璧玉之輪 | Fortuitous Jade

Chapter 18 - Rivalry

"Why yo—" the informant pulled his hand away and refused to back down. Zi Shi then looked down and realized that grip marks were starting to form on Bai Feng's wrist.

"Getting bruised from light contact like that, what does HeiLi see in a weakling like—" but Xiao Tian had returned with the rice dish in his hands.

"Let's eat." the dark-haired assassin announced before giving each of them the pyramid-shaped rice dumplings to nibble on.

"I got you xiónghuáng jiǔ*," the short-haired assassin passed the small jug of wine to Zi Shi before childishly taking a bite out of Bai Feng's zongzi.

*realgar wine

"You have your own!" The informant protested.

"Yours look better so I wanted a bite." The jade-eyed man whined.

"It's the same.." sighed the cedar-haired beauty.

Seeing the pair having such a friendly bicker doesn't make Zi Shi happy in the slightest. Because after years of knowing HeiLi, he never, not even once, teased him like that.

But this mere stranger..

Zi Shi suddenly yelped excitedly, his previous glaring expression now gone.

"Oh my favorite! You remembered!" the purple-haired assassin thanked Xiao Tian, the latter just nodded and turned to Bai Feng once more.

"I didn't know what you like Xiao Bai, but they do sell tea over there. Should we go and see?" the assassin offered and the informant just nodded, smiling slightly at the mention of tea.

That was when the short-haired assassin held his hand suddenly, making the unguarded Bai Feng drop his sticky rice dumpling.

"I'll.. Get a new one.." the golden-eyed beauty was about to leave when Xiao Tian narrowed his eyes.

"When did you get hurt?" Bai Feng forgot his glove and gauntlets that day from rushing to meet the assassin on short notice, so the red grip marks contrasting his fair skin could be seen too easily. But the informant quickly pulled his hand away, turning around as he was about to leave.

"I'll treat you to something next time. Sorry, I dropped it.." but Xiao Tian took his hand gently.

"What do you like Xiao Bai?"

Zi Shi, who was watching all this from the side, had a dark expression in his eyes.

"Acting like that just because of a mere bruise? What makes him so special.." mumbled the gray-eyed assassin in annoyance.

Soon, the boat race started and the trio enjoyed watching the participants putting their best effort to row the stunning dragon boats. The rhythmic sounds of the gong and drums, along with the cheering of spectators really made this event very lively.

The rest of the day the purple-haired beauty tried his hardest to make Xiao Tian not pay attention to Bai Feng. And to the informant, watching them is like seeing an overly sweet pair of love birds. The only saving grace is that, thankfully, the short-haired assassin has not been responding to the flirtations of Zi Shi. If Xiao Tian had responded to the gray-eyed assassin's advances, Bai Feng probably would already be rolling his eyes.

Regardless, the informant just didn't like the feeling of being a third wheel so he just tries to take his mind off the couple in front of him. That was when Bai Feng saw a man cladded in an ivory robe waving at him. The informant immediately excused himself from the couple, rushing to go meet the man while the two watched the cedar-haired man walk away.