note: I had fallen in the MDZS fandom and I cannot recover from the story no matter what. I watched the untamed, then the donghua , then read the novel, then the manhua and now fanfictions. if anyone knows how to recover, please tell me.
After the funeral of Nie Mingjue, Jiang Cheng returned to Louts pier along with his nephew and brother. of course, the famous ghost general is like a shadow tailing Wei Wuxian.
Jiang Cheng used to hate him, thinking it was him who killed Zixuan, but now that it became clear who was behind it, he didn't mind having ghost general around. but one thing bothered him, why on earth did Wei Wuxian came back with him?
On the surface, Jiang Cheng acted like he hated it, but low key was happy that for once, he would have a fragment of his family with him.
All the way back to Lotus pier, Wei Wuxian kept on talking, the topics ranging from demonic cultivation to pie recopies.
"Oh, look, Jiang Cheng!" Wei Wuxian called for his brother like there were mountains between them, while in fact it was only few steps. Jiang Cheng who gave up telling Wei Wuxian to be quiet, just listened to whatever his talkative brother had to say. "I was wondering would purple look good on me?" Wei Wuxian asked innocently. "Hey what about getting Wen Ning a set of new clothes!"
Wen Ning shook his head as he walked behind the two brothers. Jinling who had been in some kind of shock ever since the events at the temple, was riding the lil' apple, next to Wen Ning.
"What colour do you think will look good on him?" Wei Wuxian asked Jiang Cheng. "I think green would look good, but I want us to have same colours! what do you say?"
After a while the topic changed to some food recipe.
"Hey, we can try that!" Wei Wuxian was jumping up and down in excitement around his brother, who was wondering on why on this green earth, did Mo Xuanyu had summoned Wei Wuxian. out of every sinister ghost, throughout thousands of years, it had to be this talkative crazy troublemaker of brother.
"Where did you get that recipe from?" Jinling joined the conversation.
"Ah..." Wei Wuxian thought for a bit, searching through dozens of thousands of files scattered in his brain's office. scratching his head with his flute, like it would help him remember faster "AHA! I remembered. it was a ghost, I recruited back at ... the Yi city!"
"You ...." Jin Ling thought for a moment. "How did you know their recipe?"
"Later they came and talked to me! they told me about their favourite food!" Wei Wuxian was walking backward, facing Jin Ling.
"You can talk to them?" Jin Ling asked
"How do you think I order them?" Wei Wuxian let out a laughter.
Jiang Cheng was reaching the end of his wits. ready to smack the light out of Wei Wuxian, but what would his ghost general do? beside he was tired and didn't have energy to rise and arm.
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After reaching the Louts pier, there was a lot of rumours before their arrival. everyone kept a good 10 meter away from the pack which included their angry grumpy grape like sect leader Jiang Cheng, the famous yilling Lauzo who for some reasons was super cheerful, the gloomy looking fierce corpse ghost general, and finally the only normal looking one was Jinling.
back at the palace of Lotus pier, all the guards were preparing to run at full speed if the situation exploded. they were scared, but not from Wei wuxian or Wen ning, but from Jiang cheng. who's look suggest that he wouldn't mind another SunShot campaign right now.
the following morning, ////jinling woke up to someone pocking his cheek.
"pst" someone hissed, Jinling slowly opened his eyes, wondering who it might be at this early hour in the morning. Infront of his bed, stood his crazy uncle, Wei wuxian.
"Good morning!" Wei weuxian was beaming with happiness./jin ling could have sworn that he saw sparks and lanterns in Wei wuxian's eyes, that was accompanied by a creepy smile.
"We are not in GUSU! IT IS 4 AM!!!!" Jin ling shouted and tried to go back to bed, but Wei wuxian grabbed his leg and dragged him out of the bed.
"Jin ling, get up! we had to go!" Wei wuxian said in a suppressed voice, his excitement was loud, but he didn't want to wake every single person in Lotus pier.
"Leave me alone!" Jin ling was trying to grab anything to pull himself free from Wei wuxian.
"Come on don't be lazy" Wei wuxian gave Jin ling's leg a tug and whistled. jin ling stopped for a moment, looking at his door, and saw Wen ning poking his head. "Wen ning! great come help me!" Wei wuxian ordered and of course the ghost general moved and grabbed Jin ling's other leg.
"Hey that is not fair!" Jin ling snaped at them "you can't have help!!!" he yelled
Wen ning, who at that moment had more brain cells out of the three of them. wrapped one arm around Wei wuxina's tiny waist, and another around Jin ling, then he fled out of lotus pier while the other two were clinking to their dear life, hugging Wen ning's head. good thing Wen ning didn't need to breath, otherwise he would have been the first fierce corpse that died from suffocation.
"WEN NING!!" Wei wuxian was screaming at top of his lung "NO ONE WILL SUMMON ME BACK AGAIN IF I DIE!!!" he screamed. tightening his grip around Wen ning's head.
"I SAID I MISS MY PARENTS, BUT I DONT WANT TO JOIN THEM YET!!!!!!" Jin ling cried, thinking he would die.
Wen ning landed far enough from lotus pier, and put both Jin ling and Wei wuxian gently down on the ground. both of their legs were like wobbly noodles and both fell, still shaking slightly from the flight.
"you two may have death wish, but I don't" Wen ning said in apologetic voice "your screaming and yelling would have woken up clan leader Jiang cheng."
bothJin ling and Wei wuxian fell silence as the gravity of the situation dulled on them.
the image of Jinag cheng's grumpy sleep face chasing them through out the entire Yunmeng with his Zidian was scarier than anything they could imagen.
"Thank you" they both murmured.
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after 20 minutes, in which all three were fully awake and calm, Wei wuxian got up again.
"So, Jin ling! you know what day it is?" Wei wuxian asked. Jin ling thought for a moment, then shook his head. Wen ning also tried to link the day to any event but couldn't.
"Today is Jiang cheng's birthday!!!" Wei wuxian was jumping up and down with excitement again as he hoped around Wen ning and Jin ling. "maybe we all could get him something nice!!!!"
"Eh.... all of us? master Wei?" Wen ning asked in a sheepish voice.
"Yes!!!!" Wei wuxian shouted in excitement, "but what does he like?"
"aren't you the one who lived with him the most? beside you were together in your childhood?" Jin ling asked
"I know, but he might have changed in the past 13 years so?" Wei wuxian was standing Infront of Jin ling, bending down to Jin ling's level and smiling at his face.
"I .... I think I know" Jin ling said.
"Great we can throw him a surprise party!!!" Wei wuxian resumed his little happy dance. "Foods! fireworks!! music!! and GIFTS!!!"
"uncle Jiang would like a dog" Jin ling watched Wei wuxian carefully, with an evil smile creeping on his face, as Wei wuxian's little dance died away. his eager cheerful face replaced by a terrified face as he begun to tremble.
"a.... a dog?" Wei wuxian whimpered, looking in between Jin ling and Wen ning, hopping that one of them tell him it was a jock.
but thinking back to their childhood, Jiang cheng really liked dogs. and it was because of him, that Jiang fengmian took away all the puppies. so, it was only right to get him new puppies. but there was one tiny problem, Wei wucian was scared to death from dogs.
"I wouldn't have imagined for the life of me, that the famous Yilling Louazu was scared from dogs" Jin ling mocked him "how come uncle Jiang didn't gather an army of dogs to attack the burial mount?"
Wei wuxian thought for a bit, he thought that his brother hated him during the campaign against him, but if he actually hated Wei wuxian, he could have brought one dog. only one dog was enough.
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after some thinking, Wei wuxian decided to repay his brother's kindness and give him some new puppies. and maybe face his own fear.
"Wen ning!" Wei wuxian called, a sweet smile on his face. "Can... you .... g..."
"How many poppies master Wei?" Wen ning interrupted him, already knowing the question.
"How about all three of us going?" Jin ling suggested "that way it will be way nicer."
"But.... what if...." Wei wuxian stuttered.
"Yilling Lauzo is cared of dogs!" Jin ling begun singing in a mockery tone, dancing around his scared uncle while doing the chicken dance moves.
"Stop it!" Wei wuxian ordered, but he knew his nephew won't stop. "Fine! I will show you i am not scared!!" he got up and all three walked back to Lotus pier, headed for the market right away.
after looking around the pet stalls for a bit, two small fluffy puppies (those two in the picture above) had caught Wen ning's eye. the ghost general stopped dead in his trace, looking at the puppies and petting them. the seller thought he was drunk or dreaming. were the ghost general petting puppies in his stall? he couldn't believe his eyes. but then another man joined him, it took the seller a moment to recognize him thanks to the flute he carried.
"Master Wei?" Wen ning pointed to the puppies, picking up one of them and Helding it Infront of Wei wuxian, forgetting for a moment that Wei wuxian was scared of dogs. "How about these?" he asked in his childish voice.
the seller's jaw hit the ground, he imagined that ghost general's voice will be deep and cold, something to match his fame, not this childish voice. he looked closer at the ghost general; his face was .... well good looking even for a crop, his features soft and delicate. he wondered what must have happened to him to turn him into ... whatever he was now.
all this time,Jin ling was holding his laughter, expecting his uncle to run through the market and screaming for help. oh, how fun it will be.
Wei wuxian's first instinct was to run away, but he couldn't. for the first time, he was frozen in fear instated of running on full speed. he looked up to Wen ning, who almost crying out of cuteness of the puppies.
just like when he was still alive. Wei wuxian forced his hand up, telling himself that he survived fall into burial mount after losing his core. he survived that, he defiantly could survive petting a puppy. besides, Wen ning is also there. he would definitely help him, on top of that if he ran away now he would brake Wen ning's heart, and maybe he won't ever see innocent smile of his ghost general ever again.
he bit his tong and petted the two puppies. he wished that his own fierce corpse will tear him apart like they did back in mount burial that petting the puppies.
Jin ling's happiness skyrocketed, to see his uncle try to make it up for his other uncle.
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after paying for the puppies they left, of course Wen ning held both puppies in his arms like how you cary infants. Wei wuxian kept a good ten steps distance between him and Wen ning, they walked back to the palace and begun preparations for the party. Wei wuxian took liberty to decorate the entire square, that normally used for training, for his brother's birthday.
"I don't know how you would do it but distract sect leader jiang." Wei wuxian had told everyone.
"But how will you decorate this entire palace master Wei?" one guard asked.
"I will take care of that!" Wei wuxian happily replied, putting the flute to his lip and begun playing a playful tune. nearly a hundred fierce corps zoomed in the sky, flying in circles before landing clumsily on the training ground. "See? that is more than enough!"
Jin ling and Wen ning hid the puppies away and helped in distracting Jinag Cheng. one brilliant idea that Jin ling had was to stuck Wen ning in a tinny well and had Jiang cheng try to pull him out. other guards went about their daily life, and some, who were far braver than average volunteered to keep sect leader distracted.
on the other side of that palace, was Jiang cheng, who for once since he became sect leader, had slept well. and was in exceptionally good mood and ate his breakfast in peace. he doubted that this peace will last much longer, and he was right.
one of the brave disciples rushed to him, calling his name out in a panic
"SECT LEADER JIANG!! SECT LEADER JIANG!!!" the discipleshouted at top of his lung.
"What went wrong?" Jiang cheng asked, it is only the bad news, never a good one.
"It is ..." the disciplepaused for breath "young master Jin!"
"WHAT HAPPEND TO HIM?" Jiang cheng's mind jumped to wrost possible scenario right away.
"He is trying to cut ghost general in half!"
"Huh?" Jiang cheng's ear got the message, but his brain couldn't make anything out of it. why would Jin ling try to cut Wen nign in half? and were was his brother? he got up and followed the disciplewho led him to the tinny well. it wasn't worth asking to him
despite the entire place being build on a river, there was one tinny well from .... well, no one remember since when as it was much older than history records. that well had no water in it and now ghost general was stuck in it.
"What the...." Jiang cheng's eyes were as wide as they could be, just when he thought he won't be surprised any more by his nephew's antiques, Jin ling proved him wrong.
"Uncle!" Jin ling shouted and run to Jiang cheng, dragging him by his arm to the well. "Help me uncle!"
"What have you two done?"
"I...." Jin ling lingered a bit, acting like he was trying to cover up his mistake. Jiang cheng turned to him with a suspicious look and a raised eyebrow. "Ok! I dared him to go down there and hide from Wei wuxian"
"Really?" Jiang cheng asked. "And he did?"
"Yes, but he got stuck" Jin ling replied, doing his best to keep a guilty face. but to his sweet luck, Jiang cheng could see through thier little lie.
"so, where is Wei wuxian?" Jiang cheng asked "I am sure he wouldn't have allowed his ghost general to play some stupid child games?"
"He is drunk, from last night." Jin ling said right away.
"Drunk?" Jiang cheng was 100% sure they were lieing , it would need a river of normal wine to get Wei wuxian drunk, the normal one, and Mo xuanyu's body was even more resistance to wine.
"And why you need all that... glue?" Jiang cheng pointed to the few jars of glue around.
"To put Wen ning back together. when we cut him in half, we glue him back together" Jin ling's smiley face beamed with pride.
"Alright, you two knock it off" Jiang cheng told them, "Wen ning, get out of the well now!"
"uncle he can't!" Jin ling added
"Ah, I know the tool to get him out of there!" Jiang cheng touched his ring, both Jin ling and Wen ning's faces turned pale. in a flash, a purplish whip was dangling from Jiang cheng's hand. "You are still stuck?" Jiang cheng asked. both knew it was last chance warning, Wen ning not wanting to betray his young master Wei, didn't move out of the well. preparing for the blow from Zidian.
"Alright! I will tell yon!" Jin ling got in between the well and his uncle
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in the throne hall, Jiang cheng was sitting on his throne, Zidian still in his hand. in front of his throne stood genuinely looking guilty Wen ning and Jin ling.
"Care to explain?" Jiang cheng asked.
"But don't tell Wei wuxian about it" Jin ling said, putting him his puppy face to convince Jiang cheng
"Tell him what?" Jiang cheng asked again. more interested this time.
"That you know. he will be heartbroken" Jin ling said
"Know what? and why you even care?"
"Well.... it is your birthday, today... right?" Jin ling asked.
"yes, it is"
"And uncle Wei wanted to make it special for you" Jin ling added. Wen nign looked like he was having a panic attack next to him "he planned a whole celebration for you, in the training square"
"celebration? for me?" Jiang cheng wasn't sure if he heard his nephew right. after all these years of being along on every birthday, well... all days of the year, he wasn't used to get a celebration for himself. so that was why Wei wuxian came back to Yunmeng with him. he had a knot in his throat, fighting back against happiness tears. "So that is all that noise is about?" he asked on in a cold voice
"Yes, he had an army of fierce corpse helping him" Jin ling noted the change in his uncle's voice. was he dreaming? emotional Jiang cheng? it was all too much for his little young brain to comprehend all the impossible things that happened to him.
first, he befriended the outcast Mo xuanyu who tought him some self-defence moves. then he learned that mo xuan yu was actually his other uncle who supposedly died 13 years ago. after that he stabbed his uncle. somehow he ended up in mount burial along with other juniors and stumbled upon his uncle's hideout cave. they got caught and tied up. his uncle, and his other blood-vowed uncle's younger brother, Lan zhan along with ghost general showed up in the cave.
freeing the juniors then they all had a wholehearted conversation in which turned out who actually killed his parents. then they fought their way out of the mount burial, then he had a mental breakdown. for some fate known's only reasons, his dog fairy ended up in front of the grand temple, when he was caught by his uncle. it was kind feeling weird for Jin ling that almost every one of the sects leaders were his uncles in one way or another. there every secret got exposed, his uncle killed his father, framing his other uncle for it, then killed his mother too. after that, his uncle killed the other uncle, former sect leader of Nei. and turned out that the peaceful looking uncle, Nie huaisang , who knew nothing all the time, was master mind who got his evil uncle exposed. and just earlier this day he saw his uncle Wei, petting a puppy. a puppy! on top of this, his stone hearted uncle Jiang was.... emotional?
what else now? Jin ling thought.
"He put up decorations too? what a waste of time" Jinag cheng said. but deep down he was moments away from crying.
"He also bought you a gift" Jin ling added. he wanted to see if he can push Jiang cheng to tears.
"a gift? let me guess. a flute!" jiang cheng suggested, throwing his hands up in the air in a fake childish way.
"no....." jJin ling replied "he got you... . a puppy"
"Wha..what?" Jiang chneg got up from his throne right away "Wei wuxian bought me a puppy?"
both Wen ning and Jin ling nodded.
"He is scared of puppies" Jiang cheng said as matter of fact
"We know" Jin ling said. "But he still got you some. he even petted them"
"...." Jiang chegn was speechless.
"Master Wei intended to make it a surprise party" Wen ning said in a quiet voice.
"I can't.... believe it" Jiang cheng whispered, he wanted his voice to be loud and clear, but his emotions were not letting it. "don't worry, I don't know anything" he said and left.
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"JIANG CHENG!!!!" Wei wuxian screamed for his brother, trying to get him to the trainingsquare without letting him know. but Jiang cheng already knew.
Jiang Cheng rushed to the training square, pretending to be scared with his zidian at full length and glowing.
"What is wrong?" Jiang Cheng asked the moment he reached the square, which was now decorated and full of people. some from Yunmeng , some for other clans and the head of the other clans were also there.
"SURPRISE!!!!!" they all yelled at once, fireworks flying through the night sky and exploding in all sorts of colours.
"What the......" Jian Chen acted surprised, reluctantly collecting Zidian and looking around.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAN LEADER JIANG CHENG!!!!" everyone shouted with happiness. somehow Wei Wuxian managed to gather people from all clans and had them at Lotus pier on the same day.
servants came and put a giant cake with lotus flavour in front of Jiang Cheng with one purple candle in the centre.
"MAKE A WISH!!!" Wei Wuxian jumped from the crowd and urging his brother.
"what's going on?" Jian Cheng asked in his unamused tone.
"It is a birthday party for you!" Wei Wuxian answered. "Now make a wish and blow the candle!"
"Why there is only one candle?" Jiang Cheng asked causally "or you don't remember my age?" he raised an eyebrow at his brother
"not non no..." Wei Wuxian held his hands up in defence, "we put one candle because we only had one clan leader Jiang Cheng" he explained with a happiness beaming from him "and maybe a little of that too" he whispered to his brother.
Jiang Cheng made his wish, although he never believed in that kind of stuff, but what was the harm?
' I wish to be always with my family, to never be separated again. they might be talkative and energetic, but they are my family.' he wished in silence. and blow the candle with a smile. a genuine smile that was gone ever since their Shiji died.
servants came and went carrying platers of food and drinks, Jiang Cheng noticed something was off with them. they were not the usual servants you would except to see. they were all fierce corps under tons of make-up to make them look less scary.
"Brother Jiang Cheng, i wish you have a happy life and safe one too. you might need more of the latter considering who you have at lotus pier" Lan Xichen chuckled
"Yeah, I will need a lot of safety rules to be around here. Wei Wuxian, Jinling and Wen ning are not the brightest when it came to safety. believe me on that" Jiang Cheng replied "i mean look, who thought having an army of fierce corpse as servant?" he pointed to the servants, who were still roaming about the square.
"I wasn't sure what you like, so..." Lan Xichen held a box that was wrapped in colourful colours. Jiang Cheng took and bowed to show respect. he shook the box slightly and it make some jingling sounds. "don't worry, it won't brake" Lan Xichen added, like it would have made a difference if it was bakeable item.
"Thank you big brother" Jiang Cheng thanked him and opened the box gently. not wanting to tear the pretty papers. inside the box was a collar, two pretty purple collar with few tiny bells each.
"What you say?" Lan Xichen asked.
"They are beautiful, but I don't have any dogs to use these on" Jiang Cheng faked his ignorance.
"Not anymore!" Wen Ning happily popped his head in between them. and pointed to direction of Wei Wuxian who was coming toward them, Helding a box in his hand. he walked with the same energy and grace he had before the night less sky events to everyone. but Jiang Cheng was sure this was his fear walk, specially when he noticed the tear in his brother's eyes.
"This is for you" Wei wuxian's voice was shaking, on verge of tears. Jiang Cheng was sure that his brother would cry any moment and threw the box in the air and run for his life. beside he wanted to get back at his brother, after all he waited 13 years, and searched for him. and now he wanted to get back at him.
"Thank you, Wei Ying!" Jiang Cheng thanked his brother and brushed the idea of making him wait and took the box from him. Wei Wuxian sighed of relief for no longer holding the box.
"Open it" Wei Wuxian urged his bother and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead that formed.
Jiang Cheng opened the box, inside was two fluffy, cute little puppies, looking at Jiang Cheng and wagging their tails. despite knowing what the gift was already, Jiang Cheng couldn't supress his happiness.
the puppies were taken out for the box, Jiang Cheng held them to his chest, and then put them down. they played around his feet and barked at him playfully. he looked up at Wei Wuxian with teary eyes, smiling and he opened his arms. hugging his brother.
everyone gasped, except for few people who knew Jiang Cheng from before fall of lotus pier.
Wei Wuxian was taken a back a bit, he expected Jaing Cheng to only say thank you and brush him off for the rest of the night. but for his brother to hug him right in front of everyone? he was wondering if his brother was possessed by some spirit, but he brushed the idea off when he remembered how his brother was before the Wens attacked Lotus pier. he returned the hug, it was good to be back, the only missing person was their Shiji.
"I want a hug too" Jinling said and joined them without waiting for their response. his two uncles stopped for a moment, maybe their Shiji wasn't around anymore, but her son was now here.
the rest of the night went really good for everyone, except the fierce corps Wei Wuxian had recruited. Nie huaisang alos joined the two Yunmeng brothers and the three talked and drank. Lan Zhan and Lan Xichen were also enjoying, but not drinking part. the juniors were laughing, dancing, singing, talking loudly and having a fun time without worrying. Song Lan and Wen Ning diapered out of view, sharing whatever was it.
The End