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Jiang Yanli had been rushed off her feet all morning, busy with the preparations for Jin Ling’s 100 days celebration. She had been arguing back and forth for weeks with her husband and mother-in-law about the fact that yes, she really did want to keep the event as small and intimate as possible. She eventually won the debate when it was pointed out that she had gone along with the lavish, expensive wedding that they’d wanted for their son, but she’d be damned if she let anyone make decisions about the raising of her own child. Her husband eventually backed up her decision, admitting that his wife had made enough sacrifices in the name of his family’s extravagant tastes.
But even still with only the smallest of parties, Yanli found there was still so much to plan. After spending all day drawing up plans of how much food was needed, what she would cook herself, what food would be ordered specially, and practising a few dishes, she finally found time to sit down and go over the guest list again. True to her demands, they had kept it small; sticking mainly to their parents (of which they only had three between them due to Jin Guangshan’s sudden death two years ago; not that he was particularly missed), her siblings, Zixuan's closest relatives and a few close friends. Everyone had RSVP’d except for one of her dear brothers. Well, that wasn’t entirely true; Wei Wuxian had promised he would be there, just stating that he had to check some things first and would call her soon with more details. She first assumed it was to do with taking time off work. Not that she knew much about his job at all, or anything in his life for that matter
While he wasn’t forcibly ejected from the Jiang household, Yu Ziyuan had made it fairly clear that she didn’t want him hanging around for long after he turned eighteen. Wei Wuxian had taken that hint and ran with it and ended up moving to college across the country seven years ago, eventually settling down there, leading a life that none of his family members was completely aware of, and only visiting once every couple of years.
Yanli could tell there was something he wasn’t telling her. One of his concerns was about where he would stay if he came for the party, yet he seemed hesitant about taking up her offer of staying in one of the Jin mansion’s many guest bedrooms. She couldn’t be certain, but she was sure that somewhere in the middle of his rambling monologue about not wanting to impose, he had mentioned something about possibly needing a plus one. Yanli was taken aback by this as, in all his years of living away from home, Wei Ying had never once mentioned anything about any potential partners. Not that he really talked about anything in his new life with her or their brother when they would catch up over the phone. But before she could say anything, like assuring him that he was welcome to bring someone with him, he was already wrapping up the call, claiming some excuse about needing to get back to work.
She rested on the couch for a while, feet up, cup of tea in hand, contemplating her brother’s secretiveness over the years. She had long suspected that their mother’s less-than-loving parenting style had instilled in him that he wasn’t wanted in the Jiang family and that he was better off making himself scarce. This, of course, was not what she or Jiang Cheng wanted; they often pestered Wei Ying about when he was moving back home - to which their brother would make some noncommittal comment about being tied down by work or loving his new city too much.
She had been patiently waiting for Wei Wuxian to get back in contact with more solid plans, wanting to respect her brother’s privacy. However, she had plans to finalise, and if Wei Ying was bringing a plus one, she needed to know so that she knew how much food had to be ordered. Not wanting to waste another moment, she picked up her phone and called her brother’s home number.
He didn’t answer.
This was odd as he was usually in at this time in the evening. She rang again and this time her call was answered. But not by her brother.
“Hello, Lan/Wei residence,” the unfamiliar voice on the other end of the call said.
Those names definitely rang a bell, but the voice saying them didn’t.
“Um hello. Sorry, do I have the wrong number? I thought this was my brother, Wei Wuxian’s phone number,” Yanli asked hesitantly. If this was Wei Wuxian’s landline, then he had never mentioned having a flatmate.
Some form of recognition must have clicked for the mysterious phone man, as his demeanour perked up somewhat.
“No, you have the right number. My apologies, Ms Jiang for not clarifying straight away; my name is Lan Wangji, Wei Ying’s husband.”
Yanli tried to suppress her gasp. A-Xian? Married? And to Lan Wangji of all people. She had never properly met the man, but his family’s company was known throughout Yunmeng. She knew that he and Wei Ying had known each other in school, and she knew that Lan Wangji had moved far away for college around the same time he had. Now, she knew that Wei Wuxian could be shameless, but could it be that, all this time he’d been so aloof about his whereabouts and living situation; he’d actually eloped across the country with Lan Wangji?
No, she was getting ahead of herself; they’d probably just reconnected in college and dated for a while before officially tying the knot. All this still begged the question: what else has her brother been hiding?
“Oh I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that A-Xian was married,” she asked, trying to keep a relaxed tone of voice.
Lan Wangji swallowed - as if thinking about what to say next.
“Yes, we’ve been married for almost two years now”
Two years. Two years, her younger brother had been married and hadn’t told her. He tried to squash any sadness she felt at that revelation.
“Was there something you wanted? I can pass a message on for you” Lan Wangji asked, breaking the awkward silence.
“Um yes, I just wanted to know his plans for my son’s 100 days celebration; he never confirmed if he was coming or not. He hinted that he might need a plus one…” she trailed off.
“Oh, if you’d like I could run his plans by you, we’ve been discussing it recently. He does want to come, he just wanted to check some things were alright with you first.”
He made her brother sound so grown-up: discussing travel plans with his husband before running them by her.
“Yes, that’d be lovely; if you don’t mind me taking up your time that is. You’re absolutely welcome to come along as his husband if that’s what he was worried about.”
“Thank you, Ms Jiang-”
“Please, call me Yanli. We’re basically related now anyway,” she interrupted warmly.
“Thank you, Yanli, you may call me Lan Zhan or Wangji if you so wish. That was one of the things Wei Ying was concerned about asking about; we didn’t want to intrude on your household. And you’re not wasting my time at all; Wei Ying would come to the phone himself but he’s... busy right now.”
“Busy?” Yanli asked.
Lan Zhan paused for a moment as if weighing up how much he should reveal.
“He is currently bathing our son” he finally said, cautiously.
Yanli felt her heart drop into her stomach.
“Your… son?” she asked quietly.
“Yes, our son, Lan Yuan. We adopted him about a year ago.”
Yanli was quiet for a moment. Could she have really had a nephew this whole time that she had no idea existed?
“Oh, that’s wonderful, I had no idea I had a little nephew” she managed to get out, her voice growing thick with emotion. “Will you be bringing him with you when you come to Yunmeng for the party?” She asked hopefully.
There was so much more she wanted to ask; how old was A-Yuan? What was he like? Why did they choose to adopt him? Part of her was praying that Lan Zhan would say yes to the question she actually asked out loud because she was desperate to meet her newfound nephew.
“Actually that was the other thing that Wei Ying wanted to ask about. Of course, we’d love to bring A-Yuan to meet his family, but we didn’t want to impose on your hospitality by bringing a toddler to stay in your home whilst you’ve already got a newborn. We were considering booking a hote-”
Yanli cut him off before he could even finish saying the word hotel.
“No no, you’re absolutely welcome to stay with us! It’s not a problem at all, it’s not like we don’t have the room. In all honesty, I just want to see my brother again and meet his new family.”
“Thank you, Wei Ying is also excited to see you again. He talks about you and your brother non-stop.”
Yanli smiled at this, glad to hear that Wei Ying did still consider them his family in some way.
“Can I ask you something, Wangji?”
“Mn”
“Is A-Xian doing okay? Is he happy? I mean, I assume he must be if he has a husband and a child, but he tells me so little about what he’s doing these days. I just worry about him”
“We are very happy” Lan Zhan supplies, “Wei Ying is the light of my life along with A-Yuan; I am lucky to have them both.”
Yanli’s eyebrows raised involuntarily at this. Her brother sure had found a keeper.
“I’m so glad to hear that. I can’t wait to meet you and your wonderful son! Will you tell me about him?”
Lan Zhan was about to say something but was cut off by another voice on his end of the call.
“Lan Zhaaaaan where are you? One clean baby bunny wants a bedtime story from his baba.”
It was her brother’s voice for definite. That, she’d still recognise anywhere.
There was also the faint sound of a child’s laughter.
Yanli’s breath hitched in her throat. She desperately wished she could see what this sweet little boy looked like.
Lan Zhan directed his attention to his husband for a moment. The conversation was muffled (he had presumably pressed the phone to his shirt), but Yanli could just about hear what was said.
“Wei Ying, my love, I’m just on the phone to your sister. She wanted to know our plans for the trip home”
“Shijie called? What did you tell her” her brother sounded panicked.
“I informed her that we will be bringing A-Yuan and accepted her offer to stay in her home for the duration of our visit.”
“She knows about… Is she still there?”
“Mn”
“Hm okay. Right, you go read the kid his story, I’ll talk to Shijie”
“Okay”
There was a moment of shuffling noises as Lan Zhan presumably passed the phone to Wei Ying. Yanli could pinpoint the exact moment that A-Yuan was handed over to his other father, as she heard an adorable little voice exclaim “ Baba!”
She wanted to cry on the spot. Could she still blame pregnancy hormones if she was almost a month post-partum?
“Um Shijie, are you still there?” Wei Ying asked, voice full of uncertainty.
“A-Xian! I’m still here”
“Sorry about the wait, I was busy”
“Oh it’s no bother, I was quite enjoying talking to your lovely husband” she teased.
Wei Ying laughed nervously.
“So Lan Zhan told you everything, huh?”
“Uh-huh, A-Xian, you could have told me that you were married. I would have congratulated you, I would have come to visit if I knew I had a nephew”
“I know Jiejie, I just didn’t know how to say it” Wei Ying admitted.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, at first, when things started getting serious with Lan Zhan, I didn’t know how to say over the phone that I had a boyfriend; I knew that you’d be fine with it and Jiang Cheng probably would be too, but I didn’t know how Jiang Fengmian and Madam Yu would take it. And then before I knew, Lan Zhan and I were moving in together, then eloping, then adopting A-Yuan and suddenly I had this whole secret life that felt completely separate from everyone back home and how was I meant to drop that bombshell on you all?”
“Oh A-Xian.”
Yanli winced at the thought that fear of homophobia had been the root of her brother keeping so much from her. She knew that she was not the reason for this fear, as, at age 17 when he was still living at home, Wei Ying had drunkenly confessed to her that he was bisexual and was scared of what their parent’s reaction would be. She didn’t know if he had ever had a similar conversation with Jiang Cheng, but she was sure that he wouldn’t have any strong negative feelings towards the matter. Their parent’s on the other hand… well, Jiang Fengmian would probably still love and support Wei Wuxian as much as ever, but Yu Ziyuan was a wild card.
However, as much of a grudge she had against Wei Ying, she was still a social climber at heart, and Yanli had a feeling that she would be much more supportive after learning that Wei Ying had married the second heir to the Lan estate. Hell, maybe she’d even start being nice to him for once.
“Maybe I should have made more of an effort to know what was going on in your life; you always asked what I was up to”
“Shijie, it’s not your fault, I was usually purposefully secretive; you couldn’t have known.”
“Look, what’s done is done. Let’s just agree: no more secrets from now on. Deal?”
“Deal!”
“Good because I have so many questions!” Yanli squealed. “First of all I want to know about your husband; when did you start seeing one of the most eligible bachelors of our whole town?” she teased.
“Ugh, Shijie!”
“What! I’m your big sister, I want to know everything. Did you like him back in high school, or only when you met him again later?”
“Well, we didn’t officially start dating until we ended up at the same college, but I suppose maybe I did have a bit of a crush on him in school without realising it.”
“A-Xian, that’s adorable, I’m so glad you found each other again. What about this little nephew of mine, when did he come into your lives?”
Wei Ying waxed poetic about his son for a long time. Yanli learnt that A-Yuan was two and a half years old; he was a distant cousin of Wei Ying’s college friends, Wen Qing and Wen Ning who had taken him in after his parent’s death. Wei Ying and Wangji often helped the siblings out by babysitting and eventually offered to adopt the sweet little boy they’d grown to love after it grew difficult for the Wens to provide for him. Wen Qing was a student doctor and already stretched herself far too thin timewise to look after her younger brother who had a medical condition.
He told her about how much A-Yuan had come out of his shell since moving in with them a year ago; how he was already calling them Baba and A-die; about how inquisitive and sweet he was.
“A-Xian, he sounds wonderful, I can’t wait to meet him. I’m so glad Jin Ling will have a cousin so close in age!”
“I can’t for you to meet him either, him and Lan Zhan. You’re gonna love them both”
“It sure sounds like you’ve found a real keeper there, are you happy with him?”
“Shijie, Lan Zhan is wonderful, I love him so much” Wei Ying gushed.
When they eventually hung up, Yanli’s face hurt from smiling, and she went to bed happy, with the knowledge that she now knew a lot more about her younger brother’s life.
-----
“What do you mean he’s bringing his husband? What husband? Who the fuck married him?” Jiang Cheng demanded with a look of bafflement across his face.
“Language,” their mother scolded.
“Sorry, mother”
Wei Ying had asked Yanli to mention his news to the family beforehand, so as to not completely ambush them on the day of the party. She decided the best way would be to slip it into conversation over their monthly family brunch when the topic of party planning inevitably came up. Jiang Cheng, of course, had the loudest outburst. Her own husband was minding his own business, busying himself by pouring the tea. Their parents were somewhat harder to read.
“I called A-Xian the other day and his husband answered. And for your information, Lan Wangji married him”
“Lan Wangji? That Lan Wangji? Like, heir to Lan Corporations, Lan Wangji?” Jiang Cheng asked incredulously.
“The very same,” Yanli said smugly.
Jiang Cheng was at a loss for words. Luckily Jiang Fengmian broke the silence.
“Well, that’s wonderful news, it’s lovely that A-Xian found someone, isn’t it dear?” he turned hesitantly to his wife.
Her face gave away nothing as she turned over the idea in her head.
“I suppose there are worse people he could have chosen for a partner; Lan Wangji and his family have excellent reputations.”
The Jiang siblings locked eyes at this statement, Jiang Cheng rolled his. Of course, their mother would view this through the lens of ‘ what shame is Wei Wuxian bringing on the family this time?’”
“Well, I for one think it’s wonderful news as well, Father. I spoke with Lan Wangji on the phone and he was very nice.”
Jin Zixuan’s eyes flashed with confusion. Yanli had explained her phone call with Wei Ying and Lan Zhan to her husband already, but he was still struggling somewhat to reconcile the cold, socially awkward Lan Wangji he had met through rich family connections, with the Lan Wangji that Yanli squealed about when describing how devoted and in love he sounded with her brother. Still, he knew to stay quiet during the Jiang family brunches.
“I’m still struggling with the fact that Wei Wuxian is married,” Jiang Cheng said, “are you sure he said, husband? Not housemate or… anything else?”
“He definitely said husband, but if you’re so cynical, you can ask them yourself. They’re both coming to the party and they’re bringing their son, Lan Yuan”
“Their SON?!”
-----
Wei Wuxian and his little family were arriving at the Jin mansion the day before the party, so they could get settled in before having to be on their best behaviour in front of the other guests.
Yanli was a ball of excitement, right up to the moment that the doorbell rang (Jiang Cheng would deny it until his dying breath, but so was he).
She threw open the front door, not fully knowing what to expect. In front of her stood her brother looking the same as he always did (except maybe older and slightly tidier), black skinny jeans, baggy jumper, high ponytail secured by a long red ribbon. Stood to the side of him was a tall and serious-looking man with immaculately combed long hair and wearing a smart shirt and slacks, whose blank demeanour was softened by the chubby-cheeked toddler braced on his hip.
She immediately threw herself into her brother’s arms.
“A-Xian!”
“Shijie! Oh I missed you so much”
“I missed you too,” She said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve as she pulled away from the hug.
“You too Jiang Cheng, come here” Wei Ying teased, pulling his brother into a reluctant hug.
“Yeah yeah asshole, maybe don’t go years without visiting next time”
“Oh hush, I know you missed me. Also, no bad language in front of the little one” he feigned offence, nodding his head in the direction of A-Yuan.
“Oh yeah, Jiejie told us about your secret double life.”
Wei Ying rolled his eyes at his brother’s joking.
“Shijie, Jiang Cheng, this is my husband, Lan Zhan,” he said, linking Wangji’s arm with his.
“Hello, It’s lovely to finally meet you in person,” Yanli said brightly.
“Yeah, nice to see you again mate” Jiang Cheng said, less brightly. He vaguely remembered his few interactions with Lan Wangji back in school.
“It’s nice to meet you both too, thank you for your hospitality” Wangji replied, bowing as far as the toddler on his hip would allow.
“And who is this adorable little boy?” Yanli asked, turning her attention to the child in Wangji’s arms.
A-Yuan immediately hid his face in his father’s chest.
“Aw, he’s shy” Wei Ying cooed, leaning down to his level. “A-Yuan, this is my sister and brother, can you say hello?” he coaxed the boy to look at them.
“Hello,” he mumbled, giving a tiny wave in Yanli’s direction.
“Oh A-Xian, he’s so sweet.”
Wei Ying was beaming, Lan Wangji had a small, but unmistakably proud smile on his face.
“God, I can’t believe you’ve got a kid; this is crazy” Jiang Cheng muttered.
“It really is, but I couldn’t be happier” Wei Ying declared with a dreamy look in his eyes.
They eventually moved out of the doorway and into the living room to sit down.
Wei Ying was equally as enamoured with Jin Ling as his siblings had been with A-Yuan.
“He’s just so small!” he exclaimed when he held him in his arms for the first time. “We never saw A-Yuan as a newborn, so he’s always been pretty sturdy as long as we’ve known him.”
A-Yuan sat wedged between his fathers on the couch, quietly drinking a juice box, inquisitively staring at his baby cousin and once shyly tugging on Wei Ying’s sleeve and asking to see him closer.
Yanli took far too many photos of her brother holding sleepy, swaddled, Jin Ling at his son’s eye level so that he could properly say hello to the baby.
The five adults spent hours in Yanli and Zixuan’s living room catching up on the past seven years. The main topic of interest was, of course, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan’s love story. Jin Zixuan’s eyes very nearly popped out of his skull when he saw the sickeningly adoring way in which Lan Wangj looked at Wei Ying as they detailed their history together.
Jiang Cheng was equally as confused, but asked a lot more questions than Zixuan, mainly about why they had kept everything from them for so long. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan fielded his questions with a confidence that hinted that they had been anticipating this conversation for a while.
Yanli was on cloud nine, enjoying having her favourite people all in the same room once again.
-----
The party passed more or less without incident. Madam Yu was surprisingly respectful, even once going so far as to congratulate Wei Ying on his marriage and fatherhood. Jiang Fengmian eagerly attempted to engage little A-Yuan in conversation; over the moon to have another grandchild to spoil.
Nie Mingjue was a colleague and good friend of Zixuan, meaning he and his younger brother Huisang were invited to the party. Huisang, who had been almost inseparable from Wei Ying in school, was beyond shocked to learn that his old school friend was married with a child. Yanli had been fortunate enough to witness that conversation. ‘ I can’t believe you’ve got a kid, dude!’ ‘I know right, I’m so lucky’.
Lan Wangji’s older brother, Lan Xichen was also invited by Zixuan (something about fostering good relations between their companies. This had been his one exception to Yanli’s close-friends-only rule), so it was also riveting to watch him learn about his younger brother’s marriage and the existence of his nephew in real-time. If he was shocked he barely showed it, but it was still hilarious to watch him process the information and then calmly congratulate his brother and brother-in-law as if this were a completely normal situation. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian and their constant bickering could never. However, he did shoot his younger brother a look that silently screamed ‘ we will talk more about this later.’
All in all, the party was a success. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan seemed to be more relaxed by the time food was served, and A-Yuan looked positively adorable with cake smeared around his face.
-----
It wasn’t until late in the evening after the party had wrapped up and he was helping her tidy up, that Yanli got a moment alone with her brother. Lan Zhan was putting A-Yuan to bed, as was Zixuan with Jin Ling, and Jiang Cheng was chauffering their parents home.
“Shijie, can I tell you something?”
“Of course, A-Xian, anything”
“We’re thinking of moving back to Yunmeng,” he said, somewhat hesitantly.
“That’s wonderful” Yanli replied, barely containing her glee. “What’s made you decide that.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I love living in Yiling, but I miss you guys. Lan Zhan misses his brother too, and he says that his family’s company have a division just outside Yunmeng, in Gusu that he can transfer to. But mostly we don’t want A-Yuan to grow up not knowing his family; and now that you’ve had Jin Ling, it just feels like the right time to move back.”
“It would be lovely for them to grow up as cousins,” Yanli agreed. “We all missed you too A-Xian. I hope you know that”
“Of course I know that, Shijie”
Yanli took a deep breath before elaborating, she knew what she had to say to her brother - she had to bring up the thing that had kept him away for so long.
“I just mean that I know you’ve always felt like you’re not fully welcome in the family. I just want to make sure you know that’s not the case; we love you so much and we all want to be a part of your life again.”
Wei Ying looked up at her with a look of innocent emotion in his eyes that she hadn’t seen since he was very young, “thanks, Shijie, I’d like that a lot too.”
It was at this moment that Lan Wangji appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.
“Hello, I’m not interrupting anything, am I? I came to see if I could be of service.”
“It’s fine, you aren’t interrupting. And everything’s mostly cleared up now anyway” Yanli said with a smile
“Where’s the baby? Did you get him to sleep okay?” Wei Ying asked.
“Mn, A-Yuan fell asleep fairly quickly. I think the party tired him out” Lan Zhan replied, moving across the room to his husband’s side and placing a hand on the small of his back. Wei Ying leaned into his touch.
Yanli couldn’t help but notice the casual intimacy between the pair; she had been noticing it non-stop for the past few days now; the small touches; the meaningful gazes; the way that they seemed able to communicate almost completely nonverbally. They had synchronicity that could have only come from years of a trusting relationship. She had, multiple times since the beginning of their stay, been witness to small displays of affection between the two, on a scale of sweetness that she had never seen from her brother before; the way Wei Ying would always kiss Lan Zhan’s cheek when they would swap who was holding A-Yuan. In all the time she had known him, Wei Ying was always unreserved and shameless in his displays of affection to those dear to him, so to see him acting so tenderly was a sight to behold. On the reverse of this, on other occasions, when the little family would sit down on the sofa to watch television or read, Yanli noticed how Lan Zhan would press kisses into Wei Ying’s hair, never saying much, just content to hold his husband and son in his arms; Wei Ying in his lap and A-Yuan in Wei Ying’s. From what she had heard from her husband and Jiang Cheng about Lan Wangji and his usually famously cold demeanour, she could only hypothesise that Wei Ying had been breaking Wangji’s walls down for a long time, and this harmony they shared together was the fruits of his labour.
These were just a small handful of the positive changes she’d noticed in her brother, (the next biggest thing being how he generally looked well-fed, less skinny and lanky than he had as a teen, and as if he looked after himself a lot better now - or maybe his husband looked after him, she had a hunch that it was the latter. It made her happy, to see that her younger brother finally had some stability in his life and someone to balance him out.
“I was just telling Shijie about our plans. Y’know, to move back here,” Wei Ying said, trying to sound casual.
“Mn,” Lan Zhan’s gaze flickered over to Yanli as if awaiting her input on this idea.
“Of course it’s up to you two, but it would be lovely to have you living locally. I’d love to get to see you and A-Yuan more often”
Lan Zhan locked eyes with his husband before offering his sister-in-law a warm look. “Yes, we’d like that too. I spoke with my brother earlier as he was leaving, about our plans and he said he’s sure the board of the company would be more than pleased to have me transfer to the Gusu office; and that the move would be fairly simple.
Also, A-Yuan is already very taken with his new Auntie, he kept asking about you and Jin Ling; it would be a shame have him go so long without seeing his family again.”
Yanli was beaming. “Thank you both for coming to the party! You know you’re always welcome here.”
“Thank you for inviting us, I think it gave us a much-needed excuse to come back home.”
Yanli smiled. “You never need an excuse to come back home, not when you’ve got people there who’d welcome you back.”
Lan Zhan smiled, “you know, my brother said the same thing.”
-----
Wei Ying and family departed for Yiling a few days later. Yanli waved them off with a smile, happy with the knowledge that Lan Wangji had already sent in his request to transfer offices, and that the couple were now searching for homes in Yunmeng.
She gave A-Yuan the biggest hug and made him promise that he wouldn’t forget about his Auntie Yanli.
She laughed as Jiang Cheng punched his brother on the shoulder and made him swear to stop keeping things from them, threatening to break his legs if he had any more secret children that he was hiding in Yiling. To which Wei Ying made a dramatic display of declaring ‘brother! You wouldn’t do that to me, I’m a family man now; how am I meant to provide for my babies?” Both Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan rolled their eyes at this, Lan Zhan especially so, probably more at the implication that he was one of Wei Ying’s babies.
For the first time in seven years, Yanli started to feel whole again. The scattered pieces of her family were all coming back together and she couldn’t be more pleased.