Chapter Text
The Heir of Gusu Lan (otherwise known as, “Lan Qiren Makes a Big Mistake”)
Lan Qiren spent the next year diligently trying to convince Lan Xichen to marry. He resorted to any methods possible — he contacted matchmakers, tried to subtly arrange outings between his nephew and any eligible woman he could find, tried to organise formal betrothals. Nothing seemed to work. It didn’t help that everyone else in his family were too busy cooing over the hellspawn that was Wei Wuxian’s child to try and help him in his crucial mission.
How could Xichen possibly be this opposed to marriage?! Just look at who he was related to!
Now if Lan Qiren had maybe paid a bit more attention to his new grand-nephew, instead of obsessing over the future of the sect, he might have realised that the boy was absolutely perfect. Right now, his stress levels were through the roof, and getting to know a toddler was the last thing on his mind.
Perhaps if he had, all of this could have been avoided. Instead, Lan Qiren persisted, deciding that if Lan Xichen refused to marry, then other measures would have to be taken.
…
It was perfectly fine if Lan Xichen decided not to marry, Lan Qiren thought. In fact, it was more than fine. Who needed any more spouses around here? Surely no one could be worse than Wei Wuxian, but did he really want to risk it?
No, he had come up with the perfect solution to make everyone happy. Lan Xichen could remain happily single for as long as he wanted, and Lan Qiren could sleep peacefully knowing that the future of their sect wasn’t in the hands of Wei Wuxian’s child.
The orphan boy he was dragging behind him would be happy too. He was getting a new family, a rise in rank — what was there to complain about?
His solution was perfect; Lan Xichen could remain single if he wanted. After all, you didn’t need to be married to have a child. There were plenty of orphans around, though of course, the child would have to be of Lan blood. Lan Qiren wasn’t risking anything else. This child would be respectful, and virtuous, and disciplined, and everything he had once thought Wangji to be until his worst nightmare had come true.
The small child, walking quietly and solemnly beside, him was perfect. A distant relative of the Lans, whose parents had recently died on a night hunt. Here was a child who was in need of comfort, and a family, and of course Lan Qiren would provide that for him.
And if this child ensured that the Cloud Recesses wouldn’t one day be ruled by a duplicate of Wei Wuxian, then he wasn’t truly doing this for selfish reasons. This was for the good of the sect.
He knocked on Lan Xichen’s door. It opened a moment later, and his nephew stood in the doorway.
“Uncle,” Lan Xichen greeted.
“Xichen,” Lan Qiren said, and thrust the little boy towards him.
Lan Xichen stared. “Hello?” he said uncertainly. “Uncle, who is this?”
It took Lan Qiren a moment to remember the child’s name. “This is Lan Jingyi,” he said. “Your new son.”
“What?”
“He has no parents,” Lan Qiren said. “You have no child. It is a perfect match.” He glanced down at Jingyi, who blinked up at him, looking quiet, and serious, and oh so perfect. “Always be obedient and virtuous, Jingyi. Don’t let outside influences sway you.”
The child blinked up at him in response.
“Uncle!” Lan Xichen cried, with more than a little desperation in his voice.
Lan Qiren turned around and strode away. He had done his job. Xichen would acclimatise soon enough; if Wei Wuxian could figure out how to raise a child, surely Xichen could do the same.
…
What Lan Qiren failed to understand was that his initial assessment of Lan Jingyi was completely wrong. When he had first met Jingyi, the child had been consumed by grief by the recent loss of his parents. It had made him quiet and withdrawn, but this was hardly his usual temperament.
Jingyi, on a normal day, was loud, exuberant, talkative and loud. He was everything that Lan Qiren despised. Lan Qiren, unfortunately, would soon come to realise this.
Lan Xichen remained in a state of shock for some time after the adoption. He still couldn’t seem to understand what had happened. Very little seemed to make sense these days.
For some reason, Wei Wuxian seemed to find the whole thing hilarious. He had cooed over Jingyi, cuddling him close while he beamed from ear to ear, his eyes shining with mirth. Even Lan Wangji had barely been able to hide his amusement, something Lan Xichen had seen clearly from the slight twitch of his lips, and the furrow of his brow.
A-Yuan had adored his new cousin from the moment he had met him. Qingheng-Jun had just been excited to have another grandson to spoil. The man had well and truly become a family man these days, and every time Lan Xichen caught sight of his father playing with his new grandsons in the rabbit fields, he’d wonder if he had walked into some parallel universe.
He voiced these thoughts out loud once, and Wei Wuxian had burst out laughing yet again. Sometimes, Lan Xichen just couldn’t understand his brother-in-law.
The thing was, Lan Xichen wasn’t ready to be a father. He hadn’t even considered it, and here he was, in charge of a child, and not completely sure what he was doing.
“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Wei Wuxian said, grinning as they watched A-Yuan and Jingyi playing. “Something tells me that kid is going to grow up just fine.”
…
Lan Xichen ended up utterly and completely adoring his son.
He doted on him, and indulged him in pretty much everything. If anyone brought it up, he would just brush it off, and tell himself that his brother and Wei Wuxian were much worse with their own child.
Qingheng-Jun continued to fight for the title of grandfather of the year, something that Jiang Fengmian would happily battle him for.
The children grew, and with them, their personalities blossomed. A-Yuan — now Sizhui — was calm, focused, and gentle, the very embodiment of a perfect Lan disciple. Oh, he had his devious side as well — how could he not, with Wei Wuxian for a parent — but he hid that well enough.
Basically, he was everything that Lan Qiren wanted in a disciple.
And Jingyi? If Lan Sizhui was the embodiment of the Lan Sect values, Lan Jingyi was the embodiment of everything that made up Wei Wuxian. He basically was Wei Wuxian in miniature Lan form.
Lan Qiren felt like he was living through a very long, very vivid nightmare, and he kept expecting to wake up and for all of this to go away. Xichen would still be childless, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian would still be wreaking havoc, his brother would still be useless, and Sizhui — sweet, precious, perfect A-Yuan, who he had misunderstood so, so much — would still be the next sect heir after Lan Xichen.
A nightmare. This had to be a nightmare. Lan Qiren couldn’t have caused this — this travesty. If he had — if this was real — then that meant that this — this — deviant; this child that was the very epitome of what a Lan was not supposed to be, would one day be in charge of this sect.
This child, who spoke too loudly, who sounded like he was trying to burst eardrums when he laughed, who argued and spoke back to his elders, who pranked people, and who couldn’t stay still if you glued him to his chair — this child would be the future leader of the Gusu Lan Sect.
Oh please, please let Lan Qiren be dead when that time came.
‘No,’ he thought a moment later. No, that would hardly be fair. He may be lying peacefully in his grave by that point, but could he really abandon his sect? He may not have to bear the brunt of his nightmare, but the future of his beloved sect was depending on him right now. Who else would do something about this? Not his brother, who was too busy chasing after his grandsons with hearts in his eyes, or Lan Xichen, who acted like his son was some perfect, innocent little thing, and not a devious little monster.
Not Wangji, who he had long since given up on.
Oh god, oh god, what could he do? There was nothing he could do. Lan Jingyi was now officially Lan Xichen’s son, and there was no way that would ever change, and Xichen would (very politely of course) toss him off the edge of the Cloud Recesses if he even suggested it.
“Brother,” he said the next time he saw Qingheng-Jun, with some desperation in his voice. Qingheng-Jun may have too busy doting on his grandchildren and trying to make up for lost time with his sons to actually remember that he was still the Sect Leader, but he was still technically in charge. Maybe, just maybe, he would listen to reason.
“Brother, something must be done. We…we need to change the line of succession, immediately. Sizhui must be the next heir after Xichen.”
Qingheng-Jun, who was thinking about the trip he would be making to Caiyi Town with Jingyi and Sizhui later that day, absentmindedly hummed.
“Yes?” Lan Qiren asked eagerly. “You agree?”
“Yes, I think Jingyi will make a wonderful Sect Leader one day,” he said absentmindedly. “Qiren, do you think I should take them to that little restaurant near the edge of town, or would the one near — ”
Lan Qiren whirled around and stormed away, feeling despair consume him.
He had done this. They could have had Sizhui as the future heir and hope of their sect, but he had been blinded by his anger at Wei Wuxian. Yes, Wei Wuxian was unruly, and wild, and uncontrollable, and he despised the man with every fibre of his being, but he had forgotten one very important fact — Sizhui was also Lan Wangji’s son. And yes, Wangji may be corrupted by Wei Wuxian, but surely there was enough of his righteous nephew under the deviant, shameless menace that Wei Wuxian had turned him into, and surely that would be enough to lead Sizhui down the right path.
If only he had thought this through. If only he had waited.
Now, he had singlehandedly brought about the downfall of his sect. Someday, they would live in a world where Lan Jingyi was the leader of Gusu Lan.