Read on Twitter
original thread/part 1 link here, without which this won't make much (or any sense):
https://twitter.com/sunbirb/status/1260250983659077638
if u want to forge ahead regardless, ganbatte! good luck! i cannot be held accountable! etc
https://twitter.com/sunbirb/status/1260250983659077638
if u want to forge ahead regardless, ganbatte! good luck! i cannot be held accountable! etc
depending on where you start and who you choose to start with, the story will change. for example, if you choose nie huaisang as a narrator, the story begins in 1897, when him and jin guangyao kill their first man together.
like the beginning of most habits, the first instance is a borderline accident. they have travelled to edinburgh on behalf of lan xichen and nie mingjue, who have split away and gone to london, both pairs planning to appeal to separate investors on the same evening.
nie mingjue was not pleased with the decision to allow jgy and nhs to travel alone and unaccompanied. jgy had made some piqued comment about how he was hardly an unmarried daughter. his lack of virtue, and who he might render responsible, was left implied.
nhs had pointed out that nmj had always wanted him to take more interest in family matters. in the train compartment, nhs had chattered excitedly at jgy, who had smiled a smile less of active listening than of general habit, and looked out of the window at the countryside.
in nhs' memory, it must be the originating incident took place in 1897, because they had been living in england for nearly two years. somehow, despite everything, it appeared that there had been a generous provision made for jgy in his father's latest will, which undercut
the previous iterations, ones where jgy had been left an amount to ensure the appearance of duty, but a number so small as to really speak of contempt. it took over a year for jgy to receive his full share, in 1896, and they were already out of america, residing instead now
in the house nhs' grandfather had bought half a century prior, with dreams of regenerating a family fortune via the clay deposits under the soil. and jgy was not his brother's wife, not in the legal sense, so the money remained in his possession alone. he had gone through it
with an accountant's eye and said: if i give you everything else i have, we will still only last the year, da-ge.
so: investors.
suffice to say, the meeting was not a success in the conventional sense.
so: investors.
suffice to say, the meeting was not a success in the conventional sense.
nhs had heard....whispers about the man his brother had let into their home, ones that were disquieting and that lan xichen, who had loved his brother with earnestness and loyalty ever since that cold evening in 1887, dismissed as idle cruelty towards their newest addition.
about his background, his mother, about what he had done and what he had been prepared to do to give her medicine when the last bite of her long illness arrived for her, after jin guangshan turned him out of a public opera house and down the steps, and then again to give her
the dignity of a private and decent funeral.
nie huaisang suspected they were all true, because he suspected he was made of the same steel, underneath it all. that if it had been for his brother, his only brother, he'd have slept his way through an army, ravaged a city,
nie huaisang suspected they were all true, because he suspected he was made of the same steel, underneath it all. that if it had been for his brother, his only brother, he'd have slept his way through an army, ravaged a city,
fucked murdered cheated lied beaten anyone, anything, and smiled whilst he was doing it, and thanked them for the opportunity. so when the meeting goes sour, and it becomes clear they are expected to do more of the same - shown into a private room in a gentleman's club for the
sake of it - and jin guangyao puts a hand on nie huaisang's arm and says, in a terrible, composed voice, for him to leave, nie huaisang does not leave. he says instead he will watch the door. and this makes jin guangyao, resolute at his own father's funeral, waver.
nie huaisang knew it would.
"i am trying to help your family," jin guangyao says, switching language, something he told nie huaisang explicitly never to do in front of investors.
"i am trying to help your family," jin guangyao says, switching language, something he told nie huaisang explicitly never to do in front of investors.
nie huaisang is the youngest, and he makes an error: he hesitates. the investor smells hesitation. they're both swept up and into a carriage before anything else can be said, and nhs listens to jgy bartering nhs out of the situation, affecting calm with the whites of his eyes
visible, glowing in the semi-dark of the carriage, which is another way of saying a box, really, isn't it, which is another way of saying a coffin, isn't it, and oh, this has even gotten out of jin guangyao's control, hasn't it? da-ge will kill him, nhs thinks absently, and isn't
sure which of the other two men he's thinking of with that statement. then it happens. the man puts his hand on nie huaisang's thigh and jin guangyao slaps it away, with a speed and ferocity that nie huaisang will later realise he only allows out at select moments.
the man strikes jin guangyao across the face in retaliation. for a beat, there is only breathing in the carriage, and jin guangyao meets nie huaisang's eyes in the half-dark and they share a moment of perfect, total clarity.
they lunge as one.
they lunge as one.
it turns out it is a messy, tiring business, to kill a man. in the end, they strangle him, down on the floor, aware that the cab driver was told to ignore all noise from within, taking turns when their hands tire, one always holding down the legs for the other.
once he's dead, they return to their seats, rest their feet on the dead man's stomach, and consider their options.
"they'll hang us," nie huaisang says.
"no," jin guangyao says, again eerily calm, like shutting a music box and cutting off the song. he crouches in the enclosed space and begins going through the man's jacket, his personal effects. "no, i would simply say i acted alone."
"no," jin guangyao says, again eerily calm, like shutting a music box and cutting off the song. he crouches in the enclosed space and begins going through the man's jacket, his personal effects. "no, i would simply say i acted alone."
there is an amount of money that is eye-watering.
"pity," jin guangyao sighs, "it ought to have been more. cheap bastard."
"have you done this before?" nie huaisang asks. he's still trembling. jin guangyao looks at him silently. there's a streak of blood smearing from his lip.
"pity," jin guangyao sighs, "it ought to have been more. cheap bastard."
"have you done this before?" nie huaisang asks. he's still trembling. jin guangyao looks at him silently. there's a streak of blood smearing from his lip.
his head is ringing with exertion, with questions; jin guangyao leans over, wipes the sweat from his face with his own shirt cuff, presses a kiss to his hairline. it's almost comforting.
"i would do anything for your brother," jin guangyao tells him, and returns to his work.
"i would do anything for your brother," jin guangyao tells him, and returns to his work.
[finishing up here for today!!!]
i wanted to link this at the end of this thread, because @verdaenoir drew this breathtaking art for this au and i am going to make literally everyone look at it always forever https://twitter.com/verdaenoir/status/1260442936459878402
