Chapter 24
When the wolf saw that the fat meat in its mouth fell out of its mouth, it was so anxious that it sharpened its claws on the ground. The tree was not tall, and it was ready to jump up again and again with the help of running.
The night wind was freezing cold. Xie Chen rubbed his frozen hands, tightened the bowstring, and watched coldly as the wolf jumped into the air and fell down again and again.
Dark clouds obscured the moon, and everything was dim. The wolf seized the opportunity and tried again. Finally, he bit Xie Chen's toes. Xie Chen reluctantly tied the bowstring around its neck. He was so close to the wolf that he could smell the fishy stench from its mouth.
He tightened the bowstring, and the wolf was unable to breathe. Its limbs began to twitch. Xie Chen could only tighten the bowstring little by little. He clenched his teeth and veins on his hands bulged.
But he had consumed too much energy tonight and was also very young, so he was ultimately no match for the wolf's strength and gradually lost the upper hand to it.
The wolf stretched the bowstring and opened its mouth to bite Xie Chen. At the critical moment, an arrow flew through the air and nailed the wolf to the tree. The wolf howled in pain, and Xie Chen immediately pulled out the arrow and stabbed it in the heart.
He jumped down from the tree and saw flames rising into the sky and people shouting in the distance. Are they finally here?
Xie Chen finally exhausted all his strength. He saw Lin Shuge rushing towards him from afar, his face full of anxiety and nervousness. He called out "brother" and then collapsed unconscious.
Early the next morning, Xie Chen was awakened by the chirping of birds outside the window. He slowly opened his eyes and felt sore all over, especially his arms, which he could hardly lift. It seemed that he had exerted too much force last night and had strained them.
The door was pushed open, and Lin Qingyuan walked in with red eyes. When he saw Xie Chen woke up, he rushed over with a roar. Xie Chen raised his left hand and pulled him up.
"Erlang, you're awake. Are you feeling uncomfortable?" Lin Qingyuan looked at him with guilt in his eyes. "I was late last night, you... but you were so brave. The whole county, no, I guess the whole Dingyuan County must have heard about it. You fought against a pack of wolves alone and killed seven wolves in a row."
"Last night I took my elder brother, Magistrate Wu, county officials, and the famous hunters in the county up the mountain. Everyone saw the wolf's corpse and praised you for your bravery."
"Has it spread everywhere? That's good..." Xie Chen whispered.
"What did you say?" Lin Qingyuan didn't hear what he said.
"Nothing, where's my brother?" Xie Chen looked outside the house as he didn't see his brother coming.
Lin Qingyuan was a little embarrassed. "Big brother...seems to be angry. After I came back last night, he ignored me. I begged for a long time before he spoke to me."
Xie Chen's hands paused slightly, and his body seemed to be stagnant. Is his brother angry?
"I'll go find him." Xie Chen turned over and got off the kang, his legs went weak and he almost couldn't stand.
"Hey...Erlang, wait for me." Lin Qingyuan called him from behind.
Lin Shuge was boiling medicine in the kitchen. He had taken a leave of absence today and did not go to the county government office. County Magistrate Li and Zhou Yuan were in charge of papermaking and cashmere, so there was no need for him to do anything in person for the time being.
"Brother." Xie Chen called out cautiously.
Lin Shuge was angry but pretended not to hear. The clay stove was burning so fiercely that the lid of the casserole made a squeaking sound.
He used a cloth to pad the casserole and poured the medicine into the bowl. Xie Chen wanted to help but he dodged and accidentally splashed the medicine on his hands.
Xie Chen immediately held his hand and put it into the cold water, and wanted to ask Lin Xuan for burn medicine.
"No, it's nothing serious," he said, handing him the medicine and turning away.
Xie Chen was left alone with the medicine, and his heart felt like it was being plucked tightly, filled with bitterness and grievance.
His brother had never treated him like this.
He put down the medicine, hurriedly followed, and followed Lin Shuge all the way back to the room.
When Lin Shuge heard that he had been following him, he prepared to go back to his room directly. Last night was thrilling and he had not slept all night. Seeing that Xie Chen was now full of energy, he wanted to go back to his room to catch up on his sleep.
He walked a few steps faster and was about to close the door when he saw a hand reaching in. He quickly retracted his hand, but the hand was still pinched by the door.
His fingers immediately became red and swollen. Lin Shuge grabbed them and took a closer look. Fortunately, he stopped in time and the swelling was not serious.
"Brother." Xie Chen's eyes moved slightly, and his tone was filled with deep grievance.
When Lin Shuge thought of his audacity, he put down his injured hand and said mercilessly: "I want to rest, you go out."
He made room for Xie Chen and motioned for him to leave. But Xie Chen pulled his sleeve and said, "Brother, I'm sorry, it's my fault. I shouldn't have disobeyed you and taken the risk alone..."
"You knew that and still went?" Lin Shuge said, suppressing his anger.
"Brother, I know I was wrong. You can beat me or punish me if you want, but don't ignore me." He had been taken very good care of by Lin Shuge during this period. His handsome face looked aggrieved, which made people feel very sorry for him.
"In fact, I was really scared last night. I was afraid that I would never see you again." Seeing Lin Shuge's expression slightly moved, he continued: "My parents, brothers and sisters-in-law are all dead. If it weren't for my brother saving them, they would have turned into bones long ago. Now I only have you left. Brother, please don't ignore me."
Lin Shuge's eyes turned red. "Zhongxuan, you said you were scared, you know how scared I was. I went all the way there, afraid of hearing some bad news. When I saw Ayuan and Wu Xiaolangjun return safely, I thought you would be safe too, but what happened?"
He had tears in his eyes and his body was shaking slightly. He closed his eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "What did you say? Do you remember?"
Xie Chen only remembered that he was in a panic at the time. He thought that he might not be able to go back. His only wish was that his brother would remember him and never forget him for the rest of his life.
But now seeing Lin Shuge's reaction, I realized that such heart-piercing words undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to Lin Shuge's heart.
He regretted it very much, "Brother, I was wrong. I shouldn't have said that."
"You are wrong? Zhongxuan, let me ask you, why did you risk your life to save others? You have a cold temper, but you are sincere to us. Tell me, what made you risk your life to save an unrelated person?"
A trace of panic flashed across Xie Chen's eyes, and he was speechless. He could only look at Lin Shuge with red eyes, his lips moving slightly, but he couldn't speak.
"Don't say it's because of Ayuan. Ayuan has already told me that you guys helped me look for more than an hour. Considering the friendship between me and County Lieutenant Wu, it's enough."
Lin Shuge looked at his reaction and sneered, "Zhongxuan, I don't care what your reason is, I just hope you can protect yourself."
He looked at Xie Chen deeply, there was no blame in his eyes, only worry and sadness for him. He raised his hand and pulled away Xie Chen's hand, "Tell me when you have thought it through." After saying that, he was ready to turn around and leave.
Before he could leave the room, he was pulled by a strong force, and then a hot body pressed against his back, and two hands held his waist and abdomen tightly. The young man was full of hot temper, and he felt as if he was trapped by a ball of fire.
A voice came from behind, "Brother," Xie Chen's voice was filled with tears, "I don't want to lie to you, but...", as if he had made up his mind, "I admit that I do have selfish motives. I want County Magistrate Wu to owe me a favor..."
When Lin Shuge heard this, he felt a slight pain in his heart. He thought, why bother? Now that he has returned safely, why force him when we know he has his own difficulties?
"Stop talking, Zhongxuan. I won't ask anymore. A gentleman judges by deeds, not by heart. You can talk about it later if you want." He struggled slightly, wanting Xie Chen to let him go.
Xie Chen hugged him tighter, "If you want to know, I will tell you. But brother, can you please not abandon me?"
Everyone is terrified when talking about the Xie family's affairs and tries to avoid it. He was not afraid of anything except that Lin Shuge would not want him after knowing it.
Lin Shuge gently patted his hands that were clasping his waist and abdomen. Just as he was about to speak, he looked up and saw Lin Xuan and Lin Qingyuan looking at them in shock.
Xie Chen didn't close the door when he came in just now.
"Brother, Erlang, what are you doing?" Lin Qingyuan's expression gradually became dull. What happened?
Lin Shuge had a headache and didn't know how to explain. Xie Chen quickly let go of the hand that was holding Lin Shuge, turned around and wiped his eyes.
Lin Qingyuan suddenly realized, "Erlang, you appear calm in front of us, but you are actually very scared, right?" He was so scared that he hugged his elder brother and cried.
Xie Chen hadn't recovered from his previous emotions yet and hadn't spoken a word. In Lin Qingyuan's opinion, he was just shy. He looked like he knew it all and felt that he was really thoughtful.
He looked at Xie Chen with great interest. Erlang usually looked unmoved and would not change his expression even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, but it turned out that he was like this in front of his elder brother.
"What's the matter?" Lin Shuge asked, changing the subject.
"Oh, by the way, Magistrate Wu and his family are here. They said they came to thank Erlang and Ayuan for saving Young Master Wu's life." Lin Xuan said.
The scene just now was so shocking that even Lin Xuan forgot what she came here to do. Unlike Lin Qingyuan who was naive and gullible, she always felt that her eldest brother and Erlang were hiding something from her.
"Let's go, don't keep them waiting."
As soon as County Magistrate Wu saw Lin Shuge and Xie Chen coming out, he was about to kneel down with Madam Zhang and their two children. Lin Shuge was so scared that he called Xie Chen and the twins to help them up quickly.
"Lin County Magistrate, I came here today to thank Young Master Wei and Young Master Lin for saving my son's life. If there is anything you need me for in the future, I will be happy to serve you."
Madam Zhang went on to say, "My family doesn't have any good things to offer, so please accept our little token of appreciation." As she spoke, she stuffed the large and small bags of things in her hands to Lin Shuge.
Lin Shuge was about to refuse, but Madam Zhang said, "Lin County Magistrate, just reassure me as a mother. If it weren't for the two young masters, Yuanguang would have definitely... been eaten by wolves." As she said this, she wiped her tears with a handkerchief.
Lin Qingyuan scratched his ear a little embarrassedly, "I didn't do anything, Erlang is the hero."
"Yes, Young Master Wei is truly a young talent. He is so brave and extraordinary at such a young age. He naturally has a bright future." Madam Zhang praised.
Xie Chen replied, "Ms. Zhang, you are so kind."
Seeing that everyone was just standing there, Lin Shuge invited County Magistrate Wu and his wife to come in and sit down, but they declined. "We won't disturb them. Grandfather Yuanguang is clamoring to see him. He was so scared yesterday that he had to see him with his own eyes to feel at ease." said Madam Zhang.
County Magistrate Wu said to Xie Chen, "Young Master Wei, can you please spare me a moment to talk?"
Xie Chen didn't reply, but glanced at Lin Shuge, who nodded at him and said, "Go ahead."
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