Chapter Text
The weather in Gusu was pleasant. It had been getting hotter in the past weeks, but in contrast with the unbearable winter in the mountains, the shinny sun and the slightly breeze was a blessing. Wei Wuxian was even more grateful, having grew in Yummeng, the cold in the Cloud Recesses was enough for him to need his husband cuddling his shaking body for the whole night. Not that any of them would complain about that.
So, of course that Wei Wuxian would use this opportunity to drag Lan Wangji with him for a walk in Caiyi Town. Lan Qiren wasn’t fond of his nephew and his in-law just ignoring their obligations with the sect to go on a honeymoon trip, but fortunately, Wei Wuxian had an ally in the Lan family. That way, the couple went down the mountain while Lan Xichen charged of covering their absence.
Wei Wuxian was babbling nonsense after nonsense in the ride to the town.
“…And then your uncle showed there, and he saw us kissing. Lan Zhan, can you imagine his face?” Lan Wangji, listening attentively to every word that left the other’s mouth, couldn’t help but to think about how would be his uncle’s reaction to their kiss. He would probably qi devitate. “I honestly thought that he was going to have a qi devitation. It was a shame that it was only a dream. We should try to do this some time!”
“Mn.”
“Mn? Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian laughed. “Nobody will believe me if I tell that the noble Hanguang-Jun is just as shameless as me!”
Lan Wangji answered with a fond shake of head. The firsts markets appeared in front of them, and Wei Wuxian didn’t hesitate to reach for every single one, grabbing food for Lan Wangji to prove, and artefacts for him to see. The Second Jade of Lan indulged every request of the energetic one. The night fell and they started to walk the path back to Cloud Recesses, buying two jars of Emperor Smile in the way.
The chill wind of the mountains had come back with the night. The moon was nowhere to be seen, making the path incredible dark. Lan Wangji could only see a faint shadow of his husband profile and listen to the wine’s jar clacking against each other as Wei Wuxian swayed it beside him. It was one of that rare moments when them both didn’t talk – or Wei Wuxian didn’t talk, and Lan Wangji didn’t Mn him back – and only enjoyed their comfortable silence.
However, the peace it is made to be broken. And then they heard.
A scream cut the silence and startled the couple. They exchanged a look and rushed to the direction of the sound. They walked past a bunch of trees and got in a clearing, a man was being strangled by a ghost that somehow had managed to have a physic form for the moment. Resentful energy radiated from the scene.
After a moment absorbing what was happening in front of them, Lan Wangji unsheathe Bichen and stood beside Wei Wuxian, who grabbed Chenquing. In an instant, the mountain was filled with a piercing note. The spirit vanished in a cloud of resentful energy, and the man collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Looking attentively, he seemed like a rogue cultivator, his clothes weren’t expensive, but definitely weren’t from a merchant too. His sword was a few feet away from them, apparently missed in the fight. Yes, definitely not a mediocre person.
Wei Wuxian approached the cultivator and crouched beside him.
“Lan Zhan, he has a pretty deep wound here… I can’t… can you?” Wei Wuxian looked up to Lan Wangji with questioning eyes. He didn’t need to ask again, the taller had already understood. Wei Wuxian didn’t have had a golden core for more than a decade, and even with a new one now, owned by Mo Xuanyu, it was really weak and barely could warm himself. He wasn’t able to transfer spiritual energy to another person.
Lan Wangji lowered beside his husband and started to pass energy to the unknown man. But it quickly became clear that it wasn’t something that could me cured in the middle of the forest with a little bit of spiritual energy. Lan Wangji stopped.
They stood in silence for some seconds, trying to decide what to do.
“Lan Zhan, how angry do you think your uncle will be if we come back from a trip he didn’t know we went with an unconscious man?”
“Angry.” He stopped for a moment to fight against his own instincts. He, too, wasn’t a fan of the idea of taking some unknown rogue cultivator to his home, hadn't even talked to the man. After all, that was how Xiao Xingchen died. But he knew what was the right thing to do, Lan Qiren certainly knew it too, and leaving a hurt man to his own luck wasn’t right. So he took a deep breath, “But he will agree in the end.”
Wei Wuxian sighed, as if already imagining how he would be scolded by the old man, and proceeded to put the man’s arm around his shoulders. Lan Wangji had to suppress the urge to glare at the unconscious one. After all, he was wounded, there were no juniors in the place to carry him, and Wei Wuxian knew that he didn’t like to touch other people. It wasn’t like they had many other options than Wei Wuxian carrying the cultivator himself.
Still, he tried to help by grabbing the other's arm so they could divide the weight. The walk back to Cloud Recesses was longer than any of them would have wanted.
Lan Qiren have had a great day, he really had. Everything in the sect was going fine, the elders hadn’t complained about anything, the juniors were calmer than they had been in a long time, and he hasn’t even saw the face of that troublemaker yet. Though, now he realized, he should had been suspicious that something was wrong if Wei Wuxian hasn’t showed for an entire day.
Now he was in the infirmary, in front of a very dirty Hanguang-Jun, and an even bloodier Wei Wuxian, the wounded man lying on the bed beside them. He glared at the couple.
“Wei Wuxian…!”
“Wei Ying is not at fault.” Lan Wangji interrupted the older, a habit that had become constant when the subject concerned the Yiling Patriarch. He had the decency to bow, at least. “Uncle, we were coming back to Cloud Recesses when we found an evil ghost fighting a cultivator. Wei Ying did nothing but save him. We thought that it would be best to bring him under Gusu Lan’s care.”
“And how do you got out without telling anyone?!”
And then the door opened and Lan Xichen came in. He looked tired even with a small smile in his face.
“This must be my fault, Uncle. Wangji and Master Wei told me that they were going to Caiyi Town, I must have forgotten to tell you.”
Lan Wangji gave a grateful look to his brother, and Wei Wuxian had the audacity to grin mischievous. Troublemaker.
Lan Qiren glared at them, and then to Lan Xichen. When any of the parts said anything else, he stormed out of the infirmary, only slowly enough that it didn’t count as running. All the rest released a breath that they didn’t know they were holding.
“What happened, Wangji?”
“It wasn’t Lan Zhan’s fault, Zewu-Jun. We were just walking back from Caiyi Town, I wasn’t even talking this time! Well, it is true that we were about to enter the Cloud Recesses with alcohol, but still. Then we heard screams, and when we got there, this cultivator was being strangled by a ghost.” Wei Wuxian turned serious all of a sudden. “I think we should investigate things better after all, the amount of resentful energy that was in the local was pretty much for a low level ghost. And it isn’t common for evil creatures to just walk around the Lan Sect. Something must have triggered it.”
Lan Wangji nodded in agreement. Lan Xichen sighed.
“Well, this poor man can stay here while he is recuperating. I will need one of you to make a report about what happened.” He paused and looked at them in the eyes. “But I’m glad that you two are fine.”
“Thank you, Brother.” Lan Wangji bowed slightly.
The head healer said that the not-named cultivator would probably be conscious in one or two hours, and that the wound, although deep, wasn’t life threatening. Two days of rest and meditation should be enough for him to be fine. So they waited.
The healer used to say that talking in the infirmary was disrespectful to the patients, but the healer wasn’t there, was she?
“We need to thank your brother properly after. He literally saved me from being thrown out of the window by your uncle.”
“Brother likes you. And you were not doing anything wrong this time.” Lan Wangji said sincerely.
Wei Wuxian gasped dramatically.
“This time?! Lan Zhan! Sooo mean to me” He pouted.
Lan Wangji gave a smile, the one that he reserved only to his husband, and leaned to kiss his pouted lips. Wei Wuxian pulled away a few seconds later.
“Hanguang-Jun! How outrageous!” He put a hand in his chest. “Don’t you have respect for the ill?”
Lan Wangji resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. They stood in peaceful silence for a few more moments.
“Sooo boring, we really have to wait until the guy wake to know what happened there?”
“It was your idea.” Lan Wangji squeezed the other’s waist.
Wei Wuxian sighed loudly and spread himself in his husband lap. He was being even more restless the last few days, probably because Lan Wangji had been busy with more sect matters than normally, and consequentially spending less time with him. This, too, was a reason why he had wanted so much to go to Caiyi Town alone with him, to spend some time with his so loved husband. And now they were stuck with one more problem than before. Lan Wangji, personally, found his ball of energy really cute, but he knew it meant that his husband needed more attention. Wei Wuxian wasn’t one to be much time quiet and alone.
“So…” Wei Wuxian started again, all limbs stretched on top of the other. “How do you think he is? The unconscious guy, I mean. Do you think he has light eyes? Or dark? Do you think he is nice or grumpy like Jiang Cheng?”
Lan Wangji took his time to decide if he should enter Wei Ying’s guessing game. One part of him uncomfortable with the idea of Wei Wuxian thinking about the man’s eyes.
“Come on, Lan Zhan. I’m bored.”
If Lan Wangji thought that the cultivator had light or dark eyes, no one will ever know, because in the next second a weak voice was heard.
“…Dark eyes…” Two faint coughs. “And I hope that you find me nice, though I don’t know who is Jiang Cheng.”
The couple turned to the now awoken man.