Chapter Text
“Father was very upset.” Jiang Yanli said in that tone of voice that wasn’t quite a reprimand.
“Okay.” Jiang Cheng said nonchalantly. They were in an assembly line stuffing treats and trinkets for Jiang Cheng’s eldest, Lan Jingyi. It was his 8th birthday and he wanted it to be Lego themed so they were stuffing the goody bags with mini figures, small builds, pencils, a little Lego-themed drawing pad, and candy. They’d even ordered someone to bring Legos to the party for the kids to build. He would grumble any other day, but it was Lan Jingyi’s special day and he deserved the best.
“Seriously, what did you say to him?” Wei Ying asked. Jiang Cheng shrugged. He hardly ever remembered the sharp words he speared Fengmian with. Now that he no longer cared what his father thought, he gave himself the freedom to say whatever the fuck he wanted to him. Honestly, he deserved every word, whatever he said.
“Don’t remember.” Jiang Cheng summarized his thoughts, passing his completed goody bag to Wei Ying. Wei Ying tied it shut and moved onto the next goodie bag he had placed in front of him.
“How’s it going?” Lan Huan asked. He was in charge of getting the pizza and cake situated and the decorations with the support of Lan Zhan. Once the kids arrive, he’d be greeting them at the door, ushering them to their backyard, and showing the parents where the gifts were to go. Their kids were up in Lan Jingyi’s room waiting for his party to start.
“We’re almost done.” Jiang Cheng said happily. Lan Huan pecked him on his lips. “Shouldn’t you be finishing up your job?”
“Everything is done.” Lan Huan said, just as happily. “Now, there’s nothing left to do, but wait for our guests to arrive.” Speaking of, the doorbell rang.
“Fuck, they’re early!” Jiang Cheng said. The goodie bags weren’t even done yet and he still had to do a walk around to make sure everything was in place as it should be!
“Relax. It’s probably Uncle.” Lan Xichen said. Sure enough, they heard the sound of protests coming from the front as soon as he entered. Jiang Cheng went after Lan Huan to say hello, but paused seeing Wen Ruohan ushering Lan Qiren inside with an arm around his waist.
“I said, unhand me!” Lan Qiren sputtered, his cheeks aflame with a deep blush. Wen Ruohan lifted his hands up in surrender.
“It is nice to finally meet you two!” Wen Ruohan said without missing a beat. He held out his hand and Lan Huan and then Lan Zhan shook his hand dazedly. “RenRen has talked a lot about you both as his precious nephews.” Lan Zhan and Lan Huan blinked in shock at the nickname, but when they looked over at Lan Qiren, he was avoiding their gaze and his cheeks were a bright red. “And you, RenRen is often singing your praises. You must be Jiang Cheng, Lan Huan’s husband, right?”
“I am.” Jiang Cheng said, shaking his hand in mystified shock. “You must be Mr. Ruohan. Uncle Qiren talks about you a lot.” Lan Qiren, impossibly, got even redder. Wen Ruohan’s smile widened like the Cheshire Cat.
“That’s me! I know the stubborn old man complains a lot, but he secretly likes the attention.” Wen Ruohan said with a wink.
“Alright, enough!” Lan Qiren huffed. He couldn’t take any more embarrassment. Wen Ruohan grinned, but was back to being plastered to Lan Qiren’s side. Lan Qiren sighed, but seemed to have given up in deterring him. “Is there anything we can help with?” Everyone was too shocked to say anything at first. Jiang Cheng was the first one to recover.
“No, we’ve got everything pretty much covered.” Jiang Cheng said. He went to the stairs. “Kids, come down and say hi to your YeYe!”
“YeYe’s here?” They heard Lan Jingyi screech excitedly and then the padding of running feet.
“No running!” Jiang Cheng said, but Lan Jingyi was already running down the stairs, trailed closely by his younger sister, Lan Xiaoli, who was six.
“YeYe!” Lan Jingyi exclaimed excitedly and jumped into his lap. Lan Xiaoli climbed into his lap too and beamed at her grandfather.
“Hello.” Lan Qiren said with a soft smile on his face. They all saw the fond smile Wen Ruohan gave him as he talked with Lan Jingyi who was soon joined by Jin Ling, Lan Yuan, and the rest of the kids who had come down the stairs much more sedately. Lan Qiren rubbed the heads of every single one and soon they were all fighting for his attention. Jiang Cheng and Lan Huan smiled before going back to their preparations. Lan Qiren got it and by the way Wen Ruohan behaved around the kids and how much of an instant hit he was with them, they knew he had support.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Was that the guests? But they still had an hour left before they were supposed to come…
“I’ll get it. You just keep stuffing goody bags.” Lan Huan said as the doorbell rang once more. Lan Huan went to the door and looked through the peephole. He froze. It was Fengmian. What was he doing here? He never came to any of his children’s birthday parties. What did he want today of all days? Well, Lan Huan knew one thing: he wasn’t going to let Fengmian ruin Lan Jingyi’s day.
“Who’s at the door?” Wen Ruohan asked, noticing Lan Huan’s hesitance in opening it.
“A-Cheng’s father.” Lan Huan said in a low voice. Wen Ruohan studied the unsavory look on his face and something clicked into place for him it seemed as he straightened.
“Let me answer it.” Wen Ruohan said. Lan Qiren was looking in their direction from the couch. There was no telling if he had heard the conversation or not. Even so, Lan Huan stepped away and Wen Ruohan opened the door. “Hello, who are you?” Fengmian looked at him in confusion before trying to see behind him into the house, but Wen Ruohan was taller and bulkier than him despite his age, so he couldn’t see past him at all.
“I’m A-Cheng’s father. I’m here to talk to him. Where is he?” Fengmian asked.
“Didn’t you see the balloons outside?” Wen Ruohan asked. Fengmian looked around. Wen Ruohan inwardly scoffed when he noticed that Fengmian was seeing the decorations for the first time.
“Is there a celebration today?” Fengmian asked.
“It’s your grandson’s birthday today. Did you forget?” Wen Ruohan asked, his smile turning sharp.
“It is not A-Yuan’s birthday.” Fengmian stated. Wen Ruohan’s eyebrows shot to his hairline and then he was laughing.
“Why don’t you join the festivities. Maybe that way you can learn and understand that you have more than one grandson.” Wen Ruohan sneered.
“I’m just here to talk to A-Cheng.” Fengmian said, but Wen Ruohan snagged an arm around his shoulder to prevent him from escaping.
“I insist.” Wen Ruohan said. “I’m sure an upstanding man like you would like to be in all of your grandchildren’s life.” Next thing Fengmian knew he was inside, sitting on a chair, and outfitted with a party hat. His grandchildren eyed him warily.
“Hi, Waigong.” The children said, but then went back to playing with Lan Qiren and Wen Ruohan.
Lan Huan struggled to figure out what was happening and how Jiang Fengmian had gotten invited to Lan Jingyi’s birthday. He was even more surprised that he was staying. Lan Huan shook his head and went back into the kitchen where everyone was just finishing up the last few goody bags.
“Who was at the door?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“Your father.” Lan Huan said. Jiang Cheng frowned.
“What did he want?” Jiang Cheng asked coldly.
“He wanted to speak with you, but then Mr. Ruohan invited him to Yi-er's party.” Lan Huan said. Jiang Cheng looked at him in confusion. “I don’t know either.”
“Whatever. As long as he doesn’t ruin Yi-er's day, I don’t care what he does.” Jiang Cheng said, but Lan Huan could see that it was bothering him.
“I can ask him to leave.” Lan Huan said, wrapping his arms around Jiang Cheng in comfort. He leaned into his embrace, but ultimately shook his head. He turned back to the goodie bags and finished the last one.
“Alright, let’s put these in the backyard on the table next to the back gate.” Jiang Cheng said.
They got to work and Lan Huan decided to go back to the living room to monitor the kids and his uncle. It was clear who the kids favored. Even Lan Yuan, who constantly got spoiled by Fengmian, preferred his uncle over Fengmian. Fengmian was left to look dejectedly at his grandkids as they sat around Lan Qiren and listened to his stories. They always had some lesson in them and Lan Huan always wondered where he had heard them from or if he made them up. They were the same stories he had always told him and Lan Zhan when they were kids and he had always wondered. Regardless, the kids ate the stories up no matter how many times they heard the stories. Most of the time, the kids would have requests of their favorite ones and since it was his birthday, Lan Qiren let Lan Jingyi choose which ones he wanted.
What was shocking (or maybe not so shocking given how much Lan Qiren talked/complained about Wen Ruohan) was how close he allowed Wen Ruohan to sit with him. Wen Ruohan smiled widely, his eyes solely focused on Lan Qiren as he told stories for his grandchildren. Something in Lan Huan relaxed then. Perhaps Wen Ruohan would be good for his uncle. He had been worried about whether Lan Qiren was making any friends in his neighborhood or not and it seems that he has found someone who was more than a friend. Though, Lan Huan doubted he would admit that to him or Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan and he shared a look of understanding and both agreed to not interfere in Lan Qiren’s relationship with Wen Ruohan.
The doorbell rang and finally, the guests had arrived. Lan Jingyi greeted his friend’s parents before his sister and cousins, his friend, and he ran to the backyard. The Lego person would be here in thirty minutes to give guests time to arrive. In the meantime, they had full reign of the backyard to play and do what they wanted. Lan Huan greeted the parents and their children as they came and directed them to the backyard as their children ran off. Lan Zhan showed them where to put their presents. Once the last of his guests arrived, he went to the backyard and joined Jiang Cheng who had been acting as host once the parents sat down. Fengmian was sitting off to the side, away from everything, but Lan Huan didn’t mind him. He just went about doing his duties.
Jiang Cheng had worried that things would go wrong, but he was pleasantly surprised that everything was running smoothly. The Legos were an absolute hit. Lan Jingyi and Lan Xiaoli would bring him their creations whenever they finished building one and Jiang Cheng would smile and praise their good work. Then they would take their creation to their other father to get praised by him too. They were going through the builds so fast that he was afraid this was a bit too easy for them. Lan Yuan and Jin Ling and Jin Ling’s siblings were going through the builds just as fast. Eventually, they began building their own structures and looped in the other kids’ at the party as well. Once they were done with the Legos, they ran off to run around and play or they went to jump in the jumper. Jiang Cheng smiled and made small talk with the parents as he walked around to entertain them.
He looked back at the kids after awhile and frowned when he didn’t see Lan Yuan. His frown deepened even more when he saw him sitting on Fengmian’s lap with a polite smile on his face. It was clear to Jiang Cheng that he wanted to go play. He kept sneaking glances at Lan Jingyi and his friends, but he didn’t want to be rude and didn’t voice what he really wanted because of it. Jiang Cheng looked for Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, but they were off in their own world. He sighed and walked over to Fengmian and his nephew knowing the argument he was about to cause (solely because it was him who was going to say it), but he didn’t have the heart to watch while Lan Yuan was kept hostage from playing and having fun.
“A-Yuan, go play.” Jiang Cheng said. He didn’t have to tell Lan Yuan twice. He quickly hopped off of Fengmian’s lap before he could stop him and dashed after Lan Jingyi, who was leading a game of tag. He smiled much more genuinely once he was back in the fray and quickly melted in with the other kids.
“You would keep me away from my grandchild?” Fengmian asked, his lips turned down in displeasure.
“There’s a time and place. Lan Yuan wanted to go play.” Jiang Cheng said. Fengmian was gearing up to argue, but it was at that moment, Wen Ruohan appeared seemingly from nowhere and wrapped his arm around Jiang Cheng’s shoulders. Jiang Cheng was still amazed at how tall this man was.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I seem to be having trouble with the Legos. Can you show me how to do it?” Wen Ruohan asked and steered Jiang Cheng away before he could answer. “There’s no reason you have to deal with his bullshit when you have a party to host.” He said so that only he could hear and then he was gone just as fast as he came. Jiang Cheng found himself being very confused, but also very grateful.
“Thank you for coming.” Jiang Cheng and Lan Huan said again and again as the parents and their kids left one by one. They made sure every kid was able to leave with a goodie bag and it was gratifying to hear the squeal the kids made when they saw the mini figures they got. Once the last guest left, Lan Huan and Jiang Cheng sighed in relief. Now all who were left were family members, but they too would soon leave. They turned back to see Lan Jingyi knocked out at the table. Jiang Cheng snorted and lifted him up into his arms. Lan Jingyi didn’t even wake up from being jostled. Lan Xiaoli was in no better state and Lan Huan picked her up.
“We’ll head out now.” Jiang Yanli said. She was holding Jin Ling and Jin Zixuan was holding their two youngest.
“Same here.” Wei Ying said. He was holding Lan Yuan’s hand who had held out a bit better than the rest. He was the oldest out of the kids and had been resisting being carried (it was only a matter of time before Lan Jingyi would tell Jiang Cheng and Lan Huan that he was too old to be carried. Jiang Cheng dreaded it).
“Thank you all for helping us.” Jiang Cheng said with a rare, warm smile. They waved away his thanks before they began heading to the back gate, but then they began to hear yelling coming from inside. They all looked at each other before going in through the sliding door. They were met with Wen Ruohan and Fengmian facing each other. Wen Ruohan seemed quite calm in the face of Fengmian’s anger. Lan Qiren was trying to tug Wen Ruohan away, but he wouldn’t budge.
“You are an outsider! What right do you have butting into our family?” Fengmian exclaimed.
“I’m RenRen’s partner, so of course I’m part of the family. But I didn’t say anything that wasn’t wrong. You’re just lashing out because you’re afraid of the truth: you’re going to lose your children and your grandchildren if you keep favoring one child over the other. Take it from a man who’s done his fair share of shit in his life and almost lost his children because of it.” Wen Ruohan said. “I mended my relationships with my children through family therapy long ago and now they actually visit me. Maybe you should try it.” Wen Ruohan turned to Fengmian’s children, in-laws, and grandchildren. “Thanks for a great time! I hope to see you again soon!” He put Lan Qiren’s hand in the crook of his elbow to guide him to his car (his face was beat red at Wen Ruohan’s admittance that he was his partner). “Let’s go, RenRen.”
“You are ridiculous.” Lan Qiren huffed, but allowed him to guide him to his car after saying bye to his nephews (including Zixuan) and niece (Jiang Yanli might as well be).
“Well, on that note…” Wei Ying joked. The others trailed after Lan Qiren and Wen Ruohan.
“Please leave.” Lan Huan said. “We are in no mood for anything you have to say. We’re tired and we still have to clean up.” Jiang Cheng was already walking upstairs to lay Lan Jingyi in bed. It was a miracle his children stayed sleeping through all that. They must’ve been tired.
Fengmian frowned, but ultimately left. Lan Huan sighed and took Lan Xiaoli up to her room. He was just glad none of this happened during the actual party.
Jiang Cheng laid Lan Jingyi gently on the bed. He had thought he had managed to do it without waking him, but when he moved backwards to tuck him under the covers, his golden eyes were looking at him in worry.
“I’m sorry, Yi-er. Did we wake you?” Jiang Cheng asked. He shook his head. “What’s wrong?” Lan Jingyi fidgeted with his blanket, hesitating to say what he wanted to say. Jiang Cheng sat on the edge of the bed and pushed his bangs out of his face. He leaned into the affectionate gesture. “You can tell me anything, you know that right?” Lan Jingyi nodded. He tugged at Jiang Cheng’s arm, his signal that he wanted Jiang Cheng to lay down with him. Jiang Cheng complied and he scooted over in his bed to make room. They faced each other and Lan Jingyi snuggled into Jiang Cheng’s embrace, burying his head into his chest. Only then did he say what he wanted to say.
“Does waigong hate me?” Lan Jingyi asked, his voice muffled. Jiang Cheng sucked in a breath and then pressed his lips together. He took a deep breath and let it out before squeezing Lan Jingyi tighter.
“No. He doesn’t hate you.” Jiang Cheng said. Which was the truth. Fengmian didn’t care enough about them to hate them.
“He didn’t look happy to be at my party.” Lan Jingyi said.
“Ah. That’s because he was invited last minute to join.” Jiang Cheng said. “That wasn’t your fault.”
“But he only wanted to talk to Yuan ge.” Lan Jingyi said. “I wanted to show him my Lego, but he wouldn’t look. He told me to go play.” Jiang Cheng could feel anger welling up inside him and he had to take a deep breath to hold it in. “Baba?” Jiang Cheng pulled away and made Lan Jingyi look at him.
“Listen to me, Jingyi. The way people treat you is never your fault. It’s their fault. Your waigong wasn’t a good father to me and he isn’t a good grandfather to you and that is no fault of ours.” Jiang Cheng said. Lan Jingyi’s eyes widened. “The way he treats us is not a reflection of our character, but his. Do you understand?” Lan Jingyi nodded, but his face was crumbling. Jiang Cheng crushed him into a hug and Lan Jingyi burst into tears as he clutched onto him.
As Lan Jingyi cried against him Jiang Cheng tried to hold in his anger as best he could. It was one thing for Fengmian to treat him like this, but another for him to do the same things to his son. Lan Jingyi was adopted. He looked nothing like Jiang Cheng and was in fact a distant cousin to Lan Huan, so now he knew for certain that it really was just him and anything that even marginally came from him that Fengmian didn’t like. Jiang Cheng took several deep breaths. Getting angry at him wouldn’t do them any good. He was done being angry. He was done with everything.
Once Lan Jingyi had cried himself to sleep, Jiang Cheng carefully got out of the bed. He tucked him in and wiped away the remaining tears and snot with his shirt. He quietly exited and went back to his room where Lan Huan was already in bed, reading with his reading glasses on. Usually, Jiang Cheng would savor the sight of Lan Huan wearing glasses, but he was too worked up. He could feel Lan Huan’s eyes on him as he carefully took off his shirt and bottoms and changed into pajamas.
“What happened?” Lan Huan asked. It was not lost on him that Jiang Cheng’s shirt had been soaked with tears and snot.
“Yi-er asked me if father hated him.” Jiang Cheng said, his voice clipped from holding in his anger. Lan Huan sucked in a breath. “Yeah, that was my first reaction too.”
“He’s okay?” Lan Huan asked. Jiang Cheng nodded before joining Lan Huan in their bed.
“I think he’d been holding onto that question for a while now because when I assured him that it wasn’t his fault his grandfather acted like he didn’t exist, he began crying.” Jiang Cheng said. His voice was tight, he knew. Just thinking about it was making him angry all over again. “I can’t do this anymore.” Jiang Cheng turned imploringly to Lan Huan. “I’m tired of fighting him, of wanting him to love me. And now he’s making our children feel unloved and I can’t have the same cycle repeated again. What am I teaching Yi-er by keeping him in my life even though he does nothing but hurt me? What would I be teaching him if I kept him in our lives despite the way he treats our children? I can’t sit here and do nothing when it’s my job to protect my children from things that may hurt them.”
“What are you proposing we do?” Lan Huan asked, holding onto Jiang Cheng’s hands. He squeezed them back in gratitude.
“I think it’s time that I cut him out of our lives.” Jiang Cheng said. “But I think, in order to do that, we’ll have to move. Maybe not out of the city, but in a different area and not tell him what our address is. Yi-er wouldn’t have to go to a different school if we stay close by. We wouldn’t have to upend our lives for him, but I just want to go somewhere where he can’t just show up out of nowhere demanding for something.” Lan Huan encircled Jiang Cheng into his arms.
“You know I will support whatever you decide.” Lan Huan said. Jiang Cheng knew that he would, but he still sighed in relief. Jiang Cheng’s head whirred in the meantime. He had a lot of planning to do.
So, the house hunting began. Lan Huan and Jiang Cheng didn’t tell their siblings of their plan. They only told Lan Qiren. Jiang Cheng would never admit that he cried when Lan Qiren had told him he was proud of him. He felt like he was floating ever since and felt grounded in his decision. They explained truthfully to Lan Jingyi and Xiaoli why they were moving and why they weren’t going to tell anyone yet. They seemed to understand, but later that night, when Jiang Cheng was tucking Lan Jingyi into bed, he asked, “Are we cutting off Waigong because of me?”
“No, Yi-er. We are cutting him off because he is not treating us well and it was high time I took this step. When someone always makes you feel bad, it isn’t good to keep them in your life and it’s okay. We have to protect ourselves because if we don’t, who will?” Jiang Cheng said.
“A-Die will protect us!” Lan Jingyi said. Jiang Cheng smiled warmly.
“Yes, he will.” Jiang Cheng said, ruffling Lan Jingyi’s hair. He giggled.
“I’ll protect you too, Baba.” Lan Jingyi said earnestly. Jiang Cheng could cry. In fact, he might cry a bit later. Jiang Cheng leaned down and kissed Lan Jingyi’s forehead.
“I know you will. And you can always count on me to protect you too. We’ll all protect each other.” Jiang Cheng said. Lan Jingyi wrapped his arms around Jiang Cheng’s neck and hugged him tight. Jiang Cheng hugged him even tighter. “I love you, Yi-er.”
“I love you too.” Lan Jingyi said. With that, Jiang Cheng tucked him in, turned on his little LED mood lights and went to his room.
“What happened?” Lan Huan asked, going up to him as Jiang Cheng wiped his tears away. Jiang Cheng shook his head and explained what just happened. Lan Huan’s expression softened. “He’s right. I will always protect all of you.” Jiang Cheng settled into Lan Huan’s embrace. He’s felt the lightest he’s ever felt. He was doing this for his family. He had promised himself when they had adopted Lan Jingyi, that he would always protect him and now he was getting to keep his promise.
His siblings took the news rather well. It seemed that Wei Ying was finally accepting that Fengmian was a piece of shit (not his choice of words, Jiang Cheng was sure, but same difference) and would never love his children like he was supposed to. Jiang Yanli knew that this was a long time coming.
“I’m thinking of going no-contact with him too.” Jiang Yanli said. Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying looked at her in shock. “He treats A-Ling, A-Hua, and A-Yue similarly and they’ve noticed his preferential treatment. A-Ling has even stated he doesn’t like being with him because of it and he doesn’t like how he treats you and me. You know him. He has a strong sense of justice especially when it comes to us and isn’t afraid to say it.” Jiang Yanli chuckled fondly.
“Yeah…” Wei Ying said hesitantly. He fidgeted with his hands. “A-Yuan expressed after A-Yi’s party that he didn’t feel comfortable always being singled out. But I would feel too bad keeping him away from Fengmian…”
“It’s your decision.” Jiang Cheng said. “But he’s no longer going to have access to my kids.”
“Or mine.” Jiang Yanli said, deciding then and there to follow her little brother’s lead. “I’m tired of always having to placate him and I’m tired of carrying his emotional labor. I thought he would treat his grandchildren better. I thought maybe it was just me, but I know now that he is just not a good person towards us.” Jiang Cheng reached out and held her hand and she gratefully took it.
“I would appreciate you guys not telling him where I’m moving or my new number.” Jiang Cheng said.
“Of course.” Jiang Yanli said and Wei Ying nodded in agreement.
So, everything was set in motion. The movers came and all their stuff was taken to their new house. It was further away from their school, but it was fine. Jiang Cheng didn’t mind driving the extra distance. All that mattered was that his family was thriving and he was happy having his husband, siblings, and children by his side. Jiang Cheng expected to feel like something was missing, but he didn’t. He felt so good actually. He felt whole with his father gone from his life and now that he knew what it felt like to be without his father, he was never going to go back.
_______
Fengmian laid in the hospital bed after his heart attack. The room was empty and the only sound was the beeping from his heart rate monitor. It was the day after and his children still hadn’t come to visit him. He had tried calling, but Jiang Cheng’s phone had been disconnected for years now and at some point, a different person answered the phone. He had even moved out from his old place and none of his other children would tell him where he’d gone. Jiang Yanli wouldn’t answer hers and neither would Wei Ying. Reflecting back, he shouldn't have lost his temper at Jiang Yanli and Wei Ying. Maybe then they would be willing to come to him in his dying moments. He had just been so angry when he realized Jiang Cheng would no longer talk to him. He had blamed his two oldest for not guiding Jiang Cheng in the right direction. They had sat there and taken the vitriol he threw at them, but then they stopped talking to him too. Jiang Yanli had told him that instead of blaming others, he should take a deep look at himself, but he had not taken it well. Now, he regretted it. None of his children came when he called. The hospital had even tried to reach out to them, with no luck on their end either. He stared up at the ceiling and realized that he was so utterly alone and it was too late to do anything about it.
That night, he had another heart attack and passed away with all the regrets he had for the way he had lived his life. The only ones who showed up to his funeral were his children and their spouses. No one shed a tear and they only stayed long enough to bury him. Afterwards, everyone went back to their lives and Fengmian became nothing but an afterthought.