Chapter Text
PART ONE
Xie Lian, sitting on his couch, tried moving his feet around in the air to get used to the feel of his new shoes. He had heard they could become a small pair of torture chambers after wearing for a long time but for now they felt comfortable. Cozy around his feet, the black synthetic leather was not rough and since the weather was a bit on the cold side, Xie Lian felt lucky they were warm boots. The zipper on the side hadn’t been a hassle to close, even though his ankles are a tad thick and he was wearing low cut socks. What had Feng Xin fuming and Mu Qing worried, were the spool heels.
“You could fall on your face, have you considered that?” Feng Xin paced around, refusing to look at what he had coined a recipe for disaster. “It would defeat the entire purpose! To get the part of the prince, you have to look pristine!”
“As much as it pains me to agree with this idiot, he does have a point,” added Mu Qing, “and besides, you’d have to run and not only walk around wearing heels, let’s just talk to the director again. Maybe a costume designer could come up with a safer idea.”
As much as Xie Lian saw his friends’ points and was absolutely aware that he was prone to fiascos, if he closed his eyes, he could picture him in costume. The elegant mask in white and gold, his long hair braided with flowers, his long and multi-layered hanfu that he would have to hold slightly up to run down the stairs in the scene he decides to run away from the shackles of his palace life. His mother had taken him to the theater to watch that very play when he was little, sighing when she thought no one was looking, longing for a simpler life away from his father’s business empire.
“Guys, I’m not just gonna run around! I’m just trying it first. And the heels are not that thin, I bet I can actually find balance easily!” Xie Lian smiled.
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It took him two days wearing the heels for a few hours to be able to walk a few meters without looking like a penguin having a stroke. And the good news was he had only hurt parts that would be completely covered by his costume. Even though Feng Xing had just disappeared on the first day saying he just “couldn’t watch that slow trainwreck happen”, Mu Qing stayed to heal boo boos and encourage as much as his sense allowed.
“A-Lian, are you sure it’s not too early to try running? It’s been only thirty minutes since the last time you fell and your arm was almost too slow to protect your nose.”
Xie Lian was sure. He was adamant. He would conquer this and walk proudly as mommy’s prettiest prince, his walk down the stairs legendary stamping the covers of every newspaper in town.
It took him a week and a new pair of the same boots to make it to another block. In a light run, as if he was pretending to run for real. And the cold wind didn’t even make his skinned knees hurt as much anymore! To be entirely honest, Xie Lian loved that feeling, even if others considered it insanity. He enjoyed feeling sore and pushing on, focusing as hard as could in maintaining balance and elegance. He could block out every curious glance and ignore Feng Xin’s messages asking if he had given up yet. At some point he realized it wasn’t about simply honoring his mother’s memory but also descending those stairs as himself, leaving behind the grips his father had on him and everything related to the company he inherited but did not want. Those were the feelings that put his feet, step by step, faster and faster ahead, no matter how many pairs of boots it would cost.
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PART TWO
Whatever had Hua Cheng done to deserve the kindness of Heaven? How could he have been blessed so? Surely what he could see was one of Heaven’s officials running towards him, his complexion rosy from exercise, his breathing labored, his feet somewhat unsure but his eyes fearless and strong. A god in white sweatpants, his sweatshirt sleeves up to his elbows showing pale skin marked by a few scrapes. That beautiful scarlet contrast that Hua Cheng had never found so beautiful before, not even when he was able to put them there on his enemies.
After the scandalous “determined by the police as suicide” of Xian Le’s CEO, images of his heir flooded the internet. A brash boy surrounded by servants, incapable of managing his own life, said the TV. But what Hua Cheng saw was the face of a god, because calling him an angel couldn’t possibly cover it. While most saw pride, Hua Cheng saw fear and pain of abandonment almost completely covered behind a mask. Where others saw only servants, Hua Cheng could perceive a lifeline that Xie Lian was holding onto as fiercely as he could, otherwise he would have to face the loneliness he lived in.
No one had ever known, but Hua Cheng had built his reputation by hunting down and beating almost to death whoever decided to make public pictures or videos of whatever private moments Xie Lian was struggling to have. He had never had legal counsel behind him whenever he took an unreasonable decision which is why Hua Cheng was excellent at hiding just as quickly as attacking. Soon he had conquered an entire region of the city, more specifically the one Xie Lian had decided to retire to and found peace in.
Now, as much as he was the actual authority in the neighborhood, Hua Cheng hadn’t seen his god in a while. He had been avoiding the company of people in general, since no one could please him and less than a handful of people were tolerable enough. He spent most of his time honing his artistic skills, dabbling from carving faces in mahogany all day to carving criminals new noses at night.
He didn’t keep many pictures of Xie Lian. He felt most of those he had access to were from times his god would rather forget and it would be too inappropriate to spy on him, since the very thing he vowed to protect was Xie Lian’s privacy. But he had several paintings of lives he imagined his god would enjoy living. Maybe a brave cultivator, living in a small shrine, tending to his believers. Maybe a beautiful god, fighting a greedy one, defeating it using strength he hadn’t imagined having before. Maybe just a kid building a castle of cards, reserving his brightest smile for his mother.
Seeing him running down the street in what others would think disarray, momentarily stopped Hua Cheng’s heart. Almost literally, as Xie Lian was only within two feet from him when one of his heels broke and the only thing he could find to hold onto was Hua Cheng.