After Pretending to be an Idiot, I Was Targeted by the Cold-Blooded Zhangyin - Chapter 40

Gu Feiyi stared at Xie Changsheng’s soulless eyes and blank, dazed face, feeling nothing but a cold urge to sneer and grind his teeth.

He had been away from the palace for four full days. He had gone to seize someone—he had opened a mine in Weicheng, and a local wealthy merchant actually tried to skim a commission and pocket some of the profits right under his nose. Gu Feiyi went there personally and captured the man overnight.

The merchant had stared at him, eyes wide, asking how Gu Feiyi intended to torture him. Gu Feiyi simply waved his hand and gave him a quick death. After the man died, he merely had the head cut off and hung at the mine as a public warning.

This was indeed unlike his usual style. Normally, he would have taken his time, playing cat and mouse, torturing the person until they had only one breath left before letting go.

But with the end of the year approaching, he was in a hurry. He was hurried to return to the palace for New Year’s Eve to watch the Emperor’s jokes. And he was hurried to see Xie Changsheng.

He wanted to hold Xie Changsheng in his lap, stroking his spine from top to bottom, running his hand over that slender back again and again. He wanted to wind Xie Changsheng’s soft, dark hair around his fingers and braid it. He wanted to feed Xie Changsheng, watching him bite into pastries with his neat, snowy teeth, chewing vigorously, and then use a handkerchief to wipe the crumbs from his lips.

Yet, upon his return, he found Xie Changsheng and Fang Ling standing together. One of you holding my hand, the other scratching your palm. One telling a joke, the other bantering back. It was a scene of pure harmony.

Gu Feiyi recalled how, before the head injury, Fang Ling would look at Xie Changsheng with nothing but disgust and disdain. But now, the look in his eyes actually carried a trace of pity.

Gu Feiyi thought he should perhaps be glad that he had such good taste and that the little pet he chose was so exceptionally endearing. But in reality, he was only infuriated that Xie Changsheng dared to “show his belly” to anyone other than himself.

Gu Feiyi released Xie Changsheng’s hand, folded his arms, and leaned over the rim of the bath barrel, looking at the boy with a beaming smile. “Speak.”

Xie Changsheng scrambled to retrieve Gu’s sleeve, which had fallen into the water. “It’s wet!”

Gu Feiyi simply asked, “Where is the ring?”

Xie Changsheng clutched the sleeve. “In my clothes. I take my clothes off to bathe; do you bathe with yours on? Oh, right, this involves a very controversial question—whether or not to take off jewelry when bathing. Some people believe…”

Gu Feiyi: “…” Here we go again.

“Quiet, Little Highness.”

Gu Feiyi straightened up, walked over to the small stool where Xie Changsheng’s clothes were piled, and rummaged through them. Sure enough, he found the jade ring at the bottom, placed together with the string of sandalwood prayer beads Fang Ling had gifted.

Gu Feiyi first picked up the prayer beads, studying them with a smile for a moment. “It truly is a fine item.” As he spoke, he tucked the beads into his own robe.

Xie Changsheng let out an “Ah.” “Friend, are you stealing?” After a pause, Xie Changsheng raised a finger in the water. “The small thief stole a stolen thing (xiǎo tōu tōu tōu tōu dōng xi); please provide the matching couplet line.”

Gu Feiyi: “…”

Ignoring him, he picked up the jade ring and walked back to Xie Changsheng’s side. “Hand.”

Xie Changsheng lifted one hand. Gu Feiyi swept a glance over it. “The other one.”

Xie Changsheng lifted his right hand. Gu Feiyi gripped the wet hand and slowly slid the white jade ring back on. He told Xie Changsheng, “You are not allowed to take this off ever again.”

Xie Changsheng blinked and asked, “Can’t take it off for bathing either?”

“No, Little Highness.”

“What if I lose it? What if my finger breaks? What if I suddenly get fat one day and the ring explodes? What if someone steals it? What if I eat it?”

Gu Feiyi: “…” How could so many strange things possibly happen?

He ignored him, simply holding Xie Changsheng’s hand under the candlelight, admiring the ring with a shallow smile. Xie Changsheng tried to pull his hand back a few times, but Gu Feiyi held it in a death grip; he couldn’t budge it.

Xie Changsheng was full of helplessness. He didn’t know what was wrong with Gu Feiyi, only that he was being even more difficult than usual. His bathwater was getting cold, yet he didn’t dare move—as the saying goes, the barefoot fear those with shoes, and those with clothes fear those without. Right now, he didn’t even dare to stir, feeling immensely grateful that there were enough pomelo and orange leaves in the water and the light was dim enough to hide him.

The problem was that soaking forever wasn’t an option. Not only was it cold, but he was also starting to prune.

Xie Changsheng tried to break through Gu Feiyi’s inner defenses. “Gu Feiyi, what’s wrong? Are you unhappy? Angry? Sad?”

Gu Feiyi looked at him and asked, “If this servant is unhappy, angry, or sad, what will the Little Highness do?”

Xie Changsheng pondered deeply for a long while before finally telling him with a serious, silly grin, “Then you can go get some vinegar and drink it. Though it won’t help, you can at least feel ‘sour’ (jealous) for a bit.”

Gu Feiyi was nearly angered into a laugh. “…”

He stared at the ring for a moment longer before finally letting go of Xie Changsheng’s hand. He whispered, “Not quite enough.”

Just as Xie Changsheng was about to ask what wasn’t enough, Gu Feiyi used his other hand to brush the wet hair away from the back of Xie’s neck. Immediately after, he gripped the back of Xie’s neck. His grip was powerful; his fingers squeezed the thin layer of flesh at the nape. Just as Xie Changsheng tried to dodge, Gu Feiyi leaned down.

Xie Changsheng felt something icy press against his neck. It was Gu Feiyi’s lips.

Xie Changsheng jumped in fright and let out a low cry. He was about to dodge, but the hand on the back of his neck circled to the front, loosely gripping his throat. Xie Changsheng froze. Simultaneously, Gu Feiyi bit the back of his neck with a ferocious force.

Half of Xie Changsheng’s body went numb with pain. “Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Let me go!”

Gu Feiyi indeed released him, letting go with his teeth and lips. But before Xie Changsheng could catch his breath, he moved to another spot and bit again. This time, the force was even greater! Xie Changsheng even suspected Gu Feiyi intended to tear a piece of flesh off.

Driven by the pain, he ignored all caution, using his hands to pry at Gu Feiyi’s hand and hitting him. But no matter how he struck, Gu Feiyi acted as if he felt nothing, even letting out a light chuckle behind the boy’s ear.

He bit four different spots on the back of Xie’s neck before finally stopping. Just as Xie Changsheng was about to indignantly accuse him, Gu Feiyi pressed his lips against the side of Xie’s neck.

Xie Changsheng panicked instantly. He shut his eyes tight, waving his hands frantically: “Don’t bite randomly, no, no, no, no! Good brother, that’s the carotid artery, ahhhhhh!”

But the expected pain didn’t arrive. A slick tongue gently and slowly licked across Xie Changsheng’s skin, licking away the water droplets on his neck, followed by… the sensation of being sucked.

Gu Feiyi sucked the skin with force, making an unshielded smacking sound near the root of Xie’s ear. Before Xie Changsheng could react, those lips—like a nimble snake—crawled toward his Adam’s apple, taking it into his mouth and toyed with it.

Xie Changsheng felt the other half of his body go numb as well. His face flushed a deep red involuntarily as he pushed Gu Feiyi away with all his might.

Gu Feiyi’s lips were wet and glistening. He used his thumb and index finger to slowly wipe them while smiling and observing Xie Changsheng’s neck. He seemed to have seen a satisfying sight, and the smile on his face finally became genuine.

He said, “Little Highness, dress quickly; the water is cold.” He added, “Do you need this servant to help?”

Xie Changsheng’s lip twitched. “No thanks, you’re truly a good person. May a good person have 108 children in one lifetime.”

Gu Feiyi wasn’t angry; instead, his smile widened as he walked around the screen. Xie Changsheng quickly dried himself and dressed. When he walked out, he saw Gu Feiyi was also changing. Since he often stayed at Yuling Palace, several sets of his clothes were kept in Xie Changsheng’s wardrobe. Currently, he had removed his wet clothes and was putting on his inner garments with his chest bare.

Seeing Xie Changsheng come out, he merely looked up once before lowering his head to tie the sash at his waist.

Xie Changsheng walked to the table and checked himself in the mirror. In the reflection, his neck looked like a snake had crawled across it—from behind his right ear all the way to his Adam’s apple, there was a meandering red mark. Reaching back to touch the nape of his neck, the skin felt uneven; several deep indentations were clearly teeth marks.

Xie Changsheng didn’t know what madness Gu Feiyi was gripped by. The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt, so he decided to be “angry.”

Gu Feiyi realized Xie Changsheng was angry.

When he called Xie Changsheng to taste the pastries he had brought back from Weicheng, Xie Changsheng said, “I won’t eat it, Suisui.”

He had actually started calling him Suisui and calling Suisui “Gu Feiyi.” Truly a reversal of heaven and earth.

But looking at the string of marks he had left on Xie Changsheng’s neck, Gu Feiyi couldn’t bring himself to be angry. He had intended to leave a mark on Xie Changsheng to let others know he had a master. Several items had flashed through his mind—bells, collars, chains. But those required time to make.

It was better to just grab him by the scruff like a disobedient cat or dog and give him a shake. Thinking this, he had bitten down. Initially, he only wanted to scare the boy, but the moment his lips touched that smooth skin, he became possessed—he only wanted to bite harder and suck more forcefully. If it hadn’t been for the final blows Xie Changsheng landed on him, Gu Feiyi didn’t know when he would have stopped.

He smiled, turning the brass ring on his finger, and told Xie Changsheng, “Do you still have the Jade Condensation Balm? The Little Highness can apply it to the back of his neck.”

Xie Changsheng intentionally annoyed him with a muffled voice: “I know, Suisui.”

Gu Feiyi’s smile deepened. He watched as Xie Changsheng rummaged through the drawer to find the black jade box and asked, “Do you know how to use it? Or should this servant do it?”

Before he could finish, Xie Changsheng had scooped out a large chunk with his finger, rubbed it between his palms, and crudely smeared it over his neck. …It was an aesthetic akin to a “wild pig eating fine bran.”

When it came time for bed, Xie Changsheng’s anger still hadn’t faded. Not only did he pull Suisui onto the bed to hold, but he also huddled against the wall, using all his strength to stay as far away from Gu Feiyi as possible.

Gu Feiyi reached out and pinched his ear. “What must this servant do for the Little Highness to forgive me?”

Xie Changsheng sighed in his heart. He was protected by Gu Feiyi and relied on him to stay alive; what was there to “forgive” or not? He gave a silly grin. “I have a question. If you answer it correctly, I’ll forgive you.”

“What question?”

“If you only have three pastries, and Big Brother, Second Brother, Big Brother Fang Ling, and the Old Man are all there, how would you divide them?”

Gu Feiyi: “…” Gibberish again.

But he answered anyway: “That’s simple.” He wound Xie Changsheng’s black hair around his finger bit by bit. “This servant wouldn’t give a single one to them. I’d bring them all back to feed the Little Highness.”

“Wrong answer,” Xie Changsheng finally turned his head, looking at him in the darkness. His voice was dazed and flat: “You should divide them into three pieces each, and then give those three pieces to them to eat.” (Dividing the people into three pieces).

Gu Feiyi: “…”

Very good. Just a bit bloody.

Gu Feiyi suddenly thought of something and asked Xie Changsheng, “What do those pastries taste like?” He licked his lips. “…I wonder if they are orange-flavored, just like the Little Highness today.”