“But compared to how Wu looks at me, or how Li Mei looks at me, or how Xue Hua looks at Ying Hua, I feel it’s closer to how Wu looks at Xue Hua when he’s not looking”, Xie Yi said with certainty.
Kindly, Mingtian added an explanation. “Xue Hua is my mate.” -to-be.
Lu Han gave an awkward smile. “It really is nothing. Look, even logically, there is no way a prince would take an interest in someone like me.”
Huo Cheng looked as if he was being hit, but only ever for the shortest moment before he caught his expression. A bit stressed, he cleared his throat. “As he said, Xiao Yi. You’re only misunderstanding. Well, I can’t blame you, we barely know each other after all. On that note, we should use this time to get a-”
Xie Yi’s expression turned unhappy. A bit miffed, he interrupted Huo Cheng with a single word: “Coward.”
Misunderstandings were a terrible thing. They could destroy so much. Huo Cheng knew that Lu Han was misunderstanding about something so simple but so important, and he did not correct him.
The thought made him unhappy.
Huo Cheng was not a close friend, but he was kind of one, and also a close friend of Shi Yue, so he did not ignore the matter.
In the end, there was nothing he could do if the other rejected it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t dislike it.
The prince had heard others call him a coward before, for various reasons, but he had never seen someone look at him with such condescending and disapproving eyes like the young man not even an adult in front of him. There was something so honestly deprecating about that look that he found himself lower his head as if he was in front of his grandfather after playing a stupid prank as a child.
Lu Han flushed. He tensely sat up straight, his hands pressing into his lap. His nervous look and trembling lips betrayed that he was uncertain about objecting – although not that far apart in age, Xie Yi was stronger than him.
“His Highness is not a coward”, he tried to protect him. His voice got quieter. “He is a good man.”
“I don’t think that someone who likes another but flirts in front of them is that good of a man”, Xie Yi commented dryly. It was his honest opinion, nothing more.
Remembering how Huo Cheng had behaved in the brothel and what it meant, all of it before Lu Han, he did not like it.
“Unless I truly did misunderstand?”, he asked slowly. There was a chance, even if he did not think it was that way. However, he would believe Huo Cheng if the man insisted…
The prince looked into the clear eyes and found his throat constricted with the lie he wanted to say. His smile turned wry.
“You’re exactly like Shi Yue”, the prince said quietly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Xie Yi observed Huo Cheng’s absolute look of defeat and Lu Han’s mixture of confusion and uncertainty. He crossed his arms and looked at Mingtian.
“Did I do something bad?”
“People generally don’t like it when you lay their feelings out in the open without their permission. They also get kinda defensive.”
“Oh.”
“Another piece of common sense! Right now, I felt that this was fine, though”, the beast said with a shrug and toothy grin. “Because I agree that he is a coward.”
This time, Lu Han was even more scared to flare up. His lips pursed unhappily. He wanted to somehow prove that the man he adored was not like the two of them said, but he did not know how.
Huo Cheng’s eyes softened at the sight of the little guy bristling up in his defence.
“For some reason, this annoys me”, Xie Yi said with a deadpan face.
Mingtian raised a hand to rub over his head. Evidently, it was because Xie Yi was not so lucky. The things that parted him and his crush were hurdles of incredible height compared to the two in front of them.
What was holding the prince back at all? The royals would be relieved if he took a man as his wife and would not have any heirs that might eye the throne. No one would comment on it!
“This topic aside”, Huo Cheng forced out. “Why don’t we go eat together? I’ll pay.”
“Can’t”, Xie Yi rejected with a shake of his head.
“Why not?”
“Wu said no”, Xie Yi obediently said with a finger pointing at the man beside him. Wu showed his teeth in a dark grin.
“Is there any reason why I can’t take him out for a free meal?”, the prince wondered with raised eyebrows.
“Yes. You’re a bad influence. The kid does not need to learn anything weird from you.” Mingtian hugged the young man from the side protectively. “I don’t want you to colour off on him.”
“I feel there’s some sort of weird perception you have of me. I would not make a move on him”, Huo Cheng serenely promised, remembering that Shi Yue’s letter had sounded quite similar.
“No means no. You can go eat in the canteen with him or something”, Mingtian denied him again.
Lu Han gave a whine as he saw the prince open his mouth to start discussing.
Xie Yi pursed his lips, lowered his body out of Mingtian’s arms and quietly left the room to get some fresh air.
It was somewhat late when he considered the usual time he went to bed at the Virtuous Sect so he only hurried to get a small snack and then went into his room.
Xu Yan was already in his sleepwear, glancing up when Xie Yi entered and then made to secure the door with a dozen different safety mechanisms.
“How did you get to know the prince?”, he asked absentmindedly. “He was acting like he doesn’t know you, but you seem to know him?”
“I met him with my adult skin”, the young cultivator explained reservedly. “It’s a bit messy.”
“Aah! Xiao Yi! I knew it would be problematic sooner or later!” Xu Yan blew up his cheeks. “Did you get into trouble?”
“No, not at all.”
“Why do I not believe it considering you mentioned a brothel?”
“Ah, that…” Xie Yi rubbed his neck and leaned against the wall next to his bed. “Actually, Shi Yue was the one who took me to the brothel. He didn’t mean it badly or anything. Huo Cheng appeared there. I think Wu is misunderstanding that it was Huo Cheng who took me there and I… kinda didn’t want to correct him unless he asked.”
He lowered his head between his shoulders with a stupid smile.
Xu Yan found himself snickering. “Seriously? You actually used a prince as a scapegoat?”
“Why would I care that he’s a prince. I didn’t want Wu to have any reason to be mad at Shi Yue, they are already at odds for some reason”, Xie Yi whined to his friend.
“It might be jealousy. Both Wu and Shi Yue want to be the one to teach you, but their plans might not necessarily be the same.” Xu Yan lifted his hands with a shrug. It was only an idea.
Xie Yi’s lips moved forward in a pout as he thought about it. Shi Yue was very orderly in teaching him and Mingtian was freer. At first glance, it did seem like a possibility.
“Jealousy over someone sounds kind of too romantic, though”, he commented thoughtfully.
Xu Yan clicked his tongue thrice. “Tsk tsk tsk. You shouldn’t misunderstand it! Jealousy merely means feeling like something that is yours is being stolen away. You can feel that way over a friend or family. It’s pretty natural.”
“What does it feel like?”, Xie Yi asked with a confusedly twisted face.
Xu Yan pointed at himself. “From tomorrow on, I’ll also be Shi Yue’s disciple and half of the time you two spent on lessons before will now be given to me.”
Xie Yi stared at him for a few seconds. Then his face turned into one of discomfort and finally unhappiness. He crossed his arms and pouted. “Oh.”
“Natural, but not a nice feeling”, the other young man chuckled. “Have you never felt it before?”
“I think I’m good at pushing it down”, he muffled his voice into a pillow he leaned on. “Even if I have a name for it now, I don’t want to keep it around. I’ll continue getting rid of it if I can.”
“Is it that easy to control your emotions”, Xu Yan sobbed. He always had so many problems controlling his own, it was fascinating to hear that. But it was Xie Yi, after all.
“Jealousy sounds too troublesome. Wouldn’t you make people mad if you treat them as your own belonging?”, he hummed.
“Excessive jealousy is a problem, but you’re missing something here. You feel jealousy about things you own and don’t want to lose, right? Jealousy is also a sign that someone is precious to you and that you are worried you might lose them. Don’t swallow it all.”
“Have I ever mentioned that I think being human is super complicated?”
“A few times.”
Author’s Note
The hurdles Mingtian is talking about is Xie Yi’s situation as a whole. Can you actually date someone, knowing you have to keep your full identity a secret? A whole life that you know about? Not to mention that Shi Yue sees Xie Yi as his disciple. I don’t think anyone is surprised that most (obviously not all, just many) people would find it a bit weird to date their student or teacher.
Little Xie Yi has upgraded his common sense!😘
Thank you for the chapter
I love that line so much xD
Being human is complicated
It’s really complicated and troublesome 😔
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Wonder how Huo Cheng and Lu Han will turn out in the end… hope there’s a good ending for them! Although i agree, i also think flirting with others in front of your crush is quite… idiotic and disgusting even? I mean it really doesn’t make much sense-
Ty for the chapter!💜💜💜
You can actually realize the reason why Huo Cheng is behaving the way he does when you think about it for a while haha
I guess it’s not as obvious because stories have deus ex machinas etc but if this was reality, it’d be pretty clear
The only reason i can think of is that he wants to make Lu Han jealous/see Lu Han’s reaction (as in, if he minds it or not etc.) Dunno if there’s anything else tho🤔
I just made an account to comment, I binged this all week.. I am in love with your writing!!
Awww thanks 😀
Xie spoke what everyone wanted to say about this prince. Okay, he’s not a bad person, but he’s a coward and acts disgusting (I don’t know if that’s the word) flirting with others in front of those he likes.
Thanks for the chapter!
How is Xu Yan SO wise ?!? 😂