Emperors Smile

24

'So, mister Jiang', he poured in a cup of tea for Jiang Cheng. Jiang looked at him and said, 'Wen.' Wen Chao smirked, and he pointed his hand to the seat in front of him. Jiang ignored his offer and asked, 'Why did you tell your guys to come get me on my free day.' Wen let his hand down, 'I couldn't pass on this opportunity.' 'Why didn't you just send an email, you know keep it professional.' Wen Chao scoffed, 'We did send an email, but none of you replied.' 'Then it wasn't worth our time', it seemed like Jiang had this answer sitting on the tip of his tongue waiting to use it. Wen got out of his seat and stood in front of Jiang Cheng. 'How can you decide if something is not worth your time if you haven't even looked into it?' Jiang took a step back, 'Let's not make this personal mister Wen. I don't personally look at every email we receive, so I can't have any judgement. But I have trust in the people who did judge your email.' He scoffed again, 'The who are those people?' 'That is confidential information.' Wen let out a little laugh, but Jiang didn't see the fun in this. 'If we are done here, can I return to my table?' 'Cheng- ' he cut him off, 'Don't act like we are close.' 'Ow stop being so stuck up, we went to school together. You can cut your old classmate some slack, can't you?', he placed his hand on his shoulder. Jiang brushed his hand off, 'I cannot do that. If you want to discuss this further, try to send another email.' He turned around to walkout of the room. But the two bouncers that brought him in blocked the door. Wen signalled with his hand to step out the way, and they did. Jiang Cheng opened the door and found his way back to his brother and friend. Nie saw him first, 'Wei', he pointed in the direction where he was. Wei turned his head. When he saw him, he got up and walked to A-Cheng, 'Where have you been?' Jiang calmly shook his head, 'Nothing to worry about. Shall we go somewhere else, I don't like it here.' Wei nodded, 'Yeah, fine.'

The three of them left The Nightless City. Nie looked at his two friends and spoke first, 'Are we gonna go somewhere else, or will we all go home?' Wei turned his head to Jiang, 'You decide.' Jiang shook his head, 'Let's go The Cloud Recess.' Wei let out a big yey. 'I'm not doing this for you, asshole!' 'Yeah yeah, sure sure.' He waved his hand at him. Nie giggled.

They headed to The Cloud Recess. Someone led them to their table. Wei took a quick look around for Lan Wangji, but he wasn't there. Maybe he's in the back? After the person seated them, he left so that they could read the menu. Jiang Cheng said something Wei wanted to say, 'I don't see Lan. Is he working today?' It coughed his of guard, 'Uh, I don't know.' Jiang raised his eyebrows as an 'okay' and he looked at the menu. Nie asked Wei If he should as Lan Xichen about where his brother was. Wei shook his head, 'He must be busy or it's his free day.' 'Alright', Nie said with a happy tone and looked at the menu Jiang was holding. Jiang noticed and moved a little closer to him. Wei pouted, 'Damn, you two really leaving me out.' 'You always order the same shit anyways.' Wei made his eyes bigger, 'Okay? But that doesn't mean I don't wanna join you two, duhh!' Jiang shook his head, 'Just go order your drink. You're just going to let the poor server walk back and forward for nothing.' Wei squinted his eyes, 'Shut up you little bitch.' Jiang laughed, 'Where did that come from!' Nie scratched his cheek, 'Maybe from his mouth?' Wei folded his arms, 'Uhm, my brains control my mouth, so it's from my brain.' Nie looked at him, 'I already declared that you have no brains.' 'What?' 'And that's what I mean.' Wei was genuinely confused. Nie turned his head to Jiang and whispered to him, 'I think you should take him to a doctor.' 'How so?', Jiang whispered back. 'He keeps forgetting things that literally happened, I don't know, yesterday?' 'Maybe he's just getting old.' 'He's the same age as us.' 'Yeah, but older', he put the menu down. Nie had an expression on his face that was just filled with 'really dude, really', but Jiang took zero notice of it.

While Jiang ordered Lan Xichen walked pasted their table and he looked worried. Nie called for him, 'Ge!' Xichen stopped, 'Huaisang', he has a soft smile on his face, 'How have you been?' Nie pointed at himself, 'Me? I'm good, but', he pointed at Xichen, 'you seem worried.' 'Is something going on?', Jiang Cheng asked. Xichen laughed shyly, 'Is it that noticeable?' They both nodded. 'Well. Wangji got sick and I can't take care of him since I have to work.' When Lan Wangji's name entered the conversation, Wei Wuxian got intrigued. 'Sick?' Xichen looked at him, 'He said it's just a small cold, but you never know. And I don't think he has any medicine at home.' Jiang and Nie both turned their heads at the same time to look at Wei. And he stared back at them, 'What?' Xichen walked to Wei, 'Ah, right! You know where he lived, can you please bring him some medicine? I already bought it.' Wei looked at Xichen, Jiang, Nie and then back at Xichen. Nie leaned his arm on Jiang's shoulder, 'You can go we can keep each other company.' Jiang pushed his arm off. Wei sighed, 'Bring me what I need to take with me. I'll go.' Xichen smiled, 'Yes, I'll be right back.' Wei wiped of a fake tear, 'It's like you two sold me off.' Jiang folded his arm, 'We didn't even make a profit.' Wei opened his mouth in shock. Nie laughed.

After Xichen got back with a bag, he called a taxi for Wei. Before Wei left, he asked Lan Xichen a question. 'Ah, how will I get upstairs? Since I don't live there.' Xichen handed him the bag, 'Just say you're there for Wangji, they will call him, and you can take the lift up to our floor.' He took the bag with two hands, 'Our?' Xichen nodded, 'We own that part of the building.' 'Ow' They're rich rich.

Wei did as Xichen told him and went up with the lift. Now he stood in front of Lan Wangji's door. He rang the doorbell. No answer. He rang it again and this time he also knocked on the door, 'Lan... Zhan!? Your brother had sent me to give you a few things.' After a few seconds the front door unlocked, and it opened. 'Is everything okay, it took you a while to open the door.' '...I'm fine.' His voice sounded anything but fine. Wei pushed the door and got in, but he didn't point out that Lan was clearly not doing well. He didn't want to anger him. 'Where can I put these?' 'Table', Wangji said this as he walked back to his room, 'Lock the door when you leave.' 'Yes!', Wei happily said, but he had no plan of leaving after seeing his friend like this. He walked to the kitchen and waited until Lan was in his room, then started to cook a special meal for him. Wei Wuxian's Special!- where are the peppers? He scoffed; how can he make his special without the main ingredient? Or maybe he does have peppers? Wei went up the stairs and walked to his room. He knocked on the door, 'Lan, do you have any peppers here?' No answer. Wei opened the door, 'Lan- ' The up tight Lan Wangji laid in bed with no shirt on. Before Wei opened his mouth, he swallowed down the spit that had formed in his mouth after seeing his friend like this. 'Lan Zhan?' he walked towards him and tapped him on his cheek. Lan slowly opened his eyes and he calmly said, 'What?' 'D- do you have any peppers or other spices at home?' He shook his head. 'Ow, okay... Is it warm?', he asked Lan. Lan turned on his side, his back facing Wei Wuxian, 'It's fine.' Wei guided his eyes across his back. But after a few seconds Lan noticed he didn't leave and said, 'You can go home.' Wei snapped out of it and responded with, 'I'm leaving after I finish your dinner.' He quickly left the room. He had a light red tint on his cheeks. What was that about! Aaah. He's really sick though, let me get a cold rag for him. Wei got back to the kitchen, he looked around for a cloth and a bowl to put water in. After he found then he put water in it and brought them back to Wangji's room. He placed it on the nightstand, and he forced Lan to roll back onto his back. Lan frowned. 'If you don't keep warm, you're gonna get sick even more.' He dunked the cloth into the water, took the cloth out and wringed it. He looked down onto his body, let me wipe his sweat off first. First, he took one of his arms and started to wipe it off. Lan opened his eyes a bit to look at Wei Wuxian. Wei saw that he was looking at him and said, 'You might feel a little bit better after this.' After his arms, he cleaned the cloth and started to wipe his face. This time Wei could clearly see Lan staring at him. Wei shyly laughed, 'What are you looking at?' He didn't respond. 'You can close your eyes, if you're tired, no need to force yourself.' And again, he didn't respond, but he kept his eyes locked on Wei Wuxian. The red hue returned on Wei's face as he moved from his face to his neck, and from his neck to his chest. He quickly finished up and he could feel Lan Wangji's stare pierce through his soul. He cleaned the cloth for the last time and folded it double to place it on his forehead. The next thing he did was put the blanked over his body. 'Don't pull them off again.' He said with a stern tone. The only thing he got that sort off looked like a response was a blink from his eyes. Wei took the bowl downstairs to refresh the water and to start cooking a new version of Wei Wuxian's Special!