They were sitting in the dining hall eating lunch, when Lan Zhan realised Wei Ying wasn't really eating anything, more that he was playing with his food, shuffling it around his bowl as if coming to terms with the idea that eventually, it was going into his stomach via his mouth.
And then he remembered a meal ordered as a family, in a restaurant in Yiling when Wei Ying had offered to pay for them, his "treat", he had said in that sweet, smiling way of his, the one reserved for just Lan Zhan.
Wei Ying had a plethora of smiles, but he often used them as masks, hiding what he truly felt, or using them as distractions while he sorted through other internal issues.
At that particular instance though, Wei Ying had been genuinely delighted to see him on that cold autumn day, running towards him as if his heart was pulling him along because his feet were too slow to react, and wasn't that just a heartwarming thought? That Wei Ying liked him just as much as Lan Zhan liked him back, and was looking forward to seeing him again with the same amount of gusto and anticipation and delight, and yet there hadn't been a need to put words to those feelings. To name it would have given it a shape, and therefore, made its fragile existence even more dangerous to both of them, given the tentative peace that was being nurtured through violent political strategies, beneficial only to the select few.
And still, during those precious few minutes, they were a family united by care and affection for each other, with A-Yuan acting like the glue that held them together. Over plates of spicy noodles and steamed dumplings, and a bowl of sweet soup, love in all its different facets wrapped around them in a shroud of perfection, only to be shattered by one of Wei Ying's talismans warning him of unrest at the Burial Mounds.
Wei Ying's palette had always been drawn towards the spicier side of flavours, and even when he had arrived as part of the Jiang contingent during the guest lectures, he had complained about the food that the Lan Clan served everyone, including their guests with their bland menu.
Already, it appeared Wei Ying was tired of that same food.
The Lan Clan prided itself on having simple nourishment because anything else proved a negative distraction when its disciples were supposed to be thinking about improving their Cultivation, not on whether they would have enjoyment during their next meal. The food is purposefully bland to ease digestion and only be a provision of nutrition, nothing else.
While this method may have helped other disciples, it is becoming clear that Wei Ying is no ordinary cultivator.
Lan Zhan cannot help himself checking on the existence of Wei Ying's Golden core every single day, and the fact that it IS there, albeit just a kernel of light at the moment, gives him a relief like no other. In that terrible past life, Wen Zhuliu had burned away Wei Ying's brilliant light, a golden core that matched Lan Zhan's own power so wonderfully that Lan Zhan had mourned its loss as if it was his own.
He has no idea how Wei Ying managed to cultivate to such a high standard as if it was nothing, but the truth was, he was diligent in the things that mattered, and that's what counted.
So it's no stretch of the imagination to believe that Wei Ying's Cultivation is going to be strong no matter what he eats, because the two are unrelated paths.
In their past life, Wei Ying was the Head Disciple of the Jiang Sect, and yet no one surpassed his Cultivation skills there, so that meant he had done it on his own merit. Once a golden core made itself known to the one residing in that body, it was a matter of personal integrity as to its growth, and Wei Ying had done that all by himself. Even the Sect heir, Jiang WanYin, hadn't been so powerful...at least not at the beginning, when Lan Zhan first met the young man.
