Caged amongst the clouds

by Anonymous

Summary:

Lan Wangji desperately wanted to save the life of Wei Wuxian. And, after he found him in heat following the Siege of the Burial Mounds, he mated him to give him the protection of the Gusu Lan Sect. But that protection came with a price, one that might be too high to pay, that might break his beloved´s spirit more than he ever thought. This is a history about the time Wei Wuxian spent locked up in the Gentian House... until the past caught up to him.

Chapter 1

When Xichen had arrived to the cave, the smell of pheromones that hit him nearly threw him off. Was it true then? The rumor about Wei Wuxian taking unmated kunzes from nearby settlements and creating his own harem? Were they about to find one of them there, barely after heat? His heart clenched for the unfortunate soul at the same time as he commanded a force of his own, the Lan Elders behind him as he tried to rescue the hostage until he noticed the smell of sandalwood in the air. Wangji? Wangji had been there too? He didn´t understand… he didn´t know until he entered to find his brother ready to fight the entire sect for the small figure laying motionless on the stone floor of the cave. Wei Wuxian. There was no hostage. Wei Wuxian was a kunze. And, if he was right, he had just gotten out of heat. And Wangji… there had never been a doubt in his mind that the person that his brother had wanted to bring back to the Cloud Recesses and hid from the world was Wei Wuxian. Now… now he might get his wish. The Yiling Patriarch was not only in a vulnerable position, but unable to refuse the bond if his brother desired to mate him. Which he could tell he did, from the way Bichen didn´t even lower because of the presence of the Lan Elders.

“Wangji…” Xichen tried to calm him down, but he only earned a growl. Definitely mated, he told himself as he treaded carefully around his brother. He had heard plenty of times just how protective qyanyuans could get when they first get mated to a kunze. And only for that reason, he couldn´t allow Wei Wuxian to die. But he also couldn´t allow his brother to do anything foolish because of instinct or protectiveness. “Wangji…”

The growl that followed actually made him take a step back. He had been warned, but he had never expected such a reaction from Wangji, from his little brother who, despite his cold and detached personality, knew that loved him as much as he loved him. Wangji should have known that his Xiozhang didn´t intent to harm his mate, not anymore. Then again, could Wangji think the same of every person who had come with him. Wei Wuxian didn´t seem to be in a state to harm anyone, completely disarmed and only covered by a Lan outer robe, looking so pale and thin that Xichen almost couldn´t believe that this was the man that incites so much fear amongst the cultivators, enough to launch a siege on his home. If not for those Wen cultivators they were taking care of… but right now, finding excuses for this was the last of the priorities. He needed to calm down Wangji and fast. Before someone did something stupid and got him in a protective strike they would all end up regretting.

“Wangji… A-Zhan, I´m your xiozhang, I´m A-Huan, remember?” he tried to show himself as non-threatening as he could, using their birth names to further calm his brother, to make him remember that he was between family and friends. “I don’t want to do anything to you or to your mate, I just want to make sure that he is alright. That you are alright too… can I approach to see to the both of you?”

It was better that only him, the one in the group that was the most familiar with the newly mated qyanyuan, approached the place his brother had taken as his nest. Besides, he was sure that all the Elders in the Clan remembered one of the oldest laws of not only their clan, but the whole Jianghu: a kunze couldn´t be executed, merely confined. It was known that, being the most maternal and gentle of the second sexes, sometimes their protective instincts could get out of their control. Mating a strong Zonghyun or Qyanyuan could help them curve those instincts… something in him or in those labor camps could have easily triggered a protective response in Wei Wuxian when he saw it, probably the death of Wen Ning. What if A-Yao was life to and his death was not an accident? What if… Jin Zixun had truly ordered the death of the young Wen healer? He had met the man, he was more than capable of that. And with the body gone to make the Ghost General, there wasn´t a way to…

“He is disarmed… let´s end the Yiling Patriarch now!!!”

“NO!!!”

Xichen watched as all his efforts crumbled into ash as one of the Elders attacked, followed by some others. Wangji, still in his protective strike, attacked them, disarming and injuring the men without a hint of remorse. The young Sect Leader couldn´t tell he felt bad for the injured men either, they had looked for it. Specially when, as elders, they were aware of the law that protected kunzes. As he tried to safeguard as many of his men as he could, or at least those that didn´t directly attack his brother or tried to kill his mate, Xichen made a decision that would probably cost him much… or at least he would end up regretting with time. And would affect his brother in a way that he didn´t want to think about.

“Take him home, Wangji!!” he yelled at his brother, who seemed to recognize his voice despite the state he was in. “Take him home and wait for me there!!! We are going to sort this out, I promise, but take them away first!!!”

Lan Wangji turned around and took the kunze into his arms, running somewhere. Lan Xichen sighed deeply, feeling more tired than ever. He knew that his decision would cause some controversy… at least there were only members of the Lan Sect there. They could still conceal what had truly happened there, say that the Yiling Patriarch was dead and never coming back… at least that last part was true. Wei Wuxian might still be alive, but he would never be allowed to roam free back into the world. He would have the same destiny as his mother, the previous Madam Lan, and spent the rest of his days in her prison… or that was what he planned. Asking the Heavens, his mother and his brother to forgive him; telling himself that this was for the best, he reunited with the other commanders. He also sent a disciple to bring him his uncle, who needed to be made aware of the situation and possible consequences. No need, because he was already waiting for him along with Da-ge and A-Yao.

“The Siege was a complete success” Nie Mingjue said with Baxia over his shoulder, very pleased with himself. “We have eradicated this danger to the cultivation would. The corpses that were surrounding the encampment were eradicated and are being incinerated right this moment by my subordinates, while the Jins are taking charge of disposing of the remains of the Wen criminals.”

“Yes, or they should be doing that. Guangyao, didn´t I tell you to oversee that?” Jin Guangshan said as he entered the command tent. Had he even participated in the attack? Xichen was pretty sure that he was merely on the back, protected by disciples, enjoying the view as his son did most of the work with the logistics and disposal of the corpses.

“I was asked by Chifeng-Zun to give a report, about how the disposal of the corpses, both the fierce ones and the prisoners ones, was going.”

“Marvelous, because I was about to search for you to ask the same, though I thought that it was going to take you more time.”

“The elimination process is not complete yet on both sides, but the one done by our disciples is mostly done. There are a few remaining human remains that still needed to be eliminated, but I´m sure that we will finish in an hour or so.”

“Good, we won´t need to remain in this awful place for that long” the man said, fanning himself. “Tell me when you are done, Guangyao.”

“Sure, Father” he bowed as Jin Guangshan left. Then he turned to his sworn brothers. “Forgive him, he is not accustomed to places like this, much less to sleep in a tent or eat food roasted over a spit.”

“Hummm” Nie Mingjue frowned, crossing his arms. “Considering that he didn’t leave the comforts of Koi Tower even for the Sunshot Campaign, sending some discipled in his stead along with his son, I´m quite surprised he actually came this time.”

“Da-ge…”

“Xichen” the Nie Sect leader said, still stern. “I heard that Wangji took the Yiling Patriarch somewhere. Should I worry that…”

“No” he quickly said, his face schooled despite the lie he was saying. “Wei Wuxian is death. Wangji merely rescued a corpse.” He lowered it. “But I ask you to allow him to bury him as it is demanded. My brother… always had a soft spot for him.”

“He is dead and the Wen dogs too, there is nothing more to say. Let Hanguang-Jun do whatever he wants with the corpse.”

“I´m sure my father will understand too. Besides, he is more interested in what the disciples could rescue from the demon slaughtering cave.”

Lan Xichen couldn´t help but believe that the slimy man was hiding something, but he couldn´t press. Not when he himself was hiding something more shocking. There has already been announced that the Yiling Patriarch was dead and he was there to assure them that it was the case, that Wangji had merely tried to take a body away for nostalgia´s sake. As he was thinking that, he crossed gazes with his uncle. Lan Quiren obviously knew that there was something he was hiding, but didn´t ask. He knew that whatever had lead him to lie to the people he trusted in the most after direct family, his sworn brothers, was something that should be kept in strict secret for Wangji´s if not the Sect´s sake.

“Where is Wangji?” the Grandmaster asked when they were alone in the Lan encampment. The Lan disciples were living up to the rule, even the Elders were hermetic, not even talking amongst themselves about what had happened in that cave.

“He is on his way to the Cloud Recesses. He needed… some time to clarify his thoughts.”

“I understand” the old man said, recoiling. Whatever happened, the explanations could wait until they were back home. And from the looks the other elders were giving him, he was not going to like it. Xichen could tell that he was thinking that, sighing. He only hoped that his uncle didn´t suffer a qi deviation after finding out.

-In Cloud Recesses-

Lan Quiren wanted to believe this was not real. But, after he opened and closed his eyes several times, he couldn´t help but convince himself that this was indeed real. It had started with the Elders demanding to see Wangji as soon as they were back in the Cloud Recesses and away from the eyes of the other Sects. Apparently, the Elders that had ended up hurt were not like that due to Wei Wuxian, but due to Wangji trying to protect the miscreant. He was about to ask why his nephew would do something like that when Xichen explained him what he had found in that cave… he nearly suffered a qi deviation in that moment. He, Xichen, and a small army of their strongest disciples managed to enter the Jingshi, where Wangji had made his den, only to find Wei Wuxian there, alive and still unconscious, covered only in Wangji´s outer robes. As he and Xichen worked to calm him down enough for a healer to slip him something to make him sleep. Lan Qiren examined the Yiling Patriarch. There was indeed a sweet smell coming from him, signaling his secondary gender. Also, there was a bite on his scent gland, marking him as mate to an alpha. The bond between him and Wangji was already set on stone. He made a conscious, enormous effort not to suffer a qi deviation until he saw some blankets move near the chest of Wei Wuxian. He took the covers away to reveal a small pup, face red with fever and only in his underrobes, curling against the Yiling Patriarch´s chest. Their scents were intermingled, as if they scented each other quite frequently. It was something that only family members did, something that…

“Stay… away…” Wangji said, using the last of his strength despite the powerful sleeping drug that had been poured down his throat while he was being kept immobilized. “My… mate… my pup… don´t touch them… no harm… should come to… A-Yuan…”

“Wangji, it´s okay. No one here wants to hurt A-Yuan” Xichen said in a calm voice, almost trying to soothe his brother so he stopped fighting the drug and allowed his body to rest before whatever the Elders have in store for him. “He is with family.”

“Family… hurt Wei Ying…”

“No one would have done so if they had known his secondary gender. Or that he had your pup already. You should have brought them both here as soon as it was obvious that he was going to have him. Don´t you agree, Shufu?” he turned to see Lan Quiren, his eyes widening when he took in the Elder´s state.
“Shufu?”

Lan Quiren had a hand on his chest, sinking on the floor as the world disappeared around him. He couldn´t… couldn´t take it… when he woke up, he found himself laid on the infirmary, with his eldest nephew sitting by him, looking at him with worry. Apparently, he had suffered a qi deviation when he found out that Wangji had mated Wei Wuxian and also that they had already a pup together. Way before marriage or even mating. He was about to suffer one again, but he managed to avoid it. He was already recovering from a qi deviation, he wouldn´t survive another more. As his body stabilized, and a headache threatened to split his brain, he started to make plans to handle this, cursing his brother for this too. If Wangji hadn´t inherited this from Quingheng-Jun… anyway, there was nothing he could do now. Wei Wuxian needed to live if they wanted Wangji to. And, while he will have to face a punishment, he didn´t want his nephew to die. So they were going to have to play this well. Starting with making sure the Cultivation World never realized that the Yiling Patriarch was still alive.

“Wangji is asleep now?” he asked, wondering why the world hated him so much as to give him a brother and a nephew with such tastes. Also wondered exactly who he had murdered in a past life to deserve such a thing… he would ask forgiveness in a full knowtow.

“Yes, he finally succumbed to the drug” Xichen answered, sounding deeply sad. “But that´s not our biggest problem” his eldest nephew didn´t understand that he already knew that? His youngest nephew, the perfect example for a cultivator, had taken a demonic cultivator as his mate and even had a child with him outside of marriage. What could be worse? “The Elders are demanding that he faces the harshest of punishments because he attacked some of them to save his family.”

“We can´t go against the rules.”

“I know, but…”

“Xichen, you know that we are already doing enough concessions as things are.” The Grandmaster said. He also didn´t fancy punishing Wangji, but he had made a bigger mess than even his father managed. His expression turned neutral, then carefully got out of bed. “Tell one of the senior disciples to bring Wei Wuxian to the Mingshi, then to some of the non-injured Elders that excel in musical cultivation to come meet me there. I will oversee the ceremony to disarm him.”

“Disarm…”

“Make no mistake, Xichen, any bit of resentful energy in the hands of the Yiling Patriarch is a weapon. If he is to remain alive and under our custody, then we are going to have to get rid of any measure of it that he possesses” he caressed his beard. “The child…”

“A-Yuan has already been examined in the scene by one of the healers, Lan Meng Die, and declared that the child is free of any resentful energy, only suffering from a fever” the older man nodded. He had his doubts about Wei Wuxian´s capabilities as a mother, but apparently he had prevented his child from following the demonic path. That at least spoke that some good remained in the man. “It´s high, but she is threating him in this moment. She says that he has a good chance to survive, but he hasn´t woke up yet.”

“It´s better that way. To separate the child from his mother is the best in this case.” His nephew didn´t seem to agree. "Don´t look at me like that, Xichen. I´m not doing this out of cruelty, just as I didn´t separate you and your brother from your mother out of cruelty. I´m doing this for the child´s own sake."

“Shufu…”

“We will discuss Wangji´s punishment when I return from performing the ritual and Lan Meng Die has examined Wei Wuxian when it´s safe to do” he started to walk towards the door, then stopped. “And before I forget, send a few trustworthy servants to air and clean the House of Silence, also to make it habitable, as it´s going to be used very soon.”

He didn´t need to turn around to see the horrified expression that had appeared in his oldest nephew´s face. The House of Silence, or the Gentian House, as it was more commonly called by those that saw the field that his brother planted for his bride so she could be surrounded by her favorite flowers while imprisoned in that place; was a place that brought many memories, few of them pretty, for both the brothers. That Wangji´s mate was going to suffer the same destiny as their mother… but in Lan Quiren´s opinion, the Yiling Patriarch deserved much worse after all his crimes. Being imprisoned for the rest of his life in a comfortable house, with a mate that cared for him, was already a mercy to such a horrible criminal. He left the infirmary with his heart set, going directly to the Mingshi. Two disciples that had been at the Burial Mounds arrived a few minutes later, carrying the unconscious demonic cultivator with more care than they would have used in another situation.

“Make sure he is contained by the talismans and chords, we don´t want to risk any accident while we get rid of his resentful energy.”

The disciples nodded. As the demonic cultivator was secured to his place and the Elders of the Lan Sect who were the best at musical cultivation entered the place, Lan Quiren stared at the unconscious man. He reminded him so much of his mother… which was why he had such a bias against him. Cangse Sanren had been the bane of his existence and now her son had dragged Wangji down with him. Because, even if they kept this quiet, there was no way, his nephew got out of this unharmed. And that he was never going to forgive this boy for. He and his unorthodox, heretical path were going to hurt his nephew in a way that was more profound than simple lashes of the discipline whip, forcing him to practically become like his father, reviving the trauma of his mother in a way that… but what was done was done. He should forget Cangse Sanren and Wei Wuxian and think only on his nephew. And his nephew had chosen this mess of a kunze as his bond.

“Very well, let´s get started.” He signaled, putting his hands over the strings of the guqin.

“We still need to talk about…”

“That could wait until we have disarmed him” Lan Quiren quieted the other Elder down. “I need you to follow my lead and play Cleansing to clear the resentful energy. After there is no more, we can begin talks about what Wangji did and what we are going to do now.”

Though, for his part, it was already decided. He won´t allow their decision to damage Wangji in any way. And losing his mate would hurt him more than whatever trauma he might suffer because of the man´s fate being similar to his mother´s. In his mind, the Grandmaster was already making arrangements as Wei Wuxian became the next inhabitant, or prisoner, of the House of Silence. And he knew he had enough pull with the rest of the Elders to achieve that. Which was exactly what he was going to do.

-Later-

Lan Qingqing didn´t know how Lan Wangji could be so unrepentant as to stare at the Elders in defiance despite what he had done. But, as she watched to the side the once exemplary figure face trial and punishment, everything ready to help her grandmother in case anything get wrong and then in the infirmary, she thought about her new role. She wasn´t naïve, she knew why she was chosen as one of the few to prepare the Gentian House for it´s new occupant. Also why she was given the role of the maid of the new Lan-er-furen. First because she was a kunze of a reasonable age, well-versed in the healing arts. Of course, the Elders thought that she was only well versed in the healing arts that concerned her secondary gender… it was not strange for a kunze to show interest in childbirth and the like, besides they were traditionally the only ones allowed in the birthing chamber, so that some of them became midwives was practically expected, specially from those with families of medical background. What they didn´t know was that she was capable of much more. She was, after all, trained by one of the best medics in the Lan Sect, Lan Meng Die. And the second reason was that… she had been the personal maid of the late Madam Lan during her captivity. Now that background practically condemned her to become something similar for the new Lan-er-furen.

“And just when I thought I finally escaped that accursed place…” Lan Quingquing said, some bite in her words. “I never wanted to come back after the Madam died.”

She had been so young and naïve back then, still believing that the elders followed all the rules and were righteous… her time in the Gentian House cured her of that. At first, she approached her new mistress in a cautious way, knowing why she had been confined, only to be treated with kindness and more like a friend or a pupil by the older kunze woman. With time, the girl came to know Madam Lan better than her own sons. She couldn´t believe such a kind woman had done what they said she had done… there surely had been a mistake. Lan Quingquing approached her grandmother with the theme after having assisted her in the birth of Lan Wangji, but the older woman hadn´t answered. It was only after the death of the Madam that the older woman had taken to room, hidden her in a closet, and told her not to make a sound and not to get out. It was then that Lan Meng Die faced another of the elders and revealed the truth to her. The Elder that the Madam had murdered… he had tried to do something horrible to her. And the worst was that she was not the first kunze, only the only one who could fight back. The rest of the Elders, even Quingeng-Jun, knew about his misdeeds and victims, but to save the image of the Sect, decided to burry it. Quingeng-Jun married the woman he loved, but didn´t love him back, to protect her from the Elders, who wanted to do away with all the evidence. But, at the same time, he was forced to keep her contained. Thus the Gentian House was build, somewhere that could contain a strong cultivator (Madam Lan had been a rouge cultivator before she married into the Lan Sect). It had worked on the Madam, but also sipped the life out of that woman… a kind woman that didn´t deserve such a fate, much less being separated from the children she loved so much…

Returning to the issue at hand, Wei Wuxian was nothing like the late Madam Lan. Lan Quingquing shivered merely at thinking about what awaited for her as she was tasked with the care and health of the renowned demonic cultivator. She knew that not all things said about him were true (that rumor about him kidnapping and raping unmated kunzes was obviously bullshit if he was one himself), but certainly there was a bit of truth in them. And she was scared about what the murderous man could do, even without resentful energy. She was less concerned about the pup, though. He hadn´t been started on the heretic path yet, so there was hope for him… and Lan Quiren surely would want to do with A-Yuan the same he did with A-Huan and A-Zhan. Or perhaps completely separating him from his mother for his own good.

“Maybe I should visit Madam later” she said to herself as she followed Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen and Lan Quiren to the infirmary after the punishment. “She will like jazmin flowers with here incense this time.”

Lan Quingquing was one of the few people that knew that the late Madam Lan had come to despise Gentians, her once favorite flower, at the end of her life. To her they had become a symbol of her imprisonment… surely they would become the same soon for Wei Wuxian. But that didn´t matter now, not with a patient behaving the way Hanguang-Jun was now. The Second Jade was so hurt… why was he putting that vile man before his own health? The pup she could understand, but Wei Wuxian… instead of her grandmother, she found Lan Quing, her mother, in the infirmary. She busied herself with the medicines as her mother and another healer spoke to the others, but then something caught her attention.

“This boy… he doesn´t have a golden core.” What?

“What?!” Lan Xichen screamed. And it was… even her, who didn´t spend much time outside the infirmary, knew how powerful a cultivator Wei Wuxian was, even before he had started on the demonic path.

“Could it be an after effect of his heretic ways?” Lan Quiren asked, but he was disappointed by the answer he was provided.

“No, it´s almost as if it was removed by someone else. Someone that…”

“Melted” Lan Wangji practically snarled, his rage showing in a way that never did in the icy Second Jade of Lan. “Wen Zhuliu”

“This could also explain why he only uses demonic cultivation” his brother offered, trying to calm him down before he scared someone. Too late, though, because the younger woman was completely sure that if he was capable, he would have resurrected Wen Zhuliu and Wen Chao only to kill them in a worse way. “He doesn´t have a golden core to use spiritual one…”

“It´s not a solution…”

“But it helped keep him alive”

Lan Quingquing looked down at her new charge and, for the first time, she felt some pity for him. Because… how could she not? He had lost his golden core and immediately gotten thrown into one of the worst places in the world, full of resentment energy, completely defenseless. Was it truly his fault that he did what he had to do to stay alive and get out of there? Of the Burial Mounds as they were before the Yiling Patriarch emerged? Perhaps… no, he was a cold-blooded murderer, even if becoming a demonic cultivator wasn´t his fault. He wasn´t the Madam, Heavens rest her soul. She should be careful with him… and that´s what she was going to do.

Chapter 2

Lan Quingquing opened the curtains in the room that was once Madam Lan´s. The place was ready and her mother had deemed Wei Wuxian stable enough to be moved there. The elders had also made sure that no trace of resentful energy in him, so he would be cut off from his main power source. In fact, without a golden core the infamous Yiling Patriarch was reduced to a defenseless individual. Even a healer like her could incapacitate him. Not that she believed she would have to, as the man hadn´t woken up yet. It was fine by her, the more he remained in a coma, the easier it would be for her. Besides, she didn’t have any pity for the kunze. For the pup perhaps, but Wei Wuxian had killed several innocents and tried to take over the cultivation world with his army of war criminals and fierce corpses. He should have received a harsher punishment, but Hanguang-Jun decided that it was worth saving him. Or he had been tempted away from righteousness by his pheromones and seduction. And paid the price for that. No, she didn´t have the least bit of pity for Wei Wuxian.

“A-Qing, is everything ready?” her grandmother asked. Apparently, both her and her grandmother would be spending a lot of time there, tending to the patient. A patient that she wasn´t sure she wanted to see alive. Or that deserved that.

“Yes, everything is ready” she said, pushing aside the covers. Lan Xichen himself entering in that moment, carrying the Yiling Patriarch in his arms. She frowned, thinking that the criminal didn´t deserve to be treated so nicely as to being carefully treated by the noble Zewu-Jun, but it was too much to ask such a nice man not to threat his brother´s partner in such a way. “Sect Leader, if you please…”

“Right” the zhongyun lowered the body to the bed, then covered him with the covers himself. “Would it be alright… if I bring A-Yuan to see him?” ah, the pup. Had he already been given permission to see him? “He has been worried and is clearly not used to be away from his mother for so long…”

“Neither is he to be surrounded by actually civil people, but he will eventually be” she muttered to herself. The man didn´t seem to have heard her. “The Grandmaster has already given his go ahead?”

“My uncle doesn´t decide that, not anymore.” He answered, but she doubted that the position of Lan Quiren about the child´s raising wouldn´t influence the ones of his nephew. After all, their Sect Leader was still young. “And I want A-Yuan to be as comfortable as possible during his transition to living in the Cloud Recesses… he has never known any other life but that of the Burial Mounds.”

“But are you sure that´s the best thing to do?” Lan Quingquing asked, joining her hands. She didn´t want to be horrible with the pup, he had certainly gone through enough with a mother like that, but she also thought that the best chance of him having a normal life is not to have much contact with said parent. “Lan Yuan might still have a chance to develop some morality, especially with your guidance and that of Lan Quiren… and Hanguang-Jun.”

“Lan Quingquing…”

“The Yiling Patriarch is not the same as your mother, Zewu-Jun” she said, feeling bad as soon as she mentioned the old Madam, but she needed to put things clearly for the man. Only because a pup was attached to his mother doesn´t mean that he should see him again. Conscious or not, Wei Wuxian was too much of a risk for the boy. He was what, four? His sense of morality was still developing. He should be separated until he understood.

“Is he not?” Lan Xichen looked at her with a cold look that would fit more with his brother. The healer merely continued, taking a wrist to sense the kunze´s vitals. There it was, the void where the golden core should be. She had never seen a victim of Wen Zhuliu, but she guessed that there was always a first time. But still it was enough for her to take his vitals. “How is he? I´m going to visit Wangji today and want to give him some news.”

“He is fine, if a little bit underweight. We are going to have to feed him in alternative ways, though it would be better if he was awake to eat himself” the healer explained, her expression neutral. “We will do our best to keep him stable, Sect Leader.”

“Good, because, awake or not, I´m bringing A-Yuan to see him. I would prefer for him to be awake anyway, it would calm the child down.”

Though Lan Quingquing didn´t know if it would be good if he ever woke up himself. If he died in his sleep, perhaps the pup and Hanguang-Jun might survive. But if he were to wake up… the woman stared at the unconscious man on the bed, who was now his responsibility. She knew what to do to take care of such a patient, she had taken care of the late Madam Lan when she couldn´t get out of bed too. As the hours passed and she kept watch over him, feeding him and taking care of him, she wondered why she simply didn´t let Wei Wuxian die. It would be a just punishment for his sins.

The next morning, as she got up, the healer prepared the water for a bath. She cleaned Wei Wuxian carefully and brushed his hair, tying up his bangs in the same way she heard he preferred. Except that everything, including the hair tie, were Lan themed. Lan Quiren had disposed of everything he had possessed before arriving to the Cloud Recesses from what she had heard. A good decision in her books. As she laid him down in the bed again, he wondered how such an evil man could have ended up gaining the attention of pure Hanguang-Jun when no one else would. And Zewu-Jun was also…

“Lan Quingquing” Lan Xichen said as he entered with a small child in his arms. He was adorable, with big grey eyes and hair as dark as Lan Wangji´s. He immediately hid his face in his uncle´s hair, which nearly made her coo. “This is A-Yuan.”

“Hello, A-Yuan” she said as her grandmother and her apprentice, the other healer that was brought into the house, came. “I´m A-Quing, one of the healers in charge of making your A-Niang feel better.”

“A-Niang?” the boy seemed doubtful.

“Your Xian-gege” Lan Xichen explained. The woman raised an eyebrow, but then realized that A-Yuan was probably taught to call his mother like that to prevent someone from realizing the relationship between them. It would give him a better opportunity to survive if no one knew that he was the son of the Yiling Patriarch. Or if no one realized that he was a kunze in the first place. “Do you want to see him?”

“Um hum!!!” the pup was happy, something that actually made her coo. What an adorable child, the Madam would have loved him… and perhaps that was enough to love the boy, no matter where he came from. She should too. “Where is he?”

“In the room, I will take you there” the toddler smiled, then she took a step to the side to allow Zewu-Jun to take the boy to the room where his mother laid, unconscious. “Come on, I´m sure you are eager to see him.”

“Is he eager to see A-Yuan?”

“Well…”

“I´m sure he is” Lan Xichen answered, crossing a look with the woman. “Your gege is eager to see A-Yuan.”

But she didn´t care, not as she looked into the arrays drew and carved carefully and hidden into the deeps, into the very core and walls and even windows of the House of Silence. No matter how much comfortable Quingeng-Jun had made an effort to make it nor how prettily it was decorated, the place where the Twin Jades of Lan had been born was a prison, one from which not even a strong cultivator could get out of. It was the very intention of the House, to prevent strong cultivators that should receive punishment from escaping… a person who had lost it´s golden core like Wei Wuxian didn´t even have a chance. He would remain a prisoner for the rest of his life, looking at the gentians through the window like the previous Madam Lan did… only that he deserved it while she did not.

The pup practically jumped step by step through the house so he could reach his mother quicklier. He was happy for now… but won´t remain like that for long. She couldn´t fault the poor thing. His father, who he barely knew but apparently trusted and liked, was in forceful seclusion for at least three years before reuniting with his family. His mother, who he was being forcefully separated from now if Lan Quiren got away with it but that was a constant in his life that he loved a lot, would be a caged existence he, with luck, would only get to see once a month. For one side, considered that it was the Yiling Patriarch, it was good for him, but on the other…

“Why is Poor-gege laying there? Is he sleeping?” A-Yuan asked when he first entered the room Wei Wuxian had been occupying until then. Lan Quingquing watched as he approached, fear clear in his face. “Xian-gege? Why aren´t you waking up yet? There is a lot of green land out there and beautiful places… and we can eat all the food we wanted. It´s not of the kind that you liked, but it won´t be radishes anymore… but we can have radishes too!! A whole yard of them for you to bury me in!!”

Excuse me, he was saying that he was buried in a yard of…

“Why aren´t you waking up? I told you that we can have radishes… and tomatoes and greens and everything you want. Aren´t you happy at that?! Don´t you want to farm with A-Yuan anymore?” the tears started to appear on the toddler´s eyes as he shook his mother. “Please!!! Please, Xian-gege!! You have to get up!!! A-Niang!! A-Niang!!!”

“A-Yuan, you’re A-Niang needs to rest!!”

“No!! I have already lost Uncle Four and Qing-Jie and Popo and… and… I only have Xian-gege left!! Just as he only has A-Yuan!! He needs to wake up!! He needs to wake up so I could say that I am sorry for not being able to help when they needed help!!”

“That´s not true” Lan Xichen tried to make him listen as the toddler continued to cry and shake his mother, trying to awake him from a deep coma. “You have your father, me, uncle Quiren and…”

“I want Xian-gege!! I want him now!!!”

“A-Yuan!!”

A-Yuan continued to scream, shaking the unconscious man, demanding for his mother to get up and console him. In the end, he broke up in tears and felt asleep after exhausting his meager forces. Lan Quingquing gave him a check up as he laid, curled by the side of his mother, clinging to him as if he was the last person in the world. And perhaps he was. The boy was clearly recovering well not only from the fever, but from the malnutrition he had arrived in Cloud Recesses with. She couldn´t believe a kunze could do something like that to his son, was he even feeding him something that wasn´t radishes? The boy would have been better if he was handed over to another family, even to Lan Wangji or Jiang Wanyin if Wei Wuxian was going to handle motherhood like that. Maybe he shouldn´t be allowed to raise him, nor any child he managed to bear, no matter how close he seemed to be with the pup he already had. Not if he was going to treat them like that.

“I´m sorry for what happened. I knew that he was going to react badly, but…” Lan Xichen sighed. “You have to understand, during much of his life, Wei Wuxian was the only parent A-Yuan had. They are really close.”

“Perhaps too close for the pup´s safety” the healer sighed. “Zewu-Jun, do you realize the state your nephew arrived to the Cloud Recesses in? I have never seen such a state of malnutrition in such a young child. And the fever he had… he could have died if we hadn´t treated him for long. Sect Leader, the child was practically lucky you attacked the Burial Mounds then, because he wouldn´t have survived for long…”

“Wangji told me that Wei Wuxian didn´t have a lot of money” the other answered. “That he tried to take care and feed A-Yuan, but he struggled to even buy potatoes or cultivate anything in the Burial Mounds. I know that Wei Wuxian is not the best person out there and did terrible things, but he tried to be the best mother possible for…”

“Zewu-Jun, I know you want to see the best in all people, but…”

“You shouldn´t have opinion of people you don´t even know.”

“Didn´t you participate in the Siege of the Burial Mounds to stop something like what happened in Nightless City?” she answered. “I know that you don´t want to believe your brother would fall in love with someone as heartless as to massacre so many cultivators, including his own martial sister, but that Lan Wangji choose to give him his heart is not a guarantee that he is a good person. Or do you mistrust Lianfang-Zun´s and Chifeng-Zun´s versions of what occurred in the prison camps?”

“I trust both of them with my life” he said without hesitation. “But he once was a good person. And if something of that boy full of life that got Wangji out of his icy persona, that made him show some emotion for the first time since our mother died… then I want to rescue him.” He looked away. “I still hope that beneath all that darkness, that once the resentful energy has been cleaned from his spirit and he has spent time away from that place, he might return to who he was before…”

“Zewu-Jun, from what he already did, it´s too late for…”

“In the middle of the Sunshot, Wangji asked him to come to Gusu with him. He didn´t end up in the Burial Mounds by his own volition or by accident, do you know that?” yes, she was aware of that. Which made it a bit tragic, but nothing more. “If he had insisted… or if I had supported him when he told me after that incident, even if I had tried to convince Jiang Wanyin… maybe this wouldn´t have happened.”

Lan Quingquing sighed. Yes, she could see the sense in his words and why he was feeling regretful. Lan Xichen was already aware of the deep feelings his brother harbored towards Wei Wuxian, but he hadn´t acted when there was still time to help him. And now it ended up like this, in the very same prison their mother had died in. She frowned at herself, looking at the mother and child pair. It… truly hadn´t been Wei Wuxian´s wish or his greed for power what ended up with him in the Burial Mounds the first time. And perhaps he had been changed by that experience, becoming the Yiling Patriarch, the demon he was now. Even then, it wouldn´t change what had happened. What was done, was done.

Finally, Zewu-Jun gathering the child and walked away from the room with the sleeping kid in his arms. She changed her patient into other clothes, brushed his hair again, and laid him back in the bed. The woman looked at him once more before leaving the room. Perhaps, if he remained like that, this wouldn´t be so hard. The hard thing to do would be enduring Hanguang-Jun´s visits. He had already gone through enough, couldn´t the world gave him a break? To suffer the worst heartbreaks in his life in that very same place… it would perhaps send him into the same path than Qingheng-Jun. She certainly hoped that no, he didn´t deserve to isolate him from the world forever.

“You better don´t hurt him anymore.”

-The next morning-

Lan Xichen knocked on the door of the seclusion chamber, visiting his brother in his forced isolation for the first time since it imposed on him. Normally he wouldn´t do something like that, seclusion was seclusion after all, but he needed to make sure that he was aware of the state of his mate and pup. Besides… Wangji didn´t deserve that. If only he had heard him when he said he had someone that he wanted to take to the Cloud Recesses and not allow him to leave, if he could have understood the message, if he could only have realized that Wangji would first allow himself to get hurt than abandon Wei Wuxian… if only he could convince his sworn brothers of dealing with this in another way…

“Wangji” he said softly when he heard the grunt that signaled that the other was awake. “I have news about your mate and son. Wei Wuxian has been moved to a permanent residence today, the… the one that used to belong to our mother indeed” he could hear the growl that was issue in response of that. “He is still sleeping, but the healers are taking good care of him. He is going to be fine.”

“Mnnnn”

“I promise you, no Lan will hurt him now that he is mated to you. He is one of us now. Besides, not many members of our Sect are even aware that he is here. His arrival and survival has been kept as a great secret” He assured him “And, even if he wasn´t, a healer would be the last person you would have to worry about. They swear a vow not to harm.”

“Hummm”

Lan Xichen sighed. Apparently, his brother didn´t trust their sect or anyone anymore… and he couldn´t really blame him. The animosity towards Wei Wuxian and his infamous reputation was extended enough for everyone to know it, and for even healers to want him dead. And not all took their vows as seriously as Lan Meng Die, who would whip anyone who dared to break that vow. And talking about whippings, he should ask about the injuries the discipline whip had caused on his brother, and he would, but he knew that Wangji wouldn´t even consider answering his questions until he knew about the state of his family. Besides, as much as the discipline whip left painful injuries, it wasn´t made to kill, not even yaos or other evil beings. Which was why it was a surprise to find the scaring and residual damage on Wei-gongzi´s meridians from way before the Sunshot. He only knew of one thing that could leave a damage like that, but he never thought that woman would be as crazy as to use it to instill discipline on a disciple, much less that her husband and children would allow it without saying anything… it made him feel bad for having sent him back early, when he could have protected him from that some more time.

“They have been able to repair the damage to his meridians, but without his golden core… at least his body has recovered from the damage Zidian has left on him.” He informed. “Head Healer Lan said that she would strangle Yu Ziyuan if she could… that was no way of treating a child, not even a rambunctious one.”

“No…Wei Ying didn´t…”

“And talking about children, A-Yuan is nearly recovered” he continued with happier things, hopping that it would help him recover. “Both from the fever and the malnutrition. He still has to undergo a controlled diet, but soon the healers are going to deem him fit to join the other disciples his age in their classes. Uncle has already give him material and he is absorbing it like a sponge… he hasn´t taken a sword yet, but uncle is already convinced that he might be able to take some classes with older disciples.”

“Mnnn”

“He takes a lot after you.”

“After Wei Ying…”

“Yes, he was also very smart” how could have he believed that Wangji would be able to survive without his one? That he wouldn´t risk everything to keep him safe? “But A-Yuan seemed more inclined to obey the rules than he was.”

“Has A-Yuan… seen Wei Ying?”

“Yes, he has” Lan Xichen was relieved of having gotten a full sentence. “He was worried too… is still worried, but right now he is sleeping. I´m sure that he eventually is going to be less worried, when Wei Wuxian finally wakes up.”

“Xiozhang…”

“I have made sure that his presence is not known by most of the people in the Cloud Recesses, though I had to release that you have taken a bride. They all believe that your mate is someone too frail to be allowed outside his rooms, so she never leaves them. I haven´t yet told Mingjue or A-Yao, but… I will think of something. Eventually.”

“Xiozhang…”

“Don´t worry, I know what I can tell and what not, even if I trust both of them with my life” he answered. He also refrained to say that his own life was something he would risk, but Wangji´s heart was not. “Well, I only wanted to make you know that Wei Wuxian and A-Yuan are fine and getting better. They are being taken care of.”

“Thank you”

“And how are you?” he finally asked, touching the subject that he was itching to touch. “I have some medicines prepared by the Head Healer? It might help you to heal better, so you could reunite with your family earlier.”

“Better… Wei Ying too…”

“At least with A-Yuan, who might want to come to visit. It´s been hard to make him trust me, he even gave me the cold shoulder since he woke up” he chuckled a bit. “Reminded me of you when you were younger, though he is livelier once he opens up. He also smiles more than you at his age.”

“Mnnnnn”

“I guess you are glad that, despite the place and the circumstances he was forced to grow up in, he is still able to act like a normal child. Or that he didn´t see anything that might have traumatized him during the Siege” he could hear his brother trying to get up from wherever he was. “No, don´t get up, you might upset your injuries. I will throw in the medicines, the jars won´t break. You won´t need to move so long.”

“Thank you, Xiozhang.”

“Don´t mention it. It´s my duty to look after your mate and child” if only he had noticed before that Wangji had already known that Wei Wuxian was his one. “I will tell you when he wakes up, alright? You don´t have to worry about that, because he IS going to wake up. And before you come out of seclusion.”

“Mnnn”

“Until later, Wangji”

-In the Gentian House-

“Grandmaster…”

“There is no need to get up, healer” Lan Quiren said, stopping Lan Quingqing from getting up with a hand. “I only came here to check on my nephew´s mate.”

“Of course, Grandmaster”

His eyes then moved towards the bed, where the unconscious Wei Wuxian laid. He looked healthier than he arrived, something weird for someone that hadn´t woken up a single time in more than a week. No, it was almost irreal, considering who was in the bed. The young disciple he knew seemed to never run out of energy, not even if he was asleep. And the man from the Sunshot Campaign, though more serious, was always moving from one side to the other, fighting the very same people that he had ultimately freed. Seeing him so still, so pale, made him think of a corpse. As he analyzed him some more, he saw the resemblance between him and Cangse Sanren. Not that he had been able to ignore it since the first time they met. Wei Wuxian might have inherited the darker hair and most of his physical traits from Wei Changze, but the form of the eyes, the expression and personality, even the mirth that always hid behind those grey orbs, were that woman´s. It was easy to see for him… and easier even to direct his dislike for the woman towards her son. A son that was now bonded to his youngest nephew and mother of his child. And he couldn´t help but ask if things would have been easier for Wangji if he hadn´t turned all his bias towards Cangse Sanren on her son. If he had actually tried to help his nephew and not tried to stifle the boy´s creativity because he considered it dangerous, if he had tried to understand that he didn´t do it out of evil but out of curiosity… if only he had tried to understand why he had done what he did… or that he didn´t fear getting into troubles because, if he was going to get into trouble anyway, he better did something to deserve it. A philosophy he had Yu Ziyuan to thank for. Perhaps if he had understood all those things, everything would have been better for those two. But it was too late now. And the only thing he could do, for Wangji´s sake, was trying to tame and control the evil being this boy had become because of what Wen Zhuliu and Wen Chao had done to him by throwing him into the Burial Mounds after melting his core.

“Does he bring you memories? I know you used to know his parents” Lan Quingquing asked, looking down at him. “I also heard that his mother…”

“She wasn´t like her shixiong, if you wanted to ask about that. Cangse Sanren was many things, little I consider of my liking, but she definitely wasn´t a Yanling Daoren” he sighed. “But he would remind me more of her if he was awake. Right now, only his eyes… the rest are all Wei Changze. Specially the silence.”

“Oh” she answered. “If they were good people as you paint them, I´m sure they are disappointed in the kind of son they had.”

“Hmmmm”

He was sure that Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren would trust their son´s conscience and respect his decision, even if it was wrong in the eyes of the cultivation world. Wei Changze always preferred trust, so he would trust that his only child would make the right thing, no matter the dark creature he had became. And that woman would feel more curious about the resentment energy than her son was, bold as she was. Also would have stood right besides him in the Siege, telling everyone they committed a mistake. And surely will find one to scold them about or simply take revenge on them. As much as revenge on Jin Guangshan would be fun, he wasn´t in the mood to get his beard shaved again.

“Do you really think he is going to wake up?”

“It´s hard to tell, but I think it´s the most probable thing” she answered, her eyes on her lap. “After all, the dual cultivation with such a strong cultivator as Hanguang-Jun did wonders to help his body heal.”

“I see”

Lan Quiren looked at Wei Wuxian once more before getting out of that place. He never liked that house, build to be a prison to the unwanted Ones of the Lan heirs, and surrounded by gentians in what should be a nice gesture, but only ended up causing a panic attack on his late sister-in-law. He remembered well when Xichen picked some of them for her and she ended up shaking, as they had become a symbol of her caged bird status. And he had the feeling that Wei Wuxian wouldn´t be much better. Such a free soul… he truly would have fared much worse than his calm sister-in-law in such a gilded cage. But there was no other option. Not since he developed Demonic Cultivation and freed those Wen cultivators.

-In Jinlintai-

“Guangyao” Jin Guangshan said as he received his bastard son in his office. Meng Yao closed the door behind him, remaining in his place, by the wall. “I heard that Lan Wangji mated recently… when I told you my plans of marrying him and his brothers to one of your cousins.”

“There is still Lan Xichen”

“Sure, but didn´t I tell you to keep me informed about the movements of the Lans? Didn´t you say that you could control Zewu-Jun, that you had his utmost trust and he would tell you everything?” he turned towards him. “Extend your hands”

He did and allowed Jin Guangshan to hit him with his fan, which was infused with spiritual energy. It hurt, but not as much as Madam Jin´s punishments did and they would heal rather quickly of them, so he would become of use again quickly. Though he also wondered why Lan Xichen hadn´t told him anything about his brother´s plans to marry. Normally, he would be over the moon and very chatty about it. Why wasn´t that the case now? He didn´t talk to Nie Mingjue much without the intervention of Zewu-Jun, but he should have at least mentioned that once when they were in the middle of the Siege of the Burial Mounds in his earshot. The normal answer would be that neither knew, but that was impossible. Lan Xichen should have known about his brother’s intentions, so why…

“You know why I have to do this, no?”

“Yes, father” he answered rather mechanically. “I´m sorry for my failure, father.”

“Then make sure never to fail me again” Jin Guangshan answered before sending him off. Meng Yao bowed and retreated, already having plans of inviting Lan Xichen to a meeting, perhaps even with the pretext of sending Lan Wangji a gift or congratulatory letter for his marriage. But before that…

“How is it going?” he asked Xue Yang, who was experimenting on the Ghost General. Wen Ning was unconscious, as they couldn´t afford to keep him awaken after his last rampage. Not until they had him under control. “Any progress?”

“I think I´m going to need some more radical solutions” the Demonic Cultivator answered with a wide smile. “Have you heard about skull piercers? I think I´m going to need some of those to control such a powerful, loyal fierce corpse. But I can´t build them alone, I´m going to need some help from musical cultivation and someone experienced in making some other implements.”

“I will go bring Minshan then, between him and me will be able to make the skull piercers you want. But be careful not to damage the specimen, it´s the only one that happens to exist in the world.”

“Understood.”

Notes:

Hello!!! In the next few chapters, we are going to explore the first few months of the pregnancy of Wei Ying, just before he woke up. Then we are going to see what happens when he does wake up. What do you think might happen then? Review if you want this to continue!!!

Chapter 3

Lan Quingquing was doing the same she did every afternoon when she saw that something had changed. Not in Wei Wuxian´s conscience, but in his body. She made a preliminary exam, then counted the days since his last supposed heat. Even being in a come, a heat should have hit already. Unless… but she needed to be sure, so she called her grandmother to examine the kunze herself with the eyes of a seasoned healer. And he was. Immediately, Lan Quingquing was sent towards the main hall, even if it was the middle of the reciting of the younger disciples, to ask for a meeting with the Grandmaster and the Sect Leader directly. Alone. She didn´t know why she asked that, as the Elders already knew that Wei Wuxian was the mate of Lan Wangji… but she thought that it was the right thing to handle this carefully. After all, the pup inside the Yiling Laozu´s womb wasn´t to blame for her mother´s crimes. His son or daughter would also be an heir of the Lan Sect.

“Grandmaster, Sect Leader” she said, bowing to the men to keep conventions. “I have news to give you from the House of Silence.”

“Do so”

“Congratulations are in order for Hanguang-Jun and his new bride, along with the whole main line of Lan An” she said, her eyes still on the ground. “An heir is on the way. There is no doubt of that, my grandmother confirmed the pregnancy this very same morning.”

 

“Well, from time to time, someone like Wei Wuxian is useful” was the comment Lan Quiren made. His nephew threw him a look. It was obvious that he disagreed in his treatment of his brother-in-law, despite his disgraced status. “How far along he is?”

“Considering that he and his mate hadn´t been in contact for the last few months, it´s rather obvious that the conception occurred on his last heat. Which means two months ago, when the Siege of the Burial Mounds occurred” she continued. “My grandmother suggested that he remains in bed for the next few months, perhaps even until he reaches the seventh or eight month of pregnancy. So the danger lessens.”

“If he remains in a coma, I´m pretty sure that it´s possible… but only then” the Grandmaster made him a wave. “Go, tend to him. It´s a precious gift what his
body contained, it needs to be kept healthy despite the state he is in.”

“What my uncle is trying to say” Zewu-Jun talked for the very first time, sending his uncle another one of those looks. “Is that right now, the health of my brother-in-law should be the first priority of both you, as his head maid and healer, and your grandmother, the Head Healer of the Cloud Recesses. Considering how many people we lost during the Sunshot Campaign and the reduced members of the main family, it´s imperative that any possible heir is born healthy and able of body.”

“Of course, Sect Leader”

“And please, as a brother and not as a Sect Leader, I plead to you to keep my brother´s mate healthy. Wangji… he has loved him since he met him in the Cloud Recesses. It took him a long time to admit and much more to get together with him, but if he were to lose him now” his eyes lowered too. “He would survive for the pups, and that if the younger one is born healthy and doesn´t die soon after birth, but after they were grown, he would…” he actually lowered his head to her. “Please, keep him from dying.”

“As you wish, Sect Leader” she answered. “Both me and my grandmother have a lot of respect for you and Hanguang-Jun, both for your actions during the Sunshot Campaign and the Siege of the Burial Mounds. We are very grateful for everything you did during them and also will do our duty to our Sect, as every self-respective Lan disciple should” the healer bowed again. “If you excuse me, I have to return to my work.”

Lan Quingquing walked away, already thinking about the huge amount of work she was going to have these few months to keep that disgraced man alive and well enough to give birth to a healthy child. His grandmother was a very competent healer, surely she could have done it, but she was getting on age and she was not Baoshan Sanren. She was going to need all the help she could help. As she took her route to the House of Silence, she saw the camp of gentians in full bloom. She too had come to hate them. But for Wei Wuxian… she grabbed a few of the horrible flowers and made a bouquet, which she entered the house with. Her grandmother was already waiting for her, lifting her head when she realized what she was carrying with her.

“What did the Grandmaster and Sect Leader said?” Lan Meng Die asked, as if she hadn´t already known the answer. “Did they say that we need to keep it alive, as I thought? The pup more than the mother in the case of the Grandmaster, both in the case of Zewu-Jun?”

Practically what they had told her, her Popo knew them very good. Lan Quiren valued his nephews too much, even when one of them had broken so many rules for that individual on her former mistress´ room, to allow the pup to die merely because he didn´t like in whose womb it was going to grow. He already liked A-Yuan, which made it more likely for him to want the pup alive. Also, he wanted Lan Wangji alive. And that won´t happen, or won´t happen for long if both the pup and Wei Wuxian survived. He would follow his mate to the afterlife if he were to die as soon as his pups were adults if the Yiling Laozu would die and who knows what the Yiling Laozu would do if he lost the pup, which could very well lead to his death and the one of Lan Wangji. Lan Xichen was of the same opinion, though he worded it much better. He also didn´t have anything against not only the man in that state, but the mother of said man, now pregnant with his brother´s child. His plea to save both lives, not only because the pup would be his nephew or niece or because his brother´s life was also on the line, but because he clearly cared and missed the young man Wei Wuxian had been… even if he hadn´t mentioned it during the audience.

“Practically what you said yourself, Popo” Lan Quingquing said as she put the gentians on a vase close to the bed of the sick man. Gentians, what awful flowers. She was sure that by the end of that year, Wei Wuxian would despise them as much as she did… which made it more pleasurable for her to put a bouquet of them in his room. “The Grandmaster and Sect Leader wants us to keep both of them alive.”

“Which would be complicated enough with a kunze in a normal situation. The complications that one might show during a pregnancy…” the older woman frowned, looking at the patient as his eyes remained shut. “Come with me until it´s time to feed him again, we are going to need to practice a lot.”

Practice? Practice what? It was then that Lan Meng Die took her to the room that was supposed to be in the infirmary, only to be shown a big pig. It was clearly female, by the structures she saw in the body, swollen by the milk that filled them. Her grandmother cleaned her hands and put on medical gloves, her eyes cold as the snow that would fall on winter. She then took her knife and started to open the swine. Lan Quingquing was about to stop her, as it was stated in the rules that they shouldn´t take a life in the Cloud Recesses. It turned out that it wasn´t needed. Her grandmother was skilled enough to take out all the piglets before the mother died, then applied antiseptic and closed the injury, applying spiritual energy to help close the injuries more. Then she sighed and took off the gloves, putting the bloody knife and gloves on their places before turning on her granddaughter, as she let the piglets drink the milk of their still unconscious mother.

“This is something that I learned while studying under a master that didn´t leave her home very often… Baoshan Sanren” the younger woman opened his eyes wide. “They said she never leaves her mountain, but she did once to visit her daughter, Cangse Sanren, in secret. And I was one of the few… the only other one was Wei Changze… that knew that the immortal had done so. In thanks for my silence, she taught me several medical techniques that I wouldn´t be able to learn in any other way.”

“Like this?”

“It´s called a caesarean or c-section” Lan Meng Die continued, looking at the pig she had just help giving birth through an operation. “And thankfully she did, because it saved Cangsen Sanren´s life when she actually gave birth to her son. Anyway” she stared at her granddaughter with a very serious expression. “these kind of things could be shared. And in the condition he is in, a condition that seems to not change soon” she sighed. “I still was going to teach you this technique, along with many others, but they need for some blood to be shed. And you are going to fail more than you are going to succeed in your very first tries. My question is… are you willing to forget the rule about not killing in Cloud Recesses if that meant saving two or more human lives?”

“Popo…” but Lan Quingquing already knew the answer. “You know that I´m ready.”

The next few days were the busiest of her life. At the same time as she tried to make sure that Wei Wuxian was well taken care of and that his baby was healthy, which meant that both she and her grandmother needed to give periodical transfusions of spiritual energy the mother wasn´t able to give him or her due to the absence of a golden core. The rest of the day was spent with her trying to follow her grandmother´s instructions so she could perform that procedure that she apparently learned from an immortal. And Lan Meng Die had been right, she killed more pregnant pigs and their piglets than she saved. Even with spiritual energy being supplemented to the animals by her grandmother so they could last longer, have better chances of surviving, she continued failing. Which was strange, because in the reversed role, as she watched the operation as the attendant and spiritual energy supplier, all the piglets and pigs survived. It made her feel kind of frustrated. She was already aware that her popo´s medical skills were better by far than her own, she couldn´t help but feel envious about that. And frustrated because she couldn´t reach her level.

“Why don´t you just handle the damn surgery and I handle the spiritual energy transfusion? I seem to be much more apt on that than on operating” Lan Quingquing finally exploded after her last attempt ended up with a dead swine and all but three piglets dead. “You are able to save them all, surely you are going to be able to save…”

“You are just starting, don´t worry if you can´t…”

“No!!! I´m never going to be able and you know it!! Because I´m not the great Lan Meng Die, whose skill in the medical arts was recognized even by an
immortal. An immortal who taught her about medicine I wasn´t even aware that existed, that practically entrusted her with her own daughter´s life…”

“And don´t you think that I´m not feeling that pressure now? The pressure because now the one who could end up in my operation table is her grandson?” the girl got silent, she had forgotten that. “Do you know why I followed Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren enough to meet Baoshan Sanren?” she opened her robes in the middle to show her a thin scar. “When I was younger, I became a healer for rather selfish reasons. I… suffered from terrible pains that all the healers in Cloud Recesses said were imaginary… they weren´t.”

“Then what…”

“When I met her, Cangse-guniang convinced her mother to examine me. By then, we have become friends and I was a bit sorry for using her like that” the woman covered her scar like that. “Even then, Lady Sanren said there was no problem and examined me. The face she made in that moment… she said that while my exterior was fine, my interior was full of lesions that could turn into worse things later. That she needed to get them out, and for that he had to open me and take them out directly. I agree… and she did. Once I recovered, I didn´t feel that same pain ever again.”

“It´s that how you were made aware of this kind of treatments?”

“Yes, and I begged her to teach me as much as she could before she returned to the Celestial Mountain. She kindly accepted and helped me learn the basics, then left me with some books that detailed more complicated procedures that I could learn… though I was going to have to practice first. And I did kill my fair lot of pigs in secret, but managed to learn to perform every procedure she tried to teach me. It took me a long time, even when I cultivated at the same time and use spiritual energy… until I finally managed to dominate it. I only returned to the Cloud Recesses after that.”

“But I thought you and grandfather…”

“He was the only one who believed me, he was also willing to wait for me all the time I needed to… we got married when we finally got the agreement of our parents.” She sighed “Even when I warned him that I might have some difficulty having children, as my sickness tended to do that to women.”

“Even when Baoshan Sanren cured you?”

“It was a fear that followed me, even when I was declared cured.” She shook her head. “We were not careful enough because of that and less than a year after I was expecting your mother. I didn´t have much hopes, but after a long and hard birth, I had a daughter that I loved with all my heart… and a healer career that helped me help lots of patients with revolutionary treatments until I was declared Head Healer of the Lan Sect. I had your uncle too, of course, though… after him, one of my apprentices botched the operation and my womb had to be extracted to save us both. I didn´t care much, a little girl and baby boy was everything I needed and your grandfather was and still is in agreement… also, they gave me many grandchildren I could spoil without problem.”

“Why didn´t you…”

“Because after that apprentice, I realized that not everyone had what it takes to do what Baoshan Sanren taught me. Even if they are talented healers in other ways.”

“And you think I have that kind of talent?”

“I have watched you for a long time and had time to analyze you” La Meng Die smiled, crossing her arms. “You have something not even your mother had. Yes, you have her confidence, her talent, many of her good qualities… but you also have something else. Something that remind me of myself when I was learning. Your hands don´t shook when they are performing this kind of procedures to save lives, you remain concentrated… the pigs die because you are barely learning, and that´s a normal process of learning… but you show all the qualities to become an expert on this and save many more lives than me. The question is, are you willing to fail over and over again without losing your confidence? To save not only the lives on the line in a few months, but others that are going to come next?”

“Yes… yes, I am”

“Good” the senior healer said. “That you saved some piglets showed progress. Take care of Wei Wuxian while I´m putting him with some surrogate mother, we are going to reassume your practices as soon as you finish. And once the child is here, I´m going to teach you much more to cure other illnesses.”

“Yes” she answered bowing. “Grandmother?” she stopped the woman before she could leave with the animals. “Did you teach someone else that became a successful… surgeon?”

“Ah, yes… I think she died not too long ago, though I didn´t feel her death as much when I think about how she used what I taught her” Lan Meng Die said, thoughtful. “Her name was Wen Qing.”

-In the seclusion place-

Lan Xichen truly hated that place, seriously. Even if his uncle was more a parent than his father would even be, the kind of parent his mother would have wanted to be, Quingheng-Jun was still his father. And, in a certain way, he missed him. Which returned him to the seclusion chamber, where Wangji currently was recovering from the beating and in a forced seclusion that kept him from his growing family. He hated that his brother was practically locked up in the same place as their father had willingly isolated himself for the rest of his life after the death of his wife, not bothering to ever meet him or Wangji. Their mother at least had showed them their face and tried to be present in their lives… Qingheng-Jun had never done the same. He merely remained there…

“Rich-gege is truly here?” A-Yuan asked.

“Yes, A-Yuan.” He answered with a smile, shortly wondering why the child called his brother like that. Then he remembered about the dinner he had shared with him and Wei Wuxian in Yiling, probably one of the few good meals the small boy had until he was taken to Gusu. A sad thing, that. “Your Baba is here.”

“Doesn´t look like some place where someone rich would live” the toddler frowned adorable, scrunching up his nose.

“It wasn´t supposed to be, it´s only a temporary home” the uncle explained. “He is soon going to go live in a much better place. And you are going to move with him. It´s called the Jingshi and I´m sure that you are going to like it very much.”

“And Xian-gege? Will he move with us once he is better?”

“That´s… more complicated.”

He had brought the pup to cheer his brother up a bit… also to remind him somehow about why he couldn´t leave seclusion yet to rush to his mate´s side simply because he was expecting another pup. Not if he wanted to make things more difficult with the elders and put not only his own position in danger, but the safety of A-Yuan and Wei Wuxian. What he wasn´t ready for was to answer all the questions that his nephew had, spawned from the strange treatment his mother was getting. Perhaps later he should take to see him… though he was going to have to explain by he couldn´t behave as roughly with him as he did last time. Also why his tummy was roundish, if he noticed. All without giving the child hopes that Wei Wuxian was ever going to get out of that house ever again. The House that still appeared in his nightmares, because it was the place where his mother died, trapped.

“How about after we visit your Baba, we visit your A-Niang too?” Lan Xichen continued with a smile. A-Yuan had been behaving really well… he thought that not even Lan Quiren would complain too much if he took the child to see his mother. “Your mommy has a surprise for you, one you surely will like.”

“Truly?”

“Yes” he nodded. “I liked it very much when my mother gave me a surprise very similar to the one your mom has for you now.” Though his “surprise” had showed to be much more problematic than he could have ever anticipated. “Then we can go see the bunnies. I will even give you some carrots from the kitchens so you might feed them… though you are going to have to be careful or you will end up buried in them.”

“It´s no problem that way I´m going to get bunny friends!!” A-Yuan said happily. “It´s like Xian-gege said when he buried me with the radishes!!! That in that way we were going to grow thousands of friends for me!!”

Lan Xichen felt really bad in that moment. Exactly how isolated from other children had his nephew grew up in that Wei Wuxian felt the invent such nonsense so he could feel less alone? In fact, he had heard a lot about radishes since A-Yuan started to live with him and uncle. He said that his mother called him a little radish… perhaps for that. He preferred calling him bunny, though, because the child was as lovely and adorable as one. He would knew, he had interacted with his brother´s rabbits enough to know how the fluffy cotton balls were. Except for that first one, the territorial one. He always got into a terrible mood when another rabbit approached the black one he dubbed as his mate.

“Let´s talk to Wangji then, don´t you think?”

“Hummm!!!” A-Yuan reached for the door, but Lan Xichen stopped him. The door couldn´t be opened into the sentence was over or they might have problems. Even if a child did so, the elders would take it as an excuse to… “What?”

“We need to talk through the door for now” he knocked on it. “Wangji, are you awake?” he asked, trying to keep his voice even. He heard a grunt. “I have brought A-Yuan to visit you, so you could talk.”

“A-Yuan… are you well? Were you able to see Wei Ying?” of course, those were the first things that Wangji would ask about. “You weren´t harmed in any way, no? Are you eating well? Isn´t Shufu or Xiozhang too hard with you?”

“I´m fine” the bot answered, happily. “A-Yuan is getting stronger and stronger!! And the old man with the beard isn´t bad at all!! He has read me some books… they are boring, but apparently I need to learn them since I will be living here from now on. And I like it here!! I have been able to eat my fill, even if the food isn´t as tasty as the one that you buy for me and Xian-gege in Yiling. But your brother has been very nice!! He passes me snacks every time he could get away with it!! And he taught me to write my name!!”

“You are a smart boy” Lan Xichen felt himself relaxing as he noticed the relief and smile in his brother´s tone. He was happy that his boy was well taken care of… and had put some meat on his bones. It was a nice chance, one which made the toddler even more adorable than he was. He shouldn´t give him snacks, as it was in the rules, but he needed to put on some more weight and the healers told him it was for the best. “Wei Ying?”

“I have seen him, but he doesn´t wake up.” A-Yuan suddenly seemed depressed. “Rich-gege, do you think he is ever going to wake up?”

“Wei Ying is stronger than anyone I know. He will wake up.”

He wouldn´t call him like that, but considering that the Four Great Sects attacking at the same time as needed to take down the Yiling Patriarch, he couldn´t help but think that his brother was right. They were all lucky that his heat arrived in the right moment, followed by Lan Wangji finding and mating him unconscious before they could fight him. That way they could eliminate the resentment inside of him and leave him powerless, thus not a danger towards the sects. Also, Wei Wuxian tended to make things that seemed impossible, possible. The evil compass, the blackwind flag, the Demonic Cultivation in it´s entirety… if someone could wake up from that coma without the need of a golden core, it was him.

“And Rich-alike-gege has told me that he has a surprise for me later when I visit him!! Then we can go see and feed the bunnies!!”

“Surprise!!”

“Um hum!!”

“Xiozhang…”

“Ahhhh… A-Yuan, would you mind to wait for me over there? I need to talk about something with your father in private” he tried to convince the child to go where he would be too far away to hear something and visible at the same time. “It will only take a few minutes and you can come to talk again soon.”

“But…”

“Please” Lan Xichen begged. “I will take you to Gusu this weekend and buy you some sweets if you allow me to talk to him in private.”

“Alright” A-Yuan walked towards where he had pointed.

“Wangji… I don´t know where to start this conversation, so I´m going to be direct: Wei Wuxian is pregnant” this seemed to surprise his brother speechless. “I know that A-Yuan was long ago and this was probably not planned, again, but…” the doorknob began to turn, so he was forced to hold it to make sure his brother didn´t leave confinement. “Wangji, you need to remain here. He is already been looked after by the best healers, both him and the baby…”

“Wei Ying needs me, I have to…”

“You have to finish your punishment. Or aren´t you aware of what the Elders could do to him if they find an excuse to do so? They merely would wait until the baby is out of him and dispose of him quietly. Is that what you want?”

“Xiozhang…”

“While you follow the rules and behave, they aren´t going to be able to do anything to your mate. And you will still be able to meet your child once your punishment is over” Wangji didn´t seem convinced. “Please, trust me, little brother. I´m doing this for your own good, because I don´t want to see you hurt.”

“Xiozhang… please take care of them…” his brother pleaded. “Please, please, don´t let Shufu or the Elders do anything to them until I´m there to protect them.”

“I promise on my honor.”

Wangji sounded, for the first time in his life, defeated. But Xichen knew that it was for the best. He might not be able to be there to see his child being born, but like this he would make sure his mate and children were safe. A-Yuan was called back and he cheerfully managed to lift his father´s spirit until it was time to go. As promised, he was taken to the House of Silence. Only the smell of the Gentians was enough to form a knot on Lan Xichen´s throat, but he continued walking. The smell inside was… strange, but Lan Meng Die said that it was preparations for when his brother-in-law got into labor… in case he was still in a coma when the time came. The Sect Leader nodded, he would prefer if they were prepared for the worse than completely unprepared. He then took A-Yuan to his mother´s room, where Wei Wuxian still laid unconscious. The pup started to look sad, but then Lan Xichen helped him into the bed and to carefully put his hands over the kunze´s belly.

“It´s roundish!!”

“Yes, I know” the adult said, smiling as he made sure he didn´t do something that could harm the baby. “It´s because there is a baby in there. Your baby brother or sister.”

“But… I thought babies grew from the earth when you plan other children. Like radishes!!”

“Ahhh… this is another method” Zewu-Jun wondered how he would explain to him that babies didn´t sprout from earth like vegetables did. “But what´s important is that soon, you are going to have a baby brother or sister to play with. Aren´t you excited?”

“Um hum!!!”

A-Yuan spent all the time he could spend with Wei Wuxian talking to both his mother and the baby in his belly. He was obviously very eager to become an older brother, something that brought Lan Xichen some memories long buried from when his mother was expecting Wangji. He was barely old enough to form memories back then, but he retained them… along with some others of his own childhood innocence. When the time was over, he took A-Yuan in his arms and, with a nod to the healers, he walked away from that house. He… sincerely hoped that it didn´t become the same as it had become to him. That he was allowed to visit more often, that Wei Wuxian was able to remain in his life… he could already tell how much the Yiling Laozu meant to this boy, how much he would mean to the baby when it was born and grew a bit… the Demonic Cultivator had been a good mother indeed.

“How about we go visit the bunnies now? I got enough carrots in the kitchens of the house, we can go directly to them and say hi.”

“Yay, bunnies!!”

As he saw A-Yuan babble to the rabbits about how he was going to become an older brother soon, trying to keep the carrot away from a crescent pile of bunnies that fought to get to the food like voracious fierce corpses, he wondered how long things were going to remain like that. And not only for A-Yuan, but for the new baby once it arrived. They were going to grow up one day and would notice the differences their family had with other families, notice that their mother was more a prisoner than the Second Madam of a Great Sect… he doubted how they were going to react. And if one them reacted badly? If he or she decided to follow the heretical path because of it?

“Uncle!!!”

That word was enough to get him out of his thoughts. A-Yuan… his brother´s son had never called him uncle. He smiled, it was a moment he would treasure for the rest of his life. He certainly hoped that… this was a symbol that their family would only get closer from that moment on. That Wei Wuxian would awake and be alive, remain alive for the children he surely loved. That they helped him to endure the life of forced confinement that awaited him. That Wangji would be able to help him, keep him safe, and that their love wouldn´t suffer because of that. That, despite everything they will have to face, the little family would still manage to be happy. He wished that from the bottom of his heart.

Notes:

Hello!!! And yes, I know Wen Qing was already an accomplished doctor when she participated in the disciple exchange and was supposed to be a spy... but she also had to get something out of spying for her uncle, no? And getting trained, even if it was only for a year, by a surgeon, which in turn allowed her to learn transplant surgery and thus develop core transplant surgery, was too good for her to let it pass. As for Lan Meng Die, she had a rather severe case of endometriosis that none of the healers when she was young could treat. It was only through surgery that Baoshan Sanren managed to help her with her pain and infertility problems (she was not aware of that at the moment). Now she is training someone else... someone that is professional, but she didn´t like Wei Wuxian. What is going Lan Quingquing do? Review if you want this to continue!!

Chapter 4

Lan Quingquing released a sound of happiness when she finally managed to get all the piglets out and keep the mother alive after the procedure. She visited her everyday to see how she progressed… just as the ones she operated on since then, because she needed to practice more before actually using that surgery in another person. But then the question came to her mind, should she save the life of such an infamous villain as the Yiling Patriarch? The baby was without a question, it was innocent and she would do everything she could to bring it into the world alive, no matter who it´s mother was. But Wei Wuxian had done so many terrible things, massacred so many cultivators at Nightless City and created an army of fierce corpses and bloodthirsty Wen cultivators to threaten them all. He had done so much… if she wasn´t sure that Hanguang-Jun would follow him to the grave, she would allow him to die.

The Yiling Patriarch was now clearly showing, at month four. According to her grandmother, the baby was healthy despite the state it´s mother was in. Little A-Yuan was allowed to visit weekly, always accompanied with his uncle or Lan Qiren. He loved to put his hands over the belly of his mother or even his ear, carefully, to try and listen to the baby. The baby that by now had a respectable size… but not enough to have it cut out of the body of it´s mother, as the healer would have wanted. The less time it spent with it´s mother, the less probability it ended up corrupted by him, unconscious or not. As she brushed his hair and moved his body to avoid Wei Wuxian to develop bed sores, she wondered if she should, as a healer, be having that kind of thoughts. She was supposed to be thinking about saving both mother and child, as her healer oath said, not about possibly letting the Yiling Patriarch die.

“Qing-er, how are you today?” Lan Xichen approached, as he did periodically. He had always hated that place and he still hated it, she could tell, but he still went there. “I hope that you aren´t too tired with everything that we are putting on your shoulders.”

“It has inspired my grandmother to teach me some of her more advanced techniques, so it was worth it… returning to this place” she looked at the Gentians. “Perhaps we could change some things around, here the decoration for once. Your father… Qingheng-Jun planted those things because they used to be your mother´s favorites. I doubt they are the same of the new occupant of the place.”

“I doubt lotus flowers could bloom really well in this kind of environment.”

“Lotus?”

“He spent most of his childhood in Lotus Pier, no? From what Wangji could tell me, he loved Lotus Flowers. Specially the pods” he managed to genuinely smile. “From what I gather, he used to gather them and eat the seeds with the other disciples of the Jiang Sect when younger, along with some wine.”

“Before he betrayed them” the healer answered. “Didn´t they say that he betrayed Lotus Pier to the Wens? That he was the cause of their Fall before the Sunshot Campaign started. Even Jiang Wanyin…”

“The same Jiang Wanyin that once protected him despite being a demonic cultivator? That even after the Fall of Lotus Pier called him a brother? And his sister also called him like that?”

“A sister that he killed, along with her husband.”

“Qing-er…”

“Don´t worry, I´m going to do my work. If not for him, for the pups and Hanguang-Jun”

“I´m glad to hear” Lan Xichen answered before looking again at the house that had once been the prison of his mother and now was the one of his brother´s mate. “Perhaps I could put a small pound with Lotus flowers. That might bring a smile to his face… if he ever wakes up. Or at least to the pups´.”

She sincerely felt for the pups, the one that was already born and the one that was yet to be born. Wei Wuxian could be a lot of bad things, but from the babbles he heard from A-Yuan when he visited, and he did it quite often, he had done his utmost best to at least be a good mother. She was convinced of that… and felt for the pup for having to lose that. Also felt for the one to be born yet, because he or she would never experiment that love. Though that would perhaps be for the best, as the Yiling Patriarch could also corrupt them. It had surprised her when she realized that he hadn´t tried to teach demonic cultivation to his eldest… perhaps he considered him too young… or perhaps not, because the boy had already started to form a golden core. He had already started to before he had arrived to the Cloud Recesses. A redeeming characteristic? They said that all have one. This could be the one of Wei Wuxian.

“A-Yuan has his first day of classes with the youngest disciples today. Before he entered, he was made to talk to Shufu about… his parents. I know that it´s too much to ask from a child of five, not to talk about his parents, but…”

“I thought he was four”

“He turned five today, we are going to make a small gathering together in the Hanshi. Me, Shufu and A-Yuan… Wangji wasn´t allowed to leave seclusion to attend, though. And Wei-xiong is…” he continued to walk through the house, directly to the room where his mother had died in. He had never liked it. “I don´t know what to gift him that will soothe his soul. From what I could gather, Wei Wuxian prepared some sort of potato or radish congee that was too spicy to even taste… some said that his tongue burned, but he still ate it because it tasted like home. Shufu said a small cake from Caiyi Town would be enough, but… I want to have a gift of my own for him, like mother always did for us.”

“She was quite the gentle woman” Lan Qingqing answered, more relaxed now. “She should have been allowed to remain free and be with you.”

“I wish I could have done something for her while she was still alive” Lan Xichen sighed. “I only managed to actually do something about her case after becoming Sect Leader… at least the Elders were agreeable to handle that and clean her name now that many of the older generation that had a hand on hiding it had died. Though I doubt they would be so agreeable in this case.”

“Most of the Lan Sect wouldn´t.”

“More like most of the Jianghu”

He looked down to see Wei Wuxian laying there, his belly ever growing and his smell changing to one of ripe fruit and lotus flower pods. She stayed there, wondering if giving him a pound of lotus flowers would really make a difference. A prison was a prison… but this criminal was more deserving of the punishment than the one that previously occupies it. That they wanted to give the person a more comfortable confinement, like it was done to the Madam, was more an insult to his victims than any other thing. As Lan Qingqing saw Zewu-Jun announcing to the unconscious kunze that his first pup had reached his fifth birthday and that they would celebrate it later, she wondered if the new one would get the same treatment. Visiting his or her mother in his sickbed, waiting for his eyes to ever open as the rest of the Lan Sect hoped that he never did and the rest of the Jianghu hoped that his death was as definitive as they all believed. Talking about that too…

“I heard that the Jiang Sect Leader has captured some supposed demonic cultivators near Yummeng” she asked as she escorted him to the door of the small house. “Could they have been…”

“No, they were merely charlatans that were hoping to gain some money with fake portraits of the Yiling Patriarch. The worst portraits I have ever seen, as they didn´t look at all like Wei Wuxian” Zewu-Jun said. “He still refused to let them go. Apparently, one of them could be his former shixiong possessing a body… as if he would draw such an ugly portrait of himself.”

“Are you sure that he is not? He could be outside of his body for all I know. Also be a terrible artist.”

“He was friends with Nie Huaisang, no one who has such a terrible sense of style could have ever become friends with that boy.” Lan Xichen lowered his head.
“But who really concerns me is Jiang Wanyin. I´m afraid he is going to take things… a bit too far. Enough to cause troubles for the Yummeng Jiang Sect specifically and the Jianghu as a whole.” He shook his head. “I guess the Chief Cultivator is going to say something to him before he does.”

“Does he ever do something that is not related to women or gold?” the healer said, then produced something from her sleeve. It was a small bunny plushie.
“For the child. I heard him say that he enjoys rabbits and would like to keep one of them in his room. Now he wants.” Zewu-Jun received the toy with gratefulness. “I also heard that he likes windwheels.”

“Wangji told me that he gifted him one once, when he visited them in Yiling, but A-Yuan lost it in the Siege of the Burial Mounds… just like anything else he possessed except for the clothes on his back.”

“Then perhaps one is exactly what he would wish for his birthday.”

“What he truly wants is not something I can truly give” the Lan Sect Leader told him as he looked back on the Gentian House and it´s dark, dark past. Then he shook his head. “Qing-er, thank you for the gift. I´m sure that A-Yuan is going to like it a lot. Also the whirlwind that I´m going to get to him in Caiyi Town.”

“Do you know how the original one was?”

“I can ask Wangji that.”

She saw Lan Xichen leave, probably to get the toy for his nephew, then wandered again towards the room where the kunze laid. It would be so easy, to let him bleed to death after the surgery, claiming that, as it was the first time she did the procedure on a human being, she couldn´t stop the hemorrhage… it would be no more than Wei Wuxian deserves. More when, even in the state he was in, he continued being the cause of death of so many people… but could she call herself a healer after consciously killing one of her patients? Even if she wasn´t blamed for the death, could she carry that in her conscience? Carry the possible consequences for Hanguang-Jun if his mate died? She made that question to herself again and again, every time the damn itch came and his mind told him that the man who had massacred so many at Nightless City doesn´t deserve to live. She had been there, seen the corpses as she desperately tried to help the injured…

“You don´t deserve it” she told the man. “But I will keep you alive”

It was something she had said thousands of times in the past, specially since this kind of limbo began, but she needed to say them from time to time to reaffirm her conviction to remain by her healer´s oath, even if the patient was not someone he liked at all. As she went back to operate on pigs, so she could safely deliver the baby in case of complications or it´s mother remaining unconscious until the due date. She was getting better and better each time she did it, she would soon dominate it. And then…

-In the seclusion chamber-

Lan Wangji opened his eyes when he heard the knock on his door. He knew it was his brother before even dragging his hurting form towards the entrance, knowing that he won´t be able to open that door, no matter how much he wanted to escape, take Wei Ying and A-Yuan and escape from the Cloud Recesses, even if they would all become rouge cultivators. Specially when he was reminded that his mate was trapped in the very same house that had asphyxiated the life out of his mother. But then he was also reminded that the protection of the Cloud Recesses, of the Lan Sect, was the only way for Wei Ying to remain alive. Possibly also to keep A-Yuan safe. So he clenched his hands and dragged his body, which refused to heal properly for a cultivator´s, and still needed the bandages to be changed from time to time, something that a healer did once a day, in complete silence. Returning to his brother, he heard his voice calling him from the other side of the door

“Xiozhang” he saluted. Lan Xichen probably offered him a warm smile, but he was not able to see it. And he didn´t feel soothed at all by that image now, as Lan Xichen had refused to listen to him when he tried to say that Wei Ying wasn´t who he thought he was, who Lianfang-Zun had led him to believe he was.

“I wanted you to know that A-Yuan has reached five years of age today” he told him, trying to sound happy. But he wasn´t, not entirely, which meant that Wangji wasn´t going to be allowed to leave confinement to celebrate his pup´s birthday… probably he wouldn´t be allowed to leave even for the birth of his own child. “Shufu and I are going to have a private celebration for him, with a small cake.”

“Mnnn” A-Yuan would probably enjoy that a lot, as he had probably never had a birthday celebration before. Or he didn´t remember it, being too young when he was ripped from Qishan and thrown into the labor camps.

“Shufu said that it was enough, but I´m going to gift him a small rabbit plushy and a whirl wheel with which he could play with” the man continued. “I know that you gifted him one once, but it was lost in the…” Lan Xichen stopped himself right before he could mention the Siege of the Burial Mounds, something that still was a cause of friction between the two brothers. “Anyway, can you tell me how it was.”

“I don´t remember really well” more like, Lan Wangji didn´t want to tell him that the toy was red with golden decorations. Red, like the sun on his clothes the day he had made the child Wei Ying took as his own. “Perhaps you should get him a white one with clouds.”

“Perhaps” his brother answered, sadly. “Do you know that he finally started to go to classes with the other children? Shufu said that he is finally ready to learn to read and write, though it´s going to take some time before he can write the whole set of rules on his own. By now, he struggles, but after the first class he managed, with the help of the teacher, to write his name.”

Lan Wangji listened to his brother regaling him with tales of his son, of Wei Ying´s son, of the child which was theirs and whose life they were losing… then he thought of his uncle. So set into the rules, caught in the past that he couldn´t see how wrong he was about Wei Ying. Had he ever allowed to him to explain himself? To explain why he had done what he had done at Qiongli Path? He saved A-Yuan and a bunch of refugees, because there was no other way to call the Wen Remnants Wei Ying had saved, that were enslaved and slowly murdered by the Jins. But no one would believe him when he said that, not even his own brother, much less Shufu, who had already his opinion set about Wei Ying, probably since he revealed he was a demonic cultivator… or perhaps since before, since he found out that he was the troublesome son of the woman who had mocked him in his youth, Cangse Sanren. But right not, he could tell that his mother-in-law was right. Always following the rules was not the right answer. If only he had known that from the beginning…

“I need to go now” Xiozhang said as he finished his tale. “I need to pick A-Yuan´s cake and the gift before the curfew ruins our plan.”

“Tell him I wish him a happy birthday”

“You tell him yourself, when I bring him tomorrow.” He answered. “Shufu might have thought that there were too many emotions today, but tomorrow he isn´t
going to have an excuse. Then I can take him to visit you and he will tell you everything that he doesn´t tell either me nor Shufu.”

“Mnnnn”

If only he had brought him earlier… if only he had managed to bring Wei Ying and A-Yuan to Cloud Recesses before… though he would have never forced Wei Ying to come… or at least he wouldn´t without it being an emergency. He wasn’t his father… or perhaps they were more alike than he ever thought and hoped not to be. And now Wei Ying, his carefree and lively Wei Ying, was trapped in the same prison that his mother had died in. There he would remain if Lan Quiren had something to say about it, and he had… but yes, he refused to be the kind of father Quingheng-Jun was. He would be there as soon as he could possible be for Wei Ying, A-Yuan and the new pup. If only he could heal faster… and his punishment could pass faster.

“Happy birthday, A-Yuan” he whispered as if sending a prayer to the Heavens to take care of his son while his parents were not there for him.

-In Jinlintai-

Jin Guangyao liked to believe that he had everything under control. He had gotten away with not only murdering his half-brother, the legitimate heir to the Jin Sect, and his mother, who he has poisoned for months to secure a death that seemed natural, but also secured a marriage for himself with a respectable lady from the gentry… everything would be under control if only he hadn´t found out what he did a few hours ago!! And it was not even his fault, it was his damn father´s fault for assaulting Madam Qin all those years ago!! Then he could have married a relative of the heir of Qin Cangye and everything will be settled. But what could he do now?!! He had not only convinced A-Su to allow him to bed her before marriage, but already gotten her pregnant. What else could he do but marry her? What excuse could he give Qin Cangye for cancelling the marriage when that was on the table? Fuck, this was a complete mess. He was set to marry his half-sister and had gotten her with child… what kind of child would A-Su birth? One that would surely be retarded or something worse…

“What happened? Did your father make you problem for not being able to keep Lan Wangji to keep his dick on his pants? Or that your great friend Zewu-Jun didn´t tell you that his brother already had someone on sight?” Xue Yang said, excessively happy for the situation he was in right now. “Or is it the sister you fucked.”

“You should mind your own business, especially in your position” Jin Guangyao answered, certainly fed up with his attitude. How could that man be so cheerful after each punishment he received? “Still no progress, I guess.”

The demonic cultivator had been unable to restore the half-destroyed Yin Stygian Tiger Seal, something that had annoyed Jin Guangshan a lot, but he hadn´t showed progress. He also had showed no progress in the process to tame the Ghost General, who remained asleep and wrapped in iron chains stronger than many bars from prisons. He had tried using special nails that Jin Guangyao and Su Minshan had prepared themselves, hammering them into the fierce corpse´s head, but he was unable to do much progress even so. The thing was simply too loyal to it´s master to change it, even if he was dead. Still, keeping him as a specimen had made Wen Ning valuable. Xue Yang had already made some betterments to their army of fierce corpses thanks to what he learned of that… though not to the level the Yiling Laozu´s best creation had ever showed. Wei Wuxian had surely been a genius.

Even so, it was not enough to satisfy the greed of Jin Guangshan… though his illegitimate son has begun to believe that nothing would. In that, they were both the same. Nothing was enough to satisfy them. Though he felt satisfied with just his wife, even if he was never going to sexually touch her again. He hated prostitutes from his experiences in the brothel, even if they were serving men willingly like Sissi did. And the sensation of others touching his own skin made him shudder, as some of his mother´s most deviate customers have tried to touch him before Meng Shi managed to distract them away from him.

“But I heard something funny when I was going for some sweets to the kitchen” Chengmei returned him to reality as he internally shuddered. “That Jin Guangshan has been visiting an old lover of his. One he hasn´t visited for years, but now…” he made a sound with his tongue. “And apparently not to sleep with her, as she is not as entertaining as before.”

“Hummm”

“He has a son with her… and she, while not a cultivator, is from a noble family. Or at least what could be considered a noble family when not being a cultivator” the demonic cultivator continued smiling despite what he was talking about in front of the legitimized bastard of Jin Guangshan. “But because she had a son with him.”

“Another bastard… one that is from a better family than me” his eyes landed on Xue Yang without an expression. But both know what he was thinking. “The name of the woman? And the child?”

“Mo Yelan, the Second Lady of the Mo village” the other answered, as if he was not condemning someone to death or worse. “And the boy is called Mo Xuanyu, who is also going to come back to Jinlintai with the Sect Leader.”

He had always known that one like that would eventually appear. There was no end to the list of women, between them several noblewomen, that had slept, willingly or not, with his whore of a father. Which meant that, even if he managed to get rid of this one, another would appear. And another mother he would have to get rid of, eventually creating a pattern. Though… he didn´t have to really kill his half-brother this time, merely kill his reputation and get him kicked out of the Sect. That was something that would never work with Zixuan, who was a legitimate son of the Jin Sect Leader… and his lack of reputation had never harmed Jin Zixun. A bastard son wouldn´t have the same protection. And after getting rid of Mo Xuanyu… well, he would have to get rid of Jin Guangshan too. In a way that seems natural, obviously, as Wei Wuxian wasn´t there anymore to take the blame for his actions. Of course, he would have to wait some years to put his plan in motion, but if he was something, it was patient.

“You continue working on that Tally, I´m going to need it sooner rather than later.”

“Yes, dear employer”

As he left Xue Yang in his basement, far away from the public eye as he worked on the things of the late Yiling Patriarch. He went and had tea with A-Su, who as his fiancé and probable next Madam Jin was in Jinlintai to learn the ropes of the work. He smiled at her, keeping up her mask of a perfect groom for her. She behaved as the blushing future bride, already looking forward to their live together. The poor girl wouldn´t be doing that if she knew the blood relation that existed between him and her.

After the tea, he went directly to his room. He needed time alone to plan exactly how he was going to ruin his half-brother in his mind… also to think about what else they could try to replicate the Ghost General, whatever Xue Yang hadn´t tried yet that was on the books they had taken from the Demon Slaughtering Cave… if only he and his father had managed to capture Wei Wuxian alive… that prodigious mind could have done much more for them than what they got in the end. Well, at least he wouldn´t have any problems related to the Wen Remnants and the conditions they were in during their time in the custody of the Jins… or other unsavory details. On another note…

“Perhaps I should write to my dearest Er-ge and invite him here for a bit” he said, grabbing a paper. “After all, father wants him to marry one of our omegas. I should do my share of the work to try and accomplish his wishes.”

As he was writing the letter to Zewu-Jun, he wondered if they shouldn´t ask him more about Lan Wangji´s new omega. He or she could already be pregnant for all they know. And there have been plenty of babies that were born in the last few years in his extended family, Jin Ling included. Maybe they could get a marriage alliance through them instead of appealing to Er-ge, who he was sure was in love with Da-ge. Argh, Lan love was so inconvenient…

“Well, I will have to make sure the new generation isn´t as problematic as the last one” he said as he sealed the letter and sent it. After all, the butterflies were only for emergencies.

-In another part-

Wei Wuxian didn´t know where he was, where he had ended up as a result of his destroying the Yin Stygian Tiger Tally in the Burial Mounds. He could only hoped that he was dead, that everything was finally over and he didn´t have to save or protect anyone anymore… because everything he tries to protect eventually burned. Lotus Pier, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, the Wen Remnants… A-Yuan… A-Yuan must be dead by now and he was the only one responsible. If only he hadn´t lost control in Nightless City… if he hadn´t allowed his Shijie to be harmed or die… if only he could really have protected the Wen Remnants, to show the world that they weren´t the bloodthirsty cultivators that Jin Guangshan said they were… Damn, apart from Wen Qing, there was no true cultivator there besides him!! Not since Wen Ning died!!

It´s your fault…

It´s your fault…

It´s your fault…

Why can´t you even do what you are told, you disgrace?!!!

A-Ying, why didn´t you protect A-Li? Or A-Cheng?

Wei Ying, if you have come to Gusu with me, nothing of this would have happened.

If you haven´t been such an arrogant fool, then I wouldn´t be dead and A-Li a widow. And I am the peacock?

Fucking idiot, why couldn´t you keep a simple promise?!! You promised that you would be my right hand man when I was sect leader!! Why leave that for a few dirty Wens?

Xian-gege, why didn´t you protect me?

I´m sorry, I´m sorry, I´M SORRY!!!

His screams as the people he had failed appeared in his dreams as ghosts, the people who he had killed behind them, telling him that it was his fault, that he couldn´t keep his promises, that he failed everyone and everything he touches burned. Most of all, those that he loved. He was so, so tired of failing everyone over and over again…

“You know why this happens” a voice suddenly said from behind him. He turned around to see Wen Ruohan standing proud in front of him. “It´s the same reason I started a war against the world, just like you, and eventually lost. You are as much an arrogant fool as I was… and ended up just like me.”

Wei Wuxian tried to say that it was not truth, but he couldn´t. He had been an arrogant fool, thinking that he could do whatever he wanted, to save those the were hated by the world, and ended up losing everything. Even when he tried to do the right thing, he ended up fucking things up.
Then it happened. He felt something that seemed to make the darkness and everything around him disappeared. Something was brushing against his stomach, what was it? Before the nightmare started again, he wished he could know…

Notes:

And here we have another chapter!!! Lan Wangji´s body is a mess, Wei Wuxian´s mind is a mess, Lan Xichen doesn´t see it and Lan Quiren much less. A-Yuan is just an innocent boy, but he wants his Rich-gege and Xian-gege back. And there are problems comming up. What do you think will happen? Review if you want this to continue!!

Chapter 5

Lan Qingquing had prepared herself for a normal day at the Gentian House. As she exchanged the gentian bouquet as she did regularly, she made a normal check-up of the prisoner´s pregnancy. Wei Wuxian remained with his eyes closed as she touched his belly and felt it to see if the baby was developing as it was normal. From what she could see, the baby was more than well. A strong kicker, she would call it, which most doctors would think signaled a strong zhongyun or even qyanyuan boy, but she believed that it could also mean a girl. Lan Quiren probably would prefer a boy, as a girl would perhaps made him think of the child´s grandmother, Cangse Sanren… back to the day, she fed the pregnant kunze, something that was hard in his condition, and then she sat him down to brush his hair. She noticed that she should probably bath him later, which meant lessening her practice time to sponge bath him. She gritted her teeth and finished her handmaiden work quickly to work on her operation skill.

“Well, let´s see if I have gotten better at this” she said as she opened the pig. Now that she was able to do a c-section, she could get on to better things her grandmother started to teach her. Including what she called an appendicectomy. It was a rather simple procedure, but if she burst the damn thing…

There was a sound on the other room that made her drop the knife just as she was about to open another pig. She was about to scream at whoever had caused her to lose her focus, no matter that it was her grandmother, but she then realized that the voice she was hearing was a male one, not a female one. She, her grandmother, and a few female kunze servants should be the only ones in the property, so what…

“What is going on here?!!” she continued hearing, confused. “What happened here? Where am I? Lan Zhan!! Lan Zhan!!”

Who was it that dared to call Hanguang-Jun by his birth name?! Only his family members or spouse should… her eyes widened when she realized from where the mess was coming from. She walked to the main bedroom and peeking through the door, finding a panicking Wei Wuxian inside of it. A panicking, awake Wei Wuxian. She wondered for a second what she was going to do when she realized that she didn´t have anything to fear. The elders and several of the oldest disciples, including the Head Disciple, had gotten rid of even the last grain of resentment energy he had. Without it, he was a normal person that even a cultivator like her, accomplished but not a fighter, could control. Still, she thought that perhaps if she tried to control him herself, she would be too harsh for his delicate condition. So she called for one of the servants who was watching the riot in fear.

“Go call Zewu-Jun” she asked her, who looked at her as if she had just saved her life. “Tell him that his brother´s houseguest has woken up. He will understand the message.”

As the servant girl fled the scene, Lan Qingquing crossed her arms. The Yiling Patriarch seem in the middle of a panic, but, from what she was carefully seeing from a barely opened door, he wasn´t trying to harm the baby. Zewu-Jun arrived in less time than it should be possible, so much that Lan Qingquing was sure he must have rode his sword there. He tried to control Wei Wuxian, but there were more screams and demands to be let out. The healer sneered, the chuckled darkly. There was no chance the threat to the Cultivation World that was the Yiling Patriarch would ever get out of that tiny house. In fact, he should be grateful that he was given such comfortable accommodations. And servants. And children to continue his bloodline if not his legacy. He definitely deserved much less for all the innocent cultivators that he had murdered. After making more scandal, Lan Xichen exited the room shaking his head. He shook his head, then signaled no one to enter. He then went and returned with A-Yuan.

“Zewu-Jun, I have to object. The child could be…”

“Wei Wuxian would never hurt his own child and A-Yuan is eager to see his mother awake again.” He smiled sweetly at the boy. “Aren´t you, A-Yuan?”

“Yes!! I want to see Xian-gege!!”

As they opened the door to allow the little kid enter, Lan Quingquing ready to retire him immediately if the kunze turned violent despite Lan Xichen stopping him, they addressed the room. It seemed like the pregnant man had turned completely insane while they were waiting for the boy to be brought. He had thrown several things around, including the vase with the flowers. The poor maids… they were going to need to clean so many things. Looking on the bright side, she wasn´t going to have to give him a bath. Awake, despite being weak, he was pretty mobile and could wash himself once she had prepared and helped him into the tub. She was still going to have to do her work as a handmaiden, but…

“Xian-gege!!!”

“A-Yuan?” Wei Wuxian seemed actually surprised to see his son there. The healer huffed. As if the Lans would murder an innocent child. “What…”

“That´s what I should have been asking you!! You have been sleeping for months!! Enough for my little brother or sister to grow this big despite starting tiny!!! And he or she won´t have radish brothers or sisters to be friends with!!” the child pouted. “I was worried too!! You… I thought you were going to leave me… and I… and I… don´t leave me, Xian-gege!!! I don´t want to lose you or the baby!! Don´t leave me!!!”

“I won´t, little radish, I won´t” the Yiling Patriarch answered, putting a hand on his head to carefully path it like any adult would do for a child as adorable as that. Then he seemed to feel the baby kick, because he put a hand over his belly. “And neither will your didi or meimei. In fact, do you want to feel it?”

“Um hummm”

They spent some time in silence as A-Yuan felt his little brother or sister kicking from inside his mother´s body. He was a firstborn child and for some reason his mother had convinced him that children came from the earth like radishes (why couldn´t Wei Wuxian had used the stork tale like any other parent), so he always showed curiosity when he was allowed to feel the movements of his unborn sibling inside the kunze, as if confirming that he or she were indeed alive inside that belly. Wei Wuxian endured at the poking with a smile on his face, despite the destruction around that he had caused. Really weird, how well he could school himself when it came to his son. Still she thought that the best for the child would be that his mother would be a figure seldomly present in his life.

“I´m glad didi or meimei is well too” the boy talked, taking his hands off now that he was tired of feeling the movements of his unborn sibling. “What happened here? Qing-jie always keeps everything very well organized.”

“Qing-jie is also here? Are the others…”

“Lan Quingquing” A-Yuan said, shaking his head. “I haven´t seen Popo, uncle Four, Qing-Jie… anyone since we were taken here. Rich-gege´s brother told me that they have gone to a better place, but I haven´t been able to visit them or them visit me. Gege? Why are you crying now?”

“Nothing” Wei Wuxian cleaned the tears that had started to fall from his eyes. Was he really… feeling sad for his subordinates´ deaths? She thought that they were only the army he was planning to use to take over the cultivation world. Perhaps, and only perhaps, he had not entirely lost his feelings like she thought he did. He clearly forced on a smile. “A-Yuan, what have you been doing while I was lazing around and creating life? I know that my other little radish was learning to kick, but you…”

“I have learned to write my name!!! And to read and write other things!! I actually got to go to a place called a classroom, where granduncle teaches us a lot of things!! They made us recite a lot of rules before we start all days, I already managed to memorize ten of them!!! And I made my first friend, his name is Jingyi!!!”

“Really? Tell me more”

Lan Yuan started talking animatedly about his days in the Cloud Recesses, his classes and the bunnies in the back mountains. The Yiling Patriarch listened to his ramblings, adding a few words here and there to goad the child to tell him more. At first, Lan Quingquing thought it was to get information about this place to plan his escape, but then he noticed that most of the information, if not all, was harmless. This was only a mother trying to make sure his son had been well taken care of and had enjoyed the life he had here as he was unconscious. She looked at Zewu-Jun, hoping that he decreed the end of the visit, but his eyes seemed to be lost in thoughts. Perhaps memories of his long past youth. It was… quite the similar situation despite the prisoner now deserving it. Wei Wuxian behaved with his son pretty much like Madam Lan did with his children… and that caused her to ponder for a second if they were that different. She killed those feelings as soon as she could, Wei Wuxian wasn´t an innocent woman incarcerated for defending herself, he was a demonic cultivator that had murdered thousands, including his own martial sister. He shouldn´t have been spared, but Hanguang-Jun had decided to become just like his father.

“Zewu-Jun, it´s almost time for the afternoon classes to start” she reminded him. “The Grandmaster might pardon him for not attending the morning classes because he is one of his best disciples and the special occasion, but he would want him back soon. And you know what he thinks about…”

“I know” it was more, Lan Xichen had lived it. She knew that it was hitting him harder than it should by the way the normally smiling and calm man was clenching his fists. He breathed in and out, then he opened the door. “A-Yuan, we need to cut this visit short. You need to attend your lessons this afternoon.”
“But I want to remain with Xian-gege and didi or meimei!!” he complained as he embraced the demonic cultivator tightly, like he would do one of the bunnies despite the threat of getting scratched. It was the first time anyone had heard him complaining about leaving. “I want to remain here and tell him more!! Or walk with him somewhere, maybe to the bunnies!! I want him to see how pretty this place is compared to where we were before!!! And how much food and drink we have now!!!”

“A-Yuan…” his uncle continued.

“No!! I want to remain!!”

“A-Yuan, please, do as Zewu-Jun says, alright? I wouldn´t want you to get punished” Wei Wuxian said, carefully watching the Lan cultivators. Again, as if they would do something to a child, much less one of the possible heirs of the Lan Sect. “Just look at me, my little radish, do you think I can walk somewhere? More, to a mountainside? I might fell down and hurt both me and your didi and meimei” well… that was truth. “No, I better stay here until he or she is ready to get out. Don´t you want him or her to be born healthy?”

“Um Hummm”

“Then you got your answer” he said, patting his head again. “And A-Yuan? Call me… call me A-Niang if you want. I know that I said not to because I didn´t like it, but… well, I don´t think it would be that bad. Would you like it?”

“Yes” he answered, looking up at his mother. “Xian-ge… A-Niang.”

“That´s my boy” the embraced for a last time. “I will see you later, alright?”

“Will you be able to take dinner with me and uncle and granduncle?”

“We will see” the kunze said as he scented his pup for the last time, also kissing his forehead lightly. “Now go, little radish, and make sure to eat everything you are given, no matter how bland and tasteless it is.”

A-Yuan left, happy that the answer hadn´t been a no, but all the adults around him knew that the Yiling Patriarch won´t be able to join the family dinner… ever. He would remain in that cozy little house that was designed to be a very comfortable prison. Lan Quingquing sighed, then ordered the servants to prepare the bath with some herbal oils. Her grandmother had prepared several when she was there, many that wouldn´t be harmful to her pregnancy. Then, steeling herself to do the duty she was assigned by the Grandmaster despite how hard it was, she entered the room. The Lan woman bowed, deciding that being educated was the best way to keep the other civil.

“Lan-er-furen, may I introduce myself” she said. “I´m Lan Quingquing and was assigned to be your handmaiden as I was for the previous Lan-furen. I´m also a talented healer, as you can see in your own body. I have been the one taking care of you while you were unconscious.”

“I´m not…”

“You are the mate of Hanguang-Jun now. And, given the lack of a Lan-furen, you are the highest standing Lady of the Lan Sect” she explained, glaring at him. “No matter what you were before, you are now the Second Jade of Lan´s mate, which is accepted as a binding marriage until an actual formal ceremony could be performed. And it will eventually be performed.”

“I was saying that…”

“I hope you are aware of the honor that was bestowed to you when Hanguang-Jun decided to risk everything by making you his mate and blessing you with his child. Though I guess he felt some kind of responsibility for you, as he already gave you one before” she grabbed him by the chin to make him look up. “You should be honored and grateful that he chose to redeem you in such a way. He could have merely taken the boy from you, perhaps that would have been better for everyone, including the boy.”

“A-Yuan…”

“I trust that you will act in a manner that befits your title, even if you aren´t going to be given any responsibility or power over the Sect due to your antecedents” she released him. “Now, Lan-er-furen, I have prepared a bath for you. You haven´t been able to take a proper one since you arrived, now you are.”

Lan Quingquing looked around at the destruction that he had caused in the room. Surely the servants would be able to clean it into some semblance of order while Wei Wuxian took a long bath or something like that. At least the mirror from the vanity hadn´t shattered. The decorations would need to be replaced… not that he felt for them. They had been relics from the times of the Madam and Lan Quingquing had hated them as much as her former mistress did. Still, she did keep them because the thought of the worst criminal in the cultivation world having to endure them made her a little bit happy. Still, she was going to do her duty and attend to him as best as she could, specially when he was carrying something as special as Hanguang-Jun´s child.

“Now come” the woman offered a hand. “Allow me to guide you to the bathroom.”

She guided the kunze through his prison, who looked around as if trying to find escape routes. He wouldn´t find any, even if he tried. They had all been sealed long before with powerful arrays to keep the occupant of the house forcefully confined. When they arrived to the bathroom, it was already prepared with steaming water that smelled like herbs. Wei Wuxian looked at her nervously… perhaps he had never had someone help him undress for a bath before. Maybe the Yiling Patriarch didn´t like the vulnerability that meant. Still, she had to do her duty, so she forcefully removed the outer robes, until he was in the inner ones. Covering himself as best as he could for some reason, he entered the water. She was about to take the sponge to help him clean himself, but the kunze beat her to it.

“If you need anything else, please don´t hesitate to ask”

And she left, knowing that he wouldn´t dare to harm himself or the pup. At least she could trust him on that. As she got out of the bathroom, she saw the servants rushing to clean the main room of any piece of broken ceramic and shattered glass or wood. Seriously, exactly how much damage could one lone kunze without a golden core could do? Well, she was glad to have confirmed that she could control him. After all, without resentment energy, which wasn´t there, he was merely a normal person. And like that he would stay.

-In the bathroom-

Wei Wuxian started to ponder what he would do now. He was glad that A-Yuan at least had survived and was well, but the rest of the people he had saved, that he had sworn to protect, had died at the Burial Mounds. He had completely failed. Wen Ning, Wen Qing, Uncle Four, Popo… all gone except for A-Yuan. And even that wasn´t his own merit, but Lan Zhan´s. As he cleaned himself, he felt tears of grief starting to fall into the perfumed water. Had he a right to stay alive when the people he swore to protect was gone? These luxuries, that feathered cushions and pillows, so unlike the kind of beds made of stone and hay that they had at the Burial Mounds… does he deserve any of this?

A kick distracted him from his thoughts. He put a hand over where the little foot had impacted with his stretched skin. Apparently, this one had inherited his boundless energy. His thoughts then spiraled back to what he thought as he learned of his new condition from Zewu-Jun. Yes, he was given a few luxuries, but as a kunze and a non-cultivator one, he was merely a pretty decoration and womb for producing new heirs for the Second Jade of Lan, their precious Hanguang-Jun, and possibly for the Lan Sect in it´s entirety as Lan Xichen apparently had the intentions to remain unmarried. He wondered where Lan Zhan was, then remembered that he was in a forced seclusion because apparently, he had decided to save him. Had he asked to be saved? To be… but at least he was happy for A-Yuan. Probably Lan Zhan claiming him as his own had been what saved his life. And, with Wei Ying´s new nature being obvious when he was found… he didn´t remember it at all, but he was told that he was in heat… claiming him as the son of the both of them, just as much as this new pup, was something easy to believe. Like he said before, it maybe was the reason A-Yuan survived the Siege… also the reason why he asked him to call him A-Niang. Following with the lie was the best way to assure that he wasn´t discovered as a Wen and murdered as a consequence…

“Lan-er-furen, are you ready to get out?” the voice of the harsh handmaiden that without a doubt Lan Quiren had placed in his service… or as his jailor… made him sink into the water until only his eyes were visible. He blew some bubbles, wondering exactly what he should answer. He wasn´t ready for anything, period.

Well, it didn´t matter, it was obvious that his opinion didn´t matter at all in that place. The handmaiden entered with a frown in her face, which deepened when she seemed to notice something. She grabbed some other things and started to wash his hair in a basin. As she worked, he wondered what he should do. He had never had maids or servants. In the Jiang Sect, he was the son of a servant and bodyguard/translator/shield/whatever Jiang Cheng needed. The servants wouldn´t take care of him more than they must, and some even refused to do the bare minimum because they didn´t want to incur into the anger of Madam Yu. He did all by himself, happily, because the life he knew from before, in the streets, was much harder than that. And in Yiling, he was one more of the small Wen Colony of the Burial Mounds, he worked just like everyone else. He wasn´t used to be attended to… and this woman obviously wasn´t happy to be in that position. Had she lost anyone in the Burial Mounds or Nightless City that now she blamed him for? He did too and wasn´t taking his anger off on other people.
As he was forced to get out of the water and dry himself, also to change with someone else watching and helping him… it was very uncomfortable even if she allowed him some privacy to change his inner robes… not so much because she arranged what was clearly a maternity robe before putting him some magnificent robes that were clearly made for the Madam of the Lan Sect. Which was his position now… even if it was as empty as Jin Guangshan´s claims that he was amazing an army. Returned to reality, once he was dressed he was taken back to the room where he woke up in. There Lan Quingquing, it was amazing that he could remember her name so easily, even if it brought a pang of pain to his chest; brushes and arranged his hair into something more elaborate than anything he had wore in his life. It was tied with a single white ribbon… he wondered if he couldn´t continue wearing his hair like before. He didn´t have his red hair tie, but…

“Grandmaster Quiren told me that you went to the disciple exchange. And not precisely as a kunze disciple” the woman talked again once she had finished dolling him up to look the way the Lans would consider appropriate. “Now, even if you won´t have the power a normal Madam of a Great Sect would have, you are still expected to fulfil some duties that a wife and mother are expected to do.”

“When can I see A-Yuan again?” he asked, worried for his baby. He had been alone for so long… even with how happy he was, he wanted him by his side to know he was truly fine.

“That is to be decided by the Grandmaster and Zewu-Jun once they have examined your progress” she said as he passed him a book. It was Clarity, something he was forced to copy a lot of times during the disciple exchange. “Copy it, then we will pass to the manuals of a good wife and a good mother… literature any well-breed kunze should know.”

“I was…”

“I know exactly who you were, Wei Wuxian, which is the reason you are here and not in the Jingshi with Hanguang-Jun” she glared at him as if he had personally offended her. “Still, that doesn´t matter in the current circumstances. Whatever you were, the Yiling Patriarch or a demonic cultivator, it died in the Burial Mounds with the Wen army you were creating. Now start copying… that if you want to see your children ever again.”

“Would you take this baby from me?”

“Don´t you know what happened to the last occupant of this house? Her history is something you should learn and learn well” Lan Quingquing said as she walked around. “Madam Lan had killed someone in self-defense, but she was punished anyway. She was only allowed to see her children once she stopped breastfeeding them once a month… and that was only if Lan Quiren allowed that.”

He shuddered at the thought of never been able to see A-Yuan or the baby ever again… or any of the subsequent babies, because he doubted the Lan Sect won´t demand more. Lan Zhan… he didn´t even know why Lan Zhan decided to mate with him, to save his life, but… if he knew something about him, it was that he lived to the expectations of his Sect. and he couldn´t lose them, not like he lost the people from the Burial Mounds settlement. Caressing his belly, he opened the book and started writing. Lan Quiren already had a bias towards him because of his mother and his behavior during the disciple exchange, he didn´t need him to have more reasons to refuse him access to his children. It was really boring, though, so much that by the time he ended with Clarity, he was yawning. Also, he had many ideas swimming in his mind about talismans and instruments that could help during night hunts. Way too many ideas and some that were worth a try.

“Excuse me” he asked when he handed over his homework. “Do you know where I can find talisman paper and ink in this place? I have some ideas that…”

“If you think I´m going to allow you near anything remotely related to cultivations, you are sorely mistaken” Lan Quingquing answered. “You have done already enough damage to this world and I´m not going to allow you to make more, much less when pregnant. You are not going to get access to resentment energy here, so your foul arts won´t work here. And here is where you are going to remain.”

Wei Wuxian looked through the window, seeing only gentians. He had never liked the flower and he liked it less now. As he wondered if he could escape through the window to visit A-Yuan or the baby when it was born, he approached it and extended his hand. He could feel it immediately, the array in the very foundation of the house keeping him, and for some reason only him, contained. He was trapped and with no means to escape.

-In another place-

“Wangji?”

“Xiozhang”

“I bring wonderful news, Wei Wuxian has woken up”

Lan Wangji frowned. On one side, it was wonderful news indeed, that his mate had woken up and recovering from his illness. He had prayed for that… but on the other, he couldn´t imagine Wei Ying, his free spirited and happy Wei Ying, locked up in the same house that his mother spent her whole marriage imprisoned in. If such conditions had suffocated his mother to dead, who was a gentle woman and much less willful than his mate, Wei Ying would be wishing for death in such conditions. Or worse, he would break. Just imagining his Wei Ying in such a situation, with a broken soul and dead eyes staring into the distance, into a freedom that he desired but he would never regain…

“Xiozhang, you have to help him”

“We are already taking good care of him” Lan Xichen answered readily. “I have authorized the preparation of special food with meat for him to eat instead of the normal vegetarian diet we all eat. I know that meat is nutritional requisite during pregnancy. And Lan Quingquing is always with him to monitor him.”

“You have to free him, take him to the Jingshi…”

“Wangji, we have already talked about this” his brother started as if he was talking to a toddler. “I´m sad for A-Yuan and for him, but Wei Wuxian is just too dangerous. The greatest demonic cultivator couldn´t be let roam free in our land, even without access to resentment energy. Something he could get if he tried. And what then? How many could he harm in his attempt at fleeing?”

“He will break, he…”

“He is going to be fine” Lan Xichen assured him, with the same sureness he used when he spoke about the army of vicious cultivators Wei Ying supposedly had in the Burial Mounds… nothing but women and old men… and a child his name now protected. “You only concentrate on healing yourself and complete your punishment, then you can see it by yourself. See him and your son… and the baby.”

“I don´t want them to grow up like we did”

“I´m sure that I can convince Shufu to curve the rules a bit” Lan Wangji wasn´t that sure, as his uncle had never liked Wei Wuxian to start with. “Maybe I can even bring them to the House of Silence myself, even if Shufu doesn´t agree. I´m sure A-Yuan would like that.”

“Xiozhang…”

“I can´t allow it, Wangji, I´m sorry. But I can make sure that the pups see him more often than we did our own mother. And of course, you have access every time you want” he continued. “I´m sure that between that, you can find a way to cheer him up.”

Lan Wangji wasn´t so sure. Wei Ying would break completely if caged, his soul was too free to be contained in such a cage, no matter how gilded it was. Wei Ying… he would be dammed if he allowed that damn place to kill his spirit like it did his mother. He would do whatever he could to keep it alive, even if he had to go against his sect again.

Notes:

Wei Ying is up!!! what do you think about that? What will happen to him during his confinement? And how will Lan Zhan prevent it from killing him? Remember, he is a free spirit that has been caged, what could be done to keep his spirit alive? Send your reviews with ideas!!

Chapter 6

Wei Wuxian closed the book he had copied for who knows how many times… at least enough to make his fingers ache. His eyes were slowly dropping, something that happened very often lately. As often as the usual kick aimed at his ribs that woke him up softly. He caressed his stomach, hoping that the small child inside of him would settle already and allow him to sleep more than a few hours a day. The little one hadn´t stopped using his liver and lungs as kicking targets. He wondered for a second if he had been like that when he was a baby in the womb… it was not as if Cangse Sanren or even Wei Changze had stayed around enough time to tell him histories of that time. Or like Uncle Jiang knew, having met him when he was two for the first time. And having picked him up when Jiang Cheng was already a little kid. Not that Yu Ziyuan would have shared those experiences or even allow him to feel those kicks if she had been pregnant when or after he arrived to Lotus Pier. There hadn´t been any pregnant omegas around there either… so he was nearly completely in the dark. Never had he missed his mother more… she would have known what to tell him in this perilous moment.

He was trying to picture her in his mind, on her face and how she would offer comfort, when the door to his cage opened again. Being sincere, he knew that the complete House was his cage, he had been able to go to the bathroom and the sitting room when Zewu-Jun visited apart from the first time. And A-Yuan… he had seen him only two times since their first talk. He had even been allowed to prepare a late night tea when he was feeling particularly down, though the healer from before hadn´t been exactly a good company while he drunk it… she had watched him like a hawk, then hauled him back towards the room and made him write about the precautions to have with teas and fragrances during pregnancy. He had to admit, it was rather informative. And one of the few things that he had learned that actually taught him something useful. Not that he would say that to any of his jailors.

“Don´t worry, I´m not about to make you do anything else” a soft, grandmotherly voice sounded. She approached carefully, fully aware that he didn´t trust her. And how could he? She reminded him of that healer that had been his main jailor. “My granddaughter hadn´t been behaving very nicely to you, no?” she smiled softly. “Would you allow me to approach you?” he nodded, rubbing his hands together. Maybe it would ease the pain before he was forced to write something else. “I can give you a massage, it might help you with that pain” he hissed, putting a hand on his belly in that moment. “And I see that someone is awake.”

He nodded, rubbing his belly. The child seemed to have inherited more from him than from Lan Zhan, who can quietly sit in his place for a long time. He dreaded what the Lan Sect would think of this child… he knew he wasn´t their favorite guest disciple when young. The kick that landed on his ribs made him return to reality, another hiss being released from his lips. The older woman showed some concern, but then her expression softened.

“Your boy wasn´t as active as this one when you did this the first time?” she asked. Wei Wuxian nodded, afraid of what might happen to A-Yuan if someone were to know that he wasn´t his son by blood. Or Lan Zhan´s. “Don´t worry, it´s normal. I know doctors say that the second time is easier, but…”

“Wen Qing…”

“She oversaw your first pregnancy and birth?” he hurried to nod. “She was a good doctor, but I assure you that I am too. And my granddaughter, despite how she might act. We are going to help you get through this.” Wei Ying didn´t think he could believe her, not from his personal experience with her and the other Lan healer. “May I do something to make you more comfortable? Perhaps some tea after the massage or…”

“I want to see A-Yuan”

“Grandmaster Lan said that you can see him in a week or so” she said, though she clearly didn´t like how Lan Quiren was handling this. “He is convinced that A-Yuan would benefit from interacting with more children.”

“I… I also think that, but he…”

“From what I know, he has also been asking about you. He loves his a-Niang a lot and has a lot of drawings he made in his free time he says he wishes to gift you” he breathed in and out. Having a reminder from A-Yuan might help, but… “Do you want me to change your hairstyle? That one seems to be making you uncomfortable.”

He nodded, wondering how she had guessed that. He had tried to behave, as Lan Quingquing promised that it was the only way he would be able to see his son. The older healer, on the other side, merely grabbed the brush, as she helped him in front of the mirror. The image it reflected… that was not him. It looked more like a porcelain doll than the unruly disciple he had been in his youth or the terrifying presence he had become. He wasn´t able to smile anymore like he did… not unless A-Yuan was with him. Shijie always said that he was born with a smile on his face… well, that smile didn´t exist anymore in the caged existence he was practically forced to endure as punishment for his many sins. He heard a soft humming as the older woman undid all her granddaughter´s hard work with his hair and brushed it, using a silk white ribbon to tie it in the way he normally did in Yiling. It was… comfortable. And kind of relaxing to look a little bit more like himself. If only…

“Can I go outside?”

“Am afraid that not, you are not allowed to step outside of this House and the wards won´t allow you to leave” the grandmotherly healer answered. “I´m sorry, but you are contained in this place. At least, until a member of the Lan Main Family chooses to take you out.”

“You can…”

“Unfortunately, I´m not a member of the Main Family, so I don´t have the authority or the possibility to help you out… and you have my word, I would like to” she answered, then looked through the window. “Though, if you were to go somewhere else, where would it be?”

“Well, I…”

“There is no one else on the Burial Mounds, you and A-Yuan were the only survivors thanks to Hanguang-Jun” she said as she worked on his hands, actually making them feel better. “The Wens are truly gone now, perhaps for the best?” she shook her head. “And the Jiangs… you might want to return to Lotus Pier with your shidi, but remember that you were expelled from the Jiang Sect. And that Sect Leader Jiang was the one that lead the assault on your forces, back when you nearly died.”

Wei Wuxian knew that. He had tried not to think of that, to think that he might have a place to return in his former home, either of them… but this woman was right. She was trying to break it to him gently, and he thanked her for it, but there was no way to truly do so. His home in the Burial Mounds was completely destroyed, the Four Great Sects and even the minor Sects had seen to it. Also to the murder of the few Wens he had managed to save. He was surprised that none of them stopped when they realized who was there. Were really a bunch of old men, women, disabled people and a single child that much of a treat? After the death of Wen Qing and Wen Ning, he was the only one who could be called a cultivator there. The safe haven he had endeavored so much to build for those he saved was completely lost, A-Yuan the only one he could save. And the one that had the most credit for that was Lan Zhan. There was no one and nothing to return there to now… not that he would be able to leave his son, who was adapting to Cloud Recesses quite well and thus probably unwilling to leave, behind. Or the new baby. A new baby he wouldn´t be able to raise in such a place, where he could barely keep A-Yuan alive in.

“I have heard some interesting things about Sect Leader Jiang too” the healer continued as she continued to work on his hands. “It´s a rumor around the Jianghu that Jiang Wanyin has started to hunt demonic cultivators and suspects of practicing that art to his dungeons in the new Lotus Pier and torturing them until death. He has even accused some of them of being you reincarnated, from what I know” he shuddered. Was it true that… “I´m only telling you this because I want the best not only for you, but for your children and Wangji. You should stay clear of Lotus Pier.”

He had never had any expectation of being allowed back in Lotus Pier or in the Jiang Sect. Jiang Cheng had made it clear that he despised him when he led the army against him. Also that he blamed him for Shijie´s and the peacock´s deaths, so he would probably kill him if they were to reunite. Tears started to flow as he realized that he truly had nowhere to go, nowhere except for the Cloud Recesses, because the Lan Sect and their precious Hanguang-Jun would be honor bound to protect him. Besides…

“The whole Jianghu went against you in the Burial Mounds, there is no way you would be accepted by anyone but us” she continued, patting is hands as she finished with them. They felt much better now, but he… “Oh, shhh, don´t cry. It´s bad for the baby for you to get stressed. Why don´t you allow me to make you some calming tea?”

Wei Wuxian looked at the window, at the world that was behind that window. This House… since he realized that the Jianghu thought he was dead and that it was probably the only reason he was still alive, that he was safe, that his children were safe… he wanted to get out, he wanted to leave and travel again, enjoying everything the world had to offer… but the thought of getting out of that place, of putting A-Yuan and his baby in danger because of his selfishness and terrible reputation, made him feel sick. He started to wonder if it wouldn´t be for the best to remain the rest of his life in that comfortable, isolated House. He could endure whatever Lan Qingquing threw his way, he had endured worse with Madam Yu… but he still wanted to roam free, to make fun and perhaps make a talisman or two which he had started to construct in his mind…

“Here it is, this is going to help you calm down” Lan Meng Die said, putting a cup in front of him. “Drink it, you need it. And don´t worry, you are safe in this place. Sect Leader Jiang can´t reach you here, you have our protection.”

Wei Wuxian nodded before he started drinking the concoction. It wasn´t that bad, perhaps not his favorite flavor but he hasn´t had the least bit of spice since he had woken up. And when he asked, he was told that spice could trigger an early labor. Though, by now, he didn´t think that would be that much of an early birth. From everyone´s calculations, he was a week short of the full term, so he might go into labor soon anyway. He wondered if he would be allowed the least bit of paprika… though what he wanted truly was to eat some lotus seeds. Not only because it reminded him of the home and family he had lost, but because his body seemed to crave them… he knew he couldn´t drink wine, but the seeds…

“That´s right, you are better now, no?” she smiled softly at him again. “Oh, I haven´t introduced myself yet. I´m Lan Meng Die, head healer of the Lan Sect. My granddaughter has been overseeing you until now, but as I´m going to be the one, as the most experienced at both the healing arts and midwifery, that is going to oversee your labor.”

“Alright, healer Lan”

“Tell me, is there something I need to know? Was the birth of your first boy an easy one? Were there complications before, during or after that Wen Qing had to treat you for?” Lan Meng Die asked, professionally. “Please, be as specific as you can.”

“It… it was normal… there were no complications at all and…”

“I couldn´t help but seeing a scar in your abdomen” she continued. “I didn´t know that there was anyone else that knew about it, but there is an operation that can be used to manually remove the baby if it gets stuck. Was it what happened?”

“No, that was… because of another thing. A sickness” he lied, looking down on his hands. “Wen Qing was my doctor then too.”

“I understand” the woman continued. “Was A-Yuan´s birth a long labor? Did it hurt too much? Did you lose too much blood during or after the birth?”

“Not… not as much… it wasn´t long…” it was true, getting A-Yuan out of the labor camps didn´t take much time. It also wasn´t painful at all. “I… I think Wen Qing gave me something so it doesn´t hurt that much…”

“My, my, you aren´t talking like someone who has experienced this before. But I guess that you didn´t feel much if you were numbed by anesthetics” he nodded, happy to have some sort of alibi for his lack of knowledge on childbirth. “Anyway, this time you might have to endure it without anything to alleviate the pain. We Lan believe that the birth is something that should be done the natural way. So, unless we are forced to use surgery to remove the baby for some complications, you are going to have to endure the pain.”

“Is it… going to be that bad?”

“Wen Qing must have really done a good work numbing you to the pain”

As Lan Meng Die explained him how childbirth went without any pain medication, he continued to rub his stomach. It scared him a bit, sounded a lot like the core transference operation that Wen Qing had performed in him. The pain of both should be unbearable, so they must be similar. Well, he had endured that without pain medication and childbirth sounded like it was faster, or at least to last less time. As he caressed his enlarged belly, he noticed that the kicks he felt were always up. Does that mean…

“Would you allow me to perform a simple examination on you?” something must have been shown in his face, because the healer took notice of that. “Though I have to say that the fact that the kicks are aimed to the ribs is a good thing. It means that the fetus has already positioned itself for the birth.”

“I see”

When Lan Meng Die left that afternoon, he felt a bit comforted. He was sure that the other omega had not only used words and tea, but pheromones to calm him down. It was something an experience healer would do to a distressed, pregnant patient. Whatever she had done, it had worked. He felt better now. At least his body wasn´t that much in pain anymore. And mentally… well, he felt more like himself now that his hair was in his usual hairdo. If only he could get out too… but did he really want to get out? Wasn´t this house the only thing keeping his children, keeping himself too, protected from the Jianghu? Didn´t everyone else outside of that tiny place, except for A-Yuan and Lan Zhan, perhaps even Zewu-Jun, wanted him dead?

“Should I even… wish to get out?”

-In another place, later-

“Sect Leader, Grandmaster, this humble one wants to speak to you” Lan Meng Die said as she entered the room where the mentioned men were working. “It´s regarding Wei Wuxian.”

The two probably realized how serious this was when she mentioned that name, the one of the person such a small group of people, even in the Cloud Recesses, dare to mention. Lan Quiren probably tried to intimidate her with his equally serious expression, but if she allowed any zhongyun or even qyanyuan to intimidate her into a ball, then she would not have reached the post she had now. So she stood her ground, even to them. Her stern look landed on the older man, who stopped writing whatever he was writing. Lan Xichen, for her part, seemed to curl on himself someway, despite keeping his Lan straight posture. It was obvious that he felt guilty for something…

“Well?” Lan Quiren finally said.

“I have had a meeting with him today, personally. I haven´t been able to do so before because of my duties in the infirmary and the training of my granddaughter to attend him should a complication arise, but I immediately knew that no one has ever explained him about childbirth in the least. In fact, I´m pretty sure he is also in the dark about how kunze physiology should work.”

“Why explaining it to him, when he must have dealt with it before?”

“He might have discovered some things by living them, but that doesn´t mean he is well educated in how things work. Even if he already has some experience, it´s better if an older kunze talks to him and carefully explained him those things…”

“I thought Lan Quingquing was already taking care of that.”

“I think she is putting more of an effort in imparting knowledge about the behavior that is expected of him as the mate and soon wife of Hanguang-Jun” the older healer said. “Besides, my granddaughter is not a kunze. It´s better if I do so myself.”

“I still find it hard to believe…”

“Do you see Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan as people who would teach someone who apparently doesn´t need to know about it about kunze physiology? Or that they would share their daughter´s teacher on those matters with the son of a servant?” that seemed to shut them up for good. And she was right, one would find it too uncomfortable and the other would outright refuse both of the alternatives. “He needs guidance if he is to become a good mate, which is for the best not only for him, but for the entire Lan Sect.”

“If you think it´s the best.”

“I also suggest that he gets to spend more time with his child… with both of his children” she said, looking straight at Lan Quiren, who froze. Teaching Wei Wuxian about his secondary gender was one thing, but to allow him to share more time with his son… “A-Yuan has actually escaped the classroom to ask me about his a-niang. And the new baby… I know you want to separate him or her from it´s mother as soon as he or she stops breastfeeding, but that might not be the best for it´s development.”

“That´s preposterous” the older man said. “Xichen and Wangji were separated from sister-in-law as soon as they stopped breastfeeding and only allowed to see her once a month. They turned up alright, in my opinion precisely because of that.”

She cursed that man and his stubbornness. Besides, were Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji truly alright? Emotionally, she didn´t know who was worse. Lan Xichen latched onto people way too fast and way too deep. That is bound to cause troubles in his life, specially if he ends up forming a bond with the incorrect people, someone who would exploit that in his own benefit. Lan Wangji was even worse, practically unable to show his feelings in the correct way. So much that people thought that he hated Wei Wuxian when in truth he loved him so much that he would risk everything for him. It was not rare amongst the Lans to be passionate to that level, but there were ways to deal with that. Many of them were emotionally healthy enough to deal with that kind of love in the right way, but Lan Wangji… he had done practically everything wrong. If he hadn´t, then he would have been able to court Wei Wuxian in the correct way and they would have long been married before the whole debacle happened. Or it would never had happened in the first place. And she was about to tell them that, when one of the servants from the Gentian House interrupted their meeting. From how she was panting, she had ran from there to the Hanshi.

“Who dares!!” Lan Quiren scowled, angry that someone had dared to break the rules in front of him.

“I´m sorry, Grandmaster, Zewu-Jun, but it´s urgent. Lan Quingquing is assisting at this moment, but you asked us to tell you if it happened…” she breathed in and out before continuing. “Wei Wuxian began his labor. Or he might have been in labor for some time already, because his water suddenly broke. And he… he…”

“We will finish this later” she turned around, already putting her healer duties before what was happening here. “Get out of my way, I have a patient to threat.”

As she approached the Gentian House, her feeling that something was wrong with her patient was getting stronger. And as soon as she could cross the wards and heard the screaming that came from the main room, she was sure that it had been a mistake to even leave. Her granddaughter might be a great healer, second only to herself, but she had a prejudice against Wei Wuxian that made her an unfit healer, perhaps even dangerous, towards him. She cursed Lan Quiren for that, her Quing-er had always taken his lessons way too much to heart.

“Out of the way!!” she ordered as she barged into the room.

“Grandmother, I am…”

“Doing everything wrong, from what I can see!!” she screamed as she started to work around the laboring kunze. Wei Wuxian certainly wasn´t doing fine, clutching the sheets of the bed as if they were a lifeline. Lan Meng Die started barking orders, setting everything up and helping him on a more sitting position.
“How much dilatation?”

“Grandmother, we were just…”

“Neglecting your duty as a healer?! Is that what you were doing?!!” she screamed as she helped Wei Wuxian clasp the silken bandages that she had hanged from the ceiling. She then revised between his legs, finding that there was still time. Ordering a servant to bring something for the pain, she faced her granddaughter. “I thought I have taught you better, Quing-er. I thought I taught you to be a good healer.”

“It´s Wei Wuxian, Popo!! The Yiling Patriarch!! He killed who knows how many people in such a way that… and who knows how many atrocities he committed!! The best thing that can happen to that child, to both children, and to Hanguang-Jun is…”

“That they lose their mother and mate?!! Is that what you were going to say?!! Knowing full well that Hanguang-Jun could as easily follow him to the grave?!! Or the pain it would cause for him to lose him?!!” she screamed, making the other´s eyes widen and take a step back. “If you are incapable of acting like a healer must, then get out. I will continue training you in the healing arts, but I will take care of his health by myself until I´m sure that you could actually do your duty. From now on, you are only a handmaiden to Lan-er-furen.”

“He is…”

“I don´t care who he is and neither should you!! The only thing that you should care about is that he is a patient in need, one that deserves the best medical treatment that you could offer!! That´s what you swore when you became a healer!! This… this is not the healer I taught myself!! Nor the granddaughter I helped raise!!” Meng Die yelled at her granddaughter´s face, who actually looked ashamed. “And until you have remembered that, get out of this room. You will reassume your duties as handmaid after the birth.”

“Healer Lan!!”

“I´m here”

Meng Die handled the birth carefully. It was obvious that Wen Qing had at least knocked him out for the first birth with medication, because Wei Wuxian clearly didn´t know the steps that had to be taken for the baby to exit in a natural way from his womb. He was enduring the pain better than many laboring mothers despite the screams, though, which made her wonder if he had gone through something worse. Then she remembered the damage on his meridians she had found the first time she examined him and cursed Yu Ziyuan. She had clearly loved to use that wicked whip of hers with her Head Disciple.

“Alright, you are fully dilated now” he continued to instruct as maid cleaned the sweat from the kunze´s brow. “It´s time for you to push. This is going to hurt, but you can´t give up, no matter how tempting it might become. Push when I tell you to push.”

“Hea… Healer Lan… argh!!!”

“PUSH!!!”

The screams became louder as the child exited the womb. As she continued to direct the birth, the people around her became concerned. But nothing went wrong. Before the sun was up again, the Main Family of the Lan Sect received a new little Lan-guniang. Lan Meng Die sighed in relief when she cut the crying infant´s cord and handed her over to a maid to be cleaned up. Then she handed the afterbirth, which went rather well. By then, Wei Wuxian seemed to have recovered some strength and asked for his baby. The old woman smiled gently as she carefully took the baby near his head, where he could see her, and announced that he had given birth to a healthy girl. He tiredly stared at his daughter, who seemed to have inherited his vivacity, as she was still crying and wiggling strongly.

“Hello… my little lotus butterfly… my Fuutie” he said, caressing the chin of the baby. A hand suddenly clasped that finger. “Someone is… really smart for her age already, no?”

“Congratulations, Lan-er-furen”

“Thank you… but I think I might sleep… for a little bit…”

-In the seclusion room-

“Xiozhang” Lan Wangji said as he approached the door. Surprisingly, his brother actually entered the room. And along with him was Lan Quiren. His expression grew somehow colder, as he was faced with the uncle that was treating Wei Ying just as the Sect had threated his mother. “Shufu. What brings you here?”

“There are some news that we have to share with you, Wangji” the Grandmaster said, as both of them sat down. “You might not be aware of that yet, but you have become a father just a few hours ago. Your mate gave birth to a healthy baby girl.”

“Wei Ying is fine?” was his first question.

“He is fine, recovering as we talk” Xichen answered as their uncle scoffed. It seemed like he still didn´t like his mate. Not that he would be able to do anything about it. The bond was unbreakable. “A-Yuan is already wanting to meet his meimei…”

“Which will happen when he is allowed a visit, in a week” Lan Quiren said and Lan Zhan barely repressed a growl. Apparently, he had continued with the system he stablished for their visits to their mother. “We wanted to ask you about the name you want for your daughter. Wei Wuxian named her Fuutie at birth…”

“Fuutie is right.”

“Then the courtesy name” what? Lan Wangji and Lan Quiren shared a look while Lan Xichen looked at either of them, as if afraid. “For both A-Yuan and A-Fuu.”

“For both of them?”

“As possible heirs of our Sect, they deserve one” it was not usual for females, but… Lan Wangji decided that he might at least give his children that, as he hadn´t been able to give them much since he was punished. “If you need time to think.”

“Give A-Yuan the courtesy name of Shizui” remembrance, his longing for his mate who he was forced to be apart from now. “And the girl… her courtesy name shall be Lihua” pear blossom, a traditional female name that symbolized eternal love and elegance. Lan Quiren looked as if he had been slapped. “Those are the names of my children.”

“Then we shall get going” Lan Quiren went away without even saying goodbye to his nephew. After a hurry apology and goodbye, Lan Xichen followed. Lan Zhan lowered down to his knees, praying for this to pass quicklier. Wei Ying need him… more than ever…

Notes:

I hope you also see what it´s going on here. Lan Meng Die might have good intentions and is a good healers, but she is gaslighting Wei Ying when he is at his most vulnerable. Specially because he has been starved for affection for a long time, being deprived of his son, and pregnant, which adds to his vulnerability. This all makes him more at risk of that working. On another note, Lihua is here!! Who wants to say something about the chapter? Review if you want!!!!

Chapter 7

As he lost strength, he fell the healers take the baby from his tired arms. But he was not ready to… ready to give her up, please give… give her back… those were the last thoughts Wei Wuxian had as his mind blackened. The next thing he consciously noticed was the crying of a baby. It took him a few moments to wake up enough to realize that it was his baby. And that a nurse was coming close with his baby in her arms. His baby… his little lotus… his baby girl. He had been too tired to really see her immediately after birth, but now he could see her really well. She was tiny, wrapped up in a white baby blanket embroidered with the cloud pattern. It was strange, he had learned to sew in an acceptable way during his time with the Jiangs, as no one would mend his clothes for him after Madam Yu caught Shijie doing that and yelled at her daughter, threatening to do something worse to the next person who helped him. He remembered that he had used that knowledge to help the Wens, including making a blanket for A-Yuan from rags. He wondered what happened to that blanket… maybe he would never know. Or it was still in the Burial Mounds, gathering dust.

“I see that someone woke up with a lot of energy” the nurse said, putting the child in the arms of her mother… though Wei Wuxian had no idea what to do with her. “I have already changed her diaper once, so she must be hungry. I can be called the wetnurse for this, but…”

“I understand, I have… done this before” he said, a bit flushed. He hadn´t… but he had seen a sheep and several pigs breastfeeding before. Lowering his sleeping robes to show his nipples, he shifted the child so it could latch into the nipple. She immediately did, starting to suck. “It´s uncomfortable… well, more than I remember.”

“Maybe this one is a little glutton, more than her brother” the nurse smiled. “Did you produce a lot of milk when suckling A-Yuan? I couldn´t help but think that he looks rather small for his age.”

“No, I… didn´t have much to eat while on the Burial Mounds or the Sunshot Campaign” he answered, trying to hide his son´s true precedence again. “I think I should have eaten more while I could… I can´t help but think that I starved my baby.”

“Well, I think that this one is going to be well fed” the nurse smiled. “And A-Yuan is recovering amazingly. He has already grown up so much in the few months he had been here and gained so much weight… he looks his five years of age now and his cheeks are so round and cute!!”

“Yes…”

He felt a pang of pain in the chest, and not only because his little girl was indeed a little glutton, but because he had indeed starved A-Yuan during his time in the Burial Mounds. Perhaps it hadn´t been his wish and he had given up his food so he could eat, but the boy was showing his ribs when he arrived to the Cloud Recesses. As he looked down at his daughter, he couldn´t help but feel guilty. He was well fed and healthy now, she was round and pudgy as a baby should be, and he had plenty of food provided by the Lans to improve the milk production and it´s nutrient content. This little girl won´t know hunger… but that wasn´t thanks to him. It was because Lan Zhan had taken him as his kunze.

“You should rest while you can, your bundle of joy is bound to wake up hungry in a few hours too” the nurse said as the baby finally unlatched from his breast, having taken a good drink. “I will take her to her crib for tonight. Rest and recover your strength, you are soon going to need it to deal with that girl.”

“She seems to be a lively one, no?” Lan Meng Die said, looking tired but happy.

“Yes, it seems so.”

As he laid her down to sleep, Wei Wuxian addressed his own body. He was terribly sore, even with the nap he took after giving birth. And it was not only his hips, narrow for a kunze, and his lower half which hurt like hell. His nipple was sore, but also relieved. He knew by the way the other hurt too that breastfeeding would bring some relief to him… as the milk that was currently trapped in his chest and inflating it would come out. The infant suckling would bring that relief… though it was still something uncomfortable. He wondered for a second if A-Yuan would visit the next day to meet his new baby sister or if Lan Quiren would stick to his visiting schedule. He couldn´t help but feel saddened. He had spent so much time with his little boy stuck to his side, to now having to wait a whole month to see him… and it was probably what is going to happen with his girl once she was old enough to stop breastfeeding. Was this something that happened to the late Madam Lan too?

He drifted off to sleep until his baby woke him up. A wetnurse seemed to get ready to feed her, but he insisted on doing it himself. As Fuutie happily latched on his other nipple, finally bringing some relief to it, he took her in as much as he can. She would probably change soon… grow up and then would be separated from him. And he would only be allowed to see her once a month, when she and A-Yuan were taking by Lan Quiren or Zewu-Jun to the House he was imprisoned in. It made him smile bitterly as he looked at the window again. He didn´t want to lose his children, he didn´t want them to be taken away… but it wasn´t like he had any means to stop it. He was… powerless. Even the Lady of a minor sect had more power than him, even if technically he was the mate of the powerful Hanguang-Jun, the Second Jade of Lan. He wanted to get out… but, at the same time, he remembered what Lan Meng Die had said. His baby´s golden eyes turned towards him as she unlatched, looking up at her mother. To protect her and A-Yuan perhaps he should…

“I see that you are already bonding, that´s good” someone said from the entrance. “Mother and child should bond in the first days of a baby´s life.”

“To think she would have Lan Zhan´s eyes… she is certainly going to be a beauty when she grows up, just like him.”

“I think that she looks more like you”

Lan Meng Die entered the room in that moment again, smiling. She gave him a small revision and the baby too, before instructing the wetnurse to put the girl down to sleep again. She also gave Wei Wuxian some healing potions that apparently would prevent him from getting childbed fever before going off again. As he settled down to sleep again, he wondered what was going to happen from now on. He had already birthed a child and it wasn´t like the Lans have a preference in gender of their leaders…. That if Zewu-Jun remained unmarried and childless, of course. He wondered for a second if the Lan Elders would get rid of him now… but no, that would be stupid. Their precious Hanguang-Jun would never recover from that and would probably follow him to the grave. That was the strength of the bond… and perhaps why Lan Zhan had bonded with him… but why did he want to keep him alive? It wasn´t as if he truly loved him or something like that.

The morning arrived and with it the time to walk a bit. He was allowed to leave the bed and go down the stairs with his child in his arms, helped by some of the nurses. Lan Meng Die served him a cup of tea as he bounced his baby to sleep. Wei Wuxian looked around to see who was present. The kunze was surprised to see that Lan Qingquing was absent that day. Of course, he preferred it that way, but considering that she was both a healer and his head maid, she should be present if he was, no? Besides, Lan Meng Die was her grandmother, surely she wouldn´t have really expelled her own granddaughter from his presence.

“I know that my granddaughter hadn´t been the nicest to you since you woke up” the older healer said as she also served herself some tea. “But you have to understand, she was also a maid for the late Madam Lan. She… has some bad memories of this house, which maybe made her act in such a way towards you.”

“I´m used to older women hating and sneering at me” he said with a smile. It was true, Lan Qingqing wasn’t anything compared to Yu Ziyuan. A shiver went through his back when he thought about her. “I´m sorry, I…”

“I healed you, I know what those scars are from” the woman said, her eyes hardening. “And I assure you, no one would ever do something like that to you ever again. The Lans might make use of the discipline whip, but we would never have dreamed of even using a high-class spiritual weapon on a disciple, much less on a growing boy.”

“Lady…”

“You might call me aunt. Wangji is the son of my cousin, so his mate should have the right to call me aunt” Wei Wuxian was puzzled. This… this wasn´t how he had expected things to go, much less in the restrictive Cloud Recesses. “Ah, there was other reason why I expelled my granddaughter from here for a time. She might have insisted that you should be dolled up like the Lady of a Great Sect should always be, but I thought you would be more comfortable like this. And now that´s important.”

“Thank you”

“Has she tried to hammer the importance of acting and dressing like a kunze from a gentry family even if you were never to show your face to anyone that doesn´t already know that you are here?”

“How do you…”

“It was something the late Madam Lan said to her” she lowered her gaze. “The late Madam… she was a gentle soul. She loved her children dearly and would have loved you and your children too. But she… had the misfortune of catching the eye of an Elder that had already caused many problems in Caiyi Town. The others covered for him until the end, but… I had to perform more than one abortion on girls that were attacked by him” he shuddered again. “She killed him to protect herself, understanding the consequences. Quinghen-Jun was already in love with her, so he took her as his bride to protect her… but she was still a criminal in the eyes of the sect.”

“So this house…”

“Yes, it was built to contain her. A comfortable prison where to keep the problematic bride of the Sect Leader, who later went into perpetual seclusion” she shook her head. “Lan Quiren took the lead of the Sect then. He was the one who put that ridiculous schedule and separated both Xichen and Wangji from their mother as soon as they stopped breastfeeding and only allowed them to visit her once a month. In the end, she died of sadness and isolation.”

“That´s sad” he said. “Is that what is going to happen to me?”

“Not if I could prevent it. And I´m not the only one, Wangji won´t allow something like that to happen to you either.” She insisted. “I´m sure that growing up like that it´s what made both him and his brother so… being closer to their mother would have been better” the healer drank some of her tea, then ushered him to do the same. “It´s an especial blend, it might calm some of the residual pain you are feeling.”

“Thank you” Wei Wuxian drank a bit. Not much, because he felt like he would vomit on any second. “Were you saying that your granddaughter was a maid to the late Madam Lan? Was she like that to her too, considering that she was a criminal in the eyes of the Sect?”

“No, she was… she formed a strong bond with the Madam” Lan Meng Die looked down again, as she wondered if she should continue. But he wanted to hear more. “You have to understand her feelings, Qing-er always thought that the way the Sect treated the Madam was unfair. She should have been given freedom and the right to stay by her children´s side. After all, the sin she committed was because she didn´t have another choice. She had to protect herself, as well as many other maidens that would have been his victims. She avenged other wronged women too.”

“I see”

Both were a bit alike, the late Madam Lan and him. They had done what was correct in the moment. She had protected herself and he had protected innocent Wens, people that hadn´t participated in the Sunshot Campaign but were being punished for sharing blood with those that did. Or at least tried, because in the end, he couldn´t keep them alive. He saved A-Yuan, his little boy, but that was only one. He wished the people could understand, but… he was sure that no one would even listen to his explanation, much less here in the Cloud Recesses. No one ever wanted to hear it, not even Jiang Cheng, who had seen the kind of people he had saved from that Jin Labor Camp.

“Let´s talk about something else” the older woman continued. “How is A-Yuan going? Is he eager to meet his little sister?”

“I don´t know, he was eager the last time he was here, but there is still time for the visitation date to…”

“A-Niang!!!” he heard in the distance, loud and clear. It was impossible, Lan Quiren would never allow… “A-Niang!! Is that her?!! Is that my little sister?!!”
“It seems like someone, or more than one person, was eager to meet your little bundle of joy.”

In his lap, his baby started to move as her older brother came into view, jumping excitedly as he yelled. This caused his little girl to cry, so he bounced her to calm her down. A-Yuan entered in that moment, cheerfully running towards his mother. Wei Wuxian scented both him and the girl on instinct, feeling relieved to have both of his children in his nest. As he used one arm to support Fuutie and the other to hug A-Yuan, he allowed the boy to look at the baby in his arms. He poked her cheek, making her shy away from him, tears in her eyes, but another wave of her mother´s scent seemed enough to calm her down. And enough for Wei Wuxian to know that his visitor have not come alone.

“I´m glad to see that you are well after your hard labor, brother-in-law” Zewu-Jun said, offering him a reassuring smile. Considering that he was one of the people who had decided that he should spent the rest of his life imprisoned, he didn´t feel reassured at all. “Is that my niece?”

“Yes, this is Fuutie… or has Lan Zhan given her another name?”

“My brother said that Fuutie is good for her birth one, but has given her the courtesy name of Lihua” Lan Lihua, that sounded dignified and elegant… and overly pretentious. He was sure that his girl wasn´t going to be the delicate flower that name suggested, though he was convinced that Lan Quiren wished that. “News of her birth or A-Yuan´s hadn´t extended through the Cloud Recesses yet… but they will soon, so the elders will reunite soon to decide on some things.”

“I doubt that part of those decisions is if to release me or not.” He said bitterly. “But tell me, Zewu-Jun, what kind of decisions are you oh-so-important council of Elders reuniting to discuss now that my daughter has been born?”

“The date of your wedding is one of them.”

“What?” he froze. With the mating, he didn´t thought he would have to go through that, but the Lans apparently were too much of sticklers to the rules to let them remain unmarried even with the bond between them. “But I thought…”

“With Wangji healed enough to walk and you no longer pregnant, they wished to hold the wedding on the next auspicious day” the Sect Leader continued, apparently a little bit guilty. “It is rather close, but the wedding was supposed to be a small one, with only the elders and some prominent, trustworthy members present.”

“I doubt you are going to announce that your precious Hanguang-Jun is going to marry the Yiling Patriarch to the world and has already two children with him, having taken him as a mate after the Burial Mounds Siege.”

“The official history is going to be that Wangji has taken a bride, but she is too sickly to perform the duties of the Madam of the Lan Sect and being taken care of in a secluded House in the Clous Recesses. Your children will remain heirs of the Lan Sect, though the Elders will have to give their approval from one or the other to succeed me in case I´m still unmarried and childless by that time, as the circumstances of their births are rather… unusual for us.” He sighed. "You will remain here, being taken care of."

“A-Niang, are you not happy to marry A-Die?” A-Yuan asked. He had nearly forgotten that he was there, as silent as he was as he gapped at his sister. The baby also had decided to return to her nap. “If not…”

“I´m glad, are you not?” he answered, giving him a small smile to reassure him. Besides, it wasn´t like he could say no to whatever was decided for him, no? “Aren´t you? You will get to see a real wedding.”

“Will my sister be there?”

“Ahhh… I think that she is going to be better with her nurse for that day. She is too little, what if she cries at the wrong moment?” he asked, caressing his boy´s hair. It was so silky and his face was so round now… he couldn´t help but thank the Heavens for the new situation the boy was in. “She cries a lot, you know.”

“She does?”

“Like any baby”

“Ohhhhh” A-Yuan gawked at Fuutie again, leaving Wei Wuxian to look back at the Lan Sect Leader, who had also sat down with a cup of tea. The guilty expression hadn´t left his face, so there was something else to say.

“Well, Zewu-Jun, when had the matchmaker said that it´s the next auspicious day? When am I to walk to the altar of your ancestors with Lan Zhan?”

“In a month and a half´s time”

That was awfully close, surely not enough to prepare a gentry wedding. He would know, the Jins had spent a lot of time preparing Shijie´s wedding… and her dress took several months to make, from the red cloth to the delicate embroidery and jewelry that accompanied it. Perhaps it was because the wedding was to be a small one, but he couldn´t help but think that there was something that was wrong in there. He would barely have time to recover from childbirth and prepare for his wedding day. Besides that, was that enough time to prepare the red cloth and the embroidery and…

“Here” Zewu-Jun extended his hand, which held a red envelope. “I was going to give it to you just before leaving, but I think you could open it now. It´s a congratulations gift for giving birth to a healthy daughter.”

“Thank you, Zewu-Jun…”

“Please, call me Xichen-ge”

“Xichen-ge then” he said, almost forcing himself. “Thank you for the congratulatory money, but I doubt I or my baby will be able to spend it soon.”

“Do whatever you want, you might receive some more in your wedding soon”

“Yes, the wedding” the sensation of something being wrong continued. “It´s a happy occasion after all and I count on the blessing of your family members for my marriage to be a lucky and prosperous one.”

“Sure.”

-A few days later-

Lan Qingquing had practically barged out of the Elder´s hall with a half feral expression on her face as she heard the order from them. She just couldn´t stomach it!! It was too much already to give Madam´s former accommodations to someone as unworthy and villainous as the Yiling Patriarch, but to also give him her wedding dress… but there was no point in refusing, they would only send someone else to make the arrangements. So she went to where the Madam´s belongings have been stored and checked the dress up. It was beautiful in it´s simplicity, the veil barely having the embroider that a bride of the gentry should have. The clothes were well preserved, something that made her want to rip them apart so Wei Wuxian couldn´t dirty them with his demonic stain. But she couldn´t, that would offend Madam´s memory and also cause her to be punished by the Elders.

“I guess I should have seen this coming” she gathered the clothes in their box again and departed with them to the Gentian House. She found Wei Wuxian sitting by one of the windows, still in his sleeping robes despite the hour of the day. He was holding his sleeping baby close to his chest. “Good afternoon, Lan-er-furen.”

“I see that you are back” he said slowly, getting up in a way that won´t disturb his daughter´s sleep. Then he passed her off to a nurse, when he saw the box she had in her arms. “What is that? Is that the next batch of homework I should be reading?”

“It´s your wedding robes”

This seemed to make the Yiling Patriarch freeze, something she took a bit of pleasure in. She deposited the box in the table near them and started to pull out each layer of cloth. As Wei Wuxian examined them, she couldn´t help but feel that he was almost like a deer caught by a hunter. Wasn´t he expecting this? Well, the Elders surely couldn´t have informed him, since her grandmother was there all the time and she had remained away, the same as Lan Quiren. The Sect Leader had been there with A-Yuan, but that was before the decision was reached that, to speed up the procedures, his mother´s wedding robes will be used by his brother-in-law for the occasion.

“These… these seemed like something that was in the storage not long ago.” He managed to say as some maids, loyal to Lan Qingqing, approached. They were supposed to help him undress and get into the robes, so they could make the necessary arrangements.

“They were the Madam´s.” she answered as she passed the first layer of cloth. “they might need some modifications to fit you, but they must still do. And like this we won´t have to wait for another auspicious day.”

“What a joy”

As he remained silent and allowed himself to be moved, so the maids with experience as seamstresses did their work, Lan Qingqing couldn´t help but believe that he was planning something. Maybe to rip the cloth, so he could get his own wedding robes? But he remained like that, pliable, at least until his child started to cry. He moved almost by instinct to try and grab her, but his head maid grabbed him by the hand to force him to stay in his place. It was insultingly easy, something that gave her a sensation of power. The Elders have done a good job cleansing him, and without resentment energy, Wei Wuxian was weaker than her. Being stronger than the Yiling Laozu almost brought a smirk to her face.

“Could you please release me? My daughter might be hungry, I always feed him myself” he said, clearly in pain. He was surely not used to be treated like that.

“We are doing something important here, whatever else there is to be done, let the wetnurse handle it until it´s over.”

Lan Qingqing pushed back the memory of Madam Lan, who had also feed her children herself. She couldn´t let that soften her up, much less when he was dealing with someone as despicable as the author of the nightmare that was the Massacre of Nightless City. Wei Wuxian might act like he was a nice person, but she had seen the results of his actions. The corpse of Jiang Yanli, his own martial sister, as it was taken away, a mourning woman that had a baby like the one he was holding close now and that he had left orphaned…

“Did I do anything ever to you for you to hate me so much?” he dared to ask. “You might think that you know me, but you don´t know anything…”

“I was in Nightless City that time, when you sent your corpses to massacre people” she answered, clenching the fingers around his wrist. His eyes widened, as if he was perturbed. “So don´t you ever say I don´t know what you are capable of, I have seen your actions.”

“Nightless City… I…” he shut up. Whatever he was going to say died in his throat as tears came to his eyes… but she didn´t believe his act. It had been him who had sent the corpses against those innocent cultivators, so he couldn´t say anything to defend himself. “Let´s finish with this so we could get onto other important things. There is plenty for you to learn before your wedding day.”

At least the kunze remained pliable the rest of the day, even when they took off his clothes after making the arrangements. As the seamstresses took them away to be altered so it fit the body of it´s new owner, she made sure Wei Wuxian knew what to do in the wedding. Wangji was hurt and, even if he might have chosen the worst kind of person to fall in love and mate with, he didn´t deserve his pain to be aggravated because his mate didn´t know what to do. Wei Wuxian then recovered his daughter, who was crying for food. She had refused to take the wetnurse´s nipple, apparently too used to her mother´s… it was going to be hard to separate her from her mother once the moment came. A-Yuan had ended up well despite spending so much time with his a-niang, but she doubted that miracle could happen again.

“Now, let´s move onto the way to bow in front of the tablets of the ancestors” she said, making sure that he would give the ancestors the respect they deserved. She couldn´t let him ruin the wedding on any way after all.

-In the seclusion room-

Lan Wangji was not surprised when his uncle presented him with his father´s wedding robes. After all, it was a bit of an irony, considering that he had follow the same path as him. He wondered if Wei Ying had been allowed to have his wedding robes made… but he doubted his uncle would allow something like that if he hadn´t allowed Wangji his own. He wore them in silence and allowed himself to be fitted. The robes fit him well, so there was little to do. His uncle left when he finished, allowing the bandages of his nephew to be changed by Meng Die and for him to lay down again. In a month and a half, Wei Ying will be his wife, whether he wanted or not. And he had the feeling that…

“Wait” he stopped the healer before she could leave. “There is something I need your help to acquire. Please… for Wei Ying…”

“Alright, what do you need?”

“Well…”

Notes:

Hello!!! I hope that you are all well and that you have enjoyed this chapter!!! Review if you want to read more!!!!

Chapter 8

Wei Wuxian had never imagined he would be in this position. He had played the loyal disciple, the devoted subordinate, the villain… never in his life did he thought he would also have to play the bride. But here he was, dressed in the red robes as his hair was done in an intricate way, waiting for the veil to be thrown over it. He knew how marriage worked for his secondary gender. In fact, in the eyes of the Jianghu, he would have counted as married as soon as he was mated, specially considering he already had Lan Zhan´s daughter… and A-Yuan. This was only a formality because apparently the Lans thought that they had to do everything as was stated in their Wall of Discipline. His maid, or his jailor, approached with the old veil that had belonged to his mother-in-law, he felt a shudder run through his entire back. But why? He was already at the mercy of his husband and his Sect, there was nothing else he could lose.

As the veil was thrown over his form, he felt it more like a funeral shroud than anything. Well, he supposed it was. The kunze was supposed to abandon his family and home, the Sect he was born or originally belonged to, leave their protection and custody to belong to their husbands and their family and Sect. The prospect of spending the rest of his life under the mercy of those rules, of Lan Quiren, of staying trapped in that house surrounded by flowers he had came to hate for the rest of his life… but it wasn´t like anything was going to change. At least he wasn´t dead and could see A-Yuan and A-Li grow up. Yes, he had heard Lan Zhan had given her the courtesy name Lihua. They all referred to her like that, completely forgetting that she was first his little lotus butterfly… but he was okay with that. So long as his children were safe and taken care of…

“It´s time” Lan Meng Die said, approaching and extending a hand. At least her obnoxious granddaughter wasn´t going to be the one escorting him to the small shrine build in the back of the mountain so that his wedding was held in secret. “Come, your qyanyuan is waiting for you.”

“Yes”

He looked back at the nurse that was right now was holding his daughter. His baby was fussing, clearly uncomfortable in strange arms, her little hand raised towards her mother almost as if she was calling for him. Wei Wuxian also wanted to go to her, but he wasn´t allowed to take care of her for the day. The wedding must be held first, before he was allowed to return to her side. On the bright side, A-Yuan would be there!! He would get to see his son early, maybe even talk to him. And he sounded so happy when he heard that his parents were getting married… he already called Lan Zhan A-Die instead of Rich-gege. He was going to have such a bright smile to see his family complete there… as he crossed the wards of the house and felt the sun on his skin again, he felt a bit of his usual brightness returning to him. Though he didn´t even attempt to reach for resentment, he knew that would be a mistake. Also, he doubted he would fine any in such a place.

“Be calm, no one is going to hurt you here.” The woman tried to calm him down. “It´s not such a bad thing to get married. I know your husband will honor and respect you.”

“Lan Zhan hates me”

“I don´t think so” she answered with a smile. “I have seen the way he looks at you, child. I know that it´s easy to misunderstand, that child has never known how to express his feelings well, but he loves you. And will take a good care of you and your children… and of those to come.”

Oh, yes, he had forgotten that. The Lan surely were expecting him to have more children, it was the purpose of marrying a kunze. Kunze were known to have less complications during childbirth and recover faster from the childbirth, also of being more fertile than the other secondary genders. Specially when they were joined with a qyanyuan. Even with a weak or without a golden core, they were that fertile… it was one of the reasons, apart from being scared of his wife, that Jin Guangshan had accepted Shijie´s engagement to his heir… and why he had accepted it´s reinstatement. He had wanted many grandsons surely, too bad things ended up like they were.

“Don´t be sad” the healer said as they advanced towards the shrine decorated in red. Between the sea of Lan white, he couldn´t see any Jiang purple. “They are with you, even now.”

“I doubt that”

Perhaps his parents, but Jiang Cheng… and Shijie… he had never thought he would get married, but if he ever even imagined that moment, they would be there. And Uncle Jiang too. Maybe even Madam Yu, if she could be persuaded… she might be, seeing that he was finally leaving the Jiang Sect for good, being married to another. She might even be in a festive humor, considering that he wouldn´t be a threat to her children anymore. Uncle Jiang or even Jiang Cheng would escort him, waiting at the altar so he could hand back the clarity bell he had received when he became part of the Jiang Sect. Shijie would be giving him small smiles, and silent encouragement as he walked towards the altar, the annoying peacock by her side. But that was dust in the wind now… he was responsible for that. It was his fault…

“Easy, it´s going to be okay” the older Lan continued to assure him, pressing on his hand. “You will soon see that Wangji really loves you.”

Wei Wuxian was still convinced that she was mistaken, as the only thing Lan Zhan had ever wanted was to use his musical cultivation to exorcise all the resentment out of him. But there was no time to worry about that. They had both arrived to the shrine. The tablets for Qinghen-Jun and Madam Lan were already there, with Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen standing with Lan Zhan… Hanguang-Jun, the three of them looking regal. In fact, all of the old men there looked regal… and not at all happy with the situation there. He even heard one of them whisper that at least the bride had proven fertile and would give some more pups soon. He practically bit his tongue not to send a snarky retort to him… that wouldn´t help his case anyway. He then saw A-Yuan in the front row, who smiled at him and waved. He smiled back at his little boy, the only person who seemed sincerely happy. It was contagious.

His hand was then placed over Lan Wangji´s, the veil removed. The ceremony was a rather simple one, the three bows together (To Earth and Heaven, to the ancestors and to each other), then an exchange of vows and it was over. The banquet was also small, and rather silent, considering that the Lan Sect considered it a sin to speak during meals. Even A-Yuan seemed to have learned to stay silent while he ate, though he still had that same smile that had always lighted up the days at the Burial Mounds. Still, a wedding without wine was quite lame and definitely not what he would have wanted… though he didn´t have to consume alcohol if he wanted to feed his daughter later.

“A-Niang!!!” A-Yuan ran towards him when the dinner was over. He allowed the child to jump to his arms, hugging him. There were some murmurs, but the few kunzes amongst them seemed to find that a good thing. He could tell that they were murmuring that at least he had some motherly instincts. “A-Die!!! I´m so happy!!!”

“Thank you, A-Yuan” he said, keeping his eyes on him. Lan Zhan also looked at the child with a soft expression. Wei Wuxian felt a bit calmer. He knew from their previous interaction that his husband would never hurt the child, but that was an extra reassurance. “How about you tell your sister the next time…”

“Lan-er-furen, here” his maid approached, extending him a cup. She did the same for her distant cousin. “Hanguang-Jun”

“Mnn”

“Thank you”

Apparently, it was time for a last drink before retiring for the wedding chamber. Strange, he hadn´t even noticed that it had passed so much time, deep in his thoughts. A-Yuan looked up at him, but he smiled as he put down his child. Lan Qiren approached and took the child away as Lan Xichen, as Sect Leader, made a toast to his younger brother´s wedding. As they drank what they were served, Wei Wuxian couldn´t help but feel that whatever he was served was too sweet. Almost as sweet as if he was drinking sugar, though he could feel some herbs and flowers he recognized because of the different teas he had sampled with his Shijie once upon a time. Lan Zhan offered him his hand… he guessed it was time to return to his prison. Much to his surprise, he was not taken to the Gentian House, but to the Jingshi. As he was allowed to enter, taking his veil off completely once inside, Lan Zhan turned to face him.

“Xiozhang gave me permission to spend our wedding night in my own personal rooms” he explained, as expressionless as ever. The former Yiling Patriarch looked at him with a bit of suspicion. What was going to happen now? He technically knew what they were supposed to do, but… wasn´t Lan Zhan supposedly still injured. “I thought we should talk somewhere we felt more comfortable.”

“I heard… that the house I´m currently residing in was your mother´s.”

“En”

That certainly killed the mood, for both of them. The kunze could understand why, as he had already heard the history of his mother-in-law. Quingheng-Jun supposedly trapped her in there and Lan Qiren raised his nephews instead of their parents, only allowing them to see their mother once a month… pretty much like A-Yuan and he feared Fuutie would be when she was finally weaned. A hand covered his middle, wondering how someone could survive to being separated from his children. Only the thought of that made him want to vomit. Also… he was unsure on how to start whatever… he meant… he didn´t even remember what he did his first time, how was that… well… he knew he was famous for being a flirt, but he had never allowed things to progress this far… and the only time this happened he was… suddenly, he was starting to feel hot. Was that expectation…

“Wei Ying, we should talk.”

“Lan Zhan…” he started panting. No, this was not expectation.

“I won´t…”

“Lan Zhan, what´s happening?”

He couldn’t help himself but ask, as he felt his cheeks heat up. He tried to remember a time when he had felt this, but nothing came to mind. At least not until he returned to the day he destroyed one half of his Yin Tiger Tally. His body started to lose strength even to stay standing… or sitting. He felt himself fall to his knees as he started to sweat a lot, so he loosened his robes a bit. It didn´t change anything. Whatever that was burning him down must be coming from the inside. But what…

“Wei Ying!!!” Lan Zhan approached him, probably to help, but stopped to cover his mouth with his robes as if he had smelled something… “Heat? But how…”

He was in heat? But that was impossible. Lan Meng Die had explained at least the bare minimum to him and she had made sure to cover the heats really well. And, unless she was lying, he had at least a few months more before his heat came, if at all. Also, his first heat after a pregnancy shouldn´t be that strong, as his body was barely recovering from carrying his daughter and she was still feeding from him. He still was at risk of getting pregnant again, but the healer told him that a contraceptive pill should take care of that. Contraceptive that he had not taken because he wasn´t going into heat yet!!

He felt his robes soaking from something that was coming… oh, Heavens, he was truly going into heat!! And with Lan Zhan there!! Well… he guessed that he had already shared a heat with Lan Zhan, the one in which they mate, but he was so out of it from having to destroy the Yin Tiger Tally and fighting the Siege force that he barely remembered something at all. Besides, he didn´t want to get pregnant again, not so soon after his first baby, who he wanted to enjoy before even thinking of having another one. He couldn´t… not now, definitely not now. But apparently there was no other choice. Not if he was going into such a powerful heat

“Lan… Lan Zhan…”

“Wei Ying…” suddenly he was in the air, being carrying to the bedroom by his husband. He laid him in bed, ripping his clothed off, though he didn´t make anything more. It made him feel better for one or two minutes, but he continued burning up. “No…”

“Lan Zhan… I´m burning… help me…”

“Mnnn” the white clad qyanyuan clutched his chest. He didn´t know what was happening to him, but he looked in pain. It must not have been anything good. “Wei Ying…”

“Lan Zhan, please…”

“Here” Hanguang-Jun moved so fast that he nearly lost it. Fortunately, he was not as lost in the heat as to completely forget what was happening. Not yet.
“Swallow.”

“What?”

“Swallow” Lan Wangji instructed again. “Trust me”

Wei Wuxian looked at what he was being offered. It was a pill, as simple as that. He opened his mouth and took the thing in, swallowing it fast. Lan Zhan took a few steps back and waited for a moment. The former Yiling Patriarch wondered how long he was going to wait. He was burning, unable to present any resistance, and practically only opened his mouth to plead for his husband to take him. A wish he only started to grant after a long moment of them both feeling bad. As Lan Zhan kissed his mouth. He responded, drinking in his scent of sandalwood and his kisses as if it was fresh water to refresh his burning body.

“Lan Zhan…”

“Wei Ying…”

“Lan Zhan…”

He remembered nothing more, only… a sensation of pleasure that made his body contort in delight. But the rest was a blur, too confusing to even try to remember. As he woke up again, he found himself back in his usual room in the Gentian House. His whole body was hurting everywhere, especially his stomach. He wouldn´t be surprised if he had some sort of internal bleeding… where was his Fuutie? Where was A-Yuan? If he was truly going to die now, he would want to see them… at least once… more…

“Hello, how are you feeling?” Lan Meng Die asked, holding a bowl of water with ice and a rag on her hands. “Come on, I will help you sit down. Then you can drink some fresh water and recover a bit more” he tried to do it by himself, but it was hurting too much. The old woman approached and helped him. “Easy, it was hard to stabilize you after the stress your body was put under. You are highly dehydrated too.”

“What happened?”

“Some of the Elders believed that they knew more about healing than an actual healer and slipped a heat inducer to you in that last drink. They also slipped a rut inducer to Hanguang-Jun in that moment… I don´t know what they were thinking” she shook her head. “Idiots, the only thing they managed was to put you both in danger. Hanguang-Jun´s injuries reopened because of the… consequences of that drug. And you were put in more danger, as your body is in no condition to carry another child so soon after the last one” he could already tell what kind of consequences they were. Also why his middle hurt so much. “At least Wangji prepared for something like that…”

“What?” he remembered swallowing that pill that same moment. What was that anyway?

“He asked me for a contraceptive before the ceremony, I think in preparation if something like this were to happen” she sighed, then smiled weakly. “I told you that he was going to take care of you.”

“So… I´m not going to have another baby?”

“Highly unlikely. I´m a master making medicines, contraceptives between them. Nothing is perfect, but I can say that I reduced the possibilities with that” she answered. “And, even if you were expecting, it would probably end in an early miscarriage because your body is not ready to carry again. Besides you were still lactating. And while you weren´t completely safe from that, even a kunze´s body has reduced fertility while they are nurturing their children.”

“But…”

“I´m pretty sure, but I´m still going to examine you in a few weeks” she assured him. “Carrying children too often is dangerous even for kunzes. You need time to heal and this chemical induced heat has affected that process” she sighed again. “You should prepare yourself for some visits though, Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen are not happy at all.”

“I guess they don´t like that Lan Zhan was put in danger…”

“Nor you” she answered. “And while I was a little glad that Qiren still has some decency and Xichen the capability to get angry; I´m more concerned about you at the moment. Just as Wangji was.”

“Lan Zhan? Why would he…”

“That boy would follow you to the grave in less than a week if you were to die, haven´t you learned that yet?” Lan Meng Die raised an eyebrow. “anyway, you should rest. Take more tea too, you are going to need it.”

“Thank you” there was some crying from the wooden crib on the side of the bed. “Is that Fuu… A-Li?”

“Yes, she is” the healer went and picked the baby up, shushing her expertly. Still, she didn´t seem to settle down until she was in her mother´s arms. “She missed you a lot. And I think she is more than hungry, as she didn´t take to the wetnurse that well.”

“She didn´t?”

“Apparently, she didn´t like to be feed by anyone who is not her mother” she smiled softly, helping him carry her as Fuutie settled down. “A-Yuan was told that you got sick, by the way. And Lan Xichen said that he would bring him with him when he returned.”

“A-Yuan…”

It seemed like a bribe, but he couldn´t say no to a chance to see his son earlier than expected. And he thought that not even Lan Quiren would consider this visit a planned one, not with how angry he supposedly was with the elders for slipping him and Lan Zhan those drugs. Anyway, like he said, he couldn´t say no. Not if A-Yuan was coming to visit him and his sister. He wondered for a moment if Lan Zhan was alright. Lan Meng Die said that his injuries opened again, with a bit of luck he wouldn´t have lost that much blood. He really hoped no.

-Earlier, in the Jingshi-

“HOW DARE YOU?!! HOW DARE YOU USE WHAT I TAUGHT YOU IN SUCH A WAY?!!”

“IT WAS AN ORDER FROM THE ELDERS!!! WHY WOULD I DISOBEY?!”

Hearing loud voices in the Cloud Recesses was strange enough, but it was the smell of fresh blood the one that alerted Lan Wangji that something wasn´t right. His first instinct was to check on Wei Ying, who he found was passed out by his side on a bed that reeked of pheromones and sex. He wasn´t an expert healer, but he could tell just by sight that his mate wasn´t injured, merely worn out… and dehydrated. He new that this kind of things could happen to kunzes after a heat, they produced a lot of slick during the estrus period, but not enough to put him in that condition. Lan Wangji tried to get up, but he ended up only finding that the smell of fresh blood came from him. His injuries from the discipline whip had opened again… he needed a healer now. He got out of bed, decided to get that healer not only for himself but for Wei Ying. He managed to get down, where Lan Meng Die seemed to be fighting with her granddaughter, even baring her teeth in a way a kunze almost never did. Whatever the elders have ordered Lan Qingqing to do… no, that could wait.

“Lan Meng Die…”

“Hanguang-Jun!!” her expression turned from angry into one of deep worry. Even Lan Qingqing seemed horrified about what she had done as she saw him with his robes stained by that much blood. “Hanguang-Jun, please don´t move that much” she used her spiritual energy to perform a healing, but he was going to need more than that. “I said it was a bad idea when they asked, why couldn´t they have just listened?”

“Wei Ying…”

“I know what you are trying to say, I´m going to see him in a moment” she looed back, at her granddaughter, who hadn´t move. “Come here, Qing-er, see to Hanguang-Jun. I need to make sure our new furen doesn´t die from lack of water.”

“Grandmother…”

“I don´t want to listen to you right now, I will start screaming again. Better to leave that for later” she said as she sent a glare towards the younger healer. “I will make sure he is stable and then take him to the Silence House. Qing-er, once you have sealed the injuries, escort Hanguang-Jun to the seclusion room. Thanks to you and those idiots, he is going to need to spend more time in seclusion now.”

“I´m sorry, I didn’t want…”

“It´s not moment for apologies, take care of him” she ordered in a way that reminded him more of the commanders he had seen in the Sunshot Campaign than the gentle healer he was used to. “Like I said, I had some other problems.”

“Wait” Lan Wangji stopped her before she could head inside.

“Hanguang-Jun?”

“I… the bottle… the pills… take them with you and make sure Wei Ying has access to them… his choice” he gritted his teeth, feeling even more pain as he whispered to his distant aunt. “Wei Ying should have a choice of when…”

“I understand your wishes”

As Lan Meng Die went to take care of Wei Ying, he looked at Lan Qingqing. He knew that the woman had been his mother´s head maid when she was still locked up in that place… he also knew that she respected her a lot and thought that she shouldn´t have been locked up. Unfortunately, that aspect of her didn´t seem to generate much sympathy for the new occupant of the house that had been once his mother´s prison. In fact, he knew only from the screams that he heard before, so rare in Cloud Recesses, that she didn´t have any for his husband and wasn´t afraid of doing things on orders of the elders that could damage him in any way. So he needed to remover her from Wei Ying´s vicinity before she does something even more dangerous…

He didn´t have time to talk to his uncle or brother before he was escorted to the seclusion room, where he started to focus on his recovery. There were a lot of things to talk about with Wei Ying… things they should have talked about that night… their encounter barely counted as one, as they had been trying not to look at each other in the eyes during all of it. He could only hope that the pill took effect, because if not…

“A-Zhan, are you there?” he heard Xichen´s voice through the door. He didn´t answer, so the Sect Leader entered with a worried face. He must have received a message from Lan Meng Die then, informing him of his state. “Oh, A-Zhan!! I was hoping that it was a misunderstanding, that the Elders wouldn´t dare!! Nor Lan Qingqing!!”

“Xiozhang… Shufu…” he tried to bow, but his back threatened to open again. Lan Qiren shook his head, clearly signaling that it could wait. No point in making his injuries worse than they already were.

“This shouldn´t have happened” his uncle said, clearly worried and angry on his behalf. “More heirs would have come naturally later, I´m sure of that. There was no need to make your state worse by turning you mad with a rut inducing drug.”

“Shufu… Lan Qingqing…”

“I will punish her harshly and any Elder involved in this incident too” he promised. “You were obviously not ready to share a heat with your mate.”

“Shufu, Wei Ying?”

“What´s the matter with him? He is fine so long as I know” Lan Qiren obviously didn´t care for Wei Ying, at least not beyond if he was alive or not, and only because of the possibility of his youngest nephew following him to the grave if he were to die. “Lan Meng Die has treated patients in a much worse condition than the one he is in now. Xichen is even taking Sizhui to visit him early when he wakes up.”

“Yes, he was very worried for him” his brother said, assuring him that he would honor his promise to his nephew. “The best way for him to see that there is nothing to worry about now is that he sees him when he is on route to recovery.”

“Xiozhang” he looked at his brother seriously. “I want Lan Qingqing away from Wei Ying.”

“What?!” Lan Qiren asked. “But Wangji!! She is a highly competent healer, perhaps the best apart from her grandmother!! I know that she has… committed a great mistake by giving you and your husband medication that clearly was going to have a negative impact on your health and I assure you that she is going to be punished for that, but she was only listening to a few Elders that were wrong in their…”

“I want her away from Wei Ying.” He said firmly.

“Wangji…”

“Shufu, I think Wangji is right” Lan Xichen intervened. “Lan Qingqing might be a good healer, but she has shown that we can´t trust her with my brother-in-law´s health. It´s better to leave him to Lan Meng Die, who apart from competent is much less likely to allow the Elders to do something as risky as this again.”

“She might be married to an Elder, but that doesn´t mean…”

“Lan Meng Die is the head healer for a reason, Shufu, and despite not being an Elder herself, she is highly respected by anyone that has ever visited the healing wing” the Sect Leader continued. “And being married to an Elder gives her some protection… they won´t dare to threaten her.”

“Xichen, we still have to…”

“Then I will select another maid for brother-in-law, one that won´t risk his health” Lan Xichen continued, clearly agreeing with his brother. “I also think that perhaps we need to give her some time to think. Her stance in the house that was once my mother´s is clearly affecting her judgement. It´s not surprising, considering how much time she was at my late mother´s service and that she saw her die in there.”

“Xichen…” Lan Qiren crossed his arms. “If that is your final answer, then I won´t put any more objections. But keep in mind that the chosen one has to be competent.”

“We have many people like that in our Sect.” he continued, giving his uncle an conciliatory smile. “Don´t you agree, Shufu?”

“Yes, I agree”

Notes:

Hello!! By the way, Wei Ying isn´t expecting another child yet. His body is definitely not ready for that after a few weeks of giving birth... not that the elders cared, to them he is merely some breeding stock for their second young master. We will be getting some reactions to the news that are going to get out of Cloud Recesses now... care to share your theories about how some of the characters are going to react?

Chapter 9

Wei Wuxian was sleeping heavily, having been awake for most of the night attending to his cranky daughter. No one had ever told him that having a baby would be such a big work, specially after said babe had been fed milk from a nursemaid since he went into that chemical induced heat… something that had given his lotus butterfly not only stomachache but the will to make everyone around her miserable for the next couple of days, only calming down after hours of being in her mother´s arms… only to begin crying again when the baby was put down on the… in a few words, her precious lotus butterfly had been a nightmare since he had left her for a few days. Well, at least she seemed to be settling down, returning to her usual fussy but manageable baby self… except for when feeding time arrived.

The curtains were opened to let in the air, waking him up entirely. He buried his face in his pillows, hoping that they allowed him a few more hours of sleep. That nasty Lan Qingqing couldn´t have come back so quickly, couldn´t she? The woman was terrible and she had given him something that could have possibly killed him on his own wedding. He hoped that he never saw her again or, wards to keep ghosts and resentful energy out or not, he would find a way to make her regret even looking at him.

“Good morning, I need to give you an examination today to make sure that you are in your way to recover” Wei Ying groaned, burying himself more on the bed. “Look on the bright side, if this exam ends up well, you are going to be able to breastfeed your child again.”

This sweetened his day enough so he sat down and allowed the woman to give him a thoroughly examination… which ended up really well, because as soon as the baby started to cry again, she was taken to her mother and Wei Ying was finally able to put her to his breast again. She suckled as if she hadn´t eaten in days, practically leaving him dry. Even if the milk had never stopped flowing, he had been dangerous dehydrated after the chemical heat, so he hadn´t been able to feed his baby until his body recovered. Not only because it was too little an amount of milk it was able to fabricate, but because he needed to repose other very important minerals inside of him or he risked dying by breastfeeding his child. Apparently, losing not only too much water, but too much minerals was dangerous to the body. First time he heard something like that.

“She seems less fussy than normal” Lan Meng Die said as her patient burped the infant over his shoulder. Wei Wuxian looked down at the child, who yawned cutely. A few rocks later and she was asleep. She had spent so much time crying lately that she was probably exhausted, the poor thing. “Do you think you can get up to lay her down?”

“Yes, I´m feeling much better.” Wei Wuxian carefully got out of bed and walked towards the basin that was always in the room to lay his baby to sleep. And, for some miracle or sheer exhaustion, she remained asleep. “I wouldn´t want to go through something like that ever again though.”

“Nor should you. It was not only too soon after your labor, but put your body under too much stress” Lan Meng Die put her hands on her hips. “I have already had a talk with the elder, and more importantly, with Lan Quiren and the Sect Leader. They agree in that the plan was too risky to both you and Wangji… just look at how you two end up like?”

“Lan Zhan…” now that he remembered, the healer said that his wounds have reopened and worsened because of the Elder´s plan. “Is he alright?”

“He is gotten bedridden again and might take more time to heal, but he eventually will.”

“I´m glad” he answered, exhaling in relief. “I wish him a speedy recovery”

He was definitely not worried about Lan Zhan, but he was the only one who could keep A-Yuan and A-Li safe in case the Elders decided to finally get rid of him. Besides, he was the reason the Lan Sect decided to keep him alive, even if he was caged. He needed him alive. Also… he was… kind of his friend… from back then when they were teenagers… even if he was against his cultivation… now that he had gotten what he wanted, Lan Zhan wasn´t that bad either. When they had gotten back together, at least he had tried to threat him with respect instead of simply claiming him… at least before the drug kicked in and such activities became necessary.

“You don´t need to worry about that child, he isn´t going to leave you alone after fighting so much to keep you safe” Wei Wuxian had his doubts about that being what Lan Zhan wanted, but he might have decided that losing everything was punishment enough. And being able to see A-Yuan only once a month…

“This one is who you should be worrying about. Soon you are going to have a toddler running around.”

“She hasn´t even been weaned yet”

“Yes… but take this from an older kunze and veteran mother, it happens before you could even believe it.” Lan Meng Die said, looking down at the baby in the crib with love “One night you will be holding her in your arms, the other she is going to start crawling and from then to run all over the place is just one step.”

“And then Lan Quiren will take her from me.”

“He is not a bad person, he won´t do anything bad to your children if you are afraid of that” the woman tried to sooth his worries. “He will also keep his word. Your children will be allowed to come and visit you once a month…”

“I should be able to raise my children, I… couldn´t imagine it any other way” Wei Wuxian was surprised with how easily tears came to his eyes. “I can´t even imagine to remain so much time far away from A-Yuan when I had him by his side each day…”

“You knew that he eventually would need to go to classes and meet other children, make friends” the female put a hand on his shoulder. “He couldn´t remain by your side forever, he also deserves a life.”

“Yes, but your child going to school and returning to you in the afternoon to tell you how wonderful his day was and how many friends he made in the day is not the same as seeing him and hearing that only once a month.”

Lan Meng Die didn´t seem to have a retort for that. Instead, she decided to cheer Wei Wuxian up with the news that, thanks to her role in the Elder´s plan and Hanguang-Jun´s displeasure with her, Lan Qingqing had been removed from her position as his head lady-in-waiting. She instead presented him to her youngest granddaughter, a girl who seemed like she barely have left her growing years behind. She looked a bit like her cousin, but instead of a scowl, she had a nice smile in her face. She presented herself as Lan Qingjiao, then proceeded to help Wei Ying carefully in front of the mirror. The girl then produced two boxes, one larger and another smaller, which she handed to him.

“Hanguang-Jun in person designed them. He asked Zewu-Jun as a favor to make them for you and he decided that it was a good moment to give them to you.” She smiled sweetly. “A wedding gift.”

“Lan Zhan… designed them for me?” he asked in disbelieve. “Let me see”

The first box contained a hairbrush. But it was not one of the normal hairbrushes that people used in their day to day. This one was richly decorated, obviously designed to be used as both a comb and an ornament. You could easily see the mastery of the maker and the quality of the wood in the carvings that imitated lotus flowers blooming over a pond. As he allowed the girl to take it from him so she could start combing his hair. He knew that some qyanyuan or zhongyun gifted combs to their brides as wedding presents, but he never thought that he would receive one. Madam Yu hadn´t received one, she wouldn´t be happy if he do or dared to give one to his intended. And the second box… he couldn´t believe it when he saw that.

“Oh, that´s a gorgeous dizzy!!” she said with enthusiasm as the instrument was picked up from the box. “Hanguang-Jun must truly appreciate you if he ordered this specially for you from one of Gusu´s master artisan.”

It was truly a masterpiece, made by a master artisan… Lan Zhan even added a small, delicate lotus flower near the mouth of the flute… it made him remember Chenquing so much that he nearly cried. But what actually made him do so was the thing that accompanied it. He had never known what happened to his old clarity bell… he should have returned it to the Jiangs anyway when he got married into the Lan Sect… if they would have been there to give him up to his groom… but he could never have guessed that Lan Zhan was the one that had it. Or that he had kept it with him. Tears flowed down his eyes with freedom as he clutched the small part of his past, of the family he used to have, that he never thought he would have back with him. In a certain way, it was…

“WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

The cry from his daughter snapped him out of that state. He looked around, knowing that his girl won´t stop until she was in the arms of her mother. The poor child must be turning red by now. Wei Wuxian was ready to dash out of the room when the wetnurse herself came to hand him over his daughter. Lan Qingjiao started to gush over the pretty little girl as she brushed Wei Ying´s hair. As A-Li calmed down, the smell of milk and mother working it´s magic on her tiny self, a few tears escaped from his eyes. Without much else on hand that might to entertain the little girl, he grabbed the clarity bell and started to jingle it in front of her face. It captivated her immediately, stopping her crying and making her want to grab it, making adorable sounds.

“Do you like it, A-Li? It´s a clarity bell. This works against illusion and other mental attacks from evil spirits” he explained, still playing with his daughter, concentrating on her so much that he didn´t even notice that she hadn´t used one of those hairstyles her cousin liked to force on him, but the one that he normally used as the Yiling Patriarch. It was much more comfortable. “It´s a pretty bell, don´t you think? It makes ling-ling.”

The baby merely continued trying to reach the shiny object. She was so entranced by it that Wei Ying couldn´t help but smile. Again, he noticed how his child was the only one who could get a smile out of him these days. Something that was so common to him before, even when he was in the Burrial Mounds… or on the verge of death…

“She is such a cute baby, no?” the girl continued, placing the comb Lan Zhan had sent him right where his hair tie was. “And I have had the opportunity to see her older brother too, he is such a little charmer… reminds me a bit of Hanguang-Jun when he was that age… though he is certainly more friendly, like Zewu-Jun was” she continued, smiling sweetly. “And Lan Quiren is impressed in how fast he is progressing in his studies?”

“A-Yuan? You have seen my A-Yuan?”

“Only once, at the wedding, but I have heard a few things about him around the Cloud Recesses” she said. “And I´m sure this Young Mistress is going to grow up to be like her older brother and father, talented and graceful. Though she is also going to have the beauty of her mother… and her grandmother” she tickled the nose of the child, who merely ignored her in favor of the bell. “I heard Cangse Sanren was not only a talented cultivator but a beautiful woman who attracted looks everywhere she went.”

“I won´t know, I… I don´t remember much of her.” Wei Wuxian admitted, feeling a pang in his heart. “I was too little when mother and father died, and Jiang shushu didn´t tell me much about them… as for Madam Yu…”

“What a pity” she said, looking back at the child on her master´s arms again. “Perhaps one of your children will stir your memory of her.” She continued. “Oh, I have something for you” then she added, almost as if she had forgotten. “I know that my cousin liked to put gentians in your rooms to bother you, I apologize for that. I took the liberty to bring some lotus flowers to cheer you up.”

“Thank you”

Wei Ying was glad, clearly thankful. The lotus flowers made him feel safe, though what he would want the most in that situation would be a couple of spices to add some Yummeng flavor to the bland Lan food he had been eating since he was confined to that house or a few lotus pods full of seeds… the flowers still cheer him up. Specially because they were a soft tone of purple that brought him memories of the home he lost.

“I wanted you to feel more at home here” Lan Qingjiao continued, softly arranging the flowers so they looked prettier. “I know that you haven´t felt safe in a long time… I can´t even begin to think about what you experienced in the Burial Mounds and the Siege… but here you can be safe, relax and see your children grow up well. You won´t have to worry about the cultivation world out there.”

Wei Wuxian had also thought of that. And those words… they stuck to his mind somehow. The ones Lan Qingqing and now Lan Qingjiao said. To the cultivation world, he was dead. Confined in that small house, no one needed to know that he was still alive or that the children of the paragon of virtue, Hanguang-Jun, were his too. And… it was better that way. Lan Yuan and Lan Lihua would be respected as Lan Zhan´s children and a mysterious woman that couldn´t get out of her house because of her frailty. They wouldn´t be affected by his horrible reputation, which would give them a true chance in life… maybe this was for the better. But… could he really live like that? Confined in that place, only visited by Lan Zhan and seeing his children once a month if he was lucky? Could he truly…

“Do you think… old man Lan… I mean, Grandmaster Lan will take A-Li from me like he took A-Yuan? That she will only be able to visit me once a month?”

“Well… I know for sure he did that for his nephews… but I don´t know if he would do that to you.” she shrugged. “Besides, I´m sure even Lan-xiasheng will soften with time. If you are obedient and good, then I´m sure he could allow them to visit more… once they are older.”

“I don´t want to miss anything.”

“You won´t have to, not if you follow the rules. Here, it´s easy” she continued. Wei Wuxian frowned, he had always had a problem with following rules… but with the wards in the House it was difficult not to follow them. He couldn´t even step out into the garden without being allowed to… “You will see, the Grandmaster and Sect Leader will notice your progress and allow you some privileges... perhaps sooner if a new little one comes soon?”

“I´m still breastfeeding A-Li” he said, frowning.

“Of course!! I wasn´t meaning now!!” she continued being her friendly self. “But haven´t you thought about that? Do you want more in the future, no?”

Wei Ying hasn´t really thought about it. He enjoyed raising A-Yuan and was enjoying A-Li as much as he could before Lan Quiren took her from him, but… and Lan Zhan… he might have fussy memories of that chemical heat, as he did of the heat in which his daughter had came to be, but he knew that Lan Zhan had given him the choice to not have more children if it was his wish. He loved the ones he had now and knew that he would love any that came after just as much, but… does he really want more? He… he was starting to think that… he could think about it for some time still, but… he didn´t know…

“Just think about it” Lan Qingjiao continued, softly placing a hand on his shoulder. “Another little one in your arms to keep with you, even if Lan Qiren imposes his rules on the ones you currently have… even he won´t take a newborn from it´s mother.”

“I…”

“Now, breakfast should be ready!!” the handmaid said in the cheerful tone. “How about you take it before the Young Mistress decides that she wants her own?”
The former Yiling Patriarch nodded, hungry. He knew that his daughter had a voracious appetite and if she decided that she wanted to eat, he wouldn´t be able to leave the room in a long time. Still clutching his baby to his chest, he followed his head maid to the lower floor, where his breakfast was already being put in place. Sitting down and placing the girl in his lap, he took his chopsticks and started to eat. The food was bland, but at least the cooks had put three bowls of rice along with the bland food. Maybe it was only because he was still producing milk to nourish the daughter of their precious Hanguang-Jun… maybe having another child wouldn´t be that bad of an idea… he might… think about it… after speaking with Lan Zhan.

-Later, in another place-

“I heard that you have made some changes since becoming Lan-er-furen´s head handmaid” the Elder said, using a disgusted tone when he spoke the title, as Lan Qingjiao smiled softly. “Hanguang-Jun might have demanded that Lan Qingqing was replaced, but we didn´t appoint you to spoil that criminal.”

“My cousin had a hard approach to the issue, and perhaps that´s why she gained both grandmother´s and Hanguang-Jun´s enmity. She was trying to intimidate Wei Wuxian to make him behave… also there is the issue with her drugging him with a heat inducer while he was still recovering from a labor.” She continued. “Even I know it´s not a good idea.”

“Well… apart from that…”

“Like I said, people like Lan-er-furen require a softer approach. One that might take time, but they will gain us not only his full submission, but the children you want to get from him” she continued. “I only ask you to give me time to achieve this.”

“Very well”

The Elders dismissed her with a handshake. Lan Qingjiao bowed and left. In her face was
a smile that didn´t fit with her friendly image. Deep inside of her, the woman knew that she wasn´t what the clan was expecting from a descendant from her grandmother. She wasn´t talented at healing nor was she a strong cultivator. But she had something in her favor, and that was that she could convince people. Once she knew them, with some time to work her magic on them, she can get into their heads and plant some ideas in them… the person ended up thinking that it was their own idea and not her own. Or whatever the Elders wanted them to think. Of course, it didn´t work on everyone, but she got the feeling that she might be able to do her magic on Wei Wuxian.

Ahhhh… Wei Wuxian… Hanguang-Jun´s beloved. She was one of the few that had noticed that her virtuous cousin didn’t hate the demonic cultivator at all. In fact, she might have been the only one that had noticed that he would do anything to save him. So, when he returned mated to that criminal, she wasn´t as surprised as the rest of the clan. What surprised her was the child and the pregnancy. But his proven fertility had made the Elders become a bit… less angry at the prospect of harboring a criminal. After all, kunzes were known for being fertile and losing less pregnancies than other genders. So, so long as he was kept confined in a place where he couldn´t use his dark arts, the Elders would allow Lan Wangji to keep his mate alive and well. Also, they wanted to get a few more children out of Wei Wuxian. After all, what were kunzes there for but pushing out children for their husbands? And it wasn´t like her cousin had a problem with putting a child in the belly of the love of his life. She knew he had given him contraceptives, saying that it was Wei Wuxian´s decision if they had more children… so she was going to put it on his head that he needed to avoid taking them. Then the Elders will be happy with her progress, much more than with Lan Qingqing…

“A-Jiao, what a surprise to find you here?”

“Zewu-Jun” she bowed in respect to her Sect Leader. “I was merely returning home to put everything in order before the time to sleep. With your permission…”

“Wait, I wanted to talk to you about something” Lan Xichen stopped her, his eyes worried. She understood him, the Elders´ and her cousin´s stupid mistake, whatever recovery his brother had achieved had been lost. The only thing they regretted about that failed attempt at getting more children out of the newlywed couple. “I won´t take much of your time, you will still arrive home in time not to break the curfew.”

“Thank you, Sect Leader” she bowed again. “What do you want to ask? Is it something about your new brother-in-law?”

“Yes, I… want to ask about his condition after what Lan Qingqing did. I know that heats put a lot of stress on the body of a kunze, even if they are natural. One unnatural and while he is breastfeeding…”

“Don´t worry, he seems to be recovering well. My grandmother has made him drink lots of tea and nutritive soups to restore his health completely. Though she says that it would be a mistake to attempt to have a child on his first heat after weaning A-Li.”

“We were not going to attempt that, Wangji´s injuries have completely reopened after what happened and he is going to have to remain in seclusion for some time, perhaps missing that heat and a few more… I think we might have to get creative to alleviate his symptoms with Wangji unable to do so.”
“I understand, but…”

“Is… he well?” Lan Xichen surprised her with his concern about his brother´s mate. To the rest of the Lan Sect that knew about his existence, Wei Wuxian was merely a womb to produce more Lan heirs. Why was the Sect Leader concerned about his happiness? “I know he had a few rough days… and he used to be such a free soul when I met him during the disciple exchange... a troublemaker but with a good heart, one that might still be there… I just can´t imagine him being happy confined.”

“I assure you that I´m taking all the measures to make sure that he is comfortable” she answered sweetly. “And he might get used to it” not that he had any other option. “Between us, taking care of A-Li has been taking his mind out of unpleasant thoughts.”
“That soothes my soul, thank you” he said. “Now I can depart with a lighter heart.”
“Depart? You are leaving, Sect Leader?”
“Yes, to Lanling” Zewu-Jun nodded. “I have to discuss some things with my sworn brothers and A-Yao has been nice enough to offer his home for us to have that conversation. I hope that this brings our Sects together more firmly.”

“Then I wish you luck, Sect Leader”

She bowed and left. Lianfang-Zun, eh? Lan Qingjiao didn´t have anything against him, but like recognizes like. And while she had been raising in Gusu under
the strict rules of the Sect, so she only used her magic when it was needed, she was sure that Jin Guangyao used his own manipulation gifts for much darker purposes. All in his benefit, of course.

Well, she didn´t have to worry too much about that. Zewu-Jun might have a lot of trust in both his sworn brothers but he would never reveal the information about Lan Wangji´s mate being Wei Wuxian. He knew what it could mean for his Sect for that information to get out. And so long as whatever he was planning didn´t affect the Lan Sect, she didn´t care for whatever he did. Her problem was Wei Wuxian and making sure that he behaves like a good little baby factory for Hanguang-Jun, all while remaining out of sight. And that´s what she was going to do.

-Cloud Recesses, the next day-

Lan Yuan was putting a lot of attention to the class, trying to better his calligraphy as he wrote something in the paper in front of him. By his side, his friend Jinghi was having a lot of troubles not staining his clothes with ink, while A-Yuan had already passed that phase. Soon, the teacher called for the end of the class. The boy picked up his things and went out of the classroom, talking to Jinghi as softly as he could, as to not break the rule about being too loud in the Cloud Recesses…

“A-ghi”

“Mother!!”

But Jinghi couldn´t help it but being loud. He ran towards his mother, who held him up and hugged him to her chest with love. Around him, a lot of children were being picked up by their parents. It was something that he had seen many times before, but hadn´t paid attention too much too until… until now. Why weren´t his parents there for him? He knew that his A-Die was hurt, so he couldn´t, but his A-niang…

“Jinghi” he approached the other boy. “Your parents and you live in the same house?”

“Wha… of course we do!!” the child said, looking at his friend as if he was insane. Then remember what happened to Hanguang-Jun and put a sad face. “I know that you are ad about Hanguang—Jun and want him to be there, but don´t worry. I´m sure that in no time he will heal and return to you and you’re a-niang.”

“You’re a-niang… lives with you too?”

“Why are you asking this?”

“Are you allowed to see her daily, not once a month?”

“A-Yuan, you are being weird today.” The child put his hands on his hips. “Do you want me and a-niang to take you to a doctor?”

“No, I…”

“A-Yuan, there you are” Grandmaster Lan arrived himself, making Jinghi shake in fear and his mother salute. “I was just thinking about where you have gone to.”

“I´m sorry, granduncle. It won´t happen again.”

A-Yuan went to Elegance Hall with his uncle, then they had a silent meal. All the time, the child was looking at the old man, but as he knew that speaking while eating was forbidden in the Cloud Recesses… the chopsticks of the both of them were down before Lan Qiren finally said something.

“I know that you want to ask me something” he said. “Please, don´t refrain. I will pass whatever knowledge I…”

“Why can´t I live with A-Die and A-Niang? Why can I only see A-Niang once a month?” the Grandmaster was rendered speechless. “Jinghi sees his every day and they even…”

“A-Yuan” the cold voice stopped him immediately. “I know that you love your mother, and I don´t blame you for that. He took care of you, loves you… but you have to understand that he also did a lot of terrible deeds in the past, so he is confined to that house. As for the visits, you are lucky we are even allowing the contact between you two.”

“Oh”

A-Yuan looked down, trying to remember what terrible deeds A-Niang had done. But he didn´t remember. Also… it didn´t seem fair. He should be allowed to remain with A-Niang. A-Niang have never taught him anything wrong and he even made the radishes play with him. And gifted A-Die some of the rabbits that were now on the back mountain. A bad person wouldn´t have done that, no?

Notes:

Gaslighting and reproductive abuse... what else could happen? Review if you want to know.

Chapter 10

Wei Wuxian was watching animatedly as his daughter learned to crawl, taking a few unsure… how was it called? Not steps, because she wasn´t walking. Anyway, he was in the mood to celebrate as his child hit another milestone in her development. And apparently mastered it quickly too, because the next hour he was chasing her through the Gentian House´s lower floor as she crawled everywhere. It seemed that this new freedom was really interesting to her, the unruly little thing didn´t seem to get tired. Just like his mother…

“I see that some things never change” a severe voice suddenly said. “You are as unruly as ever, even when you are a prisoner to be contained.”

Wei Wuxian froze when he heard those words. At his feet, his daughter stopped crawling and sat down, sitting down to look up at her mother. She still didn´t talk, but she seemed to be able to read the room better than any other person he had seen. His first instinct was to get down and grab her in his arms, but he stayed frozen. Lan Qiren didn´t make a sound, only looked in deep judgement as he walked towards his nephew´s mate. The hands of his baby pulling his robes at his feet made him finally react. He reached down and grabbed the girl, hugging her close to his body. He knew very well that the Grandmaster hadn´t been a fan of allowing the young mistress of his Sect and his own grandniece in the hands of her criminal mother. And he knew that the Elder still had plans to take her away as soon as she stopped needing his milk.

“Wangji is going to heal enough to come out of seclusion again for a short time. He has expressed the wish to see and talk to you before he returns” he looked at him in disdain. “He also mentioned something about bringing A-Yuan before he comes, and Xichen has given permission for the four of you to be together when he comes.”

“I understand, Lan Xiazheng” he said, bowing as best as he could with a baby trying to reach his hair tie. He had expected the old man to leave as soon as he had said his words, but he remained in his place. With the same expression. “Is there something else?”

“I never understood what was it with you” the man said, approaching. Wei Wuxian almost believed that he was going to take his daughter from him and leave for good, but he stopped himself just in time. “Much less what was that Wangji saw in you to make him obsess with you to that level. I thought once that he wanted to make you pay for your crimes… it took him taking you as a mate for me to understand what he really wanted. I wish I have seen it before, so I could curve those feelings before he took that terrible decision that bonded him to someone like you.”

Wei Wuxian remained in his place, holding his look. He knew that it was defiant from a kunze to do that, but… well, he was already a prisoner. And Lan Quiren was going to take his daughter anyway, no matter what he wanted or if his opinion of him was any lower. So this was… not having anything else to lose. Then his child grabbed fistful of his clothes and clung to him with a strength no baby should have. It nearly made him smile. It seems this one was going to be as rebellious as he was. She was already showing treats of it so young…

“You are a disgrace to our Sect and will remain here for the rest of your life, a prisoner in all but name… a sentence too lax for the likes of you” the Grandmaster continued as he glared at him. “Be grateful that, for Wangji´s sake, I´m willing to endure it. And at least do the duty that has kept you alive. But have this in mind!! I won´t allow you to poison the next generation of our family!! Your son is a Lan, your daughter is a Lan, any child you will give my nephew is going to be a Lan… and I refuse to allow you to teach them your heretical ways. They are going to be raised to be respectable cultivators and you will only be a whisper in the wind, a dark cloud that will eventually pass, while our Sect is kept pure despite it´s descendants carrying yours and Cangse Sanren´s blood.”

“Why mention my mother now?” he asked, curious. He knew that the old man had known both of his parents, but he refused to speak of his mother. Well, to speak anything but the harshest of words about her. “She doesn´t have anything to do with this, not even with my heretical ways.”

“The only thing she was better than you in. She had the same… wildness in her… she refused to be tamed… I´m pretty sure she would eventually developed the same heretical ways as you if she had lived long enough. Or became another Yanling Daoren” the disdain in his voice was noticeable. A lot. Woow, he didn´t know the Grandmaster Lan had such low opinion of his mother, maybe he wouldn´t have come to the guest lectures if he knew. That was probably the source of his instant dislike for him. “At least Wei Changze knew how to behave himself and curved her worst ways. Maybe that´s the reason she didn´t.”

“You haven´t answered my question, Grandmaster Lan” he said again, staring firmly at the old man. “Why mentioning my parents now? I´m the heretic, not them. To my understanding, they were only rouge cultivators of the spiritual path… why mentioning them when you clearly are trying to insult me?”

“I´m only giving you a warning.” He said before turning around to leave. “Don´t think you are going to be able to ever get out of this place or to corrupt the young heirs of the Lan Sect even if you birth them. Our discipline and purity will remain intact.”

He walked away without another word. Wei Wuxian watched the man leave, wondering if he respected his own rules as much as he thought he did. Wasn´t there a rule about not being prejudiced or something like that? Well, if there was, he was sure no one would respect it in his case. As another pull on his clothes reminded him of the still awake, suddenly very active child that was waiting to continue her crawling session, he wondered if he could get something about his parents out of Lan Xianzheng. Jiang Shushu had never talked much about them, not even with him, and the minimum mention of Cangse Sanren made Madam Yu mercilessly whip whoever had spoken her name, no matter who it was. He discarded it immediately, he would probably only get insults to their names out of that old goat.

“Come on, get the bell” he reassumed the game he was playing with his daughter, using his shiny, newly recovered clarity bell to catch her interest and make her crawl all around the room. “It´s pretty, no? A pretty bell.”

“Madam?” one of the attendants arrived. “It´s time for the young mistress to take a bath”

“Yes? I completely forgot. We were having so much fun…” Wei Wuxian commented as he put the clarity bell away. A-Li scrunched up her face and started wailing, wanting to play with her favorite toy, but she was contained in her mother´s arms. “Lead the way.”

“I can…”

“But I want to, so lead the way.”

She finally obliged, no matter the whispers that were heard behind them as they walked towards the bathroom, howling baby in his arms. He didn´t care, they could whisper all they like… though he thought that gossip was forbidden in the Cloud Recesses. Anyway, at least they waited until he was out of the room to start with their whispers. Also, they weren´t trying to make him change his opinion about doing simple things for his daughter´s care that much anymore. In the last few days they have been more comfortable with talking to him… not impertinently, at least not after Lan Qingqing was removed from her position because of what she did, but they seemed more comfortable doing that than before. Or he hadn´t listened them saying anything more insulting than Unsophisticated, which was true. At least it was not shameless, that was still exclusive to Lan Zhan… and, despite the Lan girls that were attending him being pretty, he didn´t feel like flirting with them. Or with anyone that wasn´t Lan Zhan. Was that something that came with the mating?

“Please, cooperate and this will end quicklier, A-Li…” he was splashed in the face for his troubles, his daughter obviously not happy about her playtime being interrupted. She normally wouldn´t mind a bath, but…

Anyway, by the end of the bath, the child was tired enough to go to sleep without a problem. He placed her down in her crib, gently smiling at her as he covered her well. How much time did he still have with her? Lan Qiren had already threatened to take her away from him as soon as she could talk. Only because Lan Xichen was that gentle was that he would be able to see them from time to time… or at least he thought so… he hoped so… why were they doing this anyway? He hadn´t done anything but behave since arriving back in the Cloud Recesses. And he hadn´t attempted to escape even once… even if only to feel the sun on his skin…

“A-Niang?” he heard from behind. He turned around to see A-Yuan there along with another boy. But… it wasn´t time for his visit yet. And when he visited, he never brought someone unknown with him, much less another child.

“A-Yuan?”

“A-Niang” he run towards him, obviously trying not to make too much noise. The other child stayed in his place, looking alternatively between his friend and him. “This is A-Yi, he is my best friend in the nursery.” He explained. “He was surprised when I told him about you and A-Die not living together, but… it´s his family the one that is strange, no?”

“Oh, A-Yuan” he caressed the head of the child. “I´m glad that you have a friend, but you know that you can´t be here, much less…”

“Is meimei here too?” he asked, giving his mother the most adorable pleading face. One made Wei Wuxian unable to say no to him. “Can we play with her?”

“She is sleeping…”

“Awwww… but at least A-Yi can meet her!!” he smiled widely. “Come on, I´m going to show you my baby sister!!”

“Wait”

“She is the absolute best!! You need to only see her to know that!!”

“A-Yuan, wait!!” he said, instantly putting his hand over his mouth.

As the former Yiling Patriarch was trying to convince his unruly child to go back to the nursery or wherever he needed to be as he followed him and the other child. He almost felt bad for trying to make them leave… would, if he wasn´t sure that Lan Quiren would never allow his little radish to return if he knew he was doing this. He couldn´t help but smile anyway when A-Yuan´s face lit up as he and the boy he called A-Yi entered the small room and managed to peek at the baby sleeping on the crib. Wei Wuxian then looked at them in disbelieve, as he realized what he was doing. And what was happening there. When had this child, who had made it his mantra to never disobey the rules on that damn wall despite not being a Lan by birth, become so unruly? He would be proud if only he didn´t know what…

“Young Master, what are you doing here?” a chill creeped down his back as he saw his head lady-in-waiting in the door. Lan Qingjiao walked towards them, looking worried. “You know that you shouldn´t be here, much less with company.”

“Lan-guniang…”

“Madam Lan, I´m afraid that I will have to take a break from my duties to take the Young Master back to the main house and inform Zewu-Jun and Grandmaster Lan about this.” She extended a hand. “Come, Young Master, I will take you home.”

“But that´s no fair!!!” the little boy started to scream, his friend looking confused. What had A-Yuan told him to bring him there? “A-Yi lives with his Baba and Mama!!! Why can´t A-Yuan and his meimei live with his A-Die and A-Niang?!! Why?!!!”

“Young Master…”

“Back before, I could sleep with A-Niang every time I had a nightmare or I wanted to!! I slept in his nest more than in my own bed!! I´m not saying that I want that, sleeping in the nest is for babies, but…”

“Young Master, please don´t make this more difficult and come.”

“A-Niang!! A-Niang!! Tell me why I can´t live with you anymore!! Tell me!!”

Wei Wuxian continued in silence, feeling the dread already. He was powerless inside that seal, cut out from any resentment… if the Lans wanted to take his children and forbid them from visiting him ever again, they would. He wanted to apologize too, so much, with A-Yuan for allowing him to be taken away when he clearly wanted to live with him again, with him and Lan Zhan… and sometimes he wanted to. He wanted to so much… he remained in the same place as he was, not moving at all, until his handmaiden came back.

“The Grandmaster said that he was going to have words with the Young Master” Lan Qingjiao said as she advanced towards him. “But don´t expect any visits from him any time soon. He is going to make him kneel on the Discipline Hall for an afternoon. His friend also got a stern talking to.” She looked at him with apparent worry. “If only you hadn´t gotten it into his head that he had to visit you…”

“I didn´t…”

“I know, but it´s understandable that the child would believe so. After all, children wanted to be with their parents” she continued. “If only you weren´t such a dangerous heretic… but I guess you didn´t have another option with Wen Chao throwing you into the Burial Mounds… if only your influence was more…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Zewu-Jun is going to take Young Master Lan to Koi Tower the next time he goes to visit Lianfang-Zun. He is also not allowed to visit you for the next six months” the woman said. “Not only because he wants to make sure the boy understood that what he did was wrong, but because he is hoping that the young heir of Lanling Jin and Young Master Yuan become good friends… as they couldn´t be martial cousins.” Wei Wuxian felt his very heart hurt. “He is also hoping to arrange a betrothal between the Young Mistress and the Jin heir.”

“What?”

He could feel his blood running cold in his very veins. She really didn´t mean… an arranged marriage, no? Didn´t the Lan wait for a fated One or something like that? Not that Lan Zhan did that, he merely used their bonding to confine and punish him for the rest of his life. But returning to the issue at hand, he didn´t want that kind of fate for his daughter. He knew what that could do to people, turning them bitter and unappreciative of the qualities of people like the peacock or reluctant, or resigned like his Shijie. And he knew that Jiang Yanli, strong a woman as she was, had spent most of her life resigned to share her fate with someone that didn´t love her. Of course, the peacock had changed his opinion, showing he at least had a brain, but… and let´s not talk about the arranged marriage between Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan. And A-Li… well, she seemed to be quite strong willed, not someone that would resign herself to that kind of fate. She was merely a baby, but he was already sure that she wasn´t like his Shijie and that she wouldn´t mind making Jin Rulan´s life hell if someone forced them together. So he needed to stop this, but how… how…

“If only you had more influence over the Sect… or your husband, who is the only one that could speak for you to the Sect” Lan Qingjiao said. “But what can you do from here? Or without Hanguang-Jun? Oh, would he even listen to you? I was told that he used to ignore and silence you all the time when you were a guest disciple here.”

“He… I…” Wei Wuxian could feel the nerves getting to him. How could he convince Lan Zhan that his brother´s plan was a bad idea?

“If only you pleased him more, as it´s a wife´s duty… and carry out your other duties that you are still able to…”

Wei Ying was now listening. What did he have to do so the Lan Sect would be pleased enough with his behavior that he was allowed to have a say in his children´s fates? Behaving was not his strength, it had never been, but with the Jiangs at least he knew what to do. With the Lans… he had been on his best behavior… but…

“Don´t worry, my lady” his handmaid said. “I know exactly what you have to do.”

-In another place-

A-Yuan was very surprised the first time he saw Koi Tower and it´s magnificence. It was as if everything around him was made of gold… and for some reason he didn´t like it. In fact, he was feeling his small body shivering as they crossed the banners and, after that, cultivators in golden robes. He started to breath very fast, unable to control himself. Why was this happening to him? He had never been here before… or had he? He couldn´t remember… though he did… something… pain… a whip… screaming… and…

“Are you alright, A-Yuan?” his uncle asked, worried. “You could have told me if you were feeling bad, I would have understood.”

“A-Yuan isn´t feeling bad…”

“It´s okay if you are, you don´t have to…”

“A-Yuan is fine” he said, with finality. “It´s only that…”

“Are you nervous then? You don´t have to be” Lan Xichen said with a smile on his face, obviously trying to reassure him. “The person you are going to meet now is one of the gentlest people you could meet. You are going to love A-Yao, I´m sure of it. And he is going to love you too, as if he is another uncle.”

“A-Yao?”

“Sect Leader Jin, Jin Guangyao, the person we are going to meet” his uncle explained. “He is my sworn brother and one of the most honorable people I know. You might call him A-Yao or shushu, whatever you like.”

“I guess.”

A- Yuan inhaled and exhaled clearly, trying to remember the scent of his mother´s nest to calm himself down. He couldn´t stop the feeling that was invading him about… about having to flee immediately because it was dangerous, dangerous, dangerous… someone then called for his uncle and the man approached, A-Yuan next to him, practically clinging to his robes. It was unnecessary, considering that the people in golden seemed content to ignore him and bow politely to his bofu…

“A-Yuan, this is Lianfang-Zun, the Leader of the Jin Sect” he said as he caught his nephew´s attention. “A-Yao, this is my nephew, A-Yuan.”

“It´s a pleasure to meet you, A-Yuan”

“It´s a pleasure to meet you too, Lian…”

He froze when he finally saw the man to the face. He had changed, like many things in the months that have passed since A-Yuan started to live with his father and his A-Niang´s health took a turn for the worst, but the face of the man was familiar. Immediately, he started to hyperventilate as something came to his memory. Screams and the sounds of whips… pain… a little girl on the mud, unmoving… an old woman pleading…

“A-Yuan? What´s happening to you? A-Yuan!!”

The boy didn´t know anything anymore. Darkness filled his eyes, the voice of his uncle getting more and more distant as that black enveloped him… then he snapped his eyes open. Immediately after that, he looked at his surroundings. He was laying in a rich room decorated with all kinds of gold, with peonies decorating the vases. After a short surveillance, he realized that he was not alone. There was another boy, dressed in gold too. He almost passed him over because he was the same color as the walls.

“Who are you?”

“Who am I? I´m the one that was forced to share his room here because you fainted right in front of Lianfang-Zun, that´s who I am!! And don´t even think for a second that I haven´t realized that you did all of that for attention…”

“I didn´t want attention…”

“Why else would you faint for? Aren´t you Hanguang-Jun´s firstborn?”

“I wasn´t trying to get attention!!!”

“Good then, because you aren´t getting any. I´m going to be the only one they pay attention to. Me!!! Jin Chan!!!” the boy signaled at himself, very sure. “Chifeng-Zun has already arrived while you slept and I bet he has more histories about his victories in the war!! I bet he even will be willing to tell me how he helped Sandu Shenshou and Zewu-Jun crush the Yiling Patriarch´s rabid corpse and Wen dogs´ army if I ask him!!”

“What?”

“You certainly must have listened to that history. What are you, an idiot?”

A-Yuan decided he didn´t like that place. Or the people that lived there, even the kids. Were they all so nasty? No wonder he had nightmares when he placed a foot in the place, much less he desired that meimei married in there. As he followed his guide to the table where the Venerated Triad was drinking tea and hear Jin Chan bragging about being the third in line for the leadership of the Jin Sect after Jin Rusong and Jin Rulan, who were both babies, he wondered if his headache and nightmares would finally go.

“So that´s your nephew” a big man said, looking at A-Yuan with an appreciative look. That must be shufu´s best friend, Nie-zonzhui. He was about to salute him when a pain in the head nearly split his brains… and the screams resonated in his ears. “What´s wrong? Are you still feeling bad?”
“I have to apologize, Mingjue, the climate of Jinlintai doesn´t seem to be doing much good to my nephew” Lan Xichen excused for him. He seemed to have caught up with something, but… “Besides it´s the first time we meet each other. Why don´t you tell him histories about Huaisang and his latest acquisitions?”

“Awww, but I want to listen to war histories!!!” Jin Chan whined.

“In another moment, perhaps” Zewu-Jun offered him a smile. “Please, Mingjue”

As Chifeng-Zun started to talk about his little brother, A-Yuan felt that he was being observed carefully. His eyes moved to see the man called Lianfang-Zun scanning him. He shivered again, it was as if he was searching for some long lost truth buried in the deeps of his soul…

Notes:

And here we go again!!! Leave your reviews if you want to know more!!!

Chapter 11

Wei Wuxian helped his daughter to walk around the room, glad that she had stopped talking in favor of practicing her motor skills. As A-Li was finally weaned, he wondered when his baby had turned into this wonderful young lady. The toddler had recently learned to speak and she hadn´t stopped since then. The strangest thing was that her first words weren´t the usual one for a baby. Of course, she had learned to say Mama after that, but her first word had been “bell” for the clarity bell they used to play with. And though he enjoyed helping his daughter hit milestones in her development, he couldn´t stop the dread that was invading him as he remembered Lan Quiren, the Lan Elders and the threat they represented. That one day they were going to take his child away as they have done with A-Yuan…

“A-Niang!!!” that voice made him stop immediately. His little girl lifted her head, as if wanting to ask why they had stopped, but then she noticed that her brother was there too and she let go to take a few shaky steps towards her brother. “Meimei!!”

“A-Yuan, what are you doing here, I told you”

“Wei Ying…”

His eyes lifted from his children towards the person that had entered with his eldest. Golden eyes returned him the look. He hoped he had not looked too much like a startled deer, as he took both of his children and run away from Lan Zhan, but he didn´t know what else could be considered as a description of the actions he had just taken. As he settled down for A-Yuan and A-Li to play in their prepared space, surrounded by things adored by toddlers, as he sat down in the darkest corner of his room, trying to gather his wits together and actually have an actual conversation with… his husband. And it was not that he didn´t want to, it was only that… he was scared. He was scared… of the answers he would get if he dared…

“Wei Ying…”

He lifted his head from his lap. Lan Zhan had allowed him a few minutes to stop panicking, but apparently, he wasn´t going to get more. He lifted his head from his knees… when exactly had he crutched down on the floor?... and stared directly at the golden orbs of his spouse. The children were quickly removed from their designated play place by the maids, leaving the two cultivators to talk.

“Wei Ying…”

“Please, don´t repeat my name again” he finally made the Lan heir stop. “Was all this truly necessary, Lan Zhan? Did you want to drag me to Gusu for punishment so much that you needed to do this to me?”

“I´m sorry…”

“Wasn´t it enough what was already done to me?” he asked, getting up and facing the other. “Wasn´t murdering all the people I choose to protect enough? You saw the Dafan Wen when you visited there, you know that they weren´t a problem for anyone, that they were practically condemned once you took their doctor and only other guardian and burn them down… they… they didn´t deserve that…”

“I´m sorry”

“Though I should thank you for also saving A-Yuan. At least you didn´t have the heart to kill an innocent young child and…”

“Wei Ying, I didn´t…”

“Didn´t what? Participate in the Burial Mounds´ Siege? Why were you there then? And your kinsmen? Why was the Lan Sect there if it was not to participate in the slaughter?” he approached, too careless for being near someone who had slept with him practically against his will two times. “Why were you there? Buy oh please, don’t answer, I already know. You thought the Dreaded Yiling Patriarch was too evil, an heretic too murderous and sinful to only pay with his life for the deeds he committed, so you definitely had to bring him here and made him a prisoner to punish…”

“I wasn´t…”

“Wasn´t what?!! Trying to punish me by confining me here?! Making me become a glorified prisoner?!! Because that´s the reason you took me as bride, no? That and save your honor for having sired a daughter on the…”

“I didn´t want to lose you” Lan Wangji said as he grabbed the arms of the other man. They were too thin… Wei Wuxian´s face was astonished… and the man was rendered completely speechless because of what he had heard. And it was just too… “Wei Ying, I… I don´t care if you hate me forever because of what I
did. I… I could only think about life without you and I couldn´t… I couldn´t…”

“Lan Zhan, what are you saying?”

“I love you, Wei Ying, I have loved you since those days in the Cloud Recesses. I didn´t… didn´t understand at first… but then… then I couldn´t tell… and when you didn´t recognize the song I wrote for you, the one I played in the cave… when you didn´t answer to it´s name… I thought… I´m sorry, I´m really sorry for forcing you into this, but… but I had to… I couldn´t let them kill you or something worse… I only wanted to protect you.”

“Protect me? How is locking me up in the Cloud Recesses, in this house, protecting me?”

“I´m sorry…”

“And what´s that about the song you wrote to me? You mean the one that you played immediately after you defeated the Xuanwu of Slaughter with the Chords Assassination Technique?”

“It wasn´t…”

“Please, if it weren´t for you, I wouldn´t have survived being swallowed by that thing” Wei Wuxian crossed his arms. “Besides, what are you talking about me not remembering the name of that song? I fainted before managing to hear it.”

“You… you really…”

“Yes!! I didn´t remember you ever telling me the damn name because I was already unconscious before you did” as he answered, he noticed a slight change in Lan Zhan´s face. It was… strange. As if a Jade Statue was changing in front of his face. “And since when do you love me? Or want to keep me save? I thought that you hated me, from my cultivation path to my shameless atti…”

“I minded them, but I… I never thought… I could never find the words to…”

The former Yiling Patriarch shook his head. It was obvious that Lan Zhan could never express himself very well, something that could be explained because he wasn´t well socialized… or at least that was what the other boy thought. If he was telling the truth, then… but he didn´t make that many illusions. At least not until he managed to speak to his husband a bit more. He… was confused. Since when Lan Zhan had felt like that for him? He had always believed that, like his uncle… well, it wasn´t like it made things better, but… at least Lan Zhan was going to be good with him and the children. It was a start. One of the qyanyuan´s hands raised to caress his face in a gesture that no one else had ever done before for him, a tender one that made his knees weak…

“This… this is going too fast…” he said as he took a step back. “I know, it has gone too fast since the beginning, with me getting pregnant and… and we have two children now!! It has gone too fast… I know that you… you didn´t…”

“I wanted everything that happened” Hanguang-Jun assured, but lowered his hand anyway, in a gesture of surrender. “Though I am not going to force Wei Ying to do anything else that he doesn´t want. It´s why I gave you the pills” he said. “You have the final decision.”

“Lan Zhan”

The peerless Second Jade of Lan lowered his head. Wei Wuxian didn´t realize that in that moment, but he was reflecting on his past actions, on what… it could have been. He was talking more than in his whole life, he knew that very well, but… he realized these words should have been said long ago. Instead of telling Wei Ying something as ambiguous as asking him to come to Gusu with him, specially after he had shown off his abilities and knowing what Lan Quiren would think of that cultivation path, what he should think of that cultivation path as a righteous Lan… he should have put his feelings into words more. And Wei Wuxian needed to hear that. So he helped Wei Ying to sit in the bed and they started talking again. It was hard on him to talk so much… and Wei Wuxian knew it… also the effort that he was putting on being so talkative…

“Hanguang-Jun, I´m sorry to interrupt” Lan Qingjiao said, bowing to the man and completely ignoring the kunze by his side. “But Lan Quiren is already here to take you and the children back to the Jingshi.”

“The children? What… what is she talking about?” Wei Wuxian asked, suddenly very worried. “Lan Zhan, are you going to take A-Li with you too?”

“I wasn´t informed about anything regarding to our daughter, much less about her moving to the Jingshi instead of remaining with her mother, where she ought to be” Lan Wangji raised from his position on the bed.

“Hanguang-Jun, it was a decision made by the Elders…”

“Shufu would have told me”

“Elder Lan Quiren was also part of the decision”

“Lan Zhan…”

The mentioned qyanyuan got up and walked towards the entrance, his face impassive but Wei Ying could feel through the mating bond that he was furious. Woow, was this how it worked? He was going to feel Lan Zhan´s emotions from now on? Considering that he wasn´t able to see anything through his face yet… then he saw him and Lan Quiren face each other. A Lan Quiren that didn´t seem pleased that his nephew was putting himself between him and the door. Lan Xichen was there too, looking guilty but still holding A-Yuan´s hand. Behind him, a struggling A-Li was trying to reach him. Wei Wuxian took a step towards him, but the Lan behind the Sect Leader also did, reinforcing his grasp on the toddler.

“Mama!!!” she screamed, trying to reach him. Unfortunately, he was powerless against the Lans. He still tried… but a couple of Lans blocked his vision of her.

“You knew that this was going to happen sooner than later, Wangji” the oldest Lan said, his eyes firmly in his nephew, completely ignoring the kunze in the room. “It´s necessary.”

“The same you said about Mother and us”

“Because it was. Just as it is necessary in this case” Lan Quiren continue to glare. “If only you have managed to overcome your obsession with that man, to not fall for the same mistake as your father…”

“Shufu…”

“Perhaps” Lan Xichen finally took the initiative to prevent an outright fight between his uncle and his brother. He knew that Wei Wuxian wasn´t a problem, not cut out from his main energy source. “We should take this somewhere someone couldn´t be hurt.”

“Very well” Lan Quiren nodded. “Take the children to the nursery while me and my nephews talk about this. It´s about time my niece meets her pairs.”

“No!!!” Wei Wuxian dared to talk, something that was not very welcomed by his in-laws. At least Lan Xichen looked guilty, but Lan Quiren frowned even deeper than ever before. And he had seen him frowning really deep before. Still… “Please, A-Li is still so small, she has barely begun walking on her own and talking… she still needs her mother…”

“She needs a mother that taught her what´s right and wrong, not one that completely ignored that in favor of power” the Grandmaster crossed his arms. “She is going to be better with someone teaching her how to be actually righteous instead of a heretic whose only good deed was to bring the children of my nephew into this world.”

“Shufu…”

“Be grateful that you are still alive”

The Lans left the room, taking his children with them. He couldn´t help but fall to the floor and cry in despair. Lan Zhan might love him, but he doubted he would be able to fight his family for him. Specially because it was him. It was a bit melodramatic, but no one could blame him for being distressed right now. His little girl had been his constant company for a whole year and now, just like that, Lan Quiren and the rest of the elders have taken her away. And he was completely useless at… at…

“Poor Madam” Lan Qingjiao said as she approached him, putting a quilt on his shoulders. “If only you had more of a say in the Sect…”

“I thought you said that I would never have any power over it… and I´m sure Grandmaster Lan wants to keep it that way.” He continued to weep, already missing his girl. Have they taken any of her toys with her? “Just like he did to the last Madam Lan.”

“As a member of the main family, you should have a say in the destiny of your children. You might not be able to get yourself out of seclusion, but… I would dare to think that you might be able to convince Lan Zongzhui to allow more visits to your children… and perhaps more privileges if you want” she whispered directly into his ear. “Hanguang-Jun seems to be very attentive towards you, I´m sure you won´t have problems with that… with keeping his affections…” she lowered her voice a bit more. “Perhaps another child…”

“I want A-Yuan and A-Li”

“They are going to come back in a month”

-Some time later-

“Mama!!”

Wei Wuxian lifted his head from the lotus pod that Lan Zhan had brought in his last visit. A night hunt had brought him very close to Yummeng and he had decided to bring back several of the things… this being the last one. And since he was craving them since his last heat, he couldn´t help but… well, this was the last one and he wanted to stop eating it so fast. Or to share it with his spawn, who apparently was so much like him that found ways to escape the nursery practically since she was old enough to walk without much help and created several ways to visit the Gentian House and cause a ruckus.

“A-Li, how many times do I have to tell you that you can´t do this?” He still lifted her to put her on his lap. “You can get stepped on or something like that. Or lost and…”

“Mama sad?”

“No, my precious bell, I´m always happy to have you here. You and your brother.”

“Ge not here, Lingli goes to get Gege” she tried to get up and walk towards the entrance, but Wei Wuxian dragged her back into his lap. “Mama wants Lingli to stay?”

“A-Li, how many times should I tell you? Your name is Lihua…”

“Lingli!!”

“Lihua…”

“Lingli!!”

He shook his head. There was no use in arguing with that child, Lan Quiren would develop a sense of humor before she calls herself by either of her actual names. Or allowed herself to be treated like an actual young mistress, as she preferred to walk around and play with a toy sword to the lessons normally given to females her status. And she certainly didn´t care for flowers or other colorful things. From what he had heard from A-Yuan in their monthly visits, she was more the type to fish frogs from the ponds to scare the other girls into screaming. And she quite loudly complained about not having her favorite toy with her. So much that she refused to answer to either of her names when a dark humor strikes her, only responding when she was calling Lingli.

“Lan-er-furen, you have vi… young mistress!! What are you doing here?!! Don´t tell me you escaped the nursery again!!” Lan Qingjiao said when she saw the little girl there. “I can´t believe that you continue doing this, young mistress. Master Lan Quiren is going to punish you again if you continue with this behavior.”

“Beard uncle stupid”

“A-Li!!”

“Young Mistress!! That´s no way to refer to your granduncle!!” the Lan woman was scandalized by the unruly behavior of her Sect´s little heiress. “Seriously, who is going to want to marry this girl when she grows up…”

“Uhhhh” Lan Lihua said as she showed her the tongue. Her tiny, but very meaningful tongue.

“Please, young Mistress, the Grandmaster is going to…”

“UNRULY, DEMONIC SPAWN OF CANGSE SANREN!!!”

Wei Wuxian nearly laughed, proud that his little girl had managed to make Lan Quiren lose control so much that he dared to scream for all of Cloud Recesses to hear. On another note, perhaps he should be more concerned about what she had done to earn such a reaction from the Elder. What could happen to her? Surely not even the Lans would use the Discipline Whip on a toddler, no? then again, Madam Yu had used a whip on him when he was barely a child. Older than A-Li was right now, but she had. And not any whip, but Zidiain, a first class spiritual weapon that was mean for evil creatures.

“Oh, young mistress, what have you done now?”

It was too early for such a young child to be awake, Wei Wuxian had just stayed awake the whole night working on an array with whatever ink he could find a piece of paper. He could have finished it long ago, but was rather sleepy lately. And hungry. Once he had hidden his things, he had started on the last lotus pods… and couldn´t stop eating. He guessed that he wouldn´t stop eating now that they served breakfast either, tasteless as it was. In fact, he had found himself rather found of those vegetables lately. Strange… returning to his daughter, the child shouldn´t be willingly awake unless there was some mayor issue. A nightmare… but that would see her into Lan Zhan´s, or Lan Xichen´s if he happened to be absent and she couldn´t find her way to the Gentian House in the darkness, so… there must have been some mischief ahead. Lan Quiren´s scream just put more weight into that theory.

“Come, young mistress, we have to return you to your room” Lan Qingjiao tried again, but the child tried to bite her. Wei Wuxian actually laughed at that. For all that she was born a Lan, she had inherited the untamable spirit of her mother and grandmother.

“Maybe I should have named you in honor of my mother” the kunze whispered to his daughter. The girl giggled, looking up to her a-Niang. “What do you think about the name Cangse?”

“Lingli!!”

“A little bell” he caressed his head. “But remember that in public…”

“Lan-er-furen, I´m here as I was asked.” Lan Meng Die saluted, being one of the few members of the Sect that actually showed him some respect as a member of the Lan main family. “And I see that the little Mistress is also here!!”

“Auntie!!”

“Grandmother” Lan Qingjiao bowed to her grandmother. “You didn´t have to…”

“I wanted to do the examination myself” the older woman said, extending her hand. “Madam, please, your hand.”

Wei Wuxian did as he was told, though he was already what was happening to him to call the healers. The symptoms were light, merely a change in his tastes and a craving for lotus seeds, a small pleasure of his childhood, and the dizzy spells that he started to feel a moon after his last heat. His suspicions were confirming when Lan Meng Die let go of his wrist with one of the biggest smiles he had ever seen.

“My congratulations to the Lan main line, and to you and Hanguang-Jun specially” she announced with a bow. “You are with child, Madam.”

“Child?”

“You are going to have a little brother or sister, my little bell” he said, caressing her head again. She purred like a kitty, unwilling to let go of her mother yet.
“How do you feel about it? Do you want to…”

It was in that moment that Lan Quiren barged in, seething and with a badly cut beard, almost if someone had grabbed a pair of scissors and cut it very badly. Wei Wuxian didn´t even made an effort not to laugh, he howled loudly in glee, perhaps for the first time since his imprisonment, right alongside his daughter. This seemed to anger the old master even more, who grabbed the girl a little bit harshly. Wei Ying growled at him and made him drop his daughter, who wasn´t crying but obviously in pain. The Lan Elder seemed about to do something drastic when Lan Meng Die put herself in front of the pair.

“I humble apologize to the Elder Lan Quiren in the name of Young Madam Lan” she said, bowing deeply. “But we have just found out that he is expecting another child, so his motherly instincts are a bit oversensitive because of her hormonal change.”

“That unruly girl… you said another child?” he lifted an eyebrow as he examined the healer, then the room looking for lies. “I see. Maybe I was too harsh with such a young child in the presence of her pregnant mother. I will assign another healer here to help you take care of him all the time. And will congratulate Wangji too.” His eyes wandered back towards the girl, who was hugging her mother tightly. “Xiao Li, come with me.”

“Grandmaster…”

“She needs to learn to behave like a proper young mistress, let alone a Lan. And she is not going to learn that in the present company” he looked rather disdainfully at his nephew´s mate “Bring her here.”

“Mama!!!”

“Please, young mistress, don´t make it harder” Lan Quingjiao said, finally managing to unlatch the crying child from her mother after a few attempts. “Elder Lan Quiren won´t make anything too bad considering your age, even if you deserve it.”

Wei Wuxian sighed, giving his daughter a longing gaze as she extended her hands towards him, asking him with all her tiny body to please remain by his side. He started to make some tea, knowing that Lan Zhan would be here at any moment now that his uncle had heard about his pregnancy. They haven´t… really talked about a new baby yet. And it was only that… Wei Ying thought it was the right moment. Not only because he missed having a baby around, but because… well… he was starting to feel that Lan Quingjiao was right. He needed another child to gain more power, or at least some more freedom. Not that he wanted to get out of that House, that gilded cage that kept him safe from those that wanted him dead, but at least…

“Wei Ying”

“Lan Zhan”

They stayed in silence for a long time, looking at each other, practically exchanged words yet remaining completely silent. As the tea cooled down, none of them drinking it, Lan Qingjiao replaced it with a freshly made pot. She made sure to follow her grandmother´s instructions about avoiding teas that would have adverse effects in pregnancy, like jazmine and cinnamon, and left them in relative privacy. It was then when Wei Wuxian finally sighed, tired of that silence that was not really silence.

“Lan Zhan, I know that we didn´t talk about this, but you gave me a choice. And I decided not to take the pill this time, because… because I want this child” he put his hand over his middle, almost as if protecting the baby that was growing there. “If you don´t want it…”

“What Wei Ying wants, I want… this child will be as loved as his siblings” the Second Jade of Lan answered. “You have to take care of yourself.”

“Lan Zhan, you know me” he answered with a smirk. “I can´t stay all of problems”

Without another word, his husband opened his qyanku pouch and took out a beautiful, stylish, and finely carved set to make talismans. Also, he pulled out a big pile of talisman paper and some books on talismans and arrays. Wei Wuxian was surprised. He might not be able to test whatever he would create, but he would be able to create with something more that napkins and charcoal. And Lan Zhan could always test them for him. He could tell him how they worked and then… then he could continue to create amazing things like the ones he had created before. Like the spirit attraction flag and the compass of evil…

“Thank you, Lan Zhan”

This was one of the most amazing days since he had entered this gilded cage.

-In another place, later-

“Congratulations, Lan Qingjiao, you have been able to accomplish your mission until now” one of the elders said. “Continue like that, making sure Wei Wuxian is contained and doing his duty to our Sect, and your will have your reward.”

She bowed and thanked them before being allowed to leave. Manipulating Wei Wuxian wasn´t as hard as she thought it was going to be, and she had the feeling that she owed that to the Jiang Sect. Anyway, she should be happy. Soon, she was going to have all she wanted, including a good marriage, one better than the one talented Lan Qingqing will have. And much more… depending on how easily that brat is to manipulate into the incubator for the Lan Main family´s next generation it would be.

Notes:

Hello!!! I´m back!!! and here is another chapter of this fic that you like so much. Remember to leave your reviews!!

Notes:

This is a choice up for vote. I´m going to publish another with the time travel troupe and it´s up to my dear readers to comment and signal why this or that fic should continue and why it´s your favorite. who knows, if you convince me, I could continue both? Review of you want to read what´s next!!!

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of The Gentian House