Chapter 115

Chapter 115: Extra Chapter: Family Feast 2

Despite this, the two of them didn't immediately find the opportunity to "try" that night. Because Lan Wangji first had to visit Lan Xichen, who had been in seclusion for a long time, for a long, intimate conversation.

Wei Wuxian had recently developed a strange habit of liking to sleep on top of Lan Wangji, whether lying down or face to face. In short, without this living person as a cushion, he couldn't sleep. Out of sheer boredom, he rummaged through the Jingshi and found quite a few things.

Lan Wangji had always been precise and disciplined in his work since childhood. The characters he practiced, the paintings he drew, and the essays he wrote were all neatly categorized and sorted by year. Wei Wuxian started looking at the calligraphy from Lan Wangji's earliest years, laughing as he flipped through them, enjoying himself immensely. When he saw Lan Qiren's red-inked comments, he winced. However, after flipping through thousands of sheets, he only found one paper with a typo. Then, Lan Wangji had meticulously copied the wrong character a hundred times on another sheet, which made Wei Wuxian exclaim in astonishment: "Poor thing, he probably doesn't even recognize that character anymore after copying it so many times."

He was about to continue flipping through these slightly yellowed, aged papers when a faint light appeared in the night outside the Jingshi.

Without hearing any footsteps, Wei Wuxian rolled skillfully onto Lan Wangji's bed, pulling the blanket from his feet to his head in one go. When Lan Wangji gently pushed the door open, he saw the illusion of someone peacefully asleep inside.

Lan Wangji's movements were naturally silent, and seeing that the person was already "asleep," he softened his breath even further, slowly closing the door to the Jingshi. After a moment of silence, he walked towards the bed.

Before he could get close, a blanket was flung over his entire upper body.

Lan Wangji: "..."

Wei Wuxian jumped down, tightly hugging Lan Wangji, whose head and face were covered by the blanket, and pushed him onto the bed, saying, "Rape!"

Lan Wangji: "..."

Wei Wuxian roughly groped and tugged at Lan Wangji's body, but Lan Wangji still lay quietly, like a lifeless body, letting him do as he pleased. Wei Wuxian soon lost interest and said, "Hanguang Jun, why aren't you resisting at all? If you don't move, what's the point of me raping you?"

A muffled voice came from under the blanket: "What do you want me to do?"

Wei Wuxian coached: "When I hold you down, you push me away, don't let me press down, close your legs and struggle hard, while screaming for help at the top of your lungs..."

Lan Wangji: "Noise is prohibited in Cloud Recesses."

Wei Wuxian: "Then you can call for help in a hushed voice. Also, when I tear your clothes, you should resist with all your might, desperately protecting your chest to prevent me from tearing them."

There was a moment of silence under the blanket.

After a while, Lan Wangji said, "That seems challenging."

Wei Wuxian: "Challenging?!"

Lan Wangji: "Mm."

Wei Wuxian said, "Then there's no other way. How about we switch, and you take the lead..."

Before he could finish speaking, the room spun around, the blanket flew off, and Lan Wangji had already pressed him down onto the bed.

Because he had been trapped under the blanket by Wei Wuxian for a while, his usually meticulously tied hair ribbon and forehead ribbon were slightly disheveled, a few strands of black hair falling loose. His originally jade-like fair cheeks now had a faint flush, and under the light, he looked like a shy and bashful beauty. Unfortunately, this beauty's hand strength was somewhat unbelievable, like steel clamps, making Wei Wuxian beg for mercy: "Hanguang Jun, Hanguang Jun, be generous."

Lan Wangji's eyes didn't move, but the two bright, fiery lights in his eyes flickered slightly. His expression was calm as he said, "Alright."

Wei Wuxian said, "Alright what? Handstand? Force yourself? Hey! My clothes."

Lan Wangji said, "You suggested it all."

With that, he pressed his body between Wei Wuxian's legs for a while. Wei Wuxian waited for a long time without any movement and said, "What's wrong!"

Lan Wangji slightly raised himself and said, "Why aren't you resisting?"

Wei Wuxian clamped his legs around Lan Wangji's waist, not letting him leave, and chuckled, "Ah, what can I do? As soon as you press down, my legs can't help but open up, they just won't close, how can I have the strength to resist? It's hard for you, hard for me too... Stop, stop, come on, let me show you something first." He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and said, "Lan Zhan, let me ask you, how can you make such a simple mistake in writing? Are you not paying attention to your studies? What are you thinking about all day?"

Lan Wangji glanced at the paper and said nothing, but the meaning in his eyes was clear: Wei Wuxian, who used sloppy cursive for copying and didn't know how many shortcuts he took, had the nerve to accuse him of making a typo.

Wei Wuxian feigned ignorance of his gaze and continued, "Look at the date you wrote at the end. Let me calculate... you were about fifteen or sixteen at that time, right? Making such a mistake at fifteen or sixteen, you..."

But when he thought more carefully about the date written at the end, it perfectly matched the three months he had spent studying at the Cloud Recesses.

Wei Wuxian was instantly delighted and deliberately said, "Could it be that Lan Er Gege was too busy thinking about me to focus on his studies and writing at such a young age?"

Back then, Wei Wuxian was punished to copy books in the library, and he spent all day rolling around and playing dead in front of Lan Wangji, causing constant disruptions and robbing Lan Wangji of any peace. It was hard not to "think" about him, though not in the way Wei Wuxian implied. Under such circumstances, Lan Wangji remarkably endured, overseeing while attending to his own duties, and only made one mistake in writing, which was truly commendable.

Wei Wuxian said, "Ah, so it's my fault again? Blaming me again?"

"..." Lan Wangji muttered, "Your fault!"

His breath caught for a moment, and he reached out to grab the paper that was a blemish on his life. Wei Wuxian loved seeing him pushed to this state and immediately stuffed the paper deep into his clothes, saying, "If you dare, come and get it."

Lan Wangji didn't hesitate to reach in, and he left his hand there.

Wei Wuxian: "You're so capable!"

They played around for most of the night, and only late into the night could they finally have a proper conversation.

Wei Wuxian was still lying on top of Lan Wangji, his face buried in Lan Wangji's neck, savoring the increasingly rich sandalwood scent on Lan Wangji's body. He felt utterly languid, squinting his eyes and saying, "How's your brother?"

Lan Wangji held his bare back, caressing it gently, and after a moment of silence, he murmured, "Not well."

Both of them were drenched in sweat, and Wei Wuxian felt a tingling sensation from his skin to his heart from Lan Wangji's touch, wriggling uncomfortably.

Lan Wangji whispered, "During my three years of seclusion, it was my brother who kept me company."

Now the roles were reversed.

What Lan Wangji was doing during his three years of seclusion, Wei Wuxian no longer needed to ask.

He pressed a kiss to Lan Wangji's jade-like earlobe, drew the nearby blanket over both of them.

The next morning, Lan Wangji still rose at the crack of dawn.

For the past few months living with Wei Wuxian, he had been trying to correct Wei Wuxian's sleep schedule, but it was always in vain. After the disciples brought warm water for bathing, Lan Wangji, already fully dressed, peeled Wei Wuxian out of the thin blanket and carried him into the tub. Wei Wuxian could still sleep while soaking in the water. Lan Wangji gently pushed him, and he grabbed Lan Wangji's hand, kissed it a few times on both sides, rubbed it against his face, and continued to sleep. When he was really annoyed by the pushing, he would hum a couple of times, pull Lan Wangji down with his eyes closed, hold his face, and kiss him a few more times, mumbling, "Good, good, no more messing around. Please, I'll get up in a bit. Hmm."

Then he yawned and continued to sleep on the edge of the tub.

Although he knew that even if the house were on fire, Wei Wuxian would probably just find another place to continue sleeping, Lan Wangji still persistently called him every morning starting at the usual time, and then calmly endured being kissed and pecked over sixty times.

After bringing breakfast back to the quiet room and placing it on the desk that usually only held writing materials, Lan Wangji fished the still-sleeping Wei Wuxian out of the tub, dried him, dressed him, and tied his clothes properly. Only then did Lan Wangji casually take a book from the shelf and sit by the desk to read slowly.

Sure enough, by the end of the usual time, Wei Wuxian sat up straight from the bed on time, sleepwalked down, first found Lan Wangji, pulled him over, and rubbed him a couple of times in his arms, then habitually pinched his thigh. After quickly washing up, he became a bit more awake and went to the desk. Wei Wuxian crunched through an apple in a few bites, saw the food in the meal box piled up to the brim, twitched his mouth, and said, "Isn't there a family banquet at your house today? Is it okay to eat so much first?"

Lan Wangji calmly straightened the forehead ribbon and hairband that Wei Wuxian had messed up earlier and said, "First, fill your stomach."

Wei Wuxian had experienced the food at the Cloud Recesses before—clear soup, plain vegetables dominating, everything green, tree bark, grass roots, and various medicinal herbs, all dishes exuding a strange bitterness. If it weren't for this, Wei Wuxian wouldn't have thought of roasting those two rabbits to eat. Their family banquets were mostly unsatisfying and not enjoyable.

Wei Wuxian knew that the Gusu Lan Family took certain matters very seriously, and whether he was allowed to attend the family banquet was basically equivalent to whether they acknowledged his status as Lan Wangji's partner. Lan Wangji must have argued with Lan Qiren for a long time to secure his qualification. He sighed and smiled, "Don't worry. I'll behave well and won't embarrass you."

Although it was called a family banquet, the family banquet at the Cloud Recesses was completely different from what Wei Wuxian had previously understood as a family banquet.

The family banquet of the Yunmeng Jiang family was held on the open training ground of Lotus Pier, with more than a dozen large square tables set up, men and women, old and young sitting randomly, and names being called out randomly during the meal. The kitchen was also moved outside, with a row of stoves blazing with fire, the aroma filling the air. You could go and get whatever you wanted to eat, and if it wasn't enough, more would be made on the spot. Although Wei Wuxian had never been to the family banquet of the Jin family of Lanling, they never hesitated to spread the extremely luxurious details, such as famous sword dances for entertainment, coral trees and jade pools, and red brocade spread over a hundred miles, which was astonishing.

In comparison, the family banquet at the Cloud Recesses was neither lively nor splendid.

The Gusu Lan Family's discipline had always been terrifyingly strict—no talking during meals, no speaking during sleep. Even before the banquet started, everyone at the table remained silent. Except for the newcomers who would greet and bow to their elders in low voices, almost no one spoke, and there was no laughter. Everyone wore the same white clothes, the same white forehead ribbons with cloud patterns, and the same solemn or even wooden expressions, as if they were all carved from the same mold.

Looking at the entire hall of "white robes," Wei Wuxian pretended not to notice the surprised or hostile glances from others, grumbling inwardly, "Is this a family banquet? It feels more lifeless than a funeral."

At that moment, Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren entered the banquet hall. Only then did Lan Wangji, who had been sitting quietly beside Wei Wuxian, move slightly.

Lan Qiren was visibly uncomfortable at the sight of Wei Wuxian, so he chose not to look at him, keeping his gaze straight ahead. Lan Xichen, on the other hand, remained as gentle as ever, with a faint smile on his lips, radiating warmth and comfort. However, perhaps due to his seclusion, Wei Wuxian noticed that Lord Ze Wu seemed to have grown noticeably slimmer.

After the family heads took their seats, Lan Xichen offered a few polite words, and the banquet began.

The first course served was a soup.

Drinking soup before a meal was a tradition of the Gusu Lan Family. The soup was served in a simple black ceramic bowl, small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand, with a smooth texture. When the small ceramic lid was lifted, it revealed a mix of green and yellow leaves, tree bark, and roots.

Just looking at it made Wei Wuxian's eyebrows twitch. After taking a spoonful into his mouth, even though he had mentally prepared himself, he couldn't help but close his eyes and hold his forehead.

It took him a while to recover from the harsh assault on his taste buds. Leaning on his elbow, he thought to himself, "...If the ancestors of the Lan family were monks, they must have been ascetic monks."

Wei Wuxian couldn't help but reminisce about the large pot of lotus root and pork rib soup at the Lotus Pier family banquets. The aroma of meat and lotus root wafted for miles, drawing nearby children to peek over the walls of Lotus Pier, their mouths watering. In comparison, at this moment, he wasn't sure whether to pity himself more for the bitter taste in his mouth or Lan Wangji more for having grown up eating such food.

However, seeing the other members of the Lan family finish their bowls of medicinal soup without a hint of discomfort, their movements and expressions elegant and natural, Wei Wuxian felt too embarrassed to leave his soup unfinished. Moreover, he remembered that among the Lan family's three thousand—no, now four thousand—family rules, there were requirements regarding dining etiquette, such as not being picky with food, not leaving leftovers, and not eating more than three bowls. Although he found such rules completely baffling, he didn't want to be scorned by Lan Qiren again so soon.

Just as he was about to brace himself and down the strange medicinal soup in one go, he suddenly noticed that his bowl was already empty.

Wei Wuxian: "???"

He couldn't help but pick up the delicate black ceramic bowl, thinking, "I only took one sip? Did it leak through a hole at the bottom?"

But the dining table was spotless, with no spilled soup.

Wei Wuxian glanced sideways and happened to see Lan Wangji calmly finishing his medicinal soup, closing the ceramic lid, and lowering his gaze as he gently wiped his lips with a snow-white handkerchief.

But Wei Wuxian clearly remembered that Lan Wangji's bowl had been empty long ago.

He also noticed that Lan Wangji's dining table seemed to have been moved closer to him, as if it had been quietly shifted during the banquet.

Wei Wuxian: "..."

He raised an eyebrow and mouthed silently to Lan Wangji: Hanguang Jun, you're pretty quick with your hands, huh?

Lan Wangji put down the handkerchief, glanced at him, and then calmly shifted his gaze back.