The Scum Is A

"Da shixiong, what's the matter?" Cheng Sheng asked as he approached Fei Yin after their dinner. "You've been spacing out since earlier." He said as he looked at Fei Yin's face. Fei Yin rarely ever shows his emotions, much less his thoughts. To see him staring blankly at the space earlier has been a shock to Cheng Sheng. He worried Fei Yin was carrying a burden in his heart, thus he immediately came up to talk to him. 

Sun Yi, who happened to pass by, heard their conversation and he turned to them.

"It's nothing." Fei Yin answered as he recovered his expression.

"Really?" Cheng Sheng said as he walked past Fei Yin. "Don't bottle up yourself too much, da shixiong. You can talk to me about your problems." He told him as he patted his shoulder. Then, he left.

Fei Yin watched him left, then sighed in relief. He's glad Cheng Sheng returned to his usual cheerful self after Lei Ling was found. However, Lei Ling's matter hasn't ended yet. "The fourth young master of the Jing Clan…" he muttered, his brows knit as he thinks. It's not that he's against of Jing Kang, but the question here is the feelings of both parties. Jing Kang actually likes Lei Ling. However, would Lei Ling like Jing Kang? Is Lei Ling even interested in men? He thought as he thinks of Lei Ling. He only can see him holing up in room surrounded by countless talismans while he makes another one. If ever Lei Ling would like men, the person he'd like is Cheng Sheng. 

Fei Yin frowned as he thought of that. He would never let anyone take Cheng Sheng away from him. 

"Fourth young master Jing is interested in Lei-shidi, right?" Sun Yi said as he appeared behind Fei Yin who was deep in his thoughts. When he didn't see a surprised reaction from Fei Yin, he grimaced. "You're worthy of being called an abstinent person." He said. "Like my Yuan." He added. 

"Sun-shixiong." Fei Yin turned. "You also know." He said as he looked at Sun Yi's expression. 

"Yeah. I can connect Jing Bai's words and Jing Kang's actions. Don't lump me in with our da shixiong." Sun Yi said, referring to Chen Han.

Chen Han, who was sitting with Li Tian in the pavilion, suddenly sneezed. "Who's talking bad about me?" he asked as he rubbed his nose.

Li Tian looked at him, his eyes filled with concern. "It's already late. You might catch a cold. Let's go back inside." He told him.

Chen Han nodded. "Yes. I don't want you to catch a cold, too." He said as he wrapped his outer robe around Li Tian. He felt his heart melted when he saw Li Tian's shy smile.

Back to Sun Yi and Fei Yin. "So, what will you do?" Sun Yi asked Fei Yin. He's referring to Lei Ling's matter with Jing Kang.

Fei Yin took a deep breath. "I had to ask Lei-shidi of his impression of fourth young master Jing." He answered.

"You won't tell your shijie about this, nor your founder?" Sun Yi asked. "Even Lei-shidi?" he said. "Even – " he turned and looked forward. " – your Cheng-shidi?" he asked. 

Fei Yin's pupils shrank and he turned. His heart sank when he saw Cheng Sheng was silently leaning on the wall not far from them. "… shidi." He called. He's frightened seeing Cheng Sheng's usually smiling face is devoid of emotions. "Shidi?" he called when Cheng Sheng walked past him and stopped in front of Sun Yi.

"Sun-shixiong." Cheng Sheng called.

"Yes?" Sun Yi amiably smiled. He's enjoying this.

"… can you leave me and my da shixiong for a while?" Cheng Sheng asked. "I want to talk to him." He said. His tone is surprisingly, and frighteningly, calm and submissive.

"Sure." Sun Yi nodded. He glanced at Fei Yin before he finally left.

Cheng Sheng watched Sun Yi leave before he slowly turned to Fei Yin. "Do you want to know why, a person like me – " he said. " – is so concerned of Lei-shidi?" he asked.

"You don't have to belittle yourself." Fei Yin told him. "Everyone has the right to care for someone." He said. Even I, who's an ugly person for feeling jealous of Lei-shidi because you showed excessive concern towards him. He thought. 

"Da shixiong…" Cheng Sheng called, then lowered his head. "Lei-shidi… he's the only one who accepted me – " he said. " – an insufferably arrogant person, despite being inept in cultivation." He sighed, then bitterly smiled as he looked at Fei Yin. "A despicable person like me… only Lei-shidi wholeheartedly accepted me." he told him.

Fei Yin felt his whole being became cold. He clearly remembers… he remembers. This was the time when he arrived in Xinfaxian, he met two youths the same age as him. Feng Mo still hasn't gone to the Xinfaxian Sect. The two youths – one humble and kind, while the other one is arrogant and playful. They were Li Tian and Cheng Sheng, respectively. Being a proud one himself, he disliked Cheng Sheng. Thus, the two of them were like fire and ice. Cheng Sheng is the fire, and he's the ice. Not long after and Feng Mo visited the Xinfaxian Sect, Xie Lan and Fan Wen closed the application to be disciples of the sect.

Then, when the Xinfaxian Sect reopened for the recruitment of disciples, Lei Ling arrived. He became the fifth disciple. He ran away from his home due to his teenage rebellion. Lei Qing followed him not long after. Seeing that Lei Ling was submissive towards Xie Lan and Fan Wen, Lei Qing convinced their parents for her and Lei Ling to be disciples. She will look after Lei Ling to prevent him from making troubles with the Xinfaxian Sect. The days that followed were their antics, banters and misadventures. You Rou then joined the sect, together with the other disciples.

That was then Cheng Sheng showed his overbearing side. The other disciples were already dissatisfied with him because of his arrogance, and then became more dissatisfied with him after finding out of his zero talent in cultivation. However, he still continued acting arrogant. He's willful. The other disciples tried to be respectful since he's the fourth disciple. However, Cheng Sheng had a disagreement with one of the disciples, and then everything became heated.

The result, Cheng Sheng apologized to the disciple. However, the disciple was ashamed since it had been his fault for being hot-tempered. If he'd continue to stay in the sect, he would just put more strain with the sect. Thus, he left the sect to ease the tension and the disciples' relationship with each other. He also left Xinfaxian. Xie Lan and Fan Wen felt guilty towards him since he's an orphan they brought to the sect. Then, they lectured Cheng Sheng. Cheng Sheng became restrained with his actions after that.

"The reason I apologized to Ruo She is because of Lei-shidi." Cheng Sheng said. Ruo She is the disciple he had a disagreement with and left both the sect and the Xinfaxian.

Fei Yin stared at him before he spoke. "The reason you also fought is because of Lei-shidi." He said.

"Yes." Cheng Sheng nodded. "How did you know?" he asked, surprise is in his voice. Seeing Fei Yin didn't answer, he shrugged. "I knew he had been dissatisfied with me. Well, everyone did." He bitterly smiled. "However, I didn't like it when I saw him push Lei-shidi out of the way, making the water in Lei-shidi's bucket spill and be wasted." He said. "I knew everyone is working hard. However, Lei-shidi is a slow person. He also has low self-esteem, thus I tried to speak for him." He explained. "However, who would have thought Ruo She would snap? 'Acting like a hero'…" he sadly smiled.

"But, you're only trying to help Lei-shidi." Fei Yin said.

"The outcome is Ruo She leaving Xinfaxian." Cheng Sheng said. "Founder and shifu… I know they're still guilty of what happened." He said. "I know, Ruo She left because founder and shifu had been bias towards me." he added.

"That's not – " Fei Yin said.

Cheng Sheng waved his hand. "Anyway, Lei-shidi sought me out after I verbally fought with Ruo She." He continued. "Do you know what are the first words he told me?" he asked. "'You were wrong. Apologize to Ruo-shixiong.' The nerve!" he laughed. "I've defended him and all, but he saw me as a villain all along?" he said in disbelief.

"But, Lei-shidi now…" Fei Yin said. 

"Yeah." Cheng Sheng said. "I only realized it after – " he smiled. "I really have been the one in the wrong. I shouldn't have spoken in behalf of Lei-shidi." He said and looked at Fei Yin. "I just harmed them both." He told him. "And I harmed founder and shifu after." He added. Not only did he make Xie Lan and Fan Wen feel guilt, not only did he make Ruo She lose his home.

He also stole Lei Ling's thunder, and his chance to become a confident person afterwards.