Chapter 66 Mad Dog Business
He was as tireless as a madman. I fainted and was then shaken awake by him. It was like I was floating on the sea, but I could never reach the land.
Only then did I truly understand what the storybook meant by being unable to get off the bed. This kind of thing... could actually happen to the point where you had no strength left in your body and could only lie in the bedding like a rag doll.
The instigator also looked a little tired, but his tiredness was mixed with the satisfaction of getting what he wanted.
Most men feel refreshed afterward, and Li Siyan was no exception. Seeing how badly he had tortured me, he still felt a little pity for me, so he softened his voice and said softly, "Did I go too hard?"
My eyelids felt heavy and soon I fell asleep. I could faintly hear the sound of water in my dream, as if he was holding me and washing me. After slowly and carefully washing me into a small fragrant ball, he wrapped me in expensive cloth as soft as a cloud.
I had a sound and dreamless night. I was so tired that I slept until dusk the next day.
When he woke up, he felt refreshed and had put on a new undershirt. Li Siyan was sitting in front of a table not far away, holding a memorial and thinking with a frown.
After a while, he picked up the red pen and wrote the word "approved".
He accidentally looked up and saw that I woke up. He was startled, his body moved before his brain did. He walked towards me eagerly and said, "You're awake, are you hungry?"
The next second, he seemed to realize that his behavior was a bit... cheap, like he was trying to serve me. So he coughed lightly, straightened his back and said, "I found your old clothes. They look wearable."
I frowned and looked down at the snow-white new clothes on my body, feeling that this man seemed to have some disease in his brain.
Is he trying to say that he doesn't care about me at all now? Does he think I will believe it?
Thinking back to the first two times, after he relieved himself, he took out a pillow and placed it under my waist, as if he was looking forward to having a child with me... I became more and more certain that he was still hoping that I would change my mind, but he was just unwilling to admit it for the time being.
Seeing that I didn't react and just sat at the head of the bed in a daze, Li Siyan became visibly nervous again. He whispered to the eunuch outside the cabin to call the imperial physician and prepare food. The eunuch took the order and left. Soon, a set of exquisite meals and the sweating imperial physician Fan were delivered to my bedside.
Doctor Fan hesitated to speak. I guess he wanted to say that one should not overindulge in sexual activities... But seeing the emperor's expression, he didn't dare to say anything. He only said: "Pay attention to recuperation and don't overdraw your body."
Li Siyan should have understood, but judging from his expression, he had no intention of following the doctor's advice.
After some struggling, Li Siyan took out a thin golden chain and two small shackles, and tied them around my ankles amid my weak protests.
He was very satisfied with his masterpiece and comforted her softly, "Don't be afraid, you'll get used to it."
Seeing that the golden shackles made my ankles look even more slender, white and lovely, his Adam's apple rolled and his fingers gently fell on my calves.
I kicked him hard and said in a hoarse voice: "Get out! Don't touch me!"
He knew I was suddenly imprisoned and couldn't accept it for a while, so he said in a reasonable manner, "Okay, then I'll go first..."
Before he could finish his words, another incense ball flew towards him: "Get out!"
Li Siyan stood there for a while with a gloomy face, then snorted and walked away half asleep. My hair was disheveled, and I looked like a mad woman, staring at the shackles with eyes almost bleeding.
The shackles were well-made and had a soft lining inside, but I didn't know what material they were made of, but they were as hard as iron or stone. I pulled them with my hands, bit them with my teeth, and rubbed them with furniture, but I couldn't unlock them.
Li Siyan came back to the cabin to bring me food and saw me trying to grind it open like a hamster. His expression suddenly turned cold. Overnight, all the slightly hard gold and iron in the cabin disappeared and were replaced by tough wood or silk cotton.
The palace maids were trembling with fear as they busied themselves changing the materials. They were all familiar faces to me, such as Suxi Huiyue, Chaner Huyue... I sat on the couch with my lips pursed, and pulled my shackled ankles back a little, for fear that they would see me in such a miserable and controlled state.
Li Siyan saw this and sneered coldly, "Why hide it? The palace ladies here, the officials in Chang'an, and the common people outside, who doesn't know that you, Chen Ying, are my woman? Unless I die, you can never set foot out of here again."
I kept silent, staring at him coldly for a while, then suddenly lifted the thin chain on my ankle and wrapped it around my neck.
The man not far away suddenly changed color, the veins on his forehead popped out, and he rushed to me like lightning, grabbing my wrist tightly.
I lowered my eyes and my gaze fell on his slightly trembling hands - he was afraid.
You're afraid that I'll die without a care in the world, right?
He roughly raised my hands above my head and said harshly, "If you dare to have such thoughts again, I will rape you right in front of them! Just try it."
Su Xi Huiyue's body trembled at the same time.
The emperor's wrath was so terrifying that even they, who were used to seeing great storms, found it extremely terrifying.
And I... I was not afraid at all. In front of them, I struggled hard to break free from Li Siyan's shackles and slapped his handsome face.
There was a crisp and clear sound of a slap. The man who was hit tilted his head to one side, and his hair hung down to cover his eyes. I couldn't see his expression clearly.
But I can probably guess that he must be very angry.
I said coldly, "Rubbish."
Su Xi Huiyue was stunned with fear.
I used to be very reckless, but never like I am now. I slap people without any hesitation and my attitude is cold and ruthless.
Li Siyan turned his head inch by inch, reached out to touch the place where I hit him, and actually let out a short chuckle.
With a crazy and ferocious smile on his face, he said to Su Xi Huiyue, "Keep an eye on her."
After saying that, he looked at me deeply, turned and left.
After a while, the cabin door was kicked open and a figure was thrown into the cabin like a rag bag. I was so scared that I grabbed the quilt tightly. Li Siyan strode forward, took off his cloak and covered me with it.
I peeked out from under my cloak in confusion, my eyes falling on the unconscious figure. Suddenly, I shouted, "Zhang Zhi?"
The green cloth clothes this person is wearing look very familiar. Isn’t it the one that Tanwei patched up before?
But why did Li Siyan capture him!
While Zhang Zhi was still in fear, Li Siyan had already called the eunuchs to hold down his hands and feet, and drew the short knife from his waist and stabbed it at his palm.
"No!" I roared heartbreakingly.
The tip of the knife was slightly slanted and stuck into the carpet beside his palm.
Li Siyan threw away the dagger, grabbed my chin and sneered, "It doesn't matter if you hit me or scold me, but if I find out that you've cut your throat with a chain, none of your friends in Mingzhou or Chang'an will survive!"
My tears rolled down almost instantly, and I bit his shoulder, my fangs sinking into his tight muscles and blood flowing down.
His shoulders were covered with scars, all from my fingers and teeth.
"I hate you! I hate you!" I cried.
"You hate me, right?" He hugged me tightly and murmured, "Hate is also an emotion."
From then on, he would come to this cabin every day. I would quarrel with him, scold him, hit him, and throw things at him, but he would just let me do it. When I was out of strength, he would push me down on the couch and do what he was most obsessed with recently.
He always looked calm, and only showed a little emotion when he was fighting violently on the couch: he was still resentful and angry towards me, and he was not as indifferent as he seemed.
We've been at each other's throats like this for countless days. I no longer have the energy to fight him. Whether he comes or goes, I stare blankly at the ceiling. I thought this would reassure him, but I didn't expect Li Siyan to be so irritated by my deadpan demeanor that he couldn't even maintain his cool exterior. He shook my shoulders in frustration and said, "Chen Ying! Don't think you can turn me off by pretending like this. I won't buy it!"
I lay woodenly on the couch, letting him twist my waist into a curved position, then forcefully grab my hands from behind... I knew it was useless, but I was just tired.
How can I, who am like this, give him a satisfactory response?
He seemed to realize that something was wrong and slowly stopped his movements. Instead, he licked and teased more gently, as if trying to arouse my passion. But no matter how attentively he served me, I was as unresponsive as a dead fish.
He gradually became angry again, and carried me to the bed in a rough manner, pinched my waist and played with me, deliberately behaving wildly, as if he was mad at me.
The big bed creaked as it shook, and his sweat dripped onto my neck. In my hazy consciousness, he harshly forced me to look up at him. I turned my head in a daze, but just as I turned halfway, my vision went dark and I lost all consciousness.
I don’t know how long it was before I slowly woke up and saw Li Siyan, wearing only a single layer of clothing, standing in front of me with a tall and graceful figure.
His face was so gloomy that ink could almost drip out of it.
"Awake?" he said, "Come here and drink this bowl of soup."
I recognize this soup. It comes from Doctor Fan’s exclusive secret recipe. It is a tonic that nourishes yin and strengthens yang, and is especially effective in treating hypoglycemia.
I slowly sat up, the quilt slipped off, and when I looked down, I found that he had put a thin undershirt on me. I guess Doctor Fan had come to see me after I fell unconscious.
However, he probably didn't find out anything wrong with me. If that was the case, Li Siyan wouldn't be as calm as he is now and wouldn't even give me some nourishing soup.
I glanced at the tonic soup that smelled strongly of medicine and said, "I won't drink it."
He said calmly, "Don't want to drink? Do you want to consume yourself to death and leave me with a corpse?"
I sat at the head of the bed and said nothing.
He smiled calmly and twistedly: "You wish! Without my consent, even the King of Hell wouldn't dare take you in."
After saying that, he took a sip from the bowl himself, then leaned over to feed it into my mouth. The bitter taste of the medicine mixed with the faint mint scent on his body was poured into me, and I choked and started coughing violently.
He gently stroked my back and said calmly, "Why don't you learn your lesson? What good is there in going against me? You'll be the one who suffers anyway."
"I'm at a disadvantage, what about you?"
I struggled to stop coughing, struggled to stand up, and smiled sarcastically, "You like me, but I've repeatedly treated you like a worn-out shoe. So, between us, you're the one who's suffered more."
Throwing the bowl of soup far away, I laughed coldly at his increasingly cold gaze, "Capture me, imprison me, force me, what else can you do besides these? You deserve it that the important people in your life have abandoned you without hesitation, Li Siyan. You are a bastard who only knows how to play power games. Even if I have to rely on others for the rest of my life, you can't make me obey your wishes!"
Clap, clap, clap, he clapped slowly and methodically.
His expression remained unchanged, but the hollowness in his eyes became increasingly apparent.
"You said you wouldn't obey me, but Yingying, I have plenty of ways to make you obey, I just don't want to use them on you."
He closed his eyes in self-mockery: "Don't look at me like that. You make me look like a pathetic joke."
Li Siyan is a tough guy who can handle insults. He is not sensitive to insults. Perhaps because he hates himself, he often accepts my insults and praises me for my accurate insults.
But this time it seems a little different.
The man seemed stung by me.
I hesitantly stopped cursing and observed him with a frown, wondering what he was up to.
But I instinctively felt a sense of crisis.
"Alright," he said, "I now have a reason to do what I couldn't bring myself to do before. It just so happens that I have something I want to ask you, so let's do it today."
He lowered his eyes, took away the exquisite soup bowl, then took a small key from his neck, grabbed my legs, and gently untied the beautiful shackles.
The moment the shackles were removed, alarm bells suddenly rang in my heart. I couldn't continue to pretend to be aggressive, and fear took over my mind again. I got up regardless of anything and ran out, but he dragged me back by my ankle.
I fell on the soft Persian carpet, a vague cry coming from my throat. My nails scratched his chest, splitting the skin and revealing the pale flesh. Blood dripped down like a broken thread.
He endured it all.
The world was spinning before my eyes, and by the time I came to my senses, I was already being carried on his shoulders.
"What are you doing!" I exclaimed involuntarily.
He didn't answer me, but carried me to the bookshelf nearby, pulled out a few books, and found a hidden mechanism.
There was a slight sound, and as he pressed his finger, the wooden floor beside the hatch slowly opened, revealing a long staircase.
There was darkness at the end of the stairs.
I looked at the familiar stone wall, my lips trembling again, and I punched him on the back with my weak fists, screaming miserably: "Li Siyan! You can't do this to me!"
The punch hitting his strong back felt like a tickle. Li Siyan ignored my resistance and carried me down the stone steps into a dark cell.
The furnishings of the prison cell were just like those in the Imperial Censorate Prison, except...
But the things hanging on the wall were different. They were not whips or iron rods, but some strange tools, shaped like chisels and needles, and their use could not be seen.
With a click, two iron rings buckled my wrists. Li Siyan slowly tied his belt, looking at me coldly with his fox eyes.
My hands were restrained, and I could only kneel on the stone bed, helpless and shaking violently. Fear and anger arose from my fear, and I said in a hoarse voice, "Is this what you want? What have I done wrong to deserve you to humiliate me like this!"
He chuckled, "You're always like this. You're obedient for less than a stick of coffee, and then your true colors show."
Nonsense! You are being hung in a stone cell by a psychopath, how can you be calm?
I said in hatred, "Killing is not enough. I have been humiliated by you to this extent, and you still think it is not enough!"
"Of course not."
His slender fingers stroked the fragile veins in my neck and slowly lifted a strand of hair. The sound was like a poisonous snake crawling across my skin.
"I still have many things I want to ask you," he said, "For example—I'm very curious about what you were doing while I was unable to sleep all night in Zichen Palace."
"Just ask! Why do you have to make me look like this?"
This posture was too humiliating, and too... inviting. I was so angry that tears welled up in my eyes again, but I didn't want to cry in front of him, so I had to hold it back and act righteous.
We historians can beg for mercy in other places, but once we enter the torture chamber and the Golden Palace, the hardness in our bones will not allow us to lower our heads even a little.
"Okay, then answer me."
He asked me calmly, "Who gave you the road permit disc, and who let you go at the bottom of the cliff?"
I said angrily, "You already know everything, why are you still asking me?"
He has such great connections, I don't believe he can't find out.
"I want to hear it from your own mouth."
I closed my eyes and said, "I said, will you let them go?"
He sneered, "Whether I pursue them or not depends on my mood, but if you tell me, I might forgive you a little."
His hawk-like gaze seemed to fall on my blue knees.
I pursed my lips in despair.
Now that things have come to this, what else can I hide? He knows where my identity comes from, and he also knows that he wants to give me money and hope that I will drown my clothes in the river. It will be useless for me to resist now.
I tilted my head. "The Queen knew my heart wasn't in this, so she gave me the household registration of her deceased maid. But I never found a chance to leave until that day when I was being chased by the rebels and accidentally fell off a cliff. Only then did I feel my chance had come, so I left on my own."
After hearing what I said, Li Siyan nodded and asked, "How did you get to Mingzhou?"
"carriage."
"Where to stay in Mingzhou?"
"Refugee camp."
"Did you let Zhang Zhi touch you?"
His eyes were dark and had a hunting-like aggression.
My anger rose up again, and my chest heaved with anger.
"I'm not as bad as you think, Li Siyan. Not all men are like you. They have to sleep with you just because they live in your house."
"I don't think you have such intentions," he said with a defiant smile, "How can any wild man out there serve you as comfortably as I can."
I recalled the absurd days in Furong Garden, his sticky and hot kisses, and the distinct muscles that bulged when he exerted force...
He was right. This man was far superior to any other man I had ever met in terms of appearance, figure, and even primitive attractiveness.
But he never asked me if I really wanted him to serve me.
Seeing that I was silent, he hooked his fingers into a strand of my loose hair and focused on tucking it behind my ear.
If you don't look into his eyes, his behavior can be said to be extremely normal. He really looks like a man who dotes on Canary.
But his eyes... I only took one look and my face turned red because of this explicit and hot gaze. I am too familiar with this kind of eyes, shameless and obscene, as if he can strip me naked with just his eyes.
"You're lucky you didn't run into any bad guys along the way." He traced the outline of my chest with his blatant eyes, but his face didn't show any unnecessary expression. "I guess life in Mingzhou is good. You look plumper than before."
I was so ashamed and angry that I tried to pull up my collar, but my hands were tied, so how could I do that?
He walked slowly to the steps, took out a small pill from the brocade bag, and put it to my mouth.
My heart was shaken, and I screamed in panic: "Are you crazy? I just took a break!"
"I know." His expression remained unchanged. Amidst my desperate cries, he firmly pinched my cheek and tossed the pill in. "...But I want to feed you more of that filth."
"I hate you! I hate you! Bastard, ugh..."
Broken wails drifted out of the dark cell intermittently.
This torture was not as long as the last time. The effect of the drug had not yet worn off. When I was unconscious, I felt him untying the bracelet, picking me up, walking to a table, and then snapping my hands and feet.
I was like a bug caught in spider silk, with my arms and legs spread out, tied in a spread-eagle position on the cold stone table, unable to move.
I struggled to open my eyes, and vaguely saw Li Siyan withdraw, remove the needle hanging from the stone wall, and grab my ankle without resistance...
"ah!"
The bone needles pierced my skin and I let out the most shrill scream in the world.
Li Siyan was also gasping for breath. He held the needle in one hand and stuffed his other arm into my mouth. His face was distorted terribly.
"Be good and don't move..."
He used the tone of voice he used to trap a small animal to soothe the woman struggling in pain under his hands, but he inserted the needle without any hesitation.
I cannot describe this sharp pain. Even though Li Siyan gave me medicine, it was still unbearable. The tattoo punishment has existed since ancient times. Although it is not as cruel as the other five ancient punishments, it is extremely insulting.
Once a prisoner is tattooed with a pattern, he will never be able to cleanse his body of guilt in his lifetime.
He did this to me...
Needle after needle pierced my skin, and my throat had already become hoarse from screaming. In the end, I could only open my mouth and breathe hard, unable to even make a broken scream.
"Just bear with it, it will be fine soon."
Maybe only a moment passed, or maybe thousands or even millions of years passed. He put away the needle and ink, leaned over and kissed my ankle, his gesture obsessive and pious.
Who would have known that a seemingly devout believer would do such a rebellious thing as tattooing his master.
I was sweating all over, as if I had just been pulled out of ice water, my body was shaking and my eyes were confused.
The pain in his ankle subsided a little, but it was still swollen. The red and swollen flesh was set off by a dark blue tattoo, and there was a word "Yan" tattooed on it.
Li Siyan hugged me tightly and kept saying comforting words.
I lay there on my back, unable to tell whether I was a living person or a lamb to be slaughtered on the altar.
The stone walls stood sheer, with torches hanging high up, dimly illuminating the messy room and also illuminating us, who were like trapped beasts.
After a while, Li Siyan picked up the torn clothes and wrapped me up simply. He then took a torch and lit an ancient-looking charcoal stove.
The flickering firelight fell into my misty eyes, like a soul lamp guiding the way on the road to the underworld.
He whispered in my ear: "You have tattooed my name on your head, and you will be mine for eternity."
The tattoo cannot be erased. Li Siyan wanted me to feel the pain thoroughly once. For the rest of my life, I would remember this pain with every step I take, until... the day I take this tattoo to the grave.
Humiliation, coercion, and an unforgettable torture.
He finally found a way to make me obey.
—and it destroyed me at the same time.
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