The Curse Love

chapter 1

The worst thing. Wei Wuxian thought, glaring angrily at the roof of the building. Was that up until he’d been cursed, the night hunt had been going really well. The little Lans were performing admirably, no strings had snapped, the interviews had been carried out accurately and succinctly, and his husband had looked even more handsome than usual.

The last one wasn’t really tied to Night Hunt success parameters but it really should be.

So Wei Wuxian had fallen into the devious trap of ‘thinking that everything was alright really’ and had therefore been caught off guard when the echo of the woman wailed and clawed out to one of the baby disciples, with a strength unheard of from someone under the influence of Rest. And Wei Wuxian tried to remain safe, he really did, but he was so young and he would rather die than let one of the children under his protection suffer. Lan Zhan would understand.

He groaned, shifting into an upwards permission, scanning the room, strangely void of anyone. No disciples chattering over his resting body, no fussy housekeeper, no gorgeous husband.

Really, the husband was in high demand and Wei Wuxian was very disappointed in his absence. He resolved to dramatically whine at him later.

Resolved in his plan, he plucked up the courage to check  the curse mark he could feel writhing at his neck. Craning to spy his collarbone he saw the strange, looping dark mark, grotesquely forming some sort of elaborate vine. It looked broadly like a root system, as though something would germinate and burrow out of his flesh, tearing apart his skin to do so.

He shivered at the thought and fastened his inner robes more securely around himself. He didn’t tie his hair up, trying to hide the markings at the neck with the loose tresses, even though they did a bad job at concealing the harsh marks. If there was one benefit, he knew that this curse was done easily mitigated, for him at least.

The spirit had been a vengeful wife, who had discovered her husbands infidelity, and had been killed by him when she dared to confront him. The curse marks she had laid upon everyone within reach would only vanish after the victim made physical contact with the one they loved most.

Wei Wuxian wasn’t sure why Lan Zhan hadn’t attempted to end the curse earlier, but maybe he had been busy.

Just as he was about to try and wrestle his way out of the bedsheets, the door creaked and he collapsed back into the pillows. His pride had been through much worse, but given the choice, he wasn’t quite thick faced enough to let a kid watch him struggling to sit up.

Jingyi poked his head through, and his faced split open with a smile. He had no idea how a kid that emotive was a product of the Lans but he loved it. Watching Jingyi’s face blossom like a lotus, falling from stress into some sort of euphoria, for him.

The world had changed a lot since his death, but sometimes that seemed like a good thing. He couldn’t imagine these kids in the past, fresh out of a war.

“Senior Wei! You’re okay!”

He stretched, acting as though he’d been up for ages.

“Aiyo, what’s with the surprise! Did you doubt me! I’m the Yiling Laozu, I’m of Yunmeng Jiang! You know-“

“Yeah yeah I know, I’ve got to get Hanguang-Jun!”

And Jingyi left with a speed and lack of courtesy that should really offend him, if he didn’t find him hilarious. Also, he wanted his husband. Halfway through shutting the door Jingyi, perhaps feeling the break in decorum shuffled into a something that could barely, charitably be called a bow, leaving the room being chased by Wei Wuxian’s cackling.