Chapter Text
By the time the escape happens, none of the Elders in charge of the little ones are certain how little Lan Lihua managed to escape the creche, they only know that she’s managed to escape when a tearful junior reports them that they accidentally left an outer door open while forgetting that the curious little girl was in the outer room instead of the inner rooms where the youngest children are supposed to stay. So after assigning punishment to the junior, they quietly set about searching for the missing child before the rest of the Elders find out while already dealing with the chaotic mess of the visiting Guest Disciples.
*
Wei Wuxian is quietly copying lines from the Book of Conduct in the public area of the Sect Library with Lan Zhan watching him do the punishment when the sound of loud crying reaches his ears and tugs at his attention until yelling reaches his ears as well, followed then by the sound of Nie-xiong joining in, then he puts his ick down on the ink tray. He meets Lan Zhan’s gaze as the other young man looks up at him as he stands up.
“Say, Lan Zhan.” He lets confusion color his voice as he speaks, tilting his head slightly towards the chaos outside. “Are there supposed to be little Lans on this side of your Sect’s grounds?”
“No.” A small frown darkens Lan Zhan’s normally calm face as he stops to listen as well. “Our youngest members are supposed to be in another area where visitors cannot bother them. On the other side of the Sect near where our Elders and many of the female Disciples reside. For one to have gotten this far from the Elders watching over the children…”
‘It must mean trouble with the assigned watchers.’ Wei Wuxian realizes as his body unconsciously moves towards the door and the crying Lan that is surrounded by chaos and still carefully sheltered by their Elders from the world until they are of age to join it. He sensed Lan Zhan quickly moving to follow him without protest towards his actions of not cleaning the mess of papers behind them before investigating the commotion outside.
The scene that he finds in the courtyard is certainly one of disordered pandemonium that Wei Wuxian wouldn’t ever associate with the Lans themselves as he spots Nie Huaisang crying with the Lan child in his lap while a red faced Jiang Cheng shouts at them to shut up. Hot irritation at his shidi, for being so thoughtless towards the young Lan, flares inside his chest as Wei Wuxian pushes his way through the crowd towards the child that somehow no one is trying to comfort and in the center of the circle where the child in white Lan robes, that he can now see is a little girl, stops sobbing long enough to look at Wei Wuxian’s approach as he kneels down to their level and he’s suddenly got his arms full of a little warm, shivering body wiping gooey snot into his robes.
“Shhh…” He pays very little attention to that fact as he works on consoling the child by rubbing her back gently and letting her be soothed by his aura as Wei Wuxian lets some of it flare in response to the child’s distress, ignoring the irritated Jiang Cheng and the other curious silent watchers around them. “There, there, little. No need to cry now that someone has found you. Shhh, shh. Everything will be okay now.”
He doesn’t quite startle at the sudden shadow that appears, only calmly blinking his thanks at Lan Zhan when the silent Second Jade appears above him with an umbrella to block the sun as the child’s tears turn to hiccups and she lightly nuzzles the side of his neck as Wei Wuxian continues to rub her small back.
Everything is well on track to getting the child towards sleep so that everyone can get back to their routines once he finds the Elders in charge of the littlest Lans and return to the library to complete his punishment before -
“What is going on here?”
‘Well, there goes that plan.’ Wei Wuxian thinks blandly as he watches the crowd parts to reveal Lan Qiren and Zewu-Jun with another Lan Elder, whose eyes widen as they spot the child in his arms while the crowd scatters leaving Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang, and Lan Zhan with him. For some reason, Wei Wuxian notes that apparently having a child in his arms, makes something soften in the ice-like expressions of Lan Zhan’s two family members as his attention turns to mind the other Elder now coming to his side.
“I’m so glad to see you safe, child.” The other Elder is at his side immediately, their surprise giving way to concern towards the little one. “Here you are, Lihua. How you got this far, I will never understand.” Soft eyes flick up to meet Wei Wuxian’s gaze. “Wei-gongzi, this Elder, thank you for caring for Lan Lihua in her time of distress until I could find her.”
“I don’t mind, I like children.” Wei Wuxian carefully shrugs the shoulder that Lihua isn’t resting on as he rubs her back. “I’m happy to help out. Will she be going back to her parents then?”
“No. Unfortunately they died a week after she was born on a Nighthunt. They didn't have much time to bond with her.” The Elder’s expression turns sad and Wei Wuxian feels his heart start to break for the child in his arms. “She has yet to form any strong emotional bonds with the caregivers at our creche.” The Elder’s eyes seem to glint with soft amusement as he feels the child tuck her head underneath his chin. “May I take her back now, Wei-gongzi?”
“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that. Here you go.” Wei Wuxian swallows and attempts to give the child back to the Elder, only to have a small hand grab and yank hard on his red ribbon as a small set of amber eyes turns to glare at him for trying to give her back. “Ow, ow. Please let go, a-Hua.”
“I see the situation now.” He glances up in time to see the Elder’s mouth form a soft ‘Oh’ shape with her mouth. “It seems she doesn’t want to leave you, Wei-gongzi. She’s found something in your aura that she likes and has chosen you.” Then the Elder turns to Lan Qiren. “Until a better solution can be found, I would like to suggest that Wei-gongzi take charge of Lan Lihua’s welfare since they seem to have a fragile start to their bond. Separating them would no doubt mean she goes on an adventure trying to find him again.”
“I would strongly disagree with the choice. Wei Wuxian should not be allowed to have unhindered access to impressionable young children.” Lan Qiren’s eyes find him, the start of a glare forming as he too moves towards them as Lan Zhan moves slightly to the side to allow his Shufu closer access to the event area. “Unhand the child, Wei Wuxian now. Before you are assigned to more lines -”
To the surprise of everyone present, Lan Lihua turns her fierce little glare towards the Elder and tries to bite his hand. Wei Wuxian finds himself vaguely impressed that a Lan child would dare to try that against one of their Elders.
Before he can protest at the suggestion, Lan Qiren nods slowly, the Elder’s reluctance on the matter, of leaving a Lan child in the temporary care of an outsider, showing through his posture and voice. “I’ll allow it for now. It would keep him out of trouble for the rest of the time he’s here.”
The other Elder nods slightly, smiling slightly. “It's decided then. We will observe them, of course, to make sure that the child isn't negatively affected in Wei-gongzi's care while he’s here for the Lectures.”
Later, Wei Wuxian finds himself moving into a different set of rooms with the child on the premise that the other guest disciples’ rest won’t be disturbed if the child wakes up during the night and cries for attention, with Lan Zhan, Nie Huisang helping him what they needed into it as a darkly scowling Jiang Cheng leaned against the doorway frame, watching the activity as his eyes found the sleeping child every now and then.
After a few moments, he finally speaks. “As if bonding with every child in Lotus Pier and the rest of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect territory wasn’t enough for you. You just had to go and bond with a small Lan child. You have no shame, Wei Wuxian.”
Wei Wuxian ignores the stillness in the other cultivators with them as he turns towards the note of misplaced jealousy and anger appearing in his shidi’s voice. “It wasn’t like I planned any of that or this matter, Jiang Cheng. What do you want me to do? Ignore a crying child next time?”
The dark expression on Jiang Cheng’s face says he would prefer exactly that even as he throws back while going back to the rooms given to the Jiang Sect. “You know what I mean, Wei Wuxian. I just hope that you won’t ruin the face of the Jiang Sect while minding a Lan child.”