The silence of the noon was not a slight bit overbearing, but rather welcoming. Beside a shrunk and ill at ease Lan Wangji, he felt at loss of words. He did not expect the man to arrive so fast at Lotus Pier. A part of his heart was dismayed at the virtual loss of his newly earned, though fleeting, freedom.

He is legally married to Lan Wangji. And the man has every right to claim the reasons for his sudden disappearance. Ironically, his husband could barely draw out time for him when he craved for his presence. But now that he wants some respite, the man's stubborn presence is pressing him strongly towards uncertainty.

"Must you do this?"

Lan Wangji's voice contained hushed anger. Wei Wuxian moved away an inch further from his husband, turning his face away a few degrees more.

"Wei Ying, you could have told me. Why...Why the hustle?"

Wei Wuxian was silent.

"Did I do something wrong?"

The question sounded rhetorical. There was a tremor and a strange mellowness in Lan Wangji's voice, as if he was in muse. Reflecting with rue.

Wei Wuxian's breathing faltered for a moment. What should he say? How should he explain? A part of him was afraid, and penitent for leaving Cloud Recess without collecting any explanation from Lan Wangji.

A part of him has been jittery ever since he stepped out of Jingshi. He felt uneasy, constantly rousing questions on his faith in his husband. That part was timorous, making his stomach twist with bile every time.

Another part of him sinfully rejoiced in a guilty pleasure. Even though Cloud Recess was left to conduct a frantic search for him, he can't deny the satisfaction that crept over his mind every time he freely plays around in Yunmeng. It makes him realise how little he felt for Cloud Recess, the Lans, who are always so scornful towards him. Thinks themselves to be impeccable.

"How has been your date with your Xuer?" He asked nonchalantly, even though there was a very palpable admonition underlying his words.

"Date?" Lan Wangji sounded stupored.

"That woman, Xuer. She was coming to meet you Hanguang-Jun. Hope your uncle will get a desired daughter in law. I won't be a hinder anymore. Do not worry about me."

He couldn't see Lan Wangji's expressions, but the silence from the other side made his toes and throat constrict painfully, numbing, as if his words were met with acknowledgement and confirmation. Tears threatened to build under his eyelids.

A lonely lotus was swaying pitifully. Few butterflies and bees were fluttering near its crown. A frog was silently sitting on the large leaf, pointedly looking at the slowest of the bees. The frog darted out his tongue and caught the bee with no hustle, securing its meal.

His hand was clutched in a gruesome hold, almost making him stagger. He was pushed against the wall and glared at sharply.

"What are you saying? Wei Ying, what's wrong with you?" Lan Wangji spoke harshly, as if he felt lost and confused, seeking for an ultimate answer to a question that could determine his life and death.

Wei Wuxian pursed his lips and looked down.

"Wei Ying, I understand that I have been failing as a responsible husband. We couldn't spend time together as much as we used to. But please understand, I am doing this for you too. If I succeed, my family will never question you ever again."

Wei Wuxian, " I don't want your family's approval. I am sick of that. Go and marry Xuer. She will become the ideal Lan wife. Leave me alone."

Lan Wangji's eyes widened with horror. His scarlet lips went dry and purple. Every drop of blood seemed to get drained away from his face, rendering it pale and green. There was a dense fog of betrayal and pain in his apparently calm eyes.

Wei Wuxian's heart began to palpitate, but it soon dropped to a dead beat, freezing his heart into a dead, silent fixture, hindering blood flow to his face that went mellow and dry like a wilted flower.

"How could you think of Xu-Jie in that way?" Lan Wangji sounded so horrified that Wei Wuxian felt like jumping down the bridge.

Wei Wuxian, "Why? Your disciples are quite satisfied with their Hanguang-Jun's to-be wife. They were saying that you two look good together. Good for you. Good for them. I don't want to live in Cloud Recess anymore."

Wrath began to pool in Lan Wangji's aura and Wei Wuxian could feel the dense, black Cloud that was slowly shrouding his husband's demeanor. Darkening his face with unspeakable anger and a sense betrayal and drear.

"Even after uncle told you everything, you are still speaking like this! How could you be this cruel Wei Ying?" Lan Wangji almost snarled and Wei Wuxian flinched. This tone from Lan Wangji was almost foreign to him.

But he retaliated quickly.

Wei Wuxian, " Your Uncle? That man can't even withstand my sight, and you expect him to have a conversation with me. Over such familial matters? Listen Lan Zhan, he never told me anything. You understand?"

His throat was burning.

Lan Wangji looked shocked. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and recollected his composure.

Lan Wangji, " Wei Ying, Xu-Jie was our clan member. She was bright, valiant, talented. But our clan always preferred men over women. She retaliated against the clan rules and fought during the Sunshot campaign, paring almost with the male cultivators.

Unfortunately, she was captured by the Wens. Women of our clan are not educated on deep and intricate matters as much as men are. She was nescient to fighting with Yin. Even though no Yang cultivators expect you possess much knowledge about Yin, we still have knowledge on some basic tactical courses to deal with Yin.

Women on other hand, are not. They could only disperse Yin, and block attacks. But nothing more than that."

Lan Wangji took a breath, his eyes flickering. Wei Wuxian understood that this woman was one of those few to be admired by his husband. He waited for the worst part of the story.

Lan Wangji, "The Wens... They almost...sexually assaulted her. She escaped in time, but the clan members began to consider her as 'dirty'."

Lan Wangji looked at the lotus pond wistfully. His Shijie was also like these lotuses. Soft, yet strong and hard to uproot. There was a strange softness in his eyes, and Wei Wuxian almost took him in his arms and cajole him.

Lan Wangji, " She was not the one to be tamed. She wiped her title of 'Lan' and abandoned Lan Clan voluntarily. But... Not before cursing us. Wishing the greatest misery to fall on the men of the next generation.

I lost you. Brother was devastated.

But, great elder Xinling loved her dearly. He wanted to see her. She reluctantly agreed to step into Cloud Recess again."

A strong guilt stratified in Wei Wuxian's heart and he felt a sudden difficulty in breathing. He felt broken, lost, and almost devastated at the same time. A sense of anger was also overwhelming him. Anger at the Lans. Their rules. Anger with himself. For not asking his husband out by himself. A strong admiration, respect and also sympathy for the woman pooled in his heart.

At last, he finally gathered the heart to speak with his husband.

"She deserves better."

The implications of his words were clear. Lan clan doesn't deserve her.

Lan Wangji didn't respond, but was gazing at him with pleading eyes.

Wei Ying, are you still angry?

Lan Wangji, " The young disciples... They are not familiar with her. Never heard about her. And random females are rarely invited to Cloud Recess. So they assumed..."

Lan Wangji felt immensely irated. Does his and Wei Ying's relationship look that feeble to them? Why did they assume it has to be him? And not his elder brother? Is he falling from his position as a loyal and loving husband? That people could randomly assume adversary aspects about his and Wei Ying's relationship.

He looked at his husband and his heart twisted painfully. He has been so busy that even spending meal times with his husband was becoming a luxury. All because his own clan doesn't want to accept Wei Wuxian as own of their own. He noticed the awful sharpness in Wei Ying's features. The man must have skipped uncountable meals.

His lips bowed down dismally.

"Wei Ying, come back to Gusu with me. I promise, it won't be the same anymore." It hurt him to say those words. It hurt him to even think of his failure to build a warm home for his husband. Should he just retire to a remote place and live in peace forever with his husband?

He waited. Waited patiently for Wei Wuxian's approval.

But his hope was shattered-

" I don't want to go to Gusu Lan Zhan. I want to live in Lotus Pier. You can...go back. I will return when I feel I should. I am quite sure nobody would mind that." Wei Wuxian said those softly, yet way too curtly, as if those words were not significant enough to show his attitude and perception of Gusu.

Lan Wangji was petrified. "No! You are coming with me." He held his husband in his arms tightly, determined; a crushing determination.

Wei Wuxian struggled in his arms. "Lan Zhan, I said no. I don't want to go there. Leave me!" His struggles were of no avail before Lan Wangji's strength.

But even amid this throes of adversity, he cannot deny the pleasure and warmth he could feel in his husband's arms. After four days of being apart from each other, it felt like returning to an assuring and loving shelter. His husband'd warm, scented skin calmed his mind down and he hugged back, burying himself further into the embrace.

"Wei Ying. Please. Cloud Recess is your home now. It won't be the same anymore. Not as cold as it has been." Lan Wangji said tenderly.

But Wei Wuxian was nothing near conceding. He reluctantly separated himself from his husband's arms and stared dead into the latter's vulnerable eyes.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Go there. Please. Leave. Me. Alone." Each word was spoken with pressing force, separated, and punctuated. Showing his unquivering determination. His face was pensive and determined.

Lan Wangji was horrified once again. This time, devastated. " You are coming back with me!"

He would have never forced his husband to come back with him against his wishes. It is a trivial matter. His husband just reunited with his childhood home. He would naturally want to stay here. Relive in the memories.

But a strange horror overcame his heart. Something in Wei Wuxian's eyes were telling him that if he left his husband at Lotus Pier today, his husband might never return to him ever again.

He won't cultivate his greatest nightmare anymore.

"My brother doesn't want to return with you. He will be living in Lotus Pier as long as he wants to."

Jiang Cheng's forceful and majestic voice startled the couple and the words of Sandu Shenshou hit the two in different ways. While Wei Wuxian was relieved, Lan Wangji was irated.

"He is my husband."

"He is my brother." Jiang Cheng retaliated.

The two cultivators glared at each other and Wei Wuxian stood in the middle, his heart standing at the edge of a high cliff.

"I am living in Lotus Pier. And no one is eligible enough to alter my decision."  He finally declared.

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