Chapter Text
Lan Sizhui knew he was adopted. He had always known it. It was not a big deal, at least not to him who had known it since the beginning.
It was not that his father made him sit down and revealed it to him in a very serious and grave manner like they usually did on movies or T.V shows. In fact they never once talked about it. Because he had already known it from the start. And he did not mind it at all. There was no reason to. As far as he was concerned, his father was the best parent in the whole world and he was ready to go to any extent to prove it. His father had loved him and brought him up exactly like any other parent would, in fact he believed that his father had brought him up better than anyone else ever could.
There were often times when people expressed their disbelief and shock quite openly when they realised that Lan Sizhui was not Lan Wangji's biological son. 'But you are just so similar to him!' Such exclamations were common too and again, Lan Sizhui did not pay any attention to these matters. As far as he was concerned, he and his father were a perfectly happy family and he could not wish for more.
Though he did love having visits from his other family members. Like his father's older brother, his Uncle Xichen. And a few family friends who he considered close enough to call Uncle and Aunt.
And there was also his Aunt Yanli. Though he was not exactly sure how they were related, for as long as he could remember, she had been Aunt Yanli, visiting at least once in a few months.
Lan Sizhui vaguely remembered a time when she used to come by frequently to talk to him and his father but he had been so small back then and it was a very long time too, so he really did not have much recollections of those times.
Some years his Aunt Yanli was not able to visit them as frequently as she usually did. But without fail, she visited them twice a year, on the same dates. Never a day early or a day late. Sometimes she would also bring along her son Jin Ling, who also happened to be his friend and schoolmate.
Last year she had shown up not with her son or her husband but rather with a man who had a scowl on his face and looked like he would rather be anywhere but there.
His father had not been happy to meet Jiang Wanyin, Jiang Yanli's younger brother. This fact had surprised Lan Sizhui, since his father was the type of person who, even if he did not like someone, never actually showed it on the outside and managed to remain as civil with the person as possible. But his interactions with Jiang Wanyin practically emanated coldness. There was not a hint of the usual warmth he had when he spoke to Jiang Yanli. Instead there was an icy unfriendliness in every word he spoke.
There were several nights when Sizhui lay sleepless in his bed and wondered what his true identity was......but he never actually asked about it to his father, just like he never asked his father about the exact relation between them and the Jiangs.
*****
"Guyssss let's hang out at Sizhui's place tonight!!! His dad's gonna be out for the weekend and we can have the house to ourselves!!!" Lan Jingyi exclaimed in his ever enthusiastic voice.
"Woah for real?! That's awesome. Imma bring some snacks and games over too!! Do you mind Sizhui?" Ouyang Zizhen added the last sentence as an after thought.
Lan Sizhui shook his head, of course he did not mind. As long as he could spend some quality time with his friends, he never minded anything they did as long as it was not illegal or something against the rules.
"No problem Zizhen," he said with a smile.
"Can I bring Fairy over?" Jin Ling asked and then as if remembering something,added, "Oh wait. Nevermind. Your father's rabbits. Fairy would end up chasing them or something."
Lan Sizhui smiled apologetically, "Maybe you can bring Fairy over and leave her outside?" He suggested.
Jin Ling looked horrified at Sizhui's suggestion, "Sizhui do you even hear yourself?! Leave Fairy out?! In the cold dark night?! Do you even have a heart?”
“Huh? I mean, no, I mean, sorry Jin Ling- I didn't mean to suggest leaving Fairy out in the cold. I think it would be better if you don’t bring her over after all-”
“Yeah.” Jin Ling said with a pout.
“Alright then, see ya losers later at the Lan Residence!” Jingyi declared pompously before running off with his usual cheeky grin.
Lan Sizhui shook his head with a smile and turned to Jin Ling and Ouyang Zizhen, “Let’s meet at six. I will text Jingyi.”
“Sure.” Jin Ling and Ouyang Zizhen said in unison.
*****
When Lan Sizhui reached home and unlocked the main door using his spare key, he had actually expected his Father to have left for his business trip already.
But hearing his Father’s voice talking to someone in the Living Room made him realise that he was not alone in the house yet. That was no trouble. There were still two hours left for his friends to come by anyways.
He was on his way to his bedroom upstairs when he paused for a moment near the Living Room, hoping to find out who it was that his Father was talking to before heading upstairs.
“Where did you find this, A-Zhan?”
Even if Lan Sizhui had not recognised the person by her voice, he would have most definitely recognised by her familiar address of his Father. There was only one person who ever called his father A-Zhan.
“I was searching for something in the storage room. I found a few of his things….and came across it…..”
Lan Sizhui had never heard his father speak like that. To a normal person it would seem like there was no difference but Lan Wangji was his father and as a son, he could pick up even the slightest difference in his Father’s tone. Right now,his voice sounded…...strained. And also whose things were ‘his’?
“Oh……” He heard Aunt Yanli reply, “Then….are you sure you want to give this away?”
“Yes. It was meant for Jin Ling in the first place. I thought it had been lost a long time ago. But it seems that I was mistaken.”
“Alright.” Lan Sizhui thought that if he could see his Aunt Yanli’s face right now, she would probably be smiling, “I will give it to A-Ling when I reach home.”
“Mn.”
“When will you return?”
“Monday. Brother wanted me to stay until Tuesday but I cannot.”
“I understand. Monday is….” his Aunt’s voice trailed off, like she wanted to say the words but something invisible was holding her back.
“Yes. That is why. I will be back on Monday.” Lan Wangji said after some time.
“Of course. Are you sure about visiting Wen Qing and Wen Ning on your way?”
“Yes. I think I should confirm it with them once before talking about it to A-Yuan.”
Now Lan Sizhui was intrigued. Who were Wen Qing and Wen Ning? And why did his Father want to confirm something with them before talking to Sizhui?
“A-Yuan is sixteen and he is a very smart boy.” Jiang Yanli finally said after some time, “He will understand.”
Now Lan Sizhui just felt uncomfortable and guilty for eavesdropping on the adults’ conversation. Not wanting to hear anything more about himself, he made his way to his bedroom as quietly as possible.
He left his school bag hanging by the bed frame and flopped down on his bed, wondering what the conversation was even about. He did not want to break his head by making baseless assumptions but he did wonder if Monday was some sort of special day for his Father. He got up and glanced at the calendar and realised it
October 31st.
Though he did not know what significance it held for his Father, he knew for a fact that it was one of the two days his Aunt Yanli visited them without fail every year. And it was also one of the two days his Father went out at five in the evening every year and back late at night. And this was a custom he had been following ever since Lan Sizhui had been young.Though he had never really asked his Father what the significance of these two special days were, the question had always been there at the back of his mind, waiting for a day to be asked.
*****
By the time Lan Jingyi, Jin Ling and Ouyang Zizhen arrived, it was already past six and Lan Sizhui was home alone.
Lan Jingyi came in and immediately settled himself down on the big couch in Lan Sizhui’s living room. Ouyang Zizhen had brought along quite a few video games and Jin Ling had brought along snacks like Jingyi.
After some discussions, the teenagers decided that they will watch a movie first. And then do whatever else they wanted to do.
“Alrighto!! Who wants to watch Night At The Museum 2?” Lan Jingyi asked while browsing through the Netflix movie suggestions on Sizhui’s large flatscreen T.V.
“I mean that’s a good movie and all but I was actually planning on watching something less fantasy and more romance, like Beauty and the Beast?” Ouyang Zizhen suggested from his seat on the couch.
“What’s up with both of your tastes? It's a weekend night, obviously we should watch something horror….like Haunting of the Hill House.” Jin Ling suggested with a roll of his eyes.
Lan Jingy was absolutely against the suggestion, “No way! Weekend movie nights are for some comedy and fantasy and freaking horror!”
“You are only saying that because you are scared!” Jin Ling said with a smug smile.
“What the- NO I AM NOT. I JUST THINK THAT WE SHOULD WATCH SOMETHING FUN AND NOT SCARY!”
“OOOH JINGYI DOES NOT WANT TO WATCH A HORROR MOVIE BECAUSE HE IS SCARED~!” Jin Ling said in as mocking a tone as possible.
Lan Jingyi scoffed, “What right do you have to decide what we are gonna watch, Young Mistress? Let’s ask Sizhui! I am sure he agrees with me!”
“Alright!”
All three of them turned to Lan Sizhui who was sitting cross legged on the sofa. Sizhui, who had been lost in thoughts since before his friends had even come over, did not seem to realise that the other three wanted him to choose a movie to watch. In fact he did not even notice them staring at him as his unfocused eyes were fixed on the colourful T.V screen.
“Erm…...Sizhui?” Zizhen called out but got no response.
“SIZHUI!” Lan Jingyi called out in a much louder voice and Lan Sizhui almost fell off the couch in shock.
“What is it, Jingyi? Why are you shouting?” he asked while clutching his chest, “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
Jin Ling frowned, “What’s wrong with you, Sizhui? You seem lost in your thoughts since the time we arrived! You are not even paying any attention to what we are saying!”
“Oh…” Lan Sizhui rubbed his forehead and looked at his friends, “It’s, um, nothing….” He finally said.
“Don’t lie to us. We know you well. You are rarely like this- unless something is bothering you.”
Lan Sizhui sighed. He knew that his friends would not let go of the situation unless he told them what was actually bothering him. But this time he felt that this was simply something trivial that he should not be making a big deal of.
“Say Jin Ling,” he said, “Did your mother give you anything when you reached home?”
Jin Ling’s eyes widened when he heard that question, “She did! But...how did you know?”
Lan Sizhui looked at him with mild surprise, “What did she give you? If you don't mind telling, that is-”
“Of course not.” Jin Ling said with a roll of his eyes and then reached into his pocket to take out something. He then held it in front of him for his friends to see.
It was a silver bell, with a purple tassel attached to it.
“My mother told me that it’s called a clarity bell. It’s supposed to be good luck and help keep evil spirits and stuff like that away. Not that I believe in them.”
“Did she say anything while giving this to you?” Lan Sizhui’s gaze was fixed on the bell in Jin Ling’s hand.
Jin Ling seemed puzzled at Sizhui’s constant questioning, “All that she told me was that this is something very important that should have been given to me a long time ago. She told me to keep it with me all the time and remember that the person who originally wanted to give this to me was someone very important to her and jiujiu. I did not ask her who that was though.”
Lan Sizhui took a deep breath, “I see.”
“Why?” Jin Ling asked.
“Because….” Sizhui thought about it for a while and decided that since Jin Ling told him all that he wanted to know, it was only fair that he returned the favour.
So he sat the three of them down and gave them a gist of the conversation he had overheard in the evening, leaving out the part about Wen Qing and Wen Ning.
After he finished telling them everything, no one spoke for quite some time.
“Sizhui…” It was Zizhen who broke the silence, “Do you have any idea who the person they were talking about might have been? Like someone you know?”
Lan Sizhui shook his head, “No. That’s what has been bothering me. It probably means nothing but I was just curious you know……”
“Whoever it was,” Jingyi said, “He knew both your father and Jin Ling’s mother.”
Jin Ling seemed like he was hit with a realization when he heard this, “Sizhui!” He exclaimed.
“What is it, Jin Ling?”
“What if he is the missing link?”
“What?”
“You know the missing link that finally connects our families!”
“That….actually makes sense….”
“We should find out more about this at any cost!”
Lan Sizhui hesitated and shook his head, “I don’t think so, Jin Ling. If the adults don’t want to tell us about it then we should not pry. Remember what your mother and uncle told you the last time you asked about something similar.”
Ouyang Zizhen and Lan Jingyi were intrigued by Sizhui’s words.
“What did they say?” Zizhen asked.
Jin Ling said with a scowl on his face, “My mother told me that she will tell me when I am older while my uncle just got upset and told me to never bring it up again."
“Exactly.” Lan Sizhui said.
“Um…...guys?” It was Lan Jingyi and his voice seemed to have a note of confusion in it.
“What’s the matter, Jingyi?”
Lan Jingyi pointed a finger at a corner of the living room and said, “Does your father allow his rabbits to move around the house as and when they like?”
Lan Sizhui paled and immediately turned around to where Jingyi was pointing.
And there it was, one of his father’s rabbits nibbling on the Living room carpet.
Lan Sizhui realised with growing horror that he had forgotten to close the cage after feeding his father’s rabbits.
*****
Half an hour later, the four boys were standing in the hallway, next to the rabbit cage, panting from all the running and searching that they had to do to catch and put all the rabbits back into the cage.
“Thanks guys.” Lan Sizhui said he put the last one back in and latched the cage. All his three friends replied with variations of ‘Your Welcome’ or ‘No Problem’.
Lan Sizhui then decided to make sure that all the rabbits were secure in the cage while also making sure that there were all six of them-
“Wait a minute!” He exclaimed and counted again but it was useless. No matter how many times he counted it was the same.
Five rabbits. Not six, but five.
“There's still one more missing.” He said with his head in his hands.
“You are kidding me-”
“One more?!”
“Where else did we not check?”
“The storage room!” Zizhen provided helpfully, “Did anyone check there?”
When all four of them looked at each other and confirmed with the blank expressions on their faces that none of them had in fact checked there, they all collectively ran towards the one room they missed out.
Lan Sizhui was the one who walked in first and switched on the lights to make sure that he did not accidentally step on Little Black. He was sure of it. The one rabbit who was missing from the cage was the most lively and energetic one. It was completely black and hence the name.
As the four of them walked around the storage room with cautious steps looking for the rabbit, there was a sudden shout from Lan Jingyi, “Found him!”
Lan Sizhui breathed out in relief and was about to walk over to Jingyi when Jingyi himself turned around to walk towards him and promptly slipped on a broken roller and came crashing down one the several boxes which were arranged behind him. Luckily, he fell on his back, so the rabbit was still safe in his hands.
“Jingyi! Are you okay?!” Sizhui and Zizhen hurried over to help their friend while Jin Ling just stood and started laughing, “What an idiot! Did you not see where you are going?! You actually slipped and fell down!”
Lan Jingyi glared at Jin Ling as he rubbed the place where he had been hurt the most.
Lan Sizhui was about to turn around and reprimand Jin Ling when the contents of a nearby fallen box caught his eye.
It was a very small box, with some books and other things. Normally, Sizhui wouldn't have paid much attention to this and would have cleaned up everything without sparing a glance at anything that had fallen on the floor.
But these set of things caught his eye because it was the first time he was seeing them. There was a photo album in there. Normally he would not have cared but something, perhaps it was the conversation he had heard in the evening but something prompted him to reach out and pick the fallen photo album.
“Sizhui?” He heard Jingyi call out but did not reply. His whole attention was on the photo album in his hand. Something told him that he should not open it. That there will be no going back once he does.
He ignored that voice and opened it.
There were photos of his Father.
He had seen photos of a young version of his father before, but he had never seen this particular album before and now, as he looked at the pictures of the toddler that was his father, he could not help but smile.
“Woah is that your father?” Lan Jingyi asked while leaning over Sizhui’s shoulder.
Lan Sizhui nodded, “I think so…..and this must be Uncle Xichen!” He said pointing at a slightly older boy who was leading the toddler by his hand. They both looked, there was no other way to say it, extremely adorable.
“So cute!” Zizhen exclaimed while leaning over Sizhui’s other shoulder.
“Hey hey! Show me too!”
And so all four of them sat down on the floor of the storage room, in an arrangement that enabled everyone to see the photos clearly. Little Black was resting on Lan Jingyi’s lap, apparently tired of running around and wanting to treat himself to a few minutes of naptime.
As Lan Sizhui turned the newly acquired album of photos page by page and he and his friends marveled at how tiny and cute Lan Sizhui’s father had been as a baby, he also wondered as to why he had never found this album before.
When they were at the page with the pictures were of his father's high school, Jin Ling suddenly exclaimed,
"Wait a moment!! Is that my mom?!"
All three of them peered closely at the picture of three teenagers standing close together. They were standing in front of a gate with a plaque that said, 'The Jiang Residence.'
The smiling girl standing in between the two boys was indeed a young Jiang Yanli.
Lan Sizhui was taken aback, "Who are the two people? I think this person is your uncle Jin Ling......" He pointed to the one dressed in all purple.
"Oh my god you are right Sizhui!! That is my jiujiu!!"
"Then who's the other guy?" Zizhen asked curiously.
Sizhui shook his head, "I don't think I've ever seen him. Let's see if there's a name...."
The man in question was the tallest of the three and also had the happiest and brightest smile. His hair was tied into a long ponytail held by a red ribbon. He looked like a fun, lively person.
"Wei Wuxian." Sizhui read out the name at the bottom of the page. A brief sense of familiarity brushed against his memories at the name but they were soon drowned out by confusion.
"Who is he? A friend of your mother's?" Lan Sizhui asked Jin Ling.
"I don't know. I've never seen him before."
Lan Sizhui turned the page and was surprised to find that the next several pages were only filled with pictures of Wei Wuxian. Sometimes he was alone, sometimes he appeared with the Jiang siblings, sometimes with another long haired teenager who always seemed to have a fan with him. What shocked him was that there were also pictures of Wei Wuxian with his father and in every picture of them together, his father had a displeased look on his face and an expression that said he did not want to be photographed.
Another thing he noticed was that in every picture, Wei Wuxian was always smiling. No matter what the situation was, he was always smiling.
"It seemed like he was pretty close with your father and my mother and uncle." Jin Ling said as he peered at a photo in which Wei Wuxian had slung an arm around his uncle's neck and his uncle was glaring at him.
"Yeah......." Lan Sizhui said absentmindedly. His gaze was fixed on a photo in which Wei Wuxian was sitting on a stage and playing a flute. His eyes were half closed and his face had a focused look. He looked like a professional playing his best piece.
It took Lan Sizhui back to the time when he had wanted to learn the flute and his Father had helpfully provided him with a very professional and excellent tutor. His flute playing skills were not as good as his guqin skills but they were impressive enough that he had been selected to play in a school musical play in his final year of middle school.
His Father had congratulated him and said that he had performed very well. He was very proud of himself. Until he had come across his Father crying in his room that night. He remembered being extremely worried and sad. He remembered being scared because that was the first time he had ever seen his Father cry. He remembered seeing his Father holding onto a black flute with red tassels while crying. He remembered telling himself that he will never play the flute ever again.
He had never revealed this incident to anyone. Not even his Father. He just told his Father that the flute had only been a hobby and he had lost interest in it now.
Lan Sizhui was staring at the photo of Wei Wuxian playing the flute because he was very sure that it was the very same black flute with red tassels that he remembered his Father holding onto and crying. A feeling of dread rose up in his stomach.
"Sizhui?" Ouyang Zizhen's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"Huh? Oh....." Sizhui realised that his friends were waiting for him to turn to the next page.
He tried his best to hide the anxiety he was feeling as he turned the page.
Jin Ling gasped. Lan Sizhui's breath hitched. Even Ouyang Zizhen and Lan Jingyi had expressions of total disbelief on their faces.
Wei Wuxian was holding a child. He was smiling and playing with the child in the photo.
The reason for the teenagers' reactions was obvious. Even as a toddler, there was no mistaking Lan Sizhui's face. Sure he was much much tinier and chubbier and cuter than he was now. But there was no doubt that the toddler Wei Wuxian was holding was him.
"Sizhui, are you sure you don't know him?" Lan Jingyi asked him.
"I am not so sure at this point." Lan Sizhui replied.
"Maybe you just don't remember him......." Jin Ling suggested.
"Maybe......"
Lan Sizhui continued turning the pages and with every new photo that they came across, the feeling of dread in his stomach only increased.
There were several photos of him and Wei Wuxian together. Anyone who saw the photos would undoubtedly believe that Wei Wuxian was probably his parent or a family member. From his messy drawings to his delight in playing with building blocks......Wei Wuxian had been there in every one of them, right by his side. And it seemed like they were very close. In every picture with Wei Wuxian, he too had been smiling as brightly as possible..
There was even a picture of Jin Ling's parents getting married. Wei Wuxian had been there with Lan Sizhui in that picture too. He has also been there in the picture where Jiang Yanli was holding a baby Jin Ling, cooing over him and cuddling him.
There were a few more pictures of them spending time together. And then the photos stopped abruptly. The last picture was of them drinking soup together after which all the pages were left blank.
Lan Sizhui closed the book and put it down. None of them spoke a word. The abrupt ending of the photos provided a heavy implication and it weighed down on all of them.
Lan Sizhui got up and walked to the box in which he first found the photo album. His hands were trembling as he reached into it and pulled out the first thing his hand touched.
It was a black flute with red tassels.
He stared at it for a long time before putting it back and looking at the other things in the box. There were video cassettes.
He held the box and stood up.
"Let's go." He said as he made his way to the living room.
Wordlessly, his three friends followed him.
No one spoke a word as Lan Sizhui put the first cassette in the video player and sat back on the chair to watch.
*****
"Xian gege!!" It was a child's voice. Soon a toddler dressed in thick winter clothes with a cap and a muffler came into view of the camera.
A background voice spoke, "Aiya A-Yuan! If you jump in front of the camera like this, how will I take a good video?"
A-Yuan giggled when he heard the voice and replied, "But Xian gege is so tall!! You can just stand up and A-Yuan will not disturb the video again!!"
There was a chuckle from the other person as he spoke, "How can that be? The only reason I took out the camera in the first place was to watch my little A-Yuan play in the snow for the first time! If there is no A-Yuan in the video then what is even the use of it?"
The toddler giggled even more when he heard this and said while running towards a heap of snow, "Alright!! Then A-Yuan will make a big snowman out of snow and Xian gege can take a video of it!!!"
"Ohhh!! A big snowman!! I can't wait to see it!!"
After some minutes of intense hardwork from the toddler, a 'giant' snowman about as tall as A-Yuan's shoulder stood next to him with black buttons for eyes and a twig for nose. A series of small stones arranged in a curve was the mouth curled into a smile.
The person in the background exclaimed joyfully, "What a big snowman!! A-Yuan is truly very talented!! I can never make one like that!!"
The video then cut to a scene with a bustling market.
This time the one who was filming the video was someone else.
There were many stalls around the market and Wei Wuxian was stopping by one every few minutes with A-Yuan held securely in his hand. He put A-Yuan down for a minute and said, "Wen Qing, look at this beautiful bell!! I want to buy something similar for my nephew!!"
A young lady with sharp features then appeared in the frame and frowned, "It looks weak."
"Aiya of course!! I did not say I am buying this, I just said I want to gift something similar. What do you think A-Yuan?"
But A-Yuan was not there. Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing both visibly panicked when they saw that the toddler had vanished and started looking around for him when a crowd attracted their attention.
"That- A-Yuan?!" Wei Wuxian hurried towards the crowd and the person who was filming the whole thing was also running to catch up with him.
Suddenly there was a sound of someone laughing. The camera swayed sideways as if searching for the person and then stopped when it found the target.
It was Wei Wuxian, he was laughing with tears in his eyes, "Are you seeing this Wen Qing?! Oh god- Wen Ning, please tell me you are recording this."
The camera turned to the direction in which Wei Wuxian was pointing and stopped at a person standing in the middle of the crowd. He was tall and had an impassive but handsome face. Currently he looked like he was in a lot of trouble.
It was Lan Wangji. The camera then moved down to focus on the toddler clutching his leg and crying out, "Dad!!" Except the toddler was A-Yuan who was suddenly scared at being lost.
"Wei Wuxian, how can you laugh at such a thing!?! Go get back A-Yuan right now! And A-Ning! Are you seriously recording all of this!?"
Wei Wuxian had already walked to the middle of the crowd to separate A-Yuan from Lan Wangji and pick him up and place him on his shoulder.
The crowd dispersed slowly and Wei Wuxian was still laughing as he spoke to Lan Wangji, "Don't mind him Lan Zhan, A-Yuan likes to hug the legs of people he feels safe with!! He must have gotten scared and held onto you since you are the nearest person!! What are you doing here in Yiling anyways?"
Lan Wangji did not seem to be listening to Wei Wuxian's words, his gaze was fixed on the child in his arms.
He finally spoke, "This child?"
"Hm? Oh he's mine!"
There was a moment when Lan Wangji's stoic face had an expression of shock and disbelief when he heard Wei Wuxian's words.
"I birthed him!" Wei Wuxian declared cheerfully.
Lan Wangji's face returned to normal when he heard Wei Wuxian's words and he spoke, "Don't joke around Wei Ying."
"Why not Lan Zhan. Just now it was so funny. Lan Wangji, barely twenty years old and already a Dad. Hahahhaa-"
"A-Ning I told you to stop filming!"
*****
Lan Sizhui did not wait for even a moment before he replaced the cassette with another one.
*****
"A-Xian, choose a courtesy name for your nephew!!" It was Jiang Yanli with a hand on her baby bump. A-Yuan was sitting next to her and drinking soup while Wei Wuxian was evidently the one filming the video since the only other person in the room was Jiang Cheng who was busy massaging Jiang Yanli's feet.
"Me? Shijie you made the best choice!! I will choose the best name for my nephew. Hmm lately the 'ru' character has been popular for choosing baby names. Combining that with 'lan'- Got it!! Shijie shijie how about this?! Jin Rulan!?"
Jiang Yanli gave a light laugh when she heard this, "That's a wonderful name, A-Xian! I am sure Jin Ling will love it when he grows up!"
Jiang Cheng had only scoffed and said, "'Lan'. Seriously, I will never understand your obsession with the 'Lan' name."
"Hush Chengcheng. The privilege was given to me and not to you. So hush."
A vein throbbed on Jiang Cheng's forehead when he heard Wei Wuxian, "Don't call me that!"
As Wei Wuxian started giggling and Jiang Cheng got up to chase him around, the video once again cut to a different scene.
This time it was a hospital and the one holding the camera was definitely not Wei Wuxian as he was standing by his shijie's bedside while holding a baby in his arms, "Shijie......" His voice was muffled by his crying as he spoke, "He is so beautiful. Just like you."
Jiang Yanli smiled at her brother as he handed the baby back to her and reached into his pocket for something, "I haven't completed it yet. There's still a purple tassle that has to be added. But I still want to show it to you!" He took out a beautifully carved silver bell and held it to Jiang Yanli to give a closer look. Simultaneously the camera too zoomed in on the bell and Jiang Yanli's voice could be heard gasping in surprise exclaiming in the background, "Its beautiful A-Xian!!! Look at this A-Cheng!! Isn't it amazing!!"
The person holding the camera scoffed and said, "I will give an even more awesome gift!"
"Hey Chengcheng is this a challenge as to who will be the cooler uncle?" Wei Wuxian asked with a grin.
"The challenge began the moment Jin Ling was born."
Came an equally determined voice.
Just then there was a sound of the ward door opening and A-Yuan's voice rang out, "BABYY!!!"
****