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His lungs are burning with the lack of air, and Wen Zhuliu can feel Zidian hot metal burning his throat. Despite knowing it’s pointless, he struggles, gaze fixated on Wen Chao, who is crying on the other side of the room. They are both going to die today; as his vision blackens and he feels his consciousness slipping, he thinks about a promise now broken he made to a child years before, and asks for forgiveness in his heart.
___________
He wakes up with a gasp, hands immediately going to his throat. But Zidian is not there; and to his surprise, he can’t feel a scar nor bandages. He manages to calm down, and to look around; he’s in Nightless city. In his room.
Confused, he slowly gets up, and looks at his shocked expression in the mirror. There is no wound on his hand either, and he flexes it twice, even more perplexed. A wound like that would surely leave a scar, if it even managed to heal at all.
Which sparked the question: who healed him? Who even saved him? The path he had chosen to take with Wen Chao was a less known one and no one knew where they were, except for Wei Wuxian.
A knock on his door startled him: “Young master Wen? Your presence is requested by Sect Leader Wen.” came the hesitant voice of a servant.
“I will be there shortly,” Wen Zhuliu answers, recovering from the shock. How does Wen Ruohan know that he is awake?
Too many questions that he won’t be able to get an answer for. So he gets dressed quickly and steps out of the door, heading for the throne room.
The way everyone is standing gives him a very strong deja vu; it feels like he’s already been there. And when Wen Ruohan starts talking, Wen Zhuliu finally gets his answers.
“You will accompany my son to Lotus Pier. He will set up a supervisory office there,” the Sect leader orders, voice cold, and Wen Zhuliu feels like his world is crumbling.
Somehow he manages to pull himself together to answer affirmatively, and to make it back to his room before letting himself collapse against the wall. His control is completely gone; breathing slowly and deeply, he attempts to calm himself down.
He went back in time. For a moment he thinks that he’s being delirious, but the evidence is all there: no scars on his hand or throat, he’s alive, Wen Chao is alive, and he has just been ordered to head to Lotus Pier, like he had been once, all those months ago.
When his breathing has gone back to normal and he feels a bit more like himself, Wen Zhuliu gets up and starts to pack a bag (he doesn’t know if it is to go to Lotus Pier or to run away, so he throws in a couple of brown robes just in case).
___________
Less than an hour has passed when someone else knocks on his door. He opens it, expecting a servant, but instead it’s Wen Chao, who looks at him with such a terrified expression that almost makes Wen Zhuliu assume his usual fighting stance.
He lets the boy into his room; he’s shaking so hard he can barely walk. Clearly, he remembers too.
“I-I want to leave,” Wen Chao manages to say, stumbling on his words, breathing too quickly.
Wen Zhuliu kneels in front of him and takes the boy’s hands into his, to stop them from scratching and drawing blood: “Breathe with me, Young Master,” he says, and inhales exaggeratedly, hoping he will follow.
He does.
The panic attack leaves Wen Chao shaky and exhausted, looking every bit the eighteen years old that he is, so Wen Zhuliu helps him lay down and tucks him in, then heads to the boy’s room to prepare him a bag too.
He doesn’t bother taking any of the elaborate red and white robes that make up the majority of the closet: he just stuffs the pouch with a couple of less distinctive robes and objects that will sell, so that they can later buy more appropriate ones.
On his way back, Wen Zhuliu bumps into Wen Qing. The doctor glares at him, and a plan starts forming in his mind.
___________
Wen Chao sleeps through lunch and part of the afternoon; luckily no one comes searching for him. When he wakes up, he seems more calm, even if he holds himself stiff and the fear is clear on his face.
“Wen Ning and Wen Qing will be joining the expedition,” Wen Zhuliu states, gracefully sitting down next to the table.
Wen Chao nods. He doesn’t leave the bed, and keeps fidgeting with the blanket. They don’t actually know if the other sects will win the Sunshot Campaign. But they have a few facts:
- If they lose, and Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu are helping them, they will die just as painfully as before, if not more
- The only way to not betray Wen Ruohan is acting as they had done once before, which means attacking Lotus Pier, which means dying as painfully as they did, because none of them is foolish enough to think that the other sects will let them live
- If they join the sunshot campaign, along with some of the other Wens who do not approve of Wen Ruohan actions (like Wen Qing, for example, and only the heavens know how terrifying the woman is when she wants to be) maybe they will be able to survive
They could run, of course, but running hasn’t worked before, and Wen Zhuliu knows that Wen Ruohan will find them.
Wen Zhuliu looks at the boy on the bed. He’s eighteen now, very different from the five years old boy who clung to him and looked for comfort when his father insulted him. It’s been thirteen years since they first met; Wen Zhuliu was only twenty three, at the time, and he had just lost everything. Wen Ruohan had saved him, and naive as he was, he was ready to do everything for him, even take care of his unwanted kid.
He didn’t know at the time how much he would grow to care for him; even if he had, he would have done it again in a heartbeat.
Joining the sects means that they will have to swallow their pride, but Wen Zhuliu kneels everyday in front of a tyrant like a dog. He’s way past the point of caring.
“We should join the other sects,” he states. Wen Chao seems to have reached the same conclusion, because he nods. Wen Zhuliu thinks for a moment that he wouldn’t have, before; it seems that dying changed things.
“We will talk to Yu Ziyuan instead of Wang Lingjiao,” Wen Chao says. Then he moves to get out of bed; Wen Zhuliu is at his side in a heartbeat. The boy hugs him for a second, so quick he doesn’t even have time to hug him back, then disappears out of the door.
___________
The sight of Wei Wuxian is enough to make Wen Zhuliu stiffen, and he’s not the only one: Wen Chao is looking at everything but the Jiang disciple, and his hands are shaking. Wen Zhuliu takes a step to the side, to hide them from the sight of the two women that are standing behind them. It’s very likely that they are Yu Ziyuan’s famous servants.
The first thing they do is bow, heads to the ground. Wen Chao speaks first: “We ask humbly for your understanding and for your mercy, Madam Yu. I was arrogant and blind to my father’s faults, but I was finally able to see that what he is doing is wrong and foolish. Please allow us to help you stop him.”
His voice trembles but he keeps going.
It’s clear that the Jiangs are shocked, because no one says anything for a long while. Wen Zhuliu keeps his head low, despite the burning need to see what is going on and to be ready to protect Wen Chao should anything go wrong.
Yu Ziyuan then orders them to stand, tone cold and sharp as it always is, and Wen Zhuliu helps the boy up. Wei Wuxian has moved closer, for some reason, and Wen Chao grips his forearm tight.
“You humiliated my sons and left them to die,” Yu Ziyuan states. “You took away their swords, you treated them like slaves. You are Wen Ruohan's son; how can I believe you?”
Wen Chao swallows and looks down.
“Madam Yu, if I may,” Wen Zhuliu decides to step in. “He is young and impressionable, and he has been raised with the idea that the Wen Sect was the most powerful one. It is indeed a cruel one: not behaving as Wen Ruohan expects means heavy punishment, and-”
“I’m aware of my actions, and of how wrong they were,” Wen Chao cuts him off. “I do not ask for forgiveness, because I do not deserve it. I do not wish to excuse my behaviour,” he glares briefly at Wen Zhuliu.
“I only wish for my father to be stopped. I will accept any punishment that you will decide.”
Zidian sparkles; Yu Ziyuan touches it briefly, before responding: “The punishment you deserve is death.”
Wen Chao looks down.
“But for now, I will accept your offer.”
Wen Zhuliu feels like he can breathe again.
“However, I cannot allow the core-melting hand to walk freely. Therefore, he will momentarily stay in the dungeons, until I have discussed the matter with the other sects.”
“Thank you for your mercy, madam Yu.” He says. He smiles briefly at Wen Chao, who looks like he wants to protest but doesn’t know what to say, and lets the two women lead him to the cell.
If his imprisonment is the means to Wen Chao’s safety, then so be it.
___________
In the end, Wen Ruohan is defeated. Wen Qing is chosen to be the new Sect Leader of what remains of the Wen Sect, and Wen Zhuliu thinks that there is no one who would suit the position better.
He has spent the entirety of the Sunshot campaign in a cell, and he has not been allowed visits from anyone. News from the outside reaches him sporadically, but he doesn’t care about what is happening: he only cares about one person.
When, at last, he is free to walk out of the cell for the first time in months, said person is waiting for him outside. Wen Chao smiles at him and hugs him, no longer the shaking, terrified boy he was months before.
“Why did you accept to stay locked up all this time?” he asks later, while drinking a cup of tea. Wen Chao has apparently become somewhat friends with the other boys his age, and the sects have decided that he will help Wen Qing in rebuilding the Wen sect (when he finds out that Wen Chao won’t be executed, Wen Zhuliu feels like crying in relief. He has spent all those months worrying, but it was for nothing).
The answer comes easily, and he smiles: “Losing you was the most unbearable pain I’ve ever felt. I would do anything to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”