Backlash Part 1

Chapter 60: The Jingshi

Wen Qing was watching Lan Xichen very carefully. She wasn't exactly happy with how Wei Wuxian had explained events, but she had to admit it was a lot better than she had seen him do in the past. Previously Wei Wuxian was someone who did the right thing, because it was right. He never felt a need to explain that to anyone else, and honestly Wen Qing felt she had probably figured out why.

Wen Qing used to hate that Wei Wuxian never explained things at length to people. She felt like if he had just let people know the truth, they wouldn't have misunderstood him so badly. Later on it became too late. Even when Wei Wuxian attempted to explain rationally, no one believed what he said. She knew it bothered him, but he had always had a very resigned tone about it. He often said that all that matters is that he knows he did the right thing. What other people say doesn't matter.

Wen Qing had thought it was foolish and optimistic. It was too easy for gossip to poison the world against you. Only now was she realizing that Wei Wuxian had probably known that even better than she did. After all, why did Yu Ziyuan hold such disdain for Wei Wuxian? The first answer that most of the cultivation world knew was because of the rumours. After all, why would Jiang Fengmian raise the son of his friend like it was his own?

Cangse Sanren had supposedly been beautiful and quite close with both Wei Changze and Jiang Fengmian. According to the excessively prevalent rumours, Jiang Fengmian was in love with Cangse Sanren. However, she eloped with Wei Changze instead. Yu Ziyuan was accused in these rumours of pressuring the YunmengJiang Sect leader into marriage with her family's influence. These rumours then took a turn, speculating that Wei Wuxian was actually the bastard son of Jiang Fengmian. These were supposedly the start of Yu Ziyuan's hatred, but Wen Qing had heard from Nie Huaisang the sorts of things Yu Ziyuan had shouted at Wei Wuxian.

Wen Qing felt herself a bit slow for only now understanding why Wei Wuxian's first instinct was to ignore what others said about him. That was the only thing that had ever helped him. Wen Qing was certain he had probably denounced those rumours many times. He had probably protested to the accusations once heaped on him by Yu Ziyuan. Yet, Wen Qing knew that things had never improved. She remembered the gruesome state of his back when Wen Qionglin brought Wei Wuxian to the supervisory office in Yiling. It had been a nightmare, and even with all the resources at her disposal the injuries had barely healed by the time she was cutting him open to remove his golden core.

By barely healed, she meant stopped bleeding. He was not healed, but it took many transfusions of spiritual energy and powerful medicines to get him in a condition where he could move without further injuring himself. If Yu Ziyuan was willing to do that to him, then she most certainly hated him. That was the sort of brutality that should only be given to your enemies. This meant not only did Wei Wuxian never succeed in denouncing the rumours, but no one else did either. Wen Qing had been biased in favour of Jiang Fengmian, but the kind image Wei Wuxian painted vanished the moment he tried to insist on taking Wei Wuxian back to Lotus Pier.

Wen Qing didn't understand Jiang Fengmian. For the most part he seemed like a good sect leader. He was typically calm and polite, almost gentle with his words at times. Yet she had seen him stand his ground in discussions before. Yet clearly that was not the case in his home life. She had seen his reactions around Yu Ziyuan. Somewhere between exhaustion and fear. He seemed unable to tolerate flares in her temper, and Wen Qing suspected Wei Wuxian had seen him give up arguing in Wei Wuxian's defence more than once. Honestly Wen Qing felt she was being generous with that assumption. She was a bit concerned that Jiang Fengmian might not have ever tried to speak in Wei Wuxian's defence.

This mean that Wei Wuxian's life had been filled with taking the blame and never being able to clear his name. Yu Ziyuan accused him of things and blamed him for rumours about Jiang Fengmian. Meanwhile Jiang Fengmian never stopped the rumours, or the verbal abuse. So of course he responded to the accusations after the war by either ignoring them or feigning confidence. In his world explaining himself never changed anything, so why would he start? It was only after a long while of living in Burial Mounds with his new family that he started to break out of that habit. By then it truly didn't matter what he said. To the cultivation world he was an arrogant demon. They didn't need proof to know he was guilty.