Nie HuaiSang was dumbstruck, “… He didn’t break free?”
Wei WuXian replied, “Oh, he did try. But with me locking him in my arms and legs, he couldn’t break free even though he wanted to, unable to even get up from my body. He was as hard as a board. I said, ‘How about this, Lan Zhan? Now, you’re also outside the Cloud Recesses. We both broke the curfew, and you can’t be harsh toward others and loose toward yourself. If you punish me, you’d have to punish yourself as well. Equal treatment. How does that sound?’”
Wei WuXian, “After he got up, he looked like he really wasn’t in a good mood. I sat on the side and told him not to worry, that I won’t tell anyone else, and that the only ones who knew about this was the sky, the Earth, and us two. And then, he walked off without saying anything. Who knew that he’d do something like this in the morning… Jiang Cheng, walk slower. You’re almost shaking me off.”
Jiang Cheng wanted to not only shake him off, but, even more so, to make a few man-shaped dents on the ground by slamming his head down, “Is simply carrying you not up to your standards?!”
Wei WuXian, “I never asked you to carry me, in the beginning.”
Jiang Cheng was enraged, “If I don’t carry you, you’d probably stay in their ancestral hall and roll on the ground all day long. I don’t have that thick of a face to lose! Lan WangJi even had fifty more strikes than you, and he even walked by himself. Yet, you have the nerve to pretend that you’re crippled. I don’t want to carry you any more. Get off, now!”
Wei WuXian, “No, I’m wounded.”
The group joked around on the narrow path made of white stones. They walked right into a person in white robes, holding a book as he passed by. Lan XiChen stopped with wonder and smiled, “What is going on, here?”
Jiang Cheng felt extremely awkward, not knowing how to reply. Nie HuaiSang answered before him, “XiChen-ge, Wei-xiong was punished with more than a hundred strikes of the ruler. Is there any medicine?!”
The person responsible for punishment in the Cloud Recesses was Lan WangJi. With Wei WuXian’s pained cries amid the group which surrounded him, it appeared as if his condition was extremely severe. Lan XiChen immediately came up to them, “Was this done by WangJi? Is Young Master Wei still able to walk? What in the world happened?”
Of course, Jiang Cheng didn’t dare to say that Wei WuXian was at fault. Thinking back, it was them who urged Wei WuXian to buy liquor. Each and every one of them should have been punished. He could only speak in a vague way, “It’s fine, it’s fine; it’s not that serious! He can walk. Wei WuXian, why are you still up there?!”
Wei WuXian spoke, “I can’t walk.” He raised his red palms, which were swollen a few sizes larger, and complained to Lan XiChen, “ZeWu-Jun, your younger brother is so cruel.”
Lan XiChen examined his palms, “Yes, the punishment is quite severe, indeed. It is likely that the swelling will not subside until after three or four days.”
Jiang Cheng really didn’t know that the beating was so severe. He exclaimed, “What? Not after three or four days? His legs and his back were also hit by the discipline rulers. How can Lan WangJi do this?!” He spoke the last sentence with resentment in spite of himself, and only realized it after Wei WuXian secretly smacked him. However, Lan XiChen didn’t mind it at all. He smiled, “Nevertheless, it is not severe enough to require medication. Young Master Wei, let me tell you a way for your injuries to be healed in just a few hours.”
It was nighttime, at the cold spring of the Cloud Recesses.
Lan WangJi’s eyes were closed as he relaxed in the ice-cold water. Suddenly, a voice rang beside his ears, “Lan Zhan.”
“…”
Lan WangJi’s eyes sprang open. Sure enough, Wei WuXian was lying on his stomach, above the blue stones beside the cold spring, tilting his head and smiling at him.
Lan WangJi blurted out, “How did you come in?!”
Wei WuXian slowly crawled up, and spoke as he took off his sash belt, “ZeWu-Jun told me to come in.”
Lan WangJi, “What are you doing?”
Wei WuXian kicked off his boots while leaving piles of clothing all over the ground, “I already stripped, so what do you think I’m here for? I heard that your sect’s cold spring can cure injuries aside from helping with one’s cultivation. So, your brother told me to come here and bathe with you. Except, it’s really not nice of you to come here to heal alone. Eep! It really is cold. Brr…”
He went into the water, rolling about due to the freezing water of the spring. Lan WangJi quickly distanced himself a few meters away from Wei WuXian, “I came here for cultivation purposes, not to heal… Do not leap around!”
Wei WuXian spoke, “But it’s so cold, it’s so cold…”
This time, he didn’t intend to emphasize or cause trouble. It was true that most people couldn’t become use to the GusuLan Sect’s cold spring in a short amount of time, feeling as if their bodies and blood would freeze if they stayed still for just a few moments. So, he could only jump around, intending to warm his body from the movement. Lan WangJi was originally meditating in peace, but with Wei WuXian jumping about, a few splashes of water was thrown on his face. A few droplets trickled down his long lashes and ink-black hair. It was beyond his endurance, “Do not move!”
As he spoke, he extended an arm, and put his hand on Wei WuXian’s shoulder.
Wei WuXian instantly felt a surge of warmth coming from where their bodies connected. Feeling better, he couldn’t help but to shift closer over there. Lan WangJi was wary of this, “What?”
Wei WuXian replied in an innocent tone, “Nothing. It seems like your side is warmer.”
Lan WangJi firmly kept his arm between the two of them, maintaining the distance. He sternly declared, “It is not.”
Wei WuXian wanted to get closer to Lan WangJi so that it was more convenient for him to flatter the other. Even though he couldn’t go over and was given the cold shoulder, he wasn’t angered at all. He glanced at Lan WangJi’s palms and shoulder. The bruises were still there, meaning that Lan WangJi really wasn’t here to heal. Wei WuXian spoke sincerely, “Lan Zhan, I admire you so much. You really did punish yourself as well, without treating yourself any better. I don’t have anything else to say.”
Lan WangJi shut his eyes again, without any words.
Wei WuXian spoke again, “Really, I’ve never seen someone as prim and proper as you. It’d be impossible for me to do something like this. You’re so cool.”
Lan WangJi still paid him no attention.
After Wei WuXian stopped feeling cold, he started to swim around the cold spring. He swum for a while, but still went near Lan WangJi, “Lan Zhan, didn’t you notice what I was doing when I talked to you?”
Lan WangJi, “I do not know.”
Wei WuXian, “You don’t even know about this? I was complimenting you, trying to become more casual with you.”
Lan WangJi glanced at him, “What do you want to do?”
Wei WuXian, “Lan Zhan, why don’t we become friends? We’re already so familiar.”
Lan WangJi, “We are not.”