INTERTWINED (WangXian)

36. Body and soul

The next morning, inside Jingshi, Lan zhan who lay on the bed with his disheveled clothes struggled to open his eyes as the sunlight shone right on his face. From the over brightness he knew it was way past his wake up time. After closing his eyes for a long minute, he opened his eyes slowly and as he tried to move, he realised he was being hugged from behind. Lan zhan did not remember how he ended up in his bed inside jingshi as he clearly remembered going out chasing Wei ying and.. And? What then? He couldn't remember. Maybe Wei ying brought him back? He will know once he confirms the same with Wei ying. 

As he unfastened the arms that were holding his waist, the hold tightened and he knew it was not actually a hug but a death grip. 

"You are not in your right mind"  Lan zhan heard a faint voice. Recognising the owner of the voice, Lan zhan got up from the bed at a lightning speed. 

It was Jiang cheng. 

How in the world did he end up in Jingshi with Jiang cheng!! Where is Wei ying?

"Wangji, calm down" Xichen who was also there in the room, gave an instant relief to Lan zhan. If his brother was there, nothing could have gone wrong. But why was his brother's forehead ribbon crooked? 

Jiang cheng woke up from the sudden movement and rolled his eyes twice, trying to assess the situation. The twin jades were still blinking not remembering what exactly happened after they met the other two last night. Jiang cheng being the experienced drinker, walked casually, grabbing the wine bottle from the floor which stimulated the last night memories of the jades. 

Previous night

When Lan zhan came out of jingshi, Wei ying was already far from him. Xichen and Jiang cheng who were having a chat outside, saw Wei ying going out but didn't stop him from leaving as it would be too much of an intervention between the couple. As they expected, Lan zhan too came out and the brothers noticed them from a safe distance. Wei ying in order to avoid people from seeing him, entered the nearby building which is the library. The siblings waited a few meters away from the building and noticed Lan zhan, who went in, came out at double speed. 

Lan zhan regulated his breath, imagined Wei ying's smiling image from earlier today, his red cheeks as they locked eyes after paying homage and Lan zhan was ready to enter the library again. 

Like the previous times, Lan zhan came out with sweat covering his forehead. He repeated the breathing regulation before entering the library the third time. However, this time when he came out, the door was shut by Wei ying not giving another option for Lan zhan to coax him. 

Jiang cheng, losing his non-existent patience, called out his brother's name knocking the door and did not receive a response. He let Lan zhan and Xichen to wait until he brought his shijie to bring his brother out. On hearing Yanli's voice the door opened and others did not prevent him from leaving with his shijie. 

"Not my Wei ying" Lan zhan answered the unasked questions of the two brothers. 

The two looked shocked however Xichen regained his composure and stopped Jiang cheng from cursing, as he asked

"What makes you say that Wangji?"

"I don't feel my Wei ying in this person."

"Crap" Jiang cheng was not ready to buy that. 

"They look alike." With that Lan zhan explained how he felt each time he tried to approach Wei ying a while ago. 

"So Wei ying did not chase you away, instead you came out on your own will all the three times?" Xichen wanted to know. 

"Mn"

Xichen convinced his baby brother and Jiang cheng, brought them to Jingshi to avoid any false rumours to spread in cloud recesses. 

Jiang cheng felt like beating the hell out of his new brother-in-law for not considering his brother's feelings and pushing him to spend his first night alone. However, a recent memory of his brother blabbering something about feeling his Lanzhan, hearing his Lan zhan, this and that surfaced and he had to think whether the feeling concept was true. 

"Aren't you going to look for brother-in-law?" Xichen felt uneasy. 

"I am. Trying to let him hear me" Lan zhan, who had his eyes closed, explained. 

"You cold stone" Jiang cheng rolled his fist and charged towards Lan zhan, having had enough of this feeling and hearing story, but though Lan zhan's eyes were closed, he sensed the danger and moved aside avoiding the punch, as a result Jiang cheng's fist landed on the floor and a specific wooden piece of the floor flipped revealing few jars of emperor's smile. 

"For Wei ying" 

"..."

"..."

Both Xichen and Jiang cheng could not believe what they saw. Lan zhan was claiming that this was not his Wei ying however he was the one who did not seem to act upto the standards of hanguangjun. 

Lan zhan did not hesitate a second to open the jar and have a sip, least bothered by the audience. His entire face flushed red as he added,

"Unable to hear Wei ying's thoughts" from his face, Xichen knew his baby brother's heart was in deep turmoil. After all, Where would he search for his Wei ying? How did he lose him? 

Jiang cheng shared a cup of alcohol from the opened jar to Xichen, and all the three wailed like toddlers each worried about Wei ying. 

Lan zhan tried to leave Jingshi in search of Wei ying several times that night, and each time Xicheng duo brought him back to bed, comforting him that they would find the truth together after confirming the identity of the Wei ying present in cloud recesses. 

Xicheng felt it right to wait until they confirm the same, as they should not hurt Wei ying's feelings in any way if what Lan zhan feels is wrong. 

Somewhere in the woods

"Leave me, why have you chained me?" Madam Lan shouted. 

No one paid any attention to her. 

In the next cell was the olive green robed man, and his minister, watching a motionless body chained on all the four limbs. 

"Don't harm my daughter" Madam Lan's pleading was heard from the next cell for which the olive green robed man smiled viciously.