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Wei Wuxian stared down at the decree in disbelief before glaring into the distance at the Cloud Recesses Imperial Palace—which, by the way, was sparkling way too brightly for seven in the morning.
Jiang Cheng’s face was visibly agitated as Nie Huaisang scanned the scroll over and over again in a futile attempt to make the words disappear.
What gave the Emperor the right—regardless of how enchanting his looks were rumored to be and his constant benevolence for all of the people—to instill the rules everyone at the palace was expected to follow?
This was uncalled for, and Wei Wuxian would not stand for it!
“Fuck the monarchy.”
Jiang Cheng takes a break from looking constipated to nod his agreement and Nie Huaisang happily voiced his thoughts. “Yeah!”
— — —
Wei Wuxian sighed, his head was starting to pound as he tried to absorb the content of the Imperial Palace’s rule books.
Gods, who the hell thought rules and emperors were a good idea in the first place. Rules, in practice, should serve the people well, but was it worth it? Would it not be better to have a set standard of morals and principles and live by those instead, why waste time—
He squawked as a rogue paper ball hit his forehead.
“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng hissed. “Take this seriously, how will I help you if the fucking Emperor sees you breaking rules, huh?”
Wei Wuxian smirked. “Ah, A-Cheng, you really do care for little old me don’t you, you’re the—”
Another paper ball.
Alright, he kind of (really) had that one coming. Wei Wuxian stared down at the book again, scoffing at how some of these rules were definitely stupid and definitely mutually exclusive—though if he pointed the latter out there was a chance he’d get like, executed or something.
Probably.
“Aiya, Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian sighed.
“What is it this time?”
“What’s the point of learning all this,” he gestured vaguely to the books, “it’s not like I’m ever going to meet the Emperor!”
Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes.
In hindsight, Wei Wuxian should have known better.
— — —
Traditionally speaking, Lan Xichen would have been the next in line for the throne following the death of his father.
But then—if Wei Wuxian remembered correctly because hey, when the whole treason and probably attempted murder thing broke out about one of Lan Xichen’s most trusted friends, he was really busy with helping out Wen Qing and her family after her shit uncle managed to gamble away nearly all of their money.
Anyways, the people couldn’t trust Lan Xichen to rule (which is a bit irrational seeing as how he wasn’t the traitor who probably attempted murder) and so he abdicated the throne and it passed it onto his younger brother, Lan Wangji.
The people say that Lan Wangji has an appearance that is frigidly beautiful—a jade statue, icy like the winds during a particularly cold winter day.
But his appearance does not reflect his actions. He cares about the people, for one—and like wow, Wei Wuxian had to think about that for a bit, were the standards really that low that caring about the people was a miracle?—and he actually leaves the palace if his presence is required, regardless of who asked for help.
Wei Wuxian felt like he was doing the bare minimum, but every time he voiced that, people looked at him with wide eyes and promptly backed away from him like he had the plague.
Gods, you merely hint criticism at the Emperor and suddenly you’re a target or something.
— — —
Wei Wuxian’s downfall starts like this:
It’s just another usual day where he actually managed to get through the rule books without exploding and sitting through an actually nice lunch (because Madame Yu and Uncle Jiang are away on business) with his siblings.
And then someone knocks on their door.
Jiang Cheng sends him a questioning glance and Wei Wuxian shrugs before they turn towards Jiang Yanli, and she shakes her head.
Okay, so none of them had invited anyone over, which could mean Uncle Jiang and Madame Yu are back (unlikely), their friends were here (again unlikely, it was the dead of winter), or the Emperor himself was here.
Wei Wuxian really hoped it wasn’t the last one, what if they searched his room and found all the anti-monarchy stuff he made?
Jiang Yanli broke the silence. “A-Xian, A-Cheng, we need to go greet whoever’s at the door.”
Another knock, much more frantic than the last, and the three siblings are immediately out of their seats as they yank the door open.
Wen Qing greets them with the most haunted look Wei Wuxian has ever seen from her—and given the shit year she’s had with that shit uncle, he knew this had to be really bad.
“Wen Qing!” Jiang Yanli quickly pulls her inside. If Wei Wuxian’s heart wasn’t about to stop beating at every worst case scenario that played through his head right now, he’d probably smile at Jiejie’s kindness.
Wei Wuxian shakes his head, effectively clearing his mind. “Qing-jie… did something happen? Is it Wen Ning? A-Yuan? Granny?”
Wen Qing takes a deep breath. Everyone in the room pretends not to notice the tears threatening to leave her eyes or the way her hands are shaking.
“Wen Ruohan happened,” she spits, and the room suddenly feels too cold. “He… that bastard filed some shitty accusation about how my family had screwed him over, and it worked obviously, you know his connections!”
Wei Wuxian’s heart drops.
“I don’t know what to do,” Wen Qing glares at the wall, tears flowing freely now. “We should have a few days, but then what? The damn Emperor’s been alerted! Wuxian, what do I do?”
Jiang Yanli pulls her into a hug, noting the expressions on her brothers’ faces—A-Cheng’s was angry, a calculating look present in his eyes while A-Xian’s was burning.
“Wen Qing,” Jiang Yanli whispers, “you have helped me and my brothers countless times before this, allow us to help you this time.”
Wen Qing vehemently refuses, “I cannot—”
Jiang Yanli cuts her off. “No. Do not view this as a debt you must repay later—you are our friend, there is no need for debt between friends.”
“Yeah!” Wei Wuxian agrees, “Wen Qing, let us help, please. We won’t let that bastard do anything to you and your family anymore.”
Jiang Cheng nods, his angry expression smoothing into one of fierce determination.
Wen Qing stared at the three siblings, and despite her pride and her deep rooted belief that she must do these things on her own, she finally relents.
Wen Ruohan didn’t know what was coming to him.
— — —
“I’ve got a plan.” Wei Wuxian takes a deep breath before continuing, “Don’t say anything until I—”
“No.”
“—finish.” Wei Wuxian sends Jiang Cheng a halfhearted glare. “As I was saying, our first focus should obviously be making sure Qing-jie’s family is safe first, right?”
Everyone in the room—Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng, Wen Qing, Wen Ning, and Nie Huaisang—nods their agreement.
Nie Huaisang unfolds his fan, a calculating gleam in his eyes.
Wei Wuxian felt a rush of relief when he noticed Nie Huaisang’s thoughtful expression. Years of friendship had taught him whatever idea Huaisang had it would a) actually work and b) actually work well.
“Wen Qing,” Nie Huaisang starts. “I have an idea for how to keep your family safe, but I understand if you may take offense to it.”
Wen Qing nods as if saying go on.
“As you all know, Da-ge is friends with Lan Xichen, who would have been Emperor before you know," Nie Huaisang gestures vaguely with his fan. “But there’s something I haven’t told you all yet.”
Jiang Cheng looks at him. “What is it?”
“That whole scandal that had happened with Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao, yes?” Nie Huaisang pauses. “He used to be known as Meng Yao.”
It was so silent that they could hear a brush drop. Wait, oh shit, Wei Wuxian immediately scrambles for his brush before going back to twirling it in his hand.
“Meng Yao?” Wei Wuxian stares in disbelief. “The Meng Yao we went to school with?”
Nie Huaisang nods.
Jiang Yanli clears her throat, “What does Meng Yao have to do with this?”
“Ah, well… before Meng Yao had made his way into the palace, he temporarily worked for Da-ge, doing all the boring stuff—as Da-ge put it—because Da-ge can’t sit still for more than half an hour.”
Everybody heard Nie Huaisang’s hidden meaning:
Nie Mingjue would rather get stabbed if it meant he didn’t have to do anything involving people or paperwork.
“This also meant that Meng Yao was in charge of hiring staff as well,” Nie Huaisang glanced around the room, noting how an understanding glint shone in Wen Ning’s eyes. “After that scandal broke out, Da-ge fired most of the staff—seeing as how Meng Yao had hired them—and now there aren't enough people to help around.”
“Nie-er-gongzi, do you mean that you’ll hire our family then?” Wen Ning asks.
“Well, not exactly…?” Nie Huaisang looks at Wen Qing—she doesn’t look like she’ll kill him yet, so he’ll take that as a good sign. “I’ll tell Da-ge that I found new staff for us and then I’ll pretend to hire your family, but you won’t ever have to do anything excessive, just enough so that Da-ge won’t question anything.”
Wen Qing nods and her shoulders relax just a bit.
“Why can’t your brother know anything?” Jiang Cheng asks.
Nie Huaisang winces. “I don’t know if he’ll have heard anything, but he and Xichen-ge do talk and if any news of Wen Qing and her family had been passed on to him… Da-ge would know too.”
Wei Wuxian nods, heart feeling lighter now that he knows the Dafan Wens will be safe. A smile makes its way onto his face as he runs over the next part of the plan. “That’s the first part of the plan! Now, onto the next part.”
“What is it, A-Xian?” Jiang Yanli gives him a look, and oh shit, maybe he wasn’t as subtle as he thought he was.
“This is going to sound bad, no Jiang Cheng, don’t say anything yet.” Wei Wuxian takes a deep breath. “The Emperor will likely be here in less than a week, judging by the severity of Wen Ruohan’s accusations, right?”
Everyone nods.
“Which means, Wen Qing and her family will have to be moved within the next two days or so, but who will be there when the Emperor shows up?”
A moment passes by before various shouts of disagreement fill the room.
“A-Xian, no.”
“Wei Wuxian, what the fuck.”
“Wei-xiong, you’ll get beheaded or something!”
“Wuxian, you idiot!”
“Wei-gongzi…”
Wei Wuxian waves off their concerns. “Listen! I told you I have a plan, didn't I?” He clears his throat. “I’ll obviously have the papers that prove Wen Ruohan’s lies.”
Jiang Cheng raises a disbelieving eyebrow at him. “What if you get killed or something?”
“I was getting to that! See, if we look at it from a technical term, I am your brother in all but blood, yes?” Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli nod, and Wei Wuxian feels his heart squeeze—in a good way of course. “And so, I’ll just hint that I do have relations to the Jiangs and if he killed me it’d be a bit of a headache to deal with it.”
Wen Qing still has an air of disapproval around here—but when does she not?—and Wen Ning still looks worried.
Okay, maybe that card wasn’t that good but he had years of experience from running away from an annoying little brother. So, if push comes to shove Wei Wuxian could just run away and hope that the Emperor forgot his face.
Simple.
Despite the fact that his heart was beating way too fast to be considered normal, Wei Wuxian refused anyone else to take his place. Wen Qing and Wen Ning were out of the question, and Wei Wuxian was extremely sure that Nie Mingjue would kill him and bring him back to life to kill him again if anything happened to Huaisang.
And he didn’t even contemplate the thought of Jiang Cheng—who yes was a good person but also a very angry and can easily piss you off good person—and Jiejie, who could probably charm the Emperor but Wei Wuxian would rather hold a puppy than let her near any possible danger.
No, it had to be him, there was no way else to go about this.
— — —
In hindsight, Wei Wuxian definitely should have checked if he actually had the papers that would prove Wen Ruohan’s accusations false.
And as he frantically pat down his robes, checked his sleeves, and scanned his surroundings, Wei Wuxian realized two things.
First, the papers were nowhere to be found which made no sense because he could have sworn he actually packed them—Jiejie wouldn’t have let him leave without them—and second, the Emperor was right in front of him.
Oh gods, the Emperor.
Under different circumstances, Wei Wuxian definitely would have flirted with him (he had eyes, and the Emperor was very easy on the eyes) and maybe even paint his portrait too, but unfortunately there were more pressing problems at the moment.
“You—Your Highness,” Wei Wuxian croaks out, briefly meeting his eyes before turning away— shit, wasn’t there something about eye contact and the Emperor? Etiquette class didn’t teach him about this! “What brings you here…?”
Wait.
Was he even supposed to be talking to him? Wei Wuxian shakes his head, it’s not like there would have been anyone he could relay the message to, the Emperor was alone—which seems like a bit of a safety hazard but then again monarchs were strange.
“I am merely investigating the Dafan Wens,” Lan Wangji answered, and wow, his voice was… extremely pleasing to the ears. “The accusations laid against—”
“About that!” Wei Wuxian cut off, and fuck he was probably digging his grave now. “The Dafan Wens are innocent, your Highness.”
The Emperor doesn’t say anything, so Wei Wuxian takes that as his cue to continue.
“You see, Wen Ruohan—a total dickhead by the way—screwed over the Dafan Wens by gambling away nearly all their money and so he made those accusations as a way of retaliation.”
“Do you have proof?”
“Haha… proof! Well yes and no?” Wei Wuxian brushes a finger over his nose. “Yes I do have proof but no I don’t have the proof on me.”
Lan Wangji stares at him and Wei Wuxian tries his best not to run away.
“Look! It’s been a stressful week—do you know how hard it is to wake up so early, your Highness?” Wei Wuxian knows he’s about to start rambling soon, but he also hadn’t been stabbed yet so he might as well, right? “I barely had breakfast, and I guess in the midst of it all I misplaced the papers and never grabbed them, but I can assure the Dafan Wens are innocent, if anyone should get punished it should be Wen Ruohan or—”
“Stop.” Wei Wuxian does not shiver at the tone of Lan Wangji’s voice, he does not. “You will be going back to the palace with me.”
His heart stops.
Gods this is it, right? He’s going back to the palace to get beheaded or something and Jiejie and Jiang Cheng (okay maybe Jiang Cheng) will cry and Wen Ning and Wen Qing (okay maybe Wen Qing) will feel guilty and Nie Huaisang will… will likely avenge him, then die, and Nie Mingjue will kill both of them.
Fuck.
“Your Highness, haha, is there like um, any chance we could let this slide?” Wei Wuxian takes a deep breath. “I promise I won’t ever let anyone know his Highness didn’t kill this one and then your benevolence of doing the bare minimum, I mean fuck, the most, won’t be stained and—”
“The bare minimum?” Lan Wangji parrots back, and shit, he just had to focus on that part of his entire spiel.
Well, on one hand, he probably shouldn’t be degrading the entire monarchy in front of the Emperor himself, but on the other hand no one had ever listened to his thoughts on the monarchy before and who else would better understand him than the Emperor himself?
Let it be known that Wei Wuxian was not known for his good decisions and self preservation.
Let it also be known that Wei Wuxian sometimes—okay, most, if not all, the time—talked more than he should have.
“Well, you see your Highness, you are doing good,” Wei Wuxian assures when the air seems to get colder around them. “But I think what you are doing is not enough.”
Lan Wangji raises an eyebrow. Wei Wuxian tries not to stare at his eyelashes for any moment longer.
“How so?”
“Ah, well…” Wei Wuxian tugs at the red ribbon in his ponytail, not noticing the way golden eyes trace the movement. “If you had a bunch of apples and one of them was bad, what would you do?”
Wei Wuxian pushed down the horror that he felt because he was talking to the fucking Emperor like he was A-Yuan for fuck’s sake!
“I would take it out.”
Wei Wuxian hummed. “Exactly! Well in this case what you’re doing is inherently good, but in the grand scheme of things it’s the equivalent to just cutting out the bad parts of the bad apple and still leaving it with the bunch.”
Lan Wangji’s expression doesn’t seem to change much, but the air around them definitely feels less cold so he’ll take that as a win.
“You have more to say.” Lan Wangji meets his eyes and holy fuck how would he ever be able to match that gold shade in paint.
“Yes, um… right! So back to the apples, there are a lot of bad apples, like you’ve barely even made it into the basket—that the bunch of apples is in, of course.”
Lan Wangji nods, and if Wei Wuxian didn’t know any better he’d say the Emperor (the Emperor!) was embarrassed right now. “Thank you. And you are?”
Oh shit he never even introduced himself. Yeah, death definitely did seem like a possibility in the near future now.
He smiled anyway, making sure to put on the one he knew Jiejie would’ve laughed at and Jiang Cheng would’ve rolled his eyes at (fondly). “This one is Wei Ying, courtesy name Wuxian at your service, your Highness!”
“Mn.”
“Well,” Wei Wuxian started, unsure what to say to the short reply. “I’ll be going now, it was nice—”
“Wei Ying, courtesy name Wuxian,” Lan Wangji calls out and Wei Wuxian feels like he has severely miscalculated how this day was supposed to play out.
“You will be going back to the palace with me.”
Shit.
— — —
Wei Wuxian was definitely not panicking right now. Sure, he had told Jiejie and Jiang Cheng that he’d be back but he never said when he’d be back, right?
“Your Highness,” Wei Wuxian calls out, and Lan Wangji stops. “Are you going to kill me?”
“No.”
Huh, he sounds exactly like Wen Qing when he had offhandedly mentioned he’d take care of himself by regularly hydrating for once while reaching for a jar of water.
But it turns out it was actually ink, and that Wen Qing yelling no! had probably saved his life span from being cut short by a few years.
“No?” Wei Wuxian looks at him. “Then why am I going back to the palace with you?”
Lan Wangji looks at him again, and Wei Wuxian tries not to flee under his gaze—seriously what shade of gold were his eyes exactly?
“Wei Wu—”
“Call me Wei Ying your Highness!” Wei Wuxian blurts out. “I don’t mind, you know, if it’s you calling me Wei Ying, haha.”
Gods, what the hell was wrong with him? Maybe he had drunk that ink by accident. Was this a side effect of ink poisoning?
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji says and oh no this was a mistake. Wei Wuxian is internally screaming, and it’s all because of how the Emperor said his name—why did it sound so good in his mouth? He shakes his head, bad, don’t think about the Emperor’s mouth. “I… I believe your thoughts would be beneficial to the palace as well as the people.”
Wei Wuxian chokes on air.
“Beneficial?”
Lan Wangji nods. “Wei Ying is very insightful—and Wei Ying also seems to be very knowledgeable about this subject in particular.”
Wei Wuxian thinks back to the anti-monarchy posters he made and notes he wrote. Knowledgeable was definitely one way to put it.
“What about the Dafan Wens and Wen Ruohan?”
“Nothing will harm the Dafan Wens and Wen Ruohan will be severely punished.” Lan Wangji answers and Wei Wuxian feels the anxiety that had coiled up in his shoulders loosen.
Good. This was good, Wen Qing and Wen Ning and their family would be okay, and he didn’t even have to pull the I’m not legally nobility but I do have connections to the nobility so killing me would be a headache card!
“How long will you have me?” Wei Wuxian nearly slaps himself, how long will you have me? That sounds like something in one of Jiejie’s romance stories!
The traitorous part of him hopes Lan Wangji answers forever.
Lan Wangji has clearly noticed how misleading his question had been judging from the way his ears were faintly red.
Huh, that’s actually quite cute.
Oh gods this was not good, his goal was to make sure the Dafan Wens would be okay and to come back alive and he definitely did one of those things right but he’s also alive and not coming back.
And possibly in love with the fucking Emperor too.
“Wei Ying can… I apologize, I forgot you must have other duties to attend to, you do not need to come back with me if—”
“No!” Wei Wuxian cuts him off. “No! I do, but I also need to tell Jiejie and Jiang Cheng—my brother—and also Qing-jie, and A-Yuan that I’m, well, alive, and also that the Emperor wants to take me back to his palace, you know the usual.”
Lan Wangji nods, and Wei Wuxian thinks he’s known him long enough—as in their acquaintanceship that’s lasted for half an hour—to see that he’s laughing at him.
Or the Emperor’s equivalent to laughing at someone.
“Do you… do you want to walk back with me, your Highness, or…?”
“Mn.” Lan Wangji nods. “Will walk back with Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian grins, and Lan Wangji notices how pretty he looks in the light of the nearly setting sun.
— — —
“I’m back!” Wei Wuxian opens the door, immediately noticing the relief on his family and friend’s faces. “Before you all say anything, there’s two things I need to say, then you can yell at me all you want.”
“First,” Wei Wuxian grins, “Qing-jie, your family is safe, Wen Ruohan can’t do any—”
He wheezes as she hugs him, Wen Ning joining them a second later. “Ah, for once Wen Qing isn’t trying to hurt me!”
Wen Qing punches him—he spoke too soon—but Wei Wuxian sees the gratitude in her eyes and he smiles at the Wen siblings.
“Where is A-Yuan?” Wei Wuxian looks around. “Aiya, where’s my little radish, did you disappear off with Huaisang?”
Nie Huaisang rolls his eyes and Jiang Cheng snorts.
And then a blur—a very short, definitely child blur—passes by Wei Wuxian and oh no, this was not how he meant to introduce the Emperor to everyone.
“A-Yuan!” Wei Wuxian’s heart does something funny at the sight of A-Yuan hugging Lan Wangji’s leg. “What have I said about hugging strangers? This is the Emperor too!”
“The who?!”
Wei Wuxian didn’t even bother trying to figure out who said that. Instead he turns around and plasters on his best I’m innocent please believe me smile.
“Remember when I said there were two things I needed to say… well here’s the second thing!” Wei Wuxian pretends not to hear Jiang Cheng’s snort of disbelief. “The Emperor wants me to go back to the palace with him!”
Nie Huaisang drops his fan and Jiang Cheng actually chokes.
“A-Xian…” Jiang Yanli looks at him with concern, “Is the Emperor going to punish you?”
“What? No! He’s not going to kill me, he just wanted me to—”
“Wei Ying is intelligent,” Lan Wangji cuts him off and rude, was this how Lan Wangji felt whenever he cut him off? And also Wei Wuxian was not at all affected by the praise. “His thoughts on the monarchy were extremely valuable, and I would like more of his personal input.”
Wen Ning stares at him, jaw hanging open and Wen Qing looks— proud? Nie Huaisang is waving his fan, eyes wide, while Jiang Cheng looks like he wants to aggressively hug him and Jiejie is probably going to make pork rib and lotus root soup soon.
A-Yuan is still hugging Lan Wangji—the Emperor!—and completely oblivious to what’s happening around him.
“Haha,” Wei Wuxian tugs at his hair ribbon before shrugging. “…Surprise?”
Jiang Cheng throws a rule book at him.
— — —
“Remember to take care of yourself, A-Xian,” Jiejie says as she shoves a surprisingly heavy bag into his hands. “Jiejie and A-Cheng will miss you, but we’re also very proud of you too.”
Wei Wuxian pretends he’s not about to cry and wraps his siblings in a hug, ignoring Jiang Cheng’s halfhearted complaints.
“Xianxian can take care of himself now, he’s three!”
Jiang Yanli laughs, “Are you sure? Three is a little big, how about one instead?”
Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes at them—nobody points out the fondness they can see in his small smile.
Wen Qing sends him off with her usual sharpness but there’s a soft smile on her face while Wen Ning sends him off with his usual softness but there’s a sharp look in his eyes as he glances at the Emperor, as if to say take care of Wei-gongzi or else.
Lan Wangji nods his agreement at Wen Ning.
“Wei-xiong!” Nie Huaisang cries, “It won’t be the same without you around here Wei-xiong—who will protect me from Da-ge now? I will simply—”
“Nie-xiong!” Wei Wuxian crows back, “I’ll get you another fan, how’s that? Just try not to piss off your brother too much, I’ll be back in no time!”
Nie Huaisang’s exaggerated antics tone down, and he smiles at his best friend.
“Alright! That leaves everyone but A-Yuan.” Wei Wuxian smiles, “Has anyone seen my radish? I need to say goodbye before—”
Wei Wuxian stares down at the child attached to his leg in pure fondness. Lan Wangji looks at the two of them and wonders if it’s normal for your heart to beat rapidly like this.
“A-Yuan wants to go with Xian-gege!” He glances over to Lan Wangji. “And Pretty-gege too.”
Wei Wuxian pinches his cheek. “Aiya, A-Yuan it won’t be any fun, we’ll be doing boring old, adult stuff, do you really want to do that?”
A-Yuan pauses before nodding his head. Wei Wuxian sighs. “What about Qing-jie, Ning-ge, and Granny?”
A-Yuan pouts and Wei Wuxian knows that he’s lost against a four year old.
For the thirtieth time now.
“Wei Wuxian,” Wen Qing stares at A-Yuan in utter defeat. “Take A-Yuan with you, if you don’t, he’ll be crying about it for months.”
“Mhm!” A-Yuan agrees and Wei Wuxian pinches his other cheek before hoisting him up onto his hip.
“Alright you win, you little menace,” Wei Wuxian sighs fondly before turning to look at Lan Wangji. “Your Highness, shall we get going?”
“Mn.”
— — —
Wei Wuxian still wholeheartedly believed the monarchy was terrible and that the rules at the Cloud Recesses Imperial Palace were horrendous.
However, he had to admit that the palace was beautiful and not in the pretentiously loud way the Jin liked to decorate things—which was gold, gold, and who would’ve guessed, more gold. Instead, the palace was decorated in soft blues and gauzy whites, and though it screamed rich it didn’t scream I’m rich and you're below me rich.
“Wow,” A-Yuan stares at the entrance hall with wide eyes before yawning, and Wei Wuxian hums his agreement to the boy’s assessment.
“Your Highness, you’re back!”
Lan Wangji turns toward the servant with a polite gleam in his eyes, ever the perfect gentleman. “Please draw a bath in my room, and let everyone know I wish to not be disturbed for the rest of the night.”
“Y-Yes of course, your Highness!” Wei Wuxian pretends not to see the servant’s wide eyed glance at him.
“Your Highness, I have to say I’m surprised,” he glances at Lan Wangji with a small smile, “For an emperor you really aren’t that bad.”
“Ridiculous.”
“Aiya, A-Yuan do you hear that?” Wei Wuxian pretends to cry, “Your Pretty-gege is bullying me again.”
A-Yuan giggles, “Xian-gege is silly.”
“Betrayal! You are a very bad radish, A-Yuan,” Wei Wuxian sighs in defeat, “maybe I need to bury you in the ground again, that way you’ll be a good boy.”
“Xian-gege, nooo,” A-Yuan protests, laughing as Wei Wuxian bounces him in his arms.
“Wei Ying.” Wei Wuxian looks at Lan Wangji, and his heart stutters at how warm Lan Wangji’s eyes are as he looks at him and A-Yuan. “We should go, please follow me.”
“Alright A-Yuan, let’s go follow your Pretty-gege, hm?”
“Mn!”
“Aiya, your Highness, he even talks like you now!”
— — —
Wei Wuxian liked to think that he knew himself pretty well. And he also liked to think that he was pretty smart as well.
However, he will concede that sometimes when it comes to emotions, well, he’s not exactly the best at them. He definitely feels them yes, but feeling them doesn’t mean that it’s easy for him to understand them. After all, emotions can’t just be picked apart, then be carefully inspected and rearranged together like one of Wei Wuxian’s many projects.
Or maybe they could, but he could only handle so much introspection in his life.
And yet, as he looks at Lan Wangji humoring A-Yuan with carefully thought out answers to the ongoing list of questions A-Yuan had for the Emperor, Wei Wuxian knew this.
He, Wei Ying, courtesy name Wuxian, was in love. Stupidly, stupidly in love with Lan Wangji, the fucking Emperor.
Only you could be stupid enough to fall in love with the Emperor, Wei Wuxian, said a voice that sounded suspiciously like Jiang Cheng.
Gods, maybe he was hallucinating his didi’s voice now—but it hadn’t been too long had it? Probably a few weeks at most, and in those few weeks Wei Wuxian had done a pretty decent job with taxes and social reform. He hummed to himself, he definitely could be doing more though.
But his memory had always been questionable at best, and he just knew he was forgetting something that he had jotted down on his notes while he was explaining to Lan Wangji his various ideas.
Wait! His notes, that’s it! He’d just have Jiejie mail all of his notes and he could pitch those ideas to Lan Wangji later during lunch or something.
Problem solved.
Wei Wuxian pulled out a sheet of parchment and grabbed a brush onto his desk before absentmindedly grinding the ink on the inkstone.
Should he just have Jiejie sort through his notes and have her deem which ones should be the most important or—actually no. He couldn’t remember if he wrote anything that was inappropriate—or as inappropriate it could get when he was already slandering the Emperor and the government—but if he did, Wei Wuxian would rather not have Jiejie read them.
Wei Wuxian picked up the brush, trying his best to keep his handwriting neat as he inked down the letter.
He could still hear A-Yuan chattering away and Lan Wangji’s more subdued, yet somehow still fond, voice just a few feet away from him.
Gods, this was nice.
— — —
The day of Wei Wuxian’s downfall starts like this:
He’s already had a shitty morning after having to wake up too early in the morning to even think about functioning properly and then he had missed out on breakfast which simultaneously led to him nearly starving to death while Lan Qiren—Lan Wangji’s uncle and trusted advisor—berated him for his poor manners.
Couldn’t the old man just punch him or something? Though, that didn’t seem very Lan-like; however, Lan Qiren would probably make an exception for him.
He had told Lan Wangji that, and the man had smiled (a very small but nonetheless beautiful smile) at him.
Oh gods he was still in love with Lan Wangji.
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji snapped him out of his thoughts and uh oh, that was the tone he used whenever Wei Wuxian stayed up too late for too many days in a row or forgot that drinking water was something every human being should do.
Basically, Wei Wuxian was in deep shit, and he hadn’t even done anything yet. It wasn’t even noon! Everyone at the palace knew by now that if he was up to something it was always after noon.
“Yes, your Highness?” Wei Wuxian answered. He really hoped that Lan Wangji didn’t hear that his voice was pitched just a bit higher than usual.
Lan Wangji pulled on a practiced face, hoping that Wei Wuxian did not see how his hands were almost trembling. “The notes you mentioned before, I have them with me—they arrived this morning.”
“Oh! Oh really? Did Jiejie send anything else, I’ve been really—” Wei Wuxian's voice stops working as he sees what exactly is in Lan Wangji’s hands.
It’s one of his note pages, but to be more specific it was his rant on how the Emperor and his empire should just suck it regardless if he supposedly had such a pretty face.
And that was only part of the rant—he had definitely gotten a bit more, for lack of a better word, vulgar as the rant continued.
Shit, he probably ended it like he usually did— fuck the monarchy!
To be fair, he was possibly drunk when he wrote that, and of course, the universe deemed it proper for his usual messy scrawl to be absolutely perfect when he was drunk out of his mind and not when he was sober.
And judging from the Emperor’s expression, Lan Wangji had definitely read most, if not all, of the rant.
Shit.
Wei Wuxian quickly turns away from Lan Wangji’s piercing gaze. Wow, what an interesting vase over there, the detailing was absolutely gorgeous, what kind of brush had—
“Wei Ying.”
Ah, so the whole you can’t see me, I can’t see you trick only works with A-Yuan. It was worth a shot at least.
“Your Highness?”
“Look at me,” Lan Wangji ordered—and oh, okay this was fine. This was definitely not making Wei Wuxian feel anything, but the room seemed a little warmer, maybe he should go notify one of the servants to open a window maybe?
Wei Wuxian looks at the Emperor, sat regally on his throne, barely a chi or two away from him, and is vaguely impressed he hadn’t already ran away from the weight of his stare.
Lan Wangji looks at him, and for once Wei Wuxian is unable to read his emotions—just like when they had first met.
“Wei Ying…” Lan Wangji pauses. “Do you truly think I have a pretty face?”
Wei Wuxian nearly chokes. A window definitely needed to be open, the throne room was suffocating.
“I—I of course your Highness,” Wei Wuxian coughed out. “Why would the people praise his Highness if—”
“Lan Zhan.”
Wei Wuxian blinks. “Pardon?”
“Lan Zhan.” Lan Wangji bites out, sounding a bit strained. “Wei Ying may call me Lan Zhan.”
Wei Wuxian can’t tell if this is a dream or not. The Emperor sitting on his throne while staring at him with that knowing look wasn’t necessarily new (in his fantasies of course) but Lan Wangji allowing Wei Wuxian to address him by his birth name? That was a new one.
Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan.
He pinches his arm and ow, okay, definitely not a dream. But then…?
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian breathes out. “May this one know why you are allowing him to address you so intimately?”
Lan Wangji tilts his head, eyes flickering with an emotion Wei Wuxian had always hoped but never dared to voice out loud.
“Is it not fair since Wei Ying has allowed me to call him so intimately all this time?”
Wei Wuxian nods, unsure if his voice would be able to respond properly.
“Lan Zhan…” Wei Wuxian grins at him, a familiar expression of amusement plastered on his face. “You won’t execute me for what I wrote will you?”
Lan Wangji narrows his eyes at him, glancing down at the coy smile on his lips.
“It depends. Does Wei Ying intend to apologize?”
Wei Wuxian does not know how he’s able to feel so amused yet hot right now. But he does know how to get under people’s skin, so he does exactly just that.
“How does Lan Zhan want me to apologize?” Wei Wuxian asks, “Does he want me to suck it?”
Wei Wuxian doesn’t know who kisses who first, but he does know that Lan Wangji’s lips are soft. He slides onto the Emperor’s lap, a fire blazing inside him as he realizes that he, Wei Wuxian, is making out with the Emperor in the throne room.
His dreams had not done him any justice.
Lan Wangji’s lips are soft, but his kisses are not. Wei Wuxian gasps when Lan Wangji bites his lower lip and he barely has time to breathe before Lan Wangji slides his tongue in his mouth. Wei Wuxian tugs at Lan Wangji’s hair, and he nearly loses it when Lan Wangji gasps at the action.
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian groans, leaning back to better inspect Lan Wangji’s face. The Emperor looks absolutely wrecked, his hair all messed up, face flushed, lips all red and swollen.
Lan Wangji looks divine.
Wei Wuxian instinctively moves when he feels Lan Wangji’s hands tighten on his waist, and he groans at the friction.
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji voices, right by his ear. Wei Wuxian feels a shiver run down his spine. “Did you not say you were going to suck it?”
Wei Wuxian stares at him, eyes wide before nodding.
He slides off Lan Wangji’s lap and onto his knees, briefly cursing the amount of layers the man wore. And then Lan Wangji pulls his pants down and Wei Wuxian gapes.
The Emperor has a really big dick. How was he supposed to fit that in his mouth? Almost as if he had heard his thoughts, Lan Wangji huffs a breath, which was basically a laugh from him.
Wei Wuxian looks up at Lan Wangji, not missing the way his eyes darkened as he stared down at Wei Wuxian.
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian smiles. “Eyes on me, okay?”
Lan Wangji would have snorted if that hadn’t been trained out of him. Who else would he ever lay his eyes on like this?
Wei Wuxian licks a stripe up Lan Wangji’s cock before softly kissing the tip. He smirks in satisfaction when he hears Lan Wangji catch his breath. Wei Wuxian wonders how much of Lan Wangji’s dick he can fit in his mouth.
There’s only one way to find out.
He lowers his head down, trying to remember what he had read from the erotica novels he’d bought under the guise of them being for education. They were educational, but he never thought he would be putting his knowledge to work with the Emperor of all people.
Wei Wuxian hollows his cheeks out and sinks nearly all the way down before abruptly bringing his head up, choking.
“Wei Ying, are you—” Lan Wangji cuts off with a groan when Wei Wuxian lowers his head down again, taking in nearly the full length of his cock before he wraps his hand around the rest.
Lan Wangji looks down, simultaneously pleased and tortured. Wei Wuxian looks good. Like he was meant to be on his knees with his face flushed, silver eyes looking up at him.
Lan Wangji had never understood why the previous rulers before him would ever attempt to consume mercury in an attempt to achieve immortality, but now as Wei Wuxian stares at him with his heavy, liquid mercury gaze, Lan Wangji thinks he gets it now.
What could make one immortal, if not this?
Wei Wuxian hums, pleased, and Lan Wangji finds his hands in Wei Wuxian’s hair, tugging hard enough to make Wei Wuxian moan even louder. Lan Wangji bucks his hips up before he can even think about it, and Wei Wuxian places his hands onto the Emperor’s thighs, squeezing softly before bobbing his head up and down.
Lan Wangji watches him, transfixed. He takes in Wei Wuxian’s red hair ribbon and he tugs at it, wrapping the fabric around his fingers.
And then Wei Wuxian does something with his tongue and Lan Wangji gasps, hands grabbing tightly at Wei Wuxian’s hair. Wei Wuxian whimpers when he feels the Emperor pull at his hair, and a pleased feeling runs through him when he realizes that Lan Wangji is looking as disheveled as Wei Wuxian had ever seen.
All because of him.
Wei Wuxian wants Lan Wangji to be pushed over the edge, wants to see the man’s face when he comes, wants the sight to be his and only his alone.
He wants Lan Wangji to be his.
And so he breathes in through his nose before pushing down, ignoring his instinct to gag until he’s nosing at wiry hair and Lan Wangji’s cock is at the back of his throat. Wei Wuxian hears the Emperor’s surprised gasp and he sucks harder, hearing Lan Wangji’s breathing grow heavier as he lifts his head back up before sinking down onto his cock once more.
Wei Wuxian likes this, likes the heavy feeling of Lan Wangji’s dick in his mouth, likes how full it feels. And judging from the Emperor’s pleased sounds, he likes it too. Wei Wuxian holds back a smirk as he sucks just a little harder, before fondling Lan Wangji’s balls, silver gaze staring straight into Lan Wangji’s golden eyes.
“Wei Ying, I’m going to—” Lan Wangji abruptly stops when he feels Wei Wuxian swirl his tongue around his cock before sucking even harder.
Lan Wangji moans, finally pushed over the edge. Wei Wuxian catches as much of the Emperor’s come as he can in his mouth before he finally pulls off.
Wei Wuxian doesn’t know what he looks like right now, but the way Lan Wangji is staring at him, he thinks he gets the picture. He opens his mouth, letting some of the come drip out onto his chin, deliberately keeping eye contact with Lan Wangji as he swallows the rest of it.
Lan Wangji swallows, a new flame of arousal starting to burn inside him again. “Strip.”
Wei Wuxian stands up, leisurely untying his robes, but Lan Wangji can see the way his hands slightly tremble. He yanks off his pants until the only article of clothing he left are his robes, barely doing anything to preserve his modesty with how close they are to falling off.
Then Wei Wuxian lets the last remaining layer of clothing slip to the ground. Lan Wangji’s breath catches as he drinks in Wei Wuxian, naked and glowing from the sunlight streaming through the window.
“Aiya, Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian fights the urge to cover himself up. “Are you going to look at me all day or—”
Lan Wangji kisses him fiercely, pulling Wei Wuxian back into his lap. They both groan when Lan Wangji’s cock slides between Wei Wuxian’s ass. Wei Wuxian grinds down, briefly wondering if Lan Wangji’s dick would even fit inside him.
Wei Wuxian gasps when he feels a finger slide into his mouth, and he easily welcomes it in, tongue swirling around it as Lan Wangji puts another finger into his mouth. He feels the tip of Lan Wangji’s cock barely press at his hole and Wei Wuxian nearly comes again from that alone.
“Gege,” Wei Wuxian breathes out, “gege won’t you put your fingers in this one? I won’t mind your cock but it’s my first time you—”
He groans as a spit slick finger slides inside him. The feeling was a bit strange at first, new but not necessarily unpleasant. When Lan Wangji pushes his finger in deeper, Wei Wuxian chokes on how right it feels. Then Lan Wangji puts another finger inside him, and he whines as they start scissoring him open.
“Your Highness,” Wei Wuxian chokes when Lan Wangji hits a particular spot inside him, a blaze of arousal spreading through him. “Your Highness, this one apologizes for his disrespect, please forgive him.”
Lan Wangji huffs before sliding a third finger in Wei Wuxian. “Is Wei Ying truly sorry?”
“Mn! Wei Ying is truly sorry your Highness, let me make it up to you, I—”
Lan Wangji cuts him off. “Wei Ying can make it up to me on my cock.”
That’s all the warning Wei Wuxian gets before Lan Wangji presses his dick into his hole, hands gripping tightly onto Wei Wuxian’s hips as he eases in. Wei Wuxian hopes there are bruises on his hips by the time they finish.
Wei Wuxian whimpers when Lan Wangji finally bottoms out and Lan Wangji pulls him closer, mouthing at Wei Wuxian’s throat, leaving hickeys in his wake. Lan Wangji stares straight into Wei Wuxian’s eyes, gold meeting silver.
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji breathes out softly. “You will ride me.”
Wei Wuxian nods eagerly before lifting himself up and slamming himself down on Lan Wangji’s cock, quick and hard. He groans at how deep Lan Zhan feels inside him, his cock hitting that spot with each thrust.
He leans forward, drawing Lan Wangji into a sloppy kiss. When Wei Wuxian pulls back to breathe there’s still a string of spit connecting their mouth, and he grinds down harder at the sight. Lan Wangji takes in the sight of Wei Wuxian being ruined inside the throne room, the sound of skin slapping against skin filling the otherwise empty room.
He can see Wei Wuxian slowing, his attempts at fucking down onto his cock getting more erratic. Lan Wangji pulls Wei Wuxian closer, kissing him deep as he starts thrusting up into Wei Wuxian, hard, deep, and fast.
“Ngh, ah! Like that, just like that, gege,” Wei Wuxian rambles, and he whines when Lan Wangji fucks him at a slightly more brutal pace. “Oh, oh, mn, your Highness, you’re so deep inside me I can feel it in my throat!”
Lan Wangji moans at that—he’s so close to the edge it won’t take much more to send him over.
Wei Wuxian looks ethereal, face flushed with bliss as he bounces on Lan Wangji’s cock, voice spilling out in moans of pleasure. Lan Wangji wants to see him like this everyday, he wants to see Wei Wuxian’s face first thing in the morning and to go to sleep with his face as the last thing on his mind. Lan Wangji loves Wei Wuxian.
“Wei Ying, I—”
“Ah, ngh , Lan Zhan, ah,” Wei Wuxian groans. “Lan Zhan after fucking me so hard you’ll have to take responsibility, there’ll probably be another Little Lan running around after this.”
Lan Wangji feels himself growing impossibly harder at the thought. It was impossible, but seeing Wei Wuxian so disheveled and flustered like this, Lan Wangji can’t help but wish the thought true.
“Mn, what Wei Ying wants, Wei Ying gets.”
Wei Wuxian lets out a startled laugh at that before leaning down to whisper in Lan Wangji’s visibly red ear. “Wei Ying wants gege’s come inside him.”
Lan Wangji groans, finally over the edge. Wei Wuxian whines as he feels Lan Wangji release inside him, and he comes, the feeling of Lan Wangji filling him up drowning his senses as he clenches down on Lan Wangji’s cock.
“Fuck the monarchy,” Wei Wuxian pants out when his vision has finally cleared, his body sore and achy in the best way imaginable.
Lan Wangji grips his hips tighter, a smug, satisfied expression on his face. “Mn. Fuck the monarchy, Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian beams and realizes that he is truly fucked and truly in love.
“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian cries out before he can stop himself, “Lan Zhan I love you! I really do, I want to do this everyday, I want to wake up and go to bed with you and make the world a better place with you.”
Lan Wangji smiles at him, impossibly soft and wow, Wei Wuxian thinks he can hear the Heavens crying at the sight. “Love Wei Ying too, will do this everyday, will wake up and go to bed with Wei Ying and make the world a better place with him.”
Wei Wuxian grins at him, fuck the monarchy indeed.
— — —
Later, when Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen are sitting with A-Yuan—as he had convinced them to have a tea party with him—they all receive the news of the Emperor’s intent to marry Wei Wuxian.
Lan Qiren chokes on his tea, his wooden teacup falling to the floor with a loud clack! Lan Xichen looks at his uncle, trying his best not to seem amused at his uncle’s display—he allows a small, pleased smile to grace his face, feeling lighter than he has in months.
A-Yuan is not surprised and slurps happily on his tea.
When Wei Wuxian’s friends and family receive the news, rumors claim that people could hear Jiang Wanyin and Nie Huaisang screaming across the land, one in bemused surprise and the other in pleasant surprise. Wen Ning did not scream, but there was a knowing smile on his face as he read the letter informing about the upcoming marriage of the Emperor and Wei Wuxian.
Both Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli look at each other and share a similar look of a happy sister seeing their little brother thrive.
All is well.