After midnight.
Ming Feizhen pushed open the door to his room. Su Xiao, who was anxiously pacing back and forth in the room stopped and widened his eyes. Standing akimbo, he yelled, "Where did you go screw around at this time?! Why are you back so late? You neglect home, ah, I meant, this room!"
Su Xiao's family valued girls over boys. His mother, consequently, was the boss. Even if his father merely went for a walk around the block, he'd have to give her an explanation, or he'd get an earful without question. Having tea or a meal with a female friend? Grabbing a male both would be enough to earn an earful. He'd be left with an aching ear for two hours.
When Su Xiao didn't see Ming Feizhen return at night, he was worried. At daytime, Ming Feizhen didn't explain what happened between him and Sisi. Add Ming Feizhen not coming back at night, and Su Xiao's anger accumulated. Hence, he accidentally reprimanded Ming Feizhen the way his mother reprimanded his father. Not one to scold others, Su Xiao immediately made a mistake when he went to scold Ming Feizhen.
While still fumbling to get his words right, he sensed that there was something odd about Ming Feizhen. He didn't even spare Su Xiao a glance when he entered.
"You… *Sigh*, Big Brother Ming, what's the matter?'
Su Xiao went over at supported a wobbling Ming Feizhen. When he got close, he caught a whiff of the alcohol stench on Ming Feizhen. The smell was almost enough to get even Su Xiao drunk.
After Ming Feizhen left Ethereal Beauty Boat, he went to five different taverns and emptied out their wine stock. The wine alleviated his sorrow, but despite being a good drinker, he still ended up slightly drunk.
"Y-You're so heavy. Walk on your own, too."
When Su Xiao helped him to the bed, he smelt a faint fragrance on it. It was light and elegant, yet seemingly similar to a girl's body odour. The smell was left behind from the few days Princess Hongzhuang slept on the bed. Su Xiao's suspicions rose. He leaned over to Ming Feizhen. That was the climax of the show. Not only did Ming Feizhen see Sisi and Ming Suwen, he even went to Heavenly Fragrance Garden and Ethereal Beauty Boat, two brothels. Imagine the makeup and powders there. The amazing mixture of scents left Su Xiao with an angry look.
"… Jerk…"
Su Xiao was about to throw his jerk of a Big Brother Ming on the ground and be done with him to vent his entire day of anger. When he saw Ming Feizhen's frown and drunken look, he gradually relaxed his clenched teeth and pretty frown.
"You're drunk… I won't settle the score with you today. Hey, sleep inside."
"Don't push me. I can still drink ten vats…"
"Drink, drink, drink, that's all you know! I hope you die from drinking!"
Su Xiao hugged and puffed as he lifted Ming Feizhen's only leg hanging off the bed onto the bed. He then dropped down next to the bed due to exhaustion. While Su Xiao was also relatively tall, he only came up to Ming Feizhen's chest. Moreover, Su Xiao was genetically lean. Therefore, for him to lift a muscular man as Ming Feizhen onto the bed was an exhausting task.
Su Xiao looked at Ming Feizhen with a reproaching gaze. He didn't know what happened. Usually, his Big Brother Ming was able to knock back pot after pot without even going red in the face.
"What's wrong with him today," wondered Su Xiao.
Ming Feizhen mumbled something as he lay on the bed. Su Xiao leaned in to have a listen, but all he heard was indistinct mutters, "Young Shiyi… Young Shiyi… It's my fault for being useless… Jin Wangsun, heh, even that punching bag, Jin Wangsun, has gone for her. What else can I do? She wants to leave me. She wants to leave me, too. Had someone not told me, she would've left on her own without a word. Rules. Rules… The one thing I don't care about just has to be the insurmountable wall. Shifu… Just kill me. Just kill me. I don't want her that way, either…"
Su Xiao blushed as he listened. Ming Feizhen was mumbling about his private matters, apparently.
"He seems to be talking about his beautiful young shiyi. Isn't he marrying the Princess, though," questioned Su Xiao.
Ming Feizhen, however, rolled over and frowned. Apparently, plaguing nightmare caused him to grimace. Su Xiao's hand reached for Ming Feizhen's hot face on its own. Su Xiao felt his hand burnt abnormally. He quickly moulded his modest internal energy and transferred it into Ming Feizhen's body.
Ming Feizhen hadn't been so drunk in years. A qi practitioner's biggest taboo was losing control of their mental stability. On the day Ming Suwen and Ming Feizhen parted, where Ming Suwen returned to Mount Daluo alone, it was her mental instability and sorrow that almost took her life. She wrestled with a high fever that wouldn't go down for days. Had Hero Shenzhou not personally helped her, she might've already lost her lifetime of skills. With her level of internal strength, she definitely couldn't accept catching colds, especially severe ones.
Ming Feizhen drank a large volume of strong wine in a mentally unstable state, therefore almost incapacitating himself as Ming Suwen did. His situation was very complicated. With his level of skill, losing control of his mental state wouldn't leave him bed ridden; it'd make me lose his mind. If he went on a rampage, the damage wouldn't pale in comparison to when the Demon Sect was running amok given his skills. In fact, it might've been the emergence of a demon.
Su Xiao had no internal energy to speak of. The current internal energy style he was training was weak, but it was imparted to him by none other than Ming Feizhen. Further, he assisted Su Xiao's training with his own true qi. Though Su Xiao's true qi was inferior to even Zha Pi's punch, its purity and density were arguably among the best.
With his true qi in disarray, receiving a transfusion of qi from an external source immediately caused his own true qi to respond to the new true qi. The combined true qi formed a whirlpool with tremendous attractive force. Su Xiao felt as though his months of hard-earned internal energy would be completely sucked out of him, but he didn't dare to let go.
"Big Brother Ming taught me my internal strength style; I'll just train and regain it if I run out!" resolved Su Xiao.
Su Xiao gritted his teeth and refused to let go. Suddenly, he felt a hot wave return to his body, knocking his hand off! The hot wave travelled along the path that Su Xiao moulded qi via and entered his body. It circulated through the trails without any resistance. He looked at his small hands with a dumbfounded look. He had no idea what happened.
What Su Xiao didn't know was that his true qi shared the same origins as one of the internal energy styles Ming Feizhen learnt. As a result, it spurred on the true qi in Ming Feizhen's body when it entered and elicited a response. Then, it began to flow through the path it was moulded via. In the first step, it rectified the disordered true qi in his body. The whirlpool was a naturally produced attractive force, but when it was returned to Su Xiao, the excess true qi followed along, thereby strengthening Su Xiao's internal energy. Su Xiao was unaware that the internal energy Ming Feizhen spilled over into him had elevated his internal energy cultivation over five times what it originally was.
"What… happened to me?" asked Ming Feizhen, holding his head, oblivious as to what just happened.
"Xiao?" mumbled a drunken Ming Feizhen. "What are you doing? Ah, ow, ow… My head hurts."
Su Xiao felt his body was incredibly light. His hands and fleet overflowed with power, but he couldn't define what happened. Blankly, he said, "I went to help the female constables today. You don't know this, but they have a lot of jobs, yet lack the manpower to complete all of their jobs."
"You're about to become the women's association president… Haven't we been recruiting recently?"
"It won't work. The female constables' members are trained from a young age, not recruited."
Though it was getting later and later, Su Xiao's newly acquired internal energy continued to grow more and more energetic.
"Big Brother Ming, you must be hungry. I'll go prepare you a meal."
"Eh? Ah, w-wait!" stopped Ming Feizhen, waving his hands at the same time. "You know how to cook, Xiao?"
Su Xiao energetically replied, "I might not be able to cook many dishes, but congee is my best dish. Fish congee expert right here!"
Then, Su Xiao headed to the kitchen in high spirits, leaving a speechless Ming Feizhen, who resembled an ill patient, sitting on the bed.
Ming Feizhen rubbed his forehead. He then used Internal Vision Technique to peer into his body, thereby realising what happened before. Had Su Xiao not helped him, he would be in far worse condition.
Upon thinking about the fuma selection scheduled in a few days' time, his head began to ache. If he didn't participate, Jin Wangsun would become fuma as per his wish, and it would only be a matter of time before Night Fortress was lost again. The most worrisome part was that since Jin Wangsun was recruited by Jingan, she was bound to have other designs. Ming Feizhen just didn't have any clues for what she had in mind was as of yet. And of all days… it just had to be today when he had his quarrel with his shiyi.
"What's most important to Young Shiyi," asked Ming Feizhen. "I want to retire by bidding farewell to my past, while she has chosen to become a courtesan as another form of retirement. She wants to cut off all relations to me and start over."
Ming Feizhen contemplated the problem… He didn't want to lose his shiyi nor had he ever imagined life without her. They were friends from childhood and grew up alongside each other. Labelling their relationship as childhood friends allowed their feelings to be projected without repercussions, but also blinded them to things. Their identities were impassable roadblocks from the past.
Contemplate and contemplate; before he knew it, Su Xiao had come back with a big piping-hot bowl of fish congee.
"Why are you still in the same pose as when I left?"
"Oh, Yeah."
"Are you thinking about your gugu?"
"Oh, yeah…"
"Hmm…? Big Brother Ming."
"Mm?"
"You're useless in my opinion," stated Su Xiao.
Su Xiao blew a spoon of congee he scooped up and fed Ming Feizhen.
"Hot, hot!" exclaimed Ming Feizhen, covering his mouth. After actually tasting it carefully, however, he discovered it tasted decent.
The fish was slightly odd. The fish odour was rather prominent, and the texture was ordinary. Nonetheless, Su Xiao was quite the skilful chef when it came to congee. The ratio of water to rice was perfect.
Hungry, Ming Feizhen didn't wait for Su Xiao to feed him. He, instead, took it from Su Xiao and ate two mouthfuls before complaining, "Why didn't you add some parsley? Put more parsley; I like it better with parsley."
"I know you like it. It's at the bottom," replied Su Xiao with a smile. "How is it? My congee is good, huh?'
"Uhm, thanks," replied Ming Feizhen, with a helpless smile. He then returned to eating.
Su Xiao sulked, "Big Brother Ming, do you remember what you said to me?"
Su Xiao continued, "Didn't you always teach me that when you deal with someone tough to deal with, take a less assertive approach if being assertive doesn't work and if being less assertive doesn't work, then be scum. A man in bare feet won't be scared of the man with shoes. Mountains don't move, but water does. If water doesn't move, people still will. If you don't use your brain, you'll die from holding your piss in. You usually have plenty of ideas; why aren't you using your brain this time?"
"If being assertive doesn't work, then take a less assertive approach if being assertive doesn't work and if being less assertive doesn't work, then be scum. A man in bare feet won't be scared of the man with shoes…"
Ming Feizhen eyes lit up.
"A live man could die from holding his piss in?" asked Ming Feizhen. He then laughed. "You're right. Blaming everyone but yourself is useless. Seize the initiative to strike. There's always a way to solve everything."
Ming Feizhen raised his head. He finally saw the bottom of the bowl of yellow congee. Su Xiao giggled as he pushed the bowl up to get Ming Feizhen to finish it.
"The congee smells weird, but it was good stress relief… Still, the fish just tastes weird as can be. What did you add?"
Su Xiao laughed and replied, "Ah, the female constables gave it to me when we were on patrol duty today. You want to see?"
"Oh? The congee did help me sort out my troubles, admittedly," said Ming Feizhen, who raised his head to gurgle the congee before swallowing it. He wiped his mouth once he was one. "How did you relieve my sorrow?'
Su Xiao smiled kindly and replied, "Eel!"
"…"
Ming Feizhen literally sprinted to the toilet.
*Vomit!!!*
And the sound of a man vomiting rang was audible throughout Liu Shan Men for the entire night.
Glossary
*Su Xiao's reproach – it's lost in culture differences (within my parameters of cultural knowledge), but the phrase, "You neglect home," encompasses home and family. It's only used between husband and wife. Pretty sure they do it between husband and husband, too, but I'm ignorant there. So, Su Xiao was essentially treating Ming Feizhen as a husband at that moment.
