Chapter 13
Luo Yan was dozing off at the head of the bed when she was suddenly grabbed by the back of her shoulder. She opened her eyes groggily and found herself stabbed in the neck again.
It's very hot.
The pain forced her to regain consciousness, and physiological tears gushed out.
Zhu Yun hurriedly threw down the sword in his hand: "Yan Yan."
Knowing it was him, Luo Yan slumped back down, exhausted, and was then helped to lie flat on the couch. She heard the sounds of something being rummaged through, followed by hurried footsteps.
He knelt upright, his fingertips trembling slightly. Even the simple action of pulling out the plug took him two tries to succeed. He called out helplessly, "Yanyan."
"Um?"
Hearing the response, Zhu Yun calmed down a little and applied the cool ointment.
The stinging sensation in her wound disappeared instantly, but the cold made her face contort in pain, as if she had just eaten a bowl of snowflakes mixed with mint.
"Does it still hurt?" He applied another layer of wound powder, his tone cautious. "Yanyan, are you feeling better, Yanyan?"
Luo Yan suspected he was trying to summon a ghost, and slapped him irritably: "What's going on?"
Zhu Yun seemed to have been silenced by a slap, refusing to utter a sound, only holding her hand, causing half of her body to tremble.
"..." Luo Yan said helplessly, "At least turn on a lamp."
He remained motionless.
The bright moon hung high outside the window, but it wasn't enough to illuminate the inner room, allowing her to discern Zhu Yun's expression. However, she could see that the usually upright young man was now bowing his head, looking like a wilted eggplant.
Luo Yan gradually realized what was happening: "A-Yun, you're scared."
I'm afraid that after the lamp is lit, I'll see the sword marks he made himself.
However, the medicine in the book's world really worked. Luo Yan could no longer feel the wound, but another place was so uncomfortable that she moved.
Zhu Yun seemed to wake from a dream, cradling her neck and examining her closely, his voice filled with doubt: "You've taken the medicine, it shouldn't hurt."
"It's not a place where you stopped in time but still got hurt."
"......"
Luo Yan heard him catch his breath for a moment, and stopped teasing him: "It hurts a little in the back of your neck. Can that medicine help with internal injuries?"
He reached out and touched it, then suddenly realized something was wrong: "Why are you in my room?"
"I was sleeping soundly when something stung my neck," Luo Yan muttered. "I was worried it was a poisonous insect, so I wanted to ask you about it, but you weren't here."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yun curled his fingers, wondering if his martial arts had regressed and even a simple acupuncture point was causing problems.
But in today's battle against the disciples in the building, he clearly showed much improvement.
Completely banished from her drowsiness, Luo Yan urged, "Light the lamp! Light the lamp! Light the lamp!"
"good."
An oil lamp was lit, and the view finally became clear, revealing Zhu Yun's somewhat disheveled appearance.
He was covered in powder from his waist down to his shoes, clearly having spilled half a bottle on himself in his haste. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, trickling down his temples, across his chin, and disappearing into his collar.
Luo Yan was surprised. She never complained of being tired when she carried her up the mountain. Why was she sweating so much?
"Don't move around." Zhu Yun glared at her warningly, then washed his face with water and went behind the screen to change his clothes.
Luo Yan pouted and asked, "Were you trying to kill me just now?"
The rustling of the fabric stopped, and he managed to utter a hoarse "No."
Zhu Yun came out quickly, his gaze sweeping over the red mark on the girl's neck. Seeing that the wound was healing, he explained, "I didn't mean to kill her."
"Oh, I should thank you?"
"Yanyan," he called out, half helpless and half pleading.
Luo Yan's ears burned, and she simply closed her eyes: "Tell me, what were you doing out in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
He truthfully replied, "Murder."
"Huh?" She had to open her eyes again. "Are you serious?"
Seeing her pale face, Zhu Yun turned his face away angrily: "Are you afraid of me?"
She silently pulled the covers up higher, her voice trembling, "You really know how to ask questions. Who wouldn't be afraid of you if they heard that?"
"I won't hurt you." After saying that, Zhu Yun lowered her eyelashes listlessly, remembering that she had already hurt her once.
You could hear a pin drop inside.
Luo Yan couldn't easily turn her neck, so she kicked him, breaking the silence: "Did you kill innocent people?"
He was unaware of this, so he omitted his identity and told Luo Yan, "I have broken with my mother, but she needs a capable helper now, so she sent someone to find me."
"Is that the mother who always beats and scolds you, but also teaches you martial arts and ultimately feeds you poison?"
Zhu Yun nodded: "She is extremely talented, but she has become somewhat obsessed with cultivation due to her mental constraints. In another year or two, she will not be my match."
Luo Yan felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing this and wanted to shrink into the blankets, but he disapproved and stopped her.
Qingyuan Village was like a paradise, so much so that Luo Yan often forgot that she was in the world of a book.
Here, whether it's court intrigue or martial arts conflicts, human life is treated as worthless, and even the protagonist Cui Wuyang has lost many lives under his sword.
She selfishly thought that rather than having her loved ones restricted in every way, she would much rather they had the ability to fight back.
"No indiscriminate killing of innocent people is allowed," Luo Yan said, trying to find order amidst the chaos. "And no harm to Grandmother is allowed either."
He gave a firm "Mmm": "I promise you."
"You must not harm Third Sister."
"good."
"And you mustn't harm the evergreen grass, lotus, valley rain, valley sun, Aunt Cui, Aunt Meixiang, or Doctor Liu." Luo Yan recited a string of names like reciting a menu, then took a deep breath. "That's all I can think of for now."
Zhu Yun: "Hmm..."
She felt relieved, closed her eyes, and said wearily, "I'll take a nap."
Looking at the conspicuous red mark against her porcelain-white skin, Zhu Yun still felt a lingering fear. What would have happened if she hadn't reacted in time, and the blade had pierced a little deeper?
Luo Yan should stab him a few times as punishment.
But Zhu Yun knew she was always soft-hearted, so after thinking it over, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He bit the scabbard, opened his left hand to examine it, and thought that chopping off his little finger would be fine; it wouldn't affect his ability to chop wood or carry water, nor would it get in her way.
Just as he was about to make a move, Luo Yan in the inner room gasped, and he hurriedly hid the short dagger.
She didn't open her eyes, and complained softly, "Am I having a Mercury retrograde? I feel uncomfortable all over. It's not that I'm in pain, it's just uncomfortable."
Zhu Yun then used his left hand to fan her and used a cooling ointment to soothe the pain, while his right hand massaged the bruises behind her ears caused by acupuncture.
I felt much better afterward.
Luo Yan's brows relaxed, and she unknowingly fell into a deep sleep.
...
When she woke up again, Zhu Yun's hand was still resting on her neck.
She rubbed her eyes and saw that it was already bright daylight, so it was obviously late, but her grandmother did not call them for dinner.
He woke up at the same time, first washed off the powder with water, then applied a thin layer of new medicine, and asked with concern, "Does it still hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt." Luo Yan got up and looked in the bronze mirror, finding that the wound had healed and the scar would fade in a few days. She asked, "Has Grandmother gone out?"
Zhu Yun gave her a complicated look: "Grandmother hasn't gotten up yet."
Last night, before leaving, he not only activated Luo Yan's sleep acupoint, but also Jia Yufang's. If the acupoints aren't relieved, they'll sleep until the sun is high in the sky.
Jia Yufang was equally surprised.
She usually wakes up at the sound of a rooster crowing, but today she slept soundly. Luckily, her two children are old enough to know to have some hot porridge to tide them over.
At the dinner table, she said worriedly, "Next time I must have a doctor take a look at you. In case you have a serious illness, I need to arrange for someone to take care of you in advance."
Luo Yan's eyes welled up with tears: "Grandmother, it's all my fault for dragging you down. From today onwards, I will learn to do housework."
Zhu Yun, who knew the truth: "......"
*
Luo Yan was thinking about Qingcao, so after lunch, she went to visit her under the blazing sun.
She noticed that although someone appeared calm on the surface, they were actually still somewhat remorseful, and were even more attentive than her handpicked underlings.
For example, when Luo Yan squinted at the sky, he squatted down without saying a word: "I'll carry you on my back."
"No." It wasn't that Luo Yan was being reserved, but rather that she had been getting increasingly feverish lately, especially since he was like a walking furnace.
After being rejected, Zhu Yun produced a folding fan and gently fanned the wound.
Luo Yan straightened her back, enjoying his service with a clear conscience, and casually asked, "Among all those bottles and jars of yours, are there any medicines that Aunt Cui can take?"
"I don't know," Zhu Yun told her. He said the pills he had collected could treat external injuries and also replenish the body, but Zhou Cuiniang's illness was probably a common one and she needed to see a doctor first.
"All right."
When they arrived at Liu the carpenter's house, they saw Qinglian sitting in the courtyard boiling medicine, and the air was filled with a bitter smell.
She patted Qinglian's head, handed her a packet of dried fruit, and asked gently, "Where is your sister?"
Qinglian's eyes were no longer red and swollen today, and she even had a rare smile on her face: "Let's go down the mountain."
After saying that, mindful of her grandfather and mother inside the house, she lowered her voice and told Luo Yan, "Sister, go ask Aunt for help."
Luo Yan handed her a slip of paper with the clinic's address written on it: "This is from a doctor my grandmother knows in town. He asked me to tell Aunt Cui."
"Thank you, sister. Please also thank the old woman on my behalf."
Zhou Cuiniang was still unconscious, but Qinglian said it was the medicine taking effect and told her not to worry. Luo Yan couldn't help either, so after inquiring about the carpenter's whereabouts, she led Zhu Yun away.
Seeing her worried expression, Zhu Yun said earnestly, "Why don't I arrest, cough cough, and invite Doctor Liu here?"
Luo Yan shook her head: "I taught Qingcao to read, and she was already extremely grateful. She would bring me firewood and pancakes every day. If I were to do her any more favors now, how would she repay me? She wouldn't be able to repay me, and she would only be more grateful and treat me like a Bodhisattva."
“But I don’t want to be a bodhisattva. I want the grass to always treat me normally, like you, like Changsheng.”
"Don't compare me to Liu Changsheng."
"?"
Is this the key point?
She deliberately made an "ouch" sound, saying, "Chang Sheng wouldn't hurt me with a sword."
Zhu Yun could easily hear the teasing in her words, but after glancing at the wound, he had no way to refute it and looked up at the sky in frustration.
Luo Yan found it extremely interesting and leaned closer to continue, "I wonder if it will leave a scar, A-Yun, please don't make me disfigured."
"......"
I have to find a way to shut her up. Zhu Yun made a drawing-a-bow gesture and asked, "Want to learn archery?"
"Didn't you say that practicing martial arts would do more harm than good to me?"
His understanding of "martial arts" was that it required superior talent plus daily hard work, but after this experience, he realized Luo Yan's vulnerability and wanted to teach her some self-defense techniques.
After hearing Zhu Yun's explanation, Luo Yan was very tempted: "Then what are we waiting for? Take me to buy a bow and arrow now."
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