Chapter 73 More sticky than tears, sweeter than tears…

Witnessing Si Qing's death left Leng Cuizhu heartbroken and still reeling. Hearing Yin Yuan's condescending tone as he criticized and condemned Si Qing only intensified her sympathy for Si Qing.

Her eyes widened in disbelief at his callousness: "Respect for the dead is paramount, how could you say such a thing?"

"Otherwise? Cry for him?" Yin Yuan said indifferently, "I understand your sadness and grief, after all, you had a brief affair with him. As for me, he was my rival in love, and I had long hoped for his death. Now that my wish has come true, of course I am happy, and that cannot be hidden."

"You're so cold-blooded!"

"Sit down and wait for the judge to come over."

Chen Xun returned with the judge and ran into Leng Cuizhu storming out. He quickly grabbed her, saying, "Hey, hey, hey—wife, where are you going? The outhouse isn't over there!"

Chen Xun gave a wink to the jailer beside her, and several jailers stepped forward, grabbed her, and quickly tied her hands with hemp rope.

"This, Lord Chen..."

"You're a suspect now, so stop thinking about running away."

She had no choice but to be pulled back by Chen Xun and the judge.

Back in the main hall, Yin Yuan glanced at her and saw that her hands were tied. He was stunned for a moment, then rubbed his forehead, frowned, and sighed softly.

“My lord,” Chen Xun bowed and scraped, “I will take my leave now! I will not disturb you as you take your statements.”

Yin Yuan didn't give Chen Xun a look.

The judge stood before the table, set out the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and said with a smile, "Don't worry, madam, I won't ask you any difficult questions. Today, I'm just using you as an excuse to find out what exactly happened on the ship that day."

“Okay…” She sat on the stool, her hands aching from being bound by hemp rope, her forehead tense.

"What is your relationship with Young Master Si Qing?"

She stammered, "This...this..."

Some time ago, the whole county had already spread the word about her love-hate relationship with Si Qing and Yin Yuan. Now that the judge has asked her this, how should she answer? Should she admit that she has an affair with Si Qing?

“I’m sorry,” Yin Yuan said, “she won’t answer that question.”

The judge paused in his writing, stroked his beard, and said, "...Good."

"Then, my lady, why did you go to see Young Master Si Qing that day?"

Leng Cuizhu bit her lip: "He invited me."

Upon hearing this, Yin Yuan, who was sitting to the side, relaxed his brows slightly and opened his mouth to look at her profile.

He remained silent, only letting his gaze fall on her bound hands, sweeping over the marks left by the restraints on the back of her hands.

"Do you have an invitation?"

“…There’s a letter.” She bit her lip until it turned crimson. “It’s at home.”

The judge sent someone to fetch the letter, and shortly after, the constable returned with the letter and handed it to the desk.

The judge opened the envelope halfway and put it down, then stood up and handed it to Yin Yuan: "Sir, please take a look."

Yin Yuan raised an eyebrow and took the letter.

Leng Cuizhu was horrified. The letter contained nothing but lamentations and foul language.

She felt that she should cooperate as much as possible with other people's investigations, and besides, the judge was upright and didn't seem like the kind of person who would casually reveal the suspect's privacy.

I never expected him to be such a sycophantic and corrupt official.

What Si Qing wrote in the letter was something she could read without any problem, and barely take as a bit of fun, but Yin Yuan would be furious if he read it.

"..."

Yin Yuan quickly closed the letter.

The judge peered over: "Sir, how is it?"

The man's face clearly showed his displeasure: "Hmm."

He folded the letter in his hand, put it back in the envelope, and looked up, staring intently at the woman.

Leng Cuizhu trembled under his gaze and hurriedly turned her head away.

Once outside the prison, Yin Yuan untied the rope from her hands and grabbed her collar to prevent her from leaving.

She lowered her head, avoiding the man's gaze, and rubbed her swollen hand: "I want to go home..."

"Go home and play with him on the floor? Does he lick your vulva? Or do you go and help him relieve himself?"

"Is what's written in that letter true? You not only let a wolf into the house, letting him wear my clothes, but you also had an affair with him in our bed?"

“That bed wasn’t just slept in by one man, so what if there was another?” she retorted. “If Young Master Si knew that his death could still anger you, he would be overjoyed.”

"Those things are in the past, what's the use of getting angry now?"

"It's clearly you who was unfaithful to me, how can you talk so logically?"

"My lord, are you truly so loyal? If you were a real gentleman, you would never have frequented brothels and gotten involved with me, would you?"

"The whole family found out, and I was punished by my own mother to kneel in the ancestral hall... It was so shameful."

"How could you..."

Yin Yuan stared at her for a moment, ignoring her sarcasm, and instead grabbed her wrist and leaned in.

"What are you doing?" She tried to pull her hand back, but the man held it tightly.

The man ran his fingertips over the red and swollen back of her hand, lowered his eyes and sighed, "Go back and put some medicine on it."

“I know without you saying it.” Her tone softened slightly. “I’ll come here myself tomorrow to continue giving my statement. You don’t need to come with me.”

"There's no need to come again."

"Why?"

“You are not the murderer.” Yin Yuan looked away. “I explained the situation to the magistrate in charge of the case, and he promised not to investigate you anymore.”

"Remember to apply the medicine when you get back." He handed the envelope to her. "Here's your letter back. I suggest you burn it to avoid giving them any leverage."

After she returned home, the servant sent by the Yin family to deliver the medicine arrived. The servant not only brought her ointment from the largest clinic in the city, but also, as instructed, presented her with a bouquet of lilies, symbolizing a long and happy marriage.

"Just put it on the table."

She sat on the stone bench in the courtyard, staring at the calm, still pond, her mind in turmoil.

As soon as she got home, she searched the attic thoroughly.

Leng Zhen could not be found.

Both the judge and Yin Yuan said that all the servants on the boat were killed and a raging fire broke out inside. Later, because the fire was too big and the smoke filled the sky, it was seen by a passing farmer, who then reported it to the authorities.

The person was killed by Leng Zhen, and the fire was also likely started by Leng Zhen.

Having committed such a serious crime, it was only natural that he needed to go out and lay low for a while, so it was expected that Leng Zhen wouldn't be home.

But what about her? What should she do?

She is now the only named and surviving person in this tragedy, yet she cannot reveal any of the truth.

After all, her hands weren't clean either.

Her fierceness can indeed protect herself and hurt others, but sometimes it can also become her unspeakable weakness.

She sat in the courtyard for a long time until dusk before wiping away her tears and going back inside.

At night, after wandering around outside, Cuscuta came back and saw her lying on the bed. He rushed over to her.

"Host, you're finally back." He knelt by the bed, buried his face in her hair on the pillow, and rubbed against her again and again.

"……What’s wrong with you?"

Leng Cuizhu remained silent.

"Where's Ewan?" Dodder looked up and around. "Didn't he come back with you?"

She said, her heart pounding, "No."

"Are you unhappy?" Dodder peeked out and noticed the dried tear tracks on her face. "Oh, why are you crying?"

He immediately climbed onto the bed, not even bothering to take off his shoes and socks before hugging her, staring intently into her eyes: "What's wrong?"

She remained silent, sobbing softly.

Seeing this, the dodder also closed its lips and remained silent, hugging her tightly, burying itself in her chest, and occasionally stealing glances at her face.

The warm, moist breath sprayed onto her shoulders and neck.

Her crying intensified, and her brows furrowed with worry.

A hand reached out to her face without her noticing, silently wiping away the hot tears on her cheeks.

The dodder blinked, seeing that the tears were endless, and tilted its head back to lick the tears that had slid down her chin and neck.

She shoved him away abruptly, clutching her neck: "What...what are you doing?"

“I,” Dodder said, lying at the foot of the bed with her hands tucked in her sleeves, “I was just thinking that it would be uncomfortable to have tears sticking to my skin… Don’t misunderstand! I just wanted to comfort you.”

She lowered her head, covered her face, and said tremblingly, "I don't need your comfort, just get out of here."

Dodder gritted its teeth, crawled to her side, and hugged her again.

The two of them fell onto the bed together.

"What are you doing? Get out of here right now."

"No way."

"It would be strange if I didn't care about you crying like this." He bent down and licked her, his soft tongue licking every inch of her skin, licking away the tears on her face, and then kissing the wet, red corners of her eyes and her trembling eyelashes.

Leng Cuizhu felt as if she had been licked by a cat; it was indeed comfortable and pleasurable, yet there was also a faint stinging sensation, making her cheeks flush red. A tingling, numb feeling lingered, and she didn't want it to stop.

"So sleepy," the dodder squinted, and seeing that her brows had relaxed and she had stopped crying, she yawned, "Host, I'm going to sleep."

As he spoke, he closed his eyes and fell into her arms.

"Hey..." She was pinned down by him and patted his shoulder, "Don't sleep, get up and let me go."

"But I'm so sleepy."

"Just hold me like this, it's so nice... Your breasts are so soft, you smell so good." He buried his face deeper, inhaling deeply, "Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe—"

She couldn't help but think to herself that this brat, Dodder, was a complete lustful fiend. No matter how she tried to persuade him, he wouldn't listen. All he did all day was eat, sleep, and obsessively cling to her.

Thinking this, a rare smile appeared on her lips. Although it was a mocking smile, it was also a genuine smile from the bottom of her heart.

The next day, she and he slept until noon.

Sunlight streamed into the room, waking her up.

Dodder is always a restless sleeper, and now he has rolled off the bed, pulling the blanket to the ground with him.

She had cried too much yesterday, and when she woke up she had a terrible headache. She sat up groggily and rubbed her head, noticing the belt around her wrist.

One end was tied to her wrist, and the other end... she tugged at it.

"oops."

A head popped out from beside the bed.

"You're awake." Dodder yawned as she climbed onto the bed, her neck bound by a leather belt.

With a flick of her wrist, the belt around his neck tightened, making his neck flesh turn red and blue.

Leng Cuizhu found that her head was hurting even more.

"...Dodder, why did you tie your own neck?"

The dodder seed answered honestly, "For you."

He crawled down next to her and lay back down to continue sleeping: "That way, I'll know as soon as you wake up."

"...I should have strangled you just now."

"You can tighten it now too."

She stared at him, wanting to yell but afraid he would come closer. Hesitantly, she pointed to her wrist and belt: "Take it off right now!"

Aren't you going to sleep?

"Hurry up and take off your belt."

"Oh, oh." He looked down and unbuckled his belt.

Leng Cuizhu's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to curse, when she suddenly heard a knock on the door.

As Tu Sizi pulled down her pants, she yelled towards the door, "Who is it?"

“Madam,” the man outside the door said solemnly, “it is me, Eun.”

Are you alright?

"Ugh, why is he back?" Dodder muttered to herself, then had no choice but to put on her pants, get up, and go open the door.

Leng Cuizhu called out to him, "Dodder, don't go, don't let him open it."

"...Huh?"

Her voice was cold and brooked no argument: "Come back, and ignore him."

“Let him knock if he wants.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear, “Weren’t you very good at licking last night? Now that he’s guarding the outside and can’t get in, it’s a great opportunity for you to show off.”

Don't let me down.

She pressed his head down.

He yielded to her, eager to prove himself to her, so he paid no attention to anything except his lips and tongue, and felt no pain as the belt around his neck tightened.

He just felt great.

Hmm...

Stickier than tears, sweeter than tears.