QT: Don't fall in love with the Male Lead

This time around Su Xueyi and Han Yu aren't allowed to accompany Xi Zirui into the martial hall.

Su Xueyi gives him an encouraging nod outside the double doors, and Han Yu shoots him a wink.

Xi Zirui rolls his eyes and walks in.

He expects to find the same scenario as last time, but instead there's only Han Chang inside the martial hall.

Xi Zirui bows respectfully to him, but his hackles are immediately raised. 

Han Chang crosses the distance between them without greeting him. He stops in front of Xi Zirui and opens his fist, revealing a perfectly round pill.

"Your second trial."

Xi Zirui takes the pill from him and examines it. "What is it?"

"The trial will start after you eat it," is all Han Chang says.

Discreetly, Xi Zirui tries to scent the odd pill, but no smell of poison wafts up. Under Han Chang's shrewd gaze, Xi Zirui has no choice but to swallow it, and hope that whatever its effects, the burst of replenishing qi coursing through his meridians will be able to purify any toxins.

He doesn't feel any different, but apparently that's what Han Chang expects.

"Follow me," he says, walking towards one of the side doors of the martial hall.

Outside, he grabs Xi Zirui by the wrist and jumps into the nearest roof using his lightness skill. Xi Zirui is confused, but even more so when Han Chang drags him to the edge of the sect grounds, using his light jumping to keep them both out of sight.

Finally, they come to a stop near an unused building that must have been a shed at some point. Han Chang unlocks the door, and shoves Xi Zirui inside, who loses his footing and falls on top of a pile of old straw and bamboo shavings.

"What is the trial?" Xi Zirui asks, raising his voice when it looks like Han Chang is just going to leave him there.

He smirks. "You'll know soon enough." He pulls the door to the shed closed, and Xi Zirui hears the sound of a lock clicking into place, although he knows that's not the only guards Han Chang will set up.

"If you manage to survive twelve hours without ripping your own skin off, I'll consider the trial successfully passed," Han Chang says from outside. 

Xi Zirui might not be able to see his face but he can hear the smirk in his voice all the same.

---

Not a lot of time passes before Xi Zirui realises that maybe he would be better off if there was poison in the pill.

It starts with a light flush and heated skin that he writes off as a result of the cramped shed.

Then, he becomes conscious of his increased heart rate, and the syncopated rhythm of his own breathing. 

His senses sharpen almost painfully, to the point that the sound of the straw shifting under him when he moves sounds to his ears like a blade being whetted.

All the blood in his body seems to rush southward, and Xi Zirui understands then that Han Chang gave him an aphrodisiac. 

An unbearable heat starts burning him from the inside. Xi Zirui tears at his robes seeking relief but it doesn't come. His mind conjures up images of the kind of things he and Han Yu got up to just last night.

The kind of things that would put an end to his torment.

Xi Zirui knows he can't give in to desire, that will only lead him to spiral further into despair. He tries to focus and meditate, but his thoughts are too scattered for that.

The moment he tries to think about something else he remembers how good it felt to have Han Yu inside him, how he likes feeling his skin against his, and the heat will start boiling down all his rational thoughts all over again.

Xi Zirui starts banging on the door, desperate for relief, either for the cooling touch of Han Yu's hands, or for the bottom of the lake.

His own touch on his skin only makes him spiral further into the madness of the aphrodisiac. 

'I'm going to die, this is going to kill me,' Xi Zirui thinks to himself, scoring his nails down his thighs to try and hold himself together.

As his conscience begins to fade Tuya's wizened face swims up to the front of his mind, her gruff smile encouraging him to find a way out.

Xi Zirui can't stand the idea of dying without avenging her death. He made her a promise, and he can't die without keeping it.

Tuya's face dissolves out of his field of vision, and is replaced by Han Yu's handsome face, his cocky grin making Xi Zirui's stomach flip in ways that have nothing to do with the aphrodisiac. 

He would have liked to kiss the stupid, smug smirk off his face one last time.

The Han Yu in his fevered hallucination starts talking with him, "Shixiong, shixiong! What's going on, you're burning up. Why are your fox ears and tail showing? What if someone else saw."

The cool touch of slender fingers on his exposed collarbones grounds Xi Zirui back into reality. Some of the haze clears from his mind. "Han Yu?"

"What did they do to you?"

Xi Zirui's relief is immense, but he doesn't have time to talk. He wraps his arms around Han Yu's neck and pulls him down against his body. "Please, please, fuck me."

Han Yu is clearly startled. "I don't think..." Xi Zirui starts tearing at his robes before he can finish that sentence.

"Aphrodisiac, please, it's going to kill me," Xi Zirui says, panting out the words.

Han Yu helps Xi Zirui get his robes off, cursing under his breath as he drops a line of cooling kisses across Xi Zirui's neck. "That bastard, I'm going to kill him."

"Who are you going to kill?" a chilling voice asks from behind them.

Han Chang stands on the shed's doorway. He watches coldly as his son scrambles to hide Xi Zirui's half-naked body from view. 

It's too late, Han Chang has already seen his ears and tail, as have all the sect elders behind him.

Han Chang turns to the elders with an aggrieved expression. "You see, he's a vile fox spirit who has infiltrated our sect to lead our disciples astray."