Wei WuXian heard him say the names of a few dishes monotonously and laughed, “Not bad, Lan Zhan. I thought you folks from Gusu don’t eat spicy things. You have quite a strong palate, don’t you? You want a drink?”
Lan WangJi shook his head. Wei WuXian, “Still sticking to the rules even when you’re outside—exactly what to be expected of HanGuang-Jun. I’m not ordering for you, then.”
Wen Yuan sat beside Lan WangJi’s leg. He took out wooden sabers, wooden swords, clay dolls, grass butterflies, and the other toys inside his pockets and put them onto the mat, counting them in delight. Seeing how he stuck to Lan WangJi and rubbed against him so that he couldn’t even have a sip of tea properly, Wei WuXian whistled and called out, “A-Yuan, come here.”
A-Yuan looked at Wei WuXian, who had just planted him in the soil like a radish two days ago. Then, he looked at Lan WangJi, who just now bought him the big pile of toys. He didn’t shift at all, and on his face was written the large word, ‘No.’
Wei WuXian, “Come here. If you sit there you’ll be in his way.”
Lan WangJi, however, spoke, “It is fine. Let him sit.”
Happily, Wen Yuan clung onto his leg again. This time, it was his thigh. Wei WuXian spun his chopsticks in his hand, laughing, “Those with milk is Mother, those with gold is Father—how can this be?”
(If you are reading this on any site other than ExiledRebelsScanlations, then you are reading a STOLEN work. Please read at the original site.)
Soon, the wine and the dishes arrived. It was a sea of fiery red, along with a bowl of sweet soup Lan WangJi ordered for Wen Yuan. Knocking his bowl, Wei WuXian called a couple of times, but Wen Yuan was still looking down, holding two butterflies and mumbling. At times he pretended to be the one on the left, saying shyly ‘I… I really like you’; at times he pretended to be the one on the right, saying happily ‘I really like you too!’ Being two butterflies at the same time, he seemed to be having lots of fun.
Listening to this, Wei WuXian almost choked from laughter, convulsing, “Good Heavens, A-Yuan, where did a young boy like you learn such things? You like me, I like you and all that—do you even know what liking someone means? Stop playing. Come eat. Your new dad got you this. It’s good.”
A-Yuan finally put the butterflies back inside his pockets. With bowl and spoon, he drank the soup mouthful after mouthful, still sitting beside Lan WangJi. Before this, Wen Yuan was at the detention camp in Qishan, and then he moved to Burial Mound. The meals at both of those places were so bad that they were difficult to put into words. Thus, to him, the bowl of sweet soup was already a new delight.
Wen Yuan couldn’t stop after just a few mouthfuls, yet he still knew to give the bowl to Wei WuXian, speaking as though he was presenting him with a treasure, “… Brother Xian… Xian eat.”
Wei WuXian seemed to like it a lot, “Yes, very good. So you do know what filial piety means.”
Lan WangJi, “Speech is forbidden when dining.”
For Wen Yuan to understand, he repeated it again using simpler language, “Do not talk when you are eating.”
Wen Yuan quickly nodded and buried himself in the soup, not saying anything anymore. Wei WuXian exclaimed, “How can this be? He only listens to me after I repeat myself a couple of times, yet he does whatever you say after just once. Really, how can this be?”
Lan WangJi’s voice was indifferent, “Speech is forbidden when dining. You too.”
Grinning, Wei WuXian drank a cup and toyed with the liquor cup in his hand, “You really… don’t change no matter how many years have passed. Hey, Lan Zhan, why did you come to Yiling? I’m familiar with things here. You want me to show you the way?”
Lan WangJi, “There is no need.”
Cultivational sects often had secret tasks that they didn’t want others to know about. And so, Wei WuXian didn’t push for an answer either, “I finally met someone I knew from before, one who didn’t try to avoid me as well. It’s been so stuffy for the past couple of days. Did anything big happen outside?”
Lan WangJi, “What would count as something big?”
Wei WuXian, “Like if a new sects appeared somewhere, if a sect expanded its residence, if any sects formed alliances with one another, and so on. Chatting, you know? Anything is fine.”
He hadn’t heard of news from the outside after he and Jiang Cheng fell out. The most he heard was from the random conversations in the town.
Lan WangJi, “An arranged marriage.”
Wei WuXian, “Which sects?”
Lan WangJi, “The LanlingJin Sect and the YunmengJiang Sect.”
The hand that Wei WuXian was toying the liquor cup with froze in mid air.
He was stunned, “My shi-… Maiden Jiang and Jin ZiXuan?”
Lan WangJi nodded softly. Wei WuXian inquired, “When will it be? When’s the ceremony?!”
Lan WangJi, “In seven days.”
Hand shaking lightly, Wei WuXian put the cup to his lips, but he didn’t realize that he finished it already. He felt a bit empty inside, not knowing whether it was anger, shock, displeasure, or helplessness.
Although he had been expecting this to happen long before he left the Jiang Sect, having heard the news so suddenly, endless words were bottled up inside of his chest, ready to be let out all at once but not knowing how to escape. Jiang Cheng didn’t even find some way to tell him such an important thing. If not for him having met Lan WangJi today, it was likely that he wouldn’t know this until even later!
However, as he thought about it again, he asked himself—what would happen if he knew about it? On the surface, Jiang Cheng announced to the world what all of the sects believed already—that Wei WuXian defected from the sect and that he would no longer be affiliated with the YunmengJiang Sect. Even if he knew, he wouldn’t be able to attend their wedding banquet. It was right that Jiang Cheng didn’t tell him. If Jiang Cheng were the one to tell him, he didn’t even know what impulsive things he would’ve done.
Wei WuXian finally murmured, a while later, “Jin ZiXuan was let off the hook way too easily.” He poured another cup of liquor, “Lan Zhan, what do you think of this marriage?”
Lan WangJi didn’t say anything. Wei WuXian, “Oh, that’s right. Why did I ask you? What thoughts could you have on the matter anyways? It’s not like you ever think about these things.”
He drank the liquor in one gulp, “I know that behind their backs, lots of people say that my shijie doesn’t deserve Jin ZiXuan, ha. In my eyes, though, Jin ZiXuan is the one who doesn’t deserve my shijie. But she had to…”
But Jiang YanLi had to fall in love with Jin ZiXuan.
Wei WuXian slammed the cup onto the table, “Lan Zhan! Do you know? My shijie, she deserves the best person in the world.”
He slammed the table. On his slightly drunk face was pride, “We’ll make this grand banquet one that everyone admires and praises, even after a hundred years. None would be able to compare to it. I’ll watch my shijie married with absolute splendor.”
Lan WangJi, “Mn.”
Wei WuXian laughed bitterly, “Why did you answer? I won’t be able to watch it anymore.”
At this point, having finished the soup, sitting on the mat, Wen Yuan began to play with the grass butterflies again. The long antennas of the two butterflies got tangled together and couldn’t be taken apart no matter what. Seeing how anxious he was, Lan WangJi took the butterflies from his hands and untangled the four butterfly antennas in just a few moments. He returned it to Wen Yuan.