Work Text:
魔道祖师
Half the names on the list had already been crossed off. It had been…a long, arduous, work-in-progress, and he sipped his tea as he watched his partner (the love of his potentially very long life), sitting on the couch on the other side of the table, go over the remaining names.
“I won’t have her there,” she tells him, as she comes across, and subsequently glares, at one name in particular; his wince is unintentional. It had been automatic to write her name when he came to writing the names for those they might invite from the Jiang Sect, simply because of her position. When going back to reread it, he’d come across it, and thought about swiping his brush through it, dismissing it.
Except, as Jiang Fengmian’s wife, to invite him but not her…
“It would not be politically apt to-”
“Our wedding,” she interrupts, “is not going to be a political statement to anyone. You and your uncle are the ones insisting on this…mess, not me, and if I have to suffer through it, I’m not going to do it with people I would rather kill on sight.”
It’s not the first time they’ve had an disagreement like this, although this has never before been the reason. Marriage ceremonies don’t exist where Yíngrán comes from, although marriage in the form of choosing to be with someone, vowing it too each other, and wearing some sort of symbol does. Her people don’t have the concept of family names either, simply referring to someone as the spouse, parent, or child of someone else, because somehow no-one has the same name.
He’s also not the one insisting on the wedding banquet either. No, that would be his uncle, who is determined to have his and A-Zhan’s marriages be preceded by the wedding ceremonies and banquets that their father never had, due to the way he married their mother. Not letting their marriage be shrouded in shame like his father’s is one of the few reasons he’s bowed to his uncle’s requests demands on the matter, especially with what he and A-Zhan now know about the history behind their parents’ matrimony.
That and he has a feeling that A-Zhan’s choice in partner is going to be nowhere near as acceptable to Uncle as his is to Yíngrán. If he has to balance submitting to an extravagant, lavish wedding so that A-Zhan will be happy, then so be it.
“A-Rán, please. We cannot invite anyone from the Jiang Sect without firstly inviting the leader of the Sect, which, unfortunately, includes his wife.” It sits ill in his mouth to say it of the woman, especially without having interacted with her in any sort of non-formal capacity, but he has heard, from multiple sources, of the type of woman she is.
He will be forever grateful to those in Lotus Pier for the actions they undertook when Yíngrán first arrived in their lands; injured, incapable of speaking their language, they had helped without recompense. And for that, it had been them to whom they had sent his betrothal gifts to, a smaller amount than it would have been if she were their biological child, but nothing that would slight them or seem paltry.
A-Zhan had gone to Lotus Pier to deliver them, as well as visit Wei Wuxian, as he had been invited to do so. On his return, several days later, it had been very telling, through his silence on the matter, of his opinion of the woman, as to lie was against their Sect rules. If A-Zhan could not answer a question without lying, he typically pretended you had not spoken. A-Zhan had ignored several of their questions when he came back to Cloud Recesses.
“Then perhaps you should suggest to Jiang Fengmian that it would be better to send his children as their Sect’s emissary, instead of he and his wife attending themselves. For if she attends, I most certainly will not!”
With that she leaves, teleporting from her seat with a faint swoosh as air rushes in to fill the gap her body has left, and he sighs lightly, placing his cup back on the table, closing his eyes as he leans backwards.
A-Zhan is not the only reason he does not want to invite Yu Ziyuan. He remembers talking to visitors from Yunmeng-Jiang over the years when they were sent here to study, especially remembers the year Jiang-gongzi, Jiang-guniang, and Wei Wuxian had attended. Not just because of their attendance, but it had also been the year Jin-gongzi had attended, the second year for Huaisang (he’s almost certain the younger man failed the first time on purpose so as to avoid Mingjue and therefore his brother’s training sessions), the first year ever that any Wens had attended in the history of Gusu-Lan lectures…
And the year of the Yin Iron.
It was impossible to forget that year, especially in light of everything that happened afterwards.
But he is digressing.
He is intentionally digressing, so as to waste time, because precisely how is he meant to write and inform Jiang-zongzhu that his wife will not be welcome at his wedding? The wedding that he knows is being called the ‘wedding of the century’, due to the story behind it?
Perhaps if he was to have only Sect-heirs at the wedding, that they would tour the realms afterwards and visit each Sect individually? Aiya, but he wants Mingjue at his wedding!
How is he to tell Jiang-zongzhu that Yu Ziyuan will not be welcome because of her…entire demeanour? That because she is a bitter, sour woman, she is not invited? That because of her shrill and insulting nature, not just towards Wei Wuxian (but primarily towards Wei Wuxian, whom Yíngrán considers as close to her as a baby brother), she is not allowed to attend?
He cannot do this in a letter, he decides as he gathers up the list of names to whom invites are to be specifically sent. It had been a trial for both of them to draft their own lists, to later compile them into one. His had been written with politics mostly in mind, with etiquette demanding that he invite the various Gusu-zongzhu of the various cities and towns that did not have other Sects within them. Thankfully, most of his ‘friends’ (there was a difference between ‘friends’ and ‘acquaintances’, after all) outside of Gusu-Lan were either fellow Sect Leaders, or Sect heirs, which made inviting them easier.
Hers was…different. There were people she definitely wanted there (Jiang-guniang, Wei Wuxian, Xue-gongzi and Huaisang), people she’d like to be there (Jin-gongzi, Jiang-gongzi, Wen-gongzi, Wen-guniang and Meng Yao), and people who she wouldn’t mind if they ‘decided they’d like to attend’, such as Mingjue, Luo-guniang, and Jiang-zongzhu.
Ah, he hasn’t taken into account that it is likely Jin-zongzhu will be attending, if only to show his face at the banquet. Another that must also be invited, simply for inter-Sect relations, especially since Gusu’s northern border is Lanling’s southern, and through Lanling’s realm ran two of the Grand Canal’s waterways, one of which was vital for Qinghe’s trade.
Aiya, is it too late to simply do the bows like Yíngrán wishes?
魔道祖师