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Jiang Cheng’s mind put together a half-formed to-do list as he hurried across Lotus Pier at as quick a pace as he could manage without looking undignified. The unexpected arrival of important guests, with his brother tagging along, had set the whole Jiang Clan in motion to prepare a fitting banquet for the evening. Jiang Cheng paused at the sound of Wei Wuxian’s voice coming from an open doorway ahead.
“-and then Jiang Cheng got that look on his face, you know the one. Where he’s mad, but trying to keep from showing it, and that only makes it worse.” Jiang Cheng’s mouth formed a hard line as he consciously tried, and failed, to avoid making the exact face Wei Wuxian had just described. He took a swift step toward the doorway, intending to reprimand Wei Wuxian for already managing to be disrespectful on the very first day of his visit to Lotus Pier.
Jin Ling’s impatient voice carried to Jiang Cheng, stopping him before he could take another step. “If I wanted to hear about you fighting with my uncle, I could see it in person. You promised to tell me stories about my mother.” Hidden beneath the impatient tone Jin Ling so often used, was a note of longing in those last words. He knew how badly Jin Ling wanted to know more about his parents, but Jiang Cheng had never been able to bring himself to talk much about Yanli. It still hurt too much.
Wei Wuxian continued. “Be patient, I’m getting there! Most of my stories start with Jiang Cheng and me fighting, so you’d better get used to it now.” Jiang Cheng could picture Wei Wuxian lounging across furniture, as carefree as his voice. “Yanli, she was always there to make us feel better when we got in a fight. She’d sit us down with bowls of soup and we’d always feel better by the time we finished. This time, we were still mad, and Jiang Cheng refused to even be in the same room with me, so she had a different idea. She made her famous lotus and rib soup, the best in the world, and sat down by herself, near where Jiang Cheng and I were moping in different rooms. I remember smelling it from two rooms over, and my stomach growled. Jiang Cheng must have been hungry too, because we both opened opposite doors into the room at the same time. Jiang Cheng got that look on his face again, that one, and turned to storm off. Honestly, I was about to do the same-”
“Are you really telling me a story about my mother, or was she just there when you had a fight with Jiang Cheng?” Jin Ling interrupted.
“I’m getting there, I’m getting there. Kids these days…”
Jiang Cheng dared to take a few silent steps closer to the doorway, but not for a reprimand this time. The story was one he remembered, though faintly. He found himself caught up in hearing it told. It had been so long since he had talked about Yanli, really talked, and remembered her in those happy moments. Now he could see her warm smile in his mind as if it were only yesterday. Yanli watching as he and Wei Wuxian were lured close by the smell of her cooking.
Wei Wuxian continued, “Just as we were turning to leave, Yanli spoke as if she were just talking to herself, ‘Oh dear, I’ve worked so hard to make all this lotus and rib soup, but no one is here to enjoy it with me. My dear little brothers won’t even sit for a meal with me. What shall I do?’ And just like that, Jiang Cheng and I were right there beside her. Jiang Cheng almost tripped over his own feet in his rush. And she just smiled and made us each a bowl of soup.”
Jin Ling let out a little clipped laugh and a smile lit up his face, “She played you!” Jiang Cheng found himself standing in the doorway looking in, wondering how he’d never seen the resemblance so clearly before.
“And we were happy to let her,” Jiang Cheng said. Jin Ling turned in surprise, but Wei Wuxian just smiled as if it were no surprise at all.
“She could have asked us to do anything in the world and we’d have done it, but she was happiest simply spending time with her family.”
“I seem to remember you were the one who started that fight,” Jiang Cheng said, joining them at the table.
Wei Wuxian waved a hand dismissively, “I seem to have forgotten.” Then he turned back to Jin Ling and started into the next story. “Did you ever hear about the time I got in a fist fight with your father?”