Courtship Rite

I'm Certainly Not Brainwashing Him!

With the first of Wei Ying's copied statements to hand, Meng Yao felt strangely reluctant to give it to Lan Wangji. Wei Ying was an innocent in this situation. He didn't deserve to be manipulated, but that task was already underway. Meng Yao had no reason to withhold the statements.

Explaining the statements, however, would be difficult. Meng Yao had his lies ready, but still called on Xichen for support. "Invite your brother to your office," he said. "He'll more readily trust the two of us." That wasn't exactly true. Meng Yao knew that Lan Wangji trusted him, as much as the man trusted anyone, but the rationale for the statements was a bit far-fetched, and so Meng Yao wanted Xichen's support.

Instead of sitting in the more comfortable chairs by the window, Xichen had decided they'd sit grouped at one end of a table. When Lan Wangji nodded at the seating arrangements, Meng Yao understood Xichen's intention. Lan Wangji was less comfortable in a relaxed setting. With the three of them grouped around the table, he'd feel more at ease.

Despite the business setting, Lan Wangji's first words were personal. "Why did you ask brother to prevent me from having lunch with Wei Ying?"

Meng Yao bit back his surprise. He'd expected getting Lan Wangji to a non-business-related topic would be difficult. However, he couldn't ask for a better opening. "We were working on the first of, mm, let's call them statements." He handed the paper to Lan Wangji.

It was actually quite short. Written in Wei Ying's hand, it said little more than he was happy living in the Lan residence. Lan Wangji took his time looking it over before glancing up. "Why?"

Meng Yao definitely didn't wince. He had better control of his expressions than that. Well, he thought, I'm certainly not trying to brainwash him into accepting being kidnapped and forced into a gunshot wedding. "It's a wedding custom from Yunmeng, an older custom to be sure, not always kept these days. It involves a series of statements, hand-written. The progression often starts simple and becomes increasingly detailed. Traditionally, the first half-dozen or so are more general and then they start discussing the engagement or positive attributes of the prospective partner."

Lan Wangji merely stared. Xichen grinned, obviously amused. I'm doing this to make your brother happy, Meng Yao thought. The least you could do is help.

"A wedding custom?" Lan Wangji finally asked.

"Yes," Meng Yao said. "It's an older one, as I said. I guess I'm a bit of a traditionalist myself. If I were getting married, I would be writing about my beloved."

Lan Wangji somehow looked more frozen than usual when he asked, "Should I be writing out statements?"

Meng Yao forced himself to smile. He had no idea how to reply. He couldn't imagine the kinds of things Lan Wangji might write. Would they send Wei Ying over the edge?

"Brother, it would be more appropriate for you to follow our family traditions. Perhaps you could write Wei Ying a song."

"Mm," Lan Wangji agreed. "Will you be having lunch with Wei Ying each time he writes one of these statements?"

"No," Meng Yao replied. "Now that he's written out the first one, I can do it later in the day." The lunch had been a ploy in the form of a gift, something to make Wei Ying think he owed Meng Yao. It had worked far more effectively than Meng Yao had thought it would. "Oh, but he did tell me he would like chili oil with his meals. May I tell the kitchen to add a bottle to the meals you take together?"

"Why would he want chili oil?"

"Yunmeng food is spicier than our local cuisine," Xichen said. "I'm often surprised by how much spice Meng Yao prefers."

"He may have the chili oil."

Good, he would have the kitchen add a bottle to Wei Ying's meals the next day, and the day after that he'd ask Wei Ying to copy out a second statement. Three days later, he'd bring a dizi and get Wei Ying's third statement. After that, the dizi and the music lessons would remind Wei Ying of the debt he owed. Meng Yao should be able to get a statement a week out of him, although even those first three statements, written out in Wei Ying's hand, should be enough to pressure him into believing he wanted to belong to Lan Wangji.