Wei Wuxian frowned but he didn’t immediately rebute Jiang Cheng. After a moment, he let out a breath.

“Do you really think it can work?”

And Jiang Cheng heard it. The hope in his voice. It tore at Jiang Cheng’s heart. He said only thing he could.

“I don’t know. Maybe. But not if you start by showing up with him.”

“I can’t just abandon everyone at the Burial Mounds, you know that.”

“I know. And we’ve been discussing that, Jin Zixuan has some ideas.”

Personally, he thought Jin Zixuan was pragmatic and politically savvy, and he thought his proposals just might work. So did Nie Huaisang. He knew Wei Wuxian wouldn’t necessarily like those ideas, but the only way to resolve the situation was with compromise on both sides. But he knew he wasn’t the right person to present them to Wei Wuxian.

They had all agreed that person should be Jiang Yanli.

“We can discuss it, with them, at Jinlintai,” Jiang Cheng said, making his voice even and hoping Wei Wuxian didn’t insist on hearing it all here and now. “But for now, you need to not do anything to make it worse.”

Wei Wuxian looked at him silently for awhile, frowning slightly. Eventually he let out a sigh and some of the tension drained from his shoulders.

“Okay, but if I send Wen Ning back—“

“Gongzi, no!” Wen Ning exclaimed, the first words he’d uttered.

Wei Wuxian held up his hand. Wen Ning frowned but didn’t say more.

“If I do send him back and some enterprising fellow decides to come at me with enough people to make it a problem, then what? I won’t just not defend myself.”