Ch 31

He must have dropped off to sleep because when Wei Ying opened his eyes he could see clearly and his headache had gone. Looking over to the door he also saw that the man guarding had changed. Although he had no idea how long he had actually been asleep he estimated it had been a few hours from how stiff his arms had gone from being unmoved from under his head. Taking a glance over to his sister she appeared deep in sleep and unharmed, this allowed him to take a little pressure off of his heart. His sister was fine, and so far he was doing his job in keeping her safe. The mischievous side of him then awoke. If these men wanted to use his sister then he would change the rules of that game on them, and without knowing the rules of this new game he would just like to see how they survived once Lan Zhan arrived to help him.

Smiling to himself he made as much noise as possible when stretching his arms and legs and yawning. He even remembered the conversation the two men had had sometime before and with complete un-ashamedness added in a voice that sounded like a half asleep, loud whisper.

'HanGuang Jun….please...not so hard….it still hurts from last time'

As planned the man at the cell door turned to him with a look of deep distain in his eyes as he looked him over. Wei Ying continued his charade, sleepily sitting up and wiping his eyes with his sleeve as if to clear them of the sleep. He then looked at the man as if he had never seen him before, and dropped into an elegant bow from where he sat.

'Hello Sir' He said with a polite tone…..inwardly awarding himself for his self control.

The man at the cell door looked confused and Wei Ying guessed that he had never before had someone wake up from being drugged and greeting them so politely. Inwardly laughing he raised himself upright again and looked at the man in the face once again, but deliberately kept his own gaze unchallenging.

'How are you already awake?' the man asked in a clipped tone, as if he didn't even want to speak to him at all. 'That food should have knocked you out for hours yet'

As he thought the drugs where in the food. Thank you idiot...Wei Ying thought to himself, keeping his face blank. Instead he stood up, pretending to be overly wobbly as he did so.

'Rule 1023, A gentleman allows a lady to eat first' He said as if he actually could remember the rules. But he was betting this man knew even less about the rules of the Lan Clan than he did. As he thought the man just looked at him with another confused stare and grumbled.

'And is there a rule about serving perverts in bed!'

This wasn't a question but Wei Ying was trying not to laugh as he made up more stupid rules to further confuse the fool.

'Rule 2045, Loyalty and Obedience to the clan and its superiors comes before any individual desire. Rule 1094, Obedience is key to harmony, if a superior gives you and order you follow it without hesitation.'

The man was just staring at him as if he grown another head. Wei Ying still stood there with a smile on his face and pleased sounding voice, as if he was reciting the most sacred things in his heart rather than a lot of rubbish he just made up. Come on….come on take the bait…...he thought inwardly as the man continued to stare. Eventually the man huffed out a breath and stepped closer to the bars.

'You are just a fool aren't you, they use your own rules to control you and you don't even know it. No wonder your here.'

Inside Wei Ying was screaming with joy ….yesss got you…...but he still kept his outside persona blank as he looked around, seemingly seeing the cell and bars for the first time.

'May I ask why I am here?' Wei Ying asked cautiously 'and how do I greet the Sir?'

The man seemed to be slightly lowering his defences now he just thought Wei Ying was a fool disciple everyone took advantage of. After all, the man probably thought he was that much of an idiot he couldn't even take the drugs given him properly, not to mention being pleasant and friendly to his captor. Eventually the man let out another huff, but this time it seemed to be one of amusement rather than annoyance. He moved out of view for a moment and then returned with a small chair which he placed by the bars. Motioning Wei Ying to sit down, which he pretended to happily obey by sitting on the cold floor. The man began to speak.

'Just call me Wen..' The man began. 'As for where you are, I don't really know myself. Its some kind of cave. We were just employed to come and watch you. The only one who might now is our leader, he's the only one who knows who we are working for…..'

As the man continued to speak his tone got more like he was speaking to a child, but Wei Ying kept up his pretence by simply nodding. For one reason he didn't trust his self control if he actually opened his mouth, and for another nodding and not saying anything made him look more dumb than the man already thought he was. Sitting there rubbing the red rope marks on his wrists, which had actually long ago stopped hurting, and just nodding his head, he guessed he did look like a pretty pathetic figure.

The man spoke for a while as Wei Ying listened. Then the sounds of more footsteps began to echo from what must be the entrance. The man stopped halfway through a sentence, picked up his chair and was back in place before the other man came into view. The man who arrived was the same man who had taken a lot of pleasure in calling him a 'plaything' and Lan Zhan a 'pervert'. He was obviously the boss of these men and if the idiot who had been speaking was to be believed, this man was the only one who would know who really was behind this whole thing. Wei Ying made a mental note to have a little chat with the man before he killed him.

As the man entered he glanced into the cell before speaking to his subordinate and speaking in a gruff voice.

'Good I see one's awake. Get them both out, we are taking them to the exercise area.'

Lan Zhan had not got any sleep the night before, he hadn't expected to. He also hadn't been able to remain in his own room. Not with the memories, or rather the non memories, of that last night with Wei Ying. Instead he had gone to Wei Ying's room and just sat. He had tried to think, tried to meditate, tried to remember. Tried to do anything to take his mind of the current situation, but his mind and heart where just too troubled. He couldn't focus and in the end he gave up, just staring around the room.

It seemed like days later, rather than hours, when the sun rose through the window. A new day was dawning. His years of training where telling him it was time to get up while his body was screaming at him to sleep, he hadn't had any rest since his night drinking. The fact that the days since then had been filled with mental anguish as well had done nothing for his physical abilities. Lan Zhan had stayed awake for a week before and still not felt as exhausted as he currently felt now.

Eventually he forced himself up of the floor of Wei Ying's room. He had looked around for ChenQing with no success and could only hope Wei Ying had it in his possession and it hadn't been taken by the man who came to see him yesterday. Or by one of the men who had Wei Ying himself. Slowly making his way downstairs to the main eating area the innkeeper ran up to him looking concerned. Lan Zhan knew he had destroyed probably the best room in the inn yesterday in a fit of rage, so he didn't react to the concern.

As Lan Zhan took a seat at a table the innkeeper bought him some tea and was just about to leave when Lan Zhan spoke up gently.

'Until I leave this morning keep all the other guests upstairs.'

The innkeeper just nodded, not used to disobeying anyone with such a naturally authoritative aura. He then slipped past Lan Zhan, with a wide berth, and went upstairs to deliver the message. Lan Zhan sipped the tea. It was nice to have something wet his throat, after all he didn't think he had drunk anything yesterday and he knew he hadn't in Wei Ying's room last night. Twenty four hours without food or drink, no wonder he felt tired. He had just poured his third cup of tea, and was actually enjoying the taste, when the doors of the inn swung open and the man from the day before strode in as if he was walking into his own home. The other two men followed as well, flanking him as if they were escorts or guards.

Lan Zhan simply finished sipping his tea as the man approached and leaned over the table, the smile on his face not quite touching his eyes. He knew the man was self important, obnoxious and seemed to find himself funny for no reason. That much had been obvious from yesterday, but today he defiantly had the air of insanity about him. Lan Zhan put the cup carefully down and placed some money next to it before standing up, completely ignoring the man who's face was inches away from his. As he stood he walked over to the other two men by the door before nonchalantly turning back to the third man, who was looking very unamused from the table.

'Shall we go?' Lan Zhan asked quietly

The third man seemed to spring into action. His sword flashed out of its scabbard and rested against Lan Zhan's neck. Those wide eyes and manic grin appeared in front of him once more.

'You don't give me orders' The third man said with more than a slight anger to his tone. 'I give you the orders and you obey. That is if you want to save anyone today.'

Lan Zhan simply stared forwards, not even looking at the man or sword. He was well aware that both man and sword had high cultivation energy, maybe even enough to challenge his own. And having a man who obviously had mental problems resting a sword at your throat didn't exactly put him at an advantage. However he simply spoke blandly as normal.

'I simply asked if we should leave. I wasn't giving you an order'

The third man smiled and lifted the sword before sheathing it and nodding to the other two. The smile was back in his face again as he led Lan Zhan out of the inn, almost as if they were two friends taking a stroll. When they got to the bottom of the street there was a carriage waiting and the man gentlemanly waited for Lan Zhan to enter before following him in.

The carriage ride wasn't long, although the windows had been purposely closed so Lan Zhan couldn't see where he was going. While in the carriage the man began murmuring to himself and Lan Zhan couldn't help but roll his eyes. That was until some of the words found its way to his ears, then he began to pay attention.

'what a pity you died….Young Master Wei….so strong…...disciple…...founder….vengeance…..'

Did this mad man know Wei Ying?…...Lan Zhan thought to himself. If that was the case then Wei Ying's cover as a Lan disciple wouldn't last long as soon as they arrived. He couldn't let Wei Ying and his sister be harmed because of one mad man. Lan Zhan closed his eyes and tried to think of ways to solve the problem until the carriage came an abrupt halt.

'Were here!' the man said in what would have been an overly cheery voice coming from anyone else.

With that, the doors of the carriage where opened and Lan Zhan stepped out.