Dance of the blades

Chapter 50 A Father's Worry

The room of dinning hall consisted of five chairs lining up with a long table in the center. It was considered quite a spacious for only five people to roam. But taking in consideration with the large of size of the entire manor though, than one would say a dinning hall of this size would be considered miniscule.

While the surrounding space were bare of any large furniture, enormous scroll paintings hanged on each side of its walls. It was one of things that had intrigued Lan Sizhui consistently during his stay.

The artisanship of the paintings were nothing spectacular, in fact one could consider it mediocre for a household as wealthy as the Zi family to display. But what compelled Lan Sizhui to take a closer look at it was the unique content of depicted in the illustrations. 

Most artist would compose their works based on landscapes, animals or famous figures in history. However none of these were the main subject that was depicted in the paintings before him, instead of the tranquil sceneries of nature or the gentle beauty of life, the brutal imagery of a battle field sprayed across the scrolls.

When Lan Sizhui was first confronted with this scene, a feeling of unease swept over him as he guided his eyes across the fierce imagery. It was during the first day of his stay, he would unconsciously find himself averting his gaze from the surrounding walls. But as days passed and he had gotten used to the illustrations, his strong sense of curiosity and love for the arts took over him and urged his eyes to take a closer glance at it.

Ouyang Zizhen, a fine lover of arts took noticed at his friend's interest and excitedly went over to where he stood. Peering over his friend's shoulder his gaze landed on the illustration his friend was boring holes into. 

"Sizhui how come you never told me you had such a love for art! Do you recognize this painting? You've been staring at it for so long that everyone has already left" 

True to Ouyang Zizhen's words as Lan Sizhui turned around to the room for a quick view, the entire dinning hall was empty. At this moment, the only people that had stayed behind were the two of them.

Seeing as Ouyang Zizhen was still awaiting patiently for his reply Lan Sizhui turned his attention back to him not long after.

"I wouldn't call myself an art lover per se. I am not as knowledgeable on the subject as I am for poetry and scholarly pursuits. However Baba used to show me his works when I was younger and taught me the names of well known artists he admired" Lan Sizhui explained. His eyes held a murky faraway look as if reminiscing on memory lost to time. 

His finger tips glide across the inked paper, gently tracing over each swirl and spatter located on the scroll. He stopped when he reached the painting's center, finger placed right above the eyes of the figure depicted in the painting.

The figure was that of a young woman. She stood tall among the carnage of battle field, her sword glistened with specs of dried blood. Thousand of hands in which Lan Sizhui speculated were of demons reached towards her in a desperate act of salvation. The ashes of their fallen comrades scattered throughout the entire scroll, even extending out to the flowers that decorated the edges of painting.

"Are these tiger lilies?" Lan Sizhui whispered to himself, his hands trailed along the edges against the fainted patches of paint that formed the intricate shapes. When he had let go of his hand, faint traces of red attached itself to his fingers and palms. 

"Eh you're right they are! My mother used to tell me that demon slayers in the days old painted tiger lilies on the ends of their works as a means of identification. Perhaps the creator of this piece was a former demon slayer from the Zi family" Ouyang Zizhen added upon seeing the flowers. He had seemed even more excited than before, leaning closer for a better look at it.

"Hmm perhaps..." Lan Sizhui answered back and rubbed the faint traces of old paint off his fingers. Having had enough of the painting, he took one last glance before leaving the dinning hall.

As he walked down the hallway to his room, his mind was muddled with countless thoughts he dared not to speak of to Ouyang Zizhen. While the flowers did caught his attention, it was not of the same reason as Ouyang Zizhen. 

'The flowers had a faint trace of another tone of colour on its petals. Could it be a mistake and the artist corrected? But that wouldn't explain why all of them looked painted over...' he paused in his steps as he thought this over, suddenly a memory popped up from the depths of his mind.

'Didn't he also...' but just as fast as that thought came to mind, it vanished like the winds when he felt the cold hands of someone grasping his hands.

"What-" Lan Sizhui immediately turned around, his eyes widen in surprise at the familiar pair of golden eyes staring into him.

"A-Die?" Lan Sizhui called out. His father stood still for a few second before answering with a 'Mn' to his son.

For the past few days, Lan Wangji had been spending his days couped up in his small wooden box sleeping peacefully away in recuperation. Except for the occasional shaking of the wooden box during night, Lan Wangji had usually remained silent. Thinking that his father had probably exhausted all his strength from protecting his friends and the children during their mission in the demon's house, Lan Sizhui decided to not bother him.

Who would have thought that Lan Wangji would have came out of his wooden box in the middle of the evening and search for Lan Sizhui on his own.

"Is something wrong A-Die?" his father did not answer back, instead pulled the boy to him for an embrace. Confused but also amused Lan Sizhui also loosen the tension on his shoulders and leaned in to the embrace.

"Were you upset because you saw I wasn't there when you woke up?" Lan Sizhui asked in a coaxing tone as he rubbed circles on his father's back to comfort him.

As expected though, Lan Wangji didn't reply back and instead stuffed his head into his son's robes.