"Alright. You may leave for the lunch break."

"Thank you, Hanguang-Jun!" A short Jiang female disciple stood up, bowed to her teacher and fast-walked out of the classroom.

Hanguang-Jun also stood up and walked out. Right outside, he saw his son and others walking towards the Lunch Hall. He strode over to stand beside his son, and then slowed down to his pace.

"Hanguang-Jun?"

Lan Zhan gave a look.

"Oh... Father. Why are you here?"

Lan Wangji nodded at the word. "Walking to lunch with you."

Sizhui beamed.

"Ey, Sizhui, he's your dad too now?" Jin Ling and Jingyi leaned in and whispered.

"Not just his. Yours too." The cold voice replied.

The three children looked up, wondering if he meant it.

"Wei Ying is your dad?"

The three nodded.

"Then I am too."

The trio grinned, held hands together, and walked beside their new father to the Lunch Hall, proudly strolling past the others.

"Haha, Wangji, looks like you've found your children?"

"Xiongzhang! Mn."

"Zewu-Jun!"

"WHAT did you call me? Look here, this is unfair. He gets to be dad, I can't even be uncle?"

All three children chuckled. "Shushu. Excuse us, Shushu, Father, we need to go have lunch."

"Mn," the Jades chorused.

"Xiongzhang, Wei Ying didn't come back yet?"

"Huh? Oh no, he didn't. Which reminds me... Wangji I came to tell you..." He leaned in and whispered something in Lan Wangji's ears. Something that made the younger's eyebrows disappear into his hair, turn on his heels, and sprint out of the Hall.

Zewu-Jun shook his head. Bowing to the elders, he explained, "Forgive my brother, Elders, but Wuxian is missing. Please excuse me." And with that, Lan Xichen also left the Hall.

**********

Bang! Lan Wangji crashed through the Jingshi.

"Wei Ying!"

No reply.

Lan Zhan turned the Jingshi upside down, searching madly. But there was nobody else in the Jingshi.

"Wei Ying..." Lan Zhan slumped onto the floor by the bed — their bed. Why? Why did he have to take off like this? All the time? And just like last time, he had lied. Said he's going to Caiyi. Why? Why lie to him? Why hide his worries from him? Was he not his husband? Was he not his soulmate? Were they not married, soul-bound, vowed to stay together, forever? Then why did A-Ying keep leaving him like this? Leaving him in the dark... The dark... The Jingshi suddenly felt dark... lonely... cold... The soul and heart in here that once made this place bubble with cheer had vanished. The candle was no more. All Lan Zhan felt now, huddled on the cold, cold wooden floor, was a sense of dark isolation.

In came a sudden burst of sunshine. Lan Zhan opened his eyes to see if it was him, but no. Shivering, he shut his eyes again.

Xichen stopped in his tracks. Wangji was freezing. His little Wangji was shaking, hands clutching his arms, like a little boy kneeling in the winter... Like the little Wangji back then...

But this was summer.

"Wangji... Xiongdi, please. Look at me."

Wangji didn't. Xichen bent to peek at his face. Good, he was alive after all. But his behaviour... This was bad. Very bad. Xichen was forced to recall the lovesick Wangji he saw every day, back when Wuxian died. No, he can't watch his brother do this again. They had to find Wei Wuxian.

"Wangji, did you find his ribbon?"

Still not even a 'Mn.'

Xichen sighed. He stood up and looked around. Something caught his eyes. Two things, small, but out of place in the white and mature Jingshi, lay on the table right in the middle of the room. 'How had Wangji not seen this?' was not even a question, since he knew his Wangji was panicked enough to miss a detail as small as this.

He walked over to the desk. There lay two minute items. Small in size, but not small in sentiment.

One was a bright red ribbon, silky, sparkling in the sunlight.

The other was... a rattle drum? Xichen at first did not know what this meant, but then, it dawned on him as sudden as lightning. This was little Wangji's rattle drum! The one he had gotten at the Yunmeng Market when they had visited the place with Father and Shufu back when Xichen and Wangji were children. He still had it? What was it doing here? 

"Wangji... did you see these?"

The now ice-cold, barely alive man paid no heed.

"It's Wuxian-di's ribbon."

Instantly, Lan Zhan looked up. He crawled over to the table and grabbed the ribbon, turned it over and over in his hands, before bursting into a silent torrent of tears. "A-Ying... My A-Ying..." he was whispering.

Xichen kneeled and pulled him into a tight hug, speechless and equally upset. His head resting on his brother's shoulder, Wangji now saw the other object. He gasped.

Slowly his hands reached for it. He handled it softly, shook it so softly that its banging threads almost caressed the drum. As though he was afraid the very memory behind this thing would shatter. Or disappear. Just like his Wei Ying.

Xichen let go to look. "Wangji, what does this mean?" He was beyond curious.

Wangji looked down. "Back then... You were with Father and Uncle. I had wandered away. I saw a little boy in a corner of the street. He was in tattered clothes, his hair all messy, skinny. I had always seen boys like him my age, but he was different. He was smiling. He was talking to three stick figures on the ground. I walked over, to hear him saying "This is mother, father, and me!" And then... he smiled... the most beautiful smile..."

"So you gave this to him?"

"Mn."

"Then how is this here?– OH!"

Wangji looked up, red-eyed. "Yes, xiongzhang, it was him all along. Back then, even now. That smile. I recognised him, xiongzhang, back when he first came here. I recognised his smile... Xiongzhang... why did he leave me again? Does he not trust me?"

Xichen was now crying too. "Xiongdi, stop saying that. You know how he is. Either it's too dangerous — dark magic, so he wouldn't want to see you hurt. Or else... I don't know... But what I do know is we have to find him. At all costs. I won't let you down this time, Wangji. I've been a fool before, not anymore." And with that, Xichen dragged his brother to meet the Elders for help. Wangji didn't hesitate, but let himself be dragged along, still clutching Wei Ying's ribbon in his hand as though his life depended on it — because it did.

 **********

Meanwhile, miles away, in a dark, gloomy forest, was a dark, gloomy hut. And in that dark, gloomy hut sat a even darker, gloomier man. Dressed in black disguise, he was sharpening his sword with a stone, the grazing 'screech' sound echoing through the woods. But what was worst was not his appearance, or action, but his smile. He was grinning. Most evilly.

Crash! The door of the hut toppled down.

"So it was you?"

"Pleased to see you again, Yiling Patriarch."

"What business do you have with me? And what 'again'? I don't think I know you." Wei Wuxian was seething with anger.

 "Oh, well, of course, you're so great, how could you remember little me? I'm just another disciple from just another sect! Fight me, then you'll know which!"

"Fine!"

A fight ensued. Sword and flute clashed violently. Then, realising this won't end too soon, Wei Wuxian summoned a tying spell. Hundreds of minute spirits held back the screaming stranger. Finally, Wei Wuxian unleashed his dearest demon. In wafted a bright red smoke that diffused through the room and drifted over to the man's chest, where the vapour condensed into a beautiful lady. The man gaped at the seductress as she smiled at him, showing her long, razor-sharp canines. The lady traced her index finger up the man's chest, teasing, and then, tearing, until it stopped at the neck. She looked at her master.

"Just do it. He's just a lackey of the actual enemy."

The seductive demoness grinned. Slit! Thud!

A scarred head rolled across the floor to Wei Wuxian.

'Isn't this that Jin who used to fight beside Meng Yao? Curious.'

He stomped his foot on the head, and crushed the dead man's face. "Dare to hurt my loved ones? This is what you get." He stroked the Demoness's head, mumbled thank you, snapped his fingers to make every last spirit vanish, and disappeared into the woods.