Chapter Text
The first time it happened, it was almost like a dream. Or - possibly - more like a nightmare. It did not feel real at all. He did not want it to be real. Wei Ying had been following the instructions of the head disciple, with Jiang Cheng by his side. They were thirteen at the time.
Madam Yu was watching them closely. “Wei Ying! What type of form is that? Straighten up!”
Wei Ying did straighten up, and Jiang Cheng followed him, almost on reflex. Wei Ying smiled at Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Cheng looked away, muttering a small, “shut up, Wei Ying.”
Then, a disciple ran up to Madam Yu, and Madam Yu ordered the head disciple to stop the training, “honestly, does he have to go now? He’s still in the middle of the training period, the nerve of that man. Wei Ying! The sect leader wishes to see you for something! After you’ve returned from whatever it is he wants, you are to return here to complete your training period, even if everyone else is already gone, am I understood?”
Wei Ying bowed to Madam Yu, “Yes, Madam Yu!” He straightened and patted Jiang Cheng on the shoulder, smiling when Jiang Cheng shrugged off his hand and told him to get going, then he ran off toward the main hall. He wished he hadn’t run so quickly.
When Wei Ying came back, no one was on the training field. He breathed a couple of times and went to pull out a training sword. He finished the training alone on the field. There was no one there to see him stumble every once in a while and no one to see him scrub at his face sometimes until it was red. When he was done with the training, he went into his room and slumped against the door when it shut. When he got up after sitting numbly against the door and staring into nothing, he walk-collapsed toward his bed and fell asleep without even removing his shoes.
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The instances are sporadic - Wei Ying never knows when they’ll happen but every time he’s asked to see the sect leader, he gets scared and freezes for a second. He’s tried to stop this reaction. Madam Yu has begun to notice by the way she squints at him whenever he’s called. Or, that could just be that he’s being called to see Jiang Fengmian more than even Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng said it didn’t affect him, but Wei Ying knew it did. Don’t worry shidi, it’s not at all what you’re thinking. The first one to actually figure out what was going on for the past year and a half was Wei Ying’s shijie , Jiang Yanli.
It was a good day originally when she found out. Madam Yu had begun to be more vicious with monitoring the training, seemingly because Jiang Cheng was, possibly, only a little bit, really, falling behind. Madam Yu was just angry that Wei Ying seemed to be getting better than her son, which wasn’t the case. At least, not according to Wei Ying. Madam Yu was just worried, which Wei Ying could understand. After this training session, Wei Ying slung his arm around Jiang Cheng and dragged him over to the lake. Jiang Cheng always loosened up when swimming. He didn’t comment that Wei Ying never removed his shirt, and he was all too eager to race Wei Ying and wrestle amongst the lotuses.
Jiang Cheng even slipped up when Wei Ying had pushed him underwater. He had come back up spluttering as Wei Ying laughed and exclaimed, “ Gegeee !” Wei Ying had immediately stopped laughing and turned wide-eyed towards Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng had turned beet red and stuttered out, “You didn’t hear that! You didn’t hear that, Wei Ying!” Wei Ying burst into laughter again, jumping to hug his little brother.
That was when Madam Yu came over and yelled at them for being too loud and causing a racket. It all went downhill from there, because not twenty minutes had passed before Jiang Fengmian once again called for Wei Ying. Madam Yu squinted her eyes at Wei Ying when he tensed. Madam Yu continued to squint as she said, “Wei Ying, you will come of age soon, remember? You have to think of a name for the sword you will get. Join Jiang Cheng and me in the west pavilion when you’re done hearing whatever it is that Fengmian wants to talk to you about now. He better not keep you long, or I’ll kill him. He hasn’t been out of his bedroom in the last hour and a half! Go on, now! Scat! Come on, Jiang Cheng!” She said, already walking away. Jiang Cheng looked again at Wei Ying hesitantly and then ran to catch up to his mother. In his bedroom for the last hour and a half Madam Yu had said. Oh no… Wei Ying sucked in a breath and turned to go toward the sect leader quarters.
Wei Ying was numb. He was so numb. He couldn’t feel anything. Even the slap that sounded on his cheek didn’t register. He tried to cower away, once again, when the same hand came back to caress his cheek after the slap, seemingly soothing, and whispered, “sorry, A-ze , sorry A-se , I’m sorry.”
That was when he heard footsteps outside, walking, searching. “A-Ying? A-Ying, where are you?” A-Ying. It had stopped. Everything had stopped. Very still. Wei Ying took that moment to scramble out of the hold he was in, and run. He managed to get only almost to the door, scrambling with his sleeve, before he was kicked hard. In the back, into the door. The door opened with a bam at his weight and he scrambled to get out of it.
He could hear an almost silent exclamation from behind the door as it was left a crack, away from the influence of the silencing talisman. “Why did you go?! Why did you leave me? Where did you go?! Where are you going now!?”
He scrambled up and ran, turning the right corner and almost knocking over Jiang Yanli, who had turned around at the noise, and she took his elbows, saying, “ A-Ying ! Where have you been? I’ve been so worried! A-Niang has been near fuming because you didn’t-'' She stopped short and looked at Wei Ying. He looked dishevelled, he knew, his sleeve was still not all the way back upon his shoulder, he knew his pants were still missing underneath his robes, he knew there was something visible on his neck. He closed his eyes shut tight, waiting for Jiang Yanli to shame him, scorn him, push him aside. That didn’t happen. He felt her arm moving to adjust his right sleeve, and her hands move to smooth out his sleeves afterwards, “ A-Ying …” Wei Ying opened his eyes, and when he did, he saw something he never had in Jiang Yanli’s eyes, something that wasn’t there before. She was looking towards the corner, the door just around it. Her eyes were on fire. She whispered, “Come on, A-Ying , come on. Let’s go.”
Jiang Yanli leads him around the outer edges of Lotus Pier. It was a longer route, yes, but it didn’t draw attention to them. She told him, when they were nearing her quarters, “Wait here, A-Ying . Don’t move, hm?” And he didn’t. He watched her go around to her quarters, alerting a maid. He didn’t hear what they were saying, but when the maid turned and ran off again, Jiang Yanli turned towards him again and smiled. It was ok, whatever it is, it’s ok. It didn’t take long for her to come back, take Wei Ying’s hand, and lead him back towards her room, where there was a bath waiting. “Now, A-Ying , take as long as you need in the bath, ok? I will go make you some lotus root and pork rib soup and then I’ll brush your hair. Will that be ok?” Wei Ying nodded and watched his sister leave to make the soup.
When he had dressed, he came out from behind the privacy screen. Jiang Yanli was there, sitting patiently with a bowl of soup on the table and a comb laid next to her. She looked up when he appeared, smiled, and began to pour soup into a bowl. “ A-Cheng will join us in a bit. I made sure there was some time for you to collect yourself and get comfortable again. Come here, A-Ying .” Wei Ying went over and sat next to his shijie . Jiang Yanli took his hair and began to brush. She assured him that he could always come to her, and she would try to - she paused - talk to her father. It felt nice to be treated with respect, to be touched nicely. He really loved his shijie - no. A-Jie . She was his elder sister. Jiang Yanli made a point to him that from now on she would not respond to shijie . She became more protective. Jiang Cheng ran into the room only a bit later and didn’t ask many questions. Jiang Yanli told Jiang Cheng that he needed to look out for Wei Ying. She said, “ A-Cheng . Look out for your brother, will you?”
Wei Ying pulled on her sleeve, “ Shijie -” She glared at him. “ A-Jie … really, it’s ok.”
Jiang Cheng looked from his older sister and his shixiong - no, his older brother. He had already slipped up once anyway. “Wei Ying!” When Wei Ying looked at him, he pulled him into a tight hug. Before Wei Ying could react, though, he was pushed back again, and Jiang Cheng looked away, crossing his arms, “I don’t know exactly what’s happening. But… But A-Jie and I are here for you, ok?” Wei Ying smiled at his shidi - no, his didi . He pulled him into a hug and didn’t let go even when Jiang Cheng began to wriggle trying to get away. When Jiang Cheng finally settled, he patted Wei Ying on the back saying, “It’s ok, Gege . It’s ok.” Jiang Yanli joined the hug and Wei Ying burst into tears. They stayed like that until Madam Yu called them for dinner. They went hand in hand.