...how strange.

Brother found a new doctor for him recently, a respected elder healer from the Nie Sect. Though she informed Wangji that the new salves might gradually improve his baseline, he doesn't think that could explain such dramatic change overnight.

Perhaps it is one of those dreams where you dream of your own waking.

He opens his eyes.

None of A-Yuan's art or belongings are anywhere to be seen. 

His student robes, however, are exactly where they were back when he was wearing them regularly. 

This continues to be disconcerting! He sits up very slowly - and then remembers that he does not have to; this is a dream and there is no pain.

He dresses himself in the student robes and picks out one of his more simple silver crowns to pull up his hair. Bichen is where it should be; he picks up the sword and leaves his home to explore whatever else the dream has to offer.

Cloud Recesses is not a place that changes much. Even when it was burned down and rebuilt, little changed. 

"Little" is enough, for one who grew up there, who watched it burn, who helped rebuild. This is not a Cloud Recesses that has ever burned. 

He definitely should not get his hopes up that this will be a pleasant dream. Those are rare. But it is pleasant, at least, to see his home as it was 

If he heads toward the Lan Sect Mansion, will he run into anyone else? See any other students, or anyone who doesn't belong in this general time frame?

There are other students! Nie Huaisang, Jin Zixuan and Jiang Wanyin can all be identified, all looking and behaving appropriately for the time period. 

There is nobody who does not belong in this scene. There is also no Wei Ying. Possibly this is in some way connected with the fading but still entirely visible bruise on Jin Zixuan's cheek. 

Hm.

This level of consistency and detail definitely seems incongruous for this being a dream. But a bizarrely consistent lucid dream is still more likely than... whatever else this could be. 

It really does feel a lot like he's awake, only less painful. Wangji is unsure how to resolve this uncertainty.

No need to subject himself to the existence of Jiang Wanyin while he figures it out, though. He keeps walking and tries to find his brother.

His brother is helping their uncle with something, would he like to subject himself to the existence of Lan Qiren instead?

Not particularly.

He will wait outside for Brother and Uncle to be done, in case any other important people materialize and decide to approach him. The longer he stands in this garden and does absolutely nothing, the less this feels like plausibly a dream.

Eventually Lan Xichen walks out. He smiles when he sees his brother. 

Wangji does not move his face in any way, but to Xichen he will still look glad to see him.

He bows. "Brother. I have a question."

"Yes?"

"If you thought you might be dreaming, how would you determine that you were awake?"

"Hm." He leans back. "That's a good question. I've heard of people pinching themselves, if they don't often feel pain in dreams. Reading a text you don't know very well and seeing if it makes sense. Trying to see if there are any places where what you're experiencing is inconsistent or doesn't match reality."

"Mn."

He will try each of those things, but for now he has to confront the fact that everything feels quite real, and not dreamlike at all aside from the absurdity and the absence of pain. Wangji has never heard about anything similar to this ever happening. How could it be possible? Was it stable; might he be pulled back into the present at any moment?

- and if this is real, then - 

"Wei Ying?"

"What about him?"

Why does he have to pick more words. Why can he not just say 'Wei Ying' and have all the information he wants presented to him immediately.

"Where is he?"

"At Lotus Pier, one assumes. He was expelled after attacking Jin Zixuan?"

Right, that happened.

Wangji wants to ride Bichen to Lotus Pier right this second, but he... shouldn't. Won't. There isn't anything to protect Wei Ying from right now, and nothing he needs to stop him from doing. Instead he should remain here and plan ahead to do both of those things as thoroughly as possible.

He goes to the library. He will try pinching himself, and then reading over some different texts. How does that go?

The pinch hurts. Much less than the scars would, but definitely an amount. The texts make sense and are consistent with the hypothesis that he just woke up in the past somehow and is not dreaming.

Okay. 

He unsheathes Bichen and presses the tip against his leg, to be sure.

Ouchies and blood occur. 

Another thing that occurs is the library door sliding open at exactly the wrong moment. 

"What the fuck!?"

Oh shit.

Okay. Well. This is not ideal but fortunately he does not owe Jiang Wanyin an explanation.

Wangji wipes Bichen off on his leg above the wound and then sheathes it, letting his robes drop down. He goes to walk past Jiang Cheng and leave the library.