Chapter Text
“Spying,” Nie Husaing had said, “is such an ugly word…”
Cheating, by his account, was also an ugly word, but Wei Wuxian was reasonably certain that he had just been asked to do both of those things. In many ways, the intricate social expectations and norms of Beans — anyone, honestly — were rather beyond him, but even he knew that it would definitely be wrong of him to go along with this scheme. Agreeing to help Nie Huaisang cheat on his final examination would definitely be morally deficient, just like Lan Qiren had insinuated he might be all those weeks ago when he had heard Wei Wuxian’s thoughts on resentful cultivation and resource usage.
Unfortunately, it was also very funny, and Wei Wuxian had said he owed Nie Huaisang a favour. Plus the examination was apparently “impossible” and “sadistic” and Wei Wuxian was more than a little curious about what that actually meant since it wasn’t like he could sit the exam himself. So he had agreed.
It wasn’t until Nie Huaisang had left the Jingshi and Wei Wuxian was sitting on his own waiting for Lan Wangji to return, that a horrible pang of guilt thrummed through him. Because: Lan Wangji .
Lan Wangji, who was his first and best friend, who had brought him to the lectures and who went out of his way to help him and who was the best person ever — Wei Wuxian would be going behind his back. He tried to think the whole thing through, to prove to himself that this wasn’t what he was doing. After all, it wasn’t going to hurt anyone! And it sounded fun! And it would help Nie Huaisang who was keeping his secret and had been nothing but kind (trap excluded) and had helped him clear out his den! He owed him! There were definitely Lan rules about returning favours or something, he was sure of it! And besides, Wei Wuxian spent every night creeping around and getting into things and it wasn’t like he bothered to tell Lan Wangji about all that! What he was planning to do now was really no different than what he did every night!
So why didn’t any of those explanations help?
He was a borrower! This is what he did! He went out and snuck into things and took useful things. If he didn’t do that, he never would have become a cultivator and he never would have met Lan Wangji. He wouldn’t have even lived long enough to consider doing either of those things! He couldn’t feel guilty about his way of life!
And he didn’t, he realised. He didn’t regret borrowing. None of that was bothering him, not really.
What was actually stuck in his mind was the image of Lan Wangji’s pale face in the candlelight the night his den had flooded. “You didn’t wake me up,” he had said. He hadn’t said a thing about Wei Wuxian cutting through his paper-screen door, or breaking into his home, or shattering his vase, or tracking water and mud all over his clean home. What he had said, with all that hurt in his voice, had been “You didn’t wake me up.”
“Wei Ying?”
“In here,” he called vaguely, still lost in thought as Lan Wangji stepped into the sitting room. In his hands he held supper from the kitchens, and the jar of chilli oil that he had brought up from Caiyi town for Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian’s heart constricted uncomfortably at the sight.
“What did your uncle say about missing classes?” he asked, trying to fight through his own thoughts like he would through knee deep mud.
“Nothing much,” said Lan Wangji, as he set down the food and went to get Wei Wuxian’s little bowl to give him a portion. “Xiongzhang had told him that the storm had caused damages that I needed to see to.”
“You Lans are so good at lying without lying,” Wei Wuxian remarked. Would not telling Lan Wangji about his and Nie Huaisang’s plan be lying without lying?
Lan Wangji gave him a disapproving look. “It was the truth. He wanted to ensure the Jingshi was fine and that I didn’t need any assistance — I told him besides for the water and mud that I had to clean up and a damaged door that needed patching, the Jingshi was fine.”
Also all true. While Lan Wangji had mopped up the floor, Wei Wuxian had patched the hole he had made, cutting the new paper into a bunny shape and pasting it over the hole. He smugly felt that Lan Wangji approved of the silly, little, white rabbit hidden near-invisible at the bottom of his door.
Lan Wangji passed Wei Wuxian his bowl and picked up his own. Wei Wuxian stared down into it, entirely unsure how to feel. He didn’t even know he could feel this many emotions at once — everything was much easier when it was just him, doing what he needed and not needing to think about anything or anyone beyond the risk of being caught. Maybe things would be easier when he returned to Lotus Pier and he didn’t feel like his stomach was being pulled every which way with indecision. He wanted to have fun. He wanted to do what borrowers were good at doing. He wanted to do something for Nie Huaisang, something only he could do.
He didn’t want to disappoint Lan Wangji.
You didn’t wake me up.
“Hey, Lan Zhan, will you give me more of your tofu skins?”
Lan Wangji paused, chopsticks halfway to his mouth. Then he replaced his food back into the bowl and instead picked up a large piece of tofu skin. By this point they had enough sense to keep a knife in the Jingshi for just such a thing, and Lan Wangji dutifully cut it into smaller pieces, depositing a generous heap into Wei Wuxian’s bowl — enough so that he had to quickly rearrange things so they wouldn’t fall all over the place.
Really, with enough chilli oil, the Cloud Recesses did pretty good tofu skins, the texture was just chewy enough to make you work for it!
“Is it good?” asked Lan Wangji.
“Excellent!”
His expression softened in that way that Wei Wuxian knew meant he was happy, like this simple thing had somehow brought him joy.
“Good,” he said, before picking up his chopsticks and beginning both his dinner and the peaceful quiet that marked any meal eaten with a Lan.
They ate in silence for a bit, Wei Wuxian trying to marshal his thoughts despite being unsure what, exactly, he was even thinking about.
“Lan Zhan, I need to tell you something.”
Lan Wangji paused again. He didn’t answer aloud but he nodded for Wei Wuxian to continue. Wei Wuxian focused on his bowl, still shovelling vegetables and bean curds into his mouth as he did so.
“Me and Nie Huaisang are planning to get up to mischief tonight,” he said lightly.
There was a clack as Lan Wangji placed his bowl and chopsticks down entirely; he was watching Wei Wuxian closely. Wei Wuxian was almost startled when Lan Wangji actually spoke, before his bowl had been fully emptied.
“What are you going to do?”
“Eh… it’s probably better if I don’t say? Because it’s definitely breaking some rules… but no one’s going to get hurt! It’s really just borrowing!”
Lan Wangji seemed to consider this.
“Then why tell me at all?”
Now Wei Wuxian felt foolish. Why say anything, indeed? He could have said nothing! He was a borrower, borrowers didn’t go around telling Beans of their movements! What a stupid conversation! Except…
You didn’t wake me up.
As a borrower, Wei Wuxian was hardly accountable to Beans and their rules. But maybe he wanted to be, at least to Lan Wangji. At the very least, there a tiny little part of him, rising up like kindling, that liked the idea of someone actually wondering if he was okay while he was out at night. As the last borrower of Lotus Pier there had been no accountability, but there had also been not a single person, with the possible exception of Little Apple, who would have noticed if he never came home one night.
He rubbed the back of his neck and struggled to explain himself. “I just wanted to. I wanted you to know. I promise I’ll copy down the rules after and make up for it! But I didn’t want to go do this before I told you, just in case. And I won’t do it if it makes you too angry. Sorry if this sounds stupid or if I put you in an awkward situation by telling you about rule-breaking, Lan Zhan.”
Lan Wangji stared thoughtfully down at his clasped hands before speaking. “I thank Wei Ying for his confidence.”
Wei Wuxian blinked. “...That’s it?”
“If Wei Ying doesn’t want to tell me more, then yes. Unless I can help.”
“Help?” Wei Wuxian almost choked. “Help break the rules ? Lan Zhan, I wouldn’t do that to you! Don’t be ridiculous! Especially if you knew what we were planning! It’s bad enough I’ve said this much!”
“Then I will keep Wei Ying company tomorrow when he is copying rules in the Library Pavillion,” said Lan Wangji, who picked up his bowl once more.
-
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Wei Wuxian said in Nie Huaisang’s ear later that evening.
“Shh,” said Nie Huaisang fretfully as he glanced around. It was after hai-shi and if he was caught outside the dorms there really would be trouble. Beans were so bad at this.
“But it’s Lan Zhan! When we first met he trapped me in a bowl and was getting mad at me for sneaking in without a formal invitation! He made me my first brush just so I could copy rules about fighting in the library! And now he’s letting me run off and break whatever rules I please! Why would he do that?”
“Why would you tell him, is the better question,” Nie Huaisang grumbled as he crept through the shadows; his grey Nie robes blended into them much better than the white guest disciple robes which were hidden beneath. “You’re going to get me in trouble too, if you aren’t careful.”
“Well it wouldn’t be fair to say nothing,” said Wei Wuxian. “And I didn’t tell him any details, I wouldn’t want him to feel guilty by knowing and not stopping us. But isn’t it funny?”
“Funny that Lan-er-gongzi would go out of his way to help you do whatever you want? Not really, not from what I’ve seen, Wei-xiong.”
“Eh? What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, Wei-xiong, what does it mean?” said Nie Huaisang, who had been somewhat curt ever since he’d found out that Wei Wuxian had revealed their scheme to the head disciplinarian. “We’re here, this is the building.”
Wei Wuxian stared up at the little building, done in the usual Cloud Recess style, and considered it.
“Are you sure you can do this?” Nie Huaisang added. “I’ve heard it’s warded…”
“Oh, it’ll be fine, don’t worry about it. See you in the morning, Nie-xiong.”
Nie Huaisang sighed, and his spirits seemed somewhat improved. “You’re amazing Wei-xiong! See you in the morning! Be safe!”
With that, Wei Wuxian slid his way down Nie Huaisang’s outer robes and sprinted off towards the thick shadows around the building’s door while Nie Huaisang crept his way back to the disciples dorms.
Standing as he was outside Lan Qiren’s study, he really had no more time to dwell on either Lan Wangji’s or Nie Huaisang’s strange remarks, which was honestly a relief. Better to put it all aside for later and focus on the treasure hidden within. Namely: the mock up for the examination, at least according to Nie Huaisang. Wei Wuxian was somewhat sceptical about how reliable Nie Huaisang’s information actually was — what did he know about Lan elders, never mind acting Sect Leaders? — but where was the harm in a quick peak?
Getting into the main building itself wasn’t a challenge. It took a single throw to get his earring hook around one of the ornate round windows and the work of a moment to clamber up. These windows weren’t blocked by a paper screen, their complex wooden designs meant to keep out anything unwanted, but it was easy for a borrower to slip past and to drop back down the other side. It was here where things would get more complex.
He was standing in a narrow entry hall off of which stood three doors. Based on Nie Huaisang’s information, Lan Qiren’s office should be the room in the middle, while the eastmost room was a small, private sitting room that Lan Qiren likely used to take breaks in while he was working, and the westmost room was a slightly larger receiving room.
Because it was always good to test the easier options first, Wei Wuxian darted across the exposed hall as fast as he could to the middle door. He immediately felt the expected hum of a ward. It felt strong too, nothing he would be able to break without causing some serious problems. Nie Huaisang really was lucky he was a borrower! At this size if you had any sense for spiritual power a ward was pretty hard to miss; once you got within a cun of the door it was like a soft thrumming that made your hair stand on end. He knew from witnessing more than one hilarious run-in at Lotus Pier though that wards weren’t always so obvious to Beans who were just focused on getting somewhere.
Well, it wasn’t like Wei Wuxian wasn’t used to getting around warded spaces. Wards were meant for Beans as far as he was concerned; borrowers went where they liked.
Still, Wei Wuxian abandoned the middle door out of hand..
Sticking close to the walls and skirting beneath furniture when available, Wei Wuxian decided to visit the receiving room, suspecting that this room would hold what he was looking for. It also helped that no one had bothered to shut this door securely and that a wedge of space existed between it and the wall.
Slipping soundlessly through, Wei Wuxian could only smirk with satisfaction. Exactly what he wanted to see. The room was still rather sparsely decorated, as was the nature of Lans, but since it was meant for receiving guests who had reason to meet with a Sect Leader it still subtly showed off the wealth and taste of the Lan clan, which meant the walls were adorn with tasteful paintings. The painted silk along one wall was that of a summery river scene that seemed to draw the outside landscape right into the room. Next to it was a hanging scroll with a pretty bit of calligraphy describing the babble of a summer brook. While perfect for summer, such art would hardly suit the dead of winter, and the Lan clan would not be hurting for finery. So what, Wei Wuxian thought cheerfully to himself, were the odds that the scrolls would be occasionally swapped out as styles or seasons changed or as something became aged and faded and new art was acquired?
Beans really had more stuff than they knew what to do with, but it worked well for Wei Wuxian.
The next trick was getting up to the wall scroll but even that wouldn’t be too hard. He may have been more cautious if he were somewhere like Lotus Pier, where you never knew who may be wandering the halls in a fit of insomnia or nighttime productivity, but here people took the evening bell seriously . There weren’t even stray dogs or cats to be wary of, it was practically a borrower’s dream!
He shimmied up a tall, ornamental weapon stand, leapt deftly from the top of that to a cloud pattern that was carved into the upper half of a window screen, used the wooden cloud swirls and handholds to scale up that, and from there it was just a single wild leap to the wall hanging.
Silk was never his first choice for handholds, too slick, but he had had plenty of experience and his cultivation had been improving in leaps and bounds lately so he was able to get his fists into it without too much hassle. Once he was steady, he pulled out his recently recovered pins (now free of mud) and used them to stick the fabric and climb up and over the silk, dropping down the other side between the painting and the wall, and scaled back down.
In the dark, shadowy space between silk and wall, Wei Wuxian peered around, searching and hoping that he really would get lucky…
And he did!
It was just a little hole in the wall, but it showed where a nail had previously existed to support a different sized piece of art at some point in the past. A tiny gap.
But a gap was all a borrower ever needed. Give a borrower a gap, a hole, a thought, the slightest opening, and they would figure out a way to squeeze in. Just look at Lan Wangji! He had given Wei Wuxian a smidge of leeway and now here he was, living in Lan Wangji’s home, riding on his shoulder, playing in his hair and disrupting his studies.
Wei Wuxian chuckled as he drew the iron nail he had been wearing strapped to his back. Give him an inch and he would take a mile! And if you didn’t give him an inch, he would carve it out for himself. With one hand still gripping the carefully angled pin, he swung and used his momentum to drive the nail tip into the wall and pried.
It would be slow going, but he had plenty of experience and more spiritual power than he was used to that would help speed things up. Back at Lotus Pier he would never dare make a hole like this, of course. When he carved out new wall entries, it was always with the utmost consideration for concealment. How could he create a false covering or door that would hide the hole from prying Bean eyes? Putting a hole in the middle of a wall that would be discovered as soon as a single silk painting was removed? That was madness.
However in this case he wouldn’t be around to face the repercussions. The beans would probably come up with some trite excuse, like someone must have made a hole when putting up the new silk and not owned up to it, fill the hole, and move on with their lives. Wei Wuxian would be long gone by that point, so he worked indiscriminately.
Just as his arm was really getting sore from holding himself up, the hole was finally large enough for him to slip into with a bit of wiggling. With a final swing of the silk, he withdrew his pin and wedged his way into the gap.
Careful not to fall into the long drop between walls, Wei Wuxian balanced on the edge of his hole, spotted the nearest inner support beam, and jumped nimbly down to it. It really was a pain to move around inside walls without previously made borrower runs, but he could do it. It involved a lot of climbing and jumping, but he began to explore, eyes wide and searching in the pitch blackness.
Eventually they picked up a faint glimmer where the air was more grey than black.
A ceiling tile that wasn’t quite lined up properly with the corner of the ceiling. He wouldn’t even need to make a hole here. And sure enough, there was no hint of a ward up here. Beans really were sloppy, they never seemed to consider anything from any perspective other than their own. What would bother entering a room from any space that wasn’t a door or window, after all!
Beans didn’t even need to know about borrowers for this to be a stupid design flaw in Wei Wuxian’s opinion. He was positive that if he took some time to think about it he could find a way to make a little puppet that could walk around in his place, and he could make that even smaller than himself if he wanted. If he could do that, surely any cultivator could make themselves a tiny little spy to sneak in gaps and crevices. Beans were sloppy and lazy, but it worked in his favour.
With the nail returned to his back, this time he drew out his earring hook and sunk it deep into the wood beam and let loose his longest piece of thread. Of course the thread wouldn’t be long enough to reach the floor, but hopefully he could find something else to hold onto… ah, perfect, he was next to a bookcase.
It was an easy thing to swing himself within reach of a book spine and desert his string for that. The string he would leave there for his eventual exit. Bookcases were a familiar terrain for Wei Wuxian, who had always spent lots of time in Jiang-zongzhu’s office, so it wasn’t hard to pick his way down to the desk. And then the real hunt began. Prying open drawers, slipping into files, rifling through paper — it was a lot of exploration and a lot of heavy lifting, but given how soon the examination would be upon them, Wei Wuxian hoped what he was looking for would be near the top of whatever space it was stored in.
Eventually, Wei Wuxian struck gold. In a case of shelves beneath the back window were a set of long drawers. They weren’t even hard to get into because their handles were just a carved hole in the wood, which meant Wei Wuxian could slip easily into them, landing with a light crinkle of paper underfoot. Using the creeping light of dawn to peer down at what he was standing on, Wei Wuxian thrilled to finally see his prize: an entire stack of papers written in Lan Qiren’s neat hand, bound together with twine, and clearly labelled as examination questions.
All he had to do now was read and memorise what was here, easy!
Easy, except for the distant ringing of the mao-shi bell.
…Was it really that late? Or… early?
Immediately Wei Wuxian felt himself getting antsy. Every instinct in his body said it was time to leave but after all this work… could he really run off without at least going through a few questions?
Never mind that he could get back here all the quicker if he returned tomorrow night, he was here now and running away felt like a failure. And what if someone noticed the hole sooner than Wei Wuxian expected and fixed it immediately? Or what if the ceiling tile was repaired? Or what if Lan Qiren moved the examination papers?
No, it had to be now. He wasted no more time and sprinted across the top sheet, reading over every question he could before diving down and borrowing between the top sheet and the second. It was harder to read like this, needing to crawl beneath two giant sheets of paper and squint through the darkness, but he had done it enough times in the past. He could do this.
Maybe he couldn’t read the whole thing, but he could read enough to get a gist, right? At least to find some of those impossible questions Nie Huaisang had mentioned. After all, what were the odds that anyone would be in here immediately anyway? Surely even stuffy Old Man Lan needed some time to wake up and make himself presentable and eat breakfast. No one came into their office to start working the second they woke up, right? Right!
Wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, and Wei Wuxian was once again kicking himself for being impulsive and stubborn and a very bad borrower who made very stupid assumptions and mostly he was mentally kicking Lan Qiren and the entire Lan clan for being so ridiculously keen. He would have to address this with Lan Wangji once he got out of here — what made his clan the way they were and how could they go about fixing that because there was obviously something wrong with all of them.
Wei Wuxian was crouching in the dark corner of the drawer, wedged beneath the papers there, as he listened to the slow movements of a Bean in the office.
The door was opened and shut. Window coverings were moved aside, and a candle was lit. Papers rustled. There was the sound of shuffling robes and shifting paper and the massive sigh of a tired Bean settling himself at a desk.
If you’re tired, go back to bed! Wei Wuxian wanted to scream.
He was going to miss lessons. Lan Wangji was going to worry. And those two things were definitely going to end with him feeling horribly, stupidly guilty! He was a borrower, he didn’t want to feel guilty, but he was going to! He was going to hear Lan Wangji’s disappointed and worried voice in the back of his head for the rest of his life! It was completely unfair! How could it get worse?
It got worse, as it turned out, by Lan Qiren turning around and sliding open the drawer in which Wei Wuxian was hiding.
His heart nearly stopped as light flooded the drawer; fortunately his instincts had him frozen, flat and still beneath the papers. There was a rustling, papers were moved, and suddenly the paper that had been protectively covering him was drawn up and away. Wei Wuxain was completely exposed to the world. Every muscle in his body told him to run. Every instinct told him to stay still.
Thankfully instincts won. He didn’t move. In the shadowy back corner of the long drawer, he wasn’t noticed. Instead Lan Qiren drew out the big stack of examination papers — which, Wei Wuxian might add, consisted of incredibly basic questions and nothing remotely “impossible”, which just added insult to injury — and once again shut the drawer with a snap that made Wei Wuxian feel like the entire world was quaking.
He couldn’t stay here.
He had originally thought he might stay in the drawer until Lan Qiren left — he had to leave soon! He had lessons to teach! And surely he had to eat breakfast at some point, right? — but that was seeming more and more perilous. How long until he opened the drawer again and next time noticed Wei Wuxian? Or even if Wei Wuxian buried himself beneath loose paper again, how long until he accidentally placed his hand on top of Wei Wuxian and squished him beneath the papers?
And even if he didn’t notice him, there was still string dangling from the ceiling! With the rising morning sun, all it would take for him to notice would be turning to consult a book from his shelf.
Wei Wuxian was cursing Nie Huaisang with every fibre of his being. He should have known that meddlesome Nie Huaisang would only bring him bad luck the moment he had gotten caught in his trap! Had he really escaped capture that time only to be caught by the Lan sect leader now? And Lan Wangji’s uncle, at that! At least if you were caught by a dog it would just eat you, if he was caught now who knew what would happen!
And not just himself but Lan Wangji. He stopped cursing Nie Huaisang and started cursing himself and Lan Wangji instead. What had Lan Wangji been thinking, being so laissez-faire about him running off and causing problems! Why hadn’t he tried to stop him like he always did when it came to rule breaking?
More importantly, what had he been thinking, assuming that weak explanation to Lan Wangji was adequate. He hadn’t said anything! Only enough to assuage his own guilt! Never mind if he was a bad borrower or not, he was a bad friend! Hadn’t he learnt anything? Never again, he swore vehemently. If he got out of this alive he wasn’t going to take Lan Wangji lightly ever again, and he definitely wasn’t going to do anything that would cause problems with his family!
There was nothing for it though. Cursing wouldn’t remove him from this situation, only he could do that, so Wei Wuxian crept through the drawer, ready to toss himself until a sheaf of paper at the slightest noise from outside. No sound came though, except the grinding of an inkstone. He peered cautious out of the hand-hole. Lan Qiren’s enormous back, clad in white like a snow-covered mountain, filled his entire vision.
Wei Wuxian shivered. He had found their instructor rather intimidating at the best of times, with strict, unbending bearing, but it was much, much worse when he didn’t have the advantage of being on Lan Wangji’s shoulder.
No time for fear though. If Lan Qiren was grinding ink this would be Wei Wuxian’s best chance to get away; the noise would cover his movements, and Lan Qiren wouldn’t want to get up and let his ink dry if he was about to write something. Timing his movements to the shlk-shlk-shlk of the inkstone, Wei Wuxian pulled himself from the drawer and rather than carefully climbing down just let himself drop.
He hit the ground hard and almost fell flat on his back as his knees buckled. Ouch! The drop had been fast enough and far enough to steal the breath from his lungs but borrowers were very, very good at falling. Beans had a tendency to splatter if they fell from too high, but not borrowers. They could absorb a shock.
Not to say it was ideal, Wei Wuxian thought bitterly as he limped as quickly as he could under the shelves so he could press up against the edge of the wall. Still, with the careful application of qi he could feel his aches already beginning to diminish. Or maybe that was the adrenaline.
He sprinted along the wall until he came to the edge of the dresser’s protective shadow and was staring up at the impossibly high bookshelf.
It would take forever to climb that, and every extra moment he spent in the open was another moment for Lan Qiren to notice either himself or his string and start asking very dangerous questions.
He chewed on his lip. He needed to get up, and he needed to get up fast. What was faster than climbing though?
Never mind doing a favour for Nie Huaisang, Nie Huaisang was going to owe him big after this! First giving him a heart attack with his stupid basket, and then—
Oh. He could probably use that actually. Except this time he couldn’t leave evidence. What to do, what to do…
The ink grinding had stopped but Lan Qiren’s back was still bent over his work as his brush slid gracefully across a page. Wei Wuxian made a mad dash to the lowest bookshelf and wedged himself between the books. It was tight, but not impossibly so, since one book was leaning against its fellow creating a little cavern. Once there, Wei Wuxian mercilessly squeezed behind the books and tore a scrap of paper out of it. Hopefully it wasn’t anything too irreplaceable.
He had no ink but blood would serve his purpose, as he well knew. On the first piece of paper he redrew the force talisman he had used in Nie Huaisang’s room, but with a few modifications. His problem had been direction, after all. That was an easy fix now that he had seen Lan Wangji’s elegant energy distribution talisman and how it had so carefully balanced direction and force. All he had to do was borrow the wind and earth radicals from that, and not only should it fix his issue with direction, but also, ideally, add the necessary power that his previous talisman had been lacking…
He didn’t complete it though, leaving it inert at his feet.
He jabbed his finger against his pin anew, until he had a healthy flow of blood. The next talismans he drew against his own palms. For these ones he took inspiration from the talismans that Nie Huaisang must have used to attach the woven basket trap to the bottom of his bed, drawing one on each palm.
The last thing he needed was sticky gum from a book’s binding. The trick was finding one that was sealed with gum rather than being bound with string. Eventually he got one though, scrapped it out with his fingers, and stuck it in his mouth. It tasted vile, but he chewed and chewed until it was as moist and sticky as if it were fresh.
He peaked out from between the books. Lan Qiren moved. Opened the drawer that Wei Wuxian had previously been in and rifled around in it. Wei Wuxian shivered, imagining if he had still been in there. Every moment was an eternity to Wei Wuxian’s rapidly pounding heart, but finally Lan Qiren found the page he was looking for and he returned to his seated position at his desk. That was when Wei Wuxian moved.
He tossed the paper with his force talisman onto the floor, drew the sticky gum from his mouth and stuck it to the bottom of his boots, and leapt onto the paper. With a breath and prayer, he activated all three talismans simultaneously.
He shot into the air like a firecracker.
Direction was perfect, force was excellent, if perhaps slightly over-calculated. He was, after all, significantly lighter than a wicker basket. Wei Wuxian practically slammed against the ceiling, making spots fill his vision even as he ensured his palms slapped flat against the tiles.
Mercy of mercies, the talismans on his palms lit up and he stuck fast, dangling what felt like li above the floor.
He was forced to hang there, shivering like a wind chime as he waited for his vision to clear and thoughts to settle. Once he was calm again, there was only one last step. He had to hope his sticking talismans held while he swung himself with enough momentum to reach out and grab his sting.
From there he scurried into the ceiling, drew his rope back up, and collapsed onto his back to catch his breath.
He had done it!
Take that!
Even at the height of his success, he could feel the way his entire body trembled from nerves and the way his lungs burned as he heaved in desperate breathes. He had fully intended to lie there for only as long as it took to recover himself and then sneak back out through the receiving room and find Lan Wangji, but, well, as the adrenaline dropped from his body, his body dropped with it. He was asleep before he even realised it was happening, the sleepless night and endless exertion finally catching up to him.
When he woke he was disoriented to say the least. Why was he sleeping on a hard floor rather than his bed? Why was he in such a big space rather than his cosy box-house? What was with all the dust, Lan Wangji would never keep the Jingshi in such a state!
And then he remembered.
Feeling groggy and stiff, Wei Wuxian stood, stretched, and ripped away the paper that was still stuck to the bottom of his boots. He didn’t even know how long he had been asleep, but he was sure Lan Wangji would be wondering what had happened to him. Much more slowly than when he had first arrived he climbed back down the inside of the wall and listened carefully at the receiving room wall. When he heard no sign that anyone was in there, he crawled back out of the hole he had made, slid down the silk hanging, and let himself drop to the floor. This time he didn’t bother staying on his feet, he was too tired, and just collapsed in an exhausted heap.
The sun from the window was bright which meant it must be midday; he couldn’t stay there, exposed, so he forced his feet back under himself and began the long trek back out of the building. Once outside, he really had no idea which way to go. Would lessons still be happening, should he go to the Lanshi? Or would it be better to take the safer route and make his way back to the Jingshi?
He was dwelling on this when movement in his periphery made him dive behind the leaves of a bush that grew along the side of the office.
It was nothing but one of the ubiquitous rabbits.
“Don’t scare me like that,” he scolded half-heartedly. The fuzzy, black face flicked an unimpressed ear at him as it nibbled at the garden. On that ear though, was a distinct, red ribbon. “Oh! I know you! Boy is it nice to see a friendly face.”
The rabbit, having apparently become resigned to the occasional attention it seemed to garner, didn’t bother moving as Wei Wuxian ran towards it and buried his face in its soft fur. This should be marked as a spiritual cure, he was pretty sure a face full of rabbit fur could fix anything.
With a hop, Wei Wuxian clambered onto its back and nuzzled down more fully against its broad back. One improvement that rabbits had over Little Apple was the size. Harder to manage but so good for sprawling.
“Any chance of you bringing me to the Jingshi?” he asked it.
No chance, it would seem. The rabbit plodded around the garden a bit longer and ate its lunch, before apparently tiring of that and beginning to bound off. It was heading vaguely towards the Lanshi though, so Wei Wuxian figured he would go along for the ride. He could always jump off if they got too close to people, and it might give him a better idea of where Lan Wangji was right now.
The thought had no more crossed his mind than he heard that very voice. It was not sounding very happy.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know! I swear, Lan-er-gongzi, I don’t know, I really don’t know!”
That voice, much louder than the former, was also very easy to pinpoint. It seemed that in the time Wei Wuxian had been gone, the two of them had somehow managed to get into an argument. Wei Wuxian wasn’t even aware you could get into an argument with Lan Wangji, given that in his experience he tended to walk away and ignore you if he was angry with you. Nie Huaisang must have some special talent.
Rather than fleeing the noise, the rabbit changed course and bounded happily towards the pair. Wei Wuxian sat up on the bunny’s neck as they approached, sure enough spotting the two Beans standing off near the treeline that separated the main compound from the forest paths. Nie Huaisang was half-hiding behind his fan and seemed to be cringing under the intense glare of Lan Wangji.
“He said you were planning something.”
“It was just a silly thing,” Nie Huaisang bleated piteously. “Just a little prank! I’m sure he’s fine! He seemed very confident, he said he did that sort of thing all the time!”
“Do what all the time?” Lan Wangji pressed.
Nie Huaisang, now holding his fan in front of his face with two hands like a shield, seemed to be searching for any way out of this situation, and was the one who first spotted the rabbit that had come to nuzzle up at Lan Wangji’s boot. When he saw who was on the rabbit, his posture visibly eased. Lan Wangji also glanced down in time to see Wei Wuxian wave up at him.
“Hey, Lan Zhan! Sorry about missing lessons!”
Lan Wangji closed his eyes for a moment before kneeling down. The rabbit made an effort to nibble at his sleeve as he reached out to pet its side gently.
“Wei Ying. Where were you?”
“Oh, here and there,” Wei Wuxian laughed nervously as he climbed between the rabbit’s ears to jump onto Lan Wangji’s hand instead. The rabbit ignored him beyond a flick of its ears that nearly sent Wei Wuxian sprawling.
Lan Wangji stood back up, with Wei Wuxian now cradled protectively in his hands as he glared suspiciously between the two of them.
“Where?” he pressed, unrelenting.
Wei Wuxian exchanged looks with Nie Huaisang. While Lan Wangji’s face could be hard to decipher, Nie Huaisang’s was anything but. His eyes were wide and pleading.
Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian wasn’t feeling terribly sympathetic after the scare he had received that morning.
“Nie Huaisang asked me to look at the examination questions for him,” said Wei Wuxian.
Nie Huaisang whimpered, fan whipping back up, even higher this time. Wei Wuxian tried not to feel too vindictive. He may be getting himself into trouble right now, but he was bringing Nie Huaisang down with him. Let him get a taste of the fear Wei Wuxian had just gone through!
Lan Wangji actually used his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, so he was clearly not impressed.
“You broke into Uncle’s office?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry, I didn’t mess with anything!” Besides a wall. And a book. But those were pretty small and definitely wouldn’t be noticed for a good long while. “I just poked around until I found the examination papers.”
“You actually were able to get in?” Nie Huaisang asked from behind his fan, voice suddenly sounding more intrigued than scared. He was the sort to enjoy a good story.
“I told you I’m a professional,” Wei Wuxian sniffed. “It wasn’t that hard!” Finding the papers in a Bean-sized office and getting out without Lan Qiren noticing him, that had been hard. Getting in had been routine.
“And the exam?” Nie Huaisang asked eagerly.
“Is boring!” said Wei Wuxian, because this really was the most offensive part of the whole thing. He didn’t even find anything good! He was all for borrowing information that could teach him things, but every page of the examination that Wei Wuxian had been able to look at was basic and boring and predictable! He could have written it in his sleep! “Nie-xiong, you said it’d be really tricky! It’s just what we’ve been studying!”
“Yes, yes, but you know the answers now?”
“The answer is to study!” said Wei Wuxian petulantly.
Even as Nie Huaisang was beginning to whimper back, Lan Wangji interrupted with a sigh. “To the Library Pavillion,” he commanded.
“But Lan-er-gongzi…” Nie Huaisang started, but immediately quailed under the look that Lan Wangji sent him.
Well, it wasn’t like Wei Wuxian hadn’t known this was coming. He lounged back in Lan Wangji’s hands and accepted his fate while Nie Huaisang trailed miserably behind. Sure enough, they had no sooner been led into a study room than the cursed book of rules was brought out and they were both given brush, paper, and ink — in varied sizes — and the command to get to work and not stop until the dinner bell.
“It wasn’t worth it, it just wasn’t worth it,” moaned Nie Huaisang, as Wei Wuxian made sympathetic noises next to him.
“I’ll help you study, Nie-xiong,” said Wei Wuxian, but that didn’t seem to console him one bit.
Well, friendships were all the stronger after enduring a bit of hardship, right? And what greater hardship was there than Lan Wangji glaring down at you while ensuring you stayed sat in a library on a nice day copying dull rules over and over again.
It had felt nice to do a bit of proper borrowing again, even if he hadn’t gotten anything from it. Still, now that he had gotten it out of his system, he was more than happy to return to playing around with Lan Wangji. It was much more fun. And much less likely to result in him getting squashed flat under some Bean’s boot.
-