Jiang Cheng dodged to the side before attacking, “When does not now mean? I’ve had enough of you—get lost right now!”
Wei WuXian shouted, “Uncle Jiang and Madam Yu said for me to look after you, for you to be well!”
“Shut up!” Jiang Cheng shoved him hard, roaring, “Why?!”
Wei WuXian was pushed into the bushes. Jiang Cheng threw himself over. He grabbed Wei WuXian’s collar and shook, “Why?! Why?! Just why?! Are you happy?! Are you satisfied?!”
He clenched Wei WuXian’s neck, eyes bloodshot, “Why did you save Lan WangJi?!”
Under the grief and the fury, Jiang Cheng had lost his mind. He couldn’t control the strength that he used at all. Wei WuXian pulled at his wrist, “Jiang Cheng…”
Holding him on the ground, Jiang Cheng continued to roar, “Why did you save Lan WangJi?! Why did you have to speak up?! How many times have I told you not to stir up trouble! Not to strike! Do you really want to play the hero so much?! Have you seen what happened when you played the hero?! Huh?! Are you happy now?!
“Lan WangJi and Jin ZiXuan and those people can just die! Just let them die! What’s their deaths got to do with us?! To do with our sect?! Why did this have to happen?! Why?!
“Go die, go die, go die! Everyone!!!”
Wei WuXian’s face had turned red. He shouted, “Jiang Cheng!!!”
The hand around his neck suddenly loosened.
Jiang Cheng glowered at him. Tears rolled down his cheeks. The depths of his throat let out a cry of dying man, a painful sob.
He spoke through tears, “… I want my parents, my parents…”
He was asking Wei WuXian for his father and his mother. Yet, no matter whom he asked, he wouldn’t be able to have them back again.
Wei WuXian was crying as well. The two of them sat collapsed amid the bushes of grass, watching each other bawl.
In his heart, Jiang Cheng knew clearly that back in the cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter at Dusk-Creek Mountain, even if Wei WuXian hadn’t saved Lan WangJi, the Wen Sect would have found some reason to come over sooner or later. But he had always felt that, if the whole thing with Wei WuXian didn’t happen, maybe it wouldn’t have been so soon, maybe there would’ve been some way to turn things around.
It was this torturing thought that filled his heart with hatred and wrath. Unable to be let out, they cut up his innards.
When the day began to light up, Jiang Cheng had almost numbed.
Throughout the night, he had somehow managed to sleep a couple of times. The first reason was that, having been too tired from crying himself weak, he couldn’t help from passing out. The second reason was that he still had the hope that this might be a nightmare. He couldn’t wait to wake up after some rest and open his eyes to find himself lying inside of his room back in Lotus Pier. His father would be wiping his sword in the main hall. His mother would be angry again and complaining, scolding Wei WuXian who winked in a funny way. His sister would be in the kitchen, thinking as hard as she could about what to make today. His shidi would be refusing to do their morning lessons properly and jumping around.
Not to wake up in a bush of weeds with his head almost bursting apart, having been through an entire night of cold wind, and discovering that he was still curled up behind a barren little hill.
The first to move was Wei WuXian.
Hands on his legs, he managed to bring himself up. He spoke with a hoarse voice, “Let’s go.”
Jiang Cheng didn’t move at all. Wei WuXian pulled at him and repeated, “Let’s go.”
Jiang Cheng, “… Go where?”
His throat was dry as well. Wei WuXian replied, “To the MeishanYu Sect. To find shijie.”
Jiang Cheng waved his outstretched hand away. A few moments later, he finally sat up on his own and slowly got up.
The two set off in the direction of Meishan. They went by foot.
Along the way, both of them summoned whatever energy they had left. Their footsteps were heavy, as though they carried with them thousands of pounds.
Jiang Cheng’s head had always been lowered. Hugging his right hand, he pressed Zidian onto his chest where his heart was, feeling over and over again the only remnant of his family that was left. He’d also often looked back toward where Lotus Pier was, staring at what used to be his home and had now become a den of demons. Again and again, it was as though he’d never get enough of it, as though he’d never lose that last spark of hope. However, the tears within his eyes could never be contained either.
They had fled on a hurry, without taking with them any food. From the day before to today, they had spent quite a lot of strength as well. After they had walked for half a day, both of them began to feel dizzy. They left the desolated fields into a small city. Wei WuXian looked at Jiang Cheng. Seeing how tired, unwilling to move that he looked, he spoke, “You can sit. I’ll go find something to eat.”
Jiang Cheng neither answered him nor nodded. Along the way here, he had only said a few words to Wei WuXian.
Wei WuXian told him multiple times not to move before finally walking away. He had often tucked spare money into corners of his clothes, and now it became of use—at least he had money to buy things. Walking around, he bought a bunch of food, especially dried ones to eat on the way. In less than thirty minutes, he quickly returned to where they parted.
However, Jiang Cheng was gone.
Holding steamed buns, flatbreads, and fruits in his hands, Wei WuXian felt his heart skip a beat. He forced himself to calm down. Even after he searched through the neighboring streets, he still didn’t see Jiang Cheng. He finally began to panic. Grabbing a cobbler on the side, he asked, “Mister, there was a young master about the same age as me sitting here. Did you see where he went?”
The cobbler licked the thick end of a thread, “The one that was with you?”
Wei WuXian, “Yeah!”
The cobbler, “I was in the middle of doing something so I didn’t really see. But he kept on spacing out, staring at the people on the street. And then when I looked up at where he was again, he suddenly disappeared. Maybe he left.”
Wei WuXian murmured, “… He left… He left…”
He probably left for Lotus Pier to steal the bodies!
As though he had gone mad, Wei WuXian sprinted immediately toward the direction that they had come from.
He held in his hands the food that he had just bought, their weight slowing him down. A while later, he left them behind him. After he had run for some distance, however, he began to feel faint and weak, on top of how much he was panicking. As his legs gave out, he collapsed onto the ground.
As he collapsed, his face plummeted into the dirt. He could taste soil within his mouth.
An overwhelming mixture of hatred and helplessness rose from Wei WuXian’s chest. He slammed his fist hard onto the ground and shouted before he finally crawled up. He turned around and ran the other way. After he picked up one of the steamed buns that he had dropped, he wiped it on his clothes before he swallowed it in just a few bites. He chewed as if he was tearing flesh with his teeth. As he gulped, he felt it lump at his throat, creating a dull pain. He picked up a few more and stuffed them inside his lapel. Holding one in his hand, he ate as he ran, hoping that he’d stop Jiang Cheng midway.
However, even until he arrived at Lotus Pier, when the moon and the stars shone in the night sky, he still hadn’t caught sight of Jiang Cheng along his journey.