Secret & Lies (the forsaken #1) [WangXian FF]

37

"Toys, eh?" Lan Wangji smirked. I do wonder if you have any reference for future toys, you know, for us to use, I do not expect you already have one. Or… maybe more?"

Wei Wuxian frowned at Lan Wangji's remark because he didn't quite get it. What he meant by toys was his hi-tech drone with infrared mapping function that could penetrate the ground up to one kilometers down. But judging from Lan Wangji's teasing voice and the cough from Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen, he finally got the gist. That was not the kind of toys that were on their dirty minds.

"It's not that kind of toy, you pervert!" He hissed to Lan Wangji and blushed. "God, I never thought that you're this perverted! Did you just imagine that I dig a tunnel to reach the vault with a giant dildo now?"

"Well, I'm not the one who said it… but now that you put the thought into my brain…" 

"Kids, kids, please keep the foreplay inside the bedroom, we have work to do." Lan Xichen smirked at his brother and then at Wei Wuxian. "Although this is the first time that I see my brother look so happy."

"Your brother is a chauvinist jerk and he thrives on other people's misery." Wei Wuxian mumbled while he left to take his drone. 

He came back to the sight of the three people talking while smoking cigars and drinking whiskey, and he rolled his eyes. He put the drone with the complicated modification in front of them. It was as small as the palm of his hand, the newest tech that he acquired from the Wens and he had it on him at any given time.

"That's… cute." Lan Xichen commented on the little drone, but Nie Mingjue took it and observed it.

"Wen tech?" He asked Wei Wuxian, who nodded. "Good, that way it won't be detected by their security since it was their tech. Have you removed the GPS function and the wifi detector? If it latched onto their wifi, you will be caught."

"Done and done."

"Good. Now let's talk technical."

While Wei Wuxian and Nie Mingjue talked about how to best get inside the vault, Lan Xichen approached Lan Wangji with a glass of single malt whiskey in his hand and gave it to him.

"The Jins proposed a truce between us last night." He drank his whiskey and observed his brother. "They even gracefully threw the antidote for your poison if we accept."

"A truce? That's impossible. There's a bigger chance of raining frogs than the Jins offered a truce. What do they want in return?" Lan Wangji drank his whiskey too, while his eyes did not stray away from Wei Wuxian and Lan Xichen noticed that too.

"A marriage alliance."

Lan Wangji paused. Then he looked at Lan Xichen.

"Qin Su and you." Lan Xichen continued.

"Pass." He didn't even think about it. 

The Jins were snakes in so many ways, and they had no honor. If they proposed a marriage out of the blue, even throwing the antidote, they must have something on their minds.

"You're not even going to consider it? It's your life we're talking about here." Lan Xichen knew that his brother would not agree, but at least he should think about it.

"No. We have known the Jins forever, and since when did they honor the sanctity of marriage? Jin Guangshan had children everywhere, who wrecked the city and made chaos since he couldn't keep it in his pants, Jin Zixun and Jin Zixuan are no better." Lan Wangji tried to control his rage. "And besides, you know I don't want to get married. Ever."

"Ever?" Lan Xichen looked at Wei Wuxian. "Are you sure?"

"I was betrothed to the next heir of the Dark Phoenix, and it was my fault that they were killed by the Jins and the Wens. Because of my mistake, I lost someone who was precious to me. Now you want me to suck their tails–the killers of my betrothed, and beg for an antidote? I'd rather die."

"It was such a long time ago, besides, you have Xiao Hei now. And him." Lan Xichen pointed his chin to Wei Wuxian. "I saw the way you look at him."

"That did not change the fact that I killed my betrothed."

"Wangji…" Lan Xichen knew his brother was stubborn, but he did not know that Lan Wangji still carried the pain from the massacre of the Dark Phoenix a long time ago. He knew it was not his brother's fault. He was still too young at that time. When he was betrothed to the next heir of the Dark Phoenix, he refused profusely. He said he did not want to get married to an egg.

And that was the day before the massacre.

Both the King and the Queen were slaughtered and the egg was gone by the time the Lans came to the rescue. The Wens, who were supposed to be their guards, betrayed them and joined hands with the Jins to kill the most powerful being in the world of mythical beasts. And it took a lot of men and the icy poison to take down the Dark Phoenix clan.

Lan Wangji was hit by the poison when he was trying to save the egg, his betrothed, and the egg was gone by the time he regained consciousness. And ever since then, he walked the earth to try to find out what happened to the egg, and on his journey, he also collected the artifacts that once belonged to the Dark Phoenix's vault.

Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei were just two of the casualties of the war. The war he did not intend to repeat, as long as the Jins and the Wens stayed at their side of the line.

"Fine, I will write the refusal letter tomorrow." Lan Xichen gave up.

"Good. And please do not mention those snakes again in front of me. Or I will have the urge to have barbecued snakes."

"I don't think that they would taste good, you know, with all their venom and their lies."

"You are correct, brother. You are correct."