Chapter 22.1
Dark clouds filled the sky, and the night was thick. The bright moonlight was shrouded by clouds, leaving the earth dim and shadowed.
By the time Lanxi and Ziying arrived, Gu Wan was already carrying someone in her arms as she stepped out through the doorway. As if afraid the person would be seen, a thin blanket covered her body, while her face happened to be buried against Gu Wan’s chest.
Inside the room, Gu Ze sat collapsed on the floor, crying and begging for mercy.
Gu Wan’s gaze swept over Ziying. “Didn’t I tell you to watch her properly? Is this how you handle things?”
“And you!” Gu Wan turned to question Lanxi. “I told you to keep him confined. Tell me, how did he get out?”
Ziying and Lanxi had grown up alongside Gu Wan. Although the two occasionally made mistakes, Gu Wan usually let bygones be bygones. This was the first time she had ever been this angry.
Seeing this, both of them lowered their heads and admitted their fault.
In Gu Wan’s arms, Shang Rongyue’s body was burning terribly. When the wind blew over her, the chill made her tremble again and again. She lifted her head and softly called, “Sister.”
The fury in Gu Wan’s eyes was barely suppressed. She ordered Lanxi and Ziying: one was to take Gu Ze to the punishment room and await her decision; the other was to summon Su Zhaoyun.
Gu Wan had just carried the person back to her own bedroom when Su Zhaoyun arrived right after, carrying her medical box.
When the thin blanket was lifted, the glaring flush on Shang Rongyue’s cheeks grew even more intense. Even her eyes were red. Her pearly teeth bit tightly into her lips, leaving behind a dark trace of blood. From time to time, two soft whimpers escaped from her throat, but she quickly suppressed them again.
She was enduring it to the extreme.
The moment Su Zhaoyun felt her pulse, her brows abruptly furrowed. After examining the remaining incense Gu Wan had picked up from Li Yueyue’s doorway, she had an answer in her heart.
In front of Li Yueyue, Su Zhaoyun hesitated, unable to speak. She could only first pull Gu Wan outside the room.
After closing the door properly, Su Zhaoyun finally answered, “It is Sangxie’s strongest aphrodisiac, called Spring-Welcoming Sigh.”
Gu Wan had vaguely heard of the name Spring-Welcoming Sigh. Great Zhou had banned it long ago, and now it was already very difficult to find.
Su Zhaoyun explained that Spring-Welcoming Sigh had extremely fierce medicinal properties. Once someone inhaled it, the effects would flare up at intervals. Every time it flared, it would feel as if ten thousand ants were crawling over the skin—so itchy and unbearable that even the strongest bones could not endure it.
Moreover, as time passed, the attacks would become more and more frequent, until in the end, the person could not be separated from others for even a moment. It was generally used on disobedient girls in brothels, and the usual ending was that they contracted filthy diseases and died miserably on the bed.
After hearing the conclusion, Gu Wan clenched her hand into a fist. She carefully looked back toward the room and held back as she asked, “Is there a way to cure it?”
“I don’t have complete confidence either.” Since it was a banned drug, it was naturally rarely seen, and its ingredients were unknown. So Su Zhaoyun could only do her best.
Unfortunately, the begonia had already been picked last time. In such a short period, there was no time for it to grow new flowers and leaves.
Thinking of this, Su Zhaoyun hurried to prepare medicine.
When Gu Wan pushed the door open and entered, Shang Rongyue lay motionless on the bed. Only her eyes stared fixedly at the canopy above.
The occasional trembling of her lashes showed that the girl was still alive.
“Will I die?” she asked calmly.
Gu Wan sat beside the bed, dipped a cotton handkerchief in cold water, and applied it to her forehead to reduce her temperature. She replied, “It only arouses desire. It does not endanger your life. Su Zhaoyun has already gone to prepare the antidote. You will be fine.”
“I see.” Shang Rongyue slowly turned her face and looked at Gu Wan beside her. “How much longer?”
How much longer? Until Su Zhaoyun returned?
“Don’t worry. Su Zhaoyun will be quick. Endure a little longer.”
Shang Rongyue smiled faintly. Her chest rose and fell violently, like a dying fish lying on a chopping board, waiting for death’s final judgment.
Every second was so difficult to endure.
Tears once again slid down from the corners of her eyes. She whimpered, “It’s so uncomfortable…”
The next moment, she suddenly sat up and reached for the candlestick beside the bed. Fortunately, Gu Wan was quick-eyed and quick-handed, snatching it away one step earlier.
Missing the thing within reach, Shang Rongyue no longer had her usual timid appearance. She grabbed Gu Wan’s clothes and screamed hoarsely:
“Sister, I really feel awful!”
“It feels like countless bugs are crawling all over me. I can’t take it anymore!”
The fierce drug was slowly destroying her reason bit by bit. Shang Rongyue rolled up her sleeve and stretched out her fair arm. “There are so many bugs on me. Can’t you see them?”
“I want to burn them to death!”
“Burn them all to death!”
She reached out again to seize the candlestick. Gu Wan quickly stood and placed the candle somewhere Shang Rongyue could not reach.
But Shang Rongyue refused to give up. She leaned forward and tried to get out of bed to chase after it. Unfortunately, her body had no strength. Her legs went weak, and she fell directly onto the floor. No matter how hard she tried, she could not stand.
Grief, anger, and grievance tangled together in her chest and surged upward all at once. She could only vent by pounding her pink fists against the gray-blue floor tiles again and again. Slowly, faint bloodstains appeared on the smooth stone.
But at this moment, aside from crying, she could do nothing. She could only let those bugs crawl into her heart and gnaw at it bit by bit.
After Gu Wan set the candlestick down, she turned back and saw the small figure curled up beside the bed, hugging her knees and crying. The wounds on the backs of her hands were still beading with fresh blood, clearly just made.
She walked in front of Shang Rongyue, grabbed her hand, and called her name. “Li Yueyue!”
Shang Rongyue suddenly lifted her head. Crystal tears still hung on her lashes, and her eyes were clean and pure.
Gu Wan continued, “I know you feel wronged. Once Su Zhaoyun brings the antidote and cures your poison, I will personally take you to get revenge. All right?”
“Revenge?” Shang Rongyue repeated the two words.
Gu Wan nodded. “Yes. Revenge. So before that, you must get through this.”
“You weren’t even afraid of the cliff. You definitely won’t lose to such filthy, shameful things, right?”
“Li Yueyue, I believe you can do it!”
Aggrieved tears surged up again. Shang Rongyue leaned against her shoulder and nodded lightly, then allowed Gu Wan to carry her back onto the bed. The scorching heat passed through the fabric and burned Gu Wan’s body. After a long while, the person before her suddenly laughed strangely and gave a soft sigh.
“Sister is right. I’m not afraid of anything. I can definitely do it.”
“I won’t lose!”
“I just… can’t wait anymore…”
When she opened her eyes again, Shang Rongyue’s gaze was already bloodshot. The tears in her eyes had receded, replaced by a fire of desire burning in her pupils.
Then a pair of lotus-like arms wrapped around Gu Wan’s neck. In the next moment, her red lips pressed against Gu Wan’s.
Unlike her usually icy-cold hands, everything about her today was hot—scorching, burning, intense.
By comparison, Gu Wan had become the “cold-bodied” one.
The sudden force nearly pulled Gu Wan down. Fortunately, both her hands braced against the bed, preventing her from pressing down on the person beneath her.
She tried her best to rise, but the other party clearly had no intention of letting her go.
Like someone trapped in the desert expressing their longing for sweet rain, Shang Rongyue’s palm stroked Gu Wan’s face. Taking advantage of Gu Wan’s momentary looseness, she took the initiative to part Gu Wan’s lips. Her other hand quietly moved toward Gu Wan’s waist sash.
A sweet, cloying taste rushed into Gu Wan’s mouth, and her eyes widened instantly. The moment she felt her waist sash loosen, she hurriedly got up and retreated several steps.
But this Li Yueyue refused to give up.
“What’s wrong?” She leaned close again and lightly kissed Gu Wan’s lips, like a dragonfly touching water, brushing against them and leaving at once.
As she asked, she hooked the hand Gu Wan was using to support herself and guided it to her own chest, placing it near the place closest to her heart.
Her damp lashes looked toward Gu Wan, her voice tempting and hazy as she murmured, “Don’t you like it?”
“I…”
Soft fullness filled Gu Wan’s palm. Before she could say the words “I don’t,” Shang Rongyue’s lips covered hers again.
This time, Gu Wan guarded herself tightly and did not allow her to easily break in.
Seeing the other party so tense, Shang Rongyue let out a soft laugh, and her movements also eased. She no longer rushed to enter. Instead, her clever tongue licked back and forth along Gu Wan’s lips, teasing the bead of her lips bit by bit.
Gu Wan had grown up in the military camp since childhood. If she had to face thousands of troops alone, she could do so without fear. But how could she ever have seen such a situation?
Red lips slowly moved downward, and the damp, ticklish touch slid to the hollow of her neck. A numbing sensation like an electric shock spread through her entire body.
That was a place that had never been touched before. The first time it was invaded, it was in such a way.
As if sensing the trembling of the person beneath her, Shang Rongyue lifted a smug face. Her brows and eyes curved like a little cat that had succeeded. “You like it, don’t you?”
Just as she was about to approach again, Gu Wan caught her in return and immediately wrapped her up in the thin blanket like a rice dumpling.
Gu Wan knew that the current Li Yueyue was acting so主动 toward her because of the drug’s influence, not her true intention.
She had studied since childhood and understood the principle of not taking advantage of someone in danger. If she were truly a bandit, she could accept it openly.
But Gu Wan could not.
She was not a bandit. She could not bully someone deeply poisoned.
Gu Wan sat up, simply tidied her disheveled collar, and fastened her waist sash again. Then she turned back to the person on the bed, deliberately ignoring the resentful look in the other party’s eyes. Mechanically, she turned her face away and prepared to get up and leave, letting the other person calm down here.
She curled her hand into a fist, pressed it to her lips, and coughed lightly. “I’ll go see how Su Zhaoyun is doing.”
But just as she lifted her foot, the young girl behind her trembled as she tugged at the hem of her clothes.
Her strength was not great, yet she had already used all her power, wanting to keep Gu Wan there.
“Don’t go…” Shang Rongyue whimpered. “Sister, I’m begging you.”
She removed the half butterfly buyao from her hair and cried as she pleaded, “Sister, I’ll give you all my valuable things. Please don’t leave, all right?”
The scene before Gu Wan overlapped with the image in her memory.
On the day they first met, the girl had also tugged at her clothes like this, tears filling her eyes, begging Gu Wan to take her away.
The same angle, the same hibiscus-like face, even the hair ornament by her temple was the same one.
Suddenly, Gu Wan’s legs seemed to weigh a thousand jin. She could not take even a single step.
Outside the window, fierce wind howled, and dark clouds pressed lower and lower, accompanied by flashes of lightning and peals of thunder.
And Gu Wan, in the end, stopped.
She returned to the bedside and allowed the girl to wrap her arms around her waist. The girl’s burning forehead pressed against her body, the heat seeping in layer by layer.
“Li Yueyue, you must clearly see who I am. Once you take this step, there will be no road back.”
Gu Wan understood very well how important chastity was to a woman. Originally, falling into a “bandit den” would already be difficult to explain if she returned home in the future. But if even her chastity were gone…
Shang Rongyue did not answer her. Instead, she pulled her down. Then she neatly turned herself over and straddled Gu Wan’s body, no longer giving the other party a chance to slip away.
This time, Gu Wan did not struggle free. She only quietly gazed at the girl in front of her, allowing those slender fingertips to wander at her waist.
They unhooked the jade clasp on her belt and pulled open her collar.
Gu Wan practiced martial arts year-round and did not have the soft waist of ordinary young women. Through the fabric, one could faintly feel the firm lines of the muscles at her abdomen.
After feeling the entire outline, Shang Rongyue bent down, her soft body rubbing back and forth against Gu Wan as she sniffed the scent on her body.
When she lifted her head again, only Gu Wan’s reflection remained in her dark pupils.
The girl laughed softly. “Look. Now Sister’s eyes only have me.”
“And in my eyes, there is only Sanniang.”
During the barely kiss-like exchange just now, Gu Wan’s attention had always been on the other person’s body. This was the first time she had stared into Shang Rongyue’s eyes from such a close distance.
Shang Rongyue appeared much more natural. She gathered the stray hair by Gu Wan’s temple behind her ear, revealing Gu Wan’s clean, fair ear.
Gu Wan’s earlobe was clean and bare, like milky-white jade. The scene before Shang Rongyue spun back and forth. In the next moment, that white jade transformed into freshly steamed milk cake. Following the desire in her heart, she leaned forward and caught that soft earlobe between her lips.
Her sharp canine teeth ground against it lightly, and her damp, hot tongue occasionally pressed close, drawing circles up and down.
The person on the bed flushed bright red all at once.
Although Gu Wan had not been poisoned by that filthy drug, the discomfort she felt in her body at this moment was no less than Li Yueyue’s.
After tasting the milk cake, Shang Rongyue buried her face in Gu Wan’s neck. Rarely, today Gu Wan’s body temperature was lower than hers. Her burning forehead pressed against Gu Wan’s skin, feeling extremely comfortable.
Gu Wan noticed that the girl on her body seemed to have bathed not long ago. Her hair still carried the faint clean scent of soapberry, blending with the delicate rose scent on her cheeks into just the right sweetness.
“Li… Li Yueyue…”
A fingertip landed on Gu Wan’s lips, pressing back the words she had been about to say. Shang Rongyue smiled faintly. “Call me Yueyue.”
“Yueyue?”
Shang Rongyue gave a soft “Mm,” then pressed her lips to Gu Wan’s again, rubbing against her skin little by little.
For a moment, Gu Wan’s arms were full of warm fragrance and soft jade. The ruqun had long been pulled into disarray, and the satin ribbons at the chest had loosened at some unknown point. Without the final restraint, a pair of snow-white rabbits leapt before Gu Wan, pressed tightly against her body, as if quietly listening to that thunderous heartbeat.
Outside, fierce wind suddenly rose, and dark clouds seemed about to sink.
Inside, spring color lingered, charming and alluring.
The top of Shang Rongyue’s foot brushed faintly against Gu Wan’s calf. Shang Rongyue lifted her eyes to look at her and asked, “Do you know how?”
Gu Wan nodded faintly.
A few days earlier, Lanxi had discovered a stack of books in the hidden compartment of the dowry chest. Only after Gu Wan opened them did she realize they were erotic illustrations.
A sea of orange—
But perhaps because the person Li Yueyue had originally been meant to marry was an old man, aside from the ordinary ways men and women joined together, there were many “other” methods.
Among them were quite a few techniques Gu Wan could use.
The already wrinkled clothes on Shang Rongyue’s shoulders were pushed away and casually thrown to the floor beside the bed. What appeared before Gu Wan was a curve of snow-white arm.
Today, under the influence of the drug, Li Yueyue’s skin was a faint pink, like the most precious pearl glowing beneath the dim candlelight.
As the bed curtains fell, lightning flashed and thunder roared outside. In an instant, the heavy rain arrived as expected.
And as soon as it began, Shang Rongyue regretted it.
The intense pain made her sober up instantly, but it was already too late to call a stop.
The first rain after Grain in Ear came fiercely, impossible to restrain once it began.
Like a transparent screen, it covered all things in the world.
Only haziness and intimacy remained.
Rain fell from the clouds, never to return. The dark clouds that had been suppressed for so long were finally released—how could spilled water be taken back?
Raindrops struck the window lattice recklessly, echoing with the boundless spring light inside the room. Gradually, that sound changed in pitch and blended with the murmuring rain.
When Su Zhaoyun arrived carrying the food box, the rain was at its heaviest. She tried her best to avoid puddles while also keeping the box steady. Fortunately, Lanxi helped hold an umbrella for her.
When the two arrived outside Gu Wan’s bedroom, the doors and windows were tightly shut. The room was dark, without even a single candle lit.
They knocked three times, but there was no response from inside. Within the curtain of rain, faint sounds, almost there and almost not, entered their ears. Charming and lingering, they seeped out through the crack in the door and slowly dispersed into the rumbling rain.
The two people at the doorway were both stunned.
Inside the room, the rain continued to spread.
Crystal beads traveled downward, passing snowy mountains and rushing toward valleys. But when they passed the most mysterious lake, they were stopped by the upright trees at the lakeside.
The fierce wind danced, and the willow trees by the lake bent from time to time. Long, flexible willow branches drooped beneath the surface of the lake. One branch, two branches, three swaying vines swept back and forth through the fish beneath the water. The originally tranquil surface filled with ambiguous ripples.
Accompanied by fierce wind and falling rain, the tremors of the lake grew increasingly intense, until silver-white lightning split the sky and the raging wind abruptly stopped. Only the remaining ripples on the water and the curve of the bent willow branches recorded the endlessly suggestive scene beneath the dark clouds.
Outside, the rain gradually weakened and finally stopped.
Soon after, candlelight lit up inside the room.
When Gu Wan opened the door and came out, her originally neat hairstyle had loosened, and her long black hair flowed freely behind her. The ink-colored fitted outfit she usually wore was now draped over her shoulders like a cloak, while underneath, she wore plain sleeping clothes.
Gu Wan saw the food box beside Su Zhaoyun and knew it was medicine. She reached out. “Give it to me. You can go rest.”
Su Zhaoyun hesitated for a moment, but still handed it over with both hands.
Fortunately, the timing of this rain had been very good. The medicine was still warm.
As she stepped forward, she unintentionally glanced inside the room. The bed curtains were lowered, and from behind the brocade curtain, a section of fair arm was exposed, naturally hanging down at the bedside.
It was clearly a scene of extreme exhaustion.
When she looked back, her gaze happened to land on the side of Gu Wan’s neck. A conspicuous red plum blossom lay in a very obvious place, with two glaring scratch marks beside it, as if fingernails had torn the skin.
How they had come about needed no words.
After taking the food box, Gu Wan asked, “Do you have medicine for external injuries on you?”
Su Zhaoyun had come in a hurry and had not prepared any.
“Forget it. I’ll ask you for it tomorrow. Go rest first.”
Lanxi stepped forward and was just about to speak when she met Gu Wan’s gaze. She quickly lowered her voice and reported, “Young Master has already been restrained in the punishment room. He shouted for half the night, but now he has no strength and is no longer making trouble. According to his confession, this drug came from Tianxiang Tower.”
“Have people watch Tianxiang Tower. Not even a fly is allowed to escape.”
Lanxi asked again, “Then the person who fetched the drug for Young Master…”
Gu Wan lifted her eyes. “He went somewhere he shouldn’t have gone and took something he shouldn’t have taken. What do you think should be done?”
Lanxi understood Gu Wan’s meaning. She raised both arms and replied that she understood.
After dismissing Lanxi, Gu Wan finally returned to the room.
Taking off the outer robe draped over her shoulders, she carried the food box to the bedside. After lifting the bed curtain, she sat beside the girl.
“Get up. Drink the medicine before sleeping.” Her fingertips rubbed the back of the girl’s hand, trying to wake her.
The person on the bed turned over and did not seem very appreciative.
As she turned, the exposed skin was covered in marks too improper to look at.
They were very similar to the one on Gu Wan’s neck, but far more numerous. Everywhere the eye could see, there was almost no untouched place.
Gu Wan had lost control just now.
She had known Li Yueyue for quite some time, and the girl had cried in front of her more than once.
But only the crying just now had seemed the most real.
It had not been golden beans rolling down one after another. Instead, a pool of mist had covered her lashes, circling in her eyes. When she looked at Gu Wan, those eyes had shimmered like rippling water.
At that moment, Gu Wan had only felt a buzzing in her mind, like the sound of a snapped qin string. After that, everything had become impossible to restrain.
No matter how the person beneath her begged for mercy, it had not awakened any pity in her heart.
Gu Wan did not know why she had been like that at the time. She attributed the reason to the deafening thunder outside the window.
Perhaps when thunder struck, people did crazy things.
Yes. Crazy.
Entangled with one another, until death would end it.
Thinking of the way the other girl had begged at that time, Gu Wan’s movements gradually softened.
In the end, she had been too excessive.
She slowly supported the girl’s body and let her head lean against her shoulder. Then she held the medicine bowl, scooped up a spoonful of medicine, and brought it to the other girl’s lips.
Shang Rongyue had barely eaten anything that evening, and the bitter smell made her retch repeatedly, as if she would not stop until even the acid in her stomach was emptied out.
She furrowed her brows and barely lifted her lashes. “It smells awful. Take it away.”
Truly delicate. Gu Wan sighed and tried to continue reasoning with her.
“Good medicine tastes bitter. Anything useful for illness will not taste very good. Besides, the remaining poison in your body has not yet been cleared. How can you not drink it?”
Shang Rongyue understood the reasoning, but that smell was truly hard to swallow. Even if she drank it now, she feared she would vomit it back up soon after.
Gu Wan seemed to see through the other girl’s little thoughts. “Drink the medicine, and I’ll bring you pastries.”
Shang Rongyue bargained, “Give me one pastry first to pad my stomach. Otherwise, I can’t drink it.”
Gu Wan had no choice. Fortunately, when she went out that afternoon, she had bought a packet of walnut pastries along the way. She knew Li Yueyue had avoided certain foods for a long time and had originally planned to visit her tonight. If she had still obediently followed the doctor’s orders, Gu Wan would give them to her as a reward. She had not expected this matter to happen in between.
Comments 0
You must be logged in to comment.
No comments yet. Be the first!