Chapter Text
The Burial Mounds held a sense of death and decay that had seeped into the ground and polluted the air. Wei Wuxian leaned up against a tree and slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the corpses piled around him. He could smell them, too. Some looked like they had been rotting for years, some just days. The newer ones were almost all cultivators. Now Wei Wuxian could remember. There was a siege lead by the sects. Lead in part by Jiang Cheng. Slowly, Wei Wuxian pushed himself up. Every muscle in his body ached, even walking felt unnatural. It always seemed like healing took longer in the Burial Mounds.
A thought came to him. Everyone he cared about either hates him now, or died due to his own actions. He blindly stumbled for a moment before sitting down and picking up a sword left by one of the corpses. He brought it up to his chest. Before it went through his heart, he remembered leaving little Wen Yuan in the tree stump to hide. He promised he would come back. If there were any chance his little radish were still alive….
At the very least he had to check. He stood up again, still stumbling around, but now he at least had a destination. He had little memory of where exactly he'd left A-Yuan, but he was willing to search for however long it took to find him. There was nothing else for him to do anyways.
A-Yuan was still nestled into the decaying tree stump where Wei Wuxian had left him. For the most part, he appeared unharmed.
"A-Yuan," Wei Wuxian called out, hoarse and scratchy. "A-Yuan… "
The boy didn't stir, and Wei Wuxian feared for the worst. He checked his pulse, which was still there, and breathed a sigh of relief. He picked A-Yuan up and held him as he sat down.
"Little radish, I'm sorry." Closing his eyes, Wei Wuxian hugged A-Yuan tight.
"Xian-gege?" Followed by a light cough.
Wei Wuxian's eyes shot open. A tear rolled down his cheek onto A-Yuan's, which were a rosy pink. Wei Wuxian soon realized this was because of a fever.
Holding A-Yuan tighter Wei Wuxian whispered, "It's alright, little radish. I've got you."
Once he was able to stand again, Wei Wuxian brought A-Yuan back to the cave. He lied down on the pile of blankets he called a bed with A-Yuan laying on his chest, and passed out immediately.
He woke up starving a day and a half later. If he was hungry, A-yuan was too. He needed to make some food.
"Little radish," Wei Wuxian said softly, "Wake up."
A-Yuan's eyes fluttered open with a yawn.
"I'm gonna go make some food, okay?"
A-Yuan nodded, as Wei Wuxian got up and set A-Yuan back on the bed. He was finally able to look around. There were broken bowls and talismans scattered around the cave. Anything of value was gone, and the rest was mostly destroyed. Not that there was much of value to begin with.
In the kitchen, Wei Wuxian started gathering ingredients to make congee. There was only enough rice to last the two of them a few months at most. Wei Wuxian began cooking. He tried to not make it too spicy for A-Yuan. Thankfully that was easy due to the fact there were no spices left.
He brought a bowl of congee back and helped A-Yuan sit up before feeding him spoonfuls.
"Xian-gege, you have to eat too." A-Yuan said after a few minutes.
Wei Wuxian smiled for what felt like the first time in a year. "I will, little radish. Thanks for your concern."
Both of them started to recover. A-Yuan's fever eventually died down. They had settled into a routine after a week. When A-Yuan was hungry, he would wake Wei Wuxian up. Wei Wuxian would make congee with the little bit of rice they had left. A-Yuan's bowl would be full, and Wei Wuxian's would be mostly empty. When asked by A-Yuan, he would just say he wasn't hungry.
It was during one of these meals that Wei Wuxian heard footsteps. Hurriedly, he grabbed A-Yuan and ran to the back of the cave, crouching in one of the nooks. Wei Wuxian held A-Yuan tightly.
"Xian-gege, what going on?"
Wei Wuxian's only answer was putting a finger to his own lips and shushing.
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Lan Qiren slowly climbed up the slope of the Burial Mounds, corpses strewn about. He recognized a few of them, junior Lan cultivators. They had already held funerals for those that died in the siege, but seeing it in person felt very different.
As he continued walking, the corpses only piled higher. The air was heavy with resentful energy, the kind that settled in your lungs and your soul. Lan Qiren wondered just how anyone was able to live here. The smell of lightly burnt congee wafted from a cave.
Of course he followed the smell. Two half eaten bowls were left on the table, along with a toy butterfly. He explored further and eventually heard the sound of uneven breathing, hardly audible.
Lan Qiren found Wei Wuxian holding a child, and raised his sword hesitantly.
"Don't, don't hurt him…" Wei Wuxian eyed chenqing, which was across the room. There was no way he would be able to get it in time. Not that it would matter anyway, he wouldn't be able to win this fight.
Lan Qiren lowered his sword. "Who is he?"
Wei Wuxian held A-Yuan tighter. "He's just a kid, he's innocent."
A-Yuan looked up at Lan Qiren with a sense of curiosity only a child could have in this situation. This was all very bizarre. Why exactly would Wei Wuxian have a child? Why would the child be in the Burial Mounds in the first place? Then it clicked.
"He's a Wen."
"He's innocent. Don't hurt him, please. Just- you and the sects can do whatever you want to me, just don't hurt him." Wei Wuxian was becoming more hysterical by the minute.
Lan Qiren sighed, "I won't hurt a child."
Wei Wuxian stared at him for a moment. Then at A-Yuan. "A-Yuan hasn't had much of an education, but he's very smart. And he's a good listener." A-Yuan smiled slightly, happy to be praised by his Xian-gege. Lan Qiren raised an eyebrow as Wei Wuxian continued, "If he knew the Lan sect rules, I'm sure he would have no trouble following-"
"You want him to come to Cloud Recess?" Lan Qiren wasn't one for interrupting, but this had taken him by surprise.
For moment, Wei Wuxian stayed quiet. "Take him to Lan Zhan. He knows A-Yuan is a good kid."
Lan Qiren's expression faltered at the mention of Lan Wangji. But not long enough for Wei Wuxian to notice. "And what of you?"
"I- you can kill me, or hand me over to the sects or whatever. Just… as long as he's safe, it doesn't matter."
Lan Qiren pursed his lips. He had never liked Wei Wuxian. The boy was far too loud, a terrible listener. However, he was the same age as his youngest nephew, not even twenty five yet. Hearing how much he devalued his own life stirred something in Lan Qiren. Especially after what happened with Lan Wangji.
"We can figure that out at Gusu." Wei Wuxian stared at him in surprise."The sooner we leave this dreadful place, the sooner we'll arrive."
"What?"
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It was completely silent in the carriage. Neither could tell whether it was a comfortable silence or not. Since they were traveling by carriage rather than sword, they decided to stop for dinner and stay at an inn that night at a village just east of Yilling.
A-Yuan gasped excitedly when their meal arrived. "Xian-gege! What's that?"
Wei Wuxian huffed out a laugh, "That's steamed fish, little radish."
"Oh, okay! And that one?"
Already putting food in A-Yuan's bowl, Wei Wuxian sighed, "This one is hot-dry noodles. Here, eat up."
He didn't have to tell A-Yuan twice. He excitedly dug into his meal. Any type of food would be amazing after eating nothing but radish congee for so long.
Lan Qiren watched with a complicated expression. His mind went back to the siege. The sects has said Wei Wuxian had gone completely out of control, that he was planning to raise an army with the Wen remnants. It seemed laughable now. What army, the four year old? None of the Wen corpses at the Burial Mounds seemed particularly strong either, most of them were elderly and malnourished.
When Wei Wuxian tasted the food, his eyes lit up. Since they were close to Yunmeng, the food reminded Wei Wuxian of his shijie's cooking very much. He stared out the window at the passersby, almost expecting to see Jiang Yanli walking by. His mind involuntarily went back to childhood memories he had of playing with Jiang Cheng and his shijie.
"Wei Wuxian, did you hear me?" Lan Qiren asked. Wei Wuxian jumped sightly, he had been too caught up in memories to hear anything.
"Huh? Sorry."
Shaking his head, Lan Qiren repeated himself. "I said you can stay at Cloud Recess until a decision is made about what to do with you."
"Ah, okay. Thanks." Wei Wuxian seemed distant, as if his mind was somewhere else. "Do you think Lan Zhan could take A-Yuan as a disciple?"
Lan Qiren paused. "I don't think Wangji should be taking disciples at the moment."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
At first, Lan Qiren couldn't tell whether Wei Wuxian was serious or not. "When he fought 33 Lan elders-"
Wei Wuxian almost jumped out of his seat. "He what?! When?! Lan Zhan did what??"
"…You were there. It was after the bloodbath at Nightless City."
"The one where my shijie…oh." Realization dawned on him. "The aftermath of that battle honestly just a blur. You're saying Lan Zhan, he really fought a bunch of Lan elders? But why? That's not something he would do at all! Did he get injured because of that? Is he hurt?"
Lan Qiren sighed. The fact that the boy had no memory of that was worrying. "One question at a time, please."
"Ah sorry. Uh, is Lan Zhan okay?"
"He… he will be. It will take time for him to recover."
Wei Wuxian frowned a bit, that wasn't the answer he wanted. "And how come he fought Lan elders in the first place?"
"It was to protect you, Wei Wuxian,"
There was silence for a moment. Wei Wuxian stared wide eyed, trying to process everything. Hadn't Lan Wangji always disliked him? Wei Wuxian thought they certainly weren't on good terms after that battle. "That… that can't be right," he muttered.