MDZS, But if Lan Qiren Were Chill

Chapter 1: Lan Qiren Becomes a Single Father and Berates his Absentee Brother

Lan Xichen was six and Lan Wangji was four when their mother passed away, and Lan Qiren decided then and there that he never wanted to see either of his nephews looking that sad ever again.

The wonderful older brother that he was, Lan Xichen held himself together far too well for a child, and it filled Lan Qiren with an immense sensation of pity that the boy had to mature so quickly. Xichen's face was filled with heartache, but he smiled anyway as he glued himself to Lan Wangji's side.

Lan Wangji, though his face remained completely inexpressive, knelt beside his mother's empty quarters in the snow, unmoving. He seemed to think his mother was angry with him, which was why he hadn't been allowed to see her for two months; and Lan Qiren felt unsure for the first time in his thirty years of life.

He and Lan Xichen both told Wangji that his mother would not be returning, but how to explain death to a child? How to explain death to someone in a world where cultivation could keep people young for decades, even centuries? How to comfort someone who loved as deeply as a Lan did?

"Please, Wangji, come inside," Lan Xichen knelt beside his little brother, his eyes as gentle as always, but too old, too wise for his age.

"Nn," the younger boy shook his head minutely, his little fists clenching on the fabric of his robes. "Not until Mother isn't upset anymore."

"Wangji..." Lan Xichen looked back at his uncle pleadingly, tired.

"Your mother isn't upset anymore, Wangji," Lan Qiren swept down beside his nephews, ignoring the snow billowing around him, reaching out to place a hand on Lan Wangji's shoulder. "But she isn't here anymore. She's in a place of freedom now," he said softly, gazing at her quarters, then down at his nephew.

"Mother is happy now?" Wangji looked up at him, the first time he had moved his face in hours. His own eyes were a similar gold to Lan Qiren's own and Lan Xichen's, but it was a colder shade of gold, lighter, paler. Such a frigid color for such a young child, Lan Qiren had noted sadly.

"Yes, Wangji," Lan Qiren nodded, and then his heart fell at the expression on his nephew's face.

"... Without me..?" he whispered, and Lan Qiren could not physically deal with it anymore.

He grabbed both of his nephews and embraced them both, uncaring of anyone who saw them and uncaring of propriety. He could hear both his nephews inhale in surprise. They weren't unfamiliar with their uncle's displays of affection and warmth, but it didn't happen all that often after all.

"Your mother loved you both more than anything," he said softly, sending a burst of qi out to send the chill away from his nephews which had settled from their kneeling in the snow. "If anything, believe in that."

"Uncle..." he could hear a faint warble in Xichen's voice, and Lan Qiren lifted them both as he stepped back into the warmth of the main halls of Gusu's Cloud Recesses.

"You two are more than welcome to mourn your mother," he said, bringing them both to his own quarters, asking a passing cultivator to bring tea and food to them. "You will not be punished for it."

He made sure not to tense as both his nephews began sobbing into his shoulders. Lan Xichen was always the milder and friendlier of the two, always smiling, always demure, the perfect child. He made sure never to worry or burden anyone. He hadn't cried since his infancy. Lan Qiren hadn't even really seen him frown in the last several years.

Lan Wangji, on the other hand, was one of the most expressionless Lans Lan Qiren had ever seen, and by far the most expressionless child he had ever met. He rarely spoke, relying on his brother to speak on his behalf, and he rarely emoted. Lan Qiren had learned how to read his nephew's microexpressions, and he was well-versed in the smallest facial tics Wangji would make. As soon as Lan Wangji grew out of his infancy, Lan Qiren never saw him cry.

Now both his nephews were sobbing loudly into his robes, and Lan Qiren felt helpless to do anything about it.

He brought them both to his quarters, holding them as they continued to cry and as they fell asleep in exhaustion. Lan Qiren placed them both into his bed, sliding his door closed as he left them with a silencing talisman on the wall as he headed towards the part of the Cloud Recesses he hadn't been to in three years.

"Xiongzhang, this is ridiculous!" he couldn't hold in his frustrations anymore, banging on the door to his brother's quarters, rules be damned. "You may have lost a lover, but your sons have lost their mother and they've never even seen their father! How long will this behavior of yours continue?!" he demanded, the snow blasting away at the full force of his qi blasting out of him, the faint rustling of his brother moving behind the door catching his attention and the answering silence only angering him further "Xiongzhang!" he roared.

"Loud noises are forbidden in the Cloud Recesses, Qiren," his brother's soft voice spoke up on the other side of the screen.

The sound of his brother speaking almost shocked the anger out of Lan Qiren. It had been years since he had heard his brother's voice, but the shock soon wore off and his anger came back.

"Do you have nothing to say about your behavior, Xiongzhang?" he asked, exhaling slowly to try and calm down.

"No, Qiren," his brother answered frostily. "Leave me."

"Fine," Lan Qiren answered just as coldly, his anger going so hot, it was freezing. "Ignore your wonderful sons as they grow into fine young men while you wallow here in your pathetic misery."

That would be the last time Lan Qiren ever spoke with his brother, and he never regretted it.