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

Chapter 3

Lan Xichen put his tea cup down and smiled at his brother pleasantly, hoping to reassure him before what would surely be a hard conversation. Or perhaps not a conversation as per say since he knew his brother and did not expect too much involvement from him.

That was fine, he just needed him to understand his point and agree to let the matter go entirely. Which would be hard, perhaps even impossible, Lan Xichen could however settle for letting Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji remain friends as well. The end result would be the same, he would only have to keep a close eye on them so they would not overstep the bounds.

Still, he decided to try to completely convince his brother to let go: "Wangji, I can see you did not let go of the situation with Young Master Wei as I have advised. You are on edge, have you tried meditating in the Cold Spring? That always helps me to clear my head."

He watched Lan Wangji carefully after saying those words to see his reaction. Just as he had been worried, his brother scowled and his face became a mask of disbelief, even deeper betrayal, hurt and anger. Well, so much for the question how deep in love he already was with Wei Wuxian. If Lan Xichen still had any doubts after just seeing his face, his brother's next words washed those away. He was clearly not about to let the matter go any time soon.

"Brother, how can we help Wei Ying?"

Yes, here was Lan Wangji going with his desperate puppy eyes and calling the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple by his birth name as if that was nothing. It seemed that Lan Xichen was too late after all. He did not like to see his brother begging him for advice like this. He would have readily provided anything he could, he would have gone to fetch a start from night sky to offer it to him if he asked. If only the circumstances were different. He really could not do anything this time, the reputation and political power of the Gusu Lan sect was on the line, there was no space for discussions.

"Wangji, I am sure you have seen something but do you have any definite proof? I have seen Young Master Wei today upon my return and he did not seem any different than he had had when he had come to join the guest lectures."

He had of course saw that Jiang Wanyin was treating Wei Wuxian differently than Lan Xichen would consider a brotherly love, more like master and servant; and a servant who was tightly bound to its master at that. Wei Wuxian seemed somehow afraid of Jiang Wanyin, not that it was any of the Gusu Lan sect's business; aside for that, they still behaved as siblings most of the time. However, the First Jade was not lying as per say, Wei Wuxian was not acting any differently from the moment he had first passed the boundary to the Cloud Recesses. It was only that Lan Wangji apparently only noticed it recently and was determined to stick his nose into another sect's matters.

He did not let his brother interrupt him and quickly continued, trying to appease to him and discourage him at the same time: "He was together with Young Master Jiang but I had not noticed anything odd between them. They looked like a pair of siblings to me, one with a good relationship at that. And they seemed to have established a friendship with Nie Huisang as well. That is good, I have been worried that he would be feeling left out since he is a little older than all of you and because he had already been here for the lectures last year while the rest of the guest disciples are newcomers.

Are you sure you have not been imagining things? Perhaps you have just gotten too sensitive and the genes which are running in our family had taken the best of you. After all, our father had acted rash and had married and imprisoned our mother because he wanted to protect her."

He wondered if Lan Wangji would pick up on his worries from his subtle wording. He did not want to outright accuse his brother of walking the same path their father had once taken, but the warning was there nevertheless. He needed Lan Wangji to be on the same page with him in this matter. It would not do if he would start acting recklessly and perhaps try to deal with the situation on his own.

Lan Xichen could tell that it would have been a disaster. After all, his brother lacked the necessary social skills and if he went to face the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir by himself, a political incident would be inevitable. He had to prevent that at all cost. Lan Wangji could also try to take Wei Wuxian and elope with him if he would deem it his last resort. Lan Xichen would have to keep an eye on him at all times from now on.

He sighed internally, as if he did not have enough to deal with without this. He had a strong urge to reach up and rub the root of his nose, or his temples, but he resisted. He could not show something like this to his brother. Lan Wangji would be even more hurt by what he would think was Lan Xichen's dismissal of the situation. He resisted the urge. He needed his brother on his side for this one.

So, instead of pressing or dismissing the matter, he provided reassurance instead. He hoped that Lan Wangji would be more willing to listen to him if he was on his side as well. He would let him believe that he would also like to help with the matter and would stall for time until the guest lectures would be over and Wei Wuxian would have to go back to Lotus Pier. That was the only way how not to hurt his brother too much and not push him into recklessness.

"I am sorry, Wangji, I should not have mentioned our parents. You are your own person and I trust you will take good decisions; we would not want to have another scandal like in the past after all.

As to what concerns Young Master Wei, I can promise you I will keep an eye on him from now on. If there would be anything wrong between him and Young Master Jiang, I will act immediately. I assure you of that. And if you will find any tangible proof in the meantime, you can come to me and we can talk about it more. For now, please do not do anything reckless, especially not while the guest disciples and heirs from other sects are here."

Although he had said that, he knew already that even if any evidences of misconduct would be found, the matter would still be up to the Yunmeng Jiang sect to deal with and punish either Wei Wuxian or Jiang Wanyin as they saw fit.

There had perhaps been a time when the Gusu Lan sect had been well respected and its reputation of the most righteous sect in the cultivation world would let them intervene, but not anymore. Not after the scandal with Qingheng-Jun and the late Madame Lan. Now, their reputation and position was a questionable one at best, they could not afford to make any enemies. Especially not when the cultivation world was now in turmoil and they needed powerful alliances more than anything.

Lan Xichen took up his cup of tea and observed his brother attentively. He was trying to see if his words had been listened to or if Lan Wangji had not deemed them important enough to acknowledge. If that would be the case, Lan Xichen would have to think about other measures to keep him away from the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple.

He could not tell which one it was because Lan Wangji's eyes remained glued to the table and for once, Lan Xichen could not read his expression at all. Then, Lan Wangji stood up and bowed to him, leaving his quarters without a word. It seemed like Lan Xichen would have to see for himself. He sighed and continued sipping his tea until his deep frown went away on its own.