Keeper | The Lost Tomb Fanfiction

Strange marks

Chapter 28: Strange marks

Xie Yuchen supported Hei Yanjing in putting his unconscious cousin to bed. He turns to the kids who are at the door and look at Li Cu while pointing at the cabinet on the left side of the room.

"Take some clothes for Wu Xie. You---" He pointed at Su Wan, who pointed at himself, "Take a basin of warm water and a cloth from the bathroom. You---" He pointed at Yang Hao, who looked unsure, "Take some bottled water on that corner and put it at the table." He then turned away from the kids and back to his cousin to strip him of his clothes. A frown shows on his face, and his lips tighten seeing blood on Wu Xie's clothes. Trying to reign in the uncomfortable feeling in his heart, he continued to strip his clothes.

Hei Yanjing saw the three kids still awkwardly standing at the door and smirked at them.

"Did you not hear him? Move." They immediately awakened at the sound of his voice and nodded. Despite being flustered as they did their tasks, they unconsciously moved around the room with little noise so as to not disturb Wu Xie and Xie Yuchen.

Xie Yuchen started taking off the long dark purple robe first then his jacket and the shirt lastly. When he finished taking the upper clothes, he frowned at the bruises on Wu Xie's body. The things that his cousin experienced before are more than this but he cannot help but feel bad for Wu Xie for the bruises he saw today. He tried his best to control his anger before taking the basin from Su Wan. Twisting the towel, he wipes Wu Xie's body carefully, lightly tapping at his wounded areas. After wiping the front, he tried to rotate his cousin to wipe his back but was unsuccessful so he turned to Hei Yanjing for help, who was leaning beside the window, looking amused at seeing him working.

"Help me rotate Wu Xie. I can't lift him myself." Xie Yuchen saw Hei Yanjing showing an awkward expression, and scratched his nape at his request. Mute Zhang might not look like it, but he is possessive when it comes to Wu Xie sometimes. It was totally out of his character, and he was so surprised since he woke up in the middle of the night being pulled for sparring. He cannot even remember how many times he was beaten in the past behind Wu Xie's back just because Mute Zhang was being triggered by something.

"Hua'er. Do you want me to be beaten?" Xie Yuchen looked at him in puzzlement. How can a little help cause Hei Yanjing to be beaten up? Then he suddenly remembered something and threw an understanding look at the awkward man. If Zhang Qiling knew, the two of them would surely fight again under the pretense of sparring. Knowing he can't help, he looked away with a smile while remembering what happened to Hei Yanjing after their fights.

The trio watched their interaction with confusion, then looked at each other with a who-knows-what-they-are-talking-about? look, and all three of them shook their heads.

"Then... I'll help?" Su Wan looked at his friends before hesitating.

Xie Yuchen shook his head at him and Yang Hao, he couldn't bear to have these two soft kids be taught by Zhang. He finally looked at Li Cu, who looked bored at the side, and signaled him to go near the bed.

"You help me with your mentor." Li Cu has no choice but to agree and walk beside the bed. He pushed Wu Xie's body to the right and successfully turned his body. His eyes widened and paused as he looked at Wu Xie's back.

"What is this..." Li Cu whispered seeing messy inks in three different colors on Wu Xie's back which caught the attention of everyone in the room. The crowd behind Li Cu looks at where he is staring.

Xie Yuchen focused on Wu Xie's back and saw a strange black, purple, and golden tattoo on Wu Xie. Starting from his nape to his left shoulder blade, there are irregular wavy lines of three different colors clinging to each other like a vine and are incomplete from the looks of it. It does not seem to have any meaning at all, just messily tattooed on Wu Xie's back.