Your dreams

Chapter 2

Lan Wangji stood under the shining light of the full moon and he was reflecting on today's events. He had been sure that he would hate them even before the day started, but he had not expected that it would be this much of a disaster. He sat down in lotus position on the rooftop where he could see the dark window of Wei Wuxian's room and reflected on everything. He had a night patrol today and could use the time for quiet musing.

After the first encounter when the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple seemed to have gotten completely out of his head and had even fainted for a minute after seeing Lan Wangji, his eyes had been hard as steel. There had been a polite but cold smile on his lips as he had greeted Lan Wangji with perfect courtesy: "Second Young Master Lan."

Lan Wangji had been so taken aback by the abrupt change that he could have only automatically returned that greeting and turned around to hide his confusion. He had let the three Yunmeng Jiang sect disciples who had fallen silent from that moment on up the mountain. He had showed them their rooms and had headed off, feeling as awkward as ever.

He could not tell what that atmosphere had been. It had almost felt like there had been coldness seeping out of Wei Wuxian, so much so that even his siblings had been keeping their distance from him. They had been exchanging glances between the two of them and occasionally, they had been also shooting worried looks in their brother's direction. Wei Wuxian had not seemed to have noticed at all.

Lan Wangji was wrapping his head around what could have caused such an abrupt change. At one moment, the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple had seemed to be the same one Lan Wangji had heard so many rumours and stories about. But the next second, it was as if a completely different person was standing there in front of him.

And most importantly, what were the images he had seen? It felt like an out of body experience. Why had he been watching himself walking around? It would have been fine if he had just remembered how he had come back from his night hunt. Although it would still be strange to be thinking about it at a time when he had met Wei Wuxian and his siblings. But why had it felt so weird? Moreover, it had not felt like a memory at all, more like someone else was watching him and he had been just a witness in the whole story.

Lan Wangji had not even finished his line of thoughts when his head spined again, completely out of the blue. One of his hands instinctively went to cover his forehead in an attempt to ease the uncomfortable sensation and ground himself. He however discovered that he could not move his body at all. Once again, he could only watch from afar.

Lan Wangji was standing in the middle of a cheering crowd. It must have been during a night hunting conference; there were stalls set up and all the sect leaders were sitting in their seats and watching the show. Lan Wangji lifted his hands and thanked the crowd. He could feel there was a huge grin on his lips, it was extremely foreign. The bow in his hands was heavy and he could feel the smooth wood under his fingers, in his other hand, there was a piece of cloth, a red ribbon. In the crowd, he saw himself as one of the many spectators. Jiang Cheng came towards him with a sour expression on his face.

Lan Wangji was breathing heavily due to shock. He stared into space for a long while, not sure what had just happened. If it occurred only once, it was already strange, but why a second time? This was getting concerning. Was he perhaps falling sick?

Moreover, everything was even more unusual because of what he had seen and felt. He had never had much of a vivid imagination. Could all of this be really coming from his own head? Well, perhaps the part where he had seen Lan Xichen sitting among the other sect leaders. Although his brother was still not officially appointed, it was a widely known fact that this would happen soon.

But standing in front of a cheering crowd, grinning like some idiot – smiling foolishly was forbidden in the Cloud Recesses too – and being all happy and excited about the congratulations? That did not seem like him at all. Since when did he ever had such vivid and completely absurd dreams? It was not like him to daydream.

In fact, he could not remember a single instance of a similar occurrence. Could it be that only seeing Wei Wuxian earlier had had an impact on his composure? Lan Qiren had warned him to not get close to the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple. Maybe his worries had been warranted after all.

Lan Wangji closed his eyes. He was on a night patrol and knew that he should not be zoning out like this. He had to calm himself down, otherwise, he would be completely useless. He consciously regulated his breathing. In and out. In and out.

Initially, he had wanted to keep an eye on Wei Wuxian, just in case the other tried anything. But he decided that it was perhaps a little too much for him right now. It was only the first night into the guest lectures and he was already letting the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple's presence get under his skin. Why else would he had just thought about holding a Yunmeng Jiang sect bow instead of his own?

Lan Wangji decided that he would not dig deeper into this strange vision. He was probably only tired and his mind was playing tricks on him. He should finish his patrol and get back to his quarters. A good night's sleep was what he needed right now. He had been too preoccupied with helping with preparations for the guest lectures and he had not been sleeping as well as he very clearly needed.

Without another glance in the direction of Wei Wuxian's window, Lan Wangji collected his sword and stoop up in one smooth motion. He headed away from the guest disciples' building. All windows were dark and it did not seem like anyone wanted to go around breaking any rules. There was no work for Lan Wangji to do. It was not as if he was abandoning his duty, he had self-appointed himself for this patrol. He did not want Wei Wuxian to run around uncontrolled.

After finishing his round, Lan Wangji quickly retreated into his rooms. He prepared for bed and meditated for a while before laying down. With his mind calm, there were no other strange incidents. It must have been because of his tiredness after all. His last conscious though was that he would have to be more careful in the future and not push himself too much.