I fell asleep and woke up on an empty bed. No Lan Zhan, no...explicit feelings. Last night made me feel a bit dizzy. Very dizzy. And the shock was wavering upon me still.
There was a knock on the door. I went there and opened it.
"Oh, Lan Zhan."
"..." I grinned looking at him. His face was still so...composed. He entered brushing me aside and sat down at the table and pulled that piece of cloth out. The one that I had remembered to bring after Lan Zhan...well he uhm, fainted.
He put it on the table. I walked towards the table and studied the piece of cloth.
"Whom does it belong to?"
"What do you think."
"It think it belongs to someone from the Nie clan."
"Correct."
"Well...is he..." I was trying to guess. Maybe he was someone whom I did not know, probably one of the disciples but, then again...
"I scheduled a meet-up with him."
"Oh, so then he must be someone of importance."
'Someone of importance...' I repeated in my head.
Nie Huaisang.
"Well then, I'll get ready to meet this person of importance up then..."
"Evening."
"Oh then we have plenty of time, maybe we can explore, you know, roam around as normal individuals?"
"...No."
"Please."
"No."
"We have no better work to do."
"I'll practice my Guqin then."
"..." "Then can I go and roam around in the market place?"
"No."
"...PLEAAAAAAASE!!!"
"No."
"Ugh...Lan Zhan, you're no fun..."
"Do something worthwhile."
"Hmph!" I sat down on the bed sulking. Lan Zhan went to the table and brought his guqin out. I noticed him look at me for a while.
A really long while. I turned my head to another direction and had my arms crossed. I decided to sulk.
"Fine, you can go." He suddenly said. I looked at him with a surprised face.
I smiled wide at him.
"Thank you so much Lan Zhan!" I beamed up with joy. Huh, so he did have a heart in the end.
I was grinning. "Oh, yeah, and also, can I borrow your money pouch? Incase...I'll need to purchase something..."
He threw his money pouch on the table without making any remarks. His face remained unchanged even after I smiled at him so much. I guess we still had a lot to work on.
"Thanks Lan Zhan!"
~~~~~~
The market place was like a market place. Crowded.
There were stalls and more stalls and all types of goodies on sale. I had a money pouch. More overall, My- ahem, I mean, Lan Zhan's money pouch.
There were people everywhere. None of them didn't even know 'Yiling Patriarch,' anymore.
"Gahhh..." "It's like none of it ever happened..."
I walked, passing stall after stall. It all felt lively yet...I don't know. I guess my mind became like this when...by itself.
"NO! I WANT THAT ONE!!!" Screaming in the morning from which spoiled and self-centred youth?
"OR ELSE I'LL DESTROY THAT SHOP!"
"Huh?" "What the..."
Some teenager was shouting at their parents..
"A-Ling..." "No misbehaving..."
"Ma..." "HMPH!"
'A-Ling?' I ran up to the stall opposite to the stall where all the commotion was happening.
I watched, quite pleased, there were others around as well as this young boy was throwing quite a tantrum.
The other people, They watched a bit up close, I decided to keep my distance and watch from afar after what happened in the man-eating bunker.
"Jiujiu! Hmph!"
"A-Ling!" "None of those souvenirs ANYMORE!"
"B- But."
"Listen to your jiujiu and I..."
I couldn't help but snicker.
"Oi! WHAT ARE YOU SNICKERING ABOUT!!?" Jin Ling shouted.
"..." I was caught.
"JUST ENJOYING THE FAMILY DRAMA! HAHAHA-" I responded chaotically.
He looked at me wide-eyed, had he recognised me? Jiang Cheng. Ha, can't believe we ran into each other again.
Before he could yell at me, he looked around and shouted, "ALL OF YOU! WHAT IS THERE TO WATCH!? GO BACK TO WORK!" All the others who were watching scoffed and went back to what they were doing.
"You...aren't you the man who was with Hanguang-jun from yesterday?" Jiang Cheng walked up to me. I realised suddenly that Yanli was there.
'Yanli...'
I realised how stupid I just acted.
"Uh- uhm- m-maybe? No, no, I? I AM JUST A NORMAL HUMAN BEING! ME BEING WITH THE ESTEEMED HANGUANG-JUN?!!? PFFT!!!" I threw my hands in the air.
"You! You're lying! How dare you lie to me, do you know who I am!?"
"A-Cheng...calm down...there is no need to shout at him like that..."
"I- uhm...sorry Madam..."
"Jin. It is Madam Jin." Oh right, that shitty peacock is alive, and he is married to my shijie...
"Madam Jin..." I nodded my head.
"You, you!" Jiang Cheng turned to shijie furiously.
"A-Cheng...he has done nothing wrong." Shijie smiled at me. Ah, shijie gives the best smiles!
I smiled back.
"Hey! Why are you smiling?!" I decided to change the smile to a pout.
"Because Madam Jin smiled at me." I fiddled with my fingers and pouted more.
Shijie smiled at my behaviour, ah...I'm a just a stranger to her now...
"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on!? Jiujiu! Why is that man smiling at my mother?!!"
Jiang Cheng glared at the boy. I snickered.
"Hey! Don't snicker!" The boy talked back.
"Mr, what is your name?" Shijie's asking my name...I don't think we can ever go back to being...like how we were.
"Wei Ying, courtesy name, Wei Wuxian."
"Wei Wuxian...ah.." she nodded her head in acknowledgement.
"You, why were you with Hanguang-jun?" Jiang Cheng has this thing he does with his eye which just makes me scoff, like damn, okay! I GET IT, YOU'RE JIANG CHENG, NO NEED TO SHOW ATTITUDE.
Ah...yet who am I kidding again...this man, I have mixed feelings towards him...
He's a brother. He's an shit that gives me shit to deal with, he's jealous of me, yet...I love him and shijie deeply, I just don't know how...he feels about me...
The cliff...the...
"Hanguang-jun just invited me to help him investigate, and...your nephew was there all so suddenly, in the ground." I snickered a little.
"YOU! WHO DO YOU THINK OF YOURSELF AS TO JOKE AROUND AND SAY THOSE THINGS!?" The nephew yelled and the uncle rolled his eyes while the mom just tried smiling through the...
Tension.
"Keep quiet Jin Ling!" It took a moment to quieten down, quieten down and calm down. The shouting ceased and I was hit with another question from Jiang Cheng. "You, Wei Wuxian which sect do you belong to?"
The Jiang clan of Yunmeng, but I defected.
"I am an insignificant nobody." I smiled.
"You! What is there to be so proud of that?!"
It is the best thing to be proud of. You are unrestrained, and you spend your days roaming around, on carts, on rooftops. Liberty is more cherished than the ripest blooms on the spring tree.
But now I am not so sure. I am not sure what to do with this freedom, nobody knows me now...I can start anew...but the past, these people...
Lan Zhan...
'Who cares about the crowded broad avenue? I will stick to my single-log bridge until it is dark.'
I sighed.
"It is my choice to be proud of what and disappointed in whom." I looked at him all serious.
"Ah, okay, okay..." Yanli smiled weakly, ah...she could still sense my hurt.
"A-Cheng...it one's own choice to define themselves and be proud of what."
He hmphed. I smiled.
"Also, Jin Ling, you should say thank you to this young man, since he is here, you also owe a thank you to Hanguang-jun, they found you first and saved you."
"B- But ma!"
"Also, apologize for your bad behaviour, he is older than you."
"S-Sorry! And..." He turned his head to the other side and crossed his arms. "Thank you!"
Jiang Cheng just stood there, watching it all, having nothing to say. He was still giving me his stern-strange looks. I looked at him, blank. And smiled at shijie.
"EVERYONE RUN!!! IT IS THE DELINQUET DEMON!!!"
The who?