Work Text:
Sure, Jiang Cheng may have had to go through Nie Mingjue to have Nie Huaisang’s hand in marriage, but Huaisang had to go through Jiang Yanli first. Even the great ChiFeng-Zun would be afraid of Jiang Yanli when she’s in mama bear mode.
The marriage negotiations were quite a spectacle to behold. And everyone walked out of there with reaffirmed respect to Sect Leader Nie and a budding esteem for Young Madam Jin. (Who, by the way, haggled like a champ at the negotiations all while holding a sleeping, six-month-old Jin Ling in her arms. Her voice was a soft as silk and her resolve as hard as steel, and Nie Mingjue didn’t dare raise his own voice any higher than a murmur, for fear of waking the famously temperamental baby and inciting Yanli’s sharp tongue.)
And after the whole wedding fiasco was over, her and Mingjue became fast friends, often taking time during official visits to have some calming tea and share some gossip.
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This incident became so famous that when Lan Wangji became engaged to Wei Wuxian half a year later, Lan Xichen actually felt fear before going into the negotiations. He hasn’t felt fear since he charged Wen Ruohan himself, and he had his two sworn brothers by his side then. He walks into this room by himself and he feels like he’s going to his doom.
And Jiang Yanli does not disappoint. She accepted nothing less than the best for her A-Cheng and debates just as fiercely for her A-Xian. (Little Jin Ling is there once again, a year old and still just as temperamental. He pulls himself up with the edge of the table and just stares at Lan Xichen, his chubby face scrunched up in what can only be described as a scowl, the Jin vermilion dot making him look like a baby-faced carbon copy of his father. Lan Xichen never thought he’s be intimidated by a toddler, but there’s a first time for everything.)
Everything mellows out after the wedding when Jiang Yanli approaches him with tears of joy in her eyes and calls him little brother (and he’s surprised when he realizes that he’s actually a few weeks younger than Yanli), and it feels good to realize that his family has once again expanded and he’s gained another older siblings to rely on.
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When Jin Guangyao got engaged to Qin Su (this is a happy au, so that means that Qin Su and Jin Guangyao are NOT siblings) he didn’t expect much. He may have been acknowledged by his father and become a war hero, but there’s still a separation between him and his ‘family’. He’s just a bastard, after all.
He is not expecting to see his gentle sister-in-law standing outside the negotiation room, chatting amiably with his betrothed. He is even more surprised to find out that she will be representing the Jin clan in his brother’s place, citing the fact that she was way better (and more experienced) at haggling than her husband. She delicately giggles at his bewildered expression and adjusts his collar with all the love and care of an older sister.
She makes as impressive a standing as she had when she represented both Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, her standards no less for her brother-in-law than her blood brothers. (And just as before, Jin Ling is present, his tiny two year old nose turned up in arrogance, a look befitting the heir to the Jin clan. His chubby fingers are resting possessively on his mother’s slightly swollen stomach, protecting both Jiang Yanli and his unborn little sister. Qin Su’s father is clearly intimidated by all three of them.)
After the meeting is over and he has escorted Qin Su and her family to the gates, he returns to the tower only to find afternoon tea already underway. The extravagant family tea table is nearly filled to capacity, with both food and people.
Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen are engaged in quiet discussion, their hands not-so-discreetly clasped together under the table. Nie Huaisang is hiding his satisfied smirk behind a fan, finding great amusement in watching his husband, Jiang Cheng, futely try to feed their newborn son the bottled milk he clearly despises, little face scrunched up in distaste. Wei Wuxian is outwardly laughing at the sight, teasing his little brother from the safety of Lan Wangji’s arms, the stoic second jade shamelessly keeping his husband close to his chest. His little brother, Mo Xuanyu has been delegated to the role of babysitter, desperately trying to keep the faces of both Jin Ling and Lan Yuan from becoming too messy with rice, the two toddlers devouring their meal like starving puppies, spoons abandoned in favor of fists. Jin Zixuan is fussing over his pregnant wife, filling her plate with only the best morsels of salmon and steamed vegetables, not noticing that his wife is too busy peeling lotus seeds for the children to pay any attention to eating.
Jiang Yanli notices him first, pausing in her seed peeling to beckon him over, her eyes sparkling with happiness and love as she calls out A-Yao. And as Jin Guangyao joins his family for a meal he realizes that this is the happiest he’s ever been. And I’ll never let anyone spoil it, he vows.