QT: Don't fall in love with the Male Lead

Xi Zirui stays silent during the qi transfer. He focuses on opening his meridians and letting the qi flow from his body into Han Yu's -- making him stronger, helping him fight the poison cursing through him.

The downside is that the more Xi Zirui transfers, the weaker he grows. It's harder and harder to keep his mind clear the longer the transference goes on. 

His mind grows sluggish and heavy -- losing qi is not unlike losing blood. Except to a cultivator it's perhaps even more vital. 

Your qi can help you replenish blood loss, but the only thing that can replenish depleted qi is meditation and the interaction with the natural world. 

Depending on how much qi is lost, that can be a long process.

If all qi is exhausted, it can be fatal.

Xi Zirui senses the world growing dark around the edges, dimmer with each passing second.

He's faintly aware of Han Yu's voice sounding very faint, as if coming from a great distance.

"Gege, enough!"

Xi Zirui is aware of movement in front of him, which makes him lose his balance and list forward.

Han Yu catches him in his arms. "Too much, gege gave me too much."

Struggling to focus on his blurry face, Xi Zirui reaches an unfortunate conclusion: even too much isn't enough.

The wound on Han Yu's chest has scarcely stopped bleeding, and Xi Zirui can tell from all the places their skin touch that the poison is still coursing through Han Yu.

At the best, he has bought him a little time. 

Maybe if they get out of the cave and find Master Ouyang and the others it will be possible to save him.

Xi Zirui feels a gentle touch on his fox ears, nimble fingers smoothing over the velvety fur. "They're very beautiful," Han Yu says, his tone reverent. "I wondered if I would ever see them again."

It takes great effort, but Xi Zirui manages to order his thoughts enough to make sense of what Han Yu is saying. "When- when did you see them?"

Han Yu shifts him around, until Xi Zirui is once again laying on his lap and looking up at his handsome face. His injuries don't detract from his obvious beauty, and for a moment Xi Zirui can't see him as an annoying junior any longer.

"That day, when gege ran out of that inn his ears were showing too." He runs his fingers over Xi Zirui's ear again, and smiles, reminiscing. "That's why I told you to leave at once. I didn't want anyone else to find you."

Xi Zirui has no memory of his ears being visible back then, but it's likely that in a stressful situation his control over his appearance wasn't the best. Especially in those first few days after Tuya's death, when everything felt like an open wound, and he could barely keep himself together to survive another day.

"Why didn't you tell your father?"

Han Yu is silent for a time and then finally says. "I didn't want him to destroy another beautiful thing."

His eyes grow distant and sad, and it might be the result of his injuries, but Xi Zirui can tell it's an old hurt. Probably related to whatever he saw that drove a wedge between him and his father.

"Thank you, for then." Xi Zirui struggles to take a next breath, his mind growing even more heavy and confused. "And for now."

Han Yu's fingers travel down from his ears, towards his jaw. "Gege is talking nonsense." 

Xi Zirui lets out an airy chuckle. Han Yu's smile slips.

"Gege is bleeding."

Han Yu's thumb swipes over his bottom lip and comes up red.

Ah, that explains the wet feeling in Xi Zirui's chest. There's probably blood in his lungs.

He must have burst his meridians when transferring qi to Han Yu. Likely due to being disoriented from his fall, he didn't notice just how weak he was getting.

"You need to find a way out," Xi Zirui says, lifting a trembling finger towards the gap they fell through, the weak rays of moonlight barely lighting the chamber in which they are now.

"I'm not going without gege," Han Yu says, that haunted look still evident in his pale face.

"You're barely strong enough to get yourself out, let alone me."

It's becoming harder and harder to argue with him, and Xi Zirui is starting to resent the effort. "Come back for me later, I can't even hide my true form. I can't let anyone see me like this."

He sees a flash of steel in Han Yu's clear gaze, despite his youth he's not stupid, he knows that what Xi Zirui is suggesting is tantamount to suicide. "If I wait to come back for gege I'll only find a corpse."

Maybe Xi Zirui is fine with that. 

There's something in the hard set of Han Yu's jaw that tells him he's going to make things difficult for Heavenly Dragon sect, whether he knows it or not.

Maybe that can be Xi Zirui's revenge.

"Unless you can achieve a breakthrough in your cultivation right this instant, this discussion is pointless." Xi Zirui closes his eyes, finally giving in into the darkness seeping in at the edge of his vision. "Be a good junior and do as your senior says."

After that, Xi Zirui doesn't remember anything at all.

---

It's the sound of birds chirping that wakes him up.

It only takes Xi Zirui a moment after opening his eyes to realize that something is wrong.

For some reason, he's laying in bed in his quarters in Heavenly Dragon sect...but how can that have happened?

"Oh, you're finally awake," comes a voice from the doorway.

With great effort Xi Zirui sits up in his bed, trying to focus his bleary eyes until the shape on the doorway becomes solid, and he recognizes Su Xueyi.

"Shizun," Xi Zirui asks, trying to get his thoughts in order. "How long was I asleep?"

Su Xueyi comes closer to him, his eyebrows drawn in consternation. "Two years. Your shidi hasn't left your side once."

Xi Zirui is briefly confused by that information, until a familiar voice yells, "Shixiong!"