Chapter 228 Bedtime Story

Chu Hengkong gathered the medicinal powder and ran to the door of the red house on the edge of the settlement. There was no light in the room, but behind the window, a strange silhouette could be seen moving. Every ten seconds or so, a muffled sound could be heard in the darkness, like the breathing of a giant beast.

Qingxia's condition stabilized after treatment, but the toxins hadn't been eradicated, and the horrific tumors remained, clinging to her body and growing. As soon as Qingxia regained some strength, she hid in her room, unwilling to see anyone.

Chu Hengkong knocked on the door: "Qingxia, come out and take medicine."

There was no movement in the room. Chu Hengkong increased his intensity: "Qingxia! Be obedient!"

A muffled voice came from the room: "Put it at the door..."

"Is it left at the door, waiting for you to come out and destroy it all?" Chu Hengkong slammed the door. "Don't be so angry. It's okay if you don't want to go out and peek."

"No! I'll eat it myself!" Qingxia's attitude was extremely firm.

Chu Hengkong was baffled, wondering why this girl had been so fine before, now she was acting so badly while he was treating her. It was true that the poisoning was causing a bit of an awkward situation, but after so many experiences together, who would care about such a small thing?

Or does she care?

Chu Hengkong thought of someone's previous remarks and felt both amused and helpless: "Ji Huaisu said that to provoke you to hang on to your life. You don't need to think too much..."

"You! Go! Away!" Qingxia shouted loudly.

Chu Hengkong pinched his brows, feeling that female centaurs were just as incomprehensible and baffling as women. Qingxia's life was in danger, and there was only this one dose of medicine left. He couldn't just leave the medicine and leave for the sake of saving face. But if he forced his way into the room and fed her the medicine, that would be heartbreaking.

He gently opened the window a crack, sat down with his back to the wall, and used his wrist to drag the medicine powder to the window.

"I won't look at you, okay? Come to the window and take your medicine."

"……oh."

The window opened slightly, and the heavy air was thick with the stench of water and blood. After a while, he felt something wet, with an unusually high temperature and an itchy sensation, like a small animal licking his palm. He knew it was Qingxia taking medicine, but he couldn't help but imagine a pony peeking through the window to eat a carrot.

"You are thinking about something very rude!" Qingxia said.

Chu Hengkong coughed: "Your illusion."

"Obviously." Qingxia bit him lightly, "You were planning to take advantage of the opportunity to grab my neck and throw me over the shoulder!"

"Your brain is truly remarkable to be able to imagine such a scene."

"W-what?" Qingxia shrank her head. "Does it mean you want to stick my tongue to the prosthesis..."

"This has become hilarious torture! Stop it! Are you the kind of person who would lick a telephone pole in the middle of winter?"

“What’s a telephone pole?”

"The poles used to lay the power lines are slightly shorter than the sacred pillars," Chu Hengkong gestured. "Electricity will flow through those lines, from far away to people's homes, so there will be light without the need for fire."

Qingxia imagined a golden, transparent tree of light, densely covered with zigzag lightning. A tall, god-like man was commanding from the tree. Wherever he pointed, lightning would strike. When the lightning struck, the house was illuminated in pure white, and the people in the house were electrocuted so badly that their skeletons could be seen.

"So amazing... No wonder you are so strong..." Qingxia exclaimed.

"What does this have to do with me?"

"I think your hometown is likely to have been polluted by the spiral tower!" Qingxia said seriously.

"I have absolutely no desire to explore your imagination."

After finishing the medicine, Chu Hengkong handed over a bag of water: "How do you feel now?"

"Gulp gulp, how strange." Qingxia said as she drank, "I'm obviously very sleepy but I'm also very energetic..."

"That's right, because this medicine will strengthen the body. Now take the Changle Pill and let the medicine work to slowly eliminate the poison. Just hold on for one night and it will be enough."

"oh oh."

Qingxia ducked her head back. Chu Hengkong withdrew his hand and sat quietly. A strange crackling sound came from the room, as if something was constantly breaking. After a long while, Qingxia poked her head out again: "You go first..."

"If I leave you alone to treat the disease, will you?" Chu Hengkong laughed. "Even a child in the hospital needs a caregiver, let alone someone as seriously injured as you."

"If you stay here, I'll be distracted!" Qing Xia said firmly, "Besides, the treatment is very painful. I'd be embarrassed to scream if you stayed next to me..."

"Then just chat. It won't hurt so much if you distract yourself."

"But I don't have the energy to speak." Qingxia came up with an idea, "Can you tell me a story?"

"Okay, let me tell you a story that fits the situation. It's about Guan Yu scraping his bones to treat poison." Chu Hengkong said casually.

Qingxia became interested when she heard this: "I know this part. It talks about the poisonous doctor Hua Tuo who secretly harmed the Martial Saint."

"Please be kind, my head is starting to hurt."

"When the Martial Saint Guan Yu was shot by an enemy warrior while attacking Heian-kyō, he returned to the barracks to recuperate. Seeing this as a godsend, the poison doctor Hua Tuo volunteered to treat him," Qing Xia recounted the story vividly. "He knew the Martial Saint was invincible in battle formations and would be no match for him in a head-on fight. So, he took the opportunity while the Martial Saint was healing to cut open his flesh and secretly smear poison on his bones!"

"Cheng scraped the bone and poisoned it."

"Meanwhile, the Martial Saint remained calm, drying his arms while playing chess."

"Does the Second Master have an eye disease? He can't even see. Someone is smearing poison on his bones. There's an old man with a small dwarf smearing it on his bones."

Qing Xia said in a sad tone: "This is all because Hua Tuo used too much Ma Fei San, causing the Martial Saint to lose consciousness..."

"Oh, that actually makes sense. Then why can you still play chess even though you're unconscious?"

"..." Qingxia hesitated for a moment, "Maybe it's because the Martial Saint plays too many games every day, so he has formed muscle memory."

"This isn't a martial arts saint, it's a chess saint!"

Qingxia slammed the window frame. "Just as the poison was about to enter his body, the Martial Saint was on the verge of dying. Suddenly, a chess piece flew over from the opposite side and pierced the poison doctor's heart, killing him!"

"What kind of hero is this?"

"It was the Flying General Lü Bu who played chess with Guan Yu."

Chu Hengkong finally couldn't stand it anymore: "Ma Liang has become Lu Bu! How come Lu Bu is still alive after the 75th battle of Fancheng?! And he even defected to Shu!"

"This is the story of Guan Yu scraping his bones to treat poison~"

"Anyway, you must apologize to Hua Tuo first."

Qingxia hummed happily: "What is the original version like?"

"First of all, there is no Lu Bu in the original version."

"Why is this happening!" Qingxia was disappointed.

"Stop shaking the window! Okay, listen to me patiently..."

Chu Hengkong was just about to talk about the bone scraping and poison treatment, but then he remembered that the next chapter would be the defeat at Maicheng. Qingxia asked, "And then?" He didn't know how to start. So he simply said, "The story of this martial saint needs to start a little further back. Let's start with the story of the five passes and the six generals..."

"It's the story of the Martial Saint and the Knights of the Round Table."

"If you do this again, I won't tell you."

"General Chu is so stingy..."

When telling stories about people, he always picked out the most exciting parts. After the story of a thousand-mile journey alone, he talked about releasing Cao Cao at Huarong Pass, and then talked about going to a meeting alone with a sword, and talking about flooding the seven armies and shocking China... After just a few words, Qingxia would ask a question. It took a lot of time just to correct those bizarre ideas.

Chu Hengkong was not a very good storyteller, and by the time he was exhausted from talking, the night was almost over.

"Guan Gong is indeed powerful, but I still like Lu Bu." Qingxia concluded.

"Because Lu Bu is good at fighting?" Chu Hengkong yawned.

"General Lu can defeat three brothers on his own, how amazing!" Qingxia was full of yearning. "I heard from my grandfather that legends can defeat the majority with a small number of people, so I have liked Lu Bu since I was a child."

"I think you can easily kill those three Blood Knights single-handedly. You're even more powerful than Lu Bu." Chu Hengkong stood up. "Are you feeling better?"

Halfway through the story, the sound of bubbles bursting gradually faded, and by the time Chu Hengkong stood up, the vague outline in the room had quietly vanished. The window had been left open, and the stench of decay had mostly dissipated before he finally heard the familiar sound of horse hooves.

"Wait a moment." Qingxia slammed the window shut. "I need to clean the room."

"Oh, you can actually clean the room."

There was a clanging of bells in the room for a while, a noise more like demolition than cleaning. Then Qingxia pushed the door open. She was panting, her face flushed, her red hair matted with sweat, like a seriously ill patient with a fever.

"It's done!" Qingxia gasped, extremely nervous. "No, is everything okay?"

Chu Hengkong walked around her and patted her wet fur: "You are exactly the same as before."

Qingxia suddenly relaxed, and fell to the ground with all four legs bent. She grabbed Chu Hengkong's arm and said pitifully, "Isn't it very smelly..."

"It's good enough that you're alive. Why are you still brooding over this?" Chu Hengkong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Just wash it and it will be fine."

Qingxia's gaze shifted to the side hesitantly, but her hand was still tugging at someone's arm. "General Chu, I have something to ask of you..."

"Be more normal. I'm scared."

Qingxia muttered softly, "I'm exhausted now, my bones and muscles are numb, and I don't even have the strength to walk... But I love cleanliness by nature, and I can't stand this wet and miserable look..."

"You're squeezing my arm so hard it's starting to hurt, and you call that lack of strength?"

Qingxia seemed to want to straighten her back, but suddenly lost her strength and fell into Chu Hengkong's arms. Her body temperature was as high as a fever. "General Chu has seen it before... Can you help me... wash it?"

The centaur girl stared at the corner of the room. Chu Hengkong helped her straighten her head and smiled at her gently.

"sure."

Qingxia's heartbeat quickened: "Then, then, then..."

Chu Hengkong raised his head and shouted, "Captain Ji! Come and help your comrades clean up!"

"Leave it to me, little things!"

Ji Huaisu heard the news and rushed out, carrying a 10-foot-long ice brush on his back, a fine steel comb on his wrist, long gloves on his hands, and a water mask on his head. He was a seasoned cleaning worker.

Without a word, she picked up a bucket and slammed it on the ground: "I, Ji Huaisu, have been good at dealing with animals since I was young, especially taking care of horses. You can rest assured to leave this job to me!"

Qingxia's expression suddenly changed, and she wanted to run away on the spot: "No! I can wash it by myself!"

"Qingxia, you're really delirious from the fever. You don't even have the strength to get up now, how are you supposed to take care of yourself?" Chu Hengkong restrained the Centaur girl with his willpower and stood up naturally. "Captain Ji, the care of this teammate is a huge responsibility, I'm leaving it to you."

"Brothers, just leave it to me and rest assured!" Ji Huaisu dipped the ice brush in water and smiled fiercely, "Come here, Qingxia, let me help you wash it!"

Qingxia tried to escape by jumping out of the window: "I don't want you to wash me! I want Chu Hengkong to wash me!!"

"What a lecherous horse! Even when the time is right, he's still thinking about making trouble! Don't even think about being so arrogant, or you'll be in trouble!"

"No! This is indecent assault! Chu Hengkong, save me!!"

Ji Huaisu gasped: "Fuck you, a seriously ill patient, how can you have so much strength?! Xiaoye, come and help!"

Qingye rushed out with a bar of soap in his hand: "Qingye has the order!"

"Sisters, let's tie her up tightly and give her a good scrub... Don't throw water on her, I tell you! If you do, I'll be mad!"

"Ah, there's soap bubbles in my eyes!"

Chu Hengkong whistled and walked away briskly, casually picking up Fander who was listening to the excitement from afar. Fander glanced at him and said, "Hey, hey, aren't you here to accompany me? Why are you deserting at the last minute?"

"When dealing with heretics, do what you can." Chu Hengkong said, "When you meet a woman, run away."

(End of this chapter)