Chapter Text
Rumour had it that Hanguang-jun moved heaven and earth to have a child be accepted into the Gusu Lan clan. It was mere hearsay but speculations spread to lands as far as the west, beyond even the hills once inhabited by the Qishan Wen sect.
For a few years nobody saw him after the siege of the Burial Mounds. It was a matter of great shame, the tea houses down in Caiyi would tell their guests, how Lan Wangji had stood up to elders from his own sect — all to protect the wicked Yiling Laozu who later died anyway. Some refused to believe the gossip for good reason. How could someone who possessed such noble integrity as Hanguang-jun do that?
(Thirty-three lashes.)
Surely, rumours were not to be believed in.
(One for each elder injured by Bichen’s blade.)
The day Lan Wangji returned to Cloud Recesses with a small bundle in his arms, his face was contorted with agony. Tears dried on his once jade-like skin. Nobody had noticed when he headed to Yiling in the night.
“You were forbidden from leaving the mountain,” Lan Qiren said to his nephew kneeling in the pavilion yet again. Lan Wangji held an unconscious child to his chest, his pristine cloud-patterned robes red where the fabric strained against his back the way it did the previous time he was here.
The Grandmaster’s fury knew no bounds. He had never expected to be in this position — let alone on four separate occasions that were all related to the unruly boy whose laughter once echoed in these halls.
(Even in death, Wei Wuxian found a way to fuel Lan Qiren’s anger.)
At this point, the old man had given up. “Wangji, what do you plan to do with the boy?”
“He will be my son,” Lan Wangji gave a winded reply. His grip around the child tightened as Lan Qiren walked right up to him and bent down on one knee. It did not go unnoticed.
After all that had happened, it was natural for Lan Wangji to be on edge — but he seemed exceptionally protective of the little life in his arms. Almost as if it were his own child.
Lan Qiren’s eyes widened at the possibility. “Is he yours?”
“He will be my son,” Lan Wangji simply repeated, his tone a little more insistent, gaze fixed upon the spot where his uncle’s knee rested. Fatigue was about to overcome him.
Seeing his younger nephew in such a state made Lan Qiren’s heart ache, but he too was bound by duty. All his life he had practiced and preached the Gusu Lan sect’s principles — he could not go soft on this matter. It did not just concern the clan, hundreds of questions would be thrown their way once people knew of the child’s existence. Thousands of fingers would point at them and demand to know who the righteous Hanguang-jun’s successor was. Although gossip was not allowed in Cloud Recesses, it would not stop the others from questioning the boy’s origins.
“I need to know who he is, Wangji,” Lan Qiren pressed, “I cannot let him into the family unless I know the truth.”
Breath trembling, Lan Wangji gasped, “He has no one left in this world.”
“At least tell me where you found him.”
There was no reply, but the silence was enough of an answer. News of the Yiling Laozu’s passing had spread throughout the cultivation world faster than the fires that ravaged the Burial Mounds — Lan Qiren would know, he had led the Gusu Lan sect into the siege after Lan Xichen stepped back from partaking in such a thing.
So he asked, “Is he Wei Ying’s?”
Lan Wangji remained quiet. His expression was one of pure steel, and Lan Qiren knew that he intended to keep the child no matter what.
Getting back up on his feet, the old man could not help but be reminded of his brother when he brought Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen’s mother to Cloud Recesses. “Very well, the boy can stay,” he said, “however when he wakes up, you must ask him whether he wishes to stay or not. You cannot keep him here against his will.”
Lan Wangji tried to bow, but a cry escaped his mouth as the wounds on his back opened up once again. “Wangji is grateful to shufu,” he muttered before he nearly collapsed in pain.
Footsteps on the wood resounded as disciples hurried in from all directions. Wen Yuan was taken away, and Lan Wangji did not see him until a month later.