Wei WuXian laughed, “Fun or not fun depends on how fun you make it to be. There’s definitely less rules than here, and no need to wake up so early.”
The GusuLan Sect wakes as five in the morning and rests at nine in the evening, not allowing any delay. Somebody else asked, “When do you guys wake up? What do you do during the day?”
Jiang Cheng humphed, “Him? He wakes at nine in the morning and sleeps at one during the night. When he wakes up, he doesn’t practice his sword or meditate; he goes boating, swims around, picks lotus seedpods, and hunts for pheasants.”
Wei WuXian replied, “No matter how much pheasants I hunt, I’m still number one.”
One youth spoke, “Next year, I’m going to Yunmeng to study! Nobody can hold me back!”
A bucket of cold water was thrown on him, “Nobody would hold you back. Your older brother would just break your legs.”
The youth drooped at once. This was the second young master of the QingheNie Sect—Nie HuaiSang. His brother, Nie MingJue, was extremely resolute when carrying out orders, quite renowned in the cultivation world. Although the brothers were not born from the same mother, their relationship was quite solid. Nie MingJue had always taught his younger brother with extreme harshness, particularly caring for his studies. This was why, even though Nie HuaiSang respected his older brother, he was the most scared of Nie MingJue mentioning his schoolwork.
Wei WuXian spoke, “To be honest, Gusu is quite fun as well.”
Nie HuaiSang spoke, “Wei-xiong, listen to a sincere advice of mine. The Cloud Recesses is nothing like Lotus Pier. On this trip to Gusu, remember that there’s one person whom you shouldn’t provoke.”
Wei WuXian asked, “Who? Lan QiRen?”
Nie HuaiSang replied, “Not that old man. The one you need to be careful of is his proudest disciple, named Lan Zhan.”
Wei WuXian spoke, “The Lan Zhan from the Two Jades of Lan? Lan WangJi?”
The respectable title of the Two Jades of Lan were given to the two sons of the GusuLan Sect’s current sect leader—Lan Huan and Lan Zhan. Just after they passed fourteen, they were deemed by the elders of each sect as exemplary models to compare with their own disciples. They were exceptionally famous among the juniors, so it was only natural that everyone recognized the names. Nie HuaiSang spoke, “What other Lan Zhan is there? Yes, it’s that one. Oh gosh, he’s the same age as you and I, but he has none of the energy of a teen. He’s stiff and strict, even worse than his uncle.”
Wei WuXian made the sound of an oh and asked, “Is he a lad who looks quite pretty?”
Jiang Cheng sneered, “Is there anyone who looks ugly in the GusuLan Sect? His sect doesn’t even accept disciples with unclean features. If you can, find me one who has an average face.”
Wei WuXian emphasized, “Very pretty.” He pointed at his head, “White from top to bottom, wearing a forehead ribbon, and carrying a silver sword on his back. He looked rather handsome, but with his straight face, he looked like he was mourning.”
“…” Nie HuaiSang spoke assuredly, “That’s him!” After a pause, he spoke again, “But he had been doing secluded meditation for the past few days. You just came yesterday; when did you have the chance to see him?
“Yesterday night”
“Yesterday… Yesterday night?!” Jiang Cheng was stunned, “There’s a curfew in the Cloud Recesses. Where did you see him? Why don’t I know about this?”
Wei WuXian pointed, “There.”
He pointed to a the top of a very tall wall.
The others were out of speech. Jiang Cheng even felt his head growing larger and clenched his teeth, “We just came and you got into trouble! What’s the matter about?”
Wei WuXian replied with a grin, “There really isn’t much. When we came, we passed that liquor shop called ‘Emperor’s Smile’, right? Yesterday at night, I was tossing and turning, and couldn’t stand it any longer, so I went down the mountain, into the city, and brought back two jars. Mind you, we don’t have the chance to drink this in Yunmeng.”
Jiang Cheng, “Then, where’s the liquor?”
Wei WuXian, “Well, when I just flipped over the top of the wall, before I even had one leg inside, I was caught by him.”
One youth remarked, “Wei-xiong, you must have struck gold. He probably just got out of seclusion and went on night patrol, and caught you red-handed.”
Jiang Cheng spoke, “Those who return at night won’t be let in before seven in the morning. How come he let you inside?”
Wei WuXian threw up his hands, “So, he didn’t let me in. He wanted me to move back the leg that had already stepped in. You tell me—how would I do that? And then, he came up, as light as a feather, and asked me what I had in my hands.”
Jiang Cheng felt his head start to ache, indicating a foreboding feeling, “What did you say?”
Wei WuXian spoke, “‘It’s Emperor’s Smile! If I share a jar with you, can you pretend that you never saw me?’”
Jiang Cheng sighed, “… Alcohol is forbidden in the Cloud Recesses. That’s a worse crime.”
Wei WuXian spoke, “He said the same thing to me. And I asked, ‘Why don’t you tell me what exactly is not forbidden in your sect?’ He seemed like he was a bit angry and wanted me to look at the Wall of Rules in front of the mountain. Honestly, there were over three thousand, and everything was written in seal script. Who would read them? Did you read them? Anyways, I didn’t. What’s angering about this?”
“That’s right!” Everyone felt the same way, and all started to complain about the strange, outdated conventions in the Cloud Recesses, regretting that they didn’t meet sooner, “Whose sect rules are over three thousand in number, and don’t even repeat? Things like ‘killing livestock within the area is prohibited, fighting without permission is prohibited, promiscuity is prohibited, venturing at night is prohibited, causing noise is prohibited, running is prohibited’ are tolerable, but there’re even ones like ‘sneering for no reason is prohibited, sitting improperly is prohibited, eating more than three bowls is prohibited’…” Wei WuXian suddenly added, “What? Fighting without permission is also prohibited?”
Jiang Cheng, “… Yes. Don’t tell me you fought with him.”
Wei WuXian, “I did. And we broke a jar of Emperor’s Smile.”
Everyone slapped their legs and exclaimed in regret.
In any case, the situation couldn’t have been any worse, causing Jiang Cheng’s focus to switch, “Didn’t you bring back two jars? Where’s the other one?”
“I drank it.”
Jiang Cheng, “Where did you drink it?”
“In front of him. I said, ‘Okay, if alcohol is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses, then I won’t go in. I’ll drink it standing on the wall. That wouldn’t count as violating the rules, would it?’ Then I drank everything in one gulp, right in front of him.”
“… And then?”
“And then we started fighting.”
“Wei-xiong.” Nie HuaiSang blurted out, “You’re so smug.”