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The sunrise over Lotus Pier dawned on a man in terrible trouble, in terrible pain and grief. He had just been blacklisted by another matchmaker, refused by another woman.
He crumpled the paper in his hand and threw it against the wall, following it up with a snap of Zidian so the paper turned into greasy ashes for the servants to clean up.
What was so impossible about this? Everyone else who he knew that had an interest in marriage had successfully managed to do so. Jin Ling had taken a wife a year ago, younger than anyone in his generation but what with him having no heir he decided to not wait, and Wei Wuxian had of course been married for a while now, somehow managing to marry far above his station, but he had let all of that go now. They owed nothing to each other so he should stay out of his thoughts.
It still was infuriating that he'd managed to make a far better marriage than he would have ever expected, given his rank. He supposed that if he were trying to do the same thing, he might have more luck finding some pretty servant girl and raising her up.
But the chances of finding someone beautiful and still fitting his other requirements among the lower classes seemed rather unlikely. As well as time consuming. There still had to be someone available in their age range who fit his stipulations.
Perhaps he should do what Wei Wuxian had and just give up on women all together. The thought still grossed him out, but if women were so stubborn as to continue to refuse him and Wei Wuxian managed to get married to the first man he wanted, there could be something to that.
Well, anything Wei Wuxian could have, he could also get. Except there was an astounding lack of current great sect heirs. Wei Wuxian had married one of the two available, not that he would ever touch Lan Wangji with a ten cun pole, and the other was all of a month old and his great-nephew. How had that happened?
He could try and make an alliance out of one of the other great sects, blend their territories together. Perhaps that would be enough to get Zewu-jun on his side. It had been long enough since he had been actively at odds against Wei Wuxian that he doubted the older leader held a grudge any longer. There was also Nie Huaisang, but he was both notoriously flighty and the chief cultivator. And of the two of them, Zewu-jun was known for being the more beautiful of the two.
The lines on his forehead smoothed as he thought it through. Yes, this idea had some potential. Yunmeng and Gusu bordered each other, so it would be a smooth blending, they wouldn't have to live together, they could just be married and then he could adopt an heir and raise them to take over when he died. It wouldn't be ideal, but he was running out of options and he'd found a grey hair at his temple the other day.
Sticking his head out of his office door, he shouted for wine and fresh parchment to be brought to him, as well as for someone to find an appropriate gift to send as a gesture of good faith to Gusu Lan. Surely those sticks in the mud could still be brought to see reason through an acceptable gift that showcased what he had to bring to the match.
After all, they'd accepted Wei Wuxian in, right?
He sent off the proposal and the gifts and waited. And waited. And waited almost four months until the next discussion conference rolled around with no word. With a grumble, he decided to speak to one of the elders should he manage to get a few minutes without them pulling in around themselves.
Such an insular sect! But Zewu-jun was clearly the best looking of his prospective marriages, so he would try to make a good impression on them.
This year, it was being held at Qinghe Nie, which meant a long journey through bumpy mountainous roads and ominous dark trees overhead. He missed when it was at Lanling Jin and it would be smooth roads all the way through and his nephew at the end of it. He said he was too busy to night-hunt together the way they used to, but he suspected that some of it was that he inexplicably preferred Wei Wuxian to him. The thought made him sneer, and then inexplicably sad, the cold wet feeling of not being good enough sinking through his stomach.
He drowned it out with another swallow of wine, feeling his, no, not his own, but his golden core burn off the worst of the edge. He had to take another drink for that. He told himself eventually he would get over it, that it was a gift he should appreciate. But it still just stung at his pride every time the thought came up.
He arrived shortly before nightfall the day before the conference, subtly stretching out his legs as he stepped out so that no one would notice he was stiff from having been on the road since dawn. The headshaker was standing outside already, fan flipped demurely in front of his face. “Welcome, Jiang-zongzhu,” he said, eyes subtly lowered. “I thought you might arrive early this year,” he added and looked up through his eyelashes.
“Er-yes,” he managed, caught off guard by the oddly...soft way the man was looking at him. “I assumed it wouldn't be a problem.” He shifted awkwardly from foot to foot and looked down. Nie Huaisang wasn't much of a cultivator or all that motivated, but he had been managing as Chief Cultivator longer than he and several other of the sect leaders had bet, so perhaps he had overlooked something in him.
Nie Huaisang laughed lightly and fluttered his silly fan in front of his face, “Oh, of course not. The Gusu Lan sect has even further to travel, as well as some of the minor sects, so I've made arrangements in that event already.” With a skillful flick of his wrist, he gestured to one of the men behind him. “Please make sure that Jiang-zongzhu and his retinue are given dinner and one of the nicer guest buildings.” His eyes flitted down and then back up to meet his own. Jiang Wanyin had to fight against the sudden desire to swallow hard. “Perhaps arrange things for a bath as well,” he said at last, “to wash off the dust of the road.”
He let himself be led away by a servant in dark robes as his mind tried to puzzle out what was going on. The only thing that came to mind was that it felt like a much more subdued version of watching Wei Wuxian running after Lan Wangji back in the Cloud Recesses, only...directly aimed at him.
Was he picking up on something that wasn't there, or had he just never noticed before? Certainly their paths had not overlapped nearly at all since those days back in the Cloud Recesses, and at the time he would have been disgusted by any such advances, but well he had decided to see if it was worth it and he was used to squashing down feelings such as guilt, grief, anything that got in the way of his righteous anger, so he could crush this one down too.
He would still speak to the Lan, but he was beginning to think he had made the wrong choice to begin with.
He dwelled on the possibility through dinner, a thick stew with root vegetables and some sort of chewy meat he couldn't tell what it was anymore, and then through a bath. In the end, he found the thought not wholly unpleasant. Certainly the infamous headshaker would never be a threat to his power base, he'd have a much better support for his own ideas if his husband was the Chief Cultivator. And best of all, he'd still have managed a better marriage than Wei Wuxian if he could manage this.
The next day, he ran across Lan Qiren himself in one of the stone gardens, face as cold and composed as ever. He didn't quite want to give up on this prospect just yet, so he waited until the elder noticed him, and managed to comport himself in a respectful bow. “Lan-xiansheng,” he said and waited for the older man to bow back before straightening. “May I have a moment of your time?”
Lan Qiren arched an eyebrow suspiciously, but nodded after a moment as he stomped on the initial desire to question his confusion. He was capable of speaking in such a way to someone deserving of respect! He wondered idly if Wei Wuxian still called him Lan-laotu behind his back. It seemed like something he would do. “Jiang-zongzhu,” he started and then his eyes fixed on someone behind him.
Jiang Wanyin moved in time to see Zewu-jun himself, his usual smile disappeared. “Jiang-zongzhu, if I may request the same of you.”
Ah, well this was much better than playing coy with the elders, to just have a clear talk with his possible future husband. “Of course,” he said and bowed to Lan Qiren, making sure that it was the right degree of politeness for someone you hoped to have a better relationship in the future.
A faint smile played over Zewu-jun's lips as he inclined his head towards a small gravel path, suggesting they talk a walk together. He attempted to return it in the same way and felt it turn into a grimace. When was the last time he'd just smiled normally at someone, if it were this hard now? “You wished to speak to me?” he asked when they'd passed out of the range of eavesdroppers.
Zewu-jun turned towards him, smile completely gone again. “Yes, I did.” he said, so much ice dripping into his voice he sounded like his brother, “I wanted to ask you how little you thought of our sect to send such a proposal?”
Jiang Wanyin practically reeled back in shock. “Excuse me?” he demanded, feeling Zidian spark at his wrist before he suppressed the anger, “I did nothing that could have possibly offended you. I even made sure any gifts I sent matched with your rules.”
“I think you misunderstand our positions,” Zewu-jun said, eyebrows pulled down in stark disapproval compared to the genial smile he was used to. “Such a suggestion at all would be a grievous insult, given that Wuxian is a valued member of my family and I cannot trust that you would be able to recognize that should we enter into such a relationship.” His eyes burned with an anger he didn't think the First Jade of Lan had been capable of. “As such, I will grant you the honor of simply ignoring it as long as you don't attempt to force the issue. I strongly suggest that you don't interfere with any of my family again.”
As if that were all that needed to be said, he bowed again and straightened up with that same warm smile on his face again, mask firmly in place. “We've had a good talk, I will leave you in peace.” he said, and strode off down the path at a speed almost considered undignified.
Jiang Wanyin could only gape after him, one thought running through his mind. Where did he get the arrogance to speak to someone like that on his level?
Nie Huaisang was glad that another conference had passed without significant difficulties, especially as the Lan had arrived practically ready to fight in a war if necessary. It had taken only a few casually exchanged words with Wei-xiong, along to support his brother-in-law, to understand what the problem was and come up with a plan accordingly.
He smirked behind his fan as Yan Shan bowed and set a fresh pot of tea down for him, leaning over subtly to get her attention. “Did you leave the box in his room?”
She nodded quickly. “Just as you requested, near enough to his things that he may not notice it right away if his temper rises.”
“Good, thank you very much,” he dismissed her with a wave of his fan and let her run off back to her duties. This would be a much easier game to play than dancing around Jin Guangyao had been, it was well known that Jiang-zongzhu was nearly completely blind to anything that didn't fit into his very narrow view of the world.
What a shame that he had upset his friend again right when he was beginning to think he had actually made some sort of a change. His eyes were completely unreadable as he looked over at Wei-xiong, laughing and leaning against his husband now that Jiang-zongzhu was packing up to leave and less likely to cause any further problems with his sect.
Slipping the poisoned knife between his ribs was the least he could do.