The first time Xue Yang had felt warmth, it was when he held a piece of burning coal in a middle of a harsh winter in the slums of Yueyang.
Despite the aching aftertaste in his hands in the morning, he still held it as it was his own lifeline.
The second time Xue Yang felt warm, was the hold of another person and the sweet yet surprisingly still warm pastry made in lotus flower shape.
The person itself had a red hair, a unique color in a world where the hair is usually black.
His red hair akin to the glowing embers he held in his hands for the whole winter. But instead of pain, it was comfort.
"Can you even see your way with all the blood falling down to your eyes? Tsk."
It's not new for Xue Yang to hear such harsh words, yet the child found no malice behind the tone the redhead had used.
He is a pretty gege, and a kind one at that.
Xue Yang found it easy to smile brightly that day.
Yet that warmth was soon changed the moment he entered the Chang household.
He kept crying, feeling unfair when he received all those beatings from an unknown man since Chang Ci'an ordered him so.
Such a child full of trust towards the adults, yet that trust was only returned by another round of beating.
Soon enough, he felt his pinky finger get crushed under the weighty wheel of an ox cart, roaring another wave of painful cries from a child barely teen.
It hurts. God damn it, it really hurts.
"What the hell is happening here?"
Xue Yang had always liked the color of red, as it was the only color that warmed him in a cold time.
And it didn't take long for him to like the person with red hair.
A man like a fire, where he was held in a delicate manner instead of the harsh crackling of its frolicking flames.
He was Xue Yang's salvation.
He remembers calling to him, 'pretty gege'. And Xue Yang remembered how those cold eyes softened when the man looked at him.
Ah, this is the first time someone had looked at him like he was someone so cherished, someone important that the lone thought of it made him smile.
"Do you really want to die that badly?" The red man asks, his smile viciously cold as he looks at the man who dared to whip a child.
Xue Yang cries, overwhelmed with the emotions swirling and from the pain emanating in his aching wounds.
Maybe the man noticed his pain, so he held his bleeding hand carefully before a cool sensation can be felt.
Soon enough, the pain in his hands were gone like magic, making Xue Yang look at the older with awe.
"You said you are a bad person, so why did you save me?" He whispers, wanting for the redhead to hear it and at the same time, not.
"I am a bad person, it's just that I can't stand adults abusing children who just wants sweets as they were promised."
Xue Yang soon realizes that it's either the man is a bad liar, or the man himself believes it so without ever realizing his own actions.
He laughs instead, finding it funny before saying, "Still, thank you."
He was carried with utmost care as if he was fragile, and he was treated in a place where it was filled of lotuses and rivers surrounding.
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𝐷𝑒́𝑝𝑎𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡「LCF x MDZS」
FanfictionIn the alleyways of Yiling, there was an abandoned child who did his best to survive. Everyday, he scoured for food and fought dogs who hurted him. It hurts. Bites starting to bruise his already blemished skin as he curled into a ball and hoping to...
