Backlash Part 1

Chapter 70: Warped Expectations

Wei Wuxian's previous embarrassment had been completely washed away. It was replaced, like every other feeling in his body, with anxiety. Wei Wuxian felt the resentful energy moving in response to his disturbed emotions. It churned inside of him bringing a chill to his body along with a prickling sensation, like being gently poked with hundreds of needles. He didn't even realize that Lan Wangji had moved until he felt warmth radiating every place where they touched. His shoulder where Lan Wangji's shoulder gently brushed against his own. His thigh as Lan Wangji was now so close to him that they were touching. His hand, where Lan Wangji had taken hold of it beneath the table.

Wei Wuxian greeted Lan Qiren at the same time as Lan Wangji. Then immediately Lan Wangji reclaimed his hand beneath the table. Wei Wuxian was grateful for the contact. It was helping to ground him. To be fair to Lan Qiren, Wei Wuxian didn't really have that bad of an opinion about him. He actually wasn't entirely sure why he was so anxious around him. Lan Qiren had never liked him, at least as far as Wei Wuxian could tell. Lan Qiren was harder on him than the other disciples when he studied in Cloud Recesses, but that wasn't exactly a new experience for Wei Wuxian.

Lan Qiren had certainly never sung his praises, but Wei Wuxian kind of respected him more for that. Lan Qiren loved his rules. He loved order, discipline, and outlining every aspect of proper behaviour. The first time Wei Wuxian saw the three thousand rules all written out, he had practically broken out in hives. He was curious, energetic, loud, adventurous, and didn't have the best judgment when it came to determining where to stop when it came to jokes and teasing. It made all the sense in the world to Wei Wuxian that Lan Qiren wouldn't like him the moment they first met.

Honestly Wei Wuxian had expected Lan Qiren to be much meaner than he was. Did Lan Qiren insult him? Wei Wuxian wasn't entirely certain. Lan Qiren did say negative things about him, but Wei Wuxian expected insults to be a bit harsher than what Lan Qiren did. Wei Wuxian had been informed that his expectations for how others treat him was a bit warped, and it was kind of in the back of his mind somewhere that he should probably work on that. Still, at least to Wei Wuxian's face, Lan Qiren mostly implied or stated that Wei Wuxian was a troublemaker. Troublemaker, undisciplined, disrespectful... Wei Wuxian was pretty sure that covered all of the complaints he had heard from Lan Qiren when he was a student.

To be fair most of the complaints were relatively accurate. He did not follow all three thousand suffocating rules. He definitely instigated several classmates into participating in mischief with him. He would even acknowledge he had performed a prank or two that was probably crossing the line into disrespectful, but he honestly couldn't remember if he had done them in this timeline or not. Did he think Lan Qiren was overreacting some? Yes, but he could only really think of one instance during his time as a student in Cloud Recesses that really bothered him. Oddly enough it was the incident that had transpired just before he found himself back here.

Wei Wuxian had snuck out of Cloud Recesses. He didn't remember how he ended up being the person who had to go get the liquor. Probably as a dare, but he might have volunteered as he was the best suited to the task. Everything had been going great until he was coming back. Lan Wangji had again caught him breaking curfew and sneaking in with alcohol. His brilliant mind determined the best way out of this was to make Lan Wangji an accomplice. He tackled Lan Wangji so that they both fell outside the boundary. Therefore they were both technically violating curfew, and no one would turn themselves in for punishment.

He was wrong, Lan Wangji would absolutely turn himself in for punishment. In fact that is exactly what Lan Wangji did. Wei Wuxian was mostly upset that Lan Wangji got punished. He had even confessed to forcing Lan Wangji, but Lan Wangji insisted on also being punished. Now that Wei Wuxian thought about it, Lan Qiren hadn't even been in Cloud Recesses at the time. So this incident that bothered him the most, didn't even involve Lan Qiren.

In terms of later years. During the Sunshot Campaign almost everyone was singing his praises. Singing his praises because he was useful to them. Something he hadn't fully understood at the time. They didn't care what he was doing as long as he was doing it to their enemies. As long as he was doing what they wanted. Then the Sunshot Campaign ended and suddenly he wasn't their weapon, he was now YunmengJiang sect's weapon. Which meant he was now something that could be used against them, or something that could elevate the YunmengJiang sect.

Wei Wuxian had a really hard time accepting that fact. The reality that most of the mistrust and hatred placed on him didn't have anything to do with who he was or what he did. It was just because he was strong and other people didn't want anyone except themselves to possess that strength. Lan Qiren fell into the rare category of people whose opinion of him did not change based on how useful he was. Lan Qiren didn't like him before he became a demonic cultivator. Hated him for being a demonic cultivator (Wei Wuxian assumed at least, they didn't really talk). When the war ended Lan Qiren's opinion of him was still the same.

So despite the fact that Wei Wuxian was pretty sure they were destined to at least dislike each other, he actually respected Lan Qiren more than most of the cultivation world. At least Lan Qiren was honest about how he felt about him. At least he wasn't someone who was happy to use him and praise him before stabbing a knife in his back. That was all in his last life anyway. Wei Wuxian had not actually talked to Lan Qiren since returning to Cloud Recesses. Wei Wuxian had returned to this time outside of class. He had then been whisked away from prying eyes by Lan Wangji.

Since then he had spent almost all of his time in the Jingshi or in the courtyard in front of it. He had not been eager to see lots of people and so his desire to do things that put him around people was low. As a consequence he'd only seen Lan Qiren from a distance. The closest they came to talking was when Lan Qiren had shown up while Madam Yu was visiting. Lan Qiren had only spoken to Madam Yu and left with her.

So really, this was Wei Wuxian's first time even sitting in a room with Lan Qiren since he returned. None of this cleared up for Wei Wuxian why he was so anxious right now. He had just gone through a whole list of why Lan Qiren shouldn't make him super anxious. True Lan Qiren disliked him, and probably would always dislike him. Especially since he was engaged to Lan Qiren's youngest nephew, tainting his perfect disciple.

Wei Wuxian felt like something audibly clicked in his head. He was anxious because Lan Qiren was Lan Wangji's uncle. He was anxious about the thought of being separated from Lan Wangji and he was afraid of causing a rift in Lan Wangji's family. After all it would not be the first time he had caused a rift within a family. Wei Wuxian took a slow breath, trying not to show just how panicked he was. Well, his anxiety made sense now, unfortunately there was nothing to do about it. He could only try to get through this conversation as peacefully as possible. Hope his anxious thoughts didn't become reality.

"With that many elders participating it will not be subtle. It might be best to wait until after the guest disciples have all left. Wuxian, how long do you suppose it will take to complete the improvements to the barrier?" Lan Xichen inquired.

Wei Wuxian did his best not to internally panic. He had been so lost in his own thoughts that they had literally been conversing without him hearing a word. Wei Wuxian put on an inquisitive expression as though trying to think of the answer to Lan Xichen's question. Meanwhile he thought through everything Lan Xichen said to make sure he correctly understood the topic of conversation.

'Improving the Barrier. Elders participating. Oh good I know what they are talking about.' Now Wei Wei Wuxian actually estimated the time it would take.

"I won't know for sure until we are doing it, but it shouldn't take more than half a day at the most. We should plan that everyone participating will be tired afterwards though." Wei Wuxian said thoughtfully.

"A week or two after the end of the guest lectures would be best then. Enough time for all the disciples to leave." Lan Xichen reaffirmed. Wei Wuxian frowned. "Wuxian, is there something wrong with that?" Lan Xichen inquired.

"Well, I was planning to return with my Shijie at the end of the guest lectures." Wei Wuxian said quietly.

"You wish to return to Lotus Pier?" Lan Qiren's voice was filled with confusion, surprise, and a touch of disapproval. Wei Wuxian's anxiety spiked at Lan Qiren's question, but was swiftly followed by confusion. Why would Lan Qiren sound disapproving of him returning to Lotus Pier? In his last life Lan Qiren had sent him back early because he was such a troublemaker. Shouldn't he be happy at the thought of him leaving?