Way too untamed, way too wild

Overwhelmed

Wei Ying seemed to not have been surprised by the girl's reaction. He jumped up with the bottle of milk and the two remaining portions of food in his hands and he went to them, explaining already from a distance: "Wen Qing, it is fine. Lan Zhan will not do us any harm. It was him who was bringing all the food these past few days. And look, he even got A-Yuan a whole bottle of milk! Now we are set for two or three days."

The girl, Wen Qing, according to how Wei Ying had addressed her, scowled at Lan Wangji even more now but she did not say anything about him. She looked back at Wei Ying and said, very reserved: "If you are sure. I do not trust any cultivators." So she must have recognized his robes and his sword, Lan Wangji decided he would deal with this knowledge later and continued to observe Wei Ying's actions.

Wen Qing took the bottle of milk and half of the food from Wei Ying's hands and headed back into the cave. The boy who had been nervously standing next to her this whole time glanced first at Wei Ying, then at Lan Wangji and in the end, he followed Wen Qing inside.

They both disappeared in the cave entrance and Lan Wangji could not help himself but to feel completely lost. It was just too much to take in at the moment, he needed a few moments to process everything. Wei Ying went back to the cloth on the ground and he packed the last of the food inside, muttering something under his breath.

Lan Wangji was not given such luxury however, Wei Ying looked at him with something resembling concern in his eyes: "Lan Zhan, do not worry. Wen Qing just has a sharp tongue; she did not mean it. She is also grateful for all you did for us, especially the milk, it is always hard to get any at all and A-Yuan still cannot eat anything else."

Wei Ying shook his head slightly, as if he was trying to get rid of any negative thoughts. Then a smile was back on his face and he grabbed Lan Wangji's hand and started to drag him towards the children who were now playing tag nearby. "Come, Lan Zhan, you should meet everyone."

The children stopped running around when Lan Wangji and Wei Ying approached and they were now instead staring at them, or more precisely at the Second Jade. It was clear that they were curious about him but at the same time, they also looked nervous and scared, they probably did not get to see many strangers, just as Wei Ying had said. It was unthinkable to him that the boy would take them to the outskirts of the Burial Mounds where the living conditions were even worse than here just so they could venture out to the town.

He doubted that they would be too welcomed there, they would not fit in there and the town's people would probably chase them away. All of them looked like beggars with their clothes ragged and their faces and hands all dirty. Now that Lan Wangji was thinking about it, he did not see any beggars in the streets of Yiling, not unlike any other town, a lot of them were swarmed by homeless people, even children and whole families did not escape such fate after the war. The rebuilding which was being done was slow and the sects mainly focused on their own lands, abandoning the farther regions to their own demises. Could it be that Yiling had no begging and stealing children because they were all here in the Burial Mounds?

Lan Wangji did not have any time to continue with his contemplation. Wei Ying now let go of his hand and positioned himself between him and the children in a way that he could watch all of them at the same time. He turned more towards the children and gestured to Lan Wangji, showing him off as if he was a trophy or something: "This is Lan Zhan."

And again with his birth name. No one aside for his long dead mother had ever called Lan Wangji by his birth name, not even his uncle or his brother. He was not used to it at all and it felt very intimate and completely out of place to be called like this by Wei Ying. Although he thought he probably would have minded it way more if it was anyone else. He was not sure that the boy actually had a courtesy name of his own so it was understandable if he did not know any better.

Wei Ying had most probably never been educated in etiquette or proper conduct. Lan Wangji opened his mouth to correct him and ask him to use his courtesy name next time, but Wei Ying was, as all those times before way ahead of him and did not let him speak at all.

He was now facing Lan Wangji again and was instead gesturing towards the children in a way a proud parent would when they were showing their young ones to the world. The sight looked positively endearing and Lan Wangji felt his expression melting a bit. It was a good thing too, some of the smaller children still looked quite afraid of him. People always told him that his face looked too cold and expressionless, they must have been true; and he knew children were very perceptive about such things.

Wei Ying was now going from one child to the next and introducing them: "This is Mo Xuanyu, Jingyi, Zizhen, MianMian, Jin Ling..."

The list of name went on and on, some children had a family name, some did not. Lan Wangji could only guess that when Wei Ying had taken them in – because he was now sure that that was just what the boy had done – if the child did not remember their name, he or she had probably been given one by the boy himself, completely omitting the second part of the name. It really was a strange mix but the children did not seem to mind.

The Second Jade was nodding in greeting at every child which had been introduced to him but he had already forgotten most of the names, there were just too many to take in. And Wei Ying did not make his job any easier when he was dancing from one child to the other in a quick succession, not giving him even a second to think.

"And you have already met Wen Qing, Wen Ning and A-Yuan." Finally, Wei Ying stopped to take a breath and went back to stand again in front of him. Lan Wangji realized the boy had now finished the introduction and was probably waiting for his reaction.

Or not, he concluded the next second when the boy pointed towards his own chest and said with an even wider grin on his face: "And I..."

Lan Wangji surprised himself greatly when despite all he had been taught, he interrupted the other, speaking almost unconsciously: "You are Wei Ying."

He felt the corner of his lips tug upwards and did not fight the smile which appeared on them a moment later. Wei Ying seemed overjoyed and he grinned right back at him with happy sparkles in his eyes.