2 - Picking up

                                    

                                          
The next day, Jiang Cheng woke up with tired eyes because of the aggressive and nervous murmuring of his disciples all over Lotus Pier. They aren't normally this bothersome. The loud talking was normally due at noon, but seeing as it was way earlier than that, he decided it was worth dragging his half-asleep body to.
The circle of purple robes hauled up together quietly dispersed upon finding his presence, and one of them hurriedly ran up to greet him and tell him about their recent discovery. 
                          
"Clan leader, we found an unidentified array in the conference hall this morning. We have no idea where it came from but it looks to be made in good quality." Jiang Cheng nods as a response, not fully taking in the words yet. He was very clearly annoyed at the ruckus they were making at this young of a morning, and now that he found out what it was over, he became even more pissed. He was so tired of all these strange things happening in succession. 
They've only recently buried the stygian tiger amulet with Baxia and Red-blade master. What could this be again? 
                          
"Move aside, let me see." He declared groggily and his disciples followed suit. 
His eyes glazed over the finely drawn formations on the ground, noting how the strokes were etched with high proficiency. Whoever decided to draw this here, knew what they were doing. He doesn't know for sure who or what could have bypassed the protective measures of Lotus Pier, enough to enter the conference hall, take their time to bake such a sophisticated and elaborate array, and then get away undetected, but his guesses were limited. 
He takes the closest step to it in observance of the strokes, and dutifully infers that it could only be done by Wei Wuxian. Who else really?
                          
Suddenly, all the thoughts he was battling with last night without winning came flashing towards his mind again. They surfaced in such a concrete and tangible progression that he could almost touch them. He could almost touch his thoughts. 
The shape of the array came forward to scoop over his racing mind, almost as if his eyes were glued on it, or the other way around. 
                          
"What's going on?" He tried asking the disciple next to him, but for some reason the words never made it out of his mouth. "What's happening?" He tried to blurting out coherently but the ground beneath him started to shake all of the sudden and he almost lost his balance. He closed his eyes to ease what seemed to be an approaching migraine but instead of greeting a darkness you'd normally get upon closing your eyes, he saw the array once again. Glowing blue, expanding in his darkened field of vision. 
"Wei Wuxian, how the fuck are you doing this?" He groaned to himself. He didn't know whether to be amazed or furious.
                          
"Doing what?" 
                          
That voice. That stupidly obnoxious voice. He shouldn't be hearing it in Lotus Pier right now but he was. It sounded quite different though. Maybe a bit higher than what he'd been accustomed to recently, but he definitely was well acquainted with it for a time. He opened his eyes to surrender his confusion, only to claim it back again upon finding they weren't at Lotus Pier anymore. They were at an inn. 
                          
"What was I doing, Jiang Cheng?" 
Jiang Cheng's eyes widen at the sight before him. It was a young Wei Wuxian, around his mid teens, looking at him with two concerned eyes he hasn't seen laced with that sort of emotion in a really  long time. 
                          
"Are you okay?" The other muttered, putting a hand on his shoulder.
                          
"Oh no. oh no. Oh no no no." He shook his hands, his head. "This can't be happening." He grabbed a fist full of his hair at the realization. Another fuck up. Yet again, another sour joke that was being played on him. He really just can't live in peace anymore. That just wasn't an option.
                          
"What can't be happening? You're not making any sense." 
                          
Jiang Cheng set aside his ravenous, angry thoughts to take a good look at him. He hasn't seen this Wei Wuxian in a lifetime. The other felt clean but unpolished, still rough around the edges but definitely of great potential. He wasn't too mad at this one at least, and makes that clear in his mind. 
                          
"I-" 
                          
"Ah-Cheng, is everything alright?" 
                          
His tears accompanied the echo of that voice. Now he definitely hasn't seen her in a lifetime. A painstakingly long lifetime devoid of any love and happiness except for when he was raising her son. 
                          
"A-jie" he ran up to hug her, so so tightly. Even tighter than when he last did it at Nightless City, failing to even spend a second to wipe his snot and appear presentable. 
                          
"Why are you crying? what happened?" 
Jiang Yanli asked in worry. 
                          
"Jiang Cheng, I know losing our rooms was bad but I didn't think it was bad enough to make you cry? You're really that afraid of sleeping in the streets, huh?" Wei Wuxian rubbed his nose and chuckled. The mood was ruined earlier by that peacock but at least he could entertain himself with playful teasing. 
                          
"Ah-Xian, stop teasing him. He really looks quite disturbed. Do you want to take a break somewhere else, Ah-Cheng?" Their sister soothed, and smiled the sweetest smile at him, and he hated himself for appearing weird by stupidly staring at her with his eyes wet in tears. He just could not help it. 
                          
"Ah-Cheng?" She repeated and Jiang Cheng finally snapped out of  his little mental breakdown and poured the effort into collecting himself. Right, he was supposed to deal with this situation rationally, else he'd appear like a madman.
                          
"Ah, Jie. Where were we headed again?" 
                          
"What's gotten into you? Did you really just forget about the lectures in Gusu Lan?" Wei Wuxian snorted and slapped his back.
                          
The sudden reality dropped kicked his head back into functionality and he managed to finally put two and two together. That array picked out his thoughts and shot him back in time at the exact moment he believed everything went wrong. 
                          
"Right! You're right. Lectures! By the.. by the Lan" Lan. Lan Wangji. They were currently on their way to meet him! By the gods, was he really given a second chance? If it were true, he had no desire on wasting it. Even if it would be a long shot, he had to try to fix things. 
                          
"Excuse me, young masters. I must really insist you get going. The other young master has started to send his servants to complain for him how you aren't out yet. Please excuse me. I do not mean any disrespect. I'm really just relaying what the servant told me." The inn keeper took a bow and spoke softly with conviction. 
                          
"We were just heading out." Wei Wuxian smiled bitterly, cursing under his breath that the peacock happened to have gotten his way this time. 
                          
"Wait. The invitation. Do you have it? Go on and check for it first. We don't want any trouble when we get to Cloud Recesses." Jiang Cheng smirked at how quick he was able to pick up on things. That little slip up led to Wei Wuxian fooling around and making a name for himself as a trouble maker in Gusu Lan territory, not to mention it had also led to his' and Lan Wangji's first confrontation that he insistently boasted ended in a draw. It had birth a path for curiosity. And the last thing Jiang Cheng needed right now was for Wei Wuxian to be curious about Lan Wangji.