The Light's Dark

22

"What is it?" Wei Ying asked, having dragged the peacock and his Lan Zhan into a nearby restaurant. Many would think it would be a horrible place to talk about important conversations, but Wei Ying knew better than that. It was in the places where one sought silence that things were most likely to be overheard. That was because it was always suspicious to the waiting staff, and anyone paying attention. More people were likely to try and glean information, usually so that they could sell it for the right price should they need to, or have the ability to. Not to mention it was generally more quiet, which tended to cause and pose problems. In the middle of a ton of people is usually where people let their guard down, or at the least did not bother with and ere not concerned with a conversation between three cultivators.

Most of the common folk barely understood the difference between the clans and typically only knew the cultivators of their own clan that they lived under, outside of that realm there was little knowledge and mainly little care. Wei Ying knew that since they had Lan Zhan they would attract some attention, but the fact that Lan Zhan was sitting with people they did not know, and people that would be hard to recognize should they see them once more left Wei Ying calmed somewhat about going through with this somewhat reckless and rather thoughtless plot that his love had come up with, trying to go wandering about Caiyi...Which, okay perhaps his suggestion was what spurred it so in all reality he could not really blame Lan Wangji for everything, merely part of it.

"I...Want to find my half brothers." Wei Ying stared at the Jin heir, his body stiffened as he thought about why it was that the Jin heir would want to know his family, finally, after all of this time. It would not surprise me if the ever so righteous sect leader of the Jin wanted to hunt down every one of his illigitimates and erase them from the fabric of memory. Wei Ying could not possibly help in that regard, his fingers curling into his palm.

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan's calm voice floated through his ears and Wei Ying felt his nails pry themselves from where they had been curled into his palms, harshly, if the sting and the pain as air coursed through raw skin gave any indication. He glanced over to his side, where Lan Zhan had given him a slightly worried look, from what Wei Ying was able to tell, and gave the other a smile, trying to ensure the Lan that he was fine, and he would see this meeting through. He was the one that had agreed to even entertain this stupid meeting in the first place, it was only right that he deal with it until the end.

"And why is it that you finally wish to meet your ever so lovely siblings that prior to this you have shown no care, regard, or interest in?" Wei Ying questioned, tilting his head to the side, his eyes having gained a cold edge to them. The look made ZiXuan shudder and wonder if Yanli had been correct in her thoughts that Wei Ying would help him. He banished the thought almost as soon as he had let it cross his mind, however. He had doubted Yanli enough, barring that she knew Wei WuXian better than all of them, barring perhaps the Second Jade (which was a rather...interesting friendship to say the least), he could give her this moment. She would know, and she had said that should he play things right Wei Ying would help him, he was determined to see that through.

"I just...realized...Father needs to be taken down a peg. If I am supposed to take over the Jin Sect, as I am supposed to, and to provide a safe place for Y...Miss Jiang Guiniang, then I have to weed out the problematic people from the source."

"Your father?" Wei Ying questioned, narrowing his eyes as he watched the Jin Heir nod.

"I know it sounds bad, I swear I am not going to kill him or...whatever...I juts need to get to him, and I need my own allies to help me take down my father. Father's bastards may seem like they have no power, but they are still father's children. Stupidly he did not think of that slight fact before whoring himself out. At the end of the day, they may not really pose that much of a threat, but they could definitely be useful in helping me take down Father."

"And what exactly do you intend to do if your father finds out about this plan?" ZiXuan did roll his eyes at that.

"Father is so preoccupied with having people warm his bed I doubt he would even notice if I was gone for more than a week were it not for mother screaming at him." Wei Ying hummed, curious.

"I want to know the extent of this...plan of yours, before I agree to help you, after all, I am the one with the information, and while I am sure that you could get it yourself..." Wei Ying admitted once seeing the prideful Heir puff up again. "It is going to be less worrying if I do, and furthermore I know how to be discreet." Wei Ying stated proudly. Lan Wangji's arm snaked around his waise as the elder man hummed softly in his ear.

"The plan...from the beginning?" ZiXuan questioned. "Do we even have time for that?" Wei Ying glanced up at Lan Wangji who merely raised a brow and Wei Ying sighed heavily put upon.

"Lan Zhan is right, we don't have time for that." ZiXuan bristled at the utter lack of regard for the fact that he had said the same exact thing but it was Lan Wangji whom Wei WuXian thanked. He supposed it did not matter in the end. "Get a room, we will return tomorrow morning at this inn in order to speak further. We will not be so pressed for time."