LiangLin thought of himself as a bright specimen, someone who wasn't easily fooled. He also felt attracted to the piece of shit with only one eye, hanging half-naked over a cross. LiangLin couldn't explain it, he just felt a pull towards XueYa... and a terrible urge to punch that only working eye inside XueYa's handsome skull.
Release the sorcerer? Maybe in his goddamn dreams! LiangLin's fists tightened as he paced the area, thinking over the situation.
How many times could they steal the keys from the guards? They could always decide to stay and attend the wedding as an excuse to stay within the palace. The only issue was the keys – and getting into YaYun's study. Unless - would the guards help the snakes?
LiangLin halted in his tracks.
Was it too far-fetched? They must have realized that Zhang YaYun was no longer himself.
LiangLin raised his gaze to meet XueYa. For now, he needed to know what had exactly happened to YaYun first. Zodiac animals couldn't compete with spirits. They had powers that the shapeshifters could only dream off.
"What did the fox spirit do to YaYun?" LiangLin asked as he stopped before XueYa.
XueYa looked unimpressed. "You tell me. I haven't seen him ever since he stormed off to welcome that fox spirit into the palace."
"Right." LiangLin felt his cheeks heat up. He was a bright specimen! So why didn't he act that way?! "Q- I saw him by the Plum Blossom Hall. Yating, that damned fox took some of his life force, and YaYun fell over unconscious."
"As expected from a fox spirit." Despite being strung up, XueYa managed to shrug his shoulders. "They need to survive, and food alone won't cut it."
LiangLin arched his brow at the nonchalant way XueYa reacted to his brother being sucked dry – literally.
XueYa caught the expression and smiled. "They won't kill YaYun, so I'm not worried. He will be just tired. No pinning anybody down anytime soon."
XueYa sounded pleased about the last part, how odd, but LiangLin shrugged it off. Pinning anybody down wasn't the issue he was tackling here.
"When he came to the White Lotus Hall to meet Q- me," Damn it! LiangLin kept almost spilling QingYu's name! "He was cold, uncaring, nothing like what he used to be. He wanted us gone. He had said he wanted to – to marry me, but now, he would marry Yating."
YaYun hadn't outright said he wanted to marry QingYu but asking the green snake to stay and all the longing gazes the two of them had exchanged were enough of a proof that YaYun at least had thought about it. Right?
LiangLin wasn't so sure anymore, after all, Zhang YaYun was this bastard sorcerer's brother! How a dragon god and a sorcerer were blood-related was an entirely separate issue LiangLin wasn't going tackle. It had nothing to do with him. He was here for QingYu, that was it!
"Cold and uncaring…"
LiangLin could have sworn the sorcerer was awfully gleeful over the matter.
XueYa wasn't gleeful. He felt immense satisfaction upon hearing his brother no longer looked at the white snake like they belonged together for the rest of eternity. It just meant XueYa might have a chance – er – LiangLin's cold gaze promised of death and suffering instead of anything remotely fun, so XueYa toned down his smile.
"It seems the fox spirit has put his charms on baby YaYun."
"How do we break it? Kill the fox?" Please say kill the fox, LiangLin pleaded silently.
"No, killing the fox spirit won't solve the problem. Once charmed, YaYun will do anything for the fox. If that fox dies, YaYun will kill himself out of the pain from losing the fox." XueYa smiled cheekily at LiangLin. "But I can get it fixed. You only need to untie me. I promise I won't pin you down, again."
The images back from Hei'ang flooded in LiangLin's mind as if the dam had broken and LiangLin felt his ears burn off his head. This guy!
"Unless of course, you want me to pin you down, I won't say no- Hey! I was kidding!" XueYa called, but LiangLin had had it. He was leaving, XueYa could rot down here for all he cared! Damn horny bastard!
"Lin'er," LiBai's brows shot up in surprise as LiangLin stomped out of the Crescent Moon Hall, so flustered, he was on the brink of exploding. "Did something happen? Did you find a solution to the problem?"
"I-! That damn sorcerer-!" LiangLin fumed as he kicked his feet. "I want to crush his family jewels!"
So, the kid hadn't fallen for the sorcerer, yet, LiBai noted, smiling. "Did you at least find a way to help QingYu?"
"I-" LiangLin gaped like a fish stuck on dry land. It wasn't his fault the sorcerer kept trying to get in his pants instead of helping! "He can't do anything being all tied up. And we can't just free him either."
"Hm," LiBai hummed pleasantly, as she handed the locks and keys for LiangLin to put back in their right places. "What do we do now then?"
"I think we should ask the guards for help."
"Oh," A rosy blush feathered over LiBai's cheeks. "Yu Zhong, helping us break the rules? I would like to see that…"
"Er, maybe not him, eldest sis," LiangLin doubted that stone-faced ox even knew what breaking a rule meant. The man was the pillar of the order himself. Out of all the guards, the one most probable to help them was Wei KaiJun, the monkey shifter.
"Wei KaiJun?" LiBai giggled at the possibility as the two of them made their way out of Crescent Moon Hall. "I must admit, out of the four of them, he is the most laid back."
"Not just that," LiangLin said excitedly. "He is the weapons specialist. He can always forge us replicas for the keys. And he has access to YaYun's study."
"We can't charm them, Lin'er." LiBai reminded him. "Only knock them out for the time being."
"Well, we don't need to charm them using your powers."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"No!" LiAi crossed her arms over her chest as the two siblings returned to the White Lotus Hall and told of their change of plans to the rest of the siblings.
"I am not gonna sweet-talk the monkey!"
"B-but! You are the only one he has his eyes on!" LiangLin cried out. Why was LiAi so difficult in these times?
"I didn't ask him to have his beady eyes on me! I will poke them out!"
"..." What did Wei KaiJun even see in this sister? LiangLin doubted that love or whatever infatuation the monkey felt towards LiAi made any sense, at all.
"LiAi is always so violent when she starts to like them," LiYue chuckled as she placed the key safely back in ChangChang's sash. "It's harder to sweet talk to them when you like them, Lin'er, that's why she doesn't want to do it."
"Sis!" LiAi grumbled, kicking the still figure on the ground by her feet. Wei KaiJun was left sprawled out, with no one picking him to rest over the table at least. "Stop saying nonsense! I don't like him!"
"Mm."
Everybody froze as Wei KaiJun rolled over on his back, groaning softly under his breath. "But I like you..."