XiCheng: The Last Lotus [AU- OMEGAVERSE]

58

Jiang Cheng never does.

~Jiang Cheng~

Everything comes crashing down one cold night, in the middle of winter, with billowing sheets of snow blanketing the wilted Earth below. The wind howls the song of his turmoil and hail rains down on the rooftops above. A pause, a heartbeat, and a sharp tap on the door rouses him from his slumber.

Jiang Wanyin pads across the wooden floors of the Hanshi, dread curling in his stomach, and eyes darting uncertainly at the door. There is no one who would visit him tonight, with no moon in sight and a storm brewing outside. No one brave enough, no one foolish enough- perhaps- there is no one who cares enough.

But yet, the rapping of wood is impossible to ignore. A dull ache forms in the back of his head, a sudden blackening of his vision. Jiang Wanyin wonders, for a brief, hopeful moment, if it is the old woman that rescued him, here to take him home again.

For all its beauty and grace, living in Cloud Recesses feels like standing at the edge of a cliff, Jiang Wanyin half dangling off the precipice already. He knows none, not one, of those who live within the high walls of Gusu Lan, finds no comfort in its cold and bitter embrace.

Jiang Wanyin does not want to move. He does not want to open the door and find out who is waiting before him. There is nothing to find. Whoever it is beyond the gates of the Hanshi, they are a stranger, no more familiar to Jiang Wanyin than the Lan Xichen that lies just a few feet away in his bed. In their bed.

He is struck by the sudden realization that despite spending so many weeks with Lan Xichen, he does not know the man any better now than when he had just begun. They are all strangers. Married strangers.

Isn't that ironic? Jiang Wanyin does not care anymore. The yearning for home is too strong. He feels a sick, sick want to leave- leave his family, leave his friends, leave himself- to simply leave this godforsaken place where every breath is carefully measured against the 3000 rules that decorate Gusu's mountainside. He wants to go home. He misses his savior, misses her dog, misses their life. Simple, unassuming, boring even.

If you told Jiang Wanyin a few weeks ago that a day would come when he would miss the tranquil peace of that boring old hut in that dead forest, where his only source of amusement came from chopping wood and messing with a dog? He would've laughed in your face.

He doesn't laugh now. There is nothing funny really. He is stuck in a world with people who know him intimately well, but that he doesn't know at all in return.

Another knock, this time faster- more desperate. Jiang Wanyin steadies himself. He does not want to open the door, but there is no point in pretending that he is still asleep. He does not want his visitor to freeze to death in the harsh frost outside.

Moving forward, he braces himself as he slowly peels off the locking talisman and pushes the door open. A body rushes inside, bumping into and colliding with him.

The breath rushes out of Jiang Wanyin's lungs, and he reaches his hands down, almost instinctively, to steady the boy in front of him.

He is drenched, head to toe in a cold downpour. The forehead ribbon is plastered to his forehead like a damp rag. His robes are soaked, his hair leaving a puddle on the floor below. He looks pitiful. Rather like a wet dog.

Jiang Wanyin sighs and takes him by the arm. He brings the kid over to their washing area, guides him behind a partition screen, instructs him to strip, and slaps a premade heating talisman onto the sides of the bathtub.

"Wash," he says, pointing a finger at the tub. "Quickly, or you'll freeze to death."

The kid shoots him an odd look, something indiscernible flitting across his face. "Thanks," he mumbles, quickly ridding himself of his drenched attire.