[MDZS] Respite

Chapter 1

Authors Note: 

Recently I've been reading a lot about Lan Qiren and had a lot of feelings... so when I saw "Lan Qiren Week 2021" on Ao3, I thought: why not try to write something? I'm fairly new to actually writing fanfics instead of just reading, so if there's anything I can do better please let me know!^^ I'm also unsure if I did the chinese titles/forms of addressing correctly, please correct me if I didn't !

Disclaimer: Nothing about Mo Dao Zu Shi but this little word-dump belong to me, I'm just here to have fun. Please don't copy, repost, translate, or feed to AI without my permission. If you see my work on any other site besides Ao3 (Archive of our own) it's not me.

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Lan Qiren was done with his dramatic fool of a brother, done with all the useless elders who had nothing better to do than criticize him for everything under the sun. And he was done, so done, with just about everyone and anything aside from his sweet, young nephews who did nothing to deserve this.

The acting Lan Sect leader had hoped, had almost prayed that with Madam Lan recently passed away, that his brother would finally leave seclusion after so many years - would finally remember that he had children and that they needed him to be there.

Lan Qiren had - maybe stupidly - hoped that Qinheng-Jun would come back and release him of the burden of leading the Gusu Lan Sect.

But he should have known that hoping was a futile endeavor.

After all, Lan Qiren had stood before his brother's door time and time again, trying to talk to him, updating him about the happenings of the sect, telling him stories about everything A-Huan and A-Zhan did and accomplished and how much the boys wanted to see their father.....

Nothing.

Not once did Qinghen-Jun show that he was interested or even listening at all. Nothing was seemingly enough to incite a reaction.

For all that Lan Qiren understood that losing his significant other had probably been a devastating blow to Xiongzhang....but abandoning one's children completely after they just lost their mother too, was something that he could neither comprehend nor tolerate.

Though at this point, after trying for months to get Xiongzhang to leave seclusion, being both mother and father to his nephews and managing the sect all by himself ( the elders liked to complain so much about him but never did any work themselves!), he was just tired.

He was no longer sad or disappointed, just so incredibly tired, that he even started to resent his sect a little. No matter how many times he tried to remind himself of the rules like 'Be loyal and filial.', 'Do not disrespect the elders.' and 'Do not fight with your family, for it does not matter who wins.'... it was to no avail.

So when the elders tried to appeal to him - or more accurately said, demand of him - that he find a wife (to what end and why now? He didn't know) he had had enough.

One quiet, serene morning Lan Qiren packed everything they might need for a few weeks into qiankun-pouches, roused his nephews earlier than usual and left a message behind, which said he would take the boys for a stroll around Caiyi Town.

As soon as they reached the outskirts of the town and Lan Qiren was sure that nobody had followed or seen them, he stopped and unsheathed his sword. With A-Zhan in his arms and A-Huan held securely in front of him, they took to the skies.

Maybe traveling and paying his friend Nie-Xiong (and maybe even that annoying pest named Wen Ruohan, who he for some reason couldn't get rid of) a visit would be good for him.

A-Huan had befriended Nie Mingjue from the moment he met the other anyways and would most likely run off with him to the training grounds to spar and play. A-Zhan would spend some time with Nie Huaisang, who he had attached himself to quite firmly despite the other being a very talkative and fidgety child.

Which would leave Lan Qiren able to put his entire mind into forgetting all sect related tasks and problems and finally catch up on sleep as well as have less stressful days.

Additionally Lan Qiren had no doubt that Nie-xiong wouldn't mind keeping their presence in the Unclean Realm a secret, if anyone from Gusu Lan were to ask about their whereabouts. For some reason the Nie Sect Leader loved to irritate the Lan elders (though Lan Qiren certainly began to see the appeal in it) and this would fit right into what he categorized as a fun way to do it.

Or as Wen Ruohan would later say, a few days into their secret vacation: "Just enjoy it and let them see how well they fare with everything you have to deal with usually. It's quite entertaining to see those senile idiots panicking and run around like headless chickens! Trust me. I speak from experience."

....

They stayed for three months.

A-Huan and A-Zhan seemingly couldn't stop thanking their Shufu even weeks after they were back home.

It was one of the most enjoyable and memorable three months in Lan Qiren's long life.