Won't you believe me? (Servant no more - book 2)

Chapter 13

Jiang Yanli's tense shoulders which she had not even realized had become so stiff until now relaxed as well. She was glad that her brother had found such good people here, far away from anyone who could and would potentially want to hurt him. Both Lan Wangji and A-Yuan's caretaker were so kind to him that it was making her feel emotional. Everything was changing in a good direction and Wei Wuxian was already doing much better than two days ago.

Or at least she hoped so. She had witnessed the situation revolving around Su Minshan and she knew that he had not been kind to her brother. Luckily, Lan Qiren had sent him away, something which still baffled her. Surely it had not been so serious to warrant being disowned and kicked out of the Cloud Recesses Manor. Then again, it was a good thing for Wei Wuxian in the end.

Seeing how the Lans were ready to protect him even against their own family members must have stirred something inside of him. Jiang Yanli had seen ever since this morning how he had become much less jumpy already and had started smiling more than ever. Or at least more than he had had in the past years. It truly was a wonderful change that she was happy to witness.

She was observing how Lan Wangji started walking towards the exit from the courtyard and her brother followed him. No, followed was actually not a good word right now because Wei Wuxian was walking side by side with the second young master of the Cloud Recesses Manor, no nervousness or anxiety to be seen in his posture.

She mused if she should go join them to keep them company despite her previous decision that she should give Wei Wuxian some more space. She still had to talk to her brother and let him know that he would never have to go back to the Lotus Pier Manor, or anywhere else for that matter, if he would not want to. She was pretty sure that even if the Lans had told him so, he had not believed them. Which was understandable given how often he had been betrayed and lied to in the past.

She could only hope that he would believe them with time, she did not want him to count down the days of his happiness and freedom and be afraid that he would have to go back to her family's abuse. He deserved to be freed of them, and only the Lans could help with that.

She was a little scared herself of the consequences her family would have to face. Lan Xichen was surely already on his job, investigating everything as he had promised. Once the truth would come to light, the Jiangs would be ruined, not only financially, but their reputation would be tramped into dust as well. They could potentially be imprisoned too, the emperor was very strict when it came to punishing slavery and abuse of servants.

Despite knowing that her parents had it coming and would deserve such a punishment for treating her brother as something less than a human being for years on no end, she could still not say that she would be quite alright with them being punished harshly. Even after everything they had done, they were still her family, the ones who had brought her up and she loved them in her own special way. Or at least respected them as her elders and parents. It would hurt to see them discredited like that, she knew that their reputation was everything to them.

When it came to Jiang Cheng, she was even more regretful that she would lose her youngest brother. She had no idea what would happen to him. He had participated in the abuse, although in just a minor part of it. But he was so young still, perhaps he had not even known what he had been doing. He had always longed for his parents' recognition so he had acted as they instructed him to gain their recognition. While he had participated, she could not with clear conscience blame him for everything he had done over the years, at least not entirely.

And what about her? She had also not done enough to help. While she made sure not to actively participate in hurting Wei Wuxian, she had not done anything to stop or report the abuse either. Her passivity had perhaps wounded him even more than Jiang Cheng's open aggressiveness and harsh words. Her brother had suffered because of her inaction greatly; she was just a guilty as the rest of her family.

She did not know what she should do now. She wished to help her brother recover but she was not sure Wei Wuxian wanted her anywhere near him. Surely her presence reminded him about what he had went through and it would be better if he just forgot everything and would be able to move on into a happy and carefree life he should have always led.

Should she even insist on talking to him at all? The Lans had already done such a wonderful job of easing up Wei Wuxian's nervousness and treating him kindly, they had accomplished more than she had even had. She felt ashamed of her past behaviour now. Once she had decided to go to the Cloud Recesses Manor, she had discovered just how easy it would have been for her to help her brother in this way so much earlier. Now she could only regret her inaction and be responsible for how deep her brother's scars were.

She had failed him so many times in the past that she did not even know if he still considered her his confidant or if he thought of her as of the rest of her family, someone to be feared and avoided. He had Lan Wangji now and it seemed to be enough. Perhaps she should not meddle and simply keep herself away so he would not even remember she had ever existed.

Not that she liked that idea; the simple thought of it was making her heart ache. She wanted to see him happy and at least witness his recovery if she could not be any help in it. She was about to lose the rest of her family, she did not want to deliberately avoid the last member who would be left. She knew she was being selfish, but she just could not help herself. She needed some reassurance as well.