

Lan Wangji shook his head:

"Not Chang Ping, she was still alive, she testified against Xue Yang."

Wei Wuxian:

"Where is she? Are you sure she is alive?"

Lan Wangji:

"Jin Guangshan wanted to protect Xue Yang, he forced Chang Ping to withdraw her testimony, Chang Ping fled from Koi Tower, she was last seen around Qinghe."

Wei Wuxian looked at him:

"Chifeng-Zun didn't mention anything about Chang Ping. Do you think she might be dead?"

Lan Wangji:

"We have no evidence of anything, my brother is still at Qinghe, I should tell him to look around."

Lan Wangji quickly wrote a talisman letter to Lan Xichen.

Five days after drifting through the river they arrived in Lanling, they rushed to Koi Tower on horses, Wen Ning was carrying the chest. They walked up the stairs of the Koi Tower, both Xiao Xingchen and Song Zichen greeted them, they all bowed to each other and entered the main hall. Compared to the days of Lanling Jin Sect, the main hall now looked more modest, even the throne was replaced by two modest looking chairs, the tables were more plain and the decorum was modest yet elegant. Wei Wuxian warmly smiled, Wen Ning was walking next to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, carrying the chest. Xiao Xingchen said:

"I will directly say the matter. We might have figured out what is in the box."

Wei Wuxian asked:

"Senior uncle, what is it?"

Xiao Xingchen:

"Corpse poison."

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