"Why do you keep staring at me? You should eat too," Cui Lingyao said as she ladled a bowl of old duck soup for him. "You've gotten so much thinner. Eat more."
Her concern was a rare thing.
Xie Jinbai didn't want to waste a single bit of it.
He lifted the bowl and took a sip of the soup. Staring at the leg meat within, his mind seemed to wander before he suddenly turned his head and asked her, "Are you scared?"
Cui Lingyao froze.
Xie Jinbai said, "Did you find that kind of torture... too cruel?"
Torture.
The image of a calf, its bones gone, collapsing into a heap of soft flesh, appeared in her mind once more.
Cui Lingyao's brow furrowed slightly.
She couldn't bring herself to lie and say it wasn't cruel, and she didn't want to deceive him. She nodded honestly. "A little."
As she nodded, Xie Jinbai's expression changed slightly.
