The Phoenix embraced the Sun

Help comes from the past, pt. 1

At Chen hour there was someone knocking insistently on the door.

When he opened his eyes, he had not expected to see the sleeping face of the girl before him, whom he had unexpectedly met at the late hour in the gardens of the Winter Palace. Nor had he expected to spend the night in her chamber, completely losing his vigilance. However, there was no threatening reek from Wei Ying, and so Wen Ruohan allowed himself to exhale in relief.

It was so strange. For the first time in ten years he did not feel a sharp pain in his lungs. Yesterday he had the feeling that he was writhing inside out, as his ribs were digging into his lungs, making it difficult not only to breathe but to eat. Although his cousin had attempted to dissuade Lord Wen from taking his heir to the meeting, no one listened, and Wen Ruohan made his way to Yiling as if he was in a fog. He barely had the strength to pretend everything was fine... he was not so badly hurt... to pretend so Lord Wen was not too happy about his efforts.

It was unbearable.

By some miracle he found himself in the lush gardens of the Winter Palace. He strolled among the luxuriant shrubs and beds of fragrant flowers and then laid down on a bench to rest. As he closed his eyes, his mind went into deep blackness, but the stabbing pain persisted even in the oppressive slumber. Until the darkness dissipated when the Winter Palace was visited by his master. Or rather, the little mistress.

Wen Ruohan quite often heard of the little genius from Yiling, whom the Burial Mounds recognized as their master. He would never have imagined that the child he had met ten years ago, asleep in her cosy cradle, would be this very genius. Wei Ying, the little mistress of the dark cultivators' clan, their future leader. Grown up and more beautiful, she stood before him, gazing piercingly into his soul as if to see his pain and suffering, which the young man was hiding in vain. He felt so helpless... in front of the child... naked, and without leaving time for reflection he decided to flee like a coward. He wanted to run away, fearing that the girl would feel despicable pity for him, or laugh at his weakness, or chase him away altogether... However, Wei Ying had only invited him to share midnight tea with her. Moreover, he saw no pity in her eyes, no mockery either. Only bitter understanding and compassion. Her tender, childlike smile was so bright that for a moment Wen Ruohan forgot his doubts and his desire to escape.

Anyway, he could not refuse Wei Ying.

There was nothing special with the midnight tea. It was the usual leaf tea, flavoured with ripe berries, which made it slightly sweet. However, it did have a soothing effect. Except that neither he nor Wei Ying suspected that his body would also take it as a sleeping pill. Wen Ruohan forced himself to remain conscious as he attempted to hold a light conversation with the bright young girl (perhaps the only stranger he willingly shared time with). However, his body couldn't handle that either.

Why had he been moved to the heiress's chambers and not the guest rooms? If anyone saw them now, they would instantly call him a child molester or worse, a homicidal maniac. He had to get out of there as soon as possible otherwise he would not escape a terrible fate. Moreover, from the sounds in the corridor it seemed that the door was about to be blown to pieces.

Wen Rouhan arose from his bed in a matter of seconds, threw open a wide window, which offered a view of the Burial Mounds and the small shooting field, and jumped out. At the same time, maids entered the room carrying trays, jugs of clean water, a set of upper robes for the morning meal with their guests and light refreshments. Zhou, slightly perplexed by the young man's abrupt antics, croaked, flapped and landed beside his hostess's head. He tried to wake her gently with a touch of his beak, but since Wei Ying never liked to get up early, the raven also had to bite the girl's nose.

"Ow! Zhou, why?" whimpered Wei Ying, looking offended at the pet. Zhou croaked something merrily, kissed his mistress's forehead as if apologising, and nimbly moved to the night table.