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

Chapter 8

Lan Xichen did not even arrive to the door yet and Lan Wangji was already barring his way. And barring was the correct word; he was standing in Lan Xichen's way, his eyes and expression cold and his body language suggesting that he was not about to move and let his older brother past him. All that Lan Xichen could do was sight internally, it seemed like he would not be able to see Wei Wuxian after all.

He took a deep breath to calm his mind. His worries about his brother trying to keep Wei Wuxian exclusively to himself were growing by the second. Still, he did his best to smile pleasantly as always. It would not do if Lan Wangji became even more hostile and stopped listening to him altogether. Even this kind of situation was already bad enough.

With Lan Qiren also becoming irritated with Lan Wangji's and Wei Wuxian's behaviour, things could end badly. For the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple that was because Lan Xichen had already a pretty good idea who his uncle was blaming for in this matter. It would be good if Lan Qiren actually stepped in and punished Wei Wuxian, perhaps even sent him back to Lotus Pier. But not in this particular case since Lan Wangji was the one at fault here. If Wei Wuxian was to say anything about this, the Gusu Lan sect would not be able to salvage its reputation.

Lan Xichen simply could not let things escalate anymore. He needed to keep his brother on a tight leash all the while reassuring his uncle that everything was fine. It looked like he had his job cut out for him and was walking on a tight rope. He sighed again.

"Wangji, good morning," Lan Xichen greeted, the smile still on his lips, "I see you are up and around already. I wanted to go check on you and Young Master Wei. Is he still not feeling any better? I know you are one of the best with your guqin but perhaps it is not helping as it should? I have expected to see Young Master Wei already recovered. It had been a whole day since Young Master Jiang informed us that you will be taking care of him. Should he not go see a healer?"

The silence was getting longer and heavier and Lan Wangji did still not react in any way.

"Wangji?"

Lan Xichen was really trying hard to not let his growing irritation be heard. He was starting to run out of patience for his brother's side of the story. Lan Wangji did not look fazed at all, he was only scowling at him in his minimalistic way that none other than Lan Xichen would be able to read. This was seriously getting out of hand. He should really send his brother on a night hunt or something.

"Brother, Wei Ying is doing better. He still needs some more time to recover." Lan Wangji answered at last.

Lan Xichen squinted his eye ever so slightly in suspicion. He did not really believe that statement. His gaze darted towards the closed door of the Jingshi. He should really go check for himself how Wei Wuxian was doing. He had hoped he would already be recovered if Jiang Wanyin had said the episode of qi deviation had only been a minor one, but it seemed like Lan Wangji was not about to let the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple go now that he had finally locked him up in the Jingshi.

His brother must have understood his intentions. He moved in his way, glaring at him with even colder eyes now and brushed him off: "He is resting. I will let you know how he feels tomorrow." If there was a kind of slight hesitation to Lan Wangji's voice, Lan Xichen did not comment on it.

He tried to peek above his brother's shoulder if he would not perhaps see Wei Wuxian conveniently coming out of the Jingshi or perhaps if he was not looking out of a window. Of course, that would have just been too lucky. He could not see anything so he looked back at Lan Wangji, his eyes piercing holes into his brother's very soul.

He was disappointed though. He could not tell if Lan Wangji had just lied to him or not. Or perhaps his brother had not considered it lying at all because he had not said enough to really inform him about anything. It was greatly unsettling. However, if Lan Xichen would not believe the words of his closest family, he would be completely doomed to distrust anyone and everyone. He could not afford that, he needed to trust at least one person in this world lest he would become overly paranoid.

So, after another moment of careful deliberation, he decided that he could wait one more day. He could still remain close by and check if Lan Wangji would indeed be playing healing music for Wei Wuxian. If the situation would not change until tomorrow, he would have to proceed to harsher measures.

"See that you do. We cannot allow to have the Yunmeng Jiang sect doubting our hospitality and care when it comes to one of their own. Go back to his side and see to him. I will inform Uncle that he should not expect Young Master Wei or you for the lectures today." He warned his brother one last time, pretty much sure that he was wasting his words.

He then turned on his heel and seemingly headed back to the heart of the Cloud Recesses, away from the Jingshi. In reality though, he had no intention to leave just yet. He wanted to wait for Lan Wangji to go back to his own quarters and come back so he could check for himself.

Once he was sure that his brother had disappeared inside, he all but sneaked near the Jingshi. He was glad that no one ever came by here aside for himself, his brother and their uncle. Since Lan Xichen had successfully convinced Lan Qiren to wait for a report from him, their uncle was out of the picture for now. That only left the possibility of Lan Wangji coming out of his quarters again which was unlikely. Lan Xichen had a free field.

It did not even take five minutes and he could hear guqin playing from the inside. It somewhat soothed his nerves because he had just confirmed that his brother had not been lying to him, at least not entirely. That was good; perhaps he had really been only overthinking everything and there was nothing wrong between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian in the first place. It was possible that his brother had truly only been worried about his first friend ever and wanted to help him recover faster by taking him under his own wing.

Reassured, Lan Xichen nodded to himself and headed off to inform his uncle about the latest development. He would go check on things again tomorrow, nothing bad would happen in that short time, he was sure of that. And he also had to go interrogate the junior disciples about that failed night hunt and see what he could do about it. It could also affect the Gusu Lan sect's reputation if their disciples could not properly take care of the jobs they accepted.