Xiao Ying stood off to the side, and watched Qi Tao dislodge himself away from Ming Cheng, immediately rubbing at his eyes not even a single moment later to combat against, what only Xiao Ying could assume was, a new fresh wave of tears.
Slowly and determinedly, Qi Tao opened his eyes, and with a shaky, breathy voice that rattled and wavered with each syllable that it formed and came out with, he choked out the proclamation," I promise that you will be the best friend that you will ever have. I promise. I'll help you no matter what. Just tell me what you need me to do, and I'll do it. Promise me, Ming Cheng. Promise me!"
Xiao Ying could only stare onto the scene, watching the former bully character reform and change into somebody more loyal and open than he could've ever hoped to write in his original work.
Xiao Ying could only stare onto the scene, watching a minor side character, prepared and written to be shoved off to the side soon enough as Ming Cheng levelled up and ascended through the ranks of the palace.
He could tear his eyes away from what was playing out in front of him.
Ming Cheng was stood off frozen, Wang Yuan still clinging onto his back and Qi Qing, only now that her brother was standing on his own two feet, was pulling away to stand off to the side.
She stared down Ming Cheng, her eyes promising him a pain that he had never even heard the likes of if he made the wrong move and did not anchor himself to her brother for support.
'Accept his offer. Take the promise at face value. Do not look deeper into it. You can trust Qi Tao.' would be the statement that Xiao Ying would say if he wasn't at all sure whether he could be heard by all the others in the room around him.
Instead, he had to find himself content with simply nodding at the hesitant boy.
It was to be expected, after all.
Ming Cheng, living a life in a terrible and hostile world, hand crafted by Xiao Ying himself after he poured hours and hours into creating the perfect hell for a young child to win maximum sympathy points from his audience to make his main character as likeable as possible, was unused to this... devotion.
Loyalty and positive attention would obviously be a hard pill for him to swallow, all Xiao Ying's fault as well.
Of course he would have no idea on how to react to Qi Tao's declaration.
Of course he would have the gears in his mind turning to try and decipher what exactly the boy was playing at to gain something from Ming Cheng - such tactics of pity and sympathy would be common - and Ming Cheng would have, by no stretch of the imagination, both would have used them on others and would have been subjected to them as well.
Ultimately, it would be Ming Cheng's decision to accept Qi Tao, and Xiao Ying, standing off to the side, would simply have to live with it.