Chapter 32: The Bride part 1
“What is your relationship with Shen Qiming?”
Shang Yan didn’t answer immediately. He raised his hand and touched the wound on the side of his neck, staining it with a smear of bright red. He looked down at it, even rubbing it with interest before slowly raising his eyes to meet Jiang Zhaoshengâs cold gaze.
“Relationship?” The person on the hospital bed repeated lowly, his voice raspy from the fever. “Zhaozhao, what you really want to ask isn’t about my relationship with him. You want to know… if heâs still alive? What exactly he wants to do, right?”
“Or rather, youâre afraid.”
“Answer my question.”
“One question for another; a fair trade,” Shang Yan suddenly tugged the corner of his mouth into a smile. “Tell me, what did he do to you?”
“Or, let me ask another way,” Shang Yan’s gaze seemed to pierce through his soul. “How were you ‘controlled’ by him?”
BOOM!
Countless blurred and painful fragments instantly flooded his mind, accompanied by an intense sense of dizziness and suffocation. The absurd days, the heavy wedding dress, the angular jewelry, the panic of being placed, and… and…
Jiang Zhaoshengâs vision went dark. His body swayed, and he instinctively grabbed the nightstand to steady himself.
He didn’t want to answer, much less rememberâthat was his most unsightly past, the one he most wanted to erase.
“It seems you remember.”
Jiang Zhaoshengâs breathing was hurried, and cold sweat seeped from his temples. He didn’t want to listen anymore. He picked up the medical tape from the nightstand and efficiently taped Shang Yan’s wristâthe one without the IVâto the bed rail.
Shang Yan was stunned for a moment. He looked down at his taped wrist. Instead of being angry, he actually laughed lowly:
“Good tie. Try a tie next time?”
“…” Jiang Zhaosheng was disgusted by this reaction and simply taped his mouth shut as well.
Who was Shen Qiming?
At an age when Jiang Zhaosheng was still youngâwhen his worldview was in desperate need of shaping yet was extremely fragileâfate had dealt him a heavy blow. His only two close relatives, his kind grandfather and grandmother, had passed away one after the other in the same year.
The warm, detached house instantly became empty and cold, leaving only omnipresent memories and an overwhelming panic that a child could not bear.
The funeral music, the lingering scent of incense, the low-voiced pity of the adultsâJiang Zhaosheng didn’t shed a tear. He held a portrait frame that was almost taller than he was, like a young beast abandoned in a blizzard. His face was wooden, not knowing how to respond to this suddenly torn-apart world.
In this boundless darkness and helplessness, Shen Qiming appeared.
He was not a blood relative. He was said to be the student of an old acquaintance of his grandfatherâa young Alpha who had already shown extraordinary ability and a deep background.
The elder took over everything of Jiang Zhaoshengâsâincluding his guardianshipâwith a posture that was almost forceful yet impossible to refuse.
It wasn’t until he sat in that luxury car, heading away from his hometown, that Jiang Zhaosheng felt the belated pain that threatened to tear him apart.
He hammered on the doors and windows. The driver received a signal from Shen Qiming, and the vehicle stopped. The young Jiang Zhaosheng ran to the edge of the unfamiliar road and cried until he fainted, large tears soaking the wild grass… He cried silently until he retched. Shen Qiming waited for him quietly for a while, then came over and picked up the personâwhose forehead was almost touching the groundâaround the waist, bringing him back into the empty RV.
In those initial days, Shen Qiming was the only piece of driftwood Jiang Zhaosheng could grab onto in his life.
The Alpha wasn’t very old. Compared to peers who hated childrenâs crying and fussing, Shen Qiming always carried a gentleness and sympathy that didn’t match his age. He would hold the crying Jiang Zhaosheng and comfort him softly, calmly telling him: “Zhaozhao, you can cry.”
After he cried, Shen Qiming would also teach him how to control his emotions, how to extract reason from a chaos of sadness, how to observe the intentions of those around him, and how to use silence and his gaze to build basic defenses.
Shen Qiming personally initiated his studies and guided him in combat techniques, telling himâhis looks weren’t just a vessel for desire, but a weapon, a shield, and a bargaining chip on the negotiation table. He took Jiang Zhaosheng in and out of special occasions, letting him see the rules of the world with his own eyesâthe games and darkness behind the glitz and glamour.
To Jiang Zhaosheng, who had lost his close relatives and craved guidance, Shen Qiming back then was powerful, calm, and omnipotentâlike a silent and reliable mountain range.
Jiang Zhaosheng admitted that he had developed a “baby bird” dependency and deep respect for him.
However, this dependency and respect faded and vanished as he grew older.
When Jiang Zhaosheng entered adulthoodâgradually shedding his youthful greenness and revealing a unique brillianceâsomething began to quietly change.
The way Shen Qiming looked at him was no longer merely the gaze of a teacher examining a student or a guardian looking at a ward. Something deeper, thicker, and more possessive began to seep in. The “teaching” also began to turn in an unsettling direction.
He would still teach himâteach him how to utilize his own advantages, how to show weakness appropriately to gain greater benefits, and how to “control” in a different way in an Alpha-dominated world.
Behind these techniques, the purpose was no longer purely to make Jiang Zhaosheng strong and independent, but rather vaguely pointed towardâhow to make this beautiful man… better become the partner Shen Qiming desired.
The former care became overprotection and isolation. Shen Qiming began to limit Jiang Zhaoshengâs interactions with others, especially other Alphas and Omegas. Affectionate gestures also gradually crossed the line; touches lingered for too long and carried a forced strength.
At that time, Jiang Zhaosheng wasn’t entirely unaware. He also felt confused, uneasy, and even a faint repulsion. He began trying to hide and pull away, wanting to meet more people.
But the dependency formed over many years and Shen Qimingâs omnipresent arrangements were like a fine, dense spider web, making every one of Jiang Zhaoshengâs struggles appear futile.
Shen Qiming wasn’t in a hurry to forcibly claim him. He was like an extremely patient hunter, laying out a net and enjoying the process of the prey gradually falling in… Using a “boiling a frog in warm water” method, he constantly eroded Jiang Zhaoshengâs sense of boundaries, making him accustomed to his scent, his touch, and his omnipresent existence.
He even used Jiang Zhaoshengâs past dependency to hijack himâ
“Zhaozhao, if you leave me, who else can you rely on?”
On the day the relationship completely spiraled out of control, Jiang Zhaosheng lost his freedom.
It seemed to happen on a deliberately created night when there were only the two of them, perhaps utilizing a special situation during an Alpha’s rut…
The specific details had been blurred by Jiang Zhaoshengâs brain as a protective mechanism, but what remained was completely shattered trust, an uneradicable sense of humiliation, and a deep-rooted fear and subversion of his perception of Shen Qiming.
The man he had respected like a father and a teacher finally tore off all disguises, revealing the most paranoid and possessive twisted face deep within his heart. It was no longer teaching, but domestication; no longer protection, but imprisonment.
It turned out he didn’t just want a partner; he wanted an unequal relationship within the intimate process.
Jiang Zhaosheng had been taught by him… he could never hold back his tears. That day, he knelt on the floor, looking up and glaring at the man. The man was his teacherâeven a teacher who held things back. All resistance was futile, and tears only served to excite him.
“Pervert… why don’t you just die?”
He saw what Shen Qiming was holding in his hand, and his pupils shook. Unexpectedly, the man covered his forehead and saidâ
“Zhaozhao, youâre the one who drove me crazy.”
Absurd. What did I do? Drove you into becoming a sadist?
Initially, neither of them gained an advantage. Although Jiang Zhaoshengâs skills weren’t as good, he resisted with the energy of “injuring the enemy by a thousand at the cost of eight hundred to oneself” every time. Shen Qiming, however, had reservations; he didn’t want the boy to suffer, so his strikes were always hesitated over.
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