Encounter (Part 3)
"Brother He, I made some porridge. Please eat some. Be careful of the heat."
"And this dress, remember to put it on when it's cold. I have something else to do outside for a while..."
"By the way, if your hands are not convenient, just wait for me to come back."
He Shu nodded perfunctorily, watching Li Qingshan walk out of the room and talk to someone who had arrived in the yard at some point in time. His eyes rolled around, and he slowly moved to the foot of the bed with the bowl of porridge.
Although the wound on his arm still hurt a little, it did not affect his movements. He Shu sipped the hot porridge and couldn't help but put his face close to the window, pricked up his ears, and listened to the conversation between the two with curiosity and a little uneasiness.
"Master, was yesterday's thunderstorm related to Brother He? You also know that Brother He... he is..."
"What is it? It's not a monster, it won't hurt you."
He Shu curled his lips when he heard this.
Why did this old man only tell half of the story? If he wasn't a monster, then what exactly was he?
"Hey, speaking of which, how's that little guy doing now?"
"The external injuries are not light. My apprentice has already given some simple treatment, but he doesn't look well. He may have lost his memory. I don't know if he has any other internal injuries."
"How could it be so serious? I clearly... Well, I should go see him."
He Shu listened, the spoon stopping at his lips.
Amnesia...
This word was like a needle, which made his temples jump.
Little guy? Was he talking about him? The familiarity in the old man's tone made him inexplicably irritated.
Who was he? Who were they? Why couldn't he remember anything?
The porridge in the bowl suddenly lost its taste, making his chest feel stuffy. He put the bowl on the windowsill in annoyance, making a slight clinking sound.
"Master, Brother He has become a little timid after losing his memory. Please don't scare him."
"You little brat, do you still need to remind me? I don't like outsiders to be present when I'm treating patients. You can just stay outside. If you're bored, prepare another bowl of fish porridge for me. Remember to put more coriander in it. I love it."
Hearing the footsteps outside getting closer, He Shu hurriedly leaned back to the bed with the bowl in his hand. He glanced at the pile of clothes beside the bed and hurriedly picked them up to put them on, but he didn't know where to start. He was panicking.
I need to put on my clothes quickly...
Who knew that just as the thought came to his mind, his hand suddenly felt lighter, and the clothes floated up by themselves as if they were alive.
He opened his eyes wide in shock, looking at the neatly dressed people in disbelief. This was completely beyond the scope of his current vague memory.
But the footsteps had already reached the door, and He Shu could only suppress his surprise and suspicion. He quickly pretended to be calm, picked up the bowl of porridge, scooped up the few remaining rice grains at the bottom of the bowl and put them into his mouth.
"But Master..."
"Don't worry... Are you still not confident in your master's medical skills? I guarantee that when you come out again, your brother He will be full of energy again."
The door creaked shut as Li Qingshan looked on, wanting to say something but unable to, isolating him from the outside.
There seemed to be a very light, worried sigh coming from outside the door.
An elder in a dark blue Taoist robe walked in. He had a long beard on his chin and his all-white hair was neatly tied under a Hunyuan scarf. At first glance, he looked a bit like an immortal.
But for some reason, He Shu felt from the bottom of his heart that this old man in the fluttering Taoist robe exuded an air of unreliability.
"Little guy, do you still remember who I am?"
“…”
"Hey, if you really don't remember, I'm Taoist Priest Xuan Tongzi."
"My name is not Little Guy, my name is He Wuming."
"Okay, okay, Wuming, Wuming..."
He Shu turned his head away from the hand that was stretched out to touch his head. After hearing him lower his head and mutter, "Although I have lost my memory, my temper hasn't changed," he took the initiative to ask:
"You know a lot about me, can you tell me everything?"
"Oh, that's too much. But before I tell you, let's heal your wound first, okay? You don't want to be in pain all the time, do you?"
Xuan Tongzi flicked his sleeves lightly, and a golden light quietly overflowed from his fingertips and sank into the wall silently.
The golden light flowed along the texture of the wall like living water, and in the blink of an eye, it immersed the entire room in a warm golden halo.
"You know magic?"
"certainly."
As he spoke, he gently tapped He Shu's clothes, and the clothes he had inexplicably put on a few moments ago were taken off.
"What are you surprised about? Little...Wuming, don't you know how to do it too?"
Xuan Tongzi smiled and looked at He Shu, who opened his eyes wide and seemed a little shocked, and knocked on his forehead.
"We'll talk about these things later. First, let's look at your injury. Hiss...it hurts just looking at it..."
He Shu also looked down after hearing this. What the old Taoist priest said was indeed true. His exposed upper body was horrible to look at.
His wrists looked as if they had been tightly bound by something hard, with deep purple bruises and a thin, brittle blood scab forming on the edges of the torn skin.
The scrapes and abrasions all over his body had stopped bleeding, and the redness and swelling around them had faded a little, but they still had a noticeable green and yellow tint.
There were some burn marks on the chest and back. The bulging blisters had basically burst, revealing the tender red flesh underneath. The skin on the outer edge was curled up and dry, and was stiff after being burnt.
What shocked me at first was the penetrating wound on the heart, a bloody hole the size of a baby's fist. If I got closer, I could clearly see the swirling texture inside.
He Shu only took a quick glance and turned away, unable to bear to look any further. He had not noticed the wounds all over his body because he had hidden them under the blood-stained robe. No wonder every inch of his flesh was screaming in pain.
"It's okay, it's okay, I managed to protect it... Huh? How could there be..."
The old Taoist priest was mumbling to himself again. He Shu wanted to ask him, but he suddenly found that his throat was blocked by cotton and he couldn't make any sound. The scene in front of him was rapidly fading and darkening, and the boundless nothingness instantly enveloped him.
"Hmmmm!"
"Don't be afraid, little one. The treatment will be very painful. I just want to relieve your suffering. Don't worry, just close your eyes and have a good sleep. When you wake up again, your wounds will be healed and the pain will go away..."
He Shu wanted to struggle, but his body felt heavier. Amid Xuan Tongzi's nagging "Don't be afraid", he fell completely into darkness.
When he woke up again, he looked down immediately and found that the dark purple bruises on his wrists, the scrapes all over his body, and the burns on his chest and back had disappeared without a trace.
His skin was smooth, with only a faint pink mark remaining. The heaviness in his left arm had also disappeared, and he could move it freely. Only the bloody hole in his heart remained in its place.
Oh, and his lost memories.
He sat up suddenly:
"Old... ahem, Taoist Priest, didn't you say that good injuries can be healed? Why haven't I recovered my memory yet?"
"This is a heart disease. I can't cure it. I can't help you. I can't help you."
Xuan Tongzi waved his hand, stood up from the bed, sat on a stool two steps away, poured himself a sip of tea and drank it.
"Heart disease?"
"Yeah...the things you choose to forget, only you can find them."
He Shu frowned and lowered his head. Did he choose to forget?
He thought so, but there was always a vague uneasiness deep in his heart, as if he had lost something extremely important.
But then I thought, since the old Taoist priest who seemed to have great supernatural powers said that heart disease is difficult to cure, what's the point of worrying about it?
Forget it... Let's just leave it like this. I can't remember it at the moment anyway, but life has to go on.
"What about this area on my heart, Taoist priest? Can you help me heal the wound? It makes me feel uncomfortable."
He Shu no longer worried about his amnesia, but instead pointed to the wound on his heart and looked at Xuan Tongzi with some pleading in his eyes.
He didn't remember what his relationship with the old Taoist priest was like in the past, but he felt a little embarrassed to trouble him again after doing so much for himself.
"Wound? You don't have any wound here..."
The smile on Xuan Tongzi's face froze instantly. He took a few steps back to the bed, leaned down, and with a kind of almost frozen caution, he gently pressed the heart position pointed by He Shu with his fingertips.
"Is this the place?"
He Shu nodded.
“No wonder…”
Xuan Tongzi sighed, lowered his head and was silent for a moment, not knowing what he was thinking about, his expression suddenly became solemn.
"So this is the idea..."
"Little one, listen—"
Xuan Tongzi stood up straight, his tone more serious than ever before.
"I have to go and confirm some things immediately, so I won't be back for a while. During this time, you should stay by Qingshan's side and recuperate. Don't let your mind wander, and don't go out casually. Don't show your magical skills in front of mortals! If you have any questions, no matter how big or small, go to Qingshan first. As for your past..."
He paused, his eyes complicated.
"When I come back, I will explain it to you."
He Shu was stunned by this long paragraph. When he figured out what to ask next, Xuan Tongzi's figure had already disappeared like smoke.
"At least tell me where I should go back to after I recover..."
Although he had roughly guessed his identity, He Shu was still determined to find out.
His true form is a white crane, and he can cast spells. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be a crane demon.
"What's wrong?"
After Xuan Tongzi left, the barrier he had set up around the house also disappeared. Li Qingshan, who had been waiting at the door since making the porridge, walked into the east wing as he wished. He quickly scanned the room and couldn't help wondering:
"Brother He, where is my master?"
"He left first because of something..."
He Shu lay down again, facing the wall, his voice muffled.
But before he could finish his words, his stomach made a slight "gurgling" sound. He immediately felt embarrassed and his ears turned red, and he buried his face in the pillow in annoyance.
"If he doesn't drink, I will!"
After being suffocated in the pillow for only a few breaths, a bulge suddenly appeared in the quilt. He Shu sat up in despair and reached out to Li Qingshan with a desperate look.
"Brother He, please be careful..."
Seeing his anxious movements, Li Qingshan subconsciously stretched out his free hand to support him, his voice full of obvious nervousness.
"The wound has just healed, don't pull it again."
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