Flipside

Chapter 34

Wei Ying woke up to find his face smushed on a linen pillow, and absolutely no recollection of the last seventy-two hours. He was mildly aware of the blinding pain coming from the whip marks on his back. Whip marks, he was whipped, wasn't he? But why. 

The memories flooded into his head like a tsunami, Lan Qiren, sealing his core, Lan Zhan screaming as everything faded into black. He gasped for air. His lungs stung too, he briefly wondered why, but there were bigger things at hand. 

Madam Yu's cold and satisfied face flashed through his mind before she whipped him again and again. 

He was banished from Lotus Peir, he knew that much. More memories kicked in. Jiang Cheng and Huaisang screamed their lungs out over his 'dead' body. What happened after that? He was vaguely aware of a weight over his hand. Looking to his side he saw a mop of unkept hair belonging to his martial brother who was sleeping, clutching his hand as though he thought the at he'd disappear. 

"Jiang Cheng?" Wei Ying whispered. He didn't remember Jiang Cheng being such a light sleeper, as he immediately came awake, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"Wei Ying, how are you feeling? Do you feel any better? How's your back? Do you need any water? Should I get you some lunch?" Wei Ying felt bombarded and disorientated by the uncharacteristically gentle and caring questions thrown at him by his angry grape of a brother. 

"Jiang Cheng, what happened?" Wei Ying cringed at the sound of his voice, he sounded like he'd been gargling eggshells. Jiang Cheng briskly poured a cup of water from the porcelain jar lying on a bedside table. Wei Ying gratefully accepted it, glad he could still move his arm to take the cup. 

"War...The Wens burned down Cloud Recesses." Jiang Cheng watched with a heavy heart as fear went through Wei Ying's face. The news hit him like a sack full of rocks when they all found out. After that, it seemed like war was inevitable. Lan Zhan was there and so was...

"Shijie?" Wei Ying whispered, as though if he were to say it too loudly, it would come true.

"She left before they did, she's at Lotus Pier. I told her that you're alright, and right now, she's just keeping up the ruse that you're dead for Mother."

Wei Ying breathed out a small sigh, before more dread came back to him.

"Lan Zhan?"

"They don't think he was captured, though, I think he escaped somehow." Jiang Cheng added. 

Lan Zhan wasn't in Gusu. Where was he? How the hell was he supposed to know? It felt like his heart had been ripped out, leaving nothing but a gaping hole. But he wasn't dead, he knew he wasn't dead. Otherwise, how could he still be breathing, he just knew he would sense it somehow, and go to follow him to the next life. 

"He's alright. Wangji escaped, and we'll find him, and...And then we'll win this war." Jiang Cheng broke the silence, not meeting Wei Ying's gaze. 

"Do you think that? That we'll win." Wei Ying coughed.

"We can't not win...Ji-xiong would kill us if we lost." Jiang Cheng deadpanned as he stared at his feet. Neither of them knew what to say at that. 

The silence lasted for what felt like an eternity. The sun had moved a few inches across the floor and was now spread out in thin lines across the cherry oak floorboards.

Hah, cherry oak.  More memories, drunk jokes and endless giggles. That seemed like a lifetime ago.  

A series of precise, rhythmic knocks jolted both of them out of their misery.