The morning was bright and dewy in the immortal realm. Servants got up quietly and started to bustle in their work. New guards switched posts and the worn-out guards finally got rest but their faces were too stoic to show weariness or relief.
Sunlight barely got through the small crevices left between the closed crimson cervelat curtains. The room was dimly lit but even in this bad lighting, it was something to marvel at.
Jade mostly made up the roof and pillars of the room. The floor looked like it was carved out of a particularly large black opal and the furniture was decorated with expensive cushions, so soft that one could assume it was made for a frail young mistress.
Two figures sat next to each other. The petite and shorter figure on the majestic bed and the virile and taller one sitting on a fine chair made of black jade.
'Was he truly worth it? Worth the bruises on your delicate wrist A-Ying?', Xiao Xingchen thought as he smeared the gelatinous ointment on the blue and purple bruises that stood out too much on his nephew's porcelain wrist.
"Is he worth the trouble?" Xiao Xingchen asked, his voice a bit strangled and his eyes too desperate for Wei Wuxian's liking.
"Stop staring..." Wei Wuxian muttered quietly as he glanced anywhere around the room but his beloved uncle.
"Sorry, I can't help but worry seeing that you got injured," Xiao Xingchen replied mellowly.
"Trust me, when I say that he will be a quite valuable piece," Wei Wuxian insisted. His eyes glistening with inbred ambition.
Feelings that were too complicated to decipher for Xiao Xingchen, all started to tangle and get mangled in the pit of his stomach.
"A-Ying, I get that you want to grasp as much power as you can so that life won't be hard to you when you become empress but..."Xiao Xingchen trailed off, his voice guilty. His heart stuck in his throat.
"..Why would you push yourself so hard? Please tell me, A-ying my dear nephew," Xiao Xingchen forced out. He probably sounded like he could barely say those words to his nephew. And, it was right, he couldn't, guilt ate away any remaining words back into his throat. His soul felt warmer but not the nice kind of warm.
The unsettling warmness turned into a burning sensation when he looked at the eyes of his nephew, freezingly cold and represented the pieces of the moon itself.
Xiao Xingchen couldn't. To face the listless eyes that he should have cupped with his own hands to block the child from seeing the sins of the world but didn't, he just couldn't.
His head hung low as if the ring of a metaphorical noose bound tightly around his neck and hoisted his rosemary roots from the clayey soil as the ends of the rope weaved from wolfsbane were pushed down by guilt; his eyes instead gazed without value nor meaning down at the oriental carpet. He, a sect heir was acting like a disgrace to the sect right at this moment. Pathetic, was he to expose his nephew to him breaking the sacred rules of the sect.
"I wasn't born with my freedom in this lifetime..." Wei Wuxian replied monotonously.
Xiao Xingchen felt a scorching heartburn hearing that.
"So, I will rise in power to a position in which my own freedom shall be granted to me, by me and no one shall object." Wei Wuxian finished with a determined expression.
...silence, as if the tension in the toom had instantly been released.
Small sniffles echoed throughout the lavish but slightly empty room. Wei Wuxian stared down, perplexed to the bowing head of his uncle to see sparkly drops of tears fall onto his uncle's lap and taint his uncle's expensive pale robes.
His uncle was...Crying? No, maybe he got it wrong.
'The rules...He broke them...' A whisper echoed around his mind.
Then it hit him,
"Why are you crying?!" Wei Wuxian frantically screeched out as he hurriedly tried to wipe the tears off his uncle's handsome face as gently as he could.
Hearing that, more tears started to collect in Xiao Xingchen's identical grey eyes.
"I'm proud, A-ying...So, so, so much proud of my victorious nephew..." Half of the words he actually meant were left unsaid because he didn't need to, he didn't need to describe that nobody would be able to get in A-Ying's way because He was there. Didn't need to put forth that no one will be comparable to him, in any aspect or way because even if the world didn't acknowledge his dear nephew's worthiness, He would praise and hold his nephew higher than the summit of Mount Sha* itself.
"Haha..." Wei Wuxian gave out a wet chuckle as his heart betrayed his mind seeing his beloved uncle weep in front of him.
Glistening tears began to gather around the crevices and curves of his eyes. Those diamond tears shakily hanged on his lower eyelids.
"A-Ying, no, no, no don't cry!" Xiao Xingchen cried out.
"Then you stop crying first, stupid...Stupid uncle..." Wei Wuxian admonished fondly, smiling as more fat tears fell off.
Xiao XingChen could only stare.
"Your Highness, Great Immortal Xiao, Please excuse this servant for barging-" A palace maid who came into the room carrying a tray of gourmet delicacies, dropped it seeing the two most intimidating figures in the heavenly realm embrace each other, with full-fat tears streaming down.
....Silence was heard inside the office of Sect Leader Boashan Sanren.
Her son and grandson kneeling before her with their heads bowed down while writing down the decade-long rules. She could only shake her head disapprovingly, the diamond strings of her jade and rose-shaped Buyao swayed along with her.
That was a fond memory for Wei Wuxian as his unnoticed reverie ended.
He was with his two best friends finishing their homework, well it was like he was the one doing it anyway.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Nie-Xiong.." Wei Wuxian said as he put down his ink brush.
Pausing for a moment as he watched Jiang Cheng scan the homework that he wrote for him.
When Jiang Cheng gave him an affirming nod, he turned back to the Young Master of Nie.
"Wei-Xiong, don't you want to know how the favored nephews and nieces of Wen Rouhan are like?" Nie Huaisang said as he gave him a coy smile from behind his fan.
'Ah, He sure knows where to push,' Wei Wuxian thought amusingly.
Wei Wuxian sent him a knowing grin in which Nie Huaisang returned with a dramatic bow of his head.
Jiang Cheng stared at them, exasperated.
"Whatever you calculating concubines are up to, please don't have me involved," Jiang Cheng said as he fidgeted with the ostentatious crystalline ink brushes Wei Wuxian kept.
Both of them whipped their head back to gasp at Jiang Cheng, pretending to be offended.
"Jiang-Xiong, don't worry you'll always be part of the plan," Nie Huaisang said he fanned himself gracefully.
Jiang Cheng groaned, burying his head into the pile of papers before him. The papers fluttered across the table.
"It's fate, A-Cheng" Wei Wuxian said he calmly collected the papers that had come near him.
"Believe it or not, just like the famed Poetess Tang SeSe said.." Nie Huaisang trailed off and glanced at his paper searching for that quote.
"With the watermark of a thousand blackthorns, I have given you an...Uh," Nie Huaisang sputtered as he squinted at the faded text. Wei Wuxian's interest grew at that.
"Eh? What does the quote that the Poetess Tang SeSe wrote for her teenage lover have to do with us?" Jiang Cheng said sarcastically.
"It doesn't, but...but I have to find a way to remember these quotes in one way or the other, or else Teacher Lan will have my head served to Da-ge tomorrow", Nie Huaisang protested.
He dramatically fanned his face and his features turned even more theatrical.
Wei Wuxian tried to cover his laugh with his fist while Jiang Cheng merely cackled at his antics.
"I doubt Nie-ZhongZhu would kill his dear brother," Wei Wuxian said as he took the paper from Nie Huaisang's hand and tried to read the text. Nie Huaisang let out a protest at the comment.
He also couldn't comprehend the letters fully, 'I should inquire Lan Zhan about this later..'
"I have to go and drop these at the library. This homework session was quite fun, right A-Cheng?" Wei Wuxian said smiling without his eyes at Jiang Cheng knowing damn well that Jiang Cheng had three consecutive breakdowns during the homework session.
Jiang Cheng returned that smile with a rude gesture with his hands and scowled, looking away while blushing.
"Ah, Wei-Xiong! Then do you need help? I mean the stack is huge and almost impossible to be carried by only one human" Nie Huaisang said.
'Too bad I'm not one,' Wei Wuxian thought.
"Thank you for the offer but I'm okay with carrying these alone, see?" Wei Wuxian said as he lifted the 27-inch stack of papers gracefully.
The latter was rendered speechless and almost dropped his fan.
Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, looked surprised but proud. Proud that his Shi-Xiong was strong, stronger than him but still he couldn't care less. His sharp features never softened when he gazed at his loved ones
Wei Wuxian knew instead that his features might never soften but instead they became less sharp at times like this.
"Farewell, a-Cheng and Nie-Xiong. Don't wait for me at dinner, I have to do some studying too" Wei Wuxian happily said as he rushed out, beaming with life.
Jiang Cheng rubbed his temple and sighed fondly while Nie Huaisang tried to process what just happened.
Wei Wuxian walked as fast as he could without actually running. He was greeted by many servants and disciples on the way. He received many looks of awe and wonder by the passing disciples while servants struggled to lift their heads when they were bowing; afraid that they might offend this godlike beauty just by indulging a peek.
Wei Wuxian's mood by the time he had reached the library was ruined halfway already.
'Dear God, let Lan Xichen not be in this library today....' Wei Wuxian groaned internally, trying to pray that he wouldn't have to experience such an uncomfortable moment with the heir of the Lans.
His fingertips curled around the metal doorknob and he braced himself.
The door slid open slowly and the nostalgic smell of moldy paper hit his sensitive nose. Wei Wuxian took a deep breath enjoying the smell that he would often spend of his childhood hugging.
'Jasmine?' Wei Wuxian realized as he suddenly tried to get closer to the direction the new smell came from.
'No, the closer I get, the heavier this scent becomes. Musk? Definitely musk...How did the smell of sweet and light jasmine turn into something so dark and heavy like musk?' Wei Wuxian frowned. As he was walking to the farthest desk away from that area, knowing the fact that he wasn't alone; he walked quietly as he could.
'Ah, I must have angered his royal majesty somehow..', He thought as he sensed lan Xichen approach him.
He put down the books on the small table in front of him and turned around, bowing his head politely.
"Greetings Sect Leader Lan," Wei Wuxian said.
"Sanren-Er-GongZi, I have something to ask of you," Lan Xichen spoke out, his eyes lingering too long on his waist.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
* Mount Sha - A mountain immortal's home which is the highest in the heavenly realm.
It's finally here, everyone! This is my sad attempt at angst+fluff but here you go! I'll try to improve in the upcoming chapter 14, I promise 💖
I hope you have a wonderful day infront of you!! 😻💗
Then, till next time, see you dear readers! 💖
-author-san