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Just 30 li away from the Rain Sect, tucked away in a small town a little north of the main road, was a company called “Happy’s Bodyguard Bureau.” The place did exactly what the name said it did: it offered bodyguards to people who wanted to hire one temporarily. The company was quite popular, customers were never lacking, and reviews were great.
There were many rumors that the infamous warrior who had left the Jiashi sect, Ye Xiu, currently worked for Happy’s Bodyguard Bureau. Frequent clients, though, would have to strongly disagree. The listless man who seemed to be a permanent fixture of the front counter seemed like the furthest thing from the most powerful bodyguard in the bureau. In addition, his shameless personality and beyond infuriating attitude made clients hesitant to even approach him.
Until the afternoon came when a mysterious man kicked open the bureau’s doors and walked in with a huge spiritual animal prancing around by his side. The clients were scared half to death. Who was this muscled man, and why did a terrifying face like his even need to hire a bodyguard? Plus, walking around so casually with a huge animal like that, would anyone even dare attack him? The clients could only ponder this in confusion as they dipped their heads lower.
On the other hand, Ye Xiu, who had been slumped in his seat behind the counter, sat up straighter. He nodded his head in greeting.
“Old Han, to what do I owe the pleasure?” he said with a hint of a smile on his face.
“Ye Xiu, I believe you promised me a date?” the mysterious man said, his face stone cold. This man was Han Wenqing, Ye Xiu’s long time boyfriend. His spiritual animal next to him was a snow white tiger named Dust.
Ye Xiu was not affected by Han Wenqing’s strong aura like the customers were, and his face remained passive. “Old Han I’m working, come back later,” he said easily.
Neither Han Wenqing nor his spiritual animal moved a muscle. “You’re not doing anything right now.” The countertop was squeaky clean, and he could tell that Ye Xiu had just been aggressively staring at the wall before he entered. Ye Xiu did not even have to talk with the customers, since his coworkers were tasked to deal with that.
“I’m working.” Ye Xiu wouldn’t back down.
“No, you’re not.”
Next to him, Dust growled impatiently.
“I can’t just leave, I do this for a living.” An unstoppable force and an unmovable object indeed.
“Then I’ll hire you. You can’t deny I can do that, can you?” Han Wenqing declared with finality.
Ye Xiu leaned forwards and placed his chin in his hands. He couldn’t stop the excited grin from entering his face. “That’s one way to do it, Old Han.”
Ye Xiu pulled out some paperwork from below the countertop and placed the sheets on the table.
“Any enemies I should know about? Any grudges, haters, or angry exes?” he asked.
“No.”
“Have any odd occurrences happen near you recently? Anything to be suspicious of?”
“Ye Xiu- ”
“Mandatory questions, Old Han, mandatory questions. Sign here.” He took out a brush and ink and let Han Wenqing sign the paper.
“Alright, you have me for the rest of the day.” Ye Xiu stood up and stretched. “Wait here while I go get my umbrella.”
Han Wenqing caught his wrist just as he was about to turn. “You don’t need your spiritual weapon.”
Ye Xiu rolled his eyes. “Fine fine, but if we get attacked and die it’s your fault.”
The white tiger by Han Wenqing’s side finally relaxed as Ye Xiu came out from behind the counter.
Ye Xiu turned back towards the back of the bureau. “Chen Guo,” he shouted to his boss, “Someone hired me so I'm going to leave.”
A distant ‘ok’ could be heard from another room.
And just like that, the two men and a tiger walked out of the bureau doors. Clients breathed a sigh of relief when the doors clicked shut.
-
A small ordinary wagon was parked in front of the bureau, and Han Wenqing patted the horse’s back as he climbed into the driver's seat, offering a hand to help Ye Xiu up.
As the wagon started moving, Ye Xiu took a closer look at his boyfriend. Today, instead of wearing the traditional robes from the Tyr Sect, he was wearing regular traveling robes, something that Ye Xiu rarely saw him in.
Ye Xiu whistled. “Oh man Old Han, you can’t actually have snuck out of the Tyr Sect to go on a date with me?”
Han Wenqing grunted but kept his eyes on the road.
“What will Zhang Xinjie think when he finds you missing?” Ye Xiu laughed. “I can just imagine his face.” He pulled up an expression that looked like a cross between a dying cat and a scared goose, and wheezed at Han Wenqing’s unimpressed look.
After he stopped laughing, Ye Xiu reached down and placed his hand on the impossibly soft white fur of the spiritual animal padding alongside the wagon. Many ordinary people would cower at the sight of the scary tiger, but to Ye Xiu, Dust was one of the prettiest spiritual animals he had ever seen. Under his hand, Dust purred and rubbed up closer.
Ye Xiu reached into his mind and summoned his own spiritual animal down next to Dust. Ye Xiu’s spiritual animal was a qilin named Grim. Grim was a combination of several animals: he had the head of a dragon, the body of a deer, and hooves of a horse. Grim’s tail and horns were a deep red color, while his pelt was a dull shimmering gold.
Upon seeing Grim appear next to him, Dust growled playfully and pounced on the qilin. Although Grim was large in size, Dust was still way bigger, and he could only dodge and run. The two of them disappeared into the underbrush on the side of the road. Once in a while they would pop back out next to the wagon only to playfully disappear once again. Neither Ye Xiu nor Han Wenqing were too worried they would get hurt, and let them chase each other around.
After about a 30 minute drive, the wagon approached the gates of the Rain Sect, and the two spiritual animals calmed down.
The Rain Sect was known for its prosperity and wealth, and the main square definitely did not disappoint. Carts, vendors and shops stood on all sides of the square advertising colorful items: many types of food, spiritual weapons, cultivation artifacts, and jewelry to name a few. Spiritual animals could also be seen everywhere, walking next to their owners or helping vendors run their shops.
Han Wenqing slowed the wagon to a stop not too far from the main square, and the two got off. Even here, the street was still very crowded, and they had to squeeze past groups of people and spiritual animals to pass through. Dust and Grim separated from them a bit here, sniffing and pawing curiously at their surroundings.
Ye Xiu slipped his hand into Han Wenqing’s larger one and started dragging his boyfriend to a section of food vendors. With Han Wenqing’s wallet in hand, Ye Xiu bought a stick of tanghulu to share and a few mouth-watering desserts.
During this time, Han Wenqing stood behind him with his arms crossed over his chest, staring curiously at his surroundings. If passerby did not look close enough, they would think that Han Wenqing was the bodyguard while Ye Xiu was the person being guarded.
Ye Xiu bent down and gave some food to the two spiritual animals, who devoured the desserts quickly.
The food vendor felt chills go down his spine and inched away quietly. What a scary bodyguard! he thought, looking at Han Wenqing, What scary spiritual animals!
Ye Xiu smiled brightly. “Come on, Old Han.”
The destination Ye Xiu had in mind next was the jewelry stores. The jade jewelry store was a little down the street, and Ye Xiu practically dragged Han Wenqing there. The crowd was nigh impossible to get through, but one glance at Han Wenqing’s scary face was all it took for a pathway to open up. Ye Xiu even thought he even saw a mother pull her child farther away from Dust and Grim.
The stall they went to was small and quaint. Trays of all sorts of jade items were out on display in front of the seller. There were jade bracelets, jade pendants, jade necklaces, everything jade.
The seller visibly wilted inside when he saw the two men and their spiritual animals.
“Hey you!” Ye Xiu grinned and waved at him. “What's the best item you have that is also the cheapest?”
The best… but the cheapest? The vendor did not understand. “Ah….” He spoke up but his voice immediately faded as he glanced at Han Wenqing’s face again. What a terrifying bodyguard!, the vendor thought as he prayed silently to the gods.
“Price is not a problem.” Han Wenqing said.
Ye Xiu reached over and picked up a jade bracelet to examine. The bracelet was a simple round band, with barely any carvings or markings along it. “Old Han what do you think about this?”
“It’s too simple, doesn’t fit you well.” Han Wenqing picked up a pendant lying a little farther away. As he lifted it up, Ye Xiu’s heart skipped a beat. The pendant was extremely pretty, intricate designs on deep green jade depicting a phoenix flying upwards.
Ye Xiu scanned the displays for something he thought Han Wenqing might like. He eyed the sets of jade earrings on the side, but then changed his mind when he saw a necklace he thought his boyfriend would like. The necklace was made up of small oval beads, and the biggest bead had a detailed design of a tiger.
The seller leaned close to Ye Xiu and muttered. “Can you tell your bodyguard to back off? He is scaring away my customers.”
Indeed, a wide circle of space had formed between the group and the busy crowd.
Han Wenqing was actually glaring this time. “I'm not his bodyguard.”
“Yeah that's just his regular face too, nothing can be done to help that.” Ye Xiu found the need to add. “Besides, I am the bodyguard.”
The seller was speechless. What type of bodyguard was this? A ferret-like creature on the seller's shoulder looked like it wanted to claw Ye Xiu’s eyes out.
“Then can you at least put your spiritual animals away? They take up too much space.” The seller tried to ask politely again.
Ye Xiu grinned at him. “No.”
Han Wenqing quickly paid for the pendant and the necklace before any more aggro could be pulled, and the four, who did indeed take up a lot of space, left.
While they were walking, Ye Xiu pulled Han Wenqing to the side. He took the just bought jade necklace in his hands and raised it up towards Han Wenqing’s face.
“Han Wenqing, this pendant really does fit you very well,” Ye Xiu murmured. Han Wenqing dipped his head to let Ye Xiu fit the string around his neck.
Dust and Grim rubbed against the lovers’ legs as they conversed.
“You have good taste,” Han Wenqing murmured back.
The larger man pulled the pendant he chose out of the bag and tied the string around Ye Xiu’s neck. Ye Xiu smiled as he felt the new weight settle on his chest.
Time seemed to stop and the surroundings blurred as Han Wenqing pulled Ye Xiu into a light kiss. “It’s getting pretty late, let’s go eat dinner.”
“Let’s. And stop looking like my bodyguard, I’m the bodyguard today.” Ye Xiu said jokingly.
Han Wenqing laughed.
The two interlaced their fingers and headed to the restaurant.
The food was good, the best Ye Xiu had had in a long time, but what made it better was the company.
With Han Wenqing sitting in front of him and the two spirit animals next to him, Ye Xiu couldn’t help but think about how happy he was. He had a steady job where he was accepted, a life surrounded by friends, and a boyfriend who loved him, what more could he possibly want?
-
On the way back to Happy’s Bureau of Boguards, Ye Xiu laid his head on Han Wenqing’s shoulder.
“Wenqing, this was fun, hire me again sometime.”
Han Wenqing smiled. “Wouldn’t your boss get suspicious?”
“As long as she gets the money she won’t care. Besides, Su Mucheng could probably come up with some decent excuse if she really does.”
“Then what if I hire you for longer? For a few days, maybe even a week? I can have you all to myself for so long.”
“Would the Tyr Sect even let you?” He knew his boyfriend was a busy man, and Ye Xiu didn’t want to end up even more hated in the Tyr Sect than he already was.
“Even if they don’t, I’ll still find ways of meeting you.”
Ye Xiu laughed and snuggled up closer to the man. It was cold that night, but Ye Xiu felt warm all over. Han Wenqing put his arm around Ye Xiu’s shoulders.
In the wagon behind them, Dust and Grim lay practically on top of each other, fast asleep.
“Wenqing, I love you.”
“I love you too, Ye Xiu.”
-
Grim!
And don't forget Dust!