WangXian Forever Book 10

Chapter 53: Discoveries

Lan Zhan quietly removes the dishes from their table, feeling less calm than he would like, but he thinks Wei Ying will be back soon, and he must be ready for the hurricane of movement and thought that is his husband.

Surely he can spend a few moments without Wei Ying in touching distance, right?

And just like that, Wei Ying appears flushed and a little dishevelled, his robes askew, fast enough that Lan Zhan didn't have to answer his own question.

"Ta da!" Wei Ying brandishes his prize, the poetry book that used to be in the Cheng family residence, specifically in Cheng Maoji's office.

He pulls out the copy that Tang Pei had recognised, the one in Prince Wu's possession and lays both out on the top of their little table. Wei Ying pushes back his hair, huffing in annoyance at it when it becomes even messier until Lan Zhan picks him up and settles him in his lap and gathers all of it into a neat bun on his head.

Wei Ying's smile of thanks is just as priceless, a glance in his direction before studying the books again.

"Did anything happen?" Lan Zhan asks him out of concern.

"Um...not really?" Wei Ying smiles at him bashfully.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" Lan Zhan knows he's hiding something.

Wei Ying gives him a long, measured look and sags against his chest, fluttering his lashes.

"That's not going to work," Lan Zhan tells him with lots of disapproval that Wei Ying would try to distract him rather than tell Lan Zhan what happened where he went.

But! It IS working, and Wei Ying can tell because he's sitting in a very knowledgeable position.

"Okay, fine. The Prince had sent people there to search, okay? And I wasn't expecting it because it was such a short time between them leaving, like just yesterday, and already the First Prince figured it out. So I was spotted. Hopefully though, they might not have recognised me." Wei Ying tells him, earnestly.

Lan Zhan quickly checks him over. Other than his messed up clothes, there really doesn't seem to be anything wrong with Wei Ying. Maybe it was just a scare? But as long as Wei Ying is here in his arms, safe and sound, nothing else matters. Plus his attention is already eagerly moving onto the books.

"Two versions of the same book, two exact copies, though?" He picks up the one on the left and flicks through the pages with his thumb. He shakes it by its spine, and grins because he can feel the weight of Lan Zhan's distaste at treating a book so irreverently. A sheet of paper falls out with holes in it.

Wei Ying examines both but nothing out of the ordinary sticks out. The piece of paper is blank save for the holes, and yet it looks worn on closer examination. Tiny creases at four of the corners and each corner has a line marking it, not actual numbers but dashes stacked upon each other. When Wei Ying turns it over, the dashes increase from five to eight.

"Tang Pei said they used to read poetry to one another, even when he was with them," Lan Zhan murmurs, watching Wei Ying's sun-kissed fingers working.

His hands have always elicited some kind of reaction deep within Lan Zhan, though he's never mentioned it before. They are hardworking hands, never holding him back from whatever Wei Ying has needed to do. Expertly wielding Suibian and just as deftly digging with a hoe, Wei Ying's practical nature is a definite turn on for him. His fingers never fail to exude a mastery of his tasks, whether it is drawing out a complicated array or copying out the rules.

Lan Zhan spends a lot of time thinking about Wei Ying's hands.

"We'll come back to that later," Wei Ying mutters under his breath, putting the paper down and turning his attention to the second book. "This one feels heavier," he murmurs, shaking this one by its spine too. Nothing falls out of this one. "I can't explain it, but it feels clunkier, not as ...um, feathery?" His cute little tongue peeks out from the corner of his mouth.