ARCHIVE OF DIXING | English 镇魂 Guardian Fanworks Directory

Shen Wei sighed.

Just ten more minutes, then he would drag Zhao Yunlan to sleep properly in bed.

But till then, he wanted to just stay like this.

 ..

AKA Shen Wei finds Zhao Yunlan nodding off on couch again and instead of just watching him from a distance, he lets himself be close.

“Is that really wise? The omnipotent Hei Pao Shi, stuff of nightmares and legend, taking a mortal lover? Especially a defenseless, naïve, principled professor? Have you considered the risk to him? You have no natural weaknesses – but your attention makes him one. It makes him a target.”

Or: Zhao Yunlan comes to a unique conclusion while trying to puzzle out the relationship between Shen Wei and the Envoy.

If Shen Wei had any regrets about that little human life he had built for himself in Longcheng as a university professor, he certainly hid it from himself most of the time. On nights like that, where the incessant rain and dense mist made the air even colder and the streets even quieter, it was somehow difficult not to think about what had once been.
This night was just like many nights before, where Wu Xie wandered the streets, uncaring of the rain that slowly seeped through his clothes. Hoping just maybe it could sink all the way into his soul.
...
When two men that should be strangers reunite on the rainy streets of Longcheng, an uncertain present and an intense past intertwine.
…
At the exhibition, Zhao Yunlan gazed intently at the arts before him, the snow-capped mountains, the ethereal landscapes, the birds on branches, the peonies and koi.
The huge green tree with strong roots. The blossoming plum tree.
It was as if those images were photographs of things he had seen a long time ago, and that still remained vivid in his memory.
He needed to see the artist.

Had absolutely all the sacrifices really been necessary?
As Lin Jing walked the path ahead, perhaps the answers he didn't expect were exactly the ones he needed to find. Fake monk or not, he believed what he believed, and redemption was not a negotiable commodity. Sometimes all it took was a hand to reach out and change the course of everything.
That sense of unfairness had seeped into him.
...
Gui Mian sat up, resting his head in his hands and he tried to settle his breathing. Months of nights that were often filled with nightmares were taking its toll. Something needed to change. There was only one thing that he could think of that would calm him. He needed to see Lin Jing again.

Now, with Shen Wei fired like an arrow straight into his heart and stuck there, he’s slowly trying to be better. Because Shen Wei is tidy as a rabbit that carefully grooms its face and whiskers, and proud as a bower bird that constructs and keeps a perfect home for its mate. Zhao Yunlan is only capable of buying a house – which he does – but making it a home... Well. It’s a work in progress. He’s had a lifetime to dig in happily to his slovenly ways. Excavating himself isn’t so easy.

Or: Five times Zhao Yunlan learned to enjoy the little pleasures of a home.