This Is Love

That night, Jiaming and Shasha were locked in a room on the first floor of a small building. The windows had been welded shut, and the iron door was locked. They had been kindly untied and given food. Jiaming had expected to be beaten severely by Cao Dongfeng as an outlet for his anger, but nothing of the sort happened. After a moment's thought, he understood. Cao Dongfeng liked Lingjing, and when he had ordered them to be captured earlier, he had been shouting to have Lingjing brought over as well. It seemed he intended to wait until Lingjing was captured before tormenting Jiaming to make her feel distressed.

Since that was the case, he might as well wait another day. It would be more certain to act when Lingjing was present. If they made a move now, and there was another hostage, things would become much more complicated. Besides, he could also find out what had happened to Yuechi Xun.

There was no poison in the food, so Jiaming sat down and ate a few bites. Shasha, full of energy, kept kicking the door and cursing loudly. By the time she had cursed herself into exhaustion, it was completely dark. There were no lights in the room, so Shasha fumbled her way to the table to eat. She was a picky eater and didn't like ginger or garlic. She occasionally picked up the wrong dish and then kept spitting it out. Halfway through her meal, she suddenly realized, "Ah, what if there's poison in this food?"

Jiaming chuckled inwardly. "Then I would have died already."

Shasha hesitated for a while and asked Jiaming if he felt any stomach pain. Although she received a negative answer, she lost her appetite for the time being.

The room had an iron door, iron windows, and concrete walls. Even for Jiaming, escaping would have been a considerable effort. There was a table, a bed, and a small toilet in the corner of the room; that was all the furnishings. Shasha sat on the head of the bed, muttering curses under her breath and fantasizing about escape strategies. Occasionally, she would comfort Jiaming, saying, "Don't be afraid." Jiaming replied vaguely, listening to the sounds from the next room.

"You can't blame me for any of this. Everything that happened today is because your father owes me..."

"He took your mother through despicable means, and your mother was my fiancée. He actually took his brother's wife..."

"How much I've endured over the years to gain the support of You'an Tianqin. The Yuechi family is finished. Xun, I'm capturing you to save you, to let Chiying Qianhuan receive a better inheritance. I was the eldest son of the Yuechi family, and I was the most qualified to inherit Chiying Qianhuan..."

"You've pushed me too far, and I'll do anything!"

The speaker was the old Japanese man, his voice high-pitched and shrill, like a eunuch. He kept babbling, and after only a few sentences, a "smack" could be heard. Clearly, he had hit the little Japanese girl with that bamboo sword again. It was evident that the old man's blows were heavy, yet his technique was incredibly precise, the kind that caused excruciating pain without breaking bones or tendons. Jiaming wondered if this guy was an expert in S&M.

Harboring wicked thoughts, he sat with Shasha until midnight. Shasha had also lost the mood to curse and yawned a few times. Jiaming said, "Shasha, you sleep."

"What about you?"

"There's only one bed. I can just lie on the table fully clothed."

"How can that be!" Shasha jumped up. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "It's almost winter, and it's so cold. You'll catch a cold. How about... how about we sleep on this bed together? We can just wear our clothes."

Jiaming smiled. He didn't actually mind, but since Huaisha cared, he acted as if he was reluctant. After a moment of hesitation, he finally agreed. They took off their shoes and climbed onto the bed. Jiaming slept on the outside, and Shasha slept on the inside. The blanket was as thin as paper; they barely felt it when they covered themselves.

Although they were already quite familiar with each other, and there were times at the Liu Family villa when Jiaming, Shasha, and Lingjing had all fallen asleep on the carpet after playing, this was the first time they had officially "shared a bed." For the first ten minutes or so, Shasha lay there stiffly, afraid to move, like a zombie. After a while, she mumbled, "There's not even a pillow..." Then, uncomfortably, she started to shift on the bed.

Jiaming had a light sleep. In this state, even with his eyes closed, he could basically perceive all changes around him. He could hear Shasha changing positions every few minutes, and he found it amusing. After about an hour, she finally relaxed. Her body curled up due to the cold. Soon, she rolled and rolled, wrapping the thin blanket entirely around herself.

After sleeping for about three hours, past midnight, Shasha began to shift uncomfortably again. Then, she half-crawled up and waved her hand in front of Jiaming's eyes. It seemed she was trying to crawl over Jiaming's body to get off the bed. She was only halfway there when she jumped back, carefully pulling the blanket over Jiaming, and even pulled the edge of the blanket over his shoulders. She looked like a clumsy young wife who had just gotten married and didn't know how to take care of someone. After tucking him in, she waved her hand in front of Jiaming's eyes a few more times before climbing off the bed.

What is this girl trying to do...

Jiaming felt strange. Shasha had always been carefree and couldn't hide her thoughts, but now she was acting so cautiously. He opened his eyes a slit and saw Shasha's figure walk to the corner, pull down her pants, and then he finally understood. Closing his eyes, he heard a faint sound of liquid coming from the corner. A moment later, Shasha climbed back onto the bed, pulled back the sheet from the inside, and lay down like a zombie.

Because there was no pillow and the night was cold, Shasha began to curl up uncomfortably again. After rolling twice, she finally quietly grabbed one of Jiaming's hands and gently placed it horizontally on the bed.

"Lingjing, I'm sorry, just this once..."

Jiaming heard her say softly. Then she used Jiaming's arm as a pillow and fell asleep comfortably. A moment later, the girl's body rolled twice, and she curled up, hugging Jiaming's body, and fell into a deep sleep. Jiaming smiled wryly and hugged her shoulders. This girl, even in her lesbian relationship, was so loyal. Just by sleeping while hugging him, she had to sincerely apologize to her lesbian partner. At that moment, Jiaming felt a touch of emotion. This was love.

The night passed like this. When they woke up the next morning, Shasha's face was as red as a tomato. To ease the awkwardness, she started cursing loudly again. Soon, someone threw two steamed buns in through a gap in the window for breakfast. Through the gap in the iron door, Jiaming could see the little Japanese girl in the small square still wearing her bright red kimono, sitting there quietly enduring the beating.

In the morning, the entire lumber processing plant was quiet. Cao Jinghao and his son Cao Dongfeng seemed to have gone out, leaving only the eunuch-like voice of the old Japanese man and Shasha's occasional excited curses echoing in the small square. One speaking Chinese, the other Japanese, Jiaming found the mixture quite amusing.

In the afternoon, the Cao father and son returned in a huff. As soon as they arrived, Cao Dongfeng ordered the iron gate opened and had the two children's hands tied before dragging them out.

They probably hadn't prepared for Shasha, only tying the girl to a chair, but they pulled Jiaming to a pillar more than two meters high and tied him securely with his hands behind his back. Nearby was Yuechi Xun, who was being beaten. The two of them side-by-side reminded Jiaming of revolutionary martyrs who had sacrificed themselves heroically after enduring torture.

"Damn it, I'm too lazy to wait for Lingjing to come over." Cao Dongfeng, holding a bamboo sword similar to the old Japanese man's, walked over, cursing. Shasha shouted loudly, "Cao Dongfeng, what are you doing! If you dare touch him, I won't let you off!"

"Hmph, you little bitch has no right to speak here. Shut her up!" Cao Dongfeng said. Two of his subordinates brought a cloth bundle and stuffed it into Shasha's mouth. "Damn it, classmate Gu Jiaming, let me tell you frankly, I've been holding back a lot of anger today, and now I'm going to loosen my muscles on you!"

Saying that, he swung the bamboo sword horizontally towards Jiaming's chest!