Lan Sizhui | Lan Yuan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
notaturnip) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
untamedbox2022-06-18 04:33 pm
notaturnip) wrote in untamedbox2022-06-18 04:33 pm
Brothel Meme: Part 3
The first day of the tournament dawns bright and clear in Lanling - there's a chill in the air that speaks of the coming winter, but the sky is clear and the sun is bright and the day promises to warm long before any of the events actually start. It's an auspicious morning.
Officially, the tournament is being hosted by four clans - Jin, Jiang, Nie and Ouyang - but everybody knows this is Jin Ling's time to shine. This is the young clan leader's first official public appearance since the attempt on his life, and though his people have seen him several times, rumours have been rife amongst the cultivation community - the tournament is to be well attended, the visitors all expecting to confirm the rumours or dispel them.
There's talk, too, that Jiang Cheng's involvement in the planning is largely to try and repair his own damaged reputation, and Ouyang are there to strengthen their own ties with the Jin clan rather than improve their shaky relationship with the Jiang. Nobody's quite sure why the Nie clan are involved at all, though recently a few more rumours have surfaced about recent 'planning' trips to Lotus Pier...
In short, the gossip is everywhere and everybody who is anybody wants to be there to find out the truth.
It's the grandest tournament to have been held in quite some time - days of feasting and competition intended to bestow glory and accolades upon the greatest cultivators in the land. The Lan clan are not known, of course, to seek such things, but they similarly would not shy away from the chance to prove their worth and put their students to the test.
There are yet more rumours that Lan Xichen himself will be attending - it is known that the clan leader has come out of his seclusion, but he hasn't yet left Cloud Recesses, could this be his first public appearance as well? Not to mention the talk of Hanguang Jun's long lost son...
Officially, the tournament is being hosted by four clans - Jin, Jiang, Nie and Ouyang - but everybody knows this is Jin Ling's time to shine. This is the young clan leader's first official public appearance since the attempt on his life, and though his people have seen him several times, rumours have been rife amongst the cultivation community - the tournament is to be well attended, the visitors all expecting to confirm the rumours or dispel them.
There's talk, too, that Jiang Cheng's involvement in the planning is largely to try and repair his own damaged reputation, and Ouyang are there to strengthen their own ties with the Jin clan rather than improve their shaky relationship with the Jiang. Nobody's quite sure why the Nie clan are involved at all, though recently a few more rumours have surfaced about recent 'planning' trips to Lotus Pier...
In short, the gossip is everywhere and everybody who is anybody wants to be there to find out the truth.
It's the grandest tournament to have been held in quite some time - days of feasting and competition intended to bestow glory and accolades upon the greatest cultivators in the land. The Lan clan are not known, of course, to seek such things, but they similarly would not shy away from the chance to prove their worth and put their students to the test.
There are yet more rumours that Lan Xichen himself will be attending - it is known that the clan leader has come out of his seclusion, but he hasn't yet left Cloud Recesses, could this be his first public appearance as well? Not to mention the talk of Hanguang Jun's long lost son...
Those wishing to gawk, however, should have gotten up early, for the Lan delegation is one of the first to arrive. Xichen is indeed there, along with the chief cultivator and, of course, the incorrigible Wei Wuxian, and they climb the steps of Lanling followed by a column of young men, clad in pristine white and walking two by two in perfect step.
And at the head of that column, walking beside his sworn brother, is a young man whose serene expression perfectly hides the turmoil in his heart, and he can't help but be reminded that the last time he was here everything was different.
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Zizhen has spent enough time with the Lans to understand the meaning behind the ribbon, to know what Jingyi is truly saying with that offer - it's not a surprise, really, or it shouldn't be, since he already knows that Jingyi loves him, that they want to spend the rest of their lives together, but it's a solid confirmation of that fact and it has Zizhen breathing out a shaky breath, his gaze reverential as his hands are gently guided to his lover's skin.
He brushes fingertips gently up the other boy's sides, letting his eyes move from his own hands and the body beneath them, trailing up Jingyi's chest to his face.
"I love you." He says - he wanted to say it better, always wanted to say it better, wanted there to be poetry and perfect moments because Jingyi deserved it, but right now he just needs the wonderful, beautiful boy to know the depth of his feelings, and those words are all he has "I love you, and I will love you, forever."
~~~
Yuan glows under the praise - it's not as though he hasn't heard the words before, but from anybody else they made his stomach churn, or at the very most were met with polite gratitude. From Ling, they made him feel beautiful. Precious. Deserving.
"As are you," he says softly, because he means it, and because he's not so sure Ling ever gets told that kind of thing. He's sure plenty of people praise him - hollow words in some cases - but it's unlikely to be for anything so simple as his beauty.
He pauses for a moment, takes the offered hand and brings it to his lips to kiss before letting go, leaning down briefly to pull a slip of paper from his fallen robes.
"One moment, my love." He says, powering up the talisman and tossing it onto the door, feeling just a tiny thrill in being able to show off even a small amount of his cultivation in front of Jin Ling.
(The talisman itself was designed by his father - a tweak to the original silencing talisman that allowed it to shut out noise from outside and inside. That way, there was no chance of that little mishap from when he first arrived happening again)
He takes Jin Ling's hand again with a smile, leaning in for a kiss before allowing himself to be lead over to the bed.