I'm really not the Saviour! (我唔係救主囖!) [danmei/BL xuanhuan]

7 - Is someone passing out eyedrops?

CW: torture, harm to a child

***

Another tense night began in the Chan Household. Some tried to stay awake by working - the servants in the kitchen, and Lady Yan and her eldest son together in her office, trying to calculate their lost income. Somewhere hidden, Gou Dzing could hear a steady fwoosh – thwack – the sound of flogging - followed by a cry of pain. So this was the Chan Household, unable to keep up a pretence of normalcy to their guests for more than a single night.

Yeung Sue was whispering to her little daughter, battling her own exhaustion as she tried to keep her awake. Despite her cruel jabbing of the soles of Mei Ying's feet with needles, the little girl eventually succumbed to sleep. Yeung Sue began to cry, her sobs echoing through the courtyard.

Chan Ngan and Leoi Tou-Fa were huddled together in their room, holding each other tightly as if the strength of their embrace would keep the demons at bay.

One by one, the residents of the Chan House began to fall asleep, and into nightmares.

Gou Dzing ran lightly from room to room once he heard the breathing change. The children slept peacefully, while their older half-brother and his wife whimpered and tossed.

Chan Bik breathed quietly in her room, without the slightest sign of discomfort. And Chan Gam, for once, looked calm and untroubled, his exhaustion evident now that his fierce expression was gone.

Beside him, his mother cried silently in her sleep.

In the kitchen, Cho Guk slept peacefully. The other servants twitched and choked.

"All five are sleeping peacefully," Gou Dzing reported back, seated beside Sek Gon's bed. The other man looked exhausted from his earlier illness, but his eyes moved back and forth restlessly under his lowered lids.

"And Yue-muk?"

"I didn't look at him specially, but he was asleep and whimpering like the others."

"Go back and check, but assume he's awake."

"So you think... But couldn't it also be...?"

"Go check first."

Gou Dzing was gone and back in a flash. "He's awake. When I approached quietly he was sitting up and looking around."

"Good."

"The others are definitely asleep. I see what you mean now." Gou Dzing flashed a grin. "What a smart kid. Won't you join the Mount Fa Sect? I want to show you off as my junior brother, my Si-dai!"

"No."

"So direct. Not even a pause."

"Even if I thought about it for a second longer, I would still say no."

"I think that's the longest sentence you've ever said to me," Gou Dzing teased.

Sek Gon shut his mouth and refused to say another word.

"Sir Sek? I was just joking... Sek Gon? Sek Si-dai? Sek Dai-dai?"

CLANG!

Gou Dzing narrowly managed to draw his sword and block Sek Gon's as it swung towards him. "Why are you so angry all the time?"

"Get out."

"Alright, alright. Good night, Dai-dai!" Gou Dzing escaped rapidly from the room and perched himself on the roof, perfectly content to stay awake throughout the long night until the rising of the sun. A few nights of no sleep meant nothing to a disciple of Mount Fa.