Chapter 23 Coveting a Gift of Herself
As dusk approached, a white kitten darted about in the woods, its eyes gleaming with a deep green light.
The river water was as cold as ice in February, its biting cold penetrating deep into the lungs.
Sharp sand and gravel pierced the girl's outer garment, and blood slowly seeped out.
Yu Wenxue opened her eyes and, realizing she was still alive, moved her stiff fingers.
She struggled to sit up, trying to relieve her aching body, but her limbs, soaked in water, were sore and numb that she couldn't muster any strength.
Fortunately, the river was not deep, and although it was difficult, he managed to climb out of the water.
With her wet hair hanging over her shoulders, if there were a mirror at that moment, she would definitely find herself looking as disheveled as a female ghost.
That's enough.
Just surviving is good enough.
There were too many pebbles, and she had multiple abrasions on her arms and thighs.
Her head was spinning from the impact. She rubbed it casually, slowly got up, and lifted her trouser leg to check her wound.
The fact that it's still bleeding means the problem isn't serious.
The full moon hung alone, and Yu Wenxue looked around, truly unable to discern any direction.
If those people had any conscience, they would surely come back to her, but she dared not gamble, as that would be tantamount to handing her life over to others again.
If she were to switch places again, she would still be the one who gets abandoned.
In ancient times, when medical conditions were poor, even a minor infection could be fatal; it was considered extremely fortunate to survive.
Yu Wenxue sighed silently and tore off the blood-stained trouser leg.
The intense pain briefly brought her to her senses. With her legs hanging loosely between her legs, she picked up a long stick from the ground to use as a crutch and walked towards the light.
More than the pain of her wounds, she was worried about becoming a wolf's meal.
Hungry and cold, her strength gradually waned. She had only walked a few steps when she lost her strength and had to rest under a big tree.
Continuing like this is pointless; besides exhausting myself here, there will be no progress.
When all hope seemed lost, Yu Wenxue had no choice but to try anything, picking up two stones, sitting on the ground, and trying to start a fire, just like in the book.
But she had no idea whether it was a stone that could be used to start a fire.
They just kept trying, foolishly and relentlessly.
After trying many times and getting tired, the fire still didn't get going.
The wound is getting more and more painful.
A faint meow could be heard from not far away.
Yu Wenxue was overjoyed.
If there's a cat, it probably isn't far from where people are.
She rallied her spirits and responded with a meow, mimicking that of a cat.
A small white kitten appeared in front of her.
"It's you." Yu Wenxue remembered it; it was the injured kitten she had encountered last time.
The kitten nuzzled affectionately around her injured thigh, then bit into her torn skirt and yanked it away forcefully.
Yu Wenxue wanted to stop it, but was afraid that forcibly prying it open would hurt it. She stroked its head and said softly, "Where are you taking me?"
The kitten continued to meow.
As darkness fell, perhaps her head was still a little dizzy from being in the water, and she actually listened to a kitten and followed its steps.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the kitten stopped.
There just happens to be a source of fire here.
There were signs of a fire nearby, though it was mostly extinguished, but there was still a faint glow, indicating that someone had been stationed here.
Yu Wenxue added some leaves and twigs, then held the kitten in her arms and nuzzled its face.
It was so small, just like her, a fragile and vulnerable life.
Her clothes, soaked in water, clung tightly to her body, while the kitten in her arms felt incredibly warm.
The two, a human and a cat, huddled together for warmth, and settled into silence in the quiet forest.
A light drizzle began to fall again, extinguishing the fire that had been lit.
Along with her hopes, they vanished.
The continuous downpour was just like the day she was abandoned as a child.
I hate rainy days.
They also hate being abandoned.
Large raindrops pelted her face, gradually blurring her vision.
The roar of a wild beast could be heard not far away.
A sense of fear, stemming from the unknown danger, welled up inside me.
She couldn't see clearly, so she could only rely on instinct to walk in the opposite direction of the sound.
When you're down on your luck, even drinking cold water can cause problems. First, you fall into the water and get injured, and then you get caught in the rain and your hopes are dashed.
She could do nothing, not even start a fire, and could only stand there blankly, facing the impending predicament.
She picked up a branch from the ground, preparing to defend herself, but she knew very well that it wouldn't be enough to fight off a wild beast.
Whether it's a hungry wolf or a fierce tiger, it's no different from throwing an egg against a rock.
The sound was getting closer.
Heavy footsteps, deep breaths.
In a daze, she heard someone calling her name.
Yu Wenxue's vision was completely dark.
Aside from the strange calls, chaotic footsteps were also approaching her.
She pressed the kitten closer to her chest, then pulled out a branch from the side and stabbed it towards the source of the sound.
The branch was held by someone.
"It's me."
The boy was pale, his beauty bordering on sickly.
At the same time, a black cloak blocked Yu Wenxue's view.
It might be black, or it might not, because she couldn't see anything.
"Am I... dead?" Yu Wenxue smiled, the smile was small, but it still cracked her chapped lips. "I even saw immortals."
Gu Yun Shen looked down at her.
The girl looked disheveled; her pink dress was covered in mud and blood.
Her hands were covered in blood, and her once fair legs were now exposed, covered in wounds.
Only those expressive eyes remained smiling.
She laughed as she soothed the cat in her arms.
Before he found her, he had imagined many different ways she might appear.
She might throw herself into his arms and say she was terrified, or she might be happy that someone finally found her.
She should even be angry, she should throw a tantrum, and resent those people for not saving her.
But she had nothing.
She just sat there quietly, vulnerable and helpless, like a drifting duckweed.
"Can you still walk?" Gu Yunshen asked.
Yu Wenxue was a little slow to react, but she heard what he said clearly and replied, "My leg is bleeding and it hurts a lot."
She didn't intend to hide it; after all, an injury is an injury, and hiding it wouldn't make him feel sorry for her.
That's not like Gu Yun Shen at all.
Sure enough, after hearing this, Gu Yun Shen subconsciously looked at her legs.
Although she felt uncomfortable, she wasn't ashamed and asked, "Do you have any medicine to stop the bleeding?"
"I can still walk, but it hurts a bit, so it might be slow..."
Before he could finish speaking, he was swept up in a horizontal embrace.
Yu Wenxue instinctively hugged his neck, while the kitten in her arms nestled against her chest, clinging tightly to her clothes.
A large outer robe was draped over her body, shielding her from the chill brought by the rain.
Her current state can hardly be described as dignified; the thin clothing of late spring exposes her body curves.
Most importantly, I need help with the wound on my back; it wouldn't be appropriate to ask him to apply medicine here as well.
She may not mind, but others might.
The terrain here is treacherous, and with torrential rain pouring down outside, the two were forced to find a cave to take temporary shelter from the rain.
As the fire was lit, Gu Yunshen grabbed her ankle without hesitation, startling Yu Wenxue so much that she almost dropped the cat in her arms. She quickly refused, saying, "I can do it myself."
"What, do you need your fairy brother to apply the medicine?"
"...Not really."
Just now, I was overwhelmed by emotions and thought I was going to die, so I had a hallucination.
It's such a small matter, why bother others to do it?
Yu Wenxue thought.
But Gu Yun Shen's actions were obviously faster than her thinking. Before she could react, he had already swiftly applied the medicine.
It's still on my thigh.
Surprisingly, despite always looking fierce, he was surprisingly gentle.
"Come back to reality." Gu Yun Shen patted her head. "There are no immortals here. I'm sorry to disappoint you."
"The second young master is also very capable, even more so than a god."
Yu Wenxue simply stretched out her arm as well, letting him do as he pleased: "Then I'll trouble you."
"Having someone else do the work saves me trouble. Thank you."
"Thank you for coming to see me."
Upon hearing this, Gu Yun Shen paused in his act of sprinkling the medicine, and smiled, "How did you know I came here specifically to find you?"
"Perhaps, I'm here to kill someone."
Yu Wenxue muttered under her breath, "Do you think I'm a three-year-old who can't tell the difference between good and bad people?"
My gaze fell on his wrist; the white bandage that had been wrapped around it had fallen off after being soaked in water.
She asked, "Has your injury not healed yet?"
Gu Yun Shen put away the wound medicine, held out his wrist for her to see, and said seriously, "Do you want to see?"
"Aren't you just showing me your old wounds?" Yu Wenxue asked curiously, but she didn't want to pry into his painful past. She gently pushed his hand away and said, "No need. It's your privacy."
Although the environment here was poor, there was fire, food, and cats, which improved her mood considerably. She even had the energy to crack a joke, saying, "What if I see this and you want to repay me with your body?"
"Are you implying something to me?" Gu Yun Shen added fuel to the fire, taking off his outer robe to dry it, and turned to look at her: "Because I touched your leg, are you implying that I should repay you with my body?"
What was he saying?
Yu Wenxue suspected that it was he who had lost his mind, not herself.
She corrected, "That's applying medicine, not rubbing."
"But I ran into it."
"That doesn't count as touching."
Does touching not count as stroking?
“Of course not!” Yu Wenxue quickly tapped the back of his hand. “That’s called a touch.”
After saying that, she slid her hand down the slide and said seriously, "Now that's what you call touching."
"Is there a difference?" Gu Yunshen asked, seemingly puzzled. "So, you don't want me to repay you with my body?"
Why does it sound a little disappointing?
Yu Wenxue touched his forehead, then her own, and murmured, "No fever."
"He's talking nonsense even without a fever, he's even worse than me."
After a brief moment of skin-to-skin contact, Gu Yun Shen stared into her eyes: "Aren't you curious about me?"
"I am quite curious," Yu Wenxue asked, "How did you find me?"
Gu Yun Shen took out a pair of earrings from his pocket and handed them to her: "These are yours."
"Your eyesight is pretty good, much better than mine." Yu Wenxue held up five fingers, but her field of vision was still limited.
She covered her eyes, only letting a sliver of light through her fingers.
Only the appearance of the person in front of me was exceptionally clear.
The firelight added some warmth. To avoid Gu Yun Shen bringing up the matter of "offering herself in return" again, Yu Wen Xue yawned and changed the subject, saying, "Let's chat. Guess how I got my name?"
Gu Yun Shen said casually, "Your father's surname is Yu, your mother's surname is Wen, and you were born in a..." He paused for a moment, then continued, "in winter."
"Completely wrong!" Yu Wenxue said with a smug look, as if she had known.
"What's wrong?" Gu Yunshen reached into her hair and picked up a strand.
Yu Wenxue stroked the kitten's fur, raised its paw, winked at Gu Yunshen, and said, "I take my grandmother's surname."
"grandmother?"
"It's my grandmother."
The wind blew her hair across her face. She lowered her head and said to herself, "I've been sickly since birth. My parents didn't want me. Only my grandmother wanted me, so I changed my surname to hers."
"Although my name contains the character for snow, I wasn't born in winter; I was born in April."
"April is a good time of year, but on the day I was born, it snowed heavily, a once-in-a-century event, which is why I have this name."
"Yellow dust obscures the roads of Chang'an, the wine's effects are just beginning to wear off as snow beats against the window. The traveler, accustomed to sleeping on the reed-lined banks, dreams of a solitary oar moored on the cold river."
"Grandpa...Isn't the name my grandfather gave me beautiful?"
Gu Yun Shen continued playing with her hair, but his gaze remained fixed on her face.
He looked at her for a long time, unsure whether he was answering her question or expressing his true feelings, and replied, "It's beautiful."
Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and the wound on her back tore open again. Yu Wenxue shifted her body, leaning against the wall to make herself more comfortable, remaining motionless like a puppet.
Unable to get a response from her, Gu Yun Shen, seemingly unaccustomed to the silence, took the initiative to ask, "Will it really snow in April?"
"Of course it's true." Yu Wenxue spoke very slowly, noticing that her hair, which had been wet, was almost completely dry, but she didn't think too much about it.
"I knew you wouldn't believe me, but it really exists in my hometown..."
The girl's voice grew softer and softer until it faded away completely.
The spies had thoroughly investigated her family relationships beforehand, so there was no reason for them to make a mistake.
unless......
She seemed to have no guard up against him at all, and even under such circumstances, she felt comfortable being alone with him.
Just as Gu Rongting described her, she was simple, kind, and beautiful.
But Gu Rongting didn't understand her.
Her other side.
For example, when she found him, she looked disheveled yet stubborn, and even after seeing him, she still managed to force a smile.
She shouldn't have done that.
There's no need for that.
After a long while, Gu Yun Shen held her hand and used his inner strength to dry the last bit of moisture off her body.
He gazed at her closed eyes, and the twinkling stars in the night seemed to dim as she fell silent.
Author's Note: Yellow dust blankets the Chang'an road, horses are nowhere to be seen; the lingering effects of wine awaken me as snow patters against the window. The traveler, accustomed to sleeping on the reed-lined banks, dreams of a solitary oar moored on the cold river. (From "Hearing the Snow")
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
