A Cruel Romance Vol 2 Chapter 14

The original members of the Alliance and the newcomers from the Garrison Army were engaged in a heated discussion during a routine command meeting . The discussion went on from morning to evening, and finally, just when its partic.i.p.ants were starting to starve, a quarrel broke out .

Li s.h.i.+h-Yao hadn’t breathed a single word to Commander Ho beforehand . Only after the meeting had began did his chief of staff declare that the Garrison Army were ordered to send three regiments to Duolun . The officers looked to Feng, and Feng looked to Commander Ho . Commander Ho looked to Li and lowered his gaze, a mockery of a smile on his face .

“Our troops have just marched out from Chengde,” he said to an ashtray on the table . “They’ve barely had a chance to rest . I’m afraid they’re in no shape to head out to the front lines . ”

The chief of staff had expected this response; he knew how Commander Ho operated . “All they need to do is start heading in that direction . We’re not asking them to go straight into combat . We know how much you care for your men, but orders are orders . I can only implore you to, well, distance yourself . ”

Commander Ho threw Li another glance . Li was engrossed in searching for matches .

“This isn’t about distancing myself,” Commander Ho said placidly . “In war, it’s extremely foolish to overreach . ”

The chief of staff laughed . “Commander, the orders came directly from General Chao . Now that you’re a part of the Alliance, you must know the weight of duty . Besides, we can’t just let the j.a.panese butcher our people during their hour of need . ”

Commander Ho nodded . “You’re right . To maximize our chances, we should send out your superior troops and have my divisions watch their backs . ”

The chief of staff was beginning to lose his composure . “The orders came from General Chao,” he said, his smile marred by anger . “If Commander Ho has any objections, he’ll have to take it up with General Chao—”

Commander Ho interrupted him with a raised hand . “General Chao never contacted me directly . Everything I know comes from you, so I’m sending my response back through you . As for how you’ll deliver this message, that’s your own problem . You must know how I operate . I’d rather not stick my nose where it doesn’t belong and get caught up in other people’s business . ”

The chief of staff gave a frigid laugh . “We’re a very democratic body; our business is your business . Unless, of course, you’ve got other ideas and want to take advantage of the situation . ”

Commander Ho seemed to be getting tired . He covered a small yawn with his hand and turned suddenly to Li . “Any thoughts, Major-General Li?”

Li shot to his feet . “Y’all keep talking, I need to go take a leak . I’ll be right back!”

n.o.body could stop him from taking a leak . The room watched him run off under the guise of p.i.s.sing, but they knew how he must have felt . On one side was his former superior, on the other his current superior . There was really nothing he could have done .

The chief of staff was starving by now . “So is Commander Ho willing to move his troops or not?”

Commander Ho’s stomach was also rumbling . He threw his own officers a meaningful look . “I maintain my previous position . ”

The chief didn’t respond, but a staff officer next to him, lightheaded with hunger, got up and pointed a finger at Commander Ho . “Fence-sitter! Now that you actually need to pull your weight, you turn tail and hide!”

His words had barely left his lips when a pair of colonels on the Garrison Army’s side also leapt to their feet . “How dare you talk to our commander in chief like that? You want a f.u.c.king fist in your face?”

The staff officer snapped . “Do you think this is some Chengde bandit lair? This is no place for your clowning!”

The colonels jumped onto the table and grappled the staff officers, and the entire room erupted into a noisy brawl . Under Feng’s cover, Commander Ho snuck away silently .

– : –

Li rode straight back home after he dashed out of the meeting room .

Sitting in his cozy room, he began to self reflect and self flagellate .

d.a.m.n it, is it not my obligation to answer to whoever’s payroll I’m on? Even if I’d actually defended Chao, he’s in no place to kick up a fuss, as long as he can still see even a shred of reason . ”

It took him several attempts to light a match . Scowling, he bit the cigarette between his teeth .  Still, the way he is… Heart’s smaller than the eye of a needle . And that temper of his! This is going to get nasty . ”

His bit down hard enough to cut his cigarette in two . He spat out the mangled bits, his mouth filling with bitterness .

Sighing, he told himself: Why the c.o.c.king h.e.l.l should I be scared of him?

– : –

Commander Ho’s c.o.c.k, as it stood, was indeed nothing to be afraid of . Not even fair maidens needed to fear its existence . But his c.o.c.k was only a small part of him, almost too insignificant to matter . The other parts of him, such as his lithe hands, his long limbs, his pale round a.s.s, his messy black hair… Though they took up more s.p.a.ce than his c.o.c.k, none of them looked especially fearsome, either .

The fear Commander Ho inspired was vast, abstract . It was untraceable, ever-present . Li didn’t know why he feared Ho Bao-Ting . He didn’t know it before, and he still didn’t know it after f.u.c.king him . He just felt sheepish; sheepish for no good reason at all .

– : –

Li sat sheepishly in his room until Commander Ho showed up after sunset .

Commander Ho had come by through his private courtyard, so he was dressed simply, and he strode into Li’s room in only a winter coat .

Sheepishness aside, Li was overjoyed, and joy aside he didn’t really know what to do with himself . He got up and approached Commander Ho, meaning to pull him into an embrace and start things off with a kiss, but before his hands could reach him, Commander Ho began to unb.u.t.ton his coat on his own .

The rough army coat fell open and revealed a black night s.h.i.+rt . Perhaps it was especially cold outside . Though the trip had been brief, Commander Ho’s impa.s.sive face was wind-reddened and inexplicably rosy . Against the black silk, his colouring seemed more vibrant . A savage kind of beauty .

Li stared at him, his mouth going dry and his pulse quickening . Little flames danced against his skin .

“Commander…” he said with a tentative grin .

Commander Ho ignored him and threw his coat on the couch . Taking a seat on the brick bed, he looked up at Li and tapped his foot .

Li had never personally waited on Commander Ho, yet somehow his intuition kicked in, and he hurried to the foot of the bed and removed Commander Ho’s shoes .

Commander Ho wasn’t wearing socks; his pale feet were cold as ice . Li opened his own jacket and held Commander Ho’s feet against his bare chest, gazing up at him . Commander Ho was seated, and Li was crouching on the floor, putting him in a disadvantaged position .

“Com—Commander,” Li said over a bout of stuttering . “Are you—are you cold?”

Commander Ho’s face showed no movement, but the feet in Li’s arms gave him a small nudge . “I am . ”

Li licked his lips and pulled back his jacket carefully . Pressing his face against Commander Ho’s feet, he lowered his mouth experimentally to those feet, leaving slight little kisses on Commander Ho’s skin .  f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, Li thought to himself in a happy daze, I never banked up any good karma . How did I wind up here?

Commander Ho seemed ticklish—the moment Li’s lips touched his feet, he s.h.i.+vered and fell backward to the bed, then writhed under Li’s teasing kisses . As he struggled against Li, startled giggles spilled out of his lips . “f.u.c.k off,” he said between the giggles . “Let go of me… Knock it off…”

Commander Ho rarely giggled . His artless giggling seemed to take years off him, making him seem almost a large boy .

Li began to laugh with him . He surrendered Commander Ho’s feet and wrapped an arm around his waist, carrying him further in and tossing him gently on the covers .

Their lovemaking came quickly and pa.s.sionately . Before Li could finish demonstrating his extensive repertoire, his engorged c.o.c.k was already shoving its way between Commander Ho’s legs .

Commander Ho gave a yelp at the initial penetration—not a pained yelp, more like pleasantly surprised . Encouraged by his response, Li deepened his movements, sending Commander Ho straight to the verge of unconsciousness until he thought he was nearing death . Commander Ho lay a boneless pile on the bed, his fists clenched around the sheets, and soon he groaned softly: “No more… You can get off me…”

Li swung him around and placed him in his lap, still thrusting up into him . “I—I’ve gotten off you,” he said between huffs .

Commander Ho barked out a laugh . “Are you trying to f.u.c.king kill me?” he admonished weakly .

Li didn’t answer him . Gazing up at the naked man above him, a sudden thought flashed through his mind: This is the Old Marshal’s son . I’m f.u.c.king the Old Marshal’s son!

The thought was no less effective than the strongest aphrodisiac, and he was thrown off his rhythm instantly . Holding Commander Ho in an iron grip, he gave a few final, convulsing thrusts and buried his seed deep in Commander Ho’s body .

– : –

Commander Ho lay drowsily on his front . His limbs and bones seemed to have ceased to exist, leaving him with a floating sort of bliss, like he’s about to ascend to a higher plane . Later, he felt himself getting picked up and placed in someone’s arms . Warmth submersed his lower body—he was sitting in a bath .

Dimly, Commander Ho felt pleased by this . The warmth inside him—Li’s, perhaps still tasting of Kwantung tobacco—dripped out guided by gentle fingers .

After the intense lovemaking, it felt nice to have his privates washed clean . Commander Ho had come here for a specific reason, but now he felt light-headed, wanting nothing more than to close his eyes, drift to the bed like a leaf, and sleep like the dead .

And he did drift to the bed, though he didn’t sleep deeply . He lay on his front with his legs wide open, and he knew Li was still amusing himself with his a.s.s, licking it, kissing it, even biting it gently . Delightedly, tirelessly .

– : –

Commander Ho slept for a little over an hour before he was woken up by Li’s manhandling .

Li was getting sleepy himself; even a steel man needed rest after that kind of exertion . But he didn’t want to just go to sleep . He sat with his back against the wall and his eyes half closed, happily stroking the bare body in his arms .

His touch was soft and tender . He was a bit apologetic about the roughness of his own hands, worried that his sandpaper palms would damage all that smooth skin . The body in his arms s.h.i.+fted suddenly .

Li looked down at Commander Ho . “Awake?”

Commander Ho stopped s.h.i.+fting—his bones ached with every movement . “I am . ”

Li held him tighter . “Why are you so nice to me all of a sudden?”

Now that he’d regained consciousness, the gloom between Commander Ho’s brows settled back in . “I’m not going to get another chance . Once I leave, we won’t be able to do this even if we wanted to .

“Where are you going?”

“Duolun . I’m not going to sit here and watch my army get picked apart . ”

This wasn’t a complete lie . It was true that they won’t be doing this again, but Duolun was lie . That last line was once again the truth . Li was brash but not unmindful, and he knew immediately what was actually being said .

“Don’t worry, Commander . As long as I’m here, I’ll make sure you won’t suffer any significant losses . ”

“Three divisions aren’t significant enough to you?”

“What’s three divisions? We can always recruit more—I’ll come up with some money for you, yeah?”

“Forget it,” Commander Ho snapped and shut his eyes . “Go to sleep . ”

– : –

Li lay down against Commander Ho and pulled the covers over them . With a lazy sigh, he swung an arm over Commander Ho and soon began to snore .

Commander Ho’s thoughts turned to blades, cutting the rest of the night into tiny pieces .

He struggled out of Li’s arms and wobbled down to the ground . Tiptoeing to the couch, he reached into the pocket of his coat and retrieved his pistol .

Pistol in hand, he snuck back to the bed .

He aimed the gun at Li’s forehead . Hesitating awhile, he gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger .

– : –

The gun didn’t go off—pain erupted in his hand, his tendons spasming . Commander Ho had forgotten that his right hand was nearly useless . His hand slackened, and the pistol fell to the ground with a clang .

Startled, he bent down to pick it up, but Li sprung to life from his slumber and threw his arms around Commander Ho: “I knew you wouldn’t be able to do it!”

A flurry of movements later, Commander Ho found himself dragged back into bed and pinned under Li . Li seemed very worked up, crus.h.i.+ng Commander Ho with his weight and rambling incoherently . “Commander, I knew you liked me… You couldn’t bring yourself to kill me…”

Commander Ho remained silent . All his attention was focused on battling the pain in his hand .

Li sounded very ardent . As he babbled on, he stealthily wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead .