The following night, he went out needing to be away from the silence. 

He crossed a couple of streets from his flat, minding the traffic lights as he passed under them, entering through an ivory colored door leading to one of the popular pubs, Tabby’s Witch Experiment. 

He hadn’t intended to meet anyone, coming here mostly for food, but much to his reluctance, he found himself invited to join his old college mates, Jie Bai, Xiao Yu, and… His mouth fell open at the last person. 

Li Wei… 

Li Wei was here in London? 

Zhen Xue took a seat with his feet pointed towards the door—an old habit to bring relief when his anxiety acted up. His body was already sweating, engulfed by his oversize jacket. 

For once, he was grateful to be ignored, though to his horror, he realized Li Wei was still watching him twenty minutes later.

He felt too awkward to attempt a smile, worrying listlessly whether this man found out he wrote him into his fantasy novel. He wasn’t a popular author, but his published book, The Water God and His Silver Dragoness, did grab enough attention to reach the news outlets. Oh dear, god… What was he thinking back then? He was ready to abandon the entire series should Li Wei discover his little secret and hate him for it.

Li Wei only smiled softly, tilting his head. Under the amber light, Zhen Xue thought he looked ethereal, breathtaking, exotic. Li Wei’s fur coat shifted as he leaned forward enough so that only he could hear. “There’s actually two ways to leave this building,” he said as though sharing a secret.

Zhen Xue, dumbfounded, caught himself staring for too long once again. The idea of pulling out his notebook and writing about him in more detail overwhelmed him, making his hands itch at his sides. 

From a certain angle, he really did remind him of the silver masked ghost. Those sapphire eyes glimmered with the same light and golden hair bright as the sun, but the idea Li Wei bought that run down mansion upon moving to a new country was preposterous. Li Wei was a man of class. Moreover, he couldn’t possibly know about ghosts. Very few people that lived here were aware of the dire situation—that ghosts were slowly taking over the human world. 

Xiao Yu and Jie Bai were conversing on their own, so Zhen Xue returned to Li Wei, taking his bait with a vague smile. “Just two?” he asked leisurely, aware he’d been caught for wanting to leave. “I thought there were three?”

Li Wei’s brows knitted together as he studied the room further. “You can’t possibly mean through the window.”

His reaction was so enthralling, Zhen Xue almost didn’t want to reveal the answer. He tapped his foot against the floorboards, drawing Li Wei’s attention to the floor which hid the basement few knew about.

Li Wei’s eyebrow raised. “In a place like this?”

He nodded with some satisfaction that he knew something that Li Wei didn’t. “Tabby’s Witch Experiment has another business underground, one less known to the public for... Let’s just say, less ethical practices.”

He leaned across the table, whispering lower than before. “You don’t mean...”

“Indeed,” he confirmed, playing along with their theatrics. 

This pub sold the ‘magical mushroom’ or rather, a hallucinogenic drug. Overall harmless, but according to Aelius had been a headache to deal with as of late. 

Apparently, there was an altered version that could lead users into spouts of maniac behavior or something like that. The actual circumstances were more humorous with folks singing Christmas carols or confessing their love for strangers—an excellent subject for gossip, which Li Wei clearly loved to do with how he drank in every word.

“Unbelievable… And right in the middle of town?! How has no one shut them down yet?”

Zhen Xue grinned. “They already get a lot of business from the bar, but I guess that’s corporate greed for you. Once they’ve had a taste of cash flow, they can’t get enough.” His words rolled off his tongue as he became more comfortable with Li Wei.

Li Wei stared back with an unreadable smile—a sight that postponed the realization his feet were no longer pointed towards the door. “Thanks for coming tonight. Without you, I fear my evening would’ve been most uneventful.”

Zhen Xue laughed, feeling a bitter pang in his chest. “You must have lived a dull life. I’m not that interesting…”

“On the contrary,” Li Wei countered with a soft smile. “You are the most fascinating person I have ever met,” he went on, appearing to mean every word. “Shall we get out of here?”

There was such silence in his head. He lifted his gaze from the table, questioning if he misheard him. Jie Bai and Xiao Yu appeared to stop talking long ago. He found Jie Bai watching them with vague interest, sipping on his yellow drink. For their conversation to reach such an end, couldn’t have been more awkward.

The server appeared at Li Wei’s side, handing over a steaming cup of honey tea. Li Wei passed it to him without a second thought. He made the action seem completely natural, like he’d done it many times.

Zhen Xue froze at the steam rising from the cup, a puddle of warmth filling his chest. 

“Ah, I thought you could use something warm,” he explained. “The weather is particularly cold tonight.”

What was this familiarity? He didn’t feel so alone at the table anymore.

Lost in thought, he failed to notice Jie Bai grab his hair, pulling his head back enough to open his mouth. His eyes widened, blood running cold as Xiao Yu dumped half the contents of an alcoholic drink down his throat. 

A shattering noise erupted throughout the restaurant.

The scene distracted Jie Bai, allowing Zhen Xue to pull away, choking and teary-eyed. It was then he realized Li Wei had casually slapped Xiao Yu’s wrist, sending the shot glass flying into the wall. The pub went quiet, drawing attention to their table.

Xiao Yu glared at Li Wei, fists clenched at his sides. “Are you crazy?!”

Li Wei’s smile held both sweetness and venom as he retorted, “And here I was going to ask the same about you.” He sat forward with interest. “Let’s resolve this like adults, shall we?”

Li Wei clasped his hands together with delight and revealed another smile—one that made Xiao Yu flinch. He grabbed Xiao Yu by the scruff of his clothes, pulling him back into his seat. “Server!” he shouted, grabbing the attention of the woman who gave them their drinks. “We’ll take six more shot glasses. Oh, and the check!”

The scene that followed was impressive. Li Wei made sure Xiao Yu finished every drink, leaving him near unconscious before sliding the check to Jie Bai and making his way out the door with Zhen Xue in tow. 

Only when they were finally alone did Zhen Xue release his withheld laughter, laughing so hard that he almost forgot about the whole terrible incident. His chest rumbled and ached, tears pouring from his eyes, recalling the sight of Xiao Yu and Jie Bai rendered speechless. They bullied him relentlessly in college, constantly putting him into embarrassing situations. To say the least, their suffering was like a heavy weight lifting from his soul. 

His balance wobbled in the snow as he walked on the path that led towards his apartment, continuing to laugh as the world spun before him. Just when he thought he was going to fall over, a hand was steady on his back.

Li Wei walked beside him like nothing happened, his hands moving to rest behind his own back, still within reach.

Snow gently fell around them, adding to the thick white blanket already coating the ground. The hazy, fluttering snowflakes drifted around them. Distant street lights paired with fairy lights overhead created a warm glow.

For a rare occasion, Zhen Xue sighed completely relaxed. He looked up at the night sky, resting his hands behind his head. Cold snowflakes fell against his lashes and bare skin, but they didn’t feel unwelcome. “What’s it like being a teacher?” he asked, recalling Li Wei’s ambitions during their college years. The thought of their past saddened him that they hadn’t grown closer. “Doesn’t it get stressful?”

After a moment of interpretation, Li Wei laughed, and Zhen Xue swore it was the softest, most serotonin inducing sound he’d ever heard. “Sometimes,” Li Wei admitted with a sort of sad, honest smile. “But I think it’s a wonderful job,” he went on, looking more prideful about it. “To give people knowledge is a rare blessing.”

Yes, those words felt fitting for him, like looking at an old friend. While Zhen Xue listened to him talk about his job, he thought Li Wei sounded like he genuinely loved his work, and that knowledge oddly made him happy. All that Zhen Xue knew for certain was Li Wei could be the first real friend he ever had. A thought that inherently made him shake from nerves considering his history of relationships, but also from excitement at the prospect. 

From what he remembered about Li Wei, he seemed like the type that would enjoy cozy atmospheres and sharing coffee over a good book. Zhen Xue could feel the bubble of hope rising in his gut, though he tried not to pay too much mind to it, fearful of getting his heart broken again. His mouth opened, about to ask if Li Wei was free tomorrow, when a man with long silver hair stared at them from a distance. 

Every nerve in his body froze to solid ice, images of his family’s death rushing through his mind, ultimately shattering whatever elation he felt. He squinted through the snow that came down harder, as though purposely concealing most of the silver-haired man’s features. There was an aura of mystery surrounding this person, accentuated by his pale features and subtle smile.

His heart leaped into his throat. 

There was no way that wasn’t the same ghost he’d been hunting down. For a moment, Zhen Xue played with the idea that he was mistaken, but not after seeing that smile. Not after he caught the way his lips tilted upwards, like there was some sick satisfaction in what he’d done. The sight made his stomach twist, picturing all over again how his family died, buried beneath the rubble while he himself lived on unscathed.

The sick bastard took a step backwards, enticing him to follow.

Zhen Xue’s restraint, already on the edge, snapped at that moment. 

He didn’t care about anything other than catching that bastard, thus ignoring how Li Wei flinched when he propelled past him into a high winded chase.

The clock tower in the distance tolled one in the morning, clanging loudly through the wind that clung to him mercilessly. The freezing cold went into his eyes, nose, and throat, stinging his waterlines until he blinked repeatedly to keep them open. He counted each clang that mounted to thirteen—a process that felt extremely slow, yet pushed him forward all the same. 

He would often dream of this moment, visualize it while laying awake at night, but would always end up too slow. 

Suddenly, the clock stopped resounding through the night. All he could hear was the sharp wind and their rugged footsteps pounding against the snow-covered earth. Everything was sickeningly pretty—a white winter wonderland, but what struck him the most was how they were the only ones thrust into chaos. The night felt normal, just like that night long ago, when everything went wrong.

Almost absently, he realized that the thought he’d shrunk wasn’t just his imagination. His body had literally transformed into a child—himself, he realized upon recognizing his hands, but that thought doesn’t linger around. His target was so close he could almost feel him in his grasp, forcing him to the ground with his hands around his throat. And, with a dark satisfaction, he thought, maybe he would kill him after getting his answers.

In the blink of an eye, the man hopped into the carriage parked by the road. 

Zhen Xue fumbled around in his new body, unable to do anything as the door shut between them just as his fingertips grazed the man’s shirt.

Impulsively, he jumped off the ground, grabbing onto the ledge to the driver’s seat. The person handling the reins became startled and snapped them, sending the horses and carriage into motion at alarming speed. Meanwhile, Zhen Xue gripped the rim of the wood tighter, miraculously climbing to the top. The driver, a young boy about his age, flinched at the sight of Zhen Xue, his green eyes widening the size of his fist.

With quick thinking, Zhen Xue shoved a hand over his mouth to quiet him.

The carriage swung to the left, knocking them both to the side as they narrowly avoided going over the edge of a cliff. From this height, one can see for miles and witness the golden lanterns floating among the stars, and how the lights flickered from the city below as locals enjoyed the festivities… Cassanova’s spring festival. 

Zhen Xue’s hands fell slack at his sides, the boy long forgotten. 

In a delirious sort of way, he released a feeble laugh. The ghost ended up in the one place he knew better than the modern world.

“Dianxia,” the boy mumbled with reverence, as though the word was a sacred treasure he rediscovered. His dark hair fell over his eyes as he bowed his head, heart pounding loud enough Zhen Xue could hear it over the noise from the carriage. Ming Yi, he realized, the male lead from his story, glanced up with his green eyes set ablaze with fervor. “You’ve returned.”