Loyalty and Betrayal

This Basket of Burdens.

"A-Yuan, pay attention to Xian-gege a little bit, okay?"

"Okay." He enthused, slightly angling his head to the side.

Wei Wuxian breathed out and resumed talking. "Where are you? How can I get to you? Can you tell me?"

"I'm in the castle!" Wen Yuan laughed sweetly, shaking the camera with his little hands. "Mama said I had to hide."

That was smart, Wei Wuxian thought, she knew the boy could stay there, undetected, until it was safe to go somewhere else, and she also knew Wei Wuxian would be able to find him, she trusted him.

"Mama said there's dragons flying outside the kingdom, I am the king, mama and dada are my guardians, Xian-gege, did they won the fight? Did they kill the dragons?" Wen Yuan's roving eyes shone and glittered through the screen, seeking out behind him with a questioning look.

Their eyes locked through the camera, and the boy gave him a smile, a full one, a fierce one, full of pride and hope. His heart bounded, he felt it breaking inside his chest.

He worked up a smile and nodded.

"Yes... they won." Wei Wuxian answered with a smile and Wen Yuan's face brightened enthusiastically.

Mo Xuanyu silently glanced up and noticed that Wei Wuxian's eyes, were cheerful above the surface, but deep inside, they dropped to zero-degree, cool and dark. Those eyes weren't just sad. They were pissed.

"Now, tell Xian-gege, how did you got in?"

Wen Yuan blinked at the sudden topic change.

"Papa taught me."

"Can you teach me too?" Wei Wuxian's expression was full of calm and love every time his eyes darted to the small child, full of understanding and concern.

"Yes!" The boy nodded, with wide and innocent eyes. "You raise your hand like this, and then you put it like that, and the little robot inside the screen will tell you that you can enter my castle."

He described exactly what Wei Wuxian had already assumed, but he was absolutely sure that neither his fingerprints nor his voice and palm print had been programmed onto the security system. After all, he had just discovered the safe room and the private elevator, he had no idea of its existence until that moment.

"Can you get out of there by yourself, A-Yuan?"

He shook his head.

"Mama told you how Xian-gege can get in?" Wei Wuxian asked and the boy denied again.

"Okay, we have a serious problem." He gulped down then squinted out of slitted eyes. "I have none of the tech or electronic skills to open this shit."

Wei Wuxian shot Mo Xuanyu a quick glance, as if wondering if he had any knowledge in the area. Taking on the question in his eyes, Mo Xuanyu just shook his head, a self-evident statement.

Fuck.

There was a palm plate, a cornea scanner, timed locks and a lot of buttons.

"Can't we just call the tech team? They must know how to make it work." Mo Xuanyu asked.

"No, we can't." Wei Wuxian straightened his back and placed his left hand under his chin. He was quiet for a few seconds, forcing his mind to think and testing different routes to different plans inside his head.

"Why not?" Mo Xuanyu questioned, bringing his thoughts back to their reality.

"It's not safe. Listen, Mo Xuanyu, just listen." Wei Wuxian gave him a long look, his voice remained smooth and slightly dangerous. "We can't trust the police, not now. More people are involved in this case, and unfortunately, people from within, I can't take the risk, no one can know we found him."