Years went by, Wei Wuxian turned 14. A year ago he started serving under the Crowned Prince Jiang Wanyin and the Princess Jiang Yanli.

He learned not to scream out loud when he see's a dog but he's still scared of those creatures.

He didn't want to get kicked out, not yet atleast, because he's still saving to build himself a nice home.

He was in his room making some talismans when someone started knocking on the door.

He quickly moved and hid everything before opening his door and saw Jiang Wanyin.

He bowed "Your Highness"

Jiang Wanyin tsked "Hurry up and get some tanghulu for A-Jie, she'll be in the training field with me" he said before leaving.

Wei Wuxian sighed, he got used to how the Heir treated him.

It was quite known around the palace on how he ended up here.

But he never even tried to look better than the heir...atleast not on purpose, it's not his fault that his visuals are stunning-

Also he doesn't even dare speak unless talked to or told to speak so he doesn't know why the heir hates him.

Wei Wuxian was already in the kitchens and saw the Chef "Auntie, is there tanghulu?" He asked.

"Hm?" The woman turned and nodded "Yes dear, you could take that plate near the cabinets" She said and Wei Wuxian thanked her before leaving with the plate.

When he entered the training field, his heart sank badly. Mainly because he wished to train beside them, but he knows better than to ask his Granduncle to let him train with them.

Because his skills were better than the heir and no one was allowed to outshine him.

Only recently he was allowed to go out night hunting in secret.

He then saw the princess and the prince and made his way towards them.

"Your Highnesses" He greeted and placed the plate beside Jiang Yanli.

The princess was kind, but he was uncomfortable with her because of how obsessed she was with the prince from the other kingdom and asked him to help her write letters.

"Ah, Wuxian! You're here, I was waiting for you" Jiang Yanli said and she clasped her hands together.

Jiang Wanyin was there training his sword forms and making sure the other disciples were training properly.

To be fair, he was kind of good at it.

Aside from constant yelling at the disciples.

"Do you wish to train Wuxian?" Jiang Yanli asked him which cut himself off from his thoughts.

"I do not wish to train Your Highness, I am too old to form a core" He told her.

It was a lie but she doesn't need to know that.

"It is never to late to learn, I could talk to mother about it if you wish" Jiang Yanli said and oh Boi.

'NOPE! HER MAJESTY WOULD HAVE MY HEAD!' He screamed internally.

"Thank you Your Highness, but this servant is a Coward and too scared of monsters" he reasoned with her.

Jiang Yanli shrugged "If you say so, by the way" She paused before getting a bite out of her tanghulu. "I need help with writing letters back to Prince Jin Zixuan" She said.

'Knew it' he thought to himself.

Please, he misses his time as a regular servant, his shifts were much easier and he could go out for a few days without getting caught.

But this time, he only has over a week off every month.

He'd go out night hunting at those times and spend time with his Jiejie.

"When do we..." he started but couldn't think of what to add.

"After A-Cheng's break you and I shall head over to the library and start writing the letter, here" Jiang Yanli then took out an envelope that had been opened- obviously because she had to read it‐ and have it to him.

"You should read the contents so it would be easier and faster for you to tell me what to write back, their training should still take a while" Jiang Yanli said.

Wei Wuxian bowed slightly as he took the envelope and took out the letter before he started reading the contents.

The Jin Heir always kept his letters short, which was another sign that Jiang Yanli could not understand the meaning of he doesn't want you and only tolerates you but he's willing to get to know you.

The letter didn't contain much other than how he had to deal with a lot of Sect Heir duties...and that's it.

He guesses he should reply with comforting the prince.

That seemed like the most reasonable thing to do.

He sighed inwardly. He's just thankful that tomorrow is the start of his monthly vacation and he could go nighthunting.

———

That night he went towards his Jiejie's room.

"A-Xian, aren't you a little to old now to have sleep overs with your Jiejie?" She teased him and opened her arms so that the teen would feel free to hug her.

And he did.

"Aigoo, my boy is growing taller! You're already taller than me, have mercy for this woman" she said as she pinched his cheeks.

The teen huffed.

"How was work today?" She asked while helping the younger prepare his camping bed on the ground.

"Tiring, I'll leave tomorrow afternoon" he said as he flopped himself onto his bed.

Jiang Fen then sat on hers before questioning "Before or after lunch?"

"After" was all the boy said before he fell asleep.

"I guess its 9pm" She shrugged.

"This boy really, if anything, I'd mistaken him as a Lan because of his sleeping schedule" She chuckled to herself as she blew the candles out.

"The second prince in the Lan Kingdom is literally your opposite" She sighed and placed a kiss onto his forehead before falling asleep.

The next day, as usual, Wei Wuxian was up first. He made his way to the kitchens to make breakfast for his Jiejie and would leave it in her room.

He'd put heating talismans under the plate to keep the food warm.

It was around 7 now, his Jiejie would wake up around 9 so he got time to spare and made his way wmtoards his room.

He took out his notebooks, talismans, sword, a few clothes and foods to last a few days, and most importantly his mask and placed it inside a qiankun pouch.

He packed everything he needed and hid the pouch within his robes where it's nice and secure.

He sewed a small pocket inside his robes so that he old hide stuff in there when needed.

He then decided to take a small nap since he was still feeling a little tired and it was still early.

———

"Stay safe alright?" Jiang Fen said as she patted his head.

"Yes Jie"

"Here" She gave him a small pouch if herbs "This should probably be enough incase of an emergency"

Wei Wuxian smiled softly and nodded.

"I'll see you again soon enough Jie" he promised to come back alive like always before making his way towards the town to buy some bread as snacks on the way.

———

Once he finally reached the forest, he changed his clothes and put his mask on before starting to make his way while flying on his sword.

He feels so free.

He wished to have a sparring partner but he guesses it could wait. One day he'll find one.

It's starting to get dark, he should probably start finding places to camp-he then saw a few cultivators.

Seeing as they were wearing white, they were probably from the Lan Kingdom.

He wanted to know what they were doing so he landed not too far away from them and made himself hidden.

He wanted to see this in action.

It's not like he had never seen cultivators fight, but he would rarely see one of the Heirs do their job.

He doesn't know if this was the Crowned Prince Lan Xichen or the Second Prince Lan Wangji.

He knows that one person was a Royal (or atleast related) since he had blue clouds in his forehead ribbon.

Seeing as this person started to smile and slightly annoy his disciples left and right, Wei Wuxian was sure this was the Second Prince because his unLan self is known throughout the whole cultivation world.

It was already near dark when a large Resentful spirit came out from hiding and went to attack them.

Okay, Wei Wuxian decided not to interfere. One, he's not that experienced. Two, that resentful spirit symbolizes a dog.

He was more than contented on just hugging the tree.

But from what he could sense, this one has a lot of resentment that they could not even defeat it.

He saw how time passes and the Lans were having a harder time in suppressing or taking down the resentful spirit.

He watched how the Second Prince was taking his job seriously and Wei Wuxian could not lie, he looked ethereal.

His thoughts were smashed the moment he saw that the spirit was getting more and more irritated and smashed one of the disciples to a nearby tree.

HIS TREE!

'Okay Wei Wuxian you got this' he inhaled before tightening his mask and took out his sword and a few talismans and sneakily made his way until he was behind the spirit and climbed up the tree quickly.

———

Lan Wangji knew he should call for help but there wasn't any time to do so when this beast was wagging its tail and slapping things left and right.

TRUST HIM! HE'S TRYING TO DO SOMETHING!

Lan Wangji felt a bit hopeless when he saw how his disciples were scared and couldn't fend for themselves well.

MAYBE BECAUSE THIS IS THEIR FIRST NIGHTHUNT!?

He was about to aim to stab the monster's eye with his sword to distract it a bit but suddenly something moved.

He saw how the newcomer jumped out of the tree and cut off the tail of the spirit which made the Beast roar loudly and turned around.

The silver eyed person then threw a few paralyzing talismans onto the beast.

Lan Wangji took it as a sign and signaled the other's to take out their guqin.

Once they finally suppressed the beast, Lan Wangji counted everyone and checked them for injuries.

Thankfully most of them were alright, except for the disciple that got smashed onto a tree, the poor boy probably got broken ribs on his first hunt.

"Breathe slowly, we'll get you to the nearest village" Lan Wangji said and commanded the other's to carry the disciple carefully.

"The village is on your left" Lan Wangji turned but there wasn't anyone.

He was sure that it was the silver eyed cultivator.

"We're heading over this way" Lan Wangji said and they walked towards their left.

———

Once Lan Wangji was alone in the inn. Obviously in his rented room.

He was thinking about the silver eyed, masked cultivator.

He should find him and thank him for saving their lives because Lan Wangji could not have done it that well.

He heard the cultivator's voice, he should be around their age.

And with the talismans the other used, he should be an expert but why hasn't he heard about him?

It was obvious the other was talented.

He heard a knock on his door and opened it.

"Your Highness, the disciple is well, he just needs a few weeks of bed rest before doing anything"

Lan Wangji nodded "You all shall leave by tomorrow, I'll be staying here for a bit to investigate"

The disciple knows better than to talk back, because he sure as heck don't wanna wake up with dozens of frogs under his bed.

"I shall go out and check the area" Lan Wangji said and without waiting for the other's reply he ran.

Well he's not really going to check the area but find the masked cultivator, he knows for sure that he couldn't have gone that far.

And he was right because next thing he knows he saw him making a camp fire not too far away.

When he got closer to the camp, he saw how soft the other's features are and how...adorable he looked.

"You look adorable you know that?" His mouth suddenly said and that seemed to startle the other since the Cutie took out his sword.