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Chapter Text

“Hello, Uncle and Auntie!” the children said to each set of parents and the elders they encountered as their families queued to drop off their gifts at the reception table of the Hun-Ngan banquet and find out which tables they were assigned to.

Having discovered they would be sitting together, the Lans and Weis made their way to table 42.

“So, Wangji, A-Ying tells me that, unlike my clueless son, you’ve already chosen and submitted the topic for your graduation independent project. And you've decided to compose music to help properly heal the ecology of places destroyed by magic duels and nighthunting and not just cosmetically as has been done for generations?” Wei Changze said once they'd all settled and Wei Wuqian had poured tea for everyone. “How is that going?”

Lan Wangji had nodded in affirmation and now replied, “Not only destroyed: any type of damage resulting from the use of spells, curses, arrays, and from weapons.”

“That's very ambitious, covers a lot of ground,” Yin Zanyu said, “but that is in keeping with the family propensity for over-achievement.” She grinned at Lan Wangji's mother.

“Look who's talking, Zan-jie,” retorted Shan Yi, returning the grin. “Who was it that decided to tackle that flock of Quzhou yaguai on her own just last week? It’s a good thing you’ve got such lightning-fast reflexes, else your kids will be down a parent and we’d have some random stranger sitting with us at this table.”

“Mama’s like a cockroach: very hard to kill,” quipped Wei Wuxian, to much laughter around the table.

“Well, pray that there’ll never be a nuclear apocalypse in the future because you’ve only got 50% survival rate being only half-cockroach,” Yin Zanyu retorted to her son and stuck her tongue out.

Wei Wuqian wrapped her arms around her mother’s torso and said winningly, “But you’ll protect your favourite child in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, won’t you, Mama?”

“Favourite children are supposed to remember to finish all their homework when told, instead of needing to borrow their father’s university library account at 11pm because ‘oh, right, there’s an essay that’s due tomorrow’.”

“Maaaaaa!” whined Wei Wuqian.

“Guess the favourite child just got demoted. A win for me. Ow!” Wei Wuxian rubbed his arm where he’d received a pinch.

“Speaking of actually-properly behaved children, how are your girls doing on their exchange program, Hanchu?” Yin Zanyu said.

“They’re having a blast! They sent a text in Spanish on the first day. And got a reply back from Qiren correcting their grammar. They forgot that he did a minor in Spanish in university and spent three years working in both Spain and Portugal.”

“Oh Qiren, you just can’t seem to turn off Professor-mode, even for your twin pearls.” Yin Zanyu shook her head.

“Says the chronic risk-taker,” Lan Qiren shot back.

“Actually, I was doing a public service: I don’t know who was careless enough to leave their water-replenishment pool around where anyone or anything might take a dip, but those yaoguai certainly did, and death to everyone in the nearby village would’ve resulted had I not heard the fluttering of wings and put a silencing spell in time.”

“Well, in service to the welfare of my sanity and that of your children, a text to your husband seeking back-up would be preferred,” Wei Changze said in a mild tone. “Death by fatal duck quack does the public no favours.”

“Sorry, laogong, I’ll be more mindful in future.” Yin Zanyu gave a meek, contrite kiss on Wei Changze’s cheek.

Shan Yi sighed. “Ah, if only a kiss were enough to get Fengmian-xiong out of trouble.”

“What do you mean? How can something have happened between Ziyuan and Fengmian while her mother is ill?” said Yin Zanyu.

“Ah, she hasn’t told you?”

“No! I haven’t dared bother her while she’s busy being a dutiful daughter!”

“Oh, don’t worry, Wei-ayi is in perfectly good health! Huyan and Fengmian-xiong conspired to get Ziyuan’s family to Meishan a few weeks ahead of Ayi’s birthday as a surprise to her. When Ziyuan discovered the deception, she gave both her brother and her husband a sound thrashing in sparring matches. And threatened to use Zidian on them if they ever tried any funny stuff on her again!”

“Well, they deserve it! Though I have half a mind to give her a verbal thrashing for not even dropping a line to let me know that Ayi is okay!”

“Ayi has probably been keeping her fully occupied so that she doesn’t have time to stay angry. I wouldn’t’ve known anything about what’s been going on if Yanli hadn’t been telling A-Huan about it.”

Yin Zanyu raised a brow as she addressed Lan Xichen. “Yanli told you her mother gave her jiujiu and baba a sound thrashing?”

Lan Xichen smiled and was about to reply when his mother laughed and interjected, “Of course not! Yanli is such a sweet girl; she’d never say anything so forceful. No, I just inferred the truth of the situation.”

Yin Zanyu smiled. “That makes more sense! Well, Xichen, can we expect that the next wedding we are invited to be yours and Yanli’s?”

Lan Xichen’s smile broadened. “Now that we know Yu-zongzhu is not suffering any ill-health, we can proceed with the planning. Once I have completed the third trial that my future in-laws have set for me, we will be able to set a date for delivering the betrothal gifts and then a date for the ceremony.”

“Well, I have every confidence that you’ll pass the test with flying colours! No matter how difficult the task may seem, rest assured that you are going to succeed. Ziyuan is equally anxious to get you as her son-in-law as your mother is to finally having Yanli as part of the family.”

“Too right,” said Shan Yi emphatically. “Can’t wait to teach her the yang magic forms!”

Yin Zanyu’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh! So, they’re that compatible?! Not surprising, given their temperaments, but if you’ve gotten proof…”

Shan Yi nodded. “I gave her the warm-up exercise portion of the xinfa and told her to practise with A-Huan. She told me that she felt her qi flow improve significantly, that it’s never been so easily accessible when she practises the Yunmeng style.”

“Which means we’re going to see her yi prowess increase in leaps and bounds once she begins proper meditative dual-cultivation with Xichen.”

“Yes!”

“Good! Ziyuan would never say so, of course, especially not to Yanli, but I know she’s always been disappointed that only one of her kids could potentially match her levels of cultivation one day. Well, just goes to show that exchanging knowledge and finding the best fit can do more for advancing one’s cultivation than trying to fit the mold of the style one inherits or adopts as a result of joining a sect based on proximity, reputation, or what-have-you-other criteria the parents decided on.”

There was a bit of a pause following Yin Zanyu’s pronouncement. While her audience was well-acquainted with her opinions on the subject of cultivation advancement, they were all part of sects as a result of the criteria she disdained and could hardly fully denounce a tradition going back millenia.

“Shan-ayi, does the Lan Interlacing Magic Technique have to have one male and one female wielder? And do they have to be married?” Wei Wuqian asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Oh no! There have been pairings of cousins and disciples as well. As you know with any type of paired techniques, the tradition is to have one male and one female, but a few generations back, a male clan member found his most compatible partner in a male outer disciple who later became his husband. Sadly, they could never be acknowledged as a married couple outside of Gusu because of, well, stupid paleolithic ideas about marriage, but the records indicate that they were one of the most powerful duos the sect ever produced.”

“That’s great to know, Shan-ayi!” exclaimed Wei Wuxian, who turned to Lan Wangji and added, “Hey, Lan Zhan, that means that you might also learn the technique if your future husband’s magic is compatible with yours! Ow!” Distracted by an elbow in the ribs inflicted by his sister, Wei Wuxian missed the look of intensity and reddened ears on his best friend as well as the sighs from all three mothers.

When the first course was served, Wei Wuqian asked to see the menu to help in pacing her intake—as much as she lamented it, her stomach could only hold so much and she had not attended a sufficient number of Cantonese-style banquets to know what dishes to expect. She had to also ask her parents and the aunties to decipher the menu items because they all had fancy, auspicious names that told nothing about their ingredients.

As the dishes were explained, a sudden look of inspiration flashed in Wei Wuxian's eyes. He impatiently inhaled his portion of the BBQ meats course to stave off the hunger and then conjured his ideas journal and began scribbling furiously. He periodically consulted his phone to clarify certain points on theory or magical logistics.

His family and their family friends knew that once he was in idea-mode, there was no point trying to bring him out for such mundane things as eating or sleeping. When he finally emerged from his fugue state, eyes gleaming with excitement, his mother quickly prevented him from sharing the details of his idea by pointing at the collection of small plates that were placed before him, his portions of all the courses already served to and consumed by everyone else. The rest of the table were eating the final rice and noodle dishes. After having his journal and phone confiscated by his sister, with a sharp reminder from his mother that he was in public and couldn't embarrass the ancestors, Wei Wuxian meekly did as he was told, though it took every ounce of effort to not gobble up the food—the aftermath of an intensive ideas session always left him ravenous; already, some of the portions were larger than usual because his sister had been forced to forgo them to make room for other dishes.

When he had finally caught up with everyone else for the dessert sweet soup and pastries, he was finally allowed to give a brief summary of his brainwave.

“It's the fancy names for wedding banquet dishes, like ‘phoenixes announce happiness’ and ‘lifelong harmonious union’! They're always about happiness, luck, wealth, children… all the good things, even if they can't actually manifest as reality. But what if it could for magic cultivation? We know that it’s easiest to manipulate the pure forms of the elements we have the highest affinity to based on our zodiac signs, and that's why I have the best success with hot metals. But what about our actual magic? What if there was a way to enhance its power, like how those yaoguai Mama subdued had used the water pool to increase their strength? I've got some options for talismans I'll need to test, but if there are any results, positive or otherwise, then I'm making this my graduation project!”

“A-Ying, you know the reason there are strictures against enhancing one's wufa xiuzhen is that it is not sustainable long-term; if the cultivator has not put in the effort to build up their powers, seeking a shortcut will deplete their magic and cause long-lasting physical harm, possibly permanently remove the ability to practise,” said Wei Changze.

“I'm not thinking of indefinite enhancement! Of course that'd be bad! But sometimes, it'd be nice to be able to complete a spell without needing to borrow from someone else; and in the case of Mama with those yaoguai, help wasn't available! So, it's a temporary boost and only meant for a major casting when it's required under certain circumstances, like personal safety.”

“Mn, I do agree that certain spells would be more effective if one person could complete the casting because unless all the individuals are used to working as a team, the results are often less effective, if not mostly ineffective,” said Lan Qiren. “There have been attempts in the past to create enhancement spells though fewer for talismans. You should research these and learn from them, Wuxian.”

“Thank you for the tip, Uncle!”

“Mn. I would suggest you book a laboratory to run any tests, to avoid accidental backfires.”

“Will do!”

“It would probably be wise to have someone not involved to monitor and be on hand to help, as a safety precaution,” Lan Xichen said with a twinkle in his eye. He turned to his brother. “A-Zhan, Wuxian probably trusts you most to have his back. You should make sure his tests don't cause anyone unintentional harm.”

Lan Wangji nodded, his ears red.

“Oh, and if Wuxian’s talisman does work, A-Zhan will need to know about how it functions because that will have an impact on the healing music he’s composing, since I’m sure magic enhancement will result in some pretty serious destruction of sites. You boys should definitely work together on your independent projects.” Shan Yi’s eyes were as merry as her older son’s.

“I was going to be bugging Lan Zhan for updates anyway because his idea is so fascinating! But now I have actual permission to hang out while he’s working! Bonus to me!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed, oblivious to the amusement on the faces of all the adults. Wei Wuqian slapped her forehead in despair.

“Hi, everyone! Thanks for coming!” Wei Wuxian beamed as he looked around at the gathered crowd. He’d told the younger students in his tutorial classes that he was looking for volunteers and several had shown up. Three from Lan Wangji’s sessions had also shown—Lan Zhan really was the best! “So, since you may not all know each other, let’s start with a quick round of introductions. Please state your name and your fundamental magic type.”

As the gathered students obediently followed his directions, he realized that he had an over-abundance of water elementals and no fire and wood ones. He turned to Lan Wangji. “Lan Zhan, I know you only signed up to be an impartial monitor, but you’re the only earth elemental here! I’m going to have to go through my contacts list to see if I can convince some fires and woods to volunteer in the tests! We need all the elements to get relevant results! Pleeeeease?”

“Mn.”

“Yay!” Wei Wuxian turned to the group. “Okay, let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first: I need you all to sign these consent forms that state you willingly joined this test group, that you won’t disclose the design of my talisman to anyone not present and involved, and that should you intentionally utilize the talisman outside of the confines of the test parameters and especially outside this lab, you will be sued and any personal harm caused by such actions are your own responsibility. We will, of course, help you seek immediate medical attention if any accidental harm results while conducting the tests. I need not say this is a magical contract, so once you’ve signed, you’re bound to it. Anyone not comfortable with this is free to go now, no hard feelings!”

The forms were dutifully signed and returned.

“Okay, let’s get started! Everyone grab one of the talismans and one of the pure forms of the element that shares your affinity from this desk and spread out to one of the lab benches. We’ll start with the most basic spells today and as a baseline, you have to cast them without use of the talisman. After that, activate the talisman and repeat the spell. And we’ll see what happens! So, the basic spells: metals, you’re to melt your sheet of copper; waters, turn your cup of liquid to ice. Lan Zhan, if you would compact your container of soil.”

One of his students, Huang Jingyi, raised her hand. “If we had fire and wood elementals present, what would they have to do?”

“Ah, the woods would crumble their block to dust and fires put out their candles.”

“Cool!”

“Alright! Everyone ready? The baseline spells first! On three: one, two, three!” When Wei Wuxian’s pen had noted the result of the spellcasting and the magic strength of each individual, he beamed and rubbed his hands in excitement. “Alright, now for the talisman!”

Chaos ensued. Several cups shattered as the ice blocks pushed out from their constraints; others had ice crystals crawling up their arms. Lightning bolts shot out when the square metal sheets evaporated. Lan Wangji’s soil had turned into a brick and dropped to the floor, shattering upon impact. It was a good thing that everyone was wearing their protective lab gear.

“Everyone okay? Anyone need medical assistance?” Wei Wuxian asked in a panic. When there was a chorus of “No”, he sighed in relief. Then took a deep breath. “Okay, looks like the power from the talisman is a bit too strong. Everyone take a short break and I’ll do some adjustments!”

The second round of testing gave results very similar to baseline, meaning that Wei Wuxian had reduced the effect too much. After a few tries, he finally struck a balance.

“So, can you each take turns and tell me how your qi felt while you were casting your spells?”

“It flowed extra quickly!” replied Hong Sizhui.

“It felt warmer, like when I really have to power up to cast a very complex spell,” said Xue Yang.

“It felt easier, Wei-xiong,” Chunyu Zizhen said in astonishment.

“My meridian channel seemed to dilate, allowing for better qi flow,” said Lan Wangji.

The remaining participants agreed with one or more of the previous statements.

Wei Wuxian nodded and beamed. “Great! That’s very helpful feedback! So, with any good experiment, reproducibility is key, so let’s repeat both baseline and talisman-enhanced and see if we get consistent results!”

When several recasts yielded results within acceptable parameters to be deemed consistently the same, Wei Wuxian sighed in satisfaction. “Alright! That’s it for today! Thanks again for volunteering to be test subjects! We’ll reconvene next week, same place, same time?”

After seeing everyone off, Wei Wuxian turned and grabbed Lan Wangji in an excited hug. “Lan Zhan! It worked! Well, after some tweaks, but it worked! I’m going to have to analyze why the initial code was too powerful—it was just a simple amplifying spell. They normally don’t cause such a reaction!”

“Mn, but they are usually cast by the wielder directly. A talisman by nature concentrates the spell and is therefore already an innate amplifier.”

“Ah, true! You’re so smart, Lan Zhan!”

Lan Wangji’s ears turned red. “Not as smart as Wei Ying. Could not have come up with this idea.”

“Aiya, Lan Zhan! You’re making me blush! Ah, look at the time! We’d better clean up the mess and head to dinner! Spellcasting always makes me hungry, even though I wasn’t actively casting. You must be starving! C’mon, the sooner we can lock up, the sooner we can eat! Hey, let’s drop by for ice creams afterwards! We should do a bit of celebrating—my idea isn’t a complete flop!”

“Mn.”

At the second session, the new faces who joined filled the missing gaps: Gan Zhaofeng, fire elemental, had been Wei Wuxian’s tutor and was now working on his Masters; he’d brought his sister, Kailan, who was also a fire elemental.

“And this is my baby godbrother, Chengcheng!” Wei Wuxian said, side-hugging the youth beside him, who wriggled out of the embrace. “Can you stop being such an embarrassing asshole and use my proper name?!” To which Wei Wuxian replied, ruffling the irate boy’s hair, “Sorry, sorry, this is Jiang Wanyin, birth name Jiang Cheng, who only lets me call him ‘Chengcheng’ in private, so no one try and get too familiar with him, okay?” Jiang Cheng shoved him.

“Okay! We’re gonna split into two groups because our newcomers still need to complete the first set of tests! Lan Zhan will be supervising them and recording results. The rest of you over here with me!

“Today, we’re going to perform the same basic spells as the first round, but the materials we’re using are different. As you see, they are mixtures of more than one element, so it’s going to be harder to modify them than with the pure elemental forms. You have to activate your affinity element by making it behave under normal circumstances when in contact with the object but without damaging its form. Again, we’re going to do baseline before talisman-enhanced. Questions? Good! We’ll work through them in order: first the porcelain, then the hemp, cotton, and silk, then the dish of beef stew, and finally the flowering plants! Alright, proceed!”

The results were much more varied. The impact of the spells on the materials differed depending on how much of the element being manipulated was contained within the objects. The water users, overall, caused the greatest modifications to the materials they worked with; the metals had the least.

But just as Wei Wuxian approached each bench to take a closer look at what had happened to the plants, there was a thump followed by a thud, and when everyone turned in the direction of the noise, they saw that Su She had fainted and a red bump was blooming where his head had hit the bench.

Wei Wuxian magicked a stretcher and levitated the unconscious boy to the infirmary. After Su She was settled in the recovery room to receive treatment, Wei Wuxian was brought into the medic’s office and interrogated. When he had explained the nature of his experiments and given a rough overview of the purpose of the talisman, the medic’s frown eased a bit.

“Well, you are going to have to continue your testing without Su She. He has completely depleted his store of qi, hence why he fainted.”

“What?! How?! The others didn’t even look ill or complain about light-headedness after all the spellcasting!”

The medic hesitated. “I want your oath that you will not disclose the following to anyone. You will simply report that one of your participants withdrew for personal reasons.”

“I solemnly swear I will keep confidential whatever you disclose to me about Su She. May my own store of qi be depleted if I break oath.”

“You shouldn’t be so flippant in making such a promise, Wei Wuxian,” scolded the medic. “Su She has an underdeveloped store of qi, so that’s why he fainted: he ran out of power.”

“But… but he graduated from high school, didn’t he? That’s, like, a basic requirement for getting into university, isn’t it?”

“Apparently he has managed to pass all tests by using up a greater amount of qi than the average student. And he’s never had to do sustained spellcasting like he did today, so that’s why he fainted. This is not the first time I’ve had to treat him.”

“Shit! He’s not going to be able to complete his degree if he has such a weak core!”

“I agree! And I keep telling him that he has to do more basic cultivation to grow his core. Unfortunately, he seems more interested in trying to find quick fixes. I’m guessing that he saw your talisman as an easy tool to build up his store of qi with little effort.”

“That is cheating!”

“Yes. And I will be reporting to the head of his program. I will be suggesting that he not be allowed to advance to the next level until he has demonstrated a stronger core that has been developed through no external, artificial means.”

“I think that’s only fair! And it’s for his own safety, besides!”

“Yes. Well, Wei Wuxian, I hope that I won’t need to be treating you for qi depletion in the future?”

“Nope! At least, not for breaking oath!”

“Why? Have you fainted from qi depletion before?”

“A-haha, well, I might’ve been a little overconfident in my callow youth and tried a much-too-complicated spell?”

“Hmph! Boys! All such idiots! I’m so glad my only child is a girl! Now, off with you. There’d better be no other mishaps in the lab while you’ve been here.”

“No, no! I’m sure there haven’t! Besides, my best friend is overseeing things and he’s the most reliable person ever!”

“And may I have the name of this paragon of virtue?”

“Lan Zhan! I mean, Lan Wangji!”

“Ah yes, the Lan-er-shaoye. Very well. Dismissed!”

“Do you know Lan Zh—Wangji?”

“Only by association. I was classmates with his mother, and I know that she would have raised dependable sons.”

“Well, she definitely has! I’ll make sure to tell her you said ‘Hi!’ next time I see her!”

“Thank you, please do.”

Wei Wuxian returned to the lab and was caught up on the outcomes of both sets of tests. After leaving the lab, he gratefully allowed Lan Wangji to decide where to eat.

Having successfully tested variations on the second series of tests over the course of the next few weeks, but having the nuwu and nanwu manipulate three of the four elements that were not their natural element, Wei Wuxian noted the results with enthusiasm: the talisman was equally effective. However, the following week, when it came to needing to manipulate the element that the wielder had the least affinity with, the talisman proved ineffective. After tweaking by increasing the strength in small increments, Wei Wuxian discovered that a talisman with 40% more power could effect any change and that 75% was needed before the results equalled that of manipulating the other elements.

With midterms causing a forced break in experimentation, Wei Wuxian spent the time analyzing his results and discussing his progress with his project supervisor, who happened to be his Advanced Talismans professor.

“Well, this is all looking very promising,” said Professor Song with satisfaction.

“Thanks, Prof Song! I’m really excited about all these great results! If all the tests go well, then I can use it as a basis for my Masters and hopefully find even more uses for it!”

“Ah, so you’ve decided to pursue a Masters?”

“Yeah. Had a talk about it with my parents last week.”

“Well, I’m very pleased to hear of your decision. I think you will do well! And I don’t hesitate to add that I would love to have you as one of my TAs for my Introductory Talismans class.”

“Thanks, Prof! Appreciate the vote of confidence!” A timer sounded on Wei Wuxian’s phone, startling both of them. “Oh geez! I gotta go! Mom’s having the Jiangs over for dinner and I promised I wouldn’t be late! Hey, Prof, will I see you at the trade show this weekend? Gonna be helping my mom man her stall.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to miss it this year. I… planned a surprise weekend get-away with my boyfriend.”

“Oh wow! Okay, well, enjoy that! Sorry, I know I’m being nosy, so don’t feel you have to answer: how long have you two been together?”

“Officially? Ten years. But we’ve known each other ever since high school.”

“Oh wow, that’s awesome! That’s sort of like Lan Zhan and me: we’ve known each other since we were in nappies! And besties ever since!”

Professor Song smiled. “It’s because we were best friends that we both didn’t realize our feelings had changed until ten years ago.”

“Cool, cool! Well, have fun! I hope I get to meet your boyfriend some day!”

Professor Song smiled as they said their goodbyes.

They'd just taken their first sips of bubble tea when Wei Wuqian said to Lan Wangji, “Zhan-gege, do you like my brother in a romantic way?”

Wei Wuxian choked and quickly rounded on his sister. “Yangyang! That's so rude! How can you ask Lan Zhan such a question?! You apologize—” He broke off when he suddenly registered his best friend's soft but firm reply of “Yes.” He turned and gaped at Lan Wangji.

“Excellent! Glad we finally cleared that up! My idiot brother only just realized two weeks ago that he's been crushing on you since forever. Forgive him: his EQ has always registered at Archmage levels on the moronic scale.” She clasped their hands together, patted them both on the head, and stood holding her drink. “Well, my job's done here. Congratulations on your first date! And yes, I deliberately meddled because I got tired of watching all that pining. You two had better leave as proper boyfriends because this isn't the Victorian Era when chaperoning was required, so I'm not about to third-wheel it.” She walked a few paces then turned back. “I'm telling the moms about this, so you two had better not screw it up.”

The weeks leading up to the winter break proved to be much too busy for all students that Wei Wuxian called for resumption of testing in the new year. This was met with much gratitude.

And it was just as well because it took him all his effort to focus on his assignments and practicals now that he had the added distraction of a boyfriend. Many a kissing session when they should’ve been studying were being interrupted and soon their entire circle of family and friends were made aware of the new development. The pair had to endure teasing from their siblings and mothers, variations of “Well, it’s about time!” from fathers, uncles, aunties, cousins, and a bunch of other elders, and a range of emotions from basic elation to high-pitched squealing from friends, classmates, and schoolmates. The squealer had been Chunyu Zizhen, who had been quickly shushed by Yin Ling’s hand over her mouth. Both had planned to ask their tutor for some help with an assignment but had quickly retreated when they’d realized they had disrupted.

The door to Wei Wuxian’s room opened. He was so immersed in reviewing his notes for Minority Tribal Spellcasting that he didn’t even turn around to see who had entered.

“Wei Ying.”

“Mn, just a minute, Lan Zhan, just let me finish this page…”

“Wei Ying.”

“Ah?” Wei Wuxian looked up bleary-eyed.

“Come. You need a break from studying.”

“But Lan Zhan—”

“I promised Zan-yi that I would take care of you. Will you have me break my word?”

“No, but—mmmmppphhhhh—okay, okay, twist my arm, why don’t you.”

“Hold tight.” Lan Wangji activated his jade pendant and a moment later, they were at the front gate of the Cloud Recesses. Lan Wangji practically dragged Wei Wuxian toward the healing pavilion.

“Ah, Er-shaoye, right on time! Healer Lan is waiting.”

They entered a spacious room, its centre occupied by a man-sized gyroscope. The two greeted the healer, who glared at Wei Wuxian and waved him impatiently toward a chair. She took his pulse, frowned even more severely, and said, “Too much salt and spices in your diet, not enough water and sleep.” She examined him from head to foot, poking and prodding, making him jump and wince in pain when she put pressure on a certain acupoint. “Not fully healed from that near-depletion of your core. I will prescribe a six-bowl treatment of soups. Wangji will make sure you drink every last drop before your follow-up visit. And if you disobey, it will be an acupuncture regimen instead.”

“I’ll be good! I promise!”

“We’ll find out, won’t we. Now, other than the poor habits of a typical student, you are otherwise well enough. No injuries that would be made worse by the gyroscope. Now, go change into the proper outfit.”

After re-joining the healer by the contraption, she motioned him to enter as she explained, “I designed this to be a massage technique. You will be suspended by spells that will hold you in place as the gyroscope is set in motion. If at any point you feel nauseated or uncomfortable in any way, speak up and I will pause it.”

As he was rotated, Wei Wuxian let out whoops of glee. “This is amazing, Healer!” An hour later, he was released. “Tian-ah! I feel relaxed and loose all over! This is way better than lying on a table and kneaded! Healer Lan, how did you even come up with this incredible idea?!”

The healer smiled. “One of the disciples had such a severe fall that no position could be maintained for more than a few minutes before she was screaming in pain. I began with basic levitation spells so that she could be as weightless as possible, but as she healed, we discovered that tilting her into the needed positions for treatment had the side-benefit of relaxing her muscles. I chanced to see some of the children in the nursery playing with a toy gyroscope and hit upon the perfect instrument to adopt for my massaging technique.”

“Amazing! Truly, Healer! I hope you’ll seriously consider opening clinics around the country once you’ve trained up enough assistant healers! I know my shigong and shishu would absolutely love easy access to such a great place after months of travelling!”

“Baoshan-qianbei and her disciples would be very welcome whenever they have need for my services.”

“Wo dai ta-men xie-guo Lan Daifu,” Wei Wuxian said with a deep bow.

“Hao! The healing soups require that you stay away from overly-seasoned, deep fried, and generally greasy foods. I also expect you to eat more vegetables and fruits.”

“Yes, Healer.”

For the Winter Solstice celebration, the Weis, Jiangs, and Lans came together as was their annual tradition. This year, it was the Weis’ turn to host.

The day before, an excited Yin Zanyu had told her family as she prepared dinner that her shidi, Xiao Xingchen, would finally be attending, after having ignored her invitation for years, and he would be bringing someone! “I’ve told him to arrive early so the two of them can settle into the guest room. We’ll bring out the spare bed if needed, but somehow, I don’t think sharing will be a problem for them.”

“He didn’t say who it was?” Wei Changze had said. “He’s usually not one to be mysterious.”

“I know! But we’ll let him surprise us, since he was so cagey about it when I pressed.”

“Oh, we’re going to need to make more of the red bean buns, then! Shishu always liked them best,” Wei Wuqian had said.

“Did he say whether his companion has dietary restrictions?” Wei Changze had said.

“They have no restrictions and no allergies. He was clear on that.”

“Good, good! We have a good balance of dishes anyway, given the Lans’ preferences for more vegetables than meat.”

“Yep. I wonder how they met? Xingchen hasn’t mentioned anyone whenever we chat, so I’m really curious about this mystery man.”

“Are you sure it’s a guy, Ma?” Wei Wuxian had said.

“Your shishu may have deliberately used ‘they’, but my gut tells me it’s a guy and someone he likes in a romantic way.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because there’s that fondness in his voice I only hear when you talk about Wangji.”

“Maaaaaa!”

“Am I wrong?” Yin Zanyu had demanded of her husband and daughter.

“No!” they had replied in unison. Wei Wuxian had blushed and pouted.

But when Xiao Xingchen and his companion arrived on the doorstep, Yin Zanyu couldn’t stop from deflating a bit. But then she fired up in indignation. “You could have just said you were bringing Zichen! You made it sound like it was some stranger I’ve never met!”

While Xiao Xingchen fumbled to explain, Song Lan laughed and patted his cheek. Turning to Yin Zanyu, he said, “Sorry, Zan-jie, I told him that we should wait until we were face-to-face to share our news. Xingchen just took it to mean keeping even my identity secret. You see…” He grabbed Xiao Xingchen’s left arm that had been behind his back and showed off the gold band on the ring finger. “We got married last week.”

Yin Zanyu gaped in shock, then with a roar of fury, she dragged them inside by the ears. “You got married and didn’t think to invite me?! Or even, for that matter, bother to tell me that you were dating?!”

“Aiya, laopo, let go! You forget your own strength sometimes!” Wei Changze rescued the guilty-looking pair and shooed them upstairs to unpack.

When Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan joined their hosts in the kitchen, Xiao Xingchen wrapped his arms around his shijie and said, contritely, “I’m sorry, Shijie! I brought Zichen to visit Shifu and the other shijie and shixiong to tell them, but you weren’t there because you were recovering from that disastrous qiong qi nighthunt. After you were released, I was helping with the locust-yao infestation in Qinghai and it just slipped my mind to update you.”

“Hmph. Well, it’s a good thing that I’m always asking after Zichen, else I wouldn’t even know anything about his whereabouts.”

Further conversation was interrupted with the return of the children, who had been sent to the grocery store for last-minute supplies.

“Hi, Shishu!” exclaimed Wei Wuxian. “When did you get—Professor Song?!”

“Wei Wuxian-tongxue!” exclaimed Song Lan with equal astonishment. He then turned to Xiao Xingchen. “This is the shizi you’re always talking about?!”

“Well, likewise, this is the brilliant student in your Advanced Talisman class you’ve been advising for his graduation independent project?” retorted Xiao Xingchen as he enveloped Wei Wuxian in a hug.

“Wei.Wu.xian!” scolded Yin Zanyu. “How could you not tell us Song Zichen was a professor at your university?! Had I known, I would’ve gotten you to invite him to dinner ages ago!”

“Mamaaaaa, I didn’t knooooooooow!”

“Boys! Not one of you of the whole lot able to communicate anything useful!” Yin Zanyu pointed an accusing finger at every male present.

“Aren’t you so glad you have a daughter, Mama?” Wei Wuqian said cheekily as she wrapped her arms about her mother’s waist. Yin Zanyu tweaked her nose. “On most days.” Wei Wuqian pouted.

Any desired interrogations were put to pause when the doorbell rang. Punctual as always, the Lan clan were right on time. As greetings were exchanged and coats and shoes removed, Wei Wuxian quickly updated Lan Wangji on the family’s recent surprise connections.

Lan Wangji smiled and squeezed Wei Wuxian’s hand. “Wei Ying is lucky to have his shishu-zhang be his mentor. But you must not let it be known that you are related; else Professor Song may be accused of favouritism.”

“It’s quite alright, Wangji, though your scruples are admirable. I’m not the only professor with good things to say about Wei Wuxian, and he’s not the first student I’ve had where there is a more personal connection. Three of my shizi have attended my classes, and if anything, I was always more strict with them, making sure they truly earned their good grades. It’s inevitable, when there are so few magic schools, that students and teachers will be related.”

“And do you grade your nephew more harshly for your musical classes, Lan-fuzi?” said Yin Zanyu with a glint.

“Harrumph!” responded Lan Qiren. “It is a known Lan clan rule that fairness and merit are paramount and no blood ties should interfere in judging a person’s worth.”

“Baba’s never given either of us half-points even when he does for his other students,” said Lan Xun with a small wink at Yin Zanyu.

“Mn,” Lan Qiren said in a warning tone.

“Alright, alright, I’m joking! If Baba were any more impartial, I’d have to question his paternity claims.” Lan Xun kissed her father on the cheek then laughed and dragged her twin with her to bring their bags of fruits into the kitchen.

“Mei da mei xiao,” grumbled Lan Qiren to his wife as he brought his pot of cold noodles to the kitchen.

“Hao la, hao la, you know she likes to tease and means no disrespect. Don’t let something trivial spoil the mood on this important annual observance.”

Meanwhile, Shan Yi had already made herself at home by putting on a spare apron and commandeering one of the stove elements to boil water for the dark leafy greens she had brought. All the while, she and Yin Zanyu caught up on other news and invited Shi Hanchu into the conversation.

The Jiangs soon arrived and joined in the preparations for dinner. Lan Xichen and Jiang Yanli were the last to arrive and were profusely apologetic.

“The handle on my large soup pot fell off! If it weren’t for Xichen’s quick reflexes, I would’ve needed to start from scratch! Even so, I needed to boil a second, smaller pot, or else there wouldn’t be enough for everyone!” Jiang Yanli explained, catching her breath.

“Aiya, sha haizi,” chided Yin Zanyu, proffering a cup of tea. “A half-bowl of soup each would’ve been fine! There’s always so much food and drink that no one would go hungry!”

“I know, Auntie, but I promised a new recipe this year, so everyone should be able to have seconds if they wish!”

“Well, it smells wonderful! Now leave it on the trivet for now. We’ll ladle your soup out once everything else has finished cooking!”

“Can I help, Auntie?”

“I’m fine, but go see if you need to help your popo with anything!”

When everyone had seated themselves at the table laden with dishes, Wei Wuxian began grabbing the choicest pieces from several serving plates and plopping them into Lan Wangji’s bowl.

“No fair, Gege! I was going to get that piece for Yanli-jiejie! Hey!” Wei Wuqian cried indignantly as Wei Wuxian beat her to placing a piece of chicken thigh into Jiang Yanli’s bowl. Wei Wuxian stuck out his tongue.

“Thank you, Xianxian and Qianqian, for always being so thoughtful,” said Jiang Yanli. “Here.” She returned the favour by putting a whole shrimp dipped in soy sauce into each of their bowls.

“Thank you, Jiejie!” the siblings chorussed. Jiang Cheng soon echoed them as he received his shrimp.

“Thank you, dear,” Lan Xichen said when he’d received his portion.

“Aw, look at our children, all grown up and married,” said Yin Zanyu.

“Have Wuxian and Wangji set a date yet?” said Yu Ziyuan. Wei Wuxian choked on his rice.

Before he could comment, Shan Yi said, “We told them they shouldn’t even think of anything related to weddings and marriage until they’ve graduated. Bad enough that they spend half their homework hours daydreaming.”

“Oh, do they?” said Shi Hanchu, Lan Xun, and Lan Xie with laughter in their voices. “You mean our serious Zhan-gege can actually be distracted from homework?” Lan Xun added.

“That’s not so surprising. Wei Wuxian is the only topic that Zhan-gege can talk about non-stop for minutes at a time,” said Lan Xie.

“I remember the first time he talked about his new friend from the playground. He was tripping over his words, he couldn’t get them out fast enough!” said Shi Hanchu.

“Don’t forget their first sleepover,” said Lan Xichen. “A-Zhan insisted on making the beds and putting out the snacks all by himself, even though he needed Mama to bring down all the materials he needed because he wasn’t tall enough.”

Lan Wangji’s ears were flaming red even as he focussed on eating, ignoring the chatter. Wei Wuxian wrapped an arm about his shoulders and whispered something in his ear, eliciting a small smile and a side glance. Yin Zanyu and Jiang Yanli both gave small sighs of happiness. Wei Wuqian took a snapshot on her phone and immediately shared to all the group chats.

Wei Changze kindly changed everyone’s focus and asked how school was going for the other children, starting with Jiang Cheng.

“It’s okay. I’m finally able to do more than just basic spells.” At the confused looks around the table, he explained. “Master Lanxiang has had us working on strengthening our magic by only allowing us to work with the element we have the least affinity to, coupled with the cardinal position for that element.” There were nods of comprehension from the parents and looks of commiseration from the older kids, who all still had fresh memories of going through that difficult training.

“We had a blast in Spain!” said Lan Xun when it was her turn. “We miss it already! The music, the food, the fascinating architecture…”

“The tapas!” moaned Lan Xie. “I’m drooling just thinking about all the things we tried! And the churros dipped in hot chocolate! Mmmmmm…”

“When did you girls arrive home?” said Jiang Fengmian.

“Just two days ago, Uncle! No way we were missing this feast!” replied Lan Xie.

“And what fun activities are you planning for your guests when they arrive for their exchange?” said Yin Zanyu.

“We’ve already promised to bring them to all the sacred mountains! They love mountain hikes, the steeper the better! They wanna visit Tibet, too,” replied Lan Xun.

“And they’re really into spicy foods; already been to Thailand. So definitely need them to try Xiang- and Chuan-cai! And can’t forget the Gui, Yun, Gan, Gui, E, and Shaan ones either!” enthused Lan Xie.

“I can never get over the concept of Lans with high spice tolerance,” said Wei Wuqian.

“Oh, we get by. No one has Zan-yi and Wuxian-xiong beat, though,” said Lan Xun.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again: good job, Lan Qiren,” said Yin Zanyu. “Look what great influences Hanchu’s brought to the family! Maybe one day all of you will be able to eat spicy foods.”

“A-Zhan has definitely improved,” commented Shan Yi.

“He has indeed!” Yin Zanyu said, beaming.

“And how has school been, A-Qian?” said Jiang Fengmian tactfully to bring the focus away from Lan Wangji.

“Oh fine! I finally led my first nighthunt! It was fun! And everyone got back in one piece and with only minor injuries!”

“Good girl!” said Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan.

“And before anyone asks, our independent projects are going fine,” Wei Wuxian piped up. “Testing for my talisman has been going well; we just took a bit of a break because of assignment deadlines and finals. Lan Zhan’s music can now regenerate grass and the mosses, ferns, and other microflora of the forest floor; next step will be shrubbery and flowering plants, ultimately trees, of course. He found that pH and salinity of the soil are really good, easy indicators of the levels of damage from spells and resentful energy, so he’s got measuring tools for that.”

“Wei Ying helped design the tools.”

“Aiya, I just tweaked your ideas a bit! Metal is so easy to manipulate into detectors!”

“To a metal-adept,” said Lan Xichen. Wei Wuxian laughed and conceded the point.

“How much longer will you be needing to conduct your tests, A-Xian?” said Jiang Yanli.

“Oh, I haven’t even finished with the Level Threes yet; hoping to get them completed by end of January. Jiejie, would you be interested in participating as a Level Four? And Jiefu? And if you could maybe ask some of your fellow wielders? I’m still thinking about what sort of complex spells to ask the Level Fives to do. Aaaaand…”—He gave a wicked grin.—“as penance for forgetting to tell his shijie and family about his boyfriend-now-husband, I’m voluntelling Shishu to be one of my Level 5 participants. Any objection, Shishu?” He propped his elbows onto the table to support his head and fluttered his eyelashes at Xiao Xingchen.

Xiao Xingchen chuckled. “Penance accepted!”

“Yay!”

“Penance includes dinner with said Shijie and family. And bringing along your husband.”

“Penance accepted, Shijie!”

“Thank you for the invitation, Zan-jie!”

“Good! Now, who’s ready for dessert?”

Due to constraints of time, the first resumed test session after the winter break was composed of two groups of participants: the original Level 2 and 3 wushi and the newly-invited Level 4 wushi to go through the few baseline tests.

For the Level 2 and 3 wielders, Wei Wuxian chose complex spells suitable to each level and specific to their affinities. Everyone agreed that the talismans definitely made complex spellcasting much easier.

“Thanks, everyone! Excellent jobs on your spells! It's very encouraging to see that my idea actually works! The intent was always on the harder spells, so I'm really excited with the results! Next week, please find the hardest spell of choice that your cultivation can achieve and we'll see if the talismans can help!” Wei Wuxian said at the end of the session. There were murmurs of excitement and quiet consultations between like-affinities as they said their goodbyes.

Wei Wuxian returned his focus to the Level 4 group. They were a smaller one, with no more than two individuals per affinity, and had been working on spells requiring the manipulation of two elements.

Their feedback was also positive. His Jie and Jiefu, especially, were their usual encouraging selves.

The following week, Wei Wuxian started the Level 4 wushi on spells to modify three then four elements before turning his attention to the other group.

There was a frisson of excitement as each produced their chosen spells. The Gan siblings had each chosen a different fire spell: Gan Zhaofeng was excited to try a new spell he’d never attempted (build a self-sustained portable heater that would be useful when camping outdoors) while his sister chose one of the most complex that she could cast (firing twelve dozen porcelain bowls, plates, and cups). Lan Wangji chose to grow a planter of different herbs from scratch (a similar one which he would later gift to his mother for her birthday). All the water nuwu chose from an arsenal of tried (Wen Qing, Hong Sizhui, Chunyu Zizhen) and never-tried (Huang Jingyi, Yin Ling) spells, from a self-regenerating humidifying system for a small space to a self-cleaning aquarium. Jiang Cheng built a series of bookcases using different types of joinery and astonished all by using silver (metal being his weakest-affinity element) to etch designs on the sides.

Wei Wuxian was naturally most interested in the workings that the two metal elementals would be performing. Even though he was a fair tutor, everyone knew that Xue Yang was his favourite, but as the weeks of testing went on, he came to appreciate the astute and surprisingly sarcastic Meng Yao, who was in Lan Wangji’s tutorials. The former, wanting to impress, had chosen a complex Pythagorean device that he barely managed to make work, while the latter had prudently stuck to a clockwork koi pond.

“Amazing workings, everyone!” said a beaming Wei Wuxian as he called the session to an end. “If you don’t mind, there will be an open house for prospective students in a few weeks, and I’m sure Professor Song would love to use your castings as examples of practical applications to magical theory and what the university can teach to its students. So, if you could leave them behind; I’ll make sure they’re returned in good condition. Or if you’d prefer to just donate to the university, I’m sure they can be used for some sort of display!”

An excited murmuring from the Level 4 side caught everyone’s attention. Moving closer, Wei Wuxian clapped his hands when he realized that the Level 4 wushi were admiring Jiang Yanli’s completed spellcast. She had created a one chi tall, multi-tiered lacquer food storage container that, when opened, revealed freshly-made dumplings, buns, pastries, an almond sweet soup, and an almond tofu dessert. The size of the container was also deceptive because each level mimicked the properties of a qiankun pouch, and there was enough food to distribute to everyone in the lab. There were many words of thanks and moans of appreciation as everyone consumed their snacks.

After the victuals had vanished, everyone was more energized and willing to tidy up and call it a day.

Jiang Yanli and Lan Xichen’s invitation to their brothers to come home with them for dinner was gratefully accepted.

Wei Wuxian opened the door and greeted Lan Wangji with a kiss before saying, ‘Hello, Er-gege! Where are we headed this time? I’ve got my overnight bag packed!”

Lan Wangji only smiled, grabbed the bag, and led Wei Wuxian toward the transportation pad, where he cast an array that brought them to a visitor’s centre.

Wei Wuxian eagerly glanced out the window and stared slack-jawed. When he finally found words again, he squeaked, “Iceland?!”

“Mn. We will be going ice climbing on Vatnajökull. Come, we need to check-in.”

After storing their overnight bags into lockers, they followed their guide down a corridor toward a room with a door that led outside. The guide told them that they would be provided with the ice axes and special boots, that the section of glacier that she was bringing them to had spelled safety nets, so the typical harnesses and other safety equipment were not needed. She also told them that they were allowed to cast any spells on their persons to aid in keeping warm and safe and that while it was encouraged to only use pure muscle strength to make the climb, those who chose to use anti-gravity spells to aid could do so. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji shook their heads emphatically at that latter comment.

When they arrived at the foot of the glacier, their guide explained and demonstrated the techniques needed to make the climb, inviting them to practise and figure out how best to use the ice axes to support their weights as they ascended. The guide cast a small communication charm on each of them so that they could ask for any instructions or for help during the climb. They thanked her and made their preparations to begin, conjuring gloves and water bottles strapped to their backs, casting warming spells, and performing breathing and warm-up exercises.

An exhilarated and exhausted five hours later, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian reached the top and stood catching their breath, staring in wonder across the stretch of the glacier atop the different peaks and the stark, raw landscape beyond. There was a breeze that helped cool them down as they rehydrated. Wei Wuxian took as many photos on his phone as he could.

Having communicated with their guide, they were told to jump off the edge they had climbed up, another set of spells would aid their gradual descent. Back at the foot of the glacier, they (Wei Wuxian) were full of effusiveness about the amazing climb and thanked her again for her excellent instructions.

Returning the borrowed gear to the front desk, they retrieved their luggage and, with directions from the receptionist, made their way toward their hotel. After dropping their bags in their room, Lan Wangji grabbed Wei Wuxian’s wrist and cast another array.

They landed beside a steaming river and Lan Wangji quickly transformed their clothing into diving suits. Another guide had been awaiting their arrival and he now approached, explaining that they were on the banks of the Shanay-timpishka and that having consumed the potion that would allow their bodies to tolerate the hot waters, which could get into the upper 90s Celcius, they were welcomed to go for a dip. The guide warned that the potion would wear off in three hours.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji immersed themselves fully. Lan Wangji said, “I thought that this would be a more interesting way to relax our muscles than a traditional sauna. Let’s swim over to those rocks and relax against them. Afterwards, if Wei Ying feels up for it, we can swim around for a bit.”

“Lan Zhan! This is brilliant! I definitely much prefer this to a sauna! C’mon, race you to the rocks!”

Wei Wuxian had insisted that they swim down to the riverbed and spent a few minutes appreciating the calm and quiet before resurfacing. They got out, received a reviving potion from their guide, whom they thanked, and returned to their hotel room via array.

A shared shower and dinner later, they snuggled into bed and were asleep in minutes.

Lan Wangji stopped short on the sidewalk when he realized where they were headed. “Clear Skies after Rain?”

“C’mon, Lan Zhan! We’re gonna be late if we don’t hurry! I’ll explain inside!”

They were ushered into one of the private rooms.

Once the waiter had left with their drinks order, Wei Wuxian grabbed Lan Wangji’s hand and said, “Happy Birthday, Lan Zhan!”

Lan Wangji’s confusion increased, for he knew full-well that Wei Wuxian knew when his actual birthday was. They had celebrated with a picnic in the park. It had been a beautiful day, the trees starting to show signs of autumn.

“I know we already celebrated your birthday. But back then we weren’t officially dating, even though apparently we could’ve been. Anyway, I figured that I needed to make up for it, so what better than to use the excuse of Yuanxiao to re-celebrate? I knew you were missing the taste of home after that really bad, so-called ‘authentic Suzhou’ restaurant we tried just before the start of Chinese New Year, so what better remedy than your favourite restaurant in your hometown? I’ve already ordered all your favourite dishes, so we can just relax until the food starts showing up!”

Lan Wangji teared up and grabbed Wei Wuxian’s hand tightly. “Aiya! Lan Zhan! Please don’t cry! Ah, baobei, you know I don’t deal with tears! I—mmmmpppphhhh…” When they finally broke apart, Lan Wangji had regained composure. Wei Wuxian wiped away a stray tear and grinned when he saw a soft smile grace Lan Wangji’s lips. “Okay?” Lan Wangji nodded. “Okay, good because I hear footsteps.”

The waiter returned with their drinks and another server followed behind with the first dish. True to his word, Wei Wuxian had ordered all of Lan Wangji’s favourite dishes, numbering a total of nine.

After they had returned to Lan Wangji’s dorm room, Wei Wuxian handed him a wrapped box that soon revealed a pair of clockwork bunnies that squeaked “I love you” in tinny voices when they were picked up. The pair’s make-out session would have gone on longer if the bunnies hadn’t squeaked “Good night, Lan Zhan” promptly at nine o’clock.

They would greet Lan Wangji with cute “Good morning, Lan Zhan” wishes at 5:00am.

Deeply touched by his boyfriend’s thoughtfulness, Lan Wangji made arrangements with his brother and sister-in-law for the loan of their condo the following weekend. He insisted on paying for their date night meal and entertainment. Having been invited to be her sous-chef on numerous occasions over the years, Lan Wangji was now quite comfortable with cooking some of Jiang Yanli’s best recipes; he belatedly realized, as he prepped with a Wei Wuxian bubbling with joy beside him, that his saosao had been training him to take over as her brother’s primary caregiver.

After enduring Wei Wuxian’s effusive praise of his cooking skills (and he knew his lotus root and pork rib soup could never compare to Jiang Yanli’s), they snuggled together on the couch. Lan Wangji presented a wrapped box that expanded into a small lotus pond with blossoms that regenerated when triggered by a guqin melody.

It was a good thing that the condo had in-built cleaning spells.

Wei Wuxian was standing right at his door, ready to knock, when Lan Wangji opened it.

“Wei Ying!”

“Come with me, Lan Zhan! You've got to see it!”

“Did you just return from the nighthunt?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you been to the healing office?”

“Not yet, but I promise I will right after!”

“I will go with Wei Ying.”

“Aiya, no, Lan Zhan! You'll be late for breakfast and your lecture!”

“Doesn't matter. Wei Ying's well-being is more important.”

“Ahhhh, Lan Zhan! Don't you trust me?”

“In all other things except Wei Ying’s ability to put his health first.”

“Er-gege!”

“Present.”

“You're so mean! I'll get you for that!”

“For caring?”

“Lan Zhan! I just came back from a nighthunt! I'm too braindead to handle this!”

“Wei Ying should have gotten medical clearance and gone to sleep.”

“Unfair! This is bullying! I'm telling Jiefu!”

“Then I will have to confess to Saosao that I failed in my promise to her to care for your well-being.”

“Uhhhhhh… Lan Zhan!”

“Mn.”

“You're the worst!”

“Mn.”

“Ugh, I'll get you back later because we're here and you gotta see!”

They had reached the forest at the edge of the National Magic University, Beijing campus’ property. The snow crunched beneath their feet as they headed in.

Wei Wuxian led them about for a bit until they arrived at a small clearing, when he pointed excitedly at a patch of ground peeking out from the melted snow. Very faintly, the first growth of moss had pushed out of the soil.

“Look, Lan Zhan! The first sign of spring! I saw some peeking out at the edge of the forest where we were nighthunting, and if there're signs of life in Jilin, there has to be some here, too!”

They had crouched down to get a better look, Wei Wuxian snapping the evidence on his phone.

Lan Wangji leaned over and kissed Wei Wuxian's cheek. “Thank you for showing me.”

“Of course! Do you think you'll wanna try your music on this area to see if it'll help with the new growth?”

“That is a good idea. Wei Ying always has good ideas. Although I think the best idea is for me to drop Wei Ying off at the healing office, go grab breakfast for both of us, and then see if Wei Ying needs to be kept for observation or accompany him to his dorm to get some proper rest.”

“I've got the biggest bully for a boyfriend!” Wei Wuxian kissed said boyfriend.

As promised right before their pear blossom-viewing date had been rudely interrupted by some stupid thing called an “emergency group project meeting”, which ran overtime and caused them to miss having dinner together, Wei Wuxian knocked on Lan Wangji's door at 8:00pm.

He unloaded his bags onto Lan Wangji's desk and conjured a small cooking island, complete with sink. He began putting the ingredients for Gorgon Fruit and Candied Osmanthus Sweet Soup into the pot.

They had just taken two spoonfuls when there was a knock on the door.

“Oh, Wei-xiong, you're here! Well, that explains it. We thought there had to be some mistake when we finally narrowed down where that gorgeous smell was coming from! No way that Lan-xiong would break such a big rule as no cooking in the dorms!” said Lan Wangji's next door neighbour.

Wei Wuxian laughed. “Shame on all of you for even thinking Lan Zhan would go against policies!”

“You know, Wei-xiong,” said another floormate, “we'd hate for you to get into any trouble…”

Wei Wuxian laughed again. “I brought enough materials to make some for you lot as well. But if you'll just give us some quiet bonding time, you can have some in a bit. Our date was interrupted by my group project because some asshole Jin fucked up his portion and was expecting the rest of us to fix it.”

“Jin Zixun?”

“One of those ‘Zi's. All from the same mold of arsery.”

“True dat! Well, since we are promised a share, we'll leave you two lovebirds in peace!”

“Appreciate it, guys!”

Just before his final test group arrived, Wei Wuxian began pacing, showing the state of his nerves. Even Lan Wangji entwining their fingers as he walked alongside didn't sufficiently stop the jitteriness he felt.

Wei Wuxian's anxiety reached its peak when Professor Lan showed up, followed soon by Auntie Ziyuan. Lan Wangji had to physically haul him into the hallway and then a small alcove, where he kissed him for so long that Wei Wuxian barely remembered who he was when they finally, breathlessly, broke apart.

Lan Wangji brought their foreheads together and did some breathing exercises until he felt Wei Wuxian join in and synchronize.

A few minutes later, he murmured, “Alright?”

Wei Wuxian intook a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah.”

“This is just a series of tests to see how far your talisman can go and how much further you can potentially bring it. Failure is just an indication that further research and development is needed. It is not a judgement on your capabilities, only the limits of the tool.”

Wei Wuxian nodded with more conviction. “Yeah, I know, just being silly. Thanks, Lan Zhan.”

“Mn. Shall we return?”

“Okay.”

All his participants had gathered by the time they'd stepped back into the lab.

“Are you alright, A-Ying?” Wei Changze said, touching his shoulder in fatherly concern. “’m okay, thanks, Ba.” Wei Changze patted his shoulder.

“I didn't raise my children to be chicken-hearted, so I'd better hear the loudest roar ever,” said Yin Zanyu as she cupped her son's face in her hands and stared intently. Wei Wuxian intook a deep breath and let out a deep and resounding bellow. Yin Zanyu smiled and pinched his cheek. “Good boy.”

Wei Wuxian squared his shoulders and faced his audience. He explained the need to establish a baseline, described some of the basic tests he'd done to date, and informed that they'd be focusing on complex spells, especially those life-saving and protective spells needed in combat, on nighthunts, and generally when the wielder had no access to help and resources.

Yin Zanyu whooped in pleasure when a complex array to entrap yaoguai took only half the time to set up. The other seniors also showed their admiration at the ease of casting warding spells, incapacitating demon and monster simulations, extracting the needed element from different terrains to attack opponents, using music to subdue and eliminate, constructing sleeping quarters, diagnosing and healing, and dispelling resentful energy.

At the end of the session, even Professor Lan gave a rare smile and a pat on the shoulder with the parting words of, “Well done.”

Wei Wuxian was so excited about this date that he was rocking on the balls of his feet as he cast the transportation array.

When they arrived, they faced a lush and looming forest, and just tucked almost completely out of sight at its edge was a small cabin. Wei Wuxian tugged Lan Wangji toward it and gave his name to the kind woman at the door.

Once they were seated and after the Ayi had taken their order for tea and their choices of vegetables (they went with her recommendations) and other selections, Wei Wuxian explained. “San-shishu recommended this spot when I asked for ideas for a good wild mushroom hotpot place that wasn't too crowded. He comes whenever he can and made the reservation and asked the owner ayi to give us as many different varieties as she could! It's still too early to get fresh mushrooms, so we're going to have dried ones, but Shishu assured me that it tastes almost as good!”

“We must stop by afterwards to thank him in person.”

“Sure! We can do that! But you know we're gonna be interrogated by another set of nosy adults.”

“It is alright. It is the privilege of the old who care about us. When we get old, we'll be entitled to tease our niblings.”

Wei Wuxian laughed. “That's true! I can't wait. Although… the thought of any boy coming near any niece of ours…”

“Mn. There will be a long line of aunts and uncles to get to her. We will put Jiang Wanyin in front.”

Wei Wuxian laughed again. And crushed his face against Lan Wangji’s shoulder. “You’re so smart, Er-gege!” Lan Wangji pressed a tiny kiss atop his head.

The dishes began arriving and the selection of mushrooms was a feast unto itself: Termitomyces albuminosus, chanterelle, porcini, Thelephora ganbajun Zang, matsutake, saffron milk cap, Agaricus deliciosus, golden fungus, greenhead mushroom, yellow coral mushroom, morel, bamboo mushrooms, and lion’s mane. They had chosen a mixed fungi platter as well, and this included black ear and snow fungi.

“This is so amazing, Lan Zhan! We've got to come back and try the fresh ones!”

“Mn.”

“Hey, I'm told that there's a special type of mushroom that grows near the lychee trees in Guangdong and has that lychee sweetness. We should go try that, too, when it's in season. It's supposed to only be available for something like two weeks, so gotta plan!”

“I would love to. Thank you for putting so much thought into this.”

“Aiya, Lan Zhan!” Knowing full well that the Ayi would be reporting back to his san-shishu, he settled for squeezing his boyfriend's hand. Said boyfriend smiled and squeezed back.

Most of the remainder of their meal was partaken in silence, punctuated only by hums and moans of pleasure.

At the end of their meal, the Ayi brought over a medicinal soup to aid in digestion. Even Lan Wangji was more verbose than usual in his praise of the food. The Ayi grinned and welcomed them back anytime.

“Hey, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said once they were back outside. “What say we go for a stroll in the forest before we visit the compound?”

“Mn.”

“Shigong!” Wei Wuxian spun and stared in surprise when there was a knock on the lab room door as he was preparing his notebooks and pens to record the results of the day's tests.

“Are you going to invite me in or am I supposed to speak some sort of password to cross the threshold?”

Wei Wuxian scrambled to bring the Baoshan Sanren inside and gave a proper greeting as he kissed her cheek. She patted his fondly.

“Will I get to meet your boyfriend today?”

“Shiiiiiigooooooong-ahhhhhhh! You've met Lan Zhan loads of times!”

“Not as your boyfriend I haven't!”

“Aiya, alright, alright, I'll make the proper introductions! He'll be here soon!”

“Baoshan-laoqianbei,” said a deep voice from the doorway. Lan Wangji walked around so that he was facing the Baoshan Sanren and gave a deep bow.

“Hao! Guai!” the elderly lady said in a pleased tone. “And have you been keeping my tusun out of trouble? He's your responsibility from now on.”

“I will endeavour to uphold my duties,” Lan Wangji replied solemnly while simultaneously, Wei Wuxian whined, “Shiiiiigooooong!” tugging at her sleeves and pouting.

“You're no longer six. That trick no longer works.”

“Uhhhhhhhh, Shiiiiigoooong!” Wei Wuxian wrapped his arms about her waist, laid his head on her shoulder, and looked up with puppy eyes.

“No treats until after the testing,” she said, patting his head as he gave another pout, “but you can have this.” She placed an object into his palm.

Wei Wuxian held up the translucent, glowing sphere and squealed when it morphed into a tiny emperor newt. He bear-hugged his shigong. “It’s amazing, Shigong! Wow! I would’ve been happy with a vole like Si-Shishu’s, but an emperor newt is so much cooler! Lan Zhan, meet my qi messenger! Oh, Yangyang is gonna be so mad!” He cuddled and kissed his newly-formed messenger, then tested its range by sending it off with voice-notes of varying lengths to his parents, Yanli-jiejie, Chengcheng, and his eight shishu.

When the gushing and experimenting had finally subsided, Wei Wuxian had a sudden thought. “Shigong, when we celebrated Chinese New Year with you at the compound, there was no reaction when you gave me the globe. How did you know it would work this time?”

“Zichen told Xingchen that you successfully created a hand-held multiple-diagnostic machine as your assignment for Advanced Healing Studies, which means your cultivation has reached the next tier.”

Wei Wuxian laughed and did a happy dance.

The lab door opened.

“Shifu!” exclaimed Yin Zanyu, stopping in her tracks at the door. “You didn’t say anything about being in town!”

“Xingchen was updating me on what he’s been doing lately, and I was curious about Ying-er’s project, so I came to see for myself!”

“Do you have time to stay for dinner? A-Yang would be very sad if she found out her shigong was in town and she missed out.”

“Of course! Your liu-shimei’s birthday is in two weeks, and she has promised to be at the compound for a change. You and your family will be coming for the dinner?”

“Yes, Shifu.”

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the other participants, who reverently greeted the Baoshan-qianbei. She smiled and waved off the necessity of such formalities. She then looked expectantly at Wei Wuxian, and all eyes fixed on him as well.

Wei Wuxian cleared his throat and said, “To be honest, I don’t think even my first version of the talisman would make any difference to Shigong’s powers, given that a Level 5+ wushi can reappropriate anything in their environment into the needed power to spellcast. But since Shigong has shown an interest, I’d like to ask Shigong if you could please cast any basic spell so that we know what your magic baseline is.”

The Baoshan Sanren waved her hands and all five basic elemental spells were cast in a continuous sequence, beginning with wood and ending with water. She was then handed the Sun and the Moon Talismans in order of magnitude and asked to recast the basic spells; as Wei Wuxian had predicted, not even his first prototype that had resulted in mayhem had any effect on his shigong’s powers. He was gratified to learn, however, that with his first prototype, she was made more aware of the flow of her qi through her yin meridians, since she had used a different one to cast a basic elemental spell until she had cycled through all of them.

She was about to make another comment when she paused, contemplating the first prototype. She then seemed to come to a decision. She cast a transportation array and told everyone to follow her.

The group landed in the crumbling parking lot of an abandoned industrial complex. The Baoshan Sanren located the largest patch of relatively pristine asphalt and stood in the centre of it. Closing her eyes, she began to transform the loose bits of asphalt, rocks, sand, and debris into steel bars to form a frame that wove together into the shape of a large greenhouse. Tables, pots, hooks for hanging, and other tools appeared next. After, a variety of plants and soil types were set into the pots, which were then labelled: edibles and ornamentals separated into distinct groupings. Finally, clear-glass panes were fitted into the frame, each etched with the incantation of Wei Wuxian’s first prototype combined with a sophisticated transformation one.

The Baoshan Sanren exited the greenhouse, closing the door gently. She turned and said, “Ying-er’s first prototype has the right properties when combined with a transformation spell to form a closed-loop system. There are too many places such as these scattered around the country, and it takes too much time and resources to reclaim them and stop them from harming the local ecology. So, I’ve been thinking about a way to speed up Nature’s process of recycling and reclaiming but also to render many of the toxic substances inert. We will use this as a testing ground, and if it shows good results in the time that is needed to revert this area into the land’s pristine form, the technique can be applied to other locations. I’ve added an alert to check on this project once it is complete; I can dismantle the greenhouse then and give the materials back to the lands.

“Wangji, I’ve also been very interested in your project, and I think it would complement this working nicely. Give me a copy of your score and I will combine it with Ying-er’s talisman so that it can be played in a continuous loop to aid in the healing of the land once the topsoil can come into contact with sun and air again.”

Lan Wangji immediately handed over his original, which the Baoshan Sanren duplicated, modified into spell-like tendrils, and wove together with Wei Wuxian’s talisman incantation. She then enveloped the threads in a conjured glass lantern and set another spell over the container before hanging it on the latch of the greenhouse door.

“I’ve spelled it to be inactive until all the man-made materials have finished transforming into the needed materials to sustain the plants.”

There was thunderous applause, over which Wei Wuxian added a wolf-like howl.

Everyone was invited to the Weis for dinner and Wei Wuxian fixed the date on the following week to complete the set of tests that had been postponed that afternoon.

And when his Level 5 participants arrived the following week, Wei Wuxian had them working on complex spells with man-made materials that blended elements, whether due to the raw material’s natural compositions or the results of being intensely manufactured and thus adding other elements as a consequence. Among the materials used included plastic, industrial metal alloys, various synthetic and blended textiles, and computer paper.

Part-way through, Yin Zanyu gave a shout. “Shields!” Wei Changze, Jiang Fengmian, and Yu Ziyuan, as fellow metals and seasoned nighthunting partners, quickly responded. The remaining participants waited in the periphery, ready to assist. As they all looked on, they could see that Yin Zanyu had put too much power into her spell, not yet used to using the Sun Talisman as a booster, and the piece of polyester blend she’d been handling had turned into plasma with pieces breaking apart and scattering around and bouncing off the shields.

“Aiya, Mama!” Wei Wuxian quickly activated a Moon Talisman and aimed it at the ball of plasma. Within seconds, the magic giving power to the material dissipated and all particles dropped to the floor with tiny plops. Yin Zanyu soon reverted them back to the large piece of cloth and the small skein of metallic thread she had been weaving into it.

Jiang Fengmian patted Wei Wuxian on the shoulder. “Very quick thinking, A-Xian! And an excellent demonstration of practical theory on how yin and yang perfectly counterbalance each other! I know you mentioned that using the opposite-type talisman has a dampening effect on our powers, but I do believe all of us have forgotten that little detail in our focus on using the affinity-form talisman to add effectiveness to the spells we’ve been casting.”

“I concede to Fengmian-xiong’s point,” agreed Lan Qiren. “I also failed to consider using the Moon Talisman I was given as a counterspell.”

“Aiya, Uncles, it’s a new invention, so that’s only natural—old habits and all that! It’s good that everyone had shielding spells activated and warding spells on the ready: gave me a chance to get a Moon Talisman fired up! And we’re still at the testing stage: no way to know for sure how effective it would be, especially given that I didn’t know how much power Mama had originally put in!”

“It’s a good thing that you had a mishap early on in your tests, A-Xian,” said Shan Yi. “You’ve already figured out how to build in a gradient of power for both types of talismans. It has definitely come in handy today!”

“Nothing like learning from past mistakes!” replied Wei Wuxian. His stomach gave a growl. “Oops! Haha! Can we all take a break? Lan Zhan and I can go out for some snacks!”

Everyone agreed that a break would be advisable, and put in orders for the pair to acquire. Yin Zanyu insisted on it being her treat.

The remainder of the session was uneventful.

“OK, for this last test, I was thinking that it’d be great if you could come up with a new spell for your specializations that a Level Four can cast with the help of one of my talismans, since they won’t necessarily have sufficient cultivation, but would be a spell that definitely needs more people to use to benefit themselves and others,” said Wei Wuxian to the gathered uncles, aunties, and his parents. There was a hum of pleased agreement.

After giving them time to consider the matter and decide on a spell to design, Wei Wuxian went around to ask each participant what they intended to work on. His mother had also been concerned like his shigong about all the electronics waste that was piling up at alarming rates. She wanted to see if she could improve the means of extracting the valuable metals for recycling into new devices and turning the remaining materials more biodegradable. His father wanted to work on a new method for rust-proofing. Jiang Fengmian was employed at an engineering company that built suspension bridges and had always wanted to find a way to allow these bridges to span larger spaces and be better able to withstand natural forces. Yu Ziyuan wanted to be able to transform the small metallic spikes she always brought with her on nighthunts into a torus-shaped netting to capture yaoguai; she had already triggered the spell that allowed the test lab to become adjoined with the university’s indoor weapons-training facility so that she had the required space and safety measures to test her designs.

Having found out what the metal elementals were working on, Wei Wuxian moved onto the lone water wielder, Lan Jiyue, who informed that he hoped to find a novel solution to the problem of oxygen delivery for his patients with advanced lung diseases; the existing oxygen machines were simply too cumbersome and restrictive to good quality of life. Professor Song, as the only earth elemental in the test group, told his mentee that he was also inspired by the Baoshan Sanren’s concern for the environment and her novel solution of the greenhouse closed-loop system, so he wanted to focus on converting waste plastic and other non-biodegradable materials into fertilizer for desert environments and other areas with nutrient-poor soils, since there was a constant demand for arable lands to grow food. The third solo wielder was Shan Yi, a wood elemental, and she worked with teams that were trying to preserve bamboo strips, hemp cloth, and other wood-derived artifacts excavated from burial sites and other archaeological digs. She hoped to find a spell that could be used as soon as the artifacts were discovered, to minimize the damage caused by the sudden exposure to the air before the objects could be fully extracted, transferred to storage containers, then brought to the safety of facilities for storage and research. She said that not all sites had the advantage of being housed in specially-built structures that allowed for environmental regulation before excavation occurred.

The two fire elementals had very different ideas about how to use their affinities: Lan Qiren’s was purely an idea he had been mulling over: a better design for solar panels, while Xiao Xingchen, being a rogue cultivator, was concerned for the countless regular citizens he came in contact with who suffered severe burns, whether from cooking appliances, burning buildings, forest fires, or attacks from fire-wielding yaoguai.

As they watched their elders at work, Wei Wuxian said to Lan Wangji in a murmur, “I hope I’ll get to their levels soon. These are all amazing ideas! And it’d be totally fantastic if their successful designs can be made available to wielders across the country because they are definitely useful spells to have!”

“Mn. Once the spells are completed, perhaps you could invite the Level 4 group to come back to help test them.”

“Yeah, that’s my thought, too! Yingxiong suojian luetong, Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian grabbed at Lan Wangji’s arm and tilted his head to rest on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“Hey, Erzi, stop flirting with your boyfriend for a minute. I’ve thought of something!” Yin Zanyu called out from near the back of the lab. A blushing Wei Wuxian nearly tripped in his haste to prevent his mother from spewing more embarrassing remarks. He pretended not to hear the chuckles from Shan-ayi, Ziyuan-ayi, Fengmian-shushu, and his own father. He ignored Jiyue-shushu’s guffaw.

“So,” said an unrepentant Yin Zanyu, “I was just thinking: why can’t your talisman be used on the materials themselves to ease extraction? Whether you enhance the wushi’s powers or make the object yield the desired element or elements quicker, the end result is the same.”

“Oh! Yeah! Good point, Mama!” Wei Wuxian wrapped his arms around his mother’s waist. “You’re so smart, Mama!”

Yin Zanyu pressed a kiss to his forehead then elbowed him loose. “Nice try! That only still works for your shigong and Wangji. Now go and do some actual work and come back with a functional talisman!”

With Lan Wangji as a willing testing partner, Wei Wuxian was able to come up with a further modification to his talismans. All of the participants agreed that the new ones they were given to try out worked well.

Because of the complexity of designing and testing new spells, two more sessions were required before their creators were satisfied with results. They were on-hand when the Level 4 wushi returned to help with further testing. Wei Wuxian had also invited a few fellow Level 3 wushi whom he felt were advanced enough, to have a few more wielders for a more robust experiment. As was expected, certain tweaks were needed to account for cultivation levels and magic skills, as well as feedback from the participants on other potential uses for the spells.

In the end, the Level 5 wushi all had talks to give at the annual conference, when they unveiled their spells to a large audience and were able to put them into circulation. Wei Wuxian’s talismans were hailed with enthusiasm by his audience, and he was accosted for the duration of the conference by individuals wanting to share how they intended to use his invention. He had to discreetly alert the Department of Magic Regulation to keep an eye on a few individuals who had unwisely chosen to disclose their intentions while inebriated.

A knock on his door startled Wei Wuxian out of his train of thought. His desk was strewn with notebooks, diagrams, charts, published research papers and references, and, of course, his draft analysis on his months of testing. He looked at the clock, gave a yelp, and swung the door open.

“Hello, Wei Ying.”

“Lan Zhan! I’m so sorry! I lost track of the time! I swear I set a timer on my phone but…” Wei Wuxian retrieved his phone and then said, ruefully, “It went off. And it looks like I shut it off without even registering. Sorry, just give me two minutes to freshen up and we can go!”

Lan Wangji grabbed Wei Wuxian’s wrist before he dashed off to the bathroom and gave him a soft, lingering kiss. When Wei Wuxian had calmed down, he let go and said, “There’s no rush. I set the time so that Wei Ying could have a proper break. Take your time to get ready. I will put a stasis spell on everything so that nothing goes missing and you can continue where you left off.” While Wei Wuxian dashed off, Lan Wangji also took the precaution of spelling his designs for his talismans and his report to be inaccessible to anyone else.

Hand-in-hand, Lan Wangji led Wei Wuxian to the university’s indoor arboretum that was used to hold private functions. As Wei Wuxian looked around in wonder, Lan Wangji told him that he had only been here once as a young child, when he and his brother had accompanied their uncle to a work function; Professor Lan had been babysitting them that week while their parents were attending a Healers Conference in Singapore.

Lan Wangji brought them to a small alcove under a parasol tree and began to set up dinner on the small table. Thanks to Jiang Yanli’s demonstration at the lab, Lan Wangji had made use of a lacquerware food container to hold all his prepared dishes, which were all of Wei Wuxian’s favourite spicy ones from his favourite restaurants, paired with non-spicy equivalents for himself. Wei Wuxian squealed as each dish was brought forth and ate with relish.

After their appetizers, Lan Wangji raised his glass of mulberry juice and said, “Happy Birthday, Wei Ying.”

“Thank you, Lan Zhan! This is the best birthday celebration ever! How did you even manage to convince the admin to let you book this place?! I hope you didn’t have to sign your life away!”

“No. I was lucky that Qin Su-jiejie was on duty when I went to the President’s office to make my request. As soon as she found out the purpose, she booked us in right away. I did have to promise to show her pictures.”

“Oh, that’s easy! We’ll take so many lovey-dovey selfies that she’ll wanna slap us, hahaha!”

“Then Wei Ying will have to be present to show her the pictures.”

“Deal!”

The birthday cake was Wei Wuxian’s favourite double-dark chocolate cake. Lan Wangji had bought a trick candle that would not extinguish unless the birthday individual told it, “Fucking flicker out now!” Wei Wuxian laughed until his sides hurt.

Lan Wangji brought the birthday boy to a cozy spot underneath a large pine. He conjured cushions and had Wei Wuxian sitting comfortably across from him. He conjured his guqin. “This has been in my thoughts for a long time, although I could never quite figure out the whole thing. But now that we are together, this piece has found its ending as well.”

Wei Wuxian was in tears by the time Lan Wangji had played the piece in its entirety. While wiping the snot from his nose, he begged for a repeat. And another. Lan Wangji finally stopped out of necessity of helping Wei Wuxian clean all the moisture from his face. He was then bear-hugged within an inch of his life. As Wei Wuxian continued to sob, he rubbed soothing circles across his back and rocked them gently.

Finally, when the torrent had passed, Wei Wuxian sat back to look into Lan Wangji’s eyes. “Lan Zhan, I know it’s not a competition, but if it were, you win, hands down, without question. That was the bestest gift ever!”

For the rest of their scheduled time in the arboretum, they alternated between kissing and yet another performance of the piece.

Chapter Text

For my magic AU, I retained some of the terms used for traditional cultivation, and magic is known as 巫法修真 (wufa xiuzhen) magic cultivation. I’ve used the Taoist concepts of 陰 yin and 陽 yang and 五行 (wuxing) the five elements to form the basis of magic in this ’verse. I’ve also incorporated the idea that each calendar year is associated with a Chinese zodiac animal that is defined as either yin or yang by nature; the years alternate between yin and yang, starting with the Rat as the first animal and therefore yang, and cycle through the five elements in pairs of years. So, wielders in this ’verse have affinities to either yin or yang and one of the five elements based on their zodiac signs, and they use the hand’s outflowing yin meridian channels to spellcast and the incoming yang ones to absorb external/environmental energies to enhance cultivation. Since the four cardinal positions (including the central position) are associated with one of the five elements, magic can be affected (boosted, dampened, otherwise modified) by standing in one of the cardinal positions. But the limitation of using the directions in this way is that the wielder has to be in motion (so in combat or to defeat yaoguai on nighthunts). Wei Wuxian’s Sun (yang) and Moon (yin) Talismans are designed to be a booster or dampener when the wielder is stationary.

I chose 巫法 wufa as the term for the practice of magic instead of the existing 巫術 wushu or 魔法 mofa because both these terms have negative connotations nowadays. Traditionally, 女巫 nuwu = female shaman and 男巫 nanwu = male shaman, since 巫 has more to do with shamanism in ancient times than the modern hocus-pocus magic, so I’ve kept them as the names for wielders (巫士 wushi) of 巫法 wufa.

心法 xinfa - theory/concept forming the basis of any weapons technique and/or martial arts

Names of original characters (or canonical without proper names) and their magical cores:

Yin Zanyu 殷寁䫻 (swift gale) - AKA the Cangse Sanren (yang metal dragon)
Wei Yang 魏秧 (rice seedling), courtesy 無𨐩 Wuqian (no suffering) - WWX’s younger sister (yang fire tiger)

Lan Jiyue 藍及䠯 (climb upwards) - the twin jades’ father (yang water horse)
Shan Yi 單薏 (the heart of a lotus seed) - the twin jades’ mother (she’s referred to as Shan-ayi because, well, Yi-ayi is awkward) (yin wood rooster)
Shi Hanchu 世罕觸 (rare aurora borealis) - Lan Qiren’s wife (yin earth ox)
Lan Xun 藍汛 (high water; sprinkle) & Lan Xie 藍㴽 (current) - Lan Qiren’s twin daughters, known as the Twin Pearls, after the phrase 掌上明珠 zhangshang mingzhu (i.e. the apples in his eye) (yin metal rooster); the older set of Lan brothers are determined to foster more equality, so their children all share the same radical for their names, regardless of sex

Yu Zhuowei 虞焯熭 (bright midday heat) - Yu Ziyuan's mother, Meishan Yu Sect Leader (yang fire tiger)
Yu Huyan 虞𧹲䍾 (hope) - Yu Ziyuan’s older brother (yin earth ox)

Gan Zhaofeng 甘兆丰 (abundance) - WWX’s tutor doing Masters (yang fire dragon)
Gan Kailan 甘颽葻 (southerly wind caresses the fields) - GZF’s sister (yin fire snake)
Hong Sizhui 洪絲綴 (connection) - in WWX’s tutorial (yin water pig)
Yin Ling 殷羚 (antelope) - in WWX’s tutorial (yin water pig)
Huang Jingyi 黃靖宜 (prim and proper) - in WWX’s tutorial (yin water pig)
Chunyu Zizhen 淳于姿貞 (virtuous, chaste) - in WWX’s tutorial (yin water pig)

Other canonical characters and their magical cores:

Wei Changze & Jiang Fengmian: yin metal snake
Lan Qiren & Xiao Xingchen: yang fire dog
Song Lan: yin earth ox
Yu Ziyuan: yang metal tiger
Lan Xichen & Jiang Yanli: yin wood rabbit
Lan Wangji: yin earth sheep
Wei Wuxian: yang metal monkey
Meng Yao & Xue Yang: yin metal rooster
Su She: yang water dog
Wen Qing: yin water pig
Jiang Cheng: yin wood ox

The families were invited to the wedding of the children of the 禤 (no known meaning; anglicized as Hun) and 鄞 (place name; anglicized as Ngan) families

雙意合璧 (shuangyi hebi) Interlacing Magic Technique - dual magic-wielding form; the Lans use the individual components of the compound term 鴛鴦 (yuanyang) mandarin ducks to refer to each half of the form, since traditionally, one male and one female were paired to wield the technique (Note on terminology: i didn’t use 巫 wu for magic here because i think 巫 is related more to the method of producing magic, whereas 意 means “thought, idea, intention” and better suits the abstract concept of what magic is: something that can be deliberately manipulated by thought and will).

The Chinese provinces and autonomous regions all have single-charactered alternate names, so the eight provinces known for their spicy dishes are Sichuan (Chuan 川), Hunan (Xiang 湘), Guizhou (Gui 貴), Yunnan (Yun 雲), Jiangxi (Gan 贛), Guangxi (Gui 桂), Hubei (E 鄂), and Shaanxi (Shaan 陝).

沒大沒小 mei da mei xiao - literally “no big, no small”, an expression to criticize a younger person as (and for) being disrespectful toward his/her elders

傻孩子 sha haizi = silly child

我代他們謝過藍大夫 Wo dai ta-men xie-guo Lan Daifu “I thank Healer Lan on their behalf.”

英雄所見略同 yingxiong suojian luetong “heroes share like viewpoints” = G.M.T.A.

1 尺 chi = about 13 inches or 1/3 of a metre

衢州鴨怪 Quzhou yaguai “duck demon of Quzhou” - one of three demons from Quzhou, whose quack can be fatal

窮奇 qiong qi - one of the “four demons”, a hybrid beast with wings that eats humans

紅瘰疣螈 hong luo youyuan emperor newt - AKA Mandarin newt or Mandarin salamander, Tylototriton shanjing; highly toxic with black body and orange head, tail, and legs, orange dorsal ridge flanked by parallel series of orange poison glands; endemic to Yunnan and South China

雞樅菌 (jizong jun) Termitomyces albuminosus, 雞油菌 (jiyou jun) chanterelle, 牛肝菌 (niugan jun) porcini, 干巴菌 (ganba jun) Thelephora ganbajun Zang, 松茸 (songrong) matsutake, 奶漿菌 (naijiang jun) saffron milk cap, 谷熟菌 (gushu jun) Agaricus deliciosus, 金耳菌 (jiner jun) golden fungus, 青頭菌 (qingtou jun) greenhead mushroom, 掃帚菌 (saozhou jun) yellow coral mushroom, 羊肚菌 (yangdu jun) morel, 竹蓀 (zhusun) bamboo mushrooms, 猴頭菌 (houtou jun) lion’s mane

黑木耳 (hei muer) black ear fungus, 雪耳 (xue’er) snow fungus AKA 銀耳 (yiner) silver ear fungus

桂花芡實甜湯 (guihua qianshi tiantang) Gorgon Fruit and Candied Osmanthus Sweet Soup

The 松 (chong) pine tree is a symbol of integrity, perseverance, and longevity; the 梧桐 (wutong) Chinese parasol tree of devotion.

WWX’s hand-held multiple-diagnostic machine combines the functions of ECG, MRI, ultrasound, and EEG machines.

Vatnajökull “Glacier of Lakes” - largest ice cap on Iceland

the Shanay-timpishka “the Boiling River” - thermal river in Peru whose waters eventually flow into the Amazon River and whose temperatures can get up to 99.1°C (210°F)

LWJ started school one year later because his mother felt he was too shy to start with those his age; plus, he and WWX were already besties, so she felt he would fit in better with a built-in friend.

And yes, I changed WWX’s birthday to April 1 because it amuses me to make him an Aries to match his birth name; I think LWJ’s personality is most similar to Virgos, so his birthday in this ’verse is Sep 17.

Title based on poem by Bai Juyi “Song of Painting Bamboo” 《畫竹歌》~ 白居易

UPDATE: didn't do sufficient research into meridians when i was writing the fic, so have made corrections to the blurb about how the channels are used for spellcasting.