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It started a few weeks ago.
The contractions usually came over the day, stronger if he was exerting himself. Not that Lan Zhan let him do anything really, but even walking too much got his legs weak, his feet swollen and his belly aching.
The Lan physician called it “training contractions”. She said it was his body slowly getting ready to push the babies out, trying to arrange both of them on his hips while widening the bones.
A hassle, wasn’t it?
Wei WuXian was 36 weeks pregnant with his and Lan Zhan’s first babies.
Yes, babies. In plural. Because apparently waiting 13 years got Lan Zhan too worked up and resulted in Wei Ying being knocked up with twins.
When they discovered the pregnancy, it wasn’t exactly a surprise, granted their everyday activities. In reality, Wei WuXian was so, so excited he all but jumped around, finally being able to embrace his omega status after his mess of a first life.
Now, different from the past, he could laid back and relax in a nest, scent his and Lan Zhan’s robes, pretend to be dainty and delicate and act as spoiled as he wished.
Now, Wei WuXian no longer had the overbearing weight of being the YiLing Laozu, hiding his second gender and controlling corpses in a battlefield only to be persecuted in a witch hunt after.
Now, all the weight he had was the two babies he was carrying in his belly, both tucked safely in his womb.
And, ah, the back pains as well. Those were almost as bad as sleeping in the Blood Cave in the Burial Mounds when he was all skin and bones.
Except, in this time, he did have more than skin and bones. In fact, there was a lot of meat on his thighs and hips and backside to carry the weight of two growing babies, props to Lan Zhan’s overwhelming hand feeding. Wei Ying would complain more about the weight gain giving him more back pains but Lan Zhan would hum and massage his back and do that wonderful, heavenly thing he does when he comes up and hug Wei Ying from behind, both hands set on Wei Ying’s lower belly to support it in his hands.
The first time he did it, Wei WuXian almost passed out on the spot, his legs going weak and he all but collapsed against Lan Zhan’s sturdy chest, his baby bump wholeworthily supported by big, strong hands, giving his hips a much needed break.
He had asked his husband to hold his belly like that 24/7 and Lan Zhan, as the perfect alpha and best husband in the world, had agreed.
So.
Where was his husband to support his belly and hold his hand now, in the middle of the night, when he woke up sweaty and heaving in pain?
Wei WuXian woke up with his breath being punched out of his chest, his entire belly growing rigid with a contraction.
He stayed lying down on his side, grabbing Lan Zhan’s pillow in his arms and whimpering against it when the pain lasted and lasted and then vanished as suddenly as it came, leaving him drenched in sweat.
It took a few minutes for Wei Ying’s silver eyes to grow focused after the pain receded. He breathed in relief and moved a hand languidly to light up a talisman in the JingShi.
To answer his own pondering, his husband, his lovely alpha, was not in the JingShi.
Today he woke up alone, as he had been doing for the past three days.
Although Lan WangJi had refused countless times in regard to Wei Ying’s pregnancy, he had no choice but to leave for QingHe to fix some political nonsense with HuaiSang. It was part of Lan Zhan’s duties now that he was covering for Lan XiChen’s seclusion.
The issue involved a piece of land on the border of QingHe and LanLing and also a village in said land that was being haunted by bird demons. The case was open since Wei Ying was four months along and, at the time, he even offered to go to QingHe and aid the situation.
Lan Zhan had refused, of course, unwilling to put Wei Ying in danger and trusting both Nie HuaiSang to handle it.
Plot twist, he didn’t handle it. And at 36 weeks, Wei Ying had to be the big guy and undo Lan WangJi’s pout when the news was announced.
“Just go, Er-Gege! We will wait for you here, safe and sound!” Wei Ying smiled, holding Lan WangJi’s face in his palms and standing on his tiptoes to kiss his goodbye. The disciples with him immediately turned their backs, flushed, and Lan Zhan inclined his head to kiss Wei Ying on the cheek, one hand raising to cradle the belly between them.
“Are the babies still hurting you?” He asked, concerned about the increasing pain Wei Ying’s contractions caused.
“Ayah, not at all! You know my hips are just doing their thing, our pups have nothing to do with it! You just go, no need to worry! You still have an entire month to dote on my belly, okay?”
Lan WangJi pressed his lips in a thin line, very much unhappy about having to leave his pregnant wife in the late course of his pregnancy. Although the physicians had guaranteed Wei Ying would have at least three weeks ahead, Lan Zhan was still jittery about it, his alpha growling at the idea of leaving his mate unattended.
Wei WuXian loved him.
“Just go, just go! The sooner you leave, the sooner you’re back! And you know I can’t bear without my er-gege for too long…” Wei Ying teases, snickering when he hears one of the disciples cough awkwardly.
Then, with a last kiss on his forehead, Wei Ying watched his husband leave for his duties with a heavy heart and tears swelling on his eyes. He would not allow them to fall, though! He was once the YiLing Laozu! He was strong! He got this!
But in reality, he did not get this.
Whining in his throat, Wei WuXian regretted allowing his husband to leave now that he took five minutes to roll on the bed until he was able to swing his legs out and sit on the mattress.
With a belly as big as his, moving around has become difficult and he was now a waddling mess, always walking around the JingShi like a goddamn duck. Wei Ying even caught Lan Zhan hiding a smile from seeing him move around, to his dismay.
Breathing heavily, he cleaned the sweat that accumulated on his forehead and waddled to their tea table, where a jar of water was sitting. Pouring himself a cup, he freshened his throat and grabbed a thin towel to clean his face with.
He took a look at the open window and Wei Ying could say it was probably 2 or 3am, everyone in deep sleep in The Cloud Recesses.
With a hand on his belly, he caressed it, sending positive thoughts that the cramp would not return and he would be allowed to go back to bed.
Again, he was out of luck today, for, three steps later had him curling over his belly and groaning when a sharp pain took his breath away.
It was like being stabbed, but the pain originated from deep within his hips, almost tearing into his…
Well, almost tearing into his pussy.
“Aw, this sucks.” Wei WuXian complained, closing his eyes, brown furrowed and trying to breath as slow as possible, as suggested by the physicians. They said that those contractions could only last 30 seconds, so he beared it and gritted his teeth and moved his hips in a circle, one hand supporting his belly and the other supporting himself against the wall.
Thirty four seconds later, the pain receded again and Wei WuXian huffed a breath, patting his belly affectionately and rolling his shoulder.
“Two in a row…you guys are really mad your father isn’t here, huh?” He laughed a little, grimacing in the aftermath of this one contraction and mustering the courage to go back to bed and sleep it off.
It took him turning around and raising his legs over the thresholder leading back to the sleeping space.
Only that.
And suddenly his inner robes were soaked, clear water splashing on the wooden floor out of nowhere.
Wei WuXian looked down, eyes as wide as sauces and eloquently said:
“Huhhh…”
The silence was loud.
It was just him, his soaken robes, the pitter pat of the water dripping on the floor and his labored breathing for a few seconds, until his brain rebooted and he all but giggled hysterically.
“Yeah, so, huh…I don’ t think this should happen now? Lan Zhan, what do yo–”
But he cut himself off, heart squeezing painfully when he realized Lan Zhan was not here and could not give him any reassurances about why his water broke when he was 36 weeks and 05 days.
He was not even 37 weeks. He was not even in the presence of his alpha. He was all but standing on a quiet, eerily silent JingShi, in a puddle of his amniotic fluids, with his heart beating wildly and the sensation of being alone and helpless and in danger his soul remembered so well creeping back to his consciousness.
Wei WuXian sobbed, incapable of stopping looking at the weird patch of bloody goo sliding down his legs, and moved his trembling hand to command a talisman to fly out of the open circular window.
“Okay, okay, we’re fine, we’re fine. This isn’t even the weirdest situation I've been in but man, do I wish Lan Zhan was here.” Wei Ying talked to himself, not daring to move a step.
He was a mess. He was nervous, but he was prepared.
He had researched.
He was strong.
He was crying.
Wei WuXian had lips trembling and pretty tears falling down his cheeks when the front door to the JingShi was slapped open and a frantic Lan QiRen all but barreled inside, eyes probably as wide as Wei WuXian’s.
They looked at each other for a few seconds, then Lan QiRen’s gold eyes looked down his legs and his lips parted for a short breath until he was barking orders to the disciple that came along with him.
“Call the physician and the midwives, immediately. Close the gates, no one enters or leaves until further notice. Send a message to WangJi immediately, he must come back. Now!”
Wei WuXian, head spinning a bit, couldn’t help but let out a surprised – and honestly terrified – laugh.
“Hahaha, Shufu, you look mad! What could possibly afflict you?” The omega asked, standing perfectly still while Lan QiRen entered the JingShi, a scowl on his face.
“Might be my nephew-in-law standing in a puddle of…fluids and crying while under my care.”
As soon as he was close to Wei WuXian, he took hold of his forearms and helped him out of the puddle of blood and amniotic fluid. Wei Ying grinned at his sarcasm, delighted that they were both so stressed, their interaction ran easily.
“Awn, Lan Zhan put me in your care? That alpha worries too much!” He grinned, but his smile wobbled a bit when Lan QiRen hurried him too fast to sit in the bed. “I bet this is just a little situation that will soon pass!!”
But his attempt to lighten the mood didn’t land well, as Lan QiRen pressed his lips together, his age showing through the worried marks around his eyes.
“Wei WuXian, this doesn’t look like a minor situation. Lay down, the physician is coming.”
Unfortunately, his seriousness made Wei WuXian even more nervous.
“Haha, why, do you speak like you’ve been in this situation before! Shufu, what kind of adventures are you hiding!" The omega teased, but wiggled around on the bed until he was half-sitting, his heavy belly making it hard to breathe.
Lan Qiren moved around the JingShi and brought a wet towel from behind the changing screen, pressing it on Wei Ying’s forehead without preamble. The omega signed in relief, just now noticing how hot he was running.
“I’ll let you know WangJi’s mother had been in your shoes before.” The older beta said, his free hand searching Wei Ying’s meridians on his left wrists and assessing his situation.
Wei Ying giggled, suddenly imagining a much younger and much frantic Lan QiRen doing the exact same thing to the former Furen thirty seven years ago.
“Oh I bet Lan Zhan’s mother had it easy, he is so good! I bet he was a very gentlemanly baby.” The omega said, relief flooding his expression when Lan QiRen nodded after his health assessment.
This time, though, Lan QiRen didn’t rise to his bait and, when Wei WuXian looked at him, his face looked constipated. Wei WuXian had enough experience with one Lan Er-Gege to know the original Er-Gege was trying to find words.
And when they came out, oh boy…
“…WangJi was a rather…sizable baby.”
A chill ran down Wei WuXian’s spine and now he was the one silent.
“…”
Lan QiRen hovered over him a bit, arranging the wet towel on his forehead before retreating two steps. He looked very uncomfortable now, his eyes searching a spot in the ceiling that told Wei Ying he was remembering.
“I was there to aid the birth. He was…stubborn.”
Immediately, a prayer started playing on the back of Wei WuXian’s brain and he suddenly couldn’t feel his legs.
Or anything below his waist, that is, if the cramping growing on his lower back was indeed a sign of another contraction.
“What do you mean sizable baby.”
“We have good genes.”
And, yes, it was a contraction. It also sent him into a panic.
“Oh my heavens, oh fuck!” He writhed on the bed, instinctively parting his legs and fisting the bedsheets. “The babies are going to be gigantic, right?! How can I do this?! It’s going to split me apart!”
Lan QiRen closed his eyes and exhaled.
“Please, do not be graphic. Do not swear.”
“I’m going to push out two gigantic, fat Lans and you tell me I can’t–”
“Lan Xiansheng, the physician is here.”
Interrupting Wei Ying’s pain, a woman entered the JingShi. Even though it was in the middle of the night, she was perfectly dressed, not a single crease on her face.
Wei Ying, who was probably a mess already, was jealous.
“Please tell me Lan babies aren’t gigantic.”
The woman frowned, then she looked at the mess on the floor, at Wei WuXian’s painful grimace, at Lan QiRen’s ramrod posture and then:
“I couldn’t possi—“
“How come no one told me that before I got pregnant?! Or during the pregnancy?? Urgh, this hurts!”
“Uhm…Lan Er-Furen…we thought your belly bump was already proof.”
Wei WuXian blinked, the pain slowly receding now that the seconds were over, and looked over at his, indeed, very big belly.
To be fair, Wei Ying has no idea how big a pregnant belly should be. He was too busy fighting nausea, backpains, pregnancy brain and horniness during the last nine months to even consider if his belly was bigger than usual.
Also, it was not like there was any other pregnant omega around him, with how prudish the Lans were.
He was really just going with the flow and waiting to cross the “how to give birth” bridge when he reached it.
Which, alas, was right about now.
“They’re early, right? Is it too early? I mean, it’s only four weeks, surely the babies are okay, right?”
That made the doctor snap into action, and she approached the bed, followed by other two very young girls who were flushed in the face. Wei Ying would smile at them in sympathy – tending to the clan’s heirs birth was probably too pressuring – but at the moment he was just really focused on the babies’ health and how he was going to push them out.
“We can only assume Wei gongzi, but this isn’t uncommon. There was always a chance of the labor happening earlier.”
Wei Ying widened his eyes, fighting the instinct to shove the woman’s hand away when she put them over his belly and pressed around. He knew she was determining if the babies were in position, pressing around to figure out where their backs were, where their heads were, if the heads were already resting on his pelvic bone.
It was weird, though, to be touched like that by someone who wasn’t Lan Zhan when he was this vulnerable.
“What?! How come? I never knew that.” He whispered, somewhat worried that no one notified him he would go through that scare.
“Gemelar pregnancies are risky pregnancies. Premature birth is one of the risks.” The doctor said, whispering something to the girls and asking for a basil filled with warm water and a bottle of distilled alcohol.
Wei Ying watched the scene of the doctor washing her hands with growing anxiety.
“B-but what if they’re not—what if they’re not ready? Can’t we stop this? I can hold the babies in, Lan Zhan isn’t even here!!” He said, now closing his legs and cradling his belly with both arms, as if protecting it and hoarding it to himself.
The physician gave him a pitiful look and Wei Ying was torn between telling her to leave or to stay and help him.
“I’m afraid we can’t, Lan Furen. We will meet the babies’ conditions when it comes to it, but I need to perform an examination.”
“Oh…the weird exam…”
The silence was painful, once again.
“I apologize, it is necessary.”
His answer was a grimace and he turned his face to the windows to avoid eye contact with anyone, including Lan QiRen, who was still standing by the side of the bed without moving a muscle.
It took her five seconds to enter him, wiggle her fingers around and leave.
“You’re 4cm of dilation. Impressive, Lan Er-Furen. We just have to be careful to keep things running at a satisfactory pace.”
Still trying to recollect his self-respect after having pussy probed, he shrank in the bed, hugging his belly once more.
“Uhh…right, so they’re really coming?”
A nod.
“Yes, you are in active labor.”
Wei WuXian was fucked.
And Lan Zhan was not here.
He had to try his hardest to not whimper when that thought came up.
“Alright, alright, what do I do now? The pain isn’t too bad, to be honest.” The omega said, looking at the doctor and then to Lan QiRen, but both of them averted their eyes while one of the girls gave him an empathic smile.
“Now we wait.”
༺──────────────༻
It was that bad.
Actually, it was so much worse.
The bed was drenched with his sweat, his knuckles white around the bedsheet, his hair now gathered in a bun on top of his head.
Between his teeth, Wei Ying had a piece of cloth to bite on. Apparently, at some point, the midwives were worried he would break his own teeth from grinding them too much and now he had something to bite on while his hips felt like they were being sawed apart.
“Do not push yet, Lan Furen, it is too early.”
Wei Ying spat out the cloth and glowered at the doctor.
“But it hurts! And it feels like they want to be out!!”
Lan QiRen was pacing around the JingShi, his expression heavy while checking the now rising sun to know the time. Just like Wei WuXian, he was probably trying to predict when Lan Zhan would arrive if the news had arrived at him yet.
Wei Ying hoped it would be soon, since now the contractions were coming every 7 minutes and he was growing incredibly angry.
“You’re not fully dilated yet. Exhausting yourself won’t do any good. You can’t speed the process.”
Angry and murderous, if the way the doctor’s neck seemed very snapable said something.
“Of course I can, there’s nothing I can’t do! I am the Yiling Laozu! You can’t tell me what I can’t do!!”
༺──────────────༻
“I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I take it back, I can’t do this!”
Wei Ying’s pussy was on fire. His back was killing him. The few strands of hair glued to his temples were stressing him out and he was very overstimulated.
So overstimulated he was now holding Lan QiRen’s hand in a tight grip without even realizing it.
“Wei WuXian, breathe.” Lan QiRen did not even wince when Wei WuXian groaned loudly, curving forward during a painful contraction and twisting his hand in the process.
“Shufu, it hurts so bad. It’s like my golden code is being ripped away from me once again!” The omega sobbed, his head fuzzy and his tongue feeling like sandpaper against the roof of his mouth. “I can’t do this, not with Lan Zhan away…” He whimpered, sobbing when he felt something pop inside his belly.
“You have to.”
Wei WuXian sobbed even harder, pressing his nails on Lan QiRen’s hand and drawing blood without noticing while trying his hardest to not push.
“It’s too much, I’m failing, the babies can’t come out and it’s all my fault, I’m gonna get us all doomed and Lan Zhan will be so upset!!” He cried out, eyes filled with tears.
“Do not. Your thoughts are reflecting irrational fears.” Lan QiRen pointed out, and the doctor backed him up.
“Yes, Lan Furen, you are doing well.”
“It’s been ages since I've been like this!!! And still nothing!” Wei WuXian protested, debating if he should just ignore the doctor’s advice and push anyway, no matter if she keeps telling him just to breathe between the contractions.
“Labor takes time. It’s been five hours and you’re progressing well. Soon we can get to the expulsion phase.”
“Will it get worse?”
He regretted asking.
༺──────────────༻
Wei WuXian’s scream filled the jingshi.
“Please, please, make it stop! Take them out already!”
Lan QiRen was now holding Wei WuXian’s head with both hands, one girl dabbing the sweat from his brows and the doctor taking a look at his meridians.
“Please, Lan Furen, remember to breathe. Keep your legs open.”
But at this point, who knows how many hours he had been enduring this pain and how eerily similar it was to when he had his golden core removed. At this point, his skin felt raw, wet, and heavy.
“I have to move, I have to move, get away from me, I can’t stay still!” He batted away the hands trying to keep him still, irritated with so many people touching him.
The physician sent Lan QiRen a look, but nodded and moved away when the beta helped Wei WuXian to maneuver on the bed until he could get up and move in circles in the JingShi.
“Let him walk.”
But the omega was far too gone into his mind, his instincts boiling under his skin, his belly too rigid to be comfortable.
“It hurts, it hurts so bad. I want Lan Zhan, I need Lan Zhan, I can’t do this without him.” He whined, sobbing in a small voice, one hand pressed against a wall and the other holding his belly. He was now standing and facing one of the walls in the jingshi, his hips circling and circling and circling.
Lan QiRen was right beside him, hands hovering in the air, ready to catch him if he lost balance.
“You can, you are the Yiling Laozu.”
Wei Ying let out a wet laugh.
“Yeah, the one that ruined everything and died being ripped apart, exactly the same way that’s happening now!”
“You’re not dying.” The beta huffed and Wei Ying, outraged, turned his face to look at him and give him a piece of his mind because who does Shufu think he is to be lecturing him while he is in labour?!
“Who says I am not—“
But he was interrupted when he noticed the serious expression on Lan QiRen’s face.
“Wei WuXian. You are not allowed to die.”
The JingShi was instantly silent, the Lan disciples wide eyed before the interaction.
“The moment you came back and my nephew set his eyes on you again, your life ceased to be your own. You are not allowed to die, for my nephew’s sake.”
Wei WuXian himself was all wide eyes, disheveled hair and heaving breath.
“So now, you are going to sit back and breathe and follow the midwives instructions and we are going to help you through the process and you will live. Understood?”
It took the omega three blinks and in one of them, he swore he could see exactly where Lan Zhan had learned to be so overbearing.
“…yes, Shufu.”
For now, he allowed himself to be guided again to the bed and settled against the headboard once more, feeling infinitely more calm.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk so much outside of your boring classes.”
“You are insufferable.”
Wei WuXian laughed around a gargled sob.
༺──────────────༻
It was time.
“Push, push, push, that’s it, keep pushing, don’t stop, don’t stop, keep going until the very end.” A woman chanted, all in one breath. She was holding one of Wei Ying’s legs open, while the physician was standing between his legs, one hand checking his lower meridians.
“Cant, can’,t can’t —” Wei Ying all but gritted through his teeth, body bending forward and hands ripping away the bedding.
“That’s fine, stop, stop.” The doctor called out, pulling her hand out and nodding to her assistants. “Now, breathe. Through your nose, Lan Furen, bask in the aftermath of this contraction.”
Wei Ying thought she was a bitch to think he would “bask” in something with the amount of pain he was in. Even attempting to breathe was difficult, his lungs all but collapsing with all the force he was making with his belly!
He voiced his thoughts:
“My lungs hurt!!”
The doctor gave him a look and said, calmly:
“You are at 10cm. It’s not about pushing harder, it’s pushing for the longest time.”
And Wei Ying knew she was right. Lan Zhan had read books on it and he had read them outloud, in a great display of HanGuang-Jun speaking for 20 minutes non-stop.
On those occasions, Wei Ying would always tease him and offer a cup of water, saying his pretty throat was not used to be used so extensively, as Wei Ying’s was. Of course, it always rendered him more baby making sessions, which also led him to this exact moment.
And Lan WangJi was not here.
“Shufu…” Reaching to the side, he all but grabbed a hold of one of Lan QiRen’s hands once more. The older man startled, and Wei Ying would laugh at his face if he, himself, wasn’t terrified of going through this without his alpha.
So, he searched for the person closest to Lan Zhan.
“Are you sure I can do this?”
Wei Ying couldn’t fathom what kind of face he was making at that moment. He thought it must’ve been a rather pitiful one from the expression Lan QiRen did. The always frowning elder let his face melt a bit and his eyebrows moved and then settled over his eyes in a confident expression. He even stepped closer and was now holding Wei Ying’s hand between his, tired eyes telling him with conviction:
“Of course, there was nothing you couldn’t do. The fact still stands.”
Wei Ying smiled but his smile barely reached his cheeks. He wanted to be fiercer, funnier and even joke a little, but he could feel the muscles deep in his belly warming up all over again. Wei WuXian rushes over a conversation:
“You’re just excited for grandbabies.”
“That, as well.”
Wei WuXian started heaving again, the physician taking her place by the foot of the bed. Wei Ying adjusted his grip on Lan QiRen’s hand and looked resolutely to the physician between his legs.
“Is Lan Zhan still coming? Why is it taking too long?”
Lan QiRen’s face morphed in a deep frown. He sounded almost angry when he spoke:
“WangJi is indeed lacking, but I am sure he is on his way.”
Wei Ying could feel the next contraction coming so fast and he still had so much to say, so he just blurted it all out, body tensing again:
“Shufu, I don’t want him to miss it! It’s our babies, I want him to be the first to hold them while they’re wrinkly and ugly and vulnerable ‘cause he’s the best, and he’s their father and he’s my alpha and my alpha should be here, he should be here, I don’t want to do this alone!!”
By the end of the session, the contraction unfolded and Wei WuXian finished his rant with a scream. The betas rushed around him, back to chanting for him to push, for him to hold on, for him to breathe, for him to succeed.
And in the middle of all that cacophony, Lan QiRen’s grounding presence stood solid. His hand was bleeding from the way Wei Ying’s nails were grinding on his skin, but he never attempted to free himself. Instead, his voice sounded calm and secure:
“You are not alone. You have family with you. Wei WuXian, focus.”
But while Wei WuXian would love to bask into Shifu’s acceptance of his person, he had a very pressing on his hands – or, better yet, between his legs. So he shouted, almost terrified, the new development he was feeling:
“I feel like I need to poop!”
The last thing he wanted to do was poop in front of all this people and cause a mess and make his babies land in a bed soaked with p–
“That’s right, this is when you push.” The physician cut through his hysteria and manhandled his belly, as if adjusting the babies’ head on his pelvis.
Next, she slipped a hand between his folds and Wei Ying was so done that he didn’t even feel shame. He was mostly relieved when she widened her eyes and said, quite enthusiastically:
“Come on, Furen, it’s time. I can feel the first baby’s head. In the next contraction, you have t–”
Wei Ying didn’t even wait for her to stop talking, a scream ripping out of his throat when the next contraction came unexpectedly. The cacophony grew ten fold, with Wei Ying’s screams sounding louder than the rushed whispers of the girls arranged the warm water, and sterilized knives and fluffy towels.
Suddenly, Wei Ying felt a pop between his legs and he was so surprised that he almost closed them in fear of having done something wrong. His face went from pain to terror and he looked at the doctor, begging for an explanation, but the woman was too busy doing something and–
“Yes, yes, that’s it, the head is out! One more, Furen, one long push!”
Without answering her, he pushed, and pushed, and pushed and the pop he felt before turned into a numbing sensation of finally being allowed to close and when he sucked in the air to demand explanation, a piercing wail filled the JingShi.
A piercing baby wail.
“Great! Now breathe! The baby is out! He’s out! Lan Furen, it’s a boy!”
Tears flew down freely over Wei Ying’s cheeks.
He quickly let go of Lan QiRen’s hand and reached for the crying baby, who was now being whipped down with warm water pretty fast. They were also being quite rough, making the baby cry more, and Wei Ying was torn between crying and screaming bloody murder to anyone handling his son without utmost care.
As if noticing his approaching breakdown, Lan QiRen spoke from above him, still standing beside him.
“Do not worry. It is protocol.”
Wei Ying bristled, about to close his legs – the doctor was inspecting him – and get up to fetch his baby.
“I don’t care about no damn protoc–”
Lan QiRen promptly interrupted him.
“Wei WuXian, If he cries, he breathes. It’s for his own good.”
Immediately, Wei Ying stilled, huge grey eyes looking at Lan QiRen and then at the betas handling his baby and rolling them on a fluffy white blanket with cloud embroidery. One of them smiled at him, making him lose all fight remaining in his body, and another came over to adjust the pillows on his back, straightening his body in a half sitting position.
“Shufu, you really do know some things…”
In response, Lan QiRen sighed, as if tired, and bowed his head. But Wei Ying didn’t even notice it for his eyes were glued on the girl holding his baby and bringing him over with calm and secure steps. When she reached the bed, Wei Ying already had both arms reaching out, hair all disheveled, robes tangled.
Still, when the warm weight of his baby settled on his arms, against his chest, Wei Ying felt like all the planets aligned, and all his sins were washed and his body was made whole once more.
“Your first born, Furen! Congratulations!”
This human he was holding, was nothing but perfection. Nothing but warmth and love and pride. This tiny creature, with his face scrunched, his crackled heart-shaped lips, his dark hair wet with blood, and water and placenta fluids was the epitome of the love he was harboring all these years.
And of course he couldn’t be less than perfect.
Wei Ying held him close, drank in his cries, inhaled the pungent scent coming from him, and still, he was in awe:
“Oh, oh, I can’t believe this…I can’t believe your daddy lost this…he will be so upset.” Wei Ying murmured, absolutely indifferent to anything happening around him. He petted the baby’s head, kissed his temples, smiled down at him and arranged the blankets around him.
It was then that he realized how incredibly heavy his baby was and how full were his cheeks and little arms.
Ah! Of course!
Giggling between wet tears, Wei Ying poked at the baby’s scrunchy forehead and teased:
“You’re so fat, little one. No wonder you ripped me apart!”
He heard a huff from behind them, but couldn’t bring himself to look away from his son to terrorize Lan QiRen a bit more. From between his legs, the physician spoke:
“Lan Furen, bask in this aftermath. We’ll wait for the next baby before attempting to take the placenta out.”
Wei Ying hummed, cradling his baby close, and just letting her do her job now that the pain stopped. He looked at his son, mentally naming him A-Yuan, as he and Lan Zhan’s had agreed would be the name of the first born.
Cradled securely, Little A-Yuan was grimacing more and more, tiny mouth open like a fish, searching for something. Wei Ying was ready to direct the baby to his nipple, instincts screaming at him, when he felt the back of his neck prickle.
Just like that and he knew his alpha arrived.
Before he even smelled him or heard the commotion outside of the JingShi, he knew his alpha had arrived.
With a small smile on his tired face and a newborn baby on his lap, he watched the door of the JingShi burst open and a disheveled Lan Zhan all but barge through it.
“Wei Ying!” His voice was frantic, scared, overly emotional. Nothing like a Lan. But no one said a thing and even Lan QiRen just stepped to the side, allowing Lan Zhan to come to Wei Ying's side in half a second.
The moment he was close to his omega, Lan Zhan broke down, falling to his knees beside the bed and holding Wei Ying’s back and arm with his hands. His head fell forward and buried itself on Wei Ying’s shoulder.
“Wei Ying…Wei Ying…”
Wei Ying felt the tears gather on his eyes once more, but he still managed a smile and bent his body a little to the side to allow more body contact with his alpha.
“Ahh, er-gege, I’m fine, I’m peachy…your uncle helped a lot, no need to worry…” Lan Zhan was trembling by his side, no doubt blaming himself for not being there when Wei Ying needed it. Wei Ying thought he was the best alpha in the world.
And now, the newest father in the Cloud Recesses.
“Here, open your eyes, this is your first born…”
Immediately, Lan WangJi’s body stilled once more and his golden eyes opened. The moment he noticed the baby in Wei Ying’s arms, his face assumed a wondrous expression.
Being a cultivator, Lan Zhan would always look pretty and young, but the expression on his face when he saw his first son was simply out of this world. The way his eyes light up, the way his mouth dropped open, the way his shoulders relaxed.
For a second, he looked like a boy – innocent, happy, new born.
“Gege, are you happy?” Wei Ying whispered, moving the wiggling baby a little so his alpha could see him better. Lan Zhan was transfixed on the tiny being, golden eyes glimmering like stars, but he still managed to say:
“This one apologies for being late, I –”
Wei Ying was having none of it, though. He would not have his alpha blaming himself for something it was not his fault, no matter how hard it was to deliver without him.
“Ayah, Lan Zhan! What about our promise? It’s fine, I know you did your best. I’m just sorry you lost–oh.”
Suddenly, a sharp pain assaulted his pelvis and Wei Yin stopped talking. Lan Zhan stilled by his side and tightened his arms around his mate and child.
“Wei Ying?!”
It was the physician that answered his pleas. She cleared her throat and Lan WangJi’s eyes fell upon her like a hawk. She was taking her fingers out of Wei Ying and had to bear the cold stare of HanGuang-Jun when he understood what she was doing.
Despite that, she motioned for the assistants to prepare while speaking:
“It seems HanGuang-Jun can still have the experience. The second baby appears to be ready to come out.”
The announcement made everything more real, including the pain around Wei Ying’s hips. One of the girls came over to take little A-Yuan from his arms and another was arranging the pillow behind his back to put him in position.
A-Yuan, under the watchful eyes of his parents, was handed to Lan QiRen, who took him with an easy grace, as if he had years of experience doing this – which, probably, was true.
Wei Ying watched how sad Lan Zhan’s face turned when the baby wasn’t given to him, but couldn’t help but immediately grab at Lan Zhan’s muscled forearm when another contraction started.
“Hahh…gege, this is so hard! I can’t believe you forced your poor Wei Ying to suffer this much! Aren’t you such a…ugh..such a bad alpha?” He babblered.
Lan WangJi’s eyes were red, his face scared, but he gathered Wei Ying’s left hand between his and kissed his knuckles.
“Wei Ying is the strongest. I am blessed.”
The assistants moved around and Wei Ying was instructed to do three long pushes, which was far easier now that one baby was out and his alpha was by his side. Then, interrupting the whispering praises his alpha was saying, the physician spoke again.
“HanGuang-Jun, do you wish to feel? This one will be fast.”
Lan Zhan’s face did something and Wei Ying almost laughed at the great HanGuang-Jun being so uncertain. Before the man could freeze in place, though, Wei Ying untied their hands and nudged him a little.
“Go on, father, help your second son to be born.”
It worked like magic.
In one second, Lan WangJi was the one between Wei Ying’s legs, eyes wide and hand hovering over his knees. The physician instructed him on watching his hands in hot water and then drenched alcohol over it while saying:
“You can take the baby out yourself. Furen, please, keep pushing.”
Wei Ying took a deep breath, spread his legs further and gripped the bedding in preparation for more pushing. But this time, he felt softer, lighter even. Knowing Lan Zhan was there and would catch and hold their baby was exactly what he needed to gather whatever forces he had left.
The baby’s face appeared soon after, a full head of black hair stretching Wei Ying’s out.
“Keep pushing! Keep pushing! The head is almost out!”
Wei Ying wished he could see Lan Zhan’s face, but one of the betas by his side told him to keep concentrating and pushing and all he could feel the weird pop against and his pelvis burning.
Between his legs and guided by the doctor, Lan WangJi’s hands trembled, long fingers grazing against Wei WuXian scorching hot folds to hook inside his vagina, right next to the head coming out of his hole.
“Pull a little so the rest of the body comes out.”
Wei WuXian kept pushing and immediately Lan WangJi’s knuckles were covered in blood and in the gooey mess of amniotic fluids but he did as instructed and hooked two fingers inside, pulling out the baby’s arm from Wei WuXian’s pussy.
“Great, now move the head a little, pull–”
Wei Ying screamed a last, strong push and his cunt gushed liquid all over Lan WangJi’s torso while also forcing the second baby out.
It was an instant relief.
Heavenly relief, even.
Especially when Lan Zhan lifted a baby, another boy, all wet and bloodied, still attached to an umbilical cord and held it against his chest, not sparing one single thought about his white robes becoming unsalvageable.
Wei Ying collapsed back on the bed, his belly shrinking to half its size now that his two sons were out. He blinked the tears to watch Lan Zhan cradling a wailing baby, golden eyes full of wonder and love. He waited for the doctor to cut the umbilical cord out and immediately made his way to Wei Ying.
Wei Ying let himself fall back on the bed and almost laughed at the panicked glances around the beta assistants, seeing HanGuang-Jun bring the baby to Wei Ying without cleaning or rolling him on a blanket.
The second the man was beside him, he kneeled again, handing the baby for Wei Ying to hold. It was painstakingly obvious that Lan Zhan was not keen on handing the baby to anyone but his mate, the air around him very intense and protective. So the assistants had to bring over a wet cloth and the blanket, instructing the both of them on cleaning the baby and making sure he cried the mucus out of his throat.
At the same time, the physician announced she was taking the placenta out.
The sensation of something…ungluing from his insides was weird, so very weird. But Lan Yi was in his arms, and the beta girl was bringing over Lan Yuan and finally passing him to Lan Zhan.
“Here, HanGuang-Jun. Your first born.” Lan Zhan, eyes wondrous, help his arms securely to receive the bundle. “As per Lan tradition, both heirs are indeed very large babies.”
Both Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi had a baby in their arms. Two chubby, fat babies, with big red cheeks and thick black hair. While A-Yuan was correctly bundled up in a blue comforter, baby A-Yi was having skin contact time with his mama, his face blissfully calm.
Wei Ying wondered if A-Yi, later to be named Lan JingYi, would grow up to be as calm as his father. He was already betting A-Yuan would be the fussy one with how much he was moving on Lan Zhan’s arms.
Ahhh, they were so perfect! And Lan Zhan looked so handsome, with his big, strong arms protecting a tiny baby that looked just like him! His long black hair was falling on his cheek so softly and A-Yuan’s fist was around one lock of hair.
“Lan Zhaan, look how gigantic these babies are!” Wei WuXian cooed. “How could you do this to me? Nine months carrying them in my belly and they look exactly like their handsome father!”
Next to them, Shufu coughed, clearly reprimanding the lack of decorum. Wei Ying didn’t even have to look to see the beta girls blushing to the reminder of how those babies were made.
Wei Ying basked into the moment and grinned widely at Lan QiRen, his grey eyes filled with mischief.
“Shufu, come, come. Come see your grandbabies! Are they as chubby as Lan Zhan when he was born?!”
Lan QiRen sighed and stepped forward from where he was hiding in the corner of the room, probably attempting to give them some privacy. Lan Zhan, who was kneeling by the bed holding A-Yuan close to his chest, looked up to his uncle and Wei Ying saw the exact moment Lan QiRen’s face softened and gained a different, reminiscent expression.
“Indeed. A-Zhan was a rather sizable baby.” And he answered while looking at Lan Zhan, not at the babies.
Wei WuXian assumed a knowing smile. He could only imagine what kind of thoughts were going through Lan QiRen’s mind now that he was watching the boy he raised holding a baby of his own.
He couldn’t help, but tease:
“Awn Shufu, here you are delivering another generation of Lans!”
The old man scoffed, raising his head a bit and pretending it didn’t affect him. One of his hands was curled behind his back as always while the other caressed his goatee.
“I was merely a bystander.”
Wei Ying shook his head while rocking A-Yi on his arms. The baby was now mouthing Wei Ying’s bare chest, probably looking for milk. A girl came to Wei Ying’s side and helped him reposition the baby, teaching him how to breastfeed. Before the baby even properly latched, he was already speaking:
“Nonsense! You need to be allowed to retire soon! Right, Lan Zhan?! Shufu has been helping deliver babies for two generations now!”
Lan Zhan, as distracted as him, answered the bait while using his index finger to poke at A-Yuan’s big cheeks. As endearing as the scene was, his voice came out as flat as always:
“Hm. Shufu, thank you for supporting Wei Ying.”
Lan QiRen, looking at his nephew, felt the urge to yell. WangJi would be such a soft parent. The idea of Wei WuXian being the strict parent was almost insulting. He spat out his response:
“WangJi. No need. Make sure you are present next time.”
Which earned him a shocked gasp from Wei WuXian, who now has A-Yi breastfeeding from his right chest, holding the baby with only one arm. He clearly was making space to feed A-Yuan as well.
“Next time?! I just birthed two Lan gongzis and you want me to deliver more?! What is this!! Am I carrying the entire Lan bloodline in my womb?”
The beta girl moved to take A-Yuan from Lan Zhan and Lan QiRen saw the way his nephew’s face twisted from irrational anger to sad acceptance.
“Wei Ying…” WangJi tried to reprimand, but his golden eyes were locked on his omega now balancing two pups in his arms, each latching on one nipple and feeding from it.
Lan QiRen saw that as his chance to leave. He looked at the doctor, who nodded to him and started directing the girls to clean the place. Wei Ying’s placenta was properly stored for the burial ritual.
“Hahaha! I’m just joking. If you want five more, I’ll give you. I’m sure Shufu will help each time.”
“WuXian, please…” With a tired sigh, Lan QiRen protested. Now, he was slowly walking to the door of the JingShi, one hand on his lower back and a tired expression on his face. It was clear he was eager to get to his house and have a little sleep, his old back cramping from staying by Wei WuXian’s side all night.
A few of the beta girls had to hide their giggles, but Wei WuXian cackled a laugh so loud little A-Yuan jumped on his arm.
Now, the JingShi had welcomed another generation of Lans.
And this time, as he was leaving the house, Lan QiRen was immensely proud that the atmosphere wasn’t cold, detached and punishing.
This time, as the Lan Clan welcomed two heirs, there was laughter and love and warmth present. Now, he knew there wouldn’t be another boy kneeling in the snow, yearning for his mother.
Yes. Maybe Lan QiRen would need to give Wei WuXian some credit and agree that he, indeed, needs retirement.