TFOD Chapter 70

Lan Wangji walked closer, handing him the Emperor’s Smile. Wei Wuxian, hugging the jar, went inside. Lan Wangji looked at his back, shook his head, but his gaze was very gentle. Lan Xichen glanced at him and said, “Did you take it from your room?”

Lan Wangji nodded.

Lan Xichen said, “You… it’s best not to touch alcohol. Be careful, like that time back then.”

His gaze landed on Lan Wangji’s clothing near his collarbone. Lan Wangji also lowered his head, glanced at his chest, and said, “It won’t happen like that again.”

Lan Xichen forced a smile and sighed again.

After Lan Xichen left, Lan Wangji entered the room, lightly closing the door. Wei Wuxian, while taking off the seal of the jar, was still pondering the story of Gusu Lan Sect’s ancestor Lan An and Qingheng-Jun, thinking, “The Gusu Lan Sect is truly a mysterious family. Although their ancestor was a monk, and their family style is rigid, they are truly… a bunch of love seeds.”

While pondering this, he couldn’t help but look at the other descendant of Gusu Lan Sect in the room.

Lan Wangji was looking down at a book, a paper lamp on the corner of the desk. The soft lamplight made his face even more beautiful, like jade, his cold expression and light-colored eyes also coated with a warm hue, handsome as if he was not real. For a moment, Wei Wuxian was distracted, mesmerized, and involuntarily leaned toward him.

Lan Wangji raised his eyes and asked, “What is it?”

Wei Wuxian quickly recovered and said, “Nothing. I just think your bookmark is quite pretty.”

Lan Wangji’s bookmark was a pale dried flower, preserved very well. The color was still vivid, the petals were delicately veined as if with life, clipped between the book pages, emitting a faint fragrance. Wei Wuxian raised his hand to pick out the bookmark and said, “Peony?”

Lan Wangji said, “Yes.”

Wei Wuxian played with it for a moment before returning the bookmark to him, saying, “Your brother was hit pretty hard.”

Lan Wangji carefully clipped the dried peony flower into the book, closed it, and said, “When he finds the evidence, he won’t tolerate it.”

Wei Wuxian said, “That’s right. After all, he is your brother.”

Even if Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao have a good relationship, he is a member of Gusu Lan Sect and has his own principles.

Wei Wuxian opened a jar of wine, thinking, “The last time Lan Zhan got drunk, he honestly answered me, saying he hadn’t secretly drunk any of the Emperor’s Smile in his room, so what is he hiding these Emperor’s Smiles for? It wouldn’t be just for me to drink, that’s a bit shameless to think like that. Speaking of which, should I apologize to him for the forehead ribbon incident? After all, I have played with it so many times. But what if he gets angry and kicks me out? But I’ve been messing around for so long and he hasn’t gotten angry, which shows his self-cultivation is getting better. Probably if I mess around a bit more he won’t get angry either. No, I shouldn’t ask him, I should just pretend I don’t know what the forehead ribbon means, so next time I can deliberately pull it. If he gets angry, I will innocently say I didn’t know, ignorance is bliss…”

Wei Wuxian was smug, when Lan Wangji said, “What’s wrong?”

He turned his head, straightened his expression, and said, “Nothing. I’m happy.” Absentmindedly, he opened a small jar, lifted it up, and took a big gulp, instantly spitting it out with a “poof.”

Lan Wangji immediately put down his book and said, “What happened again?”

Wei Wuxian waved his hand and said, “Nothing! Nothing, nothing!”

While saying nothing was wrong, he put the jar back, and with a gloomy face, changed to another jar.

Last time after he stole a drink, he deliberately added water into the jar, thinking he’ll scare Lan Wangji when he himself drink the water. Who knew his luck was so bad, that the two jars Lan Wangji took had exactly one filled with water, which he himself drank.

Ever since they came back, every time he tried to tease Lan Wangji, he would end up with the result of lifting a rock to drop on his own foot, making it truly perplexing!

Wei Wuxian didn’t know when he fell asleep. Drowsily, until dawn, he suddenly woke up. With a jolt, he climbed up and looked around. Lan Wangji, with his clothes on, was carrying his Qin sword, his hand which was placed on his shoulder was retracted, his eyes focused on a thing in his palm. He said, “There are uninvited guests.”

Wei Wuxian squinted and saw that it was the Gusu Lan Sect’s pass token. He remembered Lan Wangji’s token was of quite high grade. If an outsider invaded the Cloud Recesses’ barrier, it would trigger an alert.

However, it has been more than a decade since anyone dared to casually invade the Cloud Recesses. Wei Wuxian jumped out of bed and found that his outer robe had been taken off at some point. He said while putting on his clothes, “Who is it?”

Lan Wangji shook his head, indicating Wei Wuxian to follow him. The two of them went stealthily towards a residence hidden by green bamboo. Light was coming through the paper window. Wei Wuxian took a look at the wooden plaque in front of the courtyard and said, “Cold Chamber?”

Sure enough, Lan Xichen was sitting upright inside. Seeing the two of them enter, he wasn’t surprised. He exchanged a look with Lan Wangji, both of them understanding. Lan Wangji brought Wei Wuxian to sit behind the screen.

After a while, the bamboo curtain of the Cold Chamber was lifted. A light footstep entered the room, and it seemed someone sat down across from Lan Xichen.

After a moment, a sound of jade touching was heard. It seemed that someone put something on the table and pushed it over.

The first one to speak was Lan Xichen, “What is the meaning of this?”

A person said, “Returning it to Second Brother.”

It was Jin Guangyao.

Lan Xichen said, “I have already gifted this to you.”

Jin Guangyao said, “This pass token has not been invalidated for many years. Since it is now invalidated, it should be returned to its original owner.”

Wei Wuxian understood. Because Ze Wu-Jun and Lianfang-Zun were close, Lan Xichen gave Jin Guangyao a pass token of the Cloud Recesses, allowing him to come and go without hindrance. However, it seemed that in the last few days, he had modified the barrier of Cloud Recesses, or revoked Jin Guangyao’s access to that token, so Jin Guangyao came to visit but was rejected. Therefore, he proactively returned the pass token.

Like Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen didn’t know how to be diplomatic. Jin Guangyao used a retreat to advance. He, on the other hand, kept silent. After a while, he said, “What is your purpose of coming here?”

Jin Guangyao said, “There is still no news of Hanguang-Jun and the Yi Ling Patriarch here. If I don’t let people search Cloud Recesses, many families will have great doubts and objections. Second Brother, whenever it is convenient for you, please open the gates for an hour, and then I can bring people over to deal with the situation.”

Wei Wuxian had thought that he had come to request a search, but who knew that Jin Guangyao would say such things? It seemed that he wasn’t interested in searching for the Yi Ling Patriarch, and was a bit surprised. Outside the screen, Jin Guangyao said again, “Second Brother, what’s wrong with you?”

Lan Xichen said, “Nothing.”

Jin Guangyao said, “If you are worried about Wangji, you don’t need to be. Hanguang-Jun’s character has been known by all the families as elegant and upright for many years. The reason he is doing this must be because he was deceived. Furthermore, he hasn’t done anything irredeemable. When everything is clear, everything will be fine. I will not let others have a chance to gossip.”

Lan Xichen said, “When the time comes? When is that?”

Jin Guangyao said, “After the Burial Mounds are cleared.”

Wei Wuxian was stunned. Lan Xichen said, “Burial Mounds?”

Jin Guangyao said, “Ever since the brawl at Jinlin Tower that day, many strange occurrences have happened in Moling, Lanling, Yunmeng, and other places. Tombs are being destroyed, and corpses are disappearing. There are signs showing that large groups of corpses are heading towards Yiling. They are probably going to the Burial Mounds.”

Lan Xichen said, “What exactly is the purpose of doing this?”

Jin Guangyao said, “I don’t know. I guess it might be Wei Wuxian who activated some evil array or used the Yin Tiger Seal.”

Lan Xichen said, “At Jinlin Tower, he was stabbed by Jin Ling. How can he still activate these things?”

Jin Guangyao said, “Second Brother, during the battle where Wei Wuxian betrayed the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, how badly was he wounded? Still, wasn’t he able to return and command the corpses? For the Yi Ling Patriarch, what is difficult?”

Wei Wuxian touched his chin, thinking, “You think too highly of me…”

Jin Guangyao said, “Therefore, there will probably be a second encirclement of the Burial Mounds soon. I’ve already notified some other families to go to Jinlin Tower to discuss this. Second Brother, will you come?”

After a long while, Lan Xichen said, “I will come. Go to the study to wait a while, I’ll go with you later.”

After Jin Guangyao left, Lan Xichen turned behind the screen, and looked at Lan Wangji for a moment. He said, “I will go to Jinlin Tower. You two go to the Burial Mounds. We’ll act separately.”

Lan Wangji slowly nodded and said, “Okay.”

Lan Xichen said, “If he truly has ill intentions, I will absolutely not tolerate it.”

Lan Wangji said, “I know.”

The two of them went down Cloud Recesses via a small path. On the way, the grass beside the white stone path rustled. Suddenly it parted, and a small snow-white head and a pair of long ears popped out.

The rabbit wiggled its pink nose, and when it saw Lan Wangji, its drooping ears suddenly stood up. With a leap, it jumped towards him. They arrived at the grassland, and Little Apple was lying next to a tree. Several dozen round white rabbits surrounded it. Most of them were closing their eyes, sleeping soundly, and a few were still moving. Wei Wuxian walked to the tree and scratched Little Apple’s donkey head. Little Apple was startled, and with a snort, it woke up. When it saw Wei Wuxian, it was about to yell, but the rabbits, startled awake, shook their long ears, and hopped towards Lan Wangji, bunching together at his snow-white boots, running around him. It was unknown what made them so excited.

Wei Wuxian pulled Little Apple’s reins, tugging it while threatening it to move, The rabbits were standing on their hind legs, one by one, clinging to Lan Wangji’s legs, trying to climb up. Lan Wangji remained unmoved. When the two began to move, those white rabbits stumbled after those white boots. No matter how Wei Wuxian shooed them, they wouldn’t leave. Lan Wangji bent down and picked one up, holding it in his arms. His face was as cold as ever, but his movements were gentle. His slender fingers scratched the chin of one rabbit. The rabbit shook its long ears, turned its head away, its ruby-like eyes narrowed into a line. It seemed to be very comfortable being scratched. Wei Wuxian went to scratch it, but it turned its head away. Wei Wuxian said, “You dislike me so much. You only love him, you really are loyal.”

Lan Wangji looked at him and put the white rabbit into his arms. Wei Wuxian giggled and took it, the rabbit squirmed in his arms, struggling. Wei Wuxian pulled its ears and said, “You don’t like me? You hate me? Go, run away. No matter how much you run, you can’t escape. You might as well like me.”

Wei Wuxian teased the rabbit for a while. When they were about to leave Cloud Recesses’ gate, he released the rabbit, whose white fur was ruffled by him. The rabbits couldn’t follow any longer, and sadly, they drooped their ears and sat on the ground, watching their masters leave.

Wei Wuxian turned his head to look and said, “They are all reluctant to part with you, Hanguang-Jun. I didn’t expect that you would be so popular with these small things. When you take care of them, you must be very gentle and careful. I can’t do that.”

Lan Wangji said, “Can’t do it?”

Wei Wuxian said smugly, “That’s right! Things that fly in the sky, walk on the ground, swim in the water, all turn around and run when they see me.”

Lan Wangji shook his head, his meaning was very clear: it must be Wei Wuxian who acted badly first, that is why they didn’t like him.