Chapter Text
Lan Qiren sat at his desk filling out paperwork. He would really rather be doing just about anything else. He missed Pei Ming, they had spent far more years apart than they had been together and yet Lan Qiren missed him more than anything. Lan Qiren sighed and set his brush down on its holder before picking up the paper he had just finished, setting it aside so the ink could dry before he rolled it up.
Lan Qiren closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, it had been a long day and he would rather go for a walk around the cloud recesses than staying cooped up in his classroom, despite how airy his classroom was.
“Grandmaster Lan, may I ask you a question?” Wei Wuxian asked, poking his head into Lan Qiren’s classroom. It was a bit odd still to see him dressed in Lan robes, although he still had his red ribbon in his hair and his clarity bell and flute at his waist. But he wore the sect robes of his husband for the most part. He would still wear his black and red robes when he did some of his work with the other inventors from the rest of the world. Those robes he had expressed less worry about getting them burnt and stained.
“Of course Wei Wuxian, come in.” Lan Qiren said, gesturing to the other side of his table. Wei Wuxian walked over to join him, his hands were stained with ink and he was holding talismans.
“Is it possible for you to help me test these communication talismans?” Wei Wuxian asked, extending one of them towards Lan Qiren. He took it and looked it over, it didn’t seem dangerous, although Wei Wuxian hadn’t given him anything he knew was dangerous yet.
“How is it supposed to work?” Lan Qiren asked.
“It should work by running a little bit of power through the talisman consistently and keeping it on your person. My hope is that the talismans will allow us to form a mental communication web.” Wei Wuxian said.
Lan Qiren tipped his head as he thought about it, it seemed very similar in concept to the communication array that Pei Ming had told him about all those years ago. It was a strong concept, and a good idea. If Wei Wuxian could manage it, which Lan Qiren was sure he was smart enough to do, it would be an incredibly useful tool for the cultivation world.
“I’m sure that you’ll manage it even better than you’re already trying to. You’re perhaps the best inventor the world has seen in centuries. Cultivation stagnates with a few generations and then someone comes along and gets it moving again. That would be you, Wei Wuxian.”
“I don’t remember you being so kind about this when I was a teenager.” Wei Wuxian said with a smile.
“I was worried about you mostly, but you were also a chaos gremlin that was making my life harder than it needed to be. I didn’t want you getting yourself into anything you couldn’t save yourself from.” Lan Qiren said.
“Which makes sense, but you could have just said that you know.”
“I could have. And perhaps I should have, but I chose not to.” Lan Qiren said.
Wei Wuxian started to respond but stopped when there was a light knock on the doorframe behind them. Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng were standing at the door, holding papers.
“Uncle, if I’m not interrupting anything could we join you?” Lan Xichen asked.
Lan Qiren glanced at Wei Wuxian who scooted over and nodded. “Of course. What do you need?” Lan Qiren asked, gesturing for the pair to sit down.
Lan Xichen sat down across from Lan Qiren and Jiang Cheng sat down between Lan Xichen and Wei Wuxian.
“I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on this.” Lan Xichen said, handing Lan Qiren a paper.
Lan Qiren took the paper and read it over. While he was reading Lan Wangji walked in, followed by Lan Shizui and Lan Jingyi, and sat down beside Wei Wuxian. None of them said anything, they just took a seat around the table. The paper Lan Xichen had handed him was just regarding who would be attending Gusu the following year. It wasn’t anything unusual but Lan Xichen had always had him read over it before he approved it.
Lan Qiren passed the paper back. “I don’t have any worries about this.” Lan Qiren said.
“Alright. I’ll send letters out tomorrow then. What were you and Wei Wuxian discussing?” Lan Xichen asked.
Lan Qiren glanced at Wei Wuxian. “We were discussing a communication talisman I’ve been working on. I was asking if he would be willing to assist us in testing it.” Wei Wuxian said.
“Oh, how does it work?” Lan Xichen asked.
“The hope is that by running a little bit of spiritual power through it we can create mental links that can be used for expedient long distance communication.”
“Would you mind if I join you in the testing?” Lan Xichen asked.
“Sure. Take a Talisman.” Wei Wuxian said, producing a couple more talismans from his pocket. Lan Xichen took one, as well as Jiang Cheng and the pair of juniors. Jin Ling also took one, having joined them as Wei Wuxian had been explaining. He was likely here to have a meeting with Lan Xichen regarding something for the sects.
Lan Qiren sighed and his hand came up to fiddle with the pendant hanging around his neck. He missed Pei Ming and the pendant was the last thing he had given him. He had said something about the pendant being special but either he had never explained it or Lan Qiren had forgotten what it was.
“Hello Lan Qiren, it’s been quite a while.” Pei Ming said as he appeared in front of him.
“It truly has, General Ming Guang.” Lan Qiren said as he rose to his feet and bowed to him. Pei Ming caught his arms and stopped him.
“Don’t bow to me A-Ren, and don’t call me by my title, you used my name for such a long time.” Pei Ming said.
Lan Qiren straightened up. “Hello Pei Ming, it’s lovely to see you again.” Lan Qiren said.
“I’ve missed you A-Ren, you haven’t called on me in decades.” Pei Ming said.
“I figured you would have moved on, Ming-ge, you’re well known for having many partners.” Lan Qiren said.
“Not anymore. All of the women who have come forward since we parted have been lying. I never touched anyone else, in hopes that you would call on me again.” Pei Ming said.
“Sit with us, I think you’ll find Wei Wuxian’s idea very interesting, and you might be able to provide some insight into it.” Lan Qiren said as he sat down, gesturing for Pei Ming to sit down beside him.
The rest of the group was staring at the pair in shock. Wei Wuxian was seemingly the first to recover, extending a talisman towards Pei Ming with a shaking hand.
“General Ming Guang, this would be the idea that Grandmaster Lan spoke of. It’s a communication talisman I’m working on. It should work by running a little bit of power through the talisman consistently and keeping it on your person. My hope is that the talismans will allow us to form a mental communication web.” Wei Wuxian said.
Pei Ming took the talisman from Wei Wuxian. “It’s an ingenious idea, and I’ll see if I can get Ling Wen involved with this, since she maintains the communication array, and this seems to be functioning on the same idea.” Pei Ming said as he looked over the talisman.
“What do you mean by this functioning on the same general idea? How does it work?” Wei Wuxian asked, any hesitation was gone now.
“Well, the heavenly officials have a communication array, ensuring we can all stay in contact with each other. I don’t really know how it works though, that would be a question for Ling Wen, but I’ll ask her if you can talk to her about it.” Pei Ming said.
“That would be great! Thank you!” Wei Wuxian said. He looked thrilled about the prospect.
“Shufu, you know General Ming Guang?” Lan Xichen asked.
“Technicaly it’s a bit more than knowing, but yes.” Lan Qiren said.
“You were in a relationship with a heavenly official.” Jiang Cheng said.
“Yes. I was. A long time ago now.” Lan Qiren said.
“Storytime?” Lan Jingyi asked.
They were all old enough to hear the story, so he might as well tell them. It was time someone other than he and Pei Ming knew the story anyway. Lan Qiren sighed and closed his eyes. He let himself lean against Pei Ming, it had been a long time since they had met, yet the memories were incredibly clear, which was good since he was going to be telling the story.