even after thirteen years, i still love you | MDZS

灵

Weiying hadn't stopped dangling his rabbit pendant as he skipped around, much to the pleasure of Lanzhan. While Weiying's one had never touched his belt since they left the stall, Lanzhan's one hadn't left his belt. Despite this, every so often, Lanzhan would find his left hand unconsciously reaching down to make sure it was there. Needless to say, neither had an ounce of regret for spending a large sum of money for something so simple.

After walking for many miles, they sat down near a waterfall to take a break. It was during this time that Lanzhan had an opportunity to carefully note the details of the pendant. And it wasn't until Lanzhan finally took a closer look at the ridges and edges of his and Weiying's rabbit pendant that he realised they fit together perfectly. Although curious as to what it looked like when they joined, Lanzhan didn't mention his discovery to Weiying.

Weiying, having been slightly bothered by the silence that surrounded them, struck up a conversation.

"Lanzhannn"

"Mn"

"I want to drink Emperor's Smile again."

"Weiying we can't-"

"Yes yes I know, I didn't mean for us to trek all the way back to Gusu."

"..."

"..."

"You want to drink wine at the next city, don't you?"

With a sheepish smile, Weiying nodded and placed his head on Lanzhan's lap.

"Wake me up when you feel like we should set off again."

Lanzhan smiled at Weiying's childish act. Hesitantly lifting his hand up, Lanzhan contemplated whether or not he should stroke Weiying's head. A few minutes would've passed before Lanzhan finally made his decision to gently touch Weiying's hair.

Although Lanzhan hadn't seen it, Weiying's lips curved up slightly when he felt a soft touch on his head.

*

It was late afternoon when Lanzhan found himself asleep, with Weiying still on his lap. Shaking his husband lightly, Weiying whined as he was disrupted out of his sleep. After seeing the colour of the sky, however, he immediately regained his senses and they set off again.

The two stopped at another town to fill their hunger. They chose the cheapest and most simple noodle store to replenish their energy. As they sat down to wait for their noodles, Lanzhan looked up and noticed a strange and unfamiliar layer of dust in the air. He turned to Weiying who, by then, also had his eyes directed at the air around them.

"The air, it's kind of..."

"It's different to..." but before Weiying could finish his sentence, the waiter came along with their noodles. Seeing their expressions, the waiter could almost immediately deduct they were travellers who had never been to this part of the city.

"You both seem quite puzzled. Are you two curious about the strange air here?"

While Weiying was slurping down his large bowl of noodles, Lanzhan respectfully placed his chopsticks down and nodded his head.

The waiter continued, "Ah, well most tourists who come to our town are always curious about the pink hue of our sky. It's pretty much pink all year round though, so it's nothing new or strange for residents here."

Weiying, who at that point, had stopped slurping on his noodles, thanked the waiter and dismissed him.

"Lanzhan I still think something is suspicious. I mean, I don't think the waiter is lying but he probably isn't telling us or doesn't know the whole story. I think we should investigate this some more. What if the state of this town was different a few years ago?"

As soon as Weiying had finished his long rant, Lanzhan had remembered something, "Weiying, this town- it used to be home to a massive prison for a whole sect of cultivators who were found guilty of killing villages and villages of people over a period of two years."

"Villages of people were killed? When was this?"

"Mm, all these villages would be thriving one day but completely empty the next. Yet, no one knows what happened to those villagers, only that they were taken away by the cultivators."

"But what happened to those cultivators?"

"Around ten years ago, there was a massive battle here between two high-level cultivators. Because of their fight, the prison doors were blown open and the criminals all poured out and ran off."

"This happened while I was dead? Wait but if the cultivators got away, then the pink hue of the sky could be..."

"...blood."

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