"They had a month old child."

A-Ling.  

Stab.

"Like I said, I don't know what happened. But I trust my brother over the guy who tried to kill him." Whoah that was close. 

"I'm you, you dumbass!"

"But I don't have to become you." 

"I should hope not!  Not that you're doing a good job at avoiding it.  What with the army of corpses Wei Wuxian commands."

"What army of corpses." 

The area does seem pretty corpse-free at the moment. 

"The Demonic Cultivation.  What he's been using to take out Wen Outposts."

"I'd hardly call that an army."

"Oh, since you became an expert on fierce corpses in the past week, maybe you can tell me: how many does it take to make a proper army?"

"I don't know, an army-sized amount? Why would how many it takes to make an army be different between people and fierce corpses?"

This is not what he was expecting to find when he pursued the sounds of swordfighting. It is... interesting to see Jiang Cheng appropriately angry at his future counterpart. Both gratifying and slightly reassuring.

Lan Wangji will not be able to contribute to this interaction in ways other than murdering the Jiang Wanyin from his timeline, which might not actually be the best move, so for now he will keep watching from behind these trees. If it starts to look like present-Jiang Cheng is in actual danger, he will step in.

For Wei Ying's sake. Obviously.

Unfortunately there's really only one stream nearby and both Wei Wuxian and A-Yuan are covered in more congee than is remotely sustainable. 

"What's going on?" he says, bewildered, spackled in congee and holding baby similarly adorned, not bothering to hide, to both Lan Zhan and the...two...Jiang Chengs???

Current Jiang Cheng immediately steps around between Wei Wuxian and Future Jiang Cheng. 

Appreciation for Current Jiang Cheng increases.

Wangji very quickly moves from his hiding spot to join Current Jiang Cheng in Future Jiang Cheng's path.

He steps backwards out of striking range and lowers his sword.  Sheathing it would probably be a good idea, but he can't force himself to do it.  He isn't going to be able to win a three-against-one fight.

"Why are there two Jiang Chengs? If there were going to be two of anyone I would pick Lan Zhan, that would be a wet dream come true." 

"Wei Wuxian! Are you going to say things like that in front of the baby???"

"It's fine, he's too little to have any idea what I'm saying." 

Does he have to say things like that in front of Jiang Cheng?  Not that he isn't grateful to not be stabbed yet.

He really doesn't but eventually you learn to give up on things like that. 

"This one," he gestures, "is from the future. Lan Wangji's future, where you're dead." 

"...How are both he and you here?" 

"I don't know!" 

"...Okay, well, hi future Jiang Cheng, I'm going to go wash this baby, please don't attack me while I'm holding him." 

He makes his way the rest of the distance to the stream and sits down in it with the baby, removing congee with more splashing and baby-giggle-inducing than strictly necessary. 

Wangji goes with him, hand on Bichen's hilt and glare fixed on Future Jiang Cheng. He doesn't expect even Jiang Wanyin to try to murder someone holding a baby, but if he tries Lan Wangji will be happy to kill him for it.

Current Jiang Cheng slowly circles to continue being between his future self and the others, blade still pointed at his brother's killer.