Wei Wuxian woke up in an unfamiliar room a day after meeting his Uncle.
He never remembered seeing him at all, he doesn't even remember his father mentioning his name.
He probably met him when he was a new born baby, it would explain why did doesn't remember, or maybe because of his time in the streets is why he couldn't remember anything other than that one memory.
The only memory he has of his parents, he was on his father's back, and his mother was riding a donkey.
He looked at himself and saw multiple bandages.
He then heard screaming outside.
"FENGMIAN YOU DARE BRING A CHILD OF THAT WHORE IN THIS KINGDOM!? AND YOU DARE SAY YOU WANT TO ADOPT HIM!?" an unfamiliar female voice raged out.
He flinched at the sudden noise, he wanted to cover his ears but the door opened.
Seeing her outfit, he knew she was the queen of the kingdom he was in so he quickly bowed in respect.
The woman tsked "Atleast this servant knows his place!"
Jiang Fengmian then entered "My Lady please, he's the son of my Sworn brother-"
"AND HAVE HIM COMPETE WITH OUR SON FOR THE THRONE!? MUST I REMIND YOU THIS SERVANT HERE IS OLDER THAN OUR SON! YOU HEAR ME? A-CHENG IS YOUR SON!"
"Nothing will change, A-Cheng will still remain the heir and first prince of Lotus Pier" Jiang Fengmian said.
"THE PEOPLE WONT THINK THAT! HE LEAVES OR ILL HAVE HIM BANISHED!" The Queen yelled.
"My Lady please reconsider" Jiang Fengmian begged "He's just a kid"
The Queen looked at Wei Wuxian up and down.
Wei Wuxian didn't dare make eye contact with the Queen at all.
He was scared for life, he will be fine with anything as long as he doesn't starve or freeze to death.
"I will speak to the child alone" The Queen said and Jiang Fengmian was about to argue but she glared "I AM WILLING TO CHANGE MY MIND BUT IF YOU DARE INTERFERE I WILL KICK HIM OUT!"
Jiang Fengmian flinched and left along with the Healers who were about to hush them since they were disturbing the others.
Once the doors were closed the Queen spoke "Rise but do not make eye contact with me" She said sternly.
Wei Wuxian obeyed.
"Aren't you obedient" She hummed to herself "I am Queen Yu Ziyuan, you are to refer to me as Your Majesty Yu, am I clear?"
"Y-yes Your Majesty Yu" he trembled.
"Are you scared of anything?" She asked.
"N-no—"
"If you are not honest I will not hesitate to kick you out"
Wei Wuxian started sweating, he was a kid ofcourse he didn't wish to be kicked out.
"Dogs, your Majesty" he whimpered out.
"Pathetic" She kneeled and pulled his hair slightly "If you do anything that will make my husband remove my son's dogs, I will make sure you don't live for another day am I clear?"
Wei Wuxian nodded.
Yu Ziyuan stood up and dusted her hands.
"You may enter" She said and Jiang Fengmian entered the room.
"My Lady—"
"He shall stay as a servant, he is to take training and serve A-Cheng once he turns 13" She said in a tone that was final "You will not adopt him nor give him any special treatment, am I clear?"
Jiang Fengmian nodded.
Yu Ziyuan talked with the woman at the door before leaving with Jiang Fengmian behind her.
After the two left, the woman entered the room.
"My name is Jiang Fen, your healer, don't mind our Queen, we don't even know why she's here, none of us even likes her" she tsked.
Wei Wuxian was surprised she was badmouthing the Queen.
"Oh its fine, I won't get killed, I'm related to the king, I'm his cousin" She waved off his concerns.
"Come on kid, we have a lot to do, you got 8 years to perfect stuff, we gotta make sure you're in good shape" She explained to him.
"What are you going to do?" He asked, almost scared.
"I'll just check your bandages, also you need a bath, Come to Fen-Jiejie would you? I promise to take good care of you" She smiled at him.
Wei Wuxian smiled too and trusted the woman.
She was gentle with her work.
"Come, there's a warm bath ready at the back, it probably won't be that warm anymore due to the commotion earlier" She said.
"Xianxian will be okay, Any water is good, Xianxian didn't take a bath in so long" Wei Wuxian explained.
Jiang Fen's heart broke.
"My dear" She hugged the boy and rubbed his back "I promise, I'll take care of you, you suffered enough"
That she will keep that promise close to her heart, she doesn't have kids, nor would she ever have one either. She would treat this boy as her own.
"Come now, your hair is filled with knots, why don't you tell me more about why you don't like dogs? Maybe I can help you lessen your fear with it" She said as she led him towards the Bath tub and helped him undress before slowly sinking him in.
"I guess by some miracle, the bath is still slightly warm huh?" She said to her self before grabbing the boy's hair.
"Geez, I wonder if I can find treasures in here with how much hair you have huh?" She teased before tickling the boy's neck.
Wei Wuxian chuckled at the action. A new memory appeared, he remembered how his mother did the same to him, she would tickle him whenever he takes a bath.
"This is going to take a while, would you like to talk about your time in the streets while I untie all this bushes from your hair?" She asked the boy before booping his tiny nose.
'Such an adorable child, I bet he's even more charming under all this dirt'
Wei Wuxian agreed and started talking.
———
A week or two after finally accepting the knowledge his mother is dead. Lan Wangji had arranged a meeting.
With himself, him, and only him.
He was having tea by himself, thinking and thinking.
His mother would not like him to be sad at all.
He knows for a fact that his mother would prefer if he was laughing and living a free life.
But how can he live a free life if he's been acting like a puppet, and follows every command and rules in this Sect.
And the disciples his age look up to him, he can't disappoint his Uncle or brother in anyway.
But then again, he's not the heir of GusuLan Kingdom. Does it matter if he follows the rules or not? He doesn't understand anything.
He also never understood why his mother lived away from the castle.
Like why do they need to make her a house away from the huge castle they literally live in? When she could be in a room here and guards can keep track of her easily if she ever escape.
He knows because his mother nearly escaped a few times just to see her son's.
He missed her so badly.
He decided to go to his Uncle's study for a bit.
He hangs around there to clean stuff up whenever he feels like it.
Also his Uncle left with his brother for a conference meeting with other kingdoms.
He doesn't really care about those politics, he thinks of it as boring, he could be doing better stuff other than talking with random people.
Also why does this castle have to be so big!? He swears the Jin's castle is a bit smaller than theirs...probably because they had to use real gold to flex on their money.
Lan Wangji rolled his eyes and continued walking until he finally reached his Uncle's study.
It was clean...meaning he has nothing to do here.
He could read but the library is all the way around and his little feet doesn't want to walk any further.
So he took a look around the study.
He then found some scrolls on the table, he read the content and it was about the time his Uncle was studying because of the year that was written.
He was curious so he opened it and started reading.
Then he saw the name Cangse Sanren and there was something written on top. He read the word as 'troublemaker'.
'Huh...thats interesting'
He decided to find the punishment books and was surprised to see how her name was there multiple times...he even saw the notebooks that was used for her to copy...he didn't want to count.
But this Cangse Sanren kind of remind him of his mother, both didn't like the rules, they probably would have been good friends.
He then read about the reasons she had to take the punishment.
One of it was shaving his Uncle's beard off.
'Why in the world did I have to be born in this generation!? I totally missed seeing that rare occasion of my Uncle without a beard' he cried in the inside.
Then he had an idea 'How about we wait until I also turn 15 to shave his beard off?'yes that was brilliant.
Then he saw the mess he made in his Uncle's study.
He groaned and started cleaning it up, this will be the last time he's messing up his Uncle's study.
Once he was done, he immediately made his way towards the Private Diner so he could eat and immediately go to bed.
———
After hearing the boy's story throughout the whole bath, Jiang Fen knows getting the boy's fear of dogs would take a long while.
"Jie?" He called out to her and she hummed "Yes child?"
"What if I never got rid of my fear of dogs? Will Her Majesty Yu get rid of me?" Wei Wuxian asked her.
Jiang Fen finished drying him off and took his new robes.
"No one will get rid of you, trust me" Jiang Fen said and starting helping the boy put on his clothes.
"I will help you with almost everything you need to know" She said and as soon as she was done helping the boy put his clothes on, there was a knock.
"Come in" Jiang Fen said after she carried the boy up to his bed in the infirmary.
An old man entered "I heard the child of Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze is here"
"Yes Uncle Qiong, Wei Wuxian is here" She said.
The man went closer and smiled "You have your mother's eyes and your father's features"
Wei Wuxian's eyes glowed "You knew my parents?"
The man huffed "I do, my name is Jiang Qiong, feel free to call me Grand Uncle" the Man paused before holding out his hand "May I check your Qi?"
Wei Wuxian nodded and held out his arm for the other to check.
"You have potential, as expected of you, you can become even better than your parents" he sighed "Such a waste that youre going to just become a servant"
Jiang Fen scoffed "What did you expect with the Queen like that? Everyone knows her children are as useless as the parents"
Jiang Qiong shook his head before saying "Once you're in good shape and settled in, I'll give you private lessons so you could improve your core" he winked.
"Really?" Wei Wuxian asked hopefully, he really wanted to become a cultivator just like his parents.
"I promise you, but first, you need to gin some muscles"
"Xianxian promises to do his best!"