Always by your side

Ch 26. No envies

Lan Zhan's POV

Past

Do you know how scary it is to see your soulmate descend into madness? That is what the other me in my nightmares had to face. The Wei Ying of my dreams died alone and broken. The nightmares subsided years ago, but they returned almost a year when Wei Ying was sent to live with Madam Sanren.

No matter how much I asked Uncle to let Wei Ying come back, he said he would not let us live together without a proper marriage ceremony and that he was still disappointed that we hid our relationship. He said we broke his trust; that he raised us better than that; that he should have punished us more brutal by making us write the old rules of the house 100 times, and so on.

Despite this, he never stopped us from seeing each other, and he kept calling Wei Ying "son".

So, we have no other option than to marry soon if we want to sleep under the same roof again and avoid a path where we end up beaten. Wei Ying does not know, but the ritual of the band means that we are married according to an ancient custom of the Lan family, and I intend to do all the others as soon as possible.

I know that uncle is primarily acting hurt, but we must hurry if we want to spare him some pain and save some face. He is still sore that Madam Yu called asking if he knew if something was happening between Jiang Cheng and my brother.

We knew.

They are so bad at hiding his emotions. So my brother got scolded, and he did not mind it at all.

Uncle organizes family meetings each year during spring. This year was no exception. However, he has been avoiding Wei Ying the whole gathering. Something is odd. I know he loves Wei Ying despite everything, so there must be some trouble.

Sadly, I am too busy entertaining a second cousin's baby boy to follow Wei Ying and Lan Qiren when they disappear into a room. So I gave Lan Jingyi a candy to let me carry him, and I followed them.

I peek into the room.

"You have no right to stop me," says Wei Ying.

"I have all the right in the world since you are my son," says my uncle.

"If I am your son, you should let me be happy doing something I like" Wei Ying keeps pacing around, agitating his hands.

"I am letting you do it, but not there with him," says Lan Qiren

Could it be that he opposes our marriage? that he won't let us be together? I enter without an announcement.

My face rarely shows anger, but I storm out before my uncle can say something else, dragging Wei Ying with me. Wei tries to stop me, but before he can do more, I have already put the baby in a chair, taken a white headband that I have in my pocket, tie Wei Ying with it, hug the baby again and head to the patio with tied Wei Ying and a fumbling uncle in tow.

I gave the baby back to his parents and said to the audience witnessing the show, "I will marry this man, whether you accept us or not, I won't separate from him" and then headed back to the garage, took the car and drive us out of there.

Wei Ying has not stopped to have a bewildered face all this time. As minutes passed, he adjusted his seatbelt and moved his hands in front of my face. Finally, he said, "You aren't drunk, are you?"

"Not a single cup," I say

"Did you think we were talking about you and me back there at the meeting?"

I open my mouth, and Wei Ying starts to laugh.

"Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, what I am going to do with you?"

He keeps laughing, and my ears have become red.