Jiang Cheng's Honest Feelings (Xicheng)

Chapter 3: Lost and Not Found

Lan Xichen had been in a good mood ever since he rose this morning, because not long after he woke up so did the bell. Sending a barrage of ecstatic clinging across the cloud recesses. Jiang Cheng was happy.

cling cling cling

Walking his rounds Lan Xichen enjoyed the sound of the tiny silver instrument, for even now, hours later, the Jiang's mood had yet to sour. It was an infectious sound which put sect leader Lan's mind at ease as he made sure that there wasn't any commotion going on in the Cloud Recesses.

It wouldn't be long until he was done with his duties. It was as calm as usual in Gusu. Groups of younger disciples walked around carrying their books as they headed off to class. By this time all the older cultivators had left for the day. Everything was peaceful. The only thing which had happened this morning was that one of the younger disciples had managed to stain the hem of their robes. Something which as soon as he was made aware of it, was quickly fixed.

So it had been an uneventful day. That was until he spotted two young men walking with their heads down. Although one of them wasn't much for following the Lans' usual posture the other was a different story. As the child of Hanguang-jun himself, Lan Sizhui never acted like anything else than the perfect Lan.

He would always stand with his back straight, proud to be a part of the Gusu clan. But now the Lan was seen hunched over. Even though the two were trying to be sneaky about it, every now and then looking up to make sure no one saw them, it was clear that they were looking for something and they didn't want anyone to find out about it. Walking up to the duo Lan Xichen was soon spotted and the two greeted him as though nothing was going on.

"Good morning Zewu-jun"

"Good morning, have you lost something?" He inquired, letting them know he'd already noticed what they were doing. It wasn't like this was part of his job, losing something wasn't against the Gusu rules, but seeing the anxious face of his nephew he wanted to help them out.

"No nothing, we're just enjoying some time in the sun as we wait for Jin Ling." Lan Jingyi said as he vehemently shook his head to make his point. It wasn't particularly believable. Although not much of the Lans' teachings had stuck with the man, he wasn't actively working against them and had as such nowhere near enough practice with lying to pull it off. Like a child who had gotten caught redhanded with his hand in the cookie jar the Lan failed miserably to try and play it cool. And it wasn't like he was unaware, getting nervous he began to ramble, digging himself a deeper hole. "We haven't lost anything, so there wouldn't be anything for us to look for. Especially not something which shouldn't be lost. Nothing at all, isn't that right?" Asking his friend for backup. Sizhui gave a simple nod in response.

"So if I were to have found something earlier it doesn't belong to any of you?"

"You found it!?" The exclamation surprisingly came from Sizhui, who was a deep shade of red. "I-I... My deepest apologies to sect leader Lan. What I have done is unforgivable" The man was down on his knees kowtowing in front of him. Lan Xichen felt bad about lying, he hadn't found whatever it was they were looking for. But before he could apologize, Lan Jingyi had gripped the back of his friend's collar and pulled him up from the ground.

"You're not the one who should apologize!" He said agitated "Zewu-jun, Lan Yuan wasn't the one to lose it, it was..." but before he could speak the second Lan had silenced him. Despite not being related to his father by blood there was no way of telling from the way he was being treated, from the embroidered clouds on his headband to his knowledge of secret Lan-only techniques. One of which he now used to silence the other from speaking.

"Zewu-jun. I'm the one responsible for keeping it safe, regardless of who lost it, I should be the one held accountable"

"That's ridiculous!" As much as Lan Sizhui was able to silence him, Lan Jingyi was able to undo it. "What you did was harmless. Zewu-jun, you can't punish him for helping out a friend"