Chapter Text
Meng Yao wanted to curse as he stared down at his half-brother who had come to find him who had told him he was a time traveler and requested his help. Time travel. If there were more time travelers, then Meng Yao was in trouble because if there were more than the newly discovered Nie Huaisang then he was screwed. No he was already fucked because Jin Guangyao killed his brother in the future and he knows and now Nie Huaisang is going to kill him.
“I’m going to believe you.” Meng Yao spoke with false confidence, “I’m going to believe you because I doubt you have the imagination to make this all up.” and because it was an actual reasonable explanation as to why he was OOC. Jin Zixuan gave off an offended noise but Meng Yao expertly ignored it, swiping Jin Zixuan’s money pouch from him and entering a store. Quickly he picked up three empty notebooks as well as writing materials and set them on the counter.
“What are you doing?” Jin Zixuan asked in an arrogant tone that Meng Yao was inclined to be annoyed with him except he was a Jin and it seemed like a very Jin thing to do and Meng Yao doubted there was actually any hostility behind it.
“I’m buying writing materials.” Meng Yao answered gracefully, setting the set amount of coins into the hands of the merchant.
Jin Zixuan gave him an affronted look, “No, that’s not what I mean I- wait, what! Isn't that my money pouch!” he exclaimed before patting himself down. Wow. Naive. Jin Zixuan with his future knowledge was still just… no… It was Jin Zixuan’s idea to walk the streets with an unprotected coin pouch. He was just shouting about a rich ignorant young master who would be someone’s next target for a free meal.
Meng Yao made sure to give him his most disappointed in you mom look and went back to packing away the writing materials into a guikan pouch that he had also stolen from his older half brother. “Yes,” he answered, feigning absentmindedness, “If you don’t want your things to become stolen don’t walk through seedy areas looking like that.”
“What do you mean!” Jin Zixuan was quick to argue, “I’m a Jin Cultivator, who would dare steal from me!”
Meng Yao gave him a deadpanned look at the reasoning, as he stared into his idiot half brother’s eyes. “Me.” he answered before taking his half brother’s arm and dragging him into a boutique.
He quickly went to the employee and ordered three hanfu, quickly drawing designs on a scrap piece of paper that he wanted embroidered into them and telling them what colors and materials he wanted.
“What are you doing with my money!?” Jin Zixuan shouted as he watched Meng Yao take out his money pouch once again and hand it to the clerk.
Using it obviously, “Stand there.” Meng Yao ordered, once again ignoring Jin Zixuan. Meng Yao was glad when his older half brother actually followed his instructions and stood in front of the mirror at the opposite side of the room.
Meng Yao sat in a chair as he watched Jin Zixuan get his measurements. His half brother, the heir to the Jin Sect, was a time traveler. Ok. He could work with this. No one has to know that he is a reincarnated person. Jin Zixuan could be the scapegoat if any of his knowledge was questioned.
Jin Zixuan, he remembered in the novel, was, despite being a Jin, an honorable and just person. Nothing like his father. Honestly he could probably assassinate his -their father after the war. Now that he thought about it, Meng Yao was ninety nine percent sure that the Jin had some sort of deal with the Wens, probably sponsoring them with all that gold they have.
Meng Yao let out a small sigh. Why did his life have to be so difficult? “Yao-di?” Jin Zixuan’s voice brought him out of his haze.
Quickly looking up, Meng Yao focused on his half brother who called him his younger brother? Oh well. “Yes Jin-gongzi?” he questioned.
“I’m done.” he spoke in a subdued voice and Meng Yao had no idea what he did to have those worry lines on his forehead to be formed. Jin Zixuan, he reasoned, was probably worried about the future.
“Ah,” Meng Yao answered, quickly standing up and replacing Jin Zixuan’s musician in front of the mirror. He stretched his arms out as the store’s employee started to measure him. Did Meng Yao want to be a Jin? Maybe. But Meng Yao did not want Jin Guangshan to be his sect leader.
“So what do you want?”
Jin Zixuan looked up at him, their eyes meeting through the mirror. Jin Zixuan started to speak, but Meng Yao interrupted him. “Keep it simple,” he spoke simply. It would be unwise if the knowledge of time travelers were to reach anyone’s ears.
Jin Zixuan gave him a look, before answering, “I want to be able to protect my people, and my allies.” ‘Prevent many tragedies,’ Meng Yao heard the unspoken words, ‘I want a happy ending.’ “I want my loved ones to be safe.”
Meng Yao had not thought much of Jin Zixuan before he spoke those words. He said them with such clarity, and Meng Yao believed that his older half brother believed Meng Yao could make it happen.
Jin Zixuan was asking for a miracle. Meng Yao could not make miracles. But he could try to make something close to one.
“And what do I get out of it?” Meng Yao asked Jin Zixuan. Money, family, fame, power, Meng Yao doubted he wanted any of it. Money could be easily earned by himself. Fame was an annoyance. Power came with responsibilities that he did not want. Family… family was something that Meng Yao doubted he could ever happily have through the name Jin.
“Whatever I can give you.”
There was no hesitation in the answer. It felt like Jin Zixuan was making a deal with the devil and the devil was him. Meng Yao hated it. Meng Yao hated it because Jin Zixuan was a good person, and if Meng Yao turned him away he knew that Jin Zixuan would not take his life to keep his secret safe. No, Jin Zixuan would let him leave.
But… Jin Zixuan had thought about this and he had come to him, Meng Yao for help. He resented his older half brother for that.
Meng Yao knew the person who would become Jin Guangyao would never refuse this offer. Meng Yao, who would become someone else, could not refuse this offer.
He doubted he could live with the weight of guilt on his shoulder. The idea that he could prevent the tragedies of Mo Dao Zu Shi. Don’t get him wrong, he didn’t have one of those hero complexes. No, Meng Yao did not, but he cared. He cared for these characters who are not characters anymore but people. Yes, he cared for the people that had made up Mo Dao Zu Shi. He cared for the world he had come to love since coming here. Meng Yao cared and so when he said, “ok.” he knew that there could be no other answer than yes.
“You’re making a deal with the devil.” he couldn’t help but warn.
Jin Zixuan’s eyes softened and he gave a small smile. “As long as the devil carries out the deal, then I have no problem selling my soul.”
‘I do.’ Meng Yao wanted to shout, ‘I have problems with you selling your soul’. Because despite their short interaction Meng Yao had come to care about his idiodic older half brother.
Meng Yao let his expression fix into a neutral smile as he moved from his position, thanking the store clerk and telling them when he would return.
“Let’s go,” he spoke instead, and let himself lead Jin Zixuan out of the store and back into the busy streets. Meng Yao found his feet retracing familiar steps as he led his half brother to his not so nice place of rest.
“This is a brothel.” Jin Zixuan stated the obvious.
“This is where I was born.”
Meng Yao led Jin Zixuan through the halls of the pleasure house, ignoring Jin ZiXuan's innocent reaction to the sounds heard through the walls.
He came to a stop in front of a door that looked like all the others before he opened it with no warning to the person on the other side. “Madame, I wish to buy Sisi’s contract.”
“Brat!” The Madame’s voice echoed through the room. Meng Yao kept a polite smile on his face, a Jin GuangYao original expression that said, ‘I’m being polite, I don’t know what you mean, but really I do’ Meng Yao watched as the Madame looked up from the paper on her desk before throwing a tea cup at his face which he dogged with ease. Which is rude. Fuck you too Madame. He pretended not to notice Jin Xixuan’s flinch. “Do you really think you could make enough money to buy that whore through those stupid fights you keep going to!”
“How much Madame.” Meng Yao ignored the question as he took out Jin ZiXuan’s money pouch and tossed it up and down in his hands, making sure to let it jingle.
The Madame eyed the pouch in suspicion before naming her price. Meng Yao wanted to give her a stink eye, but refrained and instead poured some coins out of the pouch and started counting.
Holding the right amount of money to buy his aunt? Friend? Friend of his mom’s? Caretaker’s? Helpful not so stranger’s freedom he held out his hand above Madame's desk. The Madame, having found the contract while he was counting the coins, held Sisi's contract in her own hands. Taking the contract Meng Yao let his hand open, letting the coins fall all over her desk.
“Thank you Madame.” Meng Yao spoke with his Gin GuangYao smile. “For taking care of me so well.”
The Madame gave him a stink eye before he turned around, Sisi’s contract clutched tightly in his hands. Meng Yao motioned Jin Zixuan to follow him as he once again made his way through the hallways and stopped at another room.
Meng Yao knocked on the door and waited for a response. “Why are you doing this?” Jin Zixuan asked. “Who is she to you?”
It was a reasonable question. One that Meng Yao thought he should answer considering he is dragging a Sect heir through a brothel and using his money. “Always repay the kindness given to you,” Meng Yao spoke softly, “Sisi was a friend of my Mother’s. She’s a brilliant woman, and has helped me greatly after my Mother’s death. She’s brash, straight forward and has little shame. She is kind, and has a willingness to learn. She could do better than being a prostitute in a brothel.”
“Meng Yao?” a voice spoke through the door.
“Sisi, may I come in?”
“Alright A-Yao.”
Meng Yao opened the door politely and gave a small genuine smile before handing her the piece of paper in his hand.
He watched as Sisi looked at what she held in her hands. Sisi’s eyes watered slightly as a smile spread onto her face before her expression turned to worry. “A-Yao, how much was this? You shouldn’t waste your money on me! Use it to get out of here!”
“Sisi,” Meng Yao gave a reassuring smile. “Spending money on Sisi would never be a waste.” He knew he said the right thing when a smile returned to her face.
“Sisi, I want you to go with Jin-Xiong.” He spoke to Jin Zixuan who was standing next to him. “He will give you work and a place to stay. Not for prostitution.”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jin Zixuan give him a look, “Please pack and be ready to go.”
“Ah, ok.”
Meng Yao was grateful that Sisi was listening to him. He walked out from her room and pulled Jin Zixuan with him. “I want you to find her work, not in prostitution. Nor a job that has anything to do with the Jin sect. I want her to be able to learn to read and write, wherever she is going.”
Sisi was one of the main reasons he stuck around. If she was safe. If she had a life where she could actually be happy. Meng Yao would be grateful. Sisi was Meng Yao’s first kindness.
“As long as she can be happy and doesn’t have to go back to prostitution. That’s what I want.” he stated. “You can keep your soul because I have no need for it.”
“You won’t have her stay with you? Work for you?” Jin Zixuan questioned.
Meng Yao turned away and leaned his back against the wall, “Never expect your kindness to be repaid, so forget about it.” His older half brother stared at him intensely, “Anyways, it’s dangerous what we will be doing. Why would I risk it?”
Jin Zixuan made a small hum of agreement before stating, “Thank you,” he said seriously, “for letting me keep my soul.”
Meng Yao gave him one of his rare soft smiles.
“Meng Yao! I’m ready to get out of here!” Sisi shouted from the other side of the door.
“Here.” Meng Yao gave Jin Zixuan back his coin pouch as well as handing over all the writing supplies he had bought. “Write down everything you remember in one, write down all the important people in another, write what you want in the third.”
Meng Yao turned his back as Sisi opened the door. “Meet me at the boutique late in the morning a week from now. By then I will be done.”
Meng Yao walked away from his half brother and refused to turn back. He was putting his trust in Jin Zixuan, and he hoped that he was not wrong to do so. He hoped he did not regret it.
Entering his room, Meng Yao started to change his clothes, replacing his hanfu with another, more elaborate one and putting his hair down. Meng Yao started to insert knives into the hidden pockets of his robes.
Next Meng Yao positioned a black veil, to cover the bottom half of his face. Looking in the mirror in his room Meng Yao analyzed himself. He wore a black high neck undershirt that blended with theblack upper half of the Hanfu he wore, with long flowing sleeves and a hood connected at the top. A darker than midnight blue sash was tied around his waist, and the skirt of the Hanfu was a lapis lazuli blue. Under that he wore a black pair of pants tucked neatly into his black boots. Finally Meng Yao picked up an earring that lay on his desk and put it through his left ear, metal connected to a jade teardrop, one of the last things he had left of his mother.
Meng Yao sighed as he turned away, pulling up his hood and making his way to his final destination. He would never return to the place he grew up in and that was fine, he never planned to stay anyway.