No matter how close Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao were, Lan Xichen was still a member of the Lan Clan of Gusu and had his principles.
Wei Wuxian opened a wine jug. When Lan Zhan was drunk, he told me he’d never sneaked a taste of the Emperor’s Smile in his room. So why did he hide all those jugs? He couldn’t have been keeping them for me, right? That’s a little presumptuous of me to assume…
…Come to think of it, should I apologize to him about the forehead ribbon? his thoughts continued. I’ve messed with it so many times. But what if he gets all mad and embarrassed and chases me off? Then again, I’ve been messing around in general for so long, and he hasn’t gotten mad yet. His self-restraint has clearly improved. I reckon he won’t get angry even if I keep doing it. No, wait…I shouldn’t ask him. Might as well pretend not to know what the forehead ribbon means. That way, I can keep yanking on it intentionally. If he gets mad, I’ll play all innocent and say I didn’t know. He who is ignorant is innocent…
Wei Wuxian felt quite pleased with himself.
“What is the matter?” Lan Wangji asked.
Wei Wuxian turned his head and answered with a straight face, “Nothing. I’m happy.”
He absentmindedly opened one of the small jugs and tossed one back before promptly sputtering the contents back out.
Lan Wangji put down his book at once. “What is the matter now?”
Wei Wuxian waved his hands. “Nothing! Nothing, nothing!”
As he dismissed his distress with those nothings, he put the jug back and selected another with a morose look on his face. When he’d last sneaked a drink, he’d replaced the contents of the jugs with plain water with the intent of giving Lan Wangji a shock when the man drank it himself. Who could have foreseen his luck would be this poor? Of the two jugs Lan Wangji had brought, one just so happened to be one of those jugs of plain water. And what was more, Wei Wuxian was the one who drank it.
Ever since his return, Wei Wuxian had been shooting himself in the foot every time he wanted to prank Lan Wangji. How very, very frustrating!
At some point, Wei Wuxian fell into a groggy sleep until daybreak, when he suddenly jolted awake. He shuddered and crawled up to see Lan Wangji still dressed, with his guqin and sword on his back. Lan Wangji withdrew the hand he had set on Wei Wuxian’s shoulder and concentrated his gaze on an object in his palm.
“We have an uninvited guest.”
Wei Wuxian squinted. The thing in Lan Wangji’s palm was the Lan Clan of Gusu’s jade travel token. He knew that Lan Wangji’s token had high-level authority: if an outsider was to breach the Cloud Recesses’ barrier, he would be immediately alerted.
But no one had dared intrude so boldly into the Cloud Recesses for over ten years. Wei Wuxian hopped off the bed and realized that his outer robe had been removed at some point.
As he dressed, he asked, “Who?”
Lan Wangji shook his head and motioned for Wei Wuxian to follow him. The two proceeded stealthily to a residence standing amidst a thick forest of bamboo. Light seeped through the paper windows. Wei Wuxian glanced at the wooden plaque displayed before the courtyard.
“The Wintry Room?”
Sure enough, Lan Xichen sat with poise inside the room. He was not at all surprised to see the two of them enter but exchanged a glance with Lan Wangji, in which both seemed to come to a tacit understanding. Lan Wangji then led Wei Wuxian to sit behind a screen.
After a while, the bamboo blinds of the Wintry Room lifted. Light footsteps padded into the room. Then the guest seemed to have sat down opposite Lan Xichen.
A moment passed before they heard the sound of jade and stone knocking against each other. It seemed someone had set something on the table and pushed it over.
Lan Xichen was the first one to speak. “What is the meaning of this?”
“I’m returning it to er-ge,” the guest answered.
It was Jin Guangyao.
“This was a gift from me to you,” Lan Xichen said.
“This travel token has never failed me, all these years,” Jin Guangyao said. “But now that it is no longer effective, it’s time for me to return it to its rightful owner.”
Wei Wuxian understood now. Zewu-jun and Lianfang-zun had a close personal friendship, and so Lan Xichen had given Jin Guangyao a travel token for unimpeded access in and out of the Cloud Recesses. But in all likelihood, he had either modified the barrier’s rules or revoked the access privileges of Jin Guangyao’s jade token at some point over the past few days. When Jin Guangyao came to visit and saw that he was refused entry, he had taken the initiative to return the jade token.
Like Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen did not know how to feign civility. While Jin Guangyao made a concession, Lan Xichen maintained his silence. After a moment, he asked, “What is the nature of this visit?”
“There’s still no news regarding Hanguang-jun and the Yiling Patriarch,” Jin Guangyao said. “Many clans have their misgivings and are voicing dissent at my refusal to let others investigate the Cloud Recesses. Er-ge, when it’s convenient for you, it would be best if you open the gates for a couple of hours. I’ll bring some men over to help you deal with it.”
Wei Wuxian had thought he was here to request a search. He’d hardly expected Jin Guangyao to say such things—as if he wasn’t at all interested in the whereabouts of the Yiling Patriarch—and couldn’t help but feel somewhat astonished.
Beyond the screen, Jin Guangyao spoke up again, “Er-ge, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Lan Xichen replied.
“If you’re worried about Wangji, you don’t have to be,” Jin Guangyao assured. “Hanguang-jun is of an upright and righteous character. This much has been made apparent to every clan over all these years. He must have been deceived into doing this. Besides, he has not done anything irredeemable yet. Just explain things clearly when the time comes. I won’t give others the opportunity to gossip.”
“When the time comes?” Lan Xichen echoed. “When is that?”
“After the Burial Mounds have been cleaned out,” Jin Guangyao explained.