#wei xiaobao | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nutcasewithaknife · 1 month

Text

Writing Patterns

Thank you for the tag @mx-myth and @bbcphile!! <3 (sorry for the dealy!! This got buried in my drafts a long while ago, and when I dug it up I realised I had a whole new fic up on ao3 since i first drafted this ;-;)

The task is to list out the opening sentence of the last 10 fics I've posted on ao3 and look for patterns! I'll do the same for the closing sentence of these fics too :)

2. Pieces (Mysterious Lotus Casebook; post-canon fic where Li Lianhua is found but cannot be saved, and difang grieve.)

Opening: 'That night, Fang Duobing fell asleep.'

Closing: 'Then they wiped off their tears and picked up the pieces together.'

2. Next Time We'll Meet Beyond The Stars Above (Mysterious Lotus Casebook; pre-canon fic following Di Feisheng and Li Xiangyi's relationship from their first meeting to the donghai battle.)

Opening: 'The first time Di Feisheng hears the name is in a shabby tea house, far from any town of notable significance.'

Closing: 'I win.'

3. Sleepless (Mysterious Lotus Casebook; gratuitous and lazy post canon feihua where they both can't sleep and decide to get horny about it)

Opening: 'Di Feisheng paused in the doorway at the sight of the empty bed.'

Closing: 'Satisfied, Di Feisheng let himself drift away too.'

4. Found (The Untamed; set during the 16 years between Wei Wuxian's death and resurrection. Lan Wangji wanders away and falls in love again, with another boy and another place, before coming back home.)

Opening: 'Lan Wangji had followed the beast’s trail to the farthest border of Qinghe.'

Closing: 'He didn’t look back.'

5. Fang Duobing and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week (Mysterious Lotus Casebook; cracky fluffy post-canon about Fang Xiaobao having an extended crisis about Di Feisheng sleeping with Li Lianhua instead of sharing the upstairs bed with him).

Opening: 'Fang Duobing returned to Lotus tower after about a week, with a spring in his step and a song in his heart.'

Closing: 'They were going to be fine, after all.'

6. A Perfect Night (Mysterious Lotus Casebook; gratuitous and lazy post canon feihua smut again! the previous fic is a sequel to this one).

Opening: 'Li Lianhua took a long drink from his gourd of wine and looked at the moon.'

Closing: 'He went to sleep.'

7. Foolish (The Untamed; sangcheng Modern AU where they're childhood friends who run into each other years later at a gay bar, and Jiang Cheng is having so many crises about his sexuality but being so brave about it.)

Opening: 'The whole liquid courage thing was a scam.'

Closing: 'They scuffled over it the rest of the way back.'

8. Save It For A Rainy Day (The Untamed; classic yunmeng bros reconciliation full of angst and screaming and, eventually, hugs)

Opening: 'Jiang Cheng was confused.'

Closing: 'If these were the troubles he had to bear… he could live with that happily enough.'

9. A Trial By Cold (The Untamed; wangxian modern AU crack where they're both in bed recovering from a cold, and as sleepy as they are horny.)

Opening: '“Lan Zhan.”'

Closing: 'His husband’s shoulder was the best pillow in the world (....except maybe his ass.)'

10. An Earthly Desire (Love Between Fairy and Devil; Lady Chidi's POV on her first time meeting and saving Rong Hao in the mortal realm.)

Opening: 'Death should’ve become easier by now.'

Closing: 'Facing death got no easier, but the reminder of life she returned to let her hope.'

Patterns:

In the older fics, there is a tendency to open with dialogue or (most frequently) a thought from the POV character. However, the more recent ones tend to begin with an action, often the POV character arriving at location that most/all of the fic is going to be set it.

The first lines usually get right into the head of the POV character. The tone of each depends heavily on this character and the tone of the fic itself.

The closing lines usually capture the crux of the story and call back to important themes in the more poignant fics. Given that most of my writing is strongly rooted in some kind of arc for the POV character, it often reflects their final state of mind. Depending on the kind of fic, it's bittersweet, hopeful, sad, or just plain ridiculous.

Just realising that all my lighter, fluffy Mysterious Lotus Casebook fics end with liansanjiao falling asleep peacefully and that's very very telling. They deserve to nap on each other and be lazy. as a treat.

Huh. I wonder if realising all this will change these patterns henceforth. It was very fun to distance myself from each fic and look at them all together. Anyways, that's pretty much all I noticed. If anyone spots something else I'd love to hear :3

Tagging every single fic-poster who sees this on their dash, please go wild, I look forward to it!! :D

#tag game #writing patterns

5 notes · View notes

dramaddict-and-proud-of-it · 8 months

Text

Mysterious Lotus Case Book

Year : 2023 | Country : CN | Nb of episodes: 40

My rate: 7/10

Synopsis :

Ten years ago, Li Xiang Yi, the master of the Sigu Sect, dominated with his superior swordsmanship and was a symbol of light in the martial arts world. However, he suddenly disappeared along with Di Fei Sheng, the leader of the Jinyuan Alliance, after they arranged to battle in the East Sea.

Ten years later, Li Lian Hua is a countryside doctor who travels dragging around a lotus tower. He accidentally becomes "famous" and gets pulled into the pugilistic world that he no longer wants to have any connections with. Fang Duo Bing, a passionate youth who dreams of becoming a hero, realizes that Li Lian Hua is not a simple man and vows to find proof that Li Lian Hua has been impersonating a famous doctor. Meanwhile, Di Fei Sheng, who has always regarded Li Xiang Yi as a fierce enemy, has also reemerged in the pugilistic world and recognizes that the unremarkable doctor Li Lian Hua is none other than Li Xiang Yi.

After a series of cases, Li Lian Hua, Di Fei Sheng and Fang Duo Bing gradually come to forge a deep friendship and join hands in solving mysterious cases to uphold justice.

Main cast :

Cheng Yi as Li Lianhua (voiced by Cheng Yi) / Li Xiangyi

Xu Wei Luo as Li Xiangyi (teen)

Xie Zi Mo (谢子墨) as Li Xiangyi (child)

Zeng Shun Xi as Fang Duobing (Fang Xiaobao)

Lu Jin Hao as Fang Xiaobao (young)

Xiao Shun Yao as Di Feisheng

Xu Jia Xi as Di Feisheng (young)

My thoughts on this drama :

From the reviews I had read online, this was supposed to be as good at The Blood of Youth. For me, it was not. Don't get me wrong! It is a very good drama. The overall absence of romance is a big plus (it's there in the background but has no direct impact on the story itself more than in a few flashbacks that I enjoyed skipping).

What bothered me most is that the second hero was such a dimwit. All muscle no brain. Yes he's pretty young and all, but that wannabe detective was just dumb. He relied completely on Lianhua's deduction before finding the solution to all cases (but still taking all credit for solving it heh...). It took a bit too long for the big reveal of the main lead's identity, and I found truly ridiculous that his old pals did not recognize him as soon as they saw him. He was pretty much walking out there looking the same as ten year prior, sometimes wearing a mask that hid nothing.... but that's a common trope in Cdramaland so.... Big thumb up to the redemption arc of the initial "villain". The friendship born of it was amazing to see, and I was very much rooting for more interactions between the three main characters. The side characters also did their job, adding drama and comic relief to the story. The backstory that unraveled slowly up to the finale was splendidly executed, and I felt terrible for Lianhua when he realized the whole truth. I have a small regret though: for a Wuxia drama, there weren't that many awesome fights, and the rare ones were so short they lacked impact.

Anyway, it is still a good drama, Cheng Yi prove once again that he's a true talent of this generation, and I hope to see him take one more dramas and movies (no dumb romcom) to showcase his impressive capacity to show emotions with his eyes and micro expressions. He convinced me back in Immortal Samsara, now I'm just another fan...

A Favorite ?

#mysterious lotus casebook #cdrama #cheng yi #zeng shunxi #xiao shunyao #wuxia #brotherhood #mystery solving

7 notes · View notes

lenateliier · 2 years

Note

How would you describe tai sui to someone who wants to read?

Agh I am so terribly sorry for the late response!! I've been very busy lately ^^" however!!! I can now go on for 50+ hours on why you should read it wahaha

So you want to read Tai Sui 🤨 Bring several boxes of tissues then, you'll need them!! It's an absolutely phenomenal novel that I think everyone should at least try - it's just your classic fun little family friendly xianxia that definitely won't grab you by the throat and wring you dry of everything you've ever felt 😉

For the absolute basics, Tai Sui is 247 chapters + 7 extras long, and it's a steampunk xianxia + historical fantasy. What's even better is that it has a lovely coherent completed translation done by E.Danglers!! It does not have a character pairing but PLEASE do not let the fact that it isn't a danmei dissaude you from reading!!! Tai Sui is such a rich and beautifully written novel for so many different aspects it's just so!!! *clenches fist*

As you may expect from it being a work by Priest, it's a deconstruction/breakdown of the xianxia genre with astoundingly intricate world building, detailing just what effect cultivation really has on the environment and the people who live there. It feels so incredibly weighty in the sense that it's so lived in, so very tangible..... One of my favourite things about it is that it showcases so much of the tragedy of the average person; the result of cultivation being so prominent and exclusive of the general public, the class divides it creates....and it does so through characters that aren't even named, while still making it sting! There's a handful of scenes like this I can think of off the top of my head but I wouldn't want to spoil them wahaha, so here's a screenshot of my reading thread mentioning it!

Another thing it does that I adore about Tai Sui is how it toys with the concept of what makes a deity/god. Think TGCF, but where TGCF came the the conclusion that gods are just the same as humans and left it at that, Tai Sui dissects that even further from various angles. What makes a god? Why do they hold that much power? Do they owe anything to the people? Should they? What makes them legitimate? Why can't we question them? Or to quote a scene from chapter 128, “so which are higher, the gods in heaven, or the gods on earth?” It's so incredibly good when contrasted against the MC, Xi Ping, and his situation that you'll see progress in the novel!! I don't want to spoil too much wehehe.

Priest touches on and explores so many different concepts over the course of it too!! To name just a few (courtesy of @/iplepee who made a list of these on twitter) there's environmental injustice, labour exploitation, resource monopoly, phrenology, the power of language, the power of names!!!!..... WAH I cannot stress it enough how amazing this novel is.... It's so beautifully done.

The characters too are incredibly enjoyable....agh...AGH OUR MC ESPECIALLY oh he has a special place in my heart my xiaobao 😭😭 to name just a few of my favourites it would be Xi Ping, Zhou Ying, Zhi Xiu, Xi Yue, Wei Chengxiang, Yu Chang, Zhao Qindan, Lin Chi, Wen Fei.....wahhhh so many...but honestly there are so many great characters and all I can do is clutch my chest at them,,, the relations between them, their interactions, what they mean to each other, how those ties affect their actions — it's so amazing and compelling. I've hinted at it in the prior little paragraphs but more than anything Tai Sui can be considered a story of the people, really.

Xi Ping especially is such a wonderful character and I really do think that out of all the Priest mcs, he is perhaps the most tragic one — not that you would know it until you think about it for a while longer :') Xi Ping does this wonderful little trick of fooling you into thinking everything is fine and good and great. I think one of the things that Tai Sui fans debate over a lot is whether it would have been more painful to see Xi Ping cry, or whether the fact that we never do see him just. Give himself a moment to breathe and feel that is the most painful......He comes close to it in one particular chapter, and those who have read it know exactly which one I'm talking about 😚😚

If you have ever read any of Priest's novels before, then in classic Priest fashion she will tear you apart and glue you back together only to maul you even worse than before. And it's such a great experience!!! You're in tears and you sit there gratefully. When I say Tai Sui changed my brain chemistry on a fundamental level I mean it... I have never been the same person since. The Tai Sui fandom on twitter, best described, is just a bunch of sadomasochists 😭😭👍

I'll stop here because I really could go on forever, but if you need any further reason to start this novel, please just take a look at some of these (not spoilery, don't worry!!!!) posts from my reading thread;

PLEASE READ TAI SUI!!! PLEASE READ IT!!!!!!! WAHHHHH HA HAAAA this novel means so much to me!!!

#lena's inbox #WAHAHAHAHA please do forgive me the length of this..#this was me trying to be concise if you'll believe me #ANYWAY PLEASE READ TAI SUI #READ IT PLEASE I BEG YOU #tai sui #priest tai sui #priest太岁

62 notes · View notes

lautakwah · 2 months

Text

However, young people always love to play and enjoy festivities, which is human nature, there is no difference between an emperor or a beggar. In common people's homes, any boy can shout and jump randomly, can fight and make a ruckus with their playmates daily. But if this young emperor wanted to enjoy this kind of opportunity, he would need 'good fortune' and 'karma'. Only when he was with Wei Xiaobao did he enjoy true freedom, abandoning his emperor's persona and wrestling to his heart's content. Indeed, he had never experienced such happiness in all his life. During these days, even in his sleep he would often dream of wrestling and frolicking with Wei Xiaobao.

The Deer and the Cauldron ch. 5, by Jin Yong

#this has to be some kind of sick joke... what do yoy MEAN he dreams of his boy best friend #AND THEYRE. WRESTLING. AND FROLICKING. LMFAO #in like 15 years' time the emperor will have a massive harem and half a dozen kids and wxb will have 7 wives and 3 kids #and probably nothing will have changed fundamentally bc theyre still homoerotically entangled as the emperor and his most trusted confidante #ling.txt #the deer and the cauldron

3 notes · View notes

sienne-k · 2 years

Photo

and a (almost 4k) drabble to go with the fanart. under a read more, because it is almost 4k lol.

you can also read on ao3 here.

When Wei Wuxian wakes up much later than his husband, who must have already left to teach the early morning classes, it is to the inconsolable cries of his favorite lady. He coos at Xiaoyi, taking her out of the cradle and cuddling her close.

“There, there! Were you lonely while your father was asleep? Never fear, you will not be left alone for the slightest moment today!” he declares decisively, sealing the vow with a tap to the baby’s nose.

She quiets down, busy munching on her father’s robes.

“Time for breakfast, then? Right you are as always, Xiaobao!” Wei Wuxian nods sagely.

He exchanges the lapels of his inner robe with a bottle, and the Little Lady gulps her milk with gusto, uncaring of her father lilting slightly to his side, half-asleep already.

“Bbuh!” she says with conviction, spraying the leftover milk on her father’s face, effectively waking him up.

He looks at her, fondly exasperated. No more sleeping allowed, time to start the day!

He gets ready quickly, the Little Lady busying herself with making as many markings on Chenqing as possible. Truly taking after her older brother, that one.

Cheeks still half-full from the tasty breakfast left by his thoughtful husband, Wei Wuxian plucks the Little Lady from the ground and on his hip. She complains at the unfair treatment, but not as loudly as she could have, so he feels justified in ignoring it. He walks around the Jingshi, looking for the last piece of clothing he needs before he is ready for the outside world, but it is nowhere to be found.

The Little Lady’s complaints start growing in volume, but thankfully he is saved - the long sling is laying bunched up on the floor beneath the bed.

He ties the sling round himself and the baby, tying the ends with tight knots. The baby’s grumbles quiet down as she falls asleep, pacified by the warmth and closeness to her father’s body, surrounded by his scent.

The crisp morning air does not bother her in the least, but Wei Wuxian tries to close his robes further, hindered by the baby. Thwarted in his attempts, he hurries his steps. The quicker he gets inside, the better! He talks at the Little Lady all the way, not bothered at all that she is fast asleep. It is enough that she sighs and makes small noises in all the right places.

His plan is not entirely successful, as he is stopped on the way by various Clan members, many of whom want to spend a moment or two cooing at the baby and wishing Wei Wuxian a good morning.

Finally, his destination enters his sight, so after a perfunctory look around he changes his gait to a slight jog. He knocks lightly on the door, mindful of the little inhabitants inside, and gets in quickly when the door is barely open.

“Wei-gongzi!” He is greeted with much surprise from the two Lans in charge of the creche.

The next greeting is much more enthusiastic, full of uninhibited shouts and little hands grabbing at the hems of his robes.

“Shh, she’s sleeping!” He puts a finger to his lips, bending slightly to show his baby’s peaceful, sleeping face to the energetic Lan toddlers gathered around him.

He can see it takes a lot of restraint for them, but they manage to quiet down, more or less. To make up for it, they grow insistent in pulling on his robes, guiding him to the middle of the room, where the sitting mats have been haphazardly thrown around. He goes amicably, sitting down on three mats stacked on top of each other, which have been quickly prepared by the hardworking, thoughtful kids. He gives them all a beaming smile in thanks, and their small, round faces bloom with pleasure and satisfaction.

“Come now, you all sit down too! I can’t have you being taller than me,” he teases.

The temptation to remain standing and keep the higher ground is very strong to small Lan toddlers. Many dawdle, pretending to look for the best place to sit, but ultimately none of them want to disappoint Wei Wuxian now that he is finally here, and so they settle down on the floor, as close to him as they can manage. For all that they have been waiting for him for days, their attention is immediately grabbed by the baby sleeping in the cloth sling.

“Look at them, so focused on my baby! And here I thought they were waiting for me,” laughs Wei Wuxian with a wink at the two caretakers.

“Oh, they missed you a lot,” assures him the younger woman, Lan Yuqi.

“I missed them too,” admits Wei Wuxian. “But you have not called for me at all, so I thought you were all busy, or maybe someone complained.”

“No no no!” protests Lan Yuqi, waving her hands in front for further emphasis.

“That one is our fault,” adds Lan Junting.

Although older than Wei Wuxian and Lan Yuqi combined, she does not look the part. Her youthful looks are only one of the many signs of her strong golden core. She is one of the strongest cultivators in the Lan Clan, but she stopped going on nighthunts years ago, some time after Wei Wuxian left with the Wens to the Burial Mounds. Instead, she focuses her time and attention on the education and rearing of the youngest in the clan.

“We all know how absorbing newborns are,” she explains her reasoning. Wei Wuxian and Lan Yuqi nod in agreement. “I figured you would be tired, spending all your time with your small daughter. You deserve rest, peace and quiet, and there isn’t much of it to be found here.”

Something grows warm in his chest; all that Lan sincerity must be hindering his digestion!

“Thank you very much for the consideration,” he says earnestly. “But I wasn’t lying when I said I missed the babies here. Just call for me whenever you need help as always, and if I am not teaching, I will be there.”

Both ladies smile at him, and he basks in the camaraderie surrounding the three of them.

“Well, we can safely say everyone here missed you, too!” Lan Yuqi looks affectionately at the toddlers still absorbed with the baby sleeping in Wei Wuxian’s arms.

“But I am not a baby,” interjects Lan Jiayu with an air of importance.

“Oh, are you not?” The adults share amused looks above her head.

“You are so very little, though!” adds Wei Wuxian, earning himself a mighty pout.

“This is a baby,” insists Jiayu, pointing at sleeping Xiaoyi. “So I am not!”

“Well, maybe you are both babies,” argues Wei Wuxian, interested in where this will go. Children’s minds are fascinating!

Slowly, their discussion garners the attention of the other toddlers.

“Can’t be!” Lan Xin backs Jiayu up. “The baby is way too smaller!”

“The smallest of smalls!” adds Lan Hao, throwing his hands up to show just how big the smallness of Xiaoyi is.

“Shhhhhhh!!!!” Wei Wuxian and Lan Yuqi make shushing noises at the agitated toddlers, trying to quiet them down.

They settle, but all of them have a stubborn air around them, Lan Xin even crosses his arms.

“A Xiao-Lan!” Lan Tao, who has been quiet until then, bestows the title upon Xiaoyi, and that is that. None of the toddlers would deign to call her by her name, and worse, Lan Yuqi and Lan Junting have joined them. Poor Xiaoyi, doomed to be a Xiao-Lan forever!

What follows is a wonderful day, with newly-dubbed Xiao-Lan sleeping it away safely in her father’s arms, wrapped in a cloth sling, tucked against his chest. She does not wake when he helps the Lan toddlers eat, plays games, or cleans up dirty dishes, other than the few times when her own hunger proves too strong to keep her asleep. After sating it, she falls back asleep quickly, content with her lot in life.

The toddlers do their best to not raise their voices throughout the day, fascinated with such a small baby.

“Tiny… so tiny…!” whispers Lan Tao to himself in wonder, patting Xiaoyi’s little head delicately. “…so soft!” He marvels at her fine hair.

He gets pushed to the side by Lan Jiayu for his trouble. “You take too long! Now it’s my turn!”

Lan Tao’s lip wobbles dangerously, but thankfully Lan Xin’s musings stop him from releasing the waterworks.

“I can’t believe they make babies so tiny!” Lan Xin looks at Wei Wuxian’s stomach. “Did you not eat enough, shushu?”

Wei Wuxian doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Why would you think that matters?” he wheezes out in-between bouts of laughter. The other caretakers muffle their giggles in their voluminous sleeves.

“Mom told me babies come from the belly!” he announces seriously. “Your belly looks too small for a baby.”

Lan Tao gasped. “Is that why Xiao-Lan is so small?”

“It is not,” Wei Wuxian laughs. “She is just very, very young!”

“You were all so tiny, once upon a time,” teases Lan Yuqi.

Her declaration is met with more gasps, this time sounding more outraged.

“Impossible,” states Jiayu decisively with a sharp shake of her little head. “I was never this small!”

“Yeah!”

“I was this big when I was born!” claims Lan Xin, reaching with his hand higher than he was tall at present.

“A-yi is lying!”

A sudden hush falls over the creche. It is broken by Wei Wuxian’s snigger, and Lan Yuqi’s half-smothered giggle.

The toddlers look at each other, no one wanting to admit who was the one to accuse their caretakers of such a heinous act like lying. Nevertheless, the idea seemed more and more plausible to them.

“Lying is against the rules,” whispers Lan Hao, pressing both hands to his mouth as if to stop it from speaking.

Once more, silence falls over them, as the tiny heads contemplate the situation.

“If lying is against the rules,” says Jiayu carefully, “then A-yi must be punished.”

An unholy light enters their big eyes, filling them with glee.

“A moment!” Lan Junting raises her hand as if she were a pupil answering their teacher.

Every face, both tiny and big, turns in her direction, expectant. Xiaoyi grumbles and wiggles, stabbing her tiny pointy foot into Wei Wuxian’s side painfully.

“You cannot just accuse someone of lying, and then decide you are right,” she explains patiently. “You have to prove they are dishonest.”

The toddlers share looks again. It is easier said than done, but how can they prove against their much older, wiser, and more experienced caretakers…?

At that moment there is a soft knock on the door, which soundlessly opens to reveal Lan Wangji.

The kids, thoroughly distracted from their plight, swarm to his side. Everyone rises, the kids greeting him enthusiastically, all their eyes set at the bag he is holding in his right hand. They are well aware, both due to previous experience as well as the spreading scent, that there are tasty snacks inside. They are for Wei Wuxian and Xiao-Lan, but they know full well that Hanguan-jun will let them have some!

They are all patted on the head, leaving them with starry eyes. Lan Wangji greets Lan Yuqi and Lan Junting, then moves to Wei Wuxian with an unbearably fond expression. Wei Wuxian cannot stand it.

Thankfully he does not have to stand it for long, as Lan Wangji embraces him and the baby in his arms, almost hiding both of them in his robes’ heavy sleeves. He bends down to kiss his daughter’s small head, and as he rises, he meets Wei Wuxian’s warm eyes sparkling at him with love that he is both unable to and does not want to suppress. Full of warmth and affection, Lan Wangji bends once more, this time to press his lips delicately to his husband’s forehead.

“Hello, husband,” whispers Wei Wuxian with a smile curling at his lips.

“Hello,” whispers Lan Wangji back. He presses an unruly strand of hair behind Wei Wuxian’s ear. As he moves his hand back, he caresses the silky cheek, making it color a sweet red.

“So lovely.” They are interrupted by the wistful sighs from Lan Yuqi. “I wish I found someone half as romantic..!” she complains.

“You will, you will,” Wei Wuxian soothes. Ah, the folly of youth.

“She would have to spend more time with people older than four first,” interjects Lan Junting with a chuckle. “but it is so nice to see Wangji settled and happy, with his own family… I remember when he was as small as everyone here. Such a bitey child! Thank heavens he grew out of it, though it took him some time, from the horror stories my mother used to tell,” she teases.

“Oh, he did not grow out of it,” Wei Wuxian disagrees, thinking of seventeen old Lan Wangji - not a tiny baby in the least, even if surely just as cute - sinking his teeth viciously in Wei Wuxian’s arm in the cave in Mount Muxi.

“Oh?” Lan Yuqi looks with great interest at Wei Wuxian’s robes, or more aptly, at the place where they had been loosened by a wriggling Xiaoyi, showing a bit more of his skin than he had when he left the Jingshi some shi ago.

“Oh yes, Hanguang-jun bites when he’s mad,” continues Wei Wuxian obliviously, “I can concur that he has quite the set of teeth - and strong jaws! - at his disposal. My skin was not the same for days,” he mourns.

“You don’t say,” murmured Lan Junting, not hiding her amusement at Lan Wangji’s flaming red ears. “You should take better care of your spouse’s skin, Wangji,” she tut-tuts. “Perhaps abstain from some of your urges, hmmm?”

Lan Yuqi hides her head in her arms, her own ears just as red as Lan Wangji’s, and releases a long whine to express her complicated feelings.

“…Oh!” Wei Wuxian notices the red Lans around him, and bursts out laughing, albeit quietly, trying to not wake up Xiaoyi. “I cannot believe you Lans! So shameless!” he teases gleefully.

“What’s shameless?” asks Lan Xin loudly. Clearly, he has not enjoyed being left out of the grown ups’ conversation.

His innocent question brings much entertainment to the adults, who have to stifle their amusement to consider his question carefully.

“Well,” starts Lan Yuqi slowly, still mulling over the question, “it is when someone does something wrong and knows it, but does not feel guilty.”

The kids stay quiet, each pondering the answer and trying to understand it within the framework of the world they know.

Finally, Lan Hao demands to know, “So it’s like when you lied to us earlier?”

The kids’ eyes grow big, watching the adults like hawks, impatient for the answer. Lan Wangji, who was not present during the whole confrontation earlier and has no reference for the incident but who is weak to children, raises his brows high and levels Wei Wuxian and the Lan caretakers with an unimpressed look.

“Lan Zhan, that’s not true,”Wei Wuxian protests, wronged by this injustice. “We did not lie, they just decided so on their own! Didn’t Lan-a-yi tell you not to make assumptions without proof?” At the last bit he turns to the kids, towering over them with his hands over his hips. He does not strike an intimidating figure in the slightest, what with a sleeping baby strapped to his chest and clinging to a strand of his hair.

“Is that so,” states Lan Wangji placidly, but the raised eyebrows are directed towards the kids this time.

The toddlers share a look. All of them love their Hanguang-jun, but this is a serious matter that needs a carefully chosen representative. He can be their ally, or their enemy, and it all hinges on this moment.

Not a word is exchanged but they must have communicated telepathically, for Jiayu steps forward with her head held high, although her stiff expression belies her nervousness.

“The teachers said we all were tiny like Xiao-Lan,” she explains, then stops, not sure what to say next.

“Yes?” prompts her Lan Wangji, listening carefully.

“Well, we know it is not true!” she sniffs. “It is impossible. We were definitely bigger even when smaller.”

That last part takes Lan Wangji a moment to parse through, but he does manage to understand what she meant. “I see where the point of contention is,” he agrees seriously.

Jiayu brightens as Lan Yuqi moans her disappointment at the imminent loss of face.

“But they say we have no proof! So we can’t say they are liars!” complains Lan Xin.

“Right, we need proof,” agrees Jiayu with sparkling eyes. “Shushu, you knew us when we were small, yes? You saw us bigger than Xiao-Lan, yes?”

A tense silence falls over the creche once more, everyone watching Lan Wangji like he was their executioner and waiting for his answer.

“Xiaoyi is the tiniest child I have seen,” declares Lan Wangji with a stoic face and settles down to watch the pandemonium.

“I knew it! I knew it!” Lan Hao shouts at the top of his lungs as if trying to convince the heavens of his right.

The other toddlers scream along, some running circles around to release their frustrations. Lan Tao has sat down, hands pressed to his cheeks, repeating “Oh no, oh no, I can’t believe it” in the most indignant tone his four year old body can manage.

Preposterous! The A-yi have lied!!!

Wei Wuxian also sits down, laughing so hard he has been in danger of falling. Lan Yuqi looks out the window with a soulless look in her eyes, but she cannot suppress the slightest curl of her mouth. Even having lost face in front of her young charges, the situation is kind of funny.

Lan Junting takes the opportunity to provide a dressing down to Lan Wangji, who busies himself with Xiaoyi and pretends he does not hear her. He has relieved Wei Wuxian of the precious burden, letting his husband stretch his limbs and spine. Lan Wangji’s inattention to his elder is understandable, as the Little Lady wakes up displeased at the commotion and announces her wakeful state with the mightiest cry she could produce. She requires soothing and cuddling, and affection, and kisses, all of which her father is happy to provide.

Should he grow tired, there is a quickly growing line of toddlers ready to replace him. The tiny baby becomes the sole focus of their attention, successfully quieting everyone down. In her other father’s arms, pillowed on many layers of voluminous Lan robes, Xiaoyi calms down and happily gnaws on Lan Wangji’s fingers.

“She’s so cute…!” whispers Lan Tao.

Everyone nods in agreement.

“The cutest in the whole clan!” declares Jiayu.

“My little brother is kind of cute, too,” mutters Lan Xin under his breath.

The other toddlers hear him anyway, and a discussion on whether Lan Xin’s little brother has any claim on the title of the cutest baby of the clan over Xiao-Lan commences.

“Just look at her!” Lan Hao points at Xiaoyi, but when they look over, she is nowhere to be seen.

They gasp as one. Xiao-Lan has been kidnapped…!!!

“She has not been kidnapped,” Lan Wangji quells their terror as Wei Wuxian cackles at his husband’s trickery. “She is still in this room. See if you can find her?”

What follows is a game of hide-n-seek that the toddlers would inevitably lose, at least in Wei Wuxian’s understanding. His husband is just too crafty for those kids! They give it their best, of course, looking into various cupboards, and under the mats the adults were sitting on. Behind the furniture, and even out the window. They demand the adults stand up and spread their hands out all at the same time, suspicious that they were somehow passing the baby along between themselves.

And yet, there is no trace of Xiao-Lan to be found…!!!

Taking pity on his favorite kids, Wei Wuxian moves to sit closer to his husband. The next time one of the toddlers bounds closer to snoop around them, Wei Wuxian delicately trips the kid up.

Jiayu ends up face first in Lan Wangji’s lap, but what would usually make her ready to cry out in frustration this time makes her simply gasp in delight.

“HERE!!!” she screams with unholy glee, rousing a Xiaoyi that has been dozing, safely hidden in her father’s wide sleeve.

The Little Lady bawls as Lan Wangji kisses each of her tears, then her eyelids, then her forehead. He showers her with kisses until she quiets again, but it takes a while.

The kids are ecstatic at having found their missing charge and winning against Hanguang-jun! Wei Wuxian hates to rain on their parade but their rambunctiousness keeps making Xiaoyi antsy and causes her to burst into tears time and again, so he brings their attention to himself.

“Aiyah, here you all are, with attention spans as short as rabbits with treats!” he tsks at them in fake disappointment. “Will you really let the criminals go free?”

The children are stumped for a moment, having completely forgotten their previous outrage over lying, but soon enough they are back to silently discussing how to punish their caretakers. Lan Yuqi looks at Wei Wuxian with reproach and betrayal in her eyes, but he only shrugs at her. Keeping his baby peaceful is more important, and anyway, he is sure nothing the kids come up with could be that bad.

He is not wrong, but he is also not right, and future Wei Wuxian will know better than to underestimate children.

“We have decided,” announces Jiayu importantly after a while.

“Well, what is it?” asks Lan Junting in resignation.

The children all look at each other, then at their caretakers as one. With all the righteousness that small Lan children can muster, they say in unison;

“Time out!”

And thus, Lan Yuqi and Lan Junting spend the next shi in tranquil time out, sitting at the table in the corner of the room, relaxing and chatting quietly. Wei Wuxian — whom the kids have decided to absolve of his crime of lying on the basis of being married to Hanguang-jun, who has helped them bring the criminals to justice — has his hands full, taking care of the toddlers while the Lan caretakers do their time out. Thankfully his husband is right there with him, sharing the burden.

It is good exercise for the future, when the Jingshi is full with more than just one tiny child.

----

Names:

Xiaoyi - harmonious dawn/harmonious way to let something be known

Yuqi - universe, fine jade

Junting - smart/talented, graceful

Xin - dawn

Hao - grand, heroic

Tao - big wave

Jiayu - beautiful universe

#mdzs #my fanart #wei wuxian #and wangxian's oc baby xiaoyi #post canon #my fanfic #fluff #wwx equally loves and is loved by children #and you cannot convince me otherwise #wangxian #lan wangji

28 notes · View notes