Second Time Around

36. Halls of Ancestors

"Do you mean it?" Lan Zhan sounded anxious.

Wei Ying smiled at his intended's face in the mirror, almost dizzy with love. "I remember who can touch your ribbon. I understand what the word 'spouses' means. It means you're going to marry me. It means you'll be mine forever. And I'll be yours."

"Will you take a walk with me?" For an answer, Wei Ying stood and held his hand out. Holding hands was a perk of being engaged. One which he fully intended to make good use of. They walked sedately, hand in hand, through the Cloud Recesses, ignoring that it was after curfew. Ignoring that Wei WuXian wasn't supposed to be in Cloud Recesses. Ignoring (glaring at in Lan Zhan's case) the disciples tasked with making sure the juniors kept to curfew. They stopped at the Hall of Ancestors.

"Lan Zhan...." Wei Ying whispered. "Why are we here?"

"A'Niang will want to meet you." Lan Zhan led the way to a small shrine in a corner of the Hall. He knelt, Wei Ying akwardly following, and lit an incense stick. "A'Niang, this is Wei Ying."

Wei Ying bobbed nervously. "Hello Lan Furen."

"A'Niang. This is the one I've been talking about all these years. I'm going to marry him. Please give us your blessing." He prostrated before the shrine.

Wei Ying started to follow, but his eyes caught on the other tablets on the small shrine. He expected to see the twin jade's father's name on one. Instead he saw his own parent's names. "Mama. Baba," he breathed in awe, emotions choking him up. "Lan Zhan... why?"

Lan Zhan moved back into a kneeling position. "I thought that maybe the Jiangs had made a shrine for you to visit your parents. But maybe they didn't. In either case, having two shrines for your parents is better than none. As I hoped you would marry me, I thought our parents should meet and get to know each other. So they will be better informed to bless us.

"It's a pleasant thought, don't you think? That our parents waited for us to marry before moving on?"

Wei Ying felt a sob bursting out of him. Felt hot tears running down his cheeks. "Lan Zhan... you really are the worst person in the whole world. You know my heart can't handle it when you do things like this. You really are too good to me."

"Wei Ying deserves the best."

Wei Ying smiled through snuffling back snots. "And you are the very best." He took the handkerchief silently handed to him and wiped at his face. "What a mess of a person I am. You do one really nice thing for me and I turn into a weeping willow."

"Wei Ying.... Will you marry me?"

"Yes."

"Right here. Right now. In front of our parents."

More tears escaped. "Yes. Of course, yes."

Lan Zhan took the cloth and wiped up the new mess. "We'll probably have to do it again for our families."

"Tonight can be our real wedding."

There was no fanfare. No witnesses other than flickering candles and the hopes that their parents were there in spirit. Just two men, one in white and missing his forehead ribbon, the other in black, solemnly promising themselves to each other.

Walking back to the Jingshi, Wei Ying could feel his stomach fluttering with nerves. A wedding was usually followed by a wedding night. They were going to have sex, and they hadn't discussed any of it. Not just the who was going to be on top and who was going to be on the bottom, either. Wen Qing's book gave instructions for cleaning their backsides, but that was for non-cultivators. Was there a talisman that did the job faster? If it existed, it wasn't mentioned in any Lotus Pier library book. And then there was the clean-up afterwards. They'd already washed the sheets once earlier. He had the feeling that they were going to have to wash sheets every morning; Wei Ying hated doing laundry. He also did not have a thick enough skin to send his semen soiled sheets to the washroom for the women there to giggle over. There had to be a better way. Hearing the Jingshi's door slide shut, enveloping them in the silence, made the skittery feelings heighten. "Lan Zhan..." he started even as he heard his own name being spoken. "You first."