Your dreams

Chapter 6

Hi everyone, sorry for this update comin in so late. I have only noticed now that the chapters I have been posting last two days had only ever been saved in a draft and had now dissapeared altogether :'( I had to rewrite everything...But here we go, hope this time, technology will not be against me.

After the unsavoury disturbance caused by the Qishan Wen sect disciples, the lecture slowly continued. Everyone seemed not to have a mind to listen to the rules being recited, they were clearly unfocused and distressed. Most probably because Wen Qing and Wen Ning were now sitting in the last row of the classroom where two additional tables had been brought for them.

Lan Wangji believed that it was only due to his uncle's authority and his cold glares towards everyone who as much as thought about turning back and staring that all the guest disciples behaved and listened to the rules he was reading. Or, most of them to be precise. Wei Wuxian to his right seemed to be sitting on pins and needles and was glancing over his shoulder every so often. Lan Wangji did his best to look forward himself, however he could still see the other's movements in his peripheral vision. It was distracting to say the least.

After a while, and several admonitions from Lan Qiren on the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple's account, Lan Wangji could not take it anymore. He was the head disciplinarian. How was it looking now to the rest of the guest disciples? He could not even keep one of them in line; nor his uncle but that was completely beside the point. He had taken it upon himself to make sure Wei Wuxian was not causing any trouble but he was failing spectacularly now, was he not? All the more that the disciple in question was sitting right next to him.

He mused if he should stand up and propose to his uncle that he would take the distraction away for a punishment. If Wei Wuxian could not even pay attention for two full hours, they needed to educate him sooner rather than later. Otherwise, he would keep disturbing the lectures. He was here to learn about the ways of the Gusu Lan sect, just like everybody else. How did he dare to be so rude and completely disregard Lan Qiren's good will in reading all the rules? That had not originally been part of the curriculum, the elder must have added it to remind all the troublemakers – remind Wei Wuxian especially – about how they were expected to behave during his stay in the Cloud Recesses.

Finally, Lan Wangji could not take it anymore. He could barely understand how his uncle had so much patience for the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple. He could tell that he too was growing weary with the distractions, but he was still holding back on a punishment. If only barely. It was Wei Wuxian who could not, or would not, take a clue and continued glancing back more and more frequently together with shifting in his seat and slouching forward when he was not looking towards Wen Qing and Wen Ning.

Lan Wangji turned towards him to shoot him an icy cold glare of his own. He had had enough. How could have the Yunmeng Jiang sect named Wei Wuxian their head disciple? He could not behave himself for the life of his it seemed. He was a complete disaster. One that Lan Wangji and Lan Qiren had to educate on the correct ways sooner rather than later.

He was however taken aback as soon as he looked at the other properly. Wei Wuxian's complexion was pale and his eyes, although distracted and unfocused as Lan Wangji had assumed they would be, were in fact more haunted and pained than anything else. His muscles were all tense and he was gripping the edge of his desk so tightly that his knuckles were snow white. All in all, he did not look good at all. Was he sick? Or was it simply because he had been up late the night before and did not get enough sleep?

For a reason Lan Wangji could not quite name, he was suddenly not feeling like reprimanding him anymore. Or at least not so harshly. The boy who he had seen grinning foolishly this morning was nowhere to be found. The one sitting next to him had somehow aged by several years over the span of the last two hours. Lan Wangji could not make any sense of what he was currently witnessing. This must have been why Lan Qiren was still tolerating the Yunmeng Jiang sect disciple's antics, he looked kind of pitiful.

Though it seemed that was not entirely the case. As next second, Lan Wangji saw Wei Wuxian getting startled when Lan Qiren finally decided that enough was enough: "Wei Wuxian! I had enough of you!" Then, the elder turned to his nephew and continued: "Wangji, take him to the Library pavilion immediately. If he is not willing to listen to the lecture, there is no other possibility but to let him copy the rules until he remembers them."

Lan Wangji stood up immediately and nodded. That was actually a good idea his uncle had come up with. It would serve all the purposes at the same time: he would be able to look out for this troublemakers every move, the class would continue in peace and as Lan Qiren had stated, Wei Wuxian would hopefully learn the rules. It was a win for all the sides.

"Wei Wuxian, come with me," Lan Wangji prompted when it did not look like the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple was about to move. In fact, there was an even more haunted expression on his face and his eyes were as wide open as ever.

It was Lan Wangji's turn to get startled. He had never seen anyone this vulnerable when they had been fine just hours ago. He was at a loss about what to do. There was something seriously wrong and he could not even say what.

"Wei Wuxian! What are you doing?" whisper-shouted Jiang Wanyin from his place several seats over.

It looked like he too had seen the situation growing worse and worse by the second and had decided to interfere. From his voice, Lan Wangji could not guess whether he was simply trying to snap his brother out of his dazed state or if he was mad at him. Knowing the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir for only hours at this point, it could be either of those or a mix.

Lan Wangji was just about to turn to his uncle for support and advice when Wei Wuxian finally lifted his head. He looked around with a minute surprise in his expression. As if he could not remember where exactly he was. Then, the moment was over. The lost expression was replaced by a plastered-on smile. Lan Wangji could not even be sure if he had seen correctly.

And when he checked, he could not see anyone around him acting any different than before. Could it be he was the only one to have noticed that something was not quite right? Was he the only one to get confusing vibes from Wei Wuxian? For in the next heartbeat, Lan Qiren had finally lost the rest of his patience and he spoke very strictly. If Lan Wangji did not think his uncle would never go against the rules, he could have even called his tone of voice shouting.

"Wei Wuxian, get out!"

Hearing this, either because of the clearly displeased order or because he truly needed to get out of the classroom, the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple all but jumped to his feet and run out of the lecture hall. Lan Wangji could not be sure, he did not see Wei Wuxian's face after all, but he had a feeling that the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple had made a conscious effort to not look in the direction of the two Qishan Wen sect disciples in their fiery red clothing.

He stood up as well, gave Lan Qiren a quick polite bow and followed after Wei Wuxian. He heard Lan Qiren mumble something to himself and he was afraid that he would retaliate against the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple later for breaking yet another rule. But that was not important right now. Lan Wangji had to find him. There was a dread pooling deep in his guts. It felt like if he did not act right now, something terrible would happen.