Ah love, my love {Mo Dao Zu Shi}

The white jade's black past- part 2

Wei WuXian was watching Lan WangJi, Lan QiRen and Lan XiChen walking through the market. They were in Caiyi town to buy some needed groceries for themselves. But Wei WuXian could see that Lan QiRen brought his nephews to roam around a bit for their enjoyment. After all, they were still children and needed to adjust to other people as well, instead of just staying inside the walls of the Cloud Recesses.

The day was bright, it was afternoon and the sun had turned into a soft yellow colour. The town was bustling with people and vendors as usual.

It seemed like a perfectly normal day. Until the most horrid thing that one could imagine, happened.

Lan WangJi was seemingly looking at a toy. Lan XiChen and Lan QiRen were at a small distance just at the opposite vendor looking at some other items.

At that time, an old man came and asked Lan WangJi, "Hello Young Master."

Lan WangJi was startled, but he still greeted the old man with a polite bow, "Hello sir. Is there something you wanted to say to me?" Lan WangJi did not particularly feel well about this encounter, but he just could not ignore an old man. It would be impolite.

Little did he know he should've trusted his instincts.

"I just need some help with reading what is written in this paper. You see, old age has ruined my eyesight. I am unable to see clearly. Can you read this for me so I can understand what is written?" Said the old man.

Meanwhile the vendor keeper was looking at him with a cold glint in his eyes. It did not go unnoticed by Lan WangJi. But he chose to not pay attention to that, "Please hand me the paper." Lan WangJi, being the innocent child he is, asked.

The man handed him a paper and Lan WangJi took it to read it out loud. Instantly a scent hit his nose and his vision became blurry. He seemingly noticed the paper was blank and instantly understood that he had been tricked.

He desperately tried to call for his uncle and older brother. But his body had already become devoid of any strength and he lost consciousness.

The old man smiled coldly. And then removed his make up a bit. The real face of the man was young, in his late twenties. He picked up the unconscious Lan WangJi soundlessly and handed him over to the vendor keeper in such a way no one noticed anything unusual.

And everything turned upside down after that.

Wei WuXian put a hand over his mouth. 'Lan Zhan had been kidnapped when he was this young? He is only seven. And what are those guys upto? How did Master Lan not notice? Wait, they must have concealed their aura. That's the only explanation. In a place full of people, it’s not hard to conceal auras.' His swirling thoughts came to an end in the next memory and his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach in horror.

Lan WangJi was chained down by metal chains, his little body unconscious, laying on the cold ground. It seemed like he was locked in some kind of dungeon. His robed were tattered in places and there were wounds that probably came with the rough handling of his body as he was chained here.

Lan WangJi's eyes stirred open. He gasped loudly. He, as calm as he usually is, was still a child. He looked at his chained hands. They were hurting like hell. His whole body was aching. His head felt like it was splitting apart. He understood that he was in some kind of a dungeon or prison cell.

Fear gripped his heart. How will he get out of here? Why was he brought here by that old man? What was happening? What is he gonna do with him?

What he didn't know was that it wasn't a 'he'. It was 'they'. And just a while later, he understood that the hard way.

A while later, a few man came inside.

One of the came, held his chin and pulled his face up, "What's up, lab rat?"

What?

What is lab rat? What does that mean? Lan WangJi wondered. But he didn't have to wonder too long. Another one of the men answered.

"In any case you dunno, it means you are a subject to experiment."
"What?"
"Haha! What what? You didn't get it?"
"What are you guys doing to me?"
Another one of them answered, " That's none of your business."
"Let me go."
" Hahahhahaha you guys heard that? He is demanding us to let him go. Say kid. What will you do if we don't let you go?"

Lan WangJi tried using his spiritual energy to break free. But he was still not an accomplished cultivator. And the metals were made especially to lock people's spiritual powers, Lan WangJi figured out after he couldn't even channel a single bit of it.

He tried using his strength this time. He was stronger than other children so he broke free of the hand that was holding his chin up.

"Woah, this little pimp is stronger than he should be."
"Yep, guess we could make him a bit weak then? Whatcha y'all say?"
"Deal, but who will do it? I wanna volunteer."
"Shut up, you took one last time. It's my turn now."
They gossiped on, deciding who would do whatever they planned on doing.

Lan WangJi was already dangerously on edge. He was wracking his brain to come up with a way to break free. He wanted to use strength to break the chain first, but he was after all a small child, as strong as he was.

*Trigger warning: Child abuse. Proceed with caution*

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain come on the back of his head. He recognised it to be someone's foot. Someone was stepping on his head.

He tried to get up. But he was so hungry, his body was aching all over. And with the tries of trying to break free, his body was not strong enough.

Another one of the men kicked his sides and then shifting him on his head kicked on his stomach, hard.

He clutched stomach with both his hands, trying to protect himself as much as he could. Then another kick came on his chest. His hands then lay sideways as he fell on the cold hard ground. Blood gushed out of his mouth. Parts of his body started bleeding and soaking his already tattered robes.

Then another one of the men stepped on his hand, laughing maniacally. Lan WangJi could not hold the scream that erupted from his mouth this time.

But that did not stop them from beating him more.

After they were satisfied with the torture they collectively inflicted on a small seven year old child, they got out of the cell, but not before saying, "You are one strong bastard. Tonight experiment's on ya." And then they go out, laughing.

Lan WangJi laid there, bruised all over his little body, weak,cold, hungry, thirsty, hurt.

Tears poured out of his eyes. 'Uncle, brother, father, someone, anybody,please....

help me.'

He missed the warmth of his brother's smile. He missed the proudness his uncle's eyes held when he did something right. He missed his mother playing with the two of them. He missed the fog misted Cloud Recesses.

He missed the outside world. He missed the time before his life became like this. He cursed himself for listening to that 'old man'.

But the worst was yet to come. And Lan WangJi knew it.

Wei WuXian was greeting his teeth so hard his gums were bleeding. He was not sure how to control his anger well. He was afraid his strong emotions would affect Lan WangJi so he tried to calm himself down for watching further. He had to.

And then, the time for experiments came.