Work Text:
Jiang Cheng blinked furiously and tried to keep his breathing steady, stripping his clothes off with far less care than he would usually take in his rush to get in the water. He was a child of Yunmeng; water had always been comforting to him. The lake would be better, of course—there was no contest there—but there was no way he'd be allowed to slip away to go swimming at a time like this. A bath was the best he could manage, and it was perhaps the only guaranteed privacy he'd be able to find in Lotus Pier right now.
As soon as he slipped into the bathtub, it was like a dam breaking. The tears he'd been fighting back all afternoon came flooding out of him. One sliding down his face, then two, then a torrent. His chest rose and fell irregularly with gasps and sobs, sending ripples across the surface of the bath.
His mother's voice echoed in his memory. Do you see what you have done, Fengmian? Are you happy to have destroyed your daughter's future now? Jin Guangshan has agreed with Wen Ruohan to betroth Jin Zixuan and Wen Qing!
Jiang Cheng's heart had felt like it had stopped in his chest when he'd first heard those words, only a few short shichen ago. He almost hadn't registered the way that his mother yelled at both his father and his sister. The way that his father got defensive about his choice to dissolve A-jie's betrothal. The way A-jie drew into herself, heartbroken and caught between them. The way Wei Wuxian tried to comfort her and only managed to draw the attention of Madam Yu's sharp tongue.
Selfishly, Jiang Cheng could only think of one thing:
Wen Qing would be married soon, and she would not marry Jiang Cheng.
No one else in the sect knew about the quiet hope that Jiang Cheng had allowed himself to nurture. A hope for a marriage unlike his parents', with a wife he cared for. A-jie might have noticed—she'd always been good at being aware of what Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian were feeling—but even she didn't know about the comb that Jiang Cheng had been carrying around since before they'd left Gusu. And she had her own feelings to deal with, on top of having to bear the weight of their parents' attention. For once, Jiang Cheng was almost glad to be overlooked.
Curling forward, Jiang Cheng forced his head below the surface and screamed.