WangXian Forever Book 10

Chapter 74: Visiting

Outside the Emperor's quarters, Wei Ying throws his arms up into a long stretch, smiling when he catches Lan Zhan staring at him.

"Shall we go on a date, my love? With Rumi?" He picks up the little boy and throws him up in the air a few times.

Rumi laughs quietly as his personality defines him. He's always calm and watching, ready to take part with whatever they're doing, but never too loud or boisterous as other children his age might be.

"Did someone say date?" Li XiWang runs up to them, pushing her hair out of her face.

Lan Zhan quietly steps behind her to fix it while she carries on talking.

"I was coming back to check on A-Wu." She looks between the Emperor's quarters and Wei Ying. "Did you go and see him? How is he?"

"He's sleeping now, woke up once for water," Wei Ying tells her. "We also came up with a plan for Prince Wu, if his father agrees."

Lan Zhan takes her hand and they begin walking away from there.

"What sort of plan?" Li XiWang's big burgundy eyes shine back at Wei Ying.

He knows their daughter is smart enough to have thought this through, and would have calculated all the possibilities regarding her friend and the future.

"Well, since Prince Wu has a golden core now, we thought we ought to give the opportunity to him and his father to let him develop it further. So we offered him a way to do that. If the Prince stayed here during the week, and then we could teleport him for visits whenever it was possible, like on the weekend for example." Wei Ying tries very hard not to laugh, because Li XiWang is practically vibrating with excitement at that.

"Really?" There might even be stars shining in her eyes.

"Yes, really." Wei Ying grins back. "We thought it might make you happy, as well."

Li XiWang nods, though there's a growing blush on her pink cheeks. "A-Wu always says good things about his home, but it's easy to see how lonely he is. There aren't any other kids for him to play with, that's why he's super into reading, and that's how he found out about the Great Hanguang-Jun and the Yiling Laozu." She snickers at that.

"It must be hard for the Emperor to take time off his job to spend it with his son." Wei Ying sympathises.

"A-Wu says unless he runs away from his teachers, he doesn't even get time to play. And he finds the lessons boring." Li XiWang says that conspiratorially.

"Maybe we can fix that, but Little Rabbit?" Wei Ying waits for her to look at him. "It all depends on his father. Hopefully, he will put his own feelings aside to let the Prince stay here and learn something. Getting into Cloud Recesses as a student isn't easy, and the requirements set in place are there for a reason. But I believe it will be beneficial to both of them if the Emperor says yes. Now, what are we going to do for our date?"

"Wei Ying wanted to visit our friends in the Nether World," Lan Zhan reminds him.

"Ah, yes, I did! And I wanted to see how the First Prince was doing. I suppose it's the perfect chance to do both, huh?"

"Can we see Manu and Chiku, too?" Li XiWang asks, grinning at Rumi, who also looked excited to visit his previous home.

"Of course, we can! Hui Gai!" Wei Ying shouts happily, and is immediately wrapped up in a warm hug from behind.

"PengYou!"

*************

They teleport to the capital of the Nether World, Turjak.

Wei Ying looks around in awe, and that feeling is matched on all of his family's faces, except Hui Gai, who was familiar with the way it looked.

The streets were cleaner, and orderly, with merchants selling food and drink and trinkets in sheltered stalls along the side. People bustled on by until they saw Hui Gai, and then they were bowing and praising him, and Wei Ying giggled because he knew Hui Gai would be blushing if he could.

From here, it's a leisurely walk up to the Palace that Hui Gai has transformed into a massive children's home. On the way, they see a few kids asking for food from the stalls, and Wei Ying reaches into Lan Zhan's robes to take his purse, fully expecting the children to be turned away.

"Wait, PengYou. Watch," Hui Gai murmurs softly, his red eyes kind and glowing with satisfaction when the kids are given food freely. He nods to the stall owner, tossing him a piece of silver for his trouble.

"He didn't just do that because you were watching him, right?" Wei Ying wraps an arm around Hui Gai's shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

"Yeah, that was a bonus because I was there. All these people have been promised to be richly rewarded for any kindness they show to any child. We are getting hundreds coming from all over after word has spread about a safe place that they only have to show up for." Hui Gai pats Wei Ying's hand. "Kids should be immune to whatever the adults around them do, not be casualties of war and unrest."

"I'm really proud of you, Hui Gai," Li XiWang throws her skinny arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"You know, I can only tell how old you're getting from when you hug me," he says, rubbing her back affectionately. "There was a time you could only reach my waist."

"I'm gonna be as tall as Father Zhan," She replies confidently. "Then I can look after all of you better, especially my Father Wei!" And after dropping that emotional bomb, she saunters off with Rumi holding her hand as they skip towards Manu and Chiku, waiting and waving at the Palace gates.

There is no other place for Wei Ying except in Lan Zhan's arms after hearing that from his daughter, and he feels Lan Zhan kissing his hair while he tries to compose himself properly, wiping his suddenly wet eyes on white robes.

*************

They reunite with old friends, surprised to see Yezi expecting again, while Aitch seems to have grown bigger and certainly more hair, his beads clicking every time he turns his head, which is frequently because of their rowdy, boisterous kids, as well as the ones already living at the Palace.

Manu has the place running like clockwork with her kids helping her and Wei Ying nods at her in a silent thanks for her efforts.

Lor comes out to meet them with a clipboard and a list of things he must inform Hui Gai about, and it's only when he turns around that Lan Zhan sees a child hanging onto his back and points it out to his husband.

He's just about to point them out to anybody really, when Rumi tugs on his sleeve. "Play, Baba?"

Wei Ying nods, beaming at him with red-rimmed eyes after that, turning to Lan Zhan.

"These kids, huh?"

Lan Zhan's tiny smile says it all. He wraps an arm around Wei Ying and they settle back on the sidelines to watch the action.

The demons are just as chaotic as before, tumbling and playing tag and getting into arguments that turn mighty serious in the blink of an eye, while children scamper here and there, running backwards and forwards between the adults. There's so much laughter and joy and good vibes here, that Wei Ying has to sigh with how much his heart feels.

"You know my love, I know everything we've been through, it was really hard at times. For both of us. But seeing this..."

"Makes it worth it," Lan Zhan finishes, kissing his forehead.