The air was already thick with tension, and the quiet slide of the door clicking into place, turned it into a pressurised room.
Wei Ying was staring hard at Lan Zhan, who was petulantly making every effort not to look at him.
The silence was heavy, weighted, waiting for someone to break it.
And then, unable to take it, Wei Ying angrily got up and plonked himself in Lan Zhan’s lap, still glowering.
Lan Zhan’s head had snapped to attention as Wei Ying had stood up, and then he was startled enough when the warm weight of his husband literally fell into his lap.
"I'm still upset at you." Wei Ying stated.
"Mn." Lan Zhan felt marginally better, now that Wei Ying was here in his arms.
"You shouldn't be feeling like this."
"Mn." Clear disagreeing tone.
"Are you still drinking vinegar?" Wei Ying demanded, his hands holding Lan Zhan’s face so he couldn't look away.
No answer.
"We've been together so many years…and yet, you're still like this…"
"Mn."
Now he's agreeing??!!
Out of frustration, Wei Ying kissed his forehead. A bite might have made him feel better.
"That was an angry kiss." He informs Lan Zhan.
"Mn."
"I need to understand…why do you get upset when I praise someone else? I want you to understand that it's not a comparison. No one could beat you anyway, but I wish you could differentiate between that. So when I say something about other people, it's simply highlighting their good traits. Nothing else. I am not in the slightest way attracted to anyone else." He sighs. "You're it for me." His voice is much kinder at the end.
"Mn. Wei Ying is it for me, too." Lan Zhan says, and this time, he's definitely much happier. "Perhaps Wei Ying is right." He adds, after thinking about it.
"About what? And I'm always right, Fuddy Duddy…" he could never stay mad with Lan Zhan for long.
"About comparisons." Lan Zhan admitted.
Was he really doing that? But it seemed logical. He didn't like Wei Ying complimenting others, whether they deserved it or not…because it felt wrong. But maybe he had been thinking about it, with himself thrown into the equation. And perhaps…he didn't need to do that. Maybe a compliment was only a compliment…nothing else?
"That's great! That's progress!" Wei Ying clapped his hands. "Now…tell me something…"
"Mn?"
"Why didn't you let Little Rabbit tell XiChen-Ge about the comb?" This question is carefully put, because Wei Ying knows how sensitive Lan Zhan is, about his mother and the way she was treated.
"I cannot believe that he has forgotten it." Lan Zhan sounds so sad, suddenly. "I thought he would know it immediately….I was waiting for him to say something…"
"Instead…he hurt you by not remembering…" Wei Ying hugged him tightly. "It's okay to feel that."
"Clearly, he does not miss mother." Lan Zhan said, bitterly.
That, for Lan Zhan, was lashing out.
"My love…I think you need to ask XiChen-Ge about it first, before…before assuming what he's feeling. Isn't that one of the rules? Besides, it's hard to see what someone is doing behind you, especially when it's hair. Maybe he never got to hold it as often as you…?" Wei Ying was stroking his hair and making him feel more relaxed than normal.
"Mother always asked me to hold it, after she finished using it. I thought…I thought he did the same."
"Maybe he did, maybe he didn't…" Wei Ying was trying to find an explanation for XiChen's strange behaviour. "You should definitely ask him."
"He gave it to me…just before he left. The day before Cloud Recesses burned. It was left in the Jingshi." Lan Zhan looks around. "Even this place went up in smoke."
That must have been a devastating time for him, Wei Ying realises. To have to see your home burning down at the hands of greedy cultivators…to see the place where you've grown up go up in flames…he remembers Lan Zhan telling him that the library hadn't survived. And they were lucky that Uncle Qiren had sent XiChen-Ge away with their most prized collections of literature, to save both.
It would have been heartbreaking to lose everything so fast, and so suddenly, all together at once.
He remembers bits and pieces of their shared past, in the cave with the Tortoise of Slaughter…when Lan Zhan had cried and bit his arm out of pain and frustration. He had no contact with his family, no way to know if everyone was alright.
Wei Ying’s memory is still very much fractured, of his first life as Wei WuXian. Only bits and pieces left intact.
"This place burned down more than once." Wei Ying laughed awkwardly, trying to lighten his mood. "Granted, the other times were my fault…it happens, okay??!" He gestures with his hands in defence at the disbelief on Lan Zhan’s face. "Anyway…I'm more concerned with the fact that there are two combs. We don't believe in coincidence…"
"Mn. Wei Ying thinks there is something else?" Lan Zhan immediately perks up.
"Yes. It's nothing definite, but in my head, my thoughts are circling around the two combs. I keep wondering why she didn't use it? I mean, it's understandable if she didn't like it…you don't always like the gifts given to you…but this was a courting gift…even if they were already married. Like a sort of dowry…but the opposite. So…was it simply dislike that prevented her from using it?" He taps his nose thoughtfully.
"It is beautiful…" Lan Zhan remarked.
"Mn, I agree." Wei Ying hums. "So…if it's not ugly…then why?"
"I also have a question." Lan Zhan says, suddenly.
"What?" Wei Ying eyes him suspiciously.
"How is it that Wei Ying is friends with Zhangui?"
Wei Ying tries really hard not to roll his eyes.
"We're back to this??" Wei Ying said in disbelief. You know what? Why don't you ask him yourself?"