Plum Garden Happiness

Lan Wangji

The next morning, Wangji wake up at the usual early hour with Wei Ying sleeping peacefully in his arms and little Yuan hugging his father Xain in return. It was such a heartwarming sight that he didn't dare to move, so not to disturb his little family that early.

He closed his eyes already setting his mind on meditate where he was, until the sun shined over the horizon, but it turned out to be a bit difficult since there was not too much energy to cultivate in that part of their country. However, he could sense there was plenty of dark energy around, to the point that it felt as it was trying to suffocate you with its pressure. That was the true face of a world without the proper balance. Looking back at his handsome lover, he saw him in a brand new light.

Just thinking about how these people lived with this kind of hardships on a daily life, he understood than back in the north they had been blessed with a life of luxuries and easy cultivation compared to the people in the east, west and south, which were less fortunate regions. That Wei Ying had reached level nine in his cultivation in such a harsh environment was nothing less than amazing and another reason to admire the young man that was mostly stronger than him in cultivation, although not in physical strength.

Once again captivated in his lover wonderful self, he cuddle him more tightly, feeling like he loved him more and more each second. Wei Ying stirred in his sleep by his hug, but he only murmur his name and took his hand, guiding it to his chest with a pleased expression on his handsome face. Wangji smiled and nuzzle his lover neck, just a bit and closed his eyes to wait for his sleeping beauty to wake.

Wei Ying

He wake up a bit earlier than he usually would at home, probably because he was forced to wake early in the last week at the Lan islands. The sun had already go up, but just by maybe half an hour. Ah Yuan was grabbing his robes, curled into a small half ball in front of him, while Lan Zhan have him securely locked in his strong arms. He could feel his breading on his exposed neck, although he knew he was not sleeping.

"Lan Zhan..." He whisper as he slightly moved his head to the side to look at him.

"Good morning." Lan Zhan whisper back, slightly releasing him from his tight hug and kissing the corner of his lips.

"Mmm, a bit more to the right... I want a full one." Wei murmur, as he moved his head and body to receive Lan Zhan kiss in full, although a fatherly one, that leave him wanting more. Then Wei asked for a few more before they carefully got out of bed, to have some real ones, now that Ah Yuan was still asleep. Thus after some heated morning kisses by the bed, Wei Ying wake up the little adorable troublemaker, take Subian and Bichen and went out of the room.

Lan Zhan took little Yuan hand and both of them follow him around. It was still early by the east standard, but there was movement in his Clan, as some disciples were walking in and out, doing the daily shores. All of the Clan members they had encounter, greeted them respectfully then went on their respective way.

He guided Lan Zhan and Ah Yuan, still a bit sleepy, toward the guest Pavilions, not too far from his own and found that Jiang Cheng was already out of his room, talking with his sister Yanli, who smiled brightly when she saw them coming.

"A'Xian..." She said and Jiang Cheng look behind him to find the coming small family. They looked quite the opposite in more than one way, with one in white, while the other in black and not to mention with one quite expressionless, while the other with a wide smile pasted on his face, yet they did look good together, with an air of harmony around both.

"Jiejie." Wei Ying greet his gained sister with that wide smile.

"You are up early too, I'm a bit surprise, I thought the Lotus Pier will be more like us." Wei asked, but he could tell it wasn't because they were early raisers, like Lan Zhan, because Jiang Cheng looked quite exhausted and even a bit angry.

"Wuxian, I don't know how you made it this far in your cultivation, but just breathing here is hard." Jiang Cheng said, as he couldn't fall asleep, feeling the pressure of the dark energy on him all night long, despite the strong barrier protecting the Clan lands. Also, it was the matter with the jerk Zixuan, that had sadden his sister for half the night.

"Ah, yeah. You guys will have to adapt, because this is the opposite of the north, but I can make the transition a lot easier. Just give me a minute and I will make a few talismans for you all." Wei Ying said, then he moved to a side of the small garden and took several plum petals from the flowers, then sat in the entrance stairs of the Pavilion and took out a few yellow talismans, bite the tip of his finger and draw blood from it.

He wrote the incantation and put a few petals in the middle of the talisman, which were absorbed by the spell with the essence of his energy in the blood used as ink, making the talisman change into a white colored one, with a blue heaven seal right in the middle. He gave the transformed talisman to Jiang Cheng, who take it quite curiously, feeling a tingling sensation coming from it.

"What kind of talisman is this? Never felt such a pure energy like this, not even in the Lan islands." Wei smiled.

"Because we lack white energy, we use what we had been blessed with to keep ourselves protected and in the best shape possible. Plum petals had the capability to repel dark energy and purify it. If you wear this talisman on your clothes, close to your core, it will protect it from the dark energy and lessen the pressure to a point you will barely feel it. There are some herb that can help you restore your white energy as well, but you will had to ask Wen Qing to make it for you, because that is her specialty." Wei said as he made two more talismans, one for his beloved and one for his kind sister.

"Thank you, A'Xian." She said with a warm smile.

Wangji followed Wei Ying's instruction and put the talisman close to the center of his chest and sure enough, the pressure was gone almost instantly and the air itself felt fresher, making it easier to breathe it in. Wei then told them never take it out, as the heaven seal was a special spell, it will not be damage even by water.

The people of the east didn't used the spell as they begin to cultivate, as the core will be guarded by another special heaven seal directly to their core, as Lord Zheng had explained back in the core testing challenge, thus only those Clan members that for one reason or another could not cultivate, use the plum talismans to protect themselves from the dark energy that overflowed in that part of the continent, called Huaxia.

Wei Ying then made several more talismans and asked Lan Zhan to bring Bichen out as well as Sandu and Chilie, because the purifying talismans also worked on spirits, pretty much in the same way it did with their Masters. Then he keep the remaining ones to give to the rest of the team as they came looking for them, but as it was still early, the others were still trying to rest after a hard night.

So at the end, Wei Ying guide them to the gardens, in wish Ah Yuan could play with them, including Yanli and even with the grumpy Jiang Cheng, as his sister insisted. Ah Yuan ran below the many plum trees, 'chased' by Yanli, Cheng and Wei, while Lan Zhan stood at one side looking at them ran around in circles, until Ah Yuan came to him to hug his leg.

Wangji smiled at his son and took him in his arms effortless as the kid giggled with happiness, finally moving toward other parts of the garden in which they found a large lotus pound with a variety of colors, from pink to yellow and white. Yanli was particularly delighted with it, as it remained her of home, but also it remained her of her financé and their last discussion.

"Jiang Cheng, did something else happen?" Wei asked as he saw the slight change in her expression.

"It's that jerk, the way he talked to her last night. She really likes him, but I am not too sure about him having feelings for her the same way." Jiang said, looking at her sister stare at the pound, lost in thoughts.

"Should we beat him up and force some sense into him?" Wei asked angrily.

"I thought the same, I'm in at any time you want." Jiang Cheng offer and Yanli sighed, turning to look at her brothers.

"You know I can hear you, right? You will not. He is just a bit frustrated with what happen, that's all." Yanli told them both.

"Ah, jiejie, you are too kind. You can't really expect for your brothers to let him mistreat you." Wei said and Ah Yuan assented in agreement.

"He did not..." She try to defend him.

"He so did... next time, I will punch him good." Jiang Cheng said and Ah Yuan assented again in Lan Zhan's arms.

"Forget about punching him, I will curse him instead." Wei added and Ah Yuan agree once more, making Yanli laugh.

"A'Yuan, you will curse him too?" She asked and he moved his head in affirmation again.

"Bad men will be punish." Wei laughed, because he was the one who had teach Ah Yuan that.

"A'Yuan, Lord Zixuan is not a bad man." She insisted.

"But he yelled at you last night, right father Zhan?" The little Yuan remained her.

"He did." Lan Zhan confirmed.

"So, Āyí must not be sad anymore, because I like her too, like father Xian and Zhan." Wei smiled and Yanli's heart melted.

"And Āyí love A'Yuan too..." She reassure him, taking the kid on her arms from his father Lan, giving him a soft kiss in his cheek. Ah Yuan hug her tightly, making her smile more, forgetting about her previous sadness.

"Can we play more, Āyí?" Yuan asked and Yanli was more than willing to give the precious kid more fun. So, asking Wei for permission, she took little Yuan and her brother back to the plum garden, leaving the two lovers alone for a little while, as she played with the little darling again.

After they leave, Wei look back to the lotus pound in front of him. It was big, considering the harsh environment, although it could not be compared to the Lotus Pier, it was really a beautiful sight. The pound had big koi fish moving around the water, but Wei was not captivate by them, nor the majestic flowers.

He had actually end up staring at his handsome Lan Zhan instead, bathed under the morning sun, as he slightly smiled looking at the charming pound and when Lan Zhan looked back at him, as he went quiet so suddenly, he find that mischievous gaze over him, devouring him with his eyes.

"Lan Zhan... you are such a sight..." Wei whisper, smiling at him.

"So are you, Wei Ying." Lan Zhan whisper back. He had been captivate by him from the start and not only physically, but also emotionally, because Wei Ying had everything he wanted in a long time partner to share his life with.

"Then, will you catch me?" Wei asked mischievously. That was his personal game.

"Every time." Wangji reassure him and once again, Wei Ying throw himself to his lover welcoming arms and kiss him with the due passion of youth. The other were a bit far, as he could hear Yuan's laugh faintly, so it was fine to kiss him in full with no one else around at that early hour. However, when things were beginning to get overheated, once again someone cleared his throat to make the point it was there.

"Ahhh, come on Zilin... give us a break... don't tell me father is already awake." Wei said, as Wangji let go of him completely embarrassed to be caught once again in a heated moment and turned to look at a noble looking sword spirit.

Zilin was his father sword spirit, handsome, tall, flawless, with a penetrating gaze, dark hair and dressed in black and gray, but what make him different from other spirits was that he was older than most. He was conderste a treasure of the Wei family, created centuries ago by the first head of the Clan, thus he was wiser and stronger than most sword spirits around these days and he only accepted as a Master the strongest leaders of the Wei Clan, with Lao been the latest one.

Him been the strongest in the east and perhaps in the whole country aside from Xuanyu and Chenqing, was the reason Suibian feared his father most of all, because Zilin was a driving force behind Lao's own great spiritual strength. For him thought it was another story, because although he was respectful of him, Wei didn't treat him specially.

"Wuxian, your blood runs way too hot this early in the morning. Master wants you to gather your team and escort them to the stone garden. Don't make him wait too long." Zilin said quite seriously and Wei Ying sighed.

"Yeah, yeah... I will be there as soon as I can." Wei Ying said and Zilin disappeared, leaving no trace of his presence behind. If they were going to the stone garden, then it mean that they were going to train their cores first, mostly to make the members of the other Clans more resistant to the dark energy surrounding their lands and more able to withstand the Burial Mounds pressure.

"Lan Zhan..." Wei look back at him with a mischievous smile.

"What is it?" Lan Zhan asked curiously.

"It seems that we will had a chance to see how much we had grown. Let's have a friendly competition among us. The one who resist the most, wins and of course, there will be a prize." Wei proposed.

"What prize?" Wangji asked, arching an eyebrow.

"You win, you have me again, I win, I have you instead." Wei said naughtily and Wangji smirked.

They were basically at the same level with Wei surpassing him in spiritual power, but he surpassing Wei in strength, which was a good opportunity to test their limits and endurance. At the end, he knew Wei Ying had been patiently waiting for their personal contest since the very start and the offer was too tempting to let it pass. Once had been wonderful, twice will be marvellous. Oh, he was definitely on to the challenge.

"I agree." Lan Zhan said, thus Wei gave him a quick kiss, before taking his hand and pull him back to the others and then into the dark stone garden arena, the east used to rise their level by strengthening their core and spiritual energy.

AN: Thanks for reading. I hope you guys are safe and healthy. Here I try to integrate the Jiang's to their family to expand it a bit more. Also, their relationship will get closer to brotherhood from here on and they will guard Yanli as they did in the drama. About their contest, you guys can tell me who you want it win. Take care my darlings, until next time. 😙😄💖💖💖⚘