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“Gege, do you know what I want to do when I grow up?”
Wei Ying wipes the blood off the boy’s face, hands trembling still.
“What do you want to do, Hua Hua?”
“I want to win. I want to step on everyone, look them in the eyes and shout ‘I won’! I want to be invincible. No one will tie me down.” The boy pumps his fists happily, eyes filled with wonder.
“What about me, Hua Hua? Will you win against me, too?”
“Maybe not you. You’ll cry again, gege.”
Wei Ying laughs.
“Maybe I’ll cry when you do, didi. Cause I think you will.”
“I’ve loathed you since the moment I set my eyes on you.” He walks closer. “You and your disgusting, cursed eye. When your hands roamed my body, I wanted to puke.” He steps on his hand. “Now you won’t touch me anymore. He’ll make sure of it.”
Lan Wangji looks with disinterest, a few paces behind. That bastard. He’s the one that stole Yingying. He moves to grab his gun again, but Wei Ying kicks it even further away with a disinterested look.
“No playing today, Hua Cheng.”
Wei Ying never calls him Hua Cheng. He knows how he loathes that name. There’s almost a manic mirth in his voice, that Hua Cheng isn’t even sure if he’s imagining. How could he have been so blind ?
“Have you played with him enough?” Deep, uninviting voice. Lan Wangji supervises the scene like a guard dog, probably indulging his new soulmate. He’d had his eyes on Yingying from the beginning, from when they were kids. What…
“What changed, baobei?”
He gets a kick in the face for that.
“Don’t call me baobei. No one is your baby. You ugly, deformed, disgusting creature.”
There’s something indescribable in Wei Ying’s eyes. Maybe it’s hate. His words lacerate, finding the source of why Wei Ying finally decided to leave him. Wei Ying? He’s beautiful. And he? While he’s not as ugly as he used to be… he doesn’t hold a candle to him. He deserves better.
“Enough, Wei Ying?”
“Let me play a bit more, huh, Lan Er-ge? This is so much fun. I finally get my revenge, all those years, wasted on him.”
Hua Cheng registers that he should have been angry at this, but nothing can replace the feeling of utter exhaustion, the self loathing that swirls in his gut. Of course he shouldn’t have reached for things he never was allowed to touch. But he wanted. Oh, he wanted. He was so selfish. He should have just protected Yingying, been beside him to the end. After all, who would tell him no? He owned Ghost City.
He just thought Wei Ying was different. No, that’s not right. He still is different. That’s why he sees behind the facade he’s created for himself, behind the powerful figure, down to the scared child that had to be bandaged up after getting beaten up.
Hua Cheng looks up, and his face is something broken.
Lan Wangji, “I think that’s enough.”
The sound of gunshots echoes in the room. Wei Ying’s eyes open wide, and he drops to the floor like a broken puppet, blood pooling around his torso. Hua Cheng scrambles up, rushes to him, pulls him in his arms.
“Gege? Wei Ying?!”
Wei Ying groans. Blood floods from his mouth, in pitiful, violent coughs.
Lan Wangji picks up Hua Cheng’s gun and unloads it, dropping all the bullets on the floor.
“Thank him while you still can. He’s the reason you’re still breathing.” Cold, mechanical. Devoid of life. As if he’s not tearing into Hua Cheng’s world with those words.
“What?” He looks up to him in terror.
“He came to know a plot against your life. He chose badly from the beginning, but he upholds his choices to the end. He tried to offer himself to me in exchange for your safety.”
“No, no, Hua Hua-”
“I offered him a deal. If he rejected you before he came to me, I would spare your life. Now, he has fulfilled his purpose. And you get to watch the only man that loved you die.”
“Why? Didn’t you love him?”
“You took him from me. I take him from you.”
And Lan Wangji spoke no more. He looked down at Wei Ying once, and left, his blazer fluttering in the wind.
“Don’t listen to him… I really do hate you. Hate me, Hua Hua…” he pleads, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Hate me, forget about me…”
“Never. I’ll never hate you,” he answers with conviction, as if muttering a prayer.
“But you won… remember?” He gives him a brilliant smile, and Hua Cheng feels his eye burn, his cheek grow wet.
“...and gege is crying,” he says, his voice a wretched, broken thing.
“San Lang is crying, too.” He reaches out to caress Hua Cheng’s cheek, but rubs blood into it instead. Hua Cheng encloses his hand with his, holding it tight.
“Let’s take you to a doctor, come on.” He hoists him up, and Wei Ying’s head rolls onto his shoulder, his breathing laboured.
“Hua Hua… I’m not strong enough, after all…” he laments, hiding his face in his nape.
“Don’t be silly. Gege is the strongest of all,” he reassures, with a shaky voice.
“I love you… Don’t forget me…” It’s barely a whisper. Wei Ying places a single kiss on Hua Cheng’s skin, and a fresh tear falls from Hua Cheng’s eye.
“Just a little more, hold on for me, okay? Just a little more.” His arms are trembling.
“Be happy…”
His hand falls limp on his chest.
This was the last time Hua Cheng ever wailed.