Chapter Text
It's 3 days until their wedding day, and Lan Xichen still hasn't come back, Wei Wuxian tried distracting Jiang Cheng from his gloomy mood.
Jiang Cheng reminisces about their past.
ᨏᨐᨓ • ᨓᨐᨏ
The sky seems to understand Jiang Wanyin right at this time, as it joined him with his sulking; its clouds all dark and gloomy. The sun is nowhere to be seen, and the daylight has gone with the light of Jiang Wanyin's life. Why does his Lan Huan have to leave 3 days before their wedding? He knows Lan Xichen isn't deliberately doing this, it's just that he has to because the matter had strictly needed him.
That resentful spirit has been bothering the remote village in Gusu for months, and what assumed before as a low level resentful entity has cultivated into a ferocious and highly destructive one. It's not that Gusu Lan Sect has been neglecting its duties, there's no way his love would ever be irresponsible. They truly never expected for things to turn out this way, and in the peak of wedding preparation.
Jiang Wanyin can already imagine people talking about how inauspicious this incident is, and how it can affect their marriage. He tried not to dwell on it, but it still made his mood more sour than it initially was.
The wedding day was picked, and the preparations of both families about to be tied are all nearly finished. Now all Jiang Wanyin can do is wait. He is a little worried about Lan Xichen, he always will, somewhere in his heart, but he also knows it's not something his lover cannot handle.
When he felt in his bones the lethargy and overdue tiredness caused by the energy he needed to expend for the upcoming wedding, he decided that he could just lie down in the bed for how long, and think about Lan Xichen and how he already missed him so bad. He doesn't know if it is one of an oncoming wedding's 'side-effects', but he really does feel kind of emotional right now, which isn't like him.
First hour into his rest, he thinks about their really unexpected first meeting, about big eyes and plump pinkish cheeks, soft hands and friendly voices. He lay there with open eyes, but his mind is elsewhere, somewhere in a kaleidoscope of tender memories; between an emotionally repressed teen and openly caring one, both neglected and sad, they found warmth in each other.
He can go on for days, and no matter how much it seems like he's not capable of loving someone; of how much people thought that he is too cold and doubted this marriage, he knows he would die for him, in secret.
All this thoughts just made him miss Lan Xichen more, he knows he just made it worst, but he can't help it, like how he can't help the budding tenderness he slowly got accustomed to the longer he bask in the presence of his 'Huan-ge', those days were very precious. He can't help the calamitous and tranquil love blooming in the little sanctuary they made. He would yearn for that special connection in the moments they must part.
His reverie was interrupted by three simultaneous and unavoidable disturbances; heavy and intentionally unconcealed footsteps just outside the door of the room, a loud abrupt sound of an opening of the sliding door, and Wei Wuxian's loud call for his given name.
"Jiang Cheng!"
Jiang Wanyin can already feel his imminent headache due to Wei Wuxian's insufferable shenanigans, he can already sense it; he knows what this idiot looks like moments before he's about to make trouble. "Wei Wuxian. Whatever is it you're about to do, leave me out of it."
"How come when it's about you? And what face are you making, I'm not making trouble!" Wei Wuxian was quick to defend, just like he always has when he's really about to say something embarrassing. Jiang Wanyin summons up everything to resist rolling his pupil.
"That's exactly what you say when you really are about to make trouble." Jiang Wanyin said without blinking.
"Aiya, Jiang Cheng, you're quick to jump to conclusions, what disturbance could I make now that your wedding preparations are now almost complete?" Wei Wuxian feigned distress.
Wei Wuxian realized that he somehow made Jiang Cheng look more wretched when he accidentally brought up the topic of wedding. He's quick to mediate the situation.
"Say, why don't you come with me to relax? Have tea in the pavilion?" Wei Wuxian suggested, which made Jiang Cheng a little bit surprised; because this isn't something they frequently prefer than playing around and causing misfortune.
Jiang Wanyin understands that now that his sister cannot travel so early from Jin Lintai to Lotus Pier due to her being in her late stages of her second pregnancy, Wei Wuxian was uncharacteristically assuming their jiejie's usual approach. Jiang Wanyin didn't know what's worse, this Wei Wuxian or that fidgety gremlin Wei Wuxian.
"Is there still no news about Lan Xichen?"
Wei Wuxian just sighed. He really hated seeing his little brother this crestfallen, he might joke around or circle his way every time, but he really cares for him. His ways may be unconventional, but his purpose remains honest. And so he proceeds to rattle Jiang Cheng's cages.
"Still no news about something you should feel worried about. But if you don't get up, I'm going to tell Jin Zixuan and Zewu-Jun about the time you overheard Madam Jin and Madam Yu arranging a marriage between their kids, and you thought it was about Jin Zixuan and you." Wei Wuxian has his ever annoying shit-eating grin while he says it, very slowly, deliberately grating Jiang Cheng's feeble patience until none is left.
And the effects of his baiting are instantaneous.
"Wei Wuxian. Don't you fucking dare." Jiang Wanyin's eyes instantly rounded up, he can feel the rising shame in his chest up to his neck and ears, making it obviously red.
Wei Wuxian can hear the grinding of Jiang Cheng's teeth, his voice cold; tinted with something like underlying embarrassment. He is then solely encouraged to continue his teasing if only to bring back a little enthusiasm to his brother's countenance, even if it's through extreme anger.
Jiang Wanyin got up as quickly as he could only to reach the empty air. That jackass Wei Wuxian was already reaching for the door, chortling; "Imagine how that peacock would react upon that news, huh."
"You should imagine what your face would look like after I punch the hell out of you, you dumbass." Jiang Wanyin grabbed Wei Wuxian's collar below his nape to yank him backwards. He aimed his enclosed fist towards him, but his annoying brother was ever nimble, able to dodge his attacks quickly, bouncing deftly around the room. Jiang Wanyin was unswerving with his strikes, but Wei Wuxian was just evading effortlessly. They spar like that for minutes until they can’t anymore.
Jiang Wanyin was still irate from the provocation, but most of the steam has been released, and now all remains is humiliation. Wei Wuxian still had a laughing face pasted on his face, like a ridicule. "I barely remembered the details, but did I recall correctly that you cried really hard in front of shijie that time? 'Guess that's just how much you are besotted with ZewuJun… you are crazy for him."
"Shut up." Jiang Wanyin was now all flustered, the only thing he can do is disguise his overwhelming emotion with vexation.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, until now that never changed seeing how… yeah."
Blame Wei Wuxian for somehow triggering a feeling of reminiscence to Jiang Wanyin, he somehow found himself going back to where it all began, for him and his adoptive brother, and for him and his Lan Huan.
There are three things that make Jiang Cheng absolutely happy; first, spending time with his three dogs—but that was before when he still had them, anyway; second, when he played with his Shijie and newly founded brother, Wei Wuxian, and the third and most important, when Huan-ge and him spend time together. For Jiang Cheng, his Huan-ge was the kindest man he knew, of course, Shijie was the kindest woman.
At a young age, Jiang Cheng had learned in a very hard way not to expect something from others, most especially his parents. But after meeting Lan Huan on that fateful day at the market in Caiyi, his best friend never failed him, he stayed no matter what. Jiang Cheng still feels a little bit strange that the word 'best friend' he used for Huan-ge doesn't seem fitting when he's still figuring things out as a teenager, for reasons he himself still hadn't realized yet.
Anyway, the fateful day that he first met his Huan-ge was when his father urgently prepared for traveling far away without due notice when he was seven years old. It resulted in his father and his mother fighting for reasons he didn't understand, as happens very often the moment Jiang Cheng opened his eyes to the world. Jiang Cheng, ever the naive and clingy child he was, sneakily hid under the boat where Jiang Fengmian was sailing to tag along with him. He never understood his father, or why he had to travel somewhere far away looking so worried and crestfallen, much like the face he made when his favorite dog stopped eating all of a sudden. So he needs to know. He needs to know where he is going and what earns his father's concern more than him getting kidnapped by bandits, because he never reacted like that to anything Jiang Cheng ever put himself into.
His father was disappointed and irritated when he found Jiang Cheng out, but then they already sailed so far now, the river was very long. He just heard his father sigh deeply, and proceeded to ignore him for the rest of the trip. Soon they arrived in Caiyi Town, and while the father and son were sitting at a restaurant table taking a rest, a small battered boy was seen getting chased by dogs outside. It happened so fast to Jiang Cheng, a little boy who was still trying to comprehend and grasp the dysfunctional family he was born into, suddenly being left behind by his father to hurriedly chase after another boy who, as far as he knows, they have only met now. One second his already emotionally absent father literally has gone away.
Jiang Cheng felt an unprecedented fear he never felt before, the fear of abandonment. He was left here, without his father informing him first and assuring he would be back soon. He was attacked by unease and anxiety so he fiddled in his seat until he finally decided to run to the direction his father had gone. But how naive Jiang Cheng is to think he would find them, because he got lost. In an unfamiliar road littered with people going about their day, Jiang Cheng recognizes no one, he is very far away from home and the only source of miniscule safety, namely his father, was nowhere to be found. He saw a few people looking at him curiously, a young boy from a faraway Cultivation Sect seemingly lost in Gusu. He can't stop the tears from forming in his eyes, they gather so fast that everything becomes blurry.
Jiang Cheng only saw a flurry of white when he felt someone lightly touching his arm, not intruding or forceful, but careful and concerned.
"Young Master Jiang? Is that you? Why are you here all alone?" The voice came from a boy a few years older than him, when he hurriedly wiped his tears he saw gentle looking eyes peering at him with concern mixed with confusion. The boy in front of him had an amiable aura and was dressed in white, wearing a forehead ribbon with a cloud motif. Although it was not his first time seeing these attire, he was still unfamiliar so he was unconsciously guarded.
"Why do you know me? Who are you?"
The older boy sensed his wariness, so he hurried to assure him carefully, "I saw you once when you were much younger, so perhaps you don't remember me. But I am Lan Huan, the First Young Master of Gusu Lan Sect. You might have heard of us from your parents. So don't worry, Young Master Jiang, I don't mean any harm."
"I… I'm lost." Remembering the predicament he had gone to, Jiang Cheng cannot suppress a sob anymore. Looking at him from Lan Huan's perspective, he is indeed very pitiful.
Lan Huan goes closer to comfort him, patting him on the back "It's going to be alright, we'll find my uncle and get help. Who are you with? My uncle will surely find them. Anyway, my little brother was lost, too. My uncle and I were both looking for him too."
"My father left, I don't know where he is." Jiang Cheng tried so hard to wipe his tears but it kept coming. He tried to stifle his sobs but it only came out as a whimper.
"Shhh. You're going to be fine, we'll find your father. How about we sit somewhere first, hmm?"
Lan Huan really has a knack for coaxing and comforting little kids, with his experience from his little brother. Jiang Cheng cannot help but think that this Lan Huan was really kind, just like his Shijie. So he decided to follow along.
Lan Huan decided to sit at the nearby arc bridge to calm the still sniffling Jiang Cheng. While wiping the kid’s still chubby cheeks, he can't help but see the resemblance to his pouting little brother. They’re both so adorable and so so cute.
“Hush, now little A-Cheng. Everything will fine soon.” His small hands a constant comfort gently rubbing the younger boy's head.
“Really?” Jiang Cheng who still has some lingering doubts and fear, looks at also quite young Lan Huan hopefully. Lan Huan, faced with such pure trust from the boy, is even more determined to set things straight and make him feel better again.
“You see, I'm also trying to find my brother, do you want to help me find him? Maybe we can also bump into your father. Caiyi town can only be so big, I mean it's not that big, we'll find them soon.” Lan Huan said that even if he wasn't sure himself, even he isn't very familiar with Caiyi, he's still very much a young kid and had never gone much outside of Cloud Recesses. But being the responsible older brother, he feels a sense of responsibility and courage came naturally to him. He is also very bright and smart, able to memorize the alleyways and busy streets after only walking there once. It didn't take too much time for them to finally meet Lan Qiren, with little Lan Zhan in tow.
“Lan Huan, I finally found your brother- If I'm not mistaken, are you with Young Master Jiang?” Lan Qiren's bewildered expression has trained into Jiang Cheng, a bit intimidating that has him instinctively hiding behind Lan Huan, who is quick to politely explain.
“Yes, shufu, this is indeed Young Master Jiang, like our A-Zhan, he is also currently lost and cannot find his father, Sect Leader Jiang.”
“That is worrying, he's probably already searching for you right now. I will dispatch a few disciples to go and find Sect Leader Jiang and notify him that his son is safe and is within the custody of the Lan Sect.”
“S-shufu, you'll let Young Master Jiang come back with us to the Cloud Recesses?”
“Yes, Lan Huan. He's in no condition to search for his father himself, it will only exhaust his young body. You too, you children need to rest, it's been a long day.”
And so they began their journey back to the mountains. Jiang Cheng kept close to Lan Huan, the only comfort he can hold on to at this moment, although the other kid who might be his age that looks a lot like this kind brother is shooting petulant glares in his way, his big but sharp golden eyes the only stark difference between him and Lan Huan.
Upon their return, two Lan Sect disciples patrolling the gates cast confused stares at young Jiang Cheng who clings to First Young Master Lan. They could only hold their tongue.
The sun is nearly setting, and everything afterwards has gone in a sort of a blur to Jiang Cheng, the only thing his innocent young mind focused on is that he wants to go home but at the same time he feels really safe and comfortable with this Young Master Lan that stayed with him throughout all this. And that even after going home to Yunmeng which he must do, someday he would want to go back to Gusu just to see him again. For the first time in his young life, he wanted a friend.
ᨏᨐᨓ • ᨓᨐᨏ
Jiang Cheng woke up with Lan Huan beside him, already looking prim and proper with no bed hair and not a wrinkle in his outer robes, sitting upright in front of his table. He seemed to be reading something, looking to be in deep focus, he failed to notice little Jiang Cheng sitting up and staring at him in confusion. He's really living up to his name then, being the eldest heir of his sect. The sun is just barely rising, yet he's up and about. Normally, at this early hours of the day, Jiang Cheng would still be sprawled in his bed, hugging his blankets, and drooling at his pillow, but he's aware that this isn't his room, or his home. So slowly he got up, finally, the rustling sound little Jiang Cheng made caught the attention of Lan Huan, and so he's also getting up from his seat to assist the little boy.
“Good Morning, Young Master Jiang. I hope you get to rest well even in an unfamiliar environment.” Lan Huan is quick to give Jiang Cheng a gentle smile.
Little Jiang Cheng still has some bed hair, his inner robes crumpled a little bit in his sleep, his eyes a little puffy from all the crying he did yesterday. He looks so cute.
“‘m fine.” Little Jiang Cheng, who was still a little dazed and groggy from sleeping, tried suppressing his yawn, but it only made him look more cute than he already is to Young Lan Huan’s eyes. Lan Huan is doing everything he can to keep himself from pinching Jiang Cheng cheeks. Based on his experience with his own adorable little brother, pinching a baby's cheek doesn't amuse them in the least. The amount of times little A-Zhan has grumpily pouted with an angry scoff at Lan Huan whenever he failed to rein in his cooing is uncountable. There's only so much a little toddler could do to appear really angry, and most of the time it only made them look cuter.
“I wanna go home to jiejie soon, she's going to be so worried.” He felt a little guilty about getting lost in his thoughts about tiny babies and their cuteness when he heard little Jiang Cheng's anxious voice.
“You're right. Don't be too sad now, our disciples have already found your father and he already knows that you're here. He's probably going to come for you later. And then you can finally go home.”
“My father… he left me yesterday. I tried to find him but I found you instead, can I call you gege?” Jiang Cheng, who was still very young, is still having a hard time arranging his thoughts into coherence.
No way, Lan Huan's heart who really really adores little babies and taking care of them was suddenly beating so fast at this moment, and yes, he likes to, he LOVES to be called ‘gege’. But he needs to focus on a much more important topic, and that is little Jiang Cheng's father. He failed to quash the disturbed look in his eyes that is triggered by a familiar feeling of abandonment that a particular father has made him experience, and he hopes that little Jiang Cheng wouldn't see it in his eyes and be upset.
“Of course, you can call me ‘gege’, but you said that your father tried leaving you? Do you mind telling this gege more about what happened yesterday? Is that okay, A-Cheng?”
Jiang Cheng finds that he quite likes that endearment, but that was before he would hear of other endearments coming from Lan Huan's lips that would never fail to make his flutter, but then that was for the future Jiang Cheng, so this little toddler here wouldn't know.
“When father saw that little boy getting chased by dogs, he ran after him. He does this all the time, when he's with me, he would forget that I'm with him. I know it's because of me, he doesn't like me much because I'm not a special kid.” This is the first time he told someone about his father, about how sometimes, he feels less like they're father and son. He sees how other fathers treat their children, and it's nothing like how his father treats him. Maybe because this big brother-like figure looks really genuinely kind and comforting, little Jiang Cheng feels safe enough to let out how he feels.
These words hit harder than Lan Huan had anticipated, because he knows that feeling all too well. The feeling of neglect, of a father that is physically and emotionally absent. His heart aches so much for this little child. And he can't bear to see him so sad. He rubs A-Cheng's back and tries to wipe the tiny teardrop that has escaped his eyes.
“Remember this, A-Cheng, you deserve to be loved and cherished. There's no such thing as not special enough, you are enough.” Lan Huan says this with an aching chest, and a strong feeling of protectiveness has sprouted from him to this child. He wants to shield him from all harm, even if he knows it's impossible. He feels like that all the time with A-Zhan.
“Then why is Diedie always sad when he's with me? He's happy with other kids, but not with me. My mother said it's because I'm not trying hard enough to be a good son.” Little A-Cheng looks so small and so sad Lan Huan feels his heart being squeezed. They've only met yesterday, yet the affection he feels for this little boy is so immense that even he himself is somehow mystified by it. It feels so natural to adore Jiang Cheng.
“Oh, A-Cheng. I'm sorry. They shouldn't have treated you like that.” He promptly felt brewing indignation for those people who caused little A-Cheng to be this miserable.
“Gege, it hurts so much in my chest.”
Lan Huan can't take it anymore, so he hugs the boy, embracing him as tight as his small arms can manage. He felt A-Cheng hugging him back just as tight.
“Shhh, the pain will go away soon. I'll be here with you until it does, okay?” Lan Huan whispered, his little hands combing through Jiang Cheng's hair.
Lan Huan's embrace never loosen even after he felt Jiang Cheng body getting heavy in his arms, he might still be feeling drowsy then, he figures this is not his usual waking time. It wasn't that difficult helping him to lie down on the bed again, Lan Huan's countless experience trying to get A-Zhan to sleep made sure of that.
Little A-Cheng slept for about two hours more before he woke up. By that, they already missed the scheduled time for breakfast. But since Jiang Cheng wasn't really strictly a member of Gusu Lan Sect and the unconventional way that he ended up staying in the Cloud Recesses, he was spared from punishment of copying rules.
One of the kitchen staff had brought them breakfast. Meanwhile Lan Huan had assisted little Jiang Cheng in fixing his hair and clothes.
“Gege, is it really strict living here? Why does the food taste so bland? Even Jasmine, Princess, and Love surely wouldn't eat them. Why do you need to be punished by not eating early?” Little A-Cheng really does have the energy and curiosity of a young child, very frank.
“Perhaps it looks strict to you, A-Cheng. But for this gege, I have been living this way all my life, and I have come to like it.” Lan Huan patiently answered, just as he was trying to patiently comb a few tangles in A-Cheng's hair.
“Sure.” Jiang Cheng seems to answer absentmindedly, and abruptly added, “I don't get it.”
It made Lan Huan giggle. “By the way, Princess, Jasmine, and Love, I must admit they are a bit strange sounding to be a person's name, are they the name of your pets?”
“Princess, Jasmine and Love are my dogs. I miss them a lot now… They follow me everywhere, but they can't follow me here because they can't swim in the river.” Jiang Cheng answered, pouting. “How about you, gege? Do you also have dogs?”
“I'm sorry, A-Cheng, pets aren't allowed to be kept here in Cloud Recesses.”
“That's just so bad, gege.”
Lan Huan, who cannot bear to see the distress in A-Cheng's face, is quick to remedy the situation. “What I mean is that they aren't allowed to be kept as pets, but it doesn't mean they aren't allowed to stay in Cloud Recesses.”
TBC