Second Time Around

41. Family Matters

The morning before the wedding, Jiang WanYin informed Wei WuXian that he would not be sleeping with Lan WangJi that night. "You'll be staying with your family until we have to give you away," he insisted.

"Lan Zhan and A'Yuan are my family," Wei WuXian pouted.

Jiang YanLi placed a hand on his arm. "I missed having you with me the day before my wedding, A'Xian. Is it so wrong for us to want you to ourselves for one last time?"

"ShiJie," Wei WuXian whined. "But I'm already married." He acquiesced eventually, as they all knew he would. As if he could refuse his shijie anything she wanted?

He couldn't refuse her in this, either. The three knelt in the Jiang ancestral Hall after prostrating to the Jiang ancestors. "A'Niang, A'Die," Jiang YanLi bowed towards her parents' tablets as far as her protruding belly would allow. "In your lives, you decided that A'Xian was not your son; A'Cheng and I cannot agree with that. He saved us after the Wen attacked Lotus Pier. He gave his very essence to keep A'Cheng alive. He is a war hero recognized as such by every clan and sect. In addition he has brought us a marriage alliance with the main family of GusuLan.

"More importantly. A'Niang.... I have never seen him as anything other than my didi. No matter how much you wished for me to see him as the son of a servant... I cannot follow your command. A'Cheng and I have decided to defy your wishes. Please forgive us. We do this, not to be unfilial to you, but out of love for our xiongdi." She bowed again. "A'Die... I think you will accept Wei WuXian as your son; he was very filial to you when you lived. He has been no less filial towards you after you left us."

Wei WuXian was stunned. "ShiJie... what are you doing?"

Jiang Cheng answered, "We're adopting you as our brother. You can keep your father's surname, but we want you written into our family rolls."

"Jiang Cheng..." Wei WuXian protested. "ShiJie! You can't do this. Your parents...."

"Our parents are dead," Jiang YanLi stated firmly. "You were their son in everything but name when they lived. It is our shame that they never formally adopted you. A'Cheng and I are correcting this mistake."

"It wasn't a mistake," Wei WuXian insisted. "I don't need to be formally your brother to see myself as one. And I don't want to be adopted out of a sense of responsibility. Or as a correction to a mistake you think your parents made."

"But what if I need it?" Jiang YanLi turned to face him, eyes glassy with unshed tears. "What if I need to know you are my brother in truth as well as in my heart?"

"What if I need it?" Jiang Cheng echoed. "I am sect leader and my foster brother gave me his life. To leave you as only a sect brother? My shame will follow me to my grave...." He sighed dramatically. "Besides... I want you as my brother."

"If you adopt me... Jiang Cheng, you don't have an heir yet."

"I will as soon as we complete this ceremony." Jiang Cheng's voice was firm. "Until I have a son of my own, or A'Jie has a second son, you will be my heir. Anyone who would object can go to Hell."

"But..."

"You're not allowed to say 'no', A'Xian," Jiang YanLi gently admonished. "Please don't say 'no'," she corrected herself. "I want to call you my didi. I want to hear you call me A'Jie instead of ShiJie."

"All right," Wei WuXian said through his own unshed tears. "A'Jie, I will do as you ask."

The adoption ceremony was followed by the Jiang siblings unveiling a shrine with Wei WuXian's parents' tablets in it. "We have been remiss in this, too," Jiang YanLi sighed. "Our parents should have given you something to remember your parents by. Your father, after all, was a good friend to my father."