Wei Wuxian ' Pov

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I couldn't sleep anymore. I could hear the birds singing through the open window above our bed. It felt so good to be back home! I was resting against the warm body of my soul mate. My arm was around his waist and his was around mine. Lan Zhan was getting better and better. It would be a while before we could resume our normal married life, but I could belong to him again. Even if our lovemaking did not last as long as usual and was less "muscular". I was happy, well almost... there was still one more subject we had to talk about. I had waited until now to bring it up.

The day was not fully awake, but I was awake. I felt Lan Zhan's embrace tighten around me.

"What's troubling you?" he asked.

I sighed. He was reading me like an open book.

"There's something I haven't told you about. I wanted to wait until you got better and we got home." Although his face remained impassive, his hand tightened on my hip.

"I'm listening."

"When you were injured in the back, the wound would not heal..."

"Mnnn"

"It was just on an old scar from the discipline whips..." I hesitated, he felt it.

"Continued"

"Song Chang without knowing anything about our history, then asked me if those whips were inflicted on you for fighting and hurting a member of your clan!"

"Our clan!"

"Yes, our clan, I still have a little trouble with that.

"You're going astray!"

"Whose fault was that? Where was I?"

"Song Chang..."

"Ah yes, so I was surprised that he is deduced that just from the scar of a whip ..".

"And?".

"He revealed to me that in this case of punishment, the whip was coated with a product that delayed the healing of wounds. This product was used to teach the culprit a lesson to make him aware of the pain he had inflicted on his victim!

"This practice was abandoned at least 150 years ago because my grandfather thought it was too barbaric.

"Well, 20 years ago, they used it again... on you. To punish you for your disobedience .... But I think that those who made this decision were after your life.

My head was still resting on his chest. I could hear his heart speeding up and his breathing becoming shorter!

"You think Uncle QiRen...

"Despite all your differences at the time, he loved you like a son ... I don't think he would have done this to you!

"I need to know!".

I looked at my soul mate. The past few years had brought a certain calmness to Lan Zhan and his Uncle's relationship. This doubt threatened to poison their understanding again. We had to find out as soon as possible and the only solution was to go and find the people involved, first and foremost his Uncle QiRen.

"Uncle and Brother drink tea before the morning reading. We'll go join them and question Uncle.

Sensing that the question would preoccupy him until he had an answer, I decided to distract him ... after all we had time!

I slid my hand down his chest, around the curves of his muscles, then down to his flat, hard stomach. I realized with joy that it was not only his belly that was hard! I had a small naughty laugh and raised me slightly to offer him my lips, which he took greedily.

I had missed this contact so much. I didn't feel totally whole when I couldn't belong to him. His lips now roamed down my neck and over my shoulder. He flipped me onto my back and slid between my thighs. My legs came up on either side of his hips. I was waiting for him and he knew it.

He never needed much encouragement. All I needed was a simple "invitation" ... to let him know I was ready for him ... his answer was never late, to my great pleasure.

Once again I didn't have to wait, he came inside me. He knew all the most intimate secrets of my body and he knew how to play with them as with his Qin. When I told him about it, he jokingly said that although my chords did not sound as good as his Qin's, they gave him much more pleasure to hear. I didn't understand immediately what he was referring to....

In front of my astonished air, he had laughed and had contented himself with telling me that he was happy that the Jingshi was isolated because we would have kept our neighbors awake every night!!! I had blushed when I understood! Because it is true that I was rather expressive in bed! I had tried to hold back but Lan Zhan had lectured me, telling me that my moaning was guiding him to give me pleasure... and that's what he was doing at that moment.

An hour later, after taking a "wise" bath and eating, we were ready. We left the Jingshi and walked through YunShen Buzhi to Lan QiRen's workroom. I could see the slight hesitation in my soul mate's hand when he knocked on the door.

After being invited, we went in. Lan QiRen and Xichen were sitting face to face. Our early presence, especially mine, seemed to surprise them. They stood up to welcome us. We greeted them.

"Wangji, Wuxian, to what do we owe such an early visit?" asked Xichen.

Lan Zhan and I looked at each other.

"Wei Wuxian wouldn't have gotten up so early if it wasn't important," said Lan QiRen.

"Brothers, let's go sit down and tell us."

We followed Xichen and Lan QiRen. Once we were settled, Xichen poured us a cup of tea and pushed it towards us.

"We're listening to you.

Lan Zhan looked his uncle in the eye.

Uncle," he said, "twenty years ago when I was punished, did the whips have some kind of healing agent on them?

"Of course not, this barbaric practice was abolished by my father 150 years ago!

"Wangji, why do you ask?" asked Xichen.

I told them how hard Lan Zhan's wound was to heal and Song Chang's remark about the discipline whip and the product that was used to coat them.

"Uncle , is it possible that one or more members of the Council made this decision without your knowledge?"

Lan QiRen looked troubled. He had to realize that some of the Elders he had always trusted and relied on had probably betrayed him!

He should have seen it earlier in my opinion! After all, hadn't they taken advantage of Xichen's absence to act and convene the Disciplinary Council? Hadn't they taken advantage of Lan QiRen's and several elders' injuries to impose a punishment that could have killed Lan Zhan?

But if that was the case, why had they done so? What had Lan Zhan done to them that they wanted to make him suffer so much, even die?

I could see anger in Lan QiRen's eyes and incomprehension in Lan Xichen's.

Lan QiRen slapped the table with his point. It was rare to see him get angry. Except for me, of course! But this time I had nothing to do with it.

"If this is the truth, I can only think of three people who could have led such a cabal against you Wangji!"

I took Lan Zhan's hand under the table and squeezed it tightly. So there were elders who were angry with him? But why?

"Master QiRen, why would these people resent Lan Zhan so much that they want to make him suffer?" Lan QiRen stared at his nephew.

"Resentment... can be a reason...".

"What have I done to them, Uncle. Have I wronged them without knowing it?"

"It's more complex Wandji.... The 2nd chief of our clan and eldest son of Lan An had 2 sons. Our lineage is from the main line... Lan HanRan is from the second one. When his son was old enough to take the coming-of-age exam, everyone thought that he would be recognized by Bichen at the sword ceremony because of his excellent skills and practice...".

"But Bichen chose me.

"Yes, the moment he projected his energy towards her to call her, she turned around and came to you, waiting for you to take hold of her.

"I didn't ask for it, I was too young to take the test.

"That's right, but Bichen recognized your value and the following year, when you were only 14 years old, you passed the exam with flying colors, pulverizing all the previous results of your elders, including, of course, that of his son.

"Is that why he is angry with me?

"There is another reason until you revealed SiZhui's existence, HanRan's son was in second place to inherit the title of clan chief. Since I myself renounced this position if something happened to Xichen, you were the heir apparent. If you were to die, his son would inherit the title!

"Uncle QiRen, do you really think they went that far?" asked Xichen.

"My children, our rules and precepts help us keep control of our lives, but we are only human. We are fallible and susceptible to the worst of actions. Just look at the way we all behaved during the war against the Wen!

"Uncle, what do you suggest we do?" asked Xichen.

Lan QiRen stared at me with a strange smile on his face.

"Wei Wuxian, how would you like to be the Patriarch of Yiling for an afternoon and make the Elders of the Lan Clan tremble?

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)