Ch 51

Wei Ying opened his eyes the next morning feeling happily sore for the first time in ages. The sun beaming in through the window somehow seemed brighter this morning as he squinted, trying to let his eyes get used to the light. Had the past few days really been so overcast and dark as they seemed? Had his life in YiLing really been that dark? He couldn't really remember, he had just done what needed to be done in the past and not really paid attention to the weather. Standing up he walked over to the window, long legs taking only a few steps to cover the distance. The breeze coming through the window gently blew into his face making him close his eyes and lift his chin, enjoying the feel of the gentle caress.

Long arms wrapped themselves his waist and he automatically leant back against the strong chest. As his head rested against his husbands shoulder Lan Zhan spoke up gently, a quiet whisper as if he didn't want to break the relaxed atmosphere.

'This morning feels different somehow doesn't it?'

Wei Ying smiled and twisted his head a little as he nodded.

'It feels as if I can breathe deeper….' he said equally as gently 'I can't remember the last time I felt so at ease, so relaxed. We have been fighting for years, not just for me but for everyone. And now, somehow today it's done. It doesn't seem real.'

Wei Ying turned round in Lan Zhan's arms so the two where face to face. Both hands naturally resting on the strong shoulders, eyes resting on the normally impassive face but now it seemed alive with a smile and eyes bright with emotion. Lan Zhan's arms allowed him to turn before tightening his grip again. For a moment the two stared at each other, neither moving. Then Lan Zhan spoke.

'It's real Wei Ying. It's all real and it's all over.'

Wei Ying couldn't help but rest his head once more on his loving husbands shoulder, trying not to cry with the rush of sheer relief. He couldn't imagine a world where he wasn't fighting for something, a world where he could just relax and have a life. A normal life like the one he had always dreamed of. Before either could speak or move a knock came on the door. Lan Zhan looked down at Wei Ying who made no move to extract himself from his husbands grasp but nodded slightly.

'Come in' Lan Zhan said loud enough to be heard but somehow managing not to shout. 'We are just to the right of the door when you enter.'

The door opened slowly and someone stepped through. Lan XiChen stepped into view first his gaze on his brother and brother-in-law shamelessly in an embrace. The elder jade smiled as if in understanding.

'It seems both of you are realising what the meaning of capturing Jin GuanYao means' he said without without moving forwards.

Wei Ying pushed back from a….semi unresisting...Lan Zhan with a pure look of confusion on his face as he faced his brother-in-law.

'Can you read minds or something?' he blurted out.

Lan XiChen laughed loudly looking at both younger men.

'I don't need to with you two, it's written all over your faces'

Wei Ying blushed and hid his face back in Lan Zhan's shoulder for a moment and then looked from one brother to the other quizzically. Lan Zhan just looked up at his elder brother, amusement in his eyes.

'I thought I was the only personal who could tell the difference between Lan Zhan's glares!' Wei Ying stated smiling, only to receive a laugh from Lan XiChen and one of the aforementioned glares from Lan Zhan.

'What have you come here for here for brother?' Lan Zhan spoke up, neatly changing the subject.

Another small laugh appeared from Lan XiChen's throat as he held both hand's up in mock surrender.

'I know you two would want a few days to have peace, however there is someone who is insisting on seeing you.'

Now both younger men looked confused, gaining an even wider grin on Lan XiChen's face. Wei Ying didn't know if he wanted bury his head in Lan Zhan's neck; go outside for a walk in the nice weather; hear what Lan XiChen had to say to them or just smack his brother-in-law for making him think too hard so early in the morning. Lan XiChen raised his hands and clapped once, nothing happened for a few seconds before…..

'Father!….baba!…'

A pair of small legs appeared through the door at speed, and seconds later the pair of arms that belonged to them wrapped themselves round a leg of both Wei Ying and Lan Zhan as if they never intended to let go.

'A-Yuan!' Wei Ying exclaimed loudly reaching down to stroke the boys hair. 'How is my special boy? Have you been good? did you enjoy staying at your aunts? Did you learn anything?'

'Wei Ying!'

Lan Zhan's voice came out softly and Wei Ying looked up to see the look in his husbands eye which roughly meant …..give the boy a chance to answer one question before you ask another one…...Wei Ying laughed and moved out of his husbands arms to pick up their son, scooping him up in both arms. A-Yuan giggled and wrapped his little arms around his baba's neck while asking a barrage of questions himself. Wei Ying answered the questions as much as he could while laughing and stroking his small sons face. Lan Zhan still stood still as the other two wondered around the room talking over each other in a way he didn't know how on earth they actually followed. Wei Ying could see perfectly well from his glances over his shoulder that Lan Zhan's face had changed from the 'bossy father' to the 'wounded husband'. The look on his face now roughly translated as…..our son shows up and you completely ignore me….Wei Ying wasn't only laughing at the nonsense coming out of A-Yuan's mouth he was also laughing at how much fun it was having his family back together again. How much fun it was teasing Lan Zhan, and how much fun it was it was imagining how much he would pay for his teasing later that night.

It didn't take long to get A-Yuan settled back in to the house, the first few nights of course both Wei Ying and Lan Zhan where woken by the warning ward around his bed as he woke up and started wondering around. Wei Ying had wanted to allow the child to join them in bed for a few nights while Lan Zhan had refused, insisting instead that A-Yuan was returned to his bed to sleep. After a few days though he was back learning with the other children while Wei Ying had gone back to teaching lessons in archery and talisman making as he had before all the drama had unfolded. Wei Ying enjoyed every lesson he took, there was something refreshing about the relaxed atmosphere of his home now they had solved everything. Oh he was sure something would pop up at some point but for now the world was quiet and he could just enjoy his life.

Lan Zhan had returned to his normal work as well. Supposedly his Uncle and brother had been covering his workload for the past few months while he had been dealing with the whole Jin GuanYao and Wei Ying problem. However in reality both men had been far to busy with other things to do his work as well. It had taken him a full day just to organise the pile of files that had accumulated on his desk into some kind of order, the only good thing about thing was that the last few months no lessons had been given so at least he didn't have those to mark. Yesterday Wei Ying had found him in his office surrounded by the chaotic mess and burst out laughing, nearly falling over onto the floor in his hysterics, as he glanced around.

Lan Zhan had shooed his beloved husband out the door with a slight smack on the ass, partly because the laughter was getting on his nerves and partly because he was already getting annoyed by being surrounded by such a mess already and didn't need Wei Ying's personal type of chaos added to it. Lan XiChen had appeared a few hours later, when things where semi organised. He had paused, looked around as if not seeing what he was looking for and turned round as if to leave when Lan Zhan spoke up.

'Can I help you brother?'

Lan XiChen paused, turned back into the room and tried to keep the smile off his face at the grumpy look on his younger brothers face, at the barely clipped tone in his voice. XiChen tried to keep the amusement out of his own voice as he wondered, not for the first time, how Wanji managed to live so happily with the god of chaos that was Wei Ying when he was so obsessed with organisation.

'I have just received a message for Wei Ying which I thought he would like to get immediately so I came here to find him.' He held up the deceptively small piece of paper.

Lan Zhan looked up, a small smile reaching the corner of his lips.

'His sister?' he half asked.

Lan XiChen grinned before responding.

'How did you know?'

'You know as well as I do brother, there is only one person not in the Cloud Recess who Wei Ying would not be able to wait for a letter from. His sister!' Just as Lan XiChen was about to laugh and respond Lan Zhan nodded to the study door. 'He was here earlier but I shooed him out before he made even more of a mess. He will have finished his teaching by now, he will either be at the cold pond or the Jingshi'

Lan XiChen nodded and walked out the room. Lan Zhan could hear a pearl of laughter flowing into the room through the open door and he gritted his teeth and got back to work.

Lan XiChen found Wei Ying wandering in the main square. The younger man's face looked relaxed and even though he was walking through one of the busiest places in the Cloud Reccess he had his eyes closed as he meandered about, his wet hair an obvious sign of where he had been. Luckily the Lan disciples were used to Wei Ying's odd behaviour by now and would just avoid the wandering man without so much as an odd look in his direction. From a distance the whole thing looked a little comical. Walking into the square himself, trying not to get in the way of the disciples who were too busy getting OUT the way of Wei Ying to even notice him, he coughed loudly. Noticing their Sect leader for the first time the disciple's stopped and bowed. Wei Ying, noticing something had happened, opened his eyes and locked gazes with his brother-in-law.

'The two men approached each other and Wei Ying gave a small nod of respect. A nod not of disciple to Sect leader but rather of younger brother-in-law in to an elder. Lan XiChen didn't speak but smiled and held up the piece of paper in his hand until it was clearly in view of both men. Wei Ying's gaze drifted from the man to paper and back again, then snapped back to the paper a beaming smile appearing on his face.

'My sister?' it wasn't quite a question.

Lan XiChen nodded and held out the paper. It took every ounce of Wei Ying's self control not to just grab the paper and run home for some peace while he read it. Instead he just took the paper and held it close to his heart but didn't move.

'Thank you brother.' He said gently but very sincerely.

'I know you will want to read your letter Wei Ying, so I won't keep you. But when you have a moment come and speak to me in my office.'

Wei Ying nodded waiting for XiChen to nod in response before they both turned and went their own ways. Wei Ying barely kept to the no running rule as he headed home to read his letter.