Chapter Text
‘Rejoice, Jiang Yanli is dead.’ Because if the two of them didn’t die on the same night, Wei Kuiyin wouldn’t be allowed to mourn at all. If anyone knew she was mourning him , Jiang Cheng wouldn’t have any living siblings left. Kuiyin can pretend to only be mourning her, her dear sister, who was now with her dear husband.
Jiang Cheng hasn’t returned yet, but words travel faster than he does. She first heard it in the street – in the roaring crowds drinking like the world was fucking saved – “his shidi, the little sect leader Jiang Cheng” was the killer. Nothing would ever be the same; she couldn’t ever be the same. Not if she wanted to live.
~~~
Wei Kuiyin has many reasons to kill Jiang Cheng: stealing her portion of Shijie’s pork rib and lotus root soup when she was eight, killing Wei Wuxian, tipping their boat over when they were picking lotus pods, and most importantly, making her do all the diplomatic tasks for the Jiang sect. Now she’s at Jinlintai during some (only slightly important) conference, surrounded by people who sorta hate her guts. Well, not her guts , just her blood. These cultivators have a history of killing people over who they’re related to, so she tries to tread carefully. It would be best if she could avoid social events entirely, but noooo, Jiang Cheng would throw a temper tantrum. Asshole.
Jinlintai is gorgeous, don’t get her wrong. There are many good reasons to visit (especially her dearest little nephew, Jin Ling, he turned 4 last month!), and there are just as many bad reasons (the Jin sect, who enslaved the Wen remnants, are there). But Wei Kuiyin doesn’t hold grudges; she renounces the Yiling Patriarch and is fully loyal to the Jiang Sect. She’s reserved, demure, elegant, and not too independent. Competent enough to be here but not respected enough to have any real sway.
She couldn’t care less about the conference and its shows of security and power; most people avoided genuine conversation, but no one left her in a room alone. This is why she assumes Lan Xichen is lingering around her instead of gleefully conversing with Sect Leader Jin Guangyao.
“Wei-guinniang.”
…What???
“...Zewu-jun, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Apart from her very brief surprise, Wei Kuiyin spoke appropriately, politely, and extremely composed. Obviously. Lan Xichen was a very important and powerful man, but he’s mostly a Lan.
“Forgive me for approaching you like this, but I have a request for you.” This was. Incredibly unexpected. Maybe he just wants to talk to her brother, who knows.
“Please, speak your mind.”
“I am not sure if you have heard yet, but my brother has recently left seclusion. He is not particularly talkative, but I think an audience with you would do him well.” Lan Xichen was earnest; he was concerned about his brother, Lan Wangji, and strangely sure that Wei Kuiyin’s presence would be welcome.
Wei Kuiyin didn’t know much about Lan Wangji. Sure, she had heard the ramblings of her brother about him, how could she not have? She knew he was an incredibly strong cultivator, but he never really spoke. Ever. As far as she knew, he disliked Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng! (Not that she would blame him for it, they’re both acquired tastes).
She wouldn’t know why Lan Xichen thought this was a good idea, or even thought to ask her to talk to him. Is he trying to wingman his brother somehow? Kuiyin was NOT ready for marriage in any regard, and Hangguang-jun is handsome enough to have a smattering of choices for wives; she’s not exactly a prize right now either.
“I… suppose I can visit Gusu soon to speak with him. I do need to return to Yunmeng first and report to my brother about today’s conference.”
Lan Xichen nods, “Thank you, Wei-guinniang,” and just before he leaves her alone, he adds, “Please talk about your brother with him, Wangji will never initiate this topic, but he was always very fond of him.” Xichen truly left her in the room and in the dark.
~~~
The next month, Wei Kuiyin visits Caiyi town. She was planning to write Zewu-jun to let him know she’s here and let her into the Cloud Recess or something, but she had never gotten the chance to visit Caiyi before, and she wanted to look around. Funnily enough, she runs into the very man she was here for!
“Hangguang-jun!” She cheers, running up next to him quickly and hastily bowing. “You’re just the man I’m here to see!”
His expression was so flat, the rumors were true. “...You’re Wei Ying’s sister.” This wasn’t a question; it was a statement. An odd one, ‘Wei Ying’? No one calls him that anymore, even in her head, he’s A-Xian, just like Shijie would say. And he said it so sweetly, it made her want to cry. She had come to hate being the Yiling Patriarch’s sister, but being Wei Ying’s sister? He was plucking her heart strings like a guqin, and she enjoyed the melody. It melted her into bittersweetness and froze her in that state.
“I am, I’m Wei Kuiyin,” she gulped, and it must have been a trick of the light because she swears his expression softened. “Zewu-jun wanted me to talk to you about Wei Wuxian?”
Coming into this, she was torn between which brother he meant, but the way he addressed her dismissed the doubt… Doubt that returned when he responded with a simple “Mn.”
Okay, so he really wasn’t that great of a conversation partner. No big deal, she’s got this. She wasn’t nervous. “...Can we talk about it? In private?”
Lan Wangji was either hesitating or deep in thought before he finally spoke. “Follow me.” He led her to a secluded spot in an inn.
He was so stoic, and she just had to test that he was as fun to tease as Wei Wuxian would say. “So scandalous, taking a young woman like me to an inn all alone~” She had no romantic interest in him, and he was far too respectable for her to be worried.
“Your brother was a bad influence on you,” and she burst out laughing. He wasn’t so bad.