Chen Zhiyu closed his eyes for a moment, biting down in subdued anger. Just now, a sliver of stubbornness had snuck into his heart like a wisp of flame but he fought back against it, willing to weaken it by not feeding it fuel.
Though the fear of death successfully ignited the flames to reverse the nature of things, the realization of the futility of his efforts while being powerless cooled down his hot blood.
Hence, he became mute, not even a whimper could be heard from his tightly shut lips. He appeared determined to endure the humiliation, one more time.
"Cousin Yu, today's episode looks a bit different right?" Chen Xizi's indifferent and aloof voice echoed but Chen Zhiyu remained a mute.
"It's fine, you can no longer speak, but I cannot accept anyone snubbing me, not to mention if they were trash just like you" he began walking towards Chen Zhiyu shortly he stood up from his crystalline throne.
"We can call today's celebration, a farewell ceremony and this would probably be the last time we cross gazes, Cousin Yu" Chen Xizi lowered his head towards Chen Zhiyu's face and held the latter by the jaw while chuckling to himself.
"Cousin Yu, do you know why I am doing this to you, huh? It's because you irritate me, you're such a foul existence, an irregularity in my path that I would one day have to blot out. You really do have a miserable life too, can't you see? You'll never get better and would die a loser" Chen Xizi cackled sinisterly and began retreating back to his seat.
But before he reached his seat, he shot two qi rays at Chen Zhiyu's calves at once, causing the latter to kneel involuntarily with a forced jerk. Chen Zhiyu was seething and burning with subtle fury but on the outside he wore a look devoid of emotions, it was as if he wasn't daunting enough to look up to Chen Xizi after the verbal humiliation.
Not far away from the courtyard within Chen Xizi's pavilion, there was a small pond stretching several metres long. It was at a measured proximity to Chen Zhiyu's kneeling location.
"You might want to go for a bath Cousin Yu" Chen Xizi said cruelly still retaining his sinister smile.
Chen Zhiyu was just about to raise his head when he felt a fierce tug, out of the blues. Chen Xizi reappeared in front of him, his hands were clawed to his shoulder like an eagle to a wildsnake. He dragged him like a lamb to its slaughter towards the pond.
If an outsider were to be present, they would never associate the fact that these two were actually cousins with blood ties. It seemed more like a master torturing his slave, which was the imagery Chen Xizi wanted to promote.
The description was that the Chen clan's acclaimed Young Master was merely a slave hiding under the glorious title, just a paper tiger with no true strength.
On reaching the pond, Chen Zhiyu felt a restriction as the qi rays on his calves tightened and reached for his wrist, completely restricting the movement of his hands and legs.
SPLASH!
Chen Xizi thronged his head deep and pushed his face mercilessly into the water with a resounding splash. Chen Zhiyu wrestled and gurgled as he struggled to breathe and pull his head out of Chen Xizi's fierce grip
But the sound and sight appeared hilarious to Chen Xizi's cheering audience who were heartily laughing away at Chen Zhiyu's humiliation with no respite or pity towards the latter.
The immersion took a full minute and Chen Xizi released his grip, only when Chen Zhiyu stopped resisting and gave up.
HH-AH!
A series of gasps and signs of choked breathing followed after he was redeemed an opportunity for a breather. Chen Zhiyu coughed with all his might, even spitting blood in bits as he tried to restore his body to normalcy.
A minute ago, he was infinitesimally close to death in a most literal sense and nobody seemed to care as they were busy laughing to the entertainment that his near-drowning encounter brought to them.
"Young Master, kindly scram now!" Chen Xizi mocked indifferently before 'helping' Chen Zhiyu leave with a fatal kick.
Chen Zhiyu's immobile body managed to fly for a certain distance before violently crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
When Chen Zhiyu landed, he was already in a mangled state. He had a good number of bones dislocated and standing in itself was a difficulty too, so he could only afford to crawl or glide his way back.
For a minute, he remained immobile, trying to summon the strength and power to begin moving. Afterwards, he began crawling away under the gazes of the clan members who were at the outskirts of Chen Zhiyu's pavilion.
"Who is that person over there crawling like a beast? And why is he around Lord Zi's residence?"
"Hush! You talk too loudly, aren't you too stupid for your age sir. That's Chen Zhiyu, the Young Master and he just returned from festivities with Lord Zi"
"Festivities? Oh, is it Lord Zi's weekly banquet, it must be. Then this Young Master of ours must be an addict, haha"
"Of course, he's probably drunk to stupor that he can't even walk on his feet again and has to crawl like a beast "
"Tsk! Tsk! What a pity that the Yan family would put up with this in time to come "
"Shhh! He's heading this way, step aside, quickly "
Chen Zhiyu continued his crawling, being completely in disharmony with the environment. Everyone seemed to be up on their business, not even treating him as an attractive material for the eye.
They would probably take a glimpse and ignite the flames of gossip with that detail alone, he had already become hardened to care about that.
In the process of crawling, the mean and nasty ones amongst them would proceed to spit at the ground unhinged and they would even kick at him while yelling that he left immediately as though they were chasing a scabied dog and not a fellow human being.
Eventually, one hour later, he arrived home, after surviving all the spiteful words and disgusted glances. He just slumped to the ground after he crawled home.
He was completely exhausted of energy and his injuries looked like they would take an eternity before getting better.
However, it still felt good that he was able to return home in the end without a missing limb considering how tense his encounter with Chen Xizi was.