Way too untamed, way too wild

My sword! My ribbon!

"Yes! And I am Wei Ying."

The boy was still grinning at him when he reached out his hand with the speed of a lightning and grabbed Lan Wangji's sword. He tugged at it and the Second Jade, not expecting him to try and take it from him in the first place felt it slipping from his hand just as Wei Ying continued chatting as if he was not doing anything wrong. As if he was just not taking a cultivator's weapon from him like it was nothing at all.

"So, Lan Zhan, you are a cultivator right? I have only saw a few of those. I have once seen them while they were fighting walking corpses and they were just awesome!" Wei Ying had now unsheathed Lan Wangji's sword and started moving it around, as if he was actually trying to copy some moves. He was not too bad at it either, the Second Jade had to admit.

"They were so powerful! Just a few moves and there were no walking corpses anymore. It took me hours in the beginning to subdue just one corpse but they took out a whole lot of them in only a moment. Can you do that as well, Lan Zhan?"

Wei Ying now stopped for a second in his sword dance to give Lan Wangji time to respond. The Second Jade was still too baffled by the boy's unbelievable behaviour. It was such a great offence against a cultivator to take a sword away from him, he was both ashamed and furious at himself for having his weapon taken. He had to take a deep breath and repeat to himself that Wei Ying probably meant no disrespect, he just did not know any better.

As calmly as he could manage, he reprimanded the boy: "Wei Ying, please give me my sword back."

The boy made a somewhat pouting expression and looked down at the sword he was holding. "You do not want to lend me your sword? Stingy!"

He now looked like a small child who was told to go to sleep even though they still wanted to play some more. It was actually very adorable and Lan Wangji was swayed for a second to leave things be and just let Wei Ying play with his weapon.

Then he reconsidered; when he would take to boy away from the Burial Mounds with him, he could not behave like this, it would not end well. So he patiently explained: "It is not polite to take a cultivator's sword. It is their most treasured possession."

Wei Ying glanced at him and then back at the weapon in his arm. He held it higher and closer to Lan Wangji, apparently giving it back. His head was lowered and he whispered in an apologetic tone: "I did not know. I should not have taken it without asking you. I am sorry."

Lan Wangji took his weapon and its sheath back and put the sword into it. The boy looked very bothered right now. No, he did not want to make him feel this bad, it had been much better when he had been smiling. Lan Wangji gave out another sigh, Wei Ying was really a bit too much for him to deal with.

"It is fine. I am not angry."

The boy immediately brightened again. Then he continued narrating his story about a group of cultivators who he had seen fighting fierce corpses. Only now when he was showing their movements, he was doing it without an actual sword, just pretending he was holding one. He did not in any way mention that he was afraid of cultivators or that they have attacked him, so Lan Wangji assumed he had not shown himself to them.

That was good. He did not want the other to overreact when he would eventually bring him to the Cloud Recesses. He was still convinced that the cultivation world could benefit from Wei Ying's expertise when it came to the demonic cultivation. That was however a minor reason comparing to doing the right thing; the children could not stay here, he had to take them out of the Burial Mounds and find someone who would take care of them. It was clear that they were hardly surviving here.

Suddenly, he heard steps behind him and he turned around abruptly. He was very much aware of the fact that he was still inside the Burial Mounds, the most dangerous place the cultivation world ever knew, he had to watch out.

Two things happened the next moment: he realized that there was no danger and that Wen Qing was only coming to meet them and that his forehead ribbon suddenly left its usual place and was now falling down in front of his eyes in a seemingly slow motion. He was so stunned that he could not even react quickly enough and catch it before it fell down out of his sight. The ribbon he had only ever taken down for sleep was now gone just like that for the first time ever. He was completely frozen and unable to react to this situation.

It was Wen Qing's sharp voice which threw him out of this state: "Wei Ying, give the ribbon back to Hanguang-Jun immediately! The Gusu Lan sect is very particular about those for some reason. You cannot just grab it like that, it is rude." There was a short pause in her speech and then she continued impatiently: "Give it back and come show me your wound. How many time had I told you that when you are injured you are not to move around this much? You will ruin all my hard work and inevitably collapse in the end, making even more work for me!"

Lan Wangji was still standing in the place, looking at the raging girl; or perhaps he had been mistaken and she was older than he had thought. She had called him by the title he had earned during the war; she must have known who he was the whole time. She also talked as if she was alder and had seen more of the world. It only now occurred to him that since a few of the children including her had the surname Wen, they were probably war refugees.

He could not think about the implications of that realization any more as Wei Ying now circled him and stood in front of him, he had even more of an apologetic expression on his face than before. He was holding Lan Wangji's forehead ribbon in his outstretched arms like and offering.

"Sorry, Lan Zhan, I did it again. Here, your ribbon. I promise I will not do that again. Never."

The boy was giving him back his forehead ribbon and Lan Wangji automatically reached out for it and straightened it back in its place. Immediately, he felt better, not as naked as before. He felt sorry for the boy, he did not do it to spite him nor did he had any bad intentions, he just did not know the ribbon was important to him, just like the sword.

To reassure him that he was not angry this time either, he accepted his apology: "Mn."