Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Jiang Cheng! I can not believe the Jin even think that Shijie will get back together with the peacock after what he did!”

“Hush! Don’t cause any trouble. Even if I agree, now that the war is over, we are in an even more precarious position. We can't risk angering anyone”

Wei Wuxian huffed but let it go. He downed another cup of alcohol, letting his eyes wander towards the Lan, looking for someone. He snorted, seeing him glaring at the cup of alcohol placed in front of him before pouring himself another glass.

Just then, Jin Guangyao tapped a glass to get everyone’s attention “I hope everyone is enjoying the festivities. Now that the reign of the Wen Sect has come to an end, we decided that to celebrate, we will use an item that has been held hostage by them. According to the few records left, it is said to guide us in the future and help us prevent misfortune. Of course, we only have my father to thank for this”

Jin Guangshan frowned at being called father, but soaked up all the attention and cheers.

“As expected of my uncle, our Sect Leader!” yelled Jin Zixun.

Sect Leader Yao nodded gravely, “Sect Leader Jin is very kind for sharing this with everyone” 

“Share?! It doesn't even belong to him!” Wei Wuxian whisper-yelled.

“We're just going to have to deal with his bullshit,” Jiang Cheng mumbled and was happy to find that Nie Mingjue looked just as done as him. Even Lan Xichen’s smile looked tight.

Jin Guangshan held up an incense burner “Just passing a bit of spiritual energy into it will activate it, right?” he asked his newly acknowledged son.

Lan Xichen interrupted with a pleasant smile, “Sect Leader Jin, are you sure this is a good idea? Just as you said, we do not have much information on this item, it might be dangerous” 

“Don’t worry, Sect Leader Lan, my son has gone through the records and confirmed that it is nothing dangerous. But I am a bit concerned, you see, I am getting quite old, but you are young and energetic, why don't you activate and demonstrate it for all of us?”

This earned the Jin Sect Leader a sharp glare from the younger jade and even the Nie Sect Leader.

“That Jin Guangshan really is shameless. Zewu-jun was just trying to help him, but he is now forced into being a test subject” Wei Wuxian whispered to his brother, to which he got a nod.

“You two aren't kids anymore. You can't gossip like you used to back then, you have to represent our sect,” they were scolded softly by their sister.

“Yes, Shijie”

“Sorry, A-jie”

“Er-ge, don't worry, I checked the notes very thoroughly. It's not dangerous”

Lan Wangji was now openly glaring at both the talking Jins “If you are too scared to activate it, do not activate it at all. Do not pass the responsibility onto someone else”

Grandmaster Lan clearly disapproved of the Jins’ actions but did not want any conflict so soon after the war “It is fine, Wangji. I have also read about a similar item that belongs to our sect, even though the records are old, they were well-kept. It is not anything dangerous” 

Hearing this, Lan Wangji relaxed, “If Shufu says so”

Wei Wuxian snorted at the implication that Jin Guangyao’s words were not as trustworthy as Old Man Lan’s, but kept it together since he was just scolded by his Shijie not too long ago.

Lan Xichen also looked calmer after hearing his Shufu’s words. He took the incense burner and activated it by sending a small stream of qi into it. It gleamed blue and then started floating into the middle of the room, where it spun for a bit before exploding into a bright flash.

Everyone covered their eyes from the brightness, and when they opened them, the incense burner was back in Lan Xichen’s hands. However, this Lan Xichen looked older and was also surrounded by five other people, one of whom was carrying a child. 

The one carrying the child was wearing robes of Lan colours, but the cut was a mix of Lan and Jiang. His forehead ribbon was in his hair rather than on his forehead. There were two other Lans, both of whom were the ribbon indicating that they were part of the main family. There was one in Jin robes and another in the Ouyang Sect robes.

The one carrying the child recovered first, tucking the child further into his neck, hiding them from everyone  “Oh my god! No! No! No! I refuse! I refuse! I am leaving!” he yelled but made no attempt to leave the place, instead he was pulling everyone else closer to him.

“How did we even get teleported here? No one activated a talisman,” one of the Lan disciples asked.

“Where exactly is ‘here’?” the Jin disciple demanded.

“Uhhh Zewu-jun? What is that in your hand? You didn't have it before,” the disciple in Ouyang Sect robes asked.

But ‘Zewu-jun’ did not answer. Even though his eyes were open, they seemed far away.

“Kids, kids, kids-” The man holding the child started.

“We’re not your kids!” three voices yelled at the same time.

“Fine then, adults, adults, adults! Look around you, we are in a predicament of sorts”

The four, who looked younger than the other two, looked around, and their jaws dropped further and further as they took in more and more people in the room.

The entire hall was so shocked at seeing another Zewu-jun that they did not utter a word until then, but after the newcomers quieted down, there was an uproar.

“Who are you people?!”

“Who is that impostor, pretending to be Zewu-jun?!”

More questions were thrown at them, and swords were unsheathed. The noise seemed to bring the new Zewu-jun out of his daze, and he too looked shocked but quickly recovered.

One of the two Lan disciples took out a talisman and quickly scribbled something on it “Quiet!” he yelled.

“Ooooh, a voice-modifying talisman! I've never seen that particular one before,” Wei Wuxian whispered to his brother in a now silent and shocked hall.

The Lan cleared his throat “I apologise for the scare, but it seems that you should be the ones answering our questions. We certainly did not do anything to come here, so it must be something someone on you end that brought us here. So if someone could kindly explain what happened, it would be very much appreciated,” he smiled softly, reminding everyone of Zewu-jun.

It seemed that everyone was still shocked, so Wei Wuxian took the lead “We activated an incense burner the Jin Sect found in the Wen Sect’s treasury. It was supposed to be a fortune-telling incense burner. Sect Leader Jin swore it wasn't dangerous, but he asked Sect Leader Lan to activate it”

“And he listened to him?” the other Lan asked sarcastically, making Wei Wuxian hide a snort. He didn't know Lans could be sarcastic!

“Old ma- I mean Grandmaster Lan confirmed that it wasn't dangerous, so he did. Now that we have answered your questions, why don't you tell us who you are?”

The formal Lan was about to answer, but he was interrupted ”A-Yuan, why don't you take a look at Ge's meridians? Zichen hold her for a bit, won't you?” he asked as he handed the child to the boy in Ouyang Sect robes.

He stretched his hands a bit before turning towards the Jin Sect Leader, a hand on his hip and the other pointing at him “Listen here, Jin Guangshan! What are you planning?! Don't even think about hurting a single hair on my family's heads, alright?!”

Jin Guangshan looked ready to explode after being singled out, but Jin Guangyao stepped in “Gongzi, please calm down. We weren't expecting this to happen. We apologise for any inconvenience, but I can assure you that no one is going to be harmed unprovoked”

The Jin in their group spoke up, “If you weren't expecting us, then why are all the windows and doors sealed?”

Everyone in the hall whipped their heads around to see if it was true. They were so distracted that they didn't even notice.

Before they started panicking again, the one who threatened Jin Guangshan spoke up, “Ok, ok, stop. I think I know what's happening, we are going to be stuck here until the incense runs out”, he said, turning the incense burner around in his arms.

“But that person is clearly impersonating our Sect Leader, who are you?!” a Lan elder demanded.

“He is not impersonating anyone, he is Zewu-jun! Sizhui, is he alright?”

“His qi was fluctuating a bit, but now it is stable. Zewu-jun, can you hear me? How do you feel?”

“Ah, yes, I can. I feel a bit dizzy, but other than that, I feel fine,” he answered, his voice unnaturally hoarse.

“What happened to your voice? Actually, don't answer! Jingyi, what happened to his voice?” The Lan with his forehead ribbon in his hair asked.

“Uh, we were coming back from that night hunt in Yunmeng, and we decided to stay in Caiyi for the night since it was past curfew-”

“Which is stupid! Even with your rules, no one will deny entry to the Sect Leader and his group!” The Jin boy interrupted.

“Ahem! As I was saying, we were going to stay in an inn when we bumped into Zewu-jun inside! He said that a problem was reported by the innkeeper. He was there to investigate the garden behind the inn since all the disciples were either busy with exams or out on night hunts, and all the elders were busy with wedding preparations. We obviously joined him. It was just a small yao, so he told us to go back inside and rest, and just as we were about to leave, our pendants flashed, indicating an intruder in Cloud Recess! Past the second wards! And I suppose Zewu-jun got distracted by it because he killed the yao, but he didn't step away fast enough, so he ended up inhaling some powder it sent out. He said it was fine and that his core would burn the poison and the only side effect would be a sore throat, but we insisted he see a healer, so as soon as we got the message that the intruder was caught, we went to Cloud Recess, and that's where we met you! At the gates! What were you doing there anyway?”

“Yeah! Why were you there after curfew? And with A-Yu!” The Jin disciple demanded.

“Boy, what second wards are you talking about? What night hunt? And is that any way to give a report?!“ Lan Qiren asked, rubbing his forehead.

“Ok, so why don't we just sit down and talk, ok? Ok!” He exclaimed as he took the child, ‘A-Yu’, back into his arms before sitting down beside the Lan Sect. The others followed, sitting down, occupying the space between the Lan and Jiang sects.

“Ok, Sizhui, the floor is yours. You explain!”

“Don't throw him to the wolves!” The Ouyang Sect disciple yelled.

Sizhui cleared his throat “Esteemed members of the cultivation world, it seems that the incense burner brought us here from the future”, he said calmly while chaos unfolded around him.

“Da-jiu! Seriously, why is A-Yu here?!” the Jin disciple whispered to his uncle while everyone was demanding answers from Sizhui.

“She kept fussing for her baba, it has been 2 days since we last saw him, I was just walking around trying to get her to sleep. I was already far from the Jingshi when I got the intruder alert, so I went towards the gates to stay with the guards stationed there, since it was closer. She was already asleep by the time you came, you know nothing can wake her after she falls asleep, just look, even after all of that, she is still asleep”

“What about Hanguang-jun?”

“He is in Qinghe. He should be back in the morning”

They were whispering, but Wei Wuxian heard them since he was sitting close to the Jin disciple and from the look of it, Jiang Cheng heard too. 

Sizhui once again used the voice-modulating talisman and calmed everyone down “As we mentioned earlier, we are all trapped inside this room until the incense runs out, so please, I advise everyone to stay calm since we do not know how long that would take. Let us discuss this calmly,” he suggested.

The younger Lan Xichen spoke up, “That forehead ribbon is indeed mine, there is no way it can be replicated, and the ribbons belonging to the other two Lan disciples indicate they belong to the main family, those can not be forged. So I think there is some truth to it”

“He is right, but Xichen- the older one- can you give us some proof supporting your claims?”

“Zewu-jun! Don’t strain your voice until we see a healer!” the loud Lan exclaimed.

“Here, Ge. Write something on this and give it to Shu- Grandmaster Lan”

The older Zewu-jun nodded and wrote something on the blank talisman paper before handing it to his uncle. Whatever it was made him look thoughtful before he handed it back and spoke up, “It seems that it is indeed Lan Xichen”

“It is Xiongzhang’s handwriting”

And with that, another round of murmurs went around.

“How long will the incense last?” Sect Leader Nie asked.

Jin Guangshan practically ignored him “Does it matter? We have to use this time carefully. We can gain knowledge from the future and stop any tragedies from happening!”

“Chifeng-zun, it depends on the burner and the amount of spiritual energy used to activate it”, the proper Lan answered, ignoring Jin Guangshan, making Wei Wuxian hide a cackle behind his glass of alcohol.

The younger Lan Xichen started, “I did not use much spiritual energy”

“Ah, but this burner is quite potent; it might last quite a while, but since you said you didn’t use a lot of spiritual energy, I’ll say we will be back in at most a day”

“A day?!”

Wei Wuxian was now grinning. Finally, something exciting! “Hey, since you’ll be around for a while, why don’t you introduce yourself?”

“We don’t want to mess up the timeline,” the Ouyang disciple said softly.

“Your younger self is here, right? Do you remember this happening?” Wei Wuxian asked the older Zewu-jun, only to receive a no.

“So you probably created a new timeline when you used that incense burner! So whatever we do won’t affect our timeline! Go crazy, kids!” the Lan holding the baby grinned, completing Wei Wuxian’s thoughts.

“But we need to be careful with what we disclose. This may not affect us, but it could ruin this timeline. We also need to keep in mind the audience we have,” the responsible Lan reasoned.

The older Zewu-jun cleared his throat “I agree with Sizhui. We can help, but we need to be careful with our words”, he answered, voice still sounding hoarse but not as bad as before.

“Is your throat ok, Bobo?” the loud Lan asked, worried.

The same thought crossed everyone’s mind:

BOBO?! This child is Zewu-jun's nephew?!

“It is fine, my core already burned through the poison. I believe some warm tea or maybe even strong alcohol may help with my sore throat if I may trouble-” Before he could even finish the sentence, a cup of warm tea was placed in front of him by his younger brother.

He smiled softly, “Thank you, Wangji”

Chapter Text

“Well then, as Xiao Wei-qianbei suggested, I suppose we can give you our names. I am Ouyang Zichen”

“I am-”

“Wait, wait, wait! You can’t just say your name, you have to state your post,” Jin Guangshan demanded, to which the younger ones looked at their seniors.

“Eh, it’s up to you whether you want to or not”, the one holding the child shrugged.

The one who spoke earlier looked at his friends for a while, a conversation passing between them with just their eyes, before continuing, “I am Ouyang Zichen, sect heir of Baling Ouyang”

“So my wife is currently pregnant with you?” Sect Leader Ouyang beamed.

The boy smiled, “No, A-Die, that’s my older sister. I am next”

“So you’re not even born yet? That’s quite far into the future,” Chifeng-zun commented.

“I think it has been almost 30 years since the war”, the Jin boy answered.

“27 to be exact”, the older Lan Xichen added.

“How old are you, son?” Sect Leader Ouyang asked

“I’m 24”

Before anyone from the Ouyang sect could ask any more questions, Jin Guangshan cut in, “You, in the Jin robes, who are you?”

Said boy sneered but answered, “I am Jin Ling, sect leader of Lanling Jin. I am 23 years old”

Many gasps were heard around the hall, “Sect leader at 23?!”

“What happened to me?!”

The loud Lan snorted, “Wait until they find out how old you were when you became Sect Leader” 

Grandmaster Lan sighed, “Let me guess, you are Meilin’s son”  

The other grinned, “Yes, Grandmaster Lan. I am Lan Jingyi, son of Lan Meilin and Lan Haoren. I am currently the head disciple of Gusu Lan”

The younger Lan Xichen smiled softly “I could tell from just a glance that you were related to Haoren, but your personality is entirely my cousin’s. You really do take after her. I am glad you grew up well”

“We just saw you before leaving Gusu, I am guessing you are now 26?” Grandmaster Lan asked.

“Yes, Grandmaster”, he answered with a wide smile, reminding the twin jades of their cousin, even Grandmaster Lan softened seeing the small child all grown up.

The remaining disciple was looking at the older Zewu-jun, they seemed to be communicating with their eyes, “Go ahead, Sizhui”

He took a deep breath before introducing himself: “I am Lan Sizhui, Sect Leader of Gusu Lan. I am the same age as Jingyi, just a few months younger”

Surprisingly, the first comment came from a minor sect leader, not from anyone from Gusu “Sect Leader?! But Zewu-jun is right beside you, how can you be the sect leader?!” This was followed by many people agreeing, but not a single person from Gusu asked anything.

Wangji was the first one to speak from the Lan, but his question had nothing to do with his status as sect leader “You claim you are the same age as Lan Jingyi, but there are no other infants and no one from the main family is currently with child”

While Sizhui was calming everyone and assuring Lan Wangji, the only one whose name wasn’t known yet leaned in closer to the future Zewu-jun, “You picked the good elders to come to this feast, Ge. They even look happy to hear this”

He smiled, “Yes, these elders always supported me and Shufu against the more stubborn ones. They knew from the beginning that I was only doing this because of my duty”

“It’s good to know that even before you pulled out all the weeds, at least a few good vines were helping you”

“And you? Who are you?” someone asked, interrupting their conversation.

“Oh, me? I’m just a teacher at Cloud Recess,” he answered casually, rocking the child in his arms.

“Just?” Zichen asked, amused.

Jingyi shook his head “Don’t listen to him, he’s very important to the sect” 

The older man laughed, “Fine, fine, I teach the little Lans the basics in cultivation, but I also teach the classes for advanced talisman and ward-making. Oh! And the Lan Sect Leader is my son! Isn’t he adorable?” he teased.

“A-Die”, Sizhui admonished half-heartedly, already being used to his dad’s teasing.

“I am guessing you will join the sect in the future. I haven’t seen you around, gongzi. You still haven’t told us your name or age,” Lan Xichen said.

“Ah, you’re right about that, Ge! I will marry into the sect in the future. I can’t say my name, but the kids call me Xiao Laoshi, you can call me that, and as for my age…. How old am I again?” he asked, turning to his son.

“His age is uh, complicated”, Sizhui answered for his father.

“How can age be complicated? It is just how many years you have been alive. If you do not know when you were born, do you not have an estimate, at least?”

“He is around the same age as Hanguang-jun”, Zichen answered for them, which was a blatant lie no matter how they looked at it.

“Oh my god! Sizhui was 16 when he came back, so they technically have only a 5-year age gap! Even if you consider Mo Xuanyu’s age, they only have a 7-year age gap. That is not the ideal age gap between a father and son!” Jin Ling whisper-yelled to Jingyi through his pendant.

“We don't talk about it!” he whisper-yelled back “Just consider what Zichen said to be the truth!”

“And you already know Ge! He’s Lan Xichen, but let's call him Zewu-jun and the younger one Lan Xichen to avoid any confusion!” he called out to change the current topic of discussion.

Everyone was curious about the familiar way this Xiao Laoshi was addressing Zewu-jun but kept it to themselves, finding it inappropriate to ask so blatantly.

“Who is the child in your arms?” Grandmaster Lan asked.

Xiao Laoshi’s smile softened “This little one is my daughter. She's really small, but she's three! She doesn't usually wake up after falling asleep, but she took a longer nap this afternoon, so she might wake up now, and I'm warning everyone right now that if she does and anyone dares yell and make her cry, you'll have to deal with me,” he threatened darkly.

“Now, why don't you tell us about the future?” Jin Guangshan asked, rubbing his hands together, completely ignoring everything else.

“Who are you again?” asked Jin Ling, making a lot of people hide their laughter behind their sleeves.

“What tragedy occurs that my own descendants forget about me in just 30 years?!”

“Oh. You're Jin Guangshan”

“Yes!”

“Can I beat him up?” he asked his Da-Jiu.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Not yet”, everyone else followed.

“Ok! You know what, the best way to do this is to pretend everyone here doesn't exist, and we'll just talk. You can gather what you will from our conversation, and don't even think about interrupting! If you want to, talk quietly among yourselves, or else we'll stop talking altogether!”

“A-Ling, be respectful to your elders” 

“Sizhui can be the respectful one. Not everyone responds well when we're all like that, there needs to be at least one person like me!” 

The older sect leaders silently fumed at the blatant disrespect, but some people laughed at their antics. Almost everyone pulled out whatever writing materials they had on themselves, eager to hear what they had to say.

“Before all of that, what happened to the intruder, Xiao Laoshi?” Jingyi asked.

“Oh! Speaking of which, did any of you send a message? Everyone back home might be worrying about us” 

“I sent one to Shufu and Wangji”, Zewu-jun answered.

“Ok then. From what I heard, the intruder was captured right after the warning. That's probably when you got the message, but right before you arrived, he escaped. He didn't escape Cloud Recess, just from the binds the disciples on night-patrolling duty had at the time. But don't worry, the second the signal went off, all three tiers of wards strengthened; there's no way he'll get out”

Sizhui sighed, “This is the third time”

Lan Jingyi nodded furiously “We all know what they're after! Every time this happens, we strengthen the wards and security measures, and nothing happens for long enough that everyone without a jade pendant starts complaining about Cloud Recess being impossible to visit, and then we lower it back to normal, and then it happens again, and it repeats!”

“Who says you can't put up the stronger wards?” Jin Ling asked.

“Jin Ling, Cloud Recess is already difficult to enter without wards because it is on a mountain. If the civilians of Gusu have any emergencies and they can't come anywhere near us to seek help, there will be many casualties,” Sizhui answered calmly.

“What wards are they speaking of?” Grandmaster Lan asked himself, not loud enough to interrupt, but since he was sitting close to the group, they heard him.

“The wards aren't exactly new; they're just a modified version of the old ones. Xiao Laoshi was the one who modified them!” Jingyi beamed.

“Ah, the kid is giving me too much credit, it was a joint effort. Zichen, why don't you give Grandmaster a rundown?”

Zichen beamed “How the wards are made is a closely kept secret within Gusu Lan and there are only a few non-Lan cultivators who know the details behind it, so I'll tell you the basic information that is available to everyone” he started, standing up to give a detailed explanation "There are three tiers. The first one is spread over the entire mountain; this one keeps out any resentful creatures with malicious intentions. Anyone can enter it even without a jade pendant, but it can be modified to detect certain qi signatures to warn us of unwanted guests. The next tier is the one that has been around for the longest. Not a lot of changes have been made to this one, other than the fact that it now extends below the ground, so no one can dig their way in. The third tier is the one that is placed around individual buildings, which will activate when the second layer is breached. I can't tell you any more about it, though” 

A Lan elder spoke, “This is quite fascinating, forgive me for asking, but are you related to the Lan Sect somehow?”

“Oh! Um, yes. Two of my sworn brothers are Lan, and I was also a part of Xiao Laoshi’s advanced talisman and ward-making classes, so I know it,” he answered with a sheepish smile.

This brought on another round of murmurs from the crowd.

“Sworn brothers?”

“I just noticed all four of them are wearing Jade pendants and Jiang clarity bells”

“Why the Jiang clarity bells? None of them are in Jiang robes”

“Isn't it obvious? The Jin boy said he is the Sect Leader. Given his age, he must be Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli's son”

“That makes so much sense!”

“Forget about that! Look at Gusu Lan! They become so strong in the future, we must make good relations with them from now”

“Do you think we can convince that Xiao Laoshi to marry into our sect instead?”

“Don't you know? The Lan only love once, there is no way we can get between that”

“Who is he anyway? If he is so smart and the same age as Hanguang-jun, why haven't we heard of him?”

The whispering grew, and even some of the Lans broke their no gossiping rule to discuss this new information.

Chapter Text

The group from the future suddenly grew quiet. Everyone thought they just stopped to let them discuss, and since they were sitting, no one but the Jiang could see some of their jade pendants glowing dimly.

“Why is it glowing now? Another intruder in Cloud Recess?” Wei Wuxian asked quietly.

“No, they're getting a message. Only the four of them though, so maybe it's a Lan thing,” Jin Ling answered.

“Wow! You-” Before Wei Wuxian could continue, Xiao Laoshi suddenly stood up, dropped his daughter onto Jin Ling’s lap gently and stormed into the centre of the room.

“I cannot believe this. Show yourself right now! You won't like it when I start searching for you myself!” he yelled, shocking everyone.

“Xiao Laoshi, please calm down. If anyone said something to offend you, we can discuss this-” Jin Guangyao started again.

“This has nothing to do with your time. We just received a message that the intruder we were talking about was close to the gates when he escaped. They can't trace any foreign qi signatures inside Cloud Recess right now, and since there is no way he got out, it must be that he was transported here with us”

Everyone gasped and looked around themselves, trying to find unfamiliar faces, when someone from the He sect yelled, “Who are you?! You are not from our sect, why are you sitting here?!”

The stranger was immediately bound by a binding talisman and dragged to the centre of the room. He looked at Xiao Laoshi with fear “Ah, please! I was forced into this! They just wanted me to do this to test the strength of the wards so they could use that information for themselves! I swear I wasn't going to steal anything or hurt anyone!” he yelled, practically shivering in fear.

“Say, do you know who I am?”

The intruder pushed himself back but couldn't get far because of the binds “Of course I do, who doesn't? Yilli-”

“Then tell me, do I seem like someone who can be fooled so easily? The last two people who broke in wore the same mask and sword-concealing talisman as you. You say you weren't trying to hurt anyone? Then why were you so close to her? Do you take me for a fool?” he seethed, sending chills down everyone's spines.

This made the intruder finally drop the act “Listen here, you can't possibly be stupid enough to think no one will come after your child. She is a pure yang child, a female one at that-”

He was punched across the face harshly before he could speak any further “Do not talk about my cousin like she is an object for you to lust after!” Jin Ling yelled. He seemed to have deposited the child in Sizhui’s lap.

“You can threaten people all you want, but it won't change the fact that she's the first of her kind to ever be reported. Some people, people like me, would do anything to capture her. It doesn't even matter if she has the protection of the great four sects, people will still come after her, especially now!”

Jin Ling was about to punch him again, but was stopped by his uncle. His voice was cold when he spoke, “Pray tell me, what made you think that you even had the smallest chance of succeeding?”

“Of course, right now is the ideal time! The Sect Leader was out for a night hunt with his sworn brothers, as he does once every month. That includes the head disciple, and let's be honest, the only people scarier than them are Zewu-jun and Hanguang-jun, but this time their alternating visits to Qinghe overlapped with the Sect Leader’s departure. It just so happened to be Hanguang-jun’s turn, and if I'm being honest, he's the more terrifying one. Everyone else in the Sect was busy with something or the other, but it was still too dangerous to go in with Zewu-jun still inside, so of course, I paid an innkeeper some heavy coin to plead the assistance of the Lan Sect for the minor issue they were having. I would have done this for however long it took for Zewu-jun to come out, but he came out for the first one, ever the righteous one he is!”

Zewu-jun’s pleasant smile was replaced with a cold glare that made everyone shiver. He sent a stream of qi, strengthening the binding talisman and tightening it, knocking the breath out of the intruder. The ones close to the centre could have sworn that they the sound of bones cracking.

“You thought that out so well, but tell me one thing, did you really think you were going to be able to even attempt to snatch my daughter from my arms and come out unscathed?” He said as he stomped down on the intruder's neck, harder than was necessary to knock him out.

“Sizhui, sweetheart, place a silencing spell on him, won't you? We can question him after we get back home. Even though we didn't get much from the other two, something tells me this one might know more”

“I already did, A-Die”

Zewu-jun spoke up, “Leave him there until the incense runs out; he can't get away without someone noticing, not that he could with those binds”

“He blended into the crowd during the flash, right? Do you think anyone else did the same thing?” Zichen asked.

“No. At the time, the closest people were the guards at the gate, but even they were a bit further away, and they have no reason to hide,” Sizhui answered.

Everyone else was too scared to even utter a word after hearing the threats from Xiao Laoshi, but of course, Wei Wuxian had no such reservations “Psst, Zichen, right? What do you know about pure yang children?” he asked, earning a side eye from his Sect Leader.

“Uhhhh, how old are you right now?” 

Wei Wuxian snorted, “Don’t look so horrified, I'm not asking you how babies are made”

“Ask Xiao Laoshi then”

“The one who just snapped that guy’s neck?”

Zichen rolled his eyes “What would you do if someone threatened your family like that? He won't take his anger out on someone who didn't do anything. You can ask him, or you can ask Zewu-jun”

“You want me to ask the First Jade of Lan how babies are made?” 

“You just said that's not what you're asking!”

“But it's practically the same thing!”

“Wei Wuxian, why are you like this?!”

“Wei-qianbei, why are you like this?” Both Jiang Cheng and Zichen asked at the same time, making the other laugh.

“Qianbei huh?” he muttered to himself, smiling. 

By then, the rest of the group from the future sat back down at their place and waited for a while, letting everyone else gossip- discuss what they just witnessed.

“Ah, Zewu-jun, Wei-qianbei wanted to ask you something,” Zichen said.

Xiao Laoshi narrowed his eyes at his younger self but let his brother-in-law deal with him.

Zewu-jun smiled softly, taking another sip of his tea, which was refilled earlier “Yes, Wei Wuxian? How can I help you?”

Jiang Cheng snorted quietly at his brother's misery “Um, it's nothing”

“You wanted to ask about pure yang children, right?” he asked.

“How did you know?!” Wei Wuxian screeched only to make Jiang Cheng laugh harder.

“Of course he knows, idiot, his cultivation is so high he probably heard you from all the way over there”, Jin Ling answered for him before turning away, not wanting to be a part of this awkward conversation.

“Wei-gongzi, your future self has asked me the same thing”

“Oh, that makes sense”, Wei Wuxian muttered to himself.

“Wei Wuxian, what's with the sudden interest in pure yang children?” Jiang Cheng demanded.

“It's nothing, I'm just curious, is all”

Xiao Laoshi sent a message to Zewu-jun through the pendant, “Jiang Cheng doesn't know I used to be a pure yang child, don't let him find out how I lost it, or else it will cause a huge scene”

He nodded to his brother-in-law before turning towards the younger one, “Wei-gongzi, I am sure you know that pure yang children are very rare. It is quite improbable for one to be born from male and female cultivation partners because of the yin energy present in a female’s body, but most noted cases have been observed from these types of couples. Pure yang children born like this usually cultivate a core really quickly, even without any formal training. The other type is between two male cultivation partners, but in this case, it is even more rare because it is difficult to actually conceive children like this unless both parties have strong cores or as infered from recent findings, it is enough if one of their cores is strong enough for the both of them. The yang children born like this are usually born with a core due to the absence of even the smallest amount of yin energy. But as they grow older, the differences fall apart"

"Pure yang children are usually quite sensitive to resentful energy in their youth, but after they grow older and learn to control their core, they are more resistant to resentful energy than regular cultivators. Other than that, there haven't been any notable differences between a pure yang child and a normal strong cultivator. I honestly do not understand why some people come after pure yang children, is it for the novelty of it?” Zewu-jun sighed.

Wei Wuxian looked like he wanted to ask something, but was holding himself back from asking because of Jiang Cheng. Zewu-jun knew what he wanted to ask, so he continued, “But a pure yang child can become corrupted. They can lose their pure yang qualities”

“Because they are sensitive to resentful energy when they're young?” he asked, perking up.

“No, no. When I said sensitive, I meant they can sense it better, not that they get hurt by it. They are still resistant towards it, I just meant they get better after they learn to control their core. The only way they can be corrupted is if they were surrounded by a different kind of resentful energy, one that comes from humans”

“From corpses?”

“Resentful energy doesn't necessarily come from just the dead. When cultivators use spiritual energy with enough bad intentions and with enough resentment, it is basically the same as using resentful energy. It is not the same as the one we know, and it won't cause the same kind of harm, but it does affect pure yang children, especially if they're young”

“Because their core won't recognise it as the kind of resentful energy it needs to protect its master from, it will think it's just spiritual energy”, Wei Wuxian finished solemnly.

“Exactly”

“Are there any side effects to losing the pureness of their core?”

“It is random, it does not have any relation to the person’s physical or core strength. It can vary, the worst outcome being their core shattering and the best being just them turning into a normal cultivator” 

Wei Wuxian laughed, but it rang hollow “Then keep that little one safe, make sure no one with bad intentions gets near her”

Zewu-jun smiled at him, but his eyes looked sad “We will”

“Don't worry, she is safe and well-loved back home. No one will hurt her,” Xiao Laoshi added.

Wei Wuxian bowed slightly to thank them before turning back towards his brother.

Zewu-jun sent a message to Xiao Laoshi: “Be nice to your younger self”

“Well, he needs to realise that what happened at Lotus Pier with Madam Yu isn't ok in the slightest before he goes and acquires children”

“You never even thought about hurting your kids like that”

“I know, but it just scares me. Before A-Yuan, I thought everything that happened to me was normal. But just the thought of someone doing the same thing to him or A-Yu makes me want to burn something” he sighed “Thanks Ge, for talking it out with me all those years ago, it really helped me pull my head out of my ass”

Zewu-jun chuckled softly, “You were the one who kept disturbing my seclusion to come talk to me”

“Lan Zhan visited you even more often than I did! Why do you only complain about me?!”

“Because Wangji didn't annoy me into revealing all my darkest thoughts”

“But hey! It helped. You came out in just a year, Shufu thought you would take at least three. It helped me too! And now we're the best of friends because of it!”

Zewu-jun shook his head fondly before focusing back on the room and clearing his throat, gaining everyone's attention “How about we continue? You asked for information to help you in the future”

“How much should we tell them? If it were only a few people, we could tell them everything, but we can’t tell everyone here everything. That will just cause even more problems,” Zichen reasoned.

Jin Ling huffed, looking at his Da-Jiu “Obviously! They’ll condemn people for crimes they haven’t committed, it would be unfair to them to live their lives being hated for something they didn’t do!”

Sizhui sent a small stream of qi into his jade pendant. Soon after, the others’ pendants also started glowing; they were now communicating privately.

Chapter Text

Sizhui sent a small stream of qi into his jade pendant. Soon after, the others’ pendants also started glowing; they were now communicating privately.

Sizhui started, “We should be careful with this, it could ruin their entire lives if we say something wrong”

Xiao Laoshi thought briefly before suggesting, “Maybe they don’t need to know everything that will happen. If we convince them not to hand over the Wen remnants to the Jin Sect, nothing after that will happen”

“What about the Yin Tiger Seal?”

“That is probably something we should speak to my younger self in private, maybe just me”

“Not only you, you won’t handle it delicately”

“Fine then! One of you do it! I doubt he will listen to anyone, I used to be so damn stupid back then”

“I think it should be either Sizhui or Zewu-jun”, Jingyi suggested.

“Sizhui, you do it. I don’t think I’ll react well to it if it’s Ge”

“Ok then. That’s settled. What about Jin Guangshan, Jin Guangyao and Xue Yang?”

Zewu-jun started, “Xue Yang is still a child right now, so we should ask someone to take him in. It is better if someone keeps an eye on him. As for Jin Guangshan-”

“Kill him. Seriously, he’s the reason behind everything that’s ever gone wrong!” Jin Ling exclaimed.

“We can’t just ask them to kill him, he’s a Sect Leader. Maybe we should get Jin Zixuan to take over as soon as he can”

“The Chief Cultivator can’t be anyone from the Jin Sect!”

Sizhui sighed, “Jin Ling is right, if he just didn’t exist, we wouldn't have to worry about more than half of our problems. Let’s just tell them to make a council to distribute the power instead of giving it to one person, like how it is right now back home”

“What about Jin Guangyao?” Jingyi asked softly, not looking at his uncle.

“Leave that to me”, Zewu-jun answered, resigned.

Xiao Laoshi patted his shoulder “If there is anything that they ask that they don’t need to know, leave it to either me or Zichen. The rest of you are horrible at lying, and yes, that includes you, too, Jingyi. No matter how many rules you break, you’re still a Lan through and through”

Jingyi smiled, not knowing whether that was a compliment or an insult.

Jin Ling huffed, “What about me? I’m not a Lan!”

“You’re even worse at lying than them, A-Ling”

Jin Ling huffed and was about to defend himself, but Sizhui broke the link, cutting him off  “This is right after the war, correct?” he asked the room.

“Yes”

“What are you planning to do to recover from the damage?” Sizhui asked.

Jingyi cut in, “Didn’t we learn this in history class?”

“You still remember? The war was one of the first things I learned when I joined the junior disciples. It was such a long time ago,” Zichen commented.

“Jiang Cheng! They’re learning about the war in their history class! Does that mean we’ll be in books?!” Wei Wuxian was now bouncing in his seat.

The Jiang Sect Leader huffed at his childish attitude, but said nothing. It was the first time his brother had smiled so freely since the war began.

The minor sect leaders started talking about all the alliances they made with other sects for support and how they’ll use that to return to their former glory. Most of them mentioned alliances with the Jin sect.

Jin Ling scoffed, “This is how it started! Jin Guangshan did nothing for the war effort, so obviously, he had the most resources left”

Before Jin Guangshan could open his mouth, Sizhui stepped in, “If I may, I have a few suggestions for the Sect Leaders of the great four sects. This might help prevent a few tragedies in the future”

“What tragedies?”

Xiao Laoshi huffed, “Tragedies that won’t happen if you listen to him”

“The most important one is how the remnants of the Wen Clan will be handled. I think all four of the sect leaders should see to it and categorise all of them into combatants, war criminals, and innocents themselves. War criminals and combatants can be kept within cells in Qinghe or executed based on their crimes. The innocents should be distributed between the Jiang and the Lan. The Jiangs need more people for manual labour, so the ones able to help should help with rebuilding Lotus Pier. Cloud Recess, on the other hand, needs more healers than labourers because the war injured many of our sect disciples. There is a sub-branch of the Wen clan in Dafan. They are all healers, I think their assistance can be traded for asylum within Cloud Recess”

“Innocents?! No one in the Wen clan is innocent! All of them should be executed!” Jin Zixun yelled, and a few minor sect leaders agreed with him.

Sizhui’s hand twisted in his robes, but he stayed calm “Esteemed cultivators, let me ask you, what if we were the ones to lose the war? What if our roles were switched? Would you want your children, who haven’t even touched a sword, to be killed just because of their last name? What of your grandparents who were too old to have even lifted a finger in the war? What of the healers who saved countless lives and have no blood on their hands? What of all the merchants and farmers who were only dragged in because of their sect? What about the infants who were just a few months old or not even alive during the war?”

His words seemed to hit deep within some people, especially the Nie Sect Leader “I suppose you are right, there are probably a lot of people who didn’t want to do anything but were forced to by Wen Rouhan. I agree with your plan, but I am not sure if Qinghe alone can deal with all the prisoners”

“The Jin Sect would be happy to assist!” Jin Guangshan hopped on.

“The only way I’d agree to it is if Jin Zixuan was the one in charge of it!” Jin Ling yelled.

“But my nephew, Jin Zixun, is just as talented; he can take care of it. Zixuan has other things to do, being the Sect Heir and all”

“No”, many voices sounded at the same time.

“I am not that busy, Father, I can take care of it”, Jin Zixuan volunteered, earning a sneer from his father and cousin.

“Ok then that’s settled-”

“What about us? Why do only the major sects get benefits?”

Xiao Laoshi answered for his son “If you want the assistance of the healers or laborers, you can make a deal with the Lan and Jiang sects. Or is it the prisoners you want? I can’t imagine having to look after them being a benefit” he looked at them with a bright smile “Unless you are Wen Rouhan of course! That psychopath tortured all his ‘prisoners’, but since he’s dead, it won’t be happening again! Right?”

The minor sect leaders and Jin Guangshan, who were thinking just that, fumed at being compared to the tyrant they had just defeated but kept quiet.

Chapter Text

“We have to vote for The Chief Cultivator as soon as possible so they can look over all of this”, Sect Leader Ouyang suggested.

“Yeah, no. I’m pretty sure the Chief Cultivator post is cursed. After three bad ones in a row, we concluded that it would be best if all that power didn’t go into one person’s hands. We have a council, one person from each sect, but that person can’t be the Sect Leader. Any major decisions are made through a voting system among the council,” Jin Ling answered.

Grandmaster Lan stroked his beard “An excellent idea. This will prevent another Wen Rouhan from coming to power”

Jin Guangshan was getting frustrated “But this is how it’s been for centuries!”

“God, he sounds so pathetic”, Jingyi whispered to Jin Ling.

“He sounds worse than a Lan elder clinging to the rules”, he whispered back.

“This is how it’s been for centuries!” Zichen imitated with a deep voice.

Jingyi snorted, “Shut up, all those bad elders are long gone from our sect”

All three of them were giggling into their sleeves, which earned them a serious look from Sizhui, making them stop immediately.

Wei Wuxian, who witnessed this scene, was cackling into his sleeve, and Jiang Cheng’s mouth twitched as he tried his best not to laugh. Jiang Yanli also chuckled softly, it reminded her of how she had scolded her brothers earlier.

It was just as rowdy as a usual cultivation conference, so Jin Ling was able to ignore everyone as they picked who would be on the council from their clan. He noticed that his parents were picked to represent their respective clans, and he couldn’t help but look at them sadly. 

He thought of a conversation he had with Sizhui while he was drunk. Much like today, they were spending the night in Caiyi after a night hunt because it was after curfew. It was before they became sworn brothers.

They had only two available rooms, so Sizhui and Jin Ling were sharing one, and the other two were sharing another. Jingyi, in true Lan fashion, knocked out first and was carried out by Zichen to their room.

Jin Ling looked at Sizhui, who had drunk twice as many cups as Jingyi but still looked normal except for the light flush in his cheeks and laughed, “I guess not all Lan are lightweights”

He chuckled and joked, “Maybe I inherited it from A-Die”

If Jin Ling was sober, he would have laughed too, but a drunk Jin Ling was an emotional Jin Ling, so his eyes stung with tears “How?”

Sizhui laughed again, “He claimed that he was the one who birthed me when I first met Hanguang-jun”

“That’s not it- how can you- even-” the tears were now flowing freely.

Sizhui now looked panicked “Jin Ling? What’s wrong?”

“How can you call them A-Die and Baba when they’re not your actual parents?” he sobbed “How can you accept it so easily?”

Sizhui softened his voice “I never knew my birth parents, but from what I hear about them from Ning-Shushu, they are kind, they would not be mad at me for being happy”

They are kind.

That’s what he hears about his parents, too.

Sizhui continued, “I always knew Hanguang-jun wasn’t my biological father, but that didn’t matter to me. He was the one who raised me, tucked me to sleep, sang me lullabies, stayed by my bed when I was sick, and felt proud of all my achievements. He was there when I was given my first sword, when I was given my courtesy name, when I was named sect heir; he was there with me through all of it. Sometimes I feel guilty, like I am not a filial son, but Ning-Shushu told me that the most filial thing I can do is to be happy, to grow old and be healthy even when they’re not there. They shouldn’t be a reminder of what we lost, but a reminder of what we have to live for”

Something in Jin Ling just snaps hearing that, and he starts sobbing hard. Sizhui hugs him and lets him cry onto his shoulder.

Everything Sizhui said about Hanguang-jun, everything from tucking him to sleep to being there when he was named sect heir, his jiujiu did that for him. Jiujiu wasn’t his biological father, but he loved him just like Hanguang-jun loved Sizhui.

He also feels guilty; he also feels that he is not filial. He never knew how much he had in common with Sizhui.

So why is it that they ended up so different?!

When he first found Wei Wuxian, he stabbed him, but as soon as Sizhui remembered that he was a Wen, he did nothing to Jin Ling, the same Jin Ling whose family murdered his, the same Jin Ling who almost killed the only person alive who knew his family.

“Is it because of your rules? Is that why you never sought revenge?” he asked between sobs.

“Jin Ling, my family was murdered unjustly because they had the name Wen. If I sought revenge on all the people who have the name Jin, the cycle would just continue”

“Why are you like this?! Why are you not like me?! Our situations are exactly the same, but you’re kind and forgiving while I’m this monster!” he cried.

“Jin Ling! You are not a monster! You grew up only hearing about what you lost; those cousins of yours are cruel and not right! Being raised by someone else doesn’t mean we aren’t loved, it just means that there are other people in this world who love us just as much as our parents, who took on their role because they couldn’t be here”

Jin Ling cried until his tears ran out while Sizhui rubbed his back, comforting him. After a while he stopped and looked up at him “The most filial thing I can do is to be happy, to grow old and be healthy even when they’re not there. They shouldn’t be a reminder of what we lost but a reminder of what we have to live for” he repeated, a small smile tugging on his lips “I’m sorry-”

Sizhui cut him off “You better not be apologising for the tear stains on my robes, they’ll dry before you know it”, he answered, reminding Jin Ling of Wei Wuxian.

“You know that’s not what I meant”

Sizhui smiled softly, “Let’s not apologise for crimes we didn’t commit”

Maybe it was because of the alcohol but for once, Jin Ling didn’t feel the gaping hole of something missing, maybe it was filled long ago but it took someone pointing it out for him to notice, maybe it never existed, maybe it was something he made up himself after hearing everyone’s words. 

That night, Jin Ling felt very light “Did Hanguang-jun really sing for you?” he asked.

Sizhui chuckled, “Yes, he did. He’s a great singer actually! He used to sing Gusu folk songs, but one time his voice cracked in between because he wasn’t used to using it for that long, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I swear he was pouting at that time! He still hummed for me, though, he still would if I asked him”

“Jiujiu did that too when I was younger, but he gets embarrassed so he-” and like that, they stayed awake past curfew, sharing silly stories until they fell asleep.

Chapter Text

“A-Ling, do you want to talk to your parents?” 

“I- can I?”

“The major sects already picked who’ll represent their sects, now it’s just the minor sects, this may take a while, so we can split up and talk to the people we want to”, Xiao Laoshi suggested.

Jin Ling blinked back tears but nodded and walked over to the Jin Sect, catching the attention of everyone else.

“Please continue with your discussion,” Zewu-jun said, walking towards the Nie Sect.

“What do we do? Everyone else has someone they need to talk to,” Jingyi asked Zichen.

“I guess I can go talk to my father, we should probably clear this area so Sizhui can talk to Wei-qianbei”, he patted Jingyi’s shoulder before leaving.

“Jingyi, you’re on babysitting duty,” Xiao Laoshi said as he handed A-Yu over to him.

“Me again?!” Jingyi complained but dutifully carried her to the other side of the Lan sect. He bowed to his elders and lightly rocked his cousin when she stirred a bit.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why did all of you split up?” Lan Xichen asked.

“Ah, I’m sure you realised by now that there are some things we can’t just say in front of everyone”

“Then what is it you need to tell the Lan Sect?” Grandmaster Lan enquired, stroking his beard.

“To be honest, I don’t really have anything to say, I was just put on babysitting duty, like always”, he huffed.

“You take care of her a lot?” Lan Xichen asked, wanting to make more conversation with his nephew.

“Not really, her parents like her too much to let her be out of sight, but when they have to, everyone else takes turns, but lately I have been doing it more often since everyone is busy with the wedding preparations”, he answered.

“Whose wedding?”

“I don’t know if she is born yet, a Shimei of mine is going to marry a distant cousin of the main family of the Nie sect. We decided on holding the wedding in Cloud Recess, so all the elders are busy with wedding preparations since Sect Leader Nie wants to make sure their wedding is grand”

“That is good to hear, but are you sure you do not have any advice for us?” Grandmaster Lan asked.

“Um, well, this is just my opinion, but I think that either Hanguang-hun or Zewu-jun should look after the Dafan Wen”

“Are they dangerous?” Lan Wangji asked.

“No, no, no! If anything, they’re the ones in danger! And um, they might have more relations to the Lan than you might think,” he laughed awkwardly. They only found out that Sizhui was related to the twin jades two years after the Guanyin Temple incident. Apparently, he was their nephew from their mother’s side. It explained why people thought that he was Hanguang-jun’s bastard son, but neither of the jades took it well; they weren’t able to look at Sizhui with anything but guilt for quite a while after that revelation.

“The only advice I can really give you is to keep these words in mind: more damage was caused from not handling the repercussions of the war properly than the actual war itself. I hope you can extend kindness to anyone who needs it and try to understand why some people are doing what they’re doing instead of condemning them just for doing it”

The Lan pondered his words quietly, some not believing that such serious words were coming out of Lan Meilin’s son.

“Wow! Wise words, Jingyi!”

“Ah- Zichen! What are you doing here? I thought you wanted to talk to your dad?”

“Eh, I finished telling him what I wanted to”

“What did you tell him? He doesn’t look happy”

“Just not to blindly follow others without proof, just because everyone else is, do not ignore your morals, you know, things like that”, he said as he sat down beside Jingyi “Oh! And not to associate with Jin Guangshan”

“Isn’t that obvious after what Jin Ling said?”

“The great sects have enough influence to ignore Jin Guangshan and do what they want, but the minor sects don’t have that luxury, and now, with everything the war cost them, even the great sects have to rely on him a little”

Jingyi nodded “That makes sense. You can tell why Bobo picked Sizhui over me for sect heir, right?” he laughed.

“Yeah, and also because you have no interest. Your family wouldn’t force you into doing something you didn’t want to. Honestly, it’s a good thing! I took you as an example when I asked A-Die to name my sister as the sect heir. It’s not the same because, between the two of you, it’s just a matter of age. He was too old-fashioned to name his daughter as the sect heir, but I’m glad he gave in. She does a great job leading the sect, doesn’t she?”

“Yes, she’s really efficient! And in a few months, after her child is born, you won’t even have the sect heir title”

“Yup! I’m looking forward to it! Both my nephew or niece and the sect heir thing!”

Grandmaster Lan coughed, “No gossiping”

Jingyi grinned, “Ah, but Grandmaster, this isn’t gossiping! It is exchanging information that might be useful to our sect”

Lan Qiren couldn’t help but huff, amused by the excuse his niece used to give him when she was young, coming from her son.

Even though they looked carefree, both Jingyi and Zichen were very nervous about how everyone else’s conversations would go. This made Jingyi rock his legs a little faster, jostling the child sleeping there.

“Nooo”, they heard a whine.

They looked at each other “Oh no”

Zichen looked at Jingyi “Don’t you always complain about how difficult it is to wake her up?! Why is she waking up?!”

“Hush! Maybe she’ll go back to sleep!” he whisper-yelled while he took his cousin into his arms, resting her over his shoulder and rocking her gently to get her to sleep.

The groaning stopped, so they thought she had fallen asleep, but he felt a tug on his hair indicating otherwise “A-Yu! Stop that! Why do your tiny hands have such a strong grip?!”

She giggled, “Yi-gege! Zhen-gege! Hi! Play?” 

“Turn her this way!” Zichen yelled, and Jingyi immediately turned so his back was facing the Lan.

“Why don’t you eat this first? Then we’ll play,” Jingyi said as he gave her some fruit he had.

Zichen sent a message through his pendant to Jingyi, “She can’t stay here! She’ll definitely recognise Hanguang-jun and it will ruin their relationship!”

“What do you mean? If he knows he has a kid with Wei-qianbei, won’t he be happy? Won’t that help them get together sooner?”

“But he doesn’t know that Xiao Laoshi is Wei-qianbei! And when you see a child calling you Baba, your first thought will be that you marry a woman!”

“After that whole ordeal about her being a pure yang child, I’m sure they’ll at least consider otherwise, but you’re right! And if the younger Wei-qianbei found out this is Hanguang-jun’s kid, given how dense he is, he’ll probably never confess!”

Jin Ling would be too busy talking to his parents, and they didn’t want her anywhere near the Jin. The conversation with Wei-qianbei was the most precarious; that’s why he sent her with Jingyi in the first place.

The two of them looked at each other seriously and immediately nodded. There was only one option left. They had to take her to Zewu-jun!

Chapter Text

Zewu-jun took a deep breath, trying his best to hold back the tears. When he was sitting next to the Lan sect, it was easy to pretend that everything was normal, but now that he actually had to talk to them, he felt his throat burn but he gave his usual smile to the Nie brothers, “A-Sang, Mingjue, hello”

“Xichen-ge! Hi! Wow, this entire situation feels surreal”

“Yes, but I’m glad you’re doing well, Xichen”

Hearing the voice he longed for calling his name broke something inside him. ‘God, it is going to be so difficult to go back, ’ he thought to himself.

Seeing the sad expression on his friend’s face, Nie Mingjue knew exactly what had happened, and from the way his brother snapped his fan open, he knew too “Xichen, look-”

“Wait, take these two talismans and put them on yourself first, anywhere is fine as long as it touches your skin”, he instructed.

Both of them rolled up their sleeves and did as he said. Both of them flinched, hearing a voice in their head, “This will let us speak without anyone overhearing”

“How are you doing that?”

“How can I do that?”

He chuckled, “Just think of what you want to tell me and how you want to tell me, these two talismans are linked to each other and to my jade pendant so I’ll be able to hear your words and tone”

“Oh, that’s so weird”, Huaisang murmured in his head “Can you hear me?”

“Yes, and me?”

“Yes, Da-ge! This is really advanced! Is it a secret technique belonging to the Lan clan?”

“No, the talismans are common knowledge in the future, but incorporating them into objects like our jade pendants is something only our clan does”

“It seems that the future is something to look forward to”, Nie Mingjue commented, making the other two frown.

“Da-ge”, both of them scolded at the same time.

He sighed, “Fine, fine. I'm not stupid, I know why you're looking at me like that. How long has it been?”

“How can we stop it?!”

“Huaisang! I already told you this before the war! It's not something we can stop”

“We can,” Zewu-jun said, shocking his sworn brother.

“What? Don't be ridiculous, Xichen. Just tell me how much time I have left, I have to prepare everything”

“Da-ge! Don't you trust Er-ge? If he is telling us we can stop it, then it means that we can stop it!”

“Huaisang! You're just being stubborn, I've made peace with this a long time ago. I know I've only told you recently, but you'll learn to make peace, too”

“Da-ge! It's already unfair how you only told me recently, and that too was only because you thought you would die in the war! You can't just ask me to be ok with you dying when there is a way to save you”

"Huaisang-"

Zewu-jun’s eyes were glossed over with unshed tears “Why are you like this, A-Jue? Why won't you listen to anyone? Why are you so willing to leave everyone? To leave your brother, to leave me…” he whispered the last part.

Nie Mingjue immediately turned towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder “Xichen, I'm- I don't- please don't be so upset, not because of me..”

He shrugged off the arm on his shoulder “Mingjue, I'm not saying this to guilt you, but do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to even look at you? How difficult it is for me to talk to you? How much it's going to hurt when I go back home, to live on as if this was nothing more than a dream?” he begged as his voice cracked at the end “I'm telling you there's a way, so please, but if you're so willing to walk to your death you can hand over that talisman, I'll talk to Huaisang alone, he'll help me”

The Nie Sect Leader sighed, sometimes he forgot how similar his brother and best friend could be “Fine, I'll listen, but don't give him false hope”

“Da-ge, I'm right here! I can hear you! I don't care if it gives me false hope, if there's even the smallest chance that it will work, I want to do it!”

“Fine then, at least tell me how much time I have first?”

“Why? You don't need to know, if you do as I say, you don't have to worry about a 'sudden' death at all”

The Nie Sect Leader frowned at the way he said 'sudden' “Since when have you been so childish? Just tell me! I need to prepare things so Huaisang won't have to deal with the sect duties on his own”

“In my time, you didn't die because of your clan’s curse!” He yelled suddenly, shocking the two brothers.

Huaisang was so shocked that he spoke aloud instead of through the talisman “What? No, no, this can't be… you're joking right?” he shook himself, making the ones close to him worry about their future.

Even Nie Mingjue looked shocked “What….?”

“Not entirely because of it… just… Mingjue, promise me that you won't let anyone but me play Cleansing for you”

“What does that have anything to do with this?”

“Mingjue, please. Even if my younger self insists, don't listen to him, he's ignorant and stupid”

“Don't talk about yourself like that”, he snapped.

He clasped his sworn brother's hands in his “Da-ge.. please”

Seeing the First Jade like this broke the Nie Sect Leader's heart. He didn't want this to happen “Ok, ok, I promise. You'll be the only one to play for me”

Nie Huaisang was once again hiding behind his fan, but Zewu-jun had enough experience to know from the look in his eyes that he already figured out what happened. 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and then another and then another. After a while, he calmed down.

“We figured out a way to subdue the sabre spirits. It is a slow process, we have been doing this for almost a decade now, and we think that in a few years, you won't have to worry about it at all”

Nie Mingjue looked at him, shocked “You can't be sure of that”

“I am”, he reassured him as he pulled out a few sheets of paper and started writing the notes to a melody “This is a song we created, it is a mix of a few songs from our clan with a few new aspects. Our current arrangement is that Huaisang plays it in your ancestors’ burial ground every day, but since his spiritual energy isn't that strong, once a month, I go to Qinghe to play it with more qi. Recently, Wangji has taken to helping me, so we alternate our monthly visits”

“And you're sure it works?” He asked again.

“Huaisang doesn't carry his sabre unless it is for the Butcher Festival in Qinghe, and that too is only out of respect for his ancestors, but even though it's only for three days in a year, it still affected him like it did all your ancestors. As soon as we started playing it for him, it showed immediate results because he wasn't too far gone. This has been going on for a really long time hence the previous saber spirits make the next ones even stronger that is why as soon as we subdue the previous saber spirits, as long as we play this song for the person currently affected, the saber spirit attached to them will die along with its master. We believe this song might need to be played for the next one or two generations, and after that, they won't need it at all”

“Da-ge! This is great! Maybe we can convince some Lan elders to help so I won't have to do it for a decade”

“No, you can't do that. If it were only a matter of spiritual energy, I would not have let you drag it out for so long. If you try to do it all at once, there will be backlash; that is why Huaisang was the best candidate. He has just the right amount of spiritual energy to play every day without aggravating the spirits too much, as I said it is a slow process but if you start now, it will be over before you know it” he smiled as he handed the notes to Huaisang knowing his older brother wouldn't understand a single thing written in those pages.

“Are you serious, Xichen?” he asked, bewildered.

“Yes, Da-ge, I am sure this will work, but I hear that the Dafan Wen have skilled doctors, maybe you can ask for a checkup”

The words ‘Wen’ seemed to snap him out of his shock “Just because I agreed that not all the Wen deserve to be killed doesn't mean I'll go spill my clan’s secrets to them”

“Not to all of them, but their leader is trustworthy”

“Da-ge, it won't hurt to ask. Besides, they'll be in Cloud Recess, we need to go there for music lessons anyway,” his brother piped in.

“Music lessons? We?”

“Yes, we! You have such a bad ear for music, you need to at least learn the basics, and you'll need to learn this song too, of course, I'll be the one to play every day, but you need to at least know it”

“Don't tell anyone else about this”, Zewu-jun warned.

“Then we'll just ask your younger self, even if you're busy, surely you can spare a little time to teach Da-ge”

“Don't tell my younger self either”, he said with such hostility that made both of them look warily at his younger self, who was serenely talking to Lan Jingyi.

“Why?”

“You shouldn't trust just anyone” he advised “Huaisang, you already know how to play two instruments, you can teach Da-ge on your own and don't worry about having to play every day, even if you miss a few days it's fine, the situation isn't as bad as it is in the future, you won't need me or Wangji to play every month. Until you learn the song let my younger-self play Cleansing for you, but after that you don't need to”

Huaisang now looked confused, but before he could open his mouth, his brother spoke up “Huaisang, take off that talisman, we discussed everything you need to know. I want to talk to Xichen alone”

The younger of the two looked hesitant but took it off anyway.

“Xichen”, he called firmly.

Zewu-jun smiled serenely at the other “Yes?”

“Don't give me that look. I'm not going to suddenly turn into Sect Leader Yao,” he commented, making the other snort. Nie Mingjue smiled, “Xichen, whatever happened, I'm sure it wasn't your fault, don't be so harsh on yourself”

“You don't know that, for all you know, I could have been the one to slide a knife across your throat”

“Even if that was the case, I would forgive you. What I can't forgive is you being so hateful towards your younger self”

“Don't say that, you don't mean it”, he gasped out, feeling the tears he was barely holding back stinging his eyes.

“A-Huan, I've known you for almost my entire life, you would never intentionally hurt me"

“It doesn't matter if it was intentional or not; that doesn't change the outcome”

“Then fine, say that you did do something wrong, but all of this, helping to make this song, helping Huaisang, it's more than enough to atone”

Zewu-jun looked at him sharply “Nothing can atone for the sin of taking a life”

“Stop talking like that, you didn't kill me”

“Again, you don't know that”

“If you did, Huaisang wouldn't have let you anywhere near Qinghe. I know my little brother, and no matter how soft he may look, when he needs to, he can be tough, especially when it has something to do with me” he sighed “You don't need to atone for anything but if you really feel the need to, then do me a favor. I hear you're not the Sect Leader anymore, congrats on that by the way! Since you have more free time now, why don't you attend the Butcher Festival every year, for the whole three days?”

“I- I can't- I haven't since-”

His eyes softened “I knew you wouldn't have, but I want you to, you like it. You always mention how different it is from any other festival in Gusu, how much you like the food and alcohol we make during that time, how guilty you feel about breaking the rules but still do it anyway, how much you like watching all the shows, even though you stay away from the actual main show” he laughed.

“I-I'll try”, he whispered, “But it's so hard, A-Jue, sometimes I- I can't even-”

“I'm so sorry, Xichen”

“Please don't apologise, not to me,” he said as he turned away, his eyes falling on Huaisang, who was carefully looking at the notes. Seeing this, he remembered how they actually came to make it.

Chapter Text

It has been a month since he entered seclusion and Wangji has been visiting him once every three days since the beginning, sometimes they sit at the table, drinking tea while he listens to everything that has happened in the past three days, sometimes Wangji sits there by himself playing the xiao- he doesn't bring his guqin when he visits anymore- to comfort him as he curls into himself in bed trying to keep his sobs silent.

“Sizhui has returned”, he informed softly.

For a second, he thought his nephew had returned from a night hunt before his brain caught up. He has returned from his time in Qishan with Wen Qionglin “Is he well?” he asked, the first words he spoke to his brother in a month.

Wangji softened, “Yes. He wishes to speak with you”

He has never been able to deny either of his nephews anything, and he missed them so much, but he couldn't agree to this; he felt selfish.

Haven't you always been? A voice in his head asked.

He could barely bring himself to be like this in front of his brother; he couldn't be like this in front of his nephew “Not now,” he said, and Wangji understood.

“I will ask him to send a letter, I will deliver it during my next visit,” he said and got up “Xiongzhang, take care, I love you” he whispered as he left.

Those words- those words! He says them before he leaves during every visit! 

Wangji was always a man of few words, and he prided himself in being able to understand his brother better than anyone. 

Back then he knew his brother loved him, from the way he greeted him every time they crossed paths, from the ease in his shoulders whenever he was around, from the quiet admiration in his eyes as he asked for advice, from every odd snack he got him from his travels, from the fond exasperation in his eyes as he watched him spoil his son with sweets. He didn't need to say it in words because he knew how to read his brother, but he forgot his brother knew how to read him just as well.

If the Second Jade was difficult to understand, the First Jade was impossible. The younger one hid his emotions behind an impassive face, which betrayed no emotion, but the older one hid behind his smile, and not many people knew that he was hiding.

He didn't even realise how much he needed to hear it until he heard it for the first time. 

~

Another two months passed. He expected his brother to become too busy to visit, but if anything, Wangji’s visits grew in frequency, and every time he visited, he brought a few letters. 

The one letter from Sizhui has evolved into letters from almost everyone in his family. Sizhui, Jingyi, Meilin, Haoren, and even Shufu sent him letters through Wangji, and he responded to every single one, even if it was just a few sentences; he made sure to write something back. 

During this particular visit, just from one look at his brother's face, he could tell what happened “I am glad Young Master Wei has returned” 

Wangji smiled- his version of a smile anyway “Mn”

They continue like usual with one-sided conversation and tea as it has been for the past three months. Before leaving, Wangji told him, “Wei Ying wishes to speak with you”

That made him still, “Should I expect the addition of another letter to my usual pile?”

“He wishes to speak with you in person”, he added.

Lan Xichen sighed, “Will he take no for an answer?”

“I can try…”

“It is fine, he can come tomorrow after lunch”

Wangji’s eyes furrowed “He will not…” he trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

After a few minutes, Wangji left with his, now usual, goodbye, making his eyes sting with tears.

God, he felt so pathetic.

~

The next day, he finished his lunch. He had already asked for smaller portions to be delivered, not being able to live with wasting food, but this time he couldn’t finish even the measly amount it had been reduced to.

There was a knock at the door, and he almost jumped out of his seat before he calmed down “Come in”, he called, his voice sounding hoarse.

“Zewu-jun, hello!”

“Greetings, Wei-gongzi. I hope you have been finding your stay here pleasant,” he says, hoping to sound as he used to before this whole mess.

“Of course it’s been pleasant, Lan Zhan's here!” he grinned “I hope you don’t mind me staying for the near future”

“You are welcome anytime, but I am sure Wangji has already told you this,” he said, already feeling tired from the small talk.

Wei Wuxian coughed, “Well, um, there is something I want to talk to you about”, he started as he sat across from him, pouring himself the tea set there, but before he could continue, Lan Xichen interrupted.

“Wei-gongzi, before anything, I would like to apologise to you." he bowed deeply “I am truly very sorry”

“Wait, wait! What?! Why are you apologising? Please get up, don’t bow to me,” Wei Wuxian grasped his shoulders, pulling him upright.

“I should have done this the second I knew you came back, but now it seems there are more things stacked, I know that just my apology is not enough, but-”

“Zewu-jun, I seriously have no idea what you’re apologising to me of all people for”

He stared at the other for a few seconds, after seeing the genuine look of confusion on his face, he continued “For everything that led up to the siege on the Burial Mounds the first time, for not helping you more during your investigation in Carp Tower, for my harshness towards you at Guanyin Temple” he said while bowing but when he heard nothing in response he looked up just to find the other shocked.

“You can’t be serious, right?” he laughed.

Lan Xichen was starting to feel miserable. He knew his apology wouldn’t be enough, but he didn’t expect to be laughed at.

“God, where do I start?” he laughed louder “Everything that led to the siege on the Burial Mounds is entirely the Jin’s and my fault. If I wasn’t so in my head about doing everything on my own, about pushing everyone away, I wouldn’t have had to deal with half the stuff I did, and the Jin, God they were so tyrannical and corrupt from the beginning” he softened his voice “Even in Yilling, I heard a few rumors you know, that as soon as I took the Wen away, the Lan Clan was the only one unwilling to storm the Burial Mounds to kill them then and there and because of that a few other sects followed. Back then, I thought it was because the righteous Lan Sect wanted to punish me for my wrongs instead of giving me an easy death”

It was now Lan Xichen’s turn to be shocked “Punish? Why would we punish you? You had no relation to our sect back then”

Wei Wuxian smiled sheepishly “Well, as I said, I was really in my head back then, now I know though! Lan Zhan wanted to bring me back to Gusu to protect me, not punish me!”

He was now exasperated “I am glad you cleared things between the two of you but the rumors you heard, although true, were not for the noblest of reasons” he sighed “One of the biggest reasons Wen Rouhan gained power was because we ignored his tyranny in hopes that if we did not involve ourselves, we would not be hurt. I grew out of that mindset after the war, but we did not want to involve ourselves because we had some internal issues, we could not spare any people at the time, and the sects that followed my lead were the same”

He expected to see Wei Wuxian angry, hearing this, but he looked impressed “No offence, but you always looked so naive back then, you were actually thinking all that? Sect politics is definitely not my field” he sighed “And what do you mean you did not help us with our search? You were the one who invited us to the conference in the first place. Sure, Lan Zhan could have probably dragged me along, but if you didn’t allow it, I couldn’t have been there with the Lan clan, and you even hid us in Cloud Recess afterwards!”

Before Lan Xichen could speak, he was interrupted once again “And your words at Guanyin temple! If anything, I should thank you for that!”

“I am not sorry for my words, just my delivery. At the time I thought you were leading my brother on, he suffered so much for the past 13 years, and he has been so happy ever since he found you again, I did not want you to take it away from him” he glared “You don’t plan on leaving again, do you?”

“Nope! You won’t get rid of me unless you kick me out! Maybe not even then” he grinned “I’m actually really glad you threatened me! I’m glad Lan Zhan has someone who will consider his happiness over all else, that he will even yell at me about it in a hostage situation!”

His lips twitched in amusement “You yelled even more outrageous things in said hostage situation” 

Wei Wuxian laughed loudly, “I guess you're right”

“Why did you leave him for these three months then?”

“I- well- I had some things to take care of and I wanted Lan Zhan to settle into his role as Chief Cultivator before I came back”

“Things you couldn’t bring Wangji with you for?”

“It's not that, he could’ve joined me if he wanted”

“Wei-gongzi, I have already told you about our parents, Wangji won’t do anything unless he’s sure you want it too, if you wanted him to come with you, you should have asked him,” he said with a sigh. He thought to himself that maybe the smarter you are about everything else, the more ignorant you are towards matters of the heart.

He expected to see him smiling sheepishly again, but to his surprise, he looked confused “Zewu-jun, I asked him to join, maybe not as directly, but that was because I knew he wanted to stay here, not just for his duties but for you”

“Oh,” he didn’t know what to say “I’m sorry, it seems that because of my seclusion, he has been forced to become Chief Cultivator and Acting Sect Leader and had to stay here against his will. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? I’m sorry, but even if I take over Chief Cultivator duties now, with my state of mind, I would just cause more damage, but don’t worry, I’ll figure something out so you can travel together,” he trailed off.

“Oh God, is this what I used to sound like back then?” he groaned “Zewu-jun, he stayed because you’re his brother, and he’s worried about you, he’s not doing this against his will”

“Wangji hates dealing with politics. I knew he wasn't fond of doing this, but I didn’t realise this has kept him from travelling, I apologise,” he bowed again.

“Zewu-jun, are you trying to show me how stupid I used to sound back then? Because it’s working" he groaned "Lan Zhan cared about me more than his rules, so he wanted to bring me here to protect me and he cares about you more than he hates politics so he's doing this so you can heal in peace, besides if anyone else becomes Chief Cultivator it would just lead to another disaster and your Uncle and Sizhui are helping him with Sect Leader duties. He’s basically Sect Leader only in name, and that too is only because he needed it to be elected as Chief Cultivator. He’s honestly doing a lot better than I expected. I thought he would be so swamped with work that I would barely get to see him”

Lan Xichen just stared at him for a while, not knowing how to respond, but after a while, he cleared his throat and blinked away the tears “Then why did you want to talk to me?”

“Uh, yeah, about that, it’s about…… Nie-Xiong”

“A-Sang? Wha-what about him?”

“Well, my travels found me in Qinghe for a while, and he told me everything about his Sect’s… curse, I guess? He wanted me to help and I could have helped during my first life when I had the Yin Tiger Seal and no core to be in risk of being corrupted but right now I have neither of those things and honestly, I don’t even want to think about restoring the seal and I quite like the core I have now, no matter how weak it is so I’m looking for other ways and since you knew about this for a long time, I was wondering if you know anything else that might help….? Where are you going?”

“Give me a minute, I’ll be right back,” he said as he walked into a room in the back.

Wei Wuxian finished his tea and sat a little awkwardly as he heard rustling noises from the back.

‘Did I say something wrong? Maybe I should have been more gentle, it hasn’t been that long since-’ he was cut off from his thoughts as Lan Xichen entered the room with a stack of papers.

“What are these?” he asked curiously.

“These are songs I have gathered from all the sources I could, I have written on the top of each score what it does, most of them help calm the mind but there are a few others with different uses” he explained, then he pulled out a particular score and placed it on top “This is something I wrote combining some elements from all these songs and I added a few original parts but there is still something missing”

Wei Wuxian’s jaw dropped “Wow, that’s- just wow. How long have you been doing this? This probably took a really long time”

“Ever since the library was repaired after the war" he answered " This is one of the reasons I ordered for it to be the first building to be repaired”

“Even if you hadn’t, it is the Lan’s pride, it would have been first anyway, but wow, that’s a long time ago, you’ve been doing it for this long?”

“Yes, but I haven’t been able to work on it these past three months”, he answered, sounding guilty.

“Well, it seems like we already have everything we need, but you said something is missing?”

“Yes, I don’t know how to explain it, but if you have an ear for music, you can tell that something is missing. You are talented in creating your own scores. Now that you know about the problem, do you think you can help?”

“Of course, that’s why I’m here! But quick question, does anyone else know you’ve been working on this?”

“I told Mingjue about my progress before…”

“And after?” he asked softly.

“I told Huaisang about it and that I’d still work on it, other than that Wangji knew I was working on a song for Mingjue but I couldn’t tell him the details because it was not my secret to tell,” he answered quietly “I should have given it to him sooner, now that he knows he could have probably done more than me”

Wei Wuxian flipped through all the papers “Honestly, this is impressive. This curse has been plaguing them for many generations. I expected this to be a long-term project, but it looks like it will be over soon”

Lan Xichen looked relieved “Is that all you wanted to talk about?”

“There is one more thing…about what I said about Nie-xiong at Guanyin Temple.”

“It’s true, if I had just stopped and thought about it for more than a minute, it would have been obvious”, he answered, sounding resigned.

“Yeaaaah, he sort of admitted to it after a night of drinking, so I wanted to ask what you want to do with that information?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“I already asked Lan Zhan, and he’s indifferent towards it since he didn’t commit any actual crimes- oh! Except for the part where he led the juniors to Yi City, we’re still pretty mad about that. I still don’t understand why they had to be there, something about them seeing my true nature before my identity was revealed”

That made the other pause “He did what? When you said crimes, I thought you were talking about what happened to Mo Xuanyu. He was the one who led the juniors to Yi City?”

“Yes, and apparently what happened with Mo Xuanyu wasn’t what he had planned. In the beginning, he was just going to let him be another witness like Sisi and Bicao, but he suddenly received a letter explaining what Mo Xuanyu was planning to do, so he changed his entire plan” 

“I- I don’t have the right to judge his actions, this is something the Chief Cultivator should decide”

“But a good Chief Cultivator won’t make decisions without asking the people affected”

“Wei-gongzi, I assure you I am not in any position to be making such big decisions”

Wei Wuxian sighed, “Alright then, thank you for your time, I’ll be back once I figure something out with these- wait, I can take them right? Or do you want me to make copies- am I even allowed to look at these, aren’t these secret Lan techniques?”

“Wei-gongzi, please calm down. You can take them. I simply ask you to be careful with them”

“Thanks then! Take care, Zewu-jun!”

He bowed goodbye and breathed out in relief, thinking their conversation went a lot better than expected.

~

Another two months passed, and for whatever reason, Wei Wuxian was still visiting him.

“Ge! You won’t believe what just happened!” he squealed as he barged in without knocking.

This was another new thing. For whatever reason, he decided to call Lan Xichen ‘Ge’, and the latter didn’t have the heart to deny him.

“Yes?” he asked, resigning himself to whatever antics the other got himself into this time.

“I just talked to Old Man Lan, and he said that I should stop going behind his back and supervise the juniors’ night hunts officially! Can you believe it?!” he was so excited he didn’t even notice how he addressed the elder in front of his own nephew.

Lan Xichen smiled softly “I am glad-”

He stopped himself when he heard a ruckus outside, which he wouldn’t have minded thinking it was Wei Wuxian, but since he was in front of him, he was confused as to who was causing trouble outside the Hanshi. Everyone knew he was in seclusion.

Wei Wuxian got up to check what was happening when the door slammed open, revealing a red-eyed Nie Huaisang and a frantic Lan Jingyi behind him “Sect Leader Nie! Whatever your reason, you cannot barge in here like this!” he yelled.

“Wei-Xiong, get out! I need to talk to him”

“You will not talk to our Sect Leader like this! Senior Nie Zonghui told us you were drunk when you demanded him to fly you here, please step outside and calm down,” Jingyi demanded.

“I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care! Get out!” he yelled.

Before either Jingyi or Wei Wuxian could speak, Lan Xichen started, “A-Sang, calm down, whatever it is you need to calm down first, you’re scaring them” he turned to the others “You two can leave, I can deal with this”

The other two looked sceptical but slowly left the room, and when he noticed his nephew staring at him in worry, he smiled, hoping to make him feel better. After the door closed, he looked at Huaisang, and with that, he felt all the progress he made in five months come crumbling down “A-Sang, I’m so so-sorry” his voice cracked “You didn't have to pretend to be drunk to come here, I know that you have a better alcohol tolerance than even Wei-gongzi and even yo-your bro-” he stopped as he was tackled and for a split second he thought he was going to be killed before he realised he was being hugged.

“Er-ge, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry, please forgive me!”

“Wha-what?”

Nie Huaisang was now full-on sobbing and not the kind he usually did at cultivation conferences “Wei-Xiong told me about the song you’ve been writing and he offered to let me see them when I visited last time and I noticed a letter in between the scores and it was Da-ge’s handwriting so I couldn’t- I couldn’t help but take a look at it so I took it back home and- and I was only able to pluck up enough courage to open it today and- Er-ge I’m so sorry!” he sobbed as he handed the letter back to him.

Just hearing about the letter, he froze, he forgot he put it with the scores, and he didn’t even notice it when he handed them to Wei Wuxian. He didn’t need to unfold that worn page to know; he knew the contents by heart.

~

A-Huan,

If you’re reading this, it probably means I’ve already succumbed to the curse, and it was sooner than I anticipated. I know you’re busy and I probably don’t have any right to ask you for help with my little brother after I did nothing to help yours, but I beg you, he’s all I have and I’m all he has, please help him. He’s capable, but I’m afraid he might hurt himself in his grief. Please be there for him and show him he’s not alone.

I know you would have done this without me asking because you’ve always been a mother-hen, but I just wanted to make sure, you know how I get when it comes to Huaisang. I know you’ve been working really hard on that song, so please don’t blame yourself for this. This is our clan’s responsibility, and it’s been happening for so long that I doubt it would be so easy to find a solution.

I hope you’ll forgive me for leaving so soon. My only wish for you is to live on as you have been and continue being as kind, strong, and understanding as you’ve been, continue being yourself, and be happy.

I hope our next life will give us more time together.

Yours,

Mingjue.

~

“Huaisang-”

“I told myself I was doing all of this for Da-ge, but he would have killed me himself if he knew what I did to you. I knew he loved you, but I still did it. At some point, it stopped being for him, and it turned into some deranged psychotic plan! Da-ge’s wrong, he’s not all I have, I’ve had you since I met you! You were like a second brother to me, even before the two of you swore brotherhood. You were always there for me, but I-I was so angry at that bastard! I was so angry at you for defending him, I was so angry at how stupid you were, at how smart he was, at how stupid I was to not notice it any sooner! You were just as hurt as me but you still comforted me while all I did was hurt you even more! Er-ge, I’m so sorry!”

Tears streamed down his face “I’m sorry too, I should have paid more attention, please forgive me, please don't cry”, he said softly as he stroked the other’s back.

“Even now! You’re the one who’s hurt, and you’re still comforting me! Er-ge, please stop, I’d feel better if you were just mad at me!”

“How could I ever be truly mad at you, A-Sang?” he asked, making the younger cry even more, remembering that his Da-ge would say the same words after their more serious fights.

The two of them just stood there, crying without any masks.

After a while, Huaisang stepped back “We think we figured out what was missing, Wei-Xiong said that we could test the final piece on some resentful spirits he found on a recent night hunt. Hanguang-jun volunteered to join us. He thinks it will work. Wei-Xiong was going to tell you about it after the test was successful, but I couldn’t help myself. Er-ge, thank you,” he bowed.

“There’s no need to thank me,” he said, pulling the other up before he could bow any deeper.

Huaisang smiled shyly “I heard Hanguang-jun’s been bringing you letters, do you mind if I send him some every now and then to bring to you? I need some advice on my recent plays”

“I’d be happy to help”, he smiled, wiping both their tears with his sleeve.

Zewu-jun was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice the ruckus until a little body collided with his thigh.

“A-Yu! I said no running!” Jingyi scolded.

"Sorry Yi-Gege", she giggled.

Chapter Text

“Bobo! Hiii!”

“Hello there, little one, what are you doing here?”

“Yi-Gege and Zhen-Gege said A-Yu can play with Bobo and Sang-shushu!”

“Sang-shushu?” Nie Mingjue asked, amused.

Zewu-jun looked up to see that Xiao Laoshi was already looking their way, smiling sheepishly at them.

“A-Yu, what do you mean play? It’s past curfew, it’s time for bed”

“No bed!” she puffed out her cheeks.

“Zewu-jun, I think we should just tire her out, it doesn’t look like she’ll sleep otherwise” Zizhen sighed.

“Back home, they usually had her run around until she tired herself out, but it is not safe for her to run here”, he sighed.

“Sang-shushu! Paint!” she exclaimed as she tried to climb into the other’s lap, but Zewu-jun held onto her tightly.

“A-Yu, you have to be careful here, you can’t just go to anyone without asking first, ok?”

She pouted, “Bobo, can A-Yu paint with Sang-shushu?”

“I don’t think he has any paint with him, I can give you cinnabar-” Jingyi started, only to be interrupted by Nie Huaisang “Nonsense! Of course, I have paints. A-Yu, come to Sang-shushu, I’ll teach you how it’s done!”

She squealed in excitement and clambered into his lap while Huaisang set his paints on the table.

“Sect Leader Nie, did you really think paints were going to be needed for this… conference? What even is this? A conference or a celebration?” Zizhen asked, feeling exasperated.

“Why are you asking me, kid? My brother’s the one who brought it”

“Oh shi- sorry, I meant Nie-gongzi!" he looked panicked "Zewu-jun, please tell me you already told them-”

“Calm down, Zizhen. I did, and to answer your previous question, this was meant to be a celebration of our victory in the Sunshot Campaign, but after we arrived, it turned into a conference,” he answered calmly.

A-Yu was looking curiously at Nie Mingjue, and Huaisang noticed, “A-Yu, this is Sang-shushu’s older brother, his name is Nie Mingjue”

“Sang-shushu’s dada?”

“Dada means gege in Gusu dialect, right?” Huaisang asked, to which he received two nods.

Nie Mingjue on the other hand, looked awkward “Um, hello there, kid”, he grinned, hoping to look welcoming.

“Scary!” she squealed with a huge grin, making the three from the future burst into laughter.

“Yeah, she’s Xiao Laoshi’s daughter, alright,” Jingyi said, wiping an imaginary tear from his eyes.

“A-Yu, he just looks like that, but he’s actually very nice,” Zewu-jun told her.

“A-Yu greets Mingjue-shushu”, she greeted with a bow, making the younger Nie brother coo at her cuteness.

“Ah, we’re done talking. Could you please remove the talismans I gave you?” Zewu-jun asked.

Nie Mingjue did as he asked. The second the talisman cut contact with their skin, it turned into ash and disappeared.

A-Yu continued drawing with Nie Huaisang and somehow dragged Nie Mingjue into it while the others talked through their jade pendants “Why did you bring her here anyway?” 

“Zewu-jun, for the greater good of the entire world, we cannot let A-Yu see Hanguang-jun,” Zizhen said seriously, to which Jingyi nodded sagely.

“What?”

“If she sees him, then obviously she’ll call out to him, especially because she hasn’t seen him in a while, and then everyone will know that Xiao Laoshi-”

“What are all of you doing here?” 

Jingyi and Zizhen jumped “Jin Ling! Don't sneak up on us like that. Hurry, use your pendant, we're discussing very important things right now!”

When Jin Ling joined, they continued, “As we were saying, since we're keeping Xiao Laoshi’s identity a secret, for their love story to come true, we have to keep it a secret that A-Yu is Hanguangjun’s daughter!”

“This is the ‘very important’ things you've been discussing?” the newcomer asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Jin Ling, you know from first-hand experience how insufferable they are, you can't possibly want them to take even longer to get together”

“Children, that's enough. I'm sure we all agree on this topic; no need to drag it out. Jin Ling, how did your talk go?” Zewu-jun stopped them before they got sidetracked.

He crossed his arms “I only got to talk to my A-Die. A-Niang’s sitting close to Da-jiu and just looking at his facial expressions is making me hesitate to approach them”

“How did it go? What did you tell him?” Zizhen asked.

“It uh it went well I guess, he sort of guessed that I was his son after I introduced myself as the sect leader, apparently he thought he married a Lan after seeing my jade pendant but after seeing my clarity bell beside it he came to the right conclusion" he huffed before continuing, speaking quickly "I may or may not have given him a chronological list of all of Jin Guangshan’s crimes, the ones he committed before and during the war”

“Good job!”

“Woohoo!”

“He said that he'll try his best to take over sect leader duties as soon as possible. He thinks that exposing the crimes Jin Guangshan has already committed might help him”

“No offence, but is he going to do it just like that? I mean the guy's an asshole but he's still his dad, doesn't he have some…. I don't know, I was just expecting it to take longer to convince him,” Zizhen said.

“Me too but hey, maybe if your future son travels back in time and the first thing he says to you is that your dad is a dick and that he used his own son’s death for a political advantage, maybe you'd re-think some things” Jin Ling shrugged.

“Please don’t tell me that’s all you talked about”, Jingyi pleaded, feeling exasperated.

“I wanted to talk about something else, but he’s so awkward! Jiujiu and Da-jiu always say that, but I didn’t expect him to be that bad! He’s worse than me, but he uh, at the end, he gave me the most awkward hug I ever had and said he’s proud of who I grew into,” he said, his voice growing quieter with each word.

Both his sworn brothers patted his shoulder as he quickly rubbed his eyes “Anyway, how did it go with Chifeng-zun?”

“It went as well as it could”, Zewu-jun answered softly “I gave him the song and instructions on how to play it”

Jin Ling sniffed “That’s good. So, now what? We just wait for Sizhui to finish talking to Da-jiu?”

“I still need to talk to Jin Guangyao”

“You should do that after A-Die exposes Jin Guangshan, he said he’ll do it while we’re still here, so we can attest to his claims. He said he’ll do it in a bit, after talking to my grandmother,” Jin Ling suggested “And I may have suggested that he talk to Xiao Shushu about it too,” he whispered the last part.

“Jin Ling! That’s dangerous! What if he twists your dad’s words and defends Jin Guangshan?” his sworn brother scolded.

“Do you think he can do that while we’re still here? And besides, we agreed that we wouldn’t condemn people for crimes they haven’t committed yet, and that includes Jin Guangyao,” he huffed, crossing his arms.

“Jin Ling, I know that he helped raise you, but Guanyin Temple....” Zizhen said softly.

“That Jin Guangyao did all of that, this one hasn’t done anything yet, and the reason he went insane in the first place was because of Jin Guangshan. If that pervert is dealt with, then he won’t turn into that monster” he turned towards Zewu-jun “You agree with me, right?”

Zewu-jun closed his eyes for a second and sighed “Either way, it seems like Jin Zixuan is talking to him right now so I’ll wait until after he exposes Jin Guangshan’s crimes to talk to him” he looked at the younger Jin “Jin Ling, even if Jin Guangshan is gone it doesn’t change the fact that Jin Guangyao is smart, he did… all that he did was to gain power and he despised your father, it’s better to be cautious with him, we both know how quickly he can turn heartless when things aren’t going his way”

“Did I mess up?” Jin Ling asked, hanging his head down.

“No, what you did was what we agreed on doing and what you wish to tell your parents is entirely up to you. I’m just saying we need to be cautious. Come now, don’t look so upset, it will turn out fine,” he ruffled the younger’s hair, trying to comfort him.

Jin Ling blushed but let him do it anyway.

He remembered Jingyi telling him about a conversation he overheard from his parents soon after Zewu-jun left seclusion.

“Haoren…. Jin Guangyao…. He….. God, he ruined Xichen” Lan Meilin sobbed into her husband’s shoulder “His kindness and eagerness to help anyone in need were what made him himself! ‘We should be cautious’, ‘We don’t know much about them, let’s think before we act’ Just hearing these words come from him breaks my heart! He’s the same age as me, we grew up together, how could he change so much in just a year?”

Lan Haoren rubbed her back comfortingly “Xichen’s always been smart; he never followed anyone blindly”

“Yes, but you should have seen him earlier today! He’s saying that for every little thing! He’s become so paranoid….”

Jingyi soon left, being Lan made it physically impossible for him to eavesdrop for too long.

Jin Ling always saw Zewu-jun as a calm and collected person, even after his seclusion. Sometimes it felt like he hadn’t changed at all, but seeing moments like this made him see why Lan Meilin was worried for her cousin. But in this situation, he knew that it wasn’t just paranoia; they really did have to be careful or they might ruin this timeline.

He sighed, “I hope Sizhui’s doing ok”

Jingyi narrowed his eyes in their direction “He looks as calm as ever, but both Wei Wuxians look pisse- uh, angry, they look angry”

Zizhen nodded, “That’s why we picked Sizhui! If it were just Wei-qianbei talking to his younger self, they would have already started fighting”

Chapter Text

As soon as everyone else left, Sizhui immediately pulled out a talisman and drew a spell on it to connect it to his jade pendant, he then handed it to his A-Die to do the same “Wei-gongzi, if you don’t mind, could you please put on this talisman so we could discuss some things”

“What does it do?” he asked, twirling it around his fingers.

“It connects to our jade pendants so we can talk without anyone overhearing us”

“Is it a secret technique that belongs to your clan?”

“No, it is public knowledge, though incorporating it into objects like our jade pendants is something only our clan does”

“How do I activate-”

“Why are you only giving to Wei Wuxian? I am his sect leader. Whatever you tell him, you have to tell me too, and you! Don’t touch any strange talisman you’re handed!” Jiang Wanyin scolded his brother.

“Sect Leader Jiang, I think that Sect Leader Jin would like to talk to you and Maiden Jiang after he is done talking to Jin-gongzi. This is only for the most efficiency” Sizhui said, trying to calm him down.

Jiang Wanyin scowled “Your Sect Leader Jin or ours?” he asked.

“Our Sect Leader Jin”

His scowl deepened, but he turned away, moved closer to his sister, and glared at Jin Zixuan. He really hoped that his A-Jie didn't marry that peacock.

Sizhui sighed in relief before turning to Wei Wuxian “Wei-gongzi, just stick it on your person, anywhere is fine as long as it touches your skin”

Wei Wuxian stared at the talisman for a few more seconds before shrugging and slapping it onto his forehead, making his older self snort, “Just think about what you want to say and how you want to say it in your head, and we’ll hear it”, he explained to his younger self.

“So what does the Lan clan want to talk to me about?” he asked in his head, testing it out.

Xiao Laoshi scowled at his arrogant tone “I’m telling you right here and now, I have permission from your older self to hit you if you’re being stupid and for God's sake be a little more polite! You’re talking to a sect leader”

“A-Die, it’s fine. Wei-gongzi, I hope you’ll forgive us for intruding, but we wanted to warn you about some things”

“Ooookaay? Go ahead, I guess” Wei Wuxian shrugged.

“It is about the Yin Tiger Seal”

Hearing this, Wei Wuxian stiffened, his hand immediately going to Chenqing “What about it? I am not handing it over to anyone, even your righteous Lan sect”

Sizhui frowned at his A-Die’s disdain for the Lan sect, but continued, “That wasn't what we were going to ask you. It is dangerous in the hands of anyone but yours, but that doesn’t mean it's good for you. Resentful energy is harmful to the mind and body-”

Wei Wuxian snorted, “Are those lines taught to everyone in your sect now? Lan Zhan has already made it clear how much he hates my cultivation, you don’t need to-”

Xiao Laoshi's eyes twitched “Are you fucking deaf?! Do you not understand basic language? Why are you twisting his words into something they're not?!”

“A-Die stop,” he said sternly “You said you’ll only listen”

“How can I stay quiet when this idiot thinks he can talk like that to my sect leader and son?!”

“A-Die.”

The other took a deep breath to calm himself “Fine, fine. Continue” 

Sizhui cleared his throat “As I was saying, Wei-gongzi, even though you think you’re controlling the seal, it is actually controlling you. You have excellent control over resentful energy, it’s just the seal is too much. It’s messing with your mind and temper”

Wei Wuxian huffed, “I can control it just fine”

“Wei-gongzi, your future self has told us that almost all the bad decisions he made were because of the voices he heard from the seal. It wasn’t even because he was using the seal often; it was just because he always had it on him. It is not safe for someone to be exposed to such high levels of concentrated resentful energy for extended periods of time”

“I am not a safety hazard”

“Oh my god! See, this is what the seal is doing! Is that what your stupid little brain took from- Hmph! HM!” Xiao Laoshi started but was cut off when his lips were sealed shut with the famous Lan silencing spell. He looked at his son with wide, betrayed eyes.

“Sorry A-Die, I didn’t put too much qi into it, it should wear off in a few minutes”, he apologised sheepishly “Wei-gongzi, please listen, we are just telling you the things your future self told us. The Yin Tiger Seal will put you and the people close to you in danger”

“Sect Leader Lan, are you threatening me?” he asked, his eyes glowing red.

Sizhui sighed, “Wei-gongzi, there are many power-hungry people out there who will not stop at anything to get their hands on the seal. It will only put you and the people around you in danger”

“How is that my fault? They are the crazy ones for lusting after power,” he snapped.

“I am not saying that it is your fault, I am just saying that no matter how many people we stop from going after the seal, someone else will always take their place, the only way to solve this is from the root”

“What do you suggest then?” he growled, making Xiao Laoshi’s fists twitch.

“You should find a way to destroy the seal safely”

“Is this some kind of political move? If I destroy the seal, how will Yunmeng Jiang be protected? Is this some kind of plot for Gusu Lan to take over?!”

Sizhui’s eyes twitched, but he stayed calm “I understand that the war has made everyone paranoid, but I assure you that no sane person would want another war so soon after the previous one. All the sects are recovering from the damage and cannot afford to wage war on another sect, much less one of the great four and I assure you that we did not want to take over any other sect at this time- or ever really- we were perfectly content with fixing everything the Wen sect did to Cloud Recess”

“What about Lanling Jin?”

“We are hoping to deal with that before we leave, but I assure you that if you don’t have the seal, they won’t even look your way”

Wei Wuxian scoffed, “It’s obvious Jin Guangshan is trying to take Wen Rouhan’s place, but I doubt the Jin clan is the only one to worry about. I can’t leave my clan unprotected when people like that are still alive”

“Wei-gongzi, you are one of the smartest cultivators I know. I am sure you can come up with ways to protect Yunmeng Jiang that don’t involve the Yin Tiger Seal”

“Like what? The wards around Cloud Recess? Like the ones that kid Zizhen explained?”

“Yes, exactly like that! I am certain that if anyone could figure it out, it would be you,” Sizhui smiled. He was glad to see that even through all of this, it was clear how much his A-Die loved creating new talismans and spells.

Wei Wuxian sighed “Maybe there is some truth to what you're saying, how do you suggest I destroy the seal then?” he asked, a little less hostile but still glaring at the other.

“We actually don’t know much about it, but in my opinion, it would be better if we slowly nullify it rather than destroy it in one go. For now, if you allow us, Zewu-jun can use a sealing spell on the Yin Tiger Seal; he has the most spiritual energy out of everyone currently present here, so he would be the best candidate. In our timeline, the destruction of the seal was very… sudden and..”

“Catastrophic, which won’t happen in this timeline if you get your head out of your ass and listen to us” Xiao Laoshi continued.

“The silencing spell lifted already? Jeez, what’s this guy's problem? Why does he hate me?”

Sizhui sighed, “He doesn’t hate you. The two of you are actually… a lot closer than you think. He’s saying this for your own good, he’s just a little frustrated”

“What do you mean by close? Don’t tell me I’m the one he married! I am not a cut sleeve!”

Sizhui bit his lip, trying not to laugh, but after looking at the disgusted look on his A-Die’s face, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter “Ah no, Wei-gongzi, he married into the Lan clan”

“Oh, right, I forgot about that” he mumbled to himself before opening his mouth to ask something, when they were interrupted by someone tapping their glass to gain everyone's attention.

It was Jin Guangshan.

“Oh God, what does he want?” Xiao Loashi groaned as he ripped the talisman off his younger self’s forehead “Ow!”

“Now that we are done with picking people for the Chief Council of Cultivation, I think it is time to talk about the elephant in the room” he started.

“Someone shut him up” Xiao Laoshi muttered under his breath.

“What is that, Sect Leader Jin?” Sect Leader Yao asked.

“The people from the future clearly wanted to talk to some people privately, and everyone else makes sense, but why are people from the Lan clan talking to Wei Wuxian of the Jiang clan? They have no relation. The only possible reason for this is that he must have done something to affect the Lan sect and by extension every other sect”

Xiao Laoshi buried his face in his hands and groaned “I hate him so fucking much”

“Which must mean that it isn’t safe for the Yin Tiger Seal to be in his hands” he finished and leaned back, satisfied with himself.

Before anyone else could hop onto Jin Guangshan’s bandwagon, Lan Sizhui spoke up, “Wei-qianbei is a dear senior of ours, of course we wanted to talk to him”

“Don’t be ridiculous, ‘dear senior’? ‘talk’? He looked like he was two seconds away from killing you and raising you back from the dead to kill you again,” he said, mocking the younger.

“Jin Guangshan, do not talk to our sect leader like that” Jingyi warned.

“I think he should hand over the Yin Tiger Seal since it’s very clear that even the Lan clan doesn’t want him to have it. We, the Jin Clan, have been lucky enough not to be as affected by the war. We still have the resources to keep it tamed. We volunteer ourselves to bear this burden,” he said, ignoring Jingyi.

Wei Wuxian looked livid “You-”

This time, Sizhui silenced his A-Die’s younger self while his older self talked, “Jin Guangshan, you’re getting really desperate, aren’t you? First, you were denied the Wen prisoners, and later you were denied the position of Chief Cultivator, so now you’re desperate to cling to some kind of power. You are claiming that we were telling him to hand the seal over to you, and your only proof of this is that Wei Wuxian looked angry? Seriously, it’s a miracle anyone takes you seriously”

“You! Who do you think you are?! I am the Sect Leader of-”

“The only sect leader Lanling Jin ever had that I respected is Jin Ling, and Jin Ling only. Your position means nothing to me,” he stated calmly.

Before Jin Guangshan could retort back, he was interrupted by his son, Jin Zixuan “Esteemed cultivators, it has been brought to my attention that my- father” he scowled “has committed numerous crimes, if anyone from the Lan clan would be kind enough to silence him, I would like to read aloud to you the list I have been given”

“Gladly!” Jingyi exclaimed as he put a silencing spell on him.

“Guards, make sure he remains seated, or we might have to have him join that intruder from the future” Madam Jin commanded as she sneered at her husband.

Chapter Text

Jin Zixuan unrolled a scroll and started reading the contents out loud, the length of the scroll almost made it look comical. He continued reading until the end, not stopping at the shouts of outrage from the surrounding sect leaders.

Xiao Laoshi raised his eyebrow and whistled lowly, “Wow, maybe he’s not half bad”

Jiang Wanyin and Wei Wuxian scowled but had to agree; they didn’t think the peacock had it in him.

“For the sake of the women affected, we will not reveal their names to everyone, but rest assured, I will do my best to provide them compensation on behalf of the Jin sect for the crimes the previous sect leader committed”

“Jin-gongzi, I understand that your father has done many wrongs, but this is all so sudden. Are you going to take over the sect so soon? Doesn’t this seem a little forced?” a minor sect leader asked.

“I don’t think it's soon enough,” Jin Ling said to his sworn brothers, but in the quiet hall, everyone heard it.

“If that is how this seems, then since everyone in the newly-formed Chief Council of Cultivation is here, I humbly request them to make their judgment. On behalf of the Jin sect, I think our stand is very clear, we cannot have someone like him be in power for any longer,” he bowed.

“I cannot say anything on behalf of the Qin Sect, but I have a wife and daughter. The crimes I hear of now make my stomach turn. I cannot believe I used to think of him as an important ally and friend,” Sect Leader Qin said solemnly.

“I agree with my father, as a member of the Chief Council of Cultivation, on behalf of the Qin Sect, I say that he needs to be removed from his position and pay for his crimes” Qin Su stated firmly.

Jin Guangshan was now making gestures in outrage and even forcefully removed the silencing spell, but was quickly silenced again by one of the future Lans.

“You are all insane! Zixuan, what is this?!” Jin Zixun yelled only to be silenced.

Xiao Laoshi snorted, “Whoever did that, I love you”

“It was Hanguang-jun” his son answered.

He giggled, “Really? Isn’t he great!” he gushed, making the younger roll his eyes fondly, but Wei Wuxian, who heard their interaction, frowned.

“I also cannot let such behaviour slide. I hope the Jin Sect will take necessary actions against Jin Guangshan,” Jiang Yanli spoke up "As a member of the Chief Council of Cultivation, on behalf of the Jiang Sect, I second Young Maiden Qin Su’s words”

“As a member of the Chief Council of Cultivation, on behalf of the Lan Sect, I also agree with Young Maiden Qin and Young Maiden Jiang” Lan Wangji agreed.

“As a member of the Chief Council of Cultivation, on behalf of the Nie Sect, I also agree with them and hope that he will be removed from his position as soon as possible” Nie Huaisang said quickly.

Many sect leaders who previously allied themselves with Jin Guangshan were hesitant to speak against him, but since it seemed like his son was to take over, they agreed with the previous statements.

Ultimately, it was unanimously decided that Jin Guangshan would be removed from his position and spend three days in ‘seclusion’ until all the necessary rites for his son to take over as sect leader were finished, and then a suitable punishment would be decided.

Jin Guangshan was now standing and glaring, and pointing at his son and wife menacingly. The guards were trying their best to hold him back without using too much force. Madam Jin had had enough of this and snapped at them, “What are you doing?! He was just declared a criminal, why are you still treating him like a sect leader?! Tie him up and throw him beside the intruder from the future, knock him out if you have to!” she ordered.

“Well, that’s one problem solved” Xiao Laoshi breathed out and turned to his younger self “Since we were interrupted earlier, let me continue. I have only one more thing to tell you" he said quietly "Keeping it a secret won’t help anyone, not yourself nor the people you care for” 

Wei Wuxian looked at him skeptically “What secret?”

Xiao Laoshi just pointed to his core, and Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened “How do you know that?!” he yelled, gathering everyone's attention.

Sizhui sighed in exasperation “A-Die, you know how unstable he is, why did you say that so blatantly?” he asked through his jade pendant.

“Aren’t you getting annoyed by him, though?” he asked aloud.

Wei Wuxian’s eyes turned red “Not only do you know, but you told everyone in your sect?! Who are you?!”

“Wei Wuxian, calm down! What did he say?” Jiang Wanyin demanded.

“It doesn’t matter what he said, he shouldn’t be trusted!” he yelled as black clouds of resentful energy formed around him, his hand going to his flute.

“Wei-gongzi, please calm down-”

“I don’t know who you two are, but you-!” he yelled, the resentful energy grew thicker.

Sizhui reached for his qianqun pouch to get his guqin just in case when he heard his father yell, “Wei Ying, the resentful energy! You said you could control it!”

“Oh great, you’re here too! You and your sect really like meddling, don’t they? Lan Zhan, get out of my way!”

“Let me play cleansing, resentful energy is harmful-”

“For the body and mind! I know! It’s all you people have to say! Back off, I don’t need your stupid song," he growled "Get out of my way, Lan Wangji!”

“Wei Wuxian! You are not in control-”

They were interrupted by a loud cry, and both of them snapped their head toward the source where Jingyi was trying his best to console a crying A-Yu, “Baba! BABA! BABA!”

“A-Yu-”

“Down! Yi-Gege, down! I want Baba and Diedie!” she sobbed even louder.

Xiao Laoshi completely ignored the fight between his younger self and his future husband and walked towards the Nie Sect, but Jingyi was faster. They were now only a little distance from the fight “Shh, baobei, it’s ok. No need to cry”

“Baba and Diedie fight?” she asked through tears.

Hearing the little one’s cries made them quiet down, but Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were still glaring at each other. They could hear the conversation between the father and daughter, despite their anger, they did not want to make a child cry.

“Oh sweetheart, no, we’re not fighting. When has your baba ever been mad at me?”

“Baba...” she turned around in Xiao Laoshi’s hold and reached out to Lan Wangji.

Many gasps were heard in the hall. It was now fully quiet, and even the two who were previously fighting turned to look at the little girl in shock.

She sniffed again, “Baba...  baba...!” she called out, wanting to be carried by her father.

Xiao Laoshi sighed, “Carry her just for a little bit, please?” 

“I don’t-”

“Just pick her up with her arms and support her bottom, she clings like a monkey” he explained with a soft smile.

Lan Wangji silently followed the instructions, still not being able to process what had just happened.

Wei Wuxian snapped out of it and broke the silence of the room first. He looked even angrier now “Of course it’s your husband who threatens me. Do you hate me so much that you even teach your family to do the same?” 

Sizhui groaned and buried his face in his hands, and connected his pendant to his sworn brothers’ pendants.

Jingyi was chanting “No no no no, how did this happen? This is the one thing that absolutely could not happen!”

Zizhen was sniffing “Now their love story will never have a happy ending! How could we have been so careless? We failed our most important mission!”

“It’s over, everything’s over, the world is going to end” Jingyi sobbed.

“Now we’ll never attend the wedding” Zizhen bawled.

“Sizhui and A-Yu won’t be born” Jingyi wailed.

“They won't even take us on night hunts together!” Jingyi cried.

“OH MY GOD! YOU TWO ARE SO ANNOYING!” Jin Ling yelled aloud, gathering everyone's attention, “AND YOU TWO ARE EVEN WORSE!” he pointed at Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian.

“YOU STUPID AIRHEADS, LISTEN UP BECAUSE I WON’T BE REPEATING THIS AGAIN!” he huffed “WEI WUXIAN DIES BECAUSE THAT ASSHOLE-” he pointed to Jin Guangshan, ignoring the gasps and yells of outrage from the Jiang sect and the utter look of devastation on Lan Wangji’s face “FRAMED HIM AND AFTER HIS DEATH, CORRUPTION IN THE JIN SECT WENT BEYOND WHAT YOU CAN EVEN IMAGINE SO SOME CRAZY MASTERMIND DECIDED TO SUMMON HIM BACK FROM THE DEAD TO EXPOSE ALL OF THAT AND THE BODY HE WAS SUMMONED BACK IN WAS THAT ONE!” he pointed to Xiao Laoshi “THAT IS WEI WUXIAN!” he finished loudly, satisfied with himself.

Zewu-jun was hiding his laughter behind his sleeve, and Jin Ling’s sworn brothers looked at him in awe.

It was quiet for a moment before all hell broke loose.

Chapter Text

Zewu-jun was still hiding his laughter as he moved towards his younger self to help him when his uncle would inevitably faint. Jingyi and Zizhen discreetly high-fived each other, and Sizhui just shook his head in exasperation. Xiao Laoshi, now revealed to be Wei Wuxian, was grinning widely as he took in the reaction of his younger self, who currently looked like a fish gaping in water.

“What?!”

“Impossible!”

“What do you mean summoned from the dead?!”

Amidst the chaos, Xiao Laoshi’s eyes softened as he took in the sight of his future husband holding their daughter.

A-Yu was holding her baba’s cheeks in both her little hands “Baba sad?”

This seemed to break him out of his thoughts, “No little one, I am just worried”

“No need to worry! A-Yu is here!”

To everyone else, it would seem like his expression hadn’t changed at all, but people who knew him saw him smiling as he held his daughter closer, “Mn”

The yelling was getting too much, so Xiao Laoshi looked to his son, who nodded and pulled out a voice-modifying talisman.

“Quiet!”

Everyone finally stopped yelling, though the whispering persisted. Xiao Laoshi sighed, “Jin Ling, you brat! Now look what I have to deal with!”

“Da-jiu, this is a hundred times better than your pathetic pining”

Jingyi snickered, “Yeah, Sect Leader Jin RuLAN can attest to that”

“YOU-!”

“What do you mean A-Xian dies?”

Xiao Laoshi knew who that voice belonged to. He had been trying his best not to look in her direction the entire time they were here, but hearing her voice now, calling his name- he felt tears sting his eyes “Shijie…”

No one could bring themselves to answer, not even Jin Ling.

Xiao Laoshi took a deep breath and smiled, “Don’t worry about that, Shijie. It’s nothing”

“How do we stop it?” Lan Wangji asked.

“Ah Lan Zhan, what am I supposed to do with you?” he sighed fondly “With the things we changed and with the peacock being the sect leader, it will guarantee that I won’t die like that again”

Lan Wangji frowned, and so did the others from the future, but Sizhui was the one to ask the question on everyone’s mind “A-Die, why are you phrasing it like that? With everything that has been changed, there is no way you’ll die at all until you grow old”

He smiled sadly “A-Yuan, at this point I didn’t have a you-know-what and with how stupid my younger self used to be and from how he’s been gaping like a fish this entire time, I can guarantee you that he won’t do what’s best for his health unless you imprison him and force him to do it and that won’t happen because my husband is too sweet to do that”

The ones from the future looked at him in horror.

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Jiang Wanyin demanded.

Xiao Laoshi turned to his younger self “You should tell him, I wasn’t lying earlier, it really is for the best if you tell him” he sighed “This is why I wanted to help them without telling them what happened in the future, we already have to live with this, they don’t need to live with what might have been and we don’t have to either”

“A-Xian, how can you say that? If you are sick, we will do everything in our power to help you, don’t give up just like that”

“Wei Wuxian! What does he mean that you’re sick? What’s wrong with you? And what is it that your future self wants you to tell me?!”

Wei Wuxian glared at the older man “Why are you trusting him so easily? What if he isn’t me?”

“Well, if you look at the forehead ribbon in my hair, you would see that it is Lan Zhan’s! Since this can’t be faked, that proves that I’m married to him!” he grinned, flicking his ponytail.

Wei Wuxian turned red “I asked you to prove that you’re me, not that you’re married to a Lan!”

“Not to any Lan! I’m married to Hanguang-jun! Lan Wangji! Lan Zh-!”

“Stop that!” Wei Wuixan squeaked, turning even redder.

Xiao Laoshi snorted “To me proving this is more important than proving my identity, do yourself a favor and get together sooner than almost 20 years this time, please?” he continued “And how do you want me to prove it to you anyway? I already told you about our secret” he was then struck by an idea, he turned to his daughter who was cradled in his husband’s arms, talking to him excitedly about what she did in the past three days “A-Yu?”

She turned around “Yes, Diedie?”

“What’s my name, sweetheart?”

“Diedie’s name is Wei Ying!” she declared proudly “Baba is Lan Zhan, and dada is Lan Yuan, and I’m Lan Yu!”

“Good job, baobei!” he turned to his younger self “Is that enough proof for you?”

“She’s a three-year-old!”

“Exactly! Do you think a three-year-old can lie? Especially a three-year-old Lan?”

“The more you drag this out, the more I’m starting to think you’re tricking us”

Xiao Laoshi sighed and reached for his qianqun pouch, and pulled out a very familiar flute.

Some people gasped, “That's the ghost flute, Chenqing!”

Wei Wuxian narrowed his eyes “What’s with all the sigils on it?”

“I had to do that because someone couldn't stop using it as a teething toy” he said as he looked at his son.

Zizhen snorted, “I still can’t believe people thought you were scary when you literally suppressed almost all the resentful energy on your flute just so a three-year-old Sizhui could chew on it”

Sizhui turned red “Please stop”

“There are little teeth marks on it to prove it, and you’re the only one other than Wei-qianbei who can touch Chenqing without getting stung. There's no way those belong to anyone but you,” Jingyi added, grinning as his sworn brother’s face grew even redder.

Xiao Laoshi laughed, “Is that enough proof? Or do you want more? Because I have more and I really don't think you or Jiang Cheng would like me to tell you this in front of everyone”

When Wei Wuxian and Jiang Wanyin’s eyes narrowed at him, he continued with a huge grin, “One time when we were younger, Madam Yu went to Meishan Yu but came back two days earlier than planned, and we were caught-”

“That’s enough! I believe you!” Wei Wuxian squeaked out.

“Wei Wuxian! Shut up!” Jiang Wanyin yelled at the same time.

Jiang Yanli sighed at her brothers’ antics but did not let them stray away from the topic at hand “How can we help A-Xian?”

“Shijie, I’m not as sick as he’s making me sound”

“You shut up, she asked him, not you!” Jiang Wanyin yelled.

“Jiang Cheng! You can’t possibly believe him over me!”

“Regarding this, I think I definitely can”

“But Jiang Cheng-”

Xiao Laoshi interrupted him “Listen, if you’re so dead set on dying then nothing we do can help you, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to help our past selves, we can’t waste it on trying to convince you to do something you clearly don’t want to, so we’ll come back to this later, make up your mind by then” he sighed “Jin Ling, you wanted to talk to your mother and uncle right? Go ahead,” he said softly.

He turned towards his daughter, who was now babbling happily about what she did while her baba was away, to which he just nodded seriously.

Heart feeling full, Xiao Laoshi laughed, “A-Yu, it’s time for bed”

She clung to her father even tighter “No bed!”

“Sweetheart, it’s waaay past curfew and you’re already getting cranky”

“Diedieee” she whined, “I’m not sleepy”

He sighed, “At least get down, please? Your baba is very tired, and I thought you said you were a big girl. Do you still need Baba to carry you?”

A-Yu puffed out her cheeks but wiggled for her father to put her down, to which he complied, gently placing her on the ground.

“I am not tired, I can carry her for as long as she likes”

“I know you will, you spoil her too much” he shook his head fondly “You’re making me be the strict parent, Lan Zhan! Me! Do I look like I have a single strict bone in my body?” he asked, his hands on his hips.

A-Yu copied him and puffed out her cheeks even more.

Xiao Laoshi laughed “What do you think you’re doing little miss?” he kneeled down and pinched her cheeks “Putting your hands on your hips? You don’t even have hips yet, you little gremlin” he ruffled her hair making her whine and try to get away from her father’s evil hands.

“Wei Ying”

He looked up “Lan Zhan”

They just stared at each other for a long time before they were interrupted by a polite cough, “Ahem, A-Die”

“Yes, A-Yuan?” he asked, getting up as if nothing happened.

“You received the message from Sect Leader Nie, right?”

Xiao Laoshi grinned, “Yes! Do you want to do it?”

“We think it would be beneficial”

“Who were you thinking of showing it to?”

“It’s up to you, A-Die” Sizhui shrugged.

“So you’ve already decided it’s my memories that will get shown?” 

Sizhui looked at him with a sad smile “Maybe it will convince your younger self”

“A-Yuan, don’t look at me like that. I didn’t tell you because I’m alive and very healthy right now, there was no point in worrying about something that didn’t happen”

“A-Die, just- pick out the people you want to watch this and tell everyone through your pendant, we’ll gather them around. Bobo said he’ll stay outside to power the incense burner and keep watch and deal with everyone else”

“Ok then, I’ll send the list”

Lan Zhan, who was standing close, couldn't help but overhear. He was worried, “Wei Ying?” 

“Lan Zhan! We got some information about the incense burner from Nie-xiong! We’re gathering some people around to watch something, you’ll come with me, right?”

“Always” he answered without hesitation.

Chapter Text

Zewu-jun brought attention to himself, stopping everyone from gossiping about his brother’s love life “Esteemed cultivators, we have received information on another use of the incense burner”

Rounds of whispers went around the room.

Lan Qiren, who had just barely recovered, asked him, “What is it, Xichen?”

“It can show you memories of one of the people brought here. My memories of the incident will be added to if I was there since I was the one to bring us here,” he explained “Since this is private, I ask for the cultivation world’s understanding while we show these memories to our family”

“How is that any fair? Didn’t you say you were here to help everyone?”

“Sect Leader Yao, I will be here to answer any questions you might have while they watch” he answered with a tight smile, which seemed to placate everyone.

“Ge, you’re being too nice” Xiao Laoshi whispered.

“If I don’t answer him like this, he’ll just be even more difficult to deal with later” he sighed “Have you picked who you want to show?”

“Yes, they’re all here” he gestured behind him.

The group consisted of everyone he expected. Wei Wuxian, Jiang Wanyin, Jiang Yanli, Lan Qiren, Lan Xichen, and of course, his brother and everyone else from the future, including A-Yu, were expected, though there were some unexpected people too. Jin Zixuan was one of them, and Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang were unexpected too.

He raised an eyebrow at his brother-in-law, to which he just received a shrug “I’m not going to show them anything awful, watching this will bring them closer together, and it will be better if the great four sects are unified sooner rather than later”

“If you’re sure” he gave him the incense burner “Pass some qi into it and think of what you want to show, then pass it back to me, I’ll power it from the outside, if something goes wrong send me a message through your pendant and I’ll stop it immediately and all of you will be out within a second” he explained.

Xiao Laoshi passed some qi into the incense burner and muttered under his breath, “Three of the happiest moments of my life”

He passed the burner back to Zewu-jun, and the second he started powering it, the people who were picked were enclosed in what looked like a black box from the outside.

People outside started panicking, and Zewu-jun calmed them down, “This is what is supposed to happen, no need to worry”

They quieted down, and as expected, Sect Leader Yao was the first one to call him “Zewu-jun, I have some questions, if you don’t mind answering”

Zewu-jun sighed, already feeling a headache coming in. He decided that he could put up with this for a while if it could help his brother-in-law.

~

Before everyone inside could start panicking, Sizhui calmed them down, “This is what is supposed to happen”

Wei Wuxian looked around, already feeling uncomfortable about this, but he was never able to say no to his Shijie, and after he learned that he was the reason his nephew was orphaned, he couldn’t say no to him either.

“Da-jiu, what’s with that look? I already told you that it wasn’t your fault”

“Ohh, you told him about that?” his older self asked Jin Ling, to which he received a nod “I guess it’s better that you know about this now, it would be awful to learn about this from casual conversation”

“Casual conversation? Aren’t you going to show them everything that led up to Nightless City, your resurrection, and Guanyin Temple?” Zizhen asked.

“Nope! I already told you, I don’t think they have to live with what might have been. I decided to show them three of the happiest moments in my life after I was resurrected. But don’t worry, it won’t be boring, you’ll learn a lot about the future from it”

“Wei-gongzi, if you don’t mind me asking, where exactly are we?” Lan Xichen asked.

“We’re exactly where we were standing earlier, to the outside, apparently it looks like we’re trapped inside a black box, but to us, it’s slightly transparent, we can look outside. They can’t see what we can, and they can’t hear us either”

“A-Xian, are you sure this will help us find a cure for you?”

“Shijie-” he cleared his throat “It’s not that there isn’t a cure, he’s just unwilling to go through with it. My hope is that this will help convince him”

Jingyi jumped in between “Before this starts, let’s guess what will be shown!”

“Obviously his wedding,” Jin Ling said.

“That’s obvious, what about the other two though?” 

The four sworn brothers were laughing and making absurd guesses, each one sounding crazier than the last. Wei Wuxian zoned them out and looked towards Lan Zhan who was bending down to hear what the child- their child- was telling him. His face turned red just thinking about it.

He overheard the child asking, “Baba, what are we doing here?” she asked way too calmly for a three-year-old in a situation like this.

“We are going to look at some of your A-Die’s happiest memories”

“Ok!” she accepted easily as she dragged her father with the hems of his robes towards his older self “Sit!”

“Well, aren’t you demanding today? Fine, fine, let’s all sit, this might take a while,” Xiao Laoshi said.

Wei Wuxian followed everyone and sat between his siblings. Jin Ling produced an extra robe from his qiankun pouch for his mother to sit on, and sat beside her, and his father sat beside him.

Lan Xichen helped his Shufu, who still looked a little pale, sit down beside Jiang Cheng. Lan Zhan followed them, and A-Yu forced her A-Die to sit beside him and settled herself in his lap. Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, and Ouyang Zizhen sat beside them, and Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang followed.

They were sitting in a semicircle around the only opaque wall of the room, which was apparently where his older self's memories would be shown.

He felt a little nauseous but forced it down. His older self noticed this “Are you sure you don’t want to tell everyone now?” he asked.

He felt angry at the casual way he talked about this “Is this another thing that can come up ‘in casual conversation’ as you say it?” he growled.

“I don’t know, probably not though, we don’t really talk about it a lot” he shrugged.

Before he could say anything back, the wall lit up and showed a scene of Xiao Laoshi speed-walking through Cloud Recess, in black robes.

He stopped outside the Hanshi where Zewu-jun was standing, looking pale and thin “Ge! You’re really out of seclusion!” he exclaimed.

“Seclusion?!” Lan Qiren shouted, and even Lan Xichen looked taken aback.

“Yes, I am” he answered softly.

“I’m only gone for a week, and that’s when you decide to come out? If I were here, I would have arranged for a celebration!”

“There’s no need for that”

Xiao Laoshi grinned but looked nervous “Um, so, now that you’re out, I have something to ask you”

“Me?”

“Yes, so I was wondering if um…”

“What are you so nervous about? Whatever it is, I’ll try my best to help you”

Xiao Laoshi took a deep breath, took a step back, and bowed deeply “Zewu-jun, this humble one requests your permission to marry your brother”

Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan turned red as they heard this.

Zewu-jun looked at him in confusion and after a minute of silence, Xiao Laoshi stood up again, now close to tears “Why aren’t you saying anything? What’s with that look? Is that a no? Ge! I thought you were going to help me convince your uncle, you can’t-!” his voice broke.

The four sworn brothers laughed hard at this, earning a glare from Lan Zhan.

“Wei Wuxian, calm down. What are you talking about? Aren’t you two already married?”

The four laughed harder at this, and even Jin Zixuan and the two Nie brothers couldn’t hold back their laughter.

It was now Xiao Laoshi’s turn to look confused “What? Why would you think that? Why would we have gotten married without telling you?”

“Didn’t the two of you elope?”

Xiao Laoshi gasped, “You think your brother, the Hanguang-jun, would elope with someone?”

“With you, yes” he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lan Zhan glared at his older brother, who was hiding his laughter from their uncle.

“Even if we eloped, he would have told you!” he squawked.

“Didn’t he?” he pondered, “I suppose he hasn’t explicitly told me, but I thought it was implied”

“Ge” he begged.

“I apologise,” he said, sounding more amused than apologetic. “Yes, of course, you have my blessing. You said you want me to help you convince Shufu?”

“Yes!”

“Wei Wuxian, I don’t think he needs a lot of convincing, but of course, I’ll help you. Let’s ask him at the family dinner tomorrow, tell everyone else about it by then,” he said before going back inside.

The screen showed the sky as the day passed.

“What is this about Xichen being in seclusion?!” Lan Qiren demanded, ignoring everything else he heard.

“Grandmaster Lan, I assure you we won’t let this happen again. Zewu-jun is dealing with it outside as we speak” Sizhui calmed him down.

Before anyone could speak, the screen once again showed Zewu-jun and Xiao Laoshi, this time wearing blue Lan robes. They were inside the Hanshi with Sizhui, Jingyi, Lan Wangji, and two other people Wei Wuxian did not recognise.

“Who are those two?” he asked.

“They’re my parents!” Jingyi answered “Lan Meilin and Lan Haoren”

Xiao Laoshi fixed his robes as he glared at Lan Meilin, who was cackling, “Can’t you help me instead of laughing at me?”

“Wei Wuxian, you do realise that since everyone in this room thought that you two were already married, Shufu is going to think the same thing”

He huffed, “Sizhui! A-Yuan! My child! I understand that they’re stupid, but how can you think the same thing? When would we even have time to elope?”

“After Guanyin Temple?” he guessed sheepishly.

“Child. You were there with us after Guanyin Temple! We split ways right after you left with your Ning-shushu! We met again three months later in Cloud Recess. When would we have gotten the time?”

“I still can’t believe you thought that, A-Yuan”

“Sorry, A-Die, but to be fair, everyone else thought the same thing”

“Wei Ying”

“Lan Zhan! I can’t tell if they actually thought that or if they are doing this to tease us”

They quieted down when the door opened and Lan Qiren walked in, giving a sceptical look to Xiao Laoshi, who was sitting with perfect posture and his robes, which looked a lot nicer than his usual grub.

The meal carried on as any Lan meal, silent.

The screen sped this up.

“I cannot believe this” Lan Qiren huffed.

“Wei-xiong, did they really think you eloped? How did Grandmaster Lan react?”

“You can see for yourself” Xiao Laoshi laughed.

“Did you really marry into their clan? Don’t you hate Cloud Recess? Why couldn’t he have married into ours?” Jiang Cheng asked, and everyone from the future deliberately ignored him, not wanting to be the one to answer that question.

Everyone placed down their chopsticks. This was the time when everyone would talk. Sizhui took the lead and talked about a big night hunt that was planned near the border of Gusu and Lanling. Jingyi continued giving more details.

Lan Wangji squeezed Xiao Laoshi’s hand beneath the table, “Do you want me to ask him instead?” he whispered, to which he received a bright and optimistic smile, “No, Lan Zhan, I have to do this myself”

After they were done, Xiao Laoshi cleared his throat, “Grandmaster Lan”

“Yes?” he looked confused, “What is with the sudden use of my title?”

“This humble one requests permission to marry your nephew” he bowed low, his head almost hitting the table.

“This is embarrassing” Xiao Laoshi muttered.

“I promise I’ll take care of him, help him with his sect duties as best as I can, follow your rules as best as I can, and-”

Lan Qiren’s face went from confused to more and more incredulous as Xiao Laoshi went on and on. He looked towards his older nephew, who was smiling pleasantly, and his niece, who had her face buried in her husband’s neck as she shook from quiet laughter.

He sighed, “Wei Wuxian, get up”

He immediately shot up and sat straight.

“What is this about? Do you want to hold an official ceremony?”

Xiao Laoshi’s face turned red, he groaned and slammed his face into the table, “Not you too”

This was the final straw, and everyone around the table burst into laughter, even Lan Wangji smiled as he ran his hands through Xiao Laoshi’s hair, trying to comfort him.

“The two of you told me about this, but oh my god, this is hilarious!” Zizhen wheezed.

“Wei Wuxian, how did you get yourself into this situation?” Nie Mingjue asked, wiping tears from his eyes.

Xiao Laoshi just groaned and hid his face in his hands.

Zewu-jun was the first to recover “Shufu, it has been brought to my attention that they haven’t actually eloped”

“What?”

“Shufu” Lan Wangji called.

“So you mean to tell me, the two of you have been living together while you were unmarried,” he breathed out.

Jiang Yanli’s smile tightened “Lan-er-gongzi, I don’t think that’s appropriate”

Before Lan Zhan could answer Xiao Laoshi stepped in “Shijie, I am not a helpless maiden, I don’t think-” Jin Ling interrupted him “A-Niang, please, if I had to live with their pining for even a day more, I would have died, this was the best possible outcome for everyone, trust me”

“Shufu” Lan Wangji repeated, now more exasperated.

He sighed, “Wei Wuxian, get up” he looked at him seriously “Follow me,” he said.

Xiao Laoshi looked at him in confusion. Lan Wangji stood up to follow him “Wangji, I promise he'll be fine. He can stay alone with me for a little bit”

Xiao Laoshi squeezed Lan Wangji’s hand one last time before getting up to follow.

The screen glowed a light shade of blue while showing the next part.

“Wangji, he’ll be fine. You know Shufu already accepted him a long time ago”

“I know” he sighed.

“Ah, if it glows blue, then it’s Zewu-jun’s memories,” Jingyi pointed out.

The screen turned back to normal and showed Grandmaster Lan leading Xiao Laoshi to his place.

Lan Qiren’s eyes widened as he realised what his older self was doing.

Xiao Laoshi was led to the back, where there was a small altar with two names- Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren.

He gasped, “What is this?”

“I don’t know if Sect Leader Jiang rebuilt their altars after the destruction of Lotus Pier but these have always been here. This place has been lucky enough to not get damaged by the fire” he sighed as he pulled out a picture from somewhere near his desk “I sent you the only picture I had of them but I held onto a copy just to remember. After the war I am sure it was destroyed so I want you to have it,” he said as he handed a picture to Xiao Laoshi.

“Shufu..” there were tears streaming down his eyes “What picture are you talking about? You never sent me anything, my memory isn’t so bad as to forget something so important,” he said, taking in the picture handed to him.

Lan Qiren looked confused. “I sent you a letter along with the picture after Jiang Fengmian announced he took you back to Lotus Pier”

“I never received any correspondence from the Lan Sect before I came here to study"

“What are you saying? It couldn’t have been misplaced. I sent it as the acting sect leader of the time, I even sent one of our best messengers to deliver it”

“Did you really not receive it?” Lan Qiren asked Wei Wuxian.

“No…” he answered, staring at the picture in his older self’s hand.

The elder sighed "I'll make another copy and send it to you" 

"Thank you" Wei Wuxian whispered, his eyes still not leaving the screen.

“Shufu, you see… Madam Yu didn’t really like me, even if I received a letter, I doubt it would have been given to me”

“What?”

“And my parents never had any altars in Lotus Pier, thank you for having them here” he answered with a smile as he hugged the picture of his parents.

Lan Qiren now looked angry “How could they not have altars? The entire reason I don’t have official ones here is because it would be disrespectful since they already lie in Lotus Pier” he sighed “You mean to tell me that when you came here to study, you didn’t read the letter I sent you?”

“No, what did it say?”

“Wei Wuxian” he started “You were born in Cloud Recess”

“What?”

“What?” the two Jiang siblings echoed.

Lan Qiren knelt at the altar and motioned for Xiao Laoshi to join him, “Your parents were in Caiyi when your mother was about to give birth to you. I convinced them to come to Cloud Recess. Lan Luiqin was the one to help deliver you. She helped deliver Wangji and Xichen, too. I sent your birth record along with that picture to Lotus Pier. The collective record of all the births in Cloud Recess was still preserved even after the fire; your name is still there if you want proof. In the letter, I mentioned that you were technically a citizen of Gusu and that if you wanted, you would always have a place here”

“Didn’t you hate me, though?” he asked through tears.

“There is no excuse for that, I won’t apologize because I don’t need you to forgive me like I know you would” he breathed out “If they saw how I didn’t do anything to help you when the Jin were after you, that I even helped them kill you, they would climb out of their graves and strangle me to death”

“Shufu..”

“I promised them that you could study at Cloud Recess when you came of age, I promised I would teach you everything I knew because I knew you would have an interest in talismans like your mother, but I wasn’t able to do any of that. You never replied to my letter, and you came here and criticised the rules, and went on and on about how you couldn’t believe anyone could live here, and I suppose I let my anger get the better of me”

“I never meant it like that-”

“I know now, I didn’t know why you strayed from the sword path at the time, but your mother- your parents- both of them, they-”

“Shufu?”

The screen sped up, and they weren’t able to hear what they were saying.

“What?! Why isn’t it showing us-!” Wei Wuxian screamed, his own eyes wet with tears.

“It’s supposed to show happy memories, this part wasn't really all that happy for me” his older self answered.

The screen slowed down back to normal. “Wei Wuxian, your mother and my sister-in-law always wanted to be sworn sisters, but they couldn’t. I think they can now rest in peace knowing that they will become family,” Lan Qiren said finally.

“So does that mean-”

“You never needed my permission, but for what it’s worth, you have it. I have just one request,” he looked at Xiao Laoshi with a sad smile “Please take care of yourself and my nephew, don’t hurt each other anymore”

Xiao Laoshi grinned through his tears and hugged his future uncle-in-law, and for the first but not the last time. Lan Qiren let him.

The screen sped up again, showing the sky as days passed.

“Is it true?” Wei Wuxian asked in a soft voice.

“It is” Lan Qiren answered sadly.

“What did he say in between?”

“He told me how my parents died” his older self answered. 

“They died in a night hunt, what more is there?”

Lan Qiren looked at him, shocked “What are you saying? I told Jiang Fengiman what actually happened, did he not tell you?”

“Maybe I was too young to know…” he trailed off “Will you tell me now?” he asked weakly.

Lan Qiren looked at his friends' child with sadness before explaining, “Your mother had the same idea about resentful energy as you, word for word actually. They were not exactly experimenting with it, but researching its uses. They mentioned it in the letters they sent me. I was against it and tried to stop them, but they insisted that they weren’t doing anything dangerous; they were just gathering information. Cangse later received a letter from her teacher that she wasn’t happy with what she and her husband were doing and advised them to stop, and they did, only after they realised she was pregnant” 

“Her teacher? You mean Baoshan Sanren, the immortal?” Jiang Cheng asked.

“Yes,” he answered simply, confused as to why the Jiang was more distressed about this than his brother. "They left Cloud Recess a few months after you were born, but stayed mostly in Gusu. They didn’t want to travel too much while you were still young. The very first time they went out of Gusu was when they went to Yilling, where they received another letter from her teacher. She wanted to meet her disciple in three days and asked her to come alone but your father was worried and secretly followed her after leaving you in an inn and paying the innkeeper to look after you while he was gone. Your father told me of his plan, and that was the last letter I received from either of them. I was worried after not receiving anything for a month, especially since the last letter was so disturbing, so I went to Yilling with Wangji and Xichen to check what happened. I first went to the inn your father left you at and asked the innkeeper, he was panicked when I asked but he told me that your father came back to get you the same night and left town right away” he sighed “I was foolish to have believed it but that day Wangji got lost and I was so worried that I didn’t even think that the innkeeper could have been lying to save himself. I went back home and waited for them to contact me. I had no way of reaching them since they travelled so often”

“They died that night. So you’re telling me that Baoshan Sanren killed them?” Wei Wuxian asked darkly.

“I knew something bad had happened and that it had something to do with the immortal, but I thought that maybe they were hiding, that would explain what the innkeeper said. That’s why they didn’t send me letters. For almost four years, I convinced myself they were just hiding,” his voice cracked. “I received news that they died four years ago in Yilling after Jiang Fengiman announced that he took you into his sect. The official announcement was that they died in a night hunt, I went to investigate more when I found a region in the forest completely frozen over in the middle of summer, the locals said that it had been like that for four years” he closed his eyes “Cangse told me that her teacher specialized in two types of spells: frost and fire. She said that frost was the signature move taught to all the male disciples and fire was to all the female disciples”

“Baoshan Sanren killed my parents,” Wei Wuxian said, his eyes hollow.

“It isn’t confirmed since we have never found their bodies, but all the evidence piles up against her”

Hearing this Jiang Yanli couldn't keep quiet anymore “A-Xian, I’m so sorry” she sobbed “I-I didn’t want to tell you this back then because you were so young and you were just brought into the sect at the time, but-”

“Shijie? What are you saying?”

“A-Jie?”

“When you were first brought in A-Die and A-Niang fought a lot. During one of their more serious fights, A-Die was actually yelling back at her, I didn’t want to be involved so I stayed back but I heard something-” she sobbed “A-Niang was yelling about how ‘they’ were already dead and that they were killed by a yao which specialized in cold temperatures, that she threw them into the third lake because they didn’t have any right to be buried in Lotus Pier”

“WHAT?!” Xiao Laoshi and Lan Qiren yelled at the same time.

“Jin Ling, your grandmother is insane” Zizhen whispered.

“The third lake?” Wei Wuxian asked, his voice completely devoid of any emotion.

“What is the third lake?” Jingyi asked cautiously.

Jiang Cheng answered him “It’s the smallest and dirtiest lake in Lotus Pier, it's basically just all mud and garbage, A-Niang never allowed anyone to clean it since ‘it was a waste of time’ she never let anyone near it either, it’s very thick and it is very difficult to pull yourself out once you step in”

“What?!” The sworn brothers yelled in shock and outrage.

A-Yu, who dozed off when the screen started playing, woke up because of all the screaming “Diedie” she whined.

The room instantly quieted down as Xiao Laoshi picked her up “Why are you awake, sweetheart? Go back to sleep”

“Not sleepy,” she said, her eyes on the verge of closing again “What’s that?” she asked, pointing at the screen, which was still showing the passage of time.

“It’s going to show your baba and my wedding! Do you want to see it too?” he asked.

“Yes!”

“Then why don’t you go back to bed? I’ll wake you when it’s time”

“Ok but just for a liiiittle bit,” she said as she snuggled into her father’s arms.

Xiao Laoshi breathed out as she fell asleep, “I guess we learned something new too”

“A-Xian, I’m so sorry for keeping this from you. I never knew when to bring it up”

“Shijie, it’s not your fault, please stop apologising,” both Wei Wuxians said at the same time.

“Grandmaster Lan, thank you for telling me,” Wei Wuxian said, still looking far away.

“Wei Ying” Lan Zhan called out to him, but the other didn’t even look in his direction.

“Don’t thank me, child. I should have made sure you actually received this information instead of leaving it to a messenger” Lan Qiren sighed.

The screen lit up once again, this time showing Xiao Laoshi pacing around the Jingshi in just his under robe while his future husband sat on the bed looking at him.

Chapter Text

“A-Jie! Don’t look! Wei Wuxian, no one wants to see this!”

Wei Wuxian turned red, his earlier anger immediately replaced with embarrassment. He looked at Lan Zhan, who was looking away from the screen, with his ears red.

“Nothing happened that night!”

“Lan Zhan! The wedding is tomorrow! I can’t even believe it, I can actually call you my husband soon”

“Mn”

“I know Ge and Lin-Jie told me that they’ll prepare everything, but I’m so nervous. What if something goes wrong? What if someone messes it up on purpose?” he rambled.

“Wei Ying, only our close friends and family are invited. None of them would ruin this. Come to bed, it is time to sleep”

“Ah Lan Zhan, it doesn't matter how hard you try to get me to follow curfew, my body won't listen,” he said as he climbed into bed.

Lan Wangji covered them both in a blanket as Wei Wuxian snuggled closer.

“I don't think we should be looking at this,” Sizhui said as he looked down.

“Oh my god” Jin Ling groaned as he shut his eyes tightly.

“I'm telling you nothing happened that day!” Xiao Laoshi repeated.

“Lan Zhan, I can't believe Shufu actually let us sleep in the same house the day before our wedding, isn't this improper?”

“We have been sleeping together every day for an entire year before our wedding”

Xiao Laoshi laughed, “I guess he gave up.” he quieted down, “Do you think Jiang Cheng will come?” 

Lan Wangji’s hold tightened around his future husband “We sent him an invitation, and Sect Leader Jin also informed him of it”

“But will he come though?” 

“Why wouldn't I?” Jiang Wanyin asked, confused.

“Jiujiu, you spent thirteen years hating Da-jiu, it's not something that will disappear overnight just because his innocence was proven” Jin Ling answered.

Jiang Wanyin didn't have anything to say to that.

“Even if he comes late, he can join”

“You're ok with pouring tea for him?” Xiao Laoshi asked with a crooked smile.

“You consider him family”

He laughed, “Then you're going to have to get along with him, you can't always have Jingyi or Sizhui beside you to translate your facial expressions”

“I’ll have you” 

Xiao Laoshi grinned “Yes love, you'll always have me” he kissed him softly “I know just me being here won't remove thirteen years of grief but I hope with time you'll start to believe that I'm not going anywhere” he kissed him again, this time with more aggression making the few people still watching the screen turn away “I can't wait to call you my husband. I think we'd break too many rules if we had our everyday today, so to make up for it, let's make tomorrow’s more memorable, ok?”

“Ahhhhh” Jingyi screamed, putting his hands over his ears.

“I wish I didn't know what that meant,” Jin Ling said as he covered his ears, too.

“We'll it's-” Xiao Laoshi started.

“Shut up!”

The screen shifted to show a day passing.

It gleaned blue, indicating that it was Zewu-jun’s memory.

“Baobei, do you want to wake up?” Xiao Laoshi asked her daughter softly.

She turned in her sleep but woke up easily. She blinked at her father sleepily “You said you wanted to watch our wedding, right?”

She immediately jumped up and sat up straight to watch the screen with a sleepy grin.

Zewu-jun sat in the Hanshi with his cousin and Jingyi. Haoren stepped inside with a box “Here, I brought your rouge” he said, handing it to his wife “Though I doubt Wangji needs it”

“It's his wedding! He needs to look perfect!” she squealed “I still can't believe I'm alive to see this! I never thought this day would come”

There was a knock at the door, and Lan Meilin sprang up to open it “Wangji! Come in, come in! We have so much to do!” she exclaimed as she pushed her cousin behind a screen so he could bathe.

“Everything's ready, right?” she asked her son.

“Yes, Sect Leader Nie is helping with the final details. I heard Zizhen is helping too, along with some of our junior disciples”

“I still can't believe you convinced the elders to let the second young master of our clan have such a small wedding”  Haoren sighed.

“Don't remind me, I think I gained a few grey hairs from that” Zewu-jun sighed as he prepared his brother’s wedding robes.

“I think it's more impressive that it's being held in the bunny meadow,"  Jingyi added.

“The what?” Lan Qiren asked his nephews, who were suddenly very interested in what was happening on the ground.

“Yeah, how did Shufu react when he discovered it existed?” Haoren asked.

“He knew about it ever since he found Sizhui and Jingyi playing there when they were young” 

Jingyi laughed, “He said ‘Pets are forbidden in Cloud Recess’ and Sizhui started crying. He tried consoling him, but he was sobbing so hard. ‘Bunnies are my brothers and sisters,’ he said."

All of them laughed.

“Are you not my little radish anymore, A-Yuan? You're my little bunny?” 

“A-Die” he sighed, already used to his father's teasing.

“Dada is a bunny and a radish!” his sister joined in.

Xiao Laoshi laughed harder “If A-Yu says so, then that's how it must be!”

“What happened after that?” Zizhen asked.

“He just left after Sizhui calmed down and pretended the bunny meadow didn't exist” Jingyi answered.

“Are there rabbits in Cloud Recess in the future?” Lan Qiren asked.

His nephews once again looked very interested on the ground.

“Shufu has a huge soft spot for his grand-nephews, even if he won't admit it” Lan Meilin laughed.

Wangji came out behind the screen in the under robes of his wedding attire.

Wei Wuxian averted his eyes, he felt his face heat up.

Zewu-jun helped him put on the rest of the intricate dress, and Lan Meilin helped dry his hair.

“Are you nervous, Wangji?” Haoren asked, taking out the rouge and handing it to his wife

“Mn, a little”

“There's no need to be! But if you weren't, it wouldn't feel like a wedding now, would it?” his cousin comforted him “Ok, Xichen, you do his hair, I'll do his face, Jingyi, Haoren prepare the jewellery”

“Yes, dear”

“Ok A-Niang”

Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen smiled softly at the scene.

“Baba, pretty!” A-Yu squealed.

“And he'll look even prettier after everything's done” her A-Die answered, making the younger Lan Zhan's ears turn red.

The screen turned back to normal as it showed the Jingshi.

Wei Wuxian was sitting down, and as Luo Qingyang dried his hair, “Wei Wuxian! Stop fidgeting!”

“A-Die, there is no need to be nervous, everything will turn out fine” Sizhui said softly.

“I know, I know. I’ll get over it before I step out”

“Wait, isn't that Mianmian?! Isn't she your ex or something?” Wei Wuxian asked Lan Zhan.

“What?” 

“Please stop embarrassing me” Xiao Laoshi groaned into his hands “He doesn't like Mianmian!”

“But he did in the past-”

“He never liked Mianmian!” he screamed, his voice going high from embarrassment.

“Where did that even come from?” Jingyi asked.

“Pretend this never happened and don't tell Lan Zhan when we get back! He won't let me hear the end of this!”

“Oh, then I definitely have to make sure this is brought to his attention” Jin Ling answered using his Sect Leader voice.

Xiao Laoshi groaned, wanting the floor to swallow him.

“Wei-gongzi, you can put down your arms, I am done tying your robes”

“Thank you, Wen Ning”

“Wen Ning?!”

“Why does he look like that?!”

“Is he dead?!”

“Alright! Calm down! Long story short, I summoned him back from the dead- but! He has his consciousness intact! He can think for himself and he's just like a regular human except for the fact that he’s well, you know-”

“Dead” Wei Wuxian finished for him.

“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Wanyin and Lan Qiren yelled at the same time.

“After what the Jin did to him, I had no other choice!”

“The Jin? So my father did that?” Jin Zixuan asked.

“And it's not going to happen this time” he added threateningly.

Xiao Laoshi and Luo Qingyang went back and forth, bickering, and after a while, she huffed, “You know what, I quit. Lan-gongzi, you do his hair, I'll do his face”

Sizhui, with his endless patience, re-did his father's hair every time he messed it up by moving too much.

“Say, Mianmian, is the rouge going to make me look ugly if I cry?”

“Did you think I brought the cheap rouge? This can't be removed unless you scrub your face with soap and water”

There was a knock on the door. “Who is it?” Xiao Laoshi called out.

“It's me” a gruff voice answered.

“I don't know anyone named ‘me’ do you, A-Yuan?”

Sizhui laughed, “No, I don't, A-Die, but I did hear that Jin Ling was going to come”

“Ugh! It's me, Jin Ling! Can I come in now?”

“Ling-Gege silly” A-Yu giggled.

Xiao Laoshi laughed, “Yes, A-Ling, you can come in” 

He walked in with a huge box in his hands.

“What's that?” Luo Qingyang asked.

“It's all the jewellery A-Niang wore for her wedding”

Sizhui stared at the giant box in disbelief “Your mother must have been very strong” 

“A-Ling, no offence but I'm not wearing all of that”

“No one's asking you to wear all of it, just some, or do you have any other jewellery lying around?”

“I'm sure I can ask Lan Zhan-”

“You're marrying into his sect, have some shame!”

“Fine, fine, but I'm not wearing anything with a peony on it. Wen Ning, help A-Ling sort through that box, please. Despite his patience, I think A-Yuan might use a body-locking spell on me if I move again”

They looked through everything together and finally decided on a few bracelets and a few other pieces, one of which was an intricate hairpiece.

“I actually have one thing I want to wear!” Xiao Laoshi exclaimed, “A-Ling, on the top shelf, there is a jade comb that looks like a cloud, can you get it?”

“Why is it all the way up there? Do you not wear it? Isn't it a gift from Hanguang-jun?”

“It is, but with everything I get up to on a daily basis, I was scared I would break it, but now seems like the perfect time to wear it!”

Sizhui finally finished his hair and put the comb and the intricate hairpiece on him while Jin Ling helped Luo Qingyang put on the other jewellery.

“Aaand that's it! You're ready! Look in the mirror!”

He did just that, and his eyes stung with tears “Wow”

“Hey, why are you crying already? At least wait until Hanguang-jun sees you!” Luo Qingyang scolded.

“Diedie pretty too!”

Xiao Laoshi laughed as he kissed his daughter's forehead “Thank you, sweetheart”

After the final touches, he was ready.

“Ok then, I’ll head to the venue and check up on my daughter and husband,” Luo Qingyang said as she packed up the rouge.

“I will go too and see if they need any help,” Wen Ning said as he followed her out after squeezing Xiao Laoshi's shoulder in reassurance.

“Isn’t now the time for the bride's family to threaten the groom?” Jin Ling asked.

“I'm not a bride though!” Xiao Laoshi laughed.

“Well, you're marrying into his clan!”

“And who's going to do the threatening? You?” he asked teasingly, but there was a hint of sadness in it.

“Yes, me! Do you think I can't do it? I'll prove you wrong!” Jin Ling huffed as he walked out towards the Hanshi.

“I'll go with him,” Sizhui said, “A-Die, Sect Leader Jiang hasn't arrived yet, but the guards have been notified to guide him to the venue if he shows up”

Xiao Laoshi sighed, “Don't worry about it, he'll come if he wants to” he said quietly.

Sizhui pat his shoulder, not wanting to wrinkle his wedding robes with a hug “It'll be alright, A-Die”

“Do I really not attend your wedding?” Jiang Cheng asked.

“Why don’t you wait and see?” Xiao Laoshi answered with a huge grin.

Not even a minute after Sizhui left, there was another knock on the door. “Who is it?”

“Your kidnappers!” a voice answered.

Xiao Laoshi snorted, immediately recognising the voice “Come on in, Lin-Jie”

The door opened, revealing Lan Meilin, Zewu-jun, Jingyi, and Lan Haoren.

“We’re here to kidnap you!” Lan Meilin exclaimed as she put up her hands menacingly.

“Before that” Zewu-jun interrupted “We need to threaten you”

Xiao Laoshi laughed, “Is Lan Zhan the bride now?”

“Don’t tell him, but we’re definitely going to tease him about this later” Lan Meilin winked.

“Mind if I tag along?”

“Of course you can, that’s one of the reasons we’re here” Zewu-jun answered.

Lan Zhan looked at his brother with a betrayed look and received a bright smile in return.

Lan Haoren sighed, “Poor Wangji, now he’ll have to deal with the three of you ganging up on him”

“Ren-Ge, you say it like we’re bullying him”

“Isn’t that what this is?”

All of them laughed “But seriously though, Wei-qianbei, you look amazing!” 

“Thank you, Jingyi, and what’s with the Wei-qianbei? We’re going to be family soon, you should call me Shushu”

“It’s a tough habit to break, but I’ll try, Shushu” he answered with a grin.

“Now, where were we, Xichen?” Meilin asked innocently, “Oh right,” she cleared her throat, “Wei Wuxian, listen carefully”

“Should I grab my sword, just in case?”

“No need, we’re just going to have a little chat” Zewu-jun answered.

“You see, our Wangji is very precious and despite how he looks, he’s very soft-hearted, so don’t you dare even think about hurting him!”

“He’s spent thirteen years mourning you. Some days it is going to be difficult for him, I hope you’ll be patient with him”

“Of course” Xiao Laoshi answered seriously.

“Let him take care of you too, don’t think of it as a weakness. He isn’t offering help because he thinks you’re weak, he just wants you to be happy and healthy”

“I know, but thank you for reminding me”

Wei Wuxian’s attention was caught by those words. He wondered if they were true.

“We already considered you part of the family, but from today, it will be official. I hope you’ll consider us your family too, don’t be afraid to come to us if you need anything”

Xiao Laoshi wiped his tears “Ah, I don’t know why I’m crying, I swear I didn’t cry this easily when I was younger”

“It’s ok. It is almost time for the ceremony to begin. Come, we’ll lead you there”

“A-Xian, I’m glad you married into a good family”

“Me too, Shijie” Xiao Laoshi answered with a fond smile as he remembered the scene.

He was led to the bunny meadow where a huge blanket laid out on the ground and many low tables were set to the side, making it look like a cultivation conference. The entire meadow was decorated with red ribbons and lanterns. Bunnies were hopping around, and guests were petting them.

Despite all the decorations, Xiao Laoshi’s eyes were glued onto one person, the one standing on the dais in the front.

He walked towards his future husband, not even hearing the cheers around him as his mind focused on just one thing.

“Lan Zhan” he called, his voice wavering with emotion “You look beautiful”

“Wei Ying too”

They sat down together as their family prepared everything for the tea ceremony, their eyes not once leaving each other.

“Oh, I almost forgot how beautiful that day was” Zizhen sniffed.

“Baba and Diedie got married with the bunnies!”

“Yes, we did”

“A-Yu get married with the bunnies too?”

“Maybe when you’re older, baobei”

A-Yu pouted but didn’t say anything back. Xiao Laoshi looked at his younger self, who was looking at the screen with wide, teary eyes, and his husband, who didn’t look all that different.

Just as they were about to start, there was a loud noise, and everyone turned around just to see Jiang Cheng!

Xiao Laoshi laughed as tears streamed down his face “Did you have to make such a dramatic entrance at MY wedding, Jiang Cheng?”

“Shut up, Wei Wuxian!” he huffed as he sat down beside his nephew on the dias.

On behalf of Lan Wangji, his brother, uncle, and cousin were present. Xiao Laoshi poured them tea with perfect etiquette just as Lan Qiren had taught him.

On behalf of Xiao Laoshi were Jin Ling, Jiang Cheng, and Wen Ning. Lan Wangji poured tea for them flawlessly as expected.

“How did you convince Wen-qianbei to sit for you?” Jingyi asked.

“I begged him for hours, but Lan Zhan asked just once, and he agreed! Can you believe it?” Xiao Laoshi pouted.

While Lan Wangji poured tea for Jiang Cheng, he muttered, “That idiot is stupid and does a lot of stupid things, he’s stubborn and crazy. You better be ten times more stubborn than him!”

“I will take care of him, Sect Leader Jiang”

Jiang Cheng huffed, satisfied with his answer.

After that, they did their bows, and with that, they were officially married.

The newly married couple sat on the dias as everyone went to wish them well on their marriage and give them gifts.

“A-Cheng, you could have been nicer to Hanguang-jun” Jiang Yanli scolded softly.

“A-Jie, that wasn’t me, but everything my future self said was true”

“Wei-Xiong! What do you think of the decorations?”

“They’re amazing, Nie-Xiong! You really outdid yourself this time!”

“Er-ge helped of course, but this was the first time I did something like this, it was so much fun, thank you for letting me” Now Huaisang grinned as he handed a wrapped package “Here’s your wedding gift, I think you’ll enjoy it” he winked and left.

“I think I can guess what my future self gave you”

Xiao Laoshi laughed, “It was very useful, Nie-Xiong”

“Lan Zhan, did Jin Ling visit you?”

“He did”

He grinned “And what did he say?”

“The same thing Jiang Wanyin did”

He laughed as he clung to his husband’s arm, “He really takes after his uncle, doesn’t he?”

“Mn”

“Ah Lan Zhan, I thought I would have wanted you to take me away as soon as the ceremony ended but this is really nice” he softened “Being here with all our friends and family, it’s really nice” he repeated before grinning as he dragged his husband up “Come on, let’s go around and talk to everyone”

And as always, Lan Wangji let his husband drag him around, his eyes never once leaving the man in front of him.

“The wedding went well” Lan Qiren acknowledged.

“It did, didn’t it? But the preparations-”

As his older self rambled, Wei Wuxian’s eyes fell on Lan Zhan, who was staring intently at the screen with red ears.

“Lan Zhan” he called softly.

“Wei Ying” he replied, his eyes immediately on him.

“I don’t know what I do in the future for you to fall for me of all people, but I hope for now, at the very least, you won’t hate me”

“Wei Ying, I never hated you”

“Really?”

“Lying is forbidden”

Wei Wuxian snorted, “I don’t hate you either Lan Zhan. My older self is right, the seal messes with my mind and temper, I’m sorry if I ever hurt you while under its influence”

“There is no need for sorries between us,” he said softly “Wei Ying, come back to Gusu with me”

“Lan Zhan please-” he sighed “Not now, at least not until we finish these memories” he begged as he squeezed the other’s hand.

Lan Zhan didn't understand but he shifted their hands so they could intertwine them “Mn”

The four sworn brothers who noticed this exchange were whispering among each other.

“Good thing A-Yu is asleep again, if she saw her Baba holding hands with someone that wasn’t her A-Die, she would have thrown a tantrum”

“But that is A-Die”

“She doesn’t know that though, Sizhui”

“So far, it is going well, I hope they get together by the time we leave this box” Zizhen sighed.

“Me too”

Chapter Text

“One down, two more to go!” Xiao Laoshi announced.

“Since it's not showing anything important right now, can I ask you something?” Nie Mingjue started.

“Um sure, Chifeng-zun”

“About Baoshan Sanren, is she a threat in the future?”

“Yes,” the four sworn brothers answered.

“Not for everyone” Xiao Laoshi added.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we don’t know a lot about her either; all we know is that she’s terrifying and wants me and the people around me dead”

“Excuse me?”

“What?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know why, and to be honest, I don’t want to sit down long enough with her to ask”

“Has she attacked you?” Nie Mingjue asked.

“Yes, that’s how we know she wants us dead”

Jin Zixuan shuddered “How far into the future does this happen?”

“There was one big attack two years ago, that’s how we figured out she’s been targeting us, and after that, traces of frost or fire have been found near Cloud Recess in odd places,” Jingyi explained.

“You’ve actually seen her?” Jiang Cheng asked.

“She wore a veil, but yeah, we saw her the first time” Zizhen answered.

“Wei Wuxian, is it because of ‘that’?” the Jiang Sect Leader asked quietly.

“No, it’s not, my younger self will tell you why soon, won’t he?”

Wei Wuxian frowned “Why are you so dead set on this? It won’t help anyone”

“It will help you, you idiot!” Jin Ling yelled.

“Wei Wuxian, just tell me what it is! Whatever it is, my future self knows it, and their world did not end”

“Jiang Cheng, it's nothi-”

“All right, since this is clearly not going anywhere, quiet down, the next memory is about to start”

Xiao Laoshi walked around Cloud Recess with a slight spring in his step. He was wearing white robes with his husband’s forehead ribbon in his hair.

He reached a building and knocked “Can I come in, Lan-daifu?”

The door opened to reveal a middle-aged woman who was probably a lot older than she looked. She sighed upon seeing her guest “What did you do this time? Broke another bone? Need stitches?” She moved aside, gesturing for him to come in.

“Why are you in the healing pavilion?” Lan Zhan asked, “Are you still not completely healed after being reborn?”

“It's nothing like that, just wait and see” Xiao Laoshi reassured him.

Xiao Laoshi laughed, “Hey! I'm not that reckless!” he sat down on the bed as the doctor checked his meridians.

His eye caught her assistant, “Hi Xiyue! How have you been?”

“I'm doing well, Wei-qianbei” she smiled kindly at him.

“Her twin sister is the one getting married” Jingyi added.

“Your meridians seem fine, no progress with your core?” she asked.

He sighed, “No, I've been trying really hard, but I can't grow it any more than this. I've even tried meditating, and I've never done that in my first life!”

“Meditating is good for cultivation” she stated “Do you need something specific? Why are you here?”

He scratched his nose “Well, you seeeee… It's a little embarrassing, but I promised Lan Zhan I'd take better care of myself now that I've gotten another chance at life, so here I am”

“It would have been better if you had that mindset in your first life, but better late than never, I suppose” She stepped back from examining his qi “What’s wrong?”

“It's not too bad, but it's been going on for over a week now. I've been feeling really nauseous lately, and my feet hurt so bad even though I have been teaching while sitting this entire week, and I feel a little dizzy at times, and overall just awful, please just give me some herbs to help with this, and I'll be out of your hair”

The doctor and assistant just stared at him for a while before the doctor snapped out of it, “Xiyue, why don't you go bring Hanguang-jun? I'll just confirm a few things before he gets here”

“Right away”

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Yes, it is exactly that, Sect Lead- Nie-gongzi” Jingyi answered.

“Wait, what? Why? He's probably in the middle of a class right now, he'll just panic if he gets called so suddenly!”

“Wei-gongzi, please lie down on the bed and remove your top”

“Ehhh? I'm a married man, you know”

“Yes, I know, the entire cultivation world knows, the dead know, everyone and their pets know” she sighed “Just expose your stomach”

He did as instructed. The doctor put one hand on his stomach and the other on his wrists. 

After some probing, she pulled away and smiled widely at him.

“What's with that look? Am I dying? Is that why you're so happy?”

She didn't respond, just turned away and started putting some herbs in bottles.

“Hey! Stop ignoring me-”

The door was opened suddenly, and behind it was a dishevelled Lan Wangji.

“He was this close to breaking the ‘no running’ rule” Xiyue explained.

“Hanguang-jun! Please sit down”

He sat beside his husband and held his hand “Is Wei Ying alright?”

“He is fine”

Both of them looked confused at that, “If I'm fine, then why are we here?”

“Hanguang-jun, Wei-gongzi, I have some exciting news” she smiled kindly “Wei-gongzi, you are with child”

“What?”

“It means that you are pregnant” she explained slowly.

“No, no, I know what it means. What do you mean I am pregnant? The last time I checked, I was a man, Mo Xuanyu is a man too”

“You still are, men can also bear children, although the last known case was a very long time ago”

“Are you sure?” Lan Wangji asked, finally snapping out of his shock.

“Yes, I am, he has all the symptoms and now that I've checked, I can tell you with certainty that there is a child growing in him” she smiled “Congratulations”

Xiao Laoshi's incredulous look shifted into a wide grin of pure joy “Lan Zhan! Can you believe this?!” he squealed as he hugged his husband.

Lan Wangji smiled into the other’s hair, “Mn”

“You know, the second that guy mentioned that A-Yu is a pure yang child, I thought that this might have been the case, but seriously, Wei Wuxian, you really attempted the impossible” Nie Mingjue shook his head.

Xiao Laoshi just laughed loudly as his younger self blushed bright red.

“I am sure you are excited, but I have some things to tell you about this. I'm assuming neither of you knows much about pregnancy?”

Both of them shook their heads no.

“You see, a cutsleeve couple can have biological children through dual cultivation, but usually the one who bears the child is the one with the stronger core. I am guessing this is unplanned?”

Both of them blushed, “We weren't really expecting this to be a possibility”

“That is fine. Since your core isn't that strong, you need to dual cultivate more often. You can get by with transferring qi the normal way, but dual cultivating helps circulate the qi better, and if it is the other parent’s qi, it will be even better. You do know how to dual-cultivate, right? If you don't, you can come to me, or you can just find a book on it in the library”

“Hey! Wait, wait, you mean to tell me the Lan Sect’s treasured library has-”

“Wei Ying”

“Fine, fine, I'm sorry, I'll focus" Xiao Laoshi cleared his throat, forcing himself into a straight face "Yes, we know how it works, but we'll look more into it”

“Do we really have to listen to all of this?” Jin Zixuan cringed.

“You're going to have a child too, think of it as advice for the future” Xiao Laoshi teased.

“Da-jiu!”

“Wei Wuxian!” 

He just laughed, amused at how similar the father and son pair were.

“Wei-gongzi, I don't mean to scare you, but the male body is not made for carrying children, your child depends entirely on your core, and no offence but it's… not at the ideal strength, to say the least. You are going to have to be very careful,” she warned “Xiyue, get the scrolls we usually give out for new parents”

“Right away”

“It will have almost everything you should and shouldn't be doing. You are only 2 to 3 weeks in, but the further along you are, the more careful you have to be”

“I will make sure he is careful”

“Lan Zhan! I can be careful on my own, you don't need to babysit me, you have other obligations”

“Hanguang-jun, while I agree that he needs to be looked after, stress is also a huge factor. If you hover over him, he will become paranoid, and that will stress him out. Please take care of him while not hovering”

“Yes, Lan-daifu”

She smiled kindly, “Ah Wangji, you know, I helped deliver both you and your husband and now I'm going to help deliver your child” this made the other two blush “Go on, I'm sure you want to share the news with your family, I won't keep you long. You can visit me for a checkup as often as you like, but come at least once a week. Once you're further along, I'll come to visit you instead, but for now, try to walk around more, exercise will be beneficial, but don't overdo it” 

Lan Xiyue came back with a basket “Wei-qianbei, Hanguang-jun, I hope this will be helpful”

“Thank you, Xiyue! Tell your sister I said hi!”

“I will if I see her, she's been spending more and more time in Qinghe lately” she answered with a laugh.

“Thank you”

The second the both of them were out, Xiao Laoshi was already dragging his husband to the Jingshi.

“Haha,” Xiao Laoshi laughed awkwardly “How about everyone just turns away and blocks their ears for a while?”

“Oh my god”

“Why did I agree to this again?”

Sizhui, being the only smart one, already closed his eyes and ears the second he saw his parents leave the healing pavilion.

“Wei Wuxian!”

“Improper! Frivolous! Indecent!”

“We're married! That’s what married people do!”

All of them couldn’t refute that, so they just sat in silence as they waited to get the signal that it was fine to look.

Xiao Laoshi was smirking at his younger self, who didn’t follow the others and turned towards his future husband, “Lan Zhaaaan, you don’t want to look?”

“No” he answered resolutely.

“But-”

“No”

Just then, Wei Wuxian made a noise, somewhere between a squeak and a squeal, and Lan Zhan’s eyes immediately opened to look at the screen.

Lan Wangji had Xiao Laoshi pinned to the wall beside the door of the Jingshi. He had one hand on the back of his husband’s head and the other cradled against his cheek. Xiao Laoshi whined as he slipped his hands down the other’s back, and gave him a little tap.

Both of them were red-faced, watching their older selves’ shamelessness.

“Lan Zhan, as much as I want to continue, we need to talk,” he said breathlessly, his hands still around his husband’s waist. “Are we even qualified to take care of a kid? The closest experience we got was A-Yuan, and even then, he was a toddler when we got him. I don’t have the slightest clue of what to do with a newborn”

“Mn me too. We will learn”

“You guys can look now”

“You do realise that almost everyone here has a strong enough cultivation to hear what was being said, even when we covered our ears, right?” Jin Zixuan asked.

“It wasn’t that bad”

“We mastered a spell that lowers our hearing. It was once considered the most useless spell to ever be created, but if I had the chance, I would bow to her feet for inventing this” Jin Ling said gravely.

“Why are we watching this again?”

“I swear there will be important information sprinkled in there. You learned about Baoshan Sanren, right?”

“Why can’t you just tell us? It will save us a lot of time, and it won’t be so awkward”

“Jin-gongzi, some things are better seen” Nie Huaisang answered, giving his friend a sad look.

“Lan Zhan! Jiang Cheng is coming to ‘escort’ Jin Ling in three days, let’s tell everyone then”

He was given a very pointed look in response.

“Oh, love, don’t be like that! Zizhen said he’d come too, it would be better to tell everyone at once rather than tell some people first and some people later, it will just put us in a situation of ‘Am I not important enough for you to tell me?’ Besides, it’s technically not lying”

“Jiang Wanyin is the only one who would say such things”

“Lan Zhan”

“Wei Ying”

He sighed, “Fine, what do you want to do then?”

“Tell Sizhui first”

“But I want to see his reaction when we tell them all at once!”

“You can see it tonight, he will have dinner with us today”

“Fiiiinee” he pouted “Do you think those four will swear brotherhood? Is that why they decided to meet up so suddenly?”

“It is very likely”

“Our son made some good friends, hasn’t he? He’ll be a great olde-” he choked on his words.

“A-Die” Sizhui called softly.

“I’m fine, sweetheart”

“Wei Ying!”

“Ah Lan Zhan, it’s nothing. It’s just that when he was younger, he asked me for younger siblings all the time because he didn’t want to be the ‘tiniest’! I told him that if he was good, I’d grow him some siblings like how I grew the radishes” he wiped his eyes “He’ll be an amazing older brother”

“Mn he will”

“You told him what now?” Jiang Cheng asked, snorting at his idiot brother.

“Well, it didn’t matter what I told him because that husband of mine brainwashed him into thinking he was born from rabbits, and he thought that he was one for the longest time!”

Jin Ling cackled, “Where did you even hear that from?”

“From Ge and Meilin-Jie. They have the most blackmail on Lan Zhan”

“They have what?” Lan Qiren asked, already feeling another headache coming on.

“Nothing, Shufu. Forget I said that,” he said quickly “A-Yuan! I might have been a little late, but I followed through with my promise!”

“And you become an amazing older brother!” Jingyi yelled.

“The absolute best!” Zizhen backed him up.

“Guys” Sizhui warned them, blushing.

The sky went from blue to black, and now Sizhui was in the Jingshi eating dinner with his parents.

“A-Yuan! How was your day?” Xiao Laoshi asked while eating something very red.

“It was good, A-Die” he answered, eating normal food “Bobo’s been giving me more tasks regarding the sect, but nothing regarding the… you know”

Lan Qiren frowned, “No talking during meals”

“To be honest, I didn’t expect you to break a rule, even one as small as that, you act like a mini Lan Zhan” Wei Wuxian commented.

“I do follow that rule when I eat anywhere else, but ever since Baba took me in, he made sure I knew that at home, the only rule I wasn't allowed to break was the ‘No lying’ rule”

“Oh. That’s- actually really sweet,” he muttered to himself.

“Do you want tasks regarding that?”

“I want to help him with it”

Lan Wangji coughed politely, and both father and son looked at him sheepishly “Sorry, Baba. I can’t tell you what they are”

“Lan Zhan, stop giving me that look. I don’t know any more about this than you, all I know is that the final goal is to get rid of the bad elders”

“A-Die, don’t phrase it like that. You make it sound like he’s killing them off”

“Eh, some of them deserve it” he shrugged. He was about to pour some chilli oil on his rice, but his husband stopped him and gave him a look. He sighed, “Fiinee” he whined as he added only a fraction of what he would usually add.

Sizhui raised an eyebrow at this but made no comment.

“A-Yuan, you know what your uncle’s like. He won’t give you the sect unless he’s sure it’s safe for you. When you become the sect leader, the only people you’d ever be answering to are the Council of Elders. He doesn’t want you to go through everything he did to get to that position, and from what I hear, most of them are not the most… open-minded”

“Aunty Meilin and Uncle Haoren are on the council”

“That’s why I said most of them”

“Um, should we be listening to the inner sect matters of Gusu Lan?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“Everyone here is here because I trust them with everything that’s being shown, and I was being completely honest about the benefits of the four sects getting closer. In our timeline, the Great Four Sects became really close after Guanyin Temple, and honestly, it did us a lot of good”

“What is Guanyin Temple? It has been mentioned many times,” Lan Xichen asked, a very obvious attempt to change the topic.

“Something that will hopefully never happen”

Lan Wangji sighed.

Xiao Laoshi turned to his son, “Keep an eye on your uncle for us, alright?”

“I have been doing just that. I’ll trust his judgment, if he thinks I don’t need to be actively involved in it, then I don’t”

Lan Wangji finished his meal. “Is he doing something new? Or dangerous? Something to cause you to worry?”

“Baba, he’s been doing this for as long as I can remember. It is a very slow process. He’s not doing anything new, I’m just seeing more of it since I’m spending more time with him lately” Sizhui put down his chopsticks. “But I am curious as to why you and Grand-uncle barely know anything about this”

Lan Wangji frowned, and his husband answered for him, “It’s a very long and complicated reason, but to boil it down, it’s so that they can’t use the ‘you show favouritism to your family, you don’t view everyone equally, hence you should not be sect leader, goodbye’ card”

“Is that something that could happen? They would need a majority vote from the council to remove him, but most of the people on the council support him”

“I don’t like where this conversation is going” Lan Xichen whispered to himself.

“It has not always been like that” Lan Wangji answered.

“Oh” he muttered, “I’ll look after him Baba, don’t worry”

“I just realised that with the way this has been showing things, it looks like Zewu-jun is getting rid of anyone who opposes him” Jin Ling observed.

“That is not what he’s doing!” Jingyi defended.

“Of course it’s not, idiot! That’s how it sounds without context, though”

“The context is, that the elders on the council have been corrupt and unchanging for the longest time so Ge has been uncovering some dirt on them and using that as a reason to remove them from the council but after a few years of doing that, they do something… unforgivable but faced no consequences for it so he's been working harder to deal with them and it has been a slow, agonizing process to get rid of them without affecting the common people in the sect”

“What do they do?” Lan Xichen asked, his brows furrowed.

“Something awful that will definitely not happen this time” he answered, glaring at his younger self.

“What do I have to do with your sect politics?” his younger self asked. 

Lan Xichen sucked in a breath at the realization, his eyes hardened “It won’t happen here”

When he saw his father filling another bowl, Sizhui sighed, “A-Die, you shouldn’t skip meals throughout the day. Even if you think you’re making up for it by having one big meal later, it’s not actually good for you”

“A-Yuan, do you think your father would let me skip meals?”

“You somehow manage to do it anyway and it’s not even for some worrisome reason, it’s just because you forget”

“I’m getting better at it, stop antagonising me!” he huffed as he shovelled in the rest of his food “Ok! Now that we’re done, why don’t you sit down? We have something important to tell you”

“I am already sitting down, what is it?”

Lan Wangji returned from placing the dishes outside the door for the servants to collect “It is not anything bad, do not worry”

Xiao Laoshi grinned and squeezed his husband's arm with one hand and held his son’s using his other “A-Yuan, I went to visit Lan-daifu earlier this afternoon and she gave us some news after a checkup”

“What? Is it something about Mo Xuanyu's body?”

“No, it's not that" Xiao Laoshi paused for dramatic effect "You’re going to be an older brother!”

“Mn”

Sizhui’s mouth parted a bit in surprise. He looked from one parent to the other, trying to find any trace of a joke in their expressions. He could read his Baba very well, and he was sure that he wasn’t just playing along with his A-Die this time, and after being pranked many times, he understood that his A-Die wasn’t joking either.

“You’re going to adopt someone? That's great! Who is it?” he asked, smiling widely.

Xiao Laoshi burst out into laughter “Baobei, I just said that we found out after a visit to the healing pavilion, what do you think that means?”

Sizhui’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped “Are you serious? Oh my god! Congratulations! A-Die, this is amazing!” he hugged both his parents.

“Keep it a secret for three more days, though, ok?”

“Of course. Ah, but I can’t wait to see Jin Ling’s reaction when you tell them”

“To be honest, I’m expecting half of them to think I’m joking”

“Baba can back you up”

“Your Baba has spoiled me so much that they won’t believe him either. You’re our only hope, A-Yuan!”

Both of them burst out laughing at that, and Lan Wangji looked at his family with a soft smile.

Chapter Text

Lan Wangji led his husband to the receiving room where everyone would be meeting. The four juniors wanted everyone important to the four juniors to gather, and sadly that included Sect Leader Ouyang.

“We're not telling him right?”

“No” Lan Wangji answered without hesitation.

“Honestly though, how did a kid as sweet as Zizhen come from him?”

“Be glad he's not as bad as Sect Leader Yao though” 

“Ah! Meilin-Jie! Don't sneak up on people like that!” Xiao Laoshi jumped.

“I did no such thing, now come on, let's not keep them waiting”

The receiving room was packed with people, with the four juniors in the middle surrounded by their family on both sides.

Ouyang Zizhen sat beside his father, Jin Ling sat beside his uncle, Jingyi and Sizhui sat beside their parents and as the meeting was taking place in Cloud Recess, Zewu-jun and Grandmaster Lan were also present.

Sizhui cleared his throat, “I'm sure everyone has an idea of why we're gathered here today,” he started. “The four of us would like to swear brotherhood, we wanted our families to gather and discuss what this would entail”

“Sizhui has always been my beloved nephew and ever since Jingyi introduced me to Jin Ling and Zizhen, I've considered them to be family as well. To be honest, I don't think it will change much,” Lan Haoren answered.

“Lan-gongzi, while that is true, we should look at this from a political standpoint too,” Sect Leader Ouyang stroked his beard, “My son is swearing brotherhood to the current sect leader of Lanling Jin and the future sect leader of Gusu Lan” he reasoned.

Jiang Wanyin rubbed his eyebrows while Zewu-jun gave a strained smile “Then let's get on with it, shall we?”

The scene sped up as discussions carried on.

“I have a weird question,” Wei Wuxian started, “How did you-”

“No” his older self answered immediately.

“What do you mean no?! I haven't even finished my question!”

“I'm literally you! I know what you're going to ask and if you want an answer, try it yourself and see!”

Wei Wuxian turned red “I- you-!”

“Please stop fighting,” Sizhui sighed.

“Why is this taking so long? If I didn't know better, I'd think they're negotiating marriage alliances” Jin Zixuan sighed.

Xiao Laoshi snorted “Don't talk about marriage alliances around Ge”

Lan Xichen raised an eyebrow, “I don't have anything against wedding negotiations”

“You don't, but one of the reasons the future you gave the sect to Sizhui is because you didn't want to deal with one particular alliance”

“The Lan clan only marries for love, I don't think a love match would require much discussion”

Zizhen laughed loudly “Not when you're dealing with the Jin clan”

“Jin clan? Didn't you say there is a wedding between the Lan and the Nie?” Lan Qiren asked.

“Yes, that wedding has been finalized and we're only preparing the decorations and things like that, the one that is currently the bane of Sizhui’s existence is one between the Lan and the Jin which has been going on for almost six years now” Zizhen explained.

“Yeah, that makes sense” Jiang Wanyin nodded before he jerked with a realisation “Does that mean I have to go through the same thing?!”

“Jiang Cheng, Shijie isn't marrying the peacock until he proves that he changed!” Wei Wuxian yelled.

“Obviously! But it doesn't change the fact that I'll have to be the one to deal with it in the future”

“My condolences, Sect Leader Jiang,” Sizhui said solemnly.

Both Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli blushed at this.

The screen finally turned to normal and showed Sect Leader Ouyang grinning as he stood up, “This has been lovely, let's meet again in three months for the ceremony”

After he left, everyone visibly relaxed “Zizhen, sweetheart, I love you but your father's a piece of work”

“Sorry about that Wei-qianbei,” he rubbed his neck sheepishly.

“Why are you apologizing to him?! Lan Xichen and I were the ones who dealt with most of it! If anything, he made things worse!”

“Jiang Cheng! How could you? My poor heart can't take this!”

Zewu-jun cut in before the two brothers could continue their bickering, “Sizhui, give me a summary of what we just discussed and what you've observed”

“Firstly, we decided what swearing brotherhood would mean to our respective families. All four of us will carry Jade tokens and Jiang clarity bells, which permit us to enter Cloud Recess and Lotus Pier any time. We will also be permitted to enter Jinlintai and Baling whenever we wish. Our families strengthened our alliance by letting merchants from their region trade freely within ours. We also decided that communication talismans will be set up in each region, they will go off when others need assistance, teleportation talismans will also be used for quick response and aid. The actual ceremony will take place in Cloud Recess in three months' time. It will be a small ceremony with only the direct family of the four of us attending along with a few elders from each of our sects”

Lan Qiren nodded approvingly “Well done, that is how a report should be given” he said looking at his other grand nephew.

“Yes, well done Sizhui!” Jingyi clapped the other’s back earning a chuckle.

“Now that that’s over, I'm going to-” Jiang Cheng started to get up.

“Jiang Cheng, wait! We have something to announce”

“We?”

“Yes, me and Lan Zhan”

He narrowed his eyes “What is it?” 

“Oh God, do we really have to sit through this?” the younger Jiang Wanyin asked.

“You’re welcome to cover your ears” Xiao Laoshi offered.

“But then I might miss something important, like what Grandmaster Lan said last time"

The couple held hands and laced their fingers “So, three days ago I went to the healing pavilion and-”

“Wei-qianbei are you dying?”

“Is it Mo Xuanyu’s body?”

“What are Lan-daifu’s orders? You have to follow them if you want to live-”

“Guys! Let me finish!” he huffed, “I went there because I was feeling a little nauseous and just overall uncomfortable, she checked a few things and finally told me something I couldn’t believe at first” he paused.

“Out with it!” Jiang Wanyin yelled.

“I’m pregnant”

Everyone in the room just stared at him, with disbelieving and exasperated expressions. Zewu-jun was the first to realize it wasn’t a prank after seeing the look on his brother’s face “Congratulations!” he clapped with a huge smile “A-Ying, this is amazing! How far along are you?”

“Xichen, you can’t possibly believe him and his tomfoolery”

“Shufu, just look at Wangji, he isn’t lying”

“Grandmaster Lan, it is true” Sizhui added.

Everyone’s jaws dropped at Sizhui’s words.

“Are you serious?”

“How?”

“Congratulations!”

“Oh this is amazing!”

“All right, all right, everyone calm down” Sizhui started “A-Die can answer one question at a time, let’s not suffocate him”

“A-Yuan my sweet sweet child, what would I do without you?” he sighed before smiling “Ge, according to Lan-daifu I am only a few weeks along”

“Anything important we need to know?” Lan Meilin asked.

“Lan-daifu advised us to be careful, this is an uncommon situation” Lan Wangji answered.

“Of course, of course, though I doubt Wangji will leave your side for the next nine months, we’re all here, so feel free to ask if you need anything” she grinned.

Lan Qiren huffed “If you need to take breaks from teaching just tell me, I’ll find a substitute, don’t force yourself if you can’t” he said promptly but his eyes were soft.

“Wei Wuxian, I cannot believe you, you really do attempt the impossible don't you?”

“Ah, Jiang Cheng, you know me” he laughed awkwardly, not knowing how his brother meant it.

The Jiang Sect Leader huffed “I’ll send some lotus seeds and oil with A-Ling the next time he visits, it’s cold in Gusu, wear more layers and for God’s sake! Don’t feed your baby the horrendous red ‘food’ you eat”

Xiao Laoshi laughed brightly “Jiang Cheng, you’re such a mother hen!”

“Whatever, I have to get back to Lotus Pier. A-Ling, don’t leave your sect to those elders for too long,” he said before walking out.

Xiao Laoshi hugged his husband’s arm “That went so much better than I expected” he laughed “Well, that’s all for today, get back to your duties!” he shooed away the juniors.

“Wei-qianbei, we’re not Lan disciples, we don’t have any duties here, can we come with-” Zizhen started only to cut himself off after receiving a look from Sizhui “Haha you know what, I’ll help Sizhui and Jingyi, Jin Ling will help them too!”

“I will?”

“Yes! Now come on!”

The four juniors scurried out of the room and Lan Qiren followed slowly, “Meilin is right, we’re all here” he said before leaving.

Lan Meilin grinned “Oh A-Ying, Wangji, this is so exciting! We haven’t had a little one in the family since Jingyi and Sizhui”

“Ah Lin-Jie, you’re going to have to help me through this, I don’t know much about this” he said rubbing his belly.

“Of course, you can ask anything you want no matter how embarrassing but ah, my experience would probably be a lot different, you can ask Lan Luiqin though, she’s probably used to you after all the times you visited the infirmary”

“Lan-daifu did say that” he smiled softly “This little one is going to be so spoiled” he laughed as he got up with his husband’s help.

The five of them walked together since their quarters were all in the same area where the main family resided.

“I can already imagine a mini-you running around breaking the rules” Lan Haoren laughed.

“Why do you think the baby’s going to look like me? They could be a copy of Lan Zhan for all we know”

“That might happen, the Lan do have strong genes” Zewu-jun added.

“Yeah, as long as you’re part of the main family and not too distant, there’s almost a 90% chance you’ll be born with gold eyes, just look at the three of us!”

“Ah Lan Zhan! Our baby’s going to be beautiful!”

“Mn, like Wei Ying”

“Lan Zhaaaan! Warn me before you say things like that!” he whined.

“Again, why are we watching this?” Jin Zixuan asked dryly.

“Wait, Ge! You know what I just realized?” he asked suddenly, grinning at his brother-in-law.

“What?”

“The elders can’t pester you for children anymore!”

Zewu-jun's eyes widened in realisation as he smiled “Ah I suppose they can’t”

“And- and-!” he laughed loudly “Lan An’s bloodline won’t die with Jingyi!”

Laughs were heard as the scene shifted to show time passing once again.

“Not this again” Jingyi sighed as his sworn brothers laughed.

“What do you mean?” Lan Xichen asked.

“Ah Ge, it’s hilarious. After it was revealed that Sizhui wasn’t part of the main bloodline, the elders started pestering you about getting married and after Jingyi’s engagement was fixed they started pestering you even more, in one of the meetings, an elder yelled and I quote ‘Lan An’s bloodline cannot die with Lan Jingyi!’ and we haven’t been able to forget it since”

“That doesn’t seem very nice”

“Ah Shijie, the elder who said it really didn’t mean it in a bad way and it doesn’t have anything to do with Jingyi in particular, it’s just that he didn’t want Lan An’s bloodline to end”

“You’re engaged?” 

Jingyi covered his face with his hands, “Bobo, why is that the only thing you pick up from all of that!” he groaned.

“What do you mean ‘after it was revealed that Sizhui wasn’t part of the main bloodline’? Wasn’t it obvious since he was adopted?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“Apparently, people were convinced that Lan Zhan had a child out of wedlock”

“Wangji would not do such a thing!”

“Yes Shufu, I don’t know why the elders thought that, Lan Zhan never corrected any of them, but if people still thought that after looking at little A-Yuan’s age and then his, then it’s their own stupidity they have to blame”

“It must have been nice to become Lan Sizhui’s father after you married Hanguang-jun, you seem very close” Jiang Yanli commented with a smile.

“Shijie! I was A-Yuan’s father first!” he pouted.

“Oh,” her eyes widened, “Ah, so he took care of your son while you were-” she cut herself off not being able to finish.

“Wei-Xiong, as heart-breaking as that is, it would make an amazing story! Even his name is 'Sizhui' that's so- ah!” Nie Huaisang added, clenching his chest dramatically, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yes you’ve said that before, ‘star-crossed lovers’? I think that’s what you called us” 

“It’s true Wei-Xiong, if you write an official book about it, you’d become rich!”

“Nie-Xiong, now that you say it like that, it does sound quite appealing!” he laughed.

Jin Ling grumbled “Why do you always complain about being poor? You make a fortune from your inventions!”

“And you still use Hanguang-jun’s money!” Jingyi added indigantly.

He just laughed at his ducklings’ accusations as they kept teasing him.

Chapter Text

The scene stopped, showing a brief image of Xiao Laoshi clinging to his husband’s arms as he wiped his tears.

“From this day forth, the four of you will be brothers in all but blood!” Lan Qiren announced as cheers erupted from the crowd, everyone clearly breaking the ‘No Loud Noises’ rule.

The four of them bowed one last time before descending from the dais.

“Just so you know, I’m not calling any of you Ge!”

“But A-Ling you’re the youngest!” Jingyi teased.

“Shut up!” he blushed.

“Er-Shixong, you can’t! It will be so confusing if Da-Shixong starts calling you Da-Ge!” Lan Lixi said from beside them, making all of them laugh.

The scene ended with Xiao Laoshi tackling the four of them into a hug while all of them yelled at him to be careful.

“Isn’t she the assistant from the healing pavilion?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“No, that’s her twin sister, Lan Lixi. She’s the one who is going to marry into your sect, Nie-gongzi,” Sizhui answered with a smile "She was from the same class as me and Jingyi."

“Everyone in their class is now a senior disciple. They are currently the Lan sect’s strongest cultivators, as expected from Hanguang-jun’s beloved students” Zizhen boasted with a grin.

“Wangji chose to teach his own son’s class?” Lan Xichen asked, looking amused.

“He did! He’s such a worry-wart! When A-Yuan was a junior disciple, he always secretly followed him whenever they went on night-hunts without senior supervision” Xiao Laoshi teased.

“A-Die” Sizhui groaned.

“A-Yuan” he mimicked his son’s tone making the other sigh fondly.

“Male and female disciples night-hunt together?” Lan Qiren asked.

“Oh yeah! Ge changed it so that male and female disciples can learn together, the female disciples still stay in their own mythical paradise though”

“Xiao Laoshi, it’s not a mythical paradise” Jingyi retorted.

“Well, have you ever seen it?”

“No”

“Then it’s mythical because we don’t know if it actually exists, we've only ever heard of it”

Jingyi huffed “A-Niang says it exists so it exists”

“Fine fine if Lin-Jie says so” Xiao Laoshi relented.

The scene slowed down, now showing the bunny meadow where Lan Wangji and Xiao Laoshi were sitting.

Lan Qiren huffed “Does this place already exist? And you two! Stop ignoring my question!” he scolded his nephews.

“Shufu” Lan Zhan started quietly.

“Sizhui quick! Convince him to let the bunnies stay!” Jingyi whispered.

“Why me?”

“Because you’re his favorite!” Zizhen reasoned.

“Why are you so invested in this? You only see them when you visit” Jin Ling asked.

“But they’re my favorite part of Cloud Recess! And don't pretend as if you don't like it!” Zizhen retorted.

“Children, that’s enough! I won’t force them away, as long as they stay in the wild they are not pets” Lan Qiren finally relented after seeing that the fight wasn't going to stop.

The four sworn brothers let out a sigh of relief.

“Lan Zhan, it has been so many years but they still like you more than me!” he whined, “But I guess I can’t blame them, who can resist you? I certainly can’t!”

“Why are we watching this again?” Jin Zixuan and Jiang Wanyin asked at the same time.

“Stop repeating yourselves, this is the tenth time. That sentence seems to be the only thing you two agree on” Xiao Laoshi said, rolling his eyes.

Jin Zixuan and Jiang Wanyin glared at each other.

They were interrupted by a noise coming from he trees “Oh, Wangji, A-Ying, hello. Am I interrupting something? I can leave if you like”, Zewu-jun said as he appeared behind the trees.

“Not at all, Ge! You can join us! Come-come, sit!” he patted the spot beside him.

“Thank you,” he sat down beside his brother-in-law and a bunny immediately nudged his leg, he picked it up and set it on his lap “Should you be sitting on the ground like this?” he asked.

“It’s fine, I can still get up and if I can’t Lan Zhan will carry me!” he grinned.

Zewu-jun hummed in acknowledgement as he relaxed.

“What brings you here though Ge? Aren’t you busy?”

He sighed, “Your son kicked me out of my own office”

Xiao Laoshi snorted as he fell back into his husband’s shoulder.

“Don’t look so amused you two. He definitely learned this from you, Wangji”

Lan Wangji nodded approvingly “Mn”

Zewu-jun just sighed as he stroked the bunny in his hands.

“So what is it that you’re doing that has even A-Yuan worried?”

“I’m not up to anything”

“Now you’re just blatantly lying” Xiao Laoshi fired back.

“Have you decided on a name for the little one yet?”

“Stop trying to change the subject!”

“I’m not. I’m just curious, there are only a few months left”

Xiao Laoshi sighed “For her birth name, we were thinking ‘Yu’ the character for precious treasure” he answered with a soft smile, rubbing his belly “It’s also a tribute to Mo Xuanyu, we really owe him a lot”

“I see, that’s a wonderful name”

“Who’s Mo Xuanyu?” Jiang Wanyin asked.

“It’s the name of the person who gave me his body”

“It’s a lovely name A-Xian”

"Thank you, Shijie" he smiled at her.

“Has Lan-daifu confirmed the gender of the baby?”

“She thinks it’s a girl but she says during spiritual pregnancies, it’s a little more difficult to tell so she might be wrong”

“That makes sense, what about her last name?” Zewu-jun asked, his eyes still on the bunny in his lap.

“Lan Yu, obviously”

“Wei Yu”

The married couple glared at each other. Xiao Laoshi sighed loudly “Ge, tell your brother he’s being insane! She’s going to be a descendant of Lan An, she should obviously be a Lan”

“A-Yuan had to take the name Lan, she can take your last name”

“Lan Zhan, you know why that’s a horrible idea”

“Wei Ying”

“Lan Zhan”

Zewu-jun cleared his throat “A-Ying, there is no rule that she should carry the name Lan just because she’ll be Lan An’s descendant and Wangji be reasonable, Sizhui having the last name Lan is not a reason for you to want your daughter to have the last name Wei” he sighed finally looking up “It doesn’t matter what her last name is, she will be a Lan and a Wei either way” he sighed "Only you two will fight for your daughter to have the other's last name"

Xiao Laoshi sighed “Ge, you know why she can’t have my last name”

“She is going to be the young maiden of the Lan sect, people are going to know who her parents are either way and do you really want your daughter to associate with people who don’t like you?” Lan Xichen asked.

“If I forbid her from associating with everyone who hates me, she’ll be stuck talking to the same ten people every day”

“Wei Ying” his husband scolded.

“I know Lan Zhan, I'm joking. I know that they’re at least 20 people who like me now!” he laughed and his husband just sighed.

“Wei Ying, you will be her father too”

“Lan Zhan you're thinking too much, of course I’ll be her father too, you didn’t make this baby by yourself, Er-Gege!” he poked his husband’s cheek “I’m not saying this because I think she’ll be ashamed of me or something, it’s just, you know how the cultivation world is. Do you really want to add one more thing for them to gossip about our daughter?”

Lan Wangji hugged the other’s shoulders and sighed.

“If the two of you are going to be like this, why did you invite me to sit with you?” Lan Xichen interrupted.

"Ge, we were having a moment! Lan Zhan was about to agree with me!”

Zewu-jun looked at them “In all seriousness though, this news hasn’t spread outside of Cloud Recess but we will have to announce the birth of someone in the main family whether we like it or not. Given the circumstances of her birth she will receive a lot of attention, not all of it will be good”

“Exactly my point!”

“Wei Ying, do you really think her name will add to everything they will already think of her?”

“It will if it’s mine. If a Lan is born a pure yang child then she’s just that but if she has my last name you know they’ll say it’s something demonic or some bullshit. I just don’t want her to deal with all of that. Isn’t that why you gave A-Yuan your last name in the first place?”  

“That was done out of desperation, if he ever wanted to change it back, I would have supported him”

“I know you will, Lan Zhan, you’re good like that” he cupped his husband’s cheek “You know where I’m coming from though right, love? If Lan-daifu is right and we are having a girl, she will be the first pure yang female child to ever be born, or to be recorded at least. Even if we try to keep that part a secret, people will realize it pretty easily if they open a book on the topic. It's not going to be easy for her”

“Ok” Lan Wangji breathed out “Lan Yu”

He placed a loud kiss on the other’s lips and nuzzled hi head into the other's shoulder “You heard it here, Ge! Be prepared to add Lan Yu to the family register!”

Zewu-jun chuckled “I am looking forward to it”

“Oh and we’re going to ask A-Yuan for the courtesy name, don’t tell him yet”

“Mn”

Lan Xichen clapped "That’s lovely, and oh! I forgot to mention, we received another large package from Sect Leader Jiang. I’ll have it sent to the Jingshi by this evening”

“Thanks, Ge! I’ll be sure to write to Jiang Cheng to thank him!”

“Being a parent doesn’t seem easy” Nie Huaisang muttered under his breath.

“Oh it’s not easy at all!” Xiao Laoshi laughed before softening “But it is one of the best thing that has ever happened to me”

The scene showed time passing once again as it started snowing.

The scene shifted to the healing pavilion.

“Wei-gongzi, please lie down, Xiyue will get you some anesthetics, it will help numb the pain”

“Are you sure it’s alright for me to take it? I can go without it if that would be safer”

“Wei-gongzi, I assure you it will be more difficult for both you and the child without it. Hanguang-jun make sure he’s comfortable”

“Wei-qianbei, here please drink this tea, it is bitter but it will help with the pain” Lan Xiyue instructed him.

He followed the assistant’s orders as he squeezed his husband’s hands.

“Please tell me it’s not going to show-”

“A-Cheng, don’t be rude”

“But A-Jie-”

“A-Cheng”

Jiang Wanyin grumbled but quieted down.

“Ah Lan Zhan I’m so excited but so nervous too!” he said, his voice already a little slurred.

“Is the medicine supposed to be this strong?” Lan Wangji asked Lan Xiyue.

“Yes, Hanguang-jun. We usually use this for child births but some mothers ask for stronger ones after we start”

When Xiao Laoshi paled a little she quickly rushed to add “But that’s not common, this is more than enough. Wei-gongzi, everything will turn out fine. Master has done a lot of reading and has prepared for this day”

“I don’t know why but that doesn’t sound very reassuring”

“If it makes you feel better, we have almost the entire medical staff here on standby and even Wen-qianbei volunteered to help!”

“Xiyue, sweetheart, just prepare all the tools alright? Your heart is in the right place, but this really isn’t helping me right now,” he breathed out.

“Sorry, Wei-qianbei. I’ll leave you two alone” she bowed.

“Ah Lan Zhan, I love this little one, but I can’t wait for her to get out of me” he sniffed “You’ll be here right, Lan Zhan?”

“Always”

The screen gleamed blue as the scene shifted to outside the healing pavilion.

Everyone let out a breath of relief.

“As wholesome as that scene was, I don’t want to watch anything that happened after” Nie Huaisang breathed out.

Lan Meilin was pacing back and forth as Lan Xichen sat on a chair, looking tense.

“I’m here!” Jingyi yelled as he joined them.

“A-Yi, where’s Sizhui?”

“He’s coming, he still refused to break the ‘No Running’ rule since he’s walking with Grandmaster Lan”

“Have you sent a message to your sworn brothers and Sect Leader Jiang?” Zewu-jun asked.

“Yeah, I told Jin Ling and Zizhen. Jin Ling said he’d tell his uncle and try to come here as soon as he’s able to”

“Xichen, shouldn’t you be the one to inform Sect Leader Jiang?” Lan Meilin asked.

“Sect Leader Jin offered to tell him” he shrugged.

Lan Meilin snorted.

“Don’t give me that look, I deal with enough whenever he and Wangji are in the same room, let me have this”

"Do Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng not get along in the future?" Wei Wuxian asked.

The sworn brothers turned to him in unison "That is an understatement"

Wei Wuxian was now too afraid to ask anymore.

Lan Qiren arrived with Sizhui “Any news?” the younger asked, anxious.

“They started, we won’t be receiving any news until it is done” 

Lan Haoren arrived last, he sighed, “Why are all the important people in the sect here?”

“Our sect is not a newborn, it won’t die if one of us isn’t there to manage it for a few hours” Lan Qiren huffed.

“Shufu, this is not the time to make comparisons like that” Lan Meilin whispered.

He grimaced “My apologies”

Chapter Text

The screen was dark and quiet before a loud cry erupted, startling them.

“Xiyue! Take her while I stitch this!”

“Is she alright?” Xiao Laoshi asked, trying to open his eyes.

“Wei-gongzi, Hanguang-jun, congratulations, your child is a perfectly healthy baby girl”

“Can we see her?” he asked, his voice still a little slurred from the medication.

“In a moment, Xiyue will bring her”

“Wei-gongzi, Hanguang-jun, here. Support her head while you carry her,” Xiyue said as she handed the crying newborn to her parents.

She quieted down the second Xiao Laoshi held her. “Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan!” he called as tears streamed down his face. “Oh, she has your eyes, love. She's so precious”

“A-Yu” Lan Wangji whispered.

“Mn, A-Yu, our daughter”

Lan Wangji kissed his husband’s head as tears stung his eyes as well “Wei Ying”

“Ah Lan Zhan, you want to hold her? I know you asked the nursery staff to teach you beforehand. Don't worry, Er-Gege, your secret’s safe with me,” he laughed, face splitting with how wide he was smiling.

Lan Wangji carefully took their daughter and cradled her against his chest, “She's so small” 

“Right? She's so tiny”

Lan Liuqin came up to them “A midwife will arrive shortly, she will show you everything you need to know about newborns, I know you've been learning for a while now, but still listen to her ok?” she said as she rubbed a salve on Xiao Laoshi “Wei-gongzi I advice you to not bend down suddenly or apply too much pressure to your stitches for a few days while your qi heals it”

“Yes, Lan-daifu”

“I’ll go out to tell the others the delivery has been a success. Do you want me to let them come in, or would you like to be left alone for a while?”

“Tell A-Yuan to come in; everyone else can decide among themselves who's going to be next, but only two people are allowed in at a time,” he said as he took A-Yu into his arms again.

Lan Liuqin smiled at them “Of course,”

“Oh, A-Xian, she’s so precious,” Jiang Yanli said as her eyes teared up.

“She is, isn’t she?” he said as he looked at his younger self for a reaction only to find him staring at the screen with a blank face.

The screen gleamed blue as the scene shifted.

After what seemed like forever, Lan Liuqin finally came out; she raised an eyebrow at the crowd but smiled at them. “It's a healthy baby girl,” she announced.

Everyone cheered and hugged and even Lan Qiren didn't have it in him to scold them for it.

“They requested not to crowd them, so two at a time. They wanted Sizhui-gongzi to be first”

Sizhui grinned as he stepped inside.

Lan Meilin laughed as she hugged her cousin “Xichen! We have a niece! A niece!” 

Zewu-jun laughed and hugged her back, feeling just as excited.

“Ok but on a serious note, who's next?” she asked, stepping away with a serious look.

Lan Qiren cleared his throat, “As the oldest person here, I think it is a given that I should be next, you can decide on who to accompany me among yourselves”

Everyone there held their tongues as they couldn’t refuse the Grandmaster himself, so they decided to glare at each other instead.

“As Wangji’s brother and Shufu’s nephew, I should accompany him,” Zewu-jun started.

“But Sizhui was called in first and as his sworn brother, he would obviously want me to meet his sister soon!” Jingyi reasoned.

“Child, get in line,” Lan Meilin cut in. “I’m going next, I have gone through this same thing, I think A-Ying would appreciate some advice”

“A-Lin, you’re just using that as an excuse,” her husband sighed, “I think I should go so I can balance out anyone-”

“Then go with A-Niang so you can balance her out, I should go with Grandmaster Lan!” Jingyi cut his father off.

Xiao Laoshi laughed. “I knew they were fighting over this, but this is-!” he cut himself off, falling back with laughter.

“Alright, that’s enough. I am the Sect Leader, and I say that Shufu and I go next, followed by Meilin and Haoren. Jingyi, I’m sorry, but you’re last,” Zewu-jun said in the same voice he used in cultivation conferences.

“Xichen, you can’t pull the sect leader card here!” her cousin shouted, feeling betrayed.

“If I don’t use it now, then what use is it for?”

Xiao Laoshi laughed even harder “Ah Ge, I guess that’s true”

Lan Xichen blushed but agreed with his future self’s sentiment, his Shufu just shook his head at him.

The screen turned back to normal as it showed Lan Sizhui stepping inside.

His breath caught in his throat as soon as she saw the little bundle in his A-Die’s arms, “Oh”

“A-Yuan, come here! Meet your sister, Lan Yu!”

He walked closer to them and stood beside his Baba, he looked at both his parents with a huge smile, not knowing what to say.

“A-Yuan, come sit, I will show you how to hold her,” Lan Wangji said as he carefully took A-Yu from his husband.

Sizhui sat down on the chair beside the cot.

“Always keep one hand on her neck and support her head like this,” Lan Wangji showed. “Use your other hand to support her bottom,” he explained in the same tone he used to guide junior disciples on night hunts.

Sizhui nodded seriously and followed the instructions.

Xiao Laoshi sighed. “Lan Zhan, I already knew you were an amazing father, but ah, seeing you like this makes my heart race, you know?” he grinned.

“Wei Ying”

Xiao Laoshi laughed as he ruffled his son’s head “A-Yuan?”

“She’s adorable, A-Die,” he smiled.

“Of course she is, she got that from me!” he laughed “On a serious note though, A-Yuan, your father and I have something to ask you”

“What is it, A-Die? I think it’s a given that I’m available for babysitting duty until she’s old enough” 

“Well that is a given but what we were going to ask you is, A-Yuan, we want you to give her her courtesy name”

Sizhui finally took his eyes off his sister to stare at his parents in shock “Me? Really?” he asked.

“Yes, sweetheart. You can come up with one now or you can have some time”

“You want me to pick a courtesy name for her?” he asked, finally letting his tears fall. “Ah, Baba, can you take her for a moment, please?”

Lan Wangji complied but looked at his son in worry “Is something wrong, A-Yuan?”

“You really want me to pick it?” he asked again.

Xiao Laoshi huffed. “Of course we do! Lan Zhan got to pick your courtesy name, and as beautiful as it is, he already had his turn! And according to Jin Ling, I shouldn't be allowed to name anyone,” he pouted.

Looking at his son’s face, Xiao Laoshi melted “Oh come here, sweetheart, what's this about, hm? What's with the tears? Do you want your meimei to think her dada is a cry baby?” he asked as his son wrapped his arms around his neck.

“These are happy tears” he breathed out.

“A-Yuan” Lan Wangji called.

“Baba, I'm fine, I don't know why I'm crying,” he said as tears streamed down his face “A-Die, you should lie down”

“I'm fine, I can sit up. Here, help me put the pillows behind me”

Sizhui complied as he helped his father.

“A-Yuan, you will still be our family, we just have another little one, it does not mean you'll be forgotten”

“That's not what I was thinking-”

“A-Yuan, don't try to deny it, you know we can read you like an open book” Xiao Laoshi ruffled his hair “My little radish didn't change at all” 

“A-Die” he sniffed before sighing “I know I'm being irrational, I'm sorry”

“No need for apologies between family, ok?”

“Ok” he breathed out “Yura, with the characters for gentle and virtuous”

“Lan Yura” Xiao Laoshi grinned “It's perfect”

“Ah, this is too sweet. It almost feels like we are intruding,” Nie Huaisang commented.

“That's because we are,” his brother retorted.

“Sizhui, how can you even think that?” Zizhen scolded.

“Yeah, with the way those two embarrass you, they'll never forget about you even if you want them to,” Jin Ling huffed.

Jingyi just patted his back and smiled, reassuring him.

Sizhui blushed but didn't comment, just letting his sworn brothers scold him.

Sizhui wiped his eyes “I'll go tell everyone outside that they can come in now. I have to look over a sword training class for the younger disciples in a bit” he smiled at his younger sister “I'll be back in a few hours”

Not even a second after Sizhui left, the door opened once again.

“Shufu, Xiongzhang” Lan Wangji tilted his head, not being able to bow while holding a baby.

“A-Ying, are you feeling ok?” 

“I'm fine, Ge. I don't know what Lan-daifu gave me, but it worked like a charm. I couldn't feel anything. A little tired though but I guess that's to be expected”

“That's good to hear,” he smiled. “And how's my little niece doing?” he asked as he turned to his Shufu, who had already taken her from his nephew.

“Ah Shufu, you're good at that!” Xiao Laoshi smiled.

“At what? Holding her? Who do you think raised Wangji and Xichen?”

“Shufu, one day you'll have to tell me all their embarrassing baby stories, especially little Lan Zhan’s! I only know the ones from Lin-Jie, they weren't a lot though since she was a kid back then too”

“We do not have any ‘embarrassing baby stories’ ” Lan Wangji said at the same time as his uncle said “Oh, I have plenty of those” 

The younger Lan Zhan gave his Shufu the same betrayed look the older one did.

“What are you looking at me like that for, Wangji? I did not do anything yet”

“Yet?” he asked and was ignored.

“It seems that the Lans' genes are indeed quite strong. She has Wangji’s eyes,” Lan Xichen said, efficiently distracting his brother-in-law.

“Yes, she does!” he squealed “I'm sure she'll look like a mini Lan Zhan when she grows up”

“Ge, I just noticed that you did that to distract me!” Xiao Laoshi yelled.

“I did not do anything. My future self did,” Lan Xichen countered, already noting this down in his mind in case he forgets.

“It's the same thing! Ah, but you only distracted me for a while. I got my embarrassing baby stories later, and don't worry, most of them included you too since little A-Zhan followed his older brother around like a shadow!” he grinned.

Lan Xichen closed his eyes and sighed in defeat.

Lan Zhan’s ears turned red as he once again, glared at his uncle, to which he was once again, ignored.

“I'm sure you have twice as many embarrassing stories than them,” Jiang Wanyin commented.

“Well, you're right about that. You don't even have to go as far back, you can just look at me during the Sunshot Campaign and after, just look at that!” he pointed at his younger self “His entire existence is embarrassing”

Wei Wuxian, whose eyes were glued to the screen, finally acknowledged him. “You're the one who is shameless and embarrassing!”

“Nu-uh! You are!”

“Are you sure you're older than me? You sound like you're three!”

“A-Xian” Jiang Yanli called, effectively silencing the both of them.

“And that's why A-Jie is the best,” Jiang Wanyin nodded to himself.

“By the way, A-Yuan picked out a courtesy name!” Xiao Laoshi announced.

“Yura, with the characters for gentle and virtuous” Lan Wangji explained.

Lan Qiren nodded in approval as Zewu-jun grinned “It's a wonderful name”

After a few minutes of them fussing over the newborn, they had to leave too.

The door opened once again as Lan Meilin and Lan Haoren walked in with a very sheepish-looking Jingyi. “Wei-qianbei, Hanguang-jun, I know you said only two people at a time, but…” he started giving them the best puppy face he could.

Lan Wangji just shook his head as Xiao Laoshi laughed “It's alright, Jingyi”

“A-Ying, let me see my niece”

“Here you are, Lin-Jie”

The little one was fussed over by her aunt, uncle, and cousin.

“Ah, Wei-qianbei, I almost forgot! Jin Ling said he and Sect Leader Jiang would arrive early tomorrow morning. They couldn't leave their sects on such short notice. Zizhen said he'd try his best to join them on the way”

“I suppose it is on short notice, Lan-daifu did say spiritual pregnancies might take longer than regular ones”

“She said it might, we don't really have a lot of information on this topic” 

“You're right, Ren-Ge. Hey, did you know the last recorded case of this was actually from Lan An and his cultivation partner?”

“Yes we did, Wei-qianbei. It's literally how our sect was formed, of course we know” Jingyi answered.

“Well, I knew that Lan An settled down for his cultivation partner, but I didn't know he was a cut sleeve! When Lan-daifu said the last known case was a long time ago, I didn't expect it to be far into the past!”

“Wait, seriously? Why didn't we hear this from the guest lecturers?” Jin Zixuan asked.

Lan Qiren frowned “You did, but that day you and Wei Wuxian were… preoccupied”

“Oh yeah, that's when I punched the peacock. Good times, good times.” Xiao Laoshi nodded to himself.

“Oh yeah, we know this story,” Zizhen chimed in.

Jin Zixuan blushed “Wei Wuxian, what are you telling my son and his friends?!”

“The truth, peacock” he stuck his tongue out at the other.

“Ugh! You're so infuriating!”

“That's me!”

“I read somewhere that she'd be born with a golden core, is that true?”

“What kind of books have you been reading?” Xiao Laoshi teased.

Jingyi blushed “Not books like that!”

He laughed “I'm just messing with you, relax. I'm pretty sure she does have a core, I can feel a little bit of qi in her but Lan-daifu hasn't confirmed anything yet. She wanted to give us some time with family before all of that”

“I see, that makes sense”

“A-Ying, have you been awake during the entire delivery?” Lan Meilin asked.

“Yeah, but I've been given some good pain-numbing medicine”

“Well, no wonder you look like that! Get some sleep, Wangji will look after A-Yu and we'll be here too”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure. Now go on, close your eyes!”

“Wei Ying, rest. I'll be here” Lan Wangji said.

Xiao Laoshi huffed but complied, falling asleep the second he closed his eyes.

The screen sped up as a day passed and it was the next morning.

Xiao Laoshi was asleep in the same bed, and Lan Wangji was sleeping on another one since the beds in the healing pavilion were large enough for only one person. The crib their daughter was sleeping in was placed between their beds.

It was so early that even the most rule-abiding Lans hadn't even risen yet, but there was commotion outside.

“Sect Leader Jiang, Sect Leader Jin, Young Master Ouyang, please calm down, it is too early to visit them”

“Well, you're awake, aren't you?”

“That is because I am on night patrolling duty, it is too early. I doubt that even Hanguang-jun is awake, let me lead you to the guest pavilion while-”

“No, thank you, we're already here at the healing pavilion,” Jin Ling said as he completely ignored the poor disciple.

Lan Wangji stepped outside in his sleeping robes, leaving the door open, looking as if he had been awake for hours.

“Ah Hanguang-jun, you're awake! Can we come in?” Zizhen asked.

“I have just woken up. Please quiet down, don't startle them. Both Wei Ying and A-Yu are asleep”

“Why are they sleeping here? Were there any complications?” Jiang Wanyin demanded.

“There were no complications, but Lan-daifu adviced us to stay here for a night as is customary” he answered gruffly, probably the most words he had ever spoken to the other at once.

Just then, a cry was heard from inside, and he rushed back in without a look back, and the three of them followed him in.

Inside, Xiao Laoshi was holding their daughter, feeding her some milk with a spoon, he looked up and smiled sleepily at his husband “I got her this time, Lan Zhan, you fed her the last time she woke up”

“Mn” Lan Wangji answered, feeling as if his heart about to burst from the scene in front of him.

“Oh, Jiang Cheng! A-Ling! Zizhen! You're here! When Jingyi said early morning, I thought maybe around the time the Lans woke up, but you're here before that! Don't tell me you harassed Wenyang, he's the one on night patrolling duty today, right?”

“No, Wei-qianbei, we didn't harass anyone”

“Wei Wuxian…” Jiang Wanyin called out in disbelief.

“What's with that look, Jiang Cheng?”

“You actually look like a parent”

“What's that supposed to mean?! I've always been the perfect parent, have you seen A-Yuan?”

Jiang Wanyin rolled his eyes “So? Will you introduce me?”

Xiao Laoshi grinned “Jiang Cheng, meet your niece, Lan Yu, courtesy Yura but she won't officially have her courtesy name for a while” he smiled “And A-Yu, technically he's your Shushu but you can call him Jiujiu, ok? That's what you cousin calls him”

“Technically you are the mother, so Jiujiu would be correct” 

“I suppose you're right” Xiao Laoshi laughed “A-Ling, Zizhen come here”

The two of them came closer, looking completely lost “A-Yu, these two are you cousins. This one is Ling-Gege and this one is Zhen-Gege”

“Cousin? I'm her cousin too?” Zizhen asked with wide, teary eyes.

“Of course you are! Both Jingyi and A-Ling are her cousins so you are too!”

“Oh Wei-qianbei, she's so small!”

“Newborns are supposed to be that small, idiot” Jin Ling huffed.

“Well how was I supposed to know? I'm the youngest of all my siblings!”

“You two quit fighting, and start deciding on who wants to hold her after Jiang Cheng, I'm almost done feeding her, she'll fall asleep right after that so you better be quick”

Their bickering quickly changed topics and Lan Wangji had to silence them for a moment after they got too loud.

Jiang Wanyin looked at the little bundle Wei Wuxian deposited in his arms and immediately remembered how his sister did the same with Jin Ling, he stubbornly blinked back tears “You'll grow up great if you don't take after you A-Die”

“So does that mean you want her to take after Lan Zhan?”

Jiang Wanyin scrunched his face “She can take after her uncle”

Xiao Laoshi laughed “Well, you have one heck of a competition for best uncle, so you better start preparing!”

“Of course, I'll be her favorite uncle, who is even there to compete with me?”

“Zewu-jun, Uncle Haoren, Wen-qianbei” Zizhen listed “Sect Leader Nie too if you're considering him”

Jiang Wanyin’s face grew serious. “There's no way I'm losing to two Lans and a fierce corpse. I will definitely be the favourite”

“Ah A-Yuan already sent a message to Wen Ning right?” Xiao Laoshi asked his husband.

“He did,” 

“Jiujiu, that's enough, let me hold her now, she's falling asleep” Jin Ling whined.

“You can visit again after the sun actually rises” Xiao Laoshi shook his head fondly “Off to bed now you three! Shoo!”

The three were then kicked out and escorted to the guest quarters by a very tired Lan Wenyang and the screen shifted once again to show time passing.

“Sect Leader Jiang, those are very bold claims your future self is making” Lan Xichen started, voice serious.

“Sect Leader Lan, I don't think he said anything that isn't true”

“Jiang-Xiong, you completely ignored me!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed as he grabbed his chest “I am most likely to become the favourite, she really liked my fan earlier!”

Jingyi and Zizhen laughed as Jing Ling shook his head “The three of you had this exact same conversation in the future too” he sighed.

“If you're talking about favourite siblings/cousins, I think I'm definitely first,” Sizhui declared with pride.

“You don't count!” all three of his sworn brothers yelled at the same time.

“Why don't we ask her when she wakes up?”

“Yeah, let's do that!”

Their playful bickering was interrupted by Lan Zhan “Wei Ying, what's wrong?”

Everyone looked at Wei Wuxian who was crying silently with his eyes still glued onto the screen.

Something in him seemed to snap at those words and he started bawling into his hands.

“A-Die!”

“A-Xian!”

“You!” he yelled at his future self “You could've saved everyone else but why did you have to save me?!”

“Wei Ying!”

“A-Xian, what are you saying?!”

“You could've just left everyone to think I'm a crazy demon! Then maybe I could've- maybe I could've- had that!” he sobbed “Am I such a horrible person that you won't even let me be happy in my next life?”

“What next life? This is just an extension of your current life in another body. A next life would mean you'd forget all your current memories” Xiao Laoshi muttered.

“Wei Ying, you want-?” Lan Zhan asked, not being able to complete his sentence due to the shock and hope blooming within him.

“Of course, I want that!” he yelled “You have no idea how jealous I was since this entire thing started. He gets to marry you, live with you, raise kids with you, everyone loves him and he somehow has a loving family, and this is so unfair, so so unfair” he sobbed.

“Wei Ying, we can still-”

“It won't be the same, Lan Zhan, I can't- I don't-”

“Wei Wuxian, calm down, if you want to get married to him so badly, Lan Xichen and I can negotiate, no one here is against it-” Jiang Cheng tried to calm him down.

“That's not what I'm saying!”

“Then what are you saying?!”

“I'm saying that I can't ever be the person in those memories because I don't have a golden core anymore!” he finally yelled out, his voice cracking at the end.

Chapter Text

The entire room was so quiet that the only sound you could hear was that of Wei Wuxian breathing heavily, trying to hold back his sobs. 

The four sworn brothers immediately connected their jade pendants.

“Oh my god, it’s happening!”

“It’s happening!”

“No one breathe, don’t ruin this!”

“Calm down, we can’t be panicking more than them” 

Jiang Wanyin was the first to break the silence “Wh-what? Wei Wuxian be serious!”

“Jiang Cheng, you wanted to know what my future self wanted me to tell you, well, this is it!”

“What? Since when? Was it when you were missing for three months? You fought in the war without a golden core? Wei Wuxian, are you stupid?! Why did you let Wen Zhuliu off so easily if he crushed your core?! And Baoshan Sanren- you idiot! Why did you give me your only chance?!”

“A-Cheng? What are you saying?” Jiang Yanli asked, breaking out of her stupor.

“Jiang Cheng… there was no Baoshan Sanren, I made it up” Wei Wuxian finally admitted, keeping his head down.

Lan Zhan's eyes widened "Wei Ying?”

Jiang Wanyin turned pale “What? Then how-?”

“It was Wen Qing”

“Then let’s find her so she can-”

“Jiang Cheng, don't be stupid. As great of a doctor as she is, she isn’t a miracle worker. She can’t make a core out of thin air. I gave you mine” he whispered.

Everyone stared at him in horror as Lan Zhan grabbed his wrist to check his meridians.

Wei Wuxian let him, not having the energy to fight back “Lan Zhan, the resentful energy has taken over my meridians, there is no way you’ll be able to tell whether I have any spiritual energy or not”

“Wei Ying…”

“Take it back” Jiang Cheng snapped, interrupting the Lan.

“What? Jiang Cheng, don’t be ridiculous, that’s impossible-”

“That’s never stopped you before has it? Take it back! I don’t fucking want it! TAKE IT BACK, WEI WUXIAN!”

“Jiang Cheng, I can’t-”

Jiang Wanyin held his head in his hands “Then it was all for nothing, nothing! You stupid idiot!”

“What was all for nothing?”

“The reason the Wen caught me in the first place was because I was trying to lead them away from you, you absolute airhead! Why did you have to undo all my work?!”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened “What? Why did you do that?! Are you stupid?!”

“What was I supposed to do? Let them catch you?!”

“Jiang Cheng! You’re the sect leader, you have to be there for your sect. It doesn’t matter what happens to me! As my sect leader, you-”

“I’m your fucking brother before I’m your sect leader!”

“But Madam Yu and Jiang shushu said-”

“It doesn’t matter what they said, they’re dead! Do you want to join them?!”

Wei Wuxian grabbed the other’s collar, “Don’t say that about your parents! When we get back home, you better kneel in front of their shrines for a whole day!”

“Should we stop this?” Jingyi whispered.

“No, they have to let it all out” Jin Ling answered.

“Why are you still defending them after you learned everything they did to your parents?! Are you insane?!”

“Everything I have, I owe to the Jiang Sect. If it wasn’t for your father, I wouldn’t have a core anyway, so technically it belongs to you”

“You had a core before you were even brought to Lotus Pier!”

“I couldn’t have developed it without the Jiang Sect!”

“Jin Ling, is this what happened at Guanyin Temple?” Sizhui asked through their pendants.

“No, it was the opposite. Jiujiu yelled how Da-jiu owes the Jiang Sect everything but now it’s Da-jiu who is saying all of that" he sighed.

“This is insane” Zizhen commented.

“Is that all we are to you? Your superiors? You never even considered us your family?” Jiang Wanyin asked, his hands dropping to the side in defeat, “Is that why you call Lan Xichen and Lan Meilin Ge and Jie but we’ve always been your Shidi and Shijie?”

“Madam Yu and Jiang shushu said I shouldn’t-”

“It doesn’t matter what they fucking said, if we learned one thing from these memories, it’s that they’re horrible people! I’m not so blind as to defend them after all they’ve done!”

“Jiang Cheng, you don’t mean that! Take it back-!”

“Then take your fucking core back!”

“I can’t even if I wanted to. Doing the surgery a second time will be even more dangerous than the first. I don’t regret it, I’ll never regret it, you needed it more than me”

“Are you even hearing yourself right now? I’m not the one slowly dying because I don’t have a core to cleanse the resentful energy in me. Do you think I’d be happy if my brother died because of me?”

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you. You don’t need to live with this and it's not because of you, it's because of my own decisions. I stand by my words, I’d do it again if I had to”

“Do it again? Don’t regret it?! Do you take me for a fool? You’ve been crying over it not even a minute ago!”

“What do you want me to say?” Wei Wuxian slumped back in defeat, tears streaming down his face, “I don’t want you to give me my core back, it's yours, I want you to live your life with it, but I want- I want to have a family like that too, am I being selfish for wanting that?”

“A-Xian, A-Cheng, why didn’t you tell me?” Jiang Yanli asked in tears.

“Shijie, don’t be mad at him. I convinced him not to tell you, I said that it didn’t matter anymore since he already had his core back, you would just worry”

“Of course I’d worry! Both of you are such idiots!” she cried, “Why are the two of you like this?” She pulled her brothers into a hug.

“Should we be hearing this?” Jin Zixuan asked his son.

“A-Die, trust me, this is a lot better than learning about it in a hostage situation” Jin Ling answered.

“A hostage situation? Do I even want to know?”

“No, you don’t, peacock” Xiao Laoshi muttered.

“Xiao Laoshi, aren’t you going to do anything?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“Nie-Xiong, let them be for a bit. They need this”

When Jiang Yanli pulled away, she looked at Xiao Laoshi seriously before bowing deeply, “Xiao Laoshi, I request you to help my brother, please”

“Ah, Shijie please, you don’t ever need to bow to me,” he sighed, “This is up to him, he has to follow our instructions. Even then there isn’t a 100% chance everything will return to normal but-”

“I’ll do it” Wei Wuxian said, rubbing his eyes.

Jingyi and Zizhen quietly high-fived each other.

Xiao Laoshi grinned, “Oh, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear those words” he clapped “All right, down to business” he sent some qi into his jade pendant, it glowed and this time, they were able to hear a voice coming out of it.

“Is everything alright?” Zewu-jun asked.

“Everything is more than fine, Ge! We were just about to discuss how to help Wei Wuxian, are you doing anything right now?”

“No, I’ve just sat down after a very… long conversation with Sect Leader Yao. I was going to speak with Jin Guangyao after but I suppose we have time”

“Great! Let’s get down to business, by the way, I’m casting your voice, everyone in this room can hear you and you can hear them”

“That’s fine”

“Zewu-jun, before we begin, have you heard anything from back home?” Sizhui asked.

“I sent one message to Shufu and Wangji in the beginning and later we received that message about the intruder, both of which took a lot of qi from the sender’s side. I do not think it would be wise to tire ourselves out like this when we are in a foreign place. They can not do so either, Cloud Recess is still technically in lock down and will remain so until we return”

“That makes sense, now where do we start?” Xiao Laoshi clapped.

“Firstly, Wei-qianbei and Hanguang-jun need to get married so people won’t ask questions,” Zizhen started.

“Yes, that should be our first priority” Jingyi continued.

The others from the future just chuckled at their antics.

“I don’t think it’d be fair to Lan Zhan, he shouldn’t be forced to be with me just so I can go to Cloud Recess without anyone raising any questions” Wei Wuxian said softly.

Everyone stared at him as if he grew another head.

Surprisingly, it was Jin Zixuan who broke the silence “Are you blind? Have you not been watching the memories until now? Even I could tell that Hanguang-jun loved you”

“That wasn’t me, that was my future self who wasn’t tainted by resentful energy”

Many facepalms were heard across the room.

Lab Zhan reached out to the other “Wei Ying is still Wei Ying, with or without a core” 

“You know I’m not the same. You’re the one who was on the other side of my temper the most, you know how much I changed”

“Wei Ying is still Wei Ying, I have liked him since long before he lost his core and I still did after, and I still do now. I would be honoured if he would let me court him,” he said, his ears burning red.

“I feel like we should be giving them some privacy” Sizhui whispered to his A-Die.

“Well, it's their own fault since they clearly can’t be trusted to deal with this on their own” Xiao Laoshi huffed.

“Lan Zhan, really?” We Wuxian whispered.

“Yes”

"Are you sure, Er-Gege? I think you've seen from these memories that I'm quite a handful" he chuckled softly.

"Mn, like taking care of Wei Ying" he answered, ears red.

“I- ok, if you’ll have me” he replied, his face burning red.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this shy, Da-jiu, you really look like a young maiden now”

“A-Ling, be nice” his uncle scolded.

“I think I, of all people have a right to complain, I had to sit through your confession the first time, it was awful”

“To be honest, I’m quite surprised it didn’t happen like that again” Zewu-jun commented.

“Ge! Why would it happen like that again?!” Xiao Laoshi squealed, feeling embarrassed.

“Maybe not the first part but everything after. At the time it seemed like you have been rehearsing those words your entire life”

“Right?” Jin Ling added.

“I hate both of you” he buried his face into his hands.

“Maybe you should have expected this to happen when you decided to confess while all of us were held hostage”

“What?! Who managed to keep you as hostages, Xichen?” Nie Mingjue asked, feeling incredulous.

“It won’t happen this time, don’t worry, let us get back to why we’re here” Zewu-jun reassured him.

“Lovely, so first of all he is allowed in Cloud Recess right?” Xiao Laoshi asked Lan Xichen and his uncle.

“Of course, Cloud Recess welcomes my future brother-in-law with open arms” Lan Xichen replied, smiling widely to which his uncle just shook his head in exasperation “You are welcome to visit whenever you like, or you can stay for an extended period of time if it’s more suitable. You can use whatever amenities we have right now, but bear in mind, we still have a lot to fix”

“That’s good, Jiang Cheng, you’re ok with this right?”

“If they can help this idiot, then he should go”

“Then a formal betrothal should be set up between Wei-qianbei and Hanguang-jun, this will stop people from questioning whatever we’re doing” Sizhui said.

“We’ll start with negotiations as soon as we can,” Lan Xichen stated and Jiang Wanyin nodded in agreement.

Xiao Laoshi sighed, “I think we should wait until we can consult Wen Qing before we do anything, but that might take a while since we wanted to let every Wen have a fair trial. To be honest, I don’t even know where they are at this point in time”

“Is this Wen Qing trustworthy? She performed a very unorthodox surgery, a surgery which would be very dangerous in the wrong hands” Nie Mingjue asked.

“She is very trustworthy,” Xiao Laoshi said immediately, “She and her brother helped hide me and Jiang Cheng right after the fall of Lotus Pier, she even helped heal us, and her brother helped return Sect Leader Jiang and Madam Yu’s bodies”

Wei Wuxian nodded “We owe them a lot”

“But she still helped Wen Rouhan during the war” Nie Mingjue stated.

“She had no choice! He was using her family against her, she left as soon as she got the opportunity, Chifeng-zun, you can’t blame her for wanting to protect her family!” Wei Wuxian yelled, his eyes turning red.

“I didn’t- calm down!" Nie Mingjue yelled after seeing resentful energy gather around the other "I said I’m willing to listen to every Wen, innocents won’t be punished for their Sect Leader's crimes”

“Wei Ying!” Lan Zhan called.

“Someone take the damn seal away from him” Jin Ling muttered.

Zewu-jun cleared his throat “Da-Ge is right, even though she has a good reason, she still helped Wen Rouhan during the war, intentions don’t change the outcome, but of course we will be lenient-”

“Don’t even think about punishing her!” Wei Wuxian interrupted, eyes glowing red.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say,” Zewu-jun sighed, “I think her offering her expertise free of cost to all the clans for a few years will be enough”

“She doesn’t care about compensation, she is a great doctor who always prioritizes her patient’s life over money!”

“I know that, but the cultivation world doesn’t”

“Oh” Wei Wuxian stopped, realizing what Zewu-jun was implying.

“Even if what we’re doing is morally right, we have to keep in mind that some people will twist your actions into something they are not, dealing with it in the early stages means that they don’t bother us with it later. Besides, the Dafan Wen will be under Gusu Lan’s jurisdiction” Zewu-jun explained calmly.

“Ah, I see. I’m sorry I snapped at you two earlier” Wei Wuxian apologized sheepishly.

“No need for apologies between family,” Zewu-jun said softly, “But I do think we should deal with the Yin Tiger Seal sooner rather than later so this won't be a problem anymore. A-Ying, what do you think?”

“Oh you’re definitely right about that,” Xiao Laoshi started, “The Yin Tiger Seal is currently in two halves, to use it effectively you need to combine them but from what we learned, one half can be dangerous too, it’s just not as strong”

“Why did you create it in the first place? How?” Lan Qiren huffed, trying his best to reign in his anger over the topic after learning about the other's core.

“Uh, I was desperate?” Wei Wuxian answered.

The older man sighed, “I suppose I am in no position to be making assumptions, my older self seemed to regret that”

“Shufu, stop saying things like that, it sounds weird coming from you, I’d feel better if you just yelled at him for being stupid” Xiao Laoshi said.

“I think you have done more than enough of that, let the poor kid be” Lan Qiren sighed.

“What did you do?” Zewu-jun asked.

“Nothing” Xiao Laoshi answered.

“Sizhui, what did he do?”

“I- honestly I don’t know how to explain. Basically A-Die showed everyone here his happiest memories and his younger self was… um, he was sad that he couldn’t have a life like that too I suppose, which led to him revealing the core transfer to everyone”

“Sizhui, you unfilial child!”

“A-Ying, be nice to your younger self” Zewu-jun scolded.

“I am being very nice!”

“He is not!” Wei Wuxian yelled.

“Hey! We’re trying to help you!”

“You can do that while being polite,” Zewu-jun sighed. “Let’s decide what to do with the resentful energy in Wei Wuxian before talking about the seal, right after the Dafan Wen get settled in Cloud Recess, we should consult Wen-daifu on what the best way to proceed is”

“How will they get settled?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“We have a lot of free space in the back mountains, there is a patch of land near the Bun- where the rabbits are currently staying, it has been mostly untouched by the fire, it is very fertile and is good for growing crops, you said most of them were farmers?” Lan Xichen asked.

“Yes, farmers and artisans. Fourth Uncle made the best wine, Grandpa Feng was an amazing architect, he made very stable huts out of the craziest things, Aunty Xin had the most knowledge on farming, she could find a way to grow crops in a graveyard, Granny was really good at weaving, she made all of our clothes even little A-Yuan’s, Wen Ning’s a great archer, he’s good at hunting animals though he doesn’t like doing it often, he’s a great cook too, and of course Wen Qing is the best healer to ever exist!” he said, sounding a little wistful.

“A-Yuan’s clothes? What? You mean Lan Sizhui is a Wen?!” Jiang Wanyin asked, shocked.

“Did we not mention that before?” Xiao Laoshi asked, looking at his son.

“I think we forgot, A-Die”

“In your timeline, what happened to the Dafan Wen?” Lan Zhan asked, his voice shaking a little.

“The Jin captured them and put them in ‘labour camps’ that’s where they killed Wen-qianbei” Jin Ling explained.

“And how old was Lan Sizhui when this happened?” Lan Xichen asked, not exactly wanting to know the answer.

“I am not quite sure, but when A-Die saved us, I was two years old” Sizhui answered.

They all looked at him in horror.

“That Jin Guangshan! From his words earlier, it was obvious he was planning to do the same thing in this timeline. Jin Zixuan, you better come up with a satisfying punishment for him unless you want the Nie clan to be involved!” Nie Mingjue yelled.

Jin Zixuan looked blue “Of course, he will pay for all his crimes”

“I don’t mean this in a bad way, I really don't, but um, does everyone in your timeline know he’s a Wen? He is currently the Lan Sect leader,” Nie Huaisang asked, hiding behind his fan.

“No one except Wangji, Shufu, and I knew about it when Wangji took him in, but a few months after A-Ying came back and Wen Qionglin was back to normal, everyone found out. I named him my heir because he is capable and as my brother’s son, he has every right to the title,” Zewu-jun explained.

“I am as much of a Lan as I am a Wen,” Lan Sizhui said, looking straight, not bowing his head.

“Do any of you have a problem with that?!” Jin Ling snapped.

“No! No one has a problem!” Nie Huaisang said immediately.

“Alright then! Back to the topic at hand” Xiao Laoshi clapped “Right now, the only thing keeping his body together is the resentful energy. So we can't get rid of it all at once. It needs to be cleansed a little at a time while simultaneously healing all the injuries that pop up”

“Why is it the only thing keeping his body together?” Lan Qiren asked.

“Wen Chao threw me into the burial mounds right after the core transfer, I had to learn to… live there for three months before I was able to get out” Wei Wuxian answered.

“What?!”

“Those rumors were true?!”

“How are you even alive right now?”

Wei Wuxian laughed but it rang hollow “I don't think you can call what I am ‘alive’ I'm barely a human being right now”

“Wei Ying is alive, he will return to being healthy soon” Lan Zhan squeezed the other’s hand.

He smiled sadly at his fiance “If you say so Lan Zhan”

“Ge, do you think that song could help him?” Xiao Laoshi asked.

“It will definitely help turn the Yin Tiger Seal into nothing more than a rock but I'm not sure if it will work on him”

“It worked on Nie-Xiong”

“But their situations are different, your younger self is a lot more fragile. I don't know what side effects there could be, for now the safest option would be Cleansing”

“Are you sure Cleansing is the only thing that could help? I think I remember it not having any affect on me”

“I played Cleansing for Wei Ying when he fell unconscious after the final fight at Nightless City” Lan Zhan added.

“Did it help?” Xiao Laoshi asked his younger self.

“I don't think it did anything with the amount of resentful energy in me, but I did feel calmer after waking up”

“So the resentful energy is so infused within you that Cleansing won't get rid of it, but you should still let Lan Zhan play for you, it will help with your temper” 

“I don't remember exactly when this was so this might have not happened yet, but I remember Wangji asking for access to the forbidden library. I think he found something back then” Zewu-jun pondered.

“It has not happened yet but we will look into it as soon as it is restored” Lan Xichen assured them.

“Oh! That one time he came to visit me in Yilling, he kept asking to play for me and when I snapped at him as usual that I didn't need Cleansing, I think he said it wasn't Cleansing or something, I don't remember all that well”

“You have the worst memory” Jin Ling huffed.

Jiang Wanyin groaned “Do you know how much time you could've saved us if you just remembered?”

“Can't you ask him with your pendants?” Jiang Yanli asked.

“Sorry, Shijie. As Ge said earlier, since we're in different timelines it takes too much qi and we don't want to risk tiring ourselves out before we get back home” Xiao Laoshi apologized “Do you know anything else about it, Ge?”

“He was very secretive about it and I suppose I was too preoccupied with my own tasks whenever I was at the library. I wish I paid more attention”

“It's fine, Zewu-jun. Atleast now we know where to start” Wei Wuxian assured them.

“So here's the plan!” Xiao Laoshi clapped to grab everyone's attention “Firstly, Jiang Cheng and Ge should announce the betrothal. Lan Zhan should visit Lotus Pier whenever he can and play Cleansing for Wei Ying. After the library is restored, anyone who is available, if they could gather texts on ways to cleanse resentful energy in both the regular and forbidden sections, that would be great. After the Dafan Wen are settled, Wen Qing can help go through all those books and find the best way to help this idiot”

“Sounds like a plan, Wei-qianbei” Zizhen grinned.

“I would have volunteered to help with gathering the books but I think I'm too little to be doing that right now” Jingyi said.

Lan Qiren stroked his beard, “It is acceptable”

Jiang Wanyin scowled “Does that mean he'll be staying there for an indefinite period of time?”

“That's entirely up to Aunty Qing, but it would be best if he did. Cloud Recess has an abundance of musical cultivators who can play healing songs, the library is very insightful and the Cold Pond should also help with any injuries” Sizhui reasoned.

“Wei Ying? Are you ok with this?” 

“Lan Zhan, this is more than I could ever ask for. I'll try my best to not break your rules while I'm there”

Jiang Yanli smiled tightly “Sect Leader Lan, I hope you understand A-Xian’s stay will be only until he is healed. Where their permanent residence will be after the wedding will be discussed through negotiations”

“Of course, it is as you say, Young Maiden Jiang”

Xiao Laoshi snorted “There there, Ge. You'll get through it”

Zewu-jun chuckled “I don't envy my younger self right now”

“He has to negotiate with the Jiang Sect and with the elders, no one would want to be him right now” Jingyi shuddered.

Lan Xichen just smiled pleasantly not showing any other emotions on his face.

“What about the Yin Tiger Seal?” Wei Wuxian asked “Earlier Sizhui said you wanted Zewu-jun to seal it, how would he do that?”

“Me?” Zewu-jun asked.

“Bobo, you are currently the strongest cultivator here so your seal would be the strongest” Sizhui explained.

“Ah but it could just disappear after we leave, it would be better if someone from their timeline did it”

“I don't think it would disappear but I guess it's better to be cautious” Xiao Laoshi commented “Shufu, if you could? The Double Sealing spell should be enough until you are prepared to cleanse it”

Lan Qiren raised an eyebrow “You know about that spell?”

“Of course! I'm part of the main family now! My core is way too weak to even think about casting such a spell but I know it”

“What is the Double Sealing spell?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“It's a spell that's only known among the main family, I can tell you more about it after the official engagement” Lan Xichen offered with a smile

“So I hand it over to the Lan Sect?” Wei Wuxian asked, frowning.

“Not necessarily, I will cast the spell and give it back to you. You can not use it, but the resentful energy within it won't affect you either, it can only be removed by the person who cast it though” Lan Qiren explained.

“That's ok but before that, what is this song you talked about? Something that will completely cleanse the resentful energy from the seal?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“Um, Sect Leader Nie?” Xiao Laoshi called.

“Which one, me or Huaisang?”

“Either one?”

Chifeng-zun sighed “I suppose if we are trying to strengthen the relation between the great four sects I need to tell everyone about this too”

Chapter Text

~

“And you’re telling us this isn’t demonic cultivation?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“Wei-Xiong, it really isn’t!”

Nie Mingjue bowed deeply “I ask for everyone's understanding, and request them to keep this information a secret”

"If you have it handled, I don't see why we would have any problems with it"

"Of course, Chifeng-zun"

Lan Qiren sighed “Xichen, what is this song you gave them?”

“It is something I wrote myself, Shufu,” Zewu-jun answered.

“Will it help with the Yin Tiger Seal?”

“The situation with the Seal and the Sabre Spirits are quite similar. I think it will definitely work, but it will probably take a lot longer,” Xiao Laoshi answered.

“Xichen, do you want us to give them the song?” Nie Mingjue asked.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Lan Xichen asked.

“Xichen?”

Zewu-jun took a deep breath, “Of course, anything if it will help Wangji and A-Ying”

“All right, we’ll make a copy and give them all the details once we’re allowed to leave”

“No one outside this room should know about the song or what it can do. It will only gather unwanted attention. Wangji, Shufu, and I know how to regulate the amount of qi we put into songs, we can take turns to help with the Yin Tiger Seal, no one outside this room should know its whereabouts”

“Of course, this information will not leave this room” Lan Xichen assured him.

“Alright then, so everything’s settled?” Xiao Laoshi asked.

“I guess” Wei Wuxian took out the Seal from his sleeves “Grandmaster Lan, if you could?” he asked, his voice shaking.

Lan Qiren stepped forward and cast the Double Sealing spell and handed it back to him.

Wei Wuxian took out Chenqing with shaking hands and held it out too.

Lan Qiren looked at him, confused, he asked “Do you want me to seal your dizi too?”

“Since my future self said I have to give up demonic cultivation-”

“When did I say that?” Xiao Laoshi interrupted.

“Isn’t that what we’ve been talking about till now?”

“No? Why would I want you to give up your cultivation? I haven’t given mine up either”

It was now Wei Wuxian’s turn to be confused “What? Why do you need it? You have a core”

“I do but it isn’t the strongest. My husband is always there by my side if I ever need him, but I still need to have some form of protection on myself”

“Then why do you want me to give mine up?”

“When did I say that? All I said is that the resentful energy in your body, which is slowly eating you from the inside out, needs to go. I never said to completely quit, our cultivation method has its own advantages”

“So I can still cultivate like this?”

“That’s up to Wen Qing, but one thing is for sure, that resentful energy in you needs to go. It was forced into you when you were thrown into the burial mounds, and even though it seems like it's helping you, it’s actually doing more harm than good”

“So I have to find a way to cultivate a new core to balance out the negative effects of controlling resentful energy?” 

“With the entire Library Pavilion at your disposal and with Wen Qing, I don’t think it’s impossible. It’s probably easier than trying to strengthen an underdeveloped core”

Determination filled Wei Wuxian’s eyes, he clutched Chenqing to his chest as he turned towards the Lans from his timeline and bowed, “This humble one requests access to the Library Pavilion”

Lan Xichen smiled “The Library Pavilion is open to everyone. Knowledge is to be shared, not hidden. We will send word to you as soon as it is restored”

Lan Qiren huffed “Your motivation to form a new core should be so you can completely give up demonic cultivation, not so you can use it safely”

“I can’t do everything for you, but a heads up, it took me seven months to completely convince Shufu about my cultivation” Xiao Laoshi whispered to his younger self.

“How long did it take to convince Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian asked a little hesitantly.

“You never needed to convince him of anything, you idiot. Just talk to him” Xiao Laoshi huffed.

Jiang Yanli bowed to the Lan and Jiang Wanyin followed reluctantly, “Thank you for helping our brother”

“Ah, there’s no need for that, Young Maiden Jiang, Sect Leader Jiang, please get up” Lan Xichen assured them.

“Wait, you said you’ll show us three memories right?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“Oh right! The first one was your wedding, the second one was your daughter’s birth, what’s the last one?” Jin Zixuan asked.

“My bet’s on something mundane, like a day where he went out to Caiyi with Hanguang-jun!” Zizhen yelled.

“No, it has to be something with A-Yu, probably her first words or something like that” Jin Ling countered.

Jingyi waved his hands around, “All of you are wrong! It has to be Sizhui’s naming ceremony!” 

“Jingyi, you're absolutely right!” Xiao Laoshi grinned.

“Yes!”

“But, Wei-qianbei, wasn’t that around the time the whole Baoshan Sanren thing started?” Zizhen asked.

“Yes, so we probably won’t see any of it from my point of view but we’ll probably see it from Ge’s!”

“We’ll see Baoshan Sanren?”

“Probably, but a warning, those few weeks weren’t… pretty” Xiao Laoshi winced.

“Then I’ll leave you to it. Send me a message when you’re done” Zewu-jun said.

“Of course, Ge. But, keep in mind, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, we don’t need to solve all their problems, they can deal with some things on their own”

“I’ll be fine, A-Ying” Zewu-jun replied softly before the connection cut off.

“What is he going to do?” Lan Zhan asked.

“Ehhh I don’t know?” Xiao Laoshi answered to which he got a twitch of eyebrows, which meant he didn’t believe a word he said.

"Haha, it looks like the screen is slowing down, we better start paying attention now!"

~

Outside, Zewu-jun tried his best to compose himself as he walked towards the Jin delegation, trying to evade Sect Leader Yao and Sect Leader Ouyang.

He knew that getting a response from Jin Guangyao would be pointless because he wouldn't know whether the other was lying or not, so he decided he would tell him things he needed to hear and leave, and maybe he could be selfish one last time and finally receive some closure.

“Er-Ge! I noticed you were communicating with those inside that room, I hope everything is going well?”

“Everything is proceeding smoothly, if you could put on this talisman, I would like to talk to you about a few things”

“Ah, of course! How do I use it?”

“Just stick it somewhere on your skin, think of what you want to tell me and I’ll hear it through my jade pendant”

“Can you hear me now, Er-Ge?”

“Yes, I can” Zewu-jun sighed “Let me get straight to the point, Jin Guangyao, do you still seek your father’s approval?”

“What? How could I, after everything he did?”

“Are you telling the truth?”

“When have I ever lied to you, Er-Ge?”

“Answer my question”

“I- whatever my future self did, I have nothing to do with it, I am not him, I would never lie to you”

Zewu-jun breathed deeply, “You have said those same words many times before lying to my face again”

“I don’t know why my future self would do those things but I would never hurt you, Er-Ge”

“Really?” Zewu-jun laughed “Never hurt me? Tell me, what were you prepared to do for your father before his crimes were brought to light?”

“If I knew he was such a-”

“Don’t play stupid, Jin Guangyao. Both of us know you’re smarter than you look. You knew your father was a terrible man, but you were ready to do anything to gain his approval”

“Er-Ge, I really don’t understand what my future self could’ve done for you to accuse me of such things”

Zewu-jun sighed “A-Yao, I want to be mad at you, I really do, but I can’t” his voice cracked “Your father is a horrible man. I know your mother’s last wish was for you to gain his approval, but it isn’t worth going so far, she would have wanted you to make a good life for yourself with or without him”

It seemed like hearing about his mother made the other drop his mask, “And what do you know about making a good life? What do any of you know about it? Er-Ge, you’re kind and deserve the life you were born into, but you have no idea how many undeserving people have such a good life, how they just abuse their authority to belittle people below them. You have no idea how much harder I have to work than someone from the gentry trying to get to the same position”

“Then work hard for it, ask help from people who care about you, feeling sorry for yourself won’t help anyone. You have people who would defend and support you no matter what, don’t break their trust for someone like Jin Guangshan”

Jin Guangyao looked at the floor, “I’ve already done things that can’t be forgiven, I doubt Da-Ge will let me off so easily. It’s easy for someone from the righteous Gusu Lan to ask for punishment for their own wrongdoings, but I can’t do that. Everything I did at Nightless City was so Wen Rouhan would trust me, I can’t ask for punishment for something I don’t feel sorry for. I did what I had to and we won the war because of it, is it so wrong of me to not want to be punished for it?” 

Zewu-jun took a deep breath “Can you answer a question for me? Truthfully? Just this once?”

Jin Guangyao sighed “Ok”

“When you sent me information from the inside, were you playing a double agent? Did you only switch sides at the end only because you realized Wei Wuxian would win? When you helped hide me from the Wen, was that a part of your plan too? Was it only so I would feel indebted to you and defend you from Da-Ge? Because I was an easy target to fool?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say…”

His eyes stung with tears, “So it’s true?”

“Er-Ge, it may have started like that, but you’ve always been so nice to me, I’ve started seeing you as my older brother, you mean so much to me. Even if my future self went crazy, I doubt he would have intentionally hurt you”

Zewu-jun rubbed his eyes, “Jin Guangyao, in this timeline there are still people who care about you and people who will care if you give them the chance. Just because your father favoured Jin Zixuan doesn’t mean he’s an awful person, he may be awkward but he has a good heart, don’t take it out on him. Now, more than ever, he needs family to support him. He will treat you with respect if you just be yourself. You are smart, please use it for the greater good,” he looked into Jin Guanyyao’s eyes “A-Yao, you keep saying you never wanted to hurt me, but I hope you know hurting Mingjue and Wangji is the same as putting a knife to my throat. Wei Wuxian is my family too, he’s a good kid, don’t ruin his life just because he’s the most convenient target”

“Er-Ge, do you really think so low of me?” he asked, looking down.

“I don’t know what to think anymore" he trailed off "I know you’re not the Jin Guangyao from my timeline but I- I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you, I’m sorry you felt as if you couldn’t come to me with your worries, I’m sorry for everything I did and didn’t do”

“Er-Ge, please! Don’t apologize to me, you don’t have to”

Zewu-jun tapped his jade pendant and the talisman on Jin Guangyao disintegrated, he bowed once to the other, “I hope you live your life well, Jin-Gongzi” he said one last time, before walking away.

Chapter Text

Jin Ling stared at the younger versions of his Da-jiu and his husband in disbelief, they were sitting beside each other, holding hands and whispering to each other while blushing.

He turned to his sworn brothers and waved his hand in the couple’s direction “Are you seeing this?”

“Are they possessed?” Zizhen asked.

Sizhui stared at them for a little longer, “To be honest, I'm surprised too”

“What are you surprised about?”

Jingyi clutched his chest “Ah! Wei-qianbei! Don't sneak up on us like that!”

“Them!” Zizhen pointed at the couple “They're acting like a newly engaged couple”

“Because they are a newly engaged couple?” Xiao Laoshi said, confused.

“Is this another side effect of the Yin Tiger Seal?”

“I don't see what the problem is”

“The problem is that they're not acting shameless! The two of you weren't like this when you got engaged in our timeline!”

“Yeah! You were shameless with Hanguang-jun from the second you laid eyes on him!”

“That was because I was pretending to be a lunatic!”

Jiang Wanyin, who heard their conversation snorted “You don't need to pretend, you already are one”

“Lan Zhan! Save me! Your poor husband is getting bullied!”

“He's not your husband,” Wei Wuxian growled.

Xiao Laoshi kept a straight face for a second before falling back in laughter “Hahahaha! You're actually jealous! Oh my god, this is gold! I can't wait to tell Lan Zhan when I get back home”

Chifeng-zun cleared his throat “I'm glad all of you are having fun, but can we get back to the screen. This is important”

Xiao Laoshi straightened “Right”

The screen showed Xiao Laoshi moving through disciples heading towards the Yashi, he opened the door to see Zewu-jun and Grandmaster Lan.

“Cloud Recess is quite busy these days, huh?” he asked as he sat down beside them.

“A-Ying, thank you for doing this, I have to get to that meeting with the elders, Wangji is already there” Zewu-jun bowed as he left the other two alone.

“So who is bothering us today, Shufu?” 

The older man gave him a disapproving look but didn't comment “Invitations for Sizhui’s naming ceremony have been sent out. Sect Leader Shen has expressed concern that he can not attend, hence he requested to come here today to express his congratulations and bring gifts”

“Shouldn't either Ge or A-Yuan be here then?”

“If he wanted an audience with either of them, then he shouldn't have picked a time when he knew they were both busy” he grumbled before sighing “Just receive his congratulations on behalf of your son”

“Of course! That's what I'm here for, but I heard from Zizhen that he's a shady character”

Lan Qiren frowned “No gossiping”

“This isn't gossiping, Shufu, this is just some information. Apparently Zizhen runs into their disciples in night hunts a lot since they're near the Yunmeng-Lanling border like Baling. Recently, their disciples are being given odd tasks from their Sect Leader like guarding a room throughout the night, preventing people from interrupting ‘important meetings’ and escorting ‘merchants’ from far away regions for ‘trade negotiations’. It's not just Zizhen, some of our disciples after coming back from inter-sect night hunts said that other sect disciples kept complaining about the mundane tasks their Sect Leaders have been giving them recently, namely Shen, Yao and even Moling Su”

Lan Qiren frowned “Do you think this is related to the recent invasion attempt?”

Xiao Laoshi shrugged “I don't know much about the Shen clan and Moling Su has been quiet ever since that new guy took over their sect and honestly as annoying as Sect Leader Yao is, I don't think he'd be stupid enough to do something like that” he sighed “It has barely been a year since we announced the birth of a new heir and people are already trying things like this. I knew people would be after her but I didn't think they'd be stupid enough to try so boldly” 

“Our wards are very strong, no unauthorised person would be able to get in and even if they did, they won't be able to get out without getting caught. Our sect will protect A-Yu no matter what”

Xiao Laoshi smiled “I know Shufu, but I can't help but worry”

“Where is she right now?”

“She's with Ren-Ge. Lin-Jie had to join the meeting too, are you sure you don't have to be there too?”

“If it was the previous Council of Elders, I would be there too but I trust Xichen has picked the right people, they'll be fine. I'm getting too old for those meetings anyway”

“I thought the older you get, the more you fit in!” Xiao Laoshi laughed.

Wei Wuxian looked pale “Did you just say that to his face?!”

“I did!” 

Lan Qiren shook his head in exasperation “Do you know how he did it?”

“I don't know why both you and Lan Zhan think I know any more about this than you! If anything you should be asking A-Yuan!”

“He consulted you about it”

“Yes. Once. And that was right after A-Yu was born, he asked a bunch of random questions and then nodded and left and the next thing I knew, in a month, almost the entire list was crossed out!”

Lan Qiren crossed his arms “So you knew about the list”

“What list?” the younger one asked.

Lan Xichen was sweating “Nothing, Shufu” he smiled.

Nie Mingjue crossed his arms, “Xichen, I told everyone here about the Saber Spirits, I think you can tell us a little about what's happening in your sect” 

Lan Xichen sighed in defeat “It is a list of all the elders who are… set in their ways”

“Bobo, that list is going to grow even more in a few years” Sizhui looked thoughtful “Or maybe it won't. Since we changed things, maybe their horrible acts won't come to light”

“Do you remember everyone on that list?” Lan Xichen asked.

“Yes, I do. When I was named the sect heir, you showed it to me and asked me to stay clear of those people. I can write it down for you”

“Thank you” he bowed.

“Xichen, since you're not willing to tell us whatever it is that you're doing, atleast listen to my advice. Doon't be rash,” his uncle warned.

“I am being very careful, Shufu”

“Yeah, Zewu-jun is really good at it. He even gave me advice, it really helped me weed out the rot in Koi Tower!” Jin Ling praised.

“Sect politics are really scary” Nie Huaisang muttered behind his fan.

“Shufu, let's just forget about it, it's over now. The Council of Elders is very trustworthy right now, that's why Ge is ready to give the sect to A-Yuan”

“It is as you said, almost the entire list is crossed out, there is still one person left” the elder sighed “That person is the reason Xichen started the list in the first place, he's too high up to dismiss without a valid reason and he's too cunning to be caught doing the things he does”

“Shufu, we can't control everything, let's just believe everything will turn out ok” 

There was a knock at the door and Xiao Laoshi put on a polite smile “Come in!”

A Lan disciple walked in with Sect Leader Shen “Sect Leader Shen has arrived” he announced before bowing and leaving the room.

“Sect Leader Shen, a pleasure to host you, please sit down and have some tea” Lan Qiren started.

“Grandmaster Lan, Yilling Lazou, greetings”

“Yilling Lazou?” Jiang Wanyin snorted “What an edgy title, it suits you”

Xiao Laoshi bowed “Sect Leader Shen, I apologise our sect leader is quite busy with the preparations for the naming ceremony, my son is busy with it too,”

“Of course, please pass on my congratulations to your son…”

The screen sped up once again and everyone's eyes fell on Lan Xichen.

“So? Will you tell us more about ‘the list’ as you call it?” Nie Mingjue asked.

Lan Xichen looked at his brother and sighed “Are you sure you want to know this, Wangji?”

“Yes. My future self is worried about you doing this on your own. If you tell us, we will help you”

He sighed again “This means I have to tell everyone here about our parents, are you sure you're ok with it?”

“You have kept it from me because you didn't want me to face consequences as an accomplice if you ever get caught, even though what you're doing isn't wrong. I am not so young anymore, I want to know” 

Wei Wuxian squeezed his fiance’s hand “Are you sure, Lan Zhan? You can talk about it in private with your brother once we get out. I'm sure everyone will understand”

“If it is something that will affect all the sects in the future, they need to know too”

“Ok if you're sure” he kissed Lan Zhan's knuckles.

“Where did he get the courage to do that?” Xiao Laoshi snorted.

“Leave them be, A-Die, I think it's sweet”

Lan Xichen looked at his uncle once before clearing his throat “My mother was a rogue cultivator, she was very talented and attracted the attention of my grandfather because of this she was invited to study at Cloud Recess as a guest disciple. My father was immediately enamoured with her. Not much is known about what happened in between, but a few years later, it was said that my mother killed my father’s teacher"

"She was to be punished with execution but my father- he didn't want to let that happen. He married her and secluded her in a house and then himself in another house. Shufu took over the sect matters after that. She passed away when Wangji was very young but before that, we were allowed to visit her once a month. I remember that a month before she passed, she looked very paranoid, she kept looking around and held us close. She played a Gusu folk song on her guqin and after Wangji fell asleep she told me something while still playing. She told me to be cautious of the people I'll meet as the sect heir, to not be influenced by others and to do what I thought was right. The last thing she told me was to stay away from Lan Qiaoling and to keep Wangji away from him" he explained as the Lan frowned at the name.

"He is one of the highest ranking elders. He isn't a descendant of Lan An but a descendant of one of his most trusted advisors. It has been tradition for people of his bloodline to be a part of the Council of Elders. His older brother was the teacher my mother killed, his engagement was announced the day before he passed. He is currently the only one alive with that blood, he doesn't have a wife or kids” Lan Xichen finished.

“Well, if you say it like that, it is very odd. He's the only one from his bloodline still alive? And the person who was supposed to be in his place just died right before he was about to get married and pass on the bloodline? And your mother was paranoid and told you about him the last time she got to see you before she passed away?” Nie Mingjue pondered.

Lan Xichen sighed “It is very odd, I haven't been paying attention to him recently because of the war but he has been doing some… questionable things but without any further proof they are just that, questionable”

Xiao Laoshi cleared his throat “Since we stopped a major incident from happening, I doubt you'll uncover some particular information about him, so would you like to know?” he asked.

“Yes” Both the twin jades answered immediately.

“Um, A-Yuan, if you will?”

“Ok, A-Die” he took a deep breath “There was an… incident where something big was done without Zewu-jun’s approval and it was Lan Qiaoling who ‘authorized’ it and Grandmaster Lan wasn't-”

“He was being crazy back then but that's not the focus of this story, what you need to know is that Shufu didn't have the authority to authorize or deny that particular thing but he didn't do anything to stop it when Lan Qiaoling authorized it” Xiao Laoshi said coldly.

Sizhui coughed “Yes. When Zewu-jun found out about it, it was too late and of course he was enraged. He went to confront Lan Qiaoling. He went to his residence without informing him beforehand and sent a disciple to fetch him as waited for him inside. After his brother died, Lan Qiaoling had an unusual request. He wanted to keep his brother's body buried in the garden in their late mother’s house where he currently lived, he said that his brother loved the flowers their mother grew there. Zewu-jun felt a restless spirit in the garden, so he performed Inquiry”

Lan Xichen looked livid, having realized what ‘incident’ could be severe enough for his future self to act so rashly “What? How dare they?!” he muttered to himself and from the pale look on Lan Qiren’s face, it seemed that he realized it too.

Sizhui continued “After performing Inquiry, he found out what the teacher’s last memories were. That evening, he was called into an empty classroom by Qingheng-jun. He knew that he didn’t attend the meetings regularly and left most of them to his brother, so he thought he was being called to discuss that. He found the location odd but went there regardless, since he couldn't deny the sect leader. When he arrived Madam Lan was there too. Both of them stood in front of him and explained how his brother has been acting strange these past few months, and he admitted that they weren't close so he didn't know much about it. He said that it seemed as if they were interrogating him to check if he was an accomplice to a crime. After a few more questions, they handed him a letter and said that it had proof of his brother's crimes and asked him to help them uncover them. He knew his brother wasn't the most rule-abiding Lan but he didn't expect him to be a criminal. He immediately opened the envelope but before he could even read anything, he was stabbed in the back of his neck with a spiritual dagger and he coughed up blood, covering the entire letter”

Many people gasped and even Lan Qiren looked surprised “But you said both of them were standing in front of him”

“Yes. Madam Lan and Qingheng-jun tried to help him but before they could, Lan Qiaoling walked in and pulled out the dagger. He was losing blood too fast and could only hear bits and pieces of their conversation but he understood that his brother was threatening them. Lan Qiaoling stabbed his brother again in the same place before pulling out the dagger and handing it to Madam Lan. The last words he heard before passing away were ‘Qingheng-jun gave you this dagger from our treasury as a courting gift and you used it to kill his beloved teacher. You don't have to explain yourself, not that they'll even listen to you. This is the story you'll tell them unless you want-’ and then he took his last breath”

The Lans looked shaken and pale, the twin jades’ eyes burned with unshed tears “Mother…”

“The next thing Zewu-jun heard was someone playing Rest from inside the house. It was Lan Qiaoling. He said that he didn't expect to see him inside his home and that he was just practicing his guqin”

“How did his spirit even persist for so long? Shouldn't he have had a soul calming ritual done on him?” Jiang Wanyin asked.

“He should have, we still don't know why his spirit remained for so long after his death. But Zewu-jun also noticed that the song Lan Qiaoling played wasn't just Rest, there was some other melody mixed into it, something that dispersed the spirit very quickly and removed almost all traces of it”

“So you're telling me, Lan Qiaoling, killed his own brother and threatened my sister-in-law into taking the blame? Why wouldn't my brother just tell me that? People will definitely believe the sect leader’s words over his, at the very least, I would have”

“Would you, Shufu? Or would you have thought he was lying to protect the one he loves?” Xiao Laoshi asked, a little sadly.

Lan Qiren didn't know how to respond “I-”

“Do you know what he had over my parents? Why would they ruin their entire lives just to satisfy him?” Lan Xichen asked.

Sizhui shook his head “We still don't know what it is and, the only way we can get that information is if he, himself, admits it. Everyone else involved is- not here anymore”

“Do you know what the song he played is?”

“It's from a book in the Forbidden Section of the library, Zewu-jun hasn't told me what the exact name of the book is though”

“It's the Collection of Turmoil from Dongying,” Xiao Laoshi answered.

Jin Ling gasped “Isn't that the same-”

Xiao Laoshi sighed “Yes, it is”

Jingyi looked enraged “That Jin Gu-! Ugh! That bastard!”

“Right so, tighten up security around the Forbidden Section of the library, yeah?” Xiao Laoshi said “Right now, back home, you can only enter it if you're accompanied by Ge himself”

Lan Xichen bowed “I will make changes so it is the same in our timeline as well”

“What happened after?” Lan Zhan asked.

Sizhui sighed “Zewu-jun didn't think Lan Qiaoling realized he was done with Inquiry before he dispersed his brother’s spirit so he kept it to himself. He confronted him about the incident as he originally planned but Lan Qiaoling dismissed and laughed at him as if he didn't directly go against the sect leader” he explained, feeling angry on his uncle’s behalf “According to the rules, insubordination has to be punished. Lan Qiaoling agreed to it but the next day his punishment was over ruled by the Council of Elders” he huffed.

“What?! Xichen, don't tell me you let him off after that!” Nie Mingjue yelled.

“Zewu-jun was busy with other matters, which were more important than this. He had to ignore Lan Qiaoling’s actions for the time being, which inturn made him very arrogant”

“Is that it?” Lan Xichen asked.

“Yes” Sizhui bowed.

“Does my future self know about this?” The younger jade asked.

“Not until much later. Ge actually told us about it a few months before we found out I was pregnant” Xiao Laoshi answered.

Everyone remained quiet, not knowing what to say.

“Xiongzhang” Lan Zhan called quietly.

“Yes, Wangji?”

“Do not hide things like this from me anymore, we can deal with them together”

“I- you should focus on your engagement, I can-”

“I will help”

“Wangji, don't be stubborn”

“You are the one being stubborn,” he retorted.

Lan Xichen sighed “Ok, I won't. Promise you'll do the same too?”

“Promise”

Lan Xichen smiled at his little brother, seeing how much he's grown from the little toddler who waddled behind him, following him everywhere he went.

“You ok, Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“Mn” he answered, kissing the other's knuckles “My turn”

“Lan Zhan! Warn me before you do things like that!” he whisper-yelled, hiding his face with his other hand.

The screen returned back to normal and everyone's attention was back onto it.

Chapter Text

“I once again congratulate you on behalf of your son, this has been lovely. I will go find my disciples now, thank you for hosting us”

“Of course, please ask the disciple at the door to contact Lan Lixi and Lan Wenyang, today is their turn to escort guests”

“Escort guests?” Sect Leader Shen asked, his eyebrows twitching, “They were very kind to offer but I assured them they don't need to escort my disciples before I left, surely they're busy with other things?”

Xiao Laoshi smiled “Non sense, what kind of hosts would we be if we didn't even do that?”

Sect Leader Shen laughed, “As expected from the virtuous Gusu Lan, polite as always. I will take my leave now” he bowed one last time before leaving.

As soon as he left, Xiao Laoshi slammed his hands against the table “They're not even trying to be subtle! Having their disciples snoop around while he keeps us busy? Do they think we'd fall for that?”

Lan Qiren sighed “Calm down,”

“Can't we just ban them?”

“Without definite proof, we cannot, not unless you want to cause more problems in the future,”

“I'll never understand politics!” he groaned, “I'll go pick up A-Yu. Lan Zhan and A-Yuan should be done with the meeting. I'll ask the kitchens to bring our meal to the Jingshi. Make sure to eat too, Shufu!” he stood up “Oh, by the way, Jin Ling and Zizhen are visiting tomorrow, all of us are going to have dinner together, join us if you can!” he waved as he left.

Both Lan Qirens just shook their heads, and if Wei Wuxian didn't know any better he'd think it was fond.

The screen sped up and landed on a scene of Lan Wangji feeding A-Yu with his husband watching them fondly, “Ah Lan Zhan, this little one is going to have your spice tolerance if this is all we're going to feed her”

“Wei Ying, she is barely over a year old”

“But Lan Zhaaaan,” he pouted more for the sake of it than actually wanting to feed their daughter spicy food.

“Wei Ying”

“Fine fine, she's done eating. It's your turn to bathe her. Good luck,” he patted his husband’s shoulder, “I'll clean up, everyone will probably arrive soon”

Xiao Laoshi hummed as he cleaned the room, in the background, delighted squealing could be heard.

He snickered as he finished wiping the table, “You doing ok, Lan Zhan?” he called.

A muffled “Mn” was buried under louder squealing.

A few minutes later, a very wet second jade walked into the room holding a very happy baby wrapped in a towel.

“Looks like you two enjoyed bath time,” Xiao Laoshi laughed as he took their daughter into his arms. “I'll dress her, you should go change”

He walked into their bedroom and took out her robes. “A-Yu, it's good that you like bath time, really it is. I heard that your Yi-Gege kicked and screamed every time he had to take a bath,” he giggled.

Jingyi blushed “Hey! Why me?!”

“But maybe you shouldn't splash around so much yeah?”

“Mn!” she wobbled her head.

“Was that a yes or a no?” he laughed “There you go, all done! Time for bed”

“Noooo”

“Do you want to hear a song then?”

“Mn!”

“Lan Zhan! Look! She's doing your thing! Ah my heart can't take this!” He clutched his chest and fell backwards only to be caught by his husband.

“Wei Ying”

“Lan Zhan! I learnt a new Gusu lullaby a few days ago, want to play it with me?”

“Mn”

Feeling fond, Xiao Laoshi giggled and kissed his husband before placing their daughter into the crib, “We should think of adding another room, she'll probably want one of her own when she grows up”

“She will have to stay with the disciples then”

“No, I meant before that”

Lan Wangji frowned, “Will she not want to stay with us before then?”

“I don't know Lan Zhan, I heard kids these days want that”

“We will plan for an extension, though hopefully we will not use it until she is old enough to stay at the disciple quarters”

“Me too, Lan Zhan” he smiled, feeling happy that they both agreed without words that A-Yuan’s room will stay as it is even if he would have his own place as the Sect Leader.

Both of them pulled out their instruments and started playing, and A-Yu fell asleep soon after that.

Just as they finished the song, there was a knock at the door. They opened the door to find Jin Ling and Zizhen.

“Hi, you two! Come in, come in”

“Hanguang-jun, Wei-qianbei, that was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard!” Zizhen exclaimed “What song is it?”

“It's just a lullaby I picked up from Caiyi”

Jin Ling looked shocked “Really? A lullaby from Caiyi? I thought it was a spiritual song”

“We have been infusing our music with qi” Lan Wangji explained.

“Yeah, Lan-daifu said it would be good for her, especially at this age”

There was another knock at the door, this time it was everyone else except Sizhui.

“Come in!” he ushered them inside and everyone settled around the table. “Where's A-Yuan?”

Zewu-jun sighed “Your son has once again kicked me out of my own office”

“Maybe it's his way of saying that it's going to be his office soon, Xichen” Lan Meilin teased.

“All of us know Sizhui’s too nice for that, A-Niang” Jingyi laughed.

A few minutes later, the food arrived. Everyone sat around the table talking with each other while they waited for Lan Sizhui.

“We’ve covered them with lids but they’ll get cold soon, where is Sizhui?” Jin Ling asked.

“I do not know, " Zewu-jun answered. "He said he was just going to put everything away before joining us” 

Just then the door burst open revealing an out-of-breath Sizhui.

“A-Yuan?! Is something wrong?”

He quickly walked in and placed a silencing talisman on the door, “After Bobo left, while I was putting everything away, I noticed that the night hunt request piles weren’t as neat as always, which was odd, but then I noticed a letter at the bottom of the ‘not our job’ pile which had the seal of Caiyi’s magistrate”

Lan Wangji frowned, “Anything with the magistrate’s seal should be sorted into the ‘urgent’ pile”

“Yes! Which is why I opened it right away and- Granduncle, please look at this, it is concerning”

Lan Qiren frowned but took the letter and opened it, and his eyes widened more as he read it.

“What does it say, Sizhui? We haven’t had any major problems in Caiyi ever since Wei-qianbei took out the waterborne abyss all those years ago” Jingyi asked.

“Half of Biling Lake is frozen over. They ordered all the fishermen and merchants to stay away from the lake until we take a look at it”

“What? It’s the middle of summer, it’s so hot even at night”

“Shufu?”

“This- the description is very similar to the scene at Cangse and Changze’s-” he cut himself off, not being able to finish.

The screen gleamed blue.

“Why did it change to Xichen’s perspective now?” Nie Mingjue asked.

“As I said earlier, Chifeng-zun, these few weeks weren’t really ‘happy’ for me, even though they’re related to A-Yuan’s naming ceremony. So it will show things from Ge’s perspective”

Xiao Laoshi stood up in shock “What?! You can’t be serious!”

“We have to see what’s happening right away, Sizhui, when was this letter sent?” Zewu-jun asked.

“From the date on it, it seems that it was sent this morning”

“It could have gotten worse, let’s go check what’s happening,” Xiao Laoshi said as he grabbed Suibian and Chenqing. “Can someone stay here with A-Yu?”

Lan Meilin stood up, “I’ll stay, be careful out there”

Lan Haoren followed “I will go see if anyone has tampered with Xichen’s office and try to find why that letter was misplaced. The rest of you should go together, the more people the better, just in case”

“Haoren, send some disciples after us, we will head there first,” Zewu-jun said before leaving with the others.

Everyone else stepped on their swords as soon as they stepped outside the Jingshi and started heading for Caiyi.

Even though their group consisted of some of the strongest cultivators still alive, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian, and Lan Xichen from their generation, Lan Qiren from the generation before theirs, and the four sworn brothers from the generation after theirs, they were still uneasy and worried.

“Did you all know about it before today?” Wei Wuxian asked softly.

Xiao Laoshi huffed “They’re my family, of course I told them” 

They dismounted their swords some distance from Biling Lake. Even though the sun just set, the usual colorful stalls near the shore were nowhere to be seen.

They walked closer to the lake and noticed that the temperature fell drastically the second they got near it, and the odd symbols near the shore were huge.

“I feel like we have seen that before” Zizhen pondered.

“Yi City” Lan Wangji said.

Jin Ling gasped in realization “That looks like the signature of Shanghua, Xiao Xingchen’s sword!” 

“Who is Xiao Xingchen?” Jiang Wanyin asked.

“He’s a disciple of Baoshan Sanren, he descended shortly after I died” Xiao Laoshi answered making some people flinch at the casual reminder of his death.

“It does look like the signature of his technique, Frost Fall, but it’s slightly different,” Xiao Laoshi noticed the temperature dropping further, “Everyone stay close. Shufu, what do you think?”

Lan Qiren stroked his beard, looking nervous, “It is very similar to the scene I saw all those years ago. Ice in the middle of the summer, these symbols too. I have never seen Shanghua’s signature before, but if it is similar, then I think it is confirmed what actually happened back then”

“What should we do? Is there a way to melt the ice?” Jingyi asked.

Xiao Laoshi sent out a fire talisman and sent it flying over the lake. To his shock, it froze before it could even activate “What the actual hell?” he muttered to himself.

“A-Die, can I try the spell Ning-Shushu taught me?”

“Go ahead, we don’t have any other options right now”

Sizhui joined his hands together and sent out a stream of qi which transformed into fire.

Nie Mingjue gasped “That’s the Wen Clan’s Ignition spell!”

“Yes it is, Sect Leader Nie” Sizhui answered pleasantly.

“I- you-” he started but quickly cut himself off after being subjected to many death glares.

“It seems to be melting but very slowly,” Zewu-jun commented, “Should we try to break the ice into smaller pieces, maybe that could help melt it? We can not let it remain for long, Caiyi’s trade is completely centered around this lake” 

“I don’t think our swords will freeze because of this, let’s-” Xiao Laoshi was interrupted by a flash of white and before he could even register what was happening he was pushed away with a shout.

“Wei Ying!”

Chapter Text

Both of them landed some distance away with Lan Wangji on top as he tackled his husband away from a flash of white he saw from the corner of his eyes. Xiao Laoshi groaned as he tried to wipe off the blood on his forehead, he must have broken something from the impact.

Floating in the air above the lake, was a figure clad in white, wearing a long veil. “There will not be a repeat of Yanling Daoren” the voice echoed in their ears.

Everyone panicked and yelled as they unsheathed their swords.

The white-clad figure extended their hand and closed it into a fist and pulled it towards themself. At the same time, Lan Wangji was pulled into the air.

Xiao Laoshi yelled and grabbed his husband and quickly sent out a binding talisman to bind them together. It lasted for barely a second before the binds snapped, separating them.

Lan Wangji crashed into the ice with so much force that it broke and he was submerged into the lake. The lake then froze over again after he was completely submerged.

“Lan Zhan!” Xiao Laoshi yelled as his eyes glew red.

Many yells of “Wangji!” and “Hanguang-jun!” were heard from both the screen and the room.

“He's going to be ok, right?” Wei Wuxian muttered.

“My future self is fine, there is no need to worry”

“How can I not worry about you, Lan Zhan?”

“Break the ice! There's no way he can swim to the unfrozen side like that, hurry!” Sizhui commanded as he cast the Ignition spell with one hand and controlled his sword with the other.

Everyone sent their swords onto the surface of the lake and pierced it at the same time, but it didn't do more than scratch the surface.

The white clad figure extended their hand once again, and repeated the action. This time Xiao Laoshi stumbled forward and Jin Ling grabbed onto him “Da-jiu, try your binding talisman again!”

Xiao Laoshi tried to take out a talisman from his sleeve as Jingyi and Zizhen joined Jin Ling. Just as he pulled it out, the voice above the lake made a noise that seemed like a scoff.

There was a cloud of mist and the figure disappeared into thin air.

From a distance, a group of Lan disciples could be seen flying towards Biling Lake.

“Let me go! I'll get him from the unfrozen side!” Xiao Laoshi yelled as he tried to free himself.

“Are you crazy?! You'll freeze before you even get there!” Jin Ling yelled.

“Let's keep trying Sizhui’s idea, backup is coming, they can help,” Jingyi reasoned.

“Pierce the ice with your swords, use all of your strength. On the count of three!” Zewu-jun ordered, not even waiting for the disciples to dismount their swords.

Sizhui cast the spell once again, this time with both hands and as much spiritual energy as he could muster.

The top layer of the ice broke only to reveal more ice underneath it.

They tried again.

“Lan Lixi! Head back to Cloud Recess and ask Lan-daifu to prepare the infirmary for hypothermia and bring your sister with something to help before we can get him there!” Zewu-jun yelled out.

Being one of the fastest fliers there, Lan Lixi immediately took off to Cloud Recess as fast as she could.

The rest of them tried again but it only revealed more ice.

“Agh! This is useless! I'll-”

“Wei Wuxian! Jumping into the lake will only be suicide! Continue with this!” Lan Qiren yelled, his voice shaking.

Just then a black figure rushed towards them “Wei-gongzi, what is happening? I heard-”

“Wen Ning! Please- you have to- Lan Zhan! He's trapped underneath that ice!”

Wen Ning’s eyes widened as he immediately went running around the lake, to the unfrozen side. He jumped in without any hesitation.

“Stop! This might hurt them! Wait for him to come back up,” Sizhui yelled in the direction of the disciples.

Everyone held their breaths as they waited for the fierce corpse to come back up either with bad news or with Hanguang-jun.

It seemed like forever but it was only a few minutes before Wen Ning resurfaced from the unfrozen side, carrying an unconscious Lan Wangji.

“Why is he unconscious?!” Wei Wuxian yelled.

“Wei Ying, I will be fine”

“Are you sure?” he asked, turning to the ones from the future.

“Baba has made a full recovery,” Sizhui offered with a sad smile.

Wei Wuxian sighed as he leaned into the younger jade “That's good”

“Lan Zhan!” Xiao Laoshi yelled as he started removing the wet layers.

Lan Lixi arrived again, this time with her twin sister, Lan Xiyue.

“Wei-qianbei! Quickly! Remove all the wet clothes and dry him with this. Get him farther away from that lake! Someone start a fire!”

Many fire talismans were ignited and a large fire was started in no time.

Zewu-jun took off three of his outer layers, “Here, dress him in these, they have warming talismans stitched into them”

“Put more warming talismans onto those robes, as soon as he is slightly warmer, we should get him to Cloud Recess,” Lan Xiyue said “Wei-qianbei! You're injured too, don't move around too much, let them do it”

Xiao Laoshi almost hissed at Lan Qiren when he tried to pick Lan Wangji up.

“Wei Wuxian, you are in no position to carry Wangji back to Cloud Recess, let me do it. You can ride with Jingyi. Come now, hurry”

Xiao Laoshi knew he was being irrational but he couldn't help it. After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and finally let go of his husband.

Lan Qiren set off first and Lan Jingyi followed, his sworn brothers flying close to him to catch Xiao Laoshi if he fainted from the blood loss. Lan Lixi took her sister.

“Sizhui, take Wen Qionglin with you to Cloud Recess, he needs to be looked after too. I will see to everything here”

“But Bobo, it's not safe!”

“Exactly, we need to report this to Caiyi’s magistrate and seal off this area. I know you want to go with them, go ahead, let me deal with these things for now” he said softly before turning towards Wen Ning and bowing deeply “Wen Qionglin, you have my deepest gratitude. I can not thank you enough for saving my brother”

“Ah Zewu-jun, th-there’s no need! A-as you once said, th-there is no need for thank yous between fa-family” he said “And I-I’m not even alive, I don't need to see a doctor”

“Still, you should get checked”

Sizhui thrust his qiankun pouch into his uncle’s hands “There are some spare robes in there, they might not fit but you shouldn't be so under-dressed here, it's too cold! And come back as soon as you're done!” he said before turning to his other uncle “Are you cold? Do you need any-”

“A-Yuan, I can't feel cold anymore,” Wen Ning assured him softly “I'll follow you on my own, you will get wet too if I ride on your sword”

Sizhui nodded before setting off towards Cloud Recess with Wen Ning following quickly behind him.

Zewu-jun closed his eyes for a second before turning towards the disciples “Three of you, head to the magistrate’s office and inform him of us sealing this area. The rest of you, help me with the sealing array. I will meet the magistrate and explain after we are done” he ordered as he opened the qiankun pouch and took out the outer robes from inside. They were a little short and tight but he couldn't complain after he put them on and felt the warmth.

The disciples spread out around the lake and made sigils onto the shore. It took a while but they activated the array and the entire lake was sealed off.

He turned towards the disciples, “All of you may leave, I will join you after I speak with the magistrate”

Almost all the disciples bowed before leaving on their swords. One still remained, it was Lan Wenyang.

He bowed deeply “Zewu-jun, this disciple begs for your forgiveness and requests punishment to atone for his wrongs!”

“Wenyang? What happened?”

“Zewu-jun, I was assigned to escort guests today along with Lan Lixi. They split into two groups so each of us followed one group. The group I was escorting was very loud and distracting. I don't know how, but one disciple slipped past me, and the next time I saw him was when we were passing by your office, he was outside the door. I didn't think much of it because I knew it was warded and that he couldn't get in but- since the night hunt requests have been tampered with, it must have been him. This disciple has been negligent with his duties,” he bowed even deeper, his head almost touching his legs.

“Please get up, you won't be receiving any punishment until we learn more about this. Even if he left your line of sight for a while, he shouldn't have been able to get inside my office. There are only a few jade tokens that allow access to it, most disciples can't enter without me letting them in either,” Zewu-jun sighed, “But you should have reported this earlier. Do you remember his name and face?”

“Yes, I asked for his name after I found him there. I can send it along with a detailed report,” he said.

“Yes, please do that as soon as you can. You can head back now”

He bowed one last time before heading back towards Cloud Recess.

Zewu-jun made himself another warming talisman as he made his way to the magistrate’s office.

The screen sped up.

“What the actual fuck was that?” Jiang Wanyin asked, “Was that actually Baoshan Sanren?”

“We're pretty sure it was. Even though she was flying over us, we could still feel the sheer amount of power radiating off of her. Her core was crazy strong,” Jin Ling explained..

“And the fact that even the strongest cultivators of our generation couldn't break her ice, it seems like only something an immortal could be capable of” Zizhen added.

“Yeah, and the echoing voice too” Jingyi added “Or maybe that was just for the dramatic effect”

“She said something about Yanling Daoren? Who is that?” Wei Wuxian asked.

Lan Qiren frowned, “There have been some legends centred around a character with the same name”

“Yes, we will find out more about him soon. It will probably show all of that later” Xiao Laoshi explained before sighing, “All of you should be really grateful you're watching this. If it was up to me, I wouldn't even want to remember this happening, it was awful”

“Thank you, Xiao Laoshi. This will definitely help us prepare for when it happens here,” Lan Xichen bowed and the other three sect leaders quietly followed.

“We're not sure if this will happen again, but it is better to be safe than sorry”

Chapter Text

When it returned to normal, the screen was still glowing a light hue of blue.

Zewu-jun landed a few steps outside the Healing Pavilion where Lan Haoren was pacing back and forth.

“Xichen, good you're back. I was worried when you didn't return with the others,” he sighed.

“How is Wangji? Where is everyone else?”

“Lan-daifu said that his breathing was shallow when he was brought here. His core was completely exhausted trying to keep him warm. There were also a few broken bones. She is currently inside trying to help him. A-Ying fainted as soon as he got here, he hit his head pretty hard too. Some of the other healers are seeing him right now. The others have been sent to the back room to warm up and to be checked for any lasting damage. You should join them,” he sighed, “I guess I will take over babysitting duty for now. I will ask Meilin to bring you a change of robes when she visits, she's been worried sick”

“Ok, yes, I will go- join them” Zewu-jun breathed out.

The screen sped up again. When it returned back to normal, it was completely dark with only a small candle lit in the corner of the room, Zewu-jun walked in and quietly stood beside the bed.

His brother was lying on the bed, wrapped in many layers of thick robes and warming talismans, still unconscious. His brother-in-law kneeled beside his bed, holding his hand.

“Hi Ge, I thought Lan-daifu forbid everyone from entering until tomorrow”

“You're here too”

“No one here is stupid enough to put us in different rooms. I just woke up a few hours ago”

Zewu-jun pulled a chair for the other “Sit down. How are you feeling?” he asked as he sat on another chair on the other side of the bed.

“I'm fine” he answered and the two sat in silence for a while.

“He got hurt because of me. Again" Xiao Laoshi whispered, finally letting his tears fall “How did you do this back then? Just looking at him like this- it's- I can't-” 

“I was terrified of sleep back then” Zewu-jun admitted softly into the quiet room “I was terrified every time I woke up after accidentally falling asleep, I was terrified that he would be- that he would be gone, that he wasn't just unconscious, that he was- that he would follow you to your death”

“Ge…”

Sizhui looked down “Baba…”

“Lan Zhan?! What? How could-?” Wei Wuxian exclaimed.

“Wei Ying, I am here”

“Lan Zhan, promise me you'd never even think about such stupid things!”

“I always think about Wei Ying”

“Lan Zhan, I'm serious! Promise me!” he looked close to tears “Please?”

Lan Zhan could never deny his Wei Ying anything ever since the day he laid his eyes on him, “I promise”

“But he woke up. He stayed. He stayed for little A-Yuan who cried with grief for a family he didn't even remember, with grief too big for his little body to hold. He woke up and chose to stay for the little kid he didn't even know he was related to back then, he fought to wake up and get better so he could raise A-Yuan with all his heart.” Zewu-jun held his brother's other hand, “He will wake up again. For you. For A-Yuan and A-Yu. He will," his voice cracked as he let his tears fall in the dark, “He has to”

The screen sped up again, but the entire room stayed quiet, not knowing what to say after that.

“A-Yuan, we love you very much, you know that right?” Xiao Laoshi asked as he pulled his son into a hug.

“Yes A-Die, I know. I love you too” 

Xiao Laoshi laughed as he tried to lighten the mood, “What a filial son we have, most kids would be embarrassed if their parents did something like this”

“I think Sizhui has a thicker face than you, Wei-qianbei” Zizhen said.

“There is no way that's true” Jiang Wanyin snorted.

“No no, Zizhen's right” Jin Ling added.

Lan Qiren cleared his throat, “Is this what you meant when you said the Dafan Wen might have more relations to the Lan than we might think? He's actually related to Wangji?” he asked Jingyi.

“I said that? Hahaha,” he laughed awkwardly.

Sizhui sighed “I'm sure you'll learn about it in your own timeline when the time's right”

Lan Xichen looked lost in thought when Nie Mingjue clapped him on the back, “He'll be fine, Xichen” he assured him, to which he just received a tired smile.

The next morning everyone gathered in the Healing Pavilion where Lan Wangji was still unconscious.

Xiao Laoshi sighed as he let Lan Xiyue change the bandages on his head, “I asked Jiang Cheng and Nie-Xiong to join us with a communication talisman. Please tell me someone has some new information about what happened last night”

“Yes, A-Die. I went through Lan Wenyang’s report and looked through Bobo’s office again and found something”

“Did you get any sleep sweetheart?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that, A-Die?”

Xiao Laoshi just sighed again, not having the energy to say anything back.

Lan Xiyue bowed “Please don’t over-exert yourself” she advised before leaving.

Lan Haoren placed a silencing talisman on the door as Xiao Laoshi activated the communication talisman.

“Lin-Jie, give me A-Yu I can hold her”

“Here you go, be careful. She didn’t sleep well last night, so she’s fallen asleep now”

Xiao Laoshi held his daughter close to his chest.

“Sect Leader Jiang, Sect Leader Nie, can you hear us?” Zewu-jun asked.

“Give me a minute, I’ll place a silencing talisman outside my office” Jiang Wanyin huffed.

“Yes, Er-Ge! I can hear you, what happened? This was rather sudden”

“Ok I’m done, what’s this about?” Jiang Wanyin asked.

Sizhui cleared his throat, “Zewu-jun if I can?”

“Go ahead, Sizhui”

“Yesterday Sect Leader Shen visited Cloud Recess to congratulate me in advance since he could not attend my naming ceremony, but I had to attend a meeting along with Zewu-jun, Hanguang-jun, and Lady Meilin, so Wei-qianbei received him on my behalf along with Grandmaster Lan. Sect Leader Shen brought some disciples to accompany him. They were escorted by our disciples to look around while their Sect Leader talked with Wei-qianbei. Lan Wenyang, one of the disciples incharge of escorting them, did not notice a Shen disciple slipping away. The next time he saw him, he was in front of Zewu-jun’s office”

“Isn’t it warded?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“Yes, it is, hence Lan Wenyang didn’t think of reporting it since nothing was amiss. After that, they left. When we returned, we did not notice anything wrong, but when I was cleaning up for the day, I noticed that a night hunt request with the Caiyi magistrate’s seal was misplaced at the bottom of the least important pile. When I went back later that night to recheck, I noticed the remains of an unknown used talisman near the door and the remains of a used fire talisman”

“Someone broke in and tried to burn the letter?” Jiang Wanyin asked, not believing that anyone would do something so daring.

“Any letter with the magistrate’s seal can not be destroyed by anyone but the magistrate himself. There are some more features to prevent people from tampering with any letters with it. Those seals are Wei-qianbei’s invention, they have been distributed to almost all the villages in Gusu and even some outside. Even though they are foolproof, they are easier to bypass than the wards set up around the office, how can someone be able to break into the office but not get rid of the letter?”

Lan Qiren stroked his beard, “The wards have been strengthened again a few months before A-Yu was born. The wards around specific buildings have been strengthened even more to only let certain people inside”

“So someone from your sect gave that disciple a jade pendant to get inside?” Jiang Wanyin asked.

“The only jade pendants with access to Xichen’s office are the ones inside this room. Not even the elders have access,” Lan Meilin explained.

“What was in that letter? Why did they want to hide it?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“It reported that half of Biling Lake was frozen over. When we arrived, we tried melting it but it wasn’t very effective. Just as we were making some progress, a figure in white appeared above the lake”

The Head Shaker shuddered “What is this ghost story?”

“I wish it was a ghost instead” Jin Ling muttered.

“She wore a veil and emitted a great deal of power. She targeted Wei-qianbei first, but Hanguang-jun pushed him away. Despite our efforts, she- she managed to throw Hanguang-jun into the lake”

“What?!”

“How?! She’s stronger than Hanguang-jun?!”

“She tried doing the same with Wei-qianbei after that, but at the time, more Lan disciples arrived. I think she left after seeing them. With them, we tried to break the ice again but it only revealed more ice underneath. We were fortunate that Wen-qianbei arrived at the right time, he helped pull Hanguang-jun outside. We brought him back to Cloud Recess, and as of now, he is still unconscious”

“What the fuck? Who is even capable of doing something like that?”

“How is Wangji-Xiong? Is everyone else alright?”

“Wei-qianbei hurt his head but it will heal in a few days. Everyone else is relatively fine. Lan-daifu said that Hanguang-jun waking up will depend on his core strength”

“Is that lake cursed or something? Before it was the Waterborne Abyss, now this?” Jiang Wanyin huffed “What did you do with it?”

“We sealed it off and asked people not to go near it for now. Wen-qianbei said that it wasn’t completely frozen to the lake bed, only the top half was frozen”

“Does such a strong frost spell even exist?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“It does” Xiao Laoshi answered “Around the shore, there were symbols similar to the signature of Shanghua”

“Xiao Xingchen’s sword?”

“Yes. The symbols from the technique, Frost Fall, which is taught to all of Baoshan Sanren’s male disciples”

Nie Huaisang gasped, “Wei-Xiong, you can’t be serious- you think that white figure is Baoshan Sanren, the immortal? Why would she involve herself in mortal matters?”

“The same reason she killed my parents, probably. Nie-Xiong, what do you know about this?”

“I don’t kno-”

“Nie Huaisang! This is not the time for your act, I’m serious!” Xiao Laoshi yelled.

He sighed “Wei-Xiong, it’s true. I don’t know much more than you. I only heard that Biling Lake was sealed off, I don’t know much more about it, but I did hear a few things about Sect Leader Shen”

“What did you hear?”

“He has been meeting with three other people almost every day for a few months now. He kept badmouthing your communication talisman and said that it was probably bugged so you could spy on them. I don’t know for sure who the other three people are but apparently, they visit while wearing black robes. A week ago, a new guest joined them, this time it was a woman. After she left, they were apparently talking like crazy people and boasting about how they were ‘selected by God’ and some more crazy things”

“Do you know what they were talking about?”

“My people weren’t able to hear any sound coming from the door, it was even more quiet than when they used a silencing talisman. My guess is that woman did something, they were able to hear just fine after she left”

“My people? You turned our disciples into spies, Huaisang?!” Nie Mingjue yelled.

“Da-Ge, I didn’t do anything and besides, it seems to have helped them in the future”

“Was she the one who helped that disciple get through the wards?” Lan Meilin asked.

“One of those three people must have been a Lan, there is no way she could have found a way to get through the wards without even knowing how they work”

“Lan Qiaoling! It had to have been him!” Jingyi yelled.

“He completely dismissed the idea of the letter seals too, that is why they couldn’t account for them not being able to burn,” Zewu-jun added.

“He’s working with outsiders to hurt innocent people, this has to be enough to throw him out! The fact that he’s been here for this long is crazy enough!” Jin Ling yelled.

“Calm down, we can’t tell people about this, it will only cause unnecessary panic” Xiao Laoshi reasoned.

“Not tell people? Are you insane?! What if she decides to attack another sect?” Jiang Wanyin yelled.

“No, she won’t. She is targeting me”

“What? How can you be so sure?” Zizhen asked.

Sizhui sighed “I hoped that wasn’t the case. Last night, I tried to find some texts on Yanling Daoren. He… his story is very similar to A-Die’s”

“Who is that? What does he have to do with this? Jiang Wanyin asked.

“At the lake, she only spoke once. She said ‘There will not be a repeat of Yanling Daoren’ before attacking us,” Jin Ling explained.

Nie Huaisang seemed shocked “Yanling Daoren is real? I thought he was just a character from a famous play” 

“From what I read, that play is based on real events,” Sizhui started. “Yanling Daoren was the first disciple of Baoshan Sanren to descend her mountain. In his life, he had a good reputation. He was strong and virtuous. But later something happened and he succumbed to resentful energy. Everyone turned against him and he died under a thousand swords. That is all I was able to find from the texts I read”