Chapter Text
Lan Qiren watched the students file in, and had to wince slightly as he heard heard a commotion before three boys walked in.
He recognized two boys, the sect heirs of the Nie and Jiang Clan, but had to take a double take at the boy in the middle. C-Changse…? he wondered a bit deliriously as the boy with quick-silver eyes grinned at something Nie Huaisang had said.
No, that was impossible. But as he turned and caught his eyes, he felt as though he were back in the past, breaking rules with that infuriatingly amazing woman whom he had come to consider a sister.
And yet he was the spitting image of her. Those delicate features framed perfectly with black bangs, silver eyes, heart shaped face, and cupid-bow lips, the boy was the spitting image of his mother, except his hair, with was long and straight, like his father's hair.
The boy's eyes skimmed over him before they landed on his nephew. He immediately waved, only to be coldly ignored. Lan Qiren had to suppress a sigh as the boy;s face flitted form hurt back to a quick smile, not as real as it was before.
He glanced at his nephew, who was looking down at his papers, though his ears were red. Oh dear.
If the boy was anything like his mother, he would be untamed, wild, and reckless. For some reason, Lan Qiren wanted to hone that into a perfect blade, to protect him. The mind that he already knew would be impressive.
His urge to protect the boy surfaced in his mind as he went to sit with his brother.
Of course.
With two parents like that… he must be one too.
As the role call started, lan Qiren racked his brain, trying to figure out how to call the boy to his office without making it seem odd.
As the Jiang Sect presented their gift, he once again saw the boy, Wei Wuxian, try to catch his nephew's eye, and had to suppress a sigh. Young love, he thought to himself, reminding himself to ask (read: interrogate) his nephew about how they already knew each other, since it was only the first day of lectures.
He knew Wei Wuxian was perhaps too good for his nephew, but was his nephew good enough for Wei Wuxian?
He shook himself out of over-protective jiujiu thoughts as Wei Wuxian and Jiang Wanyin bowed, returning to their seats.
Then, he got it.
He would simply question the boy, rapid fire! That way, he would be able to talk to him.
As he started the lecture by reading the rules, he watched as Wei Wuxian slowly zoned out, doodling on the margins of his paper.
This was it.
"Wei Wuxian," he barked, wincing a bit at how harsh he sounded.
The boy straightened immediately, whipping his head to him, looking slightly guilty as Lan Qiren asked, "Are yao, demons, ghosts, and monsters the same things?"
Wei Wuxian grinned, shaking his head as his eyes shone with delight at teh question, Lan Qiren knew it. A hidden genius just waiting to come out. His resolve was even more firmly set into stone as Wei Wuxian flawlessly replied, "Yao are formed from living non-human beings; demons are formed from living humans; ghosts are formed from dead humans, or resentful spirits; and monsters are formed from dead non-human beings."
"What is the natural order of profession for subduing a resentful spirit?" Lan Qiren shot back
Wei Wuxian looked at him dead in the eye, "First is liberation, or granting the spirit's dying wish, second is suppression, or subduing its energy, and third is elimination!"
"What was the profession of the founder of the Qinghe Nie Sect?"
Without waiting, "A butcher."
"What is the heraldry flower of the Lanling Jin Sect, and what is its specific variety?"
"The Sparks Amidst Snow peony."
Lan Qiren stroked his beard as he could tell the other students were simply hoping for his attention to remain on Wei Wuxian. "These are all questions which the answers to you all should know."
Since he was having fun asking all of these, he decided to go with a harder question to gauge the boy's intelligence. "There is an executioner with parents, a wife, and children. Before he died, he executed more than one hundred people. He suddenly died in public and, to punish him for his deeds, the townspeople left his body on the streets for seven days to be spit on and kicked. With the repressed energy of resentment, he starts to haunt and kill. What should be done?"
Wei Wuxian hesitated, and Lan Qiren had to sigh. He supposed to could call the boy to his office for not paying attention in class as he had his nephew Wangji answer. As he recited the textbook answer, Wei Wuxian got up.
"What about a fourth path‽ Why not dig up the graves of the one hundred victims he executed, arouse their resentful energy, and use them to fight the executioner's corpse for you?"
Lan Qiren froze as his nephew got up, exclaiming about how that was un-heretical. He stroked his beard. This would work.
He watched as Wei Wuxian passionately argued that resentful energy was just like spiritual energy.
He cleared his throat, and pretending to get mad, shouted. "Wei Wuxian!! After class, meet me in my office at the back of the Lanshi!"
Wei Wuxian looked down, biting his lip as he nodded, and Lan Qiren felt a pang of guilt.
After class, he was waiting in teh back as Wei Wuxian hesitantly opened the door.
He gestured the young man inside, he quickly stepped in and kneeled. "I deeply apologize Lan-Xiansheng, and I will take any punishment."
"Boy, get up!" Lan Qiren said, a bit horrified. Why was he kneeling?
Wei Wuxian looked up. "What I said was wrong. I will take it!"
"Wei Wuxian," Lan Qiren sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I have not called you here to berate you for what you said."
Wei Wuxian blinked. "You… you haven't?"
Lan Qiren sighed. he had a feeling he would be doing that a lot. "I think what you said in class was impressive, and something that should be looked into. You're a genius, I can tell."
Wei Wuxian hesitantly smiled up at him. "Really, there is no need to compliment me, I really can't take it when someone so earnestly say such nice things!"
Lan Qiren frowned. "Why- never mind. I called you to ask you about something else."
At the severity in his tone, Wei Wuxian sat up. "If it's about the wine yesterday, in my defense, I didn't know the rules!"
Lan Qiren looked at him blankly. "No, it is not about that, though, know that you do know t he rules, alcohol is forbidden in Cloud Recess."
Wei Wuxian nodded. "Your nephew told me!"
He then went on, to, in great detail, describe how he and "the handsome young gongzi" clashed swords on the rooftops.
So this was how the met. Lan Qiren nodded.
"Anyways… I am here to ask you.. if you know of your parentage."
Wei Wuxian stiffened, and he glanced up at Lan Qiren. SO he did know what he was. "Did you… know my parents?"
"Know?" Lan Qiren barked out a laugh. "Your mother was like my sister!"
Wei Wuxian peeked up at him. "So… do you have any tales to tell me about them? Jiang-Shushu won't tell me because Yu-Furen gets mad, but you must!"
Lan Qiren blinked at him. "Why Does Yu-Furen get mad?"
"Ohh.." Wei Wuxian fidgeted with his fingers. "Well.. she thinks he was in love with her, and that he wants metoreplaceherplaceinhisheart."
He said the last bit in a rush, but Lan Qiren understood it clearly. How… how despicable.
"Wei Wuxian… are you aware of you.. heritage?"
His head snapped up. "Y-You know..?"
Lan Qiren nodded. "You mother was a butterfly boned beauty feast. So was your father."
Wei Wuxian was scrambling back, fear in his eyes, and Lan Qiren understood it quite clearly.
Butterfly boned beauty feasts were coveted and extremely rare. Only Jinlintai had them, and even then, they blood was quite diluted, not crying tears of gold, and not having much cultivation boosting properties. For a pure blood butterfly boned beauty feast to exist… many people would want him.
The reason they were so coveted was because of their cultivation boosting properties. By dual-cultivating with one, using them as a cauldron, or even eating their flesh or blood, could make you immeasurably more powerful, and could even help you attain immortally.
Some people, in the past, even had children with the butterfly boned beauty feast, only to then consume the child, or dual-cultivate them them, once old enough, even if the blood was diluted.
Very rarely did a union between a butterfly boned beauty feast and a normal cultivator result in a butterfly boned beauty feast, but even if it didn't, some of the cultivation boosting properties were still there, which was why they even went for their own children children.
Now, in Jinlintai, you can only spend one night with a BBBF, and even those are ridiculously expensive, not minding how much it would cost to buy one.
Wei Wuxian's eyes were wide, his breathing heavy as Lan Qiren tried to calm him. "Don't worry," he soothed. "I won't tell anyone. I kept your mother's secret, and I'll keep yours."
"At what cost?" Wei Wuxian asked, eyes teary as liquid gold slipped down his cheeks. "What do you want from me?"
Lan Qiren blinked. "Absolutely nothing. I just wanted to let you know that I am willing to help you, Wei Ying."
The boy shook his head, silently crying, and Lan Qiren couldn't help but wonder exactly what he was going through to cry so much. He hiccuped. "I-In the Jiang household.. in order to stay with them, hic. Y-Yu-Furen wants me to become a cauldron for Jiang Cheng," he whispered.
Lan Qiren felt his blood freeze as he leaned over the desk to grip the boy's shoulders. "A-Xian," he said, surprising himself with the nickname as much as he surprised the younger. "Tell me everything."
So Wei Wuxian, no A-Xian told him everything. How he was on the streets, and how. that ended up damaging his core. If he were a normal cultivator, his core would not be so defenseless, but alas, he was not. Lan Qiren noted how miraculous it was for his identity to not be revealed, and A-Xian confided in him that he remembered his parents telling him to be very careful.
He also told him how, after Jiang-Zongzhu has taken him in, had tried making a move on him, knowing as he was both a butterfly boned beauty feast… and also a carrier.
Lan Qiren felt pity for the boy. It was as though he had all the worst things that could happen to a person. A damaged core, a carrier, and a butterfly boned beauty feast. Would his suffering ever stop?
Eventually, A-Xian told him how, because of her jealousy towards his mother, Yu-Furen tended to mistreat him while Jiang-Zongzhu would turn a blind eye.
Lan Qiren felt anger rising in him at this. "Listen. I will do everything I can to help you learn more about what you are, and if there is any way to, if not fix a damaged core, to make it stronger."
A-Xian blinked. "W-What?? Ohh, no you don't have to! I mean, we've only just met, and teh fact that you're already caring for me like this…"
Lan Qiren gruffly said, "Look boy. I consider you like a third nephew, and you might just become one if you end up winning Wangji's heart."
A-Xian blinked at him, then burst out into multiple hues of red. "L-Lan-Xiansheng!!"
Lan Qiren added, "And refer to me as Jiujiu in private. You mother was like a sister after all."
The smile he got this time was so bright and genuine, Lan Qiren felt momentarily blinded. "Alright Jiujiu!"
Just as he was about to leave, Lan Qiren called out, "For today's lesson, you have to copy all 3000 rules, by the way."
A-Xian whipped around. "Whattt‽" he whined. "You can't do that!! Lan-X- Jiujiu please! Three thousand?"
Lan Qiren stroked his beard. "If you got away scot free, other students would begin to wonder why."
A-Xian blinked. "Do I reallly have to do them though?"
"Yes."