Six months had passed and Qiuyue Cheng and Qiuyue Meiyi slowly became accustomed to living with Fang Li and her children. It was a lot of work for Qiuyue Meiyi to keep track of the kids, since there were so many of them, but she eventually adapted to their daily routines and personalities. 

Fang Ju was the eldest of the bunch at twelve years old, and as such, was the one with the most responsibility. He had brown hair that reached just below his shoulders and was typically kept in a low ponytail, pale skin, brown eyes and a slim yet sporty build. He was playful and loved to smile and spend time with others, but immediately became more serious if the situation called for it. He always took it upon himself to care for the younger members of his family and was extremely protective of his siblings. Qiuyue Cheng was no exception to this, immediately moving up to the top of Fang Ju's list of people he'd protect with his life once he began living with them. Due to Qiuyue Cheng's disabilities, he often needed a lot of help to do things like bathe, put on his clothes, brush his teeth and even eat meals, so Fang Ju had taken it upon himself, with a smile that seemed all too happy, to be Qiuyue Cheng's primary caregiver after Qiuyue Meiyi herself. 

Fang Ru was the second oldest at ten years old. He had green eyes, pale skin, shoulder length blonde hair and was considered the most beautiful of the children. Despite the fact that he had a handsome face and slender body, Fang Ru often behaved very sassily, and most of the time, spoke using sarcasm and rude comments.  He seemed to loath being around others and spent most of his time by himself reading books if he didn't have chores to do. Despite his chilly exterior, once you got to know him, Fang Ru was actually a fairly friendly person. Just like Fang Ju, he had a deep protective and caring nature when it came to his family, but instead of showing it through smiles and playing games, he showed it through subtle acts of kindness. One often had to look beneath his antisocial exterior to see the caring young boy underneath. It took Fang Ru a while to warm up to Qiuyue Cheng and Qiuyue Meiyi, but he eventually bonded with them. Once he did, he began to spend a lot of time with Qiuyue Cheng, reading his favourite books to him and describing the weather for him, despite the fact that the small child could neither see nor hear him. 

Fang Lin was the eldest daughter and the third eldest child in the Fang family at nine years old. She was a very gentle and soft spoken person who loved to cook and had a deep connection with nature. She had long brown hair reaching her mid-back that was usually tied into a side ponytail on the right side of her head with a blue ribbon, blue eyes and pale skin. Fang Lin usually spent most of her time tending to the Fang family's enormous garden or helping Fang Li make meals for the rest of the family. She was the first person to warm up to Qiuyue Meiyi and Qiuyue Cheng, which only took a span of one hour. She loved talking with Qiuyue Meiyi about her adventures as a wandering rouge cultivator, and was often one of the first children to volunteer to help her take care of Qiuyue Cheng.

Fang Chi was the fourth child of the Fang family. He was eight years old and had short brown hair, pale skin and blue eyes. Fang Chi was a very playful child who loved spending time with others. Though he could be very shy when meeting new people, once he warmed up to you, he became an excitable ball of energy. He took on his chores with a large level of enthusiasm, and loved helping his mother around the house. Usually though, Fang Chi, spent most of his time with Fang Lin. The two of them had been born on the exact same day, exactly one year apart, and were almost inseparable. The two were most often seen together, Fang Chi holding onto his sister's skirt as she watered the garden or Fang Lin helping her brother hang the curtains to dry.

Fang Miyu was the second female in the family, and the third youngest child at seven years old. She was a fairly quiet child that didn't speak much and often spent her time with Fang Ru, listening to him read books aloud, or with Fang Li, following her like a little duckling around the house while holding onto her robes. She had shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes and pale skin. Fang Miyu also loved to take naps. She and Qiuyue Cheng often took naps together, sleeping soundly next to each other during the day. 

Fang Lei was the second youngest child in the Fang family at four years old. He was the baby of the family and was considered the family sunshine. His smiles were bright enough to light up a room, and he loved spending time with others. Because of his age, he spent most of his time clinging to Fang Li or Fang Ju, or napping in the siblings' room. When he wasn't doing that, he was out in the garden playing with the animals that sometimes wandered down from the mountain. Fang Lei absolutely loved animals, and would often bring Qiuyue Cheng outside and have him hold and feed the animals, and sometimes even play with them. 

Fang Liu was the youngest in the family, having just been born four months prior. She did not have much of a personality as she spent most of her time either eating or sleeping. As she was only four months old, she spent all of her time being held or carried around by Fang Li, though sometimes when Fang Li was busy, Qiuyue Meiyi would take care of the Fang Liu for her. She was quite energetic for a four month old when she was awake, and had a stuffed rabbit she loved to death.

Qiuyue Cheng himself took a while to warm up to the Fang family. He spent most of his time clinging to Qiuyue Meiyi, whether that was by training with her or clutching her robes as she cooked dinner. As time went on, he slowly came out of his shell and began to interact with the other children more, though he was still a bit shy most of the time. He got along well with all of the other children, and they loved him greatly in return. The person who loved him the most out of all the children, however, was Fang Ju. 

Fang Ju was extremely protective of Qiuyue Cheng, and tended to hog him from the rest of his siblings. Out of all of the siblings, he was also one out of three of the children who had training in cultivation. Fang Li had started training him when he was seven years old and he was well on his way to being a decent cultivator. He mostly trained in spiritual cultivation, just like Fang Li, but also knew the basics of sword cultivation, which he learned from a passing rouge cultivator who had stopped in Caiyi Town for a short while during his travels. When Qiuyue Meiyi found out Fang Ju had some training in sword cultivation, she offered to train him, which he gladly accepted. 

Fang Ju loved to train with Qiuyue Meiyi and Qiuyue Cheng. When he found out that Qiuyue Cheng had started to train in cultivation and had already formed his golden core, he gushed excitedly to Qiuyue Meiyi about all the things he would like to teach his new brother. 

Fang Ju wasn't the only child going through training with a new teacher though. Qiuyue Cheng also began his training with Fang Li. Over the past six months, he was able to learn how to properly circulate qi through his entire meridian system while meditating and how to circulate his qi through weapons and other inanimate objects. He had even begun learning how to play musical instruments. Fang Li would spread her spread her qi through the instruments in order to demonstrate to Qiuyue Cheng how to play them. The speed in which he was learning spiritual cultivation genuinely shocked Fang Li. 

On top of that, Qiuyue Cheng also fully began training in sword cultivation with his mother. Sword cultivation forms took a good while longer for Qiuyue Cheng to pick up than spiritual cultivation, which surprised Qiuyue Meiyi a bit. Of course he did eventually learn the forms she showed him but it took him much longer than she thought it would. Qiuyue Meiyi took a mental note of that, and made a few plans in her head for the future. 

Currently, Qiuyue Cheng and Fang Ju were together in a clearing on the side of the hill behind the Fang family house with Fang Li. They sat in a circle on the ground, posture straight and legs folded into lotus position.

"Today, we are going to be learning to flow qi through leaves, in order to use them as weapons," she spoke out to the two of them. 

As she was teaching both Fang Ju and Qiuyue Cheng for this particular lesson, she called out detailed instructions before demonstrating using her own spiritual energy. 

"Firstly, close your eyes and take a deep breath to clear your mind of all thoughts and then centre yourself. Focus on the qi circling through your golden core and feel how it ebbs and flows through your meridians, reaching every single cell of your body," she explained before doing so herself. 

With her eyes closed, she continued, "Now, take ahold of the spiritual energy running through your meridians and slowly spread it through your surroundings. Feel the way it flows through the grass, the dirt, and the plants. How it intertwines with the natural qi running though the forest. Once you've done that, find any leaf, whether fallen or still on a tree, within the range of where you've spread your spiritual energy and focus on it. Instead of trying to flow your energy through everything you feel, focus it on that one leaf and intertwine your qi with its own, in order to take control of it. After you've finished doing that, picture the leaves floating in front of you, and your qi will respond to the command and make the leaves float. This relies heavily on your focus and the strength of your will. If your focus is weak, the spiritual energy will not obey you."

Fang Li then spread her own spiritual energy throughout the clearing, feeling how it interacted with the qi of the two children in front of her, as well as that of the surrounding nature, before directing it into a few leaves from the Sakura tree behind her. She then instructed the leaves to float in front of her before opening her eyes to observe the two young boys. 

Fang Ju's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, and he had a few leaves hovering some inches off the ground in front of him. Fang Li smiled at this. While Fang Ju had an amazingly large potential for sword cultivation, his aptitude for spiritual cultivation was average. Despite this, he worked extremely hard to be as proficient in it as he was with a sword, and his mother couldn't be anymore proud of him.

Fang Li then turned her gaze towards Qiuyue Cheng, and what she saw did not surprise her in the least, although it did cause her to giggle at bit. The six year old had an almost curious expression on his face as he gazed us at the alarmingly large cloud of leaves he had hovering above his head. He moved them all about in random patterns and shapes, although Fang Li had yet to demonstrate how to do so with her own leaves. She smiled fondly at him, before glancing back at Fang Ju, who had now managed to bring about five leaves level with his face and wore a small smile of satisfaction at the achievement, before continuing her demonstration. 

"Great job A-Cheng, A-Ju. Now I want you to picture your leaves as a blade. Imagine how durable you want this blade, how strong you want it to be, how sharp. Focus on how you want that blade to be then open your eyes."

After a few moments, Fang Ju opened his eyes. As Qiuyue Cheng couldn't see or hear them, his eyes had been open the entire time, so once Fang Ju was ready, Fang Li continued speaking. She then picked up a few pieces of cloth that she had brought with her and used her spiritual energy to make them float. 

"Now I want you to imagine yourself shooting that blade and cutting these pieces of fabric in half." She then demonstrated with one of her own leaves, and Fang Ju watched in awe as one of Fang Li's small leaves cut cleanly through one of the pieces of cloth.

He then attempted to use his own leaves to do the same. His first leaf passed clean through, making a small hole, making him clap his hands excitedly. Fang Li ruffled Fang Ju's hair in congratulations. It took three more tries for Fang Ju to cleanly cut through his piece of cloth. Once he did he threw himself back onto the grass and sighed in relief, yelling a satisfied "I did it!". His remaining leaves fell to the floor as he stopped concentrating on them. Fang Li came to sit next to him and he cuddled into her side as they watched Qiuyue Cheng cut through the three remaining pieces of cloth in one go and then slice a branch off of the Sakura tree behind them. 

"A-Cheng is amazing isn't he?" Fang Ju stated fondly to his mother as the younger came to cuddle into Fang Li's other side after leaving a big hold in the middle of the Sakura tree. 

"He sure is A-Ju, though you're just as amazing as he is. You're both special in your own way and I'll always love you both," Fang Li smiled as she softly petted both children's hair. 

The trio cuddled together for a few more minutes before getting up and resuming practice for the rest of the day.

*** 

Another six months passed, and Qiuyue Cheng had turned 7 years old. It had only been a year since Qiuyue Meiyi and Qiuyue Cheng moved to Caiyi Town, yet to Fang Li, it felt like only a day had passed. Qiuyue Cheng had improved by leaps and bounds in his spiritual cultivation. Not only was the amount of qi he could store within his golden core frighteningly massive, but the range in which he could spread and use it was even more gigantic than that. His range currently took up the entirety of Gusu and his technique when it came to controlling said spiritual energy was almost at perfection. Not only that, but A-Cheng had also improved himself in his personal life as well. He could now eat with chopsticks properly and dress by himself, once the clothes he had to wear weren't anything too intricate or complicated. He had also memorized the layout of their house and the forest behind it, although he hadn't done so for Caiyi Town as yet, as they rarely ever went to visit the heart of the small city. 

Today however would change that. The entire Fang family, including Qiuyue Meiyi and Qiuyue Cheng, would be going on an all day trip through Caiyi Town. The Fang children were all extremely excited for the trip. It had been a while since they'd all been able to travel through Caiyi Town together, and now that they had the addition of their new baby brothers Fang Liu and Qiuyue Cheng, as well as Qiuyue Meiyi, they were all even more excited than usual. Qiuyue Meiyi and Fang Li made sure to pack a good amount of money, as well as a few changes of clothes for the children and some napsacks of water, into their qiankun pouches before ensuring everyone was properly dressed and ready, before leaving the house. 

The group of ten walked calmly down the dirt path, Fang Ju holding onto Fang Li's left hand with Qiuyue Cheng holding onto his left hand. Fang Lin held onto Fang Li's right hand while Fang Chi held onto her right hand. Fang Liu was comfortably nestled in a cloth harness on Fang Li's chest, fast asleep. Qiuyue Meiyi held onto Fang Miyu with her right and and Fang Lei with her left, while Fang Ru walked just a few inches in front of her while reading a book. As they walked, a few people from the neighbouring houses waved them hello.

"Hello Miss Fang Li how are this morning?"

"A-Ju did you get the turnips I sent you yesterday?"

"Good morning Miss Qiuyue Meiyi, you look as lovely as ever!"

"Hi kids! Did you get the new books I sent? I hope they were alright."

"Have a lovely day in town everyone!"

Every neighbour they passed wished them a good day, and their sentiments were returned with the children's bright smiles and small bows of courtesy. The further they walked, the more people they passed until they reached the crowded centre of Caiyi Town. The main street was located near the primary river of Gusu, which was used for trade, travel, recreation and even training for the disciples of the Gusu Lan Sect. The noise around them heightened as the crowds grew, waking Fang Liu from her short nap. She yawned loudly, rubbing any residue of sleep from her eyes and clearly energized yet not willing to move her comfortable perch on her mother's chest. 

Once they entered the thriving marketplace, filled with food stalls and shops, the group of ten separated after agreeing to meet up in that exact spot once it was time for lunch. Fang Li gave Fang Ju a small pouch of money to spend on himself and some of his siblings, and the boy in question then ran off into the crowd with Fang Lin and Fang Chi holding onto each of his hands chanting about building kites. Fang Li wandered off to a small stall selling candy, with Fang Liu on her chest and Fang Lei and Fang Miyu holding onto her robes. Qiuyue Meiyi held onto Fang Ru, who had put away his book a bit earlier to observe the market place, as well as Qiuyue Cheng, who always seemed to wander away whenever he was left unattended, and walked towards a stall selling hairpins and small pieces of jewellery. 

She let Fang Ru wander around the stall for a bit so he could choose what he wanted, while she chose a hairpin that she thought Qiuyue Cheng would like. She carefully handed A-Cheng each piece of jewellery she thought would look good on him, and the one that he seemed to like holding onto the most was the one she chose, which ended up being an intricately carved white jade hairpin, with a large blooming lotus flower at the top end, and two smaller, closed lotus pods hanging from just below the lotus flower, each by a single,small, short jade chain. Fang Ru ended up choosing a single green jade earring, that could also double as a bookmark for him to use while reading his favourite novels. None of the items at the stall really caught Qiuyue Meiyi's eye, so she decided to simply purchase the items the boys had liked before moving onto another stall. She let go of the boys' hands in order to take out her pouch of money, and was able to haggle both of the items down to half the price before packaging them and storing them safely away in her qiankun pouch, along with the remaining money. When she reached out to take ahold of the boys' hands again however, only one pair of hands came in contact with hers. Qiuyue Meiyi's head shot back in surprise, and she clenched her hands into fists when she saw only Fang Ru standing behind her, nose buried in the novel about a prince and a dragon that he had been reading on the walk to the market place. 

She lightly shook the boy's shoulder to get his attention and once he noticed her, she looked at him with eyebrows furrowed in worry, before inquiring, "A-Ru, where is A-Cheng?"

***

Lan Xichen held onto his little brother's hand tightly as the two of them explored Caiyi Town's main market place. It was where all the merchants who travelled through Gusu came to finalize their trade, and where farmers and other citizens came to sell fresh produce, baked goods, or even handcrafted trinkets. Lan Xichen always had fun whenever he visited Caiyi Town, and he wanted his antisocial brother, who was deeply grieving from their mother's death, to experience that enjoyment as well. He hoped it would help the younger to settle his feelings a bit more, and maybe allow him to come out of his shell. 

The 13 year old carefully lead his 9 year old brother to one of his favourite stalls. The lantern stall. The old man who ran the stall immediately recognised him, and smiled brightly at him, gesturing his hand for them to come inside his stall.

"Young master, welcome! It's been a while since you visited this lowly merchant's shop! And I see you've brought me a new customer! thank you for visiting my stall today, second young master. What lanterns would you all like to make today?" the old man inquired, bowing politely to the two young Lan sect cultivators. 

"Good morning Mr. Hwa. We've stopped by your shop today to decorate the new rabbit shaped lanterns that you have on sale. I've brought my brother with me this time because he's been a bit down lately and I wanted to do something to cheer him up. Visiting Caiyi Town was the only thing I could think of," Lan Xichen told the older man. 

"That's no problem Young Master. Come to the back so you both can choose which lanterns you like best!" Mr. Hwa laughed. 

The two boys then followed the stall owner into the back of his shop, hand in hand, to choose their lanterns. Lan Zhan was mostly silent during the procedure, only letting out soft hums or nodding his head along to his brother's questions and inquiries on which lantern he liked best, and what paint and brushes he wanted to use to decorate it. 

He ended up choosing a relatively small, circular shaped bunny lantern, along with blue and white paint to decorate it with, while his older brother chose a square shaped bunny lantern that was a bit larger than his own, and decided on purple, blue, green and white paint to decorate his own lantern with. 

The two then sat at a low table set up in the right corner of the shop and began painting their lanterns. They sat in comfortable silence as they did so, not a single word disrupting their self made peace. Lan Zhan painted his lantern with a mix of bold and soft strokes, giving the illusion of an open sky with a strong breeze blowing. Lan Xichen on the other hand, painted his own lantern with soft and meaningful strokes, depicting a vast lake with lily pads and flowers floating on its crystal waters. 

Once they finished painting the lanterns, the shop owner instructed them to hang the lanterns outside so they could dry. While doing so however, Lan Xichen spotted a strange sight in his peripheral vision. A small boy who looked to be a few years younger than Lan Zhan was aimlessly wandering the streets, constantly gazing from side to side as if he didn't know where he was. The child could have simply been looking around in curiosity with his parents nearby, but something in Lan Xichen told him that wasn't the case. He glanced over at Zhan only to find that he had also noticed the boy. 

They finished hanging up the lanterns to dry, making sure to tie them properly, before making their way over to the small child. 

"Hello!" Lan Xichen introduced himself with a serene smile as he crouched down in front of the boy, "My name is Lan Xichen. I saw you wandering by yourself and was wondering f you were lost and needed help finding your parents."

To Lan Xichen's surprise however, the child did not respond to his statement. In fact, while the boy did focus his gaze on the older once he came to stoop right in front of him, it did not seem as if the younger had heard what Lan Xichen said. His gaze was intense, yet it seemed as if he was looking through the older instead of directly at him. Lan Xichen repeated himself a second time, yet still garnered no response from the small child.

Looking at the younger, something did seem a bit off with him. Not only did he not respond to the noise of the bustling crowds around them or the older boy's voice, but his eyes also seemed to be glazed over, unfocused and extremely dim. 

Could he neither hear nor see them?

It made Lan Xichen want to wrap him up safely in his arms so that no one could ever hurt him. A shadow suddenly appeared over him and he looked to he side to see his younger brother standing beside him. Lan Zhan gently took the young boy's hand into his own before guiding him out of the middle of the street. Lan Xichen was shocked to see that his brother had taken the initiative, but followed them none the less, back to the side of the streets where they had hung their lanterns to dry.

Without saying a word, Lan Zhan bent down and began to trace the characters for his name into the dirt, his older brother curiously watching over his shoulder to see what he was doing. Once he completed writing his name, Lan Zhan took ahold of the small child's hand and traced the characters for his name before poking himself in the chest in the chest with the boy's hand to gesture to himself. He repeated that process one more time before the boy perked up, as if finally understanding what the younger Lan was trying to do. 

The boy then began gently patting Lan Zhan's face as if to map out what he looked like before stooping down himself to draw something in the dirt. When he was finished he felt around for the younger Lan's hand, and once he had ahold of it, used it to trace the characters he had drawn before pointing to himself. The two Lan children shifted next to the small boy and read what he had written in the dirt. 

"Qiuyue- Qiuyue Cheng? That's his name? How adorable," Lan Xichen muttered softly, Lan Zhan humming in agreement next to him before softly speaking himself, "A-Cheng."

Lan Xichen smiled softly at his younger brother before repeating the same thing he did, tracing out out the characters for his name 'Lan Huan' and allowing A-Cheng to gently map out his face before the younger retraced his name with Lan Xichen's hand to show him what his name was. 

After all the introductions had concluded, Lan Xichen and Lan Zhan glanced at each other and immediately decided that they would keep A-Cheng with them until they could find his guardians, so they gently clasped their hands with his, Lan Xichen on his right and Lan Zhan on his left, and took him on a tour of the market. 

Their first stop was a stall that sold tanghulu. They bought one tanghulu stick, which had five pieces of candied fruit on it, for each of them and the old aunty running the stall even gave them an extra one for free. It was clearly A-Cheng's first time eating tanghulu, as he sniffed the snack first before determining that it was edible and taking a bite. He immediately perked up at the taste, a small smile spreading on his face. Lan Xichen giggled at the excited expression on his face and Lan Zhan gave out a fond huff, his own lips twitching upwards. The Lan brothers had no problem giving the younger the extra tanghulu stick.

Next they headed to a toy stall. On display were a variety of different toys that came in many shapes and sizes. There were kites, rattle drums, tops and even diabolos. and cloth animal dolls hanging around the stall. Lan Zhan liked the rattle drum the best, and Lan Xichen was quite intrigued by the complicated looking ring puzzles on display. A-Cheng himself was most enamored with the burr puzzles, out of all the different toys they handed him. Lan Xichen had no problem buying the toys for the three of them, even purchasing a small cloth bag to place A-Cheng's items in separately. 

For the next shichen or so, the group of three happily explored the market place. It was about time for lunch so the Lans decided to walk near to the river, when they heard a yell behind them.

"A-CHENG!" a female voice called out. 

They turned around to see who was calling out to the small boy holding their hands, when a young woman barreled into them, grabbing A-Cheng from between them and pulling him into her chest. She clutched at him desperately, her hands shivering slightly. A-Cheng seemed to recognize her as he immediately relaxed into her hold. Just then another boy a bit older than Lan Zhan but still younger than Lan Xichen appeared next to the young woman and began checking Qiuyue Cheng over to make sure he was alright. 

Once the two newcomers were assured that Qiuyue Cheng was fine, they turned towards the two Lan brothers. 

"Are you the ones who found him?" the woman inquired. 

"Yes miss. He was wandering alone in the streets so we decided to take him with us while we toured Caiyi Town" Lan Xichen stated. 

The young woman huffed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you boys so much for taking care of A-Cheng. I'm Qiuyue Meiyi, his mother. I had been paying for some jewellery that I bought for him and A-Ru and let go of his hand for a second to put the things away, but when I turned around he was gone! I was worried that something bad had happened to him after I couldn't find him when more than half a shichen had passed, even though I know he can defend himself just fine. So thank you again!" the young woman, Qiuyue Meiyi, thanked them profusely. 

The two brothers bowed in response, introducing themselves when she asked their names. Lan Xichen then handed her the bag with the burr puzzles A-Cheng had liked and she thanked them a final time for looking after her son. She allowed A-Cheng to wave them goodbye before the two groups parted ways. 

The Lan brothers walked in silence through the crowded streets, hands clasped together after parting ways with the boy they had grown so fond of. Lan Xichen glanced at his brother who had been especially down since their mother's death. Lan Zhan looked much calmer than he had before they left Cloud Recesses, even a bit happier, and Lan Xichen smiled at that. Not only did they make a new friend, but his little brother had also been able to feel a semblance happiness in the despondent time he was going through. And for that, Lan Xichen couldn't be more grateful and full of joy.  

***

Wow it's been a long while. I apologise for the hiatus you guys :') Pls enjoy this chapter and tell me if you have any requests or if you want me to change anything :3

The jade hairpin:  https://www.aliexpress.com/i/1005002089863750.html 

The toys mentioned:  https://www.lingoace.com/blog/traditional-chinese-toys-for-children/

Jiang Cheng (Qiuyue Cheng) - 7 years oldLan Xichen - 13 years oldLan Wangji - 9 years oldFang Ju - 13 years old, maleFang Ru - 11 years old, maleFang Lin - 10 years old, femaleFang Chi - 9 years old, maleFang Miyu - 8 years old, femaleFang Lei - 5 years old, male Fang Liu - 1 year old, female