Sit Softly On Your Shoulder

Chapter 11: Getting Along

Wei Ying finally sits up in his bed, abandoning all hopes of being able to sleep successfully. He feels frustrated and angry and when he looks at his phone, it is two in the morning, and the device is strangely empty of any kind of messages from the one person he's mad at.

He knows he's not being reasonable, but then, ever since he met Lan Zhan, 'reasonable' has gone out the window.

However, there's no excuse for Lan Zhan not contacting him after that morning's debacle. Why did Lan Zhan propose to Luo QingYang? Does he really want to marry her? And if so, why has he been coming on so strong these past few months? And while Wei Ying has done his best not to be affected by him, he's ashamed to say that he hasn't actively discouraged the flirting, either. In fact, he has flirted back just to see Lan Zhan's cute ears go pink.

He groans, and leaves his bed, hoping that a drink of water and a visit to the bathroom will alleviate any unconscious discomfort and allow him to sleep for a few hours. He's been tossing and turning, and his eyes hurt.

He's just about to return to his room when he hears the clatter of keys falling into their pot pourri bowl in the hallway - it was an ugly gift from a well-meaning friend but no one in this house has time for dried flowers and infusion oils, so the bowl (eyesore) was commandeered for the sole purpose of magnetically drawing one's eyes just before they left the premises, thus ensuring that nobody was locked out - and so Wei Ying knows that Wen Qing is home.

He decides on a whim to hide behind a wall downstairs and scare her - if this means he'll get beaten, it'll still be worth it - and it works. She's about to scream when his quick reflexes kick in and he clamps a hand over her mouth as she glares back at him, and then aims a well deserved kick at his shins, but they're both laughing so = worth it.

"Why are you awake?" She grouses, pulling out a cereal box and a bowl blindly from the cabinets without looking.

Wei Ying hands a spoon over and then gets one for himself, back kicking the door of the fridge closed after he's collected the milk, and they sit down next to each other at the kitchen table. The first bowl of shared cereal is over him telling her about that morning and running into Lan Zhan and MianMian.

"You're an idiot," she tells him, lightly hitting his forehead with her empty spoon.

"Ow," he says mildly, raising a brow.

"You told me he's gay."

"Yeah, but-"

"So why do you think Luo QingYang pretended to imply he was the one who proposed? Think about it."

For the next few minutes, they munch on golden nuggets and Wei Ying contemplates the possible alternatives.

"How are you so sure she's pretending? He might be forced into a marriage he doesn't want all because he's the second heir to a multimillion business in China, and they need him to look good for their image, or, or, what if she's pregnant and the person responsible has done a runner and my Lan Zhan is her Knight-in-Shining-Armour, ready to whisk her away into the sunset on his brave steed?"

Wen Qing stares incredulously at him for a full minute before hitting his head harder than the first time, with her spoon.

"I can see this is going to take longer than I thought," she mutters under her breath, pouring out more cereal.

Wei Ying adds the milk and they resume eating.

"Now, this may come as a hard surprise, but life isn't like a soap opera. Everything you just said would probably make some bad telly producer really happy, but I can assure you as a woman, Lan WangJi's friend is exactly that to him, and nothing more. It wouldn't surprise me if her fiance actually showed up sooner or later." Wen Qing nods to herself.