Shen Qi winced at the pain from Su Yan’s bite. A strange mix of sour jealousy and deep sweetness twisted in his heart, an indescribable sensation bubbling up like boiling water.
Yesterday, he had received a secret report from Gao Shuo, who was utterly convinced: Jinghong Zhui, under the guise of being Su Yan’s personal guard, had climbed into Lord Su’s bed.
Shen Qi’s first reaction was disbelief.
That assassin—his looks, his identity, his personality as stubborn as a latrine stone—how could he possibly be Qinghe’s type?
But then he reconsidered. Qinghe never judged people by appearances. If he did, he wouldn’t find the stunningly handsome Yu Wang so repulsive. And if he cared about character, well… Shen Qi himself wasn’t exactly a good person, yet Su Yan never truly rejected him either.
And hadn’t Su Yan shown some sympathy when interacting with Wu Ming before…?
For the first time, Shen Qi felt uncertain.
What kind of person did Su Yan really love?
Was it simply whoever was willing to risk their life for him? Whoever would offer him their heart and soul? Was he the type to reciprocate feelings out of gratitude, making it hard for him to refuse anyone’s love?
This doubt and frustration burrowed into Shen Qi’s heart like a steel nail, sharp and painful. It made him determined—next time he saw Su Yan, he would harden his heart and use more forceful means to get the truth out of him.
Yet now, holding Su Yan in his arms, he felt like he was embracing the rosy glow of the sky and the fragrance of plum blossoms. His heart softened, grew tipsy, burned hot. The only thing that could harden at this point… was something else.
Su Yan tasted blood on his tongue and realized he had bitten down too hard. He quickly let go, spat it out, and elbowed Shen Qi’s stomach. “Let go!”
Instead of letting go, Shen Qi spun him around to face him and murmured hoarsely, “Let me take a look…”
The last rays of sunlight had dipped below the western mountains, but a faint twilight still lingered. Shen Qi studied Su Yan’s face intently. “Tanned a little, but still fair… grew about half an inch taller, muscles more defined… you’ve grown up.”
Under the weight of such a gaze—so full of emotion, desire—Su Yan shivered, sinking into the hot spring until only his head was above water. The mist made his face flush. Uncomfortable, he changed the subject: “How did you get out of the capital?”
“There was a case involving the county magistrate of Great Xing. I left the capital on official business—perfectly legitimate.” Shen Qi leaned against the rocky bottom of the pool, his chest exposed to the cold wind. “You still mind that I didn’t see you off when you left the capital, don’t you?”
Su Yan, distracted by the mention of “Great Xing” and realizing they were likely still within its jurisdiction, was caught off guard by Shen Qi’s words. A lump of frustration lodged in his throat. He rolled his eyes. “Who said I cared? Plenty of people came to see me off. You weren’t missed.”
Shen Qi raised a brow. “Oh? Let me guess… the Crown Prince? The Emperor? And that little rogue from the martial world—who, in the middle of sending you off, somehow sent himself right into your carriage?”
Su Yan snapped, “What does Ah Zhui have to do with this? Stop dragging him into everything.”
“Ah Zhui?” Shen Qi sneered. “How intimate. Do you call him that in bed too?”
“…What nonsense are you spouting?!” Su Yan angrily splashed water in his face and turned to climb out of the pool.
Like a wolf pouncing on prey, Shen Qi lunged at him, pressing Su Yan’s back against the smooth, warm stones at the edge of the spring. He grabbed Su Yan’s wrists and pinned them to a crack in the rock, his own body pushing between Su Yan’s legs.
Su Yan’s upper body was trapped against the poolside while his lower body remained submerged. His legs, buoyed by the water, couldn’t clamp together tightly. The slickness of the hot spring made it easy for Shen Qi to slide right in between.
Feeling the hard, heated length pressed against the cleft of his rear, Su Yan panicked and kicked out wildly, splashing water everywhere. Shen Qi pulled his usual trick—clamping a hand over Su Yan’s mouth while leaning in to whisper a threat: “You really want Gao Shuo and the others to come running and watch this?”
The Embroidered Uniform Guard were stationed just three hundred steps away. A single shout would alert them, and they would rush over immediately. That was why, earlier, both Su Yan and Shen Qi had kept their voices low, not wanting to be overheard.
But Su Yan hadn’t expected Shen Qi to be so unpredictable—so unhinged that he’d discard all pretense of propriety and try something this outrageous right under their noses.
Muffled protests came from beneath Shen Qi’s palm as Su Yan shook his head frantically. He knew he couldn’t break free and could only hope that the ever-alert Jinghong Zhui would come and save him.
But the man who usually had the instincts of a hunting dog was suddenly missing in action. Not a single sign of movement.
…D*mn it! Can’t rely on anyone!
So much for “brotherhood.” So much for a “bodyguard.” In the end, a man could only depend on himself! Su Yan fumed.
Shen Qi held his position but didn’t go any further. He merely kept pressing against Su Yan, his overheated chest flush against him. His breathing was harsh at first, but it gradually steadied. After a moment, he rasped, “Why are you protecting him?”
Su Yan could hear the grievance in his voice.
A man—trying to assault someone—and sounding aggrieved about it…
Was there no justice in this world?
“I’m not protecting anyone…” Su Yan gritted his teeth. Through the slight looseness of Shen Qi’s grip, he managed to get out the rest of his sentence: “I’m just protecting myself!”
Shen Qi suddenly let out a soft laugh. “If that’s really the case, then good. I’ll protect you, and you just need to protect yourself.”
A petal from a winter plum blossom drifted onto the back of his hand. He slowly released his grip, watching as another petal floated down, landing unimpeded on Su Yan’s tightly pressed lips.
It was a faint pink stain on snow-white, a touch of soft yellow atop the pink.
In the fading twilight, Shen Qi leaned in, his eyes holding the misty warmth of the hot spring. Slowly, he lowered his head, and with the tip of his tongue, he swept the petal from Su Yan’s lips into his own mouth. Su Yan shivered slightly at the gentle brush of lips and tongue, feeling as if the sky was draped in endless crimson clouds, smothering him entirely.
A twilight breeze stirred, scattering the fallen plum blossoms across the pool, sprinkling them over both of their bodies.
Shen Qi nudged his nose against Su Yan’s forehead, cheeks, nose bridge, and lips, like a beast who had hidden away all its fangs and claws, suppressing its savage instincts beneath an overwhelming tide of love.
His voice was low and hoarse. “I was imprisoned in the imperial dungeon for fifteen days, shackled and bound, eating cold buns and drinking icy water, sleeping on straw.”
Su Yan’s eyes widened. “The imperial dungeon… Was it His Majesty’s order? Why?”
“He found out that on the day you were drugged, I was the one who sent you out of the palace. He suspected we had an affair.”
That suspicion… well, it wasn’t exactly wrong. For a fleeting moment, Su Yan felt a bit guilty toward the emperor, as his mind involuntarily flashed back to that chaotic, frenzied dusk and the night that followed.
Under the influence of the drug, he had felt like a lotus seed being peeled layer by layer, thoroughly tasted and savored, with even the bitter core chewed away completely. The worst part was that he hadn’t felt any pain—he had even drowned in waves of intoxicating pleasure.
Now, at this very moment, dusk was merging into night once again, and his skin was brushing against Shen Qi’s, as if that evening was replaying itself.
Desire, desire… Was it born from love? Or did love follow from desire?
Su Yan felt a little lost.
At some point, the grip on his wrists had loosened. In a daze, he reached up and wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, his hands tracing down the brutal scars across Shen Qi’s back, inch by inch.
“… Why hasn’t the new flesh grown yet?” he asked softly.
“It takes time—maybe three years, maybe never.”
“The imperial dungeon is damp and cold. The shackles must have weighed down on your wounds. Did it hurt a lot?”
“It wasn’t so bad,” Shen Qi murmured. “The worst part was the restless thoughts. I kept wondering if you were sad about being forced to leave the capital. I wondered if you were disappointed I didn’t see you off. I wondered what you wore that day, what hairpin you put in… I hated myself for being so fixated, yet I couldn’t stop thinking. I paced back and forth from the straw mat to the cell door over and over. It nearly drove me mad.”
His tone was calm, but Su Yan could hear the torment in those words, leaving his heart a tangled mess of emotions.
“You were upset I didn’t come to see you off… does that mean I have a place in your heart?” Shen Qi asked.
“I didn’t…” Didn’t mind? Or didn’t care? Su Yan opened his mouth but couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
Shen Qi pressed further, “Did you think of me at all in the six months you were in Shaanxi?”
Su Yan felt that the hot spring was suddenly too warm, making his cheeks burn and his breath unsteady. He instinctively wanted to escape this stifling heat.
Shen Qi saw right through his evasiveness and refused to give him a chance to retreat, tightening his arms around him.
Su Yan, like a trapped bird, struggled and thrashed, his fingers scratching aimlessly. But Shen Qi knew this was his final struggle—so he leaned down and kissed him fiercely.
The kiss was forceful at first, but the resistance didn’t last long. The moment Su Yan hesitantly responded, all aggression dissolved.
—It was the first time Su Yan had ever responded while fully conscious.
A surge of wild joy filled Shen Qi’s heart. He deepened the kiss, tangling their lips and tongues together, luring Su Yan further into the web he had woven.
Su Yan, caught in the heat of the moment, kissed back, the surrounding warmth soaking into his body, melting into his heart.
But his mind was spinning like a kaleidoscope in overdrive, flashing with chaotic thoughts:
D*mn this gay little shell, d*mn this secret agent b*stard, and d*mn this era… Am I done for? No, I can still be saved, I swear… I should find a woman to test it out—Ruan Hongjiao sounds good… They say men’s physiological reactions don’t follow logic, as long as it feels good… D*mn it, I really got hard from a man touching me!
Su Yan inhaled sharply, his grip tightening on Shen Qi’s arm.
In his eyes, Shen Qi saw something—nervousness.
Not fear of something new, but fear of something inevitable.
Su Yan had experienced countless situations where he could detach himself, letting his body drift along while his soul remained safely hidden. But this time, something had nailed his soul firmly inside his body, making escape impossible. That was why he was nervous, why he was afraid.
But even in that fear, he never shouted for help. Never put up a desperate fight.
The source of that invisible force… Shen Qi’s eyes darkened as he suddenly understood something. A flush of red crept up his eyes, and he clasped Su Yan’s hand, pressing it against his own chest.
“Your husband wants to cut his heart out and feed it to you,” Shen Qi rasped. “Piece by piece.”
Su Yan laughed, tears glistening faintly at the corners of his eyes, reflecting the first evening stars in the sky.
“I don’t want to eat it. I’m not a beast,” he whispered. “Last time you bit me, you even said you’d eat me alive… You have bloodlust in your bones. No wonder everyone’s afraid of you.”
Shen Qi stiffened. “So… are you afraid of me too?”
Su Yan ran his fingers over the uneven scars on Shen Qi’s back, his voice soft, “I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid of pain.”
He wasn’t even afraid of death. But he feared pain—both in his body and in his heart. He was never the tough type. The memory of fifty cane strikes still made him shudder.
So he kept lowering his bottom line, kept making himself forget pain after being hurt, just so it wouldn’t hurt as much.
But now, his soul had been yanked back into his body, tied firmly in place.
For the first time since arriving in this era, Su Yan felt an overwhelming sense of existence—his own, real and undeniable.
The body from his past life, the remnants of the original soul of this body—both seemed to completely dissolve in this moment.
He was Su Yan—the true Su Yan, with body and soul united as one.
Shen Qi kissed his brow and solemnly vowed, “I won’t let you feel any pain.”
Su Yan hesitated, a hint of hope in his tone, and suggested, “Then… maybe we should just stop here. The intention is what counts, right? That’d be safer.”
Then, a bit sheepishly, he added, “Honestly, being brothers isn’t bad either. Really. Wives might cheat on you, but a brother never will. A brother would take a knife for you… a wife, well, she might be the one holding the knife…”
Shen Qi’s face darkened. He felt like all his previous effort had been poured into warming a stone in a hot spring—he’d heated it, to the point it scalded, nearly melting… but the moment he took it out, it cooled back to its original stubborn state. It was enough to make one despair.
“Su Qinghe!” he ground out through clenched teeth. “Did you actually cheat on me?! If I don’t f*ck you to death right now, I’m not Shen Qilang!”
Before Su Yan could explain, one of his legs was lifted high and hung on the other person’s shoulder.
Shen Qi half-turned his body and pushed it to the flat stone surface beside the pool. He knelt on one knee, raised his thick and hard p*nis, ready to go straight to the dragon’s lair.
“Don’t! If you dare to come in directly, you’ll never get to thrash around with me again in your life!” Su Yan was frightened, and was worried that the Embroidered Uniform Guard outside would hear him, so he lowered his voice as soon as he spoke, and it didn’t sound intimidating at all.
Shen Qi deliberately ignored it, and followed the slapping of the water waves, used his full flesh to pierce the closed an*s again and again.
Su Yan realized that after soaking in the hot spring for more than two quarters of an hour, all the muscles in his body were softened, including his back garden. The hot spring water was naturally slippery, and the p*nis was gently pushed in with the heat. Not only was it not painful, but it also had a special soothing feeling. He didn’t even need to do the expanding carefully.
Shen Qi advanced three times and retreated twice, advancing more than retreating, and in a moment the whole thing was inside.
Su Yan felt that his lower body was filled up, not only in his an*s, but also deep inside his body, a passage was opened up by the swollen p*nis. The intestinal flesh stretched out to the surroundings, and then reluctantly contracted inwards, tightly wrapped around the hard object, pushing and squeezing in waves, as if to squeeze the invader out, and as if to swallow it deeper.
Shen Qi felt so comfortable that his scalp went numb. He took a deep breath and endured it without moving.
——It’s not that he was torturing him on purpose. It’s because he has seen it before and knew how powerful this flower path was, especially when you first enter it, the stimulation is the greatest. If he accidentally lost control and ej*culated easily, he would lose all face.
Shen Qi held the spear still and didn’t dare to move. He lowered his head and licked the n*ked shoulders and half of the exposed chest of the person under him. He held the red n*pple that stood up because of the cold between his lips and teeth, and flicked it back and forth with the tip of his tongue.
Su Yan was extremely embarrassed, and constantly worried about being seen, so he covered his eyes and eyebrows with the back of his hand, panting and trembling slightly. His wet black hair was cushioned under his body, against his bent arms, like white jade on ink-colored satin, dotted with yellow plum blossoms that fell from time to time.
Shen Qi’s blood boiled at this sight, and his iron-hard p*n*s grew two inches bigger, with veins throbbing on the surface, eager to rush forward and attack.
Su Yan adapted to the foreign body in his body, and gradually developed a strange sour and numb feeling from the swelling. The slight sour and numbness soon turned into an unbearable itch, like a fine whisker scratching, like an insect crawling and biting, and he wished he could use some hot and hard object to grind it hard to stop the itch.
He couldn’t help but twist his waist, like a silent invitation and urging. The hole kept opening and closing like it was thirsty, and sticky liquid oozed out along the junction and quickly dissolved in the spring water.
If he could still endure this, he would become a Buddha right now. Shen Qi’s eyes were red, he bit Su Yan’s n*pple, forced out a low cry, and asked: “Do you want your husband to move?”
Su Yan’s eyes were filled with tears. He bit his lips to swallow his sobs, twisting his waist and pushing his hips towards the other’s cr*tch.
Shen Qi was not satisfied, and after pushing hard, he slowly pulled out his p*nis while rubbing against the four walls. The gl*ns got stuck at the hole and circled around before suddenly retreating.
Su Yan suddenly lost control due to the momentary emptiness, opened his eyes suddenly, stretched out his hand to pinch Shen Qi’s arm, and said in a lost voice: “Don’t go!”
Shen Qi strongly pressed the gl*ns against the entrance and asked, “What do you call me? Did you forget?”
“Qilang…” Su Yan hummed very softly. Feeling that the other party was about to withdraw his troops again, he had to make up for it, “Hu, Husband…”
Shen Qi pushed in and heard Su Yan sigh with satisfaction and desire. He was burning with desire and was about to lose his mind, but in order to completely break the defense of the person under him, he still tried his best to endure and slowly dragged back and forth.
Su Yan gasped and scratched him: “Faster, faster…”
“How to move? Tell me.” Shen Qi’s voice was hoarse.
Su Yan’s whole body flushed with shame, and he closed his eyes and shook his head randomly. Shen Qi found the most interesting part of his body, hit it hard, and then withdrew. Su Yan suddenly collapsed completely, throwing all principles and bottom lines behind his head, moaning in a broken voice: “Ah… move like this… good brother, f*ck me hard… that place! Um ah ah…”
——If he delayed a moment longer, Shen Qi would have surrendered with the whole country.
Although the moan was weak, it was like adding fuel to a raging fire. Shen Qi could no longer control himself and started thr*sting violently. The “pa pa” sound of the b*ttocks slapping against each other was drowned out by the splashing sound of water.
Su Yan rolled in the sea of desire, and was constantly pushed to climax by the waves. He floated up and down involuntarily, and uttered bone-chilling m*ans that were almost sobbing. In the moment of ecstasy, he still retained the last bit of clarity and bit his fingers in his mouth to prevent his moans from turning into screams.
Seeing that Su Yan was about to ej*culate, Shen Qi lifted his waist and hips in time, letting streams of white liquid fall between his abdomen and legs. He saw that the semen was thick, with a faint yellowish color at first, and then milky white, more than normal, as if it had been accumulated for a long time.
Some of it splashed onto Shen Qi’s face. He wiped it with his fingers and put it into his mouth. The taste was strong. He estimated that he hadn’t ejaculated for at least two or three months, and he probably hadn’t even masturbated. He suddenly felt guilty for his previous suspicions, and felt that his wife was not only decent, but also chaste.
Gao Shuo also said in his secret report that Lord Su and his personal guards had been partying every night before returning home, and would spend more than half an hour fiddling around before going to bed every day. It was just bullsh*t! He didn’t know if he was too nervous, or if he had developed the habit of exaggerating things.
Su Yan, his entire body flushed, leaned against the edge of the pool, trembling slightly in the lingering waves of pleasure. The cool breeze brushed over his exposed shoulders and back, raising a shiver of goosebumps on his skin.
Shen Qi, feeling a pang of tenderness, pulled him into his embrace, letting Su Yan rest against his chest while sitting on his lap, submerged in the warm spring to regain warmth.
As Su Yan gradually recovered, he became aware of a hard object pressing against him from below. Embarrassed by his mere fifteen minutes, he could only console himself—after all, it had been too long since he last found release, making him more sensitive. He nudged Shen Qi with his elbow and lazily said, “Let me get up and get dressed.”
Shen Qi replied, “My dear wife, how heartless of you—using me and then tossing me aside without a care for your husband, who is still hard.”
With that, he maintained their back-hugging position, spread Su Yan’s legs apart, and pushed himself into the slick, yielding depths. He rocked within the warmth of the spring water while his hands stayed busy—one alternated between kneading the two small red peaks on Su Yan’s chest, while the other encircled his waist, stroking and teasing his arousal.
Su Yan, who had just come down from his high, found himself once again ignited by desire. He panted lightly, “Don’t take too long. If those Embroidered Uniform Guard start getting suspicious and come closer—”
“They wouldn’t dare intrude. At most, they would just—”
Just then, a voice called out from beyond the darkened forest. Chu Yuan’s voice rang through the night air: “My lord, it’s getting dark. Do you have any orders?”
Su Yan’s heart pounded wildly, as if he had been caught in the act of an illicit affair. He pressed down hard on Shen Qi’s thigh, forbidding him from continuing his reckless actions. Forcing himself to steady his breath, he raised his voice and responded, “Nothing, I’m just enjoying the soak. I’ll get up in a while. I’ll call you when I’m done.”
“—calling out to check,” Shen Qi finished his sentence with an amused chuckle. Then, leaning in close to Su Yan’s ear, he murmured, “Are you enjoying yourself, my dear wife? But your husband is left hanging, neither up nor down—what should I do?”
Su Yan rolled his eyes so hard they nearly reached the heavens. He thought, If you keep going this slow, this could drag on for half the night. Might as well endure another round of fierce passion and get it over with sooner.
Sliding off Shen Qi’s lap, he leaned forward onto the pool’s edge, both frustrated and resigned. “Fifteen minutes, no more. If you’re not done by then, I’m leaving.”
Shen Qi was taken aback—he had never seen Su Yan so cooperative before. Overjoyed, he wasted no time, gripping Su Yan’s waist and hips tightly, foregoing any further teasing, and set to work in earnest.
Su Yan felt his arousal stirring once more and let out a quiet sigh. Reaching up, he snapped off a plum blossom branch from the nearby tree and held it between his lips.
When pleasure threatened to overwhelm him, he bit down on the blossom, allowing only the faintest of gasps to escape.
The plum branch quivered in his mouth as his pale body moved in tandem with his swaying black hair, petals drifting down in a fluttering cascade. In that moment of passion, his sidelong glances, tinged with emotion, were even more breathtaking than the moonlight on a snowy night.
Shen Qi was utterly intoxicated by the beauty before him.
