Chapter 100: Dumb

“I’m hungry…”

“If you’re hungry, then come over and eat. It’s not like I’m stopping you.”

Su Ling lowered his head upon hearing this and looked at his bound legs, his heart filled with entanglement. When Gu Qingyuan had woken up that morning, she had carried him to the sofa and hadn’t given him a single drop of water, leaving him to sit there ever since. When noon came around, he thought she was finally going to eat and would release him. Instead, while she did eat at the dining table, she left him on the sofa.

His legs were tied, so he couldn’t get over there at all. The only way to reach her was to crawl, but if he did that… He looked up and met her eyes, which were full of mirth. Su Ling suddenly felt that she was doing this on purpose — she wanted him to crawl over.

“If you don’t come over, you won’t just be missing lunch today; you’ll be missing dinner too.” Gu Qingyuan picked up a slice of meat with her chopsticks and waved it in front of him when Su Ling looked her way.

Su Ling subconsciously swallowed. He wanted to eat; he was so hungry. Yesterday, he had only had the soup she gave him, and since then, he hadn’t had a single bite to eat. He was truly starving…

Su Ling lowered his head. He hated this feeling of being bullied. At some point, his eyes began to redden, and tears welled up before rolling down his cheeks the moment he looked down.

Before Su Ling could react, Gu Qingyuan was suddenly standing in front of him. She reached out and yanked him right off the sofa! She then slammed a foot down, pinning him to the floor.

“Do you remember what I said yesterday?”
“If you’re obedient, you won’t get beaten!”
“You’re being disobedient again, aren’t you?”

“No, no, I’ll be obedient.” Su Ling trembled all over, terrified by her ferocious tone.

“Speak! What disobedient thoughts are you having?”

“I don’t… I don’t want to crawl. That… that would be… very bad…”

“Bad?” The corners of Gu Qingyuan’s mouth curled up as she leaned down, her fingers slowly caressing the little thing’s cheek. “But you aren’t a person right now! A cat should have a cat’s way of walking, shouldn’t it? Crawl! Do it now. I don’t have much patience.”

“I won’t!”

“Tsk. Having a bit of a temper is fine sometimes, but if you overdo it, it becomes quite unappealing, you know?”

“I’m not… I’m not throwing a temper tantrum. You’re the one bullying me. You’re hitting me. You’re a bad person.”

“Oh? Why does that little mouth of yours always say things I don’t like to hear?”

Gu Qingyuan stepped on Su Ling’s face, gradually increasing the pressure. The heavy sole of her shoe ground into his skin until it stung, and hot tears gushed from his eyes.

“Wuu, I don’t want this. Let me go, please let me go.”

“Disobedient… Truly disobedient!” The force from Gu Qingyuan’s foot grew even stronger, and the coldness in her eyes deepened. “It seems I have to give you a little lesson so you know the consequences of being disobedient!”

With that, Gu Qingyuan released her foot and turned to leave, leaving Su Ling lying on the floor crying, his cheek flushed bright red from her tread. He struggled to push himself up, but once he was up, he had no idea what to do next. Escape? His legs were bound, and he couldn’t even walk, let alone run away! But if he didn’t escape, things would definitely get worse. When she said she was going to give him a lesson, she wasn’t joking.

Gu Qingyuan walked back toward him. Her pace was slow and unhurried as she approached, even skipping twice along the way like a little sprite in the wind. But in Su Ling’s eyes, she wasn’t a sprite at all — she was a demon, a demon walking straight for him!

“No, please don’t. Let me go, I beg you, just let me go! Wuu…”

“Let you go? Then who should I settle the score with for what happened to this hand?” Gu Qingyuan rubbed her wrist, chuckled, and grabbed the little thing’s chin, squeezing hard. His mouth was forced open with zero effort. She flicked the stopper off a bottle with one hand and poured the entire Muting Potion inside.

“Mph… cough, cough… What is this? *cough*!”

The moment the liquid entered his throat, Su Ling felt a strange sensation. His throat burned with pain, as if 10,000 needles were stabbing him all at once. Every breath brought a surge of agony that only grew more intense, causing his voice to become raspy and hoarse!

“It’s a medicine that will make you mute. From now on, you’ll never be able to speak again!”

“Though it’s a bit of a pity. Your voice is quite nice, especially when we’re in bed. I liked it a lot. Unfortunately, you don’t know how to use your voice to please your Master at all. Instead, you use it to speak such harsh words to her. How could I possibly tolerate that?”

“So, just be a good boy and stay mute. At least that way you’ll be a little more well-behaved, won’t you?”

As she spoke those last few words, Gu Qingyuan’s voice suddenly turned cold. She grabbed the little thing’s neck, her grip tightening. “Are you going to be obedient now?”

Su Ling’s eyes were vacant as tears continued to fall. The burning pain in his throat told him the truth: she really had made him mute. He would never speak again; he would never say another word. Why? Why was she treating him like this…?

“Now, can we start your performance? Let’s set a small goal. How about you crawl from here to the dining table? It’s not far, only 3 or 4 meters. See? I’m actually quite lenient with you.”

Su Ling didn’t answer; he just stared blankly as his tears fell. Gu Qingyuan was clearly dissatisfied with his attitude. She felt she had been generous enough, yet he still didn’t appreciate it? He even dared to ignore her?

Without a second thought, she slapped him across the face again. It was a heavy blow that drew a trickle of blood from the corner of Su Ling’s mouth, but it finally brought him back to his senses.

“Crawl! Right now! If you don’t crawl, I’ll chop your legs off. That way, you’ll have to crawl whether you want to or not!”

Su Ling opened his mouth, but not a single sound came out of his throat. He could only lower his head in a futile gesture, slowly arching his body and beginning to crawl toward the place she had pointed out.

With every step he took, he felt as if there were countless people surrounding him, mocking him, and calling him a monster, a dog, or something less than human. ‘I don’t want to be a dog. I don’t want to give up being human, and I especially don’t want to be seen as a monster!’

The distance of 3 or 4 meters wasn’t long; normally, it would only take a few steps. But now, it felt like an eternity. No matter how much he crawled, he couldn’t seem to reach it.

‘Elder Sister, where are you? Please, save me, okay?’