Letting go of self-restraint 5 - Great happiness in a small package

Chapter 38

Nie Huisang was standing in front of an inn in Yiling and holding A-Yuan safely in his arms. It was a little challenging because Wei Wuxian was prodding at all sides of the toddler, checking that everything was in place. Not only the talismans Nie Huisang had designed, but also several others of Wei Wuxian's own doing. Most of them were to protect the child and keep him away from harm's ways while his parents would be night hunting.

Despite reassuring several times, Wei Wuxian seemed pretty nervous, at least to Nie Huisang's eyes. This was not the first check that the other Omega was conducting, not even the second one, in fact they had been standing here like this for a good half an hour already. The Qinghe Nie sect heir had to give his admiration to the child to be so patient and letting himself be inspected again and again when even the adult holding him was slowly but surely losing his patience.

"But is does not matter in the end," thought Nie Huisang a little sadly, "if Brother Wei needs the reassurance, I am more than prepared to give it to him. I have already shown him how I have secured A-Yuan's room. It is connected to mine and Xichen's in case we need to quickly get to A-Yuan's side. I have also put up protecting arrays against resentful energy and all ill intent, coming both from unnatural beings and humans. A-Yuan will be guarded as no baby had ever been. His room is now safer than even Jin Ling's, and that is something to say seeing that he is the treasured heir of the Lanling Jin sect.

Now it is only the question if Brother Wei would actually be able to leave his precious baby in my and Xichen's care and go have some fun with Lan Wangji. They both need to let up a little, and that is exactly what we are here for. We will keep A-Yuan safe while they do what cultivators are meant to do, honing their skills while protecting common people. We cannot have walking corpses scaring away merchants from the town."

Wei Wuxian suddenly stopped dancing around Nie Huisang and turned to his husband, whining somewhat theatrically. But his tone strongly suggested that he was truly nervous: "Lan Zhan! How could that be! I am just making sure that everything is in place and works properly. You can never be too sure. Even with two of Brother Nie's talismans and all the protection charms, anything can happen. Especially to a baby this small and sweet.

What if A-Yuan will get hurt? Or if there is suddenly an emergency and something sinister appears right in the middle of the town? What if he gets lost somehow? Or what if someone thinks A-Yuan is too cute and precious and decides to kidnap him? You can never be too prepared."

"While that is true, we have already done everything in our might to do just that," Nie Huisang was amused now more than anything. He had after all set up the protection arrays and talismans and checked their functioning himself. Everything was in tip top shape and working.

"I know that Brother Wei had been left all alone in Yiling when he had been very young, so he must be the first one who knows how terrible it could be for a small child to fend for itself. But Xichen and I are here, we will never let something like that happen. Even in the odd change that Brother Wei and Lan Wangji would meet the same fate as Brother Wei's parents once had."

Wei Wuxian's eyes went a little hazy as he turned back to A-Yuan and hugged him tightly. His hands were trembling and his voice was as well: "Or what if Madame Yu..."

Nie Huisang winced as sadness overtook a large part of his heart: "So Brother Wei is still worried that his adoptive mother and former tormentor would be able to escape her prison sentence and come take A-Yuan from him. That is just too sad really... I had thought that he was already not thinking about her and not fearing her anymore, guess I have been mistaken..."

Nie Huisang did not get the chance to intervene and cut the other Omega off before he could work himself up into a full-blown panic attack, Lan Wangji was already on the job.

"Wei Ying," he said the name as a reminder and looked at his husband intently. There seemed to have been a whole silent conversation happening between the two of them.

After a whole minute Wei Wuxian finally seemed to have relented and he stepped away from Nie Huisang after giving A-Yuan a kiss on the forehead: "My Little Radish, be good now. Will you stay here and wait for us to come back? Huisang- Gege and Xichen-Gege will play with you until they tell you to go to sleep. You will not even know that we are gone and we will already be back, I promise."

The toddler must have understood, or he was simply that good of a child, and he quickly replied: "A-Yuan will wait here with Huisang-Gege and Xichen-Gege for daddy and father to come back." Then he grinned like the little sun he was and added to send his parents off already: "Have fun!"

Wei Wuxian grinned back at his son and replied in the same cheerful tone, ruffling gently the toddler's hair while doing so: "Have fun too, A-Yuan!"

Nie Huisang did not even need to hear Wei Wuxian's thoughts to understand perfectly what he wanted to say once he finally unglued his eyes from the child and looked directly at him, then at the Gusu Lan sect leader. Lan Xichen must have guessed as well because he started speaking without giving the nervous and worried parent time to remind him how important this job was and how precious was their protégé:

"Wuxian, please do not worry anymore. We will take care of A-Yuan, just as all those times back in the Cloud Recesses. This will be the same, you have nothing to be nervous about. We will make sure to watch him as if he was our own son." To this, Nie Huisang nodded his head in agreement. "Now go, before it becomes completely dark. The sooner you go, the sooner you will be able to come back." Lan Xichen smiled, a little mischievously if anyone asked Nie Huisang, and finished his little encouragement speech: "Stay safe and have fun out there!"

Once again, Nie Huisang nodded, sending the duo of cultivation partners out on their mission. Still somewhat reluctantly, but with visibly less nervousness and worries, Wei Wuxian finally let himself be led away by his husband. A-Yuan started waving to them as soon as they mounted their swords and stopped only when their silhouettes could not be discerned anymore from the falling darkness.

Immediately after, A-Yuan yawned widely, though his eyes stayed alert and eager. Nie Huisang chucked. The toddler was clearly worn out with staying awake after his curfew, but at the same time, he was eager to have some play time with his 'big brothers' and he was not ready to go to sleep just yet. Well, if that was the case, it would be easily achieved.

Nie Huisang leaned closer to A-Yuan so their eyes would be on the same level. He smiled and asked: "A-Yuan, should we go back inside the inn and play?"

"Yes, yes! Play!" chanted the child and hopped up and down in his embrace enthusiastically. The departure of his parents was immediately forgotten in favour of spending time with his favourite 'big brothers'.

The Qinghe Nie sect heir looked at Lan Xichen and after seeing him smile and nod, he turned around and went back to the inn.