"Meng Yao? Meng Yao meets up with Wen Xu? Why on earth..."

"I'm worried."

"Why?" Lan Wangji perked up.

"I see no good reason for those two rascals to meet up. A selfish prick and a bastard. Not good."

"Hm..." Wei Wuxian tapped his nose. "Wen Xu would never want to make friends with anyone. Let alone a man renown for being kicked out of the LanlingJin sect... Wen Xu has pride. So we could say Meng Yao persuaded him somehow... But how? And what does Meng Yao want from him?"

"Xu has enemies. Easy to lure him in using that fact," Wen Qing rolled her eyes. "But as for what Meng Yao wants in return from Xu..."

"Power?"

"He can't give that," Lan Wangji shook his head. "Xiongzhang's Chief Cultivator."

"But a noble place in the Wen sect?"

"He's Deputy General of the Nie Sect, what more would he want?"

"General?" Wei Wuxian shrugged. "Not like he can be a sect leader anyway..."

"At least Advisor," Lan Wangji nodded.

"Well... He's been trampled down all his life, he probably wants a place for himself," Wen Qing sighed. "Still, these two collaborating doesn't send off good vibes to me."

"Right!"

"What?" Wen Qing turned to an excited, sparkly-eyed Wei Wuxian.

"Wen Qing, did you sense anything from him? While he was hidden, without you recognising, whenever you passed him in the corridors?"

"Hm..."

"Did he seem powerful? Different aura?"

"Hm? Powerful, no way. Aura... that's why I called him shady at first. Because, well... he seemed to radiate energy. You know, like had just cultivated some major practice."

"Mn. Makes sense," Lan Zhan nodded.

"Lan Zhan?"

"Cultivation. Wen Qing senses an aura because of his Divergence–"

"What! Meng Yao?"

"Yes. He's been recorded."

"Oh wow... Curious..."

"Mn. Aura because of Divergence. And energy radiating after cultivation. Because that's what he did."

"Eh?" Wen Qing blinked.

"That's what he did... You mean Meng Yao was cultivating with Wen Xu?"

"Mn."

"What made you–"

"It's a deal. Meng Yao must have offered something to Wen Xu. And in return?"

"In return..." Wei Wuxian rubbed his nose harder. "What can Wen Xu give? Position in the Wen sect? Not easy..."

"Energy. That's it!" Wen Qing snapped her fingers. "Wait, what!" Her expression sunk into black wrath. "Why that Xu... Lan Wangji, are you sure?"

"No. Just an assumption." 

"Hmmmm why am I the only clueless one?" Wei Wuxian pouted.

"Because you're a dunce!" Wen Qing rapped her knuckles on his head. "Idiot, use your amazing brains. Wen Xu giving something to Meng Yao. And that something possibly being something related to cultivation and energy."

"Energy...? Oh-oh-oh! Oooh! Wait... WHAT?!"

"Shh!" Wen Qing hissed.

"But-but- we should go tell Xichen-ge!"

"Not without proof. Not a soul will believe it," Lan Zhan shook his head. "Especially not xiongzhang."

"Tsk! We need to at least stop it!" Wei Wuxian banged his hand on the table.

Lan Zhan agreed. "How?" He asked Wen Qing.

"Persuade Xu to stop?"

"Wen Xu? Persuade him? Hmph, we'll have to offer him someone's head in that case," Wei Wuxian smirked.

Lan Wangji gasped.

"Lan Zhan?"

"Mn?"

"Are... you alright? You look like you realised something... horrendous."

"I... Nothing." Lan Zhan gulped. "We'll have to force him. Threaten him to stop."

"How?" Both the others asked.

"... Wen Qing. You can leave it to us. You go now."

"HUH? Hey! I wanna know too!"

Seeing that Lan Wangji had his lips zipped shut, Wen Qing sulked, nodded and left muttering her gratitude for listening to her and helping her.

".........Lan Zhan? Are........... you going to do it?"

"Mn." 

"..... Dark Knight style?" 

"Mn."

***********

"BRAVO! Honestly, you're getting better and better, Ning-xiong!"

"Th– Thank you, Nie-xiong!"

"Try striking a little more to the left. And strengthen the grip on your bow."

"Yes, Jiang Gongzi."

Zing!

"There, told you so."

"Woah! You hit it perfectly this time!"

"Oi? Will you stop giving commentaries and come join? Or are you going to sit there until your brother comes to kill me?"

"Why would Da-Ge kill Jiang-xiong?"

"For being a useless teacher. But what can I do when my good-for-nothing student's sipping wine while watching the archery show, eh?"

"Pfft!"

"Ning-xiong! You're laughing at me too!"

"Goodness, what's all this chaos? Hahahaha! A-Sang, you should be WITH them..."

"Er-Ge!"

"A-Sang! You always hug me like a little child!" 

"A hug a day keeps the demons at bay!" 

"Haha! Now come on, Madam Yu sent a jug of tea. We'll have it together."

Nie Huaisang moved over and forced Wen Ning to sit beside him. Wen Ning saw that this was compelling Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen to sit on the other side of the table — and happily supported Nie Huaisang's romantic conspiracies.

Gulping, Jiang Cheng sat on the seat beside Xichen.

"Hello, Wanyin!"

"Hello." 

Lan Xichen beamed at him as bright as Wei Wuxian. He poured out the tea and passed cups to Nie Huaisang and Wen Ning before handing a third teacup to Jiang Cheng. "Oh wait," he quickly retreated it away from Jiang Cheng's approaching hand and added another sugar cube and stirred it. "There."

Jiang Wanyin took the cup and blinked. "Eh? Why the extra sugar?"

"You must be tired. I saw you training Wen Ning, polishing his archery pose."

"Erm... meaning he was tired too?" Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow.

"Ahem!" Nie Huaisang lightly trampled Wen Ning's foot.

"Oh no-no-no not at all! I'm good, Zewu-Jun," Wen Ning quickly gulped down his tea before a guilty Lan Xichen added more sugar.

Lan Xichen nodded, pursed his lips and looked at his own cup. Is he dense? Or is he ignoring me on purpose?

"Why did you come with tea, Xichen? Why are you here in the first place?"

"Oh. I came for a discussion with Sect Leader Jiang–"

"Right! So Da-Ge is here, Er-Ge is here, meaning Sect Leader Jin and Wen are here too?"

"Not really. Just the three of us."

"Oh...?"

"It's regarding the watchtowers. Da-Ge and I are collaborating on the project. We wanted to come talk about setting up the towers in Yunmeng."

"Oooh, okay," Nie Huaisang nodded.

"And tea?" Jiang Cheng reminded.

"That... I don't know! Madam Yu said she had to take care of something so she asked me to do her a favour and bring the tea to you guys, have tea with you guys."

"Does this place not have servants?" Jiang Cheng grumbled, looking around.

"Wanyin, she wanted to give us some time alone."

Jiang Cheng choked on his tea.

"Woah, woah!" Nie Huaisang raised his fan and-

SMACK!

"OWWWW!"

"Oh, sorry. Thought I'd help you."

"Blasted IDIOT!"

"I said sorry!"

"Is usually Wuxian the one who keeps you two calm and prevent the fighting in your group?" Lan Xichen asked them.

Wen Ning, Huaisang and Wanyin looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"HIM?" Jiang Cheng clutched his sides.

"Bwahahahahahahahahaha!" Nie Huaisang slapped his knee with his fan.

Lan Xichen blinked in confusion.

"Zewu-Jun..." Wen Ning chuckled and wiped the tears from his face. "Really the other way around. Either Wei Gongzi starts it all in the first place. Or... if these two start, he'll only help out. Pick the side he wants and then starts a real brawl!"

"Goodness!"

"They'll go chasing each other around for a half-hour."

"Good Lord... I thought he was the responsible one."

"Nope, that's him," Nie Huaisang recovered and slapped Wen Ning's back. "He's the one who tries his best to get us to stop."

"And it works?"

"Mn," Wen Ning smiled.

"Powers of being the youngest, I guess. Wangji's like that too."

"Well, I guess Jiang-xiong here is an abnormality in that case..."

"OI!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

Lan Xichen tried and tried and stopped their arguing in the end of a tardy ten minutes.

"Er-Ge, you can't blame us, you're the one who started it!"

"Not me, you're the one who slapped his back!"

"But you're the one who made him choke!"

"Oh... Oh right! Wanyin, what happened?"

"A– A– Alone time..."

"Oh that. I meant alone time for the four of us. Why?"

"..." Jiang Cheng looked up at his fair face. Honesty. All he saw was naive honesty. "Oh..."

Huaisang grinned. "Jiang-xiong, what? You thought it was alone time for you tw–"

"MORE TEA!"

Lan Xichen gawked at Jiang Cheng.

"Ahem. More tea."

"Here," Xichen poured out more. 

**********

After having had a chatty tea session to relieve Chief Cultivator Xichen of his work stress a bit, Huaisang dragged Wen Ning away to check out the Yunping City Market.

Lan Xichen smiled softly. It had been quite a while since the other two left and yet here they were, staring at the sunset. Not having uttered a single word.

For the past...

Half-hour.

Glowing gold blended with ostentatious orange... crimson and rose embroidered into the velvet rays of the majestic sun sinking underneath the lakes of Yunmeng... the lakes now a Jiang purple...

Captivating.

Romantic.

Xichen smirked to himself. These two sure know just the right time to leave us alone.

"So, Wanyin."

"Hm?"

"Anything to say?"

"What?"

"Like why you stomped out of the inn that day?"

"..."

"Speak, Wanyin. Talk to me."

"I... I just remembered I had work to do."

"Wanyin, you need to try a bit harder to convince me."

"...Just him. I can't tolerate him."

"A-Yao?"

"Grrrr..." Jiang Cheng gripped his robes, begging himself to calm down. "Bastard. Now a Divergent too."

"If being a Divergent was bad, wouldn't Wuxian be bad too?"

"Xichen... Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead.

"Why do you always take his side?"

"His? Wuxian's? Or A-Yao's?"

Jiang Cheng flinched. "Yes, yes, that damned A-Yao of yours."

"Wanyin, he's a good person, really."

"I guess..." 

"There you go again, vexed by virtually nothing," Lan Xichen sighed and shook his head, pointing to Zidian on his finger.

"Oh, Mum lent it to me for a day, for me to train."

"I'm not asking where it came from. I'm showing you that it's on fire– Wanyin, calm down."

"Oh..." Jiang Cheng stroked Zidian, turning it round and round his finger. "So right. Where's my shixiong?"

"Wuxian... he said he needs to stay back with Wangji. I don't know, they're researching something." I can't tell him about Wuxian teaching Wangji... "Oh right. Wen Qing came into Cloud Recesses when I left. So I'm guessing they're having a chat now."

"Wen Qing? I see. Do you get a lot of guests nowadays? Very unlike Cloud Recesses to let in people all the time..."

"No, I don't. Too busy. Only A-Sang, Wen Qing and Ning, A-Yao and you. Just people in our close circle. Of course, other than the clan and sect leaders, who keep coming in every now and then."

"Mhm. A-Xian told me he's busy today and tomorrow because of some meet-up with Meng Yao? What on earth is that guy coming to Cloud Recesses for?"

"Oh. This morning he spent two hours with him, before A-Yao spent a couple more hours with me and then left. He said he wanted to meet a pal in Qishan. He's coming again tomorrow morning. It's lessons. You.. won't spill a word?"

"Hmph, I couldn't care less for that Yao."

"Wuxian's teaching him to tame his Divergent core."

"Eh? What, does he go into savagery? Haha! Divergence doesn't make you a bloody cannibal or something!"

"No... but he said his cultivation keeps firing his energy up, and Wuxian proved it, saying it does happen to him too. Meditation works, apparently, so Wuxian's giving him a lecture or two on it."

"Wei Wuxian... helping Meng Yao? Hmph," Jiang Cheng smirked. "Then what the hell was he saying about getting rid of Yao for me, eh? All liars." He muttered under his breath.

"Mn?"

"Oh, nothing. Wait... Meng Yao spent a couple hours with A-Xian and you too?"

"After his lesson he came to have a chat–"

"Of course, he had to. Can't just walk past Cloud Recesses casually. Has to come see you."

Lan Xichen shook his head laughing. "Silly Wanyin, you always drop by yourself!"

"I'm different!"

"Oh? How?"

"I– I..........." 

Jiang Cheng gulped down his words. "Sorry. So continue, what did he come for?"

"Well, since he needed help controlling core, I got him to sit still and listen to a melody or two. That's all. Satisfied? Why did you ask?"

"Tsk."

Jiang Wanyin clenched his fists, looking away into the setting sun.

Totally ignorant of Zidian sparking faster and faster, in pace with his pissed heart.

Sighing, Lan Xichen whisked out Liebing in a flash. The sweet and slow melody wafted through the air, enticing as the smell of chocolate syrup, delicate as snowflakes, powerful and cool as the winter breeze. Drifting into Jiang Cheng's ears, sinking into his core, stroking it, caressing it into calmness.

Jiang Wanyin, albeit pretending to ignore Lan Xichen, inadvertently shut his eyes and breathed in the tune, letting Xichen's magic wash over him. Somehow, it felt like this was what he'd wanted all along.

Lan Xichen...

Seated beside him...

Playing to him...

Playing for him...

To feel the beautiful heart-flutter that ignited in him at the idea. And to just absorb the waves of cool energy Xichen willingly bathed him in.

Sweet...

Sensational...

Spellbinding...

Sweet—

Until the realisation that Xichen played just like this for 'A-Yao' as well hit him.

Weary and fiery eyes shot open to glare back at the almost gone sun, a battle of fire between his eyes and the sun.

And Zidian.

"Wanyin..." Xichen sighed. "This is the first time my Liebing hasn't worked. What's troubling your mind?"

"..."

"Wanyin?"

"You really don't know, do you?"

"Huh?"

Jiang Wanyin turned to him and smiled. Wide and happy. So wide his eyes squinted...

"Nothing at all! Well then, hope you enjoyed your evening here, Xichen!"

Lan Xichen gulped. Is he... chasing me out? "I... Yes. I did. Then I'll get going..."

"Right. Take care on the way back home!"

Tips of mouth reaching ears. Eyes squinted... but whether it was out of his smile or to... to...

"Xichen, if you get late, Lan Wangji might worry."

"Fine. Stay safe, Wanyin," Xichen nodded, and stood. Unable to resist, he bent down and ruffled Jiang Wanyin's hair. Fingers gripping its very ends just lightly, tousling it once. Flash of a second and he was gone.

"Thank God he's gone," Jiang Cheng sighed as his smiling face cracked. The pale eyes, squinted to hold back the tears, were like broken taps.

Sitting on the pier, hugging his knees, he buried his head in his cuddled legs and let it out. He knew and asserted now. He loved him. That man who just would never see how much he was breaking him... He loved that man.

He loved him.

Didn't want to lose him.

But didn't want his possessiveness to hurt their friendship.

Didn't want to force him.

Didn't want to see him unhappy.

Wasn't that what Wei Wuxian said about love? True love? Giving it all up... sacrificing your own joy... just to see the other happy? Being satisfied as long as the other is happy? Even if that was at the cost of your own desires?

That's right. True love. If he's happy with someone else... then maybe I should let him be.

He remembered that bright smile of sheer delight when Meng Yao walked into the inn that day. He wished... wished that he could make Xichen smile that way.

But if he couldn't...

Then I might as well give him to the one who can.