Author's Note: Hi guys! I am back with yet another chapter. I have always wanted Wang Ji and Wu Xian to have a baby. But considering the scientific aspects, I know that it would be impossible. Irrespective of that, I still want them to have the joy of parenthood. There will not be any M-pregnancy. So I hope you love this chapter and bear with my imaginations!
Chapter 4: Blessing In Disguise?
Lan Wang Ji's POV:
I was startled awake by a noise. It sounded like somebody was crying and whimpering. I turned to look at Wei Ying sprawled out on his stomach beside me, an arm wrapped around my waist. I tried to move his arm as gently as possible without waking him up but he just tightened them and kept me pinned to the bed.
"Wei Ying, wake up," I said softly. No response. 7 months of marriage and if there was one thing that I had learned it was that this man slept like the dead.
After continuous attempts of trying to wake him up, he finally lifted his head and glared at me with half lidded eyes.
"What!" he growled with anger and confusion.
"There's some noise coming from outside. I need to check it out," I said.
"Who would be making noise in the dead of the night, that too in the Cloud Recesses, Lan Zhan? You must be imagining things. Just get back to sleep," he slurred.
The noise got a little louder and I looked at Wei Ying, to check if he had heard it too. It seemed like he did, since he looked wide awake now.
"Are there any children in the Cloud Recesses?" he asked with confusion.
I shook my head.
"Let's go check it out then," he said, grabbing ChenQing as I grabbed Bichen.
As we stepped out of the door, we stopped in our tracks. Right outside the gates of Jingshi, was a basket. Wei Ying and I walked towards it and peeped into the basket. Innocent, wide and scared eyes stared up at us. The baby made some babbling noises as it stared at us.
"What the hell?" I heard Wei Ying say. "Who the hell left a baby here? It's freezing out here. There's no excuse for this kind of carelessness!" He looked towards the woods and screamed, "Hey! Whoever you are, come back and take your baby! What kind of behavior is this?!"
That's when I noticed a neatly folded paper in the basket and bent down to pick it up. Wei Ying moved closer, when he caught sight of the letter.
"I think we should take the child inside. It's freezing out here," I said, the letter heavy in my hand.
He picked up the basket and together we walked into our home.
He placed the basket near the fireplace and made sure the baby was warm and cozy before walking over to me.
"So? What does it say?" he nervously asked.
I opened the letter and read aloud,
"Greetings to Hanguangjun and Yiling Patriarch.
My name is San Hui and I was once a student of the Cloud Recesses. I don't know if you remember me, Hanguangjun, but I was once your disciple. It had always been my dream to send my child to the Cloud Recesses when he is of age. But unfortunately, fate had other plans for us. Now as I am on my deathbed, I am writing you this letter hoping that you will take my two-month old son as he has no relatives left to care for him. His father died a few months ago in a Ghost Hunt. As devastating as the news was, I had to stay strong for the unborn little baby in my womb.
Two months ago, I gave birth to my precious little son and I found my reason to live again. But as I said, fate had other plans for us. My health deteriorated rapidly and the doctor said that I did not have much time left. So I had to make sure that my son receives the love and care that I wouldn't be able to shower on him. That being said, there is no pressure on the two of you to adopt my son. As long as he is in the Cloud Recesses, I know that he will be safe.
You must be wondering as to why I have penned this letter to you. The answer is simple. I have seen you take care of that kid you brought from the burial mounds. A-Yuan. You protected him and loved him like he was your own. And the kid used to love talking about his Xian GeGe. So I know that I can trust you, Yiling Patriarch, with my child. So I request you to please protect him and if possible treat him like your own. Again, no pressure.
I hope you don't waste your time finding me as I will be long dead by the time the messenger I hired, delivers my baby and the letter to you. You don't have to worry about anybody appearing in the future, trying to claim this child. He truly has no one left in this world nor does he have any ties to anything dangerous.
I am sorry for the trouble I am causing you but I can only die in peace knowing that my son is safe. With you.
He doesn't have a name yet and I'd be honored if you could grace him with a name.
I would like it if you could tell him how much his parents loved him when he reaches an appropriate age.
Yours sincerely,
San Hui."
The room was engulfed in silence and the only noise was coming from the crackling of wood in the fireplace. The baby had gone awfully silent as if he understood the letter his mother had left for him.
I looked at Wei Ying who was staring at the baby with uncertainty.
"So… What now?" I asked him, breaking the silence.
"I don't know," he replied after a minute. "I can't believe she used A-Yuan as an example of my parenting skills. Does she even know that I buried his feet in the mud and watered him, hoping that he would grow taller and faster? A-Yuan was three years old, Lan Zhan! This is a baby. There's a huge difference between the two."
Wei Ying walked over to the basket and kneeled down beside it. He ran his hands softly over the baby's cheek and chuckled.
"If it helps, he's really cute!" he said with a smile.
But then the child let out a shrill, high pitched cry causing Wei Ying to fall on his butt, completely startled. Wei Ying looked at me with horror in his eyes, completely mortified as to what to do next. He tried making funny faces and noises at the baby but nothing seemed to work.
"Lan Zhan! Do something! I don't even know how to hold a baby!" he whisper-yelled. "Try playing the Guqin or something!"
I played a soft, calming note and Wei Ying played a soft song on his flute but unfortunately, it wasn't a success.
"Maybe he wants to be held," said Wei Ying, after a lot of thought. "Try holding him, Lan Zhan!"
I walked over to the basket and let out a deep breath. I picked the baby up and cradled him in my arms. I tried rocking him side to side, but the kid continued to cry.
"Maybe it's hungry," I said. "Here, you hold him. I'll go get him some milk."
"No no no no. I'll get the milk! You hold him," Wei Ying replied, completely horrified.
"No! You don't even know where the kitchen is. Here," I placed the baby carefully in his arms, "you'll be fine. I'll be back in no time."
I looked at Wei Ying holding the baby awkwardly in his arms and he looked at me with wide, pleading eyes as I bolted out of the door. I would have laughed at his expression if the situation wasn't so serious.
I could hear him screaming my name, yelling profanities and then trying to hush the baby as its cries got louder.
I rushed to kitchen and heated the milk in record time. As I made my way back to Jingshi, I ran into my brother.
"Wang Ji! What are you doing out here?" he asked in confusion.
"What are you doing out here?" I countered. I felt like I had been caught doing something that I shouldn't have been doing.
He narrowed his eyes at me. "It's the middle of the night, Wang Ji. It's against the rules to be out here at this time. I heard some noise so I came to check it out. Now, what are you doing here?" He looked at the bowl of milk in my hands and his eyebrows shot up.
"Um.. We've got a problem. I think you should come with me," I said and started walking towards my house.
Brother silently followed behind me and as we neared Jingshi, the cries of the baby got louder. He stopped in his tracks.
"Is that what I think it is?" he asked.
I chose to ignore him and walked into the house. Wei Ying hadn't moved from his spot on the floor and was still holding the baby awkwardly and trying to rock it. He continued to glare daggers at me.
"What the hell?" I heard brother ask from behind me. "Where did the baby come from?"
"Somebody left him outside, Zewujun," said Wei Ying, with a tired voice. "We tried everything. But he just won't calm down. I think he's missing his mother."
"How could they pass through the shields in the Cloud Recesses?" he asked.
I handed him the letter while I walked over to my husband and sat next to him.
"The shields can be easily disabled by any powerful person," said Wei Ying. "Whoever brought the baby inside couldn't disable the shields surrounding Jingshi and that's why they left the baby outside the gates of our house."
Wei Ying continued to hold the baby and I tried feeding him the milk, with a spoon. The child stopped crying and greedily drank the milk.
"Looks like, whoever delivered you here, didn't feed you, huh?" Wei Ying Spoke to the baby with an animated voice. "Oh yes. Yes. You were just hungry, weren't you?"
The child let out a watery laugh at my husband's antics, causing him to laugh too. I laughed at the two babies next to me and just like that, all three of us were laughing like we had lost it.
My brother looked up from the letter and looked at us with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't see how this is funny?" he asked.
"It isn't," replied Wei Ying.
My brother shook his head at us.
"So what are you guys going to do now?" he asked sounding completely serious.
"We don't know," I replied.
He smiled at us. "Whatever you decide, I will support you. But, as an elder and as your brother, I'd like to give you some advice."
"Go ahead, Brother! We really could use some advice right now," said Wei Ying rocking the little one. He seemed to be comfortable holding the baby now.
"This situation need not necessarily be a problem. As you know, the two of you will never be able to have kids and this might be your only chance at having one. You can either give him up to one of the elders in the clan or you can make the most of it and raise him yourselves. You wouldn't be alone in this. You will have Sizhui, Jin Ling, Jing Yi and of course, me. And who knows? Uncle might come out of his seclusion when he finds out that he has a grandchild," he said with a smile. "That being said, bringing up a child is not going to be an easy job. But like I mentioned before, you two are not alone in this. Why don't you take this night to think about it and tomorrow you can make a decision?"
"That won't be necessary, Brother. We are keeping him," said Wei Ying with a wide and excited smile.
"We are?" I asked him.
"Oh Come on, Lan Zhan! You haven't been able to keep your eyes off of him. I know that you want him as much as I do. And it's definitely not going to be easy. But as Brother said, this might be our only chance at having a child of our own. And with a little help, we'll be able to make decent parents. Look how A- Yuan turned out. I think we did a pretty good job with him. Moreover, just look at him, Lan Zhan," he said looking at the now sleeping baby clutching onto his finger. "He's too cute and he's already got me wrapped in his tiny little fist. I don't think I can let him go now. His mother must have made this decision after putting a lot of thought into it. No mother would be careless with a decision like that."
I nodded. He was indeed, right. The minute I saw the baby in its basket, my heart went out to it. Amidst this mess, I had already come up with a name for him.
"Well, if you have already made up your mind, then you two can go to the village tomorrow and buy some necessities for the child. I am ready to babysit him tomorrow." He yawned and said, "I am going back to sleep then. If you need me, you know where to find me," he said walking to the door. "By the way, what are we calling him?"
"Lan Wei!" I blurted out and then blushed under Wei Ying's gaze. "That can be his given name. Since he will be a part of the Gusu Lan Clan, he will have to take the surname Lan. That's why I want him to have your surname as his name. As for the courtesy name, it's up to you, husband."
"I suck at all this name keeping business," he replied. He turned to brother and said, "Why don't you give him a courtesy name, Brother?"
"Hmm.." Brother thought and then asked with a smile, "What about Zhi An? Lan Wei Zhi An?"
"Sounds good!" said Wei Ying while I nodded at my brother.
"A-Wei, do you like your name?" I cooed at the sleeping baby. A-Wei smiled in his sleep thereby sealing the deal with his name.
Wei Wu Xian's POV:
The next morning, Lan Zhan and I came back to Jingshi with our arms filled with toys, baby clothes, baby food and a beautiful wooden bassinet for our son.
Our son. Never in my life would I have thought that I would be married to Lan Zhan and we would have our own son. Yes, A-Yuan is our son, too, but I had missed a major portion of his life, thanks to my death. But now, I am going to make sure that I will be present in both A-Yuan's and A-Wei's life and will be there for them, forever.
We arranged the house with the items we bought and made our way over to Brother's house to pick up our son. Today we were going to introduce the little one to his older brother and his cousin, Jin Ling.
As we were passing by the library, we heard a commotion in one of the halls and decided to check it out. Looks like, Brother decided to take A-Wei to one of his class which wasn't really a good idea as the students were all crowded around the baby and were singing and dancing around him.
This was a strange scene to come across in the Cloud Recesses. Lan Zhan cleared his throat to get everybody's attention but they were all so distracted with the baby that they didn't respond. Of course, they would all be so distracted. After all, my A-Wei was such a cutie that you would have to be blind to ignore such cuteness.
"What's happening here?" asked Lan Zhan, finally gaining everybody's attention. All the students scattered back to their respective seats at the sight of their Hanguangjun. "Where's Zewujun?" he asked.
"I am right here," came a voice from the corner of the room. "I don't think anybody is interested in today's class," he said looking at everyone. "Everybody is interested in the new baby. I tried taking class but they were all so distracted by him, that I gave up."
Lan Zhan lifted A-Wei from the basket and cradled him in his arms.
"Hey there, Little guy. Did you miss us?" he cooed at the baby.
While some gasped, the others chuckled. They tried to cover it with a cough as Lan Zhan glared at them.
"Okay. That's enough," I said walking to the front of the room. "It's time for some introductions. This is Lan Wei Zi An or A-Wei, our son. Long story short, we adopted him and he's now ours. A-Yuan, meet your little brother and Jin Ling, meet your cousin." The rest of the students congratulated us and then moved out of the room to give us some privacy.
I carefully took A-Wei from Lan Zhan's hold and smiled at the happy baby. "Here, meet your older brother A-Yuan GeGe and your older cousin, Jin Ling GeGe."
"He is so small," said Jin Ling awestruck.
"Of course, he is small. He is a baby," said Jing Yi. This kid had become an unintentional family member.
"Can I hold him?" asked A-Yuan.
I nodded and carefully placed the little one in his arms. He stared at the baby for quite some time and when he looked back at us, there were tears in his eyes.
"I've always wanted a little sibling, Senior Wei. And now that I have one, I can't believe it," he said.
"Well, believe it. It's really happening!" I said with a laugh.
He continued to stare at A-Wei and the latter was also lost in the eyes of his brother.
"I promise that I will always be there for you, A-Wei. I will protect you and love you and when you grow up, I will teach you how to catch ghosts. I will be your absolute favorite, you'll see," he said with an adoring smile.
"Oh no no. I am the only favorite he's going to have," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.
"And what about me?" asked Lan Zhan. "I am his father too. I am also going to be his favorite."
"You are my favorite person, Lan Zhan. Be satisfied with that. This one's all mine," I stated as I took the little one back form A-Yuan.
"That doesn't make any sense," Lan Zhan replied with a frown.
"It doesn't have to!" I said arrogantly. I looked down at A-Wei giggling in my arms and smiled at him.
"What about me?" asked Brother. "I could be his favorite too!"
"Not happe"- I was interrupted by somebody clearing their throat.
Lan Qi Ren! Oh damn. He came out of seclusion. I was definitely not looking forward to this conversation.
Everybody bowed to greet him and I tried to bow as much as I could with the baby in my arms. He smiled at his nephews and disciples and when his eyes landed on me, he glared. God! I hated this man. The only reason I bear with his presence is because Lan Zhan loves him and I love Lan Zhan. And the only reason he bears with me is because he loves his nephew. Oh! The things we do for the people we love! I tightened my arms around A-Wei and tried not to make eye contact with my husband's uncle.
"So, I have a grandkid now?" he asked Lan Zhan.
"Yes, uncle," came Lan Zhan's curt reply.
Lan Zhan was aware of his uncle's hostility towards me and tried his best to keep the both of us away from each other.
"What's his name?" he asked.
"Lan Wei is his given name and Zi An is his courtesy name," said Brother.
Uncle looked like he wanted to hold the baby but his pride wasn't allowing him to take the baby from my arms. So I passed A-Wei to Lan Zhan. As much as I didn't want my son in Lan Qi Ren's arms, I wasn't a complete jerk who would deny the old man of his grandchild.
"Oh wow! Senior Master hates you!" Jin Ling whispered in my ears.
"Tell me something I don't know, kid," I whispered back.
Uncle immediately took A-Wei from Lan Zhan and turned his back to us. He tried to talk to the baby and make him laugh. Keyword: tried. No sooner had A-Wei left Lan Zhan's arms, he let out a piercing cry. See, even A-Wei could feel the bitterness radiating off this man.
I tried to cover up my laugh with a cough but Uncle heard it. He glared at me before passing a crying A-Wei back to Lan Zhan. And lo behold! A-Wei went silent in my husband's arms and tried to grab the headband on Lan Zhan's forehead.
"Looks like we all know who the child is taking after," Uncle said. Although he was still glaring at me, there was something different in his eyes today. It looked like there wasn't as much hostility and hate in them as before.
I shamelessly grinned at him. I always got a kick out of making the old man angry.
I looked at everyone trying their best to cover up the smiles on their face but failing miserably.
Uncle shook his head at all of us, pointed a finger at me and said, "He has corrupted all of you!" and walked out of the room.
I turned to A-Wei and took his tiny little fist in my hand and kissed it. "Well done, kiddo! I am so proud of you!"