Dust & Gold

51

~*Author's POV/3rd POV*~

Lan Xichen returned to Cloud Recesses and went to speak with Lan Qiren immediately. Lan Qiren had just finished his last lecture for the day, so it was perfect timing.

"Shufu, I have some information," Xichen said.

"Let us go to your Hanshi and talk. We can have a bit more privacy there," Lan Qiren suggested. Lan Xichen nodded and then they went to The Hanshi. They made a pot of tea and placed a privacy charm over the room to keep people from spying, "How are Wangji and Wuxian?"

"Wuxian is healing nicely, and should be fine soon,"Xichen answered, "Wangji is doing alright, he is just a bit stressed over what happened."

"I can imagine, I never expected anyone from our family would be targeted like this," Lan Qiren said.

"A'Xian looked at the chard remains of those talismans we found. Barrier breaking and fire charm," Xichen explained, "I recognized the writing the more I looked at it. It belongs to Jin Guangyao. I realize that it will be tricky to get him to outright admit what happened, but Baoshan and the boys agreed to trying to use spies."

"It might be best to go with that route, Chifeng Zun and his sect has good men in that regard," Lan Qiren said, "Do you think he'd be willing to help?"

"He would, honestly," Xichen said, "I heard from him recently, he was told by Jin Guangshan to stay out of the conflict between them and the Wen sect and they would not be targeted in any way. The Jiang Sect has been sending disciples around harassing others to keep it that way."

Lan Qiren huffed, "With Sect Leader Jiang's son now taking over, they have become more reckless. News spread that Sect Leader Jiang is now in seclusion due to his embarrassment from Wei Ying's ordeal. The Madam can no longer cultivate but she is still as nasty as ever. She is apparently helping Jiang Wanyin."

"Maiden Jiang, I imagine she is just in this mess. I heard she is the most sensible of them all," Xichen said, "A'Xian has spoken highly of her a few times. I guess Jiang Yanli helped A'Xian when he was injured by Madam Yu."

"We can have someone try to get her help, but if she refuses, we cannot force it," Lan Qiren said.

"Though A'Xian is currently healing, Jiang Yanli might listen to him," Xichen suggested.

"That is true, we can send her a private message to see if she can meet with us. Maybe we can ask Baoshan for her to visit Wei Ying," Lan Qiren suggested.

"It is worth a try," Lan Xichen said.

***

Meanwhile, Wuxian was more alert and didn't get as drowsy from his medicine anymore. Baoshan has been giving him medicine now, that didn't make him too tired. Wuxian was happy to be up and about. He was sitting outside the house currently, which was nice to have some fresh air.

"When you are ready, we can probably heal you up completely," Wangji told him.

Wuxian blushed, "here?"

"Baoshan will give us our privacy," Wangji said, "but if you want, we can go somewhere."

"I don't really want to leave the mountain just yet...is that a bad thing?" Wuxian asked.

"No, it is perfectly fine if we stay here," Wangji said, "Baoshan has a place set up for us for more privacy. It is a personal cottage further in the peach blossom forest."

Wuxian nodded, "that does sound nice, I hope I am not keeping you from anything."

Wangji sighed, "we are on this again?" He asked, "A'Ying, I am going to be wherever you are. Yes, Gusu is always going to be home for me, but you are now my new home."

"Sorry, my mind has been acting up again lately. I do not mean to be this way. Since being hurt, it just happened to come out," Wuxian told him.

Wangji carefully pulled Wuxian to sit on his lap, "it is alright, I am always here for you."

Wuxian relaxed against him and sighed, "can you give me a couple more days? Maybe wait until we go to our own place that Baoshan set up."

"Of course, I just don't want you to be in pain anymore is all. I can help you," Wangji said.

"I know you can, but I think I still need a few days," Wuxian said, "the burn is on my back and chest. It will be a bit uncomfortable in the beginning."

"We can work something out so it won't be," Wangji offered.

"We can look into it," Wuxian agreed.

Wangji placed a kiss on Wuxian's forehead, then slowly trailed he lips down Wuxian's nose until he met Wuxian's lips. Though they were not dual cultivating, Wangji was still able to feed Wuxian some of his energy. Wuxian could feel it filling his veins and some of his burns were slowly healing. They weren't healed completely but it was still a small but. Enough so that the pain was reduced quite a bit.

Wuxian smiled under the kiss and held Wangji as close as he could. Wangji placed his hands flat on Wuxian's back and held him tightly. Due to needing to breathe, Wuxian pulled his head back, panting heavily. His lungs ached as they began to gain air again.

"So intense, every time," Wuxian said, "always taking my breath away, quite literally."

Wangji smiled and kissed Wuxian on the cheek, "I am going my job well then."

"I love you, so much," Wuxian told him.

"I love you too," Wangji replied, "we will make it through this. When this is all over, how about we go house hunting together this time."

Wuxian smiled, "sure, some place where it doesn't get too cold. I do not like the cold, and we get our bunnies back."

"Mnn, we will find a place, and we can try to get some bunnies again. There may even be some here on the mountain," Wangji said.

"When I am healed a bit more, we should explore," Wuxian said.

"We can," Wangji agreed.

They were close to getting the people who hurt them, but it will take time to prepare. They were going to spend their private time to completely heal.