Pain!
That was Su Ling’s first thought. He wanted to struggle, but seeing his master’s expression, he abandoned that idea. He could only bite his lip tightly, silently telling himself, ‘It will be over soon!’
The rough rope was wrapped around his thighs. His master pulled hard, and the tender skin was tugged, twisting into the gaps of the rope, causing the pain of torn flesh. The master kept pulling, as if trying to sever his leg with the rope. Su Ling was drenched in sweat from the pain, but he didn’t even dare to struggle. He was very afraid of pain; as a child, he had to be coaxed for a long time before getting an injection, and the doctor could only succeed when he wasn’t paying attention.
‘Elder Sister… No, I can’t, can’t think of Elder Sister…’
Gu Qingyuan looked at the little thing’s pained expression, and eventually felt a twinge of pity. She loosened her grip slightly.
“Next time, don’t make me angry again. If you make me angry again, I’ll send you back to the Young Slave Pavilion and let you stay there for a while. If you still don’t behave, then don’t come back!”
Su Ling’s body trembled violently. He immediately shook his head. He did not want to go back to that place, did not want to see that woman again…
“Good that you know fear. If you’re bored all day, I can find something for you to do.”
Su Ling nodded, his gaze involuntarily flicking to the ropes on his body. He actually wanted to ask what these ropes were for and why they were tied to him. But obviously, his master wasn’t going to tell him. He guessed it had something to do with the steel pipes above his head. This room was no different from the previous one, the only difference being the many steel pipes above.
Gu Qingyuan spent some effort and finally finished tying all the ropes. She threw the other end of the rope forcefully, threading it through the steel pipe. She pulled hard, and Su Ling’s body was lifted into the air.
Su Ling’s heart pounded violently. His body was suspended in the air, losing all support, and his heart was filled with unease.
“Little thing, you know, I actually prepared a lot of things for this step—candles, a whip, a blindfold, all of that! But now I’m not interested.”
“You’ve made me very angry. Right now, I only want to punish you. So just stay hanging like this. Hang there, and when I’m interested again, I’ll come play. Okay?”
Su Ling stared at his master with tears in his eyes. He wanted to shake his head, but seeing his master’s expression, he nodded anyway. Even though he was very scared… very scared… but his master didn’t like it when he wasn’t good, didn’t like it when he didn’t obey. He actually closed his eyes, forcibly suppressing his inner unease and fear.
Gu Qingyuan did not leave. Instead, she directly pulled back the covers and lay down. Su Ling was right above her head; as long as she opened her eyes, she could see him. The setting sun outside fell into the room, and soon it fell into darkness.
His master had already fallen asleep. Su Ling was very uncomfortable from being tied up and couldn’t sleep at all. He felt very wronged and miserable, but had nowhere to vent. ‘Why did Master do this? Was it really my fault? Maybe…’
Su Ling was hung like this for three days.
When he was let down, he had already forgotten how he had endured it. The initial pain gradually became numb, to the point that he couldn’t even feel his limbs or his waist. He lay on the bed, held in his master’s arms. His master’s embrace was very warm, making him feel at ease, and exhausted, he slowly closed his eyes.
He slept this sleep for a very, very long time, so long that he didn’t want to wake up.
“Little thing, don’t sleep anymore. Wake up. You’ve been sleeping for almost two days. Hurry up and get up to eat.”
Su Ling’s brow furrowed slightly, but he still showed no sign of getting up. He was really tired, not just physically, but also in his heart…
After a while, his master seemed to leave, and the surroundings became very quiet. But suddenly, he felt a chill on his body. The cold sensation didn’t last long, and then he was enveloped by a warm body.
The next moment…
Su Ling opened his eyes and saw his master. He wanted to do something, but as soon as he raised his hand, the other grabbed his wrist and pressed it onto the bed.
“Awake? No matter how I called you, you wouldn’t wake up, so I had to use this method to wake you up!”
“What did you want to do just now? Struggle?”
“Little thing, you really are becoming more and more disobedient!”
Su Ling’s body was pushed, his mouth slightly open, panting heavily with the movement. He couldn’t answer the other’s words at all.
“How does it feel?”
“Tch, I’m starting to hate the way you can’t talk right now. Tomorrow I’ll call a doctor over to take a look at your throat.”
Gu Qingyuan wiped the sweat from the little thing’s forehead and gently placed a kiss there. An hour later, she stopped, picked up the weak little thing, and walked toward the bathroom.
In the spacious bathtub, Su Ling leaned in his master’s arms with a vacant look. It was strange; in the past, he could always feel that warm sensation in his master’s arms, but this time it was very faint, only barely perceptible, and would disappear if he wasn’t paying attention. Also, the scent on his master was very faint; he had to sniff hard to catch it.
“What are you spacing out about, little thing?”
“I told you to go to the bedroom and bring the clothes. Didn’t you hear me?”
Su Ling looked up, his eyes full of confusion, clearly not having heard.
“Tch, what a little idiot!”
“I told you to go to the bedroom and bring the clothes—mine and yours. Bring them here and dress me. Hurry up!”
Su Ling looked at the other, then at himself, nodded, and slowly climbed out of the bathtub. Once on the floor, he tried to stand up, but the floor was wet. He tried several times without success and nearly fell. He had to give up and chose to crawl slowly on all fours.
He crawled with difficulty to the bedroom, looked around the room, and found the clothes on the bed. His eyes lit up. He crawled over quickly, thought for a moment, then picked them up directly with his mouth. But on the way back to the bathroom, as he passed a full-length mirror, he paused slightly for a moment. But he quickly looked away and continued forward, only lowering his head even more.
He returned to the bathroom. Gu Qingyuan had already stepped out of the bathtub and was sitting on a stool, supporting her chin with one hand, watching him as he entered. Su Ling sniffled, quickly crawled over, then knelt before her, picked up the clothes, and began to put them on her piece by piece.
This was his first time dressing someone else. His movements were clumsy; he had never done such a thing before. In the past, it was always Elder Sister who helped him dress… Thinking of Elder Sister, his movements paused for a moment, but he quickly recovered and continued dressing her.
Gu Qingyuan looked at her crooked, messed-up clothes and had no choice but to straighten them herself. Then, she stared at the little thing in front of her, her gaze falling on the blood marks left by the ropes on the little thing’s body. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly.