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Jiang Cheng is having a good day.
He's home in Lotus Pier at last after almost a year away. His brother, recovered from his injuries and his illness, is home too, along with their respective spouses and Jiang Cheng's older nephew. Jiang Cheng has looked over the construction work in progress for the new buildings, and now he's sitting in the sunshine with his youngest shidi (who is tiny and adorable) working on golden core exercises.
Xiao-shidi is sweet and showing signs of the beginnings of his core, and his parents are earnestly excited that their son will be a cultivator. (Jiang Cheng vaguely knew them, before, they're from the town, but he is given to understand that xiao-shidi's mother was A-Yuan's wetnurse, so he's glad they're staying. It seems somehow like they should be family, now.) A-Yuan is even younger and tinier and cuter than xiao-shidi, but A-Yuan is his brother's son, and so begins a new generation of disciples.
Jiang Cheng is enjoying working with xiao-shidi, because seriously. So cute.
He's noticing, though, that the kid seems like he's starting to get tired, so Jiang Cheng should probably deliver him back to his mother.
When he emerges from Madam Ce's rooms, he sees Lan Huan across the courtyard; his husband sees him and comes towards him, looking... odd. Slightly shaken, perhaps, but also happy?
"Wen Qing wants to talk to you," Lan Huan says, more-or-less cutting off any chance that Jiang Cheng could ask him about it. "She's in the library."
The library was one of the first buildings completed in the new expansion, not least because by the time the plans were completed, it was clear that Wen Qing would be coming home from Gusu with a truly vast collection of notes, and that would have been enough even if it hadn't seemed like it might be a good idea to have room for her to unpack her personal collection of medical texts.
it's currently more spacious than they need it to be, but Jiang Cheng has strong suspicions that in time Lotus Pier will have the finest library outside of the Cloud Recesses; perhaps even finer, in the specific area of medical texts.
Wen Qing locks the door behind him after he enters.
She seems nervous.
"Is everything all right? Lan Huan said you wanted to see me," he says.
She smiles, but it's tense.
"Yes. I did." She takes a breath, visibly composes herself. "A-Cheng, you love your nephews very much, don't you?"
He can't help his reflexive smile at the mention of them. "I do. They're great, aren't they?" His nephews are so great, is the thing. They're so cute and delightful. A-Ling is tinier than should be allowed, Jiang Cheng can't get over how a whole person can be so little and yet still exist and be perfectly formed with such tiny fingers and toes. A-Yuan is a toddler and he's just impossibly cute and sweet and so much fun, he's barely more than knee-high yet still somehow one of the best people Jiang Cheng has ever met.
Her smile warms. "They are. They're both very sweet. I have very much enjoyed seeing you with them. I was wondering..." She stops, swallows. "I was wondering if perhaps you might like to be a father, and not just an uncle."
He blinks, replaying that sentence in his head.
"A father?"
She nods.
"Is there a - a child who needs to be adopted, or...?" He'd have thought he'd have heard, if there were any such children in the town, but -
Wen Qing is shaking her head. "No, A-Cheng. A child of your blood. Ours." She looks away. "The procedure of conception is really very simple, in medical terms. If you prefer, you need not even be conscious. I've been looking very carefully at my texts, and I have some hope that we shouldn't need too many attempts." He notices that hands are clasped together very tightly. "I have already spoken to A-Huan about it, and he says that he would welcome a child, but the decision is very much ours..."
Jiang Cheng takes her hands in his, and she falls silent.
"I need to know," he says, "are you saying this because you want a child, or because you think I do, or that we're obligated to because I'm the sect heir? Because I - you know, I didn't marry you expecting - it's not - I love you, as you are, and -"
"A-Cheng." She squeezes his hands. "I know you have no expectations. But I have seen you be an uncle, and I think - you're very charming with them, and I thought perhaps that I would like to see you be a father. The more I considered it, the more I began to think that I might like to be a mother, after all. I know neither of us is inclined towards - the necessary procedures, but I think we have both done far more unpleasant things in the past, and for far less reward than a child."
He nods. That's true.
And now he's thinking about it, and - a child, a child of theirs, one he doesn't have to give back all the time, who'll be just as tiny and perfect as his nephews but who'll be his, and Wen Qing's, and Lan Huan's.
He's smiling so much his face is aching with it. "Yes," he says. "Please. That would be wonderful."
---
Three months later, his sister arrives with Zixuan and A-Ling for a visit at his invitation, and Jiang Cheng nervously gathers his family together.
"I wanted to tell you all together," he says, "that we - we have some important, uh, an important announcement," and he probably should have planned what he was going to say, because that was already terrible and now his family are staring at him expectantly.
He hears Wen Qing's very slight sigh. "I'm pregnant," she says.
His mother and sister gasp. His father smiles. Zixuan looks approving. Wangji looks... like Wangji, and Wei Wuxian is making a face that looks like he's torn between joy and outrage.
"Congratulations," his mother says, to a chorus of agreement that notably does not quite include Wei Wuxian.
"What does that mean?" A-Yuan asks.
"You're going to have another cousin," Lan Huan explains, and A-Yuan looks surprised and pleased.
"I like cousins," he says. "Thank you."
---
Later that day, Jiang Cheng finds himself pinned to a wall by Wei Wuxian.
He sort of let it happen, because he did see it coming. They know better than to surprise each other with attacks the way they used to when they were children. But still, Wei Wuxian seemed very intent, so it seemed wiser to let him be dramatic about whatever it is he feels the need to say.
"Tell me you didn't push her to do this," Wei Wuxian says, and he looks... oh. He's genuinely worried, and upset that he even thought of it, and upset by the thought itself. "You - I mean, you wouldn't, right? You would never."
Jiang Cheng wonders if he should be offended, but he knows he isn't. He was surprised too, when Wen Qing suggested it, and he knows that Wen Qing once died to try and protect Wei Wuxian, and his brother really isn't over that. He can understand him being... protective. And Wei Wuxian isn't accusing him of anything so much as wanting reassurance of Jiang Cheng's innocence.
So he just says, "I didn't, I promise," and Wei Wuxian loosens his grip and exhales.
"Okay," he says. "Okay." He straightens Jiang Cheng's robe where he'd disordered it, and then pauses. "How was - I mean, you -" He stops. "Never mind."
Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. "You know how you became a father by wrangling a charred corpse on a battlefield to bring your son out of a burning building?"
"Uh. Yes?"
He pats Wei Wuxian's shoulder. "It was less unpleasant than that."
---
Wen Qing's mother died many years ago. Jiang Cheng's own mother will be taking her place at the birth.
Births. Wen Qing informed them months before that she will be having twins.
Jiang Cheng is somewhat anxious as the time is drawing near, but he's Wangji levels of calm compared to Wei Wuxian.
Still, it all goes, apparently, smoothly, by the standards of such things, and Jiang Cheng is holding a tiny, squalling boy, utterly perfect in every way; as the father, it's his job to give his child his first bath, but he only has one pair of hands, so his mother gives their second son to Lan Huan, and that's perfect too.
---
When his eldest nephew turns five, the whole family makes a trip to join Wei Wuxian, Wangji and A-Yuan in Gusu for his naming ceremony. They travel from Lotus Pier with horses and a carriage. Jiang Cheng's mother rides in the carriage, even though she doesn't have to.
Wen Qing and Qin Su do have to, apparently, because they're both pregnant. (Qin Su has been staying at Lotus Pier, because Wen Qing's own pregnancy makes extensive travel between Lotus Pier and Qishan problematic, but Wen Qionglin was far too anxious about the idea of his beloved wife's pregnancy being overseen by anyone other than his sister, the best doctor in the world.)
A-Kuo gets restless riding in the carriage, so Jiang Cheng and Lan Huan will often take him to ride with them for a while; A-Fa is a calmer child, and seems to enjoy the opportunity for his mother, aunt, and grandmother's undivided attention.
It turns out that his mother's indulgent approach to A-Yuan was not a byproduct of the... unusual circumstances surrounding that child. Jiang Cheng's own children can also, apparently, do absolutely no wrong in her eyes. Jiang Cheng occasionally has to go and meditate himself to calmness before he loses his mind at the sheer injustice of it, because even though the boys are tiny, they are capable of misbehaviour, and his mother frowns at him when he corrects them and says that they're only little, like that ever would have made a difference when Jiang Cheng was a child.
Honestly, it's unbelievable. He's not sure he's ever felt quite so betrayed in his life.
They travel by easy stages, and arrive at the Cloud Recesses without incident.
As usual, without incident fails to survive reaching the vicinity of Wei Wuxian, the human incident.
His brother is just barely mindful of the three young children present, and does not actually assault Jiang Cheng in front of them, but he's vibrating with apparent fury and drags Jiang Cheng away at the first opportunity.
"Wen Qing is pregnant again!" he hisses furiously. "What did you do?"
Jiang Cheng stares at him. "I know Wangji is a man, but I'd have thought you'd at least be familiar with the theory."
"That's not what I mean and you know it," Wei Wuxian says. "If you're going to tell me this was an accident I am not even slightly going to believe you."
Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. "She wanted another child. I wasn't going to tell her no."
Wei Wuxian scowls. "I'm only not fighting you for her honour because she'd stab me with needles and also there is a very important occasion happening."
Jiang Cheng grins and hugs him. "Yeah. There is."
---
Jiang Cheng's third nephew is born in Lotus Pier. They host Wen Lei's one-month celebration, too, and then the Wen return to Qishan; Jiang Cheng attends the one-month celebration of his first niece, Jin Fang, without his spouses or children, and then hurries back to Wen Qing and Lan Huan in time for the birth of his daughter.
The twins are dubious about Jiang Bo right up until the moment Sizhui meets her and instantly adores her, because the boys love Sizhui and want to be like Sizhui in all things. (Jiang Cheng is very definitely ignoring his mother's pointedly amused look about that. Even when they were kids, he never liked Wei Wuxian that much.) If Sizhui is excited about A-Bo, then A-Kuo and A-Fa are excited about her too.
Sizhui thanks Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing very politely for his new cousin, and Jiang Cheng is charmed by the realisation that Sizhui has taken every announcement that you will have another cousin to mean that cousins are gifts from his aunts and uncles to Sizhui, and his well-mannered nephew is taking care to show appropriate gratitude for their kindness.
A-Yuan's influence already smoothed another difficulty into nonexistence. They had discussions about how the boys should address Lan Huan, and reluctantly agreed that they should probably call him uncle; despite that, the twins insist on calling him Father. They're still limited in their vocabulary, at that stage, but A-Yuan explained, with an air of impatience that his elders are so silly and slow of understanding, that obviously if Uncle Purple is their Daddy, then Uncle Tall must be their Father.
It's an explanation that will passably withstand all scrutiny; they go with it. It would have broken A-Yuan's heart, anyway, to explain that yet more cousins were so unfortunate as to have only one father, and in this case, Jiang Cheng is firm, that isn't even true.
(And Jiang Cheng is still unwilling to be the one who prompts his nephew to ask why he doesn't have a mother.)
Fatherhood is wonderful. He has his spouses, his parents, and his well-established, thriving sect; even with three children, he suspects he is having a much easier time of it than he must have in the time when everyone else was dead and he was left to care for Jin Ling while rebuilding the Jiang alone. He doesn't think too much about that. It's enough that he has this now, that he's certain he's a better father now than he was to Jin Ling.
Wei Wuxian and Wangji come frequently to Lotus Pier from Gusu, but they also visit Qishan, and Lanling; Jiang Cheng is sure he'd find their lifestyle exhausting, but it helps that they can travel very lightly, as they have permanent homes in each location. (When Nie Huaisang found out that they had residences everywhere else, he joked that it was clear that keeping a place for Wei Wuxian and Hanguang-Jun was the mark of an elite sect, and set an apartment aside in Qinghe. They visit there less often, but they visit, and Lan Huan sometimes uses their apartment when he visits their eldest sworn brother alone.)
With such an extensive support network for his family, Jiang Cheng is able to be confident his children won't suffer when he's away; he tries to be away as little as possible, but he has his duties. His father is the Chief Cultivator. His mother has more-or-less assumed the role of Jiang Sect Leader entirely, but there are some things for which Jiang Cheng is needed, and he has one other task, no less important for being self-appointed.
He has sought out and commissioned the finest artisan in the land to construct the sheath for Sizhui's sword. Things are going very, very well for the Jiang Sect, and Jiang Cheng is a very wealthy man; when money is no object, and your goal is something truly exceptional, for reasons of love, the services of the very very best can be obtained with little difficulty, but the man is very busy, and Jiang Cheng does not want this work to be rushed, at all; he wants perfection.
Arranging for the sword itself takes a different path.
Jiang Cheng goes to see Popo, because he hasn't seen her in too long, anyway, and he wants to ask her advice.
"I decided a while ago I wanted to be the one to give my nephew his sword myself," he explains. They're having tea today on a platform that overlooks a stream that runs through the middle of her house, tinkling between ginkgo trees. "I thought you might have advice. Is there anything special I should look for? I want him to have the best," he says.
Popo looks thoughtful. "This is your nephew xiao-Yuan, yes? The others are too small."
"Yes." He smiles. She doesn't, and he wonders if that should be concerning.
"I will make it," she says, astonishingly.
"You will?" He blinks. Popo doesn't take anything resembling commissions. "Popo, I cannot ask -"
"You are not asking me, I am telling you," she says firmly. "He is xiao-Ying's son to his soul, and you must understand that I mean that very literally, and that there is a danger to him, in that. One that we cannot shield him from entirely, no matter how we try, but we can do our best to see that he will have the tools to survive it." She tilts her head, looking at him thoughtfully. "You love him, and you love your brother," she says, and Jiang Cheng can feel his cheeks getting warm, because he's not - he's not embarrassed, or ashamed, but he doesn't say those things, and it feels strange and awkward for them to be seen and acknowledged so openly.
"I - yes, of course," he mumbles.
Popo smiles. "No-one will ever see your nephew's sword and doubt your love for him, xiao-Cheng."
---
Wen Qing has decided that she will have one more child, but when Wei Wuxian finds out this time, Jiang Cheng has a ready defense.
"Hey, don't look at me," he tells his fuming brother. "I wasn't involved. Talk to Lan Huan."
(Lan Huan, he knows, will also tell Wei Wuxian that it was her idea, which it was, and that he himself wasn't even conscious when the necessary procedures were conducted, because he wasn't; he agreed in advance, of course, but he didn't want to be awake for it. He'd woken the next morning, already bathed and dressed, and been assured that it all went well.)
Officially, they will say that this child is Jiang Cheng's; if it's a boy, Lan Huan will be adopting the son of his sworn brother as his heir. Jiang Cheng knows all too well how cultivators gossip; he looks forward to being extremely threatening if anyone says anything about it.
His fourth child is a boy, and is named Lan Cong. Jiang Cheng's family begins spending summers in Gusu. (It's not a sacrifice. Summer in Yunmeng is unpleasantly hot and sticky.)
Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian begin conducting their training exercises in the Cloud Recesses every year while they're there. It's fun even though Jiang Cheng usually loses, and over time they hammer out new rules, and new alliances. (Lan Qiren casts illusions for Jiang Cheng. Wangji helps Wei Wuxian plan. It's as fair as any contest can be when Wei Wuxian is involved, because Wei Wuxian cheats.)
Jiang Cheng tries sincerely to eliminate every disciple, and is always annoyed when he eliminates any of them, because they all might have lived if they did better - if they were more cautious, more thoughtful, more attentive.
Wei Wuxian had suggested that perhaps he could spend more time in Lotus Pier now that Sizhui is not the Lan Sect's heir, but it doesn't happen; Wei Wuxian now has classes to teach, and Wangji's regular presence in Gusu does much to allow Lan Huan to stay away.
It's strange, Jiang Cheng thinks, that he misses his brother, and yet he is grateful for his absence.
---
When Jiang Cheng visited to take Popo the name Sizhui has chosen for his sword (it's perfect, Jiang Cheng is so proud), Popo fixed him with a look and said: "I have heard things about you, xiao-Cheng. The next time you come to see me, bring your whole family."
So when he goes to collect the sword he brings Wen Qing, and Lan Huan, and all of the children, and tries not to think about what will happen if she's unhappy with his unconventional arrangements.
When they arrive, Popo surveys the whole group with a critical stare.
"You know, xiao-Cheng, when your brother told me that he wasn't the only one who'd married a Lan, I knew he wasn't lying, but I thought he must be mistaken," she says. "I owe that child an apology." And then she smiles. "Welcome, all of you."
The children adore her immediately, because children always do. (Even A-Cong, who - and Jiang Cheng says this with a father's love, adoration, and total support - is an unfriendly child, and is showing strong signs of being very nearly as bitchy as Wangji. Jiang Cheng hadn't known a two-year-old could evince such judgmental disapproval of the entire world. Apparently he married the only Lan who's actually nice other than Sizhui.) Wen Qing and Lan Huan are won over more slowly, but they are won over, and Jiang Cheng is relieved.
When they leave, neither of his spouses pass comment on the extra box he puts in their luggage - sealed tightly, and inscribed with locking charms.
---
The sheath for Sizhui's sword is complete, and it's beautiful - truly a work of art, and ostentatiously Jiang. Jiang Cheng is so very pleased with it. He'll have to start on the twins' swords too, soon, but they don't need to be quite so excessive in their design. The twins wear Jiang colours, always will. He won't need their swords to advertise their connection to his sect and to him.
He is well aware that the reputation of Sandu Shengshou has become fearsome, that many people from other sects now whisper that one should never dare give offense to such a person. He's quite fine with that, because he's also made it clear that he takes offense to insult to his family; much of his reputation's growth since the end of the Sunshot Campaign derives from that very issue.
Some of the Wen sect's smaller neighbours were for a time emboldened by the timid and accommodating nature of the Wen Sect Leader, and began encroaching on his borders. These neighbours were close to the borders of Qinghe, but Nie Mingjue could not be told; it would make him too angry, pose too great a threat to his health. It was a continuing, worsening problem until Qin Su thought to write to her sister-in-law about it.
Wen Qing had received the letter, and read it without the slightest change in her expression; she then handed it to Jiang Cheng with no comment at all.
Jiang Cheng had collected a squad of cultivators and gone to have a polite, yet comprehensive discussion with the offending persons.
Qishan's borders have been stable and secure for several years now.
A-Bo and A-Cong's swords will have to be notable, though. A-Bo may perhaps marry out of the sect, and A-Cong is a Lan.
The whole family travels shortly afterwards to Gusu, because Sizhui is ten, and in the Lan traditions, it's time for him to receive his sword.
Which will be tricky if Jiang Cheng doesn't turn up, since he's the one who has it.
(Apparently the Elders of the Lan Sect had been outraged about Sizhui receiving his sword from Jiang Cheng, but Wangji was still holding a grudge about their tendency to treat him and Sizhui as if they weren't also Jiang when A-Yuan was little. According to Wei Wuxian, that doesn't happen any more because Lan Qiren Took Steps, but Wangji is, of course, the spectacular bitch Jiang Cheng has come to know and love, and is not over it even a little bit, and insisted that the gift of Sandu Shengshou to his shizhi was welcome.)
The ceremony is relatively simple. This is an intermediate stage in a cultivator's development.
Sizhui is still sweet and polite and well-behaved in a way Jiang Cheng's children will likely never be, and listens with solemn attention to the admonishments about dedication and seriousness he is offered about care with such a dangerous thing as his new sword.
Jiang Cheng steps forward, and pulls the gorgeous sheath from its protective wrappings, and he can feel the disapproval of the Lan Elders as Sizhui takes it with a smile. It's deep, vibrant purple, with silver embossing that ripples down the sheath like a river. A lotus flower is picked out in amethyst near the hilt, and there's a small, delicate plum blossom just above the chape, and all of it screams Jiang (except the plum blossom, which whispers Wen). Every part of it is stunningly, perfectly made.
And then he unseals the locking charms from the box he brought from Meishan and holds it out, because he has been instructed that Sizhui must be the first to touch it, the one to draw the blade from the box.
Sizhui does so, and Jiang Cheng can't help but smile. He will have to be sure to visit Popo regularly - he owes her, for this.
Sizhui's sword is beautiful, elegant and obviously well-made. There is a sense to it of power not yet awoken.
And then his nephew touches the hilt, and it comes alive.
The glares of cultivator swords are often attuned to their sect; Jiang Cheng doesn't have the faintest understanding of the process, he's not a blacksmith, but the swords of the Lan, in particular, almost always shine blue.
When Lan Sizhui puts his hand to his sword, a violet glow reflects off the ceiling of the hall.
When Lan Sizhui pulls it free of the box, and holds it up, everyone present can see the way that purple lightning sparks along the blade.
"What's it called?" Jiang Cheng asks, even though he knows - he was the one who told Popo, who forged it into the blade below the hilt.
"Shuangzong," Sizhui says, and his smile is sweet and does not even slightly betray that he absolutely definitely did that on purpose when at least one Elder has a fit.
---
"Purple lightning? Really?" Wei Wuxian says later, when the family can be alone.
Jiang Cheng grins, unrepentant. "It's not Zidian. It's less flexible, literally and metaphorically. But Popo says it should still work against possession, even if he hits someone with the flat of it, and it's awfully impressive, don't you think? Sizhui, you can tell it to quiet the lightning effect when you want it to be less..." He waves a hand. "Less."
Sizhui nods, and draws the blade a little way out from the sheath. It looks normal, now, just the violet glare. "I could... feel that," he says. "But I thought it best to show the capabilities of Uncle's magnificent gift." He smiles at Jiang Cheng with sweet warmth, the smile that has held a piece of Jiang Cheng's heart since he met the kid. "Thank you, Uncle, truly."
"It was my pleasure," he says, and means it. "If anyone gives you trouble, make sure they see that so they know you mean it when you tell them that if they mess with you, Sandu Shengshou will be personally offended."
"Of course, Uncle," Sizhui says, with a little bow, and Wei Wuxian smiles, and even Wangji looks pleased, and Lan Huan and Wen Qing are looking fond as Jiang Cheng's older boys go to Sizhui and start asking if they can see his new sword, and Jiang Cheng loves his family so, so much.