Because of You

15

As promised, Yanli and Xichen met the following day after breakfast. They were in the Hanshi and Xichen placed a privacy barrier over his home so they can talk more freely. Taking out some parchment, they each wrote down what they remember and made a time table so they have a general idea of how to plan ahead. The biggest challenge was the Yin Iron, as they need to be found before Wen Chao gets them, and to do that, that stupid dire owl needs to be killed first.

Yanli suggested that since they know where to look, they should go get them. The one that will give them the most work, was the one in Xuanwu's cave. For that one, they will have Wangji and Wuxian, potentially, Jiang Cheng's help. Lan Xichen has every piece of knowledge from the past thanks to some random person who would not really reveal themself, but he was still grateful for that person because he knows the truth about all of it.

At some point during the meeting, Yanli got a bit distracted by Lan Xichen's beauty. She knew back then how handsome he was, but now that she was spending more time with him and getting to know him, she was sure, that he was someone important to her. After a few minutes, Lan Xichen could sense eyes in him and glanced up to see Yanli looking at him.

Lan Xichen smiled, "are you okay?" He asked.

"Huh?" She asked as she was tuned out of her staring, "oh, yes, sorry."

Lan Xichen chuckled, "no need to worry. I think you are pretty too."

Yanli's face turned a bright pink, "ugh, thank you."

"Mhm," he hummed.

Yanli took in a deep breath and exhaled, "so, the piece of iron in your ice caves, should we leave it there for the time being?"

"No one has access to that place unless they have a forehead ribbon. It is a safe place. I will make sure to tell Wangji that if he by any chance falls into the caves again, to leave it there. We will destroy them when we can," Xichen said.

"Alright," she agreed, "when it comes to the ambushes, I wonder if we can set up ahead and send some of our disciples to you when it gets closer to that event."

"Maybe, if we do this right, we may be okay...what I really want is to get rid of Wen Zhuliu as soon as possible though. He is too powerful and with his ability to crush a core, it will save people if we rid of him first," Xichen explained.

"That is true...how did he die before? Do you know?" Yanli asked.

"It was when Wei Wuxian came back after being missing. He had his resentful energy at that time. Tortured him and even used the energy to crush his core," Xichen explained.

Yanli trembled at the thought of her brother being that ruthless, "well, hopefully we can go without him resulting in that path, but what if we cannot win without that method? Because of A'Xian, we won that war," she explained.

"I know, that's what worries me," he said, "if there was another way, we could take it."

"Is there similar techniques with spiritual energy? A'Xian picked up Chenqing. Is there a way to use it positively? New and stronger methods like that? I am not entirely sure how music cultivation works but apart of me feels like if we look in the right places he can still use a flute and keep his core and not result in the use of resentment," she explained.

"I am sure there is," Xichen said, "we would have to search the library to see what we have, and I do think there are songs that can be just as powerful with spiritual energy. With it, we might still have a chance."

"Should A'Xian pick up a flute again?" She asked.

"I think he should, it suits him," Xichen said.

"It does huh," she agreed, "you saw he is in purple robes now, not his black ones."

"Is he? I have not ran into him yet in this timeline," Xichen said, "that's good to hear. If I remember correctly, it was announced that your parents officially adopted him into the sect and he is now an heir."

"He is, but he had a request for that," Yanli said, "A'Xian said even though he is older, if something were to happen, he wants Jiang Cheng to take over first, as he is the bloodline. My parents were going to argue against that but in the end they decided to agree."

"That does sound like something Wuxian would do," Xichen said.

As they were talking, a knock came to his door. Xichen put his papers in a pile and hid them under some other documents before getting the door.

"Ugh, Hi Zewu Jun," it was Wuxian.

"Wei Gongzi? What can I do for you?" He asked.

Wuxian blinked, "you know who I am?" He asked.

"I do," Xichen replied, "is there something I can help with?"

"Jiang Cheng and I were looking for A'Jie. We wanted to see if she wanted to have lunch with us and we were told she was speaking with you...sorry to interrupt if that was the case," Wuxian said.

Yanli went over to him, "if I join, then why not have Zewu Jun and his brother come."

"Um, sure okay," Wuxian said, "we were going to town, would you like to come Zewu Jun?"

Lan Xichen smiled, "of course, my brother should be at the library if you want to check with him."

"Okay, thanks, we will meet at the gate in twenty minutes then," Wuxian said happily, "it was nice to meet you by the way, Zewu Jun."

"It was nice to meet you as well," Xichen said.

"By the way, why are you two hanging out alone?" Wuxian couldn't help but ask in a teasing tone.

"A'Xian?!" Yanli warned, "don't go there. I know secrets about you that I could tell him and his brother."

"Why tell his brother?" Wuxian asked, "is there something about him I should know?"

"Not really, but maybe you should try making friends with him," Yanli suggested.

"Ugh, sure," Wuxian said, "but I'd hate to bother him if he is busy."

"Wangji will be fine," Xichen said, "now go ask him if he wants to join us. If he says no, maybe find a way to convince him otherwise."

Wuxian giggled, "okay, see you in a little bit," he said with a bow and left.

"Same old A'Xian...though he is more cautious about his actions this time around," Yanli said, "I don't mind it, but it's just different."

"I get it," he said, "let's clean up and then meet up with the others."

"Sure," she said.