When Lan Wangji came back, Wei Wuxian had already counted to over 1,300.

"One thousand three hundred and sixty-nine, one thousand three hundred and seventy, one thousand three hundred and seventy-one..."

He lifted his legs again and again, and the colorful shuttlecock flew between his feet, soaring into the sky, landing steadily, flying higher, and then falling slowly, as if there was an invisible thread connecting it, so that it would never leave a part of Wei Wuxian's body.

At the same time, there is an invisible thread that tightly holds the gaze of many children nearby.

Then he heard Wei WuXian say: “One thousand three hundred and seventy-two, one thousand three hundred and eighty-one…”

Lan Wangji: “…”

Wei Wuxian was cheating openly in front of the children's admiring eyes. The huge numbers had already made the children, who were sniffling, lose their judgment. No one noticed anything wrong. Lan Wangji watched Wei Wuxian jump from seventy-two to eighty-one, and then from eighty-one to ninety. When he was about to take the next leap, Wei Wuxian happened to see him. His eyes lit up, and he seemed to want to call him. However, he missed the target, and the brightly colored shuttlecock flew over his head and fell behind Wei Wuxian.

He saw that the shuttlecock was about to be lost, so he kicked it backwards and saved it with his heel. This last kick was the highest, accompanied by a loud "One thousand six hundred!", which caused the children nearby to exclaim in surprise and clap their hands vigorously.

The outcome was decided. A little girl screamed, "One thousand six hundred! He wins, and you lose!"

Wei Wuxian accepted it calmly without any shame, and was in high spirits. Lan Wangji also raised his hand and clapped a few times.

At this time, a boy bit his finger, frowned, and said, "I think... something is wrong."

Wei WuXian asked, “What’s wrong?”

The boy said, "How come after ninety it suddenly became a hundred? This must be wrong."

The group of children seemed to be divided into two groups. One group had obviously been completely tortured by Wei WuXian, and they said in a coaxing voice, “How could that be? Don’t try to cheat after losing.”

Wei WuXian also argued, “Why isn’t the number after ninety a hundred? Count for yourself, what’s after nine?”

The boy counted with his fingers for a long time and said, "...seven, eight, nine, ten..."

Wei WuXian immediately said, “Look, after nine there is ten, so after ninety there must be a hundred.”

The boy was skeptical and said, "... Really? No way? "

Wei WuXian said, “Why not? If you don’t believe me, let’s just ask a passerby.”

He looked around and slapped his thigh, saying, "Oh, I found it. This gentleman who looks very reliable, please stay!"

“…”

Lan Wangji stopped and asked, "What's the matter?"

Wei WuXian asked, “I wonder if I can ask you a question?”

Lan Wangji said, “That’s fine.”

So Wei WuXian asked, “Excuse me, what’s the number after ninety?”

Lan Wangji said, “One hundred.”

Wei WuXian bowed: “Thank you.”

Lan Wangji nodded: “You’re welcome.”

Wei WuXian nodded with a smile, turned to the boy and said, “Look.”

The boy didn't quite believe Wei Wuxian's smirk, but when he saw Lan Wangji, he couldn't help but feel awe at this young man's white clothes as white as snow, his sword and jade pendant, and his handsome face that didn't look like a real person, but like an immortal. His wavering heart was immediately convinced, and he stammered, "So that's how you count..."

The children chirped, "One thousand six hundred to three hundred, you lose!"

The boy said unconvincedly, “If I lose, I lose.” He then handed the string of candied haws in his hand to Wei WuXian and shouted, “You win! Here, this is for you!”

After the group of children left, Wei Wuxian said, holding a candied haws in his mouth, “Hanguang-jun, please give me some face.”

Lan Wangji then walked up to him and said, "Sorry for the wait."

Wei WuXian shook his head and said, “Not long ago, not long ago. You were gone for a short while. I only kicked the shuttlecock about 300 times.”

Lan Wangji said, “One thousand six hundred.”

Wei Wuxian laughed out loud and bit off a hawthorn. Before Lan Wangji could say anything, he suddenly felt a chill on his lips and a sweetness on his tongue. It turned out that Wei Wuxian had stuffed the string of candied haws into his mouth.

Seeing that his expression was not right, Wei WuXian asked, “Do you like sweets?”

Lan Wangji held the candied haws in his mouth, neither swallowing nor spitting, unable to speak. Wei Wuxian said, "If you don't eat sweet things, then give it to me." He grabbed the thin stem of the candied haws and tried to take it back. He tried several times but couldn't pull it back. It seemed that Lan Wangji had bitten it with his teeth. Wei Wuxian smiled and said, "Are you going to eat it or not?"

Lan Wangji also bit a hawthorn and said, "Eat."

Wei WuXian said, “That’s right, just tell me if you want to eat. You’ve really been like this since you were a kid, you keep what you want in your heart and never say it.”

After laughing at him for a while, the two of them walked into the town.

Wei Wuxian has been playful and greedy since he was a kid. He runs fast and wants everything. When he sees a small thing, he must pinch it. When he smells the fragrant smell of cigarettes coming from the roadside, he must get some to taste. Under his instigation, Lan Wangji also tried some snacks that he would never touch before. Every time Wei Wuxian saw him finish eating, he would ask, "How is it? How is it?" Lan Wangji sometimes answered "OK", sometimes "very good", and more often "strange". Whenever this happened, Wei Wuxian would laugh and snatch it back, not letting him taste it.

They were originally going to find a place to have lunch, but Wei Wuxian had eaten all the way from east to east and had a full stomach. In the end, he was too lazy to walk, so the two of them found a clean and decent soup restaurant and sat down to drink soup.

Wei Wuxian was eating radish slices with his chopsticks while playing, waiting for the lotus root and pork ribs soup he ordered. When he saw Lan Wangji stand up, he asked curiously, “Where are you going?”

Lan Wangji said, "Wait a moment, I'll be right back." After a while, he returned. Lotus root and pork ribs soup was served, and Wei Wuxian took a sip. After the waiter left, he whispered to Lan Wangji, "It doesn't taste good."

Lan Wangji scooped a small spoonful, tasted it, and said, "What's wrong with it?"

Wei WuXian stirred the bowl with his spoon and said, “Don’t choose hard lotus roots, a little softer is better. This restaurant doesn’t use bold enough ingredients, and the stew is too light and tasteless. Anyway, it’s not as delicious as my senior sister’s.”

He was just speaking casually, and thought that Lan Wangji would at most just say “hmm” and listen carefully. But he not only listened carefully, but also asked questions: “How do we choose the right ingredients? How do we make them tasty?”

Wei WuXian finally realized something and asked curiously, “HanGuang-Jun, you didn’t want to make lotus root and pork ribs soup for me, did you? Did you go to observe the process just now?”

Before Lan Wangji could reply, he had already started to mock him: “Haha, Hanguang-kun, it’s not that I look down on you, but with your family’s style of never touching ordinary things and your taste for food that you’ve been raised on since childhood, the food you make will definitely be unbearable to look at.”

Lan Wangji took another sip of soup and said nothing. Wei Wuxian was waiting for him to respond, but he was so steady that he hesitated to respond until he couldn't wait any longer.

He said with a smug look, "Lan Zhan, did you really mean to cook for me just now?"

Lan Wangji was surprisingly calm and didn't say "yes" or "no".

Wei WuXian was getting a little anxious, and he stood up all of a sudden, propping his hands on the corner of the table, and said, “Just say a “hmm”.”

Lan Wangji said, “Yeah.”

Wei WuXian said, “So is that right or wrong? Good Lan Zhan, what I just said was just a joke. If you really want to cook for me, even if the bottom of the pot is burned through and only a hole is left, I dare to eat the pot in front of you.”

“…”

Lan Wangji said, “Not really.”

Wei WuXian was almost about to jump on him and beg, “So are you still going to do it or not? Do it, do it, HanGuang-Jun, I’ll eat it!”

Lan Wangji calmly supported his waist and said, "Properties."

Wei WuXian warned, “Second brother, you can’t do this to me.”

Lan Wangji was finally unable to stand still after being entangled by him, so he held his hand and said, "We've already done it."

“Ah?” Wei WuXian was stunned. “I’ve already done it? When? What? Why can’t I remember it?”

Lan Wangji said, "Family dinner."

“…” Wei WuXian said, “That night, I thought you bought the table from the Hunan restaurant in Caiyi Town. Did you cook it yourself?”

Lan Wangji said, “Yeah.”

Wei Wuxian was shocked.

He said, "You made that? Is there such a thing as a kitchen in the Cloud Recesses?"

“…Of course.”

"You wash and cut the vegetables? You add oil to the pan? You prepare the seasoning?"

"Um."

"you you……"

Wei Wuxian was so shocked that he finally grabbed Lan Wangji by the collar with one hand and his neck with the other, and kissed him fiercely.

Fortunately, the two of them always chose the most inconspicuous and quiet place, sitting against the wall. Lan Wangji hugged him and turned him around, so that from outsiders, they could only see his back and Wei Wuxian's arm around his neck.

Seeing that he was not blushing or breathing heavily, Wei Wuxian reached out and touched it. It was indeed burning hot. Lan Wangji held his restless hand and warned, "Wei Ying."

Wei WuXian said: “Isn’t it on your leg? Why are you shouting?”

“…”

Wei WuXian said seriously, “I’m sorry, I was just too happy. Lan Zhan, how can you be so good at everything? Even cooking!”

His praise was sincere. Lan Wangji had heard countless compliments and compliments since he was a child, but none of them could make him suppress the upward trend of his lips so hard as he did now. He just said calmly, "It's not difficult."

Wei WuXian said, “No. It’s very difficult. You don’t know how many times I’ve been kicked out of the kitchen since I was a child.”

“…” Lan Wangji said, “Did you burn through the bottom of the pot?”

Wei WuXian said, “Just once. I forgot to add water, and who knew the pot would catch fire. Don’t look at me like that, it really was just once.”

Lan Wangji asked, “What did you put in the pot?”

Wei WuXian thought for a moment and smiled, “How could I still remember something that happened so many years ago so clearly? Don’t mention it again.”

Lan Wangji didn't comment, but seemed to raise his eyebrows slightly. Wei Wuxian pretended not to notice his subtle expression. Suddenly remembering something, he threw his hands in regret and said, "But why didn't you tell me earlier that it was you who did it? I was so stupid that I barely ate a bite of the food that night."

Lan Wangji said, "Nothing. Let's do it when we get back."

Wei WuXian had been trying to persuade him for such a long time, but just because of this sentence, he was immediately beaming with joy, and even the soup no longer felt unpalatable.

After leaving the restaurant, the two walked around for a while. They heard a commotion in front of them. Many people were walking around a place full of small objects, throwing small circles onto the ground one by one.

Wei Wuxian said, “This is good.” He pulled Lan Wangji and took three circles from the stall owner nearby. He said, “Lan Zhan, have you ever played the game of throwing circles?”

Lan Wangji shook his head. Wei Wuxian said, “I’ve never played this before. I’ll tell you, it’s very simple. You hold the circle, step back a distance, and put it on anything on the ground. If you catch it, it’s yours.”

Lan Wangji repeated, “If you hit it, it’s mine.”

Wei WuXian said, “That’s it. Which one do you want? I’ll give you whichever one you want.”

Lan Wangji said, “Whatever you like.”

Wei WuXian placed his elbow on his shoulder, tugged at the end of his headband, and said, “It’s a bit disrespectful of HanGuang-Jun to treat me perfunctorily like this.”

Lan Wangji said seriously, "Whatever you got, I want."

Wei WuXian was startled and asked, “How could you be like this in public?”

Lan Wangji was puzzled: "How?"

Wei WuXian: “You tease me.”

Lan Wangji looked calm and said, "No."

Wei WuXian: “You have it! Fine, then I’ll give you… that one, that one!”

He pointed to a large white porcelain turtle that was placed far away, and then he stepped back a few steps. When he was about ten feet away, the stall owner shouted and gestured, "That's enough, that's enough!"

Wei WuXian said, “No, no.”

The stall owner yelled, "Sir, you're standing too far away. If you can't hit the target, don't blame me for the money!"

Wei WuXian said: “If I don’t stand further away, you’d better be careful that you will lose everything you have invested!”

Everyone laughed and said, "This young man is very confident!"

This little trick may seem simple, but there is a distance between each object on the ground, and the control of the force is not easy for ordinary people. But for a cultivator, it is really not worth mentioning. If you don't step back, what's the fun? Wei Wuxian stepped back a long way, and turned his back to the stall, which made the people around him laugh even harder. Who knew that the next moment, Wei Wuxian weighed the circle, threw it back, and the circle landed easily on the back shell of the porcelain turtle, just covering its head.

The stall owner and everyone else were all shocked. Wei Wuxian looked back, smiled, and raised the two remaining circles in his hand to Lan Wangji, saying, "Do you want to try?"

Lan Wangji said, “Okay.”

He walked up to Wei WuXian and asked, "What do you want?"

There weren't any top-quality goods in the small street vendors. They were all just mediocrely made, nice-looking gadgets from a distance. The big porcelain turtle that Wei Wuxian had just bought was already the best-looking one among them. Wei Wuxian looked around and the more he looked, the more he felt that they were all ugly. He didn't want any of them, and it was hard to make a decision. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of an extremely ugly little donkey puppet, so ugly that it was impossible to ignore it at a glance. He said happily, "That one is good, it looks like a little apple. Come on, that one."

Lan Wangji nodded, retreated a foot further than Wei Wuxian, and turned around. The circle was caught accurately.

Everyone cheered and clapped their hands vigorously. Lan Wangji looked back at Wei Wuxian, who laughed loudly and jumped into the stall, grabbed the little donkey on the ground, tucked it under his arms, and clapped his hands as hard as he could, saying, "Come on, come on!"

Lan Wangji still had a circle in his hand. He held it in his hand and weighed it twice lightly and steadily. This time, he threw it back after a while and immediately turned around to check.

When he made this move, there were cries of "Ouch" all around. It turned out that the circle flew so crooked that it didn't even touch the edge of the stall, but landed squarely on Wei Wuxian and trapped him.

Wei WuXian was stunned at first, but then he couldn't help laughing. Although everyone felt sorry for him, they all spoke up to comfort him: "Not bad!" "Yeah, he got quite a few." "That's amazing!"

The stall owner rolled his eyes in great relief, breathed a sigh of relief, jumped up and gave a thumbs up: "Yes, it's amazing. Sir, you are telling the truth. If I give you a few more sets, I will lose all my money!"

Wei WuXian smiled and said, “Alright, now that we know you don’t dare to let us play, we’ve had enough fun, right? Lan Zhan, let’s go.”

The stall owner said happily: "Slow down."

It was not until the two of them walked side by side and disappeared in the bustling crowd that he suddenly remembered: "The third circle! They didn't give it back to me!!"

Wei WuXian held the turtle in his left hand and the donkey in his right hand, and walked for a while before saying, “Lan Zhan, why didn’t I realize before that you have so many little thoughts?”

Lan Wangji took the heavy porcelain turtle from his hand. Wei Wuxian took the circle off his neck and put it on his head, saying, “Don’t pretend you don’t understand what I’m saying. I know you’re doing it on purpose.”

Lan Wangji held the large porcelain turtle in one hand and said, "Put this somewhere when we get back."

Wei WuXian was actually stumped by his question.

This turtle was large and heavy, and the craftsmanship was not very good. It had a stupid head, which barely looked cute. But Wei Wuxian took a closer look and found that the craftsman was not very careful, and the pair of green bean eyes seemed to be crossed. In short, no matter how you look at it, it is out of place in the Cloud Recesses. It is really a problem where to put it.

Wei WuXian thought for a moment and said, “A quiet room?”

As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately shook his head and rejected it, saying, "The quiet room is only suitable for playing the piano and burning incense. It is a place with curling sandalwood smoke and a clear mind. It would be too ugly to put such a big turtle in such a place."

When Lan Wangji heard him say that the quiet room was "a place suitable only for playing the piano and burning incense to purify the mind," he glanced at him and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Wei WuXian added: “But if we don’t put it in the Quiet Room, but somewhere else in the Cloud Recesses, it will definitely be thrown out immediately.”

Lan Wangji nodded silently.

Wei WuXian held it in for a long time, but he finally didn't have the nerve to say "Put it secretly in your uncle's room, don't say it was us", so he slapped his thigh and said, "I got it. Let's put it in the orchid room."

Lan Wangji thought for a moment and asked, "Why is it the Orchid Room?"

Wei WuXian said, “You don’t understand this. Put it in the Lanshi Room. When you are teaching SiZhui, JingYi and the others, if they ask you about it, you can tell them that this giant turtle was made by a mysterious craftsman who is hard to find in order to commemorate your killing of the Black Tortoise. It has a profound meaning, and is intended to inspire the descendants of your Gusu Lan family to admire the heroic deeds of their predecessors and strive to make progress. Although the Black Tortoise is gone, there must be the Red Bird Killing, the White Tiger Killing, the Azure Dragon Killing and the like waiting for them. They must accomplish a great and earth-shattering feat that surpasses their predecessors.”

“…”

"how?"

After a while, Lan Wangji said, "Very good."

So, after a few days, when Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi and others were receiving guidance from Han Guangjun, they would look up and see a large porcelain turtle with crude workmanship and dull eyes lying on the desk behind Lan Wangji.

And out of some inexplicable shock, no one dared to ask why it appeared there. This is a story for later...

After putting a few pieces of trophy into their sleeves, the two men retired after completing their mission.

Before coming, Wei Wuxian had long boasted to Lan Wangji about the beautiful scenery of Yunmeng Lotus Lake, so he naturally wanted to drag him to go boating on the lake. He wanted to get a pleasure boat to indulge himself, but after searching for a long time, he found only a very small wooden boat tied to the lake, moored on the water, which looked like a willow in the wind that would sink into the water if someone stepped on it lightly. It seemed a bit of a stretch to squeeze two grown men in, but there was no other choice.

Wei WuXian said, “You sit on this side, and I’ll sit on that side. Sit tight and don’t rock around. If you’re not careful, the boat will capsize.”

Lan Wangji said, “It’s okay. I’ll save you if you fall into the water.”

Wei WuXian said, “You make it sound like I can’t swim.”

The boat passed by the huge and plump lotus flowers, each of which was full of pink. Wei Wuxian lay on the boat, resting his head on his arms. Because the boat was so small, his legs were almost resting on Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji didn't say anything about this unscrupulous and rude behavior.

The lake breeze was blowing and the water was flowing quietly. Wei Wuxian said, "It's the lotus season. It's a pity that the lotus pods are not ripe yet, otherwise I could take you to pick lotus pods."

Lan Wangji said, “You can come again.”

Wei WuXian said: “Yes! We can do it again.”

After rowing a few times, Wei WuXian stared at a certain spot in a trance for a while and said, “There used to be an old man growing lotus pods in this area, but it seems he’s gone now.”

Lan Wangji said, “Yeah.”

Wei WuXian said, “He was already very old when I was a child. Now more than ten years have passed. If he hasn’t died yet, I’m afraid he must be too old to walk or leave the boat.”

He turned around and said to Lan Wangji, "Back when we were in the Cloud Recesses, I encouraged you to go to the Lotus Pier to play. I especially wanted you to come with me to steal lotus pods from him. Do you know why?"

Lan Wangji always answered Wei Wuxian's questions and fulfilled his requests. He said seriously, "I don't know. Why?"

Wei WuXian blinked his left eye at him and said with a grin, “Because that old man is very good at beating people with a bamboo pole. It hurts people more than your ruler. I thought at the time that I must trick Lan Zhan over and let him take a few hits like that.”

Hearing this, Lan Wangji smiled slightly. The cold moonlight on the lake was all melted into his smile.

Instantly, Wei WuXian felt dizzy and involuntarily, a smile spread across his face.

He said: "Okay, I admit..."

The world was spinning, there was a loud splash, water splashed several feet high, and the boat capsized.

Wei WuXian emerged from the water, wiped his face, and said, “I just told you to sit tight and don’t rock around. If you’re not careful, the boat will capsize!”

Lan Wangji swam over. Wei Wuxian saw that he was so calm after falling into the water, and laughed so hard that he almost gulped down a few mouthfuls of water: "Who got there first? It's like this!"

Lan Wangji said, "I don't know. It could be me."

Wei WuXian said, “Well, it could also be me!”

The two of them laughed in the water, grabbed each other, hugged each other tightly, and kissed each other.

After their lips parted, Wei WuXian raised his hand and continued what he had just said, “I admit that what I said just now was nonsense. At that time, I simply wanted to play with you.”

Lan Wangji supported him from behind his waist, and Wei Wuxian got back on the boat. He turned around and reached out a hand to grab him, saying, "So, you should tell the truth, Lan Zhan."

Lan Wangji also boarded the boat and handed him a piece of red rope, saying, "What do you want to tell me?"

Wei WuXian bit the red string, and tied up his black hair that had spread out in the water with his hands, saying, “Tell you if you think the same as I do.” He said seriously, “Do you know that you always rejected me so coldly back then? It really made me lose face.”

Lan Wangji said, “You can try now and see if I can refuse you anything.”

The unexpected words hit Wei Wuxian's heart, and he choked for a moment. Lan Wangji, however, remained calm, as if he had not realized what he had said. Wei Wuxian held his forehead and said, "You... Hanguang-jun, let's discuss this. Please give me a heads up before you say anything sweet. Otherwise, I can't handle it."

Lan Wangji nodded and said, "Okay."

Wei WuXian said: “Lan Zhan, what a person you are!”

There are no words to say, just laughter and hugs.