Peanut Analogy

“Do you have any lingering regrets?”

His hand paused in the act of tossing peanuts into his mouth as he glanced at the young master sitting next to him. 

He arched a brow at Wu Yingfei, who was calmly sipping his tea. Did the Emperor’s program soften this cold-blooded demon’s heart? Nice going, king. 

He pondered the question for a moment, deciding if he should answer truthfully. But as someone with more drastic life experiences than the spoiled brat, he took it upon himself to educate him.

“Of course I have.” He stated nonchalantly as he looked up at the clear blue sky. It didn’t look like it was going to rain today. Good. He tossed a peanut into his mouth and only spoke after he finished chewing it. “I was just a dumb, naive kid when I first started out on the streets. There were plenty of times I felt powerless and wished I could’ve be stronger.” At that, annoying memories resurfaced in his mind, causing him to subconsciously crush the peanut shell in his hand. Ah. Oh well. He ate the insides. “Besides, who hasn’t made mistakes that they regretted?” He glanced at the boy sitting on the cushion, cueing him to cough up his story now.

Wu Yingfei seemed to contemplate his words for a moment before replying in a light voice. “That’s true.” 

Truthfully, he was surprised that Wu Yingfei of all people would finally admit that he was just a mere mortal and not a god like he seemed to think, but that was the Wu Yingfei he knew before he suddenly left for Yichan. If this is what the program does, he couldn’t wait for the boy to return to it. Perhaps the next time he came home, he would’ve transformed into a gentleman like his father. He laughed inwardly at how absurd that sounded even as a joke.

He bit into another peanut before prodding the unusually silent boy for more information. “Oh? What kind of regrets does someone of your ‘caliber’ have?”

Yingfei glanced at him before turning his gaze to the sky with an annoying smile on his face. “I meant that you being a ‘dumb kid’ is true.” 

He scoffed. What was he thinking? Of course it wasn’t that easy to change a snake.

“Yeah, yeah, and? Don’t tell me you can’t even admit that you made mistakes in the past? How pathetic of you, heir to the Ying Establishment.” He quipped back with a blinding grin on his face.

He could see Wu Yingfei’s eyebrow twitch even if it was minuscule. He smirked. Small victories, big victories- who cares if in the end, they’re all victories?

“Even if I made mistakes, I really don’t harbor any regrets.” He smiled that irritating smile of his that always made him want to smack it off the older boy’s face. 

He stared Wu Yingfei in the eyes for a long, silent moment, both of the boys’ faces showing none of their inner thoughts. Until he broke the exchange with an irritated sigh.

“Yeah, that’s why I’ll never be able to get along with you.” He grumbled as he got up and stretched his limbs. 

He was on his way out of the Wu compound before he remembered something. He turned around and waved his sack of peanuts. “Thanks. For these.” 

Even if he hated his guts, he appreciated the high quality souvenirs he brought him. 

He didn’t even wait for Yingfei’s reply before turning around. His money was the only reason he put up with Wu Yingfei’s irritating presence. If not for it, he would never want to hang around someone as troublesome as him. 

He took another peanut out of his bag and stared at it for a while before plopping it into his mouth. 

Wu Yingfei seemed to believe his shell was unbreakable, but he could see small cracks appearing where Yingfei could not see. 

It was just too much of a hassle for him to break it. After all, they weren’t friends; they were just a client and a hired mercenary.