Chapter 2

Luo Yan hadn't expected him to wake up so quickly. She quietly hid Shi Dai and greeted him casually, "You're awake."

Zhu Yun saw a double image before his eyes. He counted them as if by some strange impulse, and there were seven Luo Yans in total.

You could still make out the girl's features; she had a full face with fleshy cheeks, and her round, large almond-shaped eyes were lively and mischievous, but her skin was an incongruous sickly pale.

Looking at it for too long makes me dizzy.

Judging from his symptoms, Luo Yan guessed that he had a hypoglycemic attack. She ran out and then ran back, carrying a bowl of steaming sugar water.

She placed the porcelain bowl on the small table and asked considerately, "Should I help you up, or would you like to drink it like this?"

Her response was Zhu Yun's palm raised halfway in the air.

However, it only lasted for a moment before falling heavily back down, making the bed board shake.

Luo Yan caught a glimpse of embarrassment in the boy's eyes, and she tilted her head blankly: "What do you want?"

"......"

Zhu Yun thought angrily, "I'm going to break your neck."

The poison and his internal energy were locked in a struggle, neither gaining the upper hand, which resulted in his slow reaction and lack of strength.

After staring at Luo Yan for a while, the double image dissipated, and his senses returned to his limbs.

He propped himself up on the bed and sat up, gesturing for Luo Yan to hand him the bowl. As a result, the thin blanket slipped down to his waist with the movement.

It's chilly.

He glanced down for a few moments, then realized he was naked, and his expression became subtle in an instant.

Unfortunately, Luo Yan couldn't read the murderous intent. She just thought the boy was shy and grabbed a robe from the foot of the bed, comforting him as she said, "You were covered in blood, and it was the doctor who cleaned you up."

After saying that, she politely turned her back.

After the robes were washed, dried, and scented, Zhu Yun's mood improved, and she slowly tightened the sash.

Whether from hunger or anger, his hands were trembling slightly, making it difficult for him to even walk, let alone kill someone.

The girl was still chattering: "Are you feeling any better? Uncle Liu said you wouldn't wake up. By the way, should I help you send a message home?"

He ignored him, his gaze falling on the long, lustrous hair in front of him, clearly the result of being pampered by a wealthy family.

But how could a sickly young woman not know how to avoid suspicion when facing a man from another family?

Luo Yan, however, had truly gotten used to it.

In her eyes, no matter how arrogant Zhu Yun was, she was still someone who should honestly go to the pediatrics department. She also often saw other children changing into hospital gowns without much regard for etiquette.

Once the commotion behind her stopped, Luo Yan turned around on her own.

Zhu Yun's forehead was still damp with cold sweat. She wrung out a handkerchief and awkwardly wiped his forehead. Her gaze inevitably swept over the boy's messy braids, and she suddenly felt a little guilty.

We need to find a way to untangle the three-strand braid.

After drinking the sugar water, Zhu Yun felt soothed and began to discreetly survey his surroundings. The general layout remained unchanged, and the secret manual and tonics should still be in their original places.

As he was pondering this, Luo Yan tugged at his hair: "Say something."

"say what."

His voice was hoarse from illness, but it was still clear and crisp, and you could tell at a glance that he was still a young boy.

Luo Yan asked him, "What's your name?"

Zhu Yun glanced at her sideways: "And what's your name?"

She pouted, thinking that her temper was far worse than her looks, but she still put on the airs of a hostess: "My name is Luo Yan, and it was my grandmother and I who saved you."

"oh."

"......"

That's all?

Luo Yan waited a while, but there was no further news. Instead, his face turned inexplicably red, as if his condition had worsened. Her attitude immediately softened: "Dinner will be a while longer. Are you hungry? I'll bring you another bowl of porridge."

Zhu Yun gripped the thin blanket tightly: "Get out."

"Um?"

He stiffened his neck, unwilling to speak again, his gaze deliberately drifting towards the shorts draped at the foot of the bed.

"You wanted to wear pants? You should have said so earlier." Luo Yan stuck out her tongue, took the bowls and plates out, and thoughtfully closed the door behind her.

Zhu Yun, dressed neatly, touched her haphazardly tied hair and was furious.

However, considering that someone was temporarily needed, she was allowed to stay for a few days.

After quietly tidying up, he leaned against the wall and went to the next room, where he skillfully took out bottles and jars from the gilded leather trunk. There was no need to distinguish them; they were all medicines that were hard to come by even in the martial arts world. Zhu Yun swallowed them all at once and then sat down to meditate and circulate his qi.

People generally say that "Mandarin Duck Warmth" is the most poisonous of all.

Little did they know that "Mandarin Duck" was poison and "Swan" was the antidote. If both were taken together and then refined with internal energy, one would be immune to all poisons.

However, the refining process is equivalent to burning one's internal organs with raging fire, and very few people can actually endure it.

Zhu Yun managed to suppress the poison with the help of a large amount of tonics, rested for a while, and quietly returned to her room once her body was no longer agitated.

On the way, he saw Luo Yan talking with a village woman in the courtyard.

"Let him stay a few more days," Luo Yan said, clinging to the woman's arm. "He'll leave on his own once he's fully recovered."

Jia Yufang always regarded her as her mistress and knew that Luo Yan lacked a playmate, so she had no choice but to agree: "Then let's keep her until the doctor goes up the mountain."

Having received confirmation, Luo Yan picked up the wooden box containing the toys and went to find Zhu Yun, also bringing him a bowl of congee to tide him over.

Want to play jacks?

Zhu Yun scooped up some water to wash his face, and upon hearing this, he was somewhat speechless, wanting to remind her that he hadn't fully recovered yet. But since he had nothing else to do, after drinking some porridge, he crossed his arms, leaned back, and lazily hummed in agreement.

"Let me demonstrate for you first."

Her fingers flew, deftly catching the pebble, while also being mindful of the beginner's pride, encouraging her, "You'll be able to catch it after a few tries, give it a shot."

He smirked, closed his eyes, and grabbed something blindly: "Like this?"

"......"

He's a master.

Feeling embarrassed, Luo Yan put the stones away. "You're still sick, so it's not good for you to do strenuous exercise. Let's play chess instead."

Zhu Yun raised an eyebrow: "No."

“That’s perfect,” she said with great enthusiasm. “I’ll teach you.”

Unexpectedly, Zhu Yun completely disregarded the rules, randomly placing the black and white stones in his left and right hands. If Luo Yan offered a reminder, he would stare at her with his dark eyes in a gloomy manner.

She got angry and disrupted the game: "You're not fun at all."

Zhu Yun's ears tingled from the shout, but he was also amused by her reproachful look. He took out a palm-sized cloth bag from the box and weighed it in his hand: "What's this?"

Luo Yan forgot to argue and subconsciously answered, "This is a sandbag."

Her grandmother sewed it for her, hoping to use it to infiltrate the children of Qingyuan Village...

Thinking of this, Luo Yan had an idea and patted his shoulder: "You look much better, let's go out and play."

"?"

If I'm not mistaken, it's only been half an hour since he woke up. Whose injuries can heal in the blink of an eye?

But Luo Yan wasn't a considerate person. She kicked his shoes and boots and said, "Hurry up, Grandma is cooking. We can't play for too long."

Zhu Yun took a deep breath, slowly stood up, and casually asked, "Where's my sword?"

“Look,” she pointed to the corner, “Don’t take it with you, the kids in the village are all cowards.”

He remained noncommittal, bypassing Luo Yan and leaving the courtyard first. He checked the traces of his arrival and, seeing that they had been washed clean by the rain, felt relieved.

Luo Yan was still dawdling: "Grandmother, I'm going out to play, I'll be right back."

The girl's voice was full of energy.

It was quite different from his sickly appearance.

*

With company, Luo Yan no longer watched from afar, but strutted arrogantly through the village children, even letting out a loud "humph" to attract everyone's attention.

The village children looked at it with a mixture of curiosity and fear.

Younger children think they are whispering, but they are actually muttering loudly, "She's so pretty, she doesn't look like a ghost."

Upon hearing this, Luo Yan stopped and asked in confusion, "What female ghost?"

"Aaaaaahh ...

The crowd was so frightened that they ran away with their heads in their hands and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Luo Yan was furious. She plucked a handful of weeds to vent her anger, then looked at Zhu Yun, who was looking around, and said confidently, "We don't want to play with them either."

Zhu Yun declined to comment and continued strolling around with her hands behind her back, carefully destroying the footprints she hadn't had time to hide.

After finishing their work, they finally relaxed and turned around to see Luo Yan teasing the neighbor's white goose and barking dog with wild fruit.

Hearing footsteps, Luo Yan waved to him: "I've thought of a brilliant plan."

"What."

"I'll bring some dried fruit with me tomorrow, and I don't believe they'll ignore me."

Zhu Yun glanced at the little yellow dog that had been bribed with food and thought to himself that it was a good idea.

Just then, smoke rose from the farmhouses, and smelling the aroma of food, she finally decided to leave and stood eagerly in front of Zhu Yun: "If you stay with me, the wind won't blow on you."

He smiled slightly and quickly walked past Luo Yan.

"......"

Jia Yufang was setting out the dishes when she saw the boy walking lightly, followed by Luo Yan who was panting heavily. She exclaimed in surprise, "He can walk on the ground already?"

“Yes.” Luo Yan attributed this to the doctor’s excellent medical skills, and said vividly, “He walks faster than me, he’s like the wind, he disappears in a flash.”

Zhu Yun sat down calmly.

There were four dishes and a soup in front of them, which might be ordinary for wealthy families, but extremely luxurious for farmers.

Looking at the woman's hands, they weren't exactly rough, but there were several thin calluses from years of hard work.

Of course, the most incongruous thing is that he always grants Luo Yan's requests, which is not at all like a grandmother and granddaughter. If they were master and servant, it would make sense.

Anyway, he's only ever seen people who dote on their grandchildren like the apple of their eye; it would be strange if they didn't sell their beautiful daughters.

However, none of the above concerns Zhu Yun; they were just two dying people.

He took the chicken soup and drank it without a care in the world.

Luo Yan followed suit, ladling a bowl for Jia Yufang and adding a large piece of leg meat, saying sweetly, "Grandmother, you've worked hard."

Jia Yufang was already old enough to be a grandmother, so how could she not be moved? She smiled and put some on the plates for both children as well, saying there was still some left in the pot.

Luo Yan, however, couldn't stay still and started asking about the dried fruit while eating. The whole meal consisted of her grand pronouncements about becoming the village leader. She even said something like—

"A large crowd makes it lively."

Zhu Yun was engrossed in eating when she heard this and her forehead twitched. She thought to herself that no one else at the table was talking except her, so how did it become so lively?

*

After a hearty meal, Luo Yan pulled him aside to play chess.

The rules of Gomoku are simple, and Zhu Yun finally stopped cheating. Both of them had their wins and losses, and they enjoyed themselves.

Midway through, Jia Yufang came to refill the tea. Seeing the two children enjoying themselves so much, it was as if she had returned to the days before the Luo family's tragedy, and she couldn't help but feel tears welling up in her eyes. She reminded them, "Don't play for too long, lest you hurt your eyes."

"Okay."

Luo Yan answered readily, but secretly buried herself in drawing and doodling on the paper, adding color with the crushed flower juice, saying she was making a flying chessboard.

Taking the opportunity, Zhu Yun found some scraps of cloth to wipe the sword, while pondering the master's thoughts.

Having killed four A-level disciples in succession, it remains to be seen whether A-level three and A-level six will be sent out to find him.

Or perhaps they thought they had taken poison and were left to rot in the wilderness.

The most important thing is to refine the "Mandarin Duck Warmth" first.

He was about to meditate and practice his internal energy when he tapped the table with his finger, signaling that he was leaving: "I'm going to sleep. Take this painting back with you."

"What?" Luo Yan's eyes widened as if the sky were about to fall. "This is my study! Where are you taking it?"

Zhu Yun did not answer, but simply raised her chin as if to see the guest off.

Luo Yan regretted her quick tongue, because in the novels she had read, the protagonists who lived under the roof of others were usually helpless and pitiful.

Then her tone softened: "Alright then, I should go to sleep too. If you feel cold at night, there's a summer blanket in the closet. Also, what are we going to do tomorrow?"

"......"

He had to remind them, "I'm still sick."

"Looks much better now." Luo Yan muttered softly, finally taking a step towards the door, but suddenly remembered something important and turned back abruptly, "You haven't told me your name yet."

Worried that the boy might renege on his debt, she preemptively said, "If you don't tell me, I'll call you Little Black."

Little Black?

He remembered that Luo Yan called the farmer's fat goose "Little White," and his lips twitched slightly. He said irritably, "Zhu Yun."

"My name is Zhu Yun."