Backlash Part 1

Chapter 35: The Jingshi

'That bitch!' Wen Qing cursed in rage. Wei Wuxian had not been in such a bad state all week. This morning he was a bit anxious and easily distressed, but otherwise doing okay. His sleep was suffering, but most of his distress was probably fuelled by the anxiety of the meeting. Now he was completely unresponsive to their approach. This did not occur out of nowhere. This was a reaction of his mind trying to protect itself from something damaging. 'What the hell did that woman do to my didi?!'

"A-Xian," Jiang Yanli gasped as tears began pouring from her eyes. Lan Xichen was bewildered. Wei Wuxian had not been in such a state this morning. Even when things got bad he had never become this unresponsive in the entire week. What could have happened while they were in the meeting to cause such a change?

"Nie Huaisang. Please explain in detail what happened." Wen Qing's voice was not unlike the tone she had used when speaking with Lan Xichen and the Jiang siblings on the first night in the infirmary. It was fierce and slightly intimidating then.  Now that voice felt like it had something dangerous and sharp hidden beneath it, it actually sent an involuntary shiver of fear down Lan Xichen's spine. There seemed to be a terrifying rage threatening to be unleashed.

Lan Xichen noticed Nie Huaisang was sitting off to the side. Near Wei Wuxian, but with quite a lot of space between them. What had even brought him to the Jingshi? Nie Huaisang was not one of the people looking after Wei Wuxian or visiting with him. Nie Huaisang scampered to his feet.

"Wen-guniang. Um. Xiansheng was looking for Madam Yu and Sect Leader Jiang. I didn't know where Sect Leader Jiang was, but I had seen a disciple leading Madam Yu this way." Nie Huaisang's voice shook just a little as he spoke. Wen Qing was rather terrifying right now. More so than when she had chased the disciples away from the infirmary. Nie Huaisang cleared his throat. "When we arrived she was yelling quite loudly."

Nie Huaisang was very aware of the fact that Sect Leader Jiang was in front of him. He did not want to cause any problems between the sects, but he also wanted it made very clear that he had witnessed Yu Ziyuan mistreating Wei Wuxian. With this many witnesses and some of those witnesses being the GusuLan Sect, the odds that they would intercede were not low. Nie Huaisang did not want to see his friend returning to a place that had hurt him this much.

"What exactly was said to him?" Wen Qing articulated as her intense gaze flared. Nie Huaisang struggled to not shrink back. Wen Qing was terrifying like this. Nie Huaisang cleared his throat a few times.

"It... It was quite bad," Nie Huaisang began hesitantly. Now he was very worried about whether he should repeat it or not. He wanted the information revealed, but would repeating it out loud hurt Wei Wuxian even more? Nie Huaisang glanced to the side. Wen Qing followed his gaze and saw Lan Wangji's hesitance in approaching Wei Wuxian. Her expression softened in pain for a moment. It hurt to see Wei Wuxian like this, and it would certainly be painful for Lan Wangji. She lapsed into silence watching Lan Wangji approaching with such uncertainty.

"He asked for you." Nie Huaisang nervously ducked behind his fan after he spoke. Although nerve wracking it seemed to do the trick. Lan Wangji finally reached out to Wei Wuxian. The deep emotion in their voices when the two said each other's names. It seemed to take such a long time before Lan Wangji finally pulled Wei Wuxian into an embrace. As soon as Wen Qing saw Wei Wuxian's arms wrap around Lan Wangji's neck she felt like she could breathe a little easier. As long as Wei Wuxian was still responding to Lan Wangji. As long as he was still willing to seek comfort from Lan Wangji. They could work with that.

She found herself grateful for Wei Wuxian's resilience, that he was still able to seek support from anyone. Wen Qing herself couldn't help but feel like they had betrayed him by leaving him with only Wen Qionglin. Wen Qing herself had not been certain how guarded she needed to be regarding Yu Ziyuan. Wen Qionglin certainly would have an even more difficult time. Not to mention Yu Ziyuan was the Madam of Lotus Pier. Even if they were in the Cloud Recesses right now, her authority was not easily ignored. Wen Qing had expected Yu Ziyuan to accompany Sect Leader Jiang to the meeting. Even though she wasn't there, it hadn't occurred to Wen Qing that Madam Yu would seek out Wei Wuxian on her own. Wen Qing's gaze hardened as she turned back to Nie Huaisang.