𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 lying there, how worn, how pitiful and familiar. His heart clenches bitterly. Although he had planned to stay another day taking care of Ghost City’s residents, the inevitable pull of his heart had drawn Hua Cheng back to the dilapidated shrine at Puji, loathing to be parted from Xie Lian for even a few days. After all, had he not waited centuries for this chance in time to meet ?
And look at him now, near starved !
Secretly, Hua Cheng wants to tell him he can’t bear to see him like this anymore. That he should never have to eat the scraps of frivolous townsfolk’s back porches or forgotten buns off a roadside altar. He had even brought these cherries as a gift from an orchard, one that had not been unlike the ones he once glimpsed in the palaces of Xian Le. How he got into the little shrine without being noticed, well, that was a secret.
In the end of all of this though, Hua Cheng really can’t hide the curve of concern in his brow, the momentary downturn of his lips as he sees the ravenous look of hunger in the other’s eyes. So he makes a show of pinching a cherry stem and popping the fruit in his mouth with all the leisure of a king. A supreme, in fact.
❝ Mm, ❞ He licks his lips and with slender white fingers, picks up another from his lap, offering it to Xie Lian with a grin, ❝ Sorry I didn’t bring more, gege. I had lots on the way. Here, you have the rest . ❞
The sight of Hua Cheng is a sight for sore eyes. His sore, dry eyes. ( He hasn’t been consuming much water as well, and the staying up for nights while cramming current folklore and fables he has missed out on for the past 800 years. All these, he won’t outright admit as the reason, if he has a choice. )
He’s not sure where the energy to move sprouted from, as if the mere existence of Hua Cheng is able to send his muscles working. He bolts up from the mat with a vigour he didn’t think was possible, parched throat turning a little drier as Hua Cheng pops the cherry into his mouth.
“No, even this is too much. San Lang, you’re too kind. Thank you......”
Once he registers the red ghost’s earlier question though, however, a faint redness colours the almost sickly hue of his cheeks. “...I did.” The admission is barely a whisper, easily missed, but it still ends up deepening the slight blush regardless.
The embarrassment very quickly makes him turn to the other equally red item in his line of sight. His stomach growls vulgarly. Despite the crudeness of the sound, he latches onto his hunger as though it could null what he only just previously willingly confessed. He takes the offered cherry then, tearing his eyes away from the pale fingers to the enticing bright red fruit. Who knows if it’s out of his embarrassment or the hunger eating at him, Xie Lian chokes as the round fruit slides down his throat, hands reflexively beating at his chest to force it down.
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