Lan Wangji was sitting on the grass and watching Wei Ying with fond eyes. The boy looked so peaceful and happy stroking A-Yuan's hair. He was glad that he had decided to encourage him to play with the toddler, it was apparently working wonders for both of them. Wei Ying was more relaxed than Lan Wangji had ever seen him and it was warming his heart, especially after the event of last evening and this morning.
When he had learned about the boy's terrible past and how he had been treated by his own family, he had wanted to cry. He had actually cried afterwards; out of everyone's eyes, hidden in his own room and under the covers on his bed. It was no wonder than that Wei Ying had been so subdued and jumpy all the time, he could not imagine going through even a fraction of the horror and coming out as unscathed as the boy had.
Living on the streets, then being taken in by a wealthy family only to have his trust in humanity betrayed again and be demoted to a servant and abused regularly. Even being passed between various families who never treated him as a proper human being, beating and punishing him for the smallest things or even out of a cruel joy of being able to do so and being satisfied with having someone who obeyed them to the letter. It would break anyone, much less a teenage boy, no, a child back then.
It was no wonder that Lan Wangji had had such a hard time persuading Wei Ying that he did not have to show so much respect and act deferentially and subserviently all the time. There must have simply been too much fear installed in him over the years, he did not know any better but to obey everything his adoptive family told him to do.
And even worse, not only had he been abused in the past, but it had even happened in the Cloud Recesses Manor, right under their watch! How could Lan Wangji even claim that the boy would be safe here and expect him to relax when he had been harshly beaten by Su Minshan, Lan Wangji's own family no less?
He still wanted to get up and go look for that awful excuse of a human being to be able to do something terrible to him, to avenge Wei Ying. He was not too clear on what he would actually do if he would see Su Minshan again in front of him, but it would certainly not be anything pleasant. Driven by his rage, he would probably not even feel ashamed of beating him in return and letting him experience just how deeply he had hurt Wei Ying.
But those were completely unnecessary thoughts, he knew. Su Minshan had been banished from the Cloud Recesses Manor and from the Lan family, Lan Qiren made sure of that. Surely someone as cowardly as his cousin would not come back to pester Wei Ying ever again. He must have been too afraid of being reported to the emperor because of abusing servants. Su Minshan knew only too well that Nie Mingjue never let such behaviour unpunished.
He should not spoil this perfect moment with his grim thought. The most important thing was that his cousin was gone and Wei Ying was safe and protected. Even Lan Qiren had finally seen that he should not scold the boy and instead provide a helping hand. Lan Wangji hoped that everyone in the Cloud Recesses Manor would soon realize just how adorable and in need of help and support Wei Ying was and would take care of him.
And adorable was a correct word he had to admit as he was watching the boy interact with the toddler and the small white bunnies. Despite everything what had happened to him, he was so kind and so open right now, it was extremely heart-warming, and a good sign for his recovery from his trauma. Hopefully, he would one day be able to forget his past and smile freely just like he had had when Lan Wangji had first met him as a young child.
The boy's smile then had been the most beautiful thing he had even seen and he wanted it to stay on Wei Ying's face all the time. He never wanted to see his hurt, scared or deferential expressions. He did not want him to continue believing he is a servant. Instead, he wanted the boy to embrace his new role as his companion and get used to being spoiled and treated like a young master again.
Unfortunately, he knew only too well they were very far from that for now, he was still not sure if Wei Ying had believed they wanted to help him and that he would be treated well in the Cloud Recesses Manor. They had tried reassuring him several times already, but as Jiang Yanli had told them, the roots of Wei Ying's conditioning and fears run deep and it would be very hard to cut everything out from his heart just like that. They would have to show with actions just what they meant.
Lan Wangji's eyes were once again drawn to the two figures sitting on the ground between peacefully hopping rabbits. The picture really was beyond adorable, especially the small upturning of Wei Ying's lips which decidedly had not been there yesterday, it seemed that the boy was making progress by leaps and bounds already if he was not afraid to show his emotions this clearly. Though, it was still not the perfect happy and carefree grin that Lan Wangji wanted so much to see.
He could feel his own lips curving into a smile in response, something he only hardly ever did. He always found it too difficult to get his emotions across for anyone to see but it actually felt refreshing for once. And he knew he would have to get better at expressing himself in general, be it by mimic, gestures or words, Wei Ying could not read him as well as his brother and Lan Wangji knew that it was causing the boy to be anxious when he did not know what everyone around him was thinking and if they did not want to hurt him.
Yes, he had to work hard on himself in order to get more at ease with speaking up his mind. He had already understood that not saying things clearly made the boy misunderstand him, sometimes in the worst ways. They had just started to getting to know each other and Lan Wangji did not want to lose that oh so fragile and precious trust that Wei Ying had shown in him.
He could not help himself and lifted his head to look at the boy properly again. The slight upturning of his lips was still there but for some reason, Lan Wangji was not satisfied, he wanted to see the younger boy smiling even more.
"Wei Ying," he called quietly and gently in order not to startle him.
The boy's eyes darted towards him and were now staring at him from behind the protective walls of his bangs. It looked like he was still holding himself back when it came to lifting his always lowered head. But that was fine, they would have time to fix this slowly, there was no need to rush and put any pressure on him.
And then, just as Lan Wangji had hoped, Wei Ying's lips lifted up even more. Yes, there was that sweet, small and precious smile he had seen just seconds ago but had been missing it so immensely that he had to call the boy for him to show it to him again. Lan Wangji's heart melted at the sight and he once again swore to himself that he would do anything for it to stay on Wei Ying's lips all the time.