Chapter 8

After flipping through for a few moments, Qu Yan held a round jar between two fingers and sat up straight, supporting herself on the side of the bed. She didn’t notice her hair brushing against his cheek, causing the man’s breath to catch. She only focused on unscrewing the lid and dabbing some ointment on her fingertip.

“Wounds on the lips easily split open. Applying this will help it heal faster.” Qu Yan looked at his lips, and seeing no sign of resistance, she moved her fingertip towards them.

His lips were extremely soft and still carried some warmth. Qu Yan controlled her strength as she spread the ointment. Just as she was about to apply a second layer, she suddenly caught sight of the man’s ears, which had turned completely red. Her hand movement immediately paused.

She had almost forgotten that the man before her was still an unmarried young man. Her previous actions might have seemed too frivolous to him, causing him to become so shy.

The man lowered his eyes to conceal his emotions, his jet-black eyelashes trembling lightly. With the ointment applied, his lips appeared even more alluringly red. Combined with his flushed earlobes, he looked like a young gentleman who had been taken advantage of, appearing utterly innocent and pitiful.

Qi Ying was actually quite good-looking. If he had put effort into dressing up, he might even be more handsome than those young masters from noble families. However, he had suffered once because of his appearance when he was young, and after that, he switched to wearing women’s clothing and usually covered his face with a black cloth.

“You can do it yourself.”

Qu Yan placed the round jar in Qi Ying’s hand, but saw that the blush on his earlobes had deepened. Her heart inexplicably skipped a beat, so she picked up the two sets of clothes and hastily changed the subject, “You’re a man, it’s not suitable to always wear women’s clothing. My younger brother is about the same height and build as you, you can make do with these for now.”

Qi Ying nodded, not mentioning that he was used to wearing women’s clothing. He used his left hand holding the small jar to pull the clothes to his chest.

“Knock knock knock—”

At this moment, three knocks came from the door. Qu Yan and Qi Ying both turned their heads to look, with the latter’s eyes showing some wariness. He had been awake for so long but hadn’t seen anyone else yet.

The main door of the bedroom was some distance from the bed, with a screen blocking the view between the two. Neither side could see the other. Qu Yan got up and walked out. She opened the door and unsurprisingly saw the young disciple from the dining hall.

Under the continuous drizzle, the sky was like ink that couldn’t disperse, dark and damp. The young disciple was holding a wooden box in each hand. As soon as she saw Qu Yan, her face lit up with a smile, about to greet her.

Zhao Mian took a breath, but just as she was about to speak, she saw the senior sister’s brows slightly furrowed, followed by her index finger raised to her lips in a gesture for silence. She understood what it meant.

The words she was about to say got stuck in her throat. She closed her mouth and quickly nodded, then handed the meal boxes to the senior sister. She picked up her umbrella and left, quickly leaving Qu Yan’s courtyard. Once she reached the small path, she started running at full speed.

She couldn’t wait to go back and gossip with others!

Qu Yan placed the meals on the table. The dining hall had prepared quite a few medicinal dishes, including a fresh lotus leaf juice. It wasn’t convenient to eat on the bed, and if anything spilled it wouldn’t be easy to clean up. So she turned to look at Qi Ying and said, “Since you can move around, why not come to the table to eat?”

The man on the bed naturally had no objections. As soon as she finished speaking, he nodded, lifted the blanket and was about to put on his shoes to get out of bed. He was still wearing Qu Yan’s clothes, which already didn’t fit well. Now as he bent over, the front of his robe uncontrollably revealed a large expanse of skin.

That eye-catching virginity mark caught Qu Yan’s eye. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and her fingertips twitched along with it.

Qi Ying belatedly realized his embarrassing state of undress. As he stood up, he held the front of his robe closed and walked over slowly with tightly pressed lips. His dark eyes looked towards Qu Yan, silently asking where he should sit.

Though severely injured, apart from his slightly unsteady gait, he looked no different from a healthy person. Qu Yan withdrew her observing gaze, once again amazed at his body’s endurance.

“The medicinal dishes are on the left side, you can sit here.”

Qu Yan pulled out a chair for him. She felt her smile was very kind and approachable, but the man’s movements as he sat down were very stiff, as if this wasn’t a meal but an interrogation. Qu Yan’s smile froze for a moment, then she moved to sit opposite him. Just before sitting down, she caught sight of the man adjusting his robe again from the corner of her eye.

“Why don’t you change into some other clothes first?”

Qu Yan’s sudden words made Qi Ying’s movements pause. Then he simply lowered his hands and said in a low voice, “No need.”

If not for seeing the blush on the man’s face, Qu Yan might have really thought he didn’t care. She walked in front of the man and bent down, using her finger to loosen his sash, then carefully retied it for him, making sure no skin would be exposed.

“Actually, when I rescued you and brought you back, I didn’t know your gender, let alone that you were an unmarried young man. As a doctor, I have absolutely no intention of taking advantage of my patients. But we are indeed of different genders, and if you mind this, I should apologize.”

Qu Yan’s voice was as gentle as ever. She was born with a naturally gentle demeanor. After this set of words, it seemed as if Qi Ying was overthinking things. It wouldn’t be appropriate to say he minded, but it would be even less appropriate to say he didn’t mind.

He closed his mouth, simply choosing not to speak anymore.

Seeing him like this, the smile at the corners of Qu Yan’s lips deepened. Qi Ying’s medicinal meal was light, without a trace of meat. She thought for a moment, then picked up a piece of spare rib and placed it in his spoon.

“Here’s some meat you like. Although it’s not suitable to eat meat now, a small bite is fine.”

Qi Ying’s spoon trembled, and the spare rib fell into his porridge.

Clearly, he hadn’t forgotten the incident of staring at Ah Huang gnawing on a bone.

Qu Yan chuckled lightly. To ease the overly silent atmosphere, she brought the fresh lotus leaf juice to the man. The soup was emerald green, with a faint medicinal scent.

Seeing Qi Ying’s gaze, Qu Yan explained, “This is fresh lotus leaf juice. Although it doesn’t taste very good, it’s effective for stopping bleeding. Your wounds haven’t healed yet, so drinking more will be beneficial.”

Qi Ying gave a light “Mm” and drank the not-so-tasty medicinal soup in one go, his actions quite bold.

Qu Yan’s smile faltered, and she gave up the idea of continuing to introduce the dishes to him.

In the dining hall.

Zhao Mian struggled to squeeze through the crowd, heading straight for the back kitchen, her eyes shining brightly.

“Guess what I just saw!”

The woman who was stir-frying looked at her strangely, “Weren’t you just delivering lunch to Senior Sister? What else could you have seen?”

“Exactly!” Zhao Mian clapped her hands, her eyes gleaming mysteriously as she said, “I saw that there really is someone in Senior Sister’s room.”

“We already knew that, why else would we have you bring an extra medicinal meal?” Xu Rong looked at her as if she was a foolish girl.

Zhao Mian shook her finger, “No, no, having someone in the courtyard and having someone in the room are two different concepts. The patient is probably just a cover.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, think about it, what kind of patient could share a room with Senior Sister? It must be a delicate and beautiful person!” The more Zhao Mian guessed, the more she felt she was right. She had been in Medicine Immortal Valley for so many years and had never heard of anyone staying in Senior Sister’s room. This person must be extraordinary.

Everyone in Medicine Immortal Valley knew that although Senior Sister seemed easy to approach, her temperament was actually extremely aloof.

A few years ago, there was a bold young man in the valley who actively showed interest in her. Everyone around was teasing them, but Senior Sister rejected him very gently, without embarrassing him in front of everyone. Later, those who had teased that day were all sent to the mountain to pick arhat fruit for a month. When they came back, they were all in a sorry state, and no one dared to gossip about Senior Sister again.

At that time, they all thought Senior Sister had rejected him because of Xu Zong’er, but after observing for several years, the two childhood sweethearts showed no signs of getting closer.

Zhao Mian received a slap on her head, followed by Xu Rong scolding her, “Wake up! You’re talking nonsense without even seeing a shadow of the person. Be careful not to let Fourth Senior Sister find out, or she’ll dock your pay for a year. Go deliver this dish to the front hall.”

This topic was deflected by Xu Rong, but she didn’t expect that what Zhao Mian said would not only come true, but they would even see Senior Sister’s ‘room guest’ not long after.

A day passed quickly. After lunch, Qu Yan returned to the study with those two pages of paper, focusing on researching the useful information on them. Time was running short now, and she needed to seize every opportunity.

Although the antidote for the Ten-Day Dispersal had lost its effectiveness, fortunately, that strange fragrance hadn’t disappeared. This was originally an herb she had added on a whim, but now it had become a life-threatening marker.

Qi Ying was left alone in the room. He sat silently for a while, then slowly stood up, supporting himself on the corner of the table. This feeling of being too leisurely made him uncomfortable. In his twenty years in the Floating Pagoda, he had never experienced such a thing. He was always on missions, getting injured, and as long as he could get up, the injury wasn’t considered serious, and there was no need for rest.

The hard-earned status of a top-tier shadow guard, which he thought was a chance for freedom, turned out to be an endless trap. The Floating Pagoda never had any intention of letting go of any shadow guard.

When a blade develops its own will, it becomes even more difficult to sharpen. The Floating Pagoda discovered his disloyalty, but before they could act, Qi Ying moved faster. He deliberately failed, causing his employer to suffer some minor injuries, then requested to cripple his own martial arts and be removed from the Floating Pagoda, citing dereliction of duty.

The sword he had wielded for eight years was finally turned towards his own abdomen.

Qi Ying walked to the window and pushed open the carved wooden window. The cold wind from outside rushed in, carrying fine rain that splashed on his face and blew a few strands of hair at his temples. He raised his eyes to look into the distance, where mountains layered upon mountains were hidden in the rain and mist, like a light and elegant ink painting.

He stood by the window looking for a long time. When he lowered his gaze, he saw three dogs of different sizes and colors standing under the window, which startled him a bit. They tilted their heads, curiously observing this stranger Qi Ying, looking very cute.

Qi Ying had only seen the little yellow dog on the right before. He softly tried, “Ah Huang, is that what you’re called?”

Ah Huang very obligingly barked once. Although it was the smallest in size, its voice was not at all weak. A rare smile appeared in Qi Ying’s eyes. He looked at the other two dogs.

“Then what are you two called, Ah Hei and Ah Hua?”

These two names were clearly very common, but he said them so seriously, as if they weren’t dog names but proper human names.

The chubby dog called Ah Hua ignored him, but Ah Hei wagged its tail very happily, even standing up and pawing at the windowsill, trying to sniff him with its nose. Standing up, it was nearly half as tall as a person. Qi Ying watched its eager efforts to reach him, and suddenly felt moved. He raised his hand and placed it on its fluffy head.

Seeing someone willing to pat its head, Wuyun’s tail wagged so hard it almost reached its head. It was whimpering and whining, showing none of the demeanor a guard dog should have, just short of lying on the ground, rolling around and exposing its belly.

Qi Ying had rarely interacted with animals and didn’t know there were such friendly dogs. The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curve up into a smile.

When Qu Yan came out, this was the scene she saw. Through the window, the man was lowering his eyes playing with the black dog, looking somewhat serene at first glance. She originally didn’t want to disturb this harmonious atmosphere, but seeing Ah Huang wagging its tail and running over, Qu Yan had no choice but to step forward.

“I heard Ah Huang barking earlier and thought you might need something. I didn’t expect you to get along so well with them.”

The black dog under his hand saw its owner come out and immediately abandoned him to circle around Qu Yan. Unfortunately, its owner didn’t even give it a glance, only looking at the man who had just been petting it. It whimpered twice, then lay down on the ground motionless.

Qi Ying silently withdrew his hand that was hanging in mid-air and made eye contact with Qu Yan through the window, his expression somewhat at a loss. The smile that had been at the corners of his lips earlier had long since disappeared.

“I saw this Ah Hei was friendly, so I patted it.”

“Ah Hei?” Qu Yan repeated, looking at the black dog lying at her feet, her expression somewhat strange.

“I heard you call that one Ah Huang, so I thought this one was called Ah Hei.” Qi Ying lowered his gaze to look at the damp ground, his voice somewhat soft. His throat was no longer as hoarse as when he first woke up, now sounding as clear as a mountain spring.

Qu Yan let out a long “Oh,” then smiled and nodded, “Right, it’s called Ah Hei, and the fat one is called Ah Hua.”

Qi Ying didn’t dwell on the dogs’ names any longer, but looked towards the distant mountains and asked a question he had wanted to know since he woke up.

“Where exactly is this place?”

Qu Yan was silent for a moment, then looked at him and said, “Xiquan Mountain, not far from where you fell.”