Chapter Text
The disciples assigned to arranging the Library Pavilion under Lan Wangji's supervision couldn't help themselves from stealing a glance now and then.
In one corner of the Library, the legendary "Zewu-Jun's Cultivation Partner" was there!
These disciples were young, still around 15 or 17. They didn't participate in the Sunshot Campaign a few years ago. They were left in the Sect to do errands while the Senior Cultivators were busy going to the war. They had heard about Wei Wuxian, after all, who wouldn't have heard of his name at this point? But they didn't expect to see the infamous Wei Wuxian in the flesh!
...and it's still under the identity of their Sect Leader's Cultivation Partner.
No matter how complicated they felt in their hearts, it still couldn't prevent their curiosity from looking at the young man from time to time.
Wei Wuxian was sitting face to face with their Hanguang-Jun. The manner of his sitting was extremely inappropriate. If they had such a posture inside Lan-Xiansheng's class, they would have been thrown outside. But here, Hanguang-Jun looked as if he couldn't see his slanted posture, and didn't reprimand him at all.
The disciples were thinking wildly in their hearts but their hands didn't stop doing what they were tasked with.
"Hey. You put the page into the wrong book there, Child."
"Oh?" The disciple who was reminded looked down at the book he was currently binding, realizing that he did put the page containing Musical Score in the wrong edition. "You're right, thank you for reminding me. But, what are you calling me child for? Who do you think you--,"
!!!
When the disciple turned his head around to thank the comrade for the reminder, what he saw was Wei Wuxian.
It was unknown when, but the target of their curiosity had suddenly come to their side, crouching down to their eye levels, his lip raised upward in a grin.
"Wei, Wei-Gongzi!" Not only the previous disciple but others around immediately scrambled to greet him.
"Hahaha! Why do you all look so surprised? I thought you had been glancing at me shyly since before. Why? Do you have something to talk to me?"
"No...we're not..."
Wei Wuxian grinned even more. "Hm? You're not what? Not secretly looking? Not wanting to talk to me?"
"..."
"Haha!" Wei Wuxian smacked their shoulders one by one as if loosening their stiff muscles. "I say! Why do you all look so tense? It's not like I'm going to eat you. If you don't have something to say, go on then, continue to do what you have in your hands." He finally said before he stood up and walked back to his previous position.
His laughter could still be heard even after the young man sat back in front of Hanguang-Jun.
The disciples, "..."
"Hanguang-Jun, we have some parts of the book missing here. What should we do?"
In the afternoon, a few disciples came out from behind the rows of bookshelves, coming to the corner where Lan Wangji was sitting in his work.
"——Hanguang...Jun?" The disciples looked around, before hesitantly shifting his gaze to the person left behind.
The person left in the corner was only Wei Wuxian, and Lan Wangji was nowhere to be found.
Wei Wuxian was leaning on the windowsill. In his hand was some book he was currently reading. He didn't look like he was working at all.
He waved at them. "It's you, Children! Hanguang-Jun is out for something. Put the book there, I'll tell Hanguang-Jun when he comes back later."
The disciples obediently put the books and scrolls that still had problems on top of the low table. They were very careful not to mix them with the existing papers on it.
One of the young disciples looked at the book in Wei Wuxian's hand and braved himself to ask, "Wei-Gongzi, what kind of book is that? I have never seen that kind of binding?"
"Hm?" Wei Wuxian flipped the book cover and saw, the binding indeed wasn't in the same style as other books. "It's a miscellaneous book. A strange tale of Immortal Land."
"Strange Tales of Immortal Land!" The disciples immediately became excited.
To Cultivators in this world, Immortals or Fairy Land was as illustrious as the legend about the one in a million-Sealed Sword. It's because even if both existed as legends, both materials for the legend also existed, Sword and Cultivator, but both were only hearsay, without evidence. No matter how many swords there were, none of them became the legendary Sealed Sword. No matter how many Cultivators under the sky, none of them ascended to the so-called Immortal Land.
Another one was surprised. "Why haven't I know this kind of book exist? How did you get it from here, Wei-Gongzi?"
Wei Wuxian looked at them in amusement and asked them back, "I should be the one asking you, why haven't you found such an interesting book like this here?"
"Uh..."
First of all, the book in Wei Wuxian's hand looked so inconspicuous.
Furthermore, hearing the book's title he said, it didn't sound like a serious book. Accordingly, it didn't seem like the book was placed on the more accessible shelves.
One disciple suddenly asked, "What kind of strange tales written in the book?"
"What tales...Hmm, for example, there is this tale about a Monkey you've never seen before. He stole Queen Mother's peaches and confronted the Jade Emperor in the Heaven, when he was kicked down to the Hell, he turned the Hell upside down, and later he even went to beat up the Dragon Kings in the Eastern Sea."
The disciple exclaimed in shock, "What kind of Monkey is this powerful!"
Wei Wuxian grinned, "It's a Monkey King!"
The other disciples wanted to hear more and started urging, "What you said is just a summary, Wei-Gongzi you should have told us the full story from the start!"
Wei Wuxian was about to tell the contents, but his sight suddenly caught Lan Wangji's arrival from the corner. His lip suddenly raised in a playful grin, and he said instead, "Alright, let's start from the tale of the Immortals who live in the Fairy Land then. It was said that all Immortals in the Heaven wore pristine white robes."
"They wear White robes like us?" The disciples were amazed.
"Exactly! And they also have long flowy hair. Their faces are extremely gorgeous. Very ethereal. It's like a frosty peak in a snowy mountain."
The disciples listened to him attentively.
Wei Wuxian continued, "——And when the Immortal speaks, he sounds like this—,"
"Wei Ying."
The disciples, "Immortal!" They jumped around and exclaimed in surprise.
Lan Wangji, "..."
Upon seeing Lan Wangji, the disciples came to their senses and immediately stuttered to greet him, "Han-Hanguang-Jun!"
Lan Wangji paused for a moment, before nodding, "...Mn. Have you finished your task?"
Having been caught by Lan Wangji trying to slack around by listening to Wei Wuxian's story, the disciples averted their eyes guiltily. "We, we are about to go and continue sorting."
On the other side, Wei Wuxian was laughing to his heart's content.
"Hahaha! Lan Zhan, they're just here to ask you for things. How about we listen to their problems first?"
Lan Wangji sat in his previous position, glancing at the newly added scrolls and books on the table. He asked them, "Which one has problems and where is it?"
The disciples were reminded what they were here for originally, and quickly explained, "Oh! It's here, here, and here."
Wei Wuxian looked at them from the side.
After the disciples finished explaining Lan Wangji responded with, "Mn. I will take care of it." He said and sorted the book.
As the last disciple left their corner, Wei Wuxian turned his attention back to him and asked curiously, "What are you going to do with it?"
Lan Wangji told him, "It's going to be put down from the shelves."
"Put down? You mean, it's not going to be displayed and will not be a reading material here anymore?"
Lan Wangji, "The content is incomplete. If displayed, there will be concerns that it may mislead the readers."
Wei Wuxian flipped open one of the books. "What a pity. The books are the interesting kinds. Won't you or your Senior try to restore the lost contents?"
Lan Wangji looked at him, "Do you think it can be done?"
Wei Wuxian, "Why not?"
When he was 19, he had written some manuscripts of his own Cultivation Path. The contents were mostly taken from his new findings and creations. However, a small part of it was also taken from interesting ancient techniques he found during his private nighthuntings. For example, the art of sacrificing one's soul to summon an Evil Spirit to take revenge with a strict contract. The technique he found was just mentioning a general outline, and it was Wei Wuxian himself who later perfected the techniques and restored the array.
Wei Wuxian said, "For example this book here, it's talking about the use of runes in artifact creation. The lost part is one talking about the layout of runes in each type of artifact. You see, we can restore the content by deriving it from the preserved contents, and inferring more from the already existing known Sword Rune. So we can rewrite the guide here."
Lan Wangji fell silent.
He had been listening properly to Wei Wuxian's reasoning, and thought that it was indeed possible.
Looking at the book in Wei Wuxian's hand he said, "I understand. But it's not going to be an easy job, inferring and deriving. First of all, you have to decipher thoroughly the intention of the book and its contents. While inferring from other sources, you also have to comprehend the knowledge you are going to use."
Wei Wuxian looked at him weirdly instead. "Isn't that obvious? Of course, it's not an easy job."
Lan Wangji stared back at him calmly. "If it's you, are you willing to restore it?"
Wei Wuxian replied, "Of course I'm willing! It's better to spend time repairing this book and put them back on the shelves, rather than letting them catch dust in the box."
He added inside his heart,
'Goodness, I will save these cute GusuLan disciples from reading the boring 100 family names and their exaggerated anecdotes, and give them a more interesting book to know!'
Wei Wuxian proposed to restore the book, and Lan Wangji agreed. They went to Lan Xichen to report afterward, and Lan Xichen thought that wasn't a bad idea either.
He smiled, thinking in his heart that Wei Wuxian had just joined the work in the Library Pavilion for 1 day, and here he was, already putting forward a valuable approach yet again.
But he didn't directly express his opinion and asked him instead, "Has Wei-Gongzi ever done this kind of work, restoring lost techniques by inference and derivation?"
Wei Wuxian opened his mouth excitedly, he was about to pour down how he restored several techniques of his GuiDao. However, he closed his mouth right after, suddenly realizing that the experiences he was about to tell were obviously things GusuLan would consider forbidden.
Looking at Wei Wuxian opening and closing his mouth, with his face suddenly looking a bit disheartened, Lan Xichen understood what the young man might be thinking.
He smiled and spoke mildly, "Was it one of the techniques of your Cultivation, I wonder? If that were the case, I won't ask you for more. That must be inside your manuscripts, and it's your private property."
Lan Wangji glanced at Wei Wuxian, similarly understanding what his brother had implied.
The person whom they were looking at was shifting in his seat.
Lan Xichen's gaze inadvertently fell to the other side of the table. Again, Wei Wuxian's knees were touching Lan Wangji's.
He looked up, and continued to speak, "But your GuiDao is a never before trodden path, and some techniques that were in line with your path that still exist nowadays are also rather uncommon techniques, so it must have been rare and hard to assemble."
Putting those techniques that should be regarded as forbidden under the term "uncommon" was truly Lan Xichen's tactful words.
"Even then, with such difficulty and rarity of material, you're still able to restore some techniques. In this case, I think these books that have a lot of materials to refer to, should be able to be restored once again." He smiled at the end of his words.
"Then, what do you think?"
Wei Wuxian was happy to hear that Lan Xichen didn't dwell on the fact that he'd been researching those forbidden techniques.
Lan Xichen, "Naturally we will also try to follow your idea. If it can be done, the impact on GusuLan's knowledge reserve will be significant."
He smiled and motivated the two young men, "Wangji, Wei-Gongzi, I will then leave this task to the two of you. If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to other Elders, Uncle, and of course to me."
Lan Wangji nodded. "Wangji understands."
Therefore, the days afterward were filled with Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji having fun dissecting the incomplete books.
Every day, Wei Wuxian would be sitting, still unceremoniously, in the Library Pavilion. In front of him would be countless scrolls and opened books. There were also a lot of pages filled with scribbles all over.
Don't think that those scribbles were trashes, however. Those were the results of their deductions game.
In front of him had always been Lan Wangji. The young Hanguang-Jun looked extremely serious as he rewrote those results on another paper with more readable and more beautiful handwriting.
Even the young disciples in charge of helping to sort the books in the Library Pavilion couldn't help but join in. They surrounded the two Seniors, looking at them with excitement on their faces, exclaiming in woaaah! —— ohhhh! —— so it can be like that! etc, while also throwing some questions they felt curious about from time to time.
This kind of deduction game was much more interesting than simply sorting out the books!
Waking up early and coming back home late. Wei Wuxian's days were rotated in the same routines. But the young man didn't dislike it and was more high-spirited than ever instead.
Perhaps, it's because it had been a long time since...since he was surrounded by the company of humans.
If he were in Yunmeng right now, he would have probably spent his days, either nighthunting on his own, or drinking in some tea house... accompanied by female ghosts.
On one afternoon, in another secluded part of GusuLan mountain, Lan Xichen was seen knocking on the door of a courtyard.
"Who?" the people inside raised his voice.
Lan Xichen replied, "Uncle, it is me, Xichen."
There was no response from inside for a while.
Lan Xichen patiently waited at the entrance without calling out further.
After some time, the person inside finally responded curtly, "Come in."
"Excuse me." Lan Xichen slid the door open and pardoned himself to come inside.
The courtyard door slid closed once again. Outside on the roof, a finely carved plaque with elegant calligraphy read "Songshi" could be seen.
The owner of the residence, Lan Qiren, was currently sitting. In his left hand was a book, while his right hand was writing some comments on the content of the book.
"Uncle." Lan Xichen smiled, greeting him.
He walked closer to the older man, sitting opposite him. As per the custom, he took the tea set on another small table and began to prepare tea for the two of them.
Lan Qiren washed his writing brush to the jade brush-washer before hanging them back to the small rack to dry. He put a bookmark over the page and closed the book he was holding as well.
Looking up at his eldest nephew who was calmly brewing tea, he finally spoke, "What are you doing searching for me here?"
Lan Xichen kept a smile on his face and responded to his Uncle with, "Naturally Xichen is here to talk with Uncle. How's your health recently? Has Uncle been well?"
"Hmhh." Lan Qiren huffed. "Do you still care about my well-being?"
"When has Xichen ever ignored Uncle's well-being?" Lan Xichen looked surprised at the question.
Lan Qiren snorted even more.
Look! Look at this eldest nephew of his! Did he forget he caused his own Uncle into a Qi Deviation on the spot last month? How could he say he has never ignored his health with such an innocent face?
The tea had been finished brewing, Lan Xichen carefully poured them down into two cups and offered the first cup to his Uncle.
Smiling, he said, "Uncle, please drink the tea first. It's a medicinal tea I've newly learned to make. It can lighten up one's mood and clear excess heat."
Lan Qiren knew exactly what he was trying to say.
However, they had been over this already.
No matter what kind of dispute they had, it was already over. Besides, Lan Xichen was not only good at his words, being diplomatic, and convincing, but he was also good at grasping the moment. Whatever he did was neither too hasty nor too late. In the end, all the clan elders including Lan Qiren were defeated by him and relented in his decision.
He accepted the offered tea, veering his gaze downward, and began to take a sip.
Lan Xichen also took a sip of his own tea.
Lan Qiren lifted his gaze to look at Lan Xichen once again, and asked, "Where is Wangji?"
During this 1 month, Lan Qiren couldn't even take care of his own dilemma, so he was unable to notice Lan Wangji's situation. But now that he realized it, the younger nephew seemed like he had also been swallowed into the Earth. It was unknown what he was doing.
Putting down the teacup on the table, Lan Xichen replied, "Wangji is still working on his task, re-arranging the Library Pavilion."
Hearing this, Lan Qiren had to rub his beard in satisfaction. As expected of his proud disciple, even if a hurricane was coming, he maintained his calm and kept doing what he needed to do.
Lan Xichen lifted the corner of his lip upward. He slipped his hand into his sleeve and took out a book. He pushed the book gently toward Lan Qiren and said,
"Speaking of which, why don't you check this book, Uncle?"
Lan Qiren took the book and started to flip open the pages one by one. "What is this book? Oh? Isn't this Guide to Incantations Application? Didn't you say before that some parts of the book were burned in the fire?"
He flipped the book around once again, checking the content, and was immediately surprised. "Isn't this the complete content of the book?"
Lan Qiren might not have remembered every detail to be able to rewrite it based on memory, but he had read and learned from this book before, so he was familiar with the contents in general. And the book was indeed complete without any omission of the knowledge that was supposed to be presented inside.
Noticing the writing of the newly rewritten book seemed to be Lan Wangji's, he suddenly exclaimed, "Is this what Wangji has been doing?"
Lan Xichen simply smiled, and told him instead, "The book has indeed lost some parts of it in the fire. However, using a derivation and referencing method, the book is then restored to what it originally was."
"Derivation? Referencing?" Lan Qiren threw an interested look, intending to let Lan Xichen explain more.
Lan Xichen began to elucidate, "Derivation means, the comprehensive contents is first roughly analyzed by dissecting the left behind pages. When some lost parts still couldn't be deciphered, then it's time to use Referencing. It means, using the already existing knowledge with similar topic to deduce and extrapolate the lost content."
While Lan Xichen was explaining the method, Lan Qiren was also busy reviewing the book closely. He was humming in thought. The more he looked the more pleased he was.
"What do you think, Uncle? Do you have any opinion on this restoration method? Or is there any fault in the newly discovered contents itself?"
Lan Qiren shook his head. He outrightly praised, "Excellent! Very well done! The contents are not only completely restored, but even being perfected and some more new details are added at some points. This is simply a work of a genius!"
Lan Xichen smiled even more. "Indeed. Xichen does think so."
Lan Qiren nodded in agreement, looking at the book left and right once again. An appreciative smile couldn't help but form on the corner of his lip.
He couldn't stop himself from reiterating his praises, "From the idea itself, to the direct application, and the result, it is simply, impressive."
The smile on Lan Xichen's face grew wider.
He said, "Uncle should know the person who put forth the idea and completed this work."
Lan Qiren was surprised. "Isn't that Wangji?"
Lan Xichen shook his head lightly and considerately informed him of the truth, "It is Wei-Gongzi."
Lan Qiren, "..."