The dark shadow probably did not expect to be attacked either, so it was unprepared. By the time it realized what was happening, it had already been kicked away and directly smashed into the Roman pillar behind it before crashing down onto the ground.
This scene obviously stunned it for a moment and then came endless fury.
It, an illustrious demonic cultivator, had actually been kicked away by a tiny human!
The black shadow was instantly furious beyond measure. It moved to get up and teach that ignorant human a lesson.
However, it had just twitched when it suddenly found something strange happening to its body.
Its demonic energy was somehow beginning to gradually dissipate from where it had been kicked. The spiritual power it had painstakingly accumulated was also becoming loose, and its cultivation level was showing faint signs of regression.
How was this possible?!
As if struck by a thought, the shadow lifted its head to look over. But no matter how it looked at the person across from it, he was just an ordinary human.
However, if it was a demonic cultivator with a higher level than itself who intended to hide his identity, it really would not be able to see through the disguise.
In an instant, the shadow’s face fluctuated, but eventually, it did not dare take the risk alone. It could only curse inwardly and did not even bother seeking vengeance from its opponent. It fled as quickly as it could.
Because the shadow had been kicked away and melted into the night, Jing Li and Gu Tingshen did not notice its abnormality. But the hotel security guards finally reacted to ‘someone attacking a guest at the hotel entrance.’ Seeing the shadow escape outside, they instinctively moved to pursue it.
“Don’t chase it. Be careful. It might have a deadly weapon,” Jing Li hurriedly called out to stop them.
Now that they had confirmed it was a demon, it would only lead to unnecessary casualties even if they caught up.
Moreover, with the vicious nature of those creatures, there was no telling what deranged things it might do when obviously provoked.
Hearing this, the security guard hesitated briefly before turning back. He apologized to Jing Li and Gu Tingshen, “Sorry, we didn’t notice when it appeared there. I’ll report this to the hotel later. We’ll definitely be more vigilant from now on.”
Then he looked at Gu Tingshen, who had just rescued someone, full of concern. “Sir, are you alright? Should we call 120 or send a car to take you to the hospital?”
Jing Li was also supporting Gu Tingshen, checking the injury on his back. He saw that his coat had been clawed open in several places on the back. The sharp claws had directly torn through the thick wool fabric and the sweater underneath as well.
Fortunately, with the cold weather, he was dressed warmly. Otherwise, he might have already been clawed badly enough to rip open skin.
Even so, the skin under the clothing was still scratched open and bleeding red.
“Tingshen-ge, how are you?” Unable to see clearly through the clothes in the dim lighting, Jing Li could only roughly make out the wounds. He was also worried. “Should we go to the hospital and get you checked out first?”
“No need.” Gu Tingshen shook his head. He could feel some broken skin on his back, stinging painfully, but it was not too serious. “Just some minor injuries that I can treat myself.”
Then he looked at Jing Li. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
“No, thanks to you reacting in time. That shadow wasn’t able to get to me.”
Gu Tingshen nodded. Then he looked around and saw people slowly gathering due to the commotion. Concerned about Jing Li’s celebrity identity, he lowered his eyes to him. “There are many people here. Let’s talk more in the room.”
Jing Li glanced in the direction he was looking and nodded. He picked up the package box he had thrown on the ground and led Gu Tingshen through the hotel entrance.
Seeing this, the security guard hurriedly went ahead to clear the way, smoothly welcoming them into the hotel lobby.
Gu Tingshen had originally thought to go to the booked private room in the hotel, or at worst, get another room, then call his secretary to bring a change of clothes. He didn’t expect Jing Li to directly bring him to the suite he was staying in.
“You’re already injured. Don’t strain yourself further.” Jing Li helped him sit down on the living room sofa, then called for his assistant to bring the first aid kit and a light blanket. He handed Gu Tingshen the blanket and said, “Take off your clothes and wrap yourself in the blanket. I’ll treat your wounds.”
Considering Gu Tingshen’s feelings, he also had his assistant order room service directly to the room.
Anyway, given the current situation, neither of them was in the mood to go out for dinner.
The assistant responded and left the room directly.
Gu Tingshen glanced at Jing Li, his heart stirring faintly, but he didn’t say anything. He reached out to take the blanket and took off his clothes, revealing his firm, fit figure. He wrapped the blanket around his waist, turning his injured back to Jing Li.
Immediately, he felt a warm palm touch his back. Those slender fingertips occasionally pressed lightly on his skin, as if pressing directly on his heart, making him reflexively tense up.
“Don’t move,” Jing Li said softly. Then he leaned in to examine the wounds.
The demonic energy around the wounds had already been consumed by the purple-gold aura on the man. Only ordinary-looking scratches remained.
The wounds did not seem deep, only scratching off the surface layer of skin. Disinfecting with alcohol would suffice. But considering the attacker was a beast demon, he still reminded Gu Tingshen, “I’ll disinfect the wounds first, but you should still get a rabies shot or something.”
Even the most favored child of Heavenly Dao could not guarantee that the beast did not carry any germs. Getting vaccinated as a precaution was best.
Gu Tingshen seemed not to have expected him to say this. Unable to hold back, he laughed softly. Meeting Jing Li’s serious expression, he quickly suppressed it and nodded solemnly. “Okay, I’ll go get vaccinated when I get back.”
Only then did Jing Li retract his gaze. He soaked a cotton swab in medical alcohol to disinfect the wounds for him, gently reminding as it touched the skin, “It might sting a little, bear with it.”
But Gu Tingshen did not feel any pain at all. All he felt was that warm hand touching his back again. His sensitive skin instantly broke out in tremors, his senses amplified in the quiet space.
Gu Tingshen only felt the temperature around his body rise several degrees.
As the cotton swab dabbed at the injured areas, those warm fingertips also constantly changed places on his back.
It was as if he was playing a beautiful melody on his back or dancing gracefully, jumping straight from his back into his heart. It ceaselessly plucked at his heartstrings to the tune, making his heartbeat gradually quicken as if countless deer were charging about wildly inside.
Charging until his breathing grew increasingly urgent.
“Am I hurting you?” Hearing his suddenly heavier breaths, Jing Li’s hand paused subconsciously, immediately lightening the force he applied.
However, this action did not alleviate Gu Tingshen’s inner turmoil at all. On the contrary, the lighter force made each touch linger more like a caress on his back, raising tingling sensations.
Gu Tingshen clenched his teeth, barely swallowing back inappropriate noises. His forehead was gradually beading with fine sweat.
Just the few minutes of disinfection made him feel like he had been through an intense battle.
“I didn’t expect Tingshen-ge, who looks so tough, to be so sensitive to pain,” Jing Li amusedly glanced at the man’s taut back slowly relaxing, suddenly getting the urge to tease him.
He mischievously slid the cotton swab lightly across the man’s back, successfully seeing his entire back tense up again. Jing Li instantly laughed lightly, arching his brows, and threw the cotton swab in the trash. “Done,” he chuckled.
Gu Tingshen responded but remained seated without moving. His ears still seemed to be reddening.
Jing Li took it as him still recovering and didn’t say more. Seeing his exposed back, he considered briefly before adding, “I’ll get you a new robe so you don’t catch a chill.”
With that, he got up and went to the bedroom.
Watching him gradually move away, Gu Tingshen finally breathed a secret sigh of relief. Then he couldn’t help frowning and glancing down at a certain spot wrapped in the blanket.
He had always prided himself on having great self-control, but just now, merely having his back touched had made his body react uncontrollably.
This was too absurd!
Also, earlier at the hotel entrance, seeing someone charging at Jing Li, he had instinctively rushed over to shield Jing Li in his embrace, recklessly putting his own back in harm’s way.
This was clearly contrary to his usual principles, but at that moment, his only thought was that he absolutely could not let Jing Li get hurt, with no consideration for what consequences he might suffer.
This had clearly already exceeded normal friendship. It made him feel confused again.
Could it be that he really…had feelings for Jing Li?
“The robe might be a little small. Just make do first. You can change into your own clothes after Secretary Qin gets here.”
Jing Li timely returned with a robe. Gu Tingshen quickly suppressed his thoughts and reached out to take the robe and put it on. He also took the initiative to find a topic to distract himself. “Did you get a clear look at that shadow’s face earlier? When I arrived, I had just heard that it wasn’t peaceful around here, but I didn’t expect these people to be so rampant.”
Then he warned again, “If you have no other business, it’s best not to go out again later.”
“I also only found out about things around the filming location yesterday,” Jing Li nodded and replied. Then, seeming to recall something, he added, “Last night, I did some research. More than a dozen cases of celebrities being attacked have occurred here before. One was even Sentu’s artist, Nie Dong. Does Tingshen-ge remember him?”
“Nie Dong?” Gu Tingshen pondered briefly before responding, “I have a deep impression of him. Because it caused quite a stir at the time, my subordinates directly reported it up to me.”
“But after the incident, although Nie Dong was unharmed, his condition started deteriorating. Later when his contract expired, he directly terminated his contract with the company and left Sentu.”
“Can you still contact him?”
“I’ll have to ask Secretary Qin to investigate when I get back to know.” As just an artist signed to a subsidiary, Gu Tingshen would not keep constant tabs on the person’s whereabouts. He looked at Jing Li, “If you need to, I can let you know after finding out.”
“Then thank you in advance, Tingshen-ge,” Jing Li did not decline either.
Gu Tingshen nodded.
With the topic dying down, silence descended between them.
Fortunately, Secretary Qin arrived quickly, not letting the silence drag on too long. After Gu Tingshen changed into his clothes, Jing Li’s assistant also entered with hotel staff pushing a dining cart.
The few of them simply ate a meal before Gu Tingshen left with Secretary Qin.
At the door, Jing Li pulled him back to remind him again not to forget to get the rabies vaccine. Gu Tingshen looked at him a little helplessly, nodding in acquiescence before being allowed to leave.
But after leaving the hotel, there was not a hint of forced helplessness on his face. Instead, the corners of his lips were slightly upturned, clearly in a very good mood.
Secretary Qin turned to glance at him repeatedly, almost thinking he had been possessed.
*
Gu Tingshen was true to his word. Although he felt getting an injection and such was unnecessary, he still had people stop by the hospital first before returning to his hotel.
And exceptionally, he retired early to his room to rest.
However, whether due to the earlier accident’s influence, Gu Tingshen did not sleep very soundly and had all kinds of strange, chaotic dreams.
He first dreamed of a majestic palace. There was a small golden-red koi in the pond on the mountain behind the palace.
The little koi seemed to live a carefree life there, surfacing every day to happily blow bubbles with its fish tail.
Then he dreamed of a mid-teenage boy. The boy’s face was obscured by a layer of white fog, so he could not see it clearly at all. But his intuition told him the other must have an exquisite, beautiful face.
The boy seemed to be a palace disciple, wearing snowy white robes. Every day he followed a group of senior brothers just a little older, going around playing. Even across the dreamscape, he could feel the happiness emanating from the other.
…
The dreams kept shifting, but the boy always remained, his face perpetually shrouded in fog. Yet Gu Tingshen just had an instinct that person was the same.
At the end of the dream, the surroundings suddenly darkened. Dense black clouds filled the entire sky, thick purple lightning restlessly swirling within.
Beneath the clouds was a desolate mountain peak. In the center was a transparent, circular membrane. The faint white glow seeping out stood especially dazzling in the gloomy landscape.
Gu Tingshen’s sharp eyes are made out of someone sitting inside the membrane. Although too far to see the face clearly, he instinctively felt it was still that boy from before.
Just then, the frenzied lightning seemed to also discover him. Roaring furiously, it shot down with the wind blades directly at the boy.
As the lightning approached, Gu Tingshen’s vision also gradually neared the boy below.
Just as he felt he was about to crash into the membrane, the boy below suddenly looked up at him. And he finally saw the boy’s appearance clearly for the first time.
But before he could react in shock, the boy abruptly erupted with a flash of white light, instantly swallowing everything.
…
Gu Tingshen jerked awake from the dream, taking a long time to recover from breathing heavily.
He actually dreamed about Jing Li!
And such an absurd dream at that.
He really was bewitched.
Gu Tingshen breathed deeply several times before raising his eyes to see daylight already filtering through the window.
Reaching for his phone by the bedside, he saw it was already past eight o’clock. He wearily rubbed between his brows and sat up.
The entire night’s sleep had not relaxed him at all. Instead, he felt even more tired than pulling an all-nighter at work.
But his schedule today was full, allowing no time for him to relax. So, after a brief moment to collect himself, he still got up to wash up and opened the room door.
Sounds of footsteps came from the kitchen, and then Secretary Qin walked out carrying breakfast.
Gu Tingshen was about to pinch his brows and greet him, but seeing the other’s appearance clearly, all words stuck in his throat.
The author has something to say:
Jing Li: Remember to go get the rabies vaccine later.
Gu Tingshen laughed and didn’t take it seriously.
Jing Li: *stares expressionlessly*
Gu Tingshen (instantly serious): Okay.
Whatever my wife says goes.
—
Tsk tsk, some people, not even in a relationship yet, already have the potential to be henpecked husbands.
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