Jiang Cheng, “Didn’t you use to love showing off your sword skills in front of others?”
Wei WuXian, “I used to be a kid. Can’t be a kid forever, can’t I?”
Jiang Cheng smirked, “Don’t carry your sword, then. It doesn’t matter. But don’t provoke Jin ZiXuan from now on. He’s Jin GuangShan’s only son, after all. The future leader of the LanlingJin Sect will be him. If you beat him up, what should I, the sect leader, do? Beat him up with you? Or punish you?”
Wei WuXian, “Isn’t Jin GuangYao here now? Jin GuangYao seems so much better than him.”
Jiang Cheng finished wiping his sword. After he scrutinized it for a while, he finally put Sandu back into its sheath, “So what, if he’s better? No matter how much better he is, no matter how clever, he could only be a servant who greets the guests. That’s all there is to his life. He can’t compare with Jin ZiXuan.”
Wei WuXian found his tone to be even somewhat praising of Jin ZiXuan, “Jiang Cheng, be honest with me—what do you mean? Last time you went all the way to take shijie over. You can’t actually want shijie to…?”
Jiang Cheng, “It’s not impossible.”
Wei WuXian, “It’s not impossible? Have you forgotten what he did in Langya? You’re telling me that it’s not impossible?”
Jiang Cheng, “He’s probably regretting it.”
Wei WuXian, “Who cares if he regrets it. Do we have to forgive him just because he apologized? Look at what his dad’s like. Maybe he’ll be the goddamn same in the future, killing time searching everywhere for women. Have shijie be with him? You could take it?”
Jiang Cheng’s voice was frozen, “See if he dares!”
After a pause, Jiang Cheng glanced at him before he continued, “But, it’s not like you have a say in whether he’s forgiven or not. Sister likes him, so what can we do?”
Immediately, Wei WuXian was speechless. A while later, he squeezed out a few words, “Why does she have to like such a…”
He tossed the pear away, “Where’s shijie?”
Jiang Cheng, “I don’t know. Probably still at one of those places—either the kitchen, or the bedroom, or the ancestral hall. Where else could she go?”
Wei WuXian left the duelling hall. First, he went to the kitchen. Half a jar of steaming soup was cooking on the fire. She wasn’t there. He then went to Jiang YanLi’s bedroom. She wasn’t there either. Last, he went to the ancestral hall. There she was.
Jiang YanLi was kneeling in the ancestral hall. She cleaned her parents’ memorial tablets as she whispered. Wei WuXian poked his head inside, “Shijie? Talking to Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu again?”
Jiang YanLi’s voice was soft, “Neither of you come, so of course I have to.”
Wei WuXian walked inside. He sat down beside her and cleaned the tablets with her.
Jiang YanLi glanced at him, “A-Xian, why are you looking at me like this? Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
Wei WuXian grinned, “Nothing. I’m just here to roll around.”
As he spoke, he really did take a roll on the ground. Jiang YanLi asked, “XianXian, how old are you?”
Wei WuXian, “I’m three already.”
Seeing that he made Jiang YanLi laugh, he finally sat up. After he thought for a while, he still decided to bring the topic up, “Shijie, I want to ask you about something.”
Jiang YanLi, “Go ahead.”
Wei WuXian, “Why would someone like another person? I mean that kind of like.”
Jiang YanLi paused for a moment, musing, “Why are you asking me about this? Do you like someone? What kind of a maiden is she?”
Wei WuXian, “No. I won’t like anyone. At least not too much. Wouldn’t it be the same as putting a rein on my neck?”
Jiang YanLi, “Three seems a bit too old. How about one?”
Wei WuXian, “No, I’m three! The three-year-old XianXian is hungry! What should he do?”
Jiang YanLi chuckled, “There’s soup in the kitchen. You can have some. Would XianXian be able to reach the stove, though?”
“If I can’t, Shijie can just pick me up, and then I’ll be able to reach it…” As Wei WuXian spouted nonsense, Jiang Cheng just happened to step inside the ancestral hall.
Hearing this, he spat, “Fooling around again! Your sect leader, I, has already poured you a bowl and put it outside. Kneel for me to express your gratitude and go drink your soup outside.”
Wei WuXian skipped outside before he turned around and came back, “What do you mean by this, Jiang Cheng? Where’s the meat?”
Jiang Cheng, “Finished it. There’s only lotus roots left. Don’t eat them if you don’t want to.”
Wei WuXian attacked with his elbow, “Spit out the meat!”
Jiang Cheng, “No objections. I’ll spit them out and let’s see if you’ll eat them!”
Seeing that they started to argue again, Jiang YanLi quickly interrupted, “Okay, okay. How old are you two, fighting over some meat? I’ll just make another jar…”
The lotus pork rib soup that Jiang YanLi made was Wei WuXian’s favorite.
Aside from how it really was delicious, it was also because he’d always recall what happened the first time he had it.
At that time, it was not long after Wei WuXian had been brought back by Jiang FengMian from Yiling. As soon as he went in, he saw a proud young master running around the training grounds, leading a few leashed puppies. Immediately, his hands went up to his face and he wailed, soon bawling his eyes out. He was in Jiang FengMian’s arms the entire day, not coming down no matter what. On the second day, Jiang Cheng’s puppies were given to someone else.
This angered Jiang Cheng so much that he threw a big tantrum. No matter how much Jiang FengMian comforted him gently, telling him that they should ‘be good friends’, he refused to talk to Wei WuXian. Quite a few days later, Jiang Cheng’s attitude softened. Jiang FengMian wanted to strike while the iron was still hot, so he told Wei WuXian to sleep in the same room as him, hoping that they’d grow fonder of each other.
In the beginning, though still sulking, Jiang Cheng was on the verge of agreeing. But the bad thing was that when Jiang FengMian began to rejoice, he took Wei WuXian up and let him sit on his arm. Watching the scene unfold, Jiang Cheng was shocked speechless. Immediately, Madam Yu let out a bitter laugh and went out the room. It was only because the couple had important matters to attend to and left in a hurry that they didn’t start another argument.
That night, Jiang Cheng locked Wei WuXian outside his room, refusing to let him in.
Wei WuXian knocked on the door, “Shidi, Shidi, let me in. I want to sleep.”
Inside of the room, Jiang Cheng shouted with his back on the door, “Who’s your shidi?! Give me back Princess, give me back Jasmine, give me back Love!”
Princess, Jasmine, and Love were all puppies that he used to own. Wei WuXian knew that Jiang FengMian sent them away because of him. He whispered, “I’m sorry. But… But I really am scared of them…”
In Jiang Cheng’s memory, the total number of times Jiang FengMian picked him up wouldn’t even add up to five. Every single instance was enough for him to be happy for months. A fire brewed inside of him, unable to be released. All that he asked himself was ‘why, why, why’. Suddenly, he saw that a set of bedding that wasn’t his own was now inside his room. The anger and indignation immediately rushed to his forehead, making him pickup Wei WuXian’s sheets and blankets. Wei WuXian waited outside for a long time. When the door opened, before the joy could spread onto his face, he was bombarded with a pile of things being thrown out. The door banged shut again.