“Shijie, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why would a person like another person?” Wei Wuxian asked. “I’m talking about that kind of like.”
Slightly taken aback, Jiang Yanli wondered, “Why are you asking me this? Have you found someone you like? What kind of girl is she?”
“No, I’m never gonna like anyone. Or at least, I don’t want to like anyone that much,” Wei Wuxian replied. “Isn’t that the same as putting reins on my own neck?”
“Three years old is a bit of an overestimation,” Jiang Yanli teased. “One year old is more like it.”
“No, I’m already three!” Wei Wuxian insisted. “And three-year-old Xianxian is hungry! What to do?!”
Jiang Yanli chuckled. “Yes, well, there’s soup in the kitchen. Go have some. But I wonder if Xianxian can reach the stove?”
“If I can’t, then shijie just has to pick me up and I’ll be able to reach it…”
Wei Wuxian was in the midst of spouting nonsense when Jiang Cheng strode into the Ancestral Hall.
On hearing Wei Wuxian, he spat, “Shooting your mouth off again! Your sect leader filled a bowl for you and put it outside. Kneel to me now to say your thanks, then get out there to have your soup!”
Wei Wuxian skipped out for a look, then whirled back inside. “What is the meaning of this, Jiang Cheng?! Where are the pork ribs?!”
“I ate them all,” Jiang Cheng said. “Only lotus roots left. Eat the soup or don’t, as you please.”
Wei Wuxian jabbed his elbow into Jiang Cheng’s stomach. “Spit ’em out!”
“Sure, I’ll spit ’em out! You’d better eat them all when I do!”
Hearing them start again, Jiang Yanli hurriedly intervened. “All right, all right. How old are you both, to be fighting over some pork ribs? I’ll just make another pot…”
Wei Wuxian loved Jiang Yanli’s lotus root and pork rib soup more than anything else, not just because it was genuinely delicious, but because he always remembered the first time he’d eaten it.
It had been not long after Jiang Fengmian brought Wei Wuxian back from Yiling. The moment he entered the gates, he saw a haughty little young master running all over the drilling grounds with a few puppies on leashes. Wei Wuxian immediately covered his face with both hands, screamed, and then started bawling his eyes out. He clung to Jiang Fengmian the entire day, refusing to come down from his arms no matter what.
The next day, the puppies that Jiang Cheng had been raising were given away.
This incident infuriated Jiang Cheng, who cried rivers’ worth of tears. Even when Jiang Fengmian coaxed and comforted him with sweet, gentle words, entreating him to “play nice and be friends,” Jiang Cheng refused to speak to Wei Wuxian.
Several days later, seeing that Jiang Cheng’s temper had cooled a bit, Jiang Fengmian decided to strike while the iron was hot. He moved Wei Wuxian into Jiang Cheng’s room, in hopes that sharing a space would improve their relationship.
Though he felt awkward, Jiang Cheng was about to agree to this arrangement. Unfortunately, on hearing Jiang Cheng consent, Jiang Fengmian was so delighted that he picked Wei Wuxian up and let him sit on his arm.
Jiang Cheng, seeing this play out, was completely dumbstruck. Madam Yu simply let out a grim laugh at the sight and left with a fling of her sleeve. Since the couple had their own respective matters to urgently attend to, they left in a hurry and had no time to get into an argument over the matter.
That night, Jiang Cheng locked Wei Wuxian out of the room and refused to let him enter. Wei Wuxian banged on the door.
“Shidi, shidi, lemme in. Please, I wanna sleep.”
With his back against the door inside, Jiang Cheng yelled, “Who’s your shidi?! Give me back Feifei, Moli, and Xiao-ai!”
Feifei, Moli, and Xiao-ai were the puppies that he’d used to own. Wei Wuxian knew Jiang Fengmian had sent them away because of him. He quietly replied, “I’m sorry, but…but I’m really very scared of them…”
Jiang Cheng could count the number of times Jiang Fengmian had ever picked him up on the fingers of one hand. Each time he did, it was enough to make Jiang Cheng happy for months on end. The anger and resentment simmered within him, with no outlet for release. The only thought in his mind was why, why, why?
And then, in the room that used to be his and his alone, he found a set of bedding that did not belong to him. His indignation and resentment got the better of him, and he stormed over to pick up Wei Wuxian’s mat and blanket in his arms.
Wei Wuxian had been helplessly waiting by the door for a long time when it suddenly was flung open. Before he could express his delight, he was almost knocked over by the pile of bedding that was flung outside.
The wooden door slammed shut once again. “Go sleep somewhere else! This is my room! Are you going to steal my room too?!”
Wei Wuxian didn’t understand what Jiang Cheng was angry about. Stupefied, he said, “I’m not. It was Jiang-shushu who told me to stay with you.”
Jiang Cheng’s eyes reddened as soon as he heard Wei Wuxian mention his father. It felt like he was flaunting it on purpose. “Go away! Show your face again and I’ll get a pack of dogs to bite you!”
Wei Wuxian stood there at the door and felt a rush of fear when he heard that Jiang Cheng was going to set dogs on him. Wringing his hands, he hurriedly said, “I’ll go, I’ll go. Don’t call the dogs!”
Dragging his mat and blanket, which had been thrown outside, he dashed down the long veranda. He didn’t dare horse around so soon after arriving at Lotus Pier and would obediently stay put wherever Jiang Fengmian decided to settle him every day. He didn’t know his way around any of the rooms and was afraid to knock on any doors for fear of interrupting someone’s dreams.
After thinking for a moment, he walked over to a sheltered corner of the wooden veranda and spread out his mat to lie down. But the longer he lay there, the louder Jiang Cheng’s “I’ll get a pack of dogs to bite you!” echoed in his mind. Wei Wuxian grew increasingly frightened the more he thought about it, tossing and turning under the blanket. Even the slightest rustle of leaves made him panic, certain that there was a pack of dogs silently surrounding him.
After struggling for a while, he couldn’t stay there any longer. He leapt to his feet, rolled up his mat and folded his blanket, and fled from Lotus Pier.
He ran with the night wind for quite a while, gasping and panting. He saw a tree and climbed it without hesitation, clinging to the trunk with both arms and legs. Only when he felt he was sufficiently high up did he manage to calm down a little.
He didn’t know how long he clung to that tree. Eventually, Wei Wuxian heard someone softly calling his name from afar. The voice got closer and closer. Not long later, a young girl in white with a lantern in hand appeared beneath the tree.
Wei Wuxian recognized her as Jiang Cheng’s elder sister. He kept silent, hoping he wouldn’t be discovered, but Jiang Yanli still called out to him.
“Is that A-Ying? What are you doing all the way up there?”
Wei Wuxian stayed silent. Jiang Yanli lifted the lantern.
“I see you. You dropped your shoe under the tree.”
Wei Wuxian peeked down at his own left foot and exclaimed in shock, “My shoe!”
“Come on down,” Jiang Yanli coaxed. “Let’s go back, hmm?”
“I…I’m not coming down. There are dogs.”
“A-Cheng was fibbing. There are no dogs,” Jiang Yanli assured him. “There’s nowhere to sit up there. Your hands will start to ache soon and you’ll fall.”
No matter how she coaxed him, Wei Wuxian clung to the tree and refused to come down. Jiang Yanli was afraid he would fall, so she set the lantern under the tree and stood under it with both hands outstretched to catch him, not daring to leave. They remained at this impasse for an incense time, but finally, Wei Wuxian’s hands grew sore, and he slipped from the tree trunk and plummeted. Jiang Yanli hurried to catch him, but he still hit the ground with a thud. He tumbled a few times, then hugged his leg and wailed.