Chapter 14, Part 14

Chapter Summary: [He wandered around Cloud Recesses for half a day, playing with flowers and plants. After everyone finished their lessons, they finally found him on a high eave. Wei Wuxian…]

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He wandered around Cloud Recesses for half a day, playing with flowers and plants. After everyone finished their lessons, they finally found him on a high rooftop. Wei Wuxian was sitting on the green tiles of the wall, a sprig of orchid dangling from his mouth, his right hand supporting his cheek, one leg raised and the other dangling down, swinging gently. A person below pointed at him and said, "Brother Wei! We admire you! He told you to get lost, and you actually did! Hahahaha..."

"He didn't understand for a long time after you left; his face was ashen!"

Wei Wuxian chewed on a blade of grass and shouted down, "Answer every question, get out when told to, what more does he want from me?"

Nie Huaisang said, "Why does Old Man Lan seem particularly strict with you? He's scolding you on purpose."

Jiang Cheng snorted, "He deserved it. What kind of answer was that? It's one thing to say such nonsense at home, but to dare to say it in front of Lan Qiren. He's asking for death!"

Wei Wuxian said, "Anyway, he won't like me no matter how I answer, so I might as well just say it outright. Besides, I didn't insult him, I was just answering honestly."

Nie Huaisang thought for a moment, and then revealed a look of envy and longing, saying, "Actually, what Brother Wei said is very interesting. Spiritual energy has to be cultivated by oneself, and one has to work hard to form a golden core. Someone like me, whose talent is so poor that it seems like I was chewed by a dog in the womb, I don't know how many years it would take. But resentment energy is all from those fierce and evil ghosts. If we could use it right away, how wonderful that would be."

The so-called Golden Core is a core that forms within a cultivator's body after reaching a certain level of cultivation. It serves to store and circulate spiritual energy. After forming the Golden Core, one's cultivation advances by leaps and bounds, allowing for continuous refinement and the attainment of higher peaks. Otherwise, one can only be considered a second-rate cultivator. If a scion of a noble family forms their Golden Core too late, it's considered shameful, but Nie Huaisang felt no shame whatsoever. Wei Wuxian laughed and said, "Right? Might as well use it."

Jiang Cheng warned, "That's enough. You can say whatever you want, but don't go down this crooked path."

Wei Wuxian laughed and said, "Why would I choose this narrow, shady path over the perfectly good main road? If it were that easy, someone would have already crossed it. Don't worry, he was just asking, and I was just saying it casually. Hey, are you guys coming? Before curfew, let's go hunting pheasants together."

Jiang Cheng scolded, "What are you doing, hunting pheasants? Where did these pheasants come from? Go and copy the *Yazheng Ji* first. Lan Qiren asked me to tell you to copy the *Shangyi Pian* of the *Yazheng Ji* three times, so you can properly learn what the principles of Heaven and Human Relationships are."

"Nie Huaisang, you also want to cultivate the ghost path?"

His elder brother's sinister voice rang out again, and Nie Huaisang miserably covered his face with his fan once more. When would this ever end?

What he didn't expect was that there was still a lot more to come.

"No, no, no, big brother, I don't want to cultivate the ghost path at all."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Nie Mingjue's voice rang out again:

"People still think you're not good enough at cultivating the ghost path."

Nie Huaisang: This is definitely not my older brother; he has absolutely been switched.

At this moment, Jiang Yanli looked at the carefree young man in the picture and still couldn't understand why he would take such a path. Perhaps she had figured it out, but she was unwilling to accept that devastating fact.

Looking at his senior sister's worried yet inquisitive gaze, Wei Wuxian put on a flattering smile and reached out to tug weakly at Jiang Yanli's sleeve.

Jiang Yanli gave a helpless smile and reached out to pat Wei Wuxian's hand that was tugging at her sleeve.

After calming his senior sister down, Wei Wuxian leaned back and then noticed that Lan Wangji's body was extremely stiff.

Wei Wuxian sighed inwardly. His jest back then had turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. However... if it weren't for those words, he probably wouldn't have been able to escape that cannibalistic den alive.

When Lan Zhan learned that he had lost his golden core, he felt extremely guilty. No matter how he tried to comfort him or make jokes, it was no use. For the past two years, he had been making soup and medicinal meals for him to help him recover. Even though it wasn't very effective, he still insisted on making them, and he ate every last bite of each meal.

Thinking of this, Wei Wuxian grasped the hand wrapped around his waist, a warm smile spreading across his lips. Lan Wangji glanced down, the icy coldness in his handsome eyes melting away inch by inch.

The *Yazheng Ji* is the Lan Clan's family precepts. Their precepts were so long that Lan Qiren revised them, compiling them into a thick collection. The *Shangyi Pian* and *Lize Pian* comprise four-fifths of the entire book. Wei Wuxian spat out the blade of grass he was chewing, dusted off his boots, and said, "Copy it three times? I could ascend after just one. I'm not a member of the Lan Clan, and I don't plan to marry into it. Why would I copy their precepts? I won't."

Nie Huaisang hurriedly said, "I'll copy it for you! I'll copy it for you!"

Wei Wuxian said, "Unsolicited kindness is either malicious or thieving. So, what do you want from me?"

Nie Huaisang said, "That's how it is. Brother Wei, Old Man Lan has a bad habit, he..."

He stopped mid-sentence, coughed lightly, unfolded his folding fan, and shrank to the side. Wei Wuxian sensed something was amiss and turned to look. Sure enough, Lan Wangji, carrying the Bichen sword, stood beneath a lush ancient tree, gazing at them from afar. He was as handsome as a jade tree, his body dappled with leaf shadows and sunlight, but his gaze was not friendly; being stared at by him felt like falling into an ice cave. The others knew they had shouted a bit too loudly in mid-air, and the noise had probably attracted him, so they wisely kept quiet. Wei Wuxian, however, jumped down and went to greet him, calling out, "Brother Wangji!"

Lan Wangji turned and walked away, but Wei Wuxian chased after him excitedly, calling out, "Brother Wangji, wait for me!"

The figure in flowing white robes swayed behind the tree and vanished in an instant, clearly indicating that Lan Wangji didn't want to talk to him. Wei Wuxian, feeling rebuffed by his retreating figure, turned around and complained, "He's ignoring me."

“Yes,” Nie Huaisang said, “It seems he really dislikes you, Brother Wei. Lan Wangji is usually… no, he would never be so rude.”

Wei Wuxian said, "Is that all? I was going to apologize to him."

Jiang Cheng mocked him: "It's too late to admit your mistake now! He'll definitely think you're wicked and a bad apple, just like his uncle, and won't even bother with you."

Wei Wuxian scoffed, "Fine, I won't bother with him. Is he even that pretty?" But then he realized he was indeed pretty, and he quickly dismissed the urge to scoff.

Three days later, Wei Wuxian finally learned what Lan Qiren's bad habit was.

Lan Qiren's lectures were incredibly lengthy, and to make matters worse, they all required memorization. The topics included the evolution of several generations of cultivation families, the division of their spheres of influence, famous sayings, family genealogies…

Hearing it was like listening to a heavenly book; remaining silent was like selling oneself into slavery. Nie Huaisang helped Wei Wuxian copy the "Shangyi Pian" twice, and before the exam, he pleaded, "Please, Brother Wei, this is my third year in Gusu. If I still don't get a B grade, my elder brother will really break my legs! What's with distinguishing between direct and collateral relatives, main family and branch family? We scions of noble families can't even figure out our own family relationships. We call anyone beyond two generations 'aunt, uncle,' and so on. Who has the extra brainpower to remember other people's families!"

The consequence of the cheat sheets flying everywhere was that Lan Wangji suddenly appeared during the test and captured several ringleaders. Lan Qiren was furious and sent letters to various clans to complain. He was filled with hatred: although these young nobles were all restless before, at least no one took the lead, and they were all barely keeping their feet on the ground. But with Wei Ying's arrival, these cowardly youngsters were incited and provoked by him, some going out for nights and others drinking, and bad habits were gradually spreading. This Wei Ying was indeed as he had predicted, truly the number one scourge of the world!

"Cough! Cough cough cough! Cough cough!"

When Wei Wuxian saw this, he choked on his own saliva and coughed so loudly it was earth-shattering.

Lan Wangji gently patted his back, a hint of helplessness in his eyes.

Nie Huaisang never lowered the fan that was covering his face.

After Wei Wuxian finished coughing, he gave Nie Huaisang a resentful look: "Brother Nie, the note I wrote for you back then had a complete subject, verb, and object, and the annotations and explanations were so detailed, yet you still threw it back at me asking what it meant. Aren't you going to get caught?"

Nie Huaisang put down his fan, intending to criticize Wei Wuxian's flamboyant calligraphy from back then, but as soon as he put it down, he saw his elder brother's fiery eyes and silently covered them again.

The others: ...Is this Wei Ying really the Yiling Patriarch we know? He's probably just a kid king...

Jiang Fengmian shook his head helplessly: "I'm sorry to trouble you, sir."

Lan Qiren almost choked: Old Jiang Sect Leader, why is it that again? I can't control Wei Ying anymore!

really……

Jiang Fengmian replied, "Ying has always been like this. Mr. Lao Lan has gone to great lengths to discipline him."

So Wei Wuxian was punished again.

He hadn't thought much of it at first. It was just copying books; he never lacked people to help him. But this time, Nie Huaisang said, "Brother Wei, I'm afraid I can't help you. You'll have to suffer through it yourself."

Wei Wuxian asked, "What?"

Nie Huaisang said, "Old... Mr. Lan said that this time, the 'Shangyi Pian' and the 'Lize Pian' will be copied together."

The "Etiquette Chapter" is the most verbose of the twelve chapters of the Lan family precepts. It is full of classical allusions, long and tedious, and contains a lot of obscure characters. Copying it once is boring, but copying it ten times will make you instantly ascend to immortality. Nie Huaisang said, "He also said that during the punishment period, no one is allowed to hang out with you or help you copy it."

Wei Wuxian asked curiously, "How would he know whether I copied it or not? Could he possibly have someone watching me copy it?"

Jiang Cheng said, "That's exactly right."

"..." Wei Wuxian said, "What did you say?"

Jiang Cheng said, "He forbids you from going out every day, and makes you copy from the Lan family's library, while also making you reflect on your actions in seclusion for a month. Naturally, someone is watching you. As for who it is, I don't need to say more, do I?"

Inside the library.

A blue mat, a wooden table. Two candlesticks, two people. One sat upright at one end, while at the other, Wei Wuxian had copied more than ten pages of the "Etiquette Chapter," feeling dizzy and bored. He put down his pen to get some fresh air and glanced at the person opposite him.

Back in Yunmeng, many girls in the Jiang family envied him for being able to study and learn alongside Lan Wangji, saying that the Gusu Lan Clan had produced many handsome men throughout the generations, and the current generation's twin brothers, the Lan brothers, were especially extraordinary. Wei Wuxian hadn't had time to examine his face closely before, but now that he had, he thought to himself, "He is quite handsome. His appearance and demeanor are flawless. I just really wish all those girls could come and see for themselves. If he's always looking bitter, resentful, and as if he's lost his parents, even the most handsome face can't save him."

Everyone: ...cough, cough cough cough...

Is it a deep-seated grudge? A cold, stern look? Or a look of profound grief?

Are you serious?

Seeing Lan Wangji's face turn cold, everyone was thinking that Hanguang-jun should quickly settle accounts with Wei Wuxian when Wei Wuxian, with a strong desire to survive, turned around and said, "Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, I was just talking nonsense offhand, please don't listen to me!"

Everyone looked at Lan Wangji with shining eyes: Hanguang-jun, you must not listen to this guy's nonsense. He is incorrigible. You should remember how many outrageous things he said and thought before!

Lan Wangji pursed his lips slightly... and reached out to ruffle Wei Wuxian's hair: "Mm."

Everyone: ...

I'm sorry, I'm blind.

Lan Wangji was recopying ancient books from the Lan family's library, books that were not meant to be seen by outsiders. His brushstrokes were slow and deliberate, and his handwriting was neat and elegant. Wei Wuxian couldn't help but exclaim sincerely, "What beautiful handwriting! Top-notch!"

Lan Wangji remained unmoved.

Wei Wuxian, who had been silent for so long for the first time, was feeling stifled. He thought to himself, "This person is so dull. Do you expect me to sit with him for hours every day for a month? Is this going to kill me?"

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but lean forward slightly.

Wei Wuxian was good at finding amusement, especially in making the best of a bad situation. Since there was nothing else to do, he decided to play with Lan Wangji.

Everyone: ...Playing with Lan Wangji?!

Are you tired of living?!

Lan Qiren was so angry that his beard trembled, and he pointed at Wei Wuxian, speechless. Wei Wuxian watched Lan Qiren's face turn from black to green and then to red, coughed lightly, turned to Wen Qing and said, "Wen Qing, why don't you give Old Master Lan a needle?"

Warmth: ...

He said, "Brother Wangji."

Lan Wangji remained unmoved.

Wei Wuxian said, "Wangji."

He acted as if he hadn't heard.

Wei Wuxian: "Lan Wangji."

Wei Wuxian: "Lan Zhan!"

Lan Wangji finally stopped writing and looked up at him with a cold gaze. Wei Wuxian backed away, raising his hands in a defensive stance: "Don't look at me like that. I only call you by your name because you don't respond when I call you Wangji. If you're unhappy, you can call me by my name back."

Lan Wangji said, "Put your legs down."

Wei Wuxian's posture was extremely improper, leaning to one side with his legs propped up. Seeing that he had finally managed to get Lan Wangji to speak, he felt a surge of triumphant joy, like the sun finally shining after a long period of waiting. He obediently put his legs down, but his upper body unconsciously moved closer, his arm resting on the desk, still in an unseemly posture. He said seriously, "Lan Zhan, let me ask you a question. Do you—do you really hate me?"

Lan Wangji lowered his eyes, his eyelashes casting a faint shadow on his jade-like face. Wei Wuxian quickly said, "No, stop. You're ignoring me again after just a few words. I want to apologize to you. Look at me."

He paused, then said, "You won't look at me? Fine, then I'll tell you myself. I was wrong that night. I was wrong. I shouldn't have climbed over the wall, shouldn't have drunk, shouldn't have fought with you. But I swear! I didn't provoke you on purpose, I really didn't read your family rules. The Jiang family rules are all just words, never written down. Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have." I definitely wouldn't have finished that jar of Emperor's Smile in front of you. I would have secretly taken it back to my room and drunk it every day, sharing it with everyone, drinking my fill.

Wei Wuxian continued, "Besides, let's talk this out. Who attacked first? It was you. If you hadn't struck first, we could have talked things out and cleared things up. But since someone attacked me, I had no choice but to fight back. It's not entirely my fault. Lan Zhan, are you listening? Look at me. Young Master Lan?" He snapped his fingers. "Second Brother Lan, would you do me the honor of looking at me?"

Lan Wangji didn't even look up, and said, "Copy it again."

Wei Wuxian immediately swayed: "Don't do that. I was wrong."

Lan Wangji mercilessly exposed him: "You have absolutely no remorse."

Wei Wuxian said without any dignity, "I'm sorry, I .... I'll say it as many times as you want. I'll even kneel down and say it."

Lan Wangji put down his pen, and Wei Wuxian thought he was finally going to beat him up. He was about to throw a smile at him when he suddenly realized that his upper and lower lips were stuck together and he couldn't smile.

His face changed drastically, and he struggled to shout, "Ugh? Ugh ugh ugh!"

Lan Wangji closed his eyes, exhaled softly, opened them again, and resumed writing as if nothing had happened. Wei Wuxian had long heard of the Lan family's silencing technique and refused to believe it. But after fiddling with it for a while, his lips were red from scratching, and he still couldn't utter a sound. So he grabbed a piece of paper, wrote with lightning speed, and tossed it over. Lan Wangji glanced at it, said, "Boring," crumpled it into a ball, and threw it away.

Wei Wuxian was so angry that he rolled around on the mat, got up and wrote another one, slapped it in front of Lan Wangji, and it was crumpled into a ball and thrown away.

The silencing spell wasn't lifted until he finished copying it.

Everyone: ...

How much free time do you have? Just copy the book when I tell you to, why are you making so much noise?

Then they all looked at Lan Wangji with sympathy.

Lan Qiren: Isn't this silencing spell just a minor spell? How come it's so useful?

Wei Wuxian was watching with great interest Lan Zhan's cold expression, which he hadn't seen in a long time, in the celestial shadow, completely unaware of what new world had opened up in the heart of the old master Lan...

When I came to the library the next day, all the crumpled papers that had been thrown all over the floor the day before had been collected.

Wei Wuxian, always quick to forget past wounds, had just been silenced the day before, and after sitting for only a short while, his mouth was itching to speak again. Oblivious to the danger, he managed to utter two words before being silenced once more. Unable to speak, he scribbled randomly on a piece of paper, shoved it at Lan Wangji, and it was crumpled up and thrown on the ground. The same thing happened on the third day.

After being repeatedly silenced, on the last day of his solitary reflection, Wei Wuxian appeared somewhat different to Lan Wangji.

Since he came to Gusu, his sword had been lying around everywhere, and he had never seriously studied it. But today, he picked it up and slammed it down on the desk. In stark contrast to his usual persistent and annoying behavior towards Lan Wangji, he sat down without saying a word and started writing, his obedience almost eerily obedient.

Lan Wangji had no reason to cast a silencing spell on him, and instead glanced at him a few more times, as if he didn't believe that he had suddenly become obedient. Sure enough, not long after they sat down, Wei Wuxian's old illness returned, and he handed him a piece of paper, gesturing for him to look at it.

Lan Wangji initially thought it would be just some random, boring text, but as if guided by some strange impulse, he glanced at it and saw a portrait. Sitting upright, leaning against the window reading quietly, the features and expression were remarkably lifelike—it was none other than himself.

Seeing that his gaze didn't immediately shift, Wei Wuxian's lips curled into a smile. He raised an eyebrow at him and winked. No words were needed; the meaning was clear: Does it look like him? Is it good?

Lan Wangji said slowly, "With this much free time, instead of copying books, you're just doodling. I don't think you'll ever be released from your ban."

Wei Wuxian blew on the still-wet ink stains and said nonchalantly, "I've finished copying, I won't be coming tomorrow!"

Lan Wangji's slender fingers, which were resting on the slightly yellowed scroll, seemed to pause for a moment before turning to the next page, and surprisingly, he didn't silence him.

Wei Wuxian chuckled at the last gesture, hooking one finger around Lan Wangji's hand and leaning closer, saying, "Second brother, you were thinking of me back then!"

Her voice was like a tiny hook, slowly tugging at Lan Wangji's heart. Looking at his younger, more innocent self, his ears flushed red. Wei Wuxian, seeing this, smiled even more broadly.

Lan Wangji grabbed his hand and forcefully turned him back, suppressing his voice as he said, "Look at this."

Wei Wuxian chuckled to himself: Hehe, Lan Zhan is shy!

Everyone: ...

I can't see anything, I can't see anything at all...

At this moment, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang suddenly had a bad feeling. They looked at each other and covered their faces.