The unrestrained

Let me carry you

I walked for a while on the street. They mustn't have gone too far. I thought to myself. I saw the Yunmeng Jiang sect disciples on a shop nearby and I assumed that Jiang Wanyin came here to meet Jin Ling. Walking for a few minutes I saw Jin Ling's spiritual dog running from a nearby forest. I went through the path were his spiritual dog went by. And then I saw Wei Ying and Jin Ling engrossed in a conversation. “How dare you hit me! My uncle hadn’t even hit me before!”

Wei Ying exclaimed, “Really? Doesn’t he say that he’ll break your legs all the time?”

Jin Ling fumed, “He’s only saying that! You damn cut-sleeve, what on Earth do you want? I…”

Wei Ying covered his face and shouted toward behind Jin Ling, “Ah! HanGuang-Jun!”

When Jin Ling heard my name he stopped talking. Jin Ling was more scared of me than he was of his jiu jiu Jiang wanyin. Frightened, he fled at once, shouting as he ran, “You damn cut-sleeve! Disgusting maniac! I’ll remember you! This is not over yet!”

Behind him, Wei Ying laughed so hard that he couldn’t breathe. After Jin Ling disappeared into the distance, his chest itched in a stuffy way, and finally managed to stop the laughter after a while of coughing. 

I walked away slowly and went towards the street. I stood at the end of the street, standing motionless with my head hung low. I was waiting for him to come back.

When I saw him I noticed something is wrong. He was limping. I became angered and worried. Did someone attacked him? I thought.

However, having taken only one step back, his ankle twisted, and he seemed as if he almost collapsed on the ground. With a change in expression, I hurried over and tightly gripped his wrist. After Wei Ying had been steadied, I knelt down on one knee to examine his leg. Wei Ying was rather shocked, “N-n-no, HanGuang-Jun. You don’t have to do this.”

I raised my head slightly and looked at him, then looked down again and continued to roll up the leg of his trousers. Still under my grip, Wei Ying could do nothing except to look up at the sky. He must've transferred this from Jin Ling. Then I saw whips. That wounds looks like he got it from Zidian. Jiang wanyin must've recognised him.

His entire leg was covered with the black bruise of the Curse Mark.

After staring at it for a while, I spoke in a bitter voice, “… I only left for a few hours.”

Wei Ying shrugged, “A few hours is a long time. Anything could have happened. There, there. Straighten up.”

He backhandedly pulled me up, “It’s only the average Curse Mark. We can just kill it when it comes to find me. HanGuang-Jun, you’ll need to help me. If you don’t, I won’t be able to handle it. Have you caught the person? Is it him? Where is he now?”

I looked in the direction of a signboard that stood in front of a shop far down the street. Wei Ying continued, “Let’s deal with the stone castle issue first.” He then walked toward the shop. He didn’t notice before, but his leg felt a bit numb, probably from Zidian. I felt really angered about Jiang wanyin.

I couldn't hold it any longer. He still think that I didn't recognise him in this whole time. I stood behind him. I suddenly called out, “Wei Ying.”

Wei Ying’s figure paused. A second later, he pretended as if he didn’t hear the name, and answered, “What?”

I spoke, “This was transferred from Jin Ling’s body, was it not.”

Wei Ying didn’t say anything. I spoke again, “You met Jiang WanYin.”

Wei Ying turned around, “As long as both of us are alive in this world, we’d meet for sure, sooner or later.”

I said, “Do not go…” Don't leave me ever again.

Wei Ying asked, “If I don’t go, how am I supposed to leave? Are you gonna carry me on your back or something?”

I'll carry you. You are limping. I looked at him in silence. His smile froze on his face.

I walked in front of him, I really was going to bend down, kneel, and carry him on my back. Shock came upon Wei Ying once more, “Stop, stop. I wasn’t being serious. It’s only numb because I got hit by Zidian a few times, not that it broke. It’d look bad for a full-grown man like me to be carried on somebody else’s back.”

I asked, “Would it look bad?”

He replied, “Would it look good?”

After a moment of silence, I  responded, “But you have also carried me on your back before.”

Wei Ying asked, “Did such a thing ever happen? Why don’t I remember?”

Do you really forget that? You are the one who saved from the fangs of the Xuanwu of Slaughter. You carried me on your back and treat my wounds.  Now it's my turn to carry you.

I answered in an indifferent tone, “You never remember such things.” How can he forget this?

Wei Ying spoke, “Everyone says that I have a bad memory. Alright, fine. Anyways, I’m not letting you carry me on your back.”

I asked, “Are you sure?”

He replied in a resolute manner, “I’m sure.”

The two of us stayed silent for a while. Suddenly, I wrapped one of arms around his back and, as I bent down slightly, another went toward the back of his knees.

In his new body he was both shorter and lighter than me. Therefore, he was picked up easily, his body was embraced in my arms. He was horrified, “Lan Zhan!!!”

Carrying him, I both walked and replied to him steadily, “You said that you didn’t want to be carried on my back.”

Wei Ying said, "I didn’t say that I wanted to be carried like this either.”

Fortunately, it was already late in the night. There weren’t any people walking on the streets, so it wasn’t that embarrassing. Even though it is embarrassing I didn't care about those anymore. Having been carried for a few steps, he quickly relaxed. He grinned as he played with the front of my clothes, pretending to tug at it, “So you want to see whose face is thicker?”

I looked straight forward and made no reaction. I didn't pay attention to his silly jokes. I endured everything in silence.

Wei Ying asked, “Lan Zhan, you’ve known that it was me ever since we were at Dafan Mountain, right?”

I said, “Yes.”

He wondered, “How could you tell?”

I looked down at him, “You want to know?”

He declared, “Yes.”

I spoke, “You told me yourself.”

He asked, “Myself? Because of Jin Ling? Because I summoned Wen Ning? None of these, right?”

No. I recognised the moment you played our song Wangxian. You know it very well. But still pretending that you don't. I'm not telling you. Think about the events.

I spoke in a serious tone, “Think.”

Wei Ying replied, “I only asked you because I can’t think of the reason.”

Really? you're playing with me. I refused to answer. With Wei Ying in my arms, I stepped into the inn. Aside from the front desk clerk who choked on some water, none of the bystanders acted strangely. As we arrived at the door of the room, Wei Ying spoke, “Okay. We’re here. It’s time for you to let me down. You don’t have a third hand to open the door…”

Before he finished his words, Carrying Wei Ying, I kicked the door open.