The meaning of protecting you with my life

Wei Ying is missing!

Lan Wangji entered Wei Ying's room with a tray containing breakfast for two as he had done since his husband had woken up. Today, for the first time, Wen Qing allowed for spicy dishes to be present and he was sure that his beloved would be delighted. He had missed Lotus Pier's spices greatly and did not pass any opportunity to whine to Lan Wangji about this fact. Until now however, his body was in no condition to handle such heavy meals.

Even before he closed the door behind himself, he knew that something was terribly wrong. Wei Ying has usually not been awake when he knocked on the door to announce his arrival but he would immediately start whining from the bed to be left to sleep some more. Not today though. There could have been at least fifty good reasons for him to not do it today, but Lan Wangji had a bad feeling.

He immediately turned on his heel and looked towards the bed.

Sure enough, Wei Ying was not inside of it; and neither was he anywhere in the room, Lan Wangji determined with the next look. The Second Jade's heart almost jumped out of his chest, his husband was missing.

The tray with the food fell from his hands which could not keep it anymore as Lan Wangji immediately unsheathed his sword, ready to come after anyone who dared to take Wei Ying from his side. For he was sure that his husband had just been kidnapped.

The bed was in disarray as the rest of the room. That in itself would not be the decisive tell, Lan Wangji knew how quickly the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple could make a room a mess. No, the most important signs were somewhere else. The disciples at the door would have told him if Wei Ying had left on his own through the door. And perhaps the most evident tell was the opened window. That was he way the intruder must have run away with his husband.

The noise of the tray falling on the ground seemed to have alarmed the disciples outside and they run inside with their swords also drawn.

Lan Wangji had no time to explain anything, he only informed them quickly as he was already leaving the room through the window: "Wei Ying is missing. Go tell Sect Leader Jiang."

And then he was already outside, on the rooftop, looking all around for any signs of where the kidnapper had escaped to. He had not felt any traces of spiritual energy inside his husband's room, nor had he noticed any of the arrays being broken. It was impossible for anyone to use a teleportation talisman there. Or anywhere in the vicinity really as the arrays spread to a larger area around the whole building. That only left the more mundane way of kidnapping a person and that was to simply carry them away.

Lan Wangji's desperation was growing with each heartbeat. He was certain that Wei Ying would not have let himself be taken away just like that, he would have tried to defend himself. Or at least leave a trail for them to follow. But there was nothing the Second Jade could pick up on. It was as if his husband had disappeared into thin air.

He mounted his sword and rose into the air, hoping to see more from up above. He had no luck though, he could not tell to which direction the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple had been taken to. He started circling around, taking in wider and wider perimeter with every turn.

Before he could get too far away though, he heard commotion from Wei Ying's room. He decided it would be more beneficial to go back and see if others would not have some kind of idea where his husband could be or who had taken him away. He had not found any clues by himself so perhaps it would be good joining his forces with the Yunmeng Jiang sect. The more eyes there would be, the faster they would be able to find Wei Ying.

He set his sword down in the middle of the courtyard, he did not want to climb in through the window again. It would be against his principles and he could destroy some of the clues as well. Why had he not thought about this earlier? Perhaps he had already erased some important evidence himself, his heart was now beating like crazy and his head was starting to spin as he was making his way back to Wei Ying's room.

Jiang Cheng was already inside, looking all around a little breathless. He must have run here after being alerted about his brother going missing. There was tension in his muscles and when he turned around, Lan Wangji could also see panic in his eyes. Quite well hidden but there nevertheless.

As soon as the Yunmeng Jiang sect leader turned around, he was already questioning Lan Wangji: "Second Young Master Lan, what had happened? I have been informed that my brother is missing and that you are chasing the intruder. Did you catch him? Where is Wei Wuxian?"

Lan Wangji could not answer any of those questions, he did not know what had happened nor who had taken Wei Ying and to where. All he could do was shake his head to let Jiang Cheng know that he had not caught the culprit yet. His only consolation was that he had not seen blood anywhere so his husband must have been kidnapped but not hurt. At least he hoped so, he was not sure what he would have done if that was not the case.

He had already lost Wei Ying once, during the final battle in the Nightless City palace when the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple's heart had stopped beating, but this was completely different. This time, he did not have Wei Ying in his arms and could not help him in any way. He was at a complete loss about what to do.