"NO HITTING QIAN-GEGE!"

Lan Wangji pursed his lips, building up energy to defend A-Yuan when Shufu bursts his gut. Wei Wuxian flinched. "A-Yuan..." he whispered through gritted teeth.

"Hmph."

Lan Qiren harrumphed.

He narrowed his eyes; they bore into A-Yuan's angry eyes. What was going on in his fuming mind — who knew? All Lan Wangji did know was that Lan Qiren huffed, spun around and returned to his table.

The other Elder in the room walked over to Qiren and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Qiren. It's time to start believing in second chances."

Lan Qiren looked at him, absorbing the words.

"Shufu," Lan Xichen began.

He mumbled in a snapping tone "Fine, Xichen."

Lan Wangji blinked. Was Shufu shutting xiongzhang up?

"But Shufu," Xichen tried again.

Lan Qiren ignored him and picked up his scroll, unrolled it and read through the reports from the watchtowers.

Wei Wuxian bit his lip. "Shifu, Lan Zhan's right. We're keeping A-Yuan either way. We only wanted to make it official for the sake of formalities and tradition, which are things you always treasure, Shifu, please–"

Lan Qiren looked up from his scroll. "I already gave my answer, what more are you rambling for?" He looked back at his scroll. "Xichen," he called out. "I leave it to you."

"Shufu?" Lan Xichen blinked.

Lan Qiren raised an eyebrow. "What? I said 'fine'."

Xichen's jaw dropped in epiphany and he beamed at the newfound family beside him. Wei Wuxian grinned back, patting A-Yuan's head happily.

"Right, Shufu," Lan Xichen bowed to Lan Qiren and the Elder and hurried out the door, signalling to them to follow. Lan Wangji turned to his husband and A-Yuan and smiled.

A-Yuan ogled at him, open-mouthed, round-eyed, for he hardly ever saw Lan Wangji smiling.

Wei Wuxian had seen it all his life and yet he found it too spectacularly spellbinding. Lan Zhan hugged A-Yuan closer, smiling as he rubbed circles on A-Yuan's back, assuring the little boy that things had worked out just fine. 

**********

"Well?"

"Well what, Xichen-ge?"

"The name. So? What have you got in mind?" Lan Xichen looked between the fathers-to-be.

"What do you mean? He's got a name."

The Lan disciple who was filling in the details of the adoption looked up at them. "The child needs a birth name, courtesy name, and surname, Wei Gongzi."

"Oh, all that," Wei Wuxian nodded. "Well, the birth name would be Yuan."

"Mn, we'll stick to that," Lan Zhan nodded.

The Lan noted it down and rose his head again. "Courtesy name, Hanguang-Jun?"

Wei Wuxian turned to his husband because he had a feeling...

...that was proven right.

Lan Wangji had thought of a name already.

"Sizhui."

Lan Xichen blinked. "Hm... not a bad name, I should say, xiongdi," he grinned subtly and understandingly.

The other Lan nodded. "Er, Si... zhui..." he twirled his brush, wondering which characters these were. "Hanguang-Jun, this is Si from think? Zhui... Chase?"

"Mn."

While the boy wrote, Wei Wuxian pondered. Sizhui? Think, chase? Huh?

"And surname?"

Wei Wuxian pointed to his husband. "Lan."

Right at the same split second, Lan Wangji mumbled "Wei."

Lan Xichen blinked. "Erm... decide on one, will you?"

Wei Wuxian crimsoned. "This is problematic... erm... Xichen-ge, in the case of two fathers, who's surname is applied?"

"The reason we asked is so that you can pick," the Lan boy spoke up, saving Lan Xichen from unwillingly stating the fact that no law or case or anything related to homosexual parents was in any records across the lands.

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian looked at each other. Each wanted the other to be part of this, why just one?

"Hm," Lan Xichen rubbed his chin. "Well, why just one when...?" He smiled and whispered to the boy.

The Lan boy gleefully filled in the record and beamed at them. "There it is! Where's the boy?"

"HERE!" A-Yuan shrieked from under Wei Wuxian's long black cloak.

"Come here, child," Lan Xichen gestured.

Zhen Yuan sat in front of the table and looked up at the Chief Cultivator and the Lan officer.

The second man smiled at him and patted his head. "Listen well, don't forget."

A-Yuan nodded.

"From this moment on- ah wait... one issue. Which sect?"

"We'll let him pick when he grows up," Lan Xichen suggested.

"Till then, he'll just stay here, under neither sect."

The young officer nodded and resumed. "From this moment on, you will be taken under the care of the GusuLan sect's Lan Wangji, and the YunmengJiang sect's Wei Wuxian, granting them your fathers and you, their son. You will go by the name Weilan Yuan, courtesy name, Weilan Sizhui. Congratulations, little one," he smiled again.

Weilan Yuan jumped up and down on Wei Wuxian's lap, squealing with delight.

"Weilan. Mn," Lan Wangji nodded, hugging them both tight and close to his heart happily — prepared and thrilled to get to lock them both up in there forevermore. 

**********

Lan Zhan had gone to talk to Lan Xichen about something when Wei Wuxian heard the sound of the gate of the gravel-lined path to the Jingshi creaking open. He looked around him to see A-Yuan wasn't with him.

"What the- Tsk, I fell asleep?" He quickly pushed aside the stack of marking papers and stumbled towards the door.

Hearing voices, he came to a halt and sneaked over to the window instead, to listen in.

"Who are you?" Little Yuan stood in the garden, stopping whatever game he had been playing to tackle the intruder.

Lan Qiren narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

A-Yuan crossed his arms. "I'm Weilan Yuan. You?"

Lan Qiren smiled.

Wait, what? Wei Wuxian rubbed his eyes. SMILED? That's rarer than Lan Zhan's smile!

"Weilan? I see. I'm Lan Qiren."

"Lan...Qi...Ren?" Sizhui turned the syllables over and over on his tongue.

"Mn. Your father's unc–"

"Oh!" A-Yuan snapped his fingers. "You're Ta Shifu!"

"Ta Shifu?" Wei Wuxian mumbled. Ta meant to hit... Pfft! A-Yuan, you're as cheeky as me!

Lan Qiren sighed. "I guess so. But let's stick to granduncle."

Gra- Woah, Shifu's accepting him? Goodness... A-Yuan really must be a cute little charm.

"Granduncle!" A-Yuan beamed at him, rolling on the grass to Qiren's feet and sliding his arms around the ankles.

Wei Wuxian chuckled and slipped out the door. "Hello, Shifu. Apologies, my son's a leg-hugger."

Lan Qiren, who had been stifling chuckles, cleared his throat and resumed his ice-cold pose. "Clearly."

"What brought you here, Shifu?"

"Your brother's recovered."

"Oh!"

"The wound in his waist from the attack at the cave is healed now. Wei Ying, tell Jiang Cheng to get home soon. Fengmian is too worried."

"Yes, Shifu. Shifu, is he in the Healing Hall or has he come outside by now?"

"Hanshi."

"Hanshi? Oh, okay. Thank you, Shifu."

Lan Qiren nodded and turned around, only to find little Yuan still hugging his legs. He bent and awkwardly tapped his palm on the child's head. "Weilan Yuan, let go."

"Tee-hee," A-Yuan scurried over to Wei Ying and waved as Lan Qiren stomped down the path.

"Hanshi, eh?" Wei Ying grinned. "Never mind then, I'll leave you two be for a few minutes. A-Yuan, get back inside!" 

**********

"Wanyin."

"Lan Zi'er told me you sent for me. Is anything the matter, Chief Cultivator?"

Lan Xichen blinked. Yep. Definitely something wrong. "Wanyin, when are you going back home?"

"Before going to find A-Xian, Shifu said that I better get going soon," Jiang Cheng took a sip of the cinnamon tea. "A-Die worries too easily."

Xichen nodded. "He's your father, he has every right to be worried." Swirling the tea in his cup, Xichen gulped and spoke in a lower voice, "You don't know how much I myself was worried, let alone a father."

"Oh, apologies for bothering you then," Wanyin inclined his head.

Is he going to keep playing formal? Xichen decided to proceed with caution. "Wanyin."

"Chief Cultivator?"

"Are you better now?"

"How else would the Lan Doctor have allowed me to leave the Healing Hall?"

"Answer."

Jiang Cheng sighed. "Yes, yes. I'm better."

"Really and truly?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can see you're physically rather fit, but inside? Mentally, emotionally? Are you truly better, Wanyin?"

Jiang Cheng smirked. "I never said I was unwell, you know."

"Some things can be understood without ever voicing them, you know." Xichen shook his head. "At least they're supposed to... tell me, Wanyin. What's wrong with you?"

"Everything, perhaps?" Jiang Cheng smiled sourly. "And some things," he stood and brushed down his robes. "Are better left unsaid. I really need to get going, so take care, Chief Cultivator," Jiang Cheng bowed and spun around.

However, the instant he stepped away from the table, something tugged at his wrist and he fell...

_______________________________________________________________________

Ta=打 It's actually Da [according to Google Translate] but it sounds like "Ta" [albeit with a rather harsh pronunciation of "T"].

Also, Da Shifu would have sounded like Big Shifu/Eldest Shifu, when written in English as here, so yes, it's Ta, and that's the way it'll stay. Ya better accept my Pinyin, like it or not. 😝