I’m sorry for the delay P: I was talking with someone and got really distracted, eep. So anyways, this chapter is very low-key nc-17 (I wonder how mature this story is because it’s josei?); I think I actually accidentally made it less than it was supposed to be, which I apologize for hahaha. I promise to improve my Chinese s.e.xual innuendo skills LOL.

Chapter 33: Medicinal Torture

Qi Mo took in the bandages and medicine laid out before him and then reached over to unb.u.t.ton Li Xin's blouse, his face as impa.s.sive as ever. She was still leaning against him, evening out her breathing, but at his movements, she asked weakly, "You know how to change bandages?"

"No," he replied without stopping what he was doing.

Her eyes widened indignantly. Why was he doing it then if he didn't know what he was doing? All she did was accidentally run into the bullet when she was trying to dodge it; it was completely unnecessary to torment her like this. "I don't want to die yet," she said, reaching out and grabbing his hand.

"You won't." He brushed her hand away and opened the front of her blouse.

When she looked down, she saw that thick white bandages criss-crossed over her bare chest — she could see faint hints of rusty red stains on the cloth where her blood had seeped through. Then, suddenly realizing her state of dress, she jolted and flushed red. She grabbed the sides of her blouse with strength she didn't know she still had and covered herself back up.

Qi Mo frowned. "What are you doing? Let go." Without waiting for her to obey, he simply grabbed her s.h.i.+rt and yanked it apart so powerfully that it tore.

"You aren't a doctor, how are you supposed to change my bandages? I want a doctor," Li Xin huffed, blus.h.i.+ng furiously at her exposed body. It was no big deal if a doctor saw her naked as a patient, but why should she expose herself for anyone else?

"There is no doctor," the overlord said smoothly. He glared at her.

She paled upon seeing his eyes darken with the ever-familiar murderous anger. Curses swirled around her mind. Why did this guy want to kill someone every other second? She was a patient, for heaven's sake. Why did she have to deal with this ridiculously tyrannical att.i.tude of his?

In the end, she sighed inwardly and released her hands, giving up. It wasn't as if she could beat him right now, especially in the state she was in.

Qi Mo watched her relent in satisfaction. He liked people who listened to him. Mollified, he began applying the medicinal ointment to her wound.

"Ow! Geez, that hurts! Do it lighter," Li Xin complained. His movements were rough and abrasive and the pain made her feel like she wanted to kill someone. "Can you do this or not? Ow!"

"Stop moving and shut up," Qi Mo seethed. He was p.i.s.sed. This was the first time he ever changed anyone's bandages and the woman was complaining endlessly. In his opinion, the wound was even that big of a deal — honestly, such histrionics were wholly unnecessary.

Despite his annoyance, however, he relented, making his movements lighter and more deliberate. Still, he didn't believe he ever did it that harshly to begin with.

"Qi Mo, are you trying to kill me?" He had applied the entire box of ointment onto her wound and was now pressing down on her chest with one large palm to prevent the medicine from dripping downwards. The pressure made her pain flare up and she was dripping in sweat. She snapped his full name, the pain driving her way past honorifics and respect.

The man in question paused, and his entire face tightened stonily as he glared down at Li Xin, whose face was twisted and creased in pain. After a short moment of stifling silence, he muttered, "If you keep yelling, I'm really going to kill you."

The brusqueness in his face made her quiet down and she spent the next few minutes focusing on her breathing instead. The pain was making it too difficult for her to keep speaking anyways. The only thing she could do was bear with Qi Mo's barbaric application of her medicine.

She dealt with his ministrations like a prisoner being tortured, gnas.h.i.+ng her teeth in impatience but keeping silent. Her patience reached its limit when she felt Qi Mo rubbing the ointment on the side of her chest that was not wounded. "Qi Mo, I'm not… hurt there," she ground out slowly, gritting her teeth furiously. She was currently too p.i.s.sed off to care about modesty.

"I know," came his clear, short answer.

"Then what the h.e.l.l are you doing?" She demanded. Her anger was slowly rising to boiling point. She couldn't believe he had the audacity to sound impatient. She was pretty sure her wound had expanded instead of healed thanks to him.

Qi Mo's movements suddenly stopped. Pain seared through her once more as he grabbed her flesh and held it tightly. "This is what I am doing," he said menacingly. His eyes glinted with ill-intent. In one swift movement, she found herself pushed back into the bed with Qi Mo's heavy weight on top of her. He replaced the hand on her flesh with his mouth. Momentarily shocked and angry, Li Xin struggled, attempting to punch him off with her fists. He responded by pressing down even harder so that it became impossible for her to move.

"Qi Mo, you — Ow!" She yelped suddenly as he suddenly breathed in, sucking her flesh in painfully. "Let go of me! Qi Mo!"

He did so, although not after a few deliberate beats. Raising his head, he asked, "Will you stop complaining then?"

She nodded fervently. "Fine, fine, I will."

"Remember that you belong to me," he informed her candidly. "I can do what I want, and you have no say." He began rubbing the ointment on her again.

Li Xin shut her eyes in frustration, all the while cursing Qi Mo and every Qi Clan ancestor all the way up to his great-great-great-great-great-great-and so on grandfather. He would see. One day, she would get revenge for this.

Qi Mo smoothed the medication vigorously over her pale skin, kneading and tugging and ma.s.saging it over the entire area. She laid herself back in his arms with her teeth clenched tightly together.

There was a rare moment of peace as she sat quietly and he applied the ointment. However, it was suddenly interrupted by Qi Mo, who exclaimed loudly, "Son of a b.i.t.c.h, what the f.u.c.k is this thing?"

Li Xin had closed her eyes, but they flew open at his voice. She turned to see his face tense with fury, the veins nearly popping out of his head and his eyes dark with anger. She lowered her head curiously to see what he was talking about.

She wasn't sure whether she was supposed to crack up or get p.i.s.sed at the sight before her. Qi Mo's hands were tangled in bandages as he hopelessly attempted to wrap the cloth around her wound. It wasn't working — when he circled the bandage around her chest, it slipped, and when he got it on her wound, he couldn't get it around her chest.

So that's what he had been doing then. All the pulling and pus.h.i.+ng of her chest area was because he had been trying to adjust the bandage on her and couldn't figure out how to maneuver the cloth around her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She cursed inwardly yet again. Did this man not understand the magic of communication? Instead, he just did as he wished. His bedside manner was a blasphemy; she wondered why he even bothered. She was pretty sure that several years of her life had been knocked off by him.

"Put it through here," she finally muttered, getting impatient with his struggling attempts.

Qi Mo frowned and followed her instruction, and miraculously, the bandage wrapped around perfectly and settled where it was supposed to go. He raised an eyebrow. So it seemed that he was really not one to fiddle with this kind of stuff.

The torturous process of Li Xin's bandage changing was finally over; she couldn't help but let out a huge long sigh of relief. Her body was more sore than it was before she had woken. She leaned back against Qi Mo, once against just breathing in an attempt to relax.