Lan Xichen knows Jin Zixuan primarily as That Guy Who Works at T2 Who Has Strong Opinions About Tea Freshness. Now that he’s dating Nie Mingjue, he also knows him as Number 2 (formerly Number 3) on the List of Hottest Single Guys At The Mall, because Nie Huaisang does not shut up about the List. Lan Xichen figures it’s part of the job of a good boyfriend to indulge his boyfriend’s little brother, so he now has a working knowledge of the List, including the fact that now that he, Lan Xichen, is no longer single, Wangji is at the top of it. He thinks he’s... probably proud of this? He’s not sure. He knows he can never, ever mention it in Wangji’s presence.
Huaisang has not been clear about his established criteria for ranking hot, single guys, and the one time Lan Xichen asked, Mingjue had growled, “Don’t encourage him” and shoved Huaisang off the kitchen counter in the apartment the Nie brothers share.
Anyway, prior to today, all of Lan Xichen’s interactions with Jin Zixuan have been when Lan Xichen bought his uncle’s favorite aged Shou Mei tea at T2. Jin Zixuan packs the tea cakes in their gift bags with precise motions, folding the tissue paper just so. Lan Xichen likes being able to bring Uncle good tea in nice packaging. He always hums in that pleased way of his when Lan Xichen comes by with another brick right as the old one is due to run out. Today, Jin Zixuan comes into the Williams-Sonoma store and makes a beeline for the registry desk. He’s got his usual aloof face on, but he looks a little ragged around the edges.
“Welcome!” Lan Xichen says, with his best customer-service smile. “Do you have a registry with us?”
Jin Zixuan blinks, coming to a halt just before the desk, and then shakes his head once the words process. “No, it’s way too early for that,” he says.
Lan Xichen raises an eyebrow at that. “Too early?” he repeats.
“I’m not starting a wedding registry. I don’t even have a girlfriend yet.”
Lan Xichen opens his mouth to start on his “registries don’t have to be just for weddings” spiel but Jin Zixuan steams right past that with, “Sorry, you’re just … the only person in here I know. Could you help me with, uh, kitchen supplies?”
Lan Xichen blinks at Jin Zixuan for a few moments and then looks around the entire store, full of a truly staggering variety of kitchen supplies. He says, “I think you’re going to need to be a little more specific, Jin Zixuan.”
Jin Zixuan sighs gustily. “OK, look,” he says, eyes sliding away from Lan Xichen’s face. “There’s this girl. I know she likes to cook. I do not … cook. I have basically nothing in my apartment. I want to have, like, a functioning kitchen. For her. Just in case.” By the end of this admission, Jin Zixuan’s face is flushed red and his gaze is fixed somewhere in the vicinity of the Kitchen-Aid stand mixers. Lan Xichen takes pity on him.
“All right,” he says and steps around the registry desk. “Building a kitchen from scratch can be intimidating, but it doesn’t actually take a whole lot. You want one or two good knives, a frying pan, a few pots…” He starts leading Jin Zixuan toward the cutlery section first, ticking off the list on his fingers. “Cutting board, ladle, spatula…” Jin Zixuan is looking overwhelmed even by this basic list.
He tries again. “Do you know what she likes to cook?”
Jin Zixuan hesitates for a long moment and then says, “Soup?” in a tone that suggests that he’s not entirely sure whether soup is a thing that can, indeed, be cooked.
Lan Xichen maintains his reassuring smile, although he’s pretty sure that if it starts shading more into “amused smile” territory, Jin Zixuan won’t notice. “And what’s your budget?” he asks.
“Don’t have one.”
Lan Xichen nods. “Have a seat at the counter,” he tells Jin Zixuan. “I’ll pull some stuff together, and then you can decide if it’s too much, okay?”
“I promise you, nothing’s too much for her.” This is no doubt very sweet, and also Jin Zixuan is very lucky that he came to Lan Xichen, because he’s sure that at least three of his coworkers would be unable to resist the temptation of an earnest but ignorant customer with an unlimited budget.
“Okay, last question. Do you have a rice cooker?”
Jin Zixuan grimaces. “Is it bad if I say no?”
Lan Xichen tries to sound warm and reassuring. “It’s completely fine. Just wait here.”
From the gold-plated iPhone Jin Zixuan pulls out as soon as he sits down, Lan Xichen guesses he isn’t lying about the no-budget thing. Are those diamonds on the bezel? Lan Xichen shakes his head as he heads for the shelves.
He grabs a copper-bottomed stock pot, a simple wok, a high-quality but basic knife set, a steamer basket, and a sturdy bamboo cutting board, and stacks them by the registers.
“The guy at the demo table is gonna come and buy all this stuff,” he tells Sarita, who makes a valiant effort to pretend that she wasn’t whiling away the customer-free hours on her phone. “Try not to make him self-conscious, he’s already really nervous.”
Sarita glances in Jin Zixuan’s direction, then at the pile of supplies at the register. “Baby’s first kitchen?” she asks.
“Something like that.”
He adds a selection of cooking tools, then thinks about the stuff Williams-Sonoma doesn’t carry, given that it tends to cater to rich white people with more money than cooking skills. If this girl actually cooks, she’ll need stuff like cooking chopsticks, scissors, a sturdy cleaver. He makes a short list that Jin Zixuan can take to H-Mart, which is just around the corner.
“This isn’t the highest rated, but it’s my best all-purpose choice,” he says, holding the Zojirushi rice cooker out for Jin Zixuan to observe. “Your rice cooker does not need to be connected to Wi-Fi,” he adds, smiling. “You don’t want to wake up in 15 years to find out your tweens are using it to tweet profane insults at public figures.”
Jin Zixuan blinks at him. “I hope? They won’t?”
Lan Xichen needs to work on his joke delivery. And just because someone is very easy to tease doesn’t mean he should give in. “I apologize,” he says, trying to regain his professional tone. “This rice cooker should serve you well.”
“Thanks.”
“Just a few more things — don’t bother getting these here.” He hands him the list. “And you can practice making rice for her. It will be very difficult for you to mess that up.”
“You’d be surprised,” Jin Zixuan mutters dejectedly.
He’s already overstepped a couple times in this conversation, what’s once more?
“I think what you’re doing is very kind,” he says.
And just for a moment, Jin Zixuan looks up at him, hopefully. “Really? Do you think she’ll like it?”
“You’re being very thoughtful. But I think it’s important,” he adds, “that she knows you like her for her, though, not just because she can cook.”
He nods vigorously. “I do. I really do. Do you think I should, like, try to cook for her?”
“Maybe.” Lan Xichen tries to be diplomatic. “Start with the rice, see how it goes. And work up from there?”
After Jin Zixuan pays up and leaves the store, Lan Xichen fishes his phone out of his pocket for some clandestine mobile phone usage of his own. He’s got a few notifications from some of his friends, including one from Mingjue.
Still coming over tonight?
Yeah! Can’t wait! (人^▽') ～♡
Dd ate all the cold spicy noodles you left in the fridge
😆
It’s ok!!
Do you want to make dumplings tonight?
Also
Guess who just spent $900 on cookware at my store 👀💸
Yes
To dumplings
I dont care about yr store
But dd will
So wait to tell him
👍
See you soon! 💗💗💗
Lan Xichen pockets his phone before he can get too sucked in. The rest of his shift is pretty uneventful. One couple comes in to set up a wedding registry and Lan Xichen has to play peacemaker when they start fighting over which measuring cup set needs to go on the list. He’s gotten pretty good at the impromptu relationship counseling part of the wedding registry gig, and he manages to send them away relatively appeased.
Over at the Nies’, they get the conveyor belt of dumpling-making going before Lan Xichen broaches the subject of his day. “I think you might end up needing to take Number 2 off your list sometime soon,” he tells Nie Huaisang.
“Oh?” Huaisang says, raising his eyebrows as he puts dollops of filling onto the dough wrappers. “Has Jin Zixuan finally managed to have a conversation with Jiang Yanli that didn’t end in him getting punched?”
Lan Xichen chokes. “He what?”
“Every time, I swear!” Nie Huaisang says. “He puts his foot in his mouth and then it’s either Jiang Cheng or Wei Wuxian punching him in the face. Sometimes the gut.”
Lan Xichen is familiar with the Jiangs and had been only vaguely aware of their childhood friend Wei Wuxian, until Nie Huaisang started filling him in on the apparent (but unofficial) romance between Wei Wuxian and Wangji. Wangji has, perhaps unsurprisingly, said absolutely nothing about this supposed romance. He knows nothing whatsoever about any connection between Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan.
“I try to stay out of others’ romantic entanglements,” Lan Xichen says, not wholly truthfully.
Nie Mingjue snorts.
“Is that so,” Nie Huaisang says, in a sweet yet slightly menacing tone. “And how is your brother enjoying his work as a makeup artist? Has he been giving away a lot of eyeliner samples lately?”
“What are you implying, Nie Huaisang.” Lan Xichen pinches a dumpling closed with very pleasing, even folds.
“Oh, I don’t know, I really don’t know,” Huaisang replies, fanning away the steam and oil that rises from the first batch of frying dumplings, “I just think dumplings taste better with a side of news, don’t you agree?”
“Well,” says Lan Xichen. “I don’t know about talking to Jiang Yanli, but Jin Zixuan did just come into my store to buy nearly a thousand dollars worth of kitchen supplies, quote, just in case, end quote.”
“Oh my god,” Nie Huaisang cackles, snagging another plate of rolled out dough from his brother. “How like a Jin!”
Lan Xichen smiles at his mirth, but feels compelled to say, “Be kind to him, Huaisang. He did seem earnest today, if a bit clueless.”
“Okay, okay,” Huaisang says, still laughing. “I’ll save the Cold Spring Plaza Gossip entry for the next time he ends up in an altercation.”
Nie Mingjue finishes the last set of dumpling wrappers and comes around the kitchen table to stand behind Lan Xichen’s chair, resting his hands on Lan Xichen’s shoulders. Lan Xichen looks up at Mingjue, smiling, hands stilling on the latest dumpling. “What’s up?” he asks.
Mingjue bends and presses a kiss, first to his forehead and then to his lips.
Lan Xichen hums, pleased. “What was that for?”
“You’re always kind,” Mingjue says and kisses him again. “Even to dudes who can’t cook.”
Lan Xichen breaks into a smile, a real one, that’s not just for show, or to make others feel at ease. He wipes his hands on a kitchen towel and turns around on his chair, reaching up for Nie Mingjue’s face to kiss him properly. Nie Mingjue hasn’t shaved. Lan Xichen relishes the feeling of stubble under his hands, as he pulls him down for a warm and hungry kiss, the kind of kiss that he hopes says everything he can’t quite put into words. Mingjue responds, deepening the kiss. “I’m lucky to have you,” he murmurs, an almost subsonic rumble against Lan Xichen's lips.
“Da geeeeeeee!” Nie Huaisang whines. “Can you two not? We are never gonna eat dinner at this rate.”