Chapter Text
The next morning, Wei Wuxian woke up feeling extremely groggy. He actually stayed in his own bed last night and even though his head was full of thoughts, the sound of Lan Wangji’s steady breathing slowly lulled him into sleep. Judging by how his arms and legs were neatly tucked under the blanket and not splayed in all different directions like he normally woke up to, Lan Wangji had probably readjusted him in the morning. Just as he was about to throw his covers off, he heard the door clacking open.
“Lan Zhan?”
“Mn. Food.”
Wei Wuxian heard him settle a tray on the table quietly. He quickly changed out of his sleeping robes and hurried out from behind the privacy screen.
“Ah, thanks Lan Zhan! I’m starving!” Wei Wuxian looked at the food on the tray. It consisted of plain congee, but there was a large heaping of spices and chilli peppers in a little bowl next to it and some pickled vegetables. Wei Wuxian grinned, so Gusu Lan was finally stepping up their food game! When he had been a disciple here all those years ago, breakfast was just plain congee and some bitter medicinal herbs. It was horrible! How could anyone eat something so bland and bitter, especially in the morning? Wei Wuxian unceremoniously dumped the entire bowl of spices and chilies into the congee and began to eat.
“What are you up to today Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian asked between bites.
“Finish first.” Ah those damn rules.
“But it’s just the two of us!” he complained. Lan Wangji narrowed his eyes and Wei Wuxian pouted but shut his mouth obediently. He was in the Cloud Recesses after all, even if he didn’t want to, he should at least abide by the easier rules to give Lan Wangji some face. He couldn’t believe that Lan Zhan hadn’t changed one bit though! He couldn’t believe even more that someone willingly married such a strict man! He looked at Lan Wangji from across the table, the man stared at him as if he was bursting with a million questions. Wei Wuxian shot him a toothy grin and Lan Wangji’s eyebrow twitched a little.
Ah, never mind. I can see why someone married this beauty.
Even though it was early in the morning and Wei Wuxian looked like he’d just wrestled a bear, The Second Jade of Lan looked truly perfect in every single way. Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but admire the beauty in front of him and thought that the other man’s wife was truly a lucky lady. He quickly scarfed down the rest of the congee, ignoring the burning down his throat, then chugged the tea that Lan Wangji had poured him. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve he looked up at Lan Wangji as if to say, are you going to ask me now?
He made a troubled face, a look that Wei Wuxian had started to think was extremely cute.
“Are you going to ask me about what happened?” he decided to give poor Lan Zhan a break. Lan Wangji thought about it for a second.
“If you want.”
“Hmm? You won’t ask if I don’t want to talk about it?”
Lan Wangji nodded, and Wei Wuxian broke out into a bigger smile. This Lan Zhan really was too good!
“Mm… Okay, I will tell you the whole story later on, I’m still a bit confused myself. But once I figure it out, you’ll be the first I tell, how about that?”
Lan Wangji nodded.
“Lan Zhan, how did you know it was me?”
Lan Wangji looked away from him.
“Mm? You’re not going to tell me?” Wei Wuxian moved his head into the other man’s line of vision. Lan Wangji sighed softly.
“How is your memory so bad?”
“Ah! It’s not my fault my memory is bad! C’mon tell me!” Wei Wuxian whined.
“Figure it out on your own.” Lan Wangji said stubbornly. Wei Wuxian sighed.
“Ok ok, I’ll figure it out on my own! But what are you up to today Lan Zhan? Are you free? Should we just hang out? We haven’t been able to do that for a while huh?” Wei Wuxian fired off question after question, not exactly expecting an answer.
“Mn.”
“Mn what? To everything?”
“I am free.”
With that Wei Wuxian grinned from ear to ear, he hadn't had this sort of easy connection in a long time.
Turns out even though Wei Wuxian had company, Cloud Recesses was still as boring as he remembered it to be. Not that he minded much, walking around with Lan Zhan made him feel nostalgic about his childhood. He even gazed fondly at the spot he had spent countless hours kneeling for punishment. He’d been rambling off about anything that came to mind while Lan Wangji occasionally nodded or made small noises in response. After circling around the premises for a while, they spotted Lan Xichen and a very familiar looking woman talking to some juniors. Lan Xichen turned towards them smiling brightly.
“Wangji, Young Master Mo.”
“Brother.”
“Hi Zewu Jun!” Wei Wuxian smiled. Lan Wangji looked at the woman curiously.
“Ah, Xichen asked me to come by and said it was urgent”, she explained when she caught the look in his eye.
“When did you arrive?”
“Just now."
Wei Wuxian looked at the woman closely. Her face seemed oddly familiar, but she didn’t wear the Gusu Lan Sect uniform. However, she had the Gusu Lan Jade Pendant attached to her waist.
“Luo-Qianbei are you going to stay and teach us?” one of the juniors asked excitedly.
Luo Qingyang? This was Lan Wangji’s wife?
“I don’t know yet, we will see if Wangji wants your Qianbei to stay!” she said brightly.
“Mianmian”, Lan Wangji said exasperated. Of course, you’re welcome to stay was what his eyes said.
Wait a second… Mianmian? That sounded fam-
“Ah! Mianmian?!” Wei Wuxian suddenly yelled wide eyed. Everyone turned to look at him.
Lan Zhan’s wife was Mianmian?!
“Do you know me?” Mianmian squinted.
“A-ah…aha, no I just thought it’s such a good name. A really good name. The best name.” Wei Wuxian muttered. Mianmian and the Juniors looked at him strangely. What the heck was wrong with him?
“Ah… unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Could it be, you have a crush on Mianmian?”
“So I was right…” Wei Wuxian muttered to himself.
Lan Wangji looked at Wei Wuxian’s troubled expression, a small smile tugged at his lips. So miniscule that the Juniors and Wei Wuxian didn’t even notice it. However, Lan Xichen and Mianmian could not miss it. Mianmian looked at Lan Wangji who gazed fondly at Wei Wuxian’s confused face. Why was Wangji looking at Mo Xuanyu like that, he’d only ever smiled like that talking about Wei Wu-
Oh my god.
Mianmian’s eyes widened in shock, “y-you’re. Y-you. It can’t-, huh?” she spluttered towards Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen covered his small smile with the sleeve of his robe. Lan Wangji broke his gaze away from Wei Wuxian and turned to Mianmian. Lan Xichen had informed her when she arrived that Mo Xuanyu was currently residing at Cloud Recesses and Mianmian had heard some rumours in Caiyi town that Lan Wangji had saved the boy when Sect Leader Jiang had accused him of being possessed by Wei Wuxian's spirit. She was never one to pay rumours much mind…
But it was true!
“Uh? I’m sorry what?” Wei Wuxian looked at her. Mianmian looked as if she was about to say something but Lan Wangji shook his head slightly, so she closed her mouth. Seeing this exchange made Wei Wuxian extremely curious.
What was going on?
“Ahem, I think we need to talk, just the adults. You guys go on ahead, I’ll find you later.” She spoke quickly to the juniors as she shooed them away. The Juniors looked confused but bowed politely before they set off. She spun around and faced Wei Wuxian head on.
“What’s your name?” she asked demandingly.
“Uh… Mo Xuanyu”, Wei Wuxian said looking at Lan Wangji for some help, but the other man would not make eye contact with him.
That traitor!
“Uh huh, Mo Xuanyu… I haven’t seen you in a while! How have you been doing?” she asked coyly.
Shit, Mo Xuanyu knows Mianmian?
“U-uh… I’m doing well thank you Luo-“, fuck, what was their relationship, what did Mo Xuanyu call her before?
“Let us head elsewhere to talk”, Lan Xichen interjected, clearly amused. Wei Wuxian breathed a sigh of relief.
Zewu Jun is my hero!
“Mm… okay. Let’s go, Yundao”, Mianmian said with a glint in her eyes. Wei Wuxian froze.
How did she know?
Lan Xichen led them to his own personal quarters, chuckling quietly to himself the whole way. Wei Wuxian had never been inside the Hanshi before, but Lan Wangji and Mianmian both walked in like it was the most natural thing in the world. Wei Wuxian stood awkwardly at the entrance not knowing what to do.
“Well, what are you standing for? Sit.” Mianmian instructed. Wei Wuxian sat down on a seating pillow and crossed his legs. Lan Xichen had gone off to brew some tea as Lan Wangji set up four cups on each corner of the table.
As Lan Xichen came back with the hot tea Mianmian spoke up, “explain.”
Wei Wuxian looked nervously around the room unsure how he should proceed. Clearly everyone here knew his true identity, but did he really have to explain? Lan Wangji looked at him and gave him a small nod as if acknowledging his trust in everyone inside the Hanshi. Wei Wuxian sighed.
“It’s a really long story…”
“Then you better start fast!” Mianmian snapped. Resigned, Wei Wuxian gave Lan Wangji an apologetic smile.
Sorry Lan Zhan looks like you couldn’t be the first to hear my story.
Wei Wuxian recounted how he woke up in the Mo Manor, his dilemma with the scars on his arm, and everything else that happened on the way to Cloud Recesses. His story took the length of one and a half incense sticks, but the three of them listened with rapt attention. When he finished his story, there was a heavy silence in the room.
“So… you don’t remember anything from when you were dead?” Mianmian asked.
Wei Wuxian flinched, “no, how could I? One moment I was at Burial Mounds and the next I woke up to a kick to the chest.” When he heard this, Lan Wangji’s face filled with emotion.
“I’m curious though, how did you guys know it was me?”
It had been strange. With Lan Zhan, Wei Wuxian could understand a little. They were soulmates in his first life after all! Even though Lan Wangji hadn’t told him how he figured it out, Wei Wuxian figured there was probably some sort of connection or something. But he hadn’t interacted with either Lan Xichen or Mianmian much in this life or his last. They were by no means close.
Lan Xichen and Mianmian looked at each other smiling knowingly.
Mianmian turned to face Lan Wangji and grinned, “how could we not tell?”
“Huh?” Wei Wuxian blinked in confusion. Lan Wangji’s ears went pink. Noticing this Lan Xichen let out a soft laugh.
“Do not worry Young Master Wei, normal people will not be able to tell who you are. We are just a bit… special in this regard.”
With that Mianmian burst out into laughter.
“Mianmian”, Lan Wangji said clearly embarrassed. Wei Wuxian looked at the expression on Lan Wangji’s face and smiled.
Ah, truly only his wife can pull this kind of expression out of him!
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, “Zewu Jun?” a soft voice asked.
“Come in.”
A young disciple opened the door and looked apologetically at them before turning to Lan Xichen, “I’m sorry to bother you but you are being requested.”
“It is no bother”, Lan Xichen turned towards the rest of the room, “you guys catch up. I will be back later.”
After Lan Xichen left, Wei Wuxian suddenly remembered the rumours from the restaurant.
“You left the Lanling Jin sect?” he asked wide eyed turning towards Mianmian.
Mianmian paused but didn’t say anything.
“Why?” he asked quietly. Wei Wuxian was afraid it really was because of him. He didn’t save Mianmian so she would feel like she owed him anything.
Mianmian snorted, “don’t think too hard about it! Those idiots just kept spouting nonsense and annoying me, so I left! No other reason.”
Wei Wuxian stayed quiet.
So it was true, she…
“Ah, what are you thinking with that big head of yours? Hmm? I said I was fine anyway. Even if you may have been one of the reasons don’t think you were the only reason!”
Wei Wuxian smiled, “Ahh… Mianmian, I didn’t know you liked me so much!”
Mianmian smacked him hard in the arm.
“Ouch! Mianmian why are you so mean to me!”
“Don’t call me Mianmian!”
“Why not? Aren’t we close? You let Lan Zhan call you Mianmian!”
“Wangji and I are close, you are not even my friend”, she said with a huff.
Wei Wuxian broke out into a grin, “but you called me Yundao earlier so that must mean you’re yearning for m-, ow! Stop hitting me, I’m just a fragile boy!”
Mianmian's face was dusted pink as she snorted. Wei Wuxian looked up to see Lan Wangji’s eyebrows furrowed, a bitter expression blanketed his face
Woops.
He was so used to acting in a flirtatious manner that he didn’t even realize! How could he be so stupid, he was flirting with Lan Zhan’s wife! Realizing this Wei Wuxian mentally hit himself a couple times and coughed awkwardly.
“So… Mianmian, why didn’t you join the Gusu Lan Sect?”
Mianmian looked away, “I considered it and Wangji and Xichen both offered. But it would have been too weird. Everyone was already saying how I loved the Yiling Laozhu enough to go against my own people and Wangji had backed me up. If I joined the Gusu Lan Sect after that there would be even more crazy rumours going around.”
Mianmian didn’t seem like she was telling the whole story, but the mood in the room got awkward so Wei Wuxian let it slide.
“Ah, is that so? It hasn’t been easy for you.”
“Has it been easy for you?” she snapped her eyes glistening. Wei Wuxian smiled sheepishly at that, his heart felt warm.
“Besides I do enjoy being a rogue cultivator. I get to help people in ways that I couldn’t before, and I don’t have to abide by rules that I don’t agree with.”
With that Wei Wuxian let out a fond smile.
“By the way, Mianmian, do you actually know Mo Xuanyu?”
“Hmm? No, I was just messing with you. Mo Xuanyu entered Lanling Jin sect a couple years after I left so I never got a chance to actually meet him.”
“Lanling Jin sect?”
“Don’t you know? He’s one of Jin Guangshan’s illegitimate children” Mianmian looked disgusted, “I don’t know much about the situation but it seems he got kicked out of the sect recently for… for having inappropriate desires for a prominent male Lanling Jin sect member.”
Her expression was a little sad like she felt pity for the poor kid.
“Ah… is that so”, Wei Wuxian shivered unnerved by the fact that he technically had Jin Guangshan’s blood running through his veins. Just as he was thinking about this disgusting fact, they heard footsteps running outside before three Lan disciples burst inside. They looked completely panicked, not like the usual calm and upright Gusu Lan demeanor. Just looking at them made Wei Wuxian’s heart race!
“Hanguang Jun! Come quickly! It’s Zewu Jun and Shifu!”, the three people in the room jumped up and quickly followed the Juniors. When they arrived the doors to the room were sealed shut, heavy residual energy leaked out knocking them back a little.
“Sizhui and Jingyi went in to help, but we can’t open the doors!” the Lan disciple said frantically. At that moment the doors slammed open and Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi’s bodies were thrown out like rag dolls before the doors slam shut again. They were conscious but badly hurt, blood spilling out of their mouths.
“You two go, I’ll make sure they’re okay”, Mianmian said hurriedly crouching down to make sure the two Juniors were alright. Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian nodded. Wei Wuxian drew a talisman to force the barrier open. Inside Lan Qiren was passed out on the ground, a weakened and barely conscious Lan Xichen was holding him up. Several disciples were splayed on the ground, clearly unconscious. The arm from the Mo Manor incident was floating in the middle of the room, its rigid fingers curled in a fist pointing towards the northwest.