Tired (Between a rock and a hard place 6)

Chapter 2

It was probably because of her unwillingness to listen to her parents fight that Jiang Yanli had found out about the fact her brothers had come back to Lotus Pier only two days after it had actually happened. She had been avoiding both her father and her mother separately, and even more both of them when they were together. She was too afraid to hear them argue again and to be dragged into their fights instead of her brothers.

It was probably for this reason, and because Wei Wuxian had apparently never left his room after his arrival, that she had only learned about it when Jiang Cheng came back and was coursing the hallways of Lotus Pier in agitated grumpiness.

She was a little hurt that none of her brothers came to greet her upon arrival. She liked to think that they were at least somewhat grateful to her for always protecting them and patching their injuries, both physical and in on souls. That they liked her enough to come see her when they returned. Then again, at the same time, she could not deny that she was also feeling relieved, the longer she could continue with her simple life without any conflicts, the better for her. She was embarrassed for feeling like this and quickly stuffed all her emotions away into a dark and faraway corner of her mind.

She made an effort to smile as if nothing was happening, as if she had not just been annoyed by her brothers' lack of concern for her. "A-Cheng!" she called from far away and rushed closer.

It took her calling another three times for her brother to actually acknowledge her presence and look at her. His grumpy face only cleared the tiniest bit when he begrudgingly greeted back: "Sister."

He looked like he had just been made to eat a whole lot of lemons, rind and all, and was not permitted to rinse his mouth afterwards. Jiang Yanli was thinking back if she had ever seen him in this much of a bad mood. She could not find any other instance than his pouty face after he had been told he had to get rid of his dogs because Wei Wuxian was afraid of them. And that had been really a long time ago. What could have made him this grumpy all of a sudden?

Though, Jiang Yanli knew better than to ask. Moreover, she could pretty much guess what had happened even without Jiang Cheng spilling the beans to her and complaining about his brother. For Jiang Yanli had already put two and two together: her parents' fight over Wei Wuxian two days ago and now Jiang Cheng's presence back in the Lotus Pier, way sooner than he should have been back from the guest lectures.

It was as clear as day in her mind. Something must have happened in the Cloud Recesses and that was why Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian had been sent back home before the lectures ended. And looking at her younger brother's grumpiness and bad mood, it must have not been something pleasant. Most probably Wei Wuxian's pranks had not been well received by the conservative members of the Gusu Lan sect.

Which would actually also explain why Jiang Yanli had run only into Jiang Cheng and not the older of her brothers. Knowing her mother, Wei Wuxian was currently being punished for whatever it was that caused his and Jiang Cheng's eviction from the Cloud Recesses.

Jiang Yanli sighed internally, so much for enjoying a calm and simple life. It ended way too abruptly and she would first have to catch her breath before she would be able to deal with her broken family like always. Depending on how bad the situation was, she could expect to find Wei Wuxian in a pretty bad shape. She had no doubts that the situation was in fact very bad, being sent back from the Gusu Lan sect lectures was nearly unheard of, it was a stain on the reputation of the Yunmeng Jiang sect which her mother would never let slide.

In order to avoid any suspicion, she did her best to maintain a smiling face in order to mask her discomfort and worry. Much like she had learned from Wei Wuxian. Or had he perhaps learned it from her? She could not tell which of them two started to hide their pain behind a smile first. It was a gesture meant to console those around them while at the same time, it hurt them the most. Not that she could stop acting like this now, it was long deeply rooted into her being.

"A-Cheng, you are back," she remarked without any joy to her tone.

She could not keep her voice from sounding strained and weak. Even though she knew she should act like her normal self, she just could not. She was suddenly extremely weary and tired; she did not want to be the only one who cared about her family and kept them going. She found it hard now, after all those months of leisure and peace, to go back to sacrificing her and her brothers' happiness for the sake of pretending they were a family.

Still, she tried to convince herself, this feeling was just temporary. She was tired because she had slept poorly tonight and should already go to bed. It was getting pretty late anyway. What was the rush? If Wei Wuxian was being punished, it was unlikely that she would be able to help him in the middle, she could only ever act as a balm over his wounds and a band-aid to hide them from the outside world. She would not be able to intervene and stand against her mother, she never had.

She was pulled out of her unhappy musing by Jiang Cheng replying to her not so clever comment: "Yes, as you can see. We came back yesterday." After a short pause when Jiang Yanli did not react, he added while anger flared stronger on his face: "As is everyone else. Wei Wuxian had truly done it this time! If he had just stayed silent and low key, we would have not been in this predicament now!"

"What happened?"

Seeing that her brother needed an outlet, Jiang Yanli steeled herself and asked, trying not to sound complacent but sympathetic. She already knew what her brother would complain about and she did not want to hear it. It was always the same story anyway. However, she also knew that it was better to let Jiang Cheng rumble on and ease his anger before he would go find Wei Wuxian. In cases when she did not act as his outlet, he took his anger out on his brother, in a more violent way than with just words.

Just as she had expected, her simple prompting broke all barriers and Jiang Cheng was complaining without any filter to his words: "That Wei Wuxian! Not only had he been causing trouble from the second we arrived to the Cloud Recesses and apparently trying to break every rule the Gusu Lan sect has. And they have 3000 of them, 3000! No, that was not enough for him! Instead of hanging out with me so I could at least keep an eye on him, he kept running off and causing trouble. Just like always. He annoyed Lan Wangji to the point where he got all of us sent back home!"

So that was it. Not that Jiang Yanli had not already suspect something similar, but it still made her sigh. Wei Wuxian had written her many letters from the Cloud Recesses so she knew about his constant pestering of the Second Jade. From how often Lan Wangji's name appeared int their correspondence and the way her brother would only talk about him and how great he was, Jiang Yanli could easily deduce that he had fallen in love. The thing now was that apparently those feelings were the source of all of this problem.

She sighed again, internally this time, but still did her best to smile and sooth her little brother. She put her hand on his forehand and rubbed in a calming manner: "Now, now, A-Cheng, do not be this angry. I am sure everything will be fine in the end."

Jiang Cheng huffed and grumbled, perhaps more to himself than to her: "Fine, you say. Of course, it will be, I will make sure of it. No one is stealing my brother away from me. Not even mother. She said Lan Qiren demanded Wei Ying to be punished and that she was working on it. She would not even let me watch..."

A cold chill run through Jiang Yanli's spine, she was not sure she had heard correctly. No, it must have been her mind misinterpreting Jiang Cheng's words. For her little brother would never sound this menacing when talking about Wei Wuxian. And excited to hear about him being punished, at least not this openly. And that last comment about watching? He must have meant that he could not watch it happen, right? She had just misheard because the words had been mumbled way too quietly.

That was it. This was just one big misunderstanding on her part. Certainly. It must have been. Otherwise, she did not know if she would be able to plaster her family back together this time.