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“And Lan Qiren is paired with Wei Wuxian."
What?! WHAT?! No. That wasn’t right. Lan Qiren knew that wasn’t right because he had paired everyone up and he had made sure he was paired with his nephew Xichen!
Lan Qiren caught Xichen’s eye and he received a smug smile in return. All Lan Qiren could see in that smile was betrayal. It seemed Xichen had been paired with Wangji who Lan Qiren had specifically paired with that nice shy boy in accounting, Wen Ning! In an instant Lan Qiren knew this was one of Xichen’s little games. A way to make him spend time with Wei Wuxian so they could get to know each other better. Well, Lan Qiren wouldn’t fall for it. He knew all he needed to know about Wei Wuxian! He was a corruptor of nephews! He had stolen Wangji and he had heard rumours from Xichen that they were even beginning to talk about marriage! Imagine! Wei Wuxian related to the Lan’s! No, no thank you. He refused to accept it. But he was stuck working with him for the rest of the day now. After all, this company retreat had been his idea, he had to set a good example. He would have to grin and bear it for the next few hours.
Wei Wuxian cheerfully bounced to his side. “Hallo! Seems we’re partners for this little scavenger hunt thingy! Hey, as the head of the company you don’t have access to a cheat sheet, do you?”
Lan Qiren resisted rolling his eyes. “The scavenger hunt was arranged by an external company. No one has access to any…cheats, Wei Wuxian.”
Wei Wuxian nodded back and looked around.
“Now that you are all in your pairs we can begin! So, you each have a list of ten items. You must all go out into the woods, find the items and bring them back here. First one to return with all their items wins! Okay, off you all go!” said the overly cheerfully team building consultant. Lan Qiren opened the envelope containing their list of items and tried not to sneer as Wei Wuxian hung over his shoulder.
“Okay, so like some of these are easy and some of these are hard,” Wei Wuxian observed.
Lan Qiren didn’t respond. “Let’s go this way,” he said gruffly.
“Hold up! We should go this way,” Wei Wuxian said.
“Why?” Lan Qiren demanded.
“Trust me,” Wei Wuxian said with a grin as he bounded off. Lan Qiren followed closely behind him with a scowl on his face. When he caught up with Wei Wuxian he was hiding behind a tree. He put his finger to his lips when he saw Lan Qiren approach. Wei Wuxian was watching Nie Huaisang, an employee from the events team. The annoying boy kept stopping and putting down his bag and moaning about the heat, his partner was stomping off ahead. Wei Wuxian and Lan Qiren followed the boy for a little while longer. Eventually Nie Huaisang sat down to take a nap under a tree and Wei Wuxian approached him from behind. He slipped into the boy's bag and pulled out a fan, one of the items on their list. He waved it victoriously at Lan Qiren, who nodded approvingly. Then Wei Wuxian also stole a small silver flask from the boy’s bag, took a quick swig and pushed it back in.
When Wei Wuxian returned Lan Qiren glared at him. “What was in that flask?” he asked.
“Chocolate milk,” Wei Wuxian replied.
Lan Qiren growled at him. “Drinking alcohol on company time is forbidden!”
Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes. “Technically we’re off duty as it’s Saturday and you dragged us out into the middle of the forest so let’s just cut each other some slack, mmm?” Wei Wuxian looked at the list again. “We’re gonna have to pickpocket Wangji if we want a handkerchief. He carries one around which is so God damn adorable and makes me want to squish his little…”
“I carry one too,” Lan Qiren said, pulling one from his pocket. “Wangji noticed when he was four and even since then he also had to carry one.”
“Ahhhh that’s adorable!” Wei Wuxian squealed.
“Keep your voice down!” Lan Qiren hissed back.
“Fine,” Wei Wuxian said. “But you can feel free to tell me more stories about baby Wangji. I am all ears to hear about my perfect boyfriend’s perfect childhood!"
“He was not perfect,” Lan Qiren muttered.
“Oh?” Wei Wuxian said, falling into step beside him with a gleam in his eyes. “Was Wangji a naughty little boy? Tell me!”
“He was just as all little boys are, wanting attention and pushing boundaries to get it. But he was always very smart. When he was only two, he composed his first piece of music. Xichen maintains it was unreadable, but I remain convinced there were at least ten readable musical notes on that page!”
When Lan Qiren turned to look at Wei Wuxian he had a soft look on his face. “You love them a lot don’t you?" he said.
Lan Qiren looked away. “I love them the same amount as any other parent would love their children, let us continue.”
Wei Wuxian looked at the list. “Okay we need a red leaf, oh there’s one! And we need a large flat pebble…”
“We need to head to the stream for that,” Lan Qiren said.
“Of course! Lucky me! I got paired with a smarty pants!” Wei Wuxian declared, and Lan Qiren found himself smiling until he wiped the look of his face. Most unbecoming. They found a flat pebble down by the stream. They also found Wangji and Xichen much to Lan Qiren’s annoyance. Wei Wuxian ran over to Wangji and embraced him tightly. Lan Qiren rolled his eyes. “I know you switched the partners list around,” he growled at Xichen.
Lan Xichen blinked back. “I just read the names as they were on the list Uncle, maybe you subconsciously wanted to work with Wei Wuxian…”
“You will write out the family rules ten times for your subordination!”
Xichen laughed. “Oh Uncle, I do love you. But no. You cannot push your punishments onto me anymore, I'm all grown up now, and trust me this is for your own good.”
“Wei Wuxian lets go!” Lan Qiren shouted as he stomped off into the woods.
“Okay!” Wei Wuxian called back. “Just one more kiss for luck!” he kissed Lan Wangji and pulled away and then returned to kiss him again. “Then just one more for extra luck…”
“WEI WUXIAN!”
Wei Wuxian grimaced, waved and ran after Lan Qiren.
“Maybe this was not such a good idea…” Wangji confessed to his brother as he watched Wei Wuxian disappear into the woods.
Xichen sighed. “This will work, Wangji. Don’t worry. I know Uncle. He just needs to see Wei Wuxian’s good qualities shine through. You want Uncle to approve of your engagement, don’t you?”
Wangji nodded and Xichen smiled. “Then let this play out…I promise you it will all work out just as I planned.”
Lan Qiren quickly found another two items on the list and Wei Wuxian praised him loudly for his brilliance. The older man started to think that perhaps Wei Wuxian was not so bad. At least he could see when he was in the presence of greatness...
The next item was a conker, which Wei Wuxian pulled down from a branch, laughing as a flurry of leaves scattered around him. Lan Qiren laughed too, and Wei Wuxian beamed at him. The final three items were harder to obtain. A watch, a sunflower and a baseball cap. Wei Wuxian excitedly said that he knew where some sunflowers grew and ran off to find them with Lan Qiren following closely behind. When Lan Qiren caught up with Wei Wuxian he could hear raised voices. He hid behind a tree and watched as Wei Wuxian argued with another employee who was standing in front of the sunflowers.
“Come on just move and let me grab one!” Wei Wuxian said.
The man shook his head. “Nope. Guttersnipes like you don’t deserve to win this challenge. You probably only got the job because you’re sleeping with your boss!”
“You know fine well that Lan Zhan and I didn’t get together until a year ago, I’ve worked at the company for three years!"
“Yeah well, I don’t like your face.”
Lan Qiren came out of his hiding place then. “Move,” he ordered.
“Shit, I mean, yes Sir.” The man moved and Wei Wuxian picked a flower and came to stand by Lan Qiren.
“We’ll take your watch too,” Lan Qiren said holding out his hand expectantly.
“Yes, Sir,” the man said quickly taking his watch off his wrist and placing it in Lan Qiren’s outstretched hand.
“Thank you. I trust you will not bother Wei Wuxian again or I will have to questions your position at the company.”
“I won’t bother him again, Sir,” the man replied.
As they walked away Wei Wuxian giggled. “Oh man that was so much fun! That guy has had a problem with me since day one, no idea why! You are the best! I’m so glad I got partnered with you today!”
Lan Qiren felt something warm bloom in his chest at Wei Wuxians words….oh no….it couldn’t be. Oh no...it was. It was unmistakable. He liked Wei Wuxian.
“Are you okay?” Wei Wuxian asked, looking concerned. “You look like you just got a shock!”
“I am fine,” Lan Qiren replied.
“Okay, well we only need one more item and then we win! But where could we get a baseball cap from? Oh, my goodness I’ve got it! Wait here!”
Lan Qiren did as instructed and a few minutes later Wei Wuxian returned waving a baseball cap above his head. “Whoop! Finished with five minutes to spare!” he exclaimed.
“Do I want to know where you got that from?” Lan Qiren asked.
Wei Wuxian smirked. “Lets just say one of your employees is very smart and I figured he might have already got his hands on this item and lets also say that same employee has a very BIG soft spot for me…and lets also say he is willing to swap his victory for some favours that I am very willing to provide later on..."
“I do NOT need to hear anymore…” Lan Qiren said as me walked away, a laughing Wei Wuxian following in his wake.
They won the scavenger hunt and Lan Qiren enjoyed the round of applause they received from the fellow competitors. The prize was dinner for two at a fancy restaurant in town.
Wei Wuxian smiled at Lan Qiren. “You want to go together?” he asked.
Lan Qiren shook his head. “You go, take Wangji with you,” he said gruffly.
Wei Wuxian grinned from ear to ear. “Really? You…you're okay with that?”
Lan Qiren nodded. Xichen came up to them and smiled and Wangji took Wei Wuxian’s hand. “Lets all go together,” Wangji suggested.
“Oh yes! Lets do that!” Wei Wuxian said.
“Very well,” Lan Qiren agreed.
“Woooo! Now it’s a victory dinner for us winners!” Wei Wuxian said. “And you losers must say nice things about us all night!”
“Very well,” Wangji said with a smile.
Xichen nudged his Uncle’s arm as they headed to their cars. “Perhaps Wei Wuxian isn’t all that bad after all?” he offered.
“Perhaps he is not,” Lan Qiren replied with a small smile.