Chapter 90 Sickbed: “Come kiss me.”

Chapter 90: Sickbed: Come and Kiss Me.

Xian Qiu was completely bedridden.

This illness was different from previous ones, striking fiercely and swiftly robbing Xian Qiu of her hearing, and it continued to worsen.

Furthermore, her body broke out in dense fiery rashes, splitting her fair skin—a sight that made one's heart race.

Anyone with clear eyes could see that Xian Qiu's illness stemmed from the conflict between wife and concubine, with fire poison attacking her heart. Tian Qin's ruthless methods had completely hogged the Lord's attention, sealing him off tightly, leaving not even a drop of favor for Xian Qiu.

As the principal wife, Xian Qiu was instead forced to watch the concubine's temper, humiliated and embittered. Tian Qin wasn't even a proper concubine—just a toy the Lord kept for entertainment, without title or status—yet she dared to boss the mistress around without any restraint.

The Lord did nothing at all, treating the marital conflict with cold indifference, which indirectly led to Xian Qiu's severe illness.

Every night, the Lord continued to favor Tian Qin without pause. If he hadn't forbidden her to get pregnant, he would already have a string of children by now.

That said, the Xie family was ultimately Xie Tanwei's world. Whether at court or within the family, the Lord was the undisputed master, free to favor whomever he pleased. He wouldn't let Xian Qiu's jealousy get to him.

Rumor had it that when the Lord wanted to divorce Xian Qiu back then, the Yu family voluntarily offered Tian Qin as a beautiful concubine, and only then did the marriage survive. What the Lord had always wanted was Miss Tian. The mistress knew this full well, yet still lowered herself to compete with a concubine—it was really asking for trouble.

The servants, seeing which way the wind was blowing, began to shortchange the mistress, cutting her provisions and cold-shouldering her. When the Lord learned of this, he still did nothing.

Xian Qiu was naturally dignified and refined, soft-spoken on ordinary days, but in recent days, the torment of deafness had driven her mad. She became hysterical, emotionally collapsed, and became visibly thinner.

Deaf in both ears, the world was visible and tangible but silent—like watching a series of silent plays drained of color, while she was being tortured in this deathly, dark abyss.

The physician said Xian Qiu's blood vessels were blocked. A skilled acupuncturist could dispel the heat with a few needles and restore her hearing.

"I've heard there are miracle workers in the world who can revive the dying with just a few needles."

The problem was that even the imperial physicians at court were helpless. Where could one find such a miraculous person? Does such a person really exist?

Yes, he did.

Tian Qin looked on coldly from the sidelines. Xie Tanwei possessed exactly that skill.

Unfortunately, aside from her accidental discovery due to the gu poisoning, he had concealed it extremely well. No ordinary person knew he even knew medicine.

This time, he showed no intention of lending a hand. If he had wanted to intervene, Xian Qiu wouldn't have been driven deaf and made to vomit blood.

In this conflict between wife and concubine, he had neither helped Tian Qin nor Xian Qiu. For someone so principled, taking no side was still taking a side—equivalent to tacitly approving the one committing violence.

In her past life, when Tian Qin was framed, he had also taken no position. At that time, he only saw her as an ordinary concubine, far from the obsession he had now. Xian Qiu was the perpetrator, and his lack of stance essentially helped Xian Qiu, which ultimately led to Tian Qin's tragic death.

The tables had turned. Now it was her turn to be the knife, and others the fish on the block.

Tian Qin could not allow Xian Qiu to rise again. She remembered the deep grudges of her past life and hoped Xian Qiu would also die in extreme pain and regret. Mere deafness wasn't enough.

She went all out, dressing herself dazzlingly, a lily tucked into her hair, giving off a cool, fragrant scent. Accompanied by Nanny Chen, Zhaolu, and Wan Cui, she made a grand show of visiting Xian Qiu at Qiutang residence, her whole person radiating a beautiful, vibrant energy.

Xie Tanwei was there, keeping watch like a devoted husband by his ailing wife's bedside. When he saw her, he set down the bitter medicinal brew and scolded, "There's an autumn rain falling. Why have you come?"

Tian Qin handed her oil-paper umbrella to Nanny Feng, removed her cloak, and approached the bedside, lowering her voice: "I came to visit Sister."

"Your sister has gone deaf and is totally drained. She just fell asleep."

Xie Tanwei tucked the corner of the blanket around Xian Qiu. "Keep it down."

A deaf person needs silence the least—it was like giving eunuchs beauties or buying mirrors for the blind. Utterly hypocritical.

Tian Qin was used to it. She hid her sarcasm and said softly, "Has brother-in-law been keeping vigil here all this time?"

The question was even more superfluous. Just a few hours ago, he had been intertwined with her in passionate embrace.

"I came a while ago to help her with her medicine," he said.

Tian Qin looked at Xian Qiu's emaciated, sickly face, with a gray, sickly pallor, sunken cheekbones, frowning even in sleep. She took out a handkerchief and dabbed Xian Qiu's face, sighing, "May heaven bless Sister."

She sat down by the bedside. The light lily in her hair cut through the stale, suffocating air of sickness, bringing a fresh, sweet, healthy aura that mingled with the medicinal smell as she breathed. With her sorrowful expression, she was like a dew-kissed lily.

Xie Tanwei moved his hand from Xian Qiu's blanket corner, pinched Tian Qin's sweet, soft cheek, caressed it for a while, then said coldly, "Kiss me."

So blunt. Even though she was prepared, Tian Qin's temple still twitched.

"What?"

"Are you deaf too?" He brushed against the lily in her hair, turned his head, and breathed into her ear. Their bodies nearly blocked all light from Xian Qiu's grand bed. "Now, kiss me. Immediately."

Every time Tian Qin thought he couldn't be more despicable, he shocked her with even more outrageous behavior. Doing something like this—kissing his sister-in-law by his dying wife's sickbed—was unbelievable. "Lawless" was too kind a word; he was worse than an animal.

"... Lawless."

She uttered it through her full, diamond-shaped lips, a fine, icy glint in her eyes, as if it were a compliment.

Xie Tanwei beamed, impeccably dressed. "What are you afraid of? Your sister is deaf."

His fingertips traced a thousand threads over her brow, the bridge of her nose, her philtrum, her lips, her chin, finally resting on the pure white lily at her temple. "Besides, dressing like this, little sister, wasn't it just to show me, your brother-in-law?"

He saw through everything.

Tian Qin knew clearly that whenever he made a demand, it was a command. Whether she resisted or not, the outcome was the same.

Tian Qin closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his, sinking into a place with no return. Xie Tanwei grasped the back of her head, intensifying the force, bringing forth delicate sounds like rippling water. They sat together on the edge of the bed, turning and twisting, oblivious to all else, wrinkling Xian Qiu's blanket.

Xian Qiu frowned tightly, whimpering uncomfortably, as if sensing something, still struggling in her nightmare.

"You... don't..."

It wasn't until Xie Tanwei moved to unfasten her collar that Tian Qin pressed his hand faintly, her eyes wet. "Spare me this once."

She simply couldn't bear to have her clothes torn off by her sister's sickbed.

Tian Qin took Xie Tanwei's cold, bone-white hand, as slender as a willow-leaf knife, and gently stroked it. Her voice still carried a hint of hoarseness, a mix of rejection and seduction. "Brother-in-law's hands were meant to heal."

The owner of that beautiful hand turned and gripped hers. The way he exerted force was so graceful—thin, strong veins and muscles—yet now he was stripping her clothes.

Xie Tanwei's dark, smiling eyes said, "Wait for me tonight."

The hands that could restore life weren't healing anyone.

Tian Qin instinctively touched her lower abdomen. Every time his shape protruded there, she feared she would become pregnant.

Later, when her menstruation came on time, she saw him drink a small amount of the contraceptive wine laced with arsenic, only then relaxing.

Unfortunately, Xian Qiu couldn't hear. Right now, Tian Qin's expression was captivating. Her curled lashes framed eyes that shimmered with liquid light, and she hooked a finger around Xie Tanwei's loosened sash, deliberately saying, "Mm, I'll wait for you, brother-in-law. No matter how late, I'll wait."

Xie Tanwei's excessive movements caused Tian Qin to accidentally press against Xian Qiu's half-buried arm. Although Tian Qin shifted away immediately, Xian Qiu still felt the pain. The pupils behind her eyelids flickered slightly, as if she had awakened.

Xian Qiu didn't open her eyes, pretending to be asleep—a slightly better performance at feigning sleep than Tian Qin's.

Tian Qin's bright eyes caught Xian Qiu's forehead veins bulging in pain, with faint traces of blood at the corners of her mouth—she had actually been so angry she vomited blood.

Xie Tanwei also glimpsed it, smiling faintly, still absorbed in the delight of Tian Qin's company, maintaining his usual inaction—what did he care if his wife vomited blood?

The only thing on his mind was the shape of Tian Qin's lips in his arms and the color of rouge she'd applied.

...

In the middle of the night, Xian Qiu vomited blood twice, coughing incessantly, shattered, battered, and dealt a severe blow.

The physician reported that the lady was critically ill—if she could survive, it would be a stroke of luck; if not, it was fate.

The servants and maids stood in solemn silence, some sobbing. Other clever servants predicted that the mistress's days were numbered, and that Miss Tian would surely be elevated to the position of primary wife, so they subtly began to curry favor with Tian Qin.

Outside, word spread that Xie Tanwei would soon be a widower. Many wealthy families eagerly sought to marry their daughters to him as a second wife, to enjoy the Xie family's riches and land, to win the perfect husband, and to ally with the Xie family at court.

To be honest, the Yu family had scattered like a tree that topples, scattering its monkeys; Yu Xianqiu had long ceased to be worthy of Xie Tanwei. The two should have divorced long ago.

It was only because their Sage Xie was so devoted and righteous, unwilling to abandon his wife in her time of need, that he had wasted these years.

Yu Xianqiu's death was good, excellent, and perfectly timed. As for Yu Tianqin, she'd never amount to anything—at best, she could be taken as a beautiful concubine, but the position of wife would still fall to someone else.

For a time, the capital was in turmoil, with schemes coming from every direction.

Although Tian Qin lived deep in the mansion, she was not unaware of the storms outside.

She still played her role as a submissive younger sister in Qiutang Residence, wiping Xian Qiu's face and feeding her while she lay unconscious.

Even in her coma, Xian Qiu resisted Tian Qin, but Tian Qin insisted on approaching, calling out "Sister! Sister!" into her deaf ear, as if they were close.

Xie Tanwei happened to witness this scene on returning from court, and remarked nonchalantly, "Isn't that a bit cruel to someone who's deaf?"

Tian Qin paused, sensing he still had feelings for Xian Qiu from his words, and said, "Brother-in-law can punish me whenever he wishes."

Her intention was clear: she wanted Xian Qiu's life.

Xie Tanwei removed his cloak and came to her side, an involuntary, meaningless smile on his face: "How dare I."

Xian Qiu's sickbed had become their new meeting place.

He leaned over, skillfully wrapped his arm around her waist, the lingering warmth of the late autumn wind: "Tian'er, after a day of confrontations with those rigid old ministers at court, I'm exhausted. Kiss me again to relieve my fatigue, won't you?"

"If you're tired, brother-in-law, you can call a servant to massage your shoulders and back." Tian Qin offered a polite refusal, but her true thoughts were revealed in her evasive gaze: "My sister is sleeping soundly."

"Oh, kiss just for her to see?"

He twisted her meaning, still not begging but commanding. This sickbed game had addicted him—a man who had always treated morality and ethics as worthless.

"Let's add something good..."

Xie Tanwei, as casually as if marking a roll call in the underworld, lightly pressed the webbing of her thumb (her "tiger's mouth"), his breath brushing against her, sending shivers through her: "Use a little Love Gu."

Tian Qin immediately felt a suffocating chill shoot to the crown of her head.

"No!" she adamantly refused.

"Be good, yes you will." He seemed to smile with pity, "You'll feel more willing and comfortable."

Tian Qin gritted her teeth in shame, bargaining with a tiger. These past days, she had indeed used him to humiliate Xian Qiu. He was no fool and wouldn't let her take freely without extracting his own profit in return.

She tried to negotiate: "Not here, then."

"But I insist on doing it here." Xie Tanwei led her to the adjacent room, clean and bright by the window, where a vase held a few of the last summer lotus flowers, exuding a faint, intoxicating fragrance, as if drunk, and smiled and gripped her neck.

Tian Qin, at a loss, half-resisting and half-yielding, lay down.