p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"UNEXPECTED KITCHEN HAZARDS/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu sat behind the desk that had been his shifu's so many years ago, and tried not to be distracted by the handwriting of the account he was reading. The last few pages showed exactly which supplies he himself had ordered for Four Seasons Manor, but although the previous pages were technically of no use to him, he couldn't help but read the entries Qin Huaizhang had penned out and trace the characters with his finger. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Now the scent of dust and mould was gone, the Mansion almost restored to its full glory—that is the defence structures, the study, the hall and the bedrooms—he would sometimes close his eyes and imagine he were twenty years younger and one of many disciples here, living in peace and harmony, long before he became an assassin and even longer before he decided that he was done being one and would rather suffer a slow and agonizing death to escape./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Pretending anything was different was nonsensical anyway. He wasn't all that sure he'd change anything about his current situation even if he could—well, apart from the slow and agonizing death, perhaps. For the first time in years, he was happy. He had people around him he loved and who loved him in return—even if they were downright stupid, like his loyal disciple, and depraved, like the man who'd turned out to be his shidi as well as…something else./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A cook, for one. Both idiots were in the kitchen, preparing dinner. If he concentrated, Zhou Zishu could even smell a hint of ginger, although, of course, most of his sense of smell was gone by now, as well as his taste. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He looked up from his ledgers as he heard first a ringing bang and then the most curious sound. It wasn't really a sound at all, more the absorption of a sound, like a scream that was sucked back in just before being voiced. Then, there was shouting, by Chengling, and it sounded horrified and panicked and involved a lot of 'Shishu!' 'I'm sorry!' and 'Are you alright?'/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As there was no reply from Wen Kexing and Chengling's distress seemed to be rising, just as his voice, Zhou Zishu got up and quickly made his way to the kitchen./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A great billow of steam hit him in the face, hot enough to flush his face. It was coming from a pot that lay on the floor, whole but still glugging empty onto the floor. Its remaining contents, water, by the looks of it, or perhaps clear broth, were still bubbling. Wen Kexing was standing in the center of the kitchen, looking very pale and very calm while Chengling was doing an unintentionally comical chicken dance around him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What happened?" Zhou Zishu asked, flapping his sleeve to disperse the steam./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Our disciple is the clumsiest, blindest, stupidest little idiot ever born," Wen Kexing said in a curiously light tone of voice. Even though his face was relaxed, even showing a hint of a smile, there was a strange kind of energy coiling around him. Zhou Zishu had seen this before, and it made the small hairs at the back of his neck stand up in alarm. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Chengling, who was perhaps one of the most gloriously oblivious young men he'd ever met, also picked up on it, and regarded his shishu with a growing sense of dread. Instinctively, he moved away from Wen Kexing towards Zhou Zishu, who grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him outside. "What the hell happened?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I was…the pot…I don't know how but…my sleeve got caught…" He held up his arm. Curiously, the sleeve was missing its lower part. Zhou Zhishu suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, because even though Wen Kexing had made a habit of cutting his, Zishu's sleeves in a not so subtle show of intentions, he had no such intentions towards Chengling. A glance at the pot showed the piece of fabric snagged between the handle and the iron pot itself. "Wen-shishu pushed me out of the way, but he got…it fell all over him!" Chengling howled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu darted inside, ignoring the dark, violent energy that filled the kitchen like another kind of steam and raised his hand to touch Wen Kexing's face. "Lao Wen. Where…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing's left hand shot out and deflected his hand before it could make contact./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Don't. touch me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"His right arm, Zhou Zishu noticed, hung limp at his side. Thin tendrils of steam snaked from his soaked sleeve. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Chengling?" Zhou Zishu said calmly, "Fetch me a bucket of water. The colder the better." Chengling disappeared in a patter of feet. Zhou Zishu turned back to Wen Kexing, who answered his concerned gaze with that same disturbing blankness. "You. Stop it. Let me have a look at your arm."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Stop what?" Wen Kexing asked pleasantly, and emdamn it/em, Zhou Zishu wasn't easily scared but he had to clamp down on all his reflexes to not ram the palm of his hand against the chest of this creature and send him through the wall in self-defence. He knew Wen Kexing was an exceptionally skilled pugilist and that he had done things that might almost be as terrible as the things Zhou Zishu had done himself as Lunatic Wen, Master of Ghost Valley, but he'd never had any of that murderous madness directed at himself. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Stop being the Master of Ghost Valley. You're scaring Chengling and you're being a pain, you loon."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It does hurt," Wen Kexing nodded, eyes black and empty, and suddenly Zhou Zishu realised what had brought out Lunatic Wen to send his enemies screaming./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""For heaven's sake," he said, reaching out again, "you can show weakness here, no one will hold it against you and no one will…" A straight-fingered hand shot out and chopped at his left hand, ducked beneath his arm and blocked his right wrist in one movement. Zhou Zishu automatically fell into the habit that had grown ever since they'd become companions: he twirled round and swiped his foot against Wen Kexing's ankles. But even on auto-pilot, Wen Kexing had access to the memories of all those sparring sessions, petty fights and brawls: he jumped, evaded Zhou Zishu's leg, kicked off from the stove and slammed into him fist first, crashing the both of them out of the kitchen and into the courtyard. Zhou Zishu only barely got his arms crossed in front of him to guard his chest. He landed on his back, kept on rolling and unfolded to a stand, only to launch forward to aim a kick at Wen Kexing's right arm. The other man, however, kept his wounded limb pulled closely to his body and spun to avoid getting hit, lashing out with his other hand as momentum brought him back to face Zhou Zishu again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A blade of spiritual energy sliced past Zhou Zishu's shoulder, taking a whisp of hair with it and nicking his cheekbone. "Lao Wen!" he roared, and flung himself backwards to keep from losing more hair or, perhaps, his head. He guessed he was lucky Wen Kexing didn't cook with his fan in hand, or he'd have an even greater reach. "Would you snap out of it, you fucking asshole!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The other man's face still wore the same blank, vaguely amused expression and fighting him this way was terrifying. He showed no tells, no smirks, no quips; no one was home, but it didn't make him any less deadly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu doubled his efforts, cursing the nails for draining his capacity. As it was, he was still holding his own and he was fairly confident he could best Wen Kexing as long as he could get a hold on his wounded arm, but this was no longer a fun fight because Lao Wen might bruise him and bite him and hurt him but never actually emharm/em him, and Lao Wen had checked out for the night, leaving the Chief of Ghost Valley in charge. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It had never occurred to him that Wen Kexing and Lao Wen were that different. And they weren't exactly, not when it came to their fighting moves or style; but Zhou Zishu was used to trading insults and jabs with Wen Kexing while fighting, to Wen Kexing's outrageous flirting smiles and comments on the shapeliness of his body—now, there was silence. And because he was not familiar—still not familiar—with Wen Kexing's forms because he refused to conform to a single fighting style, this fight was more of a challenge than he'd anticipated. The more so because he wanted to have the other man down before Chengling returned./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"But Zhou Zishu had not been Window of Heaven's best assassin for ten years to get punked out by his addled…shidi? Soulmate? Lover? He feigned left, causing Wen Kexing to turn away to protect his injured arm and thereby leaving his left side exposed, stepped forward, ducked underneath the arm aiming for his throat and punched him as hard as he could in the stomach. Wen Kexing slammed double with a whooping gasp, and as he was defenceless, Zhou Zushi grabbed his right arm and dug his fingers into fabric and the flesh beneath it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing gave a breathless shriek and sent a stunning wave of energy into his direction, but Zhou Zishu simply twirled, pulling Wen Kexing's arm with him, and pulled it up to the breaking point behind the other man's back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Stop it," he panted, wrapping his other arm around Wen Kexing's heaving chest and placing his hand on his throat so that he had him trapped against his chest. "Stop it. It's alright." He felt the younger man's knees buckle and fastened his grip both around his body and on his arm. "I've got you." The flesh beneath his palm was strangely textured. He let the both of them slide slowly to the ground, making sure to keep him immobilized until he was certain no more attacks were forthcoming. Wen Kexing had begun to shake. But he still didn't say anything, and Zhou Zishu couldn't see his face, and of course Chengling chose that moment to return with his bucket of water./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He stopped a few paces away from them, confusion clear on his face. By now, he was more or less used to his shifu and shishu's strange behaviour, but he hadn't expected them to be sitting here in a bondage-like embrace, the both of them dishevelled and Zhou Zishu bleeding from the small cut on his cheek. "Shifu? Are you…are you both alright?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Fine," said Zhou Zishu, addressing him over Wen Kexing's drooping shoulder. The latter's head was down and Chengling couldn't see his face either, he could tell by the boy's attempts to judge his expression. "Why don't you put down the water and go and get us some bandages. Oh, and the ointment in the blue jar on the second…no, third shelf in the lotus cupboard." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Uh, yes." Chengling hesitated. "Um, are you sure you don't need any…help?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing tensed, his ribcage swelling in hitches beneath Zhou Zishu's lower arm. "Just go and get the bandages."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As the boy skipped off, he pressed his face into Wen Kexing's nape, nuzzling through the fall of sleek hair until his lips touched skin, and whispered, "You can let go now. I've got you. Nobody will abuse your weakness."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing kept sucking in air, remained silent apart from some very soft sounds of pain, but his free hand closed over Zhou Zishu's hand on his throat. Slowly, Zhou Zishu lowered his other hand, which was still clasped around Wen Kexing's wrist. Released him. Wen Kexing curled his injured arm around his stomach. Then he dragged Zhou Zishu's hand up so it covered his mouth and screamed, raw and loud but silenced, and again, the muted sound tearing out of his throat, until he collapsed against Zhou Zishu's chest, panting. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You good?" Zhou Zishu asked, and the other laughed. It sounded a little like a sob./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xu. I just got doused in boiling broth from shoulder to fingertips, I smell overwhelmingly of chicken soup and I almost killed you. The sun rises over the pool, feathers shine like jewels, it is a beautiful day."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu gently pulled away and squatted down in front of him. "You didn't 'almost kill' me, you arrogant bastard. You didn't even come close." He reached out, tentatively, and cupped Wen Kexing's jaw, forcing him to look at him. He was still awfully pale, but the vacant half-smile was gone, replaced by a barely controlled expression of agony. There was a wet stripe on his left cheek, which Zhou Zishu carefully wiped away with his thumb before sealing the acupoint in his shoulder. "Let's have a look at your arm, shall we?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Now Lunatic Wen was back locked up in the attic, Wen Kexing was as docile as a lamb. He let himself be led to the seats and table just outside the kitchen and let Zhou Zishu take off his outer and middle layer, until he got to his shirt, which was stuck against his skin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I guess I'm happy I was wearing a lot of layers," Wen Kexing said with pasty-faced yet sincere positivity. "This could've…aah…been a lot…ow…worse Zhou Zishu, you're killing me here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Hn," said Zhou Zishu, with a look at the flame red hand that peeked out of the zhongyi sleeve, its fingers deformed by yellow and clear blisters. He remembered squeezing down on that arm and sincerely hoped he hadn't caused any permanent damage. Using a ladle, he began to pour water from the bucket over Wen Kexing's arm, hoping it would unstick the fabric and cool his injuries./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What just happened?" he asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't know."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Were you aware of fighting me?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I…don't know. Yes. No. emMy shadow follows my body like a slave/em."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu clacked his tongue. "No poetry. You know I can't follow a word you say when you resort to poetry." He trickled more water over the soaked sleeve. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing lay his head on his good arm on the table. "I can't explain it. It's never happened before. Or maybe it has." He frowned, closed his eyes when the weight of the water pressed his shirt against the burns./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I have a theory," Zhou Zishu said. He checked that Chengling hadn't returned yet and kept his voice low./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Amaze me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""In Ghost Valley, if you show pain or weakness, what happens?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You get torn apart," Wen Kexing stated matter-of-factly. "Unless A-Xiang is there to cover for…you…" He trailed off, then snorted. "This is not Ghost Valley."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""And neither is Gu Xiang here to shield you." He gently peeled another bit of sleeve down, stopping when the fabric wouldn't go any further and Wen Kexing jerked beneath his hands. Close to his shoulder, his skin was bright red but smooth. The sleeve seemed to be stuck on a patch of skin that hadn't fared as well. "You have a high pain threshold and you're capable enough to defend yourself…pretty much as long as you can stand and have one arm available." Wen Kexing smirked in memory, but as it wasn't a shared memory, Zhou Zishu kept talking. "My theory is that if you get pushed past that pain threshold, if your body goes into shock, you fall back on Chief of Ghost Valley reflexes. Which means showing no pain, no weakness, and establishing dominance by attacking."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What other way is there to establish d-dominance?" Wen Kexing asked, trying for flirtatious and only succeeding in pitiful because his teeth had started to chatter. The wind was cold and he was shivering in his thin, wet shirt. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu reached around him and draped his discarded robes over his back and shoulder. "There isn't always need for it," he said quietly, and drizzled more water over the other man's arm. "Dominance."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""How else would I get on top?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Shut up. You're scandalizing Chengling."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Chengling isn't here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Uh, yes, Shishu, I am," Chengling spoke up from behind him. He did not sound scandalized, though, only wary because he'd missed most of the conversation and had no clue if and how he was involved, and Wen Kexing chuckled a little. "How am I being scandalized? Aah, that looks so painful…" He blanched in sympathy, tears of guilt forming in his eyes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu silently concurred. Bit by bit, cooling all the while, he had stripped off the entire sleeve, baring the burns and the blisters and the nasty, bleeding, seeping wounds he himself had caused by grabbing and twisting Wen Kexing's arm just below the elbow and tearing the blisters there. Just as he was about to start applying ointment, Wen Kexing jerked upright and exclaimed, "The rice!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What?" Zhou Zishu asked, bewildered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""We won't have any soup, but if we still want to have anything to eat, you have to take the rice off the fire right now, and the vegetables too, or it'll all burn to a cinder. Now, you little idiot! emNow/em!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Chengling ran off again. Wen Kexing put his head down on his arm again. Zhou Zishu smirked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Food is a good motivator."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Especially when you vomit at the sight of wounds." He gazed impassively at the mess on his arm. "Aren't you happy, A-Xu? Lots of puss and fluids but almost no blood." He inhaled sharply when Zhou Zishu began to spread the ointment (he checked the container and held it out to Wen Kexing to sniff to make sure it was burn balm instead of tiger balm) on his ravaged flesh. His face was going disturbingly expressionless again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu left him for a moment, both to let him recuperate and to fetch a piece of thick, well-worn leather from the apothecary. "Hey, Valley Master Wen, bite down on this."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't need leather. I need wine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You'll puke it all out and waste good wine. Bite down on this. I don't want you to go all dark and nasty on me again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Never bothered you before, your cute wife going dark and nasty on you," Wen Kexing muttered, but he clenched the piece of leather between his teeth and buried his face in the folds of his pao while Zhou Zishu covered his arm in salve and then carefully bandaged it with clean strips of cotton gauze. By the time he was finished, Wen Kexing was covered in sweat, limp and shivering and close to passing out with pain, so Chengling and Zhou Zishou guided him inside and tucked him into bed so he could cry silently and unperturbed into his pillow for a while./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"In the middle of dinner, which consisted of partly burnt rice and very soft stir-fry, Wen Kexing dragged himself out of bed and lowered himself into his chair, quite pale but also pretty much normal, apart from the fact that he was still wearing only white zhongyi, which somehow made him look very young and vulnerable./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Chengling immediately spooned rice and vegetables into a clean bowl and handed it to him, eyes glistening with remorse./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing smiled sharply. "Are you going to drip piss from your eyes whenever you look at me until I'm better, little idiot?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's my fault you got hurt," Chengling said tearfully./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Aiya, did you get your sleeve stuck on that pot on purpose? Did you intend for me to get burned? If I hadn't pushed you out of the way, your entire torso would look like my arm and I'd be wasting just as much qi trying to heal you as I'm doing now healing my arm." He picked up his chopsticks with his left hand and made a moue of distaste. "A philanthropist can expect to get hurt doing good deeds once in a while. It rather loses its charm when the one you save keeps bawling whenever you're near." He clumsily poked his chopsticks into his food and clacked his tongue. "I can't eat this way. A-Xu, feed me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Of course it was A-Xu, not Chengling who was expected to wait on him. Zhou Zishu looked at him from beneath the fringe of his lashes, preparing for a full blast of puppy eyes. He hadn't expected blackmail to enter the equation as well. "A-Xu," Wen Kexing whispered, and his lower lip trembled with pain and helplessness. "You hurt me so badly this afternoon, and now you won't even help me regain my strength?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wordlessly, Zhou Zishu moved over, picked up his bowl, pulled the chopsticks from his fingers and started feeding him. Wen Kexing lit up with delight./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You are utterly despicable," said Zhou Zishu, who wished he could send Chengling on another fetch quest so he could kiss the other man silly. But Chengling was still chewing and sat basking in Wen Kexing's glow of happiness as if it were a rare ray of sunshine on a rainy day. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Do we have any wine?" Wen Kexing asked. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Part two/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu woke up a shi past midnight. The nails were playing up again and he tensed in discomfort, writhing a little to escape the pain before giving up and abandoning sleep altogether. It wasn't too bad this time, though, more of a scratchy, scraping feeling than the debilitating agony they sometimes caused, which explained why he had managed to sleep through a substantial part of it. He opened his eyes. Normally, he woke to a warm body shamelessly cosying up to him; Wen Kexing seemed to have a special sense for detecting the slightest shift in breathing in Zhou Zishu that indicated he was in pain, and never refrained from taking advantage of it. Zhou Zishu never pushed him away when the nails were acting up. He told himself that was because Wen Kexing's body heat and, when it was very bad, qi transfusion made him feel better and it was more trouble to kick him off than it was to let the man hold him, but if he were completely honest with himself—which he never was, because it forced him to accept he was a fucking doormat—he just liked being held./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The fact that he woke up on his own was surprising. Well, maybe not; the other man had suffered second and third degree burns only the afternoon before. He was probably asleep. When he opened his eyes, however, he noticed that the bed on the other side of the room was empty. Frowning, he sat up. A healing sleep he could understand, but there was no reason for him to get up. Maybe he went to the bathroom./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu told himself to get a grip and concentrated on his disrupted qi, but when Wen Kexing hadn't returned one ke later, he slid out of bed, shrugged on a middle layer and quietly made his way to the main room. Nothing. He frowned and glanced outside. It was quite cold. Surely the idiot wouldn't have gone for a midnight stroll? Zhou Zishu checked the kitchen, suspecting Wen Kexing of resorting to wine as a form of self-medication, but the kitchen was empty as well. Feeling a hint of worry, he walked to the study and peeked inside. At first he didn't see him, because he was sitting very still and wasn't in a logical spot, but as Zhou Zishou noticed a draft and looked towards the window, he noticed Wen Kexing curled up on a stack of books they had placed on the floor in order to repair the bookcase they belonged in. The window was open and his bandaged arm rested on the sill. He was only wearing zhongyi and the shirt had fallen open, bearing his chest to his midriff./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu made his way towards him, making sure to make just enough noise as not to startle him, and lowered himself in the chair behind the desk, which was positioned next to the window. Wen Kexing turned his head towards him in acknowledgement of his presence, then looked back outside. The moon was out, and its light caught his profile in gleaming white and sharp black shadows. Zhou Zishu expected him to strike up conversation, or at least make some kind of saucy remark, like 'Couldn't sleep without me, A-Xu?', but he kept quiet./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It was he himself who finally broke the silence. "Are you alright?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing nodded very slowly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Aren't you cold?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's better than the burning."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu winced. "I'm sorry."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Not your fault." He sighed, leaned his head against the window. After some time, Zhou Zishu thought he'd fallen asleep, but all of a sudden he began to talk in the singsong he also used when telling Chengling fairy tales. "Once upon a time, there was a family of crickets: a father, a mother and a child. They were all bright green and spent their lives basking in the sun and singing in the dusk. Their only fear was to be captured and put into a jar, but even that was a mild fate. The father and the mother cricket devoted a great deal of their time teaching their child the ways of the cricket. How to sing. How to jump. How to bring good luck and health. But the cricket child rather played in the mud."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu opened his mouth, but kept himself from speaking./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing went on, still in that same distant tone, "Then disaster struck, and the cricket parents were killed by a swarm of locusts. They resembled the crickets, but their bodies were dust brown instead of emerald green, and they devoured everything that came on their path. The cricket child, covered in mud, was terrified the locusts would kill him too, and so he pretended he was one of them. The leader of the locusts knew very well that the cricket child wasn't one of them, but he thought it was amusing to take the child with him and see how long he'd last./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'As it turned out, the cricket child was very good at pretence. It flew along with the swarm and razed fields and orchards. Instead of being greeted by men as a sign of good luck, he was cursed and feared. But at least he was alive. Slowly but certainly, the cricket forgot what it had been brought up to do. Its life was the swarm, surviving in the swarm. It became very good at that, even besting the leader and killing him in front of all the other locusts. Its transformation was so complete, in fact, that when at one point it went to bathe itself in a pool of dew, it noticed that the mud wouldn't come off anymore. The cricket child had lost its emerald green colour and was now just as dust-coloured as the locusts."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Lao Wen…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Shh. Now we get to the good part. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'When the cricket child realized it had embraced the vicious way of the locusts, it was understandably horrified. The locusts were reviled and dreaded by everyone. The only ones who didn't hate them were the big birds who weren't afraid to fly through the edges of the swarm, and even they had to be very careful not to stay too far. But there was one thing that the locusts feared themselves, and that was fire./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'So after thinking for a long time, the cricket child, who was now the leader of the locusts, came up with a plan. He went to see a farmer of a great big peach orchard. The orchard had been struck with a disease, and although the trees were carrying fruit, they were all rotting on the branches. The cricket child approached the farmer and struck a deal with it. The following day, just before dawn, it led the locust swarm to the diseased orchard, and the locusts, not even noticing the rot or the dead dry twigs scattered all around, descended upon the peaches. Thousands upon thousands of insects covered the trees and gnawed them down to the roots. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'It was at this point that the farmer ignited the oil-soaked rags he had left surrounding the orchard. The fire spread to the dry twigs; soon the entire orchard was ablaze. The locusts' fragile wings caught fire in mid-air. None of them were spared. The swarm fled this way and that like a dancing ghost, thousands of tiny bodies lighting up like a single spark and then falling to earth, extinguished./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'Before the sun had risen above the horizon, everything was gone. The orchard: gone. The locust swarm: wiped out. The fire had cleansed both the rot from the orchard and the evil of the locusts."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu put his elbows on his knees. "What about the cricket? Did it escape?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Of course not," Wen Kexing said dreamily. "It was part of the locusts, wasn't it? So it died with them. But the funny thing was, that when the farmer, when he ventured out onto his land, found the corpse of the cricket. And it had turned bright green again, even though it was burnt by the fire." He smiled. It was a highly disturbing smile: beautiful and beatific./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Is that what you have planned? To lead Ghost Valley into death and ruin and go down in a blaze of glory?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's just a story, A-Xu," Wen Kexing murmured. He picked up a flask that had been sitting on the other side of the books and took a sip from it—proving Zhou Zishu's initial thought right: he'd been self-medicating. Judging by the angle he needed to get something out of the flask, for some time already. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Who knows, the story might have a different ending. Perhaps, before he could lead the locusts to their deaths, the daughter, no, the son of the farmer caught the cricket and put it in a jar for safekeeping. Maybe the cricket lived happily ever after." He grinned, showing too many teeth. "Better?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I really hate your stories," Zhou Zishu said. He coughed, placed a hand on his chest. "Any of that wine left?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing shook the flask, shrugged and handed it over. "Are the nails bothering you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A little. It's not too bad." He took a swig./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing's eyes unfocused. "One time, there was a king's moth that had lost its entire family to a collector who liked to pin their bodies to a plank and keep them in a glass encasement…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu reached out and placed the back of his hand against Wen Kexing's forehead. "You're burning up."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""That's what I said, didn't I?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No, I mean you have a fever." He slid his hand lower to his neck, where he felt even hotter./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing didn't seem much perturbed. "I do? Ah. That explains."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Explains what? Close the window, you need to get into bed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing didn't budge. He made a swirling gesture at his own head. "The stories. They're pouring out like treacle. It's exhausting. I can't shut them down."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Would you like to?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing paused, considering. "I don't know. It's frustrating not to get to know the endings. Like the moth. In order to escape the collector, it put pins into its own body so the collector wouldn't kill it, and so it escaped. But what happens then? Does the moth survive? Does it die after all because the pins have destroyed its meridians? Or can it be cured and fly away to be with me and Chengling for as many years as fate would deign to give it?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu stared at him. It felt as if an additional nail had entered his body, right in the heart. Damn this man for coming into his life. Damn him for refusing to leave. Damn him for caring. And he himself be damned for needing him so much. He felt actual tears burning in his eyes. Blinked them away. "I don't know."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Well, if the moth dies, we'll also know the ending of the story of the cricket," Wen Kexing said softly. "Ah, A-Xu, are you crying? Don't be sad, it's just a story."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't cry over stories," Zhou Zishu said curtly. He got up and surreptitiously wiped his eyes. "Come on, get up. You should be in bed—you can't sit next to an open window when you have a fever. You shouldn't be drinking with a fever either. Don't you know anything about basic medicine? I'll make you some willow bark tea." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ignoring Wen Kexing's protests that he was fine and that the cool air was beneficial, and that he didn't need medicine and most certainly not in the middle of the night, and that the fire was out and it was too much of a hassle anyway, Zhou Zishu towed him along to the bedroom and glared at him until he lay down. If he thought he had won, though, he was sorely mistaken./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I really don't need any willow bark," Wen Kexing said. He stretched out his left arm. "Come lie next to me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""If you wanted to lie next to me, you should have done that in the first place instead of getting up to get drunk in front of an open window."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xu was sleeping. I didn't want to disturb you," Wen Kexing protested, wielding his consideration and accompanying round, pleading eyes like a weapon. "I don't want to disturb your rest now. You can make willow bark tea for me tomorrow." When Zhou Zishu kept staring at him he sighed dramatically, closed his eyes, and shivered. "I wasn't cold at the window. Now I am. Goose bumps are so, so painful when your skin is all burnt."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""For fuck's sake," Zhou Zishu muttered, grabbed his own blanket and plunked down beside him. "Alright. Here I am. Careful now."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You can put your arm around me," Wen Kexing said smugly, and wriggled onto his side so his back lay against Zhou Zishu's front, his hurt arm positioned on the extra pillow Chengling had provided for him. "I'll be fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Of course you will." Zhou Zishu pushed away a handful of hair. Normally Wen Kexing curved up behind him, not the other way around. How did one keep from inhaling a lungful of hair? But in the end, they were both comfortable. Wen Kexing was wonderfully hot, like a stove, and Zhou Zishu went out like a light in spite of the aching nails. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing listened to his breathing and registered the exact moment he fell asleep. He himself couldn't find rest yet: his arm hurt too much, especially without the cold wind to cool him down, and his fever dreams were painted in vivid colours against the backs of his eyelids. Flames and crickets and moths and locusts. But the fever would pass, just like the pain and for the moment, that was enough./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu sat behind the desk that had been his shifu's so many years ago, and tried not to be distracted by the handwriting of the account he was reading. The last few pages showed exactly which supplies he himself had ordered for Four Seasons Manor, but although the previous pages were technically of no use to him, he couldn't help but read the entries Qin Huaizhang had penned out and trace the characters with his finger. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Now the scent of dust and mould was gone, the Mansion almost restored to its full glory—that is the defence structures, the study, the hall and the bedrooms—he would sometimes close his eyes and imagine he were twenty years younger and one of many disciples here, living in peace and harmony, long before he became an assassin and even longer before he decided that he was done being one and would rather suffer a slow and agonizing death to escape./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Pretending anything was different was nonsensical anyway. He wasn't all that sure he'd change anything about his current situation even if he could—well, apart from the slow and agonizing death, perhaps. For the first time in years, he was happy. He had people around him he loved and who loved him in return—even if they were downright stupid, like his loyal disciple, and depraved, like the man who'd turned out to be his shidi as well as…something else./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A cook, for one. Both idiots were in the kitchen, preparing dinner. If he concentrated, Zhou Zishu could even smell a hint of ginger, although, of course, most of his sense of smell was gone by now, as well as his taste. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He looked up from his ledgers as he heard first a ringing bang and then the most curious sound. It wasn't really a sound at all, more the absorption of a sound, like a scream that was sucked back in just before being voiced. Then, there was shouting, by Chengling, and it sounded horrified and panicked and involved a lot of 'Shishu!' 'I'm sorry!' and 'Are you alright?'/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As there was no reply from Wen Kexing and Chengling's distress seemed to be rising, just as his voice, Zhou Zishu got up and quickly made his way to the kitchen./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A great billow of steam hit him in the face, hot enough to flush his face. It was coming from a pot that lay on the floor, whole but still glugging empty onto the floor. Its remaining contents, water, by the looks of it, or perhaps clear broth, were still bubbling. Wen Kexing was standing in the center of the kitchen, looking very pale and very calm while Chengling was doing an unintentionally comical chicken dance around him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What happened?" Zhou Zishu asked, flapping his sleeve to disperse the steam./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Our disciple is the clumsiest, blindest, stupidest little idiot ever born," Wen Kexing said in a curiously light tone of voice. Even though his face was relaxed, even showing a hint of a smile, there was a strange kind of energy coiling around him. Zhou Zishu had seen this before, and it made the small hairs at the back of his neck stand up in alarm. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Chengling, who was perhaps one of the most gloriously oblivious young men he'd ever met, also picked up on it, and regarded his shishu with a growing sense of dread. Instinctively, he moved away from Wen Kexing towards Zhou Zishu, who grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him outside. "What the hell happened?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I was…the pot…I don't know how but…my sleeve got caught…" He held up his arm. Curiously, the sleeve was missing its lower part. Zhou Zhishu suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, because even though Wen Kexing had made a habit of cutting his, Zishu's sleeves in a not so subtle show of intentions, he had no such intentions towards Chengling. A glance at the pot showed the piece of fabric snagged between the handle and the iron pot itself. "Wen-shishu pushed me out of the way, but he got…it fell all over him!" Chengling howled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu darted inside, ignoring the dark, violent energy that filled the kitchen like another kind of steam and raised his hand to touch Wen Kexing's face. "Lao Wen. Where…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing's left hand shot out and deflected his hand before it could make contact./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Don't. touch me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"His right arm, Zhou Zishu noticed, hung limp at his side. Thin tendrils of steam snaked from his soaked sleeve. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Chengling?" Zhou Zishu said calmly, "Fetch me a bucket of water. The colder the better." Chengling disappeared in a patter of feet. Zhou Zishu turned back to Wen Kexing, who answered his concerned gaze with that same disturbing blankness. "You. Stop it. Let me have a look at your arm."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Stop what?" Wen Kexing asked pleasantly, and emdamn it/em, Zhou Zishu wasn't easily scared but he had to clamp down on all his reflexes to not ram the palm of his hand against the chest of this creature and send him through the wall in self-defence. He knew Wen Kexing was an exceptionally skilled pugilist and that he had done things that might almost be as terrible as the things Zhou Zishu had done himself as Lunatic Wen, Master of Ghost Valley, but he'd never had any of that murderous madness directed at himself. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Stop being the Master of Ghost Valley. You're scaring Chengling and you're being a pain, you loon."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It does hurt," Wen Kexing nodded, eyes black and empty, and suddenly Zhou Zishu realised what had brought out Lunatic Wen to send his enemies screaming./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""For heaven's sake," he said, reaching out again, "you can show weakness here, no one will hold it against you and no one will…" A straight-fingered hand shot out and chopped at his left hand, ducked beneath his arm and blocked his right wrist in one movement. Zhou Zishu automatically fell into the habit that had grown ever since they'd become companions: he twirled round and swiped his foot against Wen Kexing's ankles. But even on auto-pilot, Wen Kexing had access to the memories of all those sparring sessions, petty fights and brawls: he jumped, evaded Zhou Zishu's leg, kicked off from the stove and slammed into him fist first, crashing the both of them out of the kitchen and into the courtyard. Zhou Zishu only barely got his arms crossed in front of him to guard his chest. He landed on his back, kept on rolling and unfolded to a stand, only to launch forward to aim a kick at Wen Kexing's right arm. The other man, however, kept his wounded limb pulled closely to his body and spun to avoid getting hit, lashing out with his other hand as momentum brought him back to face Zhou Zishu again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"A blade of spiritual energy sliced past Zhou Zishu's shoulder, taking a whisp of hair with it and nicking his cheekbone. "Lao Wen!" he roared, and flung himself backwards to keep from losing more hair or, perhaps, his head. He guessed he was lucky Wen Kexing didn't cook with his fan in hand, or he'd have an even greater reach. "Would you snap out of it, you fucking asshole!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The other man's face still wore the same blank, vaguely amused expression and fighting him this way was terrifying. He showed no tells, no smirks, no quips; no one was home, but it didn't make him any less deadly. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu doubled his efforts, cursing the nails for draining his capacity. As it was, he was still holding his own and he was fairly confident he could best Wen Kexing as long as he could get a hold on his wounded arm, but this was no longer a fun fight because Lao Wen might bruise him and bite him and hurt him but never actually emharm/em him, and Lao Wen had checked out for the night, leaving the Chief of Ghost Valley in charge. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It had never occurred to him that Wen Kexing and Lao Wen were that different. And they weren't exactly, not when it came to their fighting moves or style; but Zhou Zishu was used to trading insults and jabs with Wen Kexing while fighting, to Wen Kexing's outrageous flirting smiles and comments on the shapeliness of his body—now, there was silence. And because he was not familiar—still not familiar—with Wen Kexing's forms because he refused to conform to a single fighting style, this fight was more of a challenge than he'd anticipated. The more so because he wanted to have the other man down before Chengling returned./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"But Zhou Zishu had not been Window of Heaven's best assassin for ten years to get punked out by his addled…shidi? Soulmate? Lover? He feigned left, causing Wen Kexing to turn away to protect his injured arm and thereby leaving his left side exposed, stepped forward, ducked underneath the arm aiming for his throat and punched him as hard as he could in the stomach. Wen Kexing slammed double with a whooping gasp, and as he was defenceless, Zhou Zushi grabbed his right arm and dug his fingers into fabric and the flesh beneath it./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing gave a breathless shriek and sent a stunning wave of energy into his direction, but Zhou Zishu simply twirled, pulling Wen Kexing's arm with him, and pulled it up to the breaking point behind the other man's back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Stop it," he panted, wrapping his other arm around Wen Kexing's heaving chest and placing his hand on his throat so that he had him trapped against his chest. "Stop it. It's alright." He felt the younger man's knees buckle and fastened his grip both around his body and on his arm. "I've got you." The flesh beneath his palm was strangely textured. He let the both of them slide slowly to the ground, making sure to keep him immobilized until he was certain no more attacks were forthcoming. Wen Kexing had begun to shake. But he still didn't say anything, and Zhou Zishu couldn't see his face, and of course Chengling chose that moment to return with his bucket of water./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"He stopped a few paces away from them, confusion clear on his face. By now, he was more or less used to his shifu and shishu's strange behaviour, but he hadn't expected them to be sitting here in a bondage-like embrace, the both of them dishevelled and Zhou Zishu bleeding from the small cut on his cheek. "Shifu? Are you…are you both alright?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Fine," said Zhou Zishu, addressing him over Wen Kexing's drooping shoulder. The latter's head was down and Chengling couldn't see his face either, he could tell by the boy's attempts to judge his expression. "Why don't you put down the water and go and get us some bandages. Oh, and the ointment in the blue jar on the second…no, third shelf in the lotus cupboard." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Uh, yes." Chengling hesitated. "Um, are you sure you don't need any…help?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing tensed, his ribcage swelling in hitches beneath Zhou Zishu's lower arm. "Just go and get the bandages."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"As the boy skipped off, he pressed his face into Wen Kexing's nape, nuzzling through the fall of sleek hair until his lips touched skin, and whispered, "You can let go now. I've got you. Nobody will abuse your weakness."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing kept sucking in air, remained silent apart from some very soft sounds of pain, but his free hand closed over Zhou Zishu's hand on his throat. Slowly, Zhou Zishu lowered his other hand, which was still clasped around Wen Kexing's wrist. Released him. Wen Kexing curled his injured arm around his stomach. Then he dragged Zhou Zishu's hand up so it covered his mouth and screamed, raw and loud but silenced, and again, the muted sound tearing out of his throat, until he collapsed against Zhou Zishu's chest, panting. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You good?" Zhou Zishu asked, and the other laughed. It sounded a little like a sob./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xu. I just got doused in boiling broth from shoulder to fingertips, I smell overwhelmingly of chicken soup and I almost killed you. The sun rises over the pool, feathers shine like jewels, it is a beautiful day."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu gently pulled away and squatted down in front of him. "You didn't 'almost kill' me, you arrogant bastard. You didn't even come close." He reached out, tentatively, and cupped Wen Kexing's jaw, forcing him to look at him. He was still awfully pale, but the vacant half-smile was gone, replaced by a barely controlled expression of agony. There was a wet stripe on his left cheek, which Zhou Zishu carefully wiped away with his thumb before sealing the acupoint in his shoulder. "Let's have a look at your arm, shall we?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Now Lunatic Wen was back locked up in the attic, Wen Kexing was as docile as a lamb. He let himself be led to the seats and table just outside the kitchen and let Zhou Zishu take off his outer and middle layer, until he got to his shirt, which was stuck against his skin./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I guess I'm happy I was wearing a lot of layers," Wen Kexing said with pasty-faced yet sincere positivity. "This could've…aah…been a lot…ow…worse Zhou Zishu, you're killing me here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Hn," said Zhou Zishu, with a look at the flame red hand that peeked out of the zhongyi sleeve, its fingers deformed by yellow and clear blisters. He remembered squeezing down on that arm and sincerely hoped he hadn't caused any permanent damage. Using a ladle, he began to pour water from the bucket over Wen Kexing's arm, hoping it would unstick the fabric and cool his injuries./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What just happened?" he asked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't know."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Were you aware of fighting me?" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I…don't know. Yes. No. emMy shadow follows my body like a slave/em."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu clacked his tongue. "No poetry. You know I can't follow a word you say when you resort to poetry." He trickled more water over the soaked sleeve. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing lay his head on his good arm on the table. "I can't explain it. It's never happened before. Or maybe it has." He frowned, closed his eyes when the weight of the water pressed his shirt against the burns./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I have a theory," Zhou Zishu said. He checked that Chengling hadn't returned yet and kept his voice low./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Amaze me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""In Ghost Valley, if you show pain or weakness, what happens?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You get torn apart," Wen Kexing stated matter-of-factly. "Unless A-Xiang is there to cover for…you…" He trailed off, then snorted. "This is not Ghost Valley."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""And neither is Gu Xiang here to shield you." He gently peeled another bit of sleeve down, stopping when the fabric wouldn't go any further and Wen Kexing jerked beneath his hands. Close to his shoulder, his skin was bright red but smooth. The sleeve seemed to be stuck on a patch of skin that hadn't fared as well. "You have a high pain threshold and you're capable enough to defend yourself…pretty much as long as you can stand and have one arm available." Wen Kexing smirked in memory, but as it wasn't a shared memory, Zhou Zishu kept talking. "My theory is that if you get pushed past that pain threshold, if your body goes into shock, you fall back on Chief of Ghost Valley reflexes. Which means showing no pain, no weakness, and establishing dominance by attacking."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What other way is there to establish d-dominance?" Wen Kexing asked, trying for flirtatious and only succeeding in pitiful because his teeth had started to chatter. The wind was cold and he was shivering in his thin, wet shirt. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu reached around him and draped his discarded robes over his back and shoulder. "There isn't always need for it," he said quietly, and drizzled more water over the other man's arm. "Dominance."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""How else would I get on top?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Shut up. You're scandalizing Chengling."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Chengling isn't here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Uh, yes, Shishu, I am," Chengling spoke up from behind him. He did not sound scandalized, though, only wary because he'd missed most of the conversation and had no clue if and how he was involved, and Wen Kexing chuckled a little. "How am I being scandalized? Aah, that looks so painful…" He blanched in sympathy, tears of guilt forming in his eyes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu silently concurred. Bit by bit, cooling all the while, he had stripped off the entire sleeve, baring the burns and the blisters and the nasty, bleeding, seeping wounds he himself had caused by grabbing and twisting Wen Kexing's arm just below the elbow and tearing the blisters there. Just as he was about to start applying ointment, Wen Kexing jerked upright and exclaimed, "The rice!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What?" Zhou Zishu asked, bewildered./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""We won't have any soup, but if we still want to have anything to eat, you have to take the rice off the fire right now, and the vegetables too, or it'll all burn to a cinder. Now, you little idiot! emNow/em!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Chengling ran off again. Wen Kexing put his head down on his arm again. Zhou Zishu smirked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Food is a good motivator."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Especially when you vomit at the sight of wounds." He gazed impassively at the mess on his arm. "Aren't you happy, A-Xu? Lots of puss and fluids but almost no blood." He inhaled sharply when Zhou Zishu began to spread the ointment (he checked the container and held it out to Wen Kexing to sniff to make sure it was burn balm instead of tiger balm) on his ravaged flesh. His face was going disturbingly expressionless again./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu left him for a moment, both to let him recuperate and to fetch a piece of thick, well-worn leather from the apothecary. "Hey, Valley Master Wen, bite down on this."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't need leather. I need wine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You'll puke it all out and waste good wine. Bite down on this. I don't want you to go all dark and nasty on me again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Never bothered you before, your cute wife going dark and nasty on you," Wen Kexing muttered, but he clenched the piece of leather between his teeth and buried his face in the folds of his pao while Zhou Zishu covered his arm in salve and then carefully bandaged it with clean strips of cotton gauze. By the time he was finished, Wen Kexing was covered in sweat, limp and shivering and close to passing out with pain, so Chengling and Zhou Zishou guided him inside and tucked him into bed so he could cry silently and unperturbed into his pillow for a while./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"In the middle of dinner, which consisted of partly burnt rice and very soft stir-fry, Wen Kexing dragged himself out of bed and lowered himself into his chair, quite pale but also pretty much normal, apart from the fact that he was still wearing only white zhongyi, which somehow made him look very young and vulnerable./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Chengling immediately spooned rice and vegetables into a clean bowl and handed it to him, eyes glistening with remorse./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing smiled sharply. "Are you going to drip piss from your eyes whenever you look at me until I'm better, little idiot?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's my fault you got hurt," Chengling said tearfully./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Aiya, did you get your sleeve stuck on that pot on purpose? Did you intend for me to get burned? If I hadn't pushed you out of the way, your entire torso would look like my arm and I'd be wasting just as much qi trying to heal you as I'm doing now healing my arm." He picked up his chopsticks with his left hand and made a moue of distaste. "A philanthropist can expect to get hurt doing good deeds once in a while. It rather loses its charm when the one you save keeps bawling whenever you're near." He clumsily poked his chopsticks into his food and clacked his tongue. "I can't eat this way. A-Xu, feed me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Of course it was A-Xu, not Chengling who was expected to wait on him. Zhou Zishu looked at him from beneath the fringe of his lashes, preparing for a full blast of puppy eyes. He hadn't expected blackmail to enter the equation as well. "A-Xu," Wen Kexing whispered, and his lower lip trembled with pain and helplessness. "You hurt me so badly this afternoon, and now you won't even help me regain my strength?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wordlessly, Zhou Zishu moved over, picked up his bowl, pulled the chopsticks from his fingers and started feeding him. Wen Kexing lit up with delight./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You are utterly despicable," said Zhou Zishu, who wished he could send Chengling on another fetch quest so he could kiss the other man silly. But Chengling was still chewing and sat basking in Wen Kexing's glow of happiness as if it were a rare ray of sunshine on a rainy day. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Do we have any wine?" Wen Kexing asked. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Part two/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu woke up a shi past midnight. The nails were playing up again and he tensed in discomfort, writhing a little to escape the pain before giving up and abandoning sleep altogether. It wasn't too bad this time, though, more of a scratchy, scraping feeling than the debilitating agony they sometimes caused, which explained why he had managed to sleep through a substantial part of it. He opened his eyes. Normally, he woke to a warm body shamelessly cosying up to him; Wen Kexing seemed to have a special sense for detecting the slightest shift in breathing in Zhou Zishu that indicated he was in pain, and never refrained from taking advantage of it. Zhou Zishu never pushed him away when the nails were acting up. He told himself that was because Wen Kexing's body heat and, when it was very bad, qi transfusion made him feel better and it was more trouble to kick him off than it was to let the man hold him, but if he were completely honest with himself—which he never was, because it forced him to accept he was a fucking doormat—he just liked being held./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The fact that he woke up on his own was surprising. Well, maybe not; the other man had suffered second and third degree burns only the afternoon before. He was probably asleep. When he opened his eyes, however, he noticed that the bed on the other side of the room was empty. Frowning, he sat up. A healing sleep he could understand, but there was no reason for him to get up. Maybe he went to the bathroom./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu told himself to get a grip and concentrated on his disrupted qi, but when Wen Kexing hadn't returned one ke later, he slid out of bed, shrugged on a middle layer and quietly made his way to the main room. Nothing. He frowned and glanced outside. It was quite cold. Surely the idiot wouldn't have gone for a midnight stroll? Zhou Zishu checked the kitchen, suspecting Wen Kexing of resorting to wine as a form of self-medication, but the kitchen was empty as well. Feeling a hint of worry, he walked to the study and peeked inside. At first he didn't see him, because he was sitting very still and wasn't in a logical spot, but as Zhou Zishou noticed a draft and looked towards the window, he noticed Wen Kexing curled up on a stack of books they had placed on the floor in order to repair the bookcase they belonged in. The window was open and his bandaged arm rested on the sill. He was only wearing zhongyi and the shirt had fallen open, bearing his chest to his midriff./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu made his way towards him, making sure to make just enough noise as not to startle him, and lowered himself in the chair behind the desk, which was positioned next to the window. Wen Kexing turned his head towards him in acknowledgement of his presence, then looked back outside. The moon was out, and its light caught his profile in gleaming white and sharp black shadows. Zhou Zishu expected him to strike up conversation, or at least make some kind of saucy remark, like 'Couldn't sleep without me, A-Xu?', but he kept quiet./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It was he himself who finally broke the silence. "Are you alright?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing nodded very slowly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Aren't you cold?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's better than the burning."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu winced. "I'm sorry."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Not your fault." He sighed, leaned his head against the window. After some time, Zhou Zishu thought he'd fallen asleep, but all of a sudden he began to talk in the singsong he also used when telling Chengling fairy tales. "Once upon a time, there was a family of crickets: a father, a mother and a child. They were all bright green and spent their lives basking in the sun and singing in the dusk. Their only fear was to be captured and put into a jar, but even that was a mild fate. The father and the mother cricket devoted a great deal of their time teaching their child the ways of the cricket. How to sing. How to jump. How to bring good luck and health. But the cricket child rather played in the mud."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu opened his mouth, but kept himself from speaking./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing went on, still in that same distant tone, "Then disaster struck, and the cricket parents were killed by a swarm of locusts. They resembled the crickets, but their bodies were dust brown instead of emerald green, and they devoured everything that came on their path. The cricket child, covered in mud, was terrified the locusts would kill him too, and so he pretended he was one of them. The leader of the locusts knew very well that the cricket child wasn't one of them, but he thought it was amusing to take the child with him and see how long he'd last./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'As it turned out, the cricket child was very good at pretence. It flew along with the swarm and razed fields and orchards. Instead of being greeted by men as a sign of good luck, he was cursed and feared. But at least he was alive. Slowly but certainly, the cricket forgot what it had been brought up to do. Its life was the swarm, surviving in the swarm. It became very good at that, even besting the leader and killing him in front of all the other locusts. Its transformation was so complete, in fact, that when at one point it went to bathe itself in a pool of dew, it noticed that the mud wouldn't come off anymore. The cricket child had lost its emerald green colour and was now just as dust-coloured as the locusts."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Lao Wen…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Shh. Now we get to the good part. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'When the cricket child realized it had embraced the vicious way of the locusts, it was understandably horrified. The locusts were reviled and dreaded by everyone. The only ones who didn't hate them were the big birds who weren't afraid to fly through the edges of the swarm, and even they had to be very careful not to stay too far. But there was one thing that the locusts feared themselves, and that was fire./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'So after thinking for a long time, the cricket child, who was now the leader of the locusts, came up with a plan. He went to see a farmer of a great big peach orchard. The orchard had been struck with a disease, and although the trees were carrying fruit, they were all rotting on the branches. The cricket child approached the farmer and struck a deal with it. The following day, just before dawn, it led the locust swarm to the diseased orchard, and the locusts, not even noticing the rot or the dead dry twigs scattered all around, descended upon the peaches. Thousands upon thousands of insects covered the trees and gnawed them down to the roots. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'It was at this point that the farmer ignited the oil-soaked rags he had left surrounding the orchard. The fire spread to the dry twigs; soon the entire orchard was ablaze. The locusts' fragile wings caught fire in mid-air. None of them were spared. The swarm fled this way and that like a dancing ghost, thousands of tiny bodies lighting up like a single spark and then falling to earth, extinguished./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"'Before the sun had risen above the horizon, everything was gone. The orchard: gone. The locust swarm: wiped out. The fire had cleansed both the rot from the orchard and the evil of the locusts."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu put his elbows on his knees. "What about the cricket? Did it escape?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Of course not," Wen Kexing said dreamily. "It was part of the locusts, wasn't it? So it died with them. But the funny thing was, that when the farmer, when he ventured out onto his land, found the corpse of the cricket. And it had turned bright green again, even though it was burnt by the fire." He smiled. It was a highly disturbing smile: beautiful and beatific./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Is that what you have planned? To lead Ghost Valley into death and ruin and go down in a blaze of glory?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""It's just a story, A-Xu," Wen Kexing murmured. He picked up a flask that had been sitting on the other side of the books and took a sip from it—proving Zhou Zishu's initial thought right: he'd been self-medicating. Judging by the angle he needed to get something out of the flask, for some time already. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Who knows, the story might have a different ending. Perhaps, before he could lead the locusts to their deaths, the daughter, no, the son of the farmer caught the cricket and put it in a jar for safekeeping. Maybe the cricket lived happily ever after." He grinned, showing too many teeth. "Better?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I really hate your stories," Zhou Zishu said. He coughed, placed a hand on his chest. "Any of that wine left?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing shook the flask, shrugged and handed it over. "Are the nails bothering you?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A little. It's not too bad." He took a swig./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing's eyes unfocused. "One time, there was a king's moth that had lost its entire family to a collector who liked to pin their bodies to a plank and keep them in a glass encasement…"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu reached out and placed the back of his hand against Wen Kexing's forehead. "You're burning up."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""That's what I said, didn't I?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""No, I mean you have a fever." He slid his hand lower to his neck, where he felt even hotter./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing didn't seem much perturbed. "I do? Ah. That explains."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Explains what? Close the window, you need to get into bed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing didn't budge. He made a swirling gesture at his own head. "The stories. They're pouring out like treacle. It's exhausting. I can't shut them down."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Would you like to?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing paused, considering. "I don't know. It's frustrating not to get to know the endings. Like the moth. In order to escape the collector, it put pins into its own body so the collector wouldn't kill it, and so it escaped. But what happens then? Does the moth survive? Does it die after all because the pins have destroyed its meridians? Or can it be cured and fly away to be with me and Chengling for as many years as fate would deign to give it?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Zhou Zishu stared at him. It felt as if an additional nail had entered his body, right in the heart. Damn this man for coming into his life. Damn him for refusing to leave. Damn him for caring. And he himself be damned for needing him so much. He felt actual tears burning in his eyes. Blinked them away. "I don't know."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Well, if the moth dies, we'll also know the ending of the story of the cricket," Wen Kexing said softly. "Ah, A-Xu, are you crying? Don't be sad, it's just a story."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't cry over stories," Zhou Zishu said curtly. He got up and surreptitiously wiped his eyes. "Come on, get up. You should be in bed—you can't sit next to an open window when you have a fever. You shouldn't be drinking with a fever either. Don't you know anything about basic medicine? I'll make you some willow bark tea." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Ignoring Wen Kexing's protests that he was fine and that the cool air was beneficial, and that he didn't need medicine and most certainly not in the middle of the night, and that the fire was out and it was too much of a hassle anyway, Zhou Zishu towed him along to the bedroom and glared at him until he lay down. If he thought he had won, though, he was sorely mistaken./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I really don't need any willow bark," Wen Kexing said. He stretched out his left arm. "Come lie next to me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""If you wanted to lie next to me, you should have done that in the first place instead of getting up to get drunk in front of an open window."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""A-Xu was sleeping. I didn't want to disturb you," Wen Kexing protested, wielding his consideration and accompanying round, pleading eyes like a weapon. "I don't want to disturb your rest now. You can make willow bark tea for me tomorrow." When Zhou Zishu kept staring at him he sighed dramatically, closed his eyes, and shivered. "I wasn't cold at the window. Now I am. Goose bumps are so, so painful when your skin is all burnt."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""For fuck's sake," Zhou Zishu muttered, grabbed his own blanket and plunked down beside him. "Alright. Here I am. Careful now."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You can put your arm around me," Wen Kexing said smugly, and wriggled onto his side so his back lay against Zhou Zishu's front, his hurt arm positioned on the extra pillow Chengling had provided for him. "I'll be fine."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Of course you will." Zhou Zishu pushed away a handful of hair. Normally Wen Kexing curved up behind him, not the other way around. How did one keep from inhaling a lungful of hair? But in the end, they were both comfortable. Wen Kexing was wonderfully hot, like a stove, and Zhou Zishu went out like a light in spite of the aching nails. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Wen Kexing listened to his breathing and registered the exact moment he fell asleep. He himself couldn't find rest yet: his arm hurt too much, especially without the cold wind to cool him down, and his fever dreams were painted in vivid colours against the backs of his eyelids. Flames and crickets and moths and locusts. But the fever would pass, just like the pain and for the moment, that was enough./span/p
