Dark eyes tinged with red stared back at Wei Ying, a cold smirk lifting the corners of his cruel mouth. The point of the sharp blade pressed forward, nicking his skin, but Wei Ying cared less about his safety than where the fuck Lan Zhan was.

As far as he was concerned, this waste of space was in his way and the faster he got rid of the annoyance, the better. Wei Ying wasn't sure where this external bravery was coming from, but all he could think about was Lan Zhan.

"Out of my fucking way!" He growled, batting the sword away.

The sharpness of it cut his hand and Wei Ying was vaguely aware of blood splattering away, and then just as clearly, he was conscious of the wounds closing, both on his neck which was inconsequential compared to his now healed fingers.

The Jin bastard's eyes widened in shock.

"So it's true!" He exclaimed, pressing forward. "And what if I bite you? Will you let me? I hear you're-"

Wei Ying was suddenly filled with a blind rage and he stepped forward, wrapping his fingers around the Jin's throat, and tightening them. How easy it was to press harder, to shake him until his face became red and splotchy as he struggled to breathe. He dropped his sword with a clatter.

This stupid, hateful man, in his expensive suit, his jewellery, and his attitude.

"Where is he?" Wei Ying bit out, his patience running this. He'd had enough of being threatened.

"Can't…speak…" his eyes bulged, and Wei Ying loosened his hold slightly, not letting him go.

"Start talking!"

"They left me here, to pass on a message…" He wheezed, dragging air back into his lungs at a pitiful rate.

"Spit it out before I make you." Wei Ying was aware of movement behind him, and he glanced back to make sure it wasn't another threat.

Xiao XingChen had his sword out and came to stand by his side.

"I should have ended you that day," he observed, his gaze narrowing as he sniffed the air.

Jin ZiXun bared his teeth, and Wei Ying shook him, privately astounded at his own strength.

There wasn't any time to dwell on where it had come from, but he understood that it was a new development. Had it come from Lan Zhan? As a result of his venom? It was just speculation for now, and Wei Ying let it go until he could think about it at leisure.

Right now, he had priorities.

"Alright, alright!" The yellow suited man coughed and tried to speak in between hacking, but Wei Ying wasn't falling for that old trick; he had seen too many movies where the bad guy attacked one last time.

More noise behind them, but this time they spoke so Wei Ying didn't have to turn around.

"A-Xian! What's going on? Where's Didi?" The panic in XiChen's voice was as clear as day.

"This fucker knows." Wei Ying glared at him, pissed beyond reason. "If you don't start talking, my friend here is going to turn you into a fresh kebab." He shook him for good measure.

Xiao XingChen let his blade pierce his body as a warning.

"They s-said to t-tell you, bring t-the k-key to the labs in twenty-four hours, and t-they'll let your b-boyfriend go," he stammered, panicking because he was outnumbered now, and the chances of him leaving here alive were getting slimmer.

"What key?" Wei Ying demanded, suddenly getting a very bad feeling about this.

"The k-key to u-unlock the H-heartStone…" He was getting lightheaded, blinking slower and slower as he was deprived of oxygen.

"Wen Rouhan has it? The HeartStone?"

"Jin GuanShan g-gave it to him." Jin ZiXun stuttered, his dark eyes rolling back in his head.

Wei Ying shook him again, his body flopping like a ragdoll. It had the desired effect, as light footsteps came running towards them. A-Qing emerged, breathing erratically.

"Where is it?" Wei Ying demanded, out of frustration. If he was still conscious, he was going to answer questions!

"Twenty-four h-hours-" he coughed once more, and then went totally limp.

"Bind his hands and feet." Wei Ying growled out, incensed that they couldn't get anything more out of him.

Xiao XingChen pulled out cable ties and did as he requested immediately, surprised by this Wei Ying, angry and to the point. He wasn't going to waste time arguing.

XiChen looked at his watch.

"It's nearly midnight now."

Wei Ying drops him like the dead weight he is, and there's another noise like glass rolling away. A-Qing picks something up and brings it to Xiao XingChen.

It's a bottle labelled SUP01.

But this isn't a container for pills.

It's for a liquid solution.

Wei Ying checks her other hand, and she's found a syringe with a sharp looking needle.

"Titanium." Xiao XingChen says, not a little bit horrified. "The needle," he clarifies.

It had to be strong enough to pierce his skin, Wei Ying thinks, remembering his own attempts to bite Lan Zhan before…

"I chased them as far as I could, but they were too fast. Got the number plate though," A-Qing said, bagging the things in her possession and then pulling out her phone and pressing a few keys.

Xiao XingChen's phone beeps and he puts away his sword to check his messages. There are a number of photos, and one of them is an image of Lan Zhan being carried away. XiChen gasps with shock, but Wei Ying just feels numb.

His gaze lands on his own wrist, and sees his bracelet.

"The tracker!" He exclaims suddenly, brightening. "I can find him!" He whirls around to leave, and Xiao XingChen stops him.

"Let's make a plan first."

Wei Ying nods, adrenaline coursing through his body.

"Explain about the tracker."

"Lan Zhan got us both tracking devices hidden in our bracelets. I never thought it would come in useful, this fast." Wei Ying shakes his head, willing himself to focus. "I can track where he is but I need Lan Zhan’s laptop. It's at home. And PoPo said the apartment was broken into tonight."

MingJue lets out a low whistle.

"What happened?" XiChen asks him, and Wei Ying gives him a brief explanation of what PoPo had told him.

"Sounds like they are too prepared. Like they've been planning this for a while." MingJue said, frowning.

"Let's find out where they've got my brother first, and then we can decide what to do." XiChen says with steely determination.

Xiao XingChen is already on the phone and speaking with Baoshan Sanren.

"We got separated," he tells her. "A-Qing was on Lan WangJi, too late to prevent his abduction." He glances at Wei Ying. "Yes…he's here." He handed Wei Ying his phone.

It's the sound of her voice that does it.

"Grandmother…" Wei Ying lets his tears fall now, feeling completely out of his depth as the anger leaks away.

"It's alright, A-Ying. Don't worry. We're going to get him back. And then we're going to show these people what happens when they fuck around with us. Do what you have to, and then come back here." Her strength bleeds into her words, coming through the phone and reaching through it to him.

"Okay, grandmother. I…I'll do that. Grandmother…we have to find him." Wei Ying knows he sounds desperate, but he also knows that he needs Lan Zhan back right now.

Safe and sound, in his arms.

Then he's never letting him go. If Lan Zhan wants to get married, Wei Ying will do it, no more games. He chokes back a sob.

"A-Ying! Listen to me!" She demands straight away. "You have to be strong. Show them who you are. And whatever happens, we're gonna finish this tonight."

***************

00.20am Sunday Morning

'Whatever happens, we're gonna finish this tonight.'

Those words echoed in his head as Wei Ying sat in the passenger seat of XiChen's car. They were driving back to his apartment to get Lan Zhan’s laptop, and hopefully get PoPo to agree to come with them. MingJue was following them in Lan Zhan’s car, right behind them.

Xiao XingChen and A-Qing were driving back to Baoshan Sanren, taking the Jin with them. Wei Ying could never remember his name. They were going to keep him as a hostage for now, whatever good that would do.

But all Wei Ying could think about was Lan Zhan.

Where was he?

All this time they had been focused on the worry that the Wens were coming after them, and in that scenario, Wei Ying was thinking it would be him, the one they wanted, the weakest link out of the two of them.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

And how come they knew about the key? At least they didn't know that two keys were needed, because that Jin had only mentioned one, singular, not plural. That was a little bit reassuring, since it meant that neither the Wens nor the Jins were fully aware of what they had, and what it would take to activate it.

Which also meant they had the upper hand for now, though not by much because those guys had Lan Zhan.

Wei Ying allowed himself to offer up a prayer to the Universe for his Lan Zhan.

Please keep him safe, he thought, remembering the way Lan Zhan’s arms would hold him so tightly, as if keeping him safe from anything that would harm him. Who was looking after Lan Zhan now?

The way he looked after A-Yuan and A-Yi…the way he cut up apple slices to look like little bunnies so the children would be disarmed by their cuteness, and Wei Ying was hijacked by his own feelings about the wonderful man he had fallen head over heels for.

Why was he so opposed to marrying Lan Zhan, anyway?

What was holding him back?

He didn't doubt his love at all.

And he definitely didn't doubt how much Lan Zhan loved him.

But there was a secret fear hiding in the insecurities festering in his mind, ones that only came to light after seeing Madam Yu tonight.

All the old worries came to the surface of his mind, like water ghouls in murky waters rising at the first sign of fresh meat.

He hadn't realised until tonight, how much of a terrible person Madam Yu was, and how quickly all his hard work with A-Yuan, learning to undo the poisonous shackles of her barbed words, that had trapped him in a cage of self doubt, until his baby had helped to show him that love was a free thing.

Wei Ying had learned how to love himself and in the process, fell in love with the pure innocence that was his son, happy sunshiny A-Yuan.

A-Yuan, who Lan Zhan had said was lonely.

Right then and there, Wei Ying made a promise to himself.

He was going to get Lan Zhan back tonight, no matter what.

The handkerchief waving in front of his face startled him, and Wei Ying took it, realising his face was wet with tears.

XiChen was looking at him with a combination of worry and sympathy.

To his surprise, they had parked outside his apartment.

"PoPo said they might still be here." Wei Ying confided.

"Let them try anything!" XiChen said, fiercely. "They might have my baby brother, but I'll be damned if we let them have you as well!"

As if to reinforce his words, MingJue came towards them and the first thing he did was to bring XiChen close and kiss the top of his head.

In that moment, Wei Ying missed Lan Zhan so much.

How often had he taken Lan Zhan for granted?

The deepest sigh left his mouth as he punched in the code for the doors that allowed them entry into the building.

Wei Ying was seeing all the moments that were coloured in his memories of the short time he had already spent in Lan Zhan’s company.

He remembers seeing Lan Zhan carrying bags of groceries up these very same steps, the way his strength was like another presence between them. How Lan Zhan had found him ready to pass out on this top step that day, when the dizziness had caught up to him. How much he cared. How Lan Zhan could be compared to a creme brulee, hard to crack but soft and gooey on the inside.

His Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan was his, as much as Wei Ying belonged to him in the best way. He needed Lan Zhan like his next breath, and to be deprived of him felt like Wei Ying was suffocating.

He forced himself to punch in the code of his door, doing it automatically until he realised that it was busted, and PoPo had told him she was wedging a chair against the handle to stop anyone coming in.

He had to call her.

She answered on the first ring, and he knew that despite her bravado, she hadn't managed to go back to sleep again.

Her voice echoed in that tinny way of being too close to a radio when using a mobile phone, and that was followed by the shuffling sounds of furniture being moved, and then the door opened.

Wei Ying gave in and wrapped his arms around her, as soon as he could.

PoPo was safe.

He let out another shuddering breath, soothed by her hands patting his back. She must have been so scared, all by herself. Her warmth seeped into his body, comforting him.

"Hush now, Haizi. I'm alright." Then she looked past him to the grim faces of XiChen and MingJue, whose presence was overwhelming even without his frown. "Where is WangJi?"

Wei Ying wasn't prepared to feel it so harshly, that missing presence eating away at his insides. Acid in his veins even as he tried to be strong.

There was no point in making her worry, either, and for once, Wei Ying was glad for the lump in his throat that prevented him from saying too much.

"PoPo, it's not safe here. We came to get you," he tells her, stuffing whatever he thought she needed into plastic bags.

"What? Why, because of them?" She gestured behind her, towards the children's room.

Again, Wei Ying felt that horrible panic, the awful helpless feeling that bad people were after his kids. Thank Goodness they weren't here.

Whether it was solely good fortune, or a quirk of the Universe, whatever had them leaving their treasures at the Lan Manor couldn't have been a coincidence, and for the first time that night, Wei Ying took strength from that realisation.

If ever he needed to believe in the truth that Good always triumphs over Evil, he needed that assurance now.

This fight they were about to enter into now, it had been going on for ages, not just decades.

From the moment that Wen Mao had fought with his grandfather.

And tonight, it was going to end.

**********

A/N

Dear Beautiful Readers who are ever so patient with me, hehe,

Thank you so much for sticking with me, even if you hate the cliffhangers, but then, you all know me by now.

I can promise you a happy ending, that's for sure, but as for what's going to happen next, really and truly, I don't know. I've never planned much and if I do, it always changes, so now I don't bother. But I'm sorry for your suffering, and that's why there's another update now, before I go to work.

There was much more to be added in this chapter, but it'll have to go in the next one now.

Have a great day, and here's some chocolate to tide you over until tomorrow.

🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫

Charlie