The cover for the amazing Mdzs FOOD ZINE by @stiltonbasket !!! Go check it out on her profile. Everyone did such an amazing job and you can download it for free!
A first look at the ringbound print version of the free MXTX food zine, with pictures by @czeriah! You can find file downloads for the digital, perfect bound, and ringbound versions of the fanzine in this post.
Featured art by @suzapallito, @the-sacred-headband, @light8828, @ohohsomething, and @stardustinjune.
Cultivation baby A-Yuan... Please let LQR talk to WWX. Infuriating as WWX might be, LQR should definitely be able to drag the truth out of him!
"No. No, this is madness," Lan Qiren groans. "What you ask is impossible. It cannot be done."
âI donât see why not,â Wei Wuxian says obstinately. âYou take A-Yuan back to the Cloud Recesses, never let anyone know he was my son, and have Lan Zhan bring him up as a ward. I will remain here and look after the Wens. Whatâs impossible about it?â
Lan Qiren pinches the bridge of his nose and wishes he could pinch Wei Wuxianâs ears instead. He blames himself for this dismal state of affairs; he was too harsh towards Wei Wuxian when they first met, and so the child had not thought to ask his marital family for help when he found Wen Ning slain at Qiongqi Dao. Jiang Wanyin could not be relied uponâfor foolish though a marriage alliance with the Lanling Jin might be, Jiang Yanli was still in love with Jin Zixuan, and he had very little sway in his clan despite being the trueborn heir to itâbut Lan Xichen has already announced his plans to bring the Wens back to Gusu, and returned all the gold Jin Guangyao sent to aid in the Cloud Recessesâ reconstruction. Nie Mingjue inspected the other camps, tallying up the dead and wounded there before denouncing Jin Guangshan before the whole jianghu; and the survivors are already recovering in Qinghe, with some already well enough to testify against the prison guards.
In short, Wei Wuxian is in no danger, and it is Lan Qirenâs fault that he ever believed otherwise.
âYour Wens will be safe. Xichen set four houses aside for them in the Cloud Recesses, and the Jin clan has been made aware that neither we nor the Nie will treat with them any further,â Lan Qiren argues. âYou have my word, Wei Ying. Now go send word to Wen Qing, and have the Wens prepare to leave by the end of this week. Wangji and I will provide their food and medicines until they are ready to go.â
Wei Wuxian flinches. âYou wonât send them back to Lanling? Truly?â
âYes, truly!â roars Lan Qiren. âLook at you, youâre skin and bone! Even if you had come here with a gang of Wen Ruohanâs lieutenants, I would never let the mother of my nephewâs child languish on a hill of the dead aloneâmuch less my own great-nephew! Has Wangji not cared for you well enough, that you would think so poorly of us? Shall I have words with him on the matter?â
âEn. Shufu should,â says Wangji, lowering his head. âWei Ying, this one has failed you.â
âLan Zhan, what-no, of course you havenât!â Wei Wuxian rushes to Wangjiâs side and leaps into his arms, careless of the large black bundle on his back. âYou havenât. If I had known that you and Zewu-jun would value me this much, wellâthen I would never have come here.â
Lan Qiren sniffs at him. âGood. Now spend tonight with us at the inn, and every day hence until the Wens can be moved.â
âI will,â Wei Wuxian says, wringing his hands. âNow that Iâm sure itâs safe, I will. But Lan Zhan, thereâs something you and laoshi should know about first.â
Wangji tilts his head to the side and kisses Wei Wuxianâs nose. âWhat is it?â
In answer, Wei Wuxian reaches for the shapeless bundle on his back and unravels it, revealing the tousled black head of a child.
âLook at A-Yuan,â he says quietly, âand then youâll understand.â
So they look, and at first, Lan Qiren canât imagine what Wei Wuxian might mean. A-Yuan is still well-fed and healthy, despite the month he spent living here in the Burial Mounds before Wangji could finally track his family down, but...
But A-Yuan is bigger than he used to be. Considerably bigger, given the fact that children grow slowly after passing their first birthdays, and Wei Wuxian has only been gone for five weeks, if that. His little nails have grown long, too, and thicker than his fatherâs; and the pupils of his dark round eyes have contracted down to pinpricks, though the sunlight is weak for early autumn.
And the two teeth that emerged during his short absence are pointed, though both are in the wrong place to be eyeteeth.
âWei Ying?â Wangji pleads. âTrust me, dearheart. I will not leave you, no matter what the matter is.â
That is how Lan Qiren discovers that his great-nephew was born of the resentment filling the Burial Mounds, for Wei Wuxian lost his jindan to the Wens before being thrown in to die. But Wei Wuxian lived, and A-Yuan did not yet have a body, so he used resentful energy to survive and emerged fully-formed three months after his conception, instead of nine.
âI donât know what Yuanâer will grow up to be,â Wei Wuxian says at last, âor what he would have been, even before this last month in the Burial Mounds. Everyone thought he owed his reflexes to having exceptional parents, but that-thatâs not the case, Lan Zhan. If A-Yuan goes back to the Cloud Recesses, and someone notices how different he is, then...â
âThen we will hide it. No matter what he is, or what he grows to be, he is ours, and he is precious,â vows Wangji. âYou need never speak of his origins, save to say that he is your child and mine.â
Wei Wuxian gives him a sad, lost look, and pulls the child a little closer to his chest.
âWell, I suppose it canât be helped,â he sighs. âA-Yuan is a Lan, and he should grow up with his family. If the world should turn against home someday, so be it. We can run off into the wild again, if we must, and find somewhere to live in peace. But until then, sweetheart, weâll stay with you.â
He transfers the baby into Wangjiâs lap, brushing his lips over his fluffy hair before rising to his feet; and then he bows to Lan Qiren and points towards the dark path leading back into the Burial Mounds.
âStay here, Lan Zhan. Laoshi and I will go talk to the Wens, and then Iâll be back with you by dusk.â
Lan Qiren clears his throat.
âVery well,â he says gruffly. âLetâs go, then. And Wei Ying, let there be no more of this. We are your family, and we will stand by you in all things. You are ours.â
And with that, he storms off into the mist, and waits for Wei Wuxian to follow.
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