Only after Wei WuXian dressed himself did Lan WangJi walk over and open the door. Wei WuXian, “What’s wrong?”
Standing in the hallway, the owner smiled apologetically, “I’m really sorry to disturb your sleep so late at night. Please don’t mind. But I have no choice, either. The guest sleeping below you said that water dripped into their room. I thought it might be from your room, so I came to check…” She looked inside the room and was immediately shocked, “W-W-W-What happened here?!”
Wei WuXian touched his chin, “I’m the one who should be sorry. My apologies, Ma’am. I drank too much tonight and wanted to take a bath. Things were going great so I slapped the tub a few times, and then it broke. I’m really sorry; I’ll pay for it.” Right after he said it, he remembered that he couldn’t possibly pay. On their trip, Lan WangJi was the one responsible all of their expenses. In the end, Lan WangJi was still the one who’d pay for all this.
Although the owner kept on saying ‘it’s fine’ and ‘don’t worry’, her face was extremely distressed. She walked inside, “Just how did the water leak down… There isn’t even a place to put my feet in this room…” She bent down, picked up a few sitting mats, and exclaimed again, “Why is there a hole here?!”
It was the one that Lan WangJi made using Bichen. Wei WuXian combed his hand through his somewhat messy hair. He could only repeat his apologies, “Yeah, that’s my fault as well. I played around with my sword, and…”
Before he could even finish, Lan WangJi had already picked up the money pouch on the ground and placed a piece of silver on the table. The owner’s expression softened quite a lot, but she still had to say a few words, hand at her chest, “Young Master, no offense, but how could you throw around something as dangerous as a sword? It’s not that big of a deal if you poke a hole through the mat and the floor, but what if you hurt someone?”
Wei WuXian, “Yes, yes. You’re right, Ma’am.”
The owner took the money, “Then this’ll be it for now. It’s so late already too. You can rest first. I’ll switch you two to a new room and deal with this one tomorrow morning.”
Wei WuXian, “Yes, please, thank you… Wait! Then, could we have two rooms please?”
The owner mused, “Why two rooms?”
Wei WuXian didn’t dare look at Lan WangJi. He lowered his voice, “… I go berserk whenever I drink. You saw, didn’t you? I throw things around and play with my sword. Wouldn’t want to hurt anyone, either.”
The owner, “Indeed!”
After she answered, she indeed switched them to two rooms before she walked downstairs, holding the hem of her dress. Wei WuXian expressed his gratitude and opened the door to his room. Turning around, he saw Lan WangJi standing in the hallway, holding Bichen in one hand and fiddling with his forehead ribbon in the other. He looked down and said nothing.
Wei WuXian wanted to hide inside his room as soon as possible, but after he looked, he couldn’t walk another step. With much thought, he finally spoke, careful yet sincere, “Lan Zhan, about tonight, I’m sorry.”
With a while of silence, Lan WangJi breathed, “You do not have to say this to me.”
After he put on his forehead ribbon properly, he became the disciplined HanGuang-Jun once more. He nodded, “Rest well. We will talk about the Guanyin Temple and going to Lanling tomorrow.”
With this, Wei WuXian felt a bit better. At least they had something to talk about tomorrow. He grinned, “Yeah, you too. Rest well. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
Chapter 97: Longing (Part Eight)
Translated by K of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
After stepping into the room and shutting the door behind him, Wei WuXian leaned against the doorframe. When he heard Lan WangJi close the door to his room, he immediately reached out and slapped himself on the face.
He plopped down onto the wooden bed and buried his still-steaming face into his palms. Even after a long while, the heat didn’t melt away, both in his face and in his body. He even grabbed the teapot on the table and poured it over his head, but it was still no use at all. Right now, his entire body was covered in the Lan WangJi’s scent.
Wei WuXian knew that if he continued to stay here, with the thought that Lan WangJi was just a wall away from him, in addition to what they were doing just a few moments ago, he probably wouldn’t be able to calm down throughout the whole night. He definitely couldn’t stay here. He pushed the window open and stepped onto the windowsill. Like a black cat, he lightly leaped out, landing without making a sound on one of the streets outside the inn.
It was already late into the night. There were no people on the street, which made it convenient for Wei WuXian to speed into a sprint.
Passing the wall that Lan WangJi had graffitied when he was drunk, Wei WuXian finally stopped in his tracks. On the wall were rabbits, pheasants, and little figures, all in a disarray. As he looked, Wei WuXian once again recalled how dedicated Lan WangJi was when he drew these, along with how he dragged him over and wanted him to admire them. He couldn’t help but smile a bit.
An unparalleled sense of regret rushed into his heart.
If only he didn’t let himself go so wild when he was drunk.
At least he would’ve been able to pretend like he was all honest and full of integrity, sleeping soundlessly or pretending to sleep all snuggled up beside Lan WangJi without any shame. Instead, he was spending a sleepless night on the streets outside of the inn, running like a headless fly to let out his emotions.
Wei WuXian reached out, stroking the two kissing figures on the wall, and arrived at the words ‘Lan WangJi was here’ right above it. He had to erase these words, but before he did so, he used his fingertip to trace the lines of the name ‘Lan WangJi.’
Once. Twice. Thrice.
The more he traced them, the more he didn’t want to let go.
Suddenly, picking up on a shuffling sound, he felt alarmed, as it was the middle of the night. As he walked around the corner and looked, he saw a black-robed figure lean forward against the wall, holding a file and trying to even out the graffiti marks on the wall with much dedication.
Wei WuXian, “…”
Wen Ning turned around. His face was covered in white dust, “Young Master, why are you here?”
Wei WuXian, “What are you doing?”
“Oh.” Wen Ning, “Young Master Lan wrote so much. If the people here woke up tomorrow morning and saw this, it’d probably cause them quite a lot of trouble, so I’m here to get rid of some of them…” After a pause, he asked, “Where’s Young Master Lan?”
Wei WuXian looked down, “He went to bed. I went out to walk around.”
Wen Ning noticed that his mood wasn’t as usual. He paused what he was doing, “Young Master, did something happen?”
He walked a few steps towards Wei WuXian before suddenly halting, and quickly backing away. Wei WuXian hesitated in confusion, “What are you doing this time?”
Wen Ning seemed as if he was scared, waving his hands, “No, no. Nothing!”
Wei WuXian could tell at first glance that he was feeling embarrassed. Unconsciously, he glanced at himself, and realized he had a few red fingerprints on his wrists, made by Lan WangJi when he grabbed him and pushed him onto the bed. He touched his lips. They were also still slightly swollen. When they dizzily rolled around on the bed, hugging so hard they almost became one, Lan WangJi bit and nibbled at his body. His neck was probably quite a scene as well.