"No, not your brothers and husband. I meant you, Jiang Yanli. Not that I have anything against you, but it's that we're from different time periods," Ah, damn, no matter how he tried to go about this, it felt like he was failing. Really, that was the story of his life, but it was all the more intimidating and aggravating, considering the context of the situation. He knew he had to keep calm about this, but he could feel all the years of welled-up emotion simmering deep down. He knew if he slipped up even slightly that everything could slide downhill fast.

"Looking back, it's a bit surreal. Especially meeting you in person like this. But your family wouldn't have told you much of me during your time because I was nothing more than a cultivator in training—a student under the Gusu Lan sect, to be precise. I did attend cloud recess with your brothers and husband and grew up around the same age at the same time, but I was far too below their standing to be known by them.

Wei Wuxian did save my life a few times over, though. Although that feels like such a long time from my perspective."

That was back when he respected the man. Back before everything went wrong.