The Library Pavilion was a cozy place to spend time in during the winter.

The guest disciples' year-long study would end in a month, a little before the Lunar New Year.

So Pan Wukun planned to read as many books from the Library Pavilion as possible before she left.

From time to time, Lan Wangji sat across from Pan Wukun, reading a book of his own too.

On one particular day, Lan Wangji was nowhere in sight. Nowhere.

He didn't show up to the Library Pavilion or the work session for the communication talisman.

Pan Wukun couldn't find Lan Xichen to ask about Lan Wangji either.

She noticed that the GusuLan sect cultivators appeared gloomy too.

"Where are Lan-er-gongzi and Zewu-jun?" she asked some passing GusuLan sect members.

"They are in their chambers grieving."

Pan Wukun's heart sank. "About what?"

"It was many years ago on this day that Madam Lan passed away."

It was snowing when his mother left this world.

Lan Wangji stood with an oil-paper umbrella in front of the little house where the gentians grew. He stood upon the same spot where he kneeled as a child.

No matter how long he waited, month after month, his mother never reappeared from those doors.

A crunch in the snow came from Lan Wangji's side.

Dusk approached Lan Wangji and looked up at him curiously.

Lan Wangji knelt and petted Dusk's head. She leaned into his touch. She looked up at him while patting his hand with her paws.

Lan Wangji understood and cradled Dusk in his free arm. She rested her head against his chest.

Lan Wangji held Dusk close, shutting his eyes and taking comfort in her warmth.

"Eh? The rabbits led us to Lan Zhan!"

Lan Wangji turned around, surprised to see Wei Wuxian and Pan Wukun dressed in winter cloaks.

Earlier, Little Carrot had incessantly tugged on Pan Wukun's sleeve to get her away from her desk and out the door. She had been hesitant about seeing Lan Wangji, thinking he wouldn't want to be disturbed while grieving.

Meanwhile, Snowball had handled Wei Wuxian, who couldn't resist chasing after the rabbit.

"What are you doing here with Dusk, Lan Zhan?" Wei Wuxian asked.

"Some GusuLan cultivators told me he's grieving. We should go," Pan Wukun explained.

Wei Wuxian's eyes widened in shock. "Oh…"

Pan Wukun turned to leave.

"No. Both of you stay…" Lan Wangji said softly.

Pan Wukun paused in shock. Wasn't Lan Wangji a loner who tended to keep to himself at the Cloud Recesses in his teenage years? What happened?! Sure, he spent time with her and Wei Wuxian at the talisman sessions and the Mid-Autumn Festival, but still!

Wei Wuxian's eyes softened as he moved to stand close to Lan Wangji. "Who are you mourning?"

"My mother…"

Wei Wuxian's eyes turned sad. "I see…"

Wei Wuxian and Pan Wukun thought about how they also lost their mothers so they understood Lan Wangji's pain.

Dusk, Little Carrot, and Snowball nuzzled against Lan Wangji to comfort him.

Lan Wangji put his umbrella down and allowed Little Carrot and Snowball to join Dusk in his arms.

Lan Wangji sat down on the snowy ground. He looked at Wei Wuxian and Pan Wukun. "Just stay here with me..."

Wei Wuxian and Pan Wukun sat down next to Lan Wangji. They sat in solemn silence together as they faced Madam Lan's former residence.

Not wanting Lan Wangji to be alone in sorrow, Wei Wuxian led him and Pan Wukun away from the gentian house to play in a snowy field with the other guest disciples.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji made snow bunnies. "Look! Look! It's Little Carrot, Snowball, and Dusk!"

Wei Wuxian stuck his tongue out to catch a snowflake. "Bleh! Tastes like cold metal!"

Pan Wukun didn't say it but she could confirm that Wei Wuxian was right. She had done the same when she saw snow for the first time in Xuhou. Pan Heng had a good laugh.

When Wei Wuxian bent down to gather snow into his hands, he smirked. He threw a snowball right into Jiang Cheng's face.

Jiang Cheng sputtered, spitting snow out of his mouth. "Wei Wuxian!" Jiang Cheng shot a snowball back at Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian dodged the snowball, cackling and shouting, "Snowball fight!"

The guest disciples quickly joined in, forming two teams.

Lan Wangji, of course, joined Wei Wuxian's team.

Pan Wukun joined Jiang Cheng's.

Wei Wuxian gasped. "Chun-ge! You traitor!"

"Sorry, Wei Ying, but you already have Lan Zhan! My strength's gotta even the odds so both teams could play fair!"

With the Lan family strength, Lan Wangji definitely had a mean throwing arm. He would've decimated his opponents as a pitcher if he played baseball.

Pan Wukun didn't want to interfere with the budding of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian's relationship either. She admitted she even felt a little sorry for Jiang Cheng so it wouldn't hurt to play a snowball fight on his side.

The guest disciples pelted each other with snowballs.

Jiang Yanli sat aside, watching the snowball match, cheering both Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian on.

Qin Su and Luo Qingyang were on Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's team. Qin Su wanted a chance to have a snowball fight with her rival Pan Wukun and Luo Qingyang always stayed by Qin Su's side.

Lan Wangji's snowball hit Pan Wukun's face a little too hard, knocking the wind out of her. She fell to the ground.

Everyone gasped.

Lan Wangji rushed up to Pan Wukun. "Pan Chun! Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine!" Pan Wukun's face felt a little sore but she wasn't injured.

Lan Wangji offered Pan Wukun his arm to help her up. She grabbed his arm sleeve, knowing that he wasn't comfortable with anyone touching his bare hand.

Wei Wuxian laughed. "Wow! Lan Zhan! Your throwing arm is unmatched!"

Everyone returned to the snowball fight and Lan Wangji's team won in the end.

Lan Wangji's team cheered for him.

Lan Wangji looked calm and cool as usual. But no one knew that warmth was actually blossoming in his heart. He'd never had people cheer for him like this before…

Cheering for his noble deeds as a cultivator - yes, that was normal and expected. But cheering for him for winning a snowball fight? It was a different kind of happiness…

Meng Xingyao wondered what was wrong with Lan Xichen. He was particularly solemn today.

He asked some GusuLan cultivators, who told him that Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji were mourning the death anniversary of Madam Lan.

Meng Xingyao walked to the garden where he usually met Lan Xichen, spotting him sitting silently. "Xichen?"

"Ah…Xingyao."

"May I?"

Lan Xichen nodded and Meng Xingyao took a seat across from him at the table.

"I heard that you are grieving Madam Lan's passing."

"Yes." Lan Xichen moved to make some warm tea. The routine motions of this act of common courtesy calmed him.

"I know how it feels…to lose a mother."

Lan Xichen's face turned shocked. "I'm sorry...How did she pass?"

"Illness."

Lan Xichen's expression morphed into sorrow. "I see…Mine passed from illness as well."

Lan Xichen poured more tea into his and Meng Xingyao's cups.

They raised their cups in the air with both hands.

"Let us pray our mothers find peace in the afterlife and may their souls be at rest," Lan Xichen said.

After drinking the tea, neither of them had anything else to say.

So Meng Xingyao and Lan Xichen watched the snowfall together in silence.

"I still miss her…" Lan Wangji sat close to Lan Xichen in the jingshi.

"I miss her too," Lan Xichen said softly.

"How is Father?" Lan Wangji asked.

"Father is still in seclusion."

Lan Wangji nodded, unsurprised that Sect Leader Lan did not show up to see him and Lan Xichen again.

Lan Wangji saw the resignation in Lan Xichen's eyes. He hated seeing his older brother sad. "Xiongzhang, I won a snowball fight with my team of guest disciples today."

Lan Xichen laughed. "That's wonderful, Wangji!" He felt pity for whoever Lan Wangji's snowballs hit.

Lan Xichen noticed the minuscule change in Lan Wangji's face, the bare hint of a smile.

Lan Xichen smiled softly. His younger brother was happy. He was grateful that the other guest disciples helped cheer him up today.

"Sleep well, Wangji."

"You as well, xiongzhang."

A/N: So back on April 13, my PC's system suddenly got corrupted. I had the scare of my life when I realized I didn't backup my fanfic/original fic story files and outlines from my hard drive onto external drives. The PC technicians replaced my PC's Windows system and reformatted the hard drive C so it could escape the reboot loop but it also reformatted my other hard drive D even though they were repeatedly told not to erase anything from it. When a hard drive is reformatted, everything on it gets wiped. It's irreversible and unrecoverable. Damn, it's been a long time since I've cried so hard. The PC repairers were really apologetic and remorseful about it. At least they got my gaming PC working again. They didn't want to charge for repairs to apologize for their mistake but my dad still gave them some money because he felt bad for them.

But I still hate having to do extra hard work to cover for other people's incompetence *grumble grumble*. They had one fucking job *grumble grumble*.

Luckily, I was able to recover a lot of my fic outlines and research from older versions of my Google Doc files (Google Docs Version History is a lifesaver!). I had been copying my stuff over from Google Docs into Obsidian since Google Docs doesn't handle docs more than 100 pages well... Sadly, I didn't backup my Obsidian vaults before the hard drive erasure happened. My art and readers' fanart was already on Dropbox, whew. So I lost seven months of work instead of five years, thank goodness. Sadly, many of my fic ideas, Wei Wuxian pictures *heart breaks*, and video games that were only on my PC hard drive were lost. The situation wasn't as bad as it could've been since I could download most of that from the internet again but it still hurt.

This is a creative's cautionary tale and worst nightmare, yes. But this is also your sign to backup your important files onto an external drive, CD, or anywhere else too! My PC literally broke down without warning and I was totally unprepared. Do not buy Dell Alienware gaming PCs because their hardware sucks! Before replacing your PC's system files, please make sure you make a System Restore Point and back up your C drive that holds the program, music, video, and document files. Also, disconnect your hard drives before proceeding with installing or replacing a new Windows system so you don't get important data erased! Make sure you make an account with your internet browser so you don't lose years of bookmarks like I did with Firefox. And link the video games you play to an email account or online cloud save so you don't lose your progress! Please do not let the same happen to you.

To console me, my dad said that I might come up with future fic ideas and plot points that are even better than the old lost ones. I find this to be true since my stories tend to evolve differently and I scrap many ideas over the years for better ones as I gain more experience as a writer.

Don't worry, I didn't lose too many ideas that would seriously affect MDZS Astray's development and progress. The core concepts and plot points were still in Google Docs Version History. Whew.

I am devastated. But damn it! I will prevail!

P.S. Does anyone have the official donghua picture of Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian in a car with the window down and he's wearing black sunglasses? I can't find it anywhere!
Please send me the link or comment the link!

If you have any cool pictures of Wei Wuxian to show, please share so I could add them to my collection. I need a lot of cheering up. I need pictures of the pretty boy.

Happy Pride Month!
Also, Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, which was back in May...