The bright red ribbon bowed into Wei Ying's hair sways in the wind, as he ventures out of sight. When his tortured scream splits out of nowhere, Wangji can do nothing but shout his name. The name. That's all he can do.
He can do nothing.
On top of bearing a tornado of torn emotions about Wei Ying, now Wangji has one more thing to add to his mountain of burdens: the runaways. Ah Yuan and Jingyi.
Terrific.
•••
It is heavy night when the three juniors decide to strike with their plan. They had lingered in Jin Ling's bedchamber in Lotus Pier for nearly five hours, Jingyi napping while Ah Yuan observed the setting of Brother Wei's childhood.
Now—Jin Ling slips all three of them into Clan Leader Jiang Cheng's bedchamber, through a rooftop window.
They organise themselves for the follow-through of their foolproof plan. But Clan Leader Jiang Cheng's snoring is so loud in the back of Ah Yuan's mind, like a rumbling storm. Like a war born.
Blinking hard and forcing away cold shivers, Ah Yuan has to steel himself...
1. Jingyi pins a freeze talisman onto the clan leader's snoring body.
2. Jin Ling tosses Ah Yuan the secret chamber keys from the back of the room door.
3. Ah Yuan enters the secret chamber. One minute later, he re-emerges with the famous sword Suibian in hand. It gleams like diamonds in the night.
Placing the handle of the sword against the hem of his human tracking device, Ah Yuan shuffles as quietly as possible back over to his friends. They wait a long moment. It is really an impossibly, agonisingly long moment. Behind them, the Clan Leader's snores seem to get louder and louder.
"For Heaven's sakes, hurry that up!" Jingyi hisses.
"You're not very patient right now," Ah Yuan bites back.
The three of them huddle around the compass and watch the magic work... the compass hands pricking to life at the sudden spiritual movement. They spin around and around until finally snapping in one single direction—
Brother Wei.
Ah Yuan yanks the sword away from the tracking device and snaps the device shut. He whispers, "Let's go."
Jingyi nods. He summons back the freeze talisman, only for a large meaty hand to clamp intensely on his arm.
Ah Yuan's breath catches in his throat. He freezes.
It's Clan Leader Jiang Cheng.
"Stop right there," the clan leader bellows.
The hairs on the back of Ah Yuan's neck prick with fear. In front of him, Jin Ling whirls around to face his uncle, looking flustered.
"U-Uncle!" He sputters. "We were, uhh... we were just..."
"Fool," Jingyi utters through the side of his mouth, eyes wide. "You told us he was sleeping!"
"He was sleeping!" Jin Ling shoots back angrily.
Clan Leader Jiang Cheng releases Jingyi and Jingyi immediately backs into the center is the room, next to Ah Yuan. All three of them have fallen dead silent. They glance back and forth between each other, restless, their minds whirring with thought, scrambling for what to do next.
YOU ARE READING
this changes everything. ⟲ wangxian
Fanfiction"Wangji... Rule 2982-" Lan Wangji stiffens. "-you know you can't be with him. It's been many moons for you two now, so I can predict you'll feel... energised. Obviously, your health will improve. And that's what we want; that's what's good for you...
