Interlude: After

~~~

Feng Zhi breathes heavily after the fight, but that is more due to exasperation than any tiredness on his part. Everything was over in thirty seconds, thirty maddening and impressively violent seconds. The state of the training room can attest to it. The ceiling was cracked open sometime after the third second, exposing both of them to the harsh light of day. The walls did not fare any better.

Truthfully, he does not think this can be called a room anymore.

“What exactly did you think this would accomplish?”

His opponent does not answer him. In a fairer world, that would be because he is unconscious. Alas, that is not the case. Though it is easier to count the bones of his that are not broken, and some of his clothes are literally burned into his skin and muscles, his eyes remain wide open. The fool seems to be having a staring contest with the sun, a practice as inane as this whole thing has been.

“Hey,” the fool says at last, “Do you think things could have gone differently?”

An impertinent question like that does not need any consideration.

“I could never lose to the likes of you!”

The fool, Huang Shing, turns to him and scoffs.

“I wasn’t asking about that! It was obvious I was going to lose today. Just as it is obvious I will surpass you eventually.”

A vein throbs on Feng Zhi’s forehead.

“First, you waste my time with a pointless challenge. Now you insult me? You truly are tired of living!”

Far from looking threatened, the fool has the gall to snort.

“You won’t kill me because that’d make Yi Jiao sad,” he points out, not incorrectly. “Not that she’d need to. After stealing her from me, not killing me should be the least you could do. You’re so shameless, Young Master.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“You lost her on your own!” Feng Zhi snaps at him.

That gets a reaction, a flicker of something in the idiot’s eyes before he looks away.

“Maybe,” the idiot says. “But you still didn’t need to take her so publicly. You haven’t even had the decency to introduce me to any girls to make up for it. That’s rude.”

“This sort of thing is exactly why Yi Jiao couldn’t stand you!” Feng Zhi yells at him, angry that despite having won the battle and unleashed much-deserved punishment on the idiot, he’s somehow the one caught in his pace.