Chapter Text
Chapter Twenty Five
A Day Like Any Other
The cries of a baby filled Cloud Recesses, disturbing the usually peaceful atmosphere. No one cared though. The fact the young prince of the two clans had been born successfully was a blessing for all in both Gusu Lan and Qinge Nie. Of course the name of the child was one of great contention amongst the Gusu Lan elders. Why should the first born of their leader be a Nie? Surely the young prince ought to be a Lan!
Lan Xichen was steadfast in his decision though, Nie Qiang, courtesy name Yinuo, was the name given to the babe. He was also already declared as the Nie heir.
Even if the elders disagreed, most understood. The boy was rowdy even at only a few days old. His cries were boisterous and his energy relentless. He definitely didn’t seem like a Lan. No, even Lan Qiren agreed this child was a Nie.
Wei Wuxian watched as Mo Xuanyu walked amongst the other disciples. He’d made friends recently, and was starting to come out of his shell. It was the young disciples that were discussing the young prince and the elders’ recent arguments about the child’s position within the sects.
He could only laugh as the small group gossiped amongst each other. They knew the rules, but this was one of the ones that seemed to be broken frequently with little reprimand, unless Lan Qiren caught them. Even Lan Wangji didn’t pay much mind when they whispered amongst themselves, as long as the gossip wasn’t malicious.
“Master Wei!” the group spotted him and rushed to his side. “How is young master Yinuo?”
“Energetic,” Wei Wuxian smiled. He recalled the young child reaching up and pulling on Lan Xichen’s ribbon, freeing it from the secure knot holding it in place. The baby certainly had a strong grip. He’d need it if he was to learn the saber.
The boys fired off several questions, all wanting to know what was going to happen should the elders continue to push for the prince to be the Lan heir.
“No more gossiping,” Wei Wuxian lightly scolded. “Get to class! Uncle Qiren is no doubt going to punish you if you’re late! And you, Mo Xuanyu, remember to practice your sword swings after lessons. A-Zhan and I will be gone for a few days. Keep up your practice.”
“Yes, Teacher,” Mo Xuanyu smiled and followed along with the group.
Wei Wuxian heard one of the boys exclaim how lucky Mo Xuanyu was for having Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji as his teachers. Seemed their little student was the envy of his generation for being the first student of the famous pair. Though Wei Wuxian could understand their jealousy, he hoped it didn’t create an unrealistic expectation for the youth. Mo Xuanyu was making progress, but he hadn’t caught up to the others of his age group either.
“A-Ying.” Lan Wangji called him and Wei Wuxian turned from the sight of his student walking away and joined his husband.
They were going out to investigate a haunting. The request came in two days ago. Apparently an innkeeper’s wife had become ill recently and strange noises kept being heard throughout the night. It was starting to affect the business. The villagers whispered and no one wanted to stay within the establishment.
Wei Wuxian had been with Lan Wangji when the owner arrived to ask for help. The desperation in his voice was genuine, but Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but feel something was being left unsaid.
“It’s probably not a ghost,” Wei Wuxian grumbled as they made their way to the river side village. “According to the innkeeper his wife is quite the beauty and he wasn’t the only suitor she had. For her to fall ill so soon after their marriage … did one of her suitors kill himself from heartache?”
“Do not speculate,” Lan Wangji instructed.
Wei Wuxian smirked. “Hey, A-Zhan, speculation is part of the fun! Besides, this could be the start of a love drama.”
Oh, how Wei Wuxian wished he hadn’t said that. After only one night they’d discovered a plot entirely ripped from a stage play! The wife and her lover, whom she’d been forced to separate from by her father who wanted the higher bride price offered by the innkeeper, staged the haunting and her illness to drive his business under so she could leave him.
Watching the wife plead with fake tears for her husband’s understanding when the lover baled on her was almost pitiful. The man ran as soon as he realized she was penniless and marrying her wouldn’t get him anything. Somehow she’d convinced him that if they could only undermine her husband they could get the inn in the divorce and be set for life.
“A-Zhan,” Wei Wuxian cuddled close to Lan Wangji in the bed of the room provided for them by the innkeeper, “Thank you for being sane.”
“Hmm?” Lan Wangji stopped stroking Wei Wuxian’s hair and looked at his husband in confusion.
“I mean, did you see that?” Wei Wuxian exclaimed. “Those three were entirely insane! What was she thinking? And that other man? Is he an idiot? I mean, if he loved her in the first place he should’ve tried harder to win her father over instead of waiting for her to marry someone else!”
“How does that affect us?”
Wei Wuxian moved closer and propped himself up on his elbow so he was looking down at his husband. “Think about it. If you hadn’t come forward and proposed, we could’ve ended up different. What if I continued to believe you hated me? What would’ve become of us in a few years? Would you have just watched me go about my life without you?”
Lan Wangji frowned. He didn’t like these questions. They pulled at something in the back of his mind he didn’t want to think about.
“And what if someone else appea-“
Wei Wuxian didn’t even get to finish that question. Lan Wangji flipped him onto his back and kissed him into silence.
“Never,” Lan Wangji said darkly. “A-Ying is mine.”
Wei Wuxian blinked up at him before smiling. “You’re right. This Wei Ying is all yours.”
XxXxX
On their way back to Gusu and Cloud Recesses they did come across some monsters, a group of wolves that were tainted by resentful energy from feeding off corpses. They slayed the wolves and reburied the bodies that had been dug up.
Lan Wangji was summoned to his brother’s side upon returning and Wei Wuxian went in search of their student to check on his progress.
“How was the inn?” Lan Xichen asked upon Lan Wangji’s arrival in his room.
His elder brother was cradling his son in his arms and feeding him from a bottle. The milk was provided by a nursing mother associated with the clan, but because of the rule of female cultivators not mixing with the males, Nie Qiang was being bottle fed by his parents.
“Marital problems were the cause,” Lan Wangji explained.
Lan Xichen raised an eyebrow. “So it wasn’t a haunting after all. Wuxian must be disappointed.”
Lan Wangji wouldn’t say that. His husband seemed to be quite invested in the drama that had unfolded between the three civilians.
“Again?” Lan Xichen sighed as he pulled the bottle away and wiped at his son’s mouth. “Such an eager eater.”
In his rush to eat Nie Qiang had filled his mouth with too much milk and it had leaked out and over both him and Lan Xichen.
“Wangji, can you hold him?” Lan Xichen held the baby over to him and Lan Wangji reluctantly took his nephew. “I’ll get a change of clothes.”
Unsure of what to do, Lan Wangji stood perfectly still as he held the baby. Nie Qiang blinked up at him and then smiled. Could baby’s barely over a week old smile? Almost instantly after that smirk appeared Lan Wangji felt warmth on his arm and smelled a scent most unpleasant.
“Brother,” Lan Wangji turned to his brother. “I believe Qiang needs to be changed.”
XxXxX
Wei Wuxian had come to find Lan Wangji after checking on Mo Xuanyu and found himself frozen in place at the sight of his husband holding a baby looking entirely uncomfortable and yet gentle. It was obvious Lan Wangji was unsure of what to do with his fragile nephew, but his grasp was secure and gaze … happy.
A pang of want filled Wei Wuxian as he watched his husband and brother-in-law work to change the baby’s diaper and put on a fresh set of clothes. Seeing Lan Wangji hold a baby stirred that desire in him to have a family of their own again.
Wei Wuxian’s hand went to his stomach. He knew Lan Wangji had said they could try when they were ready, but when would that be? Also, how did they even go about it? From the way Xiao Xingchen had made it sound most such pregnancies happened naturally as two powerful cultivations partners grew side by side.
Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue had found a way to make it happen intentionally. Was it recorded in the Lan family records? Perhaps he should ask Lan Qiren if he could read them?
But… was Lan Wangji even ready to start a family.
Turning from the sight, Wei Wuxian made his way back to the Jingshi. Sitting on the bed, he pulled the small wooden box he’d kept all his letters from Lan Wangji and began reading through them. They weren’t exactly long and detailed exchanges, well at least Lan Wangji’s replies weren’t. Still, as Wei Wuxian read through them for probably the hundredth time he realized more and more of how much of Lan Wangji’s feelings were shown amongst the short sentences.
No matter how much he denied Wei Wuxian’s invitations to Lotus Pier in these letters, he always replied and provided an alternative to meet up, though at the time of receiving them Wei Wuxian hadn’t realized that. Now it was beyond clear. Lan Wangji had been setting up countless dates with him over that year.
“I’m a blind idiot,” Wei Wuxian groaned as he clutched a group of the letters to his chest. The one he’d just read expressed concern for him as he’d been injured fighting a group of corpses. He remembered Lan Wangji had also sent medicine along with the letter. The letter ended with Lan Wangji saying they would hunt together next time.
“He was worried about me,” Wei Wuxian whispered. “Probably even scared since I was hurt and he wasn’t there.”
Wei Wuxian smiled and continued to read. As he came to the last one he received before Lan Wangji arrived at Lotus Pier to propose Wei Wuxian read and re-read the last sentence.
‘I’ll come.’
Oh how had he not caught that!
“A-Zhan,” Wei Wuxian whispered. “How long did you love me?”
“Since you first climbed over the wall with Emperor’s smile.”
Wei Wuxian jumped up and scrambled to collect the spilled letters. “A-Zhan! When did you get back?”
“Just now.”
Lan Wangji’s gaze fell on the many scattered papers. His lips twitched before curling up in a pleased smile. Wei Wuxian had kept his letters. He’d always wondered what his husband kept in that small box he seemed to treasure so. The fact it was his letters to the other filled Lan Wangji with such pleasure he didn’t know how to express it.
Moving into the room, he helped Wei Wuxian collect the letters and carefully returned them to the box.
“You kept them,” Lan Wangji said.
“Of course,” Wei Wuxian blushed. “For that year they were the only thing I looked forward to between our … dates.”
“So, you admit they were dates?” Lan Wangji asked.
“I do now. After reading them again, I can’t see them as anything else but that. You were definitely trying to court me. I’m sorry for being so dense.”
Lan Wangji pulled Wei Wuxian into his arms and kissed his husband. “Not dense. A-Ying is perfect.”
Wei Wuxian laughed. “I must be to have such a perfect husband as my A-Zhan.”
The two kissed and for the time Wei Wuxian decided that this was fine. He could wait. Right now he’d enjoy his husband and their time together just the two of them. Yes, one day he wanted them to have a family, but perhaps he owed his perfect husband sometime after all the effort he’d put in to win him over.
“Here,” Lan Wangji suddenly pulled away and handed Wei Wuxian a book.
Frowning, Wei Wuxian took the old manuscript and felt his heart jump at the tile.
Dual Cultivation and Pregnancy.
“A-Zhan?” Could he read his mind now?
“I’m ready when you are,” Lan Wangji said
Wei Wuxian wrapped his arms around his husband and kissed him feverishly. Yes, one day they too would have a family of their own. But, maybe not right now. First he wanted to enjoy having Lan Wangji to himself tonight.