Pitched Normal

Part 20

Who was Lan Zhan kidding, think about going? Of course he was going to go. Though it was vain and fruitless, and in the end would do nobody any good, he figured he may as well. He had just wanted to think about it originally when Nie Huaisang had told him about it, but after a little bit, when Wei Ying had finally approached him as the Nie had said that he would eventually, and asked him to go, how was he to say no? Wei Ying had some sort of spell on him that he was most certain of. He was just not entirely certain as to what it was.

Lan Zhan sighed deeply as he was jostled about Caiyi town. While he was most certainly glad that Wei Ying was enjoying himself, it was rather aggravating to be around so many people, especially given the fact that he was not used to such things. Not to mention he felt a sort of heart wrenching fear whenever Wei Ying left his line of sight. He knew it was rather stupid and it was unlikely that the other would get lost in such a small town, or that he would get hurt or injured but one never knew what could happen in such short spans of time.

The biggest discomfort was the simple fact that he was never invited on outings like this before. Not that it had ever particularly bothered him all that much because he had never really wished to go on outings like this. He saw it as a rather large waste of time when he could be doing something else such as studying for a test, or reading the scripts of ancient texts. Or copying them to help preserve them, or even practicing his guqin. There were so many other things that were of better use to his time.

Really, what was he thinking? Going out and about like this? Xichen would definitely be proud of him for accepting the Jiang disciple's invitation, but he was not entirely certain how his uncle would react. He hoped that neither of them managed to figure out that he was in this town. After all, his uncle could be unpredictable, though he doubted that he would have much of an issue with his being out in the town, more so an issue with Wei Ying being here with him. His xiongzhang would be more than happy, and likely Lan Zhan would have to deal with an overly excited brother. He did not really feel up to such a task.

It was hard enough dealing with them without adding such extreme emotions to it. He would just rather deal with things as they came. He did not want to really think of how they would react, and he had not really....asked beforehand. He knew that his uncle was bound to be irate about that, but it simply could not be helped. He did not really know what to do. He had already agreed, and Wei Ying had sort of just dragged him out.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Ying whined, popping up out of nowhere once again to drag him out of his temporary hiding spot. Lan Zhan could not help but glance helplessly around him. Nie Huaisang looked as though he were about to faint and Jiang Cheng looked as though he were going to murder Wei Ying with just a look if such a thing was possible. "What are you doing by yourself? You are supposed to be with us." Wei Ying dragged him towards the other disciples, and Lan Zhan, to the surprise of the group that was with the two of them, just simply nodded and allowed Wei Ying to pull him forwards.

Nie Huaisang felt that he was about to faint from all of the shameless behavior that Wei Wuxian was exhibiting to Lan Wangji. How could he just PULL the Great Second Jade forwards as though he were but a commoner? He expected the other to verbally lash out; at the very minimum, perhaps shove him off in that sort of elegant way of his, but he did neither. He just endured it. Truly, Huaisang felt as though if it came to Wei Wuxian, he should stop being surprised at Lan Wangji's changes in behavior. After all, why would he have come to Caiyi town if there was nothing up? Why would he get jealous of Wen Ning? Why would he agree to whatever Wei Wuxian said?

He knew there was more to it than Lan Wangji simply having a crush on Wei Wuxian, such things were never truly so simple, not with the Twin Jades, but whatever it was that there was going on behind the scenes, he knew that Lan Wangji knew something about it, and was at the very least concerned about Wei Wuxian. That much...that much was obvious.

He wanted to ask what the change in behavior was about. Why was it that Lan Wangji was acting like this now, but never before. It was rather shocking behavior for him. He had been in the Cloud Recesses a few years for studies, and he had never really seen Lan Wangji act in such an...accommodating way, not for anyone. In fact, Lan Wangji rarely spoke to anyone outside of Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren. Even then...speaking was rather a simple term for it. Too simple. More like he looked at them, without speaking.

There were so many questions. He had so many questions. Yet, he found despite the wealth of his questions there was also so little a good sense of answers. It was not like he could just go up and ask them about the sort of questions that he had in mind. Though, seeing the way that Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian interacted with each other was...well, it solidified something. Perhaps they were not lovers...but Nie Huaisang was certain there was something more to them than just being friends. Lan Wangji did not let just anyone call him by his birth name, not even Lan Xichen did that.