He Smells Good

Chapter XXII

Wen Xu stared at the table of youths in grey robes sitting with strong and stoic expressions, not showing any signs of other emotions except for that one person who was holding in his laughter. Although, a certain someone's presence was bugging him, nearly ruining his mood entirely.

He thought that the rotten Nie MingJue would be too busy to be able to come and looked forward to a day together with his beloved. It was a pity that he actually came. Not only that, he stuck together with Nie HuaiSang as if there was glue binding them together and never left his side, not giving him a single chance to spend his time with him just he had planned and Wen Chao had promised him.

If the two of them were to be the last people in the world, he'd rather bite his tongue off the moment that happens.

He didn't know when this extreme hatred had started, but it wasn't as bad as when they were children even when he had just simply found every single expression on Nie MingJue's face perfectly unpleasant and irksome on the first they met. He would think to himself that it'd be nice to smack his fists across that annoying face. These were thoughts he had planned to keep to himself until he then later decided not to anymore.

During the dinners his father would invite, his 'precious friend', the leader of the QingheNie Sect over, he and Wen Xu would spend their free time together with Nie Sect's two young masters and play silly games. With their featherbrained temperaments, those childish games became even more intense. It wasn't unlikely that its players would soon become more and more competitive. This went on until they made enemies out of each other, downgrading the other with every chance they had.

Although, Nie HuaiSang didn't join in, and neither did he give a single damn about the three's laughable antics at that time for he was too occupied with his paper flowers and fans. So Nie MingJue had to fight against Wen Xu and his supportive little brother.

Wen Xu turned his face away, not wanting to dwell on the past anymore, and fixed his gaze on a servant who hadn't arrived too long ago. She was a clumsy beta who would often receive her superior's painful rants and scolding whenever she'd mess up. He didn't know how else he should entertain himself at this point on.

With an emotionless face and a bored expression, he spoke, "I have no idea how you can be so calm right now. You know that when father says that he'll be back after five days, there's a huge possibility that he could be back earlier."

"A visit to the imperial palace would take at least three days for the journey alone. He would at least have to stay for a while there too and take care of Imperial Uncle too. So stop being such a worry-wart," Wen Chao sighed.

"How do you think a sick patient is going to entertain him for long? He could be on his way back as we speak. Daringly spending money like that just so the servants would be quiet about this . . . do you think that the other sects won't speak about this? They sent their precious disciples for a silly dog's birthday. When he comes back, an earful isn't what you're only going to get. I'm genuinely surprised that you could still be so calm with that in mind."

"'We're'. And also, I have someone else in mind," corrected Wen Chao. "Why are you scolding me now? You enthusiastically agreed with me when I was planning this."

Wen Xu turned his back on him, slumped a little lower down his chair, and crossed his arms in annoyance.

"Shut it. It wouldn't matter if both of us gets in trouble because you would surely be in more trouble than I since you initiated everything and I merely helped in some things." Noticing that he wasn't getting any response he looked at the person to his right, only to see that he was in deep thoughts. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was repeatedly tapping his finger on the table. His actions made Wen Xu even more annoyed.