chapter 2 of xiyao fic is out lmao
im speed writing this like a motherfucker
Summary: Meng Yao arrives at the Cloud Recesses as Nie-gongzi’s attendant. Zewu-Jun allows him to stay for the lectures. There’s something about this place, and the man who rules it, that triggers an irrevocable change in him.
And so, Meng Yao sees two paths unfold before him: one that leads him towards power, and one that leads him somewhere completely different.
Meng Yao makes his breakfast small. He finds that he is nervous for today’s lectures, now that he realises that he really is staying for them. He anticipates gossiping, strange looks, mutterings whilst people look in his direction: all the signs that he is being slandered. But these are things he’s endured his whole life, and today should not be any different. Just one more grain of sand upon the dune.
When he returns to his rooms after his cup of tea with Lan Xichen, fetching breakfast and returning to his and Nie-gongzi’s room, he finds a small parcel in front of the doors. Inside is a set of Lan-sect white clothes. Naturally, he hadn’t packed anything white as the other disciples and heirs had, since he hadn’t planned to stay. There is no note with the parcel. Lan Xichen must have ordered for someone to bring them to his quarters.
It feels strangely funerary, dressing in all white. These clothes, though not his, fit him well; and whilst they are simple, they are also beautifully detailed. The outermost layer has a silver trim, embroidered clouds with barely discernible cranes on them. It feels wrong to wear clothes showing an animal that symbolises nobility. Then again, he knows its associations with determination and power, too, and he wonders if it is inappropriate after all. He wonders if Lan Xichen chose them specifically.