Chapter Text
Jiang Cheng had never been much of a crier, not in his youth, and definitely not at the age of twenty-three, with being appointed as the new CEO of the Jiang Enterprises; but, his dear a-jie and tang-ge's wedding has been an exception. Not because he couldn't bear the realization that now his two closest people were no longer just his closest people, but the very idea that his cherished elder omega siblings, chose someone that didn't make any sense.
If anyone had told Jiang WanYin, the most spoiled and loved, youngest omega that he would have two jiefu-s that he absolutely detest, he wouldn't have believed it. But, here he was, watching his a-jie marry a peacock, who in reality was as interesting an unseasoned chicken, combined with his emotional regularity of a toddler on sugar rush.
Then, his tang-ge, the man WanYin had hoped would choose better, but apparently everyone wanted to bully the poor omega with their poor life decisions; Wei WuXian, of all people chose—Lan WangJi, the man who could make icebergs look more warm than he was. His mother, Madam Yu had however chosen to mask his wailings and distaste for his brother-in-laws, as simply the wrath of the youngest child who was still learning how to share.
But no matter how he wanted to agree to his beautiful mother, the Jiang heir differed, because it wasn't about him being mean to his jiefu because they stole his a-jie and tang-ge, but because those idiots didn't deserve them, but now all was said and done because his jie and tang-ge were married, and all Jiang Cheng could do was sniffle into his hanfu's sleeves, and his parents' arms from time to time.
Jin Furen, Jin ZiXuan's mother had cooed and pinched Jiang Cheng's cheeks alongwith his Sheshe Saren, who for a lack of a better word, coddled him all through the wedding processions like a CHILD. He was twenty three of god's sake! His entire family had coddled him so, cooing at him, as his were red and puffy from all the ugly crying he did.
His Xian ge and YanLi jie had been worried and even assured him they would always have their weekends free for their precious didi ChengCheng, so that he didn't miss them too much.
"We surely spoiled our little tiger here, but do not take his mean words to heart; my son can be vicious in protecting his people." Madam Yu laughed, as she looked at the awkward looks at her son-in-laws, as her darling son, A-Cheng still decided that he needed to give the two older alphas icy glares at the dinner table.
"It's alright." Lan WangJi spoke, though everyone at the table could guess it was only to make his omega husband, Wei WuXian happy, that he didn't hate his younger cousin, but the said younger cousin wasn't having it.
He glared at the two alpha men, of which Jin ZiXuan shifted uncomfortably under the glare as if he hadn't properly married his beloved A-Li but whisked her away!
Once the two newly married couples had left for their new maritals home and soon for their honeymoons respectively, the gathering grew smaller; some relatives going back to their hotel rooms to get catch some sleep after the double wedding of the two eldest omegas of the Jiang and Wei family.
Now, sitting across the terrace chairs, overlooking the view of Shanxi, with fairy lights illuminating through the light fog of the mountains; the conversations were regular and quiet. Jiang Cheng was busy sending pictures of the wedding to his best friends- Nie HuaiSang and Meng Yao, who had been unfortunately stuck in Alaska's snowstorm that had raged for over a week, with no way for even a private jet to land and take them out; but somehow everyone decided that the Jiang heir needed to be married as well.
"I'm not getting married. Not now. Not ever." Jiang Cheng replied dryly as he put down his phone, looking so utterly done with his family.
"Oh, come on, Yin-er." It was Jin Furen who started, "You can't tell me you don't even have an ideal type!"
"Yeah, sweetie! Maybe we can find just the right guy for you!" Sheshe Saren beamed, while Wei Shushu simply smiled at his wife, because everyone else in his family were so utterly in love with their fated mates that they had married.
Ugh.
"I don't want anyone to find anything for me. I'm fine, and I'm not marrying." The youngest omega wanted to curse and flip out, but his a-die looked at him with a look that said, 'Please be kind, sweetie.' Furthermore, he couldn't really make his a-die disappointed in front of the entire family, he wasn't that immature. Hell, he was the new CEO! He couldn't be worrying his parents about shooting everyone's blood pressure, simply because he was the part of a conversation, the omega would rather stay away from.
One thing led to another, and now everyone was so freaking interested in trying to the perfect match for him.
"Okay, okay." Jiang WanYin cleared his throat, "You know what guys? I have an ideal type and if you all are so invested in finding an alpha for me, then! I want someone who really beautiful, soft spoken, has gentle manners, from a good family, has money, taller than I am, a dominant alpha whose pheromones do not stink, and someone who wouldn't my temper, or my rather not-so-nice personality."
The room was silent, and the Jiang heir gloated himself in his mind for being an absolute genius that he definitely was, as he dropped another bomb, "Those are my non-negotiables. I'm not adjusting to anyone or anything, if they don't fit the profile I want. Anyways, who's up for lunch?"
Jiang WanYin was smiling to himself, hah! As if someone in his generation would ever fit that description! The only alphas he did know of with milder tempers and gentle dispositions, were his a-die and Wei shushu, not that he had based of his 'ideal type' over them, that would be odd; but it was more of the idea that apart from his father and uncle, he had never met any man, who would be as devoted or as genuinely kind as the parental figures in his life.
The omega was currently helping himself to a large lunch, and then, he would go to sleep before flying back home to finally meet his best friends and tell them of his genius plans.
Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang and Meng Yao were all seated in their regular spot at their favourite cafe spot in town; the area filled with warm lights, cozy blankets and cushions. The three had been friends since elementary school, and since then kept their little comunion stronger than anything else; and due to their years of familiarity, they were unarguably their truest selves with each other, after all, what was the point of pretense between friends?
Which had been the reason why Jiang WanYin had narrated the entire incident, word-for-word to his two best friends, who for some reason looked at him as though, they couldn't trust their ears on whatever they were listening to.
"And you thought, that this was genius of you?" Meng Yao couldn't believe his best friend, Jiang Cheng's words right now. But the taller omega just flipped back his long, inky black hair, snorting like an arrogant prick, which he surprisingly was not.
"Yin-er." Nie Huaisang put down his café latte, before looking the stormy eyed man with specks of blue current, dead in the eye, "I'm worried for you sometimes."
"What? Why? I handled the situation, perfectly. It's not like they can create an alpha like that on demand, plus no one in our generation of people will ever be so above their alpha-ego to walk behind me, and support me with my endevaours as the CEO of Jiang Enterprises. They are never going to find someone like that, and I'll never have to pretend I like some mediocre man for the sake of it."
"A-Cheng, I'm afraid, sometimes you're so smart that you are actually fucking dumb." Meng Yao sighed, groaning into his palms.
The problem wasn't that Jiang Cheng didn't wish to get married; the problem was the person he had described that he could marry. Meng Yao knew the man Jiang Cheng had accidentally described, because with being Nie MingJue's fiancè, Meng Yao had the courtesy of knowing Lan XiChen; the man that fit his best friend's type, to the last T.
It wasn't that Huaisang and Meng Yao were worried about Lan XiChen, if anything the omegas would be glad that someone could win their prickly best friend's heart; they were worried for Jiang Cheng, because the moment his family would join the dots (which the two omegas believed the elders already had, given Meng Yao and Nie Huaisang only had been to come back from China three days ago, which meant this marriage conversation happened a little over a week), they would definitely approach the alpha, who wasn't only the most eligible bachelor according to the media, but also, very much single.
The younger Nie and the dimpled omega looked at each other, sighed and then shook their heads. For someone who claimed to hate marriage and the notion of it, Jiang Cheng had just served the exact person his parents would love as their son-in-law and give their precious youngest omega son in marriage.
The three omegas talked some more, catching up on Meng Yao's recent wildlife research, which had prompted him to explore the treacherous lands of Alaska, Nie MingJue had joined because he couldn't stay away from his fated mate for long; Nie Huaisang joined his brother and best friend because he believed they would be back in time for the wedding, and more importantly, Huaisang would have new sceneries to paint on his handmade fans. The younger Nie carefully avoided telling Jiang Cheng about Lan XiChen.
He would personally oversee what to do with it, but for now, Lan XiChen wasn't in the scene.
Jiang Cheng was the first to leave as it was a weekend, which meant he was meeting up with his a-jie and tang-ge for dinner, and so, the omega clad in purple and lilac had left in a haste.
"Are you sure we shouldn't be telling A-Cheng about XiChen ge?" Meng Yao looked at his best friend/xioashuzi, who now had a rather knavish smile on his face, the same kind that had led to Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi falling in love and now married.
"I think we should tell XiChen ge about our Yin-er first! He has a habit of running away, and we are going to make sure that even if he does, XiChen ge is there to chase him down."
"I'm not sure if I like the sound of it, but you know what? Let's do it."
And so, Nie Huaisang along with his sao zi, Meng Yao, texted an unsuspecting Lan XiChen if the man wanted them to find someone for the alpha, who had simply texted them, "Uhh... sure? As long as it's not a prank Sang di:)"
The next few days had been weird, Jiang Cheng noted; his family was acting... odd including the fact that even his best friends had been weirdly smiley about something, usually the omega would have ignored it, given Huaisang had recently started to date Wen Ning and tormented the shy alpha, and Meng Yao was to marry Nie MingJue in a few years; it all just could have been that—talks of their fated mates and other things, Jiang Cheng could assure he wasn't interested in listening.
But, now even Xian ge had started asking him weird questions! Like, the one time he was over to the older omega's new home with Lan WangJi, and Wei WuXian kept asking about his ideal type for an alpha, which honestly could be explained that either his a-niang, or maybe his sheshe told WuXian about the entire 'marriage' talk and the older man was simply teasing him, but why was his cousin taking notes?
"What are you all up to?" Jiang Cheng on another weekend that he was out with his a-jie and tang-ge.
"What do you mean, A-Cheng?" Jiang Yanli asked softly, placing her warmer hands on her younger brother's.
"I don't know! A-niang, a-die, shushu, and even sheshe! All of them are being secretive about something! That brat-Huaisang definitely has to do with it because even he and A-Yao are being the little devils on my shoulders but won't say about what!" The youngest omega grumbled, his mouth fixed in a frown, as he glared at his food.
Wei WuXian almost looked guilty, before sliding towards his younger cousin's seat to cheer him up, "I'm sure bo bo and bo mu would tell you what they are up to when they are ready, didi. It's not like you can guess what's going on in their heads anyways. Who knows, maybe they are planning a surprise birthday party for you!"
Jiang Cheng perked up on that, yes, why hadn't he thought of that possibility? Maybe the fear of marriage and blind dates had restricted the omega heir's higher cognitive brain functioning.
"Oh, yes! Why didn't I think of that before?"
And so it seemed the hour of questioning and interrogation had subsided, making the older omegas sigh in the privacy of their minds.
They were indeed planning for a surprise for their precious Jiang Cheng, just that the surprise was a person, more than a thing.
Elsewhere in Kyoto, a certain caramel eyed man was sent a barrage of photos of a young man with the eyes of a storm, with flecks of blue scattered around his eyes like electricity. One photo in particular was now saved as Lan XiChen's wallpaper: Jiang Cheng with his hair up in an elaborate braid as he got a purple snake tattooed on his entire back, with lotuses emerging from water; the man didn't even look in pain, instead he was grinning into the camera of whoever had clicked the photo.
Showing a peace sign as Wei WuXian carefully filled in the colours on the lotuses that wrapped around the man's waist and a good portion of his abdomen.
It should be wrong, Lan XiChen had told him, but man in the photos had captivated his heart: Jiang Cheng, courtesy name WanYin; omega and the new CEO of Jiang Enterprises, the cousin of Wei WuXian.
Lan XiChen almost regretted not being able to make it to the wedding of his brother, Lan WangJi, or he would have met that enchanting man in person. But, oh well, he would meet him now. Nie Huaisang had told the First Jade that they were planning a surprise for Jiang WanYin's birthday and that the older alpha was definitely invited, so that they could be introduced; truthfully speaking, Lan XiChen couldn't wait. He now truly wished to meet the omega everyone claimed spoke more in sarcasm than in Chinese; the man that had listed all of his qualities as his ideal type, and declared that he wouldn't marry anyone else.
How had XiChen missed someone this adorable? Goodness, had he been too busy with his work?
Perhaps. He already had to make up to his own brother for missing his wedding, and just maybe, he would also meet the man who now had his heart; even if unintentionally.