Chapter 107

Chapter 107

The moment he thought of that farewell letter, Xie Yuan's blood ran hot.

Over those three-plus months of being humiliated and abandoned by Shen Lian, he had grown accustomed to using outward anger to block out the piercing pain inside him, which was how he'd managed to become a shadow, hunting day and night for evidence of the First Prince's treason.

This outward anger had helped him seize the crown prince position, yet there wasn't a trace of joy in his heart.

He had lost completely, sinking into a ruin no one knew about.

He'd fantasized about every kind of revenge.

When he learned that the one who'd taken the crown prince position was the illegitimate son of a Chu State princess with Xianbei blood, the vicious imperial physician must have been sick with regret and terror, and once caught, would tremble at his feet, begging for mercy.

Back then, he'd planned to give Shen Lian a chance to live.

No meowing cat, no swaying purple bellyband, no wife he needed to learn to love and care for.

Only a slave kept in the cellar of the crown prince's estate.

Shen Lian would have to endure his every whim, day after day.

Pounded by him, enjoyed by him, filled by him.

He wouldn't even let Shen Lian push his seed out of his belly.

It had to merge into Shen Lian's body forever, become a part of him.

Thoroughly marked and claimed by the son of the Xianbei-blooded Chu State princess.

But when he stood before Shen Lian again, this vicious physician acted like nothing had ever happened, as if he hadn't even noticed that the one crowned at the ceremony wasn't the First Prince, but the Fourth Prince Xie Yuan—the man he'd betrayed.

Just like before, wearing that innocent, cute, pure face that hid a seductive allure.

And calling him "Dian Xia" again and again.

What exactly had made Xie Yuan inexplicably act like a gentleman again?

But right now, the memory of that letter reignited his fury.

Xie Yuan ripped the bedsheet off Shen Lian, letting it fall to the floor, where it trembled with the carriage's jostling.

He shifted forward, hooked Shen Lian's left leg at the knee, swung it to the other side of his body, and pressed him against his chest.

Shen Lian let out a muffled, strained whimper, as if he were in pain.

The hangover remedy had already kicked in—his mind was much clearer, yet his body and heartbeat were spiraling out of control.

His hands uncontrollably roamed the firm, powerful contours beneath the young male concubine's clothes.

The rise and fall of his abs felt like a lifesaving antidote.

But the more he touched, the more he craved, his legs urgently locking around the man's powerful waist.

The furious crown prince was stunned.

Xie Yuan had planned to vent his rage, but he'd barely shifted position when Shen Lian made the first move.

Way more proactive than that day in the pond.

In the pond, Shen Lian had been shy and panicked, curling up, not daring to touch Xie Yuan back.

But this enthusiasm now was definitely not coming from genuine desire.

"Did you eat something you shouldn't have?" Xie Yuan asked, breathless and husky.

"I don't know. Dian Xia... hold me tight..." Shen Lian tilted his head back, eyes closed, gulping air, trying to douse the fire inside him.

His fingertips and palms kept dragging across the ridges of Xie Yuan's abs.

Shame washed over Shen Lian—he hadn't known he could crave touching these unspeakable places this much.

He'd always been seen as the type who didn't get it, loving his research career way more than romance.

He couldn't even understand why people in love did so many irrational, foolish things.

Until Dian Xia showed up and completely cracked open his shell.

Whenever the young male concubine was near, the natural aphrodisiac his body secreted would hijack his brain, and only his remaining rationality could hold back his impulses.

But now there was an external factor on top of that, and he couldn't control it anymore.

Panting, he pressed his lips to Xie Yuan's, his hands stroking and pressing over Xie Yuan's stomach.

Until his fingers neared that throbbing heat at the center of his abs—only then did he barely pull back.

Xie Yuan was frantic and furious, all qualms about taking advantage gone, but: "I didn't bring that box of jade stones—there's no way it'll fit."

Shen Lian slumped painfully against his shoulder: "Dian Xia... Dian Xia..."

"Stop. Stop calling me that. We'll be at my place soon."

Shen Lian clawed at his left shoulder, dizzy, breathing faintly like a kitten: "How much farther, Dian Xia?"

Xie Yuan held the cat in his arms with one hand, pulled aside the curtain with the other to glance out, then looked back and said, voice hoarse and strained: "Two more turns."

Shen Lian unconsciously clung tighter to the young male concubine, rubbing against his leg twice, tormented and miserable.

Xie Yuan held his breath and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the carriage wall, trying to distract himself with military and political minutiae.

If he couldn't hold out over this short distance and ended up hurting his cat, that would be disastrous.

Of course, he should only be worried that hurting Shen Lian would mean many days without being able to consummate.

But in truth, his current state left him with no self-control to think about the future.

What kept him in check was simply that he didn't want to hurt this vicious imperial physician—which made him despise himself.

His Adam's apple bobbed as Xie Yuan tried to distract himself, eyes closed, voice hoarse: "You really have no experience at all, do you, Shen Lian? I'm the first man you've hooked."

Shen Lian panted and murmured: "I told you I've never hooked anyone... You're the one who hooked me. And my big brother made me promise that if you wanted to do bad things to me, you'd have to talk to him first."

Xie Yuan frowned, his attention unexpectedly diverted: "What does your brother have to do with you serving your own husband? What am I supposed to talk to him about in this state?"

"Mmm..." Shen Lian pressed his cheek into his neck, sweat dripping into the hollow of his collarbone: "My brother always worries about people taking advantage of me—he's been like that since we were kids."

"And you?" Xie Yuan cupped the little cat's face, seemingly unwilling to settle for just possessing his body, "What do you think? Are you willing to let the crown prince take advantage of you, Shen Lian?"

"Mmm..." Shen Lian grabbed his wrists with both hands, shyly trying to look away, but Xie Yuan wouldn't let him avoid his gaze, "You can't ask that. I can't tell you how I feel."

Xie Yuan was not about to let it go. "There must have been plenty of times you were willing too, but you never give me a straight answer. What are you really thinking? Trying to use this to hold it over me? Then why do you never say what you want?"

"I don't want a damn thing!" Shen Lian, stirred up, felt the inside of his thigh clench and ache where it was rubbing against him. "More than wanting that, I like seeing you want me—the way you look at me, the patient, gentle way you are with me. I like that more... so I'd rather just endure it."

Xie Yuan froze. The baffling answer left him completely stumped.

He stared at the little cat in silence for a long moment.

Then he asked, dangerously, "What does that mean? You enjoy watching me beg for you like some fool?"

"Ugh!" Shen Lian hated Xie Yuan's weird way of twisting things. "I mean, I like feeling like you actually love me!"

Xie Yuan thrust up against his belly, full of hostility. "Isn't satisfying me even more loving?"

"Ah!" Shen Lian curled forward, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath, his fingers pushing frantically against him. "You sometimes just can't understand how I feel—it's different. With the former, I can feel how obsessed you are with it being me. With the latter... maybe your future three wives could satisfy you just as well."

The carriage stopped.

The conversation ended right then and there. Xie Yuan, holding the little cat on his hip, jumped straight out of the carriage and sprinted toward the courtyard where the storage boxes were kept.

Jostled and rubbed with every step he took.

Shen Lian bit his lower lip, tears welling up, still clinging to the need for a definitive answer. "What do you think, Dian Xia? Is it the same? What if it were someone else?"

No answer came. He was laid on the bed, his words sealed by a pair of lips.

Between the grinding and sucking, Shen Lian's already vivid lips turned almost translucent.

Xie Yuan wished he could just bite down.

But even lost in abandon, he still feared hurting this little cat.

His heart had been so cruelly tormented by this cat—why couldn't it just go numb and cold?

A wife—that gentle haven he'd once yearned for in his fantasies—how could she be so dangerous?

You made me drop my guard without me even knowing.

Made me willingly serve you hand and foot.

Left my explosive protective instincts with nowhere to put them.

Made me starving while I played the gentleman.

But you never really admired or worshipped me, did you?

Did finding out I'm the son of a Chu State princess with Xianbei barbarian blood make you hate me?

But before that, I was still the Tengri Heavenly Blade of Great Wei—the hero you once called a hero yourself.

How can you be so cruel to someone you once admired?

You made me stop hoping for a home at all.

I'm starting to understand why my father never let any consort into his heart.

Your admiration and dependence were just illusions to lure me into ruin.

It's precisely because I never imagined a delicate little cat like you could hurt me that a single letter could bring me such agony.

I'll never give anyone that chance again.

Not even you.

His outer robe and inner shirt were hurled violently onto the screen nearby.

And Shen Lian's body was already in a state that needed no jade aid.

All that holding back along the way had been for nothing.

The war god's sense of direction was truly formidable—he'd only been guided once, and Xie Yuan found his bearings on his own.

The moment his lower back was lifted, Shen Lian felt the muscles in his arm tense.

The next instant, Shen Lian gasped sharply, eyes rolling back, mouth wide open, yet completely unable to make a sound.

The silence made Xie Yuan misjudge the little cat's limits.

Without waiting or testing, he claimed the little cat that should have been his three months ago—even deeper.

It took Shen Lian a long while to catch his breath. One arm hooked around the young male concubine's neck, the other pressed over his heaving, aching belly.

His glistening eyes stared dazedly at the fierce-faced man in front of him.

So this really could make you feel love overflowing.

Both heart and body were already filled to the brim.

The sturdy new canopied bed creaked and swayed.

"Dian Xia..." He hooked his arm around the back of his neck, red-eyed, begging: "Dian Xia..."

Xie Yuan's ruthless gaze softened slightly. He withdrew a little, slowing his assault.

But soon he thrust through to the hilt again.

"No... you made me wait too long. You have only yourself to blame for this, Shen Lian."

Sweat dripped from Shen Lian's hair onto the pillow.

Numbness exploded bit by bit.

His eyes rolled up once more.

Because of that bowl of medicinal brew, his senses had been magnified beyond measure.

He simply could not withstand the first battle of Xie Yuan's long-suppressed desire.