Chapter Text
This is going to be fun, thought Lan Jingyi as Madam Mo explained the situation and subtly (or not-so-subtly, actually) flattered the disciples—especially Jin Rulan (who tagged along after bumping into them), which was barely holding up a neutral face of polite boredom. A curious crowd had already gathered outside, peeking in and murmuring. Somewhere there was a distant tune of a guqin.
Lan Jingyi resisted the urge to fidget. Lan Jingyi, you are a proper Lan disciple, and you have learned to restrain yourself even in the most boring situatiooonnnnnnnsssssss aaaaaaAHHHH if something doesn’t happen soon I’m going to fALL ASLEEP—
Jin Rulan seemed to have the same sentiment. Lan Jingyi could practically see in his face his regret at tagging along after getting permission from his crazy uncle.
Madam Mo was still smiling and oblivious to their inner monologues, speaking smugly as the conversation goes on—
There was a sudden gasp from the crowd outside. The disciples and Madam Mo looked up sharply. A hush fell over, like a giant hand had covered them, and the crowd slowly parted to let a person through, a person whose face was still dappled with powder and rogue. Despite the ridiculous appearance, there was something dark in his face, a calmness not fitting of this—bizarre—lunatic.
In the distance, the tune of the guqin strummed to a stop.
The lunatic barely glanced over the flabbergasted family that was staring at him before turning to look at the disciples. They stared at him, one of them with his mouth open in shock. Finally, Lan Jingyi, cautiously, decided to speak up.
“Excuse me, sir—are you looking for someone?”
The man’s face under the rogue didn’t even change. He studied Lan Jingyi, his eyes calm and steady, a drastic contrast against his shocking appearance.
Jin Rulan suddenly shot to his feet, an expression of shock crossing his face. “You! You—what are you doing here!”
The man turned to look at Jin Rulan. Madam Mo’s face turned two shades greener. Jin Rulan was livid, his hands twitching towards his sword. “How did you get here?!”
The man gazed at him for a moment more, and Jin Rulan’s anger died away to awkwardness. “Well?!” he demanded.
“‘Mine,’” he said calmly.
“What?!”
“This family. It is… ‘mine.’” He paused, searching the faces of the Mo family. Then he turned away. “No. Not worthy.”
For a split second, Jin Rulan didn’t seem to understand.
Then dawning horror bloomed across his face. “This is your family?!” he spluttered. “That means—it’s this family’s—that G-Grandfather and—” He stammered, at a loss for words, his face flushed beet red with embarrassment. Lan Jingyi stared at this conversation, his mouth open.
“Grandfather?” The man frowned, staring at Jin Rulan. “You are…” His eyes glanced at the purple tassel on Jin Rulan’s belt. His eyes narrowed. “Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan’s son.”
Anger sparked again in Jin Rulan’s eyes. “Mind your manners!” he spat fiercely. “You have no right to call my parents by name, you lunatic cut-sleeve!”
Finally, that seemed to affect the man somewhat. His eyes rounded and Lan Jingyi saw his hands clench into fists. His mouth parted, but no words came out. His eyes were still trained on Jin Rulan’s face, but they seemed to have lost focus. Jin Rulan’s anger slowly faded to confusion. “Oi, you?” he asked uncertainly.
But by this time the Mo family had recovered from their initial shock. The shouts arose promptly.
“Who let him out? Get him back there!”
“Damn madman!”
For a moment, the man seemed overwhelmed and distressed, the presence of the Mo family seemingly overpowering him. Lan Jingyi was nearly about to stand up and help him when resolve suddenly returned to those eyes and his face returned to one of unbreakable stillness.
“Unhand me,” he growled to the servant grabbing his arm. When the servant didn’t listen, the man grabbed his arm and—
—and—and—and, well, failed to pry it off. A brave attempt, but it didn’t work.
That resulted in an awkward tug-of-war where the man was trying to remain in place and the servant was trying to move him. People outside were covering their mouths with their sleeves, trying not to laugh. Many of the disciples were already trying to muffle their giggles.
Finally, frustrated, the man raised a leg and kicked the servant squarely in the chest. Taken aback, the servant was flung bodily to the floor while the man rushed towards Jin Rulan. Jin Rulan gasped and grabbed his sword, but before he could unsheathe it the man had already grabbed his chair and turned around, holding it in front of him like a shield. The others who were about to rush him hesitated.
“Don’t,” the man threatened.
Lan Jingyi couldn’t take it. A sharp burst of laughter exploded from his mouth, but he resumed a calm pose so quickly most people didn’t know who laughed.
But when Lan Jingyi looked towards the man, he saw that those cold eyes were trained right on him. His sudden break of etiquette didn’t escape the lunatic’s eyes, even as he was defending himself with only a chair.
For unknown reasons, chills ran down Lan Jingyi’s spine.
This is almost like… like when we’re about to receive a punishment back at Cloud Recesses.
But that’s impossible, wasn’t it??
“Do not bother me again,” said the man suddenly, his eyes finally leaving Lan Jingyi.
“What?” said Madam Mo, her red face enraged and snarling. “How dare you—”
“Your son,” said the man, eyes trained on Mo Ziyuan.
Mo Ziyuan nearly choked on his own spit. “Who—Who has been bothering you?! Don’t speak nonsense!”
“Invading my room,” the man deadpanned. “Kicking me. Breaking things. Stealing.”
“That’s nonsense!” Mo Ziyuan roared again.
“Do not—” the man started, but a servant saw this as a prime opportunity to charge at him. The man flung the chair at the servant and upended a table at the rest. There was a lot of shouting and pots flying everywhere. The man picked up the table and practically threw it at one of the servants, who toppled into the one behind him, until all of them somehow managed to find themselves lying on the floor, groaning. Despite the brutality of the man’s actions, there was a certain fluid grace to the man’s movements that… that seemed familiar to Lan Jingyi. But from where?
While the servants were recovering, the man turned back to Mo Ziyuan like nothing happened. “Do not come in my room again.”
The Mo family was too shocked to respond. The people outside were whispering amongst themselves, questioning the actions of the Mo lunatic. It seems to be justified… how strange, he doesn’t act like a lunatic at all… looks like the Mo family wasn’t very kind to their nephew…
Before the man turned to leave, he suddenly stopped and looked at Jin Rulan. Jin Rulan jumped. “What?!” he said defensively. “What do you want?!”
The man narrowed his eyes at Jin Rulan. He pointed at himself. “Cut-sleeve,” he said.
Jin Rulan shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, I know that. What?”
“Cut-sleeve. Not lunatic.” He paused, and his arm dropped to his side. “Cut-sleeve does not mean lunatic.” There was a tone of strict discipline in his voice, one so powerful it was hard to deny. Lan Jingyi felt goosebumps just by hearing it.
What?? Why do I have such fear towards this—uh—person—ah, whatever he is? He looks ridiculous! But he feels like—like—
Jin Rulan seemed taken aback by his tone too, his mouth falling open.
“Huh??”
“Mn.” But the man, satisfied at making his statement, turned and strode out of the East Hall. The crowd parted for him, and Lan Jingyi spotted some of them eyeing him with a glint of respect.
“The nerve of that—” Madam Mo gasped, clutching her husband’s arm. “How dare he—”
“Young mistress, are you okay?” Lan Jingyi whispered to Jin Rulan.
He seemed too confused to even react to Lan Jingyi’s nickname. “I—” Jin Rulan paused, trying to form coherent thoughts. “I—I—But you!” he finally blurted. “You’re the one cut-sleeve who’s a lunatic, dammit!!” he shouted.
***
Does the Mo family keep a guqin? Lan Wangji thought as he made his way through the courtyard.