Jiang Cheng sits alone in the pavillion he rebuilt, the one that looks like the one his mother loved, and cries. He cries for his sister, he cries for his shixiong and he cries for himself.
"Zongzhu,"
He turns towards the voice of his head disciple.
"Yes?"
"The babies, from the Burial Mounds, what are we to do with them?" She is tentative, worried looking. He wishes she had not asked but they do not usually take children that young.
"Has the doctor seen them?" he asks, "what is their condition?"
"They are malnourished, but- healthy enough. They have no traces of resentful energy."
JC rubs a hand down his face and breathes a heavy sigh. The babies are not puppets. They are babies, real babies. "Do we know anyone capable of taking them in?"
"There may be a few women in town willing to wetnurse them. The ones that are not weaned,"
"Good, send a message. See who responds. It is unlikely these children will be cultivators but have them assessed anyway, if they are... Wens..." He forced himself to relax his fists. "If they are able to cultivate we will raise them as Jiangs."
Was it better or worse to rob a baby of a heritage they would never know or to kill them as they slept?
He wondered if one was Wei Wuxian's... If one was Wen Qing's... He buried his face in his hands. What had they done? Of the children rescued from slaughter, two were able to form a golden core. Jiang Cheng named the girl Taoye and the boy Tingzhan. He did not adopt them, could not, but they grew up alongside Jin Ling and in the eyes of the world they were his. When Wen Qionglin was returned to the world, Jiang Cheng kept him away from Lotus Pier for many reasons, but one was for the children. He did not know if he would recognise them. He was not willing to give them up, not yet. They were his, for all that he never said it. It was seeing Lan Sizhui's joy at recovering his ancestors that did it. If they were Wens, they deserved to know the truth. He invited Lan Sizhui to tea, knowing the Ghost General would not be far behind, and he brought Taoye and Tingzhan with him. Together they were the picture of young Jiang cultivators, clad in purple and blue, ready to take on the injustices of the world. He was proud of them. "There were children in the Burial Mounds."
The Ghost General bows his head. "Yes."
"How many? Who were their parents?"
Wen Qionglin looks up in confusion. "Why?"
"I rescued some of them. I do not know if we got them all. We missed Lan Sizhui, we may have missed more..."
"Zongzhu?" Taoye speaks up, "you?"
"Taoye, Taotao, it would be wrong of me to have the opportunity to find out who your parents are and not take it."
"Are you saying we're Wens?" Tingzhan asks, clearly baffled.
"Not all the children in the Burial Mounds were Wens," Wen Ning says
"what?" Jiang Cheng frowns.
"People would... leave... their children, on the mountain. We would take them in," Wen Ning explains, "most of the Wen children died in the camps. A-Yuan..."
"Were any children born on the mountain?"
"I-" Wen Ning turns to look at the pair, "I thought,
... a cousin of mine had been pregnant, before Qiongqi Dao... Jiejie was worried the baby would die and kill her. I thought she had been killed before she had the chance to give birth," Wen Ning frowned, "there is a talisman my jie once told me of that could help. I don't know it well enough to teach though."
Tingzhan and Taoye shared a look.
"If you tell us the title, Tingzhan can go take a look in the library," Taoye said.
"You have Wen medical texts?"
Jiang Cheng shifted in his seat. "Wen Qing was the best doctor in her generation. It seemed a shame to waste her knowledge."
"Can I look at them?" Sizhui blurted out, eyes bright with something akin to hope. Jiang Cheng looked to Tingzhan.
"Yeah, I'll keep an eye on him," Tingzhan said.
Wen Qionglin gave the name of the book and Lan Sizhui and Tingzhan left to go look for it. Taoye poured herself some tea.
"Does this mean you're my... Second cousin?" She asked with a smirk. Wen Ning spluttered, as much as a corpse could splutter.
"Tao'er, don't tease him."
"It was an honest question, Jiang-shushu!"
"I don't mind," Wen Ning desperately interjected. Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes and studied his tea.
"So Wen Qing didn't... Or Wei Wuxian?"
Wen Ning shook his head. "Jie was too busy trying to not die and Wei-gonzi... He didn't want to expose anyone to the resentful energy."
Jiang Cheng nodded.
"Is this why you never adopted us?"
Jiang Cheng snorted. "Tao'er, I assure you, it wasn't that."
"You need an heir, it's odd that you _didn't_ adopt someone." Taoye points out.
"I would not be a good father,"
"You've done a pretty good job so far,"
"Taoye, drop it."
She falls silent and sips her tea mutinously. "Jiang-zonzhu, if your disciples do turn out to be Wens, may I offer them the opportunity to visit the shrine Sizhui and I made for our family?" Wen Ning spoke into the heavy silence.
Jiang Cheng nodded. "Of course, a child should pay respects to their ancestors."
Three weeks later, Jiang Taoye is written into the Jiang family tree and recognised as heir. Her brother, Wen Tingzhan, travels Qishan as a wandering cultivator with their cousin, Lan Sizhui, by his side. Their mission is twofold, protect the people and find their family. There will not be another Wen Clan, but the people of Qishan have been abandoned long enough. Wen Tingzhan has a new motto. Wen Tingzhan will shine light into dark places. Jiang Taoye will find the edges of impossible and do it anyway. Lan Sizhui will be righteous. Jiang Cheng looks at the next generation.
Rescuing them was the right choice.