"Jiang Cheng! Guess what? You're an uncle!" 

"I think I figured that out from what you said earlier. Cute kid." 

Acceptable. The kid is indeed extremely cute, and it is good that Jiang Wanyin is capable of recognizing that. "We need to make congee."

He nods and starts rummaging through the pouches of supplies he bought and pulls out rice and some other ingredients and a pot that, after glancing at Lan Wangji again, he leaves to go fill with water from a stream. 

"Can I hold him? You've been holding him since we found him." 

Yes. He does not like handing A-Yuan away, but he does like seeing Wei Ying hold A-Yuan, so it balances out.

Here is their tiny baby son.

"Hi A-Yuan," he breathes, practically melting. "I missed you." Forehead-kiss. "We both did. But now you're here and we're here and--and you'll never lose either of us again, I promise, this time everything's going to go right, this time you're going to grow up so, so happy and free and loved." 

This requires holding Wei Ying immediately. He holds his Wei Ying, who holds their baby, and feels again like he must be dreaming.

He does not stab himself in the leg to test this. Instead he holds his boyfriend and their son very tightly and breathes in the scent of Wei Ying's hair.

"Ah, Lan Zhan, I'm so happy, how is it even possible for one person to have all this happiness inside them at once?" He nuzzles A-Yuan's tiny baby face. "It's because of you! Yes it is little radish, you and your Papa are here and that's enough to make Daddy happier than anything else in the world, how could I be anything but incandescently happy with both of you here with me?" 

"You should be happy forever. A-Yuan too." Cheek kiss. "It is very good that you are happy."

"Don't forget yourself, Lan Zhan." Nosesmooch. "You have to be happy with us too." 

(Jiang Cheng returns with a pot full of water and starts a fire to heat it over.) 

"I am very happy." He pets his son, pets his Wei Ying. 

<3

"...So...if you're both men, what's the kid's surname?"

He had completely forgotten to consider this. He looks at Wei Ying.

"This is not a question either of us had to deal with last time at all, gosh, um."

"How did you not have to deal with it last time?"

"He just kept his birth name originally--but we can't really admit this is a Wen baby, that would invite so many more questions--and when Lan Zhan took him in I can't imagine any association with me could have been a possibility."

"I raised him as Lan Yuan. It was necessary for the public to acknowledge him as my son."

"Yeah." He cuddles the baby thoughtfully. "...Might depend on where we want to raise him. How well did he do at Cloud Recesses? Besides the bunnies." 

"He was happy. He had friends; he could play. I do not know how much it limited him." He feels like if anything truly limited A-Yuan's playfulness, it was more likely to be Lan Wangji's parenting. He had no idea how to nurture playfulness in a child. He doesn't think he squashed it, but of course he couldn't compare to Wei Ying.

"Hm. My instincts are that a childhood at Lotus Pier would be better, but--I guess I don't know how easily he would make friends in different circumstances. Friends--friends his own age, anyway--weren't something I could offer him at all." 

"Mn." He has feelings about raising A-Yuan away from A-Yuan's uncle, away from the bunnies. He can't tell if those feelings are important.

Obviously what matters most is what will give A-Yuan the best childhood overall. "We could try summers in Cloud Recesses. Try them both."

"...Yeah. We don't have to decide for his whole childhood right away." He bounces the baby cheerfully. "We do have to decide on a name, though. Lan is probably better, the surname of the esteemed Second Jade is probably more advantageous than the son of a servant."