Chapter 92: Waking and Sleeping XX (3)

Wei Wuxian sighed inwardly and thought: 'Truth be told, more than all these hidden motives or not… right now I'm far more curious whether being cut-sleeve is the sort of thing that gets passed along through body-offering!'

As the thought drifted on, the weariness of so many days came welling up, and Wei Wuxian rubbed at his temples; Lan Wangji said, 'Get some rest.'

'All right,' said Wei Wuxian, and with that he sat down on the couch, kicked off his boots, and flopped onto his back, saying, 'Hanguang-jun, you should also—' and there, mid-sentence, he stumbled into an awkward little problem.

There was only the one bed in the room, and if Lan Wangji meant to rest as well, then he would have to lie down on the same bed as him. To be sure, over all these many days they had already slept on the same bed more times than he could count; yet ever since Jiang Cheng's long tirade in the ancestral hall at Lotus Pier, a great many things seemed to have turned subtle and uncertain. Now, never mind calling Lan Wangji over to lie down beside him — even asking for the rooms earlier had set him agonizing for a good long while.

Lan Wangji said, 'No need.'

Wei Wuxian propped himself up a little again and said, 'How can that do, you've been at it all these days too—' and the words were no sooner out than he regretted them, for if, having heard him out, Lan Wangji should reflect on the bother of it and decide that two rooms might be the better arrangement after all, would that not be more awkward still?

Lan Wangji said, 'I have no need. Rest.'

Wei Wuxian rubbed his chin and said, '…Oh. Then I'll lie down a while. Wake me at the hour of shen.'

Watching Lan Wangji sit upright at the edge of the table, already beginning to close his eyes and settle his spirit, Wei Wuxian at last lowered himself back down, slowly.

Pillowed on his own arm, he stared up at the rafters a while, then turned over to lie with his back to Lan Wangji; a long stretch passed and still his eyes stayed wide, unable to settle into an Anxin sleep, until a restlessness he could not master began to stir in the depths of his heart.

Back when he had been running wild out of his mind, all that talk of how he simply could not fall asleep unless he lay at Lan Wangji's side had, of course, been nonsense from start to finish. And yet, somewhere along the way he could not name, the nonsense seemed to have become the truth. Wei Wuxian thought: 'Now what's to be done — am I going to be unable to sleep from here on out unless it's a bed with Lan Zhan in it???'

Only after tossing and turning and wrestling with himself a good long while did Wei Wuxian finally, reluctantly, manage to close his eyes.

Dim and heavy, for who knew how long; when he woke, the daylight beyond the window had long since vanished — past the hour of you, most likely.

Wei Wuxian sat bolt upright, a small sound came from behind him, and turning to look he found Lan Wangji closing a book. Wei Wuxian said, 'Lan Zhan, why didn't you wake me? Didn't you say the hour of shen?'

Lan Wangji said, 'Rest your spirit fully, recover your strength. There is no hurry.'

This one sleep of Wei Wuxian's had run on for the better part of a day, and through that better part of a day Lan Wangji had, by his reckoning, done no more than go downstairs to fetch a book and come back to read it. A faint guilt stirred in him, and he hopped down from the bed and said, 'Sorry about that, I slept clean out of my senses. You should lie down a bit too.'

Lan Wangji said, 'It is nothing.'

Just then someone knocked, and the landlady called from beyond the door, 'Young masters, I've brought your meal up.'

Only then did Wei Wuxian realize it was already the hour of xu. Lan Wangji opened the door, and on the tray the landlady carried in there were, sure enough, a wine flask and two small cups; stepping inside, she said, 'Aiyo, by the looks of it you've slept clear through to now?'

Wei Wuxian grew more sheepish still and gave a dry laugh or two. The landlady set the tray on the table and said, 'Where might the two young masters hail from? If you've come from afar to see the sights, then of course you'd be worn out — you ought to rest well and build your spirits back up before you go playing.'

'Gusu,' said Wei Wuxian offhandedly.

The landlady said, 'Is that so! No wonder, then. I said to myself, two young masters as handsome as these could only have been raised in one of those Jiangnan water-towns where the land is fair and the people finer still.'

Lan Wangji might as well have heard nothing; Wei Wuxian laughed aloud and said, 'Don't measure me against him — he's far handsomer than I am.'

The landlady had a ready tongue, and she laughed: 'He's handsome, you're comely. Different things, but both a pleasure to look at! Oh — that reminds me.' She seemed to recall something, and went on, 'If you've come to play, you ought to go have a look at that Guanyin Temple here in our Yunping City.'

Wei Wuxian had been just about to ask her about the Guanyin Temple, and now she had brought it up herself, so he said, 'We saw that Guanyin Temple by daylight already. A Guanyin temple built right inside the city — that's a rare thing, surely.'

The landlady said, 'It is. The first time I laid eyes on it I was startled too.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'When did you come to Yunping City, landlady?'

The landlady said, 'Eight years now, I'd say.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'And the Guanyin Temple was already there then? You never heard why it would be built inside the city?'

The landlady said, 'Now that I couldn't tell you. At any rate the incense at that Guanyin Temple burns thick and busy — folk all over Yunping City go there to pray to the Bodhisattva Guanyin for peace whenever some trouble comes upon them, and when I've nothing else to do I go and light a few sticks myself.'

Wei Wuxian said offhandedly, 'Why not go straight to the cultivation clan stationed over this region?'

No sooner had he asked than he remembered: the cultivation clan stationed over this region — was that not precisely the Yunmeng Jiang Clan?

To his surprise, the landlady curled her lip and said, 'Go to them? Who'd dare.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'Oh? Why wouldn't you dare?'

The landlady said, 'You two young masters aren't from Yunping City, so you wouldn't know — all the land hereabouts in our Yunmeng falls under the Jiang family's charge, and the head of that house has a frightful temper, enough to scare the life out of you. His underlings put it about long ago: one clan governing so vast a stretch of land, with close on a hundred petty matters a day — some little ghost or sprite playing tricks on folk — if they sent people rushing out to deal with every single one the moment it happened, could they ever keep up? If it hasn't killed anyone it's no Fierce Ghost, no vicious fiend, and the petty trifles that aren't Fierce Ghosts or vicious fiends shouldn't be carried over to trouble them.' She said indignantly, 'What kind of devil's talk is that — wait till someone's dead and then go to them, isn't that too late!'

In truth, that nothing short of a Fierce Ghost or some grave calamity warranted their coming out was a rule that the greater clans had all but tacitly agreed upon. As for the saying 'wherever there is chaos, there he appears' — though for years now it had won everyone's praise, the only one who had truly lived up to it was the very man beside him, Lan Wangji, and no other.

The landlady went on, 'And besides, that Lotus Pier place — it's too dreadful, who'd ever dare go there!'

Wei Wuxian drew his gaze back from the still profile of Lan Wangji's face, gave a start, and said, 'Lotus Pier, dreadful? How could Lotus Pier be dreadful? Have you been?'

The landlady said, 'That place I've never been. But I knew someone who went, on account of some haunting at his home, and he picked a bad moment — that Sect Leader Jiang was right then swinging a glowing whip on his own training ground, flogging people, flesh and blood flying every which way, scream upon scream! A kindly servant whispered to him on the sly that the sect leader had seized the wrong man again and had been in a foul mood these few days, and warned him on no account to walk into it and court a beating — so he set down the gifts he'd brought along and fled, and never dared call on them again.'

Wei Wuxian had heard long ago that over these years Jiang Cheng went everywhere seizing Ghostly Path cultivators suspected of being reborn through Body Possession, hauling them all back to Lotus Pier for harsh interrogation. The landlady's acquaintance must have blundered in just as he was venting his spite. What a savage face Jiang Cheng would have worn then was not hard to imagine — small wonder an ordinary man should turn and flee.

The landlady said, 'And there's more — I heard there was another one frightened off as well.'

Wei Wuxian said, 'Frightened off by what?' Surely he hadn't likewise stumbled in on Jiang Cheng flogging someone. Just how diligently did Jiang Cheng seize men, how often did he wield that whip?

The landlady said, 'No, no. You could call it his bad luck, too. The man's surname happened to be Wen, and as it turns out that Sect Leader Jiang's mortal enemy, his sworn foe, was surnamed Wen as well — so he'd come to hate everyone under heaven who bore the name Wen, grinding his teeth at the very sight of them, fit to flay them skin from sinew, with never a kind look to spare…'

Wei Wuxian lowered his head, pinched at the bridge of his brow, and held his silence. As it happened no words were needed from him; having prattled on in one breath for so long, the landlady was thoroughly content, and said, 'I've kept on so long I've held up your meal, haven't I? I'll not disturb you further — I'll go on down now, and if there's anything more you want, just tell me.'

Wei Wuxian thanked her and saw her out the door, then turned and said, 'It seems the thing we're after has to be traced back eight years. Tomorrow we'll go find a few locals whose roots run deep here and ask around.'

Lan Wangji gave a slight nod, and Wei Wuxian said, 'Though we may get nothing out of them, either. Eight years — that's too long. Time enough to forget a great many things.'

He raised his hand to pour the wine, hesitated for the space of an instant, and at once admonished himself: 'If he won't drink, so be it; but if he does, I'll only ask a few questions, and do nothing more besides — only get clear what he truly feels. He won't remember a thing once he's sober anyway… it can't get in the way of anything.'

Having pledged this much to himself, his hand at last filled the cup steadily and pushed it before Lan Wangji as if it were nothing. He had already braced himself for Lan Wangji to refuse, yet — whether or not it was that something weighed on Lan Wangji's mind — without so much as a glance he lifted it, tipped back his head, and drained it dry.

Wei Wuxian brought his own cup to his lips, watching the goings-on over there with a studied carelessness. To his surprise, he had no sooner taken a small sip than it caught in his throat, and a violent fit of coughing seized him; he thought: 'The landlady's an honest soul, truly. I told her to find the strongest she had, and she's gone and found something this fierce.' In fact he had poured down wine ten times harsher than this without a flicker — being caught out this time was nothing but his own absent-mindedness. He wiped the wine from himself, and when he raised his head again Lan Wangji had, true to his hopes, slipped into the state.

This time he had fallen asleep sitting on the mat, still bolt upright and proper, and but for the closed eyes and the head bowed a little, there was no difference from how he usually sat. Wei Wuxian waved a hand before his face — no response at all — and only then set his heart at ease; he reached out a hand, lightly tipped up Lan Wangji's chin, and said softly, 'These past few days have nearly been the death of me. Hanguang-jun, you've finally fallen into my hands.'

The sleeping Lan Wangji obediently lifted his face. When this face had its eyes open, the irises so pale and the gaze inclined to cold, it seemed remote and aloof, wearing an air of stern inviolability. But with the eyes shut its contours softened greatly, like a jade image of some young and beautiful man, hushed and serene, holding for any onlooker a vast pull. The longer Wei Wuxian looked the more entranced he grew, and unable to help himself he cupped the chin and leaned his own face nearer and nearer, until it had come too near by far — when, amid that clear, cool drift of sandalwood, he abruptly came to his senses, thought better of it, and hastily withdrew his hand, and Lan Wangji's head drooped down once more.

Wei Wuxian's heart was pounding wildly, and to calm it he rolled over on the floor a few times, sprang to his feet, silently murmured a few words for composure, and slowly inched his way back to face Lan Wangji. He sat properly a while, waiting for him to wake; then, his mischief unquelled, he went back to poking at his cheek. He poked twice, and it suddenly struck him that he had never once seen what Lan Wangji looked like when he smiled — so he took the corners of Lan Wangji's mouth between two fingers and pulled them upward, meaning to see how he looked smiling. All at once a slight pain ran through his fingers. Lan Wangji had opened his eyes, and was staring at him, coldly.

And one of Wei Wuxian's forefingers was already caught between his teeth.