Letting go of self-restraint 5 - Great happiness in a small package

Chapter 49

"A-Xian! Here you are, I finally found you!" Jiang Yanli rushed down the steps of the inn. She did not stop despite being surprised to find the whole town in an uproar. She had to see Wei Wuxian immediately!

Her brother was standing just under the stairs together with Lan Xichen and Wen Ning. A weight was lifted from Jiang Yanli's shoulders, luckily, she would not have to search for him for too long. This was important enough that she could not lose even a second.

Wei Wuxian turned around and suddenly, Jiang Yanli stopped on the spot, paralyzed. She had never seen her brother looking like this. He looked terrible. His face was full of supressed fury, only waiting to erupt. His fists were clenched and in one of them was a small piece of white cloth which Jiang Yanli assumed must belong to A-Yuan. The only reason why she was only surprised and not stepping back in horror was the fact that even though her brother was emitting a strong murderous aura, his cheeks had trances od tears and his eyes were all red and puffy from crying.

For a second, it seemed like he could not recognize her as he lifted his hand forward. She was not afraid though. Contrarily to what any other sane person would possibly do, Jiang Yanli stood her ground and did not step back. She was not scared off by her brother's killing aura. She had no reason to be, she was certain it was in no way directed at her. She only hoisted the child she was carrying a little up so he would not be so heavy and smiled.

"A... A-Yuan...?" whispered Wei Wuxian brokenly as if he could not believe his eyes. Which was probably exactly the case.

If the situation was not an emotional and tense one, Jiang Yanli would have chuckled. She had had the exact same reaction when she had come back to the room in the inn where she had expected to find Jin Ling. Imagine her surprise when instead of one toddler, she had found two playing together on the ground. That had been the second she had understood why the signal flare had been fired.

"Daddy!" cheered A-Yuan in response to seeing his father and made grabby hand towards him. It was clear he did not want to be held by his aunt any longer and preferred his own parent.

She did not want to push her brother over the edge nor make A-Yuan uncomfortable. She quickly closed the distance between them and passed the toddler to a shell-shocked looking Wei Wuxian. The Omega's hand immediately closed around his child and he brought him so close to his chest that there was a real danger of suffocation. New tears started streaming out of his eyes as he kissed gently his son's head and was inspecting him for any wounds.

A-Yuan immediately noticed that his father was not acting as happy to see him as he had probably expected and he started wriggling around in the embrace, trying to turn so that he could see up into the adult's face. Wei Wuxian only realized his attempts a little later and he let him breathe a little more freely, still clutching him tightly to his chest though.

Now A-Yuan was looking just as distressed as his father. Jiang Yanli was quick to step in and dissolve the situation, she did not want the children to start crying too: "A-Xian, I found A-Yuan in A-Ling's room when I went to check on him after the signal flare. I have no idea how he had managed to get inside by himself, but it must have been through the window. It was open when I came in, and A-Yuan and A-Ling were playing on the ground as if nothing was happening."

"And that was when I understood what was happening actually. Since I could not see my brother or his husband anywhere around, it was clear as a day that A-Yuan must have somehow gotten himself lost and they were searching for him frantically." She added only to herself. Wei Wuxian did not need to know how scared she had gotten. And also how worried about him since she had known he would be terribly anxious about his son's disappearance.

"He had truly gotten out all on his own..." Lan Xichen muttered more to himself than to anyone else.

Jiang Yanli almost chuckled at that comment, yet again. "So it turns out that A-Yuan is just as smart and resourceful as his father when he wants to be. I can totally imagine A-Xian pulling up the same prank when he had been younger. A-Yuan is not even two years old yet, and he had somehow managed to apparently get out of his own room and into Jin Ling's without the help of anyone. A-Ling must have helped as well, otherwise the window to his would not have been opened but broken. I should be more careful from now on.

I am looking forward to what kind of young men they will both come to be one day. But until then, me and A-Xuan and A-Xian and Wangji will have probably our hands full."

Wei Wuxian was now looking at his son with a mixture of shock, parental anger, relief and awe. "A-Yuan, what in the name of Heavens run through your head that made you run away from Xichen-Gege and Huisang-Gege?"

Jiang Yanli was not sure that such a young child would be able to explain anything, much less apparently vivid and complicated story of their little adventure. Jin Ling would surely not be able to with his dislike to say anything more but 'no', 'Mommy' and 'daddy'. However, A-Yuan surprised her yet again when he actually started animatedly narrating what he had been up to while gesturing with his hands for bigger effect:

"A-Yuan woke up and heard A-Ling crying. A-Yuan did not want A-Ling to be sad so he tried to find him. A big big fall happened. And then, A-Yuan saw A-Ling in a window. And he helped open it so A-Yuan could come play with him and make him happy."

Even though the toddler's vocabulary was very limited, Jiang Yanli understood perfectly. Jin Ling's cries as he had startled from his sleep must have woken A-Yuan up as well. The good child A-Yuan was, he must have decided that he would go console Jin Ling and had somehow managed to open the window of his room. Jiang Yanli could only assume that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had had the same idea as her to get the ground level room for the added safety in case something like this ever happened. It still stayed a mystery how Jin Ling had managed to also open his window and how he had heaved A-Yuan into the room. This would probably never get explained though so Jiang Yanli stopped thinking about it and instead paid attention to her brother's reaction.

Wei Wuxian stopped crying at this point. He did not look completely alright, but it was already hundred times better than before. It seemed like having his child back was healing him better than any medicine. It was also chasing his panic away really efficiently. He however did not say anything and only stared at his son as if he saw him for the first time in his life.

A-Yuan now looked somewhat shy and perhaps even a little scared as he asked his father with uncertainty: "Is daddy angry with A-Yuan? It was daddy who said that no one should be sad."

Jiang Yanli now looked at Wei Wuxian with expectation. She did not know if he was about to scold the toddler or praise him for his ingenuity during that little adventure. After all, it was as A-Yuan was saying, it must have been Wei Wuxian himself who had told him what was right to do when someone was distressed or in trouble. She was gently rocking Jin Ling on her hip as her son was feeling the tense atmosphere and was not happy with it. He was also cranky from being woken up from his sleep and she definitely did not want him starting to cry right now and making everything even tenser.