The morning light filtered softly through the curtains as Wangji awoke, the warmth of last night's intimacy still lingering in his heart. He glanced over at Weiying, his husband, peacefully asleep, and felt a surge of affection. I can't believe we finally opened up to each other, he thought, leaning down to place a gentle kiss on Weiying's forehead. The softness of his husband's hair brushed against Wangji's lips, grounding him in the moment.
After taking a bath, the cool water washed away remnants of doubt, leaving him feeling renewed. Yet, as he stepped outside to face his duties, an unease settled in his chest. He had planned a night hunt with Weiying—an escape from familial pressures—but first, he needed to address the lingering tension with his uncle and brother.
When he arrived at his uncle's quarters, he found Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen already engaged in conversation.
"Wangji! Join us for tea," Lan Qiren invited. The scent of warm tea wafted through the air, but Wangji felt a knot tighten in his stomach. Not now, he thought. Not with people who hurt Weiying.
"I'd rather not," Wangji replied firmly, his voice steady but cold.
"Come on, Wangji. Let's have some family time together," Lan Qiren insisted.
"Family time? With an incomplete family?" Wangji questioned sharply, anger bubbling beneath the surface. His words hung heavy in the air.
"Incomplete? We are complete, Wangji," Lan Qiren retorted.
"Complete how? I'm married! Without my husband, how can we count as complete?" The frustration poured out of him like a torrent. "First my mother was left aside; now my husband. How are we complete? Please justify that, Uncle."
"Wangji!" Lan Qiren raised his voice, but it only fueled Wangji's fire.
"Relax, Uncle. Wangji, come down," Lan Xichen interjected calmly.
"Mistake! If you realize you made a mistake, why don't you take back the rules you added to the wall?" Wangji shot back.
"Wangji…"
"Yes, Uncle! What's wrong?
Did I say anything wrong? If you realized that you made a mistake, why not correct it? Or maybe that's not a mistake; it's jealousy and hate. You hate him, right? That innocent soul still suffers because my husband is a son of Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren."
"WANGJI!"
"Wangji, he's our uncle!" Lan Xichen tried to reason.
"And Weiying is my husband—my love—not my mistake!" Wangji declared fiercely.
"Wangji, what's wrong with you?" Lan Qiren asked incredulously.
The tension crackled in the air as Wangji stood firm in his conviction. He felt the weight of familial expectations pressing down on him like a heavy cloak. In that moment, he realized that protecting Weiying was not just about love; it was about redefining what family meant to him—a family that embraced all its members fully and without prejudice.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you, brother?" Wangji's voice trembled with a mix of hurt and anger. I trusted you, he thought, feeling the weight of betrayal pressing down on him. "I let you make every decision in my life, but when I finally make one for myself, you call it a mistake. You call my Weiying my mistake!" His heart raced as he declared, "No, Weiying isn't my mistake; he's my hope, my life, my smile—he's my sunshine."Wangji's fists clenched at his sides, frustration bubbling over.
"But you know, brother, when a person makes mistakes, they think everyone else does too. That's not true! You got hurt because you chose the wrong person. I'm hurt because I left the person I love alone and stood with the wrong people. We're different, brother! We are different!"
He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as memories flooded back—moments when he felt powerless under the weight of tradition and expectation.
"Maybe I was helpless or stupid back then, thinking about the rules that aren't even followed by the sect leader," he spat.
"WANGJI!!!" Lan Qiren's voice cut through the tension."Shouting is not allowed within the sect," Wangji retorted sharply.
"Talking bad about the dead is not allowed. Holding grievances for the dead is not allowed. Being jealous is not allowed. Using others for your own benefit is not allowed." Each rule he recited felt like a dagger aimed at their hypocrisy. "And quietly watching innocent people being tortured? That's considered a crime! Selling your dignity and ethics for gold is wrong! Tell me which of these laws you don't break!"
His heart pounded as he recalled the horrors he had witnessed. "I told you how they're torturing those Wen recruiters! They're not even cultivators! I saw Wēn Qiónglín with a ghost-attracting flag stabbed into his chest after being beaten to death!" The anguish in his voice was palpable, but who cared? We need Jin's gold, he thought bitterly. So we sell our tongues and morals to buy it.
"Wangji, that—" "Quiet, brother!" Wangji interrupted fiercely. "You even sold me and my personal life to Liǎnfāng-zūn to rebuild the clan!"
"Wangji…" Lan Xichen's voice was strained.
"Just because you're good friends doesn't mean you have the right to share my personal information with him! You can read me like an open book because you've been with me since birth, but being able to read a book is different from understanding it! You only see my expressions, brother—those I barely show—but you never understand my feelings, and you never will."
The air crackled with tension as Wangji continued, "You said Weiying is my mistake? If that's so, I'd make this mistake in every situation and every life because for me, Weiying is my light! I don't want to lose him at any cost!"
"Hánguāng-jūn—the person who holds light—and the light I hold that makes me shine so bright is my Weiying," he declared passionately. "He's my brightness that I've spread over the years."
Wangji's voice softened as he recalled his past pain. "When Weiying died, I didn't get punished by you; instead, I let you punish me! How hard would it have been for me to leave Gusu and become a rogue cultivator? Or just leave this world after losing Weiying? But no… I know Weiying would never want to see me this broken."
He paused to take a breath, feeling the weight of his scars—a constant reminder of his failure to protect his beloved.
"I punished myself to get these scars that will never leave me so that I would never forget how hard life was for Weiying in the burial mounds. Every time I feel them, I remember how I lost him because I didn't stand by him at the right time."
"To remember that the moon shines with the sun's light… You know all this time I've just mimicked Weiying's choices," he continued, his voice trembling with emotion.
"Every time I make a decision, I think: What would my Weiying think or do in this situation? That's why I've lived and helped people for so long—not joining Weiying in heaven—because I know he would never trust leaving our child alone in this clan."
"Wangji…" Xichen's eyes were filled with tears and guilt while Qiren stood speechless but seething with anger.
"I understand now that I can't leave A-Yuan here alone in your care or he will die just like other Wen people." The finality of Wangji's words hung heavily in the air as he faced his brother and uncle—unwavering and resolute in his love for Weiying.