"What in seven hells’ name was that?" Zhang Fengxi roughly pushed Zhou Guiying against the wall outside of the restaurant. He then grabbed him by his lapels, forcing the latter to look into his eyes.
Zhou Guiying gulped nervously when their faces were just ten centimeters apart from each other.
So this was what fear felt like.
Xie Jianyu and his two little maids barely left, and here was Zhang Fengxi, making him pay for his harmless flirtation.
"Brother Fengxi, ah, why so serious? Come on, that was only for fun."
Zhou Guiying tried to downplay the situation with a light banter, but Zhang Fengxi had the opposite mood.
"It was not funny."
"..."
Zhang Fengxi, this alpha tiger, did not have any sense of humor at all, Zhou Guiying decided.
Seeing that Zhou Guiying remained unrepentant, Zhang Fengxi tightened his grip around the mermaid prince’s neck. The latter gasped when he felt the ground beneath his feet disappear.
Clawing desperately at Zhang Fengxi’s hands, he choked out, "Brother Fengxi... Okay, okay, I will never do that again. Will you... Please... Let me go!"
Zhang Fengxi dropped Zhou Guiying to the ground with a contemptuous humph. After taking in a lungful of air, Zhou Guiying groaned and massaged his aching throat.
"Dear gods," he complained loudly. "Brother Fengxi, is this how you treat your friends? Good grief!"
"I can’t believe you," Zhang Fengxi scoffed. "Of all the omegas you could play with, you just had to target Xie Jianyu."
Speaking about Xie Jianyu!
The veins at Zhang Fengxi’s temples throbbed painfully when he replayed the unpleasant scene in the restaurant before his eyes.
Xie Jianyu was the one who said that he hated Zhang Fengxi’s touch. Then what about Zhou Guiying’s? The one time they ate together was when Zhang Fengxi barged into Fuxi Palace and refused to leave.
And here was Xie Jianyu, happily touring the Golden Dragon City with Zhou Guiying to enjoy the heights of the festivities! He happily ate lunch with Zhou Guiying. And then, he let that scoundrel kiss his hand just like that!
Insolent! Impudent!
Was Xie Jianyu fine with any other alpha but Zhang Fengxi???
WHAM
Zhou Guiying’s eyeballs slowly wandered to the spot just one centimeter next to his head. Once Zhang Fengxi retracted his smoking fist, there was a fist-sized crater on the wall.
"I want you to stay away from Xie Jianyu," Zhang Fengxi’s voice was full of threats. "Otherwise, do not blame me for being ruthless."
Zhou Guiying rose to his feet. He patted his dusty robe with a snicker.
"Have you come to realize your feelings for him?"
"... I have no feelings for Xie Jianyu," Zhang Fengxi automatically said in reply, but even as he said it, he knew that the truth was not that simple.
Due to their past entanglements, Xie Jianyu suffered a lot.
This life too, he suffered a lot thanks to Zhang Fengxi’s stupidity.
That’s why Zhang Fengxi wanted to keep Xie Jianyu safe and make him happy.
He had to repay Xie Jianyu for all the wrongs he did him in both lives.
"Is that all?" The tiny voice in his head spoke up again. "Do you really have no questionable feelings toward Xie Jianyu beyond the sense of obligation?"
Zhou Guiying scoffed.
"For someone who does not have any feelings for the Crown Prince, you act like a husband whose wife I just seduced."
"That’s not it," Zhang Fengxi snapped impatiently. "He is a good friend of mine. I don’t want you to play him like all the other omegas."
The mermaid prince sighed.
"A good friend, hm? So it was a friendly concern, nothing more? Does it mean that you don’t mind if I take him to wife as long as I treat him well?"
"..."
Zhou Guiying leaned closer to Zhang Fengxi, whose head was bowed in deep thought.
"Hmmmm?" he taunted the tiger prince with a broad grin.
No, the tiny voice in Zhang Fengxi’s head said. I don’t want you to take him to be your wife. Not you, not Wu Shenxia. Xie Jianyu, he... He is my...
But Xie Jianyu was not tied to Zhang Fengxi in any way.
And that was the problem.
Xie Jianyu did not belong to anyone.
He was free to decide his future husband, and Zhang Fengxi was powerless toward his decision.
"..."
"Aaaah~"
Zhou Guiying draped an arm around Zhang Fengxi’s neck.
"Most importantly, Brother Fengxi, you need to understand your own feelings. Only then will you be able to reach your goals.
Look, it doesn’t have to be me. Any alpha who does not stand a chance to win that stupid competition would be happy to take the Crown Prince as a wife."
"... And why is that so?"
Zhoy Guiying gave the other alpha a judgmental stare.
"He is -still- the strongest Golden Lotus known to three realms at the moment, if you recall. He is far more desirable than any Ethereal Beauty that ever walks the Heavenly Realm.
Brother Fengxi, ah... You will see. The ones who pined for the Crown Prince will be as many as the stars across the sky."
Zhou Guiying’s foresight proved to be quite accurate.
By the time Xie Jianyu, Mingyu, and Qingyun returned to Fuxi Palace, a train of gifts was already waiting for them at the palace entrance.
Red coffers and velvet trays full of precious artifacts, golden accessories, and jewelry were lined up on the clouds.
Almost all the boxes bore an elegant drawing of a lotus flower with golden ink.
"Ten tea sets from Kunlun Mountain..."
"Twenty rolls of Cloud Mist Silk..."
"Two boxes of Qi Refining Pills..."
Mingyu and Qingyun rubbed their aching foreheads after scribbling down every line on their lists. Did these suitors mistake the Heavenly Emperor’s birthday for Xie Jianyu’s???
"Next... Where do you hail from, Sir?" Mingyu asked with a weary voice.
The messenger bowed before the two maids.
"Young ladies, I came from Juhua Palace bearing gifts for the Crown Prince."
He had only one box with him, and he treated it very carefully.
Mingyu and Qingyun both leaned forward at the same time to take a look at the content.
The box popped open with a click, revealing a translucent fist-sized stone inside. A transcendent bright blue ball of light was trapped inside, pulsing gently like a living being.
Gentle sparks surrounded the stone, producing a light crackling noise from time to time.
"This is the lightning essence that our Princess Wu Shenxia personally harvested from the ninth layer of heaven for the past seven days and seven nights. Her Highness hopes that it will serve the Crown Prince properly."