Lotus Pier, Yunmeng.
Outside the duelling hall, the cicadas sang to the summer; inside, quite a distasteful array of human bodies covered the ground.
A dozen boys, all topless, lay atop the wooden floor boards of the hall. They flipped themselves over once in a while, like a dozen sizzling pancakes, letting out dying groans.
"It's..."
"So hot..."
Eyes closed, Wei WuXian thought hazily, If only it were as cool as the Cloud Recesses.
The temperature of the piece of wood underneath him was assimilated by his body temperature again, and so he flipped over. Coincidentally, Jiang Cheng turned as well. The two brushed against each other, arm over leg. Wei WuXian immediately called out, "Jiang Cheng, move your arm. You're like a piece of coal."
Jiang Cheng, "Move your leg."
Wei WuXian, "An arm's lighter than a leg. It's harder for me to move my leg, so you should move your arm instead."
Jiang Cheng hissed, "I'm warning you, Wei WuXian, don't overdo it. Shut up and don't say anything. It gets hotter the more you talk!"
The sixth shidi joined in, "Stop arguing, alright? I feel hot just listening to you two argue. I'm even sweating faster."
Over there, arms and legs were already flying in the air, "Fuck off!" "You too!" "No, no, no-please go ahead!" "No, thanks-you can fuck off first!"
The shidi all complained, "Fight outside if you have to!" "Please fuck off together, won't you? We're begging you!"
Wei WuXian, "You heard it? They're telling you to leave. Let... go of my leg-it's gonna break, Sir!"
Veins popped on Jiang Cheng's forehead, "They're clearly telling you to leave... You let go of my arm first!"
Suddenly, from the wooden hallway outside came the swishes of a long dress brushing against the ground. Like lightning, the two snapped apart. Immediately, the bamboo curtains were lifted, and Jiang YanLi peeked inside, "Oh, so this is where everyone is hiding."
Everyone greeted her, "Shijie!" "Hello, Shijie." Some of the shier ones couldn't help but snuck into the corners, covering their chests with their arms.
Jiang YanLi, "No sword practice today? Slacking off, aren't you?"
Wei WuXian protested, "It's scorching hot today-the training ground's on fire. We'll shed a whole layer of skin if we go practice. Don't tell anyone, Shijie."
Carefully, Jiang YanLi looked at Jiang Cheng and him from top to bottom, "Were you two fighting again?"
Wei WuXian, "Nope!"
The rest of Jiang YanLi's body also came in. She was holding a plate of something, "Then who made the footprint on A-Cheng's chest?"
Hearing that he left evidence, Wei WuXian spun around to check. It was there, indeed, but nobody cared if they'd been fighting any longer. Held in Jiang YanLi's hands was a large plate of watermelon pieces already cut. The boys buzzed over, distributing the pieces in just a few seconds, and sat on the ground, munching on the watermelon. Soon, peel piled into a small mountain on the plate.
Whatever they did, Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng had to compete against each other, even when it came to eating watermelon. With both force and guile, they fought so hard that others scurried away, quickly clearing out a whole area for them. At first, Wei WuXian was quite engaged in the act of eating watermelon, but a while later, he suddenly let out a laugh.
