Chapter 76 Zhe Yushu "I even told Liu Yunying that you were a..."
Even a proud man like Xie Qinghe kept his head down the entire time he said this.
Her breathing was disordered, her body swayed, and stray hairs covered her features.
His tone was sinister, tinged with a feigned lightness and cold contempt.
Ning Lu trembled all over at the chilling words, her hair standing on end.
Looking at the dying Master Tongguang lying on the ground, her chest heaved, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears.
"I even told Liu Yunying that you were a good person. Turns out what she said was true. You are a selfish, cruel person who doesn't distinguish right from wrong."
Her voice was very soft, but she spoke each word slowly and deliberately.
Each word landed lightly yet with perfect precision on Xie Qinghe's shoulder, pressing down on him until he could hardly breathe and could not speak.
He looked up in bewilderment at Ning Lu, trying his best to discern the emotions behind her words.
Was it said in anger, or was it the result of careful consideration...?
He was an extremely perceptive person, and over the past four months, he had developed the habit of observing her emotions and understanding her feelings.
It's not difficult to tell whether Ning Lu is angry or not.
To truly appreciate the profound meaning of its content is more like a form of slow, agonizing torture.
My stomach, which had barely eaten for several days, suddenly jerked twice and then abruptly contracted, making me feel nauseous and want to vomit.
Under extreme pain, Xie Qinghe's eyes involuntarily flushed pink, and his nostrils twitched.
Their lips met, biting down hard on the soft flesh inside their lower lips, the taste of blood suddenly spreading in their mouths.
The combination of all the pain actually made me a little more awake.
A fleeting hint of grievance crossed her eyes, replaced by a ruthless calmness bordering on self-destruction.
His jaw tightened and then relaxed, and a barely perceptible smile rose on his thin cheeks, a smile that was both self-deprecating and contemptuous, yet also carried a childish sense of self-abandonment.
“I have never denied any of this… Ning Lu… It’s just your wishful thinking that I’m a good person.”
"If being a good person can't keep you, I have no interest in being a good person."
As he leaned down, enveloped by Xie Qinghe's warmth and aura, Ning Lu smelled a stronger scent of blood than usual, but couldn't detect any medicinal smell.
They drew close to each other, and in just a few words, their chests rumbled with labored breathing.
The slight chill in the air was refreshing.
She took a half step back and looked at his bloodless face.
At this moment, he was like a madman, a far cry from his usual gentle and dignified self.
Even harsher, sharper words rushed to her lips, and the moment she opened her mouth, Ning Lu lowered her head and inhaled.
At that very moment, she caught a glimpse of his hand clenched into a fist at his side, blood seeping from between his fingers.
Xie Qinghe himself remained oblivious, showing no change in expression.
Looking up and focusing again, one could see that the heavy shadows under his eyes stood out starkly against his snow-white skin.
An unyielding weariness, restrained emotions, and a feigned toughness and coldness.
With reason returning, Ning Lu sighed helplessly and reached out to loosely grasp his right hand, which was gripping too tightly.
Xie Qinghe immediately trembled, looked back in panic, and even tried to retreat and struggle.
Afraid of hurting him by pulling too hard, she grabbed his left sleeve to stop him from dodging.
"Ning Lu... don't think..."
"Alright, Xie Qinghe." Ning Lu grasped his left arm and squeezed it slightly.
“This is enough.” She still frowned, her voice tinged with lingering anger. “Can we go any further?”
She went around to his left side, supported his left arm which had no obvious injury, and saw that he was stubbornly standing in place, she laughed in anger.
"I won't let you go."
"Xie Qinghe."
Ning Lu was seething with anger. She reached out and pinched his waist, only to find that all the soft fat that used to be on his body had disappeared. Her nose suddenly felt stuffy, and she glared at him fiercely.
"I hereby unilaterally declare a ceasefire and request that we skip the part where we stab each other in the back."
"Come back to your room with me."
As she reached the door, she paused slightly in her grip on his clothes.
Ning Lu couldn't bear to look at Tong Guang Daoist's wounds. She sighed, and without consulting Xie Qinghe, she looked directly up at Wei Zhan.
"Please have a doctor treat Master Tongguang's injuries."
Wei Zhan subconsciously looked at Xie Qinghe.
"Listen to me."
Of the two, compared to Xie Qinghe's distraught state, Ning Lu, the 'patient' who had just woken up, was clearly more rational.
Seeing that Xie Qinghe remained silent, Wei Zhan cupped his hands and did as he was told.
In stark contrast to his previous rudeness, two guards on either side bowed and helped him up from the ground.
Ning Lu pursed her lips, full of apology, bowed slightly, and couldn't say a word.
Master Tongguang's expression already showed that he understood. After shaking his head, he bowed in return from a distance.
Xie Qinghe, standing beside Ning Lu, trembled slightly as the two interacted silently, clutching Ning Lu's clothes tightly.
As the group gradually disappeared from sight, she glanced at her sleeve, which had been pulled out of shape, pretended not to see it, and led the group towards the room.
The dormitory room has been cleaned, the bedding has been changed, and new incense has been lit.
He pressed the man down onto the stool, then dragged a round stool over and sat down opposite him. He gestured for Qinghuai to bring the medicine box and also ordered two braziers to be added.
"Take off your clothes, let me see the wound."
Xie Qinghe remained motionless upon hearing the sound, staring at Ning Lu almost blankly.
What happened to your hand?
Not expecting him to do anything on his own, she simply leaned forward and lifted his wrist upwards.
Is it swollen?
Ignoring everything else, she reached out and peeled off his outer robe, revealing his white inner garment.
Bloodstains ran from his elbow down, and his forearm was bruised.
"How did this happen?"
Ning Lu sensed something was wrong and rolled up his left sleeve as well.
Indeed, the wounds were perfectly symmetrical.
It should have started as just a scratch, which was left untreated. In addition, he was already in poor health, and the constant tossing and turning...
Her right hand was swollen from the wrist upwards, and when she thought of those portraits, she almost immediately guessed the reason.
He rummaged through the medicine box, pulled out some medicinal wine, forcefully turned his palm open, and rinsed it over the wound.
His fingertips curled up, his arms trembled, but he didn't even groan.
She was both angry and in pain, and couldn't help but scold him: "Are you torturing them or yourself?"
"Why should you care about a wicked person like me who doesn't distinguish right from wrong?"
Disturbed and confused, Xie Qinghe asked in a cold voice.
Enraged and amused by his childish rebuttal, Ning Lu hugged his arm and looked up.
But those deep eyes were bloodshot, all the emotions from before had vanished, leaving only a chilling calm.
"madman."
I'm too lazy to waste my breath arguing with him.
Before bandaging the wound, Ning Lu noticed a fragment embedded in his flesh and used a torch to singe the tip of a needle and pull it out.
She wanted to yell again, but when she glanced at his tense body, both her intuition and reason told her that he probably couldn't take any more provocation right now.
Inhale, exhale.
When she spoke again, her tone was restrained yet gentle. She spoke softly, as if reasoning with a kindergarten child: "Xie Qinghe, relationships aren't about saying hurtful things, stabbing each other in the back, or cornering each other to gain control."
"I won't hurt you, nor will I stab you in the back."
"It's not even good for myself."
Xie Qinghe didn't respond. Ning Lu skillfully bandaged the wound and placed his hand back on the table.
Such beautiful hands, old wounds compounded with new ones, it's heartbreaking to see...
The skillful use of the brush and ink relies entirely on the right hand; in modern times, it would be something to be insured, yet people don't know how to cherish it.
"I didn't expect it either..."
Before she could even speak, Ning Lu had already changed the subject.
"Why did you treat Master Tongguang like that?"
She definitely cared more about this matter than him.
Xie Qinghe sneered, staring intently at her. His heart, pounding with difficulty in his chest, felt as if it were being tightly gripped by a large hand, causing him to gasp slightly in pain.
He was already the villain in her eyes, and she really didn't want to be labeled as faking illness and being pretentious.
Her nostrils flared, her fingertips curled silently as she endured the pain, her eyes lowered as she breathed heavily.
Not hearing his response, Ning Lu pulled the stool a little closer to him.
"I'm asking you a question."
"You already saved him, what more do you want?"
Xie Qinghe retorted, "Do you expect me to kneel down and apologize?"
"That's not necessary..."
Ning Lu wisely kept quiet and reached out to support his unsteady body.
"I'll help you up."
"Now you know. I'm selfish, ruthless, and controlling..."
"Cough...cough cough..."
His cough interrupted his harsh words.
Xie Qinghe completely disregarded the newly bandaged wound on his palm and gripped Ning Lu's arm tightly.
“I’ve been scheming to control you and possess you, so how dare you leave me again without permission…”
"I'll kill everyone you care about... I won't let a single one go."
He muttered to himself in a childlike, obsessive way, his eyes filled with emptiness and helplessness, entirely out of fear of losing her.
"Xie Qinghe."
He raised his voice, wanting to say more, but Ning Lu pressed his body down.
He has already said this once.
She found out.
"Thank you, Qinghe!"
“Look at me.”
She took half a step forward, knelt down in front of him, supported his heavy, drooping head, and asked sharply.
"Torture them, kill them, and then what? What else do you want?"
"What if you were the person I cared about? What would you do? Would you keep torturing yourself like this?"
"Nonsense, who taught you that?"
Her voice became shrill with heartache.
Xie Qinghe was stumped by the question and speechless. He subconsciously tugged at her sleeve, his lips pressed into a straight line.
Her snow-white skin showed an abnormal bluish-purple tinge, and even her breathing rhythm was chaotic.
He opened his mouth and gagged silently.
Like a child who has done something wrong, he pressed tightly against his stomach, lowered his head, and curled up in a ball.
Looking at Xie Qinghe, who was almost in a daze, Ning Lu suddenly felt a pang of heartache.
I once thought this guy was so tough he could hold up the sky if it fell, but in just a few days, he's turned himself into this inhuman, ghostly mess.
What if she doesn't come back...
What if she...
Before I could think any further, I saw Xie Qinghe's body fall downwards, unable to support him.
"Xie Qinghe!" Ning Lu finally realized something was wrong and knelt down to catch his limp body.
The pain was so intense that the moisture from the corners of my eyes blurred and dampened my eyelashes.
He pressed his forehead firmly against her shoulder, clenching his teeth and swallowing his painful groan.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and he swallowed back the churning blood in his stomach.
Ning Lu skillfully hooked her arms around his knees and lifted him up in her arms.
The man's weak body couldn't withstand the dizziness caused by the rise and fall; he gasped for breath and his neck snapped backward.
Ignoring the bloodstains on his clothes, Ning Lu quickly settled him on the bed and loudly ordered the people outside the door to fetch a doctor.
He was in so much pain that he was dizzy and not very lucid.
In the intervals when the pain subsided, he murmured, almost delirious, almost pleading.
"Go home...take me with you...please...don't leave me behind..."
Ning Lu, who was busy pulling the blankets, was touched by his words, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
"Xie Qinghe."
"Or... wait until I'm dead..."
"Please don't abandon me..."
"What would I do with gold? Of course I want you. Don't talk nonsense."
The doctor arrived quickly. When he saw Xie Qinghe, who was delirious and ill, he was neither surprised nor surprised, as if it were expected.
After a few silver needles were inserted, the eyes, which had been glazed over with pain, slowly closed, and the person fell into a coma.
Silence fell over the room.
Everyone regained their composure.
Well-trained and knows when to advance and retreat.
Ning Lu stepped back to the door and suddenly felt a weight in her arms.
Wei Zhan arrived at some point and tossed her pale yellow cloak into her arms.
Seeing that she hesitated to speak, I assumed that she was still worried about Master Tongguang.
Wei Zhan sighed and said, "The injuries are not vital; they just look scary but won't take your life."
Ning Lu tightened her clothes and nodded perfunctorily, her gaze still fixed on the bed.
Suddenly I realized that I wasn't that kind and upright, and that I was just a selfish, ordinary person.
More than anyone else, she now hopes Xie Qinghe will wake up soon.
She hadn't had a chance to tell him that he didn't need to worry or be afraid.
She can't go back.
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Author's Note: An extra chapter will be released tonight at 9 PM. Please check it out.
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