Beiji

Chapter 5 (Pt. 2)

With nothing left of the medicines the emperor's sister had given him – them having run out before he ever left the prison – Wan Xue had to admit that Meng Yuan was right in that he should obtain something with which to treat his injuries. Perhaps a bruised knee wasn't worth bothering over, but his ribs still ached, broken and bruised and healing incredibly slowly in his opinion. That was how they ended up in the marketplace they had only seen the night before as it was closing. It was nothing compared to the one in the capital, so Wan Xue didn't bother looking at anything more than what they needed. He'd already pulled out several smaller coins from the pouch so that he would have them on hand and not draw attention to the rest of it.

After purchasing some ointment and bandages, considering Meng Yuan had his own wound that would need tended to, as well as a small amount of food that he stashed in the pack Meng Yuan was carrying, Wan Xue was prepared to leave the small town behind. However, just as he was about to walk away after making his last purchase, a glint of sunlight on metal caught his eye and he turned to see a woman selling hair accessories and combs. The hairpins were the kind that someone like him could never have afforded before now.

With one finger, he touched a particularly beautiful one, tracing down the length of cold metal. The woman running the stall named a price, and he wasn't sure if she wanted to convince him to buy it or was sure he couldn't and wanted him to stop touching it. Considering he could offer no other response, he merely smiled politely at her and withdrew his hand, prepared to leave.

However, a voice suddenly spoke up from directly behind him, and Wan Xue realized that in his distraction just now, he'd entirely forgotten about Meng Yuan's presence.

"We'll take it," the man was saying, and it took Wan Xue a moment to realize what he was talking about.

Trying to turn back to refute this claim, Wan Xue found that Meng Yuan was far closer than he expected, and he ran into him in trying to do so, his back hitting Meng Yuan's chest. One of Meng Yuan's hands casually settled on his waist, and with the other, he reached around the front and into Wan Xue's inner pocket where he had stored the money pouch, and drew it out.

Eyes widening, Wan Xue reached out to grab it back, but the hand on his waist left then, stopping the movement of his arm. His other arm was already underneath Meng Yuan's, and Wan Xue watched as the other man let go of his arm, opened the pouch, and withdrew what was, apparently, the exact amount needed. Meanwhile, Wan Xue had simply frozen, embraced in his arms as he was, watching Meng Yuan pay the surprised merchant and collect the neatly wrapped package from her. Wan Xue wouldn't have even known which coins to use for such a large amount.

Coming out of his stupor as Meng Yuan's arms finally left his body, he pushed the package away when Meng Yuan tried to give it to him, trying instead to push it, still in Meng Yuan's hand, back toward the seller.

"Don't you want it?" Meng Yuan asked. "It's not like you can't afford it." He tossed the pouch in the air and Wan Xue snatched it away from him, stuffing it hurriedly back into his pocket. "You don't have to spend money on me, or rent me a room at the inn, but at least spend it on something you want. If it bothers you so much, then when I have money, I'll repay you for it, and then it'll be a gift from me." Meng Yuan got the impression that Wan Xue would never spend money on himself for such a thing, and thus thought he was doing him a favor of sorts.

But for Wan Xue, the issue was not the money at all. It was true that the amount was rather high, but it was nothing compared to everything that was in the pouch. Yet this was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid, the reason he'd only rented one room and slept in the same room as a man he hated. There were dozens of people around, many of them close enough to hear every word that came out of Meng Yuan's mouth.