HeiHua Version
Hei Xiazi
After a few days of traveling back from the basin to the desert and then leaving Pan Zi to look for Wu Xie, they had headed back to the city, glad that the nightmare was finally over. Xiao Hua had promise Xiazi a dinner, but Xiazi was too tired for fancy restaurants he didn't seem to fit on them, so they end up on a street stand, eating some ribs and bone soup.
It was a cheerful place, covered with blinking falling small lights most like those used for Christmas and little colorful flags that give the feeling of some privacy, even when it was an open space by a street. Xiao Hua was busying himself with roasting the ribs they had order and marinate them to his liking. For the smell of it, he was doing an excellent job of making their food taste like heaven after who knows how many days of starving in the desert and it was making his mouth water in the anticipation of tasting Xiao Hua's personal cooking.
Mop had insisted on eating along with them, to thank them for not leaving him to die in the desert, as at some point they had to drag him for miles before Madam Dolma found them. He offered to pay for the meal, but both Xiao Hua and he had refused, because they had a personal 'business' to settle and the idiot had buy the lie without batting an eye.
"Mmn, this is good... it taste like heaven." Xiazi said to Xiao Hua after he was offer one roasted rib.
"We starved for a while, anything will taste good after that." Xiao Hua dismissed himself, although he was in a very good sprit at the moment.
"No, not everything and it taste this good because it was you who cook it for me." Xiazi said bluntly.
"I did owe it to you." Xiao Hua whisper.
"I refused your offer back then."
"Still I owe you nevertheless."
"You are such a man of honor... do we have wine somewhere? I will love to have a toast with you." Xiazi said in between bites.
"Hum, I did buy some along with everything else... have a taste..." Xiao Hua said as he poured the wine into the two glasses he had asked along with the food, but then...
"I got some more for you guys... it's my treat... I'm so thankful of both of you for not leaving me behind. Also for Master Shades for healing my eyes..." Mop said with almost shining eyes and Xiao Hua smiled, remembering that particular teasing.
"Oh, right... I did save your sight, but then you try to stab in the back..." Xiazi follow suit, giving Xiao Hua a wink to do the same. The man was just too easy to tease and they were out of dangers now.
"No, no, no, no... Master Shades that was only a misunderstanding. I will do anything to repay your kindness." Mop fall into the trap all on his own will. Xiazi smiled wildly.
"Seriously? Then what about buying us a pair of flight thickets back to Beijing? Master Hua needs to go back to the Xie family and I need some rest before taking the next job." At that Xiao Hua looked at Xiazi seriously, while his heart freeze for a second at the thought of parting ways so soon.
"Had someone make you an offer already?" Xiao Hua asked, no longer with the same cheering tone he used earlier.
"Yes... but this journey really took a toll on me, so I can spare a few days for rest, maybe three or four days."
"Then what about joining me investigating the yellow silk?" Xiao Hua suggested quite hopefully that Xiazi could accept his offer instead of another.
"Well... I can do both things at the same time. My next job may allow me to give you a hand with your investigation from the outside and I can earn my living at the same time I give you a hand." Xiazi said as he munched his rib with gusto.
"I can paid you for your job as well. That will never be a problem for me." Xiao Hua pushed a bit harder, just to see if he could convince him in some other way.
"I know... but it will be a bit... odd to be paid by you after everything that happen on that cursed place..." Xiazi whisper, giving Xiao Hua a meaningful look that his man could not see, yet sense.
"Alright... as long as you keep in touch..."
"Of course. I am a kind man that will not want for you to worry unnecessarily." Xiazi smiled at him as he raised his glass of wine to have a cheers with his man.
"Then it's a promise..." Xiao Hua said as he joined glasses with Xiazi.
"Then it's decided. I will buy the flight tickets for you both back to Beijing right now... just wait a few second." Mop said and he stood to walk a bit away from their table to make a phone call.
As Mop arranged their flight back with his people, Xiazi took the chance to pass Xiao Hua the gift he had prepared in their journey back, taking it out of one of his pockets and putting it over the table for Xiao Hua to see it.
"What's this?" Xiao Hua asked a bit surprised.
"It's a keepsake... I will not always be by your side from now on..."
"But you just promise me to keep in touch..."
"And I will while I can, but you know what kind of jobs I do for a living... it's never safe and there could be a day in which I may not..."
"Don't jinx yourself by saying it aloud. You are too naïve if you think that I will not keep an eye on you no matter where you go." Xiao Hua whisper as he looked at him more seriously now.
"Will you tag me?"
"I will make sure you come back no matter what."
"Then... this mean you are going to take this seriously?" Xiazi asked hopefully.
"As long as you do, yes." Xiao Hua answer.
"So... if I go back with you to Beijing for a few days... will you..."
"Go back with me first... whatever happens next... it's up to our fate." Xiao Hua whisper to Xiazi who smiled widely just before Mop finish his call.
"It's done. I had booked a flight for both of you in a few hours." Mop said happily and Xiazi sighed in relief. He was not truly expecting for Xiao Hua to take their sudden relationship too seriously, but he was glad to have been proven wrong.
Perhaps, once the two of them were alone and have more time to sort things out and talk about what each of them expected out of it, they could deepen their bond. He was by nature a loyal kind of man when in a relationship and he will give Xiao Hua his all for as long as he allowed it.
Several hours later, after they arrived in the Beijing airport, Xiao Hua's right hand man pick them up to bring them back home and as soon as they arrived, Xiao Hua order for his residence to not be disturbed under any circumstances that night.
That pleased Hei Xiazi to the heavens, because it meant that Xiao Hua was now really meaning business, no joke about it and after they bathe and have a proper dinner, Xiao Hua brought him to the stage in which he practice his opera. His special place in the compound of his family.
"Is that on the floor, the yellow silk you mention?" Xiazi asked as he looked at the draw pattern. It was oddly poor illuminate it by Xiao Hua's standards, but it was fine with him. The less lights the better his vision.
"Part of it... I had asked Xie Lian Huan about it before, when I thought he was Wu San Xing, but he simply warned me that my search of the yellow silk will be futile. Perhaps it was... but with all the deceiving he made in the last twenty years... there must be something hidden between the lines that I can't still read on..."
"The man certainly had his secrets and they seems to run far deeper than we thought."
"Do you think that Xie Lian Huan is dead? Even though we try, we didn't find any trace of him."
"Yes, but the man could fool both you and Wu Xie for two decades, not to mention he fool pretty much all the Nine families along with it. San Xing was a cunning man and as far as Wu Xie or you don't reveal his real identity he will probably stay away for a while. I can't say for sure that he is still alive, but knowing how persistent Wu Xie is, he will not stay put when he find out he is still missing, uncle or not."
"I will search for him on my own as well." Xiao Hua whisper as he looked at the night sky.
"That had been such a blow to you... but I'm sure there must be a very powerful reason for that exchange..."
"The more reason to look into what happen back at the Parcel Islands and this yellow silk."
"Well... I will try to make my own investigation, but as it will be done in secrecy... I'm afraid it will take some time..." Xiazi said as he look up to the stars too.
"Even so, I will appreciate the help... anything from more small that it could be will be of help..." Xiao Hua whisper.
"Don't worry... I'm sure that eventually we will get to the bottom of this..." Xiazi said as he pass his arm over Xiao Hua's shoulder.
"I truly hope so..."
"Trust me on this... something will come out sooner than later."
"That's what I fear... It is all connected with Wu Xie... and he already have his hands full with all the losses he suffer back in Tamutuo."
"You can always give him a hand and try to protect him your own way."
"He is so stubborn and madly in love with Zhang Qiling that he will risk everything for his sake."
"Yeah... but he is not the only one. I promise I will do my part for you..." Xiazi whisper and Xiao Hua smiled slightly.
"Was it all fated? Zhang Qiling and Wu Xie... you and me?"
"Perhaps..."
"Will you make me a favor? There is no one around this part of the residence..."
"You want me to kiss you now? I was wondering when that will happen..." Xiao Hua smiled.
"As soon as you take off your glasses for me... no one will see you without them, I assure you and most of the lights here are off, so your eyes will not be hurt..."
"You prepare for it so masterly..."
"Can you blame me? You took another job out of the blue." Xiazi laughed at that.
"Sorry about that, but a man have to make a living..."
"I can..."
"No, you are not going to support me, like you would a traditional wife..." Xiao Hua smiled faintly.
"Not like a wife, I'm well aware you are quite a man..."
"Hum, that's right.... Well then, if we are short of time, then let's make the best of it..." Xiazi whisper as he let go of Xiao Hua's shoulders to take off his glasses for Xiao Hua to admire him as he was.
"They almost shine in the darkness..."
"I'm not a cat, don't be rude when I'm bare like this." Xiao Hua smiled.
"I was trying to praise you..."
"Do it in some other, more pleasurable way..."
"Deal..." Xiao Hua said before he pull Hei Xiazi closer and give him the kiss he had been itching to press on him ever since they went back to civilization.
Maybe he could not call what he felt for Hei Xiazi love just yet, but whatever it was, it was getting deeper and deeper inside his heart, taking root over it in a way he was hopeless to act against it. The first time they accidentally kiss, he had been reluctant to do it again, but as they keep each other company and face dangers together he had a change of heart, that was now turning into a more serious relationship.
Thus they kissed for a very long time under the light of the moon, guided only by that inexplicable desire for one another. They were like opposites, but that on itself makes it more appealing, like the way two opposites magnets attract each other and as Xiao Hua let himself be carry away by the sudden attachment, bond and rush of dormant emotions, he understood Wu Xie better.
He had known that he was fascinate with Zhang Qiling for a long time, because it was plain to see from all those who knew them both, but at that time he wonder how Wu Xie could had been swayed so badly with a man that barely express himself and that have the annoying tendency to disappear on him as fast as he came.
However, now that he had been equally swayed in record time, he understood that love had no discrimination of gender or time and don't even need words. It could came as sudden as the representation of cupid with an arrow and hit you when less expected, as it had hit Hei Xiazi and him with only the plucking of a Camel's Thorn that have make the sand under their feet give in and swallow then into that oil tunnel.
The accident at that time had been his own doing... so perhaps it was truly fated... or so he hoped.
AN: Sorry for this been only a Heihua chapter, but the next one will be focus only on Pingxie and the Iron Triangle for a while, so I hope this is good enough for those who love this couple. It could had been a little hotter, but they are just in the process of knowing each other and getting the need to be t⁷. Thanks for reading and see you next time. 💖💖💖