Lan SiZhui spent the rest of the year finishing up his studies in Cloud Recesses. He went on night hunts with his friends, visited Jin Ling in Koi Tower, helped his fathers with the children, and spent a lot of time wondering why he felt so unsettled.
Some of this had to be attributed to OuYang XiaoDan; she attended her three months of studying in Cloud Recesses, and every spare moment was spent following him. If Rule Number One of brotherhood meant that he was not allowed to see her as anything other than cute, Rule Number Two had to be 'you're not allowed to kiss your brothers' sisters'. And oh how he wanted to kiss her! His lust became so hard to disguise that he begged his father for permission to move into the Jingshi. At least there he had the privacy that when his desires became too great, he could take care of them without shaming himself in front of his roommates.
After turning eighteen, he expected to be told to swear to Cloud Recesses. But his uncle refused to make him choose between the Sect he grew up in and his fathers' new Sect. To placate the Elders who made their displeasure at this favoritism known, he spent most of his time on night hunts and running errands for his uncle. He made frequent trips to Sanctuary to see his family, but those trips just made the unsettling feeling worse.
There was something wrong with his fathers. Most of the time Baba was his normal, happy self. But sometimes... the smile slipped…. When that happened, Father would take him away to their room, and they would do... whatever it was they did to bring back the smiles. But then Father's eyes would look sad for a few days. He didn't understand it, and both parents denied there was anything wrong.
He spent most of his time during the next year at Koi Tower. The rebuilding of the buildings was done, but the rebuilding of the Sect had barely started. After the massive betrayals and subsequent executions of the men and women who plotted or participated in the assault on Wei WuXian and his family, Jin RuLan found himself pretty much alone in his position as Sect leader. The core of the Sect had been rotting from the inside out since before the SunShot Campaign; Jun GuangShan and Jin GuangYao had simply been the external representations of that rot. Since Lan SiZhui had been, and technically still was, Lan XiChen's heir, he had been taught Sect leadership from an early age. The two cousins worked hard trying to bring the LanLingJin back to a fraction of its former glory.
Right after he turned twenty, Jiang WanYin apparently decided Lan Sizhui had had enough time loafing around Koi Tower and called him to Lotus Pier to work. The young man found himself under the tutelage of his aunt, who was pregnant, and so found himself weeding the gardens while she watched. Or pounding dried herbs in the dispensary under her direction. As the months progressed, he learned how to make medicine for various ailments. And one night, in early summer, he found himself feeling both horrified and amazed as he assisted the midwife while Wen Qing struggled to give birth. Holding the slippery newborn in his arms and carefully washing away the fluids on its body, he felt that the unsettled feeling that had followed him around for the past three years was completely gone. So when his aunt was feeling better a few days later, he knelt before her and begged to become her disciple.
A month later, his newest cousin was almost on a regular eating and sleeping schedule, and his aunt resumed some of her medical research. She informed Lan SiZhui that their most pressing concern was helping his Aunt MeiLi get pregnant. Uncle XiChen needed an heir of his own body, especially since his current heir was learning to be a doctor... But the paralysis prevented them from being intimate. And what followed was the most embarrassing series of lectures in his life.
He had thought Father taking him to view the pornographic novels in the library and the subsequent conversation about refraining from the activities that directly led to potential pregnancies until after marriage was embarrassing. He had also thought that Baba telling him to take himself in hand instead of kissing XiaoDan was embarrassing. (Although the part about the massage oil turned out to be quite useful.) Those embarrassing moments paled in comparison to sitting before QingJie while she gave anatomical lectures, complete with detailed drawings and diagrams, on what exactly happened between men and women in order for a woman to become pregnant.
After Wei WuXian's and Lan WangJI's first fall festival as husbands, street rats started arriving in Sanctuary. They had heard the stories of the cultivators who took kids in off the streets and gave them a warm bed to sleep in and good food to eat. Wei WuXian did his best to care for them, commandeering one of the student dorms and hiring two teenage girls to watch over them. But when the fifteenth one showed up just as the family was getting ready to set off to celebrate the new year at Cloud Recesses, Lan Zhan had to put his foot down and exercise his authority as Sect leader. He didn't mind the children coming; he minded the strain it was putting on his spouse.
Between teaching multiple classes a day, caring for his children and the growing number of abandoned children every day, the sleepless nights when Qiu was teething or having growing pains, his own experimental work, and the not so occasional mental anguish of not having a child of his own, Wei WuXian was slowly falling apart. The number of nights that Lan WangJi went to their room and found Wei WuXian already passed out from exhaustion far outnumbered the number of nights they fell asleep in each other's arms from a different kind of exhaustion. It wasn't that Lan WangJi was an indifferent husband and father: he took charge of their children whenever possible. It was just that Wei WuXian didn't want to lay down any of his burdens of responsibility….
In his mind, he was the reason they had three young children. He was the reason those other kids showed up in Sanctuary. He was the one who decided to teach. He was the one who was interested in his research. What should he force others to take on his responsibilities?
Lan WangJi, however, felt differently and had no issues with delegating some of his spouse's assumed responsibilities. On the way to Cloud Recesses, he sent the Headmaster orders. While Wei WuXian was forced to rest and relax during the New Years celebrations (Liu and XiaoShu went off to play with the sect children and Li MeiLi 'borrowed' Qiu more often than not), the Headmaster hired a few childless couples and widows to come live in the town outside Sanctuary to foster the abandoned children. During the mornings, the children were to attend school, and in the afternoons they apprenticed at a trade. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was better than the previous one. And on the return back to Sanctuary, the Lan-Wei family traveled with an additional member of the party: a nanny for Qiu.
And so their first year of marriage ended with the couple once again in harmony with themselves and each other.
It was after their third anniversary that the madam of the brothel where Liu and Qiu's mother worked showed up again with yet another infant to sell. Lan WangJi had immediately set Hua to start looking for yet another foster home for the infant, but Wei WuXian put his own foot down and insisted that infants were not 'children' and needed a proper home with loving parents. And so MeiGui became their fifth child.
With Lan XiChen still paralyzed, Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian continued to take their brood to Cloud Recesses every year to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The two jades would spend the first day together catching up while Wei WuXian took his younger children to play with the rabbits. Usually Wen Ning was there with him, but this year Song Lan had made an appearance at the gates. Wei WuXian encouraged the two fierce corpses to become friendly, if not friends; after all, in a few hundred years, none of the people they knew now would be alive…. And Wei WuXian knew from personal experience that it was hard to reminisce about the past with people who weren't there….
Wei MeiGui, at eight months old, was teething, so Wei WuXian removed an old, clean glove from his sleeve to let her chew on the soft leather. The poor baby's bottom gum was all red and swollen with a large white bump. Sometimes, when she was overly exhausted from the pain, Wei WuXian would wish it was acceptable to simply cut open the gum at the top of the tooth…. Or that there was a spell to lessen the pain. The poor child was miserable…. Wen Qing entered the glade with her own baby, Jiang Yin, wrapped warmly against the cold, asleep in her arms. "Good morning, QingJie!" Wei WuXian called out happily. "Long time no see." Wen Qing cooed over her newest niece and allowed Wei WuXian to coo over his newest nephew. They chit-chatted about inconsequential events that occurred while they were apart, but eventually, Wen Qing felt that she needed to get to the point of why she was there.
"Wei WuXian… did you want…. I mean, have you ever thought about…." her voice trailed off. Even for her, this was embarrassing to talk about. She was prying into his most private life, not his health….
"Have I ever thought about what, Jiejie?"
"Li MeiLi is pregnant," Wen Qing blurted out. This was not what she wanted to start out with.
The other smiled happily at the news, but his eyes seemed overly bright. "Congratulations to her. I'm sure DaGe is very happy."
"What I wanted to say was…." How to ask? How to interject into the most private affairs of a married couple? "Have you ever thought about having a child of your own? Or did you just want to adopt?"
"I can't do that to Lan Zhan," Wei WuXian spoke softly. "There are men who can hop from one bed to another…. Even if I had married a woman, I don't think I would have been able to… disrespect my wife like that."
"But do you want a child of your own?" Wen Qing persisted. "Because if you do, I can help. Lan XiChen's paralysis still affects that part of marriage, so…. My students and I found a way to help Li MeiLi get pregnant."
"You what?"
"I know how to help a woman become pregnant if her husband is unable to perform his duties."
Wei WuXian stared at her. A baby…. My baby…. The image of the woman he dreamed about appeared in his head again. She was still faceless, but he knew she was smiling as she shyly placed his hand on her protruding stomach, allowing him to feel his son's kicks. "I will not have to take her to bed?" he confirmed.
"No."
A second faceless pregnant woman appeared in his head next to the first. Lan Zhan was doing that half smile of his while he felt his own son kicking. Wei WuXian's chest hurt from want. And need. A child, his child. Not that the five he already had weren't his children…. Or that he could love them any more than he already did…. Perhaps there was some sort of biological imperative… something innate that made people feel the pressing need to leave something of themselves behind. To leave something more than a name in a dry history tome or on a funeral tile. Or maybe he was just being selfish in wanting a child of his body to love….
That night, SiZhui and the younger boys were sleeping in a student dorm while Nanny had taken the girls to sleep with her in a guest house. Lan Zhan slid the door to the Jingshi closed with a mental sigh of satisfaction. It had been a good day. His elder brother was going to be a father and was giddy with happiness. So giddy that he made his feet twitch! The first movement they had had since the attack. Li MeiLi was glowing with her pregnancy; any shyness she might ordinarily have felt at others knowing her condition erased immediately upon seeing her husband consciously wiggling his feet. As for Wei Ying…. His husband had arrived for dinner with his own internal glow back in full force. And now he was stretching his back and neck, looking so sexy. Those beautiful eyes wrinkled almost closed from a huge smile that encompassed his entire body. "My Lan Zhan… why are you looking at me like that?" he purred.
"How am I looking at you?"
"Like you want to eat me… but slowly... savoring every bite…." Wei Ying's hands went to his waist and fiddled with his leather belt's clasp there. "Lan Zhan…" he whined as cutely as possible. "XianXian is tired from playing all day…. Come help me…."
One side of Lan Zhan's mouth curled up slightly. "Are you tired, XianXian? Or do you want Gege to help you?"
"Help me, Lan'Er Gege…" came the whimpered response.
Lan Zhan strode across the room to fiercely grip Wei Ying's head with one hand to hold it still while his mouth plundered the other's…. His other hand pulled and yanked until the leather belt clanged onto the wooden floor. Their hands tangled in their haste to remove the other's clothing. Robes were untied and shoved to the floor without a care. Wei Ying relished the feeling of those rough, calloused fingers sliding over his skin, feeling his lover's hardness pressed, thrusting, against his own…. Their lips and tongues dueled against each other, teeth scraped when they tried to get even closer. Wei Ying let one hand travel leisurely down his lover's back to then grip tightly the muscled ass. His other hand kneaded Lan Zhan's pects, feeling the nipples rise up and pebble against his palm. There was a brief moment of weightlessness and then he felt soft sheets against his back and Lan Zhan's weight came down on him. Hard. Yet feeling so good.
"I need you," Lan Zhan whispered harshly into Wei Ying's mouth. He untangled their legs, and used his hands to wrap Wei Ying's legs around his hips.
There was a brief moment of frustration; Lan Zhan reached over and pawed through the sleeve pocket which did not contain their oil… and then found it in the other sleeve. Wei Ying first arched his back and then raised his hips, silently begging for more as oily fingers massaged his pleasure spot. "Lan Zhan…. Come inside me," he begged when he couldn't take it anymore.
"You don't want me to suck you first?"
"Later!" Then he moaned loudly, "Oh fuck yes," when the fingers were replaced, and they were once again made into one body.
"Be quiet, Wei Ying! The Jingshi is not protected against noise!"
Wei Ying shoved his fingers in his mouth to stifle himself. But he couldn't stop his scream of pain and satisfaction when Lan Zhan leaned down and bit his shoulder to muffle his own groans of relief. Lan Zhan kissed the bite mark. Then nibbled on Wei Ying's neck, first one side, then the other. Then a nip at the base of his throat. Lan Zhan worked his way down Wei Ying's chest, licking, sucking, nibbling, caressing until Wei Ying was hard and aching again. "Lan Zhan…. Do you ever think we'll get to do the slow stuff first?"
Lan Zhan lifted his head from sucking on a nipple. "No. I need you too much the first time to take it slow."
"But we do this every day…. Several times a day usually…." Wei Ying whimpered; Lan Zhan's mouth was licking his fluids off his belly. "It's not like we're deprived or anything…."
"Mm" Lan Zhan agreed absently and took Wei Ying into his mouth.
"Oh, fuck…." After a few minutes, Wei Ying was cross-eyed and panting, fingers white from clenching the bed sheets, teeth biting his lips so hard they bled. "Lan Zhan, I'm going to…."
"No." The elder sat up. "Come inside me first. I want you." He poured some more oil onto his palm and massaged Wei Ying. Then he straddled his lover and began sinking down, wincing as his body stretched uncomfortably. Even after all these years, the initial penetration still hurt.
"Lan Zhan! Let me stretch you first! Don't hurt yourself!"
"No need," Lan Zhan shifted slightly in pain, causing Wei Ying's body to push against his spot. "I did it while I sucked you." He groaned at the sensations; the pain was fast fading leaving a slight burning feeling and the overwhelming sensation of being filled and connected. He rose and fell a few times, feeling the slippery rod somehow growing even harder inside of him. "Oh, fuck!" he yelled when Wei Ying started moving his hips in counterpoint to Lan Zhan's motion.
"Shhh! Lan Zhan! The Jingshi isn't protected against noise!" Wei Ying giggled. Oh, how he loved when his husband lost enough of his control to start swearing. Then with an evil grin, he decided to make his husband work even harder: he grabbed hands and held on tight. "Ride me, my love. Take your pleasure from me…."
Lan Zhan wanted to glare at his husband, but his body had already accepted the challenge. It moved of its own accord, sometimes moving so fast the rod inside him was constantly brushing up against his spot, forcing his eyes closed. Sometimes, it ground down against Wei Ying's groin, struggling to get more into his body. Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore, and he erupted with yet anther "Fuck!", blasting hot fluid onto the belly and chest of the man below him. With a final push, Wei Ying let himself go too, painting Lan Zhan's insides a creamy off-white.
Momentarily exhausted, Lan Zhan collapsed next to his lover. After a few minutes, their breathing normalized, and Wei Ying leaned over to press a bloody kiss against Lan Zhan's mouth. "Not that I'm complaining… but what brought that on?"
"The way you looked tonight… it was like you were sixteen again, with no worries, no regrets, no responsibilities. You looked like the boy I fell in love with…."
"I received some good news this afternoon…. Lan Zhan?" Wei Ying twisted so he could look into his lover's face. "If it was possible for us to have children without being unfaithful to each other… would you do it? Would you take a concubine for me? So I can hold your child?" Lan Zhan's face froze. "QingJie told me that DaGe is incapable of fathering a child the normal way right now…. So she did something to help LiMei get pregnant…." Wei Ying waited for a few minutes for his lover to process this information. "If we take concubines, QingJie says she'll help us, too…."
Lan Zhan closed his eyes against Wei Ying's hopeful look. "You won't take your concubine to bed? You won't fuck her?"
"No. I can stay faithful to you and have a child of my blood. Will you do that, too? Will you give me a little WangJi to hold and love?"
Lan Zhan swallowed hard, in love and relief. "My love, I would reluctantly say yes to you having a concubine even if you had to go to her bed. It would hurt me so much, but I cannot deny you a child of your own forever…. This… Wen Qing has answered my prayers…. To give you the children you need while keeping your body for my own." He folded his arms around his lover and squeezed tight. "Yes, Wei Ying, yes. I will take a concubine for you, and let her give you my children. As many as she is willing to bear."
Wei Ying snuggled into the embrace. "I love you so much. Thank you, Lan Zhan. Thank you for giving me my last wish."
"I love you, too, A'Xian…."
A/N: MeiGui means rose (the flower not the color). Yin means silver.
There are 3 more chapters to come. Thank you so much for reading my fluff, for commenting on my work, and for your votes.
