FOUR MOONS LATER
The sun hangs in the late afternoon sky, bathing the city of Yujing in a harsh yellow light. By this time the marketplace is teeming with street vendors with their overfilling stalls, and people of all classes in their excitable flurries. Wei Ying takes over one of the local rickshaws, as per part of his community service, grips its handles, and begins to heave.
Wangji flies to help. "Let me."
Wei Ying blinks at his friend's sudden arrival. He furrows his brow, waving his hands in loud motions, "No, no! I got this, Lan Zhan, don't worry."
Wei Ying lifts up the rickshaw until it's fully propped up.
"Ooh! You're so strong!" A young noblewoman sitting in the rickshaw gushes.
"Anything to help a beautiful lady like yourself," replies Wei Ying, grinning coyly at her. "Where to, miss?"
"The Lake of Effervescent Light."
"As you wish."
Wei Ying starts to pull the rickshaw in the direction of the passenger's destination. Wangji silently tails them, a platoon of Gu Clan guards accompanying them to both protect the Chief Cultivator and enforce the criminal's tasks. Wangji finds himself looking over his shoulder every five minutes at Wei Ying, who is too busy flirting and laughing with the woman to notice him.
"Wangji, let's not bother them," suggests Gu Meiyou coolly from Wangji's side. When did she get there? "It appears that Master Wei is meeting his punishment requirements just fine."
Wangji says nothing. He gazes after the two: Wei Ying hauling the rickshaw smoothly down the street, bantering and laughing away with the strange woman.
Gu Meiyou continues, "Besides, there are many attractions to behold in Yujing. Come!" She threads her arm around his, finally able to guide the cultivator in an opposite direction.
"Lanterns for sale! Lanterns for sale!" A street vendor calls out.
"Wangji, why don't we have a look?" Meiyou brings him to the stall. She picks up a whale-shaped lantern from the stall and holds it excitedly up for her fiancé to see, beaming. Her eyes dazzle. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Yes," he mumbles.
Meiyou continues to enthuse over the many lanterns hanging at the vendor stall, oblivious to Wangji watching Wei Ying through the stall. He has long since sent his customer to her destination and is now talking to two more beautiful women. Meiyou's words muffle, becoming background noise. Wangji strains his ears to listen in on the trio's conversation.
"I must say, I had low expectations of the Yiling Patriarch," one of the women is saying.
"Oh? And has he managed to exceed your expectations?" Wei Ying grins.
"By a landslide! You're far more handsome than the tales let on!" the second noblewoman raves.
"You're too kind, Lady Zhang." He takes her hand and kisses it. "By the way, your hand is remarkably soft. Like silk, or a rose petal."
The lady giggles.
Wangji's eyes fixate on Wei Ying. His jaw tightens. Before he knows it, he is striding over to the trio.
The women perk up at Wangji's arrival. "Oh! Your Excellency!—"
"Wei Ying, whatever is happening to you—whatever you think—it's not real," Wangji blurts, ignoring the female cultivators fumbling into formal bows before him.
"I'm sorry, what?" exclaims Wei Ying, frowning.
"You are not you. It must be a spell, or an enchantment of some sort." Wangji grabs him by the shoulders.
"Lan Zhan, what are you—"
"This isn't who you are. You must fight this!" Then Wangji leans forward and presses his lips desperately against him.
"Mmph!"
With a muffled yelp, Wei Ying breaks the kiss and shoves Wangji away. "What in the nine hells?!"
Before Wangji knows it, something meets his face with a sickening crunch. Five knuckles, squeezed into a tight fist. Wangji stumbles in surprise, receiving the blow fully. He groans in pain, crumpling to his knees.
The noblewomen collectively gasp.
"Wangji!" shouts Meiyou. She streaks forward and grabs his arm to help him stand. The Gu Clan guards nearby unsheathe their swords simultaneously and hold them at Wei Ying neck point, but the latter's focus is on the Chief Cultivator standing opposite him. He's shaking with rage.
Wangji's shellshocked eyes meet Wei Ying's glare.
"Master Wei, this is unacceptable! You dare harm the Chief Cultivator?" Wangji vaguely hears Meiyou whisper from his side. "You are out of control, you grotesque fiend!"
"I'm not gonna apologise for defending myself," growls Wei Ying. Then to Wangji he seethes, "I told you I'm not a cut-sleeve! Don't you know what 'no' means?! Fag!"
"How dare you?! Guards! Arrest this barbarian this instant!"
The Gu Clan soldiers begin to surge forward. But they stop at the sharp raise of a hand in the air. Wangji. The cultivators stop in their tracks, gazing down at their leader in bewilderment.
"Do no such thing... I'm fine."
Meiyou exclaims, "But, Your Excellency—"
"I said I'm fine."
Wangji watches Wei Ying stomp away, pushing through the gasping crowd of onlookers that have formed during the scuffle. Wangji's face is throbbing from where Wei Ying struck him and the scrapes on his hand burn, but none of his injuries compare to the sinking feeling in his heart, which feels as if it has dropped to the very pit of his stomach. 16 weeks ago, he had been so sure Wei Ying felt the same way, but now Wangji doesn't know what to believe... or if what happened 16 weeks ago even happened.
Wangji hardly registers the sounds of Meiyou's furious ranting, to which the words "unacceptable" and "out of control" and "hells" rise like hot air between them. Wangji lightly touches his cheek. A welt has started brewing from beneath his skin.
Meiyou gasps, "Oh, my, Wangji, that looks awful..."
Wangji says nothing.
"Here. May I?" she offers gently, and the cultivator glances up to find her hands raised into smooth candle positions, channeling warm white magic. The Starlight Ritual.
When Wangji doesn't reply, she proceeds to perform the ritual on him, healing him of the physical bruise which mars his cheekbone and lower lip. He remains quiet in this time.
When the ritual ends—all outward traces of Wangji's hurt sown out of sight—Meiyou, noticing his stoicism, changes the subject. "Wangji, I have something. Do you remember that lantern I showed you?"
"Yes."
"Well, when you were with... Master Wei... I saw another lantern that I thought matched it, so I bought them both."
She opens her silk drawstring bag and pulls out two things: the white whale lantern from earlier on and another lantern with a black stallion painted on it. She offers him the whale lantern. "I was thinking... when our consummation begins, we can each hold one lantern to signify our unity and bond, much like the White Whale and the Black Stallion."
Wangji looks at the lantern, bright and illuminating. The corner of his mouth twitches upwards slightly. "Thank you, Lady."
"Of course," Meiyou smiles. "After all, we shall be wed next month."
"Yes..."
"Come, let's go back to the Jade Alcazar. The Clan healers can treat your injuries, and I'll have the cooks prepare a meal for us."
Meiyou gently takes his uninjured hand and starts to walk, heading in the direction of the Gu Clan household. Wangji gazes down at her. For the first time, he can see her angelic beauty from the way the corners of her eyes crinkle cutely, how her soft skin glows under the afternoon sun, and the way her compassion shines through her actions. And he wonders why he ever despised her.
Wangji throws a glance over his shoulder at Wei Ying's disappearing figure. It has been four moons since the Yiling Patriarch's sudden outburst over his orientation. Four moons since Wangji's frantic scour of the Library Pavilion on the supposed spell that has possessed Wei Ying. Four moons of cultivation, medication, Songs of Clarity, and research proven futile.
Gay... cut-sleeve... I like girls...
Maybe Wangji had just imagined 16 weeks ago: imagined the smell of lemongrass and sleep, the sweet aftertaste of alcohol on Wei Ying's lips, the unmeasurable twinkle in his eyes when Wangji told him he would break the marriage...
He looks back down at Meiyou.
Wangji has never thought of Meiyou as more than an associate. The tang of Wei Ying's words are still bitter to the tongue. And maybe... just maybe...
"Meiyou."
She looks at him.
"...Let's get married tomorrow."