Oh. Soft.

"Everyone's really upset," he tells his second sister, hushed. "I d-don't know how to tell them all that it's okay? But I think Da-jie is, trying."

"I mean, it's not okay, what happened definitely sucked, they have a right to be really upset that something horrible happened." She shrugs. "It's not as bad as what happened all those years ago, but...that's a really low bar." 

She sets eyes on Lan Zhan and brightens immediately. 

"Lan Zhan! Hey Lan Zhan!!! Come meet my adorable baby cousin!!!"

He didn't mean that they shouldn't be upset, just that they shouldn't be guilty on top of the other upset. Granny especially seems to feel really bad for attacking them when she didn't actually do anything wrong, and he thinks that that's bad, actually. But he doesn't argue.

What an adorable baby cousin! Lan Zhan comes closer and hums, looking down at the baby.

The baby is very asleep but also gumming and suckling a little at Wen Ying's finger. 

"Isn't he the most precious little creature you ever saw?" Wen Ying gushes. 

Too cute oh nooooooooo. Lan Zhan is melting. "Precious," she agrees solemnly. "Good baby."

"Good baby! Very good baby, staying asleep all night even though Wen Chao was doing horrible things to everyone," she coos. "Good good good baby." She presses a kiss to his tiny precious good forehead. 

Wen Ying is so good with the baby, oh no. Oh no.

"Do you want children?"

"Not while Wen Ruohan and his sons are still alive," she says immediately. "...But yes."

"I do too."

-- she regrets that immediately, time to walk away without another word.

What is she thinking? She can't discuss the prospects of children with her wife who does not even know that they are married. She can't discuss the prospects of children with Wen Ying.

Eh!?

...Well, she can't do anything about Lan Zhan walking away right now, she has to watch the baby. The good precious sweet baby.

Eventually A-Yuan's mom comes back and A-Yuan is returned to her and Wen Ying an go around hugging other people and telling them horrible things she's going to do to Wen Chao about this. 

Eventually she sits down on the other side of Granny from Jiejie and hugs Granny and gives her sister a sympathetic look.

Weary smile. "You did well, A-Ying. Did you find him?"

"Yep. He's still alive. He'll have some magnificent bruises, though."

Uneasy nodding. Wen Qing wants Wen Chao punished. She wants him dead. But everything is... still so uncertain. She worries that she should have been stricter, forbidding hurting him until later.

A-Ying probably wouldn't have listened anyway, she tells herself.

"Oh -- your neck, what happened? A-Ying! Why didn't you come to me straight away!" She squeezes Granny with one arm and lets go, hurrying to pull out her medicine kit.

"I'm fine! Wen Chao just did that stupid thing with the chains, you know, and I had to let myself get grabbed to get the bird."

She tsks and shakes her head, leaning forward to dab ointment onto the bruises. "Does your throat hurt?"

"A little sore." She nonetheless carefully moves her head so Jiejie can access what she wants to. She knows better than to let her protestations of fine-ness get to the point of not cooperating with Jie's medical treatment. "Wen Chao's neck looks much worse." 

"Hmmm.

Did you find out what the hell he thought this was going to accomplish?"

"Nnnnno, but if I had to guess, he was trying to get the Yin Iron pieces off Lan Zhan." 

She sighs. "And of course he would not think through the collateral damage, or what it would cost him. Of course. I am -- so fed up with Wen Chao making his stupidity my problem."

"I know! It's sort of almost convenient in that I can super plausibly blame him for whatever I want, and yet, I don't feel the slightest slip of a hint of gratitude." 

"At least no one was hurt. Physically. Recovery is still going to take a long time."