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Wen Qing and Wen Ning came into Cloud Recesses to a joyful reception from Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, and Sizhui. They had a meal together and then Wei Wuxian sent Wen Ning and Sizhui away.
“Okay, let’s get started. Sit over there.”
Wei Wuxian took Lan Wangji’s hand to bring him along.
She repeated the procedure from before and nodded to herself with a smile.
“Tell me, tell me,” Wei Wuxian chanted.
“I don’t have all the information I need yet,” she scolded “But Lil’ Sparky is definitely there.”
She pulled out some medical tools and kept a running stream of explanation for them while she worked.
“Everything looks fine. It should be stable now,” she said. “Congratulations.”
Wei Wuxian exhaled tremendously and then allowed Lan Wangji to pull him into a tight hug. He was able to hear Lan Wangji’s heart quick heartbeat there.
“Thank you,” Lan Wangji said quietly.
“The work’s just getting started, Hanguang-Jun. I assume you have some questions?”
“Yes,” Lan Wangji said.
There was a beat of silence as, Wei Wuxian assumed, they both looked at the back of his head.
“Should we wait for Wei Wuxian to pull himself together?”
“I’m pregnant!” he yelled into Lan Wangji’s robes.
Lan Wangji kissed his hair.
“Yes, I know,” Wen Qing said pointedly.
He then pulled himself out of the circle of Lan Wangji’s arms enough to pout at her.
“I meant, give us a second, will you? Why are you so mean?”
“I am a busy woman, Wei Wuxian. Did I make you cry again?”
She was smiling sweetly despite her brusque words. Wei Wuxian thought with a pang of Jiang Yanli.
“Always,” he said, reaching up to wipe his face with his sleeve. Lan Wangji gently pushed his hand aside so he could take over that task with a soft handkerchief. “Your words are sharper than your needles.”
.*.*.*.*.*.
Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian discussed that night how they were going to tell Lan Sizhui.
“The sooner, the better,” Wei Wuxian said. “I asked him to dinner tomorrow night. We should tell him then. And then we can tell your brother. And your uncle- can I be there when you tell him? And then we can tell Jin Ling.”
“There is a decision we need to make before we speak to my uncle,” Lan Wangji said.
“Hm?”
“What will the baby’s family name be?”
“Oh! Lan, of course.”
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji began, seeming concerned.
Wei Wuxian reached up to cup his face in between his hands and kiss him warmly.
“I promise I’ve thought about this. This kid will have a xiongzhang. I want them to share a name just like the Twin Jades of Lan share a name.”
He left unspoken the painful alternative. It was unnecessary to speak of sad things that need not come to pass. Lan Wangji’s eyes lit up with realization anyway, so Wei Wuxian smiled at him and dropped another quick kiss on his lips.
“There are all the practical reasons. People would want to know why Hanguang-Jun’s child is not named after him. Even if I cared, I would never want to put a child through that. I want them to grow up in Cloud Recesses knowing they belong here. But, honestly, the most important reason is that I want our children to share a name.”
Lan Wangji kissed him then.
“I’ll fine some other way to annoy Grandmaster Lan. Maybe the kid will take after me, and save me all the work!”
Lan Wangji smiled that heart-stopping smile that always rendered Wei Wuxian helplessly silly and besotted.
“Mn. Good.”
.*.*.*.*.*.
Lan Wangji let Wei Wuxian take the lead on making the announcement to Sizhui because he was probably still blinded by the fresh wave of love. Wei Wuxian, heart full of affection, took full advantage of this opportunity for mischief.
“Sizhui, remember that story Wen Ning told you, about me burying you like a radish?”
“Yes, Senior Wei.”
“Did he tell you why I buried you?”
“I did not think you required a reason, Senior Wei,” Lan Sizhui replied cheekily.
Wei Wuxian resisted the urge to laugh at this, nodding to conceal his efforts.
“Very astute, young disciple. I want you to remember that next time I ask you to do a handstand.”
Lan Sizhui lowered his head to try to hide his own smile. He pretended it was a respectful gesture.
“Yes, Senior Wei.”
“But that time, I had a reason for burying you!”
“What was it?”
“Little A-Yuan asked for siblings,” Wei Wuxian said.
Lan Sizhui blushed just as any innocent young Lan disciple should. Wei Wuxian laughed at him.
“Well, A-Yuan, I am finally fulfilling that promise. You are going to have a didi or meimei.”
“What? When?” Lan Sizhui smiled widely. “That’s wonderful.”
“In about six months or so,” Wei Wuxian said.
“When can I meet them?”
Wei Wuxian turned to Lan Wangji then.
“Shizhui, this won’t be an adoption,” Lan Wangji began.
“I’m pregnant!” Wei Wuxian broke in out of excitement.
Sizhui turned his wide-eyed attention to Wei Wuxian, and then back to Lan Wangji.
“This is a feat some can accomplish at high levels of cultivation,” Lan Wangji explained. “Even if the person’s body is not normally able to accommodate a pregnancy.”
“I did it,” Wei Wuxian said smugly. “Congratulate me.”
Lan Sizhui laughed and obliged with a grin.
“Congratulations, Senior Wei.” Then he blinked. “Am I really going to have meimei or didi?”
“Yes,” Lan Wangji confirmed.
Lan Sizhui laughed again. “That is wonderful news. When can I tell Jingyi and Jin Ling?”
“You’ll have to wait a couple of days,” Wei Wuxian said. “First we need to tell Grandmaster Lan and Sect Leader Lan.”
.*.*.*.*.*.
A few weeks later, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian were sitting on the Jingshi porch after a day of exams for their students. Lan Wangji pushed a cup toward him.
“Try this,” he prompted.
Wei Wuxian lifted it to his lips and gave it a curious sniff before drinking. It looked and smelled like tea, but it was cold. Then he blinked as the flavor rolled over his tongue. The taste was both familiar and strange. He had never had tea like this before. He took another drink and smiled at Lan Wangji.
“This is good. What is it?”
“It is a custom blend. What does it taste like?”
“Mn. Smooth. A little floral, with some burn from the spice. It reminds me of…” he smiled again. “Emperor’s Smile.”
Lan Wangji gave a tiny nod of satisfaction.
“Lan Zhan. Did you ask a tea vendor to make this for me?”
“Mn.”
Wei Wuxian leaned toward him to kiss him and then stopped a few inches away.
“Ah. Sorry, I didn’t think about the spice,” he said.
Lan Wangji brought their lips together.
.*.*.*.*.*.
Late during the month in which Lan Yu was expected to be born, Lan Wangji walked into his and Wei Wuxian’s appointment with the healers to find Wei Wuxian wearing a strange sack full of potatoes slung across his body.
Wei Wuxian was very pleased with himself. “See, it’s stable!”
“I am not sure that this is a good idea,” Yue Yeqiao said.
“It looks fine to me,” Shan Xin said. “Just unorthodox.”
“Lan Zhan! Look at this baby-carrier I bought. Don’t worry, I bought you a white one.”
“Mn.”
Lan Wangji looked at the healers. Yue Yeqiao looked doubtful, but Shan Xin was smiling as she poked and prodded at the contraption.
“Hanguang-Jun,” the women chorused in greeting, and then went right back to discussing amongst themselves.
“I just worry about the fabric’s integrity over time. The baby will only get heavier and heavier as the material gets weaker and weaker,” Yue Yeqiao said.
“Protective talismans,” Lan Wangji suggested.
“Like the kind woven into your uniforms,” Wei Wuxian agreed with widened eyes.
Yue Yeqiao tilted her head to the side, considering. “That could work.”
“Can you just see their little face peeking out of the baby carrier?” Wei Wuxian cooed.
Lan Wangji looked fondly at the potato sack.
.*.*.*.*.*.
The first few weeks with Lan Yu were exhausting. Happy, but exhausting. Wen Qing was tyrannical about making sure Wei Wuxian adhered to his bedrest. Wei Wuxian couldn’t even attempt a wily escape because Lan Yu was restricted to their room too and Wei Wuxian couldn’t persuade him to disobey Wen Qing.
“She’s not really the boss of you,” Wei Wuxian whispered at Lan Yu before he was taken away to be weighed. “You’re at peak cuteness right now. Use it.”
“That’s not true,” Wen Qing said in her clinical tone. “They get cuter a little later, once they’re less pruny.”
Lan Wangji’s gaze grew coldly indignant at hearing his child described so.
“Ah, so your powers will only grow,” Wei Wuxian said to Lan Yu. “It’s still important to practice.”
Wei Wuxian’s persuasion failed. Lan Yu decided to take after his diedie and show Wen Qing a deep and proper respect until the day she left.
The good thing was that their difference in sleeping habits was helpful, for once. Lan Yu needed care throughout the night and day in the early weeks. So Wei Wuxian stayed up later than usual, while Lan Wangji woke up earlier than usual, and they shared the night care responsibilities without too much sleep deprivation.
“See, Lan Zhan? Aren’t you glad you never succeeded in getting me to wake up with the sun?”
Lan Wangji made strategic use of his petty streak and refused to answer.
Their other responsibilities centered around Lan Yu were not as easy to divide. Lan Wangji had tried. Like a good Lan Sect disciple, he had planned everything in advanced. Wei Wuxian had humored him occasionally but he suspected, based on the advice he consistently got from the parents in town and one gleeful Jiang Wanyin, that planning too much was futile anyway. Lan Qiren had dealt with his own anxiety by offering a small army of servants to help them. Lan Wangji had refused on the grounds that he did not want to give up any time with his child, and Wei Wuxian had happily agreed (though they did delegate tasks that did not involve time with Lan Yu).
Lan Wangji was delightful as his partner in raising a child. He was as attentive and doting as he had ever been with Wei Wuxian, and Wei Wuxian could watch without the embarrassment making him want to squirm. He teased Lan Yu about being spoiled just to watch Lan Wangji reach for Lan Yu to silently express his disagreement with that idea. They were adorable together. Wei Wuxian spent a lot of time drawing to try to maintain a record of this time in their lives.
“Tell me about Lan Zhan as a baby,” he begged Lan Xichen over tea one day. Lan Xichen’s eyes were very warm and amused, so he amended his statement with, “I want to know every embarrassing thing he did.”
“Xiongzhang.”
“You should listen too,” Wei Wuxian teased. “We need to know what to watch out for, once A-Bao is big enough to get into trouble.”
“We will watch him carefully,” Lan Wangji said, drawing the sleeping Lan Yu closer.
“I think Master Wei makes some excellent points, Wangji,” Lan Xichen said, eyes sparkling with mirth. “You must be prepared for a child as energetic and creative as the two of you.”
Lan Wangji glanced at Wei Wuxian, down at Lan Yu’s innocent face, and then at his brother to nod his reluctant permission. Wei Wuxian laughed.
.*.*.*.*.*.
Lan Wangji came home to find Wei Wuxian standing on the other side of the door holding their child out to him. He paused.
Wei Wuxian’s face was behind Lan Yu, but Lan Wangji could hear the grin in his voice as he prompted, “Say hi to diedie.”
“Hi diedie!”
“Hello,” Lan Wangji replied. He patted the side of his son’s head.
“A-Yu is a Lan bunny!”
He was indeed a Lan bunny. Wei Wuxian had made him a paper forehead ribbon with bunny ears coming out of the side.
“A-Yu wanted a forehead ribbon,” Wei Wuxian explained.
“I see,” Lan Wangji said.
Lan Yu searched his face for his opinion, so Lan Wangji let him see a tiny smile. In response, Lan Yu’s face broke into a smile as wide and bright as Wei Wuxian’s had ever been. Lan Wangji’s heart thudded with adoration for his family, and in particular for this small child beaming at him. He reached out to take Lan Yu, and Wei Wuxian placed him in his arms before closing the door behind them.
“Did your baba explain what the forehead ribbon of the Lan Sect means?”
“Baba said it was like a promise to follow the rules.”
“I told him, Lan Yu, you can’t wear a forehead ribbon until you’re this big,” Wei Wuxian said, holding his hand up to child-height. “Unless you’re a bunny.”
Lan Wangji nodded. The logic was sound.
“It is true,” he confirmed for Lan Yu’s benefit.
Lan Yu heard this confirmation solemnly and then knocked his headband askew in an apparent attempt to straighten it. Wei Wuxian rushed up to them and fixed it.
.*.*.*.*.*.
Lan Yu peered with interest into the bunny nesting box.
“This is where the bunnies come from?”
“Yes,” Lan Sizhui confirmed.
“But it’s a very small box.”
“Bunnies start out very small. Like A-Yu,” Lan Sizhui said, patting Lan Yu’s head.
“A-Yu is not small! Can we see the baby bunnies?"
“Not right now. They’re not ready to play with you yet.”
“Oh. What are they doing?”
“They are sleeping and growing. It takes a lot of energy to grow.”
Lan Yu nodded. “Diedie says that is why I have to eat dinner.”
Sizhui smiled. “It’s good that you listen to diedie.” He couldn’t resist asking “What does baba say?”
Lan Yu sighed in a very put-upon manner. “He says he likes how small I am. Sometimes he tries to take my dinner.”
Lan Sizhui smothered a laugh. “Good thing diedie is there to save you.”
“Mn,” Lan Yu agreed, and then looked down at a bunny that had started climbing up his boot. “Xiongzhang. The bunnies look hungry!”
The bunnies were in fact clustering around them with twitching noses.
“Let’s feed them,” Lan Sizhui said. “Remember what baba said about keeping your fingers safe from bunny teeth.”
Lan Yu’s eyes widened. “Mn,” he said seriously.
Lan Wangji would probably not approve of that reminder, but it was too funny watching Lan Yu feed the bunnies with careful movements, occasionally yelping and then giggling if a bunny tore a strip of radish out of his hands too quickly. The bunny-feeding task took much longer than usual and was also much more adorable with Lan Yu helping.
“Ready to go?” Lan Sizhui asked his little brother.
Lan Yu was sitting with a bunny in his lap, and he stretched his hand over the bunny when Lan Sizhui asked.
“Can we take this one with us, Xionzhang? Please?”
“Hmmm. What do baba and diedie say?”
Lan Yu widened his eyes and pouted just a little bit. He had learned this from Wei Wuxian and he had perfected it: Lan Yu was much better at looking innocent.
“They said Xiongzhang would be in charge today.”
Lan Sizhui had to press his lips together against a laugh.
“Then what are the rabbit meadow rules?”
Lan Yu sighed. “We only take them home if we’re going to cook them.”
Lan Sizhui was surprised into laughing. He did not have to ask who had told Lan Yu that rule.
“I promise I won’t cook them,” Lan Yu said, picking the bunny up carefully.
“We still have to obey the rabbit meadow rules,” Lan Sizhui said. “We can’t take bunnies from the rabbit meadow. But we can stay a little longer and play with them it you want.”
Lan Yu pouted, but he also nodded and said, “Mn.”
Lan Yu pulled another bunny close and staged a short play about two cultivators defeating a grass-demon. Lan Sizhui sat by and watched with his own bunch of rabbits. He couldn’t help but think of his own childhood among the rabbits, when he too had begged to take some rabbits home. Lan Wangji had taken his hand and explained gently that they could not, because in doing so they would risk doing harm to the rabbits. He thought Lan Yu had gotten this explanation too, or he would not have given up so easily.
They stayed until Lan Yu awarded a small slice of carrot to each of the victors, and then Lan Sizhui took his brother to his lessons.
.*.*.*.*.*.