Chapter Text
“I-I-I’m sorry!!!”
This will not do! This will not do at all!
Damn it! The bracelet wouldn’t budge. Xie Lian couldn’t remove his arm from the still very much stunned Ghost King. The poor man just kept staring at him. Who wouldn’t be surprised! A complete stranger barging into your home and sitting on your lap? What kind of lunatic does that?!?
If Xie Lian couldn’t remove his hand, then the least he could do was get of the ghost’s lap. Which, considering the way he was sitting, wasn’t exactly easy either.
Oh well. It wasn’t the first time he had to dislocate his shoulder.
Without hesitation Xie Lian flipped backwards. He felt his shoulder pop out. That was expected since his arm stayed stubbornly in place. However, what was not expected was that just as he dislocated his shoulder the bracelet relented and gave him control of his arm back.
…Seriously?
That couldn’t have happened a moment earlier?
But never mind that now. He was still the lunatic that that broke into the Ghost King’s house to sit on his lap and was still standing in front of him.
Xie Lian bolted backwards away from the ghost, waving his hands in front of him. “This isn’t what it looks like.” And of course while doing that he bumped into and knocked over the golden palace. The intricate thing that probably took hours to build came crashing down. “Sorry! So sorry!”
This was going terribly!
Xie Lian hoped that the Ghost King’s stupor would last long enough for him to get out of this place and run far far away. However, he only manged to back away a few meters before the bracelet abruptly stopped him again. So, it was back at it again. Only now with the added bonus of pulling on his dislocated arm. How fun.
With his escape plan thwarted Xie Lian was left with no other choice. He dropped to his knees to kowtow and beg for forgiveness. Sure, if push came to shove he could fight the Ghost King, but said ghost didn’t do anything wrong and it was all Xie Lian’s fault. So, if there’s a chance Xie Lian could resolve this peacefully, he was definitely taking it.
The gesture seemed to finally snap the ghost out of his stupor. He jumped to his feet. “No! Your Hig-”
However, before he could finish the bracelet suddenly yanked Xie Lian back to his feet. Both Xie Lian and the Ghost King stared at the bracelet in confused silence. Xie Lian tried to kneel again only to end up with the same result.
Oh, come on!
Xie Lian started giggling nervously and tried backing away again. Unsurprisingly, he was yanked forward.
Concern appeared on the ghost’s face. He stretched his arm out and stepped forward. “Please stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.” His voice was soft and warm and full of concern.
However, as soon as The Ghost King took a step forward the pull on Xie Lian’s hand vanished and he could take a step back before the bracelet stopped him again.
The ghosts took another step forward and Xie Lian another back. Seeing Xie Lian backing away from him the Ghost King withdrew his hand and stepped back.
At the exact same time Xie Lian was yanked a step forward. He was staring to see a pattern here and he didn’t like it.
At the sight of this the ghost froze in place, not moving a muscle.
Xie Lin felt a rising need to say something, anything, explain somehow this bizarre situation. He thought that after all these years he had become immune to embarrassment, but right at this moment he could feel his face starting to burn up.
“I-I-I… This isn’t what it looks like! I didn’t want to come here! I swear!” The ghost raised his eyebrows and something flashed in his eyes. Xie Lian continued, “It’s this bracelet you see. I don’t know what it is or how it works or anything, but it dragged me here.” That sounded stupid and Xie Lian knew it.
While he was speaking the ghost had composed himself and now a teasing smile had appeared on his face. “So what Gege is saying is that it was the bracelet that made him sit on my lap?”
Okay, now Xie Lian was really burning up. “I-I-I… Hahaha… Uh…Y-Yes?”
The Ghost King chuckled, “I’m only teasing.” His expression changed and became warm and for some reason Xie Lian felt safe in the man’s presence. “Let’s just calm down and figure this out.” His gaze travelled to Xie Lian’s shoulder. “May I come closer to you?”
“Huh.” Xie Lian didn’t expect the Ghost King to be so understanding and polite. That was a welcomed surprise. “Yes, you can.”
The ghost walked across the hall and stopped in front of him. His gaze lingered on Xie Lian’s face. At that moment Xie Lian became very self-conscious. He had been walking and floating for days without any time to worry about his appearance. He must have looked awful.
“Umm…” Xie Lian started nervously shifting weight from one foot to the other.
Seeing that, the Ghost King blinked ant quickly shifted his gaze. “My apologies.” Before Xie Lian could say anything, he continued, “Is Gege’s shoulder hurt?”
“Huh? Oh, that. It’s nothing.” Xie Lian realised something. “Sorry I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Xie Lian.”
“Nice to meet you. You can call this one San Lang.” Hmmm. Ghosts usually didn’t use their real names, but it did seem weird that a Ghost King would choose to pick this name to go by. Was he lying? Or testing to see if Xie Lian knew who he was? His thoughts were interrupted. “Is Gege sure that he is alright?”
Xie Lian waved is arm. “It’s nothing you should be concerned about. It’s just a dislocated shoulder. I’ll fix it when I have the time.”
San Lang’s gaze became dark. Did he say something wrong?
When San Lang spoke next there was some of the Ghost King’s authority in his voice. “A dislocated shoulder isn’t nothing.” Then his expression and voice became soft again. “Please let this one relocate it for you. It’s the least I can do since I was the reason you got hurt.”
“What?” Xie Lian was very confused. “This wasn’t your fault. It was all me. Your really don’t have to trouble yourself…” He looked San Lang in the eye. His expression was so earnest. “…But if you really don’t mind then I would be grateful if you helped me with this.” Xie Lian relented.
San Lang’s eye brightened. He stretched his hands out and stopped before touching Xie Lian. Seeing that he didn’t back away San Lang positioned his hands. “This will hurt a bit.” He said in a soft voice.
With one sift movement Xie Lian’s shoulder was back in place. Xie Lian was amazed. San Lang said what it would hurt but he practically felt nothing. Compared to the times he had to do this himself it didn’t hurt at all.
Xie Lian moved his arm in circles to test it out. “Wow! You’re really skilled. Thank you”
Seeing the movement San Lang raised his hand as if to stop Xie Lian but stopped himself. Instead, he said, “Gege please don’t move your arm, it needs time to heal.”
Xie Lian wanted to argue and say that this was nothing, but the look in San Lang’s eye made him stop. “Okay, I’ll try to be more careful.”
San Lang let out a breath and looked relieved. After a moment he said, “I’m still a little bit confused about this situation. It seemed that you could only back away from me a certain distance. Why is that?”
“Oh, that.” Xie Lian raised his left arm. “It’s this bracelet. I really don’t know what’s its deal is but it’s the one causing this.”
“Could you let me see?” San Lang held out his hand and Xie Lian placed his own hand in it. The Ghost King examined the bracelet for a bit and furrowed his brows. He let go of the arm. “It’s got traces of magic, but I have never seen this kind of magic before.”
“I see.” If even a Ghost King didn’t know about it, then this didn’t bode well for Xie Lian.
San Lang looked disgruntled by this fact, but he soon fixed his expression. He gestured towards the divan. “We might as well sit down while we try to figure this out.”
“Alright.” Xie Lian agreed. Before Xie Lian could take a step Hua Cheng walked first and the bracelet immediately raised Xie Lian’s hand up and moved slightly forward, tugging his arm.
San Lang froze. He took a step back and the bracelet relaxed again.
Concern and confusion painted San Lang’s face. “I thought the distance it allowed was bigger.”
Xie Lian was equally confused. “It was.”
What was this stupid thing doing?!?
Xie Lian took a step back and began pulling on the bracelet. Come on! It can’t just randomly decrease the distance!
“Gege! Please stop!” San Lang raised his arm and at the same moment Xie Lian stumbled a step back before hitting the bracelets limit again.
Yet again both of them were very confused. This was becoming a trend.
San Lang dropped his hand down and Xie Lian was yanked a step forward.
The Ghost King froze. He even stopped breathing.
Neither of them said anything but it was obvious. The bracelet remained within a one meter radius of San Lang. It also looked like it counted that one meter from the part of him that was closest to Xie Lian.
Well.
That wasn’t good.
A thought occurred to Xie Lian that he was tied to San Lang like a dog to a leash. When he looked at Hua Cheng’s face he saw a myriad of emotions there. Disgust, anger, despair. It didn’t surprise Xie Lian. After all, having someone like him tied to oneself wasn’t exactly a good thing.
Xie Lian chuckled nervously. “I’ll just try walking close to you.” As he said this he took a step so as to be on San Lang’s side, hoping that it wouldn’t offend the man.
San Lang’s moves were stiff as he turned around. It looked like he wanted to take a step but hesitated.
“It’s okay. I’ll match your steps.” Xie Lian encouraged him with a smile.
They walked to the divan side by side and sat down on it.
After a moment San Lang seemed to finally calm down. He took in a deep breath and spoke, “Let’s just start from the beginning. Would you mind recounting to me how all of this started?”
Xie Lian did just that. As he spoke San Lang’s face grew darker and darker. When he finished San Lang spoke in a low voice. “You have been walking without stopping for almost a week? And you haven’t eaten during that time?”
That’s what concerned him? “Oh, I did get to float for a bit in the river and had a steamed bun. So it wasn’t that bad.”
San Lang opened his mouth to speak but closed it. Instead, he put two fingers to his temple.
“Yin Yu.”
Xie Lian assumed he was going to use the communication array. Why did he speak out loud?
“I have found His Highness the Crown Prince.”
What? San Lang’s mouth didn’t move. How was he hearing this? And more importantly, how did San Lang know who he was?
“Prepare a fitting feast.”
“…”
“Right away Lord Chengzu.” A different voice sounded in Xie Lian’s head.
“Also-”
“San Lang please stop using the communication array!” Xie Lian quickly said.
San Lang looked confused but lowered his fingers.
“I… I think I can hear your conversation.”