45: Chapter 45 Playing

Moonlight spilled across the ground like liquid mercury, coating the courtyard in a layer of cold silver frost.

A white jade cup on the stone table held clear liquor, reflecting the lonely cold moon hanging in the sky, as well as the unfathomable eyes beneath Ding Qing's hat brim.

The smile on Qiu Shuzhen's face carried a hint of imperceptible stiffness, her heart beating like a drum.

She watched as Ding Qing drank the wine laced with the chiyang pill without the slightest hesitation.

She watched his Adam's apple bob as the liquor slid down.

The expected instantaneous explosion of uncontrollable heat did not occur.

Ding Qing simply set down the wine cup with a light 'clack' that sounded exceptionally clear in the silent courtyard.

Even his breathing didn't fluctuate in the slightest.

Under the moonlight, those nine black body-suppressing patterns continued to throb steadily like a dormant ancient Vicious Beast, unmoved by external influences.

He raised his eyes, his gaze calm and rippleless like two deep, freezing pools, looking straight at Qiu Shuzhen.

There was no anger in that look, no mockery, only a kind of all-seeing calm that made one's skin crawl.

It was as if this play she had meticulously planned was nothing more than a child's game in his eyes, not even worth his serious attention.

"You..."

The silver bells on Qiu Shuzhen's ankle let out a series of panicked tinkles, breaking the deathly silence.

A chill rushed from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, instantly extinguishing all her previous probing and expectations.

He knew!

He must have known all along!

This thought coiled around her heart like a cold venomous snake.

"The wine is not bad."

Ding Qing's voice rang out low, yet not a hint of the medicinal heat could be heard.

He didn't look at her, his distinct, rough-knuckled fingers toying with the empty wine cup.

Moonlight flowed over the walls of the cup and his bronze skin.

"It's just that... the internal heat is a bit superficial."

Qiu Shuzhen's cheeks instantly flushed crimson, half from shame and half from a deeper panic.

He actually dared to critique the medicine's effectiveness!

This nonchalant sarcasm made her feel more humiliated than any reprimand could.

The seductive air and calculations she had so carefully prepared became a clumsy joke in front of him.

Almost out of spite, she poured herself a cup and downed it with her head tilted back.

The spicy liquor burned her throat, attempting to suppress the stormy waves in her heart and that inexplicably surging sense of grievance.

"You..."

She wanted to say something more, but under Ding Qing's terrifyingly calm gaze, all her excuses got stuck in her throat.

Ding Qing didn't speak again, just quietly watched her.

He watched her cheeks flush from the wine and her agitated emotions, her eyes more intoxicating than the moonlight as they shifted.

He watched her go from her initial panicked front to the wine taking hold, a misty glaze gradually covering her eyes.

The deliberately feigned seductiveness faded, revealing instead a more genuine beauty tinged with confusion and vulnerability.

The night was long, and only a silence like flames licking at wood remained in the courtyard.

Qiu Shuzhen silently drank a few more cups.

The clear liquor seemed to be her only reliance at this moment.

The intoxication finally flooded in completely; the tipsy warmth dispelled some of the chill and loosened her tightly guarded heart.

"Big Brother Ding, doesn't this Li family... seem like a golden cage?"

She suddenly spoke, her voice carrying a trace of ethereal drunkenness, no longer crisp but rather low and lazy.

She no longer looked at Ding Qing, casting her gaze toward the withered bamboo shadows in a corner of the courtyard as if confiding in the Void Realm.

"Fatty Li's gaze... is disgusting to the core... he just wants to lock me up and keep me as a breathing decoration..."

She swayed slightly, reaching out to steady herself on the cold stone table, her fingertips slightly chilled.

"My mother said... the things underground... are enough for us mother and daughter to live leisurely for several lifetimes... no more looking at people's faces, no more pretending..."

She gave a cold laugh, tinged with self-deprecation.

"But leisurely... what does leisurely look like? I've never even seen it..."

Ding Qing remained silent.

Like an eternally standing mountain of cast iron, he listened in silence.

The shadow of his hat brim hid all expressions, save for his eyes, which shone startlingly bright in the moonlight.

Like stars reflected in a freezing pool, they calmly mirrored the confusion and longing of the woman before him after she had shed her disguise.

Qiu Shuzhen seemed immersed in her own thoughts, taking another gulp of wine, her gaze becoming even more blurred.

"My mother always says... the Jianghu is treacherous, and wealth moves people's hearts... but I feel... someone like you..."

She paused, seemingly searching for the right words, her gaze finally falling back on Ding Qing with a hazy inquiry.

"...Someone like you, who can smash anything with a single punch... would you... not have to be afraid anymore?"

Her voice grew softer and softer.

It carried the slurring of drunkenness, yet revealed a long-suppressed yearning.

The object of that yearning seemed to be this man before her, who was like a great mountain, ignoring rules and powerful enough to make one's heart skip a beat.

Just as she instinctively reached for the wine flask again, a giant palm suddenly extended and firmly pressed down on the mouth of the flask.

Qiu Shuzhen looked up with drunken, misty eyes.

Ding Qing finally moved.

He slowly stood up, his tall shadow instantly enveloping Qiu Shuzhen completely.

He leaned down slightly.

Those eyes, like a volcanic abyss, now clearly reflected her tipsy face.

"Enough."

His voice was low, possessing an unquestionable piercing power like the clashing of metal and stone, instantly shattering that blurred intoxication.

"Miss Qiu should go back early; too much wine harms the body."

Qiu Shuzhen's heart suddenly skipped a beat, her drunkenness mostly fading as she stared at him blankly.

Ding Qing's gaze went past her shoulder, as if he could pierce through the courtyard walls to land on a certain restless shadow in the distance.

He withdrew his hand from the wine flask, his voice returning to its usual icy texture, every word crystal clear.

"I won't stop what you and your mother want to do."

Qiu Shuzhen's pupils shrank violently.

"But the Li family,"

Ding Qing continued, his tone decisive and carrying a coldness that drew clear boundaries.

"Cannot be in chaos. Steward Li cannot die, and he cannot go mad—at least not now."

His gaze refocused on Qiu Shuzhen's face, which had instantly turned pale.

That look was as sharp as a blade, as if he wanted to carve his will directly into her mind.

"Go back and tell your mother."

Ding Qing's jawline tightened, each word like the strike of a cold iron anvil.

"If you want the things underground, then behave yourselves. Stop playing tricks and stop targeting Steward Li. Otherwise..."

He didn't finish the 'otherwise'.

But that aura of ferocity that suddenly permeated the air, as tangible as substance, was more powerful than any threat.

The air in the entire courtyard seemed to freeze instantly, and even the moonlight seemed a few degrees colder.

"...Go back."

Ding Qing spat out the last two words, like driving away a bird that had strayed into his territory.

He no longer looked at her, turning around to sit cross-legged back on the stone steps as if he had never left.

That tall, silent back once again merged with the darkness, leaving only an unquestionable, unchallengeable silhouette.

Qiu Shuzhen froze in place, her drunkenness completely startled away, leaving only a heart full of icy coldness and lingering fear.

She looked at that back, which had returned to silence like a demonic god; her lips moved, but she couldn't say a single word.

Finally, she turned abruptly and, with bare feet on the cold bluestone, almost stumbled as she fled the suffocating courtyard.

Under the moonlight, that flash of fiery red was like a flame being frantically extinguished.

And deep in the shadows of the distant corridor, Qiu Zhiruo, who had been watching with bated breath, nearly dug her nails into her palms.

She watched her daughter flee back in a daze, utterly lost.

She looked at the fierce god in the courtyard who had returned to a deathly silence, her face so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water.

"Good... quite a Ding Qing..."