The Night is Still Young

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

So Much More Than A Dream

Lan Wangji paused in surprise. He peered down. What disclosed was a hand piercing his chest, stained red by his gushing blood.

He felt heat, heat that mixed with cold as it penetrated deep into him.

Too deep.

Wen Ning pulled out the hand that he used to pierce through Lan Wangji's chest. Blood spattered from the wound.

The wound was not severe.

His face twitched in pain, who was he fooling?

No, he was still able to stand...

It was unreasonable even for Lan Wangji.

...However, his legs eventually gave out as he knelt on the ground, heavily collapsing afterward.

A voice so dear to him rings out in his ears, 'Lan Zhan!'

Wei Ying...

He can almost see her lips curl into a bright smile, from the sound of her voice alone. 'I finished writing the lyrics to the song you made especially for me and little A-Yuan!'

His A-Ying...

'I'll show it to you on A-Yuan's Third Birthday Celebration! Tell me what you think, then.'

The pain was agonizing, and the cold grew alongside the puddle of his own blood.

A voice warmed Lan Wangji's eyes, the voice was as tiny and delicate as a dandelion seed in the breeze, 'A-Yuan wants to play qin with Baba...'

A-Yuan...

'...will Baba allow him?'

His erzi, so young but already so perceptive son.

His vision blurred, whether from his tears -- he was not sure.

'I will.' He had replied to them before.

Lan Wangji has yet to return, and Wei Ying and A-Yuan are still waiting.

Waiting for him to go back to Cloud Recesses and celebrate A-Yuan's third birthday.

But now...

'Lan-er-gege!'

'Baba!'

...he no longer can, given that he had already lost too much blood. More than anything, his internal organs were gone.

He had no chance of survival.

Someone yelled in the distance, or close by? Lan Wangji could not say.

He can hear muffled sounds, possibly running or panicked dragging, but nothing else.

There is nothing but pain, all-encompassing pain that erupts in crashing waves, threatening to drown Lan Wangji with each breath.

His lungs feel extremely dry, almost too dr--

He had stopped breathing.

An incomparable ache pervades every inch of his now vulnerable body.

Cutting his damp skin.

Burning his worn out muscles.

And splitting his entire body apart.

Much like a collapsing tree, what slowly dispersed into the air was his consciousness.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

There had been a series of knocks at his door asking for his attention.

Opening it, "Wangji." Lan Wangji was not surprised to see Xiongzhang standing there.