Entering the bedroom, he found her surprisingly calm—she had merely kicked off the blanket, her upper body dangling over the edge of the bed, eyes inverted as she looked up at him.
Shi Yeshan stood in the doorway, raising two fingers to ask her, "How many is this?"
She glanced at him slowly, her tone dripping with disdain, "Two."
As if anyone couldn't count.
He wanted to eat rabbit.
"I'll catch you one tomorrow."
Shi Yeshan walked over slowly, and Su Zhai had already sat herself upright, her upper body leaning against the headboard, eyes half-closed, then cracking open a sliver to peek at him secretly.
A few petal-like small moles had crept onto her neck, spreading with the momentum of wildfire, washing her whole being in a soft pink haze. Her words came out sticky and indistinct as she told Shi Yeshan, "You are my husband."
Su Zhai's eyelids were impossibly heavy; she struggled to keep them open, lashes fluttering, "Then can you fulfill your duties?"
Her speech was still fairly fluent, but her body temperature had spiked sharply, her internal breath in complete disarray.
Shi Yeshan asked in a low voice, "What do you want?"
"That's not right." Su Zhai mumbled again, "You're impotent…"
But her whole body was burning, something rampaging through her, violently demanding she couple with someone to save her life.
Su Zhai toppled straight into Shi Yeshan's arms, her feverish body heat dispersing a small cloud of fragrant mist.
It was the fresh scent of peaches—she had just eaten one in the kitchen.
Shi Yeshan gathered her into his embrace, one hand tracing her forehead, mapping the shape of her skull, knowing that with a slight squeeze he could crush it to pieces.
She was the demon lord who made the world tremble in fear, yet so fragile that even a single demon's Heat Venom could overwhelm her.
The person in his arms was burning hot, clinging and formless like water, able to flow and slip through even steel restraints. Soon she had wrapped herself around him, limbs entwined, face to face.
Su Zhai's eyes were clouded, dark purple demonic qi surging beyond control, swirling in her gaze, her lips turning a vivid crimson.
Shi Yeshan remained perfectly composed, simply asking what she wanted.
"Peaches."
She said.
A strand of black hair fell before his eyes, separating them, and Shi Yeshan snapped back to attention: "What?"
"There are two peaches at home." Su Zhai, even now, didn't forget about food, "I want to eat them both."
Shi Yeshan's fingertip touched her lips, and he could smell the peach fragrance.
Too sweet.
"But I thought I'd save one for you, so I only ate one just now. There's still one left."
Su Zhai rested her chin on the man's shoulder, blowing at the hair in front of her eyes, making it fly up, feeling like she was watching a lonely plum rain.
She said softly, "Can you get it for me?"
The fever was burning hotter and hotter.
Shi Yeshan pulled his hair free from her restless hands, "Wasn't that one saved for me?"
"…Mm."
But she felt that, after all, she was about to die anyway.
Su Zhai closed her eyes and bit down on his shoulder.
Shi Yeshan, displeased, propped her up to sit straight, "I'm not a peach."
"Can't get a peach, so you throw a tantrum like this." Shi Yeshan's fingertip lifted her chin, "You like Liu Erniang—do you want to have an affair with her?"
Her hazy eyes turned slightly clearer, because she was compelled to speak the truth, and she told Shi Yeshan, "No, I don't."
Shi Yeshan nodded. His fingers moved to the nape of her neck, his palm pressing her body forward, but met some resistance.
Su Zhai stretched her neck, all her weight leaning back against Shi Yeshan's hand, struggling to pull away.
"Didn't you want to eat a peach?"
"You're not a peach."
Shi Yeshan was silent for a moment. "Quite bold, aren't you. But you can't handle me."
"Mm?" She was genuinely surprised, "You're impotent, and still this confident."
Now Shi Yeshan understood what she meant by "impotent."
He paused for a beat—he hadn't expected that a casual lie would leave such a deep impression on her.
This Succubus, even without her memories, had a head full of chaos—one mention of "can't handle" and her mind went straight to that.
Su Zhai's vision began to blur with large patches of darkness, and the voice in her heart was still screaming, but she could hear it less and less.
Yet the man's presence was drawing closer.
His scent was crisp and vast. Like snow covering a mountain, standing there since ten million years ago, and would stand forevermore.
The snowy mountain toppled toward her.
But Su Zhai suddenly dodged away from him.
Shi Yeshan pressed down on her spine, tracing along her bones, vertebra by vertebra, until she lay docilely against him. Then he hooked her chin, making her lift her head.
He asked with great patience, "I'm going to perform toxin purification for you. What's wrong with that?"
Su Zhai let out a vague "ah," quite taken aback, "You can do that?"
This time, without waiting for Shi Yeshan to answer, she pounced on him herself, as if she'd been planning it all along. Her arms looped around his neck, pulling him down against her, her burning crimson lips grinding against his again and again, her body twisting and rubbing restlessly.
His aura enveloped Su Zhai from all directions, cold to the extreme, yet from that coldness emerged a faint trace of seductive fragrance—she wanted to seize it, to stain it with something unsightly.
Shi Yeshan remained perfectly calm throughout, but the hair gripped in Su Zhai's hand was already thoroughly disheveled. He endured patiently for a moment before pulling her back by the nape of her neck, feeling his lips still slightly numb.
His voice was like jade shattering against ice as he frowned and asked, "Don't you know to open your mouth?"
His tone was severe, as if scolding her.
Su Zhai nodded blankly, about to say something, when the man pressed close again. Perhaps he thought she had been too useless just now, so this time he kept his grip on her nape the entire time, pressing against her without a gap, using the tip of his tongue to pry open her lips.
The moment he entered, he was bitten.
Shi Yeshan pressed against her teeth and told her to let go. He had intended to pass some true qi into her, but tasting the peach flavor in her mouth, he deliberately stirred.
The peach was crushed.
Su Zhai let out two muffled whimpers, her tongue pushed back uncomfortably, and she couldn't help but push against him—yet at that moment he withdrew, and pulling back completely wasn't enough; he tried to lure her tongue into his own mouth.
Is this what toxin purification is?
Su Zhai wondered inwardly, cautious and not following his wishes, only licking his lower lip.
A glistening trail of moisture spread across the corner of Shi Yeshan's mouth.
The room remained quiet, with only the occasional sound of her swallowing. The two weren't kissing fiercely, yet they clung together in a lingering embrace, never parting. Su Zhai's tongue root went numb, feeling his crisp snow-flavored taste filling her mouth, melting on her tongue—cool and refreshing, very pleasant.
This sweet coolness traveled down her throat into her stomach, then spread through her limbs and bones. The flames of agitation in her heart were extinguished, and that screaming voice was choked into silence. She began to feel light and adrift, her body filled with gentle strength, as if cradled in clouds.
She was getting drunk from the kiss.
Shi Yeshan kneaded her nape idly, watching the small red mole reluctantly fade away. But whether it was an illusion or not, her porcelain-white skin seemed to retain a trace of peach-pink marks.
True qi spread through her spiritual palace in thin strands, and the blood that had been boiling from the Heat Venom gradually calmed.
Su Zhai had a dream.
A woman held two peaches in her hands. On the left stood her, on the right stood a boy.
The woman lovingly gave the peach in her right hand to the boy. After he finished it, she passed the peach in her left hand over as well.
Su Zhai remained very quiet, simply watching the boy eat the peach bite by bite. Her mouth puckered, and she tasted something bitter and salty.
When she woke, her heart still felt somewhat hollow. The room was empty too—Shi Yeshan had probably gone out again.
Shi Yeshan was always busy.
Su Zhai sighed, rolling off the bed with limp limbs, but suddenly spotted the delicate pink peach on the table.
There had been three peaches in the house; she'd eaten two last night. This was the last one.
She picked up the peach and slowly ate it, finally a hint of a smile appearing on her face.
She had arranged to visit Liu Erniang's house today to learn embroidery. Su Zhai brought two flatbreads with her, sharing them for lunch, and noticed Liu Erniang had been secretly smiling the whole time.
Erniang pointed at her neck, her meaning clear: "A reunion after separation is sweeter than a wedding night."
Su Zhai touched that spot—it was a bit prickly and numb, but she didn't think much of it. "Probably a mosquito bite."
There were many mosquitoes in the mountains, but Shi Yeshan had somehow found a string of grayish dried branches to hang at the door. The smell was pungent, but it was extremely effective at repelling insects.
Erniang just took her for being shy, smiled, and dropped the subject. "In a few days I'm going to town. Want me to take you along for fun? You're always cooped up at home with nothing to do."
Since arriving in this world, Su Zhai's range of activity had been limited, but she had no real interest in the outside world.
What was so special about ancient life? Even the most prosperous place couldn't compare to a pedestrian street back home. Su Zhai answered dismissively, "We'll see."
Erniang clicked her tongue. "Don't you want to go see your husband? He works at Ziqian Hall and doesn't come home for half a month at a time. There are plenty of fairy maidens and beauties there. You'd better watch out."
Su Zhai wanted to laugh, brushing loose threads off her skirt. "My husband isn't that kind of man."
Erniang sighed deeply. "Men—they're all the same when you get down to it. Unless they're burned to ashes, none of them stay put."
This topic didn't resonate with Su Zhai, so today she walked home by herself.
From afar, she could see warm orange firelight in the small courtyard on the mountain.
When she got home, she found Shi Yeshan had started a fire at the door and was roasting a plump, tender rabbit over it.
Su Zhai was surprised. "Why are you back again tonight?"
There was no carriage at home—Shi Yeshan had to walk to town to catch one, which took half a day round trip. He must not have gone to work today, instead going into the mountains to catch a rabbit.
Shi Yeshan glanced at her and said vaguely, "So you won't have dreams again."
Hua Fan had the nature of a child, and the Heat Venom it produced was strange—a thousand people, a thousand faces, never the same.
Last night, Shi Yeshan had transferred his true qi to help her dissolve the Heat Venom. Though the poison had been neutralized, the moment Su Zhai fell asleep, a hazy scene surfaced before his eyes—a projection of her dream.
And so Shi Yeshan found himself trapped inside her dream, listening to her weep all night over a peach she hadn't gotten to eat.
That greedy.
"Here." Shi Yeshan pulled out a small knife, sliced a piece of rabbit leg onto a plate, and handed it to her. "Didn't you say you wanted to eat rabbit?"
That night, it was Su Zhai's dream again.
Bunnies are so cute, how can you eat bunnies?
Hahaha.
Bunnies are so cute, how can you eat bunnies?
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Shi Yeshan felt a headache coming on as he silently endured this loop for half the night, recalling the fleeting, inscrutable smile she'd worn when he'd handed her the rabbit meat earlier.
She'd probably been dying to say that line then but had held it back with great effort—so much effort that it pained her, and now in her dreams, she kept muttering it over and over, shifting tones, sometimes in Su Zhai's voice, sometimes in Shi Yeshan's own.
Just as he was finally getting somewhat used to it, Su Zhai's dream shifted.
It was her imagined version of Ziqian Hall, the Shushan Sect's branch stationed in Cangzhou. Following her perspective, she barged in, roughly shoving aside the disciples who tried to stop her, until she reached a bedroom in the rear quarters and kicked the door open with force.
"Ah!!"
A woman's shrill scream came from inside.
At that moment, a cold, sinister voice whispered close to his ear.
—Men, when you get down to it, are all the same. Unless they're burned to ashes, there's no such thing as one who stays put.
As that eerie voice faded, the chaotic scene inside finally came into focus. Beneath a quilt printed with little blue bears was Shi Yeshan's own panicked face, scrambling to get dressed in disarray alongside the screaming woman.
Shi Yeshan watched with a blank expression, concluding that Su Zhai had dreamed him up looking rather ugly.
"No, that's not right." Su Zhai muttered to herself in the dream. "My husband isn't that kind of man."
Oh?
Now that's more like it.
Time in the dream rewound rapidly, returning to the moment before Su Zhai opened the door—it was starting over. She quickly kicked the door open again in fury. "Catching you in the act!"
This time, Shi Yeshan's sharp eyes caught sight of himself tied to a pillar with hemp rope.
A black blindfold covered his eyes, his robes half-slipped off, revealing red marks lashed across his skin. His rosy lips were slightly parted, his chin tilted up—a seductive, pleading pose.
Beside him stood a woman clad head to toe in tight leather, the material gleaming like metal with a cold, hard sheen, a whip in her hand.
The black-clad woman's face was extremely blurry, but the lecherous cackling coming from her mouth was unmistakably Su Zhai's own. She raised the whip high with vicious intent—
Shi Yeshan abruptly shoved Su Zhai.
She jolted upright, looking around in bewilderment. "…What happened? What happened?"
In the man's hand was a cup of cold tea, which he handed to her without changing his expression. "Drink some water before you go back to sleep."
Dissolved in the water was a Heart-Clearing Pill—enough to keep her dreamless until dawn.