4'11": The View from Down Here

lwj is trying to learn Husbandly skills? for his Wei Ying? So he's helping out in gusu baby jail and learning how to cook and sew. He visits Caiyi and stares longingly into shops full of housewares.

Wei Wuxian, moving into the Jingshi nine years later: I guess I'll take over managing the household! The cleaning-

Lan Wangji: I will take care of that.

Wei Wuxian: oh okay then, so the cooking--

Lan Wangji: I will do that too.

Wei Wuxian, beginning to sweat: hahaha, then the shopping--

Lan Wangji: Once weekly. I already know all the vendors, so I'll do that too. I won't waste money, and I even know where to buy the best meat and imported ingredients.

Wei Wuxian, now desperate: at least the MENDING-

Lan Wangji: I will mend all your clothes, beloved. I had a thorough education in needlework.

Wei Wuxian: the CHILDCARE--!

Lan Wangji: I will defer to you in all matters regarding Sizhui. You have my word.

Wei Wuxian, finally relieved: oh, thank goodness. <3

I saw you were looking for nielan headcanons and couldn't resist offering this one up. It's been living rent-free in my head since I read saber sheathed.

LXC teaching little Jingyi Nie saber techniques, dressing him in Nie-patterned robes, etc. since he IS technically the Nie heir. And it makes him happy to see the best parts of NMJ reflected in their son.

The Lan elders are NOT happy about a Lan kid learning Nie techniques and dressing in such an un-Lan way, and try to put a stop to it ASAP. Maybe some of the other kids bully poor Jingyi for his un-Lan-ness too? :(

Up to you how LXC (with help from LWJ? LQR?) deals with the situation.

"Lan-zongzhu," Lan Yanjian declares, "It is high time something was done about that child."

Lan Xichen looks up from his papers, unimpressed: and not for the first time, curses the forty years between himself and this younger second cousin of his grandfather, who seems to believe he holds far more sway in their clan than he actually does.

“What does xiao-shugong imagine could be done?” he inquires, re-inking the tip of his writing brush. “Lan Jingyi is a child. He goes to his lessons, and plays with Lan Sizhui and his classmates, and does whatever the junior disciples do to occupy themselves, these days. What else is there to say about him?”

“Your favoritism has not gone unnoticed,” snaps Lan Yanjian. “The child forgets himself constantly, and you have done nothing to stop it. Improper dressing, improper sword forms, a tongue ill-befitting any child in whose veins runs the blood of Lan An--”

“Then our blood must be very poor indeed, if one child picking out new lapels for his clothes and learning saber forms from the Nie disciples would shame it,” Lan Xichen hums. “If that will be quite all, xiao-shugong, I am desperately busy today. You know, I might go so far as to say that I haven’t seen the sun since last week.”

“Lan Huan!”

“You may take the issue up with Shufu, if you like,” he says sweetly, “but I doubt it will go anywhere. The duties of the zongzhu’s immediate kin never end, you know--or perhaps you might not, considering...”

Lan Yanjian is gone before Lan Xichen can finish his sentence.

Lan Xichen laughs into his sleeve, and goes on with his audience reports.

He is still half you, my heart of hearts, he thinks. Still your baby, as well as mine. I have seen to it.

I will give him everything of yours that is mine to give; and someday, when Huaisang agrees, I will bring Jingyi to the shrine in the Bujingshi to see you, and pay his respects to you as your son.