Just like a dream...

Chapter 17: Lantern Festival I

Chapter 17
Lantern Festival I

Soon Lan Zhan came outside the inn and saw that all others had assembled outside...And Wei Ying was nowhere to be seen...

"Have you seen Wei Ying...?"
Lan Zhan asked Nei Huaisang...

Nei Huaisang froze...
"Errr....I...err..."
He mumbled incoherently...

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes...

"Over there..."
Jiang Cheng said to Lan Zhan, while pointing towards the Tiānzǐ Xiào stall...

Lan Zhan turned towards Jiang Cheng and gave him a curt nod...

Lan Zhan hadn't particularly liked the man even before what happened at nevernight...

And as far as he was concerned this guy was nothing but a spineless majority pleaser who left his own sworn brother out in the clutches of hypocrites like Jin Guangshan, Jin Zixun and many others...

Even when Mianmian, a so called lowly disciple of Jin clan who didn't have any authority, stood up for Wei Ying, this man who was a sect leader played it safe and didn't even move a little finger for his shixiong...

And it was to this pile that the incidents of Nevernight got added...

He was afterall the one who had seen the faint trace of hope in Wei Ying's eyes die hearing the accusations in Jiang Wayin's words...

And Lan Zhan knew for sure that it was those words which made Wei Ying give up ultimately...

And so after this "rebirth", even the sight of at that man near Wei Ying was enraging for Lan Zhan...He had sworn to himself to always be on guard with him...

But off late he noticed that there was something about Jiang Wayin that was so different from how he was before...
Like how he seeked him out and informed him about Wei Ying's goodbye speech...

Maybe it was just because of the fact that the man was hoping that Lan Zhan would be able to convince Wei Ying to not leave...

But still the fact that he confided in him even in return for help was something the old Jiang Wayin wouldn't do...

Lan Zhan walked towards the other side of the street where Wei Ying was sitting drinking Tiānzǐ Xiào...
"Wei Ying..."
He called...

Wei Ying swallowed the alcohol abruptly choking on it immediately...

*COUGH*

"I'm good...no need to panic..."
Wei Ying said out aloud in his usual goofy demeanor with a nervous chuckle...

"Wei Ying listen to me..."
Lan Zhan said to him...

"I think I can hear Zewu-Jun calling for us..."
Wei Ying said to him looking at where everybody was standing...
The last thing he wanted was to be reprimanded by Lan Zhan for entertaining such lewd thoughts...

But for him...he knew he had to confess from the time he realized he was in love with the one he considered his soulmate...And he knew he had to confess before it was too late...

He knew that there was no future for this...after all he knew what was waiting for him at the end of this journey...

But he wanted to love Lan Zhan freely once...before everything...ended...

He would be content with loving him from distance...

"Wei Ying..."

"Gotta go..."
Wei Ying said and as he was about to escape when he ran right into a stall of vegetables and was about to fall when Lan Zhan on impulse grabbed his wrist to stop him...Both of them fell on the ground with one on top of other...And the force knocked the vegetables on top of both of them and into the ground...