Chapter Text
Wangji woke up to someone mumbling beside him. It was still dark outside, as was to be expected of this time of the year, but there was a low light coming from Wangji’s right. Considering their activities yesterday, Wangji had expected Wei Ying to be asleep for a lot longer, but he’d been aware of Wei Ying’s erratic sleeping schedule for a while now. Some days, he would be out and about before even Wangji, or he would have to be woken up lest he miss lunch additionally to breakfast. It was a toss-up, really, when Wei Ying would wake up and how good his mood was upon it.
Turning his head, Wangji could see only Wei Ying’s wild hair and his elbow propped up as the other had his back turned to him. Wondering what Wei Ying could possibly be doing this early in the morning, Wangji tried to understand what he was saying.
”…no, he’d be too strong…spiritual energy… Nie-xiong and Jiang Cheng, maybe? Where would we test it… a key? Could still be broken…”
Wangji rolled over, laying an arm over Wei Ying’s waist.
”Oh,” Wei Ying said, letting himself fall on his back and smiling up at Wangji, who’d half-sat up by now. “Lan Zhan, you’re awake.”
“Mn.” Wangji leaned down kissing Wei Ying square on the mouth. Wei Ying hummed, putting a gentle hand on Wangji’s cheek.
“Good morning,” he muttered.
Wangji turned his head to kiss the hand on his face, then replied, “Good morning. What were you doing?”
Wei Ying glanced to the side. “I was just thinking about how easily you broke the power of the locking talisman. I need to strengthen it if kicking a door is enough to get around its effects. Usually, I’d just get right to it, but you were still sleeping and I couldn’t bear leaving you alone in bed, so I wrote some notes down. Well, I was also worried about someone with bad intentions finding my notes, so I only wrote down a few points to remember what my thought process was.”
“Wei Ying,” Wangji said, feeling warm at the thought of Wei Ying not wanting to leave him alone in bed, “nobody can read your handwriting.”
Wei Ying gasped with mock offence. “You obviously can! You replied to my letters with ones that actually made sense.”
“I needed a very long time to read them,” Wangji admitted. Then he also looked at the notes Wei Ying had been writing. As expected, Wangji couldn’t read them at a glance, but something he could immediately make out were the drawings between the scattered pages on the bedside table.
As atrocious as Wei Ying’s handwriting was, his drawings were intricate and beautiful. One depicted Wangji with his eyes closed and sans his ribbon, his position the one he always adopted when sleeping. The other was a drawing of Wei Ying’s hand and wrist, around which Wangji’s ribbon was now bound. Even the cloud patterns on it were exactly accurate.
Seeing how detailed the drawing was, Wangji couldn’t help but imagine Wei Ying lying next to him, staring at his wrapped wrist for long and intense enough to be able to draw it so realistically. For some reason, this was more important to Wangji than seeing the realistic drawing of himself. He reached up to take Wei Ying’s hand from his cheek, feeling the fabric of his ribbon under his palm and pressing a kiss to it, the warmth of Wei Ying’s skin radiating through the ribbon and pressing against Wangji’s lips.
Wei Ying hummed. “By the way, Lan Zhan, does wrapping your ribbon around my wrist have a meaning too?”
“Mn. Means you’re my fiancé.” Technically, wrapping one’s ribbon around someone’s wrist was a part of a Lan wedding ceremony, however, what Wangji had said was also the truth. After all, when a Lan gave someone their ribbon to wear permanently before they were married, it signified that they were courting, much like Wanyin had been walking around these last few days with Xiong-zhang’s ribbon in his hair.
“Fian–” Wei Ying cut himself off with wide eyes. “Lan Zhan, are you sure? Just because your uncle sent a marriage proposal doesn’t mean he’s actually fine with us marrying each other, you know? I mean, it’s not as if he really asked for your opinion, right? It’s just that you gave me your ribbon… Mmh, well, I guess if he sent a marriage proposal, he wouldn’t be opposed to it, even if we didn’t marry just because he wanted us to. But we still have to get Shijie’s and Jiang Cheng’s permission!”
“Don’t worry,” Wangji told him. After all, it had been Zhang-jie and Wanyin who’d given them the push to get together in the first place. Wanyin had been ready for them to marry months ago, and Wangji didn’t think that had changed until now. In fact, going by how far he’d taken things just for them to talk it out and admit their feelings to each other, Wangji would say Wanyin would be more than happy to give them his blessing.
Wei Ying seemed to have realised the same thing, nodding. “You’re right. If Jiang Cheng can marry your brother, why can’t I marry you? And if we don’t get their permission for some reason, we can just elope!”
Wangji couldn’t help but recall Wanyin claiming that Wei Ying would not only want to marry Wangji, he’d elope with him. It seemed that it really had been Wangji being dense rather than Wanyin and Zhang-jie projecting feelings onto Wei Ying.
After kissing Wei Ying’s forehead, the man adorably screwing his eyes shut at it, Wangji told him that they should probably get up now. It would take them a while to wash up and Wangji didn’t exactly have any spare robes in Wei Ying’s room. He would at least like to be able to go back to his room to get fresh robes before too many other people were walking around. Wei Ying snickered, saying Wangji could just wear his robes but as much as Wangji loved him, his robes were not something he would ever wear, not to mention that he had to get his second ribbon from his room since he’d given the first one to Wei Ying and he wasn’t going to take it back. Seeing that Wangji wouldn’t budge in his decision, Wei Ying gave up.
Neither of them wanted to ask the servants to bring them water for a bath as they were going against all property by having spent the night together without even being engaged, let alone married, and they were cutsleeves, though the last part would be less of a problem since Wanyin and Xiong-zhang were too. And if two Sect Leaders could be together, so could their brothers.
Wei Ying volunteered to get the water himself but when he took the silencing and the locking talisman off the door and opened it, there was already someone standing in front of it.
Wanyin looked Wei Ying up and down, made a face, and still pushed past him into the room. Wangji, who was only wearing a single layer as he hadn’t expected anyone but Wei Ying to see him this early, got the same exasperated and slightly nauseated expression directed at him that Wanyin had had seeing Wei Ying as well.
“Sit down,” he said, “both of you.”
Wangji and Wei Ying glanced at each other, then both sat down at Wei Ying’s desk since that was where Wanyin was standing.
“I have three things to say,” Wanyin declared. “First of all, congratulations, I guess, for getting your shit together despite you dancing around each other for months and needing external intervention to say anything to each other. Second–” he slapped a stack of papers down on the desk– “Xichen and I drew up another marriage proposal before either of you get any stupid ideas. Look over it. And third, here’s your bill for damaging Jiang Sect property.”
He handed Wangji another paper, then turned around and walked away without another word. At the door, however, he stopped and turned around. “Actually, there’s a fourth thing.”
He grabbed the qiankun pouch hanging from his belt and threw it at Wangji. “Don’t worry, Xichen was the one who touched your ribbon, he just thought it would be funny to send me to see you two this early in the morning.”
The pouch held not only Wangji’s second ribbon, it also had a fresh set of robes. Wangji had no idea if he should feel grateful for this or not. It was such a bizarre situation, there didn’t really seem to be an appropriate feeling he should be expressing. Not that it mattered, really, since Wanyin had promptly disappeared after throwing the qiankun pouch, closing the door behind him.
Wei Ying was perusing the marriage proposal Wanyin had so nonchalantly handed them, his chin in his hand, so Wangji leaned over to read it with him. Postulations such as free to choose where they want to live, will not give up their duties as First Disciple and Heir respectively, and any and all adopted children will be seen as direct descendants caught Wangji’s eye most of all. It seemed that, with this contract, Wanyin and Xiong-zhang had thought far into the future and wanted to grant them as much freedom as possible while still making sure that neither of them would leave their sect for the other.
Wangji leaned over and kissed the top of Wei Ying’s head, and Wei Ying leaned against him in return.
“This doesn’t feel real,” he mumbled, still staring at the marriage proposal. “I mean, it was just yesterday that you told me you loved me and now, we have a marriage proposal in front of us.”
Wei Ying looked up at Wangji then, a smile forming on his face, his gaze gentle as he laid a hand on the back of Wangji’s head and tagged on, “Well, I’m not complaining.”
Wangji hummed and leaned down to kiss him properly. Wei Ying happily reciprocated.
“A-Zhan.” Zhang-jie approached Wangji after breakfast. Wei Ying had gone back to his room to sleep some more since he was awake for even longer than Wangji had been, so Wangji was alone now. Though he would have gladly watched Wei Ying sleep, just to stare at the ribbon wrapped around his wrist and convince himself this wasn’t a dream, he couldn’t bring himself to be so selfish. He’d planned to go and apologise to Zhang-jie for breaking down her door and here she was, right in front of him.
Before she could say anything else, Wangji bowed low and said, “I apologise for kicking down your door. I will help to repair it.”
Zhang-jie chuckled, placing her hands gently on Wangji’s elbows and getting him to stand upright again. She smiled up at him, letting her hands fall back to her side. “Don’t worry about that. While I could have gone without the property damage, it’s not as if I had nowhere to sleep as a result. In fact, if that was the price I had to pay for locking you two up just so you would sort things out, I can accept it. So, A-Zhan, have you finally accepted that A-Xian is actually in love with you?”
Wangji nodded, his ears red. After all, he’d more than accepted it.
“I apologise again, for not believing you and Wanyin. I suppose if I had listened to you, Wei Ying and I would have sorted things out a lot earlier.”
“It’s alright,” Zhang-jie said, waving a dismissive hand. “In the end, both of you are still just boys and you don’t want to push yourselves onto others. It’s a good trait to have, despite it holding you back in situations like those. That’s what your friends and family are for, A-Zhan. You don’t have to do everything yourself.”
Wangji imagined this was something even Wanyin would have to hear. It seemed that the three of them shared more traits than he’d thought.
“By the way, did I see right that A-Xian is wearing your ribbon around his wrist?”
Again, Wangji nodded in answer to Zhang-jie’s question, which, in turn, made her smile wider and say, “That’s nice. I’m truly happy for you two. Though I imagine your uncle will want to have a word with you on that.”
Shufu could certainly try. And even if he did say anything to Wangji, both of them knew Wangji would just do what he wanted anyway, especially since Shufu had already sent a marriage proposal to Wanyin without even consulting Wangji about it before. If he started complaining now, it would be quite hypocritical.
Zhang-jie let Wangji go with a pat to his cheek and a benevolent smile, claiming she had somewhere to be. So Wangji also set out again, this time to find whoever would be responsible for fixing up Zhang-jie’s door and offer his services, regardless of what Zhang-jie had said.
Before he got far though, he came across Wen Qionglin, who’d taken to walking around after having been cleared to do so by his sister. Though he wasn’t allowed to help with anything yet, it was clear that the other was keen on doing handiwork.
Wangji hadn’t interacted much with him, other than having been thanked by him and insisting he’d done nothing to be thanked for. Wei Ying, on the other hand, happily chatted with Wen Qionglin on a regular basis, even going so far as to talk about cultivation with him, something Wangji only knew about because he’d overheard them one time when bringing Wen Qing medicinal herbs to the infirmary on the behest of the Wen ladies he shared tea time with. Wen Qionglin was a dear friend of Wei Ying’s, so Wangji couldn’t simply walk past him, when he stuttered out a, “M-May I speak with you, H-Hanguang-jun?”
Instead, Wangji stopped in his tracks, turned to face the other properly, and nodded. Wen Qionglin gave him a nervous smile, picking at his sleeves, and said, “I– I am truly grateful for all you’ve done for– for Wei-gongzi a-and my family. I’ve thanked you b-before but since you now seem to be to-together with Wei-gongzi, I wanted to let you know that I f-fully support you. W-Wei-gongzi has always been quite f-fond of you in ways even I could see. He’s my f-first friend, so if it’s not too presumptuous…”
Wen Qionglin trailed off and didn’t start his train of thought back up again. Instead, he looked down at his feet and blushed. “Uh, s-sorry. Forget I said anything, please.”
“We can be friends,” Wangji told him. In return, Wen Qionglin’s head snapped up and he stared at him. “I noticed you seem to like manual labour. Would you like to help me repair a door?”
Wen Qionglin nodded enthusiastically and so, Wangji had found himself another person to fix Zhang-jie’s door with. The two of them silently walked side by side to the carpenter’s and it was Wen Qionglin, who inquired about how to go about the repair, after having been informed whose door they would be fixing.
Apparently, the materials had been set to the side after Wanyin himself had come by and claimed someone would want to take over the responsibility of repairing that particular damage himself. At this point, it was safe to say that Wanyin was on par with Xiong-zhang when it came to understanding Wangji, only some of which could be attributed to the two of them loving each other enough even Shufu would give them permission to court. Understanding Xiong-zhang was a step in the right direction of understanding Wangji, but Wanyin had started being good at that during the Sunshot Campaign, without anyone but Wangji to figure out in front of him. Of course, in turn, Wangji had also become quite proficient at reading Wanyin, perhaps even better than he could read Wei Ying. After all, love blinded a lot more than friendship did.
Either way, Wangji took the offered materials and accepted the carpenter’s offer of giving directions as he worked. Wen Qionglin was delegated to simply handing him things since Wangji didn’t want to risk being on the receiving end of Wen Qing’s wrath for making her brother work too hard when he was still recovering. He was sure that Wen Qionglin would be able to handle work as easy as Wangji was doing as Wen Qing seemed to be overly cautious when it came to her brother’s health, but he wasn’t going to be the one to challenge her decisions. Even though Zhang-jie got along well with her, Wangji thought she was terrifying in her own right.
The door was fixed easily enough, and soon, Wangji had nothing to do again. Wen Qionglin excused himself to look for a family member of his, so Wangji thought he might as well do the same, wanting to see how Wen Yuan was doing.
He bumped into his brother before he even got a glimpse of the boy.
“Wangji,” Xiong-zhang said with a smile similar to Zhang-jie’s, “where are you going?”
“To see Wen Yuan,” Wangji answered. Xiong-zhang hummed, situating himself next to him and gesturing for him to keep walking. So they continued on their way side by side.
The residents of Lotus Pier were bustling around them as usual but Wangji and his brother shared their silence. At least up until they rounded a corner close to where Wen Yuan could usually be found playing with the other kids who weren’t old enough to start properly cultivating yet.
“I’m glad everything was sorted out.,” Xiong-zhang announced apropos of nothing, though Wangji understood what he was getting at, of course. “You two deserve to be happy together as much as anybody else, especially after everything you’ve been through.”
Wangji nodded at his brother. “Thank you.”
Xiong-zhang chuckled. “What are you thanking me for? I’ve told you before, I want you to be happy, and that hasn’t changed. I don’t imagine it will, really. Wanyin has given you the marriage proposal we drew up, right?”
Again, Wangji nodded.
“Even with everyone agreeing to let you two marry, you should come home before we do anything. I’m sure you want to spend as much time with Wei-gongzi as possible, however, you haven’t been home in quite some time. The rabbits miss you and Shufu would never admit it, but he definitely also wants to see you.”
As much as Wangji wanted to stay with Wei Ying, he had to admit that Xiong-zhang had a point. And now that the hardest part was over with and he and Wei Ying were on the same page, leaving him to go home didn’t seem so daunting anymore. In all honesty, Wangji had somewhat missed the colder weather and the routine that was so different in the Cloud Recessess compared to Lotus Pier. He was sure no one would begrudge him the opportunity to go back home, least of all Wei Ying.
“When are you returning home?” Wangji asked his brother.
“In about a week. I came here on the behest of Shufu to finally bring you back, but also because Wanyin wanted to speak some sense into you, using our relationship as a starting point. Of course, if you would like to stay a little longer, I’m not going to stop you. Even if I would like if you came back with me.”
Wangji hummed, replying, “I will speak with Wei Ying.”
Xiong-zhang smiled. “Of course you will.”
And then Xiong-zhang was called away with a delighted, “Oh, Zewu-jun, there’s something I wanted to show you.”
Wangji bowed to his brother as he said goodbye and went to check out what all that was about.
He was almost at Wen Yuan’s usual place to play, already able to hear children’s laughter, when a disciple hurried past him, nodding his head with a quiet, “Hanguan-jun.”
Right behind him was Wei Ying, who definitely looked a lot more awake than before, a grin on his face as he exclaimed, “Hi, Lan Zhan!”
Despite his enthusiastic greeting, Wei Ying brushed past Wangji, a hand trailing along Wangji’s hip, his lips pressed to his cheek in a chaste kiss before the other man was already gone from his side again, hurrying after the other disciple. Wangji stood still for a few moments, unable to help but notice that nobody had stopped to even look at their little moment together.
Considering what had happened the day before, everything was strangely normal. Wei Ying and Wangji still did their own things, could still exist outside of each other, only that now, when they were together, their dynamic had shifted. And even then, they’d grown so comfortable with each other in the last few months, the only thing that had really changed was that they were aware of each other’s feelings and so, acted upon them accordingly instead of holding back.
Even outside of the two of them, there were no notable changes. Wangji may not have believed Wanyin and Zhang-jie when they’d told him about Wei Ying’s feelings, but he hadn’t been entirely oblivious to the fact that the entire rest of Lotus Pier, the Wen remnants included, had clued into the fact that Wangji was fond of Wei Ying and vice versa. There had been comments and looks that, isolated, had been innocuous enough for Wangji not to comment on it. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising then, that nobody had said anything to him yet, concerning the very obvious and out of place light ribbon wound around Wei Ying’s wrist, standing out against his dark robes. Everyone seemed to like drawing their own conclusions and keeping their thoughts mostly to themselves. The only ones who’d said something until now were the people directly involved in how Wangji and Wei Ying figured things out or, in the case of Wen Qionglin and Xiong-zhang, people who were particularly close to one of them.
Wangji could appreciate the normalcy in all of it, despite nothing being normal about it. He supposed he and Wei Ying had been the only ones who hadn’t clued into the fact that they had feelings for each other and so, nobody felt the need to make a big deal out of it. At the same time, Wangji felt as if this wouldn’t have been the case back in Gusu. He still had no idea if the Elders even knew about Shufu’s decision to not only send a marriage proposal to the Jiang Sect and allow a relationship between Wangji and Wei Ying, but also to let Xiong-zhang and Wanyin court. Those weren’t exactly things Wangji would expect the Elders to agree with. Then again, it wasn’t as if this would have been the first time for Shufu to make decisions without consulting anyone else. He was old and influential enough to do things someone like Wangji shouldn’t even dare to dream about.
Shaking his head, Wangji dispelled the complicated thoughts in his head, rounding the last corner, just in time to see Wen Yuan jump into a forward roll and knock down four kids, who’d lined themselves up in front of him, all five of them landing in a heap, laughing. All of them were around Wen Yuan’s age, possibly a little older or younger, and the caretaker made no move to dissuade the kids from doing something that could possibly hurt them. Things like this were unimaginable in the Cloud Recessess, but Wangji found that he didn’t care as long as the kids were happy.
Seeing that Wen Yuan was busy playing, Wangji simply sat down next to the caretaker, who offered him lotus seeds to snack on. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence for Wangji to show up here, so this nonchalant behaviour towards him wasn’t unexpected. Ruan Qiaoqiao, the caretaker, told him, without prompting, what Wen Yuan had been up to, which involved a lot of tumbling around and making up games that nobody but the kids involved could possibly understand.
Wangji liked watching the boy have fun, so he listened to her talk, popping lotus seeds into his mouth from time to time. He wondered if he would miss this controlled chaos when he returned home.
Wangji took Wen Yuan to lunch when it was time, sitting next to Wei Ying, who’d arrived in the dining hall before them. Wen Yuan told Wei Ying all about his adventures of the day with disjointed sentences and garbled words, so that only about half of it could even be understood but Wei Ying smiled and nodded along amicably.
Despite all of his talking, Wen Yuan was finished with his food before Wangji and Wei Ying were, racing out of the hall with barely even a goodbye. Wei Ying chuckled.
“That kid has more energy than his body can contain,” he said, and Wangji nodded in agreement. It wasn’t as if this was a new observation, however, it didn’t cease to amaze.
Wei Ying and Wangji stepped out of the hall at the same time not much later, having agreed on properly looking through the marriage proposal Wanyin had put on Wei Ying’s desk in the morning. To their surprise, Wen Yuan was standing outside, obviously waiting for something or someone.
Considering the way his eyes lit up when he saw the two of them, Wangji supposed he’d been waiting for them.
“I have something to say,” he declared, reaching up and tugging Wei Ying and Wangji a little out of the way before pointing at Wei Ying. Wei Ying raised an eyebrow at the action but before he or Wangji could ask what Wen Yuan could possibly want to say, the boy opened his mouth.
“Baba!” he exclaimed, still pointing at Wei Ying. Then he swung his arm to point at Wangji instead. “A-Die!”
Wangji didn’t know exactly what emotions he was feeling, but his chest felt warm, even with surprise being the most he could discern right now.
“Brat,” Wei Ying breathed, adopting Wanyin’s favourite word for the boy, “who told you to call us that?”
Wen Yuan promptly pointed over to Zhang-jie and Wen Qing, who were standing conspicuously close to them. Zhang-jie’s eyes were crinkling with the force of her smile and she looked like she was trying very hard to hold back laughter. At the same time, one corner of Wen Qing’s mouth was pulled down, an expression, Wangji had learnt, meant that she was definitely holding back her laughter.
Seeing that Wen Yuan had definitely been put up to this, Wangji couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know what it means?”
Wen Yuan nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! You’re my family! I want you to be my family!”
Wangji glanced at Wei Ying and wasn’t surprised to see how misty his eyes were. He loved the boy as if he truly were his own child and Wangji couldn’t deny being fond of him as well.
Wei Ying sniffled, then dropped to his knees and scooped Wen Yuan up in a hug, pressing their cheeks together as he babbled nonsense about being a responsible parent but that Wen Yuan shouldn’t take after him too much. Wen Yuan giggled and told Wei Ying he was being silly.
Watching this scene, Wangji had a sudden thought. If he was going to be called ‘A-Die’ by this child, then calling him by his full name, even in his own mind, wouldn’t suffice. What kind of father called their child so distantly?
“Wei Ying,” Wangji said, leaning down and patting both of their heads, “don’t smother A-Yuan.”
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying whailed, probably only in part theatrical, “he’s so adorable! I don’t care that this was a set-up, he said he wants us to be his family. I will protect this little seedling with all that I have. I will definitely–”
“Baba,” A-Yuan said, efficiently cutting off Wei Ying. Wei Ying pulled back a little to look into his eyes.
“Yes, A-Yuan?”
“You and A-Die are my family for real, right? Can you give me siblings now?”
Wei Ying’s entire face went red and Wangji felt his ears burn, despite knowing the kid would have no idea how siblings were made. Perhaps it was the innocence with which the question was asked, for a second time no less, that amplified their reactions even more. And it surely hadn’t helped that this time, he’d specifically asked about Wei Ying and Wangji giving him siblings.
It seemed that Wen Qing took pity on them then, calling for A-Yuan, who extracted himself from Wei Ying’s hold and dashed over to his cousin. Wangji helped Wei Ying get up, holding him close as he covered his flushed face.
“Lan Zhan,” he mumbled after a while, “is it bad I actually want to give him siblings? It’s not as if we can… And he isn’t even officially ours.”
“I understand,” Wangji said in reply, receiving a chuckle in return.
“Well,” Wei Ying said, “I suppose we can just adopt more kids. But we should probably get ourselves sorted first.”
Wangji nodded, releasing Wei Ying from his hold. Wei Ying slid his hand into Wangji’s palm, interlocking their fingers and grinning at him. He tugged and Wangji couldn’t help but follow, walking hand in hand with Wei Ying through Lotus Pier.
They made it to Wei Ying’s quarters without anyone coming up to them and settled down next to each other, at his desk to properly read the proposal. Wei Ying leaned his head on Wangji’s shoulder, quiet as he flipped through the pages. It seemed that they had the same reading speed, as Wangji always finished just in time for Wei Ying to move on.
Wanyin and Xiong-zhang had really seemed to have given this a lot of thought. Not having read the marriage proposal Shufu had originally sent, Wangji had no idea how much of what was included in this, Shufu himself had proposed. It didn’t matter anyway, since this was the one that counted.
There was nothing in there Wangji could complain about, really. It was a contract that wouldn’t change their lives much aside from the fact that they would be officially married and would actually allow them to visit each other and spend some time with another sect without having to state a specific reason. After all, seeing your spouse was reason enough.
Even after they were done reading, neither of the two made a move to get up. When Wangji looked down at Wei Ying, he had his eyes closed and was taking slow, measured breaths.
Wangji wondered if the man had fallen asleep but, as if to prove him wrong, Wei Ying chose that moment to open his mouth and ask, “If we adopt A-Yuan, which sect should he belong to? Will his surname change?”
Wangji lifted a hand, tucking a strand of hair behind Wei Ying’s ear. “We will have to ask him. It’s not our choice to make.”
“But he’s only three! How much of what’s going on does he understand, really? Sure, he’s smart and quick on the uptake, but what if he makes a decision now and regrets it when he’s older.”
Wangji hummed, leaning down to kiss Wei Ying’s forehead. “He’d belong to both sects. And I don’t think he would regret it if he chooses to change his surname.”
Wei Ying opened his eyes, looking up at Wangji. His gaze spoke of trust and love, and Wangji had no idea how he hadn’t seen it before, but he couldn’t help himself when he lifted Wei Ying’s chin to kiss him properly, closing his eyes. He could hear Wei Ying put down the stack of paper and, soon enough, Wei Ying turned his whole body, climbing into Wangji’s lap.
While Wangji’s hand settled in Wei Ying’s waist, Wei Ying’s hands were buried in his hair on the back of his head.
“Do you have anywhere to be?” Wei Ying asked, breaking the kiss, and Wangji shook his head in response. Without another word, Wei Ying dove right back in, kissing Wangji deeply and intently. Wangji sighed into the kiss and tightened his hold on the man he loved.
Several things happened before Wangji left for Gusu with his brother. First and foremost, Wanyin officially announced that he and Xiong-zhang were courting to the people of Lotus Pier. Some of them were surprised, some seemed to have caught on to the relationship between the two of them already, but no matter what, everyone was happy for them.
Zhang-jie asked Wanyin to reinstate her engagement to Jin Zixuan, something Wei Ying grumbled about. But he couldn’t deny that he didn’t dislike the man as much as he used to by virtue of him stopping by so often and genuinely doing his best to help where he could and trying to show his feelings for Zhang-jie. Wen Qing, for some reason, said she would go with Zhang-jie to Lanling, should the engagement be accepted. No matter who asked, she wouldn’t elaborate on why she would want to be anywhere near the Jin Sect out of her own volition.
Wei Ying and Wangji had to explain to A-Yuan that Wangji would be gone for a while. Neither Wei Ying nor Wangji had even considered the possibility of Wangji taking A-Yuan with him to the Cloud Recessess, not only because the entire rest of A-Yuan’s family was in Lotus Pier. No, Wangji had a very different reason for this decision, one which Wei Ying had been a bit surprised to hear.
He couldn’t take a child to a place where feeling too deeply was forbidden, especially not one as joyful as A-Yuan. No, the boy would be much better left in the care of a sect that had rules which weren’t as oppressive as the ones of the Gusu Lan Sect.
That didn’t mean Wangji was planning on raising the kid without the rules he’d grown up with at all, since that would probably not be possible for him. After all, those rules were ingrained in his entire existence, they would surely bleed into his way of raising a kid. However, with A-Yuan not being entirely at the mercy of the Lan Sect, he would get to pick and choose which rules to teach the boy.
When they’d talked about it, Wei Ying had asked Wangji if he didn’t agree with the rules anymore and Wangji had had to shrug. He hadn’t known how to explain himself but thankfully he hadn’t had to as Wei Ying understood him even without words exchanged between them.
A-Yuan took the announcement relatively well, turning his big eyes to Wangji.
“When will you be back?” he asked, his hands on Wangji’s chest as he was currently held up in Wangji’s arms.
“I don’t know,” Wangji replied honestly, “but it won’t be too long.”
“‘Too long’ is relative,” Wei Ying piped up, carding a hand through A-Yuan’s hair. “I say even an hour away from Lan Zhan is too long, right A-Yuan?”
A-Yuan nodded enthusiastically. Even though Wangji had to agree, he would definitely be gone for longer than an hour, closer to a month or even several. He didn’t want A-Yuan to miss him too much during that time, though he supposed it couldn’t be helped. After all, the kid was used to Wangji being around all the time, even if they didn’t see each other every day.
“No matter how long Lan Zhan is away, we’ll just send him lots of letters to make up for it. Have you ever sent a letter, A-Yuan?”
This time A-Yuan shook his head and Wei Ying grinned, ruffling his hair. “Then you’ll send your first one soon.”
The two of them had an excited conversation about letters, out of all things, which Wangji was happy to just watch from the sidelines. Finally, Wei Ying brought up the other reason they’d gone to find A-Yuan.
He cleared his throat and adopted a serious face, A-Yuan immediately keying into the change in his energy by stilling in Wangji’s arms.
“Say, A-Yuan,” Wei Ying began, “would you want to have your Xian– your Baba’s surname? How would you like to be called Wei Yuan?”
A-Yuan’s eyes widened. “I can… do that?”
“Of course,” Wei Ying answered with a grin, “since you’re family. If you want, you could also be called Lan Yuan or you can keep your name.”
“I need to think,” was A-Yuan’s reply, surprisingly serious for a three-year-old child. But Wei Ying just nodded, ruffling his hair again. A-Yuan looked up at Wangji. “A-Die, let me down?”
Wangji complied with his wishes, carefully setting the boy down to the ground. A-Yuan told them goodbye, then promptly dashed away. Wei Ying shook his head with a smile.
“I can see why the adults were overwhelmed with me when I was a kid. I had as much energy as he has, but I was older and listened a lot less.”
Wangji just looked at Wei Ying and got smacked on the shoulder in return.
“Hey,” he exclaimed with a laugh, “I’m a lot more mellowed out now! I listen when I have to!”
Wangji only had to raise an eyebrow for Wei Ying to frown and pout. “Yes, I do. And anyway, you can’t complain. You’re in love with me! You want to marry me!”
Wangji hummed, pulling Wei Ying closer and kissing his pout. “Not complaining. I love you.”
Despite everything that had already transpired between the two of them, Wei Ying still blushed, weakly hitting Wangji’s chest.
“Shut up,” he mumbled, as if he wasn’t leaning closer himself. Then he said, “I love you too.”
With everything sorted out, it was already time for Wangji to return home for the first time in almost half a year. Xiong-zhang and he left soon after waking up again, sent off by the Jiang siblings, Wei Ying, Wen Qing, her brother and A-Yuan, who was still half-asleep. They’d already said their goodbyes to everyone else in Lotus Pier the day before, Wen remnants included, but these six people had insisted on getting up early in order to send them off properly.
The way home was silent, save for the wind in Wangji’s ears. The Cloud Recessess themselves, while not entirely silent, were quiet as was usual- Nobody ran from one place to another or shouted over an entire courtyard, nobody laughed for no apparent reason and no kids were getting their robes dirty while playing.
Wangji took a deep breath of the cool air and set out to see his uncle.
“Wangji,” Shufu greeted him at his residence. “Come in.”
Wangji followed after his uncle, having a sense of deja vu. Shufu prepared tea as Wangji sat down.
“Xichen already sent me the new marriage proposal,” Shufu said after joining Wangji with freshly boiled tea. “I don’t know why you would refuse the one I sent and then, months later, accept another one without even asking me for permission, but I’ll let it go. I suppose you would have taken my sending of the first proposal as permission enough.”
Shufu took a sip and Wangji did too. For quite some time, they simply sat in silence, Shufu with his eyes closed for most of it, before he opened them and asked, “Are you happy?”
Wangji nodded. “Very.”
Shufu sighed, looking resigned, but Wangji had no idea what he’d expected his answer to be. Considering the course of action he’d decided to take before, Wangji agreeing to marry Wei Ying, even if it was months after the first proposal had been sent, shouldn’t surprise him too much.
“If it helps,” Wangji said, “Wei Ying is cultivating traditionally again.”
Granted, Wei Ying still had no Golden Core to speak of since he’d only started a few weeks ago, but Shufu didn’t need to know that. As it stood, Shufu’s eyebrows raised in surprise but he refrained from commenting on it, which Wangji appreciated. He probably would have said something that would cause Wangji to talk back again.
They spent some time with Shufu asking Wangji how he’d fared in Lotus Pier and if he felt like he could start taking up his duties as Heir again immediately, and Wangji answered every question dutifully.
By the time Wangji left, it was already late in the afternoon, but that wouldn’t deter him. His next stop was the bunny meadow. The little fluffballs hopped around happily, munching on the grass or cuddling together, some just raced around the meadow.
Wangji sat down not too far from them, watching the animals take note of him, their ears and noses twitching. They hopped closer, some of them jumping high enough to nestle themselves in Wangji’s lap. The lone black rabbit that had secretly always been Wangji’s favourite, nudged at his hand with its head, and Wangji picked it up, smoothing his fingers over its fur.
“I missed you,” he murmured, holding the rabbit up to his face. The rabbit nibbled at his fingers in response and Wangji couldn’t help but smile.
The serenity which he’d enjoyed on his first day back didn’t persist. Being responsible for giving out punishments as well as organising Nighthunts and reflecting on them, writing up his own reports and reading through other disciples’, after months of doing nothing of the sort, bordered on being exhausting.
Though the Cloud Recesses remained calm and Wangji was still comfortable in the quiet of his home, from time to time, he found himself missing the controlled chaos of Lotus Pier. Sometimes he thought it wasn’t the chaos of Lotus Pier he missed but the people in it.
Of course, at home he had his brother and his uncle, but that was it. Lotus Pier held Wei Ying, A-Yuan, Wanyin and the Wen remnants. Zhang-jie was already in Lanling at Carp Tower, along with Wen Qing, the engagement between her and Jin Zixuan having been reinstated.
Wangji exchanged letters with the Jiang siblings and Wei Ying, but those were no substitute for actually interacting with them. Even though Wangji couldn’t deny being happy every time he received a letter. Wei Ying would often write both things he wanted to say to Wangji himself and also things A-Yuan wanted to say, sometimes even letting A-Yuan practise his lines on the paper or included a picture the boy had drawn. It was only from time to time that a letter from Wei Ying was purely from him, with all of his ramblings and five turns in thinking. Those letters made Wangji miss him even more but he supposed even when they were married, they would be spending time apart, so he should be getting used to it sooner rather than later.
For two months, Wangji stayed in the Cloud Recessess before deciding he’d spent enough time away from Wei Ying and A-Yuan, only spurred on by Wei Ying claiming A-Yuan had something to tell him when they next saw each other.
He discussed it with his brother, deciding to stop by Golden Carp Tower on his way to Lotus Pier, despite it not actually being on the way. However, he also wanted to see how Zhang-jie was faring with the Jin Sect, even if Wen Qing was there to ward off anyone who would dare to look at her wrong. Wen Qing may be seen as a Wen dog, but nobody would be stupid enough to challenge her based not only on her own prowess but also because she was now ‘property’ of the Jiang Sect and the Jiang Sect was backed by both the Lan and the Nie. Wangji would hope that Jin Zixuan would also demand the appropriate respect for both Zhang-jie and Wen Qing, something which he was sure Luo Qingyang definitely did.
Wangji sent Zhang-jie a letter in advance and received a Jin butterfly message in return, stating Zhang-jie would be happy to receive him. Of course, Jin Guangshan had to be informed too, since it was his sect Wangji was going to inconvenience, but Wangji simply sent a letter saying he was going to visit Jiang Yanli and stay for two days a day before setting off, not caring much for the opinion of the Jin Sect Leader.
He was welcomed by Zhang-jie, Wen Qing and Jin Zixuan, the latter obviously less comfortable being in the presence of Wangji despite their crossing of ways at Lotus Pier from time to time.
Wen Qing and Jin Zixuan excused themselves soon enough to let Wangji and Zhang-jie speak among themselves, which they gladly did. Of course, Zhang-jie did most of the talking, speaking of how her life had been at Golden Carp Tower these last few months. She was doing well, as was Wen Qing. In fact, she had received a more respectful handling than she’d expected. Madame Jin quite liked her, which was nothing new, but with Jin Zixuan obviously favouring her, the disciples took the way he treated her as an example, which allowed Zhang-jie to enjoy a life as comfortable, if not more comfortable, as in Lotus Pier.
“Of course I still miss A-Cheng and A-Xian and everyone else, you included,” Zhang-jie said with a sigh, “but I have A-Qing and A-Xuan here with me, so I’m mostly fine.”
“I’m visiting Lotus Pier,” Wangji told her, “would you like to come with?”
Zhang-jie chuckled. “I don’t know if I can just visit Lotus Pier without telling the Jin at least a week in advance. Not to mention that I can’t ride my sword for that long, I would only hold you back.”
Wangji shook his head. “You can ride Bichen with me.”
“Really?” Zhang-jie blinked. “You’d be comfortable with me so close to you for so long?”
Wangji had to admit that her concern wasn’t unfounded. Riding a sword together required a proximity that Wangji wasn’t alright having with just anyone. But Zhang-jie was one of the few people, who Wangji was alright with touching and being touched by. If he could be called ‘A-Zhan’ by her, he could ride a sword with her to bring her to her family back home.
In answer, Wangji hummed, however there was something he hadn’t thought about when making Zhang-jie his offer. “What about Wen Qing?”
“I suppose she’d want to come too, since Wen Ning is still in Lotus Pier and she hasn’t seen him in a while. Her cultivation is high enough to ride her sword to Lotus Pier. We’ll have to ask her though.” Zhang-jie stood up. “Shall we go right now? I have something I wanted to show you anyway. A-Xuan was so embarrassed when I saw him there.”
Wangji nodded, getting up as well. He had no idea what she could possibly be talking about as she hadn’t mentioned anything in her letters that Jin Zixuan would have to be embarrassed about. Perhaps she had waited for a day like this to show it to him in person. Wangji would have to tell Wei Ying about it, if he didn’t already know.
Zhang-jie led him through the hallways, smiling at passing servants and disciples, receiving the appropriate bows in return.
They ended up in a courtyard Wangji couldn’t remember seeing before. Jin Zixuan and Wen Qing were already there, sitting at a table and playing Go, which was an interesting sight in and of itself but what was even more baffling was the lotus pond not too far away from them. As far as Wangji was concerned, the designers of Golden Carp Tower weren’t in the habit of installing lotus ponds. Next to Wangji, Zhang-jie giggled.
“A-Xuan built it all by himself. Isn’t he just adorable?”
Wangji made a vaguely agreeing sound. He wouldn’t call Jin Zixuan adorable under any circumstance but he could see why Zhang-jie would think of him that way.
Wen Qing turned to wave at them, evidently having noticed their presence as Jin Zixuan sat and stared at the board in front of him. Most of it was black by now, so Wangji supposed Jin Zixuan’s colour was white as Wen Qing beckoned Zhang-jie and him over without seeming concerned about the development of the game.
“Take it easy on him, A-Qing,” Zhang-jie said as she stepped closer, trying to sound scolding, though her smile betrayed her.
“I am,” Wen Qing replied, eliciting a groan from Jin Zixuan.
“I can’t believe Lan Wangji gets to see me lose so spectacularly. He’ll tell Wei Wuxian and I’ll never live it down.”
“There’s a lot of things he won’t let you live down,” Zhang-jie commented, patting Jin Zixuan’s head. Wen Qing grinned, easily countering a move Jin Zixuan had made after a lot of thinking.
Seeing the three of them together, it was obvious that they were at ease with each other. Even Wen Qing, despite Jin Zixuan being Heir to the sect which had captured and tortured her family, was evidently comfortable in his presence. Then again, Wangji had to admit that Jin Zixuan was a lot more honourable than most of the people in his sect, no matter how rocky his relationship with Zhang-jie had been.
Wangji was glad that he was evidently treating both Zhang-jie and Wen Qing well, so much so that everyone else did too. Jin Zixuan had come a long way but, Wangji supposed, so had he. After all, one had to start somewhere.
Zhang-jie told Wen Qing and Jin Zixuan about Wangji offering to take her with him to Lotus Pier and Wen Qing gladly said she’d go with them. Jin Zixuan said he’d take care of any protests that would come from his mother or father or anyone else, so that, the next day, Wangji set off with Zhang-jie on his sword in front of him and Wen Qing on her own sword next to him.
A Jin butterfly had been sent ahead to inform Wanyin that not only Wangji would be coming by, but his sister and Wen Qing were as well. It was really more of a formality than anything else since Wangji knew that both Zhang-jie’s as well as Wen Qing’s rooms were always kept in perfect conditions, so nothing would have to be prepared for them.
When they arrived, Wei Ying, Wanyin and Wen Qionglin were already waiting for them, A-Yuan sat on Wei Ying’s hip. Wen Qing landed and pulled her brother into a hug crushing enough that Wangji could hear him gasp. Zhang-jie, as soon as Wangji touched down, threw herself at Wanyin, which left Wangji with Wei Ying and A-Yuan. Wei Ying held his right arm out, A-Yuan his left and Wangji stepped into their combined embrace. He stroked A-Yuan’s hair and pressed a kiss to Wei Ying’s temple before backing away again.
“Hi, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying said with a smile. He looked the best he’d had in years. His skin wasn’t so awfully pale anymore, his face not as gaunt, his body not as thin, evident even under the layers of robes since Wei Ying preferred more form-fitting ones. Most importantly, Wei Ying’s eyes were, once again, as carefree as they could be, what with how much he’d gone through in the last few years.
“Hello,” Wangji replied, then turned to A-Yuan. “Hello to you too.”
“A-Die!” A-Yuan exclaimed, holding his arms out towards Wangji. Wei Ying immediately complied with the unspoken wish, handing the boy over to Wangji.
“I’m going to be Wei Yuan,” he said with a brilliant smile and Wangji couldn’t help but glance up at Wei Ying.
“Is that so?”
“That is so,” Wanyin inserted himself into the conversation. “After you two marry, he’s going to be officially adopted and he will be noted down as Wei Yuan. By the way, Wei Wuxian–”
Wei Ying clapped his hand over Wanyin’s mouth, his brother struggling as he was trying to get him off. With a laugh, Wei Ying said, “Don’t worry about it, Lan Zhan, it’s not important.”
“A-Xian cried when A-Yuan told him his decision.”
“Shijie!” came the indignant cry. “You should spend less time with Wen Qing, she’s corrupting you!”
Zhang-jie only giggled as Wanyin finally freed himself from Wei Ying’s hold and promptly pulled the other man into a headlock. Wen Qing was shaking her head at their antics and Wen Qionglin looked like he still wasn’t used to how the two of them treated each other, looking on anxiously as they half-wrestled.
Wangji smiled. This was exactly what he’d missed.
Before they could do anything else, Wen Qing whisked Wei Ying away to the infirmary to perform a quick exam, assessing what state his body and Core were in now. Since Suibian once again had a place on Wei Ying’s hip, next to Chenqing, Wangji supposed he had to have at least enough eternal energy to wield a sword. Wen Qing mumbled something about every single one of the Jiangs being freaks and that they should change their motto from ‘Attempt the impossible’ to ‘Nothing is impossible’. Wei Ying only grinned and winked at her.
Next up, A-Yuan wanted to Wangji something, leading him back to the docks. Before Wangji could even ask what he wanted to show him, the boy shed everything but his innermost robe and jumped into the water. He emerged just as Wangji had processed the situation enough to start panicking, swimming quickly and with a great form. Wangji willed his heart to stop beating so fast.
“I taught him that,” Wei Ying declared proudly. Wangji gave him a look. He was probably also the reason the kid had just jumped into the water with no warning whatsoever. Wei Ying blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, mumbling something about not throwing him in fully clothed, at least, which Wangji almost glared at him for.
When A-Yuan finally came out of the water again, he patiently let Wei Ying dry him, accepted the new inner robes Wei Ying took out of a qiankun pouch and pulled them on swiftly, followed by his outer robes. It was obvious that they’d done this a few times already. At least A-Yuan could be still instead of being filled with energy all the time.
After that, they just wandered around Lotus Pier for a while, Wangji’s and Wei Ying’s shoulders brushing almost with every step and A-Yuan hurried along in front of them. The people around them smiled and nodded in greeting, some of them, Wei Ying stopped to chat with, asking about how their business was going, how their family was doing, if they thought the weather was a little warmer than yesterday. Through it all, Wangji stood by his side, content to listen.
On the first night Wangji spent at Lotus Pier in several months, A-Yuan hesitantly asked if he could sleep with Baba and A-Die and Wangji didn’t have it in him to deny the boy. And if Wangji couldn’t do it, Wei Ying could do it even less, so they ended up with all three of them on Wei Ying’s bed, A-Yuan lying between the two men with a satisfied smile on his face. Wei Ying kissed the boy’s forehead, smiled at Wangji over his head and closed his eyes. Wangji stared at the two of them for a little while longer before turning to lie on his back, his hands on his stomach as he closed his eyes to sleep.
The next day, Wangji was accosted by a gaggle of women at least twice his age, the Wen ladies who hadn’t had a chance to have tea with Wangji in quite a while. They insisted on drinking his tea and catching up with him, so Wangji really had no choice but to do as they wished. It was barely after breakfast, a little too early to have tea, but nobody but Wangji seemed to care, meaning, the next time Wangji saw Wei Ying again was at lunch time. They didn’t speak, as Wangji was eating, and right after lunch ended, Wangji was bodily dragged away by Wanyin.
They spoke of hypothetical Nighthunts and real ones that the opinion from anyone not Jiang was welcome on, and by the time Wangji was out of Wanyin’s office, it was late afternoon.
Wangji briefly debated going looking for Wei Ying but decided against it, knowing the other still had duties to fulfil. Instead, he kept on the lookout for Zhang-jie and, by extension, Wen Qing, to ask if they were satisfied with the impromptu visit, even if they would be staying here for another two weeks as per Wangji’s schedule.
He was promptly roped into a game of Go against Wen Qing, seeing as Zhang-jie couldn’t bear watching herself lose anymore, if not as spectacularly as Jin Zixuan. Wangji wasn’t sure if this was because Zhang-jie was that much better than him or because Wen Qing liked her more. Either way, the game with Wen Qing came to an end just as it was time for dinner, Wangji having lost by a wider margin than ever before, though he was still better off than Jin Zixuan and Zhang-jie. Wen Qing grinned at him.
“We should play more often,” she said and Wangji found himself nodding in agreement. He didn’t know how, but he’d make it happen.
After dinner, Wei Ying grabbed Wangji before anyone else could, pulling him to his bedroom. Wangji followed him without the slightest bit of protest, letting Wei Ying manhandle him as he saw fit and finding himself sitting down on Wei Ying’s bed.
Wei Ying sat next to him, holding out his wrist not covered by Wangji’s ribbon. “You haven’t had the chance to feel this yet.”
Glancing at Wei Ying, Wangji reached out to press his fingers to Wei Ying’s pulse point, feeling his qi. It was strong and steady, if not even remotely on the level it used to be. His Core was probably as small as a child’s, who was completely new to cultivating, but he’d achieved so much in such little time after having had his Golden Core removed from his body and his meridians filled up with resentful energy, so this was more than impressive. Wangji could suddenly understand Wen Qing saying the Jiang Sect should change their motto.
For a few seconds, the two of them only sat there, Wangji with his fingers on Wei Ying’s wrist, looking down on it as he took in the difference from when he’d last felt for Wei Ying’s qi.
Finally, he lifted his head to look into Wei Ying’s eyes.
“Your spiritual energy…” Wangji trailed off, lost in the fondness of Wei Ying’s gaze. “You’ve worked hard.”
Wei Ying hummed, his eyes hooded as he turned his hand in Wangji’s grip, leaning close to whisper into his ear, “I know an enjoyable way you could help me with developing it even more.”
Wangji lowered his eyes, glancing at Wei Ying, who’d leaned back again, at least far enough for them to look into each other’s eyes. They didn’t exchange another word as Wangji toppled Wei Ying over onto the bed and Wei Ying wound his arms around his neck, not bothering to close his mouth for the kiss that followed.
The first wedding Wangji attended, three months later, was Xiong-zhang and Wanyin’s.
It took place in the Cloud Recessess for reasons unfathomable to Wangji since Wanyin wasn’t particularly fond of the place. Still, it was a nice wedding and Wanyin even smiled more than he scowled, which was not a given for him. Xiong-zhang braided his ribbon into Wanyin’s hair himself and Wanyin wound the one he’d been keeping on him for the last few months around Xiong-zhang’s head, so that they’d more or less exchanged ribbons.
Zhang-jie’s eyes were misty and Wei Ying tried to pretend his weren’t but he wasn’t quite successful, seeing as he had to turn his face to Wangji’s shoulder to inconspicuously dry his face. Wangji could see the darker spots on his robes but he didn’t call Wei Ying out on it. After all, no matter that it was easy to forget, Wanyin was the youngest of the three and he was the one getting married first. Getting married for love, no less.
As the ceremony ended, Wei Ying looked down and sniffled, and Wangji handed him a handkerchief he’d kept on his person for this reason. Zhang-jie seemed to have thought ahead, having her own handkerchief to bury her face in.
“You two were being ridiculous,” Wanyin told them later. “I saw you cry, you know? It’s not as if I’m leaving you.”
“Oh, A-Cheng,” Zhang-jie said, her eyes watering again, her next words coming out a little choked. “We’re just happy for you.”
As if on cue, both Zhang-jie and Wei Ying threw themselves at Wanyin, hugging their brother as if their life depended on it. Wanyin threw Xiong-zhang and Wangji a panicked glance, clearly wanting to be rescued from his emotional siblings.
Xiong-zhang shook his head with a smile. “Sorry, no can do.”
Wanyin’s pleading gaze turned entirely to Wangji. Wangji looked back passively, not bothering to make a move. He wasn’t going to come between this family moment. Wanyin’s gaze turned into a glare.
“I’ll remember this,” he threatened, then startled when Wei Ying suddenly started wailing about his baby brother finally leaving the nest. His attention was quickly occupied by trying to stop his siblings from behaving as if they’d never see each other again.
The day went over well enough.
The second wedding Wangji attended was his own.
This one was held in Lotus Pier, partly because Wei Ying wanted alcohol at their wedding and partly because Zhang-jie and Wanyin had come up to them and told them all about the plans they’d made ever since first realising Wangji and Wei Ying liked each other. When Wei Ying had asked exactly how long ago that had been, both of them had fallen silent and looked at each other.
“Long enough,” had been Wanyin’s answer and neither Wei Ying nor Wangji had pushed.
Lotus Pier was decorated beautifully and everyone was in high spirits, even people who weren’t actually invited to the wedding.
Wangji could see how much thought Zhang-jie and Wanyin had put into this, how much they cared for Wei Ying to organise a wedding of this scale for him. Wei Ying, after all, was a romantic at heart, even if he liked to deny it.
Considering this was also his own wedding, meaning he would be married to Wei Ying soon, Wangji was strangely calm. Wei Ying would be his husband and soon enough, A-Yuan would officially be their child, but other than labels, nothing would really change. Wangji already loved Wei Ying as much as he possibly could, being married to him wouldn’t make Wangji love him more. Which didn’t mean Wangji didn’t want to get married. He wanted this as much as Wei Ying, it was just that he wasn’t as nervous as he was probably supposed to be. Then again, nobody would expect him to be any more emotional than usual. That was just not who Wangji was as a person.
Xiong-zhang, who helped Wangji dress, didn’t say anything, only moved around Wangji with a smile and a gentle gaze.
The wedding robes were more ornate than his usual ones and, for the first time in his life, Wangji wore robes that had not even a speck of white on them. He was decked out in red upon red, the only other colour adorning him being a light blue matching with the base colour of his ribbon.
Xiong-zhang had been the one to procure these robes. Wangji hadn’t asked how he’d gotten his hands on them as quickly as he had without him and Wangji even going out to look at materials, but he imagined it was a reason similar to Zhang-jie and Wanyin already having planned every single detail of this wedding.
The robes were heavier than usual and harder to move in but Wangji didn’t mind. His steps were measured, unhurried as they usually were even as he was walking towards Wei Ying, who was soon to become his husband.
The only falter in Wangji’s step came when he laid eyes on Wei Ying.
The other was grinning at him, in red robes of his own, and even though Wangji had never expected for Wei Ying to love him, as his eyes landed on the ribbon bound around his wrist, he couldn’t help but be glad that his feelings were returned nonetheless.