Chapter 52: Provocation
The cold, dark, viscous substance was like falling into a boundless deep sea. There was not a single reef to save himself. He could only fall numbly, watching as the dark sea passed over his waist and drowned his breath. It was as if he were about to die of a strong sense of suffocation in the next second.
The darkness had completely cut off time, and it had lost its meaning of flowing. He was hovering on the edge of life and death, unable to touch the relief of death, nor could he find the meaning of life.
He was sitting in the familiar darkness, and the coldness was choking his throat. His limbs were trembling with a physiological tremor, and hunger was driving him almost mad. His hands and feet were bound by chains, and his white shirt was tattered and hanging on his body, maintaining the last bit of decency.
He looked up at the dark ceiling, almost motionless. Perhaps even he himself did not know whether he was already dead or alive.
He shrunk into a corner, and the long and thin wound accidentally scraped against the cold and hard wall. The fiery pain, with an unbearable itch, and after the numbness, there was another wave of pain. After a rapid panting, the dark room fell into a dead silence where the flow of time could not be distinguished, and the noise of the exhaust fan was particularly harsh.
He hated his own cowardice and timidity. But the moment the long whip swept across his back, his carefully constructed reason had collapsed. It was like a turbulent sea in a storm. He was just a small wooden boat. If the wind and rain were a little stronger, he would only be overturned and helplessly sink into the deep sea.
He had never experienced such pain in his life. The long whip could instantly tear open the intact skin and flesh. Then, thousands of ants would bite the wound, sucking the blood, and a wave of unbearable but unscratched pain and itch would arise.
The most precious self-esteem of a person seemed so cheap and meaningless at this moment. He had knelt down and begged for mercy again and again, just to make the arc of the whip a little lighter. He was so humble that he felt disgusted.
His lies had been almost ruthlessly exposed by Gu Zhi. The obedience and submission he had carefully pretended in front of her were just a sham. This seemed to have completely angered Gu Zhi, in exchange for this painful and endless torment.
But what made him want to die was not the wave after wave of pain, but the fact that he could not see any hope no matter what.
He couldn’t get out… it was impossible. He would have to stay in this dark and sunless basement for the rest of his life. The people he cared about, cared for, and loved… were all brutally and cruelly torn away.
For the rest of his life… he could only spend it with a complete madwoman. His spirit would be drowned in the cage that was cast by the other party’s possessiveness, and his body would have to continue to suffer.
He tried every method he could to provoke Gu Zhi, hoping for a quick death. But most of the time, she was calm and rational. Other times, she was willful and reckless. Yet what Su Yu feared most was when she went truly insane—because that torment was worse than death itself. She had countless ways to break him, to force him into submission.
He had used vulgar words to insult Gu Zhi, trying to provoke the other party’s anger, but he had not received a single cold glance. It was completely useless.
He had gathered his strength and had used his head to hit her. He had almost knocked her over. That was almost the most angry the woman had ever been. Her dark and curled hair was messy and dirty on the ground. After she had stood up, she had choked his neck and had stared at him fiercely. Her long, narrow eyes were filled with anger, but they were also mixed with some indescribable emotions, like… sadness.
But at that time, he was almost choked to the point of his eyes turning white. His slender neck was as if it would be broken alive. The pain of suffocation was even more desperate and powerless than being whipped. He did not make a sound, and he even hoped that the force that was holding his neck would be stronger. It would be best if he could just die in a coma like this.
In the end, Gu Zhi had let go. She had turned her head and had left the basement with a messy and dirty body. From that day on, he had been completely cut off from food. He was so hungry that he was skin and bones, and he had no strength to resist.
His stomach was cramping with a pain that went straight to his heart. The sour gastric juice was churning. The torment of hunger was almost constant. Without the barrier of food, his stomach walls could only rub against each other. He pretended to be indifferent in front of Gu Zhi, but he was so hungry that he was about to go crazy. He didn’t want any dignity or reason anymore. He wanted to beg for mercy, to ask the other party to let him go, to give him a little something to eat, anything would be fine.
To kill him… would be even better.
It’s almost here… Su Yu thought to himself. The woman seemed to be watching him all the time, and she would always come down not long after he woke up.
Just as his thoughts were moving, the sound of the door hinge turning suddenly sounded. It was particularly harsh in the dead silence of the darkness. He subconsciously shrunk into a corner again, but the chain pulled at his joints, and it was so painful that it felt as if it would break and be pulled off along with his flesh and blood.
He caught his breath from the pain, and the fair feet in high heels were already in his field of vision. The porcelain-white and slender calves were wrapped in thin and see-through black stockings, and the alluring toes were exposed. The bright red high heels were on the red and black bloodstains on the ground, with an indescribable lewd and bloody feel.
Su Yu twitched his nose. In the thick neroli fragrance that was slowly spreading in the basement, he smelled a faint smell of porridge. It was the vegetable porridge that Gu Zhi would often cook for him. Saliva was madly secreted between his dry and chapped lips and teeth. The craving for food, which was rolling in his Adam’s apple, forced him to lick his chapped and peeling lips, and a mouthful of a bloody smell spread out.
“Are you hungry?”
Gu Zhi slowly squatted down in front of Su Yu. She looked at Su Yu and smiled, but the corners of her lips were flat and cold. Her long, narrow pupils were so dark brown that they were almost black. She curled her lips, and the skin on her face showed a gentle smile. She asked him with concern, “Do you want some porridge?”
Su Yu swallowed a few mouthfuls of sticky saliva. He looked at Gu Zhi slowly lifting the lid of the porridge bowl. The thick and fragrant aroma of the porridge immediately spread out, and a few strands of it lingered at the tip of his nose, as if it would take away his soul. The walls of his stomach were moving more and more, and a wave of cramping pain that made him frown welled up. He was so craving the food in front of him that he was about to collapse.
He craned his neck forward and stuck out his somewhat pale tongue. The chain behind him rattled, but he still desperately crawled forward.
Just a few millimeters away…
“Do you want to eat?” Gu Zhi looked at him silently and repeated the question from before. But the hand that was holding the bowl was faintly showing a tendency to pull back.
Su Yu’s heart was suddenly anxious. He quickly nodded and subconsciously followed his instinctive hunger and said hoarsely, “I want to…”
“But if you hold on for a little longer, you might really die. Isn’t this the result that Xiao Chan has always wanted? Do you really still want to drink it?”
Su Yu had no heart to answer. His eyes were only filled with that sweet and thick porridge. He was kicking the chain on his feet, and regardless of the pain in his body, he was desperately getting closer. The moment his tongue touched the vegetable porridge, the faint salty taste had not yet spread on his taste buds, and the bowl of porridge was taken away by a long and powerful hand. He had pounced on nothing and was kneeling on the ground in a pathetic state.
“Xiao Chan is in such a hurry. I haven’t finished my words yet.”
Gu Zhi held the porridge at a distance that Su Yu could not reach because of the iron chain. She frowned and pretended to be hesitant, but the corners of her lips were curved into a light and happy smile.
“I’ve been cooking this bowl of porridge for a long time. But last time, Xiao Chan was so naughty and knocked me over. It made me sad for a long time. I’m still not over it. Xiao Chan… can you make me happy? If I’m not sad anymore… I’ll give you some porridge.”
Gu Zhi held Su Yu’s cheeks, and in his wide-eyed glare, she smiled more and more wantonly. Her bright red fingertips, which were as translucent as crystal, brushed over the dark and black corners of his eyes. She was full of pity, but her tone was as if she were acting spoiled. “You’re so hungry and thin. Can you call me master? You can also call me sister like before. Just make me happy. I’ll feed you some porridge. I’m so bored upstairs alone.”
Su Yu stared at the smile on Gu Zhi’s lips and suddenly saw through the woman’s vicious teasing. Her words of love were just a vicious means. He gritted his teeth and lay on the ground, panting.
“You’re a madwoman. Take your porridge and get lost…”
“Xiao Chan… why are you always like this? You’re not being good again. Haven’t you learned these past few days?”
Gu Zhi looked at Su Yu’s hysteria, and he was shouting at her to kill him. But how could she do it? After she had finished her family matters, she had suddenly become idle. She wanted to be with Su Yu all the time. She would stay upstairs and watch the boy’s painful struggle in the camera. Her heart was as if a piece had been caved in, and it was a raw pain.
It would be fine if he were a little more obedient. Please be a little more obedient.
She was a little sad and smoothed the boy’s messy black hair at his forehead. She hid the pain in the depths of her eyes and then looked up and smiled at him, saying the words that made Su Yu even more terrified. “It’s okay. There’s still a long time. I’ll teach you well.”
Su Yu suddenly raised his head. He stared at the woman for a while, at that hypocritical but beautiful skin. He sneered, and regardless of the wound at the corners of his lips, bright red blood seeped out, and a few drops flowed down his jaw, dyeing his handsome and elegant face ugly and creepy.
He suddenly remembered the time when he had been locked up in the old warehouse. The hooligans had said that the person who had hired them was from the Gu family. They had also chatted and said that the Gu family would probably be in the hands of a madwoman in the future.
Su Yu was still in a daze at that time, but at this moment, he seemed to have suddenly understood. A madwoman… a madwoman from the Gu family. No wonder Gu Chuan had stopped her from seeing Gu Zhi back then. It turned out that that madwoman… was Gu Zhi.
He swallowed and spat a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood at the woman. He said with a hoarse and harsh, sarcastic laugh, “Gu Zhi, you’re a psycho from a mental hospital. No wonder they’re all afraid of you. It must be very pitiful to live alone. You’re a complete madwoman… you deserve it.”
The mouthful of blood-red liquid landed squarely on Gu Zhi’s carefully chosen pure white lace gown. A sticky patch of red stained the pleated skirt embroidered with lace patterns. It seeped into the delicate weave and dripped down, defiling the holy white.
The expected storm of anger did not fall on him. Su Yu moved away the arm that was protecting his head and opened his eyes to see the woman looking down at the dazzling red on the white skirt. Her bright red, full lips were tightly pursed, and her long and curled eyelashes were trembling slightly, hiding the emotions in her eyes.
After a while, Gu Zhi finally raised her head. She curled her deep black and beautiful, long and narrow eyes, and a gentle smile was in them, but it was inexplicably heart-pounding.
“Oh, the dress I chose for so long is dirty now. I’ll go up and change. I’ll… be down later.”
She slowly stood up and looked down at Su Yu’s face, which was full of hatred. She looked at him for a long, long time, as if she wanted to confirm something. It was not until Su Yu had lost his strength and had crawled back to the ground that she patted her dress and said with a gentle smile.
“Xiao Chan is so disobedient. I’m really a little… angry.”
Su Yu raised half of his face. In his blurry vision, the woman’s tall and slender back was slowly moving away. He lay on the ground in despair, his lips parted and he was mumbling.
“Kill me…”
