Why did he say Friday? If Nie Mingjue didn't come by Friday then he would have made a statement and his dad would not know unless he told him. And if he told him, he was in deep trouble for pushing a deadline. He was so panicked, he was barely listening. Just trying to justify all of this.
"I see." Nie Mingjue was quiet for a moment. "By Friday, you say? Is that true of all of the gangs. Lan Xichen would perhaps like to know."
"No!" Wen Chao said a bit too panicked, grabbing the phone. "Just stick with what you're given and stay out of others business. You heard what I said already so -- make up your mind!" God, he hoped he came on Friday or he was so dead. "If you don't come, be warned, I will have all the secrets."
And with that, he hung up. Swiftly. Eagerly. God, that was terrible!
"Whoa, Wen-gongzi! You are so brave. I would never talk to da-ge like that." Indeed he wouldn't, partially because he wasn't a complete idiotic fool like Wen Chao clearly was. Also because his brother was terribly intimidating, even to him. Some days, especially to him. "I have never seen anyone stand up to him. You are truly strong."
He bowed his head in awe, made sure to mix some fear into it, and then tried prodding. "You don't really want my secrets, do you?"
"Yeah, I'm not scared of anyone." Wen Chao agreed, not realising it was pointless, fake sucking up that was happening. He liked kind words so he didn't like to challenge them. He rarely got them from anyone else so he liked what he could get from others. Whores, his underlings, hostages - all valid.
"Of course I want your secrets. Are they about what the Nie plan to do? Because they won't succeed. No more than the Lan clan did when my brother went for them." Wen Chao boasted, never one to keep his cards to his chest.
"I hear your brother is ruthless. The Lan clan must be devastated." Both young masters still alive though, he had taken note of that. Nie Huaisang wondered just what Wen Chao thought he was threatening here. "My brother is clan leader and he is a strong fighter. He won't give up territory easily..."
Nie Huaisang looked around, despair in his eyes. And then he looked at Wen Chao, as if he had just had an epiphany. "Perhaps we could make a deal, Wen-gongzi."
"We destroyed their base of operations. I have the second master and my brother is tracking the first as we speak. He has a tip. Some lowly librarian - Yao-- something. He's going to torture the location out of him and we'll have both Lans by Friday." Why Friday? Why did he keep saying Friday? He really had to stop.
Of course, no, he didn't really connect that Nie Mingjue knew where Lan Xichen was. Given what had been said. He was not the brightest for sure. "What deal? Cause you don't have nothing I want."
Yao-ge. If he was involved, that explained why his brother knew how to get in touch with Lan Xichen. That meant that Meng Yao was sure to be spinning an elaborate web and he had to ensure that he wouldn't accidentally get in its way. However, he doubted Wen Chao was accounted for. He was too stupid. If he was less stupid, this would be easier.
"Because of my secrets," he reminded him gently, while fanning himself and lowering his eyes demurely, "Few know how to enter the Unclean Realm. If you promised me my brother will be unharmed, maybe I can tell you."
"Yeah but we don't need a deal for that. You're a wuss, I can just torture it out of you. How many fingers would you have to lose before you told me? You'd never wave that pretty fan again." Wen Chao was a brute, all options were violence for him. He didn't see a way to handle such things without a little destruction.
"Tell me what you want from me and I'll see if the deal is more fun than cutting off fingers. And once those are gone, there's always toes and teeth." He giggled manically, his eyes sparkling with a morbid delight.
All right. This talk of torture was quite off-putting. It was not surprising that this was where Wen Chao's mind went but it did mean he would have to radically refocus his mind. Which might work best if he scrambled it first. So he leaned back, flicked his fan a little to half-close it, and he looked up at Wen Chao.
"I will teach you about pleasure that you can't even imagine." Wait, he would have to be clearer in this case. "Sex. That's what I'm talking about."
"Why a dude? Ew!" Weng Chao looked at him in disgust and pushed himself back. If his brother ever caught wind of anything like this, he'd beat him half to death! That gay shit was only for westerns and whores with no other source of money. "I got plenty of girls, you dumb fag. I don't need you."
What could a guy even do? Wasn't it all just butt stuff? He didn't mind anal, with girls, it was fun but he didn't really want to have anything in him.
"Ah, nothing like that." Huaisang caught himself easily, leaning back against the wall. He stood much more confidently now, having dropped his mark for the moment. At least a little. "It is not at all the way you think. The games I know how to play, they have nothing to do with fucking."
He used the vulgar word on purpose, even as he covered his mouth with his fan for it. He was still a young gentleman, after all. "They are about deeper desires. Women don't really know how to pleasure a man like you, Wen-gongzi. Isn't there always something missing?"
Not every girl was willing to suck him off and let him fuck them. It was annoying. Also when girls nagged for foreplay. Like he wanted to eat a girl out - he wasn't going to do that shit. It was about him, not her. "They're still young girls so they're pretty shit, you know? I did a whore once but I don't really do it any more, my brother told me you get dickrot that way."
So mostly he went after highschoolers. They were unspoilt then.
Ugh. He was terrible. Wen Chao should not be allowed near women. Honestly, if his plan worked the way he anticipated, Huaisang saw it as a public service for multiple reasons. To hide his reaction to that open display of grossness, he lowered his eyelids and opened up the fan, as if such talk was simply too much for a young gentleman.
Then, with a snap, he closed the fan entirely, slamming it against his open fan. An astonishingly loud sound, he always admired that. "Your whip, A-Chao." He changed how he addressed him. He doubted Wen Chao would catch on to it right away. "You really like it, don't you? You like to watch when it hits someone's skin."
The slam of the fan was loud, he jumped a little and then looked at Nie Huaisang. Eh. He was a pussy, he had nothing to fear. He just smirked up at him. "The whip? Heh, you like it? It was my idea. My brother said to use a knife or a gun but this is way smarter. You know why? It hurts and you don't have to get close." Life-hack. He couldn't be overpowered if he had distance. Or, at least, he thought he couldn't.
Stupid Lan bastard, grabbing his whip. "I like to play with stuff like that. Be unconventional." He loved the sound of the whip, the way it cut through the air - magical.
"I get that. I think it is part of why I like the fan. A small thing can still make a big impact. A loud noise." He snapped the fan back open with an elegant and well-practised flick of his wrist. It was a beautiful fan that he carried with him right now. It was black, with a dragon and a tiger on it. Honestly, he thought of it as his WangXian fan, in honour of his friend Wei Wuxian and the Second Lan and what he hoped would blossom there.
That symbolism didn't matter right now. Right now, what mattered was catching Wen Chao's eyes and holding his gaze. "Can you take pain, A-Chao? Like the pain your whip can deal. Or my fan."
It took him a moment to comprehend what was even being said to him. It always took him a moment. He was not a fast thinker.
"Oi! Don't talk to me in such a way, how dare you?!" Wen Chao snapped because why was this little sissy calling him A-Chao. As if he had any right or say over such a thing. Wen Chao pulled himself upright, proud and nervous, his eyes on the fan. What about the fan? Anyone could take a fan. It wasn't a weapon. "If you speak to me in such a manner again, I will beat you into nothing."
"Anyone could beat me into nothing. I'm not much, am I?" Nie Huaisang raised his eyebrows, challenging. He had seen that hesitation and he had seen a spark there. He was certain of it. So he had to take a risk, for his clan, for his brother, for the good of the city. He would dominate the hell out of Wen Chao. It was the most efficient way toward peace. "Anyone can beat me. But not a lot of real men know how to take pain. Didn't you see the young masters in the other room, whimpering because of you?"
Only one had whimpered and it had been over a dog, not Wen Chao. Whatever. "I am curious how you could handle it. If you are stronger than them."
"What? You think I can't handle pain? Please. I've been shot before." He had not, a bullet grazed his arm and went right into Wen Zhuliu but he had handled it about as well as one might expect Wen Chao to have handled it. He panicked under pressure, he feared to be belittled and attacked, to lose whatever ground he had. He gulped and looked at Nie Huaisang, not sure what was happening.
His voice had changed. His tone. He sounded different. His heart was racing and he wasn't sure why. "I am stronger than any of them. Whips are nothing. I could hold up under torture fine. Us Wens are built different."
"Show me," Nie Huaisang demanded. Then he took a decisive step forward, closed his fan with a sharp sound and, a moment later, he slapped the side of the fan against Wen Chao's cheek with quite a bit of force.
He held it still thereafter, so he could put the tip of it right against Wen Chao's cheek. Looking into his eyes, he allowed himself to smile a little. "You show a lot of strength. Maybe you'd be worthy of truly showing me what you are made of."
He wasn't sure what it was about this whole thing that froze him entirely. It was the strides, the confidence, the eye contact. The way he looked at him, it almost made him shiver. It reminded him of how he felt any time he looked at that Xue Yang psycho. There was a coldness to it, even with the almost playful tone.
When the fan hit him, he winced and held still, his face really hurting. It was embarrassing. If he reacted in pain, he would show weakness. So he had to act unbothered. "Didn't hurt. Barely felt it." Ow.
"Give me your whip," Nie Huaisang demanded, in a gentle but expectant way. He held his free hand out, while he fanned himself with the other, his smile unwavering. "I wonder how good you are at dealing with blows from a whip. You must be stronger than Wei-xiong, you are so much bigger."
He assumed the bulk was mostly baby fat at this point, honestly, but he was not about to say that out loud yet. He just wanted him competing with Wei Wuxian, it seemed like the best way to get under his skin. "Aren't you going to take off your shirt?"
"I don't have to prove anything to you." Only he did. He had to. Nie Huiasang was looking at him like that and talking like that. He didn't know why but his brain was just full of impulses but none of them were to attack this time. "It's my whip." And yet, he reached out and pulled it off his belt, holding it out and hoping he looked challenging. "I'm not afraid of it."
Take off his shirt? Why-- what? He frowned, looking confused. "Why the fuck would I take my shirt off? Wei Wuxian had his on." Did he actually plan to do this? Was he going to get whipped? He didn't know if he actually wanted that.
"Because the fabric would protect you from the impact. I thought since you are a real man, you would want to feel it properly." For the moment, Huaisang had tucked his fan away so he could take the whip from Wen chao instead. He weighed it in his hand and then whipped it through the air once, letting out a low whistle at the sound. "Like music, isn't it?"
He felt they could create a beautiful symphony together. "Are you ready for pain?"
The noise always got him, it felt so good to hear and it made him feel such excitement inside. The noise was always better than the actual impact though, it never quite felt as good as it sounded. He looked at the whip for a while and then pulled his shirt over his head. He wasn't in terrible shape but he was certainly not in great shape either. It was mostly baby fat that made up the bulk of him, there was some muscle, sure, but not much.
"I'm not scared." Wen Chao lied as he faced Nie Huaisang, hoping no one came near this room. Thank God he had locked the door. He really didn't see it coming that he'd be in an elaborate game of pain chicken with this wimp.
"Turn around. You may want to brace yourself against the wall." He was determined to prove himself, he was riddled with self-doubt and Huaisang wondered just how deep that masochism went. He would have to study his reaction closely to gauge that he wasn't going too far.
"You have assumed position." He told Wen Chao once he felt he was in the right place and posture. "Thank you. You have done very well, A-Chao."
That said, he readied the whip. "I will start now. Please keep count for me. I will use your voice to judge how much you can take."
With that, he started whipping. He criss-crossed his back, made sure not to abuse any one area overly much. Even and painful. With a sharp sound followed by the dull impact.
His eyes widened and the impact hit him like a ton of bricks. And not for the reason he expected. It hurt, yes, it really hurt but it was so different. The noise came, as it always did, and then he felt the sting. It was complete. It was finished. That was how it was supposed to go. It was like something clicked in his head.
He scrunched his eyes up in pain and made a small yelping noise. "One. Two."
There, he could count just fine. He was a man, after all. And he could handle a little pain. It came again and he shuddered against the wall. "Three." Fuck.
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"I see." Nie Mingjue was quiet for a moment. "By Friday, you say? Is that true of all of the gangs. Lan Xichen would perhaps like to know."
"No!" Wen Chao said a bit too panicked, grabbing the phone. "Just stick with what you're given and stay out of others business. You heard what I said already so -- make up your mind!" God, he hoped he came on Friday or he was so dead. "If you don't come, be warned, I will have all the secrets."
And with that, he hung up. Swiftly. Eagerly. God, that was terrible!
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He bowed his head in awe, made sure to mix some fear into it, and then tried prodding. "You don't really want my secrets, do you?"
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"Of course I want your secrets. Are they about what the Nie plan to do? Because they won't succeed. No more than the Lan clan did when my brother went for them." Wen Chao boasted, never one to keep his cards to his chest.
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Nie Huaisang looked around, despair in his eyes. And then he looked at Wen Chao, as if he had just had an epiphany. "Perhaps we could make a deal, Wen-gongzi."
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Of course, no, he didn't really connect that Nie Mingjue knew where Lan Xichen was. Given what had been said. He was not the brightest for sure. "What deal? Cause you don't have nothing I want."
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"Because of my secrets," he reminded him gently, while fanning himself and lowering his eyes demurely, "Few know how to enter the Unclean Realm. If you promised me my brother will be unharmed, maybe I can tell you."
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"Tell me what you want from me and I'll see if the deal is more fun than cutting off fingers. And once those are gone, there's always toes and teeth." He giggled manically, his eyes sparkling with a morbid delight.
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"I will teach you about pleasure that you can't even imagine." Wait, he would have to be clearer in this case. "Sex. That's what I'm talking about."
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What could a guy even do? Wasn't it all just butt stuff? He didn't mind anal, with girls, it was fun but he didn't really want to have anything in him.
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He used the vulgar word on purpose, even as he covered his mouth with his fan for it. He was still a young gentleman, after all. "They are about deeper desires. Women don't really know how to pleasure a man like you, Wen-gongzi. Isn't there always something missing?"
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Not every girl was willing to suck him off and let him fuck them. It was annoying. Also when girls nagged for foreplay. Like he wanted to eat a girl out - he wasn't going to do that shit. It was about him, not her. "They're still young girls so they're pretty shit, you know? I did a whore once but I don't really do it any more, my brother told me you get dickrot that way."
So mostly he went after highschoolers. They were unspoilt then.
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Then, with a snap, he closed the fan entirely, slamming it against his open fan. An astonishingly loud sound, he always admired that. "Your whip, A-Chao." He changed how he addressed him. He doubted Wen Chao would catch on to it right away. "You really like it, don't you? You like to watch when it hits someone's skin."
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Stupid Lan bastard, grabbing his whip. "I like to play with stuff like that. Be unconventional." He loved the sound of the whip, the way it cut through the air - magical.
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That symbolism didn't matter right now. Right now, what mattered was catching Wen Chao's eyes and holding his gaze. "Can you take pain, A-Chao? Like the pain your whip can deal. Or my fan."
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"Oi! Don't talk to me in such a way, how dare you?!" Wen Chao snapped because why was this little sissy calling him A-Chao. As if he had any right or say over such a thing. Wen Chao pulled himself upright, proud and nervous, his eyes on the fan. What about the fan? Anyone could take a fan. It wasn't a weapon. "If you speak to me in such a manner again, I will beat you into nothing."
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Only one had whimpered and it had been over a dog, not Wen Chao. Whatever. "I am curious how you could handle it. If you are stronger than them."
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His voice had changed. His tone. He sounded different. His heart was racing and he wasn't sure why. "I am stronger than any of them. Whips are nothing. I could hold up under torture fine. Us Wens are built different."
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He held it still thereafter, so he could put the tip of it right against Wen Chao's cheek. Looking into his eyes, he allowed himself to smile a little. "You show a lot of strength. Maybe you'd be worthy of truly showing me what you are made of."
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When the fan hit him, he winced and held still, his face really hurting. It was embarrassing. If he reacted in pain, he would show weakness. So he had to act unbothered. "Didn't hurt. Barely felt it." Ow.
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He assumed the bulk was mostly baby fat at this point, honestly, but he was not about to say that out loud yet. He just wanted him competing with Wei Wuxian, it seemed like the best way to get under his skin. "Aren't you going to take off your shirt?"
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Take off his shirt? Why-- what? He frowned, looking confused. "Why the fuck would I take my shirt off? Wei Wuxian had his on." Did he actually plan to do this? Was he going to get whipped? He didn't know if he actually wanted that.
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He felt they could create a beautiful symphony together. "Are you ready for pain?"
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"I'm not scared." Wen Chao lied as he faced Nie Huaisang, hoping no one came near this room. Thank God he had locked the door. He really didn't see it coming that he'd be in an elaborate game of pain chicken with this wimp.
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"You have assumed position." He told Wen Chao once he felt he was in the right place and posture. "Thank you. You have done very well, A-Chao."
That said, he readied the whip. "I will start now. Please keep count for me. I will use your voice to judge how much you can take."
With that, he started whipping. He criss-crossed his back, made sure not to abuse any one area overly much. Even and painful. With a sharp sound followed by the dull impact.
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He scrunched his eyes up in pain and made a small yelping noise. "One. Two."
There, he could count just fine. He was a man, after all. And he could handle a little pain. It came again and he shuddered against the wall. "Three." Fuck.
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