Wei Ying adopted by HuaLian

Chapter (2): Buying a set of clothes at Ghost City

Wei Ying wasn't lying when he said he and Hua Cheng made lots for dinner. There were five dishes of fish, meat and vegetables. Everything looked so delicious, even the rice. Xie Lian was surprised by it. Such delicacies, it definitely must have been Hua Cheng who paid for it, he felt indebted but also happy that he was.

Xie Lian : "San Lang.., how am I ever going to pay you back...?"

Hua Cheng : "Gege doesn't need to pay for anything. Just leave it to me. Come on, let's eat. A-Ying helped a lot with the cooking too."

Xie Lian : "A-Ying is so good. Eat up, okay? It'd take all three of us to finish this feast. Hahaha."

Xie Lian picked up a piece of meat and put it in Wei Ying's bowl. Xie Lian noticed that Hua Cheng kept looking at his hand, so he picked up another piece of meat and put it in Hua Cheng's bowl, "San Lang too, eat up loads." Xie Lian said so with a smile. Hua Cheng smiled back brightly. He was being thankful that he was a ghost and that he didn't have a beating heart or it would have been beating very loudly. He continued eating but Xie Lian did notice that Hua Cheng was slowly savoring the piece of meat Xie Lian put in his bowl.

Little Wei Ying had no knowledge of the chemistry reacting between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng. He worked hard as his little hands weren't used to holding chopsticks and the table was a bit too high for him. But he ate happily in between the two adults; he felt so safe and so warm.

Wei Ying tried his best to eat. But the sleeve on Xie Lian's robe on him is too big that it keeps falling every second. Xie Lian noticed and helped Wei Ying fold up the sleeve. Doing so, he murmured to himself.

Xie Lian : "I really have to find A-Ying a new set of clothes. My robe won't be comfortable for him on the long run..."

Hua Cheng : "Gege, I could get him a new set of clothes."

Xie Lian : "San Lang? Eh? Oh...it's ok. I would be burdening you."

Hua Cheng : "Nah, Gege doesn't have to worry about anything. I can get anything easily in the Ghost city. And I too want to get A-Ying a new set of clothes."

Xie Lian : "Oh, is that so? Then, I'll leave it to you. A-Ying, say thanks to ...this gege."

Wei Ying : "Thank you, A-die."

Hua Cheng : "All right, then we can all go together to Ghost City to choose the clothes."

Xie Lian : "Right now?"

Hua Cheng : "No, we can finish dinner first. Then we'll go."

Xie Lian : "All right."

After the dinner, the three worked together on doing the dishes and cleaning up the table. Then Hua Cheng took out two red dice and tossed it towards the shrine door. The two dice spun wildly and set on two sixes. Then Hua Cheng opened the door,

Hua Cheng : "Come on, let's go."

Beyond the door was the lively main street of Ghost city, with many stalls selling exotic stuffs on either side of the street. Wei Ying wide-opened his mouth in amazement. He was amazed not only at the scene changing as soon as Hua Cheng opened the door but also at the bustling street of the Ghost city. Everywhere was bizarre-looking demons and ghosts selling weird stuffs of god-knows-what that even Xie Lian can't fathom.

Hua Cheng was still in his youthful form and was suppressing his demonic aura, so nobody noticed him. He walked leisurely towards a clothing store of which sign says "Ancestor Xue's Ghastly Attires and Wardrobes" and a smaller line under the big sign "Suitable for haunting, cursing, feasting as zombies and appealing your demonic side either day or night!". Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this situation. Buying children's clothes at such store, any kid would have run away if they knew what the sign said. But luckily, Wei Ying was still young enough to not know how to read yet. 'It'll be good to teach him how to read later on' Xie Lian thought. This made his heart lighter as he held Wei Ying's hand and entered the store.

The inside of the store was surprisingly normal. Maybe that's why Hua Cheng led them to this store. A store assistant came out greeting them, asking what they were searching for. The store assistant thought Xie Lian was the eldest among them and so he concluded that Xie Lian must have been the one buying. But Xie Lian's attire were poor and old, thus the shop assistant's attitude was not of the best kind.

Hua Cheng tossed that assistant a silver teal,

Hua Cheng : "Bring out all the children clothes you have that would fit this child's size. Hurry up."

Xie Lian : "San Lang...we don't need all the clothes tho..."

Hua Cheng : "But we can choose from it. It's alright, Gege. That's what store assistants are for."

Xie Lian didn't know how to refute him any further, so he could only smile a bit shyly. The store assistant had already jumped inside the store, yelling every other assistant to bring out the best children attires they had. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng walked further into the store, and looked at the various sets of clothes displayed in there. When the store assistant brought out the children's clothes, the three of them chose from the pile for quite a time. Some attire looked too lavish, some looked too scary; nonetheless, this really was a clothing store for ghosts. While there are many to choose from, some men may fall asleep during this period, but Hua Cheng stayed up diligently and helped Xie Lian and Wei Ying choose.

After looking through what seems like a mountain of clothes, they came across a set which design is simple with white robes and red and black linings. Xie Lian thought this would fit Wei Ying well. The robes aren't too big and the design is simple and refreshing. It would bring out the youthfulness in Wei Ying. Xie Lian held up the set and showed it to Hua Cheng.

Xie Lian : "San Lang, what do you think about this one?"

Hua Cheng : "It looks great, Gege. The kid would look more lively with some red and black. Gege have such good eyes."

Xie Lian : "San Lang...you praise me too much."

Hua Cheng : "No, it's because Gege is amazing from the start."

Xie Lian : "San Lang..." feeling at a loss on what to do, Xie Lian gripped the set of clothes tighter.

Xie Lian : "Now, we just have to let A-Ying try it on and fix it to fit his size. A-Ying, ...A-Ying? Where did you go? A-Ying!?"

Turning around and not seeing Wei Ying, blood completely drained from Xie Lian's face. He looked around the store in hopes to find Wei Ying. He searched every nook and crook inside the store. "A-Yingg!!" Xie Lian yelled out as he run around the store. Later, he found out that A-Ying was nowhere to be found inside the store.

"A-Yinggg!!" in desperation, he yelled out. He rushed outside the store. In front the store was a bustling crowd. Xie Lian looked around again; in hopes to find a six or seven years old boy wrapped in a man's white robe like a big fluffy cotton ball. But there was nothing resembling a cotton ball. A great number of demons and ghosts were roaming in the streets; who knows what could happen when a human child was lost in such a crowd.