Work Text:
It was almost winter in Yunmeng. As Jiang Cheng looks up like the gray clouds in the sky, he knows it will start snowing soon. Looking down Yunmeng dock, he could see the merchants and fisherman gathering up their vegetables, fruits and stands. As Jiang Cheng turns back around to head back to Lotus Pier, he thinks he sees a glimpse of a familiar pair of red and black robes. In fact, he had seen it trailing behind him in the shadows all day as Jiang Cheng had made his way around Yunmeng. Shaking his head, he starts walking faster towards Lotus Pier. Before he had reached the door, the first couple of snowflakes had already fallen and within a couple more minutes, it had begun to snow heavily, covering the rooftops and the courtyard in a layer of white. Jiang Cheng wraps his outer robes tighter around him and walks towards his room. He heats up a hot pot of tea using a fire talisman. However, before he can take a sip of it, there is a light knock at his door from a disciple.
“Sect leader.”
“Is something wrong?” Jiang Cheng notes the uncertainty in the disciple’s voice.
“There’s someone standing at the entrance. He’s sheltering from the storm under the awning.” Jiang Cheng frowns and stands up from his desk to follow the disciple to the door. Just through the narrow gaps in the door, he can indeed see a figure. He opens the door and comes face to face with a shocked pair of eyes. It was Wei WuXian, his robes covered in snowflakes and his face red from the cold. A few wet strands of hair clings onto his face.
“J-Jiang Cheng,” Wei WuXian blinks at him.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jiang Cheng did not intend to sound so aggressive, but he is just as surprised as the latter.
“Er..well, I was running errands and I didn’t realize the weather would change this drastically.”
“It’s mid-winter,” Jiang Cheng points out dryly, still avoiding eye contact and staring absently into the distance watching his warm breath turn into a puff in the cold air.
“I should leave before the snow gets worse,” Wei WuXian says, staring at the ground and turning to leave. Something trembles on the tip of Jiang Cheng’s tongue as he sees Wei WuXian walk back into the snow out of the corner of his eye. Before he can talk, a sudden hack of coughs inadvertently makes him look back at Wei WuXian. It is then that he notices the man is shivering from the cold.
“Where can you possibly go in this weather? The fishmen aren’t even at the dock to give you a boat ride. Follow me.” Jiang Cheng doesn’t wait for Wei WuXian to respond, but he hears the man stop walking. Jiang Cheng walks back into Lotus Pier, keeping the door open. When he still does not hear footsteps following him, he turns back around in annoyance.
“Are you coming in or do you prefer freezing to death in the cold?” Wei WuXian hesitates before stepping through the threshold, closing the door behind him. He brushes the snow off his robes and silently follows Jiang Cheng as they walk through the halls. I’m leading him towards his old room... Jiang Cheng realizes. He had left the room untouched for so many years. Left the doors shut. The only reason anyone could go inside was to clean it. Wei WuXian’s stay at his newly rebuilt room had been short lived after he went to the Burial Mounds.
Jiang Cheng opens the door, shivering slightly against the cold draft that hit him as he does so.
“Stay here,” Jiang Cheng tells Wei WuXian without looking at him. Wei WuXian only gives a slight nod in response.
“Bring the guest a dry set of clothes and a cloth,” Jiang Cheng orders a passing disciple. The disciple bows and heads on his way. Jiang Cheng goes into the kitchen to heat up a pot of tea and brings it back to room and sets it down on the desk.
“Thanks,” Wei WuXian’s voice is small and uncertain, but Jiang Cheng leaves him to pour himself tea and change into a dry set of clothes. He heads back to his own room where his tea had already gone cold. With a sigh of exasperation, he heats it back up again. As he inserts spiritual energy into the fire talisman, he remembers that this was a talisman Wei WuXian had created himself. His invention was used by even the lowest level cultivators and even sect leaders.
He drinks his ginger tea, blows out the candles and settles down to sleep in his own bed. In the faint night, he can hear coughing coming from the room where Wei WuXian stayed. He had forgotten how close his room was to the one where his former sworn brother had lived in. He shuts out his thoughts and sleeps.
In the morning, Jiang Cheng swiftly sends a letter to Cloud Recesses, informing them that Wei WuXian was with them at Lotus Pier. Considering that it was on top of the mountain though, Jiang Cheng was not certain of how quickly the letter would arrive, given the amount of snow that had fallen over night despite the snow being lighter in Yunmeng than Gusu. He went to knock on Wei WuXian’s door. There is no response. Jiang Cheng frowns and knocks harder. He knew Wei WuXian was a late sleeper but by now it was nearly noon. A faint shuffling and groaning sound comes from behind the door followed by a fit of coughs. Jiang Cheng finally opens the door. Wei WuXian is curled up on the bed, his blankets and sheets crumbled as if he had been twisting and turning all night.
Suddenly concerned, Jiang Cheng walks over to the bed. He can see the brows creased along Wei WuXian’s foreheads as well as beads of sweat. He reaches a hand to touch Wei WuXian’s forehead and nearly recoils from the heat. Wei WuXian had gotten a fever. Idiot...how long was he standing outside?! Why didn’t he just knock??
He summons the healer at once and stands pacing outside the door. Maybe he thought he wasn’t welcome inside...after everything that had happened . Jiang Cheng thinks. He and Wei WuXian had said a lot of things at Guanyin Temple, but there were even more unspoken things between them that were yet to be said.
He had never seen Wei WuXian this ill. Wei WuXian had a strong golden core that kept him healthy, even in the coldest days of winter. He had had a fever when Jiang Cheng had rescued him that time from Xuanwu cave, but he had recovered in a few short days. However, his new body had a weak core and that must mean he was more susceptible to being sick and catching colds in the winter. The healer finally steps out from the room.
“Young Master Wei will need to rest here for several days. It will be best if he does not travel back to Cloud Recesses until he’s made a full recovery.” Jiang Cheng nods.
“I’ve already informed them...but it may take a while for them to receive the letter.” Jiang Cheng silently hopes Lan Wangji doesn’t choose to fly straight to Yunmeng in search of Wei WuXian, but knowing the young Twin Jade’s relationship with Wei WuXian, he most likely would do that. The healer heads back into his clinic to brew the medicine broth.
“Have Jiang Xun handle the training today,” Jiang Cheng tells a disciple. “It seems my hands are full today with another matter.” The disciple’s gaze looks over towards Wei WuXian’s room.
“Sect Leader, the healer can take care of Wei WuXian if that is what you’re worried about,” The disciple begins. “We can have more disciples to help him.”
“No need,” Jiang Cheng says briskly. He doesn’t know why he isn’t just giving the task to the other disciples, but something urges him to stay in the room. He sets down a tub of warm water and wet cloth, brings the medical broth passed to him by the healer and he sits down beside Wei WuXian’s bed.
The last time he had to take care of a sick patient was last year when Jin Ling carelessly fell into the water while playing with the disciples near the dock. It was fall then, but the water in Yunmeng was cold by then. Jin Ling had a fairly strong core for his age so he had recovered within two days.
“J-Jiang Cheng?” Wei WuXian blinks awake.
“You caught a cold and a fever. How long were you standing outside?” Jiang Cheng asks sharply, failing to hide the concern in his voice.
“Don’t remember. I was just hiding from the snow,” Wei WuXian replies in a hoarse voice. “Winters in Gusu are worse.”
“Hanguang-jun must keep you indoors all winter if you can’t even stand the amount of cold in Yunmeng,” Jiang Cheng mutters. Wei WuXian gives a weak laugh in response.
“Drink your medicine before it gets cold.” Jiang Cheng picks up the bowl of medicine broth from the side table. Wei WuXian sits up in bed, keeping the blanket wrapped around his shoulders and takes the bowl from Jiang Cheng. He finishes the bowl and places it back onto the side table.
“Drink this as well and stay under the covers,” Jiang Cheng pushes a cup of ginger tea into his hands and stands up.
“I’ll be back later.” He picks up the teapot and leaves to go into the kitchen to brew more tea. Jiang Cheng’s heart is pounding nervously. He doesn’t know what to say to Wei WuXian. After Guanyin Temple, neither of them had sought each other out, despite Jiang Cheng knowing of his frequent visits to Yunmeng and his nighthunts with Jin Ling and the two young Lan disciples. Jiang Cheng had felt more alone than ever after Guanyin Temple. Jin Ling still visited, but his nighthunts with Wei WuXian and Wen Ning had become more and more frequent.
After they parted that day, a part of Jiang Cheng had wanted to send Wei WuXian a message. So they could talk. So they could say the things that they couldn’t say to one another after so many years. Inviting him back to Lotus Pier had always been a thought in the back of his mind, but he had not expected their reunion after two years to be like this.
He takes the teapot off the boiler and goes back to the room. Wei WuXian is under the covers now, sleeping on his side, facing the entrance of the room. Jiang Cheng sets the teapot and cups down at the side table. A few disciples have brought over paperwork to the room and he sits down at the desk to look over them. A few hours pass. As he concentrates on the movement of the ink brush upon paper, a soft shuffling and moaning noise coming from the bed makes him pause and look over. He can see Wei WuXian’s head on the pillow stirring restlessly from side to side.
Suddenly concerned, Jiang Cheng walks over to the bed and sits down on the edge of it. He takes the wet cloth soaked with warm water and wipes away the bead of sweat from Wei WuXian’s forehead. It was different from caring for a sick Jin Ling but the pang in his heart is still there. When they were younger, A-jie had always been the one to take care of both of them when they were sick.
He sits up to leave, but something holds him back. Wei WuXian’s hand, with surprising strength had grasped onto his robes.
“Don’t...leave me,” The voice was weak, but Jiang Cheng immediately freezes in place. Something about that pained voice was unbearable to him. He sits back down and watches Wei WuXian sleep. The look of discomfort and pain on his face from this morning had lessened, but his sleep had become more restless.
Hesitantly, Jiang Cheng picks up the hand that had been holding his robes and he feels the pulse. The golden core was there, but it glowed so weakly and faintly that Jiang Cheng had to press a bit harder to make sure. An unexpected feeling of fear creeps over him. In his old body, Wei WuXian had had no core. He had given it up for Jiang Cheng. And now in this life, his core was so weak that even being left out in the cold left him in such a condition. Even in this life, he is suffering. Despite being happily married to Lan Wangji at Cloud Recesses, there was still hardships he had to face. The sympathy he felt was unfamiliar. All this time, he had focused so much on his own pain and loss that he never thought about Wei WuXian’s too.
He remembered the anger and frustration he had felt when he realized he had lost his own core at Wen Zhuliu’s hands. Jiang Cheng closes his eyes, Wen Ning’s words suddenly repeating in his head as he had told him about the golden core transfer. He had started at Wen Ning with wide eyes while Lan Wangji listened in shock, holding an unconscious Wei WuXian in his arms.
His brother had sacrificed a lot. Both of them had lost a lot. And this was where it had left them. They were not enemies nor family but strangers.
But perhaps they could fix it.
“Wei WuXian,” Jiang Cheng whispers, the name trembling on his tongue.
“I’m….sorry,” The response surprises him and he blinks down at the man. His eyes were still closed, but the lines had drawn tighter among his forehead. A pained groan escapes his throat followed by more muffled words. Jiang Cheng picks up Wei WuXian’s wrist again and focuses on passing spiritual energy to him without a word. The golden core inside him seemed to glow even more, as if serving a permanent reminder of whom its original owner was as the energy passed from one man to another. The pained groans gradually stop, but the faint murmuring continues like a whisper.
“...was my fault..I’m sorry. Shijie... don’t leave.” Jiang Cheng tenses immediately but keeps his tight firm on Wei WuXian’s wrist.
“You didn’t mean it. She would have given her life to protect either of us,” Jiang Cheng finds the word flying from his mouth. “She would have done the same for Jin Ling..and if she could have met him, for Lan Sizhui too. I...forgive you.” The transfer of energy continues until Wei WuXian’s breathing becomes more steady again and he has become more relaxed. Jiang Cheng stays by the bed for a while longer before heading back to the desk and blowing out the candles. He pulls a cushion up to the side of the bed.
“If we can start over...leave it in the past like we promised then maybe things can be okay again.” He murmurs before falling asleep with his head resting next to Wei WuXian’s arms.
The next morning, Wei WuXian’s fever had gone down and his cough had resided. Jiang Cheng had not expected such a swift recovery considering his condition last night. The transfer of spiritual energy must have been greatly beneficial. Lan Wangji had arrived shortly in the afternoon, his voice anxious when asking about Wei WuXian and his expression darkening in worry when Jiang Cheng informs him of his condition.
“Lan Zhan! You’re here!” Wei WuXian has just finished his bowl of medicine and he sets it down with a beaming expression as Jiang Cheng brings Lan Wangji into the room.
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji’s voice is full of emotion as he hurriedly walks to Wei WuXian’s side. “How do you feel?” Lan Wangji’s hand lifts to touch the back of it to Wei WuXian’s forehead.
“Better than last night,” Wei WuXian’s eyes flicker to Jiang Cheng briefly. “Someone...took very good care of me.” Jiang Cheng looks away, feeling heat creep up his face.
“I’m glad,” Lan Wangji replies and Jiang Cheng knows he was being looked at. “Is he recovered enough to travel back to Gusu?” Now he was being addressed.
“The healer says he should stay a few more nights,” Jiang Cheng says. “I’ll prepare a guest quarter for you...or if you prefer, I can set up a cot in this room.”
“Wei Ying needs someone to watch over him. I will stay with him.” Was the response. Jiang Cheng nods and requests that a cot be placed in the room.
“Can I talk to Jiang Cheng in private?” Wei WuXian looks from Lan Wangji to Jiang Cheng who stares off to the side.
“Mn.” As Lan Wangji passes by him, Jiang Cheng feels his sharp gaze. It was brief, but the message inside them was clear.
“What is it?” Jiang Cheng asks, still avoiding eye contact as Lan Wangji closes the door behind him.
“I was planning to try...visiting today and talking to you. You saw me at the docks right? I was walking around Yunmeng for a long time and following you from a distance but I wasn’t sure how to approach you.”
“I knew you were following me,” Jiang Cheng says, looking up at last. “But I wasn’t sure how to talk to you.”
“And then we ended up getting caught in the snow storm.”
“You mean you got caught in it,” Jiang Cheng snorts. Wei WuXian gives a small smile.
“I did...I did not dress warmly enough either. I had expected Yunmeng to be less cold than Gusu.”
“Winters are always cold.”
“They are..it’s like you said. Lan Zhan doesn’t often let me leave the Jingshi during cold winter days like these. I left a note for him before coming here.”
“You snuck out?” Jiang Cheng doesn’t even sound surprised. Wei WuXian would be the kind of person to do something like that. Wei WuXian gives a nervous laugh.
“You should really have stayed put if you get sick this badly in the winter. Visiting Yunmeng in the spring is the best timing.” Jiang Cheng says.
“Indeed...I get sick too often in the winter. Lan Zhan has to take time off from teaching lectures to take care of me. It’s so boring being stuck inside, but Jingyi and Sizhui come to visit at least.”
“Don’t...come in the winter next time,” Jiang Cheng says, sharper than intended. Wei WuXian winces at his tone and looks away.
“I mean...come when it’s warmer. Or at least wear extra layers,” he mutters, remembering the thin robes that had been soaked through from the snow the other night.
“I’ll keep that in mind...sorry if I...gave you a hard time,” Wei WuXian says quietly. Jiang Cheng sighs.
“I guess I have to be the older sibling now, don’t I?” Wei WuXian blinks in confusion then nods in understanding.
“Ah..you are the older sibling now.”
“Looking after you was a thing I had to do even when I was younger,” Jiang Cheng huffs.
“Are you saying you’re still going to do that?” Jiang Cheng looks away.
“I don’t know.”
“We can’t go back to the past nor can we erase the events that happened ...but we can start fresh.” Jiang Cheng looks back at him.
“This is my second life. With Lan Zhan and with A-Yuan. And...it can be a second chance with you too,” Wei WuXian pauses. “If you will take it.”
Jiang Cheng closes his eyes to think. He thinks back to the words Wei WuXian had spoken in the temple, that things were in the past. The pain of his sister’s death would obviously never fade, but it was a pain that would affect the both of them for the rest of their lives. There was no solace for the continuous blaming he had done for the past sixteen years. It had only brought more pain and resentment.
Right now, they only had each other. Wei WuXian may have family in Cloud Recesses, but a part of his heart always brought him back to Lotus Pier. And Jiang Cheng knows Wei WuXian is a part of his life that he could not forget. He was family, no matter how much Jiang Cheng tried to deny it after all the things that had happened. They had grown up together, played together, and even hurt one another physically and emotionally. They had been through a lot together. Both pain and happiness.
“Yes,” Jiang Cheng’s voice is quiet, but there is a certainty in it.
“Thank you for that And for last night.” Wei WuXian’s eyes are warm, but brimming with tears. Jiang Cheng can feel his own tears down his face. He hastily wipes his away and stands up.
“I’ll bring you more ginger tea.”
He brings the tea and they talk for a few hours, catching up their best on things that had happened the past years since they had departed. Soon after though, Jiang Cheng has to stop, worrying about Wei WuXian’s recovery and had to basically order Wei WuXian to stay in bed for the rest of the day.
When the day comes for Wei WuXian to leave, Jiang Cheng watches him leave with a certainty that he would be back. Perhaps now, he will not be so alone.