Liu Lin slowly opened his eyes. There was no apparent turmoil on his face. If it wasn’t for the tears pooling in his eyes, no one would have noticed he had just woken up from a nightmare. He stared at the ceiling for a long time before finally blinking, shifting his eyes to look at Yao Qi standing by the bed.
Yao Qi expressionlessly stared back at Liu Lin, and then slightly parted his lips, “Are you awake?”
Liu Lin subconsciously curled up his hands, rubbing his thumbs against his index fingers as he responded with a hum. There was still a thick layer of wetness to his voice, a testament of the grief he had just been soaked in.
Yao Qi pursed his lips, turning around to resist the urge to pull Liu Lin into a hug, but the next second, his movement halted. He turned back and sat down on the bed, right next to Liu Lin.
How pathetic.
Yao Qi silently scolded himself, but his expression remained calm.
“Do you have any questions?” Yao Qi had no intention to hide the fact that he hypnotised Liu Lin. That nightmare was his punishment; if he made Liu Lin forget about it, then what did he go through all that trouble for?
It was perfectly normal for Liu Lin to remember what happened after waking up.
“Yes.” Liu Lin sat up and solemnly looked at Yao Qi. He suppressed all the hurt and discomfort that was drowning him, trying his best to put on a normal facade to face Yao Qi. “Will you really throw me away?”
“…Yes.” Yao Qi nodded, “I was going to abandon you for real—but I can’t bear to. So I’ll forgive you this time. But the next time you make me this angry, I’ll really throw you away.”
“You can’t bear to?” Liu Lin raised the corners of his mouth, looking at Yao Qi with a smile in his eyes, a smile that was a little proud and full of complicated emotions.
“I can’t bear to,” Yao Qi stared at him for a moment, then nodded and admitted. This was the truth, so there was no need to deny it. He paused before changing the subject, “Don’t you want to ask me why I’m so angry?”
“I already know why.” So he didn’t need to ask.
At first, Liu Lin really didn’t understand why Yao Qi was so angry. It wasn’t until Yao Qi held a gun to his head and sent him into unprecedented panic and fright did he finally realise why Yao Qi was mad.
When he came back full of injuries after fighting with Yao Yue for the first time, Yao Qi had also gotten angry.
‘I also care about you’, Yao Qi had told him.
He didn’t want to let even the slightest harm scratch Yao Qi, so why would Yao Qi not want him to be safe and sound?
If Yao Qi dared to leave him behind and run to face the danger alone without telling him a single word, Liu Lin would be just as mad .
Moreover, Yao Qi even told him that his identity and background weren’t that simple, yet Liu Lin still wanted to face everything alone. With Yao Qi’s uncompromising character, the fact that he didn’t directly discard him really showed the depth of his love for Liu Lin.
Liu Lin knew better than anyone how tough Yao Qi was at the core.
He had experienced it firsthand, because Yao Qi was the one who had trained and tamed him, bit by bit, into his current self. Into the self that Yao Qi liked.
In front of Yao Qi, Liu Lin could only let himself be moulded as the man pleased—but he wasn’t stupid. If he was stupid, he wouldn’t have survived until now.
He knew what Yao Qi had done to him.
Yao Qi was changing him.
Yao Qi wanted to turn him into his true captive. To imprison him. Not in the physical sense, but to put shackles around his heart so that Liu Lin wouldn’t be able to escape from him.
“That’s good,” Yao Qi nodded. He took out a silver men’s ring, waved it in front of Liu Lin, and then put it back into his pocket. “Remember when I said that I’d give you another present when the new year came?”
“…”
Both of them knew what this ring represented.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Pa kjr j kfvvlcu glcu.
Pa kjr reqqbrfv ab yf atflg—
“Dea cbk, la’r cba sbegr jcswbgf.”
Ole Olc mbeiv yjgfis xffq eq tlr rwlif. Lf vgsis jrxfv, “Pr atlr jirb qjga bo atf qeclrtwfca?”
“Ct-Olc, vb sbe atlcx j rlcuif clutawjgf kbeiv yf fcbeut ab qeclrt sbe atlr alwf?” Tjb Hl mibrfv tlr fsfr jcv rlutfv “Tbe kbc’a ufa jcs uloar atlr sfjg.”
“…What about that book?”
“I threw it away,” Yao Qi said without hesitation, “The morning after you left, I threw it in the trash can.”
Because it was no more than a trash.
Liu Lin lowered his head as he remembered the scene in his dream, his heart aching.
“Then… what about the fox?” He asked with a glimmer of hope. The big fox was not part of his new year presents, so… it should still be there, right?
Yao Qi didn’t answer. He merely looked at Liu Lin.
His silence clearly provided the answer.
Liu Lin let out an ‘oh’, his face turning expressionless as he endured the suffocation in his chest. Looking at Yao Qi, he thought his current expression might make it seem like he was indignant, and so, not wanting to make Yao Qi feel unsettled, he forcefully curled up his lips again, putting on an indifferent look. “What’s the next punishment?”
It was fine.
It was just some toys.
Xiao Qi already threw them away, so they could just buy them again next time… It was fine as long as Xiao Qi was by his side.
As long as Xiao Qi still wanted him, he would be fine.
“It’s the thing you’re most afraid of, Ah-Lin,” Yao Qi softly said.
What was Liu Lin afraid of?
Liu Lin was afraid that something bad would happen to Yao Qi, that Yao Qi would not want him anymore, that Yao Qi would ignore him… Liu Lin was only ever afraid of Yao Qi’s attitude.
Liu Lin was afraid of Yao Qi’s cold violence.
So it would become his next punishment.
“Oh,” Liu Lin nodded, still looking indifferent, but his back was starting to curl up, his body tensing as if enduring a heavy load.
Yao Qi stared at his face, seeing through his pretence, but at last, he steeled his heart and finally turned around to walk to the door.
“Xiao Qi…”
His hand had already grasped the doorknob, but his ears sharply picked up the tiny voice. Yao Qi stopped moving, feet rooted on the spot.
“Xiao Qi… I feel so sad.” The voice coming from behind him was very low, very hoarse, and full of sorrow, sounding thick and wet—he was crying.
Yao Qi turned around in panic and saw Liu Lin intently staring at him with trembling lips. Tears had already poured down freely from his eyes, wetting his sharp face, but he stubbornly refused to wipe it off.
He didn’t smile anymore—he couldn’t smile anymore. He just looked at Yao Qi with that expressionless but teary face, slowly, cautiously opening his arms. “Xiao Qi, I’m so sad… Please hug me… Just hug me…”
He couldn’t hold on any longer.
He had been longing for Yao Qi’s hug for a month, he was dying to hug him, to kiss him.
He knew he should have continued to endure it. Compared with his dream, the reality was already much better, but for some reason, seeing Yao Qi turn around, he couldn’t help but call out to him.
He felt so sad.
His heart was throbbing with pain, he couldn’t stop his tears from flowing.
Yao Qi was still looking at him, standing at the door, not taking a single step.
Liu Lin whimpered, put down his arms, and bowed down his head.
Yao Qi refused to hug him.
He brought this upon himself, but he didn’t regret it, because he would never allow any kind of danger to befall Yao Qi.
He was just… a little sad.
Yao Qi stood at the door for a long time, watching Liu Lin shed tears in front of him. He watched Liu Lin open his arms to him, and watched as the glimmer of hope in his eyes died down and turned to ashes. His heart was hurting for Liu Lin.
He originally thought that Liu Lin would do as he did before, that he would continue to put on a strong front and wait for the punishment to end. The first half of his guess was right, but the latter half turned out to be wrong. Liu Lin accepted his punishment, yet he gave in in front of Yao Qi.
Liu Lin was extremely stubborn, always erecting a layer of sharp, prickly thorns to hide his soft side in the innermost part. No matter how sad he was, he would never show it openly. Just like the time he was punished after fighting Yao Yue, he was obviously feeling very sad and wronged, but he still pretended to act like a normal person. Even until the end, his outburst only lasted for a brief moment, because a single kiss from Yao Qi was enough to pacify him.
Liu Lin would not expose his weakness at all, especially in front of someone important to him. He only wanted Yao Qi to see his strong side.
But Yao Qi didn’t like this.
He didn’t like Liu Lin wrapping himself up in his shell, so he peeled off Liu Lin’s shell bit by bit, wanting to make Liu Lin show his most real self to him.
Yao Qi succeeded.
Now, Liu Lin was so sad he couldn’t even put up a shell to wrap himself in. He couldn’t hide, and couldn’t even hold back his tears. All of his masks were broken. He could only pitifully beg for a little charity from Yao Qi.
All this was a result of Yao Qi’s work.
For Liu Lin to have reached such a point—he really couldn’t bear it. He couldn’t bear to make Liu Lin suffer anymore, he couldn’t bear to see Liu Lin cry.
It had become pointless.
In this case, his cold violence had already become a real act of violence for Liu Lin.
Yao Qi knew that if he continued, all his previous efforts would be in vain. Liu Lin would build a new shell to hide every single ounce of his fragility and never let him see it again.
The Liu Lin in front of him was like a helpless rabbit, so soft he could swallow him in one bite.
His heart was hurting for Liu Lin, but at the same time, he was still angry. His brain was telling him not to be so unreasonable since he had already achieved what he set out to do, but his emotions were still stuck in a pot of anger, anger at Liu Lin for leaving him behind.
He was a man with the ability to protect himself.
In terms of physical skills, he might be nothing compared to Yao Yue, Liu Lin and his eldest brother… But he wasn’t an idiot. Even if he couldn’t fight, wouldn’t his brain be able to make up for it?
He hated being left behind by the people dear to him.
What if something happened to them? He was afraid. If they were the ones who left him first, he wouldn’t be able to take it.
Yao Qi was not willing to feel this helplessness.
He was very selfish. He wanted to live a life free of burden. He would rather die in front of the people dear to him than watch them die in order to protect himself.
Just imagining that feeling of powerlessness was enough to make his head hurt.
Therefore, what Liu Lin did was akin to pulling out his reverse scale.
He was really angry, but he also couldn’t bear to watch Liu Lin sinking into despair.
Yao Qi felt emotionally exhausted.
He let out a sigh, at last letting go of the doorknob. Slowly, he walked to the bedside and pulled Liu Lin into a hug.
“…Xiao Qi.” Without raising his head, Liu Lin leaned into Yao Qi’s chest, putting his hands around Yao Qi’s waist to wrap the man tightly in his arms.
“It’s useless to act cute,” Yao Qi helplessly lowered his head and kissed the crown of Liu Lin’s hair, his voice sounding a little choked. “You’re not allowed to talk to me for two days.”
Yao Qi felt like a stupid, naive elementary school student.
“Okay,” Liu Lin quietly raised the corners of his mouth, his eyes similarly curved in joyful arches.
No other person had ever made Yao Qi feel so helpless.
Not then, not now.
Liu Lin was just a silly dog, so he didn’t count—Yao Qi thought viciously.
Small theatre
Xiao Qi finally caught Tibetan Mastiff Lin who had disobediently ran away from home.
Xiao Qi was very angry, so he took away Tibetan Mastiff Lin’s favourite things and said that he would ignore him until the punishment was over.
Tibetan Mastiff Lin was so sad that he cried, begging for Xiao Qi’s hug and comfort.
And so, the unyielding Xiao Qi…
…hugged and kissed Tibetan Mastiff Lin to comfort him.
[How pathetic.]
Xiao Qi internally mocked himself.
Pretending to be fierce, he said, “You’re not allowed to talk to me for two days!”
Tibetan Mastiff Lin wagged his tail in happiness.
This guy, I know he got into psychology because he’s a sadist through and through.
Lmao that actually sounds more reasonable than the excuse the author gave 😂😭😂😭
With respect, not entirely sure that they understand him, 😂🤣.
why did this chapter hurt more then 34 and 35 😭
Chapter 34-35 is the knife, this chapter is the painful treatment 🥲
coughing,, up,, blood
Thank You for the new chapter ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ) PS. I thought about some fluff for You to read and I took it literally 😂 So here You are: 猫的命名法 | 跨物种相亲 | 营养过良 | 和豪门大佬联姻后怀崽了 And then thought that there are more interesting messy novels like UMRRD so there are few titles: 查無此人，請勿再寄 | 灵魂缓刑 | 灵魂骚动 |向死而生 | 天阶夜色 | 新柳色的夢. Hope You find soemthing nice to read! ♡(> ਊ <)♡ If not I still have a looooot of titles! Take care! ❤ Love You (｡’▽’｡)♡
You and me! 😤
Thank you so much omg that’s so sweet of you!! I’ll check them up one by one (although it might take long since work has been busy sobs) thank you so much dear 😊💖💖💖💖💖
Take Your time, they are for You to read and relax! Good luck with Your work ❤
I was so busy with my school works that I nearly missed out the released chapter QAQ
Ah-Lin is the cutest ah. He not only captivated Xiao Qi’s heart, but also ours! Truly a silly dog ಥ‿ಥ
It’s okay, school work is more important hahaha 😂 Ah-Lin really is the cutest sobs the reason I live this novel so much :’)
‘The Sadistic Psycho and His Pitiful Mad Dog’, here, corrected the title for you.
Add another ‘manipulative’ after the sadistic and we’re all set 😭😂😭😂
Left out that one, my bad. But that’s exactly what he is, sadistic manipulative psycho. I just want tp hate him sometimes. Poor Ah-Lin.