UCTOOT CH52

The room was empty, the tea cold. Shi Shu felt like his good brothers had gone to a group fight without him.

After Shi Shu finished his meal, Li Fu asked, “Young Master, is it time to rest?”

Shi Shu stretched. “I’m going to see Xie Wuchi. You don’t need to come with me.”

The temporary residence was a short walk from the Great Min’s prison. When Shi Shu arrived outside the prison, he was stopped. He was only allowed in after showing his identification.

A cold, damp air, a chilly wind blew. Inside were the bandits they had encountered on their way to Dabai Gang.

Shi Shu entered the door. Through a cell door, a disheveled man was chained by his hands and feet to a wooden frame. In contrast, Xie Wuchi, dressed in a clean crimson robe, stood with his hands behind his back. Beside him stood a clerk recording the confession.

Shi Shu stood outside and watched quietly, not disturbing him. Xie Wuchi was looking at the confession. “You’re a mountain bandit, how did you know that an imperial envoy would be passing through the mountains next?”

This man was called Second Brother at the restaurant, also known as Xu Er.

Xu Er: “Since I’m a mountain bandit, naturally I have sentries patrolling all the mountain peaks. Seeing a procession, and with the recent rumors of His Majesty ordering imperial envoys to conduct inspections spreading everywhere, is it that hard to know?”

Xie Wuchi glanced at the paper, his voice still calm. “As a robber who preys on travelers, you didn’t choose to rob rich, lone families, but instead chose an official with no money and protected by imperial guards? Knowing full well that killing a court’s imperial envoy is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations, don’t you think that’s strange?”

“I’m a robber, but I’m also a hero of the greenwood! I specialize in killing these dog officials who treat human lives like grass. I’ll kill them as they come. What’s wrong with that? You don’t need to ask anymore. The one I killed was you!”

Xie Wuchi smiled. “Your mouth is very tough. I wonder what benefits the person who found you promised.”

Xie Wuchi extended his hand, and someone next to him handed him a whip. He lowered his eyes. “This official would like to see just how tough your mouth is.”

Shi Shu’s pupils dilated. It was the first time he had seen an interrogation. He nervously took a sip of water.

In the dim, dust-filled cell, Xie Wuchi rolled up his sleeves and brought the whip down. It was sadistic, lashing Xu Er until his skin split and flesh tore, blood seeping through his clothes. But Xie Wuchi’s expression was very calm, specifically targeting the thinnest, most painful parts of the skin.

This Xu Er gritted his teeth and said nothing at first, but he couldn’t bear it anymore and began to scream in pain. A person’s screams were terrifying.

“Holy cow…” Shi Shu drank his water, clearly seeing the sinister look on Xie Wuchi’s face.

Xu Er shrieked, “What’s the use? A forced confession, I won’t change my story!”

Blood splattered on Xie Wuchi’s robe sleeve. He said slowly, “Who wants you to change your story? This official just wants to beat you.”

The “crack-crack” of the whip fell even heavier and harder. That Xu Er writhed in pain like a snake. Shi Shu knew Xie Wuchi’s strength. In modern times, it was a terrifying force that required daily trips to the gym. When he hit people, his face remained calm, but Xu Er was already screaming non-stop.

“Damn! If you have the guts, beat me to death! Beat me to death! Ahhhhhhhh…”

It was the first time Shi Shu had witnessed torture so directly, but he thought of the innocent civilians killed at the foot of Dabai Gang, the forest of hanging corpses, and had nothing more to say.

Xie Wuchi didn’t let up. Xu Er passed his breaking point and suddenly burst into laughter. “Hahahaha—you… still talking about ‘imperial envoy’ and ‘this official’? Aren’t you just a wild monk who climbed up to the emperor, a scapegoat and sacrificial lamb picked out for some new policy? I don’t want to live, I can’t live, but you’ll only live a few days longer than me. What are you showing off for here! Hilarious! Ah hahahahahaha!”

Shi Shu’s expression suddenly changed.

Xie Wuchi’s expression, however, was very composed. “Where did these words come from? Did the person who conspired with you also think so?”

“Pah! I thought of it myself! If I had known you were this imperial envoy, I would have killed you at the inn back then!”

Xu Er gritted his teeth.

“You have the brains for that?”

Xie Wuchi slowly threw down the whip. It was stained with blood. He also had blood splattered on him, with a few drops on his jaw.

Xie Wuchi’s face was expressionless. He turned and walked out. “Yao Shuai, investigate his family. If you can’t find them, bring in the parents, wives, and children of all the other bandits. Interrogate them one by one. If they don’t talk, kill them until someone gives up the address of this Xu Er’s relatives. Then bring Xu Er’s wife, children, and parents to the prison and beat them in front of him. If he still doesn’t talk, kill them!”

Yao Shuai’s eyes sharpened. “Yes!”

“Get this done within three days.” Xie Wuchi raised his hand and continued, “Duan Xiuwen.”

The clerk, Duan Xiuwen, said, “Here.”

“Present the roster of wealthy households in Qian’an Prefecture who are delaying the rice harvest. Then go to the judicial office and check the case files. Re-investigate all case files related to these wealthy households. If there are any suspicious points, immediately arrest them and bring them to the prison for questioning!”

Shi Shu was puzzled and scratched his hair.

Duan Xiuwen was startled and said timidly, “My lord, the bandits are commoners. Killing them is one thing, but those wealthy households are retired officials, some even former first-rank ministers! They have countless connections with the officials serving in the court. Many are even of a higher rank than you, my lord… to arrest them directly, I fear my lord will offend people in the court, and it will be difficult for you to be an official in the future.”

Xie Wuchi stopped and turned to look at him intently. “You also came from the imperial examinations?”

Duan Xiuwen’s legs trembled under his gaze. “Yes…”

“Officials protecting officials, ganging up on outsiders! They have eaten the Great Jing’s treasury dry. You’ve been an official for so many years, getting along with your colleagues. Have they ever promoted you one bit? His Majesty is now determined to eliminate the old corrupt practices and innovate. Can’t you see the trend?! In this official’s heart, there is only His Majesty, no one else. Go quickly!”

Duan Xiuwen was in a difficult position and could only say, “I’m just afraid the other masters will make things difficult—”

Xie Wuchi took out a gold medallion. “His Majesty has granted this official the power to execute first and report later. Whoever dares to defy will be killed without question.”

“!”

Duan Xiuwen was so frightened by this murderous aura that his back broke out in a cold sweat. He hurriedly walked out. “Yes, this subordinate will go now.”

Xu Er stared at him. “What a bloodthirsty monk!”

Let alone others, even Shi Shu could feel the murderous aura on Xie Wuchi at this moment.

The people here were creating obstacles for him, so Xie Wuchi killed people. And imperial power was the highest power in a feudal society. A gold medallion, seeing the medallion was like seeing the emperor. The amount of power given to him determined how many people he could kill, and Xie Wuchi was really making full use of it.

Xie Wuchi, in his crimson robe, walked out of the prison gate. He took out a handkerchief and was absentmindedly wiping the blood from his face and neck.

He met Shi Shu’s gaze. “The weather is too hot, couldn’t sleep so you came over?”

Shi Shu: “He just said you were some kind of sacrificial lamb, a scapegoat. How should I understand that?”

Xie Wuchi, in his official uniform, looked upright and elegant, but with his hands full of blood, washing them in a golden basin, the line of his throat moved as he turned his head sideways, his gaze loosely cast down.

His eyes seemed to grow hotter.

Xie Wuchi: “This inspection of the new policies across the Great Jing is a ‘double-death ending’.”

He finished washing his hands and walked out of the prison with Shi Shu.

Shi Shu was puzzled. “Double-death?”

Xie Wuchi: “The new policy is to equalize land taxes. The emperor wants to compete for profit with the officials. There are only two outcomes. If the new policy fails, I will be killed by the emperor. If the new policy succeeds, I will be impeached to death by all the officials in the court.”

Shi Shu suddenly stopped, his heart in turmoil. “How can this be? This is clearly a good thing.”

“Only interests are eternal. Officials will also compete with the emperor for profit, mutually checking and balancing each other.” Xie Wuchi said, “You and I have no backing now. We are just a chess piece entering the game, to increase someone’s chances of winning. There is still a long way to go to become a chess player, until there is power to borrow.”

Ripples continued to spread in Shi Shu’s heart. The scorching summer heat had returned after the storm earlier. The air outside the prison gate was unbearably stuffy.

Shi Shu: “Why?!”

But if Shi Shu were to say the real “why,” why Xie Wuchi had become a drifting boat in this situation, or why the officials were so greedy and selfish, the emperor so tyrannical and unjust, or why the clear sky of this Great Jing made Shi Shu feel so oppressed, he just wanted to ask these three words.

Xie Wuchi: “A new policy is not so easy to implement throughout the land. It not only competes for the interests of the official class, but if the new policy succeeds, it also challenges the ruling faction in the court. Therefore, except for those who are truly for the country and the people, no official wants the new policy to succeed.”

The hot blood in Shi Shu’s chest was screaming. He looked at him. “So you’re caught in the middle and will face many obstacles?”

“Yes, you’ve seen it. The bandits blocking the road when we just arrived in Qian’an were the first blow. The first blow failed, and now here comes the second.”

Shi Shu was startled, remembering what Xie Wuchi had said on the road when he saw the unharvested rice in the manor.

Behind them, Great Min runners followed from a distance with lanterns. Xie Wuchi waved his hand, dismissing them.

“The first blow was fine; it only wanted my life. The second blow, however, wants to use the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people to kill. Delaying the rice harvest and letting it rot in the fields, hundreds of thousands of villagers will lose their food and livelihood. As long as they can incite a popular uprising and cause the death of the people, they can use this as a pretext to stop the new policy, kill me, and kill all the supporters of the new policy.”

Shi Shu was truly speechless. “That’s the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people.”

The courtyard was empty, and Shi Shu’s heart was also silent. “Can you solve it?”

“A storm is coming soon. If we can urge the harvest of the rice and dry it before the rainy season, the people’s food for the next year will be guaranteed. But now, the wealthy households are using the pretext of land inspection to refuse to harvest, and are instead blaming the new policy. The most urgent task is to force them to harvest the rice. If we can finish the harvest within the time limit, it can be solved.”

Shi Shu’s voice trembled. “What are you going to do?”

Xie Wuchi: “Courtesy first, then force. At dawn, I will visit them door to door, but I will not stop looking for their faults. If it really comes to it, I will confiscate their homes, seize their fields, and have the army do the harvesting!”

It was only then that Shi Shu realized that in the face of people with extremely vicious and cruel natures, only someone harder than them could control everything.

Only a villain can deal with a villain.

Shi Shu was truly convinced. “Xie Wuchi, I’m impressed. You can definitely do it. Are you still going to check the accounts later, without sleeping?”

“The accounts are numerous and complicated; they take time. I will rest when I’m tired.” A wicked aura swirled in Xie Wuchi’s eyes. “I have anxiety. When I’m thinking about things, I can’t sleep anyway.”

It had to be said, who could sleep with all these major issues weighing on them?

Shi Shu felt complicated. “From Shukang Prefecture until now, you always seem to be in a hurry, having to accomplish many things in a very short time.”

“I accept it.”

The chirping of cicadas and croaking of frogs of a summer night sounded in the courtyard. Xie Wuchi raised a smile.

Shi Shu: “Why?”

“You’re a child, you don’t understand many things. A person’s life is not about crossing one mountain peak and then being able to lie down for a lifetime. Life is about constantly climbing over mountains and ridges.”

Shi Shu’s back tingled, and he froze for a moment.

“In times of peace, one can rest. But in a world where the strong prey on the weak, one must be fiercer than everyone else.”

And Xie Wuchi was born with such combativeness, energy, and will, like a lion on the grassland, keen on pursuit. To struggle with man is endless joy; to struggle with heaven is endless joy.

An indescribable feeling arose in Shi Shu. “Xie Wuchi, you, you. you are truly born to succeed.”

No wonder it is said that many villains have personal charm.

The moonlight was white in the central courtyard. They stood in a secluded spot. Shi Shu was convinced and was about to see if there was anything he could do to help. He saw the fretful and cold look in Xie Wuchi’s eyes, as if his inner fire was very strong, and asked, “You’ve been very busy these past few days. How about I brew you some medicine to drink?”

Xie Wuchi: “No need. What I need is not medicine.”

“…” Shi Shu’s eyes widened. He reacted instantly and pulled his hand back as if in stress. “Bro! You just said I was a child a second ago!”

“Over eighteen, it’s fine.”

“Aren’t you tired?!!!!!!”

Shi Shu was not just speechless, but shocked!

How on earth did Xie Wuchi have the energy to think about these things after endless work?! As soon as Shi Shu started working, he could forget even his own living parents. His mind never had room for love and romance.

Xie Wuchi: “My desires are strong.”

Shi Shu: “What does your strong desire have to do with me! Your desire is strong, so I have to suffer? You’re purely using me for release?”

“Shi Shu, I want it very much.”

“…………”

Want?

Want what?

Shi Shu covered his face. “Xie Wuchi, I’m blushing for you just from you saying that. You are truly shameless!”

The fingers holding his were scorching hot. Shi Shu shook them off and dodged to the side, but unexpectedly found himself in a corner of the wall. Xie Wuchi’s hoarse voice was carried to his ears by the wind.

“Just a kiss.”

Shi Shu couldn’t take it anymore and asked him seriously, “Bro, what is our relationship now?”

“I don’t know.”

Shi Shu: “Did you see me kill someone in my past life? You dare to say ‘want’ to me? What do you want? Is that a word a one-meter-nine-tall man says?”

“Kiss.”

Xie Wuchi came closer step by step on the stairs. The profile of his turned face was distinct. Shi Shu smelled the scent of sandalwood mixed with some blood on him. It was very dry, and the heat was high. Shi Shu reached out his hand. “Stop, no.”

Xie Wuchi’s shadow was cast on the moonlit wall.

Shi Shu: “Hey—”

“Eh?”

“Holy cow!”

Shi Shu knew this wouldn’t end tonight if he didn’t let him kiss him. The pressure was too great. In an instant, he exploded and started cursing, “Xie Wuchi, you slut!!!”

“…………” After shouting this, Shi Shu’s fair and handsome face turned beet red. “I don’t want to scold you like this, but I really can’t help it. I don’t want to humiliate you.”

Before Shi Shu could finish, Xie Wuchi’s lips pressed against his, steaming with infinite craving. Shi Shu’s fair and handsome face turned pale. He was truly flustered and started cursing randomly, “Xie Wuchi, you harlot! You’re shameless, you’re despicable! You man who can’t control his dick.”

“Mmm.”

“Xie Wuchi, you… male dog. All you know is being in heat! Mmm…”

Heat covered his lips. Shi Shu’s lip corner was sucked, and his heart was completely broken.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Xie Wuchi!”

The breath, the temperature, and reason, the scratching itch in his heart climbed up. “If I die one day, will you not want to live—”

Shi Shu’s jaw was grabbed, a fleshy tongue invaded, sliding slickly into his mouth, blocking the words that were about to come out. Shi Shu only hated that he couldn’t curse well. When Xie Wuchi teased his tongue, he could only curse, “Speechless… Xie Wuchi you, you really, I give up… Did I owe you in my past life?”

The tip of his tongue wrapped and swept lasciviously, making wet sounds like they were coupling. Shi Shu gripped his shoulders hard, his nails digging into the flesh causing sharp pain. The hand holding his jaw also tightened. His voice was gradually kissed into fragments, intermittent.

The calloused hand rubbed repeatedly, making the skin red.

Xie Wuchi’s thumb parted Shi Shu’s lips. Shi Shu frowned his handsome straight-guy brows tightly. The tip of his tongue was sucked out, and wrapped around the fingertip, licking it lightly. The wet and slick touch. Shi Shu breathed heavily while swallowing, his chest heaving with emotion.

“Dog, Xie Wuchi, you’re worse than a dog!”

Xie Wuchi seemed to let out a light laugh, teasingly licking the tip of his tongue. In the darkness, the light at the corner of his brow was gathered at the tip of his lashes. He seemed to be staring at something, yet seemed to be looking at nothing. Pleasure, the wetness and slipperiness of skin and mucous membranes touching, transmitting a soul-shaking comfort.

Shi Shu’s mind was desperately saying “Bro is straight,” “straight,” “straight guy,” then his throat moved, and he gasped, “Ah… I can’t take it…”

Xie Wuchi was a huge pervert. Didn’t normal people just give a couple of pecks when they kissed? But Xie Wuchi stared at him while kissing, his gaze and tongue’s quality homogenized inch by inch, licking Shi Shu’s lips, then the tip of his tongue, seeing every tiny detail, almost like toying with prey while biting it to death.

Shi Shu stopped cursing. His legs were kissed soft, all his senses focused on his lips and teeth. The tips of their tongues touched lightly, and the next second, they were wrapped, sucked, and kissed with extreme carnal desire, torn, devoured, a burning destruction within tenderness, as if his soul was being sucked away.

Xie Wuchi’s words appeared in Shi Shu’s mind: “Can the body convey feelings better than words?”

For a person like Xie Wuchi, full of lies, wearing a mask, almost shaped by ambition, what kind of expression was real?

Shi Shu couldn’t breathe. His back was against the wall. Xie Wuchi was full of control and restraint.

There was a sticky, watery sound of something wet being wrapped in the air. Shi Shu couldn’t handle him and opened his eyes in the darkness. When Shi Shu was kissed, he would usually look away gloomily or close his eyes, because making eye contact with Xie Wuchi while they were doing that, the feeling was really weird!

Only a straight guy would understand.

But, Shi Shu opened his eyes. Xie Wuchi was indeed staring at himself, the fretfulness pressed under his dark brows relaxed with the intimate contact with Shi Shu.

Xie Wuchi didn’t seem to expect Shi Shu to open his eyes. They were very close. Shi Shu met his dark eyes and could see the iris in his pupils, like craters on a planet.

Xie Wuchi paused for a moment, not avoiding his gaze.

Lips and teeth turned, gazes met. Xie Wuchi seemed to be aroused, his whole body filled with a sense of passionate excitement and loss of control. He supported himself on the wall with one hand, the veins on the back of his hand popping out ferociously. The veins on his neck also rose and fell violently.

His gaze was entangled with Shi Shu’s. Shi Shu felt he was very normal, but Xie Wuchi’s gaze was moist and fiery. Staring at him, it was no longer like looking at a dog.

“…”

Xie Wuchi closed his eyes for a moment, smiling. “If you keep looking at me, I’m going to get excited.”

Shi Shu: “…………”

Shi Shu closed his eyes.

Xie Wuchi clearly had a gloomy and restless atmosphere about him, but after kissing him, it eased and disappeared. While Shi Shu let him kiss him to release his desire, he was also carefully thinking about something.

It was time to consider his future life. He couldn’t spend the next few decades playing this kind of game with someone who had psychological barriers and cognitive errors about intimacy.

Xie Wuchi had also said that he would never change, that he would do whatever was comfortable. Although Shi Shu wouldn’t really get angry about this kind of thing, a brother was a brother, and a lover was a lover. A brother could absolutely not become a lover.

Besides, whether Shi Shu found a partner or not was another matter. What if he delayed Xie Wuchi from finding a partner? Wouldn’t that be awkward?

Xie Wuchi was a patient, after all.

Shi Shu opened his eyes and looked at him again. A healthy person like him wouldn’t use intimacy and pleasure to confirm and compensate for psychological needs. Every time Xie Wuchi kissed him, besides feeling a little comfortable, Shi Shu’s heart was mostly cold, but Xie Wuchi was very hot, very dazed.

So distorted.

His friendship with Xie Wuchi was so distorted.

You couldn’t even find such a distorted friendship in Japanese films.

Shi Shu thought to himself and also squinted his handsome eyes. Finally, the kiss ended. The tips of their tongues were connected by a thrilling strand of saliva. At the other end was Xie Wuchi’s shadow-dyed face.

Shi Shu turned his face away, wiped his lips. His jaw was a little sore from being kissed. He walked to the side. “I’m going to sleep. I’ll see if I can help you with anything tomorrow.”

Xie Wuchi touched his lips with his fingertips, looked up, the darkness of his brows pressing down like a dark cloud, returning to his upright and dignified appearance. “Alright. Tomorrow I’m going to visit the wealthy households. I’ll be riding a horse for speed. You don’t know how to ride a horse yet, so I won’t take you with me tomorrow.”

Shi Shu: “Okay. Looking at the case files also gives me a headache. I see you don’t look well. I’ll brew you some medicine.”

“Go to sleep.”

Shi Shu followed Xie Wuchi. He still had to check the case files to find the crimes of these wealthy gentlemen. Shi Shu fell asleep on a couch behind a screen.

Before he fell asleep, Xie Wuchi was still dealing with the case files, looking at the prefecture’s land register, and having Yao Shuai and others grab the relatives of those bandits within the prefecture and county. When Shi Shu was woken up by the scorching heat of the early morning, there were only traces of a brief rest next to the couch. Xie Wuchi had changed into his official robe and had already left the Qian’an Prefecture Great Min with his guards.

Shi Shu: “Amazing, my brother.”

Shi Shu went to the pharmacy to get herbs, preparing to brew a tonic. After the sun rose, the scorching high temperature once again enveloped the entire Qian’an Prefecture. A dazzling white sun was in the sky, with faint rumbles of thunder. And next, he didn’t know how long it would be before this rain would fall.

On the other end, several horses galloped on the official road. The green leaves brushed past the censor’s crimson wide robe and large sleeves, his dark hair flying in the wind.

The horses stopped at the gate of a wealthy estate. One by one, the housekeepers said.

“Censor Xie, my master has gone south to escape the summer heat.”

“Censor Xie, my master is not feeling well and is not convenient to see guests.”

“Lord Censor, the land register is still being calculated…”

“…”

As the sun set, several horses headed back towards the gate of Qian’an Prefecture. Xie Wuchi reined in his horse, his face as still as water, the area under his eyes a dark, chilling cyan.

Duan Xiuwen wiped the sweat from his forehead. “My lord, what should we do now?”

Xie Wuchi: “This Qian’an Prefecture is really an iron barrel, not a drop of water leaks.”

On the other end, Yao Shuai’s guards brought a large group of crying women, children, and elderly people to Xie Wuchi’s side.

“My lord, the parents, wives, and children of those bandits have all been brought.”

“Throw them in prison. Interrogate them. The main culprit who instigated the murder of the imperial envoy must be found. If they refuse a toast, they will be forced to drink a forfeit. Then don’t blame me for killing.”

__

Author’s note:

Unlocking a small theater.

I can’t even imagine what it would be like when straight-guy Xiao Shubao falls in love. Only then would everything he sees about Xie Wuchi have warmth. At least not now, but after Xiao Shubao falls in love, he will truly feel Xie Wuchi’s touch, contact, body temperature, and then blush and his heart will pound.

It’s even possible that a situation might arise where Xiao Shubao wants to sleep with Xie Wuchi (just sleeping), but is rejected by Xie Wuchi: “No.” (

But the Xie Wuchi at that time would be a Xie Wuchi who has had enough of the bitterness of love.

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