WangXian Forever 7

Chapter 1 Leaving

Wei Ying sat down behind Lan Zhan on their bed, kneeling and consulting his elaborate drawing. Lan Zhan's hair was beautifully long and soft, but heavy and silky, so it needed to be woven tight enough to stay.

Lan Zhan relaxed fully as those warm, deft fingers began to separate his locks and start braiding. He closed his eyes, letting the soft fragrance of lotus flowers lull him into a semi conscious state. If there was anywhere he would rather be, it was here with his lover, forever.

Wei Ying reached for the bowl of blue flowers and threaded them where the each lock crossed over, holding the blooms in a tight embrace. The adjacent door of the children's room opened and they entered, yawning. Rumi was dragging his blanket behind him, but for both children, sleep was forgotten as soon as they saw what Wei Ying was doing.

Li XiWang climbed onto the bed to watch, her face full of awe and wonder, while Rumi hopped into Lan Zhan's open arms, wrapping the blanket tightly around them both.

Wei Ying smiled at the picture of his family and kissed the top of his daughter's head, and when he finished, the top of Lan Zhan's head too. Rumi was not forgotten as he opened his sleepy eyes and smiled at his fathers.

"Breakfast time!" Wei Ying announced, running to get a mirror.

"Wait." Lan Zhan commanded, standing up and catching his wrist.

"Huh?" Wei Ying turned around innocently.

"I will go and fetch the meal. Wei Ying has flowers left over." He looked pointedly at both of their children.

"Good idea!" Wei Ying kissed him enthusiastically and settled down to replicate his masterpiece on his daughter's hair, who sat down in front of him excitedly. While he braided her hair, he thought about where he could put the flowers on Rumi, as his boy had no hair at all.

Rumi was wistfully looking at the flowers with a sad look on his face.

And then, inspiration struck. Wei Ying made the boy sit down and then he crafted a wreath of flowers just the right size for his head. And when he placed it on that small head, the smile he received was worth a thousand stars. He picked him up and whirled him around, Rumi's tail flying in a circle behind them as the boy giggled with laughter.

Li XiWang was next, and had just as much fun, in time for when Lan Zhan opened the door and found them all lying on the ground, out of breath.

*******

Today, they were leaving to visit the seaside and reunite the Sea Dragon family with their long lost seventh brother and his wife.

While the children went to pack any necessities they might need on the way, Wei Ying was also packing talisman papers, brushes and inkstones, much to Lan Zhan's amusement.

"Is it not a holiday?" He asked.

"It is, it is!" Wei Ying insisted, smiling. "But you can never be ill prepared. And actually, I have two things I need to ask you about." He put everything down and joined him on their bed, sitting on his lap.

Lan Zhan kissed his temple, arranging him more comfortably for both of them.

"Lan Zhan...you know...that bell...the one you used to help me out of Empathy? Where did you find it?" He started off in a normal tone, but ended in a whisper.

Lan Zhan pulled it out from his sleeve, placing it in his palm.

Wei Ying looked at it for a while, touching the purple tassel, and the little bell. So many memories were connected to this little thing. Something so ordinary in the eyes of a stranger, but to anyone familiar with the Jiang Sect of Yunmeng, this little bell represented hope.

He had first seen one like it dangling from the robes of his Uncle Fengmian, that first ever day. It rang softly as the older man bent to pick him up, in that marketplace where he had been searching through rubbish for something to eat. And the second one, he had noticed hanging off Madam Yu's clothes, just the right height at eye level whenever he was punished. Then, when he was twelve, he was awarded his own little bell, and finally, finally, he felt accepted into that family.

Sometime during the sunshot campaign, he had lost it, and despite looking for it, never found it again. And soon after that, came his famous defection, and he had never thought about it again.

So to realise that Lan Zhan had it all this time, was mind-blowing.

Lan Zhan wiped away his tears gently, holding him close.

"It is for this reason, I did not show Wei Ying."

Wei Ying handed it back to him.

"It does not belong to me anymore." He said sadly, closing his eyes.

They were silent for a while, each lost in his thoughts.

"Wei Ying was missing for three months."

Lan Zhan cut into his thoughts, breaking the silence.

"I looked for Wei Ying everywhere, until Jiang WanYin came to Gusu. After he explained where you both were supposed to meet, I went to Yiling, to search for you. I found the bell in the forest." He did not add how much his heart was breaking at every second Wei Ying was not there, and finding this bell had both given him hope and dashed them too.

But he did not give up. He would never give up on his Wei Ying ever.

"Jiang Cheng told me how you both looked for me. I...I never thanked you for that." Wei Ying whispered, closing his eyes again.

"No need." Full of hurt, his voice was adamant. "Would have always searched."

"I know." Wei Ying kissed his cheek, swallowing past the lump in his throat. "But the fact that someone was looking for me, that I wasn't alone and that someone missed me at all...it is comforting to me...that's all."

Lan Zhan held him closer, this precious man, lost so many times before but always, always found his way back so they could be together.

"The second thing?" He prompted after a while.

"Ah...yes." Wei Ying sat up. "What if we don't mention what happened last night? With the green mist and that weirdly dressed up corpse? To anyone? At least not yet."

"Mn. Why?"

"Oh, well simply because we don't have enough information about it. And we're supposed to be going on a holiday...I'd rather not spoil the mood just yet. We'll only tell XiChen-Ge if something happens."

He grinned, a playful smile on his face.

Lan Zhan kissed his forehead, relieved that he was back to normal now.

*******

A/N

Hello again everyone!

Welcome to book 7 in the WangXian Forever series. I am probably just as surprised as you all to be here, but who knows what the universe has in store for us? So let's go with the flow and continue.

Sorry for the short one, I will make up for it in the next chapter. Off to work now...

Happy Sunday everyone!

And the amazingly cute cover was designed by my niece @pokeydraws on Instagram. Check out her page, and she welcomes commissions if she has time.