Chapter 41 Mysterious Jade Pendant Fragments
On the way back, passing a mountain stream, Wei Wuxian insisted on going down to catch some fish. Lan Wangji had no choice but to stop and avoid the dust. The stream was clear, and among the gravel were indeed many plump groupers. Wei Wuxian took off his shoes and jumped in, the splashing water soaking Lan Wangji's clothes.
"Lan Zhan, look, this one is big!" Wei Wuxian shouted excitedly while holding the harpoon, but he tripped over a round stone and hurriedly grabbed a blue stone that was half submerged in water.
"Be careful." Lan Wangji stepped forward quickly and was about to pull him, but he saw Wei Wuxian staring at his palm in shock.
His fingertips were stained with damp mud, a hint of warm white glimpsing beneath. Wei Wuxian squatted down and carefully scraped away the dirt from the cracks in the bluestone. A palm-sized fragment of a jade pendant gradually emerged—the jade was transparent, yet the edges were broken neatly, with faint traces of blood remaining at the fracture. On the front was a faint seal character, what looked like the right half of the character "君" (Jun).
“This is…” Wei Wuxian’s fingertips traced over the half-word, and a chaotic flurry of fragments suddenly flashed through his mind—the blurry silhouette of the woman, the white jade hairpin stuck in her hair, and a whisper blown away by the wind: “…The bloodline of the Jun family must always recognize their ancestors…”
He felt a sudden sharp pain in his head and stumbled back half a step, only to be held steady by Lan Wangji.
"What's wrong?" Lan Wangji noticed that his face was pale and there was a subtle tension in his tone.
Wei Wuxian pressed his temples and shook his head, his fingertips tightly gripping the jade pendant fragment, his knuckles turning white. “Nothing… I just suddenly felt a little familiar.” He stared at the half-word “Jun” and felt an inexplicable stir in his heart. “Jun… I feel like I’ve heard this surname somewhere before.”
Si Zhui came over to take a look: "Dad, this jade pendant looks quite old. Could it be left behind by a cultivator?"
Wei Wuxian said nothing, tucking the jade pendant fragments into his arms, his fingertips still cold. He remembered asking his mother his last name when he was little, and his mother would always smile, touch his head, and say, "Ah Xian, just remember that your name is Cang Se San Ren." But he clearly remembered that his mother, drunk once, had murmured to him, "...but if your grandfather saw us, Xian Xian would definitely like it, he's..." She swallowed the rest of the words back, and when he asked again, only a deeper silence followed.
"Let's go back first." Lan Wangji held his slightly cold hand, and the warmth from his palm gradually passed to him, "Don't think too much."
Wei Wuxian gathered himself and forced a smile. "Yeah, maybe it's just an ordinary old jade pendant." But he knew in his heart that the flashes of memory and the inexplicable palpitations hadn't come out of nowhere. Jun...his mother's surname. Could this be related to her?
On the night he returned to the Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian locked himself in his study, digging out every ancient tome he could find. When Lan Wangji came in with hot tea, he saw a pile of yellowed files spread out before him, his fingertips poised on the entry for "Jun" in the "Hundred Family Names" collection.
Wei Wuxian muttered to himself, his fingertips pausing on the three characters "Shangtianting." He suddenly remembered the tiny mountain patterns carved into his mother's sword tassel. At the time, he had thought them merely decorative, but now, thinking about it, they bore some resemblance to the topography recorded in ancient texts.
“Lan Zhan,” he looked up at Lan Wangji, confusion in his eyes, “Tell me, will my mother…”
Lan Wangji interrupted him before he could finish his words. He handed the hot tea to Wei Wuxian and said in a steady voice, "Whatever it is, I'm here." He picked up the jade pendant fragment and examined it carefully by candlelight. "There's residual spiritual energy around the edge of the fragment, as if it was forcibly shattered. Perhaps we could ask Nie Huaisang; he has a lot of ancient books."
Wei Wuxian held the hot tea in his hand, the warmth spreading from his fingertips to his heart, and his chaotic thoughts gradually calmed down. Even if the jade pendant was indeed related to his mother's life experience, so what? He was no longer the lonely soul who needed to rely on a surname to trace his roots.
But when Lan Wangji turned to collect the scattered files, Wei Wuxian still put the fragment into the brocade pouch he carried with him. He touched the raised corners of the pouch, and his mind replayed the look his mother had given him the last time—hidden in that look, besides reluctance, seemed to be some unspoken instructions.
Sizhui heard the noises in the study from outside the door, but didn't dare go in. He saw his father whispering something. His father's laughter drifted through the window, a laugh that, though a little tired, was more reassuring than before. Moonlight fell on the study window lattice, overlapping their shadows, like a complete piece of jade, nestled neatly in the cloudless night.
He didn't know what secrets were hidden in the jade pendant fragment. He only knew that his father seemed to have remembered something important, and as long as his father was around, his father would never really panic.
Just like the bluestone in the mountain stream, no matter how fast the water flows, it will always firmly support those who fall into the water.
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