Chapter Text
A-yuan's earliest memory was lying in a bed, his body sweating and burning up. The feeling of sickness. He remembered someone dabbing a towel on his forehead. He remembered the soft sound of music playing, comforting him as he tried to sleep. When he awoke, his surroundings were bright and unfamiliar. Being young, he starts crying, and immediately, someone comes to his bedside. A man in white robes had a serious face but gentle eyes. A-yuan feels someone holding his hand, caressing it until he calms down.
One day the man in white takes him to see another man, much older with a strict face. A man in green robes stands next to him, his face softening at the sight of the young toddler. Although the child could not understand the conversation, he knew it was serious by the sound of their tones.
"I wish to give him the surname of 'Lan'. So he will officially be part of the Lan Clan." Lan Wangji tells his uncle.
"Is he not from the Wen clan?! How can we possibly accept him as one of our own!?" His uncle rages. A-Yuan cowers closer, flinching away from the loud voice. Lan Wangji presses him closer to his side, his grip tightening.
"He is a child. He has not even reached the age of four yet. He does not understand the ways of the clan or which one he used to be part of." Lan Wangji replies back. Lan Xichen turns to his uncle.
"Wangji is right. He will not remember being part of the Wen Clan and he does not need to know unless he finds out himself one day."
"Hmph!" was his uncle's response. "Do what you wish. But do whatever it takes to prevent that child from discovering his true heritage, you understand? And also... the clan doctor will be looking after him after he recovers from the fever as your...punishment still stands." The last words came out in a harsh and hostile tone. Then he leaves, not even sparing a glance at the child.
"Scary," Lan Yuan whines as he clings onto Lan Wangji's leg, his bright eyes filling with tears.
"Don't worry. I am here." Lan Wangji reassures him.
"He will make a fine cultivator," The man in green tells his brother.
"XiongZhang, I...can you," Lan Wangji begins.
"Yes, I will try my best. Do not worry brother." The man in green bends down to touch A-Yuan's face gently before standing up and walking from the room. A-Yuan looks after him, his eyes blinking rapidly.
"Let's go. I have somewhere to show you," Lan Wangji takes A-Yuan's hands. When they arrive at the place, A-Yuan squeals in delight and runs after the white fluff balls that surrounded him.
"Be gentle," Lan Wangji says, picking up a rabbit and placing it carefully into A-Yuan's hands. He sits A-Yuan down and continues putting bunnies onto A-Yuan's lap. After a while, it seemed as if he had buried the young child under them, though he could still hear the muffled giggles.
"Brother?" Lan Wangji turns around to see Lan Xichen standing there.
"What are you doing? Aren't you worried they'll bite him?" His brother frowns.
"The rabbits won't. They are gentle." Lan Wangji reassures him. Lan Xichen sighs, but doesn't say anything else. After A-Yuan falls asleep after exhausting himself by playing, Lan Wangji picks him up and brings him back to the Jingshi, tucking him into the bed. Then the rest of the afternoon and into evening, he plays Inquiry, watching the strings in silence for a reply back from the one person he longed to talk to so badly.
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Two days later, A-yuan was taken care of by someone else. He was not as comforting as the man in white and as a result, A-Yuan ended up crying again and despite the man's efforts, he was not able to calm the child down. However a man in green robes also comes and plays a soft tune on his xiao, lulling him to sleep. A few days later, after he was recovered, A-yuan was left in a place where many other children were. He did not see the man in white for a long time. Although there were other men wearing white, young Lan Yuan had learned to recognize the face of the man who had taken care of him, even if it was only for two days. He tries playing with the other children, but they seem to ignore him, sensing that he was different from them. After all, he had trouble paying attention during lessons, often dozing off and getting distracted with his toys, which led to harsh scoldings. After the scoldings, he would be put in time-out, and with no one to comfort him, he would cry into his knees.
One day, he runs away from the caretaker of the children and plays by himself in a secluded area hidden away near the woods. He stays and plays until a man with the blue-green robes finds him, picks him up gently and takes him back to the caretaker who scolded him harshly. Despite this, he still runs away every day and plays by himself. It wasn't until three years later when he was seven that he saw the man again.
Once he returns, Lan Yuan spends his days with the man in white again. One of his most distinct memories with him was playing with bunnies. The man in white took care of the bunnies as he did the child and often took A-yuan to play with them. At the age of six, he had begun to pick up a few words from the people around him. Many people call the man in white 'Hanguang-Jun' and only two people call him 'Wangji': the man in green and a much older man with a stern face.
"H-hangwang-jun," he tries saying, tripping over each syllable.
"Hanguang-Jun," Lan Wangji says slowly, trying to help him.
"H-hangang-jun," Lan Yuan says happily. . Lan Wangji sighs slowly then walks over to his guqin.
"What are you doing?" The young boy follows him where he is sitting. He had his fingers on the strings and was playing a soft tune.
"Playing guqin. Come here," Hanguang-Jun picks up the child and plops him into his lap. He lifts up the child's hands and places it on top of the strings gently, helping him to move each finger.
"Tomorrow, you will have your lessons again. Learn about the principles of the GuSu Lan clan." Lan Wangji says, once they had finished playing the song.
"Don't want to...," Lan yuan pouts.
"A-yuan, be a good boy and I will take you to play with the bunnies, mn?" Lan Yuan looks at him with wide eyes then nods eagerly. Lan Wangji takes the child's hands and helps him to bed. Once settled, Lan Wangji sits at his guqin once more, playing 'WangXian' once again until he could hear the child's breathing soften and slow. Then he changes the tune to 'Inquiry' as he did every night.
"Wei Ying?" He asks, pain clenching his heart. There was no response. No soul to answer the call of his guqin. Regardless, he continues playing 'Inquiry' late into the night.
However the next day, rather than sending A-Yuan to the classroom, Lan Wangji asked permission to teach him himself, which he grudgingly agreed to. With Lan Wangji's presence, Lan Yuan was a lot more comfortable and concentrated more on reciting the rules. One day, he watches as Lan Wangji plays something on the piano. It was Inquiry once again. Although he didn't know the name, he had heard it way too many times and had become curious.
"What is the name?" He asks shyly.
"This piece is called 'Inquiry'. It helps to communicate with and summon spirits," Lan Wangji explains. Lan Yuan cocks his head to one side.
"Why do people do that?"
"Sometimes, we need to ask the spirit who ki-...made them that way," Lan Wangji corrects himself quickly. "And if the spirit isn't able to pass on because of something that happened in his or her life, we need to help them to do that so they can rest in peace." "How come spirits do not rest in peace? Are they unhappy with passing on? Is there someone they don't want to leave behind?"
"Yes," Lan Wangji answers, his heart twanging slightly. "Sometimes, they may have been wrongfully accused of something when...they were human. So if that happens, we need to find out by asking what happened and help them relieve their worries or grievances. Lan Yuan blinks as if he was trying to understand what had been said to him. Then he nods slowly and looks at the guqin with bright curious eyes.
"Can I try?"
"No, it is too dangerous for you now. The spirit could be harmful to someone who doesn't have experience with Qin language." Lan Yuan frowns, his face pouting.
"When can I learn the Qin language?"
"When you're older. Thirteen or fourteen."
"But that's so long to wait," Lan Yuan whines.
"How about I teach you another piece of music instead?" Lan Wangji suggests. Lan Yuan nods eagerly. Lan Wangji allows the child to sit in his lap as he helps place Lan Yuan's fingers onto the string.
The tune was extremely familiar to Lan Wangji. His heart aches at who it reminded him of, however as he watches Lan Yuan smiling happily as he learns, he could feel a small piece of his broken heart be repaired again.
(Refer to video below for this scene :D)