Oh no. ( His expression shifts as though Lan Wangji has offered him up something rancid. ) I think my purpose can stay middling, actually. My purpose can be moonlit rooftops and wine bottles and green fields, Master Lan, it can be the line of a river and the chatter of a market and the warmth of a body. I don't need, nor particularly want to be moved by anything more.

( He is so very tired of all of that. Most of his life has been spinning plates. If he's to keep going he wants only to find his peace in simplicity. Give him the open sky and the love of his life and his strange mismatched family.

But, because he can't help needling further, he eyes the knife and then Lan Wangji. )

Can I watch? I didn't realise I was speaking to an expert.