A longing in Yunmeng | Jiang Cheng |

Stealing Lotus Pods

Jiang Cheng made his way down the quay and rented out a private boat. He had a place in mind. It was obvious that he was going down memory lane, so why not visit that place again.
Using his spiritual energy on the boat, it rowed by itself in the direction he was going. He enjoyed the sound of water parting at the hull of the boat and the view of lotus flowers sprouting from the clear lake water.

It took only a few minutes to reach the old lotus lake that Jiang Cheng had decided to visit. It was this same lake that they had stolen lotus pods from, in the past.
This part of the lake looked too peaceful, as if no one lived there. He looked around but there was no one to be found.
There used to be an old man who used to live there with his little water ghoul. Now, there was nobody in sight for miles to see.

Jiang Cheng thought back to the days when Wei Wuxian and his team of juniors, including him would come to this lake to steal the lotus pods. Although they always tried their best not to be discovered, their efforts were in vain.
However, the old man would take a particular hating towards Wei Wuxian only. He always hit Wei Wuxian and no other everytime they were caught stealing.
Wei Wuxian, being the cunning young man he was, would trick the old man and Jiang Cheng would row their boat out towards Lotus Pier again as fast as possible. He felt quite sorry for the old man.
They always had fun fooling around like this. Later, Jiang Fengmian would have to come apologising for their misbehaviour, as always.

As the small rented boat approached the cluster of lotus pods, Jiang Cheng plucked out a pod, easily prying it off its long stalk. He looked at the pod and a shadow of a smile played across his lips.
He took out one seed and popped it into his mouth. He was lucky to get a sweet-tasting pod. As he ate, he remembered the time that they had run away from his mother, coming to this lake. That was the time when they met the small water ghoul accompanying the old man with his work.
Wei Wuxian had got a hell out of a beating for touching the dear water ghoul. Although, Jiang Cheng had also argued that it was not safe to keep it around, the old man protested strongly that he could take care of it.

A light laugh escaped from Jiang Cheng's lips as he remembered the look on Wei Wuxian's face at getting hit out of all the others. He almost did not notice that he had laughed and was embarrassed with himself.
This whole time, he had been looking at his pod and when he looked up, he saw something that made his eyes widen with surprise.
It was the mirage of a young Wei Wuxian holding out a ripe lotus pod toward him.

"Jiang Cheng! Take this pod, it's fresh and ripe."

The image of Wei Wuxian smiled brilliantly at him, unaware of the surprised face of Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng's hand extended out on instinct but as soon as his finger touched the illusionary lotus pod, the image dispersed with the wind that blew at him. There was no one- only him, sitting on the boat.
"You-" Jiang Cheng said as he groped at air. He realised that he had only seen his thoughts and there was really no Wei Wuxian near him. He let out a soft sign, which almost sounded disappointed.

As he sat in the boat, eating the lotus pod, he thought of the time he had spent with Wei Wuxian. They shared a bond, so much stronger than others, yet it was so easily broken because of Jiang Cheng's jealousy and other's twisted words.
He remembered the promise that the three of them- him and his sister along with Wei Ying- had made. They had promised to live together, always being there for each other. In the end, they turn out to be empty promises.

Then, he remembered Wei Wuxian's promise to him. He whispered to himself, tears softly falling on the lotus pod.

"You- you promised that we would be the twin heroes of Yunmeng. You said that you would serve by me for the rest of your life... why did you have to betray me for those Wen people..."

His golden core in his chest pulsed with warmth, producing a dull aching feeling. This golden core too, was not his own. It was Wei Wuxian.
After all these years, he had spent hating on the one who had betrayed him and the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, only to find out that the other had sacrificed their own golden core for him.
Even though the other knew that there was only a small chance of transferring golden cores, he still did it, all for Jiang Cheng. He felt weak and pathetic.

"How can I even hate you after all this?"

He slammed his fist on the side of the boat. "Tell me, how do I even hate you?" he vented out, letting his emotions free all at once.

"A-cheng"

Jiang Cheng looked up with bewilderment. "A-cheng, don't cry anymore." The voice said again. Now, he was seeing his sister sitting in front of him, her hand reaching out towards him.

"Jie..."

"A cheng." She called him as she smiled. He had not heard anyone call him like that in a long time. His tears continued to spill out endlessly.

"I am so sorry. I- I could not protect you. In the end, I still could not protect both of you..." he cried in front of the image of his sister.
He reached forward to hug his sister but he only hugged the empty air, falling onto his knees instead of falling into his sister's arms.

"Jie....come back...."

There was no answer. Only the sound of nature while the sky changed to an orange hue as it started to set.

"Please..." Jiang whimpered as he aggressively wiped his tears away.

"Please...."