Chapter Text
His lips are so soft. A tempered and distracting unexpected gift of their owner. Nie Huaisang has never expected any part of Jiang Wayin to be gentle. Especially not with the likes of himself. But the hand that has been travelling up his thigh is gentle and insistent, but not overpowering. Almost like the intimacy alone is enough to scare his beloved A-Cheng.
When did he become so beloved? Was it the tenderness in the kisses on Huaisang’s neck. Was it the way he seemed almost terrified of taking this step. The war had been so cold and harsh to them all. Huaisang is not sure that his darling has ever gotten this far with anyone else. The thought should not thrill and delight him the way it does. But it does.
“A-Cheng. Kiss my properly.” The world is cold and harsh. Da-Ge is fading before your eyes. You have watched the loss of all of Jiang Wayin’s family right before your eyes. In this moment, you are both nothing but the some of lost parts trying to make a home in each other’s souls. Perhaps this night of joy and pleasure will be enough. For tomorrow he will still be lost and you will try to cling to what is left of your Da-ge.
Perhaps a man more attuned with his cycle would have taken more precautions.
On the third day in the Unclean Realms Wei Ying comes to the conclusion that Jiang Cheng has simply never been there or at least has not been within this child’s lifetime. He draws this conclusion as he watches Nie Meixiu having a friendly sparring match with his own son. Lan Sizhui is an accomplished young gentleman of manors and talent befitting the Lan clan, admittedly that was all Lan Zhan but that did not make Wei Ying less proud. However, despite the fact he is well trained, significantly taller, and slightly older he is clearly having an awful lot of trouble keeping up with the Young Mistress Nie.
Nie Meixiu could not be any taller than 160 centimeters, but she is clearly all muscles. There is an intense and incredibly familiar mix of ferocity and amusement in her eyes. Perhaps, if he did not know better judging by that expression alone he could see why people could be fooled into thinking that Nie Mingjue was her parent. Lan Sizhui is very fast though and he does manage to dodge and parry with practiced accuracy. Though that does not seem to deter her quest victory in the least. If anything she looks absolutely delighted about the sparring match.
The match ends in a draw, much to Wei Ying’s pride. They end up blades pressed to each other’s throat. Lan Sizhui on the ground and Nie Meixiu smiling broadly. As soon as Lan JingYi declares the match, she helps her cousin to his feet. He cannot help but feel nostalgia for the past in these moments, practicing his own hand to hand skills against Jiang Cheng when they were children. In the quirk of her smile and the barely hidden laughter behind his words.
Lan Zhan has been watching the sparring match with admittedly less intense curiosity than Wei Ying has been, but he can see the hints of amusement and pride in the depths of golden eyes. Nie Huaisang on the other hand, looks unsettled by the outcome of the match. Yes, the usual smile is present upon his face but there’s something in his eyes that looks out of place.
“A-Xiu.” Nie Huaisang says softly. The teenager excuses herself from her peers to return to her Uncle. She hovers with a grin, Wei Ying laments for a moment that he cannot hear what they are saying
The Jin delegation is due today and much to Wei Wuxian’s glee. He had convinced his younger brother that it was in fact worth coming to visit as Jin Ling would absolutely be having a match with someone of equal skill to him. Well, Wei Wuxian is fairly certainly that Nie Meixiu will mop the floor with him. But that is not either here nor there. No the point of today is getting his sibling to actually get here and see his offspring.
Nerves settle into Wei Wuxian’s stomach. This was going to be a mess if he ever saw one.
The child in Nie Huaisang’s arms is much heavier than he would have expected. Perfectly normal the healer had informed you, she had rather delicately informed you that most of the Nie babies, including himself, tended to be pudgy. In her words it was a miracle that the little one had shown up when did because if she had stayed within him the expected amount of time, she would have been too big to deliver without cutting him open. A terrifying prospect to consider and he was grateful that things had not come to that.
Nie Huaisang inspects young mistress Nie with a critical eye. She’s not very cute yet, but then again in experience no newborn really is. Her skin is red and blotchy, a scowl is already set on her lips, a tuft of dark hair already somehow curling on her head, and she’s got one of his fingers in a death grip of her teeny fat fingers She has spent the first hour of her life getting the Unclean Realms well acquainted with her tiny but powerful vocal chords. He presses a kiss to her forehead and her disgruntled baby howls calm just a little as he finally speaks to her. “Hello there, little troublemaker. So excited to greet the world that you couldn’t wait another few weeks?”
“She’s very healthy.” The healer has a fond smile on her face. Which is admittedly unsurprising, she did deliver both Huaisang and Da-ge after all. It only made sense for her to bring the newest addition into the world. He could trust her to keep his secret for as long as he needed. “Do you have a name for her yet?”
“Nie Rong.” It was never an easy choice to pretend that the blood he shared with this child was that of uncle and niece instead of father and daughter. He loves her so fiercely he wants to protect her from the storms that will come for her. The little lightning bolt who grew within him. The Storm of the Nie. His little Rong’er could do no wrong as far as he was concerned.
Nie Huaisang was a careful planner. He prided himself on back up plans. On his skill to make the field go where he needed even if fighting was not his strong suit. So perhaps the full blooded panic he experiences when his formerly - currently - time was a complicated thing scenario arrives in the Unclean Realms. A mess truly. He considers sending a-Xiu away. Hiding her deeper in the rough terrain. Far away from any conflicts or misbegotten consequences of his own actions would be able to get her. After all she has done but be born and raised by his hand. In truth he knows that he should have said something. Jiang Cheng was always so desperate for family. To know that a child of his blood has existed for more than a decade would destroy him.