#lingcheng

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fic:

It's already late in the evening when the doorbell rings. A boy stands outside with his yellow coat loosely hanging on him, drenched from the rain. There's a piece of paper in his hand that he silently hands to Jiang Cheng.

Take care of him, it says.

"I'm Jin Ling," the boy introduces himself.

The cold air makes Jiang Cheng shiver, too stunned to really notice it. He doesn’t ’t know the boy, yet he strangely looks familiar.

Take care of him. Take care of Jin Ling, he guesses. But who is Jin Ling?

He has seen the handwriting somewhere, his brain supplies, giving him mixed feelings. Shock. Unease. Hope and desperation.

"Are you Jiang Cheng?" The boy asks. Jiang Cheng nods. "I'm your nephew."

"I don't have a nephew."

"You do, now. Can I come in?" Jiang Cheng stares and Jin Ling shrugs, nonchalant. "Or I can go. I don't have to stay, to be honest. Shushu only told me to come here."

Take care of him. The ink is stained, the paper weary. Old or used, perhaps both. The rain didn’t help its condition.

"Who's shushu?" Jiang Cheng asks, gripping the paper.

"My other uncle. Jin Guangyao."

Jin Guangyao.

The letters are delicate. Soft and inviting.

He knows who Jin Guangyao is. Bastard of Jin Guangshan. Half brother to Jin Zixuan. Uncle of Jin Ling, apparently.

Jiang Cheng licks his lips, trying to ignore his trembling hands. He isn't fond of the anticipation curling around in his stomach.

"And your parents?"

Jin Ling's eyes are devoid of emotion. Jiang Cheng isn't fond of that, either. Not when he uses those eyes to break him the news.

"Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli."

The note in his hand has seen better days. Jiang Cheng adds to its weariness, unconsciously crumpling it.

Take care of him, it screams now. Begs. Tells him gently and lovingly.

That's why it was familiar. He hasn't seen it in years, but part of him recognised his sister's handwriting.

**

He ends up letting Jin Ling in quietly; neither of them saying anything, just Jiang Cheng opening the door wider and moving out of the way. Gesturing at the floor where his own shoes rest, other hand still gripping the note.

He watches as Jin Ling discards his muddy shoes. He doesn’t reprimand him and the boy doesn't apologise. The yellow coat gets hanged, water slowly dripping on the floor. He doesn’t care, not at the moment.

He tells his- his nephew, to wait in the bathroom while he gets some spare clothes. Jin Ling seems obedient enough, sitting on the side of the bathtub, nodding. He doesn’t ask for permission to start the hot water and Jiang Cheng doesn’t tell him to stop.

Note in hand, he heads to his bedroom, pretending that he isn’t close to a mental breakdown.

He hasn't seen her sister in years. Hasn't heard of her. Nor her husband.

She disappeared years ago, some time after their parents died. It didn't seem suspicious at the time. She and Jin Zixuan got married. Jiang Cheng walked her down the line. She was beautiful. Happy.

Then she and her new husband packed up their things, leaving only a letter in Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's mail.

She told them she loved them. That it wasn’t their fault, it wasn’t Jin Zixuanxa fault. That it was a mutual decision between husband and wife with a good reason that she couldn't tell them. She wished them the best and asked not to be followed. To respect her decision.

They didn't. How could they? One moment they were all celebrating I'm bliss, and the next they get a neat and flimsy letter about a goodbye. It wasn’t like her. It was insane.

Of course they followed their sister. Tried to, at least, but they never found her. Some crumbs here and there, but all their leads went cold eventually.

And then Wei Wuxian found her. It was an accident, from what Jiang Cheng was told. Because he was only told. First on the phone, then in person with Wei Wuxian, alone. No Yanli. Not even Jin Zixuan.

Wei Wuxian looked pale. He knew something Jiang Cheng didn’t and he refused to share.

Jiejie is okay. She's happy with him. You don't need to worry.

Of course Jiang Cheng worried. A second didn’t pass by without him worrying. Wei Wuxian knew that.

Where is she?

I… I can't tell you that.

Wei Wuxian said he promised not to.

It was insane.

It hurt.

It made him mad.

Jiang Cheng thought Wei Wuxian was just joking. Hoped. An ill timed attempt to make him smile of relief when Wei Wuxian would grin at him and ask, did you really believed that?

Wei Wuxian didn’t grin. Didn’t even smile, just wore that sad, dready expression on his stupid face, like it physically hurt to withhold the information.

Yet he didn't budge.

Jiang Cheng suspected that if they hadn't already been talking on the phone when Wei Wuxian saw Jiang Yanli, he wouldn't even know that. Wei Wuxian would have slowly worked on him to give up the search without telling him about seeing their sister.

It just made Jiang Cheng angrier. His pleads led to nothing, so he tried talking with his fists.

Wei Wuxian didn't even try to fight back. It just made things worse.

He made it clear that if Wei Wuxian wasn't willing to tell him where his sister is, tell him why she went away, he wasn’t welcome in his life.

That was the last he heard of his brother, too.

He searched for his sister alone then, for a long time. As he kept running into walls, he wondered if Wei Wuxian helped them.

Then Jin Guangyao broke the news of his sister and her husband's death. He never mentioned a son. Denied it even, with that bastardly mask on his face.

And Jiang Cheng believed him.

They buried the bodies together.

And now Jin Ling, son of Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan sits in his bathroom, sent by Jin Guangyao.

He looks at the note, reads it again.

Take care of him, his sister tells him.

He takes a shaky breath and pushes down the turmoil inside him. Pushes and pushes until it's sealed in a rattling box, contained just enough to get himself through the night.

Then, he puts the note down on his desk, gets some clothes he thinks will fit the boy, and leaves the room without a second thought.

**

Jin Ling is quiet. He takes everything Jiang Cheng gives him, listens to what he says, acknowledging him with only a few words and glances at him.

He's distant, but that's okay. Jiang Cheng is, too.

He doesn't know what Jin Ling knows. Isn't sure how to ask, so he doesn't., and makes food instead, while the boy soaks in the water.

He calls Jin Guangyao a few times. He never picks up. He doesn't call Wei Wuxian. Couldn’t, even if he wanted to, he deleted his number in a fit of anger and he doesn't remember it anymore.

He's utterly alone as he stares at the frying eggs. He takes out some ham and quickly adds it to the pan, just to distract himself, and flexes his fingers to try and get rid of the trembling.

It doesn't work.

He drops an egg on the floor and he wants to scream as he destroys his kitchen. He doesn't do either, just throws out the egg and cleans.

Jin Ling finds him after he made two successful servings, the other three already in the bin. The clothes are a bit big for him, but it's acceptable.

"Thought you might be hungry," Jiang Cheng says as he places a plate in front of Jin Ling. The boy stares and Jiang Cheng stares back.

"Thanks," he says. He takes a seat and Jiang Cheng does the same.

They don't talk for a while. Jiang Cheng focuses on forcing down the food and trying not to vomit.

It's Jin Ling that breaks the silence.

"Are you not gonna ask?"

"Are you gonna answer?"

Jin Ling shrugs. Jiang Cheng makes a noise that says thought so. They get back to eating. Jin Ling clears his plate, while Jiang Cheng's portion joins the others in the bin. He doesn't bother to wash the utensils, placing them in the sink and leaving them there.

He doesn't have a spare bedroom, only a shitty couch. Most of his resources went down the drain trying to find his sister.

He wonders if he should take the couch. He should, shouldn't he? If Jin Ling really is his nephew. Even if he isn’t, he's just a kid. How old is he anyway? When was he born? How long after Yanli ran away?

"Is it okay if I sleep here?" Jin Ling asks, and points to the couch when he gets Jiang Cheng's attention.

He nods.

"Cool. Thanks."

So Jiang Cheng gets a pillow, a blanket and a sheet to drape over the couch. He gets no complaints.

"I can be gone before you wake up," Jin Ling says then.

"Why?" Jiang Cheng asks, as if he has no idea. Jin Ling huffs.

"I'm just a guy who showed up at your front door. At night. I'm surprised you even let me in."

"You are my sister's kid."

"You really believe that?"

"Yeah."

He isn’t sure if he wants to believe it, but he does. He recognises Jin Ling as some relative, at least. He noticed the features he shared with Jin Zixuan. The eyes told him about Yanli.

Well, maybe he just sees what he wants. It's a long night, after all.

Jin Ling still doesn't show much emotion, but his frown was still something. The thought of him opening up runs through Jiang Cheng's mind. He hushes it away.

"You are not what I expected," Jin Ling tells him.

"What did you expect?"

"I don't know."

Jiang Cheng can relate to that.

"I'll figure out a better sleeping arrangement later," he says instead of answering. "The couch is not that comfortable."