What About You?

1: reincarnated

Recently, a donghua (Chinese anime) called Heaven's Official Blessing has been gaining popularity. Obviously, after seeing a preview of it, any weeb would want to binge it. Thus, a high schooler with nothing else to do decided to spend his weekend watching it.

"They're so gay," He'd grin as he watched. When he finished the first season, the second had yet to come out. Therefore, the boy started scrolling on TikTok, trying to relieve the oncoming boredom. With each like he added to any Heaven's Official Blessing post, he soon found himself another donghua. Surprisingly, the original novel was written by the same author as Heaven's Offical Blessing, which enticed him even more.

Therefore, the week of spring break, he binged Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. Immediately after finishing, he grabbed his phone and ordered the first novel. "Those guys are too horny not to have fucked at least once and I wanna read that," His eyes gleamed as he submitted his order.

There was another question in his mind, but that was much less prevalent considering his teenage urges.

The day arrived when the package would be delivered, and the second he saw the mail car pull to his side of the road, the boy poised by the door so that he could bolt out to the mailbox to grab his package the second the mail person left. That didn't take long; the mail car pulled back into traffic and continued on its way.

Thus, he rushed out of the house towards the mailbox. Right as he reached it, he heard the blaring horns of a truck. As he was pulling the box out of the container, the boy glanced coincidentally at the oncoming traffic just in time to see Truck-san.

"Shit."

Truck-san hit him so hard he was killed on impact. Somehow, when he landed, the boy was still holding the box that contained the story of Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan.

"Coincidence? I think not," Wei Zexian grumbled, anything but amused as he walked with his younger brother, Wei Ying, as they traveled after losing both their parents.

"Gege (older brother)?" Wei Ying glanced up at him, the kid one year younger than the person he was speaking to.

"Nothing," The older of the two reassured him, squeezing his hand. "You doing okay?"

"Mhm!" He beamed up at him, obviously still kind of sad but he was doing well masking it at only 5 years old. "What about you?"

"I'm good, didi (younger brother)," He responded, a soft smile on his face. He wasn't sure how things would go, how long it would take for them to be taken in by the Jiang clan since it wasn't explicitly explained in the donghua. However, he was more than ready to face any challenges.

Luckily, he somehow didn't have a language barrier even though he'd never studied Chinese. He wasn't sure if he could write, but from the fact that he could read the signs of restaurants and vendors in the streets as they passed through town after town, Wei Zexian felt it safe to assume he could at least read.

However, he was extremely curious as to why he had reincarnated as a character that was never mentioned in the donghua, which might have meant that Wei Zexian had never existed in the first place. This isekai stuff is so complicated, the young boy sighed.

I think it's gonna be a while before we're picked up by the Jiang clan, he thought to himself, because I have no clue where we are or where we're going. That didn't mean he wasn't trying.

Day in and day out, the brothers journeyed towards an unknown destination. Their directions consisted on rumors and strangers' pointing. However, even that minimal help ceased as their clothes and overall appearance became more beggarly.

And then, they became actual beggars, having no means to move to a different town than the one they had ended up in. Most days, neither of them had enough to eat-or anything at all-but if they did, Wei Zexian gave most of his to Wei Ying. Doesn't matter if I'm malnourished, he'd tell himself, as long as Wei Ying gets enough, it'll work out.

However, that all changed one day. That one day a slave trader came through town and captured Wei Zexian, taking him away as Wei Ying hid.

Sitting in the back of a cart with chains on his hands and feet, Wei Zexian trembled. It was from a mix of the cold and rage, wanting nothing more than to get back to his younger brother to make sure he was okay and wasn't doing something stupid. He wasn't sure how long it'd been since he'd awoken in the world, but Wei Ying had grown on him and he needed to make sure the kid was taken care of.

He tried to think, tried to visualize his brother. Visualized him in the alley where Wei Zexian had instructed him to hide, waiting for his gege to return. Visualized being ignored as he searched for him. Visualized seeing the dread on that young boy's face. He clenched his jaw, his face contorting with each passing image.

"What the!" The slave merchants yelled. Anyone around that could see the cart stood in shock as it blasted open, shards of wood and metal going everywhere. All that was left was Wei Zexian, floating as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"He's awakening!"

"How old even is he?! To awaken without any guidance is absurd!"

"Shit!" The slave traders growled, knowing their prey could no longer be considered that. They'd be lucky if he let them off scot free.

Opening his eyes, Wei Zexian fell on his ass. "What-" He looked around, processing what had happened in the blink of an eye. "Oh," He moved his hand over his chest, now feeling warmer than ever. "So, this is a core..."

Suddenly, he whipped to face the people who had imprisoned him, separating him from his brother. They looked terrified as he stood up, an glare on his face as he didn't move his gaze away from them. "How far away are we from where you kidnapped me?" He demanded, drawing a shriek out of one of the older traders.

"T-two days ride.." Another stammered, pointing in the direction they had come from.

"Thank you," He grumbled, turning and walking away. From a tavern nearby, a fellow's mouth opened into a grin, and then a laugh.

"That's one hell of a kid."