Chapter Text
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“Oh my God, my little brother is trapped and I’m freaking out!”
The voice sounded like a teenaged girl. Nie Huaisang made sure to get her location first, in case they got disconnected, then asked, “What’s your name?”
“It’s Tang Hei.”
“Okay, I’m Nie Huaisang. How is your brother trapped?”
“We were playing hide-and-seek, right? And he climbed into my dad’s gun safe. He had left it open because it was empty, he went up into the mountains on a hunting trip with his friends. And A-Liu climbed in and closed it, and now it’s locked and it won’t open!”
“How old is your brother?”
“He’s five, and he’s freaking out, I can hear him crying and begging me to let him out.” Tang Hei was starting to cry. “It’s barely big enough to hold him and there can’t be much air inside, what am I going to do?”
“Okay, Tang Hei, I’m dispatching the fire department to your location, but it’ll probably be a few minutes before they get there.” Nie Huaisang didn’t feel good about this call. Not only could it take a few minutes for the fire crew to get there, it wouldn’t be easy to get the child free from the safe. It would take time, and depending on how small it was, he could be injured in their attempts. “How long has your brother been in the safe?”
“Almost ten minutes now! Like I said, he was hiding, and I couldn’t find him, and I kept yelling for him to come out, but he didn’t call out to me until he started to get bored waiting and wanted to come out, and then I tried to call my dad to get the code, but I can’t reach him – he must be somewhere that he doesn’t have service – ”
Ten minutes was a long time to spend in a tight space with no airflow, Nie Huaisang knew. “Okay, while we wait for the firemen, let’s try some codes. Try 1234 and if that doesn’t work, try four zeroes.”
On the other end of the phone, he heard beeping. “No, neither of those worked.”
“Okay. Do you know your dad’s birthday?”
“It’s October fifth . . .”
“Try 1005,” he said. She did, and it didn’t work. Neither did her mother’s birthday, or her own, or her brother’s. “Try looking around on his desk,” Nie Huaisang said, checking the ETA on the firefighters. Three minutes out. “See if you can find anywhere that he might have it written down.”
“I’m looking,” she said, and choked out a sob. “Oh, God, he keeps crying for me to let him out – ”
“That’s good, Tang Hei,” Nie Huaisang said. “If he’s crying, he’s still got air.”
“There’s nothing here!” she said in frustration. “All he has in here are stupid pictures of stupid football players everywhere.”
Nie Huaisang frowned. “Is there any player you see a lot? Look at the jerseys,” he added, before she could ask how she was supposed to tell them apart.
“Oh – oh, yeah, like ninety percent of them have a guy in a jersey number seventeen – ”
“Try 1717.”
More beeps, then a click, and then suddenly the wailing sound intensified. “Oh my God!” Tang Hei screamed, then sobbed harder. “It worked, it opened, he’s okay – oh my God, thank you so much.”
Nie Huaisang smiled. “You’re quite welcome, Tang Hei. The firefighters are only a minute or two out and I’m still going to have them show up, okay? Just to check on your brother and make sure he’s all right.”
“Uh huh. Okay. Can you – can you stay on the phone with me until they get here?”
“Sure,” Nie Huaisang said. He told her to close the safe so her brother couldn’t climb back into it, and then talked her through checking her brother’s breathing, although he could tell from the volume of his crying that he was probably fine. A few minutes later, he heard her letting the paramedic crew in. “Are you all set?”
“Yeah. Thank you so much. Really. Thank you.”
He said goodbye and disconnected, feeling good.
“Hey, Huaisang, you left your tea on the counter in the breakroom,” his coworker said. “How do you go into the kitchen, make yourself a cup of tea, and then forget to bring it back to your desk with you?”
“Just talent,” Nie Huaisang said cheerfully, and his coworker laughed.
His computer signaled an incoming call, and he hastily gulped down a mouthful of the tea.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
~ ~ ~ ~
“Hey, what’s up, want a drink?” Wei Ying stood back to let Jiang Cheng into his apartment. “Don’t mind all the, you know, everything. I try to keep it tidy but sometimes A-Yuan is like a miniature tornado.”
Jiang Cheng shrugged, looking glum. “He asleep already?”
“Yeah, has been for about twenty minutes.” Wei Ying shuddered as Peaches nosed at his hand. “Must you bring this monster into my apartment?”
Jiang Cheng took the offered jar of alcohol and said, “Get a grip, Wei Ying. Peaches is better trained than you are.”
Wei Ying laughed. “Yeah, that’s probably fair. What’s up? You look kind of like someone kicked your puppy.”
With a sigh, Jiang Cheng said, “It’s not a big deal. Or at least it shouldn’t be a big deal. It’s just this whole thing with Mom.”
“Yeah?” Wei Ying had heard bits and pieces from Jiang Yanli, but he wasn’t sure what, specifically, Jiang Cheng was upset about. He plunked down on his sofa and gestured for Jiang Cheng to sit down next to him. “Well, it’s just us, if you want to talk. Lan Wangji is over at his brother’s. Apparently, they have a monthly contest to find the most boring documentary on the internet and watch it together.”
Jiang Cheng frowned. “They . . . what?”
“Well, that’s probably not how they would describe it,” Wei Ying said. “But after they made me watch a documentary about fonts last month, I told them to count me out of this family tradition.”
That made Jiang Cheng laugh. “I will never get what you two see in each other, but that’s probably all for the best.”
Wei Ying kicked his ankle. “Anyway, spill. What’s going on?”
“I just – I really thought things were going to be different now,” Jiang Cheng said, feeling like an idiot. “I mean, I know what a-jie said, and I knew that it might take Mom a little while to come around, but I really thought – like, isn’t that why this happened? So Mom would come around and we could – we could be a family again?”
For a long moment, Wei Ying was quiet. He turned his cup of tea around in his hands. “I don’t think it was ‘for’ anything,” he said. “It was just, you know, the universe being random and arbitrary. Real life doesn’t always have those Lifetime movie moments, you know? If this job has taught me anything, it’s that bad shit happens for no reason all the time.” He shook his head and then smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Jiang Cheng. It doesn’t bother me anywhere near as much as it used to. As awful as those years were, I have A-Yuan because of them, and I wouldn’t give him up for anything. I don’t need Mrs. Yu in my life.”
“I guess.” Jiang Cheng sighed. “I went over today to see if she needed anything, since she just got out of the hospital yesterday. Apparently, according to her, the accident was all my fault. Because if I hadn’t upset her the way I did that day, she never would have taken her eyes off the road.”
Wei Ying stared at him for a moment. “What kind of bullshit – ”
“I know,” Jiang Cheng said. “It’s not like I believe her. I don’t think even she believes it. I think she said it just to hurt me. And that’s worse. I left, and she called me three times to keep yelling at me,” He turned his phone around in his hand and then held it out to Wei Ying. “I told myself I should block her number but couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
Taking the phone, Wei Ying said, “You’re too trusting. I’ve got half a mind to text her and tell her what I think of her.”
“I know you won’t.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” Wei Ying tapped at the screen for a few moments. “You know that once she realizes you blocked her, she’s going to turn up on your doorstep.”
“Yeah. My lease is up next month. I was thinking about getting a new place.”
Wei Ying handed his phone back. “You can crash here until then, if you want. I mean, you’d have to sleep on the sofa some nights – contrary to what you may believe I don’t spend all my time at Lan Zhan’s, because he only has one bedroom so there’s nowhere for A-Yuan to sleep. And we were talking about moving in together and getting a new place, but this one still has five months on the lease, so you could stay here until it runs out.”
“Seems kinda stupid, doesn’t it?” Jiang Cheng said. “Hiding from her?”
“You’re not hiding. You’re just – not giving her an opening. It’s strategic.” Wei Ying saw the look on his face and said, “You don’t owe her anything, Jiang Cheng.”
“I guess that’s true.” Jiang Cheng sighed. “And I guess I can always change my mind.”
Wei Ying kicked his ankle again. “That’s the spirit.”
“You sure you’re willing to have Peaches around all the time, though?” Jiang Cheng asked, and Wei Ying’s eyes went wide. “Didn’t think things through, I take it.”
“Whatever. I can put up with your dog as long as you promise not to let her tear my face off.”
“I solemnly promise I will not let Peaches tear your face off.”
“Then it’s all good,” Wei Ying said, and Jiang Cheng laughed.
~ ~ ~ ~
Wei Ying loved his job.
“Of course you’re super hot!” the woman who answered the door in her pajamas said as soon as she saw them, looking embarrassed. Wei Ying couldn’t help but stare at her. The call from dispatch had said she complained of a blue pallor to her skin, and they had thought it might be a prank, but no. She was thoroughly, unmistakably blue. “Oh, God, I should’ve just driven myself to the emergency room. Or jumped out my window . . .”
“You definitely shouldn’t do that,” Wei Ying said, and gave her a reassuring smile. “I promise you that we’ve seen worse than a beautiful young lady in her pajamas.”
“A beautiful young Smurf, maybe,” she said.
Lan Wangji was basically ignoring their conversation, having the young woman sit down and checking her vitals. “Pulse is steady, pupils equal and reactive. Miss, when did this start?”
“I was like this when I woke up,” she said miserably, and rubbed at the side of her face. “And God, this toothache is killing me . . .”
“Have you taken anything, any medications?” Lan Wangji asked.
“I mean, not unless you count some gel for the tooth . . .”
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said, and he nodded and jogged to the bathroom to fish the empties out of the trash. Behind him, the young woman apologized for what a mess the place was. Lan Wangji took the empty tube from him and checked the ingredients. “Benzocaine,” he said, and before he could continue, the young woman in the chair began to seize. They both hastened to grab her and slide her to the floor.
“Methemoglobinemia?” Wei Ying said.
“Grab the CO-oximeter,” Lan Wangji said, and Wei Ying did as instructed. “Methemoglobin levels are at sixty percent.”
“How bad is that?” Wei Ying asked, grabbing more things from the kit and handing them to Lan Wangji.
“Anything over seventy is deadly.” Lan Wangji spoke without emotion, his voice just as steady as his hands as he started fluids and put an oxygen mask on the young woman. “Grab the methylene – ”
“Blue chloride?” Wei Ying asked, already pulling it out of the kit.
“Two doses,” Lan Wangji said. “I’ve never seen a case this advanced before.”
“Copy that,” Wei Ying said, grabbing the second dose while Lan Wangji was pushing the first through the IV. A few moments later, the methemoglobin levels were dropping, and the woman’s skin tint was changing back to normal. Another few minutes, and they had her sitting up, woozy but coherent and extremely happy that she wasn’t blue anymore.
“Do you have an appointment with your dentist?” Lan Wangji asked her.
She nodded. “At one thirty . . .”
“No more oral gel,” Lan Wangji said, then added, “and you should always heed the advice on the package about maximum doses. It is there for a reason.”
Looking embarrassed, she gave another nod. Wei Ying grinned at her and said, “Don’t mind him. Mr. Perfect here has never had a cavity in his life.”
That made her laugh. They sat with her for a few more minutes, until Lan Wangji was confident that she was going to be all right, and then they left, heading back to the ambulance.
“Aren’t you glad I got to ride with you today?” Wei Ying asked cheerfully.
“Mn,” Lan Wangji said. “It is enjoyable to see how much you have learned.”
Now Wei Ying laughed. “I definitely didn’t know Orajel could turn you into an extra from Avatar before today.” He smirked and added, “You find my competence devastatingly sexy. It’s okay, you can admit it.”
Lan Wangji gave him a sideways look, then said, “I had a cavity when I was fifteen.”
“Oh, no!” Wei Ying fake-gasped. “I can’t believe it. Your whole image is ruined.”
“It was from overbrushing,” Lan Wangji said, and Wei Ying laughed even harder.
~ ~ ~ ~
Lan Xichen came into the station with his usual bag of pastries, which he deposited in the kitchen. Meng Yao was already there, with a laptop and a mug of coffee, and he smiled when Lan Xichen came in and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. “What are you up to?” Lan Xichen asked.
“Well,” Meng Yao said, “you might think it’s a little silly. Remember when I said I had won the argument with your uncle?”
Lan Xichen laughed. “Yes. But I don’t think he’s been harassing you, and I know he hasn’t been harassing Wangji, so I still think you won.”
“Maybe,” Meng Yao said, “but just because I won doesn’t actually mean I was right. I’ve actually been thinking about what he said, and thinking about taking some college classes.”
“Oh?” Lan Xichen smiled. “What kind?”
“I don’t really know.” Meng Yao closed the laptop and took the pastry that Lan Xichen offered him. “I still don’t really feel like there’s anything I’m passionate about, the way you are about medicine. But then it occurred to me, because of my lack of broad education, there’s a lot of things I just have no experience with. Maybe I would be passionate about geology or forensic pathology or something if I actually tried it.”
“A fair point,” Lan Xichen said with a nod.
“I’m not necessarily aiming to get a degree,” Meng Yao said, “but just try my hand at some new things. The tsunami really got me thinking about it, too. Nobody would have predicted that an earthquake off the coast of Alaska would have resulted in a tsunami here. If we could develop better detection systems, we could save a lot of lives.”
Lan Xichen sat down across from him and said, “You already sound pretty passionate.”
“Do I?” Meng Yao seemed a little embarrassed, but then shook his head. “It was a very awful day. Even for me . . . I can disconnect from the realities of our job better than most of the other first responders I’ve ever known. Losing people on the job has just never affected me the way it has others. But that day . . . even now, I’m still having bad dreams about it.”
“That’s not really surprising,” Lan Xichen said. “I’m sure a lot of people are.”
“Mm hm. I’ve talked to the others. Even Huaisang – he was on the phone with someone who got trapped in their attic and drowned, and he said he was having a hard time with it, and I’ve never heard him say that a call has stuck with him after the fact before now.” Meng Yao took a drink of his coffee. “But I don’t just want to learn about natural disasters. I want to learn about a variety of things, just to see what piques my interest. And online classes will work better with my schedule than physical ones.”
“That makes sense.” Lan Xichen was smiling. “Even if you don’t find something to build a career out of, I’m sure you’ll still enjoy them.”
“Oh, I’m sure. I’ve always loved learning new things. Oh, and Jiang Yanli has offered to teach me how to cook, so prepare yourself. I know your palette is pretty similar to Lan Wangji’s, and I’m going to take it upon myself to introduce you to flavor.”
Lan Xichen laughed. “I’ll consider myself warned. And I’m glad you’re getting along with her.”
“She’s wonderful, honestly. I’ll never know what she saw in my brother.”
That made Lan Xichen laugh harder. “I’m sure he has his redeeming qualities.”
“Hopefully she won’t feel the need to tell me about them.”
Lan Xichen’s cell phone chimed, and he glanced at it, still chuckling. “Ah, I have to go,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at six thirty tomorrow?”
Meng Yao smiled and leaned over the table for a kiss. “I’ll be waiting.”
~ ~ ~ ~
After a great deal of thought and some comments that Wei Ying made, Lan Wangji abandoned their apartment search and began looking for a house, instead. He found one that was almost perfect in a surprising amount of time. The only flaw was that it was a little further from the station than he would have liked, but a commute wasn’t a huge problem for people working twenty-four hour shifts.
“Where are we going?” Wei Ying asked, after Lan Wangji insisted on blindfolding him for the trip. He had only told Wei Ying that he wanted to show him something, thinking it would be a nice surprise. Cohabitation was an important step on the way to marriage, but Lan Wangji still wanted to marry him as soon as possible. He wondered if anyone would mind if they just went to a courthouse (the answer almost certainly being yes, and the ‘anyone’ almost certainly being Lan Xichen).
“I told you, it’s a surprise,” Lan Wangji reminded him.
“I know, but I’m impatient!” Wei Ying tried to sneak the blindfold down a quarter of an inch.
“Touch the blindfold again and I’ll make you sleep on the sofa for a week,” Lan Wangji told him, and Wei Ying pouted.
They pulled up outside the house about twenty minutes later. Lan Wangji parked the car and opened the passenger door for Wei Ying, taking his hand and guiding him a few steps onto the lawn so he would be centered when he saw the house. “Okay,” he said, and removed the blindfold.
Wei Ying blinked, and didn’t immediately get the point. “Where are we? Whose house is this?”
“It’s ours, if we want it,” Lan Wangji said.
“What?” Wei Ying gaped. “You – did you buy a house?”
“I have not bought it yet. I would not do that before you approved of it. But I have indicated my interest to the seller and they are holding it for twenty-four hours, pending our final decision.”
Wei Ying seemed stunned. “A – a house? For us?”
Lan Wangji nodded. “You mentioned that A-Yuan needed stability. That you were concerned about how many times he had been moved over the course of his life. If we got a new apartment now, that would be one move, and then if we wanted a house, he would be moved yet again. I thought perhaps it would be better to skip the middle step.”
“You want to live in a house with me?” Wei Ying asked.
“Why is that so different from living in an apartment with you? If anything it would be preferable, as we would have more space.” Lan Wangji pulled on his wrist. “Let me show you the interior.”
The real estate agent was there, waiting for them to arrive, and she unlocked the door and let them in. Wei Ying marveled over even the smallest of things as Lan Wangji showed him around. “A kitchen big enough for both of us to be in! A real dining room! We could have our families over for meals! A yard! We could let the bunnies outside to play without worrying about losing them!”
Lan Wangji watched him with a soft smile as he bounced around the house. “There are three bedrooms,” he said. “We can use one as a playroom for A-Yuan for now. Someday perhaps it would be used for something else, or someone else.”
“Oh, God, yes,” Wei Ying said. “I want to have your babies, Lan Zhan.”
The realtor choked and hastily left the room.
“I was thinking perhaps a surrogate,” Lan Wangji remarked, amused. “Also, there’s a garage, so you can put your car away where our neighbors cannot see.”
That made Wei Ying laugh. “You love those orange racing stripes and I know it. You can’t lie to me.”
Lan Wangji shook his head and muttered, “Only because you are the one who put them there.”
Wei Ying laughed harder, leaning against him. He laughed for a long minute, and when he straightened up, Lan Wangji saw that he was thumbing away tears. He frowned slightly, as Wei Ying was not given to crying when he laughed. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” Wei Ying hastily wiped away more tears. “It’s just that I never, ever thought I would have anything like this in my life. Not the house, I mean, the house is just a building, but like, the house. What it means. To have a place that, that I own, and a partner who I can trust, and the ability to make sure A-Yuan is always taken care of. There were nights in my life when things like that might as well have been on the moon, I was so far away from having them. Thank you, Lan Zhan.”
“You are welcome,” Lan Wangji said, “but I do not need to be thanked. You earned these things. You worked hard, and you deserve them.”
“I guess I did,” Wei Ying said thoughtfully. “Even so, I think I’m entitled to thank you, for loving me. And for loving my son. That makes me so happy, Lan Zhan, knowing that you love A-Yuan, that he has someone else to look up to, someone else who will protect and take care of him. Not that shijie doesn’t!” he added hastily. “And Jiang Cheng, and even Zixuan-ge, I guess. But you’ve been so good for him, teaching him good habits and work ethic that he sure as hell wasn’t gonna learn from me.”
Lan Wangji gave a quiet snort. “Then I may as well thank you, too. I never thought I would meet someone like you. Someone who can make me smile as you do, who brightens my life just by being in it, who gave me not just a partner but a son I can raise and teach and protect.”
Wei Ying leaned in for a kiss. “I guess we’re perfect for each other.”
“So it would seem,” Lan Wangji murmured against his lips.
“But are you sure you want to buy a house together before we’re married?” Wei Ying asked. “I mean, I thought the whole point of cohabitating was because it improved the statistical likelihood of a successful marriage,” he added, grinning.
“Mn. I was quite exhausted and emotional when I said that. It was a silly notion, that you and I would need to cohabitate prior to marriage to improve our chances of being happy together. Neither you nor I would ever let our marriage not be a success.”
“That’s true,” Wei Ying said, laughing. “So I guess there’s no harm in buying a house together. And then we’ll get married? Think we could do that today? No, shijie would kill us, huh? Not to mention what your brother would say. How long do we have to give them, a week, maybe?”
“You clearly have no idea what goes into event planning,” Lan Wangji said, amused. “A month, minimum.”
“A month! No way. Captain Nie is having his barbecue this weekend. Everyone we know will already be there, and there will be food for everyone. I’m gonna go hire a justice of the peace right now. They can marry us on Saturday. Call your brother and tell him we need a cake; I’ll call shijie and tell her we need flowers. That way they can both be included and neither will be too upset. Let’s go pick up A-Yuan and buy some rings.”
A part of Lan Wangji wanted to argue, knowing that some people might still be annoyed at this, but a larger part of him wanted to marry Wei Ying as soon as possible. “That sounds perfect.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Nie Mingjue put up a token protest at having his barbecue and backyard co-opted for a wedding, but he didn’t really mind and they could tell. “You know, it used to just be the three of us,” he grumbled. “Now suddenly every time I want to host a barbecue, there’s two dozen people in my house.”
“Sorry,” Wei Ying said, clearly not even a little sorry. “Does it help that we’re not going to make anybody dress up?”
“It does. You’ll never see me in a suit in my own backyard.”
Lan Xichen attempted twice to talk them into waiting a few more weeks, but saw quickly that they would not be dissuaded and instead set his sights on getting them the best cake that three days of notice and a huge amount of money could buy. Jiang Yanli conjured up flowers and decorations as if by magic, as well as cooking a number of side dishes to bring.
Besides those three, Wei Ying and Lan Wangji didn’t tell anybody else about the wedding, and they made the three of them promise not to say anything, either. When the others began to arrive, they made some comments about how the backyard looked a little more festive than usual, and Meng Yao joked that it was probably Nie Huaisang’s fault, somehow. “Probably put ‘flour’ for baking on the grocery list and then bought flowers instead.”
Nie Huaisang laughed. “That’s exactly the sort of thing I would do!”
“Hey, there’s the man of the hour!” Wei Ying shouted, as Jin Zixuan arrived with A-Ling. “How is the interim county commissioner doing this fine afternoon?”
Jin Zixuan actually flushed pink. “Like I might have bitten off more than I could chew, honestly. I’m accustomed to paperwork, but this job is ridiculous.”
“I still can’t believe he didn’t just resign,” Nie Huaisang said, feeding his parrot a sunflower seed. “I mean, who thinks they can pull out a campaign message of ‘I got revenge on a prostitute who took me to court for child support by shorting fire stations of valuable equipment and funding’.”
“I mean, to be fair, he did resign,” Meng Yao said, amused, “just not until after he’d gone viral, which I imagine is something he never knew was possible, and only because the governor forced him to.”
“So we got to have our cake and eat it too,” Wei Ying said, smirking. “Humiliated him and got him out of office. Zixuan-ge, you know, someday I might even believe you deserve my sister.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Jin Zixuan said, and everybody laughed.
“So what are all the flowers for?” Wen Qing asked, looking around. “I mean, they’re very pretty and the backyard looks very nice, but . . .”
“Right, so, is everyone here?” Wei Ying looked around at the people present (not to mention the dogs and birds) and counted quickly. “Looks like it, yep! Lan Zhan and I are getting married!”
“Congratulations,” several people said. Then Jiang Cheng said, “Wait, right now?”
“Right now!” Wei Ying said, grinning. “Everyone have a seat!”
“I cannot believe you two!” Wen Qing said. “Are there going to be photographs? Could you not warn us? I’m wearing a shirt with cat fur all over it!”
“The only photographs taken will be the ones you guys take yourselves, which you’re welcome to do,” Wei Ying said, “and nobody cares what you’re wearing, Wen Qing. We didn’t want people to get dressed up and make a big deal. I mean, we’re wearing what we would normally wear to a barbecue, and look at Zixuan-ge; he’s wearing cargo shorts.”
“What’s wrong with cargo shorts?” Jin Zixuan asked, frowning.
“Everything,” Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng said in unison. Meng Yao had to hide his laughter in his elbow. Wei Wuxian didn’t bother.
“Please sit down, everyone,” Lan Wangji said.
They kept the ceremony short and sweet, staring at each other adoringly the whole time. A-Yuan stood between them, holding each of their hands, as he refused to let go of either of them. Jiang Yanli sniffled. Lan Xichen dabbed at his eyes. Jiang Cheng cried messily and glowered at anybody who looked like they might be about to say anything about it. At the end, Wei Ying and Lan Wangji kissed, and everybody cheered.
“Can we eat now?” Nie Mingjue asked, and Nie Huaisang threw a flower at him.
“Yes, we can eat,” Wei Ying said, “and I’m not gonna make a speech or anything but I just want you all to know that I’m so happy I got assigned to the 118 because you guys are the best.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Meng Yao said, raising his glass. Lan Xichen leaned over and kissed his cheek.
Jiang Yanli smiled and nodded, “To Wei Ying and Lan Wangji. May their days be filled with joy.”
“And to the 118,” Lan Wangji said, squeezing Wei Ying’s hand. “The best family we could have asked for.”
~fin~