Chapter Text
There was a break in the annual Discussion Conference and Jiang Cheng was visiting with his sister and her husband. Jiang YanLi was glowing, and it had to do with more than the slight bump to her belly: Jin GuangShan had agreed that Wei WuXian could be invited to Jin RuLan’s one month celebration.
In her excitement at the prospect, she wanted to write the invitation immediately. During the previous Discussion Conference, Jiang Cheng had gone to the Burial Mounds, and while he reported that there appeared to be no Wen army or an army of the dead, the end result had been an ‘official’ split between Wei WuXian and YunmengJiang. Apparently, Lan WangJi had visited the Burial Mounds only about a week before Jiang YanLi and Jin ZiXuan’s wedding and had waited to inform the rest of the sects as he too had found nothing untoward, and he hadn’t wanted it to be brought up at a wedding. Judging by the looks on Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen’s faces they hadn’t wanted it brought up at all.
But Jiang YanLi was so glad that HanGuang-Jun had brought it up, since it was agreed that if Wei WuXian did nothing heretical between the conference and the birth then he could go to the one month celebration. She leaned over Jin ZiXuan’s shoulder and watched as his beautiful calligraphy formed on the page inviting Wei WuXian to Koi Tower to celebrate with them.
‟ I can’t wait to bring it to him,” squealed Jiang YanLi.
‟ No!” both Jin ZiXuan and Jiang Cheng protested.
Jiang YanLi’s features hardened into a look that meant that she was not playing around, and everyone better listen.
Before she could speak, Jiang Cheng explained his position. ‟ A-Jie, you can’t; remember the fetid stench of Yiling? A miasma of resentment clings to the city like a putrid mist, and we hadn’t even gone into the Burial Mounds! That can’t be good for the baby.”
‟ You can’t go to Yiling.”agreed Jin ZiXuan. “The ambient resentment is just too high; it could hurt you, the baby, or both.”
After a moment’s consideration, Jiang YanLi nodded. ‟ You’ll go for me, won’t you A-Xuan?”
The ‘of course’ was right on Jin ZiXuan’s lip but then a phantom pain shot through his lip and, half-jokingly, he said, ‟ It can’t be me, Wei WuXian will punch me before I could even hand over the invitation. Jiang Cheng will have to go.”
‟ I can’t go, Yunmeng broke ties with Wei WuXian. Send it by courier, non-cultivators can’t taste the Burial Mounds a li away!” retorted Jiang Cheng.
‟ Non-cultivators won’t go up the Burial Mounds,” Jin ZiXuan reasoned.
‟ We could ask HanGuang-Jun,” suggested Jiang YanLi. ‟ He went once already; he might be willing to go again.
‟ We could ask,” agreed Jiang Cheng. His lip jutted out in a sulk, but he didn’t protest since he had no other ideas of who could go.
A servant was called and asked to send Lan WangJi to them and Jin ZiXuan went back to writing the invitation. His brush seemed to stutter to a halt. ‟ We don’t have a date yet,” laughed Jin ZiXuan.
‟ Too late the servant is already gone. I guess we can just ask HanGuang-Jun to take it when you have a date,” said Jiang Cheng as he looked out of the door of the room to see if he could catch the servant.
Jiang YanLi frowned, her glow dimmed briefly, and then picked up with a smile. ‟ It’s all right, I want A-Xian to know he’s invited, we can send him another one when we send the invitations out to everyone else.”
There was a knock on the door and before they could invite the person in, the door opened and Nie HuaiSang slipped in. ‟ Jiang-Xiong, can I hide in here with you? It’s Yao-Zongzhu, you know his voice gets so grating.” Nie HuaiSang turned from the door and jumped. ‟ Oh Jin-Xiong, Jin-Shao-Furen, I didn’t mean to interrupt, you don’t mind, do you?”
Jiang Cheng sighed, long and suffering, while Jiang YanLi covered her laugh with one hand, and Jin ZiXuan waved a hand in assent.
Nie HuaiSang flopped artfully down into a chair and then flicked out his fan and asked, ‟ So, what are we talking about?”
‟ Who’s going to deliver the invite to Wei WuXian for the one month celebration,” said Jin ZiXuan.
‟ Well, you can’t, Wei-Xiong would punch you,” Nie HuaiSang returned.
A laugh exploded out of Jiang YanLi, a sharp bark before she covered her mouth. Jiang Cheng snorted. ‟ How about you Nie-Xiong? You could deliver it.”
‟ Oh, no I couldn’t, I really couldn’t,” Nie HuaiSang replied.
There was a knock on the door, they all looked over at it and for a moment said nothing as the door remained stubbornly closed. Jin ZiXuan shook himself out of the silence first and called out, ‟ Come in.”
The door slid open and there stood Lan WangJi. He stepped into the room, closed the door and then went around the room formally greeting everyone. ‟ Jin-Shao-Zongzhu requested my presence?”
‟ Ah, yes, I wanted to ask you if you could deliver the one month celebration invitation to Wei WuXian,” replied Jin ZiXuan.
Lan WangJi looked around the room again from one to the other, then he nodded. ‟ I am able.”
‟ Great! Thank you, I have it here, there is of course no date mentioned, as it is a bit early, but we thought of sending this one now and another at the regular time, when we know the date. What is your opinion on this matter? Would it be better to give Wei WuXian this early invitation or not?”
A light sparked in Lan WangJi’s golden eyes. He took quick steps to the table and looked practically eager. Jiang YanLi leaned forward putting the bulk of her weight on her husband’s solid shoulder. ‟ Tell me HanGuang-Jun, how was A-Xian when you visited?”
Those in the room would have expected such an anti-social person as HanGuang-Jun to step back from the onslaught. ‟ I met him in Yiling… he was Wei Ying but also… tired…?”
‟ And the people in the Burial Mounds?” asked Jin ZiXuan.
‟ As I said at the conference, they are either old or very young. Even if they were cultivators, they would not have been soldiers. I do not know what else I could tell you that Jiang-Zongzhu has not,” Lan WangJi replied.
The truth was that Jiang Cheng hadn’t really remembered the people; they were Wens and therefore lower than dirt. He had only spoken up for them in the sense that he had reported not seeing an army, in hopes that he could defuse the situation and not have to break with Wei WuXian. Jiang Cheng replied, a sneer in his tone every time he said ‘Wen’: ‟ I didn’t pay attention to the type of Wens there. I only noticed that Wen Ning, and he wasn’t really walking about then.”
‟ But HanGuang-Jun said there was a toddler there, did you see a toddler A-Cheng?” asked Jiang YanLi.
Jiang Cheng froze. He cast his mind’s eye back, and remembered berating Wei WuXian for taking the old, the weak, the women, and the children–he had used those words when he had described the situation to the Sects, but he could only just remember a dirty little child grabbing at his leg. ‟ Maybe, did the kid have a name?”
‟ They all called him A-Yuan. I did not hear a family name,” returned Lan WangJi.
‟ Well,” said Nie HuaiSang, ‟ the kid would have to be a Wen right? Wen Yuan, a lot of potential in a name like that.”
‟ Surely not,” retorted Jin ZiXuan and everyone turned to look at him. ‟ Jin Sect Cultivators would never put a toddler in a labour camp.”
Jiang YanLi patted her husband’s shoulder and then asked, ‟ Do you know who A-Yuan’s parents were?”
Lan WangJi shook his head and then paused, after a prolonged silence he said, ‟ Wei Ying said that A-Yuan was his son— ”
There were gasps and indrawn breaths. Nie HuaiSang waved his fan back and forth and muttered as he looked Lan WangJi up and down, ‟ Surely not.”
‟ —that he birthed himself.”
Nie HuaiSang’s fan snapped close, and he slapped it on his palm. Jiang Cheng’s face grew angrier while Jin ZiXuan’s grew more horrified. Jiang YanLi’s shocked expression melted into one of amusement and she brought up her hand to hide her mirth, ‟ I see what you mean. I’m glad Xian-Xian is still himself.”
With a flick of his wrist the fan snapped open and Nie HuaiSang lent forward in a tell-me-more position. ‟ Who is the other parent? Did Wei-Xiong say?”
‟ He did not…” Lan WangJi replied, he went to say more and stopped himself. His golden eyes looked around the room and saw that everyone else was also waiting for more information. Lan WangJi’s ears went red. ‟ A-Yuan called me ‘A-Die’.”
Jiang YanLi’s mirth doubled and Nie HuaiSang nodded. ‟ Did you arrange with Wei-Xiong beforehand to meet him in the city?”
Lan WangJi shook his head with a short movement and hummed a negative. He hadn’t told that part to his uncle or brother since he feared their reaction. But these people—or at least Jiang YanLi and Nie HuaiSang—seemed to want to hear the good things about the people of the Burial Mounds.
‟ Could we… could we use this as leverage? A non-Wen toddler in the Burial Mounds as a way to get them all out of the situation? Who would fault anyone for trying to protect a child? The Wen’s are protecting a Wei baby… or I suppose a Lan baby, and so A-Xian in turn helps the Wen…” Jiang YanLi suggested. It was clear the idea was forming as the words came out of her mouth, and she wasn’t really hearing what she was saying.
The reaction was instantaneous. Jiang Cheng exploded, ‟ We don’t know the honourable surname of that child! You can’t steal babies!”
Calm as a summer breeze, Nie HuaiSang said, ‟ Wouldn’t WangJi-Xiong and Wei-Xiong need to be married first?”
There was a pause where most of the heads turned to see Lan WangJi’s reaction, and then Jin ZiXuan said, ‟ Aren’t they already married?”
‟ What?! When?!” roared Jiang Cheng.
Jin ZiXuan looked startled. ‟ At that Wen Archery Competition, Wei WuXian took Lan-Er-Gongzi’s forehead ribbon. That is what it means, right?… After the competition, it was the hot topic around Koi Tower, how Jiang-Zongzhu’s bas— ‟ he cut himself off glanced around the room and then looked down at the table he coughed and then continued, ‟… how Wei WuXian and Lan-Er-Gongzi were married, but in more unflattering terms.”
Again, they all looked at Lan WangJi, with red ears he agreed, ‟ That is what Wei Ying declared.”
‟ Well, there is precedent then!” said Jiang YanLi.
Jiang Cheng shook his head, ‟ You can’t marry people either off, A-Jie.”
‟ I know but we need allies” insisted Jiang YanLi. “I do not believe that A-Xian would free war criminals. I can guess the unflattering terms that A-Xuan was referring to. The gossip in Koi Tower is even more vicious than the rumour about A-Xian when we were kids that made A-Niang so angry!”
‟ We don’t need to force a marriage, we already have GusuLan on our side. Everyone knows that what one of the Twin Jades supports, the other will support. And Nie HuaiSang is here, so that’s the Nies too!” reasoned Jiang Cheng.
Attention was brought back to Lan WangJi, who shook his head again. There was a slight frown marring his features and his tone was such that it was clear he was just then realising the truth of his statement. ‟ Xiongzhang believes that I am too close to Wei Ying and am exaggerating my report. He believes LianFang-Zun about the state of the Wens at Qiongqi Pass.”
There was a shocked silence that filled the room and then Nie HuaiSang said, ‟ I like San-ge too, but WangJi-Xiong doesn’t lie. I remember copying that rule.” Everyone looked at him and Nie HuaiSang shook his head and added, ‟ You don’t have the Nie either, Da-Ge hates the Wens so vehemently, like Jiang-Xiong. He won’t hear anything about them. While I too am angry at the Wens, I remember that Wei-Xiong would never stand for an injustice, even if it pitted him against the world.”
‟ Wei Ying said that Wen QiongLin saved Jiang-Zongzhu and retrieved the bodies of the previous Jiang-Zongzhu and Yu-Furen,” stated Lan WangJi. ‟ Why does Jiang-Zongzhu hate the Wens at the Burial Mounds so much, if they are Wen QiongLin’s people?”
‟When Wen Ning died, any debt went with him,” snapped Jiang Cheng. ‟ You could argue that it doesn’t, but then Wei WuXian raised Wen Ning as the Ghost General, and he killed those people at Qiongqi Pass and was the weapon Wei WuXian used against me in the fight that officially split Wei WuXian from YunmengJiang! There is no more debt.”
‟ I was there when Wen QiongLin regained his spiritual conscious. Wei Ying assured me that Wen QiongLin would not lose it again. Your fight was before his consciousness had yet been returned. In this situation, as Wen QiongLin has retained his sense of self, the debt stands.”
Jiang Cheng sparked a bit and glared at Lan WangJi. Jiang YanLi put a hand on his shoulder and said in a soft voice, ‟ The split between YunmengJiang and A-Xian has already occurred, but A-Cheng, you know A-Xian, he would never support someone who had hurt us and he would feel obligated to pay back that debt. You are going to have to let go of some of your hatred towards these specific Wens.”
There was no verbal reply from Jiang Cheng, but he did stop sparking around the edges. Nie HuaiSang asked, ‟ What are the rumours around Koi Tower? In the Unclean Realm, we just hear about Wei-Xiong desecrating graves and kidnapping children. Those send Da-Ge into a rage, but we can never find proof in our territory that it is happening, even though the rumours say ‘the Yiling-Laozu’ is working in our territory.”
‟ We have those rumours too,” stated Jin ZiXuan. “The newest one I heard just the other night. My cousin was saying Wei WuXian was cursing people he hates. Which, I mean, is just ridiculous– if Wei WuXian hates someone, he punches them.”
‟ I wouldn’t say that A-Xian holds much hate, he generally forgets what is done to him so hate cannot grow,” explained Jiang YanLi.
‟ Wen Chao and Wen ZhuLiu,” Lan WangJi stated.
Jiang Cheng waved those names off. ‟ Exceptions to the rule, they were the ones that decimated Lotus Pier. Wei WuXian punched Jin-Shao-Zongzhu because he said bad things about A-Jie or made her cry.”
‟ I apologised for those instances! Looking back, I deserved the punches I got,” added Jin ZiXuan.
‟ And if we assume that rumour that Wen Chao threw Wei-Xiong into the Burial Mounds is true, and how Wen Chao’s preferred method of fighting was to send in the Core-Melting Hand, I could see that Wei-Xiong wouldn’t easily forget the slights against him and the Jiangs then,” Nie HuaiSang reasoned.
The words dropped like a hammer and rang as if they hit the head of the last nail in the coffin of a corpse they were certain would rise.
‟ Wen Chao… would… send in the Core-Melting Hand…” murmured Jin ZiXuan, the words tinkling as if one by one those coffin nails flew out and scattered to the floor, no longer a barrier to the beast within.
‟ I never saw him use his sword afterword,” agreed Jiang YanLi.
Lan WangJi concurred with a hum.
‟ This changes things, right?” asked Nie HuaiSang.
‟ It has to,” said Jiang Cheng, and as if the beast in the coffin had roared everyone seemed to shake off their shocked stupor as one. Suddenly, they were all business, deducing the best way to deal with what they had found. ‟ So, I arranged to meet with Wei WuXian in Yiling, but Wen Chao gets there first, Wen ZhuLiu melts his core, and then that bastard throws him in the Burial Mounds…”
‟ Where Wei Ying learns Demonic Cultivation to survive,” finished Lan WangJi.
There is another silence, the silence of the coffin home abandoned after the monster had been let free.
Jin ZiXuan brought them back to the present, ‟ That’ll make Wei WuXian’s original motives seem reasonable, but resentful energy poisons the mind, body, and soul; others will still call for his blood on the merit of his corpse army and the graves he is desecrating.”
‟ Those are rumours,” pointed out Jiang YanLi.
‟ Anyone can go to Yiling and see that there is no army, and as we said earlier there are actually no desecrated graves,” Jiang Cheng collaborated.
Nie HuaiSang shook his head. ‟ The absence of any proof of wrongdoing is not in fact proof of innocence. And you’re forgetting the Stygian Tiger Seal. The sects don’t like that such a powerful weapon is in the hands of the Yiling-Laozu.”
With a nod, Jin ZiXuan added, ‟ Yes, my father seems particularly concerned about the power such a Seal can wield.”
‟ A-Xian tried to destroy it,” said Jiang YanLi.
‟ He did?” Lan WangJi asked as he seemed to straighten where he stood with an eager air around him.
Jiang Cheng corroborated his sister’s statement. ‟ He blew up the forge.”
‟ It will still speak for Wei WuXian’s character, that he tried to destroy it,” Nie HuaiSang said.
‟ Is there anything else we can consider in the situation, anything about having your core melted that would improve A-Xian’s standing in the eyes of the others?” asked Jiang YanLi.
‟ My brother might understand a bit more if he is made aware that Wei-Xiong doesn’t have his golden core,” admitted Nie HuaiSang.
‟ What was the curse in the rumour?” asked Lan WangJi. ‟ If someone is speaking of a curse that has been cast on them by another person then it is a curse that requires spiritual energy.”
‟ ZiXun didn’t say,” Jin ZiXuan said.
The Jiang sect leader scoffed. ‟ Wei WuXian hates curses. He thinks they are beneath any self-respecting cultivator; he is annoyingly righteous like that. I don’t even think Wei WuXian knows who Jin ZiXun is!”
‟ He was in charge of Qiongqi Pass though!” Jin ZiXuan exclaimed.
Jiang Cheng added, to further compound his point, “ And Jin ZiXun insulted Wei WuXian at the Phoenix Mountain Crowd Hunt.”
‟ Didn’t A-Xian also push Jin ZiXun in the Lotus Pond when we were kids? After Jin ZiXun pulled my hair,” asked Jiang YanLi. When she got a nod from her brother and husband she added, ‟ Yeah he probably has no clue who Jin ZiXun is.”
‟ Really?” asked Nie HuaiSang.
‟ Su MinShan,” exclaimed Lan WangJi suddenly. They all looked at him and Lan WangJi explained, ‟ Wei Ying saved Su MinShan when he lost his sword to the Waterborne Abyss, and then later Su MinShan shot Wei Ying in the arm when we were fighting the Xuanwu. Are you saying that he does not remember?”
Jiang Cheng shrugged. ‟ Probably not.”
‟ But it is another life debt that could be called in,” Nie HuaiSang reasoned.
The room fell silent as they all thought about the situation. “The problem is, it is like Nie-Gongzi said,” said Jiang YanLi. “We have nothing that the other sects would consider evidence unless they saw it with their own eyes, and maybe not even then, the rumours are just too much. And no one really wants to owe a life debt. I could see some people using A-Xian’s ‘wicked tricks’ as a reason that a life debt is null and void.”
“Could we counteract the rumours? Hire storytellers armed with the truth or something? It would be slow in changing the hearts and minds of the people, but if we rehabilitated Wei WuXian’s reputation maybe then the others would be willing to listen and pay their debts,” Jin ZiXuan proposed.
Nie HuaiSang nodded his head. “That could work.What else do we know about Wei WuXian’s character or debts owed to him?”
They descended into silence once more as they considered. Lan WangJi spoke, “At Cloud Recesses during the guest lectures Wei Ying swore ‘to eliminate evil and protect the weak; while always maintaining a good conscience’.”
Jiang Cheng dismissed the statement with a scoff. “That won’t help, everyone knows that Wei WuXian will always stand for what is right even if he has to fight the whole world.”
It was the fourth time similar words had been spoken, and they were true, and everyone knew it, which was probably why they had not drawn attention previously. Perhaps it had been Lan WangJi saying the words and then Jiang Cheng acknowledging them swiftly; or the fact that it was the second time that Jiang Cheng had said such words that let them ring in the room—not the ring of hammer on nail, but the ring of a clarity bell.
There was no sputtering or shock, they knew it was the truth. It was one of the fundamentals of the universe: the sky was blue, the grass was green, Wei WuXian would always be on the side of justice, and if you were on opposite sides then you were the one in the wrong.
The silence that ensued was due entirely to the realisation that since they knew that one was true (Wei WuXian being on the side of justice) then two (them being not on the side of justice) was also true.
“The Jin lied,” Jiang Cheng said into the silence.
Once again, Jin ZiXuan went to protest but the words wouldn’t come. Jiang YanLi patted his shoulder and tried to console her husband while reasoning out events. “Jin ZiXun was in charge of the Wen Towns and the Labour Camps. If he was told that he needed to get the work done at Qiongqi Pass… could you see him just grabbing people to replace workers? I mean it is called hard labour for a reason; people die or get injured.”
“No!” denied Jin ZiXuan the word practically exploding from him. He then tried to explain but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself, “He wouldn’t send civilians like HanGuang-Jun described to a labour camp.”
“But,” soothed Jiang YanLi, “say, in the beginning, there were some uprisings in the Wen Towns and ZiXun quashed them by sending the people to the labour camp. I could see it becoming a habit. Or he punished the entire town for the actions of a few. And ZiXun is…”
“An idiot?” supplied Jiang Cheng.
At the same time Nie HuaiSang said, “A bully.”
Jiang YanLi politely didn’t acknowledge either truth and left it as said. Jin ZiXuan warred with himself for a moment and then said, ‟ Well… I could see ZiXun doing something like that.”
‟ Then of course Jin-Zongzhu would want to protect his nephew, and most people are still venomously against any Wen. Not many would care if the Wens in the labour camp were civilians or not,” Jiang YanLi finished.
‟ Then the Wens and Wei Ying are a threat to the authority that Jin-Zongzhu established,” stated Lan WangJi, his eyes narrowed with anger.
‟ I wouldn’t go that far… my father would want to protect ZiXun’s reputation though,” countered Jin ZiXuan.
‟ No, WangJi-Xiong is correct, Jin-Zongzhu wants to create the Xiandu position, he wants to be Xiandu, and everyone knows that if we create this position that only the Jin have the resources right now to be able to uphold what a Xiandu should do for the people. But a scandal, like proof that the Jins put a baby in a labour camp, could sway votes away from Jin-Zongzhu for Xiandu,” Nie HuaiSang reasoned.
Jiang Cheng sighed. ‟ We’re going to have to talk to the people in the Burial Mounds. They could have more information about all of this, and at the very least we’ll need them to be alive.”
‟ We will need sect leaders on our side, we cannot go against my father. I especially wouldn’t go against my father in public, but we are talking about the honour of the Jin. I wouldn’t be filial if I didn’t ensure that the Jin are on the right side of history,” said Jin ZiXuan.
‟ I do not know if I could convince Xiongzhang to visit the Burial Mounds to see the truth, without him discussing it with LianFang-Zun and ChiFeng-Zun first,” Lan WangJi admitted.
‟ Well, how are we going to talk to Wei-Xiong and the Wens?” asked Nie HuaiSang. ‟ I could probably come up with a way to trick my brother into going.”
‟ I’ll go when the Conference is over, I feel I should be the one to speak to my brother,” said Jiang Cheng.
Jiang YanLi beamed at her brother but then frowned, ‟ But we already called HanGuang-Jun to us. They will be expecting someone to deliver the invitation, and we already agreed that it couldn’t be you, A-Cheng.”
Jiang Cheng swore under his breath. ‟ Were there any rumours?”
Everyone turned to look at Jiang Cheng questioningly. After a moment Nie HuaiSang asked, ‟ About what?”
‟ That A-Jie and I visited Yiling or that HanGuang-Jun did? Any rumours about things like that?”
The Nie heir shook his head. Lan WangJi frowned. ‟ Why would there be rumours?”
‟ I’m trying to determine if anyone was spying on the Burial Mounds,” admitted Jiang Cheng.
‟ Oh no, there aren’t any spies in Yiling, no one can stand the feel of the Burial Mounds. My father wanted to get a spy in there and was angry with LianFang-Zun when he said that no amount of money would get anyone to stay for more than a day in the city and a rotation of guards wouldn’t work,” said Jin ZiXuan.
The room was silent for a beat as they all stared at Jin-Shao-Zongzhu. Jiang YanLi spoke first, ‟ A-Xuan, why didn’t you tell me that our family was trying to spy on my brother?”
Jin ZiXuan startled and then his cheeks pinked a bit when he realised that everyone else was looking at him with shock, like the sending out of spies wasn’t something that people had casual conversations about. It hadn’t been a casual conversation, but he could see how his tone had made it seem so—he had thought his foot-in-mouth tendencies had been cured with his wedding. He coughed. ‟ I’m sorry A-Li, I didn’t want you to worry… I… I tried to stop all those rumours from reaching you and knew I failed in that endeavour. So, I thought since I knew my father failed getting a spy into Yiling that there would be no reason to worry you with thinking it could happen.”
“That’s good though,” said Jiang Cheng. His eyes looked far away for a long moment and then he shook himself from his thoughts. “Yunmeng is leaving as soon as the Conference is over. From here Yiling is upstream on the Great River. No one will know if I just go there instead of downstream back to Lotus Pier.”
“Jin-Zongzhu will still expect an official messenger to be sent with the invitation,” Nie HuaiSang commented with a lazy flutter of his fan. “And we should have some sort of plan for how we are going to get more Sect Leaders on our side, before you go and speak with Wei-Xiong.”
“Can you speak with ZeWu-Jun again HanGuang-Jun?” Jiang YanLi asked.
Lan WangJi’s lips pressed together and hummed. Nie HuaiSang spoke up again as if he could see the unspoken concern in Lan WangJi’s golden gaze, “As much as we can count on Er-Ge to be righteous, I do find it concerning that he has listened to San-Ge over WangJi-Xiong. I, too, would say I trust San-Ge, but in this situation, I think he is following Jin-Zongzhu’s lead instead of listening to the evidence that is being presented about the Wens in the Burial Mounds.”
“I will try to speak with Xiongzhang again, he will be staying for a short while after the Conference and Shufu will return to Cloud Recesses. I am meant to head out to patrol Gusu territory and night hunt. I can postpone my departure.”
“My father doesn’t seem to want to see reason, but I will talk with my mother. I’ll trust Jiang-Zongzhu and HanGuang-Jun’s assessment of the situation and add my voice with yours as the LanlingJin opinion,” Jin ZiXuan declared.
They all turned to look at their representative for QingheNie. Nie HuaiSang who had been lazily fanning himself. He started and covered his face with the fan, “I don’t know, I don’t know, Da-Ge’s temper is really bad.”
“HuaiSang!” snapped Jiang Cheng.
With a sigh Nie HuaiSang sat up and snapped his fan closed. “Da-Ge is also staying longer. Er-Ge is hoping he can facilitate an improvement in Da-Ge and San-Ge’s relationship, while they discuss the problems with the Damsel of the Annual Blossoms in Tanzhou. She has not been giving out flowers since the war and Ouyang-Zongzhu asked Jin-Zongzhu and the Venerated Triad to help solve the issue. I will be staying to do some shopping in the area. But I already said that the only way that we will be able to get Da-Ge on our side is to get him to go to the Burial Mounds himself and see everyone with his own eyes.”
“How could we get ChiFeng-Zun to the Burial Mounds without everyone else thinking that he is storming the place and planning to take heads?” asked Jiang Cheng.
The room fell into silence, they were all looking around at each other and thinking when suddenly there was a knock on the door and the voice of a servant came through, “Jin-Shao-Zongzhu, the meeting will restart soon.”
The knock had startled everyone in the room, and they all looked around in wide-eyed shock. Jiang YanLi called back, “Thank you, we’ll be there presently.”
Jiang Cheng looked around the room and after he was sure that the servant was gone, added “Everyone, think about it.”