Chapter 148: The Wedding Night
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The light of the red candle illuminated the person on the bed, revealing every detail of their body.
Although dressed in a wedding gown, the person was kneeling on the bed with their hands tied with red silk, suspended above their head. A red cloth covered their head, with only a corner of the wedding veil shaking slightly as the body trembled. It was clear that the person was still conscious.
As he entered the room, Liu Zhongming saw the motionless figure and approached them with a jade ruyi in hand. He caressed the person’s face with affection, and asked softly, “Why are you crying? It’s our wedding day. If you cry, my heart aches for you.”
He tried to comfort the person, but all he received in return were heavy, ragged breaths that sounded like they could hardly breathe.
“I want you. I want you to never leave me or betray me. I want to marry you soon and make you mine.”
“After everything settles down, I will complete the six wedding rituals for you and welcome you into my family.”
Liu Zhongming lowered the jade ruyi and slowly lifted the red cloth covering the person’s head. The person’s head remained bowed, suspended in that position for the whole day. The blindfold around their eyes was never removed, and a cloth was tied tightly around their mouth, making it difficult to breathe.
Liu Zhongming seemed to turn a blind eye to the person’s predicament, and gently wiped the sweat from their face. He then went to the table and brought over a wine glass, untying the cloth from the person’s mouth.
“Drink up, Heqin wine. Once we drink it, we will be husband and wife for a lifetime.”
He held his messy hair with one hand, pulled it back, and brought the wine cup to Qu Chenzhou’s lips, patiently waiting, like a thoughtful lover.
“Drink it. From now on, I will bear everything with you. If Shiyan is alive, we will live together. If Shiyan dies, I will accompany you and pay for his life with mine.”
Qu Chenzhou was forced to tilt his head back, unable to see his expression, and could only see his dry lips moving slightly.
Before Liu Zhongming could hear what he was saying clearly, he suddenly pushed forward, and Liu Zhongming couldn’t dodge in time, and the cup of wine spilled all over the ground.
He looked at the water marks on the ground, and his eyes turned red.
“Do you really… have no feelings for me at all?”
Qu Chenzhou breathed heavily with his head down, biting his teeth. Each word he spoke was filled with resentment and squeezed out of his teeth.
“Liu Zhongming! You killed me! If you have the guts, kill me!”
“Kill you?” Liu Zhongming smiled instead of getting angry, took another cup of wine, suddenly grabbed Qu Chenzhou’s jaw, opened his mouth, and poured the whole cup of wine into his mouth without any explanation.
“This time you want to die, it’s not that easy!”
Qu Chenzhou choked and coughed repeatedly, but he couldn’t help but swallow it in big gulps. When the cup was empty, all the strength he had accumulated was gone, and his hanging hands trembled uncontrollably.
Liu Zhongming poured himself a glass of wine, tasted it, and sat back by the bed. He touched Qu Chenzhou’s face and tears suddenly fell.
“Chenzhou, why are you always so disobedient? I taught you for so long, teaching you about propriety, righteousness, integrity, and moral principles. Did you really not learn anything?”
He looked at the person on the bed and sneered: “Tonight, I’ll teach you something else.”
The hem of Qu Chenzhou’s wedding dress was lifted, revealing the crisscrossing whip marks on his legs. They had been wrapped tightly with gauze, but blood still seeped out and looked even more terrifying in the candlelight.
A bright red ribbon hung down, coiled around the bed because the tassels were too long.
Above the ribbon, something was hidden in the wedding dress and couldn’t be seen clearly.
Liu Zhongming touched it on the bed and felt the wetness on his fingertips, as if he was being cut by a knife in his heart.
“Is this all there is to it? No wonder you can climb so high, is this how you please the emperor?”
“No…” Qu Chenzhou suddenly arched his body and screamed, but quickly, he could only raise his neck and open his mouth, unable to make a sound.
“Is this how it is?” Liu Zhongming grabbed the ribbon and pulled it down, then pushed it back, coldly watching him struggle to curl up. “Is this how you please the emperor?”
“Don’t…” Qu Chenzhou’s voice was hoarse as he screamed and choked up. “Don’t…”
Liu Zhongming suddenly clamped down on his chin, pushing the painful sobs back into his throat. Ignoring the hysterical struggles before him, he fiercely used his strength to throw the ribbon onto the ground. The half-foot carved jade rod shattered into several pieces.
“You despicable creature!” He choked with hatred. He wished he could devour the person in front of him, drink their blood and eat their flesh, then they would forever be one person, and Qu Chenzhou would never disobey him, deceive him, or betray him again!
He lifted his hand and pulled the red silk, dragging it under the bed. Qu Chenzhou knelt and fell to the ground like a pile of mud, his hands knocked against the bed. He struggled to escape, but was held down by someone.
“Answer me a few questions.” Liu Zhongming pressed his hand against him. “Answer them properly, and you’ll suffer less.”
Qu Chenzhou’s long hair was wet with sweat, hanging over his face. He buried his head in the bedding and made no response. It was as if he could no longer hear anything.
“Answer me?”
With a sudden pressure from the hand, Qu Chenzhou let out a piercing scream and finally gave a response. “I…I’ll speak…”
They were kneeling close together, with their chests and backs touching. Liu Zhongming held him up to keep him from collapsing, and his tone became more gentle.
“This time, did you seduce Mu Jingyan?”
At the mention of that name, Qu Chenzhou couldn’t help but tremble, as if he was desperately restraining his fear.
“Did you?!”
He was pressed down and let out a miserable scream, answering in a high-pitched voice, “No… He didn’t respond to me…”
“Makes sense,” Liu Zhongming chuckled self-deprecatingly, “you begged him to buy you, but he didn’t take you seriously. He treated it as a joke and told me about it. Actually, I’m the biggest joke here, am I not?”
Qu Chenzhou hung his head as if he couldn’t hear him clearly, trembling as he begged, “Take it out…”
Liu Zhongming was lost in thought for a moment, then muttered, “In fact, you don’t like the current Huai Wang either, do you? That’s why you said it was a stopgap measure. He can’t give you the status you want, can he?”
Qu Chenzhou had already completely collapsed, shaking his head while gasping for breath.
“At least you’re honest with your answers.”
A Mianziling fell to the ground, making a crisp sound, breaking into two pieces, wetting a small patch of the ground.
“Secondly, what do you plan to do when you escape from the capital?”
Qu Chenzhou gasped for breath, struggling to answer like a dream, “Ten… Li Pavillion… General Song…”
He was suffering so much that he couldn’t even complete his sentence. Liu Zhongming helped him fill in the blanks.
“Song Nie is greedy and lustful. He will definitely fall into your hands. You wanted to seek refuge with him and then take your time plotting against him, is that it?”
Qu Chenzhou frowned and nodded with all his strength, his voice hoarse, “Please…”
Another Mianzi bell shattered on the ground, leaving a damp stain.
“Thirdly, if you don’t fancy Huai Wang, then who is your target?”
“Who is it?!”
With each passing moment, Liu Zhongming’s patience grew thinner. He couldn’t wait any longer for Qu Chenzhou to catch his breath, and with a sudden press of his hand, he heard Qu Chenzhou’s sharp scream.
“It’s…it’s the Emperor…”
This time, Qu Chenzhou couldn’t hold on any longer. Without Liu Zhongming’s support, he fell off the bed and passed out at the side.
Liu Zhongming stared at him blankly, feeling a chill run down his spine.
The Emperor… the Emperor was indeed Qu Chenzhou’s best reliance and support. This airtight net had already trapped him tightly, but he knew nothing about it and still joyfully and foolishly plunged in, even holding Qu Chenzhou carefully in his heart.
After experiencing the nightmare he couldn’t escape from, he knew better than anyone that once the Emperor found out about Qu Chenzhou’s existence, it would be a calamity even if the Emperor only gave Qu Chenzhou a high position.
If Qu Chenzhou exposed everything he had done for him in the past, everything he had done would be interpreted as having ulterior motives, and he would be guilty of a crime punishable by death.
Furthermore, with the Emperor as his support, Qu Chenzhou, driven by his resentment and greed for power from his past life, would unleash a devastating revenge. It would not just be the Bai and Liu families, but the entire court that would be plunged into a bloodbath.
He wouldn’t just drag down Bai Shiyan, but also countless lives.
That cunning and innocent, bright and dazzling Qu Chenzhou, that shy and strong-willed, smart and translucent Qu Chenzhou, the little crazy person who pounced from the steps and wept in his arms, Qu Chenzhou.
The one who ran towards him from the sunshine when he was most confused and helpless, Qu Chenzhou.
How could it be so good, and how could it be so cruel…
Liu Zhongming was dizzy and confused, vaguely feeling an invisible thread floating against the wind, always seeming to land in an unexpected place, but his mind was in chaos and he couldn’t catch it.
He, like in a distant past, desperately tried to convince himself—it’s impossible, Chenzhou wouldn’t do that, Chenzhou wouldn’t betray him.
But the incident of Bai Shiyan and his sister happened right before his eyes, and even just thinking about the excuse for that person in his mind was extremely sinful.
“Qu Chenzhou…” his gaze fell on the candlestick dripping with red tears, and there was something hot and liquid like candle tears, rolling down from his cheeks to his jaw, he did not know whether it was tears or blood.
“Qu Chenzhou, why didn’t you just kill me…”
He opened his wedding robe with one hand, and his name was printed on the swollen black birthmark—Qu Chenzhou was his, but also never his.
He slowly bent down and kissed it gently.
“Chenzhou, do you hate me…hate me for leaving you alone…”
“Why didn’t you just kill me…”
“I hate you too.”
“We will be together forever, hating each other for a lifetime.”
A drop of candle tears fell, landing on the wrist wrapped in red silk.
As if he had been thrown into hot oil, Qu Chenzhou let out a scream, and then his body was suddenly hugged by someone.
The hot breath behind him blew onto his neck with deadly warmth.
“Chenzhou…you are mine. Today, we will get married! You are this Shizis consort!”
Liu Zhongming’s eyes turned red like a wild beast that smelled blood. “From now on, you are mine, forever! We will live together, and we will die together!”
Pieces of Mianziling were violently thrown onto the ground.
Qu Chenzhou’s voice was hoarse and exhausted.
“Don’t…Liu…Liu Zhongming…are you…insane…”
“Yes,” Liu Zhongming tasted the taste of blood on his shoulder. “I am insane for you! Kill me, kill me!”
Qu Chenzhou’s long hair was entangled with the red silk that bound his hands. Sweat had already glued the wedding gown to his body. He desperately kicked the ground and crawled forward, but was grabbed by his ankle and dragged back.
“Chenzhou, we are husband and wife! I am yours!”
Liu Zhongming looked like a starving beast at the brink of madness, showing his fangs and claws as if to tear and devour the flesh of the other person.
As the blindfold came loose in his struggles, Qu Chenzhou was dragged backward, desperately biting at the red silk around his wrist. When he finally freed one hand, they were already pressed tightly together.
“Let go…” he said.
He tried to push with his other arm, but instead, he was dragged even closer. He bowed his body and lifted his neck, like a dying fish, opening his mouth but unable to make a sound, feeling pain beyond measure.
Staring at Qu Chenzhou, the two hands of Liu Zhongming pressed down on the wrinkled wedding gown.
“Chenzhou,” Liu Zhongming said, his voice deep and hoarse, “I want you to remember this! You are mine, forever mine…”
Qu Chenzhou fell into his arms, his last bit of resistance fading away, and he wept silently.
“Liu Zhongming, you will…regret this…you will…”
“I won’t regret it!” Liu Zhongming’s cheeks were wet, and he roared with anger, “I won’t regret it! If you don’t kill me, I’ll tie you to my side for life!”
“You are mine! Chenzhou! I am yours! Let’s die together!”
The person in his arms hung their head low and made only a slight, unconscious sound from time to time, completely fainting.
When Liu Zhongming let go, Qu Chenzhou suddenly collapsed onto the ground, motionless.
He stared blankly, his eyes dazed and confused, not even knowing what he was doing. After a while, he picked up the person and they both sat back on the bed.
This person was the source of his madness, his love and hate had no end.
The person in his arms lifted his head slightly, then weakly hung it in the crook of his neck.
“…”
Suddenly, stopping for a moment, as if he heard something, he became quiet again.
With one hand, he lifted up Qu Chenzhou’s messy hair and saw his lips moving silently, with a bloodstain on them.
“Are you still calling out to him? Are you still thinking about him?”
He became angry, threw the person onto the bed, flipped him over, and pressed down on him.
Qu Chenzhou seemed to want to struggle and get up, then suddenly fell down, his forehead hitting the edge of the bed, and his shoulders shaking.
“…Save me…”
Liu Zhongming pulled his arm, partially lifting him up, and heard him sobbing like in a dream.
“Save me…”
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Ok, I officialy hate LZM…
Thank You for the new chapter ʚ♡⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁)