You Don't Know Love (Fanfic)

Chapter 9: Worried

The wind feels colder on Lan Wangji’s skin, the shadows casted by the trees seems more terrifying than usual and it scares him. This is probably one of the most frightening moment in his life. His hands are cold and they are tightly gripping Lan Xichen’s robes. They rushed out of the teahouse when Wangji had told his older brother what he heard.

“xiongzhang,” Lan Wangji tried his best to push his worry aside but the slight shiver in his voice gave him away.

“Don’t worry Wangji. We will figure this out.” His older brother reassured him, Shuoyue getting faster and faster by the minutes.

His heart feels like it is going to burst out of his chest, the thought of his friend bounded by ropes and surrounded by people holding weapons and torches isn’t leaving Wangji’s mind. He only hopes that they aren’t too late.

Lan Wangji had almost stumbled out of Shuoyue when it landed. The rules don’t matter to him at that second, he proceeded to run, the breeze ringing in his ears. There are few more townspeople lingering by the lake but they are already about to leave, some of them have the look of disappointment in their eyes.

“I can’t believe cultivators took it.” A man said in disdain.

“Lower down your voice. What if someone hears you?”

“They belong to a powerful sect, if they want something, do you think mediocre people like us can stop them?” Another one, responded.

Wangji can hear them. His fear growing in his chest, his throat going dry.

“What do you think they’re going to do with it?”

Lan Wangji doesn’t want to hear the answer to that question but he just stood there. He stopped moving. Thoughts are spiraling inside his head.

“What else?! Of course, they are going to sell it! Something that beautiful will probably cost fortune.”

“Have you seen it---” They’re voices faded away from Wangji’s ears. None of them paid attention to the ten-year old kid frozen by the lake, as they went back to the town for the festival.

He was caught by a powerful sect. They are going to sell him. He’s going to get hurt. No, he must be hurting at the moment. Negative thoughts are invading Wangji’s mind, he was too late. He was not able to save him, the only friend he had ever had.

The surface of the lake is silent and the moonlight isn’t that bright, beneath it all, there’s Wangji, standing without even moving a muscle. But he can feel his own breath getting heavier and his sight getting blurry, the next thing Wangji noticed, he was already kneeling on the bank, the small pebbles hurting his knees even though covered by his robes.

He’s crying and he can’t hold the tears back. “Wangji,” He heard his brother’s concern voice calling his name from behind. Wangji didn’t turn around, his head remained hanging low.

He wants to tell his brother to go get the jiaoren back, to save him. But he can’t. Wangji knows Xichen is not capable of that, since he is not yet the sect leader. What is he going to do? He’s just ten years old, how can a child like him fight a group of cultivators?
 
 
 

 
Lan Xichen can’t bear the sight of his little brother kneeling and probably crying at the moment. Comforting is what he needs to do but he knows that Wangji needs time alone, so he hesitantly left and decided to wait for his little brother to accept everything. Will their uncle help? That means Xichen’s need to tell him about their whereabouts whenever they visit Caiyi. He will probably get punished, but still, he will do his best to convince their uncle or maybe their father to save Wangji’s friend.
Lan Xichen is forming the plan in his mind when he caught something in the lake that took all his worries away.
 
 
 

 
Wangji is kneeling again. He can feel the cold wind by the lake, making his heart freeze and hurt. If only his uncle can see him at the moment, he will think that Wangji’s waiting for his mother to appear and open the door of the Gentian house again. But no. This time, the little boy is waiting for a dear friend, a creature which is beautiful beyond compare. He is waiting again for someone who will never come ba-
 
“Wangji?”
 
It can’t be a trick in his mind. Wangji knows full too well that what he heard isn’t just an imagination. He whipped his head up and there on the surface of the water, there’s the jiaoren that he thought he lost forever.

The jiaoren with its jet-black hair plastered everywhere, probably because he resurfaced in a hurry. His eyes are staring at Lan Wangji with worry. Half of its body is at the surface while the tail isn’t visible since it is submerged in the water. The jiaoren’s torso doesn’t have any black scales anymore, they’re smooth and pale almost like a human.

“Wangji, you okay?” The jiaoren asked.

He did not answer the jiaoren’s question. Lan Wangji walked in a past pace, the water soaking his boots and robes. He doesn’t mind the cold water that’s now reaching up to his waist. He walked and walked until he’s face-to-face with the creature, the water now up until his chest. He stared at the beautiful orbs the jiaoren possesses and without warning pulled the jiaoren close to him in a hug. His arms circling the jiaoren’s body tight.

“Wangji?” The jiaoren tried to face Wangji but the arms around him are grasping him tight, not wanting to let go.

Wangji doesn’t care about anything at all. The only thought that’s in his mind right know, is how thankful he is that the jiaoren is safe and wasn’t taken away. After a few seconds of confusion, the jiaoren hummed and returned Wangji’s embrace. Lan Wangji can also feel how the tail of the jiaoren coiling around his legs, like a protective barrier or a comfort that’s telling him he’s there. Wangji’s tears stopped after a few seconds of reassuring himself that everything’s real.

Then Wangji took a deep breath and whispered,

 “Come back to Cloud Recesses with me.”

Extra scenes: It's a boy!

Lan Xichen: You have a very handsome friend Wangji.

Lan Wangji: It's beautiful.

Lan Xichen: Wangji, you do know that the jiaoren is a boy right?

Lan Wangji: ....

Lan Xichen: You don't know?

Lan Wangji: Still, not handsome...beautiful.

Lan Xichen: *smiling and doting on his lil bro's cuteness*

And that's how Lan Wangji found out that the jiaoren is actually a boy.