Chapter 84: Spicy Stir-Fry Pot (Part 10)
Perhaps it was Leng Yue's curse of "bastard," or perhaps it was her smile—something about Leng Yue fiercely stimulated Jing Yi, who was already sensitive to the extreme. His eyes, once dull as dead ashes, suddenly blazed with intensity. With strength from who-knows-where, he yanked the kneeling Leng Yue beside him into his embrace, flipping over to cover her.
In the depths of winter, the brick floor was bone-chillingly cold, yet Jing Yi's body burned like fire. Suddenly thrust into this state of extreme contrasts, Leng Yue instinctively struggled.
This struggle only further provoked the out-of-control person. Jing Yi tore at Leng Yue's clothes like a ravenous wolf stripping a freshly caught rabbit, devoid of any tenderness.
Leng Yue's vision was completely filled by Jing Yi's form, her ears filled with his ragged panting, yet she remained acutely aware of the four people outside the window.
When she had entered, she had already resolved that if it could ease Jing Yi's suffering, she was willing to sacrifice even this child. But faced with this deranged version of him, a piercing sorrow chilled her entire being.
Earlier, when he mistakenly thought she intended to abort and begged to touch her belly, she had sensed how deeply he cherished and desired this child. If the child were to die because of him before even being born, it would surely become another, even deeper torment for him once he regained his senses.
She couldn't abruptly stop him under Xiao Zhao Ye's watchful gaze—she could only gamble on the significance this matter held in his heart.
"Jing Yi..." Leng Yue wrapped her arms around his neck in response, disguising her words with a soft, breathy moan as she whispered in his ear, "The child... our child..."
Child...
Amid the feverish haze, hearing this word was like a sudden slap to the face. Jing Yi's body stiffened abruptly, halting all movement as if severed at the roots. He threw himself aside, sprawling limply on the icy floor, using the penetrating cold to disperse the sinister fire that had nearly led him to lifelong regret.
What was he doing...
Jing Yi had never loathed his male body more. Under the influence of emotions magnified by alcohol and drugs, as this thought surfaced, one hand unconsciously clenched around the thing that had almost caused disaster, as if trying to tear it from his very body.
Jing Yi's reaction was too conspicuous. Leng Yue could almost feel Xiao Zhao Ye narrowing his suspicious eyes outside the window. Seeing Jing Yi engage in such dangerous behavior, she panicked and threw herself onto him, gripping his wrist firmly. The pain made his fingers loosen, finally rescuing the innocent member.
"Don't rush, don't rush..." Leng Yue pressed Jing Yi's wrists, pinning his still-struggling hands firmly to the ground. She placed soothing kisses one after another on his brow, etched with deep self-reproach, until he gradually calmed. Then, gazing deeply at this man who seemed to have regained some semblance of reason, she raised her voice slightly, speaking to Jing Yi but also to the person outside the window, "It's alright if you have no strength. Don't move—let me."
Jing Yi met her gaze for a moment before finally relaxing completely, slowly closing his dazed yet guilt-filled eyes in acknowledgment of her words.Fortunately, it wasn't too late...
Leng Yue took a deep breath to steady her mind, then reached out to slowly remove Jing Yi's inner robe, which was chilled and soaked through with wine and vomit.
Though Leng Yue moved with extreme care, trying not to provoke the overly sensitive man, when the garment was peeled from his feverish skin, it still sent shivers through his entire body. Suppressed whimpers escaped through his clenched teeth, each sound twisting Leng Yue's heart with pain.
Somehow, at this moment when she should have been completely focused, an unrelated thought surfaced in Leng Yue's mind—if anyone ever spoke ill of Jing Yi again, she would fight them with her life.
By the time she finished removing all of Jing Yi's clothing, Leng Yue felt as if she had just fought a major battle. Her face was glistening with sweat, and her inner robe was completely drenched.
As Leng Yue caught her breath and was about to remove her own clothes, the man who had been keeping his eyes tightly shut and enduring with gritted teeth suddenly opened his eyes for some unknown reason, making Leng Yue's heart tremble.
"Jing Yi..."
Jing Yi wrapped his arms around her waist, not as roughly as before. Leng Yue could clearly feel him struggling to restrain his primal urges, using his trembling arms to gently pull her into an embrace. With some effort, he turned over, placing her softly on the ground beneath him. He looked down at her tense face, offering a gentle smile as he whispered in a slightly hoarse, pleading voice, "I won't let him see..."
Leng Yue was taken aback, instinctively glancing toward the window before suddenly understanding.
By positioning himself this way, anyone looking from outside the window would be unable to see her body—only Jing Yi's back.
Seeing the first smile Jing Yi had given her all night, Leng Yue felt like crying.
Xiao Zhao Ye, after all, came from noble origins and maintained some sense of propriety. He couldn't bring himself to watch such a scene in the company of his subordinates. As soon as he saw Jing Yi, naked, covering Leng Yue and beginning to remove the clothes of the frequently panting woman beneath him, he quietly averted his gaze.
With her decent Inner Cultivation, Leng Yue faintly heard Xiao Zhao Ye sigh softly before leaving amid her somewhat exaggerated panting.
"Truly worthy of an actor..."
Realizing the people outside the window had dispersed, Leng Yue relaxed inwardly and quickly grasped Jing Yi's hands, which were slowly undoing her clothes. "It's alright, they're gone, it's over..."
Jing Yi had nearly exhausted all his strength through this ordeal of endurance. Before he could even manage a relieved smile at Leng Yue's words, he collapsed weakly to the side.
Leng Yue reacted swiftly, catching his limp, burning body in her arms. But Jing Yi shook his head, tilting his neck back to signal that she should let him down. Suppressing his ragged breathing as best he could, he said with forced gentleness, "You sleep... I'll manage myself..."
Leng Yue naturally understood what he meant. Her eyes warmed, nearly spilling tears.
No matter how much it pained her, there was no other way at this moment.
"Alright, do it yourself... The floor is too cold, let's move to the bed."
As Leng Yue tried to lift him from the ground, Jing Yi shook his head and struggled carefully in her embrace. "Dirty...""What do you mean by dirty..." Leng Yue held him tighter, both exasperated and amused, as his body trembled with unease. "This is your own home, your own bed. What are you disliking yourself for?"
Jing Yi continued shaking his head, breathing in ragged, uneven gasps like a fish out of water, yet his gaze remained full of concern as he looked at Leng Yue. "You sleep..."
Leng Yue froze for a moment, warmth suddenly flooding her heart.
Even tormented to this state, completely disoriented, he still remembered to worry about her and care for her...
"Then how about this..." Leng Yue compromised. "I'll help you wipe your body, change into clean clothes, and then you can get into bed. Is that alright?"
Jing Yi stubbornly shook his head again, his handsome brows furrowed tightly. He turned away, looking with disgust at the mess on the floor. "Will vomit... will..."
Leng Yue couldn't bear to see him like this. Her leaf-shaped eyebrows arched as she sharply cut off his hoarse, trembling voice. "Are you saying that if it were me in this state, you'd just leave me on the floor and go sleep in bed by yourself?"
Jing Yi was taken aback, hurriedly shaking his head with effort. "No..."
"Then why all this nonsense?"
"..."
Leng Yue didn't give Jing Yi any more chance to argue. With a stern face, she scooped him up horizontally. Before Jing Yi could even process the dizziness, he was already sinking into the soft bedding.
"Go ahead and suffer through it then," Leng Yue said lightly, standing by the bed as she straightened her clothes and smoothed her hair. "I'm going out for some fresh air. I'll be back soon."
As if nothing had just happened, Leng Yue walked out calmly.
She didn't go far, merely closing the inner room door before sitting by the tea table in the outer chamber. Listening to Jing Yi's now-unrestrained gasps and low moans from inside, she silently let her tears flow like an ocean.
Only when the sounds from the room gradually faded to nothing did Leng Yue wipe away the tear stains that had made her face look like a messy kitten's. She returned to the room, climbed quietly into bed, and lay down beside Jing Yi, who had fallen into a deep sleep.
The last time she had lain beside him in this bed felt like a lifetime ago, back when the world was still at peace...
Jing Yi wasn't sleeping soundly. Throughout the night, he vomited repeatedly until his stomach cramped violently, causing him to faint several times.
For most of the past half month, Jing Yi had endured such torment every night, living through what felt like a living hell. He knew his stomach, which had never suffered much hardship before, must have developed some problem from this daily torture. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he started vomiting blood, let alone experiencing cramps.
But tonight, he almost wished Uncle Qi had forced more alcohol down him, making him vomit more violently and suffer stomach pain longer. That way, he could linger a little longer in those warm, soft arms he had missed for so long, and that gentle hand soothing his abdominal pain would stay on him a little longer...
She no longer belonged to him. After this night, perhaps all this would only exist in memories.
It wasn't until daybreak that Jing Yi was completely exhausted by the torment, falling into a heavy sleep despite the still-sharp pain. When he woke again, the snow outside had stopped and the sky had cleared. The gentle winter sunlight filtered through the window paper, illuminating the empty, desolate room.The room had been cleaned spotless at some point, the bedding replaced with fresh linens, and even his inner garments changed to clean ones. If not for the faint lingering scent of alcohol in the air and his throbbing headache that felt near splitting, he might have believed everything from last night was merely a dream.
A dream that was both nightmare and sweet fantasy.
Jing Yi lacked the energy to dwell on the details of the previous night, much less muster the strength to lift his limp, ragdoll-like body from the blankets. He could only close his eyes again, searching for any trace of Leng Yue's scent between each breath.
Just as drowsiness threatened to claim him once more, the sudden aroma of steaming rice wafted into the room, jolting him awake with its unexpected intrusion.
Since being confined here, Uncle Qi seemed to have completely forgotten Jing Yi's usual eating habits. These past few days, he'd even forgotten that Jing Yi needed to eat at all. For at least three days, the only thing that had passed Jing Yi's lips besides medicated liquor was more medicated liquor. His keen sense of smell, catching such a fragrance now, made his traitorous stomach growl loudly.
"Hmm?" Leng Yue entered carrying a bowl, noticing Jing Yi staring blankly at the doorway. Her brilliant smile deepened his daze. "Awake? Perfect timing - eat the congee while it's hot, then you can go back to sleep."
Jing Yi gazed dumbfounded at Leng Yue's dreamlike appearance, his tongue tangling. "You... why are you... still... still here..."
The flush that had colored Jing Yi's face since last night's rest had gradually faded, leaving him pale by morning. But seeing Leng Yue enter with the congee bowl now brought an involuntary pink tinge back to his cheeks. Finding his foolish expression utterly endearing, Leng Yue raised an eyebrow and laughed, "Aren't I the Food-Delivery Goddess of Mercy? I can't very well leave before delivering the meal."
Jing Yi stared fixedly at Leng Yue's face for a long moment, then murmured words that nearly made her tremble enough to spill congee all over him:
"So the Food-Delivery Goddess of Mercy really exists..."
OpenNovel