True Happiness

47. Hidden Truth (Part 4)

"Is it true?"

"Yes," she said huddled next to him in bed, "We are going to have a baby. Are you happy?"

"And you?" He asked instead of answering.

"You can't answer me with another question, Suanqu."

"You first. Are you happy?"

"Yes."

"Me too," Qingheng Jun said softly.

"Suanqu, promise me something."

"Whatever you want," he said.

"That our children will not suffer the same fate as us. Don't let anyone decide in their lives."

Qingheng Jun looked at her silently. They both knew that this promise would be but an empty one, since the elders came to have more power than the sect leader himself, but, despite everything, they preferred to continue living in their little bubble and hope that, despite everything, their child was free.

"I promise you," he told her.

Nine months later, and after a laborious delivery in which Qingheng Jun had come out of retirement to accompany his wife despite the suspicious looks of the elders, the first of their children was born.

"My little Huan," Aiyan said.

"Huan?"

"Yes, To dispel the clouds, the doubts about your decisions," she told him.

Just two years later, almost three, the second of their children was born. He was smaller than Huan was, more delicate, and the midwife believed he wouldn't survive. At least, until she heard the loud, ragged cry that came from that small chest, compared to his older brother, who was more quiet.

"How is he going to be called?" Qingheng Jun looked at his son, "What would you like his name to be?"

Huan, almost three years old, shrugged and put his little hand to the baby's nose, "He's blue," he said with a frown. Aiyan smiled, stroking her older son's hair and looking at the younger one, who had closed his eyes.

"Zhan," Huan said.

Aiyan was the one in charge of naming their sons. She thought on it for a while.

While Qingheng Jun was confused, Aiyan smiled sweetly to her son, "Do you know what your name means?" The youngest shook his head. It was still too early for him to know how to read, "Huan means to dissipate. You live in Cloud Recesses, a place full of clouds and mist. When the clouds dissipate, the sky is clear and blue. One cannot exist without the other. That is why you are my two proud, my babies. Because you are going to bring the truth to this world. You are the light that will guide the future."

Wangji and Xichen looked at each other. Being brothers, they have always had a close bond. Though Wangji was always quieter, Xichen always knew how to be around him. Xichen knew how to read Wangji's subtle micro expressions. He was able to understand Wangji even though Wangji was distant. The two were called the Twin Jades for a reason.

Thehappiness didn't last forever. Lan Qiren caught his brother skipping the seclusion to see Aiyan and faced him, "I see you are very sorry for the death of our teacher," Lan Qiren said stone-faced.

"Qiren," Qingheng Jun said with a sigh.

"Is that what you've been doing all this time? Skipping your seclusion to see her at night? I thought you had come to your senses and decided to behave like the leader everyone expects. I was wrong," Qiren spat.