Chapter Text
The words echoed in his head, how long had Lan WangJi been asking him to go to Gusu? And the entire time it had been as husband? Not prisoner?! He wasn’t sure how he had done it, what could have possibly made his silvery gaze pull away from the returning golden one, but he was suddenly seeing Wen Qing over Lan WangJi’s shoulder—and his heart seized.
“I can’t,” Wei WuXian said and the elation that was blooming on Lan WangJi’s face wilted, so Wei WuXian hastened to explain, “the Wens! I cannot leave them unprotected!”
Wen Qing stepped forward. “You can Wei WuXian, take A-Yuan, tell the world you birthed him if you must, give him the Lan name… If we know he is safe, we will be fine.”
“No, Qing-Jie I couldn’t,” said Wei WuXian and then he turned and pleaded with Lan WangJi, “They are good people, they had nothing to do with the war, I owe Wen Ning and Wen Qing a life debt, I can’t just leave them Lan Zhan.”
“You brought A-Ning back, the life debt is repaid,” Wen Qing said.
“Maybe the one for Wen Ning getting Jiang Cheng out of Lotus Pier and away from Wen Chao, but not the one we owe you,” countered Wei WuXian.
Wen Qing opened her mouth to counter, but Lan WangJi countered instead, “They should just leave the mountain.”
“What?”
“What?”
Lan WangJi pulled out the letter from the makers of Emperor’s Smile, requesting that Si-Shu go and work for them, he held it out to Wen Qing and said, “The cultivation world, thinks Wei Ying freed cultivators, but most of you are not, if you just leave no one will notice. You might not be able to stay together, you might have to spread out, but you would be alive.”
Wen Qing’s eyes scanned the letter and then she waved it at Lan WangJi. “HanGuang-Jun what is this? Where did it come from?”
“… Si-Shu gave me some of his fruit wine as a thank you for the Emperor’s Smile. He wanted me to spread the good cheer; good wine could bring. I gave it to the seller of Emperor’s Smile that I had helped. He said that the wine was so good he wanted to hire Si-Shu.”
Everyone was speechless.
So, Lan WangJi continued, “It might be a slow process, but could everyone not just slowly leave the Burial Mounds? And when everyone is safely away, I will take Wei Ying and our children to Cloud Recesses: Wei Wei, if he agrees; Lan Yuan, we will adopt Lan Bo, and Wei Lan.”
The clearing was silent, even the children were still looking up at the adults with the baskets repacked with vegetables. Wen Qing sighed and said, “Let’s get the kids to Popo and then we’ll discuss this.” She emphasised by waving the letter at them, then she grabbed the large basket and started walking towards the settlement.
A-Wei was introduced to Granny and then Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi went to the cave where the Wen siblings, Si-Shu and a few others met them. Wen Qing outlined Lan WangJi’s suggestion and handed the letter to Si-Shu.
The assembled adults were quiet for a long time and then Seventh Aunt spoke up, “What if the sects are watching us? If we leave one at a time, what is to stop them from just killing us?”
“I don’t think we’re being watched,” said Wei WuXian and then he turned to Lan WangJi and asked, “Jiang Cheng and Shijie visited me right before Shijie’s wedding, have you heard anything of her visit?”
“No,” replied Lan WangJi.
“Maybe they are not watching us all the time? Everyone could have been at the wedding when that visit happened,” said one of the uncles.
“The resentful atmosphere in Yiling is oppressive, cultivators do not like to come here,” said Lan WangJi thinking it was the most obvious point against cultivators watching the Burial Mounds.
The people in the cave all seemed surprised by the news that the atmosphere alone might keep cultivators away. Seventh Aunt protested, “But wouldn’t it be bad for the Jin if everyone else learned we weren’t war criminals? Wouldn’t they be watching to see if there was a chance that they could destroy us?”
“Qi-Yi, is correct, it would make sense that the Jin would be watching us Jin-Zongzhu likes to ask after my Stygian Tiger Seal, too often, I’m afraid that he covets its power,” added Wei WuXian.
Wen Qing looked at Lan WangJi, “Can you find out if we are being watched?”
Lan WangJi hesitated he opened his mouth slightly, closed it and then shook his head. “Xiongzhang and Shufu would not tell me, they think I have been tricked by all of you. If someone is watching, they would not want to upset me. If I ask and no one is watching, they may take it as a sign that they should be.”
“We need more allies that are cultivators,” said Qi-Yi, “Could we talk to Jiang-Zongzhu?”
“He would tell us surely,” added in Er-Shu.
“He hates the Wens though, if he knew we were trying to leave would he help us then?” voiced one of the aunts, barely above a whisper.
The cave fell silent then into the stillness Wen Qing said, “If he owed us a debt, then he might help.”
“Qing-Jie, no!” protested Wei WuXian.
“Wei WuXian, yes! If we get him here and tell him, he would have to help.”
“You promised!”
“So, you never want to get married? Never want to take your children out of here?”
“Of course I do!”
“Well, you already said you wouldn’t leave with HanGuang-Jun and abandon the rest of us so this needs to be done. Write a letter to Jiang-Zongzhu and HanGuang-Jun can bring it to him.”
Er-Shu spoke up, interrupting the back and forth between Wei WuXian and Wen Qing, “Does HanGuang-Jun often visit YunmengJiang? If he doesn’t couldn’t it start rumours that could bring scrutiny to us?”
“I’ll go,” said Si-Shu.
All eyes turned on him.
He swallowed and then explained, “I have this invite, I can leave and we can see if anyone notices, I’ll take the river over to Gusu and then I’ll wait a bit before sending the letter that Wei-Gongzi writes to Jiang-Zongzhu. It could tell us, where, if any, the spies are, and if correspondences are being watched going into Lotus Pier.”
“But if we are being watched, you could be killed,” said Eighth Aunt.
“It’s a risk, I’m willing to take for my family,” said Si-Shu.
The cave fell silent again and one by one the eyes all turned on Wei WuXian. The man looked down and hunched in on himself. ‟Jiang Cheng will hate me; he won’t like this debt.”
The previous silence continued for a beat more and then Lan WangJi said, ‟Jiang WanYin has already declared you an enemy of the Jianghu.”
Wei WuXian waved the comment off, ‟We faked that, YunmengJiang wasn’t strong enough to stand against the Cultivation World with us, so we faked the split. No, this debt is from the war.”
Lan WangJi frowned, but Wei WuXian’s eyes went wide. ‟Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan!”
‟Wei Ying.”
‟I can’t tell you the whole story now, if I tell it, it must be to Jiang Cheng first, you understand?”
‟Mn.”
‟I…” Wei WuXian began and then stopped he swallowed hard and looked around the cave. Even if everyone didn’t know the whole truth they knew the truth about Wei WuXian’s core. So, they all just gave him encouraging smiles and nods. In a rush Wei WuXian said, ‟I no longer have a core!”
There was a blink and then another, and then Lan WangJi said, ‟Could you repeat that?”
‟I… no longer have a core,” Wei WuXian replied, his eyes downcast so he missed the play of emotions on Lan WangJi’s face that went from confusion to dawning horror to understanding. He looked back up and said the words he didn’t want to say, ‟Do you still want to marry me? Even though I can no longer cultivate the sword path.”
‟Wei Ying is Wei Ying; I love Wei Ying and will always love Wei Ying.”
‟Lan Zhan!” Wei WuXian proclaimed and threw himself at the other man who caught him and pressed kisses to his lips.
When he pulled back he could see something in Lan WangJi’s eyes, like he was reviewing all of their past interactions and applying the new information to it. There had been the briefest flash of anger that had Wei WuXian flinch back and his own anger rise ‘Resentful energy damages the mind and heart’ a voice whispered to him mockingly. But before he could explode at Lan WangJi for something he hadn’t even said (that time) the emotion was gone from the golden gaze. Wei WuXian worried he’d see pity in those eyes, but it looked more like annoyance and then confusion.
‟Wei Ying, did you lose your core before? I mean Wen Chao bragged that he threw you in the Burial Mounds. He was a weak coward and a liar, I never wanted to believe him, but I worried it was true. Was it true?”
Wei WuXian opened his mouth and closed it, considered how he wanted to answer, then he nodded. ‟He did, and he was weak, but when you have no core and are alone he was much harder to deal with. I’ll tell you the whole story later if you want, but I have to tell it to Jiang Cheng and Shijie first.”
‟I understand,” said Lan WangJi and then more to himself he added, ‟I am angry with myself.”
So, the annoyance had been at himself not Wei WuXian. ‟Don’t be, I told no one.”
‟But I should have seen, we all should have seen.”
‟I was hiding it.”
‟We all knew that Wen Chao fought by sending Wen ZhuLiu in first. When you returned using demonic cultivation, we should have seen, I should have realised that Wen Chao had told the truth about the Burial Mounds that you developed demonic cultivation to survive and then continued to use it to help in the war.”
‟It’s really ghost cultivation.”
Lan WangJi paused and then hummed in agreement. ‟I am assuming the story behind it, is traumatic. However, I encourage you to speak with Jiang-Zongzhu. Explaining can only clear up the uncertainty from the war and the aftermath and absolves you from some of the crimes that you are accused, for without a golden core you could not have done them.”
A twinkle appeared in Wei WuXian’s eyes. ‟Like what?”
‟You have apparently been cursing people, when pressed for the kind of curses, it is always curses that are made with spiritual energy, like the Hundred Holes Curse.”
‟Curses are just too much work; it is much more efficient to punch people.”
‟Mn, I remember you doing that on a couple occasions.”
Wei WuXian laughed and then swatted at Lan WangJi. ‟Lan Zhan! I kept telling Jiang Cheng you’re funny, but he didn’t believe me! You should be punished, I mean I believe that was gossip I just heard you tell me.”
There was a smirk on Wei WuXian’s lips as he watched Lan WangJi. However, instead of being a gotcha moment Lan WangJi just cooly said, ‟We are not in Cloud Recesses.”
Wei WuXian laughed again long and hard that he doubled over.
The sound brought A-Yuan running followed closely by A-Wei. A-Yuan shrieked with he own laughter, ‟Baba!”
‟What is happening?” asked A-Wei.
Through gasping breaths and laughter Wei WuXian managed, ‟Your A-Die is funny, and he distracted me. Help me A-Yuan, Qing-Jie is being mean!”
A-Yuan got a serious little frown on his face and then said, ‟Qing-Jie isn’t mean, she’s a doctor, even if the medicine tastes bad Baba you have to take it to get better.”
‟Baba’s sick?” asked A-Wei.
Wei WuXian sobered immediately. ‟No, no, I’m not sick Radish, don’t you worry about your Baba. Qing-Jie just wants me to tell an important secret to my Shidi and I’m scared, so Lan Zhan made me laugh.”
‟I have a Meimei and a Da-Ge,” said A-Yuan, ‟I tell Meimei secrets all the time it isn’t hard, I just got my Da-Ge so I haven’t told him any secrets yet, but it can’t be harder than telling Meimei.”
‟That’s because you have the best Meimei and Da-Ge in the world, telling secrets is easy,” reasoned Wei WuXian.
‟I know,” said A-Yuan and it drew another laugh from Wei WuXian.
‟The problem is…” Wei WuXian began and then stopped trying to figure out what to say to children. ‟You met my Shidi once A-Yuan before A-Die first visited, my Shidi came he wore purple and looked angry.”
A-Yuan looked less certain but nodded anyways.
‟As you and A-Wei are both Geges perhaps you can give me advice. See my Shidi gets angry easily, but he is generally a good person. The problem is I am worried if I tell him this secret he will hate me.”
‟Shidi is like Didi?” asked A-Wei.
‟Mn,” agreed Lan WangJi.
A-Yuan nodded sagely and said, ‟Tell him you love him.”
‟Yes, if the secret is something bad you start with an apology and then tell him you love him! He can’t hate you,” added A-Wei excitedly.
‟I don’t know…” said Wei WuXian with the sudden realisation that he never remembered any children saying ‘I love you’ to siblings or parents.
‟Da-Ge just stepped on my foot, and it hurt, real bad!” said A-Yuan.
‟I apologised first thing,” insisted A-Wei, ‟and Er-Di said, ‘it’s OK because you’re my brother and I love you.’ I had forgotten, but I immediately said ‘I love you too’ so it is good to have a reminder. He’s your Didi, of course you love him and he loves you but maybe if you have been apart a long time then you’ll forget.”
‟So, you need a r’minder!” added A-Yuan.
Tears pricked at Wei WuXian’s eyes, but he didn’t want to worry the children, so he didn’t let any fall. ‟How did I get such clever sons?”
‟Baba is very smart! He saved Coal-Gege from the long sleep the Bad Men made him do! And A-Die is very smart too! He can play the guqin and fly on a sword! If Baba is smart and A-Die is smart then A-Yuan, and Da-Ge, and Meimei have to be smart too!” proclaimed A-Yuan.
‟Ah yes, that makes sense,” said Wei WuXian with a smile. He dropped to his knees and held out his arms. ‟Come here boys.”
Both boys ran towards Wei WuXian, and he wrapped an arm around both boys and hugged them close. ‟My good boys.”
‟Wei WuXian,” said Wen Qing.
The aforementioned sighed and pulled away. ‟All right, all right I’ll write a letter.”
The boys cheered. Wei WuXian laughed and ruffled their hair. ‟You two teach your A-Die how to play chase.”
‟We can do that!” proclaimed A-Yuan and he pulled away from Wei WuXian only to grab Lan WangJi’s hand and pull him from the cave.
Silver eyes followed the three as they moved out of the cave, he sighed wishing that he could go with them. A moment later Popo came in freed from babysitting. Wei WuXian did not write a letter instead he sat there as the Wen remnants hashed out the best way to leave the Burial Mounds. They broke up their discussion so Wen Ning and a few others could go and make dinner.
Finally, finally Wei WuXian was able to spend time with his family. Lan WangJi had Wei Lan in the carrier strapped to his chest. His boys all looked flush like they had been running around, but it appeared that the game of chase was over.
A-Yuan and A-Wei were looking at something that A-Yuan was holding. ‟What do you have there, my Radishes?”
‟My friend wrote me a letter!” yelled A-Yuan and he waved the piece of paper around.
‟Really?” said Wei WuXian, ‟What does it say?”
‟It say, ‘thank you for the butterfly, I love it. My favourite animal is turtle, but I have no turtle toys to share with you, so here is a picture of a turtle. I hope we can see each other soon. Your bestest friend A-Bo.’”
‟Wow, that’s a really great letter, you need to write a reply,” said Wei WuXian.
‟I will! Right now!”
‟Eh, maybe not right now, it’s getting late and we missed our nap time.”
‟A-Die made us take a nap, before we played chase,” said A-Wei.
‟Lan Zhan you did?” asked Wei WuXian as he looked over with a fond smile at the man that wanted to marry him—marry him!—Wei WuXian still couldn’t believe it.
‟Mn,” confirmed Lan WangJi.
‟What a good, A-Die,” said Wei WuXian then he clapped his hands together and addressed the boys, ‟all right! Let’s go write letters to A-Bo before dinner then!”
Wei WuXian herded the boys back to his cave. He was surprised to find that all of the papers on his rock-table were organised in a neat pile. His insides felt warm that Lan WangJi would do that for him, but his brain was worried that he wouldn’t be able to find the things that he needed when the time came. But for the time being he was happy that the table was cleared for the boys to use.
Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian helped the boys draw various pictures and let Wei Lan make heavily monitored (and messy) finger painted art until dinner and then loaded down with pictures from all three children, some for himself and some for Lan Bo. Lan WangJi prepared to leave the Burial Mounds. As Wei WuXian got the kids ready for the good-bye trek down the mountain Lan WangJi talked to Wen Qing in her hut. Wei WuXian couldn’t learn from his fiancé—was that what they were?!???!—what they had talked about. Lan WangJi had skilfully used the children to distract Wei WuXian and avoid the questions.
Later, when Lan WangJi’s visit had seemed so long ago—despite Wen Qing’s insistence that two days was not ‘so long ago’, and Wei WuXian had ‘waited longer for another visit’ and to also ‘stop acting like you’re younger than A-Lan, you’re a Baba of three soon to be four’—Wei WuXian assumed that it had been a money thing as Si-Shu had bought boat passage to Caiyi Town and a set of marginally nicer robes. After those purchases they sat on the mountain for an entire week with the collective breaths held.
When nothing happened, Wei WuXian had to sit down and write that letter to his brother. With the letter written it meant that it was time to see Si-Shu off. As Wei WuXian had reshaped the barriers of the Burial Mounds he was able to send ghosts out to be his spies able to be unseen. They couldn’t go far from the place they were still tied to, but the miasma of the Burial Mounds coated a descent area around.
They were ghosts that would know cultivators on sight, there was even a chance that their resentment, despite the daytime hour would allow them to attack. And if they did, it would probably mean that the ghost in question would be liberated and able to return to the reincarnation cycle. Part of him hoped it would happen, for the soul’s sake, but the other part hoped that it wouldn’t for their sake—it didn’t happen.
Certain that there were no cultivators at least in the city, Wen Qing reminded them, ‟Most cultivators forget about the common folk, but Meng Yao won’t, there could still be spies.”
‟I could take the children down; we go often enough. We can go in one gate, if there are spies and the recognise us they’d follow us right? Si-Shu can go in the other gate,” said Wei WuXian.
‟I don’t like risking the children, if the Jin find out…”
‟And you think I do?” asked Wei WuXian, ‟But you said it yourself this isn’t a good place for them.”
‟If we could dress them in white,” said Wen Qing, ‟no one would mess with GusuLan babies.”
‟It would draw too much attention Jie, GusuLan babies in Yiling. We are just going to have to hope that luck and the heavens are on our side.”
Wen Qing sighed. ‟Maybe walk a bit further from the gates first, make it less obvious that you came from the Burial Mounds. Even if there are no spies, rumours could hurt us just as much.”
Wei WuXian got the children ready to go swimming and then they walked down the mountain. There was a big good-bye in the village and A-Wei looked worried. ‟We’re coming back, right Baba?”
‟We are, we are, but remember we told you Si-Shu got a job all the way in Gusu? He’s leaving today,” replied Wei WuXian.
That got Si-Shu’s legs aggressively hugged by the boys while Wei Lan waved excitedly from her carrier. ‟Bye-bye! Bye-bye!”