Chapter Text
“Summer has come early.”
Wei Ying looks away from the open window where he’s been enjoying the warm breeze, and towards Long Dan-jie, an auntie who lived next-door where he grew up, in the driver’s seat.
“Hope it lasts long as well. I have many garden plans.” She continues with mirth.
“Gonna put me to work lifting stuff?” He guesses with a smile.
“Nah, I shall let you land properly. After all your efforts, you can relax at my place. See it as a vacation!” She chuckles. “But my son won’t be so lucky!”
“In his suits? That’s gonna be expensive, jie!”
“You with that ‘jie’ nonsense... I could be your mother!” She huffs. However, Wei Ying knows it makes her happy. “Surely you have some rags he can make use of, no?”
“Rags? Rags?! Excuse me! I only dress in the finest garments!” He presses a hand to his chest in mock affront.
She rolls her eyes at his dramatics. They both know the jobs he usually does require him to dress in clothes he doesn’t mind ruining. Regardless, he has a reputation to uphold! The most charming bachelor this side of the hemisphere!
“Will you stick around to greet him this time?” She asks and rotates the steering wheel, turning down the road toward Yunmeng.
“I won’t bother you for too long, don’t worry – I’ll be out before he’s coming by, so you can have some quality time together.”
“You know I adore having you stay, a-Ying, you’re no bother – and I’m sure the two of you would get along! Trust me, he’s grown so good after he moved from his father’s.”
Wei Ying just chuckles. “Well, then he can get to show you, without me glaring at him...” He shakes his head. “Anyways, the old ones would chide me for overstaying.”
“Will they be back soon?”
“A month, give or take – you know them.”
“Well, I’ll have you all for myself in the meantime!” She announces.
They finally arrive at the lakefront terraced houses he grew up with. The sun is setting into warmer colors in the distance and the air is fresh. As they step out and he grabs his suitcase from the back, Long Dan-jie squints toward the other shore.
“Lotus Pier shouldn’t be too busy yet – why don’t you run along and greet everyone? I’m sure they’ll be ecstatic you’re back! I can get started on dinner in the meantime.”
“You truly spoil me, jie! I’ll see if I can smuggle back some baked goods from the kitchen.”
Long Dan-jie just laughs and shakes her head, giving a firm squeeze to his shoulder, and then he’s off.
Travelling is great and exciting; but nothing beats being home.
~~~
Wei Ying always spends the summers crashing at friends’ places, hiking the mountain trails, planning his next big project and going to Lotus Pier Resort to convince the Jiang siblings of shirking their chores and playing with him in the water instead.
Usually at some point, once the weather cools, Wen Qing will assign him somewhere, get him on a plane, and he’s off to use his degree for good. Until then, his friends, family, acquaintances and even strangers that only know him through several layers of word-of-mouth, will drag him off to solve whatever problem they have.
And he does it gladly for room, board and free car rides!
But this year, little has been popping up, as his friends are busy finishing uni or starting careers. Maybe it’s the heat making people less willing to go out and check up on their houses. At least, he hasn’t been called to fix up someone’s sagging shed, overheating air conditioner or whatever else.
Surprisingly calm. Almost infuriatingly so.
He’s lazing about on the balcony overlooking the little garden attached to Long Dan-jie’s rental. She herself is mulling about in the flowerbeds, singing along to 90s hits on the ancient radio Wei Ying has repeatedly fixed for her. A gift from her kid from when he was little.
He smiles and rolls over, turning his face to the table fan he has on full blast. He’s tried sketching a picture of Long Dan-jie among all her flowers, but the fan made it impossible. In his boredom, he turns to lazily stare at the TV, one of the possessions she stores for him and the old ones while they are abroad playing hero. It’s a few years old, and she doesn’t seem to use it much (with the exception of watching gardening shows) so it could do with a replacement. Or – Wei Ying could fiddle with it a bit.
He finds himself on a local news network, running through inconsequential headlines, often interrupted by nauseatingly long ad breaks. He grabs for his phone, lost somewhere on the floor to check his messages and barrage Jiang Cheng with shitty memes that goes ignored.
Finally, the ads end, so Wei Ying lets himself find a bit of entertainment in the trifles happening in the area.
“Berries are good!” Long Dan-jie informs from downstairs, shuffling her shoes off and moving to the kitchen. “I’ll clean some for you!”
“You’re the best, jie!” Wei Ying calls back.
The TV hosts circles to another story that he follows with half a mind. “... And earlier today, we talked with the Caiyi teenager who filmed a video currently going viral on social media. This is what she had to tell...”
On screen, a soft spoken and obviously camera shy young girl appears. Wei Ying’s eyes flicker between the TV and his continuous attempts at nagging Jiang Cheng.
“... We had heard of this urban legend, but never thought we’d see anything ourselves.”
“What did the legend say?”
“That a mountain nearby has a resident god who likes coming down for strolls in the early mornings...”
“What made you decide to go take a look?”
“My friends dared me. At first I saw nothing - but then something white on the forest trail caught my eye-”
Wei Ying’s attention is led away by Long Dan-jie’s head poking up the stairs, waving a tupperware of berries at him. He stretches from his lazy position to grab it, and beams at her as he pops one into his mouth.
“Good?”
“Amazing, jie!” He praises. She chuckles and turns her eyes to the news, before sitting down on the upper step.
“Anything happening in the area?”
“Some hens broke loose and blocked a road, new school will be built in place of the old post service,” Wei Ying relays, picking through the fresh berries. He nods at the interviewee. “And this filly filmed a god.”
“Ah, same old then?” She chirps. Then she shakes her head and heads back downstairs with a wave over her shoulder. Wei Ying finds his phone again, seeing Jiang Cheng’s curt ‘istfg stop spamming’ message and continues doing just that.
“... Now, the identity of the man has yet to be confirmed.”
“That is true, but I would wager a guess he wasn’t, in fact, a god on earth.”
The hosts chuckle to each other, and Wei Ying smiles at their cheesy attempts at humor, before looking back down at his phone. He snaps a selfie with his messy hair, a berry he has bitten into half and a candid angle of his nose for Jiang Cheng, boasting he got the best snacks. He expects the smartass will reply back along the lines of ‘i can buy myself better ones’, and knows he’ll be annoying and respond ‘but they won’t have the same love chengcheng’.
“No more suspense! Here you see the recording the youngster captured early morning last week. It was taken in the outskirts of the historic Gusu town area around 6 o’clock...”
Wei Ying flickers his gaze, seeing only the shaky static of a nervous cameraman, capturing a blurry film of foliage in the early morning sun. His attention is back on his phone, tapping away, finishing his berry.
“And there he is,”
“Wow, I must say, I did not expect – incredible. I can see now why she thought...” The co-host stutters, seemingly enraptured.
“That is absolutely the single most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.” The other agrees, followed by a second of stunned silence.
Uninteresting commentary aside, Wei Ying decides to see this heavenly guy himself. He turns back to the TV, picks up another berry-
And it drops to the floor.
It is no more than a few seconds long. Only a few seconds of stable filming, at least.
Lit from behind by the rays reaching between the tree crowns, a figure steps from the forest, glances passively at the camera, before turning down another path.
He is ethereal. Otherworldly.
He wears the purest white robes, made from a material so airy and light it flows gently behind him as he walks. The clothes are bound and layered exactly has ancient traditions dictate. A delicate ribbon wraps around his forehead and trails down his back along with pure black hair, combed to perfection and half of it arranged intricately behind an ornament.
In the moment his gaze connects with the camera, something breaks inside Wei Ying’s mind. His eyes are clear like glass, and Wei Ying knows them.
Except, he doesn’t.
His face is spotless and his features are the most beautiful Wei Ying has ever seen. Perfectly shaped brows, long neck and sharp jaw, a gently curved nose and youthful cheekbo-
And he’s gone.
Back are the two hosts, commenting something far inadequate about the man, both obviously awestruck. Wei Ying doesn’t hear a word.
It takes a moment for his world to feel real again. He looks around, rescues the soon-to-be overturned bowl of berries and tries to remember what he was doing.
He locates his phone, ignores Jiang Cheng’s threat of getting blocked, and finds the video online.
Others write about having caught glimpses of the mysterious man themselves. Some believe he’s a spirit, others think he’s a god, fata morgana, the likes. A lot also claim he can’t be any of those because he has been seen shopping at markets, to the speechless stares of all other shoppers. A cosplayer, a recluse, or maybe even an incredibly stunning hobo. Human, at least. Maybe a monk from a monastery hidden far into the Gusu mountains. But everyone agrees: there seems to be no records of him. No name. No relatives.
Wei Ying watches it again. Again. Again.
Gusu. He has to – Gusu.
“Jie – I think I just found my next destination...”