Wu Xie
The next morning Wu Xie wake up to the smell of food, one that he wasn't too appealed to eat and even less that early in the morning or maybe it wasn't as early as he thought it was. Last night they had stay up until quite late, so it was possible for them to have oversleep. Xiaoge was already awake by his side when Wu Xie open his eyes, gazing as he slept, while he gently held him on his warm arms.
"Xiaoge... it looks like there is more Luosifen for us today... I can't stand it anymore..." Wu Xie said as he bury his head into Xiaoge's chest, which make him smirk as he combed Wu Xie's hair in understanding.
"Bear it... we are still guest here." Xiaoge whisper and Wu Xie whined.
"We are paying for our stay... I rather have something else today..."
"We can go out." Xiaoge suggested but Wu Xie sighed.
"That will be rude... and Pangzi will make a fuzz if we refuse the food. He is too infatuated with Yun Cai that everything she and her father make will be a gift from heaven." Wu Xie said and Qiling smiled over Wu Xie's hair.
"True." He conceded.
"Damn it why they like that thing so much..." Wu Xie whined while pressing himself to Xiaoge more tightly.
"Local dish..."
"It stink so much..."
"We will not stay here for too long..."
"Ah, yes... we should hide in the mountains like Panma and escape the smelling sweat we will get from that thing if we keep eating it."
"Find an excuse to leave..."
"I'm thinking hard right now." Wu Xie moaned in despair.
"Ahhh... let's just be done with this..." Wu Xie resigned himself as he let go of Xiaoge and sat on the bed once Xiaoge release him from his grasp. However, before Wu Xie could go out of bed, Qiling grabbed him again and pull him close to kiss him.
Wu Xie smiled against Xiaoge's lips before he responded back the kiss. They relationship was just getting better and better, even when he once despaired it will end when Xiaoge lost his memories back in Tamutuo. Now they were even getting further that he dreamed just less than a month ago.
"Mm, Xiaoge... you are a heavenly kisser... I can get addicted to this with no problems at all..." Wu Xie whisper as they parted and Xiaoge smiled, which only make Wu Xie more in love with it.
"I love your little smiles too... Ah, what I am saying? I love you as a whole no matter which part... hum... that sounded naughty... I mean..." Wu Xie said as he blushed after saying it and Xiaoge simple kiss him to silence once again.
"I know... it's the same for me." Xiaoge whisper and Wu Xie blushed more.
"Hum... we should get out before the heat start to raise again..." Wu Xie said as he hastily moved at his right to get out before he could lose himself to Xiaoge, but clumsily fell instead, when one of his legs got tangle with the blanket, falling ungracefully on the floor.
"Damn it!" Wu Xie cursed as his face heated even more when Xiaoge poked his head out from the edge of the bed staring at him. He must believe he was really a handful of a man that could not even get out of the bed properly... such was his dreadful fate that smelly day.
"Wu Xie... are you okay?" Xiaoge asked as he gracefully sit at the border of the bed to help him untangle from the blanket and Wu Xie was so embarrass that he only wanted the earth to swallow him whole.
"Yeah, I'm fine... just the usual gravity check." Wu Xie said to himself, making Xiaoge give Wu Xie another perfectly beautiful devastating half smile that make his heart rush more blood into his face, this time in pure bliss.
"Xiaoge... you really will be the death of me..." Wu Xie whisper to himself as he stood and tidy up his clothes to run the hell away from further embarrassments.
Still sit on the bed, Xiaoge sighed as he watch Wu Xie run away and felt a bit sorry for his bad luck, yet he will not change him for anything in the world, clumsy and embarrassed and all, he will not change a single thing about the man he loved so desperately and he was proven to be extra cute in the late mornings.
Pangzi called for them to sit and eat and Qiling follow Wu Xie to the table outside in which Pangzi was helping Yun Cai and Mr. Gui to place the food on the tree trunk table. The smell was quite something, but Qiling resist it, watching as Wu Xie did the same by his side. They exchanged looks as Pangzi urged them to taste the excellent culinary skills of the woman he liked and they force themselves for his sake.
"Uncle Gui... we really need to go to the lake in the Yang Jiao Mountain. Have you find us the guide? We will want to go there tomorrow if it can be arranged." Wu Xie said as he try his best to eat as less as he could.
"The mountains are dangerous still..." Mr. Gui remained them.
"Yeah, we know firsthand when rescuing Panma, but our Iron Triangle is strong and we had our perfect army called Xiaoge with us. We went out of the Buffalo Trench alive and well, right?" Pangzi said and oddly enough, Yun Cai directed her gaze to Xiaoge who was drinking some water instead of eating.
"Ah, you did returned safely from there... I guess you three are truly made of Iron." Mr. Gui said and Pangzi laughed, while Wu Xie discretely winked at Xiaoge with a smile, which pleased Xiaoge greatly to see him having fun now.
"Yeah, that we are... by the way, we will need camping gears to stay in the lake for a few days. Can you find us some? We can go to town and buy some if you don't have any available you can lend us." Wu Xie said to the old man.
"Oh, no, no need to go to town to buy it, I have two tents and most of what you need here. It's used, but in good condition I assure you." Mr. Gui said and Wu Xie smiled even brighter.
"That's perfect then... just try to find us a guide and we will take care of the rest." Wu Xie said and the man smiled in return.
"Oh yes, you can count on me. I will make the arranges as soon as possible." The older man said.
"Good, Tianzhen, you and Xiaoge can buy some provisions while I take care of the tents and other equipment here. I can't possible let Uncle Gui and Yun Cai to take them out on their own. Camping tents weight a lot." Pangzi offer and Wu Xie was more than glad to accept the excuse to get the hell out of that mess in need of less smelling food... but before that...
"Deal... Xiaoge, this is authentic Lousifen... don't let it waste... at least taste it..." Wu Xie teased his lover, but Qiling simple stood up.
"I will go to town and find what we need." Qiling said, making Wu Xie open his mouth in surprise, as he wasn't expecting for him to respond, but now that he had open the escape door, well, who could blame him for grabbing it with all his might?
"Wait... I will go with you... we will see you later Pangzi..." Wu Xie said as he almost dashed out of the house with Xiaoge right on his heels, like his own shadow and once far enough and away from preying eyes, he started laughing as he hugged Qiling.
"You save me, thank you..." Wu Xie said and Qiling rubbed his back.
"You are welcome..." Qiling responded.
"You are the best... come on, let's have some good smelling food this time, my treat..." Wu Xie said as he kissed him hard for a second, then grabbed his hand to pull Qiling toward the first food stand he could find.
The rest of the day they spend it mostly out, buying all kind of things they will need and by when they came back, it was already close to nightfall. They packed all the necessary stuff for the travel into the mountain and after taking a well-deserved bath after a full day of walking, Wu Xie and Xiaoge returned to their room to rest.
Seen him so tired, Qiling let Wu Xie fall asleep after a short good night kiss. They had walked half the town and worked hard trying to find some scuba diving for the lake. They got just an old model, but at least it was something until they could buy a more professional diving equipment.
Wu Xie had talked with Xiao Hua about what they may need, but for it he will have to travel back and Wu Xie wanted to make sure just what kind of situation they will find in the lake and see if the air thanks were really necessary or not before making the decision to leave him and Pangzi on their own for a few days, which he was a bit reluctant. He had a bad feeling about the lake, even if he could not tell why and he didn't wanted to part with Wu Xie so suddenly, so he asked Wu Xie if the diving equipment could be delivered instead of him going to retrieve it and he had had agree to try if there was the need.
That night, Qiling didn't sleep as soundly as he had the nights before while holding Wu Xie. Usually, that was enough for him to fall asleep, even if a part of him was alert of any kind of danger. He probably had spent years training himself to rest partially, especially if he spend so much time on dangerous places, but sleeping with Wu Xie, relax him to a point he rested more than what he was aware of their surroundings.
It was not that his guard was completely down, but that Wu Xie presence sooth him of his inner turmoil and worries and make him think less about his loss of memories. However, that night when he fall asleep, hours later after Wu Xie, he had a restless dream.
He found himself in front of and old abandon place that looked to be underground. It smelled like metal, perhaps a kind of poison that make it hard for him to breath, but not only that, it also seems to affect him externally as well as internally. It was a kind of powder that seems to cover the traditional building made with quite a few levels.
That place was quite dangerous, he could tell with a glance, but he was sure that despite the danger that was a place he needed to go and had been there before... a long time ago. He walked in as his lungs seems to burn from the inside out and open the door using his two long fingers in the special key, made only for the Zhang family and enter the place.
There, there was a huge coffin in the middle of the lobby, made with the finest wood and designed like it belonged to a king. Curiously, Qiling approached the coffin quite carefully and see if it was connected with any kind of traps, but saw nothing out of ordinary. There was a skeleton on one side of the coffin, like a sentinel that had made guard on it for a long time, but finally got tired and die siting while his back rested over the fine wood coffin.
The bones were corroded, like someone had poured acid on them, but most of them were still in place, there were no longer cover with clothes that had probably rooted to dust a long time ago. Still, there was something in the skeleton that make him feel sad, yet he had the feeling that what was inside the coffin was even more nostalgic.
Thus, he carefully looked for the open mechanism and find it pretty much on the same style of the Zhang's, so the owner of the coffin most had been a member of the Zhang family and a very important one at that, looking at the complex design make on his coffin. It had a Qilin, almost identical at the one he had, although it was more like a desire for the body to be guarded whatever in this life and the next, then there were many characters that he could not understand in full, but also look like additional protections. Involving thunder gods.
Qiling then decided to open it, as the Zhang family seems to have it in great regard, perhaps he was another Zhang Qiling, one who had someone to guard him even in dead. He could never hope to have such respect or even care, as no one had ever seek him to tell him even who he was when he loosed his memories. If it wasn't for Wu Xie, he may still be lost in search for them on his own, suffering in silence for those elusive part of his life that may never come back.
He was definitely blessed to have someone with him to help him with the process this time around, while giving him the love and connection with the world that he had lacked provably all his life. He only wished that he could give Wu Xie that kind of devotion, that the man by the coffin had given to that Zhang Qiling bury at his back, but when he trigger the opening mechanism, he found that he could not make himself pull it open.
He grabbed the edge, but his hand started to tremble, as if he was afraid to find who was inside. He started to sweat as his heart was assaulted with the deepest fear he had experience in his life and he let go of the coffin like it was set on hot fire. However as he backed off from it, the top of the coffin blow up, revealing the man that was laying still inside and to his horror, he recognize him instantly.
"Wu Xie!!!" Qiling shouted as he looked in terror at the face that seemed to be intact, just sleeping inside a jade bed.
Terrify by the sight, he backed off even more, but in that instant, the man in the coffin, open his eyes to look at him coldly with deep red eyes. It was then that Qiling understood that the skeleton on the floor was actually him and that the complex design of the coffin was a seal to keep dormant a very strong blood zombie...
"Wu Xieeeeeee!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!" The scream wake up the real Wu Xie in a jump as he realize that it had come from Xiaoge who was panting like he had run a mile while he sleep. His face was contorted with pain and there were tears running down his cheeks. Xiaoge was having a nightmare, a very bad one at that.
"Xiaoge... Xiaoge, wake up... it's a dream... it's not real..." Wu Xie said to him as he shake him a little at the same time Pangzi show up.
"Tianzhen! What happen?" Pangzi asked as he came inside the room.
"It's a nightmare... help me Pangzi..." Wu Xie said and Pangzi climbed into the bed and held Qiling as best as he could as Wu Xie talked to Xiaoge, repeating over and over that it was all a nightmare, however, Qiling only wake up when Wu Xie told him he was still alive in the real world and as soon as Qiling saw him, he hug him so tightly that almost took out all the air from his lungs.
Still Wu Xie let Xiaoge squeeze him for dear life and simply try to sooth him with calming words as he held him back.
"I will make a calming tea... wait for me..." Pangzi said and Wu Xie assented as he rubbed Xiaoge's back very gently.
"It's okay now Xiaoge... it's over... it was only a nightmare... I am right here... I am here..." Wu Xie whisper into Xiaoge's ear, then combed his wet sweaty hair with his fingers and keep up the mantra until Pangzi came back with the tea.
It took a bit of convincing to make Xiaoge drink it, but after a while, he started to relax again as he held Wu Xie close. Pangzi went back to his room after that and Wu Xie lay down on the bed with Xiaoge resting his head over Wu Xie's chest, only finding peace of mind when hearing his strong heartbeats.
"Don't go Wu Xie..." Xiaoge whisper at some point.
"I won't, Xiaoge don't worry... I will not leave you... I promise." He said softly and Xiaoge raise his head up, just enough to kiss him, looking for more reassurance that he was alive and well and not a blood zombie he had guarded until his last breath.
The kisses soothed his heart eventually and he calmed enough to go back into his semi sleep state, hoping that such outcome will never happen in real life. He prayed for it until he fall asleep again, into Wu Xie's caring arms.
AN: Ah, sorry for the sudden angst, but well... it's already Halloween here (past midnight already). Lol. Don't worry, it is just a nightmare and Wu Xie will definitely not end up been a blood zombie. Thanks for reading and until next time, please take care. Happy Halloween for those who celebrate it tonight, be very careful if you go out. 🎃🎃🎃