Chapter 18 Refinement—Part Eight
Wei WuXian bought a bunch of quirky gadgets in Caiyi Town and took them back to the Cloud Recesses. After he arrived, everything was shared between the disciples from other sects. Because Lan QiRen went to Qinghe and there were no classes for a few days, all of the boys played around in complete chaos, rushing into Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng’s room to sleep there. All through the nights, they ate, drank, wrestled, gambled, and viewed picture books. During one of the nights, Wei WuXian lost in a game of dice, and was sent to sneak down the mountain and buy jars of Emperor’s Smile. This time, everyone finally had the chance to satisfy their taste buds. However, on the second day, before daylight even appeared, someone opened the door of the room, revealing the disciples who spread out on the floor in a tangle, sleeping as if they were a group of corpses.
The noise from opening the door startled a few people. As they saw the stone-faced Lan WangJi at the door through their sleepy eyes, they were instantly waken up. Nie HuaiSang furiously pushed Wei WuXian, who ended up in a position with his legs at the top and head at the bottom, “Wei-xiong! Wei-xiong!”
Having been shoved for a few times, Wei WuXian spoke drowsily, “Who? Is anyone else up for it?! Jiang Cheng? The fight is on—like I’m scared of you!”
Jiang Cheng drank too much last night, and his head still ached as he lay on the ground with his eyes closed. He randomly grabbed something and hurled it at where Wei WuXian’s voice came from, “Shut up!”
The object landed on Wei WuXian’s chest, its pages flipping open. Nie HuaiSang eyed it, only to find that the item Jiang Cheng used to hit Wei WuXian was one of his treasured out-of-print illustrated pornography books. As he looked up and saw Lan WangJi’s frigid gaze, he almost died on the spot. Wei WuXian mumbled a few sentences, hugging the book to his chest, and went to sleep again. Lan WangJi stepped into the room. He used one hand to grip Wei WuXian’s back collar, lifted him up, and dragged him in the direction of the door.
After a few puzzled moments as he was carried by Lan WangJi, he was finally half-awake. He turned around, “Lan Zhan, what are you doing?”
Lan WangJi didn’t say any words, continuing to drag him forward. Wei WuXian woke up a bit more, along with the lying corpses on the ground who gained consciousness one after another. Seeing that Wei WuXian was caught by Lan WangJi again, he hurried outside and asked, “What’s happening? What are you doing?”
Lan WangJi turned his head, speaking one word at a time, “To receive. His. Punishment.”
Jiang Cheng had a slow reaction from his sleep and drinking too much, so he just remembered the mess of a floor in the room. Recalling that they broke a countless number of sect rules of the Cloud Recesses last night, his face immediately froze.
Lan WangJi dragged Wei WuXian to the front of the Lan Sect’s ancestral hall. There were already a few older disciples of the Lan Sect waiting there, eight in total. Of them, four carried discipline rulers made of sandalwood which were extremely long in length, having numerous square-shaped characters carved onto them. It was a solemn-looking scene, indeed. As Lan WangJi dragged the person over, two of them immediately came up, firmly holding Wei WuXian in place. Wei WuXian half-knelt on the ground, being allowed no room for struggle, “Lan Zhan, are you going to punish me?”
Lan WangJi stared at him coldly, maintaining his silence.
Wei WuXian spoke, “I won’t accept this.”
At this point, the boys who had woken up also rushed over, but they were blocked outside the ancestral hall, not allowed to go in. They scratched their heads, scared speechless from seeing the discipline ruler. Then, however, Lan WangJi lifted the bottom of his white clothes, and knelt down beside Wei WuXian.
Seeing this, Wei WuXian turned pale with fear. He tried to get up, but Lan WangJi commanded, “Strike!”
Wei WuXian gaped with astonishment. He hurriedly spoke, “Wait, wait, I accept this, I accept this, Lan Zhan. I was wrong… Gah!”
The palms and legs of both of them received about a hundred strikes of the discipline ruler. Lan WangJi didn’t need anyone to hold him down. His back was upright and his kneeling position stayed proper for the whole duration. On the other hand, Wei WuXian wailed and howled without holding back at all, making the disciples watching the scene cringe from imagining the pain. After the beating finished, Lan WangJi silently stood up and walked outside after saluting toward the the disciples in the ancestral hall, showing no evidence that he had been injured. Wei WuXian was the exact opposite. After he was carried onto Jiang Cheng’s back, he groaned for the whole way. The youths all surrounded them, asking, “Wei-xiong, what in the world happened?”
“It’s understandable for Lan Zhan to punish you, but why did he himself also get the beating?”
Wei WuXian sighed, leaning on Jiang Cheng’s back, “What a miscalculation! It’s a long story!”
Jiang Cheng spoke, “Cut the crap! What on Earth did you do?!”
Wei WuXian answered, “I didn’t do anything! Last night, didn’t I lose the dice game and go down to buy some Emperor’s Smile?
Jiang Cheng, “… Don’t tell me you met him again.”
Wei WuXian, “That’s actually it. Who knew what was wrong with my luck—when I carried the jars of Emperor’s Smile and came up here, he stopped right in front of me again. I’m doubting that maybe he really watches me every single day.”
Jiang Cheng, “Not everyone has so much time on their hands. What happened next?”
Wei WuXian, “And then I said hello to him again. I said, ‘Lan Zhan! What a coincidence—it’s you again!’. Of course, he ignored me again. His hand came at me without any words. I said, ‘Hey, what’s the use of doing this?’ He said that if a guest disciple violates the curfew so many times, they need to go to the Lan Sect’s ancestral hall to receive their punishment. And I said, ‘There’s only the two of us here. If you don’t say it, and I don’t say it, then nobody would know whether or not I violated the curfew, right? I promise that there’s no next time. We’re already this familiar with each other, so can’t you just do me a small favor?’”
Everyone looked as if they couldn’t bear to listen to this any longer.
Wei WuXian continued, “In the end, he said that we weren’t familiar with a long face, grabbed his sword, and charged over. He paid no heed to our friendship or whatsoever, so I could only put down the Emperor’s Smile and start passing a few moves. His attacks were fast and chased after me so close that I couldn’t even throw him off! Eventually, I really was annoyed from him chasing me. I asked, ‘Are you really not gonna let go? Huh?!’’
“He still said, ‘Take your punishment.’”
The boys were filled with the thrill of the story, and Wei WuXian was enraptured as he spoke. He forgot the fact that he was still on Jiang Cheng’s back, and gave Jiang Cheng’s shoulder a hard smack, “I said, ‘Fine!’. Then, I stopped dodging, threw myself over, clung to him, and plummeted outside the wall of the Cloud Recesses!”
“…”
Wei WuXian, “And so, the two of us fell outside the area of the Cloud Recesses together! It was such a bad fall that I saw stars before my eyes.”