If time could turn back three days, and someone had smugly whispered to Mo Xi, Hehehe, Xihe-jun, let me tell you a secret—three days from now, you’ll go pay to sleep with someone, then Xihe-jun would surely have punched out every tooth in that person’s mouth and smashed their face to pieces.
But now he was trapped, riding a tiger with no way down.
In the end, his finger tapped on the words “conversation only.”
Even as he chose, his entire face was dark with fury, his expression grim and stormy.
Mo Xi had made his choice.
Gu Mang held out his hand toward him.
“What?”
“Payment.”
“…You!” Mo Xi was so enraged his eyes turned red, but he was too choked with anger to form a full sentence. “I—!”
Gu Mang said nothing.
He simply held out his hand and waited.
Now, he spoke very little. If he could avoid speaking, he would.
But the Commander Gu in Xihe-jun’s memories had always been talkative.
Standing beneath blazing sunlight before rows of soldiers, he would pace back and forth with swaggering steps, barking loudly to the troops below. Sweat gleamed on his skin like crystal beads scattered over a leopard’s coat. He always grinned brightly, his dark eyes lively and shining, a small fang peeking from his smile.
Mo Xi gave him Chonghua’s most valuable gold shell coin.
Without a word of thanks, Gu Mang stood, walked to a shelf, took down a small jar, and carefully placed the coin inside.
Then he returned the jar to its place.
Mo Xi watched coldly.
His heart churned with countless emotions—rage, hatred, resentment, bitterness.
Staring at Gu Mang’s back, he suddenly asked in a chilling voice,
“How much money have you saved in that jar?”
How many people had insulted you?
Humiliated you?
Trampled on you?
…How many…
How many had you slept with?
Gu Mang still said nothing.
After putting away the jar, he returned to sit before Mo Xi.
In the dim light, Gu Mang’s face remained unclear.
Mo Xi couldn’t tell if any subtle emotion flickered across it—something he had failed to catch.
Gu Mang was too calm.
Calm to the point of abnormality.
Had two years of humiliation truly ground away the last of his pride?
But Mo Xi hadn’t even collected his debt yet.
Hadn’t heard Gu Mang admit his wrongs.
How could he strip away everything so completely, leaving behind only an empty shell?
“You paid in gold shell coins,” Gu Mang said quietly. “That’s too much.”
“…Keep the change.”
Gu Mang answered honestly, “I can’t make change.”
Then he reopened the bamboo slips.
And unbelievably, he handed them over again.
“So pick more. Anything on here. You can choose.”
Mo Xi: “……………………”
He stared at Gu Mang.
There was no pain on that face. No humiliation.
Only calmness.
Peace.
Matter-of-fact acceptance.
Asking Mo Xi to pick more services.
Mo Xi turned his head away, nearly grinding his teeth to dust.
Really, why should he be surprised?
First Gu Mang had slept around. Then betrayed his country.
Again and again he had trampled Mo Xi’s bottom line.
Don’t take sex too seriously.
Gu Mang had said those words himself long ago.
Now, to survive, he sold his body.
The only difference was that before he slept with others.
Now others slept with him.
What was there to be shocked about?
“I’m not choosing anything.”
Mo Xi grew more agitated by the second.
The fury inside him felt impossible to suppress.
At last, he could endure no more.
He abruptly stood.
His expression cold as frost.
“Forget it. I’m leaving.”
It seemed Gu Mang had never encountered such a situation before.
For the first time, uncertainty flickered in his eyes.
He seemed to want to say something.
But didn’t know what.
Mo Xi had already turned away.
Gu Mang grabbed his sleeve.
Mo Xi was at the brink.
Rage sparked dangerously in his eyes.
“What exactly do you want?!”
Gu Mang said nothing.
He walked back to the shelf.
Took down the little clay jar.
Removed the gold shell coin.
And silently placed it back into Mo Xi’s hand.
“Then take this back.”
“……”
“Goodbye.”
“……………………”
A dead silence.
Then suddenly—
Crash!
Grinding his teeth, Mo Xi snatched the bamboo slips and shoved them right in front of Gu Mang’s face.
“You’ve spent two years here, crawling through filth, surviving by doing this disgusting, shameful work—how does it feel? Huh? Happy? Satisfied? Someone slaps you and tosses you a few coins, and that’s enough for you to live with?!!”
The molten fury finally burst free.
Mo Xi was breathing hard.
His eyes burned crimson.
And yet his lashes were wet.
“You even serve men like that? Are you still the Gu Mang I knew? Look at yourself now! I can’t believe I was once friends with someone like you! I can’t believe I fought others for your sake! I can’t believe I once treated you as my… my…”
“My…”
He couldn’t say it.
His whole face twisted as if poisoned by fury.
Even his lips trembled.
The spirit-lit lamps in the room flickered violently under the force of his emotions.
Light and shadow danced across their faces.
Mo Xi seized Gu Mang by the collar.
Gu Mang had nowhere to retreat.
His loose robe fell open further.
They were nearly nose to nose.
Eye to eye.
Mo Xi’s chest heaved violently.
He glared at Gu Mang—
Then his gaze dropped.
To Gu Mang’s bare shoulder.
Purple and blue welts.
Whip marks.
Mo Xi’s mind exploded with a sharp ringing.
Something inside him snapped.
The red in his eyes deepened.
Not only rage now.
Something else.
Something even he couldn’t name.
Driven by that emotion, he suddenly raised a hand, gripping Gu Mang’s jaw harshly and slamming him against the cabinet.
Bang.
One hand braced beside Gu Mang’s face.
His tall body pressed down.
The candle flame struggled weakly.
Then, overwhelmed by the violent surge of spiritual energy erupting from Mo Xi—
It went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
In the dark, Mo Xi stared at Gu Mang’s face just inches away.
His rough, callused fingers ground hard over Gu Mang’s cheek, his lips.
His voice was low and hoarse.
Angry.
Raw.
He was so consumed by rage that he failed to notice the change in Gu Mang’s expression.
Failed to catch the flicker of shock in his eyes.
“For survival… for a little money… you’ll let anyone do anything to you, won’t you?”
Gu Mang finally seemed unable to bear it.
His face reddened from Mo Xi’s grip.
At last he struggled.
But Mo Xi’s reason had already shattered.
He couldn’t see Gu Mang’s pain.
The darkness pressed in from every side.
From the rooms around them came men’s heavy breathing and women’s moans.
Relentless.
Reminding Mo Xi what kind of place this was.
What Gu Mang did here.
What they themselves could do here.
The thought flashed through Mo Xi’s mind.
Sharp.
Dangerous.
It made his scalp tingle.
Next door, a woman cried out louder, more urgently.
The sounds of flesh colliding in the night were so vivid they seemed to ring beside his ear.
And Gu Mang’s struggling beneath him—
Mo Xi interpreted every movement as shameless provocation.
His eyes darkened.
Molten iron churned inside them.
Scalding hot.
Whether from rage—
Or something else.
“Let… go…”
Mo Xi did not release him.
Instead, he let out a cold laugh.
There was no pleasure in that laugh.
Only extreme disappointment.
Extreme hatred.
Carrying hatred—and perhaps something more—his voice burned with sparks.
Hoarse even to his own ears.
He bent close to Gu Mang’s ear.
“Fine.”
“You won’t let me leave?”
“Then what do you want me to choose?”
“You want me to sleep with you?”
“You want me to fuck you?”
“……”
Then suddenly, through clenched teeth—
“Haven’t you been fucked enough by me already?!”
The words exploded out.
Too impulsive.
The moment they were spoken, even he was shaken.
Mo Xi almost never used language like this.
He was the type to frown even when Yue Chenqing told dirty jokes.
Yet now he had been driven to this point.
Words spilled out without thought.
Savage.
Threatening.
Violent.
Animalistic.
Desperate.
Mo Xi cursed inwardly.
Suddenly, his fist slammed hard into the shelf.
Bang!
Gu Mang’s little clay savings jar shook violently—
Then crashed to the floor.
Smash.
It shattered into pieces.
Mo Xi instinctively turned his head.
His gaze swept over it carelessly at first.
Then, a moment later—
He froze.
Suddenly realizing something.
He released Gu Mang.
Straightened abruptly.
And stared at the floor.
A thin strip of moonlight shone through the window.
Inside the shattered little jar—
There was nothing.
Nothing at all.
Gu Mang had never received even the smallest white shell coin.
The jar was empty.