Old Friends' Menace

*** A/N: Written as part of "Gong Jun's 30th Birthday Charity Giveaway."

Congratulations to our second winner: JellyfishShoes (ZellyfishShoes)! <3

--------------------

To Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu was the only treasure he ever had in his life.

Anything that A-Xu wanted, he would give to him. Anything that A-Xu hated, he would get rid of it for him.

He wanted only the best for his A-Xu. He wanted Zhou Zishu to live comfortably like the spoiled princess that he was.

A-Xu's enemies were his enemies. Likewise, A-Xu's friends were his friends, too, especially if those friends were the ones who lent them a hand in their time of need.

For Wen Kexing, who spent more than half of his life crawling in the hell that was the Ghost Valley, matters related to the jianghu were like something written in the back of his hand, but such was not the case with matters from the imperial city. The palace was so far out of his reach; he wouldn't know the various political intrigues taking place behind those grandiose walls that commoners like him could only see from outside. Even the kind of life Zhou Zishu was leading during his time in Tian Chuang, Wen Kexing knew very little of it, nothing more than the tiny part that Zhou Zishu had willingly revealed.

He had no idea that the then-apprentice of Nanjiang's Great Shaman used to be a political hostage in the imperial city. He had no idea that this misfortune brought the then-young apprentice to an encounter with an unlikely soulmate, a prince of the nation.

He knew even less that these two prominent figures were actually good friends with his A-Xu, much like he didn't know that these people were indebted to Zhou Zishu for the life free of burdens and chains they were living now. So much so, that they were willing to come all the way back to the Central Plains from Nanjiang despite the risks when they heard that Zhou Zishu's life was in danger.

Wen Kexing was, in all honesty, extremely grateful for the arrival of Jing Beiyuan and Wu Xi. When he discovered that the Nails of Seven Apertures for Three Autumns were already embedded in Zhou Zishu's flesh far before they met, it felt as though the ground had collapsed beneath his feet, his entire world crumbling to dust. What was the use of him finding his soulmate when that person was already dying when they met? Wouldn't that leave him only with a lifetime's worth of regret and sorrow?

Thankfully, the Lord Seventh and Great Shaman arrived just in time. Thankfully, they knew of a way to save his A-xu's life. If it weren't for them, perhaps he, too, would've long lost his sanity and died horribly due to qi deviation.

But as much as he was thankful for their help, after some time, Wen Kexing came to realize that toward these kind old friends of his A-Xu, he couldn't help but feel some grievances.

***

Lord Seventh's Saijun Manor stood as grand and beautiful as ever. The Chinese scholar trees in the garden were at their full blooms; the dense clusters of white flowers spread a delicate fragrance in the air. The pavilion was comfortably shaded beneath the rustling leaves; light breeze was blowing across the courtyard like a whistling bird.

Wen Kexing was walking down the wide corridor. Occasionally passing by the servants of the mansion, he nodded every now and then to return their greetings. This was quite a novel feeling; as the Master of the Ghost Valley, most people he knew were either too afraid to look at him or were ignorant of his true appearance. Suffice to say, Wen Kexing did not experience much with people sending him a respectful greeting like this, but Lord Seventh's servants only knew that he was an honorable guest of their master. As the result, for the first time in his life, Wen Kexing discovered how it felt to have people actually greeting him out of respect rather than fear.