And have any meaning or purpose at all.

"I guess that's one way to put it!" 

"I need red envelopes."

Meanwhile the more she sees of Lan Wangji the less she understands. 

"What for?" 

"To give to Wei Ying."

"I realize time is confusing, a-Zhan, but it's nowhere near the New Year."

"I'm sure red envelopes exist in a cabinet somewhere." She is not at all sure of this but it's whatever. 

He stops in the middle of the hallway, thinks for a bit, and then starts heading for the shop.

She grabs his arm before he can get more than about a step away. 

"No, we're going to your room. Shop raiding can wait until tomorrow." 

"I need red envelopes for Wei Ying!"

"I promise I will be even happier with red envelopes in the morning."

"You can get red envelopes for Wei Ying tomorrow when you're sober and it isn't almost curfew." 

She doesn't say this like she's talking to a particularly stupid three year old because Wei Wuxian would notice even if Lan Wangji wouldn't and it would be rude. But. 

But he wants to propose marriage to Wei Ying NOW. If he does it tomorrow morning then it will be A WHOLE EXTRA DAY before they can be married.

"Mn," he says, and follows Ayako.

Okay good and also WHY WAS THIS PERSON ALLOWED TO TOUCH ALCOHOL probably nobody knew he'd be like this and it isnt actually anyone's fault but like still. 

"This is why the Lan aren't allowed to drink. It's not a purity thing, they're just all lightweights."

"I can see why they'd have that rule!"

She's still holding onto his arm. 

"Getting drunk seems to have made him super obsessed with me and I have no idea why."

Really the question is why other people aren't obsessed with Wei Ying.

"Honestly it kind of feels like the more I find out about him the less I understand." (She's back to being in smiling-friendly-joking mode. It's a much easier way to be than what she was doing with Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian is good that way.)

"He's like a-- fucking-- what's the word I'm looking for, a-Ko--"

Wait, are they on diminutive nickname terms, she's not complaining but she is a little surprised.

"Riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma?" she says, in English, because that's the only language she knows that quote in. "Or did you mean a different thing."

"Nonononono like when something looks like a shallow thing and actually it's a really deep thing and it turns out there are probably, like, prehistoric sharks in it?"

Ayako's education was sufficiently specialized that, while she might know commonly-referenced Churchill quotes in her third language, she has no idea what Wei Wuxian is talking about and is somewhat surprised that prehistoric sharks are even a thing, aren't most prehistoric animals not around anymore.

"...dropoff? Trench?"

"Anyway. He's one of those. He has layers. Like an onion or an ogre."

Like..... a..... what.......... you know what okay she's not even going to try.

"Like I said. A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."