Later that morning, Lan Zhan arrived to the great excitement of both A'Yuan and his Baba.

"A'Die!" A'Yuan yelled and leaped at his father, who caught him neatly and swung him in a circle. Two times around and Lan Zhan pulled his boy in to kiss his chubby cheek.

"What about me?" Wei Ying pretended to whine.

"All A'Die's kisses for A'Yuan!" he giggled with a hand on each of his A'Die's cheeks so he couldn't turn to kiss his Baba.

"Such a greedy, little radish!" Wei Ying humphed before tickling A'Yuan's ribs so he would giggle wildly.

Lan Zhan smiled. An island of composure in the raucous playing around him. He would have it no other way.

"Kisses for A'Yuan." he announced before, placing a kiss on both of his son's cheeks as the child laughed.

"Now, kisses for Wei Ying." He gave that tiny smile he kept for just his husband. A soft kiss and a nose nuzzle later, he was ready to hear all the latest news over tea.

"... so he said 'I'll sell you too!'  and I said 'No!' and then I told Tofu and Rhubarb to eat him and they brought all their friends and gobbled him up but very messy. They ate the candy Baba gave them much nicer." A'Yuan told his story with enthusiasm and a total lack of regard for grammar.

"Tofu and Rhubarb were very brave." Lan Zhan said gravely. "I'm glad they are your friends."

"Me too!" He smiled enormously, very pleased at the praise for his friends from his A'Die.

He pulled out the strange two-headed rabbit and held it before him. 

"Tofu and Rhubarb! Tell A'Die thank you!" They bowed politely.

Lan Zhan nodded politely in return, his attention on his smiling son's face.

Wei Ying, however, was watching Tofu and Rhubarb. It had occurred to him he didn't actually know where A'Yuan had gotten the odd toy. As he opened his mouth to ask, he watched Tofu and Rhubarb bow to Lan Zhan.

A'Yuan was holding on to the toy's legs.

Tofu and Rhubarb had bowed by themselves.

His mouth fell open to a full gape.

"A'Yuan, where did you get Tofu and Rhubarb?" He choked out eyeing the toy carefully. Reaching out with his senses to see what it actually was.

"The lady asked what I wanted and I said toys and she said what toys and I told her a bunny with two heads and she did it. Isn't Tofu and Rhubarb perfect?" A huge smile graced A'Yuan's face as he hugged the bizarre toy to his little chest.

"What is the lady's name, little radish?" Wei Ying's odd focus was not lost on his husband.

"I dunno. She smiles and pats my head and makes me toys." A'Yuan answered. "She says the son of Yiling Patriarch needs special toys."

A'Yuan was flopping the bunny? bunnies? around by their arms to make them dance.

"Can Tofu and Rhubarb do anything besides dance and eat bad people?" Wei Ying asked carefully.

He glanced up at Lan Zhan. It took only a second for him to realize how concerned his husband really was.

"Like what?" A'Yuan asked looking a little confused.

"Can you make them do things? Or ask them to do things?" Wei Ying could sense resentful energy but it was different than anything he had ever experienced. It was tightly contained. Roiling deep within the toy.

"I whistle and they listen." A'Yuan said rather nonchalantly.

"Can you do that now?" Wei Ying asked.

"Okay." A'Yuan was excited to share his friends' trick. He placed the twisted little figure on the floor.

"Show Baba what we can do!"

His whistle was like listening to kindergartners singing heavy metal. It was a cheerful and bright version of Wei Ying and Chenqing's Summoning.

Wei Ying's mouth fell open for the second time. He was joined by his husband.

The happy little tune shifted slightly. Tofu and Rhubarb pushed up off the floor with their short little lumpy arms.  They looked at first Wei Ying then Lan Zhan before bowing deeply.

They turned and, with an odd loping gait, ran to A'Yuan and began to climb him like a tree. They nuzzled his face for a moment before perching on his shoulder.

A'Yuan let the whistle fade and whispered softly, "Now smile!"

Two matching smiles filled with way too many pointy teeth was spread across both bunnies' heads. A'Yuan was smiling just as broadly as Tofu and Rhubarb.

A'Yuan's smile began to dim as his fathers sat dumbfounded. Frozen in place. Staring.

"You didn't like it?" His bottom lip trembled.

"Oh little radish, we loved it! We're just surprised!" Wei Ying exclaimed, jarred out of his stupor.

"Very much." Lan Zhan offered. The two men looked at each other and back at their son.

"Can I hold Tofu and Rhubarb? " Wei Ying asked tentatively.

"Of course, Baba. Don't squeeze too tight." A'Yuan replied. Gently, he took his friends from his shoulder and passed them to his Baba.

"Be nice. No biting." he added quite firmly.

"They bite?" Lan Zhan's left eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly higher.

"Only bad people or if they get squeezed too hard." A'Yuan said casually.

"Ahhh... okay. No squeezing." Wei Ying said softly. "Hello Tofu. Hello Rhubarb."

Both sets of embroidered eyes sharpened as they looked at him.

"Who are you?" he whispered. A tiny tendril of resentful energy curled delicately around the rather terrifying toy.

Lan Zhan's grip tightened on Bichen in readiness for whatever may happen.

Wei Ying listened to whispers so very faint. Two voices talking over each other.

"- guards-"
"-betrayed-"
"-murdered-"
"-general-"
"-destroyed-"
"-death-"
"-lady-"
"-request-"
"-A'Yuan-"
"-protect-"
"-redemption-"
"-love-"

The words accented a flow of pictures. Twin brothers. The sworn guards of a general who was betrayed. Too many attacked. The brothers were fighting for their general and to save their brother. All had fallen in the onslaught in clouds of resentment. Their bodies tossed into the Burial Mounds to rot.

Their souls to fester.

The next image was a woman. Relatively young.  Slightly translucent.

With silver eyes.

And a smile brighter than the sun.

Wei Ying had been told often enough he favored his father. Madame Yu had told him equally often he had his mother's 'ghost gray eyes and awkward smile'.

Cangse Sanren, like any good grandmother, was making her grandson toys.

"A'niang?" The word was little more than a choked whisper. He opened his eyes.

"Tofu and Rhubarb are very good friends." Wei Ying's voice was firm. "Be kind to them. They love you, A'Yuan."

The strength of his voice reassured Lan Zhan but the glimmer of unshed tears concerned him. A smile and a nod that promised answers when they were alone eased Lan Zhan's fears.

"We have two things to do. The man Tofu and Rhubarb ate, we need to go back to where they ate him. I'll raise him and drag the location of every child sold out of him. We'll return them to their homes. And second," he looked at A'Yuan, "I want to know where you go to see the lady. I would like to have a very long conversation with your grandmother."

Tofu and Rhubarb were handed back carefully to A'Yuan, who tucked them into his robes.

"Let's head out, Lan Zhan." Wei Ying said. "We have some justice to pass out and a long delayed meeting."

"Mn." Lan Xhan replied as he swung a giggling A'Yuan up onto his shoulders.

As they headed back down the road to the spot Wei Ying had found A'Yuan, the two men listened as A'Yuan told them about the Lady.

"So every time you met your Grandmother, she made you a toy like Tofu and Rhubarb?" Wei Ying asked.

"Yes!" A'Yuan replied happily.

"Wait."

Turning to look up at his son, Wei Ying asked,  "How many toys do you have?"

A'Yuan chortled to himself and began to whistle.
~♡~♡~♡~

As requested by EdmontonAlbertaCan

Hope you enjoy it! 😁

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