The Scarlet Sunset

Chapter (49): Library Pavilion

Two months had passed since Wei Wuxian and the others came to study at Cloud Recesses. For Wei Wuxian, the classes were nothing other than monotonous. Either history or etiquette, he had already learned all of them from Xie Lian since Xie Lian taught him everything, starting from reading, writing, swordsmanship to the six arts, politics, taoism and even cooking. The last one he picked up more from Hua Cheng, but anyways, there was nothing new for him to learn at the Cloud Recesses.

Although it might have been eight hundred years since Xie Lian had learned these stuffs, the general concept of etiquette, literature or swordsmanship had not changed much at all. One could argue; as this was because Xian Le was the most prosperous kingdom to have ever existed, and all their culture and knowledge had been passed down one way or another. With nothing to do, Wei Wuxian slept through classes, sneaked in alcohol every time he could, and even wrote a book titled, 'How to survive at Cloud Recesses'.

During these two months, Lan Qiren had held three formal tests. And as a part of the deal to have Nie Huaisang copy the sect rules for him, Wei Wuxian provided him with answers during the test. The first times went by fine but this time, he was caught red-handed by Lan Wangji, whom he couldn't bring to his side even with two jars of Emperor's Smile.

So and so, Wei Wuxian was sentenced to copying more of the Lan Sect's rules. Furthermore, because Nie Huaisang helped him copy the last time, he was grounded in the Library Pavilion for a month until he actually finished copying the rules by himself. Wei Wuxian thought he would just sleep in the Library Pavilion, and have Nie Huaisang copy the rules, but then his plans were shattered when he saw Lan Wangji sitting in the head position of the Library Pavilion. It was so obvious that the old Lan sent his little Lan to monitor him.

What a tedious pair of uncle and nephew!

Wei Wuxian, having his plan to nap broken, sluggishly sat at his desk and playing with the brush in his hand. He did try to write some at first, but after a page or two, he became so bored that he didn't even want to move his hand back and forth between the inkstone and the paper. The only other person in the room, in complete contrast to him, sat poised and dignified at his position. His hands moved gently and steadily, as he tirelessly copied the texts from nearly worn-out old books into new ones.

"Wangji-xiong [1], are you still mad about the night that I sneaked in some jars of Emperor's Smile?"

The dread of silence had Wei Wuxian open up a conversation despite the other party blatantly ignoring him.

"Wangji-xiongg. Is that true? You're still mad! Is that why you crushed the flower and the note I gave afterwards right? And you've been avoiding me since that day too."

Wei Wuxian leaned towards the other boy and continued the conversation on his own. On the mention of flowers, the steady hands seemed to stop for a bit, but only lasted for a tiny second before they continued at their previous pace.

"Wangji-xiong, I'm really terribly sorry for that! I really didn't know that alcohol was forbidden on that day."

Wei Wuxian continued, hoping to hear some rebut like, 'You continued to drink it even when I pointed it out' but he was still ignored. The feeling of boredom crept up to the brim of his neck, 'What!? Am I talking to a statue!!?'

"Wangji-xiong!" Wei Wuxian stood up.

"Lan Er Gongzi. [2]" He took a step closer to Lan Wangji.

"Lan Wangji." He inched closer to the statue-like boy with light steps and spoke with a voice that was soaked in honey.

"Lan Zhan!" [3]

Wei Wuxian tried calling out Lan Wangji's birth name, hoping it might startle the statue a bit. Indeed, it got him a fierce gaze from Lan Wangji who had been sitting silently without moving particularly. Lan Wangji's eyes just screamed 'furious' when looking at the foolishly grinning face of Wei Wuxian.