Chapter Text
The boy is surely dead, Wen Qing thinks at first when her brother brings the bloodied and bruised body to her. There are deep red marks in the shapes of fingers around his neck, and his body is prone as the cultivators who work under Wen Ning (all timid mice just like him, what use would they be if he ran into trouble?) carry him into their house.
All of her words of objection die on her tongue; she's a doctor first, and if this boy isn't dead yet, he will be soon without medical attention. "Take him to a guest room quickly, and don't jostle his wounds further!" she snaps at the cultivators.
Wen Ning looks up at her with wide eyes as he passes. "Jiejie-"
"So you still have the face to call me that?" Wen Qing snaps, feeling her temper fraying in multiple directions. "How reckless are you, rushing off to Yunmeng and thinking that wouldn't draw suspicion? That's your Wei Ying, isn't it?" When her brother stammers an agreement, she bites her tongue briefly to avoid snapping at him. "Wen Chao already has it out for him; if he finds him here, what do you think will happen?!"
"B-but, Jie, if we don't help him..."
He'll die. That much is clear.
With a sigh, Wen Qing shakes her head and strides into the guest room. She casts a stern eye over the cultivators gathered there. They're all loyal to Wen Ning, but if anyone has loose lips for even a moment, it could bring disaster to them. "This night never happened, understand?"
"Yes, Wen-guniang," they all agree, bowing their heads and looking appropriately cowed. If only her brother were so easy!
The two of them are left alone in the room, and she gives Wen Ning a few orders to get supplies for her while she takes her first proper look at her patient. He's not dead, but he really is in a terrible state. It's amazing that the strangling didn't kill him; likely whoever did it thought they had killed him, and abandoned his body before they could finish the job.
It's odd, though; a cultivator can channel enough strength into their hands to snap a man's neck outright. Why this sort of slow, drawn out strangling, which looks more like what you'd see a man doing to his wife to 'keep her in line'?
But she gets a better idea of why when she starts cutting away his ruined clothing. His back is a mess of wounds, some burned, some open and still oozing blood, and it isn't only this most recent set; they're criss-crossed over a web of old scars. He's been whipped, often, and for a very long time. When she grabs a lantern and drags it closer, she sees a few scars that show the telltale signs of being extremely old, and having stretched and faded as the victim grew from childhood into adulthood.
She hears a clattering sound behind her, and turns to see Wen Ning scrambling to catch the supplies in his arms. "Is-is he...?"
"He's alive, though it looks like someone tried very hard to change that. Several someones," she amends, looking at the width of the strangulation marks around Wei Wuxian's throat. Those were done by a man, not the Violet Spider.
Wen Ning comes closer and sets everything down on a table nearby, then looks down at his friend with wide eyes. "Jie..."
"Come on, if you want your friend to live then we need to get to work," she says curtly. A doctor can't go getting caught up in their emotions and fail to do their duty.
She cleans his wounds meticulously, making sure to remove any fibres from his clothes which got caught in them, and then applies medicine and decides to bandage them. Better to keep them moist, hopefully help them heal a bit more smoothly that way. Fortunately for him, none are quite deep enough to require stitches, at least not with the strong golden core which thrums within him.
Wei Wuxian's spiritual energy is already flowing through his body, almost feeling like it's trying to decide just which wounds require attention first. Laid out on the bed on his front, hair fallen out of whatever style it bore before, he looks very young and helpless.
He's the same age as her didi, and the thought of anyone laying hands on Wen Ning like this, let alone over and over again-
Wen Qing has never taken a life, but she thinks she might find it within herself to do so if anyone ever tried to treat her didi in this way.
After he finishes cleaning up and putting away the medical supplies, Wen Ning looks to her hesitantly. He almost seems like he'd tug on her sleeve again as he did as a little boy for a moment, and his eyes are so wide and plaintive.
"Jiejie, what are you going to do?"
Wen Qing wants to be angry, but what can she really say? "You need to be more careful, A-Ning," she still warns. "A war is starting, and while I don't intend on letting any of my family fight, do you think Wen-zongzhu will take pity on us if we aid his enemies?"
"B-but the Wen sect..."
"We aren't even part of the main sect!" Wen Qing snaps. "We aren't responsible for their actions, and see what happens if you try to go against them! It's going to be hard enough to stay neutral, and if you do anything like this again-" She breaks off, massaging her brow. Wen Ning is looking at her with sad eyes, just like a little boy, and he knows how weak she is to that. "Your friend can stay until he's recovered. Then he has to leave."
"B-but...where will he go?"
Looking again at the boy laid out on the bed, his face soft and childish in sleep, belying the horrible injuries and scars scattered across his body, Wen Qing can't help but wonder that, too.
While Wen Qing resents being forced to take this post at all when she'd rather be in Qishan with her family, she has to admit that it's not the worst posting her 'uncle' could have given her. Yiling has no sect, which means that 'keeping the locals in line' is very low-maintenance. The people of Yiling don't care about the Wens suddenly setting up shop here after years of ignoring them, and she expects that will only change if cultivators try harassing them. It's fortunate, then, that the cultivators Wen Ning hired are all such gentle mice like him; little risk there of harassment.
No, it's the cultivators from the main sect, or the cultivation clans under them who make up the main force of their army, who may be an issue. Given Yiling's position, she expects she'll be required to play host to plenty of cultivators as they travel through on the way to this or that front, and she does not look forward to that task at all. Wen Chao in particular is always an odious guest, as is his mistress, and she can only hope their secret guest has recovered and moved on by the time they think to stop by.
But when she checks on him in the morning, she has to revise that hope to one that Wen Chao simply won't care to stop by anytime soon. The marks around Wei Wuxian's neck are now turning purple, and his skin is pale in the morning sun. He really doesn't look like he'll be ready to move anytime soon.
She sighs when Wen Ning peeks his head in through the door. Of course he'd want to check on him. "Make sure to drop something and wake him up," she suggests. "I don't think he could be roused last night, but I need to check his faculties and see if he suffered any more serious damage from being strangled."
At that, of course, Wen Ning does drop something, and he scrambles to catch the jar and fails. It clatters on the ground, fortunately not breaking open, and in fact it does rouse their guest slightly.
Wei Wuxian stirs on the bed, his eyes cracking open just barely. He tenses, as if trying to feel out his body's current state. It's all very careful, and if she weren't watching him closely she could have missed it.
"Don't move too much," she warns him. "I spent a lot of time last night patching you up, so I'll be very cross if you ruin all my hard work! And definitely don't make noise, your throat is badly damaged, and if you alert anyone who shouldn't know you're here I can't help you."
In response, his eyes widen, and Wei Wuxian does, the foolish boy, try to get up. He lets out a hoarse sound of pain, though, and Wen Ning rushes forward to help him. "W-wei-gongzi, do you remember me? I'm Wen Ning, we met at the archery competition a few years ago..."
Wei Wuxian looks at him blankly.
Oh, for-
Did her brother really go to all this fuss for someone who doesn't even remember him?!
Or maybe he doesn't remember a great deal; he was strangled, after all. Wen Qing heaves a great sigh and considers him again. Wei Wuxian had made a great impression upon her brother, who was usually mocked or ignored by disciples from other sects; or their own, come to that. Was it really all one-sided?
"Qionglin," she says, that suddenly occurring to her. "My didi's courtesy name. Most people don't use it, though."
But that's when Wei Wuxian's eyes widen with recognition, and he looks Wen Ning over again before nodding. He opens his mouth, but only a creaking sound comes out, and then he starts coughing.
"Idiot, I told you not to make any noise! That means talking, with your throat looking like it does-"
She sighs again as Wen Ning pats his back gently through his coughing fit. In the end, she doesn't have much heart to lecture him more, not when he's just woken up and looks like that. So she gets some medicinal tea, adding plain water to cool it down, and holds the cup out.
Wei Wuxian looks at her with a mix of wariness and distrust, tinged with perhaps the tiniest bit of hope. It can't have escaped him that he's very much not in a dungeon or prison right now, after all.
"Don't look at me like that, Wei Ying. I'm an apothecary and a medic; do you think I want any part in this war? I was ordered to take the position as head of the supervisory office in Yiling, so what can I do? I've never killed anyone, and I don't plan to change that."
Slowly, Wei Wuxian nods. He bows his head quite low, in fact, in a way which makes her think he would bow if he were currently capable of moving enough. Well. At least he's sensible enough to feel gratitude.
Or not, since he then tries to speak again, against her orders. "Where's-" He breaks off into another painful coughing fit.
"If you use your voice when your throat is already injured, you risk damaging it further. Would you like to go mute permanently?" Wen Qing asks mercilessly. She's seen him at a few sect events in the past, and he struck her as a very bright and talkative young man; that would probably be miserable for him.
He shakes his head, though there's something mulish about his eyes which makes her think he might try talking again if he doesn't get an answer to his question.
"You were alone when A-Ning found you. It seems you were left for dead."
The words are cruel, perhaps, but his response gives her a hint of just what to expect; he shakes his head in disbelief, not seeming to fully register that at all.
"Who strangled you, Wei Ying?"
"J-jie..." Wen Ning looks at her with an almost scolding expression, his eyes wide and sad.
"H-he didn't mean-" Wei Wuxian's voice gives out again.
Wen Qing sighs. He's one of those, then. 'He didn't mean it, it's never happened before, he won't do it again, it was just the heat of the moment, he was upset-'
She's been working as a medic since she was thirteen, first as an assistant and then a doctor herself, and she's heard all the excuses. Even someone who can leave often doesn't, because they can't bring themselves to admit, for one reason or another, just how bad it really is. Now, when a war is starting and Wei Wuxian is on the opposite side to them, when anyone from the main sect finding him here could spell disaster, she's not sure what can be done.
"No one strangles another person by accident," she says, and is unsurprised when the boy ignores her.
Wei Wuxian takes his medicine and lets her look over his injuries, even nods and shakes his head in response to a few questions designed to check if his memory is impaired (hard to tell when she doesn't really know him, but so far he seems cognisant enough), but it's quite clear to her that he's taken in none of what she's said so far regarding the family who did this to him.
"You can stay until you're recovered enough to travel," she says eventually, sighing as she watches him visibly flagging. "I won't send a patient out in this condition. Just be quiet, and if A-Ning needs you to move somewhere else to stay hidden, don't make a fuss."
Wei Wuxian nods, and, even though she's told him not to talk multiple times, he croaks out a few words at her retreating back:
"Thank you."
Wen Qing has her own business to attend to, looking over reports, getting further situated in her new enforced role as leader of the supervisory office, and scolding Wen Ning's cultivators again to ensure they don't talk.
She checks on Wei Wuxian once in the afternoon, and finds her brother watching over him while he sleeps. Wen Ning sets his book aside and smiles at her hesitantly. "I-I think he's doing a bit better," he whispers.
"That wouldn't be difficult," Wen Qing murmurs back drily, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind her. She looks their patient over and gives him a bit more spiritual energy, all while her brother watches her imploringly.
But it's only when she's ready to go that he speaks up, "Jiejie, what's going to happen to him when he leaves?"
Wen Qing looks him over again: the old scars just showing through his bandaging in some places, the horrible bruising around his neck, and the lingering youthful softness around his face. He really is still just a boy.
"I don't know, didi."
"B-but..."
"What do you propose we do? Keep him prisoner so he can't go back?"
Wen Ning shakes his head. "Of course n-not. But...he probably...feels like he has nowhere else to go, right? Maybe that's why..."
Wen Qing hopes it's that simple. That, once he's had a few days to recover and consider what was done to him, he'll realise that returning to whoever remains of the Jiangs is not an option.
But she's not so sure.
The next morning, a few cultivators who had been at Lotus Pier come through, saying that they're looking for the Jiang heir and Wei Wuxian. She curses internally, reflecting that Wen Chao really has a vendetta against the boy, but just glares them down and says that's none of her business.
"I haven't seen anyone come through," she says curtly, which is even true.
Thankfully, they move on to continue their search instead of staying, and Wen Qing continues with her work, not wanting to go check on her brother and his stowaway friend immediately and risk arousing suspicion. There are a few hauntings in Yiling, probably exacerbated by the proximity to the Burial Mounds, and she tells Wen Ning's cultivators that they might as well take care of those rather than sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
"There isn't much in Yiling to supervise besides the dead," a few grouse.
"I'd rather supervise fierce corpses and ghosts than-" the cultivator in question cuts himself off, but everyone nods in understanding.
Her brother really did manage to recruit a bunch of soft mice just like him; the idea of 'supervising' a conquered sect appeals to all of them just as little as it does to her.
After enough time has elapsed, and the main sect cultivators are long gone and Wen Ning's cultivators are off on a hunt, Wen Qing finally heads to their private residence to check on her patient.
The door is ajar, and Wen Qing at first just peeks through, watching the two boys. Wen Ning sits on the edge of the bed, helping Wei Wuxian drink some medicine slowly.
"Y-you really shouldn't talk, Wei-gongzi," her brother warns him. "If you put up with it for a few days...your throat w-will get better much faster."
Wei Wuxian nods, then tugs on his sleeve.
"Um...is something wrong? Do you need anything?"
Putting the empty bowl of medicine down, Wei Wuxian...mimes out nocking an arrow on a bow? Her brother catches on immediately, though, nodding and saying, "Oh, y-yes, I've been practising... Your tips back then really helped! T-thank you. I even asked Jie to watch me a few times, so I'd be less nervous..."
Wei Wuxian glances at the crack in the door, raising his brows. So she's been spotted.
Wen Qing opens the door properly, stepping in and then closing it behind her. "How is your patient today?"
"Um, Wei-gongzi is doing a little better, but he can't talk, you were right. A-and he gets dizzy sometimes-"
"He does? You should have told me right away," Wen Qing scolds, striding over to the bed now to examine him. "It might be a side effect of the loss of air and unconsciousness. Any signs of seizing?"
"N-no."
"Memory loss?"
Now Wei Wuxian shakes his head, slowly and wincing as he does so.
Wen Qing asks after a few more symptoms that might be concerning, but it seems he's just dizzy, weak, and dealing with a headache. It sounds more like stress and hunger, maybe a bit of damage from the loss of airflow, but she hopes that with the strength of his golden core, he'll heal quickly and recover in full.
Except for his back. She's not so sure how much more damage those new injuries are going to cause on top of all that pre-existing scarring. There was no muscle damage, miraculously, but there's only so much scarring and re-scarring the skin can take before it affects his mobility, if it hasn't already.
Beyond the abhorrent cruelty, it strikes Wen Qing as incredibly stupid of the Jiangs to have done this. He was the Head Disciple of their sect, and a constant companion and guard to their heir; what did they think they were doing, risking permanent harm to him like this?
For now, though, she doesn't say anything about that to him. She just changes his dressings and instructs Wen Ning to keep feeding him soups and things like very soft tofu for now, until his throat is feeling better and he can handle more solid foods.
Wei Wuxian actually pouts and manages to write out 'spicy' in the air, the symbol barely legible through such a method.
Wen Qing looks at him in disbelief. "You think you can eat spicy food with your throat like that, while you're in your sickbed?! You eat whatever your doctor orders for you and be grateful, young man!"
She then has the horrible thought that she sounds like her mother, but Wei Wuxian just blinks up at her with confused, wide eyes, while her didi assures his friend that he can eat normal food when he's feeling better. Sighing, Wen Qing takes her leave. They can entertain themselves, she figures.
It really is very typical of her brother, actually, to finally make a friend, only for it to be a disciple from the opposite side of the war. What in the world is she going to do with him?
With either of them?