Times Have Changed [MDZS]

Chapter 5: Hide or Fight

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Chapter Five

“I will not decide for you, persuade you, nor force you to do things against your will. I will give you two choices, to hide or to fight. In either way, I promise to support you.”

Wei Wuxian clearly knew that what he just said wasn’t part of the plan. He was also well aware of the chilly glare coming from the other side of the room because someone like him couldn’t make himself stick with what was agreed upon. Wei Wuxian was and still a reckless man who would instead follow his heart than use measured steps and logic which moral basis is as shrouded as the Burial Mounds. After all, he was never a politician.

Persuading Wen Qing to join his camp was a good move, albeit was also what Wei Wuxian deemed as inappropriate. She was basically a sibling to him, and he wanted to give her the right of being his elder sister, the right to stand beside him with equal footing and make her own choices. Wen Qing could choose to continue turning a blind eye and he would still protect her and her family without further questioning her decision. Deciding the destiny of these people was what he did once; it all ended up falling into damnation, was not it?  Now, it was up to Wen Qing if she would choose to hide or to fight. As he said, he would support them under any circumstances, doing everything so they could stay safe.

“Wei Wuxian, I’m a healer, not a warrior. More so, I already have no future on Wen Rouhan’s side. I will not make a good spy. So what do you want me to do if I choose to fight?” Wen Qing calmly asked with her very present probing astute gaze.

Wen Qing’s question was somewhat harsh, but it also showed that she’s still undecided.

Wei Wuxian winced a little but decided to answer anyway, “You’re a diplomat, reputation always been good. I heard people wanting you to take over...that…is what I want you to do should you choose to fight.”

“You mean to make me the new sect leader,” Wen Qing sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose as though she was contemplating in exasperation. Clearly, this burden was something that she was expecting for Wei Wuxian to come up with though not what she would easily embrace with open arms.

“I don’t believe that every Wen has the same ideology as that Sect Leader Wen, your family as the best example. Girl, you should not be selfish, only thinking about your family and not giving the others a way out,” the all-knowing elderly voice of the demonic beast resounded.

Wen Qing looked up with a glint of annoyance in her eyes, annoyed because he said it so acidly, all the more, had in some ways made her guilty. Elder Heiying was right. Not all the Wens had the same ideology as Wen Rouhan, not even some of the warriors she saw fighting in the conflagration in Wei Wuxian’s timeline.

Besides, what Wei Wuxian had said wasn’t a complete nonsense. There were indeed many cases that people wanted her to take over, many people who hoped for a way out. They had voiced it out, even at this moment, even before the war.

Wen Qing understood why in that timeline, her other self didn’t dare to hear the voices against the current regimen. She had experienced it, the pressure and fear when someone would take the courage to pull her into the shadows to plead for her to act, how scared she was inside, how she could only care for her family that Wen Rouhan used as her shackle, how she wished for things to turn better but didn't have the courage to start it with her.

Elder Heiying’s words had slapped her with the truth and guilt, the vision even so. Had she tried, what would the outcome be?

She knew she was wrong. Now that she was made aware that the road of indifference was a dead-end, that the Wen Sects fall was already set in stone, and if she didn’t act now, those innocent Wens would also die, why not try the other path? Why not be proactive this time?