Chapter Text
“You are late.”
Meng Yao shuddered in the face of his biological father’s muted anger. “I-I was- “
“- Is this him?”
Jin Guangshan gestured at the ragged man standing beside Meng Yao, who had a sly smirk on his face.
“Yes, this is Xue Yang.” Meng Yao glanced over at the other man, “He has the- “
Xue Yang pulled something gold out of his pocket, waving it around triumphantly. “I had to slit a few throats to get this.” He announced, almost proudly, stepping back when Jin Guangshan tried to grab it, “Ah, ah, ah! Payment first!”
“Xue Yang!” Meng Yao hissed, “Just give it to him!”
“No, no, no.” The older man waved a hand, “He is right to be so suspicious.” Pulling a bag of coins from his belt, “Here is a partial payment… you will get the rest after I get what I want, agreed?”
Xue Yang still looked a little wary, but accepted the bag, handing over the gold object. He watched as Jin Guangshan pulled a secondary half out of a pouch, putting the two halves together.
It came to life, zipping off into the distance.
“Follow it!” The Sect Leader hissed, climbing onto his horse and rushing after it, knowing that the bastard and the little psycho wouldn’t be far behind. They sped after the golden trail, until they reached the outskirts of the Burial Grounds, when the gold object suddenly dived down into the soil.
At that moment, a dragon’s head emerged. Large and foreboding, eyes glowing in the darkness.
“Finally.” Jing Guangshan whispered, “I’ve found it.” He looked behind him at Xue Yang, gesturing him forward. “Remember… bring me the lamp! The rest of the treasure is yours but get me that lamp.”
Xue Yang gave him a cocky smirk, before heading over to the giant dragon’s head, clearly recognising that he was in danger, but not caring about it. When he went to step inside the head, the dragon growled and rumbled.
“WHO DARES DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?!”
“Xue Yang.”
“KNOW THIS. ONLY ONE MAY ENTER HERE. ONE WHOSE WORTH LIES FAR WITHIN. A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH.”
Full of fake confidence, Xue Yang moved forwards. However, as soon as he placed his foot on the first step, the dragon roared and the mouth closed down on the young man, the sand covering and suffocating him, making it look like nothing was ever there.
“FIND THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH!”
“No!” Jin Guangshan growled in anger, gesturing for his bastard son to grab the two golden pieces, which he did, none to happily.
“So… what are we going to do now?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We find this diamond in the rough.”
………………………………………………………….
“I will NOT tolerate this Sect Leader Jiang!”
Jiang Cheng resisted the urge to wince at Lan Qiren’s anger, eyes darting over to his adopted brother… who was still trying to neaten out his clothes after being caught with Lan Wangji.
Lan Wangji looked as put together as always, aside from a light flush on his pale cheeks.
“Promiscuity is prohibited! No improper behaviour!” Lan Qiren continued to rant, “Wei Wuxian insists on breaking these rules again and again and again!”
“With all due respect Master Lan…” Jiang Cheng cautiously spoke up, “… Wei Wuxian and your nephew are married. The Jiang Sect no longer have control over his actions. I’m unsure as to why- “
“- I will not have him here any longer!”
Jiang Cheng sighed, “In the marriage contract between the two sects, it was agreed that, because Lan Wangji was a Sect Heir, that Wei Wuxian would stay with his new husband and- “
“- I will not have him here any longer.” Lan Qiren was clearly on the verge of breaking one of the Sect rules, “I am more than willing to allow him to visit Lan Wangji, just as Sect leader Nie is permitted to visit Lan Xichen, and the other way around.”
“No.”
Lan Qiren turned to his nephew, who was glaring back, looking more than a little annoyed at the thought of being without Wei Wuxian for even a few hours.
Jiang Cheng looked up at the ceiling.
This was going to be a long meeting.
Lan Xichen would have been a good help here… but he was travelling around with Nie Mingjue and the man’s younger brother, the pair hoping to find a good match for the younger man in a hope that it would curb some of the younger man’s… less than ideal behaviours.
It had been going for a while, so Jiang Cheng could only assume it wasn’t going according to plan.
Much like this meeting.
As Lan Qiren and Lan Wangji continued their strangely, one-sided argument, Jiang Cheng looked forlornly back at his tea, wishing that it were something stronger.
…………………………………………………………………..
“That didn’t go too badly.” Wei Wuxian mused as they walked through Gusu, “I think he does like me, deep down.”
Jiang Cheng was proud of his self-restraint.
Grabbing Wei Wuxian’s ear and pulling him towards the docks, instead of breaking his legs was very well-restrained.
Lan Qiren needed a week or two to cool down, and that could only happen if Wei Wuxian weren’t there.
……………………………………………………………..
“We have never been so insulted in our lives.” The minor Sect leader growled, his arm around his daughter as they left the meeting, hearing Nie Mingjue groan behind them, as Lan Xichen quickly moved forwards.
“Leaving already?” He asked, “Wouldn’t you like to stay for- “
“Good luck marrying him off! Now, get out!”
Another minor Sect that they’d been kicked out of.
Nie Mingjue cast a withering glare over at his brother, who was lazily fanning himself, not seeming to even care about what had just happened.
“Did you have to mention that slight affair she had with the son of her father’s general?” Mingjue growled, as Huaisang’s eyes widened in innocence.
“We were just talking.” He protested, “I thought everyone knew about it?”
Mingjue made a vague strangling gesture, before giving up and trying a different tact. “You have to married soon Huaisang.” He pointed out, “The Nie Sect council are concerned that you’re a little too- “
“- Free?”
“No, that is not what I was going to say.” Mingjue sighed, “They just would prefer it if you got married.”
“To a woman so that I can give the Nie Sect an heir.” Huaisang couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes, “I know, but is it so wrong that I want to marry for love and not because I’m being forced into this.”
“Huaisang- “
“- Forget it.” Huaisang pushed himself to his feet to leave, “Just forget it.”
………………………………………………..
“… and that’s the current situation.” Lan Xichen sighed, “Huaisang is determined to chase off everyone we put forwards as a candidate, Mingjue is losing his patience and I’m forced to keep the peace.” He sighed again, taking a sip of tea, before smiling warmly at the man sitting opposite the table, “Sorry… I’m sure you didn’t want to meet up to hear my worries.”
Meng Yao gave Lan Xichen a weak smile, “I enjoy listening to you speak.”
“What about your father?” Lan Xichen pushed at the matter, “How has he been recently?”
He’d been expecting Meng Yao to announce his official name change as a member of the Jin sect, but there was no sign of that happening anytime soon.
“He’s okay.” Meng Yao whispered, “A little concerned with a… project, but we have hopes that’ll improve soon.”
“That’s good.” Lan Xichen smiled warmly at him, taking another sip of his tea, before turning his gaze to the window, hearing the training going on outside.
He missed the guilty look on Meng Yao’s face.
…………………………………………………………..
That night, a small figure slipped past the Nie guards and into the streets of Lotus pier.
………………………………………………………………………………….
“I miss Lan Zhan.”
Jiang Cheng looked up to the sky and prayed for patience. “You’ve been separated from him, for less than two days.”
“Yes… so long!”
He couldn’t kill his adoptive brother.
He couldn’t start a war with the Lan clan.
So, he decided to take their sister’s advice. If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. Looking away from a still whining Wei Ying, he scanned the crowd, only to freeze.
Wow.
He found himself entranced by the sight of a young man moving effortlessly through the streets, eyes mischievous, hair tied back in an elegant style and a wicked smirk that he was trying to hide behind a finely painted fan.
He was stunning.
“-ng? Jiang Cheng? JIANG WAYNIN!”
“I’ll… be right back.”
“Hey!”
Ignoring Wei Ying’s protests, Jiang Cheng headed off after the man, almost elbowing his way through the crowd in his desperation, quickly catching up with the young man.
And almost knocking into him.
“Sorry, sorry!” He apologised frantically, suddenly remembering why it was that he wasn’t married.
He struggled to talk to pretty people.
“It's okay.” The shorter man smiled shyly up at him, “Is... something the matter?”
“I-I-I just- “
….....................................................
“Dark sea of time…” Jin Guangshan hissed, eyes peering into the scrying water “… reveal to me, the one who can enter the cave.”
He waited for Meng Yao to slice his palm, the blood dripping into the water as it swirled around, forming the picture of two familiar figures in purple and green.
“Jiang Cheng… my diamond in the rough.” Jin Guangshan hummed thoughtfully, “Interesting.”
He never noticed how tense Meng Yao get as the image revealed itself. Maybe if the diamond had been some random unknown, this would have been easier.
But a Sect Leader?
His father surely couldn’t be-
“Let’s extend an invitation to him. After all, it has been some time since he has seen his beloved sister.”
…………………………………………
“You look familiar.” Jiang Cheng cleared his throat, “I-I’m not sure where though.”
The man smirked, batting his fan coyly, “You can’t remember? Just a little bit.”
Jiang Cheng desperately hoped he wasn’t one of ‘those’ men, clearing his throat awkwardly. “I’m not the best with people…or socialising.” He muttered, “I don’t mean to cause offense.”
“You don’t’” The man chuckled, “To be honest, I’m not surprised. I wasn’t exactly… a stand out individual.”
Jiang Cheng found that hard to believe, and said so, watching as the other man flushed at these words.
“You are very kind.” They looked over at something in the distance, before sighing wearily, “I had better be leaving soon, or my brother may come and find me, and that will only cause embarrassment.” They rolled their eyes, “Overprotective as he is.”
“Ah, so you…ran away?”
“Took a short break from him.” The other man corrected, “To give myself some room to breathe.” He looked up, angling himself so that their faces were only a few inches apart, glancing down at Jiang Cheng’s lips every so often in a silent hint.
Jiang Cheng leant in closer.
Seconds before their lips could touch, there was a cry from the distance.
“NIE HUISANG!”
“Ah.” The other man, Huaisang winced, “That would be for me.”
Nie Huaisang.
The brother of Nie Mingjue.
Jiang Cheng was dead.