Work Text:
Lan Yaun is 10 when he meets his first living corpse. His baba played and played his flute. Creating arrays and mumbling to himself until finally a man in chains showed up in their yard one night.
He overhears his baba talking to his a'die. "This is strange. It's like he's unconscious. What the hell is this in his head? Nails?"
He's supposed to be in bed but he woke up in order to pee and heard his baba's flute playing once again. He followed his baba's flute playing and saw both of his parents outside. He wonders if something will finally show up.
A strange man stumbles around their front yard, silent and stiff. Finally his baba walks up to him and feels around his head, making a comment about nails. He does something that causes the man to jerk and moan. Finally the man stops jerking and comes to a standstill.
His baba and a'die watch the man. "He's going to be pretty out of it. Let's wait until he can speak," his baba says.
"What did you pull out?" A'die asks.
Baba looks down at his hand. "Nails made out of a strange metal. Someone was controlling him. Only explanation for why he was alive. What was Jin Guangshan thinking. You said your brother mentioned a Xue Yang?"
"Mn. A guest cultivator. Was sheltered by the Jins. After Jin Guangyao took over, he sent a kill order but he escaped."
Baba sucks his teeth. "Aiyo, what a fucking mess."
Lan Yuan is curious to hear more but he's sleepy and still has to pee.
The next morning Lan Yuan walks into their family room to see the man from last night in dusty robes sitting upright at the table with his baba. His eyes were wide as they followed Lan Yuan's movements. He sits at the table a little closer to his baba. The man continues to stare at him. He looks very familiar.
"A'Yuan, do you remember your cousin Wen Ning?" Baba asks. Lan Yuan perks up and looks at this man closely.
He doesn't remember him at all.
Embarrassed, he says, "Yes." It comes out like a question. His baba laughs.
Wen Ning gives him a slightly stiff smile. "Lan Yuan, it's good to see you. You've grown up so much."
"Thank you, I try." He says. Baba laughs harder.
_____
Lan Yuan is 11 when he meets his shushu Xichen.
He looks disturbingly like his a'die but with a bigger smile and different eyes. His robes are a dark blue and silver and his guan is intricate and ornate. He looks like a rich cultivator from one of the local sects. He moves with grace and cups his hands before his parents before turning to him.
"Lan Yuan, it is a pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry it took so long."
Lan Yuan knows that it is not easy to get away as a leader of a sect and that his parents often didn't like to talk about those they left behind. However, they started sharing stories about family the older he got. Lan Yuan cups his hands as well, much to the amusement of his shushu.
They settle inside. He notices that his baba is a little wary around his shushu but generally polite. They make small talk until his shushu announces that he has a gift for him. He reaches into his qiankun pouch and pulls out a beautiful guqin and places it on the floor. Lan Yuan's eyes go wide in wonder and excitement. His very own guqin! He was content practicing on his Wangji and never thought to ask.
"I assume my brother has been teaching you how to play," his shushu says.
It was made from a wood so dark that it looked black. It gleamed in the sunlight, the strings shining. He looks up at his shushu. "May I?" His shushu smiles and waves his hand as if to say "Be my guest."
Lan Yuan plays the beginning notes of "Cleansing." It sings so beautifully. He places his fingers on the strings and stops the vibrations. To his shushu surprise, he envelopes him in a hug. "Thank you! I love it!" His shushu hesitates before returning the gesture. "You're most welcome."
Lan Yuan looks up at him with shining eyes. "May I call you shushu."
His shushu cheeks turn pink. "I would very much like that."
______
Lan Yuan is 12 when he witnesses his parents' arguing. He's sure that they've had disagreements before, it's only natural. Lan Yuan doesn't always agree with his friend Li Yan, but he still loves him.
He doesn't think they know he's here.
"You made a deal with a Ghost King? Wei Wuxian , you-"
He's never heard his a'die this angry before, well he has but it's mostly cold and directed at strangers. But he's never heard him get so heated with his baba
" Lan Wangji , I knew you would be like this, that's why I didn't tell you! It's fine! The Stygian Tiger Seal is finally taken care of without a backlash that could kill me!"
There is a tense silence. Lan Yuan is barely breathing and he makes sure that nothing on his person will give away his hiding spot.
"What was the deal, Wei Ying?" His a'die sounds tired.
"She helped me complete my core," his baba answers.
"Your core?" His a'die sounds shocked.
"Yes, Lan Zhan, these years of cultivating the ghostly path and exchanging spiritual energy with you has helped me form a core of a sort. She helped me stabilize it. This will allow me better control. As long as you help provide yang energy through transfers and dual cultivation, I can build a stronger one."
Lan Yuan flushes in embarrassment and leaves, no longer wanting to hear talks of his parents dual cultivating.
The subsequent days are awkward. Lan Yuan has never sat in such stony silence before. He's used to his baba talking and talking but he's just silent. His parents practically ignore each other during the day. If they speak, it's short and curt. They spend more time on his cultivation and studies. He tells his friend about it and Li Yan grimaces.
"Are they going to stay together?"
Lan Yuan never even considered the possibility of his parents not being together. Who would he live with? Where would they go? His eyes turn red with unscheduled tears. He wishes his cousin Wen Ning was here.
During dinner that night Lan Yuan breaks the awkward silence. "Baba, A'die, are you not in love anymore?"
His baba chokes on his food and his a'die's eyes widen in shock.
"It's just that," Lan Yuan tries to explain without crying but the tears come anyway. "You don't talk anymore and you're being weird. I don't know why you're so mad at each other. Is it because of the Ghost King? Baba, did you do something bad? If you're not together, who will I live with? I don't want to choose! Don't make me!"
He begins crying in earnest. His words are garbled by the lump in his throat and the waver in his voice. He uses his hands to try to wipe away his tears as he sobs,, the built up feelings of confusion and anxiety finally finding a release. He feels hands rubbing his shoulders and voices soothing and shushing him.
Lan Yuan feels really embarrassed. He hasn't cried like this since he was a kid! He's almost an adult!
When his sobs finally turn into sniffles and his eyes only leak a tear or two, he notices that he's desperately clinging to his parents.
"A'Yuan, baobei, I'm sorry," his baba says. "We had a disagreement, that's all. We should have realized how it would have affected you."
Lan Yuan looks into his baba's red-rimmed eyes. "So you're not leaving each other?"
"No," his a'die answers while smoothing out his hair and wiping his tear stained face. "We're not leaving each other. Never."
"Sometimes, we will have disagreements but know that doesn't mean we love each other less. Sometimes people you love won't like some of the choices you make and sometimes you won't like the choices they make but in the end you still care about each other and you can talk to each other. Okay?"
Lan Yuan gives them a crooked smile, "Okay."
The next morning Lan Yuan is practicing his sword techniques when he sees his baba dump an armful of rabbits in his a'die's lap with a laugh and watches his a'die pull him down for a kiss.
Gross.
______
Lan Yuan becomes Lan Sizhui on his 13th birthday. It is also the day of his first night hunt. Before they embark, his parents present him with a gift. He watches as his a'die places an elongated cloth covered object. His heart thumps painfully in excitement. He removes the cloth from around the object, revealing a sheath the color of an iridescent pearl.
He reverently removes the sword from its sheath, the tassel swaying gently with the movement. The silver sword is obviously sharp and there is filigree just below the hilt. A beautifully crafted sword.
"What will you name it?" Baba asks.
Lan Sizhui hums. "How about, Shuiyin!" He looks at his parents for approval.
His a'die smiles, "That is an excellent name, worthy of an excellent sword."
Lan Sizhui grins.
His grin soon turns into a frustrated frown. He was hoping that he would get to participate in the hunt more. Maybe suppress the ghost or exorcise it! He even got a new spiritual sword! But he just plays Inquiry. Actually the subsequent hunts are the same. A routine of his parents finding a hunt, he plays Inquiry (Who are you? How did you die?), and then his parents do the heavy lifting.
He knows that he should be grateful that they take him on hunts at all but he has other skills!
______
Lan Sizhui is 16 when his baba gets a message.
His shushu sits at the table looking contrite. "I'm sorry Wei-gongzi, Wangji. I don't know how he found out."
Baba reads the message aloud. "Do you have the guts to show your face here or will you continue to hide like a coward?" His face darkens, his eyes pensive. His a'die's eyes turn cold.
Lan Sizhui is offended on his behalf. "Who would dare?"
His baba smirks and places the slip on the table. "Your cousin."
Lan Sizhui bends over and takes a look at the script and reads the characters at the bottom. Jin Ling
He can't help but think, what terrible handwriting.