Blooming Flowers, Silent Sorrow

Translator: Silvery Butterfly
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“Qi Xiaobin!!!! Fuck your mother!!! You scum!! Trash!! Even as a ghost, I won’t let you go!!!!!! One day, if you fall into my hands, I’ll make sure to tear your limbs apart——aahhhhhhhhhh——-” A piercing scream instantly echoed through the entire dungeon. A cold needle, flashing a dull silver light, had been plunged into Xiao Bao’s left shoulder joint. A sharp, bone-chilling pain stabbed deep into his marrow, causing his entire body to convulse. The cold spread from his shoulder, and soon, he felt as if his whole body was encased in ice. The pain was as sharp as a blade slicing through him, as if the cold was seeping out from his bones, cutting through his flesh. But this was far from over. Just when he felt his limbs were about to freeze stiff, he became acutely aware of the blood and Qi within his body fighting back against the sudden invasion of cold, as if boiling and churning within him.ddwxUnUoDhNYmDxhHAwvGSrsLeBvBT

The area around the cold needle remained unbearably cold, while his fingertips and toes started to feel the flow of Qi and blood again. The violent clash between the cold and heat only amplified his agony, making it feel as though his frozen body was being devoured by flames. Every inch of his waking flesh felt as if it were being pierced by thousands of needles. Xiao Bao had never experienced such excruciating pain. The two opposing forces within him battled back and forth, each wave weaker than the last, and he had no idea when this torment would finally end.WPjahyfLvnzmDMIzqcHQDEhNgikJXf

Without even a moment to catch his breath, the same agonizing pain was inflicted on his right shoulder. Xiao Bao’s screams were trapped in his throat because, through his gradually fading consciousness, he heard his parents’ desperate cries echoing from deep within the dungeon. He could only bite down on his lip, too afraid to make a sound.YWOFIFnjvHHRgYFIkVXPoPOHKNiLoP

Qi Xiaobin’s maniacal laughter echoed, sometimes distant as if from the heavens, sometimes close at his ear. Xiao Bao’s vision gradually blurred, the pain his body endured seeming to have no limit. He couldn’t understand why, even in such agony, he hadn’t lost consciousness. The pain radiated from his shoulders to his elbows, wrists, fingers, hips, thighs, knees, ankles, toes… the torment grew more intense and widespread, waxing and waning. Time seemed to stretch endlessly for him, each second requiring immense willpower to endure. Even if he wanted to scream now, no sound would come out. His throat was parched, and his sweat-soaked body felt as if he had been fished out of water. His vision was a blur, and he couldn’t tell whether it was tears or sweat.XtFyvZzEZCWWPGOAEMreQGibtOngZh

He had never heard of such a method of torture; just hearing about it would make one’s legs go weak. Experiencing it firsthand was truly a fate worse than death. He had no desire to play the hero. If begging for mercy would help, he would have kowtowed to Qi Xiaobin a hundred times. But one look at Qi Xiaobin’s eyes told him that the man intended nothing less than to torture him to death. In truth, he would rather someone just end his life with a single blow. The pain was unbearable, unbearable, unbearable, unbearable, unbearable, unbearable.hFhwEftOcVYpYyoImVsmZvsmJTDanI

Even the tears sliding down his cheeks felt like they were scorching his skin, making him shiver all over. In just a few days, how had he fallen into such a terrifying situation? He couldn’t take it anymore; he had never suffered like this in his entire life. Why had it come to this? His parents had certainly sowed the seeds, but if it weren’t for that person… if it weren’t for that person… perhaps he wouldn’t be suffering like this, wouldn’t be enduring this dual torment of body and mind. These hellish moments, each minute, each second, what sin had he committed to deserve this?firAcqhPbapvzwLxwetihbPIUMaiNg

Someone, please save me. Father, mother, it hurts so much. Xiao Bao is in so much pain. Father, mother, Xiao Bao is in so much pain.LxfNbbAoTySSAyevLRSYQiReJGRXzO

Su Yin? Didn’t you say you’d be back soon? Why haven’t you returned? It hurts so much, too much, why aren’t you back yet? When will you be back?? I can’t hold on any longer.jsWImOfLxgFmXOPgJIPunTSWVCCYRC

Zhao Cai? Jin Bao? Didn’t you say you’d definitely come to save me? Why aren’t you here yet? I’m going to die, it hurts so much I’m about to die. Why haven’t you come yet??pLRBCxXxjtGKpcRJPxolckLPPQUCnR

Who can save me? Or, who could just kill me with one blow??ZvSbSSlKrhPSEqQtqWZLWUurPkmWMi

Huai En, how could you….. do this to me……cdiRSeyEHUNeQZxCsfPpopJryoJegi

During those short two hours, Xiao Bao didn’t know how he managed to endure it. Every time he passed out, a sharper pain would jolt him awake again. This must be what it felt like to be in hell. He watched helplessly as the old man pulled out each needle one by one. At first, he could count them clearly—one… two… three… seventeen… forty-two… and then they reached his knees, and he could no longer keep track. His consciousness once again drifted into a fog. The excruciating pain seemed to lessen slightly, but he could still clearly feel the chilling poison left within his body, wrapping around the joints throughout his body like a blade at his throat, constantly reminding him that he was trapped in a nightmare from which he could never wake or escape.nderhojOPoTiRPgXsXhRLMJdzdfzqE

As he was dragged back to the cell, he could barely make out through his half-open eyes the sight of his father, face ashen, lips blue, eyes wide open, lying rigidly on the ground, struggling to breathe as if he were on the brink of death. His mother threw herself over him, crying bitterly, her hands trembling as she tore open his clothes to check his body. But Xiao Bao was still enveloped in the icy pain, tears seeping from the corners of his eyes, yet he couldn’t even lift a finger. The cold poison, concentrated in his finger and toe joints, had left his hands and feet paralyzed with a numbing pain.xDxrKWlulfcJmrSeJhtXrBGWERorDx

Then he heard that sinister, triumphant voice echoing through the empty prison cell, “In three days, you and the other criminals from the Fu Run Trading Company will be escorted to the capital, Lin An, where the Emperor himself will order your execution as a warning to the world. The journey north is more than ten thousand li, and the bone-chilling cold along the way will be nothing compared to the pain of today’s needles, Jin Xiao Bao. You should enjoy it while you can.”HSEqoravGEIWZFIWXNPnAsaXNASgZF

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