The next day, after breakfast, the atmosphere in the room is lighter. Patience has been restored, and a willingness to listen without interruption, though perhaps, that does not apply to the only lady in the room.
“How are you both feeling, my sweet babies?” Cangse Sanren asks them, before they begin.
“Much better,” Wei Ying replies with a sunny smile. He's telling the truth, having rested peacefully and sleeping through the night without any nightmares.
“Mn.” Lan Zhan agrees wholeheartedly.
“And you, dear one? How are you faring? Do you want to join us up here?” Cangse Sanren asks Lan Huan.
He smiles and shakes his head, scooting closer to Lan Qiren. “I would like to stay close to Shufu,” he says quietly.
Like yesterday, Lan Qiren reaches under the table and finds A-Huan's hand waiting for him. They smile at one another gently. Lan Qiren has excused everyone from normal duties this morning, proclaiming needing a rest day after their return from Nightless City, and although the Elders expressed their concerns, he couldn't care less today.
“Xingan, you were wisely right,” Cangse Sanren tells her husband as he comes to sit by her side on the bed, rearranging her so that her back leans against his chest.
He kisses the top of her head and asks, “About what, my love?”
“About all of us resting first before continuing to listen to our babies. I feel so much better with hot food in my tummy, but that's all I'm going to say about it.”
Wei Changze snickers. “It's only for a few months now, please try to endure a little longer.” He's referring to her diet and her vocal protests at having to endure it.
She takes his hand, the one with the silver wedding ring and kisses the centre of his palm. “I can take anything now,” she replies in a thick voice. “After realising that this might not have been possible, I think of each moment we get to share, all of us,” she looks around the room with wet eyes, “as a miracle. I am more than grateful.”
The same sentiment is visible on everyone's faces.
“My love, tell everyone what happened after the surgery,” Cangse Sanren tells her little boy.
Wei Ying gratefully continues from where he left off yesterday, knowing she gave him an opening that did not dwell on those painful hours and would let him move onwards.
“Wen Qing wouldn't let me leave straight away, but Jiang Cheng was beginning to wake up. The surgery was a success and I knew that he could beat me to the tea house where we agreed to meet if I didn't get going as soon as I could walk. We said we would meet in five days and Wen Qing was going to leave Jiang Cheng with instructions to meditate to get used to his new core. That time would be crucial for me to reach our designated meeting point.
“But even walking for long left me exhausted and I must have fallen asleep with no idea of how much time passed by while I was unconscious. I made it to the tea house and entered, seeing no Wen soldiers around. But that was my mistake because Wen Chao and his awful woman were inside, with Wen Zhuliu. They grabbed me immediately and beat me up. He even got the Core-Melting Hand to try and burn away my core but the joke was on him. I saw the realisation on his face when I was promising them all how I was going to come back as a fierce ghost to haunt them into madness.
“Unfortunately, that gave Wen Chao the idea to throw me inside the Burial Mounds.”
“He sounds like a coward. I can't believe he would ever be brave enough to approach the amount of Resentment energy in that place himself.” Lan Qiren strokes his beard. “How long did it take to walk there?”
