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17 - Red Ribbon

"Young Master Wen Chao has arrived!"

Everyone either rolled their eyes or looked uninterested.

"It's a good thing you uneducated idiots decided to learn from the wen clan" he started "But to make sure that no one will try anything..." He paused before smirking "You all should give us your swords"

"Why should we? A cultivator must alway have their swords!" The two heard Jin Zixuan yell and Wen Chao's eyebrow twitched "You dare talk back!? You all are nothing but dogs to me! Now hand over your swords or I will let Wen Zhuiliu out, or you may know as the core crusher"

Wen Chao smirked and motioned Wen Zhuiliu, making the said male to walk forward, making his way towards Jin Zixuan.

"Young master please forgive Young Master Jin, we shall pass our swords" a girl said

Jiang Wanyin snorted at the few Wen soldiers who went forward and held out a chest where the swords were placed. Jiang Wanyin seemed to look at Wei Ying with worry on his face.

Wei Ying sighed "I won't do anything stupid" he said before placing his sword in the chest, with the other disciples following the action.

Giving Bichen to those dogs known as the Wens, was not something I liked, but I had no choice. After handing over our swords, Wen Chao was bantering about us having to read and recite the Quintessence of the Wen Clan in the next meeting.

During his bantering, I felt Wei Ying's hand slip into the sleeve of my robes and take my hand. I couldn't just ignore his hand, so I intertwined my fingers through his. I didn't mind it either. I could feel his hand trembling under mine, so I knew he was scared. I could tell by the look on his face, he was annoyed and angry as we all were, but he had the look of fear deep inside his eyes.

"I'm here," I managed to whisper over to him. Knowing he heard me, he glanced up at me and smiled a little. I replied back to him with a single nod.

Being as I was the only Lan Disciple who made it to the indoctrination, the Wens were going to have me room alone but they didn't trust me alone, so they stuck me in Jiang Wanyin's and Wei Ying's room. It was actually something I was a bit happy about. I didn't want to be alone after what happened at Cloud Recesses. I knew that Wei Ying probably didn't know what happened entirely, so I was willing to speak a little bit about it.

"Lan Zhan, what happened to your leg?" Wei Ying asked me in a whisper.

"Broken," I answered, "yin iron was taken."

"We can worry about the Yin Iron layer," he said, removing his red ribbon from his hair. He cast out a talisman that created a splint for my leg, and he used his ribbon to tie it in place on my leg.

"But..."

"I have another ribbon somewhere," He said, "your leg is more important than a ribbon."

"I get you want to help Second Master Lan, but didn't you say that ribbon was the only thing left of your Mother's?" Jiang Wanyin asked.

The look on Wei Ying's face confirms what he just said. His eyes lingered in the ribbon tied to my leg. I suddenly wanted to give it back to him.

"Don't," He stopped me, "I have other ribbons to use. Just use it for the time being, okay."

I sighed, "I promise to keep it safe and return it to you when my leg heals," I told him.

He nodded, "just let your leg heal," he told me, "if it's okay, what happened to Cloud Recesses? Your family?"

I swallowed, "burnt, Shufu and many others are severely injured. Xiongzhang is missing."

"When we are able to leave, come back to Yunmeng with us. I will ask my A-Die to help assist you and your people as much as possible," Jiang Wanyin told me.

I nodded, "thank you."

Wei Ying cracked a window open, "we could try to send a secret message to Uncle Jiang."

"I will try," Jiang Wanyin said creating a purple messenger butterfly and sent it off, "At Least the place is kind of decent?" Jiang Wanyin mumbled as he sat on his bed.

Wei Ying remained beside me as he opened the Quintessence of the Wen Clan, "you're actually going to read that?" Jiang Wanyin asked.

"Jiang Cheng, does it look like I'll memorize anything?" He asked and his brother scoffed

"I want to know just how much they follow their own principles," Wei Ying said.

I just smiled as I, too, opened the scroll.

Wei Ying opened the scroll and started reading, "everything here is pure nonsense... wait.....this one might be quite useful actually," he smirked and continued reading.

The next day, Wei Ying and I watched as Wen Chao relished in the power he held, sitting on a little throne as he addressed them, "Boys and girls, have you all memorized the Quintessence of the Wen Clan?" He asked, receiving silence.

"Do we have a volunteer?" Wen Chao asked, but didn't get a reply.

"Lan Wangji, Jin Zixuan, Wei Wuxian," Wen Chao called out, "Since no one wants to voluteer, one of you can go first."

I clenched the scroll with barely suppressed anger and pain, "I cannot. "

Jin Zixuan also refused.

"Eh! Wen-Master, I'll do it, I'll do it!" He cheered, jumping on his toes.

Wen Chao smiled, delighted, he clearly wasn't very familiar with Wei Ying because if he was, he would've sent him to the dungeon already just as a precaution, "Okay, let's hear it! You'd better do it right though, or severe punishment follows!"

Wei Ying glanced at me worriedly before plastering a smile onto his face again, hopping forward, he began to stretch.

Wen Chao frowned, giving him a second, then another, then another before finally snapping, "Wei Wuxian!" He yelled, interrupting his stretching and groaning, "Get on with it!"

Wei Ying giggled, "Okay, okay! What is the hurry, now listen carefully okay!" he said with a smirk and then began to recite while pacing back and forth with a smile on his face, "Thou shall not kill, fight, or lech, thou shall not shout, wander at night, or sprint. Thou shall not bully the weak by being strong or teasing others, thou shall not breach laws, thou shall not skip class or leave early, thou shall not sneer, thou shall not sit improperly!" He finally stopped and let out a chuckle.

I have to say, I was impressed. I didn't think he would actually remember our principles. As soon as he started listing them, I knew he was letting his antics come out.

Wen Chao boiled with rage as his face turned red, "Shut up!" he screamed, and stood up from his seat, "Wei Wuxian! How dare you read out loud the Lan's principles here in Qishan!"

Wei Ying gasped as if he did not realize he was reciting the wrong principles and pretending to make a mistake, "Ah?" He whined and was acting cute.

"Do you have a death wish?!"

Wei Ying started hitting his head with the scroll of rules in his hand, "Whoops! It was an accident Wen-"

"Shut up!" Wen Chao sneered and said, "Do you think you can fool me?"

Wei Ying grinned and stretched, being all proud of himself and ignoring Wen Chao's rage, 'yup.'

"Servants!" Wen Chao yelled, "Take them to the vegetable garden... To carry the dung!"

Wei Ying stopped in his tracks and removed the smup look from his face and winced, "Wait What?" He muttered, then turned to me in hesitation giving him an 'oops..' and 'sorry' kind of look.

I smiled inwardly and just nonchalantly shook my head. I knew what he was going to do and I didn't care. I was happy he did what he did. It lets me know he is actually quite smart and clever.