So It Was a Dream

Bibi Dong kicked the quilt hard, sending it back to the foot of the bed. She glared at the blood-colored light spots on the ceiling, her chest heaving violently for a long while before she finally calmed down.

Forget it, thinking about this now was useless.

She had more important things to do: clear Slaughter City as quickly as possible, then go out and settle the score with that little brat.

She dragged the quilt back from the foot of the bed, wrapped herself up like a silkworm chrysalis, and closed her eyes.

Before long, Bibi Dong drifted off to sleep.

Bibi Dong found herself standing in front of a carved wooden door.

The door was ajar, and from within came the sounds of clinking glasses and lively chatter, interspersed with the delicate laughter of women and a familiar voice that made her blood pressure skyrocket. She reached out and pushed the door open, her footsteps faltering for a moment at the sight before her.

It was a magnificently decorated hall, with flickering candlelight and melodious music.

In the center of the hall stood a long table large enough to seat a dozen people, piled high with delicacies.

There were golden, oil-dripping roasted suckling pigs, abalones larger than a palm, mountains of rare fruits and candied treats, and several opened jars of aged fine wine.

And at the head of that table sat the little brat she knew all too well, looking as bold as brass.

Deng Tianxin looked a few years older than he did in reality, appearing to be in his early teens. He had grown quite a bit, but that chubby face remained largely unchanged, with grease smeared on the corners of his mouth—he had clearly been eating for quite some time.

Liu Erlong sat on his left, using chopsticks to feed him a crystal shrimp dumpling; on his right, Tang Yuehua was using a silk handkerchief to wipe the oil from the corner of his mouth.

Beyond them, several young women whose names she didn't know sat along the long table. Each was beautiful; some were peeling grapes for Deng Tianxin, others were pouring him wine, and one was even leaning directly against his shoulder, giggling as she blew into his ear.

Deng Tianxin accepted it all. After finishing the shrimp dumpling Liu Erlong offered, he opened his mouth to receive the almond cookie Tang Yuehua fed him, chewing with bulging cheeks as he mumbled vaguely, "This is what you call a life—"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the hall door was kicked open.

The wooden door slammed against the wall with a deafening crash, splitting directly in two as wood splinters scattered everywhere.

The music stopped abruptly. The room full of beauties turned their heads in unison to see a woman standing in the doorway, radiating a chilling, murderous aura.

Her white clothes were like snow, her black hair like a waterfall, and her stunningly beautiful face wore a smile that made everyone present break out in a cold sweat.

Her right hand gripped a long blade still dripping with blood, and beads of blood from the edge fell onto the threshold, staining a small patch of dark red.

"Deng. Tian. Xin." Bibi Dong enunciated his name, one word at a time.

Her voice was as soft as a whisper in a lover's ear, yet it caused the air in the entire hall to freeze.

The chopsticks in Deng Tianxin's hand clattered onto the table.

The smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a fear that surged from the depths of his soul.

Deng Tianxin instinctively shrank back, his short legs kicking wildly under the chair as he tried to find a place to hide, but the chair at the head of the table was backed against a wall, and women blocked him on both sides. He had nowhere to run.

"T-Teacher? Why are you back?" Deng Tianxin's voice cracked, his facial muscles twitching into a smile uglier than a cry. "Aren't you in Slaughter City? How did you... I didn't mean that! Teacher, listen to my explanation! They did this on their own! I didn't do anything! I just ate some food! Really! I just ate some food!"

Bibi Dong threw the long blade aside. The blade embedded itself into the floor, the humming sound echoing in the silent hall for several seconds before fading away.

She took a step, walking toward the head of the table at a leisurely pace, each step feeling as if it were landing on Deng Tianxin's heartbeat.

"Happy and Forgetting Bibi?" Bibi Dong walked up to Deng Tianxin, looking down at the little brat curled into a ball, her smile growing even more brilliant. "Come, let your teacher see just how happy you've been these past few days."

Deng Tianxin tried to make a final struggle, opening his mouth to let out a string of pleas: "Teacher, I was wrong! I shouldn't have snuck out to play! I shouldn't have said 'Happy and Forgetting Bibi'! I will definitely cultivate properly and improve every day from now on, I won't embarrass you—"

But before he could finish, Bibi Dong had already hoisted him up from the chair.

Deng Tianxin hung in mid-air, his short legs kicking unconsciously for a moment before he closed his eyes in despair.

He was all too familiar with this opening; the next step was definitely being flipped over, pressed onto her lap, and then...

Bibi Dong suddenly stopped.

She looked down at her own bare feet, then at Deng Tianxin's face, and a strange thought inexplicably popped into her mind.

If she shoved her foot into this little brat's mouth, it might actually be rewarding him.

Given the thickness of his skin, he might even lick it twice.

No, she couldn't let him off that easily.

So, she decisively abandoned that strange thought, skillfully flipped Deng Tianxin over, pressed him onto her lap, raised her hand, and brought it down hard.

"Smack!"

The crisp sound of a slap exploded in the hall, accompanied by Deng Tianxin's shrill scream and the collective gasp of the beauties nearby.

Liu Erlong and Tang Yuehua looked at each other, the shrimp dumpling and silk handkerchief falling from their hands onto the table simultaneously, but neither dared to step forward to intervene; that woman's aura was simply too terrifying.

"Calling you Happy and Forgetting Bibi!"

"Smack!"

"Calling you to have a girl on each arm!"

"Smack!"

"Calling you to eat shrimp dumplings fed by others!"

"Smack!"

Bibi Dong opened her eyes abruptly.

The ceiling was still that blood-red color, the walls were still those of the cold stone room; there was no magnificent hall, no table full of delicacies, and no group of beauties circling Deng Tianxin.

Bibi Dong slowly sat up, only to find her right hand still held in a striking posture, frozen in mid-air. Her palm tingled slightly, as if those few strikes had truly landed on something soft and resilient.

She looked down at her hand, then glanced at the empty space on the bed beside her, falling into a long silence.

Then, she buried her face in her palms and let out a long, complex sigh.

"...It was actually a dream."

At this very moment, Bibi Dong truly wanted to give Deng Tianxin a spanking to properly vent her frustrations.

Bibi Dong sat on the edge of the bed, her right palm still tingling. That soft, resilient sensation felt impossibly real, as if that little brat's backside were still resting on her lap, the familiar curve and elasticity palpable even through the fabric of his trousers.

She hadn't spanked him in thirty-six days. The last time was the night before she left, because he had stolen three boxes of osmanthus cakes the cook had hidden in the cupboard and then framed her by stuffing the empty boxes under her quilt.

She had struck him five times that night. He had howled like a stuck pig, yet once he finished, he acted as if nothing had happened, clinging to her leg and refusing to let go, claiming he would report her for child abuse.