a/n: brb, reading the novel to break my writer's block on this au. 

Gu Hai takes exactly one sip of his tea before setting it down and calling over the nearest server, who is unfortunately Yang Meng. 

"This tea is scorching!" Gu Hai snaps at him and Yang Ming cringes behind the drink tray in his hands. "Are you trying to burn my tongue off? Bring your manager, I want to have a few words with him," he orders as he pushes the mug away roughly. A couple drops of hot tea spill over the side, making Yang Ming twitch and glance over his shoulder in desperation. 

'Help me, Yin Zi!' his eyes scream at Luo Yin who's already moving out from behind the register. He had anticipated this scenario from the moment Gu Hai entered the shop. Out of all of them, Yang Meng, who has neither Luo Yin's calm nor You Qi's arrogance, is the worst at dealing with belligerent customers. And Gu Hai is one of the most difficult of this class, if only because of his strange obstinance to have Luo Yin and only Luo Yin deal with his complaints. 

Once You Qi attempted to settle with Gu Hai and the ordeal nearly came down to a fistfight. This kind of reaction coming from You Qi, their local prince of laziness, was so uncommon that Luo Yin warned You Qi from dealing with Gu Hai ever again. 

Gu Hai watches with something like glee behind his eyes as the tea shop owner tiredly comes to a stop before him and crosses his arms over his apron. 

"What's the issue now?" drawls Luo Yin, not even attempting politeness after twenty-odd similar encounters with the man. 

Gu Hai motions at his tea and quirks his eyebrows. "The tea burned my tongue. It's too hot," Gu Hai says with a tsk of his tongue. He slants a sly look at Luo Yin and raises his chin. "I want it remade." 

Rolling his eyes, Luo Yin reaches over and picks up the mug. It's made of good handmade clay -shaped, fired and glazed by the potter just down the road. Delicate steam wisps off the top, and in the mug itself is a gorgeous explosion of white jasmine, petals trailing just under the surface of the tea. 

He takes a sip to test it, and his eyes flutter briefly as the flavor of the tea spreads warmly over his tongue. When he swallows, he hears a noise from Gu Hai and glances over to find the man's dark eyes locked on his tea-wettened mouth. Perplexed, Luo Yin instinctively swipes his tongue over his lips, though that does nothing but make Gu Hai's gaze thin ominously. 

"What are you staring at?" Luo Yin blurts. 

"You. Are you seducing me?" Gu Hai asks bluntly, to which the tea shop owner can only gape. "You must be," Gu Hai continues in a low voice, more to himself than Luo Yin,  "No one can be this oblivious." 

"...Are you insane?" 

Eventually, Luo Yin goes stalking off as usual, fed up with Gu Hai's madness, and since Gu Hai can't follow him into the backroom, (the one and only time he tried that he was thrown out of the shop on his ), he lingers near the register and tries not to look like he's sulking (though he obviously is). 

About ten minutes of futile waiting later, Gu Hai pulls out his wallet and slaps down a handful of bills that anyone can tell at first glance more than covers twice the price of his tea. 

"Put the rest in the tip jar," he orders Yang Meng, who startles like a bird at his rough address. "And tell Bai Luo Yin not to waste it all at once." 

Then he strides over to his deserted table, drains the cooled tea in one go and leaves the shop with the door banging after him.