Once Yi Long Wei was out of sight, Shan Yuan poured the remaining water over the stone and washed away the blood and dirt. It was only the second day and already there had been another death. Just as he stood up, one of the other women approached him. She handed him a basket and a gourd filled with water.
"What is that?" Nan Shan Yuan asked sharply. The woman glanced at him briefly.
"Something to eat and drink!" she replied. Shan Yuan looked at the basket skeptically. If someone brought him food, it was poisoned, laced with drugs, or inedible.
The food for the servants at the master's estate was the best he had ever seen, but he was wary of gifts and alms. "Who are you and what is this for?" he asked, throwing the food away.
It rolled across the floor. Stuffed dumplings and fruit rolled across the freshly scrubbed stone and landed with a plop in one of the ponds. The young woman with black hair and simple dark clothes widened her eyes. She almost looked as if she wanted to yell at him or raise her hand. Shan Yuan stood up straight, both feet firmly on the ground. Women didn't hit as hard as men, but their jewelry and fingernails could leave ugly scratches that burned for days. But she just took a deep breath.
"A beaten dog, huh?" she remarked sarcastically.
"My name is Yan Yu Yang. Consider it a thank you for earlier."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I wouldn't have been surprised if Yi Long Wei had made good on his threat if you hadn't stepped in," she added.
"I don't need your help, mind your own business. No one here will repay your kindness," Shan Yuan advised her. Yu Yang looked at him. Something in her gaze sent a shiver down his spine.
"I know." Her voice had changed, sounding colder, harder.
"Perhaps it is the broken and damaged who survive in a place like this. It seems to me that you have experience in survival." Their eyes met, both knowing that the other was hiding more than they were revealing. Shan Yuan knew that there was not a single innocent soul in this estate. The stupid died first, a natural selection, and those with secrets remained. Yu Yang picked up the basket and the pumpkin. She looked at him again.
"Good luck!"
Luck? Luck hadn't kept him alive. It wasn't luck that his mother died when he was born. His father's journey from the south to his homeland, which was accompanied by deprivation and hunger, was not luck. His father's death from exhaustion and illness was not luck. The house of his uncle, who took him in afterwards. He took a deep breath. Luck was something that was completely absent from his life. Observational skills and adaptability, knowing what the person opposite you wants from you before they say it, acting, serving, satisfying. That was survival. Not luck.
He spent the rest of the day being instructed in his duties. These ranged from cleaning and maintaining the house to weeding and looking after the animals. Shan Yuan caught a glimpse of a warehouse that smelled strange and made even stranger noises.
But in fact, only the long-established servants came and went. Presumably, Yi Long Wei stored and traded rare animals, spirits, and demons from there. As evening began to fall, he ate with the others, taking care to eat only what someone else had already tried. He followed the example of the staff who had been there longer. Afterwards, he washed and changed his clothes. In fact, he owned mostly loose pants and hardly any robes or other clothing. This was because he had always had to walk around like this in his uncle's estate so that his uncle could abuse him at any time. The pants were easy to slip over the hips, with no ties, knots, or multiple layers of fabric.
Someone approached him, and he recognized one of the servants from the old staff. It was a hunched man who rarely spoke and gave only brief instructions. He motioned for Shan to follow him and led him to the master's private chambers. He pointed to the stairs leading to the wooden double doors and looked at him with pity. Shan nodded, and the man disappeared as quickly and silently as he had appeared.
Evening was falling and a distinctly cooler night was replacing the day when he entered the master's private chambers. Long Wei had summoned him, just as Shan Yuan had expected. He had noticed the disgust with which he had looked at the women. That he had always looked at them only from behind and had ordered the guard to do the same when he raped the woman that morning.
Yi Long Wei was not attracted to women. The chamber was luxuriously furnished, with sheer curtains stretched across the room, a heavy, sweet scent filling the air, and a bed that could easily accommodate three men standing in the middle. He ignored the fully loaded shelves, cabinets, and cluttered tables and concentrated on the man in front of him. Long Wei returned his gaze, and for the first time, there was something other than boredom and disgust in his eyes. Something burning. From the side, the candlelight and the thin silk fabric of Shan Yuan's pants made it easy to see what was rising there.
Long Wei watched the game with interest, while Shan Yuan stood motionless and just looked at him. His reaction was pure survival instinct, there was no lust or sexual arousal behind it. He would do anything for his freedom. Even if he was sent from one beast's lair to the next, at least he knew the monster that awaited him. He knew how to appease his masters, make them happy, and be rewarded. Slowly, he took a step toward Long Wei.
Shan Yuan watched his every move, the expression in his eyes, the movements of his hands. Were his actions tolerated? Welcome? Or would he lash out and strike in the next moment? Long Wei's gaze wandered along Shan Yuan's body and watched with interest as he slowly approached him, one step, then another, until he stood so close in front of him that their noses almost touched. Shan Yuan's gaze was fixed on his master's lips. Now, don't make a wrong move, he couldn't do anything that Long Wei could interpret as overconfidence.
His body was tense, breathing shallowly. Long Wei's breath was deep and steady, his chest, half-covered by white silk, rising and falling. He wasn't going to strike. Slowly, Shan Yuan reached for his hand and guided it to his chest. He guided Long Wei's hand over his nipples, down his abs and further down to his belly button. When his master flinched briefly, he let go immediately. His mind was racing, going through every possible scenario. What did Long Wei want? Perhaps he needed to show him more submission? Shan Yuan expected the pain at any moment, but Long Wei just watched him.
All or nothing, maybe a little more daring was exactly what his master expected. The two men were about the same height. Shan Yuan took another step closer, pushed his hips forward, and rubbed gently against Long Wei's lap. When Long Wei still made no move to strike him or push him away, he wrapped his hands around his master's hips and pressed himself more energetically against him, their lips only millimeters apart. He felt Long Wei shudder beneath him and sensed the heat and hardness building in his loins. A smile flitted across Shan Yuan's face.
He had been right: he recognized a homosexual man when he saw one. That had kept him alive over the past few years. He opened his mouth, ran the tip of his tongue over Long Wei's full lips before carefully stroking the silk robe from his shoulders and slowly kneeling in front of him. His tongue ran over the white skin, over his nipple. He held Long Wei's hips firmly enough so that she couldn't pull away, and bit down. Of course, he didn't bite hard enough to hurt him. Long Wei could beat him, torture him, and cause him pain, but he couldn't take it too far. He slid his tongue over the slender body, the stomach, kissed and sucked before continuing down with the tip of his tongue along his loins.
Long Wei's robe had come loose and all that held the fabric around his hips were Shan Yuan's strong hands. He felt the heat and smelled the sweet, earthy scent. The size surprised Shan Yuan. Although Long Wei was certainly an imposing man, the size of his erect member did not quite match his slender build. Long Wei was still waiting, except for the subconscious movements of his body, which gave nothing away as to whether he liked what Shan Yuan was doing or not. So Shan Yuan decided to go for broke. He freed the monster from the remaining fabric, licked the exposed tip, and ran his teeth over the velvety skin before taking it into his mouth in one go.
This time, Long Wei's reaction was immediate. He drew in a sharp breath, his hands clawing at Shan Yuan's hair and pulling so hard that it hurt. Shan Yuan grabbed Long Wei's hips even tighter and began to suck. He pulled aggressively, giving the master no time to enjoy it or catch his breath.
Long Wei leaned against the table next to which he had been standing. He opened his mouth as sounds escaped him that he had never heard from himself before. It was painful and good at the same time; he couldn't tell if Shan Yuan was caressing him or trying to hurt him.
His thoughts swirled and everything focused on the hot, pulsating spot between his loins. So this was what he had always wanted? Why women disgusted him so much? He clasped Shan Yuan's head more tightly and thrust his hips forward. The young man gagged, wanting to break free, but Long Wei gave him no leeway and began to circle his hips, thrusting harder and harder. Shan Yuan's fingers dug deep into his white flesh.
"If you bite me, I'll cut out your tongue," he groaned. Shan Yuan let it happen. Long Wei felt wave after wave building up inside him, he felt the warmth, Shan Yuan's rough tongue and how he was making him come. He thrust so hard that he kept hitting Shan Yuan's throat. When he came, he lost feeling in his legs for a moment. Shan Yuan tore him away and vomited. A torrent of blood, semen, and vomit spilled onto the floor. He gasped for air, coughed, and supported himself on all fours.
"Without my tongue, that was your first and last time," he replied defiantly. His voice sounded rough, hoarse, and husky. Long Wei laughed contemptuously.
"Clean up your mess!"
Unmoved, Long Wei threw his robe back on and walked past him. When he had left the room, Shan Yuan took a deep breath. It was far from the first time he had been used and then thrown away like a piece of trash. Still, he knew he had won a small victory. Yi Long Wei would come back, he would want more. Nevertheless, he couldn't give up his cover, nor did he have anything in his hands that would justify his uncle's freedom. To do that, he had to make it to the winter residence and main residence of the Yi family.
Shan Yuan craned his neck. He could still taste blood and Long Wei's semen. He spat on the floor before fetching a bucket of water and starting to scrub again. As he left the master's chamber, he heard two heated voices arguing not far away.
"Do you really want to die?"
"If I don't do something soon, I'll be dead anyway. Why are you getting involved?"
"There have already been two deaths in two days. If this continues, the harem will be history in two weeks!"
"I just have to find a place, if not as a concubine, then..."
"Then what? Do you think the master of mysteries will be so gracious as to let you clean his shoes? Do you even know how to clean something ..."
The voices fell silent when Shan Yuan came into view. He recognized Ye Zhen Zhen, so she still hadn't given up, and Yan Yu Yang, the woman who had thanked him that morning. Both stared at him. He gave them only a slight nod as he ran past them back to his sleeping place.
Let them think what they wanted: if they had any brains, the right conclusion might save their lives. He had no compassion and cared little or nothing for other people. But what he recognized was strength and the will to fight, and Ye Zhen Zhen had both. At first, he had thought she was just a defiant, angry outcast. But she was smarter than most, and she didn't whine and cry all the time.
Shan entered the dormitory silently and crept into bed so he could get some sleep before the next morning and the next trial by fire began.