After taking a short breath, Gu Qingtong moved forward and reached out to grab the man's hand. While using scissors to cut the bloodstained fine cloth, she looked at the man's pale and silent face and heaving chest. Gu Qingtong pursed her lips and finally asked in a low voice: "I saw that the spot on your ankle seems to be... branded. Did you... escape from the prison?"
Gu Qingtong had always wanted to ask this question, but she never did. A few days ago, this man had been half dead and his mind was a little unclear. Gu Qingtong couldn't get anything out of him, so she could only try her best to heal his wounds. Since yesterday, Gu Qingtong found that he was in better spirits. She felt relieved, but also very uneasy. She picked up a man of unknown origin and felt that this man seemed to have escaped from prison. As a girl, she was naturally worried.
"I've never been to jail," the man said after a while. He lowered his eyebrows and watched Gu Qingtong use scissors to cut the fine cloth that had already stuck to his hands. He said slowly, "That was not branding. I burned myself with a shovel."
"How could it get burned?" Gu Qingtong frowned immediately, looking at the man in confusion, "Even if you were cooking and got burned by accident, it wouldn't have gotten to your ankles, right? Besides, with the robe, pants, and socks covering it, how could it get burned to your skin, and burn so badly?"
"It wasn't an accident," the man said again. His mouth twitched slightly as he said this. "I burned it by heating the shovel until it turned red."
"You...are you sick?!" The next second, Gu Qingtong could not help but yell. She stared at the expressionless man, then looked at the half-unwrapped bandage in her hand. The more she looked at it, the more ridiculous it seemed. She dropped the scissors on the ground with a "bang", stood up, and yelled at the man in a low voice, "If you want to die, there are many ways to do it! There's no need for branding irons and cutting off fingers! Are you not afraid of death or are you afraid of death?!" After yelling, Gu Qingtong felt exhausted all over. She stood in front of the bed, then sat down a little disappointed, picked up the scissors from the ground, then lowered her head and continued to remove the bandage stuck to the man's wound, saying coldly, "Since you are determined to die, don't waste my time. You can leave tomorrow and die wherever you want and however you want..."
"I don't want to die!" The man suddenly interrupted Gu Qingtong. He raised his head abruptly, and his expressionless face showed a strong desire and pleading. "I really don't want to die! Please don't drive me away, okay? Please! Please!"
Yes, he really didn't want to die. His parents risked their lives to give him a new life, so how could he bear to die?
He wanted to live a good life, even if he had to hide his identity and live like a ghost from now on, he still wanted to live a good life! With his parents' share.
"If you don't want to die, why would you hurt yourself like this?" Gu Qingtong felt burned by those two gazes. Being stared at by that person pitifully and anxiously, Gu Qingtong felt a little uncomfortable. When he spoke again, his voice unconsciously lowered, "You keep saying that you don't want to die, but why would you be so cruel to yourself?"
"I... want to erase the mark on my body." The man bit his lip and said to Gu Qingtong as if he had made a great decision.
"What mark?" Gu Qingtong asked with a frown, not understanding what was going on.
"There was a mark here once," the man pointed at his tightly wrapped ankle and said to Gu Qingtong, "When I was twelve years old, someone stamped it with a fiery red seal."
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