[He shakes his head but allows himself to be sat down, even if he is entirely capable of doing so himself. If it helps Jiang Cheng feel better, more in control, something, then he'll let him have that much.]

The honor is mine.

[He nibbles on the prepared ration, considering the man across from him. He can't see Jiang Cheng, of course, can't see his expression, but Xingchen can take in the care given to him. It contrasts how he's heard poorer cultivators or non-cultivators speak of the sect leader. They utter his name not with awe, exactly, but also not entirely without fear, either. But he's the sect leader who lost his entire home only to come back a short time later and rebuild it from the ground up. And, from what Xingchen has heard, he's managed to bring it back to a state of strength, if not its former glory. It's admirable, to be sure.

But there are also whispers, sometimes accompanied with dark laughter: "Don't even say the words 'demonic cultivation' around him, else you be whipped within an inch or your life, or worse." Xingchen cares not for meeting sect leaders or playing at niceties when they often ignore the needs of the people within their jurisdictions. And if Jiang Cheng cares more for hunting down demonic cultivators than lending a hand where it's needed, then Xingchen wants nothing to do with him, either.

Yet, right here, Jiang Cheng almost feels less like a sect leader and more like...like just a man.

(A man who lost everything once, who knows not the priceless gift nestled within. Maybe Xingchen's judgment has been unfair in the past.)

So he continues to eat and keeps all this inside for a few moments.]

We've all been busy with our own lives. Please do not despair.

[How he's been, though? Well. Xingchen has certainly been better, but he's already kind of lost it on Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian and he has no intention of dragging another person into his personal failings.]

I've been as well as to be expected. I hope you have been, as well.