"And survive the Scholomance."

"It's a virtue that's mostly popular among parents."

"...I don't think my parents cared about it but I guess Malawi is just really different." 

"I think our parents like it because they had to obey their parents and now they want revenge."

"Mn."

"That seems like a weird thing for parents to want! ....Anyway can we talk about the rules in a bit, I want to learn calculus now." And eat more candy. Because he can. 

Everyone pulls out their math homework and gets to work, occasionally snacking on Yanli's candy. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian are happy to explain things whenever he gets stuck.

This is really nice! Masozi has never had anything that was this nice before. He's learning things and he has candy and he's not alone. 

When they're close to wrapping up, Wei Wuxian says, "if you think about it we just traded in Song Lan for Masozi. A good trade, I think."

"....What?" Masozi is not at all following the claim being made here! "I - you wanting to work with me wasn't related to him, I thought."

"Well, we used to have six people who are bros--"

"Mn."

"Five bros and Lan Wangji," he acknowledges. "And we lost one of our bros and got a second, much cooler bro."

This seems...kind of painfully awkward? They're talking about someone who DIED and they're treating it like it was in any way GOOD and it's - upsetting - except clearly they have way more reason to be upset than he does about a person he never even met??? 

"I - think I can't be cooler than someone who already learned Mandarin and math before they came here," he settles on saying. 

"Song Lan was boring! And he kept being like 'you have to follow the rules, Wei Ying, stop poking Wen Ning with your calligraphy pen because you're bored, Wei Ying, it looks bad for the enclave if you steal a car and go joyriding down the streets of Shanghai, Wei Ying.'"

"That was great."

"It really was."

"...Isn't it stressful for Wen Ning if you poke him just because you're bored?" 

"He's fine with it," Wei Wuxian says dismissively. "Anyway, there is no one in the world more deserving of having his induction spell fail so he has to spend the next four years in the enclave under heavy guard."

"Why...didn't they do that? It seems like it might've been safer for him than here." 

"Song Lan, I mean. Wen Ning can't miss his induction spell, I'd miss him."

"No one would bother trying to keep Wen Ning alive except Wen Qing and Lan Xichen."

"...Are their parents not alive?" 

"Alive but they don't really care about him-- it doesn't make sense to be invested, if you know your kid's going to die anyway--"

"....I guess maybe my parents weren't invested in any of us because they - didn't think they had any way to make more of us survive and not die? ....I don't know. I think they still cared me. Whatever that means, when it's - not about having the power to make sure things are good...?"