⚔️Qiang Jin Jiu🍶

Quotes will be based on the Official English Translation: #qjj-ballad" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">sevenseasdanmei.com/#qjj-ballad Carrd: readqjj.carrd.co

Shen Zechuan’s eyes wandered down. “That’s a fine blade.” Lifting a hand, Xiao Chiye blocked his view. “And the man isn’t?”

“It may be hard to step away from hatred, but your heart must remain the same. Lanzhou, oh Lanzhou—don't you still have your shifu and xiansheng? Why must you force yourself to these ends? Perhaps we should talk about the unhappiness you've felt over these five years.”

“Ah, I’m so misunderstood,” Shen Zechuan said. “Nowadays, the minute something happens, somehow it’s all Shen Lanzhou’s fault.”

“Men who wield swords die in battles, while men who wield brushes die in remonstrations!”

Xiao Chiye was hard again.

In that split second, the lifeless waters seemed to brush off their extraneous dust and take new shape, becoming a familiar chest, a beloved embrace. Xiao Chiye had caught him.

The last thing Shen Zechuan believed in was heaven’s plans.

“Do you want me or not?” After a lazy stretch to ease his aching muscles, Shen Zechuan squeezed the back of Xiao Chiye’s neck and answered huskily, “Will you give yourself to me or not?”

“Shen Zechuan, a man with a pure heart and few desires.” Xiao Chiye sighed with deep feeling. “Which is it?” “That’s Shen Zechuan; you were calling for Shen Lanzhou.” Shen Zechuan asked, “Whom do you want?” “I want them both.”

“No need to call me Xiansheng. I lost to Xue Xiuzhuo in Qudu, had both my legs broken, and nearly lost my life. Didn’t you ask me why I came here?” He was silent for a while. “Because win or lose, live or die, I will finish this game of chess with Xue Xiuzhuo.”

Lifting a finger, Shen Zechuan weakly caressed Xiao Chiye’s brows and eyes. Xiao Chiye grabbed his hand and pressed it to his cheek. “Go ahead and touch.” Xiao Chiye leaned closer and laughed roughly. “I’ll let you touch.”

Xiao Fangxu opened his palm, and the wind brushed his skin so gently it felt like the silky black hair of his wife. This was the only indulgence he had allowed himself in the past decades. “One day, I will return to her embrace.”

Lu Guangbai’s voice rang over the desert: “I want to scale that mountain. I’m going to fight for myself!”

“Thirty thousand men of Zhongbo were buried in the Chashi Sinkhole! I lost my elder brother and shiniang that same day! Why am I to blame?”

“When you were a boy, you wanted to fly. You fought to the death to succeed with Meng. You’re doing the same thing now to win.” “And whose bad habit is this?” Xiao Chiye heaved a sigh. Xiao Fangxu laughed. “Not mine. Your mother’s.”

“Wear it.” Xiao Chiye’s voice was sultry in Shen Zechuan’s ear. That heat pierced him, and that breath sent Shen Zechuan’s spine tingling. Xiao Chiye murmured with a smile, “Wear it for my eyes.”

“What have I done wrong?” The glint in Shen Zechuan’s eyes was chillier than the autumn rain. He closed in, almost pressing up against Xiao Chiye, and asked, “What is my crime?”

He was like a stubborn rock stationed at the edge of this vast desert, enduring the weight of oppressive pressure from three directions until it had chipped all his natural smoothness into sharp, jagged edges.

“Go on, show me how feral you can be,” Xiao Chiye breathed into his ear. “You wanted me to go wild with abandon, yet you dare to run? Don’t you want to see which of us is more ruthless? I’m not afraid.”

“Some things are achingly beautiful when seen through the mist, but when you take a closer look, it's just a pile of dead men's bones.” Xiao Chiye waited for him to retract his hand before shaking his umbrella impatiently. “Dead men's bones don't touch people like that.”