[Failed.]
The waistband had already been pulled open. Lu Hexu pressed down on the back of Su Zhenzhen's neck with one hand and leaned over, giving her one last chance. "Where is it?"
[On the arm.]
"There really is nothing." Su Zhenzhen lifted her face, her eyes watery, striking in their black and white contrast, clear and bright.
She looked at Lu Hexu with pitiful grievance.
The next moment, she felt the tension at her waist loosen as the pink sash was pulled out and tossed onto the couch.
"Wait, wait, I'm really not lying to you..."
Su Zhenzhen was flipped over.
She lay there, her clothes spread out around her like flower petals.
The doors and windows of the room were tightly shut, leaving only the two standing glazed lamps emitting a warm glow. The light fell upon Su Zhenzhen, highlighting her flawless, jade-like soft skin.
Su Zhenzhen swallowed nervously and reached out to cover herself.
Lu Hexu expressionlessly grasped her wrists, pulling them above her head, his gaze sweeping over her body.
Su Zhenzhen turned her head slightly, trying to curl up her body.
Lu Hexu reached out his other hand, pressing down on her knees.
Su Zhenzhen's breathing quickened, a flush spreading up and down from her neck.
Her face was red, her body even redder.
"Alright, you've seen it. There really isn't anything," Su Zhenzhen murmured.
Lu Hexu's gaze met hers.
The next moment, he climbed onto the couch, pressing her down, and began to search.
The man's fingertips trailed across her skin.
Su Zhenzhen felt very ticklish.
This ticklishness wasn't just a natural physical reaction to being touched; it was a deeper itch seeping out from within her body.
Su Zhenzhen couldn't help but arch her body, but due to the man's restraint, she had no way to escape.
"Enough..."
"There really is nothing."
Su Zhenzhen's body flushed a beautiful shade of pink.
She felt her knees being parted.
Lu Hexu positioned himself between them. His fingertips moved downward, gliding along Su Zhenzhen's slender spine.
Su Zhenzhen couldn't help but tremble.
She tried to crawl forward, only to be grabbed by the waist and pulled back by Lu Hexu.
"Be good."
"Don't do this..." Su Zhenzhen had nowhere to hide, nowhere to escape.
She had no choice but to bury her face in the crook of her arm.
She whispered softly, then realized Lu Hexu was already pressing on her arm.
His fingertips slid up her forearm, stopping at the crook of her arm, and pressed down.
There were tiny, raised marks there, invisible to the naked eye.
Lu Hexu rubbed them carefully. "A mouse."
Su Zhenzhen: ...
[It's a cat! A cat!]
[Who would tattoo a mouse on their body!]
Lu Hexu's fingertips paused on her skin, then continued downward.
Her slender back was once again pressed by two fingertips, rubbing gently.
"There's no more, really no more..." Tears welled up in Su Zhenzhen's eyes. She felt something was wrong with her body.
That feeling of being held up and slowly ignited made her want to flee.
Lu Hexu bypassed the woman's waist, frowned, and continued downward.
Su Zhenzhen's face grew even redder, and her body suddenly trembled.
"Not here either?"
"No, there really isn't any more..." Su Zhenzhen turned her head. After speaking like a frightened quail, she buried her face in her arms.
Lu Hexu lifted her lower leg and grasped her slender ankle.
She lied to him.
There was one on her calf too.
What was it?
Su Zhenzhen lifted her foot, wanting to kick.
But the man was too strong; she couldn't move at all.
Lu Hexu's hand seemed to lightly circle Su Zhenzhen's ankle, but in reality, it was like an iron vise, rendering her immobile.
He touched it, carefully discerning the shape, and slowly read it aloud.
"Lu. He. Xu."
Lu Hexu rubbed over each character, confirming them with his fingertips.
Su Zhenzhen's face flushed an explosive red.
She didn't know why she had inexplicably left Lu Hexu's name on her calf.
At the time, she just wanted to find another convenient spot to continue her experiments.
Knowing her drawing skills were poor, she switched to writing words.
Although her handwriting wasn't pretty, it wasn't unreadable either.
But now, Su Zhenzhen suddenly felt that being so ugly it was unreadable might not have been a bad thing.
The man's movements paused, and he released her.
Su Zhenzhen immediately curled up her body, pulling Lu Hexu's robe to cover herself.
Hiding in the man's robe, she seemed to have forgotten that the person in front of her was the main culprit for her current exposed state.
Lu Hexu sat on the edge of the couch, looking down slightly at Su Zhenzhen, who was pressed against him.
He reached out, his fingertips brushing across the woman's forehead, which was covered in a thin layer of sweat.
"Don't do this, Zhenzhen."
Su Zhenzhen's heart suddenly softened.
She gripped Lu Hexu's robe and buried her face in it.
The man's scent was everywhere, a faint smell of locust soap mixed with the crisp scent of clear spring water and ice.
"It doesn't hurt," Su Zhenzhen's muffled voice came from beneath the robe.
Lu Hexu's voice was hoarse. "I don't want you to do this."
"I just... want to cure you." Su Zhenzhen tightened her grip on the robe. Her voice was very soft but carried a firm tenderness. "Lu Hexu, I will definitely cure you."
After Su Zhenzhen finished speaking from hiding within the man's robe, she felt the room instantly fall silent.
She reached out, secretly pulling open a crack to reveal her eyes, only to directly meet Lu Hexu's downward gaze.
He looked at her, his eyes hiding emotions that Su Zhenzhen couldn't understand.
Lu Hexu bent down, picked her clothes up from the floor, and put them on her one by one.
Su Zhenzhen sat on the couch, fixing her long hair herself.
Her hair bun was messy, so she let it all down.
Lu Hexu reached out to help her arrange it.
With lowered eyes, he helped her weave a simple braid.
The thick, dark, and shiny braid hung over her shoulder. Su Zhenzhen looked down and tied her waistband, still feeling the lingering effects of her aroused body not having completely dissipated.
Su Zhenzhen took a deep breath to calm her emotions. "Alright, let me see."
She turned sideways on the couch to look at the back of Lu Hexu's neck.
The potion had been absorbed, leaving the area smooth and pale.
"It only appears when my body is very hot," Lu Hexu said, then raised his hand to pull open a corner of the window.
The summer sun was blazing.
Su Zhenzhen subconsciously closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, she saw Lu Hexu leaning over the cooling couch with his head down. A patch of sunlight shone through the gap in the window.
The spot of light fell on the man's neck.
Lu Hexu's body trembled slightly. His long hair fell, concealing the expression on his face.
Su Zhenzhen reached out and grasped Lu Hexu's forearm resting on the couch.
She came from behind and hugged him.
The man's stiff body gradually relaxed until the cursed runes on his neck slowly appeared under the sunlight.
[Failed.]
The light in Su Zhenzhen's eyes slowly faded.
She had already followed Lu Mingqian's instructions, having Wei Heng send people everywhere to collect the potions used to draw talismans in temples.
And then used these potions to carve words onto her own body.
"It's okay, I still have several kinds here that I haven't tried yet."
For the past few days, Su Zhenzhen had been in the room studying potions.
The little cat and the words on her body had already been erased by the potions she developed herself, leaving only faint scars that could only be felt by rubbing carefully.
These scars would also smooth out with the passage of time, eventually becoming as flawless as before.
"Let's try this one."
Su Zhenzhen applied three different potions onto Lu Hexu's neck one after another.
The man had taken off his outer robe, wearing only his inner garments, and continued to lie prone on the cooling couch.
Sunlight streamed in through a torn corner of the window, and Su Zhenzhen stared intently.
Under the sunlight, the cursed marks on the man's neck remained unchanged, faintly imprinted on his cold, almost transparently pale skin without fading in the slightest.
"It's okay, wait for me, I'll go try other potions."
[Are there any other potions left?]
Su Zhenzhen reached out with trembling fingertips, not forgetting to pull up Lu Hexu's collar before pressing the torn corner of the window back into place.
She turned and got off the couch, but after taking three steps, her wrist was grabbed.
"Zhenzhen."
Su Zhenzhen did not look back; she merely reached out to tug at Lu Hexu's sleeve, attempting to make him let go.
Lu Hexu did not let go. He stubbornly held her hand. "It doesn't matter..."
"How could it not matter!"
Su Zhenzhen had always been calm and gentle.
Her entire being exuded a gentleness that seeped from her very bones, like a trickling mountain stream carrying the fresh moisture of grass and trees.
Even when she fled with Sushan five years ago, she had shown unexpected calmness along the way.
But now, she could barely control her breaking emotions.
"It's not working, why isn't it working..."
"I can't cure it, I can't cure you..."
Tugging at Lu Hexu's sleeve, Su Zhenzhen's eyes were red. Her voice wasn't a hysterical cry, but rather a more devastating breakdown, carrying an unconcealable tremble as if she had exhausted all her strength.
Lu Hexu took a step forward and pulled her tightly into his arms.
He said, "It's okay."
[How could it be okay.]
Su Zhenzhen buried her face in Lu Hexu's chest. Her fingertips trembled violently as she held onto his sleeve, her fingers gripping the fabric so tightly she nearly crushed it into deep creases.
The woman's eyes were as red as water-soaked cherries. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, but she used all her strength to hold them back, leaving her wet eyelashes stuck together and glistening with moisture.
"I will go back and try again, it will definitely work..."
Su Zhenzhen pushed Lu Hexu away, got up, and left the room.
She returned to the side room she temporarily used to concoct potions.
Su Zhenzhen rolled up her sleeve, picked up a silver needle, dipped it in the potion, and prepared to tattoo herself.
The next moment, the door to the side room was opened.
Wearing only his inner garment, Lu Hexu had chased after her into the sunlight.
Su Zhenzhen looked up, clutching the silver needle in her hand, and met his gaze.
Lu Hexu walked over, took the silver needle from her hand, and placed it on the table.
"Zhenzhen, don't do this."
He reached out, his fingertips brushing across Su Zhenzhen's soft brows and eyes.
The tears Su Zhenzhen had been holding back instantly fell.
She stood there in a daze, letting her tears wet Lu Hexu's hand and her own face.
With a gentle expression, Lu Hexu wiped the tears from her face, but the more he wiped, the more they flowed; they simply could not be wiped away.
He pinched his cuff and used the fabric to wipe them for her.
"Why did you come over, the sun is so fierce..." Su Zhenzhen's voice choked with sobs, her eyes swollen with tears as she looked at Lu Hexu.
"I was worried about you," he said.
Su Zhenzhen shook her head. "I'm fine."
She lowered her head, took a step back, and reached up to wipe her own tears.
Lu Hexu stepped forward and pulled her into his embrace.
"Zhenzhen, it doesn't hurt anymore."
Hearing this, Su Zhenzhen cried even harder.
She wrapped her arms around Lu Hexu's waist, her tears breaking through like a burst dam.
Su Zhenzhen had always been very confident in her medical skills.
But now, she could not cure Lu Hexu.
"What should I do, Lu Hexu, what should I do? I can't cure you..."
Su Zhenzhen buried herself in Lu Hexu's chest, crying uncontrollably.
She cried so loudly, like a child who couldn't get the toy they wanted, soaking the man's lapels with her tears.
"It's alright, Zhenzhen, shh."
Lu Hexu leaned down and cupped her face in his hands. He lowered his head and licked her wet cheeks, tasting the salty dampness.
Su Zhenzhen's eyes were red and swollen, her vision blurred by tears so she could barely see Lu Hexu's face.
Only his intermittent kisses falling on her cheeks soothed her anxious heart.
He licked her red, swollen eyes, kissing them tenderly.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Zhenzhen's emotions finally settled. Gripping his belt, her voice was very soft with a hint of hoarseness, "I want to see."
The hands Lu Hexu used to cup her face paused.
Su Zhenzhen looked up at him. "The sun is very strong outside. I want to see how your cursed marks are doing."
This time, it was Lu Hexu's turn to hesitate.
He slightly turned his head, his beautiful lips pressed tightly together.
"Don't look, Zhenzhen..."
"I want to see."
"Just one look."
"I'm worried about you."
No one could escape Su Zhenzhen's eyes.
Especially not Lu Hexu.
The doors and windows in the side room were not sealed. Although there was ice in the room, the temperature was much higher than in the room Lu Hexu had stayed in previously.
Su Zhenzhen seemed to hear a very low sigh from the man.
His hands fell from her face, and then he turned around and took off his clothes.
The man's long hair fell to his waist, densely tangling with the cursed marks on his back.
Su Zhenzhen stepped forward, lifted his hair for him, and draped it over his front.
The man's broad back and beautifully contoured neck were completely exposed.
As the ice melted, the temperature in the room slowly rose, and the black cursed marks grew darker and more visible, like phantoms.
Su Zhenzhen raised her hand. Her fingertips slowly traced the bizarre cursed marks, gliding down from the back of his neck, along his spine, all the way to his waistline.
Lu Hexu let out a low gasp. He seemed to be in some pain, but was trying his best to endure it.
"Don't look, Zhenzhen..."
Su Zhenzhen stood on her tiptoes, her lips falling onto his back, kissing him tenderly.
Lu Hexu's body stiffened. He subconsciously tried to turn around, but Su Zhenzhen wrapped her arms around him from behind.
Su Zhenzhen's herbs were piled up everywhere in the side room.
She pushed Lu Hexu toward the couch.
The herbs on the couch were swept onto the floor.
Lu Hexu lay prone there. Turning his head slightly, he saw Su Zhenzhen sitting on him, leaning down to continue kissing the cursed marks on his spine.
The man's body instantly tensed.
Su Zhenzhen kissed down to his waist, then followed the cursed marks along his spine back up, kissing his neck.
The moist touch of the woman's lips extinguished that needle-like, scorching heat.
Lu Hexu's emotions were soothed, and he gradually settled down.
Su Zhenzhen reached out and intertwined her fingers with Lu Hexu's.
She pressed her body against his, her lips resting gently on the back of his neck. "I heard that some curses are carved onto the body to absorb one's sins. These curses will go to the eighteenth level of hell on their own, leaving a pure body behind in this world."
Lu Hexu's brows and eyes trembled slightly.
He had never thought there could be such an explanation.
"My mother was a firm believer in these things, and she used to tell me a little about them."
Unfortunately, Su Zhenzhen had never really believed in such things.
Now, she suddenly understood.
She understood why some people believed in them.
It was because they needed it too much in their hearts.
As a formless spiritual medicine, faith could equally save a person.
This is why some doctors would prescribe vitamins or empty capsules to patients, telling them it was a cure, and the patients would actually get better after taking them.
"I want to see all of it." Su Zhenzhen rose from Lu Hexu, her fingertips brushing over the incantations on the man's back.
Lu Hexu lowered his eyes and stood up from the couch.
Stepping barefoot onto the floor, with his back to Su Zhenzhen, he stripped off all his clothes.
The temperature in the room continued to rise, and the cursed markings on the man's body were fully revealed.
From his neck to his back, then down to his waist, buttocks, thighs, calves, ankles, disappearing right at his heels.
Half of Lu Hexu's body was entwined with these incantations. He stood there quietly, his gaze meeting Su Zhenzhen's.
The woman sat on the couch, staring blankly. "When did this happen?"
"I don't remember. Maybe when I was thirteen, or perhaps fourteen."
In ancient times, there was no anesthesia.
Even if there were, Su Zhenzhen believed that whoever tattooed these markings onto Lu Hexu would never have used it on him.
In ancient times, due to backward medical conditions, such extensive tattooing could easily cause wounds to swell, fester, and ulcerate. More severely, it could lead to furuncles, sepsis, and eventually death.
If one was lucky enough to escape death, there was still no way to avoid the aftermath of a damaged nervous system.
Ancient people lacked precise knowledge of nerve distribution. The nerves in the neck, in particular, were vulnerable; accidentally severing a tiny nerve or blood vessel with a needle could easily lead to impaired limb mobility.
If pierced even deeper, it could damage the carotid artery, causing massive bleeding and instant death.
For Lu Hexu to say it didn't hurt was definitely a lie.
Such extensive markings would undoubtedly have damaged his nerves.
Nerve recovery is the most difficult of all.
Even if by some extreme stroke of luck no nerves were damaged, and the wounds from the silver needles scabbed over and healed, the subsequent long recovery process would still be a torturous ordeal.
That itchiness wouldn't be a mild surface itch, but rather like thousands of tiny red ants burrowing in through the needle holes, biting at the newly formed flesh bit by bit, an itch so intense it would make one's whole body tense up.
"Lu Hexu, you are not a bad omen," Su Zhenzhen stepped forward and embraced him. "You are my auspicious sign."
"Actually, I think it's very beautiful."
She turned her head and kissed the man's back.
At first glance, these incantations were somewhat terrifying.
But after looking at them for a while, a unique sense of beauty emerged.
The decadent hostility breeding from these markings, paired with Lu Hexu's face, unexpectedly formed an indescribable, ultimate aesthetic.
"You are the best-looking person I have ever seen."
[From head to toe, including these markings.]
-
Lu Hexu put on his inner robe and lay down on the couch in the wing room with Su Zhenzhen.
The room was filled with the scent of herbs. They held each other as fragmented sunlight filtered in through the green gauze window.
The light was fractured by the green gauze, turning into long, thin strips that dissolved like silk across the man's face.
Su Zhenzhen raised her hand, her fingertips following these threads of light to land on Lu Hexu's face.
The man turned his head to look at her, then buried his face in the crook of her neck.
Lu Hexu's nape was exposed in the silken light.
Illuminated by the light, the incantations there appeared a deep black, faintly revealing a hint of navy blue.
Feeling curious, Su Zhenzhen gently rubbed it with the pad of her finger.
The man stretched out his arms and encircled her.
Su Zhenzhen stopped moving, burying her head in Lu Hexu's embrace.
To develop the medicine, she had barely closed her eyes for three days and three nights. Calculating the time, she had probably only slept for eight hours in total.
She was about to drop dead from exhaustion.
Su Zhenzhen closed her eyes and, before long, fell asleep in Lu Hexu's arms.
Feeling the steady breathing of the woman in his arms.
Lu Hexu lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over her still red and swollen eyes, then down to the corners of her eyes, which were soaked in tears and spread open like petals.
Lu Hexu lowered his head, kissed the corners of the woman's eyes, and then held her even tighter.
At noon, Wei Heng knocked on the door carrying a food box.
The door had not been closed tightly and was knocked open to reveal a narrow slit.
Standing at the door, Wei Heng saw the two people sleeping on the couch inside.
Despite the sweltering weather, the two were holding each other tightly. The ice blocks in the room had mostly melted, and a cool breeze blew in from the rear window.
The sunlight pierced through the green gauze window, reflecting onto the two of them and turning into fragmented spots of light.
Wei Heng froze for a moment, then quietly closed the door.
He stood under the eaves, his expression blank for a long time before finally breaking into a smile, and then he left with the food box.
Su Zhenzhen slept very comfortably. By the time she woke up, Lu Hexu was no longer beside her.
She lay on the couch, looked dazed for a moment, and then sat up.
The man was standing by the couch, getting dressed.
His inner robe had been pulled open by Su Zhenzhen at some point, hanging loosely and revealing the lines of his back.
The ice blocks had completely melted, and the temperature in the room was very high. The man stood there, sweat soaking his inner robe, the dark incantations showing through the white fabric.
He turned his head and saw Su Zhenzhen sitting on the couch with a blank expression. He walked over and lowered his head to kiss her forehead.
Then the kiss traveled down from her forehead and captured her lips.
Su Zhenzhen tilted her head back. The dazed look in her eyes had not yet completely faded before Lu Hexu kissed her until she was breathless.
He particularly loved seeing her out of breath. Whenever this happened, he would reach out and press his hand against her neck, feeling the rising and falling motions as she desperately gasped for air.
And Su Zhenzhen, unable to bear it, would reach out and pinch little crescent moon marks onto his neck.
After kissing for a while, Lu Hexu released her.
"Are you hungry?"
For the past three days, not only had Su Zhenzhen not slept well, but she also hadn't eaten properly.
She nodded.
Lu Hexu took her hand and walked outside.
Through the green gauze window, Su Zhenzhen saw that the sun outside had not yet completely set.
She held onto Lu Hexu's hand. "Outside..."
"It's okay."
The man's gaze fell on her face, carrying an almost devout tenderness.
Lu Hexu held Su Zhenzhen's hand and pushed open the door.
The summer sunlight poured in, and both of them instinctively closed their eyes.
Then, they slowly opened them again.
The sunlight spilled down like molten gold. Filtering through the wilted leaves in the courtyard, it sifted into a few fragmented and sweltering spots of light, landing on Lu Hexu's cold, pale skin, and also on the ink-black incantations at the back of his neck.
As the summer breeze gently stirred, the sunlight became more pronounced, and the incantations on the man's nape grew increasingly clear beneath the blazing sun.
The ink-black color collided with his cold, pale skin and the molten gold sunlight.
"Zhenzhen," the man spoke in a deep voice.
"Hmm?" Su Zhenzhen gave a soft response, looking at him with a worried expression.
Lu Hexu's gaze moved upward, looking through the gaps in the leaves toward the horizon, staring straight into the depths of the sunlight.
As if he had never enjoyed the sunlight before, his body let out a comfortable sigh.
"The sunlight is so warm."
Su Zhenzhen's tears unconsciously welled up again.
She tried hard to hold them back, tightly gripping Lu Hexu's hand.
"Mmm, the sunlight is so warm."
-
It wasn't quite time yet; the night market on the streets of Yangzhou hadn't begun.
With the setting sun hanging low on the horizon, Su Zhenzhen walked down the street, holding Lu Hexu's hand.
"Oh my, Doctor Su, it's been a while!"
It was the auntie from next door, a neighbor who loved playing matchmaker.
"You two left so quickly last time, we didn't even get to finish our conversation."
The auntie grabbed Su Zhenzhen's arm, pinning her in place, though her eyes were glued to Lu Hexu.
The man had changed into a dark robe. Half of his long black hair was tied up, while the rest cascaded down his back, reaching his waist.
The loose dark hair concealed the cursed markings on the back of his neck, revealing only the elegant curve of his nape.
When he cast his eyes downward to look at someone, his striking aura was undeniable. He was peerlessly handsome, radiating an effortless, innate nobility.
"This friend of yours..."
"He is my... husband," Su Zhenzhen interrupted, not daring to look back at Lu Hexu's expression.
The smile on the auntie's face vanished for a split second before quickly returning.
"Oh my, you young people just love to joke around. Don't tease your auntie like that next time."
Su Zhenzhen: ...
The auntie marched off in a huff.
Su Zhenzhen stood rooted to the spot, feeling her palm sweating where she held Lu Hexu's hand.
She tried to pull her hand away, but it wouldn't budge.
A firm body pressed up against her back. When Lu Hexu spoke, his lips were so close they almost nibbled on Su Zhenzhen's ear. "Wife, I want a sugar figure."
