Oh, no, we were never such close friends... by the time he defected to the Burial Mounds, I think he was resigned to losing those he cared about, and I don't think I counted among those.

[ not dying, no — he believes wei wuxian's abandonment issues to have risen earlier, from having to give up his family, having to give up what he'd once thought his life to be. jiang cheng didn't stand by his side; jiang yanli died; even lan wangji had not taken his side until it had been far too late. the wens had marched off to slaughter, and at the end of it all, he'd been entirely alone.

sometimes, huaisang wonders if that was why he fell — not because of his guilt, not because the entire cultivation world would not have let him live, but because he couldn't face a life in which he was completely alone. ]