“Xiao Canfei, I’m going to start!”
Su Ling’s heart tightened. Just as he was about to do something, a pain shot through his leg. The pain seemed to bore into his body through the wound on his leg, causing his body to tremble and layers of fine cold sweat to break out on his forehead. Another strike came, and Su Ling opened his mouth wide in pain, but no sound came out.
“W-what are you doing?”
“Lin Feng, Brother Lin Feng is in pain! Please, let him go…”
Bai Ruo trembled and rushed to the two, wanting to separate them. Liu Ruyan’s face flashed with impatience, and with a casual wave, she pushed the other away. The fragile body couldn’t withstand the casual swipe, and Bai Ruo fell heavily to the ground.
Lin Feng didn’t react at all, watching helplessly as Bai Ruo flew through the air. He immediately let go of Su Ling and ran toward Bai Ruo without regard for anything else.
Liu Ruyan frowned, but just glanced. She raised her hand and pressed Su Ling’s shoulder again. Su Ling looked at her with pained eyes and slowly shook his head at her.
Unexpectedly, Liu Ruyan understood Su Ling’s meaning in an instant: “You want me to let them go?”
“Xiao Canfei, you can’t even take care of yourself, yet you think of others? That little head of yours, you must be dizzy from the pain, right?”
Su Ling closed his eyes. Maybe he was wrong, but he really didn’t want to see those two get hurt because of him.
“Xiao Canfei, first you need to understand one thing: my fondness for you has its limits. Only when I’m happy can I give you something. But if you make me unhappy, I can discard you! Then I’ll just throw you into some garbage pit, and you can wait to die!”
Su Ling bit his lip. He knew she wasn’t joking. Liu Ruyan really could do that, and might have done it before! After all, this was the Young Slave Pavilion! And as its manager, doing such things was only natural…
Liu Ruyan watched Su Ling’s reaction and thought to herself, ‘What a pity. He’s a little mute. Otherwise, the little fellow’s panic would be more obvious. Maybe he would even be begging by now. I’ll find a doctor another day to see if he can be cured. If so, I’ll treat him; if not, it is what it is. After all, I’m just playing with him.’
As she thought, Liu Ruyan picked up the alcohol, turned it upside down, and poured the entire bottle down!
“Ah!”
Su Ling let out a painful roar, his body twisting grotesquely from the extreme pain!
“You can’t protect anyone, after all, you’re just a lowly slave!”
Liu Ruyan turned to look at the two behind her.
“Yes, it’s my fault. Take it out on me, but don’t hurt him!” Lin Feng swallowed nervously. He knew it was over; the two of them were definitely in for a rough time! But even so, he wanted to struggle, even if it meant only he was punished. As long as Bai Ruo wasn’t punished, anything was fine!
“Tsk tsk, why do you always want to protect others? You can’t even protect yourselves, yet you think of protecting others. I don’t get it. Look at Xiao Canfei, another guy like you who likes to protect others!”
Liu Ruyan stood up, staring coldly at the two. If it weren’t for Xiao Canfei, these two would be dead by now! How dare they provoke her! Did they really think that because they had some looks, they could do whatever they wanted?
Ha, she wasn’t interested. Although the two weren’t bad-looking, they were far inferior to Xiao Canfei. She had seen plenty of such looks; they weren’t enough to earn special treatment like Xiao Canfei.
“Mm?!”
Liu Ruyan looked down at her hem. There, a pale little hand was tightly gripping her clothes. Following the hand, she looked at its owner. Su Ling’s face was pale, but his small hands stubbornly clung to her hem. Tears glistened at the corners of his eyes as he slowly shook his head at her!
“Ah, Xiao Canfei, this makes you unlikeable. Look, you don’t even know them. You don’t even know their names. Why are you pleading for them like this?”
“Maybe they don’t even appreciate your pleading?”
“You’ve been thinking about them constantly these days. Why don’t you ask them if they’ve ever thought of you?”
Su Ling turned to look at the two. Lin Feng instinctively avoided his gaze, but Bai Ruo, whom he was shielding beneath him, looked at Su Ling with tears in her eyes.
Seeing that look, Su Ling gripped her hem even harder! ‘There is—even if only one person had thought of me, that counts! Besides, what does it matter if they haven’t? In the end, I owe them, and I am duty-bound to protect them!’
“Let go!”
Su Ling gritted his teeth and refused to let go.
“Ha!”
Liu Ruyan was so angry she laughed. She grabbed Xiao Canfei by the collar and lifted him up entirely!
“If you don’t let go, do you believe I’ll pierce this hand of yours too?”
Su Ling’s pupils contracted. His grip on her hem loosened slightly, but he still didn’t let go! He looked blankly at the two beside him.
Lin Feng looked at him with complicated feelings. Part of him hoped that Su Ling could hold out and really protect them this once, but another part didn’t want to accept his kindness. This conflicted emotion left him unable to speak. Bai Ruo wanted to say something, but Lin Feng had her mouth tightly covered, so she couldn’t speak at all.
Su Ling gave the two a gentle smile, then turned to look at Liu Ruyan and also gave her a bitter smile.
“What are you smiling about?” Liu Ruyan didn’t understand. What was this little thing smiling at?
Su Ling couldn’t explain. He just felt a little distressed. He wanted to show a flattering smile, but found he couldn’t manage it, so it turned into this bitter smile. ‘The only use I have is this body, isn’t it? So if I take the initiative, will she let them go?’
Su Ling slowly leaned his body into her, hugging her tightly.
Liu Ruyan’s nose caught the fragrance so close, looking at the soft body that had actively thrown itself into her arms. The corner of her mouth twitched! Taking a deep breath, she reluctantly pulled Su Ling away from her embrace.
“Xiao Canfei, I am really angry this time. Don’t think you can make me let them go with this method!”
“I’m telling you, it’s impossible! But I won’t kill them either. I’ll just make them do what they’re supposed to do!”
With that, she snapped her fingers. Soon, two men in black entered from outside, grabbing Lin Feng and Bai Ruo on either side. Lin Feng tried to struggle, but one of the men chopped a hand toward his neck, knocking him unconscious!
Su Ling watched the two being taken away, his grip loosening helplessly. In the end, he still hadn’t protected anything.
“Xiao Canfei, you’ve made me very unhappy today. Do you know that?”
Su Ling’s eyes were vacant. He didn’t listen to her; he just stared blankly in one direction. ‘What am I doing? Betraying my master, protecting two people who shouldn’t be hurt, yet I haven’t protected anything. My master is carrying my child, yet I keep doing things that hurt her. I don’t want to, but why?!’
‘Is it because of me? Or because of this woman chattering in front of me? If it’s because of me, what did I do wrong?’ Su Ling couldn’t figure it out. He felt he had done nothing—it was all this woman forcing him, threatening him, making him take step after step toward wrongdoing!
A surge of hatred rose in his heart for no reason. He understood: he hadn’t dared to hate before only because she hadn’t gone far enough, because he thought all his efforts had results. But what was the result now? It was bad—a bad result!
“I’m talking to you! Are you listening?!” Liu Ruyan’s tone was clearly tinged with anger.
Su Ling was startled awake by her shout. He looked up at the woman in front of him and suddenly let out a “pfft” laugh.
“What are you laughing at now?”
Su Ling didn’t explain. Instead, he tremblingly raised his hand and, under her confused gaze, slapped her hard!
Liu Ruyan felt the stinging pain on her face and froze. For the first time, she stared blankly at this little cripple. The first thought that popped into her mind was to slap him back, beat him severely! But her hand never lifted.
“Ha!”
Liu Ruyan let out a laugh, then scooped up Su Ling and, despite his struggles, carried him into the back room.
The next day, Su Ling woke up to find himself locked in a cage. He opened his mouth, his throat painfully dry! He could only manage to swallow some saliva to alleviate the feeling. He struggled to sit up slowly; the heavy ache in his body made the movement difficult. He breathed heavily, managed to straighten himself, and then carefully examined the cage!
The cage was large, and inside was a simply made double bed. A chain was around his neck, connecting to the top of the cage. With the slightest movement, it clanked. Su Ling blinked, looking around blankly. Memories of last night flashed through his mind!
‘I hit her yesterday. Looking back now, I don’t understand where I got the courage. I was scared to death, yet I still swung that slap.’ Su Ling shook his head, a bitter smile on his face. Surely he would be severely punished next, maybe even have another leg broken or something.
Bam!
The iron cage let out a dull, loud sound. Liu Ruyan stood outside the cage, the iron bar in her hand striking it again forcefully!
“Xiao Canfei, do you like your new home?”
“Everything here is arranged according to pet standards. There’s a litter box, a water dispenser, and your food basin. From now on, you’ll live inside here. I’m going to turn you completely into a little cat!”
Su Ling’s pupils trembled. He looked at a corner of the cage. There indeed was a litter box, a water dispenser, and a stainless steel food bowl. But there were no chopsticks, and the water dispenser was placed extremely low!
This meant he might have to eat with his mouth like a pet, and also drink water with his mouth! Instantly, he felt short of breath. He didn’t want that—he didn’t want to become a little cat, didn’t want this kind of life!