Chapter 28
We were very nervous all the way, but finally we got through safely and it was almost noon when we reached the island.
The entire Guixu Island looks like a piece of black jade softened by sea water, with dark brown reefs all along the coast. It seems that the tide has just receded, and the reefs on the island are still shining with a damp and cold light.
A salty smell wafted in the sea breeze.
The old boatman breathed a sigh of relief and moored the boat in a shallow area not far from the shore. He used a bamboo pole to propel the boat through a crevice in the rocks and called out, "Young lady, young master, I'll wait for you here for two hours at most. If you don't come back by then, I'll go back and come back tomorrow at this time!"
Shen Aheng turned around and said, "Thank you, boatman," and then walked towards the center of the island with Ashina Yu on the reef.
The trouser legs of both of them had been soaked by the splashing waves. Ashina Yu followed behind Shen Ah Heng, bending down from time to time to pick up a smooth shell. When he saw her looking at him, he stuffed the shell into her hand and said, "This one is beautiful. Here you go."
Shen Aheng was helpless. It was already this late, and he still had the mind to pick up shells for her to play with. Had he forgotten why they came here this time? Did he really care about his own life?
Shen Aheng was holding a pile of beautiful shells that Ashina Yu had picked up for her, when she suddenly saw a tidal gully in front of her that looked very much like the ice silkworm nest described in the Poison Sutra. She couldn't help but exclaimed, "Found it!"
Just as she was about to move forward, the reef under her feet suddenly slipped and her whole body fell to the side in an instant.
There is a shallow beach next to me, and the sea water is hitting the reefs below. If I fall, I will definitely slide down.
The next moment, someone grabbed her wrist tightly. Ashina Yu's knuckles turned slightly white from the force. He pulled her back abruptly. His other hand immediately supported her waist, and his voice trembled a little: "Are you okay? Are you... hurt?"
Shen Ah Heng crashed into his arms, smelling the medicinal fragrance of him mixed with the sea breeze, and looked up at him, seeing panic in his eyes and cold sweat on his forehead.
"I'm fine...what's wrong with you?" Shen Ah Heng couldn't help but ask after he stood firm.
"Nothing." Ashina Yu shook his head gently, his eyes fixed on the outer robe on her shoulders, with a subtle touch of comfort, as if to confirm that she was really okay. He breathed a sigh of relief, pushed her behind him, and said, "It's dangerous here, don't move. I'll go down to collect it and come back from Mashan."
Before she could open her mouth to stop him, he had already walked forward on the slippery rocks.
“Ah…”
Shen Ah Heng looked at his back and kept her mouth shut. The terrain on this island was unspeakably dangerous, so she should not cause him any more trouble.
Fortunately, before coming, she had described the appearance of the ice silkworm to him countless times. I hope that the poison book did not lie to her.
The ice silkworms on Guixu Island grow in the crevices of tidal gullies all year round. The sea water surged up in waves, reaching above the ankles. When Ashina Yu found the nest of the ice silkworms, his fingertips were accidentally cut by the cracks in the rocks, and blood oozed out. He just frowned, took out a dark green porcelain bottle from his arms, and carefully placed the ice silkworms that were spinning silk into it.
Shen Ah Heng was squatting on the reef, holding a few white shells with a pearly luster. The edges of the shells were polished smooth by the sea water. She just put the shells to her ears to listen to the sound of the waves, and she caught a glimpse of Ashina Yu climbing up from the tidal gully.
He held a porcelain bottle in one hand and supported himself on the crevice with the other. His trouser legs were all wet and still dripping.
Shen Ahheng's heart skipped a beat, and the shell in his hand fell on the reef with a "clack". He didn't even bother to pick it up, but stood up and ran towards him.
Until she ran to him, she grabbed his hand and asked, "What's wrong?"
When her fingertips touched the wounds on his fingertips, her breathing stopped. The scratches were still bleeding and turned pale pink by the sea water. Even her cold white knuckles were rubbed red by the cracks in the rocks.
The scratches on his calves were more obvious. The wounds were white from being soaked in sea water and looked painful. It didn't look like they were just scratched.
Could it be that he scratched her when he helped her up earlier?
Shen Ah Heng hurriedly helped him up and sat him down, and took out the ointment from her arms. Her fingers holding the medicine bottle trembled slightly. She lowered her head to apply the medicine to him. When the ointment rubbed against the wound, she saw him subconsciously shrink, but still holding on. She couldn't help but feel an indescribable heartache in her heart.
"Why didn't you tell me? Aren't you afraid of getting infected and not being able to walk anymore?"
Ashina Yu lowered his eyes. The girl was frowning, her eyelashes trembling slightly. She even applied the medicine very gently, as if she was afraid of hurting him.
Ashina Yu suddenly raised her hand, and gently smoothed her brow with her fingertips. Her voice was as soft as cotton soaked in seawater: "I'm afraid of you, anxious, and also afraid that you won't let me go."
He didn't want her to get hurt in the slightest.
Shen Ah Heng paused in applying the medicine, looking at him like a wounded little animal that dared not act coquettishly. His heart suddenly ached and he reached out to press his hand in his palm, only to find that his fingertips still had the coolness of the tide ditch.
"You can't just endure it. You're already in poor health, and if you get hurt again, that would be trouble for me."
Even though she said that, her tone softened, and she didn't even realize that she was unconsciously groping the edge of the wound on his palm.
Ashina Yu's ears turned red from the warmth of her fingers, but she didn't retract them. Instead, she quietly moved closer to her, her shoulder against hers, and whispered, "Then, if I get hurt next time, I'll tell you everything."
He paused, then added, "I will be very careful not to make you worry."
As dusk fell, the two of them rested in a cave in the north of the island. Ashina Yu picked up some pinewood and lit it. The flames reflected his cold, jade-white face. He took off his outer robe and draped it over Shen Ahheng's shoulders. His fingertips gently gathered the collar to avoid the loose hair on her neck: "It's windy at night, this is warmer."
Just as Shen Ah Heng was about to say "You're cold too", he saw that he had already taken half a step back. He was only wearing a thin shirt, and the red marks on his arms had not yet faded, but he didn't seem to care at all. His voice was warmer than the firelight: "I'm a medicine man, I'm not afraid of the cold, don't freeze."
"Look." He said, and took out a small porcelain bottle from his arms and handed it to her.
Shen Ah Heng took the porcelain bottle and shook it gently. He saw several silver-white insects the size of fingernails crawling in the bottle, with a faint cold light all over their bodies. They were exactly the ice silkworms described in the Poison Sutra!
Shen Aheng couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth. Looking at the ice silkworm in the bottle, he suddenly began to look forward to the road to Shu. As long as he could find the last medicinal ingredient, the Yinhuai wood, Ashina Yu would be able to escape the fate of being a medicine man, and they would be able to live a stable life like ordinary people.
Just as she was thinking about it, she saw Ashina Yu take out some shells from her arms. These were the ones she had dropped on the rocky beach before and hadn't bothered to pick up.
Shen Ahheng didn't expect that this guy actually loved these shells so much. Maybe it was because he grew up in the Western Regions and had never seen the sea. She was about to make a joke, but saw him take out several more, some light pink, some milky white, all of which were wiped clean with the corner of his clothes and placed scattered on the stone surface.
Ashina Yu stared at the shells for a while, then suddenly picked one up and awkwardly moved it towards her. "How do you write your name?"
Shen Ah Heng was stunned. This guy really never forgets to learn the Central Plains characters. He suppressed his laughter, picked up a branch, and drew a line on the ground: "My last name is Shen, Shen Ah Heng."
Ashina Yu imitated her, pinching the shells with her fingertips and carefully placing them on the stone surface.
He first put the word "陈" in place, but it turned out to be crooked, and the word "阿" tilted towards the fire. He hurriedly blocked it with his hands, and when he finally spelled out the three words "陈阿恒", his ears were already red.
"It seems, wrong..."
"The character 'Heng' is wrong." Shen Ah Heng picked up a few shells and adjusted their positions. "It should be curved here."
Ashina Yu leaned in very close, his dark eyes reflecting the firelight. He nodded along with her movements, his cold white fingertips lightly touching the few additional small shells. "So, that's how it is. I, I got it mixed up."
"Come, come, I'll teach you how to read it again." Facing a studious apprentice, Shen Ahheng's desire to teach could not help but be aroused. He pointed to the first word and taught: "Shen."
Ashina Yu stared at the word "chen" and moved his lips, then read: "chen."
The voice was not loud, but it was filled with earnest persistence, the tip of the tongue was lingering, and there was a slight pause at the end of the tone.
"This is 'Ah'."
“Ah.”
This time he pronounced it more fluently, and his Western accent made the word softer.
Shen Ah Heng nodded and said, “Not bad, not bad, the last word is ‘Heng’.”
Ashina Yu stared at the small shell and pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "Heng."
The word was pronounced with a slight emphasis, as if it wanted to be reflected in the mind.
“When put together, it’s Shen Aheng.” Shen Aheng smiled and pointed to the complete name.
Ashina Yu's gaze shifted from the shell to her face, then back to her name, reciting it word for word: "Chen, Ah, Heng... Ah Heng... Ah Heng..."
After he finished reading, he suddenly curved his eyes, and under the firelight, they shone like stars: "Then, can I call you 'Ah Heng'?"
The tip of Shen Ah Heng's heart suddenly seemed to be burned by the warmth of the flames in front of him, and trembled slightly.
She suddenly remembered that when her master had just passed away, she was alone guarding the empty mountain temple. She forgot to add firewood when cooking porridge during the day, and had no appetite for the cold porridge at night. She simply stared at the rankings of her masters.
At that time, she seemed to have lost her soul. She had no interest in finding medicine, living, or the future.
Anyway, there is no one in this world waiting for her to come home, and no one will hand her a bowl of hot porridge. It seems that it doesn’t matter how her life is.
But now, this man who came from the Western Regions and was once treated like a living medicine cauldron, would carry roasted sweet potatoes in his arms for her all night, would kick the shells she dropped and bring them back in his arms, would sweat on his forehead in a hurry to spell her name correctly, and would open his bright eyes and carefully ask if he could call her that.
This man who didn't even care about his own life became the only one in the world who cared about her.
A soft feeling rose in his heart, and Shen Ah Heng was silent for a moment, then heard his own clear answer: “Okay.”
The moment he heard the response, Ashina Yu suddenly raised his head, his dark eyes instantly brightening. He quietly loosened his grip on the corner of his clothes, and his voice trembled with joy: "Then, then I... call you 'Ah Heng', can you... call me, 'Ah Yu'?"
He had repeated these two words in his mind countless times, from the moment she rescued him in the rainy forest, and even when he was picking up shells just now, he always hoped that she would call him "Ayu" like she called others, instead of the polite "you".
But when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he was afraid that she would feel it was abrupt, so his fingertips curled up quietly.
When he said this, he nodded slightly, as if to emphasize his name, or as if afraid that she didn't hear it clearly, his eyes were full of anticipation.
Shen Ah Heng looked at the light in his eyes, her heart softening and her fingertips unconsciously groping for the porcelain bottle. Without thinking much, she followed his words and softly called out, "Ayu."
As soon as these two words fell, Ashina Yu's expression froze instantly, as if he had not reacted.
He stared at him blankly, and after a moment, he said "hmm" softly. His voice was so soft as if he was afraid of scaring something away, but it was filled with unconcealable joy.
Ah Heng... Ah Yu...
The firelight reflected the three words "Chen Aheng" on the stone surface, as well as the shadows of the two people leaning against each other. Even the sea breeze in the air seemed to be wrapped in a layer of warmth.
Chen Ah Heng suddenly felt that whether or not the Yinhuai wood could be found, and whether or not the poison could be cured, seemed to have an additional layer of meaning.
It was not only for him to completely end his fate as a medicine man, but also for it to be like this forever, with him calling her "Ah Heng" and her calling him "Ah Yu". This kind of days of being cared about by others could last longer and longer.
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