Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Back in the days where the Five Great Sects were really just starting to be called that, there was a small sect with one immensely powerful secret technique—artefact—combination of both. It wasn’t that it couldn’t be duplicated, it was just that it wasn’t needed. The Sect Leader had a mirror that could spy on anyone.

And he used it to steal other Sect’s secret techniques. And that is the thing with secret techniques no one was going to reveal their own method to prove that the outwardly identical Messenger Butterfly was in fact identical. But the Sect Leader got greedy and learned how to enter other’s treasure rooms and stole from them, and that was how he was caught.

The Five Great Sects at that time decided that the mirror could be used for good, for example in times of war. For in those days, wars were often fought against a common enemy. The artefact was split into five components and each given to one of the Great Sects, while all other records were burned and everyone forgot about it.

Lan XiChen had only heard of it when he was going over the extent of the fire damage and the elders had expressed their relief that the Wens had not gotten the Lan portion of the artefact. He could see from his seat that Jiang WanYin was learning what Yao-Zongzhu was talking about in that moment as one of his elders whispered in his ear and more and more sparks seemed to fly from the young sect leader.

It was a good thing that Lan WangJi had not gone to that Yearly Discussion Conference, for it was somehow Yao-Zongzhu who had come into possession of the Wen portion of the artefact and he was suggesting that they spy on Wei WuXian in the Burial Mounds.

It was a serious thing to consider, and the issue wouldn’t be brought up again until the end of the Discussion Conference, to give the sects time to discuss with their people about whether they wanted to take that step or not.

The Lans liked to meditate on an issue individually before coming together to discuss it, so Lan XiChen first spoke to others when he got together with his sworn brothers.

‟WangJi was in Yiling wasn’t he?” asked Nie MingJue.

‟Yes, before Spring Festival,” confirmed Lan XiChen.

‟Did he tell you anything about the situation?” question ChiFeng-Zun.

‟Well, he said it wasn’t what we were led to believe.”

Jin GuangYao added, ‟But remember you said he wanted to bring someone back to Cloud Recesses, I still hold that it must be Wei-Gongzi.”

‟Yes,” Lan XiChen admitted, ‟I, too, believe that my brother has feelings for Wei-Gongzi.”

‟But did he give you any details?” pushed the Nie Sect leader.

‟If he did, could he be trusted?” added LianFang-Zun.

Both Lan XiChen and Nie MingJue looked at Jin GuangYao like he was crazy. He bowed his head and demurred. ‟I just mean that it isn’t a lie if you don’t divulge all the details and he did go and request punishment from Lan-Xiansheng.”

Lan XiChen nodded. ‟I had confronted him about his feelings for Wei-Gongzi right before he had gone to Shufu.”

‟See, he is a biased opinion,” said Jin GuangYao.

‟And we aren’t?” snorted ChiFeng-Zun, ‟We still don’t know all the details from Qiongqi Pass, HuaiSang speaks positively of Wei-Gongzi’s moral compass he insists that if Wei-Gongzi freed Wens then the conditions at Qiongqi could not be as the Jin described.”

‟I said this to WangJi as well, but we need to remember that demonic cultivation distorts the mind,” returned Lan XiChen.

‟But to spy? Qinghe has found no evidence that Wei-Gongzi is actually venturing further then Yiling proper, the rumours are just rumours.”

Jin GuangYao hummed. ‟But that is it, people are scared, we don’t know what Wei-Gongzi is doing in the Burial Mounds, if the people there are still living or not. And we don’t know if what the rumours say are true or not. This method is just there to allay our fears, to dispel rumours. Wei-Gongzi is hold up in the Burial Mounds with dangerous Wen criminals after all, who knows what they are planning and that uncertainty scares people.”

‟The use of demonic cultivation is deplorable, and I do not wish for a Wen-dog to go free. As much as I detest this spying; I can see it being the most reasonable solution compared to this prolonged uncertainty,” said ChiFeng-Zun.

Lan XiChen’s lips twitched like they were about to speak but he held himself back. Internally Lan XiChen hemmed and hawed over the issue—his whole being screamed at him that such an under handed spying technique was wrong.

Jin GuangYao repeated, ‟People are scared, besides having all those Wen criminals free, no one before has entered the Burial Mounds and come back out alive. Even as Da-Ge said, and all the rumours about Wei-Gongzi are not correct, with this method we could safely examine the Burial Mounds and what it has done to those Wens and Wei-Gongzi, we already know that they helped to give birth to the Ghost General.”

‟We’ll only see the Burial Mounds from Wei-Gongzi’s perspective, unless you have something of those Wens you can use as a focuser,” reminded Nie MingJue.

‟Blood would be the best method, do the Jiangs even have something suitable to even do this method?” asked Lan XiChen.

‟It is another reason to have all this time to make a decision,” said Jin GuangYao.

They kept going over the issue of using the artefact and the other current issues and then when it was clear that Nie MingJue’s anger spurred from some argument that Lan XiChen couldn’t remember and was focused solely on Jin GuangYao wouldn’t abate they separated. Lan XiChen walked back to the area where GusuLan was staying, to rehash everything again with his own people, at least they would be of a closer mind to Lan XiChen then his sworn brothers.

The annual Discussion Conference that year was hosted by the BalingOuyang Sect and the rooms given over to the Jiang contingent had been between where Lan XiChen had been speaking with his sworn brothers and where the Lans were staying. He didn’t mean to overhear, and Lan XiChen would take the proper punishment when he got back to Cloud Recesses. But despite knowing it was against their precepts he lingered and listened as the Jiang siblings poured out their stress to one another.

‟Will they ever just leave him alone, Jie? He made me break ties with him, he is no longer part of our Sect, he has nothing to do with the cultivation world anymore, he just stays on that cursed mountain farming!”

‟He used Wen QiongLin to kill those guards at Qiongqi Pass and stole those war criminals, A-Cheng that is why people won’t let it go.”

Jiang Cheng snorted. ‟The people I saw there didn’t look like criminals and Wen Ning wasn’t roaming about, Wei WuXian said he was trying to return his spiritual consciousness or something.”

There was a pause and then Jiang YanLi spoke up, ‟If we allow this to happen what are the chances that everyone will see A-Xian as we see him?”

There was another snort. ‟I just walked up the Burial Mounds nothing attacked and when I got to the top all I could see were old farmers and Wei WuXian was arguing with Wen Qing about radishes.”

Jiang YanLi hummed. ‟Radishes are A-Xian’s least favourite, but they are hardy and can grow in poor soil. You visited about a year ago after the last Discussion Conference, I would assume that for the past year A-Xian has been doing his level best to improve the soil of the Burial Mounds so they could grow something other than radishes.”

‟Do you think that would actually take him a year?” asked Jiang Cheng.

‟I guess it depends on how bad the soil is. But think about it A-Cheng, Yao-Zongzhu and the rest they see A-Xian as this horrible person. They want to spy on him so that the sects that are hesitant will finally relent and help to siege the Burial Mounds—”

‟We already know that Jie!”

‟—but what if they see old farmers and A-Xian complaining about how much he hates radishes?”

There was a pause, then Jiang Cheng said, ‟You think we should agree?”

‟Do we think A-Xian has actually changed enough that he is out there killing people and desecrating graves or that he’s sitting on that mountain trying to make an array or talisman that would improve the soil so they could grow something other than radishes?”

It was silent once more then Jiang Cheng admitted, ‟Radishes. All right A-Jie, the Jiang’s will agree, will the Jins?”

Silence reigned once more and Lan XiChen almost left but then Jiang YanLi said, ‟I don’t think this was wholly Yao-Zongzhu’s idea. I think Gongdie is the one that wanted this to happen, and he convinced Yao-Zongzhu to bring it to the floor so if the proposal went over poorly than it wouldn’t be associated with the Jin.”

There was the sound of sparks crackling in the air. ‟Well, then we do this. They’ll be expecting an evil Wei WuXian and that idiot will show him just how stupid a clever person can be.”

Lan XiChen brought back what he had discussed with his sworn brothers to the Lans, while keeping in mind what he had heard from the Jiang siblings. When it came time for the issue to be discussed it was decided that the artefact would be used.

The glass of the artefact was housed at Koi Tower and was arguably the most fragile of the five components. A date about three months later was decided on, as it gave people time to prepare and travel. While the glass was the most fragile the frame was coming from Yunmeng and the stand from Qinghe, safely transporting those components would need time. The Lans like the W—Yaos had a book with the needed spell work and would be meant to only arrive on the day before the showing was set to take place so that no one could use the artefact before the agreed upon time and for the agreed upon purpose.

Without saying a word, the Lans all agreed to not mention the artefact to Lan WangJi, they all silently admitted that the Second Jade was the better Lan and assigned themselves the appropriate punishment.

Summer grew into early autumn, the air still warm and the weather oscillating between too hot for too long and pleasant, with the occasional chilly day when Lan XiChen called his brother into his office.

‟Xiongzhang.”

‟WangJi, I have a night hunt for you, it is a bit far in old Qishan territory,” said Lan XiChen and he handed over the request letter.

Lan WangJi took the letter and scanned it and nodded then he bowed and turned to leave.

‟WangJi, you can take your time with this, if you hear rumours of more night hunts feel free to pursue them. I need to go to Koi Tower, there is an extension of the Discussion Conference that I need to go to.”

‟Should I not stay and take over your duties?” asked Lan WangJi.

‟A couple of the elders expressed not wanting to make the trip in the heat, they can mind the sect, I know you prefer to be out there night hunting,” returned his brother.

The younger brother nodded then he hesitated and asked, ‟Has something happened to Jin-Shao-Furen?”

Lan XiChen tilted his head in confusion. ‟Why do you ask?”

‟This year’s Discussion Conference was in Baling, but you are going to Lanling now.”

There was a pause and then Lan XiChen waved it off. ‟Just better suited for the extension of the talks.”

It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t really a satisfying answer, luckily Lan XiChen knew his brother and knew that he wouldn’t pry.

‟And Jin-Shao-Furen? How is she?”

‟A-Yao says she is glowing with her pregnancy, she is happy and healthy.”

Lan WangJi hummed and then added, ‟Perhaps I should go with you.”

Words that Lan XiChen never really expected to hear from his brother that hated politics, and crowds, and people. ‟You dislike Discussion Conferences; this isn’t one that requires your presence. Is there a reason you think you should attend this? Something with Jin-Shao-Furen?”

‟I believe that Wei Ying should be allowed to attend Jin-Shao-Furen’s child’s One-Month Celebration, he has not been causing trouble, he should be given the chance to prove his character.”

A stone sunk in Lan XiChen’s gut, heavy with guilt, for in a few days he would be taking a tome from the Forbidden Library and flying it to Koi Tower where they would be taking the chance to prove his character of his own volition from Wei WuXian. But at the same time Jin GuangYao’s voice reminded him that his brother could be blinded by love.

Lan XiChen took a deep, calming breath and then said, ‟The truth is that Wei-Gongzi’s conduct is of paramount importance for this discussion. But I feel that your presence at this conference will only upset you, and anything you say in Wei-Gongzi’s favour may be seen as biased. It is the same reason that Jiang-Zongzhu rarely speaks for Wei-Gongzi.”

The last part made Lan WangJi frown.

‟I’ll bring up the matter for you, if it looks like the reattends body agrees with you then it is only natural as the once Head Disciple of YunmengJiang that he attend the celebration. If they think he needs to prove himself reformed the celebration is a great opportunity.”

‟Thank you Xiongzhang.”

The guilt gnawed at Lan XiChen; he’d have to punish himself again for the whole mess. ‟The conference is in about a week, that night hunt request just recently arrived as I was unsure of how long it would take for you to complete I felt best to tell you now that I was leaving. But like I said take your time, at most the conference should take a week, I can give you news on Wei-Gongzi when I return. Or if you decide to do more night hunting or take your time with this one then I’ll give you news when you return.”

It felt like lying, it was true that Lan XiChen didn’t know how long it would take his brother to complete, but he done the maths and if Lan WangJi, left immediately, flew to the place of the night hunt, then immediately turned around and returned, he would still arrive back at Cloud Recesses after they had left for Koi Tower.

‟I understand, thank you Xiongzhang. I will leave in the morning.”

‟Very well, don’t forget to tell Shufu before you leave, and good luck.”

‟I will and good luck to you as well… Wei Ying and the Wens it is not what people have been saying about him.”

‟I’ll keep that in mind. A lot of people are scared right now, no one before Wei-Gongzi had ever gone into the Burial Mounds like that, a person with that sort of power and then mentality to even think to do it is a scary prospect for those who have never truly met Wei-Gongzi.”

Lan WangJi considered the words and then nodded. ‟I will go and prepare.”

Lan XiChen watched his brother go and hoped that he and the Jiang siblings were correct about Wei WuXian so his rising guilt could be turned from the act of spy to using the result to make his brother happy.     

Chapter Text

The picture cleared up to show Wei WuXian was seated at a table at a restaurant sitting across from him was surprisingly Lan WangJi and seated on the bench on the side between the two men was a toddler.

The toddler was seated closer to Lan WangJi and was happily eating he said something that no one could catch. And Lan WangJi said, “No talking while eating.”

The little boy nodded and shut his mouth and then he reached towards the centre of the table and made to grab the serving spoon for the bowl of rice.

“No, you should not eat more than three bowls at a meal.”

Tears began to well in the big grey eyes and the lower lip of the toddler began to wobble. He turned to look at Wei WuXian and began to scoot across the bench closer to Wei WuXian. “A-Die!”

“Lan Zhan don’t be so cruel; he rarely gets such a treat let him have more than three bowls.”

“He’ll get a stomach-ache.”

“Nonsense,” replied Wei WuXian and he took up his unused spoon and scooped out a bit of his own bright red rice. He held it out to the toddler. “Here A-Yuan you can have some of mine, if you’re helping me finishes my three bowls than Lan Zhan can’t complain.”

The boy, A-Yuan, started to shake his head as more tears fell at the sight of the spoonful of fiery red rice. “Oh, don’t cry! Spice is delicious! You’ll like it if you try it.”

“Wei Ying he is too young, it is too spicy.”

Wei WuXian put down the spoon and then reached over for a jar, he then poured a glass of milk and then he re-picked up the spoon of rice. In the meantime, A-Yuan had scootched over to the centre of the bench and was watching Wei WuXian wearily. Wei WuXian moved his hands forward, spoon in one and glass of milk in the other, to feed the boy.

“Here, if you think it is too spicy you can drink the milk and that will clear up all the spice in your mouth,” said Wei WuXian. The boy scooted over closer to Lan WangJi. “Come on A-Yuan you’ll like it, if you try.”

A-Yuan turns to Lan WangJi. “A-Die!”

“Hey! A-Yuan you can’t call us both ‘A-Die’!” said Wei WuXian.

At the same time Lan WangJi said, “Wei Ying he does not want to try your rice.”

“He’s still a growing boy, you should let him have more.”

“If he takes a rest from eating for a moment and then still feels hungry then I’ll allow it.”

“Oh! You’ll allow—“

A-Yuan looked at Lan WangJi and proclaimed in an exasperated tone of children everywhere thinking that the adults were being silly, “A-Die!” And then he looked over to Wei WuXian and said in the same tone, “A-Niang!”

There was a pause where both Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi froze and looked at little A-Yuan. Then Wei WuXian started laughing, he held up the glass of milk and then said, “I guess it is true what they say the father has the money, and I am just too poor, but I have the milk, so I am the mother.”

“Mn, you gave birth to him,” said Lan WangJi his tone as serious as always but there was a glint in his eyes one of mirth that perhaps only Wei WuXian and Lan XiChen would have been able to recognise for what it was.

Wei WuXian laughed harder. “I did, I did!” A mischievous twinkle shined in his mercurial eyes. “Er-Gege likes me round with his child.”

“I do.”

There was a beat and then a second one and then Wei WuXian collapsed on his bench, “Lan Zhan save me some face!”

Jiang YanLi was up from her seat and across the room until she was standing before Lan XiChen and Lan QiRen. The latter looked pale his eyes staring at the vision of Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian, and A-Yuan—Lan Yuan?—Wei Yuan? He didn’t even turn to look at the heavily pregnant Jin-Shao-Furen, that no one had realised could move that fast.

“I believe we need to discuss these new developments Lan-Zongzhu,” stated Jiang YanLi.

Lan XiChen nodded, and Lan QiRen did as well. However, Su MinShan who was sitting nearby with his own sect said, “What does Jin-Shao-Furen have to do with the Yiling-Laozu?”

Jiang YanLi looked back at the picture of the small family chatting in the restaurant. “I am not here as Jin-Shao-Furen, but as Jiang YanLi eldest of Jiang FengMian and Yu ZiYuan. By the looks of young Lan Yuan—“

Lan QiRen swayed in his seat.

“—he was possibly born or at least conceived—“

Lan QiRen went whiter than the milk Lan Yuan was drinking.

“—before my parents died. I am therefore here in their place as a representative of YunmengJiang to facilitate a marriage agreement between YunmengJiang and GusuLan and restore the honour HanGuang-Jun took from Wei WuXian when they had children out of wedlock.”

There was a pause where Lan XiChen made sure that his uncle was still in his seat and relatively all right. “I cannot see Wangji being so dishonourable, but you are correct, we should rectify this immediately, Jiang-Zongzhu please join us.”

“XiChen you cannot be serious,” said Lan QiRen finally tearing his eyes away from the scene of the happy little family.

“Do you want your grandnephew and what other children that they might have to live with the stigma of ‘bastard’ in the Burial Mounds of all places?” demanded Jiang YanLi.

Lan QiRen swayed again and shook his head; he didn’t want that at all. A Jin servant came and brought cushions for the two Jiang siblings to sit across from the Lans. Some of the Sects were commenting on them and others were still watching the projections.

“I feel we must have this wrong, WangJi and Wei-Gongzi must have eloped,” said Lan XiChen.

“Wei WuXian took WangJi’s ribbon at the QishanWen Discussion Conference Archery Competition!” exclaimed Lan QiRen his eyes looked a little wild.

Lan XiChen looked back over to where Wei WuXian was telling a story that had Lan Yuan laughing and Lan WangJi looking at them fondly. “Yes, Lan Yuan looks to be about that age, so they eloped around the time of the QishanWen Discussion Conference Archery Competition and had little Lan Yuan mid-war…?”

“Wei WuXian was missing for three months at the beginning of the war,” admitted Jiang Cheng.

It was too much and Lan QiRen fainted, his head hitting the table with a thunk.

“It does not matter they will have a proper wedding now,” said Jiang YanLi and she left no room for argument. And the three of them started talking about the marriage agreement between the Lan and Jiang.

Around the room most people had stopped paying attention to the actual conversation playing out at a distant restaurant and were instead gossiping about how HanGuang-Jun a pillar of light and righteousness had gotten the Yiling-Laozu pregnant out of wedlock. Some scholars were debating how the pregnancy could have come about. Perhaps it was because resentful energy was yin energy, and it was a feminine energy as well. Some of the people were bored out of their minds they didn’t care to watch other people’s families. These people would ask if they could move on and stop watching the spectacle. And then someone would reply, “The Yiling-Laozu will have to go back to the Burial Mounds.” And so, they kept the array playing in the background.

“Look! They are leaving the restaurant!” called someone and most of the conversations ceased and everyone turned back to watch.

“Did you need anything before you go back?” asked Lan WangJi.

A-Yuan who was in Wei WuXian’s arms exclaimed, “Sword! Sword! Fly us back like last time A-Die!”

“Oh no, we cannot fly this time A-Yuan we promised to buy a big bag of rice and lots of vegetables. We cannot fit all the food and the three of us on Bichen, though it is a mighty sword,” said Wei WuXian.

The toddler deflated a bit and then Lan WangJi said, “We could go for a short flight first or after we bring the food back.”

“Now! Now!” crowed A-Yuan.

Wei WuXian pulled the boy away and held him out to Lan WangJi. “All right, you two go flying and I’ll start on the shopping.”

“No! A-Niang you have to come too!” begged A-Yuan. Wei WuXian sighed and shook his head.

“Come Wei Ying,” added Lan WangJi.

There was a louder sigh and then Wei WuXian said, “All right.” And he pulled the toddler back into his arms.

They walked to a safe place to mount a sword and there was a bit of hesitation as they figured out logistics. In the end Wei WuXian mounted the sword in front of Lan WangJi facing him so that A-Yuan was protectively sandwiched between them.

Slowly, Bichen rose into the air and Wei WuXian slowly buried his face in the crook of Lan WangJi’s neck, and Lan WangJi’s arms tightened around Wei WuXian’s waist.

A-Yuan was peeking out from between the two men pointing at this and that. Lan WangJi would look and hum, but Wei WuXian would just say things like, “That’s nice A-Yuan.” And not look up from Lan WangJi’s shoulder.

“Wei Ying are you all right?”

“Yeah, I… uhh… you see… that is well before the war really kicked off, you know? I was supposed to meet Jiang Cheng at this inn in Yiling… but uh… Wen Chao found me first…” Lan WangJi’s hand tightened on Wei WuXian’s waist a bit, Wei WuXian swallowed and kept talking, “and he flew me to the Burial Mounds and dropped me in.” Wei WuXian laughed a nervous and self-deprecating laugh then he carried on trying to add a bit of his usual cheer, “I mean, Lan Zhan it is just Yiling if you flew me over Lotus Pier or even Cloud Recesses I’m sure that I would love it! Find it romantic even!” Wei WuXian’s voice got softer, “just not here in Yiling, where—“ Wei WuXian sort of choked on his words.

Lan WangJi finished for him, “Where Wen Chao dropped you into the Burial Mounds without your golden core.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement and Wei WuXian chuckled, “Quick as always Lan Zhan, Yeah… that.”

“Not quick enough to save Wei Ying.”

Whatever reply that Wei WuXian gave was drowned out by the cries of surprise in Koi Tower—Wei WuXian didn’t have a golden core!

“It makes sense, Wei-Xiong loved his sword, and we all know that Wen Chao’s method of fighting was to have Wen ZhuLiu melt a person’s core first,” said Nie HuaiSang.

Nie MingJue followed by his brother moved over to where the Jiangs and Lan were discussing marriage. There were tears making silent rivers down Jiang YanLi’s cheeks, Jiang WanYin looked like he too was about to cry, and Lan XiChen was struck mute.

“Did you know about this?” asked Nie MingJue.

Lan XiChen recovered first he shook his head. “No, I didn’t, but now that it has been plainly said I’m surprised we had not realised. WangJi said that when they found Wei-Gongzi he was torturing Wen Chao and Wen ZhuLiu. And WangJi also said that the situation at the Burial Mounds wasn’t what Jin-Zongzhu said it was.”

“Why didn’t you listen to him!” burst out Jiang Cheng as he finally got over his shock. A couple people turned to look in Jiang Cheng’s direction but then went right back to gossiping about Wei WuXian the coreless mother to Lan WangJi’s children.

“A-Yao said that WangJi was blinded by his love for Wei-Gongzi…” replied Lan XiChen.   

“So, you knew about this XiChen, and you said nothing?” asked Nie MingJue his eyes narrowed a bit, but he couldn’t really stay angry at Lan XiChen, even about some secret marriage between Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian.

Lan XiChen shook his head. “I knew that WangJi loved Wei-Gongzi, I did not know that Wei-Gongzi returned his feelings and that my brother was able to hide all this from me.” He hated himself a bit for the way that the knowledge that his little brother had been keeping things from him eased the guilt that had been gnawing away at him, since before Lan WangJi left for his night hunt.

“Well, if you didn’t listen to him when he told you,” returned Jiang Cheng.

The Lan Sect Leader looked gutted at the words and Nie MingJue narrowed his eyes at the young Jiang Sect Leader. “Didn’t you visit the Burial Mounds? You had that fight with Wei WuXian, did you know?”

“Wei WuXian has always been disgusting when it comes to HanGuang-Jun, but I can’t read HanGuang-Jun like Lan-Zongzhu and Wei WuXian can, so I didn’t know it had gone this far. If this all started when my parents were alive I could see my mother not being happy about it,” replied Jiang Cheng.

“But do you know what kind of people are in the Burial Mounds?” insisted Nie MingJue.

Jiang Cheng sighed then he dropped his voice so he couldn’t be overheard by someone not at the table. “I said that the people in the Burial Mounds were nobody just a bunch of old people and farmers. No one wanted to listen.”

“We are listening now,” said Lan XiChen.

There was another sigh, that one long and suffering. “After Lotus Pier… Wen Ning helped Wei WuXian and I escape, and he brought us to his sister Wen Qing who is a very good doctor and she patched us up. She must have been the one that helped Wei WuXian give birth, and that was why when she came looking for her brother Wei WuXian decided to help them.

“When I went to the Burial Mound, Wei WuXian and Wen Qing were arguing about planting radishes, and I saw that child… Lan Yuan, I just had assumed that it was a Wen child—”

“If he was a Wen child wouldn’t that have meant that he was also in the Labour Camps?” said Nie HuaiSang.

Everyone at the table froze and they all turned to watch again. The little family were on the ground and walking through Yiling. Both Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan had grey eyes, the shape of them different though. Lan Yuan’s eyes were also not the same shape as Lan WangJi’s, but Lan Yuan’s nose looked like Lan WangJi’s.

Lan XiChen also noticed that it looked like Jin GuangYao wanted to be talking to them, but he was being held back by his father, and Lan XiChen suddenly wanted to hear Jin GuangYao explain the events of Qiongqi Pass again.

“Lan-Zongzhu, If A-Yuan is in fact a Wen and not a Lan in blood, how do you see it changing these negotiations?” asked Jiang YanLi.

The aforementioned turned away from where he had been watching the Jin Sect Leader and Jin GuangYao and looked back at Jin-Shao-Furen. If that child was a Wen then like Nie HuaiSang had said he had spent some of his short years in a Labour Camp— “It changes nothing he is clearly the son of our brothers.”

“Lan Yuan,” said Nie HuaiSang as if confirming the child’s identity, “doesn’t call either Wei-Xiong or WangJi-Xiong as Yifu or the like.”

“Yes,” said Lan XiChen, “you are correct HuaiSang. Jiang-Zongzhu please finish your story.”

“You remember how the Jins wanted to know that the fierce corpse of Wen Ning had been put down. When I was there Wei WuXian had Wen Ning’s corpse under all these talismans and he wanted to return his spiritual consciousness. I got angry I knew if he did it that the other sects wouldn’t let it go, and… I wouldn’t be able to protect him. I returned to report on the farming but when that did not seem to have any effect I went back to Wei WuXian, and we fought and he defected.”

“Oof! Hey, Lan Zhan how pregnant do I look right now?”

Everyone in the room looked over to where they could see the family in Yiling. Wei WuXian was holding a large sack of rice with both arms in front of him and the way he was walking towards Lan WangJi did remind people of the gentle and careful steps Jiang YanLi had taken when she had first come into the room.

Lan WangJi hummed and slipped the handle of a vegetable basket over his arm and put a hand on Wei WuXian’s lower back as if to help support him. As Jin ZiXuan had done when he walked into the room with his wife earlier.

Jiang YanLi turned back to Lan XiChen. “I believe we have negotiations to finish.”

“Yes, yes we do,” replied Lan XiChen, “We accept the patent on the Spirit Attraction Flags that were created by Wei WuXian and held by YunmengJiang sect, would YunmengJiang be interested in any musical cultivation scores?”

They went back to negotiating and Nie HuaiSang sat down in the seat that had been set for some of the Lan elders who hadn’t come to Koi Tower, so they could stay back, and watch Cloud Recesses and Lan WangJi could go on the night hunt. They were distracted by a shout from someone in the room, “I see movement! Is that a fierce corpse?”!

Everyone turned back to the screen. They could see the back of Wei WuXian, Lan WangJi, and Lan Yuan walking up the dusty paths of the barren mountain, the ground was as grey as the sky and the trees were bone-limbs beckoning the living to linger, hide, die, and then stay. The moving figure that could be just seen over the horizon was equally grey and seemed to bob in and out of view. With less and less bobbing as the little family got on a level with the figure.

It wasn’t a fierce corpse, it was instead a man, grey with dust, a hoe in hand and the bobbing had been the movement of him bending over as he struck the ground and then pulled the soil back to create a furrow.

“Hello Si-Shu!” called Wei WuXian.

The man stopped and looked over at them he took in the heavy bag of rice in Wei WuXian’s arms, the heavily laden baskets in Lan WangJi’s hands, and even the small basket of eggs in A-Yuan’s hands.

“Wei-Gongzi, Lan-Er-Gongzi, A-Yuan, I see you have been shopping, it looks like we will have more than radishes for dinner tonight.”

“A-Die took A-Niang and me flying!” exclaimed A-Yuan.

The man in the field laughed and leaned on the handle of his hoe. “Oh, he did, did he? Did you have fun?”

“Yes!” scream the little boy.

Si-Shu smiled and then Lan WangJi shifted around, and a small bag dropped to the ground. “We bought more seeds.”

The man looked at the seed bag and then up at Lan WangJi he stopped leaning and bowed. “Thank you Lan-Er-Gongzi,”  he said and then his eyes flicked to Wei WuXian and he added with a smirk, “for helping out your poor wife’s old family.”

Wei WuXian squawked. “Hey! I help too! And who are you calling ‘poor wife’?”

The man just laughed. Before anything else could be said on the subject there was a call from further away, “Wei WuXian!” the tone of voice was not unlike that which Jiang Cheng often used when addressing his brother.

Wen Qing came stalking towards them, the white of her Wen robes had gone grey and the red had faded to a pink, but she still looked formidable and dangerous, the true leader of the Wen remnants. “You’re late.”

“A-Die took us flying!” proclaimed A-Yuan again.

Wei WuXian chuckled nervously, “Yes, Lan Zhan did.”

Wen Qing glared. “I see.”

“Come on Qing-Jie don’t be like that Lan Zhan is a peerless cultivator he could carry ten A-Yuans plus two on his sword safely! And look I didn’t spend any of the money you gave me Lan Zhan bought all this food for us!”

“HanGuang-Jun, we thank you for taking such good care of your poor wife’s family,” replied Wen Qing with a bow.

Wei WuXian squawked, “I’m not a poor wife!”

“A-Niang is Poor-Gege,” said A-Yuan sagely.

There was another squawk from Wei WuXian and a hum of agreement from Lan WangJi.

“Come, Lan Zhan I’ll walk with you back down the mountain, you probably need to get home to Cloud Recesses, don’t you?”

“No.”

“No?” asked Wei WuXian as they talked other came up and started taking the food stuffs to the kitchen area.

“Xiongzhang is away for a few days, and I will not be expected to return for that time. I can stay.”

“Really?” said Wei WuXian he smiled to brightly that some of the inherent gloom of the Burial Mounds dissipated.

“Well, HanGuang-Jun as the husband of our poor patriarch I insist that you stay for dinner and not go back into town,” said Wen Qing.

Lan WangJi hesitated, like he didn’t want to do that and take a portion of their meal from them. But A-Yuan crowed, “A-Die stay! I want to sleep with A-Niang and A-Die tonight!”

“Wah! A-Yuan don’t you want to stay in Granny’s hut?”

“No! I want to stay with A-Niang and A-Die,” the toddler pouted.

“I don’t think that my bed is big enough for three,” said Wei WuXian.

“It is! It is!” A-Yuan than grabbed Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian’s hands and started to tug them to the Demon Slaughtering Cave to prove his point.

The people in Koi Tower seemed less concerned about what Wei WuXian, Lan WangJi, and Lan Yuan were doing then what they could see of the settlement as the toddler pulled the men through it. And it was a settlement made of rough houses surrounded by pitiful looking farm fields. The people in the settlement would pause and smile at the sight that the three made. They all smiled and laughed and made comments but they also all looked tired and frail. There was a gauntness to the people, and they moved with the same arthritic gait that the tree displayed as they rattled in the wind. But the people were all alive—there wasn’t a fierce corpse in sight, which was strange for they were in the Burial Mounds.

The onlookers were getting annoyed by the lack of anything demonic but they perked up again when the three entered the Demon Slaughtering Cave and everyone saw the massive front room with various arrays painted on the stone and a large one taking up most of the floor. Lan WangJi paused in just simply following as he was pulled and looked at it.

“Did I not have it finished the last time you were here?” asked Wei WuXian and when Lan WangJi replied in the negative Wei WuXian started talking about how the array could be activated and it would seal the cave from the denizens of the Burial Mounds.

Lan WangJi asked about a compass that Wei WuXian had been making and Wei WuXian started talking about that as Lan Yuan pulled them in the back of the cave. People started taking notes on what Wei WuXian was saying.

Jiang Cheng growled and drew everyone’s attention to him, “Those are Wei WuXian’s inventions and as he clearly is married to HanGuang-Jun they belong to GusuLan Sect. There will be no imitations.” With the last sentence Jiang Cheng crackled with electricity and the people hastily writing down Wei WuXian’s theories put down their brushes.

Satisfied, the Jiang Sect Leader turned back to the Lan Sect Leader, “I remember Wei WuXian talking about that compass in relation to water ghouls, this idea pre-dates his marriage, YunmengJiang would like it.”

“We agreed that A-Xian would retain all rights to his inventions and GusuLan cannot pressure him into any deal, and neither should the Jiang,” reminded Jiang YanLi.

Lan XiChen inclined his head, “Of course, but GusuLan understands YunmengJiang’s position and if Wei-Gongzi is amicable the compass will not come to us in the marriage.”

“See it is big enough!” called Lan Yuan and he drew the attention of the Jiangs and Lans briefly.

The little boy was laying width wise on a stone that looked to have straw bedding and a few threadbare blankets. His arms were stretched over his head and his little feet and his hands wiggled over the edges on either side. It looked a bit smaller than a couch bed in width and wouldn’t really fit three people.

“And A-Niang’s bed is the second comfiest!” said Lan Yuan and he shifted on the straw as if to prove his point.

Wei WuXian amended, “He’s only slept here and with Granny and of course we gave Granny the best bed.”

Jiang Cheng and Jiang YanLi looked back at Lan XiChen. “We have bigger and better beds at Cloud Recesses, I don’t think it needs to be considered for the negotiations.”

The afternoon wore on with the scenes playing out in the Burial Mounds. Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan gave Lan WangJi a tour of their radish fields, fields upon fields of just radishes. They had yet to see a corpse but they knew that the Ghost General was there somewhere, so they hadn’t stopped the array.

The marriage negotiations were going well and projected for all to see was Wei WuXian burying Lan Yuan in the radishes. Lan QiRen who had been made comfortable but had otherwise not been moved from the room woke up right as A-Yuan explained, “A-Niang says that this will help grow me brothers and sisters.”

“Yes, that is right A-Yuan you’ll have a little brother or sister soon, isn’t that right Lan Zhan?” said Wei WuXian with mirth crinkling his eyes.

“Mn,” hummed Lan WangJi noncommittally there was a heated look in his eyes as he looked at Wei WuXian.

“How long do babies need to grow?”

“About a year,” replied Lan WangJi.

Lan Yuan turned to look at Wei WuXian. “A year until you grow me a little brother or sister? That’s forever!”

“Oh, it surely won’t be that long now,” replied Wei WuXian and he turned and smiled up at Lan WangJi from where he was crouched over piling dirt on A-Yuan. Wei WuXian then turned back to the boy and added, “I have been planting you for a while after all.”

“Wei WuXian is pregnant!” stated Lan QiRen. He swayed a bit in his seat but was able to maintain consciousness. He looked between the Jiang and his nephew. “What are you doing?”

“Putting together a marriage agreement, Shufu,” said Lan XiChen.

Lan QiRen nodded. “Good. A pregnant… person shouldn’t be in the Burial Mounds.”

It wasn’t much later when a call came saying that dinner would be soon. The people in the field all turned to go back to the settlement and Wei WuXian plucked A-Yuan from the dirt. They turned to follow the others and ran into Wen Qing she narrowed her eyes at Wei WuXian and said, “Did you bury A-Yuan in the radishes again?”

“No?” replied Wei WuXian

“Yes! A-Niang is growing me a little sister or brother!”

“A-Yuan you shouldn’t tell her that!”

“Lying is forbidden, Wei Ying should not lie or encourage our son to lie,” replied Lan WangJi.

Wen Qing looked a bit smug at that pronouncement and then said, “Bath before dinner than, and Wei WuXian you’re washing A-Yuan’s robes.”

“Do we have time for a whole bath?” whined Wei WuXian.

“Yes, everyone needs to wash up for dinner there is time, doctor’s orders,” returned Wen Qing, then she added, “A bath has already been filled for A-Yuan.”

They walked back to the cave and set outside was a tub with warm water. There was also a bath bean and a bowl of rice water for A-Yuan’s hair. Lan WangJi watched as Wei WuXian stripped down A-Yuan and then lifted the boy into the tub.

“Lan Zhan, can you watch him? I’m going to grab a clean set of robes,” said Wei WuXian and then he walked off before Lan WangJi could really answer with A-Yuan’s dirty robes in his hand.

He went to Granny’s hut and knocked on the door when there was no answer he stepped inside. He left the door open so that the light from outside would illuminate the room. The walls weren’t very solid and there were many cracks in the planking that light would shine through. There was a bed, at least a more proper looking bed than Wei WuXian’s rock, there was a crate on its side, and it was inside the crate that Wei WuXian threw the dirty clothes, then he took some of the folded robes that sat on top of the crate. He looked around the room. There was a second crate by the bed with a candle stub melted to it and that was it.

Wei WuXian sighed and then said to himself, “I’ll have to do laundry tomorrow.”

When Wei WuXian got back to the tub, he had to stifle a laugh as one of A-Yuan’s butterflies was in Lan WangJi’s hand and he looked confused as A-Yuan babbled an adventurous tale of the two butterflies on the high seas.

 “All right, we don’t want to be late for dinner,” said Wei WuXian and he put down the robe outside of the splash zone and knelt by the tub. He picked up the bath bean and started to wash A-Yuan as the boy continued to play.

“A-Yuan stop playing for a moment, let me wash your hair,” said Lan WangJi and he held out the butterfly in his hand to the boy.

The toddler took the butterfly and nodded. “Mn.”

Lan WangJi nodded and then picked up the bowl of rice water and began to wash A-Yuan’s hair. Together the two worked on getting the child clean Wei WuXian and A-Yuan doing most of the talking. When A-Yuan was clean he didn’t want to get out of the tub, he wanted to play more.

Wei WuXian looked like he was inclined to give in, but Lan WangJi said, “We still need to brush your hair.”

They got A-Yuan out of the tub. Wei WuXian dressed A-Yuan, but it was a bit of a struggle as the toddler wanted to keep playing and wasn’t being cooperative. But when Lan WangJi held up a comb A-Yuan sat down calmly in front of him to have his hair brushed.

“Lan Zhan how do you do that? A-Yuan hates getting his hair brushed! He always makes a fuss getting dressed because he doesn’t want his hair brushed!”

“Nuh-uh!” proclaimed the toddler, then he turned to look up at Lan WangJi. “When A-Niang does it he pulls my hair, and it hurts.”

Lan WangJi hummed in agreement and turned A-Yuan’s head back to face forward.

“Well, if you weren’t always running around then your hair wouldn’t be all in snarls!” proclaimed Wei WuXian.

There area was silent for a beat and then Wei WuXian groaned, “I sound like Yu-Furen! I never thought that would happen!”

“If A-Yuan’s hair is knotted you should hold it in one hand and start at the ends,” replied Lan WangJi and he held up the hair in his hand to demonstrate.

“A-Die can you do my hair like A-Niang’s?”

Lan WangJi looked up at Wei WuXian and how he had started wearing it mostly down and then he thought about what Wei WuXian had said and then looked down at the hair in his hand and the knots he was untangling. “Wei Ying is correct A-Yuan plays a lot. Wei Ying’s hairstyle is not good for a lot of playing. How about I style your hair they way Wei Ying did when he was young?”

“Like when you met A-Niang on the moon?”

“On a rooftop in moonlight, not on the moon!” chuckled Wei WuXian his face went a bit red.

“I can do your hair like the night I met Wei Ying, yes.”

A-Yuan turned again and looked at Lan WangJi, “When you first met A-Niang was he the most beautiful?”

“He was.”

“Lan Zhan you can’t say that!”

“I don’t believe you,” pouted A-Yuan.

“Why?” asked Lan WangJi while Wei WuXian choked on a swiftly indrawn breath.

“A-Niang says A-Die is the most beautiful.”

Lan WangJi looked up at a red-faced Wei WuXian. “If you can say it than I can say it.”

“Dinner!” was called from the communal dining area.

Wei WuXian looked over at the noise but then back to A-Yuan and Lan WangJi. “All right little Radish, eyes forward let Lan Zhan finish your hair, and then you will be the most beautiful.”

The toddler happily complied and let Lan WangJi finish with his hair and tied it up in a high ponytail like Wei WuXian used to wear.

A-Yuan took a hand each from Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi and would lift his feet off the ground to swing between them. He shrieked with giggles and delighted at the swing of not only his body but his ponytail.

It was still light outside and warm so there were places set up outside to eat. A-Yuan let go of Lan WangJi’s and Wei WuXian’s hands and bound forward to show everyone his new hairstyle.

Wen Ning stepped out of the kitchen area with two plates of radish-based dishes in his hands to place on tables. There were smudges of charcoal on his face and when A-Yuan saw him he called out, “Coal-Gege!” and then attached himself to Wen Ning’s leg, and made sure he was sitting firmly on Wen Ning’s foot. “Coal-Gege, do you like my new hair?”

The fierce corpse carefully walked towards the table that he had planned to serve with A-Yuan on his foot. When his hands were free he looked down at the toddler, “You look like Wei-Gongzi with your hair like that A-Yuan.”

“Really? I do, Coal-Gege?”! Asked A-Yuan as he bounced on Wen Ning’s foot.

Wei WuXian commented, “I’m not giving him another bath, if A-Yuan got dirty again it is all Wen Ning’s—oh, I’m sorry, that would be, Coal-Didi’s fault.”

There was a bit of laughter around from the others and Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian sat down at one of the tables. Lan WangJi said, “A-Yuan, you must let Wen QiongLin go, he is trying to bring out food for everyone.” There was a pause where Lan WangJi tilted his head then he added, “Wen QiongLin do you need any help in the kitchen.”

“Thank you for the kind offer HanGuang-Jun, but I just have a couple more dishes to bring out,” replied Wen Ning.

Lan WangJi inclined his head and said, “Thank you for cooking dinner.” A-Yuan had climbed up on Wei WuXian’s lap and Lan WangJi said to the toddler, “A-Yuan thank Wen QiongLin for cooking dinner.”

A-Yuan got to his feet on Wei WuXian’s lap and bowed to Wen Ning. “Thank you for cooking, Coal-Gege.”

Wei WuXian had a hand to steady A-Yuan where he stood, and the other held to his mouth as he stifled his laughter. Lan WangJi looked at Wei WuXian and said, “You too Wei Ying.”

He let the laughter out then, but Wei WuXian got a solid hold on the toddler and stood he held A-Yuan out like he was a sword and bowed to Wen Ning. “Thank you for cooking, Wen Ning, and trying to make today’s radishes taste different from yesterday’s.”

At this point Wen Ning was a sputtering embarrassed mess and if he wasn’t a corpse probably would have been bright red and he backed away from the laughing silver eyes of both Wei WuXian and A-Yuan and the amused look that everyone could see on Lan WangJi’s face.

“Did he say Wen QiongLin… Wen Ning?” said one of the people in Koi Tower.

“The Ghost General? Wei WuXian has his fierce corpse cooking dinner?” said another.

Jiang YanLi was ignoring them she already knew that Wen Ning was a mild mannered—corpse, yes, but he wasn’t bad because of it. What Jiang YanLi was watching was how Wei WuXian and A-Yuan were considering a radish and egg dish and a radish and garlic dish as, 1. Variety and 2. A lot of food, especially when their rice bowls were so small. With the size of the bag of rice, she would have thought that the people would have had more rice. She looked around at those eating and it didn’t seem to be enough for the whole bag of rice to have been used and that to be the cause of the small amount in everyone’s bowls.

“Why are they eating so early? Dinner isn’t for at least another half a shichen, but watching them is making me hungry,” said someone in the crowd and there was a lot of grumbling in the crowd. But Jiang YanLi was watching intently how frugally everyone was eating.

Lan XiChen watched as Wei WuXian poured from a teapot a cup for Lan WangJi as he said, “We still don’t have any tea Lan Zhan, just water.”

Lan WangJi hummed in agreement and thanked Wei WuXian, where Lan XiChen would have sworn that the drink had been some lightly brewed tea as it hadn’t been clear like clean water. “I believe I shall add tea to the bride price.”

Wen Ning sat down at the table, though he didn’t eat, which was just a reminder that he wasn’t alive. “HanGuang-Jun do you know any recipes from Gusu? Radish recipes would be great but really anything that you think I could substitute radishes for would be helpful, you know just so we can have a larger array of flavours in our meals.”

Wei WuXian who was clearly listening to Wen Ning didn’t say a word about the medicinal, bitter taste of the food from Cloud Recesses. Not a peep. And that, that was what told Jiang Cheng how dire the food situation really was.

“ZeWu-Jun I believe that it would be better if you kept the tea but instead offered to relocate and watch over Wei WuXian’s extended family in Gusu.”

There was a pause at the table at Jiang Cheng’s words Lan XiChen and Lan QiRen looked at each other and then over at the projection of a distant desolate mountain.

“If A-Xian is truly pregnant with their second child as Lan-Xiansheng surmised, Wen-Daifu is probably the only one who knows how to deliver the child,” said Jiang YanLi.

“It looks like since Wei-Gongzi no longer has his core that Wen-Daifu is the only cultivator there and Wen QiongLin is the only fier— walking corpse,” added Lan XiChen with a thoughtful look.

“GusuLan cannot abide by unorthodoxy—“ began Lan QiRen.

Jiang Cheng interrupted, “Wei WuXian was instrumental to the war, we heard him he was thrown coreless into the Burial Mounds, he had to invent demonic cultivation to survive and then he used that in the war. Lan-Xiansheng can you truly look at those people and say they should have been in a Labour Camp?”

There was a shift in Lan QiRen’s face and then he said, “GusuLan cannot abide by unorthodoxy the Jin Sect should answer for the crimes against these people, they should be allowed to live their lives. Civilians should never be taken as war prisoners. It is the Wen Siblings and the Stygian Tiger Seal that must be taken into consideration. We need to better understand Wen QiongLin, Wen-Daifu is as you say instrumental in the health of the next generation, and then there is the Stygian Tiger Seal it should not exist as it does in peace times.”

“You say this, but the GusuLan Sect will not take and help these people in need?” demanded Jiang Cheng.

Lan QiRen’s eyes narrowed. “You were the first visitor to the Burial Mounds what did you see that made you not want to help these people and instead break with the man you call brother? You and Jin-Shao-Furen call Wei WuXian brother and he called Wen QiongLin ‘didi’ and yet you did not take in this extended family.”

“He calls Wen-Daifu, ‘Qing-Jie’ as well,” added Lan XiChen.

Jiang Cheng glared and sparked a bit around the edges he then leaned forward over the table and spoke low and serious, “When Wei WuXian broke away, Wen Ning hadn’t been given his consciousness back and YunmengJiang was in a bad position. I knew that no one would let Wei WuXian continue his experiment to bring Wen Ning back. I didn’t want to let him do it but at the same time it is Wen Ning that got me and my parents bodies out of Lotus Pier and it was Wen Qing that patched us up. I couldn’t protect Wei WuXian and the Wen then and I would be happy to take them now but I would need support to successfully do so.”

Lan XiChen went to reply but Jiang Cheng barrelled on, “However, do you think in a move such as this that any of those people would trust any of us? Do you think you could take Wei WuXian, his son, and Wen-Daifu to Cloud Recesses and I take the rest to Lotus Pier?”

“You have a point it doesn’t look like they would separate,” replied Lan XiChen he watched as Lan Yuan climbed into the lap of an old woman and called her Granny and how Wei WuXian and even Lan WangJi were referring to different people as aunt or uncle.

“We could make an agreement where both Wei WuXian and HanGuang-Jun and their family split their time between both sects if you really want to split these people,” offered Jiang Cheng.

Lan XiChen considered this for a long moment and then said, “We should speak to our brothers on this matter, see how they wish to conduct their lives. After all WangJi did ask Wei WuXian to return with him to Cloud Recesses with him and Wei WuXian refused.”

“I agree,” said Jiang Cheng but clarified, “Wei WuXian didn’t want to go back to Cloud Recesses to be punished not because of HanGuang-Jun.”

Confusion crinkled Lan XiChen’s brow. “WangJi would never punish Wei WuXian—“

“Like how he didn’t punish A-Xian and himself when A-Xian tackled HanGuang-Jun out of Cloud Recesses when A-Xian was smuggling in alcohol?” asked Jiang YanLi her eyes hard. She saw that Lan QiRen was about to argue and added, “I’m not saying that what A-Xian did was correct. But he was the one that made HanGuang-Jun break the rules and he also watched HanGuang-Jun take the punishment for breaking the rules even when in A-Xian’s mind HanGuang-Jun was not at fault. With that as a model, you can see how A-Xian would believe that despite any feelings HanGuang-Jun would still punish him. He was without a core and has made do the best that he could. He has done nothing wrong.” Jiang YanLi took a breath and again saw that Lan QiRen was going to speak so she cut his argument off, “A-Xian has not done any demonic cultivation within Cloud Recesses, and has only done it to save himself, help in the war, and to save those people,” She paused and waved at the array and the people their chatting over their food before continuing, “whom we agreed were not supposed to be in a Labour Camp to begin with.”

There was a pause where Lan QiRen stared at Jin-Shao-Furen and then he inclined his head to her point.

“Perhaps, Wei WuXian doesn’t understand WangJi as well as we thought. WangJi never wanted to punish Wei WuXian only protect him, and with a son I can see why even more than before,” added Lan XiChen.

Jiang Cheng glared. “It comes down to the Wens again. Wei WuXian wouldn’t abandon them.”

There was a pause and then Lan XiChen sighed there was hurt in his eyes, but it was turned inward. “And I didn’t listen to WangJi, you are correct, Jiang-Zongzhu. GusuLan will of course give sanctuary to the Wen remnants.”

“The Stygian Tiger Seal!” protested Lan QiRen.

The Jiang Siblings looked at each other and then Jiang Cheng sighed. He dropped his voice and leaned in, “After the war Wei WuXian tried to destroy the Seal, he blew up the forge.”

“Really?” asked Lan XiChen his eyes wide and tone disbelieving. Jiang Cheng was about to yell at him when Lan XiChen added, “The whole forge? I hadn’t realised that it was so volatile.”

“He has the Seal under control,” said Jiang YanLi, “we decided that it would be better in the way of politics to leave it at that. I believe that Wei WuXian does not see the Stygian Tiger Seal as an artefact that is worth having in peace time. We would have to talk with him about it, of course. The Seal is his, he forged it during the war, only he has the rights to it and to destroy it. But I believe that if the Wens were safe and he didn’t need the Seal to protect the innocent that he would like to see it destroyed.”

“We could…” began Lan XiChen but he really didn’t have an idea.

The whispers in the room went up and the group in the midst of the marriage talks looked up at the array, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi were back in the cave. “What’s going on?” asked Lan XiChen.

Nie HuaiSang who was still sitting next to him said, “Apparently they all go inside their houses early. Wei-Xiong made a joke about going to bed earlier than the Lans. They are worried about stirring up the Burial Mounds they made Lan Yuan pee three times and asked him three times if he wanted to sleep with Granny. It seems that when WangJi-Xiong stays they get a room in Yiling, so it is his first night actually in the Burial Mounds.”

“Why does Lan Yuan sleep with that elderly woman?” asked Jiang Cheng there was no malice in his tone just curiosity.

With a shrug and a wave of his fan Nie HuaiSang said, “Wei-Xiong says he stays up late working on his inventions, while Granny and Lan Yuan sleep earlier. Lan Yuan sometimes runs to Wei-Xiong’s cave in the middle of the night WangJi-Xiong looked horrified upon hearing that.”

“I would hope so,” grumbled Jiang Cheng.

They watched a moment as Lan WangJi sat down and started playing his guqin and Lan Yuan sat down with him fascinated. Wei WuXian sat at on a rock before another, which made some sort of natural table and started making ink he would occasionally get distracted by the other two in the cave.

Lan QiRen said, “We could offer help in researching a way to safely destroy the Stygian Tiger Seal, or at the very least contain it.”

“But without his core A-Xian might not like that, if he feels that people are still hostile towards him or the Wens,” said Jiang YanLi.

“Demonic cultivation damaged his core! I told him—“

“No Shufu, he lost his core before the war to Wen ZhuLiu before he was thrown in the Burial Mounds, his demonic cultivation is from his will to survive and then to help us in the war,” replied Lan XiChen.

“What? How long have you known this?”

“Not long,” soothed Jiang YanLi, “A-Xian kept it a secret, it came out when they were flying.”

Lan QiRen nodded. “But you said he tried to destroy it.”

“He did. But that was at the beginning, right after the war, he was still called a war hero then, the rumours of his wicked tricks were just starting to sour his reputation. He wanted to protect YunmengJiang then and it was better without the Seal, but I think everything has shifted what with the Wens,” explained Jiang YanLi.

There was a pause as Lan QiRen considered this then he asked, “He is good at archery is he not? He took first in the last Discussion Conference Archery Competition before the war, correct? And I remember him being good with talismans and arrays.”

“You are correct Shufu, we earlier saw a new warding array and Wei WuXian talked about a compass that would point to resentful energy. In fact, contingent on Wei WuXian’s agreement patents to the Spirit Attraction Flag will come to Gusu with the marriage,” replied Lan XiChen.

Lan QiRen nodded and stroked his beard. “Then put in the marriage agreement that we will provide a place and funds for Wei WuXian’s inventions. He was YunmengJiang’s head disciple if he wishes he could teach our disciples archery or a talisman or array class. We’ll work with him about the Seal. Perhaps if he is reminded of the strength he still wields even without a golden core he will feel the Stygian Tiger Seal is not needed. But until then GusuLan will aid Wei WuXian however he wishes with the Seal, though demonic cultivation within Cloud Recesses would still not be permitted.”

They talked more, and really polished up the contract. The array was still playing in the background, people were trying to read what Wei WuXian was working on and waiting for something—anything, at all to happen.

It was approaching the Lan bed hours and those of Gusu were getting tired. The group working on the marriage contract stopped when they heard the guqin music from the array stop in earnest.

“Time to get ready for bed,” said Lan WangJi as he got up from his guqin with A-Yuan in his arms.

Wei WuXian just hummed from where he sat at his table working.

“You too A-Niang!” called out A-Yuan. It didn’t appear that Wei WuXian heard since a moment later A-Yuan yelled, “A-Niang!”

“What my little Radish?”

“Time for bed, you got to get ready.”

He looked up then at Lan WangJi and A-Yuan. Wei WuXian smiled at the two. “All right.” Wei WuXian got up from the stone and started in on the ties of his robes and quickly stripped down to his under robe, he then walked over and took A-Yuan from Lan WangJi. He placed the boy on the bed and then stripped him down for bed too.

When they turned back to Lan WangJi he was also dressed for bed, and he had pulled out his toiletries. A-Yuan jumped off the bed and bound over to Lan WangJi to look at what he had. A-Yuan picked up the horse hair toothbrush and brought it to his head, “Why is it so small?”

Lan WangJi reached out and stopped his toothbrush from touching A-Yuan’s hair, he looked scandalised at Wei WuXian for a moment and then said to A-Yuan, “It is my toothbrush, it is for cleaning my teeth.”

“Oh! Why?”

“So, my mouth stays clean and healthy.”

A-Yuan then turned and looked at Wei WuXian he brandished the toothbrush still in his little fist. “A-Niang, I want a toothbrush, why don’t I have a toothbrush?”

“A-Yuan why are you asking me? I’m poor, the father has the money remember.”

The boy pouted. “Do you have a toothbrush A-Niang?”

Wei WuXian shook his head. “No one here has a toothbrush we all use Qing-Jie’s tooth gargles.”

“Why don’t I use?”

“You are too little you don’t need to use it yet.”

“Why? I have teeth,” returned A-Yuan.

“You have baby teeth, they will fall out and become adult teeth, then you need a toothbrush or Qing-Jie’s gargle.”

“Wei Ying that is unhealthy, he should get in the habit of cleaning his teeth,” said Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian went to protest that it wasn’t needed, but then he paused. By the time that Jiang FengMian had found him he had had most of his adult teeth. When he had been on the streets he often worried about losing teeth but often the ache in his mouth lessened with a lost tooth. Then when he had been at Lotus Pier remembering to brush his teeth every day had been a hard habit to make.

“I want to brush my teeth!” proclaimed A-Yuan and he brought Lan WangJi’s toothbrush to his mouth.

Again, Lan WangJi stopped him, “You brush your teeth in the morning, I had just packed my toothbrush on the top of my things so I had to take it out. In the morning we can brush our teeth.”

“All right,” agreed A-Yuan and he handed the brush back with Lan WangJi’s other things. He started poking around at the rest of Lan WangJi’s things and Wei WuXian said, “Come A-Yuan let me braid your hair.”

“Why?” asked the boy as he turned towards Wei WuXian.

“All these questions someone must be getting sleepy.”

“No! I’m not sleepy! I will stay up until I can brush my teeth!” protested A-Yuan.

With a chuckle Wei WuXian sat on a stone seat and gestured to right in front of him. “Come on A-Yuan.”

“Why?”

“With three people in a bed our hair will get all knotted together and then we won’t be able to pull apart to brush our teeth.”

There was a moment as A-Yuan considered that answer then he nodded and stood in front of Wei WuXian. Wei WuXian started to brush his fingers through A-Yuan’s hair, he had already taken the ponytail down. Suddenly there was something in his periphery. Wei WuXian turned his head and saw that Lan WangJi was holding a comb out to him. He took the comb and carefully began to brush A-Yuan’s hair—the ponytail had helped to keep the knots at bay. Wei WuXian handed the comb back and started to braid A-Yuan’s hair. He paused though when he felt a comb going through his own hair.

“I will braid Wei Ying’s hair.”

A-Yuan turned then to look at Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi. When the comb was put aside, Wei WuXian made A-Yuan turn back and braided his hair as Lan WangJi braided his.

When the long braid was tied off and A-Yuan was let go the boy proclaimed, “Now, I’ll do A-Die’s hair!”

With a chuckle Wei WuXian pulled A-Yuan around and with a confirming nod from Lan WangJi, the comb was placed in A-Yuan’s hands. Then with Lan WangJi sitting on the ground Wei WuXian taught A-Yuan how to braid.

Lan WangJi stood up and then said, “It is time for bed.”

Wei WuXian picked up little A-Yuan and deposited him on the rock cum bed and then said, “All right get in.”

“A-Niang and A-Die too!”

“Ah this is Radish bedtime, not A-Niang bedtime.”

A pout formed on A-Yuan’s mouth, and he crossed his arms petulantly. “A-Die is going to bed, if A-Die goes to bed now too then so does A-Niang.”

“Mn,” agreed Lan WangJi.

With a glare at Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian replied to A-Yuan, “Little Radish, the bed is too small for three people you and your A-Die can sleep here tonight.”

“No! It is big enough I want to sleep with A-Niang and A-Die!”

“Wei Ying should sleep too,” added Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian sighed. “All right, get in you two, I’ll take outside.”

“I wake up earlier, I should take outside,” countered Lan WangJi.

“Lan Zhan,” said Wei WuXian and he stepped close to the other man and dropped his voice so little ears couldn’t hear, “once he is asleep I can slip out, it’ll be more comfortable for the both of you.”

Lan WangJi shook his head. “You should not lie to children. Get on the bed Wei Ying.”

He went to protest but was instead startled when Lan WangJi put an arm under his knees and swept him up in his arms. A-Yuan squealed with delight as Lan WangJi carried Wei WuXian the two steps to the bed. Lan WangJi said to the boy, “Go to the foot of the bed so I can lay your A-Niang down.”

A-Yuan did as he was told and as soon as Lan WangJi had placed Wei WuXian down on the far side by the wall of the cave the little boy jumped on him. By the time that Wei WuXian had struggled up into a seated position heaving with laughter, Lan WangJi had snuffed all the lights except for the one by the bed. Lan WangJi got on the rock and blew out the candle then he threw an arm over Wei WuXian and A-Yuan and laid down taking the others with him.

There was a bit of shifting so that Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi were on their sides to take up less room and A-Yuan was sandwiched between them. Lan WangJi had an arm slung over the other two and a solid grip on Wei WuXian’s hip to help keep them all on the bed. Or at least that was what Wei WuXian told himself. But as the warmth and weight of the toddler pressed between them and the hand on his hip seeped into Wei WuXian’s bones and warmed his soul he sighed in relaxed contentment and drifted off to sleep.

People in Koi Tower were grumbling, as they hadn’t seen any fierce corpses and probably because they hadn’t eaten and were hungry. Jin GuangShan stood up and everyone fell silent. “It was clear that, the people went inside early to avoid whatever the Yiling Laozu did at night. Jin GuangYao will stay behind and monitor the array to see if the Yiling Laozu gets up. Everyone can move to the dining room now, we will have the array monitored through the night, after the meal feel free to return here or retire for the night.”

Again, Jin GuangYao looked like he wanted to go over and talk with Lan XiChen, but his father had deemed that he stays by the array and since it was so close to the Lan sleeping hour, Lan XiChen could not keep his sworn brother company.

Jiang Cheng got up from the table, “It is about a two day flight from Koi Tower to Yiling. We can come back in the morning see if there is anything else that needs to be added and then head out, we’ll stop mid-way and then arrive mid-afternoon the following day.”

“Yes, I agree,” said Lan XiChen, “and we need to decide who will stay and who will go, it is a pity that we are Sect Leaders in this instance.”

“This isn’t an official Discussion Conference,” said Nie HuaiSang getting to his own feet, “MeishanYu didn’t even send their heir to this just their second or third disciple.

They all looked over at the area for MeishanYu, the leader of the small contingent was the heir’s younger brother. Jiang Cheng snorted for if they wanted to be technical about it he was at the very highest the sixth ranking person, behind all five of his older sisters. But the point was made and as the group exited the room they continued to hash out minor detail of their agreement.

Chapter Text

Wei WuXian woke up feeling rested and alone in his bed. He lay there on his straw mattress for a moment convinced that he had dreamt the entire previous day. Bleary eyed, he got dressed and went out to scrounge up breakfast. He went unseeing to the area where they ate and sat down at a table. Not long after a bowl of congee was pressed into his hands and automatically Wei WuXian took a bite.

Flavour burst on his tongue and Wei WuXian’s eyes widened and he actually looked down at his food, the congee had a slight orange tint to it showing that it had been spiced—not as much as Wei WuXian would have liked, but still.

He looked up his silvery eyes scanning the area. It was mostly empty, as people had eaten before he had woken up and had gone out to the fields to work for the day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but there was no way that Wen Qing would have bought spice, or not have killed him if he had bought the spice—she said it wasn’t a necessity.

Since no one was jumping out at him he hastily went back to his bowl of congee that was finally more than just water and rice, emphasis on the water.

After breakfast Wei WuXian decided that he would go back to his cave and get some work done. He was most of the way there when a small force slammed into his leg. “A-Niang! You’re awake!”

Wei WuXian blinked and looked down at the smiling face of A-Yuan from where he clung to Wei WuXian’s leg. Well, that wasn’t something that Wei WuXian thought that A-Yuan would keep up—calling him mother and all. And then it all slammed into him that the previous day had not been a dream, Lan WangJi had returned and he had bought them all food.

Right as A-Yuan spoke, Wei WuXian looked up into Lan WangJi’s face. “Look A-Die! A-Niang’s awake! We can brush our teeth now!”

It was a bit late to brush teeth as the adage went, “ When the cock crows the first time, gargle teeth with salt.”  It meant that at dawn—or when you woke up the first thing to do was wash your face and gargle. Though Wei WuXian had forgotten to do that, he usually wasn’t awake enough that early.

“Yes,” agreed Lan WangJi, “but we can’t brush our teeth when you are clinging to your A-Niang like that.”

Lan WangJi then bent down and extracted A-Yuan from Wei WuXian’s leg. The toddler giggled and when Lan WangJi was once more standing straight A-Yuan reached out silently asking Wei WuXian to take him. Lan WangJi passed over the boy, but Wei WuXian’s brain was still foggy having been thrown for a loop at the universe he had found himself in, he stumbled back a step at the sudden weight of the toddler.

Quick as a flash, Lan WangJi reached around and put a hand at the small of Wei WuXian’s back and the other on A-Yuan to keep them steady. There was a moment that they stood there the comforting weight of the toddler in Wei WuXian’s arms and the feel of Lan WangJi’s arms around the both of them and once more Wei WuXian wasn’t sure what was dream or reality.

“I’ll get water to use to brush our teeth, you two go inside,” said Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian nodded and then in a daze went back into the cave carrying A-Yuan. When he sat on his bed, A-Yuan distracted and brought Wei WuXian’s mind back to the present moment and they played a game with the two small grass butterflies that Lan WangJi had bought the boy on his first visit. Even still, the arrival of Lan WangJi was a surprise to Wei WuXian, who kept expecting the dream of a life with his zhiji would remain only a dream and somehow end and he would wake up cold and alone but for the voices in his ears telling him to join them or kill everyone.

“My toothbrush should only be used by me and is too big for A-Yuan,” explained Lan WangJi, “but you can take some of the toothpaste I have here on your finger and use it as your brush.”

A-Yuan pouted a bit but then nodded. Lan WangJi opened his tin of paste and then scooped a bit out on his brush and then dipped his brush into a bit of the water that he brought. “See you only need about this much toothpaste.”  

A-Yuan scooped up some toothpaste on his finger and held it out looking at Lan WangJi when he nodded the toddler turned to Wei WuXian. “Now you A-Niang.”

With a smile Wei WuXian went over to his shelf and picked up the bottle of Wen Qing’s gargle concoction and said, “I have this, I don’t need to use Lan Zhan’s toothpaste.”

“We can use both!” declared A-Yuan.

Wei WuXian sighed and looked at Lan WangJi. The other man just held out the tin of paste to Wei WuXian. He dipped his finger in and then dipped the finger in the water after A-Yuan had done it. Lan WangJi explained how to brush one’s teeth and then showed A-Yuan for a brief moment then the three of them formed a line and brushed their teeth as A-Yuan giggled occasionally.

When their teeth were brushed A-Yuan turned to Wei WuXian and looked expectantly. Wei WuXian explained gargling and then showed the toddler with water he laughed and proclaimed, “I want to try!”

“He should only try with water we don’t know what swallowing the tooth gargle would do,” said Lan WangJi.

“Yes, I think that makes sense,” said Wei WuXian and he handed over A-Yuan’s cup for him to try to gargle the water.

It ended up being spat out in a great fan before A-Yuan luckily he hadn’t choked on it but it did draw the attention of Wen Qing, Granny, and a few others.

Wen Qing glared at Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi. “And what are we doing?”

“Brushing our teeth!” answered A-Yuan.

“That does not look like brushing your teeth.”

“A-Yuan wanted to try your tooth gargle, we had him practice with water and he ended up spitting it out instead,” explained Wei WuXian.

With a nod, Wen Qing bent down to be on a level with A-Yuan and said, “I’m sorry A-Yuan my tooth gargle can only be used by people six and older. It is very good of you to want to have a clean mouth, but you’ll have to wait to safely use the gargle.”

The toddler thought about it for a moment and then nodded with a serious little face. He then asked, “Can I have a toothbrush?”

“Toothbrushes are expensive, that is why no one here has one. Right now you have baby teeth they will fall out as you get bigger which is why it isn’t bad if you have to wait until you are six to start using the tooth gargle.”

He looked at Wen Qing for a moment and then turned to Lan WangJi. “A-Die can I have a toothbrush?”

“Hey! Why are you asking him, Wen Qing is a doctor she should be listened to,” said Wei WuXian.

“He’s my rich friend,” answered A-Yuan.

“Wei Ying is right, Wen-Daifu is a doctor, and she knows what is best for everyone’s teeth, you should listen to her, if she says it is all right, I can buy you a toothbrush. But just because one adult said no does not mean you should go and ask a different adult. We do not say ‘no’ to be mean,” replied Lan WangJi.

Again A-Yuan gave the words thought but he still turned to Wen Qing silently asking her. The doctor sighed and said, “Your A-Die can buy you a brush and the ingredients for me to make the paste.” She stood back up and glared up at Lan WangJi. “It needs to be a feather brush not a horsehair one that isn’t soft enough for a child.”

“Yay!” called A-Yuan and he launched himself at Wen Qing and hugged her leg.

“Yes, yes, now tell your A-Niang he has laundry to do and then you can take your parents into town and buy a toothbrush,” said Wen Qing as she patted A-Yuan’s head and glared at Wei WuXian.  

Wei WuXian groaned, but Granny already had all of A-Yuan’s dirty laundry. Lan WangJi thinking that he was being helpful went into the cave and grabbed all the robes that he could find strewn about the cave in a crumpled mess. When he brought them out Wei WuXian groaned again. “Those aren’t all dirty,” he whined.

Lan WangJi looked down at the jumble of fabric in his hands and said, “Do you know which are clean? They were all on the ground.”

“No,” said Wei WuXian pitifully.

Granny took A-Yuan away and Lan WangJi watched Wei WuXian wash the clothes and learned how it was done and then helped to hang the robes up. Before lunch Wen Qing returned with a list of ingredients for toothpaste and A-Yuan so they could take him into Yiling and have lunch.

They walked down the hill with A-Yuan between them he had a hand in each of theirs and he would occasionally lift his feet and swing between his parents.

Yiling wasn’t a rich city. It wasn’t a poor city either it was just that the air was heavy with resentment and those that were truly rich would not subject themselves to living in that sort of environment. It meant that there were very few fine horsehair toothbrushes or the even softer feather brushes for children, and mostly the harder boar bristle brushes for adults.

Even so A-Yuan was enraptured with all of the brushes that they could buy. And got distracted from choosing a feather brush for himself in favour of looking at the other brushes. He picked up a horsehair brush and said, “Granny would like this one.”

“A-Yuan we are here to get you a toothbrush, not Granny,” said Wei WuXian.

The toddler had a second horsehair brush in hand and then held it out for Wei WuXian. “But Granny needs a brush too! And look this one is perfect for A-Niang!”

“I don’t need a brush, and Granny doesn’t need a brush either we use tooth gargle,” explained Wei WuXian.

A-Yuan pouted and looked to Lan WangJi who said, “Wei Ying often forgets to gargle. If he and A-Yuan have to brush their teeth together then maybe he will remember.”

“Lan Zhan, you can’t just keep buying our little Radish anything he wants, you’ll spoil him,” Wei WuXian protested.

Lan WangJi hummed and then he took the brush that A-Yuan had selected for Wei WuXian and felt the bristles. “This will be a good brush for Wei Ying, excellent choice A-Yuan.”

The toddler beamed and then looked down at the brushes and picked up another, “for Qing-Yi!” and handed it to Wei WuXian before going back to peruse the brushes.

Wei WuXian laughed, “Are you going to pick a brush for everyone?”

“Yes!”

“But you have no money, A-Yuan is poor like A-Niang, you need to ask A-Die if he will buy brushes for everyone,” returned Wei WuXian.

“I will buy Wei Ying and A-Yuan’s toothbrushes,” said Lan WangJi, which made the toddler deflate a bit, but then Lan WangJi reached into his purse and pulled out a silver ingot and handed it to A-Yuan. “This is A-Yuan’s money, now. He can buy what he wants with it. If A-Yuan wants to gift everyone toothbrushes he may.”

A-Yuan’s eyes went wide, and he took the money carefully and then he turned seriously back to the selection of brushes and proceeded to buy most of the ones for adults. When A-Yuan was distracted Wei WuXian hissed, “Lan Zhan you just can’t give a baby that much money.”

“It will teach him, responsibility.”

“And if he spends it all on toys and candy?”

“Then he will not have money anymore. He might learn about saving if he sees something he wants later but can no longer afford, or the toys and candy will keep him happy and that is worth a bit of silver.”

 The seller thinking that A-Yuan was adorable, started writing labels and tying them to the brushes that A-Yuan chose.

Once he had a brush for everyone at the Burial Mounds he turned his attention to the feather brushes and with a serious look ended up with two in his hands as he seemed to weigh the brushes in his hand. Then he handed one to the seller and told her as he had with the others who it was for, “This is for… A-Niang’s Jiejie’s baby.”

Wei WuXian felt tears prickle in his eyes, it was Lan WangJi that responded, “Your A-Niang’s Shijie is Jiang YanLi, but the baby will not be born for a few more months.”

A-Yuan nodded and corrected himself, “For YanLi-Yi’s baby.”

 To hide the welling tears and emotions rising in his throat Wei WuXian scooped up A-Yuan and covered his tiny face with kisses as the boy squealed in delight. “How did I get blessed with such a thoughtful Radish?”

“A-Niang!” shrieked the boy.

Lan WangJi took the remaining brush from A-Yuan’s hand and paid for it and the one that was chosen for Wei WuXian.

“Wei Ying, let him go, he needs to pay.”

“What is the baby’s honourable surname?” asked the seller gently.

“The courtesy name has already been chosen, you can write Jin RuLan,” replied Wei WuXian and he explained the characters needed.

Then the seller asked, “And which character is used for Yuan?”

“Like in ‘garden’,” replied Wei WuXian.

When she handed the brush over it said, “To Jin RuLan from your Lan Yuan-Biaoxiong.”

Wei WuXian blinked as he read the words on the scrap of paper. The seller said, “I’m sorry did I write the wrong ‘Lan’ I thought that he looked like he was from one of those big sects and I thought they used this Lan?”

Lan WangJi read over Wei WuXian shoulder and said, “No, this is the correct Lan.”

A-Yuan handed over his ingot and got his change in a string of coins. Wei WuXian said, “You should let Lan Zhan carry your money while we are in town, so it doesn’t get lost.”

The toddler gripped his string of money tighter, and Lan WangJi said, “It is your money, if you want to buy something you just need to ask for your money back, but right now you have nothing to carry your money in, Wei Ying is correct you do not want to lose it.”

The boy’s fingers gripped tighter, and he looked around. Then he pointed, “They have their money tied to their waist!”

The adults all turned to look even though they knew what they were going to see. Lan WangJi answered, “Yes, and you can wear your money like that too if you want, but this string has too much money on it. Most people only keep the money they are going to be using that day tied to their waist and the rest in a pouch.”

There Lan WangJi took his money pouch from his robes and then the kind toothbrush seller got A-Yuan’s attention and folded down her waist sash so A-Yuan could see the waist pocket there. She then held out a second string to A-Yuan.

He took the string and then looked at his parents, “How much money do I need for today?”

Wei WuXian brushed his nose and had a great look of consideration on his face before he said, “I think five of the small coins would be enough for today, can you count them out and move them to this second string?”

A-Yuan nodded, but his fingers were too clumsy to undo the knot, so Wei WuXian undid it for him and then they carefully counted out five and A-Yuan kept track on his fingers then Wei WuXian retied the heavier string and handed it to Lan WangJi and then tied the smaller string to A-Yuan’s waist.

They profusely thanked the seller for her indulgence and kindness then they walked around the market getting the ingredients for the toothpaste, though Lan WangJi purchased perhaps five times as much as Wen Qing had indicated. A-Yuan wanted a money pouch and a sash with a waist pocket so they looked for those as well. A-Yuan considered his purchases carefully and Wei WuXian did his best to describe the cost to him. The sellers seemed to go easy in the bartering with little A-Yuan and Lan WangJi only had to get A-Yuan’s larger string out to get enough money for the sash.

The seller let them use a corner of his stall so that they could re-outfit A-Yuan. The sash was too small to carry the whole string of coins and so it went into the money pouch A-Yuan had bought that had been stitched with flowers and that went back into the folds of Lan WangJi’s robes. A couple heavier coins were placed in the waist pocket and the string tied at A-Yuan’s waist was refreshed with five small light-weight coins.

The only other thing that A-Yuan bought on their outing was candy. And he wasn’t over-zealous with his purchases with his sudden influx of funds but instead spent one of the coins on his string for five pieces of candy. He gifted one to each Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian, saved one for Granny and had two for A-Yuan.

The happy little family went back to the Burial Mounds and A-Yuan excitedly went around gifting his toothbrushes to everyone and showing off his new sash and money pouch. Granny started laughing as she held the toothbrush in one hand and the candy in the other but thanked A-Yuan profusely.

Wen Qing’s brow had started to twitch when she saw the amount of ingredients that they had bought but then furrowed into confusion when A-Yuan gifted her with a toothbrush and then he handed another to Wen Ning.

Wei WuXian shrugged. “He insisted that everyone receive toothbrushes. Lan Zhan gave him money of his own and said it was his decision on what to buy. He bought fifty toothbrushes and only five pieces of candy, you should be proud!”

“I am,” returned Wen Qing, “A-Yuan has always been a good boy.” She then turned to address A-Yuan, “Did you get yourself two feather toothbrushes?”

A-Yuan shook his head and held out the second feather toothbrush for Wen Qing to see. Wei WuXian shrunk back a bit and half hid behind Lan WangJi as he saw Wen Qing’s eye catch the tag and A-Yuan proudly said, “This is for YanLi-Yi’s baby!”

“I see,” said Wen Qing and her eyes slid briefly to Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi and then back to A-Yuan, “this is a very useful and thoughtful gift. You need to put it somewhere safe so you don’t lose it.”

“But I want to give it to the baby,” protested A-Yuan.

“The baby is still in Jiang YanLi’s belly, they are not ready for presents yet, you’ll need to wait to give the present.”

“I thought babies grew with the radishes.”

“Babies start inside their mother’s bellies.”

“I was in my A-Niang’s belly?”  asked A-Yuan amazed.

“Yes you were,” responded Wen Qing.

“I don’t remember.”

There was a light chuckle from the adults in the hut and then Wei WuXian said as he patted his belly, “It is dark inside bellies, so you were sleeping. It is like when you wake up and can’t remember your dream.”

“I always remember my dreams,” protested A-Yuan.

“Well then, see! You just didn’t remember that that dream was when you were in your A-Niang’s belly.”

A-Yuan thought for a long moment and then he reached up and patted Wei WuXian’s belly and looked at it as if bellies held all the answers and then said, “I think I remember which one.”

He then launched into a dream about a dragon that was sometimes A-Yuan and sometimes not.

“Come, we need to deliver the rest of the presents, you can tell us on the way,” said Lan WangJi.

And he did as they moved around the Burial Mounds gifting toothbrushes A-Yuan went on with his epic dream. They ended at Granny’s hut where A-Yuan carefully put the toothbrush down on one of the crates. He then wanted to count and organise his money and other purchases. A-Yuan’s toothbrush was set next to Jin RuLan’s and he held out a hand to Lan WangJi.

“You need to use your words A-Yuan,” prompted Wei WuXian.

“I want my money.”

“Politely, little Radish.”

“A-Die give me my money please.”

Lan WangJi handed over the pouch with both hands and A-Yuan took it properly he then took out the money and placed the pouch as if trying to make its space on the crate look the best. He then started to count the coins, but he always started over a five.

Wei WuXian chuckled, but Lan WangJi looked appalled that A-Yuan could only count to five. So, Wei WuXian said, “A-Yuan why don’t we go out in the light, and we’ll help you count.”

A-Yuan cheered and picked up his string of coins and brought it out of the hut and plopped down on the ground right in front of the door. There was a quirk of amusement at the corner of Lan WangJi’s mouth when he saw the boy and Wei WuXian, who was behind him still in the hut, was laughing.

“We should work at a table it will be cleaner and easier to see the coins there,” said Lan WangJi and he pulled the boy up into a standing position and brushed off the back of his robes before scooping him and the money up and brought them towards the tables where they ate.

A-Yuan counted and counted until he could get to one hundred and then they had him make piles of one hundred and then count his piles. When he declared his fortune Wei WuXian expanded the lesson he picked out two coins one heavier than the other. “See this A-Yuan? This coin is heavier that means it is worth more than one.”

And the lesson in money, maths, and counting continued until it was supper time. A-Yuan insisted again that he sleep with Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi and again they all went into the Demon Slaughtering Cave. Wei WuXian worked on his inventions while Lan WangJi played music and A-Yuan played with his butterflies or alternated between helping either adult before heading to bed. Wei WuXian protested the early bed hour, but Lan WangJi and A-Yuan insisted and the three of them were crowded into the bed before the Lan sleeping hour, and again somehow crowded against the wall snuggled to A-Yuan with Lan WangJi’s arm over him Wei WuXian slept well through the night.

Chapter Text

It had been agreed in the marriage negotiations that Wei WuXian would be considered part of the Jiang family but also the Wen. So, while the negotiation of patent rights and a few minor gifts were negotiated between the Lan and Jiang. The general cash portion of the bride price would go to the Wen remnants and the bolts of cloth to be paid out between the two sects.

Lan XiChen, Lan QiRen, Jiang Cheng and a proper contingent of disciples from each sect descended on Yiling. The Lans went around the city and procured tea and food stuff as further presents for the Wen while the Jiang looked at procuring boats to transfer a large amount of people. Luckily, Yiling was on the great river and there were riverways that connected both Lotus Pier and Caiyi Town to the great river. So, if they got boats then transferring the people at the Burial Mounds would not be difficult.

Jiang YanLi wanted to come with her brother and also represent the Jiang for the marriage negations she had begun, but she was too heavily pregnant to go off flying for a couple days. So, she was there when the array showed little Lan Yuan pick out a toothbrush for Jin RuLan. She had cried a few of happy tears when she saw that and became more determined than ever, when she saw the words Biaoxiong written out on a scrap of paper, to make sure that her child would know his older cousin.

The fact that the seller like them had assumed that A-Yuan’s honourable surname was Lan and that Lan WangJi was the one that said the name was correct meant that all the people in Koi Tower were convinced that Wei WuXian gave birth to Lan Yuan and had done what he did to repay the doctor that helped him give birth to his son, and coreless during the war as well. It seemed that the only reason the array was still running for people to watch was because everyone was still worried about the Stygian Tiger Seal. But the room was occupied with less and less people.

Though, Jiang YanLi was a constant in the room, she didn’t like spying, but she enjoyed seeing her brother. The morning after they bought toothbrushes, Lan Yuan woke Wei WuXian and then bleary eyed Wei WuXian was coaxed into washing his face and brushing his teeth with his family. The Wens needed help getting a tree stump out of a potential field and Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi were called to help and then they stayed to help with the field as A-Yuan spent the day with Granny.

After lunch they had gone back into the fields to work and they were winding down their day in the fields when Wei WuXian who was leaning on his hoe and chatting while he watched Lan WangJi work startled and gasped.

Lan WangJi had barely stopped working when Wei WuXian screamed out, “Wen Ning!” and then he dropped the hoe he had been holding and bolted out of the field. Lan WangJi was already going after him when Wei WuXian double back and said, “Lan Zhan there are a lot of people at the base of the mountain, maybe you should come and tell them I didn’t kidnap you.”

Then he turned and headed back down the mountain. Lan WangJi with swift strides caught up with Wei WuXian and said, “Wen QiongLin should stay up here and protect the people, or out of sight, whoever it is may be talked into leaving us alone but may see Wen QiongLin as a threat.”

Wei WuXian paused a moment looked at Lan WangJi and then nodded. The Wen Siblings had run up to them and Wei WuXian started talking to the two of them. While he was doing that Lan WangJi swiftly went into the cave and grabbed Bichen and then met up with Wen Ning, Wen Qing, and Wei WuXian moving down the mountain. Halfway down Wen Ning peeled off and melted into the surrounding trees and the three of them continued down.

Lan WangJi was surprised to see his brother and uncle not too far past the line of the barrier, with Jiang Cheng marching up the path in the lead as he was saying, “Last time I just walked up to the settlement.”

“Jiang Cheng?” asked Wei WuXian confused and he stopped walking down the path and started to look worried. Wen Qing and Lan WangJi stopped beside him.

The YunmengJiang Sect Leader look flustered when he saw his brother. “Were you just leaving?”

“No,” replied Wei WuXian, “the wards told me you were here.”

“They didn’t last time,” Jiang Cheng growled his voice rising in volume.

Wei WuXian blinked. “Well, you’re my Sect Lea—I mean you were my Sect Leader and my Shidi, and you were alone. I know our—your people and ZeWu-Jun and Lan-Xiansheng of course, “explained Wei WuXian and he paused to bow to the two Lan’s named before he continued, “but I don’t know this army of Lans that… that are carrying baskets of food?” he ended on a confused note.

Lan XiChen moved forward then and bowed. “Wei-Gongzi, Wen-Daifu, WangJi let me explain. It was decided that the sects would use an old spying artefact to ascertain the truth of the Yiling-Laozu and the Burial Mounds—”

“What?” asked Wei WuXian more confused than surprised.

Lan WangJi’s hand tightened on Bichen. “Xiongzhang, how could you and Shufu agree to such a thing?”

“They only agreed after Jiejie, and I agreed. Jin, Yao, Chang, Ouyang, Qin, and Su-Zongzhus all seemed to think that it was a great opportunity to show the ‘evils of the Yiling-Laozu’ and get the other sects specifically Nie and Lan to actually back a siege of the Burial Mounds. But Jiejie and I thought that it we agreed it would be an opportunity to show the world that you’re just living and farming here,” explained Jiang Cheng.

“Yes,” agreed Lan XiChen, “That is why I told you that you shouldn’t come to Koi Tower with me WangJi, I knew it would upset you. I apologise, I did not know you would use this time to come here or what the artefact would truly reveal?”

“And what did it reveal?” asked Wen Qing.

“That currently only Wen-Daifu and WangJi are the only cultivators in the Burial Mounds, that most of people here are just elderly farmers,” began Lan XiChen.

Wei WuXian looked like he was about to protest and Jiang Cheng cut off both Lan XiChen and his brother, “We saw when HanGuang-Jun took you and Lan Yuan flying on his sword, we heard how Wen Chao dropped you into the Burial Mounds coreless, you should have told me the Wen ZhuLiu got to you! I wouldn’t have pestered you about Suibian!”

“Jiang Cheng…”

“But that isn’t the matter that we are here to discuss,” said Jiang Cheng.

“What are you here to discuss?” asked Wen Qing.

“We know that WangJi and Wei-Gongzi eloped and Wei-Gongzi gave birth to their son Lan Yuan. We are family and have come here to conduct proper marriage talks,” replied Lan XiChen.

“What? That—“

Began Wei WuXian but Wen Qing stepped on his foot and said over Wei WuXian, “An elopement is a perfectly legitimate marriage contract, you think we will let you take our protectors away, when Wei WuXian and HanGuang-Jun are the only people standing in your way from killing all of us.”

Lan QiRen stepped forward. “We know Wei WuXian is pregnant again, as a doctor you must agree that the Burial Mounds is not a good place for a pregnant person. I don’t know what is needed for a man to safely give birth, but as the doctor that delivered Lan Yuan you must know that this is not the place to deliver another baby.”

Wei WuXian squawked and his hand went down to his belly as he stared mute at the people before him. Wen Qing answered, “He isn’t pregnant.”

“You cannot deny the presence of Lan Yuan,” countered Lan QiRen.

“I’m not denying A-Yuan, I’m saying right now Wei WuXian is not pregnant.”

“He said that he was growing Lan Yuan siblings and they would arrive in less than a year, WangJi agreed,” protested Lan QiRen.

“I was considering the impending arrival of Jin RuLan, planting A-Yuan is a game Wei Ying like to play to ‘help him grow’,” replied Lan WangJi.

The others might not be able to tell but Lan XiChen could see the nervousness, worry, and the tinge of fear in his brother. Lan QiRen then said, “You must agree that this is no place for Lan Yuan then.”

Wen Qing inclined her head. “No place for the elderly either.”

“We are getting side-tracked,” said Lan XiChen, “we are here to broker a marriage agreement even if it is a bit late between the Lan for WangJi’s portion and the Jiang and Wen for Wei WuXian’s. The Lan come bearing our gifts for the Wen of foods, tea, and coin and we have the contracts here waiting for input from Wei-Gongzi and the Wens. If you’ll allow I will cast an anti-spying ward and then we can go into the settlement and discuss the marriage agreement.”

Wei WuXian went to protest again but Wen Qing spoke over him and glared him into silence, “Cast the ward.”

Lan XiChen did as he was told and then Wen Qing looked at Lan WangJi for confirmation that his brother had done as promised. Then she turned her back to the group of Jiangs and Lans. “Wen Ning!” she called over her shoulder. Then she addressed the group, she bowed politely to them and said, “The settlement is currently worried that you are an invading force. I beg your leave to stay here a moment and let us go on ahead to calm our people.” Wen Ning appeared from the trees cautiously, and Wen Qing gestured to him. “My brother will lead you up.”

She then looked at her brother. “A-Ning give us about an incense stick before leading them up. That should give us time to calm everyone down. Seat them in the dining area, serve them the tea ZeWu-Jun brought. We will go into the cave and discuss things amongst ourselves first and then join them.”

“Can we see the contract that you have already formed?” She said to the group.

At the same time Jiang Cheng and Lan XiChen pulled out their copies of the contract. Wen Qing snatched both. Lan XiChen clarified, “We understand that we disturbed your people, we can wait. Just know in the contract the Jiang and Lan have indicated the rights to certain inventions of Wei-Gongzi that we would like to have but also that we agreed that the rights to all of Wei-Gongzi’s inventions belongs to him and he can keep them, sell them, or distribute them as he wishes. We are not trying to force anything on him or you.”

“Jie, it is getting late,” said Wen Ning.

“Wen QiongLin is correct, Xiongzhang, Shufu, Jiang-Zongzhu it is not safe for so many people to be out after dark on the Burial Mounds. You should get rooms in Yiling for the night and then come in the morning, that will give the Wens the night to think of what to add to the contract,” suggested Lan WangJi.

A few people looked like they were ready to protest but Lan XiChen agreed, “That is wise, WangJi, we will do as you suggest.”

There were the usual farewell pleasantries and the Jiang and Lan turned to leave the mountain when Lan WangJi called them back briefly, “Xiongzhang, the chickens and ducks you have brought would probably be better here and let Wen QiongLin look through the vegetables for what could compliment tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s meals.”

In the end all the food stuffs were left where they stood. When the Lans and Jiangs were out of sight and they each had a basket or two in hand Wei WuXian said, “I’m sorry Lan Zhan, I can’t believe that they thought—“

“Shut up Wei WuXian,” growled Wen Qing and Wei WuXian shut up.

Wen Ning raced ahead with his load to tell everyone that it was safe. The rest of them were still walking up the mountain when Wen Ning zoomed back and went to grab more baskets of food.

When they reached the settlement people were poking their heads out of hut. A-Yuan came barrelling out his little face tear streaked and snotty and he ran right into Wei WuXian’s leg and clung there. “A-Niang!”

One of the uncles came up and took the baskets of food from Wei WuXian and he bent down and scooped up the boy. Wei WuXian hugged A-Yuan tightly his mind a whirl as he rocked and gently shushed but let A-Yuan cry out his fear unimpeded. What could the sects have seen while they were spying that would make them think that Wei WuXian had given birth to A-Yuan? The little boy rubbed his snotty nose on the shoulder of Wei WuXian’s robe and Wei WuXian was hit with a wave of want, he wanted to have given birth to A-Yuan—heck, he wanted to be pregnant with Lan WangJi’s second child.

He jerked from his thoughts when he felt a ward going up and looked to see Lan WangJi standing by Wen Qing, Granny, and a few others. Wei WuXian winced here he was comforting a Wen child and dreaming that he was truly a Lan when Wen Yuan’s family were all standing right there. He remembered telling Lan WangJi when they first met in Yiling that he had given birth to A-Yuan but now it seemed that his joke was coming around to bite him. Wei WuXian prepared to be eviscerated by Wen Qing, while staying soft, cuddly, and comforting for A-Yuan, and looking at Lan WangJi curiously.

“Xiongzhang didn’t realise how big the Burial Mounds really were, I recast the anti-spying ward,” said Lan WangJi.

Wei WuXian nodded. He didn’t like the thought of people watching them. They weren’t doing anything and really the spying could really only show how innocent they were, but he didn’t like the deceit of it. 

He went to apologise again and really join the conversation but he had barely gotten the first part of ‘sorry out of his mouth when he drew the others’ attention and Wen Qing spoke, in a tone that luckily didn’t speak of a future as medicinal ingredients, “Wei WuXian why don’t you take A-Yuan to rest in the cave, we will speak about this situation once we have everyone settled.”

The weight of the toddler in his arms reminded Wei WuXian of his priorities and he nodded his head and turned toward the Demon Slaughtering Cave. The group watched him go and Lan WangJi took a couple steps toward the cave but Wen Qing called him back, “Not you, HanGuang-Jun we need to speak with you first.”

Lan WangJi turned back and looked at Wen Qing and Granny, they had been speaking quietly for a time and he had only joined them in conversation when they asked about the ward. But most of the time he looked at Wei WuXian and A-Yuan together and wondered what was to happen. He had hoped that if he let his dreams play out as reality for the few days he was staying in the Burial Mounds that when he left Wei WuXian would not want their fictitious family to end.

“Do you love Wei WuXian?” asked Wen Qing.

He froze.

Wen Qing held up the contract that the Lans and Jiangs had drawn up. “This says that all of Wei WuXian’s family regardless of blood ties and surname that are currently displaced will be given farming land in Gusu or Yunmeng, depending on preferences. That the people here will be protected by the Jiang and Lan sects and will not need to fear persecution. If we agree to this contract, we can all leave. I am telling you this as I trust your honour. We will stay if it will make you and Wei WuXian happier to not be married. But I need to know do you love him? Do you want to marry him?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want A-Yuan as your son?”

Lan WangJi hesitated. “I would like that, but I understand that it is not my right.”

“If you claim him as your son, they think that Wei WuXian gave birth to him. Can you keep up that fiction? Or do we need to tell everyone that he is a Wen?”

There was another hesitation as Lan WangJi considered, lying was against the rules, but at the same time when he had first met A-Yuan the people in Yiling were commenting on their similarities and Wei WuXian had said he had given birth to A-Yuan, he would just be repeating what he had been told.

“I think that we all need to discuss what would be best for A-Yuan, but if it was the best option I could maintain the fiction,” replied Lan WangJi.

Wen Qing nodded. “All right, you go with Granny and look over the contract I’m going to try to knock some sense into Wei WuXian,” she said and then turned toward the cave. She just stood there a moment looking at the cave, she sighed audibly then looked over her shoulder. “If Wei WuXian comes at you with some claptrap about how you would ‘never love someone like him’, you would be doing us all a favour if you just told him you loved him in those words no beating around the bush, hells I don’t trust you with words, actions seem more your thing, just kiss him, he won’t understand otherwise.”

Lan WangJi’s ears went red and he had no words just watched as Wen Qing walked towards the cave. Granny patted his arm and then followed after Wen Qing, she intended to use the front room of the cave for their talks.

Wen Qing made her way to the back of the cave where Wei WuXian slept she found him sitting on the bed brushing fingers through A-Yuan’s hair as the toddler slept, there was a lost look on Wei WuXian’s face as he stared off into space.

When he heard her he turned around fast and then when he saw her, he scrambled, he slid to the floor by the bed, and bowed low to Wen Qing. “Wen-Daifu, I am so sorry, I mean I didn’t know we were being spied on but I’m sorry my jokes have gone this far. I love Wen Yuan and I would never wish to take him from your family.”

“Get off the ground Wei WuXian let’s sit over at your table and discuss this,” said Wen Qing.

Wei WuXian didn’t move.

Wen Qing sighed. “You know no one has ever called him Wen Yuan.”

That got Wei WuXian to look up, “What?”

“Officially that was what we wrote down of course when he was born, but there was a war. His mother didn’t want to go and fight, she just had a baby after all. We lied and said the baby wasn’t born. We called A-Yuan just that, claimed his mother died in birth and A-Yuan’s mother’s milk came in early so she was feeding him while she waited to give birth. Wen had been a dangerous name since he was born, and it was always safer for him to not be a Wen.”

He got up off the floor then and sat on one of the stones he used for seats.

“We aren’t angry none of us here corrected A-Yuan when he started calling you A-Niang and HanGuang-Jun A-Die. I am here as your Qing-Jie to talk about this situation, so we can decide what to do.”

“All right, is someone coming in to watch A-Yuan or is everyone coming here?”

“Granny is talking to Lan WangJi, I’m talking to you. We figured it was best if you each decided what you want from this first before we all talk together.”

“It doesn’t matter what I want, Lan Zhan doesn’t want to be married to me. We just need to figure out what to tell the sects.”

“Wei WuXian do you love HanGuang-Jun?”

“What!” asked Wei WuXian startled and his down cast eyes looked up at Wen Qing they were like quicksilver pools shifting with the myriad of Wei WuXian’s emotions.

She just stared him down.

“I used to think that he was my zhiji and then I gave my core away and was thrown into here. I thought that was over. Recently, I thought that perhaps we could be that again. But zhiji is enough, it isn’t like Lan Zhan, or his sect would want him to marry a demonic cultivator like me, besides men don’t marry each other.”

“Have you never heard of a marriage in the Southern Fashion? Besides this marriage contract would say otherwise. The Jiang and Lan are willing to consider this marriage Wei WuXian, but the question is do you want this marriage? Do you love him? We won’t let you marry unless it is for love.”

“It still doesn’t matter.”

“Look Wei WuXian, HanGuang-Jun isn’t here right now so let’s forget about him. You tell me, do you love him? If there were no obstacles would you want to be married to HanGuang-Jun?”

“Qing-Jie.”

“We are talking about what you want. You need to know in your heart what you want and then we can talk together and decide what to do next. For example do you want to keep being A-Yuan’s A-Niang.”

“But I’m not—“

“Do you want to be? Or should I be telling that little boy he can’t call you A-Niang anymore?”

“You can’t do that! It’s too late, you’ll make A-Yuan cry!”

“All right, so I’m going to just assume that you are in love with HanGuang-Jun, wish to be introduced as Lan-Er-Shao-Furen, and that you want everyone to know that you birthed Lan Yuan son of HanGuang-Jun, and we are going to look at this marriage contract and I want you to think about what life would be like if you agreed to these conditions, OK? You should also think about the things that would make your life better, that should be added to the contract.”

Wei WuXian sighed. “Qing-Jie, it hurts to think about these things.”

“I know, hope can hurt, but think about this. There are a lot of Lans and Jiangs in inns in Yiling right now. You’ll have to talk about this tomorrow. If you do it now and cry, only I will know, and I won’t tell.”

“All right, what is the first thing in the contract?”

Wen Qing looked down at the contract in her hand. “They understand that you know longer have a core as it was destroyed by Wen ZhuLiu in the war,” she paused and looked at Wei WuXian, “You should decide if we are going to continue to let them assume that.”

She didn’t let Wei WuXian reply but looked down and read some more. “They understand that you developed demonic cultivation as a means to survive and help win the war. They would like to point out that demonic cultivation within Cloud Recesses is forbidden, but the Lans would offer you any aid with demonic artefacts such as the Stygian Tiger Seal. Their aid will include but is not limited to helping you destroy it, contain it, or to just let you have it as long as it isn’t used in Cloud Recesses. The Jiang make a similar pledge.”

“But I’ll be locked up?”

She read a bit more and then shook her head. “As the contract is right now, you’ll receive all benefits of a wife of Lan-Er-Shao-Zongzhu, they have a list of suggestions for how you could fill your time and contribute to the sect.”

“I don’t have a core, I can’t contribute,” protested Wei WuXian.

She shook her head again. “The Lan Sect is offering to build you a workshop for your inventions if a building they already have isn’t suitable for your needs. They would like you to consider teaching—“

Wei WuXian snorted.

“Archery, talismans, arrays, painting, and sect histories are on the list of suggested topics they think you are suited for.”

“Oh, oh, yeah… I could teach those! And they would let me? And give me a place to invent? No one liked my inventions before!”

“They also suggest that you could work in the crèche if you wanted. But you seem to have forgotten that you made the Spirit Attraction Talismans and Flags, and sects are using them. Your ideas and inventions are worth money. If you retain the rights to them only those you deem, can produce them, and you’ll get a portion of the proceeds and anyone else who draws up a talisman of yours for example with have to pay, there would be a fine if they try to use it without permission. That is why the Jiang and Lan Sects already discussed your inventions and the rights to them as part of your dowry if you are willing.”

“Really?”

“Really, the Jiang want your Compass of Evil for example as you originally designed it for Water Ghouls.”

“But I don’t even have a working compass yet.”

“It is right in here; the Jiang will provide funds and materials for you to finish the Compass if you give the rights to them and any future improvements or modification you come up with to the design.”

“Yeah, I mean if I married into the Lan I think they should get a couple compasses without having to purchase them beyond materials, but Jiang Cheng can have the rights that is no problem.”

Wen Qing nodded. “You should keep some for yourself, so you can have your own income. But while we are on the topic of rights, would you give the Wen the rights to your Water Purification Talisman, and your Irrigation Sealing Array?”

“Yeah, of course, anything you want, though those two would be really helpful for the common folk, I don’t think you should be making money off of them.”

“We could sell them in a way that poor villages would just have to pay for the Wen cultivator to activate them, while the richer people or the cultivators would have to pay for the talisman or array.”

“But you are the only Wen Cultivator now…”

The cave was silent for a moment, A-Yuan’s soft snores drifted to them, “Your husband-to-be likes to help people, I’m sure we can work in a deal for aid from the Lan or the Jiang. Here look at the list and see what you think.”

She folded over the contract and showed Wei WuXian the relevant section. “I don’t want anyone to have the Spirit Attraction Flag, it is what they used to kill Wen Ning.”

Wen Qing hummed, “Yes, I see your point.”

“Hey what about Wen Ning?”

She took back the contract and scanned through to the relevant section that talked about the relocation of the Wens. She didn’t want to tell Wei WuXian about it immediately, she wanted him to marry Lan WangJi because he wanted to. “Says they want an interview to understand Wen Ning better, but he was revived outside Cloud Recesses so as long as they deem him safe there isn’t anything they could really bar him entry with. Lotus Pier will always be open to A-Ning as it was he who got Jiang-Zongzhu safely out, I too have an open invitation to Lotus Pier for the service I did to the Jiangs during the war.”

“Oh, that’s good. What else is in there?”

“Lan Yuan will be considered HanGuang-Jun’s heir and thus within the line of succession of the Lan sect while ZeWu-Jun has no heirs. If at some point in the future you and HanGuang-Jun have more children if any of them are suited to YunmengJiang style over Lan style they are welcome to study at Lotus Pier that includes Lan Yuan. Just for your future children though if one is suitable and you all agree they could be adopted as Jiang WanYin’s heir. The Lan Sect will do nothing to impede any of your children from being part of the Jiang Sect instead.”

“Wow, really? Now I want more children!”

Wen Qing snorted. “There is also a whole section on the gifts to be exchanged and what the marriage alliance will mean in terms of aid for the Lan, Jiang, and Wen Remnants.”

They went over everything and then when they were finished Wen Qing asked, “So, what do you think do you love HanGuang-Jun enough to marry him?”

“Qing-Jie…”

“Don’t you Qing-Jie me, you said not to long ago that you wanted to have more of HanGuang-Jun’s children. Men don’t usually get pregnant, to do so you would have to work very hard. It isn’t an easy want to push aside.”

“I know, but there is more than just me involved, I don’t want to pressure Lan Zhan, and I’m not going to just leave you all here. It is a nice life, but I just can’t choose it without considering others.”

There was a pause and then Wen Qing said, “So it is time to talk with the others, you stay with Lan Yuan I don’t want him to wake up alone at the moment, I’ll go see if the others are ready.”

Wen Qing left the back room headed for the front of the cave and Wei WuXian went back over to watch the toddler sleep, it was a comforting activity, to watch the child easy in his sleep, comfortable in the fact that the adults in his life knew what to do and how to protect him. It was a nice thought that he had A-Yuan’s trust and confidence, because more often than not he didn’t have confidence in his own ability to keep them all safe.

There was noise behind Wei WuXian, and he looked over his shoulder to see Wen Qing, Granny, and Lan WangJi step into the chamber. Again Wei WuXian got up to apologise but in his hurry or perhaps in his indecision about whether to kowtow or simply bow he stumbled forward. Lan WangJi caught him, his hands gripping Wei WuXian’s shoulders and steadying him.

“I’m so sorry Lan Zhan. I know you don’t like me all that much and to have your family think we are married must be the worst. I’ll do anything to make this right—“

Wei WuXian was cut off by one of Lan WangJi’s hands yanking him forward while the other one slide to the small of his back to brace him and Lan WangJi’s lips slammed into Wei WuXian’s swallowing the words and replacing them with a merciless tongue the took and took from Wei WuXian. His knees went weak and he practically slumped into the bruising kiss, trusting Lan WangJi to keep him standing.

When they pulled apart Wei WuXian took in great lungfuls of air as his brain slowly remembered how to function and form words. And when it did, the words burst out of Wei WuXian, “It was you that kissed me at Phoenix Mountain!”

“Mn,” said Lan WangJi with a nod, “I want to marry Wei Ying.”

“Really you do? Not just because everyone already thinks we are married?”

“I li—“ Lan WangJi began but there was a cough behind him, and he amended, “I love Wei Ying, I want to marry you. Do you want to marry me?”

“Of course I want to marry you, Lan Zhan!” said Wei WuXian and he wrapped his hands around Lan WangJi’s neck. The smile on his face faltered. “What won you over? Was it A-Yuan? He is the cutest. You know that the marriage contract doesn’t have me going back to Cloud Recesses right?”

Wen Qing reached around Lan WangJi and smacked Wei WuXian upside the head. “You idiot, you said he kissed you at Phoenix Mountain that had to happen before I came looking for your help. His feelings are not new.”

Lan WangJi hummed in agreement, “I always loved Wei Ying.”

“Since when?”

There was a long pause and Lan WangJi’s ears went red in a quiet voice he said, “Since we fought to a draw on the roof in the moonlight.”

“That was the first night we met!” gasped Wei WuXian. “You should have said something early!”

“When we were young I was confused and didn’t understand my feelings.”

Wei WuXian smiled bright. “Me too! I was always drawn to you, my zhiji, but I don’t think I understood that it was love until later.”

“Until a moment ago you mean,” grumbled Wen Qing.

But the new couple didn’t have ears for her. Suddenly Wei WuXian grew sad, and he tried to pull out of Lan WangJi’s arms, but Lan WangJi wouldn’t loosen his hold enough to allow escape. “We can’t be that anymore Lan Zhan I cannot fight you to a standstill.”

Lan WangJi hugged Wei WuXian tighter to him. “I do not love you just for your fighting ability. My zhiji was not your golden core, but you Wei Ying, just you, always you.”

“Oh Lan Zhan!” exclaimed Wei WuXian and he pressed his lips back to Lan WangJi’s.

They kissed for long moments, filthy kisses that weren’t appropriate considering their audience. Wen Qing snapped first, “All right you two stop that now so we can talk, besides you are supposed to have been married long enough to have a three-year-old son, you should have learned decorum by now.”

The couple pulled apart and Wei WuXian immediately turned to look at A-Yuan in the bed then he looked back at Lan WangJi. “Did you see Lan Zhan? More children were in the contract and your uncle seemed pretty convinced that I was already pregnant. Are you going to get me pregnant with your next child now?”

“Mn.”

Wei WuXian beamed but Wen Qing sighed loudly and drew their attention. “It’s impossible for a man to get pregnant do I need to give you the talk about how sex works? What am I saying? Lan-Xiansheng thinks Wei WuXian was pregnant too, I need to give everyone the sex talk!”

“Attempt the impossible!” proclaimed Wei WuXian.

“Mn,” agreed Lan WangJi.

Granny added, “If that is the reaction Wei-Gongzi has to the word impossible, I figure that someone at that meeting in Koi Tower said it too and the Jiang Sect responded in kind.”

Wen Qing turned to look at her grandmother her eyes still annoyed, then she looked back at the couple with narrowed eyes and said, “I’m giving you two the sex talk, and I’ll make lube tonight for your use, I’m sure I have enough seaweed to make a bit, enough to sell that you have an healthy sex life. A-Yuan is sleeping here tonight, you two can’t have sex until you have the proper supplies. Now let’s talk this contract through.”

They sat down at the stone table. Lan WangJi immediately started organising the papers there while Wei WuXian started to prepare ink. When the ink was finished before Lan WangJi, Wen Qing just shoved the papers aside, and then rifled through them until she found a blank piece of paper.

“Wei WuXian get up, let Granny have that seat,” said Wen Qing.

“Why? She is already seated over there.”

“The ink stone is there and as she is the grandmother of your son; she is in charge of your marriage contract she’ll be writing. Besides no one but you can read your writing.”

Wei WuXian pouted but got up and switched places with Granny. While they discussed the contract and going to Gusu or Yunmeng Lan WangJi continued to organise the papers into neat piles. They were far from finished when Wen Ning came in to get them for dinner. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi went over and woke A-Yuan.  The toddler was still clingy but seemed to be happier that he woke in the cave with Wei WuXian, Lan WangJi, Granny, Wen Ning, and Wen Qing. They went out to have dinner and the main conversation was about the marriage contract.

After dinner most of the people grabbed their sleeping things and moved into the front room of the cave. Ink was made and they continued on with their discussions about what they wanted about where to live and what they thought Wei WuXian deserved. When everyone was satisfied they all turned in to sleep. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi led A-Yuan back to Wei WuXian’s room and they settled onto the bed.

Before going to sleep Wei WuXian whispered to A-Yuan, “A lot of people are going to come here tomorrow. My brother, I don’t know if you remember him, he visited once. He wears violet, and he looks angry most of the time but is actually very nice. He is the sect leader of the YunmengJiang Sect and your Shushu.”

“Jiujiu,” corrected Lan WangJi, “we are saying you are A-Yuan’s mother.”

There was silence for a moment and then Wei WuXian said, “I think that means you get to choose which you like best and then you can call my brother that. He will come with some of the disciples from his sect. Lan Zhan’s brother is also coming he is the Sect Leader of the GusuLan Sect, he looks a lot like your A-Die. He is your Bobo.”

“You should call him Bofu, my uncle is coming too he is your granduncle, you should call him Shuzu.”

“Mn,” agreed A-Yuan and Wei WuXian pinched his cheeks until he giggled.

“Your Bofu and Shuzu are also bringing Sect Disciples. See what happened is that the bad men lied and told everyone that me and Wen Ning were bad. So, we had to come here where it was safe from the bad men, but now everyone knows the truth and my family and Lan Zhan’s family are coming to get us. See a long time ago, before you were born, Lan Zhan and I knew we were zhiji that we knew each other best. But I did something stupid and it made Lan Zhan’s uncle angry with me so we didn’t tell anyone. Then the war happened, and you were born.

“Now, that everyone knows the truth that I’m not a bad person, that Lan Zhan and I are zhiji, and that you are the cutest and best little Radish in the world they want us to have the wedding we should have had a long time ago. So, they will come tomorrow and then soon we will go to Cloud Recesses and live with your A-Die’s family. How does that sound?”

“What about the brothers and sister you are growing for me?”

“In Cloud Recesses, there are many children for A-Yuan to play with. My cousin has a son about your age named Lan Bo,” explain Lan WangJi.

“And Granny and everyone are coming too?”

“Everyone is going,” confirmed Wei WuXian.

“All right, when do we get married?”

Wei WuXian chuckled. “We have to talk about it tomorrow and then we’ll decide.”

“All right, sleep now?”

“Sleep now,” agreed Lan WangJi, and they went to sleep.

The Burial Mounds were in a flurry the next morning, Lan WangJi’s tin of toothpaste was exhausted. Everyone was putting on their best clothes and Wen Ning had gone into the kitchen early to make sure they had food if their guests arrived early and so everyone would have a full stomach and sharp mind for the day’s events.

Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian taught A-Yuan how to properly greet people. Wei WuXian held Chenqing like it was a fan and walked around A-Yuan with his best impression of Lan QiRen’s lecturing face and said solemnly, “Now, A-Yuan you have been living with family for a long time and everyone knows you so they call you ‘A-Yuan’ but when you meet new people especially sect leaders you need to say your honourable surname understand?”

A-Yuan was giggling and kept turning so he could watch Wei WuXian circle him but when asked the question his little laughing face grew serious in his best impression of Lan WangJi and replied, “Mn.”

Wei WuXian smiled but then A-Yuan’s face morphed to one of confusion and he asked, “But what is my honourable surname?”

“Well, children take the honourable surname of their father? So, what do you think?” asked Wei WuXian in return.

“Han?”

“Han?” asked Wei WuXian surprised, “Where did you get Han from?”

“HanGuang-Jun is my title, people call me that to be respectful. What does Wei Ying call me?” answered Lan WangJi.

“Lan?”

“Yes, very good little Radish,” agreed Wei WuXian.

“I’m a Lan like A-Die!” screamed little Lan Yuan.

“Yes,” agreed Lan WangJi.

“A-Niang are you a Lan too?”

“A-Niang’s have their father’s honourable surnames, I’m a Wei,” Wei WuXian clarified.

Lan Yuan pouted a bit and then Lan WangJi added, “But Wei Ying’s title would be Lan-Er-Shao-Furen, so everyone knows that he is my husband, your mother, and part of our family.”

A-Yuan cheered, and Wei WuXian smiled, but then he put his serious teacher face on and said, “Yes, yes, now you need to bow like this when you greet people.”

Wei WuXian demonstrated the bow, and he used Chenqing in place of his sword. “When you are older and have your own sword you will bow holding that, for right now you just don’t hold anything.”

Lan Yuan eagerly tried bowing and overbalanced himself a couple times but Lan WangJi was there to catch him before he fell to the ground and ruined his nice clean clothes. When he got the bow correctly Wei WuXian went on to teach him what to say. “When you meet everyone you bow to the first person and say, ‘This Lan Yuan greets and then their name.’”

“Wei Ying it would be easier if we told him who to greet first, A-Yuan start with Wei Ying’s brother you should say, ‘this Lan Yuan greets Jiang-Zongzhu.’”

“Good idea,” said Wei WuXian and then they coached the boy into practising. When he was good at it Wei WuXian continued the lesson. “You don’t need to say your name each time you just need to turn and bow to Lan Zhan’s brother, he looks like Lan Zhan and say, ‘Lan-Zongzhu’ then you turn and bow to Lan Zhan’s uncle, he has a beard and say, ‘Lan-Xiansheng’—“

“No, A-Yuan address Shufu as Lan-Shuzu,” returned Lan WangJi.

“Lan-Shuzu,” repeated Lan Yuan, “Then we get married and go to A-Die’s home?”

Wei WuXian chuckled and scooped up the boy up and brought him out of the cave to eat breakfast. The whole of the Burial Mounds had gotten up early, the anticipation not allowing them to sleep in.

The parties from the Jiang and Lan Sects arrived at the base of the Burial mounds not long after the gates of Yiling were opened. When Wei WuXian felt the tingle of the wards warning him of what could amount to an invading force, he informed the rest of the arrival of their guests. “They’re here. Lan Zhan, Qing-Jie, and I will go down, Wen Ning come halfway down again in case the settlement or we need your help.

Lan Yuan didn’t want to be left with Granny. Everyone was still nervous about what was to come, but Lan Yuan clung desperately to Lan WangJi’s leg not wanting his parents to leave his sight. They had very little time before leaving the Lan and Jiang at the base of the mountain would be considered rude, so Wei WuXian offered his hand and said, “All right A-Yuan let’s go together and meet your uncles.”

Lan Yuan was hesitant he looked up from where his little head was buried in Lan WangJi’s knee and scrutinised Wei WuXian for a lie or trick and then he held out one hand. Wei WuXian took it and Lan WangJi reached down and uncurled the other hand from around his leg and helped Wei WuXian hoist the boy back to his feet. The toddler squealed and the tears that had been blotting his face dried.

He insisted on holding both of his father’s hands as they walked down the mountain. He even lifted his feet and let them swing him. He was his cheery, out-going self but the moment they started to see purple and white peeking through the trees stark and bright against the dead and grey foreground Lan Yuan said, “A-Niang.”

Wei WuXian didn’t even pause he just tugged lightly on the hands in his, Lan WangJi let go of the hand he was holding, and Wei WuXian lifted Lan Yuan up in his arms so that the toddler was on his hip.

When they broke the treeline, Lan Yuan buried his head in Wei WuXian’s neck and hid his face from everyone. They all bowed and made their greetings Wei WuXian’s was a bit awkward with the child clinging to him. But he rubbed Lan Yuan’s back and asked gently, “Did you want to greet everyone?”

He didn’t answer, just shook his head, rubbing it against Wei WuXian’s neck. Wei WuXian looked at their guests and said, “Sorry, he is feeling shy, but this is A-Yuan. Come on up.”

Wei WuXian turned and head back up the mountain carrying Lan Yuan and walking next to Wen Qing, while Lan WangJi walked at the back to be sure there was no nefarious persons that meant them all harm trying to sneak in.

Food was offered and tea served and for a while the Burial Mounds were tense. The Lans who were always silent during meals looked the most comfortable, but no one else was talking, so it just left and air of nervous anticipation.

Lan XiChen took a sip of his tea and then put down his cup with a gentle smile. Then he started off the discussion of more formally acknowledging Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian’s wedding. Granny handed over the two copies of the Burial Mounds agreement or addendum to the contract already written and time was given for the Lans and Jiangs to look it over and discuss among their sects about the issue.

As the area got quieter and no one was doing anything but reading and quietly talking, Lan Yuan finally loosened his hold on Wei WuXian and looked around at the people. Now that their requests for the marriage contract were being read the anxiety among the Wen Remnants increased. But Wei WuXian was amazed at how long the normally boisterous Lan Yuan could just stare in wonder at their visitors.

Lan WangJi was sitting across the table from Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan and the little boy decided he wanted to sit with his other father and decided that the most expedient way to do that was to go over the table. He wiggled out of Wei WuXian’s lap and onto the table and by the time that Wei WuXian realised that Lan Yuan hadn’t slipped down off his lap the boy was crawling across the table.

“A-Yuan, no get down,” hissed Wei WuXian.

The boy in question paused in the middle of the table at his father’s words. Wei WuXian reached for Lan Yuan and tried to grab him off the table without drawing attention but the toddler abandoned crawling for walking and got to his feet. It made him just out of reach of a seated Wei WuXian. On his feet, Lan Yuan turned around to look a Wei WuXian.

“Get off the table A-Yuan, you know you aren’t supposed to walk on it!” hissed Wei WuXian.

“A-Yuan,” intoned Lan WangJi.

Lan Yuan turned to look at his other father and in the process saw everyone that was looking at him. He seemed to forget his earlier shyness and turned to the Jiangs and did a bow. “This Lan Yuan greets Jiang-Zongzhu-Jiujiu.” He then turned to the others and bowed again “Lan-Zongzhu-Bobo, Lan-Shuzu, everyone.”

Lan WangJi stood up and reached for Lan Yuan. “Come A-Yuan off of the table.”

“Are we married now?”

Chuckles burst out of some of the adults and the tension seemed to let up.

Wei WuXian laughed and held his arms out to A-Yuan, but the boy took a step towards Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian didn’t look sad and just said, “We explained this to you A-Yuan we won’t have the ceremony until later.

“You said you were zhiji since you first met on a roof on the moon and there was a rabbit, but it was a secret, shh… and but everyone knows the bad people are liars so it is no longer a secret and everyone was coming so we could get married. They are here so we are married.”

“We weren’t on the moon A-Yuan and there was no rabbit,” said Wei WuXian his eyes smiling with delight.

“We are zhiji, you are right A-Yuan, but what you mean is the wedding banquet and that needs to be in Cloud Recesses,” explained Lan WangJi.

Lan Yuan was standing on Lan WangJi’s lap he had been looking out but had turned to look at his father. He considered the new information and then nodded with a hum and added, “Where you and A-Niang fell in love,” like it was the most obvious answer—people had to get married where they fell in love.

“Save me some face A-Yuan!” whined Wei WuXian his head was down and his shoulders shook.

“You are correct, but first we need to agree on some things first,” explained Lan WangJi, “Can you sit down and listen to see if we forget anything?”

“Mn,” nodded the boy and he turned around on Lan WangJi’s lap and sat down.

Wei WuXian was still looking down at the table, Lan QiRen looked a bit scandalised, Lan XiChen looked to be laughing behind his tea cup, and Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing were smirking. The talks were boring for the toddler and he soon lost interest but when he left the table he went under it instead of over it.

Everything went smoothly, the Wens hadn’t made any major changes to the contract that the Lans and Jiangs had already created. Wei WuXian’s inventions created a bit of a stir when they got to that section of the dowry and asset going to each.

Lan QiRen asked in surprise, “You created a Water Purifying Talisman?”

“Well,” began Wei WuXian, “it needs to work in combination with a water purification apparatus it’s more of a purified water detecting talisman. We all know that moving water is safer than still water, but what that does is the water catches on things like the rocks and the things you don’t want to drink get left behind. We also know for Yixing teapots that ceramic, while it holds liquid, also absorbs liquid. The teapots are meant to absorb a little bit of the tea, flavour, colour and minerals with each brewing and can redeposit some of what it absorbed into later brewings. We also know that in Tianzhu they filtered water by running it through gravel and charcoal. Wen Qing said that while that system would make the water look and taste clean their rate of disease did not go significantly down when the filter was used. Granny mentioned her old Yixing teapot and how she didn’t even need to add leaves to it anymore to get a pot of tea. That got me thinking about ceramic.”

Wei WuXian had the Lans transfixed, the Wens knew the story already and Jiang Cheng looked like he just wanted the end of the story to be told. Wei WuXian continued, “We designed the filter, but as we have no great potter here the finished product looks a bit crude. You pour the water into the filter and is goes through a layer of gravel, then charcoal, and then gravel again, then it is pressed through the ceramic. As the pot doesn’t look like much Wen Qing feared it’s actual effectiveness, we could not afford to drink contaminated water, so I created the talisman that will tell you if the water is safe to drink. It is carved onto our pot by the spout you just get it wet and if the lines become black the water isn’t safe, then you just clean the pot and try again!”

There was a silence and then someone said, “That sounds like an invention that would benefit everyone.”

“Yes, yes it would, but I already said that the Wens could have the rights to it, they will not leave the people in need without. They also wanted the Irrigation Sealing Talisman.”

“How does that one work?” asked Lan XiChen.

“We don’t need the process right now Wei WuXian, just the result,” said Jiang Cheng.

Wei WuXian stuck his tongue out at his brother and Wen Qing stepped on his foot for it. “Well, it was honestly jumping off of the filter if ceramic lets water go through how do we stop it from doing so, when you don’t want it to? The talisman is a seal that doesn’t allow the water to slip through so you don’t lose your water to the irrigation ditch and the most water gets to where you want it to go.”

While both the Lans and Jiangs seemed to think that the Wens had laid claim to the most lucrative of Wei WuXian’s inventions they did not argue over it. They had started it by claiming what they had known that Wei WuXian had invented, instead of leaving the inventions out of the processes or asking for a list of inventions before staking claim.

The family obligations section had Jiang Cheng demanding that Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi spend at least a few months in Lotus Pier. While Wen Qing stated, “You need to understand that the conditions that allowed Lan Yuan to be born cannot be repeated. Jiang-Zongzhu would be better prepared to adopt a second or third child of Jin-Shao-Furen’s then Wei WuXian’s and that there will not be a spare heir for GusuLan as the main branch seems to like. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi will only have the one son unless they adopt.”

“GusuLan understands,” replied Lan XiChen, “we considered adopted children as just the same and certainly don’t require two sons it was just a quirk of the last few generations having two sons.”

Jiang Cheng snorted and waved off the comment it made Wen Qing’s lips purse and her eyes narrow, “I’m telling you the truth, men cannot just get pregnant.”

The Jiang around the area started to smile like it was all a joke and it made Wen Qing angrier, Wei WuXian tried to calm her down but she would have none of it. “Wei WuXian is without a golden core and one child is more than most men married in the southern fashion get. I would be comfortable saying that it is impossible for Wei WuXian to get pregnant and have another child that way.”

A cheer went up amongst the Jiang and Jiang Cheng smirked. “You said it, if it is impossible Wei WuXian cannot resist, I’m sure he’ll be pregnant again in a matter of months.”

Wen Qing looked ready to scream. Jiang Cheng added, “The Jiang Sect understands, we do not want to put any pressure on either Wei WuXian or HanGuang-Jun to have more children, and we too will accept any adopted children and will also be happy if Lan Yuan is their only child and the heir to HanGuang-Jun and GusuLan.”

They had a finalised contract in time for lunch, which Wen Ning and a few others had gone off to prepare while the rest discussed their future. Lunch was much more relaxed and boisterous then breakfast had been. Lans and Jiangs offered to help Wei WuXian and the Wens pack up their belongings. And a couple Jiangs went back down to Yiling to make sure that the boats they had arranged were ready for use.

Wei WuXian’s cave took the longest to pack up, as they didn’t want to leave behind a scrap of note, as some of them were part of the contract. So even when in the middle of packing Wei WuXian screamed, “These are my papers, I can recreate them, let’s just leave them here!” he was ignored, and his cave packed up.

Leaving the Burial Mounds was a different matter. Individual and small groups did it often enough, but the last time they had moved as a large group was when they had arrived. The closer they got to Yiling proper the more nervous the Wen Remnants got. The Jiang and Lans ended up flanking them on either side for the walk down to the Great River.

Lan Yuan looked weary at the boat when he had seen it, but he was secure in his A-Niang’s arms he didn’t make a fuss about getting on the boat but instead had many questions about how the boat stayed on the water and wouldn’t all the people getting into the boat make it sink, etc. His questions drained to a trickle and then ceased as he started to look green around the gills.

“A-Niang, A-Die, Qing-Yi!” whined Lan Yuan.

Wei WuXian  shushed him and rubbed his back soothingly. “Oh no little Radish are you boat sick?”

The boy in question nodded miserably with a whimpered sound of agreement.

Lan WangJi murmured, “I could fly him back to Gusu, we know he is fine with flying.”

“We should ask Qing-Jie first and see if she has anything that could help and if not then you can take him,” replied Wei WuXian.

“I want to stay with A-Niang,” protested Lan Yuan.

“Don’t worry little Radish you are stuck with A-Niang forever and ever; you’ll never get rid of me!”

“Good,” agreed Lan Yuan, though his tone wasn’t as excited as normal.

Lan WangJi got up and went to find Wen Qing. The boats weren’t huge, but they were big enough that Lan WangJi would have had to yell to get Wen Qing’s attention as she was at the opposite end of the boat from where Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan had settled down.

She took one look at Lan WangJi and then opened a jar she had at her side, she ladled out some of the contents into a cup and handed it to Lan WangJi. “Who’s sick?”

“A-Yuan.”

Wen Qing frowned and then she got to her feet. “Let me look him over the ginger tea might be too strong for him.”

The two of them walked back across the boat. When they reached mother and son Wen Qing asked, “A-Yuan can you tell me how you feel?”

“My tummy feels not happy and my head hurts, but it doesn’t. Like I span around really, really, really fast and not I’m going to throw up!”

“Have you thrown up?”

“Not yet, but I will!” 

“Let’s hope you don’t, it is never fun,” said Wen Qing and she took up Lan Yuan’s pulse to see how he was doing.

She ended up watering down the tea a bit and hovered as Lan Yuan drank as to make sure that the flavour wouldn’t make the boy sick instead of preventing it.

They were using cultivation to push the boats faster down the river, but it would still take about two full days and four and a half shichen to get to Caiyi Town. Since the left in the evening that would get them there early in the morning before Cloud Recesses began to stir. So they slowed the boats down and occasionally took breaks on land mostly so Wen Qing could brew more of her boat sickness concoction. But otherwise, they slept and ate on the boats.

The boats arrived in Caiyi Town with no issues, and everyone disembarked. A cart was rented to take belongings up the mountain, but it was decided that it would be better to fly everyone up the mountain instead of walking the entire way, just so they knew that everyone was safe.

Between the Lan and Jiang Sect cultivators there were enough people that a couple could stay behind with the cart and Wen Ning to help him take it up the mountain, while the others would fly the Wen Remnants. Once again Lan Yuan was in Wei WuXian’s arms excitedly bouncing as Lan WangJi prepared to carry both of them up the mountain.

Wei WuXian looked nervously at Bichen but climbed on again so he was facing Lan WangJi with their son sandwiched between them. He was much more relaxed than he had been in Yiling and relaxed more when Lan WangJi pressed a kiss first to Lan Yuan’s head and then to Wei WuXian’s forehead. The rose slowly into the air, Lan WangJi’s hands firmly on Wei WuXian’s hips and Wei WuXian’s head firmly buried in the crook of Lan WangJi’s shoulder while Lan Yuan whooped between them.

Once they had risen high enough into the air and started really moving towards Cloud Recesses Wei WuXian pulled back so he could peak at the landscape below.

“The Waterborne Abyss looks like it is almost gone,” commented Wei WuXian as he looked at the sun dappled and calm sparkling waters of Biling Lake.

“Mn, the war fed it a bit so it is taking longer than our original estimate, but it will soon no longer be an issue, just a year or so,” replied Lan WangJi.

“I have a better understanding of resentment now, I may be able to do something about it, I would have offered earlier but I forgot that it was there.”

“I am sure the people of Caiyi Town would appreciate it, but you do not need to worry about it, the people are long since used to it, and no one is angry or doing anything ill-advised and feeding the Waterborne Abyss by getting close enough to be snatched.”

“Who’s snatching people?” asked Lan Yuan.

“Nobody, just me! Remember Lan Yuan I am the evil Yiling-Laozu, and I snatch children and eat them up!”

“You’re not evil A-Niang!”

“All right, fine I’ll concede that point, but I did snatch you up and flew away with you, see?”

“A-Die’s flying.”

Wei WuXian sighed, “Fine! I snatched you, though.”

Lan Yuan shook his head and both Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi could feel it against their chests. “Nuh-uh I snatched you and A-Die!”

There was a pause and then Lan WangJi agreed, “That you did.”  

They landed at the usual place on the mountain and walked the rest of the way up to Cloud Recesses. When Bichen was sheathed  Lan Yuan reached out for Lan WangJi and said, “Shoulders A-Die, Shoulders!”

“I do not understand what you want A-Yuan, please ask me politely,” returned Lan WangJi, he had an inkling of what Lan Yuan wanted, but he wanted to be sure and he wanted Lan Yuan to be encouraged to speak fully and clearly. Just because one was supposed to use words wisely and only say what was needed, didn’t mean one should ignore grammar.

“Please carry me on your shoulders, A-Die,” reiterated Lan Yuan and from Wei WuXian’s arms he bowed.

Wei WuXian hugged the boy close so he could get one hand up and pinch Lan Yuan’s cheek. “No, you’re staying with me! You’re too adorable to give up! Don’t we have the most adorable baby Lan Zhan?”

“Mn, A-Yuan is the most adorable, but as he is ours you must share, and he requested I carry him. It is a request that I can easily fulfil and therefore it should be done.”

Wei WuXian sighed dramatically and then he lifted Lan Yuan up and away from his body, intending to place him on Lan WangJi’s shoulders. Lan WangJi bent to make the task easier and then stood up straight with Lan Yuan on his shoulders. He had a hand across Lan Yuan’s legs to hold him in place but his other hand came up and curled around Wei WuXian’s waist and pulled him in for a quick kiss before he could pull away.

“Will you two stop? You’re supposed to be walking not kissing! And to do that in front of your son, you should be setting a good example! You two weren’t like this during the war!” exclaimed Jiang Cheng.

Wei WuXian pulled away and looked at his brother and stuck his tongue out at him. “A-Yuan doesn’t mind, do you A-Yuan?”

“I don’t mind,” replied Lan Yuan as he bounced in his place on Lan WangJi’s shoulders, the fingers of one hand tangled in hair and ribbon while the other hand a grip on the intricate silver metalwork of Lan WangJi’s guan.

“See? He doesn’t mind. And I’m thinking you’re forgetting the key point about the war; it was a war there was no time for kisses.”

Jiang Cheng grumbled and slightly shoved Wei WuXian so as to not actually hurt him. “Well after the war then.”

“Sorry Jiang Cheng but he went back to help with the repairing of Cloud Recesses, but we did spend some time at the Phoenix Mountain Crowd Hunt kissing,” replied Wei WuXian.

With a sound of disgust Jiang Cheng walked away from his brother and towards Cloud Recesses. “You two are gross.”

Wei WuXian turned to back to Lan WangJi and said, “He’ll never get married with that attitude.”

“Mn,” agreed Lan WangJi and then the little family also began walking towards their home. 

A disciple had left the flotilla early to fly ahead and give Cloud Recesses an estimated time of arrival, so they knew the group was going to arrive. But the sect was pretty well split, there were those still in Koi Tower under Lan XiChen and Lan WangJi’s cousin’s leadership, then those that were with Lan XiChen and Lan QiRen who went to collect Lan WangJi and his family, and then there was those that had stayed in Cloud Recesses. A lot of those that had stayed were the children and those who worked with the children, other essential workers, and elders that were too old to be travelling around so much. One such elder had been left in charge and he would meet them at the gate.

But even before they could enter the hint of what Cloud Recesses would soon become was plain to see to the guard at the gate, for when the Second Jade of Lan entered the gate unlike his famous carved from Jade countenance he clearly was bring home a family for on his shoulders with little hands tangled in his forehead ribbon was a toddler.

Gossip wasn’t needed in Cloud Recesses, the rumours spread through the minds of each person that saw the returning party at the sight of Lan WangJi. When they stopped before the greeting elder, Lan WangJi took Lan Yuan from his shoulders and placed him on the ground. And then the toddler bowed with the rest of the party. Though Lan Yuan said, “This Lan Yuan greets Lan-Yeye.” While the others had not said anything during their bows.

There was a still and then Wei WuXian reached forward to pick up Lan Yuan and whisper to the boy about how sometimes you didn’t have to introduce yourself when you bowed. And all the rumours and gossip that were trapped inside the disciples that had seen the group enter burst into truth and the air was thick with the gossip-not-said about the Second Jade of Lan.

The elder waved some waiting disciples forward and they started leading people away to lodgings and baths that were prepared for them after their long journey. Lan XiChen said to his brother, “There should be a bath prepared for you at the Jingshi, you should stop on the way to get A-Yuan a clean robe and consider what you wish done with the Jingshi or if you would like to move to accommodate your growing family.”

“Thank you Xiongzhang,” replied Lan WangJi with a slight bow, then he placed a guiding hand on the small of Wei WuXian’s back and lead him through Cloud Recesses.

“Wait! The Wens, I should make sure that they are all right!” said Wei WuXian twisting around to look back at the slowly dispersing group.

“We’ll be all right Wei WuXian,” said Wen Qing, “besides there is no killing in Cloud Recesses.”

Lan WangJi  gave him the time to make his decision but ultimately after looking back at the group for a long moment he beamed at Lan WangJi and said, “Lead the way Lan Zhan.”

Lan WangJi went first to the place where the robes were kept. Children grew fast so the sect shared in the children’s robes. When a child outgrew the robe it was returned and a bigger one procured. It meant that the robes may not be the perfect fit, but also no one would consider a child improperly dressed because of it.

Lan Yuan became shy again, so Wei WuXian was the one that took the measuring tape from the lady in charge of the robes to measure Lan Yuan as he clung to Lan WangJi’s leg and hid his face.

“Come A-Yuan you need to stand straight, so we can get you new robes, you want to wear nice robes like A-Die don’t you?” asked Wei WuXian.

The boy peered out from behind Lan WangJi’s leg at the lady then he craned his head up to look up at Lan WangJi and then finally he looked at Wei WuXian, “Is A-Niang getting new robes?”

Wei WuXian blinked and then he nodded. “Yes of course,” Wei WuXian said then he looked at the woman and gestured before looking back at his son, “here I’ll get measured first.”

He handed the tape measure back to the women and she carefully measured Wei WuXian to get the numbers needed to find robes for Lan Yuan and wrote them down, then she turned to the toddler and said, “Can I measure you now?”

The entire time Lan Yuan had been peering out from behind Lan WangJi and watching intently. But when the lady asked that question Lan Yuan hid his face again and mumbled into Lan WangJi’s knee, “A-Niang can do it.”

So, once again Wei WuXian took the measuring tape, this time when he approached husband and son, Lan Yuan stood up straight to be measured. Wei WuXian exaggerate his gestures a bit, and went in to tickle the boy a couple time, which got Lan Yuan to laugh and relax a bit.

When they were done the lady said, “Sadly, I don’t have robes for Wei-Gongzi, we will have to get some made for him. But I do have some robes here that will fit Lan-Xiao-Gongzi.”

Lan Yuan frowned at first but then when the lady turned to get the robes and then placed the pile in Wei WuXian’s arms his eyes lit up with curiosity.

Lan WangJi could see it and he scooped up the boy and said, “We must go home and take a bath and then we can put on our clean robes.”

“I will get these measurements to the right person to get robes done for Wei-Gongzi,” said the lady. The little family thanked her and left.

The Jingshi was closer to the Back Mountain then Cloud Recesses proper, but when they arrived they found a steaming bath had been set up outside in the little walled off garden. Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan stripped out of their clothes in the yard and Lan WangJi went to take all of the robes inside.

Wei WuXian dunked buckets of warm water over his and Lan Yuan’s heads and got them all wet and turning the ground beneath them slightly to mud. With a bath bean he soaped the both of them down. Despite Lan Yuan having had his hair washed recently, Lan WangJi helped Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan to wash their hair. 

They dumped a couple buckets over their heads again to rinse off. Then Wei WuXian got into the tub and slid his body completely under the water, when he came back up Lan WangJi deposited a giggling Lan Yuan into the tub. Lan WangJi then got buckets for his own bath, while Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan played in the water. Lan WangJi got on his knees by the tub and Wei WuXian held the bowl of rice water and did Lan WangJi’s hair while Lan WangJi took over one of the grass butterflies and played with Lan Yuan.

When Lan WangJi was rinsed off, Wei WuXian stood in the tub with a pouting Lan Yuan and stepped out of the tub on the opposite side where the dirt under the grass had yet to turn to mud. Lan WangJi climbed into the tub and dunked under as Wei WuXian had and then as Lan WangJi had Wei WuXian handed the toddler over to his husband.

Wei WuXian hesitated by the tub naked and dripping slightly the sheet to dry off with in his hands. Lan WangJi noticed and said, “You can wear one of my robes, your robe is dirty from travel and should be laundered first.”

Wei WuXian nodded and he towelled off before he walked hesitantly into the Jingshi while Lan WangJi explained where he could find everything. Lan Yuan played in the tub with his father until his other father came back out of the Jingshi.

Wei WuXian was wearing a white under robe, one of Lan WangJi’s blue robes and then a white over robe, less layers than what Lan WangJi usually wore and all of them not properly tied. He held out a towel in a gesture to take Lan Yuan and with a pout and a vague protest that turned into a giggle Lan WangJi lifted the toddler out of the tub and handed him over to Wei WuXian.

With Lan Yuan wrapped in a towel Wei WuXian brought the toddler inside while Lan WangJi got out of the tub himself and towelled off before following his family inside. Wei WuXian helped Lan Yuan get dressed in his new robes as Lan WangJi got dressed in his own robes.

“Now A-Yuan you need to be mindful white robes can get dirtier faster, you don’t want your A-Niang to be doing laundry all day do you? Or I’ll never get to play with you.”

“There are people here whose job it is to do the laundry, A-Yuan should have fun, no one expects a clean child all of the time.”

Wei WuXian turned to look at Lan WangJi a bit surprised. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Lan WangJi nodded and hummed and then he moved over and tied Wei WuXian’s robes properly for him and checked Lan Yuan’s before pulling out combs so they could do their hair.

He lined them up again so that Wei WuXian was brushing Lan Yuan’s hair and he was brushing Wei WuXian’s. Then Lan WangJi let the two of them brush his hair.

When their hair was brushed he showed them around the Jingshi. “We’ll need to have an addition added so that A-Yuan can have his own room or move to a new place that is bigger, but this is home. A-Yuan can of course spend the night with Granny if he wants, but she is staying further away at the moment so he cannot come to us in the middle of the night.”

They explored the house and then Lan Yuan settled down to play while their hair finished up drying. Wei WuXian looked around the small place and then said, “Lan Zhan are you sure you don’t mind us here, this seems to be your space. Plenty of married people don’t live together.”

A frown formed on Lan WangJi’s face, his face screwed up with concentration on some internal battle and then he went over to the nightstand by the bed where he had hung his forehead ribbon for the bath. He picked it up and then walked over to Wei WuXian and grabbed his wrist and quickly and efficiently tied the ribbon around his wrist.

When he was done Wei WuXian held up his wrist and looked at the ribbon tied there and then looked at his husband curiously. “Your forehead ribbon? Why?”

“Do you know what our forehead ribbon means?”

Wei WuXian’s face screwed up in thought an expression that mirror Lan WangJi’s confusion from a moment earlier and then he shook his head. “Sorry Lan Zhan, I don’t remember at the moment.”

“It means to regulate oneself. Only parents, spouses, and children can touch our ribbons, because only with them we don’t need to regulate our behaviour.”

“Oh,” the sound came out of Wei WuXian soft and unbidden on an exhale and then Wei WuXian’s silvery gaze widened. “But I’ve touched your ribbon before.”

“Mn,” agreed Lan WangJi, “you’ve been telling people that we are married for years.”

He said it with such a matter-of-fact tone that a short bark of a laugh exploded from Wei WuXian. “So, I guess we aren’t really lying then.”

“Lying is forbidden,” said Lan Yuan from where he was playing with his butterflies.

Wei WuXian laughed then, and Lan WangJi told Lan Yuan that he was correct. When their hair was dry, Lan WangJi took a box down from a nearby shelf and pulled out another forehead ribbon and began to tie that one on.

“Here, let me do your hair, I didn’t know you had a second ribbon,” said Wei WuXian and he moved over stand behind Lan WangJi.

Lan WangJi had stopped and simply held the centre of the forehead ribbon to the centre of his forehead. “We are given two ribbons, for when one is laundered and for when we find our spouse.”

Wei WuXian chuckled, “Well I’m glad, I don’t want to give this one back.” He twisted Lan WangJi’s hair sort of doing the first few motions of a braid on Lan WangJi’s hair, he folded the hair at Lan WangJi’s temples up over the ribbon ends and then twisted it up to be held in place by the guan. Then his hands went down and tied the ribbon securely so it would stay in place. “There done, you can let go now.”    

“Pretty,” commented Lan Yuan from where he had been playing his large lychee eyes staring, a sparkling mercury at his parents.

Lan WangJi looked at the toddler for a moment, made sure he still had the boy’s attention and then he got up from his seat and moved over to the shelf he took down a chest. It was larger than the previous one he brought out. He placed it on the table and gestured for Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan to come over. When they were all crowded around he opened the chest to reveal forehead ribbons, there were four inside and a couple guans.

“Lan Yuan you are part of the GusuLan Sect and Clan, you are my son, the first son of me the second son of the main family of the GusuLan Clan. The forehead ribbon is very important, we wear it to remind us that we must always behave well and do the right thing. The only people that can touch our ribbons are our parents, children, and spouses for with these people we will always do the right thing.”

“Ah,” gasped Lan Yuan.

“When a child is young just a baby until the child receives their sword they wear the ribbon of their ancestors,” he gestured to the ribbons in the chest. “I wore these ribbons, my brother your Bofu wore them, and my uncle your Shuzu, and even my father before him, and now it is your turn.”

Lan WangJi took out the two guans in the chest and held them out to Lan Yuan. “These guans are the ones I wore when I was young they too now belong to you, you must choose one to wear today, which one would you like to wear?”

Lan Yuan looked between the two guans and then chose the one in silver and blue that had a triangular shape that would sit in front of the bun or pony tail. Lan WangJi nodded and put the other guan away and then pulled out the toddler sized ribbon. How should we do your hair?”

The boy’s face screwed up in thought and then he said mostly to himself, “A-Die’s ribbon, A-Die’s guan…” with more conviction he added, “Like A-Niang!”

With a nod Lan WangJi turned the boy and showed him how to hold the ribbon in place then he gathered Lan Yuan’s hair and did it up in a high ponytail before tying the ribbon. Lan WangJi then looked over his son’s head and said, “Wei Ying how would you like your hair?”

“Wear a ribbon A-Niang!” exclaimed Lan Yuan.

Wei WuXian held up his wrist to show the ribbon tied there. “I’m already wearing my ribbon.”

“No,” sang Lan Yuan with a tone of exasperation, “on your forehead! Silly A-Niang.”

“All right, all right, do my hair how A-Yuan and Lan Zhan think is the most beautiful, but I have no guan and I don’t think any of Lan Zhan’s guans suit me.”

Lan WangJi nodded and had Wei WuXian hold his forehead ribbon as he first tied up Wei WuXian hair in the low-do he had been using recently. He tied it off with Wei WuXian’s red ribbon and then tied the white and light blue ribbon securely around his head. Lan Yuan picked up the four ribbon ends and tried to braid them together, but it didn’t work like a three-strand braid.

He got frustrated and the whine and tears rose. He stomped his little foot and tried to braid the four strands again. Before Lan Yuan could have a meltdown Lan WangJi took the ribbon ends from his hand. “Here let me show you.”

He gathered Wei WuXian’s hair into four pieces, each with a ribbon and then slowly showed Lan Yuan how to braid them together. When he got to the end he used what was left of the ribbons to tie the braid in place. Lan Yuan clapped, “A-Niang is beautiful!”    

“Thank you A-Yuan, you look beautiful too,” replied Wei WuXian.

“A-Die too?”

“A-Die too.”

“Come,” said Lan WangJi, “I wish to show you something.”

Wei WuXian looked perplexed, but Lan Yuan was excited. Lan WangJi led them out of the Jingshi and then he took one of Lan Yuan’s hands and the toddler grabbed Wei WuXian’s hand in the other so they could walk together and occasionally swing their son. Wei WuXian’s confusion grew as Lan WangJi steered them further into the Back Mountain instead of Cloud Recesses. Before they got too far back Lan WangJi picked up a basket that had been set out that was filled with vegetable ends, and Wei WuXian wondered if they would be stopping by a compost pile. But to Wei WuXian’s knowledge there was no farming fields on the Back Mountain.

Lan WangJi stopped at the edge of a field. It was a nice peaceful spot with a bit of a breeze that made the tall grass dance and sway. Wei WuXian thought it had an idyllic quality to it and that it was quantitative of many of the qualities that the GusuLan Sect strived for. He wondered if it was a sacred spot full of spiritual energy. But then he saw it, the aberration in the field there were clumps of grass that were swaying and rustling counter to the wind’s dance. Then suddenly two white things popped up out of the grass and Wei WuXian was momentarily confused.

“What’s that?” asked Lan Yuan.

Instead of answering Lan WangJi led them into the field. The reaction was instantaneous Wei WuXian could see lines in the grass as something, several somethings made a beeline to them. Lan WangJi, calm as ever kept walking. When the first rabbit burst through the grass  Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan both exclaimed, “Bunny!”

And both of them tried to chase after it. Lan WangJi maintained his grip on Lan Yuan’s hand and before Wei WuXian could pull away completely Lan WangJi said, “Do not chase them they will come to us.”

“Just how many rabbits do you have here?”

Lan WangJi just hummed and kept pulling the other two to the centre of the field.

He stopped and the rabbits all came at them, little balls of fluff that put their front paws on legs begging for treats and nibbled at the edges of their robes. There were enough curious rabbits about the newcomers that it looked like the rabbits would topple Lan Yuan off his feet.

“Be careful,” said Lan WangJi and he put a steadying hand on his son’s back. “They will not hurt you, don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid,” said Lan Yuan petulantly.

Lan WangJi hummed in response and poured out a part of the basket onto the ground and the rabbits left the humans in favour of descending on the treats and creating a mound of fluff and kicking as every rabbit tried to get at the treats.

Since they got relief from the sea of small creatures and could move more freely Wei WuXian moved closer to the mound and looked at it curiously. “There are so many rabbits here, where did they all come from? Pets are forbidden in Cloud Recesses.”

Lan Yuan frowned at that. And Wei WuXian’s attention was grabbed by a little bunny that ran a couple times around the mound, made a half-hearted attempt to pull out a carrot top from under their friends and then darted back to a calm white rabbit, who was calmly watching to proceedings.

“These are not pets they are our friends,” replied Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian chuckled at that answer and Lan WangJi moved away from the mound and sat down in the grass. “Come sit.”

Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan sat down too. Lan Yuan next to his father and Wei WuXian across from them. Lan WangJi looked in the basket and then he pulled out a couple carrot ends and gave them out. The hyperactive bunny made another circuit of the mound and then the people. Lan Yuan held out his carrot end and the rabbit stopped and sniffed at it before it returned to the large rabbit. Then at a sedate pace the large rabbit began to hop toward them while the smaller black bunny raced ahead to do another circuit. The black rabbit seemed very aware of the white one as he ran a couple circuits around the mound of munching rabbits and arrived to do a half circuit around the humans so that he and the white rabbit arrived at Lan Yuan’s side at the same moment. Lan Yuan giggled and held out his vegetable end to the rabbits. The white rabbit took it and presented it to the black one so they could share.

“Your A-Niang gave me these two rabbits when we were in school together. I brought them to this field to live as friends, not pets, and then they had children, and their children had children and so on,” explained Lan WangJi.

“Oh,” acknowledged Lan Yuan the sound drawn out like he hadn’t really heard and his eyes transfixed on the rabbits.

“But those two rabbits were male and are they still alive after all this time?” said Wei WuXian.

“Mn,” confirmed Lan WangJi.

“But how did they have babies if they were both boys?”

“We have A-Yuan, and we are both men.”

Wei WuXian laughed long and loud, enough so that some of the munching rabbits startled. The large white rabbit’s ear twitched and the black one pulled away from his treat and circled Wei WuXian before hopping into his lap. He head butted Wei WuXian’s stomach a couple times and then noticed the treat Wei WuXian was holding and tried to tug it from his hands. Wei WuXian held firm and brought his other hand up to pet between the rabbit’s ears. Then the black rabbit settled down and munched on the treat. But soon the white rabbit came over with a grumpy look on his little rabbit face, but he calmed down when he climbed on Wei WuXian’s lap too and saw his companion safe.

Slowly the rabbits came off the pile and hopped away or made their way to the humans. Lan Yuan had a lap full of rabbits, as he had taken more vegetable ends from the basket to feed his new friends, when Lan WangJi carefully stood up. He put a hand on Wei WuXian’s shoulder to keep him sitting and then scooped up a couple rabbits nearby.

“There are no radish fields in Cloud Recesses, that we can bury you in to help you grow. We do, however, have all these rabbits, and rabbits eat radishes and retain their growth potential. So, lay down A-Yuan.”

The boy giggle and did as he was told. Some of the rabbits that had been trying to crowd on Lan Yuan’s lap, settled more comfortably on Lan Yuan’s stomach. And then Lan WangJi plopped the two extra rabbits on Lan Yuan’s chest. Lan WangJi was fast as he moved around the field and scooped up rabbits to pile on top of his son. It was a testament to how familiar he was to the rabbits; they were not frightened of him and did not startle if he darted toward them with the intent to capture.

Eventually, the small black rabbit, despite being an elder of the fluffle, started running around like he was herding his colony towards Lan Yuan and Lan WangJi. Lan Yuan hadn’t really stopped laughing since he was asked to lay down, and Wei WuXian wasn’t doing much better, though he only had the one rabbit on his lap for the moment.

The rabbits seemed generally fine with being placed on top of Lan Yuan. It helped that Lan WangJi surrounded the boy with the remains of the treats in the basket. But even the rabbits not nibbling seemed content with their gently shaking (from laughter) seat.

When the original mound of rabbits and treats dispersed some of the rabbits even joined the pile on their own and some flopped down on the grass to clean their little feet and faces near the humans and didn’t complain when Lan WangJi moved them on top of Lan Yuan.

But eventually the humans were no longer interesting, and the rabbits hopped off and the small family was left with only a few rabbit companions. They relaxed in the rabbit field until they heard the distance chime of bells signalling diner.

They stood up from their seats and brushed stray pieces of grass from their robes and then walked back to Cloud Recesses proper. Lan Yuan grabbed a hand from each parent and had them swing him. When they were in the more populated parts of Cloud Recesses they drew attention.

They drew attention for not really standing out. There was an understanding that children could be loud, so children in general were not punished or admonished for shrieks and giggles. But as Cloud Recesses was quiet, the delighted shriek of a toddler still turned heads. What would then be seen was two properly dressed parents with their happy and properly dressed young son. The people of Cloud Recesses did a double take when they realised that it was their Second Young Master and a triple take when they realised that it was Wei WuXian who was also dressed as a proper Lan.

It took only a moment for Wei WuXian to decipher the shocked faces and then he did all he could to hold in a howl of laughter, just to keep those around him on their toe.

They sat down at the front of the dining hall next to Lan XiChen. Lan WangJi sat next to his brother with Lan Yuan next to him and Wei WuXian on their son’s other side. Jiang Cheng sat down on Wei WuXian’s other side. When the servants brought out the food Lan Yuan’s grey eyes went wide. “So, much food! Is it all radishes?”

Wei WuXian grinned wide. “No, it isn’t!”

Lan Yuan looked a bit perplexed by that, and Wei WuXian chuckled. “Now, remember there is no talking while eating in Cloud Recesses, but I’ll tell you the name of all the foods after dinner.”

At those words Lan QiRen’s head whipped around and he craned his neck to look at Wei WuXian, utterly shocked. Lan XiChen hid his amusement behind the action of pouring tea for his family. And Lan WangJi hummed in agreement while Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes.

Lan WangJi filled up a plate with food for Lan Yuan and handed him a spoon to eat it with. Wei WuXian drew Lan QiRen’s attention again when he let out an almost indecent moan around his first bite of food.

When he saw that he was being watched his face pinked a bit, but he regained his face and shrugged then mouthed, “Not radishes.” And went back to his meal. As medicinal as it was, it wasn’t a flavour he had had in a long time and for the moment he was relishing in it. Lan Yuan for his part did a good job and stayed silent and well-behaved for the meal.

After the meal as they were leaving the dining hall, Lan XiChen said, “Jiang-Zongzhu and Wen-Daifu gave us Wei-Gongzi and Lan Yuan’s birth information. We have turned over what is needed to the matchmakers so an auspicious date can be chosen. We’ll let you know when the soonest auspicious date is, that will also allow for Jin-Shao-Furen to attend.”

“Thank you Xiongzhang,” said Lan WangJi.

“Yes, thank you Lan-Zongzhu,” added Wei WuXian.

“Please we are family,” said Lan XiChen, “you don’t need to be so formal.”

“Shall I call you XiChen-Ge, then?”

Lan XiChen smiled at Wei WuXian, “I would like that, may I call you WuXian?”

“You may.”

“Call me A-Yuan!”

The Lan sect leader smiled at his nephew, “Of course A-Yuan and you can call me Bobo.”

“Bobo!”

“Now, let me show you to where we have settled the Wen Remnants, it is just temporary though while we set up a more permanent solution,” said Lan XiChen and he led the little family out of the dining hall.

Chapter Text

The matchmaker chose a date that was only a month away. As everyone believed that Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi were already married there seemed to be less fuss about it. The month was really for Jiang YanLi. LanlingJin didn’t want her to go to the wedding. Jin GuangShan seemed to think that it was a farce and claimed that it was an excuse for the Yiling-Laozu to gather everyone and murder them. Jin-Furen and Jin ZiXuan were more practical in their protests and were worried about her health on the trip.

“But, A-Xuan, if you fly me just down to Moling then we can take a boat to Caiyi Town. If it is you who are flying me then I’ll be safe,” argued Jiang YanLi.

Jin ZiXuan puffed up and agreed immediately, while Jin-Furen tried to protest that flying wasn’t really safe for pregnant people. “A-Niang, I will keep A-Li safe, it is her brother’s wedding she should go.”

Jin-Furen sighed, at least her son was being led around by his heart and not his dick.

The invitation was extended to Jin ZiXuan’s family as the brother-in-law of one of the grooms and likewise in the invitation to Jin GuangYao as a sworn brother of one of the grooms’ brother. Politically the wedding didn’t really merit the attention of the Sect Leader of LanlingJin, but he insisted anyway he was going with Jin ZiXun and a few others from the Sect.

Despite not giving his blessing for Jin GuangYao to marry Qin Su, Jin GuangShan used the affection between them for Jin GuangYao to invite her and then for propriety her parents as well, so that with Sect Leader Qin Jin GuangShan had an ally. He did similar things to get more of his allies invites to the wedding.

It was just less than a day’s flight between Lanling and Moling and about the same time in a cultivation-assisted boat between Moling and Caiyi town. Jin ZiXuan was going to take three days to fly Jiang YanLi and Jin-Furen would be flying alongside and then they would get the boat after spending the night in Moling. Su-Zongzhu offered rooms in the MolingSu estate as MolingSu was a vassal sect of GusuLan and a great ally of LanlingJin. This also merited Su-Zongzhu a courtesy invite to the wedding.

Jin ZiXuan thought that a cultivation-assisted boat would move too fast and upset Jiang YanLi’s constitution, so they left with plenty of time so that they could take a regular boat which would have them spending the night on the boat before arriving in Caiyi Town. They even factored in enough time that they could stop somewhere on the way and spend the night before finishing the journey the next day.

Therefore they gave Cloud Recesses a range of days when they would be arriving, but they were planning on sending a Butterfly to give a more exact time when they were closer. Access to the Jin Messenger Butterfly was probably the second best thing about Jiang YanLi marrying Jin ZiXuan, the first being that she liked him and he made her happy. Wei WuXian would say that those were the only good things about Jiang YanLi and Jin ZiXuan’s relationship. Though he was ready to admit that his future nephew or niece would also be added to the list.

So, Jiang YanLi, Jin ZiXuan, and Jin-Furen with a few of their people arrived before the wedding. With the idea that Jin-Zongzhu, Jin GuangYao, and the others would arrive closer to the auspicious hour.

Jiang YanLi was glowing, her belly round with her first child and happier then she had been in a long time when she saw Wei WuXian dressed in GusuLan white. Wei WuXian cried a little bit at the sight of his sister and Lan WangJi, with A-Yuan in his arms (who was playing shy again) had to lead Wei WuXian closer to their guests with a gentle hand on his lower back.

“A-Xian you look good, I’m pleased to see you,” said Jiang YanLi.

“Shijie,” replied Wei WuXian the words coming out as a sort of sighed prayer. “I’m sorry I could not come to your wedding, but I’m so happy you are able to come to mine.

“You should have told us sooner A-Xian, we would have helped you sooner,” replied Jiang YanLi but her eyes said she had guessed if not the whole truth than most of the truth.

“I’m sorry Shijie, I worried about not having a core, I didn’t want…” Wei WuXian trailed off not know what to really say.

Jiang YanLi smiled, nodded, and patted his arm. “Now, I believe I have a nephew to meet.”

Wei WuXian countenance brightened, and he turned slightly towards husband and son. “A-Yuan, can you greet your YanLi-Yi? She is my Shijie and your Jiang-Zongzhu-Jiujiu’s sister.”

Lan Yuan’s head had been lifting from Lan WangJi’s shoulder to look at Jiang YanLi but when Wei WuXian mentioned Jiang Cheng, Jin ZiXuan snorted, and Lan Yuan looked past Jiang YanLi to her husband. Lan Yuan inhaled sharply, tears welled in his eyes, but he didn’t make a sound just hastily buried his head into Lan WangJi’s shoulder.

Immediately, Wei WuXian pulled away from his sister to go to Lan Yuan, he put a hand on the toddlers back and rubbed it soothingly. “A-Yuan what’s the matter? Your YanLi-Yi is the nicest woman in the world there is no need to hide from her.”

In a voice small and muffled Lan Yuan said, “Bad man.”

“What? There are no bad men in Cloud Recesses,” said Wei WuXian.

“Gold man, bad man,” came the quite voice.

Wei WuXian looked up at Lan WangJi who said gently, “Jin-Shao-Zongzhu.”

With a glance Wei WuXian saw what he already knew which was that Jin ZiXuan was wearing gold robes. “Do you mean the Peacock? He’s not a bad man he’s just a golden peacock,” said Wei WuXian and it made Jin ZiXuan squawk and look indignant. Wei WuXian continued, “Besides he’s your YanLi-Yi’s Peacock, she has him well trained, he can’t hurt anyone.”

Jin ZiXuan puffed up a bit at belonging to Jiang YanLi but generally didn’t seem happy with the situation. Lan Yuan turned his head slightly so that one eye could peek out at Jiang YanLi. “Really?”  

“Really,” said Jiang YanLi.

The toddler still looked hesitant and refused to really look at Jin ZiXuan. “Not going to hurt A-Yuan?”

“Never.”

“Not going to hurt Granny?”

Wei WuXian started trying to shush the boy, but both his sister and Lan Yuan ignored him.

“Never,” reinforced Jiang YanLi.

“What about Ning-Gege? Will he make him sleep a long, long, long time again?”

“No, he will not,” replied Jiang YanLi. Then she stepped closer to Lan WangJi and Lan Yuan and said, “Do you think you can help me A-Yuan?”

She took up his entire vision, so Lan Yuan turned his head to actually look at her.

Jiang YanLi smiled. “I need to talk to my brother; do you think you could take your A-Die and find him for me? Your A-Niang is going to show me and my husband to our rooms. Can you bring your Jiujiu to me there?”

“All right.”

“Thank you, A-Yuan.”

Lan WangJi bowed slightly and then said, “We will leave first then.”

He turned to go and find Jiang Cheng, but Lan Yuan shouted, “Wait!” Everyone froze. “A-Niang kiss, bye!”

Wei WuXian chuckled. “You won’t be gone long.” But he still stepped closer and kissed the boy’s forehead and then his nose.

“A-Die is leaving too,” hedged Lan Yuan.

Jiang YanLi and Wei WuXian chuckled. And Wei WuXian turned his head up to receive a sweet peck to his lips.

Lan Yuan smiled pleased with the situation. “Come A-Die, Jiujiu is that way!” he pointed, and Lan WangJi just hummed and went off in that direction.

When they were far enough away Jiang YanLi turned on her brother. “What is this about bad men? Why would anyone hurt a toddler or a grandmother?”

Wei WuXian winced and then waved at Jin ZiXuan. He was wearing the informal Jin Sect uniform—well, for the sect heir it was informal, but for many of the sect disciples it was their official robes for most events. The yellow-tan robes with the giant peony on the chest. Jin ZiXuan had worn them for travelling as they had been to most practical of his clothes for that purpose. “He was at Qiongqi Pass, I hadn’t realised he remembered the guards there.”

They were walking towards the rooms that had been set aside for the Jin couple and Jiang YanLi looked shocked and had no words.

“It makes sense,” said Jin ZiXuan.

Both Wei WuXian and Jiang YanLi whipped around and looked horrified at Jin ZiXuan.

He blushed a bit but elaborated. “You were missing at the beginning of the war, and Wen-Daifu… is the one that helped you, right? You probably left Lan Yuan with his milk mother who was probably a Wen and Wen QiongLin swore to protect them. That is why you were looking for him and why you got so angry that he was in one of the labour camps. And then you found—“ Jin ZiXuan cut himself off with a choke. They hadn’t been speaking loudly before, but his voice dropped even lower that Wei WuXian had to strain to hear the words, “—you found your son, a Lan child at Qiongqi Pass, with I’m assuming some Wen grandmother that had been caring for him and all the rest you took from there.” His voice had gotten more stilted and horrified as he went on and then he added, “How are we not at war now with the Lan?” 

“I don’t think the others have put that together,” admitted Wei WuXian. He was half afraid that Jin ZiXuan would demand why he hadn’t said anything about Lan Yuan immediately after he had gone to Qiongqi Pass. But Jin ZiXuan’s brain was whirling on how he could fix the situation than on how it should have come to a head sooner.

They arrived at the rooms that had been set aside for them and they went inside. The servants had brought the baggage and had begun to unpack it, but they hadn’t finished. Jiang YanLi promptly dismissed them. There was a bath laid out and ready behind a screen and Jiang YanLi nodded. Once the servants had gone, she opened the drawers to see how much had been unpacked and then she sighed she looked around the room and pointed to a chest. “A-Xuan, A-Xian lift that up onto the table for me please.”

They didn’t question her just moved over and did what she wanted. She opened the trunk and pulled out folded clothes. Occasionally, she would hold one up to Jin ZiXuan, she seemed to make two piles of the clothes setting them on the table by the trunk. She then held out a stack to Jin ZiXuan and said, “Go take a bath and then change into these.”

Jin ZiXuan nodded, glanced quickly at Wei WuXian but went and hung the robes carefully over the screen then he moved behind it and undressed putting his old robes over the screen. Jiang YanLi took the old robes and brought them over to the table and began to sort robes. Anything that was the same shade or similar of yellow went into one pile and the rest in another.

Wei WuXian asked while she worked about her health and life in Koi Tower. Jin ZiXuan came out dressed in his new robes. Wei WuXian didn’t roll his eyes because Jiang YanLi had picked out the robes, but the man looked like a pompous peacock with the rosy-tan under robe and the soft yellow over robe that seemed to shimmer. When Wei WuXian’s brother-in-law stepped closer he could see that the shimmer was caused by a fine brocade in the silk, of what was probably peonies, but the brocade was done in almost the same-coloured thread as the silk underneath and so the design couldn’t really be seen from a distance, only the shimmer could be.

There was a knock on the door and Jiang Cheng, Lan WangJi, and Lan Yuan entered. Lan Yuan was being carried by Jiang Cheng and after they bowed their greeting Jiang Cheng said, “I see no monsters to chase away.”

Lan Yuan murmured, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure, I just see my sister and her husband and my brother.”

The toddler’s head went up and he looked around the room. “Thank you Jiujiu, down now please.”

Jiang Cheng put the boy down and Lan Yuan ran over to hug Wei WuXian leg. Wei WuXian dropped a hand to the boy’s head but addressed his brother, “What was that about?”

“Someone told A-Yuan that I used to chase away ‘the most fearsome monsters’ from you when we were children, so I got recruited to chase away the bad man,” replied Jiang Cheng with a smile.

“Ah, you are very good at that, Lan Zhan is too,” returned Wei WuXian.

He then looked down at his son and said, “How are you feeling? Are you ready to introduce yourself properly?”

“YanLi-Yi—“ Lan Yuan started from his place by Wei WuXian’s leg.

“Properly, properly A-Yuan, stand up give a bow, show them that we taught you well,” interrupted Wei WuXian with a chuckle and a nudge.

Lan Yuan straightened up and stepped away from Wei WuXian and he gave a little bow then he said, “This, Lan Yuan, greets Jiang-Shao-Furen and Jiang-Shao-Zongzhu.”

In the next moment there was a serious family resemblance in the way that the Yunmeng siblings all stifled a laugh and smirked in a sort of triumph at the same time. Jin ZiXuan squawked like a startled peacock and Lan WangJi went down on Lan Yuan’s level and said, “You are correct that your Jiang YanLi-Yi’s honourable surname is Jiang but she married into her husband family. He is Jin ZiXuan, so your aunt’s title uses his name as she is not the Shao-Furen of Jiang but of Jin. They are Jin-Shao-Furen and Jin-Shao-Zongzhu.”

Lan Yuan looked confused.

“It is like without family, your A-Niang is Wei WuXian, but my name is Lan WangJi and children take their A-Die’s name so you are Lan Yuan—“ Lan WangJi explained.

The toddler cut off his father, “YanLi-Yi is an A-Niang?”

“She will be when the baby is born.”

His little silvery eyes lit up with wonder and Lan Yuan started dancing. “Baby!?”

“Yes,” smiled Jiang YanLi as she rubbed her belly. “We’re going to have a baby and their name will be Jin RuLan. And you will be the baby’s Biaoge.”

“Woah… I’m a Biaoge?” said Lan Yuan in wonder.

Jiang YanLi nodded, “Yes, you will be when the baby is born.”

“A-Niang have a baby too?”

“I already have a baby A-Yuan,” replied Wei WuXian.

The toddler looked over at Wei WuXian with surprise and then he looked around the room. “Where?”

Before Wei WuXian could form a proper reply, Lan Yuan was lifting up Wei WuXian’s robes and looking underneath them for a baby and that got the adults to chuckling so Lan Yuan was searching under the table by the time Wei WuXian got himself under control and scooped the boy up. “The baby is you, silly!”

“I was in your belly?!”

Lan WangJi stepped in—always the voice of reason and truth. “Your A-Niang gave birth to you.” 

It was true and deceptive all in one, and it really made Wei WuXian wonder about the kind of people who would be surrounding himself with by marrying into GusuLan—well, better than the Jin, even if the Lans ended up being sneaky liars, Wei WuXian did not envy his sister.

The conversation became light and brief from there. Wei WuXian spared a thought for when the other Jins arrived if it was going to cause issues. But They were shooed out of the rooms so Jiang YanLi could take a bath and really there was so much to be done and while Jiang YanLi and Jin ZiXuan were some of the earliest guests to arrive, they weren’t the last to arrive early.

So, in the end, there was never a chance for the adults to sit down and have a discussion about how the Jins put a baby, or an old woman in a labour camp, not to mention made Wen Ning ‘sleep a long, long, long time’, before the wedding.

The wedding came and  Granny watched Lan Yuan as Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi got ready separately. Jiang Cheng had commissioned Wei WuXian’s red robes, and he and Jiang YanLi were helping him get ready as Lan WangJi was getting ready with his brother and uncle.

The ceremony was beautiful, not one that would be remembered for a hundred years like Jiang YanLi’s but in the eyes of those involved one to not be forgotten for ages. Then came the feasting.

The wedding was held in Cloud Recesses so there was no drinking and Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi went around to each table and chatted with and toasted their guests, even though the traditional strong alcohol was not part it. But the chatting took time. Everyone wanted to hear the story of how they kept their marriage a secret for so long. So, sometimes Lan Yuan was with them drinking his tea too and sometimes he would get bored and run off to Granny or to play with Lan Bo the son of a cousin of Lan WangJi and Lan XiChen who was only a few months younger than Lan Yuan and had fast become the toddler’s best friend.

Despite the ban on alcohol in Cloud Recesses it seemed that someone had snuck in alcohol and some members of the wedding party were drinking to excess and not pacing themselves at all.

“You fiend!”

Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi turned around from where they had been about to share a toast with a table to see a red-faced Jin disciple stalking towards them. Wei WuXian had no clue who he was but for the sake of keeping the peace Wei WuXian had vowed to not do anything to antagonise the Jin. He wanted to get this safety net for the Wen Remnants in place. Wei WuXian knew that as a general rule the Jins were entitled, arrogant, squawking peacocks. And where he would usually point out that there were many tables for Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi to get to during the Wedding Banquet and the Jin would just have to wait his turn like the rest, he instead tried to play it off lightly.

“Did we skip your table? Our apologies, our apologies, there are so many people to get to it is hard to keep track. Let us finish here and we’ll go to your table next, fair?”

“I don’t want to toast you or your disgusting cut-sleeve marriage!” the Jin roared, “I want you to explain your actions!”

The area seemed to quiet. Wei WuXian glanced at Lan WangJi who also looked confused and not like he wanted to engage with the man under such uncertain terms. Wei WuXian looked back at the enraged Jin, “Regardless of your feelings about our wedding our families wanted to make our elopement more official, so here we are.”

If possible the Jin got even more red. “You vile demonic cultivator you will remove the curse you placed on me, right this instant!”

He was confused again and looked at his husband.

“Don’t look at HanGuang-Jun he is a righteous man from a righteous sect he will not stand by such a disgusting creature as you!” bellowed the Jin.

Lan WangJi’s face grew tight and he made a step toward the Jin but Wei WuXian shifted to be in his path. For once between the two of them he felt that he was the calm one. “I’m sorry,  Jin-Gongzi, but you must be mistaken, I did not and in fact could not curse anyone, and even if I could I would not curse a man that I had never had the pleasure of meeting, besides I’m a more direct, I dislike curses.”

There was a beat as the man’s face went red to purple-ish. Lan WangJi said, “That is Jin-Er-Gongzi, Jin ZiXun, he was in charge of Qiongqi Pass. He tried to make me drink alcohol at the Flower Banquet and you drank for me. He also accused you of cheating at the Phoenix Mountain Crowd Hunt.”

“The man responsible for stabbing Wen Ning with one of my Spirit Attraction Flags while on a night hunt in Ganquan. It sounds more like he is trying to curse us not us cursing him. Though he should answer for his crimes at Qiongqi,” said Wei WuXian softly to his husband and then a bit louder he added, “but as this is a celebration of love I know it would be best to bring up such matters later.”

Whispers around them broke out. Wei WuXian’s words about Wen Ning had been soft but others had heard them and the simple breach in decorum gave volume to the whispers around them.

Jin ZiXun looked around him and at the people, while his ears picked up their whispers. He angrily tore at his robe which earned him a gasp and a few people in the crowd backed away to avoid the sceptical or came forward to admonish him.

“Do you deny this!”

With his chest bear, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi had a view of a few necrotic holes dotting the man’s chest, the beginning of the Hundred Holes Curse.

Wei WuXian brushed his nose, and he peered closer to the holes and then said, “Oh, that is a nasty curse. It is in its infancy yet. It can’t be repelled of course, the only use trying to counter it would do is the rebound will scar the caster. What you need to do is confront those that you have wronged.”

“That is what I’m doing!” exploded Jin ZiXun. “No one is as cruel as you Yiling-Laozi, with your wicked tricks and demonic cultivation. You just said I killed that, that, Wen Ning there can be no other! You cast this on me for revenge for killing your pet Wen-dog! And now I demand that you remove this curse!”

Everyone was listening at that moment. Wei WuXian breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Lan Yuan’s squeal followed by Lan Bo’s laughter—at least the children weren’t paying attention to the adults.

“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. When I arrived at Qiongqi Pass and saw the death and devastation there. It is true I called on the dead to be judge and it resulted in the death of the guards that were there at the time. Was it all of those that had wronged the innocent, no it was not, but the dead were satisfied, so I was satisfied. Would I like to see you punished for your crimes of course, but I did not curse you.”

“The proof is on my chest!”

“The Hundred Holes Curse is a nasty curse it is true, there is no counter-curse to it, and it cannot be expelled. The holes will slowly grow until you die unless the castor removes the curse. The Hundred Holes is also a simple curse to cast, any cultivator could cast it. The reason it isn’t popular is that you have to be sure that your spiritual energy is higher than your victim, if it is not you risk cursing yourself. And if the victim tries to repel the curse you will suffer the rebound scars forever. Everyone here can attest that what I have said is true.”

There were murmurs of agreement in the crowd and Jin ZiXun glanced around and then was all bluster again, “And who is to say your wicked tricks would not save you from the consequences?”

“In someone else, wicked tricks, as you put it, may indeed be able to mitigate the side effects, but you are forgetting, the Hundred Holes Curse isn’t casted with wicked tricks but spiritual energy.”

“Yes, yes and you were number four in our generation of young masters despite being a servants son, you must have assumed you were more powerful than I and used your wicked tricks to ensure that I suffered!”

Wei WuXian sighed and shook his head, perhaps he should conserve his words like his husband, he would be done with idiots faster. “If the caster refuses to remove the curse there is another way to remove it—“

He was cut off by Jin ZiXun drawing his sword. “There is and I will kill you if you will not remove this curse immediately!”

Lan WangJi stepped in front of Wei WuXian his hand on Bichen. From behind his husband Wei WuXian projected his next words. “You are correct, killing the caster will also stop the Hundred Holes Curse, but you are forgetting. I am no longer the fourth young master of our generation I lost my golden core before the war started.” He paused there, reminding the crowd the secret they had stolen from him by spying. He then continued, “Even if I had cursed you in our youth, you would have been cured before Wen Chao threw me in the Burial Mounds, for the life of a cultivator is their golden core!”

There was a silence and then an explosion of whispers. Jin ZiXuan made it through the crowd and grabbed a hold of his cousin’s arm. “Come ZiXun, make yourself presentable this is a wedding banquet.”

“But… but…” sputtered Jin ZiXun but he was dragged away by his cousin.

They went back to the rounds of toasting. But they got more emphatic wishes for long life and marriage with the reminder that Wei WuXian didn’t have a golden core. Wei WuXian was slightly distracted it was true that the Hundred Holes Curse was rare due to the side effects, but it wasn’t the only curse that didn’t have a cure. His mind whirled with ideas of what could be done to track the curse back to the caster. For yes, the Hundred Holes curse would leave a visible rebound scar, but some curses wouldn’t. And really asking everyone to disrobe was a bit much and tedious it would be better if there was a way to track the curse back to the castor. Wei WuXian knew his sister was going to be staying in Cloud Recesses for a couple days after the wedding and he planned to talk to her and her husband about it before they left.

They had made it to the portion of the evening where Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian were really supposed to stand there and bid their guests good-bye, but the evening was still young and not even Lans were thinking about going to bed. So, really they were just talking with friends as they stood in the vicinity of the door in case someone wanted to leave.

The first to leave were those with young children. Lan WangJi’s cousin, his wife, and little Lan Bo, followed by Granny and Lan Yuan.

“A-Niang night-night song!” exclaimed Lan Yuan.

“I can’t tonight, I have to stay here and say good night to all these people.”

Tears began to well in Lan Yuan’s eyes.

Wei WuXian hastily added, “Granny will tell you a bedtime story, won’t that be nice?”

“I want a night-night song!” screamed the little boy and Granny tried to shush him.

The noise had drawn the attention of some of the other people. Wei WuXian looked at Lan WangJi. “The night has been exciting and stressful with the guests.”

He understood what Lan WangJi had meant, with the Jin guests dressed in gold the evening had been stressful for Lan Yuan. Lan XiChen stepped towards them. “We can play some music; it’ll keep everyone here than you won’t miss any of the good-byes.”

“All right,” agreed Wei WuXian, “I’ll play one bedtime song and you need to promise to be good for Granny tonight.”

“I promise.”

Wei WuXian smiled he pecked Lan WangJi on the lips and then walked away from his wedding banquet with Granny and his son. Lan WangJi watched them until they were out of sight. He then turned to his brother and said, “I will play with you, Xiongzhang.”

“It is your wedding day WangJi you should relax and enjoy the music. You really haven’t had a chance to sit down and eat,” returned Lan XiChen.

Lan WangJi nodded and then he hesitantly sat at the table nearest to the door it had long since been abandoned in favour of socialising. There was still food on the table and a servant came and cleared away the dirty dishes and brought him a clean plate.

Lan XiChen gained everyone’s attention and then said, “I thought it would be nice to have some music, some of the disciples have gone to collect instruments, it is supposed to be an informal thing, so anyone who wishes to play can come up, borrow an instrument if needed, and play. I will start.”

He brought Liebing to his mouth and began to play a long ballad, it was well-known and would catch interest, it was also long enough that by the time he finished there would be more instrument available.   

The song came to an end and a lot of the Lan got up and moved over to where the instruments were. There was mostly guqins but a variety of other instruments had been brought as well. There was a short discussion and then five guqin players sat down to play. After that song an excited erhu player from YunmengJiang, who had possibly had a bit too much to drink of the now less quietly circulating contraband, ran up to play. His friends that could also play and were much more sober joined him so that wouldn’t lose face for their sect.

It started a round of musicians, people would go up grab and instrument, compositions were discussed, some people would step down, and then it was played. The music was varied from ditties to ballads. There were scores that Lan WangJi had never heard before, but it was all very pleasant and he sort of wished that Wei WuXian was there to watch it, since he was sure that his husband would enjoy all the people coming together to play. There was still a chance that even after Wei WuXian returned from putting Lan Yuan to bed in Granny’s room that he could enjoy the concert—

—There was a great roar that drowned out the music and was so out of place that no one stopped playing for a moment. Lan WangJi got to his feet for he knew the sound—it was Wen Ning, he had heard the sound the day the fierce corpse had woken.

The wedding party carried on until Wen Ning burst into the hall and flipped over the nearest table. That was when the screaming started. Lan WangJi didn’t have Wangji on him, so he moved through the panicking crowd towards the instruments. Some people were running, and others were pulling out their swords. The Wedding banquet dissolved into night hunt and the cultivators weren’t winning. Lan WangJi tried desperately to get to the instruments before the tide was turned and Wen Ning was killed, he knew if that happened many people would be sad.

Wen Ning tossed aside people like they were flies as he appeared to be seeking out someone in the crowd. It soon became apparent that he was going after the Jin, and more specifically the Sect Heir or perhaps Jin ZiXun who was cowering behind his cousin, sword in hand but it wavered and shook and belayed his nerves. But others kept getting in Wen Ning’s way stopping him from being about to get to them, or even possibly to someone behind them.

“Wei WuXian stop this madness now!” yelled a voice that somehow rose and carried over the din. Lan WangJi was becoming immediately suspicious that anyone had the time to actually notice any newcomers to the scene. Lan WangJi shifted to head towards the voice and hopefully his husband.

“I’m not doing anything I just got back,” returned Wei WuXian, “what is going on?”

“Like you don’t know!”

“I don’t know!” yelled back Wei WuXian.

“Cease your wicked tricks this instant!” came a new voice.

“Yes, we all came to celebrate your wedding, and this is how you treat us by attacking us with the Ghost General!” said someone else.

“What?” said Wei WuXian his tone shocked and over the din it was hard for Lan WangJi to hear the words. “Wen Ning wouldn’t.”

“I heard a flute.”

“Me too.”

“Me too, it was the ghost flute for sure!”

There was a pause and Lan WangJi paused as well. There were just the sounds of fighting, the players had long since abandoned their instruments, but faintly there in the background, there was indeed a flute playing. Lan WangJi shifted again and went after the flutist.

Jiang Cheng broke through the crowd of people accusing Wei WuXian. Wei WuXian had that panicked look on his face, not the one for dogs but the one that said that he was backed into a corner and soon he would lash out with his tongue if not another weapon. “Wei WuXian where is Chenqing? Get it now, calm Wen Ning!”

“I don’t have it, I don’t have Chenqing, A-Yuan wanted it to sleep. He was gnawing on one end as Granny told him a story when I left.”

“Come,” said Jiang Cheng and he pressed through the crowd he grabbed Wei WuXian’s wrist and started tugging him out of the circle of accusers. “There are instruments here, perhaps there is a dizi you can use.”

There was another roar and everyone looked over to the fighting in time to see Wen Ning charge the knot of Jins. Wei WuXian slipped from his brother’s grasp in an instant and dashed over to the scene. He had no Chenqing, he left his brother behind, his husband was somewhere in the crowd, and that which he was fighting was Wen Ning, the other thing that he could count on in a fight. Wei WuXian reached into his sleeve to pull out his talismans, it was all he had left—it was his wedding day, there were no talismans in his sleeves.

Lan Yuan would cry, so would the husband he would be leaving widowed on their wedding day, his brother, and his sister; Wen Ning would hate himself when he returned to his senses, but it was what he had to do, at least the Wens would be safe. Wei WuXian braced himself a human shield protecting his sister’s husband. He couldn’t look at the snarl on Wen Ning’s face the strangeness of his eyes with their double pupils, Wei WuXian closed his eyes tight and waited for his fate.

“Wei… Gongzi?… What is… what is going on?”

Surprised, Wei WuXian opened his eyes and cool silver met the familiar warm brown of his friend Wen Ning, frozen before him a fist suspended before Wei WuXian’s chest as if about to punch. The fierce corpse dropped his hand in confusion and looked around at the destruction.

Wei WuXian opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a punch of air. Wei WuXian’s body froze and his eyes looked down, there was a bloodied sword tip sticking out of his stomach.  

Chapter Text

“Wei WuXian!” came the panicked voice of Jiang Cheng.

Just noticeable over Wen Ning’s cry, “Wei-Gongzi!”

And Jin ZiXuan’s exclamation, “ZiXun what have you done?”!

The sword started to be pulled out, Wei WuXian hissed and then his hand went to the blade and tried to hold it in place. The sharp edge bit into the palm of his hand and he hissed again.

“Wei-Gongzi!” roared Wen Ning, it looked like their connection was making Wen Ning angrier.

“You can’t fight Wen Ning, just don’t let them take the sword out until I can see your sister!”

Wen Ning instantly calmed, and his own inhumanly strong hand went to the blade and held it in place. The person behind Wei WuXian tugged at the sword again and Wei WuXian hissed again.

“ZiXun stop that you are hurting him more, let go of the sword!” demanded Jin ZiXuan.

“Good, this fiend deserves all the pain we can give him! He isn’t fit for society, and he cursed me! He is just getting what he deserves!” boasted Jin ZiXun.

“Didn’t curse you,” murmured Wei WuXian.

All attention was on them, but everyone seemed to be frozen and staring at the gruesome tableau, except for Jiang Cheng who had made it towards his brother’s side and was sparking in rage before he could demand the Jin’s head a commotion on the other side of the pavilion drew everyone’s attention.

“Unhand me! I’m a Sect Leader!”

There was a scuffle behind Wei WuXian and a cry of pain and then Jiang Cheng said, “I have the sword.”

Wei WuXian nodded. “Wen Ning, quick go get your sister and if you see Lan Zhan send him over.”

Wen Ning let go of the blade no longer worried about having to play tug of war. Before he could leave they heard over the crowd, “I found him playing a dizi and doing demonic cultivation.”

“Just get your sister, Wen Ning,” said Wei WuXian. Wen Ning nodded and headed off away from the wedding banquet to find his sister.

There was a pang in his heart, it had been decided that Wen Ning and Qing were too high profile to attend the wedding banquet and Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi had planned to have a meal with them later. Wei WuXian looked down, the hole in the robes was a problem, but at least red hid the blood well. There was arguing behind Wei WuXian in his periphery he could see purple sparks fly but he couldn’t pay attention all of his concentration was on staying standing and not moving. Wen Ning was fast; it wouldn’t be long.

On the other side of the pavilion Lan WangJi stood with a strong grip around the wrist of another would-be-murderer, unaware of his husband’s pain.

“WangJi,” Lan XiChen said in hopes of telling Lan WangJi of the tragedy, of the scene that had had everyone’s attention just moments before Lan WangJi came in dragging the sect leader of MolingSu.

“Everyone was playing, you can’t fault me for playing too! And how dare you accuse me of using demonic cultivation! I am the Sect Leader of a righteous sect!” protested Su MinShan.

“Xiongzhang, see for yourself, this dizi is steeped in resentful energy,” said Lan WangJi he held out the instrument to his brother.

Lan XiChen took the flute, and he could feel the resentful energy that still clung to it. He nodded and said, “WangJi, I will take Su MinShan, WuXian has been stabbed, you should go to your husband.”

“Wei Ying!” sucked in Lan WangJi. His hand let go and Su MinShan backed away so that he slipped behind the gaggle of his own men.  

Lan WangJi forgot about the man he had found doing demonic cultivation and rushed over to the second knot of people. He tried to push through, but the crowd didn’t seem to want to move for him until Wen Ning returned with his sister on his back then people scattered in fear.

The first thing after Wei WuXian that Lan WangJi saw was Jiang Cheng holding the sword that was stabbed through Wei WuXian’s stomach and his blood boiled. But then his ears heard Jin ZiXuan berating his cousin about stabbing Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi’s anger shifted targets. But while Wei WuXian was bleeding, Lan WangJi’s anger was tamped down and pushed away in favour of worry.

A moment later Jiang YanLi arrived. She looked more harried than anything else until she laid eyes on Wei WuXian. Lan WangJi grabbed Wei WuXian’s hand, as Jiang YanLi squeezed the other hand.

“I’m here A-Xian.”

“Wei Ying.”

They said at the same time and a smile quirked on Wei WuXian’s lips. “All my favourite people, but A-Yuan, and plus the peacock.” His voice was thin. He turned his head minutely to look over at Lan WangJi and added, “Sorry, I think this ruined our wedding night.”

“There will be many more nights in the future,” Lan WangJi replied.

Jiang YanLi took the medical bag from Wen Qing when she arrived and stood by ready to assist the doctor when needed. Wen Qing carefully probed around the blade and barked out orders. Wen Ning poured a foul concoction down Wei WuXian’s throat which he remembered from when Jiang Cheng had stabbed him. Another followed and then they waited. Wei WuXian didn’t remember the wait last time but then again, the sword had been removed last time.

Jin ZiXuan fell silent as his cousin was taken away and Lan XiChen arrived after. He said, “Everyone will be staying the night, there will be a trial in the morning.”

Not that anyone surrounding Wei WuXian had actually heard the news. On Wen Qing’s order Lan WangJi and Wen Ning carried Wei WuXian while Jiang Cheng continued to keep the sword steady. Wei WuXian was brought to the infirmary and laid on his side.

The sword was finally removed and Wen Qing stuck a couple fingers inside the wound to assess the damage. “It doesn’t seem like anything major has been damaged, I’ll need to sew you up. Jiang-Zongzhu when I say, transfer spiritual energy. Wei WuXian no longer has spiritual energy but if you circulate it through his body yourself it will still be able to help.”

There was a sound of shifting behind them and Wen Qing added, “Lan-Er-Gongzi while Jiang-Zongzhu is circulating energy through Wei WuXian you need to play Healing. If done in tandem like this it should simulate the circumstances of an injured cultivator and Wei WuXian will heal as such.” 

“I would like to help, I feel horrible Wei WuXian was protecting us and I didn’t see what my cousin was doing until it was too late,” said Jin ZiXuan.

There was a pause and Wei WuXian winced and he wondered if their carefully kindled assumptions were about to turn to ash in the face of the truth. “I understand, but I’m basing this theory of healing on the hope that Jiang-Zongzhu knows Wei WuXian’s pathways well enough to circulate the energy. If you know any musical healing you can play with Lan-Er-Gongzi.”

“I see,” said Jin ZiXuan.

But it was almost drowned out by Jiang Cheng’s question, “And if it doesn’t work like you think it will?”

“He’ll heal slower. If you or Jin-Shao-Zongzhu, or Lan-Er-Gongzi were to apply your spiritual energy like you would with anyone with spiritual energy, the bulk of the energy you would put in would just dissipate since Wei WuXian has no spiritual energy to help hold it in place. No harm will come to him. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” said Jiang Cheng.

“I do not have an instrument here,” replied Lan WangJi.

“You have time to get it. Jiang-Zongzhu start the transfer, start with a trickle of energy if you remembered how his energy used to move throughout his entire body move the energy like that, otherwise match the flow direction with that of your own and move the energy through his entire body. We don’t want to shock his pathways; we’ll slowly increase the energy. When enough energy is moving through Wei WuXian, Lan-Er-Gongzi can start playing,” explained Wen Qing. She hadn’t really looked at any of the people in the room and had only glanced over at Wen Ning and Jiang YanLi who were arranging her medical supplies so they could hand them to her when she asked. She heard a shift of fabric behind her and could feel the slight trickle of spiritual energy that started to move through the body under her hand.

“If you tell me where your guqin is, I will go and get it and you can stay with you husband,” said Jin ZiXuan.

“Thank you,” said Lan WangJi and then he started to give directions to Jin ZiXuan.

Wen Qing’s area of the infirmary was tense for a moment as she carefully stitched Wei WuXian back together, Wen Ning held a cloth to the opposite side of the wound to staunch the bleeding, Jiang YanLi handed over things as Wen Qing asked, Jiang Cheng concentrated on his task, and Lan WangJi hovered in worry.

Lan XiChen entered before Jin ZiXuan returned. “How is my brother-in-law doing.”

“He’ll live, we’re trying to see if he can utilise spiritual energy to heal more like a cultivator, but if it doesn’t work, he’ll just heal more slowly,” replied Wen Qing.

“Good, that is good. I hate to bring this up now, but MolingSu is claiming that Su MinShan has been framed, they would like to see Chenqing to confirm that it hasn’t been used for demonic cultivation recently.”

A laugh coughed out of Wei WuXian and Wen Qing lightly slapped him. “Talk if you must but no laughing!”

“Sorry, Qing-Jie. XiChen-Ge, A-Yuan has Chenqing, I played the lullaby for him and then he wanted to hold Chenqing while Granny told him a story. It will be there,” replied Wei WuXian.

“I see, thank you WuXian, there are some things that need to be handled tonight but the bulk of the discussions will be tomorrow, we’ll need everyone's accounts.”

People around the room agreed and then Lan XiChen bowed to them and left the infirmary.

Jin ZiXuan came back in, and he was carrying a guqin with more care then Wei WuXian would have thought was needed. But also his body seemed to be trying to suck back in all of the spiritual energy that Jiang Cheng was feeding him and he was too tired to really fight it and was relying on Wen Qing to keep them safe, so he admitted his perception of the people around him were off. He just took notice when Lan WangJi stepped away from him.

The room was silent for long moments and Wei WuXian was wondering if Lan WangJi had decided he was too much trouble and had abandoned him, when Wen Qing said, “You can start playing now Lan-Er-Gongzi.”

A soft smile came to Wei WuXian’s lips as he heard the first notes played from Wangji and knew Lan WangJi was playing.

When Wei WuXian woke the next morning, with morning light in his eyes he knew that he was in a new place because he couldn’t feel the reassuring weight of Lan WangJi wrapped around him or the rhythmic movement of Lan WangJi’s chest under Wei WuXian’s head, or the warmth of Lan Yuan, or the blankets tucked up to his chin since Lan WangJi and Lan Yuan had decided he could sleep in.

The confusion woke his mind a bit and he sat up to help assess his location. Wei WuXian hissed in pain and a hand went to his stomach and he felt the bandage under his hand. He fell back on the bed and winced again when the entry wound hit the mattress. He gingerly rolled on his side and had to smile when he noticed Lan WangJi asleep slumped over his guqin.

Wen Qing entered with a large bowl of something steaming. “Good you’re awake.”

“Why isn’t—“ Wei WuXian’s voice was horse with sleep he cleared his throat and tried again, “Why isn’t Lan Zhan awake, it must be later then the second bell.”

“It is, but he and Jiang-Zongzhu expended a lot of spiritual energy last night. I couldn’t get Lan-Er-Gongzi to leave for bed, but Jiang-Zongzhu did and he is still sleeping as well.”

“Oh.”

“Let’s see if we can get you seated and then I’ll check on the wound.”

She moved over to the bed and placed down the bowl. Wei WuXian looked inside and saw that it was just steaming water with a cloth. “Slowly, bend your knees, stay on your side like that, that is good.”

Wei WuXian did as he was told, he could still feel the ache from when he had suddenly sat up but the shifting of his legs didn’t do much to cause more pain. Wen Qing continued her instructions, “Get your arm under you, yes like that.”

Wen Qing placed her hands on Wei WuXian’s shoulders. “Use your arm to push yourself slowly into a seated position. You should end up facing me with your legs hanging off the bed.”

With a nod, Wei WuXian took a couple breaths and then he started to sit up. It was much better then how he had first sat up. He wondered how he had never known that sitting up like Wen Qing had just taught him was so easy. Wen Qing’s hands on his shoulders guided him carefully into a seated position, and Wei WuXian knew that she would make sure that he didn’t hurt himself more. Though Wen Qing was lucky that Wei WuXian had just woken up because if he had more faculty of mind he probably wouldn’t be as calm about being careful.

“Let’s see how well this idea of using spiritual energy worked.” Wen Qing started to unwrap the bandage around Wei WuXian’s middle. The cloth pulled at the skin and made Wei WuXian more aware of the immediate area of the wound and not the pain that had radiated from it from his ill-formed idea of sitting up. With the way the bandaged pulled he wasn’t surprised to see dried blood.

His skin felt raw as the layers of bandages were taken off. Even though there was still bandage to go the blood stuck and pulled everything up with each layer. After a couple had been pulled away Wen Qing dabbed the bandages with the wet cloth to help loosen them. When they were completely off  Wei WuXian was surprised by the amount of dried blood on his skin, the whole area felt like it should have been red from the rawness of the dried blood being yanked from his skin, but there was still blood painting it.

Wen Qing froze and stared at his stomach for a long moment and then walked around the bed to look at his back. Wei WuXian felt her gently prod near his wound and then she came back to his front and prodded his stomach. “No fresh bleeding.”

Then she gently took the cloth and started wiping away the blood. She would wring the bloody cloth out in a bowl that Wei WuXian hadn’t seen before and then she would dip it back in the hot water she had brought. She worked quietly until his front was clean and he could see the pink line of the scar crossed with Wen Qing’s stitches, then she moved to give his back the same treatment and Wei WuXian stared at his husband. It was rare that he got to watch Lan WangJi sleep.

“It looks like the healing has been accelerated by Jiang-Zongzhu and Lan-Er-Gongzi’s efforts. Not completely, since you don’t have a golden core that is continuing the healing process. But if you rest now you’ll be able to get up and go to the trials this afternoon.”

“Trials?”

“Yes, the Lan want Su-Zongzhu to be held accountable for preforming demonic cultivation to control A-Ning. But he is saying that he did not do that, that you are the one who was controlling A-Ning. The Lan also want to prosecute Jin-Er-Gongzi for attempting to murder you. However Jin-Zongzhu is saying that his nephew stabbing you broke your concentration and control of A-Ning and saved everyone. It is not something you’ll want to miss, convalescing.”

Wei WuXian looked at Wen Qing and brushed his nose. “How’s A-Yuan?”

“He knows you were hurt, Granny brought him by earlier, while you were sleeping, sadly he is used to you being stabbed, he kissed your stomach better and then didn’t complain about spending the day with his friend knowing that you and Lan-Er-Gongzi would be sleeping all day.”

He had the decency to feel ashamed that his son was used to him being hurt and wouldn’t complain about being shooed away, though from experience they both knew that Lan Yuan would be sleeping in the same room as Wei WuXian until he was better.

“Can I write?”

Wen Qing narrowed her eyes and then hesitantly said, “Yes, but no cultivation.”

“I promise, no cultivation.”

“I’ll get you what you need,” said Wen Qing after another prolonged glare. But she did turn and leave the room.

Wei WuXian went back to watching his husband, and they were husbands in truth not just by assumption—it made Wei WuXian smile and he didn’t even notice the time passing until Wen Qing returned.

A field desk was placed by the bed with paper, ink, and brushes. Wei WuXian wasted no time in making ink and starting to write. He didn’t even notice that Lan WangJi woke up until a kiss was pressed to the top of his head.

“Hey Lan Zhan, sorry I got stabbed on our wedding night.”

“Not Wei Ying’s fault, I am glad you are feeling better.”

“Of course, the great HanGuang-Jun played for me!”

A small smile formed on Lan WangJi’s face, and he pressed another kiss to Wei WuXian’s head. “Should I go get A-Yuan?”

“Qing-Jie said he was in earlier when we were sleeping, he kissed us better and went off with Granny and his friend.”

Lan WangJi hummed in agreement. “Have you eaten?”

Wei WuXian shook his head. “And Qing-Jie didn’t offer, so I don’t know if it is safe at the moment.”

“I will go ask, if it isn’t…”

“If it isn’t you go and eat, I’ll be fine here.”

“I love you Wei Ying,” said Lan WangJi.

“I love you too, Lan Zhan.”

With one last kissed pressed to Wei WuXian’s head Lan WangJi left to find Wen Qing. She wasn’t far just in another room of the infirmary. “Wen-Daifu.”

Wen Qing startled and looked up from the herbs she was grinding. “Oh, good you are awake.”

She laid down her tools, wiped here hands and stepped around the table to get at Lan WangJi’s wrist.

“Can Wei Ying eat?”

She hummed over Lan WangJi’s wrist for a moment and then let go. “I want him to wait a bit on eating, lunch should be soon enough. You on the other hand should eat it will help with your energy levels. Don’t worry about it being outside of mealtimes I already asked the kitchen to set aside some food for you.”

Lan WangJi hummed and waited for her to let go of his wrist and then he left. He made his way to the kitchen. And despite his internal clock having been thrown off the familiar pathways of white pebbles were calming and soothing to Lan WangJi’s frayed nerves. His husband in truth, now, was well enough to be sitting up in the bed and working on something. That fact had made Lan WangJi happier than anything he had imagined waking up to the morning after Wei WuXian, a man without a golden core, had been stabbed. The thought alone had Lan WangJi tightening his fists minutely in an effort to not go and kill Jin ZiXun.

The old aunties in the kitchen were happy to see him. They pressed a bowl of congee and a deep-fried dough stick into his hand and they pressed him to sit down in a corner of the kitchen to eat.

They were not eating but were instead preparing lunch, so they went on working and chatting. They engaged him in the conversation but in a way that he wouldn’t need to respond. “We got a message from Wen-Daifu to have your lunch sent to the infirmary, with one for your husband.”

“Oh yes, congratulations on your marriage.”

“Him getting hurt is a sour business.”

“And the Su MinShan using poor Wen Ning like that, he helps us here sometimes, if you need it this afternoon we can speak for him.”

“Yes!” came a chorus of voices.

“You’ve been happier since you brought back you husband and son, and the rest. We’re all glad that it is official now, I can’t see why someone would want to hurt that.”

“Yes, but if lunch is ordered for Wei-Gongzi then he is on the mend.

The bowl of congee had been small the fried dough stick had been more substantial, but Lan WangJi was still hungry. He had been debating asking for more when he realised the time and understood that the small bowl was to give him something but leave him with enough room to eat at lunch.

“Thank you for your kind words, I will pass them on, and for the meal.”

“No thanks are needed Lan-Er-Gongzi,” said the kitchen aunties almost as one. Lan WangJi bowed to them and then left the kitchen.

He almost ran straight into Jiang YanLi going into the kitchen and shot his hands out to grip her shoulders to steady her. 

“Oh, Lan-Er-Gongzi! I’m glad to see you awake, were you cooking?”

“No, I was getting my breakfast.”

“Did A-Xian wake up?”

“Yes, Wen-Daifu said he can have lunch.”

“Oh! That is wonderful!” exclaimed Jiang YanLi she clapped her hands together and it drew Lan WangJi’s attention to the fact that she was carrying a basket, the handle of which was over her arm.

She noticed his gaze and then stepped closer and dropped her voice, “I went out and got pork ribs, the rules say, ‘no killing in Cloud Recesses,’ and nothing about ‘no eating meat in Cloud Recesses’ so I brought the ribs in and I’m going to cook my soup. Now, I don’t have to worry about keeping it warm since A-Xian is awake.”

Lan WangJi could not fault her logic; she was indeed correct about the rules, and he knew that Wei WuXian would appreciate the soup. He was also beginning to think that some of Wei WuXian’s cleverness about the rules might have been learned from his sister.

“I am sure Wei Ying will enjoy it.”

“Did you want me to make you a vegetarian version?” she asked with a smile.

Lan WangJi nodded, even though she was right about the rules it still felt weird thinking about eating something with meat inside Cloud Recesses. “Thank you, if it would not be any trouble.”

“None at all,” replied Jiang YanLi. “Well, I should get cooking I’ll see you and A-Xian for lunch.”

They went their separate ways: Jiang YanLi into the kitchen and Lan WangJi back to the infirmary. He paused in his steps remembering Wei WuXian’s concentration on whatever he had been working on and he changed direction to go the Jingshi instead. The walk and the air were nice, he had slept in a horrible position after all, but it was worth it to have Wei WuXian further from danger than he had been when he arrived in the infirmary. He went into their home and picked up the book he was reading from its place on the shelf and then turned around to head back out.

His eye caught Suibian in the sword rack and a pang of longing hit Lan WangJi; if only Wei WuXian could still use his sword, he could have defended himself. But no, Suibian would not be leaving that sword rack for years. Wei WuXian had complained when Lan WangJi had placed the sword there when they were organising the space to accommodate the three of them and their stuff. He hadn’t liked the reminder that he couldn’t use his sword, but Lan WangJi pointed out that Wei WuXian loved Suibian and should still show respect for his sword even if he could no longer wield it. They had agreed that they would give Lan Yuan Suibian when he was of age, but they hadn’t told their son yet because they didn’t want him trying to mess with it early, since it was ‘his sword’.

Lan WangJi gave a sad sigh that filled the caverns of regret and want and then whispered to the equally sad, dark sword, “He is all right.”

He then left the Jingshi and went back to the infirmary. The book had been a great idea. Wei WuXian was so concentrated on his work that he didn’t even notice Lan WangJi come in. Regardless, Lan WangJi went over and pressed a kiss to Wei WuXian’s head. Wei WuXian hummed in contentment and then tipped his head up and gentle smile playing on his lips. Lan WangJi dropped a kiss to them, short and sweet. “I’ll let you work,” he said and stepped away from Wei WuXian.

“You’re the best husband, you’re not going far are you?”

“No, I have a book to read.”

Wei WuXian smiled again, and it lit up the room like a sun. They settled in Lan WangJi with his book and Wei WuXian with his work. Occasionally, Wei WuXian would mumble or repeat sections of his work out loud trying to hear that his work was sound and there were no mistakes, but besides that they sat in companionable silence, together while doing their own things.

Jiang YanLi, Jiang Cheng, and Jin ZiXuan came with the servants who were carrying the meal and Wen Qing trailed behind them, to make sure that she was correct and eating wouldn’t harm Wei WuXian. It wasn’t the actual eating she should have worried about but instead Wei WuXian’s reaction. When Jiang YanLi said, “A-Xian it is lunchtime clean off your desk so you can eat some soup.”

Wei WuXian body seemed to seize and flail he knocked the desk with various limbs and some of the ink sloshed over. His fingers scrabbled to put his papers in order as he said, “Shijie, did you make your soup?”

“I did.”

Lan WangJi got up partially worried Wei WuXian would hurt himself more and helped to clean up the desk so Wei WuXian could use it as a table. Wei WuXian beamed at his husband, “Thanks Lan Zhan! Did you hear we get to have Shijie’s soup it is the best in the world!”

“Mn,” Lan WangJi agreed and then Jiang YanLi placed two bowls down on the field desk one for Wei WuXian and the other for Lan WangJi.

“Why do they look different? Besides that, mine doesn’t have any chili oil,” asked Wei WuXian.

“I made a vegetarian version, Lotus Root, and Tofu soup. And no chili oil for you until Wen-Daifu says so.”

Wei WuXian pouted a bit but then picked up his spoon and took a sip of his soup, a smile of pure contentment formed on his face. Just because it didn’t have the chili oil didn’t mean that Jiang YanLi skipped the ginger that gave it a bit of a spicy zing and the unspiced version connected his sense memory to the first few times that he had tried the soup at Lotus Pier before he had discovered the heaven sent taste of chili oil.

They ate generally in silence, but mostly due to Wei WuXian’s great appetite since he hadn’t had much at his wedding banquet before the toasting started and then he didn’t get breakfast. The few times he made a comment he realised that eating and talking at the same time seemed to make his body stiffen in a different way and that put a strain on his stomach.

The meal ended when Granny came into the infirmary with Lan Yuan in her arms. “A-Niang! A-Die! You’re awake!”

Wen Qing got up and moved the field desk away from Wei WuXian bed and said, “All right nap time.”

“I get to nap with A-Niang, Granny said,” declared Lan Yuan.

Wei WuXian had been opening his mouth to protest the nap, but at his son’s proclamation he decided that it was all right. He let Lan WangJi and Wen Qing help him swing his legs up onto the bed and lay down without pulling his side and then Lan Yuan was plopped into the bed. Lan WangJi pulled the covers up over them and pressed kisses to both of their foreheads. Wei WuXian was suddenly tired and with a yawn fell asleep.

He woke to the feeling of a light pressure pressing to his side and then moving away. Wei WuXian’s brain was still groggy with sleep like what occasionally happened with naps when you woke more tired than you should be. His brain told him that it had to be Wen Qing. But then he heard a soft mwah and he mumbled out, ‟Wha?”

“Kissing A-Niang better!”

Wei WuXian took a moment to pry his eyes open and then look down the length of his body. Lan Yuan hovered over Wei WuXian, careful not to touch him besides the careful kisses he pressed to Wei WuXian’s bandage. Wei WuXian’s heart swelled, and he smiled. “Ah, I see I was wondering why I was feeling so much better, thank you A-Yuan.”

The toddler sat up and beamed at his parent and Wei WuXian had to smile back. Lan WangJi walked into the infirmary in time to see his husband and son smiling identical smiles at each other. “How do you feel?”

“Great!” yelled Lan Yuan, “I had a dream there was a giant radish and it was trying to eat me and then I thunk it was just a radish, so I turned around and tried to eat it and it ran away and turned into a bunny, and then I rode the bunny!”

“It was a good dream?” asked Wei WuXian.

“The best!”

“Not scary? Even when the radish wanted to eat you?”

“Nuh-uh,” said Lan Yuan with a shake of his head.

Wei WuXian brushed Lan Yuan’s hair back and replied, “That is good, I slept well as well.”

“What did you dream about?”

With a hum, Wei WuXian brushed his finger against his nose. “I was trying to capture this little Radish so I could tickle him but then the radish decided to eat me instead! I ran away but had to turn into a rabbit to be faster. And then the little Radish rode on my back and we became friends!”

“Woah! Really?”

“Really.”

“Cool, it was just like my dream!”

“Yep.”

“I wouldn’t eat you A-Niang! I’m glad you turned into a bunny!”  

“Thank you.”

“I am glad that you two slept well,” said Lan WangJi.

“You could have slept with us, Lan Zhan.”

Lan WangJi went over to the bed and pressed a kiss to Wei WuXian’s head and then Lan Yuan’s. “The infirmary beds are too small; we will have plenty of time in the future for naps.”

“Yay!” exclaimed Lan Yuan he stood up on the bed and cheered.

He giggled when he was scooped up by his father. “I will bring A-Yuan to Wen-Popo.”

“No! I want to stray with A-Niang and A-Die!”

“Since your A-Niang is feeling better we need to go and talk about punishing the bad man that hurt your A-Niang,” explained Lan WangJi.

“Oh,” said the toddler. 

“Yes, and it will be very boring!” exclaimed Wei WuXian with a dramatic sigh. He brushed his finger against his nose and then lit up, “I know! A-Yuan you go to the meeting for me, and I’ll go play with Granny and little Lan Bo, what do you say?”

“A-Bo is my friend!”

“He can’t be my friend too?”

Lan Yuan frowned and thought about it and then said, “He can, but Granny said she would take us to see the rabbits after nap time. And rabbits are better than meetings.”

Wei WuXian sighed, “They are…” he turned to look at his husband and added, “hey, Lan Zhan—“

“You cannot go to the rabbit field now; we have to go to the meeting. I will bring A-Yuan to Wen-Popo and return to get you,” said Lan WangJi before Wei WuXian could make his request.

With one last bought of cuddles for Wei WuXian and Lan Yuan, Lan WangJi carried his son out of the room.

When Lan WangJi returned to the infirmary Wei WuXian was still not dressed to go to the meeting. At the very least Wei WuXian’s robes that had been folded on a nearby stand were now in a rumpled mess showing that Wei WuXian had tried to get dressed. At the moment however, Wei WuXian was sitting on the end of the bed leaning over the field desk. It didn’t look like it had been moved from where they put it before the nap and Wei WuXian looked to be leaning over it just a bit too much to reach it.

Lan WangJi grabbed the pile of white and blue robes and brought them over to the bed, “Wei Ying you need to get dressed for the meeting.”

“Just give me a moment…”

“Wei Ying.”

“I’m almost done…”

“Wei—“

“Done!”

Curiosity got the best of him and Lan WangJi looked over Wei WuXian’s shoulder, “What is it?”

“It’s a talisman that will trace a curse back to the start!”

“Will it work?”

“I’m not sure! But I’m excited to find out! The form is sound I’m confident that it will work though, but there is only one way to test it and I can’t test it I’m not cursed, and I don’t have a golden core.”

“I do not know if they will like this, you are the one they are blaming the curse on.”

“Ah, yes but I have you on my side and anyone else who realises that I can’t be the one to cast the curse without a golden core. And the great thing about the Hundred Holes Curse is the rebound scares, we just have to strip whoever is implicated!” Wei WuXian explained, he went to sit back up from his position hunched over the table and hissed and almost toppled forward but Lan WangJi caught him and slowly got him seated properly on the bed.

Hesitantly, Lan WangJi handed over the clothes. “Wei Ying is clever.”

Wei WuXian beamed and then reached for the ties on the robe he had been wearing, he got them untied but couldn’t really shrug them off without twisting or stretching too much. He pouted and looked up at Lan WangJi.

His husband took the collar of the robe in hand and pulled it down to the fabric pooled around Wei WuXian on the bed.

“When I imagined you undressing me after our wedding, I imagined less pain.”

Lan WangJi paused in his work, his nostrils flared, he took a deep breath, then he hummed in agreement, and went back to getting Wei WuXian dressed. Lan WangJi carefully got Wei WuXian to his feet and then just stood there for a moment to make sure that he was steady on his feet before Lan WangJi went about wrapping the layers of robes around his husband. He finished by taking off his forehead ribbon and tying it around Wei WuXian’s head all while his husband’s sliver gaze watched cross-eyed. Then he took the ribbon that was presented to Wei WuXian at the wedding as his and tied it on his own head.

Last, Lan WangJi picked up Wei WuXian’s talisman and then stood on the side of Wei WuXian that he was stabbed and wrapped his arm around Wei WuXian’s waist. That way no one could bump the injury and he could support his husband if needed.

Chapter Text

“WuXian,” said Lan XiChen when they entered the room where the meeting was going to take place, “I’m glad to see that you are well enough to join us.”

“Thank you,” Wei WuXian said but then hesitated. In their time before the wedding as everyone thought they were married already Wei WuXian had been calling Lan XiChen, XiChen-Ge. Doing so in the moment would remind people that Wei WuXian was part of the Sect Leader’s immediate family. But if they thought so poorly on him, they may find the informality of the address to be a mockery. And for the exact opposite reasons ZeWu-Jun and Lan-Zongzhu would have similar risks. “Xiongzhang,” Wei WuXian finished.

Lan XiChen smiled at him and gestured to their seats and Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi sat down. “I believe it would be best if we went in the order that events occurred, so we will be discussing HanGuang-Jun’s accusation of demonic cultivation on Su-Zongzhu’s part first and then Jin-Er-Gongzi stabbing Wei WuXian.”

There were a few grumbles, but ultimately, they all agreed as they were in Cloud Recesses and Lan XiChen was the Sect Leader.

“Su-Zongzhu why don’t you tell us what you had been doing leading up to the confrontation with HanGuang-Jun,” prompted Lan XiChen.

‟I was playing with the rest of the people, when Lan-Er-Gongzi attacked me,” said Su MinShan, he sounded calm and practical.

Lan XiChen nodded. ‟Yes, my brother said he found you playing a dizi, but if I remember correctly you play the guqin.”

‟That is correct, there were already so many guqin players I thought to add a different voice to the composition,” replied Su MinShan.

There was a lot of nodding and hums of agreement in the room.

‟Where were you when the commotion started?” asked Lan XiChen.

‟I had gone to the bathroom, I’m not sure where I was exactly when the commotion started, but I didn’t know about it until Lan-Er-Gongzi had dragged me back to the main area.”

‟HanGuang-Jun stated that he followed the sound of a dizi to you.”

‟I hadn’t put down the dizi, so I had it with me, it is a small instrument compared to a guqin. As I was walking back, I thought of a song…” said Su MinShan, he hummed a few bars and then added, ‟but I wasn’t sure that I could remember the whole thing, so I was playing it as I walked.”

Su MinShan was standing there to address the crowd of people, but he was with his own sect and not singled out in anyway. For the moment there were no accusation, just a conversation about the night before. Lan XiChen had talked to Wen Ning but all he could remember is hearing a flute and after that his memory got hazy. But it was decided that the others would not consider his testimony valid, so he wasn’t going to speak.

ZeWu-Jun nodded and smiled softly in acknowledgement of the statement. ‟WangJi, can you tell us how you came across Su-Zongzhu?”

‟When the attack happened, everyone had stopped playing their instruments; however, I realised I could still hear someone playing. I knew that Wen QiongLin would not attack in his right mind, and thus he must have been controlled, therefore I went after the musician. I found Su-Zongzhu; however, I did not recognise him at first, I just saw a figure in the dark between two buildings swirling with resentful energy and I attacked.”

The members of the MolingSu sect rose their voices in protest and defence of their sect leader. Su MinShan let the protests go on for a moment before he silenced them with and hand and addressed the issue himself, ‟HanGuang-Jun admitted that it was dark and that he could not see who I was, that he came upon me because he heard the flute I was playing. It leads one to wonder if he sought out the flute expecting treachery from his husband or if he was looking for a scapegoat for the crimes of his husband. And I will be neither.”

There were some murmurs and Yao-Zongzhu spoke up, ‟Yes, was the flute in question the Ghost Flute, Chenqing? For surely that would be the answer right there.”

Wei WuXian rolled his eyes hard, and Lan WangJi squeezed his hand, even as there were more murmurs of agreement around them.

‟Let us hear from Wei WuXian though that swine should not be trusted leaving the wedding banquet early was suspicious to begin with,” said Jin GuangShan.

Lan XiChen’s mouth tightened in annoyance, but he looked generally still pleasant and accommodating when he looked over at Wei WuXian. ‟May I remind everyone that Lan Zhan and I had eloped years ago and already have a son that is three years old. We are thankful that you have all come to celebrate with us, but the ceremony was really just a renewal of our commitment. It was time for our son Lan Yuan to go to bed, but he wanted a lullaby. It was agreed that I would go and Xiongzhang came up with the idea of playing music. I walked to Granny’s home with A-Yuan and Granny, and I helped her settle my son in for the night and then I played a lullaby on Chenqing. When I finished, A-Yuan didn’t want me to leave. The Jingshi, my husband home before we came and our home now wasn’t prepared for a child, so at the moment the three of us are sharing the space and awaiting an addition, so our son is used to us being there when he goes to sleep. I knew I needed to return to the banquet to thank and bid our guests good night, so I gave A-Yuan Chenqing. I walked back alone and when I was close to the banquet, I heard the screaming and ran. That is when I saw the commotion and Wen Ning headed for Jin-Shao-Zongzhu and realising that I didn’t have my flute I ran to intercept. Wen Ning’s eyes were wrong he had double pupils showing that he was being controlled against his will. Luckily the fiend who was doing so was stopped or Wen Ning wrested control back for he stopped. However, I was then stabbed by someone from behind.”

Despite the comment that Sect Leader Yao had just made, Ouyang-Zongzhu—as another close ally of YunmengJiang and therefore somehow (Wei WuXian was trying to figure out why) had warranted a wedding invite and then despite never having liked Wei WuXian and being two of the biggest gossips about the rumour that he was Jiang FengMian’s bastard had actually come to the wedding—said, ‟He is the Yiling-Laozu I’m sure he can use any flute for his wicked tricks.”

Lan XiChen looked over at Nie MingJue and in that moment Wei WuXian really wanted to play matchmaker as Nie MingJue seemed to completely understand the look from his friend without anyone else realising there was a look. ‟Last Night after Wei-Gongzi was stabbed and taken to the infirmary I went with ZeWu-Jun to Wen-Popo’s house to see about the sleeping toddler and the dizi in question. Wen-Popo collaborates Wei-Gongzi’s story,” Nie MingJue said, and he paused as everyone looked at Wei WuXian, who had a bewildered look on his face.

Nie MingJue continued, ‟Lan-Xiao-Gongzi did have Chenqing, he was holding it like a doll in his sleep and it looked like he had been chewing on it.” Wei WuXian let out a quiet grown but Nie MingJue ignored him and went on, ‟I suggested we look around for another dizi or any sort of unscrupulous person that may have snuck in when all the guests arrived. We took the path that Wei-Gongzi would have taken and looked through all of the hiding places we could find no other and no discarded dizi. Furthermore, we interview Wen QiongLin, I never thought I would see a corpse cry, but I did last night. There were no tears of course but he was crying, and he apologised profusely for the damages done and any injuries he may have caused. He said he heard a flute playing and then could no longer control his actions, he could not tell us the player of the flute since he hadn’t seen the person. I am inclined to believe him.”

The room was silent for a moment as everyone took in those words.

‟There was also no flute on Wei WuXian that he could have used, and we know that none could have been hidden on or by his person for he was stabbed in front of everyone and then was not in a position to do anything nefarious. I feel that as HanGuang-Jun and Su-Zongzhu are both distinguished men that unless there is further evidence that we may table the discussion for now and move on to the stabbing before returning to the matter,” said ZeWu-Jun, ‟Wei WuXian could you tell us what happened there?”

‟Why would you ask him first? He is clearly an untrustworthy individual with his wicked tricks, you should talk to the wronged party first—‟ argued Jin GuangShan.

Jiang Cheng cut him off, ‟Wei WuXian was stabbed, in the matter of him being stabbed he is the wronged party.”

‟When I arrived and saw that something was wrong with Wen Ning, I did regret leaving my flute with my son. When I realised that it looked like Wen Ning was going to attack my— Jin-Shao-Furen’s husband, I didn’t think, I didn’t want her child to be born without a father, so I got in the way. Wen Ning stopped attacking. His eyes had had this double pupil thing, as I said before, so I could see he was being controlled and then they cleared up. And then I was stabbed,” explained Wei WuXian.

‟I would say that when it happened it looked like Wei WuXian was trying to defend us with his body—‟ said Jin ZiXuan.

He was cut off by his cousin, ‟We didn’t need defending it was just one fierce corpse.”

‟By Jin-Shao-Zongzhu’s account Wei-Gongzi was not doing anything threatening that would warrant stabbing him,” said Lan XiChen.

‟He attacked us with his wicked tricks.”

‟We just discussed how it could not have been Wei WuXian that controlled Wen QiongLin,” returned the Lan Sect Leader.

‟He cursed me, and he refused to remove the curse. The only other way to save myself is for him to die. He is a fiend, it is his own fault,” snapped Jin ZiXun.

‟Wei WuXian doesn’t have a golden core,” Jiang Cheng fumed, ‟he can’t have cursed you with the Hundred Holes Curse, we had this conversation before!”

‟Who is to say what can been done with wicked tricks?” returned Jin ZiXun. There was some nodding amongst the crowd.

‟Not use something that was meant to be done with spiritual energy,” said Wei WuXian. Then he brandished the talisman that he had made that morning. ‟I did think to bring this! This talisman will track a curse back to the caster. I haven’t tested it yet, but trying won’t hurt, will it?”

‟It most certainly could,” protested Jin GuangShan.

‟Here, here you can look it over, call in a talisman expert, I won’t mind,” said Wei WuXian and he held out the talisman for Jin GuangShan to inspect.

The Jin Sect Leader snapped open his fan and waved it in a dismissive fashion. The Lan talisman master was called to inspect the talisman. Many of the people in the crowd also stepped forward to inspect the talisman. When the Lan specialist had had a good long look she addressed the crowd, ‟If I had to guess the purpose of the talisman I would say curse tracking, of course it is untested, so we cannot know for certain until it is tested, there is nothing in the talisman itself that could harm the user. So, the person who is cursed that tests the talisman would either find the person the cursed them or nothing would happen.”

‟Why should this body trust you? You’re a sympathiser Wei WuXian married into your sect,” pointed out Su MinShan.

The talisman master blinked at Su MinShan and then looked down at the talisman in her hands. ‟This was created by Wei WuXian? No one had told me that, just that they wanted me to look at a new talisman and see if I could tell what it was and if it was safe to test.”

She studied the talisman again and then she looked around the crowd. ‟I trust Lan-Er-Gongzi’s judgement and his heart if he could love Wei-Gongzi so then you should be asking yourselves why you think he is so evil, for clearly he is not as evil as you assumed. But it is no matter, you don’t trust his work, even when it is such fine work.”

With that she activated the talisman and then nothing happened, the group was shocked.

‟What did you just do?” asked Jiang Cheng.

‟You didn’t want to trust a talisman drawn by Wei-Gongzi, so I tested it, but I wasn’t cursed, and I’m still not cursed, or dead, so you all know it was safe to test. We’ll only know that it will work if someone who is cursed uses it.”

As she spoke, she pulled out her talisman writing supplies and drew up another curse tracking talisman. ‟Here, whoever needs this can track the castor of their curse with this.”

‟I am not using some experimental talisman made by the Yiling-Laozu!” insisted Jin ZiXun.

‟It was drawn up by a Lan talisman master,” Jiang Cheng pointed out and then half under his breath lamented, ‟we are never going to get this sorted out.”

Jin ZiXuan cajoled, ‟Come on ZiXun, if it works you have the one responsible, if it doesn’t you can go back to blaming Wei WuXian.”

There was a heavy silence where everyone collectively held their breaths. Jin ZiXun’s face got redder and redder and the line of his mouth got tighter and tighter. As the time went on it was clear that the others were giving up on Jin ZiXun being reasonableness. It only took a moment more for Jin GuangYao to see how it was reflecting badly on the Jin. He whispered in his father’s ear just as the murmurs began to rise. There was another beat as Jin GuangShan surveyed the scene.

‟ZiXun it won’t hurt, just use the talisman,” snapped Jin GuangShan.

The aforementioned opened his mouth to protest but then his moth snapped shut with an audible click and then with a face going puce he snatched the talisman and activated it.

The thing with viscous degrading rumours about wicked tricks was that people forgot what Wei WuXian was known for. The thing about being a servants son that excelled in the world of young masters was that no one wanted to believe that you could do better than the young masters. The thing about making a talisman for such a specific purpose that even when tested for safety no one knew if it would work or not when used for its purpose. But the thing about that detail was that people had a habit of just assuming that what happened during the safety test would happen during the purpose test.

The pale gold light that formed on Jin ZiXun’s chest and then shot out straight into the crowd of on lookers shocked everyone. And no one moved. A look of sheer surprise took over Jin ZiXun’s face and his mouth dropped open the colour drained from his face, then the colour came back up, the red spreading up his neck and then his face. A vein popped in his forehead and then he growled. No one had actually seen who the light had led to before Jin ZiXun had launched himself after the line of light.

There was a beat where everyone stood frozen at the spectacle before them. And then almost as one the crowd surged forward in an attempt to separate Jin ZiXun from his adversary.

When the two were separated, blood was streaming down Su MinShan face from a likely broken nose and his off-white robe were a mess. The man’s dark eyes narrowed even as his face tried to swell, he adjusted his robes and said, ‟I will not stand for such assault, I am owed an apology!”

‟You should see a healer first about your nose,” said Lan XiChen.

Su MinShan spared a scathing glance for the GusuLan Sect Leader and then he glared at Jin ZiXun again. ‟I want that apology when I return.”

He turned then and stalked off in the direction of the infirmary. The effect was ruined by the crowd that was still rooted to their spots and moved slowly out of the new Sect Leader’s way. Lan XiChen made a gesture and a couple Lans followed after. Su MinShan wasn’t too far away when he noticed his shadows.

‟I studied at Cloud Recesses I know where the infirmary is,” snapped Su MinShan and he sent a backward glare at Lan XiChen.

‟I apologise Su-Zongzhu, but you have been accused of casting the Hundred Holes Curse on Jin-Er-Gongzi, I must send representatives to confirm or dispute this accusation,” returned Lan XiChen.

There was a minute widening of Su MinShan’s eyes and then he huffed and continued to stalk off, and his Lan shadows continued behind him. It wasn’t until they were out of sight that the whispers began. The noise was rising, the various comments hard to discern as everyone was talking to those around them and not to the body.

It seemed that there was an in-drawn breath, like someone was about to make an announcement, it seemed to quiet the voices though Wei WuXian was unsure where it was coming from. And then the two Lans that had been following after Su MinShan burst through the crowd and stopped panting in front of Lan XiChen.

‟Lan-Zongzhu,” said one, ‟Su-Zongzhu used a teleportation talisman and escaped.”

The area was silent again.

‟I believe that establishes his guilt,” boomed ChiFeng-Zun.

At the same instant, Jin GuangShan said, ‟What could the Yiling-Laozu’s talisman have done to him.”

Lan WangJi glared hard at the Jin Sect Leader, but only a few had heard him, as Nie MingJue had been the louder of the two.

There may have been a few others that had heard Jin GuangShan, but they were all or almost all on Wei WuXian’s side for Jiang Cheng and Lan XiChen continued to bring the focus back to Su MinShan and not allowing any sort of blame to land on Wei WuXian’s shoulders. He was after all the man stabbed at his own wedding.

‟I feel,” said Jin GuangShan in a moment of silence and before Jiang Cheng could speak over him, ‟that this body should address the issue of the Stygian Tiger Seal. It is a dangerous demonic cultivation artefact that should not be left in the hands of one man.

Lan QiRen spoke up, ‟It is not in the hands of one man, the Stygian Tiger Seal with the marriage of WangJi to Wei WuXian is now an artefact of GusuLan.”

‟But surely—‟ began Jin GuangShan.

‟One sect’s treasures are not a matter for another sect to discuss,” said Jiang Cheng.

‟Jiang-Zongzhu is correct,” agreed Lan QiRen, ‟in the matter of the Stygian Tiger Seal the GusuLan Sect will do what they deem best. It is not a matter for the LanlingJin Sect to worry about, we assure this body that GusuLan will not be using the Stygian Tiger Seal to cause harm to anyone.”

‟But the Yiling-Laozu—‟ tried Jin GuangShan.

‟As my brother-in-law, and the… mother of the next generation of Lans, he is part of GusuLan,” said Lan XiChen, his eyes hard.

There was more discussion, because of course there was. Lan XiChen was surprised at how quiet Jin GuangYao seemed and by the hard looks from Jin GuangShan, he too had noticed that LianFang-Zun hadn’t contributed much to the discussion.

It was over rather painlessly and, in relative terms of a Discussion Conference, quickly. Those left of MolingSu had until the next actual Discussion Conference to have a new sect leader or to prove that Su MinShan didn’t have rebound scars.

In terms of publicly stabbing a person without a golden core for a crime they couldn’t commit, it was a long discussion that had no real resolution. Lan WangJi was livid, Wei WuXian was fine with letting it go if everyone would leave Cloud Recesses, him, and the Wens alone, and the other Lans wanted reparations from the Jins.

Jin GuangYao found his voice and spun some tale or other that had all those assembled agreeing that there was no hard proof, as Su MinShan ran and so until he was found the true crime of Jin ZiXun could not be monetised.

So, eventually everyone left Cloud Recesses, the Wens settled in, and Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi finally got their wedding night.

Chapter Text

Wei WuXian seemed to forgive and forget everything the second that the talks were over with, despite the fact that it would all be brought up again if Su MinShan was ever found. Lan WangJi was still incensed, he wanted Jin ZiXun to be punished, he wanted the matters of the rumours against Wei WuXian to be addressed, he wanted the crimes of the Jins and their treatment of the Wens in the Labour Camps to be answered—but he was the only one.

Wen Qing and the other Wens seemed to have weighed the options and come to the conclusion that they would be safer if they just disappeared quietly. None of the sects came around asking what was going to happen to the Wen Remnants. A plot of land had been chosen and a small village was erected and when everyone left after the wedding most of the Wens moved out of Cloud Recesses. If they had brought the issue forward, then Lan WangJi knew that Wei WuXian would have fought tooth and nail for them. But that wasn’t the case.

So, once again it was Lan WangJi who was not in a position to do anything but remember. Remember that Su MinShan lost his sword to the Waterborne Abyss and was not thankful for Wei WuXian’s rescue, Su MinShan that shot Wei WuXian when they were fighting the Xuanwu of Slaughter, Su MinShan that was using demonic cultivation to control Wen Ning and try to blame Wei WuXian for it, and it was Su MinShan who most likely cursed Jin ZiXun.

But Lan WangJi would admit that they had time, for he understood that they needed Su MinShan to answer for his crimes, so Lan WangJi tried to enjoy his new married life.

Lan Yuan spent his nights with Wen-Popo and for whatever reason: he felt safer in Cloud Recesses, the distance between Granny and the Jingshi was too great, or he understood that Wei WuXian was injured, he never insisted on sharing a space with his fathers at night. Leading up to the wedding Lan Yuan spent most nights sandwiched between his fathers as he had done those last couple nights in the Burial Mounds. The plan had been that the night of the wedding Lan Yuan would sleep at Granny’s and Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian would have the Jingshi to themselves, but Wei WuXian got stabbed.

It had taken time for Wei WuXian to heal enough to be considered healed by Wen Qing but in that time, Lan Yuan had gotten used to sleeping at Granny’s. He didn’t even ask if he could go home with his parents, he was just content with getting a lullaby from one or the both of them and sleeping in his bed in Granny’s place. So, there was a buzz of anticipation under Lan WangJi’s skin the night that Wen Qing had declared Wei WuXian fit, and Lan Yuan went off to his bed in Granny’s hut.

Wei WuXian was working at the table in the Jingshi his tongue sticking out as his brush moved across the page. Lan WangJi stopped playing his guqin, stood up, and made his way over to the table. ‟Wei Ying.”

‟Hm? Is it time for bed? Give me a moment.”

Lan WangJi watched as Wei WuXian finished his thought on the page and then put down his brush and stood from the table. He stood slowly like he had been while injured, a hand on the table for support, but then halfway he realised his lack of pain and stood swiftly and turned to Lan WangJi with a radiant smile.

‟I’m all healed now Lan Zhan! I can work a bit longer, you go to bed, don’t worry, I’ll be quiet.”

‟Wei Ying.”

‟Lan Zhan?”

‟You’re healed now.”

‟I am, I am.”

‟We can have our wedding night now?”

‟Really? Did you have plans?”

‟Mn.”

‟I’m sorry I ruined them.”

‟Wei Ying ruined nothing Jin-Er-Gongzi is the one that stabbed you and Su MinShan is the one that used demonic cultivation and tried to frame you.”

‟Yes, yes,” agreed Wei WuXian with a wave of his hand. ‟All right let me clean up the ink and then we can do what you wanted to do all those nights ago.”

They worked together, cleaning the brush and inkwell, organising papers, and putting everything away. When the table was clean Lan WangJi stepped up to Wei WuXian and kissed him. It was deep and filthy; it took control of Wei WuXian and demanded his very heart and soul. Wei WuXian’s knees went weak, and he regretted the stabbing more than anything if he was getting such kisses from Lan WangJi for their delayed wedding night.

While they kissed Lan WangJi’s deft fingers worked to undo the ties of Wei WuXian’s robes, they even slipped in to undo his inner robes as well. Lan WangJi broke the kiss and took a step back a little whine escaped Wei WuXian’s throat, and his face moved to chase Lan WangJi at the same time his knees seemed to buckle without Lan WangJi to hold him up. Lan WangJi’s hand shot out and got a firm grip on Wei WuXian’s waist, the sudden movement of it all jerked Wei WuXian’s body and had silver eyes flying open in surprise. ‟Lan Zhan Wha—‟

Lan WangJi’s free hand went up to Wei WuXian’s shoulder, slipped under the robes there and pushed them off Wei WuXian’s body. The fabric fell heavy and audibly at Wei WuXian’s feet leaving the man in his under garments.

Wei WuXian’s mouth hung open on his half-formed word as a blush creeped up his chest and neck and then spread across his cheeks. ‟Lan Zhan! What are you doing? I can get dressed and undressed myself now, the pain is gone.”

‟I like undressing you.”

‟Oh, oh… well, uh… some warning next time you don’t need to disrobe me while we’re kissing it’s weird.”

‟Is it?”

‟Is what?”

‟Is it weird? If we are going to be going to bed…”

‟Well, it wasn’t like before when you were helping me like it took too much time.”

Lan WangJi blinked and then blinked again. ‟… Do you not want to… sleep with me?” Lan WangJi said his voice sort of faint and questioning, then in a rush he added, ‟If you do not, you just have to tell me, I still love you.”

‟My heart Lan Zhan! You just can’t say things like that!” Wei WuXian proclaimed dramatically with a hand to his heart and mischief in his eyes. ‟I love you too! And I like sharing the bed, not so much with the early bedtime, but it is nice.”

‟No!” said Lan WangJi but he realised that it was too much of a rush and then added, ‟I did not mean that kind of sleep.”

‟… What kind of sleep did you mean?” asked Wei WuXian cautiously.

Wen Qing had given Lan WangJi the sex talk she had given him a fresh bottle of lubricant to use while Wei WuXian was out playing with their son. Lan WangJi had assumed that Wen Qing had given the same talk to Wei WuXian at some point when Lan Yuan had been spending time with Lan WangJi. Had Wen Qing just never had the chance? Thinking about Wen Qing made Lan WangJi remember what she had said about Wei WuXian and actions.

Lan WangJi was instantly crowding Wei WuXian’s space his hand went out and landed on the bare skin of Wei WuXian’s waist, ready to remove itself if Wei WuXian didn’t want the touch. A slight shiver went through Wei WuXian at the contact, and he looked up into Lan WangJi’s golden eyes his own wide and full of questions.

‟Did Wen-Daifu not talk with you?”

‟Qing-Jie? We talk a lot.”

‟About… about what married people can do in bed.”

‟Well, yeah, but we’re both guys.”

‟There are things that two men can do together as well. But if you do not want to do them, I understand.”

‟I like kissing.”

Lan WangJi surged forward and wrapped Wei WuXian in his arms and kissed him. He didn’t even have to ask for entry, Wei WuXian’s mouth just yielded to him with a gasp and then a pleased hum. The kissed long and languid until they needed to part for air. Lan WangJi kept his arms wrapped around Wei WuXian’s waist which kept his husband tight to him.

The flush was back, and Wei WuXian squirmed in Lan WangJi’s arms. Lan WangJi smirked. ‟We can do more than kissing if you want.”

‟We can? Like what Lan Zhan?”

His eyes had gone wide and mercurial, his breath stuttered and then came in short, and he licked his already red and swollen lips. Lan WangJi had half the idea that Wei WuXian knew what he was talking about, but Lan WangJi dropped his hands so that they gripped Wei WuXian’s firm buttock anyway and said, ‟Things that could get you pregnant.”

‟Oh,” the sound said came almost like a squeak on an in drawn breath, Wei WuXian’s pupils dilated, and he exhaled, ‟oh.”

Chapter Text

Wei WuXian woke slowly he could tell that the light was shining on his face. His nose twitched and he thought about rolling over and bringing the covers up over his head, but then the sun went away as it something blocked it. Wei WuXian sighed, eyes still closed, and settled deeper into the comfortable position he was in. He was drifting on that sea between asleep and awake when he felt the teeth of a comb touch down on his scalp and then pull away. He would have jumped at the touch if he hadn’t been so languid, he was halfway to awake when he realised—it felt really nice.

There was a couple more strokes of the comb through Wei WuXian’s hair before he decided that he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, but he also wasn’t upset about waking. He didn’t know the time of course and even if it was closer to the last drum and the Lan waking hour then it was to the first bell, Wei WuXian could find no fault with his waking.

His silvery eyes blinked open clear and bright to see a hand hovering over his eyes. The hand had that faint orange glow that told you that the sun was behind it. The comb came back, and Wei WuXian glanced up his head tilting in an effort to see.

‟Wei Ying?” whispered Lan WangJi.

The aforementioned hummed. ‟Lan Zhan.”

The hand was pulled back in a way that it tried to still block the sun. Lan WangJi missed though, and the sun shone suddenly in Wei WuXian’s eyes, he scrunched his nose and turned his head away and buried it in Lan WangJi’s thigh. He could tell that the hand had been better positioned to completely block the sun again, but Wei WuXian was happy to have his face pressed into Lan WangJi’s thigh.

‟Am I in your lap?”

‟Mn. How do you feel? Sore?”

The question brought the night’s activities rushing back to Wei WuXian, his face flushed red, and he pressed the hot skin of his cheeks further into the robe covered thigh. He stayed like that for a long moment, and Lan WangJi went back to combing his hair until Wei WuXian had regained enough of his face back to responded.

He pulled away from Lan WangJi’s thigh enough that his words would only be slightly mumbled, ‟Right, now I feel amazing, I’ll tell you when I get up… do we have to get up?”

‟No, not yet your hair still needs to dry a bit.”

‟Oh? That’s nice,” said Wei WuXian snuggling back down into his husband’s lap and their bed, then his brain caught up with the rest of the sentence. He reached his hand up and patted his hair—it was damp. ‟Why is my hair damp?”

‟I wiped you down last night, but thought you could do with a proper bath, I tried to wake you, but it did not work.”

‟So, you gave me a bath as I slept?”

‟Was that all right?”

A silly grin formed on Wei WuXian’s face of its own volition, his heartbeat faster, and he got giddy in a way that made him bury his face in Lan WangJi’s thigh again. Just the thought of the care Lan WangJi had given him. It was like he was a cup and Lan WangJi’s love and care was an ocean that was being poured into Wei WuXian—his heart couldn’t take it, but in the same instance he was parched and would gladly drink from the waters of Lan WangJi’s love.

‟So considerate Lan Zhan, thank you.”

‟No need.”

‟Hm?”

‟Between us there is no need for apologies or thanks.”

The grin was back, it stretched Wei WuXian’s mouth into a wide smile that ached at the edges, but Wei WuXian couldn’t stop grinning if he tried. ‟How did I get so lucky?”

‟I am the lucky one.”

‟I still can’t believe that you want me, I can’t even cultivate anymore.”

‟Wei Ying is much more than his golden core. Wei Ying is my zhiji, my zhiyin.”

The answering hum of agreement came out with a bit of a chuckle as it had to come out around Wei WuXian’s grin. ‟Zhiyin, I like that,” said Wei WuXian still grinning and then he started humming Wangxian.

He was still mostly turned into Lan WangJi’s thigh as he hummed, and he could feel it vibrating in his chest and out into Lan WangJi. Lan WangJi started humming the tune as well as he continued to comb Wei WuXian’s long hair. Wei WuXian turned his head, so he was facing the ceiling and then he tilted his head back to get a look at his husband’s face.

Wei WuXian was grinning wide and bright as he hummed the tune behind his teeth and when he looked up at Lan WangJi, the other man looked down at him and he too was humming Wangxian behind a gentle smile. The smile made Wei WuXian’s heart seize as it always did and then Wei WuXian fell more in love with Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian sat up slowly but a bit awkwardly, he hadn’t wanted to look away from Lan WangJi and had to lift his legs and tighten his core which twinged a bit to get the leverage to do it.

The grin slipped a bit when he had sat enough that it was impossible to keep looking at Lan WangJi, but he just turned so he could look at his husband. His husband who was still humming their song with that stupid, beautiful, breath-taking, wonderful smile—Wei WuXian just had to kiss him.

So, he did, it was awkward because the both of them were still smiling, it was a weird sort of press of teeth, and it made the two of them chuckle. Lan WangJi wrapped his arm around Wei WuXian and pulled him forward to be more firmly situated in his lap. Then Lan WangJi buried his head in the crook of Wei WuXian’s neck and shoulder and Wei WuXian did the same. Wei WuXian could feel Lan WangJi’s smile against his neck and was sure Lan WangJi could feel his. They just sat there entwined for long contented moments, happy to be.

They stayed there for minutes, hours, days maybe and the thought that they needed nothing but contact from the other to subsist and exist put an even sillier smile on Wei WuXian’s face he shook the thought from his head nuzzling his face more into his husband. Lan WangJi hummed a resonate tone, pleased, and contented and then his fingers began to stroke up and down Wei WuXian’s back in a light, teasing caress that were pure comfort. Wei WuXian mimicked the gesture.

Wei WuXian would love to stay like that forever, the two of them in their sleeping robes with a frisson of want building under their skins, but not there yet and it could never arrive, they could stay wrapped up together in their own little bubble for eternity, perfectly content, never seeing anyone again—

With a jerk Wei WuXian pulled his head back and Lan WangJi did the same they looked at each other, wide silver eyes peering into confused golden ones. ‟A-Yuan! What time is it? When do we need to get him?”

Lan WangJi smiled, as he fell in love with his husband all over again. He loved the simple and quiet morning he was having with Wei WuXian; he loved the time he could spend alone with Wei WuXian, and he loved that Wei WuXian was a good mother to their son.”

‟It is still early, it is before the first bell, still. I had just never been in bed for the sun to be a problem and I think you just rolled over the mornings I was not combing your hair.”

Wei WuXian flung his arms around Lan WangJi’s neck and pecked his husband’s lips. ‟That good.” His head then lowered to rest where it had been and his whole body relaxed once more.

‟This is also being treated as if it was the morning after our wedding. I believe Xiongzhang has plans this morning with A-Yuan.”

‟I’m so glad A-Yuan got this opportunity to have so many people who love.”

‟Mn,” Lan WangJi agreed, ‟Wei Ying too.”

‟Hm?”

‟Many people love Wei Ying too.”

A chuckle vibrated against Lan WangJi’s neck, and Wei WuXian shook his head. ‟Only Lan Zhan and A-Yuan, and Shijie.”

‟And Jiang WanYin, Wen-Daifu, Wen QiongLin, Wen-Popo, and the rest of the Wens, as well as Xiongzhang and—‟

Wei WuXian kissed Lan WangJi to get him to stop talking, and then he pulled back to say, ‟My heart can’t take it Lan Zhan you have to warn me when you say things like that!”

‟It can,” said Lan WangJi plainly and before Wei WuXian could make another protest Lan WangJi kissed him.

They kissed for long moments the kiss getting deeper each moment. Lan WangJi wrapped his arms securely around his husband and clutched the slighter man to him. Then Lan WangJi straightened his leg and laid back on the bed, taking his husband with him.

Wei WuXian gasped as his mouth was forced away for a moment and he took the time to untangle his own limbs. Then Lan WangJi put a gentle hand on Wei WuXian’s head and guided it down so Wei WuXian’s ear was pressed to Lan WangJi’s heart, and Lan WangJi pressed kisses to Wei WuXian’s head. Wei WuXian sighed and relaxed, draping his husband with his own body.

The Jingshi was still as it could be. A different calm and quiet then what the Jingshi had been named for all those years, but a new one that could be the steady thrum getting the inhabitants from one chaotic and loud moment to the next and they wouldn’t have it any other way.