TSMITB Chapter43

The two were unusually silent on the way back.

Sheng Qixiao walked ahead, each step measured and weighty. Following close behind, Shen Que found his eyes irresistibly drawn to the man’s rigidly straight back. For some reason, he felt an indescribable weariness emanating from that figure.

The two alternated between walking and pausing, and before long they had made their way back to the stockade. Shen Que had not even had the chance to untangle the utter turmoil and desolation weighing on his heart.

Countless stilt houses were hidden deep within a vibrant greenery. The medicinal herbs in the neatly arranged fields had sprouted new growth.

The not-unfamiliar stockaded village before his eyes was still outwardly tranquil like an immutable painting. Yet everyone knew what kind of scorching magma surged beneath this calm, ready to shatter everyone who came here hoping for a fluke.

On the winding path, the passing clansmen stared at him just as they had the first time he arrived.

Before, he couldn’t discern what those looks truly contained.

But at this moment, he was suddenly awakened and miraculously understood everything.

How was he supposed to describe that look, one that was neither guarded nor particularly intimate?

It was pity.

An overwhelming pity mixed with a hint of malicious schadenfreude.

Shen Que’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He suddenly sped up, leaving Sheng Qixiao far behind.

Back in the small building that had briefly served as his refuge, Shen Que flung himself onto the bed, intentionally smearing the mud and grass stains from his clothes all over the sheets. However, this was limited only to the side where Sheng Qixiao slept. He carefully avoided the side of the bed where he slept, leaving both that spot and the quilt spotless.

It was a very clear dividing line.

Sheng Qixiao stood in the doorway while watching quietly. He said nothing, simply turning and walking out. Before long, the crackling sound of firewood burning drifted from the kitchen.

When he returned, his cheeks were flushed from the heat of the fire, “Go take a bath and change clothes first.”

Shen Que lay on his side atop the bed, feigning sleep with his eyes shut and the back of his head turned toward Sheng Qixiao, making it abundantly clear that he had no intention of acknowledging him.

“Then I’ll help you.” Sheng Qixiao’s tone was flat with no discernible hint of threat at all.

Shen Que immediately opened his eyes, sat up without hesitation, slid quickly off the bed, and headed straight for the bathroom.

The so-called bathroom was just a small, separate room containing a large wooden tub big enough for two or three people.

Water at just the right temperature had already been drawn into the tub with wisps of steam rising and curling through the air.

A set of pajamas hung on the clothes rack nearby; Shen Que only had to glance at the embroidery on the sleeve to recognize that it matched the style of Sheng Qixiao’s.

With a bang, Shen Que slammed the door shut, pushed the solid wood clothes rack against the door to hold it firmly before throwing himself into the tub.

Inside the room, Sheng Qixiao silently replaced the soiled bedsheet. After waiting for quite some time without seeing any sign of Shen Que coming out, and with the bathroom having long since fallen silent, he finally began to grow concerned.

After a moment of thought, Sheng Qixiao walked past the tightly closed door without looking, pressed his palm on the windowsill to brace himself, and directly climbed in through the window.

The water in the tub had already turned lukewarm. Leaning against the edge of the bathtub, Shen Que had fallen asleep. Even in slumber, his expression remained tense; his brows were still drawn tightly together, as though he were still struggling against someone in his dreams.

Perhaps he was truly tired as Shen Que remained in a deep sleep with no sign of waking up even after experiencing a series of actions like being picked up by Sheng Qixiao, being dried, dressed, and placed into the covers.

Sheng Qixiao sat by the bed in silence for a long time. He lifted his head, his eyes wandering aimlessly across every corner of the room, deliberately steering clear of the person lying next to him.

Yet even without looking, every expression Shen Que had ever shown him kept replaying in his mind: the glimmer in his eyes when he smiled, the downturned corners of his lips when he felt dejected, the slight lift of his brow when he was testing the waters, the threatening looks, the feigned indifference… and finally, that vacant expression at the instant his hope was crushed.

Shen Que’s expressions were always vivid and diverse; even the slightest change in the curve of his brows and lips conveyed completely different emotions.

But not a single one of them was the expression of someone who liked him, who loved him.

If he had not seen those expressions, perhaps he would have been deceived by Shen Que’s disguise. If he were still as he was before, would the current Shen Que have been momentarily moved?

Sheng Qixiao rose to his feet with the setting sun outside the window at his back, its fading light steadily sinking below the horizon, and all he could feel was the overwhelming stillness of the small building.

But the small building had always been quiet before; if the tranquility hadn’t been broken by the clamor created by an outsider, he wouldn’t feel such a great difference.

Shen Que had no idea how long he had been asleep. When he finally opened his eyes, he realized he was already tucked beneath clean, warm blankets, with his clothes neatly put back on. A lamp was lit inside, and the flickering candlelight cast a familiar shadow on the wall.

Sheng Qixiao was still sitting by the window. Seeing that he was awake, he also stood up, his tone very gentle, “Time to eat.”

Shen Que was still only half-awake, his mind clouded with drowsiness. Seeing Sheng Qixiao’s gentle expression and hearing that tone of voice, he momentarily mistook it for a return to the way things had been before. The corners of his lips unconsciously curved upward, only to freeze midway as he suddenly came to his senses.

The smile was immediately retracted, replaced by a cold expression of aloofness, and he spoke impatiently, “I don’t want to move.”

“Alright, then I’ll bring it in.” Sheng Qixiao turned to leave. Shen Que followed and got out of bed. The moment Sheng Qixiao stepped out of the room, he quickly pulled the door back and shut it, locking it without hesitation. “Get lost! Don’t bother me.”

Sheng Qixiao paused, listening to the sounds coming from behind the door. “Eat it yourself if you want to!”

Sheng Qixiao sat upright on the dining chair with his back to Shen Que’s room. Before him was the room where Gang Zi and the others had once stayed. The door stood wide open, the clutter strewn across the floor remained untouched, and shreds of black socks were scattered around the doorway.

He felt some regret.

Sheng Qixiao lifted a spoonful of congee to his mouth, but it tasted like nothing at all.

He felt that he had made the wrong decision.

He shouldn’t have let Old Qiu and the others leave. Although they were sometimes troublesome, the small building would have been much livelier. More importantly, Shen Que would have continued to maintain the superficial, fragile ‘harmony’ with him to preserve his image in front of his companions.

Shen Que was tossing and turning in bed like a pancake on a griddle in the middle of the night. His stomach was rumbling with hunger, making it impossible to sleep.

He was really too hungry.

He hadn’t had a proper meal since breakfast the day before.

Before that, Sheng Qixiao had actually not been waiting for him to get up for breakfast for several days, and Gang Zi had even taken over cooking for two or three of those days.

On one hand, he had deliberately avoided Sheng Qixiao, lingering in bed and refusing to get up, and Sheng Qixiao had not pressed him either.

On the other hand, Sheng Qixiao also seemed to be busy with something, but he had no way of knowing what exactly.

He had been puzzled then: How could Sheng Qixiao suddenly have time to wait for him until mid-morning, when the outer camp people were already about to leave the mountain; shouldn’t he have been even busier?

But now he probably understood. Sheng Qixiao had likely anticipated from the very beginning that they would seize the chance to leave. He deliberately stayed behind to wait for him, taking the opportunity to issue a warning while secretly setting up a trap reminiscent of waiting by a tree stump for a rabbit.

Yet, he clearly failed to grasp the meaning in Sheng Qixiao’s words, which led to this outcome.

It’s not that terrible either, Shen Que thought numbly.

At worst, he would die a little earlier. Before he died, he would ask Sheng Qixiao to help send out his will and donate all his assets. He absolutely could not allow those idiotic creations of his bastard father to reap the benefits of it.

Nor would he give anything to Shen Yi; Shen Yi was richer than him.

He just didn’t know if Sheng Qixiao would help him by then. Sheng Qixiao was completely insane now; that harmless facade was constantly appearing and disappearing. Perhaps he wouldn’t even live to the day he could write his will…

He wonders where Old Qiu and the others are now. Can the contents of that mahogany box save Shen Yi?

Shen Que restrained himself from thinking about how he should face Sheng Qixiao when dawn arrived, or how he would endure the long days ahead, instead letting his mind drift aimlessly to these inconsequential fantasies.

The tension gradually eased in this kind of self-hypnosis, which was similar to self-entertainment. The large stone pressing on his heart seemed to lighten a bit.

He had always been incapable of handling setbacks; ever since he was a child, his family members hadn’t dared to put any pressure on him, practically agreeing to everything he wanted.

The only exception was when his intimate photos with a little pretty were trending on the hot search, and Shen Yi caught him and lectured him at home.

He had laughed and sighed at the time, “Living is so meaningless.” Death was the only freedom.

It was only then that his family realized that this person, who always seemed so lively and was constantly stirring up trouble everywhere, actually possessed very little desire to keep living.

The extreme sports he was obsessed with were just cool ways of dying that he had chosen for himself.

He had written countless versions of his will.

Shen Que lay staring at the ceiling with his eyes wide open. Ever since Shen Yi’s incident, he had not thought about dying for a very long time.

Even when Sheng Qixiao pushed him to that extent in the woods, he subconsciously thought about staying alive.

Given this, should he perhaps send Sheng Qixiao a banner of commendation, thanking him for reigniting his desire for “life”?

Shen Que tugged at his somewhat dry lips, realizing he had matured, because he actually started to feel that he shouldn’t fight against his body. At least he had to conserve his energy to resist Sheng Qixiao. If he was going to die, he also had to leave E’yun Mountain first. He couldn’t waste the geomantically excellent burial site he had personally custom-designed years ago.

The sound of the door opening was particularly distinct at night. Shen Que stood still and observed for a while. After confirming that he hadn’t woken Sheng Qixiao, he tiptoed out of the room and sneaked into the kitchen to find something to eat.

Lifting the lid off the pot, Shen Que found that the dinner inside was still warm. Standing by the stove, he slowly ate the congee spoonful by spoonful, pairing it with the dishes Sheng Qixiao had prepared.

He was always a picky eater, but Sheng Qixiao’s cooking unexpectedly suited his palate.

There were no fancy or expensive ingredients in the mountains, but Sheng Qixiao just had this ability to make all ordinary dishes taste the way Shen Que liked them.

As he was eating, Shen Que suddenly stopped his chopsticks and heavily placed the bowl onto the stove.

He was actually praising Sheng Qixiao; it seemed that a person’s intelligence dropped when they were hungry.

The empty plates and bowls were scattered haphazardly on the stove.

Shen Que had never felt any obligation to wash dishes. In the past, he might have put on a show and cleaned up afterward, but now, the fact that he hadn’t wrecked the kitchen was already nothing short of a miracle.

Smash it? Good idea.

As the thought emerged, Shen Que immediately reached out and swept aside the neatly stacked firewood that Sheng Qixiao had piled up, scattering them onto the floor. After tossing a few pieces, he decided the noise was too loud and worried that Sheng Qixiao might hear, so he softened his movements, stealthily wrecking the kitchen like a thief in the night.

Finally, firewood was strewn all over the floor, making it almost impossible to step anywhere. Only then was Shen Que satisfied and stopped.

The pots, bowls, and ladles nearby were left untouched; they were for eating, and Shen Que felt it was necessary to protect them for now.

Worn out from all the commotion, Shen Que stood with his hands on his hips while leaning against the cupboard to catch his breath, completely unaware of the figure that had just slipped past the doorway.

Shen Que returned to his room in a cheerful mood, softly humming an out-of-tune song. He closed and locked the door, then lifted the covers and burrowed into the bed.

The next second, Shen Que abruptly opened his eyes.

At some point, another person had slipped into the bed. The moment Shen Que lay down, they wrapped themselves around him, a strong arm draping over his waist as a broad chest pressed firmly against his back.

Shen Que’s body instantly stiffened. He ground his teeth and hissed, “Don’t you have your own bed?”

The person in the bed remained utterly silent, simply resting their chin on Shen Que’s shoulder and softly rubbing against it in quiet, unhurried motions.

Though he stayed verbally quiet, his actions were quite energetic. As if it wasn’t enough, he pulled Shen Que even closer into his embrace.

Shen Que wanted to say something more, but surrounded by warmth, the fatigue of the past few days and the relaxation after being full, led by something unknown, all transformed into sleepiness. It surged over him like a powerful tide, and his eyelids instantly became too heavy to lift.

Forget it, I’ll fight tomorrow. Shen Que thought vaguely. Before his last bit of consciousness faded, he only felt that the body temperature of the person next to him didn’t seem so unbearable after all.

The next morning, as soon as Shen Que opened the window, he locked eyes with the travel-worn Xiao Pao.

The black eyes, the size of soybeans, were full of exhaustion, and the scarlet tongue flickered listlessly.

Before Shen Que could react, a hand reached out from behind him and scooped Xiao Pao into its palm.

Only then did Shen Que have time to clearly see what was coiled on the snake’s tail: it was the pair of sunglasses Shen Que had lost a second time.

“……” No wonder he hadn’t seen the snake all night; it had been out on a mission.

Sheng Qixiao seemed afraid that Shen Que would try to take it. For the first time, he showed a clearly defensive expression towards him, guarding the little snake with both hands, and swiftly retreated into his room like a gust of wind. Two seconds after the door closed, Shen Que heard the sound of the door being locked.

Shen Que: “……”

He sometimes couldn’t quite figure out what kind of human species Sheng Qixiao was.

The inadvertent sense of oppression, the bouts of near-mad neuroticism, and even the inexplicably strange, almost childlike behavior at this moment all coexisted within Sheng Qixiao, merging together in a way that felt disturbingly seamless.

An observer like Shen Que didn’t even feel it was mismatched or abrupt, only believing that he hadn’t understood Sheng Qixiao thoroughly enough before.

The author has something to say:

Shen Que: A “good” lover is no less than a parent who gave you a second life. [fake smile emoji].