The Tainted Jade of Gusu

Chapter 26 : Unresolved Mysteries

"Did it hurt?"

Wen Ning was rowing the boat in silence. He looked up the question from Lan Wangji and replied in a soft voice, "Would Lan Er Gongzi believe me if I said it didn't?"

"No." Lan Wangji looked down at the face of the man who was sprawled out in the boat, head rested against Lan Wangji's lap and heaved a sigh, "But I assumed Lady Wen would have found a way to administer anasthesia."

"Jiejie did prepare several varieties of anasthetics," Wen Ning looked out to the vast expanse of lotus lakes sprawled out before them, "but it was discovered that there would be too much risk. If the donor was in a state of narcosis, the spirit core had greater risk of dissipating, and in that case, it would have been impossible to salvage the spirit core if it dissipated. Thus, throughout the process, Wei Gongzi had to be conscious. He had to stay awake and feel the spiritual power surge, then begin to ebb, till it would dissipate completely, never to rise again."

"How long was it?"

"Two nights and three days," Wen Ning replied, "with nothing but a block of pine wood to bite into."

Lan Wangji could almost feel the stinging sensation of a sharp medic's knight slicing through his skin and organs, he could taste the resin from the wood block in his mouth. Memories of a day thirteen years back returned to torment him, and he endured in silence, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Lan Er Gongzi, is everything okay?" Wen Ning asked, "you shuddered a little bit."

Lan Wangji opened his eyes and wiped the beads of perspiration that had formed on his forehead with his sleeve.

"I assumed something was amiss with Wei Ying," he tried to deflect the topic, "but I had no idea he underwent all of this."

"He wanted me to keep this a secret, especially from Sect Leader Jiang," Wen Ning lowered his head, "please don't tell him I let it out."

"But why did you?"

"I felt it was time," Wen Ning replied, "I felt it was going to do more harm than good if I let it stay secret any longer."

"Qionglin, " Lan Wangji tilted his head slightly, "do you really think a secret kept for more than it ought to be, causes more harm than good? "

"I think that depends on the secret, " Wen Ning replied after some deliberation, "but all secrets come out in the end. As long as you are the one still in charge of revealing it, you have power over it."

"And what if it is more than what one can bear to reveal?"

"Lan Er Gongzi, " Wen Ning offered a tiny smile, "there are some secrets one tries to guard with their life. I think as long as that doesn't directly harm someone, it doesn't cause as much harm. "

"You know Qionglin," Lan Wangji rested his head against his fist, using his other hand to stroke Wei Wuxian's hair, "your words are quite similar to Lady Wen Qing's."

"I guess, " Wen Ning smiled, "I was pretty much raised by her. I wish I could see her again, but at this point, it would take nothing short of a miracle for that. After that entire mass execution of the Wens at Jinlintai."

"I think miracles happen, " Lan Wangji gazed at the little waves that crashed against the side of the boat as it moved sluggishly through the lotus lakes, "your belief just has to be strong enough."

Wen Ning tilted his head. He felt Lan Wangji was a strange person. While he appeared quite distant and intimidating, and was more likely to greet words with glares, he appeared surprisingly amiable while holding a conversation.

"Speaking of miracles," he finally found the courage to ask the question that had been plaguing him for so long, " Lan Er Gongzi, is Lan Sizhui by any chance A-Yuan? Did you manage to rescue him before the mass genocide at the Burial Mounds?"