Chapter Text
Xue Yang had been shocked to wake up.
He sat up, doing a quick check despite his throbbing head. No stab wounds, no pinky, but he had both arms. He rushed to the bucket of water sitting in the room he was in, giving his face a splash before looking at his reflection. He was definitely still Xue Yang - the pink gave that away more than his face did - but why was he alive?
Looking around, he recognized the room to be one he’d stayed in shortly after arriving at the Wen Sect. It was one of the nicest rooms he’d ever stayed in, honestly. It would remain one of the nicest even once he departed.
A quick check among his belongings revealed some basic items, nothing too crazy, but they were all packed up already for his departure. He must have been just about to leave to “get the Yin Iron” for Wen Ruohan, then.
Fuck that.
He grabbed his items and left, but traveled in the opposite direction from where he was meant to. All he had to do was lay low until the Wens were defeated, avoid any unnecessary acts of vengeance, and, most importantly of all, avoid ever meeting Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan.
Then he would avoid death and, hopefully, so would Xiao Xingchen.
He ended up in the remains of a village that had been run through and destroyed fierce corpses. Looking around, there seemed to be no sign of life, nor any signs of, well, un-life. Undead. Whatever.
It was safe, for now.
He stayed there for a few weeks, living off the rice and dried fruits left by the original inhabitants and boarding up the house each night.
After the third week, someone came through.
The man was dressed in white and severely injured. Xue Yang felt he looked familiar, but all he knew was that this man was a Lan sect member because of that weird forehead ribbon. He watched from the safety of his house as he stumbled forward through the village and then collapsed almost comically in the center of the road. Xue Yang actually laughed as he witnessed it.
After a few minutes of the man not moving, however, he realized the guy might have died.
On pure whim, he left the house and grabbed a stick.
Poke.
Nothing.
Poke. Poke.
Still nothing.
“Holy shit, he actually did die,” Xue Yang mumbled.
He turned the guy over, deciding to check for valuables, and was disappointed interested to see that the guy actually was still breathing. He looked like he’d been through hell and back, and he was even covered in soot and dirt and mud. The Lan sect would probably give him an earful for letting his robes get so messy when he came back. It was a miracle he was alive, though, and he’d probably been through hell.
Deciding he was kind of bored anyway and owed the world an act of kindness after all the shit he pulled in his first run, he dragged the guy back to the house he had been occupying. He took his time to clean his wounds and was about to bandage them when he realized he didn’t actually have any bandages. Oh well. That could be fixed.
He stripped the man of his outer robe, casually starting to tear it into long strips. Surely the Lan sect would forgive one destroyed robe if it was to help their disciple, right?
Xue Yang wondered if he could use saving this guy as a favor. Looking closer at the ribbon, it had that weird cloud emblem inner sect members had, right? Like actual Lans, not their outer disciples or whatever bullshit. Jin Guangyao had tried explaining it to him, but Xue Yang blocked half of it out. Him being this important meant that Xue Yang could probably ask for something pretty important in return, right? Maybe this guy would have access to the forbidden library Jin Guangyao had mentioned. Apparently there were a lot of useful things there.
It took two days for the man to finally wake up.
As he sat up, he said nothing. His warm eyes looked around, and then his face flushed at the realization that his outer robe wasn’t on him.
“My clothes…?”
“You needed bandages,” Xue Yang explained. “I didn’t have any, so I used your robes.”
The look of utter despair on the man’s face would make you think Xue Yang hadn’t just saved his life. “I can’t go around in just my inner robes-“
“Well, I can’t un-bandage-ify them,” Xue Yang said with a shrug. “If you have anything of value on you, I can run into the nearby town to get you something to wear.”
The man was still flushed as he gave a small nod. “I’m sorry to inconvenience you like this. I suppose you saved my life, correct? I’m in your debt.”
Fuck yes! That was easy!
“Yeah, no big deal.” Xue Yang stood up, stretching his arms above his head. “You haven’t eaten in two days. I’ll make us some congee.”
The man gave another nod. “Thank you.” He paused, hesitant. “You’ve been so kind, but I’m certain we’ve never met before, have we? Why do you not ask who I am and how I became wounded like this?”
Xue Yang faltered. He felt his heart grow heavy as he said, “If you don’t say it yourself, I don’t have to ask.” He paused, looking away. “We met by chance. I’m just lending a hand. Once you recover, we can part ways.”
The man gave a small smile. “I understand. Thank you for saving me. I hope I can repay the debt before we have to part.”
“I’m sure you will be able to.” Xue Yang rushed out of the room to the kitchen, desperate to get away from the man with warm eyes and a kind smile.
When Xue Yang returned with the congee, the man’s warm smile and matching eyes were waiting for him.
“Thank you,” he said as he was given a bowl.
“Of course. Can’t heal if you’re hungry, right?” Xue Yang ate a bit of his congee. “This town’s usually quiet, but we get some fierce corpses that come through on occasion. I’ll deal with them, though, so you can focus on recovering, yeah? I’ll also head into town tomorrow to grab you robes, but you’ll need to barricade the door while I do.”
The man nodded as he listened. “I really am grateful to you.”
“Don’t be. I was bored. I’ve been here for a few weeks and this is the most interesting thing to happen.” He smirked. “You’re my entertainment for now, Sunshine.”
The man choked on his congee.
After a violent coughing fit as he tried to remember how to breathe, the man looked at Xue Yang with a blush coloring his face. “Sunshine?”
“Yeah. You’re warm, like the sun, and I dunno your name. Figure until you’re back home and can tell me your name, it’ll work.”
The poor man - Sunshine - looked so distraught. It was hilarious. Xue Yang was definitely going to keep calling him that.