Chapter Text
When the juniors had stepped into this peaceful clearing, they had not intended to unleash a fresh hell onto the world.
The quartet had been sent to investigate a small cottage, supposedly the home of an unorthodox cultivator connected to a nonlethal curse affecting the local townspeople. It was ought to be an easy mission, one Hanguang-jun and Sandu Shengshou had felt confident four mere teenagers could handle.
The plan had been straightforward. The group had elected Lan Sizhui to knock on the cottage door and gently question the woman inside. Hopefully, the conversation would yield a solution for the affected children in the valley below.
(“You’re the only one who knows how to talk to people,” Jingyi had told Sizhui, fully confident in his friend’s ability to get to the bottom of the curse.
Jin Ling, of course, had bristled. “Speak for yourself!”
“I definitely think Sizhui should do it,” Zizhen had agreed.
“Sizhui can’t even convince the bunnies to eat carrots!”
“They like radishes more,” Sizhui had said with a pout. “But if you think I’m the best pick…”
“Anyone but Jin Ling,” Jingyi had said.
“Anyone but Jin Ling,” Zizhen had agreed.)
Regardless, they had a very clear plan and were expecting a very simple mission. But of course, like most of the juniors’ other missions, things quickly fell to pieces.
“Look out!” Jingyi shouted.
Sizhui heard his cry and raised his sword, but the fierce corpse attacking him only grabbed it between its cold, gray hands. Blackish, oozing blood poured from it’s palms as it growled at Sizhui. It’s neck strained as it snapped it’s teeth at him.
Sizhui squeaked and hurriedly pulled a talisman from his sleeve, placing it on the monster’s forehead. It immediately burst into flames, and Sizhui scurried away, taking in the bloody battlefield.
“Send a flare!” he ordered before having to draw his sword again.
“On it!”
“Got it!”
Both Ouyang Zizhen and Jin Ling responded, but Sizhui was too occupied fending off another round of fierce corpses to question it. Fresh waves of enemies kept coming, and Sizhui was tiring rapidly. Hanguang-jun or Wei Wuxian would likely handle these low level corpses easily, but Sizhui wasn’t strong enough. He worried his arms would give out each time he lifted his blade.
Two signals lit up the sky: one red and one blue.
“Wait, who did you call?” Zizhen asked Jin Ling.
“Hanguang-jun said to signal with any trouble! Who did you call?”
“It’s fierce corpses!” Zizhen said, “Of course I called Wei-qianbei!”
“That idiot? Are you kidding? Who knows where he could be! He only travels by donkey, he’ll never make it in time!”
“Hanguang-jun is the Chief Cultivator! He’s probably too busy lecturing to help us!”
“Focus!” Lan Sizhui cut in. Their situation was perilous, but more importantly, their bickering was making him anxious. “One of them will come!”
And sure enough, just when Sizhui failed to lift his sword in time to save himself from the next corpse lunging at him, the sound of a urgent dizi came through the trees.
The fierce corpse before Sizhui lurched and then swayed, standing up straight and still as if listening to a command.
Sizhui drew back quickly, ashen from the close call. At least he wasn’t as cowardly as Jingyi, who had withdrawn and cowered the second the fierce corpse before him ceased it’s attack. Still, Sizhui couldn’t help feeling a little pathetic as he hurried away. Trying to save face, he stood protectively in front of Jingyi, his sword raised just in case.
Wei Wuxian emerged from the woods, resentful energy swirling around him. Sizhui couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been waiting for their call for help. Wei Wuxian had a way of showing up wherever he was needed as soon as his name was called.
The dizi grew louder, a little more shrill, and suddenly the fierce corpses reanimated, only to fling themselves at one another.
“I hate when he does that,” Jingyi said, closing his eyes against the gore.
Blood splattered Sizhui’s robes as one fierce corpse ripped the head off another.
He didn’t particularly like it either.
“It is better than dying,” Sizhui pointed out tactfully.
In the end, they stood in a battlefield of guts and body parts, but none of his friends were part of the casualties. Sizhui wished he could take credit for keeping them safe, but he knew it was all thanks to Wei Wuxian’s quick rescue.
The man in question lowered his dizi, resentful energy clearing immediately and a smile taking over his face. “Sizhui!” he greeted. “How do you get all the exciting nighthunts, huh? I’m so jealous!”
Sizhui did not prefer this much excitement. He was rather overwhelmed.
“It was not supposed to be so exciting,” Sizhui admitted. “We were only meant to inquire about this house…”
The cottage was built at the top of a mountain located between Lanling and Gusu. Since the exile of Jin Guangyao, Lanling had generally been well cared for with the careful eradication of any ghosts or yao within its borders. Similarly, Gusu had always been well maintained. The only remaining threats were very low-level, and the juniors had been very busy growing their skills with simple, safe nighthunts.
Which made the sudden horrific violence confusing.
The second they had entered the house’s small clearing, corpses had risen from the earth and started attacking them.
“How did you get here so fast?!” Jin Ling demanded, accusatory for no reason. “Have you been following us?!”
Wei Wuxian was already inspecting the tree line, finding symbols carved into the tree bark that the juniors had missed before. “Following you?” he asked distractedly. “What? Oh! Yes.”
“You have?!” Jingyi asked, shocked.
“Not for long! I was in town investigating a curse that turned babies into demons, and when I saw you four toddling around, I decided to hang back and let you take care of things on your own! Less work for me.”
“So then why didn’t you leave?” Jin Ling demanded.
Wei Ying touched one of the sigils and a decayed, gray arm burst forth from the earth and grabbed his ankle. He didn’t even look surprised. He just laughed and tamped it back down into the ground with his boot. “Because something like this might happen,” he said simply.
A weird swell of emotions rose up in Sizhui’s chest.
Wei Wuxian said things like that sometimes. Things that made it seem like he still cared about Sizhui, like he would always be there to keep him safe.
But he never stayed. He always left at the end of each investigation, sometimes disappearing for months at a time. He never greeted Sizhui first, seemingly content to watch from afar and hear about his deeds secondhand, even if Wei Wuxian always gushed and fawned over him when Sizhui approached.
With the adrenaline from the sudden fight leaving his limbs, Sizhui suddenly ached to run over and give him a hug.
His plans were cut short when his father landed in the clearing, stepping neatly off his sword.
“Sizhui. Jingyi,” Lan Wangji greeted, and then- “Wei Ying.”
He had never been a very expressive man, but he said Wei Wuxian’s name with a heavy longing and a hope that rang loud and clear-
To everyone but Wei Wuxian.
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian said brightly, turning away from the carved sigils for a moment. “Come look at this! Every tree has one!”
Sizhui empathized with his father. This was an important reunion. Wei Wuxian saw Lan Wangji even less often than he saw Sizhui, but despite their deep, tragic history, he had a habit of acting like every chance encounter was a regular facet of life, rather than a wonderful coincidence.
Still, Lan Wangji approached him, placing a hand on the small of Wei Wuxian’s back as he observed his findings. “Mn.”
“It must be a perimeter,” Wei Wuxian said. “It triggers once broken with this symbol here, see? I wonder how the homeowner gets in and out! Many of the village women mention coming here, so there must be a way to pass safely, but I haven’t figured out how… Still, look at all these corpses! This clearing must have been used as a mass grave at some point… I think I remember the Jin having a work camp somewhere on the Gusu border…”
Sizhui’s stomach twisted, and a quick glance at his friends proved they were equally disturbed.
Lan Wangji quickly took control of the situation while Wei Wuxian started pacing the perimeter. “Are any of you injured?” he asked.
“No!” Jingyi promised.
“I’m okay,” Zizhen said.
“Of course we’re fine!” Jin Ling huffed.
“Please give your report,” Lan Wangji said. “Loud enough for all parties to hear.” Wei Wuxian had wandered quite far away, but it was clear by the tilt of his head that he was listening.
There was some shuffling amongst the juniors before Sizhui was elbowed enough times that he stepped forward. He was apparently the unofficial spokesperson of the group, at least when they were addressing Hanguang-jun. (No one but Jin Ling dared speak to the infamous Sandu Shengshou.)
“We were investigating the curse in Lanxing,” Sizhui said, referring to the large town in the valley. “We met three of the affected families - each one visited the same physician for help with difficult pregnancies, and now that the children have been born, the infants are exhibiting odd symptoms.”
“Creepy symptoms!” Jingyi said, eyes wide.
Sizhui nodded. “The mothers are… very alarmed,” Sizhui explained. “Which is understandable. There have been reports of infants growling, snarling, spouting fangs and fur, and in some cases even frothing at the mouth.”
“I didn’t hear about the mouth-frothing,” Wei Wuxian said, wandering close to the house now that he’d done a lap of the perimeter. He started investigating the door frame. “It’s never good when there’s mouth-frothing.”
“That’s your biggest problem?” Jin Ling asked. “The kids are growing claws!”
Lan Wangji narrowed his eyes, and Jin Ling shut right up. He relaxed his expression and looked to Sizhui. “Continue.”
“R-right,” Sizhui said. He loved his father, but even Sizhui feared his glare. “A-anyway, many reported the town physician offers midwife services in her home on the mountain for those able to travel, and so we came to inquire about her cultivation techniques. But when we stepped into the clearing, the ground burst open with fierce corpses. I believe Wei-qianbei has rightfully identified the trigger.”
Wei Wuxian peered in the window of the house. “No one is home,” he said. “It looks like they packed up and left.”
“Then we should go in,” Zizhen said, reaching for the door handle, but Wei Wuxian quickly knocked his hand away with Chenqing.
“Careful,” Wei Wuxian said. “Look at the door frame.”
Sizhui went to inspect along with the other boys and tried to make sense of the symbols carved into the wood. He didn’t know what they meant but based on the perimeter etched into the trees, it was surely a bad sign. “Oh,” Sizhui said, pointing. “This one is the same as the tree trunk.”
“Yes!” Wei Wuxian said. “Do you know what it means?”
“To pass through,” Jingyi answered. He was better at remembering ancient characters. “So something probably happens when we pass through the door… But what?”
Wei Wuxian used the tip of Chenqing to point to the first symbol.
“House,” Jingyi read.
Wei Wuxian pointed to the next.
“Explode.” Jingyi gasped. “The house explodes?!”
“Geez, well, I guess we’re not going inside,” Zizhen said.
“Oh no,” Wei Wuxian said with a wide grin. “We can definitely get inside.”
“If we pass through the door the whole house will explode!”
“Oh, yes, silly me, whatever shall we do?” Wei Wuxian asked, feigning dismay.
Sizhui thought very hard for a moment before coming to the same conclusion as Jin Ling, Jingyi, and Zizhen all at the same time: “The window!”
“After you,” Wei Wuxian said, stepping aside so Jin Ling could use his razor-sharp diamond ring to cut through the glass. Apparently, it had been a gift from Lianfang-Zun before his passing.
“We could have just thrown a rock or something,” Jingyi complained.
“This is neater!” Jin Ling insisted.
Sizhui reached through the freshly cut glass and unlocked the window from the inside, opening it up for them to crawl through.
“The carvings on the trees looked fresh, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying told his father as Sizhui snuck through the window with the others. “It must be that this was recently set up. Perhaps this esteemed midwife knew we were coming?”
“Mn.”
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji entered last.
The house was very small, only two rooms, and it was largely empty aside from some sparse pieces of furniture. Even the sleeping mat seemed to have been rolled up and carried away. There were a few left behind items that proved they’d found the right cottage, such as a birthing stool and a pile of blankets.
Zizhen poked his head to look in a bassinet and screamed.
Jin Ling drew his sword. Jingyi gasped and clutched his heart, terribly startled. Sizhui rushed over, hand on the hilt of his sword just in case.
“Oh,” he said.
Wei Wuxian poked his head over. “Oh!” he said delightedly.
Inside the bassinet was a baby. A living, breathing baby - clean and pink and healthy. Clearly, it had not been left very long. Even it’s cloth diaper looked dry.
It did not seem to like all the noise, however, because its face quickly scrunched up. It kicked and fussed, and then started to snarl and growl. Its lip curled and a fang sprouted from it’s mouth, teeth strangely pointy, and hair grew on it’s arms and legs.
Sizhui and Zizhen both took a step back as the baby’s noises went from human to demonic and its nails sharpened into claws.
Wei Wuxian stepped forward.
“Careful!” Zizhen said.
“Careful?” Jin Ling scoffed. “Look who you’re talking to.”
Wei Wuxian picked up the growling, snarling thing as it kicked and fussed. Its face was wrinkled up, twisted with evil, and course fur sprouted all over its body. Even its toenails were clawed. Wei Wuxian held it up under the armpits and cooed. “Oh my goodness, aren’t you cute?!”
“... Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji worried.
“We are just the most precious thing in the whole world! So much anger in such a tiny body!” He brought the demon child to his chest and kissed its forehead as it all but foamed at the mouth. “What are we so upset about, hm? It’s okay… It’s okay now.”
“What are you doing?!” Jingyi asked, terrified as it’s clawed toes snagged in Wei Wuxian’s robes.
However, as Wei Wuxian bounced him, the baby’s frothing mouth and jagged teeth quickly smoothed out along with its forehead lines. The snarling turned to gurgling, and the fur eased away until suddenly, there was a cute, human baby curled up on Wei Wuxian’s hip.
“Don’t we have such big feelings?” he cooed, snuggling the child even closer and kissing his nose. “So precious!”
Sizhui frowned.
“That thing is not precious!” Jingyi demanded. “It’s a demon!”
“It’s a baby!” Wei Wuxian argued, clearly taken with the little thing.
“It’s a demon baby!”
“It’s a cute baby,” Wei Wuxian argued. “And for now it is my baby! At least until we figure out how to help return him to normal. Poor thing was left all alone… I wonder where he belongs?”
Sizhui felt very anxious about this, but he didn’t have a solid argument for why Wei Wuxian should not keep the child, especially when it had been abandoned like this. Fortunately, his father seemed to share his concerns.
“... Wei Ying.”
“Look, Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian said, holding the baby out for Lan Wangji’s approval. “He has the world’s cutest button nose! Isn’t it precious?!”
“... It is button-like,” Lan Wangji agreed hesitantly.
Sizhui’s own nose twitched.
“We’ll have to take him to town!” Wei Wuxian decided. “The physician kept a shop in Lanxing. She seems to have left abruptly, so it’s unlikely she could pack up her house, place advanced wards on the door and perimeter, and clear out her office space all before our arrival. Surely, she must have left something behind! We should start there!”
Lan Wangji did not disagree with this. “We will visit briefly. But then the juniors must rest.”
Wei Wuxian nodded and then looked down at the child in his arms. “This one should probably rest, too. Poor little thing.”
Sizhui pressed his lips together. Wei Wuxian was a good parent, so why did he feel so anxious?
On the walk down the mountain, Jingyi groaned.
“They’re flirting again.”
Up ahead, Wei Wuxian was snuggling the baby, bundled up in a blanket from the abandoned cottage. Lan Wangji once again had his hand on the small of Wei Wuxian’s back.
Sizhui paled a little. “Please stop pointing that out.”
“I think it’s cute,” Zizhen said. “They’re in love! They deserve to be a little snuggly.”
“I wish they would just do something about it already,” Jingyi said. “If they could admit they were stupidly in love with each other, then they might do all their weird touchy stuff in private and leave us out of it.”
Jin Ling huffed. “Fat chance. Jiujiu says Wei Wuxian would sooner die again then admit he actually cares about anyone.”
Sizhui’s stomach twisted. “He and A-Die aren’t in love .”
His friends made varying noises of incredulousness.
“Sizhui,” Zizhen said, ignoring what was obviously untrue. “If Hanguang-jun is your A-Die, then what do you call Wei-qianbei?”
“Wei-qianbei,” Sizhui answered. “The same as you.”
“Huh… Didn’t he raise you?”
Sizhui flushed. “Oh… Y-yes, but for him that was a literal lifetime ago. I think it would be strange if I started calling him A-Niang now.”
Jin Ling snorted. “A-Niang?”
Sizhui felt his cheeks heat up even further. “Hanguang-jun is already A-Die,” he said in his defense, but it only made his friends grow more amused. Sizhui hid his face in embarrassment. “A-anyway, we’re not close like that.”
“He definitely likes you most, if that makes you feel any better,” Jingyi said.
“You and Jin Ling,” Zizhen agreed.
It was Jin Ling’s turn to blush.
“But it’s strange. Wei Wuxian seems to like terrible things. Like his terrible donkey, and his demonic baby, and of course, Jin Ling,” Jingyi said to Sizhui, “So I don’t know why he likes you and Hanguang-jun so much.”
“Compare me to that obnoxious donkey one more time, and I’ll- I’ll-!” Jin Ling clearly didn’t have the words to finish his threat, but he did have the martial arts skills to wrestle Jingyi to the ground. The two proceeded to wrestle intermittently all the way down the mountain, continuing whenever Wei Wuxian would turn around to give pointers and breaking apart whenever Lan Wangji would turn his head even slightly to stare.
Needless to say, the juniors looked very scuffed up by the time they made it into town, half from fighting corpses and half from fighting each other.
The juniors were not the only ones out of sorts.
“We’re very fussy,” Wei Wuxian noted as the baby in his arms started to struggle in its swaddle. Its cries started to sound more and more inhuman, and its teeth grew sharp and pointed again. Its clawed toes ripped through the blanket with a terrible noise. “Very fussy!”
“He’s slobbering,” Jingyi noticed, disgusted.
“He’s hungry ,” Wei Wuxian cooed, even as it’s left foot broke free of the blankets and started swatting and swishing around at unnatural angles. Its sharp little claws caught Wei Wuxian’s wrist, and Lan Wangji looked terribly upset when it drew blood.
Wei Wuxian, of course, did not care.
“Let’s see… What can we feed you, hm?”
There was a very obvious problem. Babies this young required a wet nurse, but it seemed unlikely any woman would be willing to help in the face of such sharp teeth.
“Perhaps we could ask around?” Sizhui asked. Selfishly, he very much hoped they could find a willing mother and leave the baby with her indefinitely. Sizhui felt very ill at ease to see the child bundled up in Wei Wuxian’s arms.
As they entered the main marketplace, Wei Wuxian willingly stuck his index finger in the infant’s terrible mouth and hummed when it came away bloodied. “I doubt he has a taste for milk,” he decided. The child had not suckled on his finger, but rather gnawed on it hungrily. “Jin Ling! Where did you boys buy chuan earlier?”
“Weirdo! You’ve been following us since then?!” Jin Ling asked.
“There is a market stall around the corner!” Zizhen answered helpfully.
“Lead the way!” Wei Wuxian decided.
Soon enough, he was holding a chicken skewer out on a stick for the baby, who was rapidly calming down as it gnawed on the meat with razor-like teeth. He chewed through three skewers full of fat and gristle before calming down.
“I wonder if he prefers meat cooked or raw,” Wei Wuxian said.
Jingyi shuddered. “Let’s not find out.”
Sizhui’s own stomach growled, but he maintained his vegetarian diet even outside the Cloud Recesses. He would not be able to have a meat skewer of any variety, and the group didn’t seem to be headed towards dinner any time soon. He bit the inside of his lip as he watched Wei Wuxian dote over the child, pushing back it’s fur-like baby hairs.
“Shall we proceed?” Lan Wangji asked Wei Wuxian.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Wei Wuxian worried. The baby had finished eating and was now yawning. “This little one does not seem up for an investigation.”
Sizhui was also not up for investigation. His robes were soiled with rotting corpse blood and he’d exhausted himself fighting in the clearing earlier, not to mention the hike down the mountain to accommodate Wei Wuxian’s inability to use a sword.
But of course, he was not an infant and did not need to be coddled like one.
“We must perform a search before the contents of the office are cleared,” Lan Wangji said.
“Maybe we should split up,” Wei Wuxian offered. He was bouncing the baby in his arms, seemingly a natural action. “This one surely needs sleep. One of us can take the juniors to investigate, and the other can watch the baby.”
There was a certain warmth in Lan Wangji’s eyes as he watched Wei Wuxian so easily tend to the child. “If you would prefer, I might hold-”
“No!” Sizhui interrupted, surprising even himself. Everyone looked to him in shock. Sizhui was the first disciple and perfectly polite at all times. For him to interrupt his senior (his father) was unheard of. “I-I mean- I only mean, it might be best if Hanguang-jun should take us! As our capable shifu!” If Wei Wuxian was busy with a new baby, then Sizhui should at least get to keep Hanguang-jun. It was a desperate feeling of unknown origin that unsettled Sizhui greatly.
His father’s expression was unreadable. “Wei Ying is also a capable teacher.”
Sizhui pressed his lips together. He knew that very well, but Wei Wuxian didn’t seem to want to teach him, not when he was always disappearing and- and scooping up babies left and right!
Realizing his emotions were getting out of control, Sizhui took a deep breath to calm himself.
“Of course,” he agreed, voice and posture settling into something much more appropriate. “I only meant to express interest in Hanguang-jun’s tutelage, at no degradation of Wei-qianbei’s own insightful teachings.”
His father still seemed unsure, but Wei Wuxian laughed suddenly.
“Lan Zhan!” he said. “Go spend time with your son! It’s family bonding! You should take the opportunity.” There wasn’t a trace of sensitivity in his voice, but Lan Wangji still looked at him with concern. “Aiya, it’s fine,” Wei Wuxian insisted. “Besides! My skills are of better use with this little one! He seems to like me!” Wei Wuxian said, giving the baby a little bounce. It gurgled happily.
“Mn.”
“Why don’t the rest of you survey the office,” Wei Wuxian suggested. “Meanwhile, I’ll take Jin Ling and all of his silver pieces and rent us an inn for the night.”
“I am more than a wallet,” Jin Ling said, offended.
“I want to bathe,” Jingyi pouted.
“I want to learn from Hanguang-jun!” Zizhen said honestly.
“So many needs and concerns,” Wei Wuxian chastised, but eventually, the groups were sorted out. In the end, Sizhui and Zizhen would go with Lan Wangji to investigate the physician’s office, while Jin Ling and Jingyi would stay with Wei Wuxian to procure rooms at the local inn for the night and draw the first baths.
Lan Wangji seemed to hesitate before leaving.
“We’ll be just fine, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian promised. “I’m sure we’ll be separated no more than an hour.”
“You can find trouble in an incense stick’s time,” Lan Wangji argued.
Wei Wuxian only laughed, disturbing the sleepy baby still in his hold. “Lan Zhan, you’re too much,” he decided and clapped Lan Wangji’s shoulder before turning and initiating the separation, headed to the center of town to find an inn. “See you soon!”
Sizhui watched his father watch Wei Wuxian go.
Even like this, Wei Wuxian was always the first to leave.
“None of this looks important,” Zizhen said, scanning through dusty books and poking at different vials and clay pots.
Sizhui also wasn’t coming up with any clues.
“You are looking in obvious places,” Lan Wangji said from his vantage point just outside the small office’s one and only door. As a teacher, he tended to stand guard and let his students learn through trial and error, only offering guidance when asked. The Lan disciples were highly praised for their problem-solving and efficacy, so his methods clearly bore results. “This is a woman hiding something.”
Sizhui was suddenly thrown back to a time when he was much younger, when he was still small enough to fit on someone’s hip. When the Demon Slaughtering Cave was filled with hidey-holes, and even more filled with tinkerings, and talismans, and knick knacks stored away for Sizhui to find.
He started looking along the floor boards and saw the barest glimpse of a slip of paper between the slats of wood.
He knocked on the ground around it, quickly finding a hollow spot. From there, it was easy to lift the loose board and find the empty space in the ground below.
“Woah,” Zizhen said, peering over his shoulder.
The space contained a few scrolls, a few vials of suspicious liquid, and a folded piece of paper with a large tear visible even in its crumpled state. This was the slip of paper that had revealed the hiding spot’s location.
Sizhui unfolded it and found it took up most of the floor. Maybe it would have filled the cramped workshop if there wasn’t a large missing piece ripped from it. It seemed to be a broken ritualistic circle of some kind, but Sizhui had yet to encounter one such as this in his studies. He could not decipher it on his own.
Maybe Wei Wuxian would have been a better choice for this type of investigation. He was an expert cryptologist.
“H-Hanguang-jun,” Sizhui called. He always used his father’s title in professional settings. “I think we found something.”
At that, his father sheathed Bichen, pausing his guard of the small office and stepping inside.
Sizhui was not expecting the strange expression to take over his father’s face in response to the markings. In fact, Sizhui had not expected any expression to appear on his father’s face. Lan Wangji was notably insouciant. And yet, whatever was written in the strange, archaic characters had left his unflappable father agape.
“What is it?” Zizhen whispered to Sizhui.
“I don’t know,” Sizhui whispered back.
Lan Wangji quickly closed his mouth and knelt down to touch the circle with urgency. He looked serious. “We will bring this back to Wei Ying,” he decided.
“What is it?” Zizhen asked again, this time more bravely in Hanguang-jun’s direction.
“A sacrificial ritual.”
“Is that… bad?” Zizhen asked.
“... No,” Lan Wangji decided.
“Oh.” Zizhen leaned over to whisper to Sizhui, “Then why does your dad seem so freaked out?”
Sizhui pressed his lips together, aware that this case had suddenly grown a lot more serious. “It’s how Wei Wuxian was brought back to life.”
“Oh.” Zizhen paused again. His nose crinkled. “It wasn’t a possession?”
“No,” Sizhui said. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“Really? He just got lucky and came back to life?”
Sizhui frowned. “I’m not sure if he thinks it’s lucky.”
Lan Wangji, obviously overhearing their conversation, turned so that his face was no longer visible. “We will go back at once.” He walked out of the office, the large sheet of paper now folded neatly in his hands.
Sizhui winced when he realized he’d said the wrong thing again. He had never known what it was like to see his father whole until Wei Wuxian came back from the dead. There was a somberness to his posture that only dissipated when Wei Wuxian was beside him. Even now. Even with Wei Wuxian alive and traveling the world, Lan Wangji seemed to hold his breath between visits.
And Sizhui had implied the terrible possibility that Wei Wuxian might not feel the same.
Zizhen seemed oblivious to this fact, jogging after Lan Wangji quickly.
Sizhui followed as well, hanging back a few meters. He’d spoken out of turn, he’d insulted Wei Wuxian, and now he’d insulted his father. He’d never had a day spin so wildly out of his control.
“You okay?” Zizhen asked, noticing his ashen face a few minutes later.
“I am fine,” Sizhui answered. “I’m afraid I’ve been rather impotent today, is all.”
Zizhui looked at him strangely. “Impotent?”
“Out of control,” Sizhui explained.
Zizhen continued to arch his brow in Sizhui’s general direction. “No, I know what it means. Just… I’m not sure a single person alive would describe you that way. This day or any other.”
Sizhui watched his father part the crowd ahead of them, posture tense. Sizhui straightened his own spine at the sight. He didn’t want to do anything else wrong today. “I think A-Die thinks so,” he whispered.
Zizhen frowned. “I guess compared to him, maybe…”
“I think I should apologize,” Sizhui worried.
“For what?”
Lan Wangji turned slightly as if to listen for Sizhui’s answer. Sizhui didn’t want to humiliate his father or their family further. “... Nothing,” he answered. “Never mind.”
It was no trouble to find the inn the others had chosen. Jin Ling and Jingyi’s arguing could be heard from three streets over.
“I’m telling you, it’s mine!” Jingyi was yelling as they approached the building. “You can’t tell me our combs look the same! Isn’t yours gilded with gold and encrusted with emeralds or something?! Give it back!”
“Why are you always like this?! I have a bamboo comb to travel with like anyone else, see?! Look at the peony engraved on the bottom. It’s mine!”
“I don’t see anything, you lying-”
They made for quite the sight when Lan Wangji slid open the paper door to their room. Both were dressed only in their under robes, freshly bathed with damp hair clinging to their cheeks. Jin Ling’s hair, however, was combed out nicely while Jingyi’s was still a rat’s nest of knots on the top of his head.
They both froze at he sight of Hanguang-jun.
“Where is Wei Ying?” Lan Wangji asked.
“A-across the hall,” Jingyi answered, scrambling to stand up straight and look presentable in front of his sect leader. It was rather too late to maintain any type of decorum, however. “He’s settling the… baby. Thing.”
“Do not engage in petty arguments,” Lan Wangji said. “Do not be unreasonable. Do not disturb the peace. Voices are to be kept gentle.” He paused for a moment and then tacked on an addendum, “Especially in the presence of sleeping children.”
“Yes, Hanguang-jun,” Jingyi said, bowing. He elbowed Jin Ling who bowed as well.
“Share the comb,” Lan Wangji decided, and Jin Ling hurriedly passed it over, shame coloring his cheeks. Jingyi immediately began combing out his hair, hoping not to break the precept regarding “maintaining one’s appearance,” lest he be further admonished.
Wei Wuxian stepped out of his own room, baby bundled in his arms.
“Lan Zhan,” he greeted. “You’re home.”
It was rather strange phrasing, but Lan Wangji seemed to melt in response. Sizhui hovered behind him, watching the scene from over his father’s shoulder. He, too, was fearing chastisement after his own misbehaviors that day, and he was further scared Wei Wuxian might be upset with him for his blatant favoritism earlier.
However, Wei Wuxian did not seem interested in Sizhui at all. Usually, Sizhui would have his full attention, but instead, he seemed rather taken with the child in his arms.
“How have you managed?” Lan Wangji asked as Wei Wuxian came forward to thunk his forehead on the Chief Cultivator’s shoulder. The fact that Lan Wangji welcomed such behavior would be shocking, if his weakness for Wei Wuxian wasn’t known throughout the realm.
“I’m exhausted,” Wei Wuxian said. “Look at all these scratches! He’s a feisty thing when he’s tired.”
“Mn.” Lan Wangji took Wei Wuxian’s wrist, feeding him healthy qi to help heal his wounds.
Wei Wuxian looked pleased as they sealed over.
“You know, Lan Zhan, I was thinking - We should name our child!”
“Your child?!” Jin Ling asked. Apparently, even fear of Hanguang-jun wasn’t enough to make him bite his tongue in the face of Wei Wuxian’s absurdity.
“For now, anyway!” Wei Wuxian insisted. He, more than anyone, was aware of how family could come and go. Sizhui knew full well how Wei Wuxian had suffered children being taken away from him before. “Regardless! He needs a name! We can’t keep calling it an ‘it.’ He needs a name so he can be a ‘he.’”
“Let’s call it Guaiwu ,” Jingyi suggested, the name meaning [ monster ].
“Or Roushi Dongwu,” Jin Ling offered, meaning [ carnivore ].
“Shen?” Zizhen suggested much more kindly. This name meant [ spirit ] or [ something supernatural ].
The baby made a rather cute noise in it’s sleep, stretching slightly before settling. Lan Wangji’s gaze in response might have looked impassive to other people, but Sizhui knew his expression all too well. Sizhui had been on the receiving end of it many times.
His father looked fond.
“We shall name him Huanghun,” Lan Wangji decided, seemingly taken by the baby’s jet black hair and even blacker eyes. This name meant [ nightfall ] .
Wei Ying grinned. “Huanghun, hm? What will he do with Hanguang-jun as his keeper? Aren’t you supposed to be the light bringer?”
Sizhui felt a sudden burning in his chest.
“Why would that matter?” he asked before he could stop himself. “You keep saying he’s your baby. Not Hanguang-jun’s baby. He can’t belong to both of you, unless you were married or joined by some other means.” His mouth tasted acrid.
… What was he saying?
Fortunately, Wei Wuxian laughed off the moment, like he did anything that would horrify most other people. “I suppose that is true! Everyone makes so many comments about your Hanguang-jun and I bickering like an old married couple, I forgot it wasn’t true!”
Everyone collectively winced in honor of Lan Wangji’s pride, but Wei Wuxian plowed on.
“Still! Huanghun seems to like his new name! Look, I think he’s smiling in his sleep! But you know, when he wakes up, he has the blackest eyes with the cutest little happy twinkle in them… like a starry sky! I think [ nightfall ] is the perfect name!”
“... I guess his body turns black when he starts sprouting fur,” Jin Ling said, eager to put the conversation behind them.
Zizhen also seemed eager to move on. “Oh, but Wei-qianbei!” he said. “We found something!”
“You did?” Wei Wuxian asked.
Lan Wangji wordlessly passed the folded paper circle to Wei Ying.
“Ah. Hold the baby, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying said. The child passed hands, practiced and natural like the sharing of duties between husband and wife. Lan Sizhui looked away, the burning in his chest stinging further. Tears brewed at the corners of his eyes for some unknown reason.
Wei Wuxian laid the circle out on the floor of the inn.
His gaze grew sad. “I see.”
“What is it?” Jin Ling asked, still in the dark.
Zizhen elbowed him and hissed, “Shut up, don’t ask!”
Wei Wuxian answered regardless. “It’s a sacrificial ritual,” he said, pointing to a large symbol at the twelve o’clock position on the circle. “This can put the soul of one creature into another.”
“Hanguang-jun says it’s not bad!” Zizhen promised, clearly wanting to ease Wei Wuxian’s troubled expression.
He succeeded in that Wei Wuxian’s eyebrows rose to his hairline, but he didn’t look relieved. “Oh? I’m not sure why he would say that,” Wei Wuxian said. “A sacrificial ritual always includes a loss of life.” He looked to Huanghun. “And this time, babies seem to have been involved.”
It’s not bad because it brought back you, Sizhui wanted to say, but he’d already said far too much out of turn today. This, he managed to hold back.
“Can you discern anything more?” Lan Wangji asked practically.
Wei Wuxian frowned down at the markings. “I’ll have to study it,” he decided. “Perhaps we should retire for the evening… Aiya, poor Sizhui! Look at your clothes! Give them here, I’ll wash them while you clean up.”
Sizhui was very startled in the face of this positive attention. “You don’t have to do that, Wei-qianbei,” he promised, feeling like he didn’t deserve the man’s kindness after thinking so poorly of him all day. Sizhui was never harsh or bitter with his elders, and especially not Wei Wuxian. But then Huanghun had appeared, and ever since, he’d been embarrassing himself and thinking hurtful thoughts.
“Well, surely, you can’t go around even a small town like Lanxing covered in blood.”
“I’ll wash my own clothes,” Sizhui insisted.
“Are you sure? I-”
“I can handle it!” Sizhui said, and then scrunched his eyes shut at the harshness in his own voice. “I’m fine.” His voice came out as barely more than a squeak. Embarrassed, Sizhui hurried into the juniors’ room, snapping the door shut and scurrying behind the privacy screen where the tub was still waiting full after Jin Ling and Jingyi’s bath.
He let out a ragged breath.
What was wrong with him?
With nothing better to do, Sizhui disrobed and slunk into the water, going up to his nose as the other juniors entered the room, clearly having been dismissed for the evening by Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. Fortunately, they gave Sizhui space to calm down on his own.
If they had called out to Sizhui, he wouldn’t have been able to answer. His throat was too clogged with tears.