Lan Qiren walks into the guest house full of trepidation. How is it that he needs a tonic to help him sleep every night, these days? He's constantly on edge, and it's due to these two, he thinks wearily, as he sits down opposite Lan Zhan and Wei Ying. It's not even as if he can blame Cangse Sanren’s child - HE's the reasonable one!
No…this stress is all the unpredictability of his own nephew-son.
“Look, Qiren!” Cangse Sanren welcomes him after everyone has greeted each other with bows. “A-Ying made a different kind of talisman! Talk him through it, A-Ying!” She crows enthusiastically.
They share a look so full of love and mutual understanding, that Lan Qiren finds himself glancing away, blinking back tears. His heart releases a sigh that somehow makes the past few weeks melt away, the tensions evaporating with an unexpected ease.
“Shufu,” Wei Ying calls out.
Lan Qiren looks up sharply, because this is the first time this child has used a more familiar term, on his own. Willingly. And it's definitely on purpose.
“I find the early morning air in Gusu particularly difficult for my eyes,” Wei Changze says, sitting down next to him and pouring out tea for everyone.
He's giving him an out, Lan Qiren realises.
And then Cangse Sanren sits on his other side, with a light laugh, nodding towards their children to carry on.
“Shufu,” the insufferable, lovely child continues, “we figured out that Meihua likes the sound of Mama singing. So really, it's a combination of three talismans; one to keep the cradle rocking gently, one to block out other unwanted noise, and one to replicate the sound waves that Mama produces. There's no way to record her voice yet, but this is the next best thing until we can figure out how to do that. And that means we can have a little bit of time to discuss important matters.”
And just like that, his stress comes back with the force of a mountain avalanche.
Wei Changze wraps an arm around his shoulders while Cangse Sanren pours out more tea.
“Don't panic, Qiren. We've told them off for causing you trouble,” she grins back at him.
Wei Ying bows and apologises, nudging his Betrothed to do the same, and Lan Qiren can see his nephew-son's reluctance, but he does it anyway. The thing is, he can see that they're both sincere in projecting this.
“I promise not to teleport around you directly,” A-Ying adds.
“Wei Ying may go where he pleases,” Lan Zhan retorts with visible irritation, not-glaring at Lan Qiren, as if he's to blame for that!
When he looks at Cangse Sanren for help, she merely giggles as if this is highly entertaining.
“Honestly, Qiren, take it because that's the best you're gonna get out of those two. Now, onto the discussion of the wedding. They've decided on next week. It's the night of the full moon, and auspicious on every count.”
“So soon?” Lan Qiren croaks in disbelief, refusing to look at either of the guilty ones holding hands right in front of him. His heart is beating awfully fast suddenly. He decides to look at Wei Changze only, because this is a sensible man, this is his friend, and if Lan Qiren wants even a splash of sanity during this conversation, then this is the only place he has any hope of getting it.
“Well, we talked them down from doing it last week, so….” Cangse Sanren admits, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing.
“And we'll help!” Wei Ying says, rather quickly, in response to whatever Lan Qiren's face is doing.
