Hualian AU ~ 10. The Brocade Immortal/At the Gates of Mount Tong'Lu

Part 5

"Our funding was cut", Bayue explained to Xie Lian on the coach to the festival site, "so now we're a charity, sponsored by the Yulong Trust from The Palace of Yushi Huang. She's head of Online Behavioural Studies, XL have you ever met her?"

"I haven't, but her podcasts on mental health helped me a lot in the past", he replied. He also remembered Shi Qingxuan saying, That's someone our friend Pei Ming wouldn't want to meet; he tried to push his weight around in the past but Ms Yushi has quite an important role at The Heavens, so he couldn't bully her.

Shi Qingxuan also had given off a little evil laughter; Xie Lian smiled, wondering where on earth he would be by now.

"The funds were cut because of me", Pei Su said, shaking his head.

"Pei Su Gege, stop beating yourself up", Banyue said, "At least we'll never see that Ke Mo ever again!", and she gave him a bright smile.

Just as she said that, they heard a roar from the back of the bus, "Pei Su! Banyue your little bitch, I can't believe you scum are here!" It was Ke Mo, also coming to the festival! Xie Lian was speechless, holding Pei Su down before they broke into another fight.

Someone else shouted, "Oi Pei Ming you fucker! Remember me?"

Pei Ming shuddered hearing that, and tried to ignore it, mentioning it was some guy with an old grudge, Ming Guang.

The coach stopped at some "resort", not so different than the one they went to a few weeks ago, and they could hear some hysterical laughter, no doubt drunk people at the swimming pool; Hua Cheng sighed. Ke Mo, Ming Guand and others dropped off.

Pei Ming said, "Wait. We're at Mount Tong'Lu Resort, it's not this one".

They all breathed out in relief when they got there; their resort was actually nice, with a huge wooden reception with many plants in rustic ceramic vases and exotic tapestry.

"Jun Wu must be really desperate to have booked us in this place", Hua Cheng commented.

"What do you mean?", Pei Ming replied, "We deserve it", feeling all too pleased with himself, only till he turned around and saw who was behind him. His face dropped.

"Oh hum, hi Ms Yushi", he said, with a small voice.

Xie Lian went to greet Yushi Huang; she smiled, asking him details about his mental health issues being triggered by online behaviour – truly a scientist, never off-duty! They all went to have a drink at the pool bar, and the conversation ended up falling on the reason they were there: Mount Tog'Lu Festival.

"It was a seminal hip hop artist who created it; "The Crown Prince of WuYong" he was called. No one really knows who he is", Hua Cheng said.

"Xie Lian, you chose well your escort, look how Hua Cheng is knowledgeable", Pei Ming teased.

Hua Cheng continued, "He was truly ahead of his time, had the most ambitious and edgy ideas; but once the festival took off, you know how it is, they wanted to go commercial. Then there was conflict".

"He was kicked out of his own festival then?", Pei Su asked.

"Precisely. It's hard to take his side though: he turned out to be a bully, specially towards young artists who, in his opinion, twisted 'true hip hop'", Hua Cheng concluded.

Xie Lian knew too well how a young artist can get criticised for doing what young artists are supposed to do: break the rules, and break 'em good. Didn't he suffer bullying about his art himself? He remained silent, just thinking.

"How do you know all that anyway?", Pei Ming asked.

"Festival lore", Hua Cheng flashed a smile.

Everybody thought, how could Hua Cheng be a Mount Tong'Lu veteran? He was just too young! He just shrugged coolly, making everybody visibly impressed.

"Whoa, Xie Lian your 'friend' isn't just a pretty face is he?", Pei Ming teased again.

"Being at least a pretty face makes me better than some", Hua Cheng replied, looking at him meaningfully. Everybody laughed at Pei Ming; then decided to go and get something to eat, and have an early night.

While crossing the reception lounge, Xie Lian heard somebody say,

"One should think he'd give up on music entirely, after that bullying of eight years ago... And yet here he is, I'm not sure what he's trying to accomplish".

Xie Lian turned, and saw a man talking to three others, walking away. He grabbed Hua Cheng's arm. Hua Cheng asked, "What is it? You look a bit weird".

"San Lang I... I recognise that voice, I think I know that guy".

"Who?"

"The Guoshi. The guy who run hip hop workshops I first went to, who first taught me to remix and to rhyme... my shifu", he said, smiling in spite of himself.

"You should have gone and said hi. Why you're looking like this?"

"He was... talking about me I think", Xie Lian said, and repeated what he overheard to Hua Cheng.

He shook his head, "You don't really know what he's talking about, nor even if it's the guy, and you're taking it as a direct criticism".

"You think I'm imagining things?", Xie Lian asked.

"I think you need to relax", he replied. "Tomorrow we do this streaming, then have a drink and enjoy the festival a bit. Yeah?"

"Alright", Xie Lian replied.

"Le's go to our bedroom then".

Their bedroom was spacious, with rustic but stylish furniture, colourful textiles and tropical plants. There was also a veranda, but Xie Lian would have a look after a shower: he was this exhausted.

After a while he walked out of the bathroom, but didn't see Hua Cheng; he heard a shout from the veranda, "Gege, come over and see this!"

There was a jacuzzi, with Hua Cheng inside, leaning backwards, resting his head with his eyes closed and his wet hair combed up, showing his face. He looked so good, like offering himself, sexy, sighing happily in the bubbly warm water.

Xie Lian immediately got hard and horny just looking, there was no other way of saying it! He clutched the towel he was holding against his stomach, feeling that heavy sensation down below, his heart racing and his face burning.

Hua Cheng looked at him and smiled, looking even sexier, "What you're waiting for, come on in!"

This had happened a few times already, but now it was right in front of Hua Cheng; there was no way he wouldn't notice it. Xie Lian couldn't move, half afraid it'd get worse, half of pure embarrassment. Could he run to the bathroom, pretending he was suddenly sick or something?

Hua Cheng noticed something was off. He got up, looking serious – to Xie Lian's relief, he was wearing boxers – and walked over.

"I'm sorry. I should have noticed it before".

That was it, he found out! 'I want to die', Xie Lian thought.

"I really must be fucking blind", he said.

'Now he's going to say he's sorry, he only sees me as a friend and...'

Hua Cheng put a hand on Xie Lian's shoulder. "You're kind of overwhelmed right? It'd do you good to have some ME time".

Xie Lian could hardly breathe, let alone think.

"I'll get lost for a bit. Gege, go into the jacuzzi, relax", he said, walking back to the bedroom. Xie Lian, still clutching the towel, snapped out of it and was about to protest, when Hua Cheng showed up again, this time all dressed, and said,

"I didn't piss in the jacuzzi, you can go in", he laughed, "Be back later".

Xie Lian didn't know what to do, or think anymore; this situation was getting out of control.

Please please please, comments on Hua Cheng in a jacuzzi. 😍😍😍

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