Chapitre 20: Refinement (8)
Wei WuXian bought a bunch of quirky gadgets in Caiyi Town and took them back to the Cloud Recesses. After he arrived, everything was shared between the disciples from other sects. Because Lan QiRen went to Qinghe and there were no classes for a few days, all of the boys played around in complete chaos, rushing into Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng's room to sleep there. All through the nights, they ate, drank, wrestled, gambled, and viewed picture books. During one of the nights, Wei WuXian lost in a game of dice, and was sent to sneak down the mountain and buy jars of Emperor's Smile. This time, everyone finally had the chance to satisfy their taste buds. However, on the second day, before daylight even appeared, someone opened the door of the room, revealing the disciples who spread out on the floor in a tangle, sleeping as if they were a group of corpses.
The noise from opening the door startled a few people. As they saw the stone-faced Lan WangJi at the door through their sleepy eyes, they were instantly waken up. Nie HuaiSang furiously pushed Wei WuXian, who ended up in a position with his legs at the top and head at the bottom, "Wei-xiong! Wei-xiong!"
Having been shoved for a few times, Wei WuXian spoke drowsily, "Who? Is anyone else up for it?! Jiang Cheng? The fight is on—like I'm scared of you!"
Jiang Cheng drank too much last night, and his head still ached as he lay on the ground with his eyes closed. He randomly grabbed something and hurled it at where Wei WuXian's voice came from, "Shut up!"
The object landed on Wei WuXian's chest, its pages flipping open. Nie HuaiSang eyed it, only to find that the item Jiang Cheng used to hit Wei WuXian was one of his treasured out-of-print illustrated pornography books. As he looked up and saw Lan WangJi's frigid gaze, he almost died on the spot. Wei WuXian mumbled a few sentences, hugging the book to his chest, and went to sleep again. Lan WangJi stepped into the room. He used one hand to grip Wei WuXian's back collar, lifted him up, and dragged him in the direction of the door.
After a few puzzled moments as he was carried by Lan WangJi, he was finally half-awake. He turned around, "Lan Zhan, what are you doing?"
Lan WangJi didn't say any words, continuing to drag him forward. Wei WuXian woke up a bit more, along with the lying corpses on the ground who gained consciousness one after another. Seeing that Wei WuXian was caught by Lan WangJi again, he hurried outside and asked, "What's happening? What are you doing?"
Lan WangJi turned his head, speaking one word at a time, "To receive. His. Punishment."
Jiang Cheng had a slow reaction from his sleep and drinking too much, so he just remembered the mess of a floor in the room. Recalling that they broke a countless number of sect rules of the Cloud Recesses last night, his face immediately froze.
Lan WangJi dragged Wei WuXian to the front of the Lan Sect's ancestral hall. There were already a few older disciples of the Lan Sect waiting there, eight in total. Of them, four carried discipline rulers made of sandalwood which were extremely long in length, having numerous square-shaped characters carved onto them. It was a solemn-looking scene, indeed. As Lan WangJi dragged the person over, two of them immediately came up, firmly holding Wei WuXian in place. Wei WuXian half-knelt on the ground, being allowed no room for struggle, "Lan Zhan, are you going to punish me?"
Lan WangJi stared at him coldly, maintaining his silence.
Wei WuXian spoke, "I won't accept this."
At this point, the boys who had woken up also rushed over, but they were blocked outside the ancestral hall, not allowed to go in. They scratched their heads, scared speechless from seeing the discipline ruler. Then, however, Lan WangJi lifted the bottom of his white clothes, and knelt down beside Wei WuXian.
Seeing this, Wei WuXian turned pale with fear. He tried to get up, but Lan WangJi commanded, "Strike!"
Wei WuXian gaped with astonishment. He hurriedly spoke, "Wait, wait, I accept this, I accept this, Lan Zhan. I was wrong… Gah!"
The palms and legs of both of them received about a hundred strikes of the discipline ruler. Lan WangJi didn't need anyone to hold him down. His back was upright and his kneeling position stayed proper for the whole duration. On the other hand, Wei WuXian wailed and howled without holding back at all, making the disciples watching the scene cringe from imagining the pain. After the beating finished, Lan WangJi silently stood up and walked outside after saluting toward the the disciples in the ancestral hall, showing no evidence that he had been injured. Wei WuXian was the exact opposite. After he was carried onto Jiang Cheng's back, he groaned for the whole way. The youths all surrounded them, asking, "Wei-xiong, what in the world happened?"
"It's understandable for Lan Zhan to punish you, but why did he himself also get the beating?"
Wei WuXian sighed, leaning on Jiang Cheng's back, "What a miscalculation! It's a long story!"
Jiang Cheng spoke, "Cut the crap! What on Earth did you do?!"
Wei WuXian answered, "I didn't do anything! Last night, didn't I lose the dice game and go down to buy some Emperor's Smile?
Jiang Cheng, "… Don't tell me you met him again."
Wei WuXian, "That's actually it. Who knew what was wrong with my luck—when I carried the jars of Emperor's Smile and came up here, he stopped right in front of me again. I'm doubting that maybe he really watches me every single day."
Jiang Cheng, "Not everyone has so much time on their hands. What happened next?"
Wei WuXian, "And then I said hello to him again. I said, 'Lan Zhan! What a coincidence—it's you again!'. Of course, he ignored me again. His hand came at me without any words. I said, 'Hey, what's the use of doing this?' He said that if a guest disciple violates the curfew so many times, they need to go to the Lan Sect's ancestral hall to receive their punishment. And I said, 'There's only the two of us here. If you don't say it, and I don't say it, then nobody would know whether or not I violated the curfew, right? I promise that there's no next time. We're already this familiar with each other, so can't you just do me a small favor?'"
Everyone looked as if they couldn't bear to listen to this any longer.
Wei WuXian continued, "In the end, he said that we weren't familiar with a long face, grabbed his sword, and charged over. He paid no heed to our friendship or whatsoever, so I could only put down the Emperor's Smile and start passing a few moves. His attacks were fast and chased after me so close that I couldn't even throw him off! Eventually, I really was annoyed from him chasing me. I asked, 'Are you really not gonna let go? Huh?!''
"He still said, 'Take your punishment.'"
The boys were filled with the thrill of the story, and Wei WuXian was enraptured as he spoke. He forgot the fact that he was still on Jiang Cheng's back, and gave Jiang Cheng's shoulder a hard smack, "I said, 'Fine!'. Then, I stopped dodging, threw myself over, clung to him, and plummeted outside the wall of the Cloud Recesses!"
"…"
Wei WuXian, "And so, the two of us fell outside the area of the Cloud Recesses together! It was such a bad fall that I saw stars before my eyes."
Nie HuaiSang was dumbstruck, "… He didn't break free?"
Wei WuXian replied, "Oh, he did try. But with me locking him in my arms and legs, he couldn't break free even though he wanted to, unable to even get up from my body. He was as hard as a board. I said, 'How about this, Lan Zhan? Now, you're also outside the Cloud Recesses. We both broke the curfew, and you can't be harsh toward others and loose toward yourself. If you punish me, you'd have to punish yourself as well. Equal treatment. How does that sound?'"
Wei WuXian, "After he got up, he looked like he really wasn't in a good mood. I sat on the side and told him not to worry, that I won't tell anyone else, and that the only ones who knew about this was the sky, the Earth, and us two. And then, he walked off without saying anything. Who knew that he'd do something like this in the morning… Jiang Cheng, walk slower. You're almost shaking me off."
Jiang Cheng wanted to not only shake him off, but, even more so, to make a few man-shaped dents on the ground by slamming his head down, "Is simply carrying you not up to your standards?!"
Wei WuXian, "I never asked you to carry me, in the beginning."
Jiang Cheng was enraged, "If I don't carry you, you'd probably stay in their ancestral hall and roll on the ground all day long. I don't have that thick of a face to lose! Lan WangJi even had fifty more strikes than you, and he even walked by himself. Yet, you have the nerve to pretend that you're crippled. I don't want to carry you any more. Get off, now!"
Wei WuXian, "No, I'm wounded."
The group joked around on the narrow path made of white stones. They walked right into a person in white robes, holding a book as he passed by. Lan XiChen stopped with wonder and smiled, "What is going on, here?"
Jiang Cheng felt extremely awkward, not knowing how to reply. Nie HuaiSang answered before him, "XiChen-ge, Wei-xiong was punished with more than a hundred strikes of the ruler. Is there any medicine?!"
The person responsible for punishment in the Cloud Recesses was Lan WangJi. With Wei WuXian's pained cries amid the group which surrounded him, it appeared as if his condition was extremely severe. Lan XiChen immediately came up to them, "Was this done by WangJi? Is Young Master Wei still able to walk? What in the world happened?"
Of course, Jiang Cheng didn't dare to say that Wei WuXian was at fault. Thinking back, it was them who urged Wei WuXian to buy liquor. Each and every one of them should have been punished. He could only speak in a vague way, "It's fine, it's fine; it's not that serious! He can walk. Wei WuXian, why are you still up there?!"
Wei WuXian spoke, "I can't walk." He raised his red palms, which were swollen a few sizes larger, and complained to Lan XiChen, "ZeWu-Jun, your younger brother is so cruel."
Lan XiChen examined his palms, "Yes, the punishment is quite severe, indeed. It is likely that the swelling will not subside until after three or four days."
Jiang Cheng really didn't know that the beating was so severe. He exclaimed, "What? Not after three or four days? His legs and his back were also hit by the discipline rulers. How can Lan WangJi do this?!" He spoke the last sentence with resentment in spite of himself, and only realized it after Wei WuXian secretly smacked him. However, Lan XiChen didn't mind it at all. He smiled, "Nevertheless, it is not severe enough to require medication. Young Master Wei, let me tell you a way for your injuries to be healed in just a few hours."
It was nighttime, at the cold spring of the Cloud Recesses.
Lan WangJi's eyes were closed as he relaxed in the ice-cold water. Suddenly, a voice rang beside his ears, "Lan Zhan."
"…"
Lan WangJi's eyes sprang open. Sure enough, Wei WuXian was lying on his stomach, above the blue stones beside the cold spring, tilting his head and smiling at him.
Lan WangJi blurted out, "How did you come in?!"
Wei WuXian slowly crawled up, and spoke as he took off his sash belt, "ZeWu-Jun told me to come in."
Lan WangJi, "What are you doing?"
Wei WuXian kicked off his boots while leaving piles of clothing all over the ground, "I already stripped, so what do you think I'm here for? I heard that your sect's cold spring can cure injuries aside from helping with one's cultivation. So, your brother told me to come here and bathe with you. Except, it's really not nice of you to come here to heal alone. Eep! It really is cold. Brr…"
He went into the water, rolling about due to the freezing water of the spring. Lan WangJi quickly distanced himself a few meters away from Wei WuXian, "I came here for cultivation purposes, not to heal… Do not leap around!"
Wei WuXian spoke, "But it's so cold, it's so cold…"
This time, he didn't intend to emphasize or cause trouble. It was true that most people couldn't become use to the GusuLan Sect's cold spring in a short amount of time, feeling as if their bodies and blood would freeze if they stayed still for just a few moments. So, he could only jump around, intending to warm his body from the movement. Lan WangJi was originally meditating in peace, but with Wei WuXian jumping about, a few splashes of water was thrown on his face. A few droplets trickled down his long lashes and ink-black hair. It was beyond his endurance, "Do not move!"
As he spoke, he extended an arm, and put his hand on Wei WuXian's shoulder.
Wei WuXian instantly felt a surge of warmth coming from where their bodies connected. Feeling better, he couldn't help but to shift closer over there. Lan WangJi was wary of this, "What?"
Wei WuXian replied in an innocent tone, "Nothing. It seems like your side is warmer."
Lan WangJi firmly kept his arm between the two of them, maintaining the distance. He sternly declared, "It is not."
Wei WuXian wanted to get closer to Lan WangJi so that it was more convenient for him to flatter the other. Even though he couldn't go over and was given the cold shoulder, he wasn't angered at all. He glanced at Lan WangJi's palms and shoulder. The bruises were still there, meaning that Lan WangJi really wasn't here to heal. Wei WuXian spoke sincerely, "Lan Zhan, I admire you so much. You really did punish yourself as well, without treating yourself any better. I don't have anything else to say."
Lan WangJi shut his eyes again, without any words.
Wei WuXian spoke again, "Really, I've never seen someone as prim and proper as you. It'd be impossible for me to do something like this. You're so cool."
Lan WangJi still paid him no attention.
After Wei WuXian stopped feeling cold, he started to swim around the cold spring. He swum for a while, but still went near Lan WangJi, "Lan Zhan, didn't you notice what I was doing when I talked to you?"
Lan WangJi, "I do not know."
Wei WuXian, "You don't even know about this? I was complimenting you, trying to become more casual with you."
Lan WangJi glanced at him, "What do you want to do?"
Wei WuXian, "Lan Zhan, why don't we become friends? We're already so familiar."
Lan WangJi, "We are not."
Wei WuXian slapped the surface of the water, "Now, you're being boring again. Really. There are lots of benefits if you become friends with me."
Lan WangJi, "For example?"
Wei WuXian swam near the edge of the spring, and leaned back with his arms on the blue rocks, "I'm always really loyal towards my friends. For example, I'd definitely let you be the first person to look at new porn that I get hold of… Hey, hey, come back! It's fine if you don't look at them. Have you been to Yunmeng? Yunmeng is really fun. Yunmeng's food is also good. I don't know if it's Gusu's or the Cloud Recess's problem, but the food in your sect are so bad. If you come to Lotus Pier, you can eat lots of delicious food. I can take you to pick lotus seed pods and water chestnuts. Lan Zhan, do you wanna come?"
Lan WangJi, "No."
Wei WuXian, "Don't answer everything with negative words. You sound so uncaring; girls won't like it. Let me tell you—the girls in Yunmeng look very pretty, different from the sort of pretty in Gusu." He winked his left eye at Lan in a proud way, "You sure you don't wanna come?"
Lan WangJi hesitated, but still replied, "No…"
Wei WuXian, "Rejecting me without giving me any respect—aren't you scared that I'd conveniently take away your clothes when I leave?"
Lan WangJi, "Get lost!!!"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone