Chapter Text
They’re on QingheNie territory again a few days later when a lead finally appears.
Meng Yao is charming the ladies at the fruit stalls until they give him what he wants almost for free, and A-Qing is kind of jealous of his skill – it would’ve come in handy when she was still roaming the streets, looking for food.
Meng Yao hands her a bun with a smile that’s entirely for the benefit of the cooing woman behind him, praising him for taking care of his little sister. A-Qing wants to throw that bun at her stupid face and ask her if she really thinks they look alike, but that would be wasting food and she is hungry, so she muffles her angry mutters with the bun and walks away slowly.
Their cover story, if anyone asks, is that they’re siblings, A-Qing chased out from home because of her unseeing eyes, and Meng Yao following her because he loved her and wanted to keep her safe. Neither of them are very pleased with it, but any other explanation is much too unbelievable so they don’t have the right to complain – not if they want to play the lovers charade, and if that happens A-Qing positively thinks she’s going to try to drown herself in the first damn puddle she sees.
Meng Yao says his goodbyes and hurries after her, offering her his arm. As always, A-Qing only takes his sleeve – it has the benefit of making her seem like a shy, scared girl, and at the same time she doesn’t have to touch him as much as if she was holding his hand, which suits her just fine.
The buzz of the town is both energetic and friendly, but as they walk down the streets A-Qing notices the underlying tension in the air, the wary glances some of the villagers send anyone remotely suspicious-looking, the hushed conversations some of them are having.
A-Qing tugs on Meng Yao to get his attention, but it’s obvious he’s noticed it too. Still, she tilts her head on one side and quietly mutters, “There’s something going on here.” He hums in agreement, eyes locked onto a few merchants talking on the other side of the street, making openly concerned and fearful expressions and wide, chaotic gestures.
Meng Yao shifts so that A-Qing’s half-hidden behind him, which is her que to start acting even shier and scared than before. A-Qing obligingly curls into herself, clutching his sleeve even tighter as if she’s trying to disappear, and the both of them move slowly over to the merchants.
“Excuse me,” Meng Yao says with the perfect mixture of concern and politeness, “Me and my sister are yet to decide where to travel to next. You’re merchants, aren’t you, Misters? Can you tell us where it’d be best to head to?”
The men stop their conversation and turn to face them, and A-Qing feels her skin start crawling when their beady eyes fall on her, judging and curious.
She guesses they pass their examination, because one of them snorts and tells Meng Yao, “Everywhere but the villages around Laoling should be just fine for you two.” He says ‘you two’ like someone else would spit out the name of their enemy. A-Qing would really want to know what the bastard’s problem is, especially if she’s allowed to question him with her bamboo pole.
Meng Yao breezes past the man’s tone like it’s nothing. “What’s happening around Laoling? Is it ghost problems or…”
One of the other men huffs dismissively. “If it was a spirit problem, boy, the cultivators from the LaolingQin Sect would have long since fixed it! But I guess even immortal cultivators can be blackmailed…”
A-Qing’s ears twitch in curiosity. “Blackmailed? How can someone blackmail a cultivator?” Meng Yao asks, wringing his hands.
The men laugh nastily. “You have no idea who’s actually controlling the area right now – and let me tell you, it’s no cultivation Sect. No one knows his name, but they know he looks unassuming right until he stabs you in the back! And as for the blackmail – everyone does shady things, even cultivators. He knows them all, that’s why they don’t dare do anything about him!” The other merchants nod along with the one explaining. “He really loves killing - no one is spared from his wrath, no matter how rich or poor they are. Not to mention you’re only allowed to sell there if you pay a steep fee, along with surrendering your life – so none of us goes there anymore.”
This gu knows suspiciously much about the bastard that’s supposedly mysterious enough not to even have something to go by, A-Qing thinks. By Meng Yao’s tense shoulders, he agrees with her.
“Mister – you said no one knew his name, how could he make demands like that and not at least give it out once?”
One of the other merchants, short and stocky, groans in annoyance. “Don’t listen to that empty-headed bull, he just doesn’t remember anything. I’ve personally never met him, but I’ve heard from friends his subordinates refer him by ‘Xue something-or-other’, if that helps.”
The afore-mentioned ‘empty-headed bull’ starts protesting vehemently, but A-Qing can’t really hear what he’s saying from the white noise starting to buzz in her head.
Xue something-or-other, who loves killing and doesn’t care about who’s under his blade, who loves hurting people just to see the agony on their faces – there’s no mistake who it is, A-Qing thinks.
Another merchant, with a goatee peppered with white, sighs. “Why are you talking about such gruesome things in front of a little girl? Look how badly you’ve scared her now, she’s white as a sheet!”
A-Qing would protest that she’s not really a little girl, but to do that she’d have to find her voice first, and she’s more concerned with trying to stop trembling and not running off to do something extremely stupid.
Meng Yao turns to look at her, which is the last fucking thing she needs him to do, because now she’s wary she’s revealed a sore spot he can exploit and manipulate her with – no matter if she’s mentioned it before or not.
(It’s not so much a sore spot as it is an open wound, but A-Qing has no intentions of acknowledging that.)
There’s an unreadable glint in his eyes as he looks at her, and then he bows to the merchants and walks away, carefully maneuvering her so that she’s hidden from their view. He’s careful not to brush up to her, and in any other situation A-Qing would have said something about treating her like she’s made of glass, but she’s aware if they actually touch he’ll get at least a few broken bones so she keeps her mouth shut.
Once they’re far enough, A-Qing steels herself and announces, “I’m going to Laoling.” Meng Yao, the bastard, doesn’t look at all surprised by that, and only nods. “You collect your things and go back to Yunmeng – I’ve taught you enough so if you get killed by bandits it’s not my fault. Leave me a few fruits, it’s more than enough.”
Meng Yao stops walking, which forces her to stop walking. “I’m not going with you?” He asks, eyes narrowed just the slightest bit, and A-Qing’s hands start itching to slap him over the head.
“Were your ears not working the last five minutes? If you come with me there’s a very big chance you’ll die – I thought you wanted to be alive and well for your gaggle of midgets?”
Meng Yao smiles at her – argh, that fucking smile, one day she’ll beat it out of him to smile at her like that – “I still insist on going with you.” A-Qing’s absolutely sure there’s at least one snide comment hidden beneath that smile, something like, I might be weak enough to be a liability in a fight, but you’re just as much of one if you freeze in terror like that. Which, she’s not. Scared, that is. At all. What does she have to be fucking scared of? He killed so many people, killed Daozhang, what did he do to her to make her afraid of him?
(He just blinded her, cut off her tongue, slit her throat, and then finally shattered her soul into so many pieces that it took centuries to fix it.)
Okay, so maybe A-Qing’s deathly terrified of that son of a bitch, with really fucking good reasons, and maybe all her instincts are telling her to stay as far away from him as possible, but she already knew all of that when she decided to save Daozhang, so it shouldn’t be hitting her right now, three months after she’s returned.
A-Qing blinks, and taps the bamboo pole on the ground. “If the decision is between that man’s life and yours, I’ll leave you to rot,” she declares to the air, and Meng Yao says nothing, which is expected. “Now – how do we get to Laoling, again?”
Meng Yao, “It’s northeast from here, so we should be going… that way.” They start making their way down the road, silent and tense as always.
He doesn’t mention the presence watching them from the shadows, and so A-Qing doesn’t, either.
Laoling looks like it would’ve been a beautiful town once, but now it’s bleak and seemingly abandoned, the only people out with pallid, dawn faces that walk as fast as they can and look over their shoulder every time they hear a noise.
A-Qing and Meng Yao are dressed in plain clothes, already dirty from their journey, and A-Qing in particular looks like she needs a few meals, but they still stand out like sore thumbs in the town. No one even dares look in their direction, which is even more worrying – they don’t know what rules are in the town, and no one is willing to explain.
Then again, A-Qing thinks grimly, it makes a lot of sense if that shitstain Xue Yang truly is controlling the neighboring area – better for the citizens to leave the newcomers to be killed, rather than risk their own heads.
“Should we look around?” Meng Yao asks quietly, eyes skittering from one end of the street to the other. A-Qing sympathizes greatly – the place is seriously fucking creepy.
Something moves in the periphery of her eyes, and A-Qing doesn’t give herself away only because Meng Yao notices it too and coughs lightly – the code for, ‘something suspicious is going on’. Yes, they have a code for that – have had it as soon as they’d started the journey to Laoling, because what they’re doing is risky and A-Qing isn’t fond of dying (again).
They’re silently debating whether to confront the thing – person? – or not, when it moves again, this time closer. It’s a hand, pale and delicate, calling them to the dark alley it’s coming out of.
If this is a trap, it’s both the worst and the best fucking trap ever, because anyone can see it’s a trap, and yet A-Qing shifts her bamboo pole and starts slowly walking towards it, tapping on the ground. Meng Yao follows her a step behind, probably reaching for his knife and ready to strike.
The girl in the alley – because of course only a girl would posses such a delicate hand – is wearing beige robes covered in dust and mud. Her glossy black hair is up in a surprisingly clean ponytail, her features are elegant and she has a childlike look in her eyes.
All in all, she looks more like a noble’s daughter than she does a villager, especially with those white, dainty hands. Is this supposed to be bait, or what?
The girl crosses her arms. “I thought I’d seen every kind of traveler passing through here, but you’re the first ones who’ve actually come here without hesitation. Are you daft or something? Every sane person would see this as a trap and keep away!”
Well, yeah, A-Qing thinks, that’s exactly why they came. If it was a trap, they’d be able to catch and question Xue Yang’s men and find the bastard easier. This girl looks smart enough, so–
“I’ll ask once!” The girl says, straightening her shoulders. “Why have you come to Laoling?”
Meng Yao steps forward, eyes calculating and cold, but doesn’t say anything. A-Qing appreciates it that it’s her who answers, “Why, we’re here to kill that Xue bastard, of course.”