The first time Lan Wangji hears about Wei Wuxian, he’s ten years old, it’s a Saturday, and Uncle is angrier than he’s seen him since Dad left.
Xichen had field trip to a planetarium today, but instead of going to pick him up at the school parking lot like they’d been planning, they’re on their way to the planetarium to get him because Xichen got in a fight.
Xichen. Got in a fight. With the other students.
Lan Wangji thinks that someone might be playing a prank on him.
They arrive, Uncle straight backed and furious, and find Xichen and Nie Mingjue standing outside with a chaperone. Xichen has a split lip and Nie Mingjue’s shirt is ripped and his knuckles bruised. Uncle exchanges quick greetings and apologies with the chaperone, then turns to them and demands, “What on earth were you thinking? What was that about? Did you fight each other?”
That seems almost as ridiculous as Xichen fighting at all. They’ve been best friends for longer than Lan Wangji can remember.
“It was with two other students, Wen Chao and Wen Xu,” the chaperone says. She seems more bored than upset about the whole thing. “Their father already came to pick them up.”
Uncle turns a concerning shade of red then snaps, “Well? What sort of explanation do you have for this? Why did this happen?”
Xichen and Nie Mingjue share an uncomfortable look, communicating something through several raised eyebrows and minute shakes of the head. Finally it’s Nie Mingjue who says, “We, um. Don’t. Know.”
“You don’t know why you started a fight with other students?” Uncle asks. Lan Wangji cringes and the tone’s not even being directed at him. “You just decided to act disgracefully for no reason at all?”
“No!” Xichen denies and Nie Mingjue elbows him in the side. “It wasn’t – um. We just. Well. There was a reason. We just don’t know what it was.”
Uncle pinches the bridge of his nose. Nie Mingjue brightens and Lan Wangji turns to see Nie Zonghui walking up the steps towards them. Nie Zonghui is a Nie cousin that’s only a handful of years older than Nie Mingjue, but he’s usually the one who shows up for things like this.
“Lan Qiren,” Nie Zonghui greets, then looks down at Nie Mingjue. “I had plans today, you know.”
“Sorry,” Nie Mingjue says, not sounding very sorry at all.
Nie Zonghui rolls his eyes then says to chaperone, “Sorry about the inconvenience. Can we take them home now?”
“Of course,” she says, “I believe the teacher will assign further punishments on Monday.”
He nods and she waves at both of them before going back inside.
“You’re really not going to tell me what all this is about?” Uncle asks.
Nie Mingjue and Xichen share another complicated look then Xichen says, “We don’t know why. We saw Wei Wuxian fighting with the Wen brothers so we, uh, jumped in. A little. Two against one isn’t a fair fight! Especially against Wei Wuxian, even if he is tall!”
Uncle goes nearly apoplectic in his rage while Nie Zonghui gives an approving nod, which seems to scandalize Uncle nearly as much as the fight. “Xichen! I taught you better than that! Have you no brain of your own? If this Wei Wuxian jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?”
The lack of immediate denial is definitely not the right answer.
Nie Mingjue shrugs and says, “Maybe? If the bridge was falling apart and there was a river underneath, or if there was a fire, or if someone was drowning? It would depend. It’s not like he came up to us and told us to punch them so we did. It was already happening! And we know the Wens are jerks.”
“Well, where is this boy?” Uncle asks.
“His aunt already picked him up,” Xichen says, and just for a moment a dark look comes over his face, and he almost looks like their mother.
Nie Mingjue crosses his arms and looks away from them, scowling.
Lan Wangji takes that to mean they don’t like this boy’s aunt.
“Fine,” Uncle huffs. “We’ll discuss this later. Let’s go.”
Nie Zonghui reaches out to ruffle Nie Mingjue’s hair and they all begin walking down the stairs.
They stop and turn. A girl in bright red shoes with chin length hair comes running after them. They pause, but she doesn’t stop running until she’s in front of them, skidding to a stop in front of Lan Xichen and immediately bowing to him, then Nie Mingjue, and holding the bow as she says, “Thank you for helping my brother.”
“You’re Wei Wuxian’s sister?” Uncle asks.
She shakes her head at the same time as Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue. “No. I’m Wen Qing.”
Wen Qing. Like the Wen brothers that were also involved in the fight? It doesn’t sound like they were protecting them.
“What are you talking about?” Uncle asks, clearly at the end of his patience. “Do you know what this was all about?”
She hesitates, slowly standing straight. She bites her bottom lip but says, “My little brother really likes space, and I don’t like leaving him alone at home with Granny, so I got permission to bring him with me. Only Wen Chao and Wen Xu don’t – they’re always – my brother is sick,” she says, looking at the space next to Uncle rather than at him. “They’re always mean to him, but this time they went too far. They split off from the group and stole his inhaler and then locked him in a janitor’s closet. I was helping the teacher because he let A-Ning come, so I wasn’t pay attention, and I didn’t notice when he missing. Wei Wuxian did. That’s why they were fighting. Wei Wuxian found them and let out A-Ning, who went to go find me, but when they tried to stop him, Wei Wuxian fought back, and then Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue went looking for Wei Wuxian, and, well,” she shrugs. She bows again and says, “Thank you for helping.”
“They took his inhaler?” Nie Zonghui asks, scowling.
She nods. “It’s okay. He was panicking in there, but then Wei Wuxian let him out and gave him his inhaler, so he’s okay, and we have another at home. I’ll give it back to him on Monday. My brother is with Jiang Yanli now, but I wanted to make sure I thanked you before you left.”
“Wei Wuxian has an inhaler?” Uncle has a different look on his face than had before. Lan Wangji thinks that Xichen probably is only going to have to do a hundred push ups instead of a thousand.
“Sort of,” Nie Mingjue answers. “It’s not his.”
Uncle is back to looking like he has a headache.
“His sister uses one,” Xichen clarifies. “She’s in our class too. She has her own, but he always carries an extra, just in case.”
Wen Qing doesn’t smile at them, but she bow one last time, and then she’s running back up the steps to the planetarium.
“See,” Nie Mingjue says, “there was a good reason.”
Uncle glares at him, but it’s Nie Mingjue, so he doesn’t even look a little bit sorry.
“Alright, you’ve caused enough trouble for one day,” Nie Zonghui says wryly, “come on, let’s go, your parents are going to be – well, they’re going to hear about it, and they’ll have a reaction. Of some sort.”
Nie Mingjue shorts, but then they’re moving again, and he waves to them before walking in the opposite direction with his cousin.
Uncle still makes Xichen do a lot of pushups and handstands, but he doesn’t say that he shouldn’t have done it, which Lan Wangji knows is a victory in an of itself.
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