Song Yao paused, feeling a bit disappointed.
Well, then.
People really did change.
Her Fourth Junior Brother was no longer the child who would flush red and run away at the slightest tease. He could actually ask her back so calmly now.
Believing she had more or less resolved her conflicts with Wen Tang and Zhu Zhao, she was now eager to settle things with Xie Zhou. Scooting a bit closer, she slightly lifted her bound legs. “You know me best. I've always been a woman of my word. How about this? Undo my binds, and my life is yours. What do you say?”
Xie Zhou's gaze swept over her incredibly beautiful face and her mist-shrouded eyes, which could draw anyone in before they knew it. After a brief pause, he casually released the talismans around her ankles.
Free from her bonds, Song Yao let out a sigh of relief.
Her Fourth Junior Brother was indeed still so easy to talk to.
Of course, even if he wasn't, it wouldn't have mattered.
She had completely come to terms with things now.
It didn't matter whether the people of the Nine Saints Hall hated her, nor did it matter how many people wanted her dead.
She only had this one life anyway; if they wanted it, she would just give it to them.
At worst, she would just stop farming, go straight into the ground, and rest in peace.
Song Yao scrambled up from the bed, stood straight, and looked down at Xie Zhou. Tilting her head, she asked, “If I give my life to our little Zhou, will it make you feel a bit better?”
Since she was standing, Xie Zhou had to look up at her.
She looked more compassionate now than she used to, more distant and aloof, yet also more ridiculous.
She could actually say something like giving away her life so casually.
And even at a time like this, she could still act exactly as she had in the past, as if nothing had ever happened.
“If your life is mine,” he asked, “can I do whatever I want with it?”
Something about his question tickled Song Yao. Deciding to drop her act entirely, her eyes curved into crescents. She leaned down toward Xie Zhou, closing the distance between them, and nodded as if coaxing a child. “Of course! When has your Third Senior Sister ever lied to you? What's wrong? Surely our little Xie Zhou doesn't hate me so much that he wants to tear his senior sister apart with horses, right? I can't do that while alive, but you can kill me first and then do it...”
Her smile froze the instant Xie Zhou reached out and gripped the back of her neck.
His slightly rough, warm fingertips brushed against the girl's delicate skin.
Song Yao heard her Fourth Junior Brother ask calmly, “Can I choose a different way?”
Song Yao froze, her mind failing to process his words.
A different way?
What did he mean by a different way?
Just as she was about to ask, Xie Zhou lost his patience. His other hand clamped tightly around her waist, tightening his grip.
The quilt beneath her feet was slippery, and catching her off guard, she lost her balance and fell to her knees on the bed.
Before she could recover, the large hand at the back of her head forced her to tilt her head up.
She was truly dazed now, utterly unable to comprehend what Xie Zhou was trying to do. Her mist-shrouded eyes blinked as she watched her Fourth Junior Brother close in.
It was only when they were so close that their breaths mingled and their noses almost touched that she suddenly sensed something was wrong and abruptly turned her head.
A warm touch landed on her cheek instead, carrying a very faint scent of ink.
Song Yao's entire body went rigid as she finally realized what he was doing.
He was kissing her?!
He wanted to kiss her?
Had he lost his mind?!!!
With his kiss missing its mark, Xie Zhou looked down at her. Seeing her astounded expression, the corner of his lips twitched into a rare, half-mocking smile. “Didn't Third Senior Sister say I could do whatever I wanted?”
Song Yao: “...”
No matter how slow she was, she finally understood now.
When he said "do," he fucking meant doing her?!
She had prepared herself for him wanting to kill her, which was why she had provoked him like that.
But she hadn't prepared herself for this at all!
Wasn't he supposed to hate her?
Wasn't he supposed to despise her?
This... this was all wrong, wasn't it?
She had been hunted down countless times and fought in countless battles, but this was the first time she had ever encountered something like this.
And the other party was her own junior brother.
For the first time, panic seized her completely. She desperately tried to shrink back. “No, no, wait a second, Xie Zhou, that's not what I meant...”
Before she could retreat, Xie Zhou leaned down and scooped her up from the bed.
Held in his arms, Song Yao gasped in fright. She instinctively clutched his collar, only to let go immediately, completely at a loss as to where to put her hands. Her face fell, and she felt like crying.
Something was wrong.
Everything was completely wrong.
How could her pure, kindhearted Fourth Junior Brother have blackened to this extent?
Was this even the right direction for a corruption arc?
He might as well just kill her.
She regretted it a million times over.
Why did she have to tease him when she had nothing better to do?
Now she had truly done it.
Her mind was an absolute mess. Held in Xie Zhou's embrace and enveloped by his scent, her body went completely stiff, not daring to make a single move.
It would have been fine if her Fourth Junior Brother said he liked her, or even if he said he hated her.
But he said neither.
He only said he wanted to "do" her.
Her Second Senior Sister and Fifth Junior Sister hadn't acted like this. Why was it only him?
Was it because the things she had done to him in the past were too awful?
Or had she corrupted him?
If she had known, she would never have sneaked him into the Chunqing Sect to play back then. He must have seen some inappropriate things there.
Xie Zhou carried her unhurriedly over to the desk and leaned down to gently place her on top of it.
The scattered talisman papers beneath her rustled under her weight. Before Song Yao could escape, her Fourth Junior Brother leaned in again.
Propping his hands on either side of her waist, he locked her firmly within his space. Leaning down, his dark eyes intently tracked her dodging face as he reminded her, “Third Senior Sister just said that a promise is a promise. Are you going to do it yourself, or should I?”
Rate on N.U.
