I will take care of you, I promise (Between a rock and a hard place 3)

Chapter 1

Brother,

I wish to seek advice from you in the matter of the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple. Wei Ying is behaving more and more oddly and I do not know how to help him. I suspect Jiang Wanyin is not treating him well. I think there is something between them which should not exist between brothers, their relationship is unbalanced and feels forced.

I fear that Wei Ying is being coerced into interacting with Jiang Wanyin and does not really want to stay close to him. I want to help him, perhaps to have him in the Cloud Recesses so he does not have to return to Lotus Pier with his brother. I fear for his safety. And I do not trust Jiang Wanyin at all.

Brother, can we do anything to help?

Lan Wangji

Lan Xichen read the letter from his brother again and sighed, just as those ten or so times before. He was staying in the Unclean Realm for a month and it seemed like his younger sibling could not live without him for even that long. Do not get him wrong, he loved Lan Wangji as any other older brother would and wanted to help him with all his worries and fears, wanted to support him whenever he needed. However, this was different.

He knew he was the one who had told Lan Wangji to go and try to make some friends during the guest lectures, he had even encouraged him to interact with the Yunmeng Jiang sect's head disciple. But this was not what he had in mind.

From the tone of the letter and also from several conversations he had with his brother on the subject of Wei Wuxian, Lan Xichen could tell that Lan Wangji had gotten way too attached to the other. And now it seemed like he was looking for excuses to keep him in the Cloud Recesses. He could understand that, Wei Wuxian was his first true friend beside himself. However, Lan Wangji was apparently feeling very deeply for him and it worried Lan Xichen.

Still, going as far as accusing the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir of incorrect conduct towards his brother so he would be able to separate them, that was going a little too far. The First Jade was afraid that his brother was becoming too much like their father, at least in some aspects.

Qingheng-Jun had after all loved their mother so deeply that he had taken her as his wife against her will and then all but imprisoned her in the Jingshi. He had been way too protective of her. Such life made them both miserable but his father refused to behave in any other way even when he was forced to seclusion for his conduct.

Was Lan Wangji now also acting out of jealousy and overprotecting tendencies? Or was it genuine concern? Lan Xichen feared that it was the first option. He had not seen anything odd happening between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Wanyin himself so he concluded that Lan Wangji just wanted to have the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple all to himself. He was afraid that it would end up in tears, from Wei Wuxian that was. The boy struck him as free spirit who would hate to be restricted like their mother had once been.

Lan Xichen would not protest if he found out Lan Wangji had actually fallen in love with the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple. It would not be a bad match; Wei Wuxian seemed bright and intelligent and he would surely be able to help Lan Wangji come out of his shell. But Lan Xichen was afraid what it would do to his brother. Not that it had anything to do with Wei Wuxian personally, however, he was too similar to their mother and Lan Xichen could not help himself but to dread Lan Wangji acting just like their father.

No, he could not have that. First, it would not be good for Lan Wangji himself to ruin his relationship and potentially have himself sentenced to seclusion for his misconduct. But the more pressing matter was how it would reflect on the Gusu Lan sect. Their sect's reputation had not yet fully recovered after the scandal with their father and now there was a threat that it would be damaged again. As the next sect leader, he could not let that happen.

Of course, if what Lan Wangji was implying came to be true and Wei Wuxian indeed was being coerced or abused in any way, he would try to help. However, it would still not be his place to accuse an heir of another sect of misconduct. They would have to deal with that in secret, just Lan Xichen and Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan.

No, he shook his head, it was not what was happening, it could not be. Lan Wangji was just seeing things and being jealous and too wilful. Hopefully, that would pass with time. Lan Xichen decided that as soon as he would come back to the Cloud Recesses, he would have a talk with his brother on this subject.

For now, since there were still two weeks to his stay in the Unclean Realm, he at least decided to write him a letter. It was all he could do to both reassure his brother and to warn him against acting recklessly. He picked up his brush and started writing immediately.

He chose his words well to accomplish his goal. He had to have his brother understand that he was just being jealous and imagining things. He had to also stop him from causing a scandal while he was away, that would simply not do. And lastly, he also had to make him understand that he should not be that close with Wei Wuxian since the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple would be going back to the Lotus Pier.

That much was crystal clear. Lan Qiren did not like the boy too much since he resembled Cangse Sanren, one of his late classmates whom he could not stand even thinking about. He would not approve to have him roaming around Cloud Recesses for longer than strictly necessary.

Lan Xichen personally had nothing against the boy but it was true that he was a menace and a ticking time bomb when it came to any sect's reputation. He had heard many stories about Wei Wuxian acting out of line during official events and not rarely embarrassing the Yunmeng Jiang sect or even soiling its reputation. He supposed there was a reason why Yu Ziyuan was rumoured to not like the boy too much.

He could understand; if he had someone like that in the Gusu Lan sect, he would also do his best to keep them in line by any means necessary. As one of the great sects, they could not afford to have someone this misbehaving acting up in public. It was kind of fine when it came to domestic matters, though only as long as it did not affect the sect's reputation.

Perhaps what Lan Wangji had seen and described as Wei Wuxian being coerced of forced to be at Jiang Wanyin's side was in fact only the way in which the Yunmeng Jiang sect could keep an eye on their troublemaker. Lan Xichen thought about it for a whole minute and then concluded that it was the most probable explanation. Upon making this observation, his next steps were clear, he and anyone else should not intervene in the Yunmeng Jiang sect's affaires.

For a second, he was musing about adding this into his letter to his brother but in the end, he did not. He could not be sure who else would read the message and something like this was not for anyone else to see. He would just talk to his brother when he would come back.

He read the letter one more time, nodding to himself when he confirmed that everything he had wanted to say was there, written in a way that it would hopefully not hurt his brother. He folded the paper and added his personal seal. Then he called upon a messenger and told them to deliver the letter to Lan Wangji.

Lan Xichen could only hope that his brother would understand his point of view and the importance of keeping their sect's reputation pristine. With Wen Ruohan starting to act up, they should not stand out and attract attention. They had to be careful, now more than ever.