The meaning of protecting you with my life

New prisoner

Note: This chapter contains some mildly depressing thoughts, topic of giving up on life in general and delirium, please be warned and proceed at your own discretion

Jiang Fengmian was sitting on the hard ground of his cell, his wife's head resting on his shoulder and one of his hands behind her back. They were imprisoned here for so long already that they had lost all sense of time. They were now only surviving from one moment to another, eternally grateful that they had at least each other to keep them company.

Ever since Wen Chao came to inform them about the death of Wei Wuxian and the imminent capture of Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli, they had been left in the dark. No one ever came to their cell anymore and their meals were only delivered through a small opening in the door. They did not even know if their other children were still alive or not, if Wen Chao mad managed to capture them as he had threatened or if he had failed for some reason and that was why he never came back to boast to them about it.

It was mortifying to be left in the dark this completely. Jiang Fengmian was slowly starting to lose touch with reality. His sense of time was already greatly distorted and now he was worrying what was happening in the world outside of his prison cell. His imagination supplied the worst scenarios and he had no one to tell him that they were not true. His wife shared his worries and their mutual reassuring could only do so much. Their sanity was only hanging on a thin threat and it was getting harder and harder to keep themselves in the reality.

The soldiers had apparently understood that they would get no intel from questioning them and they also stopped coming. It was quiet most of the time and it was weighing on Jiang Fengmian's mind. They tried to distract themselves by talking to each other. It worked fine in the beginning when they had just made up but by now, they had no more topics to talk about and more and more often they just sat beside each other, offering silent comfort.

Jiang Fengmian was not sure how long they would still be able to survive like this. He could tell that his wife was taking all of this harder than him and he was afraid for her. Yu Ziyuan had always been an independent woman who did not like to be restrained in any way, be it that someone was talking against her or that she could only share a tiny cell with him and not go out to fight when her children could be struggling for their lives.

Suddenly, Jiang Fengmian heard footsteps outside of the cell. It was a welcomed distraction. For a while, he was considering if it was just an illusion supplied by his imagination or if someone was about to deliver them another meal. By now, his stomach was not even rumbling, he knew he was hungry but he could just not care anymore. He was afraid he was slowly dying together with his wife.

When they did not know if their children were still alive and well, they still had at least a fleeting hope. But as days – or months? – passed, their hope slowly disappeared. If their children were dead already, they had nothing to live for. It would perhaps be better to die and leave this wretched world which took everything away from them behind. Perhaps they would be able to meet each other in one of their next lives.

The fact that the door to his cell had opened surprised Jiang Fengmian to no end. He could not believe that they had not been forgotten completely and that someone, whoever that was, was coming to meet them again. The light of a torch was hurting his eyes after all the time spent in a nearly complete darkness. He could not tell who had come and he waited for the person to speak to know.

He was a bit disappointed when he could not tell by the voice. But then his sluggish mind finally understood the words and he was shocked speechless: "Stop struggling and get inside! We do not have the whole day to lose with you. Although if you insist, we could go for a few rounds if you know what I am talking about." Loud laughter erupted outside of the cell and Jiang Fengmian's ears were hurting after all the time spent in silence or with only occasional whispers.

They were getting a new cellmate it would seem. That was something to look forward to, they would at least have someone to tell them what was happening outside and if he or she had heard anything about their children or the Yunmeng Jiang sect.

There was a loud thud as someone was thrown inside and then the door was closed once again. However, before the light of the torch fully disappeared, Jiang Fengmian caught a glimpse of the new prisoner. His heart almost stopped beating, he knew he must have been hallucinating right now but he could not help himself.

Tears filled his eyes and he just had to ask the newcomer who they were, he had to confirm that Jiang Yanli could not be in the cell with them before he would get his hopes up. He did not think he would be able to survive the disappointment later. Although he would be beyond happy to see his daughter again, he did not want her to be in this kind of place.

Before he mustered his courage and found his voice, Yu Ziyuan had already stirred against his shoulder and then sat up straight. Her voice was just as disbelieving as Jiang Fengmian was feeling when she all but whispered: "A-Li?"

So she must have also seen the prisoner's face and thought that the resemblance was too great to ignore. At least he knew he was not hallucinating as many times before. He was holding his breath, waiting for the other person to speak.

"Mother? Father?"

It really was Jiang Yanli's voice, there could be no mistake. Jiang Fengmian's heart now started beating like crazy and tears were streaming from his eyes when he launched himself forward and hugged his daughter and wife tightly. He could not calm himself even when Jiang Yanli started stroking his hair and muttering reassurances under her breath. He could hear clearly in her voice that she was crying as well, she must have also thought they were dead.

"Mother, Father, it is good to see you. We have thought you were already dead. But we did not want to give up hope until we confirmed it with our own eyes. Your bodies were not in Lotus Pier when we have reclaimed it so we still hoped..."

Jiang Yanli's voice was now stopped by a hiccup and Jiang Fengmian finally gathered himself enough to unglue from the hug and take his daughter's face into his hands. He wanted to make sure it was really her, that she was here, save and sound and more importantly alive.

Then the weight of her words sank in and he stuttered out: "We?"

"Yes, Father. A-Cheng is fine and he is doing his best to be a good sect leader, he would be overjoyed to find out you are still alive."

Now it was Yu Ziyuan who spoke, her voice raspy and hoarse from long disuse and so much crying: "And what about A-Ying? Wen Chao came and told us he was..."

Jiang Fengmian understood why his wife was not able to finish her sentence. She still felt guilty about how she had treated the boy for years, they both were. They talked about him a lot during their imprisonment and agreed that if they ever saw him again, they would apologize to him and beg him for forgiveness, they have both wronged and hurt him, he had not deserved that.

Jiang Yanli's voice was a bit sadder when she replied this time: "We have learned that he was perhaps alive, A-Cheng is searching for him as we speak."

Well, that was probably all they would get. They still did not know if Wei Wuxian was alive or not for sure, but these were still the best news in a while. Jiang Fengmian could not help himself and his tears were back again. Now they would also be able to learn about the war and everything else they needed to catch up on.