Chapter Text
The last time Jiang Fengmian had seen Cangse Sanren, she was smiling. Which wasn’t saying much, because she was just the kind of woman who always had a smile. But that last smile struck him in a way that he never completely forgot it; a smile full of mischief, full of joy, and —most surprisingly—apologetic. She had simply said I will be taking your right-hand man, and I’m not giving him back! like it was her proudest achievement, her greatest misdeed ever. Ignoring the fact that Jiang Fengmian had been happy for them, had been wishing them happiness, even if it meant he was also losing his best friends.
They’d sent letters, from time to time. But he had never seen them again. He’d thought he was okay with that, it was a good way to part. A good scene to remember. He understood that if they did come back, it would bring complicated feelings, and make the situation hard. They would not be able to get away on such a happy note a second time. Often, Wei Changze would add one of his paintings to the letter; even in those Cangse Sanren is always smiling. Years had gone by, they’d moved on. She’d had a baby. Jiang Fengmian had two. She still causes mischief wherever she goes, stealing hearts with a smile on her face.
Maybe that’s why he doesn’t recognize the woman who stands right in front of him. It is a stranger wearing her skin. Cangse Sanren would never show such weakness to anyone, she would never curl into the small bundle of clothes in her arms, never let sobs shake her every breath. She would never let anyone think that the blood on her clothes is actually hers, instead joking : If you’re scared for me, you should see the one I beat! It is not the Cangse Sanren he knows. However, at her side, it is the Wei Changze he remembers.
Years of separation haven’t changed his serious expression during periods of trouble. It makes Jiang Fengmian remember that fateful night when they met, where they almost got killed because Lan Qiren refused to disobey his sect’s rules.
“Sect Leader Fengmian,” his best friend whispers, his voice weak but firm. “I know this one is unworthy of your help—”
Jiang Fengmian doesn’t let him finish, he lets them in. It’s only then he realizes that Cangse Sanren isn’t standing at all. She leans into her husband’s side, held up and dragged by him, her stomach and back pierced by a branch she doesn’t bother removing. Only then does he notice that one of Wei Changze’s arms hangs lifeless by his side. Only then does he see that the bundle of clothes in the woman’s embrace is a child, as pale as a corpse, not even older than his own son.
He immediately calls for medics.
It is difficult to gather what exactly happened. The scene is chaotic. Madam Yu, the Lady of Lotus Pier, manages to get the disciples under control and sends A-Li and A-Cheng back to bed. She still doesn’t know much about the situation, only getting a glimpse as the doctor—freshly awoken in the middle of the night—rushes their patients into a separate room. Fengmian dreads the idea of having to explain it to her, but he currently has other worries.
Cangse Sanren refuses to let go of her child. She keeps giving him spiritual energy, and the doctor is outraged.
"I will save him," he promises. "You need to worry about your own wounds too."
She still says no. She says no to sound arguments. She says no to everything until Wei Changze opens his arms, calmly.
"I will give him my spiritual energy, Cangse. You rest. A-Ying needs his mother."
She sobs, and Jiang Fengmian isn’t sure he ever heard her cry before, but she finally accepts the deal. The doctor is relieved, but not happy. Jiang Fengmian doesn’t know much about medicine but he understands why.
"Wei Changze," he whispers. "If you don’t take care of your arm now, you will lose it."
"I can lose an arm. I can’t lose my son."
His tone is cold, determined. It takes Fengmian back to another fateful night, when his best friend had grasped the desperate situation they were in, long before he did. When Wei Chanze had understood that he needed to evaluate what was worth saving and what wasn’t. When he’d said to Jiang Fengmian that he was the future of the Sect, and that the sect heir’s life was worth more than Wei Changze’s own.
Jiang Fengmian knows better than most that nothing will change Wei Changze’s mind. So he does the only thing he can, and orders two more doctors to be called; even if it means going into town and dragging them out of their beds. In the meantime, Jiang Fengmian gives some of his spiritual energy to his friend; he doesn’t dare touch his arm though, as he only knows the most basics of field healing and he has no idea of the extent of the damage here.
"Can you move your feet? Can you feel that?" the doctor asks Cangse Saren.
He’d somehow removed the bloodied branch from her abdomen and managed to close the wound. He pricks her foot with a needle. She doesn’t even look at him, her eyes glued to her son, as she answers his question with another.
"How is he? Can you save him?"
Her eyes are filled with flames and determination, and at last Jiang Fengmian manages to find a bit of the Cangse Sanren he knows in this stranger.
It doesn’t last long, though, as the child is laid on the bed. He is alive—it’s a surprise to Jiang Fengmian and the doctor—but barely. He has lost a lot of blood and was bitten by something. Something big enough to leave puncture wounds from his shoulder to his stomach. It is a wonder that his heart wasn’t pierced when it closed its jaws. If Jiang Fengmian realizes this, his parents must have as well.
His right lung however…
His Lady wife arrives with a pair of medics and an angry glare. Her eyes fall on Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze, her mouth nothing but a thin line.
"What happened?" she demands. «Why are you here?"
For a moment, it seems no one will answer her. As Jiang Fengmian doesn’t know much, and the parents’ eyes are on their son, not giving any attention to the medics trying to heal them too.
"It was supposed to be a simple nighthunt…"
Cangse Sanren’s voice is nothing but a whisper. It is weak. It is filled with regret and sadness. Everything that Cangse Sanren is not.
"People thought it was wolves. But wolves don’t attack on the same day for twenty years! They don’t attack adults," she says.
It is Wei Changze who resumes :
"We convinced the villagers to let us investigate. A man was attacked just hours before we arrived and the trail was still fresh. We thought it was a yao—there were wolf attacks—children.” Wei Changze’s voice cracks.
Jiang Fengmian blinks at him, in shock, in all his years by his friend’s side, he rarely ever heard his voice crack like this. This is as strange as Cangse Sanren without a smile. It lasts only a short moment before Wei Changze takes a deep breath in, schooling his expression and finds his reporting voice again:
“We left A-Ying to the innkeeper and went to inspect the forest."
Jiang Fengmian can’t help but look at the child right now, and so does his lady. They said the creature only killed one person per year. Why did it change? Monsters reacted to threats, recognizing a predator when facing one, but they were not smart enough to put up a trap for them.
"What was it, then?"
"I don’t know!"
The admission hurts Cangse Sanren’s throat, and she tries to reach her son’s hands, but fails, the lower half of her body not responding to her will. The doctor in charge of her wound shakes his head at the sect leader, pessimistic.
"He was supposed to be at the inn!" She says, and at least her voice is shrill now, even if a bit desperate. "But I heard cries in the forest! I heard a child! And when I reached the place where they came from, A-Ying was there!"
Some ghosts do lure their victims with such illusions. But Cangse Sanren was a great cultivator, one of the best, she knew better. She couldn’t have fallen for such an obvious trap! They find out soon enough, as Cangse Sanren’s hand pats her son’s head and her fingers curl in his hair, as if she is still trying to reach him.
"I...I thought it was an illusion...I thought it wasn’t him! But it was him. What did I do? What did I do? I let my baby get hur-"
She can’t finish the story, and it is Wei Changze who resumes in her stead. He explains with a strangled voice that he heard her scream. When he arrived, A-Ying was already being dragged by a wolf-shaped figure, full of resentful energy. They tried to get him back, they followed the creature to a place that was worse; full of vengeful ghosts. They fought. Somehow he managed to get A-Ying while Cangse Sanren protected them both. Realizing they couldn’t win this, he had used his sword to fly them all to safety, as fast as he could, but they couldn’t go far with three on the same sword. Cangse Sanren had used her blood to draw some talisman or an array—he doesn’t know. Something the Immortal taught her.
Cangse Sanren doesn’t say what, when they stare at her, too focused on A-Ying.
But a ghost managed to get them when she cast it, Wei Changze explains. They fell and landed badly, near Lotus Pier, kilometers away from the grounds. Cangse Sanren was hurt because of the fall. Changze doesn’t say how he wounded his arm. Fengmian isn’t sure Wei Changze even knows. Sometimes battles are confusing, and you only realize you are hurt hours later.
It is a miracle, already, that he managed to fly, three on the same sword. It is a miracle his friend has any spiritual energy left to give to his child right now. It is a miracle that A-Ying is still alive; certainly the result of his stubborn parents, who refused to heal themselves before he was safe.
Jiang Fengmian doesn’t want to think of what could have happened. He doesn’t allow himself to. His Lady is silent by his side. Years of marriage means he can guess the words that almost get past her lips. But she doesn’t scold Cangse Sanren for her weakness. She doesn’t say that it was reckless and stupid to nighthunt with such a small child.
She doesn’t tell her to leave, either. That’s something he is grateful for.
He doesn’t want to ask such an awful question in front of Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze, but he can’t avoid it either, so he gets near the doctor who is treating A-Ying:
"Will he live?"
The doctor frowns.
"We saved his lung. The spiritual energy is helping with the blood loss...But the next few hours are going to be critical. We can’t afford to stop the transfusion of energy right now. And it is not a typical wound, there’s a lot of resentful energy that still lingers, we should be wary of infections."
"But his immediate wounds?" Asks Wei Changze.
"It should be okay."
Cangse Sanren lets out a relieved sigh, her fingers curling in her son’s hair again, and Wei Changze’s face relaxes as he closes his eyes.
"Good. We need to… to…"
When he opens his eyes, they’re blurry, unfocused. The panic left his body, leaving only exhaustion, pain and confusion. He and Cangse Sanren seem to exchange a look, some telepathic conversation only they can hear. Cangse Sanren smiles.
Finally, Jiang Fengmian recognizes the woman in front of him, even if it’s a smile he’s never seen on her face before. A smile that is tired and sad, but full of relief.
It lasts only an instant, before she closes her eyes and drifts off into unconsciousness.
Wei Chanzse’s smile is different from his wife’s; his lips simply curve up. His mouth twitches as he breathes in...
Jiang Fengmian has the reflexes to catch his friend before his head hits the ground.
