Lan Qiren's gaze lingered on Wei Xuan's features - the same fox-like eyes as Wei Wuxian, but softened by Zangse Sanren's delicate bone structure. "The poison residue..." he began, fingers tightening around his jade admonition ruler.
"Survival was toxin enough," she smiled faintly, wood energy circulating to deepen the shadows beneath her eyes. The teacup trembled imperceptibly in her grip - not from weakness, but the effort of restraining decades-old fury.
Across Cloud Recesses, chaos rippled through the lecture hall when Wei Wuxian was summoned. Jiang Cheng's scowl deepened as whispered conjectures swarmed like wasps: Caught smuggling emperor's smile? Defaced the Discipline Rock again? Only Lan Wangji's glacial stare silenced the room.
"Family reunion," the messenger disciple breathed when Wei Wuxian prodded him, eyes alight with forbidden gossip.
The words struck like a blade between ribs. Wei Wuxian's boots faltered on polished cedar floors. Family. Dead. Burned. Gone. Yet when the guest hall doors parted, his traitorous pulse quickened at the sight of the green-robed girl - this living shadow of his mother, this mirror-image stranger whose trembling hands mirrored his own.
Lan Qiren's uncharacteristic softness unnerved him more than any punishment. "Your twin sister Wei Xuan, style Wushang."
Twin.
The word detonated memory-shrapnel - infant laughter in a burning temple, small fingers clutching his thumb, a name whispered with his last bowl of lotus pork rib soup. Wei Wuxian's knees buckled. Hot tears struck floorboards like blood droplets as decades of orphaned loneliness ruptured.
"Gege."
The childhood endearment shattered Wei Xuan's meticulously crafted performance. When their foreheads touched, she tasted salt and lies - his tears for ghosts, hers for vengeance deferred. Behind them, Lan Qiren's retreating footsteps echoed through hollow corridors, unaware the girl's sleeve concealed scars matching Cloud Recesses' security arrays.
Some reunions are earthquakes. Some silences, screams.