Chapter 75 Sharing a Bed, He Strangled Her Heart
Meng Shutai leaned slightly forward, his deep purple, floor-length gauze robe piled up before Le Jin's eyes, wafting a delicate fragrance. A pale golden spring light enveloped him, filtering through the outermost layer of gauze, revealing a subtle halo around his elegant, tall figure. Le Jin looked up at him; he was breathtakingly beautiful.
She stretched out her wrist, which had become noticeably thinner in the past few days, and struggled to grasp the gauze robe. Her survival instinct made her stammer, "I...I'm coughing up blood, it hurts so much..."
A cool, jade-like hand gripped her wrist, pulled her onto his shoulder, and Meng Shutai squatted down, picked up Le Jin horizontally, and walked straight to the bed.
She has lost a lot of weight recently, and her waist has become much thinner. Holding her in my arms is like holding a wet bird.
The lingering smell of blood in her throat and lungs gave her a vague sense of its return. Despite the excruciating pain, Le Jin clung tightly to Meng Shutai's clothes as he put her down, her knuckles bleeding and turning white.
What's wrong with me...? Is it you?
A trace of vomited blood stained Le Jin's lower lip. Meng Shutai, with his long eyelashes drooping, stared at it for a long time.
So beautiful, like she's holding a bright red, moist petal in her mouth, hesitant to spit it out, her eyes filled with a few drops of painful tears, almost indistinguishable from being deeply moved.
Meng Shutai didn't pull his forearm back from the back of Le Jin's neck, his upper body propped up on the bed, holding her almost affectionately. He plucked away the blood from her lips with his thumb, and in Le Jin's unfocused, struggling gaze, he licked and swallowed it little by little with great care, as if still wanting more.
She wouldn't let him kiss her, forcing him to only take fleeting sips.
Seeing Le Jin's gaze shift from doubt to fear, Meng Shutai finally smiled with satisfaction and mercifully gave her an explanation.
"Yes, it's me."
In fact, Le Jin shouldn't have asked. She's known him for so long, and when she has health problems, why would she think that someone else might have done something to her?
No one else was as vicious, ruthless, or insane as him, nor would anyone have shown her such tenderness.
"What exactly do you want to do?!"
Le Jin felt as if a snake was crawling inside her stomach, causing a cold, sharp pain. She wanted nothing more than to slap the bastard in front of her, but she had no strength left. All she could do was vent her anger by gripping his clothes tighter and tighter.
Meng Shutai knew she was in pain, so he gently patted Le Jin's arm as if comforting a child, his tone as gentle as if singing a soft, sweet lullaby.
"Don't be afraid, the pain will subside soon. I was worried about you suffering, so I made sure to add plenty of it to every part of your daily life, including your food and drink."
As he spoke softly, he raised the back of his hand and gently rubbed Le Jin's trembling cheek. He brought a smiling face close to hers, sharing something new and exciting like a child, "When I was drugging her, I realized how much I love you. I couldn't bear to see you suffer for too long..."
madman!
Le Jin cursed him in her heart, clenching her fists and pounding them against him. She knew she had no strength and it would be futile, but she still wanted to vent her resentment.
"You poisoned me, and then ate it yourself! Where...where can you find such a devil..."
“Devil…” Meng Shutai murmured absentmindedly, then suddenly lowered his head, his nose affectionately brushing against Le Jin’s angry and hateful eyes, and his thin lips uttered a single, pearly phrase:
"From Bodhisattva to devil, wasn't it you who refined me?"
"Get away!" Le Jin braced her hands against his chest, screaming with her last ounce of strength, "You brought this upon yourself, what does it have to do with me! You madman, what do you know about love? You love me but feed me poison! You love me but want me to die?!"
Her last remaining blood rushed to her face, giving it an unnatural, rosy hue. Meng Shutai, enjoying the view, chuckled softly and continued to pat and coax her.
"It's not poison...it's medicine, a potent medicine from the land of Buddha's bones that can captivate the soul and allow one to live forever in interdependence with the one who administered it."
In the past, at Huayan Temple, Abbot Huizang once mentioned to him that there was a strange magic in the foreign land where the Buddha's relics were born, which could control people's souls and minds.
But after searching desperately in that foreign land, he discovered that there was no such miracle in the world. The so-called "magic" was nothing more than a deadly poison mixed with the blood and flesh of the medicine practitioner's lifelong love.
But then again, what magic could possibly have more power to change people's hearts than death?
Meng Shutai accepted the "medicine" in an instant. The key ingredient was the heart and flesh of someone loved and cared for by the practitioner, which was easy to obtain. Since Le Jin's love and care were not given to him, he would take them back one by one.
However, it would be too boring to let Le Jin take the medicine alone. He wanted to go with her, to the Sumeru Spirit Platform and to the Fiery Hell.
As long as Le Jin exists, whether he is dead or alive, no one can escape him.
Under the influence of the medication, Meng Shutai felt his strength gradually failing, so he simply relaxed and lay down with Le Jin, his head resting against her temple, like a real couple sharing a bed.
“Ah Jin, we’ve never lain together like this before.”
He tilted his head slightly, gazing at the girl beside him with a fascination, "So this is what it feels like."
Le Jin stared into those alluring, beautiful eyes, her hands trembling as she gripped his long, slender neck. This time, she only wanted to die with him.
His fingertips dug deep into her jade-colored skin, and the blood vessels in her throat crackled under Le Jin's palm, as if they were about to snap and explode at any moment.
A suffocating feeling lodged in Meng Shutai's throat, slowly swelling, and in a daze, it felt as if his heart was beating there, being tightly gripped by Le Jin.
He was strangled by her.
The moment this thought flashed through his mind, Meng Shutai suddenly felt a sense of comfort throughout his body, and an indescribable joy burst forth like sparks within him.
In that moment when death was swirling around him, he tilted his head back in ecstasy, bringing his hands closer to hers.
How can he not understand love? Isn't this love?
The world spun before his eyes, and Meng Shutai weakly half-closed his eyes. Then, the thin breath in his throat turned into a hot, sticky, and passionate gasp...
He grasped Le Jin's waist with both hands and helped her sit on his waist and abdomen, her dress covering him.
He looked up at Le Jin, whose eyes were wide with anger, and imagined her driving him, and how he would die with all his might, sitting down in her place.
"Ah Jin..." His voice was hoarse like a broken gong, its brokenness barely concealing its lingering presence, startling Le Jin. However, his subsequent infatuated laughter frightened her even more, causing her to loosen her grip—
"If we...die together, the world will think...that we were a loving couple..."
A loving couple?! What kind of nonsense is that!
Le Jin flung her hands away, sensing the deeper, chilling intent behind the madman's plea for death. He wanted more than just kill her; he wanted to destroy her soul!
She clearly didn't love him, but it didn't matter; they would die together, and no one would answer whether they loved each other or not. They were never truly husband and wife, but it didn't matter; their names would be engraved on their final tombstones...
Her wishes, her likes and dislikes, all her love and hate will be erased by this madman Meng Shutai, leaving her with no place to be buried.
Tears of terror streamed down her face as Le Jin covered her face and broke down in tears, oblivious to the regret that appeared on Meng Shutai's face after he took another breath.
He knew that Le Jin was a very wicked girl who would never grant his wishes.
Meng Shutai sat up slightly, put his arm around Le Jin's trembling shoulders and gently stroked them, comforting her and himself.
Before meeting her, Meng Shutai had no interest in female bodies or sex; he found the world utterly boring, including his own body. But then Le Jin appeared in his life, and he suddenly felt a burning thirst, never before so eager to be close to a woman.
But she covered her face and cried, and Meng Shutai still couldn't kiss her. In the end, he could only turn his lips to kiss her small, white ear, suck on her earlobe, and feel the shock and stiffness of the person in his arms when her earlobe was sucked.
Meng Shutai's lips curled up once again.
"Alright," he pulled Le Jin's hand down, looked into her red, swollen, and moist eyes, and tenderly cupped her cheeks. "You won't die, at least not today. Are you happier now?"
The amount of highly toxic substance produced by that formula was not large, and it was not enough for him and Le Jin to use.
He smoothed Le Jin's disheveled hair with his fingertips. Their eyes met for a long time, one filled with tears and resentment, the other with a gentle smile and tender affection.
Finally, Meng Shutai pulled the brocade quilt from the bed and covered Le Jin tightly, saying, "Rest well. I have things to do. I'll come back to keep you company."
He rolled over and got out of bed, but his wrist was suddenly grabbed by Le Jin. A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, but he missed his chance the next second.
“Baoyin…what’s wrong with her? I need her to stay with me.”
Le Jin's eyes were incredibly stubborn, her gaze fixed on Meng Shutai as if weighed down by a thousand pounds. He had no choice but to brush Le Jin's hand away, coldly saying, "She's still useful; she can't repay you for now."
After he finished speaking, he dragged his feet and left, leaving Le Jin alone in the room.
The lotus root powder bed curtains fluttered onto Le Jin's face, and she suddenly caught a faint, but persistent, sour smell.
So this is what Jiang Yingyun meant by that smell the other day. Meng Shutai even sprinkled poison on the bed curtains...
Le Jin was too weak to process any emotions or feelings. Her mind was numb; all she wanted was to stop the pain and get a good night's sleep.
Le Jin didn't know when she fell asleep or fell into a coma, but she was no longer in pain. Instead, she felt relaxed and comfortable, as if she had returned to her own body.
Le Jin's eyes snapped open. Before her was a familiar darkness, surrounded by blue, thread-like bands of light, with a ball of light hovering diagonally above her head.
"I... failed my second mission too, didn't I?"
Le Jin sat with her head down, hugging her knees in the invisible darkness, her mind blank and utterly lost.
The last time she came back here, she cried, made a scene, and was indignant. But this time, she seemed to have all her strength drained away, and she looked like a rag doll, completely dazed.
The things she had experienced in the past were terrifying and cruel. At this moment, Le Jin wondered if she could use her mission points to exchange for something that could "cleanse her memories"? She wanted to completely forget Meng Shutai, that madman, and throw him far away, never to speak to him again.
The system neither answered her question nor cared about her thoughts; Le Jin only felt a long silence.
Suddenly, a blurry figure wearing embroidered shoes and a silk skirt appeared in her lowered gaze; the style was all too familiar to her.
Le Jin slowly raised her eyes. The "system" that was just a ball of light had now transformed into a semi-transparent, graceful, and elegant young woman, who was leisurely watching her with her arms crossed.
And that face was the face she had seen in the mirror every day these past few days.
"You are... me?"
Le Jin opened her mouth, a flash of inspiration striking her mind, and her voice rose: "No! You are 'Le Jin' from the book!"
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Author's Note: The foreshadowing of this "medicine" appears in Chapter 36, but nobody knows I'm saying it myself [chin resting on hand][chin resting on hand][chin resting on hand]
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