Chapter 61
Zhou Yuan's expression instantly turned somewhat panicked. He stood up and walked over to Chen Qing: "What's wrong, Qing? Are you sick? Why are you at the clinic?"
Chen Qing just looked at his arm, his voice trembling slightly: "What happened to you? How did you get hurt?"
The clinic wasn't a place for conversation, so Zhou Yuan pulled Chen Qing along, and Li Xin pulled Qi Shuning along, and they quickly left.
Zhou Yuan took Chen Qing to their temporary lodging, an inn in town. Zhou Yuan shared a room with Qi Shuning. Knowing they wanted to talk, Li Xin took Qi Shuning away.
Back inside, Chen Qing still seemed shaken; his face was still pale, and his voice trembled as he asked, "What exactly happened?"
Zhou Yuancai then told him about what he had experienced during this period.
This shipment was a joint operation between the government and other escort agencies. It was a gift from a local official to the capital. Because it was a private transaction, the government was not alerted, and an escort agency was chosen.
Once they accepted the escort mission, they were determined to make the trip worthwhile, regardless of the amount of money involved.
But somehow word got out, and the journey was anything but peaceful. Mountain bandits, river bandits, and robbers swarmed the entire caravan like flies. As they approached the capital, they decided to take a gamble.
“They’re from the Youcha Gang,” said the old head镖师 of Zhenwei Escort Agency. “These days, the imperial court has started to suppress bandits, and they’re in a hurry.”
Normally, Zhenwei Escort Agency and Youcha Gang would keep to themselves and live in peace. This time, they probably heard that Zhenwei Escort Agency was in turmoil, which is why this happened.
Zhou Yuan tightened the bindings around his arms, and the knife on his back seemed ready to be used.
The Youcha Gang was fighting a desperate battle; if they could seize this money, they could immediately regroup and rebuild their strength. Therefore, they were going all out this time.
Zhou Yuan had seen such things before—blood, swords, screams—but he remained remarkably calm. On the battlefield, General Xiao had taught him many things, one of which was, "To catch the thief, first catch the king."
So Zhou Yuan spotted the leader of the Youcha Gang at first glance. After dealing with his henchmen, he went straight for the leader.
The leader of the Youcha Gang seemed to have not expected that someone would come straight for him. Zhou Yuan was filled with excitement and exchanged a few blows with the gang leader, with each of them winning and losing.
But Zhou Yuan was someone who could bring his commander out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. He only needed to spot a weakness in the gang leader to strike and kill him instantly.
With the leader dead, the remaining members of the gang no longer had the strength to continue fighting. Although they won, it was only a narrow victory, and many members of the escort team were injured or lost.
Zhou Yuan and his men were, after all, a caravan. They didn't want to get involved in the aftermath of the bandit suppression, but it still took some time. By the time they finished the job, their agency was down two people. Meng Qi had suffered some minor injuries, and the others were also injured.
Everyone from Zhenwei Escort Agency witnessed how Zhou Yuan killed the gang leader. At this moment, everyone was completely convinced of his abilities. The chief escort collected the bodies of the two brothers and then told Zhou Yuan how to handle the next steps.
After a day of rest, they didn't linger too long. On their way back, they picked up two or three meat smugglers to earn some money for lodging and meals on their way back.
Zhou Yuan was eager to return home; he had never longed to go home so much before, and now he wished he could spend every single hour of the day on the road.
The bodyguards in the group laughed at him, and Meng Qi said that it was only natural for Brother Yuan to want to go home after his wedding. Everyone thought that after wiping out the Youcha Gang, the journey home would be smooth sailing, and they all relaxed their vigilance.
As they approached the prefectural city, a member of the Youcha Gang sneaked into the teahouse where they were resting. Ignoring everyone else, he charged straight at Zhou Yuan. Zhou Yuan was on guard, but not much. The knife slashed Zhou Yuan's arm, and blood flowed everywhere.
Zhou Yuan was a little angry. Although the injury on his arm was not fatal, he was about to go home. If Chen Qing saw the injury on his arm, he didn't know how much she would cry.
They arrested the man, and Meng Qi volunteered to take him to the authorities. Zhou Yuan nodded, hastily treated the wound on his arm, and saw Qi Shuning at the city gate as they were about to enter the county town.
Qi Shuning was completely disheveled; it was a mystery how a scholar with no physical strength had managed to walk back.
Qi Shuning was startled when she saw Zhou Yuan, and even more at a loss when she saw the injury on his hand.
Zhou Yuan told him to come with them. The caravan returned to the caravan agency to rest. Zhou Yuan spent two days handling matters at the agency before taking Qi Shuning towards the town.
His hand injury had only been roughly treated, but when he returned to town, Qi Shuning saw that his arm was bleeding again, so she told him to go to the clinic to get it bandaged. Unexpectedly, he ran into Chen Qing at the clinic.
"That's about it." Zhou Yuan spoke very lightly, at least he didn't mention his bloody battle with that gang leader, but even so, Chen Qing started to silently shed tears after hearing it.
"Don't cry, look, I'm back safe and sound." Zhou Yuan hugged him and gently kissed away his tears.
Chen Qing wasn't stupid; he naturally knew that what had happened was definitely not as simple as he described. The thought of bandit suppression and revenge was terrifying to Chen Qing. He was always afraid of the worst-case scenario.
What if Zhou Yuan never comes back?
Zhou Yuan raised his hand and put it around him: "Aqing, don't overthink it, it really was just my carelessness."
Chen Qing looked at him through teary eyes: "Although I promised you you could go out, I, I am really in pain right now. I hope you can come back safely."
“I know, I know everything,” Zhou Yuan kept reassuring him. “Aqing, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.”
Chen Qing hugged him and cried sadly for a while before his emotions gradually calmed down. He looked at Zhou Yuan's arm and asked, "Does it hurt a lot?"
Zhou Yuan kissed him on the corner of his lips again: "I'm thick-skinned, I'm not afraid."
Chen Qing knew he was losing control, but he was terrified. He was afraid that Zhou Yuan would be like his father, who had many things and then lost them, leaving a void in his heart, a bloody mess.
"Shall we go home?" Zhou Yuan packed up the luggage in the house, many of which were things he had bought in Beijing for Chen Qing.
Chen Qing lowered his eyes and helped him pack his luggage. Then, without letting Zhou Yuan do anything, he carried the large bundle out himself.
Li Xin was already waiting for them outside with his oxcart. Qi Shuning sat down next to him with his head down. Chen Qing put down his bundle, climbed onto the oxcart, and Zhou Yuan smiled at Li Xin before sitting down in the back as well.
Li Xin: ……
Back in the village, Li Xin parked the oxcart for them, then grabbed Qi Shuning by the ear and pulled him back, leaving Chen Qing and Zhou Yuan alone.
Chen Qing remained silent the entire way back. Zhou Yuan tried to hug him, but Chen Qing gently pushed his hand away, saying that his hand was still injured.
When he was ignoring people, he was completely absorbed in his own world, but he didn't forget to nourish Zhou Yuan's body. Seeing Zhou Yuan packing his luggage, he went to Aunt Sun's place and picked out a chicken from the chicken coop.
Grandma Sun hadn't seen Chen Qing like this in a long time. Since Zhou Yuan came into his life, he had become much more vibrant. He was nothing like he was today, looking dejected with his emotions written all over his face.
"What's wrong, Aqing?" Aunt Sun helped him catch the chicken.
“Zhou Yuan is injured, and I want to help him recover.” Chen Qing rubbed his eyes. “Mom, I’m scared.”
Grandma Sun patted his hair: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, he's back safe and sound."
Chen Qing nodded, but at this moment he couldn't listen to anyone's words. His mind was constantly thinking about what he should do if Zhou Yuan didn't come back safely.
Afterwards, Aunt Sun went back with him. She glanced at Zhou Yuan's arm and breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was only his arm that was injured, not somewhere else.
She helped Chen Qing kill the chicken and put it in the pot, then left the time for the two of them.
After the two finished eating, Chen Qing still ignored Zhou Yuan, but did everything properly. He boiled hot water, wrapped Zhou Yuan's arms tightly, and carefully rubbed his back.
Because Zhou Yuan kept moving around today, his arm, which had just been treated with medicine that morning, was already covered in blood. Chen Qing sighed, found the medicine prescribed by the doctor in Zhou Yuan's luggage, and unwrapped the bandage on his arm, intending to re-wrap it for him.
Zhou Yuan knew about the injury on his arm; it was still quite bloody and mangled. Chen Qing was timid and didn't want to frighten him.
"I can do it myself, Aqing."
Chen Qing ignored him, only lifting his eyelids to glance at him. Zhou Yuan stopped what he was doing and watched as Chen Qing unwrapped his bandages.
Bright red blood, some whitish flesh, and bones that were vaguely visible.
Chen Qing's eyes were red, and his hand holding the medicine bottle was trembling slightly, but he steadily applied the medicine to the wound. He then carefully wrapped the bandage around the wound and tied a neat knot.
After finishing all this, Chen Qing wiped away his tears, ignored Zhou Yuan, and went to deal with the remaining matters on his own.
After he finished dealing with it, he went back into the room. In the past, Zhou Yuan would sleep on the outside of the bed because he was always afraid that Chen Qing would roll around and fall off the bed.
Today, Chen Qing pushed him to the inside of the bed and slept on the outside himself, ignoring everyone and only showing Zhou Yuan the back of his head.
He had been traveling for days just to get a good night's sleep with his husband, but now that his hand was injured, Zhou Xiaoyuan, though energetic, dared not do anything reckless.
So he leaned close to Chen Qing's back and gently poked his waist: "Qing, I was wrong, don't be angry."
Chen Qing ignored him and moved his hand away from his waist.
He seems really angry.
“Aqing, I haven’t seen you in so long.” Zhou Yuan knew how to handle Chen Qing. “I’ve missed you the whole way here.”
Chen Qing had heard this kind of talk before, so he remained unmoved this time: "Get some rest."
Zhou Yuan moved to the other side of Chen Qing: "Qing doesn't even look at me."
Chen Qing was forced to meet his gaze, then turned away again, still refusing to look at him, and pouted: "Then tell me, what's it like to encounter robbers?"
He didn't dare tell Chen Qing about the deaths at the escort agency, for fear of scaring and upsetting him.
But Chen Qing was actually much stronger than he imagined. The fact that he was able to live a strong life after his parents passed away proved that he was not a coward.
"Two people from our security escort agency died in this incident."
Chen Qing had been facing away from him, but after hearing his words, he paused for a moment, then turned around and pressed his forehead against his arm.
Zhou Yuan patted his back, his voice deep, humming a tune Chen Qing had never heard before. The last time Chen Qing heard music was when his father hummed it softly to lull him to sleep when he was little.
"What kind of music is this?" Chen Qing sniffed.
Zhou Yuan said, "It's a tune used to comfort the souls of the dead on the battlefield; we all know it."
Chen Qing touched the scars on his body again, both new and old, and asked, "Did you have any good friends back then?"
Zhou Yuan shook his head: "No, I'm too tired."
The main reason is that no one knows when they will die, so there's no need to add to other people's sadness.
Even his friendship with Meng Qi and the others was only established after they returned and had a few drinks together.
“Aqing, death isn’t actually that scary.” Zhou Yuan couldn’t help but say, “Aqing, you’ve managed to get through the hardship after your father and uncle passed away. I know you’re very strong.”
Chen Qing shook his head: "I'm not strong, I'm very scared."
"You ask me if I had any friends? Back then, we didn't dare to make friends." Zhou Yuan sighed. "We were afraid that one day we would wake up and our friends would be gone. We had to deal with too many separations and deaths."
Zhou Yuan placed his hand on him: "You must believe in me, believe that I am invincible, believe that I will return to your side no matter what. But if one day death really comes to me, you must also believe that there are souls after death. I will not go to hell, but will only wander in the human world. Although you cannot see me, I will still be by your side."
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