Family secrets

by Bastet_Fanwork

Summary:

The Sun Palace was a breathtaking sight that day. Hundreds of red lanterns adorned every corner, creating an evocative interplay of light as their reflections danced off the rare, expensive chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

The guests crowded into the immense banquet hall and kept looking up, fascinated by the spectacle.
In any case, they were too excited to eat. After all, Wen RuoHan didn’t invite the entire cultivation world to his palace every day. This included the other four major sects and nearly all the smaller ones. The hall hosted at least a thousand guests.

Furthermore, it would have been highly unusual for any sect leader, not just Wen RuoHan, to organize an event like this to introduce his mysterious third son.

Notes:

• Inspired by The Littlest Sun by Kuroishuuha

Me: Okay, this time I'll write a story about WangXian.

Always me: Oh no, another plot where Wen RuoHan adopts Wei Ying!

I was so inspired by the banquet scene in this delightful story that I had to write an alternative version. Thank you for the inspiration ✨

 

 

 

The Sun Palace was a breathtaking sight that day. Hundreds of red lanterns adorned every corner, creating an evocative interplay of light as their reflections danced off the rare, expensive chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Made of a material called “crystal,” they were imported from overseas.

Crystal shone brighter than glass, which had become commonplace in wealthy households over the last decade. Though expensive, glass had replaced bronze mirrors. But crystal was still a rarity.

Not even Jin Guangshan had acquired any of that material.

The guests crowded into the immense banquet hall and kept looking up, fascinated by the spectacle. In any case, they were too excited to eat. After all, Wen RuoHan didn’t invite the entire cultivation world to his palace every day. This included the other four major sects and nearly all the smaller ones. The hall hosted at least a thousand guests.

Furthermore, it would have been highly unusual for any sect leader, not just Wen RuoHan, to organize an event like this to introduce his mysterious third son.

News of the child’s existence had already spread quickly, and the lavish presentation only increased the collective curiosity.

Everyone accepted the invitation, not because refusing would have been unthinkable, but because they were genuinely interested. Now, they were beginning to feel impatient. The banquet had already started, yet there was still no sign of the child.

What was Wen RuoHan waiting for? Why wasn’t the child seated with his brothers? The more mischievous among them received their answer when the Chief Cultivator stood up and the doors opened.

A small child entered, no more than four or five years old. He looked a little awkward in the multilayered clothes worn for official events. He had thick hair and two large, gray eyes that stood out on his adorable face.

“Wen Ying! My third son,” Wen RuoHan announced solemnly. The child, not at all shy, walked through the hall with his head held high.

Almost at the same moment, Jiang-zongzhu jumped to his feet. "That's not true!" he exclaimed. He was so stunned and frantic that he forgot it was inappropriate and unwise to call Wen RuoHan a liar. His wife, known for being as delicate as a bramble bush, would have stopped him. However, Yu Ziyuan had stayed at Lotus Pier to care for their sickly firstborn daughter.

"That child is the son of Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze!" Jiang Fengmian continued. The look in his eyes was feverish, almost obsessed. "I received news of their deaths less than two months ago. Since then, I have done nothing but search everywhere for the child."

Those who were mischievous understood that Wen RuoHan had planned this scene for this exact moment.

"He's the child you have been looking for," Wen RuoHan confirmed. His voice was deceptively calm and pleasant. After a few seconds, he added, "He is also my son."

"What?" Contrary to his calm and diplomatic personality, Jiang Fengmian shook his head dismissively. "Wen-zongzhu, this isn't funny," he said.

Wen RuoHan's piercing gaze was reminiscent of a bird of prey. "No, Jiang-zongzhu. It's not," he said. It was clear that he wasn’t joking.

Amidst the loud buzz of bewildered voices, Wen Ying's high-pitched voice rose above the others as he waved his arms to attract attention. “At first, I was also confused about how I could have two fathers,” he said with a smile. He was clearly happy to explain it to them. "Then I understood. Baba raised me until today, so he's also my dad. A-Die is my dad because he had sex with Mom, and I was born!”

No one dared question Wen RuoHan's decision to explain human reproduction to such a young child.

"Baba and A-Niang aren't here anymore," Wen Ying’s voice cracking. He sniffed and bravely wiped away his tears. "Now I live with A-Die and my two older brothers," he concluded. He seemed proud of himself for explaining everything correctly.

The two geges in question didn't seem concerned about any of this. The eldest son, Wen Xu, Wen RuoHan’s heir, wore a neutral expression; at only nine years old, he seemed to have already internalized his father’s distrust. Whether he could warm up to his didi remained to be seen. The middle son, seven-year-old Wen Chao, frowned like a grumpy forty-year-old. He was simply much more interested in food than in his younger brother.

Neither of them wore mourning colors. Their indifference over their mother's recent passing was indicative of how little they had loved her. After all, Wen-furen had been famous for her cold, ruthless, and unemotional nature.

"This isn't... This is absurd!" Jiang Fengmian looked extremely confused and frustrated.

“Cangse was pregnant with my son when she married Wei Changze,” Wen RuoHan said bluntly. "At the time, my wife was still alive, and I was afraid she would try to harm Cangse. Wei Changze helped me by marrying her and pretending to be the child's father. In return, he had an excuse to leave the Jiang Sect, which he had wanted to do for years.” Wen RuoHan's voice became calm and velvety. "You see," he said to no one in particular, "Wei Changze wanted to escape Jiang Fengmian's increasingly pressing sexual advances."

Chaos ensued.

Amidst the excited chatter of the crowd, Jin Guangshan’s raucous laughter and Wen Ying’s curious question about what a sexual invitation was stood out. Despite his father’s explanations, it was clear that he had no idea how he was born. Lan Qiren, outraged, loudly demanded decorum after covering his eldest grandson's ears. In turn, Lan-gongzi covered his little brother's ears. Unperturbed by the noise around him, Lan-er-gongzi returned Wen Ying’s wave.

Jiang Fengmian fervently rejected the accusation. "It's slander!" he exclaimed. His face turned purple, and his hands shook. He continued to proclaim his innocence, but at that point, no one would have believed him, even if he had been telling the truth.

After letting the confusion linger for a few minutes—during which he carefully filled his younger son’s plate and urged him to eat—Wen RuoHan finally sat back down.

Everyone was eager to talk. However, they knew that once Wen-zongzhu returned to his seat, the revelations would end and the celebration would begin. The guests showed great self-control and resumed eating. No one said anything when Jiang Fengmian stood up and stormed out of the room.

 

 

True to its reputation, the Nightless City teemed with life even when other cities slept. The Sun Palace, its majestic and trusted guardian, was just as lively that night. It was late, but the guests who had been allowed to stay were too busy discussing the incredible, and delightfully scandalous spectacle they had just witnessed.

Wen RuoHan and Cangse Sanren? Fake marriages? Secret sons? Jiang Fengmian as a cut-sleeve harassing his servant? There was enough to satisfy even the most voracious gossipmonger.

However, the wing of the palace reserved for the closest Wen family members remained silent. With arms crossed over his chest, Wen RuoHan leaned against the doorframe and watched the sleeping child in the darkness. A candle dimly lit his face and little else. Even if the room had been flooded with sunlight, no one but Wen RuoHan would have seen the two figures hovering around the bed, watching the child with loving expressions.

Among the many risks Wen RuoHan had anticipated when deciding to experiment with resentful energy, coming into contact with two perfectly sentient spirits of the recently deceased who were determined to use him had not been one of them. He had ventured into the Burial Mounds to challenge his limits, but he emerged trailed by two spectral parents who refused to release him until he fulfilled their requests. 

The first request had been pressing and distressing: Find and bring with him their child, orphaned at just five years old. The father had asked him seriously, his silent longing as heavy as a forest. The mother had asked him with flaming eyes, impetuous and ardent as a fire. She didn't ask. She didn't beg. She threatened him.

If he had met her when she was alive, Wen RuoHan thought, he might have fallen in love with a woman like Cangse Sanren. Perhaps he would have killed her husband to be with her and recognized the child as his own.  And she probably would have tried to slit his throat in a splendid display of vengeful fury. The thought made him tremble with excitement.

But she and her husband were already dead. Intrigued by how closely aligned their spirits were — they were both powerful enough to remain masters of their own consciousness after death — Wen RuoHan had decided not to exorcise them. Instead, he went looking for their child.

He had found little A-Ying in an alley near the inn where the child had been abandoned after his parents disappeared. The child had been dirty and disheveled, but his clothes suggested that his condition was recent.

"Wei Ying."

He had spoken the name the two ghosts had been shouting in his ears.

The child immediately raised his head and smiled at him — a huge, bright, disarming smile that made Wen RuoHan's heart flutter; a specific part of his heart he didn't even know he had.

"I'm a friend of your parents. Come with me."

The child easily took his hand and squeezed it before trotting alongside him. His little hand was dirty, but Wen RuoHan couldn't let go, even if he wanted to. Two ghosts had followed them, continuing to hover around the child. Only Wen RuoHan could see them, because he had chosen to connect with resentful energy.

The child had remained in the Sun Palace with his deceased parents beside him.

After realizing that they weren’t coming back for him and grasping the finality of death, Wei Ying had cried for days, believing it to be more permanent than it actually was — well, at least for them. By mutual agreement, Wen RuoHan and the two spirits decided not to confuse a child by telling him that his parents were dead yet still with him. It would be a conversation for the future.

“Are you sure you did the right thing?” Wen RuoHan asked, addressing the ghost of the man.

Wei Changze looked at him intently before turning back to his son. The smile on his deathly pale face trembled slightly in the light of the flames. It was both bitter and affectionate.

“Giving up being his father is the last act of love I can show my son,” he replied. “In a fairer world, A-Ying would have borne my name with pride. In this world, I am happy to free him from the mark that would have branded him as the son of a servant until his death. He will be Wen Ying, the son of the great Chief Cultivator — not Wei Ying, the son of the man who served Jiang Fengmian for most of his life.”

Even in her translucent spirit form, Cangse Sanren pressed her lips together and looked grim. However, she didn’t contradict her husband. She hated it, but she knew it was the best solution for the child.

Most importantly, it would protect him from Jiang Fengmian.

Wen RuoHan didn't trust anyone. In fact, he believed that every ally was a potential traitor and that smiles concealed hidden daggers. Yet, he had difficulty reconciling the image of the man who embarrassed himself at the banquet — inept and powerless — with the man the spirits described.

Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze had been killed in an ambush by Jiang Fengmian.

In a somber voice, Changze had told Wen RuoHan that he had written to his old friend to inform him that A-Ying had developed an exceptional golden core at the age of five. With a bitter laugh, Changze had admitted that he had simply wanted to brag about his son.

Fengmian replied promptly, asking Changze to send the child to Lotus Pier to be raised alongside his son, A-Cheng.

Usually calm and controlled because of his life of servitude, Changze had been more enraged than his impetuous wife this time, because he had understood the other man's true intentions. He wrote a harsh letter to Fengmian, declaring that his son would never be anyone's servant. He added that they were currently in Yiling on a night hunt and suggested the man to stay away to avoid any unpleasant encounters.

Jiang Fengmian had surprised them when they returned from the hunt. He arrived with no fewer than thirty Jiang cultivators, all bearing grim, pale, and troubled faces. Yet, they remained loyal to their sect leader. Cangse would later sarcastically remark that at least that abominable creature knew he couldn’t defeat them alone.

Both Changze and Cangse had fought strenuously. In the end, however, they realized that they couldn’t go back to the child waiting for them, trusting and defenseless. Their only beloved child; too young to be left without love and protection.

When they had been both mortally wounded, Jiang Fengmian had signaled his men to retreat and stepped forward. The expression on his face seemed genuinely sorry.

"It's a shame it's come to this." His words had been calm and reasonable. "It's your fault, Changze. It's only right that a gifted child like yours should grow up alongside an heir and serve him for the rest of his life. It will be an honor for Wei Ying to become Jiang Cheng's loyal subordinate. What else did you think the son of a servant could aspire to? This woman has filled your head with so many crazy ideas. Look where they've led you — bleeding at my feet, a failure as a man and a father."

But what turned anger and pain into true despair — what must have driven them both to become restless spirits — was what Jiang Fengmian had added at the end: "I'll wait a few years before taking the child with me, so, he can be grateful to whoever gives him a home after all the hardships he endured on the streets."

After hearing their story, Wen RuoHan had asked if they wanted to see Lotus Pier razed to the ground. She had growled, "Yes," while he had said, "No." Changze convinced his wife that it would be terrible for A-Ying to grow up in a war-torn world. "Our son deserves peace and serenity. I cannot allow Fengmian to harm him, even in death."

Changze reluctantly agreed. She had seemed adorably malicious when she added that it would be nice to see the man suffocate in frustration with each of A-Ying's successes. Jiang Fengmian would be forced to watch his servant's son thrive and become much more powerful than his own. It would be a lifetime of revenge, a methodical and patient dripping of resentment.

"Obviously, my son will be superior to the offspring of that bastard and his mediocre wife."

Cangse had been even more adorably malicious when she suggested adding to their story that Jiang Fengmian had been trying to sleep with Changze for years. Her husband, somewhere between embarrassed and resignation, had let her take that petty revenge.

Wen RuoHan was madly in love with that woman.

That child, then, was everything a father could want: brilliant, powerful, and agile in mind and body. Furthermore, Wei—no, Wen Ying—possessed a sincere and joyful zest for life that touched everyone around him. He had even made A-Xu smile, something Wen RuoHan couldn't remember happening in a long time. However, he was also too kind and selfless; clearly, he was easy prey for opportunists. But it wasn’t within Wen RuoHan's power to change him. After all, Cangse had shouted in his ear for over an hour the day he tried to explain to Wen Ying that he should think of himself first and others second.

Wen RuoHan hadn’t expect to gain a third son or be haunted by two ghosts when he started using resentful energy. Despite the unknowns, he wasn’t lying when he said he was both satisfied and intrigued by the turn his life had taken.

 

 

 

 

Notes:

Cangse Sanren: A-Ying, you should remember the good things others did to you; don’t go on remembering the good things you did to others.

Wen RuoHan: That’s bullshit! Do you want to raise a doormat or a man?

They yell at each other.

Changze, with a gentle and calm voice: There’s no need to argue. A-Ying can be kind and selfless without anyone taking advantage of him. I will persecute, curse, and torment anyone who harms him.

Changze and Wen RuoHan fall silent.