CHQY Chapter 21: It’s Not Easy Being A Hostage

She gradually regained consciousness. As if she were lying beside an open fire, her whole body was burning up and she seemed to have perspired a lot. Lei Lei opened her eyes, only to see that she really was lying beside a huge furnace. Her head wasn’t far from the furnace’s door where the fire was blazing inside, and the right side of her face was hurting slightly. This thing looked just like the crematory furnaces in movies. She was so frightened that all the hairs on her body stood on end and she rushed to move away, but then she heard someone say.

“It’s them?” It was a male voice, deep and husky with a vicious tone, and he seemed impatient.

“That’s right.” The female’s voice was rather familiar.

“Just kill them, there’s no need to bring them back.”

Oh no, she’s going to be killed! Lei Lei didn’t dare to move, only quietly turning her head to see a male and female standing not far away from her. She could see the female’s side profile, and she was the girl who had been selling plum blossoms; the male was dressed in a black robe with silver gray decorative designs. With his back to her, she couldn’t see what he looked like and only knew that he had a very tall stature. Shang Guan Qiu Yue was also very tall, but because his face was too beautiful, his stature only served to make him appear refined and he didn’t look any less manly. However, this man was so tall and imposing that the people around him would feel oppressed.

The girl said: “He Tai Ping has opposed us numerous times so I was going to finish them off on the spot as an example to them, but it’s just that, this girl named Lei Lei seems to have a special relationship with Xiao Bai so I’ve brought her back to be questioned. She might be of use to Valley Master.”

The man was surprised: “Xiao Bai?”

The girl said: “He had previously killed a few of our brothers at Tong Ren Mountain. If this girl is really related to him, should we detain her……” she stopped.

Lei Lei quickly understood what had happened. She’d heard that when Xiao Bai was searching for Hua Guniang’s dowry maid, he had taken care of a few evil faction members when he’d passed by Tong Ren Mountain. It seems like they were the ones, and since Shang Guan Qiu Yue could easily find her, he wouldn’t have done something like this. Since they aren’t from Qian Yue Cave, she was left with only one other option —— Chuan Qi Valley!

This was the well-known Chuan Qi Valley! The man had been referred to as Valley Master, so who else could he be besides Fu Lou, the Chuan Qi Valley Master who killed his master and married his master’s wife! Lei Lei was excited. He didn’t go to Ye Tan City to vie for the Longevity Fruit, so did he perhaps already know about it? Could all of this not have been Qian Yue Cave’s scheme, but Chuan Qi Valley’s?

Before she had time to think about it, Fu Lou said: “Question them when they awaken. We can leave them if they’re useful, and kill them if they’re not.”

It was the same word “kill”, but when Shang Guan Qiu Yue said it, it was obviously very lighthearted, making the listener feel a chill to the bones; but this person was completely different, he had said it in a very excited manner, as if he innately liked this word.

The girl then continued to report on other matters in a lowered voice.

Lei Lei held her breath and carefully sat up. When she realised that Feng Cai Cai was beside her and that she was also awake, she had an idea. Feng Cai Cai had been learning martial arts since she was young. As long as they could get out of this door, they would have a chance at escaping, which was better than staying behind and being used to threaten “Xiao Bai”. So she quickly signalled to Feng Cai Cai by blinking her eyes and mouthing “Chuan Qi Valley, let’s go”. When Feng Cai Cai understood this, she led her in moving towards the door.

They had just reached the side of the door when they heard a cold sneer by their ear: “Thinking of running away?”

Then, Feng Cai Cai flew backwards as if someone had pulled her from behind, crashing into the wall with a “bang” before she rolled onto the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood, then she fell unconscious.

Everything had happened so quickly that Lei Lei was in a daze.

“What’s your relationship with Xiao Bai?” This person was like a ghost and before she knew it, he was already standing behind her.

.

The gloomy voice made Lei Lei snap out of her thoughts. She had only seen these kinds of scenes on the television and didn’t know whether Feng Cai Cai was dead or alive. Worried, she cried out and rushed over to check on her: “Cai Cai!”

With a “snap”, she felt a sharp pain in her wrist.

Lei Lei cried out in pain.

The person ruthlessly held onto her injured hand and refused to let it go: “What’s your relationship with Xiao Bai?” That deep voice gave others a feeling that he didn’t allow for any defiance.

To reduce the pain she felt, Lei Lei didn’t dare to move.

Just like she thought, although that sombre face that was filled with malice didn’t look as young as Shang Guan Qiu Yue, he still looked handsome. However, there was only half of this kind of beauty, because there was a huge ugly scar on the right side of his face, like it’d been burned by fire. Perhaps because it was too hideous, it made the other half of his face appear all the more beautiful, and one couldn’t help but to imagine his previous appearance.

Lei Lei wasn’t in the frame of mind to imagine it right now. This scary man had slowly started to twist her injured hand, bringing pained tears to her eyes.

His deep eyes revealed pure malice.

When she recalled how he’d dealt with Feng Cai Cai just now, making his move without the slightest hesitation, Lei Lei knew that he’d finish her off on the spot if she was careless with her answer, so she endured the pain and said: “I’m his relative.”

“Relative,” Fu Lou grabbed her neck with three fingers, “Xiao Bai has a relative with the family name of Lei?”

That strong arm seemed unshakable and Lei Lei was convinced that he’d easily be able to kill her and throw her into the furnace. As the fingers tightened around her neck and the suffocating feeling became even more intense, she quickly said: “I’m his wife!”

The constricting feeling around her throat suddenly disappeared. Fu Lou didn’t speak, but doubt could be seen in his eyes.

Lei Lei gasped for breath as she explained: “Future wife, it was decided only recently.” Afraid that he’d interrogate her again, she simply made things up: “I lost my memories. He happened to be passing by and had saved me, so I, cough, umm, decided to give my heart to him.”

Fu Lou threw her aside.

Was her hand broken? Lei Lei held her hand with tears in her eyes as she retreated a few steps.

“Make the appropriate arrangements, see that our honoured guest isn’t neglected.” The two words “honoured guest” seemed to have been said through clenched teeth.

The woman at the side responded: “That one……” she pointed to Feng Cai Cai.

“She’s of no use, kill her.”

Lei Lei said anxiously: “We’re together, if you want to kill her, kill me first!”

Fu Lou sneered, but before he could speak, a servant girl rushed in: “Valley Master, Madam is asking for you.”

Lei Lei thought that she had seen it wrongly, but for a split second, a trace of gentleness flitted across those sombre eyes. Fu Lou glanced at Feng Cai Cai who was lying on the floor, then he said absent-mindedly: “Leave her for now.” Then he turned around and left with hurried steps.

.

Night. Outside the window, snowflakes drifted down silently. It was snowing a little heavier than it had in the morning and only breathing sounds could be heard in the room. There weren’t too many people stationed here to watch them because there was no need for that.

Feng Cai Cai was still lying on the bed unconscious, but her breathing had stabilised. Lei Lei was worried about herself. She couldn’t move her left hand past her wrist. She’d probably broken her bones. The pain from the bruising caused her to toss and turn in bed, unable to fall asleep. Who would care about a captive at this moment? To Chuan Qi Valley, as long as the hostage was still alive and could still be used as bait, it didn’t matter whether the hostage was crippled or not.

The wind blew bits of snow into the window, it was very chilly. It had already been snowing for a whole day, accumulating a thin layer of snow on the ground.

Lei Lei stood by the window in a daze as she looked at the snowflakes in the light.

A white shadow flitted past.

Lei Lei was startled, then an arm embraced her from behind: “Xiao Chun Hua, why are you so careless to actually be caught by Fu Lou.” That gentle voice seemed to be chiding her, but it was very doting.

It was a familiar embrace that smelled like incense.

To hear such a voice in a cold and desolate place, together with an embrace like this, what would that feel like?

The front she had put on suddenly disappeared, and as if she was feeling extremely aggrieved, Lei Lei’s tears fell as she sobbed: “Ge.”

.

There wasn’t a moon in the sky, but his radiance reflected against the ice and snow outside the window, brightening it up.

He was wearing an icy snow coloured robe. His body temperature tended to be on the colder side, but compared to the cold air outside, he actually seemed to be much warmer, or at least that was what Lei Lei thought.

Shang Guan Qiu Yue took her sleeve and wiped her tears with it: “Everything’s fine, why are you crying?”

Lei Lei glared at him as she continued to cry: “My hand is broken.”

It was only then that Shang Guan Qiu Yue noticed her hand. After giving it a closer look, he chuckled: “It’s just dislocated, not broken.”

Hearing that it wasn’t broken, Lei Lei felt reassured. She looked at him pitifully: “It hurts.”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue coaxed her: “Don’t cry, gege will treat it for you.”

He held her hand carefully, circling her into his embrace as he massaged it slowly. His fingers were ice-cold like jade and he was using just the right amount of strength. Her swollen wrist also didn’t seem to be in that much pain anymore. Just as Lei Lei’s mind was wandering, she suddenly heard a “snap”.

“Argh ——” she opened her mouth to cry out in pain.

Almost at the same time, Shang Guan Qiu Yue lowered his head.

Her cry was swallowed. After a short muffled groan came a stillness that was like stagnant water. The contact between ice-cold lips and warm lips, that sensation……

Her heart sped up and her ears burned, but even more than that was fright. Lei Lei’s mind went blank.

“Look, it doesn’t hurt anymore.” she didn’t know when, but Shang Guan Qiu Yue’s lips had left hers and he had a small smile on his face as he lifted her hand and waved it in front of her, “Don’t move. In a few days, it’ll be back to how it was before.”

Her first kiss had actually been given to gege! Waah, although he’s a beauty and she didn’t suffer any losses, but he was her brother! It’s no wonder that Xiao Chun Hua had committed suicide by jumping off the cliff, perhaps it was because of the incest! It’s too terrifying, they’re brother and sister!

How could Lei Lei still care about her hand right now? She quickly escaped from his embrace: “Y-Y-You……”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue smiled: “What’s wrong?”

What’s wrong? You’re asking me what’s wrong! Lei Lei questioned with a frown, but besides that refined smile, there wasn’t the slightest bit of indecency on that face of his. She didn’t know whether she should be laughing or crying, so her expression became weird: “You……just now……what did you do!”

“Just now?” Shang Guan Qiu Yue realised what she was referring to, “Just now, I was afraid that you’d yell and draw someone here, and both of my hands were occupied so I could only qingbo you.” He pulled her back into his embrace as he added lovingly: “I’m your brother, what are you afraid of?”

What am I afraid of? Lei Lei was unable to voice her bitter suffering and her smile became uglier than when she was crying. Look at how smoothly he said this, using it as his defense every single time, justifying his actions of taking advantage of her! Not to mention that laoniang isn’t your sister, even if I am, I can’t kiss my biological brother either!

Shang Guan Qiu Yue held her in his arms and lowered his head: “Has Xiao Bai ever qingbo you like this before?”

“Xiao Bai?” Lei Lei finally caught a trace of mischief in his eyes and she was angered: “You……”

Before she could finish, Shang Guan Qiu Yue let out an “ah” as he said with a smile: “He’s a gentleman, a good person, so of course he won’t do anything to you. I should ask if you’ve ever qingbo him like this before.”

Lei Lei was speechless.

Gege understands her indeed!

.

Shang Guan Qiu Yue released her: “Why have you been captured and brought here?”

Getting qingbo-ed by gege, t-this……alas! Lei Lei tried to look imposing, keeping up appearances as she recounted the details of her kidnapping. At the end, she let out a ‘hmph’: “Fu Lou must be thinking of using me to blackmail Xiao Bai.”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue nodded his head with a smile: “Very good.”

I knew you were perverted. Lei Lei was listless and she asked weakly: “You didn’t go to Ye Tan City?”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue replied: “Why would I go there?”

Lei Lei said: “The Longevity Fruit auction is fake.”

“Of course,” Shang Guan Qiu Yue gave her a small smile, “Fu Lou is also looking for the Longevity Fruit. I had planned to make use of this chance to lure him and his men to have a fight somewhere else. He Tai Ping will definitely come to stop us, then we’ll let the two exchange a few blows. I didn’t expect Fu Lou to see through my plan. That’s fine and all, but the fight at Ye Tan City was just getting lively when Wen Ting just had to appear out of nowhere and spoil the fun.”

Fighting or exchanging blows and what not, what a character! Making such a large group of people kill each other while he watched from the sidelines. Seeing him smile, Lei Lei felt all her hairs stand and she shivered: “Were you the one that killed Feng Qian Wei?”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue was unbothered: “He had seen Mr Shi before. Killing him means one less trouble.”

Lei Lei gathered up her courage, deciding that she might as well ask him about everything that was puzzling her: “Did you orchestrate the Longevity Fruit auction? You knew that we would be coming to Bi Shui City and you knew about Chief He’s plan so you changed the venue to Ye Tan City at the last minute. Is Mr Shi one of your men?”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue said: “Of course not, Mr Shi simply wants to make a fortune, look at how he sold the information for ten thousand taels. However, chaos in Jianghu isn’t of any disadvantage to me so I gave him a little help so that he wouldn’t be captured by He Tai Ping.”

Lei Lei was surprised: “Who is Mr Shi?”

“It doesn’t matter who he is,” It was clear that Shang Guan Qiu Yue wasn’t willing to reveal more. He said in a soft voice, “The Longevity Fruit isn’t in his hands. Gege will definitely find the real Longevity Fruit for you in the future.”

“Where’s the real Longevity Fruit?”

“I don’t know.”

He was probably speaking the truth on that point so Lei Lei didn’t look into it any further, only sighing ruefully: “A single Longevity Fruit has caused so much trouble. We would’ve been better off without it.”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue said: “It’s because of their own greed, what has that got to do with the Longevity Fruit?”

Lei Lei said: “Any human will be greedy to a certain extent. It’s just that this treasure is too mysterious, making them disregard everything because of their greed, even to the point of killing others. First was Old Sir Bu, then next was the former Leader Leng……”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue suddenly laughed: “Leng Ying? He’d died unjustly indeed.”

Realising the oddity behind what he’d just said, Lei Lei asked anxiously: “Back then, the leaders of the three major factions had gone up to Hua Mountain’s summit but Leng Ying had ended up dying. Who was the one that did it?”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue said: “Who else could it be, of course it’s Wen Ting.”

Lei Lei was doubtful: “How would you know?”

“I saw it.”

“You were also on the mountain at that time?”

“Yes.”

Lei Lei’s eyes flashed: “It really wasn’t you?”

“Xi Sha faction’s palm strike is very tough and vicious. Even if I wanted to, I’m unable to use it.” Shang Guan Qiu Yue said cheerfully, “Everyone was saying that the Longevity Fruit was in Leng Ying’s hands, but Leng Ying denied it during the meeting at the summit of Hua Mountain so Wen Ting caught up to him and questioned him about it in private, then he accidentally killed him.”

Although Wen Ting had always been the biggest suspect, now that it’d been confirmed, Lei Lei still felt very disappointed. With the grudge of the killing of one’s father, Wen Xiang and Leng Sheng Yin were doomed to a melodramatic romance.

.

The wind blew a few snowflakes past the window where they then landed on Shang Guan Qiu Yue’s pure white sleeves. The fragrance of incense also became somewhat frosty.

Lei Lei coughed: “You don’t seem to be particularly warm and cosy, wear more clothing.”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue smiled: “I like the cold.”

Lei Lei was flabbergasted.

Shang Guan Qiu Yue turned to leave: “I’ll be leaving now.”

Lei Lei panicked and clung onto his arm: “What about me?”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue said: “Fu Lou won’t kill you. With you here, he’ll be able to deal with Xiao Bai.”

Lei Lei was raging: “But that person is very bad tempered, what if he’s too idle and comes to snap my hand or break my legs? I don’t want to stay here, bring me away!”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue sighed: “Where do you think this place is? The security outside is very tight, how can someone be brought out?”

Lei Lei froze: “You’re abandoning me?”

Shang Guan Qiu Yue looked at her for a long time before saying with a smile: “How could gege abandon you? It’s not difficult to leave this place. Come here, I’ll tell you a way.”

Anxious, Lei Lei stood on her toes and moved closer to his ear.

Shang Guan Qiu Yue lowered his head and spoke a few words into her ear.

Lei Lei was in disbelief: “Is that possible?”

“Will gege fool you?”

“But……what if he sends his men after me after I leave the valley?”

“I’ll be waiting for you outside, who can kill you?” Shang Guan Qiu Yue stroked her head, “You haven’t answered gege yet, have you ever qingbo-ed Xiao Bai before?”

This was a sensitive question. Lei Lei didn’t reply him.

Shang Guan Qiu Yue let out a soft ‘hmph’: “That girl on the bed has awoken.”

She’d forgotten that Feng Cai Cai was also in the room! Frightened, Lei Lei turned around to see that Feng Cai Cai was rubbing her eyes, looking as if she had just woken up. So she hastily urged him: “Quick……” she stopped.

There was no trace of Shang Guan Qiu Yue!

.

2008 AD, X month, X day, night.

Two people were sitting beside a flashing computer screen.

One of them pored over it for a long time before shaking her head: “Is there something wrong with the design? This isn’t angst, why has she gotten injured?”

The other person leaned back into her chair and rolled her eyes: “I added it in. There’s nothing wrong with some pain. The little guy wants to close down my business? I’ll teach her a lesson.”

---

← Chapter 20  ♡  Introduction  ♡  Chapter 22 →
♢  Drama  ♢