Come Back to Gusu

31. Wen Yuan interrupts: He ate my butterfly!

Except Wen Qing was three days early. "I apologize, Wei Gongzi, Lan Er'Gongzi," she stated formally. "The weather in Gusu seems likely to snow soon; I wanted to be here and gone long before then."

"Of course, Wen Daifu," Lan WangJi had responded graciously, and held out his wrist without blushing. Wei WuXian felt the stings of jealousy hitting him; he was blushing already. Especially when it was his turn to hand over his own wrist. She knows! How can she not???? Her eyes flicked from one man to the other and back.

All she said, though, was, "You're looking remarkably healthy for having lived here for the last several months. I would suggest only one more dual cultivation session sometime before the New Year arrives and then refrain until next summer." A scream and loud crying drew their attention. "A'Yuan!"

The three piled out of the workshop, running to the sound of the crying. Wen Yuan was at the edge of the barrier, crying and yelling at the child ghoul, who had backed into the unprotected area. "A'Yuan... what happened?" Wen Qing demanded, kneeling in the dirt and checking her nephew for obvious injuries.

"He stole my butterfly and ate it and I said he could play with it but I didn't say he could eat it and he ate it anyway and you're not supposa eat grass. Gugu! Make him spit it out! I spent hours and hours and days and days painting it so XianGege could see my hard work and my beautiful butterfly and I was careful to keep it pretty and nice and he ate it!" The child wiped the tears running down his cheeks with his hand and then stuck his tongue out like he was going to lick the snots dribbling down to his lips.

"Don't eat that," Wen Qing warned; Wen Yuan immediately wiped his nose with his wet hands, and then his hands on his backside.

"He ate my butterfly!"

Wei WuXian forced the laugh from his features to scold his ghoul. "Hey! Chang Wei. Bad ghoul." It looked frustrated and patted its tummy. "No. He was showing you the toy. Not offering it as something to eat!" It shrugged and rubbed its belly again. "I know you're hungry. A'Yuan... this is my friend. He's always hungry. So if you give it anything, it's going to assume it's edible."

"What's eb'el?"

"Edible," Wei WuXian enunciated. "Something you can eat and not get sick. Except he's dead so he can eat everything that fits in his mouth."

Wen Yuan rubbed more snots and tears from his face, wiping his dirty hands on his backside again. "Why's his name Change Wei? He's old enough to know better. I'm only six and I know not to eat grass and Jin Ling is a baby still and even he didn't eat my butterfly but he wanted to stick it in his mouth and LiAyi said not to and your friend is same size as me and he ate it? How come he doesn't know you don't eat butterflies?"

"Wipe your hands and face on a napkin, not your robes," Wen Qing scolded. Wen Yuan gave her a look which clearly demanded to know why it was acceptable to wipe snot on one piece of material but not another: cloth was cloth! To no one, she complained. "This child is growing wild. I don't have time to parent him and Popo is getting too old. She can't chase him around. A'Ning tries, but he has duties, too."

Wen Yuan sat down and glared at the ghoul. "Least I know enough to not eat grass!"

Wei WuXian lost the battle to laugh. "Alright, alright, young master trouble. I'll take you into town and get you a new butterfly, okay? And his name is Chang Wei because he's a walking stomach."

"Okay." Wen Yuan huffed. "You better get him one, too, so he doesn't eat mine again."

"Wen Daifu, how long were you planning on staying with us?"

She sighed and huffed at a hank of hair that had fallen out of her hair-do. "I was hoping to leave in a day or two at the latest. It's a long journey even by sword when someone gets antsy and won't stand still for more than an incense stick of time. We definitely need to be home before the snow." She took a breath and sighed it out. "Lan Gongzi? Would you mind taking A'Yuan to get his face washed?"

It was obviously a ploy to get Wei WuXian alone with the healer; Lan WangJi 'mmm'ed and motioned for the child to proceed him back to the houses. Wei WuXian made as if to follow; she gave him a look which pinned his heels to the ground. "Did you need something, QingJie?" He rather hoped the familiarity would send her into a (mock?) rage and he could escape whatever was coming.

"Wei Wu Xian," she snapped each syllable. "Since when did I earn the dubious honor of becoming your sister?" Before he could open his mouth to sass something, she shook her head. "Never mind. I need to reassure you of something."

"What?"

"What you and Lan Er'Gongzi do together is none of my personal business.

"I will report on the state of your Cores to Jiang ZongZhu and Lan ZongZhu and nothing more.

"As your doctor, though, are you being careful? Do you need... information about having sex with a man? I can send you a comprehensive text. If you're not careful, you can make each other bleed, and feces can get into the body and cause an infection. Your Cores should be sufficient to heal you from it, but not if you're reopening wounds on a regular basis."

He colored. "You don't have to worry, Wen Daifu. It's... we're not like that." As she opened her mouth, he hastily added, "We just use our hands." He refused to admit that he enjoyed trying to take Lan Zhan's cock into his throat without gagging. He hadn't succeeded yet, but he was determined to one day. She arched one elegant eyebrow at that lie, but merely nodded.

Dear readers.

So. Chang Wei. I looked on google translate for 'stomach' and it came back: 胃 Wèi. Which I giggled about because it is a homonym to 魏, Wèi Wúxiàn's surname. Under more translations: 肠胃 Chángwèi. Obviously, this is too good of a translation to pass up. It's almost punny.

I adore puns. (I even giggle when my kid asks Alexa for a dad joke and it gives him a joke about dads. Now **that's** punny!)

Mental gymnastics for the day is 'about how old is Mo XuanYu at this point?'. It should be 'how to concentrate on the work I get paid to do?' Alas, I am already in vacation mode. And far more interested in writing WWX's being in love than I am about doing actual work. Oops?

Anywho... Mo XuanYu is 27ish when he dies. Which makes him 14ish when WWX dies. I say that A'Yuan was 3 when WWX died, so that makes MXY 11 years older. If I have A'Yuan 6 years old now, then MXY is 17.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Thank you, as always, for reading and commenting.
- Aitch.