Came Because of Our Song ✔️

Let My Mind Bleed

“Lan.....Lan Zhongzhu......”

Lan Xichen gave the boy a smile, trying to project calmness and soothe his nervousness.

“Calm yourself first. Tell me slowly, what happened?”

The disciple relaxed visibly and though he was still breathing heavily, his appearance wasn’t that of being chased by a demon spider in a forest. The boy bowed, flushing upon registering the surely disdainful expression on the Grandmaster.

“Lan Zhongzhu, Grandmaster Lan. This disciple apologises for breaking the rules. I will accept any punishment given by you.” The disciple continued to bow low and Lan Xichen had to lift him up by his shoulders so the boy could speak. “It’s okay. I understand, the circumstances. Please tell me what happened to cause such disruption this early in the morning.”

“Lan Zhongzhu, there are.....few....divans and loads of....packed goods outside Cloud Recesses.”

A fool could also guess what those packed goods were. Beside him, Lan Xichen can practically see the elder Lan fume silently.

Calling the items few is the understatement of the century. The divans and wooden crates are by no means few, ranging from small to big and varying in weight; the biggest barely balanced near the edge of the mountain's rocky steps.

All of them have lavish fabric draped over with the imperial insignia imprinted on them. A clear sign of their sender. At least that solved one problem. Before the biggest crate could fall on some innocent down the mountain, Lan Xichen ordered the disciples to remove it.They had to teleport the big ones or risk damaging them because the gate wasn’t that big to allow such heavy goods to pass. Lan Xichen dreaded the things inside the them.

“Xichen, what’s the meaning of this ?”

Lan Xichen turned around to face a raging Lan Qiren, who by the looks of it appeared ready to qi deviate.

“Shufu, I am just instructing the disciples to remove the things from in front of the gate as it will block entry.”

“Hm. After you are done, come, meet me.” Lan Xichen nodded, unable to guess what brought this sudden meeting.

~°•●•°~

Inside Lan Qiren’s main room, two people, once used to spend tranquil silent evenings with sips of tea and sporadic music pieces together now sat awkwardly, neither knowing what to say. The tension was so thick you could probably cut it with a knife.

How time and words change your lives so easily. How few actions define your whole life sometimes. Even if you wish it were different, it can never be. Not in other’s eyes.

After the silence stretched too long for his comfort, Lan Xichen spoke.

“Shufu.” A question, a remark and a greeting; all culminated into one word. Meanwhile, the elder addressed seemed to have taken an oath of silence. If not for the slight tense and extra rigid posture, much more prominent than usual and his hand gripping the cup of tea a bit too hard that each vein was visibly struggling to not pop out; the younger wouldn’t even notice something was up.

“Xichen. You know I am never wrong.”

Lan Xichen’s jaw tensed. Oh, he certainly was but Lan Xichen wasn’t keen about reminding him when he knew his words wouldn’t be heard. If this was just another talk about his duties and the rules then he couldn’t waste his time here. “Shufu, you have always been a bit strict with us. Especially Wangji.”

You have always neglected him remained unsaid.

While Lan Xichen knows that’s not entirely true but. He cannot outright speak against his uncle, the parent figure in his life, someone who has raised him. He is not ready for that, yet.