Xichen blinks. "Young Master Wen was executed? What for?"

"For a situation outside of his control. He was influenced by uncontrolled magic; there was an accident. I don't intend to allow the same or similar circumstances to arise. A-Ning wouldn't want to hurt anyone, Clan Leader Lan, and Master Jiang can confirm that my brother was an ally during your war with the Qishan Wen."

"My apologies if I alarmed you, Lady Wen, that was not my intent. Nor is it my intent to take action against your brother. I ask for more details in the interest of preventing harm to all parties, not because I am inclined to convict Young Master Ning of crimes he has not yet committed." 

She nods, feeling fractionally more at ease. She'll let Jiang Cheng do the telling.

"Yes, Wen Ning is innocent.  Wei Wuxian is also currently innocent." 

He can tell his own tale of the events, as much as he remembers.

Indoctrination and the events leading up to it, including the burning of Cloud Recesses.  Being brought into the cave and encountering Xuanwu and being left for dead.  Finding a way out of Xuanwu's cave for most of the hostages, but needing to return later for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. They had managed to kill it, somehow.

The destruction of Lotus Pier, and Jiang Cheng's golden core being destroyed by Wen Zhuliu.  Wen Ning helping to rescue him and retrieve his parents' bodies from Lotus Pier, and Wen Qing harboring them as refugees while he healed.  Jiang Cheng leaving to visit Baoshan Sanren to return his golden core.  Coming back to find that Wei Wuxian was missing, presumably taken away.

When Wei Wuxian showed back up three months later, he had... Changed.  The changes were subtle enough at first, merely knowing how to raise the dead and control them, much the way that Wen Ruohan could.  Wei Wuxian refused to use a sword from that point on, only wielding a strange flute.  They won the war with a combination of that and Meng Yao's infiltration of Nevernight.

The remaining Wen clan were hunted down by Jin Guangshan, who took power after everyone else did the work.  Cloud Recesses and Lotus Pier were too weak to risk attack from Carp Tower for harboring them, and Nie Mingjue of the Unclean Realm hated the Wen too much.  Only Wei Wuxian was willing to fight for them, rescuing them and claiming the Yiling Burial Grounds as their new home.  Wen Ning had died in the prison camps, and was transformed into a being known as the Ghost General by Wei Wuxian.  Deadly, impossible to defeat, obedient to Wei Wuxian.

Various events transpire, Wei Wuxian becoming less reasonable and less stable due to the influences of the Demonic Cultivation he insists on continuing to use.  The brothers stage a fight to avoid backlash from his actions harming the rebuilding of Lotus Pier.  Things are mostly peaceful for a time.  

A-Jie and Jin Zixuan marry and have a child together, and they risk inviting Wei Wuxian to the one-month celebration.  On the way, he attacks a contingent of Jin, killing them.  Wen Ning, under his control, kills Jin Zixuan.  Not long after the execution of Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian attacks them at Nevernight.  The undead puppets he raised there attacked Jiang Cheng, then A-Jie, who dies on the battlefield.  With Wei Wuxian having been so badly corrupted as to attack not only the cultivators of his own original sect but his sister, Jiang Cheng realized there was no one who would be able to reign him in, and had to kill him before he got worse.  Striking at Wei Wuxian, causing him to fall from a cliff.  

After that, years of rebuilding.  Raising his orphaned nephew with the help of Jin Guangyao - Meng Yao - one of A-Ling's only surviving relatives on that side of the family.  Hunting down demonic cultivators, trying to rid the world of all of Wei Wuxian's notes and influence and followers before the corruption of Demonic Cultivation could spread further.  Looking for any information on Wei Wuxian - he shouldn't have been able to survive the fall, yet his body was never found.

Realizing how this sounds, he adds, "Wei Wuxian isn't a bad person.  Not yet.  Just overconfident, and willing to sacrifice his sanity to do what he thinks is right."

His eyes, previously filled with anger and past grief while recounting his memories, show a blaze of protectiveness.  As if daring Lan Xichen to argue against him.  

Lan Xichen is not going to argue against him. Lan Xichen is having a lot to think about all at once.

Wei Wuxian's story sounds as tragic as it does horrific. He has seen Wei Wuxian's clear love for his sister. That he becomes corrupted enough to harm her, kill her - Xichen can't imagine how enormous and monstrous the transformation must have been. He feels a shadow of grief. Wei Wuxian as he knows him now is bright and clever and promising. It sounds as though that Wei Wuxian was an early casualty of the war, and he can only imagine the pain it cost his loved ones.

Which -

Wangji didn't tell Xichen anything about Wei Wuxian's use of demonic cultivation. He had not even mentioned his death, not even indicated that there was a conflict. Selfishly, as a brother, this is the most alarming part of receiving this news. He can't imagine Wangji witnessing evil deeds and not reporting them. Not doing everything possible to prevent them, which should include informing his Clan Leader.

Xichen of course already noticed that Wangji is drawn to Wei Wuxian, something he had considered a positive development, but even so - that Wangji would put anything anything before his sense of justice or his civic duty is hard to imagine.

"Thank you for providing your account, Young Master Jiang," Xichen murmurs, his eyes low and thoughtful. "This is certainly a lot of information. A lot of suffering. We will of course do as much as we can to prevent all of these strategies, though I do not yet know how. Jiang-gongzi, I notice that you did not mention my brother throughout most of this. I would trouble you for an account of him as well, if you are obliging."

It's hard to talk about Lan Wangji, because he was confusing.  Possibly he was Wei Wuxian's friend?  Though it was so hard to tell, going around with his blank face as he did, speaking so little.  

"Lan Wangji helped fight in the Sunshot Campaign.  Afterwards, he did a number of things to assist Wei Wuxian, though remained loyal to Cloud Recesses.  He failed to prevent Wei Wuxian leaving with the Wen prisoners, no injuries on either side, and accepted punishment for that afterwards.  He fought both with and against Wei Wuxian in the final battle at Nevernight.  After Wei Wuxian's death, Lan Wangji fought to protect Wei Wuxian's cave in Yiling, and that punishment lasted for three years.  

"He has a son.  Lan Sizhui.  A bit older than A-Ling - he might have been born around now.  Presumably adopted.  I..." he had intentionally avoided thinking about where the boy might have come from.  If he had ever acknowledged it, he might have been forced to react to it.  Still, if he was saying everything else,  "There was a Wen child around the right age in the Yiling Burial Grounds.  It's not confirmed to be the same boy, for obvious reasons.  I'm the only person I know of who visited the Yiling Burial Mound while it was inhabited, though I suspect Lan Wangji may have as well."

"Lan Wangji never used Demonic Cultivation.  I know he warned Wei Wuxian against it several times, for all the good it did.  Lan Wangji has hated me since the death of Wei Wuxian.  Despite never using it himself, and his warnings, I don't think he realizes how much it warps a person.  We've stayed out of each other's way since."

It occurs to him afterwards that he might have worded that better for Lan Xichen's sake.  Yet, it was honest, with the information he knew.  

Oh, Wangji.

Xichen closes his eyes. "Ah."

Punishment lasted three years, what could -

He doesn't want to know. He doesn't need to know how many of their own men Wangji injured (or killed? surely he wouldn't - ) and if Wangji wants him to know the specifics of his punishment then he will tell him. It's likely that Jiang Cheng is not even aware of those details. In any case, all of that will be prevented. It must be.

"Thank you. I will tell you this as, during our planning in the coming days, it is unlikely not to be relevant and I see no reason that you should not know, but I am in fact aware of one other person who has experienced the future. Wangji approached me yesterday and relayed memories of the same war you described."

Selective memories. Really, what could Wangji think it would accomplish to keep Xichen ignorant about half of the future he clearly wants to prevent? What else might he have kept from Xichen that Jiang Cheng would be unaware of?

After a moment of shock, he's annoyed at himself for not putting it together earlier.  

"Of course that would explain Lan Wangji's disappearance the day before.

"He'd better not be involving my brother in anything Demonic just because it happened in the future."

And then Wei Wuxian had lied to him about where they'd been!  How dare he!  Jiang Cheng is trying to keep Wei Wuxian out of trouble!  

"I highly doubt that that is his intention. My impression is that he cares about your brother." And cares deeply, but that's more private than Xichen is inclined to disclose.

"For all the good that does!  

"I told him to stop bothering Lan Wangji, the first time around, and Wei Wuxian didn't listen.  I tell him to put down that strange evil flute and he doesn't listen.  He doesn't listen to Lan Wangji.  He certainly never listened to Master Lan."

He is Upset.  Jiang Cheng twitches like he wants to start pacing.  What does he have to do?  Physically pin Wei Wuxian down for the next year?  He can't even do that!  Wei Wuxian is a better fighter than he is even before he starts doing Demonic Cultivation, making him impossible to protect.

Jiang Cheng is too riled up to consider Lan Wangji's emotions right now.

Wen Qing will ignore this minor tantrum. "Clan Leader Lan. My brother and I would like to help you protect your clan. I think you might know more about how we could do that most effectively. This would put us in a precarious position, and in return for collaborating with you I would like reassurance that my brother will be kept safe."

"I will do all I can to ensure that he is, Lady Wen. There are places in the Cloud Recesses where we could hide you both, if necessary. For now, I will try to think of things you can do without openly betraying your allegiance to Wen Chao and Wen Ruohan. It will take plenty of time to develop the soundest plans."

There's more uncertainty here than Wen Qing would like, but that will be true no matter what decision she makes here. She is grateful, and expresses this as she bows.

Of course. If a war is coming, it's good to start by protecting as many lives as possible.

If that's all, they may take their leave. They should come to him if they discover anything else unexpected, and in the meantime Xichen will reach out to them when appropriate.

Jiang Cheng will leave, automatically bowing as well.  

He shouldn't actually go and pick a fight with Lan Wangji right now.

... Them being forced to deal with each other is going to cause problems.

Well.

He makes himself tea. He sips the tea, still slightly too hot, and pictures his home burning. He can't picture Wangji being punished for three years, he doesn't know what that looks like. He doesn't want to know what that could look like.

He pictures himself watching their ally kill innocent people, and saying nothing. Perhaps saying something quietly disapproving but diplomatic. Perhaps posing objections but taking no action. Xichen knows himself. He can see where he would have fallen short last time; where he will fall short again this time, if it comes to that. He knows himself, and he knows his obligations.

Xichen knows his brother.

He pictures Wangji seeing Wei Wuxian loose control, watching Wei Wuxian lash out against his former friends and family. Wangji still wanting to protect him. Trying to protect him against the will of their Clan and all their values.

He wonders if Wei Wuxian loved Wangji in return.

She goes to her brother, undoing the protective enchantments she had sealed over the door to their quarters. A-Ning is on his feet the moment she enters; he has clearly been awaiting her return. Wen Qing chides him and guides him to sit down; they can sit at the table together. A-Ning pours her tea.

"We are safe, for now. Lan Xichen believes us that we do not want to bring him harm, he isn't going to hurt you. He says he will protect us. I am not sure how well he will manage to do that, but - it's better than nothing, I'm sure."

"That's good, Jiejie. Clan Leader Lan is very powerful, more powerful than Wen Chao or Wen Xu. Please don't worry too much. What about Master Wei?"

"Why are you worried about him first? Wei Wuxian made you do horrible things, A-Ning, and just because you're fond of him does not mean I have any intention of letting you -"

"I owe him my life. We both owed him our lives, more than once. Master Wei... Master Wei is a good man. Better than any of them. He protected us when - no-one else would. It's impossible for me not to worry about him, Jiejie, I can't."

"A-Ning. I'm not saying he isn't a good man, I'm saying I will not let you throw your life away for one good man. There are lots of good men out there, A-Ning, and you can't start endangering yourself the moment you meet one!"

"I'm not - saying that I want to throw my life away, I. Just... I care, about him, and I'll keep caring, and I don't think I need to throw my life away to, to do that. To care."

"Caring is not the problem; the problem is that if you allow your care for Wei Wuxian to control your decisions, you will inevitably, unnecessarily endanger yourself. The world is not gentle enough for you to go about it this way, A-Ning, and Wei Wuxian is reckless and you have to put your own safety first. We have to put our own survival first."