Chapter 94: Longing (Part Five)

Lan WangJi gladly accepted his exaggerated praise. He opened Wei WuXian’s sleeves and  poured all of the stolen jujubes inside, saying, “For you. All for you.”

Wei WuXian cooperated, “Thank you.”

Yet, Lan WangJi suddenly let go. With a flick of his sleeve, all of the jujubes fell out, rolling onto the ground. Wei WuXian immediately bent down to pick them up, but there were too many. Lan WangJi, “Not anymore.”

He also grabbed the hen under Wei WuXian’s left arm, carrying one in each of his hands. Wei WuXian tugged the tail of his forehead ribbon and pulled him back, “You were just fine a second ago. Why are you mad again?”

Lan WangJi’s eyes swept over him, “Do not pull.”

From what it sounded like, his tone wasn’t too happy. It almost sounded like a warning. Wei WuXian couldn’t help but let go. Lan WangJi looked down and moved both of the two astonished hens to his left hand before he could use his right hand to straighten out his hair and forehead ribbon. 

Wei WuXian thought, He never stopped no matter how I played with his forehead ribbon, in the past. Is he really mad today?

He felt he really needed to remediate a bit, pointing at the hens, “Forget about the jujubes. Give this to me. Didn’t you say you’d give it to me?”

Lan WangJi looked up and looked him down in an inspecting way. Wei WuXian said sincerely, “Please. I really want it. Give it to me.”

Hearing this, Lan WangJi turned his eyes downward. He only handed the hen back to him after a long while. Wei WuXian accepted it. He took out a jujube, wiped it on the cloth at his chest, and bit half of it away, thinking that  if Lan Zhan wanted to play, he should just play with him, “What do you want to do next?” He held himself back from saying, ‘Whose house do you want to destroy next?”

Lan WangJi frowned slightly, correcting him, “We.”

Wei WuXian, “Fine, fine, fine. We.”

Lan WangJi nodded and gave the jujubes back to him. Wei WuXian wiped another on his clothes and crunched down, thinking to himself that it’d be beyond terrifying if anyone knew that HanGuang-Jun wanted the YiLing Patriarch to do bad deeds with him in the middle of the night.

The two arrived at a wall. Lan WangJi looked left and right. After making sure that nobody was around, he unsheathed Bichen from his waist. With a few swings, glaring blue light flashed by, leaving behind a row of tall characters. 

Wei WuXian went forth and looked. There were seven words—‘Lan WangJi of Gusu has been here’.

Wei WuXian, “…”

Holding a jujube in his mouth, he was shocked speechless. On the other hand, Lan WangJi unsheathed Bichen and admired his masterpiece. A moment later, he turned around to ask, “How is it?”

Wei WuXian, “Huh? What? How is it? … Good, it’s good. I must say you’re better than me!”

This was indeed the truth. Despite him being drunk right now, HanGuang-Jun’s handwriting was still an extremely proper script. Wei WuXian had to confess his inferiority. Lan WangJi nodded and handed Bichen to him.

Wei WuXian, “?”

Lan WangJi handed Bichen to him again. Wei WuXian took it. As he saw how there was still much empty space after the words ‘Lan WangJi’, he understood.

Lan WangJi was waiting for him to write his name up there as well!

Lan WangJi continued to stare at him. Wei WuXian really couldn’t take the stare any longer, “Fine, fine, fine. I’ll write it, I’ll write it.” Unwillingly, he wrote the words ‘Wei WuXian of Yunmeng’ after ‘Lan WangJi of Gusu’. Now, both of the two’s names were hanging side-by-side on the wall.

‘Lan WangJi of Gusu, Wei WuXian of Yunmeng, have been here!’

Lan WangJi seemed quite satisfied, finally taking Bichen back. After a moment of thought, he reached out again. This time, it wasn’t to write, but rather to draw. A few glares of the sword zipped across, and the small portrait of two kissing figures appeared on the wall. The precision of the lines and the obscenity of the content was enough to make Wei WuXian slap his own forehead.

Stealing from everywhere, making a mess, writing and drawing inappropriate things… This time, he was sure—

Back in Lotus Pier, Wei WuXian told Lan WangJi about many of the fun things he did when he was still a child. The GusuLan Sect was strict in its discipline. Lan WangJi must’ve never had so much fun when he was young. He’d probably taken them to heart after he heard Wei WuXian talk about them, and was repeating those things one after another, now that he was drunk. Wei WuXian had to be right. After all, even the content of the graffiti was the same as what Wei WuXian told him!

Now that he understood what was going on, he didn’t know what to make of it, But these are all things I did when I was twelve or thirteen!

Watching how the content of his drawing became stranger and stranger, Wei WuXian felt sorry for both Bichen and the wall as he thought, I’ll definitely have to cross out our names from this wall. I can’t possibly let others know who did this. No, no, no, taking down the entire wall is much faster…

“Woof woof woof arroof!”

Suddenly, a series of wild barks exploded. Wei WuXian seemed as if firecrackers had just bursted beside his ears. He immediately screamed, unconsciously jumping onto Lan WangJi’s body, “Lan Zhan, help me!!!”

This household had a dog!

To be honest, amid the silence of the night, Wei WuXian’s screech was much scarier than dog barks. He was half dead with fright, but Lan WangJi’s expression remained unchanged. With one hand, he held up Wei WuXian, giving him a comforting pat, while with his other hand he held his sword. Leaping onto the wall, he looked down at the dog guarding the house, his cold expression making it seem as though he was having a faceoff with it. Wei WuXian’s limbs wrapped around him like a braid, his face buried deep into his neck. His entire body was frozen as he roared, “Stop staring each other! Go, let’s go!!! Take me away, Lan Zhan!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!”

He was almost shouting himself mad, but the dog immediately tucked its tail away after it saw Lan WangJi. Extending its tongue, it looked down and whimpered on the ground, afraid to keep on barking. Lan WangJi gained a complete victory. He finally patted Wei WuXian a few more times and leaped off the wall with him.

The dog’s barks were never heard again, even after they walked for a long while. Wei WuXian was finally able to tear himself off Lan WangJi’s body. His eyes were glazed and his legs shivered. Lan WangJi patted his shoulder, gazing at him with dedication, as though asking if he was fine or not. Wei WuXian still hadn’t recovered from the shock. Now that he could finally catch his breath a bit, he praised, “HanGuang-Jun, you’re so brave!”

Hearing this, Lan WangJi seemed to smile.

The ripple of movement faded at once. Pausing in astonishment, Wei WuXian thought he saw wrong.

A moment later, he sighed, touching his chin as he looked up and smiled, “Lan Zhan, now you regret not coming with me to Lotus Pier back then, don’t you… Wait, where are you going now?! Don’t run around!”

After a hard struggle, Wei WuXian finally dragged Lan WangJi back to the inn. When the owner saw that they caught two hens in the middle of the night and even gave them to her, her expression almost couldn’t be put into words. Wei WuXian hauled Lan WangJi upstairs, shut the door, and turned around. Back when they were outside, he couldn’t see clearly because of the darkness of the night, but now that they were inside, with the lamplight, he could see that feathers, leaves, and the white dust of wall plaster was all over Lan WangJi, from his clothes, to his face, to his hair. He really didn’t look his back. 

Wei WuXian swept them off of him as he laughed, “You’re so dirty!”

Lan WangJi, “Wash my face for me.”

Wei WuXian couldn’t help but tugged his forehead ribbon, “You’ve even learned to order me around!”

The first time he was drunk, Wei WuXian washed his face for him, and Lan WangJi seemed as if he liked it a lot. Of course, this time, he asked for it on his own. Wei WuXian wanted to do it for him in the first place, but now that he was already like this, simply washing his face wouldn’t be enough at all. And so, he asked, “How about I just help you bathe instead?”

Hearing this, Lan WangJi widened his eyes slightly. Wei WuXian examined his expression carefully, “Do you want it?

Lan WangJi immediately nodded, “Yes.”

All of the workers in the inn were women. Of course Wei WuXian wouldn’t make them do work that was too difficult. And so, he reminded Lan WangJi to sit properly in the room. He himself went downstairs, boiled water, and carried them up one bucket at a time, filling the entire tub. He tried the temperature of the water. Just as he turned around, wanting to tell Lan WangJi to take off his clothes, he saw that Lan WangJi had already stripped on his own.

The two of them had long since seen each other unclothed before in the Cloud Recesses’ cold spring, but back then, both of the two were boys without a single sideways thought. When he ran into Lan WangJi taking a bath, he didn’t have any other ideas either, and during both those two times, more than half of Lan WangJi’s body was buried underwater. And so, suddenly seeing such an uncovered HanGuang-Jun… It was needless to say that Wei WuXian received quite a big shock. At the moment, he didn’t even know whether he should follow his heart and look as much as he wanted or find something with which to cover up Lan WangJi and pretend to be a decent person. His scalp tingled. He couldn’t help but to walk backwards, but as he walked back, Lan WangJi continued to walk forward. Wei WuXian had already backed away to a corner of the wall. He couldn’t hide at all, and could only braven up as he watched Lan WangJi approach him expressionlessly. The distinct Adam’s Apple, fair-colored skin, and smooth, aesthetic muscles flashed before his eyes so clearly that he didn’t even dare look at them straight, eyes averting slightly. He swallowed unconsciously, somehow feeling a bit parched. 

Wei WuXian was almost in a state of despair. He clenched his teeth, pretending like everything was fine, “I’m only pouring the bathwater for you. Okay. You can do the rest now.” As he spoke, he was just about to move away when Lan WangJi suddenly reached out and tore his sash belt into half.

His face was still all serious, but his movements were extremely rough. Wei WuXian never expected that he’d do such a thing. He jumped from the shock, quickly pulling his collar up, “Stop, stop! I won’t bathe! I won’t be bathing! You can go.”

Lan WangJi frowned. Wei WuXian, “You can bathe first. I like, uh, bigger tubs. It’s a bit hard to fit two people inside this one.”

Lan WangJi glanced at the tub with indifference. After he confirmed that it wasn’t big enough, he finally settled. Slowly, he found his way into the tub, sinking down and enveloping himself in the hot water. Wei WuXian let out a sigh of relief, “Then take your time bathing. I’ll be outside.” As he finished, he was about to flee and get some fresh air to calm himself when he suddenly heard a splash. He turned around and looked, “Why did you come out again?!”

Lan WangJi’s face was cold, “Not bathing anymore.”

Wei WuXian, “Why not? It’s so dirty if you don’t bathe.”

Lan WangJi seemed quite grumpy. He didn’t say why either, and only walked towards the screen to put on the clothes he’d taken off. Wei WuXian quickly went back. He had an idea of what the reason was, “Do you want me to help you bathe?”

Lan WangJi looked down. He neither confirmed nor denied it.

Looking at him, Wei WuXian felt a place in his heart go soft. He also thought it was funny. This one’d been like this ever since he was young. When he wanted something, he never said anything on the surface, but rather chased after it as much as he could in his actions. And so, he dragged Lan WangJi towards the tub, “Fine, I’ll help you bathe. Come here.” He thought, My loss, my loss. Fine, I’ll just scrub him a couple of times. I won’t do anything else at all.*

*yeah well we all know that’s not gonna happen

Lan WangJi was finally dragged hauled by him. He sunk into the water again. Wei WuXian also rolled up his sleeves and walked towards the tub.

Lan WangJi’s skin was extremely fair. His long hair gleamed darkly, drifting on the surface of the water. For a second, amid the whirling steam, he seemed like an Immortal of ice and snow immersed in one of the Heaven’s springs. Wei WuXian felt that it was quite a shame. The scenery would be much better if he found some petals for Lan WangJi and sprinkle them on the water. He took up the wooden spoon inside the tub. Carefully, he let the warm water pour evenly down Lan WangJi’s head. Since Lan WangJi had been staring at Wei WuXian without a single blink, Wei WuXian was worried the water might drip into his eyes and make him feel uncomfortable, “Close your eyes.”