"I will take care of all I can, soon. Will you stay."

"Take care of what? ...Stay where? In, in the Cloud Recesses?"

"With Wei Ying."

That sounds an awful lot like you're going to leave him again, Wen Ning refrains from saying. (It had sure seemed a lot like Second Young Master Lan regretted leaving Wei Wuxian, just now. But maybe it's foolish for Wen Ning to make assumptions about what Lan Wangji thinks or regrets.)

"I'll look after him as much as I can, Lan-er-gongzi. I'll fight for him, if... if he needs it."

Great. That was what he wanted out of this conversation. He wanted to thank Wen Ning and to ensure his ongoing loyalty to Wei Ying and he did both of those things, so. There is nothing to feel bitter or upset about.

So he doesn't feel bitter or upset. Or jealous. At all. None of those things. This was great.

He walks off without saying anything else.

...okay. Well. He will go return to his new/old friends, then. He thinks that conversation went okay? Honestly with Lan Wangji it is so, so hard to tell.

Nie Huaisang is currently sitting in his room, adding another section to his letter.  It is getting uncharacteristically long, though he - at this point in the timeline - had never spent extended periods away from Qinghe so hopefully it won't be considered strange. 

Lan Wangji's suggestion about having overheard danger to the Yueyang Chang Sect is added, and news on the strange Wen arrival.  Various impressions about his 'new' friends.  The expected complaints about the many rules and the strictness of Master Lan's teaching.  He misses his Da-ge.  He is looking forward to going home.  He's fine, though.

He has been spending almost all of his time with Lan Xichen, but of course he still comes by to check in on his primary responsibility.

Knock knock. "Young Master?"

He sets aside the letter.

"Meng Yao!" he says, pretending at happiness.  Why wouldn't he be happy to see Meng Yao, after all.  What does he want?

He just wants to see how his Young Master is doing, of course!

It's not like Meng Yao would just forget that he is Nie Huisang's servant first and Lan Xichen's guest second, after all. It's not like Meng Yao could ever forget.

"Have you been settling into your classes well, Young Master? Is there anything you need?"

Huaisang shudders.  "Classes!  They are so hard, and Master Lan is strict!  I don't know how I'll ever keep up.  It's so hard to keep my attention on the things I'm being told to pay attention to.  The other students are nice, though.  And Cloud Recesses is certainly prettier than the Unclean Realm.  I keep wanting to find time to go paint the scenery..."

He quickly considers what he can have Meng Yao do.  He has to have something.  Something to help keep up the notion that Nie Huaisang is helpless and needs Meng Yao to do things.  "Speaking of distracted, I wasn't paying attention and spilled water on my stationary earlier."

Sigh. At least he hadn't spilled something like ink that would get stains all over the Gusu Lan's beautiful furniture. Huaisang has done that multiple times at home.

Of course, he does not actually sigh. He smiles patiently. "I will gather some new stationary from Caiyi Town tomorrow, Young Master. Did Clan Leader Nie afford you an allowance for your studies here?"

Nie Huaisang is picky about quality paper in the way that only an artist can be, and describes what he needs.  The money he hands over to Meng Yao should be enough for the best stationary that Caiyi Town has to offer. 

He is apologetic, yet in a way that neither promises that he'll do better or even try to.  Nie Huaisang is a useless Head-shaker and always will be.  It's good that Meng Yao is here to help, and he appreciates it so much!

It is good that Nie Huaisang's older brother is so generous as well, Meng Yao points out humbly. And there's no need to apologize; Meng Yao was interested in seeing Caiyi Town.

Perhaps Lan Xichen will want to join him... well, he doesn't say that last part out loud.

It seems like Huaisang is settling in reasonably well; Meng Yao won't pry into his developing friendships with the other students. If that's all, Meng Yao will excuse himself for the evening?

Yes, Meng Yao can be dismissed for the evening.  

Once the door closes, Huaisang can go hide his not-actually-wet stationary just in case.  Then, without any writing to do, perhaps he'll go out and meet back up with his friends.

Meng Yao walks through the Cloud Recesses. It's nice to walk slowly through these gardens; the weather is very pleasant, here, and people speak quietly enough that you must walk slowly to overhear enough of a conversation to make sense.

If you want to overhear conversations, which Meng Yao always does.

He finds Lan Xichen walking from the Lan Mansion, calm and elegant as always, holding his xiao behind his back. When Lan Xichen sees Meng Yao, he smiles. It's a very beautiful smile, but more than that it's a very sincere smile.

Meng Yao cannot think of anyone who has smiled to see Meng Yao, not the promise of services that Meng Yao provided, since his mother.

"Hello, Zewu Jun," he says when they are close enough, and bows.

"Meng-gongzi," says Xichen, catching and interrupting Meng Yao's bow as he always does. His thumb grazes Meng Yao's elbow through his sleeve before he lets go. "Have you been having a pleasant day?"

"It is surely easy to have pleasant days in such a perfect place as this and with such perfect company, Zewu-Jun."

"This is a very nice place, isn't it," agrees Xichen lightly, looking around at his home. The Cloud Recesses are beautiful. It is hard to imagine everything he sees in flames, and yet... "But you flatter me too highly."

He flatters many, many people too highly, but not Lan Xichen.

Would Lan Xichen have any interest in going to Caiyi Town tomorrow? Meng Yao needs to run an errand there and is quite unfamiliar.

Xichen has a lot on his plate right now, but no one is going to be at war by tomorrow. He doesn't find anything wrong with taking one day-trip.

Meng Yao will look forward to it.

For now, they can walk around the gardens together and talk about politics.

Nie Huaisang manages to catch a brief glimpse of them before heading back to the more populated courtyard.  That seems to be progressing... well?  Or at least differently from the future.  

Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, and Wei Wuxian are still in the courtyard when he gets there.  Wen Ning has also joined them.

Strange.  Not that he's supposed to know it's strange.  "Hello again!  And greetings Wen-xiong."  He takes a seat near him, curious but not asking anything immediately.