With nothing left of the medicines the emperor's sister had given him – them having run out before he ever left the prison – Wan Xue had to admit that Meng Yuan was right in that he should obtain something with which to treat his injuries. Perhaps a bruised knee wasn't worth bothering over, but his ribs still ached, broken and bruised and healing incredibly slowly in his opinion. That was how they ended up in the marketplace they had only seen the night before as it was closing. It was nothing compared to the one in the capital, so Wan Xue didn't bother looking at anything more than what they needed. He'd already pulled out several smaller coins from the pouch so that he would have them on hand and not draw attention to the rest of it.
After purchasing some ointment and bandages, considering Meng Yuan had his own wound that would need tended to, as well as a small amount of food that he stashed in the pack Meng Yuan was carrying, Wan Xue was prepared to leave the small town behind. However, just as he was about to walk away after making his last purchase, a glint of sunlight on metal caught his eye and he turned to see a woman selling hair accessories and combs. The hairpins were the kind that someone like him could never have afforded before now.
With one finger, he touched a particularly beautiful one, tracing down the length of cold metal. The woman running the stall named a price, and he wasn't sure if she wanted to convince him to buy it or was sure he couldn't and wanted him to stop touching it. Considering he could offer no other response, he merely smiled politely at her and withdrew his hand, prepared to leave.
However, a voice suddenly spoke up from directly behind him, and Wan Xue realized that in his distraction just now, he'd entirely forgotten about Meng Yuan's presence.
"We'll take it," the man was saying, and it took Wan Xue a moment to realize what he was talking about.
Trying to turn back to refute this claim, Wan Xue found that Meng Yuan was far closer than he expected, and he ran into him in trying to do so, his back hitting Meng Yuan's chest. One of Meng Yuan's hands casually settled on his waist, and with the other, he reached around the front and into Wan Xue's inner pocket where he had stored the money pouch, and drew it out.
Eyes widening, Wan Xue reached out to grab it back, but the hand on his waist left then, stopping the movement of his arm. His other arm was already underneath Meng Yuan's, and Wan Xue watched as the other man let go of his arm, opened the pouch, and withdrew what was, apparently, the exact amount needed. Meanwhile, Wan Xue had simply frozen, embraced in his arms as he was, watching Meng Yuan pay the surprised merchant and collect the neatly wrapped package from her. Wan Xue wouldn't have even known which coins to use for such a large amount.
Coming out of his stupor as Meng Yuan's arms finally left his body, he pushed the package away when Meng Yuan tried to give it to him, trying instead to push it, still in Meng Yuan's hand, back toward the seller.
"Don't you want it?" Meng Yuan asked. "It's not like you can't afford it." He tossed the pouch in the air and Wan Xue snatched it away from him, stuffing it hurriedly back into his pocket. "You don't have to spend money on me, or rent me a room at the inn, but at least spend it on something you want. If it bothers you so much, then when I have money, I'll repay you for it, and then it'll be a gift from me." Meng Yuan got the impression that Wan Xue would never spend money on himself for such a thing, and thus thought he was doing him a favor of sorts.
But for Wan Xue, the issue was not the money at all. It was true that the amount was rather high, but it was nothing compared to everything that was in the pouch. Yet this was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid, the reason he'd only rented one room and slept in the same room as a man he hated. There were dozens of people around, many of them close enough to hear every word that came out of Meng Yuan's mouth.
Exasperated at the other man's foolishness, Wan Xue finally grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him away from the market, not letting go until they had left the town behind entirely. Meng Yuan didn't question this, merely following him, and though he couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong, he wasn't so stupid as to not understand that Wan Xue was very unhappy.
"I shouldn't have taken your money like that," he said eventually. "I'm sorry."
Wan Xue didn't respond, but Meng Yuan didn't think that this entirely explained why he was upset. Back in the town, he'd seemed...afraid. Meng Yuan glanced at the paper package in his hand and then solemnly put it in his pocket. Whatever trust he'd hoped to gain from Wan Xue was surely now entirely shattered.
They both walked along miserably for a while, only stopping to eat when Wan Xue felt they were far enough from the town – or perhaps merely when he felt his stomach was empty enough that he couldn't continue walking any more without filling it with something. For his part, Meng Yuan had been starving for some time, but decided he should keep quiet about it. When Wan Xue finally sat down under a tree to the side of the road, he inwardly sighed with relief, accepting the food Wan Xue handed him with thanks.
Meng Yuan, who was the hungrier of the two by far, considering he was not used to long periods of fasting, was still eating the second portion he'd asked for after Wan Xue finished. As he leaned back against the tree, Wan Xue pulled out the money pouch and held it in his hand, contemplating how he could explain to Meng Yuan that the more extravagantly he used his money, the more likely it would be that someone would kill them for it. It wasn't exactly a simple concept to convey without the use of words, and Wan Xue was sure the emperor had never considered such a concept, at least not for himself. He could spend as he wished, and he'd have people there to protect him, if anyone dared try take it from him.
Along with the pouch, the letter also came out of his pocket and Wan Xue opened it again absentmindedly, momentarily forgetting the money. He ran a finger along the lines of characters, not at all sure what might be contained in the message.
"What's that?"
Wan Xue startled at the voice. Meng Yuan had evidently finished eating and had come over to peer over his shoulder at the paper in his hand. Hurriedly, Wan Xue refolded the letter and stuffed it back in his pocket along with the money pouch. When Meng Yuan looked as if he might repeat the question, he glared at him hard enough that he didn't.
Having initially thought that he had glared intensely enough that he'd cowed the emperor into submission, Wan Xue was rather proud of himself, until Meng Yuan slowly smiled, a mischievous look in his eyes.
"You're so secretive," Meng Yuan said. "You know that only makes me wonder more who you are."
Maybe you should worry more about figuring out who you are, Wan Xue thought to himself. Besides, he was literally no one. There was nothing to wonder about.
"At first, I thought perhaps you stole that money," Meng Yuan continued. "Given your living situation and your clothes, you don't live as though you've had the money long. That combined with you leaving the city, I thought perhaps you were on the run."
Here we go again.
"But then...well, I just don't see you stealing a bunch of money from someone. You're too nice."
Wan Xue had been staring out at the road instead of looking at him, but these words drew his attention back to the other man, and he raised an eyebrow.
Meng Yuan laughed. "Don't look at me like that," he said, voice filled with mirth. "You are. You're very kind, even if you want me to think you're not."
Wan Xue had no response to that, either externally or internally, so he just went back to staring out at the road and the fields beyond.
"Did you receive it as an inheritance from someone?" Meng Yuan asked. "Maybe from a relative you didn't know you had who passed away?"
Yes, and they just happened to leave me their fortune.
"Or perhaps you received it as compensation for something?"
The words were said offhand – as was more than half of everything that came out of the emperor's mouth – but Wan Xue froze at the words, because they were more or less true. Meng Yuan probably meant compensation for a service he'd done someone, a reward or payment for some deed of his. He could almost hear the other man asking if he'd collected the bounty on some criminal and was now traveling to find a better life with his newfound fortune.
In that sense, he was wrong. But – wasn't this money compensation of some sort? The only person of whom Wan Xue could think would have bought and released him was the emperor's sister. She had accused him, and yet when he was punished, she was the only one who came to care for him. Of course, he couldn't be sure, but he'd come to think that this was her way of trying to make up for it. His throat was tight. Did she not understand that there was no making up for what had been done to him?
"Well, am I right?" Meng Yuan asked when the silence stretched between them.
Thinking it was better to just end the conversation instead of having to listen to him speculate for the next several hours, Wan Xue nodded. When Meng Yuan didn't respond, Wan Xue looked over at him, not having expected his response to actually silence the other man.
Meng Yuan was staring at him, seemingly caught off guard about something, but when their eyes met, his lips slowly turned up in a smile. Although Wan Xue merely reacted once more with a raised brow, it didn't stop his smile from growing. It was the first Wan Xue had answered any question that wasn't merely pertaining to where they were going or what they were doing at any given moment. He had asked a question about him personally, and Wan Xue had answered. He couldn't help but feel happy about that.
[I have very little understanding of money in ancient cultures, so I am very vague and probably very inaccurate. Please excuse my ignorance.]