Chapter 91 - Vultures

Long Jie dressed Song Luli, taking her to the bedroom. She slept for another two hours, and when she rose again, the others were already wide awake, ready to go.

Most of them were still tired and sore, but they went to eat breakfast before thanking the owner for letting them stay. During breakfast, Song Meiling asked Song Luli to pass her some salt from the table behind her. The table was a short distance, but it still required Song Luli to get up.

She stood up, sore from the waist below, taking careful steps. Song Luli passed her sister the salt when she returned, and Song Meiling stared at her with narrow, curious eyes.

"Luli! Are you injured?" she asked worryingly.

Song Luli averted her eyes from her sister's observant stare, deshelling her hardboiled eggs. "No," she answered hoarsely.

Song Meiling stood up, approaching Song Luli. She pulled up her sister's sleeve and said, "What the hell is with all these bruises?"

"It's from Muay Thai," Song Luli responded.

"But it's on your neck too—" Song Meiling said, but Song Luli glared at her. It hit Song Meiling then; her mouth opened wide, and she silently said, 'Oh.'

She then went back to her seat, and Song Luli glanced at the others who weren't paying attention, immersed in their meals. She noticed Long Jie giving her a side-eyed glance with a lingering smirk on his face. Song Luli glanced away, a flush creeping up on her face.

After breakfast, the six of them parted with the owner, leaving the lodge.

Zhang Enyu stared the van, driving off. He dropped off Song Luli and Long Jie first since they lived at the edge of the city. When they arrived home, Long Jie swooped Song Luli from her feet, carrying her inside the house.

"It's a good thing that only two of us live in this house," he told her as they entered their home.

"What about Zhen?" she asked him.

"Your brother sent word that he went back to school, though he would return very soon," he replied.

Long Jie then opened the door, carrying her up the stairs towards their bedroom. He settled her down over their soft, cotton bedsheets. Long Jie kissed her on the lips gently, conveying everything he felt for her—how he secretly yearned for her, the patience, and the triumph of capturing her heart.

"How's your waist?" he asked her breathlessly, genuinely concerned.

"Still sore," Song Luli answered him.

Long Jie stood up and left the room, and not long after, he returned with a heating pad, placing it underneath her shirt over her torso. Long Jie caressed her head until she fell asleep again. The energy he took from her, the times they slipped in and out of sleep to make love, completely drained her—in a good way.

She felt his hand on her forehead, feeling his warmth and gentleness. Song Luli was beginning to feel territorial over Long Jie, addicted to his touch.

...

Su Xiang told Zhang Enyu and Song Meiling to leave her with Xun Zichen at his apartment. They didn't question anything, leaving them to head to his unit.

Back at the lodge, Su Xiang immediately applied medicine over tender parts of Xun Zichen's body, and spending most of the night, slipping in and out of sleep to check on him.

They hadn't had the chance to talk about what they'd seen and heard at the warehouse. Sleep and exhaustion sucked them in until morning, and Su Xiang couldn't help think about how to start the conversation.

Xun was involved. What would Song Luli and Long Jie think when they find out who he truly is? Would they think of him as a traitor? Would they accuse him of having part with the abduction of Long Huojin?

No. Even if the others know, they had to have seen Xun Zichen cover Long Jie, defending the rest of them, trying to save Long Huojin.

Xun Zichen remained silent. But when he tried to sit down on the couch, he winced, his back aching from the fall.

"I'm going to put some medicine on you again," Su Xiang told him.

Xun Zichen listened, pulling his shirt over his head, exposing his back to her. With her fingers, she placed cooling ointment over his skin. She rubbed gently until it began to relieve some of the aches.

"Thank you," Xun Zichen told her.

Su Xiang sat next to him, "How are you feeling?" she asked him.

"I'm all right," he told her. "I just needed time to think about...stuff, between my family, between yours." Xun Zichen locked his eyes with hers, searching for the same confliction she held in hers. He then spoke again, "If we tell your parents, then we have to explain to the others about the true nature of our relationship."

Su Xiang sighed. "That means you would also have to tell them that you're a Xun."

Xun Zichen looked at her considerably. "I don't know how Luli and Long Jie will think of it, and I shouldn't care," Xun Zichen said.

"But you do," Su Xiang finished for him. "You care about what they think because you care about them."

Xun Zichen nodded.

Su Xiang thought about it for a few moments. It seemed that every time things appear to be going well, problems await them in different directions. "What should we do?" she asked him.

"We should still tell your parents first," he said. "I don't want to hide you—us—anymore."

"If we have to," Su Xiang began. "I don't mind being a secret. If that only means to keep you safe, if that meant that you don't have to out yourself. The Xun family are more like vultures than phoenixes; they'll tear you apart, flesh from bone."

Xun Zichen smiled grimly. He then took her hand, twining their fingers. He pressed his forehead against hers. "My uncle will find out about me. And he when he does, it's not me he'll come for, first."

Su Xiang shivered. "He looked like you; it felt so strange."

"He's from my immediate family," Xun Zichen reminded her.

Su Xiang released a staggering breath. "We don't have to tell anyone," she pleaded again.

"I want to learn more about my past. Song Ren must know more than she's letting on because she hadn't told me," Xun Zichen told her.

"All right. We'll go to them first," Su Xiang replied. If her mother knew more about Xun Zichen's past, then Su Xiang felt that she could convince Xun Zichen not to reveal his identity. They could keep it a secret for now, perhaps forever—so long as it kept him safe.

...

After hosting for six striking young-adults, the owner at the lodge returned from the market. Outside, she noticed men searching and raiding her place, wrecking it. She faced them defiantly; a man with a phoenix tattoo approached her, a handsome but cruel smile curling on his lips.

"We don't serve your kind around here," she told him.

The phoenix smiled, and she didn't know his name. But a Xun he was, that was apparent.

"Have you seen a small group of travellers pass by in a van? One of them had red hair," he asked her.

The owner recalled of the handsome auburn-haired fellow. But she thought of his wife, and about how young they were.

"Oh no," replied the woman. "We haven't taken in any visitors. We don't accept criminals to my establishment."

The phoenix smiled, a cold and brutal one, a smile she hadn't seen before in her sixty years of living.

The owner saw the men raiding her lodge leave, and when she thought they were going, one of the men pulled her teenaged grandson from the lodge, beating him to a pulp, right in front of her eyes. She screamed, running after him. But one of the gang members kicked her out of the way and slapped her across the face. "Our boss said you were lying," he told her. "Which direction did they go?"