Chen Que half-propped himself up, and Lin Xie behind him finally let go of his hand. He lowered his head slightly and caught a glimpse of a thick gauze wrapped around his shoulder. His sternum seemed to be broken, and it felt like a sharp spike was poking into the bone when he moved.

His internal organs seemed to be out of place and were swollen and aching slightly. The bitter taste of Chinese medicine mixed with a hint of rust stuck in his throat. Although he didn't use his throat to speak, he still felt uncomfortable.

He couldn't help coughing a few times, and the movement pulled the wounds on his body, causing pain everywhere he coughed.

Shen Que sat up, slipped on short black boots, staggered to the tea table, and reached out to pour water from the teapot.

He didn't know when the water was boiled, and it had already cooled down. His hands were shaking so badly that half of the water he poured into the cup spilled onto the table.

Lin Xie was not polite either. He leaned one hand on the edge of the table and stared at him with interest, with no intention of lending a hand at all.

It would have been fine if she just stood by and watched him drink the water, but she had to ask from the side: "You won't pour me a glass? Is this how Lord Shen entertains guests?"

Shen looked at him.

Lin Xie did not avoid him and met his gaze calmly: "Besides me, who else in this mansion would come to see you? You were crying in your dream just now, and I was the one who wiped your tears."

He said this without blushing or beating his heart, as if he really had made a great contribution, but Shen felt a little dizzy, not knowing whether it was because of anger or fever.

He drank the cold water and his mind became clearer. He raised his hand and gestured to Xie Shiguan: "I'll pour you some water. You can drink it and leave. Is that ok?"

Unexpectedly, the man nodded and agreed readily: "Okay, go ahead."

Shen was skeptical, and afraid that he wouldn't be able to finish the drink in one breath, so he carefully poured him only half a cup of water.

Lin Xie took the celadon cup and took a closer look. The glaze of the cup was uneven, so it naturally didn't feel good to the touch. The turquoise painting was sloppily colored. Such tea sets would never have appeared in front of him in the past.

He just picked it up and looked at it, but had no intention of drinking it at all.

Seeing Chen staring at him, Lin Xie smiled and said, “What should I do? I don’t seem to be thirsty yet.”

Chen Que didn't move his hands at all. He had expected that Lin Xie would not leave easily. Last time he wanted to take a closer look, he let him take a closer look. This time he must have come to collect his debt.

He ignored him, turned around, returned to the bed and sat down. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of a green sandalwood bracelet hanging on the head of the bed, with a green tassel as thick as a finger hanging from the bottom.

This is something that has been lost. He believes in Buddhism, and on his days off, he would go to the temple to burn incense. He said that they have followed the prince, and countless souls have died under the sword over the years, both those who deserved to die and those who didn't, and they would always cry in people's dreams at night.

So they took him to ask for Buddha's grace, and in return, he got a bracelet that had been in front of Buddha for more than ten years. However, Chen, who was dragged away, had no share at all. The monk said that his heart was not sincere, and Buddha was unwilling to save him.

Chen Que was indeed insincere, but he guessed that the reason why the Buddha was unwilling to save him was simply because he did not offer enough sacrifices and did not pay enough incense money.

He touched the green sandalwood bracelet and thought of Chen Luo: "Is Chen Luo still here?"

Lin Xie pretended to be confused even though he knew the truth, and deliberately asked, "Who are you asking?"

Shen was probably fainted from the fever, and he didn't have the energy to be angry with him anymore, so he slowly moved his hands: "Besides me, who else is in this room?"

If it wasn't so late at night, he wouldn't have gone around asking around, and Shen wouldn't have asked him.

"You cursed me in your heart," Lin Xie approached him, his hands resting on his sides, his nose touching his nose, and smiled with his lips hooked, "yet you still came to ask me, you despise me so much, why should I answer?"

Chen turned his face away. At such a close distance, Lin Xie's breath hit his lips, making him feel a little at a loss.

He pushed Lin Xie's shoulder hard, and then said with his hands: "If you don't want to answer, then don't answer. Stay away from me."

But he underestimated the rogueness of this man. The more he pushed, the closer he got. In the end, Lin Xie simply pinched his chin and pushed forward.

This time it was not just a light touch, their lips were pressed against each other, and that hair-raising breath came even closer. Shen struggled weakly, but the man refused to let go.

Shen Que was already dizzy, and now the feeling of suffocation was getting stronger and stronger. He tried his best and punched Lin Xie on the chin.

Perhaps it was because of his slow movements due to his illness that Lin Xie was able to dodge it. However, he finally let go of his hand, but Shen fell weakly on the bedding, gasping for breath.

Lin Xie was still unwilling to let him go. He leaned over and stared into his eyes, which were red with shame and anger: "You are so stupid. Is this your first time kissing someone?"

Shen picked up the tiger-shaped porcelain pillow at hand and threw it at him. Although the porcelain pillow was hollow, it was not light in weight. If it really hit someone, it would definitely leave a purple bruise.

Lin Xie took the pillow calmly, and teased with a smile: "A mute's mouth is not any tastier than others, except that it's a little hot. You are so stupid and not pretty, what can you use to hold me back?"

In Shen Que's eyes, this man was a lunatic. He peeked on the beam, discovered his secret, and used this to blackmail and humiliate him. He didn't even have time to hate him, so why would he want to hold him back?

What wishful thinking.

"You don't have what I want." Perhaps guessing what he was thinking, Lin Xie leaned down, and the hair from his temples gently fell on Shen Que's cheek. He stretched out his thumb and gently brushed it away for him, "Then why should I keep a secret for you?"

Shen Que's heart trembled, and his slightly curled eyelashes trembled slightly.

He struggled to free his hands and was about to speak, but was held firmly by Lin Xie: "You want to ask what I want, right?"

He guessed correctly, but Shen was forced by his gaze to have nowhere to escape and could only be forced to nod.

"I want you to be good and obedient," Lin Xie smiled again. He loved to smile, but his eyebrows were curved and there was no smile in his eyes. There was only a bit of cold mockery, "and then please me."

Shen understood, the man in front of him probably regarded himself as a plaything of Mo Bai who had been wronged, even lower than the actors and singers in the market. He had nothing, nothing to be coveted, only this abnormal defect...

Even he himself felt disgusted by this body. How could this pervert still...

Shen, however, remained silent, with mixed feelings in his heart, and for a moment, he hated the man in front of him, hated his condescending mockery, and hated his dirty and perverted heart.

He also hated himself for being cowardly and sentimental. With such a lowly body, he dared to love someone who was so far away.

He even hated his mother who died young. He hated why his mother didn't give him a bag of arsenic that day, and why she left him, a crippled person, to live on in the world.

At this moment, his door was suddenly knocked, and then Shen Xiangzhi’s voice sounded outside the door: “Aque?”

There was no response from inside, so Shen Xiangzhi reached out and pushed. However, he pushed and pushed again, but the door remained motionless. It was obvious that it was bolted from inside, which meant that Shen should have woken up.

"Chen Que," Shen Xiangzhi continued to knock on the door, "Are you asleep?"

The next moment, Shen Xiangzhi heard two sounds of hard objects hitting wooden boards from inside. In the past, if Shen had fallen asleep and had no time to answer the door immediately, he would use this as an opportunity to respond first.

He waited for a while, and after a while the wooden door creaked, and behind the door appeared Shen Que, wearing a long coat.

"Are you still feeling hot?" Shen Xiangzhi asked as he walked in.

Shen coughed twice and gestured slowly: "It's better now."

Shen Xiangzhi walked around the tea table and went straight to a window on the side wall. He looked out calmly and then reached out to close the window. "It's snowing hard outside and you're still weak. Why are you leaving the window open like this?"

Shen's heart was beating like a drum. Lin Xie had just gone out through the side window. He didn't know if he remembered to wipe off the footprints on the snow in such a hurry.

He didn't lie often, and lowered his head slightly: "I just woke up and felt that the room was stuffy, so I opened the window to get some fresh air."

Shen Xiangzhi didn't say anything, but turned back to the tea table, where the glass of water that Shen had poured for Lin Xie was still placed. He lifted his robe and sat down, his eyes falling on the bed again.

The tiger-shaped porcelain pillow was placed casually on the side of the bed, and the bedding on the couch was also in a mess.

He watched Shen Que grow up, and the child had always been a tidy person. Even when he was sick, he shouldn't have messed up the things on the bed.

This is not like him.

Shen seemed to have noticed it, and deliberately sat on the edge of the bed, blocking the tiger porcelain pillow behind him.

He was quietly trying to smooth out the messy bedding when Shen Xiangzhi suddenly spoke again. Shen had something to hide and was startled by the sudden voice.

"In the middle of the night, has anyone else come to see you?"

Shen shook his head and lied guiltily, "I just had a nightmare and messed up the bed. I was just about to get up and sort it out when you came."

What he said was half true and half false. He really had a nightmare, and he still doesn't look very good.

Shen Xiangzhi didn't know whether he believed it or not. He lowered his head and took out a plain paper from his arms and handed it to Shen Que: "Shen Luo asked me to give it to you before he left."

Shen Que took it and saw that there was no word written on the letter, only a few lively little drawings, which were in sign language. The little people in the drawings were vivid. The corners of Shen Que's mouth twitched, and then he couldn't help laughing.

Chen Luo left him a message, saying: Please don't worry.

Many people in this mansion knew that he was illiterate, but only Chen Luo sympathized with his illiteracy.

"When did you leave, brother?" Shen asked.

Shen Xiangzhi: "On the 29th, the winter solstice, he left before dawn."

Shen paused, and suddenly remembered the amulet he had asked for at the Wanfo Temple that day. He subconsciously touched his waist, but found nothing.

He looked around and found that all the clothes he wore that day had been washed and neatly folded at the end of the bed.

The only thing inside that had not been washed was the sachet, which had been soaked in blood at some point. Even the other amulet he had hidden inside was stained with a little blood.

With some heartache, he hung the amulet on the bedside and placed it together with the Buddhist beads. He had asked for this amulet on behalf of His Highness, but it was a pity that it was stained with blood, which was always unlucky.

The other amulet was probably taken away by Chen Luo. On the night he returned from prison, he felt as if his whole body was burning. In a daze, he saw Chen Luo's face.

He seemed to suddenly remember something, and with his blood-stained hands tremblingly tried to untie the sachet around his waist.

Seeing him take out a peace amulet, Shen Luo burst into tears. His colleagues beside him were dumbfounded: "Men don't cry easily, what are you doing?"

"You know nothing," Shen Luo wiped his tears fiercely and said in a crying voice, "This is my brother!"

Shen Xiangzhi watched him carefully fiddling with the things hanging on the bedside, and said slowly: "Although Miao Zongping and his servants insisted that you were an assassin and pushed out several monks as witnesses, there are many discerning people in the temple, and the witnesses in his hands changed their confessions after just a few strokes of the stick by the jailer."

"This matter has been brought before the Saint, and His Majesty knows that he is angry with you, so he asked him to apologize to His Highness and it can be considered a private settlement."

What he didn't say was that those monks who gave false testimony, no matter how old they were, all had their tongues twisted by Xie Shiguan. As for the dozen or so servants brought by Miao Zongping, they were all imprisoned, and even if they were lucky enough to survive, they were left disabled.

"Miao Zongping knows how to pick on the weak. If the person arrested that day was a guard close to His Highness, he would have committed a serious crime by arbitrarily punishing someone."

But the person he arrested was Shen Que, who was a bought slave. Male and female servants were treated like livestock. No matter how many accusations he made against Miao Zongping, he could only be charged with robbery.

However, Chen came back safe and sound, but he was seriously injured. The little emperor weighed the pros and cons and felt it would be a shame to punish his uncle for a lowly slave, so he picked him up high and put him down gently.

This result was within Shen Que's expectations, and he did not feel aggrieved. It was a good thing for him that His Highness was not implicated in his affairs.

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Thank you for your comments and collections, I will continue to work hard!

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