Chapter Text
A whole year passes before Wei Wuxian returns to Cloud Recesses on the cusp of spring and summer. He looks happy and healthy, his face tanner than when he’d left, a bright smile on his face. Lan Qiren can only assume that such a smile is for Wangji, especially since Wangji is smiling back. It’s a soft look, one of the softest Lan Qiren has ever seen on him (the looks he gives Sizhui notwithstanding).
“Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan, did you get all my letters?” he chatters away, “I sent so many! I know I told you not send any back unless I knew I was going to be in one place for a while, and it sounded like you got them all—”
“Mn, I got all Wei Ying’s letters.”
“Are you sure? You should let me count them! You kept them, right? Lan Zhan, you didn’t burn them, did you?”
“I kept them all.”
Wei Wuxian’s smile grows impossibly brighter, and Wangji’s expression impossibly softer. They sway in and out of one another’s orbit, not quite touching, not getting too much into the other’s space. It hits Lan Qiren like a bolt of lightning.
Oh, gods… they have no clue they’re in love with each other.
Perhaps that isn’t entirely true. Lan Qiren knows that Wangji is aware of his own feelings toward Wei Wuxian. He knows Wangji knows he loves Wei Wuxian. And he’s fairly certain that Wei Wuxian knows he’s in love with Wangji. They just seem completely oblivious to the other’s feelings. Lan Qiren bites back a sigh.
Wei Wuxian, of course, picks that moment to notice his presence, parting from Wangji’s side to come greet him. He gives a perfectly polite bow, saying, “Lan-laoxiansheng… this humble man thanks you for letting me return. I know you-… you aren’t very fond of me.”
“Just don’t make me regret it.”
Don’t make me regret letting you return to Wangji. Don’t make me regret the hospitality I’ve extended. Don’t make me regret letting you get close to the juniors.
“Wei-qianbei! Hanguang-jun!”
Sizhui and Jingyi appear, walking quickly (definitely not running) to come greet their seniors. Sizhui returned a few months ago, Lan Qiren and Wangji giving him a full account of all the things that had led to the destruction of the Wen Clan, both of them desperately hoping he would understand. Sizhui had then told them he needed some time to himself, time to think about everything, but he seemed to understand why everything had happened. Much to everyone’s relief, he decided he was going to be staying in Cloud Recesses, though he did have a request.
“Shugong, a-die,” and it was always going to be a serious question when he called them that, “I-… I would like to learn more about medicine. I would like to start lessons with the healers. Ning-shushu told me that Wen Qing-gugu was one of the greatest doctors in the world. I think-… I think if I can learn medicine, that would honor her memory.”
Of course, Lan Qiren and Wangji had agreed. Sizhui would make an excellent healer, with his kind disposition and observant nature. Indeed, within the first few weeks of his training, the healers were already raving about him. Wen Ning must have taught him some of the things Wen Qing knew while on their journey. Lan Qiren remembered her brief time in Cloud Recesses that year. She had been a good student. She had been a better physician. Sizhui is shaping up to be much the same.
“Wei-qianbei, I’m so glad you’re back!” Jingyi tells him with a wide smile, “You should see my talisman work! It’s gotten really good!”
“It has,” Sizhui agrees, “I think Jingyi has improved a lot, Wei-qianbei.”
“Then how can I not check them out? You can show me some tomorrow, Jingyi. Pick your best! Oh, and Sizhui, did you start studying medicine? Wen Ning said you wanted to when I saw him last month.”
“I did! How is Ning-shushu? I haven’t seen him since I came back.”
The boys chat with Wangji and Wei Wuxian some more, and Lan Qiren slowly takes himself back to the Haobaishi. He’ll have to tell Xichen that Wei Wuxian is back… if Xichen wants to speak to him today.
Xichen hasn’t wanted to speak with him for a long time now. They’ve spoken twice since Xichen entered his seclusion, and the last time they’d met, they’d gotten into a bit of a row, Lan Qiren wanting Xichen to leave seclusion and Xichen telling him in no uncertain terms that he was not yet ready. That had been before Sizhui had returned from his journey. Lan Qiren, truthfully, still has no real clue as to why Xichen decided to seclude himself anyway.
Was it that he felt ashamed that he’d been charmed into believing everything Jin Guangyao had told him? Was it that he didn’t trust himself to believe anyone anymore? Was it that-… Was it that he’d loved Jin Guangyao?
It’s clear to Lan Qiren that Xichen did love Jin Guangyao. They spent so much time together, with Xichen teaching him the qin or going over proposals or discussion matters of the cultivation world. But he had also loved Nie Mingjue, and the knowledge that Jin Guangyao had coldly killed the man (using a technique Xichen had taught him) surely must have broken his heart. Lan Qiren also doesn’t know what the depth of that love was, whether it was brotherly or… decidedly less so.
Of course, it’s all moot now that the man is dead and entombed with the resentful corpse of Nie Mingjue. It really only matters if that love is what’s keeping Xichen secluded. Unfortunate… how like his father he turned out.
It’s not that Lan Qiren is against seclusion. Not at all. He will occasionally seclude himself away for up to a month to meditate for long periods and clear his mind and strengthen his golden core. A seclusion here and there is good for a person.
Seclusion like this? As a prolonged punishment? Xichen did nothing wrong to warrant such a punishment.
Steeling himself, Lan Qiren makes his way to the Hanshi, hoping Xichen will at least acknowledge his presence today. His knock is met with silence, but he calls out anyway, “Xichen… Xichen, I wanted to inform you that Wei Wuxian returned today. I expect he will come by to prattle away at your door before the day is through.”
Nothing.
Lan Qiren sighs, turns to leave, upset at being ignored but sadly used to it…
“He’s back?”
The door isn’t open, but Xichen’s voice is so quiet that he has to be close to it to be heard. Lan Qiren steps up, tells him, “Yes… Wangji went out to meet him and then brought him back.”
There’s a beat, and then the door opens just a crack; Lan Qiren takes it as an invitation. Inside, the Hanshi is cluttered, things pulled out of what could only be secret hiding places and scattered about to look at: paintings, letters, pottery, dishware. Xichen’s clothes hang on his frame, his cheekbones stark in his face, a barely picked at tray of breakfast by the door. The delicate skin under his eyes is so dark it looks bruised. Lan Qiren has to swallow hard against the lump in his throat, against the tears burning his eyes.
Xichen is pacing frenetically, unevenly, seemingly unaware of Lan Qiren’s presence. Suddenly, he stops, and a low sound reaches Lan Qiren’s ears.
Laughing.
Xichen is laughing, though it is a completely joyless sound that makes the hairs on the back of Lan Qiren’s neck stand up.
“Of course…” Xichen says after a long while, “Of course Wei Wuxian would come back and give Wangji his happy ending… of course…”
And then his cold laughter turns to quiet sobs, tears spilling down his cheeks without him seeming to realize it.
“Xichen—”
It’s like a dam bursts within Xichen, and every ugly thought he’s ever had comes pouring out— about Wangji and Wei Wuxian, about Jin Guangyao, about Nie Huaisang, about his father and mother, even about Lan Qiren— as he stands in his disheveled room and cries, surrounded by memories.
He rants and raves for nearly a quarter shichen, chest heaving, until he dissolves into wordless, exhausted tears. Lan Qiren steps up slowly, takes Xichen by the arm, and leads him over to his bed, eases him down onto it.
“I just-… shufu, why can’t I be happy, too?”
The question breaks Lan Qiren’s heart, reminds him of when Wangji was drunk and in pain after branding himself in the wake of Wei Wuxian’s death. It’s only worse when Xichen continues, “Why does Wangji get to have Wei Wuxian back when I’ll never get back A-Yao?”
So it was like that then… Lan Qiren clears his throat, quietly says, “I don’t know, Xichen. Sometimes-… Sometimes things happen that don’t make sense in the moment, that we deem unfair… but ask yourself… if Jin Guangyao had been allowed to live, what kind of life could he have had? One where he was constantly on the run? One where he was living in a foreign land, banished from those he cared about and who cared about him? Locked away in some home here in Cloud Recesses like a prisoner, like your mother was? And even if none of those things happened, how long before those in the other sects called for his head? You know they wouldn’t have allowed him a peaceful death.”
“He doesn’t have a peaceful death now, shufu.”
“Is it preferable to what they would have done to him?”
Xichen makes a quiet sound like a whimper, and Lan Qiren’s fingers comb through his nephew’s hair. He doesn’t know what else to say, what else to do. He isn’t sure there’s anything that will soothe Xichen, the man too far lost in his grief to be comforted.
(Wangji has told him what happened in the Guanyin Temple, as had Sizhui, and so Lan Qiren thinks he has a good grasp on everything Jin Guangyao had done… or at least that he’d admitted to. Lan Qiren still finds it hard to believe that the man had a hand in the death of his own son, no matter what else he had done. He doesn’t think Jin Guangyao was capable of that.)
So he just sits there with his nephew, for the first time in a year. He just wishes it wasn’t like this.
It’s been a few weeks now since Wei Wuxian returned to Cloud Recesses, and Lan Qiren… isn’t hating it as much as he thought he would. Far from the disruptive student who had run amok in Cloud Recesses during lectures, he’s been fairly quiet. Lan Qiren’s rules enacted when Wei Wuxian had been here a year ago still stand: no one is to talk to him without good reason, he is not to teach, he shouldn’t interact with the junior disciples. Wei Wuxian seems to be taking it in stride, seems more than happy to interact solely with Wangji, Sizhui, and Jingyi. (Zhou Nuan often speaks with him as well, having known him when they’d been in the Jiang sect together for a little while. Lan Qiren pretends he doesn’t know.)
Wangji is happier than Lan Qiren has seen him in years with Wei Wuxian back in his life, and that tempers some of Lan Qiren’s darker feelings. Some of them. He still isn’t happy that the erstwhile Yiling Laozu is taking up residence in Cloud Recesses, but at least he isn’t causing a ruckus. Wei Wuxian remains in the Jingshi more often than not, and Lan Qiren does his very best to not see the marks that cover his neck, marks he knows have been left by his nephew. The only good thing about it is that they’ve finally told each other their feelings. I might need to start planning a wedding soon. The thought doesn’t disturb him as much as it should.
“Lan-laoxiansheng?”
Lan Qiren bites back a sigh. And I was having such a good day…
He calls “Enter!” and waits for the whirlwind to blow in.
Surprisingly, Wei Wuxian does not bluster in and immediately begin causing chaos. He enters quietly, bows respectfully, waits for Lan Qiren to direct him to a seat.
“How is Lan-laoxiansheng this fine day?” he asks, gesturing at the table, a silent request to pour Lan Qiren another cup of tea.
Lan Qiren nods, watches him handle the pottery with care, tells him, “My day has been going quite well, Wei-gongzi. And what of yours?”
“Oh, my day has been fine, Lan-laoxiansheng. I spent most of the morning with Sizhui, before he had to run along to attend to his studies in medicine. It-… It makes me very happy, you know, to see him studying medicine. I think-… I think it makes Wen Qing happy.”
The young man’s eyes look misty, and something in Lan Qiren softens marginally at the sight. He remembers when this man was a boy at lectures, sitting in the same room, reading letters from his mother Lan Qiren had kept and trying not to cry.
“Aiyo, look at me,” Wei Wuxian sniffles, “getting all weepy when I came to bring you a gift. And so delayed too! I’ve been back for a couple weeks now.”
“A gift?”
“Don’t look so worried, Lan-laoxiansheng. I promise it’s a real gift and not a prank.”
Lan Qiren still watches with some wariness as Wei Wuxian pulls out a qiankun pouch, not having any clue what the man could possibly have gotten him as a ‘gift’. He’s surprised when a little wooden box is removed first and placed on the table.
“It’s tea,” Wei Wuxian tells him, “A very high quality white tea, I’ve been told. I know Lan-laoxiansheng likes white tea, so I wanted to bring you some as soon as I heard others sing its praises.”
It is indeed a thoughtful gift. Lan Qiren takes the small box, opens it, can smell the leaves. How Wei Wuxian could afford such fine tea, he doesn’t know, but he won’t question it. Wei Wuxian may be many things, but a thief isn’t one of them. He thanks the young man, thinking that’s the end of it, but then Wei Wuxian tells him, “Ah, there’s another thing as well!”
His hand dives into the qiankun bag, digging around until he starts producing texts from its depths, eventually depositing a number of rolled bamboo slats and scrolls onto the table. Some of them look very old.
“Wei Wuxian—”
“I was pretty far into the West, and there was a city there with a library, and wouldn’t you believe, they had these there: original copies of some Gusu Lan texts. I’m hoping these were some of the ones that were lost, so you can work on replacing them, but even if they’re not, they’ll be nice to have in your own library here in Cloud Recesses.”
“They let you take them?”
“Mn, they had made some other copies already, and when I told them I was coming back to Cloud Recesses where the texts had originated, they let me take these with me. I had done some work ridding the area of a couple yao anyway. I took these instead of money.”
“They should have given you money,” Lan Qiren murmurs, slightly dazed at the wealth of information in front of him, “It would have cost them less.”
“Ah, but who needs money, Lan-laoxiansheng? I’m more than happy to take payment in the form of a meal and a cot… or some important texts, in this case. Well, I’ll leave now and won’t intrude on your day—”
“Has Wangji told you much about Sizhui’s childhood, Wei-gongzi?”
It’s foolish, he knows, to draw Wei Wuxian into deeper conversation when he knows it may end with him bellowing the man out of the Haobaishi, but he did just present him with some very thoughtful gifts indeed, and he thinks it only fair to repay him for the kindness.
“Not much… Just that Sizhui was happy here.”
“Why don’t we share this tea, and I’ll tell you a few stories.”
Wei Wuxian smiles— not one of mischief, not the wistful one he wears when he thinks others can’t see— a nice, genuine, soft smile, and he replies, “I’d like that, Lan-laoxiansheng. Maybe I can tell you a few stories of my own.”
The tea is very fine, and Lan Qiren takes a moment to savor it before speaking, and then the two of them are trading tales about Sizhui’s childhood.
Lan Qiren tells Wei Wuxian about when Sizhui was first brought to Cloud Recesses and how well he fit himself in, the way he used to look in Lan Qiren’s bowl at mealtimes, the way he and Jingyi used to hang on him.
Wei Wuxian tells Lan Qiren about burying a little boy like a vegetable in the dirt, about making sure little A-Yuan always had the most food in his bowl, about Wangji buying toys for Sizhui when he’d gone to visit them in Yiling.
“I can’t believe he’s still alive,” Wei Wuxian says breathlessly, wetly, “When I went to Nightless City-… Wen Qing and Wen Ning were the last ones I saw before her needles knocked me out… and then when I woke up, I couldn’t find anyone, but even if I knew he was there-… It’s good, that Lan Zhan found him and brought him here. He’s grown up so well… and happy. Lan-laoxiansheng, he seems very happy.”
“He is,” and Lan Qiren knows he can say it with confidence, “He is happy.”
“Who— ah, perhaps I shouldn’t ask…”
But Lan Qiren thinks he knows what the question is, offers, “You want to know who raised Sizhui while Wangji was… incapacitated.”
Wei Wuxian swallows, nods, takes a sip of tea. Lan Qiren takes his own sip and tells him truthfully, “Xichen and I took turns. Mostly Xichen, because he wanted to more. Not that I didn’t, of course. I think it’s quite clear I’m fond of the boy. Xichen just… I think he felt guilty, and he wanted to help bring up Sizhui well to belay that guilt.”
“Did you feel guilty?”
Wei Wuxian lets the question out and only then seems to realize the impertinence of it, his eyes going wide and his hand coming up to tap at his mouth as if scolding it. He sheepishly says, “Ah, Zewu-jun told me what happened to Lan Zhan after-… well, after everything.”
“He told you Wangji was struck with the discipline whip thirty-three times.”
His only reply this time is a nod.
“Wangji thought he was protecting you. In order to so protect you, he injured— seriously injured, mind you— thirty-three elders of the Lan Clan. They called for his death initially. They considered banishment from Cloud Recesses. Please understand this, Wei Wuxian… my overseeing his being whipped was a kindness. I knew I could administer a fair punishment. I did not believe the same of anyone else.”
The expression on Wei Wuxian’s face is hard to read. It’s partly questioning, partly critical, partly sad, partly something else that Lan Qiren can’t quite parse out. It’s scrutinizing, like he’s trying to see into Lan Qiren’s soul. If Wei Wuxian wants to hate me, that’s fine. Lan Qiren knows he did what was best for Wangji, for Sizhui, for Cloud Recesses as a whole. He can never be sure in the moment, of course, but he knows he tries to do what’s best.
If Wangji had been executed— He refuses to even think about what that would’ve done to Xichen, let alone himself.
If Wangji had been banished, Lan Qiren at least could have consoled himself with his nephew’s life, but he knows Xichen would be destroyed by not being able to see his little brother again. If it was to be banishment, Wangji probably would have taken Sizhui with him, and with the state the boy had been in when he was brought to Cloud Recesses, he likely wouldn’t have survived. If A-Yuan had died, Lan Qiren is certain Wangji would have followed him to the grave.
If Xichen had been in charge of the punishment, he might have gone easy on his little brother and only made things worse for both of them. If another elder had been in charge, they might have made the punishment harsher than it should have been, might have killed him “accidentally”.
If Wangji hadn’t been punished at all— well, that wasn’t an option, either.
No, Lan Qiren is certain— as he always has been— that he did the right thing. He is fairly certain Wangji and Xichen know this. He thinks Sizhui does, too, and Jingyi once all had been explained to him.
If Wei Wuxian can’t see that it was right… well, the people who matter know he was right, and that’s all he cares about.
He waits under Wei Wuxian’s scrutiny for a shorter time than expected, and of course, he anticipates that Wei Wuxian will make some snide comment and then leave and become a thorn in Lan Qiren’s side for the rest of eternity.
When Wei Wuxian finally speaks, all he says is, “Thank you for keeping Lan Zhan alive, Lan-laoxiansheng.”
“It wasn’t my doing. I suspect Sizhui had more to do with keeping Wangji alive than anyone else did, if I’m being perfectly honest.”
“Mm, A-Yuan has that effect on people… making them want to stay alive.”
He’s wearing that sad smile now, the one he wears when he must think no one’s looking, that no one can see he isn’t all cheerfulness all the time. It makes something twist sharply in Lan Qiren’s chest. Wei Wuxian lived in the Burial Mounds for quite a while. How sad such a life must have been… He thinks back (without particularly wanting to) to the bodies of the Wen remnants he’d seen hanging outside Nightless City: old people and farmers, all undernourished and thin. Some had reported that at Nightless City Wei Wuxian had appeared more like a skeleton than a person, wreathed in smoky resentful energy.
The sad smile quickly passes, like Wei Wuxian realizes Lan Qiren can see it, and he’s back to his usual self.
“Thank you, Lan-laoxiansheng,” he says, “for taking the time to chat with this lowly cultivator. Maybe one day you could tell me some things about Lan Zhan’s childhood.”
“He hasn’t told you all of it already?”
“He’s told me a lot… just not the good stuff,” Wei Wuxian smirks, “Not the embarrassing things. I know you know some very embarrassing things about little Lan Zhan I can use to tease him with.”
That makes Lan Qiren choke on his tea, and Wei Wuxian wisely decides to make himself scarce, quickly telling him, “Ah, I’ll leave first then,” bowing, and slipping out of the room.
But… if the restrictions on speaking with Wei Wuxian are quietly removed… well, Lan Qiren wouldn’t know anything about that, of course.
The months flow by with Wei Wuxian in Cloud Recesses. Lan Qiren, of course, would rather the young man wasn’t here at all, but since he is, he gives Wei Wuxian a variety of duties to take care of, mostly teaching talisman work to the older disciples since that’s where his greatest skills lie. And he’s a good teacher. The older disciples are all very fond of him and his teaching style.
Their talisman work also improves exponentially.
The elders still aren’t fond of having him around, and Lan Qiren wouldn’t exactly say he’s fond of him either, but he can’t deny the results.
Nor can he deny that Wangji is happy. He’s happier than Lan Qiren has ever known him to be since Wei Wuxian had gone to the Burial Mounds in his first life. That’s not something Lan Qiren takes lightly. As the man who raised Wangji, all he really wants is for him to be happy.
It’s still a surprise when Wei Wuxian comes to him in the late autumn, while Wangji is hearing petitions as chief cultivator. He and Wei Wuxian generally avoid each other, but today, Wei Wuxian comes right to the Haobaishi and blurts, “I think Lan Zhan wants to marry me.”
Lan Qiren blinks at him for a moment, hardly shocked Wangji wants to marry Wei Wuxian but shocked that Wei Wuxian didn’t seem to realize it until now.
“You don’t— You don’t look surprised. You aren’t surprised, Lan-laoxiansheng.”
“Why should I be surprised, Wei-gongzi?”
“Because I just said that Lan Zhan wants to marry me!”
“Yes, you did.”
“But you aren’t surprised! Why aren’t you surprised? Why aren’t you throwing me out on my a— ear?”
“Because I think it’s been quite obvious he’s wanted to marry you since before you died,” Lan Qiren says simply.
And while he hates to acknowledge it at all, it’s worth speaking the words out loud to see the absolutely gobsmacked look on Wei Wuxian’s face upon hearing them. It’s almost like he’s broken, his eyes wide, eyebrows so high they’re in danger of disappearing into his hairline, mouth hanging open.
“Do you not want to marry him?” Lan Qiren asks.
That shakes Wei Wuxian from his shock, and he half-shouts, “What?! Of course I want to marry Lan Zhan!”
Saying those words seems to break Wei Wuxian again, and a moment passes before he mutters, “Oh… I want to marry Lan Zhan…”
“Well, why don’t you go tell him that this evening, and then let me know when I should start talking to someone about picking an auspicious date, hm?”
Wei Wuxian leaves in such a daze that Lan Qiren isn’t even sure he was heard.
He was, indeed, heard.
Lan Qiren knows he was heard because two days later (after Wangji was suspiciously absent from his chief cultivator duties citing urgent personal matters), Wangji and Wei Wuxian come to the Haobaishi, where the both of them politely ask Lan Qiren to speak to a fortune teller about choosing an auspicious date for their wedding.
Of course, part of Lan Qiren wants to say no, but he knows if he does, Wangji will simply ignore him, and both Wangji and Wei Wuxian will leave Cloud Recesses. He would rather Wangji settle down with some nice young woman— a good cultivator who could raise healthy, strong children— but that isn’t what Wangji wants. That isn’t what makes him happy.
Unfortunately, it’s Wei Wuxian who makes him happy.
“Of course. I’ll make an appointment to speak with her tomorrow. I will let you both know as soon as a date is chosen.”
It’s worth it if only to see the blissfully happy smile on Wangji’s face. (And if it makes him a little happy to see the bright grin on Wei Wuxian’s face, too, well… that’s no one else’s business, is it?)
He sees the fortune teller within the week, and while there is some mild confusion on whose birthdate to use for Wei Wuxian— his original birthdate or Mo Xuanyu’s— they decide to Wei Wuxian’s original birthdate, and a date is chosen in the middle of spring. Cloud Recesses will be beautiful at that time of year, and secretly, Lan Qiren is excited to finally be planning the wedding of one of his nephews.
Someone just has to tell Xichen now.
Xichen, after entering his seclusion last year, Xichen hasn’t left his Hanshi, only occasionally letting Lan Qiren or Wangji visit, sometimes Sizhui.
“Will you tell him, shufu?” Wangji asks one day in midwinter, pouring tea for the two of them.
“It is your wedding,” Lan Qiren tells him, “Why should I tell him?”
The tips of Wangji’s ears begin to turn pink, a sure sign of his embarrassment.
“I… I don’t think he will want to hear it from me. He often changes the subject when I bring up Wei Ying. I believe he is upset. Not with me, exactly, but at the fact that Wei Ying came back to me.”
And that Jin Guangyao won’t come back to him. It remains unsaid, but it’s clear to both of them. Lan Qiren, of course, has heard as much from Xichen’s own mouth. He sighs, knowing Wangji won’t like what he’s about to say, knowing he has to say it anyway.
“Wangji, I think it should come from you. Xichen will never heal from what happened if we continue to coddle him, and I think this will be a good step. Don’t take Wei Wuxian with you, but tell him you want to speak about it and that you want him at the wedding ceremony. That’s what you want, isn’t it? For your xiongzhang to be at your wedding?”
The color of his ears darkens. Then I’m right. Lan Qiren bites back his sigh, tells Wangji, “I can go with you if you’d like, but I think it would be best for just the two of you to talk about it. If for some reason he’s particularly upset over it, I’ll go talk to him, but I think it’s best for him to hear everything from you.”
Lan Qiren has quite enough to be planning and dealing with already— a guest list, a seating chart, obtaining wedding robes for Wangji, making sure the menu will be perfect. He’s even considering allowing wine at the wedding.
Later in winter, a few weeks after speaking with Wangji, Jiang Wanyin descends on Cloud Recesses. He spends nearly half a shichen bellowing at Wei Wuxian, and then he comes to Lan Qiren, shouting, “Was no one going to tell me that Wei Wuxian was getting married?”
Whereupon he launches into another tirade about how of course he never actually kicked Wei Wuxian out of the Jiang clan and Wei Wuxian was still his shixiong and they had gotten over their differences during the year when Wei Wuxian was traveling. Lan Qiren just lets him go. It’s easier than trying to get him to stop, and he seems to want to get it all out.
Another quarter of a shichen goes by before Jiang Wanyin seems to wear himself out, and only then does Lan Qiren speak up: “Is the date agreeable to you then, Jiang-zongzhu?”
Jiang Wanyin definitely doesn’t pout, gives a haughty sniff, says, “Yes, the date is agreeable to Yunmeng Jiang.”
A few more details are hashed out after that, such as what Yunmeng Jiang will provide for the wedding, if Wei Wuxian will be dressed more as a bride since he’s the one marrying into the Gusu Lan clan, how the wedding should proceed. Jiang Wanyin says he wants Wei Wuxian in on any further conversation, which Lan Qiren agrees with. It wouldn’t do to dress the man as a bride if that isn’t what he wants.
Sizhui and Jingyi are excited to help with planning, as well, both of them assisting Lan Qiren with whatever he needs: running errands to Caiyi Town, sending messages, anything. It’s endearing to watch the boys get so excited about the wedding. It’s just a lot of stress and planning for Lan Qiren.
All that stress and planning went to good use though, as the wedding itself goes off without a hitch. No one important has been left off the guest list. All the food is well made. There is enough wine to make everyone happy without getting them all drunk.
Wangji looks radiantly happy in red, a stark change to the white he has worn for most of his life, and Wei Wuxian looks equally delighted. Neither of them decided to wear a veil, opting instead for some nice hairpieces. Wei Wuxian’s hand keeps fiddling with a ring at his little finger, one which had been Jiang Yanli’s and was kept by Jiang Wanyin at Lotus Pier.
(When Jiang Wanyin brings Wei Wuxian to the ceremony, both their eyes are suspiciously red and puffy and wet, and Lan Qiren is willing to bet they both had a good cry over their late sister, wishing she could be there to see “her XianXian” get married.)
Everything goes well through the whole ceremony. Xichen even comes.
He still looks wan and worn from grieving through his seclusion, but the sight of his younger brother getting married and looking joyful seems to cheer him some. Lan Qiren had thought maybe it would only make him more upset, but he wears a smile that actually looks happy instead of sad. The sight of his smile honestly makes Lan Qiren happier than Wangji getting married— well, just as happy.
With Wei Wuxian now being an official member of the Lan clan, Lan Qiren gives him more teaching responsibilities, still mostly talisman work, but with him working on his golden core, he can teach some swordsmanship basics, as well. He and Wangji take the disciples on night hunts, and Wei Wuxian is able to call up some prey for them: a variety of ghosts and demons reacting to his dizi. The disciples get good practice that way.
Most importantly…
Most importantly, a few months after the wedding, deep in summer, Xichen leaves his seclusion.
Lan Qiren nearly cries with relief when Xichen steps into the Haobaishi. He still looks too thin, too wan, but he carries Shuoyue with him, the first time Lan Qiren has seen him so much as touch the sword since whatever happened at the Guanyin Temple.
“Shufu,” he says quietly, then goes to his knees in a low bow, forehead touching the floor, “please forgive your unworthy nephew. I have been unfilial and made you worry and put work onto your shoulders.”
“Are you well, Xichen?”
It’s an honest question, one he truly wants to know the answer to. It makes Xichen pick his head up, his back straightening, and he says, “I think I am, shufu… I think I am.”
They have a long conversation in the Haobaishi, mostly Lan Qiren catching up his nephew on sect business he may have missed while in seclusion, but then it moves onto how he feels.
“I do feel better, shufu. I… I came to realize that I was not at fault for believing the lies A-Yao— the lies Jin Guangyao fed me. He had never given me reason not to trust him, and so why would I ever think he was lying to me?”
“He lied to everyone, and everyone believed his lies, not just you. It’s all in the past now, though,” Lan Qiren tells him, “You must continue on and not let this cloud your life or your judgment of others. You… You are a good sect leader, Xichen. Everyone in the clan looks up to you. Remember that.”
“Then I must be someone for them to look up to.”
Within a month, Lan Xichen is back in his rightful position as Lan-zongzhu. It isn’t long after that that Wangji gives up his duties as chief cultivator, the position taken up by Nie Huaisang, who is apparently a much more competent sect leader than he ever let on. Wangji then settles into teaching alongside his husband, and Wei Wuxian fits into Cloud Recesses better than ever.
Wangji and Wei Wuxian also acquire a new family member, a baby girl orphaned when a ghost killed her parents before they were able to dissipate the resentful spirit. They name her Lan Lin, and it’s then that Lan Qiren gets to take on his favorite duty once again: being a granduncle.
It seems like so long ago that he was taking care of Sizhui when the boy was small, so long ago that the young man was a little child. Lan Lin is like a breath of fresh air. Lan Qiren never wants to be away from her, whether for teaching lessons or taking trips, and even Wei Wuxian’s smug looks aren’t enough to stop him. (Wei Wuxian seemed to know that Lan Qiren was fond of small children, and the sight of him being soft with his grandniece clearly delights him to no end.)
A-Lin delights Lan Qiren to no end. She’s bright and bubbly, a cheerful baby despite her rough start, and Lan Qiren can’t wait to watch her grow into a fine cultivator befitting her place in the Lan clan.
“Shugong?”
She blinks up at him with wide eyes as he sits at his qin, idly plucking out a tune. She’s three now, and more curious than ever. He smiles at her, says, “Shugong is playing the qin. Would you like to watch?”
“Yeah! A-Lin wants to watch!” she chirps.
And then she’s ambling over and climbing into his lap. He gets her properly positioned and tells her, “Watch where my fingers go on the strings,” and starts playing again, a rudimentary song, one of the first he had learned when he had taken up the qin what feels like ages ago. A-Lin settles in against his chest, but he can see she’s awake, her eyes watching his fingers as he plays, her thumb in her mouth.
For the first time in a long time, Lan Qiren feels at peace.