Happiness of eternity

14) Overloaded surprise

To be honest, Lan Xichen did not expect to see something like this and to say that he was surprised would be an underestimate.

He thought visiting his brother along the way after dropping his kids to join the lectures that would start from tomorrow would be a good idea since it had been months they had last met each other. Even that was for a short period of time during a discussion conference back at Yunmeng but now... yeah, he should definitely engrave in his mind to NOT visit his brother uninvited ever again.

But in his defense, his brother didn't answer the door and it was almost around dinner time!

He was worried, okay!!

"Wangji..." His voice trailed off as he tried his best to digest the scene in front of him.

His baby brother who now looks like his early-twenty-self after ascension entangled with an unknown maiden with his five kids sandwiching them both in between, past asleep; very unlikely of them all.

And who is this lady?

"Mmh..." The maiden stirred in her sleep and before he could react, he found a pair of mesmerizing purplish-grey eyes staring right at him. They just kept staring at him for a quite some time in confusion and then blinked a few times as if to clear her vision before greeting him in a very familiar manner.

"Xichen ge...?!"

"..." Lan Xichen found himself being rendered speechless by that call.

Who allowed her to call him so casually as if they were old friends? Not to mention the fact that he had no memory of meeting this maiden ever before now. The maiden giggled seeing his reaction before softly patting Wangji's chest to wake him up. However her actions and the words she used didn't sit well with Lan Xichen at all, though he didn't think of interfering without knowing the whole story.

"My lord... Your brother is here..." She announced softly, then turned her attention towards the kids when Lan Wangji showed some signs of waking up from his slumber.

"My bunnies... Wake up darlings. Your uncle is here..."

"Five more minutes, ma..." Xichen's eyes widened when Xuanyu's groggy voice called the maiden 'mother' and he found Xuanyu wasn't the only one to do so...

"Mn. A little more, niang..." Lijun also joined the appeal. But the other three and his brother slowly opened their eyes with the most dazzling smiles Lan Xichen ever witnessed upon them.

"You, little sleepyheads! It's already the evening. Wake up right now! Or else I will never allow you to sleep with me ever again!!" She threatened the sleeping duo, resulting in them jumping out of the bed at lightning speed as if it wasn't them who asked to sleep in more.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!!" They both yelled in unison and the maiden laughed heartily seeing their antics.

"Good. Good. Go freshen up. We have a guest here." She giggled pointing at Lan Xichen, finally notifying his much ignored presence to them all.

"Brother!" Wangji greeted in surprise but Xichen clearly saw the whirlpool of emotions behind that surprised stare. But that soon morphed into a happy smile, which again surprised Xichen and it doubled when Wangji placed a kiss on that maiden's forehead without hesitation before slowly getting out of bed...

"Help your mother freshen up." He instructed his children and led Lan Xichen out of the innermost bedchamber of the Jingshi.

"So...? Do you have anything to say, Wangji?" After Wangji offered tea and let him settle down on a seat in the kitchen, Xichen asked, trying not to appear too demanding or prying. However Wangji, who appeared to be too engrossed in preparing the dinner, took a long while to say something to his brother. Even so, that wasn't an answer to Xichen's question.