Chapter Text
The dream was usually the same.
5 boys in hanfus, they all had their own individual styles and colors.
One was holding a golden/silver bow and arrow, one had a silver ring with sparks of purple lightning coming out of it, one holding and seemingly playing an ink-black dizi flute with a red tassel and charm at the end of it. One holding a fan with a plant design on it, and one holding a white/light blue xiao flute.
It was foggy and dark so Wei Ying couldn’t see their faces, but he felt like he knew them, and that he could trust them with his life.
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RIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG
"Wake the hell up, Wei Ying!"
The next thing Wei Ying feels is a pillow colliding onto his face, very hard.
"Oof! Jiang Cheng, what the hell?" Wei Ying whines, still feeling like he could close his eyes and fall asleep for hours.
Jiang Cheng scoffs. "Hurry up and get ready, we're gonna be late for school."
Wei Ying then realizes Jiang Cheng is in his school uniform, then he looks at his alarm clock.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! JIANG CHENG WHY DIDN’T YOU WAKE ME UP EARLIER?!?!"
"I DID DUMBASS, IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU STAY UP ALL NIGHT PLAYING VIDEO GAMES!!!"
Meanwhile downstairs, Yanli chuckles and Yu Ziyuan sighs at the 2 out of 3 men they live with.
After Wei Ying hurriedly puts his uniform on and grabs his things he rushes toward the stairs, unsurprisingly he trips and falls on his ass down them. The only one who visibly shows concern for him is Yanli.
"OUCH!!"
"Are you alright?" Yanli reaches out her hand to help Wei Ying. He reaches out to grab it then gets up while rubbing the part of his butt that hurts the most.
"No, but thanks shijie."
She just smiles. "We should get going."
He nods. "Right."
The kids hurry out the door and Yu Ziyuan pulls down the newspaper she's reading. "You kids be safe on the street."
"Of course mother." Jiang Cheng calls out from outside.
Outside they break into a run.
"Damn it Wei Ying, you had to make A-Jie run!" Jiang Cheng fumes.
Wei Ying laughs, finding it hilarious that Jiang Cheng is so worried for his older sister over that, although he did feel a little bad. "What do you mean? Shijie can handle running, right?" He turns his head towards Yanli with his usual goofy grin.
She nods and makes a noise of approval. Jiang Cheng just sighs and decides to let it go.
--------------------------------Location Unknown-------------------------------
"Wen Zhuliu, have you or anyone else have found the Yin Iron?" A deep yet calm voice asks.
A tall man with long brown hair in a red/white hanfu appears seemingly out of nowhere, then bows before the man he serves. "No, Lord Wen."
Wen Ruohan scowls. "Damn, it looks like we still need to give human energy to It."
"It won't be a problem," Wen Zhuliu starts, "there are plenty of ways to collect human energy, I already have a plan in motion, all we have to do is wait."
Wen Ruohan stares at his right-hand man, his cold eyes were sharp enough to cut through stone. All they shone with was greed and pure evil. "Fine, I trust you won't fail."
Wen Zhuliu bows again. "Yes, Lord Wen."
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Wei Ying, Jiang Cheng, and Yanli can already see the school building, they might actually make it today.
They reach the parking lot when Wei Ying's eyes catch some kids, probably in primary school, in a circle around what appears to be a small animal. They were laughing and jeering. Wei Ying diverts from his siblings and marches towards the kids.
"Hey! What are you brats doing?"
The kids notice him and run away before Wei Ying can scold them. He just shakes his head. "Kids, they really like to be a pain in the ass sometimes." He looks down to where they were surrounding and sees a white and brown spotted rabbit with bandaids on its forehead that are shaped like an 'X'.
His anger quickly turns into concern and he crouches down to pick up the rabbit. "Oh, you poor thing, did those kids do that to you?" The rabbit just moves its paws to where the bandaids are, like it's trying to take them off.
"Ah, it's ok I can do that for you." Wei Ying removes the bandaids and reveals a bald spot (tattoo?) of an incomplete circle that looks like a wave with what looks like clouds in the middle.
Wei Ying only stares at it. Have I seen this before?
The rabbit suddenly jumps out of Wei Ying's hands onto his head, then onto a nearby car. It's agile, like a cat. The rabbit and Wei Ying just stare at each other when the bell for school rings.
"CRAP, I'm going to be late!!" Wei Ying sprints back to where he was going, momentarily forgetting the strange encounter he just had.
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After an embarrassing confrontation with his teacher and Jiang Cheng, Wei Ying was sent to stand outside his classroom. While he was out there, his thoughts roamed and eventually landed on the dream he had this morning.
I wonder if I knew them? Wei Ying thought. They all looked pretty, like characters in a historical drama.
Suddenly his stomach growls, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I forgot to eat breakfast earlier." He sighs, then he has an idea, he looks around the hall and sees a vending machine a few feet away. There's no one around. Perfect. He quickly makes his way to said vending machine then puts a few coins in it then selects the number that will give him a small pack of cookies. They drop down to where he picks them up and before he can even open the pack his teacher bursts out the classroom door.
"WEI YING! What are you doing?!"
"Ah- I- nothing!" He stutters, trying to hide the cookies behind his back.
"Come here." The teacher orders, he does, then pulls out his English test paper which has a huge '60' on the top. "This is the reason why you have these types of grades." She grills. Despite the fact that he knows he isn't that great at English, he's still shocked by his score. Yu Ziyuan's going to kill him.
--------------------------------Later outside, at lunch--------------------------------
"You really couldn't have waited until lunch?" Nie Huaisang asks.
"Don't make me feel worse about it!" Wei Ying, now with food in his belly, whines.
Nie Huaisang quickly waves his hands, trying to make Wei Ying feel better. "I mean I don't blame you but still... and about your test score, you shouldn't feel too bad about it, I mean, I didn't do as well as I hoped either."
"Let me guess, you got a 95?" Wei Ying replies, Nie Huaisang says nothing.
"Maybe you should get a tutor." Jiang Cheng suggests.
"I don't think your parents would want to spend that much money on me," Wei Ying says, even after all the years he's been adopted by the Jiangs, he doesn't always refer to them as "mom" and "dad." "and besides I'm too busy for something like that."
"Too busy doing what." Jiang Cheng asks with an eyebrow raised. Wei Ying doesn't say anything and Jiang Cheng smirks.
"Oh, that reminds me," Nie Huaisang starts, "my brother is doing this really big sale at the restaurant he runs, so all the food that is really expensive is now affordable."
"Really, just like that?" Wei Ying asks.
"Yeah, he's actually been in a good mood lately now that I think about it, we can all go together after school if you guys want." Nie Huaisang offers.
Wei Ying can already feel his spirits being lifted, he looks to Jiang Cheng as if he's asking them if they could go. Jiang Cheng also looks to Wei Ying, it seems they've reached a decision together without the use of words.
"All right, we're going." Jiang Cheng tells Nie Huaisang with a grin. Wei Ying silently pumps his fist.
---------------------------------After School------------------------------------
Like Huaisang promised, they went to the restaurant after school and his brother, Nie Mingjue, put the whole menu on sale. They told Yanli about it as well and she agreed to check it out with them. The whole place was packed. Wei Ying wondered how Nie Mingjue was able to serve everyone so fast.
Speaking of Nie Mingjue, he was holding a megaphone to get people's attention about the sale outside. He noticed Huaisang and the others. "Huaisang, how was school?"
"It was good." Huaisang responds.
"That's great," Mingjue says with a grin, which Wei Ying rarely sees him do. "I see you've brought your friends, you guys can look through the menu and I can give you all a special discount."
"Really?" Jiang Cheng exclaims. "We really appreciate it, Mingjue." He bows in thanks, followed by Yanli, although Wei Ying realizes something.
"AW man, I spent all of my allowance this month and there's no way Ziyuan's going to give me money after the grade I got!" Jiang Cheng just looks at Wei Ying, he notices this then bows himself. "Ah, but thank you for the offer."
"Maybe another time," Mingjue waves it off. "but what about you two?" He looks at the 2 Jiangs.
They both look at each other. "Honestly, I want to save money." Jiang Cheng says.
"And I'm sure your chefs are busy enough, and we would like to come later but we all might be busy by then." Yanli says. She wasn't wrong, there's the shrine Jiang Chengs gotta work at later, Wei Ying's most likely going to be forced to study the rest of the day, and Yanli might hang out with her friends or Jin Zixuan, a boy in her grade level who likes Yanli and who Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng hate with a passion.
I wonder how he is able to feed everyone in time? Wei Ying asks himself. There must be a lot of people in the kitchen.
After saying their goodbyes, Huaisang goes into the restaurant's 2nd floor (where he lives by the way) so he can rest before he goes to cram school, and the Jiangs and Wei Ying are ready to go home. As they walk, Wei Ying takes out his English test paper and stares at it like it's the source of all his problems.
I’m good at every other subject, but whenever it comes to this one that's when I’m deemed irresponsible?
He groans and crumples up the paper, then throws it behind him in his anger. The paper ball ends up hitting the back of someone's head, they turn to pick up the paper from the ground and uncrumple it. After looking at it for a second they find its owner walking away with 2 other people.
"Wei Ying." A soft male voice says.
Wei Ying freezes, he knows that voice all too well. He quickly turns and sees one of his classmates, Lan Zhan. AKA one of the "Twin Jades" of his school, AKA the boy he's had a crush on since intermediate school, AKA the boy who almost every girl in their school has a crush on.
He extends the paper toward Wei Ying. "You dropped this."
Wei Ying can feel his heartbeat quicken. "I-ah-thanks." He stutters as he reaches for the test.
Please God, tell me he didn’t see it.
Lan Zhan nods. "You should study more in that area."
Who am I kidding, of course he saw it!
Wei Ying's cheeks turn red, but before he can say anything else Lan Zhan speaks. "You're smart so I don't think it will be a problem you can't handle, If you want help you can come to me as well." He says nonchalantly yet sincerely.
At this point Wei Ying can't even form a sentence, he's probably going to die from embarrassment right there. Thankfully Lan Xichen, Lan Zhan's older brother, enters the conversation.
"Lan Zhan? We should go- oh, hello Wei Ying." Lan Xichen says politely.
"Hello." Wei Ying says back. Thank God, Wei Ying says internally. I need to get my head together.
"Was I interrupting something?" Xichen asks.
"We were about to finish up." Lan Zhan answers, he then looks to Wei Ying for any final words to their conversation.
"I-I'll think about it." Wei Ying says. He definitely will.
Lan Zhan just gives Wei Ying one of his small but rare smiles then turns to go home with his brother. Before Wei Ying could scold himself for being so awkward, he notices Lan Zhan stopping in front of Nie Mingjue’s restaurant to look at it. Wei Ying can't tell what he's thinking.
“Lan Zhan?” Xichen calls out once again. Lan Zhan turns towards his brother and mumbles a small “coming” as he walks away.
That was weird.
“Wei Ying, are you coming or not!”
Wei Ying turns around and nearly at the end of the block he sees Jiang Cheng staring at him and Yanli holding a fist to her mouth stifling a laugh. She knows about Wei Ying’s crush on Lan Zhan and absolutely cannot wait until the day he confesses his love for him.
“Ah- I’m coming!” Wei Ying quickly jogs to where his siblings are as he tries to calm his already rapid heartbeat.
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Eventually, the 3 students make their way home.
“We’re home.” Jiang Cheng says as they enter.
Yu Ziyuan Walks into where they are, she seems to be in a good mood. “Welcome home, did you kids run into trouble on the way?” She asks.
“No, we only stopped to visit Mingjue’s restaurant for a minute.” Yanli replies.
“Ah- that’s good to hear.” Ziyuan smiles. “By the way, I heard you 2 got some tests back.” She looks at Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying, who freezes on the spot. Jiang Cheng almost feels sorry for him. Almost.
Jiang Cheng just looks at him. Better to get it over and done with.
He gives his paper to his mother, her happy demeanor increases a little at the sight of Jiang Cheng's score and gives him a “Well done.”
She turns to Wei Ying. “Alright A-Ying, let’s see yours.”
“Oh- well. The thing is- uhhh~” Damn it, he knows it’s inevitable. He hands her his paper. “Here.” He mumbles.
She takes it and looks at it for a moment, the next her good mood turns into blind rage.
“WEI YING!!!”
Shit.
Jiang Cheng and Yanli, a few feet away, can do nothing but watch as their mother unleashes all of her fury onto their adopted brother.
“HOW DARE YOU BRING GRADES LIKE THIS INTO THIS HOUSE, YOU ARE A DISAPPOINTMENT TO THIS WHOLE FAMILY!!!”
While this is nothing new to Wei Ying, every time Yu Ziyuan gets like this he still feels like crapping himself. After that, she pushes Wei Ying out the door then closes and locks it, leaving him outside.
"MRS. Y- I mean, MOTHER!!" Wei Ying shouts as he bangs his fist on the door.
"I don't want to hear it!" Ziyuan shouts from inside.
Once again, this is nothing new, but unlike other children who would patiently wait until their parents let them in the house again, Wei Ying would usually wander off into either the neighborhood or the town/shopping area. Of course, either his siblings or Jiang Fengmian would notice this and then he would get into more trouble, but there are times when he's able to go somewhere else and come back without anyone noticing.
Wei Ying feels his phone buzz in his pocket then pulls it out to inspect the notification.
SHIJE: Are you gonna wander off again?
Wei Ying huffs out a laugh. One of the reasons Wei Ying is able to sneak out in the first place is that Yanli will come up with a clever way to make sure no one will check on him. Sometimes Wei Ying thinks Yanli is too nice, but he's grateful that she is. He texts back.
WEI YING:🤫 Can you cover for me?
SHIJE:👌
Wei Ying grins. Alright! Looks like I got a few hours to myself. A couple of rounds at the arcade sounds fun. I think I deserve it.
Wei Ying thanks Yanli with a heart emoji then puts his phone away. He makes sure no one can see him through a window then quickly leaves the front of the house and heads towards his destination.
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As a regular at the arcade, you could say Wei Ying knows almost all of the games like the back of his hand. The game he is playing now doesn’t apply to that list, not yet at least.
It’s a 2D platformer where he controls this magical girl using her powers to fight monsters. It’s most likely based off a donghua that’s getting really popular. It sounds childish but Wei Ying envies fictional characters sometimes, especially characters like the one he’s playing as now. No school, no grades, being a total badass who fights bad guys even if you don’t dress like it. He knows it isn’t that simple but, hey, a boy can dream.
He doesn’t know how far he’s gotten into the game but the monster he’s fighting right now is pretty tough, it might’ve been a mini-boss, or maybe it’s THE boss and he’s about to beat the game on his first try! He will admit the game is quite tough and he is totally inexperienced but it’s not like this is his first rodeo.
He smashes the buttons trying to get a good combo but he miscalculates and the boss kills him.
“Damn it!” Wei Ying hisses and pounds his fist on the panel as he plants his head on it.
Before he can wallow in his regret more his eyes find the rabbit from this morning looking at him. He quickly sits up, the rabbit is on the side of the game’s control panel. Wei Ying opens his mouth to ask how it got there but a female staff member notices them and gives him his answer.
“Ah, if you’re wondering that bunny has been wandering in here for the past few weeks. Not sure where it comes from but it might be a stray.” She says kindly.
Wei Ying looks back to the rabbit, he’s only just noticed how human its eyes are.
Do rabbit's eyes usually look like that? He tries to think about it more but he remembers the woman who was talking to him.
“Thanks for telling me that.” He tells her. It would be nice to ask if they’re taking care of it, but the staff here is nice so he trusts they’re doing that when it shows up.
She smiles at him then goes back to work around the arcade.
Wei Ying looks back at the rabbit who stares at him for a few more seconds then hops off the control panel and hops away. Wei Ying smiles at it as he goes, hoping it’ll be ok, then starts another round of the game he’s playing.
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When Wei Ying gets back a few hours later like he planned, Yu Ziyuan hadn’t noticed he left and Jiang Fengmian hasn’t come home yet so sneaking out was a success. Once again, he owes Yanli one. Speaking of Yanli, she was currently at a friends house and Jiang Cheng was at the shrine he works at.
After she lets him back in Wei Ying eats some dinner and then immediately goes back into his room and throws himself onto his bed.
Man, I’m beat. Wei Ying thinks to himself. I should do homework but I’m too tired, I’ll just take a nap and maybe I’ll do it later.
He closes his eyes and almost immediately he is knocked out by sleep.
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His nose is filled with the smell of sulfur and ash, and his ears the sound of the cold wind and the crackle of the hot flames at his feet.
Pain. Regret. Anger. It’s all he feels right now.
In his hands is a weapon that has helped made the people around him view him as nothing more than a monster. He’s going to use it one last time.
He puts the flute below his lips and blows into it. The flames roar with a newfound energy and go from its usual orange to a bright, sinister green.
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Wei Ying's eyes open and a startled breath escapes him. He gets up from his stomach and notices the tears in his eyes, he quickly wipes them away. The ghostly feeling of sadness and regret is still somewhat slightly heavy in his chest.
The hell? That was a weird dream.
As Wei Ying collects his bearings he notices the rabbit from earlier this morning and the arcade in his window sill.
“What the, the bunny from earlier?”
“Ok first of all, even if you say there’s no difference, I would appreciate it if you called me a rabbit instead of a bunny.”
It talked. The rabbit just talked.
“I should introduced myself,” The rabbit starts. “My name is Sizhui and I’ve been looking for you for a while.” Sizhui jumps off the window still and onto Wei Yings bed. “Also I should thank you for taking the bandaid off of me this morning, it was messing with my tracking abilities and I would’ve been a goner if you hadn’t stepped in.”
“Good night.” Wei Ying says abruptly and lays back down on his bed.
“Ah- Wei Ying this isn’t a dream!” Sizhui huffs out a breath. “Look, I don’t have much time to explain, but right now one of your friends is in danger and right now you’re the only one who can help him. You also need to find the other cultivators and the Yiling Laozu, but sadly that’s going to have to wait for now.”
Wei Ying flinches at the mention that one of his friends is in danger but he doesn’t get up.
“Alright, I’ll prove this isn’t a dream.” Sizhui jumps up and does a backflip, a trail of blue shiny dust follows him and when he lands it materializes into a black dizi flute with a red tassel and circular white charm at the end.
Wei Ying looks up and sees the flute, he picks it up and his face instantly fills with recognition.
The flute from my dream? How…?
“It’s for you.” Sizhui says.
Wei Ying looks at Sizhui and his face fumbles to form a smile. “Ah- thank you but I haven’t played a flute in years.”
“That won’t be a problem, now I need you to raise that flute into the air and yell ‘Yin Prism Power Make Up!’.” Sizhui tells Wei Ying as he gets off of the bed and inspects the flue further.
He looks back at Sizhui. Wei Ying still isn’t 100% certain this isn’t a dream, but he’s going to go along with this anyway. “Right.” He nods and raises the flute into the air. “Yin Prism Power Make Up!”
Suddenly the room and his body is filled with light, the dizi in his hand creates a stream of black smoke that wraps around his body like a ribbon and the clothes he were wearing turn into a black and red hanfu. His shoes turn into black boots that reach the bottom of his knees, his hair becomes a bit longer and is pulled into a messy high ponytail tied by a red ribbon. From his belt that wraps around his entire waist, a white feather and bell pendant appear under it. He lowers his dizi to his mouth and positions himself in a pose that makes him look like he’s playing it, the light around him disappears and turns into a moonlit lake with lotus plants growing in it.
“What the- what am I wearing!?” Wei Ying shouts after realizing he’s still in his bedroom and his clothes have completely changed. Before Wei Ying could question more he suddenly hears a voice in his head.
“Brother, what are you doing?! NO!”
Wei Ying instantly recognizes the voice. “Huaisang? What’s going on?” He asks Sizhui
“I told you, your friend is in danger and you’re the only one who can save him.” Sizhui urges.
Wei Ying at this point is starting to doubt this is still a dream, I mean, a talking bunny, a magic flute that turned him into a Costume Drama character! But if Huaisang is really in danger…
He looks back towards Sizhui, a newfound determination fills him up. “Where is he?”
-------------------------------------------A few minutes earlier-----------------—----------------------
Wen Zhuliu, who is currently somewhere unknown, puts his hand out and a light blue sphere of human energy starts forming in it. It accumulates in size by the second.
“It worked, using Nie Mingjue’s body and ghosts to create food that stole human energy worked. It even collected some resentful energy as well, this will sustain It until we find the Yin Iron.”
“Brother?” A timid voice rings out. In the restaurant's kitchen Mingjues little brother finds him and all evidence of what is going on.
Zhuliu makes Mingjue turn to face his brother. His face is ghostly and black smoke seeps out of every corner of his body.
“What’s going on?” Huaisang shakingly asks.
“Oh dear, it looks like he’s seen it.” Wen Zhuliu says. “Looks like I’ll have to get rid of him. It will be unfortunate for this man but no matter.”
Zhuliu takes more control of Mingjue then grabs a large butcher knife and starts swinging it at Huaisang, he screams and dodges the attack but falls on the floor.
“Brother, what are you doing!?” Huaisang screams for his brother who isn’t there. “NO!”
Zhuliu keeps swinging but Huaisang keeps barely dodging eventually they make it out of the kitchen and into the empty dining area. The next few minutes are a cruel game of cat and mouse until Zhuliu throws a table at Huaisang which knocks him back into more tables, the impact knocks him out. This was a lot more messy than Wen Zhuliu would’ve liked but Mingjue’s body isn’t suitable for the combat Zhuliu is used to. He goes in to finally kill Huaisang but suddenly the door to the restaurant bursts open.
“Get away from Huaisang!”
Zhuliu turns back and sees a boy dressed in traditional clothing with a flute in his hand in the doorway.
“Who are you?” Zhuliu asks.
“Um-“ Well Wei Ying probably shouldn’t use his real name now, can't he? But he thinks he knows what he should say. “I am the Guardian Cultivator of love and Justice!” He follows his words by pointing his dizi at Wen Zhuliu. “And in the name of the Sanren Clan, I’ll punish you!”
“Tsk- what a pain.” Zhuliu definitely was not expecting something like this to happen, but he’ll just get rid of the boy no problem. He turns the butcher knife into a large saber and stabs it into the ground. It cracks open revealing a bright red light creating a border between Wei Ying and himself. Pale-transparent hands start appearing out of the crack then zombie-like people with swords climb out of it.
Wen Zhuliu makes Mingjue point at Wei Ying. “Attack!” He orders.
Wei Ying yelps at the sight of the ghosts and dodges as they ferociously attack him. They end up knocking him down and pain blossoms in his knee, he must have scraped it. He crawls behind a table where Sizhui, who followed him, was hiding.
“Wei Ying what are you doing? You’re supposed to be fighting back!” He hisses.
“How!?” Wei Ying retorts.
“Use the flute, play it and focus on wanting to make the ghosts disappear.” Sizhui instructs.
“Alright.” Wei Ying gets up and starts playing the dizi, it’s been years so he’s a bit rusty, but what he ends up playing isn’t all too bad. Unbeknownst to him, his eyes start glowing red, at the same time some of the ghosts start to halt and eventually dissolve into black smoke which seeps into the ground.
“It worked!” Wei Ying happily exclaimed, although it might’ve been a bad idea because the ones that he weren’t able to stop charge at him all at once. They swing their swords at him, they tower over him like a wave that’s about to come down. Before they slice him the sound of a stringed instrument loudly plays and a slash of blue light appears from above, hitting the ghosts, causing them to disappear.
Wei Ying looks to where the attack came from and in a high window is a man wearing a white hanfu and robe with a ribbon wrapped around his forehead, the tail of the ribbon sways in the wind along with his long dark hair. His fingers hover over the strings of a black guqin, the weapon which he used to attack the ghosts. His face is in the shadow of the moonlight behind him, so Wei Ying can’t make out who it is.
“Now! Use your dizi to free him!” The stranger urges. Wei Ying doesn’t question what he means by “freeing” Nie Mingue, since he went inside the restaurant he had a feeling that something was making Mingjue kill his brother. He doesn’t know why he sensed it but he’s going to trust that instinct.
“Ok!” He nods towards the stranger then starts playing the dizi. Once again his eyes turn red as he wills whatever it is inside of Mingjue to leave and disappear. Black smoke starts pouring out of Mingjue causing him to writhe in pain and scream, although Wei Ying somehow knows that’s coming from Wen Zhuliu. Eventually all the smoke leaves him and disappears along with the saber which turns back into a regular butcher knife.
Nie Mingjue then collapses on the floor unconscious, all traces of Wen Zhuliu possessing him: gone.
------------------------------------------------------------—---------------------
Meanwhile, wherever Wen Zhuliu is: The ball of Human energy in his hands explodes and disappears to who knows where.
“This could be a problem,” Wen Zhuliu says to himself.
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Wei Ying looks at Sizhui who comes out behind the table he’s hiding. “Is he going to be ok?” He asks.
Sizhui nods. “He’s only unconscious, most likely during the time he was possessed as well, so he didn't suffer” He reassures.
Wei Ying sighs in relief, a lot of tension visibly leaves his body. “That’s good.” He then looks up at the window where the stranger who saved him is still in. “Who are you?” He asks him.
Getting a better look at the stranger, he realizes his eyes are a seemingly gold color. They almost look like they glow in the dark.
“You can call me Hanguang Jun.” He tells Wei Ying. The strong authority that was in his voice earlier is now something soft and gentle. He waves his hand over his guqin which leaves a small pale blue light before dissipating into nothingness. “I promise we’ll meet again.” He then turns to leave but not before giving Wei Ying a small smile, then jumps out of the window and disappears.
Wei Ying's cheeks are red and his heart is beating out of his chest. He’s beautiful.
He looks at Sizhui, an annoyed look is on his face. He said that out loud.
“Uh- I mean-“ Wei Ying looks at anywhere but Sizhui, trying to think of anything to cover up his words. He loudly coughs. “What- what do we do about this mess.” He gestures towards the torn-up dining area where tables and chairs are knocked over and even broken, and there’s still the unconscious Nie brothers.
Sizhui rolls his eyes. “I’m sure someone heard what was going on and called the cops. We should leave before they get here.”
As if right on cue, the sound of police sirens appear in the distance followed by lights, both growing by the second.
Sizhui quickly hops towards the back of the restaurant. “There’s probably an exit in the kitchen, we can leave through there.”
Wei Ying gives one last look towards Huaisang and his brother. This really wasn’t a dream after all. He quickly follows Sizhui into the kitchen and leaves the restaurant without being seen.
-------------------------------------------The next day-----------------—---------------------
“And not long after that I passed out, but I know someone did come in.” Nie Huaisang explains the bizarre events of last night to Jiang Cheng and Yanli, who are intently listening. Along with a sleeping Wei Ying.
“That must’ve been scary.” Yanli says.
“Yeah,” Huaisang sighs. “But the guy who came in was so brave, and I’m already scared of my brother even if he isn’t on a murderous rampage.”
“By the way, how is Mingjue?” Jiang Cheng asks.
“He’s fine, but he’s been admitted to a hospital because of what happened. They said he blacked out because of stress, although it doesn’t really make sense because I know he was perfectly fine before it happened.” Huaisang sighs again, a lot louder this time and slumps over. “This is going to affect our social life forever.”
“Well, we hope he gets better soon and-“ Jiang Cheng’s eyes go to Wei Ying sleeping on his desk. In typical Jiang Cheng fashion, he smacks the back of Wei Yings head to wake him up. “Wake up you moron, don’t you know what happened to Huaisang?!”
Wei Ying lifts his head up. “Ahhh~ I’m sorry Huaisang, but please let me sleep for 5 minutes.” He whines then puts his head back down on the desk. “Good night.” He mumbles.