Chapter Text
[Langya Front]
Nie Mingjue's blade is beside his head, stuck on the ground inches away from his face. Meng Yao still holds his breath. He is not dead. He is alive. Sect Leader Nie did not chop his head off for being caught red handed murdering his senior.
His body is shivering with fear and he cannot control it but he tries to be as steady as all his years of dealing with fear have taught him. He composes himself, he looks through his lashes with the most innocent looking eyes he can manage at the moment. He is terrified but that is even more reason to stay calm for his own survivals' sake.
Think. Think. Think.Sect Leader Nie Mingjue did not kill you now but will he not surely take severe action against you for your crimes? Will it be corporal punishment now?No, not Nie Mingjue's style.Dungeons?
It's too easy, the Sect Leader would say. No, not to the dungeons either.
Death?
No, no. I am still alive; Nie Mingjue does not miss a target with his saber. This is not a mistake.Banishment it is then. Banishment. All my hard work...NO.What next? The nearest town is …
His thoughts are brought to a halt.
Nie Mingjue speaks slowly, "Meng Yao, I trusted you with my Sect for so long and I cannot say I know you anymore but confess your crimes and turn yourself in to repent for what you have done." The tension in his voice is real. He means it.
Banishment, imprisonment and disgrace? Must I be put to shame for what is not my fault again?
No…
NO.
NO!
Meng Yao's trembling lips formed a sad smile as he looked up at his Sect Leader with teary eyes.
"Yes, Sect Leader Nie. I understand. I had my reasons but my actions were wrong…"
"Mn"
"... However, I believe I cannot live a life so pitiful and cruel anymore so I would rather die than live like that again"
Just do it! My last card!
Ah!!!
.
.
.
PAIN
Nie Mingjue cannot react for a good few seconds when he sees what Meng Yao does next. There is a knife and Meng Yao has stabbed himself. Mingjue rushes to help stop the bleeding.
" Da-ge!"
A pair of footsteps come running to stand in front of Meng Yao, even before Sect Leader Nie moved to him. Meng Yao realizes someone else who had arrived at the location besides Sect Leader. Meng Yao tilts his head up enough despite the mimd numbing pain he feels to see the young master--Nie Huaisang with worry written all over his face. It was dangerous to pull off such a precarious maneuver as he did but even more so it's painful. He could still have attempted a qi-freezing spell and made a run for it if not for young master Nie.
Re-evaluate the scene, what can I do?
Meng Yao thinks he has never been more glad to see young master Nie ever before now.
Although his hands are pressed on Meng Yao's wound passing a gentle stream of healing spiritual energy to him, Nie Huaisang is not looking at Meng Yao. He is looking at his da-ge with his most pleading face; the one he puts on when he's trying to placate da-ge when he's at the peak of his Nie anger.
Meng Yao has had to re-evaluate the situation. If it were only Sect Leader Nie then his fate would have been sealed at that moment. He would be forced to flee and all his sincere hard work in the Nie Sect would have gone down the drain due to a single silly mistake.
Damn that lying snitch of a superior.
With the presence of the younger Nie, Meng Yao has a chance to not be thrown out of this Sect. He observes a clear battle of the eyes going on between Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang when there is a wordless grunt from Mingjue who stands up, pulls his saber from the ground and storms off to who knows where.
He is shocked.
What just happened?....
____________
It has been almost a week since the incident. Meng Yao has been at Nie Huaisang's quarters during this time. Usually he would be at the Nie healers' infirmary when he had any injuries but this time, for some unknown reason that he is unable to put his finger down on, he's been where he is now.
Second Master Nie now is behaving as he would normally but a bit more friendlier to perhaps make up for his brother's behavior. Meng Yao knows there is nothing he has done to receive such kind treatment and
although he is suspicious, he knows from what he has observed of the young master that this is not abnormal behavior for Nie Huaisang to help the sect disciples when they get on Nie Mingjue's bad side. Still, something is not right. Is the younger Nie planning to punish him in his own way? That would mean trouble.
I must figure out a way to escape.
He hears the opening of doors and quickly closes his eyes. He evens his breath in his best impression of having fallen asleep. Doctor Wang and Nie Huaisang enter the room.
"By when will he completely recover Doctor?", it is Nie Huaisang speaking.
"Well, he's been lucky enough to miss all his vitals even with that dangerous looking knife so it's not serious when it comes to that. However the knife went pretty deep to reach his bowels so I'd say he'll need around three months to completely heal given there's spiritual energy supplemented, of course there's compli…."
They reach around the room divider to Meng Yao's bed and they talk for some time until the Doctor moves to leave.
Just then, Nie Huaisang begins funny voice-- "Ahhh! Meng Yao-ge, I hope you get well soon ah! This one wants to see your pretty face up and about again."
Meng Yao barely held his instinct to frown and flinch. He wants to laugh now So was he rescued just because of how he looks?
"You look so much like your mother"
He remembers the unpleasant voices that whispered this to a child in the brothel when his mother was busy.
Is that it? Is that why he was being treated so nicely? Because the Sect Heir took a liking to his face?
Now he had to try to stop the laughter that he wanted to let out at his cruel fate.
Slide.
The door is shut.
The Doctor has now left the room.
It is Nie Huaisang who speaks again but more softly, with a command in his voice Meng Yao didn't expect he could have. He almost doesn't sound the same as the person he was when he walked in with the doctor.
"How are you? Yao-ge."
Does he know I'm pretending? No. He couldn't. And… his voice…?
A sigh.
"I know you can't hear me now but please get well soon. I know that since you've come home and since da-ge gave you your position you've been working hard honestly and with loyalty so far. I like having you around Yao-ge. Please get well soon."
It was the most sincere heartfelt emotion with which Huaisang had uttered those words and Meng Yao felt it so; to the point he was stupefied because of it enough to open his eyes.
"Yao-ge?!", Nie Huaisang's attempt to quickly calm his composure fails as his face is turning red faster than the words he stutters with to form a sentence.
He cannot help but smile.
"I am sorry Nie-gongzi, I awoke when you were conversing with the doctor but I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes. And thank you for your well wishes"
"Uh... yeahhhh. Hehehe… You are welcome i guess Yao-ge"
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Seven months later~
Slender fingers play with Meng Yao's hair as he copies the plan of attack for the final battle in which the Nie will take over the Hejian front.
"My sweet, smart Yao-ge, take a rest now. Your hand must be so sore from writing too much. Let me do it for you later. Sleep now. It's almost past hai-shi. Come to bed, ah!" Nie Huaisang drawls while rubbing his face on Meng Yao's shoulder.
"Come on A-Sang, please be good and let me finish this now. Just this one at least."
"Okay." He replies so that Meng Yao doesn't have to look at him to know of the sulking pout that he must be sporting on his face.
Huaisang's hands retreat. He walks to the bed and makes the bed. He gets out of bed and removes the room divider which obstructs the view of the bed from the study table where Meng Yao is working.
Then.
It's Nie Huaisang he's dealing with after all: Huaisang doesn't go to sleep.
"A-Yao," he purrs like a nine tailed fox luring in his prey . He lay on the bed wantonly.
A graceful movement and the knot holding his outer robe gives in too easily.
" A-Yao ah!"
The sound of the robes slipping off makes Meng Yao suddenly visualize how seductive that must look but experience has taught him not to fall for the bait. His eyes are fixed on the paper. His hands continue to move.
" A-Yao", he purrs again as if he is in distress without his lover.
Another robe slides off with the shuffling of fine cloth.
Deep, slow breaths. Breathe. Finish the work at hand and then play, Meng Yao forces himself to think.
His tired hands continue. His eyes begging to give in but still remain unbudged.
"Yao gege, won't you help your poor A-Sang go to bed?", his voice imitates the pleading helpless boy he pretends so well to be and...
The brush breaks in two. The copy he had been working on now has a big black stroke on it.
Two seconds.
Nie Huaisang's back is pressed on the bed and he himself is silent. The room is silently silver-- not golden, for the only sound in the room is the heavy breathing of a couple of hungry foxes in love with each other.
Meng Yao is silent too. He is a busy man now, you see. And as of the given moment, he is busy kissing his A-Sang...
=================
Nie Huaisang knows he is a quirky man. He loves to paint fans and he likes his arts. Yet, he's supposed to be the Nie heir. It's an odd situation but most things are odd anyway.
One of the most odd situations is that the son of another sect leader was a disciple in his sect. A son of the Sect Leader and a courtesan but surely that was who Nie Huaisang also was, wasn't he? Why was that boy here while Huaisang was where he is? Life is funny the way it works. Nie Huaisang found it very fascinating when he heard the rumors about one particular Meng Yao joining the Nie Sect as a disciple. It was initially solely out of curiosity that he secretly sought to see what kind of a creature this man was.
When he first laid his eyes on Meng Yao, Nie Huaisang was deeply impressed. Sharp eyes which turn soft at the blink of eye depending on who they turned to. A permanent smile on that almost boyish face although Huaisang knows Meng Yao is older than him. And his voice when he heard him speak for the first time; no, he didn't speak, he sang as sweet as any bird Huaisang had come across. This man was worth keeping an eye on. He was worth more; Huaisang knew-- but that would have to wait.
Months passed and he saw Meng Yao. He watched him shine brilliant like a diamond in the rough among his peers. He thought he would rise through the ranks soon enough when he noticed he didn't.
He looked closer.
Bullying.
They were bullying Meng Yao because of course they would.
Nie Huaisang knows he isn't good at his academics but he also knows he is good at people. He has grown up using his skills as the second son of the Nie household; using it to escape the indirect bullying that comes with being the son of the Sect Leader's mistress. Hell, this is exactly what he uses every time he has to get away from Da-ge's lectures on how he needs to practice his saber more to be the next Sect Leader. It's easy and convenient.
If he has to help polish a diamond, he would. He is a patron of all things beautiful in the Unclean Realm after all.
Soon enough, as arranged, da-ge comes across a sad-boi Meng Yao being bullied. As predicted, Huaisang's Yao-ge plays to his advantage well too. That look of pure innocent hurt was better than any actor in the entire region of Qinghe.
Huaisang is pleased.
After Da-ge did what Huaisang had intended for him to do with the casual mention of one bright new disciple called Meng Yao, things got better-- for Meng Yao.
He rose through the ranks and Huaisang even got to converse with him now. So things got better for Huaisang too. It was a win-win.
It was when Huaisang learnt that Meng Yao likes to hide grudges behind his charming smile that things got a bit tricky.
It was a stroke of solid chance that had him notice the pattern of the latest movements of Meng Yao in the past few days and realize what he was upto. Just in the nick of time he found Meng Yao lying on the ground with blood on his robes. Da-ge stood towering above him. He ran.
This was his pretty white peony that others discarded but he nurtured because he knew how he would look when he bloomed in time with proper care. He could not let him be plucked out as a weed because someone (even if it was Da-ge sometimes) didn't see that he was just being bothered by pests he was born to be above.
The result of his timely efforts was that an unconscious wounded flower now lay on his lap and he now had a brother to placate. This was a better deal than the worst case scenario. He'd take it.
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