The night the Cloud Recesses burned. LQR standing in the ashes of his residence. His nephews are gone. His brother is injured. The elders and juniors and guests -- all a whir of white robes, "what about this," "what should we do about that?" "lan xiansheng" "lan xiansheng" "lan xiansheng"
And then a man he hasn't seen out of doors in over a decade. Hunched and leaning on a cane and looking more ghost than human.
The voices around dissipate. The white robes disappear. A faint last whisper finds LQR: "lan-zongzhu"
He does not turn and he does not bow. He does not offer his hand. He only stands in the ashes of his residence and his older brother hobbles to stand beside him.
"Didi," QHJ says in that deep voice of his.
Lan Qiren fills with the urge to do harm at the sound of that voice -- to kick that cane out, to strangle him, to blame him for everything.
'We could have fought!' Lan Qiren wants to say. 'How dare you! You stay hidden and quiet and now, on the verge of war, you speak?'
"Hello, gege," he says instead.
'Fights' between Lan Wangji and Lan Qiren are so amusing and so exasperating to Lan Xichen because he knows - he KNOWS - that LWJ got all his petty stubbornness from Lan Qiren. Every bit of it.