Brothel meme continued

[lastjinstanding]

Continued from here

Jin Ling had really hoped he'd have A-Yuan at his side for this, but he didn't blame the sweet man for being ill one bit. In fact, he really enjoyed holding him as they finished traveling up to Lotus Pier. He sends servants off the boat to arrange a discreet delivery of his ill and subdued guest to private chambers following Ling's disembark. He instructed only Fu Geming to carry A-Yuan with Liling.

Sadly, after that, he had to leave his pets in his servants care. Squaring his shoulders, he stepped onto the pier. He bowed humbly to all of his relatives and gave them each a proper greeting- or in Wei Wuxian's case, a cheeky one.

He was brought into the main hall and given the seat next to Jiang Cheng's throne. Wei Wuxian was seated beside him with Lan Wangji at the next seat. And yes, Wangji had been offered the throne but had chosen to stay at Wuxian's side. It was Jiang Cheng's wedding, after all.

Jin Ling is happy sitting to a nice cup of tea and some wine after a long day of travel with promise of dinner coming.

~~~

"Jin-Guniang, is the young master Zheng in this room?" A young, unfamiliar male voice asks. "I have some medicine I wish to offer if you'd announce me."

"Of course. Let me ask for you," Liling says in a warm tone. She knocks on Yuan's door and peeks in. She smiles when she sees him awake. She comes in and shuts the door behind her. "Zheng-gongzi? How are you feeling? A friend of Jin-zongzhu from the Lan Clan is here to offer you some medicine. Would you feel up to seeing him?"

Comments

[jiang_cheng]

Wanyin snorts a laugh, sliding a hand along his lover's back affectionately. "You would think that wouldn't you?" He teases. Despite his words though, he is taking the words his partner said seriously. When had his nephew so savvy? "Your spies haven't found any that were already working for him have you?"

They have. He already had a small network started, but at least quarter of those part of it had been on that initial list of people to take out. If he'd continued several more years though, he probably would've figured it out on his own or gotten assassinated.. one of the two.

He kisses Huaisang's shoulder and hugs him closer for a moment before letting them focus on the food.

~~~

This was why he loved Zizhen. His friend was just awesome. Of all responses he could've asked for, not making a big deal about Jin Ling randomly being on the floor or not feeling like they had to panic and get him back on the bed had to be the very best. His shoulders slump a bit with relief.

He starts to laugh at the confession and shakes his head. "See? I told you he wouldn't though, right? He's so predictable." He snickers with a fond expression on his face. "He's like Fairy. He can get all snarly and scary, but he'd never actually hurt you. Are you okay? You didn't piss yourself or anything did you? I seriously wouldn't judge you if you did. I know he can be scary as hell when he's like that!"

~~~

"The bad ones, yeah," Jingyi mutters. "It really depends. Sometimes they don't want to talk to us at all and other times they want to have a full town meeting first. It really depends on how controlling the clans involved are. Sometimes that means they're covering something up but often it means they just think they're being helpful. This.. they're being a little weird."

Abruptly they all hear from the distance several monstrous roars and some kind of scramble. It doesn't sound like a tiger at all nor does it sound like any creature they've ever heard before. The exact location isn't even all that clear. How the sound permeates through the whole village too is bizarre.. assuming you aren't currently panicking from the noise of the monsters and can pay attention to such things.

Jingyi reaches for his sword but looks to Wei Wuxian for orders. He can tell something was off about that, but he's not sure what. Several of the younger juniors are visibly shaken but they're trying to be strong.

[notaturnip]

"That would be telling." Huaisang says innocently - it's obvious enough that the answer is yes, but he's not going to give away all Jin Ling's secrets outright. He's glad they managed to ferret out the weak links in the young sect leader's spy network, because it's off to a promising start.

Hopefully he's left it in a strong enough state that any future plots against him will be found out by his own people.

Mostly, right now, he hopes they can eat their dinner without any further interruption.

~~~

"I thought I was going to," Zizhen says fervently, shaking his head. Jin Ling's uncle is terrifying

"Before that, though...I actually heard a lot of stuff..." he admits, though he's debating how much he should tell his friend - he wants to reassure him that it really seems like there's something genuine between them but he's not sure how he'll feel about that news - he's also not sure if he should tell him that Huaisang offered to teach him how to be a better spy.

He's also feeling a lot more forgiving now that he's heard Jiang Cheng wasn't cheating on his cousin.

(If he thinks about it, he might wonder about the fact that he managed to hear a lot of conveniently reassuring things regarding everything he was worried about, almost as if somebody had noticed they were being spied on long before he gave himself away)

~~~

Yuan frowns thoughtfully, about to say something when chaos erupts and he gasps in surprise, grabbing his sword as well. He manages to hold himself, staying beside Jingyi and waiting for orders, knowing that he's not experienced enough to rush headlong into trouble.

"Alright," Wei Wuxian says, motioning for the Lan disciples to line up. He's not entirely sure what to do about Yuan - he wants to keep him safe, but he suspects he might object to being asked to stay here. It's harder to keep an eye on him with his husband still off dealing with the possible tiger.

"Let's just go and investigate. Everybody stay alert, stay at least in pairs, don't go too far. Does everybody have their signal talismans if they get separated? Yes? Good. Let's go." he says, giving Jingyi a look that says look after Yuan - he doesn't want to single him out by saying anything out loud, but he's decided he can put his trust in Jingyi.

[young_mistress]

He'd really like to know if someone else had to grow up with that scary man as their guardian if they wouldn't have cried as often as he had as a child too!

"Yeah? Like what?" He asked. You can't start something like that and then leave him hanging, Zizhen. That's not right. He makes a face. "He wasn't in there was he?"

(If he did, Jiang Cheng certainly wasn't the one who'd thought to talk about that crap! He never would've said anything in front of someone else willingly. He did have a very devious boyfriend though..)

~~~

Lan Zhan frowns as his eyes scan the edge of the forest, the meadow surrounding the town, and then the town itself. That noise hadn't come from a monster. In fact, he hadn't seen anything more dangerous than a fox. It reminded him of that trap Nie Huaisang had set around his Ancestral Burial Mound that would make the barking sounds. If that was the case, then they weren't looking for a monster at all. They were looking for evidence of a spell a person cast- or a god, but he doubted that. There'd be way more casualties.

His eyes catch movement and he takes off running toward the trees. He has to quickly change course as arrows start flying at him. Just as he is almost upon whoever is attacking him, he sees a flash of orange, black and white. A wild tiger is no match for Lan Zhan. A trained tiger with a bunch of men with bows and magic...

He smirks.

Jingyi, however, was not nearly as excited about this prospect. Him? He was being appointed keeper of Yuan? And no, that wasn't a reaction like he was too good for this and why is he getting saddled with this task. It was- holy shit, the Chief Cultivator and the Yiling Patriarch are expecting me to keep their baby alive while we go running into battle?

Still, if anyone here could besides Wei Wuxian himself, it was Jingyi. He nods his head in response. His duty was clear and he was going to take it seriously. "Stay close to me," he warns Sizhui.

[notaturnip]

"Uh, yea, he was." Zizhen admits "they talked about..uh.. he mentioned something about his spies keeping you and him safe while your uncle was away, and how my cousin had written to your uncle and Nie-zongzhu said she'd never understand that he called off the wedding for her sake, and for yours, which I don't really understand? Oh and it sounds like they got together after the wedding was called off, but I guess like... probably that night or something? Like it sounds like Nie-zongzhu stayed behind when everybody else left..." he thinks that might be everything that's important for Jin Ling to know, but he tries to recall every detail of the conversation.

"Oh! And they want their relationship to be a secret so it doesn't do any damage to your uncle's reputation."

~~~

If it had been Lan Zhan here, Wuxian suspects he would have made a different choice, but he likes to give kids a little more freedom and trust. He needs to focus on being a leader and keeping all of the juniors alive, he can trust Yuan to be sensible and he can trust Jingyi to protect him.

And if anything does go wrong, he isn't going to be very far away.

Yuan nods, his grip on his sword tightening as he moves to follow Jingyi, alert for any danger as they move out into the village.

[young_mistress]

"He what? They have spies on me? What do you mean they have them.. like they have some kind of group of spy network that works for both of them or is Nie-zongzhu running it or.. you need to be more specific!" He was absolutely not comforted by this idea. He wishes he was well enough he could storm back to that room and demand answers himself.

He gives Zizhen a look at the rest of that. "They just conveniently said all that in front of you? Yeah someone's getting played here and it sure as hell won't be us! I don't buy it and neither should you!" Nie-zongzhu had purposefully stayed behind when everyone else had left to seduce his uncle? This was a way easier thought than the other part of that statement. He could be responsible for his uncle's wedding if it had been delayed but canceled? Why would it be for her sake? How had his actions really cost his uncle his marriage?

"That last one I believe.. but anyone with half a brain would question it. We need to do something." Maybe they can chase Nie Huaisang off before his uncle gets back?

~~~

As Jingyi leads Yuan along the abandoned streets, all the citizens hauled up in their homes, he says, "Is it odd to you that elder had us wait in the middle of town to go over the details and never showed up? What was his name? Tian Niu?"

He shakes his head and prods at a suspicious looking pile of linens in the corner of a road. Huh, someone must've just dumped their laundry. Strange. "This has been a very weird hunt so far. Sorry this is your first one since it's so unusual."

[notaturnip]

"Nie-Zongzhu's spies, I'm pretty sure, but he didn't seem to mind your uncle knowing about them," he clarifies. He doesn't know where these spies are, only that he has them. He sort of wishes he'd managed to get a little more information.

"Well they didn't know I was there until I got startled by a servant," he says, but he doesn't sound that convinced - actually the more he thinks about it, the more he wonders, he did get an awful lot of information, and Nie Huaisang hadn't seemed that bothered by him being there, or even surprised... maybe it had all been deliberate. They could probably trust the fact that nothing had happened until after the wedding was called off, and maybe the thing about Jiang Cheng having done it for his former fiancee and Jin Ling, because Jin Ling's uncle hadn't denied that, even though they had no idea how or why that was even the case. Everything else, though, is immediately suspect.

(Even if they did sound like they really loved one another, and Zizhen's a romantic soul...)

"We'll have to find another way to figure out what he's up to..." he says, then gasps "Oh! Nie-zongzhu said I should talk to him if I wanted to get better at spying. Maybe I could do that, but use it to try and find out his secrets?"

He only has a few days before he'll need to leave and go back home if he wants to get any time in Cloud Recesses, but he can help Jin Ling while he's here.

~~~

"Tian Niu, yes," Yuan nods, frowning slightly "that is strange. Maybe he was delayed because of the attack, but then it came at an awfully convenient time... do you think our presence has triggered something, or that there's something more going on here?"

He hopes these are good questions to ask - he's glad he's with Jingyi, he doesn't want to look stupid on his first night hunt, but he knows his friend won't judge him if he gets anything wrong.

He frowns curiously at the linens, wondering if there's any significance to them, it seems like an odd place to leave such things.

"It's alright, it's interesting." he smiles.

[young_mistress]

"So Jiujiu knows and is okay that I'm being watched by some other clan's spies?" He asks, his expression suddenly stricken. What did that mean? Did that mean he couldn't trust his uncle? How long had this been going on? Had it really only been since the wedding or had it been since longer? He needed to get in touch with his network again and get some answers. He glances around the room wondering if there were any talismans or some ways people could be listening even in here.

He glares at Zizhen. "Why don't you just ask Xue Yang for lessons on being a murderer while you're at it? Just because he's good at it doesn't mean you should run off to join his class!" He cries, completely missing the point being made.

~~~

"Yeah it did," Jingyi agrees. The timing was very suspicious. "Trust your gut. If you're starting to ask questions like that, listen to it."

There wasn't anything really strange about the linens exactly. It was just messy and they were now filthy rags on the ground in middle of the street. All the Lan clan members had at least some degree of mysophobia. He turns his nose up at it and steps clear just in case the germs or a ghost of a germ attacks. He's barely turned his back when bursting from the pile is a woman with a knife. Also two doors are thrown open and several villagers rush out with various weapons.

"That's him! He's the one! Get him!"

"Yuan! Run!" Jingyi cries, shoving the other boy as hard as he can to get him out of the way.

[notaturnip]

"I mean it seems like he trusts Nie-zongzhu..." Zizhen points out "so I guess that's why he's okay with it?"

He can see why it wouldn't sit well with Jin Ling, though, and he knows they need to find more answers to really understand what's going on. Why are there Nie spies watching Jin Ling in the first place?

(They're not, of course, is the answer, they're watching Jin Ling's people, but even that's probably going to be of little comfort under the circumstances - the fact that they ferreted out the rest of the plotters might help, maybe?)

"Ling, come on," Zizhen looks a little hurt at the outburst "I don't want lessons from him" (except, okay, he kind of does) "It just could be a way for us to get closer to him and find out more for us"

~~~

Yuan stumbles back as he's shoved, eyes wide with panic. He knows he should do what he's told, but there's a lot of them and most of the other disciples are too far away to help, he doesn't know how quickly he'd be able to get them back here.

That's when he remembers he has one of the signal talismans too, and he already knows how to use it, so he draws it from his robe and throws it into the air to let the others know that Jingyi needs help.

No sooner has the talisman left his hand and shot up into the air to spray out the signal fireworks than pain bursts through his shoulder - the villager who'd shoved the spear into him had been trying to stop him using the talisman, he'd just acted too slowly. Yuan's expression goes dazed and he coughs, blood spilling from his lips as he sways on his feet and then falls forward.

[young_mistress]

He wavers a bit uncertain if his uncle trusting a specific outsider for him to be spied on makes him feel any better, but in the end it actually does marginally. It means that while Jiujiu technically betrayed him, he likely did it because he fell for someone's charms when he was lonely and vulnerable and not from a place of wickedness like Jin Guangyao.

Was it wrong to still miss him?

Jin Ling draws back, seeing how his blow-up affected his friend. He drops his gaze contritely. "You're right, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to doubt you again." He was just on a roll from his tantrum about his uncle and Zizhen had been caught in it. He hadn't genuinely thought his friend was up to no good.

There was a lot more he wanted to say to Zizhen about how much he's been appreciated here, but stuff like that was too hard to say. Instead, he bumps his health shoulder against Zizhen's softly wishing he could hear it through osmosis.

~~~

Jingyi doesn't have time to look where Yuan goes at first as he has to launch immediately into a fight. He'd thought the villagers would be going after Yuan knowing what he did about the boy, but instead, they go after him. He knocks back the woman with the knife and his sword slashes at her hand to make her drop the weapon but not kill her- he hoped. As the other group reached him, he spun to meet them clashing sword against pitchfork and ax.

He was relieved to hear the signal go off as they were desperately outnumbered but before he could maneuver himself closer to Yuan, he witnessed the man with the spear. "No! No, no! Yuan!" He cried, trying to dash forward. He winced as several attacks catch his skin but they're superficial and he can ignore them. He wants to drop to Yuan's side, but he realizes he can't do that. He quickly positions himself in front of the newer junior.

He barely is in position before the attacks surge forward again. "You bastards are going to get it now!" Jingyi shouts at them. "You just hurt Hanguang Jun and the Yiling Patriarch's child! You can even go to die to get away from their vengeance!"

[notaturnip]

Zizhen just gives him a little smile and bumps his shoulder back - he gets it, it's okay, he's familiar with Jin Ling's temper and he can understand why he might be on a shorter fuse than usual right now.

"Did Liling bring food yet? Let's get back on the bed and have some dinner, then we can figure out how we're going to get to the bottom of this while your uncle's away." he decides. They've been sitting on the floor long enough, he hopes it's enough time for Ling to recover his strength, but he scrambles to his feet and offers his friend a hand - a totally normal, casual move, just silent support offered if Jin Ling needs or wants it.

~~~

A couple of the juniors who were closest come running at the sight of the signal flare, but they're not the only ones - Wei Wuxian had ever so slightly modified the talismans before handing them over to Sizhui; the signal that they sent up was subtly different to the usual one, just so he'd know it was Yuan's talisman that had been activated. It isn't that he wouldn't come running for any of the other juniors, he just wanted to know.

When he comes running in and sees the slumped, white-robed figure behind Jingyi, he sees red, darkness already beginning to swirl around him as he brings Chenqing to his lips - he knows he isn't supposed to fight like this anymore, but if they're going to hurt his son they deserve every bit of resentful energy he can summon. These people claim their village is being attacked by ghosts? He'll show them ghosts.

[young_mistress]

"No not yet," Jin Ling says. He shouldn't be worried about that, should he? He's really not sure anymore. The suggestion that they get back to his bed is met with a sigh, but he accepts the subtle offer for help. It takes some effort to get back to his feet as he's noticeably not using his injured arm and keeping it more tucked against him than normal, but once he's walking he's not that bad at it.

He slips back in bed and breathes a sigh of relief. He wasn't going to attempt that again without help for a while! (Yeah, right). In fact, the more he thinks about it, the more he worries about how much he can't do yet alone. He glances over at Zizhen. It feels so selfish, especially since he knows what he is looking forward to back in Gusu, but he can't let his friend leave yet. He desperately needed him here and he would for much longer than a few more days as he'd said in the letter.

A tap at the door and a servant comes in carrying a platter of food. He bows at the two of them. "My apologies, my lords, Liling asked me to deliver this for her as she's be detained by Jiang-zongzhu and his guest."

"Oh, yeah thanks. Bring it over," Jin Ling says with a grin. That made sense to him, given what he knew just happened with Zizhen. He snatches one of the steamed buns before the platter is even fully on the bed besides them.

~~~

As Wei Wuxian starts to play, the last of the raiders come racing in from the forest. They see what has become of their backup. As they scream and start getting torn to shreds by the ghosts being summoned and the juniors getting more united, one brave/ stupid soul comes and throws himself in front of the Yiling Patriarch.

"Please! Please have mercy! We were forced into this by the late Master Mo's widow! Please! We didn't know you had a child or we never would've harmed anyone here! We'll tell you everything and help you capture her! Just please stop the ghosts!" He begs. "And him! Please stop him!" The man shrieks as Hanguang Jun appears on the rooftop over Wei Wuxian's shoulder. Bichen drips with blood and some of his robes are tainted red, but he stands just as tall as he would if he didn't have a scratch on him.

The juniors would've cheered if they weren't also scared of what Wei Wuxian was doing but trying to hide it.

Once Jingyi was done slaughtering to a bit excess the man with the spear, he uses all the distraction to sheath his sword and drop down next to Sizhui. "Hey, hang in there! Stay awake for me! You're going to be okay."

He rips at his robes and presses a clump of fabric against the bleeding shoulder. His other hand, he touches Yuan's forehead and tries hard to concentrate on providing energy. Unfortunately.. he's terrified of ghosts. So this is much harder than it should be as he starts recognizing the signs around him of just what creatures Wei Wuxian has summoned!

[notaturnip]

Zizhen pretends to stay casual, but he's keeping a close eye on Jin Ling as he helps him back to the bed. He's a little concerned about the usage of his injured arm, but tells himself it's still healing and it doesn't mean anything, he'll be able to use it again soon and be strong again in no time - right?

He wonders if they should worry about Liling being held up by Jin Ling's uncle, if maybe she's getting in trouble for telling them about the two of them, but he really hopes that's not the case - maybe they're just giving her instructions for when Jiang Cheng is away, he doesn't think they'd do anything bad to Jin Ling's most trusted servant. He hopes. Jin Ling doesn't seem too worried about it, so he settles on the bed and turns his focus to the food.

He hides a smile when Jin Ling snatches the bun right away, pleased to see his appetite seems to be increasing.

"This looks delicious as always, thank you." Zizhen tells the servant with a smile.

~~~

The problem with begging Wei Wuxian for mercy is that the person who is usually the best at making him calm down and actually consider mercy in the midst of his rage is the very person he's also being begged to stop.

More of the villagers join the man in begging for mercy, realising just how badly they have messed up, and for a very long moment it's looking bad for all of them.

Then Yuan stirs enough to croak out a pained "Baba..." and the chaos stops as abruptly as it began. The resentful energy dissipates as Wuxian stops playing and takes in a shuddering breath. He turns dark eyes on the pleading man.

"Stay there. Do not move." he says harshly, stalking past the terrified villagers to drop down beside Yuan.

The young man is only really half conscious, his eyes glazed and unfocused. His fingers are curled into Jingyi's sleeve, clinging onto him, and he reaches his other hand for his father as he approaches.

[young_mistress]

It isn't anything too serious. He just wrenched it a bit when he tripped trying to walk around on his own. It's sore right now but as long as he doesn't do anything else to it tonight, he should be okay- not that he is sharing any of that with the person trying to take care of him.

He takes a big bite of the bun and swallows just as Liling comes bursting in the room. "Jin-zongzhu! Jin-zongzhu! Stop! Stop!" She cries. She races toward the bed. Jin Ling stares at her with wide eyes as she snatches the bun out of his hand. "Have you eaten anything else?" She looks to Zizhen too, hoping she isn't too late for him too.

While Liling is stealing everyone's attention, the servant who brought the food takes off running. Unfortunately for the servant, that gets Fairy's attention. She gets to her feet and with a loud bark bolts out the room.

~~~

Hanguang Jun ignores the villagers too as soon as he sees Wei Wuxian rushing toward their son. Jumping down, he puts a hand lightly on Jingyi's shoulder. He watches intently as his husband assesses the injuries, waiting to hear just how badly he was going to burn this village to the ground.

Jingyi's hands are shaking, but even with Wei Wuxian there, he doesn't stop what he's been trained to do. He knows battle first aid and healing magic. He has a good balance between healing, fighting, and guqin skills. There were those stronger in one or the other, but combined, he was the strongest. But right now, he has to be the best there ever was in healing and somehow he was going to do that.

[notaturnip]

Zizhen stares at her with his own bun half-eaten (he figured he'd grab one just in case Jin Ling ate them all), though he quickly spits out the bite in his mouth in the face of her panic. They've probably had about the same amount as each other at this point.

"Liling what's going on?" he asks "Weren't you with-" he looks down at the food and back up in horror as realisation dawns. Oh no.

The servant who ran is having a very bad day, because Fairy's barking draws the attention of one of the guards who's loyal to Jin Ling and he catches the man a little way down the corridor from the sect leader's room.

~~~

Yuan blinks up at his parents and Jingyi hovering over him, idly wondering why they're all so worried. He feels fine. Actually he feels a little bit like he's floating, and everything seems very far away.

"He's lost a lot of blood." Wei Wuxian comments grimly - there's a heavy red stain spreading from Yuan's shoulder and an unpleasant amount pooled on the ground, but Jingyi's makeshift bandages and input of spiritual energy seem to have stopped the bleeding for now, at least. "I'll know more once we can get a proper look at him."

They need to finish up things here, need to speak to the villagers about what happened, tend to the few other (much less) wounded juniors, but he's hard pressed to want to do anything other than whisk his son back to Cloud Recesses to be looked after properly. He wants to place his hand over Jingyi's and give his own energy to Yuan, but he can't. He looks up helplessly at his husband.

"Take him home? I'll- I'll handle this place."

[young_mistress]

"They hadn't asked for me! I was watching the food get prepared and he came in and told me your uncle was asking for me. When I went, Jiang-zongzhu and Nie-zongzhu were surprised to see me. They hadn't asked for me! I came back as soon as I could. I'm so sorry!"

Jin Ling looks at Zizhen and then points to the strange mirror in the room. "Go through there. It's a door leading to the Jin clan treasure vault. There's a desk on the right with a bunch of vials on it. One of them is green and separate from the others." As the sect leader, this was a huge display of trust. As Jin Ling, it felt.. oddly natural. Like, of course Zizhen would be trustworthy enough to go into a room full of treasure and sect secrets, not harm anything, and come back. Had things changed that much between them?

While they were doing that Liling takes the platter and sets it on a table, high enough that it wouldn't tempt Fairy. She then brings some water over for them, upset that she hadn't gotten there in time to prevent this.

Outside, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang are alerted there's a commotion. The acting sect leader complains they're never going to finish their dinner and asks the guard to bring the servant to an interrogation room.

~~~

Hanguang Jun nods at his husband and looks like he wants to make Jingyi let go, but.. the two boys are holding onto each other fiercely. Since they're so close, only the bottom of the mountain, he tells Jingyi to lift Sizhui. The two of them ride swords back up to the top, leaving Wei Wuxian and a bunch of enraged ducklings juniors to deal with the villagers.

[notaturnip]

Zizhen is mostly trying not to panic. They don't know the food was poisoned, and maybe it wasn't all poisoned, or it's been done with something you need to eat more of, it's totally possible they're going to be absolutely fine, right? Right?

He's going to be so pissed if he dies a virgin.

Jin Ling seems to be taking it in stride, at least, and Zizhen appreciates having something to do. He nods - he's a little surprised by the obvious trust being placed in him, but gratified too, and he slides off the bed to quickly head through and fetch the green vial as instructed.

He's almost desperate to take a look around, but he's focused on the task at hand - there are more important things at stake than his curiosity. He's back in only a couple of minutes.

~~~

Yuan continues to drift in and out of consciousness, though it's hard to tell if it's simply the blood loss or if there's something more to the injury.

Wuxian watches them go with a worried frown and then turns to the remaining juniors.

"Okay, you two, continue to tend to the wounded. Everybody else, round up the wounded and gather them over here. You," he points to the man who had been begging with him "Come here and tell me everything."

[young_mistress]

For saving his ass, Jin Ling will gladly let Zizhen go snoop around the vault for a while if he wants to later.

The sect leader can feel his heart racing painfully fast and the sensation he got last time in his fingers and toes. He didn't know what it meant exactly, but he knew it was related to the poison. If they waited much longer with this, their bodies when slowly get really cold and last time it made him really sick to his stomach.

Liling takes the vial and pours half of it into one of the little cups for tea. She passes it back. "Do your best not to get sick on this."

Jin Ling lifts his cup like 'cheers' and tosses it back. The taste of the medicine is vile. Whatever is in it should definitely not be for human consumption! Ling gags and puts a fist to his mouth to keep from throwing it back up.

~~~

Lan Zhan helps Jingyi get Yuan to the healer's room, laying him down on a medical table. With the young man's assistance they get his robes out of the way and clean the wound. As Lan Zhan works, Jingyi whispers encouragements to Yuan, who he's apparently decided he's allowed calling 'A-Yuan'. Lan Zhan side-eyes him a little, but doesn't say anything.

He's more focused on the fact Yuan's getting worse. As long as Jingyi keeps feeding him spiritual energy, Lan Zhan's okay with him calling his son whatever he wants (obviously there's limits to this).

Back in the village, it comes out that Jingyi high insulted Madam Mo and this whole set up was to kill him. The villagers tell Wei Wuxian where he can find her, since she's obviously cowering in one of the houses.

[notaturnip]

Zizhen honestly can't tell if his racing heart is because of panic or poison, but he knows he doesn't like it. He sits on the bed after passing the antidote to Liling and tries to stay calm for the sake of his friend. It's not easy.

He frowns in confusion at Liling's comment when she hands over the tea, though as soon as he downs the cup he realises what she means. He thinks he might prefer to be poisoned. Much like Jin Ling he has to put a hand over his mouth to try and keep from throwing up.

"That's disgusting." he finally manages to get out.

~~~

Yuan is delirious, feverish, and when he opens his eyes they're unfocused even as he tries to look at Jingyi and his father. The whispered encouragements seem to be doing something to keep him calm, though, and he continues to cling to Jingyi - though his fingers are not particularly strong.

Wei Wuxian decides to bring Madam Mo back to Cloud Recesses - he'd like to have a nice long talk with her, and he feels as though his husband is going to want to as well, but right now he'd much rather be at his son's side. She can sit and stew while he deals with that.

He does make sure she knows, though, exactly who's been caught in the crossfire of her little plan.

[young_mistress]

"Yeah, Xiaoshu was a little crazy, but I swear this stuff works," he promises. He takes the cup Liling hands him with the juice he'd been drinking before in it. The mix of that plus the antidote is pretty revolting, but after another swig it doesn't taste as bad. He offers it to Zizhen.

He takes a few more shaky breathes before continuing. "Liling go back and tell Jiujiu we're okay and see that the servant is found." After she leaves he shakes his head. "I'm so sorry you just got caught in this too. I can't believe even with everything this is still happening! Why am I so hated?" Just how many people wanted him dead? Why couldn't they be stopped?

~~~

When they get through another round of bandages and Yuan is still struggling, Lan Zhan decides the only explanation is there's a poison. An infection wouldn't have hit this quickly though if they aren't careful he could have poison and an infection, which would no doubt be deadly.

He takes over providing spiritual energy and he slips his hand where Jingyi's was, allowing the exhausted sect brother to finally get medical treatment himself. Lan Xichen plays the qin for Yuan and his brother.

Lan Qiren shakes his head as he bandages Jingyi's arm wondering just what kind of trouble Wei Wuxian was going to cause once he arrived. The Yiling Patriarch wasn't known for having a mild temper, after all.

[notaturnip]

A little crazy? Zizhen's heard the stories, he thinks a little crazy is putting it mildly, but he's not going to call Jin Ling out on it - especially not right now, when an attempt on his life has literally just been made.

"It's not your fault," he tells him quietly once Liling leaves, frowning at the question "I don't think you're so hated. I think it's just a group of stupid people who have decided to dislike you for their own stupid reasons, and your uncle just hasn't managed to get rid of all of them yet. I'm sure it's not that many, they're just good at hiding."

He hopes, anyway.

"They'll get them all, and you'll prove them wrong, because you are a good leader."

~~~

Yuan seems to panic for a moment until his questing fingers curl around Lan Zhan's sleeve instead, and then he calms a little. He's at least still awake, sort of, though he's very much out of it and his breathing is weak.

Once Wei Wuxian hands Madam Mo over to some disciples to guard and warns them of the hell there will be to pay if she is not kept secure and ready for him and Hanguang Jun to interrogate, he goes immediately to find his family.

"Lan Zhan?" he almost bursts through the door, eyes seeking out their son and widening a little in panic - he had hoped to find something a little more sedate, a dozing junior freshly bandaged, or even awake and talking. The scene that greets him is... not that.

"What's happening? What's wrong?"

[young_mistress]

Look some people have daddy issues, Jin Ling had uncle issues. And daddy issues. And mommy issues. And just.. issues.

"How big though? Do you know how many people we've locked up or executed? I lost so many soldiers during that mutiny. What if I'd been alone tonight?" The last question being what he was really upset about. That was the current source of freak out even if he was tossing in the others. He couldn't walk. If Liling hadn't gotten back here in time and if Zizhen hadn't been here he would've had to try and crawl into that other room. He looks down at the vial. "I don't know how many of those are even left. How many times can it work before they find a poison this doesn't work on?"

If only Xiaoshu was still alive! Who else was even like him? Who else could do half of what..

"Wait a minute.." His uncle falling for Huaisang was incredibly hard to believe. Huaisang falling for Jiang Cheng? That might not be as hard to see. "What if Jiujiu is the one.. Zizhen! You gotta take those lessons and stay until we figure this out! I think Jiujiu is manipulating him!"

Jin Ling may have gone a little nuts.

~~~

"It's alright, my érzi," Lan Zhan says gently, brushing a hand along his forehead above his ribbon. "A-die is here and Jingyi is still very close by. He has a few cuts too, but he's okay. He'll be back at your side shortly. Your uncle, Xichen, is playing for you, can you hear it?"

He leans down and presses a soft kiss to his son's temple. He frowns at how hot the skin is. As he straightens, he hears his husband's voice. If Wei Wuxian was already back here that means they've been working on Yuan for a few hours already. He's gotten much more skilled since he had to hum/ sing and channel spiritual energy in a cave so long ago. He can continue the flow of healing magic even while speaking to his son and his husband.

"There's something in the wound that he's been fighting. A poison. I've tried drawing it out and giving him energy but it's resisting." He still has plenty of spiritual energy to give their son, but he doesn't know what else to try to pull the poison out that they haven't already. He's failing.

[notaturnip]

"...you think your uncle is manipulating Nie-zongzhu? Why?"

Because, yea, he's going to need a little bit of explanation for that one, Jin Ling, you're starting to sound a little bit unhinged. Still, it's kind of understandable given how many attempts had been made on his life recently.

"You don't have to worry about what if you'd been alone, because you're not. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere as long as you still need me." he'll have to send a grovelling apology to Jingyi, but they'll have their time together, right now their priority needs to be their best friend.

~~~

"A-die..." Yuan mumbles, his unfocused gaze landing on his father briefly, the tiniest spark of lucidity showing there. Everything feels so far away and hard to grasp, like he's dreaming - has it all been a dream, maybe? Every moment since he first lifted his gaze to look at Jin Ling... that seems a thousand years ago now, but his heart still aches for it, for him. He wants his family, too, and dimly he wonders if it's selfish to want both, to want all the things he never could have dreamed of before. He doesn't want to lose it now. He has to stay strong, for them.

Wuxian frowns at the news, considering their options for a moment before offering them to his husband.

"We would try Wen Qing's charm, try and draw it out together... or go and have a talk with Madam Mo and see if she knows what's been used." his tone is dark as he finishes.

[young_mistress]

Jin Ling stops himself. He can't really bring himself to admit Nie-zongzhu and his Xiaoshu are similar people even if maybe it was true to an extent. Also what would that say about his Jiujiu?

"No.. you're right. There has to be another explanation.." Which isn't exactly what Zizhen said. He rubs his temples feeling a headache coming on. He just really needs to get to the bottom of this. What if he built a really big army? They could just go and.. well, there wasn't a given entity to go fight. That was the whole problem! If there was a clear enemy Jiang Cheng would've cut them down by now.

"How do I fight something like this?!" He shouts in frustration. Wasn't there some spell the Lan clan had that could talk to dead people? What if he talked to his Xiaoshu? Who could cast that spell for him? Could he do it? He looks toward the mirror, lost in thought, not really hearing anything Zizhen might be saying.

~~~

"I'll go," Jingyi interrupts them. He gets to his feet and starts straightening his arms. "Trust me, Wei-qianbei, I can get it out of her."

Lan Zhan frowns uncertain he likes this plan, but considers their other options. "How long did it take you to make the last charm? Wasn't it several hours?" Although maybe it wouldn't take as long since he made one before. He wasn't sure.

[notaturnip]

The explanation is that they're very clearly in love, but Zizhen wisely does not voice that opinion. Besides, Jin Ling did point out how convenient it was that he overheard the things he heard, so maybe it was all just an act.

(It didn't seem like an act)

"I don't know." he admits with a sigh - he's never had to deal with anything like this "but I bet your uncle does, I mean he rebuilt the Jiang sect himself, I bet he had a bunch of enemies trying to take advantage of him while he was weakened, and... well, Nie-zongzhu probably had a lot of enemies too, people who thought they could do better than him, he had to deal with them, right? I know you don't like him, but you could use his expertise, right?"

~~~

Wuxian gives Jingyi an assessing look - he's not entirely sure he wants to encourage the kid to violence and intimidation, but he can also see the determination in his eyes.

"It took a few hours," he admits "I can do it quicker, now I know how, but we're still talking an hour or two... Jingyi, you shouldn't go alone... you're her target, we can't trust she won't try and take advantage."

He maybe shouldn't have said that so bluntly, woops.

[young_mistress]

Jin Ling's attention is brought back to the present and away from his mental breakdown he is edging toward when Zizhen mentions when Wanyin had been weakened. He also has a really good point about the Headshaker. That guy had to have lots of enemies with how ineffective he'd run Qinghe for a while there.

"Yeah, I think you're right. I think he could be helpful.. even if I don't like him." He rolls over onto his side and curls up a bit with a groan. He puts a hand on his pained stomach. Fortunately he didn't feel like he was going to throw up anymore, just like he swallowed a hot coal. "Fuck! This part lasted a while last time!"

It wasn't helping that he'd been hungry before this happened.

~~~

"Me? No! It can't be!" Jingyi gasps, feeling an enormous wave of guilt rush over him. His gaze moves from Wei Wuxian to Yuan and pales. This happened because of him? He doesn't understand why that would be but if Wei Wuxian says it, it must be true. All the juniors ended up getting banged up and Yuan's here dying because of him. He'd wanted to be brothers, not be the reason he suffered!

Lan Zhan looks from Jingyi back to his husband with a stern frown. Look what you did!