Jiang Yanli was sitting on an extremity of the small grass covered courtyard which housed a whole colony of snow white rabbits. She was still a little surprised to find such a place this deep inside the mansion but she was very grateful for it. It was clear that her brother was enjoying his time sitting there with Lan Wangji and A-Yuan. He was as happy as she had not seen him for years. He had changed in just a few days he had spent in the Cloud Recesses Manor. The Lans had truly worked wonders.
When she had come to talk to them yesterday in the late afternoon, almost the evening, she had been afraid that they would either ignore her or outright complain to her parents. The second possibility had been scaring her to no end as it would have meant that her parents would insist on Wei Wuxian returning to the Lotus Pier Manor so they would be able to cover any traces of how they had mistreated their adoptive son.
However, Jiang Yanli really had been at her wits' end. She could no longer watch Wei Wuxian wither away more and more with every single day, with every beating and with every harsh scolding from her mother. And the worst of all, she could not stand seeing him being sold away time and time again just so her family would be able to pretend that they were still wealthy and host parties and social gatherings.
She had witnessed it way too many times just how broken and traumatized Wei Wuxian had been when he had come back from any other households. He had always been mistreated there, she knew since she had seen it at the Jins and had heard enough from him about his time in the Nightless City Manor. Wei Wuxian did not talk to her about all those terrible experiences too often, but from what she had heard, she could connect the dots pretty well.
She suspected that being mistreated was only part of the reason why Wei Wuxian would be so heartbroken every single time. She could see that a part of his soul died with every new assignment. She could only theorize about the true reason but she was afraid that she knew. She had a strong feeling deep down that what had been hurting Wei Wuxian most of all was not the way how he had been treated, but instead the simple fact that it was happening, that the only family he had ever known would just sell him away like that.
It truly was heart-breaking to think about and even more so to see it with her own eyes. That had been why she felt like this was her last and only chance to have someone to actually listen to her, someone who would hopefully be able to help her brother when she could not. She had already tried pleading with the Jins, but it had been to no avail. Even though they were her fiancé's family, they turned a blind eye to both Wei Wuxian's pain and her own. So the Lans who were known for their righteousness and defence of abused servants were her last hope.
Luckily, and to her never ending surprise, she had not even needed to plead too much. They had been more than willing to listen to her and immediately offer help. She had cried at their kindness. Of course, she was now scared for the rest of her family, understandably so, they were the ones who had brought her up. But being offered to stay in the Cloud Recesses Manor and be present during Wei Wuxian's recovery was a thing she would never be able to repay in all her life.
Moreover, it was not only the main Lan family who were this accommodating to her. She had also met another boy who cared when she was searching for her brother who had been brought to the infirmary, and of course the toddler named A-Yuan. They were all so sweet and understanding she wanted to cry once again. And she would have if her tears had not already dried out from all the crying she had been doing just minutes ago.
Her new acquaintance seemed to have known Wei Wuxian from somewhere so she assumed they must have met in another household. He even knew about her brother's deadly fear of dogs and had saved him from being brought there when A-Yuan had asked to play. Such a thoughtful person really. Jiang Yanli was glad that her brother had someone like to that to depend on. She was too moved and her tears came out.
The boy next to her had helped her in her distress by discreetly holding her hand and pointedly looking away from her crying. She was grateful to him for the silent support and she had even shuffled a little closer to him, at least as much as if would still be socially acceptable, she was engaged after all. Although she was not sure she wanted to marry Jin Zixuan after he and his whole family showed such blatant disinterest for Wei Wuxian's suffering under their own roof.
For she knew that her brother had not been treated well in the Koi Tower Manor either. She had spent a lot of time there when her mother had wanted to hide her away and not influence and support Wei Wuxian. When she had stood up to her, she had just been swiftly shipped away to a fancy prison that became the Jins' mansion. She could only rely on rumours she had overheard from the servants.
They had talked about her being unsuitable for their young master because her adoptive brother was just a lowly servant. How her family only made the engagement between her and Jin Zixuan to restore their reputation, all the while asking exorbitant amounts of money as engagement gifts and even greater sums for when the wedding would be concluded. She was not too bothered by those, she already knew that the engagement was only a political one and that Jin Zixuan did not really love her, he only tolerated her at best.
No, the servants could slander her all they wanted, it was of no consequence to her. What hurt way more was to hear how terribly Wei Wuxian had been treated in the Koi Tower Manor by both the members of the Jin family and their servants. Some of the things they had said were so heart-breaking that she could not even bring herself to think about them.
If this was how her brother was being treated in a household that had a very good relationship with the Jiang family, she feared to learn how things had been for him while he had been serving other families.
That was precisely why the Lans were truly her last resort. She had gathered all her courage and came incognito, she had to hide coming to the Cloud Recesses Manor from her parents at all costs. They had to believe that she was only visiting her friend. If they were to ever learn about her talking about their most guarded secret, she was afraid what they would do, not to her but to Wei Wuxian.
She knew she should have stepped up earlier and defend her brother more, but until now, it had only ever ended up in Wei Wuxian taking the burn of it and being punished severely. That was the last thing she wanted, to become the source of his suffering, albeit because of good intentions.
Now, she knew she should have acted earlier. She could have come to the Cloud Recesses Manor and begged for her brother to be saved, she should have explained the situation. Surely the Lans would have been just as accommodating if they had not seen Wei Wuxian in person. She could have even gone directly to the emperor to reveal the whole slavery scheme of her parents'. Now she knew but in the past, she had just been too scared to do anything at all.
She took a deep shaky breath and tried to calm herself. It would serve nothing if she started blaming herself again, she could not change the past no matter what. She could only try and make it up to her brother in the present. She knew that he would be happy in the Cloud Recesses Manor and especially with Lan Wangji. She could tell that the second young master had a tremendous good impact on him and she was overjoyed.
She must have made some kid of noise because the boy next to her held her hand a little tighter, still without looking her way. She chanced a glance in his direction and saw that his eyes were glued to the three figures sitting down comfortably in the middle of the grass field, smiling. She was grateful for his silent reassurance, she really needed it to calm her stirred up emotions.
She had to smile as well seeing how happy her brother was right now. Lan Wangji and A-Yuan were truly skilled magicians to coax such a reaction out of him, she had not succeeded in doing so even when she had tried for years. However, it was probably due to the fact that there were no Jiangs here to reprimand Wei Wuxian for his moment of happiness and he was able to relax at least a little bit. Truly, this was nothing short of a miracle.
Jiang Yanli smiled even wider now, things were finally starting to look brighter for her brother.