Chapter 112: WangXian (Part Two)

Three months later, in Guangling.

On top of the mountain, a group of villagers holding torches and farming tools as weapons slowly surrounded a patch of forest on the mountain.

There’s an unmarked grave on top of a mountain, which has been restless for months. Constantly haunted by ghosts, the villagers below the mountain couldn’t stand it any longer and asked some passing farmers to climb the mountain together and destroy the ghost’s roots.

As dusk fell, the chirping of insects grew louder. Occasionally, a rustling sound could be heard from the waist-high grass, as if an unknown creature lurked within, ready to attack. However, when someone nervously parted the grass and shone a flashlight on it, it turned out to be another false alarm.

Holding swords, the farmers carefully led the villagers across the grass and into the forest.

Right within the forest lay a cemetery. Tombstones, both stone and wooden, were partly toppled and partly tumbled. A dark, gloomy wind blew across the scene. Exchanging glances, the cultivators took out their talismans and prepared to begin exorcising the evil spirits. Seeing their calm, some villagers breathed a sigh of relief, concluding that the situation shouldn’t be too difficult.

However, before they could feel relieved, they heard a loud crash. A badly injured body fell to the ground in front of them.

The villagers closest to the pile of dirt screamed, throwing down their torches as they hurried away. Soon after, the second, third, and fourth bloody corpses landed. As if raining from the sky, the corpses fell to the ground incessantly. Screams immediately echoed throughout the forest. The farmers had never seen anything like this before, but they remained unafraid despite their shock. The village leader shouted, “Don’t run! Don’t panic! It’s just a few small ghosts…”

Before he could finish speaking, his neck was strangled, his voice cut off.

He saw a tree.

A man sat in a tree, his black cloak hanging loose. His sleek black boots swayed lightly back and forth, in a relaxed, almost amused manner.

Beside the man’s waist was a dark, shiny flute, and below the flute hung a blood-red tassel, which fluttered slowly along his legs.

The farmers’ expressions immediately changed.

The villagers were initially at a loss. With that shout, just as they were feeling a little at ease, they saw the cultivators, their faces pale, and they immediately ran, rushing out of the forest and down the mountain like a gust of wind. They left the cultivators, assuming there must be some terrifying creature on the mountaintop that even they couldn’t handle. In the blink of an eye, they scattered like a pack of frightened animals. One of the villagers ran a little slower, falling behind as he stumbled on the ground, swallowing mud. He thought he was dead for sure, having ended up alone, but suddenly he saw a young man dressed in white standing before him. His eyes immediately lit up.

Hanging his sword at his waist, the man appeared to be shrouded in a dim light, almost like a celestial being in the dark forest. He seemed different from most people. The villagers rushed to call for help, “Young Master! Young Master! Help me, there’s a ghost! H-H-Hurry and…”

Before he could finish, another corpse landed in front of him. The bloody faces stared straight into his eyes.

Just as the villager was about to faint from fear, the man said one word to him, “Go.”

It was just a word, but the villager felt an indescribable sense of relief, as if he had been saved from death. Strength suddenly flowed back into his body as he crawled and fled without looking back.

The man in white glanced at the corpses crawling in the forest, as if unsure of what to think. He looked up. The man in black who had been sitting in the tree had also jumped down, darting beside him and pinning him to the tree. He whispered, “Huh, isn’t this the pure and noble HanGuang-Jun, Lan WangJi? What brings you here?”

Surrounded by corpses crawling on the ground, whether from cruelty, confusion, or curses, the man leaned one arm against the tree trunk. Lan WangJi was frozen between his arm and the tree, expressionless.

The man continued, “Since you made such a pleasant home delivery, I’ll… Hey, hey, hey!”

With one hand, Lan WangJi had locked both of his wrists.

The tables were turned. The man in black exclaimed, defeated, “Oh my God, HanGuang-Jun, you’re too strong. I can’t believe it—this is shocking, this is unthinkable! You subdued me with just one hand, and I couldn’t fight back at all! What a terrifying man!”

Lan WangJi, “…”

His hands subconsciously tightened, and HanGuang-Jun’s shock turned to fear, “Ouch, it hurts so much. Let go of me, HanGuang-Jun. I won’t dare do something like that again. Don’t hold me like this, and please don’t tie me up, or force me to the ground…”

Seeing his words and actions becoming more and more exaggerated, Lan WangJi’s brows furrowed. He finally interrupted, “… Don’t joke around.”

Wei WuXian was pleading, surprised, “Why? I haven’t finished begging for mercy yet.”

“…” Lan WangJi, “You beg for mercy every day. Stop playing around.”

Wei WuXian leaned closer to him, whispering, “Isn’t that what you want… Every day means every day.”

His face was so close that it seemed as if he was about to kiss Lan WangJi, yet he refused to make direct contact. Their lips were so close yet separated, only a paper’s width apart, as if an amorous yet stubborn butterfly was hovering around a graceful petal, refusing to kiss him. With that temptation, Lan WangJi’s bright eyes flickered. He moved slightly, as if he couldn’t hold back any longer and the petal would eventually touch the butterfly’s wings of its own accord. However, Wei WuXian suddenly lifted his face and avoided his lips.

He raised his eyebrows, “Call me Gege.”

Lan WangJi, “…”

Wei WuXian, “Call me Gege. I’ll let you kiss me if you want.”

“…” Lan WangJi’s lips trembled.

He had never used this soft, sweet term of respect to address anyone before. Even when speaking to Lan XiChen, he always used the proper term of ‘Big Brother’*. Wei WuXian coaxed, “Let me hear you say it. I’ve said it countless times. We can do other things after kissing, if you say so.”

*TN: Gege and Xiongzhang—which LWJ uses—both mean Brother, although Gege is cuter and Xiongzhang is more formal.

Even though Lan WangJi was about to say it, after this, he was still defeated by Wei WuXian and couldn’t open his mouth. After a long while, the only thing that came out was, “…Shameless!”

Wei WuXian, “Aren’t you tired of holding me with one hand? It’s so troublesome to do everything with just one hand left.”

After regaining his composure, Lan WangJi asked politely, “Then what should I do?”

Wei WuXian, “Let me teach you. Wouldn’t it be awkward if you took off your forehead ribbon and tied my hands?”

Lan Wangji stared at the grinning face calmly. He slowly removed his forehead band and spread it out so Wei Wuxian could see it.

Then, as fast as lightning, he tied a knot around Wei WuXian’s wrists and firmly positioned Wei WuXian’s troublemaking hands above his head before sinking them down to his neck. Just then, a scream rang out from behind the grass.

The two immediately separated. Lan WangJi held the hilt of Bichen, but he didn’t draw it rashly, because the scream just now had sounded crisp and soft, distinctly like a child’s. It would be bad if they accidentally hurt a normal person. The waist-high grass rustled, and the ripples of movement grew distant. It seemed like they were sneaking away. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi followed for a few steps before a woman’s happy voice rang out from below the hill, “MianMian, are you okay? How could you run around in a place like this? Mother was scared to death!”

Wei WuXian terdiam, “MianMian?”

He thought the name sounded familiar. He must have heard it somewhere before. A man’s voice grumbled, “I told you not to wander around hunting at night, and you still went out alone. What would your mother and I do if you were eaten by a ghost?! … MianMian? What’s wrong? Why is she like this?” The last sentence was likely directed at the woman, “QingYang, come over and take a look. Did something happen to MianMian? Why is she like this? Did she see something up there that shouldn’t be seen?”

… He did see something… that shouldn’t have been seen…

Lan WangJi glanced at Wei WuXian, who returned his gaze with an innocent face, muttering, “What a sin.”

He clearly felt no guilt about desecrating a child’s eyes. Lan WangJi shook his head. The two of them left the cemetery together and walked down the hill. The three people below stared at them in shock and alarm. The man and woman were a married couple, both crouched on the ground, while in the middle stood a young girl around ten years old with a coiled ponytail. The woman was a young mother with a beautiful face, and she had a sword slung at her waist. As soon as she saw Wei WuXian, she drew her sword, pointing it at him as she shouted, “Who is it?!”

Wei WuXian, “No matter who I am, I am still a human being, not something else.”

The woman wanted to speak again, but she saw Lan WangJi standing behind Wei WuXian. She immediately hesitated, “HanGuang-Jun?”

Lan WangJi wasn’t wearing his forehead ribbon, so he was unsure for a moment. If it weren’t for how unforgettable Lan WangJi’s face was, he might have hesitated a little longer. He turned his gaze back to Wei WuXian, a little dazed, “T-Then you-you…”

News of the YiLing Patriarch’s return to the real world had long spread throughout the world. Whoever was standing beside Lan WangJi right now was definitely him, so he didn’t feel strange about being recognized. Seeing Lan WangJi’s somewhat excited appearance, as well as his familiar face, Wei WuXian thought,  Could it be that the Mistress knows me? Have I wronged her? Have I upset her? No, I’ve never known a girl named QingYang… Ah, MianMian!

Wei WuXian realized, “You’re MianMian?”

The man stared, “Why are you calling my daughter’s name?”

It turned out that the little girl who had run over and happened to see them was MianMian’s daughter. Her name was also MianMian. Wei WuXian found it quite amusing,  having a big MianMian and a little MianMian.

Lan WangJi nodded in greeting to the woman, “Maiden Luo.”

The woman brushed her slightly messy hair behind her ear, then saluted, “HanGuang-Jun.” She then looked at Wei WuXian, “Young Master Wei.”

Wei WuXian grinned at the woman, “Miss Luo. Oh, now I know your name.”

Luo QingYang smiled shyly, as if suddenly remembering an embarrassing old story. She pulled the man over, “This is my husband.”

Realizing that they had no ill intentions, the man seemed to soften. After chatting for a while, Wei WuXian asked casually, “Which sect are you from and what cultivation do you practice?”

The man answered frankly, “Not one.”

Luo QingYang looked at her husband with a smile, “My husband isn’t from the cultivation world. He used to be a merchant. But he was willing to go night hunting with me…”

It was both rare and amazing that an ordinary person, let alone a man, would be willing to leave the established life he had lived and dare to explore the world with his wife, without fear of danger and adventure. Wei WuXian could not help but feel respect.

He asked, “Did you come here for night hunting too?”

Luo QingYang nodded, “Yes. I heard that spirits were haunting the nameless graves on this mountain, disturbing the lives of the people here, so I came to see if there was anything I could do to help. Have you two cleared it out?”

If Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi had already dealt with it, further intervention wouldn’t have been necessary. However, Wei WuXian said, “You were deceived by the villagers.”

Luo QingYang paused for a moment, “How can that be?”

Wei WuXian, “They tell outsiders that there are ghosts haunting them, but in fact, they themselves rob the graves and mess around with the bodies of the dead first, before they face the counterattack of the buried.”

Luo QingYang’s husband sounded confused, “Really? But even if it was a counterattack, they wouldn’t have taken so many lives, right?”

Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi exchanged glances. “This is also a lie. No lives were lost. We’ve already searched. Only a few of the grave-robbing villagers were bedridden for a while after being frightened by the ghosts, and another broke his leg while escaping. Other than that, there were no casualties. All those lives were fabricated for dramatic purposes.”

Luo QingYang’s husband, “So this is how it happened? How shameless!”

Luo QingYang sighed, “Oh, these people…” She seemed to remember something, then shook her head, “They’re the same everywhere.”

Wei WuXian, “I already scared them off a bit earlier. They probably won’t rob tombs anymore after this, so naturally the spirits won’t bother them either. That’s it.”

Luo QingYang, “But if they encounter another cultivator who forcefully suppresses them…”

Wei WuXian grinned, “I already showed my face.”

Luo QingYang understood. If the YiLing Patriarch showed his face, the cultivators would definitely spread the news after seeing it. Others would simply think that he had seized this place as his own territory. Which cultivator would dare to come and provoke him?

Luo QingYang smiled, “So that’s how it is. When I saw MianMian was so scared, I thought she had encountered a spirit. If there was anything I said that was rude, please don’t mind.”

Wei WuXian thought,  No, no, no, I think we’re the ones being rude here.  However, on the surface, he spoke seriously, “Of course not, of course not. Please forgive us for scaring little MianMian.”

Luo QingYang’s husband carried his daughter. Sitting in her father’s arms, MianMian glared at Wei WuXian with puffed cheeks, clearly angry from embarrassment but too embarrassed to say so. She was dressed in a light pink dress, with pitch-black eyes that looked like crystal grapes adorning her sweet, snow-white face. Seeing this, Wei WuXian felt a strong urge to squeeze her cheeks, but since his father was watching, he simply pinched her dangling ponytail, grinning with his hands behind his back, “MianMian looks so much like you when you were young, Miss Luo.”

Lan WangJi glanced at him without saying anything. Luo QingYang smiled, “Young Master Wei, don’t you feel guilty saying that? Do you really remember what I looked like when I was little?”

The smiling face seemed to overlap with the young girl’s face, dressed in a pink gauze robe. Wei WuXian wasn’t embarrassed at all, “Of course! You’re not much different from now. Oh yeah, how old is she? I should give her some money to ward off evil spirits.”

*TN: The folk tale about an old couple using money to ward off evil spirits from their child eventually led to the tradition of giving red envelopes filled with money to children on New Year’s Eve.

Luo QingYang immediately refused along with her husband, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Wei WuXian laughed, “No, no. It wasn’t me who paid anyway. Haha.”

The couple fell silent in shock. Before they realized what was happening, Lan WangJi had already placed something in Wei WuXian’s hands. Wei WuXian snatched the heavy coins from his hands and insisted on giving them to MianMian. Seeing that MianMian couldn’t refuse, Luo QingYang turned to her daughter, “MianMian, go thank HanGuang-Jun and Young Master Wei.”

MianMian, “Thank you, HanGuang-Jun.”

Wei WuXian, “MianMian, I’m the one who gave it to you, right? Why don’t you thank me?”

MianMian glared fiercely. No matter how much he teased her, she still refused to speak. He lowered his head and pulled at the red string around her neck, pulling out a small, beautiful perfume pouch. With great care, he put the money inside. Soon, the group descended the mountain, and Wei WuXian could only bid them farewell with some regret, continuing their journey with Lan WangJi.

After their silhouettes disappeared, Luo QingYang reprimanded her daughter, “MianMian. You’re so rude. He’s the one who saved your mother’s life.”

Her husband was shocked, “Really?! MianMian, did you hear him? Look how rude you are!”

MianMian mumbled, “I… I don’t like it.”

Luo QingYang, “If you really didn’t like it, you would have thrown away the money a long time ago.”

MianMian buried her little red face in her father’s chest, whining, “He did bad things!”

Luo QingYang wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not. Just as she was about to speak, her husband mused, “QingYang, I’ve heard you mention this HanGuang-Jun before. I remember him being an important figure from a prominent sect. Why would he appear in such a small place and hunt such small prey?”

Luo QingYang patiently explained to her husband, “This HanGuang-Jun is different from other famous cultivators. He always appears wherever chaos occurs. As long as there is a haunting, regardless of the level of the target that night’s hunt or whether he will be rewarded, he will always provide assistance.”

Her husband nodded, “A true cultivator indeed.” He continued to ask, both anxious and confused, “Then what about that Young Master Wei? You said he saved your life, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention anyone like that? Has your life ever been in danger?!”

Luo QingYang took MianMian, a strange glint flashing in her eyes. She smiled, “That Young Master Wei…”

On another street, Wei WuXian said to Lan WangJi, “I can’t believe a little girl from back then already had a little daughter!”

Lan WangJi, “Mn.”

Wei WuXian, “But this isn’t fair. She should know that you were the one who was mean to me back then. Why does she find me even more annoying?” Before Lan WangJi could answer, Wei WuXian turned around and faced Lan WangJi, walking backward as he continued, “Oh, I know. She does like me secretly. Just like someone in the past.”

Lan WangJi brushed away the non-existent dust on his sleeves, his voice cold, “Please return my forehead ribbon, Wei YuanDao*.”

*TN: For those who forgot, the poem goes “mian mian si yuan dao”, which roughly translates to “the endlessly longing grass border miles away”. WWX told her the name is YuanDao, because it means MianMian longs for him. 

Hearing the unfamiliar name, Wei WuXian only understood after a moment of thought. He clicked his tongue and laughed, “Hey, Second Young Master Lan, you’re drinking vinegar, aren’t you?”

*TN: Drinking vinegar is an idiom for jealousy in Mandarin. It’s just a very accurate metaphor, so I think I should leave it at that.

Lan WangJi lowered his head. Wei WuXian stopped in front of him, one arm around his waist and the other lifting his chin, his face serious, “Tell me the truth. How long have you been drinking from this bottle? How did you manage to hide it so well? I don’t smell the slightest hint of vinegar.”

As usual, Lan WangJi complied and lifted his chin, only to feel a mischievous hand slide down his chest. However, when he looked down, Wei WuXian’s hand had already slipped out, holding something. He feigned surprise, “What’s this?”

It was Lan WangJi’s money pouch.

Wei WuXian spun the exquisite little pouch in his right hand as he pointed at it with his left, “HanGuang-Jun, oh, HanGuang-Jun, taking it without permission is the same as stealing. What were you called back then? The heir of a prominent sect? Leading all the disciples by example? What kind of disciple is this, secretly drinking strong vinegar and stealing a perfume pouch given to him by a little girl to use as his own money pouch. No wonder I couldn’t find it anywhere I looked after I woke up. If the perfume pouch hanging on little MianMian’s chest wasn’t exactly the same as this one, I wouldn’t even remember. Just look at you, tsk tsk. Tell me. How did you take it from me while I was unconscious? How long did it take you to take it?”

A small ripple crossed Lan WangJi’s face as he reached out to take it. Wei WuXian threw the money bag away, dodging his hand as he stepped back, “Seizing it by force because you can’t argue with me? Why be embarrassed? Being humiliated by something like this—I finally know why I was so shameless. We were meant to be together. It must be because all my shame is in your hands so you can keep it for me.”

A soft pink tinted Lan WangJi’s earlobes, but his face remained tense. His hands were nimble, but Wei WuXian’s feet were even nimbler, rejecting him, “Back then, you were the one who wanted to give me your money pouch. Why won’t you give it to me now? Just look at you. You’re not only stealing secretly, but you’re also cheating on me.”

Lan WangJi lunged and finally caught her, hugging her tightly as he protested, “We’ve already kowtowed three times, so we’re already… husband and wife. That doesn’t count as cheating.”

Wei WuXian, “You can’t keep forcing me like this, even between husband and wife! You always make me beg you, and you never stop even when I do. Now that you’ve become like this, all the ancestors of the GusuLan Sect must be furious…”

Unable to hold it in any longer, Lan WangJi finally covered her mouth with his own.