INARTICULATION (MLM/MxM/M4M ORIGINAL)

8: Time For Change

"There once was a time when A-Xun referred to the royal family using given names and childish diminutives rather than official titles. It was once 'Jie' and 'Ge'. Now, it's always 'Your Highness' and 'General'."

CROWN PRINCESS SHANG HOU

MEMENTO MORI

Wen Jingyi was about to lose himself after Xun Jie had just told him that he read the simplified edition of Memento Mori . He wished to keep that work in the dusty corner of his bookshelf forever, but it seemed that Xun Jie had been getting bored and began cleaning the dust off several old things in Wen Jingyi's life.

Upon hearing Xun Jie's words on the work, he wanted to curl up on the ground and let the Earth slowly reclaim him.

He was complaining about his own life story?! The fucking nerve!

Xun Jie had almost everything life had to offer but still couldn't be satisfied!

In his rant to Wen Jingyi, he started by saying that the worldbuilding, plot, and story pacing were decent, but he felt that the read wasn't as satisfying as the other novels on his shelf.

During this rant, he seemed confident in stating it was great but almost lost all passion when he began talking about how it was missing an element of something. Though Wen Jingyi had questioned him on what it was, Xun Jie only lost more confidence and didn't dare speak up about it.

"I'm afraid you will find the missing component foolish, or that I may be speaking wrongfully on the matter as this is your work I'm ridiculing," he spoke softly, each word sounding like he wanted to simply end the conversion before continuing to say the next.

"Please speak your mind. I'm open to constructive criticism, so if you believe that there's something wrong with one of my works, please don't hold back."

Xun Jie seemed to be in deep thought. His entire face was stressed, and he refused to look at Wen Jingyi throughout this duration.

"Never mind."

Never mind? All that ranting about something missing and you're going to brush it off to the side just like that?! Xun Jie, are you okay?

The days following were even worse.

Xun Jie had been treating Wen Jingyi differently. He had been acting very out of character ever since they had that conversation when Wen Jingyi found out that he had read Memento Mori.

Xun Jie hadn't been socializing as often as usual but often went out of his way to perform acts of kindness for Wen Jingyi. He went out of his way to prepare dinner, making top-notch meals on several occasions. During these times, he hadn't even let Wen Jingyi lend a helping hand in either gathering ingredients or cutting and preparing them. Instead, he made Wen Jingyi sit at the bar and wait patiently while he did all the work.

That certainly was strange, but he would be an idiot to complain. Xun Jie prepared food good enough to want to marry him with every bite he took.

While this was great, conversations would still turn awkward as they ate. No matter what they did, the air and everything around them became awkward enough to nearly bring Wen Jingyi to tears.

Shit, Xun Jie even started sleeping on the couch again! Despite this, he still tried to tuck Wen Jingyi in and helped him get ready for bed whenever he came home late and tired. Even then, he always had dinner previously prepared and the house clean.

Am I making a housewife out of him?! Have I somehow brainwashed him into thinking gender roles are a joke?"

He had. Accidentally, at that.