Always by your side

Ch 16. Scary stories in the dark

XiChen POV

Past

As Ah-Cheng sits next to me, he blushes. I wait until my brother leaves to talk. Thank you, Wei Ying. I owe you this. I smile at him, noticing that his ears have turned red. Good. I have a chance, and I won't lose it.

"After we go home, would you like to go out on a date with me? I am serious. I have all the intention to woe you".

He smiles and says "yes".

As I kiss his cheeks and we embrace, Jiang Cheng sighs and stops me from getting a taste of his lips, shaking his head "Not now. I need time to tell my parents, and you need to prepare your family. I do not think they would like to hear that their primary heirs are gay. If it was up to them, they might even get us a wife soon".

I laugh at the thought "I know this is crazy, but I think being with you is a dream come true. I can't believe that you agreed to date me".

He looks at the ground and then walks away, saying "Yeah, is it a dream or a nightmare? I am not sure how they would react".

"Let's walk a little. We need to talk" I suggest. We go to the lake and play on the shore. It is dark, but I sense someone nearby.

A woman appears. "Madam Sanren" we bow "shouldn't you go to sleep, could we accompany you?"

"Sure, but I have to pee, and then I came to watch the moon, and you two, what are you doing here?"

We blush a bit, and she laughs.

"Have you ever heard about the haunting lovers of this lake?"

I got pale, and Ah-Cheng rolled his eyes -scary ghost stories are lame.

"Ah, but this is not a scary story -she says and sits in a trunk nearby looking at the water". Long ago, this lake was haunted by a monster that came out of nowhere. Some say it was conjured by a powerful enemy of the lord of this land. Others said it was a herald of the bad days that later came. In any case, several sages tried to appease the monster but could only tranquillize it for a while.

Ah, Cheng sneered "by throwing a virgin damsel here or what?"

"By using light, my boy, the light of their sun, the moon, and the one inside their souls. They calmed the beast for almost a hundred years, but then the beast came back. The two biggest sages of this land came to battle the monster when they were young when the beast first appeared. The battle lasted for three days and two nights. The two sages sacrificed their lives to destroy the beast as the last resource. They were on the brink of exhaustion but landed one last powerful attack, and with that, they abandoned the mortal world. If they didn't do it, their lands would have been destroyed. However, they exorcised the monster, and this land was finally at peace".

"People mourned them for days, and many prominent families came to pay their respects. As no one dared to wield their swords, they threw them in the lake to be forever with their masters. However, their families were given their spiritual instruments since they believed they might return one day".

"And is this a haunting tale?" Ah Cheng says.

She looked at us "For years, people said that they heard a flute and a guqin playing, and some even saw a man in white robes walking next to a man in black robes in the lake. They vanish soon after being spotted, though".

"Two men?" I asked.

"Yeah" she grins "they were two males. I don't remember the details of the legend, but it seems they faced impossible odds with being together, and eventually, they did. Well, I need to sleep now".

As she left, we sat silently for a while and embraced. Later we returned to our tents without talking. We need to be brave. Hopefully, we will be brave enough.

Someone woke me up that morning. As I open my eyes, I see him smiling as usual.

"Brother, we need to talk. I need a job".

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Yeah, I am the worst, but fear not, I will finish this tale—one day. I hope you like the update. More chapters will come soon.