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She watches the two boys with as much astonishment as everybody around her. However, when all of them move to react to a potential threat, all she can see is the utter despair written all over their faces. And then, the one dressed on the gold of the Jin falls hard on his knees and a sob escapes from his throat.
“Jiujiu,” the boy whimpers. “Jiujiu…”
His cries seem to bring the second boy out of his daze. He sits on his knees next to the boy in gold and brings an arm around his shaking shoulders. But even after his mouth opened, no word of comfort gets out of it, as silent tears begin to flow his own cheeks. They stay there for a little while, unaware of the murmurs dying down around them. Though the rest of the cultivators in the room seems to have realized that, whoever they are, these two boys are not a threat.
The second one, the one with a white forehead-ribbon embroidered with clouds, starts speaking, his voice still weak and wreak.
“Jin Ling,” he whispers, “Jin Ling, we have to get moving. We must… we must reach Shugong. He will know what to do. Maybe he could send reinforcement to search under the rubble.”
“What for, SiZhui? You saw it just as well as I did. There’s no way they could have survived. SiZhui, Jiujiu was in there. And Da-jiu too. They are… they are the only family I have left… SiZhui, what am I going to do?”
“I know, Jin Ling, I know. My father was in there too, and Bobo. But Jin Ling, if we are… if we are… I mean, we must tell someone what happened in there. We can’t… We can’t let what they fought for go to waste, can we?"
But the boy in his arms only starts to cry harder. She takes that as her clue to go on.
“Young Masters,” she greets them while she stands from her sit and walks closer to them. “Could you tell us who you are? We may be able to help you?”
The two boys’ reaction is as far as possible to everything she could have imagined. They both jump to their feet and their swords swing in front of them.
“That’s Shuihua,” she states, looking at the youngest’s sword with disbelief and incomprehension. “How is it that you have Suihua? Young Master Jin…” she adds, turning in the general direction of her ex-fiancé.
“Who are you?” the boy growls in return. “You’ve got a Yunmeng Clarity Bell, so you must be from the Jiang Clan. How come I’ve never met you?”
“My name is Jiang YanLi,” she answers calmly, with a gentle smile on her lips.
That’s where all hell breaks. The two boys stare at her like if they have seen a ghost, eyes wide, mouth hanging open, a mixture of confusion, fear and hope on their feature. Then, the one dressed in the gold of the Jins turns angry and she can see he is about to burst. Except he doesn’t because his comrade catches his sleeves and keeps tugging at it until he faces him.
“Jin Ling,” the boy with the white forehead ribbon mutters, and his voice holds so much pain that she shivers just from the sound of it. “Jin Ling, look.”
His dark eyes are fixed on someone just behind her. Someone in the Jiang section, and at the front row at that. One of her little brothers then. But why the mere view of her brothers would illicit such a reaction from those two boys?
The swords go back to their scabbards as they keep staring at the space behind her. Then their gazes survey the rest of the room, and their features shift from fear and despair to the utmost disbelief. And Jiang YanLi even believes that this is a glitter of hope she catches in the pit of their eyes.
“That… that…” the Jin one stutters, “how is that even possible?”
His comrade shrugs in a very un-Lan-ish motion before pulling something off from the front of his white robes. Then the two of them focus on whatever this is until the one in gold literally growls:
“What did Da-jiu do this time?”
“Jin Ling, do you remember what he said last? He said… he said…”
“A-Yuan, my little A-Yuan, you have to take care of your biao di, alright? I’m sorry the two of you have to carry the burden of fixing your elders’ mistakes.” the boy with the vermillion mark diligently answers, in a makeshift voice which clearly means to mimic an older one. “Wait, who is your biao di? And why did Da-jiu call you that?”
“Jin Ling, I don’t believe this is really important right now. Don’t you understand what all of this means?”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. So what do we do now? We can’t fuck this up.”
The other one nods, a heavy sigh not quite out of his lips. He seems to ponder what to do next for a little while after that, before he meets his friend’s expectant gaze with a resolute one of his own. The Jin boy doesn’t even need to be told anything for him to step aside and give way to the Lan.
“Lady Jiang,” the white-clad teenager says while bowing to her. “Forgive us for our rudeness. We were confused as to how we ended up there, but it was no reason to forget our manners.”
He stands back and bends his head lightly to the rest of the room.
“Sect Leaders, Honored Cultivators. This one is Lan Yuan, courtesy name SiZhui. Back in my time, I am the Lan Sect Heir.”
***
Unsurprisingly, Lan SiZhui’s statement causes even more chaos that his previous apparition. So much that she almost missed the second boy’s introduction – Jin Ling, he said, but he didn’t offer them a courtesy name, even though he presented himself as the Jin Sect Heir which meant he should have one.
“You said ‘back in your time’,” Lan XiChen says from his place in the Lan section, and his usual calm tone and gentle voice bring silence to the room. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that the two of us are from the future.”
Jiang YanLi would have found this hard to believe, except that the boy is a Lan and the Lans do not lie. Not to mention that there is something utterly familiar in the curve of his lips and the brightness of his eyes. And don’t get her started on his comrade who, upon further inspection, looks so much like A-Cheng that it is scary.
“Young Master Lan,” Lan XiChen starts again, “forgive me for pointing this out, but you will admit that this is a little bit hard to believe. You’re talking about… time travel.”
“I am aware, Sect Leader Lan. However, I believe we have several arguments to prove our point.”
“Go ahead then,” Jin GuangShan all but snarls. “We are all ears.”
For the first time since the two boys appear, she sees a look of pure anger flash across Lan SiZhui’s face as he spares a single glance to the Jin Sect Leader. Jin Ling doesn’t even turn to him and if she is not mistaken, this is disgustthat she reads in his wince. They both choose to focus on Lan XiChen to explain themselves.
“We think that this talisman is what brought us here in the first place,” Lan SiZhui states as he shows the piece of paper in his hand. He presents it to the First Jade of Lan with a short bow of respect and the latter takes it without hesitation.
“This… is quite impressive, to say the least.” Lan XiChen admits before he passes it to his little brother.
A bitter-sweet smile curves Lan SiZhui’s lips when his gaze falls on Lan WangJi. His attention shifts back to the eldest brother just as fast, and he adds calmly:
“If Zewu-Jun would like, I could also share with him one of the musical pieces that are shared solely between the Lan Sect Heirs. Even though some privacy may be appreciated in that case.”
“SiZhui,” Jin Ling steps in. “In all likelihood, we’re a few months to a few years after the end of the Sunshot Campaign, right?”
“Yes?” his friend agrees, confusion written all over his features. “Why?”
“Isn’t it around that time that YingWuzhe-Jun, the Third Young Master Lan’s oath became the official oath of the Lan Sect Heirs? You could repeat it.”
Understanding dawns on his comrade and he nods before facing the Lan section again.
“It is said that YingWuzhe-Jun took the oath when he first came to the Cloud Recesses for his studies, before he even became the Third Young Master of the Lan Clan.”
“The Third Young Master?” Lan XiChen repeats, confused.
Lan SiZhui simply nods, already utterly focused on his task. He joins his hands in front of him and fixes his gaze on the current Sect Leader as he states with utmost devotion:
“I, Lan SiZhui, wish I can always stand with justice, live with no regrets. I wish to protect the weak and go where the chaos lays. I wish to stand for my sect, my clan and my family for as long as my Golden Core pulses and forevermore after it stops.”
To Jiang YanLi’s surprise, her little brother is the first to react to those words. Wei WuXian stands abruptly, his fist tight around his dizi and his eyes almost red already.
“What is the meaning of this?”
And then, Jin Ling steps in front of Lan SiZhui and bows deeply to her little brother.
“YingWuzhe-Jun, this is an honor to meet the hero of not one but two wars.”
For the third time in a row, chaos fills the room. For all those cultivators who just came out of a bloody war, the prospect of another one is devastating. For Jiang YanLi, who lost her parents and her sect to the bloodthirst of one tyrant, this is simply terrifying. She can say, without a single doubt, that the price to pay this second war would end her. Especially if her brothers had to suffer just as much.
“The story of the illustrious YingWuzhe-Jun, Head Disciple of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect and Third Young Master of the Gusu Lan Sect, and how he ended two wars by the force of his convictions and affections is well-known amongst all the generations of cultivators.” the Jin boy adds under the gaze of all the cultivators present. “The sacrifices he made, first for his brother and then for innocent civilians, would have been unthinkable for most cultivators.”
“His son was barely three when he died,” Lan SiZhui whispers, even if his voice is louder than thunder in the silence of the room. “When he was executed by Jin GuangShan and Jin GuangYao for exposing their lies and plots.”
“Upon his death, the Lan and Jiang Sects allied to prevent Jin GuangShan to become an other Wen RuoHan,” Jin Ling goes on. “The Nie Sect took their side and so did most of the other sects. In the face of the crimes his father committed, Jin ZiXuan decided to side with his wife and in-laws. Isolated, Jin GuangShan finally surrendered himself, but not before a lot of cultivators paid his pride with their lives.”
She can feel the tears running down her cheeks and all the way to her collarbone. One more sob escapes from her lips and she finally can’t hold back anymore:
“A-Xian is going to die?”
“Not if we can prevent it, Lady Jiang. Not if we can prevent it.”
And when her eyes rise to those of the two teenagers in front of her, she is met with the most determined looks she has ever seen. And she is the sister of both Wei WuXian and Jiang WanYin.
***
Jiang YanLi has always known the power of words. She has seen her mother destroy her father, and her baby brother even more, day after day without even having to use Zidian on either of them. She has seen her father deceived both her brothers each time he praises A-Xian more than A-Cheng, while he successfully handled most situations brought to him as a Sect Leader with them as well. She has seen Jin GuangShan and Jin GuangYao use their words as best as they could to try and turn the rest of the Cultivation World against her beloved little brother.
And now she sees two boys, younger than her brothers have been when the Sunshot Campaign began, unveil the crimes of two of the most powerful men of their time with a mere tale.
After that first chaotic feast, the two boys had been brought to a more secluded area where only the Sect Leaders of the Great Sects and their main deputies had followed them. There, they had told their story once more, with more details, both to convince all parties involved and describe more precisely the threat they now had to face.
A-Xian had glared at them angrily all along, until the Lan boy had requested talking to him privately. When the two of them had reappeared, her little brother certainly looked less upset and more… embarrassed. And if Jiang YanLi had to guess, she would say that it had something to do with Lan WangJi and the way the two boys had called A-Xian ‘Third Young Master Lan’ all along. And if her baby brother can’t look at Lan WangJi without blushing after that, she still thinks this is for the best.
An investigation on the labor camps is open first thing in the morning the following day. Nie MingJue departs with trusted representative from each clan to inspect them. He comes back barely ten days later, a bunch of elderly people and children in tows. Next thing anyone knows, the Nie Sect Leader drags Jin GuangShan to justice, and his bastard with him even though he is his own sworn brother. Before the end of the month, Jin ZiXuan is the new Sect Leader of the Jin Clan.
Rumors about her brother die down before they get out of hands and Jiang YanLi is all the more satisfied by the way things are going. Even more so when A-Xian has a much overdue conversation with both his siblings, when he finally tells them why he gave up his sword and started demonic cultivation. The “sacrifice he made for his brother” that the two boys kept mentioning in their story is much clearer after that. Eventually, he agrees to let Lan WangJi play for him and his character improves greatly over the next few days. She is pretty sure the music is not the only thing to thank for her brother’s newfound happiness.
Wen Qing and Wen Ning are part of the Wen saved by Nie MingJue from the labor camps. The Jiang Sect offers to take the Dafan Wen in, because she and her brothers want to be able to protect those people, the same way they once protected them. They want to repay their kindness with their own. Also, if the smile on A-Cheng’s face when he looks at the Dafan Head is anything to go by, marriage could very well be a way to further protect them in a near future.
The boys stay by her side all this time, following them back to Lotus Pier after the end of the trials. They tell them that A-Xian and WangJi are their best shot to find a way to go back to their own time and since the two are always together nowadays, the choice is easy. As soon as they are all settled in Yunmeng, the quartet starts working on the talisman the two boys had on them when they first arrive. The process is long and exhausting but they are all confident they will get there.
All is well. A second war has been avoided and hundreds of deaths with it. She is finally about to marry the person she loves, and that person finally loves her in return. Both of her brothers also have found someone to cherish and are on their way to spend their forever with them.
***
They are all reunited for an other feast in Lanling of all places, a few months after their first time-travelers arrived, when they receive a new unexpected visit.
As the new Lady of the Sect, Jiang YanLi now stands at the top of the stairs, next to her new husband. From where she sits, she can see her brothers in the front row of the Jiang section, Wen Qing and Wen Ning by their side and Lan SiZhui and Jin Ling behind them. The Lan are sited opposite to them, to A-Xian’s and A-Ji’s utter despair – but they are to be wedded in a few weeks’ time, so hopefully the problem won’t arise again anytime soon.
From where she sits, she also has a perfect view of the doors, on the other side of the room. So she has the best spot to watch the next few minutes.
Chaos can be heard behind the closed doors, where the guards seem to try – and fail – to stop someone. Then they burst open, and a figure clad in black takes a few steps inside the room. The man who has just entered is as familiar to her as one can be, but at the same time he couldn’t be more of a stranger.
He has the silver eyes of her little brother and a red ribbon in his hair. But he also has a white ribbon on his forehead and the wrinkles of someone a decade older at least. And anyway, her little brother sat right there, next to their other brother, so it just can’t be him.
Then a name falls from the lips of the not-so-strange stranger, and everything makes perfect sense.
“A-Yuan.”
How can a name hold so many feelings – hope and despair, and love and guilt, anger, fear – she will never know. All she knows is that the cry that escapes Lan SiZhui then is just as vibrant.
“A-Die. A-Die!”
The boy jumps from his place in the Jiang section and before anyone has time to react, he has made his way to the newcomer and is now crying on his shoulders, Jin Ling not far behind him.
“A-Die, A-Die, you’re here. You’re really here. Does this mean we succeed? Does this mean we somehow manage to prevent Guanyin Temple and everything that came with it?”
“A-Yuan, my sweet little radish. You did so well. I am so proud of you. Of both of you,” he adds, and he motions to Jin Ling to come closer and the boy immediately sinks in his side. “A-Ling, A-Yuan, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you had to fix all our mistakes. All of my mistakes. But I’m here now. And I don’t plan to leave you anytime soon. Now, how about we go home, hum?”
He gently nudges the two teenagers from his side so he can bow to the rest of the room.
“Honored Cultivators. I apologize for disrupting your feast. And I thank all of you for taking care of my son and my nephew when I couldn’t. We will now take our leave. We have already overstayed our welcome and we shouldn’t mess with time more than we already have.”
His gaze meets her for a second and it is calmer than she could have ever dreamed of for her little brother. Then he turns back to the two boys and a frown overcomes his features.
“I still have something to ask to the two of you before we leave. When we arrive, you should both recover your memories of the new timeline. And about your previous memories… I could erase them. If you’d like me to, that is.”
“What about you?” Lan SiZhui asks straight away.
“Ah, A-Yuan, my sweet A-Yuan, I brought you there, didn’t I? I had to find a way to preserve my memories, so I know to fetch you back.”
“But you did it. You came to bring us back. What are you going to do now?” Jin Ling notices.
“Boys,” her not-so-little brother whines, “since when are you two so pushy?”
“You want to keep them.” Lan SiZhui whispers. “Why? Why would you want to keep those memories? Why would you want to keep memories of a live where Qing-Jie and Uncle Ning died, where Aunty Jiang died? Where Fuqin paid with his blood for his devotion?”
“A-Yuan… You don’t understand…”
“Then tell me,” the boy insists.
“It’s… It’s not about the pain. It’s about everything those people gave for me. It would be disrespectful towards them to let me forget all this. Beside… I want to remember. I want to remember all this. How lucky I am to have all this, because once I hadn’t.”
“Then I want to remember too.” Lan Sizhui states. “I want to remember everything you did for me and my family when I wasn’t even your son yet. A-Die, you don’t have to suffer alone this time.”
“SiZhui is right. I want to remember too.” Jin Ling adds immediately.
“A-Yuan… A-Ling… Are you sure of this? Whatever you think about this, you’re still kids. You shouldn’t have such a heavy burden to bear.”
“Da-jiu. We’re sure. Now, hadn’t you said something about going home?”
“Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let’s go home.”
She smiles as she sees the three of them disappear from her sight. All is well.