Wei Wuxian made the construction of the Yin Hufu sound like a labour of months. He made it sound like it was created from desperate half-delirious experimentation and some unforeseen accident. Wei Wuxian made it sound like he himself didn't really understand how he had made it.

Wei Wuxian breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that Xue Yang had failed to find any of Wei Wuxian's notes regarding the Yin Hufu. It allowed Wei Wuxian to pretend that he never had any notes. Wei Wuxian made it sound like he was experimenting with an unusual material and the Yin Hufu just accidentally spawned out of those experiments. They had nothing to confirm whether Wei Wuxian was telling the truth or not.

Unfortunately they had a lot of Wei Wuxian's other notes. From what Wei Wuxian could tell it looked like Xue Yang had picked up every scrap of paper that had Wei Wuxian's writing on it. They had gathered every discarded idea and failed experiment, laying them out neatly with every in progress or mostly complete project. It gave Wei Wuxian a small measure of joy. They couldn't tell which of his notes were worth pursuing. Which gave Wei Wuxian ways to slow them down on making progress.

The days all revolved around that now. Making just enough progress to look like he was complying. While trying to make that progress as slow or harmless as possible. It was a gamble. Jin Guangyao had made it clear that Nuan-er's life meant nothing to him. If Wei Wuxian didn't comply, or Jin Guangyao suspected he was deliberately slowing their progress down, he would immediately withdraw medical treatment.

If Jin Guangyao was particularly pleased with Wei Wuxian's work he would allow Nuan-er into Wei Wuxian's cell. Instead of only being able to look at each other through the bars of the cell door, Wei Wuxian would be able to hold her. The relief of being able to hold Nuan-er was almost enough to shatter Wei Wuxian's resolve. There was a lot Wei Wuxian would give to be able to hold Nuan-er in his arms. He hated that Jin Guangyao knew that.

Wei Wuxian's ability to keep track of the passing days was not good. He didn't know how long he had been kept unconscious in Xue Yang's body. He didn't know how long he was then unconscious in his own body while they cleansed him of resentful energy. It was easiest to track time by when Nuan-er received medicine. She received it at regular intervals, but only when Wei Wuxian was considered helpful enough.

Wherever they were holding Wei Wuxian, there were no windows. The room that held him and Nuan-er was small, barely wide enough for Wei Wuxian to be able to lay down flat across the floor. The room was divided into thirds by partitions of thick metal bars. Wei Wuxian's cell was the furthest section from the single exit.

Nuan-er was mostly kept in the middle section. Wei Wuxian would watch carefully every time the door into the room opened. Sometimes Jin Guangyao wouldn't come in any further than that. Just stand outside that first wall of bars and talk to Wei Wuxian from across the room.

Most often Jin Guangyao would unlock that first barred door to move into the section that Nuan-er stayed in. Wei Wuxian hated it. Jin Guangyao standing next to Nuan-er, Wei Wuxian's daughter, and talking to Wei Wuxian in the voice of someone having a friendly chat. Jin Guangyao used to pet Nuan-er's hair while he talked to Wei Wuxian. Rubbing it into Wei Wuxian's face that Jin Guangyao could do whatever he wanted to her and Wei Wuxian couldn't stop him.

Jin Guangyao hadn't done that in a while. Not since Nuan-er woke up while Jin Guangyao was petting her hair, and bit his hand with all the ferocity of a fierce corpse. She drew blood. It might even scar. Wei Wuxian held his breath as Jin Guangyao fought to get his hand free, terrified that Jin Guangyao might hurt her in the process. After Jin Guangyao left Nuan-er spat his blood out of her mouth and stuck her tongue out at the door he retreated through. Wei Wuxian was so proud of her.

That was the lone bright spot for Wei Wuxian amidst their imprisonment. Wei Wuxian knew that Jin Guangyao was deliberately keeping Nuan-er recovery slow. Sometimes the denial of treatment was because Wei Wuxian didn't make enough progress, but Wei Wuxian couldn't help but feel that it seemed more arbitrary than that.

Nuan-er was still sick when Wei Wuxian realized that he had missed his own wedding. Wei Wuxian didn't know exactly which day it was. Too many gaps in his consciousness, and too much irregularity in the schedule Jin Guangyao forced on them. One day Wei Wuxian realized that they had been there for over a month, and that's when it hit him that it had been less than a month until he was supposed to get married.

Wei Wuxian hadn't performed well enough that day to be able to have Nuan-er in his section of the room. Wei Wuxian hugged his knees to his chest and cried. He had tried not to think about it, but deep down he had hoped he would escape before the wedding. The wedding date he had been so afraid of setting. Afraid, because it felt like a countdown. Afraid, because it felt like a deadline. A moment when everything could end and Wei Wuxian would lose everything that mattered to him all over again.

'Lan Zhan must be devastated.' The thought was a sharp pain in Wei Wuxian's chest. He had never wanted to leave Lan Wangji alone, certainly not for so long. Lan Wangji was always right at his side. If Wei Wuxian was spending too much time working in another room, Lan Wangji would come find him.

'Please come find me Lan Zhan.' Wei Wuxian held himself tightly. He breathed through the panic and hopelessness. Right now he was trapped. Right now he couldn't take risks, but soon that would change.

Nuan-er was still sick, but Wei Wuxian was almost certain she was close to being healthy. She was still having problems understanding him when he talked, which Wei Qing had told him was a temporary side effect of her dual ear infections. Of course, that was back when Nuan-er was getting the best medical care available. Not when her health was being toyed with, and her illness feels deliberately prolonged.

Wei Wuxian couldn't say for certain that Jin Guangyao was deliberately dragging out Nuan-er's illness, but Wei Wuxian remembered every single word Wei Qing told him about Nuan-er's health. Wei Wuxian had certainly asked enough questions. Over a month was long past when Nuan-er should have recovered if she was receiving adequate treatment.

Wei Wuxian knew she was getting better. She had more energy. Enough that she often took the blanket from her bed and sat against the cell bars so that Wei Wuxian could hold her hand or comb her hair. Earlier on she was too weak to even do that. Wei Wuxian hadn't detected an elevated temperature the last few times he checked. Of course he wasn't a skilled healer, but he knew some basics.

Wei Wuxian would need to find a way to break her out soon. Jin Guangyao was already becoming stingier with allowing Nuan-er into Wei Wuxian's cell. Not to mention there had already been a few veiled threats about what might happen once Nuan-er was healthy. After all if they can't give her medicine as a reward for Wei Wuxian's good behavior, that only leaves hurting her as punishment if he fails to produce.

Wei Wuxian stayed curled in the corner and let his mind linger on how much Wei Wuxian's disappearance must have hurt Lan Wangji. How awful it must be for A-Yuan that Wei Wuxian and Nuan-er vanished with no warning. He imitated the resentful voices that used to plague his mind in the Burial Mounds. He fanned the flames of his anger and pain into a simmering rage of resentment.

Wei Wuxian was not a naturally vengeful person, but for Jin Guangyao he would make an exception. Just for now, he would hold onto this grudge and immerse himself in the desire for vengeance. It was much slower than gathering external resentful energy, but Jin Guangyao had been too careful to block Wei Wuxian off from that.

So Wei Wuxian would make his own. He had to be ready. He would need whatever scrap of energy he could generate in order to help Nuan-er escape. In his last life the Jins had killed Nuan-er before Wei Wuxian had the chance to meet her. She was only a vague 'Jiejie' that A-Yuan had cried for in the early days of the Burial Mounds.

A-Yuan wouldn't lose her again. Nuan-er was not going to die in here. She would not be tortured to death so that Wei Wuxian would stop delaying and start teaching Jin Guangyao the dangerous things he had been avoiding. They might be satisfied with a few talismans for now, but Wei Wuxian knew what they were really after.

Wei Wuxian couldn't give it to them, and he couldn't let Nuan-er die. So she needed to escape before Jin Guangyao lost his patience. Wei Wuxian couldn't help but feel like that time was fast approaching.

Note: The chapter title comes from the date I set for Wangxian's wedding in this story.  It would have been on the 9th day of the month if Wei Wuxian had not been being held by Jin Guangyao.