Chapter 113: WangXian, Twenty-Three (3)

The day after their meeting with Luo Qingyang and her husband, the two of them came to a small town in Guangling.

Wei Wuxian raised a hand to shade his brow, caught sight of a tavern's banner fluttering up ahead, and said, 'Let's rest over there.'

Lan Wangji gave a nod, and the two walked on side by side.

In the time since that night at Yunmeng Guanyin Temple, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had traveled as companions, roaming the four directions with Little Apple to hunt where they pleased, still keeping to the old creed of going wherever there was trouble; wherever they heard of Evil Spirits stirring up chaos and harrying the common folk, there they would go to look into it, lift a hand to set it right, and along the way wander the hills and waters and take in the customs of each place. Three months passed like this, ears shut to the affairs of the cultivation world, and what carefree ease it was.

They went into the tavern and took a table at an inconspicuous corner, and when the waiter came over to greet them, he weighed their looks and bearing, saw the sword at Lan Wangji's waist, then looked at the flute at Wei Wuxian's, and could not help connecting them in his mind with a certain two whose names had been buzzing through every mouth of late. But after staring hard for a good while, he found that this white-robed guest truly wore no Gusu Lan Clan forehead ribbon, and in the end he did not dare be certain.

Wei Wuxian called for wine, while Lan Wangji ordered several dishes. Listening to the low voice reciting the names of the dishes, Wei Wuxian propped his chin in one hand while the other, beneath the table, wound its fingers round a snow-white forehead ribbon, a smile brimming over his face. Only once the waiter had gone did he say, 'So many spicy dishes. Will you be able to eat them?'

Lan Wangji picked up the teacup from the table, took a sip, and said evenly, 'Sit properly.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'There's no tea in the cup.'

'...' Lan Wangji filled the teacup and lifted it back to his lips.

After a moment, he said again, '...Sit properly.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'Am I not sitting properly? I haven't even put my legs up on the table like I used to.'

Enduring it a moment, Lan Wangji said, 'Then do not put them anywhere else either.'

Wei Wuxian said blankly, 'Where did I put them?'

Lan Wangji: '...'

Wei Wuxian said, 'Second Young Master Lan asks for so much. Why don't you teach me how to sit, then.'

Lan Wangji set down the teacup, looked him over, gave a flick of his sleeve, and was just about to rise and teach him properly when the table out in the main hall burst all at once into a gale of laughter.

One man at the table crowed with gleeful malice, 'I knew Jin Guangyao's way of doing things would bring him down sooner or later! I've waited so long for this day, and now at last it's all out in the open, hah! Truly, good and evil get their due, and Heaven's wheel comes round!'

At first hearing, Wei Wuxian felt a strange fondness, for the man's tone and the substance of his railing were both deeply familiar, nothing changed but the target of the abuse, and he could not help tilting an ear to listen closely. One cultivator, chopsticks in hand, gestured grandly over the realm and declared, 'It's just as the ancients always said! These men at the top, the more glittering they look on the surface, the filthier and fouler they are behind it!'

'Right, not a decent one among them. All these honored titles, these so-called gentlemen, every one of them is just a hide pulled on to put on a show for others.'

One man, washing down great mouthfuls of meat with wine, sprayed spittle as he chewed and said, 'Speaking of which, this Sisi was a famous beauty of the pleasure houses in her day, all the rage. Aged into that, I didn't even recognize her, damned if it didn't turn my stomach. And Jin Guangshan, what a wretched way to die, hahahaha...'

'And to think Jin Guangyao could dream up a method like that to finish off his own father. A perfect match. Perfect!'

'What I can't figure out is, why didn't this Jin Guangyao kill that old whore? A living witness ought to be silenced. Is he a fool or what?'

'How do you know he's a fool? He's Jin Guangshan's seed, after all, maybe a born philanderer too, maybe his tastes run strange and he had some sort of... heh heh, some unspeakable thing going with Sisi as well.'

'Heh heh, that's what I'd think too, but isn't it also being said that Jin Guangyao, from carrying on with his own blood sister, frightened himself into a hidden affliction? So even if he had the heart for it he hasn't the strength, hahaha...'

These rumors and slanders, this invented filth, were familiar to the last degree. Wei Wuxian remembered how, in his own day, countless people had spread the tale that he had carried off a thousand virgins to his demon lair at the Burial Mounds to debauch them day and night, all for the sake of cultivating some great evil art, and he found it absurd beyond words, thinking to himself, 'Well, however you slice it, the things they spread about me were at least a notch better than the things they spread about Jin Guangyao.'

As the talk behind them grew more and more unspeakable, Lan Wangji's brows drew together; fortunately there was a sensible person at that table who could not stand it either, and one of them said in a low voice, 'Keep it down a bit... it's hardly fit talk anyway.'

The few who had been laughing said carelessly, 'What's there to fear? Nobody here knows us.'

'Exactly! And even if we were overheard, so what? You'd police Heaven and earth and a man's farting mouth too?'

'You think the Lanling Jin Clan today is still the Lanling Jin Clan of old? Can they shut other people's mouths now? Let them throw their weight around like they used to, if they've got the spine for it! Don't like hearing it, then choke on it!'

One man changed the subject. 'All right, all right, why keep harping on this. Eat, eat. However much Jin Guangyao stirred up storms while he lived, now he can do nothing but sit shut in a coffin and brawl with Nie Mingjue.'

'I doubt he can hold his own. Enemies meet with eyes burning red. His corpse, bones and all, is bound to be torn to pieces by Nie Mingjue.'

'No doubt! I went to the Coffin-Sealing Ceremony, and the resentful energy round that casket was so heavy not a blade of grass grew for a li in any direction! I really wonder whether that coffin can truly seal them away for a hundred years.'

'Whether it holds or not, that's no worry of yours. It's a headache for those few clans to fret over. In any case the Lanling Jin Clan is finished, the world's turned over for good.'

'Still, at the Coffin-Sealing Ceremony, Zewu-Jun looked terribly ill.'

‘How could it not be a mess? The coffin holds his two sworn brothers, the youngsters at home spend all day chasing about with a Fierce Corpse, and on a Night Hunt they even need a Fierce Corpse to bail them out of trouble! Small wonder he's shut himself away in seclusion. If Lan Wangji doesn't go back soon, I daresay Lan Qiren will be cursing up and down the streets…’

Lan Wangji: '...'

Wei Wuxian snorted out a laugh. The talk over there went on. 'Come to think of it, this Coffin-Sealing Ceremony rather opened my eyes. Nie Huaisang actually pulled it off, didn't he? When he first stepped forward to volunteer, I was sure he'd make a mess of it. The man never knows a single thing you ask him.'

'Same here! Who'd have guessed he'd preside over it no worse than Lan Qiren.'

Listening to their scattered astonishment, Wei Wuxian thought to himself, what was this worth? In the decades to come, this head of the Qinghe Nie Sect might well begin little by little to show his edge, and go on bringing the world a great deal more astonishment yet.

The dishes came, and the wine came too. Wei Wuxian filled a cup and drank it down slowly.

Suddenly he heard the voice of a youth say, 'Is the Stygian Tiger Seal actually inside that coffin or not?'

A hush fell over the tavern, and after a breath someone said, 'Who'd know that. In it, maybe. Where else would Jin Guangyao keep the Stygian Tiger Seal if not on his own person?'

'Hard to say, though. Isn't it said that the Stygian Tiger Seal is just a lump of scrap iron now? No use to anyone anymore.'

The youth sat alone at his table, a sword clasped to his chest, and said, 'That coffin, is it really sturdy enough? What if someone wanted a look to see whether the Stygian Tiger Seal was inside, what then?'

At once someone said loudly, 'Who would dare!'

'The Qinghe Nie Sect, the Gusu Lan Clan, and the Yunmeng Jiang Clan have all sent people to ring that burial ground and guard it. Who'd have eaten the heart of a bear or the gall of a leopard to try?'

The others all chimed in. The youth said no more, lifting the tea bowl from his table to take a sip, seemingly talked out of the notion. And yet the look in his eyes had not changed at all.

A look like that, Wei Wuxian had seen on a great many faces. And he knew it would not, by any means, be the last time he saw it.

After they left the tavern, it was Wei Wuxian who rode Little Apple again, while Lan Wangji walked ahead leading her by the rope.

Swaying along astride the little dappled donkey, Wei Wuxian drew the flute from his waist and raised it to his lips. The clear, soaring notes crossed the sky like a bird in flight, and Lan Wangji halted his step and listened in silence.

It was the very tune he had sung for Wei Wuxian when they were trapped in the Tortoise of Slaughter Cave Depths.

And it was the very tune that Wei Wuxian, after his rebirth, had played as if guided by some unseen hand on Mount Dafan, the one that let Lan Wangji be sure of who he was.

As the tune ended, Wei Wuxian winked his left eye at Lan Wangji and said, 'Well? I played that rather well, didn't I?'

Lan Wangji nodded slowly and said, 'A rare thing.'

Wei Wuxian knew that 'a rare thing' meant it was rare for his memory to serve him for once, and he could not hold back a laugh. 'Don't keep getting cross over this one thing. I was wrong before, all right? Besides, if my memory's poor, you should blame my mother for that.'

Lan Wangji said, 'Why.'

Wei Wuxian braced an arm on Little Apple's head, Chenqing spinning blurringly fast in his hand, and said, 'My mother used to say, you should remember the good others do you, and not remember the good you do for others. Don't pack too many things into your heart, that's the only way to live free and glad.'

This too was one of the very few things he could remember about his parents.

His thoughts drifted off for a moment, then Wei Wuxian drew them back, and seeing Lan Wangji watching him intently, said, 'My mother also said...'

When he was slow to give the second half, Lan Wangji asked, 'Said what.'

Wei Wuxian crooked a finger at him, his expression grave, and Lan Wangji drew a little nearer. Wei Wuxian bent down and said into his ear, '...she said you're already mine.'

Lan Wangji's brow stirred faintly, and just as he was about to part his lips, Wei Wuxian cut in first, 'Shameless, improper, tedious, frivolous, talking nonsense again, isn't that it? There, I've said it for you. Always the same handful of words, back and forth, truly not the slightest bit changed from before. I'm yours too, so we're even, all right?'

At a contest of the tongue, Lan Wangji could never match Wei Wuxian. He said evenly, 'If you say it's all right, then it is.'

Wei Wuxian gave the little dappled donkey's reins a tug and said, 'But honestly, I've come up with more than eighty names for this tune, and not one of them suits you?'

Lan Wangji said firmly, 'No.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'How can that be? I think Lan Zhan and Wei Ying's Troth-Plighting Song is rather good.'

Lan Wangji said nothing. Wei Wuxian rattled on with more nonsense, 'Or Hanguang and Yiling, Day After Day works fine too. One hearing and you can tell there's a whole story in it...'

As though he could not bear to hear a single new name more, Lan Wangji said, 'There is one.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'There's what?'

Lan Wangji said, 'A name.'

Wei Wuxian said in surprise, 'There is? If there is, you should have said so ages ago, what on earth is it called. And you kept it from me all this time, making me rack my brains over names for so long, wasting all my wit and brilliance.'

After a silence, Lan Wangji said, 'WangXian.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'Eh?'

Lan Wangji said, 'The tune is called WangXian.'

Wei Wuxian's eyes went wide.

In a breath he clutched his belly. 'Hahahahahahahaha no wonder you wouldn't tell me, you went and gave it a name on the sly like that, your intent plain as day for all to see. Not bad, Lan Zhan, when did you come up with it, hahahahahahahaha...'

It was as if Lan Wangji had long foreseen this would be Wei Wuxian's reaction; watching him rock back and forth on Little Apple's back, he could only shake his head a little, his look seemingly helpless, and yet the corner of his mouth had already curved up, soundless and faint, while a hazy ripple spread through his eyes.

He raised a hand to steady Wei Wuxian's waist, lest he pitch headlong off the donkey's back. Once he had laughed his fill at last, Wei Wuxian said gravely, 'WangXian, very good, splendid! I like it. Yes, this is exactly what it ought to be called.'

Lan Wangji said expressionlessly, 'I like it too.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'It sounds very refined, very Gusu Lan Clan. I think it could go straight into your family's collection of scores, with every disciple of the Gusu Lan Clan required to study it. And if they ask, Hanguang-Jun, what does the title mean, you can tell them just how this tune came to be.'

Hearing him start spouting nonsense again, Lan Wangji simply took up the rope of the Little Apple that carried Wei Wuxian, gripped the thin cord tight in his palm, and walked on down the road ahead. Wei Wuxian was still talking. 'Where shall we go next? It's been so long since I've had Emperor's Smile, why don't we head back to Gusu and take a turn through Caiyi Town first?'

Lan Wangji said, 'All right.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'It's been all these years, surely the Water Abyss there has been cleared out by now? If your uncle can just barely stand the sight of me, you can hide me away in your room together with those few jars of wine; and if he can't bear to see me, we'll go look around somewhere else. Sounds like Sizhui and the others are having a fine time Night Hunting with Wen Ning.'

Lan Wangji said, 'Mm.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'Though I hear the Gusu Lan Clan's house rules have been revised into a new edition again? Tell me, that Discipline Stone before the mountain at your gate, is there even room left to write them all...'

A gentle breeze came on, and the robes of them both rippled like waters in spring.

Facing the wind, Wei Wuxian watched Lan Wangji's retreating back, narrowed his eyes, drew his legs up crossed, and discovered to his surprise that he could actually hold this odd, ungainly posture on Little Apple's back without toppling over.

It was nothing but a trifling, idle matter, yet he treated it like some fresh and curious wonder he had stumbled upon, eager to share it with Lan Wangji, and called out, 'Lan Zhan, look at me, quick, look at me!'

Just as he had in those years past, Wei Wuxian called to him with a laugh, and he looked over.

And from that moment on, he could never look away again.