Hualian AU ~ 7. The Reverend of Empty Words

Part 3

Xie Lian woke up Shi Qingxuan running into the lounge, holding his phone and making a fuss.

"The Reverend! The Reverend of Empty Words!"

Xie Lian crawled out of the sofa-bed he shared with Hua Cheng and asked, drowsily,

"What about him?"

"I think he means The Reverend of Empty Words finally made an appearance", Hua Cheng replied. He had been up before anyone else as usual, and was sitting by the window with his drawing pad.

"Yes! Look what he said", Shi Qingxuan excitedly pushed his mobile for Xie Lian to see.

It was a comment on Shi Qingxuan's lipsync videos: HAVING FUN ARE WE?

Xie Lian, shaking his head slightly, said, "Can I reply to this?"

"Yes! Please, show me show me show me", Shi Qingxuan came close, almost sitting on Xie Lian's lap. He smiled to himself, and typed: I AM, YOU SHOULD JOIN ME 😜

Both of them jumped when there was an immediate answer: OH I AM PRETTY MUCH WITH YOU DON'T YOU WORRY ABOUT THAT

"What? What? What does he mean? That sounded threatening", Shi Qingxuan said, looking worried.

Xie Lian hit back: SO PAY US A ROUND THEN, WHY SO MEAN 😉

No reply this time. Ming Yi came out of the room, and Shi Qingxuan went to have a shower. Xie Lian went to look at what Hua Chen's sketching: the street outside the flat, with bikes and trams, only in hatched strokes, like an etching. Xie Lian smiled at Hua Cheng, amazed.

After a while they went to have breakfast in a café near the flat. Shi Qingxuan, feeling good after beating The Reverend that morning, had touristic plans: he could hardly control his excitement, and after breakfast dragged them all to an alley just in front of the flat, to a place called ABRAXAS.

"Now, getting down to business, let's have some shit here", he said.

"Oh? What are you talking about?", Xie Lian wasn't familiar with Shi Qingxuan's speaking like that.

"Magic mushrooms of course", he said, beaming.

"Pfff", it was Ming Yi's reaction.

"Wait", Xie Lian said, "Why? Can't we just walk around and have a drink?"

"Coming to Amsterdam and not having anything is like going to Rome and not seeing the Pope", he replied solemnly. Then he added, "How come you guys being this square now?"

Hua Cheng pffted a laughter, "What's this shitty peer pressure? Try harder".

"It's not that", Shi Qingxuan said, looking disappointed. "It's not crack you know! This is all legal and fine, and it's weak stuff too. It's just going to make us see brighter colours and so on. C'mon guys".

"Hum", Xie Lian said, "I suppose it's not a big deal really".

"Right?", Shi Qingxuan replied, smiling brightly, "I knew you were cool".

"What do you say San Lang?", Xie Lian asked.

Hua Cheng shrugged, "Fine, let's go".

"Ming-xiong?", Shi Qingxuan asked Ming Yi, who didn't even shrug, just followed them.

They entered the place.

It had rustic furniture, psychedelic mosaics and stained glass panels everywhere. Shi Qingxuan went to do all the dealings, so he waved for them to go inside and find a spot. On the second floor, they found a kind of booth, with low sofas of battered leather. Shi Qingxuan returned, smiling, and soon after, someone brought in their order.