Chaрtеr 169: "Wеn Yu, hоw сould you bе likе this..."
Wen Yu had suffеred enоugh lаst night. Аs dаwn wаs аbout to brеak, she was finally cаrriеd baсk to thе sоft соuch tо сlоsе hеr eуes and sleер.
Xiаo Li wrung her hair drу, then leаned ovеr аnd kissеd hеr fоr а gоod while. Неr eуеs сould nо longеr stаy oреn. In a slеepy dаze, she furrowеd hеr brоws and subсonsciouslу usеd hеr slendеr whitе fingеrs, whiсh wеrе alrеаdy brаnded with kiss mаrks and faint rеd teеth imрrints, tо push аgаinst him.
Shе hаd truly been bulliеd too much this night.
Her shоulders and neсk were аlso соverеd in red marks and bites.
Unable to escape his dense shower of kisses, she finally turned over and buried half her face in the embroidered soft pillow, her breathing deep and even, leaving only the back of her head for Xiao Li.
The oversized inner robe, clearly not her size, slipped down slightly as she turned, revealing a section of her snowy neck and half a shoulder, shockingly covered in a dense layer of kiss marks, under the cover of her dark hair.
A bite mark on her back shoulder was particularly deep, even drawing a speck of blood.
Xiao Li's breath grew hot again, but he knew he couldn't go any further. He hugged her through the quilt, nuzzled against the crook of her shoulder, and pecked delicately at the bite mark on her back shoulder before letting her go.
The bed was a complete mess, too chaotic to look at.
Xiao Li took one of his own outer robes from the rack and draped it on. Beneath his untied inner tunic, the marks on his body were no less severe.
Besides the red scratches all over his shoulders, there were also two bite marks on the side of his neck and his front shoulder, deep enough to have drawn blood.
One was from when he carried Wen Yu into the hot spring pool to clean her, and she had bitten him.
The other was from when he couldn't restrain himself and had thoroughly possessed her once more in the pool. As he left that bite mark on her back shoulder, she, unwilling to be at a disadvantage in the slightest, had returned the favor on his front shoulder.
Xiao Li, unexpectedly, felt very satisfied.
Opposite that bite mark on his back was the arrow scar that had nearly cost him his life.
Both marks were left by her.
Whether she had truly wanted to kill him in the past or not, he had long been so utterly defeated that he no longer wanted to pursue the matter.
It was enough that she now admitted she liked him.
Xiao Li rolled up the soiled mattress and the piece of bed curtain she had torn, placing them together in the dirty laundry basket. He then found a new set in the cabinet and remade the bed.
As he gathered their clothes from the footstool, he noticed by the candlelight that the sash they had been lying on during the chaos was stained with blood.
He frowned, wondering if he had injured Wen Yu.
When he was young and lived with Xiao Huiniang in the Drunken Red Chamber, he knew that whenever the girls in the brothel were pushed out by the madam to receive their first client, the bedsheets the old maids washed the next day would always have bloodstains.
But there were also some boorish men from the jianghu who came to the brothel for pleasure. Even the seasoned courtesans were reluctant to receive such men. He had even heard the girls complain that those brutes were too rough and had injured them.
In those situations, the bedsheets the girls changed would also have bloodstains.
Wen Yu... seemed to be injured?
The last time he had washed her, she was already unconscious. When he touched her, she still dodged and murmured in her sleep that it hurt.
Xiao Li held the sash and remained silent for a moment before putting it into the dirty laundry basket as well.
After carrying Wen Yu back to the bed along with the quilt and lowering the remaining half of the bed curtain to shield her from the draft, he walked out of the courtyard and ordered the armored soldier on guard to bring some soft meat porridge.
He then returned to the room and went into the secret chamber behind it, wanting to see if there was any usable ointment.
This mountain nunnery had only been abandoned recently after Pei Song broke into the Northern Border. It had originally been a place where local officials kept their household courtesans to serve the powerful and noble, so it was bound to have such ointments.
When Xiao Li was young, the girls in the brothel, when injured, would give him silver to buy that kind of ointment for them from the apothecary. Xiao Li remembered the cool, medicinal scent that could be smelled even through the box.
He held a candlestick and searched the wall niches. Sure enough, he found a box of ointment with its wax paper seal still intact, clearly unused.
After twisting open the lid and sniffing it, he confirmed it was the right thing, then extinguished the candlestick and left the secret chamber.
Wen Yu was sleeping very soundly. When she felt a cool sensation invade her, and it was probing even deeper, she could only murmur a helpless warning in her extreme drowsiness, "Xiao Li..."
Xiao Li leaned down and kissed her, his voice deep and hoarse. "I hurt you. Don't move, I'm applying medicine."
After finally finishing applying the ointment, Xiao Li buried his head in her neck, his breath hot as he panted heavily for a good while. Only then did he go to the hot spring pool in the secret chamber to wash his hands, his eyes slightly red.
A knock came from outside the room. It was Gongsun Sanniang, delivering the porridge.
The moment the door opened, Gongsun Sanniang glanced at the bite mark on the side of Xiao Li's neck and likely caught a whiff of the scent inside the room. With a very restrained, teasing smile, she passed him the tray holding two bowls of chicken-shred porridge.
Xiao Li stood right by the door, his tall frame completely blocking the view of the room, not allowing anyone to peek in the slightest. After being sated, the grim killing intent in his brow had faded somewhat, but the ferocity in his wolf-like eyes remained, so intimidating that people didn't even dare to look too long at his excessively handsome face.
He took the tray and said, "Don't let anyone disturb us before noon."
Gongsun Sanniang replied with perfect understanding, "Rest assured, not even a fly will be able to get into this courtyard before the afternoon."
Returning to the room, Xiao Li hooked up the half-curtain and sat on the edge of the bed. He lifted Wen Yu into his arms, letting her lean against him. He scooped up the meat porridge with a spoon, blew on it to cool it, and brought it to her lips. "A Yu, eat something before you sleep."
Wen Yu was truly exhausted, her eyelids so heavy she couldn't open them at all. She finished most of the bowl of porridge almost entirely by being fed.
When she couldn't eat anymore, she turned her head to the other side. Xiao Li laid her back down on the bed, and she curled up in the quilt and fell into a deep sleep once more.
Xiao Li hastily finished the remaining porridge, took off his outer robe, and lay back down. He encircled her in his arms. As he pecked at the back of her neck, which was covered in red marks, Wen Yu flinched and tried to hide, but he held her tightly in his embrace.
Xiao Li had only slept for a little over three hours last night. He was a bit tired now too, but just holding Wen Yu like this still felt like a dream, and he didn't dare to fall asleep.
He left a dense trail of kisses on the side of her neck and her shoulder, calling her "A Yu" in a tender, husky voice.
Perhaps because there were few people in the world who knew this pet name of hers and would still call her by it, even in her deep sleep, Wen Yu would still respond vaguely upon hearing the words "A Yu," though one couldn't make out what she was saying.
Xiao Li pulled her even tighter between his arm and chest. He kissed the top of her head again before slowly closing his eyes, his chin resting on her hair, in a posture that resembled a hedgehog clutching some treasure to its belly.
A Yu was his.
But Han Yang was not yet.
Many people were vying for Han Yang. He had to become the strongest of them all to snatch her back.
He was jealous of every man who had ever had her, and he would chop them into mincemeat and throw them into the mountains to feed the wild wolves.
But he didn't care if it was her first time or not.
He had already missed so many firsts in her life; he only wanted her future.
Anyway, all the men who had touched her were dead. From now on, she would belong completely and solely to him.
He would be stronger than any man she had ever had.
Wen Yu slept until the afternoon. Because she had been held by Xiao Li the whole time and his body was so hot, she woke up drenched in a layer of sweat.
One of Xiao Li's dead-heavy arms was still draped across her waist. When Wen Yu tried to move it, she found both her arms were sore and weak.
He had been too much last night. When he lifted her up, she had nowhere to brace herself and had clung to his shoulders and neck for too long.
At this thought, a secret vexation arose in her heart, and she pushed at his arm with a bit more force.
This movement woke Xiao Li. Before his eyes even opened, he instinctively used his other arm to pull her back into his embrace, kissing her face and the side of her neck haphazardly. His voice was raspy from just waking up. "You're awake?"
Wen Yu couldn't bring herself to look at her own miserably marked shoulders and arms. A strange coolness from below made her frown.
The chaotic memories of last night came flooding back, and Wen Yu couldn't help but raise a hand to press her temple.
Once she was fully awake, she reverted to her cool and unapproachable demeanor. Seemingly unaccustomed to such an overly intimate and boundary-crossing closeness with Xiao Li, she said with a slight frown, "I want to bathe."
She was the one who had initiated it, so naturally, she had no regrets.
It was just... she wasn't used to it.
And... it was a bit too much.
So much so that Wen Yu couldn't help but feel she had made another wrong decision.
She endured the soreness all over her body and got up, pulling the large inner robe tightly around her. The moment her feet touched the ground, she nearly stumbled onto the felt rug.
Xiao Li's long arm shot out behind him, and she landed steadily in his embrace.
His jaw tightened slightly, as if he had also noticed that Wen Yu was once again drawing an invisible line between them now that she was awake.
He pressed her against the edge of the bed and kissed her fiercely, not stopping until the coolness in her face and eyes was replaced by a crimson blush. Only then did he sweep her into his arms and say, "The girls in the brothels often curse their clients for pulling up their pants and refusing to acknowledge them. Wen Yu, you just got out of my bed, and you're already going to turn your back on me?"
No one had ever spoken to Wen Yu so crudely. A flash of anger appeared in her eyes, but being lifted so easily, with his palm resting in a very dangerous position on her waist, she finally realized this was not a time she could afford to be stubborn. She just pressed her lips together tightly and said nothing.
Xiao Li turned the stone tablet and led her into the secret chamber. He lit the candlestick on the wall niche and placed her in the hot spring pool.
The moment Wen Yu entered the pool, she automatically moved to the other side, clutching her robe and not looking at Xiao Li. Her originally clear voice was a bit hoarse from crying so much last night, turning into a different kind of low, deep tone. "Could I trouble you to call Sanniang and have her fetch a change of clothes for me from the room?"
Xiao Li's dark, heavy eyes locked onto her. Not only did he not go out, but he stepped directly into the pool.
Just as Wen Yu, stunned, was about to dodge, he closed the distance with absolute strength and speed, once again pinning her against the stone wall.
His eyes held a hint of anger and a faint smile, as if he'd been used and discarded. His high-bridged nose was almost touching hers, and his deep, dark eyes displayed an all-too-obvious aggression and possessiveness. "Good, I'm not finished yet either. Since you've forgotten what we did last night, let's do it again."
His gaze was truly terrifying.
For a moment, Wen Yu even felt like prey being cruelly torn apart under his claws.
She frowned and urgently tried to call his name to calm him down, but her chin was quickly seized, and her breath was stolen.
It was the same familiar, breathless kiss, not savage, but domineering enough to forbid any refusal.
She couldn't stand steadily in the water, so he lifted her up. Wen Yu was truly afraid of that position and hurriedly clung to his neck, calling his name in a fierce, somewhat flustered manner.
Xiao Li kissed her on the lips, a roguish hint in his wild smile. He seemed to quite like her calling his name in anger, rather than facing him with that calm, placid expression she showed everyone else. "I'm here," he said.
Wen Yu was speechless with anger. For the first time, she realized how thick-skinned this person was.
He sat her down on a half-ledge carved out of the stone wall along the edge of the hot spring. Bracing his hands on the ledge to cage her in, he continued to kiss her.
The stone wall was right behind Wen Yu; she had nowhere to hide.
Fortunately, the wall, constantly soaked by the hot spring water and wreathed in steam, was not cold.
As Xiao Li kissed her, Wen Yu clenched her teeth but couldn't endure it. In the end, just like last night, she began to sob.
She rarely cried over other matters; it seemed all her tears were saved for this.
Xiao Li wasn't having an easy time either. The veins on his arms, braced against the stone ledge, bulged, and the muscles in his body tensed. Finally, he could only lift his head from her chest and rest it on her shoulder, panting heavily. Hot sweat trickled down the side of his face from his temples.
He had only said that earlier because he was vexed by her distant attitude after she woke up, deliberately scaring her.
But now, he was the one left in an unbearable, suspended state.
He bit her shoulder lightly again and sighed as if he was at his wit's end with her. "Wen Yu, how could you be like this?"
He didn't dare touch her again, yet he was unwilling to let her go just like that.
He continued to kiss down her shoulder. Finally, under the pretext of washing off the ointment, he kissed his way down.
She trembled as she cried, just like last night, but he showed no pity at all.
After leaving the secret chamber, Wen Yu had her hair dried by him and changed into a fresh set of clothes. She sat on the couch by the window, looking a bit listless and still lacking energy.
Not long after, Gongsun Sanniang came over. Wen Yu asked her to help send a message to the Azure Guard, telling them they could come up the mountain to pick her up.
Xiao Li, however, had been acting a bit strange ever since he came out of the secret chamber. After fetching her clothes and drying her hair, he had disappeared.
When he returned a while later, he saw Gongsun Sanniang leaving and likely understood what she had been instructed to do. He walked over and hugged her, resting his chin in the crook of her shoulder, but he didn't say a word.
Wen Yu was truly exhausted and had no energy to deal with him. She simply lay her head on the small table and feigned sleep, waiting for him to speak first.
But Xiao Li only kissed the dark hair that fell beside her neck and didn't bother her further.
Wen Yu thought of her original plan. She opened her eyes slightly, and just as she was about to proactively ask Xiao Li something, someone came hurrying from outside, stopping at the door and calling out with some restraint, "Your Excellency!"
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