Spoiler Warning!!!

Read only after finishing the First Arc of 'Unwilling Death, Reclaiming Dignity'!

Jing Jiang tightly clamped the artifact his father was working on with the tongs in his hands. Each time his father struck the metal with his smithing hammer sparks flew through the air and Jing Jiang's muscles tensed to keep the artifact centered. Sweat was rolling down his forehead, threatening to trickle into his eye but he didn't dare wipe it away in fear of jeopardizing all the hard work the both of them had put into this commission.

But more than that, he didn't want to disappoint his father.

Gradually, his father was starting to entrust more serious work to him, obviously planning to finally promote him from Assistant to full-fledged Craftsman.

It made him nervous and excited at the same time.

Although his father hadn't said anything concrete yet, the fact that the other had signed up for the Bi-Yearly Competition along with him despite there being several other Assistants who had worked much longer and diligently for the Unbending Branch Forge was already proof enough.

One of those Assistants was Suan Bi.

Just thinking about the other caused a slight redness that had nothing to do with his exhaustion to rise to Jing Jiang's cheeks. Quickly realizing his mind was drifting off, he hurriedly shook his head to get rid of the distracting thoughts that were starting to bubble up.

"What are you doing, Jiang'er?"

Jing Jiang froze.

As if doused with ice-cold water he looked up. 

First at his father's doubtful and bemused face, then at the crooked spear, hanging over the furnace.

Immediately realizing what had happened, Jing Jiang gave a short exclamation before turning to his father to apologize with a red face.

"I'm sorry, father... I got distracted, " the moment he said the second half, Jing Jiang already regretted it, looking up at his father in shame. But as always, Jing Hai just stared at his son for a moment in response before sending him away with a wave of his hand.

"Take a break and refocus, being distracted while forging is the biggest sin an artificer can commit."

Hearing his father's words that sounded neither disappointed nor angry caused Jing Jiang to turn even redder as he nodded.

He hurriedly walked away, his shoulders almost touching his ears as he tried to hide his scarlet face from the other workers in the forge. Still, he felt their ridiculing gazes sticking to his back. Mocking him inside their hearts.

Making him feel even more ashamed.

After all, if any other worker had screwed up by being distracted during work they would have been ruthlessly scolded and chastized, but as the owner's son, Jing Jiang only suffered what could barely qualify as a performative slap on the wrist.

This had been the ground for a lot of resentment towards him from the other artificers in the forge since Jing Jiang was young, not to mention the fact that he wasn't working at the forge because he needed to. He could very well sit down at his private furnace and do whatever he wanted without any regard for anyone else and his father wouldn't say anything about it. In the past, even during the busiest hours when they could barely keep up with the workload, his father would never ask him to help out, sometimes even stopping in the middle of his own work just to help Jing Jiang correct some mistakes in his artifact.

This had gone on until the year Jing Jiang turned 15 and he just couldn't ignore the eyes and hushed words of the other workers any longer. So he began to actively help out as best as he could, only to realize that he had absolutely no talent in keeping up the business besides the artifact creation part.

However, after 5 years of earnest efforts to match the other Apprentices' and Assisstants' skill in every single chore of the forge, Jing Jiang finally had the feeling that he had caught up and could focus once more on forging without having to feel bad for the people around him. And it was precisely at that moment his father started to carefully arrange for Jing Jiang to be promoted. As fair as possible.

And although there was still some quiet grumbling and dissatisfaction from the others in the forge, it was not nearly as bad as when Jing Jiang was younger, and even if there was, Jing Jiang could bear it much better now.

Having a friend on your side after a long time really helped getting through the hard times.

Thinking this, a silly smile began to bloom on Jing Jiang's face.

"Are you daydreaming again?", a voice that was all too familiar to Jing Jiang laughed, prompting Jing Jiang to abruptly snap out of his thoughts.

"I wasn't!", Jing Jiang instinctually denied with a blush on his face, but it only caused the young man in front of him to laugh even harder.

Realizing the other was teasing him again, Jing Jiang forced himself to calm down, laying his cool palms on his burning cheeks.

"What about you? Shouldn't you be at the counter? It's still some time until lunch break," Jing Jiang inquired while sitting down on a small stool.

Suan Bi shrugged in response, dropping onto the stool right next to Jing Jiang with a deep sigh, his eyes closed.

"I accidentally pushed over a few wares. Fortunately, nothing was damaged or destroyed, but Craftsman Mo still told me to take a break."

Jing Jiang silently looked at his friend with a worried expression.

"Are you alright? You weren't scolded too much, were you?"

Hearing Jing Jiang's words, a small smile snuck its way on Suan Bi's lips and he opened his eyes slightly, shifting his gaze to look directly into Jing Jiang's eyes in the dark storage room.

"Don't worry, I'm just a little tired, I haven't been able to get too much rest lately..."

Suan Bi's quiet voice hung in the dark storage room with a kind of intimacy that only served to worsen Jing Jiang's blush, as a shudder ran down his spine from feeling Suan Bi's warm breaths hitting his ear because they were sitting so close. Jing Jiang himself was holding his breath, his heart pounding quick and hard against his chest as if to jump out directly toward the person next to him.

Almost an entire minute passed before Jing Jiang was able to gather his wits again and answer because he had been too focused on staring into Suan Bi's brown eyes.

"Ah, uh, that's not good," Jing Jiang flusteredly stated.

""Being distracted is the greatest sin an artificer can commit.""

He and Suan Bi said at the same time, causing Jing Jiang to blush even harder as Suan Bi chuckled.

"You really are your father's son...", Suan Bi turned his head again, looking straight ahead, an almost sad expression on his face, although Jing Jiang was too embarrassed to really take notice.

Still pressing his now equally warm and slightly sweaty palms on his face, his mind racing to find a different topic to talk about, a sudden thought popped into Jing Jiang's mind.

"Hey, Suan Bi, do you want to eat dinner with my father and me tonight? It's been quite some time since you last joined us."

It took Suan Bi a moment to respond to the invitation, in which Jing Jiang nervously wondered whether the other had noticed his strange behavior earlier and was now reluctant to spend any more time with him. But his worries were unfounded as with a glance at Jing Jiang's nervous face, Suan Bi began to smile once more before nodding.

"Sure."