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Chapter Text

Jin Chan has never liked Jin Rulan. His friends say Jin Rulan is too proud, too ostentatious about his skills, his cultivation, too favoured by the sect leader and his wife - so what if they're his parents? It's still wrong.

There's bad blood between their families, anyway. His mother has told him how Jin Ling's uncles conspired to get her brother thrown out of the sect and then murdered him. How Jin Chan doesn't even remember meeting his Uncle Zixun because of Jin Rulan's uncles.

So when he and his friends find Jin Ling in one of the gardens of Jinlintai petting Jin Xuanyu's stupid old cat, he's annoyed. He just wanted a quiet day, and Jin Peng won't ever let it go once they encounter Jin Rulan. And Jin Xuanyu's cat is terrible - old and spoiled and useless. She doesn't hunt or do anything but lie around in the sun and she hates Jin Chan. (Technically, she hates everyone except for Jin Xuanyu, Jin Rulan, and exactly one of Jin Rulan's sisters.)

"Ugh," Jin Chan says. "Shouldn't the sect leader's heir have better things to do than mess around with a stupid cat?" If it's a good day, Jin Rulan will leave in a huff. If it's a bad day, they'll fight, and Jin Chan's mother will yell at him later.

But Jin Rulan just rolls his eyes.

"Not today," is all he says. "I'm waiting."

"For what?" Jin Chan sneers.

"Is that really any of your business?" says a new voice, and ugh, that's Jin Rulan's cousin. Jin Xuanyu comes into the garden not even carrying a sword, like usual. He always carries a fan, instead - he has a stupid number of ridiculous fans, and Jin Chan's friends absolutely hate him.

His mother always says, "Well. When you consider his lineage..." and Jin Chan doesn't know what that means because she always refuses to tell him, but apparently it's bad.

Jin Xuanyu is older than all of them and quite tall and willowy and far too pretty for a boy. He wears makeup. Xuanyu is the worst.

So Jin Chan says, "Who asked you, you damn cutsleeve?"

And that's when everything goes wrong.

Because there's another new voice, but it's not one Jin Chan recognises. He hears a very smooth, refined voice with an accent he can't place say, "Young master, I do hope that you are not suggesting that you think it is something shameful to be a cutsleeve," and then the unfamiliar person comes into the garden, and -

He's never met the young man before, but he still knows exactly who he is, because he is famous. The pristine robes in white and ice blue, the ribbon - those are Lan, but most Lan carry swords that are as pale as their robes. This Lan's sword is a deep, vibrant purple, embossed with silver and studded with amethyst, and its owner is the first-ranked young master of their generation.

This is Lan Sizhui.

And even though he was the heir to the Lan Sect until Lan Junjie was born, Lan Sizhui carries a sword that radiates Jiang, as if to remind everyone that this is the eldest grandson of the Chief Cultivator, Jiang Fengmian.

He's Jin Rulan's cousin, and his fathers are Hanguang-Jun and the Yiling Patriarch. His fathers are legends. They killed the Xuanwu of Slaughter with Jin Rulan's father and Sandu Shengshou. They were heroes of the Sunshot Campaign.

And also, cutsleeves. No-one in the cultivation world dares to say anything bad about cutsleeves in public, because Hanguang-Jun might find out.

"I." Jin Chan says. "Um."

Jin Rulan is smirking, and Jin Chan finds refuge in anger. "What are you smiling about? You're still a useless, worthless -"

"The fuck did you just say to my cousin?"

How many of them are there?

More people are coming into the garden. The one who spoke this time wears Jiang purple and is glaring furiously; there's another one behind him who looks just like him, and these can only be Jin Rulan's Jiang cousins. They're younger than Jin Rulan but you'd never know it the way that one is clenching his fist around his sword like he's thinking of attacking Jin Chan with it. Only his twin brother's hand on his shoulder seems to be holding him back.

There are children he doesn't know behind them, but Jin Chan keeps his eyes on the older ones in front. Lan Sizhui is smiling pleasantly. The Jiang in front looks murderous. He's not sure which is worse. (The other Jiang is smiling blandly, and Jin Chan dismisses him as less of a threat.)

"A-Kuo," says an adult voice, "no murdering your cousin's relatives."

Oh.

This is worse.

The Yiling Patriarch strolling in is definitely worse. He pats the boy who must be Jiang Xiaodan (whose given name is Kuo) on the shoulder as he passes him.

"Jin Chan," the man says, and how does Wei Wuxian know his name? "I see you're still quite terrible." He smiles, and the smile is not friendly. "I take it you've been bullying my poor nephew?"

"No," says Jin Rulan, who has his pride.

"Yes," says Jin Xuanyu, who does not give a shit if people think he's soft or weak. He encourages it, even though Jin Chan has seen him kick serious ass at training. "As often as he can, Grandfather."

Why the fuck does Jin Xuanyu call the Yiling Patriarch his grandfather? Wei Wuxian isn't old enough to be Mo Fan's father.

"I don't doubt it." Wei Wuxian hasn't looked away from Jin Chan, who is starting to sweat. He can sense his friends backing away. "You know, if we were in the Cloud Recesses, I'd know what your punishment should be, they've got pretty clear guidelines over there. And if we were in Lotus Pier, I'd know who to turn you over to, as well. But this is Lanling, and I'm just a guest, here."

The Yiling Patriarch's smile widens, and Jin Chan tries not to sob. He's never been this afraid in his life.

"Perhaps," the Yiling Patriarch goes on, "I should talk to my shijie, Madam Jin. She always gives me good advice. Or I suppose I could talk to A-Ling's father, or A-Yu's. Or both."

Sect Leader Jin would be bad. Jin Guangyao would be worse. Madam Jin would probably be catastrophic.

"Please don't, Uncle," Jin Rulan says. "I don't - I don't want my parents to know."

The Yiling Patriarch still doesn't look away, but he nods. "That's fair, A-Ling. Very fair. Shijie would worry, we don't want that. Still, this is difficult. Perhaps, since it's an inter-sect matter, I should just ask His Excellency what he thinks about such mistreatment of his grandson."

Jin Chan can't stop the whimper, then. Jin Rulan's grandfather being the Chief Cultivator always seemed so... abstract.

"Oh!" the Yiling Patriarch says. "I could also ask Madam Lan. You know... Sect Leader Jin's mother. A-Ling's grandmother." His smile seems to have far too many teeth in it. "She gives good advice, and she's so respected here."

Madam Lan visits regularly. The only women in Jinlintai who would dare to disobey her slightest whim are Madam Meng, Madam Sisi, and Madam Jin. Jin Chan is dead.

"It's such a difficult decision," the Yiling Patriarch says airily, "I suppose I might just not bother. Of course, if I should ever hear the slightest suggestion that such a situation has occurred again, I might just tell all of them. You know. I do hate to make decisions, after all."

Jin Chan has to try twice to answer. His throat is so dry. "It - the occasion will not arise, Yiling Patriarch," he says hoarsely.

"Good," the Yiling Patriarch says.

"Why are you always so soft on these brats?" says yet another new person, and Jin Chan feels faint, because he definitely recognises Sandu Shengshou when Sandu Shengshou is glaring at him.

"Ah, Jiang Cheng," the Yiling Patriarch says. "Fear does more than pain, you know. Jin Chan won't be naughty again, will you Jin Chan?"

"No, Yiling Patriarch," Jin Chan whispers. He thinks Sandu Shengshou's glare might leave an actual burn mark somewhere.

---

He is very careful to keep an extremely polite distance from Jin Rulan and Jin XuanYu, after that, and he hopes that will be the end of it. He no longer has to be concerned with what Jin Peng thinks, because Jin Peng is avoiding him.

And then his mother receives a letter.

"A-Chan!" She calls him over excitedly. "You have been invited to the guest lectures at the Cloud Recesses!"

Oh, no.

And then she gasps as she reads on. "And to the guest lectures at Lotus Pier!" she exclaims. "A-Chan, what an honour!"

"Those are run by Wei Wuxian and Sandu Shengshou," he says desperately. "I thought you said they murdered Uncle Zixun?"

She hesitates. "You know," she says, "Zixun always had a terrible temper. I'm not sure he didn't start that fight at Phoenix Mountain, and - and the reports after his death were, well. The Yiling Patriarch was very badly injured, I think there might - might have been some misunderstanding."

Jin Chan can't believe this. He's heard that Uncle Zixun dishonoured the sect, and he honestly knows he definitely did, but he has been a loyal son and never admitted that out loud, and now he is being sent to his doom.

"But -" he starts.

"No buts," his mother says, smiling. "This really is an honour, A-Chan. Only the best are invited to both of the guest lectures. You shall have to have new robes..."

Jin Chan is going to die.

---

Jin Xuanyu never went to the guest lectures. Jin Chan never thought that much of it, until now; he learns that Jin Xuanyu and his parents had agreed that he was going to go when his "brothers" did. (Jin Xuanyu only has one brother, Jin Yuanjun, but the two of them and Jin Rulan act like brothers and call each other brothers and have declared their intentions to be sworn brothers all their lives and it's frankly sickening.)

So now Jin Yuanjun is just barely old enough, so all three of them are going.

And so is Jin Chan.

When they gather - they're traveling together, which ends Jin Chan's months-long campaign of staying away from them - Jin Rulan just raises an eyebrow at him and tells him not to embarrass the Jin Sect, but Jin Xuanyu (actually carrying his sword, for once) is absolutely smirking at him, and Jin Yuanjun's smile has knives behind it.

Jin Rulan's parents come to see them off. Jin Chan is standing in front of Sect Leader Jin and his wife. And they talk to him.

"Work hard," Sect Leader Jin says. "I'm sure you will be a credit to our sect."

Madam Jin smiles at Jin Chan. "Remember to write to your mother," she says. "I'm sure she will miss you terribly. No excuses about not having ink or paper - if you need money for any such things, ask A-Ling."

Jin Chan will have to be very careful with his money, because he is not asking Jin Rulan for more, and if he doesn't write to his mother regularly Madam Jin will hear about it.

Madam Jin bows flawlessly and he bows clumsily back and then she moves on to her son and nephews, and Jin Chan can breathe again.

He has new white robes to wear in Gusu, with the Jin crest on the shoulder and a narrow gold belt. It's very practical. They can just leave him in them for his funeral.

---

At the Cloud Recesses, he is witness to a scene he could never have imagined.

Zewu-Jun - who is officially the Lan Sect Leader, but somehow when people talk about the Lan Sect they talk as if Lan Qiren is in charge of it, and Jin Chan has never managed to make sense of that - is there when they arrive. Jin Chan would have understood if he was there to greet the arriving disciples, but he doesn't seem to be doing that at all.

He's just standing there with Sandu Shengshou and Sandu Shengshou's wife. Sandu Shengshou looks grumpy, which is extremely worrying, and Zewu-Jun is talking earnestly to Jiang Xiaodan and Jiang Huizhong. Two other children - a girl in Jiang colours and a Lan boy - are watching. The Lan boy must be Lan Junjie, who is Sandu Shengshou's son but was adopted by Zewu-Jun as his heir, and Jin Chan hates that he knows all this but since every fucking person in Jin Rulan's family is a Sect Leader, apparently, he has to, or he'd embarrass his family. The girl is Jiang... Bao? Bo? Something.

And then Zewu-Jun hugs Jiang Xiaodan and Jiang Huizhong, and so does Madam Wen - that's at least somewhat understandable, she's their mother - and so do the children, and Sandu Shengshou glares at them and says something, and Zewu-Jun smiles gently and nudges Sandu Shengshou and Sandu Shengshou huffs and then he hugs them too, and in theory Jin Chan knows he's their father but he's Sandu Shengshou. Sandu Shengshou hugs? Sandu Shengshou gets nudged by Zewu-Jun?

Sandu Shengshou looks teary-eyed?

The Jin group is getting closer, and Jin Chan can hear their voices.

"We'll be fine," Jiang Huizhong is saying. (Jin Chan is confident it's Jiang Huizhong, because he's smiling.) Jiang Xiaodan is rubbing his face and looks like he's trying to seem like he's bored of all this fuss, but Jin Chan can totally see that he's wiping away tears.

"We could stay," Sandu Shengshou says.

"No!" Jiang Xiaodan says immediately. "Dad, you promised you'd all go back to Lotus Pier. None of the other guest disciples have their whole families here. What will people think?" He turns to Zewu-Jun. "Please, Father, you're the Sect Leader, it'll be weird. You promised."

"We did," says Madam Wen, "and we'll go. Be good. Remember that we love you. Listen to your shufu, and consider the advice of your bobo with appropriate caution."

Jin Chan can't contain himself.

"Why do your cousins call Zewu-Jun Father?" he hisses at Jin Rulan.

Jin Rulan just gives him a scornful look. Jin Xuanyu snaps his fan out - it makes a crisp sound, but not loud, which suggests he's not actually angry at the question, because Jin Xuanyu's fan snaps open at a range of volumes that all seem to match his irritation levels precisely, and Jin Chan has no idea how he does that - and answers from behind it.

"Sandu Shengshou and Zewu-Jun are sworn brothers and very good friends," he says. "They are quite inseparable. So our cousins saw them both a lot growing up. Sizhui was still at Lotus Pier most of the time when they were little. Sizhui has two fathers, so our cousins thought that was normal, and Zewu-Jun must obviously be their second father. It stuck. Which is why Zewu-Jun's younger brother Hanguang-Jun is their shufu, and Sandu Shengshou's older brother, the Yiling Patriarch, is their bobo."

That... kind of makes sense, and is sort of cute, and gives Jin Chan visions of Jin Rulan's terrifyingly renowned extended family that are sort of... sweet? He can imagine tiny twins looking up to their celebrated cousin and his two legendary fathers - somehow he can't imagine Lan Sizhui being a small child, in his vision Lan Sizhui is still at least a teenager and still the perfect, flawless image of a young cultivator boys Jin Chan's age are constantly told they should try to emulate.

He wonders what it's like actually being his cousin. Jin Rulan sees his cousins pretty often, as far as Jin Chan knows, and it must be hard to have to be around the pinnacle of adolescent perfection that is Lan Sizhui. Jin Chan's been hearing do you think Lan Sizhui would do something like that? every time he's in trouble for at least two years.

He's actually feeling bad for Jin Rulan. It's a strange and awkward feeling.

He really wants to know why Jin Xuanyu calls the Yiling Patriarch his grandfather when he is, seriously, the same age as Jin Xuanyu's mother, but he doesn't dare. And anyway, Jiang Xiaodan and Jiang Huizhong are coming over to join them - join Jin Rulan and his cousins, their cousins, that is, but that's near where Jin Chan has to stand.

Sandu Shengshou and Zewu-Jun and Madam Wen and their children are apparently leaving, but they have spotted the Jin group, and come over. Jin Chan tries really, really hard to be invisible as they greet Jin Rulan and Jin Xuanyu and Jin Yuanjun, and fails, because Sandu Shengshou gives him a narrow-eyed glare. Zewu-Jun welcomes him to the Cloud Recesses with a polite smile and says something encouraging about hope you will find the experience educational.

Jin Ling, that asshole, politely introduces Jin Chan to Madam Wen, and Jin Chan scrambles to say something polite because her husband Sandu Shengshou is right there and so is Sect Leader Lan and he's not supposed to embarrass the Jin Sect. Madam Wen gives him a cool, amused sort of look, and moves on.

Sandu Shengshou's daughter has no reason to pass close to him except to step on his toe, which she does, and Lan Junjie, who's eleven or something, nonetheless gives him the absolute bitchiest stare Jin Chan has ever seen from anyone.

And then the Yiling Patriarch comes out, Hanguang-Jun looking cold and austere at his side, and welcomes the guest disciples to the Cloud Recesses. Jin Chan thinks seriously about just falling on his sword, but you probably get in trouble for bleeding on the paths at the Cloud Recesses.

---

The guest disciple dormitories sleep three people in each chamber.

There are four Jin in this year's group. (There are fewer than normal kids in their exact age bracket - not as many children were born during the Sunshot Campaign. The kids born just after will mostly be coming through in a year or two. No-one sends their kids if they're not ready and might embarrass their parents.)

Jin Chan expects to be asking awkwardly around to see who might want to room with him, but it might actually be worse than that; Jin Rulan joins Jiang Xiaodan and Jiang Huizhong in one room, and Jin Chan is made aware he is sharing with Jin Xuanyu and Jin Yuanjun.

He is going to spend a year sharing rooms with the sons of Jin Guangyao, and he's really starting to look forward to his inevitable death.

His new roommates set out their belongings extremely neatly, and Jin Chan is embarrassed by how untidy his part of the room looks the moment he puts his bags down, so he picks them up again and puts them in the closet.

Jin Yuanjun is smiling. That means about as much as Jin Guangyao smiling, which is to say absolutely nothing. Jin Xuanyu's fan clicks as he closes it.

"You didn't unpack your bags at all," he says. "Chanchan, you are a disaster."

And then Jin Xuanyu unpacks his bags for him, setting everything out just as neatly and tucking his empty bags away out of sight, and pats him on the shoulder.

It's... kind.

Jin Xuanyu is his cousin and is older than he is, the senior disciple of his sect, so he tells himself it's technically not disgraceful for him to accept being called Chanchan without protest, and he's so tired of freaking out about everything he thinks he might just take it.

---

Xuanyu received a great deal of advice about the guest lectures.

His grandfather told him: "If you get caught doing anything outrageous, I won't be able to protect you. Lan discipline is really tedious, so just try not to do anything that won't be worth the bother. Ask Nie Huaisang about smuggling things in - he never got caught."

His father told him: "Master Lan Qiren is very strict. Endeavour to conduct yourself flawlessly anywhere he can see you. Be studious and attentive, and he will like you well enough. A-Ling will present the official gift from our sect. Give this to Master Lan Qiren as my personal gift. Tell him that you have heard me speak of him often, and always with great respect and affection."

Uncle Huaisang told him: "The Lan are far too polite to search their guests. Just be calm and brazen about it, and give no sign you have any sort of guilty conscience, and you can carry in anything that fits in your qiankun sleeves."

Hanguang-Jun told him: "Your grandfather is very proud of you. Sizhui is looking forward to seeing you. Many of your younger cousins will be there. They look up to you. It is a worthy goal to set a good example."

His mother told him: "I'm so proud of you, A-Yu. You have wonderful potential. Study hard. I will miss you very much."

His grandmother told him: "Don't flirt with Lan boys unless you're really sure you like them. I hear they take it very seriously."

Hanguang-Jun's advice probably includes making sure that Jin Chan doesn't have a stress-induced breakdown of some kind, since he is, technically, one of his younger cousins and his shidi, so Xuanyu has made a note to keep an eye on the brat.

He hasn't bothered anyone since the Incident In The Garden, and he's probably been lonely - the friends he had then (assholes, to be fair) all abandoned him for fear of drawing attention from authority figures themselves.

Xuanyu feels a little bad about that. A-Ling wouldn't let him tell either of their parents, so Xuanyu had "accidentally" taken their visiting family by way of the garden where Xuanyu had first placed his cat (there was a patch of sunlight for her to sleep in, he was confident she'd stay there and she did), and then asked A-Ling to look for his "lost" cat. Grandfather and Uncle Jiang had absolutely noticed he was planning something when he took them by such an odd route, had let him get away with it, and had responded as terrifyingly as he'd hoped, but he hadn't meant for Jin Chan to end up with no friends at all.

Maybe he could make some new, less shitty friends here - assuming he isn't in too much of a state of ongoing panic to talk to anyone.

Once they're settled in their rooms, A-Kang goes off to join A-Ling and the Jiang twins doing... whatever it is they're planning to do, and Jin Chan appears to be intending to sit quietly staring at his hands looking tragic and anxious.

That won't do.

Setting a good example is so tedious.

"Chanchan," he says, because Jin Chan didn't complain last time and also Xuanyu thinks it's funny. "Come along."

Jin Chan looks up. "What? Where?"

Xuanyu does not roll his eyes, but he does exchange his number two fan for number four (no-one will ever know the hours he spent practicing to be able to do this by sleight of hand without anyone noticing; it looks like his fan simply passes behind his sleeve for a moment, because, as Uncle Huaisang has told him, a proper commitment to social presentation takes work and dedication) and snaps it open with a distinct crack.

"I have to go and see Master Lan Qiren today," he tells his least likeable cousin, "but he will still be working. If you like, I could show you where things are and introduce you to some people, if you promise not to be all..." He gestures languidly towards Jin Chan's everything.

"I'll do my best," Jin Chan says in a small voice.

So Xuanyu shows him where the bathing area is, and the way to the classrooms and training fields, and the library, because he has been to the Cloud Recesses before to visit his grandfather.

He introduces him officially to the Jiang twins (A-Kuo glares; A-Fa smiles, pleasantly polite, and Xuanyu decides, for the moment, that he is not yet going to tell Jin Chan that A-Kuo glares a lot, and you don't need to mind it unless A-Fa stops smiling), and to the Nie delegation (three of Uncle Huaisang's kids, two others) and Ouyang Zizhen, and Ce Tengfei and two others of the Jiang Sect, but not clan. More boys he vaguely knows, and Xuanyu meets a few boys he hasn't actually met before at all, and introduces them both, and then at the end of the dormitory row he finds one more cousin, who is sitting quietly and oiling his bow.

"A-Lei!" Xuanyu says, with real joy. A-Lei is his favourite. A-Lei is everyone's favourite. He hadn't known A-Lei was going to be here. "A-Lei, this is Jin Chan, courtesy name Ruchan, who is our cousin. Chanchan, this is Wen Lei, courtesy name Changming."

Jin Chan bows nervously. He's nervous all the time since they left Jinlintai anyway, but he is undoubtedly aware that this is the son of Sect Leader Wen.

A-Lei beams, sweet and adorable, and bows. "It is a great honour to meet you, young master Jin," he says earnestly. "I hope we will learn well together!"

It is the cutest thing. A-Lei has yet to hit his growth spurt, so he is tiny for his age, which helps, but Xuanyu has met A-Lei's parents, and Wen Qionglin is a full-sized adult sect leader and he's also completely adorable, so Xuanyu expects that A-Lei will still be cute when he gets big.

He remembers the first time he met A-Lei - the kid was maybe five, and Xuanyu was eleven or so and visiting Grandfather at Lotus Pier when the Wen visited, and he'd whispered to Grandfather: "He's so cute. I want to take him home and just..."

Grandfather had patted his head and said, "I understand the impulse, kid, but I'm too young to be a great-grandfather, so maybe wait a bit longer before you start adopting, eh?"

It's been nine years - A-Lei is technically a shade too young for the lectures, but it seems like their collective parents really wanted to group as many cousins together as they could, and it's not like they haven't all stayed with Grandfather and Hanguang-Jun occasionally before - but Xuanyu isn't really over it. Alas, A-Lei already has parents.

He's open to adopting Wen Qionglin too, but Auntie Qin would probably not be okay with that.

"This is Jin Ruchan's first time in the Cloud Recesses," he tells A-Lei, who lights up even brighter, somehow.

"How exciting!" he exclaims. "I have visited here many times in connection with my father's work. If Young Master Jin is willing, I could show him some of the most beautiful places to see here!"

"He really does mean it. Only if you want to," Xuanyu says, because Jin Chan might think he can't refuse without bringing shame on the Jin Sect, and because A-Lei is truly precious and would be utterly distraught if he ever learned he had accidentally pressured someone into going on a walking tour of one of the most beautiful places in the world with him when they didn't actually want to, and then Xuanyu would have to kill Jin Chan for making A-Lei cry, and Xuanyu's cousins would have to help him hide the body... messy. Best avoided.

"That sounds nice?" Jin Chan says, and then clearly realises it sounds more like a question than a statement, and also that it's not really an appropriate response to a kind offer from a sect leader's son. "Uh. I mean, thank you, Young Master Wen, you are most kind to this unworthy disciple."

"Great!" A-Lei sets his bow down immediately.

"Have fun," Xuanyu calls as Jin Chan trails off after A-Lei, who is cheerfully telling him about the streams and the meadows and the pretty trees and the rabbits, which are very cute, young master, but you must be very gentle with them and if you fall asleep in the meadow Senior Wei will bury you in rabbits, and it tickles.

Just in case, Xuanyu flicks a paperman talisman after them, carrying the message: just so you know if you make him cry I will only be the one to kill you if I get there before Wei Wuxian does, and Hanguang-Jun won't even try to stop us.

Chapter Text

At the evening meal, Jin Chan goes to sit alone in a corner, and Xuanyu already feels bad for him even before he sees A-Lei look over at him and frown. It's not like there's even conversation at meals in the Cloud Recesses, so he grabs Jin Chan's sleeve and points him to a seat at their table.

He can sit on the other side of Xuanyu from A-Lei, because A-Lei will smile happily at both of them that way, and Xuanyu can ignore Jin Chan and still look like he's being a very responsible technically-senior disciple of the Jin Sect.

(Technically senior. Xuanyu has no desire for authority.)

After they've been dismissed from the dining hall, Xuanyu visits Master Lan Qiren and presents his father's gift; it's a book of some kind, and Xuanyu has no idea why it's special but Master seems genuinely touched.

"Tell your father -" He stops, and clears his throat. "Please convey my gratitude and respect to your father when the opportunity arises. I hope that he and your mother are well?"

The conversation is brief; one of those ones that sounds like formalities, but Xuanyu thinks that Master is sincere in his enquiries after Xuanyu's father and family. He knows that his father studied here for a while when he was young before returning home to Jinlintai, and he genuinely does speak of Lan Qiren often, and with great respect and fondness.

Afterwards he steps out into the cool spring air and finds two people waiting for him: it's his other favourite cousin (Jin Ling and his sisters don't count; they're siblings) along with one of the only people Xuanyu thinks of as a close friend who isn't his cousin.

He has a lot of cousins.

"Sizhui! Jingyi!" They hug. "I didn't see you in the dining hall. I thought you must be away."

"Only in Caiyi Town. We just returned."

"You should come with us next time," Jingyi says. They walk with Xuanyu as he heads back towards the guest dormitories - he needs to get back in time to check that A-Kang and his cousins are back before curfew when he still has time to go find them if they aren't.

"If the guest disciples are at liberty, I'd love to." Xuanyu doesn't actually know how much free time he's going to have; he's used to coming here as a guest, not a guest disciple.

"Oh, right." Jingyi sounds disappointed, and Sizhui pats his shoulder.

"Jingyi, Xuanyu is sure to have free time. I am certain he will do well enough in his lessons to have liberty days."

They chat lightly all the way back to the guest dormitories, where Xuanyu is thankful for a fan to hide his amusement behind when wide-eyed stares and awed whispers start around them as they get there. You'd have to know Sizhui well to recognise his pained expression; Sizhui is aware of his reputation (Lan Sizhui, First Young Master of his generation), but he is not at all fond of it.

Distinctly less awed is the cry of "You're here!" that precedes A-Kuo running at full speed to crash into Sizhui's side.

In an excellent display of his poise, balance, and superior reflexes, Sizhui barely rocks on his feet at Jiang Kuo's high-impact affection.

"It is good to see you, Sizhui-ge," A-Fa says, rolling his eyes at his brother. "Our family all send their love." He goes back into their room and comes back with a jar, containing a number of lotus seed pods, still on their stems. Xuanyu knows the jar is full of water. "And Dad sent you these, because he said your dad will probably eat all the ones we gave him before you get any."

Sizhui laughs lightly. "Uncle Jiang is very kind," he says.

All of Xuanyu's cousins gather around to greet Sizhui, because he's also everyone's favourite. Jin Chan would probably have preferred not to join the gathering, but A-Lei has pulled him along by his sleeve, and so Jin Chan, red in the face, has to bow and introduce himself awkwardly in the middle of a group of boys who have known each other all their lives.

And Sizhui, who is very much both of his fathers' son, bows in return and says: "Of course I remember you, Jin Ruchan. We met at Jinlintai. Welcome to my home."

Because Wei Wuxian is a little shit (Xuanyu adores his grandfather for many reasons, and that is one of them) and Hanguang-Jun is an awe-inspiring bitch, and Lan Yuan, courtesy name Sizhui, is sweet and gentle and kind and also both a little shit and and a huge bitch when he wants to be. (It's rare, but usually amazing. Xuanyu treasures the memory of the time A-Yuan managed to trade Uncle Huaisang's favourite fan for one that had extremely suggestive art painted on it, right in front of Uncle Jiang and Uncle Lan and Uncle Mingjue; Xuanyu and Uncle Huaisang never did manage to work out how he did it, but Grandfather nearly exploded with pride. And then there's moments like this.)

Fortunately for Jin Chan, if not for Xuanyu's amusement, A-Lei is there, and he frowns when Jin Chan looks like he wants the ground to swallow him whole, and no-one, no-one is immune to A-Lei's frowns, so Sizhui doesn't add anything that might make him more miserable. He and Jingyi greet all of the cousins, and Tengfei, and also Ouyang Zizhen - Sizhui and Ouyang Zizhen actually seem to know each other quite well, even though Ouyang is a small sect in Baling and Sect Leader Ouyang isn't, as far as Xuanyu knows, connected to any of their parents at all.

Xuanyu tires of the clamour and backs away a little, and that's when he sees his grandfather, lurking in the shadows at the end of the row.

He goes to talk to him, because if Wei Wuxian had not wanted Xuanyu to know he was there, Xuanyu would never have spotted him at all.

"You're being creepy," Xuanyu says. "What would people think if they saw the Yiling Patriarch of all people lurking menacingly in the shadows?" His grandfather is of course famous as one of the four young heroes who slew the Xuanwu of Slaughter, and as a hero of the Sunshot Campaign, but he gained his title as the noble cultivator who cleansed the Yiling Burial Mounds. Xuanyu has been to Yiling's annual Festival of the Patriarch several times. (It gets more elaborate every year; Yiling is prospering.)

That such a person could be creepy is of course ridiculous, but Wei Wuxian laughs much harder at the joke than Xuanyu thinks it deserved.

"I'm so glad I didn't have to wait until my son grew up to have grandchildren," he says, wiping tears from his eyes. "It would have been terrible to have to wait that long for you."

Xuanyu smiles, pleased. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Just... checking," his grandfather says, with an innocent smile that Xuanyu absolutely does not believe. "Everyone settling in all right? I see all your cousins are together."

"Wait." Xuanyu narrows his eyes. "Did you invite Jin Chan here just so you could make his life miserable for back then?"

"What a notion! I take it back, my grandson is too cynical, clearly I have failed somehow."

"You did, didn't you," Xuanyu says, because he totally did. "Grandfather!"

Grandfather grins impishly. "I thought it would be educational for him to come along," he says. "So far, I think I'm right." He peers towards the group. "Are those more lotus seedpods A-Yuan is holding?"

"They're his," Xuanyu says immediately.

"Of course. But that means I don't have to save him any of the ones Jiang Cheng gave me." He gives Xuanyu a light shove. "Go back to your cousins. I wasn't here. I'll see you in class, where I will be extremely strict with you."

Xuanyu goes.

---

Jin Chan wakes when the morning bells ring. He'd been dreading the famously early rising the Lan Sect demand, but it feels even worse when you've barely slept the night before.

It had probably been too much to hope for that Lan Sizhui might have forgotten who he was. Of course he wouldn't forget the asshole who bullied his cousin and made a stupid comment about cutsleeves.

He doesn't even care about Jin Xuanyu being a cutsleeve, but Jin Peng always used to complain about it, back when Jin Peng and the others still talked to Jin Chan, and Jin Chan just... liked having friends.

Jin Peng and his friends are jerks, but if Jin Chan didn't talk to them, he'd be alone - he knows, because they don't talk to him any more, and he's been alone for months.

Jin Rulan and Jin Yuanjun were always with each other and sometimes Xuanyu - who's older, and always seems so much more mature than the rest of them. Or they're with their visiting cousins, or away visiting their cousins, because Jin Rulan's father is the sect leader, and Jin Yuanjun's father is almost as important, and they both go on trips to other places all the time, and are constantly receiving important visitors.

And Jin Chan's father died in the Sunshot Campaign before Jin Chan was even born, and Jin Chan's mother raised him alone. His uncle had said he'd be there for both of them, but then he disgraced their entire family. Jin Chan has never left Lanling before now.

After what his mother said, Jin Chan had steeled himself and asked Jin Guangyao's deputy for a copy of the report on the incident that resulted in the death of Jin Zixun.

Lady Luo had frowned, and looked at him seriously, and asked if he was sure.

He lied and said he was.

It had been... upsetting reading.

The Yiling Patriarch is a hero. Every child knows that. He tamed the Yiling Burial Mounds, which many people had tried to do and failed. He has a festival in his honour. Jin Chan lives in a time when heroes and legends walk the earth, but even Chifeng-Zun and Sandu Shengshou and Zewu-Jun don't have festivals.

And Jin Chan's uncle nearly killed him.

Being in the Cloud Recesses - in Gusu, where that happened - feels like an unforgivable impertinence, and yet he has to be here.

Madam Jin often attends the Yiling Festival. One year she brought back toys for all the children of Jinlintai - little purple Yiling Patriarchs for everyone. Jin Chan had thrown his away before his mother could see it. He'd still believed, then, that the Yiling Patriarch had murdered his uncle.

They were cute.

He sighs, and drags himself out of bed. Xuanyu is already awake, impeccably dressed and sitting at the table, doing his makeup in a standing tabletop mirror.

Jin Chan blinks. The mirror's frame is undoubtedly of the Lan style of decoration, but he doesn't remember seeing it before. "Where'd you get the mirror?" he asks, without thinking.

Xuanyu hums and doesn't look around. "There's one in the bottom drawer of the cabinet, tucked in the little slot at the top."

"I thought that was just... decorative woodwork, or something," Jin Chan says, going to his own cabinet to check. The mirror slides out easily.

Xuanyu glances at him. He somehow manages to speak clearly even though he's painting his lips at the same time. "The Lan are far too serious to have mirrors just sitting around, and far too vain not to have them at all. Have you noticed their fantastically elaborate hair ornaments? The complicated ways they style their hair in them? No way they do all that without mirrors. Bring yours over here."

Jin Chan does so, and holds it where Xuanyu directs so his cousin can examine his own face from side angles. "Hmm," he says. "What do you think? Too much? Too little?"

It's been so long since someone just... talked to him. (Other than Wen Changming, who was kind of overwhelming with his effusive levels of niceness.) Xuanyu hates him, but Jin Chan can pretend they're just cousins, at least until the next time Jin Chan annoys him.

"I think it's just right," he says, because he does. "It's not too... obvious, I guess? I mean it's really pretty," he adds hastily, not wanting to offend, "but I don't think it will..."

"Make the Lan go into spontaneous qi deviation?" Xuanyu says, with a smile. "Perfect." He puts his mirror away, and goes over to Jin Yuanjun's bed. "Get up. If Grandfather asks me why you're late for class, I'm telling him it's because I killed you and gave your body to the rabbits." He raps a fan on the blanket-covered lump that is his brother.

"Grandfather never gets up this early," Jin Yuanjun complains, but he's getting up.

Jin Chan doesn't want to be late and embarrass the Jin Sect, so he gets dressed, and fixes his hair.

And then Jin Xuanyu stares at him and says, "I can not believe I'm related to either of you," in a long-suffering tone and pulls it loose and redoes it with brisk efficiency. Then he says, "I'm going to check on the cousins. A-Kang, if you're not presentable I'm still going to feed you to the rabbits," and leaves.

Jin Chan stares after him.

"Just accept it," Jin Yuanjun says, yawning. "Eventually you'll learn to do it to da-ge's standards, or... he'll keep correcting you, I guess. If you ask what you did wrong he'll explain it." Jin Yuanjun is doing his own hair in a more elaborate style than Jin Chan would even consider attempting, and it actually looks really good. "Dad says appearances can tell people a lot, and da-ge's instruction is valuable."

Every single time Jin Chan has heard someone refer to Jin Xuanyu as the Jin Sect's senior disciple, Xuanyu has protested vigorously at the very idea and claimed he's unfit for such responsibility.

Jin Chan finds himself remembering that when he steps out of their rooms, dressed and with his hair - he got his mirror out again to look - gorgeously, perfectly styled by Xuanyu, and observes his oldest cousin going from room to room. He's fussing over various cousins, admonishing some, adjusting hair or dress on others. All of the Jin and Jiang disciples will look presentable - according to Xuanyu's standards - and be on time, and Xuanyu is making sure of it. Several of the Nie also get his attention, and then -

Oh. Oh no.

"A-Lei?" Xuanyu says, as he sees the smaller boy come out of his room. He looks like he's been crying. "A-Lei, what's wrong?"

Xuanyu goes towards him, and Wen Changming throws himself at him, wailing. Jin Chan can make out something about home and mama and dad and realises the kid must be homesick.

"That brat shouldn't even be here," says Wen Changming's roommate, and Jin Chan wonders that Wen Changming's tears aren't just freezing in place the way the temperature drops.

Xuanyu glances up for a moment, narrow-eyed, but returns his attention to Wen Changming. Presumably he thinks that his cousins can handle it, because Jin Chan can see Jin Rulan and Jiang Xiaodan moving towards them.

And then Wen Changming's roommate adds, "Who let a Wen come here, anyway?" and Jin Chan knows there's still a lot of people who hate the Wen, but he really wonders who let someone who's this much of an idiot come to the Cloud Recesses?

Because Jiang Huizhong is moving too, now, and Jiang Xiaodan's scowl is nothing on the look of narrow-eyed fury that Jiang Huizhong is showing, and Jin Chan remembers their mother is Madam Wen.

"You dare, Yao Shaoqing?" Jiang Huizhong says softly, and Jin Chan is suddenly aware that that must be Sect Leader Yao's son, and it's going to be a diplomatic incident if there's a fight between him and Jin Rulan, or the sons of Sandu Shengshou.

And Wen Changming was kind to him, and Jin Chan hasn't had as nice an afternoon as he had yesterday in a really long time, and it's clearly Yao Shaoqing's fault that Wen Changming is crying. He's probably the one who made him miserable in the first place.

So Jin Chan pushes past the others and breaks into a run, overtaking the Jiang twins, and throws himself at Yao Shaoqing fists first. His mother will cry when he gets thrown out of the guest lectures, but better him than Jin Rulan or a Jiang.

---

When Jin Chan gets hauled off Yao Shaoqing, it's pretty much exactly as bad as he expected.

Lan Sizhui has come from somewhere to drag him up by his collar and hold him up like that. The tips of his toes are barely brushing the ground, and Lan Sizhui is not smiling.

Neither is Hanguang-Jun, who is standing a short distance away.

Lan Jingyi is the one dragging Yao Shaoqing to his feet, and of the three of them, he's the only one Jin Chan can tell has any expression at all, and his is a furious scowl.

Hanguang-Jun's gaze sweeps over the rest of the disciples. Jin Chan can't see what they're doing, they're all behind him, but there is a certain amount of movement, and then everything goes very, very quiet.

Hanguang-Jun looks at Lan Sizhui. His expression does not, as far as Jin Chan can tell, change, but he can see Lan Sizhui nod in his peripheral vision.

"Jin Xuanyu and Wen Changming are excused from the morning session," Lan Sizhui says, quite pleasantly. "Jin Ruchan and Yao Shaoqing will be presented for discipline. Jiang Huizhong, Jiang Xiaodan, Jin Rulan, Ouyang Zizhen, Zhao Laquan, Huang Shirong will go with Hanguang-Jun immediately to give witness statements. No discussion amongst yourselves is permitted until this task is complete. You will follow Hanguang-Jun now. Jin Xuanyu, Wen Changming, and Jin Ruchan will come with me to Senior Wei."

Hanguang-Jun turns and walks away without a word.

Lan Jingyi eyes the other disciples until they're all on the move, then follows behind dragging Yao Shaoqing.

Lan Sizhui - still just carrying Jin Chan, and how freaking strong is this guy - directs a warm smile towards Wen Lei, and says, "Come along." It's only when they're a way down the path that he apparently remembers to put Jin Chan down and let him actually walk.

When they're out of earshot of the other guest disciples, Xuanyu says in a low tone, "Do not lie to Wei Wuxian. Don't try to make excuses, don't try to cover for anyone else. Tell the truth. Tell him everything."

"What's the point?" Jin Chan whispers. "He's going to have me thrown out but he can't do worse than that."

Lan Sizhui laughs softly. "Young Master Jin, I would advise against attempting to predict Senior Wei's actions," he says, not unkindly. "Xuanyu's advice is sound."

Lan Sizhui is leading them not to the administrative offices, but along a winding path through the forest to a secluded cottage, quite pretty, surrounded by flowers.

Wen Changming is still sniffling, and when they see the cottage, he breaks away from the arm Xuanyu has kept around his shoulders to run and hammer on the door. "Senior Wei! Uncle!" he sobs, and the door opens in moments.

Yesterday, the Yiling Patriarch wore crisp white Lan robes with a vivid purple sash, hair styled high in a beautiful headpiece, looking every inch the renowned heroic gentleman.

Today his hair is loose and messy, and he's wearing trousers and an under-robe but his feet are bare and he's not fully dressed at all. The collar of the under-robe is loose enough that Jin Chan can see what looks like a love bite on his collarbone. Jin Chan isn't sure he can believe his eyes. The Yiling Patriarch in disarray like this? The Yiling Patriarch with -

His thought process shuts down in self-defense.

"What's going on?" the Yiling Patriarch exclaims. "Are we under attack? Did a vile monster invade the Cloud Recesses?" He drops to his knees as he speaks and enfolds Wen Changming in a hug. "What happened, A-Lei?" he asks more softly.

Wen Changming sobs into his neck, and Jin Chan watches one of the most admired people in all the world frown, and then frown more, and then look murderous, before his expression smoothes to something mild and affectionate.

"My poor A-Lei," Wei Wuxian says. Jin Chan can't think of him as the Yiling Patriarch, not dressed like that and stroking a kid's hair. "You can spend the morning here with me. We'll go to the kitchens and you'll look cute and we'll get extra treats from Elder Nainai for breakfast, and we'll take them and some lettuce and go see the rabbits, how does that sound?"

"Good," Wen Changming sniffs.

"Excellent," Wei Wuxian says. He pulls back from the hug, smiling. "I'm very grateful to you for coming, because otherwise it would look terrible for me to do such self-indulgent things on the first day of the guest lectures." He straightens Wen Changming's robes. "But first I have to deal with the discipline situation, so how about you go with Xuanyu and get cleaned up? Can't have anyone seeing my A-Lei looking such a mess! But perhaps you and Xuanyu can go past the kitchens without me while you still look adorably tragic."

Wen Changming nods, and Xuanyu leads him away.

Jin Chan is left with Lan Sizhui and Wei Wuxian.

"Come on in then," Wei Wuxian says, and goes back inside.

Jin Chan doesn't get a chance even to hesitate, because Lan Sizhui still has his collar, and his choices are to walk or be dragged, but he's moving whether he likes it or not.

---

"What the fuck, A-Yuan," is the first thing Wei Wuxian says inside, and Jin Chan nearly faints. "Why do those little shits think we had all your cousins coming at the same time?" He goes into another room, leaving the door ajar, and there are rustling and thumping sounds.

"Well the cousins thought they'd group up and keep an eye on each other, but you didn't tell A-Lei not to say yes when some idiot who just thinks he'll be a pushover asks him to room with him, and A-Lei is a pushover," Lan Sizhui snaps back, with far more tone than Jin Chan would ever have expected from the perfect, decorous Lan Sizhui. "And the Jin had an extra to keep an eye on, so one of them had to room with others, and Xuanyu was going to be with the Nie but A-Ling and the twins had already decided to room together."

Wei Wuxian emerges from the room, now fully dressed and pulling his hair up into a silver hairpiece. He's scowling. "The twins are going to hear about that from their mother," he says in a dangerous tone. "She was counting on them to look after A-Lei, you know."

Lan Sizhui winces.

"Don't feel bad for them, it serves them right. I'm going to tell shijie that her son was involved, too, he should absolutely know better. What about the rest of them? Do your collective reputations not precede you? Does the presence of the heirs to every elite sect except this one not give them pause?"

"Apparently not enough for Yao Shaoqing to know better than to make A-Lei cry." Lan Sizhui looks distraught. "Why would anyone be unkind to A-Lei?"

"Yao has always been a dick," Wei Wuxian says, and Jin Chan can't believe his ears, either. That the Yiling Patriarch would speak so disrespectfully of a sect leader! "Clearly Yao Jian takes after him. So why is Jin Chan in trouble?" He gives Jin Chan an appraising look.

Lan Sizhui just looks at Jin Chan.

He swallows. "Fighting," he says, voice barely above a whisper.

Wei Wuxian's eyes narrow. "And why were you fighting?"

Lan Sizhui smiles encouragingly.

Jin Chan takes a deep breath. "Yao Shaoqing made Wen Changming cry," he says. "Wen Changming was nice to me, he - he's a good person. And Jin Rulan and the Jiang twins looked like they were going to fight him, and it would be a big problem if the sons of Jin Zixuan or Sandu Shengshou were fighting Sect Leader Yao's son, but if it's me then - it's not such a problem. I'm nobody important. I don't matter."

He lowers his eyes so he doesn't have to see their expressions.

"You matter, Jin Chan," Wei Wuxian says in a gentle tone. "Everyone matters."

Jin Chan bursts into tears, at that.

"I don't, though," he sobs. "My mother is just Jin Zixuan's cousin, and her brother disgraced the sect. My father died before I was born. I really am nobody. I don't have any friends, I don't -" He stops, takes a breath. "My uncle was Jin Zixun," he says. "I'm lucky I'm still a member of the Jin Sect."

He dares to look up. Wei Wuxian's expression is a sad smile. Lan Sizhui looks aghast.

"Dad," he says. "He - you -"

"I told you," Wei Wuxian says. "When will you learn not to question my wisdom, hm?"

Jin Chan's confusion must show on his face. "Last time Dad said you were probably an okay person making bad choices," Lan Sizhui explains. "I was... upset with you."

He looks embarrassed, even though Jin Chan was saying completely shitty things, and Jin Chan doesn't understand it.

"The thing that I thought had become pretty well-known," Wei Wuxian says, "is that my son and his cousins are very protective of each other, even when they argue and bicker and give their patient, suffering elders headaches at offensive hours of the morning." (Lan Sizhui rolls his eyes.) "They're especially protective of A-Lei, because, well. You've met him, I'm sure you understand. I'm genuinely impressed you got to Yao's brat before the twins did. Was A-Fa smiling?"

"No," Jin Chan says, "he looked really angry."

Wei Wuxian lets out a low whistle, and Lan Sizhui looks alarmed. "Not even smiling a little bit?"

Jin Chan shakes his head.

"Just as well Yao's brat is going home, then," Wei Wuxian says. "It's the first day of classes, a dead kid this early would be embarrassing."

Jin Chan swallows. "What will you tell Sect Leader Jin?" he asks quietly.

"Hm? Tell Sect Leader Jin?" Wei Wuxian makes an exaggerated confused face. "Why would I talk to him if I didn't have to? Ugh, him? Can you imagine?"

"Sect Leader Jin is Senior Wei's valued and cherished friend," Lan Sizhui says smoothly. "He is joking."

"You know, A-Yuan, I don't need a son to get grandchildren, I already have two," Wei Wuxian says. "I lose nothing if I disown you."

Lan Sizhui smiles. "It is forbidden to disown sons who are also members of other sects in the Cloud Recesses," he says sweetly.

"Since when?" Wei Wuxian demands.

"Last month. Father got it past the Elders and had it added to the wall, you just haven't looked."

"That's literally just you. You are the only one who is a member of two sects and still has parents." Wei Wuxian says, clearly outraged.

"Mmhm." Lan Sizhui, meanwhile, is smug. "And always will, because you're not allowed to disown me. It's in the rules."

Jin Chan can't take it any more. "I don't understand," he says. "What about my punishment?"

"You were defending the vulnerable, and also preventing a much worse problem," Wei Wuxian says. "Trust me, kid, I am the last person who's going to yell at you for punching someone who deserved it in the Cloud Recesses. But you could have handled it better. Your punishment is that you'll have to have breakfast here with me, because you're not going to get to the dining hall in time anyway."

It sounds like nothing at all, it sounds like a reward to have breakfast here in this pleasant cottage with the Yiling Patriarch and Lan Sizhui, and Jin Chan doesn't understand why Lan Sizhui winces and looks sympathetic until the bowl of bright red congee is set in front of him.

Well. He may never taste anything else again, but at least his mother isn't going to cry about it.

And when Xuanyu and Wen Changming come back with a tray of sweet baked apple treats, Jin Chan is given one too.

Chapter Text

When he joins the other guest disciples assembling for the morning lecture, Jin Chan hears the announcement that Young Master Yao has been sent home; this is followed by a recitation of rules about decent behaviour, appropriate address, kindness, and consideration for all people. To Jin Chan's surprise, Lan Qiren doesn't even imply "especially when talking to the son of a Sect Leader".

His wife Madam Lan, however - Jin Rulan's grandmother - is standing in a corner of the room, and she's staring at Jin Chan the entire time. He's shaking, by the end of it.

Only when his recitation is complete does Master Lan Qiren add: "While it is laudable to defend the vulnerable, it is also necessary to show judgement and consider all approaches to solution of such problems. Violence is not always the answer. One among you has also been disciplined."

He says nothing else, but when the lecture is over and the disciples are on their way to the training fields, Jin Yuanjun asks what his punishment was.

"Uh." This is going to sound stupid. "Breakfast with Senior Wei."

There are confused faces from some of the others, but Jin Rulan and his cousins all look appalled. "Did Unc- Senior Wei cook you breakfast?" Jin Rulan clarifies.

"Yes?" Jin Chan cringes, but all of Jin Rulan's cousins are giving him looks of sympathetic horror.

"That doesn't sound like much," someone in the crowd says.

"No, no, that's excessive," Jiang Huizhong says, with feeling.

"Uncle Wei is a terrible cook," Jiang Xiaodan adds. "It's... wow. If I was given the choice of breakfast cooked by Uncle Wei or being beaten with discipline rulers, I'd take the rulers for sure."

Jin Rulan and his cousins and several of the Nie nod fervently, and begin exchanging horror stories about Senior Wei's cooking. The discussion lasts until they reach the training fields.

The swordsmaster is younger than Jin Chan expected. It can be hard to tell with cultivators, but this man has a vibrant, youthful air about him. Lan Sizhui is standing deferentially at his shoulder.

"Welcome, young masters!" he calls. "Today we begin your sword instruction. I am Senior Xue."

---

The guest lecture sword training does not mean learning the Lan technique.

There are training dummies in a variety of shapes, some of them quite odd; they are tested on their ability to identify and strike the weak points of varied types of night-hunt prey.

Jin Chan sees Senior Wei come into the courtyard; he's covering his eyes in a weirdly ostentatious way.

"Everyone, stop," Lan Sizhui says immediately. "Senior Wei, you know the rules."

"I'm not looking, I'm not looking!" Wei Wuxian drops his hand. "Not even peeking, I promise. But if young master Xue can handle these rapscallions alone for a little while, I need to borrow Sizhui."

Senior Xue smiles and bows. "It will not be a difficulty, Senior Wei."

Jin Chan doesn't quite dare ask why there's a rule against Senior Wei seeing them train.

---

Sword training takes them through to lunch. Wen Changming rejoins them then, and greets Jin Chan with a warm and effusive smile. He also insists on Jin Chan sitting next to him for the meal with the group of Jin Rulan's cousins, and takes the desk next to Jin Chan's when they return to the classroom.

Jin Chan is rapidly coming to understand why Jin Rulan's cousins are all so furiously protective of Wen Changming. The kid is too precious, earnestly saying that he hopes Jin Chan doesn't mind sitting next to him - like Jin Chan wouldn't be alone and awkward if he didn't, like Wen Chengming isn't the son of a sect leader, who could just demand things like that if he wanted, or like half the class wouldn't kill to be sitting next to Wen Changming, or Jin Rulan, or either of the Jiangs. (None of them can; the desks are in threes, and Jin Rulan and the Jiangs sit together.)

Lan Sizhui takes the desk on Wen Changming’s other side. His posture is painfully perfect, he doesn't fidget or even twitch.

The afternoon class is in two sessions. The first, under Master Lan Qiren, is quite dry and technical; all about types and classes of hunted things, the proper course of action for various scenarios. He asks some questions so complex no-one seems to know the full answer except Lan Sizhui.

For some reason, Senior Wei sits through the entire section. He's barely paying attention to Lan Qiren, but watching the students carefully.

In the second session, Senior Wei starts talking about talisman use and adapting to conditions you didn't expect, and Lan Qiren stays and watches the class through that.

It's the evening meal after that, so there's not really a chance to talk until they're dismissed and can return to the dorms, where Jin Chan is pulled - again, by Wen Changming - to join the group of Jin Rulan's cousins, including Lan Sizhui, who is walking with them. (A number of the other student disciples are clustered around as they walk - everyone wants to hear their discussions, and a number of the others have probably been instructed by their parents to try and make friends, since the heirs of every elite sect except the Lan themselves are here. And Lan Sizhui will be the Lan heir again if anything ever happens to Lan Junjie.)

"I knew they took it seriously," Jiang Xiaodan is saying, "but not this seriously. They both even stay to watch each other's classes!"

"Can't let the other side prepare us for something they might want to use without knowing they did," Jin Rulan says wryly. "It's going to be ridiculous. I wonder whose teams we'll be on? Do you think you'll be in your dad's team because he wants you to do well for him, or in Uncle Wei's team because he thinks your dad won't kill you?"

"He has to know Dad will try to kill us immediately," Jiang Huizhong says.

Xuanyu laughs. "Yeah, and he knows that you'll try to survive just to beat your dad, and he'll also just think it's funny to have your dad killing his own kids. You're definitely going to be on Senior Wei's team."

"What are you talking about?" Jin Chan can't help but ask. "Why would your - Sandu Shengshou try to kill his own children?"

Lan Sizhui smiles at him. "They don't mean actual killing." He notices many of the other guests are craning to hear, and pitches his voice to carry. "There is a training exercise that now happens every year. The guest disciples, and a number of our own Lan disciples, are divided into two teams and undertake simulated night hunts in the forest around the Cloud Recesses. One exercise will be designed and run by Senior Wei and Hanguang-Jun, the other by Master Lan Qiren and Sandu Shengshou. No-one is truly killed, but if you are placed in a position where, if the situation were real, you would be killed or severely wounded, you are eliminated from the event."

"We're not competing against each other," Xuanyu adds. "Senior Wei and Sandu Shengshou are competing against each other to see who can eliminate more of us. Senior Wei's team will attempt Sandu Shengshou's challenge. Sizhui, how does team selection work? I've never asked."

Lan Sizhui looks faintly pained. "Senior Wei and Master Lan Qiren attend one another's classes and observe. As soon as he is able to arrange it, Sandu Shengshou will arrive, and he and Senior Wei will both watch the sword training sessions. Until then, Senior Wei is not permitted to watch. I will provide my written observations about you all to both Senior Wei and Sandu Shengshou. And then all three of them will go into a room with a list of all your names, and argue for many hours until they have agreed upon a division."

"They take it very, very seriously," Jiang Huizhong adds. "Dad - Sandu Shengshou - begins planning the next year's exercise the day he gets home from each one. The mirror in his office is a treasure room that's just for this stuff - there's absolutely nothing valuable in there. And we haven't been allowed in it for the last four years and Dad won't talk to us about it any more, so I'm pretty sure we will be on Senior Wei's team. He plans it all out, and Great-Uncle Lan helps him with the teams and the illusions."

"This is the thirteenth time they've done it," Lan Sizhui says. "They've done it every year for the last twelve, including this year."

"What's the total score?" Jin Chan asks, fascinated.

"Uncle Wei nine, Uncle Jiang three," Jin Rulan says. "And everyone thinks Sandu Shengshou is the scary one."

"He is!" Jiang Xiaodan says immediately.

"He's the grumpy one," Xuanyu says. "Senior Wei is the friendly one. But which one is the scary one is a bit of a silly question. If you thought one of them was going to try and kill you for real, do you really think it would matter which one?"

"Well, yes," Jiang Huizhong says, smiling. "If Dad decided to kill you, you'd be dead before you had time to worry. If Uncle Wei was going to kill you, he might decide to take his time about it, and make you really suffer."

The most chilling thing about that statement is the way Jin Rulan and his cousins all laugh.

---

Yao Shaoqing and Wen Changming hadn't had a third person in their room - Jin Chan suspects that only Wen Changming could be pushed into taking a room with Yao Shaoqing - and the authorities have decided that Wen Changming will not be alone, and the rooms will not be changed. Instead, Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi will move into the guest dormitories for the duration, and will share with Wen Changming.

Wen Changming seems greatly cheered by this. He's fourteen, and far from home; Jin Chan, and he suspects most of the others, would be terrified of sharing a room with Lan Sizhui, but Wen Changming clearly finds it very comforting.

As far as Jin Chan knows, Wen Changming is technically not much more closely related to Lan Sizhui than Jin Chan himself (except, he supposes, that Wen Changming is Jin Rulan's cousin on his mother's side, and Jin Rulan is Lan Sizhui's first cousin, and Wen Changming is Jiang Xiaodan and Jiang Huizhong's cousin on his father's side, and they are also Lan Sizhui's first cousins, whereas Jin Chan is connected only through Jin Rulan).

But Jin Chan gets the impression that Wen Changming knows Lan Sizhui very well indeed. He supposes it is probably very different if you are the son of Wei Wuxian's friend, and not the nephew of the man who nearly murdered him. Wen Changming called Senior Wei bobo - their families must be very close.

In the next few weeks, things... settle. The guest disciples who aren't related to Lan Sizhui begin to relax around him. Lan Sizhui, the famous prodigy, first young master of their generation, is actually quite nice to know. He is kind, and helpful, and has a wicked sense of humour on those occasions he chooses to show it. Lan Jingyi is surprisingly unrestrained for a Lan, and grumpier than Lan Sizhui, but nice enough.

Xuanyu has started going out in the evenings, Jin Chan doesn't know where, and Lan Sizhui's presence keeps the other disciples in line. (Mostly. Lan Jingyi's presence sort of encourages a certain amount of noise, because Lan Jingyi has to be the noisiest Lan who has ever lived.) Xuanyu has also managed to get himself excused from sword training - some days they only see him for afternoon classes, and when he comes back just before curfew.

Jin Chan had thought that Lan Sizhui's status as a member of both the Lan and Jiang sects was a political fiction, a relic of their alliance in the time of the Sunshot Campaign, but it becomes clear that it isn't. When the Jiang disciples forget the careful way that, most of the time, they refer to each other and their older relatives by proper names and titles, they call him shixiong. (Of the Jiang, only Ce Tengfei doesn't.) He wears a bell at his belt.

And Jin Chan has had the chance to see Lan Sizhui's sword at closer range, and he begins to understand why people talk about it. He had seen that it was beautiful, but he hadn't seen how much detail had gone into its construction, or felt the power that radiates from it.

It speaks to Lan Sizhui's strength as a cultivator, but also to the quality of the sword itself.

Someone spent an absolute fortune on this sword, including on the details that might as well be a glowing inscription reading Bearer is Property of the Jiang Sect: If Lost Return To Lotus Pier. Whoever commissioned Lan Sizhui's sword paid for the very, very best, and then paid extra for and add more Jiang, no, no, more than that.

Jin Chan has thought about it since he noticed, and come to the conclusion that Lan Sizhui's sword is an extremely deliberate mark of the favour of a wealthy and powerful Jiang. People are supposed to see it and notice, and think that any insult to Lan Sizhui will cause personal offense to whoever gave it to him. It's either His Excellency Jiang Fengmian, the Chief Cultivator, or Sandu Shengshou, Jiang Wanyin.

Either would be unthinkable.

Jin Chan already offended Lan Sizhui once. And, for that matter, Sandu Shengshou.

Lan Sizhui seems to have forgiven him, at least. He really is very kind. Jin Chan isn't very good at talismans at all; he never learned more than the most basic ones, and he's not the only one who's struggling, but he's the one struggling the most. Every evening and even on rest days, Lan Sizhui tutors them in talisman creation and use.

After a few weeks, he's pretty good at making them, but he's still struggling with control when it comes to imbuing them with spiritual energy. It's frustrating. All the others who were having difficulty have already caught up and are doing fine.

And it's embarrassing, because it's not private, there's nowhere they could go to be doing this privately, really and on this particular morning, his efforts to achieve fine control with a simple wind talisman are being watched. First by some of the Jiangs who had apparently been looking for their shixiong (Ce Tengfei is older than Lan Sizhui, but presumably joined the Jiang Sect later, since Lan Sizhui was born to it; he and Sizhui call each other by their full names, always, even though they seem to be good friends), then by Wen Changming, and then Xuanyu.

It's Wen Changming who actually says something.

"Young master Jin appears to be having some difficulty," he says delicately. "Maybe it would help if we played the game?"

"That's a very good idea, A-Lei," Lan Sizhui says, smiling. "It is easier when you have less arbitrary goals to think about." He looks at the other Jiang disciples. "Who's in?"

"We are," Jiang Huizhong says immediately.

Apparently he speaks for Jiang Xiaodan, who just looks at Ce Tengfei. "Teams of three?"

Ce Tengfei shakes his head. "Someone has to be in the middle."

"I can do that," Xuanyu says. "You know I'm not good at this game."

"You literally haven't lost in six years," Lan Sizhui says, but he's smiling.

"You're always on my team," Xuanyu throws back. His fan snaps open with a distinct crack; Jin Chan suspects that Lan Sizhui is correct that whatever this is, Xuanyu is good at it, but he just wants to deny it.

The game is apparently one that Senior Wei and Sandu Shengshou invented at Lotus Pier to play with their children, with which Wen Changming is also familiar. Each player has a wind talisman. Lan Sizhui tells Xuanyu to take them to "the meadow", and Jin Chan goes with the group, clutching his wind talisman, as Xuanyu leads them along winding paths to a broad, grassy meadow. Lan Sizhui meets them there, holding two kites, which he gives to Xuanyu.

"I have bad news," Lan Sizhui says, and that's when Senior Wei and Hanguang-Jun step out of the forest.

"I hear there is going to be some disruptive and forbidden running," Senior Wei says gleefully, and Lan Sizhui somehow manages to give the impression of rolling his eyes without actually doing so.

"Technically, this meadow is not within the Cloud Recesses," Hanguang-Jun says. Out loud. In words. He has a quite nice voice.

"We haven't even explained the rules to Jin Chan yet," Lan Sizhui says, "so could you please not be all... you... until we've at least done that?"

"All me?" Senior Wei's outrage is, Jin Chan is fairly sure, feigned. "Fine! But see if I join your team!"

"I would hate to press you," Lan Sizhui says blandly. "Teams are Senior Wei, Jiang Fa, Jiang Kuo, and Ce Tengfei against Hanguang-Jun, Wen Lei, Jin Chan, and me."

Jin Chan feels slightly faint as Hanguang-Jun gives a regal nod that appears to include Jin Chan, but he has to listen very closely to the rules, because he does not want to do anything wrong in front of Hanguang-Jun.

Apparently the game involves Xuanyu mounted on his sword, flying circuits around the meadow pulling the kites; it also involves paper darts, and a complicated scoring system based on hitting one kite with the darts, or blowing your opponents' darts aside to hit the other kite; the points depend on where you hit the kite, or whose dart you redirect and to where. Two players are attacking (hitting the kites), and two players are defending (knocking the darts aside). Jin Chan is attacking.

"It's Jin Chan's first time, so we should probably skip the advanced rules," Senior Wei says, worryingly.

"It sounds like these rules are designed to cause arguments," Jin Chan says without thinking, and there are smiles.

"For Wei Ying and Jiang Wanyin, that is a valuable bonus," Hanguang-Jun intones, and Jin Chan's pretty sure Hanguang-Jun just made a joke, especially when everyone else laughs. Jin Chan smiles shakily.

They begin the game, and Jin Chan can't hit anything. This lasts barely any time at all, and then Senior Wei calls a stop.

"Time for the advanced rules," he says. "Jin Chan. If you hit the dart of someone whose score is within a margin of five or less of yours, you have to hit it to the second kite to score. If their score is five or more points higher than yours, you get one point for making their dart miss, and two points for making their dart hit the second kite, as well as bonus points for placement. If their score is more than five points lower than yours, you lose a point if you hit their dart unless it hits the second kite. Keep count! You're on defense now."

And then the game begins, and Jin Chan is just so, so confused; paper darts are flying, and he's having trouble keeping count, and he's so distracted by trying to keep track of the rules he forgets to think about his talismans at all, until he knocks Senior Wei's dart straight into the eye of the second kite for six points.

He thinks. He's not sure, but it feels pretty good. Apparently the final score is decided by Xuanyu, so he'll see.

After a while, he actually starts having fun.

He's still not very good at aiming and timing his hits, but he's getting into a rhythm of the talisman use, and it's spring in the sun in the Gusu mountains and he's running around a meadow listening to Senior Wei, Jiang Xiaodan, and Jiang Huizhong heckle their opponents and each other. Hanguang-Jun, Wen Changming, and Lan Sizhui are apparently too nice or too well-mannered to return fire; Jin Chan is far too intimidated. And, before long, too out of breath.

It feels presumptuous, but Jin Chan can't help thinking that a little bit of the Hanguang-Jun mystique should probably be dispelled when you've seen him running around collecting paper darts and launching them for a children's game, but the thing is that it isn't. Hanguang-Jun is still composed, still moves with absolute grace and poise and skill.

Finally Xuanyu calls out: "Time!" He pulls in the kites as he lands.

"What's the final score?" Senior Wei asks, barely out of breath. Jin Chan is gasping.

"Hanguang-Jun's team wins, ninety-seven points to thirty," Xuanyu says.

"What? That's a blatant lie!" Jiang Xiaodan exclaims. Jin Chan thinks he's probably right; all four of the other team were very, very good, Jin Chan is very, very not, and that seems like a huge margin.

"It can't be," Jiang Huizhong says.

Senior Wei nods. "A-Yu's score is always correct. But how?"

Xuanyu smiles sweetly. "I deducted points for dishonourable conduct when you started throwing insults at them. Very inappropriate when they were never going to heckle back. A-Lei and Sizhui are too nice, Hanguang-Jun is too polite, and Chanchan still thinks he'll bring shame on our sect if he notices that you're all such assholes, never mind says anything."

"That's fair," Wen Changming says, nodding vigorously. "That's rule sixty-three."

"Fuck," Jiang Huizhong says, "I forgot that one."

"When did that even get put in?" Jiang Xiaodan demands.

"When the Wen started playing at Lotus Pier," Lan Sizhui says, smiling. "Your mother insisted after the... incident."

The Jiangs wince.

"Should I ask about the incident?" Jin Chan asks warily.

All of the juniors look at Senior Wei, who rubs his nose.

"The Jiang Sect play, well, like that," he says. "We're very..."

"Spirited," Hanguang-Jun says.

"Mean," Lan Sizhui says, but he's grinning.

"Right," Senior Wei nods. "Wen N- ah, Sect Leader Wen came to Lotus Pier with A-Lei, and there was a game that may have resulted in crying, and Wen Qing was quite unhappy."

Jin Chan looks between the Jiangs and Wen Changming, and Senior Wei laughs. "No, not them."

"We would never," Jiang Xiaodan says, looking offended.

"Uncle Jiang upset my father very much," Wen Changming says sadly.

---

That evening, Xuanyu asks if he had fun. He's at the mirror, touching up his hair and makeup.

"That game is really confusing," Jin Chan admits. "I'm not sure I understand the rules at all. But yeah, that was... that was fun."

Xuanyu smiles. "It's supposed to be confusing," he says, not unkindly. "The idea is that you have to think so much about the rules, you stop overthinking your talismans."

"Huh," Jin Chan says. "It worked, didn't it?"

"I'd say so. You did well, for a first-time player. Far better than I would." Xuanyu's fan snaps open. "I, of course, am terrible at it, which is why I only keep score now."

Jin Chan doesn't bother to point out that he knows that Xuanyu's talisman work is excellent, and that if he also understands the rules, and can follow the darts well enough to keep a score even the Jiang twins and Senior Wei won't argue with, Xuanyu must at least be better than Jin Chan.

Xuanyu will only pout.

"All right, I'm going out," Xuanyu says, smiling. "Be good."

Chapter Text

A few days later, word ripples through the guest dormitories; it starts from the Jiangs, of course.

Sandu Shengshou will be arriving today, and will be coming to watch them train.

"But it's too soon," Jiang Xiaodan insists.

Lan Sizhui explains it when Jin Rulan's cousins all gather in Xuanyu's room to discuss it. Jin Chan is there because he lives there too, and is not sent away. (He's not sure why. Even Lan Jingyi isn't here. As far as Jin Chan knows, Lan Jingyi has gone to Caiyi Town with Ouyang Zizhen and Ce Tengfei.)

"This year's Discussion Conference will take place here," Lan Sizhui says. "It would normally be the Jin Sect, but as the heirs of the Jin, Jiang, Wen and - perhaps - Nie are all here, among others, an agreement was reached that the rotation will be altered, so all of your parents can visit. Dad and Uncle Jiang are going to have their contest early, so the Lan will have time to prepare for the conference without disruption."

Jin Chan wonders at him saying Dad and Uncle Jiang. Lan Sizhui always seems careful to use more formal titles, apart from that one time in Senior Wei's house.

He'd think Lan Sizhui had forgotten that he was not solely among family, that Jin Chan was there, but Lan Sizhui at that exact moment is looking at him.

"You seem confused, Jin Chan," Lan Sizhui says.

He doesn't want to draw attention to the titles thing, so he flounders for another question. "Why is it perhaps the Nie?" he asks, because it seems like the kind of thing he should know, and may be tested on later, given the genealogy stuff they've been given for classes.

Lan Sizhui smiles. "Sect Leader Nie has no children, nor is he likely to be blessed with them in the future," he explains.

"By that," Xuanyu puts in, "he means that Uncle Mingjue has frightened off every matchmaker in all the land, and the kind of women he gets on well with tend not to be maternal so much as terrifyingly violent, so no-one expects him to marry, and if he does, we really don't expect him to have children."

"Should you be telling me this?" Jin Chan asks, voice barely above a whisper.

"Why not?" Jin Rulan asks. "You're family."

Jin Chan loses a few words overcoming the shock of that.

"... be one of Uncle Huaisang's sons," Lan Sizhui is saying. "Uncle Huaisang doesn't want it, anyway, and it's just understood that the leader will be whoever seems most... suitable."

"Most muscular," Jiang Xiaodan murmurs.

"Most angry," Jiang Huizhong says.

"Most suitable," Lan Sizhui says firmly.

"How many sons does Nie Huaisang have?" Jin Chan asks, because he is realising he doesn't actually know.

"Seven," Jin Rulan says, but Lan Sizhui shakes his head.

"Eight. He had another last month, you might not have heard."

"Eight children?" Jin Chan is surprised.

"No, no, eight sons," Xuanyu says. "Nineteen children, last I counted."

Jin Chan is aghast. "His wife must be a remarkable woman," he says weakly, and everyone but Lan Sizhui laughs.

Lan Sizhui's smile remains pleasant, and he explains. "The Nie are.. different," he says. "Uncle Huaisang's children have many mothers. His wife has never had children, but he has many concubines."

"And he loves them very much," Xuanyu says, snapping his fan open almost soundlessly. "Why, he's even met nearly all of them."

The others laugh again, but go quiet when Lan Sizhui turns his pleasant smile on them. "It is true," he says delicately, "that for many years now, new companions of Nie Huaisang have largely been selected by the ones he already has. Uncle Huaisang welcomes them readily, and is very devoted to them."

"He means that when one of Uncle Huaisang's women finds a woman being mistreated by her family and insists that the woman is beloved of Nie Huaisang and must be taken away to the Unclean Realm immediately, he always says yes, absolutely, he adores the woman utterly and cannot bear to be parted from her, she must come with him immediately so he can introduce her to his brother Chifeng-Zun," Xuanyu drawls. "And then they take her to Qinghe, and she spends some time with women of the Nie sect, who are all both terrifying and heavily armed. Uncle Huaisang never minds whether they stay or go, but if they want children, he's happy to oblige."

"He's very close with Auntie Xing and Auntie Niu," Jiang Huizhong says.

Jiang Xiaodan frowns. "Who's Auntie Xing?"

Jiang Huizhong hits him. "The one who used not to be Auntie Xing, but is now Auntie Xing," he says sharply. "She gave Xuanyu his special fans."

"Ohhh," Jiang Xiaodan says. "Yeah, she's Uncle Huaisang's favourite."

Jin Chan doesn't ask.

"To return to the original subject," Lan Sizhui says, "If any of you want to be on a particular team, be sure to let me know. I can probably arrange it for anyone except for Xuanyu, A-Kuo and A-Fa. I expect that all of you will be on Dad's team. Uncle Jiang will believe that Xuanyu will capitulate immediately if that scores points for Dad, and Dad will believe that the twins will do anything to win against their father."

The twins grin. "He's not wrong," Jiang Huizhong says.

"And A-Lei," Lan Sizhui continues, "I have been told to ask you which team you prefer." His smile widens, acquires dimples. "It is not unknown for participants in the training exercise to find it taxing and occasionally distressing. While this is excellent preparation for night-hunting in the wild, neither Dad nor Uncle Jiang is willing to be responsible for upsetting you. If you choose Dad's team, and the exercise upsets you, Uncle Jiang can tell Auntie Wen that it was your decision; if you choose Uncle Jiang's team..." He hesitates. "To be honest, Dad will probably go easy on you, and just concede the point. You know what he's like with you and your father."

Wen Changming nods. "I would not like to be anything less than a full participant," he says firmly. "Senior Wei's team, please."

---

When Sandu Shengshou begins observing the classes at training, Jin Chan is, at first, terrified by the scowl Sandu Shengshou appears to be directing at him.

Then he realises that Sandu Shengshou is scowling like that at everyone. Especially at Senior Wei, and they are famously close - they're both brothers and friends.

He wonders if the legends of their love for one another are untrue, for a moment, seeing the way they bicker and even shove at each other sometimes like children, but... Jiang Xiaodan, he realises, is much the same way with some of his cousins, and all of the guest disciples know by now that if you give insult to any of Jiang Xiaodan's cousins, he will be the first one who is angry with you.

Jin Chan learns to ignore the observers.

After several more weeks, there is a two-day period in which not one of Lan Sizhui, Sandu Shengshou, Senior Wei or Lan Qiren is seen - Senior Xue conducts the afternoon classes - and then the training exercise that all of the guest disciples already know about is officially announced, and team assignments are given out.

Jin Chan doesn't know if he's surprised or not that he is on Senior Wei's team, but he is, along with Wen Changming, Xuanyu, and Jin Rulan.

Lan Sizhui, when he returns with this announcement, looks slightly tired, and there is an air of irritation about him.

"How bad was it?" Xuanyu asks him that night, when the cousin group gathers again that evening. (Jin Chan has stopped questioning that he is expected to join them; he assumes Wen Changming insisted.)

Lan Sizhui rolls his eyes to the Heavens.

"It turns out Uncle Jiang thinks Dad has corrupted most of you, and only A-Kang can possibly be expected to make a real effort against him," he says. "He insisted on the twins, though. Dad did want you, but Uncle Jiang's really proud of you both."

---

Jin Chan isn't sure what he expected the training exercise to involve, but... it wasn't this.

Master Lan Qiren plays a xiao, and illusions settle across the landscape around them.

They're very convincing, and Jin Chan is already unnerved.

The scenario they've been given is that they're investigating strange occurrences in a village; they're told that if they resolve the problem, or survive until sunset of the third day having conducted themselves appropriately, as they would if this were real, the exercise will conclude. (And they will have won, if more of them do than the other team; for all that the competitive aspect is supposed to be between Senior Wei and Sandu Shengshou, once the teams were announced, the disciples developed a certain competitive air between them, too.)

The first day is quiet. They kill a few fierce corpses, and search for evidence of the cause of the problem in the village, but find very little. There are thirty-two of them, so they split into groups of eight, and it still feels like a lot.

That night, they eat in the village's inn, and take rest in the rooms there. They have to group up four to a room; Jin Chan is with Jin Rulan, Xuanyu, and Wen Changming.

The inn's staff are behaving oddly - Jin Chan wonders if that's part of the illusion, or if they're Lan people, acting, or if they're supposed to find something strange about it, some kind of clue.

Definitely a clue, he thinks a few hours later, when all of their swords have been stolen in the night and he is desperately fending off the attacks of demonic villagers with talismans. Big, huge clue.

He's pretty sure he's going to be eliminated any second now, but then his attackers fall, and he sees Xuanyu whirling through the melee, lightning-fast and apparently deadly with a fan in each hand.

When all the bodies have fallen, they've lost nine of their number, and Xuanyu is fastidiously wiping blood off his razor-edged steel fans.

He sees Jin Chan watching, and smiles blandly. "Strange how when you're fighting illusions, even an ordinary fan can work as a weapon," he says, with no apparent shame.

"Ordinary fan?" one of the other disciples - Jin Chan thinks his name is Zhou something - asks, disbelieving.

"Of course," Xuanyu says. "Look."

He turns and holds out a fan that is very definitely an ordinary fan made of wood and paper, and just as definitely not one of the ones he was holding before.

"Huh," says Zhou Whatever, who is apparently not familiar enough with Jin Xuanyu's fans to tell the difference.

Jin Chan used to say a lot of very unkind things to Xuanyu, and is beginning to wonder if he should be grateful he's still alive to regret that.

They can at least retrieve their swords, then.

The trail of the source of the pervasive evil afflicting the village leads uphill. They track false leads and fend off attacks by swarms of yao. By the time they find the cave, it's getting dark, they've lost four more of their number, and they agree to make camp outside and explore the cave after rest.

They plan a careful watch rotation, in shifts so they can all get sleep, but Xuanyu - who is the eldest of them, and therefore has a certain amount of inherent authority - overrules them all. He will stay up all night; he insists that sleeping on the ground will ruin his hair and his makeup.

Jin Chan doesn't believe it for a second.

Xuanyu assures them he'll wake them all if there's trouble, but when morning comes, Xuanyu is seated near the fire, and his sleeves and the skirts of his robes are draped with the kind of artless grace that Jin Chan is certain takes a great deal of effort to achieve. He's fanning himself lazily, and he smiles and murmurs that it was pleasantly quiet - but the bodies of dead yao and monsters are scattered around the outskirts of the clearing.

A number of them have arrows sticking out of them, and Jin Chan notes that Jin Rulan and Wen Changming's bows are by Xuanyu, and Jin Rulan and Wen Changming themselves are sleeping by Xuanyu's feet.

"Wake everyone but them and tell them to be quiet," Xuanyu says, very softly. "Whoever wakes them before they need to be woken will regret it," he adds with an incongruously sweet smile.

Jin Chan wakes everyone else and urges them to be very quiet indeed; Jin Rulan and Wen Changming are woken only when breakfast is ready.

After that, they set off into the cave.

---

"Be very quiet, and stay alert," Xuanyu says.

Xuanyu appears inclined to move very slowly and cautiously through the tunnel. Jin Chan stays with him, as do Jin Rulan and Wen Changming.

Before long they find a steep slope - too steep to walk, but an old, rusted chain allows them to climb down.

It's all very unpleasant - when he gets to the bottom, Jin Chan finds his robes are muddy and his hands are covered with rust and filth. He wipes them as best he can on his robes, for lack of any other options.

"Ugh," Xuanyu says, wiping his own hands on his clothes. "Disgusting."

And then he straightens the hang of his robes, and all of the stains just seem to fall away, and he adjusts Jin Rulan and Wen Changming's collars and - they're suddenly clean too.

"You're a mess, Chanchan," he says. "You really should have been more careful."

But then he pats Jin Chan on the shoulder, and Jin Chan feels a flicker of something make the fabric ripple, and the heaviness of the mud falls away, and when he looks down his robes are bright and clean.

"How did you learn to do that?" he asks, and Xuanyu blinks at him.

"Do what?" he asks, utterly shameless, and heads down the tunnel.

As the last boy comes down the chain, it snaps, and comes crashing down after him.

Jin Chan sighs.

At least some of them will probably be good enough on their swords to fly out again, right?

He, personally, isn't. But Xuanyu definitely will be, and... some of the others. Surely.

Assuming anyone survives.

The tunnel leads to a dead end by some kind of underground pool.

Some of the boys ahead start arguing loudly, and Jin Chan represses a deep sigh.

Nearby, Xuanyu does not.

"Idiots," Jin Rulan mutters.

And it's at that moment that the giant serpent creature surges out of the water and attacks.

One of the boys who'd been further ahead runs back towards the direction their group is in, which would be understandable, but he screams while he does it, and that draws the attention of the creature their way.

The Jin and Wen Changming are already moving towards the tunnel more cautiously, but the one Jin Chan is now thinking of as Young Master Idiot charges past and knocks Wen Changming to the ground. Jin Rulan and Xuanyu look back immediately and start to turn, but Jin Chan was trailing, just behind Wen Changming, and he doesn't even think about it.

He drops to his knees, sliding painfully across the rock, and grabs Wen Changming by the belt and collar. With the last of his momentum, he lifts the smaller boy bodily and throws him towards his cousins.

The last thing Jin Chan sees before the beast's jaws close over him is Xuanyu catching Wen Changming and stumbling back into the tunnel.

---

He emerges blinking into sunlight.

Master Lan Qiren is standing nearby, playing a xiao with intense concentration; the other dead disciples are standing around, also watching, and Jin Chan looks back; there is a strange, shadowy area in the middle of a bright meadow that runs alongside a stream, and in it the struggle continues.

He senses someone approaching him, and looks around again to see that it is Sandu Shengshou.

"Usually," Sandu Shengshou says, "I tell each of you why that was a stupid way to die, and what you should learn to do better." He pauses, and Jin Chan reflects that he's pretty sure he's more afraid of Sandu Shengshou than he would be of the giant serpent thing even if the giant serpent thing were real. "Not this time. Good job. Not your fault. Sometimes there are no good choices."

Jin Chan feels light-headed. "Um. Thank you, Sandu Shengshou."

Sandu Shengshou gives him a long, narrow-eyed look, but there's a curl at the corner of his mouth that could almost be a smile. "Don't get cocky, you did some stupid shit along the way and you're going to hear about that later."

He returns his attention to the fight and Jin Chan, feeling he's clearly been dismissed, goes over to join the other disciples.

---

The final result of the exercise is three survivors from their team: Xuanyu, Jin Rulan, and Wen Changming.

Several of the other disciples protest when this is announced, because those three survived because they ran away instead of fighting the beast, and -

"Of course they fucking did!" Sandu Shengshou bellows. "That thing was a giant, deadly monster that was far beyond any of you to fight with so little preparation, and staying to fight it was suicidally stupid!"

"It is important," Master Lan Qiren says, "to maintain a realistic understanding of your limitations, and to make your decisions accordingly. If you find yourself facing a greater challenge than your skills, numbers, or preparation have equipped you to resolve, you should always retreat for reinforcements."

"We told you to treat this like it was real," Sandu Shengshou adds, glaring fiercely. "And if this was real, most of you would be dead, and one of you," his gaze locks onto Young Master Idiot, "would have been responsible for the deaths of others. Before you died anyway because you still went back after you ran away."

"We will be discussing the precise nature of all the errors that took place in detail," Lan Qiren says ominously. "For now, you are all dismissed for the rest of the day."

They go first to the dormitories. By some kind of silent accord, Jin Chan is included in being given first use of the baths along with the survivors.

Properly clean and in fresh clothes, he feels quite a bit better about things, but he's still not sure how he feels about the whole exercise beyond kind of tired. He's considering having a nap, but when they emerge from the baths, Lan Sizhui is waiting.

"Senior Wei requests the honour of the company of his champions," he says, smiling, and apparently that includes Jin Chan, even though he died, so he follows along with the others.

This time Sizhui takes them to offices in the central part of the Cloud Recesses, not the secluded cottage; spacious rooms with desks, and shelves, and cabinets, where Wei Wuxian and Hanguang-Jun are to be found.

Wei Wuxian is standing very close to Hanguang-Jun as he speaks to him quietly, but Lan Sizhui's foot scuffs loudly on the path as he walks, just once, and Wei Wuxian turns and smiles and takes a step towards them, away from Hanguang-Jun.

"My heroes!" Wei Wuxian exclaims. "Good work, boys, wonderful work in fact. I appreciate you all very much for your hard work and survival. I won three points to two. Should have been four, but Jiang Cheng is terrible. You. You are the points."

"Um." Jin Chan says. "I died?"

Wei Wuxian waves a hand dismissively. "Jiang Cheng isn't giving me a point for you because he is terrible, as I said, but I'm counting you. It wasn't your fault you died, and you saved my favourite nephew's life before my other favourite nephew or my favourite grandson could die trying."

"Since when do you have favourites?" Xuanyu asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Since today," Wei Wuxian says, in an expansive tone, "and you will be my favourites until I see the others and remember how much I love them. Even the twins, who nearly stole my victory." He pulls Xuanyu into a hug, and then Jin Rulan (who makes token protesting sounds, but doesn't actually resist), and Wen Changming, and then he turns to Jin Chan. "You. My favourite..." He hesitates, tapping his lips. "My favourite cousin-of-my-shijie's-husband. Do you object to being hugged?"

Jin Chan blinks. "I don't... think so?" he says uncertainly, and then he is being hugged by the Yiling Patriarch.

It's actually really nice. Senior Wei is tall, and solid, and strong, and he smells like rain and spices and sandalwood. Jin Chan is sort of sorry when it ends, and he's suddenly feeling much more shaky inside, because the only person who's ever hugged him that he can remember is his mother.

Wei Wuxian gives him a long look, and then a slightly sad smile. "We'll talk later, kid," he says, very quietly, and then turns back to the others, smile brightening. "I have abused Lan Zhan's authority," he declares, "and acquired for you all a delicious reward."

"You didn't cook it, did you, Uncle?" Jin Rulan asks immediately.

"Such betrayal," Wei Wuxian says. "My cooking is fine, you know, and -"

"He did not," Hanguang-Jun says. "Wei Ying."

"Fine." Wei Wuxian pouts. "Come on in, boys."

Inside the office, there is a tray of cakes.

"Thank you, Senior Wei," Jin Chan says formally.

"Eh, I can't take that from you," Wei Wuxian says. "We're sort of related, and you're my champion, whatever Jiang Cheng says. Call me Uncle."

Chapter Text

Wei Wuxian has been finding this year's guest lectures a little bit surreal.

He loves his grandson, he does, but it was less strange to love him when Xuanyu was little.

In the months between the last time he saw the kid and the start of the lectures, somehow Xuanyu finished the last little bit of growing he needed to do to get to the point where he now has the face Wei Wuxian saw in a mirror for so many years. He can stand it so long as the kid's got his makeup on, he didn't keep wearing that in his second life and it makes a real difference, but Wei Wuxian occasionally needs to go by the guest dormitories in the evening to talk to Sizhui (he's still annoyed about that, because he misses having him at home, and he's absolutely going to tell Wen Qing what her sons did), and if Xuanyu has already washed off his makeup, it's unpleasantly strange.

Still, it's another thing that feels like a victory in this life to see the young man - healthy, as sane as anyone else Wei Wuxian knows, more-or-less happy. He's still different, not like the other boys his age, but this time that's okay. Growing up surrounded by love and acceptance and, Wei Wuxian will admit, quite a lot of outright encouragement, the kid has thrived.

Wei Wuxian just wanted him to be himself, really, and had high hopes for him growing up with his still-adoring mother and this version of Jin Guangyao, who is protective and loving and fiercely determined to keep his son safe.

He hadn't entirely anticipated the effect of others of their acquaintance.

Nie Huaisang found a kindred spirit in the kid - he often had reason to visit Jinlintai on behalf of his brother, and speak to Jin Guangyao about matters that didn't require Zixuan's involvement, and somewhere along the way he met Xuanyu, and they bonded over a shared love of fans and pretty things and determinedly refusing to admit to being competent at anything.

Xuanyu and Lan Zhan also get on well enough. It can sometimes be hard to tell with Lan Zhan and kids other than Sizhui, he's quite reserved with all of them, but Lan Zhan taught Xuanyu his special, secret technique for cleaning one's clothes with a touch, and he won't even tell Wei Wuxian how that works. (Wei Wuxian has a sneaking suspicion that the technique is reserved only for those who are sufficiently prim, dramatic, and huffy, and can be relied upon to use the technique with great secrecy unless they're doing it to make a scene. Because Lan Zhan is positively prissy sometimes, always has been, and so dramatic any time he's in a Mood about things, and Xuanyu, as far as Wei Wuxian can tell, absolutely aspires to reach Lan Zhan's level in all of these qualities.)

(Wei Wuxian adores them both. He dreads the possibility of the two of them arguing with each other one day. The idea of having to deal with that level of dramatically performed stubbornness is terrifying.)

So far, Xuanyu has spent the guest lectures making a performance of appearing lazy (he even asked Wei Wuxian to officially excuse him from the swordsmanship training sessions, which Wei Wuxian did, because Xuanyu definitely doesn't need the training and is already capable of Lan Zhan levels of sulking) and pretending that he is concerned only with looking pretty, but his grades have been perfect, and the guqin instructors have nothing but praise for him.

Xuanyu's argument for being excused from sword training was that it would be a terrible waste of such an opportunity to study under such masters while he was here, because even if the Jin don't cultivate with the guqin, skill in performance with the instrument itself has value.

It's a good argument, but Wei Wuxian's still pretty sure he just did it so he wouldn't have to let people see him demonstrate his excellent swordsmanship in public.

Wei Wuxian truly regrets that he didn't get to watch Jiang Cheng's training exercise and see his grandson kill all those targets with his fans.

He's had suspicions about those fans for years, and feels extremely vindicated.

Jin Chan sacrificing himself to save A-Lei was something of a surprise, but a welcome one. Wei Wuxian has no idea how much of Jin Chan's obnoxious nature was due to Zixun's influence, before, but while the kid seemed to have fallen into shitty company this time, after the one interaction with their extended family, Jin Chan backed off completely.

Inviting him to the lectures had been Wei Wuxian's idea. He thought the kid might be redeemable. If it turned out he wasn't, pretty much everyone in their family seemed to have plans to terrorise him some more. Either way, Jin Chan would learn his lesson.

The kid's tearful declaration of his own unimportance had at least melted Sizhui's heart, which will do a lot to protect him from the wrath of the others, because Sizhui - as the first grandson, nephew and great-nephew, the perfect delightful child who brought everyone joy again after the long, bleak time of the Sunshot Campaign - is still adored by his entire extended family. (Wei Wuxian is grateful that his son is a sweet person by nature, or the degree to which he has been appallingly spoilt his entire life could have caused real difficulties.) If Sizhui is inclined to protect him, he'll be shielded from most of them.

Which is good, because Wei Wuxian is inclined to protect him too, but Sizhui can do it without risking ruffling anyone's feathers. Wei Wuxian is still going to have a word with Zixuan - the kid has had no friends since the unpleasant ones abandoned him, but he's also, clearly, not had much in the way of family. Wei Wuxian has a truly heartbreaking suspicion that he, himself, has just become the closest thing Jin Chan has ever had to a father. One hug and the kid had looked ready to shatter.

In good news for Jin Chan as the family gathers for the Discussion Conference - among all the others sect leaders, of course, but the best thing about Discussion Conferences is very much the chance for Wei Wuxian's whole family to get together - Wei Wuxian is definitely going to be diverting his angrier family members' attention to other targets.

They have to prepare for the tantrum Yao is going to throw, anyway, so when the first part of the Lotus Pier delegation arrives a few days early (Xichen has to be ready to play host, if nothing else, but the Chief Cultivator and Madam Yu will arrive later), Wei Wuxian seizes the opportunity to talk to Wen Qing and Xichen, along with Jiang Cheng - he hasn't told Jiang Cheng about this, yet, because Jiang Cheng has so far been here for the training exercises and keeping clear of the twins, who have been very definite about wanting to be able to be like the other guests at the lectures. Having their father around and actually acting like their father before any of the others do would be far too much of a difference.

"How have things been?" Wen Qing asks. "Have the boys behaved?"

"Depends how you define behaving, really," Wei Wuxian says. "They have not been disciplined by the Lan Sect."

Xichen raises an eyebrow. "But?"

"They decided to share a room with Jin Ling, and A-Lei was on his own. He accepted when Yao Jian asked him to share his room, and by the next morning Yao Jian had said cruel things to him. A-Lei was crying a lot."

"What?" Jiang Cheng scowls. "I thought you said the boys hadn't been disciplined? You didn't let them get away with fighting, did you? That will look terrible for both Jiang and Lan."

Wei Wuxian shakes his head. "Jin Chan got there first. Xuanyu sent a message to Lan Zhan as soon as he saw A-Lei crying, so Lan Zhan went right down with Sizhui and Jingyi to break it up because obviously they assumed there'd be a fight. Sizhui and Xuanyu brought A-Lei and Jin Chan to me. Jin Chan said that he knew it would be a problem if A-Ling or the twins were fighting Sect Leader Yao's son. He thought I'd throw him out."

"Very helpful of him. But the part that is puzzling me," Wen Qing says, very evenly, "is the twins allowing A-Lei to share a room with Yao Jian."

Wei Wuxian nods. "I haven't talked to them about it," he says. "I thought you might want to handle it yourself."

She smiles slightly, but without any humour at all. "You are correct. How has A-Lei been since then?"

"He's doing fine," Wei Wuxian assures her. "Sizhui and Jingyi moved down to the dormitories to share his room instead. Between them Sizhui and Xuanyu have been keeping all the kids in line, and you know how much they both love A-Lei."

By the kids he mostly means his nephews (and younger grandson), and he knows they know that.

Wen Qing taps a finger on the table, just once.

"When will the boys be at liberty to see their mother?" she asks, in a pleasantly neutral tone.

"Quite soon," Wei Wuxian assures her. "Classes will finish for today shortly." He switched sessions with Lan Qiren in order to have this discussion.

"Excellent." She flicks her sleeves. "I assume Yanli is coming to the Conference too?"

"She is."

"Then I will leave her son to her." She glances at her husbands. "Do either of you wish to be involved in talking to ours?"

Xichen smiles. "I'm sure you will address all relevant points," he says.

"And under the circumstances, I'm not inclined to protect them," Jiang Cheng adds. "They should know better."

Wen Qing nods. "They should. And I will ensure that they, too, are aware of that point."

---

Xuanyu is surprised to see his grandfather loitering outside when the disciples are released from class. He'd assumed that the classes had been switched because he had something to do.

Many of the disciples drift towards him, even the ones who aren't his nephews. Between his distinctly entertaining teaching style and his visits to the guest dormitories (he comes to see Sizhui now that the pre-competition restrictions are lifted, but often talks to many of the other disciples as well), much of the mystique of the Yiling Patriarch has been dispelled, and the disciples tend to flock to him whenever he's around.

When the twins step outside, Grandfather's gaze locks onto them and he ushers all the other disciples away - in the very specifically Grandfather way, where he somehow gets laughter for saying: "Begone, all of you! Why am I plagued so by children? Shoo! I am a very important and busy man!"

"Unc - Senior Wei?" A-Kuo says, clearly noticing they have Grandfather's undivided attention. "Did you want us for something?"

Grandfather's smile doesn't quite seem to have warmth. "Your family have arrived for the discussion conference, and your mother has asked to see you both."

"Are we in trouble?" A-Fa asks. Xuanyu would too. Auntie Wen is a very loving mother, Xuanyu knows, but Grandfather has a tone.

Grandfather cocks his head. "Why would you be in trouble? Can you think of anything you've done that your mother would be very, very unhappy that you did?" He's coming towards them, now.

"No, I don't think so," A-Kuo says, just as Grandfather gets close enough to sling an arm around each of their shoulders. The grip he takes on their collars makes it seem less than wholly affectionate as a gesture.

"Well," Grandfather says, "I wouldn't worry." A moment's pause. "I believe she'll explain it to you very thoroughly."

He marches them away.

"Do you know what they did?" A-Ling whispers.

Xuanyu has a pretty good idea, and also a strong suspicion that Auntie will have some gently disappointed words to say to her son about it, so he decides to take pity on him - but not in front of others, so he takes his cousin on a walk to a more isolated area.

"Who had you been told would be here before we arrived?" Because that's relevant; Xuanyu hadn't been given specifics, and suspects that he has not been in trouble because of that.

"You and smallest brother and Jin Chan, of course, and the twins, and the Nie, and A-Lei," A-Ling recites promptly.

"Did your mother say anything about the room arrangements?"

"Of course. Mother said she expected I would be sharing a room with smallest brother and Jin Chan, since you have a good relationship with the Nie and could go with them. But I moved in with the twins instead."

Xuanyu suppresses a sigh. He can't tell if his hints are terrible or if his cousin just isn't understanding them.

"Why do you think your mother would expect the twins would be unavailable to share with you, since she knows you get on well with them?" he tries.

"She probably thought they'd share a room with A-Lei -" He stops. "They - they probably should have been sharing with A-Lei, shouldn't they," he says, in tones of creeping horror. "A-Lei's so little, and he's so - so A-Lei, and my mother and Auntie Wen would expect them to take care of him." A-Ling turns to him, aghast. "She's going to kill me."

Xuanyu pats him on the shoulder. "Don't be dramatic," he says. "She's not going to kill you. She's going to ask you sadly about what happened, and apologise for not having explained her expectations in advance, since as it turns out, you didn't realise what she was wanting of you."

"That's worse," A-Ling moans.

It's not that he's wrong, but... he really should have thought about it before, so Xuanyu's sympathy is limited. A-Ling will be comforted only while Xuanyu has time; he's not going to be late for his next engagement for this.

He has a date.

It's fifty-fifty at best whether his date knows that it's a date, but he's working on that.

---

Jin Chan is in the habit, now, of rising at the Lan-approved hour, and he's twice managed to do his hair in a way that Xuanyu found wholly acceptable.

So he is, fortunately, up and presentable on the second day of the Sect Discussion Conference, even though classes are cancelled, when Lan Sizhui comes in to collect him and hauls him off (asks politely for Jin Chan to accompany him) early in the morning.

"Sizhui?" Xuanyu is frowning. "I thought there'd be another two days at least."

Lan Sizhui shakes his head. He isn't smiling. "Sect Leader Ouyang talked to Dad last night. Today. Make sure everyone we need is available, please. Dad's hoping we won't need to call in witnesses but if we do..."

"Of course," Xuanyu says.

As Jin Chan follows Lan Sizhui away from the dormitories, Xuanyu is going into Rulan and the Jiang twins' room.

Lan Sizhui leads Jin Chan at a brisk walk into the most rarefied part of the Cloud Recesses, where it's tacitly understood the guest disciples are not supposed to go; the part where the most senior people live. He goes straight to the door of a quite large house, and opens the door after a perfunctory knock.

"Come in," Lan Sizhui says, glancing back at him, and Jin Chan follows him inside.

He immediately wonders if this is actually just some kind of nightmare, because inside, pretty much all of the most important people in the world are waiting.

He knows Sect Leader Jin and his wife, of course, and Senior Wei and Master Lan Qiren, and has met Hanguang-Jun and Sandu Shengshou and Zewu-Jun and Madam Wen. He thinks he recognises Nie Huaisang, and he can definitely identify Chifeng-Zun, and there's a man who looks a lot like A-Lei and is probably Sect Leader Wen, and the pretty woman next to him is probably his wife.

But they're all in the same room, along with the Chief Cultivator's wife Madam Yu, and all of them are looking this way.

"Sizhui," Senior Wei says, in a critical tone, "did you warn him that he was going to be walking into a large crowd of the most terrifyingly important people in the world?"

"Oh, no," Sizhui says. "I didn't think of it, it's just - you?"

Senior Wei is standing and coming towards them. "To you, A-Yuan, this is your parents and aunts and uncles and grandmother and you love us and know we love you. To Jin Chan, this is the leaders of all five elite sects, and a cause for immediate panic." He puts a hand on Jin Chan's shoulder. "Breathe," he adds gently.

Jin Chan focuses on him - Senior Wei is his teacher, Senior Wei is kind to everyone, Senior Wei never lets anyone mess up so badly they get hurt. If Senior Wei is here, he'll probably be okay.

He concentrates on breathing.

"Good boy," Senior Wei murmurs. "Now come and let your classmate introduce you to his family."

"Yes, Senior Wei," he whispers, and Senior Wei smiles.

"This is a family meeting, not an official one. Who is Senior Wei? I'm sure I didn't invite anyone called Senior Wei."

Jin Chan swallows. "Of course. Thank you... Uncle."

It still seems wrong, but weirdly, it does make it easier, and Lan Sizhui introduces him to almost all of them in family terms. Jin Chan can't imagine ever addressing Sandu Shengshou as Uncle Jiang, but on this occasion Sandu Shengshou's nod seems almost friendly. Addressing Madam Yu as Popo seems almost as impossible, but it would be rude to do otherwise, when she's told him to.

And Uncle Wei is insistent. "I really need you to stop thinking of them as titles and think of them as people today," he says. "Because there's going to be a fight over you at the Discussion Conference, and I need you, need you, Jin Chan, to trust that everyone here is on your side, because I'm going to try to keep you out of it, but you might get called in."

Jin Chan looks around, and thinks he might be losing his mind when he's sure he sees Sandu Shengsh- Uncle Jiang smile at him.

"Yes, Uncle," he says. "Um. A fight, Uncle? Over me? At the Discussion Conference?" This could definitely still be a nightmare. A fight over him at the Discussion Conference probably counts as embarrassing the Jin Sect.

People will probably say it's in his blood.

Uncle Wei nods. "Sect Leader Yao," he says, and Jin Chan feels sick. "Sect Leader Ouyang told me last night that Yao has been talking to the other minor sects, telling them how his son was assaulted at the lectures and was cast out, and nothing has been done to the perpetrator. He's trying to make it about high-handed behaviour by the major sects." Uncle Wei rolls his eyes.

Madam Jin - Auntie, today, apparently - stands and crosses to Jin Chan, takes his hands. "A-Chan, tell me, how would you describe what actually happened?" Her voice is warm and her hands and her smile are gentle, encouraging, so he looks only at her and does as she asks.

"I came out of our room that morning, and I was watching Xuanyu fuss over everyone - I mean, he - he makes sure his brother and Jin Rulan and the Jiang and the Nie and I are all awake and dressed and ready in time every day? But then Wen Changming came out crying and he ran to Xuanyu. I thought he was homesick, but then Yao Shaoqing said - he said that brat shouldn't even be here, and then he said who let a Wen come anyway." Jin Chan cringes. "He said that, I would never," he adds desperately.

"Of course you wouldn't," she says warmly. "What happened next?"

"Jin Rulan and Jiang Xiaodan were already going to confront him, I think? But after that Jiang Huizhong was going too, and he said something about Yao Shaoqing daring, and I just." He swallows. "If Jin Rulan fought a Sect Leader's son, that would be... bad, really bad. Or if the Jiangs did. But if I did it, I thought I'd just get sent home. Because I -" He stops, and looks at Uncle Wei.

Uncle Wei sighs. "Say what you thought," he says.

"Because I don't matter," Jin Chan says, and has to look down, because he can't take that he just made Madam Jin look so heartbroken.

"Oh, A-Chan," she murmurs, and squeezes his hands. "Of course you matter."

"I have to ask," Madam Yu - Popo - says, "was A-Fa smiling?"

Jin Chan blinks. "No. Why -" he stops, because he is not in a position to ask questions here.

"Was that going to be why does everyone keep asking you that?" Uncle Wei asks, smiling, and Jin Chan nods. "Because A-Kuo is always angry about most things, but that's just his way. He's a grumpy kitten and we love him, but he won't really hurt anyone. A-Fa won't let him. Unless A-Fa is angry enough, and then they both fight."

"And they're very good at it," Lan Sizhui murmurs.

"You did well, A-Chan," Madam Jin says. "Thank you." She releases his hands and returns to her husband's side.

"Yes," Sect Leader Jin says. "It would have been... awkward if A-Ling or the twins had been involved."

"Fucking Yao," Uncle Jiang says, which does make it easier to think of him as just... Lan Sizhui's uncle, not Sandu Shengshou. "Why am I not surprised his son is -"

Lan Sizhui's Uncle Lan clears his throat, and Uncle Jiang scowls at him.

"Lan Huan, that little shit insulted all Wen in front of A-Lei, the son of Sect Leader Wen, and in front of our boys, who are the sons of Wen Qing. Yao is lucky his brat didn't start a war," he says.

Uncle Wen - this one is easy, because Sect Leader Wen looks a lot like Wen Changming and Jin Chan kind of wants to ask if he can change sects, or something - stands, looking at Jin Chan.

"Young Master Jin, thank you for defending my son," he says, with quiet sincerity.

"I, um. You're welcome?" Jin Chan winces. "I mean. Wen Changming is a really great person. He's been very kind to me. I was angry too."

Uncle Wen smiles, and Jin Chan finds himself smiling back. He's just like Wen Changming, only bigger. Somehow he's not any less cute, there's just more of the cute.

Hanguang-Jun says, "Wei Ying." Uncle Wei looks at him, and then his face lights up.

"Brilliant," he says. "Lan Zhan's right."

"Wuxian, not everyone speaks Wangji as fluently as you do," Madam Wen says. "Right about what?"

"Jiang Cheng already gave us the answer," Uncle Wei says. "Yao Jian delivered serious insults to two major sects in front of the heirs. I mean, the Jiang Sect is offended, right?"

"Yes," Popo Yu says. "We are." Her tone is icy.

"Right! So Jin Chan was also protecting the Yao Sect from Yao Jian's stupidity, because if Yao Jian had fought A-Ling or the twins, that's a confrontation the Yao are guaranteed to come out of badly."

"Was Jin Chan disciplined for fighting?" Sect Leader Jin asks.

"Yes," Lan Sizhui answers immediately. "Dad cooked him breakfast."

Several of the people around the room wince.

"If anyone doubts whether that is really a punishment," Uncle Jiang says firmly, "they can eat Wei Wuxian's cooking, too."

"Hurtful," Uncle Wei says.

"Accurate," Uncle Jiang throws back.

Chapter Text

Wei Wuxian finds the argument over Jin Chan highly entertaining, in the end. It's helpful to have a strategy, and along the way he seems to have accidentally won Sect Leader Ouyang's loyalty, which is surprisingly useful. He's visited Baling a couple of times, but more often invited Ouyang Zizhen (and his father, if he has to) to visit elsewhere; the point was to give Sizhui and Zizhen an opportunity to be friends, and the boys get on very well.

Sect Leader Ouyang, it seems, is not interested in allowing any events to take place which cause a rift between the major and minor sects when his son has a chance to move up in the world and take the Ouyang Sect with him should he continue to form relationships with the sons of the leaders of the elite sects.

Taking time for preparation had been a good idea, even if poor Jin Chan had looked terrified when Sizhui brought him in to the room where the family were meeting. (Fortunately, no-one is afraid of shijie when she doesn't want them to be.)

When Yao brings it up, Zixuan is able to stand and explain quite politely that his disciple has the support of the Jin Sect, because by immediately acting in response to the insult to the Wen before the sons of Madam Wen could be involved (Jin Ling is not mentioned), he did well to defuse the situation and prevent any chance of a punitive response directed to the Yao Sect as a whole for such an egregious action by the Sect Leader's heir.

Jiang Cheng stands next, and says very politely that while at present he is willing to accept that the discipline of the Lan Sect is sufficient for the resolution of a squabble between children, if Sect Leader Yao wishes this issue to be considered as one involving the dignity and respect that are due to be accorded to the heirs of sects, then he will immediately discuss the insult to their mother with his sons, and prepare the Jiang Sect's response.

Wen Ning doesn't have to say anything, because he's sitting next to Nie Mingjue, as usual, and Nie Mingjue is glaring furiously at Yao.

Sect Leader Ouyang - seriously, Wei Wuxian kinda loves that guy now - stands to suggest that while the dignity of the leaders of Sects and Clans and their heirs is of course important and due respect, it is perhaps unwise to suggest that they are therefore beyond all consequences for their actions, and that Sect Leader Jin's disciple did well to avert more formal difficulties arising from Yao Shaoqing's error in judgement.

Sect Leader Yao, realising nervously that he has no real support in the room and all five of the elite sects are unified on the issue, apologises to the Wen and Jiang for his son's thoughtless incivility, and they return to the normal, painfully boring topics of the Discussion Conference.

At the end, Wei Wuxian sends Sizhui to tell the kids that all is well and is just about ready to go home when he finds that someone is waiting for him.

"Xue Chengmei. Did you need something?" he says politely, because over the years he has come to terms with the change in the kid. This Xue Yang has lived most of his life in the Cloud Recesses, and adheres unnervingly strictly to their rules. The only thing that keeps him from displacing Lan Zhan as the most gratuitously Lan-like person in the history of Lans is his smile - Wei Wuxian knows that the stuffier Elders (most of them) find its brightness appallingly indecorous.

Xue Chengmei is smiling at him now, and bows deeply. The clothes make it easier, too - the crisp white Lan robes, the plain yet pristine ribbon.

"Senior Wei," Xue Chengmei says. "This unworthy one asks your kindness. May he speak to you privately?"

"Of course," Wei Wuxian says.

---

Xichen has just returned from the Conference to his family's Cloud Recesses house and is looking forward to a quiet, relaxing evening. A-Bo and A-Cong have asked and been given permission to visit their brothers and cousins. They will be back before curfew, but that's still several hours away.

A-Cheng is visiting with his sister, and Wen Qing wanted to look something up in the Library, while they're here; Xichen elected to come home alone. He has two spouses and four children; it is rare that he has the opportunity to be truly alone, and Xichen has found he enjoys it, in very small doses.

And then the door opens abruptly, and his brother's husband stalks in.

"Lan Huan," he says, in a dangerous tone, "I am extremely unhappy."

Xichen blinks. "What is troubling you, Wuxian?"

Wuxian's eyes narrow. "When you decided to start your own personal collection of murder babies, I did not raise an objection, or do anything to stop you, or impede your efforts to avert their disastrous impulses." He's advancing as he speaks, and Xichen is finding himself backed against the wall.

Something to do with Jin Guangyao or A-Yang, apparently.

"But this has gone too far," Wuxian practically snarls. "Do you know what Xue Yang just did?"

"I do not," Xichen says. Surely it can't be anything too untoward. He saw the young man earlier today, and he seemed quite happy.

Wuxian grabs the front of Xichen's robes and presses him against the wall. "Your ward," he hisses, "just asked for permission to court my grandson."

Xichen blinks.

"I beg your pardon?" he says.

"Beg all you want, you're not getting it," Wuxian snaps. "Xue Yang wants to court Xuanyu and this is your fault!"

"How, precisely?" Xichen didn't encourage it. He had no idea.

"You turned him into a Lan! With all your irresistible Lan sexy powers! What was my poor grandson even supposed to do?"

Without lifting his hands, keeping them low out of Wuxian's view, Xichen dispatches a message butterfly. "I don't think I actually have... Lan sexy powers," he says carefully. Wuxian seems slightly hysterical. "I'm not sure that's actually... a thing."

"Of course it is," Wuxian says. "Just ask Madam Lan."

Xichen's mind nearly shuts down at the very idea. "Absolutely not," he says firmly.

"Fine, ask me. I should know. I wasn't interested in men at all until I met your brother."

Xichen stares. "I have literally seen your memories. We both know that's not true." He'll allow that Wuxian hadn't realised it, but meeting Wangji did not immediately change that.

"Beside the point!" Wei Wuxian shakes him slightly. "Your pet murder baby wants to court my grandson and now I have to talk to Jin Guangyao about it, and if Xuanyu actually wants this - which he probably does because of the Lan sexy powers - then Jin Guangyao will say yes, even though Xue Yang is a murder baby who's too old for him!"

Xichen can't help himself. "A-Yang is twenty-eight, Wuxian. Xuanyu is the same age you were, and Wangji is how old, precisely?"

"Not the point," Wuxian hisses, "and I am trying not to think about Xue Yang courting the face I used to see in the mirror."

Fortunately, it is at that point that A-Cheng and his sister arrive.

---

Jiang Cheng was briefly unsure he even wanted to know what a message from Lan Huan saying Wuxian is very perturbed please hurry bring your sister if you can was going to be about, but it turns out that he absolutely, definitely did, because it's hilarious.

Wei Wuxian is losing his mind, and it's amazing.

When Jiang Cheng and A-Jie arrive, Wei Wuxian spins and declares: "Jiang Cheng! Shijie! Pack your children, we must take them all away from this pit of vipers and sexual wiles."

Even A-Jie is taken aback for a moment. "A-Xian," she says carefully, "why don't you explain the problem?"

The problem turns out to be that Lan Huan's former ward, A-Yang, the youngest of the Lan swordsmasters, has asked for permission to court Jin Xuanyu.

"Xuanyu is just a baby!" Wei Wuxian wails.

Xuanyu is somewhere around twenty.

"We brought him here to get an education, not to start gallivanting around shamelessly with the prettiest Lan boy he could find!" Wei Wuxian protests, and that's the point where Jiang Cheng loses his grip on his own control and starts laughing openly.

Fortunately, A-Jie is able to calm him - although not before his rant includes phrases like Lan sexy powers and corrupting my sweet and innocent grandson who would never even consider such terrible behaviour (Jiang Cheng knows the kid, and yes, he absolutely fucking would). At her suggestion, Xichen agrees to resolve any concerns that A-Yang has been an appalling, predatory swine.

A-Yang is summoned, and arrives promptly.

"A-Yang," Lan Huan says, "have you broken any rules, or behaved inappropriately in any way with Jin Xuanyu?"

A-Yang looks at the floor, and this suddenly stops being funny.

"Yes, I have," A-Yang says, quietly sorrowful. "On no fewer than six occasions, I have spoken to him while eating meals. I did not have dessert on those days. On two occasions, I stayed awake past nine, talking to him through paperman talismans. I did not have dessert on the following days. Only the obedient may have dessert. I am afraid Xuanyu places a great strain on my restraint, but I meditate daily on this, and I think I am improving. I believe an ongoing association with him will only result in greater discipline, Lan-gege, I assure you, but I will understand if Senior Wei considers this grounds on which to refuse me."

And then he stops. Jiang Cheng focuses on self-control, because it just got funny again, but he cannot laugh until A-Yang leaves the room.

Lan Huan smiles. "Very good, A-Yang. It is quite understandable and normal for association with the disciples of other sects to be affecting in this way. Remember that speaking during meals is one of the rules of self-regulation that will be acceptable behaviour in private, should you marry."

A-Yang looks up and smiles brightly. "Thank you for the clarification, Lan-gege. Which other rules can one disregard in marriage?"

Lan Huan pauses for only a fraction of a second. "I am, as you know, not married," Lan Huan lies, and Jiang Cheng makes a note that they will definitely be having an extremely significant argument about that later, so he should probably ask his sister for silencing talismans, since hers are much better than his and it might not be resolved before the children get home, "so I am not truly an expert. Perhaps you should discuss it with my brother or uncle."

"I will do this thing," A-Yang says. "Thank you, Master."

"Thank you, A-Yang. That is all."

A-Yang bows to them all and leaves.

"The only reason," Wei Wuxian hisses, "that I did not tell him that it is none of the other rules including the ones about touching is that I know better than to fuck around with his understanding of total adherence to the rules."

Lan Huan smiles. "Quite. Wuxian, you heard him. His only inappropriate behaviour towards Xuanyu has been speaking during meals and staying up late."

"And that's not enough?" Wei Wuxian demands. "So shameless!"

Lan Huan just stares at him. They all do, and Wei Wuxian huffs.

"A-Xian," his sister says, "I understand that you love Xuanyu very much, and this is the first time you have been approached for permission to court one of the children, but it will not be the last. You must calm yourself and approach this as you intend to approach the matter in the future."

"Anyone who wants to court Sizhui can talk to Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says.

"You wouldn't do that to Sizhui," Jiang Cheng says. "Is Xuanyu even interested?"

"Probably. No-one can resist Lans."

Jiang Cheng is in no position to argue with that, so it's good that his sister is here.

"A-Xian," A-Jie says, "I can assure you that many of us can, in fact, resist Lans. I have personal experience."

"Your taste in men is pretty but stupid," Wei Wuxian argues, "you're an exception. The Lan are too clever for you." Jiang Cheng tries not to snicker, and fails. His sister gives him an unimpressed look, but - Wei Wuxian isn't wrong on that point. Zixuan is his friend and his brother and a moron.

Wei Wuxian turns back to Lan Huan. "Can I point out that Xue Yang is his teacher -"

He stops.

"He's not his teacher," Wei Wuxian says slowly. "Xuanyu asked to be excused from sword training and I said yes. That little shit."

Jiang Cheng laughs harder.

Wei Wuxian turns on Jiang Cheng. "I just want you to know," he says, "that I am going to remember that you laughed when someone wants to court A-Bo."

Jiang Cheng stops laughing.

---

Wei Wuxian does have to talk to Xuanyu.

Apparently his expression is thunderous enough that none of the guest ducklings are inclined to stop him on his way to Xuanyu's room in the dormitories, where he finds his grandson with all the other kids.

"You," he says from the doorway, pointing at Xuanyu. "Now."

Xuanyu comes outside. "Grandfather?"

"Not here." Too many people around. He takes Xuanyu back to the cottage, puts up silencing wards, and then turns to glare. "Xue Chengmei asked for permission to court you."

Xuanyu's face lights up, and Wei Wuxian's stomach falls. "He did? Really? I wasn't sure he'd even noticed yet," and oh, that little shit.

"You've been -" He narrows his eyes. "What have you been doing?"

"Just talking a little bit?" Xuanyu tries. "And maybe... taking walks with him?"

Wei Wuxian stares at him.

"And I maybe had a few picnics with him and also arranged to get him special candies from other regions," Xuanyu finishes in a rush.

"Just how much do you like him?" Wei Wuxian asks. "Because - he's a Lan, A-Yu."

"They take it seriously, I know." Xuanyu nods, and smiles shyly. "I really like him, Grandfather."

Wei Wuxian sighs. Was he that cute when he wore that face?

"I'll talk to your father," he says, but he knows it's a formality. Jin Guangyao won't deny Xuanyu anything.

---

Jin Chan packs his things for their return to Jinlintai carefully, and smiles when Xuanyu looks over his packing and finds it satisfactory.

He has more things than he might have thought - it has been nearly a year, of course, but somehow he would not have expected to have accumulated so much stuff. Books and notes from his classes, of course, but he has souvenirs from Caiyi and the Cloud Recesses themselves, and all sorts of little trinkets he's just kept because they'll remind him of happy memories.

Paper darts from playing the game - his most prized one is from the time where he played one-on-one against Second Uncle Lan and won, and he knows Second Uncle Lan was being badly distracted by Uncle Wei the whole time and also that Jin Chan himself had quite a few extremely lucky shots in his come-from-behind advanced-rules victory, but still, he won against Hanguang-Jun, and Hanguang-Jun had nodded seriously and drawn a little rabbit on the dart and given it to him.

The ribbons Xuanyu gave him for his hair. (Jin Chan styles it every morning himself, now, and Xuanyu approves every day.) Notes from Jiang Fa. (Including the one pointing out that he's the only cousin who uses courtesy names with younger cousins all the time, and if Jin Chan doesn't stop acting like he thinks he's too good for this family, Jiang Fa's going to stop holding his brother back from expressing his feelings about that.) The bow Wen Lei gave him for his birthday, that was sent for him by Sect Leader Wen, that Wen Lei and Jin Ling have been teaching him to shoot. A collection of little papermen that he kept because they were all just really cute, even after their spiritual power wore off - all of the cousins throw them around constantly, Jin Chan has learned how too, and it's really a lot of fun.

(Jin Chan has watched Uncle Wei and Second Uncle Lan play the game with darts that carry little paperman pilots, and it's ridiculous, and he wants to get good enough at both the game and papermen to play it that way.)

He's going to miss this, he thinks. A lot.

Apparently it shows.

"We'll see everyone again for the Lotus Pier lectures, you know," Jin Kang reminds him.

"That's true," Jin Chan says, and holds that to his heart. He'll have a few more months of this - the camaraderie, not being alone.

The door bursts open, and Jiang Kuo stomps in, Jiang Fa behind him. "We're leaving," he says, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Our parents are here. So. We don't have to put up with you assholes until you come to ruin Lotus Pier."

Jin Chan, like the others, pretends not to see the tear-tracks on his cheeks.

"We'll be sure to set fire to the woodwork on the day we arrive," Jin Kang says drily, but he accepts it without protest when Jiang Kuo hugs him fiercely. Jiang Kuo moves on to Xuanyu while Jiang Fa hugs Jin Kang in turn, and then -

- Jiang Kuo hugs Jin Chan, too. "I'll never forgive you for punching Yao Shaoqing before I could," Jiang Kuo mutters, with a light shove at his shoulder as he releases him.

Jiang Fa's hug is gentler, and he smiles. "Work on your dart technique," he says. "When you come to visit, we can take Uncle Wei by surprise."

Jin Chan is also hugged by Wen Lei, and Zizhen, and Tengfei, and Jingyi, and Sizhui, and four different Nie, and he's reeling by the time they get to the gates, where Uncle Wei and Second Uncle Lan are saying farewell to the departing guest disciples. (Well. Uncle Wei is. Second Uncle Lan is being Hanguang-Jun and just stands next to him looking majestic. Jin Chan is used to this, now.)

Uncle Wei hugs him too. Hanguang-Jun detectably nods at him, which is almost more shocking than all the hugs.

The journey back to Jinlintai isn't long, and the weather is still holding, so it's not unpleasant. Jin Chan greets his tearfully happy mother, and tries not to laugh as Xuanyu's mother fusses about him getting engaged while he was away, and demanding to know when his betrothed will be coming to pay his respects to Xuanyu's family properly.

Jin Chan knows the answer: in a month or two, because Uncle Wei has been weirdly insistent about some things, including that no, Xuanyu will not stay later at the Cloud Recesses, nor will Xue Chengmei be coming to stay at Jinlintai for more than the most brief and formal visits; Xue Chengmei will be permitted to visit Lotus Pier when Xuanyu is there while Senior Wei is also there, and the wedding will be held after the conclusion of the Lotus Pier guest lectures and not before. Xuanyu is furious, but since Uncle Wei has threatened to forbid Xue Chengmei from seeing him at all if Xuanyu attempts to see his betrothed without Uncle Wei's permission, and Xue Chengmei will, apparently, be obedient to an authority that is senior to his within the Lan Sect, Xuanyu is, in fact, making no attempt to do so.

Jin Chan goes to unpack his bags; he has almost completed this task when Xuanyu stops by, and casts a critical eye over it.

"You probably want to keep your bags at least partially packed," he says. "Sometimes when Dad or Uncle Zixuan are taking kids with them on visits to other sects it's on pretty short notice."

Jin Chan blinks. "But I don't go on those trips?"

Xuanyu rolls his eyes. "You will now, Chanchan, or the cousins will all complain about not seeing you." He puts a fan on Jin Chan's desk. "Study this. Learn to appreciate the art and materials, Uncle Huaisang will love you." He smiles.

The next day, Jin Kang collects him to come to the gardens.

There's a certain air of melancholy about the group that seems to be resulting in a determined togetherness. They all know that Xuanyu is getting married after the Lotus Pier lectures.

"I can't believe you're going to be a Lan now," Jin Ling says. "You're abandoning the Jin Brother Trio. At least -"

He's interrupted then, because an unwelcome voice cuts in.

"Lan? Xuanyu? Don't the Lan have standards any more?" Jin Peng says, and Jin Chan is turning before he thinks about it.

"The fuck did you just say to my cousin?" he demands.

"At least we already have a replacement," Jin Ling finishes. He comes to stand at Jin Chan's shoulder as Jin Kang steps up on his other side. "Right, er-ge?"

"Right," Jin Chan says, and he's smiling so wide his face hurts, even as he squares up to fight.