The Ninth Companion

A chicken wing fell from Lan Jingyi's mouth. It landed in the bowl, splattering sauce and staining his chest.

Wei Wuxian had only one thought in his mind: once Lan Wangji sobered up, he could never show his face again.

Jin Ling said, alarmed and uncertain: '...What is he doing?'

Wei Wuxian said: 'Showing you a special use of the Lan Clan Forehead Ribbon.'

Lan Sizhui said: 'What special use...'

Wei Wuxian said: 'When you encounter a very strange Walking Corpse that you feel needs to be taken back for a thorough examination, you can untie the forehead ribbon and bind it like this to bring it back.'

Lan Jingyi yelled: 'How can that be? Our family's forehead ribbon is...'

Lan Sizhui stuffed the chicken wing back into his mouth and said: 'So that's how it is. I never knew there was such a wonderful use!'

Ignoring the strange looks from onlookers, Lan Wangji just dragged Wei Wuxian upstairs.

He entered the room, turned, shut the door, bolted it. The last step was to push the table against the door, as if to block some enemy outside. Watching Lan Wangji busy himself with all this, Wei Wuxian said: 'Are you going to kill someone and dismember the body here?'

The private room had a wooden painted screen, dividing the space into two parts: one with a table for dining and conversation, the other with a long couch, curtained, for resting. Lan Wangji dragged him behind the screen and shoved him hard, pushing Wei Wuxian onto the couch.

The long couch had a wooden screen back. Wei Wuxian's head lightly bumped it; he gave a token 'Ai-yo', thinking to himself: 'Is he forcing me to sleep together again? It's not even hai-hour yet, is it?'

Lan Wangji heard him cry out, flipped the hem of his white robe with dignified grace, sat at the edge of the couch, and reached to touch his head. Though expressionless, his movement was extremely gentle, as if asking: Did it hurt?

As he was touching it, Wei Wuxian's mouth twitched and he said: 'My hand hurts so much, hurts so much, hurts so much.'

Hearing him keep saying it hurt, a trace of worry appeared on Lan Wangji's face; his hand movements gentled, and he consolingly patted his shoulder. Wei Wuxian lifted his bound hands for him to see, saying: 'Let me go. Hanguang-jun, you tied it so tight, my hands hurt to death. Untie the forehead ribbon, let me go, okay? Okay?'

Lan Wangji immediately covered his mouth.

Wei Wuxian said: 'Mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph, mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph mmph?!'

'When there's something you don't want to do, you pretend not to understand, and when you can't pretend, you just don't let me talk?!'

'So despicable!'

Wei Wuxian thought: In that case, don't blame me.

Lan Wangji had one hand tightly covering his mouth. Wei Wuxian parted his lips and a tiny tip of tongue flicked swiftly and lightly across Lan Wangji's palm.

It was only a touch as light as a dragonfly skimming water, but Lan Wangji recoiled his hand as if a flame had licked his palm.

Wei Wuxian took a deep breath, just feeling like he had vented his anger, when he saw Lan Wangji turn around, back to him, sitting on the wooden couch hugging his knees, holding the hand whose palm had been lightly licked near his heart, his whole body motionless.

Wei Wuxian said: 'What are you doing? What is this?'

This pose of utter dejection after being violated by a libertine, anyone who didn't know would think he had done something terrible to Lan Wangji.

Seeing him seem so devastated, Wei Wuxian said: 'You find it very disgusting? Well, too bad, you were the one being so overbearing and not letting me talk. How about you come here and I'll wipe it clean for you.'

As he spoke, he reached out his two bound hands to touch Lan Wangji's shoulder, but Lan Wangji dodged. Looking at him hugging his knees, silently huddled in the corner of the bed like that, the urge to tease surged again in Wei Wuxian's chest.

He knelt on the bed and inched closer to Lan Wangji, laughing in the most devilishly charming tone he could muster: 'Scared now?'

Lan Wangji immediately jumped off the bed, as if frightened, continuing to keep his back to him and maintain distance.

Now Wei Wuxian was really feeling wild.

He leisurely got off the couch, chuckling: 'Oh, why hide? Don't run. My hands are still tied by you, and I'm not scared, what are you scared of? Come on, come here.'

He laughed and advanced with ill intent. Lan Wangji dashed out from behind the painted screen and ran into the table he had pushed against the door to block the way. Wei Wuxian went around the screen to chase him, but Lan Wangji dodged around the other side. The two circled the screen, chasing for seven or eight rounds. Wei Wuxian was chasing excitedly when it suddenly hit him, and he thought: 'What am I doing? Playing hide-and-seek? What nonsense, has my brain been caught in a door? It's one thing that Lan Zhan is drunk, but why am I playing along?'

Finding his pursuer standing still, Lan Wangji also stopped moving.

He hid behind the screen, stealthily peeking out half of his snow-white face, silently gazing toward Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian studied him carefully. The man still looked utterly serious and prim, as if the one who had just been chasing him around the screen like a six-year-old child was a completely different person.

Wei Wuxian asked: 'Do you want to continue?'

Lan Wangji nodded expressionlessly.

Wei Wuxian was holding back laughter so hard he nearly suffered internal injuries.

Hahahahahahahahaha oh god Lan Zhan wants to play hide-and-seek with him when he's drunk hahahahahahahahaha!

The laughter in his heart was like a roaring tidal wave, blotting out heaven and earth. With difficulty he suppressed it, his whole body trembling. He thought: 'A clan like the Gusu Lan Clan, forbidding noise and roughhousing, even forbidding fast walking—Lan Zhan definitely never went this wild as a child. Tsk tsk tsk, how pitiful. Anyway, he won't remember anything when he sobers up, so it's fine to play with him a little.'

He took a couple more steps toward Lan Wangji, feigning a chase. Sure enough, Lan Wangji fled as well. Wei Wuxian just treated it as teasing a little friend, cooperating earnestly, chasing him for two or three laps and saying: 'Run, run, run faster, don't let me catch you. If I catch you once, I'll lick you again, let's see if you're scared.'

His original intention for saying that was to frighten, but who knew that Lan Wangji would suddenly walk out from the other side of the screen and collide with him head-on.

Wei Wuxian had been about to grab him, but he never expected him to deliver himself. For a moment he was speechless, forgetting to even reach out. Seeing him motionless, Lan Wangji lifted his bound wrists and looped his arms around his own neck, as if willingly walking into an unbreakable trap, and said: 'Caught you.'

Wei Wuxian: '...Huh? Yeah, caught me.'

As if waiting expectantly for something yet not getting it for a long while, Lan Wangji repeated those three words, this time with heavy enunciation, as if somewhat impatiently urging: 'Caught you.'

Wei Wuxian said: 'Yeah, caught me.'

Caught me, and then?

What did he say before—once caught, what would happen?

...No way.

Wei Wuxian said: 'This time doesn't count, this time you walked over yourself...'

He hadn't even finished speaking when he saw Lan Wangji's face darken, covered in frost, looking extremely displeased.

Wei Wuxian thought: 'No way, Lan Zhan, when drunk, not only likes to play hide-and-seek, but also likes being licked?'

He tried to pull his arms from around Lan Wangji's neck, but Lan Wangji raised a hand and pressed down, holding them firmly in place, not letting him pull back. Seeing one of Lan Wangji's hands pressing on his arm, Wei Wuxian thought for a moment, then leaned in, tentatively bringing his cheek close, his lips barely grazing, half-kissing and half-not, over the back of Lan Wangji's hand, the tip of his tongue lightly sweeping across that cool jade-like skin.

A very, very light touch.

Lightning-fast, Lan Wangji withdrew his hand, removed Wei Wuxian's arms, and jumped away with his back to him again, holding the hand that had been licked, lowering his head and facing the wall in silence.

Wei Wuxian mused: 'Is he afraid or does he like it? Or both?'

As he was pondering, Lan Wangji turned around, his face calm again, and said: 'Again.'

Wei Wuxian: 'Again? Again what?'

Lan Wangji again hid behind the screen, revealing only half his face to look at him.

The meaning couldn't be clearer: again, you chase, I run.

After a speechless moment, Wei Wuxian complied and 'again' came. This time, after just two steps of chasing, Lan Wangji bumped into him again on his own.

Wei Wuxian said: 'You're really doing this on purpose.'

Lan Wangji once more looped his arms around his own neck, as if not understanding those words, waiting for him to fulfill his promise again.

Wei Wuxian thought: 'I'll just let Lan Zhan have all the fun by himself? How can that be. Anyway, whatever I do to him now, he won't remember when he wakes up, so I'll play a big game with him.'

He held Lan Wangji and they both sat down on the wooden couch. Wei Wuxian said: 'You like this, right? Don't turn your head. Tell me, do you like it or not? If you like this, there's no need to chase around every time. I'll make you happy enough in one go.'

So saying, he took one of Lan Wangji's hands, lowered his head, and kissed between his pale, slender fingers.

Lan Wangji tried to pull his hand back again, but Wei Wuxian held on tightly, not letting him retract it.

Then Wei Wuxian's lips pressed against his defined knuckles; his breath, light as a feather, traveled up along his fingers to the back of his hand. There, he kissed again.

No matter how Lan Wangji tried to pull his hand away, he couldn't. Suddenly he clenched his five fingers into a fist.

Wei Wuxian lifted his sleeve a little, exposing a snow-white wrist, and kissed there too.

After kissing, he didn't look up, only lifted his eyes and said: 'Had enough?'

Lan Wangji kept his mouth tightly shut and said nothing. Wei Wuxian then leisurely sat up straight and said: 'Tell me, did you burn paper money for me?'

No answer. Wei Wuxian gave a soft laugh, pressed close, and kissed him over his clothes at the heart. He said: 'If you won't talk, I won't give it to you. Tell me, how did you recognize me?'

Lan Wangji closed his eyes, his lips trembling slightly, as if about to confess.

But just at that moment, Wei Wuxian stared at those soft-looking, faintly red lips, and as if bewitched, he kissed those lips.

After kissing, he still licked them with lingering desire.

Both of them abruptly widened their eyes.

After a long moment, Lan Wangji suddenly raised his hand. Wei Wuxian snapped awake instantly, breaking out in a cold sweat, thinking he was about to slap him so hard his heart, liver, and lungs would fly out. He hurriedly rolled off the couch. Turning back, he saw Lan Wangji slap his own forehead, knocking himself out cold, lying back on the wooden couch.

In the private room, Lan Wangji lay on the couch, Wei Wuxian sat on the floor. A cold breeze blew in through the propped-open window, chilling Wei Wuxian's back, sobering him up a little.

He stood up from the floor, pushed the table back to its original position, and sat down beside it.

After blanking out for a while, he lowered his head and gnawed at the knot of the forehead ribbon on his wrist with difficulty, finally biting open the seven or eight tightly layered dead knots.

After his hands were freed, to calm his nerves, he naturally poured himself a cup of wine. He brought the cup to his lips and drank for a while but didn't get a single drop. Glancing down, he saw there was no wine in the cup at all. The wine in the pot had already been drained in one gulp earlier, and he hadn't even noticed while pouring that nothing came out.

Wei Wuxian placed the empty cup on the table, thinking: 'What's the point of drinking more? I've had enough today.'

At that moment, he turned his head and could just see past the screen, from the side, the quiet form of Lan Wangji lying on the couch. He thought: '...I really drank too much today, went too far. Lan Zhan is such an upright, good person. Even though he was drunk, even though he likely won't remember anything when he wakes, I shouldn't have taken advantage of him like that... it was too disrespectful.'

But recalling exactly how he had 'taken advantage', Wei Wuxian couldn't help raising his hand and lightly touching his own lips.

He took the forehead ribbon, smoothed it out for a long while, walked to the couch, placed it beside the pillow, forcibly resisting the urge to look at Lan Wangji's face, and crouched down to help him remove his boots, arranging his posture into the standard Lan sleeping position.

After that, Wei Wuxian leaned against the wooden couch and sat on the floor. His mind wandered in chaos, but one thought was crystal clear:

From now on, it's best not to let Lan Zhan drink. If he acts like this with anyone else, that would be truly disastrous.