Chapter 54

In the early morning at Mingyue Manor, a thin mist clung to the windowpanes of Shi Mingyue's bedroom, as if veiling the world in a cold gauze.

Yun Zhan sat up groggily, the brocade quilt slipped off, and she subconsciously licked her lips, a slight swelling and pain coming over her. Her lower lip was so red that it seemed to still be covered with morning dew.

"Ouch, that hurts! Did I bite myself when I was absorbing essence last night?" Yun Zhan felt as if his lips had been repeatedly crushed and sucked, with a subtle tingling and stinging sensation.

She subconsciously blamed herself; perhaps she had gone too far last night, constantly biting people...

Yun Zhan looked at the bed; there was no one else on it except her.

Yun Zhan was stunned. He looked up and saw Shi Mingyue sitting upright at the wooden table under the window. She wore a dark blue outer robe over her moon-white nightgown, and a jade belt tied around her slender waist. She held a wolf-hair brush in her hand, and the brushstrokes moved across the Xuan paper. Every stroke and line showed the poise and restraint of a noble lady.

Sunlight streamed in, falling on her eyelashes, as if gilding that cool, aloof look.

There was not a trace of the obsession and fervor with which he forced the blood-sucking last night.

Yun Zhan stared in disbelief; the contrast was too great, and she almost doubted her memory.

Yun Zhan: "She wasn't like this yesterday."

All she remembered was being forced to bare her fangs, followed by the sweet, metallic taste of blood and a soft embrace, and then a blank.

Yun Zhan stammered, his voice hoarse from the early morning: "I'm sorry, last night... I bit you."

Shi Mingyue didn't stop writing; she just turned her head to the side, a barely perceptible curve appearing at the corner of her lips, her voice as gentle as if she were discussing the weather: "It's alright, it was my own choice."

As she finished speaking, she gently pursed her lips, a hint of a smile illuminated by the morning light: "Yun Zhan, how does my essence taste? Or rather, how does it compare to Wen Sixue's?"

Yun Zhan lightly swept his tongue across the water, while Shi Mingyue and Wen Sixue were like the morning breeze sweeping across two different lakes.

The moment the essence of the moonlight entered my mouth, it was the crisp chill of the first melting snow, as clear as frost on pine needles, carrying the aftertaste of orange and cedar. A very thin layer of cool mist bloomed between my lips and teeth, sliding down my throat like drinking a mouthful of mountain spring filtered by moonlight.

Even the air is imbued with the freshness and pride of the high mountains.

Wen Sixue's sweetness is like the first cotton candy of spring night, so soft it seems to melt your teeth. With the gentleness of lime and honey, it spreads a soft cloud on your tongue, so sweet that you unconsciously squint your eyes, and even your fingertips feel a lazy warmth.

The contrast between Yun Zhan's lips and tongue was striking.

One side is as cold as frost, the other as sweet as sugar;

It made her feel refreshed and invigorated on one hand, and at the same time, it made her feel at ease and comforted on the other.

It's like holding both ice and fire at the same time, yet she willingly holds them on her tongue, inch by inch, transforming them into an unspeakable possession.

"Both are good, but yours is more." Yun Zhan licked his little sharp teeth. He had already sucked his fill last night, but he still felt that Shi Mingyue had a lot left.

Compared to Wen Sixue, Shi Mingyue is really more resistant to being inhaled...

Ahem... Yun Zhan coughed lightly a few times, but his cheeks involuntarily flushed red. Was it a little strange to say this?

"Then you can use mine from now on, Yun Zhan...you...don't want to bother others anymore, right?"

Shi Mingyue's words were like plum blossoms quietly blooming in the snow, silently announcing all the secret possessions and deep kisses of last night.

Yun Zhan is hers. She can satisfy this little fox. She has completely taken the little fox in, body and soul, and she is happy to do so.

The study in the villa was so quiet that you could hear the candle wick popping softly.

Yun Zhan leaned against the soft couch, twirling the wolf-hair brush in his fingers, and suddenly spoke: "I think I asked you about Shi Shaoxuan last night, but you haven't answered me yet."

Shi Mingyue paused in her act of turning the pages, and a small crease appeared on the corner of the paper under her fingers.

She looked up, and her eyes instantly darkened, like a lake covered by dark clouds.

I don't like him.

Shi Mingyue's voice was low and cold, as if every word was wrapped in ice shards, "I was seven years old when I first met him."

Shi Mingyue put down her book, walked to the window, and stood with her back to the light, her silhouette thinned by the morning light.

Memories are like venomous snakes, slowly flicking their tongues—

“At the family spring banquet that year, he stood at the end of the corridor, and the way he looked at me... made me very uncomfortable, like being stared at by a snake.”

Shi Mingyue paused, then frowned and said, "Sticky, disgusting, and gives me chills."

Yun Zhan tightened his grip, and the pen snapped in two with a "crack".

Shi Mingyue continued, her voice so soft it was as if she were trying to drive away some kind of stench: "When I was fourteen, he came to our house again, dragging me along and insisting on taking my picture, the lens almost touching my face. I cried the whole time, but he just laughed. I was really resistant to him then, really scared of him..."

Shi Mingyue took a deep breath and looked up at the dark shadows of the trees outside the window. "Later, my father argued with his father, and he never set foot in my house again. But that look in his eyes..."

She gently rubbed her arm, as if she could still feel the chill. "I still remember it to this day."

The candlelight flickered, casting a distorted snake shadow in her pupils.

She turned her head to look at Yun Zhan, her voice so low it was barely a whisper: "Yun Zhan, promise me, if you ever see him again, you must stay away from him. I don't want him to run into you."

Yun Zhan nodded, but his palm quietly covered Shi Mingyue's cold hand.

"Let me hug you, Yun Zhan, as a way of comforting me." Shi Mingyue looked down at her, her eyes filled with her image.

Yun Zhan was startled, his fingertips still hovering in mid-air, unable to retract in time.

Shi Mingyue was so close that Yun Zhan could almost smell the faint sandalwood scent in her hair, a fragrance unique to the Shi family.

Her usual gentle and dignified demeanor was now like a fine net, silently closing in.

"Thank goodness you're here."

Shi Mingyue's voice was as light as the breeze on a spring night, but the last syllable of her voice held a barely perceptible tremor, as if she wanted to brand those four words into her very bones.

Yun Zhan couldn't see her eyes.

If she looked down, she would see that her usually clear almond-shaped eyes were now churning with a dark tide, like a wolf in the snowy night, revealing a cold glint in the moonlight, staring intently at its prey that it had been waiting for.

Her knuckles were slightly bent, and the fingertips hidden behind Yun Zhan's back tightened inch by inch. Her nails almost dug into Yun Zhan's flesh through his spring clothes, but she restrained herself very well, even maintaining the proper demeanor of a well-bred young lady when she breathed.

"Shi Mingyue..." Yun Zhan's lips moved, as if he wanted to speak, but he felt the body in his arms tremble slightly. Shi Mingyue wasn't afraid, she was greedy.

Shi Mingyue was afraid that Yun Zhan would back down, so she first rested her forehead on Yun Zhan's shoulder, her voice so soft it seemed to melt her heart, "Don't move, let me hold you for a while, just a little while."

But in Shi Mingyue's tone, there was no indication that she intended to stay "for a while".

After that hug, there was no intention of letting go.

The flowers in the corner of the courtyard were scattered all over the ground, and when the wind blew, the petals swept past the two people's feet.

Unseen by anyone, beneath the young lady's wide sleeves, her other hand had already quietly grasped Yun Zhan's waist. Her fingertips caressed Yun Zhan's waist, inch by inch, as if imprinting her mark on something.

After a long while, she released Yun Zhan, took half a step back, and once again appeared dignified and gentle, with a touch of just the right amount of red at the corners of her eyes, as if she had simply been unable to control her emotions just now.

She raised her hand to brush a fallen petal from Yun Zhan's shoulder, her fingertips brushing against her earlobe, her voice soft: "But there's no need to be afraid, I will protect you."

Yun Zhan looked up and saw her with her head bowed and a gentle smile on her lips.

But just as she turned around, with her back to Yun Zhan, Shi Mingyue slowly twirled the fingertip that had just touched her earlobe and chuckled almost inaudibly.

There was a hint of satisfied hoarseness in that smile.

That day, Yun Zhan was at Shi Mingyue's house.

Yun Zhan sat in Shi Mingyue's study for a long time, her wisps of hair on her forehead swaying in the wind, the morning light casting a flickering glow on half of her face.

"Shi Shaoxuan is really strange. I still need to analyze it carefully." Yun Zhan tapped his fingertips on the wooden table.

Sometimes, a photo of Mingyue is in my wallet. The old image is yellowed and the edges are worn, clearly indicating that it has been taken out and put back countless times. If I dislike someone, I would never put her photo in there.

Yun Zhan also recalled the disdain in Shi Shaoxuan's eyes when they looked at each other.

"Unforgettable upon seeing it, driving me mad with longing."

Yun Zhan pronounced these words very softly, but the last syllable trembled slightly.

The pen paused, ink splattered, and suddenly transformed into a black butterfly, landing on the word "dust".

"Shi Shaoxuan is born out of wedlock, the son of Shi Boshan. He is definitely not well-liked in Shishi, not to mention that Shi Boshan and Shi Ke have such a bad relationship."

His undignified and hypocritical manner stands in stark contrast to Shi Mingyue's refined elegance.

Yun Zhan imagined a scene:

On a rainy and snowy night, Shi Shaoxuan knelt outside the ancestral hall, his blue cloth robe soaked with sewage, like a withered branch trampled into the mud.

Meanwhile, Shi Mingyue was held in her mother's arms, looking at him through the rain curtain. Her little face was hidden in the collar of her fox fur coat, only revealing a pair of clear eyes. The moon above the clouds made his muddy body look even dirtier.

Yun Zhan closed his eyes. Shi Mingyue was too noble... the moonlight was too cold, making his bones feel frosty.

The more he looked up at the bright moon, the more he felt as insignificant as dust; the more insignificant he felt, the more he couldn't help but want to reach out and pull the moon into the mud to see if she would also get dirty.

Thus, hatred took root, shaping his current twisted personality. He secretly kept Shi Mingyue's photos and called her "sister" in the most sarcastic tone during the day. In reality, he knew better than anyone that Shi Mingyue was never his sister.

He doesn't deserve it.

“Shi Shaoxuan hates her for being aloof, and he also hates that she is so beautiful. That kind of gentle and dignified beauty is exactly the dignity that his birth mother lacked the most.” After a series of analyses, Yun Zhan’s expression gradually turned ugly.

Yun Zhan suddenly remembered that during the day, Shi Shaoxuan stood at the end of the corridor, with wisteria in full bloom behind him.

He looked up at her, a slight smile playing on his lips, but a dark undercurrent surged in his eyes; outwardly radiant, inwardly cold and empty.

"I cannot forget it once I see it, and I am driven mad by longing for it."

It wasn't a sweet nothing, it was a curse.

Yun Zhan suddenly stood up, knocking over the teacup on the wooden table. In the room, Shi Mingyue trembled. She righted the teacup and grabbed Yun Zhan's hand with concern.

"The tea is scalding hot, did you get hurt?" Shi Mingyue grabbed her wrist and wiped the tea off her fingertips with a tissue.

"It's okay, I'm fine." Yun Zhan's mind was buzzing, with only the deafening sound of her heartbeat echoing like a drum.

Yun Zhan frowned. If Shi Shaoxuan really got the chance, he would probably imprison Shi Mingyue in a dark room, lock her ankles with gold chains, and force her to be subservient to him.

I personally tore off that dignified facade, watched her cry, watched her beg, watched her finally fall into the dust, as dirty as I was.

Yun Zhan couldn't bear to part with it.

Just thinking about that photo made Yun Zhan feel nauseous; the edges of the photo were worn and frayed.

Yun Zhan pushed open the window, and the wind carrying the fragrance of pear blossoms rushed in, making her feel a chill down her spine.

"We must get rid of Shi Shaoxuan, otherwise he will eventually set his sights on Shi Mingyue." A ruthless glint flashed in Yun Zhan's eyes. If necessary, she would kill Shi Shaoxuan herself.