Trigger warning mature content ahead.
There are descriptions of sex and violence. I usually will put warnings in each paragraph, but it doesn't work that well in this case.
Lan Zhan POV
Past
Being inside Wei Ying is bliss. I would instead not pull out, but since he was hiding with Wen Qing and Ah-Yuan, we haven't slept together until these last couple of days. Three hundred and ninety-nine days without Wei Ying, the thought makes me increase the pace. I might be rough now, but we both came and saw stars. After the delicious fog of our orgasms cleared, I left his body, searing his back with ardent kisses. He purrs, and I can't help but smile. I won't let you escape again, Wei Ying. Wherever you go, I will follow. We cuddle into sleep until the following day.
We are expected in Caiyi town today so that Qing and Sanren can testify. The room has no decoration, just a wooden chair, a table and a microphone. Uncle and Wen Ning got water and candies for them. This event was going to be bitter. Wen Qing has been answering questions for quite a while when she starts to clench her fists.
"Wen Chao used the company's archives to get pictures of the girls and send the photos to men desperate to get a bride. Well, more than a bride, a sex toy. If the client was impatient, the girl was just kidnapped after leaving the premises of the factories. In other cases, he used handsome local minions that seduced the girls. Ashamed, they became pliant to their whims and accepted to join the prostitution ring willingly. Many were drugged and used and then discarded.
Exhibit A that I provided contains the files of the trafficked girls. The name of the clients and the sums paid.
Exhibit B contains the maps of the traffic routes and the drivers' names.
Exhibit C contains the names of the truck drivers and frontier officers involved."
Wei Ying's hand is pressed against mine. I squeeze him back. The pain they have gone through together is something he didn't let me participate in.
Without looking back, I said, "I would have gone with you or taken your place without hesitation,"
"I know", he answers.
Ten minutes later, it is Sanren's turn. Afterwards, it is my turn. The last person to be cross-examined is Wei Ying. I still my body. There he goes.
"Before my presentation, I was introduced to Wen Chao. I didn't particularly appreciate how he touched the waitress attending his table. I felt that he and his friends were inspecting a rabbit and seeing if it was plump enough to be eaten. In any case, I went there and started chatting about the show that I had prepared, giving the lady a queue to run away, which she did. Yet Wen Chao noticed and looked very irritated. So I left and went to sing. Miss Qing and I have already identified the people at the table as part of the prostitution ring. The drugs in my system had the same composition as those used to break the mind of several victims of the ring that Mr Wen managed".
"The way they did it is a bit sneaky. As usual, after two songs, I drank some water. Kenny, the henchman responsible for Wen Lee's murder, was the person handling the beverages. Regarding what happened to me that day, the medical exams exhibit that my condition was serious had the doctors not intervened. Also, the testimony provided by Wang Lingjiao indicated that they planned that after they used me to enter my uncle's office, they would have faked a tragic suicide because I was a heartbroken gay teen."
The session ends shortly after. As soon as Wei Ying leaves, I hug him. I don't say anything. He doesn't say either. Love heals, but the scars of the past sometimes remain. Yet, we carry on because, as you said once, they prove that I stood on my beliefs and protected someone. I pat his back, and we end the embrace.
The next few days are packed with joyous meetings, victorious celebrations and tearful goodbyes.
Wen Chao will spend the rest of his life in prison. He can appeal for penalty reduction each decade, but his crimes are too big to get something.
Wen Qing and Sanren have decided to depart together, and we prepare the biggest celebration party a Lan can have. But, of course, this means: it all depends on Wei Ying.
It is good that everybody came to visit. Then, Yu nags Wei Ying and me about visiting our god-son. Afterwards, Ah-Ling plays with us. Jiang Cheng and my brother are still in the honeymoon period and ogle at each other the entire night. Jiang Yanli scolds her husband a little for not bringing Jin Ling's toys. Finally, Rui tells embarrassing stories about Sanren and Qiren.
There was upon a time during a Lan family reunion when Cangse Sanren was playing with her cousins and saw that Qiren had finally entered into puberty and grown a lot. Yet, his fashion style was simple, and he wanted to grow a beard. So Sanren feared for this cousin's future, carried him to the mall, and got him a new haircut, clothes, and voila. Rui says it is a bit more complicated than that, but she is glad he is more chill. Thirty years later, he is a bit less grumpy and has a wife, an adopted son and two nephews that love him. On top of that, he has become a grandfather.
I gulp my drink. I got to live with a surrogate mother, my brother and my love since I was a teen. I close my eyes. Pain and tenderness have always been entwined. It had been almost eight years since tragedy brought Wei Ying into my life, my first friend, brother in arms, first love, first kiss, and husband.
Although I am a bit drunk, I can have a moment alone with Wen Qing, pulling her apart from the group. We walk together to a balcony. She looks a bit worried, but I try to ease her. "I have a gift for you and Sanren". I finally found the box with two jade pendants in the shape of white elephants with golden chains. "it is a departure gift. The magic of a kitsune is potent but benign. It is a concealment charm. If two people wear one, half of your features will be mixed and blended with the other bearer harmoniously, making them look like twins".
I pause for a moment, letting her contemplate it. "Better than plastic surgery. Now that everything is over, I can give it to you. Thank you for everything. For standing this trial, for protecting Ah-Yuan. Wei Ying and I will do our best to protect him in your place."
We hugged for a while. "Now, I want details about all the things my husband did in my absence" we chatted for a long time.
No matter how many years we have slept together, I am forever destined to be the one waking up first. Truth to be told, I do it to contemplate my husband for a moment before going on. His peaceful, beautiful face, his satisfied smile. After kissing his cheek, I take my cue to prepare breakfast for him and our son. One moment you are young, and the next, you are looking for schools for your adopted child. And I cannot be happier seeing the two walking around the house with groggy faces.
Sometimes life does the unexpected, like when half of the big bosses of Wen Chao's group fell along with him for kidnapping Wei Ying. After they recovered, they were so scared of spending more than 30 seconds with my husband that these scums yelled out everything they knew.
God. I love my man.
Several others surrendered to the authorities for fear that the other group would kill them now that their leader was gone. Others weren't so lucky. Wen Ning thinks that the leader is one of the men on Wen Qing's list. So the leader saw the opportunity and took it. Yet his plans seem to be derailed from time to time. For example, the device used to trace Meng Yao's movements as part of a stolen shipment months ago. We follow the trail to a warehouse and recover the rest of the items, but afterwards, nothing. So we are still at a loss about who is following him, but we have an idea why.
Wen Ruohan had two sons. The first one broke with his father years ago. He had claimed he had no relationship with the family or his business for more than a decade. Yet, when Interpol had followed the trail of the antiquities, they found a trust fund in his name in Switzerland. It seems that only a few people knew about those secret accounts. Wen Ruohan offered no more clues, but Wen Zhuliu claimed that Wen Ruohan had set up trust funds for several people. He promised to give us the names and information of each account in exchange for being transferred to another prison.
And then, he escaped.
I haven't been this upset in ages, and Wei Ying is fuming dark energy. But, he calmed down, eventually.
Stalking cases have been piling up for a while. Nie Mingjue has come to our offices four times in the last two years for women entering his house, following hotels, and trying to enter restaurants. The worst was when a car almost collided with him for attempting to evade a bunch of hysterical ladies. Rumours of him being gay haven't stopped ladies from pursuing him. It might even seem to fuel its response. Sadly, as police officers, it is impossible to assign an officer 24/7 to him. So brother is worried, and me too.
It has been a year since Wei Ying brought Ah-Yuan home, and today we return from our first funeral. Unfortunately, the case only has Meng Yao's belongings and not his body. However, It doesn't make it less painful for my brother or Mingjue. In the end, Jiang Cheng organized the ceremony. It was beautiful. Everybody praised the man in his tragic death, but only a few tried to understand him when he was alive.
We accompanied Jiang Cheng to put everything Meng Yao had in boxes, which surprised me. Shouldn't he sell everything Meng Yao had or give it all to the remaining members of his family?. He shakes his head.
"He loves his mother, but she is frail and sick. She doesn't have much time left. His brothers love him, especially Mo Xuanyu, but he is always out of the city. The only special place was in Xichen's and Mingjue's memory. So if they want to have a memento of him, I should keep them safe until then." Of all the people, that Jiang Cheng is the one who understands Meng Yao the most is still something both commendable and baffling.
As my conscience drifts to the present, I realize how close they were.
Lan Zhan POV
Present
Wei Ying is restless. Whatever he is dreaming is terrible. So I woke him up gently first and then applied some force.
He gasps in my arms and screams, " Lan Zhan, no!!"
"...."
"...."
"You were having a nightmare" he jumps at my body and puts himself on top of me. "Lan Zhan, please forgive me, your memories. I made you remember everything the moment we fell in the lake."
Realization hits me, so I hold Wei Ying in my arms tightly. He starts to blabber.
"They sent that picture of you, Ah Yuan and Wen Qing, tied in chairs and a message saying they had you guys. Wen Ning was furious, but the kidnappers stated that they only wanted to talk about someone they wanted dead and afterwards, they would free him. So I drove to that location."
It was a trap. The kidnappers caught us picking up AhYuan from school, but the woman was a fake using a mask. They didn't intend to get a person, though. It mainly was revenge and wanting to take a few people to share the road to hell. When the guys' intentions were clear, Wei Ying used his control of dark energy on three of them without restrictions, and Wen Ning killed another that threatened to pull a bullet in Ah-Yuan's head.
We escaped and got chased. Unfortunately, the car failed to evade an oncoming biker, and we fell through a cliff to the depths of Billing lake.
"Bichen saved us that day," says Wei Ying "the last thing I remember before falling into darkness is you calling my name, asking me to come back."
He pressed his body against my chest, and soon I felt wetness on my skin. Wei Ying starts to sob and shake. "You remember everything just before I entered into a comma."
Bichen indeed came to my rescue in the lake. It was Bichen and Suibian who helped us leave the car when we were about to die. I called Bichen in desperation, and Suibian followed. My Wei Ying is a great detective, but he is slightly wrong.
I hold him tight and say, "No. That's not it, Wei Ying. I have known who you are since the moment I saw you."
He moves to look at my face and asks, "YOU knew all this time that I was the Yiling Patriarch, your husband from your past life!"
I shake my head. "No. I have known that you are my soulmate. Either your long life confidant or your husband, my love for you remains the same".
I move my body so that our eyes are at the same level. We sit in the bed facing each other, still entwined in an embrace. I kiss his cheeks and say, "My memories started to come back little by little when you fought the guy who badmouthed Jiang Yanli when we prepared lotus rib soup or sang our song. The most important clue was meeting Mo Xuanyu. Then I realized that you were my soulmate, and I tied my ribbon to you. I was a bit drunk that day, yet I understood that there is a difference between the two souls and which one resonated with mine".
Wei Ying seared my lips with a kiss.
We arrived very late at work that day.
Hey, happy valentine's day. I hope you have a love as big as WangXian in your life.
So back to the present?