Chapter 81
Chapter Summary: [Their escape route was cut off, and they were trapped in the cave, awaiting rescue from the Yunmeng Jiang Clan. Two more days passed. These two days…]
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Their escape route was cut off, and they were trapped in the cave, awaiting rescue from the Yunmeng Jiang Clan. Two more days passed. During these two days, Wei Wuxian had been running a low-grade fever, waking up and falling asleep repeatedly. Only Lan Wangji's intermittent supply of spiritual energy kept his condition from worsening.
Wei Wuxian said, "Ah. How boring."
Wei Wuxian: "This is so boring."
Wei Wuxian: "It's too quiet."
Wei Wuxian: "Ah—"
Wei Wuxian: "I'm hungry. Lan Zhan, get up and get something to eat. Get some turtle meat."
Wei Wuxian: "Forget it, I won't eat it. The flesh of this man-eating monster must be rotten. You'd better not touch it."
Wei Wuxian: "Lan Zhan, why are you like this? You're so sullen. Your mouth is closed, your eyes are closed, you're not talking to me, you're not looking at me. Are you practicing Zen? Are you a monk? Oh right, your ancestors were monks. I forgot."
The tender scene from just moments ago vanished completely after Wei Wuxian continued his barrage of words.
Jiang Cheng picked at his ear with annoyance, then turned and scolded, "Wei Wuxian, you have a fever and you're still so noisy?! Can't you see that Lan Wangji is practically shutting down his senses to leave you hanging there!"
Wei Wuxian pouted and shook a finger: "No, no, no, Lan Zhan is just aloof. Talking to him is just for my own amusement. If it were you, who would want to talk to you? Humph."
Upon hearing such an arrogant "humph," Jiang Cheng almost jumped up and smacked him on the head.
Lan Wangji said, "Quiet. You still have a fever. Don't speak. Conserve your strength."
Wei Wuxian said, "You finally answered. How many days have we been waiting? Why hasn't anyone come to rescue us yet?"
Lan Wangji said, "It hasn't even been a day."
Wei Wuxian covered his face and said, "Why is this so unbearable? It must be because I'm with you. If only Jiang Cheng had stayed, even arguing with him would be more interesting than being with you like this. Jiang Cheng! Where the hell have you been! It's been almost seven days!!!"
Wei Wuxian: ...
She had just said she didn't want to talk to Jiang Cheng, and the sound of her being slapped in the face was so crisp.
Jiang Cheng glanced sideways at Wei Wuxian, giving him an equally, or even more, arrogant, "Hmph!"
Lan Wangji thrust a branch into the fire, and the thrust unleashed a burst of sword intent, sending sparks flying and dancing wildly. He coldly said, "Rest."
Wei Wuxian curled up into a ball like a shrimp again, facing him, and said, "Are you sure you're not mistaken? I just woke up, and you're telling me to rest again. Don't you want to see me awake?"
Retracting the branch, Lan Wangji said calmly, "You're overthinking it."
Wei Wuxian thought to himself, "He's impervious to reason and defense. He's not as interesting as Lan Zhan from a few days ago, whose face was as black as the bottom of an old pot, who spoke with a certain tone, and who would bite if he got angry. But a Lan Zhan like that is hard to come by, and I'm afraid I'll never have the chance to see him again."
He said, "I'm so bored. Lan Zhan, let's chat. You start."
Lan Wangji asked, "When do you usually rest?"
Wei Wuxian said, "You've started something really boring, so dry and unappealing that I don't really want to continue. But I'll give you face and you can continue anyway. Let me tell you, I never sleep until after 1 AM in Lotus Pier. I often stay up all night."
Lan Wangji said, "Indecent behavior. A bad habit."
Wei Wuxian said, "Do you think everyone is like your family?"
Lan Wangji said, "It needs to be changed."
Wei Wuxian covered his ears and said, "I'm sick. I have a fever. Lan Er-gege, can you say something nice to comfort this poor me?"
Lan Wangji remained silent, while Wei Wuxian said, "Can't speak? Fine, I knew it. If you can't speak, can you sing? Are you good at singing?"
Everyone: ...
Wei Wuxian is really something; I've never seen Hanguang-jun talk nonsense for so long.
Then Wei Wuxian made an even more "disrespectful" request—to sing.
Everyone turned to look at Wei Wuxian, and saw that he even sat up straight, with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.
Everyone: ...He actually sang it?!
He had only said it casually, just to kill time with Lan Wangji, and had no expectation that he would agree. But after a long silence, a low and soft singing voice echoed in the empty cave.
Lan Wangji actually sang!
The facts told them: Lan Wangji really did sing.
Moreover, the tune sounded exceptionally familiar; some people with a keen ear for music recognized it as the tune that Wei Wuxian had unintentionally played at Dafan Mountain.
Everyone: ...
This is truly something I've never seen before.
Wei Wuxian closed his eyes, turned over, spread his limbs, and said, "It sounds nice."
He asked, "What's the name of this piece?"
Lan Wangji seemed to say something in a low voice. Wei Wuxian opened his eyes and asked, "What's your name?"
He still couldn't make out the name of the piece. A surge of heat rushed to his face, his head and joints burned with pain, and a persistent buzzing in his ears.
If you didn't hear it clearly back then, don't try to hear it too clearly on Tianying now.
Although he later asked Lan Wangji about the name of the song during a night hunt, he never expected that the name had actually been chosen so early.
All that could be heard was Lan Wangji, hidden in the shadows, softly uttering two words—"Wangxian."
When Wei Wuxian woke up again, he opened his eyes and saw not the dark cave ceiling, nor Lan Wangji's pale and handsome face, but a wooden board with a series of funny kissing heads drawn on it.
This is a doodle he drew on his bedside table in Lotus Pier.
Everyone: ...
Is this a future homosexual relationship?!
If someone can draw such vivid kissing figures, who could tell that this person has the potential to be a homosexual?
Wei Wuxian lay on his wooden couch, while Jiang Yanli was reading a book with her head down. When she saw him wake up, her delicate eyebrows lifted, and she put down her book and called out, "A-Xian!"
Wei Wuxian said, "Senior Sister!"
He struggled to sit up from the bed. His limbs were no longer burning, but they were still weak, and his throat was slightly dry. Wei Wuxian asked, "I'm back? When did I come out of the cave? Did Uncle Jiang bring people to rescue me? Where's Lan Zhan? Where's Jiang Cheng?"
As soon as the wooden door opened, Jiang Cheng walked in, dragging a white porcelain jar in one hand, and shouted, "What are you yelling about!"
After finishing his drink, he turned to Jiang Yanli and said, "Sister, I brought you the soup you made."
Jiang Yanli took the jar and scooped out its contents into a bowl. Wei Wuxian said, "Jiang Cheng, you brat, come here!"
Jiang Cheng said, "What are you doing here? Are you going to kneel down and thank me?"
Wei Wuxian said, "You only brought people here after seven days? Are you trying to kill me?!"
Jiang Cheng asked, "Are you dead? Then who is talking to me now?"
Wei Wuxian said, "It should only take you five days at most to get back to Yunmeng from Muxi Mountain!"
Jiang Cheng said, "Are you stupid? You're only calculating the time to get back, not the time to get there? Besides, after we get there, I'll have to lead people all over the mountains and fields to find that old banyan tree, dig open the hole that Wen Chao and the others blocked, and rescue you in seven days. Be grateful!"
Wei Wuxian thought for a moment and realized he had actually forgotten to include the time in the calculation. He was speechless for a moment and said, "That seems to be the case. But why didn't Lan Zhan remind me?"
Jiang Cheng said, "He's annoyed enough just seeing you, do you expect him to listen to you carefully?"
Wei Wuxian said, "That's true!"
Everyone: ...
They realized that Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng never had a normal conversation, whether in the Heavenly Shadow or in the spatial dimension.
Lan Jingyi didn't pay attention to what the two were saying; his mind was filled with the aroma emanating from the white porcelain jar that Jiang Cheng was holding, and his eyes were practically sparkling with envy.
Fortunately, Xiao Niangui was generous this time, allowing everyone present to experience the delicious taste of her senior sister's lotus root and pork rib soup.
As a result, even after Wei Wuxian finished the soup in the movie, Jiang Yanli could still feel the younger generation staring at her intently, just like the greedy, wolfish gazes that Wei Wuxian had when he and Jiang Cheng were fighting over ribs in their youth.
Jiang Yanli ladled out a bowl of soup and handed it to him. The soup contained chunks of lotus root and pork ribs, both pinkish in color, simmered until the skin was slightly mushy, and incredibly fragrant, piping hot. Wei Wuxian hadn't eaten for days in the cave, so she couldn't give him anything too substantial all at once. This was perfect. He thanked his sister and began to drink, asking between sips, "Where's Lan Zhan? Was he rescued too? Is he here? Or did he go back to his home in Gusu?"
Everyone: ...
Hey, look at that. You said you didn't know what you were thinking back then, but it's just your nature to ask four questions about Lan Wangji like a machine gun as soon as you woke up.
Jiang Cheng said, "Nonsense. He's not one of our family members. What would he be doing here? Of course, he's going back to Gusu."
Wei Wuxian said, "He went back alone? His family in Gusu..."
Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Fengmian stepped in. Wei Wuxian put down his bowl and said, "Uncle Jiang!"
Jiang Fengmian said, "Please sit down."
Jiang Yanli handed Wei Wuxian a handkerchief to wipe his mouth and asked, "Is it delicious?"
Wei Wuxian didn't take the handkerchief, but exaggeratedly pouted and said, "Delicious!"
Jiang Cheng said, "Don't you have hands?"
Jiang Yanli smiled as she wiped Wei Wuxian's mouth and chin, then happily took the bowl and went out.
Wei Wuxian glanced smugly at Jiang Cheng: "Jiang Cheng, admit it, you're just jealous that Shijie likes me!"
Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes.
What's he jealous of? Before Wei Wuxian came to the Jiang family, it was him who helped his older sister wipe his mouth every day!
Jiang Fengmian sat down in the spot where she had just been sitting, looked at the white porcelain jar, and seemed to want to try it too, but the bowl had already been taken away by Jiang Yanli. Jiang Cheng said, "Father, are the Wen family still unwilling to return the sword?"
Jiang Fengmian withdrew his gaze and said, "They are currently celebrating."
Wei Wuxian asked, "What are we celebrating?"
Jiang Fengmian said, "Congratulations to Wen Chao for single-handedly slaying the Slaughtering Xuanwu Beast."
Upon hearing this, Wei Wuxian nearly rolled off the bed: "The Wen family killed them?!"
Jiang Cheng scoffed, "Otherwise what? You expect them to say you killed them?"
Wei Wuxian said, "Wen dogs are talking nonsense and are shameless. It was clearly Lan Zhan who killed them."
Jiang Fengmian smiled slightly and said, "Is that so? Coincidentally, the second young master of the Lan family told me that you were the one who killed him. Then who exactly did he kill him?"
Wei Wuxian said, "I suppose we both had a part in it. But he was the main killer. I just crawled into the monster's shell and drove it out. Lan Zhan stayed outside and wore it down for three hours before finally killing it."
Everyone: ...
That wretched Wen dog, with that cowardly look, he thinks he can claim all the credit for killing Xuanwu?
Poor Sect Leader Jiang, he's already being fed dog food so early.
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