TSMITB Chapter15

The two returned to the stockaded village in the mid-afternoon. The sun hung diagonally in the sky, stretching their shadows long. The pale golden light shone on the tribespeople working in the fields, causing Shen Que to momentarily lose focus and have the illusion that this was just an ordinary countryside.

It wasn’t until the tribespeople lifted their heads one after another that expressionless faces appeared in the lush green fields. In their eyes of various colors was an indescribable eeriness, a mix of reverence and terror, and something else that forged a complex emotion that Shen Que couldn’t understand. For a moment, he felt his hair stand on end.

Sheng Qixiao silently stepped forward to shield Shen Que. A fleeting glance from his eyes caused all those curious or probing gazes to immediately withdraw.

However, the strange feeling lingering in Shen Que’s heart did not dissipate. He secretly looked around as he walked, not noticing when Sheng Qixiao, who was walking ahead, stopped. In a moment of carelessness, he completely bumped into him.

Shen Que frowned as he glanced at Sheng Qixiao’s nose, which was reddened from his forehead hitting it, and chuckled inwardly, but kept a straight face. With a malicious pleasure, he pretended not to see it and continued along the winding path.

“Shen Que.” Sheng Qixiao held the small basket in one hand and reached out to grab Shen Que’s hand with the other. A faint nasal tone in his voice lent it a hint of vulnerability.

Shen Que was unmoved, still harboring some intent to deliberately ignore him. Although he himself had done his share of unscrupulous things, his moral standards for others were quite high. He remained somewhat bothered by Sheng Qixiao’s deception—a classic case of “the officials are allowed to set fires, but the common people aren’t even allowed to light lamps[mfn]Meaning that those in power can do whatever they want, while ordinary people are forbidden from doing the same, a metaphor for hypocrisy and double standards.[/mfn].”

So, he turned his face stiffly, only to be met with Sheng Qixiao’s reddened eye sockets.

“……”

The clear eyes shimmered with tears. The sharp lines of his face also revealed a trace of the unique childishness of a young man. His beautiful red lips were tightly pursed, as if he had suffered a tremendous grievance. “Shen Que, why are you ignoring me?”

The tribespeople, who were pretending to be busy working but were actually secretly observing the pair’s every move, peeked at Sheng Qixiao’s appearance and felt as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Shen Que took a deep breath, looked at Sheng Qixiao’s pitiful expression, and then at the medicinal herbs in his hand. Although he suspected there was an element of acting, he still decided not to quibble for the time being.

“I was thinking about something and didn’t hear you speak.”

“Alright, then I forgive you.”

Shen Que: “…That’s mighty generous of you.”

After returning to the small building, Sheng Qixiao didn’t waste a moment and immediately retreated into the small herbal room to concoct the antidote. Shen Que offered to help but was directly refused. He could only settle for the next best thing, watching eagerly with Old Qiu and Gangzi, peering around the doorframe.

By the time the group had taken the antidote, night had fully fallen, and a modest dinner was laid out. Just as Sheng Qixiao was about to sit down, an uninvited guest stood at the door of the small building.

The newcomer was tall, dark, and thin. Without knocking, he lingered in the doorway like a strip of dried meat, nearly merging with the pitch-black darkness beyond. Shen Que scrutinized him closely under the dim candlelight and felt from the bottom of his heart that this person was not to be trifled with.

The man addressed Sheng Qixiao in a deep, shadowed tone, an unintelligible stream of sounds to Shen Que. Yet from Sheng Qixiao rising to his feet, it was clear he was being summoned once more.

Sure enough, Sheng Qixiao served a bowl of mushroom porridge to Shen Que and spoke softly: “I’m going out for a bit, don’t you all leave the house.”

Shen Que nodded obediently and watched Sheng Qixiao’s figure disappear into the darkness.

After Sheng Qixiao departed, Shen Que recounted, word for word, to Old Qiu and the others everything that had occurred in the valley the previous night.

Old Qiu’s expression was grave. He slowly picked up his porridge and took a sip: “It seems there are quite a few unknown things in this village. As for that ‘dream,’ don’t bring it up or ask about it again. Sometimes, the less we know, the better for us.”

Shen Que looked down, rubbing his palm, and did not speak.

“Old Qiu and I were originally thinking of going out yesterday to walk around and get familiar with the surroundings. But guess what? Right after you two left, someone started circling outside the courtyard. Clearly, they were here to monitor us.” Gang Zi wiped his mouth. He had a relatively strong recovery ability, and after drinking the medicine, he felt energetic again. “Old Qiu and I aren’t fools, so we just had to stay put in the house and wait for you to come back. Anyway, with food and drink available, it was actually quite comfortable.”

“It’s normal for them to be cautious, but staying in the house all the time isn’t a solution either.”

“I’ll think of something.” Shen Que rubbed his temples. “Is Ah Chao better?”

“I’m much better, I’m much better, Young Master Shen. I might even be able to walk in a few more days,” Ah Chao shouted from inside the room. His leg injury was severe, and he still couldn’t get out of bed these two days. Fortunately, Gang Zi handled it promptly, and coupled with the pleasant climate in the mountains, there was no inflammation, just a slow recovery.

Before going to the valley, Sheng Qixiao had mentioned finding some external wound medicine, but on the way back, Shen Que was preoccupied with his suspicions about Sheng Qixiao and forgot about it.

Shen Que touched his nose. “Try to recover slowly, don’t rush. There’s no KPI assessment for this.”

“Oh.”

After dinner, the effects of the medicine kicked in, and everyone yawned and returned to their respective rooms to rest.

Shen Que returned to his room, took out his phone, and studied the patterns of the murals he had photographed in the cave during the day.

The carvings on them were in Miao script that he couldn’t understand. The edges were somewhat worn, and the text content was not completely intact, but the patterns were clear and seemed to record someone’s growth process.

From birth through adulthood, the figure carvings lacked fine detail, yet from their rough outlines one could still make out a boy.

There were no figures resembling the boy’s parents in the murals; from childhood to adulthood, he was surrounded by several elders wearing long robes. Not until the tenth mural did a full moon appear in the picture, surrounded by wave-like dark clouds. The elders who accompanied the boy’s growth bound him on a high platform, cut open his skin and flesh, extracted his blood, and put it into some kind of container…

Shen Que was greatly alarmed and flipped his phone face down.

If he hadn’t guessed wrong, what was in that container should be Gu.

He had often heard the rumor that raising Gu required sacrificing one’s own flesh and blood for the Gu to recognize its master. But what was carved on this mural was the use of one person’s fresh blood to nurture the Gu of countless people below the altar.

Incredibly, Shen Que shuddered, his heart still racing.

Just as he was deep in thought, he was interrupted by the sound of a door opening, it must be Sheng Qixiao returning.

Shen Que pushed his phone under the pillow and opened his room door to go out, intending to tell Sheng Qixiao that he had saved him some mushroom porridge. The words were just about to leave his mouth when he caught sight of the deathly pale Sheng Qixiao, stumbling back into his own room, utterly unaware of Shen Que standing only a few steps away.

That pale, fragile appearance was completely different from his feigned pitifulness during the day. Shen Que’s mind kept replaying the image of Sheng Qixiao’s face “in the dream” last night, which was almost identical to the present moment.

As the door shut before his eyes, Shen Que’s thoughts fell into disarray. Inevitably, he recalled the villagers’ strange expressions on the return journey that afternoon, along with the watchful scrutiny of Old Qiu and the others.

Could it be that the tribespeople didn’t welcome outsiders and wanted Sheng Qixiao to drive them away?

Shen Que stood there, hesitating for a moment, but still decided to ask for clarification.

“Sheng Qixiao.” Shen Que came to Sheng Qixiao’s door and called him a few times in a low voice.

The room was silent, without any response.

Shen Que did not give up. He lightly rapped his knuckles against the door panel. The tightly shut door clicked and seemed to retreat a fraction, opening a narrow crack. The warm yellow candlelight leaked out from inside.

Through the crack, Sheng Qixiao was lying askew on the bed, motionless.

He tentatively called him a few more times but still got no response. Shen Que instinctively felt something was wrong and immediately pushed the door open and went in.

Sheng Qixiao’s eyes were tightly shut with furrowed brows, he was almost completely unconscious.

Could it be that he lost too much blood last night and then didn’t eat today and fainted from hunger?

Serves you right for showing off, serves you right for lying to me. Karma has arrived.

Shen Que cursed silently in his mind, but his hands didn’t stop moving. He gritted his teeth, pulled him up, took off his outer clothes, and tossed him under the quilt to lie down properly.

He then quickly went to the kitchen. Amidst the clanging sounds, Shen Que retrieved a small bowl of steaming hot mushroom porridge from a large pot.

As soon as he turned around, Sheng Qixiao was standing at the doorway, having watched him for an unknown amount of time.

Shen Que was completely startled by Sheng Qixiao’s sudden appearance. He wrinkled his nose and waved his hand at him: “You’re awake? Hurry up and lie down in bed. You fainted from hunger, and why are you still walking around?”

Sheng Qixiao was particularly obedient at the moment while walking ahead of Shen Que to clear the path for him. Once inside the room, he obediently sat on the bed, half leaning against the headboard, quietly waiting for Shen Que to feed him, much like a hungry puppy waiting to be tended to.

Shen Que had originally thought that since the person was awake, he could eat by himself. But then he realized this was a perfect opportunity to extract information, so his attitude naturally became extremely good.

He pulled up a chair and sat by the bed before scooped a spoonful of porridge from the bowl, blew on it, and then brought it to Sheng Qixiao’s mouth.

Actually, the porridge wasn’t very hot, but when the male lead feeds the female lead in TV dramas, he must blow on it. Anything others can do, he, Shen Que, must also do perfectly.

The spoon paused at Sheng Qixiao’s lips for a few seconds, but he didn’t move for a long time. Shen Que looked up and realized he had been staring at him, his expression unreadable.

“What is it?” Has he already been touched? Shen Que inwardly wagged his tail, thinking people from the mountains were easily won over.

Sheng Qixiao averted his gaze, shook his head slightly, and opened his mouth to drink the porridge.

“What happened to you? Was it really just hunger?” Shen Que asked obliquely while offering the spoon.

Sheng Qixiao paused in his motion of drinking the porridge. His vocal cords seemed to be glued together, and he still didn’t speak.

“Is it that the other tribespeople don’t welcome us? Did our arrival cause you trouble? If it’s inconvenient, we’ll pack up and leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

Sheng Qixiao’s pupils contracted, a dark shadow flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly grasped Shen Que’s wrist with such force that he nearly knocked over the porridge in Shen Que’s hand. “You can’t leave.”

Startled by his sudden action, Shen Que slid the chair back half a step.

Sheng Qixiao looked up, and his grip on Shen Que’s hand showing no sign of relenting at all. “They just came to discuss some matters with me. They are very welcome to you.”

Knowing he wasn’t being asked to leave, Shen Que felt relieved. He didn’t bother to worry whether the welcome was genuine or fake; being able to stay was enough.

As for what Sheng Qixiao was discussing, that wasn’t his concern.

Sheng Qixiao was extremely well-behaved as he ate, taking a spoonful each time Shen Que offered one. Twice, Shen Que deliberately teased him, before Sheng Qixiao had finished swallowing the previous bite, he fed him another straight away, puffing his cheeks up until he looked like a little goldfish.

Seeing his appearance, Shen Que suddenly laughed: “Has anyone ever told you that you’re very cute?”

Sheng Qixiao blushed, his eyes shining brightly: “No one. No one has ever been this good to me like you.”

Shen Que’s smile froze at the corners of his mouth. He could taste a hint of bitterness in Sheng Qixiao’s words. Was this intentional approach already the “best” he had experienced?

Shen Que’s usually elusive conscience felt a genuine twinge at this moment. He recalled Sheng Qixiao’s words of affection without any prompting. So he softened his voice and comforted him sincerely: “There will be a better one in the future.”

Sheng Qixiao shook his head, insisting: “You are the best.”

After finishing the bowl of porridge, Sheng Qixiao’s complexion improved significantly.

Shen Que considerately blew out the small lamp on the cabinet. His gaze shifted, and he accidentally caught sight of the still-wet bloodstain on the cuff of Sheng Qixiao’s outer garment, which he had tossed aside.

Sensing Sheng Qixiao’s gaze lingering on him, Shen Que pretended not to notice anything. He straightened up and smiled at him, “Good night, may you have sweet dreams.”

After Shen Que left, Sheng Qixiao’s expression slowly returned to calm. He rose to his feet and crushed the soiled outer robe in his hand. A prey that is too clever sometimes walks into the snare all the faster.