Укротитель зверей

Глава 47

I looked up sharply. "He really came?"

He Nan walked in and placed the tray he was carrying on the only table in the room. The tray was fully equipped with bowls and chopsticks, and it turned out to be a breakfast.

"Yes, I already told you, he loves you so much. He rushed back to see you and left again before dawn."

I suddenly remembered our kiss last night, and finally, belatedly, I felt a surge of heat in my body. I lowered my head and stammered, "You saw it?"

He paused for a moment, then said, "Why are you blushing? You can do whatever you want, I won't watch." He then held up two fingers to show his determination, "I'm not interested." He then stroked his chin and added, "You haven't done it yet, have you? That would be such a waste..."

I blushed even more, feeling like I wanted to kick him. He pointed to the things on the table, "Let's eat breakfast!"

I was really hungry, and too lazy to talk to him anymore, so I simply sat down and ate to my heart's content.

He watched me eat, his eyes fixed on me, which made me a little uneasy, and I slowed down my swallowing.

Why are you looking at me like that!

He hesitated, then smacked his lips and asked, "Is it good?"

I scooped some of the contents of the bowl; it was just a bowl of thin porridge. Although it was pale green, it tasted pretty good.

"It's alright, you cooked it with lotus leaves? Look at the color." I've seen quite a bit about food over the years, but that joke about eating a pound of beef when I was young is something I'll never relive.

He scoffed, "You really don't know your stuff. This is brewed with snow lotus from the Tianshan Mountains. How can something like lotus leaves compare?"

I choked for a moment, thinking that Tian Shan snow lotus was a rare find on the market. Back when I still called myself "Empress," I ate dragon liver and phoenix gall at every meal, and I was so sick of taking supplements that I felt like throwing up.

He didn't notice my disapproval and continued smugly, "Although this place is underground, it's warm and dry, and has a water source, making it ideal for cultivating and storing rare medicines. And those medicinal beasts, did you see them? That one, and that one, and those in the trees..."

As He Nan spoke, he pushed open the window and pointed. Seeing that he was about to launch into a long tirade, I immediately buried my head in the large bowl in front of me and pretended to be temporarily deaf.

After that, I was forced to stay in this place with He Nan. My martial arts skills were inferior to Mo Li's, and compared to He Nan, I was at most about the same—except that my lightness skill was slightly better than his. But this was his territory, full of unknown flowers, plants, and animals. If he really wanted to trick me, a puff of smoke would be enough. I was at least a guest, so I didn't need to spend my days with him, living in constant fear.

There were still more than ten days until the full moon night. Mo Lizhen really had a lot of things to do, just as he said. Sometimes I couldn't see him for several days in a row. He would come back in the middle of the night and leave again in the early morning, which made me think I was dreaming.

Strictly speaking, He Nan is a decent person; at least he keeps his promises. He prepares various tonics for me every day to help me recover in preparation for the upcoming full moon. At first, I was a little worried about him and me being alone together, but then Mo Li spoke up one night during my incessant chatter, saying, "You know what? Master Shengshou isn't interested in women."

When I looked at He Nan again, my eyes were filled with pity. I kept remembering his expression when he said, "Even if everyone in the world is chasing after you, if the person you want doesn't want you, there's nothing you can do about it."

Uncle, even if all the women in the world love you, there's nothing that can be done if you only like men.

Since it was mostly just the two of us in the valley, He Nan and I gradually became familiar with each other, and I became more accepting of his speaking style. Later, we could even chat for a while. Although He Nan was often eccentric, he was indeed knowledgeable about pharmacology. He spoke eloquently about the plants and animals in the valley, and while he was uninteresting, I listened attentively. I slowly learned a few things from him.

What's frightening is that, apart from discussing the Soul-Suppressing Worm for a while when Mo Li was present that day, he remained tight-lipped about it afterward, refusing to utter a single word no matter how I tried to probe him, his mouth as tight as if it had been sewn shut with a needle.

I had an insatiable thirst for knowledge about something that had troubled me for three whole years, especially since it concerned Mo Li's life and death. At first, He Nan tried to steer the conversation in circles, but when I pressed him for an answer, he simply said, "I promised not to tell you," and turned his back on me.

I was so angry that I ignored him for two days.

Days passed by like flowing water. Every night, I would sit in the wooden cabin by my bed and watch the moon. He Nan was indeed not interested in me. Every evening after dinner, he would disappear without a trace, and I don't know where he went to cuddle his rare medicinal beast and pour out his heart to me, leaving me alone, which was quite peaceful.

The valley was nestled in a crevice in the earth, with only a sliver of sky visible when you looked up. Often, you could only see a sliver of the moon, but even this tiny glimpse of the white moon would always leave me mesmerized. Once, I even fell asleep on the rooftop and slept until the sun was high in the sky. The second time, I wasn't so peaceful. I was caught by Mo Li in the middle of the night, and he was so angry that he found He Nan and gave him a good scolding, saying that he hadn't been keeping an eye on me.

I find it strange. We are the ones who need He Nan's help, but He Nan's subservient manner towards Mo Li makes it seem like He Nan is the one who needs his help.

The thought sent a chill down my spine. Even though I was still a little groggy from just waking up, my hand was already gripping Mo Li's clothes, desperately wanting to pull him behind me to block He Nan's gaze—that older man who didn't like women. But that was just wishful thinking. The reality was, Mo Li was holding me behind him, and I could only listen to their conversation while looking at his back.

After scolding He Nan, Mo Li showed no intention of letting me go. He turned around, grabbed me, and dragged me into the house, throwing me onto the only bed in the room.

I've been sleeping with him so much these days that any sense of shame I feel is as insignificant as the occasional cloud drifting across the sky above the crack in the ground.

What's more, he hadn't been back for several days before this, and I missed him terribly. He stood by the bed, and my body automatically rolled over to him and hugged his legs, like a cat being affectionate, almost rubbing my head against his clothes.

"Lie down properly." His voice was slightly stiff.

I was too weak to move. He had traveled countless miles, and his clothes were covered in the smell of dust and grime. If you got close, you could smell something else more intense.

The smell of blood.

5

I was terrified almost immediately and couldn't lie down anymore. I jumped out of bed and touched him. He brushed my hand away. His hair was a little disheveled, with bangs hanging down his forehead. He looked unusually tired.

"I'm fine, that's not my blood."

Whose is that? I almost blurted it out, but the murderous look on his face scared me back.

No wonder He Nan was so subservient to him before; I stood behind him the whole time and didn't even notice. His fierce killing intent made it seem like he had just killed hundreds of people and was about to kill hundreds more. Not to mention He Nan, whose martial arts skills were lacking, anyone would go weak in the knees upon seeing him.

He glanced at my expression, turned his head slightly, pointed to the bed, and repeated, "Lie down." Then he turned and left.

I was momentarily stunned, wondering where he was going, but my body moved the moment he left the cabin, and I jumped off the bed and ran to the door.

He closed the door behind him as he left, but the wooden hut was simple, with sparse gaps all over the thin door panel. I placed my hand on the door, and before I even pushed it open, my eyes could clearly see his silhouette by the stream through those gaps.

He was actually scooping water to wash his hands and face, very carefully, and when he finally stood up, he looked down at the hem of his clothes again.

In just a few days, he had lost even more weight. His shadow, stretched long and thin by the moonlight, grew long before I could decide whether to push open the door and go out. He had already finished everything he was doing and turned to walk back to the cabin.

Suddenly at a loss, I ran back to bed and, trying to cover myself up, wrapped myself in the blanket. If Wende knew that the unparalleled lightness skill he taught me was being used up in moments like this, he might just vomit blood.

Mo Li pushed open the door and entered, his footsteps still very light. In fact, if he had just taken a slight breath, he could have landed without making a sound, but he had never done so when he entered this place.

Perhaps he felt it was unnecessary.

He stopped by the bed and sat down on the edge of the bed next to me.

"Aren't you hot?" he asked, looking at me wrapped in the blanket. His face was still a little damp, and a lock of hair that had fallen down was stuck to his porcelain-like forehead. The fierce killing intent he had shown earlier was gone, and even if there were still some faint traces, it only looked like another kind of weariness.

I was just standing on the roof with my arms and legs outstretched, enjoying the breeze. Now I'm wrapped up in a thick blanket, so of course I'm hot. His question made it even harder for me to stay there. My eyes were glued to him, and I reached my hands out from under the blanket, grabbed his shirt, and stared at him intently.

The bloodstains had long since congealed. While Mo Li wasn't as fastidious as Wen De, he was usually quite tidy, and he had changed clothes during his journey that day, mostly black, though I didn't know where they came from. They fit him perfectly, and this outfit he was wearing today was no exception. In the darkness, the congealed bloodstains weren't noticeable on the black hem of his clothes. Otherwise, I wouldn't have only noticed them upon closer inspection. Now, looking at them so closely, they were indeed just splattered bloodstains, not his.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but when I looked up, I saw him looking at me, our eyes meeting, and he suddenly smiled.

"Not afraid anymore?"

Whether it was the past monsoon or the present Mo Li, they were both people who rarely smiled. When they did smile, I felt that the spring water in front of me was like a painting, and I almost covered my nose with my hands.

A slight smile flickered in his eyes. He stretched out his right hand, four fingers together, and gently touched my forehead, uttering two words in a hoarse voice.

"It's no use."

I am truly useless. All the nobility I once possessed as a princess has vanished with time, especially when facing him; I have no temper left at all.

Mo Li took off his coat, got into bed and lay down next to me. Seeing that he was indeed not injured, I felt relieved. I rested my head on his shoulder and wanted to talk to him, but when I saw that his eyes were slightly closed, it seemed that he was about to fall asleep.

He's been leaving often these days. Although I don't like it, I've gradually gotten used to it. But today, seeing those bloodstains, I couldn't help but ask. My eyes were fixed on the coat lying on the side of the bed, and I couldn't help but utter words.

"So much blood splattered?"

He hummed in agreement, clearly unwilling to elaborate.

Having spent a lot of time with Lord Mo Li, I naturally know that the key to talking to him is perseverance.

Although he doesn't like to talk, if you really press him, he'll occasionally answer a sentence or two.

So I pressed further, asking, "Did you run into anyone this time?"

He kept his eyes closed and didn't answer for a long time. Just when I was about to give up hope, he suddenly spoke.

"I went to Chongguan City once."

"......"

"The two countries went to war, Mexico launched a surprise attack, and the city was in chaos."

"......"

"The city gates have been breached, and the soldiers ran faster than the civilians, resulting in many deaths."

"......"

"Are you shaking?" he said as his last words, then reached out and hugged me.

Even this warm embrace couldn't stop me from trembling.

The two countries went to war.

All I can think of are endless flames, blood, screams, and the faces of people struggling between life and death.

I even thought of the innkeeper, that timid, obsequious, and honest man.

What has become of his humble little inn now?

The world has been at peace for almost ten years, so why start a war now?

When my elder brother ascended the throne, didn't he hold Mo Fei's hand and say that he would be friends with him forever? He even wanted me to marry that man, so that the two countries could be at peace through marriage and secure the border forever.

But I ran away.

I heard a faint sound coming from inside my body, like something breaking.

war.

There is nothing that terrifies me more than these two words, especially when I feel I have let everyone down.

"Okay, I'm here." He waited a while, but didn't get a response from me. He uttered the words very softly, lifted me to his chest, and kissed my lips, just like that night.

His lips were soft and slightly cool, while I felt like someone drowning under ice, suddenly finding a crack that offered the only way to survive, and desperately trying to get closer.

I tilted my head back, a position that allowed me to kiss his thin lips.

He probably didn't expect my reaction. His hands holding me trembled slightly, then suddenly tightened. My waist was gripped in his hands, and I let out a soft moan as he suddenly tightened his grip. My mouth felt wet and slippery. His tongue plunged in, intertwining with mine, licking and sucking, as if trying to swallow me whole.

I had never experienced a kiss like this before. My body gradually heated up, my heart pounded erratically, and my vision blurred, with large swaths of color floating by, yet I couldn't grasp anything.

The passionate kisses continued, and my mind began to drift. I was afraid I would faint, and I didn't know how to struggle. All I could do was call his name, but my tongue was still in his mouth, and the sound was indistinct; even I couldn't understand it. My body was still pressed tightly against his, and my inner thighs felt like they were being pressed against something hard and hot, so hot that I unconsciously moved my legs.

His kissing suddenly stopped, a hoarse groan escaping from deep in his throat. He was breathing rapidly, his forehead was covered in sweat, and his eyes were tightly closed, as if he were enduring some great pain.

I was terrified, and with the last vestiges of my consciousness, I asked him, "What's wrong with you?"

He moved me off him, his palms burning hot, his dark eyes wet with a color that seemed to have been settling down after suppressing so much. Just one glance made my heart pound.

"Mo Li..." I didn't know what had happened. When I pressed for an answer, I heard a hoarse, unfamiliar, and stiff sound coming from my mouth. It was so strange that I wanted to cover my ears.

He couldn't stand it anymore and reached out to turn me around, making me face the inside of the bed so I couldn't see his face anymore.

I had my back to him, and I could feel his hand on my shoulder. He took a long time to regulate his breathing. I tried to turn around to look at him several times, but his hand stopped me each time.

When I made one last effort, I finally heard him speak; his low, hoarse voice carried a hint of defeat.

"I don't want to rush things; I want you to see someone else."

I was still warm from the heat, half-conscious and half-dazed. When I heard him say that, I could only vaguely repeat, "To see someone?"

He couldn't continue, so he gripped my shoulders, keeping a small distance between us, just a gap of two fingers.