After the mess at Qiongqi Dao, The Jin went to Burial Mounds while WWX was stll unconscious.
Obviously, Wen Qing must have been the one to speak with the envoys, and negotiate the bargain. She and her brother, in exchange for Wei Wuxian (and everyone else there).
Clearly, Wen Ning was most wanted.
The Jin, however, accept Wen Qing in place of Wei Wuxian (who in theory had cast the curse on Jin Zixun).
Why would they do that?
Naturally, because, to be able to die with her brother, she took responsibility for the curse! 😭
She could do so believably beacuse, she had a credible motive: Jin Zixun was directly responsible for her brother's death!
She even tells Wei Wuxian!
😭
Also:
The scene culminates in Wei Wuxian having a moment of epiphany of how annoying he is from Jiang Cheng's point of view; openly admitting his attitude is most abominable.
😂
Wen Ning slowly stood from where he had been kneeling on the ground, his head still bowed. “Jiejie and I have come to an agreement. We will go to Golden Carp Tower and plead guilty.”
“Plead guilty?” Wei Wuxian repeated in astonishment. “Plead guilty, how? Apologize? Or turn yourself in?”
Wen Qing rubbed her eyes and spoke with a seemingly tranquil expression.
“Yeah, more or less. While you were out cold the past few days, the Jin Clan of Lanling sent men to the foot of the Burial Mounds to shout their message at us.”
“What message?” Wei Wuxian probed. “Stop saying one thing at a time and make yourself clear in one go! Spit it all out!”
“The Jin Clan of Lanling wants you to answer for what happened,” Wen Qing answered. “And by that, they mean they want you to hand over the two leaders of the Wen Clan survivors. Particularly the Ghost General.”
“…I’m warning you both,” Wei Wuxian stated. “Pull out this needle. Do it right now.”
Wen Qing paid him no heed, but continued to speak. “The leaders of the remaining survivors of the Wen Clan would be us. Judging by what they said, you only need hand us over and this matter will be considered settled for the time being. And so, we must trouble you to lay here a while longer. The needle’s effects will wear off in three days. I already told Si-shu and the others; they’ll take good care of you. And they will release you if anything unexpected happens during those three days.”
Wei Wuxian fumed. “Shut the fuck up! This is already enough of a mess, don’t add to my troubles! Plead guilty, my ass! Did I tell you to do that?! Pull the needle out!”
Wen Qing and Wen Ning stood in identical silence with their hands hanging by their sides. Wei Wuxian was completely paralyzed and powerless; his struggles were futile and no one heeded his words. Suddenly, the strength seemed to leave his heart too. He couldn’t scream, he couldn’t move. His voice was hoarse as he rasped,
“Why are you going to Golden Carp Tower? I wasn’t the one who cast the Thousand Sores and Hundred Holes curse…”
But they’ve already decided it was you,” Wen Qing said.
Wei Wuxian tried his best to find a solution to the problem. Then it came to him.
“Then find the real caster! Jin Zixun must have looked for skilled spell practitioners. The usual method for dealing with such malicious curses is to reflect them back onto the person who cast them. Even if not all of it can be made to rebound, some of it can. So we only need to find the person who has the same curse marks!”
“It’s no use,” Wen Qing said.
“Why not?” Wei Wuxian probed.
“There’s a sea of people in the world,” Wen Qing said. “Where and how will we find that exact individual? Don’t tell me you want to set up checkpoints on every road, in every city, and make everyone strip for us to inspect them?”
“Why not?!” Wei Wuxian hastily pressed.
“Who would be willing to set up those checkpoints for you?” Wen Qing rebuffed. “And how long are you going to keep looking? You might be able to find them, given eight or ten years, but are they willing to wait?”
“But there’s no sign of the curse rebounding on my body!” Wei Wuxian argued.
“Did they ask you about that when they ambushed you?” Wen Qing asked.
“No,” Wei Wuxian answered.
“That’s right,” Wen Qing said. “They didn’t. They went straight for the kill. Do you get it now? They don’t need any evidence. Nor do they need you to uncover the truth. Whether there are traces of the curse on your body is irrelevant. You are the Yiling Patriarch, supreme ruler of the demonic path. You’re skilled in the diabolical arts. It wouldn’t be surprising if there were no signs of the curse rebounding on you. Besides, you needn’t have cast it yourself—you could send forth your Wen dogs, your minions and lackeys to do your bidding. Either way, you are the culprit. There is no getting out of it.”
Wei Wuxian broke into a string of curses. Wen Qing waited in silence until he was done before she continued.
“So you see, it’s no use. At this point, the identity of the person who cast the Thousand Sores and Hundred Holes curse is no longer important. What is important is that over three hundred people … including Jin Zixuan … were indeed killed by A-Ning on Qiongqi Path.”
“… But…but…” Wei Wuxian sputtered. But what? Even he couldn’t figure out what followed that “but.” He couldn’t think of any justifications to acquit himself, or any excuses that might absolve him of blame. “…But even so, I ought to be the one going. I was the one who had a corpse kill them. How is it that the murderer isn’t turning himself in, but his weapon is?”
“Isn’t it better this way?” Wen Qing asked.
“What’s better about this?!” Wei Wuxian demanded.
“Wei Ying, we both know that Wen Ning is a weapon,” Wen Qing said quietly. “A weapon that strikes fear in them, but also one they are using as an excuse to attack you. Once we go, you will lose your weapon—but they will also no longer have their excuse. And then, perhaps, this will finally be over and done with.”
Wei Wuxian stared blankly at her and then suddenly let loose a meaningless howl. He finally understood why Jiang Cheng was always so furious at the things he did. Why he was always cursing him for having a hero complex, and why he was always itching to beat some sense into him. Being unable to dissuade someone who insisted on shouldering all responsibility and bearing all the terrible consequences—this was truly a feeling most detestable, most abominable!
MXTX MDZS (Seven Seas translation, Kindle edition) Vol. 4 pp. 130-134.
