The meaning of protecting you with my life

Protection

After his father left, Jiang Cheng remained standing in the middle of the tent, completely dumbfounded. He had never expected this, not even in his wildest dreams. Not that he had actually had time to think too much about the future when he had stepped up as the new sect leader, at that time, he had though his parents were dead after all. And afterwards, with the war and his brother on his self-appointed suicide mission, he also had no time to worry about how he would have to smooth things up with his father and give him the position back.

He would gladly do so, the burden was sometimes too big for him to bear. However, seeing how his father was still only recovering from long months of captivity, he could not bring himself to breach the topic with him. He had decided to wait until his parents made a full recovery.

And there was also another, smaller and more afraid part of him which was whispering to his ear that his father could turn out to be not happy with how he had managed things and would look at him with that slightly disappointed look of his. He could not believe that he had been apparently very wrong about this part. His father had even praised him!

It should not have felt this good to receive the praise, he should not be this happy and prideful about it. It was not like this was the first time his father had ever praised him. Surely not, it could not be. He must have received his praise and recognition before, they were father and son after all, and Wei Wuxian had been praised frequently for his exploits, surely there had been times when that praise extended to Jiang Cheng as well. It was just that he could not quite remembered when exactly and what had he received it for right now.

As his father said they would have to talk more about this once Wei Wuxian would wake up. But until then, Jiang Cheng would be more than happy to hide in his father's shadow as he had done all those years, trying to not be seen and asked to be a sect leader anymore. He did not fear the responsibility, truth to be told, he had already gotten quite used to it. It was more the question of being able to stay by his brother's side now that the other needed him. At last, he would be able to stand by him and protect him as he should have done way earlier. It should not have been Wei Wuxian who had to carry all the burden and protect his family at his own personal expenses, he deserved to be protected in turn, not just abandoned at the earliest convenience.

Jiang Cheng was still standing frozen on the spot when a voice called from outside of the tent, asking to be let in and relay an urgent message. He had a hard time finding his words but in the end, he spoke before his mother could. He remembered Jiang Fengmian's praise and he was not about to mess up right now. He was still the Yunmeng Jiang Sect leader, or one of them at least.

"Come in!" he scoffed, not happy to have his moment of reminiscence interrupted. And of all things by a self-important looking Lanling Jin sect disciple as he realized when the person stepped inside.

The disciple came in and he first looked all around which made Jiang Cheng very uncomfortable. It reminded him of Nie Huisang who would always assess the room like this so he would have the latest gossip and intel. He had to admit that this was one of the most accurate and easy ways to spy on someone. And right now, he did not like that someone from the Lanling Jin sect was doing this exact information gathering in the tent where his whole family, and more importantly his still unconscious brother, were.

He would not have anything against the Lanling Jin sect in general – hell, he even came to accept Jin Zixuan being engaged to Jiang Yanli once again because she liked him for some reason – but there had been too many rumours being spread by the Lanling Jin sect disciples. That was nothing new, he could overlook that, be it not for the fact that those rumours had Wei Wuxian as their main protagonist. It was those exact rumours which doubted his brother's loyalty to the allied forces and which painted him as a vile demonic cultivator who would take place of Wen Ruohan now that the Qishan Wen sect leader was dead. At the moment, Jiang Cheng supposed, that the Lanling Jin had decided to make their move.

Finally, the Lanling Jin sect disciple's eyes landed on him and he bowed down to greet him. It was about time; Jiang Cheng had been getting angry about the man spying on them this shamelessly. He barely acknowledged the greeting and he asked, fruitlessly trying to conceal his anger and impatience. He wanted to know what they were up against now.

"Well, what is it? You said the message was urgent."

For his credit, the disciple did not outright flinch at Jiang Cheng's tone but it was a near thing. Despite his apparent unease and surprise – probably because he had found Jiang Cheng here when he had been thinking that he was already meeting with the other sect leader –, he spoke confidently: "Sect leader Jiang, I am happy to see you here. This message is indeed an urgent one. Our sect leader came to learn about Young Master Wei's precarious condition and he proposes for him to be treated by a specialized doctor which we luckily have in our ranks. I have come with the necessary medical staff to transport him with me right now. We cannot wait any longer for Young Master Wei's condition may decay at any moment."

Jiang Cheng's anger flared bright red and he was doing his best to not let it show. How dare the Lanling Jin sect want to claim his brother? For this was nothing else but a demand to hand Wei Wuxian over to them. So this was it, this was Jin Guangshan's plan, he wanted Wei Wuxian for himself. After all, Meng Yao must have reported to him how the demonic cultivator had been the one to control the Yin iron.

Now that Jiang Cheng thought about it, it made perfect sense. Both why he had not been invited to the after battle meeting and why he had though he had heard Jin Guangshan's boisterous voice outside of the tent earlier. The Lanling Jin sect leader must have come just after the final siege had succeeded and from what Jiang Cheng knew about him, he now wanted to get the most of the war spoils for his own sect, which also included Wei Wuxian as it would seem.

Yes, that would be a very Jin Guangshan thing to do, not participating in the Sunshot campaign under the guise of other important sect matters and then wanting to claim the victory for himself. And Jiang Cheng would not stand for that.

When he had just taken over as the Yunmeng Jiang sect leader, he had been too inexperienced and needed help. At that time, a Lanling Jin sect messenger also came to find him and shamelessly proposed that the Lanling Jin sect would gladly help with the Yunmeng Jiang sect's affairs, that they could even merge both sects for increased safety. At that point, Jiang Cheng had managed to politely decline. It had been too obvious an attempt as seizing more power. And here they were, with another round it would seem.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw his mother getting up from the seat next to Wei Wuxian where she had been giving his brother spiritual energy. He could tell that she had seen through this feeble attempt and that she was just as angry as him. Jiang Yanli was now standing at her side, her hands on her mother's forearm, calming her down and holding her back from probably assaulting the Lanling Jin sect disciple. He took a deep breath, willing Zidian to not react to his raging emotions lest he wanted to cause an inter-sect incident this soon after the war had ended.

It was his sister who spoke first, her voice perfectly polite yet with a hidden sharp edge: "Young Master, thank you for relaying the message. Please convey our gratitude to your sect leader and let him know that the Yunmeng Jiang sect is perfectly capable of taking care of their own disciples. My brother," she had put accent on the last word, "will stay in the care of his own family."

The Lanling Jin sect disciple looked like he had just bitten into the sourest lemon there was but bowed to them nevertheless. "I will make sure to relay the message. I wish your brother a safe recovery under your care." Then he stormed out of the tent, not even closing the door behind himself properly.

Jiang Cheng took another deep breath. He was proud of his sister for speaking up for their brother this wisely but he could not help himself but to worry at the same time. The Lanling Jin sect disciple's last words sounded suspiciously close to a threat.