Come Back to Gusu

45. Why would I be nervous?

Their wedding day dawned cold and rainy. Wei WuXian was forcefully escorted out of the Jingshi by his sect leader and scolded the whole way as they walked through the mud to the Weufengshi. "You aren't married yet," Jiang WanYin spoke in as loud a tone as possible without actually shouting. "A'Jie has been fretting since last night! You need to look perfect today and instead you look...." Here he gave out a frustrated (and embarrassed?) groan. "He couldn't have left your neck alone?"

Wei WuXian smirked happily at the memory of exactly how the love bites ended up on his body. Apparently having a song partially named after him was more arousing than he had previously thought possible. He spun qi through his body to speed up the healing.

His wedding clothing was unlike anything he could have imagined. As this was only a handfasting, there was no need for elaborate red robes.... The shirt was a pale Lan blue with embroidered white lotus flowers on them. His inner robe and trousers were black. And his outer robes were Jiang purple strategically slashed to allow glimpses of the black silk to show through. The sleeves were not tight to his wrists, unfortunately, but they were not absurdly long, either. He wouldn't have to worry about dipping them into his food at least. "Why am I in purple?"

"You're my heir," Jiang WanYin hissed and fussed at how the outer robe draped. "You need to look like it. I won't have you embarrassing YunmengJiang by wearing something you'd go night hunting in to your wedding."

"Be still," Jiang YanLi ordered while finishing up a braid. She was standing on a table in order to be tall enough to fix her sibling's hair into a style appropriate for a mini-wedding. She fiddled with hair ribbons in matching purple, deciding how to incorporate them into her design.

"I could sit down," Wei WuXian offered, looking at his shijie in the large mirror. "I don't want you to fall over."

"You will wrinkle your robes." She bit her lip and wound the braids and ribbon into a neat bun, the ribbon ends falling down his back. Her husband handed her a gold guan to surround the bun. The hair pin holding it together was also gold, and had several small amethysts dangling from the end.

"ChengCheng..." Wei WuXian looked out of the corner of his eyes at his sect leader. "How is it I'm your heir when I'm older than you?"

"Well..." the sect leader continued fussing with the skirts even as his sister stepped off the stool into her husband's arms. "My father never formally adopted you. In discussing your status with the Elders, it was decided that if A'Jie and I added you into the sect rolls as our parents' adopted son, it would displace me as sect leader."

"Well that's obviously not going to happen," Wei WuXian admitted without rancor.

"Because you'd not accept the position," Jiang YanLi stated. "Not because you're incapable or unacceptable."

"So... instead... I adopted you." Jiang WanYin looked smug. "Son."

"Son?" Wei WuXian's shocked visage was apparently hysterically funny; Jin ZiXuan started laughing. "I am not calling you Baba."

"Fuqin is fine," Jiang WanYin followed his brother-in-law and began chortling, holding his stomach. "Did you really not read the papers before you signed them?"

"No." Wei WuXian pouted.

Jiang YanLi patted her 'nephew's' arm. "You probably should.... There's land you own now. And the rules of succession are spelled out. As well as your responsibilities to the sect." She looked pensive. "You should probably also read your betrothal agreement before the official wedding takes place next spring."

"I don't need a second wedding," Wei WuXian grumbled. "If you really need us to do our bows, we can do them this morning."

"No!" Jiang WanYin yelled. "You're going to get married properly! In public with all the clans looking on and seeing that YunmengJiang and GusuLan are not ashamed of your relationship. Besides, the seamstresses have already started embroidering your robes."