TSMITB Chapter51

A dry explanation, dropped to the floor with no one caring, ultimately didn’t earn half a glance from Sheng Qixiao.

Shen Que frowned again, then closed his mouth and fell silent, inwardly criticizing Sheng Qixiao for not knowing when to stop while he was ahead.

Sheng Qixiao replaced it with a clean cloth, gently wiping the dirt from around the wound as he carefully examined the area, which was red, swollen, bruised, and still oozing beads of blood. He pressed his finger against the knee where a piece of bone was protruding abnormally, then whispered, “The bone is fractured and dislocated. Shen Que, the legs that have followed you all this time are truly pitiful.”

Shen Que sucked in a sharp breath from the pain, but seeing that Sheng Qixiao was finally willing to speak to him, his tense nerves unconsciously eased somewhat, as though he could already see hope of escaping punishment. A trace of unknowing arrogance crept into his tone, “Be gentle, don’t press so hard.”

The navy-blue strip of cloth wound around the injured, deformed knee layer by layer, but Sheng Qixiao seemed to have forgotten that the wound should be treated with ointment before bandaging, and also that the dislocated bone had yet to be dealt with. He simply tied it up quickly and neatly without taking any other measures at all.

That’s not right.

Shen Que blinked slowly, and a sudden sense of foreboding rose in his heart. Belatedly panicking, he braced his hands against the ground and hurriedly scooted himself backward a little before tentatively calling out to him, still unwilling to give up, “Sheng Qixiao…”

Sheng Qixiao’s originally steady, orderly movements were disrupted by Shen Que’s retreat. When Shen Que saw the veins on the back of his hand twitch, he immediately realized that something was wrong.

Sure enough, in the very next second, that hand seized him tightly by the collar and abruptly dragged his entire body back into the room.

His already injured leg struck the doorframe again, sending a sharp wave of pain through him and leaving his head spinning. Even after Sheng Qixiao ruthlessly tossed him onto the bed, Shen Que still hadn’t recovered from the agony.

Sheng Qixiao turned and walked towards the door, and only after Shen Que’s gaze followed him, did he raise his hand to close the door, locking it with a “click”.

It was still early, and Shen Que understood almost instantly what this action meant.

“Sheng Qixiao, I said I was just curious, I just wanted to go up and see.” Shen Que forcibly suppressed the panic surging through him, swallowed hard, and instinctively adopted a tone that seemed to be explaining himself, with a faint hint of helplessness and pitifulness, before thoughtfully saying, “You go take care of your work first. Don’t you still need to deal with the landslide?”

He urgently wanted to send Sheng Qixiao away to buy himself a little breathing room.

Sheng Qixiao turned a deaf ear, slowly and methodically took off his outer garment, like a devil shedding its disguise as an angel’s skin.

He tugged his collar open, exposing the elegant lines of his neck and collarbones, as he slowly approached one step at a time.

His expression was still calm without revealing any ferociousness, but Shen Que saw the horror of a coming storm.

No matter how confused his mind was, he sensed the surging undercurrent beneath Sheng Qixiao’s outward calmness, but people always have a sense of luck, and he always felt that Sheng Qixiao wouldn’t truly do anything to him.

But this situation now…

Shen Que inevitably thought of how Sheng Qixiao seemed just as calm when he controlled his companion to threaten him.

“Right now,” Sheng Qixiao bent his knee onto the bed, pressing down a small section of the mattress, and only then leisurely answered Shen Que, his voice low and soothing, “I have something more important waiting for me to clean up.” He deliberately emphasized the words “clean up.”

As he said this, he bent down and seized Shen Que’s injured leg. An irresistible force immediately followed, forcibly dragging Shen Que, who had been continually retreating, all the way to the edge of the bed.

“Ah—!” The dislocated joint was forcibly yanked, and the pain instantly made Shen Que’s vision go black. He cried out sharply, his body curling up in fear and wariness as his hands tightly shielded his knee. Cold sweat had already soaked through the robe he had only just changed into.

Shen Que gasped roughly, only lifting his head after a long while to meet Sheng Qixiao’s cold-pond-like eyes, threatening with a trembling voice, “Sheng Qixiao, I warn you, don’t force me!”

“I’m forcing you?” Sheng Qixiao looked as if he had heard an extremely absurd joke, his calm expression almost torn apart, “Who exactly is forcing whom?”

Sheng Qixiao wrapped one hand around Shen Que’s neck and slowly tightened his grip, applying just enough pressure to avoid actually hurting him or cutting off most of his air. It plunged Shen Que into a whirlpool of fear, leaving him no longer daring to brazenly twist right and wrong.

“Haven’t you been living well these days? Haven’t we been living well? Why did you have to run?”

His fingertip brushed over the throbbing pulse in Shen Que’s neck, while Sheng Qixiao’s voice trembled with emotion he had suppressed to the very limit. It was as though he were the one being strangled, his words exposing the heartache and faint trace of confusion he could no longer conceal.

“What did I run for? Can’t I just want to look?” Shen Que’s eyes widened as his oxygen dwindled, the suffocating sensation and physical pain tormenting him at the same time. The more aggrieved he felt inside, the harsher and more defiant his words became. “But you’re right. I’ve been sick of this goddamn place for a long time. I’m leaving, I’m getting out of here! Do you really think you can keep watching me? I already told you, sooner or later, I’m going to leave!”

The plan to pretend to be weak that had taken shape in his mind was cast aside. Shen Que stiffened his neck and glared at Sheng Qixiao, but a mist of tears slowly gathered in his eyes.

Sheng Qixiao stopped speaking, and suddenly let go as if scalded by the mist.

As soon as Shen Que managed to draw in half a breath of precious fresh air, he immediately began to cough violently.

The trembling in his throat hadn’t stopped, yet his shoulders were ruthlessly gripped, and his whole body was pressed into the soft bedding, the arched curve of the quilt almost swallowing his entire face.

Sheng Qixiao didn’t want to see his face.

As they moved, the fabric made a faint rustling sound, breaking the tense atmosphere that had settled over the room.

Shen Que’s spine, trembling with pain, stiffened, followed by an even more violent struggle that obviously could not be sustained for long.

Fingertips wandered between unfamiliar peaks, and before long, the sound of surging waves rose from deep within.

Sheng Qixiao’s back curved downward, overpowering every bit of resistance that refused to yield.

Moreover, he was going to brand all his anger and disappointment, along with the pain of abandonment and betrayal, and the wandering love with nowhere to land, into Shen Que’s soul in the most primitive and direct way.

For some inexplicable reason, rain began falling inside the room, rapidly spreading across the plain-colored bedsheets like dark and light ink clouds bleeding into one another.

But the rain showed no sign of stopping, continuing to fall without a care, soaking the soft ground and giving rise to muffled, indistinct accusations that tangled together, yet still resisted one another.

The sound of the wandering small boat hitting the cliff bank was intermittent, but the winding stream was continuous, flowing into Sheng Qixiao’s heart mixed with sweat, timidly trying to extinguish the overflowing fire in his chest.

Shen Que wept, his tears carrying both hatred and an inescapable surrender, along with the pain and fear he could no longer suppress.

The cold serpent’s tail from his dream finally squeezed him tightly in reality, calmly dissolving all his resistance.

Sheng Qixiao gently kissed away his tears; the tears were salty, yet like Shen Que himself, they carried an irresistible attraction.

So, Sheng Qixiao quietly gazed at his wet eyes, seemingly sighed helplessly, and then, unable to control himself, pressed down harder, forcing him to brew more.

Shen Que spoke in broken, trembling words that it hurt, asking him to ease up.

“I need to make you hurt,” Sheng Qixiao’s breathing was equally ragged, his vengeful satisfaction turning into sweat that trickled from his temple onto Shen Que’s lips, while beneath the interrogation lay a sense of aggrieved confusion. “How could you do this to me? Why do you always want to leave?”

Shen Que had no idea what kind of treatment he had endured this time; his slender neck suddenly arched upward, his jawline drawn taut, while his Adam’s apple struggled to move only once after a long while.

Immediately afterward, he sank his teeth into Sheng Qixiao’s shoulder, the taste of blood quickly filling his mouth, yet he stubbornly refused to let go.

He offered to share the pain with Sheng Qixiao with ultimate generosity and determination.

But the frantically clenched teeth involuntarily loosened their grip the next second.

Shen Que’s injured knee was held in Sheng Qixiao’s hand, who mischievously pressed and massaged it through the tangled fabric.

From then on, Sheng Qixiao possessed the remote control to manage Shen Que.

In the time that followed, whenever Shen Que tried to resist, that wicked Five-Finger Mountain would apply pressure accordingly; after a few times, Shen Que dared not act rashly anymore, and could only tremble in vain.

The injury that should have been well cared for became a shackle he could not break.

And the more deeply concealed shackles were likewise being subjected to merciless tempering.

“Sheng Qixiao… Sheng Qixiao!” Shen Que finally couldn’t hold on anymore, lowered his head for the first time, his sweat-soaked forehead pressing against the teeth marks he had bitten out, his voice softened, attempting to evoke Sheng Qixiao’s sympathy, “I really just wanted to go and have a look, I really… was just curious…”

Sheng Qixiao allowed him to lean on him, “You were just curious? Then why did you run when you saw me?”

“I told you the mountain road was slippery and warned you not to go outside, but you refused to listen. How long have you even been in the mountains, and you’ve already been injured three times? It seems you really don’t care about your own body.”

Sheng Qixiao paused, and once again gripped the dislocated bone on Shen Que’s knee that was wrapped, “Then perhaps, there is no need for treatment at all?”

This sentence exploded like a clap of thunder in Shen Que’s mind.

Shen Que’s breath caught, his fox-like eyes widening instantly, the redness at their corners seeming almost frozen in place. His voice was thick with emotion as he moved his lips in disbelief, but in the end, only a single syllable escaped, “You…”

“What’s wrong?” Sheng Qixiao tilted his head, and as if that wasn’t enough, he deliberately leaned in to ask his opinion, “Do you also agree with my idea?”

“Is it that as long as you never fully recover, there won’t be a next time you get injured?”

“…No! Are you crazy!”

All the fears Shen Que had previously touched upon could not compare to this moment.

He saw the volcano erupting in Sheng Qixiao’s eyes with utmost clarity, and perceived Sheng Qixiao’s madness with crystal clarity.

Not only did he not want to treat his injury, but he also wanted to cripple his leg, turning him into a permanent invalid who could never leave and could only depend on him.

“You can’t do this! Sheng Qixiao…” Under Sheng Qixiao’s gaze, a chilling mixture of ice and fire, Shen Que’s tears poured down uncontrollably as his arms desperately struggled to push away the hand Sheng Qixiao had clamped around his knee.

But the next second, his wrist also fell into Sheng Qixiao’s palm.

Sheng Qixiao held his wrist, slowly pulling him up to lean halfway against the headboard, so that he could clearly see his own predicament.

The hand covering his knee slowly tightened, adding strength little by little. He finally no longer doubted that Sheng Qixiao’s ultimate goal was to crush his bones.

The pain seemed endlessly prolonged, piercing deep into every nerve. Shen Que could no longer bear it and, driven by fear, gathered what strength he had left. His wrist finally broke free from the restraint, and he suddenly swung his hand outward.

“Pah.”

A sharp, resounding slap rang out as it landed squarely across Sheng Qixiao’s face.

The slap landed with considerable force, leaving distinct fingerprints immediately visible across Sheng Qixiao’s cheek.

Time froze for an instant.

“How many times have you hit me now?”

“You deserve it! You lunatic! Ah—!”

Sheng Qixiao retaliated with force, thrusting fiercely into a deeper place.

His palm tightened instantly as well, and a devastating force was ruthlessly applied to the already fragile knee, as though it would be crushed beneath his hand the very next second.

Shen Que arched his body in pain, his hands futilely prizing open Sheng Qixiao’s rock-hard palm, but it was useless other than pointlessly wasting his energy.

Only then did he truly realize Sheng Qixiao’s terrifying strength, and if he didn’t utter words of surrender soon, he might not get another chance.

Shen Que clung tightly to Sheng Qixiao’s arm as though it were a life raft, rubbing his warm tears against it, his beautiful eyes brimming with pleading and fear. The person causing him pain and the only person capable of saving him had become one and the same, “Sheng Qixiao… Sheng Qixiao, don’t be like this, I’m scared, please don’t be like this!”

Sheng Qixiao allowed him to struggle, not showing the slightest bit of emotion at all, but his chest was inexplicably weighed down, blocked up completely.

Compared to the anger that flared up when he found out Shen Que ran away, the inexplicable emotion derived from Shen Que’s collapse from the extreme pain he endured at this moment was even harder for his heart to bear.

“Sheng Qixiao, I’m sorry, I was wrong, please don’t be like this, alright?” Shen Que trembled helplessly, leaned in and kissed Sheng Qixiao’s lips haphazardly, “Sheng Qixiao, let me kiss you, let’s not fight, you can’t treat me like this…”

The chaotic thoughts did not make Shen Que overlook the fact that Sheng Qixiao had not kissed him at all today.

He remembered that Sheng Qixiao liked to kiss him.

“You were wrong? Where were you wrong?” Sheng Qixiao neither dodged nor responded, allowing him to put all his effort into kissing him.

“I shouldn’t have disobeyed you, I will never run around again, Sheng Qixiao, forgive me, Qixiao…”

The rest of the words were drowned in his throat.

That last appellation was dug out by Shen Que from a memory that was not too distant but already a bit blurred.

Fortunately, it really seemed to have come in handy.

Sheng Qixiao finally responded, gently stroking his back, and asked, “Then how do you plan to be obedient?”

The dry desert blossomed into an oasis amid its involuntary trembling, allowing the lost traveler to linger there and, for the first time, experience a sense of fulfillment in both body and mind.

In the pitch-black night, Sheng Qixiao meticulously traced Shen Que’s sleeping face with his gaze.

After the tear stains on his face were wiped away, new ones quickly covered it again.

Xiao Pao squeezed in from outside the window, tilting its little snake head, “You bullied him again.”

“Who told him to be so impatient?”

“You’ve gone bad.” Xiao Pao tapped the windowsill with the tip of its tail.

“You’re an accomplice.”

Xiao Pao’s tail stiffened as though its secret had been exposed. It dejectedly pulled its head back, then vanished into the darkness outside the window in a flash.

The author has something to say:

You also remember that you didn’t kiss me today, right~