Chapter 33 Experience: “…curry favor with Brother-in-Law.”

Chapter 33: Experience: "...Sucking Up to Brother-in-Law."

Xie Tanwei had always been gentle and reserved by nature, always leaving a little wiggle room when he talked. If he made things clear and cut straight to the bone, the prey beneath his blade would likely face no favorable fate.

Tian Qin's blood ran cold. She suddenly recalled that months ago, he had also invited her to elope, only to be shot down cold by her. Knowing how petty he was, now that he had caught her eloping with Xu Junzheng—playing favorites—there was no way he'd let it slide.

"What, feeling guilty?"

He took his time watching her face go pale and twitch, with a light scoff. "Running off makes you a concubine; a proper proposal makes you a wife—that's what you said when I asked you to run away with me, sis. Now you're going back on your word and running off with someone else. That's just not fair."

Tian Qin felt a chill in his voice, even a hint of murder in it, nothing like his usual teasing tone. Clearly, the elopement had crossed a line; when he choked her earlier, he didn't hold back.

"Brother-in-law, you're too clever for me. I admit defeat. I was stupid to think I could turn you down back then."

Her voice was flat, still shaken from nearly dying a minute ago. To stay alive, she had to back down.

"Please forgive me, Brother-in-law."

"The second I said I wouldn't marry you, you showed your real face. Guess you do like your brother-in-law after all."

"Since we both want this, it'd be a shame not to follow through. Let me make your wish come true right now, sis."

With that, Xie Tanwei suddenly grabbed Tian Qin's hand, shoved her into a carriage, and took off from the empty outskirts.

On the road, he remained silent, his vibe ice-cold and suffocating, until they got to a quiet, hidden house. He kicked the door open and tossed her onto the bed.

Tian Qin was scared out of her mind. Before she could even ask where they were, his cold, pale fingers pressed down on her shoulders, peeling off her clothes like butterfly wings.

Too familiar a start, too obvious what came next.

She screamed and grabbed at her clothes, kneeling on the bed, crying as she begged: "No, brother-in-law, you're my brother-in-law, my dearest brother-in-law! Don't do this to Tian'er! Running away was stupid; I'll never do it again. I'll stay at the Xie house and take care of you and sister, I swear!"

With the arrow already nocked, she finally swallowed her pride.

Xie Tanwei was eerily calm, watching her struggle, his face unreadable, his cruel intent didn't waver.

Even the gods wouldn't forgive lie after lie. His pity for her had been ground down by her constant lying.

She was scared—he could feel it, a fragile shake like a baby bird in her bones. She was truly terrified.

But who could she blame? You make your bed, you lie in it. Fight back and you get punished; you reap what you sow.

At this point, even he couldn't help her. All he could do was watch her fear, savor it, and make it worse, burning it into her soul so she'd never dare mess up again.

And he made it clear to her: this punishment was about way more than just taking her body.

Sex was supposed to be mutual pleasure—he enjoyed it, she enjoyed it, a consensual affair. How was that punishment?

After taking her chastity, he had thoughtfully designed a series of small punishments, which were the real highlight.

To possess her, he was willing to destroy her spirit, even at the cost of her mental exhaustion. The more exhausted she became, the more she would rely solely on him, clinging to him like a parasitic vine.

That was who he was. Such were his methods.

If she couldn't outplay him, she had to follow his rules.

"Don't cry."

Xie Tanwei pinned her wrists behind her back, pressing her into the soft bedding, sinking her into a hollow, and used his knee to part her legs.

The position was his favorite from a past life, and her least favorite. Using her most disliked posture maximized the punishment, making her feel genuine shame and distress.

Tian Qin's hair, smooth as flowing ink, cascaded down. Tears filled her eyes, and she couldn't help but look back. That clear, bright gaze was as startlingly beautiful as polished pebbles, catching him off guard.

Xie Tanwei paused.

"Scared?"

"..." Tian Qin choked, unable to speak.

"Don't be scared," he said.

She was still afraid, her terror deepening, trembling so much it almost disrupted the proceedings.

He comforted her with a touch as light as a feather, a faint smile playing on his lips as he savored the sight of her beautiful eyes.

"Trembling so much."

Forced to comply, Tian Qin's nose reddened: "Brother-in-law, I was wrong. I truly won't dare again. Spare me, I beg you."

Her mind went blank, panic stripping her of reason. She seemed at a loss for words, endlessly repeating herself.

But these meaningless pleas stirred no pity; the tears she shed only fueled the moment.

Her sanity completely abandoned her.

With a little guidance from Xie Tanwei, she became soft as water, making him chuckle. He drew closer, his cool breath brushing her forehead as he savored her warmth.

"Skilled. Who taught you?"

He disliked a lifeless encounter; he wanted to see her blush, cry, indulge, feel humiliated, and lose her composure.

Tian Qin bit her lip tightly, her silky hair falling from her shoulders, her gaze fixed on the limited space of the pillow.

She knelt with her back to him, arching her body, unable to see his face. Even without seeing him, her ingrained memory from his past-life training made her instinctively know every step.

This familiarity filled her with self-loathing; she wished she could tear out her heart and carve away his imprint.

"I learned from books," she insisted stubbornly.

"Oh?"

His voice drifted ethereally behind her. "Why books?"

Why erase his teachings? The dead words in books could never compare to the nuances he had personally instilled.

"To please my future husband, to have a better life in my in-laws' home," she lied, steering toward provoking him.

A moment of silence.

The atmosphere grew tense, the once gentle and intimate air shattered by a sharp blade.

Xie Tanwei suddenly increased his force, as if venting some terrible dissatisfaction, pushing beyond her limits, punishing her reckless words with the harshest intensity.

Tian Qin screamed, frantically trying to escape. She wished she had never been born, bleeding with regret like thorns, clutching the bedding until it wrinkled like an old man's skin.

"Who are you pleasing now?"

Xie Tanwei's voice was bone-chillingly cold, his gaze like a mountain gale mixed with fine snow, an overwhelming possessiveness, a blizzard that froze everything, splitting her body clean in two.

His hand gripped her narrow waist, an interrogation carrying the unstoppable, biting chill of a spring thunderstorm, tearing her apart.

"...To please my brother-in-law."

Tian Qin, tilting her slender neck, finally broke down and said, her voice completely shattered, cresting the peak of an emotional storm.

"The person I want to please is my brother-in-law. I'll do everything my brother-in-law says. The only one I please is my brother-in-law."

Though at this moment it carried a certain coercive force, trapped by him with no way out, her spirit tormented, she had to admit she also felt a strange kind of pleasure, even indulging in it for a moment—because of his superb skill, and because of their two lifetimes of day-and-night synergy, their high mutual compatibility, thus gleaning joy from the cracks in the pain.

"How do you please?"

Xie Tanwei did not show mercy just because she had submitted; instead, he pressed on relentlessly, questioning, guiding, and torturing, his tone lethal, making her slowly climb the pole of his thoughts like a vine, completely attached to him, forgetting her own volition.

"I'll be good and obedient. Whoever you tell me to marry, I'll marry; if you tell me not to, I won't. I'll be your sister, well-behaved, serving you and Second Sister."

Tears hung on her long lashes, which shimmered with a wet, black, feathery light. Her elegant neck curved into a beautiful line as she sobbed, gasping for breath.

Yet her face was not pale or sickly, but fair with a rosy flush, as if well-nourished, fully immersed in it.

She knew it all.

Yes, this wasn't painful; it was joyful. As long as she patiently savored it, both could reach the extreme.

Why had she insisted on showing reluctance at the start?

Confidence was destroyed through repeated negation. She was subjected to endless interrogation, fell into step with his rhythm, and unknowingly abandoned her original beliefs, submitting to him.

Boundless sobs echoed through the quiet mansion, this Xie family villa, bought long ago, a perfect vessel for her sobs. Usually empty, with deep shadows cast by sunlight, no matter how loud her shouts, they wouldn't spill out.

Xie Tanwei carried a hint of Tusu wine's drunkenness, though he hadn't drunk. His gentle voice flowed softly by her ear, both affectionate and heartless. "Little sister has wised up, but it's too late."

Perhaps a few days ago, he could still restrain himself, maintaining the relationship of brother-in-law and wife's sister, but now he craved more.

The act continued.

He shifted his tactics slightly, doubling his tricks. Tian Qin felt unable to withstand it, trapped as she was in an invisible cage.

She begged for mercy endlessly, sobbing her heart out, but he was black-hearted and hard-handed, discarding all emotion to play the role of executioner, now close, now distant, warm and yet cold, making her joyful and deeply pained, shuttling between the poles of heaven and hell.

"Look into my eyes," Xie Tanwei commanded.

She suddenly opened her tear-filled eyes wide.

"Brother-in-law..."

"Not a glare, a look," he said, lightly brushing her brows and eyes, a solemn and dignified teacher, guiding her step by step, each step adhering to an extremely strict standard, repeating over and over until she did it perfectly. "Through the mist, look at me."

A layer of tear-mist indeed covered Tian Qin's eyes, blurring her vision, and also making the person she saw through it hazy, as if behind a protective wall. His image could be shaped by her own inner thoughts.

She swallowed, her voice still thick with tears, and unusually hoarse. "Brother-in-law, I can't."

Sorrow was hard to contain. She avoided him whenever possible; how could she gaze affectionately into his eyes while doing *that*, doubling the trauma to both her heart and body?

"Is this how you serve your future husband?" Xie Tanwei retorted, not referring to himself, but to the techniques she learned from books.

"Again."

Tian Qin strained to open her eyes, feeling an indescribable loneliness and sorrow, as if sinking into deep water, cut off from air, half-dead, blowing bubbles, unable to struggle at all.

The more she hoped he would finish quickly, the longer he dragged it out, longer than any time in her past life, deliberately wearing her down, letting her last shred of resistance dissolve in the drowning.

In the end, she was like a fish washed ashore, gasping for breath, rolling her eyes, unable to catch a single breath.

"If little sister is good, she'll reap more benefits," Xie Tanwei said, unafraid of her resistance. Now that she was in his hands, he could toy with her as he pleased. "Since the process must be endured anyway, why not enjoy it?"