WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon

Chapter 64 Riddle

Lan Zhan knew he was staring, but really, what was he supposed to do, upon finding out his genius husband already knew about the secret drawers in their little table, and then, not only had he not said anything, but then he had made his own??

"Um...what?" Wei Ying stared back, eyes wide and suddenly afraid. "I didn't want to say anything...because if you wanted me to know, then you would have said something...and you didn't, and then I needed a place to put things, because otherwise I was getting up too often, and it was interrupting my train of thought-"

Lan Zhan kissed him.

There was nothing else to be done!

How could he not, when Wei Ying was blushing so hard, and scared that he had made a mistake, when it had just been forgotten by Lan Zhan in the first place? Kissing him seemed like the best way to shut him up from saying anything more silly...

And ending with a sharp bite on his bottom lip.

"Er...ow?" Wei Ying looked more than a little dazed at that. "And what about...oh." He was looking at Li XiWang, who had stuck two fingers in her ears, and Lan Zhan was covering her eyes with his free hand.

Even when he took it away, their daughter had screwed up her whole face, not just her eyes!

"You may look now." Lan Zhan told her, before turning back to his Wei Ying. "Not showing Wei Ying before...it was an oversight. I only remembered because our daughter asked why I seemed troubled to her." He explained.

It was the right thing to say, because the horrible look of worry and hurt disappeared from Wei Ying's eyes, and they returned to their lustrous silver shine.

"I did not mean to hurt Wei Ying." He insisted, repeating himself.

"Ah...that's okay, my love." Wei Ying patted his knee.

"No. It is not okay. I would never hurt Wei Ying like that, and this should be cleared up immediately. I would also ask him to talk to me about anything which he might doubt." Lan Zhan said, fiercely.

Now, it was Wei Ying who lunged at him, and in that split second of recognising the look in his eyes, that Lan Zhan covered Li XiWang's eyes once again, his free hand steadying an out-of-control Wei Ying's advance.

This kiss was fiery and complete, a raging storm of constant need and love. Passion flowed like a waterfall, a never-ending stream of how much they wanted each other.

When they parted, Wei Ying smiled sheepishly at his daughter, who had once again stuck her fingers in her ears and shut her eyes tightly.

"Um...I can't help myself, sometimes..." he told her, blushing.

Lan Zhan just looked smug.

"What does that say?" Li XiWang asked, trying to keep the impatience out of her voice.

She loved mysteries and finding clues and solving cases. And she beamed when she saw the same look reflected in both of her fathers' eyes.

Lan Zhan was already pulling out charcoal to grind, a brush and blank parchment paper, pushing the latter towards his beautiful husband.

Wei Ying's quick brain remembered each hidden stroke and wrote it down, each character expertly drawn.

"Why does Wei Ying not write like that daily?" Lan Zhan asked him, studying the characters.

"Wha -"

He can't say anything else because Lan Zhan has pounced once again, stealing his breath and loving him with infinite care. It's urgent, it's hot, and it's messy. And this time, both of them look dazed.

When Li XiWang uncovers her ears and opens her eyes, for the third time in ten minutes, she actually rolls her eyes at them.

They both glance apologetically in her direction.

"Just me...writing...like that?" Wei Ying waggles his eyebrows.

"Mn," Lan Zhan confirms, correctly guessing if Wei Ying was asking him about the latest thing that attracted him about himself.

"Well then, Er-Gege...get used to impeccable writing..." Wei Ying winks at him.

This time, when Lan Zhan pulls him closer, they both hear their daughter say, "oh, for God's sake!" And stomping off in a huff, talking about Rumi and how he must be awake by now.

But they're too busy appreciating each other...

**********

Rumi is awake, and by the time Li XiWang brings him out of their room, with a prayer tossed out towards the Universe that, while she's really happy for her parents to love each other, perhaps they could be a little less demonstrative, and keep their hands off each other, for like, five minutes...

Luckily, the Universe is in a wish granting mood, and now they're both sitting opposite each other, smiling to welcome their children for breakfast.

Though neither looks repentant...

Breakfast is eaten quietly with only the sound of chopsticks clinking against porcelain. When the dishes have been cleared away and left outside, that's when Wei Ying pushes the paper back towards Lan Zhan.

"MuJiang Qin." Lan Zhan reads out loud. "Carpenter Qin?" His golden eyes are that much brighter, as he looks at Wei Ying.

Wei Ying sits on his hands, mindful of his daughter's reproving gaze aimed at both of them. She's glaring at the table and her expression is one step away from physically separating them, should they lose any more self control.

He forces himself to concentrate on the subject they're talking about, and not how beautiful Lan Zhan looks with the sunlight making him appear simply radiant.

There's a knock on the door and it's Li XiWang who calls out, "Please! Come in!" There's a desperate tone.

She practically beams at her Uncle Cheng and Uncle XiChen, who have returned from Lotus Pier.

"Thank God, you're back." She tells them, her relief something real.

"Why?" Jiang Cheng asks, suspiciously.

Wei Ying looks guiltily at his own lap.

"Well, if you're both here, then we can finally get somewhere with this!" She picks up the paper and hands it to XiChen.

Jiang Cheng takes one look at Wei Ying's face, and then at a too-pleased and smug-faced Lan Zhan, and he already knows what their daughter is complaining about.

"I don't think it'll make any difference." He says, as a long-suffering victim of PDA.

She looks horrified.

"Hey, Cheng Cheng, stop turning our daughter against us!" Wei Ying scowls at him, and then sticks his tongue out at his younger brother.

"You're doing that all by yourself!" Jiang Cheng protests, sticking his tongue back out at him.

There is a polite clearing of a diplomatic throat.

"Actually, we came to ask you about the JingLing. Now that the Flower Demon is...dealt with, what are you going to do with it?"