Huge chapter ahead! If you would like to skip to the Wei Ying part please feel free to head to the picture of Sizhui.
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Fingers lightly danced up and down his back, like the winds carrying a snowdrift when Huaisang surfaced from the depths of sleep.
He didn't move and experience made sure that his breathing remained in the mimicry of sleep, his mind coming back online. The blankets were heavy and smelled of the incense they only make in Qinghe, and beneath his cheek was hard muscle and a steady heartbeat combined with the quiescent strong power of a cultivator of high standing.
Part of Huaisang wanted to just pull the blankets up and ignore life, ignore what today meant, the ironic battle of it.
When he had come to Qinghe he had expected to die on his sword basically, not literally he hoped, but the idea was the same. He wasn't going to be leaving in anything less than a casket for his crimes and the big reveal that was going to expose so much filth and decay.
Instead, his brother already armed with some proof against the Elder behind this disaster and Lan Xichen's support, they had paved the way forward for Huaisang to completely expose the rotten mess of betrayal, murder and all the connections to the Wen.
In his vitriolic martyrdom, so sure he was going to be ignored, disbelieved or shut-down, Huaisang had sought to achieve maximum damage. None of it could hurt his brother or damage his position, not even politically. He was a victim and by extension their entire sect was one as well. All it took was a few traitors seeking power and money and the Nie name was going to be held in disrepute. But...it was nothing that his brother could weather with such a righteous reputation and the support of Gusu Lan.
So instead of mitigating the damage, Huaisang had taken the knife and slashed down the thin curtain hiding all the ugly truths and carved his way to what he had thought was his one goal, his true victory. He told them the entire story in all its gory detail complete with evidence in the forms of tapes, recordings and all his evidence over his father's murder taken from his rooms where he was staying, brought for this purpose.
SCD left with it and Huaisang had made sure it was out. He ruined himself and pinned the target on his enemies, weirdly pleased at his own destruction. It was done. It was finished. It was over.
The Jiang would be safe with this loud distraction, the Jin and Wen held in focus though this immense scandal. His brother would be safe now that the traitors had been exposed. Huaisang had nothing to lose and revenge to gain. Years of work after his father's death yes, but real work had come after Mingjue's attack. Wei Wuxian had helped him, but his war was coming to an end.
He outed the ones who had killed their father, he exposed Lady Jin's involvement and the abuse he suffered to keep the evidence on his enemies. All roads led back to the Wen and the Jin.
He expected his brother's rage and disdain. He expected one of teh disciples who had long hated him to finally murder him. He expected to be paraded as an evil born to their sect and vilified for his part in it all. For his hands were not lily white by any stretch of the imagination.
He had lied, cheated, cajoled and used others for his gain. He had given in to the Jin's demands, handed over some Nie funds, a scattering of open secrets, nothing to lose there. All crimes that his brother would not forgive.
And yet...
Rather than the worst he had expected, Nie Huaisang was being called a unsung hero.
The irony was bitter, confusing and it angered him no end that out of all of his excellent predictions, this one seemed dead wrong.
Far from vilifying him, Mingjue was upset not with him - over him.
His righteous brother, the one at least from a few years ago who would have helped his self-destruction, - knelt before his chair to his everlasting shock and asked for forgiveness.
From him.
His reaction was heavily influenced by shock, "For seeking the death penalty?"
And if there was an award for missing the obvious signs and a rosette for worst brother, it went to him.
Rather than punishment, Mingjue was demanding retribution for what Huaisang had suffered.
He had turned on their sect like a whirlwind storm, rooting out traitors and they certainly did not have the luxury of a second chance. His brother far from covering up Nie involvement like a sensible sect leader, was shouting for the non-cultivator courts and lawyers. The Nie closed ranks with Gusu, chose the Jiang and wanted to pursue this evidence right up to the Wen doors.
It was a crow-bar to the door alright, but that was what they needed, what Lan Zhan needed. Wei Wuxian and he would do the rest and the Wen were going to fall, now that Jin Guangshan was dead.
His son wasn't much like dear old dad.
So his brother swore he loved him still and asked for his forgiveness, for him to return to the sect and took on the two idiots who thought they could kill him in the night.
Then there was Lan Xichen.
Lan Xichen had a sweet heart behind his polished façade, a kindness and a genuinely good nature. And somehow he was in love with Nie Huaisang.
Who had presumed that upon the discovery that Huaisang was involved in this mess, surely he would bail?
Not only did he refuse but actively sought to protect him!
At first Huaisang thought it was that good nature, that protectiveness, that grief touched upon through the rough unveiling of the truth. But as the days ticked by, Lan Xichen rather than simply hearing or judging, actively dug through the fetid earth of those graves and carefully added bones to the pile, not to lay at Huaisang's feet but at Wen Xu's.
In the middle was Meng Yao, his clever eyes gleaming, his loyalty set by the friendship of one Nie brother and now the kiss of the older one.
Out of everything, this Huaisang was the most proud of. His Da-ge and the person most like a brother to him, finally finding happiness together, perfectly matched and the love he saw in Meng Yao's eyes was finally allowed the light of day.
But for himself? He wasn't supposed to keep his love.
Yet that love had been kept, reciprocated and had survived no matter what Huaisang had chucked at it.
The hand skating down his back, stroked over the bones of his shoulders then drifted up to his hair.
Someone like Lan Xichen wasn't supposed to love someone like him.
To confess jealousy over Jiang Cheng being the one Huaisang had turned to, even with the truth out, it was his opinion he looked to.
Of course, Jiang Cheng had known - not all of it - he would never have agreed with it had he known all of it - but enough where Huaisang blowing up his life did not come as a shock to him. He was also not an idiot.
Sealed behind silencing talismans Jiang Cheng had pointedly asked if this was his plan, to attack the Wens - as they were attacking the Jiang- from behind using the scandal over his father and these years of hounding, harassment, abuse and threats. And Huaisang knowing when he was cornered had admitted that he was.
The Nie scandal led to the Jin and Wen. He just hadn't expected Mingjue to run with or get SCD involved. Now that they had, there was a case.
"The Wen aren't going to stop Jiang-ge until we are all dead. What happened the next time Jiang Yanli goes to work with Ling Ling or Wei Wuxian and there is some sniper? A car bomb like they threatened? At least this way, they have more problems than just us."
Jiang Cheng believed that Huaisang had been threatened with some new tactic and had panicked, then gone into Nie martyrdom. He tells Huaisang that Jin Guangshan has put a hit out on him. That's bad, but he has put a hit on Jiang Yanli.
He wants his daughter-in-law to die and Jin Ling. For that the Yunmeng brothers want him dead first. Cut the head of the snake off before it strikes.
He then plans to end Nie Mingjue for all the trouble he's causing.
Nie Huaisang allthough this is to be expected - sees red.
Huaisang - strategist that he is, calmly agrees with that plan and offers to help, in return for Jiang Cheng's help protecting his older brother.
Then a Nie traitor had conveniently thought to attack Huaisang in front of Jiang Cheng who promptly lost his temper and before he knew it, there was an agreement that Huaisang was going back to Lotus Pier. Along the journey, Wei Wuxian will break off at the stop at Lanling and use the portal taliman to rejoin the train at a specific time when it stops at another station. So he will go with Huaisang, all of then diguised and Huaisang with a computer will use his old back doors into Jinili to let Wei Wuxian in.
Lan Xichen had not taken this well.
Oh he didn't say anything rude or cutting or argue particularly tempestuously, but Huaisang knew him. He was selfless enough to think of Huisang's safety and feared becoming his father enough to not want to cage his lover inside the Cloud Recesses. His answer was to follow Huaisang to Lotus Pier, make sure he was okay, then and only then return to Gusu.
If there were any issues of safety, Huaisang was being moved to Gusu on the same day.
Lan Xichen hadn't given in to Jiang Cheng, he merely made it impossible for them not to involve him.
Never let it be said, that he was good. Huaisang thought and stretched slowly as if just waking up. He was lying on Lan Xichen's well defined chest and his shorter stature meant that he really was cradled by his longer, seriously hot body. One long hand was lying over his ass possessively and the taller man had literally gathered Nie Huaisang on top of himself.
"Ah-Sang?" Xichen called softly, his stroking hand pausing in a caress.
Tonight he has to leave Qinghe with Wei Wuxian
He doesn't think.
He sits up and straddles that long torso, Xichen's hand still tangled in his hair, and kisses him.
"A-Xi." He murmurs, licking into his mouth. Eagerly, Xichen pulls him so easily closer, hands gentle but still possessive on his skin. Huaisang presses forward forcing Xichen's mouth up against his hard seeking to devour and Xichen replies with same fervor. He's guiding Xichen's mouth where he wants him, and he tastes like tea and drugging heat and love.
Its a drugging thing, a fantastical, impossible thing, that someone so powerful, so strong, a pinnacle of cultivation and all that a person should be - submits to Huaisang. His quick unquestioning submission to him, to what they have, to waht Huaisang will give him, threatens Huaisang's sanity. How long could he have had this? But Xichen does. He melts into the curve of Huaisang's body, hips pressing up, giving himself over to him without any hesitation.
The kiss turns filthy, and Xichen keens to into a his mouth, an animal of need, clutching at Huaisang letting himself be devoured by the throbbing need of them. Every pore where they connect light up like a neon sign, a mini supernova of feeling. Breaking from Xichen's scorching mouth, Huaisang gasps in a breath and then smirks down at his captured A-Xi.
Amber eyes search his face, hair ruffled from its usual perfect style, chest flushed and nipples hard buds, he looks debauched already. There is an anxiety in his gaze, fingers clutching at Huaisang as if he's going to disappear the moment he lets go. Somehow within that gaze and the cage of his hands, Huaisang slithers a hand down the mile long ultra-toned body, caressing the silky skin of his stomach.
"So beautiful A-Xi." He purrs and Xichen gasps., panting as if he's been fighting a battle against a thousand cultivators.
Lan Xichen is beautiful.If you know nothing else about the Twin Jades, there is always the balance of two facts. One, they're stunning. Two they are the unparalleled cultivators, peerless and high above everyone else. But this is something else. He's peerless certainly, but he's looking at Huaisang like he's a risen god and his eyes are nearly black.
"Ah-Sang." Xichen moans, hands bunching in the quilts of the bed.
He's wearing pajama pants. Of course he is. Hauisang thinks fondly. He looks up at Xichen, slithering down his body to perch over his thighs and he strokes his fingers over the hard line of his cock. Xichen moans and his hips twitch. To torture them both, Huaisang presses his tongue to the spot where the fabric of his thin grey pants tent, with a growing wet patch.
Xichen makes a sound like he's being stabbed and his hips rock ever so slightly. Huaisang kneads the spot with his tongue, loving the whimpers he receives for it and marveling at the size of him. Thank goodness he doesn't want to top, because Huaisang's not sure he could take him.
When he's had enough, he pulls the thin pants off and without any warning or preamble, takes his ridiculously large cock in his mouth, taking mind of his teeth and sinking down as far as he can without choking. He can feel his heartbeat in his mouth. Xichen doesn't cry out because he's too conditioned not to make noise, but the soft sound he does allow free might as well be a scream.
He wasn't supposed to be able to have this, but he loves Lan Xichen. Loves him too much and needs him. Its always been there and it always will, until the stars burn out and the sun dies, maybe even then it will go on for eternity.
Huaisang pulls off and Xichen gasps wantonly, "A-Xi...how long?"
"Four hours." Lan Xichen says, the words bitten off as if he too didn't want to think of them. "You...Wei Wuxian is arriving in three hours. Mingjue wants to see you, spend some time...ah! Yes. A-Yao is going with you and he'lll...oh yes....he'll come back here...."
"Plenty of time for proper kiss goodbye then?" Huaisang tries to joke, but it falls flat.
"They won't hurt you. I won't let them." Lan Xichen says firmly, the banked fire of the Lan so clearly on display. "Didi will be there and he'll look after you. He promised me. And I'll be there soon."
But Huaisang wasn't interested in whether Lan Zhan wanted to keep him alive or not. They had a deal, even if Lan Zhan himself didn't know it. Take down the Wen and remove this threat to their families.
"What do you want A-Xi?" He asked leaning back down to caress his shaft, the rosy head emerging from its sheath, wet and shining. Huaisang slipped his tongue into the slit just to watch Lan Xichen bite his own forearm.
"In me." Xichen admitted, knees spreading wider. "Want to feel you when we're apart. Every time I move."
Huaisang took full advantage of his long legs, kissing and nibbling down his inner thighs, smiling helplessly when Lan Xichen laid one, then the other over his back, keeping the full weight of them off of his skin at the same time. It took a little time to stretch him - crooking his fingers and stroking those sikily walls until he finds that sweet bundle of nerves, but slipping inside him was a connection roaring to life that he couldn't deny. Tight, wet heat and Xichen was pulling him in locking his limbs around Huaisang like he wanted to keep him there inside him for the rest of time.
He changed angle to get some leverage and earned himself a broken moan. Then he changed his mind.
"I want you on my lap." He tells him and Lan Xichen's eyes turn fully black and he gasps a moan. Then complies quickly. He sits up without dislodging Huaisang who folds back on his knees and the taller man straddles him, crowding him against the thick wooden bar of the antique bed's footrest.
And rides him.
His cock is being sucked in and out of Lan Xichen in a dizzying rhythm because Lan Xichen is beyond fit. A-Xi throws his head back, eyes wide and blissed out, hips working hard and fast. Its ecstasy and while he's found that Lan Xichen can go for hours with his Lan stamina and whatever his cultivation does to help that, but not tonight. Right now, Huaisang wants round two in the shower and maybe a round three before he's hustled onto a train, helps commit murder and has to deal with the fallout.
Thankfully he knows all his sweet spots. He laves his tongue over those tight buds and Lan Xichen loses his rhythm, one hand trying to keep Huaisang's mouth there and his free hands play with his cock and stroke over his stretched rim with slick fingers. He kisses the underside of his jaw, meets his mouth for a hot kiss and as Lan Xichen breaks apart he whispers pure filth in his ear.
When he comes, its to stars and pure ecstasy.
And Lan Xichen will not let him go, legs curling around his hips, chasing the feel of him with tiny rocks of his hips.
"Love you." He tells his chest, sweaty and breathless.
"Love you so much my Little Tiger." Lan Xichen replies, cuddling him into his arms.
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In the mountains of Gusu, all disciples must wake at five and sleep at nine, in a struct regimen that allows for the most efficiency. The Jiang are different. While the day is important, they are strangely a people devoted to the night, and this is not easily explainable as a waterfront sect. They rise at seven at the earliest within the sect itself and sleep in complicated shifts, some during the day, some at night.
Wei Ying in all fairness to him, tried to keep to a sensible schedule with Sizhui.
Lan Zhan having been awake before dawn with the news of Jin Guangshan's murder, had already prepared everything for his godson. All that was left to do was to wake him and get him ready for pre-school and first year training.
He found him yawning widely sitting up in bed, clutching his toy rabbit, "Jiaofu!" He called happily seeing Lan Zhan, "Is baba home?"
Lan Zhan went to the curtains and pulled them open, letting the morning light shine into the room. Wei Ying had painted adorable rabbits on the main wall, some surrounded by flowers or eating carrots, some life-like and others that seemed to come from a vintage story book. HE cannot help but smile as he sees the photo of Wei Ying holding Sizhui on the side table.
On the wall is a shelf of all his books and a chest for his toys, with the dresser at the back. Its a room of color and organized chaos, as Lan Zhan thinks, a child's room should be. At the same age his room, shared with his brother had been ready for military inspection at all hours of the day or night. Everything removed from its place, had to be put back exactly. This was far better and it warmed Lan Zhan's heart to the core.
"Wei Ying will be home in one hour." Lan Zhan tells him fondly, "Come. Must get ready."
The little boy launches from the bed and tries to straighten out his covers, putting his rabbit back on the pillow. Lan Zhan turns to the wardrobe and collects all the parts of the Jiang uniform, transforming their rabbit-pajama wearing warrior into a tiny disciple in deep violet and pale green turquoise.
Lan Zhan could not officially give him a Lan headband, though he was allowed one as his godson, but he could add the Gusu Lan cloud motif to his Jiang Lotus bell. Wei Ying had given him permission with a soft smile. "He's our little one isn't he Lan Zhan?" Whenever Wei Ying would say such things, it always had a frisson of happiness and joy go through him like a current of electricity.
"Baba will be home for breakfast? Can I show Baba my talismans?" Sizhui asked hopefully.
"Wei Ying will be excited." Lan Zhan reassures him, because it was a hundred percent true. Wei Ying was probably already excited to see his son regardless of whether or not he had killed someone, Lan Zhan thought, worry churning endlessly.
Collecting his already packed backpack and the tote containing his change of clothes for different activities for today, Lan Zhan took his hand to keep his rambunctious godson from running down the steps leading to the jetty, from the garden and potentially falling. It took a few minutes with the security features on Wei Ying's wards, but they were soon stepping into the boat. Lan Zhan set the talisman down on the opposite seat, with a touch of spiritual energy and guided by Wei Ying's genius, they were off.
It was easier in many ways, as Lan Zhan was unfamiliar with the waterways and the complicated right of way rules. He had Bichen with him in case something happened to the boat, bags and child on his knee.
At their usual stop, Lan Zhan was mildly perturbed to see Jiang Cheng himself waiting for them. It didn't have to mean anything particular, despite Lan Zhan feeling as though everything was a hint of foul play, in a paranoid panicking way. Wei Ying's brother was to the shock of many, a devoted uncle. Wei Ying's messages to him since he asked Lan Zhan to be Sizhui's godfather, had involved often hilarious stories of Jiang Cheng as basically a first time father too. He had been annoyed that Sizhui was returning to the apartment last night, rather than remaining in Lotus Pier's main home.
It was almost a relief to see Jiang Cheng's gaze turn critical as he assessed Sizhui, as if judging Lan Zhan efforts, and Lan Zhan presumed he inherited this dilute form of that look that from his mother Lady Yu. It brightened to an almost happy expression as Lan Zhan helped Sizhui off the boat, his larger hands guarding him as he climbed up the ladder to the pier. "A-Yuan!" he called.
Sizhui grinned and rushed over to his uncle, who immediately picked him up. "Shushu!"
Jiang Cheng rearranged his little jacket and fussed over him, "Your baba called. He's on his way home now." He tells him and Sizhui beams.
"Baba's coming home!"
"And we'll have breakfast. Hanguang-jun." He greets almost as an afterthought.
"Jiang Cheng."
"Well stop standing there like a statue. You can't go to the train station because we're supposed to be doing this quietly and my idiot brother will probably launch at you like a crazed fangirl at a pop concert. Your brother is coming as well by the way."
Brother was coming? Lan Zhan thought surprised but followed Jiang Cheng as the other man started off, chatting away to Sizhui as his disciples followed behind.
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Wei Ying was too clever to have a convoy of cars converging on Lotus Pier, making it blindingly obvious that they were doing something.
His disguising talismans made it possible to look like a family leaving the train; himself, Nie Huaisang, Meng Yao and Wen Ning. The other disciples came separately. So only one car came through the gates of Lotus Pier, pulling to a stop outside the ornate doors.
Jiang Cheng, Wen Qing and Lan Zhan were waiting, with Jiang Yanli holding up her phone so Nie Mingjue could see his brother safely arriving with Lan Xichen.
They spilled out of the car, the shorter Nie Huaisang looking almost fragile beside Meng Yao, who kept an arm around him. Wei Ying was in the driver's seat and came last, stepping in behind Wen Ning.
"We're back!" Wei Ying called loudly and Lan Zhan drank in the sight of him. Gone was the black he left in. Now he was in worn denim with a red t-shirt, his smile dazzling as he took in the sight of his family.
"I thought it was Sect Leader Yao." Jiang Cheng said sarcastically and Wei Ying laughed. Despite the strange greeting Jiang Cheng hugged his brother and they nodded to one another, not making Lan Zhan feel in any way reassured.
"Jiejie!" Wei Yin waved excitedly and then saw Lan Zhan, "Lan Zhan! I didn't see you! Lan Zhan I'm back!"
If he killed the Jin leader or not, Lan Zhan was still ready to lay his life down for him.
Nie Huaisang was talking to his brother on the phone so Wei Ying bounded up to Lan Zhan, kissing him soundly.
"Mm. Wei Ying is back."
"Did you miss me?" Wei Ying demanded grinning.
"Mnn. Missed Wei Ying."
"Aww."
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The entire family sits down for breakfast, happy that Wei Ying has returned. Sizhui sits in-between them chatting to his Baba as Wei Ying plies him with bean soup made with chile and fried onions. There was soybean milk and youtiao, Jiang noodles, congee, wontons, dumplings and sweet buns.
Wei Ying's arm is ostensibly behind Sizhui in a loose hug, but his hand is tucked into Lan Zhan's beneath the table.
Unlike in Gusu, there is no speaking at the dinner table rule.
The Jiang and Wen chatter lightly, welcoming Meng Yao as part of the extended family as if he's always been there, a virtue of having Nie Huaisang's trust. For his part, the younger Nie brother is catching up on all of the gossip he missed while he was gone and explaining some of what happened in Qinghe.
They were only eleven minutes into breakfast, when a disciple appears for Jiang Cheng. Apparently for a phone call.
This is it. Lan Zhan thinks but keeps calm and carries on drinking his bean soup. Wei Ying watches him go, but returns his attention to Sizhui, offering his son his soy milk and eating some of his own wontons.
Jiang Cheng returns to the table, his walk measured and face entirely expressionless after a few minutes, stepping through the fluttering curtains of the pavilion. This particular one on the water with the lotus flowers gathering like pink and violet jewels, had become the family meal table in short order. It was large enough to bring the entire former Wen clan together if they wished, but at least fifteen were at breakfast now, plus the core Jiang family and Lan Zhan.
That expressionless look though... It is Lan Zhan has learned, the most obvious sign that something is wrong. Jiang Cheng is never passive. He comes to a stop at the table and most of the occupants pause for him to retake his position at the head of the table. Jiang Feng half rises, already asking if something was wrong.
'Ah Cheng." Jiang Yanli says worriedly, over her son's head, "What's wrong?"
"Jin Zixuan," Jiang Cheng says to his brother-in-law, whose face is also slid into worry. He glances at Lan Zhan, then back at his wife, then looks fully at Jiang Cheng,
"What is it Jiang Cheng?"
"I regret to tell you that your father is dead." Jiang Cheng says, sounding smoothly calm, if not the slightest regretful. No one could really argue though, it is Jin Guangshan, whose comments over the Jiang have been vile of late and his exploits are hardly the kind that the Jiang family would approve of. He's a bigot and a rapist, a oily politician and as corrupt as they come. No one other than his one legitimate son is going to mourn him.
Jin Zixuan goes pale and he stares at Jiang Cheng. "H..How?"
"From what they told me, a heart attack." Jiang Cheng says. "Your mother is on the line."
Lan Zhan looks at each of them gauging responses. Wen Qing is watching Jiang Cheng, eyes assessing and worried. Wen Ning is curious as are most of the former Wen. Meng Yao pauses, his spoon hovering in mid-air for all of three seconds, face hard to read as he absorbed that his poor excuse for a biological father is dead.
Jin Zixuan is of course highly distressed and rushes off to speak to his mother and Jiang Yanli waits a beat before following him. "Poor A-Xuan." Is all she says as she leaves the table. "Nainai, will you look after LingLing?"
Neither Jin Ling nor Sizhui of course understand and the former Wen are looking to their sect leader and Wei Ying for answers. Jiang Cheng retakes his place and Nie Huaisang says, "Well that's going to be a mess."
"They'll spend a fortune on the funeral." Wei Ying comments dryly and carries on helping Sizhui with his spoon. His grey eyes are cold, mouth tight for a single moment. Hardly anyone would notice but as someone who has devoted hours to the study of every micro expression and mood this one man has, Lan Zhan can feel ice fall down his spine.
Jiang Cheng snorts, "I'll have to go." He says this like someone is asking him to drink brown river water.
"Jiejie will have to go." Wei Ying agrees, sounding as unhappy as his brother.
"His wife must be upset." Fourth Uncle comments watching them closely.
Jiang Cheng huffs a laugh, "Her son will assume power so her position is safe. That's all she cares about. He abused everyone around him, had a million affairs and just many scandals. And to top it off, we now have proof she was a part of the murder of Nie-ge's father."
"Lady Yu was always telling her to divorce him." Wei Ying comments, voice flat, face unreadable.
"I very much doubt she cares about anything but herself." Meng Yao says coldly, "She brought so much pain to the Nie family."
"And yours." Nie Huaisang agrees, "Tormented your mother."
"We'll do our part so no one can say the Jiang were undignified or remiss in paying respect however little that ass deserves." Jiang Cheng says calmly. "Jiejie and I will go when its time and A-Xian will hold the fort. They won't bury him yet. The honoring of our family will come first."
"A decent escort will look appropriate." Wei Ying says thoughtfully. "That way we can keep an eye on Jiejie. If Wen Xu has killed him,"
"You think Wen Xu murdered him?" Wen Qing asked boldly.
The brothers look at each other then Jiang Cheng answers without a beat and doesn't berate his brother for mentioning rumors, "If the heart attack was natural his poor habits killed him. If it wasn't then yes. He humiliated Wen Xu. No one does that, you said, without paying the price."
Fourth Uncle sighs and nods for her, "No. One doesn't escape paying a price."
"And Lady Jin's niece has been seen with Wen Xu." Wei Ying comments, dabbing Sizhui's chin. "There you go.."
"Play with fire," Jiang Cheng says darkly.
"And you get burned." Wei Ying finishes.
Lan Zhan doesn't know what to think. It couldn't have been Wei Ying. He was on a train! Jiang Cheng had already arrived home. But if anyone could...it would be Wei Ying.
"Won't A-Li need to move to Lanling?" One of the Wen asks quietly, Jiang Yang he thinks.
Wei Ying shakes his head, "Jiejie is not some trophy wife. She's the head of Furong and wiht all the horrible accusations they've made agaisnt Jiang Cheng,"
"Drug lord and the one where I hang out in 'morally unethical clubs' being my favorite." Jiang Cheng comments.
"What does that even mean?" Nie Huaisang asks.
"Brothels I assume." Jiang Cheng offers, helping himself to another sweet bun.
"Yeah." Wei Ying says with icy fury everyone can hear around the table. Sizhui looks up at him confused but Wei Yin quickly smiles and hands him a sweet bun. "After that kind of ugly commentary, Jiejie won't move there. She'll commute, but good luck trying to get her to move."
Nie Huaisang changes the subject and the family carry on, parting eventually to return to their duties or find Jiang Yanli.
"Why do I get the feeling that they know something?" Wen Qing asks him when they have left.
"Wei Ying was on a train. With Meng Yao and Nie Huaisang.'
"Wei Wuxian has talismans that can change faces." Wen Qing says flatly. "He showed them to us! He was going to kill Jiang Cheng. Going to lure the brothers into a trap."
"There will be inquest. Wei Ying is not a poisoner." Lan Zhan argues but its weak and she knows it.
"He doesn't need to be." Wen Qing says. "So save that defensiveness for someone else."
"There was no evidence with Wen Chao." Lan Zhan says abruptly.
"So you are wondering." Wen Qing says looking at him. "Jiang Cheng has been adamant that Wei Wuxian guard their family if he leaves and then he summons him to bring Nie Huaisang? Not some random loyal disciple? He got a phone call and then he decided that!"
'Who called him?"
"I don't know. He didn't say. Why not fly? Half the time, its safer. Faster. Why the train?" Wen Qing asks quietly. "Ah Ning says that Nie Huaisang was with him. That he didn't see Wei Wuxian because they were in disguise."
"To give Wei Ying an alibi. Because Nie Huaisang needed protection. I do not know which."
"We'll never know will we?" Wen Qing says finally. "I know they killed Wen Chao. I told him where he would be. That's it. That was the price of my family having a new identity. Where that bastard would be. No one spoke of it again. He ruined my family. He killed so many of us. Tortured, maimed, murdered for what? He murdered their parents, their disciples. They didn't hurt anyone else. Just him."
"If Jin Guangshan had murdered Jiang Cheng, Wei Ying would have killed him in revenge and everyone in his way would have been collateral. He would have destroyed himself and all around him."
"So." Wen Qing says, "Natural or not, that bastard dying now means that we probably have one less threat against my fiancee and this family and far less deaths."
"Essentially. Wei Ying knew." That Lan Zhan believed. The love of his life had found out about the plot to kill his brother. An ear to the ground and excellent skills with computers. For a second he wondered if he was Figbird.
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Jiang Cheng lost hours to talks and condolences with the Jin, then talks with Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue. Brother was arriving tomorrow apparently. Wei Ying was only interested in if this meant Jiang Yanli was leaving for Lanling.
Nie Huaisang returned to his apartment below Wei Ying, with Meng Yao as his guest, already worrying about catching up with work. Wei Ying finished his training rotation and helped Jiang Cheng.
Jin Zixuan left for Lanling without his wife who agreed to the funeral but apparently something unpleasant was said and she was refusing to go before that. Which meant there had been slander or some attack on one of her brothers. Jiang Cheng was in a foul mood and Wei Ying was trying to cool both of his siblings tempers.
"She called me a dog." Wei Ying told him later with a shudder.
Lying on the bed, Wei Ying watched Lan Zhan change the setting on the mini-AC unit. "Did the train hurt your shoulder?" Lan Zhan asks glancing at his love. Wei Ying was rotating his shoulder, eyebrows pinched.
"Slept on it I think." Wei Ying said tiredly, "Stupid of me."
"Wei Ying is never stupid." Lan Zhan says firmly.
Wei Ying moved like a sinuously snake, straddling Lan Zhan's hips, "I'm sure Ge-ge could do something for it?" He purrs lowly, 'Now that we're back in our place."
Our place. It struck Lan Zhan like a battering ram those words.
He flipped Wei Ying over and bent to suck a mark into his neck. "I could."