Won't you believe me? (Servant no more - book 2)

Chapter 76

Wei Wuxian was lazing around in the bed. He could still barely believe that he was allowed to do that and that there would be no painful consequences for it. Not from Lan Wangji, he was completely certain of this point. If his master had not wanted him to stay in bed and do nothing, he would have already told him. But Lan Wangji was the best master ever and he would not do something so cruel.

After what felt like a long while, Wei Wuxian was however growing restless. He was not used to having so much free time – even though it must have only been several minutes at best since Lan Wangji had left, but it felt like a lot longer – and he did not know what to do with himself. The warm and fluffy waves were now slowly leaving him as his master was not by his side. He was not spiralling down in negative thoughts and overthinking just yet, he knew thought that he would definitely start eventually.

Now that he had time to think, his brain was running around and poking to every topic that Wei Wuxian did not want to uncover. True, it was not like the moment he stopped to take a breath, he was swarmed by nightmarish fears, it was just that he had so little good memories they were completely overrun and only the negative ones were prominent. He did not like to sink into them, it was never good. He much preferred to have no time for himself and thus, no time for any deeper thinking.

He could not take the inactivity any longer and he jumped out of the bed. For the last two days, he had not been beaten badly and had gotten to eat well, he was full of energy. Much unlike all those times when he had only gone to sleep in the early morning because of having too many duties piled up for him. Here in the Cloud Recesses Manor, he was allowed to sleep well and he had rested for a long time today.

Once he was standing, he looked around to see what he could do. The room was already spotless so there was no need for him to clean anymore. Well, aside for making the bed, which he immediately did. Afterwards, his eyes continued scanning the room and searching for any other household chores he could pick up.

However, he found none. He had already taken care of everything in the morning and now that he had made the bed, there was nothing else. The room looked like no one had ever come inside, just like Madame Yu liked it.

Still, Wei Wuxian had a feeling that something was no quite right here. He looked around again, letting his eyes linger longer on every single item inside. It took him a while to realize from where his uncomfortable feeling originated. On a chest in a corner of the room, where there had been nothing this morning, laid a bundle of something white. Something, that very much looked like folded white robes.

He was intrigued. Even though he knew he should not be sniffing around, his curiosity got the best of him. Moreover, there was no one in the room right now and Wei Wuxian was still feeling brave after spending so much time with Lan Wangji. He was very much conscious of the fact that he should not run around like this and touch anything, but he could not hold himself back. His restlessness was only growing and he needed something to calm himself down; or alternatively, something which would occupy him enough to forget about anything else. A mysteriously appeared robe could just do the trick.

He licked his lips nervously, he was still not entirely sure he should be doing this, and looked around. As expected and already confirmed, aside for him, there was no one in the room. This gave him more courage and before he could stop himself, he was walking towards the chest in the corner. He had nothing else to do while waiting for Lan Wangji to come back anyway. He would just take a quick glance, he promised himself.

However, once he was close enough to see the folded robe clearly, he noticed that there was something laying atop of it. It was a small note with a very neat writing on it. This was not what shocked Wei Wuxian to the core though. It was the words which were written on that piece of paper. His head started spinning after reading them.

For Wei Wuxian

Please use them at your leisure

He stared at the note and his head was completely blank. His eyes scanned the words over and over again, trying to convince himself that what he had read was not actually written on it. It was to no avail though. They were as clear as a day and there had been no mistake.

If it had been under any other circumstances, Wei Wuxian would have been terrified to his core. None of his previous masters ever gave him anything just like that, without him working hard for it, much less an expensive looking new robe for him to wear. He would have suspected that they only wanted to mock him. He would have never even thought about putting the clothes on in fear of angering his masters. He would never dare, no matter how worn-out and uncomfortable his own clothes were.

But, and there was a huge but in his mind, shoving away all his fears. It must have been Lan Wangji who put those robes there. He must have noticed how unkempt and filthy Wei Wuxian was. The thin material of his inner robe was sticking to his skin from when he had sweated through it outside while going to the dogs' kennels. The sole memory of the horror he had felt at that time was making him become covered in cold sweat again. His master must have not liked his appearance and that had been why he had offered him a new robe to wear for now.

When he thought about the situation in this light, there was no way he would not put the white clothes on. He reached out his hand and touched that sturdy yet soft material. It was not unlike the sleeping robe he had gotten before; the only difference was that there were two more layers to these clothes. Suddenly extremely excited by the prospects of making his master glad that he had worn the robes prepared for him, Wei Wuxian stopped feeling the exclusive and high quality material and made a beeline for the privacy screen.

He did not have much difficulties putting the robe on, after all, he had helped numerous masters in preparing for their day and dressing them. He had however never thought that he would be lucky enough to be given a robe such as this one. It was thick and warm, but not overly so, well suited for this season, and it was incredibly soft too, way better than more robes Wei Wuxian had touched during his life of a servant.

He felt the material again with the tips of his fingers, half-closing his eyes in delight. There had not been a time in his past when he had been allowed to come even close to such robes, not even talking about putting them on himself. His master was truly spoiling him.

Before he could enjoy his new attire for longer, there was soft knocking at the door. Wei Wuxian immediately perked up even more and all but run to let the person requesting entry in. Lan Wangji must have come back with the meal he had promised. Wei Wuxian could not wait for him to see him in the robe he had gifted him. For deep down, he had never been so certain of anything, this was a gift for him.

He froze on the spot though as soon as he saw who was standing on the other side of the door, his smile stiffened on his lips and his eyes wide open. It was not Lan Wangji who came back.