Chapter Text
It was a rather small and cluttered room, but the room was made the most of, with a desk shoved against the large window and a small table, dark purple covered in light red and brown powders and a bowl of soup.
Inside the purple-themed room, the lavender curtains were drawn shut, but a sliver of afternoon light crawled over the room.
“Don’t cry,” A sweet voice crooned, leaning away from the small table, a pale and well-manicured hand coming down to softly pet the other woman’s hair. “I know it’s not your fault. Wen Xu is a tricky one. However, your failure has made me look bad to Mother. There’s a price to pay for that. Now, something you can tell me. Has A-Xian gotten back yet?”
The other woman, kneeling beside the table and crying, nodded once. “He got back s-sometime around m-my way h-here.”
“So he did. Now, could you try this for me?”
The woman on the ground looked up with wide eyes. She knew this, the other woman knew this, everyone and their mother’s knew this: if you wronged Jiang Yanli and she offered you food, never, ever take it.
Perhaps if she had mercy…
Later that day, when screams erupted from Jiang Yanli’s office, nobody cast the room a second glance. Afterwards, maids were sent to clean up.
Later on that night, Jiang Yanli paced her room. She was about to give up and go to bed, when the noise of her window creaking open lifted her heart.
“A-Xian!”
Wei Wuxian stepped through the window, his favored dagger, Suibian, glinting in the moonlight. He quickly sheathed it.
He glanced over the room. “Shijie, what did I tell you about late-night dinners?”
Jiang Yanli smiled. “Oh, you know you’d throw a fit if you had to eat all by your lonesome. A-Cheng was busy and couldn’t make it. Now, sit and tell me about it.”
This was the Jiang Compound, Lotus Pier, home of the Yunmeng Mafia. Above ground, it was a normal casino.
Below ground, however…
Jiang Yanli was, once again, pacing. Not in her room this time.
She waited patiently, and just when she was about to check her watch, a sharp voice called for her.
“A-jie!”
Jiang Yanli turned, relieved to see her two brothers, Hale and hole. Wei Wuxian was dressed in a black and red hoodie, jeans and black military boots. His favorite outfit, if Jiang Yanli was being honest. His layered hair was tied up in a ponytail with his iconic red ribbon. He had chopped it short recently, claiming he ‘had too much hair to be so bored with it’. Of course, with his layers, that meant Jiang Yanli had to go back and cut the layers to even it out. And in the end he didn’t even cut it that short; just to his shoulders, which was still long for a man.
Jiang Cheng also had what was presumably his favorite outfit; a matching one with Jiang Yanli. A lavender jacket thrown over a lilac shirt with black jeans with boots to match A-Xian. Jiang Yanli was wearing almost the same thing as Jiang Cheng, however she was wearing a crop top and a black skirt.
As they approached, Jiang Yanli noticed there were three red stars drawn under Wei Wuxian’s eye, probably with eyeliner, framing the way his eyes curved and accentuating his innocent, doe-eyed look.
Jiang Yanli giggled, finding it cute. Her A-Xian was such a seductress.
“Don’t giggle at him, A-jie, he’s the reason we’re going to be late!”
“To be fair, Yu-furen didn’t say anything about it until last night to me, so it’s only natural I forgot!”
“We’re not late yet, so don’t fight you two. Thank you for waking him up on time, A-Cheng.” Jiang Yanli knows she would’ve been waiting a lot longer if not for him.
“Shijie!!!”
“And thank you for getting yourself up, A-Xian.”
“Don’t thank him for anything, A-Li,” Jiang Cheng scoffs lightly, “He punched me earlier.”
“Jiang Cheng!!! In my defense, that was before when I thought you were some assassin-intruder-sneaking -in-to-kill-me-in-my-sleep, and not my beloved brother!!!”
“A-Xian has a point. But perhaps you should work on recognizing A-Cheng, so as to not…punch him next time.”
“What do you want me to do? Recognize his footsteps?”
“Yes, actually.” Jiang Yanli beamed, happy that her brother was catching on so quickly. She thought she’d have to work up to the idea of that, but he’d saved her the despair.
Wei Wuxian groaned. Jiang Cheng snickered, ruffling him over the head.
“Alright, but we really need to leave now. The car’s here and everything.”
Jiang Cheng seemed to hesitate for a moment, allowing Wei Wuxian to escape his headlock and hide behind Jiang Yanli.
“Before I left, earlier…A-Niang said goodbye.”
Jiang Yanli blinked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. “And…what else did she say?”
“Not to embarrass anybody.”
“And…?”
“That was it,” Jiang Cheng concluded with a heavy sigh.
Jiang Yanli gasped. “That was it? Not even a fuss or anything?”
“Maybe she’s gotten tired.”
“Who? Yu-furen? Of yelling at Jiang Cheng? Never,”
“Well! At least it’s not as bad as you!”
“You’re her son,” Wei Wuxian pointed out with an unamused glance as he climbed into the car.
Jiang Yanli sighed, climbing in after her brothers. She suddenly felt like this was going to be a very long ride.
Wei Wuxian was known for making shitty life decisions.
Well⸺hold on, he wasn’t known. No, he was, in fact, very unknown. Thanks to Wen Ning, his favorite person in the whole wide world. After⸺
Suibian suddenly slipped his hand, leaving a string of red in her wake. He blinked as the dagger clattered to the floor.
“That’s unlucky,” he mumbled to himself. “I should tell Wen Ning not to make any take-out calls tonight…”
“Wei Wuxian! You’d better not be bleeding all over my floors!”
Wei Wuxian sighed and clenched his fist at the familiar voice, plastering a smile onto his face. “My bad, Qing-jie. I’ll clean it up.”
“No need,” Wen Qing briskly entered the room, dark scowl already on her face, “Give me your hand.”
Wei Wuxian sighed and surrendered his hand to her.
Wen Qing dug in her pockets for a roll of bandages, and then promptly wrapped his hand up so tightly that he couldn’t flex his palm. Amusement clouded his sorrow, and a real smile ended up brightening his features. “Wen Qing, you know I am a highly trained assassin who can kill people in under one minute, right? That I can strangle a man to death in two minutes flat. Just so you know. And I can shoot a man and flee within thirty seconds.”
“Of course I know, bragger,” Wen Qing rolled her eyes, “And don’t just speak about it so loudly! What if they manage to catch you on CCTV somewhere?”
“Then I trust you and A-Ning will take care of me,” he grinned cheekily, “And besides, A-Ning has put up every precaution in the world. This might not be the most luxurious, or secretive place, but it sure as hell is the most private.”
Wen Qing huffed, “Don’t piggyback off A-Ning’s hard work, lazy brat!”
“I-I’m glad to help,” Wen Ning smiled sweetly, standing in the doorway as he struggled to balance tea. “I wo-would’ve k-knocked, but…I’m k-kind of strug-struggling, as you can see.”
“Ah, A-Ning. Of course you don’t have to knock.” Wen Qing immediately abandoned Wei Wuxian to help Wen Ning with the tea tray.
“Hey!” Wei Wuxian squawked in protest. “What if I’m changing, or in the middle of a hit? You don’t wanna walk in on the middle of one of my hits, I assure you,” he huffed his cheeks out. “Good on you, A-Ning, for being considerate.”
Wen Qing rolled her eyes and set the tea down on a table. “I’m going in for a night shift at the hospital soon,” she said, “Everyone, be careful. And keep yourselves safe.”
She kissed the start of Wei Wuxian’s brow and Wen Ning’s cheek before leaving, the sound of her car keys jingling echoing down the hallway.
Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning nodded at each other wordlessly.
Wen Ning flipped a laptop open, and Wei Wuxian retrieved Suibian, wiping the gleaming metal of her blade and brandishing it with sandpaper.
After a while, Wen Ning spoke, “H-here it is, Wei-gongzi.”
“Ah, hmm.” Wei Wuxian acknowledged, pulling out his phone to do some work of his own. But what they were looking at couldn’t be more different.
“After digging th-through some of his schedules, I can f-find that he will b-be at Q-Qin Rurin’s party at rou-roughly 9:00, Wednesday night.”
“Qin Rurin? That guy who likes to copy Lan Qiren? A distant cousin of Young Mistress Qin, correct?”
“Yes. Spot on.”
“I’d thought so,” Wei Wuxian picked up a teacup and sipped from it, “Probably has no idea. But we should check, just to make sure. No loose ends, I don’t do those. Target is attending with Young Mistress Qin?”
“Affirmative.”
“Hmm, that could be tricky. But Young Mistress Qin is truly just a girl at heart, not fit out for the Mafia life. It’s a shame she’s not like Shijie, perhaps I could make more use of her then. Maybe some collaborative work?”
Wen Ning hummed, “She wouldn’t double-cross you.”
“True, true. At least I don’t have to kill her tonight. Although it sickens me to have to do something like a favor to the Jin. Anyhow⸺actually, you know what! I have the perfect idea! Will Jin Guangyao be in attendance of this party?”
“The Q-Qin and Jin sects are q-quite close. Naturally, yes.”
“Perfect. Young Mistress Qin is not just a girl, but a girl in love. I’m sure she’d be willing to make her attendant wait a few moments for the love of her life.” Wei Wuxian grinned, all predatory teeth, “I can hide a dead man’s body in less time.”
“Great to hear, Wei-gongzi.” Wen Ning tapped at his laptop for a few moments, “Oh. Young Mistress Qin has posted an order for a bouquet and some chocolates on her weibo. The arrival date overlaps with the day of the party. I speculate that she hopes to give these to Jin Guangyao if she sees him at the party.”
Wen Ning just spoke multiple sentences without stuttering; Wei Wuxian’s so proud of him. Anyway, “Well, maybe we can’t do collaborative work, but it would be a shame if she didn’t cross paths with Jin Guangyao, even just one time.”
Wen Ning locks gazes with him, and they nod at one another, Wen Ning typing on his laptop for another extended amount of time.
Wei Wuxian drains his cup of tea, “Aah, thank you for the tea, A-Ning!”
Wen Ning smiles crookedly, “No problem, A-Xian.”
“Now,” Wei Wuxian gave Wen Ning a wide-toothed smile, leaning over to properly show Wen Ning his phone, “Which dress will make my butt look best?”
Wen Ning flushes.
-
-
Ah, this is the kind of thing Wei Wuxian shouldn’t be trusted with. It’s at times like this that he wishes he could call up Huaisang. Unfortunately, doing so would be the shittiest decision Wei Wuxian has ever made, and trust him, there’s a record for that. And doing so would destroy all his efforts that he’d carefully gardened over the years. So he pouts at his phone, but then remembers that Nie Huaisang isn’t the only person Wei Wuxian knows outside of his family.
She’s not Huaisang, but she’s better than the next best thing and seems to have an underwhelming amount of free time. Wei Wuxian’s eyes curve into a cheeky little eye smirk, and he quickly does his hair half-up with a expensive claw-clip that he’d fished out of some antique store. That was the only way he was going to get his hands on a black, jeweled claw clip, thank you very much. The short strands of his layered hair that escape the clawclip create an effect of wispy hairs framing his face and slightly tussled hair, that of which he is immensely pleased with.
He picks up his phone, winks at the mirror, and flashes a photo.
Immediately after, he dials her number, and lights up with relief when she picks up on the third ring.
"Hello, A-Yu!" She chirps into the phone.
"Mianmian," His voice makes it sound like he’s sobbing in relief. He’s not, not really, but he does need her help.
"Fancy picture you sent me," the grin on Luo Qingyang's face is so obvious that it’s manifested itself on Wei Wuxian’s mirror and won’t go away.
"Yes, very fancy. What do you think?"
"What do I think? I think backshots. I'm so jealous, your ass is popping!"
"I'm glad to hear your approval," Wei Wuxian smirked, "I’ll give you photos of the full look once I'm done, but I'm running late."
"'Kay. Party safe, A-Yu."
"Bed rot safe, A-Yang."
Wei Wuxian hangs up on Luo Qingyang before she can squawk a response.
True to his words, Wei Wuxian finishes up his look with some makeup. This; he’s good at, doesn’t need anyone else's word. He decides to go simple, for the sake of convenience. Some blush, contour, lipgloss, eyeliner, black eyeshadow with a bit of blue for some pop⸺because Wei Wuxian can’t not.
He slips a pair of black stilettos on⸺yes, Jimmy Choo, Wei Wuxian is unashamed of the shit he had to do to get them⸺with gold chain ankle straps. He absolutely loves the sound they make when he walks. He pokes his tongue out of his mouth, angles his phone above himself, and flashes a picture.
Ready 4 2night! he texts Mianmian, grinning ear to ear. He pats the compartment where Suibian is resting near his thigh, and nods, satisfied.
Looking great, cheekcakes! Kill 'em! Mianmian responds, unusually quick.
Oh, if only she knew.