Recalling the pain of those beatings, Pei Ziying wrapped his arms around himself and bared his fine white teeth. “Ugh… when it hits your body, it hurts so much. It swells up a huge patch that very night.”
Huo Jingzhao could no longer hear any sound. His mouth dry, he swallowed hard. Using a voice made hoarse by pain, he thanked Pei Ziying and left to report to Pei Lianyi in the Main Courtyard.
“Hey…! If you’re really thanking me, come more often to keep me company!” Watching his tall, straight figure disappear into the distance, Pei Ziying clutched his sleeping robe and shouted shyly.
After witnessing the dragon boat race with his own eyes, Pei Ziying’s feelings towards this poor man, his betrothed, had already begun to change.
Now, not only did he feel shy and embarrassed when interacting with him, but even the man’s ordinary rough clothes seemed pleasing to the eye.
“He’s more manly than ordinary men…” Pei Ziying touched the medicine bottle, a little entranced.
Huo Jingzhao had never walked so urgently. His legs were almost beyond his control. His mind was filled with the need to see Pei Lianyi, to see him, to look at his face, to hold him, to touch him all over…! The cooling night breeze could not extinguish his uncontrollable thoughts. Instead, it only fanned the flames fiercer.
But before he could even get close to the Main Courtyard, he was halted by a single sentence from Cao Xian. “The Family Head has already retired for the night. Young Master Huo, please go back.”
From afar, he watched the dim lamplight within that room. Huo Jingzhao closed his eyes. After calming the surging emotions in his heart, he regained his usual humility and politeness. “Many thanks, Steward Cao. This one will come again tomorrow.”
Without waiting for Cao Xian’s eye roll, Huo Jingzhao fled like a gust of wind.
However, upon reaching the courtyard, he bumped into the person who was supposedly “already asleep.”
Pei Lianyi was followed by several maids and attendants. He was still commenting on which dishes from tonight’s meal were off, and how they were off. He must have just finished dinner and seen off the “guest.” (Why the quotation marks? Because anyone who had eaten with Pei Lianyi, male or female, was already a dead man in Huo Jingzhao’s eyes.)
“Master Pei.” Seeing his figure deep within the moonlight, Huo Jingzhao stood in the corridor, motionless.
Pei Lianyi stopped. His first reaction was to dodge him.
Huo Jingzhao walked straight up to him, blocking his path. “I have something to say to Master Pei. Send them away.”
“You…” Faced with his rare discourtesy, Pei Lianyi frowned in surprise. But seeing the unusually serious look on the man’s face, he had no choice but to order the servants to withdraw a distance.
“What is it? Speak.”
Huo Jingzhao placed the paintings before him. “The paintings you asked for. Sorted.”
“So it’s about this.” Pei Lianyi looked as if a weight had been lifted. He took the paintings from the man’s hands.
After he took them, Huo Jingzhao still didn’t let go. He looked at Pei Lianyi deeply. “Why is Master Pei avoiding me?”
“I should go… Ah, ugh—!”
Just as Pei Lianyi was about to leave, Huo Jingzhao suddenly pinned him against a pillar.
“Huo Jingzhao…!” The pillar dug painfully into his supple backbone. He couldn’t help but cry out lowly.
“I went to Master Pei’s courtyard to find you. Steward Cao lied and told me you were sleeping. Why are you willing to spend the whole afternoon with an irrelevant person, but unwilling to see me?” Huo Jingzhao asked gravely.
Pei Lianyi held the other end of the painting, his face flushing red. He said softly, “The one you should be accompanying is Ziying.”
Riiip! A famous painting suddenly tore in two.
Huo Jingzhao looked down and deliberately used a wronged tone. “I’m sorry. It was my carelessness. The painting is ruined.”
Feeling his breath so close, Pei Lianyi’s hand, holding the ruined painting, trembled lightly. “It’s nothing. Shi Chengji will send more.”
Huo Jingzhao’s expression shifted. “You mean you’ll still see him?”
“He is the Family Head of the Shi family. Contact is unavoidable,” Pei Lianyi replied coolly.
“…Fine!” Huo Jingzhao suddenly released his hand and withdrew obediently to the side. “It’s late. Master Pei should rest early.”
Seeing him return to his usual state, Pei Lianyi felt relieved. He said nothing more and left with his people.
The following two days, Huo Jingzhao stayed in Pei Ziying’s room. With him there, Pei Ziying obediently took his medicine, and his injuries healed nicely.
Hearing Cao Xian’s report, Pei Lianyi, who was watering the flowers, stood there in a daze for a long time. Only when the Old Steward reminded him, “Family Head, the flowers are about to drown!” did he put down the watering can.
“As long as… Ziying is alright…” He murmured to himself, as if trying to convince himself.
Cao Xian didn’t notice his distraction. He smiled and said, “Yes! Looking at it this way, the day the Little Young Master and Young Master Huo produce an heir is just around the corner!”
Pei Lianyi remained silent, turning around to continue tilling the soil.
That night, after dealing with a pile of troublesome Chamber of Commerce matters, Pei Lianyi returned to the manor late at night.
The Family Head had been busy all day. Cao Xian quickly led a group of people to prepare hot water and a change of clothes.
Pei Lianyi walked alone to the outside of his bedroom. He found the room was completely dark.
The manor had a rule that lamps must burn until morning. The servants wouldn’t make such a mistake. Thinking of the possibility, a chill shot straight to the bottom of his heart. But his cry for help was drowned out by a sudden clap of thunder.
It was about to rain…
At that moment, the bedroom door was suddenly shaken open by some force. Pei Lianyi lifted his head and caught a clear glimpse of the man inside the room.
He was sitting in the main seat, still wearing that ferocious mask, dressed in that dark, heavy black armor. The painfully bright lightning illuminated his solid arms and straight posture. The red embroidered satin at the edges of his black chestplate rose and fell with his breath. Terrifying, yet also carrying a desire that made lips and teeth turn bitter.
“You… How are you here?!” Ever since Huo Jingzhao came to the manor, the Ghost-Faced Man had vanished without a trace. Pei Lianyi had relaxed for a stretch of time. He thought it would remain this peaceful.
He never imagined the other party would be so bold as to wait for him in his room…!
The Ghost-Faced Man tilted his head. His rough, hoarse voice was full of feigned innocence. “Because Master Pei treated my words as wind past his ears.”
Pei Lianyi had no wish to entangle with this madman. He was about to flee, but the Ghost-Faced Man’s next words froze him solid.
“Pei Ziying. Is he next door?” Behind the mask’s eyeholes, a flicker of light danced. The man uttered words that were demonic to him. “If you won’t keep me company, I’ll go to his room.”
Saying this, the Ghost-Faced Man stood up. “He’s young and naive. Should be more fun to play with.”
Before Huo Jingzhao could even lift a leg, Pei Lianyi strode into the room and swiftly locked the door.
“…” Huo Jingzhao watched him, expression unreadable.
Pei Lianyi pressed a hand against his chest and said hoarsely, “Don’t go to Ziying’s room…”
This one sentence made all the blood in Huo Jingzhao’s body rush to the top of his head.
“Why?” He pressed.
Enduring the pain, Pei Lianyi’s voice was very soft. “He… he is pure. And he already has a marriage contract.”
“Oh? Is that so.” The Ghost-Faced Man let out a short, mocking laugh. He paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, then suddenly nodded. “As long as you repeat my words, I won’t go.”
“What… words?”
“From now on, every night, come to my room.”
His hot, coarse breath made Pei Lianyi shut his eyes in humiliation. He could only repeat, his throat trembling, “From now on… every night… come to my room.”
Watching his crimson face, the Ghost-Faced Man sat back in the chair, satisfied. “As you wish.”
Pei Lianyi finally had a sliver of a chance to breathe.
But soon, the Ghost-Faced Man spoke again. “Then tonight, Master Pei will change into this, and carefully recall the words I’ve said.”
Pei Lianyi looked down and found laid out on the table the colorful robe he had worn on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.
He would never wear the same outfit a second time.
“If I refuse… what are you going to do?!”
Before he could finish, he saw the Ferule that he kept under his pillow, unused for a long time, now in the Ghost-Faced Man’s grasp.
The next second, the man’s words made his legs go even weaker.
“I said I would break Master Pei’s legs.”
Huo Jingzhao toyed with the red sandalwood Ferule, carefully admiring the delicate, carved white jade upon it, examining it as intently as a treasured artifact. “However, I’ve changed my mind.”
His sinister tone, laced with a smile, made the ends of Pei Lianyi’s waterfall-like hair tremble.
“What… idea?” He asked in terror.
“Change your clothes obediently, and I’ll tell you,” the Ghost-Faced Man said leisurely.
Pei Lianyi was not one to be ordered around. At this moment, the terror, grievance, and shame inside him intertwined. Yet he still did not comply with the man’s words. He just angrily draped the vermilion silk robe around himself.
Seeing him so stubborn, the man beneath the mask raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“Master Pei was born with a fine pair of legs. Breaking them would be a real shame indeed.” Huo Jingzhao circled around behind Pei Lianyi. Taking advantage of his vacant expression, he suddenly swung the Ferule in his hand and struck viciously down onto his buttocks.
“Ah—! Ugh, ah! Mmm! Ah!” The moment he was struck, Pei Lianyi’s mind went completely blank. He couldn’t control the scream that tore from his mouth.
Immense shame and panic, like a monstrous wave, instantly submerged him.
He was noble by birth and lived in luxury. Except for giving birth to Pei Ziying, he had never experienced or even imagined such humiliation and sharp pain.
Judging by the Ghost-Faced Man’s style, thinking he might be much younger than himself, Pei Lianyi’s lips trembled. He cried out in agony, “Don’t! Stop… stop!”
Huo Jingzhao actually stopped. “I can stop. But then, none of what was just said will count anymore.”
Pei Lianyi’s autumn-water eyes contracted sharply. He could only brace himself against the table and chairs, silently allowing him to continue.
The vermilion silk robe on his body was embroidered with gold and silver dots. Each time the Ferule in the Ghost-Faced Man’s hand fell, it stirred the dots at his waist, producing a clear, ringing clatter.
Outside, a rainstorm began, the water battering against the door panels.
Slap— Slap— Slap—
The heavy rain was startling. The crisp sound of the swaying gold and silver dots was even more heart-pounding and face-flushing than flying sweat and accumulating wounds.
“Jingzhao, save me…” Amidst the chaotic flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder, Pei Lianyi was beaten into utter disarray. He couldn’t take it anymore. He extended an arm into the air, but it was roughly grabbed back by the Ghost-Faced Man.
Hearing him call his own name at such a juncture, Huo Jingzhao’s eyes reddened with excitement. He leaned down to Pei Lianyi’s ear and sneered coldly, “Huo Jingzhao? Ha… a soft-boned man like that probably can’t even get hard in bed.”
“How could a good-for-nothing save you?”
“No…! He’s not.” Hearing this abuse, the disgusted Pei Lianyi’s expression flickered slightly. A soft light appeared in his eyes. “He… he’s different from someone like you.”
“Someone like me?” The Ghost-Faced Man’s interest was piqued again. He asked eagerly, “What kind of person am I?”
“You’re a madman! A lecherous devil! A damnable beast… AAAAAHH—!!!”
The more Pei Lianyi cursed, the harder Huo Jingzhao struck. In no time, beads of sweat dripped from Pei Lianyi’s chin. His face was so red it seemed blood would ooze out.
The searing, drilling pain in his buttocks was unbearable. Even his lower abdomen ached with soreness. In his panic, he could only grasp the peeled Pomegranate on the table, using it to suppress his screams.
Staring at his slender fingers digging into the red fruit’s flesh, Huo Jingzhao felt his mind wandering.
He weighed the Ferule in his hand. Suddenly, he increased the force of his strikes. His voice was provocative yet gentle. “Master Pei, use a little more force. I want to drink some Pomegranate juice.”
“Ugh— Ah—!” Pei Lianyi’s neck arched up from the flogging. He grabbed the Pomegranate with all his might, every finger deeply embedded in the fruit’s flesh, squeezing out the sweet, delicious juice inside.
The juice trickled down his palm to the table. The bedroom was suddenly overflowing with a sweet and sour fragrance. It was too strong, so strong it almost robbed one of their senses, leaving only the lingering echo of clashing gold and silver dots in the ears.
Huo Jingzhao raised his hand, dipped a finger into the shimmering juice, and rubbed it onto Pei Lianyi’s lower lip.
Pei Lianyi faced him with vacant eyes, only repeating in a low murmur, “He is good. Very good. He respects me, admires me. He is different… different from you…”
Looking at his cold, empty face, Huo Jingzhao felt a sudden, inexplicable panic. He threw down the Ferule. He even forgot to pull out the door lock. He rammed his head against the door several times before finally remembering to unlock it and flee out the door.
