Lan Zhan does not make a move to pick up his bowl, thinking instead on Wei Ying's story. They have both lived lives the other knows nothing about, lives the other one did not exist for. For Wei Ying, however, he did have a different version of Lan Wangji and he cannot help but be curious.

"Like the idea of Lan juniors being led by Wei Ying," he murmurs, imagining how startled and scandalized they must have been. "Do you miss your Lan Zhan?" he asks, wishing he could know all the differences that thirteen years have made. He cannot help but feel Wei Ying has received a lesser version. Surely thirteen more years would have made him better, wiser. Perhaps kinder and more open as well.