Courtship Rite

Love Letter

As Meng Yao sank into the small couch by his office window, he dropped the folder onto the coffee table. Staring off into the distance, barely taking in the night skyline, he thought back to Xichen's visit. Xichen had dropped by in the middle of the afternoon, unannounced. Even seated across from Meng Yao's desk, Xichen had dominated the room, leaving Meng Yao feeling like a subordinate in his own office. He hadn't done it deliberately. That surety of power seemed to be the result of growing up as a legitimate son.

"Wangji wants to know when we're having another dinner," he'd said.

"The last one didn't go as well as I'd hoped," Meng Yao replied. "Do we really want to hold another?"

"I know," Xichen sighed. "Mingjue refuses to see Wangji or any of his 'friends' again. But Wangji thought it went swimmingly, and we need something to compensate for uncle kicking them out of the family dinner."

That had been a disaster. When Meng Yao had seen him in the rooftop garden afterwards, Lan Wangji had been furious. "You're right. We'll have to hold regular dinners. I suppose we should continue with Friday nights. Every other week?" No, the Saturday family dinners that Wei Ying had been excluded from were weekly. These compensatory dinners would have to be weekly as well. "No, every week. Just the four of us doesn't make for much company, but I suppose your brother won't notice."

Xichen winced. "Actually, Wangji asked that Huaisang be invited. He was pleased that Wei Ying had made a friend."

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," Meng Yao said. Actually, it was a terrible idea. Who knew what additional strain Huaisang would put Wei Ying under?

"Why would that be a problem?"

"He's a troublemaker," Meng Yao replied.

"He's just mischievous."

"At the last dinner, Huaisang proclaimed he'd tracked down Wei Ying's personal data. He had no reason to confess. He merely wanted to upset Wei Ying."

Xichen shrugged. "Does that matter?"

Xichen was right. Of course, Wei Ying's feelings didn't matter. They'd agreed to Friday dinners, and then both men had returned to work. But now, at the end of the day, Meng Yao had pulled out the folder of Wei Ying's written statements. He wasn't sure what he hoped for. If the conversion had worked, then at least Wei Ying would be happy in his prison. Meng Yao supposed he should want that.

The latest statement showed a dramatic shift from those written before the music lesson. The very terms used to describe Lan Wangji made him suspect Wei Ying was stretching the truth. The statement claimed that Lan Wangji was upright and quietly hilarious, sharp but meltingly soft, clever and deeply kind, reserved yet forthright, talented and assured, but sometimes endearingly at a loss. Meng Yao doubted that anyone, including his mother, had ever seen such qualities in Lan Wangji's stoic facade.

Wei Ying's statement went on to say "I'm so lucky that my handsome Wangji whisked me away. My life is like a dream now." It continued with a discussion of Lan Wangji's amorous nature and then went into far too much detail for Meng Yao's liking. He really didn't need to know that much about Lan Wangji's sexual preferences.

Meng Yao put the paper down. The statement was exactly what he would expected if the brainwashing had succeeded. Unfortunately, it was also exactly what he'd expect Wei Ying to write if he'd been terrified by watching Lan Wangji beat a man to death. Meng Yao had no way of knowing whether or not the conversion therapy had worked.

He supposed it didn't matter. If he knew thebrainwashing had worked, he could have tried to give Wei Ying more freedom, buthe would never have that certainty. In the end, there was nothing he could doto help Wei Ying.