The meaning of protecting you with my life

Bittersweet reunion

Jiang Yanli had already guessed that when Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji would bring Wei Wuxian back to her, he would be in a dire need of medical attention and that she needed to be ready. However, seeing just how hurt he was, how still he way laying in the Second Jade's arms, how his chest was barely moving, she was shocked and almost overcome with grief.

At first, she had even thought that her brother had not even been alive anymore and she was short of crumbling and breaking right there and then. It took her mother pointing out that Wei Wuxian was still very much alive and needed her for her to snap out of it and run towards the bed where Lan Wangji was just putting Wei Wuxian down. She immediately noticed the signs of life that she had overlooked in her terror.

She was glad that her younger brother and the Second Jade had been successful in rescuing Wei Wuxian from the Nightless City palace while the main siege on the city was ongoing, but she was still too shaken. They should have tried to get him out of there earlier. They should have just come back right after escaping on that faithful day. They should have never let her brother suffer alone in the Nightless City palace for the whole week. No matter what the boy himself had been relaying to them in the messages they had been getting from Nie Huisang's spy.

For as soon as she had touched Wei Wuxian's wrist, the one which her mother was still holding, she understood why Yu Ziyuan had never let go after touching Wei Wuxian. Her brother was now basically being kept alive because of all the spiritual energy that Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji and her mother were pumping into him.

It was a great mystery to her how spiritual energy could even help him when he had no golden core anymore. Was it perhaps due to his body actually remembering how to work with the spiritual energy despite not being able to retain it on its own anymore? Her curiosity was picked. But she did not care too much to investigate at the moment, there were more important matters to attend to.

She started going through the motions which were by now embedded into her muscles from the long time she had spent helping in the medical wards and tents. Her mind was not really on the task, still too shocked and horrified by Wei Wuxian's physical state, but her hands knew what to do. She ordered the other three to keep passing their spiritual energy for it was the only thing keeping Wei Wuxian alive at this point. She did her best to treat all the injuries she had found and then took a step back from the bed.

She was met with her family's and Lan Wangji's astonished and worried glances. She did her best to not look as worried as she in fact was and tried to smile reassuringly: "That is all I can do right now. The rest is up to him. Just continue to give him spiritual energy, it seems to be working well. Later, we should get an experienced healer have a look at him, just in case."

She turned around and went to a small table where there was a basin of fresh water prepared for her to wash her hands. She needed a little break; she knew if she continued to look at her brother, to wait anxiously for his every breath, she would just wear herself out and break in the end. She needed to remain strong, for herself, for Wei Wuxian and for the rest of her family as well. For now, they were watching him instead of her so she could take a few free breaths and calm her racing heart.

The blood from her hands was slowly making the water in the basin pink and then red. Jiang Yanli did her best to not remember how it had gotten onto her hands. Still, the images were just too fresh and vivid in her mind. Although Wei Wuxian's injuries had been all already scabbed over and he had not been bleeding anymore when he had been brought inside the tent, during the treatment, some of the wounds had come open again. Thus, the origin of all the blood on Jiang Yanli's hands.

She tried to redirect the train of her thoughts lest she would just spiral down the memory line.

She concentrated on the small feeling back in her head which was telling her just how happy she was to see her brother again alive, more or less in one piece. This happiness had been pushed back earlier in the effort to not distract her too much during the treatment and also overshadowed by guilt of not rescuing Wei Wuxian earlier. Now she was trying to pull it back forward in order to sooth her aching soul.

Yes, she was glad that Wei Wuxian was back with them again, that much was undeniably true. However, she was not sure he would stay for long. Not that he would die, of course not, that was not an option, not if she had any say in it as a doctor, but because of all that he had to sacrifice for her family. Jiang Yanli would understand if after waking up, her brother would want to leave her family behind and go live elsewhere, completely forgetting them and starting a new, hopefully better life without them in it. For example, he could choose to go to Cloud Recesses with Lan Wangji.

Jiang Yanli would not begrudge him nor resent him for such a decision. Although it would hurt, Wei Wuxian deserved to be happy even if he himself did not believe that. He should never be imprisoned by her family and treated as he had been ever again. She knew that her parents and Jiang Cheng were now ready to turn a new leaf, however, she was not certain that it would go as they imagined it.

Wei Wuxian had been under too much strain ever since her father had taken him in, she was afraid that if he chose to stay with them, he would just fit back into that pattern despite their best intentions. Perhaps it would actually be healthier for her brother to leave Lotus Pier and start anew, unburdened by restrictions and expectations of her family.

Finally, all the blood had been washed away and Jiang Yanli took one last deep breath to steady herself before turning around and facing the room once again.

Nie Huisang must have left at some point because now, it was just her whole family and Lan Wangji in the tent. They were all huddled around the bed and the still deathly and frighteningly unmoving pale figure on it. She came closer and checked Wei Wuxian's condition. It was somewhat more stable than before, the spiritual energy of three strong cultivators making wonders for him. She looked around and observed the people around her, her family, finally reunited after so long.

Both Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji looked about ready to pass out, their reserves of spiritual energy completely depleted by now. Jiang Yanli ushered them towards the two other beds in the tent to rest, promising them to look after Wei Wuxian in their stead. It took a little bit of convincing but in the end, they were soon asleep after being told that she would wake them up when it would be time to change shifts in passing spiritual energy.

Once everything was settled, she finally allowed herself to fall down on the chair beside her brother's bed and close eyes as well. Just for a little while. She was not sleeping, just resting her eyes a little bit. She would have to check Wei Wuxian's condition regularly, and she was also waiting for any news about Jin Zixuan, her once-again-fiancé as she had informed her parents even before the battle.