The Untamed Oneshots / CQL / WangXian

Emperor's Smile

Requested by: warliauske(Hanguang Jun smuggling Emperor's Smile into Cloud Recesses).

3 000 rules written in stone, centuries old and unbending. Let the air around you remain calm. Be at one with the teachings of your ancestors. Carry righteousness in your core. Lan Wangji had barely begun his existence in his mother's womb when all of these things had been expected of him and he recited them like the prayer mantras that fell from a Taoist's lips. Do not doubt in the upbringing of Cloud Recesses for the teachings of the elders eliminate unruliness and ensure peaceful prestige. It built the foundation of who the Second Jade of Gusu Lan is today.

It cost him the person dearest to his heart.

Wangji limped through the Jingshi, the wounds on his back tearing like valleys that rose from the earth. To that he was numb, aware of the stretch of healing skin but opting to ignore it.

The pain he felt was rooted in his heart, vines tangling and tightening to let the sharp tips pierce his vital life organ. It was nurtured by the grief and resentment that wet his light robes with teary splotches. It blossomed into roses, black and red, for a love now lost.

The blood of his soulmate partially coated the hands of his very own sect, his own elders, who strived for a life of orthodoxy that had been decided by generations prior with no oracle sight of what the future of their descendants would hold.

Collapsing at the low table with unnatural gracelessness for an infamous Jade, Lan Wangji ran a palm tenderly over his guqin, the wooden body and sleek strings giving way for a blue tasselled waterfall that rushed to the floor. Playing the familiar notes, he begged the spirits for help, pleaded for them to let his soulmate answer.

They remained silent, quiet as the graves they lay in.

Wangji hung his head, an act punishable for the lack of propriety it exuberated. His voice wavered on the border of a cracked mentality, a pained whisper into the night. "Wei Ying, come back..."

Forbidden. So much was forbidden in his home, but he never would have thought the right to live was amongst them. It was not so much unjust as it was immoral. Caring for the elderly, sheltering the weak, feeding innocent children; how could that possibly be the work of a deranged demon?

Never. Not his Wei Ying. He is...was a good man. And that's what sent him to his demise.

"He cannot be-" The jade's eyes widened. Of course. He simply cannot be gone, for inquiry could not summon his lost soul.

Lan Zhan glanced out the window to the newly birthed moon, soft rays kissing his milky skin in a flawless glow. "Come back to me." Because somewhere out there, his soulmate was wandering, alone and afraid, having no sense of place nor time. If only there was a way to entice Wei Ying back to him, some beacon that would shout at him "Here! This way! I am waiting for you!". But what was there for him in Gusu?

Wangji gasped, his breath catching slightly. Nothing else would garner his attention more than the pitchers full of forbidden drink that he praised each and every time without fail.

"Emperor's Smile, Emperor's Smile, Emperor's Smile," he repeated his current rhyme as he staggered to his closet and drew an outer robe around his shoulders. The sandalwood smell did not please him. He longed for the familiar scent of spices and lotus flowers, salty lakes and citrus; he longed for Wei Ying. And he would do anything to bring him back.

Lan Wangji upheld justice, he enforced law. Such being the case, he knew the shifts and changes of guards, allowing him to descend the mountain with ease to the streets of Caiyi town.

Life. Lanterns made honey glow patches every few steps. Vendors yelled out convincing speeches to buy their goods. Freshly baked buns steamed wispy coloms dancing in the air. Children played and giggled amongst themselves, wooden swords click-clacking during their makeshift war. If you knew the true pain that war can bring, you would not take it so lightly, Lan Wangji thought with melancholy. A husband and wife strolled out of a teahouse, his arm snaked around her waist with hand caressing her baby bump in idle strokes.

A place he rarely visited, Wangji was struck dumb. It was so full of life, so bright and colourful.

Just like Wei Ying.

With newfound determination, he shed the shell his upbringing had forced him into and approached a vendor. A greying man with greasy skin and filthy robes gave him a pleasantly warm smile.

"What is it that this Young Master is looking for?"

Various bottles lined the shelves of his stall, names foreign and tastes unimaginable, but he stopped when the white porcelain jars of alcohol that he sought seemed to beckon at him, glowing eagerly.

A long, elegant musician's finger pointed at his desire, the vendor's eyes glinting with greenish greed for the purchase that was about to be made.

"Good choice, Young Master! How many would you like?" He was eager. Too eager, but no one could blame him for wanting to earn a coin.

Lan Wangji thought of Wei Ying. His boyish smile, his selfless heart, his ability to make Wangji feel.

The wind brushed against his back, a soothing balm to his wounds, as a familiar voice teasingly whispered, "Lan Zhan..."

He spun, eyes wide and searching, only to be met with nothing. He's not here, he reminded himself. But when Lan Wangji returned his gaze to the questioning vendor, he knew that his soulmate was out there somewhere. He just had to find him. So he fumbled for a few pieces of silver, placing them down with a thunk on the wooden counter.

"Two jars."

Walking back up the mountain, the liquor sloshing like the stormy ocean full of emotions and secrets in his heart, Lan Wangji made a vow. Each month, he'd buy his soulmate his favourite alcohol and hide it in his room. He'd never reprimand him by saying it is forbidden, not after everything he'd already had to endure. He'd do anything, anything, to just see him again.

But Wangji was willing to wait for him, no matter how long it takes. He knew he'd see his Wei Ying again. He would come back.

If not for him, then for the Emperor's Smile.