nightiwiw

The following morning, Wei Wuxian woke up with a hangover for the first time in his life.

"Fuck. I hate not having a core," Wei Wuxian muttered as he stumbled to the bathroom.

He stood in the narrow shower stall, letting the hot water pummel his skin and force some life back into him. Part of the agreement with being patient in the core research trial was that he had to go down to Wen Qing's lab every day to let her examine his core, and let her log in any activity he'd done to enhance it.

He towel dried his hair, grimacing at himself in the mirror. He definitely looked like a man who had gone out drinking the night before. Wen Qing was not likely to be pleased, but she hadn't forbidden it. And she was the one who had said to go to the cultivation club to explore whether dual cultivation would be something he was interested in.

Somehow, he didn't think that argument would hold much water with her.

"You look like shit," Wen Qing said when he entered her office in the medical research facility. "What did you do?"

"Ugh. I keep learning new things that I evidently used my golden core for and never realized I was doing it."

Wen Qing arched an eyebrow at him. "Such as?"

Wei Wuxian might have dodged the question in other circumstances, but Wen Qing's research on his core was providing him with a roof over his head for the next six months, so he supposed that gave her the right to ask pretty much whatever she wanted to.

"Handling my drinks," Wei Wuxian said. "I went to the club you mentioned last night. Just to check it out. I didn't even drink that much! But I ended up pretty hammered. And then woke up with the first hangover of my life this morning. So… that was fun."

Wen Qing rolled her eyes. "How can you not know that you're using your core to burn off the alcohol? A lot of cultivators don't even know how to do that, even if they try."

"I don't know! I just… did it, I guess. Even when I was younger!"

Wen Qing snorted. "How old were you when you started drinking? Fifteen?"

Wei Wuxian thought about it for a moment, even though the question had sounded more sarcastic. "No. Maybe twelve? Thirteen? I don't really remember."

Wen Qing stilled. "Twelve?"

Wei Wuxian shrugged. "It helped me relax. Lotus Cove wasn't always the easiest place to fit in for me."

Wen Qing looked at him for a moment, then looked down at her tablet. "Ok. Fine. So you learned to drink when you were twelve , and never realized you were using your core to burn it off. So how many drinks did you have?"

"I think five or six shots of baijiu . But normally I can have an entire jar and be fine."

"I don't even want to know what your liver would be like right now if you hadn't had a golden core. Do you even know what the alcohol content of baijiu is?"

Wei Wuxian shrugged. "It never mattered before. Though now that I know I was using my golden core to burn the alcohol off, I'll have to figure out how to not do that later. It will save me a lot of money on alcohol if I can drink six shots instead of two bottles."

"Or you could aspire to find other coping mechanisms. Now that you're out of that… situation, you might not even need it as much."

"Mm," Wei Wuxian said neutrally.

He didn't really know what to think about his life now… what it would be like. He was out from Madam Yu's wrath, but he also was completely cut off from everyone he had ever known, and had lost the main ability he had shaped his life around. Alcohol had always helped him detach when he needed to. And if he were honest with himself, he was pretty sure he was going to need alcohol to handle dual cultivation.

The only person who he had felt any sort of actual resonance with where the idea of dual cultivation didn't seem incredibly awkward and anxiety inducing had been the Lan cultivator he'd stumbled into after he'd gotten himself accidentally plastered. Of course, the term 'beer goggles' existed for a reason. The man was likely not really as attractive as Wei Ying remembered. It was likely just the effect of the alcohol, which meant he was probably going to need to drink if he was going to be able to handle dual cultivation. As long as drinking didn't hurt his core or slow its development.

"Will it affect my core?" he asked.

Wen Qing pressed her fingers to his wrist. He could feel her qi probing his meridians and core.

"It does not appear to. But that doesn't mean I recommend it."

Wei Wuxian nodded, but decided that if it didn't interfere with his core development, it wasn't off the table.

"So! What's on the program for today? I finally get to see your lab! How is this going to work? Do I just update you on the number of hours I meditated and which techniques I used?"

"Today we will do a more comprehensive baseline of your seed core, now that you have one. We'll do an MRI and an ultrasound, to track the physical changes, and I will perform a qi exam to assess the spiritual energy aspects. Your case is very unique. The opportunity to study the full development from the seed core is very unique. There are a few other researchers who have heard about your case and have asked to participate in some of the experiments, but I will only do that with your approval."

Wei Wuxian stilled, the terms of the NDA still fresh in his mind. "They know about my case?" he asked, nervously.

"Only from what was written into the grant proposal that was sent to the Gusu medical board. All they know is that I have a patient who is rebuilding their core, with a strong foundation and fully developed spiritual pathways. They do not know your name, or anything about how your condition occurred."

"And you need my permission? If they're the ones paying for my treatment, then shouldn't they just be able to like… do whatever they want?"

"Medical ethics actually exist, even in the cultivation world. You are allowed to say no."

Wei Wuxian did not say out loud that—based on his experience—it didn't really seem like people in charge in the cultivation world had to ask for permission for anything. The expression on Wen Qing's face said she knew what he was thinking.

"So that means that if I say 'yes', and somehow they figure it all out, Madam Yu can say I broke the NDA."

Even though he'd read the contract over and over, he still felt Madam Yu's presence looming over him in the background. She would be furious if she ever found out that Wei Wuxian was finding a way to rebuild his cultivation. And when she was furious, it usually spelled out very bad things for Wei Wuxian.

Wen Qing paused, considering his words. "I could allow them access to the data from our research without allowing them to see you or examine you in person. That would protect your privacy while still giving them the ability to see the progress as well as offer additional ideas for testing."

Wei Wuxian hummed. "Do you think their ideas will be any good? I mean, I feel like you and I already have a lot of tests already laid out."

Wen Qing smiled slightly. "Evidently the data I shared which showed that your seed core developed faster through dynamic meditation rather than stationary meditation rattled a few cages with the Lan research team. They want to see if the same is true for actual core development. Your identity is fully concealed here. No one knows you were picked up from Lotus Cove aside from me and Uncle Four. And while the Jiang disciples saw you leave with me, I was wearing Wen cultivation robes. If they think you're anywhere, they will assume you are in Qishan. Your medical records are sealed, and I am the only one with full access. I'm not even sure that Madam Yu knows which facility I worked at, but she certainly would not disclose it to anyone. Any results coming out of a core study in Gusu will not be connected with you."

Wei Wuxian processed what she had said. It explained why there hadn't been anyone trying to find him here. The disciples would have had a hard time coming to see him, since Madam Yu would have forbidden it, and they would not have had any night hunts in the area that they could use as an excuse to contact him. The Lan were good at tending to their own territory, and almost never needed outside help. The only one who would have had any chance of being able to come see him was Jiang Yanli, since she lived in Lanling. It was closer to Gusu, and she was no longer under Madam Yu's direct control.

But Madam Yu would never have told Jiang Yanli what really happened. And everyone in Lotus Cove knew only that a Wen cultivation doctor came and took him. Madam Yu would have kept even Wen Qing's name quiet, not wanting anyone to be able to guess about the core transfer. Wen Qing had been referred to only as 'Wen Daifu' when others were around, which could be any number of Wen medical cultivators. No one would even think to look for him in Gusu.

She would make sure that any whisper of the core transplant could be laid directly at Wei Wuxian's feet, if it happened. He would have to be careful.

"I'm not comfortable meeting with them, or having them see any part of my file that could identify me. But I'm ok with adding their suggestions to our list of experiments as long as they can't force me to slow things down just to do it whatever way the Lan teach their disciples. If we try something and it doesn't work as well, I don't want to have to keep doing it."

Wen Qing gave a small, brisk nod.

"Agreed. Now, let's get some scans done so we all can establish what the baseline is."

When Wei Wuxian finished up the last test, Wen Qing was called by one of the nurses to check on a patient who had just been brought in.

"Sorry. This shouldn't take long," Wen Qing said, looking at the chart the nurse had sent over. "You can wait in my office. We can finish discussing the meditation regimine for the next couple of days."

Wei Wuxian shrugged. "It's fine. It's not like I have anything else to do today." He wouldn't have minded a nap, to sleep off the rest of his hangover, but that could wait.

When he walked in to Wen Qing's office, there was a young man sitting at her desk, working on a laptop.

The man startled as Wei Wuxian entered.

"Oh! S-sorry! I didn't know that JieJie had a patient," he hastily tried to gather the papers that had been stacked neatly next to his laptop, but ended up spilling them on the floor.

"Hey, no worries! She just asked me to wait here for a few minutes while she dealt with something in the lab. It's ok. We can wait here together for her," Wei Wuxian said as he knelt down to help the young man gather the papers. "I'm Wei Ying, courtesy Wei Wuxian."

"I.. you don't need to…," The man looked distressed to have Wei Wuxian helping him, but seemed too flustered to express it. "My name is W-Wen Ning. I mean, Wen Qionglin. But everyone calls me Wen Ning." Wen Ning said, looking down at the ground as he continued picking up the papers. "Please, y-you don't n-need to help me. I am just clumsy."

Wei Wuxian reached out and put a steady, gentle hand on Wen Ning's shoulder, causing him to look up at him with wide eyes. Wei Wuxian smiled, feeling bad that the guy was so upset over something so small. He wondered how many people must have been a total asshole to him to have him react that way.

"Hey. Wen Ning, right? It's just a few spilled papers. I've done it a thousand times myself. And besides, it's my fault for barging in here and startling you! So let's just get these picked up together, then we can wait for your sister and you can tell me about yourself!"

Wen Ning blinked, then blushed. "I… ok?"

They made short work of gathering the papers up. Wei Wuxian noticed that they looked like data for some sort of qi readings, but he didn't look more closely at them in case they were confidential.

"So, Wen Ning! Do you work in the lab with Wen Qing?"

Wen Ning looked down, hunching slightly as though to make his broad shoulders smaller. "N-no. JieJie is the doctor. She's amazing! I just help out with the cyber security for the lab part time. And sometimes some data analysis, if they have anything for me."

"Wen Qing is definitely amazing, but you help here, too! I don't know anything about computers, so anything you work on would probably impress me."

Wen Ning glanced up, with a small smile. "I-it's not that hard. And I can do a lot of it from home. I have seizures, sometimes. They're unpredictable, but if I work too much it makes them worse."

"Ah, yeah. Health issues suck. But I bet you're a lot better at computers than you're making yourself out to be. I can't imagine Wen Daifu letting just anyone handle her data security. Or running analyses."

"Mn," Wen Ning said, hesitantly. "I guess so. I'd like to do more r-research. But most of the ideas on what to test are hers. I just run the numbers or make a simulation for her. I can do that from home, too, if I'm not feeling well enough to come into the lab. But they don't always have things that need me, so I only work a few hours a week on that."

"Hey, that's more than me! I can't work at all right now. Totally useless. The only job I've ever had was as a cultivator, and now I can't cultivate at all."

Wen Ning's eyes widened. "No! But it's not the same thing. You must have had an injury or something if you used to cultivate and now you can't. It's not your fault. I was never as good as JieJie. I've always had health issues."

Wei Wuxian thought of how much Jiang Yanli had been put down because of her fragile health as well. He wondered how she was doing. If she even knew what had happened. Once he got a phone, he was going to try to get in touch with her. But phones cost money, so first he needed to get his shit together. He hadn't been in a position to help Jiang Yanli when they were younger, since any defense of her he made only made Madam Yu lash out more at both of them. But maybe he could help Wen Ning.

Wei Wuxian smiled at him, hoping he could put him at ease. "Then it's not your fault, either. You've got a medical condition, and you're still working in one of the best labs in the cultivation world."

Wen Ning gave another little smile, ducking his head. "I just wish they had more things I could do from home. I've gotten really good at cyber security and modeling, but the lab doesn't really need me that much. They do most of the research in the lab."

Wei Wuxian hummed. He couldn't do anything about his own current uselessness, but maybe he could help Wen Ning. Wei Wuxian was never short of ideas, and his job as First Disciple had included helping find assignments for disciples of varying talents and interests. If he understood Wen Ning's skills more, he was sure he could help him find a way to apply them."I don't know much about computers. What kind of things do you work on, when they have work for you?"

Wen Ning described the sorts of simulations he could run, and models he could build that took the place of experiments.

"That's awesome! Hey…," Wei Wuxian tapped the side of his nose. "I don't know that this will ever pay anything, but maybe you could use it as a way to show different ways to use what you do. When I was in the hospital, I came up with a talisman that kept food warm but also prevented bacterial growth to avoid giving all the cancer patients food poisoning." Wei Wuxian explained about the need for the talisman. "The nurses were excited about it, but when they took it to the hospital administration, they said that there had to be tests run on it to make sure it didn't get them sick. Evidently, they can't just take the word of some random patient about the safety of their entire ward." Wei Wuxian grinned, hoping to get the nervous young man to relax by talking about a project he could work on.

It worked. Wen Ning's eyes lit up. "I could ask JieJie if I could do some tests in the lab, then run some simulations later."

"And if you end up not feeling well and unable to come in, it won't ruin the experiment because you can still use the data to see how well the talisman held up for however long you were out for."

Wen Ning looked excited. "C-can you show me the talisman design?"

"Sure!" Wei Wuxian quickly sketched it out on a blank piece of paper from Wen Qing's desk, explaining each character.

Wen Ning looked at it with wide eyes. "You came up with this while you were in the hospital?"

Wei Wuxian shrugged. "Yeah? I mean, it's pretty basic. I have talismans that are a lot more complicated than this. They're interesting to play with."

"Wow. I could never do that."

Wei Wuxian shrugged. "I bet you could if you studied it. You know how to code, and that sounds like it's a similar concept. You know what you want to happen, and you use symbols to make it do that."

Wen Ning didn't look as convinced, but he went back to studying the talisman.

"Are you going to sell it to the hospital then?" Wen Ning asked. "Or are you going to sell it to one of the sects?"

"Sell it? I mean… I don't think so. I was just going to make some for them. I guess if I had to make a lot, I'd ask if they could pay for the talisman paper. Or maybe we could etch it onto the dishes?"

He didn't know what to make of Wen Ning's other suggestion, about taking his work to GusuLan. The idea of working with another sect hadn't occurred to him. He had been raised Jiang, and it felt strange to think about working for someone else. But maybe he could sell his talismans to them. They wouldn't be interested in the heating talisman, but maybe he could design others. The Jiang had never been interested, though, so maybe the Lan wouldn't be, either.

That was something for Future Wei Ying to figure out. For now, he was just going to see if he could help the hospital out, and give Wen Ning a project to work on.

There was a gentle knock on the door. Both Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian looked up to see one of the nurses there. "Sorry to interrupt. Dr. Wen said to let you know she will be slightly delayed. You are welcome to stay, or she said you can continue on the original set of tests and she will discuss further modifications with you tomorrow morning."

Wei Wuxian glanced over at Wen Ning, and saw the way the young man already looked slightly hunched, like he had done something wrong by getting excited about a project.

"Tell her I'm enjoying hanging out with Wen Ning. I'm fine to stay a bit longer."

The nurse nodded briskly, then left, closing the door again behind her.

Wei Wuxian turned to Wen Ning. "So! Where were we?"

Wei Wuxian took the paper that had the initial talisman design, sketching some additional notes. He turned his mind back to the talisman idea, which felt like much safer territory to think about. "If it's on porcelain rather than talisman paper, I'd have to modify these two parts…"

Wen Qing found them more than an hour later, heads bent together over nearly a dozen sketches of various talismans, engrossed in their conversation. She frowned at the mess they'd made of her desk, with papers strewn everywhere with chicken-scratched writing scrawled all over them. But the excited glow on her little brother's face kept her from scolding them too harshly.

"Uncle Four has finished his shift. He's here to take you back to the apartment," Wen Qing said.

"JieJie! Wei Wuxian has a project he came up with that I could work on."

Wen Ning explained the idea of the talisman, as well as the set of experiments and simulations he was going to run. Wen Qing did her best to be stern about not overdoing it, but she was actually relieved to see her little brother so excited about something. He did not have many friends, usually too shy to talk to anyone he met, thanks to all the endless taunting from their asshole cousins growing up.

She grumbled about the mess they were making of her office, but the happiness on her little brother's face settled softly in her chest for the rest of the day.

The next several days passed the same way for Wei Wuxian, with the exception that he did not return to the nightclub. In the mornings, he would go to Wen Qing's lab for tests and discussion of his progress, spend some time talking about the food heating/preserving talisman with Wen Ning, then head home to his tiny apartment to mediate or to the small park across the street to practice sword forms (empty-handed, with his core still to weak to wield Suibian ).

Once or twice he sensed someone watching him, but when he finished his form and looked over, no one was in sight.

All of the measurements that Wen Qing took showed that his core strengthened more with dynamic meditation, rather than the traditional stationary forms that almost all of the main cultivation sects employed. Wei Wuxian didn't know if that was just because of who he was and how his body worked, but he felt somewhat vindicated from all the times that Madam Yu would scoff at him for his ceaseless motion, calling him undisciplined. She'd been furious when his golden core continued to outpace everyone else's despite Wei Wuxian's more chaotic training methods.

He had still followed the Jiang style when he taught the junior disciples, or when he was being instructed by Jiang Fengmian. But when he trained on his own time, it had always felt natural to revert to what he remembered doing as a child.

The progress was slow. Even with the highly sensitive equipment, Wen Qing was not always able to detect any change in the status of Wei Wuxian's golden core. But he felt good, letting his body move in the familiar forms and flows. He could feel the tiny spark of spiritual energy nesting inside him. Unlike when he was a child, he already knew what to look for, how to concentrate, how to stretch himself. It was going to be a hard mountain to climb, but it was one he had climbed before, and in much less favorable circumstances.

He knew how to do it.

"You should be a teacher," Wen Ning said out of the blue, after they'd spent the last week working together on the talisman project.

Wei Wuxian looked up from the notepad where he had been writing out a detailed explanation of how the nature of what a talisman was written on could change aspects of its functionality. They had been kicking around ideas Wen Ning could play with in the simulations. Wei Wuxian ignored the flash of tightness in his chest when he thought about his shidis and shimeis back in Lotus Cove, wondering how they were doing and who had taken his place.

"Ah, Wen Ning! You're too nice to me. If I'm blathering on, you should just tell me to shut up," Wei Wuxian said, trying to deflect. He had been trying not to panic about the fact that he had to find a way to support himself in the next few months, or he was going to be living on the streets again.

He wanted to be a cultivator. He loved night-hunting and teaching the younger cultivators. But even in the best scenario, it would be three or four years before he had a strong enough core to night hunt for a living again. Working as a rogue cultivator was hard. The five great sects covered most of China, dividing up the most profitable and prestigious hunts between them. Rogue cultivators only got called when the people couldn't afford to pay, or the other sects were busy with more interesting (read: profitable) hunts.

Without having a sect to feed him jobs, Wei Wuxian would have to build up a reputation for himself enough that people knew to call him specifically when a hunt wasn't being handled by a sect. That would probably take another few years, unless Wei Wuxian was extremely lucky on his first few hunts.

That put him at five to seven years before he could make a living on night hunting. It had made him even more grateful for the fact that he had Suibian . At least he wouldn't have to be simultaneously trying to save up enough to buy a spiritual weapon. He would have been even further away from financial security if he'd had to leave his sword in Lotus Cove. In the meantime, he'd have to figure out something else.

"I'm serious!" Wen Ning said earnestly. "You should teach cultivation. Even if you can't practice it anymore, you still know more than almost anyone else I've ever spoken with."

"Most sects hire teachers from within the sect. And civilians aren't interested in learning about cultivation when they don't have time to spend trying to develop a golden core. Not sure who would hire me," Wei Wuxian tried to shrug it off, pretending like his lack of marketable skills wasn't something that kept him up at night.

"GusuLan hires guest lecturers on yearly rotations. Of all the sects, they're the one that focuses the most on growing new knowledge. You should apply!"

Wei Wuxian didn't know much about the Lan. The only sect that the Jiang had interacted much with was the Jin, and the Jin definitely were not focused on gaining new knowledge, unless it pertained to something that could make them a lot of money or enhance beauty or physical pleasure.

"What are the qualifications for being a guest lecturer?" Wei Wuxian asked.

Wen Ning pulled out his phone. "I don't know the details. I know they have to take some sort of test, but I don't know what else there is. It probably depends on the topic. I think they have something about it on the Cloud Recesses Cultivation Academy website."

Wen Ning typed rapidly on his phone.

"Here! Found it!" He handed Wei Wuxian his phone, smiling hopefully.

Wei Wuxian took the device, trying not to let Wen Ning's hope be contagious. Hope was a dangerous thing, in his experience. It was no match for reality.

A quick scan of the description informed him he had been right to be skeptical.

"It says the guest teachers have to provide teaching references and letters of recommendation documenting their expertise in their area of specialization. I don't have that," Wei Wuxian said, handing the phone back to Wen Ning.

Wen Ning deflated as he looked at it. "But there's also a test of practical knowledge, as well as publications and other certifications."

Madam Yu had never let Wei Wuxian publish any of his research on talismans, saying it was not related to the Jiang cultivation method, and therefore not something the Jiang First Disciple should be writing about. She also had refused to fund his Mastery certification, which Wei Wuxian had been very sure he would have passed, despite his young age.

He still could, because passing it did not require a strong golden core, just extensive knowledge of talismans, access to a flicker of qi enough to activate them, and at least three new talismans that had to be submitted at the time of the exam. But the fee for taking the test was more money than Wei Wuxian had.

It was a chicken and egg problem. He needed the Mastery certification to be able to make money, but he had to already have money to get certified.

He sighed.

Wen Ning's shoulders slumped as he took in the implications of Wei Wuxian's silence.

"Well, there's the interview part. If you ace the exam, and blow them away in the interview, maybe they'll give you a position anyway?"

Wei Wuxian considered. He decided he'd give it a try, if for no other reason than he hated to see Wen Ning looking sad. Lack of references was likely to be a pretty big barrier, though. He would just have to try not to get his hopes up.

"I guess I don't really have anything to lose by trying. At least there's not an application fee."

Wen Ning's expression brightened. "Great! I'll ask JieJie to find out what she can about the interview process. She works with the Lan a lot on her research. Maybe she'll have some tips!"

Wei Wuxian doubted that Wen Qing would have much to say other than "answer the questions they ask you and don't be late", but he would take any help he could get. A brief worry flickered across his mind that the Lan cultivator he had accidentally insulted had been extremely powerful, and was likely high enough up in the Lan cultivation ranks that he could be involved in the hiring process. But he dismissed it as a factor he couldn't do anything about.

Hopefully, if he ever ran into the guy again the man would have already forgotten about the incident. It seemed likely. They had only talked for less than a minute. The cultivator had likely forgotten about it before he'd even reached his home that night.

At least, that's what Wei Wuxian hoped.