Two days before the wedding, Wei Wuxian was once again at the Jingshi, going through some talisman notes of his own to add to Lan Zhan's book to help him out, when the door was knocked on. No, banged on: loudly.

"Aish, Jiang Cheng! What now?" Wei Wuxian groaned.

"Open up, I've got news!"

Wei Ying walked to the door and pushed it open.

"I thought you were with the rabbits. What, already moved in?"

"Shut up!" Wei Wuxian smacked his arm and pointed to Lan Wangji seated at his study table, practising the zither.

"Oh, Lan Wangji, good morning."

"Morning," Lan Zhan didn't bother to look up from the book.

"So, what's the news?" Wei Wuxian asked.

"You're making me stand here?"

"Tell the news and get lost. I've got some work to do."

"Oh wow, kicking me out now, eh? Fine, fine, Hanguang-Jun's husband."

"Oi, are you telling it or not?"

"Well, Xichen came and told me–"

"Oooh, really? Working out now?"

"Hush! Xichen came and told me to tell this to you, since you're such a huge fan of the fellow's. Heiguang-Jun. He's been spotted in Huqiu."

"Seriously?" Wei Wuxian's eyes lit up.

"Yes. There's been some attack in a village on the border between Huqiu and Gusu. This stone statue twice the height of a human had turned into a soul-consuming monster. Must be some spell... Xichen's looking into it, because random statues can't turn into beasts just like that. But anyways, they say Heiguang-Jun must have been walking past and had been there just in time to chop the statue up. Like it was CAKE! Pieces, stone turned to pebbles."

"Woah," Wei Wuxian gasped. "Amazing!"

"I guess."

"What do you mean you guess? He's amazing as always! What luck for the villagers for him to have been there on time!"

"I guess," Jiang Cheng smirked. "The Lan sect is a bit upset, and Shifu is beyond upset."

"Obviously, because Heiguang-Jun beat them in saving the people. Got there first, attacked first, won first. Hahahaha good for them!"

"They're coming up with a solution. To put up watchtowers so that they can be notified should anything happen. And be informed as soon as it happens."

"Ooh, trying to defeat the Dark Knight, are they? Shifu sure seems flustered."

"There, my part's done. I'm pissing off as requested by Hanguang-Jun's dear husband!" Jiang Cheng tossed his hair over his shoulder at Wei Wuxian waving him off, and marched away from the Jingshi. Wei Wuxian slammed the doors shut and returned to his table.

"Sorry about that, Lan Zhan. Might have disturbed you."

"No," Lan Wangji shook his head.

"Couldn't let him in or he'd see your book. How's the guqin practice going?"

"Good. Do you not practise Chenqing?"

"I do, occasionally."

"Have you, today?"

"Of course, not, we came here early morning!"

"Then practise."

"The talisman drawing is done..." Wei Wuxian shut the books on the table. "Guqin and dizi would sound wonderful together," he grinned.

"Mn."

"Then let's play!" Wei Wuxian scooted backwards and sat with his back against the legs of the bed, black flute at his lips. Lan Zhan nodded to him and he began first. Wei Wuxian followed the notes of Cleansing in his mind and focussed on it well until the first line or two came out perfectly. Smiling imperceptibly, Lan Wangji pulled a string or two in time with Wei Wuxian and joined in the melody.

**********

"Eh? A duet?" Jiang Cheng, standing on a wooden chair, hanging the ends of a big red banner up on the gate, almost fell over at the sudden harmony ringing through the air.

"That's A-Xian's Chenqing," Jiang Yanli smiled.

"And Wangji's Wangji?" Lan Xichen grinned at the way his words sounded.

"Looks like they're getting alone just fine," Nie Huaisang chuckled.

"Good, good, how else would they cope with the wedding night anyway," Jin Qingyang nudged him and they cackled with laughter before proceeding to put up the decoration. "BIT TO THE LEFT!"

"Now?"

"A bit more!"

"Now?"

"No, no, to the right, that's too much!" Huaisang shouted.

"Argh, NOW?"

"Ah you pulled it too much, back to the left!"

"OH COME ON!" Jiang Cheng shouted. He kicked his foot and almost fell over the chair, toppling towards the ground — if it weren't for Lan Xichen standing right there to catch him and push him back up.

Nie Huaisang snickered and held out his palm to Jin Qingyang. "It worked, Mianmian."

"Sure did," Qingyang snorted and high-fived him.

"When will you two stop matchmaking?" Jin Zixuan asked, hands crossed, watching from afar.

"When you get your proud butt down here to HELP!" Nie Huaisang pointed with his fan.

"Tsk," Zixuan sulked and walked over to them, picking up the right end of the banner and standing on another chair at the other end of the gate to help put the banner up. All the other disciples were busy with arranging the Main Hall.

"A-Cheng," Jiang Yanli called in her calm voice, seeing Wanyin was flustered by Xichen's catch, ready to stomp the chair and fall off again. "Just two inches to the left should do."

He calmed down as brilliantly as expected. "Now, A-Jie?"

"PERFECT!" They clapped.

"Your turn, Peacock!" Jiang Cheng hopped down and nodded to Jin Zixuan.

"Fine. All of you shut up. A-Li, instruct."

"Hmph," Nie Huaisang smacked his fan on his palm. "Won't trust us?"

"Trust your wife more than your sister?" Qingyang shouted up at him.

"Yes, I do," Zixuan nodded to Yanli.

"Why you–!"

"Mianmian, no shouting here," Huaisang slammed his fan on her mouth.

"OW! How do you know the rules so well?"

"I'm the second best non-Lan in the whole world who knows the Cloud Recesses."

"Who's first?"

"A-Xian, of course, spent ninety-nine percent of his study years writing them," Jiang Cheng smirked.

"A-Li, this alright?"

"Oi, a bit to the right!"

"No, no, no, a bit more!"

"You're folding it up, Peacock, stretch it out!"

"......... A-Li?"

"It's perfect, A-Xuan, they're teasing you."

"See? I knew it," Jin Zixuan got down from the stool and glared at the chortling three. "Hopeless."

"Zixuan, you should have a bit more relaxed fun yourself," Lan Xichen tapped his shoulder.

"Sect Leader!" A Lan disciple walked up to him.

"Yes?"

"The wedding robes. Shifu Qiren wishes to meet you to inspect them."

"Ah, they're done? Let's go," Lan Xichen nodded and signalled to the others to keep going while he walked away.

**********

February fourteenth came and went with Wei Wuxian staying at Lotus Pier for his last day with his sect. All morning, even Madam yu didn't give him work to do. Her husband had warned her against implementing any kind of work on Wei Wuxian all day, and so the morning was spent with the disciple begging Wei Wuxian to train them one last time. Eyes tearing up, Wei Wuxian had agreed. Morning and afternoon. When the gong was struck, the Jiangs gobbled down their lunch and ran back to the training grounds, ready to return to training. Today was their special, memorable training session. They were not going to miss it.

Jiang Fengmian walked around his home to find Wei Wuxian training their swordsmen. Smiling at his expertise, he watched from the pier, seated beside his daughter.

"A-Die, A-Xian will still get to come visit us, right?"

"Don't forget, A-Li, you're going to Koi Tower yourself."

"But A-Xian can come to Yunmeng and Lanling, right? And so can I? To Gusu and Yunmeng?"

"Of course, child. We'll come every time to visit you too. The two of you will miss A-Cheng badly anyway."

"Mn, exactly, A-Die," Yanli pursed her lips and looked down.

"Now what's the sad face for? Don't want to be with your A-Xuan?"

"Of course I do!" She answered, almost shouting her answer quickly. She blushed and looked away.

"Hahahaha!" Jiang Fengmian roared with laughter. "Sweet child," he stroked her head. "I do hope A-Xian will be able to stay as happy as you already are..."

"He will, A-Die."

"Oh? He did say Lan Wangji was his enemy and how was he supposed to live with a man as boring as that and some endless rant like that..."

"Oh, he always says that. Truthfully, A-Die, he doesn't understand his own heart sometimes..."

"I'm listening," Fengmian smiled.

"Well, he is angry with Lan Er-Gongzi, but in a good way. He's frustrated, irritated with him. I think it's just that he's irked with the way Lan Er-Gongzi is making him feel."

"Ooh, I see where you're going with this," Fengmian chuckled. "A-Li, you've always been observant with your brothers. Good job in noticing this. If it is as you say, they will be okay, right? I'm just... I feel bad for putting A-Xian through this. I didn't take him in and bring him up in here to send him away to another sect..."

"Trust me, A-Die. He'll be happy. You know A-Xian, he'll always find ways to be happy."

Jiang Fengmian looked at the boy swinging his sword while walking through the lines of disciples, checking their postures, and smiled warmly. "True." 

**********

Red robes were wrapped around the slender body, and the tassels and ribbons knotted up to secure the dress in place. Jin Qingyang patted down the golden designs of dragons embedded into lotuses and clouds that ran all over the collars and sleeves, brushing down the robes. She bent down to pull the robes' hem a bit lower, just enough to cover the ankles. "I won't pull it any lower or you'll break your neck."

"Thanks, Mianmian," Wei Wuxian nodded.

"Hello, hello, look what I brought!" Mianmian's mother walked into the dressing room.

"Madam Jin," Wei Wuxian hurriedly rose and bowed.

"Aish, sit down, child," she shoved him onto the seat. "Here you go," she placed a huge box on the table before him and left it open for him to stare at the jewellery. Hair ornaments, hair pins, a golden tassel for the scarlet belt.

"Madam Jin..."

"Our Lanling has the best gold jewellery so this is all I can gift," she grinned. "Look fabulous, don't let my jewellery down!"

"Mn," he nodded. "Thank you, Madam Jin."

"I'll head back to the crowds, Zixuan might return now. Yang-Er, help him."

"I will, Niang."

"What are you doing in here?" Madam Jin nodded to Jiang Cheng.

"Madam Jin, he's my shixiong. Plus, he's not a girl, so it isn't necessarily a no-men room..."

"Whatever," she waved her hand and strode out.

"A-Cheng, weren't you helping Lan Zhan?"

"Peacock and Lazy Sang have him under control."

"Oh, really? Good."

"Don't wear this," Jiang Cheng plucked out the gilded red hairpin in the box. "You've got a better one," he grabbed Wei Ying's neck and twisted him to face the mirror.

"OI! That hurt!"

Slip! A hair clasp slipped into the top knot in his hair, through one end, just underneath his red ribbon, and out the other end.

Wei Wuxian turned his head around, left and right, to have a look. It was a bright white butterfly and a fern-green flower perfectly crafted out of the purest jade, one above the other, with intermittent silver to hold the flower and butterfly in place. At the centre of the hairpin sat a beautiful round pearl, glowing silvery white.

He smiled at the beauty and then saw who had slipped the hairpin in. He shot up to his feet and bowed. "Madam Yu!"

"Careful, the pin will fall off."

"Erm," Wei Wuxian stood upright and patted his hair. "This..."

"It's... something Madam Jin and myself got for your mother. We wanted to give it to her at her wedding but... she disappeared along with Wei Changze, married in secret, had you in secret, we never knew a thing until years later... Treasure that. Dare to break it and I'll flog you, married man or not."

"Nothing will happen to this, Madam Yu, rest assured," he bowed again.

"Good," she nodded and marched out.

"Wow. I didn't expect that at all," Jiang Yanli, seated at a corner of the room with Jin Qingyang, stared in amazement. "A-Niang kept Cangse Sanren's hairpin with her all this time?" She smiled. "And yet she fights with A-Die over the rumours," she shook her head, laughing.

"Madam Yu is a conflicted soul," Jin Qingyang grinned. "I see it now. The silver suits the silver in your eyes, Wuxian-ge."

"Think so?"

"Absolutely!"

"Well then," Wei Wuxian let Qingyang and Jiang Cheng finish helping hm with the rest of the accessories. "Shijie?"

"Right here," Yanli stood and walked over. She stood on tiptoe and reached up to try to put the veil on him but was just too short. Wei Wuxian saw her struggling and knelt on the ground. She draped the veil over his shoulders, made sure it stuck to the hair ornaments and jade clasp, and smiled at him. "Now then, one last smile, please?"

"Last?"

"Well, once I put the veil over your face, I won't see your smile. Not all tonight, not until you head for the bedchamber, I guess. Meaning this is the last time I get to see your smile tonight."

Wei Wuxian smiled. Painfully. He didn't want to leave the room right now.

"Come on, where's my three-year-old XianXian's smile?"

"Tee-hee," Wei Wuxian chuckled and burst into a bright beaming smile that radiated merriment.

"That's my brother," Yanli smiled and brought down the veil.

**********

All the clans and sects, their leaders, the leaders' spouses, children — if any — and all prominent souls filled up the Main Hall of Cloud Recesses on the night of the wedding ceremony. When Wei Wuxian walked in with Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng and Jin Qingyang, the crowds gasped in awe. The robes, the hand-embroidered veil of red silk and white lotuses were all so gently glamorous, not blinding or harsh to the eyes. Just simple and bright, just like the wearer.

Not to mention, unlike how the robes would look on a bride, on the tall and strong man who wore them now, they looked majestic. To the point some said he looked like an Empress from long ago, reborn.

And the veil's white lotuses gave everyone present a clear indication of who the man was, so they rose to their feet in respect of the White Lotus of the YunmengJiang sect. The Pink and Purple Lotuses walking beside him smiled happily when they saw that not one person was talking about Wei Wuxian's background, his father, his rogue mother, none of it. Today, he was just Wei Wuxian. Fourth most handsome cultivator in the world. Top archer, beaten everyone else at last year's Phoenix Hunt. Top swordsman, rival of the mighty Hanguang-Jun.

And now the husband of that same Hanguang-Jun.

This was no longer a man they could gossip about, wag their fingers at. This was a man who called for respect.

After all, Lan Qiren's stern glare at all of them clearly alerted them against any unnecessary talk.

Any chatter at all came from up front.

"Woooooah... Ji-xiong, LOOK at THAT! That there is your beautiful husband! I didn't really think he'd look so good in red and gold robes but... wow... Jin-xiong, is the jewellery from your family?"

"I guess, how did you know?"

"I've studied fans and fashion and literature all my life, I know which comes from where. But this is..."

"I get you, Nie-xiong, I did not expect this... A-Li's embroidery is pretty, too. Looks good on him, right, Lan Wangji?"

Lan Wangji silently stared at the angel in red walking to him. He couldn't quite see, but he could... feel... the smile shining underneath the veil.

"Wangji seems happy," Lan Xichen smiled beside them. "Too far away to hear you," he chuckled. The two others picked up the red chiffon cloth with the folded knot at the centre and Xichen hung one end over Lan Wangji's right shoulder. Jin Zixuan handed the other end to Jiang Yanli, who stuffed it into Wei Wuxian's hands. "Now then, shine," she whispered to him and let go of his arm. Jiang Cheng and she walked to the other side of the aisle and stood facing Lan Xichen, Huaisang and Zixuan. The couple walked up front and Elder Wang, the friendly Lan Elder from before, conducted the short rituals of the three bows.

Heavens and Earth.

Parents and Ancestors.

Each other.

The others clapped and cheered when the bows were completed and the two stepped down to greet their elders. Lan Wangji held Wei Wuxian by the wrist, in case the veil blocked his view, guiding him to Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren first.

Having been bowed to by the wedding couple, Lan Qiren nodded stiffly. "Mn. Wei Ying, you better adapt to our ways. For a happy and prosperous life."

"Yes, Shifu," Wei Wuxian nodded, veil bobbing.

"Wei Gongzi– No, maybe I should call you Wuxian?"

Wei Ying nodded once, beaming at him.

"Well then, Wuxian, wishing you joy and all the Emperor's Smile you want," Xichen grinned.

Wei Wuxian laughed. "Thank you, Zewu-J–"

"Xichen."

"Xi– Xichen-ge. Thank you," Wei Wuxian blushed, thankful that the veil hid it well.

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan called and he stood, nodding to him. Lan Wangji took him over to the other table.

"A-Xian..." Jiang Fengmian stroked his clothed head. "Promise me you won't duel him again?"

"Jiang Shushu!" Wei Wuxian cried.

"What?"

"I... I won't, promise."

"Nor will I," Lan Wangji nodded to him.

"Good boys," Jiang Fengmian smiled. "A-Cheng has something to give, right?"

"Yes..." Jiang Cheng edged closer to his father's table and held out a scroll.

Wei Wuxian took it and held his veil away from his face to look down at the painting of the Lotus Trio with Yanli's quote at the top. "I thought you wanted to keep this!"

"I made two more copies. One for each of you to take home. I mean, your new homes."

"A-Cheng..." Yanli held his arm, smiling at him with a nod.

"Thank you, A-Cheng. First gift from you and it's worth a lot," he sniggered.

"Oi!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Ahem!" Jiang Fengmian looked at his children.

"Happiness and fortune!" Yanli and Wanyin piped their wishes quickly.

"Lan Wangji."

Lan Wangji turned towards Madam Yu, wavering, doubtful. "Madam Yu?"

"That man you're holding is our sect's Head Disciple. From now on, it is your full responsibility to take care of him. Should anything happen to Head Disciple Jiang..." she stroked the purple ring on her finger, eyebrow raised.

Lan Zhan jumped happily inside. "I understand, Madam Yu."

"And Wei Ying..."

"..."

"...... Your mother's hairpin looks good on you."

Wei Wuxian smiled with relief. He knew what she was implying, but was just too embarrassed to say it in the open after all she had done to him.

Your mother will be looking down on you from up above right now. She'll be happy to see you now.

Wei Wuxian inclined his head. "Thank you, Madam Yu."

"Why my goodness!" Madam Jin exclaimed from somewhere across the hall. "Ziyuan, that's hers?"

"You forgot?" Ziyuan asked, voice cold.

"No, no, just... didn't know you'd kept it all this time."

That earned her a sharp glower from Yu Ziyuan for having unveiled her secret in public. Madam Jin zipped her lips shut in a grin.