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It had been the sideshow boasting rare artifacts and creatures that had been the tipping point for Song Lan. The main thoroughfare of the town was decked in lanterns and streamers as revelars sang and stopped at brightly colored booths to look at food and wares. Song Lan was at one such booth, pondering thoughtfully over a selection of carved animal pendants when he’d noticed the distinct lack of Xiao Xingchen’s presence at his side. At the time he hadn’t been too concerned as his companion couldn’t have gotten far, but the old worry nagged at the back of his mind. Song Lan resolved to find him as quickly as possible before… He sighed.
Before he could be scammed out of all his money.
Song Lan had come to the realization fairly quickly in their acquaintanceship that Xiao Xingchen, as brilliant a cultivator as he was, knew next to nothing about the actual real world. He chose to see the best in everyone, something Song Lan both admired and admonished him for, which incidentally led him to being, quite frankly, very gullible. Song Lan had lost count of the times he had been tricked.
And each time Xiao Xingchen would just smile and forgive, saying the people had clearly needed the money more than he.
“No, I have never seen a live lion before, why do you ask?”
Song Lan turned at the sound of Xiao Xingchen’s voice. In a less traffic laden offshoot of the main street stood his companion, ethereal in his white robes, speaking to a man Song Lan could only describe as “shifty”.
“Ah, then you are in luck, daozhong! Within this enclave rests the very majestic beast himself and this is your once in a lifetime chance to witness his grandeur!”
“But, why is it so dark inside?”
“Oh, for the health of the animal, of course! The low light keeps him calm and amenable. Please, come, come! See for yourself!”
“And how much does it cost to see this majestic beast?” Song Lan asked, striding forward. Xiao Xingchen turned, warm smile widening on his face in that way it always did whenever he met up with Song Lan, no matter how short the time apart had been.
“A modest fee, daozhong, very modest! It is surely a pittance to esteemed fellows such as yourselves,” the man was doing a good job hiding his sudden nerves. Song Lan was not someone people typically tried to scam. Xiao Xingchen usually mused that it was because Song Lan did not smile and instead chose to simply stare stonily at people. He would then spoon more rice into Song Lan’s bowl, still smiling, giving off the impression he had not learned a thing from their discussion about Xiao Xingchen’s tendencies to trust so easily.
“A lion does sound worth it, does it not, Zichen?”
The “lion” was most likely an overlarge dog with a fake mane adorning its head and neck, hardly worth the entrance fee. For a moment Song Lan wearily ran through the ensuing conversation in his head, knowing exactly how it would play out, and wondered if he actually had the energy to go through with it. The press of the crowd had frayed his nerves as he became hyper aware of every avoided touch throughout the night. Truthfully, he had wanted to retire to the inn hours ago, but Xiao Xingchen had looked simply delighted by the festivities and Song Lan had wanted to keep that smile on his face for as long as possible. Xiao Xingchen, the only one whose touch he didn’t mind.
With an exasperated sigh, Song Lan made the executive decision to not argue right now and instead simply gathered a somewhat bemused Xiao Xingchen into his arms, turned, and walked away.
-
Song Lan did not immediately resort to this method on subsequent occasions. He still tried to guide Xiao Xingchen into realizing the scam before he fell into the trap, with varying levels of success. Song Lan filed the stratagem away for use only as a last resort.
The second time it happened they were on their way back from a night hunt, not quite exhausted but still very much looking forward to washing up and resting. A small group of day laborers were crowded around a low table in apparent myrth. Xiao Xingchen, always one to be drawn towards laughter, gazed curiously at the small assemblage. Song Lan, always one to be unfazed by laughter, waited by his side patiently until his curiosity could be satisfied.
“Alright, good sir, watch the shells carefully!” The man seated at the table said, briefly showing his….customer, Song Lan supposed, a small pebble under a cup. He then proceeded to cover it and begin shuffling it along with 2 other identical cups in a rapid, but not particularly difficult hard to follow pace. After a moment of movement and hyping his customer up he finally stopped, gesturing to the table for the other man to pick one.
The customer did so, pointing to the cup farthest to his left.
“Ahhh, rotten luck, rotten luck, good sir!” The shuffler said, lifting the middle cup to reveal the pebble. Outraged, the customer grabbed the cup he’d picked, revealing an empty space on the table. He even turned the cup to check inside, dumbfounded when it, too, proved to contain nothing.
“Impossible, I watched it so carefully…”
The small crowd exchanged sympathy and laughs, jostling the incredulous merchant as he carefully placed the cup back on the table. He rose from where he’d been kneeling and another man in a dyer’s smock quickly took his place.
Xiao Xingchen watched in apparent fascination as the dyer placed a few coins on the table and the shuffler prepared his game. Not particularly interested in the gambling, Song Lan instead chose to idly watch Xiao Xingchen as he tracked the movement of the cups. Perhaps he would realize the scam this time. The adrenaline of the hunt was starting to wear off and Song Lan was starting to long for his bed at the inn, going insofar as to zone out for two or three more games and almost miss Xiao Xingchen moving forward to participate himself.
Almost.
Startled by the movement, Song Lan reacted before his brain had fully caught up. He reached out and grabbed Xiao Xingchen’s arm, halting his forward progress and causing him to turn and give him a questioning look.
He could explain. He could expose the game right here, in front of the scammer and his audience and probably cause more conversations and maybe a fight. He wasn’t sure but the day laborers might not take too kindly to learning the truth and Xiao Xingchen would certainly want a thorough explanation onto the mechanics of the game and how the trickery was accomplished. It sounded so exhausting right then.
Making up his mind, Song Lan instead picked Xiao Xingchen up like he had at the festival and walked off, earning him a surprised “Zichen!” from the man in question and murmurs from the crowd he was walking away from.
He’d explain the trickery in the morning after they both had slept.
-
The third time it happened Song Lan would admit to himself very privately that he had mostly done it just for the excuse to pick Xiao Xingchen up. Surprise always gave way to that soft, amused smile that Song Lan longed to bask in. It was one of the reasons the scams annoyed him so much: the people got so much more than Xiao Xingchen’s money, they got his smile.
He was annoyed they didn’t appreciate this gift.
When they came across the man selling “authentic yilling laozu talismans” Song Lan probably should have trusted that Xiao Xingchen could tell that scam a mile away. He was, after all, a cultivator of no mean skill and just a passing glance over the calligraphy was enough for anyone with a golden core to realize they were useless.
Song Lan had to admire the sheer audacity of the peddler for flagging Xiao Xingchen down, sword very clearly strapped to his back. Perhaps he though cultivators only carried their swords in hand? Either way, Xiao Xingchen had politely made his way over to the man and listened patiently as he opened his loose outer robe to reveal various “talismans” pinned to the inner fabric.
Song Lan’s jaw dropped open and he just stood rooted to the spot. It was so brazen he was almost impressed. As his internal monologue wondered if this actually worked on anyone, Xiao Xingchen patiently inspected the “talismans”, nodding when he found a particularly decent bit of brushwork. They were mostly nonsense, of course, but he could still admire the aesthetic. Song Lan knew in this instance that his companion was most definitely not fooled (although that might not stop him from buying one anyway just to “help the poor man out”) but he still had the desire to pick him up and walk away.
Touch was still hard, even if he could tolerate Xiao Xingchen’s far more than quite literally everyone else’s. He still sometimes found the compulsion to scrub his skin raw and Xiao Xingchen was always very careful to keep a distance, but he had found a new meditation technique that he was trying that seemed to help mitigate things, at least with his companion.
It was just too tempting to pass up.
“Ah, Zichen! I could tell those were fake, you know,” Xiao Xingchen, arms coming to lightly loop around Song Lan’s shoulders as they left the bewildered peddler behind.
Song Lan snorted. “That wouldn’t have stopped you from buying one anyway.”
Xiao Xingchen just smiled and shook his head, turning the topic to what they should have for dinner instead.
-
The fourth time was different.
Song Lan wandered the streets of yet a different city (bigger than usual, although not quite so large as to be too easily separated) carrying a basket of dumplings and looking for his companion when he once again spotted the telltale white of Xiao Xingchen’s robes. He was speaking to a woman in a very...loud outfit, the decolletage produced by her robe plunging scandalously low.
Song Lan once again froze, staring at the scene before him.
The woman giggled and batted her eyes flirtatiously at Xiao Xingchen. “Our beds truly are very soft and warm, I’m sure you’d be more than happy at our establishment and we offer many services.”
Song Lan shook his head in disbelief. Trust Xiao XIngchen to mistake a brothel for an inn.
“I see,” Xiao Xingchen said as the woman smiled coyly at him over her fan. He examined the painting adorning the accessory seeming to once again be pleased with the aesthetic quality of the artwork. That warm smile was lighting up his face again, and it seemed to be encouraging his speaking partner. As she gracefully adjusted the silk wrapper draped across her elbows, Xiao Xingchen suddenly turned his gaze towards Song Lan, who was still rooted to the spot. They held eye contact for a few seconds before Xiao Xingchen deliberately turned to the young woman and said, “And what services do you offer?”
Song Lan wasn’t even aware he had moved until he was sweeping Xiao Xingchen up into his arms, mindful of the basket of dumplings, and began walking in any direction that was opposite the startled girl and her establishment. So focused was he on walking that he didn’t even register that Xiao Xingchen was gazing rather fondly at him, softer smile on his lips, until he spoke.
“Ah, Zichen, just in time. I found a lovely inn two streets over that has agreed to host us for the night in thanks for quelling the resentful ghosts attacking the bridge into town. Oh, did you get dumplings? Excellent!”
It occurred to Song Lan that perhaps this time he had been the one to be tricked.
He didn’t particularly mind.