MDZS, But if Lan Qiren Were Chill

Chapter 7: Lan Qiren Tries to Plan a Wedding and Has an Unexpected Encounter

After Wangji finally managed to tear his brother away from Mingjue so the young sect leader could return back to work in Qinghe, Lan Qiren settled down in his office with Xichen to organize a wedding ceremony.

They wrote invitations for the appropriate people, figured what kind of dishes to serve at the ceremony, where to get the clothing made. Lan Qiren was going to have to correspond with Nie Mingjue about when to have a wedding that year, or if the two wanted to hold it off for the moment.

The next couple of weeks passed, filled with work and responsibilities. In all the free time Lan Qiren managed to open up to plan for the wedding, he got pulled away to work on something else.

Both Lans got distracted as the days went on, with classes and disciples coming and going with their problems, from Jiang Wanyin reporting of several students caught bullying someone in Caiyi to Jin Zixuan coming to be punished for punching a disciple for speaking ill of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's relationship (both of whom Lan Qiren secretly praised and rewarded).

In the back of his mind, Lan Qiren found himself wondering about Wen Ruohan. Not that he cared about the man, of course not, that would be ridiculous. But the Wen sect had been eerily quiet after their sect leader's sudden disappearance. Mingjue had been worried, but perfectly capable in guarding his borders.

Before the head of Gusu Lan could even think about the wedding again, night had already fallen. He sighed, placing his work aside for the morning, and prepared himself for bed. However, before he would finally sleep, someone knocked at his door. He sighed, then turned to answer.

"Yes?" he slid open the door to see Wei Wuxian looking up at him with big worried eyes. "Wei Wuxian? What is it?"

"I've come to apologize, Uncle Lan," the boy bowed immediately, moving to kneel in a kowtow, but Lan Qiren stopped him.

"Hold on, what has happened, Wei Wuxian?" he asked, completely confounded as to why the young man was acting this way.

"I sent a letter to Uncle Jiang about getting married to Lan Zhan," he said, brow furrowed, his fingers wrenching in his robes, "because I wanted to ask his permission and blessing, of course; but, I got a response from Madame Yu, and she says she'll be coming tomorrow morning to talk me out of it."

"...Why?" the headmaster of Gusu's eyes narrowed, trying to keep his temper so he wouldn't scare the already-anxious boy.

"She... she says I'll only bring trouble to Gusu if I marry into the Lan family," he said in a small voice, looking down, eyes glassy.

"Oh, Wei Wuxian," Lan Qiren sighed quietly, then pulled him into a tight hug, and he could feel the boy's surprised gasp. "Have we ever made you feel that way? That you bring us trouble?" he asked softly.

"N-No, of course not," he shook his head against Lan Qiren's chest.

"Then let your heart be at ease, Wei Wuxian," Lan Qiren soothed. "I've never seen Wangji so happy in his entire life. We are honored to have you in our family," he drew back, using his sleeve to wipe away the tears that had fallen from Wei Wuxian's big eyes. "Aren't we, Wangji?"

Wei Wuxian spun around to see the Second Jade of Lan gazing at him evenly, though the gold of his eyes were darker in emotion.

"Lan Zhan, what're you doing here?" Wei Wuxian rubbed at his eyes.

"Wei Ying was gone. Went looking," he answered softly, walking forward, touching his fingers to Wei Wuxian's face. "Who hurt you?" he asked, and Lan Qiren felt the air drop to freezing temperatures.

"Eh? No one, no one, Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian smiled.

"No lying in Cloud Recesses," Lan Wangji said, kind but firm. Really , Lan Qiren hid a bittersweet smile, he's just like his father .