MDZS, But if Lan Qiren Were Chill

Chapter 9: Lan Qiren Takes the Kids to Archery Camp and Adopts Another Young Man

The time leading up to the archery competition danced by all too quickly, and Lan Qiren found that he wished he hadn't been so busy. Apparently Mingjue was also extremely occupied with his sect leader duties, because he hadn't been able to write much about the upcoming wedding.

Lan Qiren would've been a little more upset at the Nie leader for not giving Xichen more attention, but with the endless stream of letters that came from Qinghe every other day, he didn't mind too much.

Another thing that bothered Lan Qiren was that Wen Ruohan hadn't contacted him once at all in the last month. Not that he was worried, of course, he just found that he was concerned about the state of the Wen sect, that's all. Wen Zhuliu had mentioned "problems from home," and that could have meant anything.

He hated how distracted he was because of it all. He caught himself almost losing track of his thoughts during lectures and dripping ink on essays the disciples had submitted. He had even gotten so distracted that he had leaned a little too far forward in the kitchen as he helped the cooks prepare meals and got his beard into a container of sticky rice.

The cooks fretted around him and he apologized profusely for contaminating a whole dish. He returned to his quarters, looking in his mirror, realizing that cutting his beard to the length where it wasn't sticky anymore would've been the strangest length to have it. He sighed, then proceeded to shave the entirety of his facial hair off.

He washed his face, feeling odd about the smoothness of his chin and his lips. He looked in the mirror and sighed again. Without his facial hair, he really looked far too young. He looked closer to being Xichen and Wangji's elder brother as opposed to their uncle.

Lan Qiren sighed for the third time, then left his quarters, bracing himself for interactions.

By dinner time, he counted at least thirty disciples asking who he was, flushing pink when they saw him walk by, or outright staring in complete confusion. He felt a faint headache thrumming in the back of his skull at all the sudden attention.

"Uncle," Wangji's soft voice spoke up behind him, and a tickle of nervousness darted through his chest.

"Wangji," he turned, and his nephew gazed at him as if nothing had changed.

"Is Uncle well? Uncle seems tired," he inquired in concern, not even acknowledging his uncle's changed face.

"I... I'm well, Wangji, though I am a bit weary," Lan Qiren smiled fondly at his nephew, knowing that regardless of how he looked, Wangji would've never treated him differently.

"Uncle should sleep. Wangji will take care of the sect," his nephew bowed his head.

"Thank you, Wangji," Lan Qiren reached out and squeezed Wangji's shoulder as he walked past.

"Lan Zhaaaaannnn!"

Wei Wuxian burst out of nowhere, throwing himself at Wangji who caught him easily, as if he expected it. The smaller boy cooed in delight, then turned his big gray eyes to Lan Qiren, squinting at him for a long moment.

"Uncle Lan?" his eyes sparkled like stars. "Wow! You look so young, like Xichen-ge and Lan Zhan's big brother!" he chirped, letting go of his fiancé to stare at the head of Lan. "Your uncle's so handsome, Lan Zhan! If you look anything like Uncle Lan does twenty years from now, I'll be the luckiest man alive!" Wei Wuxian declared brightly, not really even giving Lan Qiren an opportunity to say anything, before he leapt back into Wangji's arms.

"Okay, can we go to Caiyi now, Lan Zhan? I'm out of a bunch of things," he pouted.

"Must stay and watch over Gusu, Wei Ying go," Wangji answered softly, still holding Wei Wuxian against him.