even after thirteen years, i still love you | MDZS

三

Lanzhan was up at the crack of dawn but remained in bed, not wanting to wake the one beside him up. Instead, he turned so he would face Weiying, and gave him a peck on the forehead. While Weiying's eyes were closed, the corners of his mouth twitched up. Lanzhan, being the observant person he was, noticed the small movement and frowned at his husband's feigning of sleeping. Sensing Lanzhan's disapproval, Weiying slowly peeked open one eye and smiled sheepishly. 

"Lanzhan~"

"..."

"Lanzhan~"

"..."

"Lanzhan, I like the feel of your pecks, they're so soft and cute and most importantly, they warm up my heart"

Hearing Weiying's words, Lanzhan's ears immediately flushed to a bright scarlet red. Noticing this, Weiying let out a burst of loud laughter and wrapped his arms around his partner's waist, snuggling into Lanzhan's chest.

"Lanzhan, have I told you how grateful I am to have you in my life?"

"No"

"...well you should know that having you in my life is my greatest joy yet"

This time, not only had Lanzhan's ears flushed pink, but his cheeks were also a rosy pink. He bit down his lips to stop himself from smiling, trying to keep a cool demeanour. Yet with such smooth compliments, he couldn't help but smile and wrap his arms around Weiying too.

Neither moved from that position until noises filled the streets, signifying that the day had officially started and they should get up. Lanzhan was quicker to adjust to waking up, having only closed his eyes while they continued their embrace. Weiying, on the other hand, had happily fallen back asleep, meaning Lanzhan had to somehow drag Weiying out of bed again. 

"Wei-"

"Yes yes, I'm getting up, my dear husband"

Lanzhan flinched at the new nickname he had received, unfamiliar with this type of closeness. He walked over the where Weiying's clothes hung and brought them over to him, in an attempt to hurry the process up. 

*

After breakfast, they started off on their investigation again. Despite their previous wishes to lead the rest of their lives peacefully, living in a small hut on the mountainside, carefree, easygoing and most importantly, happy, they couldn't resist the case that was presented to them at this moment. Lanzhan and Weiying both knew that inside, they were excited and joyful to get into this mystery and resolve their curiosity. 

The first place they went was into a more isolated area of the town, the barren lands with villagers and people who would have had longer years of farming there. The location they made it to, to both their surprises, was a fairly well off community with an abundance of food. 

Weiying scanned the area for someone to approach and ask. Seeing a small child that sat by the doorsteps of her hut, he advanced towards her. 

"Hey, can I-"

"No"

Before Weiying could say anything else, the child shut the door in his face. He walked back to Lanzhan solemnly, despaired that his charm couldn't work on a small child. 

Figuring that none of the people there lacked money of any sort, Lanzhan decided they should try another tactic: feigning weakness. Picking up a long branch that lay on the dirt, he handed it over to Weiying.

Grudgingly, he trudged his way over to another person who seemed more open and friendly.

"Hey, I injured myself and my friend and I can't find anywhere to reside. Could we maybe-"

"Of course! Come on in!"

Weiying turned back to nod at Lanzhan and followed behind the friendly young man into his hut. 

The inside of the hut was quite simple: a table, a bed, a stand and a small opening for fire. They sat down at the table where the young man asked what was wrong with Weiying. Weiying was stumped for words and looked towards Lanzhan for help.

"I was attacked by these cultivators so my golden core was injured. It's barely visible physically."

Lanzhan smiled at his husband's intelligence, able to slide through such a smooth lie. The young man nodded and got up, "I'll help you brew some medicine with the herbs I have. Have a rest here first."

Before he could go anywhere, though, Weiying pulled on the young man's sleeve and had him sit down. 

"We just needed a resting place so I could meditate. Medicine wouldn't be necessary but thank you very much." Weiying beamed a killer smile that caused Lanzhan to turn his head around.

"Oh sure. Are you sure you don't need any other medicines though? Is there anything you need my assistance with?"

"Yea I'm sure but there is something that I think you would be able to help with."

"Please go ahead and say what the matter is"

"How long has it been since your family started living here?"

"We moved here seventeen years ago"

"So that would mean you know about the cultivators who were locked here at one point, right?"

"Cultivators?"

"Yea, a whole gang of cultivators who were in a prison here"

"OH you mean those people? They weren't actually cultivators. Word only spread that they were cultivators because they had some tricks up their sleeves. Those who lived here for longer would know that all of them were just weak people but had something powerful supporting them. That's why even in prison, they weren't afraid of life or death."

"Something powerful? A person that was highly skilled?"

"No, an artifact. I think it was a piece of something but apparently, it needed sacrifices to work? They called it something like yang, no yan, wait no-"

"Yin metal?"

"Yea, that's right, yin metal."

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a/n: most of this chapter was interactions with lanzhan and weiying so i hope you enjoyed <3 pls vote and or comment if there's feedback you wish to give!