Chapter Text
Cranes soared across the back of the hostess’s dark blue cheongsam, disappearing into the straight cut of her long, blonde hair. Black heels clicked gently against dark hardwood, and when she gestured the diamond shining on her left hand was at least two carats.
“Your party is in the Ivy Room. On the left, Professor Wei. It offers a more intimate dining experience for small gatherings.”
Wei Ying felt under dressed. He wasn’t. He really wasn’t. Everything from the bright red noose around his neck to his slippery black shoes had been chosen with care by his sister. She insisted he needed something nice to wear for job interviews after his dissertation defense went well, so she dragged him to a tailor. Since price had never once been mentioned during the visit, he assumed that the simple black suit cost about as much as six months rent in his current apartment.
“Enjoy the Ivy Room, sir. When you take your seat, please note the silver switch under the lip of the table below your soup spoon. As your party has requested minimal disturbances, the switch may be used to summon wait staff between courses if desired.”
“A call button,” he said. “Nice. Don’t worry! I already know to secure my own face mask before assisting those near me in the event of a loss of cabin pressure.”
She smiled. Every tooth shone like a pearl in the soft yellow light of the wall sconces. There was no question in his mind that Wei Ying was a low-class jackass making the exact same joke a thousand inadequate men had made before him. “Just so, sir.”
“Hey.” Wei Ying did not grab her hand as she reached to slide the door to the Ivy Room open. He was an asshole, but he was not that kind of asshole.
She paused, giving him another customer service smile. “Sir?”
“Did they seem mad?”
Her bright blue eyes searched his face. Something seemed to click and her expression softened just enough to seem real. “Your parents or your brother?”
“The parents: Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu,” he said. “My brother’s face is just always like that.”
That earned him a small, polite laugh. “No, sir. While it’s unusual to have the Ivy Room requested for a family gathering rather than a discrete business meeting, your parents both seemed even tempered when they were seated. Your uncle particularly requested that I make note of your title, so I doubt they’re upset with you.”
Wei Ying rubbed the back of his neck. “Cool. Good. Great. This is great. They love that I went into academia instead of business and this is going to be a super chill family dinner.”
Her smile was definitely genuine now because she was clearly laughing at Wei Ying. “Would you like to put in a drink order right away, Professor?”
“Hell, yes,” he said. “Your booziest glass of wine, please.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” That was the full extent of her pity, however. She opened the door.
Uncle Jiang rose from the head of the table as soon as he saw Wei Ying, folding him into a warm embrace. When he pulled back, he kept a hand on each of Wei Ying’s shoulders. Even though they were the same height, it made Wei Ying feel like a child again. Part of him would always be that foster kid; so, so grateful to the man who took him in.
“Look at you,” he said. “Clearly physics is doing well in Chicago. How long has it been?”
“I was home on New Year, Uncle.” He’d been invited back to Lotus Pier for the last two New Years, in fact. Apparently, a job at the University of Chicago was prestigious enough to pretend that Wei Ying had never been cut off. That the five years he spent living in condemned buildings in L.A. while mostly sleeping on the floor of a lab in Pasadena were a youthful excursion, much like the six months Jiang Cheng spent interning with a partner company in Shanghai before coming home to a Vice Presidency with Lotus Limited.
“He wore the same suit on New Year,” said Jiang Cheng.
“Behave,” snapped Madam Yu. Astoundingly, she was talking to her own son. Not Wei Ying. Wei Ying got a polite smile, and an open handed gesture toward his place at the table. “Please have a seat. It’s a very nice suit, Wei Ying.”
Wei Ying stared at her with eyes as bulbous as the wine glass that appeared next to his chair. “Thank you, Madam Yu,” he said, taking a long drink.
“Isn’t this nice,” she said. Wei Ying wondered if someone was dying. For her to be this pleasant, it could only be him. Was it possible that he was dying and no one had told him? How would Madam Yu find out? He was going to need more wine.
"I had a call with Yanli-jie this afternoon," he said, hoping it was a nice, safe topic. "Jin Ling is so big these days! I swear he actually said the word lightsaber when we were talking. He loves that purple one you got him, Jiang Cheng. Must have whacked his mother with it three times while we were on the phone."
Jiang Cheng smiled reluctantly. "You should see him in person. He went from walking to running with it in about a day. Jin Zixuan keeps saying he'll put an eye out, but he never actually takes it away."
Talk about the favored first grandson got them through the appetizers and two courses of a frankly decadent prix fixe menu. Then Wei Ying made his first mistake.
"So," he said to Jiang Cheng, "How's the factory?"
The solar panel and combined high capacity battery factory in south-eastern Wisconsin was Jiang Cheng’s pride and joy. Not only was it a move from Lotus Limited's shipping and freight business into the realm of tech manufacturing, but it was a bold pursuit of renewable energy in a part of the country that tended to be slow on climate change. Wei Ying was proud of his brother for managing it, and he loved that Jiang Cheng usually made a side trip to Chicago whenever he visited the facility. Wei Ying had even done a little under-the-table electrical engineering to ensure that the product would be the most efficient, cost effective, high quality option on the market.
Jiang Cheng scowled.
"The factory is not doing well," said Uncle Jiang.
"Why not?" asked Wei Ying, making his second mistake.
"Lack of investment," snapped Madam Yu. "If your uncle cared at all about this company, he would have supported his son. Renewable energy sources are very popular these days. Plenty of money to be made, provided there's a product to sell."
"I invested as much as Lotus Limited could afford," said Uncle Jiang. "More. That's the problem."
"What do you mean, Uncle?"
"Don't worry about it," said Jiang Cheng. "It's not your problem."
"Of course it's his problem," said Madam Yu. "He's part of this family, isn't he?"
Wei Ying took a sip of his wine. He needed something to blame for the warmth spreading down his chest and the redness in his cheeks. Not so long ago, Madam Yu had been the one cursing his name, telling him that if he didn't want a job in the family business, he would never see another cent of the family fortune. She even told him that if he didn't work for Lotus Limited, there would be no need for him to set foot at Lotus Pier ever again. But apparently getting a full time job as a professor changed a few things. She permitted Jiang Cheng to invite him home for the New Year celebration last year. Now, after only two visits, she was already calling him family again.
Wei Ying’s memory was so bad. He couldn’t think of a time she'd referred to him as family even back when he lived at Lotus Pier full time as a child.
"Of course I am," Wei Ying agreed. "How can I help?"
"Ah," said Uncle Jiang. "It's a little complicated."
"It's really not," said Jiang Cheng.
Madam Yu glared until he fell silent.
"A-Cheng’s factory isn't doing well."
"Due to lack of initial investment," said Madam Yu.
"For whatever reason," repeated Uncle Jiang, "A-Cheng’s factory isn't doing well. In addition to a serious influx of cash, it needs solid management from someone more familiar with the challenges of green infrastructure and an existing distribution framework. Lotus Limited vastly overextended in the investment; if we don't pull back to refocus, we're in serious trouble."
"You're going to sell?"
Jiang Cheng took a miserable pull from his own wine glass, but eventually looked up to meet Wei Ying's sympathetic gaze. "It's an asset. Like any other. We have a number of offers."
"One offer," said Madam Yu.
Uncle Jiang shifted uncomfortably. "Several buyers are willing to take pieces of the venture. The battery patent, in particular, is very desirable. Any experienced business man will want to move everything except maybe assembly overseas, though. That would still leave Lotus with an unusable production facility and an expensive inventory. We would be responsible for massive layoffs, which would lead to a great deal of bad press. It will ruin our existing partnerships. I won't lie. This could cost us everything."
Jiang Cheng’s face was white and he had a fist curled so tightly around his fork that Wei Ying thought the steel might snap in half.
"But there's a good offer? A buyer that will give you a fair price and keep production running?"
"Cloud Recess Technologies." Jiang Cheng spat the name out like poison.
Knowing neither of his parents would like it, Wei Ying reached across the table to take his brother’s wrist. "Hey," he said, "that's a good thing. The Lan might be boring, but they're pretty trustworthy as a rule. They won't run it into the ground. You will still be the guy who brought cheap, locally produced, renewable energy to millions of new consumers in the first place. This isn't a failure."
Jiang Cheng’s mouth twisted into a sneer. "You haven't heard what they want in exchange."
"What do you mean?"
Uncle Jiang cleared his throat. "Wei Ying, have you ever considered a traditional marriage?"
"What? Not really. I figured you and Madam Yu had more important things to do than bother about my marriage." He didn’t add that for about five years they certainly hadn’t been bothered about his health, career, or education.
"Also, it's archaic and mercenary," said Jiang Cheng. "Maybe you threw A-Jie at that Jin peacock, but at least you let her choose."
"Don't be dramatic, A-Cheng," snapped Madam Yu. "Of course Wei Ying has a choice."
"You want me to marry a Lan? I didn't even know there were any women my age among the Lan cousins."
"Not a woman." Jiang Cheng bit each of his words like it was a particularly sour grape. Wei Ying could hear his teeth grinding together. "Lan Zhan."
Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan
There was no way that Lan Zhan wanted to marry Wei Ying. Not after an entire high school career dedicated to avoiding him. On their first day at Pacifica Prep, Lan Zhan snitched on him for stealing a rat from the science lab and Wei Ying was vermin in his eyes forever after. What followed was the most embarrassingly energetic four years of stalking to ever grace the halls of a high school. He joined every club and activity possible—fencing, orchestra, student council, even the poetry club by doing graphic design for a truly terrible quarterly magazine—so Lan Zhan couldn't escape him. Wei Ying wasn’t alone. There had been six people in that poetry club, and every single one was trying to get a date with Lan Zhan. Wei Ying didn’t think any of them had been rewarded for their pathetic pining. Whenever he tried to flirt, Lan Zhan just gave him an icy stare and critiqued his art choices for the next issue. Senior Class President and two-time Treasure Island Tournament Gold Medalist Lan Zhan didn’t have a minute to spare for a trouble maker like Wei Ying. He had to grant a little bit of his precious attention to the Student Council Secretary, though. It was the only way he could review past meeting minutes before they were posted. By graduation, outside observers might even have considered the two boys friends.
“Lan Zhan wants an arranged marriage? He’s smart, rich, and People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.”
“He is not,” said Jiang Cheng.
“Well, he should be! If Lan Zhan walked up to literally anyone on the street and asked, they would marry him. Some might have to get a divorce first or spend a few minutes with a mirror reconsidering their sexuality, but they’d say yes. No way does he need an arranged marriage.”
Uncle Jiang cleared his throat. “While I believe you are his personal choice for a spouse, it seems possible that the decision for the Second Jade of Lan to marry at this time is being encouraged by his family. Lan Huan was the one who approached us with the offer. The young man has a certain—reputation.”
Wei Ying knew that better than most. He’d followed Lan Zhan to Berkeley, after all. In college, Lan Zhan slept with every male-identifying member of the LGBTQ+ Alliance except for Wei Ying. Rumor had it he’d been with over half of the men’s swimming and diving team, at least three basketball players, and some football guys too, but the athletes didn’t brag about it the same way. Lan Zhan was so beautiful! Of course everyone wanted to be with him. The lucky loudmouths in the LGBTQA all said he was amazing. Well. Wei Ying didn't need to sleep with Lan Zhan to know he was amazing. Even after their Berkeley graduation, when the pool of their mutual acquaintances still talking to Wei Ying shrank to his sister and Nie Huaisang, he still heard things.
“He’s a manwhore who will fuck anyone that bends over for him, no matter what problems that may cause,” said Jiang Cheng.
“Don’t be crass, A-Cheng,” snapped Madam Yu. “It’s not strange for an unmarried man to sow a few wild oats.” She looked hard at her husband, but didn’t say anything. That was when Wei Ying knew just how serious the situation had to be. She never passed up a chance to insinuate something about Uncle Jiang and Wei Ying’s mother.
“Ignore all of that.” Uncle Jiang’s voice was kind. “It’s your choice, Wei Ying. What do you think? You’ve always liked the younger Lan brother.”
“Yes,” agreed Wei Ying, his third mistake. “I’ve always liked Lan Zhan.”
“Perfect,” said Madam Yu. “Your spring quarter ends in June. We’ll plan the wedding then.”
“That’s only six weeks away.”
“Don’t be negative, Wei Ying. You won’t have to do anything; I’m perfectly capable of planning the event.”
“Lan Huan won’t make the buy until after the wedding,” Jiang Cheng said.
Wei Ying finished his wine.
“This is a good thing,” said Uncle Jiang. “Congratulations on your engagement Wei Ying! I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.”
“Make sure there’s an infidelity clause in the prenup. Wei Ying deserves to make some money out of this disaster.”
“Excuse me.” Wei Ying had to escape. He couldn’t breathe. “A little too much wine for me, maybe. I just need to powder my nose.” They let him go.
The bathroom was just as expensive as the rest of the restaurant. Not a urinal cake in sight. The sink was black marble with a steel faucet that showed Wei Ying’s reflection as clearly as the mirror above it. He splashed a little water on his face. Anyone would think he was handsome enough. Above his strong jaw quirked full, expressive lips. Plenty of people flirted with him all the time. Yet he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lan Zhan had never wanted him.
Taking out his phone, he scrolled all the way down to the very bottom of his message history. His last conversation with Lan Zhan was seven years and three broken phones ago, but he still had it. Was it really so unusual to migrate his data to a new device?
He opened the conversation. Wei Ying’s last text to Lan Zhan had been a graduation meme that went unacknowledged. Lan Zhan’s next text was dated a few days later.
Lan Zhan❤️😘: I have learned you did not accept a Lotus LTD job offer. Come to Cloud Recess. Starting salary 120k/year negotiable. Remote work and educational subsidies available as you pursue relevant PhD at CalTech.”
Three days after that was another text.
Lan Zhan❤️😘:Position yours when desired. Open offer. Starting salary 150k/year negotiable. No interview necessary.
Seven days after that was their last text.
Lan Zhan❤️😘:Be well, Wei Ying.
Temptation didn’t begin to describe that offer. Whenever things got bad, usually after his eleventh straight day on the ramen and water diet, Wei Ying would read that text. He loved to toy with the idea of belatedly accepting. But it was impossible. If Wei Ying turned down Lotus LTD for another company, his family would never take him back. It didn’t matter that he was leaving for Jiang Cheng, so that Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu would finally stop comparing the brothers. He would be a traitor for life. At least his sister supported his choice to go. After her first visit to Pasadena, she stayed in contact with him from cities away. She was always texting and calling and refusing to let him go. But Lan Zhan clearly wasn't used to refusals. He never spoke to Wei Ying again.
Wei Ying wouldn't refuse a chance to be his friend again. Not if Lan Zhan was serious. He tapped a cursor into the message box, bringing up a keyboard.
Wei Ying: hey. do you want to marry me?
The response was instant, as though Lan Zhan was staring at his phone just waiting for Wei Ying to text.
Lan Zhan❤️😘: Yes.
Wei Ying: will I have to quit my job and move home
Lan Zhan❤️😘: No. Cloud Recess Technologies is opening a regional office in Chicago. The Wisconsin acquisition is one of many Midwest initiatives that will benefit from local oversight. I will be tasked with managing that growth. I anticipate living in Chicago for at least the next 3 to 5 years.
Wei Ying: lan zhan!!!!! we must hang out. i am practically a chicago native by law my driver license says illinois. come with me i will show you all the cool spots teens love
Lan Zhan❤️😘: If you like.
Wei Ying: and we’ll get married. shit. sorry. you really want to?
Lan Zhan❤️😘: I do. I look forward to spending time with you in Chicago and learning about the city from your perspective.
Wei Ying: tell the truth lan zhan. when your brother said you had to settle down you picked me because i’m your bestest friend forever and ever and you’ve been secretly in love with me since always
Lan Zhan❤️😘: I have missed you, Wei Ying.
Wei Ying stared at his phone, but the message didn’t get any less devastating. He still missed Lan Zhan like a limb. To hear that Lan Zhan felt even a fraction of the same way made truly stupid things happen in his chest.
Wei Ying: coolcoolcool let’s get married. i’ll have my people call ur people we’ll set something up
Lan Zhan❤️😘: Very well. My brother will be pleased to learn we’ve spoken.
Wei Ying: i bet. tell him 2 stop slut shaming u or he can answer 2 ur husband (ง •̀_•́)ง
Lan Zhan❤️😘: Your representation of the situation is inaccurate. Brother desires only my happiness.
Wei Ying: perfect quote for the forbes interview about this trash fire
Lan Zhan❤️😘: Wei Ying, if you do not wish to marry other arrangements will be made.
Wei Ying: nooooo!!! lan zhan don’t be so serious. u have 2 marry me u already promised. if u marry someone else i will die on the exact day of ur wedding and haunt u 4eva. no joke.
Lan Zhan❤️😘: As you wish.
Wei Ying stared at the words. They couldn’t possibly be intentional.
Lan Zhan did not watch movies as a rule; however, he’d been forced to watch The Princess Bride senior year when a very awesome Alternate Captain named Wei Ying suggested it as a bonding activity for the fencing team. The whole team sprawled on squishy mats beneath emergency blankets after practice with the film projected against the gym wall. Because he was a strategic genius, Wei Ying arranged to be on the same mat as Lan Zhan. Just when the Man in Black was climbing the cliff, about to challenge Inigo Montoya to the world’s greatest swordfight, the upright team captain decided to relax a little. Only instead of letting his hand fall onto the bunched up blankets, it somehow wound up on Wei Ying’s thigh. Where it stayed for the rest of the movie. Wei Ying’s fragile teenage libido had been completely wrecked. Since Lan Zhan was the one to get up and switch off the projector after the credits, he never knew about any of it, but he probably remembered seeing the movie. He knew what those words meant. Maybe.
Or maybe Wei Ying was once again reading way too much into Lan Zhan’s words, searching for a meaning that would never be there.
He went back to dinner.