[Don't hide]
The summer breeze was soft, carrying the drifting fragrance of lotus flowers.
The young man's hand, which had been gripping her jaw, subconsciously slid back to grasp the nape of her neck, pressing Su Zhenzhen back just as she was about to pull away.
Compared to an inexperienced novice like Su Zhenzhen, the young man was clearly much more of a natural.
He opened his mouth and bit her lower lip.
A slight, stinging tug transmitted from her lip, and Su Zhenzhen subconsciously tried to escape again, but the palm gripping the back of her neck held her firmly in place.
Although the young man had a slender build, his hands were a full size larger than hers. It was said that people with such hands would not grow up to be short.
Su Zhenzhen opened her eyes, meeting the young man's dark, heavy gaze.
He did not seem to be lost in the kiss; instead, he appeared exceptionally calm.
No, not calm at all.
Her lips hurt so much.
The gentle, sticky touch turned into subtle nibbling. The biting sensation grew stronger and stronger, to the point where Su Zhenzhen even felt she could taste a faint hint of blood.
"Don't bite..."
She barely managed to turn her head away before the young man chased after her for another kiss.
Shadow One hid atop the water pavilion, his pitch-black face blending into the night as he tilted his head slightly to look over.
Lu Hexu raised his eyes. Half of his face was obscured by the back of Su Zhenzhen's head due to the angle, leaving only the other half visible. Under the dim and ambiguous lighting, the young man's eyes held no emotion. His deep, dark right eye fell upon Shadow One, carrying an extremely cold hostility.
Shadow One quickly retreated.
Catching a slight opening, Su Zhenzhen could not help but shrink back. Her back hit the railing. Lu Hexu leaned over, parting his knees—one knee half-kneeling on the bench, pressing down on her scattered skirt, while his other foot remained on the ground.
He straddled Su Zhenzhen in the air, arching his lithe and slender body, wrapping one arm around the railing. On the woman's other side was the mahogany pillar supporting the water corridor.
He completely enveloped her beneath him.
This posture allowed him to kiss her more deeply.
Su Zhenzhen's nape was pressed against the railing, her neck tilted back in a sacrificial posture, with nowhere to retreat and no way to avoid him.
The young man kissed her breathlessly and impenetrably.
Due to the lack of oxygen, Su Zhenzhen's eyes turned a moist red, even more enticing than the pink lotus flowers behind her.
Her eyelashes trembled, and the swaying silhouette of a palace lantern appeared in her line of sight, its slender tassels gently blown by the summer breeze.
"I can't breathe..."
Su Zhenzhen managed to say with difficulty.
[So suffocating...]
Lu Hexu gave her a moment to catch her breath, then continued to cup her cheeks and kiss her.
Her soft cheeks were pinched up like melting cream. Lu Hexu's anger gradually dissolved in this intimacy.
His kisses began to grow long and lingering.
The young man licked the corner of the woman's lip, which he had bitten open. He could not taste the blood; compared to massive pools of crimson, this tiny bit of blood was far too faint.
Su Zhenzhen panted softly, her voice turning sticky and carrying a slight sob that was exceptionally clear in the quiet water corridor.
Hearing the echo of her own voice, Su Zhenzhen, who still had a shred of reason left, instantly blushed crimson with shame.
She raised her hand, biting down on her bent knuckles to swallow the sounds back down.
The soft, sweet sounds disappeared, replaced by uncontrollable whimpers escaping from her throat.
Lu Hexu thought both sounds were very pleasant to the ear.
He subconsciously wanted to hear more.
The young man's lips moved away from the woman's red and swollen lips, slowly trailing down to press against her neck.
Because the weather was hot, Su Zhenzhen's dress was not heavy; it was even excessively thin, as she was very afraid of the heat.
Because of her backward-leaning posture, Su Zhenzhen's fair, slender neck was completely exposed to Lu Hexu.
The young man did not entirely retract his teeth. He kissed around her neck in a sticky, lingering manner, finally settling on her throbbing carotid artery.
Through the layer of fair, soft skin, the young man felt the pulse beneath. He first licked it with the tip of his tongue, then could not resist grinding his teeth against it, as if wanting to bite through to see exactly what lay beneath.
Su Zhenzhen let out an uneasy sound, a short whimper like a little puppy whose lifeline had been pinched.
She attempted to curl up her body to hide.
But she found that curling up only brought her closer to the young man, making it seem as if she were subconsciously burrowing into his embrace.
The young man's scorching breaths wandered over her neck.
Su Zhenzhen bit down on her knuckles harder. Her eyelashes were dampened by physiological tears, trembling incessantly like the wings of a frightened butterfly.
In contrast to Su Zhenzhen's resistant unease and uncontrollable physiological enjoyment, Lu Hexu experienced a much fuller sense of pleasure than before.
He liked kissing her.
And he liked kissing other parts of her body.
The night grew deeper; no one else would come here.
The young man bent over and buried his head. His thin eunuch uniform traced the beautiful lines of his shoulder blades. He wore a dark red belt; a eunuch's belt was originally an inch narrower than an ordinary person's, and it was tied closer to the waist. Thus, it cinched his already slender waist even tighter, revealing a smooth, upright silhouette.
Su Zhenzhen's mind was a pile of mush; she could not think at all.
She only remembered to keep herself from making a sound.
With nowhere to place her hands, she blindly grasped the hollow-patterned brass buckle on the young man's belt.
This brass buckle was originally meant for hanging keys, tokens, and such items. Now, hooked by one of her fingers, it looked from the outside as if she were intentionally pulling him in for intimacy.
Today, she was wearing a sheer, cross-collared outer robe, its beautiful patterned edging pressing against her collarbone.
When Lu Hexu kissed the edge of the fabric there, he found the texture unpleasant, so he returned to kiss her neck, then continued upward to kiss her lips once more.
"Alright... enough..."
Su Zhenzhen managed to voice out.
[We are outside.]
[My mouth hurts so much.]
The young man finally pulled away from her lips.
With reddened eyes, Su Zhenzhen saw his crimson lips bearing wet, glistening traces, and those pitch-black eyes were steeped in a poorly concealed, striking allure.
She was dumbfounded.
[So beautiful.]
The glazed lamp was placed behind the young man. His figure loomed over hers, his back to the palace lantern overhead, so the area the lantern could illuminate was limited.
Lu Hexu's face was half-hidden in the darkness. As the light and shadows flickered, his expression could not be seen clearly.
With every word Su Zhenzhen spoke, she felt a stinging pain in her lips, which even made her neck ache.
She swallowed, feeling as though she tasted nothing but the young man.
Su Zhenzhen opened her mouth, hearing her own tearful voice. "I know, you did it all for me."
[Although the method was a bit brutal and somewhat hard to accept.]
"Give me a little time to recover." A cautious expression appeared on the woman's face.
Lu Hexu maintained his posture without moving. His dark, deep gaze fell upon the woman's swaying earrings.
A delicate natural pearl was suspended from a slender silver chain.
A faint white, an irregular sphere.
And that earlobe dyed in a crimson hue.
The young man's violent emotions had been smoothed away.
He stroked Su Zhenzhen's neck. Her skin was very fair; even in the dim light, the crimson marks left upon it were clearly visible.
He slowly and deliberately caressed the woman's neck. "Alright, you must not betray me."
Su Zhenzhen nodded with red eyes, her wet gaze falling upon the young man's face.
Lu Hexu's pale face was similarly flushed with crimson. When he spoke, his breathing was noticeably unsteady. His pitch-black eyes rippled with moisture, shimmering like spring rain on apricot blossoms in March, and his lips were a soft, glistening red.
[You look so seductive.]
The young man's hand, which was pressing against the woman's neck, paused.
Lu Hexu cast his moist, reddened eyes downward to look at her.
Su Zhenzhen avoided his gaze, but then, remembering something, she tremblingly shifted her eyes back.
[I cannot hide.]
Lu Hexu straightened up, moving his knee away from the backrest, only to find a sudden force pulling at his waist.
Su Zhenzhen and Lu Hexu looked down at the same time.
Her finger was still hooked into the brass buckle at his waist.
Blushing, Su Zhenzhen tried to pull it out.
She couldn't pull it out?
Her face grew even redder. "It's stuck..."
It was already three days later when Zhao Lingyun heard the news. At that time, he was leading the city defense camp in training. Ordinary people were not allowed to enter, which was why the message had been delayed.
He galloped back from the defense camp, only to see his younger brother with his limbs chopped off, hanging at the gate of their manor. A crowd had gathered around, pointing and whispering.
"I heard the Embroidered Uniform Guards came to handle a case. Not only did they refuse to cooperate, but they also tried to kill people."
"Yes, I heard the two groups fought all night long."
Zhao Lingyun swept a sharp, murderous glare over the crowd. "Get out of here!"
The onlookers' faces drastically changed, and they scattered, not daring to linger.
The vermilion gate of the Ningyuan Marquis Manor, which was once solemn and majestic, was now completely covered in splashed, dried blood.
Zhao Zuchang was hanging in front of this gate. His limbs had been severed, leaving only a mangled, bloody torso. A rough hemp rope pierced through his collarbones, suspending him from the crossbeam of the gateway.
Blood stained the ground red, trickling down the stone steps and even dyeing the corners of the two stone lions at the entrance.
"Achang..." Zhao Lingyun tightened his grip on the reins, his voice hoarse and difficult.
Zhao Zuchang still had one last breath left.
Hearing his older brother's voice, he struggled to open one eye that had been glued shut with blood. A line of bloody tears flowed from his eye. He tried hard to open his mouth, but only short, gasping sounds emerged from his throat.
Zhao Lingyun stumbled off his horse, wanting to save Zhao Zuchang, but he did not know where to start.
Finally, he found a stool and used the longsword at his waist to cut the hemp rope.
"Ah..." The hemp rope rubbed against Zhao Zuchang's collarbones, and he let out an almost inaudible wail of agony.
With red eyes, Zhao Lingyun knelt on the ground and pulled Zhao Zuchang into his arms.
"Who did this?"
Zhao Lingyun clenched his fists, the veins on the side of his neck bulging. His eyes were so red they looked as if they might drip blood.
"It was, it was... the eunuch..." He struggled to widen his cloudy eyes, staring at Zhao Lingyun. As he spoke, bloody foam bubbled up in his throat and trickled down the corners of his lips. "Brother, help me... get revenge..."
Zhao Zuchang had only been holding onto his last breath. Seeing that Zhao Lingyun had returned, that breath finally dissipated.
He lay in Zhao Lingyun's arms, his eyes losing their final gleam as all signs of life completely vanished.
Zhao Lingyun opened his mouth wide but could not make a sound.
With trembling fingertips, he took off his outer robe and covered Zhao Zuchang with it.
He looked at Zhao Zuchang's unclosable eye, murderous intent surging in the depths of his own.
Zhao Lingyun stood up with his sword and pushed open the blood-soaked manor gates.
The corpses inside the manor had not yet been cleared away; they lay scattered haphazardly across the grounds.
Zhao Lingyun walked all the way through without seeing a single living person.
"Old Ancestor..." Zhao Lingyun called out in a low voice.
No one answered.
It wasn't until he reached Zhao Zuchang's courtyard that he saw the elderly woman lying in the center of the yard.
The old madam lay there, a pool of coagulated blood beneath her.
Her eyes were wide open, and leaning beside her was a dragon-headed walking cane, also soaked in blood.
Zhao Lingyun walked over, picked up the dragon-headed cane, and gripped it tightly.
"I have already sent a letter to the Commander of the City Defense Camp," Liu Jingxing said, sitting opposite Shen Yanci with a smile on his face.
"The City Defense Camp? You mean the Marquis of Ningyuan you mentioned last time? I heard that his younger brother and his family's Old Ancestor were killed by that tyrant and his Embroidered Uniform Guards." On the desk in front of Shen Yanci sat an emerald-green glazed vase with a long neck. The vase was slender and graceful, its lines smooth and its color like rippling spring water.
A basket filled with freshly picked flowers sat on the side of the desk.
Shen Yanci sorted through them for a moment before picking out a few pure white jasmine flowers and arranging them in the vase.
Liu Jingxing's line of sight was blocked by the jasmine flowers. He frowned and leaned his body to the side. "That is exactly him." Liu Jingxing continued, "This matter is of great benefit to us. Zhao Lingyun doted on his younger brother the most. If he knows it was the tyrant's doing but is powerless to do anything about it, it will be the perfect opportunity for us to propose a collaboration."
Shen Yanci's hand, which was holding a jasmine flower, paused. He lowered his eyes to look at Liu Jingxing sitting across from him. "And what if we fail again, sir?"
Liu Jingxing remained silent for a moment before his eyes revealed an undeniable certainty. "How could that tyrant be so lucky every time? You, Master, are the true Son of Heaven, the one chosen by the Heavenly Dao." Liu Jingxing's burning gaze landed on Shen Yanci.
Liu Jingxing knew how to divine the future.
The first time Shen Yanci met him, he had a shaved head and wore a monk's robe, sitting in a temple chanting sutras.
On that day, Shen Yanci had gone to offer incense.
But Liu Jingxing suddenly stopped him before he could leave, saying he wanted to be his strategist.
Due to his special identity, Shen Yanci politely declined on the spot.
But Liu Jingxing grabbed his wrist, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Benefactor, is it not the imperial dragon robe that you prayed to the Buddha for today?"
Shen Yanci's heart was deeply shaken. He suppressed his trembling body and met the monk's gaze.
The monk smiled and released Shen Yanci's hand. "I know some divination arts. I have been waiting, waiting for someone who can help me make a name for myself in this world. And now, this person has appeared. I will not choose wrong, Young Master. You are the Son of Heaven that I have divined."
Shen Yanci concealed his shock.
He knew there were many capable people in the world, and there was no shortage of talents with world-shaking abilities to govern the state and save the times.
"I shall follow you today, Young Master. My original name is Liu Jingxing."
Liu Jingxing was indeed a rare talent. It was he who had pushed Shen Yanci step by step to where he was today.
However, starting last year, the always-infallible Liu Jingxing began to experience failures. It was as if something had disrupted the grand chessboard of the world that he had meticulously calculated.
Regarding this, Liu Jingxing only silently repeated one phrase: "Something has ruined the Master's destiny chart."
Yet, no matter how Liu Jingxing deduced and calculated, he could not figure out what that thing was.
"There is nothing within the Heavenly Dao that I cannot find... Could it be that in this world, there is something outside the Heavenly Dao?"
And even up until now, they still had not found that thing.
After the mystical and muttering Liu Jingxing left, Shen Yanci took the vase and headed to the Temple of the Medicine King.
His "friend" had not come for several days again.
Shen Yanci placed the jasmine flowers he brought today on the table, noting that the written message he had left behind remained unanswered.
A faint sense of agitation stirred within him.
Suddenly, he felt an intense craving to know who this person really was.
But he suppressed the urge.
Once he found out their identity, he would no longer be able to keep revealing himself.
-
Approaching the end of September, the temperature still showed no signs of dropping.
Su Zhenzhen lay on the rocking chair, fanning herself with one hand while using the other to push away the little white cat squatting on her.
So hot.
The little white cat refused to leave. Even on such a hot day, it insisted on resting on her, covering her chest like a natural pure-wool blanket, making her unbearably hot.
Su Zhenzhen reached out and pinched the little white cat's ears.
It twitched its ears, attempting to dodge Su Zhenzhen's harassment.
Su Zhenzhen suddenly realized something.
Because the little white cat was very white, Su Zhenzhen had always called it Little White, or simply little cat. She had not yet given Little White a formal name.
She had heard that in ancient times, there was a series of formal procedures for "hiring" a cat.
"Hiring a cat?" Lu Hexu lay on the rocking chair next to hers, playing with a small silver dagger in his hand. The dagger was sharp, flipping up and down in the young man's hand, reflecting a cold silver gleam. "I don't know, I'll go back and ask."
After speaking, the young man casually stabbed the dagger into the armrest of the rocking chair, then waved at her. "Come here."
If it were in the past, Su Zhenzhen would only worry that this dagger might hurt her beautiful young man.
Now, she was only afraid that the beautiful young man would stab the dagger into her.
Su Zhenzhen's gaze involuntarily stared at the silver dagger for a moment, then she blinked with slight hesitation. "Little White refuses to leave."
As soon as Su Zhenzhen finished speaking, Little White jumped off her.
Su Zhenzhen: ...There's no excuse now, stupid brain, think fast!
She turned her head to look at Mu Dan.
The young man lay there, slowly rocking the chair, his face looking pure and harmless.
"There's still medicine brewing in my small kitchen!"
Su Zhenzhen stood up abruptly, her calves trembling, almost falling over.
Watching the woman's almost fleeing back, Lu Hexu's eyes darkened.
The force of his knuckles tapping on the armrest of the rocking chair slightly increased, and the speed grew faster and faster.
Then he suddenly stood up, picked up a glazed lantern, and left the courtyard.
-
Lu Hexu returned to the Qingliang Hall. Wei Heng was waiting at the entrance.
Piled up like a mountain on the imperial desk were memorials complaining about the Brocade Guards' reckless crusades and unauthorized use of severe punishments.
There were also complaints against "Mu Dan", Wei Heng's godson.
Lu Hexu raised his hand, opened one, narrowed his eyes, and threw it away.
Then he opened another and threw it away again.
He raised his eyes coldly. "Aside from this matter, do these people have nothing else to talk about?"
Wei Heng stood there with his head bowed. "The Marquis of Ningyuan commands the patrol camp. They are also considering Your Majesty's interests."
Lu Hexu cast a sidelong glance at Wei Heng and impatiently tapped the desk. "Is that what you think too?"
Wei Heng maintained his bowed posture. "This servant has always heard that the Ningyuan Marquis Manor is notorious for its bad reputation."
What Wei Heng was thinking about was how to deal with the aftermath.
Finding evidence of Zhao Zuchang's crimes was easy, and convicting him was not difficult. The difficult part was the Marquis of Ningyuan, who held the patrol camp.
His own younger brother and the family patriarch were slaughtered in the manor, yet he had kept silent until now. What exactly was he waiting for?
"This servant has already ordered Han Shuo to investigate the Marquis of Ningyuan's accounts."
Wei Heng remembered that this Marquis of Ningyuan was extremely difficult to deal with. Han Shuo had investigated for so long without catching any of his vulnerabilities. He didn't know if they could find any clues this time; at the very least, finding an excuse to throw the man into the Imperial Prison would be good.
"Mm." Lu Hexu responded faintly, not caring about this. "Wei Heng, have you ever kept a cat?"
"Ah?" Wei Heng froze for a moment, then quickly shook his head. "This servant has never kept one."
"Then do you know what needs to be done to hire a cat?"
Wei Heng thought about it and thought of Han Shuo. "Lord Han keeps a cat."
Wei Heng remembered it was a raccoon cat covered in dark brown stripes, with an even and robust physique, long and powerful limbs, bright copper eyes, a round head, and a moist pink nose. It often went up to the roof to flip tiles and catch birds, and came down to dig holes and poop.
"Does Your Majesty... want to keep a cat?"
"I do not keep such troublesome things."
-
The next night, Su Zhenzhen leaned over the desk, writing a cat adoption deed according to the young man's instructions.
Lu Hexu stood beside Su Zhenzhen, his arms crossed over his chest, and said, "Write the appearance, the adoption date, the master's promises, and the expectations for the cat."
Su Zhenzhen gripped the writing brush and wrote: White fur, black eyes.
She thought for a moment, "I don't remember the adoption date."
"August 5th."
"Oh."
Su Zhenzhen wrote down August 5th.
"What else?" Su Zhenzhen felt a little embarrassed about her goldfish memory.
"...Expectations."
"Expectations for good health and a long life of a hundred years."
Lu Hexu leaned in slightly, his tied-up ponytail sliding over his shoulder, as he looked at her crooked handwriting.
Probably realizing that her handwriting was not very pretty, Su Zhenzhen reached out and covered the cat adoption deed.
Lu Hexu looked down at her. "Expectations are usually written as: diligently catch mice, do not harm livestock, do not steal food, and guard the house."
"It's just a little cat, there's no need for it to shoulder so many expectations." Pausing for a moment, Su Zhenzhen added, "The same goes for people."
Finally, a cat needed to be drawn on the adoption deed. Su Zhenzhen handed the writing brush to Mu Dan.
"You draw it."
She didn't want to admit at all that his painting skills were better than hers.
Lu Hexu took the brush. Su Zhenzhen subconsciously tried to stand up, but she didn't expect the young man to embrace her directly from behind.
Ever since that day at the water corridor, she and Mu Dan hadn't had such intimate contact for a long time.
Su Zhenzhen's body subconsciously tensed up, and she could clearly feel herself stiffening.
The young man didn't seem to notice her stiffness.
His arms dropped from her shoulders, his wide sleeves falling like feathers, draping down from her shoulders all the way to the back of her hands.
The young man's cheek pressed against the side of her face. One hand supported himself on the desk, while the other wielded the brush. With just a few strokes, he drew a lifelike picture of the little white cat right on the paper, capturing it in a posture with its bottom raised, ready to catch a bird.
"So, so cute."
Su Zhenzhen stammered out her praise for Mu Dan's painting skills, while her gaze involuntarily and quietly shifted to the side.
[He's so close.]
[His eyelashes are so long.]
[How is his skin as smooth as a peeled egg?]
[No matter how you look at him, he doesn't seem like a violent, beautiful youth.]
[So pretty, so scary, so pretty, so scary, so pretty...]
"You're trembling violently," the young man's cold voice came from beside her ear.
It wasn't like she wanted to, she just couldn't control it.
"Maybe the weather is too cold..." As Su Zhenzhen spoke, she quietly shifted her body, sliding down from the chair, only to be grabbed by the young man, lifted up, and placed onto the desk.
"Um..."
Su Zhenzhen sat on the desktop with her legs dangling in the air. She leaned back, supporting her body with one hand, while her other wrist was grasped by him.
Lu Hexu felt very irritable regarding the fact that the woman was suddenly afraid of him and refused to be close to him.
He had never been one to care about others' feelings.
Lu Hexu tilted his head, placed the woman's fingers on his eyelashes, and then slowly guided them down to his lips.
He said, "You can touch."
As he spoke, Su Zhenzhen's fingertips were taken into his lips and lightly bitten.
There was a tiny red rouge-like mole dotting her fair, smooth skin, which received his special attention.
Su Zhenzhen swallowed hard.
Her fingertips trembled; she was afraid, yet she could not resist touching him.
Her fingertips moved up from the young man's lips, landed on the tip of his straight nose, and then continued to trace his eyes, his forehead... and his hair.
The young man suddenly frowned, though it was barely noticeable.
Su Zhenzhen curled her fingertips slightly, an inappropriate thought flashing through her mind.
[I really want to...]
After writing the cat adoption deed, it was time to prepare to welcome the cat into the house.
A cloth bag or a wooden bucket could be used as a small bridal sedan chair, placing one's own chopsticks inside. When encountering a puddle, it must be filled with stones to cross, preventing the cat from turning back, and then the chopsticks are inserted where Little White goes to the toilet.
Finally, the cat is taken to worship the Kitchen God and recognize the household gods.
"Little White, Little White, Little White, from now on you will be called..."
Called what? Su Zhenzhen squatted in front of the stove holding the kitten, spacing out.
"Sushan." A voice suddenly popped up from behind.
Huh?
The young man leaned lazily against the doorframe, holding Su Zhenzhen's thin green beauty fan to block his face. He looked listless, like an ice cube melting in the sun, with only a hint of his pitch-black pupils showing from behind the thin fan. "I want to eat Sushan."
When Su Zhenzhen came out of the small kitchen carrying the prepared Sushan, she saw Mu Dan, who, disliking the heat, was lying once again in the narrow clear spring in the courtyard.
This clear spring was diverted from a nearby spring eye. Although the pool was not large, the depths inside varied, made into a stepped pool that gradually descended.
It was shallower on the outside and deeper on the inside.
The young man leaned back in the outer ring, his arms spread out and resting on the railing of the small pool. Beside him squatted Sushan, wagging its little tail.
Because it was hot, he had rolled up his pant legs.
The young man was under twenty and naturally fit the beautiful youth archetype. His calves were straight and long, his skin fair and smooth. To the naked eye, there was absolutely no excess fat; they were exceptionally well-proportioned.
Su Zhenzhen felt that these legs were simply too perfect for wearing tailored shorts, calf-length socks, and black leather shoes.
Who could resist such a seductive three-piece set on a beautiful young man!
Su Zhenzhen turned her head away, walked over carrying the Sushan dessert, and placed it on the edge of the pool. With one hand, she stopped the kitten Sushan from sneaking a bite of the Sushan, and with the other, she touched her own nose.
Why did it feel a bit hot?
Lu Hexu narrowed his eyes at her, his wet fingertips pinching the corner of her lips. "What are you looking at?"
Su Zhenzhen flatly denied it. "Nothing."
[His legs look really good.]
Please always believe in the beauty of cats.
Zhenzhen: Eating in fear.
