Purple ribbon?

Lan Wangji knelt down at the table and swept the shards of porcelain with his hand towards the table. He picked up the ribbon lying on the floor. It had been shredded at the edges by the shattered porcelain and was soaked with tea. And by the length and feel of it, one could easily sense it was a hair ribbon. It reminded him of Wei Ying's scarlet hair ribbon.

But a brilliant violet one?

His eyes swelled when he recalled one day at school, two years ago. Nie Huaisang had run around the same ring of pillars quite a few times, and Wei Wuxian and Jiang Wanyin had chased after him in opposite directions. Both brothers crashed into each other at one point and saw that Huaisang had led them in such a way that both their hair ribbons would be entangled around the pillars.

Wei Ying's was scarlet.

Jiang Cheng's was violet.

Lan Zhan gasped silently. What was Jiang Wanyin's hair ribbon doing here? Did he do something to Lan Xichen?

No. He would never. Even Lan Zhan knew that.

Rubbing his head, Lan Zhan stood up. Xiongzhang... drinking tea... Jiang Wanyin's ribbon in his hand... the teacup crashed... something happened to him.

The worst part was... the tea was quite an hour or two old...

Lan Zhan instinctively ran out of the Hanshi and hurried down the paths winding through Cloud Recesses. He looked around the main halls, the Sect Leader's office, the dining hall, the conference hall, but Lan Xichen was nowhere to be found.

Should I report to Shufu? Maybe xiongzhang went somewhere? Pondering, he walked up to the Grandmaster's office.

Which was also empty.

Lan Zhan frowned. Nobody was here? Shufu's special perfume was not around, meaning he had left quite a few hours ago, too. Shufu and xiongzhang left together?

Or maybe...

Suddenly, Lan Wangji realised what was going on. A thousand things buzzed around in his head as he ran away from the houses and the offices...

"Could you keep an eye on your brother? Something tells me he's not safe."

Away...

"He seems weak."

Further away...

Shufu...He was angry enough with me marrying...a man.

Far from the compound...

Xiongzhang had to save me from being whipped.

Into the distance...

Purple ribbon.

Right up to the doorsteps of the Discipline Hall, crashing headfirst into a hard wall.

Lan Zhan waved his hand. A silencing charm and a barrier. Nobody could come in, nobody could leave, not a soul would hear a sound. Heart throbbing in his chest, he clenched his left fist, summoned as much of his cyan Divergent energy as he could, and punched the barrier.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

CRASH!

He slammed the doors open and ran into the hall to find his brother kneeling on the floor and uncle raising his hand. A long, thin strip of leather extended from his fist, raised and poised, ready to come crashing down on the great Chief Cultivator.

"LAN WANGJI!" Lan Qiren shouted. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"Shufu! Shufu, stop!"

"Stand back, Wangji, this is none of your business."

None of my business? This was my brother who had saved me twice from being whipped myself! TWICE! Seeing the Discipline Whip snaking its way through the air down towards the floor, he leapt in-between and pushed his brother's body down, pulling him into his chest and wrapping his arms firmly around his bloodied back. Little did he care for the blood all over the floor dirtying his pristine robes. Little did he care for the blood spilling from Lan Xichen's mouth onto his chest. Little did he care for the burning smack on his back as the whiplash struck his own back.

What he did care was for the fact that he had shielded his brother. Thank goodness. The state Xichen was in, he might have fallen comatose from one more lash.

Lan Qiren halted. "Wangji, you don't have to do this. Xichen regrets his action and accepted the punishment, you don't need to–"

"I..." Lan Xichen clenched his fists and lifted himself from his little brother's grasp. He looked over Wangji's shoulder at his uncle. "Did not... regret."

"WHAT did you say?"

"I did... not regret. Never... will I regret... loving him. Shufu, will you ever understand... love isn't something one can regret? It is not a sin."

"LAN XICHEN!"

Crash!

Yet again, Lan Xichen found himself buried in Wangji's arms.

"Shufu, please, we'll talk later, at least let me take him away to treat."

"..."

"P... Please..." Lan Zhan swallowed the pain scorching his back.

"Get out!"

Lan Wangji quickly picked his brother up as strong as he could and hurried out the hall, around the back of the compound to the secluded Jingshi, so nobody saw a thing. He placed his brother on the bed, locked the door, and pulled off Xichen's robes.

Blood. Beautiful jade body smeared with torn flamingo skin and cerise blood all over. Lan Zhan went over to the bath, picked up a bowl of water and a towel, and sat on a stool by the bed. Soaking the towel in warm water, he waved it in front of his brother's face.

"Mn," Xichen nodded. "Actually, Wangji, it's fine, I'll just go to the springs..."

"You're too weak to. And it might burn. Stay put."

"Isn't that water too hot?"

"Not too hot, not too cold. Just warm."

"Fine," Lan Xichen sighed and bent himself to expose his wounds better. Lan Zhan silently dabbed the cloth all over, soaking it every now and then to refresh the water content, making sure the dirty red was wiped away and the throbbing pink of the wounds reduced a bit. In his mind, he counted.

One.

Two. 

Three...........

Seven.........

Eleven........

Sixteen.........

Twenty.

Twenty-one.

Twenty-one whiplashes. And two on his back meant for Xichen, which would have meant thirty-three whip marks.

But why?

"Wangji, are you counting the scars?"

"I..."

"Twenty-three, it should be. He was mad at me, said he raised me for twenty-three years, from birth till now, and this is what I give in return."

"There's twenty-one."

"Ah, you took two. Wangji, please treat yourself, too."

"Later."

Splash. More water, more cleansing.

"What made you come looking for me?"

"A-Ying."

"Wuxian? What about him?"

"He sent me a letter to check on xiongzhang because you didn't look too well at Yanli-jie's party."

"I see... this has been going on for quite a few days now, that's why, tell him not to worry."

"Few days?" Lan Zhan bit his lip. "Since when?"

"Oh, I don't know. Sometime around right before Wuxian left."

Over two weeks...

"He didn't whip me all this time, that was only today; but he did give me a good scolding at least twice a week..."

"Xiongzhang, what happened?"

Lan Xichen stopped talking. Feeling his brother's skin going cold, Lan Zhan peeked over the scarred back to see the eyes closing. Left, right, Lan Xichen's body teetered for a second or two before toppling onto the pillow, unconscious.

Lan Zhan turned him around so he slept on his chest, finished treating his back, and let him sleep cosily, making sure to lock the Jingshi up with a strong barrier before going to find A-Yuan. 

**********

By the next morning, Lan Wangji had spent hours in the spring and healed perfectly, while Lan Xichen had gotten a good, long rest. Weilan Yuan sat on the bed, feeding his uncle soup, while Lan Wangji stood by the window, waiting for any sign of a butterfly.

"Wangji?"

"Xiongzhang."

"What's wrong?"

"A-Ying... he hasn't replied to my letter yesterday about xiongzhang. And he hasn't said anything else either."

"You openly call him A-Ying now?"

"He calls me ZhanZhan..."

"First, tell me since when you two got back in contact?"

"Erm..." And so, Lan Zhan retold his and Wei Wuxian's plans to fake a fight so Wei Wuxian could stay out of Cloud Recesses for a long while without arousing suspicions, and to find out more about Meng Yao's conspiracy.

"You guys suspect him that bad?"

"Xiongzhang..."

"Yes, yes, no need to glare at me, I don't have feelings for him like you thought, sheesh! A-Yao's like a brother. Very occasionally I couldn't tell the difference between what I felt for him and Wanyin but... guess Wanyin had to leave for me to realise. Ah, well, never mind."

"Xiongzhang, the purple ribbon in your room?"

"Yeah, Shufu found me tampering with it and was angry. He thought I'd 'forgotten and regretted my shameless act of loving a man'," Lan Xichen smiled and shook his head. "It's a wonder he ever agreed to your marriage, Wangji. Guess Sect Leader Jiang's friendship matters to him. Anyways. About Wuxian–"

Suddenly, a loud draft of wind whizzed past them, circled around the carpet at the door and settled there. Weilan Yuan gasped as slowly but surely, a figure of a young boy started to form. Pale, white-haired, sharp blue eyes. He seemed so foreign. The lad ran up to the three and beamed at Weilan Yuan. "You must be A-Yuan!"

Such a whispery voice...

"A ghost?" Lan Xichen automatically flung his hands around Sizhui and pulled him back, fingering the bed to find Liebing or Shuoyue.

Lan Zhan tilted his head. The boy recognised Sizhui...But where's the red ribbon? "You're A-Ying's underling?"

"A-Ying? You mean Master? Why I certainly am! You must be his husband."

"Mn."

"Greetings, Hanguang-Jun," the boy bowed. "Master sent a message," he muttered, eyeing the third.

"That's my brother, you can speak."

"Oh. Fine then." The boy took in a deep breath. "One, Meng Yao found out about Jiang Yanli's child, and now has her as a target because the unborn baby is the next heir. Two, he unleashed the HeiBianLong."

"He WHAT?" Lan Xichen gawked. Since when was his A-Yao a monster like this?

Lan Wangji shot up onto his feet. "Yanli-jie's in danger. But first..."

"HeiBianLong? Diedie was marking papers, he taught his class that recently."

"Excellent," Xichen hopped down from the bed. "Then we can take the disciples with us."

"Xiongzhang's coming?"

"Excuse me? Don't dare expect me to lie back and sleep. But why unleash the HeiBianLong? And how?"

"Must have found his resting cavern. To frame m– Heiguang-Jun."

"Frame who? Why on earth... Tsk, let's go get the beast first. Though I have a feeling Wuxian did something about the beast already?" Xichen asked the boy.

The white-haired young one looked down at the floor, sullen-faced. "Erm... when Master found out Meng Yao's plans, he went straight to the cavern and was there in time to fight the beast as it just woke up and went savage. But the beast escaped and..."

"And?"

"I don't know. That's what I came to find you, Hanguang-Jun. Master told me to pass the message to you but then he went to fight the beast and... vanished!"

"A-Ying vanished?"

"Yes. Lost all contact of him, he wasn't there in the cave or anywhere. All I found was Master's flute, and a black-and-red mask."

"Black-and-red mask? Isn't that the Dark Knight's... Wuxian is the Dark Knight?" Xichen's jaw dropped. Goodness, he had missed out on quite a few chapters...

Lan Wangji didn't answer him, but focussed on the details. Whoever captured A-Ying must have knocked out the white snake, hence Chenqing lying there. And the mask? Maybe A-Ying went last night. He must have been going as Heiguang-Jun to deceive Meng Yao? See what he wants? He put himself in danger again, didn't he?

Danger. A-Ying's in danger. 

**********

Silver orbs fluttered open at a snail's pace. The darkness of the underground he was in bothered him as he had expected to be greeted with blinding sunlight.

But somehow... this darkness itself was blinding.

He blinked thrice and looked around. Metal rattled as he moved his hand and feet. Chains were wrapped around his ankles and wrists, connecting them to the wall, while he sat on a wooden chair, his chest and arms bound with rope. The beautiful black and red robes of the Dark Knight were smothered with blood, and one gust of wind from the opening overhead sending shudders through his face told him he had been unmasked.

And where is my flute?

Great. Just great.

Clap, clap, clap! "Well, well. The great and mighty Dark Knight, whose identity was at last revealed, has finally woken up from his beauty sleep."

He gritted his teeth and snarled. "Meng... Yao..."

"You did look pretty handsome once, you know? Sad how our fight and me smashing your face made the mask cut into your cheek. A scarred face... not suitable for the fourth on the Most Good-Looking Cultivators List, don't you think? Wei Wuxian."

"Shut up."

"You know me well enough to not say that, Wei Wuxian. We're both talkative brats. Or should I say, bastards?"

"Since when was I a bastard? You're the only one here."

"OH? What about Cangse Sanren and Sect Leader J–"

"LEAVE MY MOTHER OUT OF THIS YOU SON OF A–"

Snap!

"AAAAAARGH!"

Flames lit up Wei Wuxian's robes, steadily rising higher, closer to the chest. His legs were on fire already.

"Keep quiet or you'll burn to death."

Wei Wuxian glared at him, biting his lips shut till they bled.

"You don't want me telling things about your mother? Then stop saying that about my mother. Respect others, gain respect." Swish! "Or so I thought," Meng Yao sourly swiped his dagger on his robe. "Respecting people all my life and what did I get? Nothing."

"Chill, you're about to get it all," another voice called from behind them. As the voice got nearer, a tall figure appeared. One wave of his hand and the flames died out in a flash.

Wen fire skill? Wei Wuxian looked up, squinting through the dark at the tall man. "Wen Xu."

"And we meet again!"

"Grr..." He still had not forgotten how Wen Xu scolded Wen Qing during school days, ordering the great doctor around.

"Ooh, growling like a dog, are we? Not much to pretend, seeing as you're a bloody dog anyway. Ey, meet a relative, then!"

Wei Wuxian flinched when he all at once heard a growl from behind Wen Xu. What on earth...

Snarling, yapping. Baring its teeth, a massive greyhound treaded closer and closer to the wooden chair. Greyhound? More like bloodhound! It had canines sharp as fangs and eyes bloodshot with ravenous glee. One look and he knew it was ready to devour him whole.

Well, even if it wasn't... Wei Wuxian would still have been terrified. Dogs... weren't his strongest point.

He gulped and sweated, cowering into the chair, pushing it backwards to the wall, further away from the monster approaching him. Dog... Dog... No... Don't bite me... Go away...

Please... Someone...

Shijie...

A-Cheng...

ZhanZhan...

HELP!