WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon

Chapter 111 Date

Wei Ying was much quieter when they arrived at Lotus Pier.

Lan Zhan was already worried about him, still feeling the unfamiliar rage, hot and blinding as a red haze filled his vision then, upon hearing the Sect Leader Yao and his terrible, stupid comments.

He hadn't felt this angry in such a long time, ironically, the intensity of his feelings brought him back to a classroom in Cloud Recesses, back when he was merely fifteen, and unused to being around the person who wouldn't leave him alone. The person who slowly but surely became the light of his life.

Now, that light was a little dimmer.

Everyone had noticed it, including Jiang Cheng, who came closer as soon as his feet touched the hallowed ground of his home.

Lan Zhan's protective instincts kick in, an automatic response to a perceived threat. For him, this was a place filled with good memories, but they were outweighed by the heaviness of the other, more shocking ones.

This was the place where his heart had broken for Wei Ying, such a pain lancing his racing organ that Lan Zhan didn't think it would ever recover. To know that Wei Ying had hidden this devastating secret, buried it so deeply inside himself and told himself that he owed his golden core to the Jiangs; that it was only right to return it, and then come back into the Cultivation World with a new, albeit unorthodox method, mastering it, suffering the backlash of his peers, the snide remarks and criticism despite Wei Ying being the one to turn the tide in their favour, and every single Cultivator knowing that their salvation rested at his feet, despite all this, his Wei Ying was a survivor.

Not a victim.

Jiang Cheng scowls at Lan Zhan, silently telling him to move out of his way.

Lan Zhan's feet stay where they are.

It is evidence that Wei Ying is not himself right now, because he would have come back with a witty reply, or some way to rile up his brother, but he remained uncharacteristically quiet, lost in his thoughts.

It's only when Lan Zhan reaches for his hand that Wei Ying snaps out of his funk.

"I want you to know," Jiang Cheng addresses him over Lan Zhan's shoulder, determination etched on his face. "I have always thought of you as my brother. Nothing less. Not even when you had to defect. You will always be my brother, no matter what little shits like that Yao says. A-Jie, me and you, forever together." He repeats their mantra, the one their sister started saying to them, that awful night when Wei Ying had run away and climbed an impossible tree, all because Jiang Cheng had told him to go away, because his puppies had been taken away.

Their sister, kind and compassionate Jiang YanLi, ShiJie to Wei Ying and A-Jie, to Jiang Cheng, had come out to look for him, and on their way back, they discovered a crying Jiang Cheng fallen in a ditch and feeling terrible for making Wei Ying leave.

That had been their secret, just the three of them, with Wei Ying slipping into their dynamic with ease, the glue that held them all together.

Now, hearing their common phrase uttered from one of the three, it thaws something in Wei Ying, and he lets go of Lan Zhan's hand to throw himself into Jiang Cheng's arms.

Jiang Cheng has always been a fantastic hugger. His arms come around his brother in an all encompassing embrace, a tight one, filled with protection and love of the prickly kind.

"And you will always be my Didi." The gremlin comes out to play, and Jiang Cheng lets him, scowling back.

"You're only five days older than me, idiot!"

Wei Ying somehow climbs onto his back and annoys the hell out of him, enough that Jiang Cheng tries to fling him off, but to no avail.

Wei Ying gets off by himself, and smiles.