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saiaisaiko · 16 hours

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So, I had this idea and obsession about ghost brides and marrying ghosts to let them rest in peace and I had to write something on it. It spiraled out of control, but here is the prolog.

Merrying a memory

It had taken three years. Three years of sorrow, yearning and grief. Three years of healing and pouring his pain and longing into his instrument. But he was now allowed to leave seclusion. Lan Wangji tilted his head softly in the direction of his son, who was greeting him with a bow.

„Hanguang-Jun“, Lan Yuan said awkwardly. „Laoshi and Zewu-jun requested your presence in the Orchid Hall.“

„Mn“, the young adult acknowledged dismissing his son with a soft nod. He was a little weary to be up since sunrise after half a night spent playing Inquiry. It did not matter, his elder and his sect leader had requested his presence and it was his duty to follow their orders, as soft and polite as they may have been.

He had changed clothes again. He still felt uncomfortable in the light blue shades his sect usually wore aside from a mourning period. But he still was mourning. He probably would never stop mourning his beloved. Not even his body had been found and no burial had been held. The soul never reacted to the summonings of the different sects and it also never reacted to Lan Wangji playing Inquiry with all his heart and love.

„You have sent for me“, he greeted with a bow, ignoring the displeased set of his uncle's mouth and the worried once over from his brother.

„Wangji“, his brother started, indicating a place to sit down and the cup of tea, already filled with a mild brew. He followed the direction and settled down, waiting for the reason he had been summoned. „An emergency conference will be held shortly. I would like your counsel and your insight into the matter at hand. Do you feel able to accompany me to the conference?“

„Mn“, he agreed. Waiting for more information, he was disappointed in the lack thereof. Instead, he listened to his uncle and brother making arrangements for the departure of the three most prominent members of their sect. Whatever the emergency, it must be a threat as great or even greater than Wen Ruohan was, if even his uncle, happily retired from the responsibility of a sect leader, was willing to go to one of his strongly disliked conferences.

„Alright, that should be all. I will see you tomorrow at the gate Xichen. Wangji, please stay a while longer“, their uncle declared. He gave his brother a minimal nod, indicating that he was going to be alright before he was left alone with their uncle.

„What can this one do for you, Shufu?“ Lan Wangji felt his throat close and burn, unused to speaking at all after years of silence. He never was good at it anyway.

„I am worried about you, Wangji. You are still mourning after all this time“, his uncle answered. Lan Wangji kept his silence, he had nothing to say to this. His uncle sighed after a short while of silence. „The conference is because Wei Wuxians ghost attacked a couple of cultivators. No cultivation method to drag him out and bind him has succeeded as of now and it is all over the place.“

„His soul is still there?“, Lan Wangji asked, feeling feint. If the soul was still there, why could he not summon it?

„We are not sure what it is, but the usual way to deal with such restless and violent spirits did not work“, Lan Qiren rebuffed the hope of his nephew slightly. He was visibly displeased with the whole situation. „We were hoping that taking all accounts of sightings of it in one place, we could find a common factor. Maybe that could lead us to what and where exactly that ghost is.“

„I am unsure about my ability to help in this situation“, the younger confessed, letting his head fall forward, his hair following and gathering in his lap, draped in white.

„He never answered even slightly?“, the teacher asked, huffing his breath through his nose when the mourning man blinked in surprise, looking up. „I could hear you playing through the nights whenever I came to check on you. In this, you are even worse than your father ever was.“

Lan Wangji lowered his eyes again, hiding the sudden narrowing of them. He hated to be compared to his father. It was bad enough that he reminded himself of his father, cold and distant as he had been all the time. He desperately wished for the easy smile and warmth his brother had gotten from their mother, but instead, he had the same way to hold himself as their father had. Now he even wore the same mourning colors and probably would for the rest of his life. A Lan only ever loved once after all.

„Wangji.“ His uncle's voice was soft, reminding him of scoldings while being held after he fell because he ran. It reminded him of the way he had spoken to him when he had been eight and the door to the Jingshi didn’t open, even after days of kneeling in the cold white snow, softly explaining to him that she, his mother, was gone and would not be able to open the door. It closed his throat even more, but it also was comforting. „I understand. If you changed your mind… It would be alright and Xichen and I would accept it.“

„I will come with you. Maybe we are able to help him“

„I am sure he is beyond help at this point“, his uncle groused. „If you need anything, I will be there.“

„This one is grateful, Shufu. This one has an unusual request“, he said, bowing and taking the chance he had been offered. He needed to take this chance. For his son, if not for his own peace of mind. His uncle nodded, listening. „This one would like to adopt the orphan Lan Jingyi to be the brother of A-Yuan.“

„It is unusual“, his uncle conceded. „I will think about it during the conference. After that, I will decide. Do you feel ready to be a father to two growing minds?“

„I do not think anyone is ever ready to care for children in such a way“, Lan Wangji offered carefully. „I still think I could learn from both of them and they could learn from me. More than if I would become their teacher. It could be good for them and for me.“

„You are ready to become a parent“, his uncle replied, a warmth filling Lan Wangji. He recognized the tone of voice. His uncle always had it when he was proud of him or Xichen. Humbled to still be able to make his uncle proud, he lowered his head.

„Thank you, Shufu“, he said, breathing deeply to calm his welling emotions. „I will take my leave to prepare for the conference.“

The journey to the Koi Tower, where Jin Guashan has invited the sects for the Emergency Conference, has been uneventful. at least if you ignored the series of unfortunate experiences Clan Leader Su had to endure after his delegation joined the Lan’s on the journey. Lan Wangji was not sure, but he did notice a pattern of the unfortunate moments. Not harmful, more of an inconvenience and humiliating nature, but it would sting a brittle pride-filled man with the consistency of the incidents.

„I hope we can get a whisp of him. This vermin needs to get snuffed out. No one should suffer the humiliation he puts his victims through. Don’t you think so?“, Su Minshan asked Lan Wangji after the third time he stumbled over his own robes.

„I do not see anything amiss. Clan Leader Su should consider shorter robes, if he constantly trips over his own hems“, the Lan answered monotone. He caught the shocked gazes of his brother and uncle, saw the suppressed laughter shaking his brother's shoulders faintly and even his uncle had to suppress a smile. He was sure he would be scolded for his words once they were alone, but the traitor to their sect was aggravating his nerves and overstaying his welcome.

The Lan had to take a few steps sideways, again. The Su Clan Leader had breached his preferred distance again. Contemplating the gains and repercussions of a Qi outburst and then claiming he felt still a little unstable after his long seclusion and his Qi was a little volatile, he blinked. He did not have to use such an excuse and lie. Su Minshan had tripped over his robes again, the material ripping and tangling around his leg enough to bring him down fully, a sickening crunching sound echoing through the silent forest-surrounded path. The leg was broken from the fall.

„Lan Wangji! You can’t claim this to be the result of mere clumsiness and unfortunate chosen clothes!“, another disciple, who had left the Lan Sect and went with Su Minshan to found the Moling Su Clan, exclaimed.

„It may be unusual“, he conceded. „Clan Leader Su should not overwork the leg, it could impede the healing.“

„The nerve of this arrogant…“, the disciple hissed under his breath, cut off by his own yelping as a raven flying overhead left his droppings on his head. Lan Wangji had to bite the inside of his lip to rein in any reaction, amused by the antics of this ghost. He had found a pattern and he was sure it would be the same with the other incidences. This ghost was not malicious, it was protective. It should be liberated if possible, not destroyed. When were the foundations for dealing with ghosts been lost?

He contemplated this for the rest of the journey, blessedly without any more unfortunate incidences and with peace. It lasted until they came to the Koy Tower, where a great number of the cultivators were bedraggled and weary, jumping with the clumsy noises their comrades made in their exhaustion.

„If you would follow me“, the wife of the sect leader, remarkably unfaced with the chaos and well-rested, asked them, tutting at the five-year-old at her side. Lan Wangji recognized the pudgy face of the young kid. it had been a long time since he saw it last time, but the eyes, staring at him with such curiosity, had an uncanny resemblance to Wei Ying, despite there being no blood relations. Wei Ying would be happy to see his nephew well and cared for.

He settled down in his room, taking a deep breath. The journey had been a lot to handle, especially with the constant breach of his comfort zone. And the tumult around him as soon as he entered Koi Tower had been even more of a challange. He never liked the attention and the crowded places, preferring the serene solitude of the Library or his Jingshi, but three years with almost no human contact had made it more challenging to go through with it now.

He was interrupted by a soft knock and opened the door with a soundless sigh. He was surprised by the shy servant bowing with a tablet in her hands, silently offering it to him. Furrowing his brows slightly he accepted, thanking her. She nodded and scurried away, leaving him alone in his confusion. It only cleared after seeing a note in baldy and rushed calligraphy.

The ghost haunting this place demanded a mild offering of dishes be brought to you, Hanguan-Jun. We hope to not overstep our boundaries, but we can’t have it throw the spices uncontrolled into the food. Not after last time.

A soft warmth spread through Lan Wangji, pulling his lips into the faintest smile. it felt new and awkward, but he did not fight it. It was not smiling foolishly as the elders would say, at least he hoped he did not look foolish. And even if he would, he had learned to accept his emotions and work with them during his seclusion. Doing anything else would have caused more disruption in his cultivation than his punishment with the discipline whip already caused. And he could have qi-deviated as a result. Chances of surviving that in addition to his whipping were practically non-existent. He could not risk it with A-Yuan so young and already having lost his family two times.

The meal was perfect and it prevented him from having to go into the dining hall, giving him the time he needed to fully calm down and prepare for the coming day and the discussion of what to do with the ghost causing problems. Thankful for the meal and care given to him, he returned the dishes to the servants and complimented the lightness of the meals on his stomach. They promised to let the cook know and vanished, leaving him to his nightly routines. He itched to play his guqin, but he was not home and it would be rude to keep everyone awake with his playing.

„We need to trap the pest and eliminate it!“, Clan Leader Yao exclaimed heatedly. His hair was in disarray as every ornament for it had been lost during the night. And no one had a spare one to give.

„I agree, he has done enough damage to all of us!“, an elder of the Jin Sect voiced.

„First liberate; second, suppress; third eliminate“ Lan Wangji started to recite. „The initial approach is to utilize the gratitude of relatives and grant the dying wish, set free what he could not let go of. If it fails, suppress it. If the crimes were extremely wrongful, and its energy of resentment does not dissipate, exterminate it completely. The cultivation world should precisely keep to this order of measures. No errors should be allowed.“

„His crimes were extremely wrongful!“, Su Minshan hissed, his eyes narrowing.

„Wei Wuxian's crimes as a ghost“, Jiang Wanyin, silently scowling, his mood ever worsening until now, spoke up. „Wei Wuxian’s crimes as a ghost are to make the lives, of those he did not like, inconvenient at worst. The most he had done was causing Clan Leader Su to fall down hard enough to break his leg. An inconvenience for a cultivator of his claimed caliber.“

„He has no family left to give him gratitude“, Nie Mingjue pointed out. His brother beside him furrowed his brows waving his fans in thought.

„Lan Laoshi may correct me, but I gathered during my time studying under him that granting the dying wish and utilizing the gratitude of the relatives were usually done together to exhilarate the success of liberation. Liberation should therefore also work with granting the dying wish“, the heir of the Nie Sect spoke. „I could be wrong though, I don’t know. Really, why are you looking at me like that? I jut had silly thoughts, you should ignore me.“

„Huaisang!“, Lan Qiren interrupted the quiet and nervous babbling. „You are right. Granting the dying wish alone could work. Or we could give him family. It is unusual and normally not done, but marrying his soul after death to someone else to give him a family again can work and has worked in the past.“

„Good Luck!“, Jiang Wanyin barked, a smile, not unlike fletched teath, stretched over his face.

„Sect Leader Jiang“, Jin Guanshan asked mildly, having wached the discussion thoughtfully from his seat. „What do you mean?“

„With all due respect, his dying wish probably was for the safety of his loved ones and buried under that to find the kind of love his parents had. He wouldn’t have married for political reasons or property. He would only marry for love“, the Jiang Sect Leader replied, snorting when somebody pointed out the ghost maidens Wei Wuxian had and that they could marry him to them.

„That won’t work. For all the grand tales he spun, I know he never did any of the things and even less what rumor tells“, the brother of their current ghost problem declared. „He was a romantic fool and as far as I know, he never kissed anyone. You can’t just marry him off to somebody. It needs love at least from one side to have a modicum of success.“

„I will do it!“, Lan Wangji exclaimed, sure of himself. His voice carried, silencing the whispers.

„Lan Wangji, with respect, but I don’t think that would work. It’s not a secret that you loathed Wei Wuxian.“

„I never loathed him“, the Lan replied to the Jiang, meeting his eyes unwavering. „I love him. I would have asked for his hand eventually, if he would have been alright with it.“

„We can’t let a respected cultivator like the Second Jade of Lan throw his life and future prospects away to marry him off to a man. I’m sure there are other viable options“, a clan leader Lan Wangji did not recognize chimed up.

„This matter has now become a personal matter between the Jiang Sect and the Lan Sect“, Jiang Wanyin hissed, his spiritual weapon zizzling with agitated charges. „I would like to speak to the Lan sect about this matter alone, if possible.“

„Of course“, Jin Guanshan said minable, giving his heir Jin Guangyao a look. The younger Jin nodded, smiling pleasantly at them and motioned to them to follow.

„If you would follow me“, he requested, reassuring them they would be able to use the smaller room, an unused study, to their heart's content. „I will call for tea to be brought to you.“

„Lianfang-zun, this servant already prepared refreshments for the Lan and Jiang delegation“, a servant chimed in, holding a tablet with steaming fragrant tea.

„I will leave you to it. Please don’t hesitate to call for anything“, Jin Guangyao said, bowing a last time and leaving with the servant.

„Peculiar. I do not remember having this calming tea here before “, Lan Qiren observed. „It’s medicine.“

„There’s a lot more teapots and a jug of wine“, Jiang Wanyin pointed out, sorting out that they all had their favorite teas and the wine was for him. „This is overkill, even for the Jin’s.“

„Wei Ying“, Lan Wangji said, making everyone look at them. The Jiang nodded in understanding, sighing at the realization.

„Right“, he said, pulling them all on track of the reason they were now negotiating together, „Lan Wangji, you love my brother?“

„I do.“

„Right, this is news to me, but it explains some things“, the sect leader mumbled, carding his hand over his face. „Alright. Sect Leader Lan, are you agreeing to the marriage negotiations between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian?“

„I am“, Lan Xichen replied, giving his brother a love-filled and supporting smile. Their Shufu also didn’t protest, sighing in resignment. Then the negotiations started in earnest, a rush of words with little context to it for Lan Wangji. He was overwhelmed by the prospect to actually marry Wei Ying, though it would only be in name.

„We need something to bind his soul to. Something of importance to him“, his uncle said, shooting Lan Wangji an unimpressed look when he looked up with narrowed eyes.

„Why bind his soul to an object?“, Jiang Wanyin asked carefully.

„So it is protected and can’t be messed with anymore. It would also prevent it from traversing too far from the object used“, Lan Xichen explained with an apologetic smile.

„Wei Wuxian is as free as the wind, something every Jiang carves to be. You can’t lock his soul away and hope it will endure until it vanishes. That would drive him insane and make him vicious!“, the Jiang hissed, Zidian sparking violently.

„It is also to protect his soul. Lan Wangji would be in possession of the chosen object at all times“, Lan Qiren intercepted, calming Jiang Wanyin and his nephew down at once.

„His red hairband. He loved it, as it was a heirloom and the last piece of his mother. It apparently was the only wedding red his mother ever possessed and given to him for safekeeping. It should be the object with the strongest connection to Wei Wuxian existing. If we can find it.“

„My son currently has it“, Lan Wangji replied. He met the sharp eyes of the Jinag Sect Leader, interrupting his agitation upon this revelation. „I adopted A-Yuan, the child Wei Ying was caring for as a mother would.“

„Alright. That settles it then. The contract is made, arrangements with the matchmaker for an auspicious date are made too, now the only thing necessary is for Lan Wangji to visit Lotus Pier and learn our culture to better understand his soon-to-be spouse.“

„Thank you“, Lan Wangji breathed, overwhelmed with the knowledge that he would marry his Wei Ying. It was only a matter of finding the right date to do that.

#writing #fanfic #mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji

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