Chapter 8 Healing Wounds in the Dead of Night

After Zang Fan left the bamboo house, the room immediately became much quieter.

Bai Hua and Ning Jue remained distant and rarely interacted. She wondered what Ning Jue was thinking and whether he was comfortable living under the same roof with a stranger. However, she felt complicated. On one hand, she was afraid of Ning Jue, and on the other hand, she felt a little guilty for her spying.

In addition, she was naturally quiet, and her behavior of making small talk or pretending to be familiar was not like her at all. So when the two of them were together, it was normal for them to remain silent.

Bai Hua tried her best to strengthen her conviction and immerse herself in the role of Ning Jue's personal maid so that she could overcome the awkwardness and embarrassment of being in a relationship with him and feel a little more at ease.

After washing up, Ning Jue was about to return to his bedroom to rest. He passed Bai Hua without saying a word and walked straight past her.

Bai Hua stood up and asked, "Young master, would you like A Peng to help you loosen your belt?"

Ning Jue paused, glanced back at her, looking somewhat uncomfortable. He shook his head and refused, "No need. There's no need to ask again. I don't need it."

After saying that, he left decisively.

Bai Hua breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, she didn't want to ask, but how could she not be thorough in her act? She had no other reference, so she could only follow Xiao You's previous way of serving her and ask her the question as a daily routine, pretending to be concerned.

When she first spoke, she was also filled with shame, and she felt even more embarrassed after being coldly rejected by Ning Jue. But now that she has been staying here for three days and has asked him three times and been rejected three times, she has naturally become much more used to it.

The candle in the bedroom was extinguished. Bai Hua didn't dare to disturb Ning Jue's rest. She tiptoed to the bathroom to wash herself quickly, and then carefully lay down on the small couch, trying not to make any sudden noise.

Although I was tired after a long day, I wasn't very sleepy at the moment.

She tossed and turned on the couch, but because the surface was narrow, each turn was extremely difficult, and she dared not make any large movements.

Thinking of the test that Zang Fan suggested to Ning Jue before leaving—"loyalty"—although there was a question, there were no specific requirements. As long as she followed her heart and took some action, the difficulty would be greatly increased.

loyalty……

The disloyal must prove their loyalty.

It must be said that Zang Fan certainly knows how to make things difficult for people.

Bai Hua tried to drift off to sleep, and just as her eyelids began to feel heavy, she suddenly heard an unusual sound coming from the bedroom, like a muffled groan of pain.

She immediately perked up, her drowsiness vanished, and she listened intently, holding her breath.

She originally wanted to find out the extent of Ning Jue's injuries, and changing his dressing and bandaging was the least suspicious way to check. Although she had changed his dressing once yesterday, the situation was sudden at the time, and she felt dizzy from seeing blood. She had to force herself to endure the fear and bandage him properly, so she didn't have time to pay attention to the details.

If she had the chance to see his wounds today, she would be much calmer and would write down all the characteristics of his injuries. Once she was able to contact the foot of the mountain, she would immediately find an opportunity to inform her cousin.

Bai Hua got up with something on her mind, straightened her clothes, walked to the bedroom door, and knocked.

"Young Master Ning, are you alright? Has your injury flared up again?"

There was no response from inside; it was completely quiet, as if the muffled groan she had just heard was just a hallucination.

She waited and called out again, but still no one answered.

Bai Hua didn't believe she had misheard; that muffled groan was definitely real. She hesitated for a moment, then reached out and pushed open the door to Ning Jue's bedroom.

The door was not bolted.

It was unclear whether Ning Jue was unguarded towards her or simply didn't care to be wary of her.

The room was dark, and by the moonlight shining through the window, I could barely make out a figure lying prone in front of me.

"Young Master Ning?"

Bai Hua approached and confirmed that it was indeed Ning Jue.

The moonlight shone obliquely, casting a faint shadow on his cheek, making his features appear extremely deep, especially his nose, which was so prominent.

It was unclear when he had collapsed to the foot of the bed. At that moment, sweat was beading on his forehead, his eyelids were half-closed, and his chest was heaving as he gasped for breath. He looked so weak and powerless, and his skin was unusually pale, appearing even more bloodless under the cold moonlight.

Bai Hua was startled. Her instinctive reaction was not to dodge, but to reach out and touch his forehead.

Just as expected, my forehead felt very hot.

He had a fever, but it was clearly unusual; his brows were deeply furrowed, his thin lips trembled slightly, and he was covered in cold sweat. It was not like a common cold or fever, but rather like he was enduring unbearable pain.

Bai Hua was at a loss, struggling internally. For a moment, a wicked thought even flashed through her mind: if she sat idly by and let him continue to suffer, causing him to lose his vitality, it might actually help her cousin.

In this way, she no longer needs to go through any tests of loyalty, nor does she need to pretend to be loyal, and she doesn't have to worry about being hacked to death or stabbed to death by darts if she is exposed as an undercover agent...

It seems that all problems can be easily solved.

Bai Hua withdrew her hand, stood up with a solemn face, turned around to take a step, but a suppressed groan sounded behind her again. It was as if someone had acupunctured her, her steps were as heavy as lead, and she could not take a step no matter what.

Blame her for her ill-timed soft-heartedness and overconfident sense of justice; she truly couldn't bear to stand by and watch someone die.

She told herself that if Ning Jue really got into trouble tonight, how could Zang Fan possibly let her off the hook tomorrow? She was making thorough considerations for her own safety, which was why she offered help, not out of sheer kindness.

This reason barely convinced her.

Bai Hua sighed, approached again, bent down and took Ning Jue's uninjured arm, trying to help him to the bed.

Ning Jue reluctantly cooperated, and Bai Hua pulled him down with all her might, finally managing to get him to sit down.

After all that commotion, looking at his right arm again, bright red blood was seeping from the wound, soaking through his thin shirt.

Bai Hua pursed her lips slightly, and the feeling of dizziness returned. She quickly looked away, not wanting to stare, and it took her a while to recover.

Thinking back to yesterday when I helped Ning Jue apply the medicine, the medicine bottle he handed me was glazed green with white powder, so I figured it must be the right medicine with soothing and healing effects.

Bai Hua remembered the characteristics of the medicine bottle and quickly ran to the shelf to look for it, soon locking onto her target.

She ran back to the bedside with the medicine bottle, enduring the dizziness and fear of seeing blood, and carefully cut open Ning Jue's right sleeve with scissors.

The wound was shocking. It had been treated and bandaged yesterday, but it looked even more horrifying now. The rotten flesh was white, and there was blood and black pus. It was obviously much more serious than yesterday. How could it have deteriorated to this extent in just one day?

She was confused, but she didn't have time to think about it. Ning Jue's face grew paler and paler, and his lips were trembling. She wanted to relieve his pain as soon as possible.

Holding the medicine bottle, tilting it, just as the powder was about to spill, Ning Jue suddenly opened her eyes and awkwardly moved aside to dodge.

His gaze was fixed on her, as if he had regained some clarity of thought. Then, his voice tightened, and he demanded, "What are you doing?"

Bai Hua's fingertips trembled slightly. Sensing his displeasure, she quickly explained the misunderstanding: "Young Master fainted and collapsed. His old injury flared up again. I heard the commotion and came to inquire. Seeing that Young Master was unconscious, I, being ignorant of medicine, did not know how to deal with it. So I thought I would help you reapply yesterday's medicine powder to alleviate Young Master's pain. If you don't believe me, look, it's this bottle, isn't it?"

Ning Jue lowered his eyes and opened his hands.

Bai Hua understood and quickly handed over the glazed green crackle-patterned medicine bottle.

He didn't even look at it, but directly gripped the medicine bottle tightly in his palm, preventing her from touching it again. Then he closed his eyes, frowned, and said unhappily, "You took it upon yourself to do it."

Bai Hua felt a chill run down her spine, lowered her head, and dared not speak.

Previously, Zang Fan had always been hostile and difficult towards her, speaking harshly to her, while Young Master Ning had always treated her kindly and had never said such harsh words. Bai Hua was unable to adapt to this situation, especially since she had come with the intention of helping him.

Just now, she had no intention of prying into anyone's privacy; she was only focused on saving people as quickly as possible. As a result, she did a thankless job and was blamed instead of being thanked, which naturally made her feel uncomfortable.

Despite feeling wronged, she had to be full of apologies: "Apeng knows she was wrong and will never again act presumptuously without the young master's permission."

Ning Jue did not continue to criticize, but lowered his eyes and tried to curl the five fingers of his right hand, but felt a dull, weak, and numb feeling.

He sighed, looking slightly dejected: "Could you bring me the third bottle from the left on the second shelf?"

Bai Hua hesitated for a moment, then did as he was told. She walked to the wooden shelf, found the medicine bottle as he instructed, and turned back to confirm, asking, "Is this the white porcelain bottle with floral patterns engraved on it?"

"It's this one."

Bai Hua brought the medicine bottle back and handed it to Ning Jue.

Ning Jue took it with her left hand, glanced at it, straightened her body slightly, and prepared to apply the medicine herself, but her movements were obviously clumsy and inconvenient.

Seeing this, Bai Hua wanted to help, but she had just been reprimanded and was worried that asking for permission rashly would annoy Ning Jue and be detrimental to her plans.

Just as she was struggling with this dilemma, another problem arose with Ning Jue.

He felt a dull pain somewhere, and his brow immediately furrowed. As he bent over in pain, his wrist naturally slipped, spilling the powder. Less than half of it landed on the wound, while the rest stained the bedding.

Bai Hua couldn't stand it, and since she was trying to strengthen her sense of identity as a maid, this was the right time to put it into practice.

She stretched out her hands in a gesture of sincerity: "Young master, give me the medicine bottle, I'll do it."

Ning Jue neither answered nor denied; fine beads of sweat had already formed beneath his dark temples near his temples from the pain.

Bai Hua boldly and nimbly snatched the medicine bottle from his hand. Without saying a word, she leaned closer and carefully sprinkled the medicine powder evenly on his wound.

Ning Jue let her have her way, closed her eyes, and regulated her breathing.

The medicine needed to be applied three times, with equal intervals between each application. After about half an hour, Bai Hua's wrists started to ache slightly, and she finally completed the final bandaging steps for him.

Looking at the white glazed medicine bottle in her hand, Bai Hua casually asked, "Young Master, are you sure this medicine will work today? Yesterday, we used the one from the green bottle, but your injuries didn't heal and instead worsened. What if this one doesn't work either..."

"This time it's correct."

Ning Jue gave a brief explanation, his face showing signs of fatigue. He lay back on the couch, preparing to rest.

Bai Hua stood still, pondering his answer, her mind a little confused.

Does 'This time it's not wrong' mean that you were wrong last time?

And he was aware of the situation, yet he deliberately used the wrong medication, causing the wound to fester and resulting in such great suffering...

But why?

Bai Hua didn't understand, felt something was strange, but couldn't figure out why.

This matter is unrelated to her helping her cousin spy on Ning Jue's sword techniques, and she seems to have no need to investigate it thoroughly.

With mixed feelings, Bai Hua looked back at the bed. Ning Jue's chest had gradually calmed down, and his breathing was even. She wanted to reach out and feel the temperature of his forehead again, but she was too timid to do so, so she gave up.

After hesitating for a moment, she got up, found a clean towel, and leaned over to wipe the sweat from Ning Jue's forehead and temples, believing that this was something a maid should do in accordance with her status.

Ning Jue didn't react and fell asleep very quickly.

Bai Hua folded the towel, wiped away the medicine powder, and then tidied up the blood-stained gauze she had just removed, preparing to take it with her and throw it away.

She turned around and had only taken two steps when a weak voice suddenly came from behind her—"Thanks."

His tone was calm, but his voice was clear and crisp, like the tinkling of a spring in the moonlight, echoing in the dim bedroom, the ripples echoing the moonlight through the window.

Ning Jue wasn't asleep...

Bai Hua turned around in surprise and saw that Ning Jue had turned to the side at some point and was now looking at her.

She got nervous and quickly waved her hand, replying, "No, no need, it's all what I should do."

She should have stopped while she was ahead, but perhaps Ning Jue's words of thanks gave her courage, and Bai Hua couldn't help but ask, feigning nonchalance, "Young Master, did I... just now show my loyalty?"

If she can pass the fourth test in this way, then all her hard work until the wee hours of the morning will have been worthwhile.

Ning Jue smiled slightly at her, a very brief smile, his eyes gentle, but his kiss was ruthless: "If you dare to tell anyone about what happened tonight, I won't forgive you."

The rumors circulating in the martial arts world about a cold-faced swordsman who was unpredictable and indifferent to emotions finally came to Bai Hua's attention.

She quickly nodded and sincerely stated, "No, I promise that once I step out of this door, I will completely forget about tonight's events."

Ning Jue said solemnly, "From now on, do not touch the medicine bottle without my permission, or you may lose your life if you come into contact with poison."

Bai Hua was intimidated again, and replied listlessly with her head down, "Yes, A Peng will remember."

Ning Jue abandoned his stern demeanor and spoke in a calm tone: "Take that bronze goose incense burner on the wooden shelf and light it."

Bai Hua heard what he said, looked back, found the incense burner, but did not understand its meaning.

Ning Jue said, "The whole room smells of blood. If you can't stand it, light an incense burner and use styrax to help you sleep."

Bai Hua was somewhat surprised and murmured, "Thank you, young master."

After Ning Jue finished speaking, he lay back on the couch, this time truly ready to sleep.

Bai Hua, carrying the incense burner, tiptoed out of the room, closed the door, and then, still shaken, lay back on her small couch. She closed her eyes, unable to forget the chilling look in Ning Jue's stern warning eyes.

Originally, after the harmonious interaction of the previous two days, she unilaterally believed that Ning Jue was gentle and easy to get along with, which contradicted what her cousin had said. She even harbored a wishful thinking, relying on her beauty, and guessed that Ning Jue's kindness and friendliness towards her might be partly out of chivalry.

But now that she's come to her senses, she realizes that she was just being well-behaved and hadn't really offended him.

He has secrets, he has a sore spot, and he is a dangerous person, especially when he looks at people with a cold eye, he gives people a strong sense of oppression.

The task is arduous, and the road ahead is long and difficult.

From now on, she can no longer relax even a little, hoping to discover the secret of his swordsmanship as soon as possible so that she can reunite with her cousin.

I tossed and turned again, my sleepiness waning.

Bai Hua sighed, got up, gathered her clothes, slipped on her shoes, walked to the table, lit the candle to ignite the bronze goose incense burner, and lay back down to try and fall asleep again.

A moment later, I could faintly smell a delicate fragrance.

She didn't actually feel the blood on her body, but the sweet scent helped her calm down and slowly, peacefully, fall asleep.