Chapter 1: Tea is Best Tasted Without Sugar

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Beautiful, gentle, adorable... Wu Yang put forth a convincing façade. Slim as a woman and shapely to boot, with eyes that could charm a rock, Wu Yang used his soft and beautiful appearance well. No one would think what could be hidden behind his gentle stare, his weak, lovely smile.

If by night he was forced to endure unspeakable horrors, then daytime was a wonderful respite where everyone fell for his assumed façade, a time of freedom to forget what had happened merely hours before.

It was a calm morning, and Wu Yang was currently engaging himself with a small cup of tea in a small inn, his appearance naturally gathering plentiful attention, when a stranger came in to straddle himself of the chair opposite him. Without bothering with any form of modest formalities, the stranger took a crumpled piece of rice paper from his sleeve to throw at Wu Yang's face, which Wu Yang's hand swiftly caught, to protect his innocent tea from the offending attack.

The stranger got up, not forgetting to kick the table into Wu Yang's face in his departure, uttering with much more vehemence than appropriately necessary, "Get it done by tonight, you c*ck sucking wh*re," as he headed out the entrance of the small inn.

Wu Yang also stood up to leave, without forgetting to politely apologize for the disgraceful show. "I'm sorry you had to see that, allow me to take my leave, so as to not make you uncomfortable." Afterall, even an unobservant eye could see that a couple of the people had already lost the edge on their appetite from the incident.

Setting the table up on its feet again, Wu Yang also picked up the fallen dishes, remembering to leave additional payment for the broken glassware. Such a shame such innocuous tea had been wasted.

Bidding the last of his tea, now gathered on the floor, a wistful farewell, Wu Yang left the small inn to get to work on the task handed him.

Unwrapping the paper, his eyes fell on a simple name inscribed in rather inelegant handwriting on its crispy surface. Sighing, he threw the paper away into a muddy puddle on the side of the old path.

Xu Zilong. An important man with incredible intelligence, always able to remain two steps ahead anyone else. Plus, he was connected to those with even greater power. He had one weakness, and that was why, Wu Yang, with all his well-known lack of martial prowess, had been handedly placed on this annoyingly troublesome opportunity.

Xu Zilong liked his women. And as for the women mentioned, any women goes. They can be tall, short, thin or stocky, he'll make sure to have his way with them.

Any man like this, along with someone to hate them, always seemed to end up on Wu Yang's to-do list, no matter how much he protested.

Whatever, at least this one had decent looks as a bonus, unlike the disappointing last one. Unfortunately, he also had half a brain to even things out.

After a day of dilly dallying, he headed over to Xu Zilong's residence.

Wu Yang didn't even bother hiding his identity as a man. Someone as smart and woman experienced as Xu Zilong would see through his disguise immediately. Luckily, this was the last job in this forsaken city, so his real identity had no need for veiling anymore. He'd soon be gone, off to the next province of opportunities.

Still, it wouldn't be good if this murder was tracked back to him, so he made sure to add some defining moles near his eyes and mouth, changing the color of his hair, drawing on a different shape of eyebrow and mouth, and adding slight touches of wrinkles to look a little older than he was with his various makeup techniques. Truly, if he had a talent in anything, it would be painting his face. If only he could quit this depressing job and just do face painting for a living, he'd probably become one of the richest single-manned businesses in the world of the mortals and jianghu, just tending to various concubines' faces. Too bad his boss was a possessive jerk and wouldn't let him quit for an obviously more successful future. Jerk boss. Upside down T for you.

By the time the sun was already half past its daily duties, Wu Yang had finally reached the Xu residence.

Xu Zilong was a smart man, so he was easy to predict, and Wu Yang had no problem getting into his home before he returned from the palace. In fact, by the time Xu Zilong had returned, He'd already made himself comfortable in his main chambers drinking a warm cup of mellow yellow tea, watching the leaves slowly flutter toward the ground through the large round window in achromatic delight.

Such was the scene Xu Zilong walked in on, having heard about the intrusion from his servants at the entrance.

Carrying a long black mustache and goatee, this man was a handsome, picture-perfect straight man, with a presence like the sharpest blades of a thousand swords. Whatever that means. Anyway, Wu Yang immediately took a liking to him.

"What is the meaning of breaking into my house? And what's with that unenthusiastic lie you left at the entrance? My estranged brother? A once removed cousin looking to take advantage of my recent rise to glory would make more sense than the half diabolical nonsense you gave."

Wu Yang lifted his glass to him, before finishing his drink and setting it down. Nothing could excuse a half finished glass of good tea.

He stood up and pranced over to the conspicuously suspicious man glaring down at him, with lighthearted joviality, "But it worked did it not?" He stared up at the man, grabbing his collar and gazing up at him affectionately. He leaned in, savoring the man's scent, and attempting to lay his head onto the man's bosom. "You see, Xiao Long, I fell in love at first sight, and couldn't help but want to meet you in person, and maybe, get to know each other a little more intimately, if you know what I..." Before he could finish his last sentence, he suddenly became weightless as he was unceremoniously carried out of Xu Zilong's chambers and brought back to the front entrance, all the while, now wailing, "Brother! How could you do this to me! You're doing so well, yet just because of the past, you can't spare even a glance to help me though this troubling time!" He was finally thrown out the gate, and the door was unhesitatingly slammed shut, but even then, he unashamedly leapt at the door, beating at it in a frenzy. "If this is about the past! I'm sorry brother! I never meant to choose my lover over you back then! I promise to change! My lover and I have already broken it off!" His tone immediately changed to sorrowful, as he finally refrained from beating the door, to lean against it instead and continued in a morose tone. "In the end, you were right, brother, she was merely using me! Back then, I should have listened to you! I can only blame myself, blinded by a foolish man's love!"

Wu Zilong hadn't left yet, thoroughly entertained by this cut-sleeve's story. It had been a long time since he'd listened to such an entertaining drama.

Wu Yang, knowing he still had the Lord's utmost attention, continued his soliloquy, turning back to the door, "Indeed, I won't ignore your warning again! You are the first in my life, and I only realize, now that you're gone, how much our relationship meant to me." He made sure to finish it with a sorrowful, but overly loud, breathy whisper, "Our past relationship, I miss it so much..." There was a moment of silence, before he got ahold of his emotions once more. "Won't you give this dastardly brother another chance?"

By now, Xu Zilong, who was thoroughly enthralled in this nonsense and overly curious about the continuation of the drama, decided to play along. Not to mention the stares that all his servants were giving him, could make a person keel over laughing for a couple hours. "Zihong, you know it's already too late for that. Back then, you chose your way. I remember you saying, 'I'll never regret the path I've chosen, and if it means we won't be brothers if i take this path, then let it be so!' And yet, what is this I hear? You're going back on your words from back then? How can I trust any sincerely in your words today?"

Wu Yang bit his lip, this was outside of even his expectations, but if this man was expecting to turn him away by using his trick against him, he was about to be sorely disappointed.

He started slow, sounding utterly ashamed of every word he spat. "Brother, back then, I was foolish, I couldn't even see through the intentions of the people closest to me. I understand if you don't want to have any relations with me anymore, I wont even ask for any kind of monetary support, but I have to shamelessly ask, as a brother who cares for his other enough to leave any selfish pride aside, would it be possible, to drink and speak as brothers one last time, before we part ways forever?"

"We've already parted ways," replied Xu Zilong unsympathetically, causing many servants to suffer tears rolling down their cheeks at at the travesty of it all.

However, Wu Yang wouldn't give up, sorrow now flooding his voice, he continued, sobs barely contained, "And that's why I had to return brother! How could I let our relationship end like this! The past can't be rewritten, but for the sake of those fond memories we once shared, let us reconcile once last time, so that those memories will not be shrouded in sadness, but be remembered in fondness. It is the last thing I can do for you as your brother, and as the one who wishes to repair what I did wrong by you!"

Xu Zilong was impressed, so thoroughly impressed actually, that he decided to give this little guy a chance. Plus, if he didn't let this guy in, it looked as if his servants might beat him to death.

"Fine, but only tonight!"

At this, the door was suddenly swung open, to Wu Yang's unadulterated surprise, and in order to hide the not-quite-tear-riddled face, he immediately dashed towards Xu Zilong, throwing himself into the man's arms, and burying his face in the expensive cloth of his shoulder. Afterall, it wouldn't be good if his acting was too convincing for Xu Zilong, or he would get unnecessarily suspicious, since if his acting was too good as his brother, wouldn't it be just as good as his lover? Then the guy, as cynical as he was, would doubt him completely, and he'd be locked up in the dungeon for who knew how long, and worse, he'd have to stay in this ugly town way longer than necessary!

Xu Zilong on the other hand, found his tearless, surprised face, an absolute hilarity to see and was half impressed by the guys quick thinking to throw himself into his arms, only, why did the guy have to touch him so inappropriately while doing it?

Sighing in consternation, he waved a servant to prepare a carriage, and immediately brought his 'brother' to the nearest brothel, renting out a private ensuite on the upper levels. Along with all his closest business partners, much to Wu Yang's ultimate dismay, which he didn't even bother to hide.

Xu Zilong immediately smirked at his expression, he had a lot of experience being chased by women after all, if he couldn't handle the lovestruck by now, who would he be? However, that face of mirth immediately changed into that of nervous confliction, as he saw a look of wicked excitement replace Wu Yang's previous sorrowful one for a moment, before noticing Xu Zilong's stare and quickly hid it.

Xu Zilong frowned. It was like he'd taken away a cookie from a child, only for the child to somehow find a whole cake to fill himself up on.

Having to murder someone in front of a bunch of intelligent people, without them noticing it was you, would prove a difficult task to any normal person, or even an intelligent one. But Wu Yang was neither of those, so he found it as easy as any other job he'd had to take. Whether they were the strongest person in the world, or the weakest, there was always a way to get the job done, as long as you knew who you were working with. Unfortunately, this time Wu Yang didn't know this man, not even from a glance like usual, or even after the long talk earlier. This could only mean, that there was a good chance it would be physically impossible to kill Xu Zilong, because there was something intrinsically missing in his current knowledge to calculate from. Hence the large guqin case he carried on his back, which he'd prepared earlier in the day just in case. Ha, get it.

Also hence why it took so long for him to arrive at the residence.

Yes, this guqin case might end up becoming incredibly handy to kill Xu Zilong in the time restraint given him. Plus, his job clearly only told him he only needed to kill 'Xu Zilong'.

A name was as weak as flax string, and Wu Yang had no inclination to do more than his job detail.