They open the door to Baoshan Sanren's office, not expecting to find her there. She's sitting behind her desk and she puts a finger across her lips, telling them to be quiet. She points at the sofa where Mo XuanYu is fast asleep, covered by a blanket.
She beckons them closer.
Wei Ying is pleased to see her wearing a soft pink lounge suit, instead of her precious white dress. She must have showered recently because her hair is still damp.
She gets up from her chair to come around her desk to hug them.
"How are you both feeling today?" She whispers, her brow furrowed with concern.
"Tired but nothing sleep won't fix," Wei Ying beams at her, hugging her tightly. "Grandma, you gave me such a scare!"
Lan Zhan nods, his agreement with Wei Ying's words, and silently answering her question on how he feels.
"Ah, well, I should have been more careful. But I was too grateful to be rid of that vermin." She sighs quietly to herself and envelopes Lan Zhan in a bear hug. "It will take some time to be fully over this but, you did exceptionally well, both of you, for your first ever fight." She grins at Wei Ying. "I bet my armoury is looking mighty attractive now, huh?"
Wei Ying shook his head, but he was smiling.
"I don't see myself fighting like that. I much preferred playing Chenqing."
"It suits you," she replies, simply. "But the offer to train there is still open, whenever you want to." She glances at both of them.
"I will take you up on that offer," Lan Zhan says, surprising the other two.
"Really?" Wei Ying squeezes their hands. "Why?"
"I want to be able to protect my family, any way I can." Lan Zhan sounds too determined for Wei Ying to argue, so he smiles and shrugs.
"I suppose we'll be regularly visiting Grandma here, anyway. Grandma, we actually came here to get Mo XuanYu, see if he's hungry enough to join us for breakfast? I wanna see my kids." Wei Ying is already bouncing on his feet, anxiously waiting to get going. "Wanna join us?"
"Not today. I'm going over everything A-Yu found in the files he copied from the Wen mainframe. That's another problem." She sighs again.
"What is?" Wei Ying takes her hand with his free one. "And how can we help?"
"The biggest problem is what do we do from here? We have lots of incriminating data and evidence of the crimes that Wen Rouhan and his family have taken part in. The question is, do we go ahead and inform the authorities? By doing that, we risk exposure of our kind, and I know for a fact that we are solidarity folk. No one wants to cause a panic, because for sure, that's what will happen." Baoshan Sanren squeezes his hand and lets go of it. "If it only affected us, we could decide one way or another."
"Why not ask everyone to vote, then?" Wei Ying says, glancing at Lan Zhan. "It's only fair that everyone gets a say in which way this should go, right? And I'm guessing most of the Network of Vampires are still around? Then you could hold a meeting and find out what they think."
"Good idea. I want Wen Qing to be there as well, because whatever we decide, it will affect her and the Wen Laboratories the most. Let me call a few people and see what happens, get the ball rolling." With renewed enthusiasm, Baoshan Sanren jumps back into her chair and picks up her phone. "Don't worry about him, I'll get him something when he wakes up," she gestured vaguely in Mo XuanYu's direction.
They wave goodbye and leave.
In the underground parking, Wei Ying grins at Lan Zhan's white Sports car.
"I really enjoyed driving your car, Sweetheart!" He beams when Lan Zhan is shocked.
"Wei Ying can drive?"
"Yeah, I learned way back in high school. I missed driving and I didn't even know how much!"
Lan Zhan tossed his keys at Wei Ying. "Then go ahead. Let's see what you got!"
"Omfg, really?" Wei Ying caught them and slid across the bonnet of his car back towards Lan Zhan, in a really hot move.
Lan Zhan felt his belly flips and wondered if he would ever get tired of seeing Wei Ying's agility in the most random moments, like when he jumped over his couch the past few times. It's always made him want to throw Wei Ying against the nearest hardest surface and ravage him.
But Wei Ying needs to eat, and see his family, so Lan Zhan satisfies himself by pressing his lips against Wei Ying's forehead.
"Don't kill us," he requests, skirting around him to go and sit in the passenger seat.
Wei Ying giggles and opens his door to sit himself in the driver's seat.
But the moment he puts his hands on the wheel, he's immediately taken back to the time he got into Lan Zhan's car with Da Tuzi, and how driving made him take his mind off the distressing reality of Lan Zhan's abduction.
The shock of it, of having Lan Zhan and then suddenly not, hit him hard.
He trembles once before throwing himself into Lan Zhan's arms, choking back a sob.
Lan Zhan knew something was wrong when he reached for his seat belt and felt the spike in Wei Ying's blood. There had been nothing but joy and excitement beforehand, so the change was abrupt and such a contrast that Lan Zhan had to notice. He's already turning back towards Wei Ying when the latter is suddenly in his lap, shaking with fear.
His blood smells awful.
Lan Zhan croons in his ear, humming his mother's lullaby and hoping it works, because Wei Ying is way too upset for words.
Seconds turn into minutes as Wei Ying struggles to calm himself. He forces himself to take deep breaths until his body only lets out a shiver now and again. He's gradually absorbing the comfort of strong arms around his frame, of the strange not-warmth of Lan Zhan's body, and that heavenly sandalwood fragrance that wraps around him like a candy floss blanket.
He feels protected, and ever so glad that Lan Zhan is here.
He's here, and he's okay. Unharmed and probably freaking out about Wei Ying right now.
Wei Ying wipes his eyes on the magically appearing white handkerchief, but when he goes to pull away, Lan Zhan's arms tighten, warning him not to do it, just yet. His cheek rests on a strong chest, and he can feel Lan Zhan's chin resting on the crown of his own head.
It's the best kind of comfort.
"Talk to me. What just happened?" Lan Zhan begins to rub his back gently, a soothing motion to calm him down further.
The right words are lodged in Wei Ying's throat, refusing to come out because by doing that, it will make everything real. He knows he has to accept every part of every minute of everything that happened since that ill-fated award ceremony.
But he doesn't feel strong enough to do it yet.
"Three weeks ago, I didn't even know you," Wei Ying says instead, trying to verbally cross the honest bridge of his feelings. "It happened so fast. One minute you were right there, on the stage where I could see you... and then...and then you weren't. So fast." He sounds raw.
Lan Zhan remembered then, when he'd gone up on the stage to collect his award, something so silly in retrospect as compared to everything that happened immediately afterwards.
"Wei Ying... I saw your face! What happened? Why did you leave the main hall?"
"Oh yeah, you don't know." Wei Ying takes another deep breath, wishing for once that his traitorous eyes would stop leaking. He thinks back to his panic and seeing the missed calls from Granny Wen . "PoPo was trying to get hold of me. Someone broke into our home. She's safe!" Wei Ying quickly reassures him, before going on to tell him all about that.
He tells Lan Zhan about XiChen 'accidentally' breaking Madam Yu's nose, and saving him from her vile verbal attack, then discovering Lan Zhan was missing and their consequent actions, all the way until Wei Ying reunited with Lan Zhan.
All throughout, Lan Zhan is supportive, making all the right kinds of noises and making Wei Ying feel validated in how he's feeling. Lan Zhan knows that these past few days have been traumatic for all of them, and it's going to take time to heal.
"Wei Ying must promise something, though," he says, when Wei Ying stops talking.
"Huh?" Wei Ying sits up from his very comfortable position, and making Lan Zhan miss his warmth immediately.
"I want you to talk to me. Every time you feel like this, every time it feels like it's too much, please tell me. And I will try my best to do the same. I know I am unused to saying what I feel, but for Wei Ying, I will try," he says.
In his old body, Lan Zhan knows his ears would have been a brilliant red from his embarrassment, but this is too important, and he wants Wei Ying to know that this is the only way they can hope to get over this terrible weekend.
"Okay, Lan Zhan. I promise to try." Wei Ying gives him the sweetest smile, before climbing over the gearbox back to his seat.
"Wei Ying."
It's the way Lan Zhan says his name that makes Wei Ying shiver, his eyes drawn immediately back to his beloved.
Hot lips steal his breath, a kiss to seal their vows.
Lan Zhan cannot get enough of him, and from the way Wei Ying is clutching at his t-shirt, and making all those delicious sounds, moaning into his mouth, Lan Zhan feels victorious that this was a good call.
But once again, Wei Ying's stomach interrupts them, louder than before.
Lan Zhan gives it a few pats in apologies.
"I'm sorry, Wei Ying's tummy. We're going now."
Wei Ying giggles then, marvelling at how Lan Zhan can make him laugh so suddenly and because of a random action.
"Come on, then. Let's go."
***************
It's closer to midday when they reach the Lan Manor.
The cream and gold gates are open, and there's a human tank complete with bare chest and blow torch protection mask in place, hiding the man's face. His trousers are hanging low on slim hips, his abdominal muscles flexing as he stops his work to let them pass.
Wei Ying lets out a wolf whistle, which has Lan Zhan glaring at the oblivious guy outside and then at Wei Ying for his shameless ogling.
"Who is THAT?" Wei Ying adds, staring at the rear view mirror way more than keeping his eyes ahead. "Omg, that was Nie MingJue?!!"
Lan Zhan growls to himself, missing the cheeky smile of his fiance, and refusing to acknowledge anything he's saying.
They drive past the cherry blossom trees, now bare and awaiting the spring to bloom once more.
Lan Zhan is lost in thought, remembering the children's reactions to Nie MingJue and his unbelievable strength, and the way they described playing with his brother's boyfriend.
That last fact might be the only thing stopping Lan Zhan from more petty revenge, because all of HIS own family seem to be unfairly besotted with him.
"Do you think you could look like that, my love?" Wei Ying is asking, when another thought occurred to him. "Lan Zhan!" The car screeches to a halt. "What was he cleaning off the gates? And damn...if it's what I think it is..." Wei Ying turns to face Lan Zhan. "You said this morning, when you talked to your brother, he said the Wens had unleashed vampires here. HERE! That means, your uncle knows about them!"