Bending down, Lan WangJi picked one up and held it within his arms. Although his face was still cold, the stroke of his hands were gentle. His slender fingers scratched the chin of one of the rabbits. The rabbit shook its long ears. It turned around and shut its ruby eyes into just two slits, as though enjoying the scratching very much.
Wei WuXian wanted scratch it, but it turned its head away. Wei WuXian, “It detests me. It loves you and you only. It really knows who its master is, doesn’t it?”
Lan WangJi glanced at him before passing the rabbit into his arms. Wei WuXian took it over with a grin on his face. The rabbit twisted and turned in his arms, struggling as hard as it could. Wei WuXian tugged its ears, “You don’t like me? You hate me? Then run away. You can’t run away no matter how much you want to. Why don’t you just be obedient and like me instead?”
Pinching the rabbit, Wei WuXian played with it for a while. When they were almost outside of the gates of the Cloud Recesses, he finally let go of the rabbit whose white fur had already been tangled by him. Now that the rabbits couldn’t follow them any longer, their ears drooped low and sat where they were, watching as their master left.
Wei WuXian looked back, “They don’t want to let you go at all. HanGuang-Jun, I can’t believe that you’re liked do much by these little things. You must’ve been very gentle with them when you brought them up. I’d never be able to do that.”
Lan WangJi, “No?”
Wei WuXian gloated, “Yeah! Those that fly, those that walk, those that swim—every single one of them turns around and flees as soon as it sees me.”
Lan WangJi shook his head. What he meant was more than obvious: it must’ve been Wei WuXian teasing them first that he had never been liked by them.
Chapter 66: Tenderness—Part Four
Translated by K of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Down the mountain path, they left the Cloud Recesses through a discreet shortcut. They walked farther and farther, until they had finally left the the GusuLan Sect’s disciples’ usual area of activity. Wei WuXian suddenly exclaimed, “Ow, my stomach hurts.”
Lan WangJi stopped immediately, “Rest. Apply new ointment.”
Wei WuXian, “It’s fine. I’ll just go sit over there.”
Lan WangJi, “Sit.”
Wei WuXian’s expression seemed miserable, “But the movement of getting on the donkey is too big. I’m scared that it’ll affect the wound.”
His wound had healed long ago. This was clearly being shameless. Lan WangJi stopped, turned around, and looked at him. He suddenly reached out. Making sure not to touch where he had been injured, he picked him up by his waist, lifted him gently, and placed him onto the back of Lil’ Apple.
Of the two, one sat on the donkey while the other pulled the rein. On the back of Lil’ Apple, Wei WuXian grinned with curving eyes.
Lan WangJi asked, “What?”
Wei WuXian, “Nothing.”
Like he had played a trick on someone, he felt somewhat pleased with himself.
Although he didn’t remember much of the things that had happened when he was young, there was one scene that had always been blurrily imprinted within his mind.
A narrow path, a little donkey, and three people. A man in black gently lifted a woman in white. He picked her up and placed her onto the donkey’s back. Then, he raised a small, small child way up high and put him on his shoulders.
He was the child, not yet the height of a person’s legs. Sitting on the shoulders of the man, he was suddenly very tall, very majestic. Sometimes he pulled the man’s hair, sometimes he rubbed his cheeks. He shouted things, swinging his legs about. The woman in white sat on the donkey’s back, her back swaying. Watching them, she seemed to smile. The man had always been quiet. He didn’t talk much. He only pushed him a bit higher, for him to be taller, steadier. One of his hands picked up the donkey’s rein. The three of them were squeezed onto the same narrow path, walking slowly forward.
It was one of the rare pieces of memory that he had.
Those were his dad and his mom.
Wei WuXian, “Lan Zhan, pick up the rein, won’t you?”
Lan WangJi, “Why?”
Lil’ Apple was quite clever. It wasn’t that it didn’t know to follow a person. Wei WuXian said again, “Give me some face and pick it up, won’t you?”
Although he still didn’t understand why Wei WuXian’s grin was so bright, Lan WangJi listened and picked up Lil’ Apple’s rein anyway, holding it in his hand.
Wei WuXian spoke to himself, “Hm. Now all that’s left is a little one.”
Lan WangJi, “What?”
Wei WuXian chuckled, “Nothing. Lan Zhan, you really are a good person.”
With this journey to Yiling, it was clear that their future was still unclear, even somewhat dangerous. Wei WuXian couldn’t get himself to feel nervous at all. Sitting on a donkey with Lan WangJi holding the rein, leading them down the path, his entire heart was fluttering, feeling as though he was walking on air. Even if a bunch of sects suddenly attacked from beside the road, aside from destroying the scene and spoiling his mood, he thought that he wouldn’t find it too bad. He even had the spirit to enjoy the fields under the moonlight, pulling out the bamboo flute at his waist. As natural as ever, he played a tune.
The flute had a limpid timbre. Lan WangJi’s footsteps hesitated slightly as Wei WuXian felt something inside of him suddenly light up.
He spoke, “Lan Zhan! Let me ask you, back then, under the Xuanwu cave in Dusk-Creek Mountain, the song that you sang me, what was its name?”
Lan WangJi looked at him, “Why do you suddenly remember to ask about this?”
Wei WuXian, “Just say it. What was its name? I think I might’ve guessed how you recognized me.”
On the night at Dafan Mountain, the tune that he somehow played was precisely the one, when he had been fevered under the Xuanwu cave in Dusk-Creek Mountain, Lan WangJi had hummed beside him!
Lan WangJi refused to say anything. Wei WuXian hurried him, “Say it, what song is it? Who composed it?”
Lan WangJi, “I did.”
Wei WuXian, “You composed it?!”
Lan WangJi, “Mn.”
Wei WuXian had thought that it was a secret song of the GusuLan Sect. Now that he knew, he was both surprised and overjoyed. What he was surprised about was quite obvious. What he was overjoyed about, though, he couldn’t really tell. He guessed, “If you really did recognize from just this, it must’ve meant that—this song, you’ve never let anyone else hear it?”
Lan WangJi, “Never.”
Wei WuXian was so happy that he kicked Lil’ Apple. Lil’ Apple shouted in anger, kicking its hind legs as though to shake him off its back. Just in time, Lan WangJi pulled the rein tight. Wei WuXian hugged Lil’ Apple’s neck, “It’s fine, it’s fine. That’s just how it is. It only kicks a few times. Let’s continue. Then, really, what is it called?”
Lan WangJi, “What do you think?”
Wei WuXian, “What do you mean what do I think? Just does it have a name or not?” In his heart he muttered. Would Lan WangJi’s style of naming things be the same as Jiang Cheng’s? That’d be impossible! He asked, “Are you asking me for my opinion? I think that why don’t you call it…”