Now that he understood what was going on, he didn’t know what to make of it, But these are all things I did when I was twelve or thirteen!
Watching how the content of his drawing became stranger and stranger, Wei WuXian felt sorry for both Bichen and the wall as he thought, I’ll definitely have to cross out our names from this wall. I can’t possibly let others know who did this. No, no, no, taking down the entire wall is much faster…
“Woof woof woof arroof!”
Suddenly, a series of wild barks exploded. Wei WuXian seemed as if firecrackers had just bursted beside his ears. He immediately screamed, unconsciously jumping onto Lan WangJi’s body, “Lan Zhan, help me!!!”
This household had a dog!
To be honest, amid the silence of the night, Wei WuXian’s screech was much scarier than dog barks. He was half dead with fright, but Lan WangJi’s expression remained unchanged. With one hand, he held up Wei WuXian, giving him a comforting pat, while with his other hand he held his sword. Leaping onto the wall, he looked down at the dog guarding the house, his cold expression making it seem as though he was having a faceoff with it. Wei WuXian’s limbs wrapped around him like a braid, his face buried deep into his neck. His entire body was frozen as he roared, “Stop staring each other! Go, let’s go!!! Take me away, Lan Zhan!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!”
He was almost shouting himself mad, but the dog immediately tucked its tail away after it saw Lan WangJi. Extending its tongue, it looked down and whimpered on the ground, afraid to keep on barking. Lan WangJi gained a complete victory. He finally patted Wei WuXian a few more times and leaped off the wall with him.
The dog’s barks were never heard again, even after they walked for a long while. Wei WuXian was finally able to tear himself off Lan WangJi’s body. His eyes were glazed and his legs shivered. Lan WangJi patted his shoulder, gazing at him with dedication, as though asking if he was fine or not. Wei WuXian still hadn’t recovered from the shock. Now that he could finally catch his breath a bit, he praised, “HanGuang-Jun, you’re so brave!”
Hearing this, Lan WangJi seemed to smile.
The ripple of movement faded at once. Pausing in astonishment, Wei WuXian thought he saw wrong.
A moment later, he sighed, touching his chin as he looked up and smiled, “Lan Zhan, now you regret not coming with me to Lotus Pier back then, don’t you… Wait, where are you going now?! Don’t run around!”
After a hard struggle, Wei WuXian finally dragged Lan WangJi back to the inn. When the owner saw that they caught two hens in the middle of the night and even gave them to her, her expression almost couldn’t be put into words. Wei WuXian hauled Lan WangJi upstairs, shut the door, and turned around. Back when they were outside, he couldn’t see clearly because of the darkness of the night, but now that they were inside, with the lamplight, he could see that feathers, leaves, and the white dust of wall plaster was all over Lan WangJi, from his clothes, to his face, to his hair. He really didn’t look his back.
Wei WuXian swept them off of him as he laughed, “You’re so dirty!”
Lan WangJi, “Wash my face for me.”
Wei WuXian couldn’t help but tugged his forehead ribbon, “You’ve even learned to order me around!”
The first time he was drunk, Wei WuXian washed his face for him, and Lan WangJi seemed as if he liked it a lot. Of course, this time, he asked for it on his own. Wei WuXian wanted to do it for him in the first place, but now that he was already like this, simply washing his face wouldn’t be enough at all. And so, he asked, “How about I just help you bathe instead?”
Hearing this, Lan WangJi widened his eyes slightly. Wei WuXian examined his expression carefully, “Do you want it?
Lan WangJi immediately nodded, “Yes.”
All of the workers in the inn were women. Of course Wei WuXian wouldn’t make them do work that was too difficult. And so, he reminded Lan WangJi to sit properly in the room. He himself went downstairs, boiled water, and carried them up one bucket at a time, filling the entire tub. He tried the temperature of the water. Just as he turned around, wanting to tell Lan WangJi to take off his clothes, he saw that Lan WangJi had already stripped on his own.
The two of them had long since seen each other unclothed before in the Cloud Recesses’ cold spring, but back then, both of the two were boys without a single sideways thought. When he ran into Lan WangJi taking a bath, he didn’t have any other ideas either, and during both those two times, more than half of Lan WangJi’s body was buried underwater. And so, suddenly seeing such an uncovered HanGuang-Jun… It was needless to say that Wei WuXian received quite a big shock. At the moment, he didn’t even know whether he should follow his heart and look as much as he wanted or find something with which to cover up Lan WangJi and pretend to be a decent person. His scalp tingled. He couldn’t help but to walk backwards, but as he walked back, Lan WangJi continued to walk forward. Wei WuXian had already backed away to a corner of the wall. He couldn’t hide at all, and could only braven up as he watched Lan WangJi approach him expressionlessly. The distinct Adam’s Apple, fair-colored skin, and smooth, aesthetic muscles flashed before his eyes so clearly that he didn’t even dare look at them straight, eyes averting slightly. He swallowed unconsciously, somehow feeling a bit parched.
Wei WuXian was almost in a state of despair. He clenched his teeth, pretending like everything was fine, “I’m only pouring the bathwater for you. Okay. You can do the rest now.” As he spoke, he was just about to move away when Lan WangJi suddenly reached out and tore his sash belt into half.
His face was still all serious, but his movements were extremely rough. Wei WuXian never expected that he’d do such a thing. He jumped from the shock, quickly pulling his collar up, “Stop, stop! I won’t bathe! I won’t be bathing! You can go.”
Lan WangJi frowned. Wei WuXian, “You can bathe first. I like, uh, bigger tubs. It’s a bit hard to fit two people inside this one.”
Lan WangJi glanced at the tub with indifference. After he confirmed that it wasn’t big enough, he finally settled. Slowly, he found his way into the tub, sinking down and enveloping himself in the hot water. Wei WuXian let out a sigh of relief, “Then take your time bathing. I’ll be outside.” As he finished, he was about to flee and get some fresh air to calm himself when he suddenly heard a splash. He turned around and looked, “Why did you come out again?!”
Lan WangJi’s face was cold, “Not bathing anymore.”
Wei WuXian, “Why not? It’s so dirty if you don’t bathe.”
Lan WangJi seemed quite grumpy. He didn’t say why either, and only walked towards the screen to put on the clothes he’d taken off. Wei WuXian quickly went back. He had an idea of what the reason was, “Do you want me to help you bathe?”
Lan WangJi looked down. He neither confirmed nor denied it.
Looking at him, Wei WuXian felt a place in his heart go soft. He also thought it was funny. This one’d been like this ever since he was young. When he wanted something, he never said anything on the surface, but rather chased after it as much as he could in his actions. And so, he dragged Lan WangJi towards the tub, “Fine, I’ll help you bathe. Come here.” He thought, My loss, my loss. Fine, I’ll just scrub him a couple of times. I won’t do anything else at all.*