Without giving Wei WuXian a chance to reply, he turned to another compartment of the jingshi, leaving Wei WuXian alone, sprawled on the bed alone and feeling confused.
He did doubt that Lan WangJi might have guessed who he was. However, the doubt was lacking in both sense and reason. As sacrificing one’s body was a prohibited practice, there were probably not a lot of people who knew about it. The scrolls passed down the generations were most likely partial pieces of the entire work, unable to reach their full potential. Things continued like this, and so there were less and less people who believed in it. Mo XuanYu only summoned Wei WuXian by looking at a secret scroll, wherever he found it in the first place. Anyhow, Lan WangJi couldn’t have recognized him just from the awful flute melodies that he played.
He asked himself whether or not he had a heartfelt relationship with Lan WangJi in his past life. Although they had studied with each other, went on adventures, and fought together, all of these experiences were like falling petals and flowing water—coming and going. Lan WangJi was a disciple of the GusuLan Sect, which meant that he had to be “righteous,” quite incompatible with Wei WuXian’s personality. Wei WuXian thought that their relationship wasn’t exactly bad, but it wasn’t that good either. The chances were that Lan WangJi’s opinion of him was the same as everyone else’s—being overly wanton and not virtuous enough, it would have been only a matter of time before he caused a disaster. After Wei WuXian betrayed the YunmengJiang Sect and became the YiLing Patriarch, he had a few significant disputes with the Lan Sect, especially during the few months before his death. If Lan WangJi was sure that he was Wei WuXian, they should have already been engaged in a large-scale fight.
Yet, he wasn’t sure what to make of the current situation—in the past, no matter what he did, Lan WangJi didn’t tolerate anything, but now, even though he used whatever methods he had up his sleeve, Lan WangJi could still tolerate him. Should he be congratulated because of his progress?!
After a while of staring at nothing, Wei WuXian turned around and went off the bed. He lightly moved to the other chamber.
Lan WangJi lay sideways on the bed, appearing to be already asleep. Without making a sound, Wei WuXian approached him.
He was still not giving up, hoping to fish the jade token for passage out of him. However, as he just extended his hand, Lan WangJi’s long lashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes.
Wei WuXian quickly made up his mind. He threw himself onto the bed.
He remembered that Lan WangJi hated physical contact with other people. In the past, just with one touch and the offender would have been hurled out. If, even like this, he endured it, then the person was definitely not Lan WangJi. He would even doubt that Lan WangJi’s body was taken!
Wei WuXian’s entire body was above Lan WangJi’s, with legs separated, kneeling with one on each side of his waist. His hands were against the wooden bed, trapping Lan WangJi in between his arms. He gradually lowered his head. The distance between the two faces became closer and closer. Closer and closer. At the point where it became hard for Wei WuXian to breathe, Lan WangJi finally opened his mouth.
He stayed silent for a few moments, “Get off.”
Wei WuXian thickened his face, “No.”
A pair of pale-colored eyes looked at Wei WuXian at a very close distance. Lan WangJi stared fixedly at him, and repeated, “… Get off.”
Wei WuXian spoke, “No. If you allowed me to sleep here, you should have known that something like this would happen.”
Lan WangJi spoke, “Are you sure that this is what you want?”
“…” For some reason, Wei WuXian felt that he should carefully consider his reply.
As he was about to curl his lips into a smile, a numbness suddenly came from his waist, and his legs gave out. With a thump, he fell onto Lan WangJi’s body.
The curvature of a half-smile was frozen on his lips. His head was at the right side of Lan WangJi chest and he couldn’t move at all. Lan WangJi’s voice came from above him.
His voice was low and deep. His chest vibrated slightly as he spoke each word.
“Then stay like this for the whole night.”
Wei WuXian didn’t expect it to end up like this at all. He shifted around, wanting to get up, but his waist continued to ache and felt limp. He could only be attached to another man in such an awkward situation, feeling a bit befuddled.
Just what in the world happened to Lan Zhan in the past few years, turning him into a person like this?
Was this the same Lan Zhan as before?!
Shouldn’t he have been the person whose body was seized?!?!
Suddenly, as his thoughts were as jumbled as a hurricane, Lan WangJi slightly shifted. Wei WuXian’s spirits lifted, assuming that he finally couldn’t bear it any more. However, Lan WangJi simply waived his hand.
The lights went out.
Translator’s Notes
Three-hundred taels are not buried here: This is a very famous proverb in China. It tells the story of a man who buried his money under the ground, and added a sign that said something along the lines of “three-hundred taels are not buried here”. This is an example of someone conspicuously protecting his innocence and making a very poor lie.
Cun: This is pronounced like tswun instead of kahn. Do not mistake the n with an m, or else you will be confused.
Wooden bed: In the past (and in traditional households in the present), beds are hard and made of wood.
Thickened his face: As most of you probably know already, to lose face means to embarrass oneself. To thicken one’s face, on the other hand, means to be not afraid of losing face, pretty much saying that one has too thick of a face to lose any layers.
Chapter 13 Refinement—Part Three
At a later time, Wei WuXian pondered upon the reason why his relationship with Lan WangJi wasn’t good. Getting to the root of the matter, everything started when he was fifteen, coming to the GusuLan Sect with Jiang Cheng to study for three months.
There was a virtuous and prestigious elder in the GusuLan Sect—Lan QiRen. Everyone in the cultivation world accepted three characteristics which described him: pedantic, stubborn, and a strict teacher who produced outstanding students. Although the first two points kept a lot of people at a respective distance to him, some even to the point of secret dislike, the last one made them try everything they could to send their children to study under him. He had brought up quite a number of excellent disciples of the Lan Sect. As long as they stayed a few years in his classroom, no matter how pathetically useless they were when they first entered, they would at least seem to be decent when they depart, especially in terms of appearance and etiquette. There were plenty of parents who were so excited that tears flowed down their cheeks when they picked up their sons.
To this matter, Wei WuXian declared, “Do I not seem decent enough as of right now?”
Jiang Cheng replied with a great deal of foresight, “You’d definitely be a mark of shame in his entire teaching career.”
In that year, aside from the YunmengJiang Sect, there were also the young masters from other clans, sent to study here from parents who heard of the reputation. The young masters were all around fifteen or sixteen. Because the sects all knew the others, although they weren’t close, they had seen others’ faces before. It was widely known that, although Wei WuXian’s surname was not Jiang, he was the leading disciple of the sect leader of the YunmengJiang Sect—Jiang FengMian, and also the son of his friend who had passed away. In fact, the sect leader regarded him as his own child. This, along with how youths were not as concerned with status and ancestry as elders, they were soon friends. Only a few sentences passed, and everyone started to call others older brothers or younger brothers. Somebody asked, “The Lotus Pier of the Jiang Clan is much more fun than here, right?”