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Nie Mingjue is just going through his forms when Nie Zonghui comes running up to him. He seems rattled enough that Nie Mingjue doesn’t hesitate for a second; he simply abandons his stance and meets him halfway.
“What is it?”
“Jiang Wanyin,” Nie Zonghui breathes out and points towards the gate.
That’s enough to spur Nie Mingjue into action immediately. He runs towards the gate, throwing Baxia out to jump on her without stopping and then he’s off.
It doesn’t take him long to see what Nie Zonghui saw: a figure flying towards the Unclean Realm. A surge of relieve goes through Nie Mingjue at seeing Jiang Cheng’s figure but a moment later that is replaced with worry.
Jiang Cheng is flying lower than is recommended and his sword wobbles dangerously in the air. It spurs Nie Mingjue on to go even faster, pushing Baxia to her limits but a few seconds before he reaches Jiang Cheng he slumps over and falls off his sword.
Nie Mingjue pushes himself forward, off Baxia and he manages to catch Jiang Cheng a moment before he hits the ground. Nie Mingjue manages to turn just in time for his own body to break the fall, Jiang Cheng safely cradled in his arms, but by then he’s already unresponsive.
“Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue whispers, carefully smoothing his hair out of his face and dread settles in his stomach.
Jiang Cheng is hurt, and seriously so. There’s a lot of blood in his robes and there’s a still sluggishly bleeding wound on his face. When Nie Mingjue reaches out for his qi, he only finds a small, trickling stream of it and it only makes him worry more.
“Da-ge!” Nie Huaisang yells, running towards him and Nie Mingjue manages to get up without letting go of Jiang Cheng.
“He needs a healer, right now!” he belts out and Nie Zonghui turns around on his heel to run back towards the Unclean Realm.
“What’s wrong?” Nie Huaisang whispers, his hands hovering over Jiang Cheng clearly too afraid to touch him and Nie Mingjue shakes his head.
“I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter for now. We just have to make sure he stays alive and heals,” he decides and starts to walk towards the Unclean Realm, making sure his gate is even so he doesn’t jostle Jiang Cheng too much.
“What do you think happened to him?” Nie Huaisang whispers, clearly shook by Jiang Cheng’s state and Nie Mingjue presses his lips together.
“The Wens, probably,” he guesses because it would make the most sense.
They had walked into Lotus Pier and burned it down; reports of survivors had been sparse and up until five minutes ago Nie Mingjue had been convinced that Jiang Cheng was dead as well.
Nie Huaisang doesn’t say anything else but when Nie Mingjue looks over to him he sees how determined he is. As soon as they are certain that Jiang Cheng is going to survive they are going to plan the Wens demise, that much Nie Mingjue is certain of.
And he himself will take great pleasure in cutting off the head of whoever did this to Jiang Cheng.
Nie Zonghui is waiting with a healer when they enter the city and Jiang Cheng is taken away from Nie Mingjue despite his protests. It takes the healer a while to stabilise Jiang Cheng’s condition and only once that is achieved is Nie Mingjue allowed to get back into the room.
“I will spare you an extensive list of the injuries but you should know that he probably won’t heal completely. I don’t know what kind of weapon did most of these injuries but they almost look like burns. He will keep scars. We can only hope his movement will not be affected by them,” the healer tiredly tells him and Nie Mingjue frowns at him.
“So it’s not a weapon of the Wens?”
“I have never seen them use weapons like this, but I wouldn’t put it past them either,” the healer replies and then bows to excuse himself.
Nie Mingjue turns towards Jiang Cheng and his heart painfully constricts when he sees him all bandaged up. There’s almost no patch of skin left uncovered and Nie Mingjue carefully takes his hand in his as he sits down next to the bed.
Jiang Cheng whimpers in his sleep and Nie Mingjue reaches out to move his hair out of his eyes.
“Don’t worry, Wanyin. You’re well protected here, you can sleep. I’m here, I won’t let any harm come to you.”
Jiang Cheng settles back down again but Nie Mingjue still has no intention of leaving Jiang Cheng’s side until he wakes up, so he makes himself comfortable at his bedside.
It takes Jiang Cheng almost an entire day to wake up and Nie Mingjue is besides himself with worry, despite the reassurances of his healer that this is completely normal and to be expected with these extensive injuries.
Still, Nie Mingjue only feels as if he can breathe easier when Jiang Cheng’s eyelids start to flutter.
Jiang Cheng lets out a distressed whimpering sound before he even fully wakes and Nie Mingjue is quick to tighten the grip on his hand.
“It’s alright, Wanyin, you’ve made it to the Unclean Realm, and you’re safe here. Nothing can happen to you here.”
Jiang Cheng turns towards his voice and sluggishly blinks his eyes open. It takes him a few seconds to recognize Nie Mingjue but as soon as he does he bursts into tears.
“Mingjue,” he sobs out and curls towards Nie Mingjue, which can’t be good for his injuries at all, but if this is what Jiang Cheng wants then Nie Mingjue won’t deny him. He scoots closer and takes Jiang Cheng into his arms, allowing him to cry until he feels better.
“What happened?” Nie Mingjue asks once the tears have died down a bit and Jiang Cheng burrows further into his arms.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t speak, doesn’t explain and so Nie Mingjue has to venture out a guess.
“The Wens?” he carefully asks and is not at all surprised when Jiang Cheng freezes in his arms.
What does come as a surprise though is when he shakes his head.
“No,” Jiang Cheng rasps out, not moving away from Nie Mingjue at all.
“Who then? What happened to you?” Nie Mingjue asks again, because he’s at a loss now.
If it wasn’t the Wens who hurt Jiang Cheng like this then Nie Mingjue has no clue what could have happened to him.
It prompts new sobs from Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue curses himself for pushing this soon, but he needs to know who hurt Jiang Cheng like this. He needs to know what he can do to make it all better.
“Mingjue, promise me,” Jiang Cheng finally gets out, “promise me that you won’t send me back. You have to—I have to stay here.”
“Of course,” Nie Mingjue immediately agrees because he already thought he lost Jiang Cheng once and he will certainly not allow for that to happen again. “You’re my heart and we are courting. You’re going to stay right here. And even if none of that were true, I would still not send you back to whoever hurt you like this.”
“You can’t let me go back. If they—they will come ask for me back, demand that you hand me over but you can’t, please Mingjue, you can’t give me back to them.”
The words make a chill go down Nie Mingjue’s back because it doesn’t sound as if the Wens are to blame here, but of course he’s quick to nod.
“We can marry as soon as you feel up for it,” he promise Jiang Cheng. “And you will marry in, so that you are always safely at my side, alright, so no one can take you away without inviting the anger of Qinghe, okay?”
“Okay,” Jiang Cheng whispers and rests more easily against Nie Mingjue. At least until Nie Mingjue speaks again.
“Wanyin, what happened, though? Who did this to you?”
At the question, Jiang Cheng shudders in his arms.
“It’s my fault Lotus Pier burned,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Nie Mingjue frowns.
As far as he heard Lotus Pier burned because the Wen’s came to destroy it.
“But the Wens—" he trails off when Jiang Cheng lets out a bitter laugh.
“My fault,” he presses out and moves away from Nie Mingjue to curl in on himself. “All my fault, according to my parents. I provoked them, I was disrespectful, I tried to protect Wei Wuxian and now it’s all my fault, so it’s also my duty to fix it.”
“Wanyin, what does that mean?” Nie Mingjue asks for clarification though he can guess what it means and it makes him sick to his stomach.
“I’m to be the sacrifice that appeases the Wens and lets us take Lotus Pier back.”
“Those burn marks—” Nie Mingjue whispers out. “They are from Zidian.”
“Yes,” Jiang Cheng sobs out, making himself as small as he can. “They tried to drag me back to Lotus Pier so they could offer me up but I fought them until I could escape. I didn’t know where else to go—” he trails off, his breath coming fast and hard and Nie Mingjue carefully sits down on the bed next to him, putting an arm around Jiang Cheng but ready to take it back at the slightest sign of discomfort.
“I won’t allow it. I won’t allow it,” Nie Mingjue promises him and presses a kiss to the top of Jiang Cheng’s head. “You’re my husband-to-be. The courtship has been made official and I will not let them do that to you.”
“I hoped you would protect me,” Jiang Cheng whispers, new tears streaming down his face again. “It’s why I came here. Mingjue, please, I—” Jiang Cheng chokes on his own words but Nie Mingjue nods anyway.
“You’re safe here, I promise you that. I will not allow them to touch you ever again, you don’t have to worry about that. All you have to focus on is healing right now, and the rest will come with time.”
“You won’t give me back?” Jiang Cheng asks for clarification and it hurts Nie Mingjue to hear him this unsure.
“I will never give you back. You’re my heart, have been since the first time we met, and I will not allow for these people to hurt you like that.”
It sparks new tears yet again but this time they seem more out of relief than despair or pain and it might not be much but Nie Mingjue will take it for now.
He will need to talk to Nie Huaisang and Nie Zonghui about the threat that probably hangs over Qinghe Nie now and he will have to prepare a wedding as well but for now, all he really has to do is hold his heart in his arms and be there for him.
If Jiang Cheng’s family won’t cherish and protect him then Nie Mingjue will make Jiang Cheng his family and do it in their stead.