Chapter Index

    “What did you see? Why are you staring so intently?”

    “Let me see.”

    “I want to see too!”

    The rest of the aristocratic young masters grew impatient and squeezed forward, craning their necks to peek through the crack in the door. Then, just like the Zhao family young master, they froze.

    Lu Yi, that bastard, dared to lie to them!

    Swallowing sounds rose and fell, and gradually, their anger transformed into something else, something obscure.

    They were around the same age as Lu Yi, full of youthful vigor. Normally, in Upper Cloud Capital, the most they saw were erotic picture books, which they used to feign worldliness. They hadn’t even touched a girl’s hand, so where had they ever witnessed a scene like this?

    The usually fierce beauty now had snowy cheeks and a flushed face, his eyes brimming with tears. He was being kissed by the savage man until his legs trembled, his knuckles clinging pitifully to the man’s shoulder, his pale toes curled up.

    The group squeezed at the door crack, staring intently at those toes, leaning further and further forward, even starting to jostle one another.

    The slightly ajar door of the Bamboo Hut couldn’t withstand the weight pressing against it and suddenly swung open. The Zhao family young master, who was leading the charge, stumbled and fell heavily to the ground.

    The sound of his fall was not small, yet the alert Deputy Commander of the Xiao Ling Guard inside seemed not to have heard it at all. He continued kissing the demonic leader, not even lifting an eyelid.

    The Zhao family young master lay stunned on the floor, unable to resist sniffing the ground.

    Even the floorboards of this Bamboo Hut were fragrant.

    “What is all this commotion? How dare you trespass into the Valley Master’s room?” Song Qingming walked up to the Bamboo Hut.

    No one paid him any attention, so Song Qingming frowned and looked inside.

    One glance was enough to make his eyes nearly burst from their sockets.

    “Lu Yi, you beast! Let go of the Valley Master!” Song Qingming strode forward.

    This time, the commotion finally startled the man immersed in the kiss.

    Lu Yi pulled back from Xie Rong’s lips, sweat pouring down his face. He felt scorching hot, and the heat sprayed urgently onto Xie Rong’s cheek. As if still unsatisfied, he rubbed his nose against it.

    His rough thumb instinctively traced the shallow, reddish crescent birthmark, and he became utterly lost again.

    “Valley Master… he—”

    Xie Rong slapped away Lu Yi’s hand, which was attempting to straighten his collar. He stood up and walked over to Song Qingming, delivering a sharp slap across the young man’s face.

    Song Qingming covered his face and knelt down, only to be kicked to the ground. A foot clad in a wooden clog pressed down on his face.

    Following the clog upward, his gaze met the delicate, slender collarbone, and the long, straight legs that extended deep beneath the hem of the robe.

    Were the beauties of South Xinjiang all like this—wearing skirts but no undergarments?

    Song Qingming’s eyes glazed over. Xie Rong was completely oblivious, saying impatiently, “Who allowed you to barge in?”

    “The patrolling medicine slaves caught a suspicious figure outside the valley. Your servant specifically came to report and ask for the Valley Master’s instructions.” Song Qingming cast a cold glance at the man beside Xie Rong, then obediently lowered his eyes.

    “Valley Master, for all these years the court has failed to find the entrance to Miedie Valley, but now…” Song Qingming continued softly, “Perhaps there is an internal spy in the valley. I humbly request the Valley Master investigate thoroughly.”

    “I recall you were once a young master in Upper Cloud Capital,” Xie Rong withdrew his foot, his sweet smile laced with malice. “Now you’ve become a good dog.”

    Song Qingming knelt upright, head bowed, and remained silent.

    Xie Rong licked his swollen lips. “It’s too late tonight. I don’t have the energy to deal with him. Hang the person on the Five Poisons Cave for now. We’ll discuss it in three days.”

    With that, he swept his gaze over the cluster of men in the room. “All of you, scram.”

    Once everyone had left the Bamboo Hut, Xie Rong squinted at Lu Yi, frowning. “Why haven’t you left yet?”

    “Do I have to leave too?” Lu Yi asked in a low voice.

    Xie Rong couldn’t help but chuckle a few times. He walked close to the man and lightly tapped the man’s lips with his fingertip. “You didn’t think that just because you licked my mouth a few times, you’re different from them, did you?”

    They were all Central Plains people, all cheap men, with cheap bones.

    Lu Yi, as the protagonist whom he most detested in this small world, was even more despicable than the others.

    Xie Rong’s smile faded, his expression undeniably shadowed. He grabbed the man’s collar and yanked him close. “You are only fit to be my medicine slave for the rest of your life, washing my clothes forever.”

    The demonic leader who had just moments ago opened his lips and extended his bright red tongue to seduce him, now suddenly turned hostile and was utterly spoiled and domineering.

    It was clearly Xie Rong himself who had painstakingly planted the Gu worm in him, yet now that the Gu was settled, he was dissatisfied. He was truly difficult to please.

    Lu Yi, held by his collar, had no choice but to lower his body. Smelling the fragrance on him, he said hoarsely, “I know.”

    “Aren’t you the Deputy Commander of the Xiao Ling Guard? Then guess… who is the person caught outside the valley? Could it be someone you know? If he saw you now, tormented and controlled by the Gu poison, would he laugh at you? Would he spread your scandal back to Upper Cloud Capital and make you lose all face?”

    Lu Yi was silent for a moment. “I never care what others think of me.”

    “Hypocrite,” Xie Rong released his collar and smiled faintly. “You are all the same hypocrites.”

    “We?” Lu Yi asked, driven by a strange impulse. “Besides me, who else?”

    Could it be that others had also been infected with Gu by Xie Rong?

    “As for that question, when you are pleasing enough to me, perhaps I will be merciful and enlighten you. But for now,” Xie Rong curved his eyes, his red lips exhaling fragrance, “Get out.”

    The man was chased out.

    Xie Rong walked back to the couch and sat down, touching his lip where the skin had been broken. He couldn’t help but frown.

    This protagonist was like a dog, hugging him, licking him, and biting him. It wasn’t drawn like this in the book!

    Xie Rong had made the man study the book many times tonight, but he still couldn’t learn. All he did was lick or bite, and he couldn’t control his tongue.

    Such a stupid man, not half as smart as him. Heaven must have been blind to choose such a protagonist.

    Host, the plot seems to be deviating slightly.

    In the original book, no one besides the protagonist infiltrated the valley.

    “Did I cause the plot deviation?”

    No.

    “Then what does it have to do with us?” Xie Rong sneered, taking out an ointment and applying it to his lip. “I am diligently tormenting him every day.”

    Exactly! Host is the most amazing little task master!

    Outside the Bamboo Hut, Lu Yi did not return to the Low Houses after leaving. Instead, he avoided the patrol teams he had already memorized and went to the Five Poisons Cave.

    A tall male figure was conspicuously hanging on the Five Poisons Cave.

    However, his treatment was slightly better than Lu Yi’s; at least his mouth wasn’t gagged.

    “What are you doing here?” Lu Yi stood by the edge of the cave, his expression grim. “This doesn’t seem to be the Little General’s concern.”

    The man hanging from the hemp rope had a stern face and a cold voice. “Now that the major aristocratic families are constantly pressuring the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, the capital is in turmoil, and rumors are flying everywhere, yet they have waited in vain for good news from the Xiao Ling Division. They believe the Xiao Ling Division is useless, so they sent me to replace you.”

    “I, however, want to ask, what exactly has Deputy Commander been doing in Miedie Valley all this time? Not rescuing people, not capturing the demonic leader, but what?”

    The man lowered his eyes, his gaze so sharp that even in the dense darkness, he could clearly see the scratch marks on Lu Yi’s neck, and he couldn’t help but sneer.

    What Deputy Commander of the Xiao Ling Guard? Just a shallow, lustful man.

    Note