There is no Redemption for A Scum Villain

Chapter 6

"What do you want?" Liu Qingge asked. He looked like the mere sight of Shen Qingqiu was enough to ruin his whole day. Shen Qingqiu wondered just why the man hated him so badly.

"I," Shen Qingqiu said in a friendly tone, "Wanted to chat a bit. Is shidi going to send me away for wanting to talk over a cup of tea?"

Liu Qingge was intrigued by the smile on Shen Qingqiu's face. Normally, by now, the man would have shot him glares capable of skinning him alive or he would have pulled his sword, but he just peacefully stood there. Liu Qingge could tell he wasn't happy about being yelled at by the way the corner of his mouth slightly twitched when smiling, but he had neither given an unfriendly comment in return, nor had he made any move to attack him.

"You never want to ‘just chat’," Liu Qingge said cautiously. He was still on guard, but he had stopped glaring at the other man.

"Well, today I do," Shen Qingqiu said and went towards where he guessed the Bai Zhan peaklord's house to be. When Liu Qingge didn't follow he turned around and nodded towards the direction he was going. "Come on. Or do you want to sit outside?"

"I'd prefer staying outside, if Shixiong doesn't mind," Liu Qingge replied. As if he would go into a closed off space with that man. If he wanted to die, he could just jump off a cliff on Bai Zhan peak. The way he said 'shixiong' made it sound like he had said the name of someone who had slapped his mother, but Shen Qingqiu ignored it. He let Liu Qingge lead the way to a place they could sit.

When they finally sat down, Shen Qingqiu spoke up. "I know the two of us never got along well," he said and ignored the sneer that immediately came from Liu Qingge, "But I want to change that. We are sect siblings so we need to trust each other."

Liu Qingge gave a short, disdainful laugh. "Sure. That especially you of all people would say that. I never would have thought. You who is the first to backstab someone at the first opportunity given," he said, "Do you really expect me to believe you have good intentions?"

"Hey! I know I'm not the friendliest person to walk this earth, but I'm not a monster! I wouldn't just attack someone just because I don't like them," Shen Qingqiu defended himself. He now felt truly wrongfully accused.

"Is that so?" Liu Qingge asked, "And attacking me during a mission while I'm not looking doesn't count as backstabbing to you?" They had never truly talked about this event, so it was still like a huge boulder on the road to a peaceful relationship. To Shen Qingqiu's chagrin, he knew nothing of the circumstances concerning this event, but he knew that he wouldn't try killing someone just like that. Not just because he didn't like them. He knew that something like this wouldn't change. Or at least he hoped. He hoped that he was not that far gone, that he would randomly try killing people who had never physically harmed him if he had another choice.

He tried to bluff his way through this quickly. "Did you ever ask? I don't attack people just because I dislike them. I've already said that. How can you be so sure that you were the target of my attack?" he asked. He hoped that it had in fact not been an obvious attack on him. Otherwise he was done for. He really hoped that his other self had planned on attacking someone or something that deserved it and not the man he was currently trying to convince that he was actually a good person.

Liu Qingge pressed his lips together and didn't reply for quite a while. He had to admit that it had been a quite messy situation. He had noticed Shen Qingqiu swinging a sword, but hadn't really seen if he had indeed been the target. He had just assumed he had and had fought the man before asking questions.  But up until today, Shen Qingqiu had never tried to convince him that he hadn't tried killing him that day. Although, he had also never admitted to having tried to kill him either. He had looked very annoyed and angry however when he had been attacked back, as if he couldn't believe he would be attacked or as if he had been treated unfairly.