Chapter Text
Wei Ying hadn’t meant to upset the man so much, he really hadn’t. But he hadn’t been sleeping very well lately even with the added protection of sleeping in Taizi Dianxia’s shrine every night now. He still had frequent nightmares. Nothing could protect him from that. Not even a god. So he had been swaying on his feet most of the day and only a few people took pity on him. One lady let him rest against her side while she waited for her husband to finish paying for their food—not for him, of course—but she still let him lean against her and he nearly fell asleep there before she had to leave and quickly did so. The man who ran a small bao stall did not outright chase him away and instead chose to simply tell him off for his wandering eyes.
But, regardless, he wasn’t expecting this when he had tripped over his own feet and nearly fell if his hand had not caught on the very fancy looking robes of a man dressed in all kinds of finery.
“Agh, you damn brat!” The man had yelled at him when his dazed eyes drifted down to the now muddy handprint on the almost pure gold fabric. “Look at what you’ve done!”
He drops to his knees as quickly as he can, already knowing how to placate these kinds of people. Just kowtow to them for a bit while begging forgiveness and eventually they will know he was a pathetic child and not worth whatever time they had to spare.
But just as he is doing this the man reaches out and grabs him by the hair harshly. “You’ll pay for this you little bitch!” Then Wei Ying is knocked back to the ground by a very loud slap that grabs the attention of several other passersby. A small crowd begins to form as Wei Ying lays there for a moment, stunned to silence by the slap.
The adults around him whisper.
“What is happening?”
“Is that the Chief Cultivator?”
“The damn street rat deserves it, finally someone is putting him in his place.”
“Lets leave him to his work,” some of the crowd dissipates but there are a few, also in golden robes, that stay behind. They come closer and only then does he hear a familiar growling.
Dogs.
He sits up and begins to drag himself backwards, helpless as his palms scrape against the cobblestone below. He is shaking and whimpering as the dogs are brought forth, held back only by a rope around their neck. His back bumps a wall and he knows he will not survive.
There was no way he would.
He hopes his parents know he waited as long as he could.
“You’ll learn better than to touch a cultivator like me.”
Then the dogs are upon him, one taking him by the hair and shaking its head, bringing him to the ground where his head slams against the stone. When he looks down there is already blood and he is so dizzy he almost wants to sleep right there.
A sharp pain in his upper arm keeps him awake as a new wave of adrenaline rushes inside him. He cries out as another grabs at his leg and they all work in tandem to rip him to shreds. The man hollered at him as the dogs continued to tear him apart; a claw, dirty and jagged, landed against his cheek and tore open a sizable hole. The man speaks words Wei Ying cannot understand but knows must be bad ones.
He cries out as loudly as he can but no one was willing to take pity on such a horrifying little creature like him.
Everyone just turned their eyes away until he stopped his screaming and was left with only sniffles and quiet sobs. He hopes it would be over soon as he tries desperately to cover his face, burying it in his arms as one of the dogs rips its claws into the soft flesh of his side. He is so tired he doesn’t even try to cry out, just whimpers softly and prays for death from whatever god was willing to grant him it.
He opens his eyes when he hears the soft chiming of bells and the dogs suddenly let go of him, growling instead at the only person brave enough to approach. Then they start whimpering and barking. Then there is the sound of claws hitting the cobble and then nothing. There is a little silver butterfly fluttering in front of his face when he feels brave enough to open his eyes and see if the dogs really had run away. It’s so beautiful. Wei Ying believed he had surely died to see something like it. But he is too weak at the moment to smile or giggle at the presence.
He can’t close his eyes though.
There is a man in red.
There is a man in red with black boots and silver jewellery standing before where he is laying. There is a sword at his side and Wei Ying fears for a moment he is here to kill him.
But, he is facing away from Wei Ying, arms crossed at the Chief Cultivator. Wei Ying stares in wonder at the man.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?!” The man in gold shouts, clearly enraged at this man stopping him from enacting his rightful punishment. “I will have you know this little shit dirtied my robes and it is within a cultivator's full right to enact punishment against those he wishes.”
“Is that so?” Red-gege—as Wei Ying decides he is—asks. Wei Ying likes his voice, it’s deep and smooth and sounds like his father had when he was trying to lull Wei Ying to sleep when he had trouble doing so himself. He seems to sink further into the haze taking over his mind, telling him to sleep under the protection of this man. “Then, pray tell, what sort of punishment would be enacted against someone attacking an innocent child?”
“Is that a damn threat?!” The man in gold steps forward and, in the blink of an eye, Red-gege has drawn his sword. Wei Ying gapes at it, the little carved red eye seemingly looking right at him; and it looks at him so softly. He gasps in awe as it switches position and seems to glare at the man in gold. What an amazing sword!
“T-That is–!”
“You recognise this sword?” Red-gege growls out, a smirk stretching across his face as he tilts his head a bit. He leans in close to the man in gold, whispering to him so that no one can hear. Wei Ying only heard because he strained to do so. “Then, I would suggest you don’t mess with what is mine again or you will face it.”
The man in gold startles, looking down at Wei Ying before looking back up at Red-gege. He scowls before walking off without another word.
And Wei Ying is left entirely confused and helpless.
No one had ever stepped in like that to help him at all. It was… strange. He would need to make it up to Red-gege, somehow.
“Are you alright, little one?” Red-gege asks as he puts his sword away again and kneels beside Wei Ying, his single eye shining an almost crimson red. He shouldn’t, Wei Ying was just a dirty child, he wasn’t deserving of this kindness. He looks down at his hands as he pushes himself up a bit.
There's a lot of blood, so much that it's a bit hard to believe it all came from him.
“Mhm,” he mumbles, not entirely trusting his voice nor himself. He needed to crawl back to the shrine on the outskirts of town and maybe ask for some bandages.
“It’s okay if you aren’t, I just want to help.”
He thinks about this for a long moment. Thinking over what his parents would think of him, accepting help from a strange man. A strange man who had defended him, who was kind and strong. Who was offering help.
“...It… hurts.” He says finally, tears in his eyes and holding onto his side which quickly grows sticky with red.
Red-gege looks worried.
“Can I hold you?” He asks before Wei Ying promptly falls into his arms, resting his cheek on the man's chest and curling up there. He doesn’t feel so bad getting Red-gege’s nice robes dirty. At least the blood would blend in a bit better. Red-gege stands slowly, a hand braced against Wei Ying’s back as he does, keeping the boy cradled to his chest safely. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“But–but my parents are coming for me. I have to stay here and wait for them.” His voice is panicked, scared. He would need to stay here and wait for them to come back for him because they said they would be back soon! He couldn’t just abandon them. He couldn’t… “They’re… They’re…” He hiccups.
“I… don’t think your parents are coming back.” Red-gege looks sad when he says this, face softening immeasurably with a sorrowful look in his eye. Wei Ying knew this. He knew, he knew, he knew they were never going to come back for him but it hurt so, so much more when an adult confirmed it to him. Telling him what he never wanted to hear for himself.
He starts to cry.
“I want to go home,”
He wanted his parents back.
He wants to see his a-niang again. He wants his a-die.
He doesn’t want to be alone.
“I know. I know you do.” Red-gege says into his hair, brushing some of it back as he begins to walk, swaying Wei Ying gently. He feels even sleepier. “I can’t take you home without anyone to take care of you, though, so would you like to come with me for now? I promise you will be kept safe and fed.”
He considers the offer for a moment as he settles himself onto the man's shoulder. His chin rests there as his hands hold tight to the fabric. He sniffles. “And… no more dogs?”
“No. No more dogs anymore. I’ll make sure of that.” Red-gege promises him as Wei Ying buries himself further into the man's arms, inhaling the scent of sulphur and metal and comfort. His body goes limp in the strong and protective arms that are wrapped around him.
“And you won’t hurt me?” He needs to know, his hands already clutch at the fabric with tears in his eyes as they slowly begin to close from his pure exhaustion.
“Never,” the man growls as he finally goes to sleep. Wei Ying almost feels afraid, but he knows it is not directed at him. He seems to know instinctively that Red-gege would never let anything hurt him anymore.
To say Hua Cheng was furious would be an extreme understatement. He doesn’t think there were enough words in current language to describe just how enraged he was knowing that A-Ying was treated like this when he wasn’t around to ensure his safety.
Truly, if he did not have to now care for the child he would have burned that man and his entire sect to the ground without a second thought. But A-Ying was trusting him to take care of him, and he was still bleeding rather heavily.
He pulls out his dice and tosses them, leaving that accursed town without another moment to spare.
He feels the tension leave him just a bit once he is safe within the walls of Paradise Manor, there are more familiar smells of incense burning and more familiar sounds of servants rushing about the halls. He ignores everyone and walks firmly and swiftly to the room he had been preparing for a long time. One that would be perfect for such a small child as him.
Now that A-Ying is here it feels far less prepared than he had first believed. It feels inadequate for the child, even if he knows it would be the best treatment he will be getting for a long time.
“Hua Chengzhu,” he hears the footsteps first but the voice still shocks him a bit as he turns to see Yin Yu staring at him, more specifically the child in his arms. He doesn’t look away for a long time before he meets the Ghost King's eyes, more determination in his eyes. “What do you need?”
“Prepare a warm bath. And bandages.” Yin Yu looks briefly again at the small, broken child still clinging to the Ghost Kings robes before silently nodding and rushing off as fast as he can.
Finally, Hua Cheng opens the door to the child's room, decked out in perhaps too many toys and a far too big bed covered in lavish silks and warm furs.
He truly was going to spoil this child, wasn’t he?
The back of his mind buzzes now that he is in a place he knows is safe.
‘San Lang? Is everything alright? You’ve been quiet for a while.’ The familiar voice of his husband asks as he slowly, carefully, places A-Ying on the bed. He does feel a bit bad for his sudden absence, especially when Xie Lian and he were having a lovely conversation but his husband would understand given the circumstances.
‘Sorry about that gege, a… situation came up.’
‘Situation? Is everything alright?’
He glances back at A-Ying, at the way he shivers despite the warmth of the room.
‘It may be easier to explain if you came back home as soon as you can.’
He does, quickly finishing whatever quest the heavens have sent him on this time and rushing into Paradise Manor as soon as he can, flinging the doors to Wei Ying’s room open just as Yin Yu has gathered all the requested materials and the bath is all ready for the boy. He looks on in horror as Hua Cheng lifts the child into his arms.
It was their child, the one they had agreed to take in if they had found no living relatives. They hadn’t. And they were planning on making a move towards helping the boy off the streets and into their home. But the boy is covered in blood and with the way his husband looks at him he knows they may have to speed the process up a bit.
He jumps into action before anyone can say anything. Walking up to his husband and carefully taking the boy into his own arms (he feels so small despite his age) and walking over to the little tub set out with a few heating talismans keeping the water at the perfect temperature.
Hua Cheng remains at his side as he lowers the boy into the water carefully, watching with a look of disgust as the water quickly turns brown and murky, both from dirt and blood.
“Who?” Is all Xie Lian asks as he brings over a small cloth to carefully wash the boy’s skin, watching as the dog bites reveal themselves. Wei Ying’s wrist feels odd when he holds it, like the bone has fractured and he feels resentment grow inside him.
“Some nobody sect leader. You don’t need to concern yourself with him, gege, we can deal with that later when we know A-Ying is safe and healthy.” Xie Lian nods but it doesn’t seem to soothe him in any way.
“You’re right,” he says despite the way his mind is yelling at him to stop being an idiot and get his revenge. He doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry, so he focuses instead on untangling the poor boy's hair (he truly hadn’t thought it could get so unruly in the short time since he last saw Wei Ying. Though, he imagines that being tossed to the dirt and being attacked rather viciously would have that kind of effect.) “Just some nobody.”
He feels like he wants to kill someone again as he brings the cloth over a particularly nasty looking tear in the pale skin of Wei Ying’s shoulder that must hurt twice as much as it looks.
“Gege,” Hua Cheng speaks quietly, leaning into Xie Lian’s side and wrapping a hand around the wrist currently dipping back into a clean bucket of water to wash off the mud and blood. “I promise we will not let this go so easily. But, he is hurt and needs us right now.”
“I know,” he whispers back, leaning in towards his husband's shoulder. “I just can’t let…” he lets out a tearless sob at the thought of Lang Ying and all Hua Cheng does is kiss his cheeks comfortingly as he can. That wound was still open, even after all these years. The fact he could do nothing, knowing that the boy had no doubt been in pain for his final moments.
He feels his husband breathe into him and he breathes in time with it, slowly calming himself enough that his eyes are dry and he is fully ready again to deal with the idea of having someone so fragile under his care.
They hear the small whimper as they come away from each other. They both look down at the boy in their arms as big, terrified, silver eyes look back.