Chapter Text
It shouldn't have surprised Wei Ying how fast his life could change. He could barely remember his parents, but he vaguely remembered that he had them. And that he'd felt safe. Secure in a way he hadn't in years.
That had all changed the day his parents left on a nighthunt and never returned.
It changed again the day the innkeeper threw him out.
Living on the streets had it's own challenges, of course. He knew how to assess people in the blink of an eye. How to tell who was likely to give him food and who was likely to get angry at the sight of him. He knew which shopkeepers to avoid and which would sneak him treats.
Nothing had seemed that different when he woke up that morning. He'd left his hiding place as usual and even managed to snag a half-eaten meat bun someone had thrown away.
His first sign that something was different came from a stirring further down the street. Men all wearing silver hats were striding through the streets looking around as though searching for something.
He clambered up a tree and onto a roof so he could get a better look. One of the men grabbed a shopkeeper and demanded to know if he'd seen any street kids. It didn't take much for Wei Ying to decide he wanted nothing these men.
He quietly made his way down and was creeping away when he ran into another group. This time there were men and women, but they were all dressed in white and wore white ribbons around their head.
The man in the head had a stringy beard that made him look like a goat. As soon as he saw Wei Ying his eyes widened. "There he is!"
Wei Ying had no idea what they wanted, but the men in the silver hats had already put him on edge. He was small and little and he knew they could outrun him easily, so he did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed a loquat from a nearby stall and chucked it at the man before ducking behind the stall and running.
If he remembered right, there was a laundering business straight ahead with a door on both sides of the building. He ignored the noises and yelling behind him and burst through the door, racing for the exit on the other side.
He darted through the crowd hoping to make it back to his hiding place.
He almost made it, was almost safe. Then he turned a corner and ran right into the silver hats. He quickly ducked into a nearby alley but it was too late - the chase was on.
He ran through twisting alleys and did his best to shake off his pursuers, but it was no good. He soon found himself cornered in an alley, silver hats on one side and white robes on the other.
That's when things got really confusing.
A man in purple dropped down in front of him and waved a purple whip around.
"You!" The goat-man hissed. "What are you doing here?!?"
"I should be asking you that question," the man in purple sneered as his eyes flickered over the crowd.
"A-Cheng!" a young voice cried out.
"Si-sister?!?" the man with the purple whip turned. A young girl - also in purple - was racing down pushing her way through the silver hats, her own entourage helping her make her way.
"A-Cheng! Did you find A-Xian?"
Wei Ying had no idea what was going on, but something about the way the man in purple - 'A-Cheng'? - and the young girl looked at each other drew everyone's attention.
Which is probably why nobody noticed when something moved in the shadows.
The next thing Wei Ying knew there was a burst of light, someone grabbed him and he was carried swiftly away.
"D-don't worry, M-master Wei. I-I won't hurt you."