Jiang Cheng was back in Gusu by the next morning.

"Xichen! Xichen!" He ran to the Sect Leader's study. Lan Xichen looked up from his book. Who was shouting his name like this?

Jiang Cheng flung open the doors and ran into the room. "Xichen, there you are!"

"Wanyin? Wanyin, why are you running?"

"I FOUND IT!"

"Really?"

"Yes, here's our Doctor, my cousin, Jiang Yunxi. You might know him from old days," he pointed to a cheery-looking young man in light and plain, violet robes, comfortable compared to his sect leader's adorned ones. Lan Xichen and Jiang Yunxi bowed to each other.

"And this is our Head Cook, Zheng Yue. Auntie Yue, this is the Lan Sect Leader," he introduced the two to each other.

"Auntie Yue," Xichen bowed to the Head Cook, who, amazed by this young man's courtesy, bowed back. The Chief Cultivator bowing to a Cook? Now this was one excellent young man.

"Auntie Yue, Doctor Jiang, you know the recipe?" Xichen asked.

Auntie Yue nodded. "Yes, Chief Cultivator. It's very simple, actually, just taking in some day-to-day meals in slightly different ways."

"Oh? That simple?"

"Indeed, Chief Cultivator. The medicine is present in three well-available foods: pheasant, legumes and sunflower seeds. We need to feed Master Wei as much legumes as possible, I suppose Second Master Lan will have to do that," the doctor described.

"We all from Lotus Pier know how much Young Master Wei hates legumes," Auntie Yue chuckled.

Xichen nodded, smiling. "And the pheasant? Of course, no issue, he'll eat that more than willingly," Xichen said grinning.

"True, we'll make it a soup. Greens and pheasant meat. The taste of the meat in the soup will make him willingly swallow too," Auntie Yue suggested.

"But he's still unconscious," Jiang Cheng reminded.

"Well, we'll have to liquify the whole thing, even mince the meat, because Master Wei is still entirely insensate. All of it is cooked in such a way that it activates instantly inside the body, so we can heal him quicker. Cooking the meat with pineapples to make it tender but also not heating too much to sustain the medicine. There's a way to cook each thing, right Auntie Yue?" Jiang Yunxi turned to the Cook.

The old lady nodded. "Yes, here's the recipe. I wrote it myself. Chief Cultivator, if you could pass this to your kitchen and Doctor Lan?"

Lan Xichen nodded. "Sure, Auntie Yue. Erm... Auntie Yue?"

"Yes?"

"What about the sunflower seeds?"

"We've got it right here!" Jiang Cheng brought out a pouch from his sleeve and shoved it in Lan Xichen's hands. Xichen opened the pouch and indeed, there were enough sunflower seeds to plant an acres-long field. "What do we do with this?" He asked, turning to the Doctor.

Jiang Yunxi answered, "I'll discuss with Doctor Lan. I think we can apply it with other bleed-reducing herbs to the bandage by his wound."

"Perfect! I'll send for the Doctor right away. We'll meet at the Jingshi," Lan Xichen walked out of his study with the three. As they marched out, Jiang Cheng looked back.

Lan Xichen's study table was loaded with books. On top of it, on either side of it, above and below, all around his seating mat. Books and books and more books. Rolls, scripts. Jiang Cheng turned to his friend with large eyes.

"Xichen, what the heck is all that for?" He pointed back into the study as they traversed the compound.

"Oh, I was searching for two things."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Well, the first was about the poison and its antidote, the antidote to Fatal Silver. But we've got the treatment now, so that's that," Lan Xichen beamed with hope.

"Then the second?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"I couldn't find that one. It must be in Wangji's study. I have to ask Wangji but he's not in this world since last night. Guess I'll have to dig in his study myself. I have to find it for didi."

Jiang Cheng was amazed by Lan Huan's resoluteness to find this something for their brother. "What is it?"

"A manuscript sheet of one of our GusuLan songs: Pure Heart."

**********

The trio waited in the Jingshi, seated at the table, sorrowfully watching the fierce Yiling Patriarch lie on his bed, knocked out, while the great Hanguang-Jun stared at his beloved as though he was calling out to his soul with his eyes.

None expected him to be doing just that.

A-Ying...

A-Ying, where are you?

Don't wander off again...

Please don't leave me here again...

A-Ying...

My darling A-Ying...

Come back.

I won't let go of you, not until you come back.

And with that vow, he had held on to Wei Ying, clasping his pale hand in his own two strong jade ones, grasping it tightly, pressing gently every now and then, desperately trying to wake his dearest up.

The loud knock on the door was not even heard by his woeful self.

"Come in," Lan Xichen ordered.

Doctor Lan walked into the room, with a green jade pot in hand. "I've brought my bleed-reducing herbs too, Sect Leader," he said as he sat beside Lan Xichen at the table.

"Thank you Doctor. Doctor, you know Wanyin already. This is Jiang Yunxi, the Jiangs' Doctor, and Auntie Zheng Yue, the Jiangs' Cook. Auntie Yue, Doctor Jiang, this is Lan Yuanhua, our GusuLan Sect's Doctor," Xichen introduced them to each other.

"Oh come on, Xichen, you think we don't know him?" Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes.

"True," Jiang Yunxi spoke, "He's the greatest Doctor after Wen Qing. It's an honour to meet you, Doctor Lan Yuanhua," the young Jiang doctor bowed to him.

The senior Doctor nodded with a smile.

The young doctor brought out the recipe from Auntie Yue's hands and handed it to Doctor Lan. "Senior, this is the medicine. Auntie Yue will explain things," he said, looking at Auntie Yue, who nodded and recited eveyrthing all over again.

Once the explanations were done, the second-best doctor nodded. "Yes, Madam Zheng. Doctor Jiang, you're right. We can apply the sunflower seeds at the wound with these herbs I brought. We can crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar, then mix it with this mixture, and stuff the bandage with it. True, that should do the trick," he nodded smiling at his junior.

"Alright then, give me a minute," Lan Xichen excuse himself as he moved to the door of the Jingshi.

He smiled. "What are you three doing hiding there? Get in!"

Slowly in a single file, Lan Sizhui, Jin Rulan and Lan Jingyi shuffled into the room.

"JIN LING! What were you doing outside?"

"We thought you elders were discussing scary things and wouldn't want us to hear..." Jin Ling mumbled.

"So we listened from outside instead..." Jingyi stuttered.

Auntie Yue chortled. "You three, we were just talking about the cure. It's fine for you to listen! Come, sit here," she beckoned them to sit around her. The three gladly went over.

"Auntie Yue? So you're the great cook A-Ling talks of," Lan Sizhui smiled at her. She smiled back, while patting Sect Leader Jin's head.

"And you must be Sizhui? Lan Sizhui?"

Lan Sizhui stared at her with round eyes, blinking with bewilderment. "How did Auntie Yue guess?"

"Ah, nothing, little Rulan talks of you too," he winked at Jin Ling who hastily shot up and walked over to his father.

Lan Xichen's and Jiang Wanyin's eyes moved between one nephew to the next, before both exchanged glances and covered their snickering mouths.

Lan Xichen cleared his throat. "Sizhui?"

"Zew– Shushu?" Lan Sizhui, still flustered and red by what he had heard, scrambled up.

"Sizhui, could you go and send for Madam Fan?"

"Sure, Shushu," he nodded and ran out of the Jingshi.

Lan Xichen smiled and shook his head as he walked over to his brothers. He watched his brothers, while he talked to the ones behind him. "Madam Fan is our cook. Auntie Yue can explain things to her, and we'll set the treatment for two months straight," Lan Xichen spoke. Having taken in the lifeless pallor of both Lan Zhan's and Wei Ying's skins, he added as an afterthought, "Two months, everyday. If things haven't changed, or have worsened, we'll find the one healer who can help."

"Who's that?" Jingyi asked.

"Who could heal Daddy if even the doctors here can't?" Jin Ling

"I don't know, Wen Qing resurrected?" Jingyi smirked. He'd have received a slap had his Daddy been here.

"Don't talk of Wen Qing like that, Jingyi. Ask Sizhui about her, he'll teach you. Who Xichen meant was Baoshan Sanren. Which is impossible, so we might as well work hard with this treatment," Jiang Cheng resolved. Lan Xichen and the others agreed.

Sizhui came back with the Lan Cook, and Madams Fan and Zheng agreed to make the soup in a specific way, which they planned together. Each would take up an alternate week. There will be spices, for once, in order to help with the health, so Madam Zheng would happily teach Madam Fan how to spice a meal up. 

Madam Zheng, who the Jiangs and now even the Lans, called Auntie Yue, would stay in Gusu until Wei Wuxian was cured. Jiang Cheng had already left another cook in charge at Lotus Pier. Jiang Cheng himself wanted to stay, but Xichen wouldn't allow it. He was a Sect Leader, he had to be with his Sect.

"But A-Xian is my brother!"

"He's fine here, we're all here with him, but Lotus Pier needs you there!"

While Jiang Cheng continued to whine and make excuses, Lan Xichen just stared at him with one raised eyebrow. This tactic soon made Jiang Cheng shut up and reluctantly agree to go back to Lotus Pier — not in two days as he had hoped, but that evening.

"Evening? Xichen–"

"Wanyin, stop talking. What about baby Meilien?" That shut the younger up.

The doctors, on the other hand, prepared the medicine then and there. It was done in minutes. Jiang Yunxi bowed to Hanguang-Jun before slightly loosening the bandage and filling the space with the green and black paste. The scent of the sunflower seeds overpowered the terrible appearance of the wound, and it was only after the stuffing was done and the bandage tightened that Lan Zhan and the doctors noticed something peculiar.

Despite the wound being open wide and bleeding, and though it has been a day since the injury, there was absolutely no stench. Not even due to the Fatal Silver intertwined with the crimson. Not even due to the drying up blood on the sheets or wood. The only smells that came from Wei Wuxian were two magnificent fragrances: the sunflower seeds, and the one scent that had been on Wei Wuxian since childhood. Lotuses. As always.

See, A-Ying? Even your blood doesn't smell. You're this pure... pure blood, pure heart, pure soul... and you still call yourself tainted...

As Jiang Yunxi stepped back, he watched as tears fell from the younger Jade's golden eyes. He felt so many different feelings: horrified, because never had he imagined to see a crying GusuLan Jade; amazed, at the extent to which the plight of his husband affected him; awed, by the strength of their bond. 

"Hanguang-Jun?"

Lan Wangji nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Don't worry. We will save him. Hanguang-Jun, you may not know this, but Wei Wuxian is the strongest man I've known. He's my shixiong, and he was actually my idol when I was small. I remember how he used to laugh and smile and play with us no matter how badly Madam Yu punished him. He'd jump into the lakes with us, regardless of his wounds, just so he could keep us happy. His endurance is out of this world. This will just be another tribulation to him. And Hanguang-Jun should know better than anyone: that when it's a test, Wei Wuxian will always pass!" He smiled at Lan Wangji, bowed and moved back to his seat.

Jiang Cheng was silently nodding, while the others listened to it all in wonderment.

Lan Zhan smiled. He actually smiled. Jiang Yunxi was right, he knew his husband well enough to know he'd endure through this successfully. Of course, A-Ying will pass, and with flying colours. My A-Ying's the best, he thought, smiling as he wiped away the tears.

**********

"Wangji, this is enough." Lan Xichen tried to be gentle and stern at the same time, and strangely succeeded.

"Xiongzhang, I–"

"I know, you want to be by his side, but don't you think he deserves a good long sleep?" The others had left the room, the Doctors gone to have tea together, the Cooks gone to collect the ingredients, and the Juniors ran off to class. Jiang Wanyin had gone to be Sect Leader and Father.

"Wangji, I'm not forcing you, but you've so much to do! And I promise, none of it is related to anything but didi."

Lan Zhan finally looked away from Wei Ying. After an entire day, thank God, Xichen sighed.

"Wangji, you need to wash Bichen. It's covered in didi's blood. Then, wash yourself in the springs, you're covered in his blood, too. He wouldn't want to see you like this when he wakes up," Xichen coaxed his brother to stand up and walked with him towards the drawers to get him fresh robes. "Plus, after you're done, there's something you need to do."

"Xiongzhang, please, I can't–"

"Don't you want to put an end to all this kill-the-Yiling-Patriarch nonsense?"

Lan Zhan's ears perked up. Of course he wanted to! That was the one thing he wanted right now.

"Xiongzhang?"

"Good, now you're listening to me. Didi wanted to find a way to destroy that Seal. If he does that, all problems will be solved. He won't be chased and attacked anymore. Well, what do you say?" Lan Xichen asked, tilting his head and handing the robes to the other.

Lan Wangji thought for some time, then nodded firmly. He took the robes from his brother and responded, "Mn. I'll wash myself and Bichen, then move to the library straightaway." And with that fierce determination, he marched out of the Jingshi calling a scarlet Bichen along. 

**********

A long way through the forests off Lanling and over the lakes of Yunmeng, near the border between the Jins' and the Jiangs' regions, was a large, ashen village, long forgotten. It had once had a watchtower put up by Jin Guangyao's people, but the tower was no longer in use because the people in the village all died due to a plague, leaving it empty.

Or so the world thought.

The village was much like the Yi City which our heroes and their sons went through once, long ago. But this one didn't have the paper mannequins and coffins. There were no funeral arrangements at all, for the plague had spread too rapidly for anyone to hold a proper burial for the dead.

The deaths had happened years ago, but the bodies couldn't have rotted away so soon. Still, had you walked across the village, you wouldn't have seen a single body. Instead, you would find heaps of corpses a couple of miles out of the village, in a barren hillside. Someone had taken the bodies away to this place, clearing the village for inhabitation.

The someone was now seated in a dilapidated inn, with her lackeys all around her. Luo Qingfei had found this in the days of Jin Guangyao's sect leadership. It had helped her and Zhen Xiuming, more of a colleague than a minion, to live in peaceful secrecy while they did Yao's dirty work. But of course, not that either of them considered the work dirty.

The one similarity between MeiRen Sha and her sister Mianmian, was their sheer loyalty and skill.

But the greatest difference between Luo Qingfei and Luo Qingyang was that one was blinded by her Jin sect's long lost fame and her master's personality, while the other knew just how to distinguish between what was right and what was wrong.

While the others discussed to wait for some time before striking again, and conspired how to approach the Seal next, Luo Qingfei wondered how a man could possibly be so beautiful and cruel at the same time.