Work Text:
Jiang Fengmian smiled in bliss as he entered the dining chamber to see his two children happily eating dinner while his wife spoke animatedly.
"Father!" The young ones exclaimed as they saw him, making him smile wider. "A-Li, A-Cheng, how are you two?" He asked as he took his seat at the head of the table.
"Zhangfu, welcome home," Wei Ying beamed as she took a fresh plate to serve her husband food.
Her life before lotus pier was sad and cold. She lived in the streets for as long as she could remember, and at age fourteen a nice jiejie offered her a job at the local brothel. She was a servant since she was so young, but when she turned twenty she was expected to serve men directly. Her virginity was sold to the highest bidder, who turned out to be sect leader Jiang!
He was almost forty and she had been so scared, but when she told him her name, he was shocked and told her about her family. Instead of sleeping with her, he paid for her (still small) debt and took her to lotus pier.
She was estatic! but also rather dissapointed. She was looking forward to having her first time, and when she saw how handsome and gentle the sect leader leader was, she became rather attracted. She also felt a little guilty that he paid for her night and her freedom, but got nothing in return.
Meeting little A-Cheng and A-Li was great, the two and six year olds were cute little angels and she loved them instantly. Their mother was in her maiden sect for the time being, so it was just the four of them in the house. Wei Ying tried a few times to get the mans attention at night, but he didn't take any liberties.
He hadn't left the pier to visit any other brothels either. She wanted to give him at least one chance before the madam arrived. He was so respectful she was surprised that a man like this would dishonour his wife and visit a brothel at all!
Eventually, after meeting his wife, she understood why the man would have to stray. Honestly! The woman was so lucky and she didn't even know it, she screamed at the servants, publically humiliated her husband verbally, and was even mean to her children! Truly the example of a horrible wife. Wei Ying had seen men hit their wives for a fraction of this behaviour. It only proved how wonderful sect leader Jiang was.
And this Madam Yu seemed to hate Wei Ying at first sight, she forbid her children from talking to her, which made Wei Ying a little lonely. But she was quick to befriend the servants and disciples alike!
A few months into her stay at Lotus Pier, Madam Yu got severely sick, and died. The pier was in mourning for a 100 days. She tried being there for the children and the sect leader both, and took care of them like they were her own family.
And to her biggest fortune, they really did become hers. Two years after the death of his wife, when she was 22, Jiang Fengmian asked for her hand in marriage. She'd been in love with him for so long, she didn't think twice before agreeing.
But insecurities were hard to let go off.
"I'm just Wei Ying, a servant from a brothel who might as well already have been a whore,"
"Wei Ying is Wei Ying, it is all that I need. But if she prefers, she may take the name Jiang Wuxian. For me and A-Li and A-Cheng, your name matters not in comparison to your heart."
She had cried then, and she cried again as the servants fitted the red veil over her head while little A-Li and A-Cheng bought her snacks and water.
It was a lavish wedding as far as weddings go, every major sect and most minor sects near Yunmeng were invited, and all of them were ready to squeeze every drop of gossip from the Jiang leader's recent affairs.
Who was the bride? Was she ugly? Was she already pregnant? Did the children hate her? Did the servants fear her as they did madam Yu? Did she also have a tight leash over the sect leader and his dealings?
They were dying to know.
What they got instead was Jiang Fengmian looking happier than ever as he waited for his bride, the polite gentle smile replaced with a joyous one.
Jiang disciples and servants were cheerfully moving about their tasks insisting everything be perfect for 'our Madam Jiang.'
A nine year old Jiang Yanli greeted everyone politely and when asked only said she's very happy for her father and mother.
When Jiang Wanyin wasn't seen with the others people assumed that there was at least one person who was sure to be angry, the young heir truly took after his late mother after all.
But that assumption was crushed when they saw the heir in the bride's arms as she walked out of the sedan. He even whined and fussed as he had to be taken my another maid so Wei Ying could join her future husband.
Even though her face was covered with a veil, her slim figure and shapely body was visible to the crowd, the sheer veil being unable to hide the happiness radiating from her.
Well, after a horrible arranged marriage with someone like Yu Ziyuan, Jiang Fengmian did deserve to find his happy ending, they thought. Wonder whether this woman's children would replace his older ones for the heirs?
So many thoughts and so many opinions, but today, the two dressed in red only had eyes for each other. Apart from each other and their children, who mattered?
______
Jiang Yanli loved spending time with Ying-jiejie, she only ever complimented her cooking and smiled at her. Ying jiejie started learning cultivation even though she was already twenty but didn't let it stop her.
She encouraged Yanli to try new flavours and to talk about her skills, mathematics and accounts, she was so proud of her brilliant mind!
A-Cheng was for the first time experiencing someone being kind and helpful to him, someone who wasn't his sister. He thrived on attention and compliments. When Ying-Jiejie was there, she even roped father into their conversations and activities, he was so so happy.
But then mother came back. And they were forbidden from talking to their jiejie again. They realised how unhappy they usually were only after getting a chance to be stress free and happy. Mother criticised everything A-Cheng did and only ever berated Yanli for preferring servants duties and being horrible at cultivation.
A-Cheng, being young, tried to go against her and talk with Ying-jiejie, but mother found out and he was punished harshly.
At night, as Yanli tried consoling her weeping brother, he said, "Why can't we have Ying-jiejie instead of mother? I don't want her, I don't! I don't! I don't! I want father and Ying-jiejie and Yanli-jiejie!" He cried.
In truth, that was all Yanli wanted as well.
So she made it happen.
Daughter of meishan she was, and poisons were her friend. Daughter of Jiang Fengmian she was as well, and patience was her strongest virtue.
Years later, seeing A-Cheng and mom practice Jiang sword styles in the courtyard as she sat with father with her littlest sibling, A-Yuan, in her lap, having tea together and watching their family fondly, she only knew she made the right decision.