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“So, are you saying a child could fix him?” Wei Wuxian demands, desperately clutching the brittle, faded scroll like the lifeline it is.
Wen Qing is slow to answer, clearly weighing her words carefully. “Not the child, but the procedure which permits for conception might be able to. Male pregnancy techniques are not my field, I will require further research to tell you if this is a viable method.”
“I will help you!”
She presses her lips into a thin line of disapproval. “You can help me by eating and sleeping. You are still recovering from your own injuries!” There is a moment’s hesitation before she plucks the scroll from his hands and adds, “If this method works, you will need to be at your best.”
Wei Wuxian agrees and leaves, albeit not without further pouting. He makes it all the way back to the room he shares with Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli before he realizes what Wen Qing had implied with him needing to be at his best.
He would be lying if he said he truly understands the loophole he has stumbled across. Male pregnancy is common enough, albeit only with two cultivator parents. It is a feat of cultivation only the strongest, most gifted cultivators would be capable of by themselves. The one who dual cultivates with Jiang Cheng will need to do it by himself. At some point during the process, he will have to form a kind of densely condensed seed of pure spiritual energy as the foundation from which to shape the womb.
This is where Wei Wuxian’s understanding gets blurry, for what would only lead to a womb growing in a common man or a regular cultivator will supposedly take to a body that once held a golden core like a doused fire reignited. As the baby grows, so will the reborn core. It sounds like a folktale more than like science, but it is the best lead they have.
There may be a lot about the entire process which Wei Wuxian is unclear about but one thing has sunk in: Wen Qing is clearly expecting him to be the other parent.
“Jiang Cheng is going to kill me,” Wei Wuxian moans to himself as he imagines telling Jiang Cheng he wants to make a baby with him. He hasn’t even managed yet to tell Jiang Cheng that he likes him, and now, after Lotus Pier…
“What do you mean, you found a way to restore my core but I won’t like it?!”
For the first time in days, Jiang Cheng looks alert and truly alive, taking an interest again in what Wei Wuxian has to say. He has even sat up in his sickbed and looks like he is about to grab Wei Wuxian and shake the answer out of him.
His heart aches with fond yearning. It doesn’t matter how Jiang Cheng reacts, Wei Wuxian promises himself, it doesn’t matter if he laughs in his face for his presumption and insists on finding someone else; this moment of seeing the light returned to Jiang Cheng’s eyes is worth all the hurt that may follow.
For all his usual bravado, Wei Wuxian can’t bring himself to look at Jiang Cheng as he gives his explanation in the most clinical, matter-of-fact manner he is capable of. He understands the techniques involved far better by now, having asked Wen Qing for more reading material… just in case… Well. Just in case. Or in case Jiang Cheng has questions, anyway. Somebody should be able to answer them, after all. Just in case.
When he comes to the end of his little speech, Jiang Cheng remains still and silent for so long that Wei Wuxian breaks his own rule and looks at him.
Jiang Cheng is sitting there with his pale, waxen face frozen up all stern and stricken. His hands are clinging to the hem of his bedcovers tightly enough for his knuckles to have turned white. His grip looks painful; Wei Wuxian finds himself wishing he could reach out and hold his hands until his agitation seeps away.
“That’s useless to me,” Jiang Cheng finally says. He sounds like his world has crumbled all over again.
Wei Wuxian opens his mouth to protest because no, it isn’t, he knows it will work, he will make it work, even Wen Qing says it will.
“There is nobody to cultivate with me.”
Wei Wuxian stills, mouth already open for his protests. He changes tracks, badly, and protests a feeble, “But…”
Jiang Cheng’s eyes sharpen on him. “Wei Wuxian,” he grits out, close to a snarl and trembling with frustrated rage, “There are maybe ten cultivators strong enough to handle the Budding Seed Fertility Technique by themselves! Unless you can convince one of them to come here and fuck a golden core into me, you can…”
“I can do it!” he blurts out before he can even think about what he is saying or doing, or the chances of Jiang Cheng murdering him for real.
Silence falls between them.
He isn’t wrong, as such. Maybe there are fifteen or twenty who could do it, but that hardly matters when none of them are here. But Wei Wuxian is here, Wei Wuxian who is one of the most gifted cultivators of their generation and most importantly, has a knack for unconventional techniques and impossible feats.
Accepting him would be a sensible choice in every possible way but Wei Wuxian knows Jiang Cheng. He knows him better than anybody else does in all his flaws and doubts and vulnerabilities, not to mention in his well-hidden romantic dreams.
Jiang Cheng’s throat works. He swallows once, twice. He blinks and inhales a shuddery breath.
Wei Wuxian sits there, robbed of all his clever words. The only words he has are the truth and his throat feels too tight to give voice to them.
“I won’t put a child into this world out of your misled sense of guilt and heroics,” Jiang Cheng finally says and turns his head away.
“But Jiang Cheng…” he begins. He trails off because he can see in the stiffness of Jiang Cheng’s shoulders that he won’t listen now, no matter what Wei Wuxian says.
It has been a mistake. He has gone about it all wrong. If he tells Jiang Cheng now that he loves him, he will think it is only a comforting lie to make him feel better about the procedure and the child that will be born from it. He doesn’t know how he could have gone about it better but he has certainly done it wrong.
Wei Wuxian had never properly thought about having children of his own. He knows he likes children and had some vague notion that he would like to have some of his own in the future, but he is young. It had been a faraway future thing he tried not to give too much thought to. Partially, for he knew if he thought about it properly, he would think about wanting them with Jiang Cheng, which would only remind him of how impossible this dream is.
He would be lying if he said he isn’t terrified. Having a child of your own to care for is daunting enough even when your home hasn’t been conquered and you aren’t on the run desperately trying to protect the only two people you have left in the world, both of which are defenseless against the monsters hunting you.
Wei Wuxian is terrified, just not in the way Jiang Cheng likes to assume.
“I would give you my own core if I could! But I can’t, and I can do this. Please, Jiang Cheng. Trust me. I know I’m capable of mastering this technique.”
Jiang Cheng shies away like burned as he does whenever this topic comes up, all but growling at him. “Do you still think this is the problem?! I know your cultivation is far higher than mine, nobody has ever let me forget it!”
No, no, he doesn’t think this is the problem, not truly – it is just the only point he knows how to reassure Jiang Cheng about without making things worse. Only now he is making things worse, too. He shouldn’t be surprised; he has been making things worse whenever he tries to make them better for months now. Ever since they went to Qishan, every step he took has made things worse.
He looks down at his lap, at his hands holding on to Suibian like a lifeline. “I know it isn’t,” he reassures quietly, though a part of him wants to scream that it isn’t fair, that he is truly trying his best, that he is hurting. Except that wouldn’t get them closer to fixing Jiang Cheng’s core. “And I’m not… I’m not trying to lord anything over you. You’ve got to believe me, Jiang Cheng, it’s not like that! I just want to help you!”
He reaches for his shoulder but Jiang Cheng flinches away again, scooting as far away from Wei Wuxian as his sickbed will permit.
“I don’t want your help!” he shouts with tears in his eyes. He looks like he would be throwing things at Wei Wuxian if he had anything left to throw. He had thrown his pillow already far earlier, when Wei Wuxian first disturbed him. “I don’t want to be another person who needs to be saved by you! I don’t want you to,” his breath hitches, “I don’t want you to touch me out of pity!”
There are tears in Jiang Cheng’s eyes, Wei Wuxian notes with alarm. He is about to cry. Jiang Cheng is such an ugly crier, he has never figured out how to cry without looking like his heart has been shattered and when he cries like that, it is really not fair because it always makes Wei Wuxian want to cry, too.
He kind of wants to shake Jiang Cheng, to make him see.
“It’s not pity when I’ve been wanting to for years!” he shouts right back because there is only so much he can take, and Jiang Cheng crying over being unloved when Wei Wuxian is right here is honestly more than he can take.
It may have been another move that only makes things worse, he realizes a moment too late.
Jiang Cheng stares at him with wide, startled eyes but he is too shocked to be on the verge of tears any longer. Maybe Wei Wuxian is finally doing something right.
He stares, and stares, and then much to Wei Wuxian’s horror, his bottom lip trembles and tears well up, and he is scrambling past Wei Wuxian with an agonized howl of, “I hate you!”
Wei Wuxian has decided it would be nice to have a baby with Jiang Cheng. It would be even nicer if they were safely ensconced at Lotus Pier and he could spend his days annoying Jiang Cheng by bringing him pillows and feeding him treats, but he still wants a baby with him no matter what.
Now if only he could convince Jiang Cheng of that. He refuses to see anyone but Shijie, who has been just as unsuccessful as Wei Wuxian to convince him that Wei Wuxian’s confession was genuine and not an attempt to talk him into the procedure. Wen Qing had gotten herself blacklisted when she told him he needs to make up his mind soon. He has finally recovered enough to undergo the procedure and she isn’t running an inn.
Honestly, Wei Wuxian is kind of at a loss how to convince him. Jiang Cheng has always been pig-headedly stubborn once he convinced himself of something, and they have a terrible track record with honest conversations about their feelings.
If they had time, he would be happy enough to woo Jiang Cheng, but they don’t. Wen Qing is right, time is running out, and they need to undergo the initial dual cultivation while they are still with her. She will have to prepare necessary medicines and help stabilize the fetus and fledgling golden core at least for the first couple of days.
“Aiya, shidi, I hope our baby will have your pout,” he teases as if Jiang Cheng weren’t ignoring him during the first shared dinner Shijie has wrangled them into.
She sighs now and tsks. “A-Xian, please.”
Jiang Cheng abruptly stands up, uncaring that he jostles the table with his knees in the process. “I’ve lost my appetite.”
“I was a child born out of obligation,” Jiang Cheng says when Wei Wuxian joins him outside on the wooden staircase. “But I was born for duty. The child I have would be born for selfishness.”
Wei Wuxian stifles a despondent sigh. Angry Jiang Cheng is easier to deal with than this listless, bleak Jiang Cheng he faces so often in these days of hiding out at the Yiling Supervisory Office. He has yet to figure out how to reach this Jiang Cheng.
He steps behind Jiang Cheng and wraps his arms around him, ignoring Jiang Cheng’s indignant huff, and places his chin on top of his head. “What will it take for you to believe me?” he wonders aloud.
Jiang Cheng inhales a shuddery breath. To Wei Wuxian’s surprise, he lifts a hand to cover his but doesn’t push them away.
Hope flares up in Wei Wuxian’s heart. Jiang Cheng doesn’t easily speak about feelings. Jiang Cheng is better at actions. Wei Wuxian is better at actions, too, though he can easily talk about a lot of things, just not about the ones that matter.
He whispers Jiang Cheng’s name and gently tugs him around, and Jiang Cheng lets him.
There is a charming little blush on his face and yet it is Jiang Cheng who leans in first and presses his lips to Wei Wuxian’s.
Their first kiss is a little bit too wet and too clumsy and they bump noses.
Their second is better, it makes the butterflies in Wei Wuxian’s belly take flight.
“This is a terrible time to be having a child,” Jiang Cheng murmurs against Wei Wuxian’s lips, because it figures he would still be thinking of the problems they face when Wei Wuxian can only think of his taste and the maddening softness of his sharp tongue.
It’s true but he doesn’t want to think about it. Not yet. There are only so many problems he can face at once without giving in to despair, and somebody has to keep up at least a front of optimism. Right now, he needs to help Jiang Cheng get his golden core back, this is the first step.
“I’ll train harder. I’ll protect you both next time, I promise.”
To his surprise, Jiang Cheng doesn’t argue further and just kisses him.
Maybe Jiang Cheng is daunted by thinking too closely about the future, too.
There is no more time to waste.
They undergo the ritual the next day.
There is no time for sweet courting or even for saucy seduction; once they have their fill of kisses, they just go tell Wen Qing to prepare the medicine and she informs them she will be done by noon tomorrow.
Wei Wuxian is curious but he doesn’t dare to ask Jiang Cheng what changed his mind. Or maybe he is a little bit frightened of the answer, too. He wants to believe Jiang Cheng recognized his sincerity, that he didn’t simply give in to necessity.
It is awkward. There are no other words for it.
It is the first time for both of them, their tongues are still fuzzy from the disgusting medicinal broths Wen Qing made them drink and their thoughts are on cultivating more than on enjoying themselves. The truly advanced dual cultivation techniques are like that, they require keeping a level head and perfectly honed focus, neither of which lends itself well to pleasure. It doesn’t help to know Wen Qing is waiting on the other side of the door, impatient for them to be done so she can get back to work.
Wei Wuxian had worried the whole medical procedure atmosphere would kill his arousal but having Jiang Cheng naked and huffily bashful in his bed works its magic without fail. If it weren’t for Wen Qing waiting on the other side of the door, he would suggest they just enjoy another their first time. Even knowing all the reasons they shouldn’t, he is tempted. When he works Jiang Cheng open with his fingers and earns the prettiest little needy whimpers, the temptation only grows stronger. He is desperate to find out what Jiang Cheng sounds like when he lets go of his restraint and simply lets himself want.
But time is running out and they have a task.
It is easily the most advanced and certainly the most difficult feat of cultivation Wei Wuxian has ever undertaken.
He can’t tell yet if he has succeeded to reshape Jiang Cheng’s body or if they will have a baby, he lacks the medical knowledge to determine the first and the latter will need more time to tell.
What he can sense is the moment the tiny spark of a fledgling golden core flares up.
He is still buried inside Jiang Cheng when he feels it. Jiang Cheng gives a startled laugh and his face lights up with a brilliant smile.
“Can you feel it?” he breathes. He takes Wei Wuxian’s hand and guides it down to his lower dantian. “I feel warm.”
They are both laughing, tears in their eyes, when Wei Wuxian’s lips find Jiang Cheng’s. They kiss, and this time there is nothing awkward or apprehensive about it, it is all passion and love and joyful, fervent hope for a better future.
They let themselves have this single, scorching kiss before Wei Wuxian pulls out and pulls away and calls for Wen Qing.
Jiang Cheng spends the rest of the day meditating while Wen Qing needles him and feeds him her own qi.
Wei Wuxian spends the day meditating, too, though he yearns for nothing more than to curl up in bed with Jiang Cheng or even just hold his hand while Wen Qing works on him. It’s impossible. He used up all the power he cultivated and is drained to a point where he might as well be coreless himself – far too dangerous a state to remain in when he has three precious people to protect.
“How do you feel, A-Cheng?”
Jiang Cheng opens his eyes at Wei Wuxian’s quiet question. He scoots over on the bed, making room for him.
Wei Wuxian hesitates for a moment, awkwardness warring with giddy mischief just for a moment before the latter wins out. He kicks off his boots and lays down next to him, chirping, “I knew you would miss me, A-Cheng!”
Jiang Cheng bristles and scowls. “Who would miss you!” he barks, as if his cheeks aren’t reddening already.
Grin widening, Wei Wuxian leans in close, nose to nose. “You would,” he whispers gleefully.
He is kissed in retaliation.
They kiss, and kiss some more, Jiang Cheng’s arms wrapping around his neck as if he is worried Wei Wuxian would run.
“Wen Qing said it worked,” Jiang Cheng whispers against his lips.
Wei Wuxian kisses him again. His smile is so wide and giddy now, it feels like it is going to split his face.
He cradles Jiang Cheng’s face in his hands and whispers, “We are going to have a baby,” to him over and over again until Jiang Cheng loses his patience and puts his mouth to better use.
They will need to regularly dual cultivate at least in the early months, Wei Wuxian providing the spiritual energy to maintain the pregnancy while Jiang Cheng’s tiny seedling of a core is too weak to do so.
Tonight is not about that. Tonight, they have what feels like their first time all over again.
They get the day and half a night before a pale, stricken Wen Qing kicks them out of bed in the middle of the night, telling them that Wen Chao is on the way.
They leave in a frenzy, all their plans to go with Song Lan overturned. They should have been traveling comfortably in a carriage to make it easier on the still-recovering Jiang siblings, accompanying Jiang Yanli most of the way to Carp Tower before they go their own way to start recruiting – they had agreed it would be best to only let the other leaders know that Jiang Cheng has survived, not that he is functionally coreless and will remain so for months to come. It had been a good plan.
Now they leave on horseback in a mad dash, riding into the night like valiant fist-fighting heroes from the commoners’ stories.
Going by horseback ends up in their favor.
Wen Qing had given them new clothes and money. Once they feel they have run far enough to escape immediate capture, they hide their swords and go into town, acquiring a carriage and goods to trade. They are just three youths trying to make ends meet as humble traveling merchants, faceless and unimportant in the eyes of the Wen.
They would have felt better knowing Jiang Yanli is safely ensconced at Carp Tower, but the Wen are watching for anyone leaving their occupied territories. With still only one of them able to use cultivation to fly and fight, it is too dangerous to break through.
So they stay together and get to work.
The rebuilding of Yunmeng Jiang begins with whispers.
Wen Chao’s frantic search has ensured that everybody knows Yunmeng Jiang’s heir is alive and free; he has done half the work for them. The lively gossip this spawns keeps him on a merry chase, too, with rumors of sightings and secret Jiang fortresses springing up from every corner of the cultivation world.
“Once you start showing, we can’t hide any longer that you are a cultivator,” Wei Wuxian whispers one night, his fingers caressing Jiang Cheng’s flat belly.
“So we have until then to recruit, and for me to cultivate my new golden core,” Jiang Cheng replies, his hand covering Wei Wuxian’s. “Then we go to Lanling or to Qinghe, and we demand the sects support us in seeking justice.”
It’s not much time to gather an army but it wouldn’t be the first impossible thing they have done.
Jiang Yanli knows some things about medicine or at least the treatment of pregnancy ailments, which becomes a blessing soon enough.
“If the Wen don’t kill me, your child will,” Jiang Cheng growls, thoroughly disgruntled after spending both morning and afternoon fighting with nausea.
Wei Wuxian makes a sympathetic noise. “I will ask the cook for a light meal. We have to leave town tomorrow. Rumors of our presence are spreading too fast; it will make the Wen dogs curious.”
Jiang Cheng glowers, and Zidian sparks on his balled fist. “This pregnancy is giving me a lot to be angry about. If they want a fight, let them come!”
Wei Wuxian barely listens to his words; he has eyes only for the fist wielding Zidian. He cradles Jiang Cheng’s hand between his own and brings it to his lips. Zidian hums with barely leashed power. Jiang Cheng’s core is still weak, but his cultivation – much like their baby – is growing with leaps and bounds.
“I love you,” he says before Jiang Cheng can get upset and demand an explanation. In his book, it is the only explanation needed.
“What happened to no fighting before we go to Carp Tower!” Wei Wuxian yelps as he ducks a gust of flames and swings Suibian low with ruthless precision. His opponent falters and he completes his turn, swinging high now, cutting the man’s throat.
“Stop showing off and fight properly, Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng snarls.
He lets Zidian fly in a wide sweep, knocking five men off their feet in one go. Wei Wuxian is on them with lightning speed to finish the job. Much like Jiang Cheng, the spiritual whip still needs a little bit of help but that’s alright. That’s why Wei Wuxian never leaves his side.
Still, they should not be fighting, not yet. They had planned to recruit quietly in the shadows. Or maybe it is more like, Jiang Cheng should not be fighting, not yet. He is beautiful. He is magnificent and deadly even with his diminished cultivation, but Wei Wuxian’s heart can’t take much more of it.
Still, they are fighting all the same. Jiang Cheng has been spoiling for blood ever since they ran from Lotus Pier for the first time, and now that they are finally strong enough to take vengeance, he won’t be stopped.
It had been mere chance the patrol came across them when they were traveling in a group too large and conspicuous. Every time before, they had first tried to run. This time, Jiang Cheng had stood his ground to fight.
It feels good to be fighting back, Wei Wuxian thinks as he leaps and strikes and learns to weave around Zidian’s lashes.
Their tactics have shifted, and it is to Wei Wuxian’s credit – or his fault, depending on whom you ask.
When they had first started recruiting, Jiang Cheng took to speaking to the rogue cultivators who would look at Jiang Cheng’s refined gentry manners and lineage and see something they hoped to attain for themselves.
Wei Wuxian, meanwhile, spoke to the adventurers who saw an impossible cause and the chance for wealth or glory if it succeeded against all odds – and if anyone could make you believe in impossible causes it was Wei Wuxian. He also spoke to the people who had been forced to grow up quick and clever and ruthless, people who are like he would have become if Jiang Fengmian hadn’t saved him from the streets.
Their new Yunmeng Jiang does not concern itself much with playing fair.
They come by night and vanish back into the night, leaving behind only death and Wei Wuxian’s disturbingly creative talismans.
The bounties on their heads double and triple. By the time they go to Carp Tower, they will have increased tenfold.
By the time they go to Carp Tower, they have a reputation.
Jiang Yanli had eventually made her way there ahead of them and has the groundwork laid by the time the Twin Prides of Yunmeng arrive. They didn’t worry to let her go, for she had Wen Qing with her. They had found her and her brother imprisoned while raiding the Wen at Yiling, and Jiang Yanli had convinced her that she would be able to protect her family better by playing the politics game than by being on the run from both sides.
On the eve of the conference, Wei Wuxian draws promises and endearments on Jiang Cheng’s belly.
Jiang Cheng huffs and squirms, as flushed from being flustered as he still is from pleasure. “Wei Wuxian!” he squawks and squirms harder when Wei Wuxian begins to write of love on his stomach.
“Shush, you,” Wei Wuxian says, flashing him his best mischievous grin, “Baby and I are having a moment.”
“That’s my belly you are talking to!” Jiang Cheng protests and slaps at his shoulder when Wei Wuxian ducks down to press a kiss to his belly button. Wei Wuxian swears up and down that he can see the tiniest bulge begin to form, though Jiang Cheng denies it fervently.
“I know,” he responds cheerfully. He kisses his belly again – loud and wet and pointedly obnoxious.
Jiang Cheng’s outraged screech is music to his ears.
They laugh, wrestle, and end up making love again. Tomorrow will come soon enough.
“You are showing. The whole camp is whispering about it.”
Jiang Cheng, in the process of getting dressed in his elaborate, form-fitting purple battle robes, shoots Wei Wuxian a sour look. “So? I’m pregnant, not dead. I can fight.”
Wei Wuxian crosses his arms behind his head and refolds his legs, right ankle propped up on the left knee. He is still naked; they have time for once and he isn’t going to miss the chance to watch Jiang Cheng, even if it is more fun to watch him get undressed than dressed.
“I know you can,” he agrees easily.
Jiang Cheng watches him with suspiciously narrowed eyes, braced for a but and already halfway to bristling. If Wei Wuxian didn’t find it so endearing, he would be rolling his eyes. Well, he rolls his eyes about Jiang Cheng’s endearing quirks anyway and A-Cheng’s furious responses are even more endearing, but this topic is too serious to be teasing him with it.
“Wen Ruohan will soon learn of the child,” he says as he sits up, his voice devoid of his usual cheer. These days there isn’t much to be cheerful about anyway. The war is going badly for the allied sects; they have strength fueled by desperation, but Wen Ruohan has demonic cultivation and several Yin Iron pieces. “That is, if he doesn’t know already. He won’t pass up this chance to kill a great sect’s leader and heir in one fell swoop.”
“Do you think I don’t know this?” Jiang Cheng looks tense, his jaw stubbornly set, his chin lifted high, but his proud face is averted to show Wei Wuxian only his profile. “There is a giant target painted on my back.” His hands curl into fists at his sides. “I don’t care. It’s too late to back down.”
There may have been a chance once. Robbed of his core and legacy, Jiang Cheng might have been able to live a life of peaceful mediocrity. This chance has passed. He escaped Wen Ruohan’s clutches twice and made a mockery of his Core-Melting Hand. At the time, Wei Wuxian had only thought of returning the smile to Jiang Cheng’s face along with his core. He understands better now. They chose their path that day, and now they are trapped on it for better or worse.
Wei Wuxian shifts to his knees; he reaches for Jiang Cheng’s hand. It is the one bearing Zidian.
“You won’t ever have to do this alone, A-Cheng,” he vows and tries his hardest to exude more confidence than he feels.
They get married on a beautiful sunny day.
They had not given much thought to marriage, though ever since Jiang Cheng accepted him Wei Wuxian has known he will spend the rest of his days loving him and their children. There was always too much work, and with all the promises tying them together, the formalities of marriage didn’t seem important. With everyone’s eyes on them, the matter has gained in urgency. The heir of Yunmeng Jiang can’t be born out of wedlock.
It is a simple ceremony like all wartime weddings.
“We will celebrate properly at Lotus Pier,” Jiang Cheng promises.
“I know we will,” Wei Wuxian says with a smile.
To him, it doesn’t matter that their red robes are wool instead of silk or that the wedding banquet consists of everyone in the camp getting a cup of wine and an extra helping at dinner – but he knows such things matter to Jiang Cheng, who was raised to take pride in being able to provide a comfortable gentry life for his family. It hurts him that he can provide no betrothal gifts or lavish celebration and their wedding bed is a bedroll in a tent.
He will find a way to retake their home for Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian promises himself. He will have their baby at home, this is to be Wei Wuxian’s gift to them both.
Wei Wuxian wears purple now instead of red, and his inventions grow into something to be feared.
He had always been brilliant but with wartime needs pushing him, he pushes the limits of what cultivation can do – or should do, as some grumble.
Jiang Cheng grows, too, and so does his golden core.
He fights like a man possessed, or one who is finally regaining the strength to defend what he loves. Nowadays, when people speak of Zidian’s prowess, it is Sandu Shengshou they think of.
Their reputation keeps growing, too. Ruthless and efficient, the wrath of Yunmeng Jiang is something to be feared.
“I know how to fight a war, but I don’t know how to be a good father,” Jiang Cheng confesses to him one night in a quiet, shameful whisper.
“Neither do I,” Wei Wuxian admits. And then, after a moment’s hesitation, “I’m scared.”
Jiang Cheng holds him tightly and says, “So am I.”
“We will figure it out. We will be good parents,” he says, trying to sound confident. He doesn’t remember his parents; he was too young when he lost them. He knows he wants to live up to their memory, yet he doesn’t even know what this entails.
He focuses on what he does know – Wei Wuxian’s inventions keep growing.
He is working on a tight schedule here. He has promised Jiang Cheng will birth their child in Lotus Pier, and he will give him this much.
Lotus Pier smells of the familiar fragrance of lake water and blooming lotus flowers, and of the strong cleaning supplies used to scrub blood from wooden planks.
Wei Wuxian weaves quickly through the maze of wooden paths and arched bridges connecting the buildings across waterways, Wen Qing hot on his heels.
“I can’t believe you all but kidnapped me,” she snaps at him, though there is little actual heat to her voice.
“You were there for the beginning. Don’t tell me you would ever forgive me if you weren’t there to see it through to the end.”
“It!” Jiang Cheng hisses as soon as they step into the healer’s building where Jiang Yanli is kindly but firmly keeping him put. “You try having another human the size of a watermelon inside you and then you talk about it!” He is sitting on the bed, refusing to lay down. His face is pale and glistens with a layer of sweat.
Wei Wuxian pushes down his alarm at seeing how sickly he looks to wrap an arm around him and tease, “Now, now, don’t be mean and grumpy, A-Cheng! The healers would have gotten the baby out already, but you insisted you’d rather cut yourself open with Sandu than let these butchers touch you.”
Wen Qing is inspecting her new workspace and criticizing it as if she had actually stepped into a butcher’s workroom, which Wei Wuxian deems as meaning she has things well in hand.
“I can feel it is time,” Jiang Cheng tells him, looking fretful, eyes huge on his pale face. He grasps Wei Wuxian’s hand. “My golden core is fully formed.” His fingers tighten on Wei Wuxian’s. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
Wei Wuxian gives him a sweet peck on the lips, followed by a far raunchier kiss that has Wen Qing berating him.
“I’ll be with you every step of the way,” he promises.
In truth, the birth will be less risky than the conception simply because Jiang Cheng now has a full-fledged golden core and all the self-healing that comes with it. It is still far more nerve-wracking for Wei Wuxian. This time, there is very little he can do but remain at Jiang Cheng’s side, hold his hand and pump a steady stream of his own qi right into his meridians.
Wei Wuxian has never been good at standing by and doing nothing.
He talks to Jiang Cheng until Wen Qing’s needles force him into a deep, painless sleep, then he keeps talking at him to fill the silence.
Yunmeng Jiang’s heir is born in the dark hours before dawn.
His cries are loud and indignant, and Wei Wuxian laughs with tears in his eyes.
“Look, A-Cheng, he has your temper,” he says as he proudly presents the swaddled baby to Jiang Cheng, who looks blearily at the screaming, frowning infant thrust in his face.
“And your ugly chin,” Jiang Cheng croaks out, his voice croaky and brittle but already halfway to vitriolic. “Poor child.”
Wei Wuxian makes a wounded noise in the back of his throat. “Stop it. You’re exhausted. No insulting me until you have rested.”
“As if insulting you takes much effort when you make it so easy,” Jiang Cheng mutters, but his voice is already trailing off as his attention is captured by their baby. He has quieted to suckle at the finger Jiang Cheng is offering him and looks triumphant with his prize.
Wei Wuxian laughs. He covertly wipes away tears, albeit not covertly enough to escape Jiang Cheng’s notice.
“Don’t cry. You didn’t make him ugly enough for tears.”
“But A-Cheng,” he says, “We have a baby.”
“Trust me, I noticed. I birthed him.”
“So mean, Jiang Cheng! This is no joking matter!” Wei Wuxian pouts.
He softens before Wei Wuxian can protest any further, letting a soft little smile light up his face. His fingers caress a tiny pudgy cheek with gentle hesitation.
Once he is satisfied with inspecting the baby in his arms, he seizes Wei Wuxian up. “Are you going to kiss me already or will you make me pin you down right after I was cut open?”
Wei Wuxian is frozen for a moment before he gives a startled laugh and complies.
Tomorrow, the war will continue.
They have retaken Lotus Pier but now they must hold it, while pushing forward into Qishan. Wen Ruohan still has the Yin Iron and his army of puppets.
it won’t be easy. This war is going to be long and hard; it has barely even begun.
They will need to be clever and ruthless and can’t let themselves be divided.
But these are concerns for tomorrow.
Today, Wei Wuxian holds his baby in his arms while a strong golden core spins in Jiang Cheng’s body.
He has two impossible things right in front of his eyes. They can win the war and make it three, Wei Wuxian has never been more convinced of the inevitability of their victory than today.
As long as Jiang Cheng and he are united, there is no impossible feat they can’t achieve.