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jalwoorideul · 2 years

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Special Stage Partners

synopsis: valerie was asked to perform a special stage for the year-end show so she's headed out to meet her dance partner for the first time.

a/n: her love interest? maybe idk but look an update !! finally

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"I'm leaving now!" Valerie announced as she grabbed her sneakers, with her backpack slung on her shoulder, ready to go out. "Where are you going?" asked her leader.

"Practice. Remember when SBS called me for a special stage?" The younger replied while tying her shoe laces. "Oh, that's today?" which received a nod in reply. "You're meeting your partner today too?"

"Yeah, we're scheduled to go to Hybe today"

When Valerie was all ready and set, and when the girls have bid her good bye and good luck, she was sent off her way to her partner's company building.

Was she nervous? Maybe? Not because of meeting him. Se was used to meeting new people. She's always been the first one to start conversations anyway. But a part of her was partly nervous to meet her partner partly because of the public reaction.

Solely because they've been shipping them since they debuted and now people are finally going to see them properly interact that she was nervous how much of the public reaction would further go, especially with the special stage they were about to do. "Val we're here" She heard her manager utter as the car stops at the back of a tall building where artists can enter unnoticed.

"Their manager said we can wait inside the lobby" Nodding along, the two of them headed to Hybe's lobby, being greeted by the staff and a few visitors, who didn't seem to notice Valerie with a mask and cap on.

"Valerie?"

With her name being called she turns around to find a man with long her, who she would presume as the manager that they would be waiting for. "Hi, that's me", replied the girl while bowing her head as a gesture. "Great, let's go upstairs, I have him waiting inside the practice room for you"

Their building had dozens of security. From pascodes to facial recognition, she easily would've mistaken the place as a secret agency if there weren't so many of their artists faces and names plastered on every poster she sees.

A few minutes of walking and escalator rides later, they finally arrived the infamous practice room that she only used to see on youtube. Inside was a tall dirty blonde, wearing a loose black shirt and joggers, who was busy tying his shoelaces in front of the mirror.

"They're here", announced the Hybe manager. With Xinyi's entrance, both of their gazes met. "Hi! It's nice to finally meet you" She greeted fondly.

Xinyi could tell that he was a bit timid and introverted. He replied to her greeting quietly and with a smaller voice while trying to avoud eye contact.

"Hi, I'm Sunghoon from Enhypen, nice to meet you too"

She definitely understands now why people keep talking about his visuals. His features were stunning and he had amazing physique to match it. The girl continued their conversation with "I know who you are, actually. I'm Valerie, but you can call me Xinyi if you like" followed by an extended hand meaning for a handshake which was definitely reciprocated.

"Ah well I know who you are too, I'd be a fool not to" He replied with a small chuckle.

Once everyone got settled, and with some awkward air hanging around while the two were finishing preparations and stretching, their choreographer finally utters, "Now, should we get started?", signaling the start of their practice.

For this special stage, the two of them were asked to prepare a half-contemporary, half-ballroom dance. With Sunghoon having background in the genre from his skating days, and Valerie studying dance sport in the past, the production crew thought that they'd be the perfect pair for it.

Though they were right and though theyd both do well with it, they missed one tiny detail.

Sunghoon has never danced this intimately with another idol before, more or less, an aespa member. Someone who he watches from afar, someone who he admires for their talent and charisma, someone who is too gorgeous that when they broke the news of who his partner would be, he could feel himself sweating from nervousness.

And it's funny because, it's like the fans knew what he was thinking because he would see ship posts and videos every once in a while involving the two of them

Xinyi on the other hand was so used to dancing intimately with the opposite gender, whether they'd be an idol or not, her years of ballroom has thought her that dance is dance, so they had to be professional and act like they've been dancing together for years.

And she knows he'll be an amazing partner to work with, that she shouldn't have a problem. From debuting in the same year and month, to both being in respectable rookie groups, their fates have tangled up more than once, and she's subtly noticed them on the stage, or either backstage, that she knows he has great work ethics and professionalism that they'll both do well.

"You seem nervous" She chuckled as she noticed him stretching his limbs for the nth time. "Sorry" He said while scratching the back of his head. "This is the first time, I'll be doing this"

"What do you say we help each other? I'm not the best at contemporary either. So, let's just shake off any awkwardness we have for a good show, okay?" Valerie encouraged with a smile as she stood a good foot next to him, with the both of them facing the mirror.

Sunghoon turned his gaze to his right to observe the side profile of his dance partner. "Alright, I'll try my best." he replied with a small smile in return. "You won't regret being partnered up with me" He joked lightly.

"I'll keep your word on that, Park Sunghoon"

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midnighthybe · 7 months

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WEI XINYI

stage name: xinyi (信义)

instagram: weixinyi

position: sub dancer, vocalist, visual

date of birth: august 16, 1995

zodiac sign: leo

nationality: taiwanese

languages: mandarin, korean

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:

weight: —

height: 5'3"

piercing(s): two

tattoo(s): none

TRIVIA:

— she's from taiwan.

— on 2022, nct doyoung and xinyi's relationship is confirmed by both of their companies.

— her favorite color is red and pink.

— she loves getting her nails done and shopping for clothes.

— xinyi is an only child.

— she hates cold weather.

— she has a scar on her waist that is caused from a minor accident when she's a child.

— xinyi gets hungry all the time.

— she plays ukulele and piano, she composed her own solo in the year 2022.

— xinyi loves ramen.

— she doesn't know how to budget her money. doyoung helps her with it, as much as he can.

— she's really picky with her clothes and doesn't want to waste a good outfit for a boring day.

— she loves spending time watching movies, kdrama, and cdramas specially sad ones.

— xinyi's job could've been flight attendant but chose to be an idol because she dreamt of plane crash when she's still studying.

— her ideal type is doyoung of nct (since debut).

FAMOUS QUOTES:

1. "Doyoung is my ideal type— They asked who's my ideal type! Why sould I keep it a secret!"

2. "Watching is only boring when you don't pick a good movie or series to watch, it's a you problem."

3. "WHO DOESN'T LOVE BARBIE?!"

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onejamtart · 4 months

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OJT EATS | MuJi Beef Noodles

While the name of this place may suggest that we are still in Japan, this is back in Taipei now and is in fact a Michelin recognised Taiwanese beef noodle place called MuJi Beef Noodles. Loving beef noodles as much as we do and the fact that this came with a glowing recommendation from a cousin, we headed on down.

The first thing we ordered was this beef roll. This was excellent! The roll itself was flaky and slightly crispy yet not at all dry thanks to a slightly sweet almost hoisin like sauce. There was a generous amount of tender beef and some spring onions to bring a little crunch. This was just a really good side dish and would recommend it whole heartedly.

We also ordered some cabbage as a bit of veg. Nothing too special here but really nicely seasoned and a nice bit of green.

Now onto the main event, the noodles themselves. They have 2 different types of broth, a clear one, which this one is and a red braised one that's stronger in flavour. Even so, this clear broth had such depth of flavour, it was delicious. The noodles were thick and bouncy and the beef was fall apart tender with strands of silky tendon running through it. Just with this bowl, you can see why they are so well regarded.

This was the red braised version of the broth and with a mixture of beef and full on chunks of tendon. This was much richer than the other broth and a bit saltier but also amazing. There were some really big chunks of beef in there and the noodles were just as perfectly cooked.

All in all, this was a great meal. The beef noodles were some of the best we've had and that beef roll alone would've been enough for us to go back. If you're in Taiwan and want to try beef noodles, you really can't go too far wrong with this place!

Muji Beef Noodles, No. 239, Wuxing St, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110

Cheers, JL

#foodporn #food porn #taiwan #Taipei #Beef Noodles #Taiwan Beef Noodles #Beefnoodles #TaiwanBeefNoodles #TaiwanFood #Taiwan food #Taipei Beef Noodles #Muji Beef Noodles #MujiBeefNoodles

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chengyouqing · 5 months

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Yuxiang Transmission visited Chengyouqing for inspection and exchange, and jointly discussed the global expansion of automobile remanufactured parts

Recently, Chongqing Yuxiang Shihui Transmission Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yuxiang Transmission Company") deputy general manager Ruan Xijun, foreign trade department operations director Chen Xinyi (Sindy), domestic business manager Zhang Baiyang, and Chongqing Wechehui Technology Services The general manager of the company and his delegation visited Chongqing Chengyouqing Network Technology Co., Ltd. and conducted an inspection and survey.

As a well-known local Internet company in Chongqing, Chengyouqing has been committed to providing a variety of network services, including website customization and construction, search engine optimization, foreign trade independent website construction, and full-network marketing services. At the same time, the company also serves as the service provider of Tencent Cloud Electronic Signature in Southwest Region, TIKTOK Business Center, Xiangyun Platform Chongqing Service Provider, All-Russian Tong Western Region Service Provider and Global Trade Connect Southwest Region Service Empowerment Enterprise. These partnerships and service provider status further demonstrate the company's expertise and reach in the Internet industry.

Yuxiang Transmission Company was first established in 2005. Today, it has one bonded remanufacturing factory outside the comprehensive bonded zone; two transmission and related parts remanufacturing bases; and three regional transmission maintenance service companies, with employees It is an enterprise with a team of over 300 people, a factory area of over 15,000 square meters, and an annual output value of over 100 million yuan. Yuxiang Company began to become a remanufacturing supplier of gearboxes and related parts contracted by Changan Ford OEM in 2007; in 2016, it became a governing unit of the Remanufacturing Branch of the National Materials Recycling Association; in the same year, it became an automotive gearbox remanufactured product certified enterprise by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ; In 2017, it became a member of the American Auto Parts Remanufacturing Association (APRA); In 2018, it passed the transmission remanufacturing quality management system IATF16949 certification and became a Chongqing high-tech enterprise and a specialized and special new enterprise; In 2021, it was rated as " "The most potential" enterprise in the remanufacturing industry; in 2022, it will become a national automobile product producer responsibility extension pilot enterprise and the country's first bonded remanufacturing pilot enterprise in a comprehensive bonded zone for auto parts. It is the only company in China that has assembled and tested gearbox prototypes in the research and development stage for well-known OEMs, and has been fully recognized and praised by OEMs, insurance companies, automobile maintenance companies, parts sellers and direct consumers.

The purpose of this investigation is to explore cooperation in exporting automobile remanufactured parts overseas. Both parties hope to jointly expand overseas markets through cooperation and achieve mutual benefit and win-win goals. During the exchange, the two parties had in-depth exchanges on issues such as how to strengthen cooperation and expand overseas markets, and discussed specific cooperation methods and plans.

Hu Wei, general manager of Chengyouqing, extended a warm welcome to the visiting delegation and introduced the company's development and advantages in detail. He said that the company is willing to establish a long-term and stable cooperative relationship with Chongqing Yuxiang Shihui Transmission Co., Ltd. to jointly explore the international market. The company will make full use of its advantages in the Internet industry to provide partners with all-round support and services to help automobile remanufactured parts go overseas.

Deputy General Manager Ruan Xijun said that Chongqing Yuxiang Shihui Transmission Co., Ltd. has been committed to providing high-quality automotive remanufactured parts and has rich market experience and a professional team. He expressed appreciation for Chengyouqing’s professional capabilities in the Internet field and hoped that both parties could achieve mutual benefit and win-win results in cooperation.

Chen Xinyi (Sindy) Operations Director and Zhang Baiyang Business Manager also expressed their willingness to cooperate with Chongqing Chengyouqing Network Technology Co., Ltd. and hope that through the joint efforts of both parties, we will create a new situation for automobile remanufactured parts to go overseas.

This investigation and survey established a good platform for cooperation between the two parties, demonstrating the professional strength of Chongqing Chengyouqing Network Technology Co., Ltd. in the Internet industry and Chongqing Yuxiang Shihui Gearbox Co., Ltd. and Chongqing Wechehui Technology Service Co., Ltd. in the automotive industry. Advantages in the field of remanufacturing. The two parties will further strengthen communication and cooperation, jointly promote the export of automobile remanufactured parts overseas, and contribute to the international development of China's automobile industry.

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traveltaiwanduringcovid19 · 2 years

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Taipei 101: Taiwan’s Most Impressive Landmark

I am pretty sure you have heard of the former record-holder for the tallest building in the world. Indeed, Taipei 101 has held this title for 6 years! Situated in Taiwan, this building has for a long time been the representation of Taiwanese pride all over the world. It is by far Taipei’s most iconic structure, and a lot of people come to Taiwan just so they can visit the famous Taipei 101. What about you? Have you visited it yet? In this article, you will discover many fascinating things about this special building and its area.

Taipei 101: An iconic symbol of Taiwan

Formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, Taipei 101 is located in the Xinyi District of Taipei. A district known to be a commercial area and home to many restaurants, shops, and nightclubs. The building is 508.2 meters tall and when it was completed in 2004, it became the world’s tallest building until this title was overtaken by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Although it might no longer be the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101 remains Taiwan’s most impressive sight. With 101 floors and one of the fastest elevators in the world that can take you from the 5th to the 89th floor in 37 seconds, it is a must-visit place for anyone who comes to Taiwan.

The biggest attractions in the building are the indoor observatory on the 89th floor and the outdoor observatory on the 91st floor. There is also an observatory on the 101st floor, which was formerly reserved for VIPs. However, since the end of 2019, it has been open to the general public, so you should definitely visit this masterpiece. Did you know this building was made to resist earthquakes and typhoons? Interesting, right? The damper inside the tower generates reaction force to negate shock or vibration caused by outside forces, which makes it stable. The damper is also visible to the public eye. Read full article

#taipei #taipei101 #taipeiview #taiwan #photooftheday

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sanriosratz · 2 years

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kurai headcanons?

Kuraitsume Taira

One of Kurai’s special interests is his job (tattoo artist(ry) and piercing)! He loves his job and was so happy to be able to open up his own parlour after three years of an apprenticeship. It took him a while to find the name, but he was happy with it when he did! Finding staff wasn’t too hard either! Kai came to him after they had finished art school—they studied fine art and fashion and was a great sport when it came to it. He found Adrian after a few months of coming out of his three year coma (made his coma shorter, but i’ve no idea how it’d work with him not trying to find his son…) selling his (A) artwork. Xinyi came by quickly when Kurai put up the ad for a receptionist for POYI and got the job (she is also a tattoo artist!), and Eun-Ji came almost alongside Xinyi.

He feels so bad for all his artists. They’ve almost all been through horrific things and struggle somedays. Kurai always tries his best to be a good father figure to them all.

He’s very good with kids!

sorry, i haven’t got very many atm

#creepypasta #kuraitsume’s tattoo & piercing parlour #pigment of your imagination #kuraitsume #kuraitsume taira #adrian #adrian lucas beck #kai #kai ailana #xinyi #xinyi jiang #eun-ji #eun-ji moon #others headcanons #letting anons speak

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pandorkful-dolls · 2 years

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Repaint Woes: wtf did I do wrong ahahahaha

(Originally posted Jan 23, 2022 on Patreon! Become a patron for as little as $3 a month at patreon.com/pandorkful to catch updates early!)

Tried making this post a few weeks ago, but the Patreon app crashed exactly as I was finishing up >_< So this is attempt #2. But the upside of having to rewrite everything is: I'm pretty sure I know exactly what I did wrong now.

So, I've had this Obitsu Slim Male 01 head since mid-November, 2007. He's had a bunch of face-ups over the past 14-ish years, at least 4 that I can recall, and he's now on his 3rd body. He's my 1/6 scale Ghaleon, the first custom doll I ever put together, and super special to me.

I was really happy with his most recent previous faceup, which I did sometime between 2013-2015. Unfortunately, the gloss on his lips and eyes eventually went tacky and picked up a gross layer of dust and lint, a problem I've had with every gloss varnish I've ever tried for faceups on vinyl heads. (Idk if it's something about the environment in the area I live in messing it up or what, but I've about given up on glossing eyes and lips now ahahaha)

Additionally, the white saran hair I had rooted back in 2007 had yellowed into a sickly blond and had gotten brittle with age and handling.

So sometime in late summer, 2021, I decided it was time to give him a complete reroot and repaint! I had a bit of white alpaca suri left over from making a wig (for my 1/3 scale bjd Ghaleon hehe) a few years ago, and decided to use it up for the reroot. I did a combination of tension method rooting and needlefelting to secure the natural hair fiber inside the head. I really should make a video on how to do it sometime, cuz it's way easier to show it than it is to explain. XD Anyway, it turned out really great and very secure--almost no fiber loss when I comb his hair!

(See the aforementioned wig on your left. :3 And look at how yellow that saran had gotten even back then--this pic is from 2015.)

Ghaleon's currently on a Barbie Looks tall mtm body (that I still need to do top surgery on with my dremel) which is a shade darker than the Obitsu "white" vinyl color--almost a perfect match to Obitsu "normal" actually. So I was gonna need to blushing to match the head to the body... if I had been motivated to set up a place outside my new apartment to do some MSC spraying, that is.

At my old place, when I was still living with my folks, we had a nice enclosed "courtyard" I could set up for spraying without feeling self conscious--my current apartment has a yard, but it's wide open to gawkers :P And it's currently a mess from my landlord-adjacent guy doing work on the downstairs apartment, AND I don't have any lawn furniture to prop dolls up on. Sooooo....

I said fuck it, I'm just gonna colormatch with paint. No problem.

It should have been no problem, I've done this several times before! To great effect! I have a good eye for mixing colors! Here, look at this acetone shrunk MH Finnegan Wake head I painted to match a Xinyi body (which was Ghaleon's 2nd body for a short time, btw):

He's a little textured from the layers of paint, yeah, but it looks pretty natural in pics and almost unnoticeable in person. I started painting this head not long before I moved, btw, in 2019. Really need to finish him soon. That'll be a future post, haha!

Anyway. Ghaleon's repaint... didn't go so smoothly as that one did, as you can guess from the cover image.

(Plz excuse the static--suri is gorgeous... when it isn't winter. >_< Still need to clean up/feather the bangs at some point...)

From a cursory glance, you can't tell that there's really any issues. I think the faceup turned out pretty alright, I'm not crazy with the darker lipstick and eyeshadow I went with, and it's been a couple years since I'd last painted a doll's face so I felt really rusty--but over all, not terrible.

But, if you get closer...

Cracks, flaking. Oh no.

We'll come back to this in a second. At the same time I was working on this head, I was also finishing up a second Obitsu SM01 head to be Eternal Blue Ghaleon...

I'm less happy with how this faceup turned out, I didn't do as good a job color matching--and you can see the cracks very clearly. The "crazing" almost works with his purple scars, but it also just looks like caked-on makeup to me. :-/

Soooo.... what went wrong with these two heads? Why did these color matching attempts crack and flake while my previous ones have held steady??

I think it could be a combination of factors--the MH head was acetone shrunk, so it was very hard and had no give to it to allow cracking to occur. Obitsu vinyl is also very, very soft in general, and preforms best when it's been sealed with Mr Super Clear Matte.

But I think the true culprit is this: I remember mixing mod podge into my paint when I painted Finnegan's head, but I didn't mix any medium into my paints when I painted the Obitsu heads. Additionally, I used artist grade acrylics when I painted Finnegan, but used hobby paints for miniatures when I painted the Obitsu heads.

I think the issue is buried somewhere between those two points, experimentation is probably required to figure out if I'm right or not... but in the end, since I know that MSC is just the better method to prep an Obitsu head for paint, and it's too cold to paint comfortably right now... maybe I'll just wait for spring to redo these faceups with MSC, anyway. :P

Oh, on a semi-related note, I decided to try the new Barbie Looks guy as a base for Dyne:

I think the Ghaleons have accepted him.

(bonus dubious look from Gar)

#when faceups fight back #ghaleon #dyne #mannimarco #lunar rpg #custom dolls #doll wips #my dolls

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zintranslations · 3 years

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Kaleidoscope of Death, Ch. 108

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu Link to Chinese / Novel Updates

Chapter 108: False Answers

Generously sharing hints inside the door wasn't much of a good thing at all, at least for the owners of the hints.

Because once you’d shared your hint, you’d exposed your own strength. The more difficult the door, the more true this was.

The more toward the end you were, the more difficult it was to get hints at all. So going public with a hint might make you a target, someone everybody was on their guard against. You might even be subject to sabotage.

Plus, without peculiar circumstances, nobody would want to share their hard-won hints anyways.

But the door before them obviously had to be an exception, because if they didn't tell the others the rules of the game, then those who died and became Hakobito would increase the difficulty of their escape.

"Are we going to tell them?" Lin Qiushi asked. "What happens if we just announce it like this?"

"We have to tell them no matter what." Though he'd heard the scream, Ruan Nanzhu wasn't distressed at all. "But there's no rush. They're all shrewd old things, even if I tell them everything they might not believe me."

As the three spoke, they returned to the foyer they were in before, and saw that someone had opened a chest in the corner. Inside the chest was something like a stethoscope. Someone had taken it out, and was examining it closely. That was an item available for use inside the Hako Onna game, Lin Qiushi recalled. He didn't think someone would be lucky enough to open up an item immediately.

"Who screamed just now?" Liang Miye eyed the stethoscope, then looked elsewhere.

"It was me…" a girl said meekly. "I was just getting ready to go check out the kitchen with them, but then I saw something in the crack of the door. I think it was a- a little girl wearing a dress. I couldn't stop myself, and screamed."

This girl was obviously a newbie, nervous-looking and by all appearances inexperienced.

After hearing her explanation, a few of the veterans had on peculiar expressions. They wanted nothing more than to stay as far away as possible from those things—only newbies got so foolishly close and offered up their heads like that.

Lin Qiushi took the opportunity to look around, quickly counting up the proportion of newbies to veterans.

Of the twenty-three, at least four in that group of seven were newbies; dazed bewilderment was still visible on their faces.

Minus these seven, there were likely also some newbies in the remaining sixteen. Which was to say, more than one group had brought newbies into this door. So the newbie count was between eleven and twelve, about half-and-half with the vets.

Actually, upon closer thought, it was easy to understand how people could risk other people's lives like this.

There was a limited number of death conditions. To test and identify one meant being able to avoid it. Testing these conditions with other people's lives was the easiest method.

"Can you not just open random chests?" Among the old hands, there were already some who couldn't watch these newbies mess around anymore. "Look—these chests are everywhere, so they must have some sort of special function. If you keep randomly opening them, shit's definitely going to go wrong!"

"What can go wrong!" The one who'd obtained the stethoscope was a young man, bravely swaggering about with a poor attitude. "I'm perfectly fine, aren't I?"

"You might be fine now, but who knows about later." The one with all the suspicions seemed to be called Sun Yuanzhou. The twist of his head was cold as he spoke to the leader of this newbie pack: "You brought them in. Get a grip on them, will you?"

The one who'd brought the bunch of newbies in this time was a middle-aged man named Wei Xiude. His face was unremarkable, and by appearance alone, seemed friendly and congenial. But evidently, to have brought in so many newbies, he wasn't at all a good person.

"Alright, alright." Wei Xiude at least knew to speak well. "I'll take care of them. Xiao Ji, don't open anymore chests. It won't be good if something happens. It's dangerous inside the door after all."

"Like anything will happen," the young man called Xiao Ji spoke impatiently. "You're too wimpy. No risk no rewards…"

As he spoke, he lifted his hand to open another chest.

"Wait—" Lin Qiushi spoke up to stop him.

But Xiao Ji naturally wouldn't listen to Lin Qiushi. In a single breath, he opened up two more chests. Fortunately, his luck was good: one chest had a slip of paper in it, and the other was empty.

"What's this?" Xiao Ji picked up the paper, and read it out loud. "False Answers…" There seemed to be only those two words on the paper, and no other information. He muttered, "the hell is this?"

He tossed the paper aside onto a table.

"Don't open any more." Seeing that Xiao Ji wasn't planning to quit opening chests, Ruan Nanzhu finally spoke up. "If I'm not wrong, this should be a tabletop game I've played before, called Hako Onna. If you keep opening up chests like this, something nasty really will pop out."

At this, Xiao Ji's hands finally stopped. He said, "What? Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Ruan Nanzhu shrugged. "You moved too quickly. As if I had time to."

Because of Ruan Nanzhu's words, all eyes in the house were now on him. Some looked energized, some doubting, some suspicious.

"You mean we're playing a game right now? Have you played it before?" Sun Yuanzhou got the point quickly.

"A few times." Ruan Nanzhu sat down on the sofa and leaned back. "I couldn't be sure when I first came in, so I went upstairs to find some key items. I'm sure now that it's that game."

Everybody gathered around, waiting for his next words.

Ruan Nanzhu very simply explained the rules. In the heavy chests was a ghoul, and opening them up at random could very well release it. Humans caught by the ghoul became Hakobito—box people—who continue on to sabotage the survivors.

Regarding the rules, Ruan Nanzhu hid nothing. He gave detailed descriptions from beginning to end, and answered many people's questions. But it was as he predicted—though he kept up an earnest attitude, the veterans didn't simply believe everything he told them.

"According to what you said, we can just not open chests??" someone spoke up in the group, questioning Ruan Nanzhu. "That's what you mean? That if we don't open any chests, nothing will happen? You said the safe has a four-digit passcode. Though there are ten thousand combinations, as long as we spend some time testing it we'll get it right eventually!"

Ruan Nanzhu turned a palm to the sky. "I'm only telling you the rules from the game I've played, not what the rules are here. There must have been changes, but I don't know what those changes are either."

"Let's count up how many chests are in this house total," a young woman said. Though she didn't look very old, she was seasoned. "I'm Yin Xinyi, pleasure working with you." She extended a hand to Ruan Nanzhu.

Ruan Nanzhu shook it. "I'm Zhu Meng."

"On the first day, the Hako Onna will cry once," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Where her cry comes from is where she's located. After that, she'll only cry when she wants to obtain a power…"

"Power?" Yin Xinyi asked.

"Yes. He's opened one up already." Ruan Nanzhu pointed at Xiao Ji. "False Answers."

Muttering broke out among the crowd, many asking what exactly this meant.

"In the tabletop, it's one of Hako Onna's powers," Ruan Nanzhu said. "It means the player who plays Hako Onna can lie."

Yin Xinyi, "lie? She can answer our questions?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "in reality, yes. As for here, I don't know what sort of derivative effect the power will have."

"We'll rest for today." Sun Yuanzhou's personality leaned toward dominant, taking up leadership among the group. "It's already after ten, and things are more likely to happen at night. Let's discuss this in more detail tomorrow."

"Okay," most agreed with Sun Yuanzhou's suggestion.

Then everybody began splitting into rooms.

There were three floors in the mansion. Floor one held the functional rooms, like the kitchen. Floors two and three were mostly bedrooms, with studies and bathrooms among them. There was also a large balcony, though it was sealed up by cement.

There were no rules about how many people could stay together, but most went for two to three per room—Lin Qiushi's group as well.

As the night got deeper, the mansion went hazy in the darkness.

Steel boards hammered over the windows blocked out most of the sun. Then, thick drapes like curtains at a show's finale sectioned away the remaining light. The lights in the hallway were a dim red, making the whole area seem like a darkroom or something. It was quite discomfiting.

The room Lin Qiushi and company were staying in was also filled with chests.

They had done a rough count. In the entire mansion, there were at least two hundred wooden chests, each about half a meter tall, neatly placed in every single corner of the house; they had a collective presence that was difficult to ignore.

It was in a chest like this that a girl, with her body all twisted up, could be hidden. At the thought, nobody wanted to take a second glance.

After washing up, the three got in bed. Ruan Nanzhu took the bed by the wall and could see the mass of chests with a mere turn of his head.

Before they slept, the three discussed some things.

"What happens if I don't open any chests?" Liang Miye said. "If nobody opens them, then nobody dies?"

"As if," Ruan Nanzhu said. "There'll definitely be a catch for us in here." They just didn't know what that catch was at the moment.

The doors would never allow them to unconditionally waste time inside, unless…there was only one person left inside this door.

"What kind of catch?" Liang Miye said. "But forcing our moves is good actually, or we're all left hoping others will gamble on their own lives."

Every time you opened a chest was a wager; who knew what would come out?

Ruan Nanzhu made a sound of agreement.

Lin Qiushi's attention was also on the chests, though he was thinking about that stethoscope the guy took during the day. The stethoscope was a game item, but could only be used once a day. It could determine whether or not the Hako Onna was in a chest, because if she was, the stethoscope would pick up soft sounds.

It was a very important item, but it was now in somebody else's hands.

Ah, this really was a game of luck, Lin Qiushi thought. As someone who'd never even won a simple five-yuan lottery, his luck truly wasn't all that impressive.

Plus, with their lives as the gambling chips, they could hardly afford it.

Late in the evening, Lin Qiushi still couldn't sleep well. Around three in the morning, a horrible scream came from downstairs, waking everybody from their dreams.

Lin Qiushi came awake in an instant, opening his eyes and meeting Ruan Nanzhu's gaze.

"Something happened?" Lin Qiushi asked.

"Mh," Ruan Nanzhu said. "Let's go see. Downstairs."

Liang Miye had woken up as well, and said, "that was the second floor, right? Don't tell me somebody got bored enough of living and decided to open a chest?" Ruan Nanzhu had explained it thoroughly enough during the day. If, after all that, someone still wanted to risk their life to open a chest, then Liang Miye really had nothing more to say.

But the annoying thing about newbies was their unpredictability. Under the oppressive weight of terror, no one knew what stupid move they would make next.

The crying and wailing didn't stop. When they got to the second floor, they could still hear the sounds coming through the door.

"Aaaah, it hurts, help me, help me!! Aaah—" The screams were chilling. Several people were currently stood outside that doorway. A sweeping look told Lin Qiushi that these were all veterans, including Sun Yuanzhou. He pushed at the door, then said, "it's locked. I'll go grab something."

"No need, I got it." Ruan Nanzhu slowly approached the door, bent down, and got to unlocking it.

Everybody's eyes were fixed on him. Moments later, the lock clicked open, and the room inside was revealed to them.

The room was already empty. The cries were coming from inside a wooden chest. Not only were there cries emanating from the chest, but also a dull banging, as if the person inside wanted to beat their way out.

"Save me, please save me, I don't want to die…" The closer they got, the more nerve-wracking the sound became.

"Who was staying in this room?" Ruan Nanzhu asked. As he spoke, his eyes drifted toward the chest beside this one. "They opened a chest."

"Fucker." Sun Yuanzhou seemed pissed off, angrily spinning around and going to the room next door. He banged on it until he'd woken up the people inside. "Wei Xiude, get your ass out here now! Were the people in this room with you?!"

Moments later, the room door opened and Wei Xiude walked out. He said, "what are you talking about, 'with me'?"

"In that room!" Sun Yuanzhou jabbed a finger at the room where the incident occurred.

Looking at that room, Wei Xiude's brow lightly puckered. "Yes, there are two of them in there." He seemed to comprehend something. "Something happened to them?"

Sun Yuanzhou spat a curse.

Wei Xiude saw everybody's eyes on him, none very friendly, and he laughed somewhat awkwardly.

"My apologies, I'll give them all a stern reminder for sure. But they haven't been in many doors and some of them don't know the rules…"

Sun Yuanzhou, icily, "mind your own people, or don't blame me for coming after you."

Then he walked off, seeming thoroughly disgusted with Wei Xiude.

Which was fair. A normal tenth door was difficult enough, but the newbies Wei Xiude brought in managed to ruck up the gameplay level to difficult-as-hell.

Nobody was in a good mood at this moment. The looks they shot Wei Xiude were also filled with distaste. Behavior like Wei Xiude's had always been contemptible. Inside the door however, every one could really only sweep the snow from their own front porches; they had no wherewithal to mind anybody else. But if Wei Xiude'd actions proved detrimental to everybody's interests, then that was another matter altogether.

The chest was still wailing at a head-splitting volume.

Lin Qiushi found some items that were left behind around the chest. Judging by the quantity, it hadn't just been one person dragged into the chest by the Hako Onna.

People dying meant an increase in the number of Hakobito; the risk of opening a chest had once again increased.

Lin Qiushi let out a breath, thinking things really were getting tricky.

It was the dead of night at this point. Most likely, nobody got any sleep since that chest wailed on for the entire evening. It was only by morning of the next day that the noise gradually weakened, then finally disappeared.

Lin Qiushi still couldn't understand—Ruan Nanzhu had clearly told them not to open chests for no reason. Why would people still break the taboo? Did they really just believe they would be lucky enough?

After a sleepless night, nobody looked very well. The experienced veterans were mostly fine—it was those who'd been hoodwinked in who looked on the verge of collapse. One girl just curled up in a corner sobbing.

Breakfast appeared by itself in the dining room. It wasn't too bad. Though Lin Qiushi didn't have much of an appetite, he still forced himself to eat some.

It was Ruan Nanzhu whose attention kept wandering. He seemed to be thinking something over. Halfway through eating, he said he wanted to go to the bathroom, and Lin Qiushi said, "I'll go with you."

"Sure," Ruan Nanzhu chuckled. "I'm actually a bit nervous."

Bathrooms in the mansion were all stalls with no distinction for gender. Lin Qiushi stood outside to wait, but after a while, he heard a strange noise coming from inside the bathroom.

Lin Qiushi leaned in closer, and upon realizing what the noise was, his expression changed. The noise…was coming from Ruan Nanzhu.

Ruan Nanzhu seemed to be quietly keening, and in that keen were weak cries for help.

Lin Qiushi rushed inside the bathroom, calling out, "Zhu Meng, Zhu Meng, are you alright?!"

He wanted to open the stall door, but found that it was locked. He fished out his tools in a hurry, and popped the lock on the stall in a couple of swift motions.

Once the door was open, he could see inside. There was nobody there. Beside the toilet, there was a black wooden chest. There was no lock on it—it could be opened with a simple lift.

But Ruan Nanzhu's voice was coming from inside the chest.

Lin Qiushi's face darkened. Many thoughts turned over in his mind as he hurried over to the chest.

"Zhu Meng! Zhu Meng! Is that you in there?"

He knew that Ruan Nanzhu wasn't someone who would just open a chest, but the world of the doors was full of peculiar circumstances. He feared that Ruan Nanzhu had encountered some sudden situation and was dragged into the chest by the Hako Onna.

"Zhu Meng!" Lin Qiushi began hitting the chest calling, "are you inside? Say something—"

"Help me…Please help me…" Ruan Nanzhu's voice was getting weaker and weaker, as if it was going to fade away at any moment. "Please help me…"

It had only been a few minutes, but there was already a sheen of cold sweat on Lin Qiushi's forehead. He stared at the lid of that chest and swallowed, hard, before asking in a raspy voice, "what's my name? Tell me, what's my name outside the door—"

"Linlin, save me…" was how Ruan Nanzhu responded to Lin Qiushi's question.

Upon hearing Ruan Nanzhu's answer, Lin Qiushi released a violent breath. He pressed his hear to that chest and listened as that thing inside keep calling his name in Ruan Nanzhu's voice.

"Linlin, Linlin, save me…Linlin, it hurts…Linlin…"

After staring at that chest for a while, Lin Qiushi turned and left the stall. Then he began going stall to stall, knocking down the row.

Very soon, one of the stall doors opened at his knock. Inside was Ruan Nanzhu with his skirt lifted up, and his expression as he looked at Lin Qiushi was strange.

"Linlin, what are you doing?"

Lin Qiushi looked at his face, and without saying anything, walked in and wrapped him up tightly in a hug.

After a moment's shock, Ruan Nanzhu returned the hug.

"What happened?"

Lin Qiushi, "I've learned what the change is."

Ruan Nanzhu, "hm?"

Lin Qiushi said, "the Hako Onna's power…False Answers." He glanced at a certain stall. "The Hako Onna can imitate people's voices and call for help from inside the chest."

Affection disturbed the mind; the moment something happened to someone you cared for, you were no longer in the state of mind to contemplate the logic of the situation. And once you'd actually opened the chest, there was no longer time for regret.

"What did you hear?" Ruan Nanzhu instantly got an answer from Lin Qiushi's words and expression. "You heard me calling for help inside the chest?"

"Yes," Lin Qiushi said. "Fortunately, you don't like to call me Linlin on the outside."

Ruan Nanzhu said, "I didn't hear anything. It seems the two people from last night were tricked like this."

"Mh," Lin Qiushi said. "They must have a good relationship outside the doors."

Ruan Nanzhu said, "you said just now that the Hako Onna cried inside this room, right?"

Lin Qiushi nodded.

"Then we can confirm her location." Ruan Nanzhu was thinking out loud. "There must be conditions restricting her movement, or we wouldn't be able to open the chests at all.”

If there were no restrictions, then that meant the moment you chose a chest to open, the Hako Onna could move to the chest before you.

"Yes," Lin Qiushi said. "So we can confirm the Hako Onna's in this room…But two people died last night."

That meant there were two additional Hakobito inside the house, and they were in unknown chests.

Ruan Nanzhu said, "let's get them to confirm it with the stethoscope."

Lin Qiushi, "the stethoscope's with the newbie that Wei Xiude brought in."

Ruan Nanzhu nodded. "Mh, I know. Let's go talk to them first, so this item doesn't go to waste."

The stethoscope must have changed as well. As for how, they didn't yet know.

Author's Note:

The strongest players pretty much won't ever bump up against each other, because they typically have their own hints for their own doors. The rest of the spots are divvied up among people without hints, so those people are weaker in comparison. Emmmm personally I think getting your hint out first thing would be catching the Idiot Ball? Everybody's basically your competition, and there's only one super important hint to the next door. Ruan Nanzhu would never go in a door and immediately announce he has a hint and attract everybody's attention like that.

Translator’s Note:

Many thanks to this YouTuber for giving me this split-second screengrab of the English name for “False Answers” ‘cause I couldn’t find it in the rulebook PDF...

Names in this chapter

Sūn Yuánzhōu / Sun(1) Yuan(2) Zhou(1) / 孫元洲

Wèi Xīudé / Wei(4) Xiu(1) De(2) / 魏修德

this bastard's name translates literally to "one who practices ethics" lmao

Xiǎo Jì / Xiao(3) Ji(4) / 小薊

[Ch. 107] | [Ch. 109]

#kaleidoscope of death #xi zixu #cnovel #chinese translation #死亡萬花筒

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jalwoorideul · 2 years

Text

Yogurt Date

synopsis: valerie spends a day out with giselle

year: 2021

taglist: @raybans4, @sakuurra

----

Finally, after their "Dreams Come True" promotion, Giselle and Valerie got the opportunity to have some tijme for themselves and that means getting yogurt at their favorite local shop.

"Mhmm I missed this" Xinyi moans as she took a scoop of the yogurt she craved for a while. "The owner even gave us extra toppings because she said we haven't been here in a while" Giselle adds as she took a seat across from her member.

This was a usual occurrence for the both of them. Most of the time, this was the special bond they had where they take an hour of their day to go to their favorite yogurt shop while they tall about anything under the weather.

Some times they talk about their worries for their next comeback, sometime they talk about what they miss back home, occasionally they talk about new music that they've discovered.

Today, they talked about Valerie and her developing feelings for a certain someone.

It wouldn't have been such a big deal but it was because from the long time that Aeri has known the younger member, this was the first time she has ever expressed interest in liking someone.

Even before she came to personally knew the girl, she was already known to reject confessions left and right because she's too focused on herself and her career — Which wasn't a bad thing to be honest. It's just a reputation Valerie had built all through out her stay at SM and in the idol industry.

"Excuse me. What?" Giselle exclaims when Valerie dropped the bomb. "You think you like him?" She clarifies to the girl sitting in front of her.

"Yes. I think."

Aeri cocks her eyebrows and tilts her head to ghe side. "Why aren't you sure?"

Valerie takes another scoop of her frozen dessert while avoiding eye contact with her member. "Because, it feels new to me. I haven't liked someone since I came here." She murmurs.

As she answers the question, Giselle felt sad for her. "Is this why you've been ignoring him?"

Valerie's eyes widen. She guesses that her members probably knew her more than she thought. "I just feel awkward about what I'm feeling right now, okay? And it's not like I'm purposely ignoring him, we've just been busy. You know he's touring soon right?"

Aeri didn't believe what she said one bit. Of course, she knows that they've been busy, but it was totally obvious that even on a quiet moment of nothingness, Xinyi would do her absolute best to avoid the boy, "Sweetie, he's been trying to approach you during music shows and every time he does you start making up an excuse of going to the bathroom or looking for someone"

"Well he could have just texted me" The girl in question exclaimed. It's good thing that the yogurt shop was small and secluded so there were barely any people around except them. "Okay, but do you reply?" she gets questioned again.

Xinyi groans and closes her eyes. She knows she wouldn't be able to find her way around this especially since Giselle can see right through her.

"I'm just not sure how to act around him." She confesses which got a nod fron Aeri. She understands her, truly.

Eyes are on the both of them. Two of the rising acts of k-pop. Members of some of the biggest names in 4th generation. Of course, if anything got out of hand, it was bound to be a wild ride. And she didn't think it would be a great idea since the two have been in hot waters for a while.

"Xinyi, you are GREAT with people. You know what they say everytime someone talks to me about you? That you're one of the easiest people to approach and be with." Giselle starts off, touching Xinyi's hand which was placed on top of the table. "Sunghoon's a bit shy and awkward, sure, but it doesn't seem that way with you. So just act the way you normally do with anyone and you'll do fine....."

"... Just be careful, okay? Around... other people."

Valerie nodded in agreement. "It's not like I'm planning to do anything about what I feel, unnie. I'm just acknowledging them."

"Okay then...."

"But what does he say about all of this?" The older member adds as her final interrogation question. "What? You mean, does he know? Of course not, why would I tell Sunghoon how I feel-"

"Not Sunghoon! Haechan"

This time, it was Xinyi who cocked her eyebrows and tilted her head. "Oh... "

Giselle shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. Aren't you guys a buy 1 take 1 deal? He doesn't know about you liking someone?"

"Well, yeah of course he knows...You know I tell him everything right?"

For Donghyuck and Xinyi, everyone knew their history. Best friends since trainee days. Two peas in a pod. Whatever she does, he does. Wherever he goes, she follows. It was really one of the few friendships that the aespa girls have with the opposite gender where people don't make a fiss about because it's so natural for everyone to see or hear "Donghyuck and Xiny", "Haechan and Valerie".

They knew each other so well. They share each other's schedules even if it wasn't necessary. Valerie even spends the holidays with Haechan and his family if she couldn't go home to Hong Kong.

To the both of them, they were the best of friends.

To everyone else, inclusing Giselle, whatever they had was more than what they think it was.

So if he knows, then she just hopes no one is getting hurt in the process.

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bifilthatonthatseson · 2 years

Text

Jiang Cheng time loop AU, Chapter Three

AO3 link

Jiang Cheng wakes up and vomits over the side of the bed. He can still feel the way his blade had slid through his brother’s chest. He can see A-Jie’s face, heartbroken and betrayed, looking at him as if - as if -

As if he had just murdered their brother.

He retches again. Lan Wangji’s blade had come as a surprise, but a relief.

But he had no choice. “A-Jie, I had to!” he says out loud, his roughened voice falling pathetically flat in the empty room. He had to avenge her. If she’d known, she would have understood. “He killed you!”

The words choke and die in his throat. He can’t see anything but Jiang Yanli’s face: how she'd looked at him, watching them both die. He's wrong. She would never have understood. She didn't understand, staring at him like her whole world was breaking and he had been the one who’d smashed it to bits. She had wept in front of him and begged Jiang Cheng to save Wei Wuxian, even when he had killed her husband. She would never, ever, have understood Jiang Cheng killing him.

He can’t do that again. He won’t survive it. He is a shame to his ancestors, because avenging his sister’s killer brought him no relief, only despair. Even more so than knowing Lan Wangji will kill him for it, he will not survive driving a sword through his brother’s heart a second time.

The fact that he did it - that he could do it, even once -

Not for the first time, Jiang Cheng wonders if he is in hell. Maybe he died the first time this day happened when Wei Wuxian lost control of his corpses, or he had a massive qi deviation in his sleep after he went home. Maybe someone snuck into his room and murdered him unawares - an enemy, or one of his own disciples after he proved such an utter failure of a sect leader that his own brother killed his disciples while he stood by and did nothing.

If this were hell, though, then why hasn’t he relived the fall of Lotus Pier? If he must live through his worst nightmares, doomed to never make any real difference, why not the night his whole sect died? Why not the day he was captured and tortured and lost his golden core?

He shudders and reflexively puts a hand to his lower dantian. His golden core spins in his chest, strong and steady, just as it has been since Baoshan Sanren restored it.

Apparently he is just doomed to relive the day he becomes the last of the Jiang. Leaving him utterly, completely alone.

Jiang Cheng stares at the ceiling and thinks about hell, and when his first disciple comes and knocks on the door he takes Sandu to his own throat.

He wakes up what feels like seconds later. His throat still throbs, phantom-like. He puts a hand to his neck and is mildly surprised when it doesn't come back bloody.

No way out by suicide, then. He ought to have known. When has he ever been allowed to take the easy way out? He didn’t even get a moment of rest.

He can’t kill Wei Wuxian again. He can’t reason with him. He can’t leave A-Jie unprotected. The impossibilities thrum against his skull and skitter down through his veins, pounding with the beat of his heart.

By the time Jiang Xinyi knocks on the door, Jiang Cheng is fully dressed and armed. She stops just inside the threshold, startled. Jiang Cheng has not dressed in his travel robes, the dark patterned ones he has worn on every previous iteration of this day, with the special talismans in the hems to ward off road dust. Instead, he wears the most formal version of Jiang training robes: rich, subtly patterned purple for the Sect Leader, wrapped tight on his lower arms to avoid being tangled in anyone’s weapons.

“We aren’t going to Nightless City,” he announces, anticipating the question behind his head disciple’s raised eyebrow.

“We’re not…” Jiang Xinyi stops, then shakes her head. “Why?”

Sometimes Jiang Cheng really regrets that the Jiang have never embraced unquestioning obedience the way other sects have. “We don’t need to go puff up the Jin’s sense of importance by watching them gloat over some dead Wen,” he says. She actually frowns at him. He doesn’t blame her. The Wen are only an afterthought to this ceremony, for all Jin Guangshan’s posturing. The real purpose is Wei Wuxian, and everyone knows it. It’s political suicide for the Jiang sect not to attend.

Jiang Cheng straightens his back, sets his jaw, and glares for good measure. “We aren’t going,” he repeats. “I’ll announce it at breakfast. In the meantime, pick someone to travel to Lanling and stand watch over my sister. I want her protected while Sect Leader Jin and his best disciples are elsewhere.” He sweeps past Jiang Xinyi, determinedly fixing his gaze above her head. If he doesn’t see her skepticism, he can pretend it isn’t there.

As promised, he relates the change of plans to his disciples over the morning meal. They mutter or exclaim aloud, according to their personalities, but none of them explicitly object. That’s something, at least. He might be imagining it, but he thinks some of them even look relieved.

Stripped of the need to travel anywhere, the day passes in agonizing slowness. Jiang Cheng stalks the halls and piers, unable to sit still. He double-checks the wards and the weapons stores; he goes over the outer defenses with a fine-tooth comb. At noon, he orders the gates closed and tells all commoners to return to their homes. The disciples, infected by his restlessness, train, pick fights, or talk in too-loud voices.

By the time night falls, Jiang Cheng all but vibrates with suppressed tension. He takes dinner in his office, unable to bear the weight of so many eyes. Several hours later, that’s where the messenger finds him.

“Sect Leader!” A terrified voice accompanies the pounding at his office door. Jiang Cheng rises and crosses to open it with a grim sense of inevitability. A junior disciple nearly falls into the room when Jiang Cheng wrenches the door open. “The gates - Sect Leader, at the gates -”

He rushes past the gasping messenger without bothering to ask any questions. It’s obvious anyway, once he reaches the usually wide-open gates of Lotus Pier and leaps to the top of the viewing platform on the inner side of the wall.

An army stretches before them, cultivators in every color swelling its ranks. At its front are Nie Mingjue, Lan Xichen, and Jin Guangshan. Minor sect leaders cluster behind them, subtly jostling for position. Each seems to want a good view, but not at the cost of being too obviously in the front.

“Honored Sect Leaders. What brings you all to Lotus Pier,” Jiang Cheng says flatly. He does not actually need an answer.

Jin Guangshan steps forward importantly.

“Tell Wei Wuxian to come forth!”

“He isn’t here,” Jiang Cheng snaps, and even after everything that has happened, it hurts to say. He swallows hard against the resentful fury that rises to choke him. Behind him, he can sense his disciples gathering, running in from all directions as the gate messenger spreads the word of the army’s approach. He hand-signals behind his back for them to form ranks and keep quiet. “Wei Wuxian was cast out from Yunmeng Jiang and took refuge in the Burial Mounds. Every one of you knows this is so.”

Jin Guangshan shakes his head, a look of fake sorrow on his face, but to Jiang Cheng’s surprise it is Nie Mingue who speaks.

“He is your brother. You could no more truly cast him out than you could cut out your own heart,” Nie Mingue rumbled. “You cannot protect him by pretending otherwise now.”

Fuck. If Nie Mingjue has come willingly, the others will not falter. They might be convinced that Jin Guangshan is acting out of his own interests, but never Nie Mingjue. As if to drive the point home, Lan Xichen steps up next.

“Sect Leader Jiang. We are all tired of war. But we cannot allow Wei Wuxian to kill without check, to murder without consequence. Do you understand?”

“What has my former disciple done?” Jiang Cheng sneers. “I suppose I am allowed to ask before being charged as an accomplice?”

“Listen to him! He pretends he doesn’t know!”

Jiang Cheng can’t tell who said it, but he would put good money on Sect Leader Yao. A general chorus of agreement rises.

“I don’t know, as it happens,” he lies. Or perhaps it isn’t a lie. He can’t think of any reason why his absence at the pledge conference would change Wei Wuxian’s behavior, but he can’t actually prove that it didn’t. “Perhaps one of you who has seen him can enlighten me.”

A-Jie, he thinks suddenly. What has happened to his sister? The disciple Jiang Xinyi sent had never reported back. For a moment panic grips him so hard he nearly falls. But surely, Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao would not be standing there wasting time talking about Wei Wuxian if they were about to report his sister’s death?

“Wei Wuxian appeared at the pledge conference, right after we swore to stamp out the threat represented by the Stygian Tiger Amulet,” Lan Xichen says, apparently willing to play along. “He attacked all of us without warning. Several dozen of our disciples are dead.”

Several dozen? That does surprise Jiang Cheng. All the previous times, Wei Wuxian had killed hundreds. Bitterly, he wonders what it is about his own presence that makes Wei Wuxian worse.

“And yet you have all decided to come here, rather than seek your revenge,” he says.

“The Yiling Patriarch fled the battle after killing many,” says Lan Xichen. “He was wounded, but not dead.” His face looks pinched and drawn. Jiang Cheng wonders why. He’s lost some disciples, but not many, if everything he says is true. Of course, Lan Xichen has no way of knowing that he has been spared greater disaster. On a hunch, Jiang Cheng looks around. He does not see Lan Wangji anywhere.

“Where is your brother, Sect Leader Lan?” Jiang Cheng finds himself asking. Zewu-Jun’s face goes rigid. Apparently even his placid nature has its limits.

“If you know to ask that, I cannot believe you do not know where Wei Wuxian has gone,” Lan Xichen replies. So Lan Wangji has done something. That makes more sense. Whatever his brother’s faults, cowardice is not one of them. The thought that he would retreat from battle regardless of its odds is sheer lunacy. Lan Wangji must have physically dragged him away.

“Believe what you like,” says Jiang Cheng. “I tell you the truth - Wei Wuxian is not here. He has not entered Lotus Pier since his banishment. I have no knowledge of his crimes, nor are they my responsibility. You are wasting your time here.”

“Sect Leader Jiang. You must know we cannot accept this,” says Jin Guangyao. Jin Guangshan shoots him an angry look, but Jin Guangyao pretends not to see, drawing himself up in a line with his sworn brothers. “You did not appear at the pledge conference today. You clearly did not wish to act against a man you were once as close as brothers with, even after he killed your own brother-in-law and my beloved brother. Your word on this is, I am sorry to say, not enough.”

Nie Mingjue looks aggrieved to have to agree with Jin Guangyao, but he speaks up anyway. “If you continue to shield him, you will bear the full weight of his crimes.”

Jiang Cheng laughs. He can’t help it. He laughs and he can feel his disciples staring, but he can’t stop. Is this how Wei Wuxian had felt? “He isn’t here,” he says, when at last he can speak again. “He isn’t here, and we weren’t there. But that isn’t enough, is it?”

The gathered crowd does not answer him. Jiang Cheng’s laughter stills. He looks to his disciples. They look afraid, as they should. But they nod at him, fierce and loyal to the end.

“I do not have Wei Wuxian. I cannot produce him for you,” Jiang Cheng says, his most bitter truth spoken one last, useless time.

“Then you leave us no choice,” says Nie Mingjue.

Jiang Cheng’s disciples fight bravely. His archers keep any one group from approaching the gates in force. He has wards that no one expects him to have, reinforced all this long day as he tested his stronghold’s weak points. But in the end, they are still too few, too broken in the aftermath of massacre and war. Jiang Cheng holds the wall for nearly an hour as the gathered sects batter at his outer defenses, but there is only one way this can end.

Jiang Xinyi appears at his side in time to deflect a rain of arrows. When he turns a fierce, interrogative look at her, she nods. “It’s done,” she confirms.

A strange sense of calm settles over Jiang Cheng. He had sent his head disciple to evacuate the civilians and children as soon as the fighting had begun in earnest. His sect’s great treasures are hidden beneath wards keyed to the Jiang bloodline. He has held long enough. He reaches into his sleeve and removes the talisman he is never without: the one that will set off a chain reaction of explosives throughout Lotus Pier. He will call a retreat, lure his enemies in, and set them all off at once.

Lotus Pier will not fall into the hands of invaders again.

“Is this the famed justice of Chifeng-zun?” carols a voice from above, carrying impossibly above the fighting. “Is this the nobleness of the Lan? The generosity of the Jin?” Jiang Cheng’s whole body flashes hot, then freezes, shivers wracking his entire frame. Impossible. Impossible, impossible -

In a lurching, uneven wave, the army comes to a standstill as their sect leaders call a halt. Everyone looks around wildly, trying to find the source of the voice.

Wei Wuxian stands on a roof outside of Lotus Pier, twirling his flute in his hand. Jiang Cheng swallows. He looks a wreck. His mouth is a blood-red slash in his deathly pale face, making him look more than half a ghost himself. He can smell the old blood tang of resentful energy from here - can feel the way the air twists around Wei Wuxian, sucking at the life force of the living. There is an unholy light in his eyes that is high and cold and mad.

But he is here. Jiang Cheng shakes and shakes and knows it for relief.

“You accuse my former shidi of harboring me, but it seems you all were mistaken,” says Wei Wuxian. “Do you dare to call yourself righteous? Attacking one group of innocents is not enough for you, so you must go for a second?”

Everyone is shouting now, but no individual voices can be picked out except for Wei Wuxian’s. He has a bleeding wound on his left shoulder, held together by a suspicious white band of fabric. There is no sign of Lan Wangji other than the bandage on his shoulder. Wei Wuxian’s voice carries effortlessly over the raised voices of the crowd.

“Luckily,” he says, “there are plenty of ghosts here for me to play with.”

Wei Wuxian raises his flute. Jiang Cheng knows a moment of pure horror. He won’t - he can’t -

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know what he’ll do if he sees his parents’ ghosts or corpses rise. He has given them their last rites, burned paper money for them, buried their bodies with appropriate honors. Surely they won’t rise. Surely Wei Wuxian won’t -

All around him, ghosts and fierce corpses come back to a horrible semblance of life, all of them dressed in Wen red.

Jiang Cheng’s breath rushes back out. At least he will not have to endure that.

Wei Wuxian sends his spirits after the gathered armies. It isn’t a fair fight. No one likes fighting things that can take a sword to the chest and keep coming. Many cultivators break and run.

“Are we going, Sect Leader?” Jiang Cheng startles. He turns to meet the gaze of the disciple who had spoken, who looks back at him, equal parts scared and eager. “Are we going to help da-shixiong?”

Everyone seems to have forgotten about Yunmeng Jiang in the face of Wei Wuxian’s appearance. The gates are completely clear for at least a hundred feet. Everyone’s backs are even towards them, as they focus with single-minded purpose on killing the Yiling Patriarch.

Wei Wuxian’s appearance, clearly from behind the enemy lines, has cleared Jiang Cheng of suspicion for harboring him. Going to help him now would undo any good that has done them. If he died now, his mind whispers, A-Jie couldn’t blame you.

He flinches at the thought, bile rising in his throat. The face that flashes before his eyes so vividly that he can no longer see the battlefield is for once not A-Jie, but Wei Wuxian, who had worn that terrible smile on his face as Jiang Cheng killed him. As if he were grateful.

He gives the order.

His disciples swarm out of the gate. The gathered cultivators, who had all turned to face Wei Wuxian, are caught completely by surprise.

But they are too late. Jiang Cheng only just manages to glimpse Wei Wuxian’s face, stunned and disbelieving as the Yunmeng Jiang disciples come to his defense. Then his face goes bloodless, then grey. He opens his mouth and screams, resentful energy pouring out of his mouth, his eyes, his ears.

The Stygian Tiger Seal explodes, and Jiang Cheng falls into blackness.

#monday update time!#jiang cheng #jiang cheng timeloop au #my fic #the emotional progress is slow but he's gonna do it #tw:suicide

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fleetingfigures · 3 years

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Day 1 - Foster

He’s but a boy, and a growing one at that... Yet, I am no fùqīn. I am a simple man, a farmer, his Shūshu from across the One River; everything I own is out of necessity - I’m nothing compared to his bàba. Though, I suppose that is why he’s here in the first place. I may not be half the man my gēge is, but I can provide something he never could for his own child, and he knows that. I can see it in his eyes, even in the dark of night.

It’s resignation.

He sent a letter posthaste, I read it just an eve ago. I know what Xinyi has done, and I know what the Luo name will mean soon enough. But their Qiangyi... Gēge could not stand to see what was to become of him, he wanted him to be free from their legacy. And so here they are, upon my doorstep, their presence most unlike that of Yunlu. I’m sure with time Qiangyi could learn to fit in here. He’s young, after all, he doesn’t know any better.

It’s not long after gēge leaves that I finally lean down, taking a good look at the boy. He’s thin, or at least thinner than when I last heard of him... Damn lǎowài, they probably did this to him. But, that is something I can indeed fix; he must be starving from travelling all this way. Turning round, I began to scoop some rice, but I’m soon stopped by a hand grasping at my leg.

“Shūshu?...” he asks, his voice hoarse, barely above a whisper. “Is it true that I won’t go home for a very long time?”

...But what is someone like me supposed to say in response? I can see the tears well in Qiangyi’s eyes, but his fatigue prevents them from ever falling. It’s pitiful, something a child should never be. I’ve only heard stories of Qiangyi, and this child before me? This was not him. He held none of the warmth, none of the drive, none of the passion he once did; it’s as if his flame had been snuffed. Leaning down once more, I try to reignite it.

“Yes, you won’t be going home for a very long time, but it’s for a very special reason, Qiangyi. Just like your brothers and sisters, your father believed you to have lots of potential lying deep within,” grabbing his hand into mine, I move it over his chest. “And he left you with me to find it alongside your purpose, Qiangyi. As a Luo, you're destined for something great.”

His eyes lighten, joy seeming to return once the tears recede, and I can’t help but mirror it. I can feel it, within himself and I, the return of a long absent fervor - I want to hold onto it forever. Standing tall once again, I turn, and resume my duties once more. For however long Luo Qiangyi is to be under my roof, I swear that I’ll protect his innocence, I’ll preserve the spark that still lay within, for both of our sakes. I may not be his Bàba, but I am his Shūshu, I am different from him. I’ll do what his own family could not.

#ffxiv #IC #ffxivwrite2021 #Ephemeral Blooms #Luo Qiang #This is a small continuation of the one ask prompt I published a few days ago!

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onejamtart · 10 months

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OJT EATS | Chung Ching Store

Any restaurant that has Taipei No.1 on the menu is making a bold claim but that is precisely what Chung Ching Store does. Specialising in shrimp rice and with a store in the newest department store in Xin Yi, Taipei, we couldn’t resist giving it a go.

We ordered a bunch of little side dishes to go with our rice. This first one was a small plate of bamboo shoots. Super full of flavour and with a bit of a crunch to them that you get from bamboo, these were really tasty.

A super simple dish of some veg but again, super tasty. I’m assuming it was cooked in some kind of stock as it had a really deep flavour.

This bean curd side was also packed full of flavour. They were soaked in broth so each bite released an explosion of juice; messy but delicious.

A small (and I do mean small) selection of braised meat. You have the slices of beef, beef tendon and beef stomache. A bit of an acquired taste but one that we certainly have. This disappeared quickly!

On the day that we went, they also had a special of scallion dumplings. Crispy on the outside and incredibly aromatic from the sesame seeds on the outside. Inside, there was pillowy dough and a lot of spring onion. So good!

Now onto the rice. This was the whiskey beef rice. I couldn’t really taste the whisky and tasted like a simple soy marinade which is definitely not a bad thing. The pickles, sausage and egg were also pretty good so all in all, very enjoyable.

Now onto the main reason we were here, the shrimp rice. It came with a perfectly cooked egg on top but underneath that there was a pretty decent sized pile of perfectly cooked shrimp. Not sure we would immediately go to the best shrimp rice in Taipei but it was very tasty.

Overall, this was a very nice meal; pretty casual, not too heavy and tasted great. We are a little sceptical about it’s No.1 in Taipei claim but that doesn’t stop us from being more than willing to go back to have another cheap and cheerful meal next time we are in the XinYi area.

Chung Ching Store, Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store, No. 13 號, Songshou Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei City

Cheers, JL

#foodporn #food porn #ShrimpRice #Shrimp Rice #TaipeiNo1 #Taipei No 1 #Taipei No1 #A13 #Xinyi #XinYiA13 #TaipeiFood #Taipei Food #Taipei Restaurant #Shrimp

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mdzsgildedfate · 3 years

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Gilded Fate - Chapter 8

Reincarnation AU [Chapter 8/?] Characters: Xue Yang, Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan, Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, Jin Ling, Original Characters. Pairings: Xue Yang/Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen, Lan Sizhui/Lan Jingyi, Xue Yang/OC

Sometime during his sleep, the faces of ghosts were replaced with that of Xiao XIngchen. His white robes enveloped Xinyi like a pair of wings, shielding him from the restless spirits advancing on him. The darkness took over and the dreams disappeared completely. When something finally roused him from his sleep, Xinyi muddled through a fog of confusion to remember where he was, who’s body he was curled around, who’s hand was stroking his hair-

“Mm…” The light from the window was blinding. “MingYue…?”

No… Not MingYue… This is… Xiao Xingchen?

He looked up at the radiant face, scrubbing the sleep from his eyes with his spare hand. Xingchen simply looked back at him with a blank expression, waiting for Xinyi to speak first. He still felt exhausted, wondering if it’d be okay for him to lay his head back down against Xingchen’s chest and go back to sleep.

“What time is it?”

“Noon. They’ll be serving lunch soon.”

“Mm…” Xinyi put his head back down. “I’m not hungry.”

Xingchen pulled himself free from the other’s grasp and sat up, looking down at him expectantly. Xinyi opened one eye and peeked up at him, frowning at Xingchen’s resolute expression.

“Fine.”

“Hm… Your clothes are still wet.” Xingchen said, running his hands along the damp fabric.

“Oh well. Guess there’s nothing we can do.” Xinyi slumped back against the bed.

“Stand up.” The man pulled open his trunk again, pulling out a set of plain, grey robes. “Put these on.”

Xinyi sighed, pouting slightly as he stood up and took the robes. Xingchen helped tie them in place and then led him out the door, down the hall towards the courtyard. Looking down at his new attire, he wondered where Xingchen got such drab looking robes. The Daozhang only wore white robes, with occasional black accents- he couldn’t imagine the man wearing any other colour.

Reaching the courtyard, it looked like everyone had already gathered for lunch. Most of the low tables had been filled by students, the two Lan Jiaoshou were seated together near Song Lan, and Jin Ling was off to the side with his dog. As always, MingYue was sitting near Jin Ling, but as soon as she saw Xinyi, she stood and began approaching him. Xingchen veered off to join Song Lan, leaving Xinyi to face MingYue alone. Every muscle in his body tensed.

“Xinyi, I-”

Before she could get a word out, Xinyi stuck his hands out in front of him and bowed to her, not daring to look at her face.

“MingYue. I’m sorry for what happened earlier. I don’t know what came over me, but it won’t happen again.” Xinyi straightened up, eyes still stuck to the ground. “I promise I won’t make trouble for you again… I- Uh… Are you… okay?”

MingYue reached out and took his hand, urging him to look up at her. She had a sweet, reassuring smile on her face that almost made his heart skip a beat.

“A-Xin. I appreciate your apology, but I’m the one that’s been making trouble for you. This is your trip after all, I’m only here as a guest. I shouldn’t have bothered you.” She let go of his hand and gave a small bow in return. “Thank you for your concern, but I’m okay.”

A small smile twitched at his lips, but instantly fell when he saw her neck. “Ah- MingYue, your neck-”

“It’s fine, I promise.” MingYue’s smile widened, though her eyes were turned up with concern. “It doesn’t hurt. I’m just worried about you. I’ve never seen you so upset, is everything okay?”

Xinyi’s heart hurt, feeling another wave of shame seeing her more concerned for him than for herself. “I’m fine, it’s nothing to worry-”

“A-Yue!” Jin Ling’s sharp tone cut through the courtyard as he approached them. “Come away from him, go sit down and eat!”

Xinyi took a step back. A-Yue?

MingYue gave him one last concerned look and scurried back to her table. Jin Ling followed behind her, looking at Xinyi with disdain. Xinyi gulped and turned away, spotting an open table between Chen and QianHua to take refuge at. He put his face in his hands for a moment, thinking again about how badly he just wanted to go back to sleep and not think about MingYue or her weird, uptight friend, or how Smiling Ghost was watching him from the stairs again.

“A-Xin, are you okay? You disappeared for so long, where were you?” Chen asked as soon as he sat down.

Xinyi looked over at him, his mood dropping even more at Chen’s expression. “I’m fine. Xingchen took me to his room and made me take a nap.”

Chen’s jaw dropped slightly, looking just a little horrified. “He made you sleep in his bed??”

Xinyi cracked a smile. “How do you always make things sound so much worse than they are?”

“It doesn’t help that you’re not wearing your own clothes.” QianHua mused, snickering at them.

“Huh? Oh, right.” Xinyi looked down at what he was wearing again. “I fell in the river earlier. My clothes were still wet, so Xingchen lent me these.”

Chen looked away, mumbling under his breath. “I didn’t realize you two were so familiar…”

Xinyi quirked an eyebrow at him. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’re jealous.”

“I was just worried about you!” Chen straightened back up, taking his glasses off to clean them angrily. “You were so mad, it took four people to hold you back! And then you just disappeared for three hours and no one knew where you were! Why didn’t you come to us for help?”

Another wave of shame. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to worry you.”

Chen sighed and put his glasses back on. “I’m sorry too. I just… was scared.”

“I’m sorry too.” QianHua yawned.

They both looked at him. “For what?”

QianHua shrugged. “I just wanted to be included.”

~X~

The clouds forming in the sky had provided a welcome shade from the sun during lunch. After spending the morning hiking through the mountains, spelunking through caves, and handling rotting corpses, it felt nice to relax and have a meal with MingYue and Gongzhu. As much as he disapproved of MingYue approaching Xinyi like that, Jin Ling had to admit she seemed in better spirits now. Plus, Xinyi looked even more dejected, so maybe it wasn’t so bad.

“Hey. A-Yue.”

“Hm?”

“Did you do that on purpose?”

MingYue looked up from where she sat with Gongzhu. “Did I do what on purpose?”

Jin Ling pointed at Xinyi with his chopsticks. “He looks miserable now. Did you apologize just to guilt him?”

“What? Of course not!” Her tone was indignant, but the faintest hint of a smile played on her lips. “And why are you saying my name like that so much suddenly?”

“Saying it how?” Jin Ling asked, turning his gaze back to his meal.

“A-Yue~.” She said, mocking Jin Ling’s tone.

“I didn’t-!”

Before Jin Ling had a chance to defend himself, Song Lan and Sizhui rose from their seats and were calling everyone’s attention their way. Sizhui had set up his guqin on his table and was now plucking at the strings, making sure it was still in tune. The idle chatter and clanking of dishware slowly died down as everyone turned their attention to the men. Song Lan glanced back at Sizhui, who gave a small nod, and addressed the students.

“For today’s lesson, I’d like to talk briefly about a forgotten culture. Your textbooks and history classes will not teach you about these groups of people, but Xiao Xingchen and myself have spent a long time maintaining the remnants of this time.”

Jin Ling looked at them curiously. Save for the immortals currently present, and the few hidden away in seclusion, there wasn’t a soul alive who knew about the existence of cultivators. He hadn’t even come across the descendants of cultivation clans in at least a few centuries, so what was the point in leading a lesson about them?

“Many thousands of years ago, there was a widespread spiritual practice called Cultivation. These spiritual workers belonged to clans who were devoted to protecting commonfolk from restless spirits, demons, and other dark forces.” Song Lan spoke in a steady tone, slowly pacing back and forth in front of the students. “These clans were well respected and held a great deal of political power in the regions they presided over. If you recall from the tour of the temple, the tapestries you saw depicted those regions.”

“Cultivators trained their whole lives to deal with the evil beings haunting their lands and were also highly skilled warriors. The standard spiritual tool was their sword, though many of the gentry clans also specialized in a specific technique. For example, instead of swords, the Nie clan carried heavy blades as their signature technique. Another techniqueincluded the use of musical instruments, such as the guqin.”

Song Lan paused, looking over at Sizhui. The man was gracefully plucking out a calm rhythm, quietly enough that Song Lan could be heard over him. With his attention turned to the music, Jin Ling realized the song being played was Cleansing. He followed the flow of spiritual energy to where Xinyi was sitting, looking more relaxed than he had at the start of the meal.

“Other common tools included paper talismans, sigils, arrays, nets, and pouches. Spiritual tools were items infused with positive qi, spiritual Yang energy..” Song Lan continued, turning back to face the students. “The use of these tools depended on the presence of a cultivated golden core, the part of the body that stores and controls spiritual energy-”

Jin Ling’s focus waned, feeling bored at the memory of lectures he had to sit through as a junior disciple. He propped an elbow up on his table and leaned his cheek onto his hand, letting his eyes wander over the students. Expecting to see bored expressions, Jin Ling was surprised to see how many were hanging on Song Lan’s every word. Three students sitting closest to Jin Ling and MingYue seemed to be engaged in discussion about the lecture, talking with bemused expressions. He turned his attention to them, unable to resist the urge to eavesdrop.

“-seems kind of strange.”

“I thought this stuff was all made up.”

“Yeah, like, fairy tales the Wang family invented to hype up their collection.”

“Is this the same story? I thought it seemed familiar…”

Jin Ling furrowed his eyebrows. This wasn’t the first time he’d overheard the people here mention some mysterious Wang Family Collection, but he’d never suspected it had anything to do with cultivation. He glanced at MingYue, wondering what the chances were that his companion just happened to be the ex-girlfriend of a member of the Wang family, who just happened to be a reincarnated cultivator.

He frowned. He hated convoluted things like this.

“MingYue.”

“Hm?”

“I keep hearing people mention the Wang Collection- What is that?”

She blinked a couple of times before cracking into hushed laughter. “Were you living under a rock before I met you?”

He frowned harder.

MingYue scooted closer to Jin Ling so she could speak without disrupting Song Lan’s lecture. “The Wangs are a really wealthy family in Beijing known for collecting antiques. It’s actually a really impressive collection, but some of the pieces are famously controversial because they reference historical events that didn’t happen.”

“What kind of pieces?”

“The majority of pieces are heavy swords, but there’s also a lot of old books about ghosts and magic, strange flags, amulets, random trinkets, sculptures. Kind of like what Song Lan Daozhang is talking about, actually.” MingYue looked back at the Daozhang curiously. “Honestly, even when we were dating, I thought it was nonsense, but I guess not…”

“Hmph… Don’t dwell on it.” Jin Ling retorted, turning his attention back to the lecture.

Two mysteries is more than enough, I’ll think about that one later…

~X~

By the time Song Lan concluded his lecture, the clouds had thickened into a dark sheet stretching across the sky and the smell of rain hung densely in the air. For the rest of the evening, the lecture continued to ruminate in Xinyi’s mind, providing a welcome distraction from Smiling Ghost and the two new spirits that now served as an ever-present audience. Still, they weren’t as bad as the bloodied ghosts that appeared the first night, so ignoring them was becoming easier.

By dinner time, the rain was coming down hard, creating small streams that rushed across the stonework of the courtyard. Everyone gathered in the main hall for the final meal of the day, the room quickly filling with the sounds of excited anthropology students discussing the existence of a forgotten study of spiritualism. Xinyi sat between Chen and QianHua like always, this time placed towards the head of the table where the Daozhang and Jiaoshou sat together.

A few yards past Jingyi Jiaoshou, Smiling Ghost stood in the corner, her watchful gaze occasionally scanning over the other students before returning to Xinyi. He stared back at her, tapping his finger on the table while he thought.

Why does she just stare at me like that?

What does she want?

She’s dressed so nice… Not fucked up or covered in blood like the others...

Don’t you have anything better to do? Or am I really so handsome that you can’t take your eyes off me?

She turned her head slightly, eyes still on him, and smiled wider. He shuddered and looked away.

Tap tap...Tap tap…

He looked over at the two farther down. The older of the two was a middle aged woman with an open throat and the younger was a boy, no older than ten, with a wound through his chest.

Tap… Tap tap… Tap tap tap…

He jumped slightly. How long had Song Lan been staring at him? And what was that expression? Their eyes met for a moment, both looking equally confused and startled, before Song Lan quickly looked away. Xinyi put his chopsticks down and excused himself from the table, feeling sick to death of being stared at.

Going back to his room alone, Xinyi slumped onto his bed. At least for the time being, no ghosts appeared here and no disembodied whispers filled his ears. The only sound came from the rain outside, which quickly became white noise. He breathed a sigh of relief at the rare moment of silence, realizing just how badly he needed it. With the rest of the thoughts pushed from his head, Xinyi remembered for the first time since probably ten that morning that his notebook was still missing.

Sitting up, he noticed someone had brought his bag back to the room for him and left it at the head of his bed. He grabbed it and pulled it over, hoping the notebook had someone found its way back inside. Even though the weight already gave him his answer, he still opened the bag and felt around inside. Sighing, he tossed the disappointing thing aside and slumped back, staring up at the ceiling.

So much for a year and a half long project… It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just a transcription… but all my notes in it too!

A lot of those pages took forever to decipher… Whoever wrote the original had the handwriting of a kid and talked in riddles half the time…

Xinyi fished his phone out of the twisted bedsheets and turned it on, opening to the pictures he’d taken of the original book. At least he could remember the notes he’d made about the most recent pages, but for everything else, he’d have to start over completely.

Whatever. It wasn’t important anyways.

By the time Chen and QianHua came back from dinner, Xinyi was already starting to doze off. The sound of movement in the room jolted him awake, immediately sitting up and looking around for the source of noise. Once he realized who had come in, he relaxed and laid back down. He murmured a few initial replies to the two when they entered, but felt too exhausted to stay up and chat with them. When the lamp was extinguished earlier than usual, Xinyi said a silent thanks to Chen, knowing he was the one to have mercy on him. Now enveloped in darkness as well as the silence, sleep overtook Xinyi quickly.

Before long, the first nightmare was manifesting behind his eyelids. Fog surrounded him, obstructing most of his vision. Some figure seemed to be moving around him, darting past his peripheral vision. Behind him, the sound of tapping was filling him with horrible anxiety. He lashed out, JiangZai in his hand, desperately trying to silence the source of the noise.

Give it back… Please… Give it back!

His eyes searched the fog wildly, looking for his lost item and swinging his sword at the tapping. Some object came hurtling towards him, appearing only about a yard in front of him before spearing through him. Unbearable pain shot through his shoulder, sending him reeling and crashing to his knees. Looking down, he could see the arm that had held JiangZai, severed and limp on the ground. The tapping had ceased and was now replaced with the sounds of solid footsteps approaching him headon.

With his remaining hand, he reached into his shirt and pulled out the fan he’d painted. Opening it, his eyes scanned over the mountain scenery, thinking it seemed a great deal more realistic than he remembered. Another pain shot through his chest and he looked up at the white figure towering over him- a man with glassy skin like jade, an icy expression, and an utterly regal air to him. Slowly, his vision turned down to see the blade sticking through the middle of his sternum.

Blood sputtered from his mouth, staining the blade red. Further up, the white robes were turning red as well, sprouting poppy flowers all the way up to the open throat of the figure in front of him. The cold expression was replaced with a face that glowed in the moonlight, obscured by a pair of bloodied bandages around the eyes. All at once, a feeling of sheer horror rushed over him, turning into desperate wails of grief in his throat.

All he could do to stop from screaming was to stuff the side of his wrist into his mouth and bite down. The pain in his shoulder and chest still screamed as though the wounds received in the dream were real. He’d slept so well earlier, why couldn’t Xingchen have just let him sleep longer? His eyes opened at the thought. He had slept earlier. Actually slept! Pulling himself to his feet, and pointedly ignoring whatever figure was crouching in the corner, Xinyi slipped out into the hall in search of Xiao Xingchen’s room.

...If only he’d paid even an ounce of attention to which turns they had taken to get there.

All the halls in this temple look exactly the same, especially at night, and there was no way he was risking opening random doors. If there was anything worse than going back to sleep on his own, it was accidentally opening the wrong door. If he happened upon Song Lan, he might actually kill him, and if he happened upon a girls’ room, he’d be branded a pervert for the rest of his school life. Xinyi shuddered. Finding Xingchen’s room wasn’t worth the risk, especially when it wasn’t guaranteed the Daozhang wouldn’t be just as offended by being barged in on.

Fuck it. There was nothing to be done and standing around feeling sorry for himself was just giving the restless spirits a chance to catch up to him. The whispers were already starting to stir up again, Xinyi wasn’t about to wait to see what else showed up. After what he did to MingYue, not sleeping wasn’t an option. Sleeping with Xiao Xingchen was not an option. With how many nightmares he had, sleeping alone was also not an option. So all that left was...

Xinyi cursed himself and this whole damn situation, back inside his own room now, staring down at the two figures of his sleeping friends. How was he supposed to explain to either one of him why he, a twenty year old man, was trying to crawl into their bed in the middle of the night? Squeezing his eyes shut, he took a deep breath, and decided Chen was the safer option. He knelt beside him, his heart pounding in his ears, and slowly lifted the blanket to lay beside the sleeping man.

“Mm… Hm?” Chen roused almost at once. “Xinyi?”

Xinyi tensed. “...sorry… can- can I sleep here? Just tonight?”

Chen lifted his head slightly, squinting through the darkness. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“Y-...yeah…”

Without another word, Chen moved over to make room for Xinyi. He breathed out a small sigh of relief and slipped under the covers next to him. For one blessed moment, the whispers disappeared and all of the muscles in Xinyi’s body relaxed. Maybe this wasn’t so bad… Chen was warm and he wasn’t afraid to drape an arm over Xinyi, inviting him in closer. The slow rhythm of breathing was comforting, a steady movement and sound he could focus on instead of-

“Xue… Yang…”

Fuck. Please no.

“Xue… Yang…”

No Xue Yang here. Please leave.

Against better judgement, Xinyi opened one eye to peer around the room. In the dark, it was hard to make out anything completely, but there was no mistaking it. There was a shadow in front of the door, darker than the rest of the room. Without meaning to, Xinyi brought his hands up to Chen’s chest, grasping the front of his shirt.

“How pathetic…”

The figure moved forward, coming close enough for Xinyi to see the details of its face. The thing was covered in cuts, hundreds of them at least, with blood covering every inch of its form. The sight was enough to send Xinyi burrowing into Chen’s chest, praying it would go away if he couldn’t see it.

“Ah- A-Xin?”

“Xue Yang!”

Xinyi inched closer to Chen, feeling his forehead press against the man’s cheek. Other whispers were joining in with the voice of the mutilated ghost, sending shivers throughout Xinyi’s body.

Please go away… please go away… please go away.

“How pathetic you’ve become!”

Please go away… please go away…

“You think you’re suffering?”

Please stop… Make it stop…

“A-Xin, what’s wrong?” Chen put a hand on Xinyi’s cheek, tilting his face up to look at him.

Crouching just behind Chen now, the mutilated ghost glared down on Xinyi, hands stretched out like he was about to grab him. Xinyi’s eyes widened, his body frozen in fear.

“A-Xin… Look at me.” Chen’s voice was barely audible over the deafening whispers. “Whatever you see behind me, look away.”

Xinyi tightened his grasp on Chen’s shirt and forced himself to meet his eyes.

“You think you’re suffering, Xue Yang?!”

Please… Anything to make this stop…

“This doesn’t come CLOSE to suffering!”

I’ll do anything… just make this stop!

Lips brushed against his, so lightly he almost didn’t feel it at first. Xinyi squeezed his eyes shut again and tilted his head forward, leaning into the touch. Chen kissed him again, harder this time, putting an arm around Xinyi’s waist and pulling him close. With the whispers quieting ever so slightly, Xinyi relaxed his grip on Chen’s shirt and brought his hands up to hook around the man’s neck.

Locked against each other, Xinyi felt a tongue brush lightly against his lip. He opened his mouth and returned the touch, feeling a tense warmth growing in his stomach. At once, Chen pressed hard into the kiss, sending his tongue deep into Xinyi’s mouth with a faint moan. Their positions shifted slowly with every kiss, with Chen now practically on top of him, one hand grasping at the thigh Xinyi had curled against him. At his hip, he could feel Chen’s growing erection pushing against him.

Xinyi brought a hand down to Chen’s lower back, gently rolling his hips up. Another soft moan left Chen’s mouth, adding to the heat in XInyi’s stomach. Chen slipped his fingers under the waistband of Xinyi’s pants, slowly inching further down, only to freeze dead in its tracks at the sound of QianHua shifting in his sleep. They both paused, listening for the man’s snores, praying they hadn’t been caught.

After a moment, the snore came and they both relaxed. Chen retracted his hand and rolled back against the bed. The whispers had disappeared, but Xinyi couldn’t help but sit up slightly to peer around the room, just to be sure they’d truly left. When he saw no out-of-place shadows, he laid back against Chen, resting his head in the crook of his neck and draped an arm across his chest.

#mdzs #mdzs fic #the untamed #the untamed fic #xue yang #xuexiao #songxiao #xiao xingchen #song lan #junior disciples #jin ling #lan sizhui #lan jingyi

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pawsnread · 4 years

Text

Legacies

So, I have no idea if this will expand further than this fic, or if it does how far it will go. But I’ve been telling @antiquecompass that I wanted to explore the SongXiao kids in the LAHL verse even more since they get mentioned from time to time. I’ve been reluctant since they are OCs (except for A-Qing) but we’ll see what happens.

This occurs around the same time as the early chapters of Tales From Lan Academy.

The sudden loud clatter of a lunch tray dropping right in the middle of their table startled not only Sizhui but Jingyi and Zizhen as well. The three of them looked up at the same time as Song Yating sank into the seat next to Zizhen, her face annoyed as she fixed Sizhui with a steady stare.

“Has the last couple of days been as surreal for you as it has been for me?” she asked. Yating ignored Jingyi’s squawk of indignation as she reached over and plucked one of his fries, chewing slowly as she waited for an answer.

“Well, hello to you too,” Jingyi said. He pulled his tray just out of reach as Yating moved to snatch another fry. “Why aren’t you with your siblings?”

Yating rolled her eyes as she reached towards Zizhen’s tray instead; ever the gentleman, he merely scooted his tray closer. “I live with my siblings and see them every night when I go to bed and every morning when I wake up. Forgive me if I want to spend some time away from them.”

“I thought you liked your siblings?” Zizhen asked curiously.

“I do. But when there’s seven of you, there are bound to be moments where you can’t stand each other.” She merely shrugged before turning her attention back to Sizhui. “Back to my question. Are people still asking you intrusive questions?”

“Not intrusive,” Sizhui said as he picked at his food with a fork. “They just keep wanting to know why I didn’t attend the academy earlier, when Dad’s next book is going to be, things like that.” He squinted at Yating. “Why? What’s been happening with you?”

She snorted in a most inelegant way before Yating sat back and crossed her arms, a frown forming on her face. “I’m not the first SongXiao kid to attend this school. You’d think by now everyone would have stopped looking at us like we were trophies or something.”

“Your dads are alumni and Olympic medalists,” Zizhen reasoned.

“And one of your dads is well known for his solo dances at the special lectures,” Jingyi added.

“And your other dad is probably the only academy student to have participated in nearly every sports team,” Sizhui said.

“That’s the thing!” With a long sigh, Yating rested her elbows on the table. Her initial look of irritation was replaced with one bordering on defeat. “Everybody knows my dads. Everyone knows what they did when they were at the academy, all the things they accomplished. And everyone expects that we will all follow in their footsteps.” She heaved another sigh before dropping her head into her hands. “It doesn’t help that my siblings really did follow them. A-Qing and Lijuan are both into dance. Xinyi and Xiulin are taking up fencing. Jie’s into rugby and Lian likes lacrosse. I’m the odd one out.”

“But you’re taking up archery,” Zizhen said.

“Which is the one sport - other than golf and curling - Dad did not do. Practice times always interfered with fencing so Dad never tried archery. When I said I was going to join the archery team, everyone here gave me this funny look, like I was crazy for wanting to do something that wasn’t fencing or dance.” Lifting her head, Yating gazed at a spot past Sizhui’s shoulder, a far off look in her eyes. “You ever feel like there’s just so much pressure on you to be what everyone expects you to be? You don’t want to disappoint anyone, and yet you feel a little stifled because you can’t really express yourself?”

“Yes,” both Sizhui and Zizhen murmured quietly. The three of them glanced down at the table, identical expressions of longing on their faces.

“It’s like you have this legacy hanging over your head,” Zizhen said. “There’s this future that everyone sees for you.”

“It’s not necessarily a future you don’t want,” Sizhui continued. “And you aren’t being forced into fulfilling everyone’s expectations. But at the same time, you just sometimes wish there was another way.”

The table grew silent as the three of them heaved a collective sigh and stared down at their hands. The sound of loud rattling drew them back to the present as Jingyi slammed down a plastic container full of peanut M&Ms.

“The three of you need to cheer up,” he said, pushing the container towards them. “Who cares what anyone else thinks? You do what you want, the way you want. Now, eat some chocolate.” Reaching into the container, Jingyi retreated a fist full of candies, popping them into his mouth one-by-one and crunching down loudly. For a while the other three simply stared at him before their faces softened into smiles.

“Jingyi’s right,” Sizhui said as he plucked up a green candy.

“Of course I’m right. I’m always right.”

“Except that one time you told Great Uncle that a ghost tried to kidnap you.”

“I wasn’t wrong.”

“Jingyi, that was Aunt Molly. She was picking you up from our house after a community play recital.”

“Wearing a traditional African tribal mask that looked like a ghost. It was terrifying!”

“You did scream like a banshee.”

“I was six!”

Zizhen and Yating’s laughter was loud, attracting the attention of a number of other students as Jingyi and Sizhui continued to argue. Thoughts of legacies forgotten, the rest of the afternoon flew by in comfortable friendship and warm laughter.

#the untamed fic #the untamed fanfic #the untamed modern au #cql fic #cql fanfic #cql modern au #modern au #lahl #lahl verse #lan sizhui #lan jingyi #ouyang zizhen #original characters #writing

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