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"There's a Jin cultivator here to see you," Wei Wuxian says.
Wen Qing is elbow-deep in laundry, squatting over the communal washing tub. Her fingers are pruny, and she's sweating from the heat of the water. She has never been less ready to receive someone.
"Wei Wuxian, I do not have patience for jokes right now. Try again later."
"No, really," Wei Wuxian sits down on a rock so he can face her. "He came to the seal and asked for you. Sort of familiar looking? Said he was called Jin Guangyao, like he's one of Jin Guangshan's sons, which I'd question if it was anyone else but you never know when that guy will turn up with a son."
Wen Qing looks up. "Meng Yao? Are you sure?"
"Oh yeah!" Wei Wuxian snaps a finger. "That guy. Yeah, it's him."
"Is he alone?"
"Yep."
"What does he want?"
"Said he had to talk to you only."
"And you just let him in?"
Wei Wuxian blows air out between his lips loudly. "Come on, of course not. I left him waiting at the seal, all alone with the dead," he says, a wicked smile curling at the corners of his lips.
Wen Qing stands up and dries her hands off on her dress. Meng Yao means politics. Could be very bad if she doesn't play this right. But there's a glimmer of hope, too, crackling in her nerves.
"Take me to him."
#
Meng Yao standing in the Burial Mounds in his robes of white and Jin gold only makes Wen Qing think of more laundry to do, but at least he does her the courtesy of not pretending to be disgusted by his surroundings. She's seen him with blood on his face, he can't fool her.
"Meng Yao," she says, with a bow. Wei Wuxian waits nearby, out of earshot but within range.
"Wen-guniang," he returns. "It's Jin Guangyao now."
"I see. What do you want?"
"Jin-xiaofuren, whom you knew from the lectures in Gusu, is pregnant."
Wen Qing is a mountain of self-control. She has operated on screaming men and cheered up a child on his way to his new home in a graveyard. Yanli, pregnant, cannot mean anything to her now.
"She is having complications with her condition and insists that you are the only doctor who can tend to her," he continues. "Your presence is requested at Koi Tower."
"That's nonsense," Wen Qing says.
"Of course it is," Jin Guangyao agrees. "But Jiang-zongzhu has made it clear that any harm that befalls his sister would be taken by the Yunmeng Jiang as seriously as an act of war, so we must take all precautions."
Him again. Wen Qing narrows her eyes. Is that the trap? Is she to be sold off as a bride so the Jin can plow through their settlement without any danger of public disapproval?
"I won't go without my family. And Wei Wuxian."
Jin Guangyao gives her a piteous look. "I'm sorry Wen-guniang, I cannot extend this offer further." Wen Qing crosses her arms, preparing to turn. "However, doing this great service for the Jin sect cannot do anything to harm their position and will likely be taken into consideration for extending sanctuary in the future."
He's not wrong. It's a gamble. Wei Wuxian will tell her to go, so he's no help. And if it's true? If Yanli's in danger and she's refusing all of the perfectly qualified doctors of Koi Tower? She's torn between hope and despair that Yanli could be so reckless. For her.
"I'll go on one condition," she says.
"I hope I have the power to grant it," Jin Guangyao says.
"My son must come with us." Another gamble, but bringing him under Yanli's protection would be worth it.
It's satisfying to see Jin Guangyao stumble over that. "Your son? You have a... who is the father? How old?"
"Four. His father died in the war." When he starts to ask a follow up, she says, "I doubt that Jin-xiaofuren would take well to knowing she has broken up a mother and her child, and may sacrifice her own well-being to send me home."
Jin Guangyao studies her for a moment. Then he says, "Of course. I'll return in the morning to collect you both."
#
"And don't let Wei Wuxian plant potatoes," Wen Qing concludes, tightening the knot on her small pack. "The ground isn't suited for it, we've had this argument enough times."
"I know, a-jie," her brother says.
Wen Qing sighs. She puts her hands on either side of Wen Ning's face and looks him in the eyes. "I will be back for you. This isn't over."
"I know," he says. "But it's ok if you don't."
"No, it's not," she says. "If I don't, there's no point."
"You can save A-Yuan, isn't that the point?"
Wen Qing doesn't answer that. This is not a conversation she can have with him.
She goes outside to collect A-Yuan from Wei Wuxian.
"A-Yuan, who's that?" Wei Wuxian asks, pointing at her.
"A-Niang!" A-Yuan says, delighted. The chance to play pretend had been all the motivation he needed.
"That's right!" Wei Wuxian says with a wink. A-Yuan returns it, poorly.
They make their goodbyes, she repeats her promises. Everyone's so happy for them, and she doesn't like it.
"Keep them safe," she says to Wei Wuxian at the end.
"Thank Shijie for me," he says, and she doesn't like that either.
#
They stop at an inn in Yiling for a bath and a change into Jin colors, but Wen Qing still feels like there's a target on her back as they walk up the long steps. A-Yuan doesn't even remember the Nightless City, he gapes up at the tapestries and pedestals with awe and a little fear, clinging to her skirts. He's grown up around the dead and now this scares him.
She doesn't expect a reception, but when Yanli isn't there in the main hall, her stomach does a flip. She feels the trap closing in. And like a damned fool, she brought A-Yuan into it with her.
"Wen-guniang," Jin Guangyao says, gesturing down a hallway. Jin Zixuan is walking towards them at a brisk pace.
"Wen-guniang! Thank you so much for coming. Please, you must see A-Li right away."
Her immediate dislike at his familiarity (for his wife! Of course he's familiar with his wife!) is tempered by their mutual concern for Yanli. He doesn't even seem to notice A-Yuan, even when Wen Qing lifts him up to her hip so she can move faster.
This is it. She follows him to a building in a beautiful courtyard, but she doesn't trust that it doesn't lead down to a dungeon. Even A-Yuan is quiet, feeling her tight grip on his little thigh.
But behind the door is a lovely, well-appointed room. And in the room there's a bed, and in the bed is–
"Yanli," she breathes.
"Wen Qi— Wen-guniang, I'm so glad you came," Yanli says in a weak voice.
"A-Yao's gone," Jin Zixuan says behind Wen Qing, shutting the door.
Wen Qing whips her head around to question him, but the sight of Yanli tossing her covers aside snaps her right back around.
"Jiang-guniang, please stay in bed," she says, putting A-Yuan on the ground. "You mustn't strain yourself."
"It's fine, I'm fine," Yanli says. She comes to sit on the edge of the bed. Wen Qing doesn't listen, just rushes to her side to check her pulse and spiritual energy. "Really, Wen Qing, I'm fine," she says, and takes Wen Qing's hand from her forehead and holds it in her lap. Wen Qing, who had been trying to look anywhere but Yanli's face, finds she has no choice anymore.
The words leave her entirely.
"I'll give you two time to catch up," Jin Zixuan says. "Would…" he looks down at A-Yuan, hesitantly.
"A-Yuan," Wen Qing says, swallowing. She's beginning to understand the shape of this now. "He's my nephew."
"Would you like to come see the lotus pond with me, A-Yuan?" Jin Zixuan asks.
"It's ok," Yanli says, squeezing her hand.
"It's ok, A-Yuan," Wen Qing says. She really does need time alone with Yanli right now. "You can trust Jin-shushu."
"Jin-shushu," Jin Zixuan repeats to himself, sounding pleased. He opens the door again, and A-Yuan, ever the extrovert, runs out after him.
"Well!" Yanli says, with a little laugh. "You must have questions."
"You pretended to be ill to rescue me."
"Yes," Yanli admits. "You know my spiritual energy is inconsistent, it was easy to convince the Jin doctors that it was caused by the pregnancy. Surely no daughter of the Violet Spider would have such weak cultivation normally."
Wen Qing abruptly realizes that they're still holding hands in Yanli's lap and pulls away. "But you are pregnant."
"Yes," Yanli says, taking Wen Qing's hands back. "I wanted to be."
"And Jin Zixuan is… he…?"
"He knows everything," she says. "About us."
That there could even be an "us" still, after the past few years, was something Wen Qing could barely bring herself to wish for. Yanli brushes a piece of hair behind Wen Qing's ear.
"We knew we'd be stuck together from birth, so we've always been frank with each other. He has no interest in love or sex, and I thought I was the same, so it seemed we could live together peacefully. But then I met you and…" she smiles softly. "We broke it off."
"That was for me?" Wen Qing asks. "Why?"
"Zixuan didn't like the idea of tying me down if I could find love elsewhere. In retrospect I'm not sure what we expected would happen, but we were kids." Yanli shrugs. "After the war, his parents started to pressure him to find a new match. He didn't want to marry a woman who might be less understanding, so we started talking again. I agreed under the condition that he would use his power to help you and your family."
Thank Shijie for me rings in Wen Qing's ears, but the enormity of this is impossible to speak so easily.
Suddenly, Yanli's face falls. "I've been so selfish. I wanted you, above all else. I half-expected you not to come, without the protection for the rest of your family, and I would have understood. I understand if you want to leave right now. I'm sorry, I just…" Her eyes well up. "I missed you so much. A-Qing, QingQing, I'm so glad you're here, and I'll do everything I can for your family, just— please—"
Wen Qing leans in to kiss her, and Yanli sobs against her lips. "I know, I know," she says in between kisses. Tears are running down her cheeks now too, she tastes salt, but the release is so much sweeter than she could have imagined.
"Whatever happens now, we'll do it together," Yanli promises, pressing their foreheads together. "I won't leave you. If I have to go back to the Burial Mounds with you, baby on my back, I will."
"And what will your husband think?" Wen Qing laughs.
"He can come if he wants! He certainly can't stop me. With you, I can do anything." Yanli beams at her.
Somehow, the Yunmeng spirit isn't as frustrating coming from her. Maybe she even believes it, a little. If this is the trap, then Wen Qing has no power to fight it. She allows herself a smile.
"Come on," Yanli says, when they've wiped away tears and shared a few more well-earned kisses. "I want to meet my nephew. Does A-Xian get along with him?"
"Oh, they're inseparable. A-Yuan calls him Xian-gege."
"Gege," she laughs. "Of course A-Xian wouldn't allow himself to be shushu'd yet."
Yanli takes her hand, and they walk out the door together.