Cage (5)
As soon as he left, Li Qi felt as if she had been pardoned and reached out to take off the bell on her ankle.
She could no longer bear it, and the bells rang all night long, either as he knocked on them or as she walked.
It was noisy and a shameful reminder that she couldn't stand wearing such a weird string of bells.
Just as his fingertips touched the knot of the bell, he suddenly stopped and turned his head to warn: "If you dare to try to pick it, I will skin you alive."
Li Qi paused, her fingertips touching the knot unable to move.
She believed that he was not just talking casually and that he was capable of skinning her alive.
He seemed satisfied with her obedience and walked out.
Not long after the door was closed, Qinglan came in, lit the charcoal stove, added hot water to the hot spring, found a clean shirt for Li Qi, hung it on the pole, and then quietly left.
After the people left, Li Qi slowly got up from the ground and went to the hot spring to wash herself again.
As soon as she sat down, she felt pain in her waist. She looked down and saw that her delicate waist was left with purple marks from his pinching. It was shocking and even the slightest touch would make her feel sore.
The hot water in the hot spring wrapped around her whole body, giving her some relief. Li Qi closed her eyes and took a long breath. She hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time.
When she felt it was about time, Li Qi came out of the hot spring and changed into clean clothes. It was already dawn, and New Year's Eve had passed in a daze.
She lay down on the bed and turned over to face outward, just in time to see the gradually brightening sunlight outside the window.
New Year’s Eve has passed and early spring is approaching.
She was thinking hazily and slowly fell asleep due to exhaustion.
-
When Li Qi woke up, it was already bright outside. She tilted her head to look at the clepsydra and saw that it was already afternoon.
My stomach is empty and I feel hungry.
She stood up from the bed and instinctively went to open the door. Qinglan, who was leading a large group of people, was waiting outside. When they saw her, they lowered their heads and said, "The county lady is awake. Do you want to eat now?"
Li Qi glanced at the group of burly warriors behind Qinglan. He didn't want to escape. He just nodded to Qinglan and went back to the house.
After a while, Qinglan came in with a basin of steaming water, followed by two little maids that Li Qi had never seen before, carrying food.
The two maids put the food on the table and quietly stepped aside.
Qinglan wrung out the handkerchief and wanted to wash Li Qi. Li Qi took the handkerchief directly from her hand and said, "I'll do it myself. You guys go out."
She seldom lets others wait on her, preferring to do things herself.
Qinglan took a few steps back and then took the two maids out.
After Li Qi washed up, she sat down at the table to eat.
They were all her favorite dishes. In fact, in the years since she left Yunzhou, she had rarely had the opportunity to reveal her preferences to others, and only those close to her knew about them.
Feng Siji spent very little time with her, let alone being close to her, but he was able to discover her preferences and cater to them.
The taste of these dishes was also very familiar, as if he had made them himself, but that was unlikely. Feng Siji was a very busy man now, so how could he have the time to cook for her like Qianzhou did?
Thinking of Feng Siji, Li Qi found it difficult to eat.
He didn't come today, and she didn't expect him to come, but only by meeting him would she have the opportunity to know the situation in the outside world.
Ye Lan Sheng Xiang and He Zhang Jing were both things she was worried about and concerned about.
She was afraid that Feng Siji would release He Zhangjing, or torture him to extract a confession from Ye Lanshengxiang.
The more he thought about it, the less appetite he had. Li Qi asked Qinglan to clear the food away, and then sat by the charcoal stove waiting for Feng Siji to come.
Feng Siji didn't come this time.
Li Qi watched the sky gradually turn from light to dark, and listened to the ticking sound of the clepsydra. She was too lazy to even turn her head to check the time, and just stared at the pitch-black dome outside the window in a daze.
Until the sound of the door creaking behind her, Qinglan asked behind her: "County Master, do you want to eat?"
Li Qicai rolled his eyes and glanced at the engraved time. It was already the hour of Hai.
She spoke, her voice a little hoarse from not speaking all day: "Where is Envoy Feng?"
Qinglan said, "Master Feng is not here today. The county lady should have dinner and rest early."
The two maids came in with the food and took away the leftovers that Li Qi had eaten during the day.
Qinglan said, "After the county lady has finished her meal, I will come back to prepare hot water for you to bathe." After that, she closed the door, locked it from the outside, and with a click, locked Li Qi inside.
The room was empty and returned to its previous silence. Li Qi slowly turned to look at the food next to her.
Different from the daytime, it is lighter and more plain, and the combination is excellent.
But she had no appetite.
She thought she would be very comfortable if Feng Siji didn't come, but the fact was that once he didn't come, she lost control of the news from the outside world, and she would feel very depressed and anxious, so irritable that she couldn't eat or drink, and couldn't sit or lie down.
She hoped he would come, but she was also afraid of him coming.
Li Qi sat in the rocking chair for a long time, until the charcoal in the charcoal stove burned out and the coldness filled the whole room. She felt so cold that she shivered and began to slowly come to her senses.
She moved her steps, and the bells on her feet tinkled, which only stopped when she lay down on the bed.
Li Qi lay there like this for another night. She didn't know when she fell asleep, nor did she remember whether she fell asleep or not. It was as if she had blacked out. When she regained her memory, it was Qinglan who opened the door. She heard footsteps and suddenly saw a large beam of sunlight coming in from the window, which just made her eyes hurt.
She blinked, tears of irrationality flowed, and she turned over in bed. Because of inexplicable fatigue and weakness, by the time she finally turned over, Qinglan had been standing by her bed waiting for a long time.
"County Lady, did you not sleep last night?" Qinglan asked with a frown when she saw her red eyes and the dark spots under her eyelids.
Li Qi said hoarsely, "I don't remember."
Qinglan ordered the two maids to take away the food from last night. Looking at Li Qi's appearance, she sighed, "You haven't eaten or bathed yet. How can this be allowed?"
Li Qi didn't say anything. In fact, her mind was already confused. Although she could understand what she was saying, she couldn't respond.
In the dim light, she heard another heavy sound of footsteps, and then another person stood beside the bed. Li Qi squinted her eyes and saw that it was Ye Shu.
Ye Shu looked at her with an extremely cold gaze, and spoke without much mercy: "You have finally experienced what my lord has gone through in Qianzhou."
Li Qi said "oh" dully, and Ye Shu said to Qing Lan, "She can eat or not, wash or not, sleep or not. You just need to do your job, and don't worry about the rest."
Qinglan lowered her head, feeling somewhat cautious: "What if something happens to her, what about Lord Feng?"
Ye Shu snorted coldly, "Don't worry, I know her. She's the type who would never seek death before others have died. Even if she's on the verge of death, I'll inform the Lord."
After saying that, Ye Shu turned around without even looking at her.
After the others walked out the door, Li Qi's brain, which had been busy all night, finally started to work. She remembered that she could find Ye Shu to ask about the news outside, but when she reacted, he had disappeared.
New food was served and the two maids left silently.
Qinglan did not leave immediately, but said to her: "County Lady, the situation outside is very tense, and the adults are very busy and have no time to come. You should also take care of yourself."
Li Qi didn't make a sound, lying motionless on the couch like a dead fish.
Qinglan sighed and left, locking the door from the outside as usual.
Li Qi smelled the fragrance of the food and felt very hungry, but for some reason she felt numb and stiff in her chest and stomach, so she didn't feel like eating. It was as if her stomach had already been filled with something invisible and she didn't want to eat.
She just lay there, watching the sunlight on the floor shift inch by inch. She knew it was getting dark, but didn't react much.
The wind was howling outside, but it wasn't snowing anymore. Early spring was coming, so it probably wouldn't snow anymore.
At some point, it started to rain, and the sound of rain pattered against the eaves. Li Qi turned over in boredom and lay down on the inside of the bed.
I could no longer see anything outside, and could only hear the sound of the rain gradually becoming smaller.
The next day was a repeat of the previous day, and she just lay there.
She heard Qinglan and others coming and going, and the food was changed again and again, but she didn't react at all.
At first, she could still see the dawn and dusk, and hear Qinglan's footsteps and the ticking of the clepsydra. Later, for some reason, all her senses seemed to be frozen, and she could neither see nor hear.
I don’t know when dawn comes and dusk falls, and I don’t know who comes and who leaves.
Her world was like a closed glass cover. There was nothing underneath the cover. She couldn't even feel herself.
Li Qi didn't know how long this had lasted. When her senses returned, she seemed to see a female ghost.
She was pale and thin, with unkempt hair and dirty face, lifeless eyes, and sunken eye sockets that were deep and black like a thousand-year-old female ghost.
She was startled and screamed loudly.
The scream seemed to bring back all her senses. She raised her eyes and saw Feng Siji's gloomy eyes.
He pointed a mirror at her and said through gritted teeth, "Do you know that you look scary?"
"Envoy Feng..." Li Qi's voice was so hoarse and unpleasant that she was stunned for a moment.
Feng Siji threw the mirror away, poured a cup of hot tea, pinched her chin and poured it directly into her mouth: "Just to see me, you went to such an extent of going on a hunger strike? Look at you, you're half-dead, half-human. You said before that I couldn't forget you, but it seems that you're the one who misses me so much that you can't even eat or drink."
Li Qi choked on the hot tea and coughed several times. Some tea dripped down the corner of her mouth and she wiped it away with her sleeve. She grabbed the corner of Feng Siji's clothes and said, "How is Ye Lan Shengxiang? What about He Zhangjing? Did you let him go?"
Feng Si quickly lifted the quilt and sat down beside her, gently patting her face. "Do you want me to let him go, or not? In fact, whether I let him go or not depends on your attitude."
Li Qi stared at him angrily: "What do you want?"
Feng Siji ignored her and took a comb to comb her messy long hair. He said, "Do you remember what I said before I left? You will regret saying that. I can always make you take off your clothes and ask for my forgiveness."
Li Qi understood what he meant with just one sentence. Rage burned in her chest. She wanted to yell, but she hadn't eaten for many days and had no strength at all. She couldn't summon the anger in her chest, and her words were weak and dejected:
"He is the culprit who caused the destruction of Yunzhou City. How can you use him to threaten me?"
Feng Siji paused as he combed her hair, turned her face to face him, and sneered, "I was so desperate in Qianzhou, how could you deceive me with hope? He Zhangjing also used hope as a blade to deceive you. You should know what that feels like. I don't need to explain it to you, right?"
Li Qi looked at him weakly, her whole body limp like a puddle of mud, without any strength left.
She just tried her best to grab his sleeve and looked at him pleadingly: "He Zhangjing..."
"I don't have much time. Do you want me to release He Zhangjing or not?"
“…Leave him to me.”
"Please forgive me for what you said that night." He combed her hair, gently stroked her head, and smiled, "You know what to do."
Li Qi's eyes slowly turned red, and she clutched the mattress beneath her and said, "As long as you can hand He Zhangjing over to me, if you want to hear those self-deceiving words like "I like you," I can tell you."
Feng Siji's smile froze, and a murderous aura quietly crept up his eyes and eyebrows: "What did you say?"
"Don't you just want to hear those lies? You want me to take off my clothes and beg for forgiveness?"
Li Qi didn't have the energy to say anything harsh, but she spoke slowly, word by word, with exceptional determination and ruthlessness: "Never. What I said that day was not wrong, not a single word was wrong. You, Feng Siji, are a pathetic wretch who only deceives yourself, a pervert. I will never ask for your forgiveness."
Feng Siji's fingers turned pale as he clenched the wooden comb, and veins popped out on his forehead. "Do you really think I dare not kill you?"
"It's not that I thought you didn't dare," Li Qi looked at him with a provocative smile, and said word by word harshly, "but I am sure, I am sure that you are reluctant to kill me. Otherwise, you should have asked Wang Mo to testify, overturned Wei Ming's case, and put me in jail.
"Instead of being imprisoned and forced to lie to you like this, I can actually say, 'I love you, I love you so much,' and in Qianzhou, this isn't just a show; it's all genuine..."
She looked at him with red eyes, laughed out loud with pity, and said, "Do you believe it? I don't believe it myself!"
'Click'
The wooden comb in Feng Siji's hand suddenly broke. He threw away the broken wood, stood up, pushed Li Qi to the bed, and covered her with his body.
She had been lying in bed for the past few days, her clothes were thin and torn into rags under his palms with just a few tears.
He grabbed her ankles with both hands and wrapped them around his waist. The bells on top rang jingling along with Li Qi's sudden burst of crying.
"It doesn't matter if the county lady doesn't like me. You can only be my slave. Don't even think about escaping in this life or the next."
Feng Siji gritted his teeth and spoke, his eyes filled with intense gloom. He leaned over Li Qi, sweat dripping from his temples and falling onto Li Qi's neck. The hot beads of sweat made her shiver.
"You're right. I really don't want you to die, but I can torture you and make you suffer in bed."
Li Qi wept softly, "Feng Siji, you are a dead bastard who has never been able to transform into a human form for a thousand years..."
"If I can survive for a thousand years, doesn't that mean I can hold you in my palm for a thousand years? Thank you for your blessing."
“…”
Li Qi hadn't eaten well in the past few days and felt weak all over. He was so strong that she couldn't bear it anymore. She moaned and fell asleep exhausted.
No matter what, it was something she didn't want to face now, as long as she could fall asleep it would be fine.
There were still crystal tears hanging in the corners of Li Qi's eyes. Feng Si quickly bent down and gently sucked away the tears.
Inside the bed curtains, the sound of bells jingling could be heard continuously.
An unknown amount of time had passed when Feng Siji suddenly realized that her body was very hot. He could hardly restrain himself and stopped, gently shaking Li Qi and calling her.
I called out several times, but she didn't respond. She closed her eyes tightly, and her cheeks and fair body were abnormally flushed.
Feng Siji felt a surge of panic and reached out to touch her forehead, but unfortunately, his whole body was also burning with lust, and he couldn't feel whether her body temperature was different.
He turned over and got off the bed, not caring about the fishy smell in the room or the sweat all over his body. He grabbed a piece of clothing and put it on, then strode to open the door.
He looked at Qinglan and ordered, "Go get the doctor and find two dry clothes."
After saying this, he hurried back into the house.
Qinglan assigned the two maids, one to call a doctor and the other to find clothes, while she went into the house to help serve.
There was a strong, half-fishy smell in the room, and you didn't need to think to know what was going on.
Qinglan swiftly gathered the leftovers away, returned, lit the charcoal stove, filled a basin with hot water, wrung out the towel, and walked to the bedside, handing it to Feng Siji: "Sir, please wipe the county lady. Hua Ming brought her clothes for her to change. We can't let the doctor treat her like this."
Feng Siji took the handkerchief and glanced at Qinglan secretly. She immediately took Hua Ming and turned around to avoid his sight.
Feng Siji lifted the quilt and slowly started to clean Li Qi's body from her forehead. He didn't dare to carry her to take a bath, for fear that she would become more seriously ill.
After changing her clothes, Liu An had already called a doctor.
The doctor was over sixty years old, with gray hair. He came trembling with a medicine box in his hand.
Feng Siji lowered the light red bed curtain and pulled out Li Qi's hand that was about to take her pulse. The doctor could only see her fair and tender wrist. He took her pulse and felt it carefully.
Feng Siji waited by the side, watching the doctor frown. After a while, he stood up and said in a hoarse voice, "He's weak and already had a high fever. And then there was the intense sex, which made him so seriously ill. But if you eat well, take your medicine on time, and rest for three to five days, you'll be fine."
The doctor wrote the prescription while saying, "How can you be a husband? You didn't even notice she had a high fever and you even played with her."
Feng Siji lowered his head and said softly, "What the master is saying is wrong. It's all my fault."
The doctor handed the prescription to Feng Siji. Seeing that he admitted his mistake, his tone became much better. He said, "Send someone with me to get the medicine. Take good care of yourself and you'll be fine in a few days. Don't worry too much."
Feng Siji handed the prescription to Liu An and asked her to go get the medicine.
When Liu An left, he closed the door.
Feng Siji sat down on the edge of the bed and asked Hua Ming to cook porridge and buy some vegetables.
As soon as Hua Ming left, Ye Shu hurried into the house.
He stood beside Feng Siji and said, "Sir, you have an appointment with Prime Minister Zhang to come to your house today. If you don't leave now, he might get suspicious."
Feng Siji stared at Li Qi's pale and bloodless face, motionless.
She was so quiet. This was the quietest she had been since I met her. Even when she was injured in Jinshan, Qianzhou, she would still groan and cry out in pain.
He couldn't bear to leave and wanted to stay with her. As he thought about this, his hand unconsciously reached out and gently stroked her face.
The soft and delicate touch made him stunned, as if he had never associated her with the word "beautiful" before.
Carrying the burden of recovering lost territory, she stumbled step by step to Kyoto. In order to achieve her goal of recovering Yunzhou, she would do anything to achieve it. She was not liked in Qianzhou, but she was not as annoying as she was in Kyoto.
Many people hate her appearance, simply because they cannot touch her inner self.
She was so stubborn and strong, and she still resisted when he suppressed her. After Yunzhou was gone, she lost everything but still lived with difficulty, stubbornly walking to this point.
Her beauty is thorny. If you want to touch her, you must be pierced to pieces by her like he was.
"Sir!" Ye Shu urged anxiously. He really didn't understand how a wicked woman who had been plotting against him from the beginning to the end could be worthy of his attachment.
Seeing Feng Siji still didn't respond, Qinglan stepped forward and said, "Sir, please go ahead. I'll be guarding here. Once the county lord wakes up, I'll have Liu An notify you immediately."
Feng Siji pondered for a long time, thinking silently, reluctant to leave her like this. But Ye Shu said, "Prime Minister Zhang is in a high position and the power he holds cannot be underestimated. If he becomes suspicious, not only will all our efforts be wasted, but the county lady may also be put in danger."
Upon hearing this, Feng Siji had no choice but to get up, asked Qinglan to take good care of Li Qi, and left with Yeshu.
-
When Li Qi arrived in Yunzhou during the scorching summer, her mother, Mrs. Li, sat under the grapevines to keep cool in the shade. She lay in Mrs. Li's arms, feeling the warm breeze and the cool shade.
Li's embrace was fragrant and soft, like a cradle, and exuded the fragrance of her hometown.
She hugged herself, rocked herself gently, and said, "Aqi is finally awake. Did you have a nightmare?"
Li Qi felt cold all over. Seeing Li Shi gently wiping her sweat with a handkerchief, she said, "What a nightmare! I'm soaked in cold sweat."
It turned out to be a dream. Li Qi gasped for breath, hugged Li Shi and choked with sobs, "Mother, I dreamed that Yunzhou was lost, you and father were gone, and I fled to Qianzhou with my younger brothers and sisters. Then, in order to reclaim Yunzhou, I killed someone...
"But I was soft-hearted and spared his life. Later, he found me, locked me up, and tortured me every night..."
Li quickly and gently wiped away her tears and soothed her softly, "It's okay, it was all a dream, just a dream. Yunzhou will not fall. Your father and I are still here."
"Mother..."
Li Qi choked and shouted in her arms, tears rolling down her cheeks, bringing waves of bone-chilling coldness.
Li Qi reached out to touch it, but felt a rough and warm palm, which was not the soft palm of A Niang.
She opened her eyes hazily, and Fu Fengsiji's face gradually emerged in her tearful vision.
Feng Siji was unusually gentle, and asked her warmly as if he had returned to Qianzhou: "Did you have a nightmare?"
It was exactly the same words her mother said in the dream. Li Qi stared at him blankly, tears rolling out of the corners of her eyes, sliding down her cheeks and falling into the quilt.
It turned out to be a dream.
Yunzhou was really lost, her father and mother were gone, and she was really trapped here by Fengsi's agency, being tortured every day.
It turned out to be a dream.
Things that Li Qi had been accustomed to in the past now seemed like millions of rose thorns, piercing deep into her heart. A huge rose tree with blood and stench grew in her heart, blocking out all sunlight and hope.
She pushed Feng Siji's arms as he tried to hug her: "How could it be you? How could it be you? Why aren't you dead yet? I really shouldn't have spared your life..."
She suddenly burst into tears. Feng Siji froze looking at her. From the time they met until now, he had never seen her cry.
Even when Zhang Zhouzhu killed people outside the County Lord's Mansion in order to completely trap her in his camp, she did not cry.
But just because I woke up from the dream and saw myself...
Feng Siji hugged her tightly, holding her tightly in his arms, and asked hatefully, "You dreamed that I was dead, didn't you? When you woke up and found that I was not dead, you couldn't bear it? Do you really want me to die?"
Li Qi sobbed and cried, dimly catching sight of the ink-like night outside the window, the warm lights and charcoal stove in the room, and feeling his warm, inseparable embrace, many thoughts suddenly flashed through her mind.
There is Mingrong, there is Emperor Liang, there is He Zhangjing, and there is also mother Li.
Li said that men can only be tools, so you can't fight men head-on. Because fighting with tools is very cheap.
What she had to do was not to fight, but to find a way to destroy the tool.
Li Qi wiped her eyes, slowly pulled herself out of the beautiful dream, and accepted the current facts.
She has accepted it for eight years, and now there is nothing she cannot tolerate or accept.
Her chin rested on Feng Siji's shoulder, and she was completely trapped in his arms. She couldn't break free, so she opened her mouth and bit his shoulder hard with determination.
It was early spring and a charcoal stove was burning in the house. He was wearing very thin clothes, and she bit through them in one bite.
She tasted blood between her lips and teeth, but he didn't let her go. Instead, his arms around her tightened.
After a long while, Li Qi opened her mouth, leaned on his shoulder and said, "You imprisoned me like this and forced me to do those things with you. His Majesty will not let you go. Have you forgotten, on the day Zhang Zhouzhu sent me back to the County Lord's Mansion, the imperial edict brought by Eunuch Li Ke stated that I would enter the palace as a concubine at the beginning of spring next month.
"You are trying to snatch someone from His Majesty. His Majesty will pursue the matter to the end. You can't trap me."
Feng Siji hugged her and kissed her earlobe: "Since I dare to do this, I must have thought of a foolproof method."
He let her go, called Qinglan, and then Qinglan pushed the door open with the food. After putting it next to Feng Siji, he quietly left the room.
Feng Siji brought a soft pillow for Li Qi to lean on the head of the bed, and he took the jade bowl and long chopsticks to feed her.
She turned away her food and said, "Your Majesty is incompetent. Even if you can deal with him, you can't deal with the Queen and Zhang Zhouzhu. Zhang Zhouzhu likes Shengxiang and is afraid that I will incite rebellion. He will definitely send someone to find me."
Feng Siji laughed fearlessly, "Don't forget, you were the one who sent people to repair the County Lord's Mansion. Now I'm just sending soldiers to guard it and claiming to the outside world that you are under house arrest for further investigation. From the outside, it seems that you are still living in the County Lord's Mansion."
Li Qi was stunned. She had done a perfect trick to get rid of the angry people, but she didn't expect to be used by him.
He continued, "One day I'll burn down the County Lady's Mansion and forge your corpse. From then on, you won't exist in this world anymore. I, Feng Siji, will be the only one who will be yours."
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