In the alleyways of Yiling, there was an abandoned child who did his best to survive. Everyday, he scoured for food and fought dogs who hurted him.
It hurts. Bites starting to bruise his already blemished skin as he curled into a ball and hoping to...
If he couldn't move his body, then he can with his head.
Lan Wangji knows it's rude, but he wants to be left alone for the moment.
So he looks away from his father when he was trying to wipe away his sweat, an action indicating that he should leave his son alone.
Qingheng-jun could only stop and sigh to himself. He admits to himself that what his youngest son did hurt, but he respects his decision.
He was once like that, once upon a time.
"Rest, Wangji. I'll visit your brother for now."
Lan Wangji knows that his older brother is still not waking up. If he had, then he should be beside him and gushing around to take care of him.
Even when Qingheng-jun had left, Lan Wangji didn't utter a single word or whine about the pain in his back.
He just laid there with silence overwhelming him. If he was his old self, he would be thankful enough that it's so quiet in his room.
Lan Wangji could not believe how he miss the obnoxiously loud voice of a certain man and how he would always follow him around.
"...Wei Ying..."
Moments later, he could another person sitting by his windows.
For a moment, he thought his ghost was visiting him in the middle of the night.
When he turned to look at who it is, he sees the trademark red color of Wei Xun's hair.
It was the same shade as Wei Ying's ribbon that he always wear.
"Evening, Wangji."
Lan Wangji didn't speak, nor did he turn again to take a look at the redhead.
Soon enough, he could feel the older kneeling beside him and stare.
"...What?" Lan Wangji asks with a hoarse voice, still not looking at the redhead.
"...Did...they punish you?"
Lan Wangji visibly flinches at his statement before he turned to look at the redhead apathetically.
He didn't speak, but the look on his face despite it being blank was enough to answer the redhead's question.
"Your blood is seeping through your clothes." Wei Xun says.
As a matter of fact, he is indeed bleeding through.
"Can you get up? I'll change the bandage."
Lan Wangji still didn't speak, but his hands twitched.
Of course he would want to change the bandage, his blood sticks uncomfortably to his skin making him want to scratch his back on a tree.
Wei Xun looked hesitant for a while before he slowly pulled the younger up.
It took a while, but he did try his best. It's not his fault that Lan Wangji, despite having a slim body, has strong arms enough to snap the redhead into two.
As Wei Xun unwraps the bandage, he was careful enough to not peel it too fast in regards to the younger's comfort.
If Lan Xichen was awake, he would be the one doing this.
"Why...did they punish you? If it's alright..."
Wei Xun must have felt like he was being privvy, so Lan Wangji answered him.
"I hurt...exactly thirty-three elders and disciples of my Sect...in the siege."
So they gave him thirty-three whips to atone for his sins.
Lan Wangji's wounded back was facing the redhead, so he couldn't see the current expression he's making. But Lan Wangji is sure it is not a good one.
He may have felt unfair, but he won't be ashamed of the scars he will soon receive once his wounds heal.
He wanted it as a proof for the sin that he did not managed to protect Wei Ying.
Living is...painful.
When Lan Wangji noticed that Wei Xun is not speaking anymore, he asked a question in return.
"Why...are you here? Brother is not here."
He could feel how the bandage stopped midway, so he turned his head to look at the redhead.
"I'm not here for him...I mean...it was my intention at first. But I heard from Grandmaster Lan that you're in your room, recuperating."
Lan Wangji could feel the redhead tying the last tip of the bandage on his shoulders.
"He said that you are grieving because you couldn't attend the funeral, so I came."
When the younger could now see the redhead fully, he sees the older pull something out from his chest pocket and offer it to Lan Wangji.
"This..."
Lan Wangji reached for the dizi with trembling hands, his eyes shaking as his breath shuddered.
"...Why are you...giving me this..."
Wei Xun could only lower his head.
In truth, he doesn't want to give Chenqing to him. But he thinks Lan Wangji needs it most than him.
He needed something to remember his beloved.
"You need it more than me."
Wei Xun felt guilty that it was the only thing he could give him.
The redhead patted the younger's head, just like he would do to Wei Ying when he was alive.
"But...I'm not...the only one...who lost...him..."
Wei Xun could only look at him with unreadable eyes before speaking.
"Whether you lost one...or I lost three...it does not change the fact that both of us are grieving."
The wound in their hearts are still fresh, despite of it that it felt like it had already been decades when they died.
"Yí rì sān qiū."
One day, three autumns.
Wei Xun offers him a sad smile then.
"It means intensely missing or longing for someone so much that a single day feels as long as three years."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
