While the three guys from Bright Yellow Water were talking about what had happened in the time they had been out and about alone, Si Qi also made his way back to the temporary headquarters of the ninjas of the Si clan.

Stepping through the door, a feeling of regret welled up in him. He really would’ve liked to just stay outside. Things were tense with Si Yi and he had no relationship with the others. Actually, the longer he thought about it, the more he felt that he probably shouldn’t be part of the clan.

No, he would probably do better outside, maybe helping every now and then but not actually being in the middle of it. Being a ninja … that wasn’t his life. It felt like he had no value here and everything it brought him was pain.

He took a deep breath and then sighed before he finally walked in. No matter what he wanted to do in the future, for now, there was still a task to accomplish. He wouldn’t shirk his responsibilities just like that. What he had started needed to be finished. If he was still needed after the show, he would also stay for a while longer. He’d just see about that when the time arrived.

Needless to say, it wasn’t difficult to find Si Yi in this house. It didn’t need much guessing to figure out that their master would be in the kitchen, trying out some new recipes and perfecting his skill. Thus, Si Yi would be close by, either joining in or maybe doing something related close by. At the very least, he wouldn’t be more than half a minute away if he hadn’t been sent off to do some task.

Indeed, as soon as Si Qi stepped into the kitchen, he saw their master standing behind the stove while Si Yi was sitting to the side, looking through a pile of cookbooks. Si Yi didn’t even seem to glance in his direction and just continued leafing through that book as if he didn’t stop reading at all. As for their master, he naturally wouldn’t stop what he was doing. He always focused on his tasks completely.

Si Qi felt even more resistance bubble up in his heart and closed his eyes for a moment before he pushed the door shut behind him and leaned against it to get some kind of support. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to do this for the next couple of weeks. With each day, things seemed to be getting worse.

He opened his eyes again and gulped, trying not to think about his personal situation. If he focused on the task at hand, he should be able to stay calm. “I met young master Xiao when I out.”

With this, he actually managed to get the attention of the two men. Their master didn’t stop cooking but he did look up and fixated him with his gaze while Si Yi actually stopped looking at the book and turned to face him, his gaze searching.

Si Qi felt self-conscious under Si Yi’s gaze but he forced himself to calm down and then tell them about the whole encounter, including the things he had told him and the reactions he had noticed.

As usual, nothing changed in their master’s face even though he was sure that inwardly, he was probably in turmoil. He probably didn’t care too much what Si Qi himself thought of him so the little bit of badmouthing he had done would go unnoticed but he cared very much how it had impacted Xiao Ming’s view of him. Not that he would discuss that with him.

At the same time, Si Yi furrowed his brows. “Why would you tell him such things? You could have anticipated that he would react like this! That is something to mention after he has had the opportunity to get to know master better so that he wouldn’t be swayed this easily.”

Si Qi faintly raised his chin, trying to keep his composure. It wasn’t like Si Yi was ever affectionate with him but usually, he would at least keep calm. Now though, he was about to be scolded and he didn’t like it a single bit.

Not that in this case, he didn’t deserve it. He also knew that while he had had good intentions, he had really fucked up this time. Well, at least he had gotten them some information.

“What is done, is done. I can’t change it anymore. You should have a word with Si Shi Wu though to make sure nothing happens on that front. Whatever you have to say to me, you can keep it to yourself, brother Yi. I already know what I’ve done wrong. In any case, I should go and prepare for the next episode.” Before Si Yi had the chance to say anything else, Si Qi already turned around and left the room, closing the door behind. Then, he ran off.

He knew it was a cowardly thing to do. He should have the guts to confront him about this. But the truth was that he just didn’t. Even now when he recounted things, he had not mentioned Si Yi with even a single word.

He had pretended as if he was just talking about some person that he was interested in to make it seem like he and young master Xiao had something in common. He didn’t indicate that it had anything to do with Si Yi, the Si clan, or anything else. Even though Si Yi could surely gather as much, he still didn’t want to say it outright just in case.

Back in the kitchen, Si Yi was actually still furious and of half a mind to go after Si Qi. In his eyes, Si Qi was capable. He was somebody dependable who would always do good work. Even though Si Qi usually had him take a look at the things he did for some finishing touches, there was hardly anything to complain about no matter what kind of task he had been working on. At most, there were some minor points that he could nitpick.

Thus, Si Yi could hardly imagine that he would suck so much at having this kind of conversation. Even if not everything went right, Si Qi should have been able to do this without major complications. So why had he made such a mess out of things this time around? He really couldn’t understand it! Unless …

His gaze darkened even further when he thought of that possibility. Yes, unless he had done this deliberately. Unless this had been petty revenge for the fact that he had been ignoring him recently.

In any case, he knew Si Qi’s feelings. And even though Si Yi hadn’t said it outright just now, he also knew that the man he had spoken to Xiao Ming about was him. In fact, he might’ve even mentioned his name. Otherwise, how had they come to talk about their master? Yes, this was a very easy solution to both of Si Qi’s problems and well, to some of the Si clan’s as well. But Si Qi had gone too far this time around.

Si Yi looked up at his master to apologize only to find that his master was actually staring at him. He was startled and for a moment, forgot what he had wanted to say. Before he could remember, Si Jin already started.

“Date.”

Si Yi stared back at him, not quite sure what to make of this. “The … eighth?” He was asking what date was today, right? It couldn’t be that he meant some kind of date with young master Xiao and the probability that was left of that happening, right? Or was this not a question but a statement? But what did it mean then?

Si Yi was completely confused and whatever he had wanted to say before was completely forgotten.

Si Jin stared at him for a moment longer, unable to believe that his second in command was actually such an idiot. He almost wanted to shake his head at him but finally just turned back to the pan in front of him and continued to cook.

In any case, you could lead a horse to the water but you couldn’t make it drink. He had already told him to date Si Qi if he wanted to but if Si Yi wasn’t able to recognize his good intentions, then he’d leave him to himself for the time being. Maybe in a while, he would realize that he was making trouble for nothing.

For Si Jin, the topic of Si Yi and Si Qi was closed with that. Instead, he started to think about Xiao Ming. To be honest, he understood where he was coming from. To be involved with the Si family probably wasn’t that safe.

But even though that was the case, he didn’t doubt that there was still a chance for them to be together. He just had to prove to Xiao Ming that he could protect him in the future. And, well, he had to prove to him that he was worth it to take that risk in the first place.

On that note, he couldn’t help but think of Xiao Ming’s interest in Si Shi Wu. That man … what did he have that he didn’t? Comparing their appearances, Si Jin felt that he definitely wasn’t looking any worse than Si Shi Wu. That shouldn’t be it. Comparing their intellect, he would actually like to think that he was above Si Shi Wu, same when it came to his athletic capabilities. In any case, there was a reason that Si Shi Wu was only the number fifteen in the clan.

When it came to the other ninjas, the only ones who were really able to stand shoulder to shoulder with their master were Si Yi, Si Er, Si San, and maybe Si Si. Even when it came to Si Wu, Si Jin was sure that he would come out ahead of him by quite a bit already in at least one of these categories.

That left mostly one thing that should have won Xiao Ming over: Si Shi Wu had the more interesting personality. This was something that Si Jin had to admit himself. He clearly wasn’t the kind of person that would strike somebody as an interesting partner for a conversation.

There weren’t too many topics that he was personally interested in and he usually only picked up things when they were of benefit to him for some kind of goal that he wanted to achieve or for the overall prosperity of the Si clan.

On the other hand, Si Shi Wu seemed to have a genuine interest in cooking. The fact that this was something that Xiao Ming also liked to do had probably also played a role in him taking an interest.

Looking at the pan in front of him, Si Jin almost furrowed his brows. He couldn’t suddenly develop this kind of interest. That wasn’t something you could force yourself to do.

No, to him, cooking was just … Well, it was a challenge to get right but after several weeks of nonstop practicing, he felt that he was quite good. The challenge had already reduced significantly and with that, the bit of interest that he had been able to muster in the beginning was also wearing off.

Now, cooking was just like anything else really. Something that he could pass the time with but also not really something that he was too invested in. Unfortunately, this didn’t get them anywhere.

No, even if he couldn’t find an interest in cooking, he had to find something. He had to have something that could hold his interest and then make him interesting to Xiao Ming in return.

It was just that he had no idea how to go about this. And looking at Si Yi whom he had just discovered to be an idiot that couldn’t even make his own love life work, he was afraid that he would have to find somebody else to help him out in this matter.

Now, which of the other nineteen ninjas might be a good support for this? That question was astoundingly hard to answer.