faraway wanderers/Word Of Honor [ Oneshots ] -Wenzhou-

Arc One - burnt

The art of disguise was something Zhou Zishu had learned from his master and became so good at that he even fooled his capital.
And that's how Wen Kexing became interested in him, following him around to prove his theory: that he's a beauty. But who knew that this casual pursuit would become so serious that one would die without the other?

Wen Kexing was perplexed that despite spending so much time with him, he was still taken in by his abilities.
.
.
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The man stumbled a bit while he was looking at his surroundings. He brought his hand to touch the wall. 'It's an ancient house. Did those villagers build the shrine over her house?'

Zhou Zishu didn't know how to react to this; was it too intelligent of them or too dumb? They deliberately provided her the area to live in, 'I need to find them first; everyone is crazy here.'

He paused for a moment, his brow furrowed, as he felt a sudden rise in temperature, 'it can't be' he increased his pace to look for the source, and his feet came to a halt when he noticed Mei smiling at something.
He squinted his eyes to see properly; the smoke was making it difficult for him to see, but his eyes widened when he realised what she was doing.
Madame Jiayi's body was currently being burned.

Zhou Zishu knew there was something wrong with Mei, and now, looking at her, he understood that the one standing there was actually Liu.
He knew he could not act rashly; this was not a normal human being he was dealing with.Then he saw Liu leave. 'Is she going to burn this place down?' he wondered.

Zhou Zishu was about to follow her, but soon he felt someone breathing heavily. He went beside the wall; it seemed like the person on the other side was crying, 'No, there are two people with heavy breathing.'

He closed his eyes to concentrate, and from the breathing, he could conclude that one was Zhang Chengling. 'But why is he crying? Wen Kexing is not someone who cries easily.' He inhaled deeply. 'If the other person isn't Wen Kexing, then...'

Abruptly, he gathered all his energy and centralised it in his palm, then smashed through the wall with all of his might to get inside.

Zhang Chengling was startled by the sound. The dust from the explosion made the view slightly less clear. He squinted his eyes to see who the newcomer was.
The man had pale green and yellow skin; his hair was unkept, and his clothes were somewhat dirty too. Zhang Chengling's eyes widened as he recognised this sickly-looking man; Zhou Zishu had once again disguised himself as the beggar when he first found Zhang Chengling.

Zhang Chengling, looking at Zhou Zishu, ran towards him.
Zhou Zishu was still at a loss when he saw them; he had seen Zhang Chengling cry plenty of times, so it was nothing new to him, but when his eyes met with Wen Kexing's, he got stunned.
Wen Kexing's eyes were bloodshot, his hair and clothes were messy, and his tears refused to stop. who only muttered in hushed tones, "Ah-xu."

In front of Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing had only cried once, and that was when Gu-xiang died; at that time too, he didn't show his face to the other.

"Why are....ugh" He was so stunned that he forgot to balance himself when the little tyke flung himself on him, knocking him to the ground.

"Shifu.." Zhou Zishu was about to ask what happened when he saw the dead body laying behind Wen Kexing.
Instantly, he understood the situation.
He raised his hand to stroke Zhang Chengling's head. "Don't cry."

Zhang Chengling opened his eyes and reached up to wipe his face. "Shifu, you're fine," he said. He was going to say more, but he stopped when he saw Wen Kexing quietly sit beside them. His tears were still running down; it looked like he wanted to say something, but the words were not coming out.