“There’s water in the next room. Please, Lord Su, allow me to escort you to wash up.”
“No… no need. I can cover it with my sleeve and clean up once I return,” Su Yan stammered, sensing an ominous undertone as he edged closer to the cell door.
“Lord Su, no need to stand on ceremony. Since you’re here at the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s imperial prison, it’s only right for me to extend the hospitality of the host.” Shen Qi firmly placed a hand on Su Yan’s shoulder, leaving a bloody handprint on his autumn-colored court attire—a glaring stain. He tutted maliciously, “Clumsy me, I’ve dirtied your outer robe as well. In that case, why not change it while we’re at it?”
Su Yan jumped as if he had stepped on a porcupine and made a dash for the door.
Shen Qi effortlessly caught him by the waist with one hand and dragged him several meters into a hidden chamber, shutting the door behind them.
In just a few seconds, Su Yan realized the vast difference in their physical strength and combat skills, thinking to himself, This is it, I’m done for!
Ever since he had arrived in this dynasty, trapped in the shell of a frail scholar, he had been plagued by unwanted attention. His fellow examinees tried to propose marriage contracts, passing secret spies wanted to take advantage of him, and even the lecherous Yu Wang had attempted to make him his secret lover. Su Yan had managed to escape each situation with difficulty, but now he had fallen into another trap.
Yu Wang, although lecherous, at least had a sense of decorum, preferring the game of mutual consent. For now, Su Yan could fend him off. But if this Embroidered Uniform Guard commander, Shen Qi, decided to act without any regard for consequences, forcing himself upon Su Yan, should Su Yan really fight to the death and tear all pretense apart?
He had come with the Crown Prince’s token. If anything happened to him in the imperial prison, Shen Qi would definitely face the consequences. If he was foolish enough to sacrifice his future and his life for a moment of indulgence, how had he managed to become a commander in the first place?
Despite his nervousness, Su Yan was filled with doubt, which kept him from shouting or struggling.
Shen Qi dragged him to a large vat of water, but only scooped out water with a wooden ladle, offering it to wash Su Yan’s hands. He also used the opportunity to wash the blood off his own hands.
Su Yan’s tension eased a little, and he forced a smile. “Commander, you gave me quite the scare.”
“Did you find it amusing?” Shen Qi asked, drying his hands with a towel. “Your reaction was the calmest I’ve ever seen, Lord Su. Most people would have screamed or struggled violently.”
Because struggling was utterly pointless—they weren’t even in the same weight class, for heaven’s sake. As for shouting, that would be a complete waste of energy. If it earned him a cliché response like, “Scream all you want, even if you scream your lungs out, no one will save you,” he’d only end up choking on his own blood.
Su Yan tried scrubbing at the bloody handprint on his shoulder, but the more he wiped, the worse it got. The stain spread from palm-sized to fan-sized, the metallic stench filling his nose. He frowned in disgust.
Shen Qi, long accustomed to the smell of blood, found the scholar’s fastidiousness amusing. “Either take it off entirely or just endure it.”
Su Yan froze.
“Endure it.” Those words had a strangely familiar ring to them…
The old wounds on his backside suddenly twinged, and he exclaimed, “Ah! You’re the one who carried out the court flogging!”
Shen Qi snorted. “Just figured that out? If I hadn’t stepped in to replace that subordinate, you’d have likely died under the rod that day.”
For his interference, Shen Qi had been scolded harshly by Commandant Feng Que. It had taken quite the effort to convince the man that Su Yan’s survival was pure dumb luck rather than Shen Qi deliberately pulling his punches.
As for the motives behind it, he was still puzzling them out. Su Yan was just a fledgling official, insignificant in rank and influence, albeit with a sliver of imperial favor. Why had the commandant seized the opportunity to try to kill him? Or was someone else pulling the strings?
Saved my life! Su Yan was filled with gratitude. Fortunately, he had previously shown Shen Qi a bit of—no, let’s call it magnanimity—and left him some dignity. That goodwill had turned into a life-saving favor at a critical moment. Truly, as the saying goes, Leave some room for others, and you’ll meet again in better circumstances.
“Words can’t express my gratitude, Commander. Should you ever need anything, Qinghe will do his utmost to assist you. Let’s establish a good rapport to support each other in the future—”
“—I need something right now,” Shen Qi interrupted.
Su Yan blinked. “Huh?”
“Call me Qilang.” Shen Qi said in a hoarse voice, cupping the plump balls under his crotch and rubbing them gently.
The dormant p*nis was neatly shaped, with a clean skin, and even had a bit of the tenderness of a young man. Shen Qi played with it, encircling the p*nis with five fingers, stroking it back and forth, and gently rubbing the smooth crown and shallow groove with his fingertips. His movements went from awkward to skilled, and he quickly got the hang of it.
Su Yan felt dizzy, his brows ached, and his lungs were almost burning, but his body gave a faithful physiological response. For the first time, he hated why men were animals with lower bodies and would surrender at the slightest provocation.
Shen Qi noticed that the p*nis in his hand was gradually filling up and swelling, and it was even bigger than expected. He lowered his head to take a closer look, and saw that it was straight like a staff, and the color was between red and pink, very beautiful. He couldn’t help but raise the corner of his mouth and whispered in his ear: “This is it. They all say it’s the most enjoyable thing, so why make it so life-and-death, making both sides uncomfortable?”
Su Yan was about to curse again. Shen Qi pinched the bell’s mouth, as if grasping the snake’s seven-inch point, completely cutting off the scolding.
He seemed addicted to playing with it, his hands were full of tricks, the calloused fingers scratched the sensitive tender flesh from time to time, causing Su Yan to shrink and even speechless. He played with it for a quarter of an hour before speeding up the stroking. Soon, the boy trembled all over and whimpered, and he released in his hand.
Raising his hand to look at the white liquid on his fingers, Shen Qi sniffed it with interest and licked his fingertips.
Su Yan fell down from the climax of the dazzling white light, his eyes were empty, and he looked at the man in front of him woodenly.
Shen Qi thought this look was extremely cute, and couldn’t help but lean over to kiss his eyebrows and cheeks, while using his wet fingers to explore his back entry, his fingertips sinking into a soft and warm honey hole.
The surrounding muscles were contracted, just like a paradise with its doors tightly closed. It was trying its best to defend against external invasion, but it was clearly powerless to resist and was about to be brutally occupied by swords and spears. It can only fall in reluctance, grief, anger and despair.
This kind of pleasure of conquest completely excited the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who had killed countless people.
He squeezed in another finger, and then tasted the salty heat on the tip of his tongue.
It’s not the smell of blood…it’s tears.
It was like a drop of boiling oil splashed on the flesh of the heart. After the shock, the burning pain came slowly. Shen Qi stopped, stepped back a little, and looked at Su Yan’s face.
The young scholar’s eyes were red, and he tried hard to hold back the tears of shame, but one drop still fell on his lips. He said in a trembling voice: “Do I have to repay you like this? I will repay you with my life, you just give me a knife, okay?”
This “okay” made Shen Qi’s heart ache and his hands soften, and he didn’t know where the cruelty of peeling people’s skin off their backs that he usually did was thrown away.
He stood still for a moment, sighed, slowly withdrew his hand, and wiped it clean on the hem of Su Yan’s clothes.
“Forget it.” the Commander said listlessly.
He pulled back, allowing Su Yan to fall from the stone wall to the ground.
Su Yan’s legs were blocked from blood circulation, and he felt numbness and tingling. He could not stand steadily and fell forward.
Shen Qi hugged his waist and bit his neck, “You threw yourself into my arms, you can’t blame me.”
He grabbed Su Yan’s hand and pressed it between his legs, where the blood was already surging. He pulled down half of his pants, and his erect p*nis jumped out impatiently, as thick as a pestle, barely enough to hold with one hand, veins tangled on the shaft, like an angry dragon, and transparent saliva spitting out of the glans.
Su Yan had just shed two half-true, half-fake tears, thinking he had finally escaped disaster. However, when the path took a turn and he saw the long erect thing, his first reaction was a bit of envy—this must be at least eighteen centimeters, right? In modern times, that’s a rare size. It was only in the second moment that he realized: What the h*ll am I envious of? It can’t grow on me, and instead, I have to worry about it getting stuck in me—what kind of messed-up situation is this?!
“Help me get it out.” Shen Qi pushed the p*nis into his palm.
Su Yan pulled his hand away angrily.
Shen Qi frowned and threatened again: “If you don’t want to use your hands, then use your back.” Then he touched his back garden again.
Su Yan had no choice but to hold it, silently reciting the mantra “Yuzu Miku Tenkae, Sakura Reia, Yui Hatano” in his heart, and using the hand skills he had practiced for many years in his previous life, he gave the same s*x a long plane flight.
Finally, Shen Qi panted and released on his hand, four or five waves of white liquid connected, most of which were shot on his waist and robes.
At the climax, Shen Qi leaned over and hugged Su Yan tightly. After trembling, he kept kissing his red earlobe.
This embrace seemed to carry a gesture of reconciliation. Su Yan had already kicked and cursed, but now, with his hands and feet sore, his mouth dry, and no energy left to argue with the stubborn and unreasonable Embroidered Uniform Guard, he simply gave the other man a cursory pat on the back and pushed him away.
His robes were in complete disarray, so he discarded them in a corner, dressed only in his undershirt, tied his pants, washed his hands, and walked over to the table in search of water.
Shen Qi, after tidying his own clothes and washing his hands, poured him a cup of cold tea that had been prepared earlier.
Su Yan gulped it down, then drank two more cups in one go before finally letting out a deep breath, feeling the tightness in his chest ease a bit.
Shen Qi reached out, using his thumb to gently rub Su Yan’s damp, reddened lips, then planted a lingering kiss on them.
“It hurts,” Su Yan said softly, touching the small crack on his lip.
Though the cracks were tiny, not even the size of a grain of millet, the experienced and cruel Embroidered Uniform Guard commander felt an unexpected twinge of concern as he lightly licked the wounds with his tongue.
Su Yan, utterly at a loss with this rogue of a secret police officer whom he couldn’t beat or reason with, rubbed his temples and said, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll report you to the Crown Prince? Forcing yourself on a court official could easily get you executed.”
Shen Qi chuckled softly, “But nothing happened, right? Besides, I have no shame, but does a man of your pure and noble stature want to lose face too? It’s best if we just go with the flow.”
“Is that how you use the phrase ‘go with the flow’?” Su Yan sighed, feeling exasperated. “What do you really want?”
Shen Qi sat closer to him and said, “I want to be your lover.”
“Fine, but first, go to Thailand and get a gender change.”
“…I’m not quite following, but I did catch the ‘fine’ part.”
Su Yan collapsed onto the table, sighing dramatically, “What sin did I commit in my past life? I was just a lazy guy without much ambition, and now the heavens are punishing me like this?”
Shen Qi, amused by his theatrics, smiled and said, “Then in this life, you’d better work hard, rise to the top, and earn heaven’s forgiveness.”
Su Yan glared at him, “If I do rise to the top, the first thing I’ll do is have you killed!”
Shen Qi laughed heartily, grabbing the back of Su Yan’s neck and pulling him in for another deep kiss. “Then before I die, I’ll make sure to get my fill. Just wait.”
Su Yan changed into a fresh pale-blue outfit and left the Embroidered Uniform Guard prison, looking utterly drained.
He left behind the food and clothing, but as for how much more torture the imprisoned Chancellor Zhuo could endure, Su Yan, a powerless scholar crossing the river, had no way to intervene.
Shen Qi didn’t use any more extreme torture, out of consideration for Su Yan, but he was well aware that Zhuo Qi was doomed. Even if Yu Yong had a sudden change of heart and retracted his testimony in court, it wouldn’t make any difference. When Embroidered Uniform Guard Commandant Feng Que wanted someone dead, they never failed.
—-Now, he could only hope that the flogging incident had been orchestrated by someone else and that it had already passed, rather than being an ongoing plot to kill Su Yan. If not…
And if it weren’t? What could he do? He was just a small-time commander, with his life and death at the mercy of his superiors. Could he truly risk everything, including his life, for a young scholar he’d only met a few times?
Shen Qi gripped the hilt of his Xiu Chun blade tightly, the decorative rivets digging into his calloused hand, causing a dull pain in his palm.
If that day ever came, would he really sacrifice everything to keep Su Yan safe? The thought left him feeling uncertain.
