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Lan Qiren discovers that Jiang Wanyin, female Sect Leader of the rebuilding YunMeng Jiang, is pregnant.
As one of the best female cultivators in the jianghu, a pregnant belly is extremely conspicuous on her slender frame. To be pregnant is improper since she is unmarried, he knows, but Lan Qiren is more concerned at her terrified expression upon discovery and who could have fathered the child.
He hopes it was not forced - she is a skilled and formidable fighter, but there is still coercion and blackmail to lead to such matters, and she refuses to name the father so he does not pry, instead resolving to keep an eye out for her health.
She disappears for several months, quoting illness, but Lan Qiren understands that it is to conceal her pregnancy she can no longer hide under cloth. He pays her a visit after the baby should be born.
The infant in her arms looks just like a newborn Xichen.
Lan Qiren is furious.
"What did Xichen do." Lan Qiren says, tone low and angry, and Jiang Wanyin momentarily freezes, the flicker of fear on her face before it smooths back into impassivity enough to tell him everything.
"Lan Xichen has nothing to do with this." She declares with admirable poise.
"Do not lie to me, Jiang Wanyin." He says, forgoing her title, and she stiffens, briefly looking like a chastised student from the Cloud Recesses. "I have raised Xichen ever since he was born," the infant placed in his arms from the gentian house flashes through his mind, "and this child looks like him."
Her jaw tightens as fingers curl around her baby, until she breathes out and her shoulders slump imperceptibly. "We were - drunk," She began.
"Drunk." He repeats disapprovingly, watching her eyes dart about in panic, recalling the rules of Gusu Lan. "Xichen was drunk. Did he force you?"
"N-No, he didn't-" She is wide-eyed, a faint pink on her cheeks.
Inebriation, intercourse before marriage. Lan Qiren's lips thin into a straight line. Xichen's punishment will be severe. "In any case, the marriage proposal will be prepared."
She startled, then. "M-Marriage?"
"Of course, Jiang Wanyin." He narrows his eyes. "Xichen has fathered your child, and he is to take responsibility."
She adjusts her hold unconsciously on her infant as she leans forward- "No, Grandmaster Lan, he doesn't know about this-"
"He DOESN'T?" Lan Qiren nearly snaps - barely restraining himself, "then it is time he knew."
"It's really not necessary, Grandmaster-"
"And leave you to be shamed as an unmarried mother? No, Sect Leader Jiang." She may be Sandu Shengshou, but now she is just a young maiden.
"H-He doesn't love me," She continues, desperation evident in her voice, "the marriage won't make him happy!"
Him. Her concern is about him, Qiren's shameless, irresponsible nephew. Her revealing words suggest that she is the one in love, the one willing to resign herself to a life of isolation, shamed for a child without a father.
Madame Lan was locked behind the doors of the gentian house, Lan Qiren's older brother disappearing into his own seclusion. "He may not have love but he has his duty."
Perhaps things will be be better this time. He stands up, thanking Sect Leader Jiang for her hospitality. She stares at him in angry helplessness and watches Grandmaster Lan go, knowing what will soon come after.
As compared to the hum of Lotus Pier's waves lapping against its structures, the serenity of Cloud Recesses falls upon him like a blanket of soft snow once he returns. Lan Qiren salutes the other Lan disciples he passes and goes straight to his office, calling his nephew over.
After the customary greeting and cup of tea, both settled around Qiren's desk, Xichen enquires as to his visit to Lotus Pier, namely, Jiang Wanyin's condition, which Qiren takes note of.
"Sect Leader Jiang is well. Frailer than ideal, but recovering."
Xichen's brown eyes - like the eyes of his son - widen, and Qiren observes him carefully, searching for tells of dishonesty. "That sounds like a contradiction, Shufu. How can she be well, if she is recovering? Has something happened to her?"
"What do you think, Xichen?"
The current Sect Leader of Gusu Lan looks at him in bewilderment. "I do not know, Shufu." His expression isconfused, as if wondering why he is being asked this question. "In my occasional correspondence with Sect Leader Jiang regarding sect matters, she has always expressed perfect health."
Occasional. Qiren could have snorted - but that would be undignified. Either Xichen is masterfully lying - a rare moment of wrongdoing, or completely oblivious.
"Sect Leader Jiang is recovering from childbirth." He says, sitting back in his chair to observe.
He watches the minute shifts in Xichen's face, the widening of his eyes, parting of his lips, an ashen tinge to his cheeks, and signs of an atypical anger - brow pulling into a frown and flexing muscles from his hands curling into fists.
"I - see." He eventually sounds out. "I was not aware she was - married."
"She isn't." Lan Qiren says, and Xichen stares at him in puzzlement, relief, yet - jealousy? "Yet she has a child, nonetheless. Xichen." Lan Qiren's voice turns frosty, "how well do you know Jiang Wanyin?"
His expression turns baffled once again - "We have a mostly cordial relationship as Sect Leaders-" Xichen begin, but the way his eyes shift suggest more- "but I do not know her personally."
If Qiren has his way, his stare will bore holes into his nephew.
"Lying is forbidden in the Cloud Recesses." Lan Qiren grinds out. "How shameful it is that the Gusu Lan Sect Leader does not follow his own Sect's rules."
"Eh?!" Xichen has the audacity to blurt out,
"Dishonesty. Inebriation. Failure to care for one's family." Staring directly into Xichen's eyes, he lectures- "Intercourse before marriage."
Xichen's face flames red. "Shufu, you are implying that-"
"When I visited Jiang Wanyin, she was carrying your newborn son." Xichen shrinks back imperceptibly, as if struck. Mouth hanging open, his eyes are so wide that a ring of white sclera surrounds his brown irises, which are filled with pure astonishment. Excessive emotion. Another misdemeanor to add to his list of serious mistakes. "Answer me again, Xichen. What is your relationship with Jiang Wanyin?"
His nephew swallows, rapidly blinking, and takes several deep breaths, the most startled and unruffled Qiren has ever seen Xichen. "We...shared an intimate night together." He admits, flushing a deeper red at the thought.
"Inebriated."
"Y-Yes." His tone is heavy with guilt. "Did Wanyin-"
Lan Qiren's look is wry. "Did Jiang Wanyin tell me? Yes, she did. Now, you tell me, Xichen," He accuses, "why have you neglected your responsibilities, and not married her yet?"
His adult nephew, Sect Leader of Gusu Lan, currently resembles an admonished student. "Shufu, I swear on my life, I did not know she was pregnant." He murmurs, unable to look him in the eye. "Otherwise, I definitely would have-"
"You'd better." Lan Qiren interrupts. He exhales sharply, making his nephew perk up in interest with wide, shining eyes.
Jiang Wanyin was worried that Xichen did not love her. It seemed that her anxiety was baseless. "I will begin the wedding preparations." Lan Qiren says, masking his pleasure at the prospect of Jiang Wanyin as his niece-in-law - which Xichen has failed to secure on his own. "Perform your punishment."
"Y-Yes, Shufu." He can barely conceal his excitement. "But before I leave, why - why did she not tell anyone?"
Why did she not tell me, Qiren deciphers from his nephew. He sends him a sharp look, the implications behind her fear, the way she had desperately clutched at the babe swaddled in her arms and the pain on her face - all unpleasant, and Qiren vows that if Xichen was responsible for making Jiang Wanyin feel such inadequacy, that he will slap his nephew himself.
"That is something I would also like to know." Qiren's tone is cutting. "Now proceed with your punishment, or I will have it doubled." He warns, his nephew still shameless enough to look delighted about it, saluting deeply before hurrying off as perhaps the only Lan excited to serve his punishments.
The next time Lan Qiren meets Jiang Wanyin in person is at the Lotus Pier. Her disciples and subordinates flanking her create a muted backdrop of blacks and deep violets against her ensemble of vibrant purples, soft pink underrobes and silver.
Upon closer inspection, her silken hair is composed of a multitude of thin braids, each with pearls woven into them like the stars speckling the night sky. Without her ornate Sect Leader's guan, she looks uncommonly soft. Inheriting her mother's stunning appearance, she has always been a beauty, and now she looks like a fairy among men.
"Sect Leader Jiang," Lan Xichen breathes out in the reverent whisper of a lover as he salutes her. Seeing the flush on his nephew's cheeks and ears, it seems that her appearance is drawing the intended effect. The softness of her gaze makes their relationship clear to those who know.
"Sect Leader Lan," she returns, before her eyes dart to the boat they stood on. "You are welcome to the Lotus Pier, although I am curious about the nature of your visit." The boat they had travelled on is followed by a small, but conspicuous convoy.
"I am here to deliver your courting gifts, Sect Leader Jiang." Xichen proclaims, and without even looking at him, Lan Qiren can hear the smile in his voice.
Jiang Wanyin flushes a deep red. The Yu Spiders beside her left and right remain impassive, while her disciples exchange sideway glances.
"W-What do you mean, courting gifts?!" Despite holding onto her composure with admirable effort, a single splutter still reveals her fluster. Behind them, Lan attendants move past, each carrying a gift- painting scrolls, chests of gold and silver, boxes of delicate sculptures.
"I intend to marry you, Wanyin," Lan Xichen announces, and Lan Qiren closes his eyes. To make such a declaration in public, where all could see - such shamelessness! Yet, seeing his nephew beaming like a fool, Lan Qiren cannot entirely begrudge him.
At least things are being done in the proper way, for a match of love. "Shall we discuss the details inside, Sect Leader Jiang?" Lan Qiren suggests, to save face. His words alert her to his presence, and the look of recognition on her face is apparent. Curiosity, wonder, awareness - he can see that she is dying to confirm her suspicions.
Within the inner chambers of the Lotus Pier, they sit down to tea, and Lan Xichen immediately asks about her health. "Shufu has told me that you had a child."
Xichen has taken his turn to expose him. If he is to be impolite, Lan Qiren will scoff. A pause holds between them at Jiang Wanyin's anticipatory expression, guarded, hopeful, yet wary as she waits for Lan Xichen to reveal more. "He told me that...the child is ours?"
His nephew's tone is hesitant, beseeching, longing, laying himself vulnerable to the woman he holds in his heart. Jiang Wanyin's relief is evident in the way her features relax, as she murmurs, "Yes."
"Can I see them?"
She rises from her seat. "Come with me."
With her invitation, they follows her into her private quarters, deep into the heart of Lotus Pier, where a swaddled babe sleeps peacefully in a padded, finely carved wooden crib. Jiang Wanyin gently lifts her - their - infant son and brings him to Lan Xichen, his expression full of awe.
"This is our child, Wanyin?" He asks tenderly, as he lays his hands over hers.
"Our son."
"What's his name?"
"Jiang Le."
乐, for joy. The light in his parents' lives. Qiren's nephew looks ready to cry, but he merely clutches onto her hands.
"It must have been difficult to have and birth him alone. I'm sorry I wasn't there, Wanyin, and thank you."
Her eyes shimmer. "How could you have been here?" She huffs, abashed, "You didn't know."
Qiren remains silent, not wanting to disturb the new family's moment together - one which, hopefully, will be the first of many to come. The marriage discussion and arrangements can always come later. What is most crucial - and is gladly present - is their love and happiness.