Chapter 149 Extra: Musi × Boyu 4

Mu Si spilled the glass of warm water onto the bed.

In a night without heating, the water soaked into the bedding, cold and damp. Though it briefly absorbed the warmth radiating from skin, it eventually succumbed to the freezing chill of midwinter.

"I can't sleep."

Especially not Bo Yu, who had never known hardship. It was no wonder Shen Jixing always joked about whether Bo Yu’s dynasty had finally fallen; the room that man slept in was usually like a palace within a castle.

Mu Si lifted his unconscious master and placed him on the sofa. He stripped the bed, changed the sheets and quilt, and meticulously brushed away every stray hair. He looked back at the figure on the sofa, his expression lingering in a silent void.

His heart felt an inexplicable, sour ache.

He had wronged him, hadn't he?

A man of such immense power and influence, forced to stay in this house, enduring a bloody, harrowing ordeal of... abuse.

Mu Si had never seen Bo Yu cry, not since the first day they met. Never once. Whether it was the stagnation of his condition or the departure of those around them, Bo Yu had never shown a shred of vulnerability.

"But you cried just now."

Mu Si returned to move him back to the bed, studying that handsome, refined face. "You hate me, don't you?"

Bo Yu had always been sharp and thorny; just moments ago, he had left Mu Si’s fresh wounds weeping with blood. Yet, Mu Si did not let him go. "Hate me, then."

Mu Si pulled him tightly into his arms to shield him from the biting cold outside, feeling his own heart sink with a bitter, heavy thud. He whispered against his ear, "I hate you, too."

"We're even now, sir."

***

Bo Yu woke up the next day shivering from the cold.

He was accustomed to the numbness in his lower body, but he had never experienced such torture. To put it in four words: starving and freezing.

And it hurt.

The cold was his primary sensation, intertwined with the pain. The moment he regained consciousness, he felt like tearing the house apart like a wild animal.

*Crash.*

Mu Si walked out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth and saw the bookshelf toppled over on the floor. His master’s destructive power remained undiminished.

Mu Si turned and went back inside. "..."

Bo Yu: "???"

He opened his mouth to speak but only managed a sneeze. Shivering, he pulled his hands back into the blankets and snapped in a hoarse, cold voice, "Is this place an ice cellar?!"

Mu Si finished rinsing his mouth and splashed his face with cold water. Only then did he return, stepping over the books on the floor to reach the bed and check Bo Yu’s forehead.

"Get lost!" Bo Yu roared.

Mu Si wasn't gentle. He forcibly pulled him into his arms, knowing Bo Yu couldn't escape anyway. Bo Yu was so furious he nearly lost his mind, his eyes rimmed with a deep, angry red.

He heard Mu Si say, "Oh no, you're running a fever."

Bo Yu froze for a moment. Before he could react, Mu Si leaned in, pressing his forehead against his. A faint, cool scent of mint lingered on his breath, making the very air around them feel chilled.

Mu Si clicked his tongue. "Damn, you really are burning up."

Mu Si frowned slightly, brushing his cheek against Bo Yu’s. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"..."

Bo Yu felt his blood pressure spike. "Get the hell out!"

His temper was far from mild. As he raised his hand to strike him, Mu Si easily caught his wrist and tucked him back under the covers. "Don't move."

Mu Si left the room to secure the blankets before rushing out of the house. Not long after, he returned, breathless, holding a thermometer, and took Bo Yu’s temperature.

38.6°C.

A man who had always prided himself on his ability to survive anything suddenly felt panicked. "Is it because of... the cold?"

Bo Yu was usually surrounded by private doctors and underwent professional check-ups every week. He lived in climate-controlled comfort and rarely even caught a common cold; how would he know what caused this?

"You just wait, Mu Si."

Bo Yu still felt frozen, lying stiffly in the quilt. "When I get back, I’m going to kill..."

Mu Si rushed out again in a flurry. Not long after, Bo Yu faintly heard a conversation from outside the door: "Yes, I took the day off. A friend is sick... Could you please turn on the heating? I’ll pay for the service and the rent together. Sorry for the trouble."

"The heating is seasonal. If you turn it on now, the last month or so of the season will have been wasted."

"That’s fine. It doesn't matter. Turn it on."

Bo Yu’s thoughts were hazy and clouded. What kind of nomadic, wretched life was this man living?

Aside from the two days he had been kidnapped and gone hungry, and the loss of his legs, Bo Yu had never experienced the bitterness of the underclass.

His consciousness began to drift into a hazy sleep.

It wasn't until someone fed a warm liquid into his mouth, the bitterness spreading across his tongue, that Bo Yu frowned instinctively. "..."

"Drink it and I'll get out of your way," Mu Si said for him. "You don't want to feel this miserable. Just bear with it."

But those words meant nothing to Bo Yu.