❝ ah, forgive this humble scrap collector, hanguang-jun, ❞ the white-clad cultivator scratched his jawline sheepishly with a finger. the silver, glimmering butterfly on his shoulder fluttered its wings indignantly, as though softly chiding the man for reducing himself.

despite appearances, he regarded the younger jade of lan with a soft gaze, softer still at the man beside him. there was a paternal love glinting in golden eyes, reflecting the grin that his xiǎo tāng yuán gave as soon as xie lian was recognized.

❝ i only wish to offer my blessings, ❞ xie lian continued, with a beautiful smile. it was not unlike wet wuxian’s, in the way that it lit up his expression, except his was full of grace and humility. ❝ thank you, hanguang-jun, for giving a-ying happiness. may you have a harmonious union that lasts one hundred years. ❞

The man may have appeared like any other cultivator, but he failed to fool Lan Wangji from the start. While he has never sensed the qi of a god before, something about Xie Lian reveals him and his golden core as simply not mortal, and Lan Wangji is no fumbling junior disciple. When the man mentions A-Ying, he understands.

He dislikes speculating on this particular matter, but Wei Ying's beautiful mind runs in all directions at all times of the day and had at one point decided to latch on to why he had never responded to the many, many times and places Lan Wangji had played Inquiry for him.. He'd speculated that because an entity called 'Crimson Rain' and one he refers to as 'His Highness' had sheltered him in the ghost realm and taken care of him. He had said that the ghost and the god were likely the reason his ghost fire never dispersed despite the way he had died- something he clearly has an idea of but refuses to tell his husband, to Lan Wangji's immense frustration. Though many of Wei Ying's memories of that time are vague, he insists that the two entities had taken care of him as though he were their son but had also let him go when Mo Xuanyu had called him.

In a sense, Lan Wangji owes everything about Wei Ying's return not only to Mo Xuanyu, but also to them. And now one of them stands before him, thanking him and offering blessings.

This cannot be right, surely.

Lan Wangji cups his hands and bends a nearly full ninety degrees at the waist, holding the position as he speaks. "Taizi Dianxia," he guesses as there is no crimson in the man's clothing or appearance. "It is this mortal who owes you gratitude. Wei Ying told this one everything." He is not religious, but lying is forbidden by the Lan Clan of Gusu. As such, he speaks the full truth when he continues: "You and Crimson Rain protected and cared for Wei Ying when this one failed him in every way. For that, this one owes you tribute if not devotion. Speak your demands, Taizi Dianxia, and they will be met to the best of this one's humble ability."