tw: themes of sexual assault (no r*pe depicted). please use discretion!
Only moments after Qiu Yunru was seated behind the jade guqin, the doors to the private brothel room flew open.
In stepped a man who could only be described as beautiful.
Describing men like that! Are you getting gayer? That's enough! Qiu Yunru scolded himself.
This man was as towering as Madame Red, if not more so. His skin was pale and smooth as jade, his brows carved and graceful. His build was lithe and elegant, and his clothes clearly those of an extravagantly wealthy noble, flowing with glittering silks and gem jewelry. Dripping down from his ears were two ruby earrings that were perfectly matched to his scarlet eyes. What fashion sense! He strolled in, golden fan in hand, looking around the room.
His voice, on the other hand, was a different story from his looks.
"So," He drawled. "Who is it that's serving this one tonight?"
Qiu Yunru nearly jumped. He hadn't heard such a sleazy, lazy-sounding voice since meeting Li Chenyuan's uncle!
Cui Ninghao's eyes landed on Qiu Yunru with precision, seeming to zero in like the lens of a camera. His lips broke into a sickly-sweet smile that showed pearly-white fangs.
"Oh? I haven't seen you before. A new specimen--did my sister recruit you just for me? I'm flattered..."
Qiu Yunru fought back a gag at that spidery smile, instead returning it with a polite smile of his own. "Ah...Apologies, Master Cui. This one is not familiar with Master Cui's sister. However, I am indeed new here."
Cui Ninghao raised an eyebrow. Two bodyguards had followed close behind him. He waved two fingers to them, sending them away, then swept into the room towards Qiu Yunru. As he drew near, his voice was like honey:
"You're not familiar with her? How strange. How can you work here without meeting my meimei? Doesn't she run the place?"
Qiu Yunru blinked.
New Feature Acquired: Relationship Tree Expanded! Relationship Discovered: Lady Hong/Madame Red, sister to Cui Ninghao!
Excuse me?!?! New Feature?! How many updates can you have? Are you actually alive and messing with me? Come out and face me yourself, you piece of shit!
...was what Qiu Yunru was thinking on the inside. Externally, he opened his mouth in surprise and said:
"Madame Red is Master Cui's meimei? This one wasn't informed--Master Cui must be an honored guest, in that case."
Cui Ninghao was close enough that Qiu Yunru could smell smoke on him. Laughing, Cui Ninghao pulled out a long pipe and sat down next to him, slinging an arm around his waist.
The feel of silks and fingers against his bare waist sent a shiver up Qiu Yunru's spine. He shifted, unable to hide his discomfort. Even though this was just to help Madame Red out and get a reward, he couldn't help the disgust the suddenly racked him. Like a piece of meat, he was being felt up and examined for purchase.
"Oh, you must be very new," Cui Ninghao laughed, blowing out a puff of purple air from his pipe. His red eyes glittered, tracing Qiu Yunru's torso hungrily. "Still getting used to being touched? How did you end up here at such an age, anyways? Most men don't work at brothels unless they were brought in young."
Qiu Yunru tried to ignore the feeling on his skin crawling, floundering for an answer. "Ah...well, this one--"
"Never mind. I don't care." With a sharp tug, Cui Ninghao pulled Qiu Yunru close enough that his chest was flat against Qiu Yunru's back. His hot breath puffed onto Qiu Yunru's shoulders, humid and smokey. "Play for me."
"O-Oh." Awkwardly, Qiu Yunru extracted his arms from Cui Ninghao's grip.
Though he had never been cultured enough to play the guqin in his past life, he had actually acquired the skill after some one-off event back before the Nine Sects' Tournament. Because of this, he was actually quite good.
Notes rang out, clear and refreshing, filling the room with a calming sound. Qiu Yunru relaxed a little. Perhaps this was all Cui Ninghao wanted: to...ah, well, uncomfortably stare at and hold a man playing an instrument. Madame Red had said it wouldn't go farther that, right?
"You play well. Are you highborn? From a noble family, perhaps?"
Cui Ninghao had moved. His chin was now resting on Qiu Yunru's shoulder, and his snakelike hand had found its way to Qiu Yunru's abdomen.
Qiu Yunru's whole body tensed. However, he didn't stop playing. After missing a note, he kept going, swallowing down the lump in his throat.
In the end, Cui Ninghao didn't know that he was a human. After all, his face was covered with the veil, and he had long learned to mask his spiritual qi by now. If he acted too suspiciously, there was a chance he might demand to know Qiu Yunru's identity.
"No, Master Cui. This one is just from a common family."
"Mmm...I see. Then you're too stupid to understand noble politics."
The venom in Cui Ninghao's voice startled Qiu Yunru. But it was like he hadn't changed his tone at all; Cui Ninghao's hand continued to snake upward casually, and he laughed a little, sending smoke into Qiu Yunru's face.
"It's all such a drag. If you didn't know your lady and I are siblings, I'm sure you don't know the story." He sighed dramatically, tracing a cold line down Qiu Yunru's chest. He tugged on the sheer fabric lightly. "For a thousand years, Leng Mo City and the Eastern Demon Realm have been ruled by two families: the Cui and the Yue."
Sensing a lore sequence, Qiu Yunru listened carefully as he went on:
"We've fought for power back and forth again and again, but the Yue's always come out on top. It's all because of that whore, Yue Fengyang, of course." Cui Ninghao's voice became venomous once more, and his expression twisted with contempt. "She's been around for four hundred years, the old bitch. Even though she's been crippled for three three hundred, everyone in the realm still cowers at her feet. Pathetic! Didn't you know..." Cui Ninghao leaned close, his voice tickling Qiu Yunru's ear. "I heard she was crippled by some human man. He slept with her, then performed a Soul Exchange Curse! He wasn't even a notable human--just some cultivator or another. But Yue Fengyang was such a desperate whore that she let him take advantage of her!" Cui Ninghao chuckled darkly before going on. He trailed his hand up Qiu Yunru's chest, brushing his fingers over his collarbone before continuing:
"But she'll be dead before long. My family had a plan--one to ensure that we could destroy the Yue family from the inside-out. My sister was promised to one of theirs. It would be an historic union; in a thousand years, no one has married between our families, considering it a dishonor. But what a narrow way to view the world! They would marry, and through the information she gathered, we would blackmail and poison the Yue family into the dirt." Cai Ninghao's hand suddenly shot up, gripping Qiu Yunru's throat. It wasn't a choking grip, but it was tight enough that Qiu Yunru coughed, abruptly taking his hands off the guqin.
"What are you doing?" Cui Ninghao snapped. "Keep playing, boy. Don't displease me."
Unsteadily, Qiu Yunru continued to pluck the strings.
When is a good time to call for Madame Red? To tell him I'm sick? I can't tell if it's gone too far yet. Doesn't that mean it's gone too far? I don't know, I don't know! And he's dropping so much lore...What should I do?!
In the end, he decided to keep listening. After all, despite the crawling in his skin, some part of him was morbidly curious about how Madame Red, the daughter of a noble demon family, had ended up owning a brothel in the outskirts of the city.
"Good boy." With a smirk, Cui Ninghao went on:
"The wedding day approached, and my sister withdrew more and more. Of course she wouldn't speak to me; anyways, I wouldn't have cared for her feelings. It is a woman's job to marry for the benefit of her clan." He sighed dramatically once more. "But what happened come the wedding night? She had fled! And her husband? Well, he was found torn to piece in their wedding bed!" Letting out a barking laugh, his grip tightened on Qiu Yunru's throat, causing his eyes to water. "My bitch of a sister had ruined it all. And for what? When we found her, she was holed up in an alleyway with some whore!" He spat. "The things I wanted to do to her...But I wasn't allowed. Mother has always had an irrational mercy for pitiful things. Instead of killing her, she banished her from the family and made amends to the Yue's with a thousand taels of gold. And where are we now?" He suddenly released Qiu Yunru, sitting back and taking a long drag of his pipe with a dark expression. "There are no eligible members of the Yue family left to marry out to. How could there be? Rather than raising generations of demons and sending them out to the realm, they stay holed up in their castle, growing thousands of years old. So, I'm left with the crumbling remains of nobility as my mother slowly dies, all while my sister lives out her fantasy in this whorehouse with her own personal whore."
A silence followed. He blew out a swirling cloud of purple smoke, watching it rise with a clouded expression.
Qiu Yunru, meanwhile, was trying his best to focus on playing the pipa while his hands shook and his mind raced. He was trying very hard to ignore the fact that he'd been half-choked a moment ago.
So much lore--so much lore! Yue Fengyang is the head of the most powerful noble family in this part of the Demon Realm. She's said to have been crippled by a human cultivator...and Madame Red was banished from her family for running away with Shao Lu. I can't keep track of all of this! What else, what else? I need a notepad, ah!
If there was one thing he had learned in all his years in this game, it was to absolutely pay attention to long sections of lore!
However, he didn't have much time to memorize it all.
"I'm bored," Cui Ninghao sighed. "Get on the ground."
Qiu Yunru paused his playing, blinking.
Get on the ground...?
"Ah...what does Master Cui mean?"
"Are you stupid?" Cui Ninghao spat, pushing Qiu Yunru back. With a thump, Qiu Yunru's back hit the floor. Cui Ninghao was already climbing over him, pinning his wrists to the wood beneath his head. "When I say 'get on the floor', you get on the floor! When a customer speaks, a whore listens!"
Qiu Yunru felt a pang in his chest. He'd never been called something like that before.
There was no time to process. Cui Ninghao had changed his mind already. He hauled Qiu Yunru arm by the arm, throwing him onto his knees and sitting in a nearby chair.
"Over here," He ordered.
Dazed, Qiu Yunru crawled over. His head was swimming, and his heart pounded insistently in his ears. This felt incredibly wrong.
When Qiu Yunru was close enough, Cui Ninghao buried his hand in Qiu Yunru's hair and yanked him closer, as though handling an unruly dog.
"Go ahead," He said expectantly, sitting back and tugging Qiu Yunru between his legs. "Serve me well with that pretty mouth."
Qiu Yunru was shoved practically in between Cui Ninghao's legs, his face uncomfortably close to an intimate spot. He could feel a heat rising to his face, and it wasn't from flusterment. All of the blood in his body seemed to have rushed to his head, and he felt woozy. He knew what Cui Ninghao was asking for, but he also couldn't quite process it. He sat there, frozen, trapped between the demon's legs, hands trembling.
He opened his mouth to call for Madame Red, but found that his voice felt suddenly too small.
Cui Ninghao was not pleased. He raised a hand to strike Qiu Yunru, eyes flashing.
At that moment, the entire room went white.
The temperature dropped suddenly, then evened out. Even in his dazed state, Qiu Yunru recognized what phenomenon this was: the opening of a portal between realms.
Behind Qiu Yunru, a jagged portal had indeed torn open. Colors swirled within it, swimming endlessly and twisting into shapes that disintegrated just as quickly. A man stepped through.
This man had undoubtedly pretty phoenix eyes, dark, silken hair, a cold demeanor, and flowing violet robes.
"...Um..." The man looked on in confusion, the sight before him too unexpected to process: one man, lounging in a chair, and a man dressed in courtesan's clothes pressed towards his crotch. Li Chenyuan's face turned bright red, and he immediately whirled around. "I've come to the wrong place! I'll be leaving!" He shot towards the doors, evidently wanting nothing but to get out of here.
"...Li-shidi...?" Qiu Yunru's voice was small and shaky, but unmistakable all the same.
Immediately, Li Chenyuan whirled back around, his eyes darting desperately around the room. "Gege?" His demeanor had entirely changed; instead of wanting to escape, he had clearly already forgotten about that scandalous scene, searching for his gege in every dark corner of the room.
Qiu Yunru made to stand, but Cui Ninghao shoved him back down. Glaring, he spat: "Who the fuck are you? I'm busy, so get the fuck out before I kill you, human! If I'm feeling merciful, I'll come find you later and just leave you with a few brands!"
Although Qiu Yunru hadn't gotten to fully turn around, Li Chenyuan had still caught sight of part of his face beneath the veil.
His eyes widened, glistening with joy and relief; but just as quickly, the joy slipped away to be replaced by a look of confusion. Then came a look of jealousy, and a look of horror, and a look of rage.