"Wei-xiong, are you all right?" Nie Huaisang asked urgently, although under his breath, because Wei Wuxian hadn't said anything, smart or otherwise, for longer than he'd have thought possible and he was worried for his friend.
Of course, he shouldn't have been. Wei Wuxian flashed him a smile and explained. "He asked about 'anyone else', so he hasn't addressed me. Although, to answer your questions from before: Does it hurt? Meh. And the kind of pussy, honestly, I just don't like using that word, especially not in a derogatory way..." So he would refrain, tactfully.
"Be quiet," Jin Zixuan told Wei Wuxian, although he'd have rather told Wen Chao. He would have rather thought of something smart to say himself, honestly, but he was not a loud mouth like Wei Wuxian.
"It seems like everyone has something to say but only to this one. Pathetic. He's not worth your words." He kicked Wei Wuxian again and wound the whip back towards him, looking at these prissy assholes with annoyance. His dad was right, the other gangs were weak. They all tried to be above it, like that would somehow help them be men. Pfft.
Wen Chao personally loved getting his hands dirty. As long as the dirt was drugs, women or watching Wen Zhuliu kill people for him. He never did like killing. It was kinda gross.
"If you keep being a smart ass, I'll make you regret it." Weng Chao came and stood in front of Wei Wuxian, glaring down at him. "Beg for my forgiveness and I'll let you alone. For now."
After a tense moment, Wei Wuxian looked at Wen Chao and shrugged. Ow, bad move. Shrugging hurt now. "'kay." Perhaps that wasn't quite the right vibe but it was technically what had been asked of him. "Please." He said it politely, bowing his head a little and smiling brightly. Not unlike a child asking to get some candy and clearly overall a mockery, but he was certainly doing it.
Nie Huaisang, as so often, found himself in awe of both his friend's brazen bravery and bottomless stupidity. He looked at him, feeling exasperation coming off of Jiang Cheng in waves, intermingled with worry. He saw the tension in Jin Zixuan's shoulder, the way he ground his teeth. Wishing to speak up and knowing he shouldn't. Too much pride and no shamelessness. He watched them all, the young masters, and he saw no good end here.
So he fainted, with a rather exaggerated sigh. He hoped someone would catch him, but he was prepared to collapse to the ground instead.
Jiang Cheng caught Nie Huaisang and slowly lowered him down, looking at Wen Chao in annoyance. "Second young Nie master is delicate. You should let him go, you won't get anything from him!"
"Duh! We don't want shit from him, we want his brother." They were so dumb. He rolled his eyes and then looked at Wei Wuxian. He noticed the Lan boy staring at him with such intense fearlessness and the way the peacock was fighting to stay polite, even if he could see the hatred. "You weren't sincere, you brat."
"Aren't we the same age?" Wei Wuxian wondered out loud, asking no one in particular. "How can I be a brat to someone who's the same age as me? Wen-gongzi, you need to relax." Clearly the tension was getting to him.
"Da-ge," Nie Huaisang mumbled, barely seeming aware. He had to find a way to contact his brother. There were a number of ways, yet he wasn't quite certain how to go about it yet. He needed to have even less focus on him. Hopefully Wei Wuxian would keep drawing most of the attention. It seemed inevitable.
"This is idiotic," Jin Zixuan muttered, not that quietly. Were they supposed to just stand here all day? It was a disgrace.
"You're idiotic!" Wen Chao snapped back, it was a mad burn. Obviously. He raised his whip and lashed it at Jin Zixuan but before it could hit the prissy young lord, it was caught by a very fed up Lan Zhan. It hurt, of course it did, but Lan Zhan held it for a few moments and looked at Wen Chao's stunned face. Then he yanked the whip, making Wen Chao stumble.
"Hey!" Wen Chao managed to get his whip back, staggering away with a mix of fear and confusion. What the fuck? "What's your problem?"
Lan Zhan, hand now dripping with blood, came over to where Wei Wuxian was and stood in front of him. "Enough."
"No, you can't tell me what to do!" Wen Chao was losing control, he knew that. His guards probably saw. Probably knew. They would tell his father and brother. He gulped and pointed the whip at Lan Zhan. "Back down or you'll all be punished!"
"Eh! You can't even punish me, so don't bite off more," Wei Wuxian interfered on Lan Zhan's behalf. He was already injured, he couldn't let anything else happen to him. "You were making me beg, eh? You were starting to do such a good job of it too."
Jin Zixuan had fallen back into silence, his sour expression having only intensified further. It really was idiotic though. He wished they would listen to Lan Zhan and stop.
And Nie Huaisang understood his brazen friend's thinking. Wen Chao wanted some kind of result, he wanted to at least attempt breaking one of them. It could not be Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng was Wuxian's little brother as well as his future leader, he would never let him be hurt when he could help it. They knew that the Jin Clan was the strongest and richest, Jin Zixuan's pride could not take such a fall. And of course Wei Wuxian would never let Lan Zhan be injured further. So he had to make himself the target, solving the situation in a self-sacrificing day. Nie Huaisang admired his friend for his selflessness and he was ever so glad to not even be in anyone's consideration.
Wen Chao looked at them all for a moment and then walked over to one of his guards, whispering something to him. The guard left and Wen Chao turned back to Wei Wuxian, glaring. "You think you can talk down to me, don't you? You underestimate. I know what you all call us. Wen dogs. It's funny, I would have thought you'd be more scared of me. Eh?"
Wen Chao played dirty, he kicked Lan Zhan in the weak side of his leg and the other fell onto the floor hard, winded by the sudden attack. A broken leg was hard enough to stand on without irritation.
With Lan Zhan gone, Wen Chao put his hands into Wei Wuxian's hair and started to drag him along. "You don't like dogs, do you? Dogs like us." And then Wen Chao barked at him, smirking as he pulled him close to the cuffs he had dangling from the radiator in the corner.
"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian yelled out the informal attack and he tried to get to his reluctant friend in time to catch him. Unfortunately, Wen Chao got in the way. He did not appreciate the hand in his hair and it took a lot of self-control to not fight back just then. He had to think about why he was doing this. Jiang Cheng's mother would probably think he had this coming just for wearing his hair the way he did.
Even under the circumstances though, he could put two and two together. He almost wished he couldn't. "You can't do that!" Clearly a false statement. Whatever Wen Chao was planning, it had to do with dogs. And Wei Wuxian clearly could not stop him whatsoever. "No, that's not fair!"
He supposed fairness was not a good argument either. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Maybe going louder would help.
Once he had Wei Wuxian cuffed to the radiator, the door knocked and Wen Chao smirked at Wei Wuxian. "Oh, I can't? You haven't met a good friend of mine yet though. Come in!"
The Wen guard entered and with him, there was an already snarling rottweiler. Wen Chao came over and took the lead, laughing as the dog strained on it's leash and pulled against it's collar already, barking at the strangers. He knew his master, he didn't know these others. Such a protective dog. "Good boy! I know, they suck. Want to meet someone who just loves dogs?"
He dragged the dog towards Wei Wuxian and stood the appropriate distance that the dog could get close to Wei Wuxian, snarling and snapping in his face but not quite reaching him.
Lan Zhan tried to get up but his leg was so painful, he couldn't so much more than partially lift himself up. Jiang Cheng got to his feet, leaving Nie Huaisang on the floor and he geared up to save his brother. "Stop that! Now!"
"Come on, get close. Come at me. Though I might let go of the lead and my boy here really likes to bite." If anyone moved towards him, the dog would be let loose to maul Wei Wuxian. There was no option. Nothing else to do.
To his credit, Wei Wuxian tried to keep himself under control in face of his worst fear. Unfortunately, that still meant that he was trembling, curling in on himself as much as possible, and his lips were bleeding from how he was biting down on them, to keep from crying out. He was pale and his eyes were wide with terror, staring at that absolute hellhound.
"Oh no," Nie Huaisang whimpered, "The young mistress Jiang will not want her brothers hurt."
Jin Zixuan moved, quite suddenly, to put an arm across Jiang Cheng's chest. "Stay put." He had meant for it to sound understanding and quietly supportive and it sounded more put upon and stressed, but hopefully the message would still be conveyed.
"We can't just stand here and let it happen." Jiang Cheng hissed in annoyance, glaring at Jin Zixuan. He didn't understand it. He didn't care. Wei Wuxian was terrified of dogs, it was cruel. It was difficult. He couldn't keep himself from hurting for his brother, he couldn't take his pained sounds.
Wen Chao laughed and watched Wei Wuxian cower, pitiful and afraid. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started to film it, excited to show his brother later. Maybe he'd get some kind of approval. He was just as ruthless as anyone else in his family.
And to make sure it came across, he briefly let go of the lead so the dog could get closer, teeth catching against Wei Wuxian's leg before he yanked the dog back, laughing. "Not so cocky now, are you?"
No, he was not cocky at all right now. Instead, when the dog was let go, he screamed on the top of his lungs, until he managed to shut himself up with his hands over his mouth, hiding his face as his breath kept hitching, sounding absolutely terrified. It was not something he could fight, the fear was deep-seated and this was not exactly a situation where he was overreacting anyway.
Jin Zixuan felt bad, in spite of his own feelings about Wei Wuxian, so he could only imagine how much worse it had to be for Jiang Cheng. So he held him fiercely and tried to think of something that would bring this to an end.
"Wen-gongzi," Nie Huaisang said, softly but loud enough to be heard. Addressing Wen Chao ever so formally. "Please, can we call my brother?"
Wen Chao gripped the leash hard and then turned his head, raising an eyebrow at Nie Huaisang. The weird fainting boy. What a total sissy. He turned off the video and sent it into a group chat with the boys. Well, Wen Xu's boys but still. "You wanna call your brother? Why? So you can beg him to come and submit to us? Cause that's all we want from all of your pathetic leaders."
"Yes, please. I would like to plead with him." Nie Huaisang said it very sincerely, bowing much more and deeper than necessary as he made his wishes clear. "I want him to have mercy on me and come and safe me. I will tell him how scary you are, Wen-gongzi. My brother won't want me to be hurt."
Well, no, he wouldn't. He also would never submit like that unless there was absolutely no other solution. However, it was getting the focus off of Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang had a few ideas on how to proceed.
Wen Chao thought about it for a few moments and then yanked his dog away from Wei Wuxian and across the room. They were in quite a large, open area so the dog was quite a bit away from Wei Wuxian now. He crouched down and tied the lead around the pipe, keeping it nearby. Just in case. Then he stroked the dogs head, pulling a treat from his pocket for the dog. "Good boy. You just sit and wait."
Moving away from the dog, he looked at Wei Wuxian trembling in a ball and then shook his head, turning to the little Nie. "Your brother said he would never submit to Wen dogs." He remembered, he had been there when he'd said it to his father. "I'm not sure he's going to give us all we want for you. Who'd want you? You're a weak nothing that can't even handle a gun."
"I'm not just his brother, Wen-gongzi. Remember, I am next in line. However useless I am, I'm his only family." He didn't say it in a proud manner, rather embarrassed about the circumstances. Weak and easily intimidated, that was him. He put a hand into his jacket pocket as he hugged an arm around himself, bowing his head again. "Please, won't you give me the chance to call him? We can do it away from the others. He won't have to posture as much when the young masters aren't all witnesses. If it's just us."
"Hm. Perhaps." Wen Chao pulled out his phone and sent a quick text. He knew who could handle this if he was to leave the room.
zhulia, come second floor i need u
"My loyal friend will come and watch the young masters and perhaps we can see what will happen. I can't imagine much." Even so, what a win it would be? He yawned loudly, walking towards where Wei Wuxian was. He prodded him with his shoe, amused by how scared he was. "Everyone here is valuable to someone. Except this one. Who'd miss a servant?"
"Jin-gongzi's mom," Wei Wuxian replied, still sounding scared but also quick-witted as always. Although Jin Zixuan wasn't quite sure why he got the drive-by abuse here.
"What?!"
"Sorry, had to go after someone who still has a mom." Wei Wuxian felt that was fair enough reasoning. He glanced over at the dog warily, more worried about that than the effectiveness of his 'your mom' jabs.
Wen Zhuliu hadn't bothered replying. He simply came as quickly as he could, entering in silence before bowing. "Young master." What now? He looked around the room, frowning already. Looked like a mess.
"I have to take the little Nie with me. Watch this lot and if they give you any attitude, you can hurt them. No killing though. If you need help with this one, you have YueYue." He meant the dog, obviously. He gestured towards the dog, that was lying on it's side and watching everything carefully.
Walking over to Nie Huaisang, he grabbed the other by his shirt and yanked him up. "If anyone cries, take a video. Me and my brother have a bet on how many will cry." And he wanted to win.
"Yes, young master," Wen Zhuliu said while both sure that he would not take any videos nor would any of these young men cry. Other than the one terrified of dogs, that seemed to have already happened. Furthermore, he had no idea how to even get to the camera setting on his phone. "Be careful, young master."
He did not want to have to deal with a dead young master if Wen Chao lost his temper. Although Nie Huaisang seemed subdued enough, walking with Wen Chao with his head ducked. He dropped a bit of the biscuit he had had in his pocket near the dog, hoping to endear himself to it, but doing it subtly, so that no one would notice. Looking at Wen Chao, he gulped, clearly very terrified. "Please don't hurt me."
"He's so scared, it's so embarrassing." Wen Chao laughed and then slapped Wen Zhuliu arm in a friendly way, as if they were something more than second young master and bodyguard. Wen Zhuliu was basically his best friend, they hung out like all the time and he send him hilarious memes every night. With a smirk, he hauled Nie Huiasang out of the room and marched him down the hall.
"Let's go to the back room." Wen Chao pushed the little Nie towards the storage space he mostly used to stash his coat and torture items. He was really hoping to use the electric prod on that rich peacock bastard. "You really think he'll beg us for you?"
"I don't know," Nie Huaisang admitted, which was not entirely a lie. He was about ninety percent sure that Nie Mingjue never would. Sometimes his brother surprised him though, both in good and bad ways. He walked a little bit taller now, hand in his inside pocket so he could pull out his fan. And so he could note that Wen Chao wasn't paying enough attention to even suspect that he might be reaching for a weapon. Good. It was so good to be underestimated.
He opened up the fan a little and started fanning himself. "You are so vicious, Wen-gongzi. The way you wielded that whip. It's very intimidating."
"Yeah, obviously, fuckhead. That's the whole point. We're gangsters. It ain't gonna be all nice and fun, is it?" Wen Chao sneered as he slapped the side of Nie Huaisang's head in annoyance. "You're such a sissy. You gotta grow some balls and get your shit together or you're gonna be dead by the time my dad takes over."
His father didn't tolerate the weak or the useless. He shoved Nie Huiasang into the backroom and shut the door behind him. "Okay, let's call your precious da-ge." He pulled out his phone and started to search for the number.
"Is your father really capable of that? So impressive..." And he wondered just what the plan here could be. Taking out all the other gangs would be quite the task. He wished he could have talked to Lan Zhan and find out just what had gone down with them. He used his fan to hide the lower half of his face as he thought about it, waiting for his brother to pick up.
He supposed he could update him on just what was happening here at least and then see what to do from that point.
no subject
Of course, he shouldn't have been. Wei Wuxian flashed him a smile and explained. "He asked about 'anyone else', so he hasn't addressed me. Although, to answer your questions from before: Does it hurt? Meh. And the kind of pussy, honestly, I just don't like using that word, especially not in a derogatory way..." So he would refrain, tactfully.
"Be quiet," Jin Zixuan told Wei Wuxian, although he'd have rather told Wen Chao. He would have rather thought of something smart to say himself, honestly, but he was not a loud mouth like Wei Wuxian.
no subject
Wen Chao personally loved getting his hands dirty. As long as the dirt was drugs, women or watching Wen Zhuliu kill people for him. He never did like killing. It was kinda gross.
"If you keep being a smart ass, I'll make you regret it." Weng Chao came and stood in front of Wei Wuxian, glaring down at him. "Beg for my forgiveness and I'll let you alone. For now."
no subject
Nie Huaisang, as so often, found himself in awe of both his friend's brazen bravery and bottomless stupidity. He looked at him, feeling exasperation coming off of Jiang Cheng in waves, intermingled with worry. He saw the tension in Jin Zixuan's shoulder, the way he ground his teeth. Wishing to speak up and knowing he shouldn't. Too much pride and no shamelessness. He watched them all, the young masters, and he saw no good end here.
So he fainted, with a rather exaggerated sigh. He hoped someone would catch him, but he was prepared to collapse to the ground instead.
no subject
Jiang Cheng caught Nie Huaisang and slowly lowered him down, looking at Wen Chao in annoyance. "Second young Nie master is delicate. You should let him go, you won't get anything from him!"
"Duh! We don't want shit from him, we want his brother." They were so dumb. He rolled his eyes and then looked at Wei Wuxian. He noticed the Lan boy staring at him with such intense fearlessness and the way the peacock was fighting to stay polite, even if he could see the hatred. "You weren't sincere, you brat."
no subject
"Da-ge," Nie Huaisang mumbled, barely seeming aware. He had to find a way to contact his brother. There were a number of ways, yet he wasn't quite certain how to go about it yet. He needed to have even less focus on him. Hopefully Wei Wuxian would keep drawing most of the attention. It seemed inevitable.
"This is idiotic," Jin Zixuan muttered, not that quietly. Were they supposed to just stand here all day? It was a disgrace.
no subject
"Hey!" Wen Chao managed to get his whip back, staggering away with a mix of fear and confusion. What the fuck? "What's your problem?"
Lan Zhan, hand now dripping with blood, came over to where Wei Wuxian was and stood in front of him. "Enough."
"No, you can't tell me what to do!" Wen Chao was losing control, he knew that. His guards probably saw. Probably knew. They would tell his father and brother. He gulped and pointed the whip at Lan Zhan. "Back down or you'll all be punished!"
no subject
Jin Zixuan had fallen back into silence, his sour expression having only intensified further. It really was idiotic though. He wished they would listen to Lan Zhan and stop.
And Nie Huaisang understood his brazen friend's thinking. Wen Chao wanted some kind of result, he wanted to at least attempt breaking one of them. It could not be Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng was Wuxian's little brother as well as his future leader, he would never let him be hurt when he could help it. They knew that the Jin Clan was the strongest and richest, Jin Zixuan's pride could not take such a fall. And of course Wei Wuxian would never let Lan Zhan be injured further. So he had to make himself the target, solving the situation in a self-sacrificing day. Nie Huaisang admired his friend for his selflessness and he was ever so glad to not even be in anyone's consideration.
no subject
Wen Chao played dirty, he kicked Lan Zhan in the weak side of his leg and the other fell onto the floor hard, winded by the sudden attack. A broken leg was hard enough to stand on without irritation.
With Lan Zhan gone, Wen Chao put his hands into Wei Wuxian's hair and started to drag him along. "You don't like dogs, do you? Dogs like us." And then Wen Chao barked at him, smirking as he pulled him close to the cuffs he had dangling from the radiator in the corner.
no subject
Even under the circumstances though, he could put two and two together. He almost wished he couldn't. "You can't do that!" Clearly a false statement. Whatever Wen Chao was planning, it had to do with dogs. And Wei Wuxian clearly could not stop him whatsoever. "No, that's not fair!"
He supposed fairness was not a good argument either. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Maybe going louder would help.
no subject
The Wen guard entered and with him, there was an already snarling rottweiler. Wen Chao came over and took the lead, laughing as the dog strained on it's leash and pulled against it's collar already, barking at the strangers. He knew his master, he didn't know these others. Such a protective dog. "Good boy! I know, they suck. Want to meet someone who just loves dogs?"
He dragged the dog towards Wei Wuxian and stood the appropriate distance that the dog could get close to Wei Wuxian, snarling and snapping in his face but not quite reaching him.
Lan Zhan tried to get up but his leg was so painful, he couldn't so much more than partially lift himself up. Jiang Cheng got to his feet, leaving Nie Huaisang on the floor and he geared up to save his brother. "Stop that! Now!"
"Come on, get close. Come at me. Though I might let go of the lead and my boy here really likes to bite." If anyone moved towards him, the dog would be let loose to maul Wei Wuxian. There was no option. Nothing else to do.
no subject
"Oh no," Nie Huaisang whimpered, "The young mistress Jiang will not want her brothers hurt."
Jin Zixuan moved, quite suddenly, to put an arm across Jiang Cheng's chest. "Stay put." He had meant for it to sound understanding and quietly supportive and it sounded more put upon and stressed, but hopefully the message would still be conveyed.
no subject
Wen Chao laughed and watched Wei Wuxian cower, pitiful and afraid. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started to film it, excited to show his brother later. Maybe he'd get some kind of approval. He was just as ruthless as anyone else in his family.
And to make sure it came across, he briefly let go of the lead so the dog could get closer, teeth catching against Wei Wuxian's leg before he yanked the dog back, laughing. "Not so cocky now, are you?"
no subject
Jin Zixuan felt bad, in spite of his own feelings about Wei Wuxian, so he could only imagine how much worse it had to be for Jiang Cheng. So he held him fiercely and tried to think of something that would bring this to an end.
"Wen-gongzi," Nie Huaisang said, softly but loud enough to be heard. Addressing Wen Chao ever so formally. "Please, can we call my brother?"
no subject
Wen Chao gripped the leash hard and then turned his head, raising an eyebrow at Nie Huaisang. The weird fainting boy. What a total sissy. He turned off the video and sent it into a group chat with the boys. Well, Wen Xu's boys but still. "You wanna call your brother? Why? So you can beg him to come and submit to us? Cause that's all we want from all of your pathetic leaders."
no subject
Well, no, he wouldn't. He also would never submit like that unless there was absolutely no other solution. However, it was getting the focus off of Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang had a few ideas on how to proceed.
no subject
Moving away from the dog, he looked at Wei Wuxian trembling in a ball and then shook his head, turning to the little Nie. "Your brother said he would never submit to Wen dogs." He remembered, he had been there when he'd said it to his father. "I'm not sure he's going to give us all we want for you. Who'd want you? You're a weak nothing that can't even handle a gun."
no subject
no subject
zhulia, come
second floor
i need u
"My loyal friend will come and watch the young masters and perhaps we can see what will happen. I can't imagine much." Even so, what a win it would be? He yawned loudly, walking towards where Wei Wuxian was. He prodded him with his shoe, amused by how scared he was. "Everyone here is valuable to someone. Except this one. Who'd miss a servant?"
no subject
"What?!"
"Sorry, had to go after someone who still has a mom." Wei Wuxian felt that was fair enough reasoning. He glanced over at the dog warily, more worried about that than the effectiveness of his 'your mom' jabs.
Wen Zhuliu hadn't bothered replying. He simply came as quickly as he could, entering in silence before bowing. "Young master." What now? He looked around the room, frowning already. Looked like a mess.
no subject
Walking over to Nie Huaisang, he grabbed the other by his shirt and yanked him up. "If anyone cries, take a video. Me and my brother have a bet on how many will cry." And he wanted to win.
no subject
He did not want to have to deal with a dead young master if Wen Chao lost his temper. Although Nie Huaisang seemed subdued enough, walking with Wen Chao with his head ducked. He dropped a bit of the biscuit he had had in his pocket near the dog, hoping to endear himself to it, but doing it subtly, so that no one would notice. Looking at Wen Chao, he gulped, clearly very terrified. "Please don't hurt me."
no subject
"Let's go to the back room." Wen Chao pushed the little Nie towards the storage space he mostly used to stash his coat and torture items. He was really hoping to use the electric prod on that rich peacock bastard. "You really think he'll beg us for you?"
no subject
He opened up the fan a little and started fanning himself. "You are so vicious, Wen-gongzi. The way you wielded that whip. It's very intimidating."
no subject
His father didn't tolerate the weak or the useless. He shoved Nie Huiasang into the backroom and shut the door behind him. "Okay, let's call your precious da-ge." He pulled out his phone and started to search for the number.
no subject
He supposed he could update him on just what was happening here at least and then see what to do from that point.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)