No one had said why exactly Wei Wuxian was suddenly absent from classes. One day everything was as usual. Then suddenly no one saw Wei Wuxian anywhere. Nie Huaisang knew that disappearing for an afternoon wasn't anything to be concerned about from Wei Wuxian. He had heard many stories of Wei Wuxian's antics and triumphs. Certainly none of Nie Huaisang's previous years in Cloud Recesses were anything like this year. This year was so much better, and Nie Huaisang was quite certain that it was because of Wei Wuxian. So if it was just an afternoon or even for an evening Nie Huaisang's only real thoughts were disappointment that he didn't get dragged along on the fun. Then the next day came and Wei Wuxian was not in class.

Not only did Wei Wuxian suddenly not come to class, but several other students were also suddenly absent. Five students to be exact. Five students were suddenly absent and Lan Qiren didn't say anything about it. Wei Wuxian, Jiang Wanyin, Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, and Lan Wangji were all suddenly absent on the same day. Even stranger, no one seemed to know anything about it. When people asked Wen Qionglin where his sister was he just stutteringly replied that she was assisting in the infirmary. He said nothing about why or if it was related to the other absent students. Outside of class Nie Huaisang had spotted Jiang Wanyin while he was heading back to his guest residence. Nie Huaisang considered going to ask him what was going on, but changed his mind very quickly. Jiang Wanyin was walking around like Nie Mingjue did after he found Nie Huaisang's saber left on the floor somewhere.

'I've never seen anyone look as angry as Dage before.' Nie Huaisang commented silently.

He quickly decided he would not approach Jiang Wanyin with any questions right now. The Jiang heir was frequently grumpy, but not like this. Nie Huaisang had never seen Jiang Wanyin this angry before. Two days with the same five students absent. Everyone was curious and poor Wen Qionglin was being hounded outside of lectures. Wen Qionglin began taking his meals in the infirmary. Nie Huaisang could only guess it was Wen Qionglin's last attempt at trying to escape the endless barrage of questions. No one was being allowed into the infirmary unless they were in need of medical assistance. Nie Huaisang didn't know if this was new. He was not aware of any time in the past when people tried to enter the infirmary without a valid reason. It was not exactly an exciting place to visit.

On the third day Jiang Wanyin was suddenly in class again. The other four were still absent and everyone who had tried to get answers out of Wen Qionglin were now asking Jiang Wanyin. Nie Huaisang was quite certain this was a bad idea and by the end of the day everyone else had figured that out too. Not only did they learn not to ask Jiang Wanyin anything about his absence or the other absent students. They also learned not to even mention Wei Wuxian in front of the Jiang heir. Now Nie Huaisang was truly worried. Clearly something happened, specifically to Wei Wuxian. Something serious enough to excuse his family from class, and require the skills of Wen Qing.

Wen Qing was a gifted doctor. Most likely they were using her services in treating Wei Wuxian. So there must have been some sort of serious medical emergency. Something complicated enough to warrant using the services of an outside doctor, rather than a GusuLan healer. Wen Qionglin was not absent, which was a bit of an odd complication to this theory. From what Nie Huaisang could recall he was certain that Wen Qionglin usually served as Wen Qing's assistant. Either Nie Huaisang's information was wrong, or the situation did not require extensive direct medical intervention. What could constitute an emergency worthy of an outside doctor, but not involve extensive hands on medical treatment? Wen Qing had not returned to class even after an entire week. So it had to be something that required continual monitoring.

Then of course there was Lan Wangji. Nie Huaisang had first considered that this might be a coincidence, but he had spotted Lan-er-gongzi coming and going from the infirmary a few times. It had only been a few times and they were all very brief. Not frequent in the slightest, making it seem as though Lan Wangji were living in the infirmary. Not that Nie Huaisang was keeping a close eye on the infirmary. It just so happened there was a nest of a very beautiful bird near the infirmary. If he happened to have a view of the infirmary's entrance while he observed the bird, it was purely coincidence.

Nie Huaisang had his suspicions already regarding Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. This was not Nie Huaisang's first year at Cloud Recesses. He remembered all too well what Lan-er-gongzi was like during previous years. Nie Huaisang had been forced to copy the rules under his supervision just last year. Lan Wangji was so cold and unreadable that Nie Huaisang could barely keep his brush from shaking as he wrote.

Lan Wangji this year was strangely different, but only around Wei Wuxian. The Second Jade was still quiet and withdrawn, but his expressions were a bit more expressive. In previous years Nie Huaisang had contemplated whether Lan Wangji was indeed carved of jade, like the name Twin Jades suggested. That of course was ludicrous and the older of the Twin Jades did not share the same lack of expression. More likely the brothers had earned the title for their pale skin and refined good looks.

Nie Huaisang was not sure which theory confirmed the other. His theory that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were perhaps romantically inclined toward each other? Or his theory that all the absences were centered around something horrible having happened to Wei Wuxian? Whichever theory he started with, Nie Huaisang was convinced that Lan Wangji was practically living by Wei Wuxian's side during his absence. Nie Huaisang was certain all of the absences were centered around Wei Wuxian because he had seen every single person who was absent except Wei Wuxian. Granted he was not always watching the infirmary. He couldn't very well spend the entirety of every day observing the bird's nest. He unfortunately had classes to attend to.

Of course it had only taken a few days before everyone was convinced Wei Wuxian was in the infirmary. No one mentioned Lan Wangji coming and going from there, but Jiang Yanli was frequently seen going in and out. If she was not visiting Wei Wuxian, who was she visiting? Certainly not Jiang Wanyin who had gone nowhere near the infirmary since his return to class. That part was actually the biggest stumbling block for Nie Huaisang's theory. If Wei Wuxian were gravely ill or injured, wouldn't Jiang Wanyin be visiting just as frequently as Jiang Yanli? Or at least visiting at all? Nie Huaisang was aware that Jiang Wanyin sometimes reacted with anger where others would not, but usually this was short lived. Although, Nie Huaisang thought about it more. Usually Wei Wuxian either joked with or encouraged Jiang Wanyin in some fashion when he became upset, effectively calming him down. If something was preventing Wei Wuxian from doing that would that account for this behavior?

Nie Huaisang had run through several theories. He was certain it had to be medical related. Medical related, but not requiring extensive application of medical interventions. Otherwise Wen Qionglin should have also been absent. Nie Huaisang had also noticed that Lan Xichen seemed to be making daily visits to the infirmary. This reinforced that this had to be something serious, and for some reason they were not disclosing it to anyone.

After a week of the same patterns suddenly none of the relevant parties were going in or out of the infirmary. Nie Huaisang noticed it right away when Wen Qing did not emerge to scare off a group of curious disciples just before morning lessons. Nie Huaisang was already thinking that Wei Wuxian had been moved somewhere else, but he confirmed it when he saw Jiang Yanli heading in a new direction with the evening meal. It looked like she had quite a lot to carry. So Nie Huaisang felt it was only polite to make sure she got to her destination alright and didn't need any help with carrying anything.

He really could not believe it when she walked toward the area reserved for direct descendents of the Lan Clan. Nie Huaisang nearly tripped over himself when he saw Wen Qing coming out of one of the residences and walking in the same direction as Jiang Yanli toward the residence opposite. Nie Huaisang quickly went back the way he came. He didn't want to intrude, or be spotted. If Wei Wuxian was being moved out of the infirmary, then a serious injury or ailment didn't seem likely. However, Wen Qing was moved to a residence near where Wei Wuxian was moved to. Clearly she was still overseeing his care in some fashion. Additionally it was not just some secluded section of guest residences. Cloud Recesses was a very regimented place. Guest residences were in one area. GusuLan Disciples a different area. The area Jiang Yanli had just entered was for members of the direct Lan bloodline only.

He briefly speculated whether Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were perhaps getting engaged? It would account for the location, but not anything else. Wei Wuxian was not a young lady who could have become pregnant before marriage. The behavior would have mostly matched with a family trying to hide the pregnancy to prevent a scandal. Although Wen Qing would certainly not be required for a pregnancy. The GusuLan sect had plenty of competent healers. More importantly Nie Huaisang was pretty sure Wei Wuxian was a man and unable to get pregnant.

Nie Huaisang considered this further. He supposed he technically could not rule this out. Wei Wuxian looked and behaved like any other young man, but it was not as though Nie Huaisang had ever confirmed whether or not he was equipped to bear children. Oddly enough the more he thought about this the more it actually made a lot of sense.

One of Nie Huaisang's friends when he was younger was a girl who was a few years older than him. Although she was very skilled with her sword, she never teased Nie Huaisang for his dislike of the saber. Everytime her father came to visit for official matters she would be brought along and she'd keep Nie Huaisang company. Everytime she left, Nie Mingjue would point out how much her skills surpassed Nie Huaisang's. Nie Huaisang was pretty sure Nie Mingjue was trying to motivate him to practice to catch up with his friend. Yet whenever she visited they didn't really talk about cultivation. Instead they would paint together and she would always bring poetry books with her during her visits.

During one visit Nie Huaisang witnessed some disciples bullying her oddly. He asked her about it later and she had explained that when she was little everyone had assumed her to be a boy. She said sometimes people who knew about this would bully her and refuse to treat her like the young lady she was. Nie Huaisang had asked a few more questions, which he was now a bit embarrassed that he ever voiced out loud. Then after her visit Nie Huaisang told Nie Mingjue the names of the disciples who bullied her. It never happened again and Nie Huaisang didn't really put much more thought into it than that.

Could Wei Wuxian be in a similar situation? Was he perhaps born equipped to bear children, rather than being equipped to impregnate someone else? Nie Huaisang wracked his memory to see if there was anything he had seen or heard that could prove or disprove this theory. Nie Huaisang eventually had to keep that as a possibility. He couldn't confirm or deny whether it was true, and it was only really relevant because of the current peculiar absence. If Wei Wuxian were pregnant with Lan Wangji's child most of this last week's events would make a lot of sense.

Pregnancy before marriage would be a major scandal. The most reasonable course of action would be to conceal it and rush a marriage between the two parties. If Wei Wuxian was indeed a man equipped to bear children then most likely it was something he did not wish to disclose to others. Otherwise Nie Huaisang was certain Wei Wuxian would have talked with him about it before. This would again be another reason they would conceal the pregnancy by keeping Wei Wuxian out of sight.

This might also explain Wen Qing overseeing Wei Wuxian's treatment? Nie Huaisang felt this part was a bit of a stretch since he doubted there would be much of a difference in the pregnancy just because Wei Wuxian was a man. If he was equipped to bear children then it should probably work the same way it did for a pregnant woman, shouldn't it? Nie Huaisang wasn't trained in medicine so he couldn't say for certain. For the sake of the theory it was possible Wen Qing's absence might make sense for overseeing the pregnancy.

Jiang Wanyin's would of course be angry about his brother getting pregnant before marriage. Nie Huaisang would actually expect Jiang Wanyin to beat up Wei Wuxian's partner, but in this case that partner would have to be Lan Wangji. Nie Huaisang meant no disrespect to Jiang Wanyin, but he could not hope to win a fight with Lan Wangji. So Jiang Wanyin could conceivably end up angrily avoiding the couple instead.

Nie Huaisang was actually more upset that they weren't letting anyone visit with Wei Wuxian. If his best friend was pregnant he wanted to get to congratulate him. Surely they should at least let people know about the child afterwards, right? If his best friend was having a child he wanted to get to see the baby, and he needed time to find a proper gift. Nie Huaisang found himself oddly excited. None of his other friends had children yet. Even Nie Mingjue was still single. This could be Nie Huaisang's first chance at getting to be an uncle. He wasn't technically family, but Wei Wuxian wouldn't mind if Nie Huaisang treated his child like a niece or nephew.

Nie Huaisang nodded to himself. If a wedding occurred within the next few months he could probably consider this theory confirmed. Until then it would remain a possibility while he considered other options. Although Nie Huaisang liked this theory quite a lot, it did not mean it was correct.