Chapter 382 Love and murder

He Danggui remained silent for a while before asking, “Does the wound hurt much? Can you release the acupoints yourself? Just do it if you can and help me release mine. I want to check your wound.”

With a sneer, Duan Xiaolou replied, “Don’t you know why Lu Jiangbei blocked my acupoints? He was afraid that I would hurt you. He thought it was dangerous to leave you and me here if I could move freely. And I admit that he was right. He Danggui, if I could move now, I wouldn’t be sure about what I would do.” He glanced at her and laughed loudly and ambiguously, “What? Do you still want me to release the acupoints? Are you scared, Miss He?”

He Danggui frowned in worry and said in a soft tone, “Duan Xiaolou, I’m worried about your injury. Can you stop being angry for now and just let me check it first? Does it hurt much?” It sounded like she was talking to a willful child who lost his temper.

Duan Xiaolou demanded, “Kiss me now. Kiss me and I’ll help you.” He raised his jaw slightly.

He Danggui didn’t hesitate at all and immediately approached him. Her lips touched the ice mask on his face and then, she kissed his cheek hard. She asked after this, “Release your acupoints and help me so that I can deal with your wound. Master Lu is too careless. If we keep stalling, it may get infected. You said you would always be my friend and do whatever I asked, didn’t you? You just do me the favor, okay?”

“Yes, I’ve said that.” Duan Xiaolou put on an eloquent smile and replied, “But at that time I thought that wasn’t the end and you would still be mine at last. Thus, I said that to my wife but not you, Miss He.” He released the acupoint of his left arm first and then, he turned to that of the right arm and other body parts. He continued, “I always thought that you were born to be callous, or even cold-blooded, and you were not interested in love at all. I thought what I got had been the deepest love you would give to a man.” His right arm could move freely now. Next would be his shoulders and legs. “I never expected that you could be so gentle. For him, you could even sacrifice your life. Huh, you did teach me a good lesson.”

Finishing these words, he regained his freedom but he didn’t intend to keep his words to help He Danggui release her acupoints. Instead, he looked at her like a wolf who was observing a lamb and thinking about where to take the first bite to relish it in the best way.

Staring at his right palm worriedly, He Danggui asked again, “You can vent your anger at me later. Just let me check your wound first, okay? Help me release my acupoints.”

The sound of something’s being ripped was heard suddenly.

Duan Xiaolou extended his right hand and pulled He Danggui’s robe violently three times. The brocade on her chest broke first. Then, her middle clothes made of Hua Su thin silk were torn apart. Finally, the laces of her bellyband broke. Her fair body could be seen indistinctly while it was covered by crepe satin plain that was thinner than rice paper. A cut was caused on her neck. Duan Xiaolou touched it lovingly with his bloody right index finger and sighed regretfully.

“You always like taking care of others’ bodies but you never care about their feelings.” He put one hand around her waist to stop her from running and forced her to lie on the ground. With a smile, he whispered to her, “Take care of my body, then, Miss He.” He loosened his belt with his injured hand and threw his long gown away. On top of her, he refrained her from struggling with his body and continued with a hearty laugh, “Jiangbei has made a brilliant decision. He blocked the acupoints of your arms so you can’t use them to scratch me, but the other parts of your body still can move and it will be as fun as ever.”

He Danggui got livid and shouted at him, “Stop using it! Your right hand! The sinews in it have been broken utterly! You’ll lose it forever if you don’t stop now!”

“I know you always sympathize with the weak, so…” Duan Xiaolou spread his palm in front of her while two more sinews in it were broken and asked, “Will you sympathize with me and let me have you once because my hand will become useless?” He rested his head on her chest and mumbled to complain, “You’re willing to sacrifice yourself for that man but I saved you. From now on, will you belong to me?” Hot breath came out of his thin lips and he was looking for the sweetness of cherries on her skin.

His hot breath and the coldness of his ice mask were felt by He Danggui’s breasts alternately. She quivered and asked with a trembling voice, “Didn’t you say this to Liao Zhiyuan? Seeking pleasure is bitter. The pain you’ve soothed in that process will be exacerbated layer upon layer and come back for you later. Didn’t you remember what you said several days ago? Just release my acupoints and let me do the treatment for you. After you recover, you can punish me in whatever way you want and I won’t fight back, okay?”

Duan Xiaolou paused and looked up into her frightened eyes. He refused puerilely, “No. Just let the sinews break! I know you’re lying. You’ve fallen in love with someone else and will never care about me again if I recover. As for sex, it’s sweet and with you, it gets sweeter. I said ‘seeking pleasure is bitter’ just because I wasn’t doing that with you.”

The sound of something’s being ripped was heard again. Her trousers were torn apart as well. The coldness surrounded her with the man’s breath and high body temperature. He had the scent of pear flowers that had comforted her the most before while he was hurting her now. However, she couldn’t be angry at him.

He found the round cinnabar mole on her left arm and waves started to swirl in his eyes. He said in satisfaction, “So I’m the first one. I didn’t expect this… Two years passed and now you’re mine again while he only got your heart… After we finish this, your heart will also be mine…” Every time he finished a sentence, he kissed the beautiful mole once. When the third sentence ended, the red mole disappeared from her arm suddenly. Then, it showed between Duan Xiaolou’s eyebrows and even though the ice mask had covered his face well, the mole still could be seen clearly.

He Danggui shouted in shock, “Are you suffering from Qi Deviation, Duan Xiaolou? Look into the mirror and check your eyes. I can see some blue traces like waves in them!” Then, she continued screaming, “And why did my cinnabar mole move onto your face? Release my acupoints now. There must be something wrong with the mole. Maybe it’s poisonous. Just take off the mask and let me check it! Duan Xiaolou, what kung fu are you practicing? Stop it now! Let go of me!”

Then, she tried her best to struggle as a fish left ashore struggling for oxygen. After hitting him hard upward several times, she finally got rid of Duan Xiaolou who was on top of her, and overpowered him by pressing his chest with one of her knees. She commanded seriously, “Use your left hand to release my acupoints now!”

At this moment, however, Duan Xiaolou became as weak as a sick tiger. After releasing her acupoints as she asked, he lay still on the ground like a sculpture soullessly with his face pale and eyes closed. He passed out.

He Danggui regained her freedom. First, she used silver needles to block six key acupoints of Duan Xiaolou named Tiantu, Qihai, Fu’ai, Qimen, Jiuwei, and Shenque, all of which were known as the Cruxes of Qi Circulation, so that he couldn’t circulate his zhenqi or exert kung fu for now. After this, she walked around the icehouse and tried to find some clothes for herself but only got a cloak. She tied it around her shoulders but three or four chi of the hemline was still sweeping the floor. Then, she took out the necessary medicine from the chest and turned to bind up the cut in Duan Xiaolou’s right palm. Seeing what he became now, she felt heartbroken. As she was dealing with the wound, tears kept streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably on his hand and robe.

“Did I do anything wrong just now?” After being unconscious for a short time, Duan Xiaolou was woken up by her tears. Different from the anxious and excited man he was before, now he looked more like the “Duan Xiaolou” he used to be with his eyes staring blankly and breathing weakly.

He lost part of his memories. As soon as he saw the girl leaning against the bed trying to commit suicide without hesitation, some uncontrollable gas exploded in his body and he lost his independent consciousness. It seemed his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body movements and consciousness were all out of control and he couldn’t use his senses of sight, hearing, smell, tasting or touch, or his kung fu anymore. He just roughly knew that he had been on top of her and treated her violently to vent his anger…

When he woke up, he saw the girl crying. He had never seen her being so sad but he could remember nothing more even though he tried. He asked hesitantly, “Qingyi, did I do anything to you? Did I hurt you?”

He Danggui bound up his right palm well and looked at him with tears welled up in her eyes. She asked while sobbing, “Why did you become like this, Duan Xiaolou? What should I do to help you? Please tell me.”

“You…” Duan Xiaolou smiled faintly because of the question. He worked to raise his left hand to wipe off her tears and replied, “The new martial art I’ve been practicing recently must not be interfered with by people’s evil minds, but I’ve practiced with my evil mind for several months and I was finally defeated. After that, a symptom occurred in my body. I ‘lose my memories’ once a month and it happens at random times. According to what Jiangbei and others said, when I lost my independent consciousness, I would become much more powerful and bad-tempered. Thus, I didn’t remember what I had done to you before. Qingyi, did you get hurt? Did I… Did I force you?”

He Danggui shook her head and asked again with tears streaming down her face, “What can I do to help you? What kind of vicious martial art are you practicing? Can you talk to me about it?”

Seeing her avoiding answering his question twice, Duan Xiaolou roughly knew the truth so he closed his eyes and said with a sigh, “There’s nothing you can do. I know you were sincere when you said you wanted to help me and marry me. It was me who ruined all of it, right? I almost got my wish by marrying you but I fell into some evil thought and heterodoxy and disappointed you… Every time I think of this, I hate that I can’t rewind my time and remedy it. But it turns out that you have also long since left in another direction and fell for another man.” He turned his head and glanced at the dagger stained with blood nearby. Then, he asked with a hoarse voice, “Now I’ve made a big mistake by doing such a terrible thing to you. I can’t forgive myself. Please do me a favor and make it quick. Qingyi, just kill me.”

He Danggui clenched her torn clothes and asked in sobs, “Duan Xiaolou, if we could get back together, would you become who you used to be? Would we go back to the way we were before?”

Duan Xiaolou closed his eyes and gave her no response and from her perspective, that was obviously a “no”. Thus, she stood up to pick up the dagger.

Every step she took deepened the grief in her heart. Now except for the dagger, they even had nothing to talk about.