Chapter Text
It's not long after Lan Zhan's mother is gone; he's in Yiling with his uncle and his older brother to pick up some specific teas on their way to a conference in Yunmeng.
He's opted to stay outside, he doesn't want to stay in the crowded shop waiting for his uncle to discuss and sample all of the new teas while he speaks with the shop keepers. He wants to go home, he wants to see his mother.
He stands by the side of the building, out of the way of the door, the clusters of people shuffling through seemed unnapealing as he waits. After a while he hears a small shriek followed by a drumming of footsteps coming towards him from around the corner. After a moments deliberation he moves to the side to look for the source, they sounded scared after all, before immediately backing up again when a dark blur hurtles towards him. They continue past and throw themself under an empty stall a few meters away, small hand scrabbling out from under the wooden table top until it finds the edge of the cloth cover and pulls it snugly down.
Lan Zhan approaches the stall and waits a moment, but no further movement comes. He slowly lifts the edge of the cloth and finds... a boy, smaller than he is, much skinnier, and covered in filth from his face, to his clothes, to his bare feet, his parents will surely be upset with him later at bathing time. Big grey eyes blink at him for a moment before he's yanked under the stall with a yelp from the boy.
"Gege they will find you, quick!" The boy settles the cloth down again, and Lan Zhan notices blood on his arm as he moves. It's out of sight quickly when he turns away to place his ear to the cloth a moment before seeming satisfied, turning to Lan Zhan with a large grin.
"Look how much I got this time gege!" He picks up two lumps from the ground that Lan Zhan had assumed were rubbish. On closer inspection, one and a half dirt encrusted bao sit in his outstretched palms, he looks so proud of himself that Lan Zhan can't find the will to scold him for keeping food on the floor.
He realises the boy is waiting for a response, smile faltering slightly in the long silence, so he dips his head in aknowledgement with an 'mn'. This whole meeting is abrupt, Lan Zhan is still trying to find his bearings. Though the boy is speaking easily, as if picking up an earlier conversation, as if they are already friends.
"Would you like some gege?" Lan Zhan is perhaps too quick to shake his head in response, the prospect of eating dirt easy to reject, but the boy looks a bit sad at his refusal and he doesn't want him to be sad.
"A small piece." He concedes, and the boy lights up again, tearing open the full bao and examining it closely, pulling from the clean inside to offer to Lan Zhan.
"Here gege," he puts the piece into Lan Zhan's hand "I'm A-Ying, you can hide here with me. I like your ribbon, your robes are very bright, I like the clouds on them. Are you from Yiling? Would you like to play some time?" Lan Zhan blinks at him when the torrent of words is over. It's a lot of information to process at once, people in Cloud Recesses are never this loud. He chooses the most relevant question to answer.
"I am from Gusu." He takes a small bite of the bao into his mouth to avoid talking further, one cannot talk during mealtimes after all, it is cold and the texture is stale and unpleasant, but A-Ying seems pleased to see him eating so he makes sure not to show his discontent on his face as he continues.
A-Ying, it seems, has no qualms talking during a meal, stuffing the half bao into his mouth and excitedly asking more questions. Lan Zhan notices he did not bother to choose clean pieces for himself and something in his chest clenches.
"No talking during meal times, it is against the rules." A-Ying looks at him a moment stunned, before a mischevious grin slides onto his face.
"But that's talking, you just talked too gege. You broke the rules as well, but it's okay," He stuffs the other bun into his mouth, filling his cheeks and leaving his hands free, to bring three fingers up to his temple in a sort of salute "I won't tell anyone if you won't."
Smile bright and cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, Lan Zhan finds he still can't bring himself to scold A-Ying, so he merely nods with an 'mn' again and finishes his bao. He will copy lines later, but somehow this feels worth it.
A-Ying mercifully doesn't talk any more while he chews through his mouth full of bao, but when he lowers his arm Lan Zhan notices the blood again and reaches out to take his hand, pulling it towards himself. A-Ying doesn't protest, but he does look unsettled, a big gulp to hastily finish the food in his mouth so he can speak.
"Ah I'm okay gege, they only got me a little bit this time, I was really quick." Lan Zhan peels back A-Ying's sleeve from what he can now see is clearly a dog bite, bleeding slowly but not too deep. Still, even shallow bites can get infected. He takes his own sleeve and dabs at it lightly, and then applies more pressure, determined to hold it there until the bleeding stops even while A-Ying squirms and whines about it hurting.
"Gege what are you doing? You got blood all over your sleeve," He clicks his tongue disapprovingly on a sniffle. "it's going to stain." Lan Zhan ignores him and continues his work, lifting occasionally to check if the bleeding has stopped. When it finally has he sits back.
"Better now?" He studies the hesitation in A-Yings face as he replies with a 'yes gege' and asks "What does A-Ying need?"
He hesitates again before saying "It still hurts and- and mama always said that- that if you kiss it better it will stop hurting and heal away extra fast." He pauses, and Lan Zhan can see him visibly gathering his courage "Can gege kiss it better for A-Ying?" He blurts in a rush, head down and looking down at his arm instead of Lan Zhan, wide grey eyes flicking up to look at him before darting away again.
"Mn, will kiss it better for A-Ying." Lan Zhan is dubious that this will work, but A-Ying said his mother told him it will help, so Lan Zhan will try his best. He gently lifts A-Ying's arm by the wrist, bringing his forearm up higher and delicately drops a kiss in the center of the bite mark. He stares intently at it a moment and sees no change, and he's about to apologise to A-Ying for it not working when he hears him giggle.
"This one thanks you gege, it feels much better now!" He looks up at A-Ying to see him smiling so broadly that his eyes crinkle, he looks so happy that Lan Zhan looks back down to check his arm but the bite mark is still there. A-Ying giggles again, and Lan Zhan thinks maybe... maybe it does look a bit better after all.
His thoughts are interrupted when he hears his brother calling for him, he moves out from under the stall and sees he and Uncle are finished in the tea shop. While he was waiting it felt like they took forever, but now it feels like nowhere near long enough. He turns back to see A-Ying, head poking out from under the stall, looking at him with a sad smile.
"It was nice to meet you gege, thanks again, make sure you visit me next time!" He looks towards the edge of the building and his eyes go wide with a gasp. "I have to go, bye gege!" His head disappears under the stall again and the cloth is pulled down to cover him. Lan Zhan looks over and sees a dog sniffing at the side of the building, it must have been the one that bit A-Ying, he scowls at it.
"Lan Zhan there you- is that blood? You're all dusty, are you hurt? What happened?"
As they walk away while he answers his brother, he can't help but feel sad that he's leaving A-Ying behind.