The most precious medicine

Chapter 11

Lan Wangji was out of his mind with worries. He could not watch how Wei Ying became weaker and weaker every single day despite his best efforts. He kept his husband warm, he cooked him nutritional meals, he took care of his wound, and most importantly, he played cleansing and healing music for him almost around the clock. However, Wei Ying was not getting better.

Of course, his husband was trying to conceal his pain, but Lan Wangji was now more than capable to see through his fake smiling mask. The only sense of consolation he got was at least there were some better days as well, not all of them were too bad and the smiles he remembered from their youth were being flashed his way often still. Despite everything though, Wei Ying was doing poorly, and it was all because of Lan Wangji.

Well, not exactly but did it matter so much? If he had not given his golden core away to save his life, this would have never happened. As things stood, he was worried he would lose his soulmate yet again. For Mo Xuanyu's body truly was weak and it was the whole root cause of the problem. With a barely healing wound on his stomach, it was failing Wei Ying and there was nothing Lan Wangji could do.

He followed Wen Ning's instructions about the after care of the operation, he did his best, to no avail, Wei Ying's condition was still getting worse. There had been an underlaying problem already present, the fierce corpse had told him with regret, removing the golden core had just caused it to develop fully. Mo Xuanyu had been ill for a long time – with what they had learned about the boy's life before the sacrificial summon, there were many possible causes for this and it was no wonder really – and now Wei Ying was sick as well.

The symptoms could not have been seen right after his husband had been resurrected, by some sort of a miracle, they had just laid dormant. And perhaps they would have not shown themselves for the rest of Wei Ying's life, be it not for the stress of the operation. As thigs stood now, the former demonic cultivator was extremely frail and his condition was becoming dire.

They had of course already consulted Wen Ning, the Gusu Lan sect elders and also all the books in the Library pavilion, much like when they had been searching for a cure for Lan Wangji himself. Still, nothing was there to be found. Although the symptoms of the sickness were known, no cure or medicine seemed to have helped alleviate them, never mind getting rid of them permanently.

Lan Wangji was already way over the phase when he had blamed himself for Wei Ying's fragile condition, some things could just not be helped. He had something more important top focus all his efforts on. Still, he could not help but to be a little mad and a little sorry and a little desperate, a golden core would have definitely held the illness at bay, possibly for many years to come. The problem was, that Wei Ying currently did not have one.

When he had realized this, of course Lan Wangji's first question to Wen Ning had been if he could give back the golden core which was now cosily making itself at home in his own body. However, the response had been negative. Wei Ying's illness was already at a stage where such a weak golden core would not help sufficiently and it was not like they had the time for him to strengthen it.

Moreover, the Dafan Wen doctor was afraid of what effect it could have to try insert the same golden core that had been previously removed. The whole procedure was very delicate and Wen Ning feared there was a high chance of rejection. Even Wen Qing had warned about this back in the day, telling Wei Ying that there would be no way back even if Jiang Cheng insisted later on that he would return what he had been given.

As things stood, Lan Wangji could clearly understand how his husband had felt when he had been watching him on his deathbed, powerless, guilty and unable to do anything at all. True, it was slightly different than the poisoning case, Wei Ying had a little longer and he was still left more or less functioning and able to enjoy life, but the differences were not so many in number. The desperation and fear were definitely the same.

And to make everything even more complicated, it was not as if Lan Wangji could simply lock his husband in the Jingshi and not let him get out of bed to oblige him to rest. While it could potentially be beneficial to his health and would help with the healing, he knew Wei Ying would not agree.

Firstly, his husband insisted on not letting anyone know, using arguments he knew Lan Wangji would listen to. After all, there was a possibility that the Yao sect – despite the heavy punishment they had already suffered for injuring the Chief Cultivator – or anyone else really could still try to assassinate the former Yiling Patriarch if they knew he was currently vulnerable. And his husband could not even protect himself as the slightest use of resentful energy would for sure aggravate his condition heavily.

And secondly, Lan Wangji would not be able to refuse his husband anything, even if his wish was to behave as if there was nothing wrong with his body. He had suffered enough already in both his lifetimes, there was no way he would basically imprison a free spirit like him in the Jingshi or anywhere else. Wei Ying would wither away even faster.

Yes, as things stood, Lan Wangji could do nothing but be there for his husband and do his best to keep him comfortable and out of trouble. He would of course support him through anything, he had already not been there for him once and he was not going to make the same mistake twice. Who said that they had already searched everywhere for a cure? He would not give up this easily.

He knew Wei Ying had not even rested when it came to saving him, the least he could do was the same. There was no telling if they could not get another miracle. It was not farfetched to say they had already received so many of them, Wei Ying truly was the embodiment of his formed sect's motto. Not only had he not gone insane from losing his golden core once, not only had he survived in the Burial Mounds and had been able to come out even stronger, he had even defeated death to come back to Lan Wangji's side.

Giving away his golden core for a second time would definitely not be the end of everything. It simply could not, Lan Wangji refused to believe it otherwise. He would search for a cure relentlessly and all the while allow Wei Ying all the freedom he could, his husband deserved happiness more than anyone else. All his smiles did not have to be strained; he should still enjoy life despite everything. Lan Wangji would do anything to assure it.