Beautiful (Between a rock and a hard place 2)

Chapter 7

Just as the lectures finished for the day, Lan Wangji's mind was made up. Wei Ying needed help and he himself could not provide it unless he did something very reckless and unacceptable. That only left him with one option, trying to seek assistance elsewhere.

Although it was the last thing he wanted to do as his uncle did not quite like Wei Ying in general, Lan Wangji guessed that he could be one of the few people who could give him any advice. After all, Lan Qiren was a teacher and a Gusu Lan sect elder, he should be able to intervene without causing outright an incident. The problem was that Lan Wangji was not sure how to convince him.

Still, he did not have time to think up a perfect plan or write his lines beforehand so he would be able to speak more at ease after a little practice. This was not a topic he wanted to leave to his poor communication skills and his uncle's temper when it came to Wei Ying. Nothing could be done however as he was in a hurry.

Lan Wangji stayed in the Lecture hall after the classes had been finished for the day and he approached his uncle with a little caution but not without a lot of determination. Lan Qiren seemed surprised by it. He remained standing next to his desk, all his supplies for the lectures in his hands as he had been about to clear them up and put everything in order.

They stayed there, in the empty Lecture hall, looking at each other. Suddenly, Lan Wangji did not know how to even breach the subject. His uncle was not exactly a person whom he would have the easiest way to converse with. When they spoke, it was largely out of necessity and certainly not for a leisurely conversation. Those, Lan Wangji could lead exclusively with his brother and even that only to some extent. He was not one to handle words as easily as someone like Wei Ying.

However, he was determined to try, for his loved one.

"Uncle, I need to talk to you."

That was a good start, Lan Wangji thought until his uncle assured him of the contrary: "I can see that. Well, what is it?"

Lan Wangji took a deep breath and tried to not let his growing anger and worries show. Each second that he spent explaining, something horrible could be happening to Wei Ying. He did not exactly have time to waste. Without further ado, he dove right into the subject: "Wei Ying is behaving oddly."

His uncle stared at him in bewilderment. Then he shook his head and inquired: "What do you mean by that? If you want to say that he had apparently made it his mission to annoy me and break all 3000 rules, then you are very much correct. That unruly Yunmeng Jiang sect disciple is just like his mother... I should have known better before sending the invitation. I should have explicitly ban him from coming here. I knew he would not be a good influence."

Then he looked at the Second Jade with suspicion: "Wangji, do not tell me that he did something even worse than until now? Has the copying of rules not taught him anything? If things go on like this for any longer, I will have to resort to a harsher form of punishments..."

Lan Wangji realized then and there that his uncle had not been the correct person to go talk to about this. He had been very much biased against Wei Ying from the very beginning and it seemed that now, he was even considering becoming ever stricter with his beloved. Lan Wangji could not have that, especially not because all the trouble Wei Ying had been causing and all the punishments he accepted were only to be able to spend some time alone with Lan Wangji, of that the Second Jade was sure.

He did not want to rile up Lan Qiren any more. He knew how unreasonable and unrelenting his uncle could be when it came to discipline. He himself had been beaten several times when his mother had died and he had been still too young to understand that it was not permitted to him to publically display his sorrow by crying. He should have learned his lesson then, Lan Qiren was too stuck up on the Gusu Lan sect rules and it would be extremely hard to convince him to see beyond them.

Even though it was Jiang Wanyin breaking the rules by being cruel to Wei Ying, Lan Wangji now had only little hope that his uncle would listen to him and turn his focus away from the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple. At least not in his current riled up state.

Lan Wangji was considering abandoning his try and go ask his brother, surely Lan Xichen would be more open-minded and willing to listen to him. But he could not give up this easily, Wei Ying's happiness was on the line and he did not want to throw the fight because of his uncle being unreasonable. After all, he had not really explained anything just yet. He had to do better than this.

He held his ground and stared back at his uncle. Lan Qiren seemed a little taken aback but not more open to discussion.

He tried again: "No. Wei Ying is ill and in pain."

Lan Qiren's expression did not soften even the tiniest bit, if anything, it became even stricter and harsher. Lan Wangji wondered what he had said wrong this time. And sure enough, his uncle did not take long to continue his berating of Wei Ying. He was in fact breaking at least one rule himself, he should not talk about other's behind their backs. Not that Lan Wangji wanted to remind him about it right now and make him even more angry.

"I highly doubt that. He was surely only avoiding having to participate in the lectures and continuing with his punishments. He did not look particularly sick to me today; and he had also refused to go to the infirmary. If he was truly ill, he would not have to hide it away. He could have just gone and have some medicine prescribed for him. And anyway, his golden core is strong, I know he had just been faking it. Thank you for reminding me about him, I still need to talk to him about this."

Lan Wangji was furious and horrified beyond belief at the same time. He was angry because his uncle would not listen to him and had only assumed the worst about his beloved without even properly listening to his side of the story; not that Wei Ying would have told him anything when he refused to reveal the truth even to Lan Wangji. He was also silently berating himself because he had just given Lan Qiren a perfect opportunity to punish Wei Ying again.

This was an utter failure at the very least. He did not know how to discourage Lan Qiren from being this biased against his beloved. He was running out of time and he did not have any more patience to deal with his uncle. He glared at him for a good measure and turned on his heel. He stormed out of the Lecture hall and went to search for his brother, hoping that he would have more luck there.