Work Text:
Carry Me and Care for Me
Two whole weeks passed without incidents. Wei Ying’s injuries healed easily as his golden core was strong. Wen Chao continues supervising them as they recited the rules of his clan but it was apparent that he was growing more and more bored of that. No one stirred any more trouble since everyone seemed content to give him the silent treatment. After seeing what had happened to Wei Ying, everyone was even more reluctant to bring attention to them. Once in a while, they were forced to go to minor night-hunts and act as bait for the things that lived in the forests close to the indoctrination camp. They had to fight whatever came their way using branches and talismans since they didn’t have their swords and then see the Wen disciples and Wen Chao storm in and capture everything as soon as the creatures were tired. The feasts that followed those hunts were full of taunting for the other clans’ disciples who were required to stand there for hours without being given food or even a cup of water.
During all those times, Wei Ying was exceptionally well-behaved. It was so astonishing that both Jiang Wanyin and Lan Zhan often turned their eyes towards him to check on him. Sometimes, they were forced to stand in specific places, away from their own clan, as if Wen Chao wanted to test them. Secretly, Lan Zhan wondered if Wen Chao thought one of them would cause trouble when their fellow disciples wouldn’t be close enough to stop them. Lan Zhan’s eyes were always on Wei Ying during those days. He could see that the boy was quite concentrated on something but he couldn’t discover what. He’d stand all straight and only move slightly once in a while as if he wanted to relax his muscles.
Until one day Lan Zhan was led to stand by Wei Ying during one of those feasts. Delighted that he would finally be able to observe him closely, Lan Zhan was quite discontented discovering that the boy seemed to display signs of dissatisfaction at his presence. He didn’t call Lan Zhan’s name. He just looked at him once, a fleeting look of wariness, and then he averted his gaze again.
“Let’s drink!” Wen Chao shouted, already on his second cup by the time the disciples had arrived.
A soft smile was shaped on Wei Ying’s lips. It was so small that no one but someone who had their eyes on him would notice. Quite some time passed and nothing happened. The Wens continued their feast becoming more and more intoxicated. Once in a while Wen Chao would shout an insult towards the imprisoned disciples but other than that the other clans were mostly forgotten. And Wei Ying was unnaturally quiet.
“Go.” He, suddenly, heard a soft whisper by his side and a soft movement barely caught his eye.
Something seemed to slide down the black and red robes of Wei Ying and, without a sound, touch the marble floor. With the corner of his eye, Lan Zhan observed the scene. What seemed to be a small paper man not much different than the one Wei Ying had sent to him during one of their classes separated into another three paper-men and carefully started sliding towards the feast. Wei Ying’s face held that expression of utter concentration that he had during every feast as he looked to the distance. Stealthily, the paper-men reached one of the furthest corners of the table the food was served on. The guy sitting there had already passed out after drinking way too much and was peacefully snoring. With great effort, the paper-men grabbed a bun of bread.
“Come back.” Another whispered command from Wei Ying.
With great caution and under the weight of the bun, the paper-men really slowly and carefully returned towards their master. There were multiple times they had to stop. Whenever a Wen disciple or soldier moved, the paper-men would freeze. Only when they were too far away from the light, hidden by the shadows, did they speed up. Reaching the robes of their young master, the boy quickly knelt and gathered the bun hiding it in his sleeves.
“Once again.” He commanded.
No one noticed what he had done but Lan Zhan. Wei Ying’s posture was rigid as if he expected Lan Zhan to say something but the Lan boy was quiet. He kept his stoic expression and waited to see what would happen next. He was quite curious. The paper-men came back once again carrying another bun that ended up in Wei Ying’s sleeves. This time they climbed on him, hidden under his garments. A tingle seemed to run the boy as if they had tickled him and Lan Zhan felt the corner of his lips turning upwards. He suppressed his smile with great difficulty. So, Wei Ying was ticklish.
But why was Wei Ying stealing food from the feast? Was it mere mischief or was he hungry? He knew that healing his injuries required energy that would have been provided by his body but after being there for more than two weeks, his body should have been adjusted to the smaller portions of food. Had Wen Chao reduced Wei Ying’s portion of food as a punishment? He hadn’t heard such a thing. He was pretty sure Jiang Wanyin and the other Jiang disciples wouldn’t let Wei Ying go hungry. He didn’t know much about the Jiang Clan but being around them for some time he had noticed that everyone seemed to truly love Wei Ying and look up to him.
Half a dozen soldiers gathered them all together a while later and started herding them towards their rooms. Once again, Lan Zhan saw what happened only because his eyes were on Wei Ying. He saw the seemingly accidental misstep, the way the black-clothed boy brushed on Nie Huaisang’s robes as if he wanted to steady himself. He saw the two small buns disappear in Nie Huaisang’s sleeves. When Wei Ying looked around to check if anyone saw them, Lan Zhan averted his eyes.
As Wei Ying passed in front of him, he mouthed two words that made no sound but Lan Zhan still heard. “Thank you.”
It was pretty clear the boy didn’t know Lan Zhan had seen the exchange so probably he was thanking him for not bringing attention to him while he was stealing the food. Did he really think Lan Zhan would do such a thing? He would have never turned Wei Ying in even if the food had been for him. Then again… how could the boy be so sure? Lan Zhan had been in charge of many of his punishments back in Cloud Recesses. Every time Wei Ying would break a rule, Lan Zhan was either the one to catch him and send him to face his punishment or was the one supervising the punishment; sometimes both.
“Wei Ying steals food for you.” He told Nie Huaisang the next morning as if the other wasn’t aware of the fact.
Lan Zhan knew Nie Huaisang quite well and not at all. Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue had been friends for years and Nie Huaisang had spent some time in Cloud Recesses even before he started attending classes there. He and Lan Zhan had been forced together quite a few times but Lan Zhan had no interest in other boys his age and Nie Huaisang had been too intimidated by the other boy to start a conversation.
“What? No.” The green-clothed boy started protesting in a whisper, panicked, but a look from the other boy silenced him. “Well, he does, but not for me. It’s for those who are injured after the hunts.”
Lan Zhan instantly understood. The Lan, Jin and Jiang Clans were used to night-hunts and injuries. They were used to hard training and fighting for hours. There were lesser clans there that weren’t that adapt to the art of war. During the hunts there were always some injuries. Wei Ying would steal food for those who needed more than what the Wen Clan provided in order to restore their lost energy.
“You won’t tell anyone, will you?” Nie Huaisang asked, anxiously.
“Mn.”
With that, Lan Zhan walked away. The new information had given him a new piece of the puzzle called Wei Ying.
A few more days passed. Lan Zhan’s leg was healing nicely, even though it would take more weeks before it was completely fine, especially because of the night-hunts and the long hours of standing he had to endure. He was, however, hopeful. He had managed to hide his injury from everyone and soon he would be fully healed. Or so he thought.
One morning, they were all told they would go on another night-hunt. This time it would be a long journey so they were given a small bundle of food each and without another word they started to march forward. Wen Chao was on a horse with that disgusting woman, only paying attention to them enough to complain about their slow progress. For Lan Zhan that trip was hell. They were walking for hours with only small stops to drink some water or eat a bit and then they were on the road again. That went on for three days. His injury was aggravated to a point that it was almost impossible to hide the way he limbed and he started falling behind. He knew that people had started to notice but he ignored all of them. He didn’t have the energy to acknowledge their pity.
Finally, they reached the area that the creature was supposed to be. Everyone sighed in relief only to groan when they heard they were supposed to look for a cave. Everyone started dragging their feet, annoyed. It was pretty clear that they were all exhausted.
Suddenly, a familiar voice calling Lan Zhan’s named stopped him in his tracks. “How is your leg?” Wei Ying asked, his voice small and timid for once. It was pretty obvious he was quite hesitant approaching him about such a sensitive matter.
Even though they had been walking for days, the boy didn’t seem tired. His black hair shone under the afternoon sun and his skin was healthy and full of color. His hand reached for him but instantly was pulled back as if its owner understood he wasn’t supposed to touch him. In the distance, Lan Zhan could see Jiang Wanyin looking at them disapprovingly. He seemed quite angry and Lan Zhan was almost sure he had tried to stop his brother from approaching him.
“Fine.” Lan Zhan answered. It was the standard reply he gave to anyone who had ever asked for his health. Showing weakness was not allowed.
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying chastised him. “You can’t say that. After all we’ve been through, can’t you share your pain with me?”
His words touched Lan Zhan in a way that such simple words shouldn’t have. Still, his eyes took in the way Jiang Wanying was anxiously looking around to see if anyone had noticed what was going on. If anyone saw them conversing, Wei Ying would be in trouble.
“I am fine.” He repeated with conviction and tried to leave.
Once again, Wei Ying stopped him. “The injury to your leg can’t be endured any longer.” He swiftly turned, his back exposed to the Lan boy. His arms were stretched backwards as he half turned to face him. “Let me carry you.”
Lan Zhan was so shocked that he was pretty sure it showed. How could Wei Ying propose such a thing? Not only that was embarrassing for both of them but it would put an even greater target on Wei Ying’s back. There was no way the Wen clan wouldn’t notice Lan Zhan being carried on the other boy’s back. There would be sneers and kicks, and he knew the boy was stubborn. He would take them all until he was sure Lan Zhan was carried all the way to whatever cave they were searching for.
“Also, we’re already close. There’s no need to be shy!” Wei Ying continued talking as if he was worried losing face was what made Lan Zhan hesitate. Then, he gave him a sweet smile that almost melted Lan Zhan’s cold heart.
“Not close.” Maybe not close enough would have been more accurate but that’s not what he had said.
He thought he saw an emotion that could almost be recognized as sadness fleetingly be reflected on those beautiful eyes of the boy in front of him but before he could think more about it, a Wen disciple interrupted them.
“What are you doing?”
Lan Zhang grabbed the chance to escape. He dragged his leg and started walking again. Behind him, he heard someone pushing the other boy towards his brother but he fought the impulse to look back. Jiang Wanyin would keep Wei Ying in check this time. Indeed, Jiang Wanyin managed to keep a hold on his brother for quite some time.
However, Wei Ying was out of his reach in seconds when a female voice was heard. Wen Chao, seeing his mistress was busy supervising everyone, took the chance to harass one of the female disciplines. Smartly, Wei Ying interfered, giving the girl time to escape. Lan Zhan wanted to speak with whatever deity up there had given that boy such a vast doze of recklessness; replacing any sort of self-preservation instinct. But soon another feeling than exaggeration filled his heart.
The boy was flirting with the female cultivator! So proud of his little trick, he approached the girl and called her Mianmian as he had heard her friend calling her. The girl seemed furious. Using word play, he tried to make the girl laugh. His own giggles filled the forest. Unable to take it anymore, Lan Zhan left.
Soon, they were all forced to enter the cave that had been discovered. They had no idea what they were looking for but something inside Lan Zhan told him the beast they were hunting would be nothing like those previous night-hunts. By his side, Wei Ying seemed to have come to the same conclusion. Without taking no for an answer this time, but also taking precautions to hide what he was doing, Wei Ying helped Lan Zhan get down the hole that led to the cave using those tree roots.
When they reached the bottom, he immediately let Lan Zhan go and pretended nothing had happened. When Wen Chao started giving them torches and pushing people to go first, Wei Ying was the first one who grabbed his own and walked at the front. Everyone was scared, murmuring about how dark and deep the cave was and how those roots could easily be cut trapping them there forever. And still, Wei Ying kept walking, attracting Wen Chao’s attention as if he wanted all the Wen eyes to be on him and not anyone else. Briefly, Lan Zhan wondered whom he was protecting this time.