Lan WangJi, “Mnn.”
Wei WuXian, “Take off your forehead ribbon.”
Obediently, Lan WangJi reached behind his head and slowly untied the strands. He took off the white forehead ribbon, which had been sewn with the motif of drifting clouds.
Holding the ribbon in his hands, Wei WuXian turned it over a few times, examining every angle of it, “So there really isn’t anything so special about it, is there? And I thought that it’s hiding some sort of a gigantic secret. Back then, though, why were you so mad when I took it off?” Or perhaps the past Lan WangJi simply hated him, alongside everything that he did?
Suddenly, he felt something tighten at his wrists. Lan WangJi had tied both of his hands together using the forehead ribbon and was starting to make knots over it.
Wei WuXian, “What are you doing?”
He wanted to see what exactly Lan WangJi wanted to do, so he let him continue. After Lan WangJi secured his hands together, he first tied a simple knot. He thought for a while and, as though he felt that something wasn’t quite right, he changed it to a tighter knot. He then thought about it some more, still unsatisfied, and tied another knot on top.
The GusuLan Sect’s forehead ribbon was a strip of fabric that hung down at the back after it had been fastened. When one moved, it fluttered elegantly in the air, which was why it was rather long. Lan WangJi tied seven or eight knots on the ribbon, forming a stack of small, ugly-looking lumps, and finally felt pleased enough to stop.
Wei WuXian, “Hey, do you still want this ribbon of yours?”
Lan WangJi’s frown dissolved. Holding onto the other end of the forehead ribbon, he lifted Wei WuXian’s hands in front of himself, as though he was admiring what a masterpiece he had just created. With his hands suspended in the air, Wei WuXian thought to himself, I probably look a lot like a criminal right now… Wait, why am I playing with him like this? Wasn’t I supposed to be the one playing him?
Wei WuXian finally realized, “Take it off.”
Lan WangJi happily reached for his collar and sash, repeating the exact same approach as before. Wei WuXian shouted, “Don’t take this off! Take off the thing on my hands. The thing that you’re tying me with. The ribbon.”
If Lan WangJi not only tied his hands together but also stripped him of his clothes, the scene would be scary beyond belief!
Hearing his request, Lan WangJi furrowed his brows again, and proceeded to do nothing. Wei WuXian raised his hands and coaxed, “You said that you’ll listen to me, didn’t you? Be a good boy and take it off.”
Lan WangJi glanced at him, then silently moved his sight away, as though he couldn’t understand what Wei WuXian was saying and had to ponder upon it for a while longer. Wei WuXian complained, “Oh, now I get it! You’re all hyped if I tell you to tie me up, but you can’t understand it if I tell you to take it off. Is that so?”
The Lan Sect’s forehead ribbon was made from the same material as its uniform. Although it looked flimsy, it was actually quite sturdy. And, since Lan WangJi wrapped it tightly around and tied a long strand of knots, Wei WuXian couldn’t struggle out of it no matter how hard he tried. He commented in silence, I really did shoot myself in the foot, didn’t I? Good thing that it’s only a forehead ribbon, not some weird magical ropes, or else he would’ve really tied me up.
Lan WangJi stared into the distance as he tugged at the ends of the forehead ribbon, contently swinging them around. Wei WuXian pleaded, “Can you please take it off? HanGuang-Jun, how can someone as graceful as you do such a thing? What’s the use of tying me like this? It’s gonna look so bad on you if someone sees us like this, right?”
Hearing the last sentence, Lan WangJi started to drag him toward the streets.
Pulled around by Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian staggered, “W-w-wait a sec. What I meant was that it’d be bad if someone sees this, not that you should let someone see this. Hey! You’re just pretending to not understand me, aren’t you? Are you doing this on purpose? So you’re only gonna understand what you want to understand? Lan Zhan, Lan WangJi!”
Before he even finished speaking, Lan WangJi had already dragged him out of the grove. They walked around onto the street and entered the main hall again through the first floor.
The juniors were still eating and fooling around. Even though a minor disagreement happened, young people were always quick to forget these matters. They were in the middle of playing a drinking game. Some of the bolder juniors of the Lan Sect wanted to sneak a few sips as well. There would always be somebody watching the stairway that led to the second floor, keeping an eye out for Lan WangJi. None of them expected that Lan WangJi would suddenly drag Wei WuXian through the main entrance, where they never paid attention to. All of them were shocked after they turned around.
As Lan JingYi hurled himself at the cup of liquor on the table, hoping to cover it up, he knocked over a few bowls and dishes along the way. The object that he wanted to cover up became even more conspicuous. Lan SiZhui stood up, “H-HanGuang-Jun, why have you come inside through this entrance again?”
Wei WuXian laughed, “Haha. Your HanGuang-Jun was feeling a bit too hot and decided to take a stroll outside so that he could also catch all of you off guard. You see? Here you are, drinking when you’re not supposed to.”
He secretly prayed that Lan WangJi would haul him upstairs directly, without doing or saying anything unnecessary. If he kept silent and maintained the cold appearance, nobody would notice anything wrong with him.
Just as the thought passed through his mind, Lan WangJi dragged him toward the juniors’ table.
Lan SiZhui was beyond shock, “HanGuang-Jun, your forehead ribbon…”
Before he could finish his words, he saw Wei WuXian’s hands.
HanGuang-Jun’s forehead ribbon was tied around Wei WuXian’s wrists.
As though he felt that not enough people noticed this fact, holding the ends of the ribbon, Lan WangJi held up Wei WuXian’s hands and displayed it for everyone to see.
Chapter 44 Allure—Part Two
The chicken wing that Lan JingYi was holding in his mouth plopped into his bowl, splattering the sauce onto the front of his clothes.
One single thought filled Wei WuXian’s mind—after Lan WangJi sobered up, he wouldn’t ever have the face to look at others again.
Jin Ling was bewildered, “… What’s he doing?”
Wei WuXian, “Showing you guys a special way to use the Lan Sect’s forehead ribbon.”
Lan SiZhui, “What special way…”
Wei WuXian, “When you find a really strange corpse and you feel that you should take it back to examine it properly, you can take off your forehead ribbon and bring it back like this.”
Lan JingYi blurted, “But you cannot do that! Our sect’s forehead ribbon is…”
Lan SiZhui stuffed the chicken wing back into his mouth, “Oh, I see! I did not know that it can be used in such a way!”
Ignoring the strange looks that other people gave them, Lan WangJi dragged Wei WuXian up the stairs.
He entered the room, turned around, closed the doors, latched them, and finally pushed the table over as though he wanted to block out an imaginary enemy. Watching Lan WangJi hurry around, Wei WuXian asked, “Are you gonna kill me here?”