There is no Redemption for A Scum Villain

Chapter 56

This damp cell… Shen Qingqiu was starting to get used to it, as little as he liked it. Being in it every night just had that effect. At least he wasn't alone.

This same situation replaying so many times had made Shen Qingqiu kind of numb. To most things that was. Whenever Yue Qingyuan decided to offer his life, he was still upset enough to yell every time. At some point though, he found a solution.

He had realized at some point that he was not completely incapable in these dreams. The fact that he could yell, alone made it obvious. It didn't make much sense, but it was a dream, so maybe he was more capable because his mind just replayed the situation instead of simply accessing a memory.

So instead of simply viewing it like he was a spectator, Shen Qingqiu decided to have a little fun. Every time before Yue Qingyuan could even start saying painful things, Shen Qingqiu did something.

Sometimes he just made funny noises to interrupt him and watched the other man get progressively more confused and irritated. At some point that got boring too, so Shen Qingqiu thought of something else. The next time Yue Qingyuan started talking, he just did it without thinking.

“Has Shidi ever…ever…” Yue Qingyuan began, trailing off when Shen Qingqiu suddenly got up.

He initially planned on continuing what he had been saying, because he thought the other man just wanted to walk, but then he just stood there, fumbling around with his clothes. Yue Qingyuan was thoroughly confused, then Shen Qingqiu began disrobing himself.

“Q– Qingqiu?” Yue Qingyuan asked, wondering if there was something wrong with his eyes. Or brain. Or both.

Shen Qingqiu was now very amused. After he had gotten rid of the little amount of clothes he had, Yue Qingyuan looked like he needed someone to flick against his forehead. The man didn't even manage to remind himself to look away.

“Like what you see?” Shen Qingqiu asked, smiling warmly, “How about we do something else instead of talking about my past deeds, hm?”

“I– What?” Yue Qingyuan asked dumbly.

His cheeks were so red, suddenly he looked his normal age again. Shen Qingqiu really wanted to kiss them to see how warm they were. Sadly, when he knelt down to do just that, the dream before his eyes disappeared.

Shen Qingqiu was a little disappointed when he woke up. He had really wanted to see what his brain would make Yue Qingyuan react like. Though he was sure that it wouldn’t have been all too different from how the real one would have reacted. Either that one or his version. At least he had woken up to see the real Yue Qingyuan and test his reaction.

With his curiosity satisfied Shen Qingqiu no longer felt like doing such daring things. Even in a dream. It had been very cold anyway. This didn’t mean that he didn’t fool around at all.

Once more Shen Qingqiu was in the Water Prison. Once more Yue Qingyuan knelt there, looking horrible. Shen Qingqiu moved his head around a little to get rid of this icy soreness that kept him shackled and waited for Yue Qingyuan to try and start speaking. As soon as he opened his mouth, he leaned down, grabbed the man’s chin and turned his head upwards to press their lips together.

Someone could hardly miss how shocked Yue Qingyuan was by this action. He obviously didn’t quite register what was happening at first. The mood had just been very strained and heavy with the burden of all these years of unspoken words and suddenly… Yeah, what exactly was suddenly happening?

Somehow it was feeling nice, but it didn’t quite make sense. Shen Qingqiu was… Despite his confusion, Yue Qingyuan’s heart still felt heavy enough and with his tiredness he just gave in and tightly held on to Shen Qingqiu. Just then he discovered something about himself that he hadn’t noticed for the nearly forty years of his life. Despite everything, or maybe even because of everything, his heart belonged just to–