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sylviesoothsayer22 · 17 days ago

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Well Matched - Chapter 8

Tulipa hybrida

Summary:

The Wens have been settling quite nicely in Ghost City...can't say the same for Wei Wuxian and A-Yuan. Fed up with the two youngsters holing themselves up in their room, Uncle Four gives the kick that Wei Ying needed to go out and explore Ghost City with his little radish in tow. Unfortunately they walked right into the....unique stalls.

Ghost City's cuisine deserves it's own warning.

WARNING: Ghost City's...interesting food options up ahead...

Read to the end for more notes:

As ducks take to water, the Wens managed to fit right into their temporary settlement.

Most of them left the inn they were staying at, scattering all over Ghost City. Finding the odd job or two. Most decided to be washers, servers, crafters or seamstresses. Taking most of the kids -they ones they collected while on the run- with them as their apprentices. Leaving A-Yuan with his Baba. Some of the Wens split off from the smaller groups, deciding to open up small businesses, such as an embroidery shop or put up stands to sell common everyday items, like paper umbrellas, fans, jade pendants and so on.

Only a few stayed to help Uncle Four with his new winery business. Which, after the impromptu sampling Wei Wuxian offered at the Gambler’s Den, turned out to be a success. So much so that they had to close up shop a few hours after opening because they ran out of drinks and snacks.

For his part, Wei Ying moved into one of the rooms on the winery’s upper-floor. Spending his days mucking around with A-Yuan and his nights experimenting with human-sized arrays, interconnecting them, creating a long chain spiralling around the spare room’s floor, forming it into confusing patterns that would have the most-skilled cultivator scratching their heads, before clicking his tongue in irritation and scraping it. Wei Ying would then proceed to re-draw them, repeating this odd ritual until the first crack of dawn.

Wen Qing and Wen Ning would often peek into the room, watching the young man tirelessly working under the dimming lanterns, eyes squinting from the low light, feeling their knees twinge in sympathy while the new Calamity knelt on the floor for hours on-end, labouring away on Heavens’ know what.

Neither sibling had the heart to tell Wei Ying to stop. Knowing damn-well that whatever he was doing was for their family’s sake.

After one too many nights of no sleep or regular meals, Uncle Four finally put his foot down.

“Why don’t you and Yaun’er go for a stroll, hmm?” Uncle Four suggested, noticing that the younger man was getting antsy. He also knows that Wei Ying would most likely leave the room only for A-Yuan’s sake.

Poor lad likely met another dead end. Being holed up in a small room with nothing but your thoughts circling around your head… That’ll drive him mad one of these days. The elder man thought grimly.

Wei Ying winced at the suggestion. A-Yuan refuses to go anywhere without his father there in his line of sight. Whenever Wei Ying would leave the upper-floor space, wanting to help Uncle Four and the others with the growing business, the child would pace around the hall, constantly asking Granny or Qing-jie where his Baba was every five minutes. The first time his son saw the crowd of rowdy ghosts on opening-day, the boy scrambled up to his room and refused to come out until they all left.

Wei Ying gloomily pointed all these instances out to Uncle Four, the elder’s frown only deepened.

“Would you rather he stay here forever, clutching at his father’s robes? Only interacting with the same five people for eternity?” He retorts.

“He’s gotten a bit better. Yuan’er doesn’t even flinch at loud noises anymore.” Uncle continued.

“He had a nasty relapse last week, Uncle.” Wei Ying stated sombrely, eyes glazed over in remembrance. .

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

As soon as Hua Cheng crossed over the winery’s threshold, he felt malicious intent. The next second, his hand reflexively caught something flying too close to his face.

Holding up the wriggling creature, Hua Cheng inspected the tiny horror, brow arched curiously. It was a carrot ….. Which somehow sprouted root-like legs and was growing the beginnings of a face. The thing had claws and a gaping mouth with rows of razor-sharp teeth. Clearly intending to make a meal out of him, of all people.

Hua Cheng showed little reaction to the strange sight, other than a minute blink.

With a nonplussed expression, Hua Cheng took in the winery’s awkward atmosphere.

There were two elderly people and a child crowding around a table, keeping a bunch of fresh vegetables huddled at the table’s centre (the greens appeared to be suffering from the same affliction as the carrot). Almost all the furniture and crockery within the hall were smashed to bits or flipped over, aside from the one pot boiling on a brazier in the middle of the dinning hall. A young woman who appeared to be midlunge and a man (a Fierce Corpse?) holding her back by firmly wrapping his arms around her waist, while the woman’s victim was crouching above a cupboard and holding onto the top for dear-life.

If Hua Cheng ventured a guess, he’d say one of Lord Wuxian’s experiments got a little out of hand and the lady decided he should pay the price, while the poor soul holding her back was trying to keep the peace.

And the idiot decided to find safety in a high place, like a spooked cat. He thought, lips twitching in humour.

The idiot in question tried to act nonchalant over the bizarreness of the situation.

“Chengzhu! What brings you here…?”

“Noise complaints.” Hua Cheng deadpanned. Wei Ying let out a nervous laugh while jumping off the cabinet. Feet scurrying away from the fuming lady as soon as his toes touched the floor.

The woman angrily breaks out of the other man’s grip and goes to help the others with the ‘produce’.

Hua Cheng waves around the ‘carrot’ that was still in his hand. A clear sign for Wei Ying to start talking.

“Uncle Four and I were talking about expanding food options around here. It can’t just be wine, ya know?” He sheepishly explained, awkwardly rubbing his neck.

“And so , the genius decided to revisit one of his failed experiments.” The woman -whom Hua Cheng believes to be Wen Qing- drawls. Shaking off the live-tomato that was biting into her finger. She let out a low hiss as its teeth dug deep into her flesh, her blood trickling onto the table.

“Who the hell would want to eat these things anyway?!” Wen Qing snaps.

“Oh, I could easily see this turn into a rare delicacy within my city.” Hua Cheng quips as he tosses the carrot into the boiling pot with a small ‘plop’. Nearly everyone winced as the little horror shrieked in pain, drowning in the scalding water. Wei Ying and Hua Cheng were the only ones who didn’t appear phased.

“No! No! Qing-jie is onto something.” Wei Ying rebuked, as if there wasn’t a pitiful creature in the middle of its death throes, forcing everyone else to cover their ears.

Wen Qing shot him a glare, finally freeing her poor finger from the tomato’s clutches. She walked over to the boiling pot, about to throw it in when Wei Ying snatched it from her.

Showing off the creature to Hua Cheng as if he were making a sales pitch, Wei Ying continued:

“You just need to cut off the limbs, scrape off the face and ta-da! Back to being like any other vegetable.” He grinned.

Hua Cheng shook his head, brow slightly furrowed.

“Your winery is going to sound like a torture room if you do that. Those things are awfully loud.” Hua Cheng advised, eye flitting back to the squirming tomato in disinterest.

Wei Ying lightly stroked his chin with his free hand, thinking over Chengzhu’s words.

“Hmm. You’re right. It would ruin everyone’s appetite.” He mumbled.

Tossing the tomato over his shoulder and into the pot, Wei Ying turned to the elderly man.

“Hey, Uncle! How sturdy are your kitchen walls? Do you think they can handle a dozen silencing arrays?”

“A dozen?!” The elder squawked. “Uhh.. well..”

While the adults were talking, the child shyly walked up to Wei Ying.

(He wanted to do it earlier, but A-Yuan had to wait until Baba got rid of that little monster.)

Little fists clutched at the hem of Wei Ying’s sleeve. The boy curiously peeked at the newcomer behind his Baba’s legs. The man turned his head back, gently combing his fingers through his son’s hair in quiet reassurance.

“Little radish…? Why don’t you introduce yourself to our guest?”

A-Yuan didn’t reply to that. Choosing instead to duck his head behind Wei Ying. The elder let out a quiet sigh. Apologetically looking back at Hua Cheng.

“Please forgive him. He’s really shy around strangers.” Wei Ying murmured, too engrossed with his skittish son to notice the older man’s strange reaction.

Hua Cheng looked at the little boy’s bandaged face, eye unfocused, his features marked with a peculiar expression.

It only lasted for a moment. In a blink, Hua Cheng snapped back to attention. He crouched down till he was eye-level with the child. Softening his expression into -what he hoped was- a more approachable look.

“Nice to meet you little lord. Or should I call you Little Wei? I didn’t catch your name.”

Hua Cheng noticed the little guy’s eye widening at being called a ‘Wei’ before the boy gave him a tentative smile.

“....you can call me A-Yuan o-or Yuan’er.” He finishes with a clumsy bow. Hua Cheng felt his lips quirk upwards at the endearing sight and was about to introduce himself when he felt E-Ming’s eye snap open. The sword started pulling itself out of the sheath, wanting a closer look at the boy and his father.

The scimitar was always too curious for its own good.

A-Yuan’s eye went wide, promptly bursting into tears. Shaking non-stop, wildly clutching at Wei Ying’s robes, screeching at the scimitar.

“ Go away! Don’t come closer! ”.

Hua Cheng promptly smacks the sword in its eye. Backing away from the panicking child, while Lord Wuxian tried to calm down his distressed son.

“Make it go away, Baba! Make it stop!” A-Yuan hiccuped, hiding his face in his father’s neck. Wei Ying shushes him, gently patting the child’s back, urging him to calm down.

Hua Cheng had a white-knuckle grip on the hilt. He could feel E-Ming shaking in its sheath, tearing up when it felt like it did something wrong.

“I’m really sorry! He only acts like that around anything sharp.” Wei Ying hurriedly said, rocking the still-crying child back-and-forth.

“You needn’t apologise. I should’ve disciplined my spiritual weapon properly.” Hua Cheng stated, throwing a glare at the tearful scimitar.

(Needless to say, as soon as Chengzhu left, Wen Qing gave him a good thrashing over ‘endangering everyone with another one of his brainless experiments’, but Wei Ying would rather not remember that if he can help it.)

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Uncle Four sighs at the memory and decides to leave the young man with some parting advice. “Right now, Yuan’er seems to firmly believe that he should be sheltered, not understanding that he’s trapping himself. The child’s crouching in the back of a dark cave, too scared to come out of the only place that he knows. If A-Yuan continues to live like that, what will become of him in five, ten, twenty years? Try and help him toe the line where there’s some sun. The results might surprise you.”

“....”

A few hours later, Uncle Four hears the heavy creaking of a man’s footsteps followed by the nervous pitter-patter of a child’s feet leave through the building’s back door. The old man lets out a relieved sigh.

Attaboy. He thought.

A breath of fresh air will do both of them some good.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Wei Ying walks around the -oddly enough less crowded- streets of Ghost City while holding A-Yuan at his hip. They initially began their stroll walking side-by-side, but the poor lad couldn’t keep up with his Baba’s long strides, so Wei Ying opted to carry him. The little one was now keeping his face tucked against the elder’s collarbone. Without looking down, Wei Ying could sense his son curiously peeking around the few stands that were still open as he trekked his way to Ghost Market

Wei Ying catches A-Yuan eyeing a stand where a ghost with a camel’s long neck and face was stirring a huge pot of stew.

“Feelin’ hungry…?” Wei Ying murmured against his son’s cheek, tickling the skin with his breath, which inturn made the lad let out a small giggle.

He got a nod, so the young Calamity makes his way to the stand, when he sees the camel-ghost rear its head back, hack up a huge glob of phlegm and spit it right into the pot.

The father-son duo watched in horror as the camel-ghost stirred the pot a few more times before dipping a ladle into the snot-mixed stew, sampling it. Its ears twitching in approval as it let out a satisfied ‘hmm’.

“Ewwww…” A-Yuan whimpered. Wei Wuxian silently agrees, just as disgusted.

The camel-ghost’s ears twitched.

“Who said that, huh?! Why don’t you try to make one then?!” It yelled, twisting its long neck, looking around for the perpetrator.

Not wanting to make eye-contact, both Wei Wuxian and A-Yuan snapped their heads away from the camel’s direction and quickly stepped back into the street, melting into the small crowd before they got caught.

They make their way to another stand, where they find a lizard-demon chopping up its own tail into clean slices before giving them to customers, its stub rapidly growing back into a tail, then repeating the morbid process all over again for the next patron. A ghost selling noodles with the broth that he was bathing in. A spider-demon making ‘dragon’s beard candy’ with its own webs, using the sticky strands to catch flies and other insects before giving it to ghost-kids.

Finally, Wei Wuxian finds a ‘normal’ looking tanghulu stand, nearly sprinting his way there with a green-faced A-Yuan.

“Please tell me you sell human treats here.” The lady looked human, if you disregard the yellow irises with slitted pupils and green scales surrounding her eyes, which crinkled in offence at his comment.

“Of course we sell human food here. Whaddya take us for?!” She scoffed. Wei Ying was about to exhale in relief when he took a closer look at what was displayed.

Sure. There were some normal tanghulu, like candied hawthorne, strawberries and whatnot, but there were also candied body parts. Severed fingers stabbed through the stick, glistening with hardened sugar, reddish-purple tongues along with specifically shaped pieces of shrivelled flesh that Wei Ying was 100% certain were not sausages.

He and A-Yuan had a brief staring contest with an eyeball-tanghulu before looking back at the proud seller, puffing her chest.

“I just remembered that my son hasn’t had lunch yet. I shouldn’t spoil his appetite with sweets. Thank you for letting us have a look, madame.” He deadpanned, expression blank.

“Huh?!” The snake-lady snapped, but Wei Ying had already turned his heel, ready to hightail out of the food section.

“You okay?” He whispered under his breath. Cursing himself a thousand-fold. Wei Wuxian was going to give Uncle Four a tongue-lashing when he comes back. Pleasant stroll, my foot!

A-Yuan wrinkled his nose, face pale.

“Don’ think I’ll be eating for a while….” The poor lad mumbled.

Wei Ying hid a grimace. Silently vowing that he will never come back to these stalls with A-Yuan in tow again. Seeing that his son needed a distraction, Wei Ying stops at a line of stalls where some ghosts were selling toys. Cradling the little lad who was now hiding his face in his Baba’s neck.

Wei Wuxian spied one stall owner selling what looked to be rattle-drums.

He was about to go and ask for the price when a foreboding thought struck him.

What if the toys also had some type of hidden horror….?

Was the leather made out of human-skin? Were the rattles carved from a serial-killer’s bones? Did it make some kind of high-pitched shriek with every shake? or…. or…

Deciding that it would be safer to make a strategic retreat back to the winery, Wei Wuxian made to turn away.

“Ah! Gongzi! Wait!”

“Huh?” Turning back, Wei Ying saw the stall owner walk up to him and all but shoved a rattle-drum into his free hand.

“Enjoy!” The other ghost exclaimed, patting Wei Ying on the shoulder before scurrying off. Staring at the empty spot where the stall owner just was, he blinked owlishly.

What just happened..?

Noticing that A-Yuan had lifted his face to peek around again, Wei Ying quietly offered him the toy which he gladly took.

Shaking his head at the weirdness, Wei Ying made to leave the lane once again… and was accosted by another ghost giving freebies.

This bizarre song and dance continued until Wei Ying had an armful of cargo, including a clay whistle, a kite in the shape of a phoenix, a bamboo dragonfly, a couple of stuffed animals, a paper windmill, a few puzzle boxes, a jar of marbles, a bow and some arrows fit for a child, a diabolo and a wide-eyed A-Yuan gaping in disbelief at all the new toys.

Couldn’t they have at least offered to carry some of this stuff for me?!

Wei Ying couldn’t even see! The new toys had piled all the way up to his face, practically blocking his vision.

From the corner of his eye, Wei Ying could make out a woman with a feline-like face and a cat’s tail carrying a hand-carved box - another stall owner- eagerly approaching him. Clearly intending to give him the beautifully ornate box meant for accessories.

Wei Ying reeled back. She must be joking! He already has too much junk as is!

The mountain of toys wobbled before eventually collapsing. Wei Ying felt some of the toys spilling out of his arms-

And straight into another's.

“Need some help?” Hua Cheng muttered while sharing the load, practically shoulder-to-shoulder with Wei Ying, standing a little too close for comfort.

“This was your doing, wasn’t it?!” Wei Ying hissed directly into Hua Cheng’s ear, hoping A-Yuan wouldn’t hear.

Hua Cheng merely gave him an ‘innocent’ smile and shrug, which to Wei Ying, was an admission of guilt.

The younger male was about to snap at the Crimson Bastard, when he felt his son pull at the collar of his robe.

“...thank you..” The boy mumbled in Hua Cheng's general direction, clutching at one of the stuffed toys before tucking his head back into his father’s neck. Hua Cheng offered the lad a sincere smile this time (one of the few that Wei Ying has seen so far) before beckoning the new Calamity to follow him.

“Where are we going?” Wei Ying asked, a tad cautious.

“A place where you can have a proper meal.” Hua Cheng flippantly said.

Wei Ying felt his left eye twitch. It took every single ounce of self-restraint not to cuss out Crimson Rain right in front of his very very young son.

So you were watching us this whole time?!

Chapter End.

Author's Notes:

Yeaaaah. A-Yuan has some unresolved trauma with swords and knives. You can already guess why.

*Tulipa hybrida: Better known as pink tulips. These flowers symbolize forgiveness, care, and affection. If the apology stemmed from unintentional actions, then pink tulips can help convey one's genuine concern for the recipient's feelings. I think this was the perfect flower to showcase HC's roundabout apology to A-Yuan. To him, 'sorry' wasn't gonna cut it and we all know how HC can't resist making grand gestures. Notice how HC took extra care to give A-Yuan a bow and some arrows, not a toy sword? Already on his way to becoming a good step-dad~

Note 1: Dragon's Beard Candy is a Chinese confectionary that's the equivalent to cotton-candy. Albeit with a lower sugar content and a shorter shelf-life.

Note 2: A diabolo is basically the Chinese version of a yo-yo.

And yes. The 'living vegetables' were a reference to Mo Dao Zushi Q! Hope you guys enjoyed the little A-Yuan and HC interactions. We'll have more of them later on ;)

Thanks for reading! Don't be afraid to let me know your thoughts on this chapter!

We're finally getting hints on the important plot beats of this fic. I'll do my best to not have the wait for the next chapter be as long as the last one. Till then, enjoy the omakes!

Omake:

WWX: *sneaking glances at HC while they're walking through Ghost Market, clearly wanting to ask something*

HC: What is it?

WWX: *blurts out* So, I know that there’s another Calamity who loves eating human-flesh. Do all Ghost Kings share the same tastes?

HC: *gives WWX a thousand-yard stare* Wow. I’m actually offended this time.

WWX: S-sorry! Didn’t mean to call you a canni-

HC: How could you possibly compare me to that vomit-wearing, goblin-faced, pest?

WWX:-bal......

Be sure to drop a comment and/or like!

Many thanks~

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