Always by your side

Ch 22. What we do in the shadows

Past

Wei Ying POV

First, I was alone. Then I had two brothers. Afterwards, uncle Qiren adopted me, and my brothers became my cousins, and one became my loving boyfriend. This boyfriend happened to be my reincarnated husband, but he doesn't know it yet, and we haven't consummated either. My head hurts with all these complicated relationships, but not as much as it hurts when the Ah-Qing smacks my head after taking the last candy bar from the shell.

It has been six months since I moved with Madam Sanren and her children. Xue Yang has been pulling pranks on me since the day I arrived. Ah-Qing is constantly nagging me into helping in the house. The only sane soul in this family is Xiao Xingchen. Madam Sanren isn't bad either, but I have caught her drinking alone in her studio after coming home a few times.

At first, I hesitated to ask what happened, until one day when she was in such a bad state that I had to ask Xingchen for help to carry her to the bedroom. As we lay her down, she muttered, "poor boy, he couldn't say goodbye". Xingchen signalled me to be in silence, so we tucked her in the bed and left.

He asked me to go to the kitchen, gave me tea and said, "You are probably wondering..."

I nodded. "Though I can guess some stuff of what she does outside the house, I still wonder the details" I looked at him. His eyes were wide open. I smiled and said, "I saw Yu working". He understood, "Liebling is a powerful tool sometimes. She is called the last resource to heal people in the hospital, modern and traditional medicine can do most of the work, but sometimes some extra help is needed. Unfortunately, though, it always causes her some pain as she isn't powerful".

"May I ask something else? has she taught you how to use Liebling?"

he smiled "you are quite wise, yes, though I have just started. I want to help people in need, so I have to be strong."

I finished my tea and looked at him. He is so much like him, and yet "What about your brother and sister? Are they ok with this?"

Xingchen sighs and reclines his back. "Yang doesn't know. He might not like that I will do something that will hurt me, but who am I to fight against this? In the end, I can help others and relieve them from suffering."

Life continued, and one day none of my siblings were at home when madam Sanren came from the hospital. She took a cab since she couldn't drive back home that day. I helped her go to her room and brought her water. She smiled sadly "thank you."

"what happened?" I asked

"It was an entire family this time. They were poisoned. It took time, but they might get better."

"Poison?"

"They lived in an old house with lead plumbing, it tampers with their cognition, so it was harder than usual diseases" she closed her eyes, and I let her rest.

Now and then, she comes home like that. On other occasions, Xue Yang took care of her when I arrived home. He was cleaning her forehead with water and asked me to bring a medicine bottle. A bit later, we left the room, and he hit the wall with his fist. His face was unhappy, and I didn't say anything. Then, he went downstairs, and I followed.

"I suppose that you know the whole thing," he said, and I nodded. But then, he screams, "I can't take this anymore!! I have begged her to let me do it, but she insists that I should avoid doing it, that I should focus on being a good kid and protect my siblings, that if I can do that, her life would have been worth it."

I froze.

Her life would be worth it if Xue Yang..., no, if he, Xiao Xingchen and Ah-Qing.

Xue Yang falls on the floor "if she gets sicker or dies, what am I going to do? I was a good for nothing kid when I was living on the streets, then those people came and took me to the orphanage. It was a horrible place, so we ran away. She found us wandering on the street and took us home. I had resolved to live a life of crime if it was necessary to provide for the three of us, but she changed it all."

I sigh. "She won't die that easily, but as she gets older, she might need more time to recuperate. Have you guys thought about getting her a boyfriend or something, or do you plan to take care of her when she gets old?"

He sits on the floor and buries his head "she had a husband once, but then he died, and she never remarried. She said that long ago, she met the man of her dreams, but he was too young to get along, and he married someone else."

"We still have time to plan what to do. Come on, last time you tried to beat me in Mario Kart. I challenge you to beat me now."

We go to play, and I keep thinking about all of this. She changed the stubborn Qiren, befriended Yu, rescued three orphans, and supported us. I can't ask her bluntly, "Hey, you know what, I think you are the reincarnation of the woman that was my mother in my past life. Do you perhaps adopt Xingchen because he was your shidi and befriended Qiren and Yu because you remembered them or because it just felt right at the time and have no memory at all?". Yeah, that would fly.

Xue Yang beat me that day three times in Mario Kart.

After seven months living with Sanren, I started to perform in music venues with the help of Nie Mingjue. No matter who we were in the past, we can get a good destiny this time. I need to build a life for Lan Zhan and me.

Present

Xue Yang POV

The email is pretty simple. Lan Qiren wrote

"Mr Yang, I have a request. Both my nephew Lan Xichen and his husband Jiang Cheng are gravely injured. It seems that the weapon used was a spiritual instrument. But, Wei said, you are in town. We need your help".

These people.

If I run my business using the internet, it is bound to happen that they will find us easily. So it is not like I pretended to be dead, but I do not want to be involved with them at all.

What if they remember me and tell my brother who am I and what I did to him in our past life? What if they separate us? It is true, I am violent and devious, but I am taking my medicines, and I haven't hurt anyone except that day.

I still remember my brother and sister covered in blood, Cangse Sanren body tortured and the flames that consumed our house...

I just went berserker, and I remembered what I had done. His life was the only thing I valued more than my life, and seeing him about to die was enough to change me. I couldn't lose him. He was everything. He meant everything. I hurt those men. I don't know if they were dead when I finished, as I ran away with my two siblings.

If I had stayed, I might have tortured those guys. Xingchen can't see a damn thing afterwards. No matter how much we use Liebling, he can't be healed. It is not a physical injury. He saw something that he didn't want to acknowledge. Something so wrong that he doesn't want to go out anymore. I have tried so many methods to cure him, looked for so many antiques to try on him, but nothing works. I keep trying.

It doesn't matter, I am here, and I will protect him. I won't lose him.

If I help these guys, they will put me in jail, so I start packing and making reservations for a flight far from this city.

By dawn, I had already made our breakfast, and as I was waiting for them to wake up, I heard the doorbell ring.

I open the door, and the scariest lady on the planet enters my apartment.

I gulp and ask, "Can I at least bring my jacket, please? But, unfortunately, it is cold outside."

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