Growing Pains from Growing Family

Chapter 3: Breakfast in Gusu

Walking into the Lans' dining hall Jiang Cheng sat down and waited for breakfast to be served. Having spent as much time as they had in Hanshi, time had moved forward and there were now plenty of Lan disciples walking to their seats with trays containing bread, fruits, and congee. Calmly talking to one another the Lans enjoyed their morning as usual, completely unaware of what was to come.

And then, parting the crowds as he went, was "Lan Wangji". A stone-faced and handsome man making his way over to the Jiang's side carrying two trays of food. Jiang Cheng made no attempt to hide the childish excitement he felt as the Lan approached. After all, food was just a secondary objective right now.

"You remembered my love of grapes?" Jiang Cheng asked as Lan Xichen placed a tray covered in fruit in front of him. The perfect food for inefficient eating.

"Mn" With a small nod he sat down next to the Jiang.

"Do you remember how I like to eat them as well?" he teased, an unapologetically playful smile graced his lips as he spoke. Jiang Cheng couldn't remember the last time he was this open with his emotions in public, but it was really refreshing. Same as the green grape that Lan Xichen held in front of his face. Leaning forward Jiang Cheng caught the fruit in between his lips, stealing it away from the Lan's fingers with a pop.

The silence that followed was deafening as the disciples around them caught on to what was happening as Lan Xichen kept feeding him grape after grape. They all stopped what they were doing and instead observed the show the two cultivators were putting on for them. Had Lan Wangji done this with Wei Wuxian it would've been business as usual. All the rules they were breaking by putting on such a public display of affection would've meant nothing. But the man by the Lan's side was not the troublesome Wei Wuxian but his rule-abiding brother, sect leader Jiang.

"Want one too?" Jiang Cheng made a big show of playing with the grape. Moving his hand through the air, the way you would for a toddler who was too picky to eat the food he was given on his own. The same way he had done for his nephew, Jin Ling, all those years ago. But as the grape approached him Lan Xichen made no effort take it from him. Leaving Jiang Cheng feeling a deep sense of embarrassment from the whole thing. They had an audience of almost a hundred disciples watching them and Lan Xichen was openly rejecting his advances. He simply sat there keeping deep eye contact with the Jiang who would soon come to break it.

"Ha-a" The younger cultivator loudly exhaled in what might be interpreted as forced laughter. "You don't want it? Suit yourself then" Jiang Cheng said. Wanting the embarrassment to be over he moved to eat the fruit himself. Only, before he could, there was a strong hand gripping his wrist. Staring him down once more Lan Xichen leaned over and took the grape, all the while retaining intense eye contact. His lips carefully being placed around the grape before he sucked it out of the Jiang's hand, but he wasn't as graceful about it as Jiang Cheng had been and his lips accidentally pressed up against the Jiang's fingers sending a surge of exhilaration through the Jiang's stomach.

At first he acts like he doesn't want it and when the offer is no longer there he acts and takes it anyway? This was nothing like the straightforward and kind Lan he was used to. Because it wasn't. As much as the Lan in front of him was Lan Xichen, he was also Lan Wangji. The less likable of the two.

Sure there were still little tells which distinguished them, like the small amber colored specks in his irises which only belonged to the older Lan and then there was the way his arm was enclosed around the Jiang's wrist in a way that couldn't hurt even a fly as long as you didn't fight back. But even without those very obvious differences, there was also this inherent feeling Jiang Cheng had every time Lan Xichen was around. He didn't even need to see the man to sense his presence from afar.

But apart from Jiang Cheng to whom the identity of the Lan was completely obvious, no one in the audience could tell. Either it was because they didn't know the two well enough to tell the Gusu Twin Jades apart when they wore each other's clothing, or because the almost perfect performance on Lan Xichen's part was accompanied by the biggest distraction there ever was.

Being known as the most vocal anti-cutsleeve man out there, Jiang Cheng was the perfect person to take people's attention off of the details of Lan Xichen's performance. Who wouldn't stand there and stare as Sandu Shengshou himself was openly flirting with a married man? It was too unbelievable of a scenario for anyone to take their eyes off of them.

But for as much as they could fool practically anyone, there was one person they wouldn't be able to fool, and that was Wei Wuxian himself. There was no way he wouldn't be able to tell his husband and brother-in-law apart at a glance. As such they needed to make as much of a ruckus as they could before the Wei were to wake up and spoil their fun. Grabbing another grape Lan Xichen kept feeding his partner in crime, who happily played along, making sure that it looked as flirtatious and shameful as possible.

No one dared to interrupt them or even move as the two cultivators continued to make their way through their fruit based breakfast. The entirety of the Cloud Recesses would be set back by an hour as a result of their shenanigans and neither of them cared as Jiang Cheng ate grape after grape keeping every single Lan within sight enthralled in the spectacle taking place inside of the dining hall. Then, out of nowhere, a shrill voice could be heard breaking the silence.

"Uncle!?"

He was not meant to be there, why the fuck was he in Gusu?