Chapter Text
"——chen? Lan Xichen?"
"Hmm?" Lan Xichen rubbed his forehead slightly. "My apologies. I didn't quite hear you just now, DaGe."
Nie Mingjue glanced at his side. Lan Xichen was the only one left sitting in the parts reserved for GusuLan Clan. Lan Wangji had excused himself early.
The three newly formed Sworn Brothers were just talking about holding a Hunt or a Conference between the Cultivation Sects. It's been quite a long time since the last time they had any. However, as they talked, Lan Xichen had become quieter. His response became even more sparse in between. At some point, Nie Mingjue had been speaking for a long time and heard no response.
When he finally took a look at the other party, Nie Mingjue was surprised when he caught a glimpse of his furrowed eyebrows. "What's wrong with you? Are you not feeling well? Did you go into nighthunt lately and suffer some injury?"
It was a joke for a Cultivator, one of Lan Xichen's caliber, to feel unwell from mortal illness. With such high cultivation, their body would only show discomfort when serious injury appeared.
Jin Guangyao who sat in the row of the banquet's host also noticed something was going on here.
"ErGe?" He threw a concerned look at Lan Xichen.
Lan Xichen shook his head to appease the other two. "Nothing happens. But perhaps I've been too busy with the clan's affair lately and I haven't had a proper rest."
After the war had come to an end, the winning Sects had divided the spoils of war. The territory, treasures, artifacts, weaponry, land, shops, businesses, and other various properties of QishanWen were divided, fairly or not. The fortune and accumulation of an aristocratic clan that had existed prosperously for nearly 600 years since Wen Mao began the Clan order, it's definitely not something people could casually imagine.
The Major Sects who contributed the most during the war naturally had the most gains. After the war, they weren't just busy rectifying new order within their sect, but also busy, digesting their spoils after overthrowing the behemoth-QishanWen.
It's no surprise that Lan Xichen might not have a good rest these few months.
"It's almost Haishi, I think I will take my leave early." Lan Xichen stood up, brushing off his robes lightly, he smiled and bid his farewell to his two brothers. "DaGe, A-Yao, let us have a good chat tomorrow."
Nie Mingjue nodded and hummed in agreement.
"Wait a minute, ErGe, let me show you to your quarter." Jin Guangyao was about to stand, but Lan Xichen hurriedly waved his hand to refuse.
"There's no need to trouble you. You are helping your father to host the banquet, naturally, you have to be present to take care of more important things."
As he heard Lan Xichen's words, Jin Guangyao inadvertently remembered that one "important plan" of his cheap father tonight. Thinking about it, he really did have to supervise the plan. So he didn't insist on sending Lan Xichen off to his quarter.
In this way, Lan Xichen had left the banquet hall and hurried to go to his supposed guest room.
Previously, he spoke with ease and behaved with not much difference from his usual gait. However, in reality, his current state was far from "well".
He could feel his head spin in discomfort. There's a strange sensation all over his body. There were also unnamed longings causing havoc from within. Beads of sweat were drenching his inner robes from fiercely suppressing this unfamiliar ache. Fortunately, his consciousness was still clear.
Therefore, he was still able to respond appropriately when one of the Jin maidservants approached him and informed him of the change for his guest quarter. The maid looked very sincere and regretful as she apologized repeatedly for the inconvenience.
Lan Xichen was someone who didn't want to judge others by their status. Looking at the honest and pitiful maid, he didn't make it difficult for her, neither did he have any suspicion.
To say it nicely; he's indeed too kind.
To put it bluntly; young man, you're too gullible.
The maid didn't follow Lan Xichen closely to his room. She had reasonably maintained a polite distance after showing him the way. Another point of why Lan Xichen still had no suspicion. After all, the maid was remarkably courteous. It's impossible to relate such an honest and hardworking person with any kind of sordid intention.
As he finally entered the guest quarter, Lan Xichen was visibly more relaxed for finally having his privacy.
He first put down his sword to the empty sword stance provided in the room. Afterward, sitting down crosslegged in front of the low table, he began to meditate and regulate the spiritual energy in the meridians spread throughout his body. He knew something was amiss, and he hoped by meditating he would solve the problem.
Halfway through, he found rather than feeling better, the dry heat inside him had evolved into an inferno instead! The meditation ended in failure.
Lan Xichen opened his eyes. His gaze started to dart around following his inability to calm down.
At this time, he vaguely heard heavy breathing and whimpers from the other side of the room. To be precise the sound was heard from behind the partitions, the space where the bed in the guest room was supposed to be placed.
He might have been clueless as to what had transpired within his body not long ago, but as the physical reactions started to be more obvious, he was finally struck with realization.
Goodness...for Heaven's sake, wasn't this feeling similar to what he once felt during the surge of his teenage hormones years ago!?
It's the same kind of feeling, but with much more intensity. Even if he were to drown himself in his family's Cold Spring right now, there's no guarantee that would have any effect.
And now —— when he knew that apparently he wasn't the sole occupant of the room, how could Lan Xichen not realize the worst possible conjecture of his plight?
Lan Xichen might be innocent, as he'd never seen the ugliness of human nature.
But he wasn't stupid!
With a leap he immediately flew to the entrance of the room, intending to go out as soon as possible.
What foolishness. In this situation, of course, the right choice was to immediately escape and never, ever, try to take a look at the source of the voice! Because even if he didn't do anything, he would have to bear responsibility just by seeing.
Just look at how many couples in the world started from: a girl fell in the water and a man had seen her being drenched. In order to preserve the girl's reputation, the 2 people had to be wedded.
This was an era where even touching a girl's hand was seen as a shady act!
Lan Xichen was resolute, but to his horror, the door couldn't be opened.
Adding more to his panic, it's unknown how it started, but his spiritual energy seemed to be obstructed out of nowhere.
To put it even worse, as he tried using raw force to forcefully break the door——it still couldn't budge.
'What's the matter with this heavy enchantment!'
It's as if the room was specifically prepared to contain someone with both high cultivation and powerful raw strength.
After making several attempts to smash the door or the walls, to no avail, Lan Xichen had to stop for a break.
His breathing was erratic. His thinking became even more confused along with the increasing panic in his heart.
The sound from his desperate trials to escape was by no chance quiet. The whimpers from the bed stopped, and a vigilant shout was heard instead, "Who's there?!"
Lan Xichen turned his head in surprise.
The person inside the room, unexpectedly, turned out to be a man. This discovery refuted the prior worst assumption he had about being schemed upon.
But more importantly, he recognized the man's voice!
'Why, if it isn't Wei-Gongzi!' Lan Xichen couldn't help but rejoice at stumbling upon a familiar acquaintance in this kind of situation.
Knowing the other occupant of the room was Wei Wuxian had also relieved most of his anxiety from finding out that he couldn't get out of the room.
'I almost suspected that LanlingJin is deliberately framing me, but I might have inferred wrongly...'
As he knew there was Wei Wuxian in the room, his previous suspicions were automatically dispelled. With him here, all kinds of doubt was self-evident.
It wasn't the maid who'd led him to the chamber with purpose. Maybe the maid didn't know the room was occupied. After all, Lan Xichen himself didn't notice someone was in the vicinity until he heard a voice.
In the first place, Wei Wuxian's presence could be very low. He could even make a sudden appearance without anyone noticing his arrival prior. Not even if it was a Cultivator as skilled as GusuLan's Double-Jade or Nie Mingjue.
The reason why there's no trace of the other person's belongings in the guest room, it's because aside from his flute and his own self, Wei Wuxian really never brought anything. Needless to say, the most obvious sign of the accommodation being taken, with the sword stance being occupied, was a fallacy when it came to Wei Wuxian.
Lastly, the abnormally unbreakable enchantment in the room must have also been fixed by Wei Wuxian himself. Perhaps due to the conflict between him and Jin Zixuan, the young fellow became too cautious as he stayed in the other Sect's home ground.
As for how Wei Wuxian could even manage to set up a strong enchantment in the guest room he'd hastily acquired no more than a few hours, Lan Xichen wasn't surprised. After all, at this point, as people feared Wei Wuxian for his power, they had to acknowledge that for him to possess such ability was a testament to another fact, that the young man was a bizarre genius.
Therefore, even if it's said that Wei Wuxian could call the wind and summon the rain, Lan Xichen would believe he might even be able to achieve such a feat. Not to mention, setting up a mere enchantment.
...As for why the enchantment prohibited people from coming out instead of coming in,
his dazed mind couldn't contemplate this far.
"Excuse me, Wei-Gongzi, it is me." Lan Xichen finally dared to walk around the partition and approached the inner side of the chamber where the bed was.
Wei Wuxian was half-lying on the bed, propping his upper body with his forearm. His robes were disheveled, it seemed like he had just been awakened from his sleep. ChenQing was held tightly in his hand.
He squinted his eyes slightly, looking at the intruder, as if determining among the familiar figures he knew who wore pristine white robes, which one of them was in front of him.
"It's you." He reacted afterward.
Plopping back softly to the mattress, his grip on ChenQing loosened.
Lan Xichen smiled. "I apologize for the disturbance, I didn't know the room was occupied. I'm sorry to trouble you, but Wei-Gongzi, can you let me out?"
Wei Wuxian waved his hand weakly. "Just go out. Why bother?"
"Thank you for your understanding, Wei-Gongzi. I shall not disturb your rest any longer. Well then."
Lan Xichen was in a hurry, he simply bid goodbye and ran to the exit.
However, he soon ran back, anxiously calling out Wei Wuxian who was already closing his eyes.
"Wei-Gongzi, Wei-Gongzi, I still can't go out!"
"...Why can't you?"
Lan Xichen, "I am not sure why. Otherwise, Wei-Gongzi, how about you take a look?"
Wei Wuxian replied in a low voice, "Too bad. I can't get up."
"You can't get up...?" Lan Xichen looked at him in surprise. Now that he paid close attention to it, Wei Wuxian did look boneless, almost lying pliant on the bed. Even his flute, ChenQing, was no longer held properly but simply lay on his palm.
"You...what's wrong with you?" He finally asked, feeling concerned for the young man. "Did you exhaust yourself after setting up your enchantment?"
"Enchantment? What kind of...Uhm..."Wei Wuxian replied in a daze.
Lan Xichen, "Huh? Didn't you feel weak due to insufficient spiritual energy? If not, did something else happen to you?"
"Spiritual energy depletion?" Wei Wuxian was stunned for a moment.
Afterward, as if hearing of something amusing, he laughed weakly. "Pfft, hahaha....Zewu-Jun, lend me your ear for a while. I'll tell you something."
Lan Xichen came closer, bending his body to loom on the bed and turning his head to the side slightly, ready to listen to what the other person wanted to say.
"...You see, I——" Wei Wuxian was about to tell his predicament, but his words ceased for an unknown reason.
He had never been in close proximity to Lan Xichen. Whenever Double-Jade appeared, his attention had always been put more on the younger Jade. Likewise, it's the first time he finally took a proper look at this Senior of his.
Blinking his eyes a few times, Wei Wuxian couldn't help but examine closer, dazedly admiring the other party's extremely beautiful visage.
Currently, similar to Lan Xichen's condition, Wei Wuxian also wasn't in the right state. His mind was buzzing, clouded by restless desires. He was able to suppress his burning lust as he's used to suppress the tumultuous resentful energy, however, he couldn't quite control his impulse.
In normal times, he saw Lan Xichen as an elder, and he'd always respected him as his senior. Even if he were to be granted A Hundred Courage, Wei Wuxian wouldn't have dared to be discourteous to him.
However, driven by this very impulse, he suddenly felt like teasing the person in front of him.
As his eyes glinted in mischief, he actually whispered in a scandalous tone, "——I can't get up from the bed because, I am - so - terribly - ar - ous-ed! The kind of where I just want to please myself..." He laughed lightly at his ear. "So, Zewu-Jun, won't you do me a favor~?"
Lan Xichen whipped himself back, retreating a few meters away in an instant. The expression on his face was so colorful. A mix of astonishment, shock, shame, and other complex emotions.
It took him a few seconds to realize that he was actually being harassed just now. In his more than 20 years of growing up, no one had dared to be so disrespectful to Sect Leader Lan!
"Wei Wuxian!" He shouted, infuriated.
He felt his whole face burning, his right ear was even more on fire. Perhaps from humiliation, or it might also be due to the other's warm breath earlier.
The culprit, however, was convulsing on the bed, shaking from laughter.
Lan Xichen gritted his teeth, and scolded, "Frivolous! Do you have no idea how promiscuous your joke is!? Have you had no shame?! Wei-Gongzi, you, as someone who's excelled in the Six-Arts, you of all people should have understood propriety and conduct, knowing how to treat your elder! I can't believe you actually, you...How could you..." His lip quivered, unable to form any more words to chastise.
Deep down inside, Lan Xichen knew to whom this admonishment actually was given to, or what's the source of his fury. Most of it was directed at himself. Because, to his mortification, he felt his manhood actually spring up just from Wei Wuxian's breath brushing softly at his ear from his laughter earlier.
Wei Wuxian didn't know what kind of struggle between Heaven and Men was being commenced in Lan Xichen's heart.
But he still retorted in between his wheeze, "...Frivolous? You asked me, and I gave you the answer. Zewu-Jun, you've accused me wrongly, am I not just being honest? What is so shameful about it? Don't tell me you've never had this kind of moment. I don't believe it!"
"You! This kind of joke, Wei-Gongzi, no matter how carefree you are, please do not speak of it so lightly!"
Wei Wuxian sighed. "I apologize. But, Zewu-Jun, It wasn't entirely a joke. I really need you to lend me some help, can you—,"
"What kind of help!" Lan Xichen interjected severely, his voice rather hoarse.
"——can you please help to send me out? Anywhere but here. Even a nearby inn is fine."
Lan Xichen was caught off-guard, "..."
'Hmm??'
