Chapter Text
Like every other disciple in the GusuLan sect, Lan WangJi follows a daily routine.
This routine always involves waking up early to prepare for the day. The preparation includes morning meditation, drawing water to use in his bath and to replenish it for Wei Wuxian later when he wakes up, cooking breakfast for him and his husband, and then correcting notes throughout the day, all in that order.
Today is of no exception. He follows his routine right down to cooking breakfast. All is well and one would consider it to be just like any ordinary day. However, it all changes in an instant as he returns to the Jingshi carrying a tray filled with food only to stop by the door when he finds the strangest thing.
There is a woman in his bed.
The woman is naked, save for the red robes hanging loosely around her. She yawns, having just woken from slumber, and sits up to stretch as if she has been there for hours. Her hair is long and spills past her shoulders. It should’ve been a lovely sight for any man. But Lan WangJi is not any man and he stands there in disbelief as he faces such a scene.
In his shock, it takes a few seconds for him to gather his bearings and look away. He clears his throat loudly enough and from the corner of his eye, he sees the woman look in his direction.
“You are not allowed in here. Please leave this Jingshi at once.” Lan WangJi simply says. If this was one of their female cultivators, then it was forbidden for her to be in this side of Cloud Recesses, let alone in his Jingshi. She would have to be sent back and let her elders deal with her. Though something tells Lan WangJi that this was not one of their own female cultivators. For starters, she was wearing red.
“Lan Zhan?” The woman speaks.
Lan Zhan? This woman, who Lan WangJi had never met in his life, had the boldness to call him by his birth name. Who was she? More importantly, where in the world is his husband? Lan WangJi was sleeping beside him when he woke up and did his morning meditation. Granted, he had not seen his face since his back was to him. But there was nothing out of the ordinary that would make Lan WangJi think it was not Wei WuXian beside him that morning.
“Where is Wei Ying?” He asks even though he doubts the woman would even know.
“What do you mean, Lan Zhan? I’m right here.” She says.
Lan WangJi is confused. He is not used to this state of bewilderment.
He cannot help but look at the woman. Her red robes are familiar. It looked the same as the ones Wei WuXian always wears when he goes to bed. Her face also looked familiar now that Lan WangJi is able to study her. Come to think of it, her voice sounded like someone else Lan WangJi knows so well.
Without looking at her front that’s still exposed, Lan WangJi tells her of the obvious.
“You are not Wei Ying.”
“Not Wei Ying?” She laughs. “Then who else would I be?”
Lan WangJi feels frustration coming on and he looks to the side and frowns.
“Would you please fasten your robes.”
“Huh?” The woman asks, confusion also evident in her tone. “You never had a problem with me being naked before…”
Lan WangJi could not resist but turn his gaze to the woman to find her looking downwards. As soon as she does so, he sees her eyes widening. The woman then snaps her head up to look back at him.
“Holy shit.”
Now that definitely sounded like someone Lan WangJi knew very well.
“Lan Zhan, it’s really me.” The woman says, her voice sounding panicked as she wraps her robes and ties it up quickly. “I don’t know how to convince you at the moment but it really is me.”
It takes a while for Lan WangJi to come closer and study the woman in his bed. For some strange reason, the woman was so familiar to him. The way she moved. The way she talked. The way she started tying her hair. Everything about her reminds him of Wei WuXian that Lan WangJi finally believes it really is him when the woman starts recounting certain knowledge that only the two of them would know about.
Although there really is no explanation for all this, Lan WangJi knew this woman was his husband.
“What in hell happened while I was asleep?” Wei WuXian clutches at his head. Her head. Lan WangJi feels a headache coming on from all this.
“And why would this happen to me again !” His husband - or wife? - groans. “Won’t whatever god out there just grant me one body for the rest of my life?”
They try to recount what happened last night. Nothing unusual took place. They were tired from a night hunt, skipped lovemaking in favor of taking a bath, and then falling asleep in each other’s arms as always. Lan WangJi was by his side the whole night and swore nothing strange happened in those hours.
“How is this even possible...” Wei WuXian says as he peers inside his robes once more, possibly to check if what he saw earlier was correct.
“Wei Ying… I apologize.” Lan WangJi says. “But I cannot seem to understand what happened as well. If it is alright with you, I would like to ask my brother for his help.”
“Of course.” Wei WuXian nods furiously. “Zewu-jun might know how to fix this.”
Lan WangJi makes him bathe. There was no reason not to. He leaves Wei WuXian to it though. It still feels like he’s invading his privacy for every minute he looks at him naked. None of them can eat or stomach anything at the moment so the tray filled with breakfast goes untouched. Lan WangJi knows he’s not going to get the rest of his morning activities done as well as he goes to find his brother.
Lan XiChen is teaching a class with the rest of the junior disciples when he arrives. Lan SiZhui and Lan JingYi look up from their books in curiosity at Lan WangJi’s presence. Their curiosity is fueled even further when Lan XiChen dismisses the class abruptly but they don’t linger and head on their way.
Lan XiChen had taken only one look at his brother to know that something was wrong.
“WangJi, are you alright? You look pale.” Lan XiChen notes.
“I… There is something different with Wei Ying.” Lan WangJi says at once.
“What is it?”
“It is best if you come and see for yourself.”
Words could not explain the situation at the moment so Lan WangJi leads his brother back to his Jingshi. He only hopes that Lan XiChen could help him with such a situation.
They arrive in his quarters and his brother stops in his tracks when they reach the porch.
“WangJi, why is there a woman in your Jingshi?” Lan XiChen asks as he sees a silhouette of a woman by the window.
“...The woman is Wei Ying.” Lan WangJi answers. Lan XiChen stares at him dumbfounded before he is ushered inside.
Wei WuXian is dressed by the time they enter. His robes are too large for him that they slip past his shoulders. The wind is knocked out of Lan WangJi for a moment to find him by the window sitting there with his legs folded daintily on the mattress and the curtains flowing behind him. In their panicked state earlier he was not able to look at Wei WuXian properly. His husband has always been handsome to him. It should not come as a surprise to find him even beautiful as a woman and yet Lan WangJi is struck by such beauty.
Lan XiChen clears his throat and both Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi turn their attention towards him.
“Tell me everything.” He says and Wei WuXian begins to explain what happened that morning and the night before.
As expected, nothing seems to be unusual with the story and Lan XiChen looks like he’s deep in thought by the end of it.
“The night hunt. Where did you two go?” He asks.
“At the mountains. Villagers were saying there was a strange smell coming off from an old abandoned temple in one of the caves. They dared not step foot in it for the place was rumored to be haunted. So Lan Zhan and I went to investigate.” Wei WuXian says.
Lan WangJi remembers that night. The temple was derelict and Wei WuXian made him stay outside to keep watch over the entrance.
“What did you see?” Lan XiChen asks.
“Nothing out of the ordinary.” Wei WuXian explains. “Just wild flowers giving off fumes. It was strong and the smell was indeed strange. So we sealed the temple. We didn’t know whether the fumes were toxic or not. But I felt fine.”
“Did you follow him?” Lan XiChen turns to his brother.
Lan WangJi shakes his head. “I was not able to breathe in too much of it.”
Lan XiChen continues to be deep in thought about this.
“Describe to me what the flower looked like.” He says.
“It was beautiful.” Wei WuXian says. “It was large with the petals as big as our faces. It was pink in color with specks of purple.”
Lan XiChen shakes his head and sighs. “I’m afraid I’m not familiar with such a flower. And the story of the abandoned temple is as common as most old temples up in the mountain goes. I’ll have to investigate more about it. For the meantime, I ask you to stay put. No more night hunts in those areas for now until we figure out what this is that caused such a transformation.”
There’s nothing else to discuss. Lan XiChen leaves them to talk to their uncle about this and Lan WangJi only hopes his uncle also knows how to solve this mystery.
“Are you alright?”
Lan WangJi turns his attention to his husband who is looking at him all concerned.
“I should be the one asking you that. Is the new body… comfortable?”
Wei WuXian nods. “Well, it feels strange to suddenly have breasts and my manhood gone. But I don’t feel sick or anything.”
“Just as long as you aren’t in pain.”
Suddenly, Lan WangJi feels angry at himself. He let Wei WuXian go through that cave alone while he stood by. This was all his fault as well.
“Wei Ying, I will figure this out.” Lan WangJi says. Wei WuXian only smiles at him.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Still. I will fix this.” Lan WangJi promises.
Wei WuXian’s body may be different but Lan WangJi loves him all the same. He vows to do anything and everything that he can to turn things back to the way it was.