Cangse Sanren sat atop the donkey, laughter pealing in the air above the rustle of the forest around them.

Wei Changze cracked a string of jokes, ceaseless, delighted to make his darling wife happy. Occasionally, he would hear a cooing giggle from above his head and he would pat the little legs that hooked around his shoulders and twirl around, dancing merrily.

When his father danced, Wei Wuxian squealed. Shrieking with giggles of glee, he clapped his father's cheeks as the latter spun around. "Baba, Baba, BABA!"

"Yes, XianXian?"

"Baba! Boo!"

"Oh, right, then let's do Boo," Wei Changze chuckled.

"What's Boo? A new game of yours?" Cangse laughed.

"Watch," Changze winked. He gripped his son's legs to grab his attention, then raspberry-blew his mouth.

Cheeky and gleeful, Wei Wuxian immediately followed, seated atop his father's shoulders. He turned his head in his mother's direction to proudly show her he could do it just as well.

"Yay! My Ying-Er's amazing!"

"Who's the best boy?" Wei Changze laughed and tousled his hair. "XianXian's the best boy!"

Laughter, giggles and smiles rang in his head, filling up his mind, soul and heart.

Just as suddenly as it had come, the scene faded...

From lush greenery, into purple. 

**********

"XianXian? XianXian!"

"Shijie! SAVE MEEEEE!"

"Aish, I'm trying to, tell me where you are!"

"U– U– Up here!" Wei Wuxian's voice quivered as he waved from a treetop.

"How did you get up there!?" Jiang Yanli gawked at him.

"I can't get down! And..."

"Woof! Woof!"

"Aaaaaaaargh!"

"Shoo, go away!" Jiang Yanli tried chasing the dog off, but it wouldn't listen. Obstinately, it stayed at the bottom of the tree, barking at Wei Wuxian. "A-Xian, it's a stray dog. Maybe you brought some food with you, that's why it's barking! Drop it down, I'll send it off!"

"Can't drop, it's a dumpling!"

"Aish, what's all this fuss for?" A cold voice, though younger than Wei Wuxian's, laughed as the owner strode into the clearing. "Oh hello!"

"A-Cheng, that's a stray dog, don't–"

"A-Jie, hush!" Jiang Wanyin, still an eight-year-old, bent down and scratched the dog behind its ears. "What are you doing here?"

"That thing chased after me! 'Coz I've got a dumpling with me..."

"I was asking the dog!" Jiang Cheng laughed. He took out a roll of bread from his sleeve. "Now take this and go. Run along!"

The pooch stared at the bun and wagged its tail, quickly licked Jiang Cheng's scratching hand, snatched the bread in its teeth and ran off into the distance.

"See? That's how you deal with dogs," Jiang Cheng grinned smugly, dusting his hands. "Now get down, silly!"

"I... It's too high..." Nine-year-old Wei Ying was trembling.

Jiang Yanli sighed and shook her head. "Don't climb up if you can't get down! Now jump!"

"HAAAAH!?"

"I've caught you before! Now jump!"

"Sh– Shijie..." Wei Wuxian staggered onto his feet and stood on the branch. But just as he did, before he could change his mind on jumping and decide to sit there all day, the branch cracked and he found himself crashing to the ground.

Yanli caught him, holding him tenderly in her arms. "XianXian...... should learn to climb down trees."

The scene shifted yet again....

This time, however...

Pink and purple faded into...

**********

The brightest, purest white.

Wei Wuxian was still being held in a pair of arms, but the gentle and lithe hands quickly transformed into super-strong muscles. Billowing white robes flapped in the wind on the rooftop of... Cloud Recesses? Lotus Pier? He couldn't tell which.

But he could tell who it was, holding him so carefully in their arms.

"Lan Zhan?" He looked up.

"A-Ying? Are you alright?" 

**********

All at once, in the blink of an eye, the white jade face metamorphosed into an equally fair face, but its beauty restrained by a spectacular black and crimson mask. Instead of the beautiful golden eyes from before, dark brown orbs stared back into his shaking silver.

"Gongzi? Are you alright?" 

**********

Wei Wuxian shot up in bed, hands clutching at his head and ruffling his hair furiously, screaming "Aaaaaaargh!"

He panted and huffed and sat up on his bed, leaning against the head of the bed. "What the hell? Mama and Baba have always been there... so have Shijie and A-Cheng... but Lan Zhan? And Heiguang-Jun? Aaaaargh! Wei Wuxian's going craaaaaazy!" He messed up his hair out of rage.

"Heiguang-Jun was as he was... just that his eyes... seemed to tell something... sweet... Aaaargh! Stop dreaming like a lovesick maiden in love with the masked hero, Wei Wuxian!" He smacked his head.

"Hold on second," he gasped. "Did Lan Zhan call me.................... A-Ying? HUHHH? Goodness this is going too far. That Lan Zhan has to go home, before he makes me lose all remaining strands of sanity."

Well............ if there were any..................

Exactly who am I in love with right now? Heiguang-Jun or Lan Zhan? Was it okay to be yearning for both?

Wait, wait, wait, it was wrong to be in love in the first place! 

He grabbed Chenqing from nearby and whacked some sense into his head. "You're here to serve the Jiang sect, you vowed to serve the sect and that's all, so stop!" Bang! 

"This!" Bang! 

"Nonsense!" Bang, bang, bang!

He rubbed his pillow on his throbbing head and got out of bed to get ready for the day.

By the time he walked outside, he found out that the Twin Jades of Gusu had already left. 

**********

"Jiang Shushu," Wei Wuxian bowed, standing at the doors to the Sect Leader's study in Lotus Pier.

"Ah, A-Xian. Come in, come in," Jiang Fengmian set his documents aside and waved to him from his tall lotus-shaped seat. "What is it? News? Needs?"

"Erm... bit of both?"

"A suggestion?" Jiang Fengmian smiled.

"Yes, Jiang Shushu."

"Fantastic! Well, what is it about?"

"Er... it's actually about... Shijie... and A-Cheng..."

Jiang Fengmian sighed. "A-Xian... is this about the proposals?"

"Yes," Wei Wuxian nodded. "Jiang Shushu, how are they going? Any progress?"

"Come here, take a seat, child," he pointed to a cushion on the other side of his table. "So far... we haven't really confirmed anything. Ziyuan wanted to, but... I feel that I need my children's consent. Something tells me their hearts... lie elsewhere..." he shook his head, fingers rubbing the side of his head. "A-Xian, I'm torn right now. I don't know... neither of them are really saying anything so I have no choice but to go ahead with all of this... I want them both settled down wonderfully well. And it's hard to turn down offers from the two sects closest to me. Tsk, what am I to do, A-Xian?"

Wei Wuxian smiled reassuringly. "Jiang Shushu, I realised they weren't going to say anything, so I came to speak."

"Please, do tell me what's going on with them."

"I can't really say anything for A-Cheng... it might just be one-sided... even A-Cheng is insecure and unsure sometimes... so I'll stick to talking about Shijie for now."

"A-Li?"

"Yes. Jiang Shushu, did you know she has a lover already?"

"Really?" Fengmian sat up straight, violet eyes wide with curiosity.

"Yes, Jiang Shushu. The heir to the Jin sect, Jin Zixuan. The two of them were quite close during school days and we often placed them both together whenever we went out for drinks or dinners. Turns out, during the two years spent apart, both have realised their feelings. We had a party last night to bring everyone together again, and Peacock and Shijie–"

"Peacock?" Fengmian laughed.

"Oh, he's proud and mighty all the time, so we call him Peacock. But honestly, he's humble and sweet whenever he's with Shijie. All stammering and blushing like an idiot," Wei Wuxian laughed.

"I see. So last night? What happened?"

"The rest of us chatted with one another. But Peacock seemed to have forgotten his own sister! And Shijie was too busy talking and smiling with him to even glance at A-Cheng or myself," he chuckled. "Both only remembered their siblings when the party was over and A-Cheng and Mianmian were sleepy. The parting was... dear me, the looks on their faces..."

"That close, are they?"

"Would it be enough if I told you they were holding hands under the table?"

Jiang Fengmian patted his chest and smiled. "I see. So things are that far, eh?"

"Yes, Jiang Shushu. I beg you to free Shijie from Zewu-Jun's proposal and let her marry Peaco– Jin Zixuan instead!" He kowtowed.

"Hey, hey, hey, no kowtowing, sit up," Fengmian held him by the arms. "A-Xian, I don't know how to thank you for telling this. There's no difficulty in 'freeing' A-Li from Zewu-Jun, as you put it. Xichen himself was merely obeying his uncle's orders. Then we can erase Jin Qingyang's proposal to A-Cheng and let the Jin and Jiang sects tie the knot through A-Li and Zixuan instead?"

"Yes!" Wei Wuxian beamed.

"Well, in that case, I'll let Jin Guangshan and Madam Jin know. But we won't rush anything. We'll only speak to our own children and let them do it themselves. Because after all, this isn't an arranged marriage in any way!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Wei Wuxian clapped. "Thank goodness, that's sorted!"

"Now... there still is a problem..."

"What is it, Jiang Shushu?"

"You see, the proposals and marriages aren't just tying the knot between two people. It's tying the knot between two sects, in our case. You must have noticed, A-Xian."

"Hm," Wei Wuxian nodded. "Mianmian and Wen Qing were proposed to A-Cheng, both younger mistresses of their sect, and A-Cheng's the heir to his sect. Shijie was proposed to Zewu-Jun because she's the mistress of our sect whereas Zewu-Jun is Sect Leader. So it's basically getting a wife from one sect to the leader of another sect? Hence, sect ties?"

"Yes. Marriages like these are sect ties. Alliances for peace in the future. Wen Qing had fiercely turned down the proposal right after the banquet, making her plans on being nothing but a doctor for life clear to Wen Ruohan. Ruohan told me, apologised to me."

"Oh? Then that's one down!"

"Haha, A-Xian, you make it sound like a match," Fengmian chuckled. "So the Jiang-Wen tie is off. But so far, Ziyuan was ready to confirm the ties between the Jiang sect and the Lan and Jin sects. Those two are closest to us......."

"So, Jiang Shushu," Wei Wuxian rubbed his nose. "The Jin sect tie will remain, because Shijie's marrying their heir!"

"True, so that's fine. But the Lan sect? We can't just ignore them, we might have to make up for rejecting their first proposal. After all, their sect leader is the Chief Cultivator....... And I know Qiren, he can be grumpy. I don't want to lose friendship with him over this... But then... A-Cheng... Aish, I'm going mad!"

"So we'll go with the swap!"

"Swap?"

"We swapped Shijie's Lan betrothal with Jin Zixuan! We can swap A-Cheng's Jin betrothal with Lan Xichen!"

"Silly boy," he lightly rapped his knuckles on Wei Ying's head. "Use your brains. Let's forget about both being men for the moment. A-Cheng will be sect leader. Xichen is already sect leader. How on earth are two sect leaders, governing two different regions, leading two different sects, in charge of their own masses of people, supposed to even live together? They'll be married but they'll be separated. Either that, or one will have to give up sect leadership."

"Oh God..." Wei Wuxian sighed. "I never thought of that............. But then.......... Will we have to let someone else marry Zewu-Jun? But then, you only have A-Cheng and Shijie........"

"No, I don't think Zewu-Jun will marry anyone. Having skipped his proposal to A-Li, it's wrong to propose another person to him again, not respectful. Perhaps a betrothal to Wangji should do."

"Pfft!"

"What?"

"Lan Zhan? Betrothed? Or marrying anyone at all? Poor them, they'll go through hell!" Wei Wuxian doubled up laughing.

"You better take that back and change your attitude because I have no other child of mine to betroth to him but you!"

"Hahahaha..... haha... ha..... haaaa.... er.... wait.... w– what!?!?"