He Smells Good

Chapter XXI

"WangJi-ge?"

Wei WuXian wasn't even able to take another step further before he felt Lan WangJi's hand strongly yet carefully tug on his wrists. He looked back at the latter with a confused look, questioning his actions but was instead met with a firm and stringent: "Don't go, it would be too dangerous for us to interfere with their matters. Looking at their numbers . . . just the two of us wouldn't be able to take them down and save him and leave without a scratch or more. Our skills wouldn't even matter right now, we can't take this risk. We could go back and ask for help. I'm sure the Wen Clan wouldn't let this go."

"But what if we'll be too late by then?" answered Wei WuXian impertinently, slowly struggling to try and take his hand back in impatience but to no avail for Lan WangJi was just as stubborn as he is. Be that as it may, Lan WangJi's desperate hold on him grew increasingly tighter instead, but not too tight to the point of it hurting.

Although he, too, was itching to help, Lan WangJi found too much trouble awaiting them and the younger one's safety was currently of the utmost importance. He didn't know how else to respond with such eyes looking back at him other than a desperate and urging, "Wei Ying . . ." Both eyes were trying to plead the other. And thus they spent another few minutes entertaining each other with a game of tug-of-war, unyieldingly asking for the other to comply with their selfish request in silence, deciding to say no more and just wait on for who would give in first.

"If you get hurt and get caught up in danger, what would I do then?" was what Lan WangJi had wanted to ask, a question for both himself and Wei WuXian.

The poor person's pained wails of help echoed and rang endlessly in the two youth's ears. Those loud, piercing cries grew weaker and indistinct as the minutes passed by. Being manhandled like that as if the man saw him as a person who was no more than a ragged doll, surely he wouldn't be able to escape without fresh bruises and cuts littered all over his already-weak body. The man's strong and unmerciful hold on the person's waist sent waves of fear all over their body. They felt his nails beginning to dig into their skin. The person staggered as they tried to match the other's pace but the man did not care and continued to stride forward.

This caused their right foot to catch the end of their cloak, letting its already-loose tie come undone. Their cloth fell to the ground, resulting in the person's tear-filled, frightened yet fierce face visible to everyone's eyes. Though his face had a somewhat feminine touch just like his slender body, the two were able to determine that the person was a young male, just like the others, who had not long entered his twenties.

The man had long released his arm and was sent stumbling back to the ground with a slap, unable to bear with his annoying thrashing any longer. The hit which wasn't even directed towards the lower part of his body was neither strong nor weak yet he somehow couldn't bring himself to stand back up. He doesn't think he could even lift a single finger. The fear of having to experience all that again flashed in front of his eyes. His whole body was now too worn out to be able to move. Seeing the man starting to swing his arm backward, he subconsciously shut his eyes close and flinched away from what he thought was another incoming hit.

But to his surprise, he felt nothing more than just another gust of that certain night's chilly wind. Luckily enough, the man's companion stopped his unnecessary move from taking action just in time before unwanted complications would befall upon them with a stern: "That's enough, Xue Yang." They exchanged a few words before the man with the surname Xue decided to calm himself down with a harsh sigh and observed the battered person below him for a little while.

He glared back into the man's eyes with such hate as soon as he felt his eyes on him. His face had spots of dust and dirt, and his long hair was now in disarray. His lips had a couple of violent cuts so deep that spots of crimson red blood were starting to seep out of the open wounds. Though, he thought that the pain was no different from ant bites if one would become aware of all the other injuries hidden behind his many layers of cloths. Despite that, they still weren't able to hide the stunning beauty of the person. His captivating phoenix eyes and sharp brows were enough to stop a grown man from breathing.