Chapter 46: His!
When a "Done" sounded from inside, Xiao Li finally reined in all his emotions and pushed aside the vines to enter the cave.
Wen Yu sat by the fire, her body tightly wrapped in the felt cloak, with only her damp, stringy long hair spilling out from beneath it. The clothes she had changed out of were neatly folded and placed to the side.
Xiao Li picked up the dried wisteria vines, shook them to sift off the leaf debris and dust, and spread them out again before saying to Wen Yu, "Leaning against the stone wall is too cold. Make do with sleeping on these withered vines tonight. We'll find a way out tomorrow."
Wen Yu softly acknowledged with a "Mm." She was already feeling lightheaded and heavy-limbed, with a throbbing pain in her head, and she knew it was likely her cold worsening.
As she walked over to lie down, Xiao Li noticed her listless expression and overall lack of energy, guessing it was probably due to the cold. He asked her, "Did you drink the medicine in the pot?"
Wen Yu nodded and said, "There's still plenty left. Your injuries are severe, and you've been drenched in the rain all night. You should drink some too, to prevent the cold from settling in."
The medicine in the copper pot had been brewed for two doses. Feeling weak and nauseous, she had only managed to force down a small half of it after changing out of her wet clothes, afraid that drinking more would make her vomit and waste the medicine. Besides, she wanted to leave some for Xiao Li, so she didn't drink any more. Now, all she wanted was to curl up and sleep for a while.
Xiao Li said, "Go to sleep. I know what to do."
Wen Yu was deeply drowsy and uncomfortable all over. Wrapped in the cloak, she weakly closed her eyes and said, "Just dry my outer garments halfway. The other clothes are thin and should dry by tomorrow."
Xiao Li agreed. While adding firewood, he shifted the fire slightly closer to where Wen Yu was lying.
Fortunately, they were near the south, so the night weather here wasn't as bitterly cold as in the north. With the fire to warm them, they could manage through the night.
He picked up the medicine pot and found it quite heavy, guessing that Wen Yu must not have drunk much.
They were trapped in these mountains, and the pursuers would surely seal off the area to search. If they ran out of medicine later and her cold worsened, it would only become more troublesome.
He placed the medicine pot near the fire, keeping it warm at a slight distance for Wen Yu to drink if she woke during the night.
Noticing that Wen Yu's hair was still wet but having no dry clothes to wipe it with, he picked up her folded outer garments to dry them. However, the dress was stained with blood and reeked of it, and the other clothes she had folded separately were also bloodstained. He decided to take them outside to wash them in the spring water.
As he picked up the stack of clothes, the carp wood carving tucked inside fell out, landing on the ground with a soft sound.
Under the influence of the cold medicine, Wen Yu seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep and wasn't disturbed by the slight noise.
Xiao Li picked up the wood carving, rubbed it gently with his hand, and then looked up at Wen Yu, who was lying with her back to him. In the firelight, his pitch-black eyes held a depth of unspoken emotions.
In the end, he quietly placed the wood carving back, picked up the clothes Wen Yu had changed out of, and went outside.The night was too dark for Xiao Li to see clearly. While washing clothes by the spring, a piece of fabric tucked among the garments fell out. At first, he didn’t realize what it was, mistaking it for Wen Yu’s handkerchief. But after rubbing it a few times, he noticed it was much larger than a handkerchief, and the material wasn’t the usual silk gauze used for handkerchiefs—it felt more like satin, extremely smooth to the touch, with ties at the corners.
In a flash of realization, he seemed to understand what it was and froze completely. Not daring to hold it directly any longer, he hesitated briefly before wrapping the soft, smooth fabric in Wen Yu’s outer garment and carefully washing it.
After wringing it dry and bringing it back to dry by the fire, he still didn’t dare to hold the fabric directly, instead folding it into Wen Yu’s outer garment to dry together.
The rain continued unabated through the latter half of the night, and outside the cave, the sound of droplets falling from vines and leaves could be heard.
Xiao Li wondered if he had been addled by the night’s bloodshed. As he dried the clothes, his head began to feel heavy, and by the time he finished drying Wen Yu’s garments and stood up to fold them, he was dizzy.
He shook his head lightly, braced himself against the stone wall, and sat down on the other side of the fire, leaning against the cave wall to rest with his eyes closed.
The firewood in the flames burned out amidst the steady patter of rain outside, and as the light faded, the cave plunged back into darkness.
At daybreak, Wen Yu was awakened by the chirping of birds outside the cave.
Having taken medicine and sweated profusely under the warmth of the fire and her cloak, she felt much better upon waking, though her throat remained painfully hoarse.
Morning light filtered through the gaps in the vines at the cave entrance, illuminating the interior. She glanced at the person sleeping against the stone wall not far away and called out softly, “Xiao Li,” but the usually light sleeper did not respond.
Hearing his unusually heavy and labored breathing, Wen Yu sensed something was wrong. Propping herself up on the dried vines beneath her, she rose and walked over to him, gently shaking his shoulder. “Xiao Li?”
Xiao Li still didn’t respond. His breathing was heavy, and his face was flushed with fever.
Wen Yu reached out to touch his forehead and found it burning hot, even his exhaled breath scorching.
“How did this happen…”
Wen Yu hurriedly reached for the medicine pot, only to find it just as heavy as before—clear evidence that Xiao Li hadn’t taken any medicine the previous night.
Staring at the unconscious man, she felt both heartache and mild frustration. In a raspy voice, she murmured, “Why wouldn’t you listen?”
The stone wall was quite cold, and Wen Yu feared that Xiao Li had caught a chill from sleeping there all night. Struggling, she lifted one of his arms and said, “Don’t lie here anymore. Move over to the dried vines to sleep.”
But Xiao Li was too heavy for her to move, and his sleeve felt sticky and damp.
Wen Yu withdrew her hand and spread her fingers, only to find them stained with blood.
Her face instantly paled as she whispered, “Didn’t we already bandage the wounds?”
As if realizing something, she quickly untied Xiao Li’s clothes and saw that several of his bandaged wounds were soaked with large patches of blood. It was clear he hadn’t applied any medicine—he had merely wrapped the wounds with cloth.
With injuries as severe as his, failing to apply medicine and only binding them with cloth would inevitably lead to infection.
Wen Yu stared blankly at the bloodstains covering Xiao Li, a lump of bitterness rising in her throat. Gritting her teeth, she choked out, “Liar!”
He simply hadn’t had enough medicine to treat his wounds!
Afraid she would worry, he had deliberately wrapped them up to deceive her!The immediate priority was to reduce his fever and treat his wounds. Wen Yu suppressed the bitterness surging in her chest, picked up the medicine pot, and without caring that the medicine was cold, carefully placed the spout to his lips to feed him.
However, Xiao Li’s teeth were clenched tightly shut, and the medicine spilled out from the corners of his mouth.
Wen Yu tried many times, but each time the medicine overflowed. With too much already wasted, she dared not continue. Staring at the man who was half a step into the underworld, her eyes stung as she wrapped her arms around him.
Every scene from their escape slowly replayed in her mind: the sweat rolling down his temple as he carried her over mountains to evade pursuers, the wounds he took for her, the eyes that still watched her even as he was pinned in the mud, beaten until he coughed up blood...
A scalding tear fell into his collar.
She had already lost too much.
Wen Yu’s gaze gradually steadied amidst the boundless sorrow. Softly, she said, "I owe you several lives now. I won’t die, and you’re not allowed to die either."
She straightened up, took the medicine pot, and held a mouthful of the liquid. Cradling the young man’s face, her pale, soft lips met his, prying his teeth apart to carefully pass the medicine through.
This time, none spilled.
With lives at stake and the method proving effective, she had no time to dwell on anything else. Following the same approach, she continued feeding him the medicine.
Xiao Li hadn’t dreamed in a long time. Perhaps the night’s slaughter and suppressed emotions had stirred some distant memories.
He saw soft, fragrant silk curtains and red ribbons fluttering throughout the room.
The women in the establishment always swept their hair to one side, draped in sheer gauze, leaning against doorframes as they gazed affectionately at departing patrons.
His thin figure knelt on the floor, his reddened hands wringing out a cloth soaked in icy water to scrub the footprints left by passing crowds. Behind the countless open or closed doors came waves of flirtatious giggles or cries that hovered between pleasure and pain.
At five or six years old, he didn’t understand what it meant, but he knew he shouldn’t listen or look.
He kept his head lowered as much as possible, filled with endless disgust and revulsion toward those sounds.
The enforcers patrolling the corridors, however, would leer with vulgar, filthy grins at the noises. And whenever men familiar with his mother came looking, and she accompanied them upstairs, those enforcers would glance at him with similar expressions—malicious and mocking.
Xiao Li detested everything about the upstairs.
He’d rather scrub the foul buckets even the old maids refused to touch than clean the floors in the courtesans’ rooms.
But the enforcers loved to torment him. Whenever Xiao Huiniang or his godmothers were too busy to watch him, they’d order him upstairs.
A black boot stomped on the rag he was using to wipe the floor. A faceless enforcer shoved a tray into his hands, sneering with a mix of contempt and the thrill of mischief. "You little bastard, take this wine to the Nishang room."
Xiao Li kept his head down, tugging hard at the trapped cloth, his voice cold yet childish. "I’m not going."
A kick landed on him, followed by a vicious snarl. "You think I should go instead? If you offend the guests, the madam will sell you off to a trafficker! Thinking you can freeload here because of your whore mother? Don’t count on it!"
His small frame was knocked backward. Fear of being sold away, of never seeing his mother again, made him endure the pain and scramble up. He took the offered tray, his sleeves too short, revealing arms mottled with old and new bruises.Some were inflicted by the madam, others were bruises from the bullies' torment. In his memory, he could hardly recall a time at the Drunken Red Chamber when his skin was left unmarred.
He knocked on the door, and a fragmented voice from within told him to enter.
Xiao Li, unaware of what was happening, pushed the door open and stepped inside, head bowed as he carried a tray. Red silk drapes fluttered down to the floor.
He heard the woman behind the curtain let out a short, pained cry. Startled, he looked up and saw a snow-white arm pinned against the embroidered bedding. Through the partially drawn curtain, half of a face glistening with sweat was visible, though its features remained indistinct.
The man behind her, his face even more blurred, resembled a wild beast in the throes of mating.
The tray in his hands clattered to the floor, and Xiao Li let out a hoarse cry, covering his ears as he tried to flee the scene.
As he stumbled backward, it felt as though he had shattered countless mirrors. The cramped room fractured around him, transforming into a vast palace. In that instant, he grew from a child into a young man, and the woman on the bed gradually came into focus.
Her face was as captivating as a lotus in bloom, yet her eyes held the cool, translucent clarity of a clear moon. Pinned down on the bed with her arm twisted, her dark hair spilled across the pillow. Her eyes, slightly reddened, gazed toward him.
It was Wen Yu.
Xiao Li froze completely.
In that moment, all his fear and revulsion vanished.
A surge of violent rage tore through him, unleashing a torrent of fury and murderous intent from the depths of his heart.
Who?
Who was doing this to her?
King Chen?
Was it the King Chen she was to marry?
Jealousy and hatred blazed through him like wildfire, scorching his very organs. A black malice surged wildly, gripping his heart until it went numb.
He stared fixedly at that exquisitely cold yet enchanting lotus-like face, his mind screaming only one thought: She is mine!
It felt as though he had been split in two. Instinctively, he moved toward the bed—he would break the neck of the man behind her and take her back!
In the dizzying whirl, the one pressing Wen Yu’s snow-white arm against the headboard suddenly became himself.
Those cool, clear eyes gazed back at him with an unconscious, pleading allure, as if to say: It already hurts.
His head throbbed as if about to split open, pain pulsing through him.
Xiao Li, flustered, released the wrist he had marked with red bruises and hastily tried to retreat. Yet his entire body felt as though it were plunging into a sea of fire, the scorching heat threatening to tear his flesh apart.
In his daze, he thought this must be the punishment for having such a bizarre and lurid dream.
He was going to be burned alive.
Just then, a soft warmth touched his lips, and a cool, slightly bitter moisture passed into his mouth like a long-awaited rain after a drought.
But in an instant, that soft warmth and the faintly bitter moisture vanished.
His fingers, covered in scars, twitched slightly. He had no clear idea what was happening, only an instinctive craving for more.
So when that soft warmth returned, he sought it urgently. After draining the faintly bitter moisture, he detected another flavor within that softness—warm, carrying a light sweetness, like the honeyed water his godmother used to brew for him when he was ill as a child.
That rare sweetness, only tasted during illness, was something he remembered for years.
Each time he drank it, he would hold the bowl carefully, taking small, slow sips.
This flavor captivated him even more than the faintly bitter moisture. He sucked and tangled with it fiercely, unwilling to let that soft warmth leave. As his breathing grew increasingly ragged, a sudden sharp pain on his lips made him jolt—the warmth withdrew completely.Wen Yu sat on the ground, struggling to steady her breathing as a faint numbness and pain lingered on her lips and tongue.
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, staring blankly at the man who remained unconscious with a high fever.
How could he…
Unable to vent her frustration on someone in a coma, she had managed to feed him the cold medicine, but his wounds still needed attention.
Changing back into her own dress, Wen Yu decided to go out and see if there were any usable herbs nearby.
During her time at her uncle’s medicinal estate, she had seen herb farmers drying medicinal plants and had learned to recognize a few.
While dressing, she noticed that the stack of clothes Xiao Li had dried without roasting were not folded in her original way, and the bloodstains on them had all been washed away.
Among them… were even her intimate garments!
Wen Yu couldn’t help but glance sideways at Xiao Li, a surge of mixed emotions overwhelming her, eventually settling into a daze she couldn’t quite explain.
Was she angry?
Yet, in the night, despite his injuries, he had taken the trouble to wash and dry her clothes, and he had fallen so ill because he left all the medicine for her—how could she stay angry?
Wen Yu watched him for a while, then, with a complicated heart, draped the cloak over him, pushed aside the vines, and stepped out of the cave.
Dingzhou, inside the military tent.
After reading the urgent message delivered by the Hawk Hound, Pei Song’s handsome, refined face broke into an icy smile. Staring at the messenger, he spoke in a tone so gentle it was chillingly slow: “Tell me in detail, how is it that only six of the Qian-ranked death warriors remain, and how did Pei Shisan die?”
The Gen-ranked death warrior delivering the message broke into an instant cold sweat, his kneeling form sinking even lower. After recounting the events of that day, he said, “Before he died, Commander Thirteen ordered us to report to you, Master. He seemed to suggest there was something unusual about the boxing technique of the former dynasty remnant’s guard, but unfortunately, his injuries were too severe, and he couldn’t finish his last words.”
Hearing this, Pei Song’s voice turned eerily cold as he fixed his gaze on the death warrior: “Are you saying that not only is the guard beside the former dynasty remnant highly skilled with a blade, but his boxing technique also has a notable background?”
The Gen-ranked death warrior replied, “The opponent’s breath control is remarkably sustained, and that Five-Foot Miao Blade he wields is far heavier than ordinary swords. Commander Thirteen had us use attrition warfare to encircle him, but even after several rounds, he showed no signs of exhaustion. I suspect he must practice some internal martial art to possess such stamina. Commander Thirteen might have discerned something from his boxing technique.”
Pei Song lightly tapped his fingers on the long table, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes: “Bring back Thirteen’s body. I want to examine it myself.”
Author’s Note: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or nourished me with nutrient solutions between 2024-01-06 23:39:05 and 2024-01-08 06:00:04~
Special thanks to the little angels who cast landmines: Ye, Tutu, Juedufengzhou, 52538158, Qingshanbugai—1 each;Thank you to the little angels who irrigated nutrient solution: September 9th Drunk Climbing Nine Floors 23 bottles; Moonlight Falls on the Left Hand 13 bottles; Fallen Flowers on the Ground 10 bottles; Crab Boss, . 5 bottles; A Curtain of Charming Sunlight, Spring Morning Creek Bamboo, Future Bamboo Lover 2 bottles; Vision, Night, Bright Moonlight, Suisui Hates Chattering, Jiji, cocoee, Three O'Clock Luck, Mint Fragrance, Olive Leaf, Treat You to Lettuce, 29670145, kfpy_L, Prickly Head, Mo'er Xiaoxiao, Zhong Xiaoxiao's Yishui Cold, Tan Qinqin, Little Grass 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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