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

Chapter 16

"Lan Zhan... so good to me... not like Jiang Cheng at all..."

Lan Xichen was so shocked that his breath was caught in his throat. He was kneeling next to the bathtub in which Wei Wuxian was soaking, his hand frozen mid-air as he had been reaching it to wash his hair. His thoughts were running in circles and he could not make sense of them at all. He was not shocked by the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple thinking he was Lan Wangji, but by the mention of Jiang Wanyin's name.

And in the context of comparison with Lan Wangji as well. The Second Jade had done terrible things to Wei Wuxian yet now the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple was claiming that his own brother had done something even worse to him? Lan Xichen tried to shrug it off as the effect of the medicine, surely it could not be true. Those two were brothers and he had seen how they interacted. There must have been some kind of mistake, yes, that must have been it, he was just reading too much into it.

And yet, he could not stop himself from feeling like perhaps it could be true. Precisely because he had seen Jiang Wanyin and Wei Wuxian interact with each other.

Before, he had said to Lan Wangji that it was normal and that Wei Wuxian just needed a strong hand to keep him in check. That was why he had thought that when the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple had been flinching at Jiang Wanyin's touch, it was just because he had done something wrong and feared being caught red handed. When Wei Wuxian would look at his brother with fear in his eyes and would be tense whenever the other was near, Lan Xichen had assumed that Jiang Wanyin was only keeping an eye on him and that his brother knew he had to be on his best behaviour.

But what if all of that had some other reason? What if Jiang Wanyin was doing something just as terrible as Lan Wangji to his brother? The thought was already there and Lan Xichen could not simply dismiss it. He had to find out if that was true and Wei Wuxian had perhaps been abused by the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir even before being kidnapped by Lan Wangji.

If that suspicion would prove to be correct, he was determined to keep the boy by his side and never let him go back to Lotus Pier and to Jiang Wanyin's hands. He would devote all his time to take care of him and let him forget not only how terribly he had been treated by Lan Wangji but by Jiang Wanyin as well.

Now for the confirmation: "Young Master Wei, what do you mean by that?"

Lan Xichen was so shocked that he had even forgotten to use the new and more familiar way of addressing. Not that he himself actually realized it. His mind was focused on one goal only, to find out the truth.

"Lan Zhan..." whined Wei Wuxian theatrically but his features became tense, "you should not have to ask me that, you have seen for yourself after all. I do not want to talk about it."

Lan Xichen was tempted to just order Wei Wuxian to spill everything there and then but he held himself back. Not because he did not want to know anymore, but because he could see that the boy had now become very stressed. The Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple was breathing quickly and his hands were gripping the rim of the bathtub tightly. His eyes remained closed, his lips were pursed together and there was a deep frown on his face. He truly did not want to remember.

Nevertheless, it seemed like he had already done just that. All his muscles tensed as well and he started rolling his head from side to side as if to escape something. He must have been reliving something extremely unpleasant from the muffled sounds which were leaving his clenched jaw.

Lan Xichen quickly intervened before Wei Wuxian would be too far gone in his memory. He willed his hand to finish the movement and started brushing the boy's hair in order to sooth him down all the while whispering reassurances and caressing Wei Wuxian's head: "It is fine. You do not have to tell me anything. You can just relax; no one is going to hurt you anymore. I will take care of you and protect you, I promise."

Oh so slowly, Wei Wuxian was gradually calming down. He relaxed his tense muscles and he was not fighting against any invisible enemies or assailants anymore. On the contrary, he leaned backwards, closer to Lan Xichen and let himself be pampered. It must have been the numbing effect of the medicine.

The First Jade was still worried that if he stopped the soothing, Wei Wuxian would once against plunge right back into his memories so he continued brushing his hair even thought there were no more tangles for him to smooth out. When he did not have any more words to say, he continued at least humming a calming memory which he induced with spiritual energy. It was not as effective as if he would by playing it on a musical instrument, but it would have to be enough for now.

All the while, his mind was working like crazy. He was wondering how he would be able to hear what exactly had Jiang Wanyin done to Wei Wuxian. It was crystal clear to him that he could not ask the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir directly, he would surely deny everything. He could also not bring up the subject with Wei Wuxian, at least not this soon, he had seen just how deeply it had affected him and he did not want him to remember again.

That only left one option, he realized after a long while. Wei Wuxian had after all mentioned that Lan Wangji should know what had happened, that he had seen everything. Lan Xichen would then just have to ask his brother to tell him what he had witnessed. And the sooner the better. He needed to know in order to be able to help Wei Wuxian out of this nightmare.

The boy had now gone back to sleep and his body became limp in the bathtub. It took some manoeuvring and a lot of patience, but Lan Xichen was able to lift him up, dry him and put a new inner robe on him. Then he gently carried him to the bed and tugged him in. He caressed his head again, his heart full of pity for the boy.

He made sure that Wei Wuxian was fast asleep and he left his quarters. His steps were measured as he was going in the direction of the back mountains, deeper and deeper still into the forest where several seclusion houses were built. They were most often used for secluded meditation and training but sometimes, they served also as places where the Gusu Lan sect could hide those members of their sect who were not behaving correctly or conveniently. Just like Lan Wangji now and his father in the past. The Jingshi was also one of those houses as well, the prison of his late mother.