Chapter 20 - Contentment

When cultivators from prominent clans went out on night-hunts, there were usually crowds people who surrounded around them, appearing similar to a parade. Yet, Lan WangJi had always prefered being alone. This arm was quite strange, and could possibly harm other people if it wasn't handled with caution. Therefore, he didn't bring any other disciples of his sect, and took only Wei WuXian, watching him as close as he could.

Wei Wuxian's calm narration accompanied a lovely scene of lush mountain greenery along a dirt path that slowly wound downwards. From the high vantage point, you could see rolling hills like a blanket below, dotted with patches of lakes, speckled with occasional villages here and there.

Of course, in the trademark style of whichever all-knowing entity was behind this compilation of pictures, this calmness was contrasted quite heavily with the sudden, dramatic appearance of Wei Wuxian.

Some older cultivators massaged their foreheads in world-weary dismay. If Lan Wangji 'preferred being alone', Wei Wuxian was really not the ideal person to bring along. Lan Wangji must have known that (as proven throughout the flashback to their childhood)! Perhaps he wanted to keep an eye on him?

Wei WuXian originally wanted to sneak away during their expedition off the mountain. However, even though he attempted to run away multiple times, it always ended with Lan WangJi carrying him back with one hand holding the back of his collar.

A junior disciple gasped. "Senior Wei, why were you trying to escape?? There was still the ghost arm, didn't you want to figure out the mystery?"

With a snort, Wei Wuxian said, "Uh, no. You little kids already had the mighty Hanguang Jun to protect you, didn't you?" He crossed his arms. "Besides, maybe I wasn't feeling very hospitable to the cultivation world in general. Why should I lend my gracious services once I'm reborn after they besieged me?"

After an uncomfortable silence, which was most pointedly felt by the older cultivators who had taken part in the siege, Sizhui said hesitantly, "That's reasonable. There wouldn't be any point in risking revealing your identity to the cultivation world, the same cultivators who cursed you and wished you to die, and who wouldn't appreciate or recognise your help in any case."

The juniors didn't know what to say, looking at each other in consternation, until Wei Wuxian broke off his brooding grimace and gave them a playful smile. "Don't worry kiddos, that had nothing to do with you. Anyway..." Wei Wuxian sighed, "Looks like I ended up helping puzzle out the ghost arm anyway..."

He changed his strategy, sticking to Lan WangJi as hard as he could. At night, especially, he would persistently climb into Lan WangJi's bed, with the intention that Lan WangJi would become disgusted and use his sword to throw him away.

"I wonder why that didn't work..." commented Lan Xichen under his breath. Jiang Cheng had to physically stop himself from snorting out loud.

Despite this, no matter how hard he messed around, Lan WangJi steadily stood his ground. Whenever Wei WuXian wriggled into his blankets, he would use a light slap to make Wei WuXian's body rigid, and then stuff him into the other set of blankets in a proper position, where he would remain until daylight broke.

Most of the cultivators were squinting at the quickly moving pictures on the screen. Where was this mysterious spot that would paralyse a person? Was it some sort of ancient Lan technique? Why hadn't they heard of this before?

Wei Wuxian smirked. The narration said 'light slap', but it also failed to mention that Lan Wangji's version of a 'light slap' carried a lot more power than most of these puny cultivators could dream of producing.

Wei WuXian suffered a ton of losses and complaint about his sore body after he woke up. He couldn't help but think, now that he's grown up, he's also become less fun than before. In the past, he would become shy whenever he was teased, not to mention that he did it in quite an amusing way. But now, not only does he remain unmovable no matter what, he even learned how to counterattack. How can this be?!

Sect Leader Yao tsked with an eye roll. "Of course, I should have known there wouldn't be any real following of the actual plot. It's just all going to be Wei Wuxian mucking around trying to get Lan Wangji's attention, this whole time-"

"-which is much more interesting, obviously. To anybody who's not some puffed up old geezer." muttered Jingyi.

"WHAT? Say that again, you delinquent! What do you understand? These pictures are just going to show the frivolous life of Wei Wuxian, and nothing else-"

Lan Xichen's eyes flashed. As untraditional as he way, Xichen had always had a soft spot for Jingyi. Calling him a delinquent was a crime to be punished. Sect Leader Yao found to his anger that his lips were brusquely sealed (for the second time). To top it off, the pictures on the board changed as if to mock him, suddenly focusing more on the serious topic of tracing the origin of the ghost hand.

Following the left hand's direction, the two went toward the northwest. They duetted Rest every single day, in order to temporarily calm its anger and killing intent. As the travelled near Qinghe, the posture that the arm maintained to show them the way suddenly changed. Its index finger curled back, and it formed a fist. This meant that what the hand pointed at was just around the area.

"Oooh! The owner was from Qinghe?" Zizhen whispered eagerly. "Maybe we'll see Sect Leader Nie..."

Nie Huaisang was fanning himself, desperately trying to contain the icy sweat that tricked down his hairline. He remembered quite vividly what was going to happen, and he realised that the secret of the stone bunkers would no longer be safely confined to the Nie Sect. Would that compromise the safety of bunkers and the sabers? If he had to rebuild them somewhere else or put more difficult sealing talismans on them, he'd cry. Oh, why was he the unlucky one who had to deal with all this?? Out of all the sect leaders of the past??

They inquired into the matter as they travelled, and arrived at a small city in Qinghe. It was daytime. The streets were crowded with people hurrying to and fro. Wei WuXian was trotting behind Lan WangJi when, suddenly, he was overwhelmed by the pungent fragrance of cosmetics. As he became used to the mild scent of sandalwood on Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian instantly cringed at the odour.

Jin Ling raised his eyebrows. "Don't you... hang around dead bodies a lot? Fragrance isn't that bad. It's meant to smell nice, actually."

Wei Wuxian quirked his eyebrows too. "Lucky Lan Zhan is forever infused in sandalwood scent. If he started wearing those acrid fragrances, I'm afraid I'd have to stop sleeping with him." He reconsidered then said, "Nevermind. No matter what Lan Zhan smells like, I'll sleep with him."

"...Wei Ying. Not in front of the juniors." Lan Wangji reminded him.

He blurted out, "What are you selling? How does it smell like this?" The fragrance came from a charlatan, who wore the robes of a cultivator and had the word "deceiving" plastered all over his face. He carried a chest, selling a few items to passerbys. Seeing that someone asked, he beamed, "I sell everything! The rouge and powder here are both cheap and fine. Young Master, take a look?"

Wei WuXian, "Sure, I'll take a look."

The charlatan spoke, "For your wife?"

The room rang with laughter. Imagining Wei Wuxian with a wife seemed ridiculous, for some reason. Then they quieted again, wanting to see how Wei Wuxian would react.

Wei WuXian gave him a grin, "For myself."

"..." The charlatan's smile froze, thinking to himself, Are you joking with me? Before he lost his temper, another young man turned around and came over. He spoke with an emotionless face, "Do not bother others if you are not going to buy it."

This man was extremely handsome, his robes and forehead ribbon whiter than snow. His eyes were light-coloured and he had a long sword hung by his waist.

Wei Wuxian sniffed. This fake cultivator certainly had a boring mind, if he could only shallowly describe the colour of the robes, forehead ribbon and eyes of the most beautiful cultivator to ever exist. Though, 'extremely handsome' was quite accurate. Perhaps the unfortunate charlatan had a poor education and didn't learn sufficient words and vocabulary that could describe the incandescent Lan Wangji.

As the charlatan was a fake cultivator, he knew a few things about the cultivation world. Having recognized the Lan Sect's sect motif, he didn't dare to cause trouble, and ran away carrying his chest. Wei WuXian called after him, "What are you running away for? I really wanted to buy it!"

Lan WangJi spoke, "Do you have the money?"

Wei WuXian replied, "If I don't, you can give me money."

"...that's not how...life works..." groaned one  middle-aged cultivator. Oh, how he wished he had found a wealthy sugar daddy like Wei Wuxian had. Imagine not having to work, never worrying about whether there would be food on the table...

Then again, supposed the cultivator, Wei Wuxian had probably spent too much of his life worrying about worse things...

As he spoke, he extended his hand to search. He didn't expect to actually find anything, but after a few moments, he did find a delicate, heavy pouch with money in it. This didn't seem like something Lan WangJi would carry around at all. Then again, during these past few days, Lan WangJi did quite a lot of things that he could never have imagined.

Mianmian squinted at the pouch. The design of the pouch seemed familiar to her for some reason, nagging at some long-buried memory at the back of her head. The pouch certainly didn't seem like the type of item a high-ranking cultivator like Hanguang Jun would carry around, especially with its pink and orange streaks, embroidered flowers, and drawstrings that were slightly yellowed with age.

Wei WuXian didn't even find it strange anymore and took the pouch at once. As he had expected, he could take anything from Lan WangJi if he wanted to, without the other becoming dissatisfied at all. If it wasn't that he had a tiny bit of knowledge about Lan WangJi's personal integrity and how good HanGuang-Jun's reputation was, he almost doubted that Lan WangJi and Mo XuanYu had been involved in some helpless, chaotic entanglement of a relationship. Or else, why would Lan WangJi be able to endure it, after him going to such great lengths already?!

Lan Wangji's eyes widened with reproach. Wei Wuxian quickly appeased his husband with a brief kiss, clasping his hand as he gazed seriously into his eyes. "Ignore that errant thought of mine, Lan Zhan! I know you would never be involved in anything like that, with anybody."

"Only with Wei Ying."

Wei Wuxian burst into laughter, wondering how he had ever managed to seduce the mighty Lan Wangji into spending the rest of his life with him. He wasn't sure how soulmates worked, but he knew if he had one, it was Lan Wangji.

After walking for some distance, Wei WuXian unintentionally turned around and looked. Lan WangJi was behind him, still standing at the same place, staring toward his direction. Wei WuXian couldn't help but slowed his footsteps. He didn't know why, but he vaguely felt that maybe he shouldn't walk so fast, leaving Lan WangJi behind like this.

"Aww, he doesn't want to leave Lan Wangji behind." whispered some avid fans to each other.

"Because they were friends?" one cultivator said with an eye roll. He was immediately pelted with handfuls of the white cloud-shaped snacks.

"No, because they have a connection! They're lovers!" his friend snapped hotly.

At this point, someone on the side shouted, "The YiLing Patriarch, five coins for one, ten coins for three!"

Wei WuXian, "Who?!"

Everyone laughed at the comically alarmed look on Wei Wuxian's face at hearing someone yell his pseudonym so casually, as if they were selling him. That, and the speed at which Wei Wuxian turned around and went to investigate showed how eager he was to see what people were saying about him.

He hurried over to look at who was selling him, only to see that it was the fake cultivator. He packed away the low-grade rouge and powder, and now held a stack of paper that had someone even more malicious-looking than door-gods drawn on them. He chattered, "Five coins for one, ten coins for three—such a low price wouldn't cost you anything! I recommend three. One for the door, one for the hall, and stick the last on your bedroom wall. With the strong, dense evil energy, it uses poison to cure poison, making sure that no evil beings can come near you!"

Wei WuXian spoke, "That's some shameless boasting! If it's really that effective, would you still be selling one for five coins?!"

"Calling someone else shameless? Trying to discredit them? Are you maybe just offended he drew you so bad?" laughed Jingyi.

"See! Precisely!" Wei Wuxian said, gesticulating wildly. "The only way that abomination of a drawing could have strong, dense evil energy is because of the way it's drawn, not from me!"

The charlatan replied, "Why is it you again? If you're gonna buy it, then buy it; if you're not gonna buy it, go away. If you want to spend fifty coins on each of these, that's fine with me."

Wei WuXian flipped through the stack of "The YiLing Patriarch's EvilSuppressing Portraits". He really couldn't accept that the scary-faced, hunky man was himself.

Nobody could stop themselves from laughing at Wei Wuxian's evident dismay and horror. To be fair, those drawings were atrocious. They had all seen Wei Wuxian as a teenager, and there was no way he could have devolved into a monster with a pig snout, hair sprouting from the nostrils, bulging, outward pointing eyes, and missing teeth. Unless using demonic cultivation was really that destructive??

He tried to argue with facts, "Wei WuXian was a man famous for his good looks. What is this that you've drawn?! If you haven't seen the actual person, then don't draw anything. You're gonna mislead the younger generation."

Lan Wangji smiled fondly. He had already heard this conversation before, and at the time he had been more confused than amused. Now that he could see the adorable pout on Wei Wuxian's face and his rare miffed expression, he suddenly wanted to laugh.

"Kids! You know I didn't look like that, don't you, kids?" Wei Wuxian said anxiously. "I was super handsome in my old body, wasn't I?"

Sizhui smiled and nodded, along with Zizhen, who cheered as well. Jingyi and Jin Ling laughed and said "Sure, sure".

"You talk as if it's the real thing. As if you've seen Wei Wuxian before!"

Wei Wuxian, "I-"

This was just getting funnier and funnier - the charlatan mocking him and assuming he'd never seen Wei Wuxian before, unaware he was literally talking to Wei Wuxian. The charlatan's hair would go white if he ever saw this.

As the charlatan was about to reply, Wei WuXian suddenly felt a gust of wind from behind. He dodged to the side. Although he avoided the attack, the charlatan was thrown off, crashing into a pinwheel stand beside the street. Some people helped him up, while others gathered the fallen items—the scene was a jumble.

Jin Ling frowned. Wait-Oh, right. Yes, this was that  time, where he had been in Qinghe to investigate the Xinglu ridge...and he had heard the name Wei Wuxian and decided to...

The charlatan wanted to curse, but as he saw that the person who kicked him was a young master that sparkled all over, appearing to be either rich or royalty, his imposing attitude immediately dropped. Looking again, he saw that the white peony Sparks Amidst Snow was sewn in front of his chest, and he was deflated at once.

Jin Ling couldn't even feel smug about appearing to be rich or royalty, because he felt slightly sick to his stomach. He had been such an arrogant snob back then! Oh no, now Sizhui and his friends would think that he was an annoying brat...

He glanced at his friends, but they just seemed mildly amused, and not surprised at all to see it was Jin Ling who had kicked the charlatan. So, they already thought he was an annoying brat... He probably deserved that

Despite this, he couldn't take receiving such a kick without any reason, so he asked feebly, "Why did you kick me?" The young master just happened to be Jin Ling. Crossing his arms, he spoke coldly, "Kick you? Anyone who dares to mention the words "Wei WuXian" in front of me should be kneeling in gratitude if I don't kill them. Yet, you're shouting right in the middle of the streets. Do you want to die?!"

Tsks and tuts resounded around the room. "Such a hostile child!"

"But of course, he is justified to hate Wei Wuxian...after what he did to his parents-"

"Hah, and he doesn't realise that Wei Wuxian is standing right in front of him..."

Jingyi snorted and wondered how Senior Wei hadn't already burst out laughing from the irony of all the situations of people talking about him, to him, without realising he was, in fact, the person they are talking about.

Wei WuXian didn't expect Jin Ling to appear here at all, much less how arrogant he behaved, thinking to himself, I wonder how did this child's personality turn it this way, with a poor temper and strong hostility. He learned all of his uncle and father's faults, but none of his mother's strengths. If I don't do some tinkering with him, he'd definitely suffer great losses in the future.

Jin Ling hung his head. He thought bitterly to himself again about what he had learned about his father and mother. Although he hadn't seen his mother yet, he could see why Wei Wuxian was comparing him to his seemingly arrogant and hotheaded father.

Meanwhile everyone else found it amusing that Wei Wuxian didn't seem to be able to guess where the poor temper and strong hostility came from. Those two traits practically described the whole of Jiang Cheng's personality in a nutshell.

Seeing that Jin Ling seemed as if he was still angered and walked a few more steps toward the man on the ground, Wei WuXian interrupted, "Jin Ling!"

The charlatan didn't dare to make a sound, but his eyes were full of appreciation.

"Appreciation??"

"Oh, because Wei Wuxian is...distracting Jin Ling so that the charlatan doesn't get beaten to death by him?"

"Why bother, I certainly wouldn't give a damn if he had drawn such ugly drawings of me..." joked another.

Jin Ling turned to Wei WuXian, his words overflowing with contempt, "You still haven't run away yet? Well, you may as well stay."

Wei WuXian laughed, "Huh. Who was it again that was forced down onto the ground, unable to get up?"

"Oooh...." The audience held their breath and waited for Jin Ling's retaliation.

Jin Ling sneered and blew a short whistle. Wei WuXian didn't understand the reason behind it, but, after a while, the heavy huffs and puffs of some sort of beast came from afar. As he turned around to look, a black-haired spiritual dog of waist height went out of a corner, dashing straight at him. The cries of fear on the street came closer and closer, louder and louder, "A mad dog's on the loose!" With an immediate change in his face, Wei WuXian fled as fast as he could.

It had always been hard for him to bring it up, but, although the YiLing Patriarch was known for being ever-so invincible, he'd become a coward whenever he faced a dog.

"...what?" Most of the cultivators were laughing incredulously, still unable to believe this. How was a dog scary in comparison to raising and controlling an army of dead Wen corpses?

Wei Wuxian cursed internally. Now everyone knew his secret! What if when they got home, the cultivators all got dogs and charged at him?? Wei Wuxian blanched at the horrifying mental image. That would certainly be the only way to finish him off for good.

This couldn't be helped, though. When he was still young, before Jiang FengMian had brought him home, he grew up on the streets, often having to fight for food with vicious dogs. After several bites and chases, he gradually became extremely scared of all dogs, no matter the size. Jiang Cheng laughed at him because of this quite a lot of times.

The crowd gasped as the scene flickered briefly to a different scene - of a tiny little boy in rags with huge, violet eyes, skinny arms and legs covered in scratches, cowering as he tried to kick away slobbering dogs that were pouncing on him.

Wei Wuxian hid his face in Lan Wangji's chest, wincing at the sound of the growls of the dog. Lan Wangji wrapped his arms around him protectively, but he  couldn't tear his eyes away from Wei Wuxian's little boy self. It stirred such emotions in him - protectiveness, distress... His heart ached to think that his Wei Ying was already having to go through such horrible ordeals, at such a young age...

Of course, it was also a commonly known piece of gossip that before Jiang Fengmian adopted Wei Wuxian, he had been a starving child beggar, orphaned  on the streets. However, it was still extremely shocking to most people to see the reality of it. The vulnerable, crying boy in the pictures was irreconcilable with their image of the Yiling Patriarch.

Jiang Cheng felt goosebumps rise over his body at just the glimpse of a young Wei Wuxian, blinking at the sudden onslaught of his memories - from when they were just two boys, a rocky start but with a friendship as solid and strong as brothers. And now...

If he told others this, it would not only be shameful, but also believed by only a few people, which was why practically nobody knew of it. Wei WuXian almost died from the fright. As he saw a tall, white figure, he quickly shouted at the top of his lungs, "Lan Zhan, save me!"

The crowd gasped again as Lan Wangji backflipped seemingly out of nowhere to land precisely in front of Wei Wuxian, completely shielding him with his larger body.

Lan Wangji was unspeakably glad that he'd been able to protect Wei Wuxian this time, if not all the times before.

Finding Lan WangJi after chasing this far, Jin Ling was shocked, Why would this lunatic show up alongside him again?! Lan WangJi had a serious personality and never chattered or joked. Even a few disciples of the same generation as him feel nervous when they see him, much less these juniors. His level of intimidation was even worse than Lan QiRen's, back in those days.

There were chuckles at Jin Ling's comments, especially the one comparing Lan Wangji's intimidation levels to Lan Qiren.

Lan Qiren closed his eyes again. Oh, would his woes ever abate? Why did no one respect their elders anymore? He was Lan Wangji's uncle. Perhaps Lan Wangji was just a rare special case.

The dog underwent harsh training. Being different from the average dog, it was quite intelligent. As if it also knew that it couldn't behave rudely in front of this person, it howled a few times, then hid behind Jin Ling with its tail between its legs.

"Hah! Take that, you wretched d-dog! You're no match for Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian cheered, with an adoring look at his cultivation partner.

Jingyi was having trouble suppressing his laughter. Of course the dog was no match for the best cultivator alive... and of course only Senior Wei would think to compare the two. Then he remembered why Senior Wei  was scared of dogs and immediately sobered up. Senior Wei had never told them why he was terrified of dogs, but they had always assumed it was one of his many funny quirks. He felt horrible thinking about all the times they'd teased Senior Wei at being a chicken for running from dogs, when really, it was a result of childhood trauma.

This black-haired spiritual dog was a rare species given to Jin Ling by Jin GuangYao. When most people heard that it was a present from LianFangZun, they didn't dare to offend him. However, Lan WangJi was different from most people.

The mention of Jin Guangyao sent ripples of disgust through the audience. Good for Lan Wangji that he had never been so deferential to that slimy, back-stabbing bastard, like everyone else had been.

Jin Ling frowned again, pain stabbing his chest like needles. He still struggled to connect the loving, calm uncle who'd helped raise him with the monster that everyone else saw.

He didn't care for who gave it or who owned it, disciplining them all in the same strict way. As Jin Ling was using his dog to chase Wei WuXian down the streets and happened to be caught by Lan WangJi, his heart sank, It's all over. He'd definitely kill the spiritual dog that I took such lengths to train, and then give me a harsh beating!

Yet, Wei WuXian ducked under Lan WangJi's arm and went behind him, seeming as if he wanted to climb up like climbing a pole. Feeling a pair of arms clasp around him, Lan WangJi froze for an instant. Taking this opportunity, Jin Ling blew two more whistles, and ran off with his blackhaired spiritual dog.

"Well, I didn't think I'd be saying this, but I'm glad you didn't kill that d-dog, Lan Zhan. It helped us a bit when it bit that ball of trash, Su She, didn't it?" Wei Wuxian remarked.

"Mn."

Jin Ling smiled with relief, grateful for Wei Wuxian's ability to see the positives of every situation.

The charlatan on the side struggled to get up, still in a state of shock, "The moral degeneration of the world is getting worse day by day. How terrifying are the disciples from prominent clans these days! How terrifying!"

"He's got a point..." muttered a cultivator from some clan with garish pink robes.

"Well, that's a bit of a generalisation..." Wei Wuxian winked at the juniors, "Though I'm sure Jin Ling's actions might have spoiled the reputation of his whole generation. Good thing that now everyone has seen what a perfect young cultivator Sizhui is, so no harm done!"

Sizhui blushed.

As Wei WuXian heard the barks gradually leave, he finally came out from behind Lan WangJi. He put his hands behind him and agreed as if nothing happened, "That's right, it's getting worse day by day. Men are not what they were in the past."

The cultivators in the audience snorted. He just gets out from hiding behind Lan Wangji and spouts some wise words? Anyone with half a brain would know not to trust any 'wisdom' that comes out of his mouth!

The charlatan looked at him as if he was looking at his saviour, and hurriedly tossed the stack of "The YiLing Patriarch's Evil-Suppressing Portraits" into Wei WuXian's hands like it was a hot potato, "Brother, thank you so much for what happened earlier! This is a gift for you. If you cut the price and sell one for three coins, you'd still end up earning at least three hundred." Lan WangJi took a look at the scary-faced hunk in the portrait and did not comment.

"Lan Zhan, tell me, how could you let this charlatan call that nasty piece of work me?? Surely you remembered my past self enough to know I wasn't anywhere near that ugly, right?" Wei Wuxian said, pretending to be wounded.

"Mn. I remember every detail of you. I am sorry. I will find this charlatan and teach him to draw you properly. "

"Nonono, it's okay!" beamed Wei Wuxian. "I'll  teach him, I have more practical experience than you!" He winked at Lan Wangji, whose lips twitched.

Wei WuXian, seeing that his price became lower and lower, didn't know whether to frown or laugh, "This is to thank me? If you really want to thank me, you can draw him in a prettier way! ...Stop, don't go yet. There's something I want to ask you. Doing your business here, have you ever heard of any strange events? Or seen any odd things?"

The audience blinked rapidly. They couldn't switch from a playful mood to detective mode that fast! How did Wei Wuxian not get constant whiplash from jerking back and forth from joking to serious??

The charlatan replied, "Strange events? Good thing that you asked me. I stay here most of the year, known as the know-it-all of Qinghe. What sort of strange events are you looking for?"

Wei WuXian, "For example, evil spirits haunting around, cases of dismembered corpses, incidents in which whole clans were destroyed..."

"...Isn't that a bit over the top??" laughed some people nervously. "Whole clans don't just get destroyed every few weeks..."

"That you know of." Wei Wuxian replied airily, making them choke on their drinks.

The charlatan, "There's isn't any here, but if you go a bit less than two miles ahead, there's a mountain ridge named Xinglu Ridge. I suggest you don't go there."

Wei WuXian asked, "Why is that?"

The charlatan, "The Xinglu Ridge is also called the Man-Eating Ridge. Why do you think that is?"

And with that ominous declaration, the screen faded to black, leaving the cultivators with a lot of think about, and a lot to discuss.