The flute mistakes don't bother Jiang Cheng or ruin his concentration, though he does pick up on them.  It's one of the rare benefits of being someone who is merely passable at music compared to someone with perfect pitch.  He wouldn't want someone who made so many mistakes performing for an audience while representing him, but Wei Wuxian is neither performing nor a representation of the Jiang Sect's musical teachings.

Jiang Cheng debates for a moment whether to reuse the tea cups, get out clean bowls, or just drink from the jars.  He had bought two different varieties with the intent to let Wei Wuxian try both, so not the latter, even if the fact that he'd automatically passed one of the jars over in getting Wei Wuxian's attention has already complicated that plan.  It's no great loss - they aren't wildly different varieties - but keeping the option open might be nice if he can arrange it without admitting he made a mistake.  As for the other options, he's already put the cups away and wouldn't be able to tell which was which, so he's left with the clean bowl option.  What are two more dishes?

Thinking takes enough time that he's still rummaging in his bag for bowls when Wei Wuxian sits down and starts watching him.  He slides one over, then pours wine from the jar still near him into his own bowl before setting the jar closer to the middle of the table.  

"My Wei Wuxian would have just grabbed a jar and immediately started drinking from it without waiting for me to find bowls.  Most likely spilling half of the wine over himself in the process.  So, good job on being more civilized than your counterpart," he says, because Jiang Cheng does not miss his Wei Wuxian and has no wish to ever see him do any of his familiar habits.  And because they aren't standing on any ceremony, he just drinks from the bowl without bothering to come up with a proper toast beyond that.  

If Jiang Cheng is looking at Wei Wuxian at all, he will probably notice that Wei Wuxian looks extremely surprised at the pouring wine. Not unpleasantly surprised - in fact, quite excitedly surprised!

(He gets alcohol?! - Apparently he was totally correct about jar familiarity actually! ...Is this - he remembers that people in the past used to be freer about alcohol, because water purification. No, they already had tea and other Jiang Cheng can boil water with a gesture, that makes no sense as an explanation here. Cultural carryover from the people who can't boil water with a gesture...??)

He follows other Jiang Cheng in pouring, which promptly and decisively eliminates the possibility that really it was only other Jiang Cheng getting alcohol, and he was getting some other thing. (He carefully pours no more than other Jiang Cheng did, erring on the side of less if there's no convenient mark or anything.) Sets the jar in an almost-mirror of other Jiang Cheng's. 

...Whaaat is he supposed to say to that. (He winces (not in the flinching way) just a little. He can see the appeal! But wow that can not have been a good resultant time for other him). (This is not making him less surprised that other Jiang Cheng is serving wine to any Wei Wuxians!) "I'll try not to spill, Sandu Shengshou." ...Well that was not literally the worst words that could have fallen out of his mouth! Brain, Wei Ying, use the one in your head. "Sorry!

- It's generous of you to be so patient with us, Sect Leader Jiang." ...Either that was better or he's not going to get better and should instead shut up.

...But, hey, other Jiang Cheng is happy enough with him to get him wine, and in related positive facts, he has wine! Cool alternate universe/historical wine! Other Jiang Cheng does not seem to have said something that would plausibly be a toast. He raises his bowl cheerfully. "To your health and the prosperity of the Jiang Sect, Sandu Shengshou!" (...Possibly he should have stuck with the shutting up until told otherwise - does he know anything at all about alcohol practices and toast etiquette here, no he doesn't. But, too late now, and other Jiang Cheng's been so nice with teaching him, and come on he should get some 'alternate universe visitor' credit?)

Wine! Fortunately other Jiang Cheng has already started drinking so he doesn't have to make himself wait. (Music camp had some strict rules about alcohol, and didn't have much affordances for sneaking any either even if he wanted to risk it that badly.) Glug glug (careful not to spill) wine!!

Jiang Cheng doesn't bother justifying his purchasing decisions with the local history and customs of alcohol.

He closes his eyes for a moment to focus on the taste.  Its the same as it's always tasted.  Jiang Cheng tries to imagine drinking it for the first time, trying to ignore how self conscious it makes him to have the local varieties compared to whatever the other world's wine is like.  This Wei Wuxian wouldn't have the nostalgia for it that his does.  Even with such familiarity, his Wei Wuxian was constantly going off and praising other region's alcohols.  

He drinks his own bowl in silence, unable to decide on anything worth saying.  When they've finished, he nudges his original jar a finger's width closer to Wei Wuxian and grabs the other.  "Try both.  They're different." 

Once he's poured another bowl, the jar is put back in the center of the table.  Presumably Wei Wuxian will take whichever one he likes more, or alternate, or some ridiculous third thing that Jiang Cheng will wind up yelling about.  Until then, he sips at the second bowl slowly, hoping Wei Wuxian will fill the silence.

(Wei Wuxian was not expecting him to!)

He - does not copy other Jiang Cheng in closing his eyes; other Jiang Cheng isn't going to be able to tell if he does or not (...probably. Unless he has some power use about it) because: eyes closed, and if he closes his eyes then he's not going to be able to watch other Jiang Cheng to know when he might be supposed to open them again. Also he will be way more likely to in fact spill the wine, which he just said he was going to try to not do.

He gets more than one alcohol?! "You're so nice, Sect Leader Jiang. -Yes Sandu Shengshou, thank you Sandu Shengshou!" Enthusiastic (careful) pouring! Different wine!

Expecting this Wei Wuxian to fill silence without telling him he should be doing that would generally be a much less reliable hope than with the local Wei Wuxian. (It's not lack of interest! It's all the not-speaking-at-doms-when-not-spoken-and/or-permitted-to education.) But at the moment this Wei Wuxian was already subspacing, and has now also drunk a bowl and some of wine (what with not being and never having been able to just walk into a bar or other establishment and obtain alcohol whenever he might want it, this Wei Wuxian has not had the chance to develop quite the alcohol tolerance of his local counterpart). 

And commenting on the food was fine, and offering someone an assorti usually means you want their reactions on the variations, right? And other Jiang Cheng's the one who's giving him alcohol, so he knows Wei Wuxian is here having alcohol, and if he definitely wanted quiet alcohol times he could have said that. (You know who would want quiet alcohol times? Lans. Except they won't because they don't have alcohol at all.)

Oh, yes, he can taste the difference! They're both very good, thank you Sect Leader Jiang! He can elaborate on some qualities they have! Are they from - sorry! If he can ask, are they from different places here, or something else? Do- if he can ask! Do they have a lot of kinds of wine here? In his world they have a lot. Some of them are made with advances in modern technology, and some of them are trying to avoid that on purpose. He can compare these ones to some he's tried before! If he can ask, does Sandu Shengshou like one of them better? What about other him? If he can ask, and if Sect Leader Jiang knows.

Wei Wuxian notices the jar placement. ...Jar in the center of the table has been having a communicative meaning here. Does that mean he's allowed to take more? ...What if he kind of slowly starts reaching towards the jar, is there going to be a "Wei Wuxian!" (Or a 'what do you think you're doing' -  which is the same thing, really.)

Jiang Cheng continues to be weak to complements.  He attempts to huff and says "Well, it's about time someone acknowledged that" in a way that utterly fails to hide how flustered and pleased he is.  Jiang Cheng is going to blame that on being drunk.

It's interesting to hear how other places describe alcohol, and to have theirs compared.  (At least, he's thinking that since the feedback seems to be mostly positive.  Lotus Pier itself doesn't manufacture wine, beyond a few hobbyists making it for themselves.  Still, it's hard to not be defensive about the closer villages too when speaking to someone from further away.)

"Both of the wines are from Yunmeng, though not the same brewer.  I like the one with the green stripe around the jar better," Jiang Cheng shrugs.  Then, knowing what Wei Wuxians are like, has to add, "Don't save it specifically for me.  I can go out and buy more whenever I want.  I don't know if my Wei Wuxian has a preference since he drinks so quickly I doubt he even tastes them."  

"A great many things can be turned into alcohol and people have been thorough in trying.  Rice, fruit... Wei Wuxian created a variety with lotus seeds and leaves once.  It tasted okay, but I much prefer the use Wen Ning put it to - poisoning it and feeding it to his awful family.  ...Ah.  Wen Ning is one of Wei Wuxian's friends.  The one who died and is now following Wei Wuxian around as a fierce corpse."  Jiang Cheng recalls complaining about him, back when he thought this Wei Wuxian was his Wei Wuxian.  Someone being brought back as a fierce corpse seems like the sort of thing that someone would remember hearing about, but there's no knowing what Wei Wuxian's memory is going to latch onto or abandon.

Other Jiang Cheng doing that continues to be really weird and also give him a lot of feelings. - Also other Jiang Cheng clearly actually needs more compliments and isn't getting enough of those. He's not 100% sure how he can go about dealing with this problem from his current vantage point. (Aside from continuing to blurt things out, which on the bright side does have the advantage that it's likely to happen without him even needing to remember any notes to self). He should coordinate with other him on that.

(...Should he be trying to compliment his own brother more? Of course at home he's mostly subspacing around his brother when he's being severely punished, which is not traditionally the best venue for compliments even compared to being hidden in a room. And, not exactly an actionable question right now. But he should think about that more. Maybe brainstorm with other him on it too.)

(Obviously the feedback is positive!!) 

"Thank you, Sandu Shengshou!" And aahhhh aahhhh other Jiang Cheng is being the exactly dom kind of nice again, and there should really be something that works like dropping to his knees at Jiang Cheng's feet and hugging him except default allowed (which, he realizes that's what 'saying thank you' is but that does not meet the parameters here - thank you is for a lot of things!)

"Your people and the other me are really lucky to have you, Sect Leader Jiang. And I'm really lucky."

(Seriously, what is up with other him and alcohol. Even if they're more permissive with alcohol here and other him's not so worried about getting his privileges revoked for the next forever, that is not sufficient explanation - and he's not buying that it's actually other him not caring about tasting it either. Is this related to whatever is going on with other him and other Jiang Cheng in more general? Is other him doing it differently in private?)

Other him got to create his own alcohol?! That is so cool, and also, hey, no one ever let him get even way before that far. Unfair! (Is this proooobably related to here being the part of history where lots of people made alcohol basically at home, so that was normal? And also resultingly other him would have had people around who already knew how to do it and had real equipment on hand? (which has a tendency to affect doms' opinions of things also many subs' opinions of things.) Yes, and yes. He pouts about it inwardly a little anyway.) (It is not true that he was going to poison anyone, and ...probably... not true that he was going to either explode something or set something on fire. He was using references and everything!

...Maybe he can get other him to teach him how to make new alcohol varieties, and then when he goes home he'll have a really good argument that he's gotten educated by someone who knew what they were doing. And a sub whose dom had been fine with it too!)

Holy shit, Wen Ning did what. (He is going to guess this had to do with the war). Nice job Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian hopes Wen Qing got a medal for him or whatever else they do here. He wants to hear this story.

...Oh. (Wei Wuxian is not thinking about or paying attention to it right now, but his first reaction had shown clearly in his face and body language, and this change shows almost just as clearly.)

...He still wants to hear the story, but he is considerably downgrading estimates that it will be the fun kind of story. (Of course Wen Ning could have poisoned personal household House Wen and then unrelatedly gotten hit by a carriage. But Wei Wuxian has a history and political education, and it doesn't really take one to know that most stories that include poisoning one's family and dying in close proximity are neither of unrelated, or fun stories in between the two.)

It sounds like Wen Ning is - well. Presumably not ok, and if he's getting the right idea from 'fierce corpse' not alive, but. 'Is now following'. 'Is one of Wei Wuxian's friends.' (He is not managing to remember word for word exactly what other Jiang Cheng had said last time he'd mentioned Wen Ning, but he remembers that other Jiang Cheng had been - crediting? holding responsible? - other him (for what based on what he remembers sounded like the fierce corpse part), and that he had really not liked it. Which raises the question of why.

Wei Wuxian could if required write an extensive essay on the history of the 'we don't care if it benefits us, traitors to their household and family are traitors, without exception' side of the philosophy. Historically, it could be the side in favor here and now. Except that other Jiang Cheng - is Jiang Cheng, and other Jiang Cheng was clearly approving of what Wen Ning did, so it couldn't be that. Maybe fighting the undead for a living makes people here prejudiced against undead. That sounds like something that would happen.)

Also he needs to say something. "We have a Wen Ning in my world too, Sandu Shengshou. He and the personal household of House Wen are alive."

Like drops of water into a bone-dry desert, it’s going to take far more complements than Wei Wuxian can say in an evening to make up for the life-long drought that is Jiang Cheng’s life.  As the wine erodes Jiang Cheng’s inhibitions he does stop trying quite so hard to pretend he isn’t enjoying them.

Still, Jiang Cheng doesn’t miss the look of envy when Wei Wuxian considers brewing his own wine.  Just how strict is House Jiang?  It doesn’t seem that it’s merely that other Wei Wuxian has been so busy inventing advanced technological devices and new power use things that he didn’t get around to wine.  

How would Wei Wuxian get into a situation where he wasn’t allowed to do basic winemaking?  Jiang Cheng tries to think that he couldn’t understand why, but he does.  Wei Wuxian’s experiments are often dangerous.  To Wei Wuxian, specifically.  Had this version gotten badly hurt early on trying something like it?  Enough that him and A-Jie would have put their foot down about risk, and Wei Wuxian would agree?

Jiang Cheng watches Wei Wuxian’s face journey at being told about Wen Ning.  He’s not surprised that House Wen is bad enough that Wei Wuxian would take vicarious glee in hearing about their alternate world equivalents getting poisoned.

“Wen Ning-” he begins.  Scowls thoughtfully at the table, contemplating how far back he’d need to go.  A proper explanation of Wen Ning would require mentioning the attack on Lotus Pier and Jiang Cheng’s capture and torture and maiming.  Jiang Cheng calculates the odds he’d do something embarrassing like crying if he had to talk about it, and realizes that it would be too damn high even if he weren’t tipsy.  

Wei Wuxian will need a full recounting of the Sunshot Campaign eventually.  There are enough parallels between their worlds that it may well be forewarning.  Still, there’s no point getting to it tonight when they haven’t even started figuring out how to get Wei Wuxian back where such information could potentially be put to use.

“I saw Wen Ning when Wei Wuxian was trying to bring him back, and again a few months ago when he was back up and walking around.  He seemed...”

Horrific.  Wrong, both to his cultivator senses and to the plain human instinct that picked up on the stiff gait and jagged movements of the undead and screamed that it was no longer a person.  Combining that with Wen Ning’s quiet observant patience made it all the more unnerving.  

But that isn't what Wei Wuxian would look for. "As far as I could tell, my Wei Wuxian is happy with what he managed to do."

This drought is an unacceptable state of affairs! No one who is sort of his brother should be stuck in any deserts. Or droughts. Wei Wuxian has some strong feelings on this. He is going to bring a - no, bad analogy, firehose doesn't fit the metaphor here. And they probably haven't invented them in this universe yet. He is going to bring a monsoon to this problem and just watch him.

(Ideally after consultation with other him, so that he can try for some more specifics in his compliments with any greater than zero idea of what would be relevantly complimentary, versus what would get him finally slapped, versus what would cause other Jiang Cheng to think that Wei Wuxian has confused other Jiang Cheng for someone who might want to have sex with him. Versus whatever other consequences he has currently not thought of or remembered from Intercultural Etiquette. Though at least none of them are here likely to be 'trade embargoes' or 'war declarations'?)

"I'm really glad, Sect Leader Jiang."

There is something weird about - the way that other Jiang Cheng said that? The fact that that's what other Jiang Cheng said? but his brain is not currently succeeding in pinning it down much. -Add it to the pile.

He wants to know if Wen Ning is ok, or something like ok, or what kind of not ok he is and what's supposed to be done about it, or whatever anyone might want to call it.

(Also he is so intensely curious about the swarm fractal of implications hiding behind other Jiang Cheng's first sentence.

'And again a few months ago' - it only makes sense to say it that way if there was significant/meaningful time between the first seeing and the second. And 'trying to' is notably different from 'had begun working on'. And it's occurring to him that he doesn't think he's heard or knows anything yet about 'fierce corpses' or undead who are friends with people instead of only being battled with swords in this universe in general. Or, if he considers it, about whether other Jiang Cheng's virulently negative feelings on what other him did with Wen Ning are related to other Jiang Cheng thinking other him has an evil flute. ...Or to resentful energy being given off by the dead?)

He doesn't think other Jiang Cheng is going to know the answers to what he'd want to ask about Wen Ning, really. And his imperfect memory and imperfect ability to read other Jiang Cheng are still more than sufficient to be clear that other Jiang Cheng does not like this entire topic. And they are (he thinks) currently having a nice time here, and other Jiang Cheng is being nice to him, and if he tries asking possibly stupid or landmine-hiding questions about topics that he knows close to nothing about and other Jiang Cheng really doesn't like, they are, one way or another, not very likely to keep having a nice time. 

Whatever there is to be answered about Wen Ning, it's not going to do anything for him to know about it a few days earlier. The pile of things to ask other him is really more like a pile of piles and likely to keep acquiring more of them, and he can add this one to that too.

It may be imperfect, but Wei Wuxian can read other Jiang Cheng's facial journey too. Something there other Jiang Cheng thought of, or almost thought of, that he doesn't like ending up thinking about. Or feeling about.

'Trying to change the subject' is a delicate thing to try, usually, when talking to doms, or to his brother in particular. But other Jiang Cheng keeps being surprisingly positive - or at least neutral and somewhere above - about him talking. And has still given him alcohol. What could be...

"D-" (for heaven's sake, Wei Wuxian!) "If I can ask, does the Lan sect still forbid alcohol in this universe, Sect Leader Jiang?"

In retrospect, ‘as far as I could tell, my Wei Wuxian is happy with what he managed to do,’ was not the most reassuring statement Jiang Cheng could have made.  He doesn’t know why he bothered being diplomatic.  

Wei Wuxian has that look that Wei Wuxians get when they’re full of questions.  Jiang Cheng braces himself for the barrage, and is left off-balance when no questions come.  Is he waiting to ask the local Wei Wuxian?  Does he think Jiang Cheng is useless?!  

“Our Lan sect does forbid alcohol.  Not that it stops guests from trying to drink there anyway.”

Jiang Cheng attempts to tell the story of when he, Wei Wuxian, and Nie Huaisang got drunk during their stay as guest disciples for Lan Qiren’s lecture series.  He’s not a great storyteller, lacking his Wei Wuxian’s flair for the dramatic.  Still, the entertainment of the story itself is something, and with this Wei Wuxian so quiet Jiang Cheng needs to be the one to step up and speak.  This, at least, is a good memory.  Even if it does end in Jiang Cheng getting an embarrassing public beating.  Being on the other side of a war is a hell of a lens to look back through.  

The three of them had been in a student dormitory.  Jiang Cheng covered the windows to keep light from slipping through the thin paper and was in charge of both pre- and post-party cleanup.  Wei Wuxian had snuck in the wine, and Nie Huisang brought peanuts. They were - well, they were mostly arguing, actually. 

Lan Wangji - the younger brother of the Gusu Lan Sect Leader - was in charge of student discipline.  He broke in and tried to drag them to the teacher-

A chiming sound from a bit of jade tucked into Jiang Cheng’s robes interrupts him before he can finish the story.  Its an alarm from his second in command, who can’t yet direct a message talisman to him without needing an anchor.

Jiang Cheng curses, getting up.  It’s a little clumsy, but once he’s on his feet he doesn’t sway.  

“Apparently, some kind of urgent business needs the Sect Leader’s attention.  That or I need to go whip my second for wasting communication talismans.  Either way it’s going to be a while.  Don’t wait up or save wine for me - I can’t risk coming and going from this room too often, so I won’t be back until the next meal.”