Unhurried footsteps echoed from the stairwell in the faint morning.
Sheng Qixiao’s long hair was draped over his shoulders with a small braid that hadn’t completely come undone tightly clutched in the hand of the person in his arms.
A dark blue outer jacket was wrapped tightly around Shen Que. His face was turned to one side, pressed close to Sheng Qixiao’s chest, leaving only a few strands of messy short hair swaying with the morning breeze, seemingly asserting his owner’s final defiance.
Two burly men were squatting secretively in the courtyard downstairs. Sheng Qixiao’s gaze passed over them coolly without lingering, and he kept walking straight toward the room on the second floor.
“Aren’t you going to thank me? I kept an eye on them for you all night.”
Ke Di’s voice came from under the swing. He stood up a bit wearily and stretched.
“Unnecessary.” Sheng Qixiao frowned. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here to watch the show.” Ke Di lifted his foot and kicked Gang Zi’s butt, which earned a string of bewildered curses from Gang Zi. “Did you use Gu on them?”
The stream of curses died down for a moment. Gang Zi and Old Qiu remained where they were, silently keeping watch while occasionally trading looks with each other. Yet on closer look, what was mirrored in their eyes was not Sheng Qixiao’s small building at all, but the temple shrouded in night.
“I created an illusion. It will dissipate at sunrise. You came at the right time. Come up with an excuse to send them away.”
Ke Di smiled, looking like he was enjoying a spectacle: “Have you figured out how to explain it to the one sleeping in your arms?”
“……” Sheng Qixiao dropped his eyes and remained silent for a long moment.
“So, you just got carried away after undoing your belt and didn’t think about the consequences at all, huh?”
“You’re not very polite when you talk to me now.” A hint of a smile appeared on Sheng Qixiao’s face. “Have you forgotten whose hands your wife’s life is in?”
“Just kidding. I suggest you continue to play the pity card.”
“En.” Sheng Qixiao thought about it and found it reasonable. Shen Que always liked people who played weak and acted spoiled. “There will be fog in the mountains this evening. Remember to bring a message.”
It took a moment for Ke Di to realize what Sheng Qixiao meant. He thoughtfully looked up at the mountains in the distance, which were gradually turning a lighter shade of blue. “Are you, perhaps, not planning to let them leave?”
.
Shen Que was roused awake by the clamor around him.
“That traitor is absolutely detestable! He actually made a move on you while Old Qiu and I, the so-called martial arts masters, were out taking a walk!”
Gang Zi shouted from outside the door, his voice brimming with righteous fury and indignation.
This was followed by Old Qiu’s somewhat helpless voice: “Alright, alright, quiet down. Don’t wake up Young Master Shen. He was injured last night, let him rest properly.”
Shen Que remained motionless with his eyes shut, his thoughts still in a muddled whirl, when a straightforward, scorching gaze pressed down on him.
His physical senses gradually returned. His entire body ached as if it had been taken apart, especially a certain area below his waist. The strange, foreign sensation, the burning, recklessly charging feeling of impact and collision, still clearly lingered on his body.
The moment Shen Que figured out the reason, he almost clenched his fists and even wanted to jump up and punch the culprit.
But he couldn’t. He sobered up too quickly, so much so that he was conquered by reason before the impulse.
The exchange between Gang Zi and Old Qiu outside the door served as a stark reminder to him that the operation had failed.
The plan yesterday was for him to use the medicine to make Sheng Qixiao fall into a deep coma and for Old Qiu and Gang Zi to go to the temple to steal the Gu.
Although this plan was not completely flawless, it shouldn’t have been so far off track as to go completely against the original intention as well.
Within his fragmentary recollection, Sheng Qixiao later descended into near-madness, frenzied and unhinged, disregarding all his resistance and doing nothing but attacking relentlessly, plunging ever deeper…
Gang Zi’s medicine for him was certainly not the issue; so where, then, had things gone wrong? Could it have been the medicine Sheng Qixiao asked him to feed him in the small herbal room, its properties clashing and causing the problem?
But he wasn’t the only one who had a reaction.
Shen Que couldn’t figure it out. A blaze of fire raged in his chest, and his back teeth ground together with a sharp, echoing snap. He was so furious that he couldn’t help but pound the bed surface hard.
“Shen Que, you’re awake?” Sheng Qixiao immediately leaned closer, his tone a mix of surprise and cautiousness.
Shen Que slowly opened his eyes. The instant they heard the stir, Gang Zi and Old Qiu dashed in from outside the door.
“You’re awake?! You scared us to death! How could you be so careless?”
“What happened?” Shen Que suppressed the anger in his heart, took in Gang Zi’s winking expression, and played along with the question.
“Last night, Old Qiu and I couldn’t sleep, so we went out for a walk late at night. Guess what? Not long after we went out, we ran into Ke Di, who said that there was a traitor in the village. Old Qiu and I followed Ke Di on patrol all night…”
“So it turns out that when we returned, we found you and Ah Chao had been beaten up at home.”
“Is that so?” Shen Que’s gaze swept over Sheng Qixiao’s face. “You mean, I’m like this because I was beaten up?”
“En.” Sheng Qixiao hung his head in guilt, attempting to conceal a bloodstain, scraped there by who knows whom, on the side of his face, letting it sink into the shadows.
But Gang Zi, quick as a flash, grabbed his head and turned it around. “Look, that ruffian even scratched Sheng Qixiao’s face. Such a handsome face! If the scratch were a bit higher, a bit deeper, wouldn’t it be disfigured?”
“Ruffian.” Shen Que closed his eyes, not wanting to speak.
Knowing that they weren’t discovered and the operation wasn’t exposed, he felt a weight lift from his heart. He waved his hand weakly, “You guys go out first. I want to rest for a bit more.”
“Hey, what happened to your wrist? Why did that ruffian leave a circle of black marks on you? That’s really inhumane.”
Shen Que looked at the circle of dark purple marks on his wrist. The temper he had barely managed to suppress flared up again. He took a few deep breaths, barely managing to steady his voice: “Get out, let me have some peace.”
Sheng Qixiao stood up on his own initiative, giving Old Qiu and Gang Zi a friendly look for the first time, and seeing them out with an attitude that could even be called respectful.
“Hey, you come out too…”
With a sharp “clack,” the door clicked shut, unleashing the full force of Shen Que’s rage.
Suppressing his discomfort, Shen Que planted his palms on the bed, shot upright, seized a pillow, and hurled it at Sheng Qixiao. At this moment, he could no longer maintain the forced gentleness from before and only wanted to curse Sheng Qixiao’s entire family, “You bastard, Sheng Qixiao, I f*cking hate you. How dare you…”
Sheng Qixiao remained standing rigidly, taking the hits and enduring the curses, holding the pillow, and obediently returning it to him. “I’ll explain once you’re done throwing it.”
“Stop f*cking pretending to be pathetic! What the hell happened last night? You better explain it clearly, or don’t blame me for being rough with you!”
Sheng Qixiao waited until Shen Que’s temper had eased slightly, then stepped forward to the bedside and peered over, too wary to sit. He bent his knees and half-knelt on the floor, reaching out to pull the quilt up for Shen Que. “Let me cover you.”
“Does Laozi need your kindness?” Shen Que slapped his hand away and yanked the quilt off, but pulled it over with too much force, revealing everything that should and shouldn’t be exposed. Half a second later, he hastily pulled it back, continuing his furious tirade with raised eyebrows, “You didn’t even f*cking bother to put clothes on Laozi!”
Sheng Qixiao didn’t miss that brief second of ‘scenery’ at all. Shen Que was covered in marks he had left. At that moment, an indescribable satisfaction surged through him, his fox tail practically twitching in the air, yet he still feigned meekness. “They were ruined last night, and you said it hurt. I was afraid it would, hurt more if you wore them.”
“Do I have to praise you for being thoughtful? Who the hell did all this? Did a dog bite me or what?” The rage nearly burned away the sanity Shen Que had just managed to recover. He leaned forward and gripped Sheng Qixiao’s neck, slowly tightening his hold. “What exactly happened?”
“First, don’t be angry.” Sheng Qixiao tilted his head back. The lack of air forced his eyes to turn red, and his expression was unspeakably pathetic. This vulnerable appearance was completely different from the ferocity that had almost swallowed Shen Que whole last night.
Shen Que was furious just thinking about it. He had no room to maneuver in Sheng Qixiao’s hands, yet he had the audacity to play the pitiful role here.
“Tell me, and I won’t be angry.”
“Last night, I don’t know why, I felt very uncomfortable, so I came to you for help. I originally wanted to find some medicine to take, but somehow, it ended up like that. I don’t know what happened to me either; I just wanted to hug you, wanted to kiss you, wanted to be close to you, wanted to feel your…”
“Stop! No need to be so specific.” Shen Que released his hold, clutched the quilt to his chest, and shifted toward the center of the bed.
Sheng Qixiao paused for a few seconds, his gaze discreetly revolving around Shen Que, and continued to fabricate a lie: “Later, I checked more carefully. It seems that the traitor took advantage of our inattentiveness and put the medicine in the porridge. That medicine can’t be taken with the one I took later. Taking them together caused what happened last night.” Sheng Qixiao’s voice became softer as he spoke, and tears welled up in his eyes. “Can you forgive me? I’ve already had Ke Di go and investigate. I will definitely catch the culprit who put the medicine in and apologize to you.”
This was almost the longest sentence Shen Que had heard him say since he knew Sheng Qixiao. The more he listened, the more his brow twitched. “Are you sure you can catch them?”
“I’m sure. I’ve never even seen that medicine. It must be a new concoction.” Sheng Qixiao clenched his fist in determination, his voice ringing with power, “I have a small pet fostered with Ke Di. Tracking is its special skill. It will definitely find the bad person.”
Shen Que paused in silence while burying his face in the quilt to compose himself, and then looked up before forcing a gentle smile as if his earlier fury had been nothing but a fleeting illusion, “Forget it, no need to make such a big fuss. I’m fine.”
“Are you really fine? But you were very angry just now.” Sheng Qixiao blinked.
“No, I’m not angry anymore. I wrongly accused you just now.”
Shen Que was furious to the point of death, wishing he could immediately give Sheng Qixiao a taste of his own medicine, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t let Sheng Qixiao investigate, because in the end, the investigation would likely just lead back to him, and that would be shooting himself in the foot.
Moreover, as long as they remained in E’yun Mountain for one more day, he still had to rely on Sheng Qixiao.
A hint of cunning flashed in Sheng Qixiao’s eyes, but when he looked at Shen Que, he reverted to his pitiful, vulnerable appearance. “You really don’t blame me anymore?”
