Chapter Text
Nie Mingju did not want to be a sect leader. But after his father's tragic death he had to take over the sect. And on top of that he had to raise his little brother Nie Huaisang by himself. It was not that he did not love Nie Huaisang. Nie Huaisang was the only one left of his family. He loved his little brother even before their father's death even though they had different mothers.
After Huaisang’s mother passed away Mingju noticed that his brother lost his lovely nature. But after their father's death Huaisang refused to talk with anyone other than him. He hadn't seen Huaisang laughing or even smiling after their father's death.
And Mingju had sect business to attend to so he did not have a lot of time to look after his little brother. There were not many disciples in Qinghe Nie sect around Housing’s age. So Huaisang did not have any friends to talk to. Nie Mingju had been trying to find a way to get Huaisang out of his shell.
Suddenly a loud scream of a child broke Nie Mingju’s inner monologue. When he turned around to see what the problem was he saw a little boy around five or six years old running towards him. The boy was running very fast and clutching something to his chest.
Mingju did not understand why the boy was running first. But a second later he saw four dogs chasing the boy. It appeared that the boy was running away from the wild dogs.
Mingju did not even thought before he caught the running boy and hid the boy behind him. It took only one glare of him to the wild dogs to scatter away. When there were not any dogs in sight Nie Mingju turned towards the whimpering boy who was still hiding behind him.
He knew that he was not a friendly person by any means but he tried to have a somewhat approachable face to ease the boy’s nervousness.
He did not knew how to start a conversation. The boy had not even raised his head even after the dogs went away.
“What is your name?” he asked crouching down to take a good look at the boy’s face.
A few moments passed without any reply from the boy. When Mingju thought that the boy was not going to say anything he replied in a very soft voice, “Wei Ying”
“Wei Ying where are your parents?” Mingju asked. He suspected what happened to the boy’s parents. The boy was unkempt and his clothes were torn. He looked like he hasn’t bathed in days. He was also very thin. All in all the boy looked like someone who had lived in the streets.
“A-Ying doesn’t know where his parents are” the boy replied. “A-Ying has been living alone for a long time.”
Mingju was going to ask how old the boy was but before he had the chance to ask Wei Ying began to talk again.
“A-Die and A-Niang went to the forest to stop a bad ghost. They didn’t come back for a long time. A-Ying was hungry. So I came to the village.”
Ahh… Just like he thought. Mingju was now sure that Wei Ying’s parents had been cultivators and they surely had died on a night hunt. Mingju was not a heartless person as others thought him to be. He wasn’t going to leave a poor homeless boy on his own. He wanted to take him back to the unclean realm. He was sure that Wei Ying would like to come with him.
“Wei Ying, how old are you?” he asked.
He held up seven fingers indicating that he was only seven years old. Nie Huaisang was nearly eight years old. Mingju felt like his brother would be better with someone around his age to talk to. First he thought that he would give Wei Ying to a family in the Qinghe to adopt but he decided to take the boy to his place.
“Wei Ying, would you like to come with me? There will be new clothes and food. You can also meet new friends.”
Wei Ying looked like he was deeply thinking. After a while he asked in a small voice, “No dogs?”
Mingju did not understand what the boy was asking first but then he understood that he was asking whether there will be dogs in his new home. It was not hard to see that Wei Ying was very afraid of dogs.
Mingju gently clutched the boy’s hand on his own. “No dogs, Will Wei Ying come with me?”
He looked at Mingju’s face like he was searching whether he was lying or not. Whatever he found on Mingju’s face was acceptable to him because he smiled at him and answered in a very happy voice.
“Yes”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Nie Huaisang was waiting impatiently until his da-ge came home. He had not seen his brother in two weeks. He had went to Yunmeng to meet sect leader Jiang for a diplomatic matter. Huaisang wanted to go with him but his brother had refused to take him.
His brother promised him that he would come back after two weeks and Huaisang knew that his brother never broke promises. He was sure that his da-ge would come home today. That was the reason he was waiting to see his brother. It was well passed his bedtime but no matter how hard the servants tried to put him to bed he refused to sleep.
It was nearly midnight when a Nie disciple came and shook Huaisang’s shoulders. His cheeks heated up from embarrassment when he realized that he had fallen asleep on his chair.
“Nie-gongzi, Nie-gongzi sect leader Nie has arrived.”
Nie Huaisang did not even acknowledge the disciple before he ran away to the front entrance to see his brother.
“DA-GE, DA-GE! YOU ARE FINALLY HOME.” He shouted upon seeing his brother’s intimating form. He was going to hug his brother and demand him to pick him up like he always do. But Huaisang abruptly stop running when he saw that his brother was cradling a child around his age in his arms.
He walked towards his brother in a leisurely pace asking, “Da-ge who is this?”
His brother gave the sleeping child to one of his disciples. “Bath him and give him some new clothes. I will come to check on him.”
The disciple nodded and took the boy away.
“Huaisang, he will be your new brother. You would not mind having a younger brother right?” asked Mingju patting his shoulders gently.
“New…. New bro… brother?” stuttered Huaisang looking at his brother with his big eyes.
“Yes, I will introduce him to you in the morning. Now go to sleep. Why are you even awake at this time? Isn’t this passed your bedtime?” said Mingju scowling at him.
Huaisang did not want to get scolded so he went to his room without a fuss. But before he went to his room he made sure to hug his brother and show him how much he loved him. His brother also hugged him for a second before he went to check up on their new brother.
Sleep did not came to him easily at that night. He was preoccupied with thoughts about his new brother. He still could not believe that he had a new brother now. He did not saw the boy very well but he was sure that his new brother was also around his age.
He was very impatient to meet him. He did not have any friends in the unclean realm. Other disciples treated him kindly but he did not have anyone to play with. Huaisang told himself that he would be his new brother’s best friend and play with him all day. He finally drifted to sleep thinking about what games to play with his new brother.
Wei Ying was very confused when he woke up. He was on a very comfy and big bed. He was surrounded by plush pillows. When he looked at himself he noticed that he was not definitely wearing the clothes he had on on previous day. Instead of his black robes which was torn on most places, he was wearing green silk night robes.
He looked around to see where he was but he was sure that he had not been in that room in his life. Before Wei Ying panicked and did something stupid like opening the window, jumping to the ground and running away, a man opened the door and came to his room.
“Wei Ying, Did you sleep well?” The man asked.
The man was the biggest person Wei Ying had ever seen. He was dressed in green robes which looked expensive and his hair was styled very exquisitely by using many headpieces.
The man was very intimidating. But his words were kind. Wei Ying thought that the man would not probably hurt him. Before he opened his mouth to answer the man’s question he suddenly remembered where he saw that man before.
“Oh! You are the person who saved me from the dogs yesterday.” He exclaimed. Then he promptly shut his mouth because he still did not knew whether the man was a bad person or not.
Now he was sure that he was in the man’s house. He vaguely remembered that this man had asked him to come with him and he agreed. He had been scared and hungry at that time so h easily agreed but now he was not sure about his decision. He did not really remember his parent’s that much but he was sure that his mother had told him not to trust strangers.
Then he remembered that he had not yet answer the man’s question. It was not a good idea to angry a person by not answering them. He didn’t knew how to address the man so he replied shortly by saying,
“Yes. A-Ying slept well.”
The man looked at him for a moment like trying to figure out a secret. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and asked him to sit behind him. Wei Ying went and sat obediently not knowing what the man wanted. He made sure to not to look at the man as not to anger him.
“A-Ying, look at me” said the man. Wei Ying was startled for a second because he was sure that no one had called him A-Ying beside his parents.
“I am Nie Mingju of Qinghe Nie sect. I was in Yilling for some sect business when I found you. You were running from dogs.”
At the mention of dogs Wei Ying began to shake. His deepest fear was dogs. Dogs were vicious and cruel creatures. They had bitten him and scratched him when he was living in the street. They had stolen his food which he tried very hard to find.
The man beside him clearly understood that he was even scared by the slight mention of dogs. He patted his shoulders gently and said,
“You are safe in Qinghe. There aren’t dogs here. I have a brother around your age. I’m sure you will like him. He doesn’t like dogs either”
“Really? Can I meet him?” Wei Ying asked clearly intrigued by the idea that there will be someone who also hated dogs.
“I will take you to him but you have to bath and get dressed before that okay?” He did not wait to hear Wei Ying’s reply before he went outside and came back with two women.
“This is Ru-Shi and this is Yen-Zu. They will help you to dress up. And they will be your servants from now on. If you want anything ask one of them to give it to you. Okay?”
Wei Ying nodded even though he did not understand why he would need servants. The man now he knew to be Nie Mingju went away with a final pat to his back. Wei Ying was now alone with the two women.
They both were very caring and kind. Ru-Shi bathed him while Yen-Zu picked up his clothes. Then they dries him with a fluffy towel and dressed him up. Wei Ying did not like all the hair clips and ornaments they used to style his hair. But they insisted that he must wear them.
After he was dressed Yen-Zu took him to meet Nie Mingju. Nie Mingju was already sitting at a table filled with food. There was only another person sitting with him. Wei Ying thought that he must be sect leader’s brother because he was also dressed in expensive clothes.
When Mingju noticed Wei Ying he asked him to come and sit with them.
“A-Ying this is Nie Huaisang. Your new brother. And I will be your new brother too.” Said him.
“Brother? Really?” asked Wei Ying disbelief clear in his voice. He could not believe that these two strangers would treat him like another family member.
Nie Huaisang was watching the new comer since the moment he stepped into the room. He was sure that this must be his new brother. His da-ge told him that the boy was seven years old. But he looked so small and thin. Probably from lack of food. His da-ge told him that this boy who was named Wei Ying had been living on the streets.
Huaisang did not knew how anyone could live in the streets. Especially a small boy like Wei Ying. Upon seeing Wei Ying Huaisang told himself that he was going to protect his new didi from now on.
He decided to speak up when Wei Ying looked like he was still shocked by the idea that someone would treat him like a family member.
“Hey! You are Wei Ying right? I am Nie Huaisang. Call me A-sang. Do you mind me calling you A-Ying? Because now you are my didi I want to call you A-Ying.” Said him smiling at the boy.
Wei Ying looked between Nie Mingju and Nie Huaisang for a while. They both looked like they were kind people. Wei Ying still could not believe that these people wanted him to be a part of their family but he was grateful for the chance.
He finally looked at Nie Huaisang’s eyes shyly and said, “Okay. I will be your didi. And you can call me A-Ying.”
“Can I call you da-ge like A-sang do?” asked Wei Ying from Nie Mingju.
“Of course you can. After all you are our little brother now.” Nie Mingju answered firmly. He did not knew why but he was already attached to the little boy and he was not going to let anything happen to him. Just like Huaisang Mingju promised himself that he was going to protect his little brother from now on.
And that is how Wei Ying became the second master of Qinghe Nie sect.