Beautiful (Between a rock and a hard place 2)

Chapter 5

Lan Wangji was panicking internally. Although he did not let anything show as he was walking through the hallways and pavilions of the Cloud Recesses, he was out of his mind with worry for Wei Ying. Yesterday, before they had split up for the evening, they had promised to go to Caiyi town today after pretending to be in the Library Pavilion for Jiang Wanyin to see them there.

Wei Ying had been so stressed out and tired lately that Lan Wangji was now seriously fearing for his health. He had even suggested going to see a healer but the younger boy had only brushed him off. When he pushed a bit more, he became upset and did not talk to him for the whole two days. Lan Wangji did not want a repeat of that, it had been very lonely for him to just watch Wei Ying copy the rules and completely ignore him. So he had decided that it was time to go for another approach, that being a leisurely and fun trip into a life bursting town that he knew his beloved would enjoy very much.

And he had been right. As soon as he suggested this option and reassured Wei Ying that Jiang Wanyin would definitely not find out anything about it – he had even gone and bended the rules so there would be a disciple informing the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir that they had changed location of the punishment for today, which was in fact true as they would not be in the Library pavilion at all – the younger boy became overjoyed and very enthusiastic about the trip.

The thing was that Wei Ying never made it to the Library pavilion where they had agreed to meet up today. Despite waiting for an hour there, just in case his beloved was only late, no one came. Now Lan Wangji was running all around the Cloud Recesses to see if he would be able to find the younger boy somewhere. However, Wei Ying was not in the Lecture hall, the back mountains, nor waiting for him at the entrance or in the dining hall where Lan Wangji had not expected him to be but checked just in case. It seemed like the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple had disappeared from the face of the earth.

Lan Wangji was not about to believe that Wei Ying had just forgotten about their plans, he had been so excited the day before. It could be that he was late or had overslept if he was really tired but there was a growing sense of dread in Lan Wangji's guts. Something did not feel right; he was worried that something bad had happened to his beloved.

Just as Lan Wangji was seriously considering going to see if he was in his room perhaps, something he had also promised he would not do as Wei Ying had all but begged him to not come anywhere near it, he spotted purple robes in the distance, just disappearing behind a corner. He scowled immediately; he had no desire to even see, much less speak with, Jiang Wanyin. But at this point, it seemed like the only option to see if Wei Ying was with him or not or maybe even get to know where he was.

With a lot of self-denial and reluctance, he started walking in the same direction where he had seen the robes disappear to. It was not too hard to catch up to Jiang Wanyin. To Lan Wangji's disappointment, Wei Ying was not there with him, that only left the option of going to talk to him and ask about the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple's whereabouts directly.

His steps led him to Jiang Wanyin although that was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to turn around and go search for Wei Ying once again, it was possible that he had just missed some place or that his beloved was running around and they only kept missing each other. La n Wangji silently berated himself, he knew he was trying to avoid an unpleasant task so he would not have to speak to the angry looking Yunmeng Jiang sect heir. He also realized fully well that this was his last resort as he had been searching for his loved one for several hours already and had been literally everywhere in the Cloud Recesses, with the exception of Wei Ying's room of course.

With an internal sigh and a glacial expression, he finally took the last two steps so he was now standing in front of Jiang Wanyin. The Yunmeng Jiang sect heir scowled at him as if he had just offended him but remained silent, daring Lan Wangji to speak with a furious glare. If the Second Jade did not know any better, he would have said that there was also something else in Jiang Wanyin's eyes, something besides the obvious hate and anger, something that looked suspiciously like wariness or perhaps even fear.

He had no time to think about it and understand if there could perhaps be a hidden deeper reason or if he was just imagining things as the next second, Nie Huisang was standing by his side, looking worried himself. He only acknowledged him with a small bow and a short greeting and he was already turning to Jiang Wanyin.

"Brother Jiang, had you perhaps seen Brother Wei? I had not seen him since this morning and I am worried about him. I have promised to lend him a book of mine but he had never shown up to retrieve it."

Lan Wangji's fear for his beloved just shot through the roof. It was true that the lectures got cancelled for today because Lan Qiren had to assist with an urgent sect matter, but Lan Wangji had not thought that Wei Ying had been missing ever since the morning, if was late afternoon by now. Now that he thought about it, he had last seen the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple yesterday when they had agreed about their trip.

His head snapped in the direction of Jiang Wanyin and he started to throw daggers at him in an attempt to see if the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir did not have something to do with his brother's disappearance. He wanted to shout at him to hurry up and answer Nie Huisang's question, he wanted to know where Wei Ying was to be able to hurry to his side. However, he could not do that, he had a reputation to uphold and he could not just burst out in anger out in the open, he could only settle on staring at Jiang Wanyin with a murderous glare.

It seemed like an eternity before the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir finally opened his mouth with an annoyed bark: "Wei Wuxian is not feeling well, he is resting and does not want to be disturbed."

There was a definite bite to Jiang Wanyin's tone and Lan Wangji did not like it, it sounded way too defensive for just telling them about Wei Ying's illness. Still, it could be true; the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple had been not feeling well for a while now, too stressed out and tired for comfort, it could very well be that his body finally gave out and he became sick.

"Is it serious?" Nie Huisang took words right out of Lan Wangji's mouth.

"He will be just fine in a couple of days. I have to go now." Jiang Wanyin replied while turning away from them and rudely walking in the opposite direction without even saying goodbye.

Lan Wangji was torn between following after him to go demand to be led to see Wei Ying and going back to his own room for the day. His beloved had after all asked him to not go see him in his quarters and Jiang Wanyin had also said that he needed rest and did not want to be disturbed. He did not know what to do beside going back and trying to calm the bad feeling in his chest. Wei Ying was alright, only sick, that happened to everyone at some point, there was surely no reason to worry.

Nie Huisang said his own goodbyes and left him standing in the middle of the courtyard. Lan Wangji only found his senses after a while and decided that he would abstain from going to see Wei Ying today, he could ask about his health again tomorrow.

It was possible that the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple only needed a good night's sleep and then he would be up and around in no time at all. They only knew each other for a few months by now but it already felt like Lan Wangji was not able to go without his beautiful and smart Wei Ying for even a single day. He was missing him greatly already.