Su Ling obediently opened his mouth. The doctor took out a flashlight, shone it inside, and observed carefully.
“Miss Gu, the throat injury is quite serious. To recover, surgery is necessary. Simple medication won’t work anymore. And even if the surgery is successful, I can’t fully guarantee his speech will be as smooth as before.”
Su Ling heard this and bit his lip, lowering his head silently. Gu Qingyuan placed a hand on his shoulder and gently rubbed it.
“It’s fine. Do your best to treat him. As long as he can make a sound, that’s enough.”
Su Ling’s heart trembled. ‘As long as he can make a sound, that’s enough?’ What did that mean? A bitter feeling surged in Su Ling’s chest. He had already been obedient. Why couldn’t she just be a little nicer to him?
After the doctor left, Su Ling lay on the hospital bed, his head bowed, lost in thought. Gu Qingyuan sat beside him, occasionally stroking his head, but mostly just watching him. Seeing that she made no move, Su Ling finally couldn’t hold back his emotions anymore. He picked up the notebook on the bedside table and wrote down the question he wanted to ask:
(I’ve been obedient, very obedient. Can you fix my throat?)
Gu Qingyuan glanced at it, and her brow immediately furrowed.
“Aren’t I already treating you? The doctor said it would be fixed.”
Su Ling shook his head and grabbed the notebook again to write:
(What I want isn’t just to be fixed. I want it to be like before. I don’t want to only make this ugly sound.)
Gu Qingyuan took a deep breath, her brow still furrowed.
“You don’t just want to speak? Then what do you want? Being able to talk is enough. Isn’t that sufficient?”
There was a hint of irritation in her voice. She didn’t understand why this little thing was making such strange demands. Wasn’t a mouth just for talking? If it could be fixed so he could speak, wasn’t that enough? What else could a mouth do? Or what else did he want to do?!
Gu Qingyuan’s mind immediately jumped to something unpleasant, and her eyes narrowed.
“Are you thinking about escaping again?”
Su Ling’s body jerked violently, and he immediately shook his head. He absolutely wasn’t thinking that. He just wanted to get his old voice back. It wasn’t just about being able to speak. His old voice had sounded nice. His sister, and his friends from before, they all liked it. He didn’t want to lose his original voice.
“No?” Gu Qingyuan’s lips curled into a smirk. She didn’t believe the little thing at all. It seemed she’d been too good to him lately, letting this little creature develop some thoughts he shouldn’t have! It looked like he still wasn’t obedient enough from being disciplined! But not now!
Gu Qingyuan reined in her thoughts and glanced at the little fellow’s injured leg. It had almost fully healed. The little thing’s recovery ability was quite impressive. What would take a normal person months to heal from a leg injury, the little thing had closed the wound in just a few days. In about a month, the little thing’s leg should be completely healed. By then, she wouldn’t have to be so lenient with him anymore.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything to you. At least not now. Whether or not you’re thinking about escaping depends on your future behavior. If I find even a single sign of an escape attempt, I promise I’ll make sure you become a toy that can’t do anything at all!”
Tears streamed down Su Ling’s face in big drops, crashing onto the bed as his body trembled uncontrollably.
“And also, I told you before: from now on, you have to add ‘Master’ before every sentence. And this time, you didn’t follow it even once!”
Su Ling’s pupils shrank sharply. He suddenly remembered that she had indeed made that demand before. But he hadn’t written anything for several days, and he’d completely forgotten. He immediately grabbed the pen and, trembling, wrote in the notebook:
(Master, I was wrong. Don’t be angry. Mm-mm. I’ll change. I’ll call you Master from now on.)
Gu Qingyuan didn’t even look at it. She swatted the notebook away in one motion.
“It’s already happened. Do you think it’s worth making up for it now? But since it seems you can’t do anything right now, I won’t hit you. However, the punishment still needs to happen. Starting today, you will copy the word ‘Master’ in this notebook, 100 times every day. Got it?”
When Su Ling heard he wouldn’t be hit, he immediately nodded. It was just copying. In school, he’d been given homework like this before. It was nothing.
“Good. I’m going out. You start writing now. I’ll check it before tonight!”
Su Ling nodded and, after watching her leave, immediately grabbed the notebook and began copying. At first, he wrote carefully. But as he wrote more and more, his handwriting became messy, and his arm started to ache. He had no choice but to stop and rest. Looking at the dense rows of the word “Master” on the page, his heart ached. He couldn’t help but think: ‘No, that’s not right. She’s not my master! Why would a master do this?’ But as soon as he relaxed, he suddenly felt so tired. He didn’t want to write anymore.
That evening, after taking care of her own affairs, Gu Qingyuan returned to the basement. This wasn’t actually a hospital room. It was a punishment room converted from a basement! It wasn’t exactly built specially for Su Ling, because this punishment room had existed for a long time—at least two or three years. She had brought other people in here before, but only one or two. When she found that punishing those people didn’t bring her what she wanted, she stopped bringing anyone in.
But Su Ling was different. No matter how much she bullied him, the feeling this little thing gave her was always different! So she had reopened this punishment room. It had many tools that allowed her to punish the little thing properly! Most importantly, it was equipped with some medical instruments and supplies, so she could treat him in time when she punished him too severely.
As Gu Qingyuan thought this, she stepped into the room. Inside, Su Ling was lying quietly on the bed, his stomach rising and falling gently. He looked like he was asleep. She walked over without waking the little thing and picked up the notebook to flip through it carefully. He had written a lot, but clearly not 100 times. And the further she went, the messier the handwriting became. By the end, the word “Master” was unrecognizable. It seemed this little thing really hadn’t taken her words to heart at all.
She had originally planned to let him off the hook, but the little thing had gone and pulled this stunt again. It seemed she had no choice but to continue punishing him! Gu Qingyuan put down the food she had brought, walked over to a small compartment, and took out an item.
“I’ll use this as the punishment tool.”
Looking at the object in her hand, Gu Qingyuan’s lips curled into a smile. The little thing should like this. No, he had to like it!