There is no Redemption for A Scum Villain

Chapter 2

Though Yue Qingyuan had not slept much, he was awake way earlier than Shen Qingqiu. Without waking the boy, he slipped out of bed, dressed and took his work into another room. He got quite a bit done, even receiving a few people and assigning them tasks. He was contemplating on the reply to a letter he had gotten when he heard small feet tapping over the floor behind him.

Yue Qingyuan turned around and greeted Shen Qingqiu with a smile. "Good morning."

Shen Qingqiu only hummed as a reply and leaned to the side to see what Yue Qingyuan was doing. Yue Qingyuan frowned. Was he imagining this or was Shen Qingqiu taller than yesterday? He had no time to further dwell on the thought when Shen Qingqiu's stomach started growling.

"Are you hungry?", Yue Qingyuan asked and got up, "We will get you something to eat then."

Yue Qingyuan let Shen Qingqiu eat in his study. He himself didn't eat anything. He wasn't particularly hungry, neither did he have to eat. He would rather like to get something done instead, so he would have some time later. Shen Qingqiu instead looked up with every bite he took. Is Qi-ge not hungry at all?, he wondered. They always had to fight for food, happy about the smallest crumb and now he was preferring that boring work over eating. Was that how rich people lived like? Shen Qingqiu hoped he would not suddenly wake up on the cold streets again to all this having been a dream and he had to be hungry again. But he had never had such a realistic dream, so it couldn't be one right? Even though everything was a little unbelievable.

When Shen Qingqiu was done eating, he took the initiative to tidy up his table and bring the dishes into the kitchen. He had hoped that this would take up enough time for Yue Qingyuan to be done with work, but when he got back there was still a huge stack of papers in front of the man sitting at the desk. Shen Qingqiu sat down on the floor and watched Yue Qingyuan for a while.

When Shen Qingqiu's boredom reached its peak he looked around the room for something to play with. Finding nothing, he looked back at Yue Qingyuan, then he spotted something. He shuffled closer and sneakily touched Xuan Su at Yue Qingyuan's hip. Yue Qingyuan abruptly turned around and startled Shen Qingqiu. He corrected his anxious expression and smiled.

"Do you need something", Yue Qingyuan asked, his eyes momentarily flickering to the hand Shen Qingqiu had touched his sword with.

Shen Qingqiu was suddenly not sure if he wanted to ask. He bit his lip and corrected his sitting position before he looked up at Yue Qingyuan with big eyes. "That sword looked nice. I...wanted to play with it."

For the first time real hesitation showed on Yue Qingyuan's face. Normally Shen Qingqiu had only needed to imply that he wanted something for Yue Qingyuan to give it to him, but now he seemed to contemplate. After a while Yue Qingyuan sighed.

"Alright. But leave it in its sheath, please", he said and removed his sword from his belt, "It's very important."

"Why? Isn't a sword meant to be drawn?", Shen Qingqiu asked in confusion.

Yue Qingyuan paused. He didn't want to explain it to Shen Qingqiu. Although he had to find a reason before he got questioned. That was something Shen Qingqiu had always been good at. Asking things someone tried to avoid talking about. Just like back then in Ling Xi Caves...

"I don't want you to hurt yourself ", Yue Qingyuan replied.

Shen Qingqiu narrowed his eyes. He felt this wasn't truly the reason. He wanted to open his mouth to ask again, when Yue Qingyuan pushed his sword into Shen Qingqiu's hands.

"You know what...just be careful with it. You can draw it. Just not for too long", Yue Qingyuan said. He hoped this would keep him in check. He could take it to lose those few minutes, if it meant avoiding unnecessary questions. For this he even accepted the title 'coward'.