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墨書 Inktalez
Lin Qingmo woke up to find his hands bound to the headboard. He recalled that he had struggled too much last night, and Ao Yan had used his own belt to tie him up. With great effort, he turned his head to look around, but Ao Yan was already gone. The gauze curtains had been drawn. He was covered with a blanket, and except for his exposed arms, every corner of him was tightly pressed down. He sat there in a daze, his mind blank.
Suddenly, a voice sounded near his ear: "You're awake?" He slightly turned his head and saw a very beautiful bird with sea-blue feathers and a long tail, resembling either a peacock or a phoenix. It was hard to imagine a bird having such thick long eyelashes and captivating, watery peach blossom eyes.
Seeing that Lin Qingmo did not respond, the bird suddenly tilted its body into a pose of a wronged woman, its long eyelashes fluttering as if it were either flirting or crying. Its tone was sweet yet mournful: "You’re here, which means my days are going to be tough. Generally, the former favored consorts who are neglected don’t end well. Although I used to be the prince's favored... pet bird, my fate will surely be the same as those in the harem." Lin Qingmo's thoughts were drawn in by its words. "Are you a peacock or a phoenix?" The little bird seemed pleased, flapping its long eyelashes faster and replied in a high-pitched voice: "My father is a phoenix, and my mother is a phoenix."
Lin Qingmo asked again, "What’s your name?" The little bird answered, "I’m called Xi'er." Then it began to sing to itself: "Other girls have flowers to wear; my girl has none to wear. Pulling two feet of red ribbon to tie up my Xi'er." Unable to hold back, Lin Qingmo chuckled softly, which caused pain at the wound on his back and made him break into a cold sweat.
Xi'er rolled its eyes and gently brushed Lin Qingmo's face with its feathers, asking softly, "Where does it hurt? Is it your back? Let me help you rub it!" Lin Qingmo laughed again and asked, "Are you male or female?" Xi'er suddenly sat up straight and changed its tone to a rough voice: "Male." Then it relaxed again, becoming more mournful.
Lin Qingmo pleaded, "Xi'er, can you help me untie this? I want to go home." Xi'er replied softly: "Oh dear, you mustn't say that in front of the prince. He thinks about you day and night. Now that he has finally reached the age to marry you, how could he easily let you go home? When he comes later, he will definitely say: 'Be good; take care of yourself and I will take you home to see your mother.' Besides, I only have claws; I can't untie this." Its eyes twinkled mischievously as it added: "You must be in pain at the back? Let me help you rub it; come on now..."
Before it could finish speaking, footsteps approached from outside. It immediately shut its mouth.
The person who entered was Ao Yan, now dressed in dark yellow casual attire. Lin Qingmo felt no hatred or resentment towards him; he didn’t even feel angry. Although he clearly remembered what Ao Yan had done to him last night. In human teachings, chastity belonged to women; it was their primary concern and had nothing to do with men. However, human teachings also dictated that romantic relationships between men and women were legitimate. Although Lin Qingmo knew about the story of the broken sleeve and shared peach blossoms, it remained an obscure corner of society that he himself did not indulge in.
At this moment, all he could think about was going home; emotionally he missed his mother and Lin Xiao while feeling responsible for Ge Xiaohua's marriage. If he were dead and they found his corpse, that would be one thing; but if they couldn’t find his body and people suspected he had run away from marriage, it would be very embarrassing for the girl involved.
Ao Yan sat by the bed and untied the belt binding Lin Qingmo's waist. Seeing the longing in Lin Qingmo's eyes made them seem like they had exchanged ages; Ao Yan spoke softly as if coaxing a child: "Be good; take care of yourself and I will take you home to see your mother."
Xi'er winked at Lin Qingmo: "Did you see that? I guessed right!" Ao Yan gently touched the red marks on Lin Qingmo's wrist left by the belt with concern: "Be good. I'll take you for a bath; it's a medicinal bath that will be good for your body." With that said, he began to lift the blanket.
Upon hearing about the bath, Xi'er perked up immediately and stared intently at Ao Yan's hand as if waiting for something splendid to happen. When Ao Yan lifted the blanket, Xi'er immediately wilted like it had caught some disease. It turned out that Lin Qingmo was wearing close-fitting undergarments.
Ao Yan carefully picked up Lin Qingmo, trying not to touch the wounds left from last night's excesses. Xi'er felt dejected for a moment but soon remembered Ao Yan’s words: “I’ll take you for a bath.” Instantly revitalized with fluffy feathers shining brightly, it shouted: “I want to go too! Wait for me! I want to go!” It ran and flew towards the bathroom but crashed into a transparent door instead. It tumbled over twice before stopping with stars circling around its head as it counted: “One, two, three... Oh dear! My poor back! The prince added water curtains.”
Not giving up easily, it propped itself up and peeked through the door with its eyes—spying.
In the bathing pool, Ao Yan held Lin Qingmo from behind while carefully washing his body and tending to his wounds. Floating lotus flowers adorned the surface of the water amidst swirling mist; Lin Qingmo felt as if he were in an otherworldly paradise. He noticed a small red dot on Ao Yan's arm where he had stabbed him last night and felt guilty. He couldn’t help but reach out to touch it and asked: “Does it still hurt? You were stabbed last night; how come it's better now?” After saying this, he realized how inappropriate it sounded—as if implying that if he had known healing would be so quick, he should have stabbed more times.
Ao Yan teased him: “Want me to stab you again?” Saying this while pressing him against the pool wall as his excitement grew uncontrollably against Lin Qingmo's inner thigh: “I actually want to stab again.” Even though Lin Qingmo no longer held onto notions of chastity, an innate sense of shame made him blush. This feeling was entirely new—belonging to love and intimacy he had never experienced before; he didn’t know this was called flirting.
In truth, Ao Yan wasn’t ignorant either; having Liu Lan and Xue as mentors had greatly improved his skills.
Seeing that Lin Qingmo didn’t refuse him anymore, Ao Yan’s hand ventured into Lin Qingmo’s rear end under the water; after some time of gentle exploration both inside and out became soft—the wounds healed while bruises faded away from being ravaged by Ao Yan’s mouth.
Ao Yan guided himself slowly into Lin Qingmo’s rear end inch by inch. The uncomfortable fullness made Lin Qingmo furrow his brows as his hands instinctively gripped Ao Yan’s shoulders tightly while echoes of Ao Yan’s words rang in his ears: “Be good; take care of yourself and I will take you home to see your mother.” Once fully sheathed inside him, Ao Yan looked up at Lin Qingmo with a gentle yet shy smile before suddenly leaning in to kiss him on the lips while simultaneously thrusting vigorously—Lin Qingmo’s cries were muffled against his mouth as his eyes widened in shock.
Ao Yan’s movements grew faster as ripples spread across the surface of the pool while Lin Qingmo felt an intense heat building within him—his mouth was invaded by Ao Yan’s tongue swirling around mercilessly while unexpressed discomfort surged within him like waves crashing without an outlet—his feet kicked wildly while hands clawed desperately at Ao Yan’s shoulders leaving long red marks on them.
Xi'er watched with excitement bubbling over—it raised its hand to touch its wet nose exclaiming: “Oh dear! My poor nose!”
Days passed by quickly. One day Fox King Liu Lan walked into Chakravartin Xue's room. Liu Lan was carefree while Xue was one of twelve kings ruling over hell—he had taken leave to attend Ao Yan's wedding but ended up lingering longer than intended.
Xue sat cross-legged on the bed propping his chin on one hand while watching two small creatures—a little merman and a little clam spirit—fighting each other with great interest. They hadn’t grown much yet but were surprisingly strong—two little balls of flesh tugging each other's ears and pinching cheeks while one used its tail while another wielded a bivalve shell against each other.
They had just brought in a basin for Xue’s face wash when they unexpectedly fell out over some disagreement despite having guests present—both paused mid-fight upon noticing Fox King watching them with amusement before blushing deeply in unison calling out: “Fox King!” then bolted out of the room.
“How did it go? Is everything settled?” Xue asked Liu Lan who lounged casually on a chair with legs crossed: “It was just a small matter; how much effort could it possibly take? Now even if Lin Qingmo doesn’t want to give up hope anymore—he has no choice.”
It turned out that after that night’s incident，Lin Qingmo's “corpse” washed ashore due to ocean currents where villagers found him and informed Mother Lin about it. Xue first extracted Ge Xiaohua's soul then Liu Lan attached her soul onto Ge Xiaohua's body.
Ge Xiaohua cried bitterly claiming that Lin Qingmo drowned after cramping while swimming last night despite her fiancé Lin Xiao trying unsuccessfully to save him. Though appearing dazed，Lin Xiao remained clear-headed enough realizing Ge Xiaohua’s intention behind concealing facts—the bizarre situation couldn’t be openly discussed without endless trouble arising from revealing truths.
However，he refused to believe that Lin Qingmo truly died—even though that “corpse” bore all familiar features of his beloved，he stubbornly clung onto hope believing otherwise.
As for Mother Lin，she reacted unusually calmly regarding her son’s supposed death—as if she had anticipated this outcome long ago。Ge Xiaohua losing her fiancé before even marrying would not reflect well upon her reputation—rumors would circulate about her being unlucky or bringing misfortune upon men despite being from an affluent family thus matchmaking prospects dwindled significantly。
At this point，Ge Xiaohua displayed unexpected decisiveness suggesting she should be considered as Lin Qingmo’s “widow” so that she could marry into their family since her reputation was already tarnished。Meanwhile，Lin Xiao had already lost all hope regarding life itself。
On the seventh day after Lin Qingmo's passing，Lin Xiao dreamt about him returning asking him to marry Ge Xiaohua promising he'd look after her for life。Lin Xiao always obliged any requests from Lin Qingmo especially now when feeling like nothing more than an empty shell—it wouldn’t matter whom this body married anyway。
Liu Lan then visited Heavenly Palace matchmaker getting himself drunk before hastily tying together fates between Lin Xiao and Ge Xiaohua whose destinies were originally meant for solitude until death separated them。If Ge Xiaohua were truly herself，seeing Lin Qingmo's “corpse” would have led her vow eternal fidelity towards him regardless of circumstances surrounding their union。
After Liu Lan completed matters on his end，Xue inserted memories into Ge Xiaohua's living soul wherein she recalled dreams from Lin Qingmo urging her not ruin her life over him thus sealing their fateful bond together forevermore。
Lin Qingmo was pampered in the Dragon Palace, where Ao Yan doted on him. Aside from not allowing him to go to the shore and making him feel a bit uncomfortable at night, he indulged Lin Qingmo in every way. However, being trapped in this grand and luxurious "cage" made Lin Qingmo increasingly anxious. During a meal, Ao Yan held Lin Qingmo on his lap as usual, feeding each other.
"Wife, I want to eat chicken," Ao Yan said, glancing at the plate of chicken before returning his gaze to Lin Qingmo. With a somewhat childish face, he pouted slightly and looked at Lin Qingmo with his large, amber eyes, reminiscent of when Ao Yan was just one year old. Unable to refuse such a plea from Ao Yan, Lin Qingmo picked up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks, tearing off the skin (as Ao Yan didn’t eat chicken skin) before placing it into Ao Yan's open mouth.
Xi'er, standing on the table, mimicked them and wiggled its little body while calling out in a high-pitched voice, "I want some too! Ahhh!" It opened its mouth wide, pretending to be a hungry little chick. Lin Qingmo couldn't help but laugh as he picked up a small piece of chicken and fed it to Xi'er. Once it had food in its mouth, it turned away and began singing loudly: "Little girl ahead, walk slowly; come here for a kiss from me..."
Ao Yan popped a seedless red date into his mouth from the sweet soup and mumbled, "Wife."
"Don't call me wife; call me Qingmo," Lin Qingmo quickly corrected him. As he turned to look at Ao Yan, his cheeks were suddenly pinched, causing him to lean forward just as Ao Yan captured his lips with his own. With his right hand pressing firmly against Lin Qingmo's mouth, Ao Yan forced him to open up as he slipped the date inside.
"Mm... mm..." Lin Qingmo struggled to breathe, soft moans escaping through the gaps of his lips. Ao Yan felt himself heat up at those unconscious sounds of pleasure from Lin Qingmo; his left hand tightened around Lin Qingmo's waist instinctively. Xi'er watched with wide eyes and a nosebleed, afraid of missing any detail while exclaiming, "I saw nothing! I saw nothing!"
After a moment, Ao Yan finally released Lin Qingmo and breathed hotly against his neck. "Grandfather wants to see you today; he says he has a gift for you like one for a granddaughter-in-law." He paused before leaning closer to Lin Qingmo's ear and added, "Tonight, I still want you."
Lin Qingmo blushed and pushed him away but was immediately pulled back into Ao Yan's embrace. Xi'er sang in tune: "Little honey, so sweet! So sweet! Little honey."
Two Clam Spirits helped Lin Qingmo into a formal outfit. The dark-colored attire accentuated his scholarly elegance as he stood there tall and graceful, exuding an air of refinement like someone who had absorbed the essence of ink and brushwork. Ao Yan instructed the Clam Spirits to step back. Xi'er rolled its eyes playfully and fluttered its long eyelashes before quickly darting under the bed to find a good spot to hide.
Ao Yan approached Lin Qingmo and lifted him effortlessly towards the bed. "Wife, I fear I won't be able to wait until tonight."
"No, no, no! Later... later..." Lin Qingmo protested vigorously, kicking his legs in an attempt to escape from Ao Yan's grasp. As this was their first time together, Ao Yan lacked experience; the pain outweighed any pleasure for Lin Qingmo. Although he did not hold traditional views on chastity, no one wished to endure pain continuously.
Yet Ao Yan would not allow him to refuse; he began removing Lin Qingmo's newly donned clothes piece by piece while lowering the curtains around them. "Ah... it hurts... it hurts... ah—" The sounds of distress from Lin Qingmo made Xi'er tremble with sympathy and curiosity as if caught between two conflicting emotions.
Afterward, once Ao Yan had dressed himself again, he helped Lin Qingmo put on his clothes. Typically, he wouldn’t allow Lin Qingmo to dress himself or let anyone else do it; he always dressed him personally. If there was nothing pressing on his schedule, he would handle everything from undergarments to outerwear; if there was something urgent, he would still insist on dressing Lin Qingmo in his underclothes first.
In Ao Yan's mind, Lin Qingmo's body belonged solely to him—this was beyond doubt. He could wrap it up snugly or peel away each layer easily enough. However, he knew that Lin Qingmo's heart was wrapped tightly beneath layers that he could not penetrate.
Lin Qingmo’s face still bore a flush from earlier events; the marks left by Ao Yan hadn’t faded either. Despite feeling fiery discomfort in his lower back, he stubbornly stood upright but soon felt weak in the legs and stumbled slightly before nearly collapsing onto the floor. Quick as lightning, Ao Yan caught him and pulled him into his arms.
"Let go of me!" Lin Qingmo shouted angrily as confusion clouded his mind. He hated himself for becoming more like a delicate woman swaying in the wind each day. He longed for home—to see his mother again—and missed Lin Xiao and even little Hua. He yearned for days spent casting nets at sea and battling storms for survival. No matter how splendid everything around him seemed now, it could not penetrate his heart.
Without saying a word, Ao Yan dragged him back onto the bed and pinned him down while reaching for his pants. "No! I don’t want to do this anymore..." Lin Qingmo shouted without regard for shame as he clutched tightly at the edges of his pants. Turning to look at Ao Yan with tears welling in his eyes made two crystalline droplets slide down like heavy stones hitting Ao Yan’s heart.
"Wife," Ao Yan said softly as he leaned closer to lick away Lin Qingmo’s tears. But Lin Qingmo turned away stiffly with every muscle tensed in resistance while Ao Yan continued applying medicine despite his struggles.
Ao Yan led Lin Qingmo to the spring pool in the back hall. The pool was fan-shaped with a small hole above where water flowed down like a tiny waterfall over an intricately crafted coral rock formation in the center of the pool. Beside it lay a large creature with a massive golden body adorned with shimmering scales except for its belly; dark red silk draped across its back.
Hearing their approach, it lazily opened one eye and upon seeing Ao Yan perked up with bright eyes that shone with intelligence as it wobbled over excitedly beside him before rubbing its thick curly mane against Ao Yan’s leg.
"This is my mount—the Azure Water Golden Eye Beast," Ao Yan introduced proudly as he said to Lin Qingmo: "Come on, wife; let me lift you up." The Azure Water Golden Eye Beast stood slightly shorter than a horse but intended to kneel down again for its master until hearing those words straightened up proudly instead.
Once seated atop it, the Azure Water Golden Eye Beast kindly half-squatted down for easier access for its master.
Lin Qingmo couldn’t help but laugh and said playfully: “I could have just asked it to squat down so I could get on myself—why go through all this trouble?” Seeing him smile melted away any anger within Ao Yan; he wrapped an arm around Lin Qingmo’s waist happily.
"It’s a spirit beast that knows how to please my wife," he explained cheerfully. “It understands that standing makes it hard for me to lift you up since it's too tall.”
Xi'er flitted over into Lin Qingmo’s arms with an innocent tilt of its head before speaking softly: “Qingmo! Let me recite something fun for you! The little river flows chaotically; I’m stealing melons with Qingmo—Qingmo steals two while I steal three; when Qingmo runs away I get caught; now he's eating watermelon in Dragon Palace while I'm writing lines at school—teacher please don’t be mad; it's all my fault for being useless—on August fifteenth I’ll sit in jail; on September fifteenth I’ll be executed.”
"Hahaha! Xi'er you’re so funny!" Lin Qingmo laughed heartily before suddenly remembering something important: “What does executed mean?”
Xi'er’s eyes lit up at this opportunity for performance; puffing out its chest like an old scholar while strutting around atop Azure Water Golden Eye Beast’s back declared: “Executed means using long spears poking poking poking like this,” demonstrating with its wings mimicking holding a spear forward thrusting motion—“Got it?”
Lin Qingmo stifled laughter while nodding along: “I see.”
“Am I clever?” Xi'er pressed its wings against Lin Qingmo’s chest nonchalantly while secretly delighted that it had finally touched upon what needed touching—Lin Qingmo absentmindedly ruffled Xi’er’s head: “Clever.”
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