Chapter 75: Lights Keep Burning
When they came back from the night market, the children were all exhausted. Lan Jingyi was sleeping on the back seat with his mouth drooling. Jin Ling was holding the jade pendant, nodding his head. Si Zhui was curled up beside Wei Wuxian, his little hand still clutching half a piece of osmanthus cake.
Wei Wuxian covered them with blankets and turned to look out the window. As the night deepened, the lanterns of the old street faded behind them, like a long string of sparks. Lan Wangji's hand rested gently on his leg, the warmth of his palm filtering through the fabric, a comforting, reassuring feeling.
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian whispered, “I feel like I’ve eaten all the candy in my life today. My teeth hurt a little.”
Lan Wangji readily took out a bottle of xylitol from his bag and said, "Put one in your mouth."
Wei Wuxian opened his mouth obediently, the sweet taste of lemon spreading in his mouth. He narrowed his eyes and smiled: "You are still very careful."
Jiang Yanli, who was in the front row, heard this and turned around and said with a smile, "Ah Xian is still the same as when he was little. He loves sweet things but is afraid of toothaches."
“Not at all.” Wei WuXian felt a little embarrassed. “I’m not afraid now.”
Jin Zixuan continued, "Who just ate three strings of candied haws and snatched half of Jin Ling's candied painting?"
Wei Wuxian was exposed, stuck out his tongue, and shrank behind Lan Wangji, causing everyone in the car to laugh.
Back at the old house, Wen Ning had already prepared some hangover soup and hot water. Lan Wangji first carried Sizhui back to his room. When he returned, he found Wei Wuxian sitting on the sofa, fiddling with a gadget he'd bought the day—a luminous glass lamp that, with a gentle shake, cast tiny shimmers of light, like stars within.
"Aren't you going to sleep yet?" Lan Wangji walked over and took the glass cup from his hand. "It's time to wash up."
“Play with it for a while longer.” Wei Wuxian pulled his sleeve coquettishly, “Look at this, does it look like the dust-proof you used to use? It glows.”
Lan Wangji had no choice but to sit with him for a while. Moonlight shone through the window lattice onto Wei Wuxian's face. His eyelashes were very long, casting a faint shadow under his eyelids, and his expression was as soft as a child's.
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian suddenly spoke, his voice very soft, “Do you think we will always be like this?”
“Yes.” Lan Wangji answered without hesitation, “It will always be like this.”
Wei WuXian smiled, leaning closer to him and resting his head on his shoulder: "I knew it."
He wasn't actually asking if it would happen, he just wanted to hear a definitive answer again. Sixteen years of wandering had made him a little timid about the word "forever," but as long as Lan Wangji said "yes," he was willing to believe it.
After washing up and lying on the bed, Wei Wuxian tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and pestered Lan Wangji to tell him a story.
"Let's talk about the first time we met in the Cloud Recesses." His eyes sparkled. "You were so fierce back then, always making me copy the house rules as punishment."
Lan Wangji's voice was low and gentle as he slowly recounted those dusty past events - their first encounter in the cold spring, the argument in the library, the wine on the roof, the sword in the Xuanwu Cave... Those memories that he once thought would fade with time were now as clear as if they happened yesterday.
“Back then, you always called me old-fashioned.” Lan Wangji looked at Wei Wuxian with a smile in his eyes, “You said I was like a stone that couldn’t be warmed.”
“That was in the past.” Wei Wuxian reached out to hug him, burying his face in the crook of his neck. “Now I know that you are cold on the outside but warm on the inside, and gentler than anyone else.”
Lan Wangji's hand gently stroked his back, his movements as gentle as if he were soothing a kitten. The moonlight streamed quietly outside the window, and the only sound in the room was the steady breathing of the other couple.
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian’s voice was thick with sleepiness, “Tomorrow… can we go to the night market? I want to try the cold noodles there.”
"good."
"I also need to buy that spinning windmill for Sizhui to play with."
"Um."
“I want more…” Wei Wuxian’s voice gradually became lower and lower, gradually becoming stained with sleep, “I want to be with you…”
Lan Wangji lowered his head and gently placed a kiss on his forehead, his voice as gentle as moonlight: "Okay, let's stay together forever."
The person in his arms was already fast asleep, a faint smile on his face, perhaps having had a sweet dream. Lan Wangji looked at his sleeping face, feeling a sense of peace in his heart.
He remembered that many years ago, on a cold night in the mass grave, Wei Wuxian curled up in a haystack, sleeping very restlessly with his brows always furrowed; but now, he could sleep so deeply and sweetly in the soft bedding and in the warm embrace.
Perhaps this is the gift of time, allowing the warmth that was once lost to come back in another form, and allowing the wounds that have been suffered to be gently healed.
The moonlight outside the window grew brighter, filtering through the bamboo forest and spilling onto the ground like a layer of silver frost. In the distant room, Jin Ling occasionally stirred, stirring. Next door, Jiang Cheng was probably playing games again, his keyboard clacking. In the distant kitchen, Wen Ning was still clearing away the day's dishes, making a gentle clanking sound.
These trivial and ordinary sounds, intertwined together, constitute the most moving music - that is the sound of home.
Lan Wangji squeezed Wei Wuxian’s hand and closed his eyes.
That’s great.
With you, with family, with lights always on at night, and with warmth at your fingertips.
It would be nice if we could just keep living like this.
When it was almost dawn, Wei Wuxian turned over and snuggled into Lan Wangji's arms in a daze, mumbling something. Lan Wangji didn't hear it clearly, but smiled and tightened his arms.
A new day is coming again.
And their happiness will continue to shine like this ever-burning lamp.
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