Chapter 15 - Refinement

Wei WuXian was someone who was skilled at finding fun for himself, especially talented in the area of seeking joy amid dull circumstances. Since there wasn't anything else to play with, he could only play with Lan WangJi. He called, "WangJi-xiong." Lan WangJi remained motionless. Wei WuXian, "WangJi." He appeared as if he didn't hear anything. Wei WuXian, "Lan WangJi." Wei WuXian, "Lan Zhan!"

Lan Qiren wanted to bury his head in his hands. What had he been thinking, sending Wangji to watch Wei Wuxian for a month? His poor nephew... maybe the way he had turned out, colluding with demonic cultivators like Wei Wuxian, was all his fault.

While most of the cultivators were gaping in shock at how one person could be so annoyingly desperate for attention, the junior disciples were giggling behind their hands.

"I always thought you were all exaggerating when you said he was more annoying when he was young, but now..."  Jingyi exclaimed.

"You have no idea." Jiang Cheng said darkly. "And I had to grow up with him."

Lan WangJi finally stopped writing, and looked up at him with a cold gaze. Wei WuXian shifted backward, raising his hands as if he was defending himself, "Don't look at me like this. I only called your birth name because you didn't answer when I called you WangJi. If you're upset, you can also call me back with my birth name."

Anyone who kept talking while Lan Wangji was giving them that look was either an utter idiot or had nerves of steel. The cultivators concluded it was the latter, as they had already seen Wei Wuxian's mental abilities before.

On the other hand, Jiang Cheng knew that Wei Wuxian was both. Being the biggest idiot to walk the planet, while simultaneously having the nerve to whatever he wanted, accounted for Wei Wuxian's whole life story.

Lan WangJi spoke, "Put your legs down." Wei WuXian's sitting posture was extremely improper, with a slanted body and legs propped up. Seeing that he finally teased Lan WangJi to the point that he started to talk, the former silently chuckled to himself. Listening to Lan WangJi's words, he put his legs down, but his upper body inched unnoticeably closer, and he pressed his arms onto the desk. It was still an unacceptable sitting posture.

"If that's not flirting, I don't know what is..." Zizhen muttered.

"It was subconcious!" Wei Wuxian said defensively.

He asked in a serious tone, "Lan Zhan. Let me ask you a question. Do you... really hate me that much?" Lan WangJi looked down, his lashes casting light shadows onto his jadelike cheeks. Wei WuXian hurriedly added, "Hey, don't be like this, ignoring me again after saying so few words. I want to admit my fault and apologize to you. Look at me."

For such a pushy person, Wei Wuxian had an adorable face - mouth always curved in a smile, features as delicate as porcelain, earnest grey eyes. No wonder Lan Wangji didn't want to look him in the face - it would have been too much for him to handle.

After a pause, he spoke again, "You don't want to look at me? Sure, then. I'll just start talking. "

"Aaaand that  summarises his whole personality." muttered Jiang Cheng.

"It was my fault during that night. I was wrong. I shouldn't have climbed the wall, I shouldn't have drank alcohol, and I shouldn't have fought with you. But, I swear! It wasn't that I provoked you on purpose—I really didn't look at the sect rules. The sect rules in the Jiang Sect are all told verbally; none of them are written down. Or else, I definitely wouldn't have done that."

I definitely wouldn't have finished the jar of Emperor's Smile in front of you. I would have tucked it away and carried it back into my room, secretly drinking it every day and sharing it with everyone until we all had enough.

Wei Wuxian looked outraged. "Hey! Strange magic board! Stop exposing me!!"

The room rang with laughter again - having Wei Wuxian's thoughts as an accompaniment to the visual recount of what happened was beyond entertaining!

Lan Wangji gave a faint, but indulgent smile. "I knew you were lying. You never listen to rules."

Wei WuXian continued, "And, let's be reasonable—which of us attacked first? It was you. If you didn't attack, we could've communicated nicely and cleared everything up. However, if someone hits me, I'd have to hit them back. This isn't all my fault. Lan Zhan, are you listening? Look at me. Young Master Lan?" He snapped his fingers, "Second Brother Lan, why don't you do me a favor and look at me?" Lan WangJi didn't even lift his eyes, "Copy it one additional time."

Wei WuXian's body immediately slanted, "Don't be like this. It's my fault, alright?" Lan WangJi exposed his lie mercilessly, "You do not feel any remorse." Wei WuXian spoke as if he didn't have any dignity, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I can repeat it however many times you want me to. I can even say it while kneeling down."

Jin Ling raised his eyebrows. "Wow, you really never had any shame, did you? Were you just born like that?"

Wei Wuxian grinned. "My thick skin is my greatest asset. When you don't care what people think about you, you get twice as much done."

Lan WangJi put his brush down. Wei WuXian thought that the other couldn't endure it any longer and finally wanted to beat him up. Just as he got ready to put on a goofy grin, he discovered that his upper and lower lips seemed like they were glued together, so he couldn't laugh.

His face quickly changed. He struggled to talk, "Mmph? Mmph mmph mmph!"

Once again, laughter filled the room. Not being able to talk seemed like the only punishment that would actually scare Wei Wuxian. It would serve him right for not being able to control the nonsense that constantly came out of his mouth.

Lan WangJi closed his eyes and let out a faint breath of air. When he opened his eyes, the calm expression returned again. He picked up the brush again, as if nothing had happened.

"Aww, Lan Zhannn." Wei Wuxian said teasingly, "Was I being too much for you?"

"No. I just was not used to feeling such strong emotions yet." Lan Wangji replied with a matter-of-fact expression. "I am sorry for putting the silencing charm on you."

Wei Wuxian hadn't expected that answer, and promptly flushed red, staring at his husband with wide, adoring eyes. How did he manage to find such a perfect person to spend the rest of his life with?

Wei WuXian had been aware of the hated silencing spell of the Lan Sect since long ago, and he refused to believe it. Yet, after making every effort, scratching the corners of his lips red, he still couldn't open his mouth no matter what. And so, he grabbed a piece of paper, wrote as if his brush was flying, and threw the paper over. Lan WangJi glanced at it. "Pathetic," he responded, crumpling it into a ball and tossing it away.

"What did you write?" Sizhui asked, interested.

"Umm..." Wei Wuxian said distractedly, still locked eyes with Lan Wangji, "Just the usual... I'm really sorry, remove the spell...things. Oh, and a drawing of a sad rabbit."

"...what?!"

Wei WuXian was so angry that he rolled around on the mat, climbed up, and wrote another one, slamming it in front of Lan WangJi. Again, it was crumpled into a ball and tossed away.

"And those were mostly curse words and angry carrots, if you were wondering." Wei Wuxian added, to the amusement of the juniors.

The silencing spell was only removed after he finished copying. The second day, when he came to the Library Pavilion again, the balls of paper which landed everywhere were all taken out. Wei WuXian had always forgot about the pain after the cut healed. Although, on the first day, he suffered greatly from the silencing spell, after a few moments, his mouth started to itch again.

The cultivators wanted to facepalm. Wei Wuxian really was impossible, wasn't he?

After recklessly speaking a few times, he was silenced once more. He couldn't open his mouth, so he scribbled on paper and pushed them to Lan WangJi, who crumpled it and threw it onto the ground. The same thing happened on the third day. He was silenced time after time.

The board skipped through the weeks, blurring the pictures to tell that quite some time had passed.

However, on the last day of him having to "face the wall and reflect," Lan WangJi noticed that Wei WuXian seemed somewhat different. During his stay at Gusu, he left his sword all around the place, and was never seen carrying it properly. Yet, he took it with him today, loudly slamming it onto the desk. He even went as far as to start writing without a word, contrasting his usual behavior of relentlessly harassing Lan WangJi in every way possible. He was so obedient that it was strange.

Lan WangJi didn't have a reason to silence him, so he took a few more glances at him, as if he didn't believe that Wei WuXian was finally willing to behave himself.

"Look how much you've traumatised Hanguang Jun...he's even actively looking at you because he's concerned that you aren't harassing him." Jingyi remarked sarcastically

The audience shared Lan Wangji's suspicions about Wei Wuxian's obedient behaviour - it seemed very ominous, like the calm before a storm.

As he had expected, after a short while of sitting down, Wei WuXian repeated his past conduct again, giving Lan WangJi a piece of paper for him to see. Lan WangJi originally thought that it was going to be a mess of lame phrases again, but after a coincidental glimpse, he was surprised to find the drawing of a person, sitting upright and reading by the window, with a vividly realistic expression on his face. It was himself.

There was a close-up on Wei Wuxian's drawing. The attention to detail was excellent - Wei Wuxian had clearly been studying Lan Wangji's face very carefully. The audience was surprised to see that Wei Wuxian had a real talent for drawing.

Seeing that he didn't avert his gaze at once, Wei WuXian curled his lips, and raised his eyebrow with a wink. No words were needed, since the meaning was plain to see—Does it look like you? Is it good?

Lan Xichen's wanted to clutch his heart. Those two were so adorable with each other. And he knew his brother well enough to know when Wangji liked something - he would rarely say it out loud, but there were clues in the way he held something and the way he looked at it. It was also how Lan Xichen knew from the very start that  Wangji liked Wei Wuxian, just by the way he looked at him.

Lan WangJi slowly spoke, "You have spare time, yet you scribble instead of copy the text. In my opinion, the day of your release from this punishment will never come." Wei WuXian blew on the ink which hadn't dried yet and spoke nonchalantly, "I already finished copying, so I won't be coming tomorrow!" Lan WangJi's slender fingers seemed to have paused before flipping over the next yellow-tinted page.

"Did he forget the day Wei Wuxian had to leave? Ohhhh...did he lose track of time?"

"I think he's secretly disappointed."

The two gossiping cultivators giggled with each other.

Lan Wangji wondered how they knew, because they were precisely right. He remembered his first feeling of surprise that the month had passed so fast, then a crushing disappointment, then confusion at why he was even sad that his month of being harassed by Wei Wuxian was finally over. Those early days with Wei Wuxian were the most confusing. The strange feelings of attachment that he'd refused to acknowledge... until it was much too late. He wished he'd been brave enough to realise what Wei Wuxian meant to him, and act upon it. It would've made everything so much simpler.

Surprisingly, Wei WuXian wasn't silenced. As he didn't provoke any reaction, Wei WuXian lightly threw the drawing, "It's yours." The drawing was thrown onto the mat, but Lan WangJi didn't have any intention of picking it up. During these days, the paper which Wei WuXian wrote on to curse him, cajole him, apologize to him, beg him, and other messy scribbles all ended up this way. He was used to it and didn't mind.

"I kept it. I kept all of them." Lan Wangji admitted. "I hid them in the jingshi. I couldn't throw them away. And the drawing..." He rummaged around in his sleeve, then pulled out a pouch, out of which he took out a folded piece of paper.

Wei Wuxian couldn't say anything at first, his throat choked with emotion. He finally flung his arms around Lan Wangji's neck. "I'll draw anything you want, for you. I can draw Sizhui, or us together, or rabbits, or..."

Jiang Cheng wanted to plug his ears. Why did this couple have to be so...vocal about how much they loved each other? He supposed that considering it took them 13 years of pain and loss and tragedy to get their happy ending, he should be happy for them. He was, in an exasperated way. But he also wished he had a partner of his own.

He suddenly added, "I forgot. I need to add something else." After his words, he picked up the paper and his brush, and added a few strokes. He glanced at the drawing, then, the actual person, and fell toward the ground in laughter. Lan WangJi put down the book, and saw that Wei WuXian added a flower onto the drawing, where the side of his head was.

The corners of his lip seemed to have twitched. Wei WuXian crawled up and spoke before him, "'Pathetic', right? I just know that you're gonna say pathetic. Can't you switch to something else? Or add another word to it?" Lan WangJi replied coldly, "Extremely pathetic." Wei WuXian clapped his hands, "So you really added another word to it. Thank you!"

Nie Huaisang suddenly let out a high-pitched giggle. "I saw that, Wei-xiong! Hahahaha, I can't believe I get to watch this in person."

Sizhui had also seen, but only because he recognised what Wei Wuxian was doing from an instinct that seemed to have been instilled in him from an early age...

"Huh?" There were mutters of confusion. Had they missed something? Their questions were answered almost immediately.

Lan WangJi turned his gaze away, picked up the book which he put on the desk, and opened it again. He only took one look at before he hurled the book away, as if he was burnt by fire. He was initially reading a Buddhist text, but when he had looked at the page flipped open, he was presented with naked, intertwining figures, intolerable to his eye. The book that he was reading was substituted with a pornographic book, its cover disguised as a Buddhist text.

There was an uproar around the room, with some shouting in rage at disrespecting someone as dignified as Hanguang Jun, and others doubled over laughing their heads off. What everyone agreed on was that Wei Wuxian the boldest person in existence, and he had a death wish.

Most of the junior disciples went beet red and hid their faces, shaking their heads in amazement at Wei Wuxian's audacity. Sizhui was having an epiphany, and was delighted to be able to see such a key moment in the development of his two fathers' relationship.

Even someone without a brain would have guessed who had done the deed.  Wei WuXian slapped the table, laughing hysterically, "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

As the book was thrown on the ground, Lan WangJi seemed as if he was escaping from snakes or scorpions, falling back to the corner of the Library Pavilion in less than a second.

Lan Qiren  now had his hands in his hair. How had Wangji never told him about this?? How could he have left Wangji at the mercy of this demon?

He roared with rage, "Wei Ying——!" Wei WuXian almost rolled under the desk from laughter, raising a hand with much difficulty, "Here! I'm here!" Lan WangJi swiftly drew his sword, Bichen. Ever since they had met, Wei WuXian had never seen him appear so discomposed.

The interest of everyone in the room was instantly captured. Though how Wei Wuxian would fight off a sword attack from Lan Wangji while he was rolling hysterically on the ground, they had no idea. Did he not seem to care that he was provoking Lan Wangji to the point where he had a high chance of getting skewered?

He hastily grabbed his own sword. Drawing his sword so that a third of the blade was out, he reminded Lan WangJi, "Manners! Second Master Lan! Watch your manners! I brought my sword today as well. If we start fighting, would your Library Pavilion be fine?" He knew that Lan WangJi would be shamed into anger, so he went out of his way to carry his sword for self-defence, so that he wouldn't be accidentally stabbed to death.

The cultivators in the room gaped at the strange sight: Wei Wuxian with his sword. Of course, before Wei Wuxian had started wielding Chenqing and his Stygian Tiger Amulet, he had used the traditional art of sword-play. It made him look much more like a hero than a villain.

The blade of Lan WangJi's sword pointed at him. Fire could almost be seen sprouting from his pair of light-colored eyes, "What sort of person are you?!" Wei WuXian responded, "What sort of person could I be? A man!" Lan WangJi lashed out "You have no shame!"

"You've only just realised?" Jiang Cheng snorted.

Wei WuXian, "Do I need to be ashamed about this? Don't tell me you've never seen something like this before. I don't believe you." Lan WangJi's weak point was that he didn't know how to argue. After a moment of silently holding back, he pointed his sword at Wei WuXian. He spoke with a frigid face, "You, go outside. We have fought before."

There was a low 'oooh' murmured around the room. Wei Wuxian really knew how to get to Lan Wangji. It made them great enemies - and lovers.

Wei WuXian shook his head a couple of times, pretending to be docile, "Nope, nope. Didn't you know, Young Master Lan? Fighting without permission is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses."

The audience was watching with mounting incredulity. Wei Wuxian lecturing Lan Wangji on the Lan  Sect rules was something they never expected to see in their lifetime.

He proceeded to pick up the book which was thrown away, but Lan WangJi went before him, snatching it in his hand. Wei WuXian quickly guessed that he was going to use this as evidence to report him. He deliberately spoke, "Why are you grabbing it? I thought that you didn't want to read it. Now you do? Actually, even if you want to read it, you don't have to fight for it. I borrowed it exclusively for you, anyways. Now that you've seen my porn, you've become my friend. We can continue to exchange opinions, and..." Lan WangJi's whole face turned white. He spoke one word at a time, "I. Will. Not. Read. It."

Wei Wuxian was finding watching this just as funny as it had been at the time. Lan Zhan had been so easily rattled!

Wei WuXian continued to distort the facts, "If you won't read it, why did you grab it? Secretly keeping it? You can't do that. I borrowed this from someone else, so I'd have to return it after you read it... Hey, hey, hey, don't come here. You're too close; I feel nervous. Let's talk nicely. You're not gonna hand this in, are you? Hand it in to whom? Old... Your uncle? Second Young Master Lan, do you think that you can let the elders see this? He'd definitely think that you already read it. With a face as thin as yours, you'd be so ashamed that you'd die..."

Lan Qiren fumed with rage. What type of message was Wei Wuxian trying to send to the junior disciples? The thought that these sort of things could be happening behind his back horrified him.

The audience watched in terrified curiosity as Wei Wuxian pushed Lan Wangji closer and closer to snapping.

Lan WangJi filled his right hand with spiritual energy, and the book broke into thousands of millions of pieces, fluttering downward. As Wei WuXian saw that he successfully provoked Lan WangJi to the point that the evidence was destroyed, he finally felt relieved, and spoke with fake regret, "What a waste!"

Other cultivators made genuinely regretful sounds of the loss of such a fine-quality book of entertainment.

Then, he picked up a piece of paper which had fallen on his hair, raising it up to show the fuming, pale-faced Lan WangJi, "Lan Zhan, everything about you is great, except that you like to throw things everywhere. Tell me, how many wads of paper have you thrown onto the ground, in these past few days? Today, you aren't even satisfied with throwing paper wads anymore, and instead ripped paper. You ripped it, so you clean it up yourself. I'm not gonna help." Of course, he had never helped anyway. Lan WangJi tried again and again to put up with him, but he couldn't do it any more. He thundered, "Get lost!"

His voice was so loud it shook the room, making the cultivators cringe involuntarily. Normally, they'd be shocked that such a high-ranking cultivator had said something so impolite, however... in such circumstances... When Wei Wuxian came into play, there were always exceptions.

Wei WuXian spoke, "Well, well, look at you, Lan Zhan. Everyone says that you're a gentleman of excellence, a bright pearl in the world, carrying yourself with incomparable courtesy, so it seems that this is all there is. Didn't you know that causing noise is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses? And, you actually told me to "get lost." Is this the first time that you used this phrase on somebody..."

Lan WangJi drew his sword and went at him. Wei WuXian hurriedly hopped onto the windowsill, "Get lost it is, then. Getting lost is my best skill. It's not necessary for you to see me out!"

He jumped down the Library Pavilion, laughing like a maniac as he barged into the forest.

There were chortles of laughter resounding in the room.

"Did Wei Wuxian actually...turn up on his last day of punishment, secretly swap Lan Wangji's book with pornography, roll on the floor laughing, then escape through the window?", one cultivator said, still looking in shock.

"Indeed! I can't decide if he's insane or brilliant!" another replied with tears of laughter forming in his eyes.

There was already a group of people waiting for him. Nie HuaiSang asked, "How did it go? Did he read it? What was he like?" Wei WuXian replied, "What was he like? Ha! Didn't you guys hear that loud shout he gave?" Nie HuaiSang was full of admiration, "I heard it—he told you to get lost! Wei-xiong, it was my first time hearing Lan WangJi tell someone to 'get lost'! How did you do it?" Satisfaction was plastered all over Wei WuXian's face, "Good thing that I helped him achieve this 'first'. You all saw it, didn't you? The self-restraint and etiquette that Second Young Master Lan was praised so strongly for were all weak and useless against me."

Nie Huaisang was stilled laughing uncontrollably. "I can't believe I have the luck of being able to see your prank in person, Wei-xiong! You did it perfectly, hahahahahaha!"

Jiang Cheng scolded with a darkened expression, "What are you proud of?! What is there to be proud of with this?! Do you think that it's a glorious thing to be told by someone to get lost? You bring so much shame upon our sect!"

Jiang Cheng was of course, living up to his reputation of being the scolding parent/uncle. With a moment of shock, the cultivators suddenly remembered that at this time, Wei Wuxian was part of the Jiang sect... His actions were connected to a sect, and he was meant to be actually paying attention to his behaviour. They shuddered to think of what Wei Wuxian was like back at his home.

Wei WuXian spoke, "I really wanted to apologize to him, but he never paid attention to me. He silenced me for so many days, so what's wrong with me having a little fun with him? I presented him the book with a nice intention. HuaiSang-xiong, what happened to your treasured porn was really a pity. I didn't even get to finish it; it was so good! Lan Zhan definitely doesn't understand proper relationships. I gave it to him, yet he was still unhappy. It's such a waste of that face of his." Nie HuaiSang blurted, "It's not a pity at all! You can have as many as you want."

There were more gasps. The porn Wei Wuxian had borrowed actually belonged to Sect Leader Nie? This just got better and better...

Jiang Cheng sneered, "You've seriously offended both Lan WangJi and Lan QiRen. Just wait for your death tomorrow! Nobody's gonna bury your corpse." Wei WuXian waved his hands, putting his arm around Jiang Cheng's shoulders, "Who cares, as long as I tease him first? You've already buried my corpse so many times, so what's wrong with once more?" Jiang Cheng responded with a kick, "Shoo, shoo, shoo! Next time, if you do such a thing, don't let me know! Don't ask me to watch, either!"

The scene faded to black, with a last lingering image of the two brothers, one wrapping the other in almost a headlock, the other kicking at him, but faintly smiling. It was a sweet image, and one that they all knew would not last.