Drag our ashes to the light

“Congratulations on your impending elevation, Nie-zongzhu,” Jiang Wanyin replies formally as they return his bow.Nie Huaisang snaps open his fan and flutters it lazily in front of his mouth, eyes wide and apparently guileless. “I can hardly believe it, when there are other much more capable candidates,” he looks directly at Jiang Wanyin as he says this. The meaning is clear, but Jiang Wanyin doesn’t take the bait.—On the first night of the of his official investment as Chief Cultivator, Nie Huaisang asks Jiang Wanyin to come to his quarters to discuss private matters. Jiang Wanyin goes, because he has questions, because he's angry, and also because of what he and Nie Huaisang used to be, or what they could have been.