Second Time Around

13. Conspiracy Theories

With no nagging brothers or sect leaders around and the New Years celebration almost upon them, Wei WuXian and Nie HuaiSang reverted to their teenaged selves during the day, playing with Wei Yuan and other juniors while Lan WangJi watched over them like a mother hen. At night, after Wei Yuan fell asleep and his night nanny was settled in, the three young men usually ended up on a pier, far away from the sleeping Jiang YanLi, drinking and telling stories until it was Lan WangJi's bedtime. After which it was just Wei WuXian and Nie HuaiSang drinking and laughing.

And sometimes, after Nie HuaiSang stumbled off to bed, Wei WuXian didn't immediately head for his own bedroom, but walked unsteadily to the room where Lan WangJi lay sleeping, and wondered if he'd ever have the courage to knock on that door.

Not that he had a good reason for why he wanted to knock on the door. Hey, Lan Zhan... will you kiss me again? It seemed silly thinking that on this side of the door. However, if he were on the other side, perhaps he wouldn't need to think at all?

Once the New Years celebrations were over, Nie HuaiSang pressed a piece of paper into Wei WuXian's hand. "Here's all the spies I've found. This way you can control the information leaving Lotus Pier."

Wei WuXian read the names dispassionately. "I do notice you neglected to give me the names of the QingheNie spies."

"Of course!" Nie HuaiSang laughed. "Why would I give up my advantage?"

And then Wei WuXian was left alone with Lan WangJi. And instead of being pressed into a post and kissed until he forgot to breathe, the jade simply said, "I have been thinking about what you said at Qiongqi Path about the Jin line of succession."

Once settled in a pavilion with a brazier emitting heat to ward off the chill of the rainy winter day, Lan WangJi asked, "Do you have a grudge against Jin ZiXun?"

"No, of course not. I don't even know who that is."

"The Jin asshole, as you call him."

Wei WuXian laughed. "Oh, him. No, I don't have a grudge. Why?" Lan Zhan silently handed over a letter. Wei Ying skimmed it, getting visibly angry as he approached the end. "Why would I curse him? If I was going to kill him, I'd just kill him! That hundred holes curse takes...." His face drained of color. "Lan Zhan... this happened before. In my previous life."

Lan WangJi nodded, almost as if he expected it. "Tell me what happened starting from your first memories of Jin ZiXun." So Wei Ying started talking, starting from the first time he'd gone to the Phoenix Mountain hunt, to finding Wen Qing, to that banquet altercation, and then finding the Wen and setting Wen Ning to killing the guards. He glossed over the time spent in the Burial Mounds, including his fight with Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan's visit, and only briefly mentioned some of the work involved in bringing Wen Ning's consciousness back to him. He spent more time that was strictly necessary describing how beautiful Jiang YanLi looked in her wedding dress and how good her soup was. And then went directly to entering Qiongqi Path and the fight there. He described that fight in as great a detail as possible. He was far less detailed describing the subsequent fight at Nightless City and Jiang YanLi's death. "And then I was back in the Burial Mounds, my people were dead, so I destroyed the Stygian Tiger Amulet and killed myself."

Lan WangJi was quiet during this recitation. "It is possible that the fight at Qiongqi Path was set up to eliminate both Jin ZiXuan and Jin ZiXun."

Wei WuXian stared at his friend, mind working furiously. "But... how? Who?"

"We agreed that Jin ZiXun is not smart. So why would he, in both times, suddenly decide that you were the one who cursed him? Especially in this timeline? When you had only a minor contact which should have been brushed off as accidental. You and I both know that you could not have cursed him, in either life. So.... Someone else cursed him and shunted the blame onto you. Someone who sees you as a threat? Or someone who wants you removed so as to gain control of your amulet?