Chapter 5 Who can believe he's a prince?
A chill seeped from the internal organs, and the coldness rapidly spread along the meridians to the limbs and bones.
As the extreme cold gnawed at his bones and flesh, Yu Tianxing was in pain and cold, and just when he could hardly hold on, a faint warmth enveloped him.
Yu Tianxing subconsciously moved closer to the source of warmth, hoping to absorb more.
But soon the warmth disappeared, leaving him only to sink into chaos and pain.
He tried to end his own life, but found his body tightly bound and his mouth stuffed with cotton.
He wanted to die but couldn't.
After struggling for a long time and on the verge of collapse, a warm touch suddenly landed on his lips.
The warmth carried something into his mouth.
"As expected of me." A light, cheerful, and slightly hoarse voice of praise reached my ears.
With difficulty, I looked up and saw a thin, smiling face appear before me, its eyes shining with light, warm and bright.
A wave of weariness washed over him, his mind was swallowed up, and in the next instant he completely lost consciousness.
Inside, the firelight flickered, and the aroma of rice porridge wafted through the air.
Ji Mingran brought the small pot from outside the courtyard into the house, lifted a wooden board from the corner, dug a hole in the ground, and burned the wooden board along with the firewood from today's great contributor, the walking stick, to cook a pot of porridge.
She bought the rice from Aunt Wang, the owner of the sweet water shop, by knocking on the wooden door outside the alley on her way home.
The sudden knocking on the shop door in the middle of the night startled Granny Wang. After she calmed down and saw it was her, Granny Wang flew into a rage and began to curse loudly.
Ji Mingran, thick-skinned and calm, clung to the doorpost and refused to leave. The old woman, anxious to get rid of this jinx, had no choice but to grant her request, bringing her rice and leftover steamed buns to quickly send her away.
She followed the same method and bought some medicine from Doctor Zhang's pharmacy next to the sweet water shop.
When I rushed home, the person lying in bed was emitting a chilling aura, looking just like a corpse frozen in a freezer.
She skipped over to the bedside, lay down on the boy, listened to his heartbeat and checked his breath. Fortunately, she could feel a very faint breath.
She fed the pill to the boy and let out a long sigh of relief.
After a whole night of tossing and turning, I'm really exhausted.
Ji Mingran sat in front of the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), slowly bandaging his broken leg, occasionally stirring the porridge in the pot.
The steam from cooking porridge is just right to warm up leftover steamed buns, and the firewood can also help warm up the room.
Looking up at the steaming heat inside the room, the bubbling porridge in the pot, and the leaping flames, Ji Mingran stopped bandaging his broken leg, lost in thought.
In the past, she would never have started a fire so easily.
Heat can attract mutants.
Although tonight was a bit of a hassle, she went to several places and saw four living humans.
Many people in the town are still asleep.
An indescribable feeling burst forth in my chest.
This world is real; it is not an illusion, not a dream.
Very good.
Ji Mingran stared at the flames and unconsciously stretched out his hands.
"Too close." A low, hoarse voice came, accompanied by two coughs.
“But it’s fire, it’s light, that’s what I love most,” Ji Mingran murmured.
Um?
Ji Mingran hurriedly turned around. The young man sat up halfway, his weak and pale face making his dark eyes appear even more striking. He stared intently at her, seemingly having been awake for an unknown amount of time.
"Can you move? I've made some porridge, come and get it." Ji Mingran withdrew his hand and continued to bandage the wound in circles. "My legs are weak."
There was a moment of silence on the other side of the bed, as if someone was thinking about something. After a while, there was a soft rustling sound, and a tall shadow slowly fell beside her. The boy sat down next to her: "You saved me."
"It's just to keep you alive for now." Ji Mingran didn't hide anything and told him everything about the pill exchange and what Boss Jiang had said.
"Being able to wake up is enough. The remaining poison is harmless; I will handle it myself." The young man's expression was calm and composed. He turned to look at Ji Mingran. "A life-saving grace should be repaid. What do you want?"
The firelight illuminated his profile, revealing his handsome, flawless features, but his face was deathly pale, with a smudge of bluish-black on his lips. His eyes were dark and deep, devoid of joy or sorrow, swallowing and drowning the light reflected in them, leaving only endless coldness.
Although the man was right in front of her, Ji Mingran could not see his expression clearly. She could only feel that he was exuding a broken and dejected aura and coldness.
"I'm in a great mood." Ji Mingran placed his hands on the flickering firewood, feeling the heat from the flames with his fingertips. "Would you like to be my partner?"
The boy raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
"It's a bit sudden, but you're the first person I've met, and you're still alive. How about we team up and live together?"
Post-apocalyptic rule: Team up to survive.
Although she never had the opportunity to put this principle into practice, sticking together can keep you warm, and this principle is applicable to any world.
The boy was silent for a moment, then said, "Yu Tianxing, that's my name."
Ji Mingran hesitated: "Does this count as a yes?"
He never seemed to answer her questions directly.
The boy turned to look at the firewood: "This land belongs to Yu the Great. Emperor Yu the Great passed away three days ago. The late emperor decreed that his eldest son should succeed to the throne. However, the seventh prince, the legitimate son of the empress, was resentful upon hearing the news and rebelled on the night of the late emperor's death."
Da Yu, also surnamed Yu in his youth.
"You mean to say," Ji Mingran reacted, incredulous, "that you are the eldest son who was usurped?"
Regardless of whether it's true or not, this is too weak; it was actually taken down by a mere nobody.
"No." Yu Tianxing's lips curled slightly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
"I am the seventh prince who failed in his uprising."
......
A silence fell over the room, broken only by the occasional crackling of the firewood as it was heated by the fire.
He looked only thirteen or fourteen years old, yet he dared to say that he was starting a rebellion.
Ji Mingran felt somewhat heavy-hearted.
Is he stupid? Was he always stupid, or did the medication make him stupid?
Mr. Jiang never mentioned that the medication would cause any sequelae of madness.
The firewood was too strong, causing the porridge to boil violently, and the pot was shaking so much that it was about to overflow.
Ji Mingran turned to the side, wrapped his hands with the strips of cloth hanging from his clothes, picked up the steamed bun, and then carefully lifted the scalding hot pot and placed it on the ground.
“You just woke up,” she said, gently stirring the porridge with a wooden spoon. “It’s normal to be a little disoriented. I was like that when I first woke up last night. It’s alright, you’ll get used to it. Just try to stay home as much as possible from now on and don’t wander around. If you can’t find your way home, just tell people my name. They don’t like me, and if they find out you live with me, they’ll kick you out.”
She looked at Yu Tianxing intently, "Ji-Ming-Ran, my name is Ji Mingran, remember that."
Yu Tianxing stared at her intently, his voice low and deep, "The sixty-eight prefectures and thirty-four cities within our borders have all sworn to support the new emperor. All my remaining subordinates have perished at the hands of the Corpse Demons, and the streets are filled with soldiers searching for me. There's no benefit for you to come with me, yet you still want to...partner with me?"
“Of course.” Ji Mingran thought it wasn’t a big problem. “If what you said is true, I’ll come to save you if you get arrested.” She quickly poured the porridge into a chipped bowl and handed it to Yu Tianxing. “If I get arrested, it’s because I’m too weak to save you. You’ll just have to accept your bad luck.”
Yu Tianxing glanced at the pot; it was crystal clear, and almost all the rice was contained in the bowl.
He quietly observed the girl in front of him.
His face was sallow, one cheek and eye were swollen and bruised from injury, he was thin and bony, his clothes were tattered and his hair was disheveled, he looked miserable from head to toe.
Her injuries worsened.
But the girl didn't cry out in pain. Now she just held the bowl with both hands and looked at him with a stubborn and serious expression.
Yu Tianxing took the chipped small bowl handed to him, lowered his head and took a small sip of the porridge. The porridge was refreshing and the warmth spread from his body.
“Saving me was already a huge ordeal, and taking me in would have meant certain death. Now I'm at my wit's end, and the promise of repayment I made earlier was just empty talk.” He asked softly, “What are you after?”
Ji Mingran said lightly, "I've had enough of living a hard life alone."
The regret of not being able to meet any living people or form a team in her past life has seeped into her bones. "So I made a grand vow. As long as I meet someone who is willing to partner with me, even if it's only for a while, I will definitely treat that person well. This vow will not change in this life or the next."
"Why?" Yu Tianxing's eyes were dark and unchanging. "It's me?" He didn't believe it.
Ji Mingran poked a steamed bun with his chopsticks and slowly blew on it. "It just so happens that I met you. It's you. I'm all alone, and you're all alone. Besides, we didn't know each other when we attacked the corpse demons last night, but we were quite in sync. If you find it hard to believe, just consider it good luck."
She smiled at Yu Tianxing and said, "Congratulations, you're a lucky one."
"When I was at my wit's end, someone suddenly saved me and helped me without asking for anything in return. I was really lucky." Yu Tianxing's voice was soft, and as if recalling something, a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
“If you really want to get to the bottom of things, what demands do you want me to make before you feel at ease? Then…” She turned to meet Yu Tianxing’s cold gaze, the firelight dancing in her eyes, bright and stubborn. She held up the steamed bun and pointed it upwards, “My roof can’t leak anymore.”
Ji Mingran survived in the apocalypse. He always did things for multiple purposes. If he couldn't achieve one purpose, he would always achieve another. In this way, he wouldn't waste all his efforts.
“I am infamous and helpless here. Although you cannot show your face in public, you are physically capable and can help with some heavy work. Since you have nowhere else to go, let’s lend each other a hand. Neither of us owes the other anything, and I will not use any favors to blackmail you in the future. Is that alright?”
"Really?" Yu Tianxing stared at her intently with his jet-black eyes.
She certainly doesn't like dealing with those things like favors: "Of course. I just want to live together."
Silence filled the air as Ji Mingran patiently awaited a reply.
The firewood crackled and burned, sporadic sparks flying out and dissolving before those cold, dark eyes. After a long while, he said in a low voice, "If you insist, then so be it."
"That's great!" Ji Mingran's voice was cheerful. She picked up a steamed bun and touched it to the bowl in Yu Tianxing's hand: "After we finish this food, we'll be inseparable partners from now on."
After saying that, without waiting for Yu Tianxing's reaction, she continued to wolf down her food.
Because the steamed bun was too hot, her face scrunched up, and she had to stop wolfing it down, blowing on the bun with a pained expression.
A barely perceptible smile played on his lips. Yu Tianxing lowered his eyes, watching the porridge ripple gently from the impact, and took a small sip. "Mmm."
He didn't believe what she said.
But what's wrong with not believing?
The worst that can happen is death, and the best that can happen is death.
Before that, he wanted to see what this person who had come back from the dead, hiding in the body of a child and pretending to be innocent, really wanted to do.
A note from the author:
Lonely Burning Treasure's first friend has arrived!
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