Chapter 194: Want to Die?

Yin Huaiyu raised his hand, gently stroking his lips with his middle finger, his head resting against the window: "Do you remember? On that snowy night, I kissed you."

"Your lips are so soft, like they've been coated in medicine, addictive. That icy touch—I like it very much."

As he spoke, his gaze rested incessantly on Ling Wu, observing the micro-expressions on his face, only to find the other party indifferent.

That kiss, for Yin Huaiyu, might have been a thrill and a craving, but to Ling Wu, it was a matter of no importance.

Since Ling Wu would not respond, Yin Huaiyu had to press further; he stepped closer, digging for the truth: "Ling Wu, that day couldn't have been your first kiss, could it?"

"So what if it was, and what if it wasn't?" Ling Wu looked at him with calm eyes, like a lake without a ripple: "Have you developed some misunderstanding, or perhaps imagined some strange things?"

"Do you think that because you took the liberty of kissing me while I was unconscious, I must, out of this 'first time' trope, develop some kind of dependent emotion toward you, thereby closing the distance between us?"

Yin Huaiyu had his thoughts hit right on the mark by Ling Wu; the corner of his eye twitched restlessly, and his heart skipped a beat.

He had a premonition that what Ling Wu said next would likely drive him mad.

Then, Ling Wu moved a distance away from him and said with a serious, icy expression: "If you are attempting to use this ridiculous method to conquer me, to make me think you are special and develop a so-called fledgling complex, then I can only say your thinking is too naive."

"Just like your self-righteous imprisonment of me, putting shackles on my feet—they are the same kind of tactic. It is your own spiritual and emotional poverty that leads to these actions; it is you who needs me."

"And I do not need you."

I do not need you.

Yin Huaiyu smiled without mirth. Language is the sharpest sword, an invisible blade; it draws no blood, yet makes one feel the blurred sensation of flesh being trampled. He said stubbornly: "But you can't go anywhere now. If just kissing you isn't enough, then what if I sleep with you? If I make it so you can't get out of bed every day, will you fall in love with me?"

"Just like Stockholm Syndrome."

Ling Wu did not accept Yin Huaiyu's premise; he had always been an independent and strong-willed person with firm convictions: "I possess the right to voluntarily kiss anyone, the right to associate with anyone, but only on the condition that I am willing. I am not your possession, much less could I become your vassal. I am completely free, and I belong only to myself."

"Even if I were to go to bed with you, to sleep with you, in my eyes you would still be no different from the trash on the side of the road."

"In this new era, both men and women are gradually shaking off the shackles and constraints of so-called chastity, jumping out of the fetters created by the environment. Your methods, aside from exposing your baseness and vulgarity, have nothing clever about them."

A cliff stands ten thousand fathoms high; without desire, one is strong.

Ling Wu did not believe for a moment that a place like this could trap him.

Did he need someone to save him?

No.

Ling Wu quickly thought through the pros and cons. Of two evils, choose the lesser. Although he disliked the feeling of being trapped here, he would at least wait for his condition to stabilize slightly before setting out to leave.

Do not fight a battle you are not sure of winning.

At the same time, through this incident, Ling Wu learned the consequences of the drug's side effects. The pieces on the chessboard were all in place; he had to hurry to close the net.

Yin Huaiyu's face turned pale in a flash.

"Additionally, let me add one more thing." Ling Wu remained cold and heartless: "Someone like you, even if you threw yourself at me, I wouldn't look twice."

Yin Huaiyu mumbled, his gaze gloomy: "Fine, even if you don't like me, don't look at me... then I'll only ask you one question: do you have someone you like right now?"

"The kind of liking that is love."

Yin Huaiyu waited expectantly, but the answer was exactly as he had anticipated. Ling Wu's back was straight, and those eyes shimmered with a faint light. He did not hesitate for a moment: "No."

"I don't like anyone."

"Heh." Yin Huaiyu looked out the window. His flamboyant red hair was blown into a mess by the wind blowing in. His taut jawline made him appear somewhat lonely: "Don't like anyone... actually, it's that you don't think anyone is good enough, right?"

"Ling Wu, they all say you are humble and polite, gentle and easygoing, but your heart is harder than anyone's. You are magnanimous and affectionate to everyone, but in reality, that is the greatest form of indifference. Your so-called 'easygoing' and 'tolerant' attitude is just a form of downward compatibility toward the weak."

"They have never touched your bottom line. It's like a dog biting you—would you bite back? If an ant crawls across the back of your foot without causing pain or itch, would you care?"

Yin Huaiyu asked and answered himself: "You wouldn't."

"Then what if you *had* to care? You wouldn't choose to bite the dog, nor would you let the ant crawl over you. When you have accumulated enough, you will directly beat the dog to death and pour molten aluminum into the entire anthill to ensure there are no future troubles."

The gold threads of the Persian rug flowed under the scattered light and shadow, and the enamel glaze on the handle of the display cabinet reflected a rich spectrum of colors.

It set off the confrontation between the two in the room, sharp and pointed, yet capable of stopping at any moment.

Ling Wu was not led by his words, his train of thought clear: "You are trying to pretend that you understand me."

His eyes were perfectly clear.

"Aren't I?" Yin Huaiyu.

Yin Huaiyu spread his palms and pressed in on him step by step. His height advantage made him a head taller than Ling Wu, and the sense of oppression was extremely strong: "Except for just now when you woke up and were vaguely unable to control your emotions, aren't you very calm now?"

"Should we say our Magician is not comparable to normal people, or that you have planned something, dissembling and enduring with me... just waiting for the right moment to carry out a devastating revenge against me?"

His gaze was sharp, as if he could see through the human heart.

As if he saw through all of Ling Wu's plans.

Yin Huaiyu forced him to answer: "Am I right?"

Ling Wu leaned against the window, his bangs a bit messy, yet his eyes were surprisingly gentle, like the illusion a prey sees before its neck is snapped.

He responded with ease, smiling: "Thank you for reminding me that 'revenge' is also an option."

That light, airy expression seemed to mock Yin Huaiyu's naivety.

Ling Wu felt that Yin Huaiyu, this variable, although it brought trouble, was indeed very interesting, forcibly painting a bold and heavy stroke in his barren and uninteresting life.

Interesting?

But it stopped there.

He did not like the feeling of things exceeding his control; Ling Wu only needed to be in a position of absolute leadership.

Perhaps Yin Huaiyu was wrong about other things, but Ling Wu could not deny that he was indeed practicing downward compatibility; beneath his seemingly infinite tolerance, there was a bottom line.

In this clash, Yin Huaiyu gained no advantage. It seemed that the carefully crafted silver chain was tied to Ling Wu's ankle, but in reality, the other end of the chain had long since invisibly locked and imprisoned his own neck.

The so-called imprisonment was, from beginning to end, a process of mutual torment, of seeking what one cannot have and being unable to let go.

One trapped in the flesh.

One imprisoned in the soul.

But if you insist on saying which is more painful?

It is actually impossible to compare.

Yin Huaiyu gazed into Ling Wu's eyes, glimpsing a seductive gentleness within, like the hazy mist over a lake at dawn, masking the ripples on the surface, ignoring the arrival of danger... Right where he let his guard down, Ling Wu's retaliation came faster and more fiercely than he had imagined, making it unbearable for him, his personality shattered, only to be pieced back together again.

The argument was over, but the one to lower their head could not be Ling Wu; he picked a book with a gold-stamped cover from the shelf and sat comfortably in the swivel chair to read, his profile flushed red by the glow of the setting sun.

The more Yin Huaiyu thought about it, the angrier he became; in the end, he remembered the glass shards in the room hadn't been cleaned up yet, and he didn't want to leave it to others, nor did he want anyone else to see Ling Wu, as if Ling Wu were his private property if others didn't see him.

He was vicious and childish; the young master Yin, who had never lifted a finger in his life, picked up a broom and dustpan for the first time in his 21 years, stormed into the room, and then furiously swept up the glass fragments.

【Young Master, throwing another little tantrum?】

【Yin Huaiyu, if you dare to force my wife Ling Wu, I'll send the author ten pounds of blades immediately; you must be drinking without eating any peanuts, right!】

【Although! But! The omnivorous fans are ecstatic!】

【Red-haired brat! You'd better treat my supporting male lead baby well and get his body back in shape, that way I might spare your dog life, but while the death penalty is waived, the living punishment is unavoidable; take him out and give him 60 strokes of the cane!】

【Watched for so long... first time I've felt Yin Huaiyu is spineless...】

【+1】

【+1】

【+10086】

That red hair rose and fell with his movements, like dyed wild grass.

"Bang!"

The sound of glass shards hitting the dustpan.

Yin Huaiyu swung the broom with great force, deliberately creating quite a commotion, his eyes fixed intently on Ling Wu's profile, looking unspeakably resentful...

Why wouldn't this person look at him?

Had his face lost its charm?

Or was it that he really hated him that much?

Damn it!

The more he thought, the more pissed off he was!

Yin Huaiyu shouted: "Ling Wu!"

"Young Master, I'm not deaf yet." Ling Wu didn't even lift his head, his slender fingers turning the page of the book, saying impatiently: "You could stand to be a little quieter."

Yin Huaiyu really did get a little quieter, his tone quite gritted: "Good brother, you broke the water glass, yet you make me clean it up, what do you think?"

"Oh." Ling Wu closed the book, rested his elbows on the chair's armrests, and looked at him leisurely: "What are you complaining about? Did I force you?"

Yin Huaiyu naturally understood that the implication was for him to call someone in to clean, but he couldn't bring himself to put Ling Wu under anyone else's nose; when that family doctor saw Ling Wu, he looked like he wanted to glue his eyeballs onto him.

What if these "monsters and ghosts" in the villa had improper thoughts about Ling Wu? After all, he had seen the fanatical way those "obsessed" students at the Academy expressed their liking for Ling Wu... he really was popular with both men and women!

Thus, Yin Huaiyu inexplicably forced a few words through his teeth: "Don't even think about it!"

Ling Wu: "?"

Was there some hidden ailment above his neck?

Yin Huaiyu: "What book are you reading?"

He wasn't a person who liked to read; the text on it was somewhat obscure and difficult to understand, profound to the point of impossibility, and Yin Huaiyu scoffed at it—what kind of rubbish sage books and grand principles, they were all flashy and hollow things.

Seeing Ling Wu ignoring him, Yin Huaiyu went out again carrying the dustpan and broom, only to return a few minutes later, throwing a pair of slippers at his feet; but after thinking for a few seconds, he crouched down like a "grandson" to serve him, putting them on for him personally.

The cold war of the morning was started unilaterally by him, and ended unilaterally by him.

Ling Wu was unaware of the whole thing.

Yin Huaiyu stood behind him, stared at the book in his hands for two seconds, and as if making small talk, pointed at a passage of foreign text and asked: "What does this mean?"

Ling Wu's lips curled slightly: "This sentence translates to: Humans are such despicable things, they will get used to anything."

"Don't you think that fits someone like you quite well?"

He felt irritable inside; no matter how good his temper was, he couldn't help but snap at Yin Huaiyu, the culprit, a couple of times.

Yin Huaiyu snorted coldly and commented: "Shao Yu is truly your own younger brother."

Finally, he said: "The avalanche at Muya Snow Mountain, because the rescue team arrived in time, there were no casualties, you can rest easy."

Yin Huaiyu knew he wanted to hear news of Jin Shaoyu, and was willing to say it to please him.

Anything would do.

It would be best if he weren't so cold!

After hearing the news, Ling Wu felt that Yin Huaiyu was even more useless, and was sparing with his words: "Oh."

"It's getting dark." Yin Huaiyu placed his hand on his shoulder, scraping his fingers against that patch of fair skin: "What do you want to eat tonight?"

Ling Wu dodged slightly and didn't even think: "Whatever."

Yin Huaiyu frowned: "There is no dish called 'whatever'!"

"Name two dishes."

He really felt like he'd seen a ghost; why was it so hard to please Ling Wu?

"Ling Wu, you won't talk, and you intentionally ignore me." Yin Huaiyu suddenly spun the chair around, then leaned down, bracing his hands on the armrests on both sides, trapping Ling Wu in the space between his arms and the chair: "I really want to take a knife and pry your mouth open to see if it's really that hard; you will never speak to me properly."

I don't know which of Yin Huaiyu's words enraged Ling Wu; he couldn't stand it: "You fucking imprisoned me here, and you still want me to speak to you nicely?"

"You've taken all the benefits in the world; do you think the world revolves around you?"

"Fuck your grandfather!"

Yin Huaiyu's hands, gripping his shoulders, were trembling with force: "I've practically knelt down to beg you, and you still give me the cold shoulder!"

"Why?!"

"There is no why!" Ling Wu pried his fingers off one by one: "Yin Huaiyu, if you can't stand it, then get lost!"

【Young Master, why don't you know the reason in your own heart?】

【You imprisoned someone and you have the nerve to ask why?】

【Young Master Yin, if only my skin were as thick as yours.】

The servants inside the villa listened to the intense arguing and the sound of things being smashed coming from the room, and were so frightened they looked at each other in dismay; a few minutes later, Yin Huaiyu walked out of the room with several bright red slap marks on his face, looking sinister, and did not forget to pull the door shut: "What are you looking at? Do you want to die?!"