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Lan Sizhui has experienced a lot of odd things throughout his life, which has left him with more questions and less answers, but there are three particularly vivid events that stand out the most to him: one from childhood, one from his teen years and one from his adulthood.
The first event occurred when he was about four or five years old.
He was visiting his father's residence, the Jingshi , when he wakes in the middle of the night to someone's heart-wrenching sobs.
Sizhui, or A-Yuan which he was called at the time, waddled to his father's bed where the sobs had been coming from.
Sweat collected itself on Lan Wangji's skin and tears leaked from his closed eyes.
He must be having a nightmare, A-Yuan decided.
"Wei Ying," his father muttered, voice laced with grief. "Wei Ying!"
The name sounded eerily familiar to A-Yuan but he decided not to dwell on the matter as he favored grabbing his father by his shoulders and shaking him awake instead.
Lan Wangji's eyes sprang open by the motion. They darted around the room before landing on A-Yuan. His golden eyes softened.
"Rich-gege," A-Yuan said. "Rich-gege, are you okay?"
What happened next earned the event its spot on A-Yuan's list: Lan Wangji, Hanguang-jun , second young lord Lan, seized A-Yuan by his shoulders and pulled him forward and into an embrace.
Lan Wangji breathed heavily, tears rolling down his cheeks as he held his son in his arms, gently rocking them back and forth.
"Rich-gege," A-Yuan begun. "Who's Wei Ying?"
Lan Wangji choked on his breath before regaining his composure. He wiped furiously at his eyes as he willed his breath to calm down and the memories of the nightmare to go away.
"No one," he murmured into A-Yuan's hair. "No one."
The answer left more questions rather than answers.
A-Yuan doesn't mention it again.
The second event occurs when A-Yuan is thirteen.
Lan Jingyi convinced him—along with the other Lan disciples—to play ball outside of the Cloud Recess for their lunch break.
Somehow they manage to kick the ball up in a tree and A-Yuan becomes the winner of the anonymous vote they end up having to decide who's going to climb up and get it.
A-Yuan climbs up the tree with ease and throws the ball to A-Yi who stands below the branch. The difficult part is getting down again.
The branch, which was unsteady from the start, gives way beneath him and snaps, dragging him down with it. Gravity fails him and he's falling.
A sharp pain shoots up his leg when he lands and tears spill down his cheeks. A-Yi panics. He's immediately at A-Yuan's side, hands skimming over his leg, not sure whether they should land or not.
"Get help!" he commands one of their fellow disciples who scurries up the mountain in search of the elders.
A-Yi curses. A-Yuan has half a mind to remind A-Yi that swearing is forbidden however his foot hurts too much for him to care that much.
"Oh God, Hanguang-jun is going to kill us. He's actually going to kill us dead!”
("Killing is forbidden in the Cloud Recess," A-Yuan calmly reminds him through choked sobs.
”We're not in the Cloud Recess now!" A-Yi retorts.)
The other disciples cast apprehensive glances at each other before they fall on A-Yuan who's sobbing in A-Yi's arms.
Eventually an odd numbness begins to spread up his ankle and leg. The pain is still there but the blast of spiritual energy sedates it. A-Yuan's sobs cease and his eyes fly up to seek out the cause.
Hanguang-jun walks briskly towards them (because running is forbidden in the Cloud Recess, even if they're outside of it), golden eyes blazing with fury and what A-Yuan can distinguish as fear.
A-Yi and the other disciples shrink in on themselves beneath his heated gaze. A-Yuan finds himself doing the same and casts his eyes down to look at his now swollen ankle. He's surprised when arms come around his legs and shoulders, hoisting him up. Hanguang-jun lifts him like he weighs nothing and stalks away with his son in his arms. A-Yuan's arms rope around his father's neck.
"Father..." he begins but the words die on his tongue when Lan Wangji gives him a look.
"We will discuss punishment later," his father says.
The rest of the way to the medical ward is heavy with tense silence.
Once they arrive, the healer prods and pokes at his ankle before coming to the conclusion that A-Yuan's ankle is fractured. The healer and Lan Wangji exchange words in hushed voices before the healer flees in search of something to help with the swelling.
A-Yuan's foot is propped up with pillows and he fiddles with the ends of his headband when his father takes a seat at the foot of the bed.
The air around them is tense, the only sound being from the cold autumn winds howling outside the door. Finally, Lan Wangji breaks it.
"You fell, A-Yuan," he says.
A-Yuan can't really defend himself from the statement.
"It's just a small fracture," he tries but it is in vain.
"You fell, A-Yuan." This time his father's voice is laced with pain and fear.
A-Yuan feels really bad. His father has had this underlying fear of someone close to him falling or disappearing since A-Yuan was a child but he doesn't remember why.
"I'm sorry, father," is the only thing he can say.
They're silent for a while till Lan Wangji stands up to make room for the healer who's walked through the door.
"I think copying the rules ten times each day while your ankle heals will do," his father decides. "You may go to class but after you are to return to your quarters with Jingyi."
They end up getting caught for destruction of private property since the tree with the broken branch A-Yuan fell from stands on the grounds of the Cloud Recess. All of them are grounded, only allowed to attend class.
A-Yuan feels guilty as his punishment turns out to be more lenient than A-Yi and the other disciples'. He writes the rules while sitting comfortably in a chair with his foot propped up. The others do handstands and copy the rules five times a day.
Only when A-Yuan's ankle has healed are they let off.
One day when A-Yuan is on his way to class, he notices the most recent rule carved into the wall of disciplines: "Climbing trees on the grounds of the Cloud Recess is strictly prohibited."
A-Yuan can't help the faintest of smiles on his lips before he skips off to class.
He doesn't climb the trees of the Cloud Recess again.
Lan Sizhui (who is finally of age!) finds senior Mo to be one of the strangest yet interesting individuals he has ever met. Despite popular belief that the man is mad, Sizhui finds the man to be a bit of a genius.
(This is what Sizhui would call the third event.)
He tells Hanguang-jun as much when his father questions him about the mission when they're finally alone. However there was something about senior Mo that Sizhui found strangely familiar, but he couldn't figure out why for the life of him!
His father seems to sense Sizhui's distress, however he doesn't mention the matter.
It is not until some weeks later that the questions Sizhui has asked himself throughout his life are answered.
Senior Mo is actually Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Ying: the man Lan Wangji has called out for in his sleep since Sizhui can remember—the man who it's painfully obvious that Sizhui's father is in love with (well it's painfully obvious to everyone except to Wei Wuxian himself)—but he's not only his father's long-lost love: he's also Sizhui's Xian-gege, the man who saved the remaining Wen clan and became the cultivation world's enemy, just to save Sizhui's now dead family.
Everything came to light once Sizhui speaks to his uncle, who reminds him of a time he barely remembers: a time when food was scarce, a time when Xian-gege planted him in a radish-field and told him that he would grow brothers and sisters for Sizhui– A-Yuan to play with.
A piece of Sizhui's life falls into place once he realizes who he is and he turns to his uncle, eyes wide.
"I must find senior Wei, uncle," Sizhui quickly tells him before he runs off to find his Xian-gege, uncle Wen one step behind.
They find Wei Wuxian with Hanguang-jun . The former speaks animatedly which is met with a loving look from the latter.
His heart bursts with joy at the hopeful and relieved look Wei Wuxian wears once Sizhui reveals his identity.
The hug that comes after sends Sizhui to another plane of existence, because he's in his Xian-gege– his other father's arms.
Wei Wuxian holds him tight, as if he's afraid that Sizhui will disappear if he lets him go.
Sizhui is crying—he has missed his Xian-gege so ardently in the past thirteen years. His father is crying as well, nevertheless he still teases him.
"Silly boy," he softly says. "Why are you crying?"
Wei Wuxian lets his son go but his hands linger on Sizhui's arms. His son wipes his tears with the back of his hand.
"I'm not crying," Sizhui insists. "I'm just feeling really sad and yet thrilled at the same time. I can't put it into words."
His father lets out a wet laugh.
"Then don't," his other father contributes.
Sizhui feels slightly guilty—he'd forgotten his other father and his uncle had observed their conversation.
Wei Wuxian leans against Lil' Apple, fiddling with Chenqing . "That's right. No need to say anything."
Sizhui can't help but nod, smile bright on his face.
His family is together again and whether or not his parents will finally get together seems like it will be answered in a matter of time.