The meaning of protecting you with my life

Waiting as always

Jiang Yanli had waived goodbye to Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji and wished them good luck. As always, that was all she could do. She was not strong enough to be of any help in a fight so she had known all too well she would have to stay in the camp, looking after the injured and her parents. What she did not expect however, was that she would get her own battle to fight.

And battle it was indeed because of course her parents did not agree to be left behind themselves. It was what everyone except for them understood. The long months of captivity were not kind on them and they were in no condition to even be walking around, much less fighting a fierce battle. Although their physical injuries were not too serious and were already taken care of properly, mostly healed by now. It was another matter entirely when it came to their overall condition.

They had been starved for the better part of their imprisonment and the diet, when provided, had not been ideal. Jiang Yanli knew it from personal experience. She had only spend a comparatively shorter time in the Nightless City dungeons, yet she could already feel how tired she was all the time, and how weak too. Even with her parents' strong golden cores, it would take them weeks to be fit and strong again. Jiang Yanli supposed that they would hardly even be able to lift their swords now.

Despite everything, they had been persistently asking to be let out of the medical tent and to join the final siege against the Qishan Wen sect. Jiang Yanli knew fully well why without being given the reason explicitly. It was not out of pride or feeling of duty for the Sunshot campaign and the Yunmeng Jiang sect. Perhaps It would have been before the fall of Lotus Pier. No anymore, this time, it was out of genuine concern and worries for Wei Wuxian. Not only Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, her parents also wanted to take part in the rescue.

It took almost two hours and a healer's and Nie Huisang's help to convince them that they could not go, they would endanger themselves as well as the mission if they insisted to come along. The mission was simple at first glance but it was in fact extremely dangerous and even the smallest mistake could end it in a disaster.

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji would have to penetrate all the way into the very heart of the Nightless City palace, to the room where Wen Ruohan was keeping the Yin iron, and now also the older of her brothers. They would have to free Wei Wuxian and take him away in secret, having the whole Qishan Wen sect distracted by the battle.

Or that was what it should have been like. However, they all knew that Wen Ruohan would be inside the room with Wei Wuxian as well. Not only because he was still trying to break her brother and convince him to join his side, but mostly because he would surely be controlling the Yin iron and his puppets.

That was where their second spy in the Nightless City palace came in. Lan Xichen had only told them yesterday that there was such a man. Meng Yao had been sending them intel even longer than Wen Ning. That was from where the First Jade had gotten all the strategic information and also plans for battles. It had saved them more than once. And so the second part of the plan, the distraction as to say, was on Meng Yao's shoulders. He was supposed to delay Wen Ruohan so Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, with Wen Ning as their guide, could rescue Wei Wuxian before the Qishan Wen sect leader would come for the Yin iron.

It was risky but it was all they got. In that equation, everyone was like a piece on a chess board and would have to move exactly according to the plan. If her parents were to go, they would not be able to keep up and the plan would surely fall to ruins; even like this, it was still not certain that everything would go smoothly, there were simply too many variables which could backfire and the rescue mission would devolve into a fight for their lives.

Jiang Yanli had been prepared to knock her parents out with sleeping drugs if they would not agree to stay put, just as she always had to do when her brothers had gone on a night hunt. Except, this was in no way a simple night hunt from which everyone was sure to come back unscathed. In the end, fortunately enough, the arguments seemed to have convinced them and they begrudgingly agreed to wait for Wei Wuxian in the camp. That however did not mean that they decided to do nothing at all; they insisted to help Jiang Yanli with preparing medical supplies and setting up a bed where Wei Wuxian would be treated once he was with them again.

Everything was set already to admit their patient, the only thing that was missing was Wei Wuxian himself. Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan were now sitting on another bed in the tent, hugging close together as they had come to do during their imprisonment, offering comfort to each other. There was nothing else for them to do but wait.

Jiang Yanli found it hard to stay put so she was constantly going around and checking that they indeed had everything ready. She had seen in what condition her brother had been back in the throne room and she knew that it had not gotten any better since, quite the contrary really. He would need immediate medical attention as soon as he would be brought back to them. She also knew that there would not be any medics around to help, they would all be too busy tending to the wounded after the final battle. It would all just be on her.

But it was fine, she had a long practice by now, she could perhaps even become a healer in the future. And maybe she should; she knew how reckless Wei Wuxian could be and now he would have no golden core to help him heal his injuries anymore, she could become his personal doctor of a sort.

They have talked just yesterday with all of her family about what the future would look like. Jiang Fengmian was not convinced that he could undertake the position of a sect leader anymore after all of this, and Jiang Cheng had been doing such a good job too. Things would change for the Yunmeng Jiang sect. And for Wei Wuxian most of all people.

Her younger brother had informed them about the rumours and had pleaded with them to agree to protect Wei Wuxian once all of this was over, he had been afraid that their brother would be hunted down because of his demonic cultivation. He did not even have to ask them, it went without any questions that Wei Wuxian was now truly a part of their family, and they would always protect and take care of their own. If her brother had felt like he had had a life debt to pay because of being taken in, their whole family now had the same debt to repay him for saving all of them.

Jiang Yanli was glad; after all those years of tense relationships and very inharmonious family life, they would finally be all together, in peace. She knew it was a selfish wish from their part, perhaps Wei Wuxian would not want to have anything in common with them anymore, perhaps he would decide to accept Lan Wangji's offer and move with him to Cloud Recesses. But there was still hope that he would give them a second chance so they would be able to make it up to him. Regardless of the outcome of his choice, they first and foremost needed to get him back and nurse him to health.

All that was in the future, now she had to concentrate on the present, or more specifically, a much closer future where Wei Wuxian would be brought back to them. She did not want to accept the possibility that he was not coming back. It would be too painful and she could not lose hope, she knew it would break her. She had to believe that everything would be fine and both her brothers, Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan would come back to her.