Ink Lines

Chapter 32 Jiang Cheng

Wei Ying doesn't make to those ten fifteen classes.

At eight in the morning a paper talisman flies through the gap in the balcony doors and the walls of Wei Ying's bedroom light up with frizzling, shimmering energy that connects to Chenqing, Wei Ying's spiritual flute.

Wei Ying, normally a heavy sleeper, one that needs at least twenty minutes to wake up enough to leave the bed and another ten minutes with a coffee mug in front of him to really 'come around' into full awareness...shot awake violently, nearly throwing Lan Zhan from the bed.

So close to him, curled as they had been beneath the summer weight duvet, it a impossible for Lan Zhan not to see the fear and anger that slams into grey eyes, the menacing force of his need to protect his family undeniable.

He was dressed in minutes, on Suibian in seconds and they were across the river in Lotus Pier, Chenqing tucked into his sect belt, his eyes mercury with worry, full of frantic energy. It was a given that Lan Zhan would follow and Jiang Yanli met them at the family dock with Sizhui holding her hand.

"Jiejie!"

"We're not under attack." She said hurriedly as her brother simply dropped from his sword, Suibian sheathing itself as he landed, murder clearly on Wei Ying's mind. "But there has been some bad news."

The morning is soon chaos and fraught tension, the main pavilion on the river that has belonged to Jiang sect family for centuries, is the epicenter as news from Qinghe sends anger and fear through the family. A phone call from Nie Huaisang - the one that Lan Zhan has been waiting for with worried anticipation.

Now, the Jiang have become aware that Nie Huaisang has been interviewed by Qinghe SCD, learned that he revealed a significant number of secrets and has asked Jiang Cheng for help. Rather than see this as something good, even from a criminal prosecution of the Wen perspective, the Jiang take it badly. Proof that their family is again under attack.

Nie Huaisang has been their friend since they were teenagers and he is a well-loved honor disciple, who had saved a great number of Jiang during the Wen assault on Lotus Pier. His heroism is not even inflated, exaggerated for effect. Lan Zhan watched the tape himself at the time, when Wei Ying and Nie Huaisang were missing among the dead littering the pier.

Within minutes of standing here, Lan Zhan becomes aware that Wei Ying - might not know all of it, - certainly did know enough.

Was this why they were so sure that Nie Huaisang wouldn't break? That their secret, the murder of Wen Chao, was safe, when Nie Huaisang had a reputation of being dramatic and non-confrontational to say the least? On the surface, he wasn't someone who you would think would be safe with such a secret. But the Jiang trusted him completely. But if Wei Ying and the Jiang were...

In the sun shine, with the summer heat rising with the day, its harder for Lan Zhan not to remember those frantic, terrifying hours when he had been suspended between the greatest agony that he would find Wei Ying dead under the scorching sun and despair that he could not locate him.

If he closes his eyes, if he so much as looks away from Wei Ying, that blood soaked day seems never-ending. He can almost see the bodies strewn across the ancient boardwalks and smell the blood in the air. So he lingers at the steps of the pavilion, waiting for the decision to be finalized, keeping Wei Ying in his line of sight. This is not his place, though he longs to stand beside Wei Ying.

The longer he listens, Lan Zhan realizes he was distracted by his own heartbreak and love story, missing vital parts to this problem.

Standing here it becomes obvious that the Jiang had been keeping secret lives from their parents for a long time. Not just the bakery and adding qualifications to their resumes, things their parents wouldn't allow or approve of...but more than that. Close ties with the Da Fan Wen, who they knew had no loyalty, no love for the main family. Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng had been dating on and off for a decade, time that included military service plus living in different cities, with heavy family expectations and in Wen Qing's case, significant danger.