Nie Huaisang looks at him. ‘You are confusing me, Clan Leader Jiang, perhaps I misunderstand, but…’ ‘You didn’t misunderstand. You don’t misunderstand. You understand all of it.’ For six months Jiang Cheng has been mulling this over, and now with Nie Huaisang in front of him he can’t figure out if he most wants to knock him down or kneel at his feet. What he does is try and breathe. Clench his hands at his sides. ‘And now I am going to ask you to do something for me. You have to do something for me. You have to help Jin Ling.’

‘Don’t indulge in pleasure,’ was perfectly comprehensible - at fourteen Lan Wangji already knew that that meant no second helping of stew, even if you were still hungry, and definitely no more little cakes, your mother should never have made those for you to try in the first place. - Or Five Times Lan Wangji learnt something about sex