✧𝔻𝔼𝕍𝕆𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ~ 𝒶𝓃𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃~✧

✧Lan Xichen- Separation✧

A/N- I can't describe just how hot Xichen is both in the live action (good lord Liu Haikuan is beautiful) and in the animated version (he looks too good in that damn outfit gosh). Like put some love on Xichen because this man is perfect. (Sorry for low res on the picture, it was the only good one I could find lmao).

EVERYONE KNEW THAT Lan Xichen was an exemplary clan leader. He hadn't been made clan leader at fourteen for nothing, after all. But what no one knew was that sometimes even he doubted himself. And when he did, it was not a fun time.

You had been Xichen's wife for a long while, and while no one knew you as a very talented individual- you were average at best- you were quite good at comforting people that we're having emotional crises. Xichen loved you for that, as you always helped him out when he was struggling. In repayment, he was an absolutely perfect husband, treating you when you were wounded and cooking and caring for you whenever he was free. He was a perfect man, there was no doubt.

But even those that were seen as perfect suffered sometimes. And now was one of those times.

"I don't know what to do," Xichen told you for the fifth time in the span of two minutes. "Did those children deserve punishment? I don't know..."

The children he was speaking of were two rowdy Lan boys who had frequently broken rules in class and bullied their classmates to boot. They had never been punished for this, as they weren't teens yet, and Lan punishments were ruthless. Possibly empowered by their lack of punishment, they began doing more and more terrible deeds, until they had decided to do a stunt that got someone seriously hurt and one person killed.

The Lan clan's cold springs were the most legendary healing device among cultivators in China. Many cultivators and normal people alike visited them to recover from all manner of wounds. It turned out that on the day the boys played their "prank" there was an old cultivator suffering from extreme anxiety and a weak heart resting in the cold springs to try and recover.

The children didn't know this, but many elders argued when they were punishing the children that even if they had known, they would've still continued with their prank anyway. It turned out even the boys' parents believed that, and they allowed their sons to be beat by whips in punishment for their killing of an innocent man.

What was the prank, you ask?

Well, it was a long story.

The two boys had put very slippery moss on the rocks around the springs with the intention of making people slip and fall. They had also bought masks of undead faces and were planning to hide in the nearby bushes, jumping out when the victim of their prank had fallen down and pretending to be reanimated corpses. Their plan was perfectly harmless fun, or so they thought.

However, when they actually pranked the bathing people, it turned out to go a little differently than they expected. The old man with heart issues and anxiety was the first to fall, and since he was old and weak, the fall really winded him. From where they were hiding in the bushes, the children could see that the man was struggling to get up from the ground, and one of his slender legs had twisted in a way that it shouldn't be twisted in.

Instead of respecting the fact that this man was injured and they shouldn't prank him, and maybe even trying to help him, the children continued on with their prank, jumping out of the bushes and scaring the old man so badly he had a heart attack and died on the spot. When his retainers came to fetch him, one of them tripped on the moss and fell headfirst into the water, breaking their neck. They had survived, but they were now paralyzed from the neck down.

Upon learning that the problem causing boys had struck again, Xichen's uncle, the strict and harsh Lan Quiren, ordered him to punish the boys to the highest extent that he could. Your husband had resisted at first, saying that it wasn't fair to hit a child with a whip; that was abuse and children didn't deserve to be treated such a way, but when the mothers of the two boys came forward and begged Xichen on their knees to please show their sons why they shouldn't hurt others, they didn't care if their sons sobbed from the pain all night, he reluctantly punished both children with 100 lashes on the back. He regretted that now, thinking that he had damaged the children permanently.

You being the comforting person that you were, you were trying your best to take care of your husband during this time. But it was hard, because you personally believed that what he had done was wrong. You shouldn't ever hurt a child no matter what they had done, so you found it hard to sympathize with someone who had done something you personally disagreed with, even if he was your husband.

You had finally had enough of his talking about, "But their parents said it was okay, so did I really hurt them?"

"Yes, you did!" you screamed at him, making him quiet suddenly. "You did really hurt them! They're scarred forever now because of you! What you did was wrong, Lan Xichen!"

"Y/N..." Xichen whispered softly, reaching out to caress your hair and cup your face in his hands, both actions he knew you enjoyed performed on you. You simply curled your lips up in a sneer and shoved him away.

"Don't talk to me until you've apologized to those boys!" you screamed, leaving your shared cottage and slamming the door behind you.

You could faintly hear your husband weeping inside of the cottage, but you didn't care. You refused to even look at him anymore. A man who beat children was not someone you wished to associate with. Until he felt remorse for his actions, you wouldn't be associated with him anymore. 

————————————————————————
Three Months Later

Xichen's hands shook as he opened the latest letter from his now ex-wife. What would she be telling him about now? She had remarried, didn't she have a husband to complain to about him? Why did she have to send everything she hated about him to him in letters?

Sure enough, the letter didn't even start with a polite greeting, it just went straight to a rant.

How have you been, you disgusting rat of a man? I hope you've been suffering without me. You deserve to suffer, just like those children.

"They aren't suffering, they're fine! You're really still hooked on them; you annoy me so much!" Xichen muttered under his breath.

My new husband is a lovely man who wouldn't ever hurt a fly. So cowardly though, just like you. He has two sons that have never felt the touch of a whip in their lives, and every child in his family is raised the same way as his sons: with absolute love and kindness.

"No child can be brought up without at least being beaten once. It doesn't teach them any lessons if they aren't punished," Xichen said.

As much as I hate you, I have to say, your clan was rich compared to my husband's family. Living in a small home with three men is driving me insane. Literally. My mental health is terrible right now. I'm even thinking of returning to you to save myself from this suffering. That's how insane I've gotten!

If you return to my side, I'd rejoice, Xichen thought.

Anyways, I hope you're still suffering. Stay alive, but suffer. Don't die, that ruins the fun if it. Who knows, maybe I'll be back to see your greasy ass soon.

I absolutely despise you,
L/N Y/N.

After reading your letter, Xichen didn't cry like he used to. Instead, he had a very un-Lan-like response.

"Very well then," he said. "Time to move on to the next woman."