System, are you messing with me?

Ark 2 - Sheng Su's soul

A few weeks have already past since that confusing night, where Sun Zhilong barged into Shu Ning's room and surprisingly kissed him. Of course Shu Ning hadn't forgotten that he still needed to give the General an answer to his confession during that time, but for that he first needed to get his thoughts straight again. Untill that happened, he tried his best to avoid the Man and throw himself into his training to momentarily forget about his own chaotic thoughts. 

The latter didn't seem to succeed very well, as the feeling of those warm lips on his own continued to haunt him every waking hour of the day no matter how much he exhausted himself on the training grounds, while the former at least worked out easier than he though. Mostly because the General had been busy helping to sort out the Lieutnant's affairs. 

Things have been very hectic for Sun Zhilong as of late, because the wife of lieutnant Liu Chen went into labour a week after the failed assassination atempt and now Sun Zhilong drowned in a pile of paperwork to assure his vice's early retirenment. So it was no wonder that the General couldn't find any free time on hand to pay Shu Ning a visit or appear in front of him at all. 

It was only when Liu Chen formally exited the military and a new Lieutnant needed to be established that the two of them met face to face again. Not in a privat setting that the General would have prefered, but in the big hall where the elders and soldiers would celebrate the new vice captain of the third army. And even though the two of them were finally in the same room again, there was still no time to hold a privat conversation, because a heated discussion between the elders and Sun Zhilong broke out that day.

The position of Lieutnant needed to be actually decided by the General and the previous Lieutnant together, so the elders didn't have a say in the matter, but the old geezers were adamant to give the position to Zhou Feng. Had she still kept the rank of seargant, then she would have been the only choice in that matter, but as she lost her rank and no one in the third army liked her, it came as no surprise to any of the soldiers when Shu Ning's name got reluctantly called by the elders in the end.

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The celebration in the great halls had already ended a short while ago and while the rest of the soldiers left to continue their duties, Shu Ning had nervously followed after Sun Zhilong to finally have a well needed talk with the Man. Avoiding the issue with the other hadn't really brought him further to any answer anyway, so why continue being difficult and perhaps even upset the General, if he could just face the Man with his honest thoughts? They were adults after all and could handle a serious conversation.

So now, for the second time in total, Shu Ning found himself seated on the comfortable couch in the General's living room, shifting on the leather cushions undreneath him. It was difficult to hide how nervous he was feeling, with Sun Zhilong sitting right opposit of him and staring at him with a look in his eyes, that he couldn't quite figure out. But he tried to settle down his raging thoughts and emotions anyway and focus on getting some words past his lame tongue.

"So... Sun Zhilong. It has been a while since we had a descent talk, because you have been quite busy as of late."

Shu Ning anxiously darted his eyes around the furniture in the room before lowering them towards his fiddeling fingers in his lap. The General's eyes were still trained on his body but after a few more seconds the Man sighed deeply and removed them again.

"Yang Quan. Talk to me alright? You know why I brought you here. So be honest with me. Do you hate me?"

The voice of Sun Zhilong sounded a little bit strained at the end of his sentence and Shu Ning snapped his head up in shock, looking directly into the gloomy eyes of the normaly stoic Man. A slight shiver ran through Shu Ning's soul again, when the other reciprocated his gaze with a wavering stare.