Chapter 55
However, after completely removing the bandages from Tang Qi's body, Cheng Junshi had no chance to think about anything else; his mind calmed down almost instantly.
In addition to the injuries inflicted by the court beatings, Tang Qi's back also bore many old wounds, which grotesquely crawled along his spine like centipedes.
"So I think that at that time, the late emperor—"
Feeling the hand suddenly stop on his back, Tang Qi was startled by the coolness of Cheng Junshi's fingertips. He paused, tilted his head slightly, and stared blankly for a moment.
How many injuries have you sustained?
Cheng Junshi asked this question almost in a hushed voice.
"Not many, I can't remember," Tang Qi said with a laugh.
Cheng Junshi's gaze slowly and carefully swept over every scar on his back.
So much, so deep.
He said he couldn't remember.
"How exactly...did you get back from Katyu?" His voice choked with emotion.
After their reunion on the street, Cheng Junshi never had the chance to ask him the question.
"And your face."
Tang Qi was taken aback, then froze for a moment before choking out with a faint laugh, "I forgot."
His voice was soft, but it didn't sit well with Cheng Junshi. He was the person in the world least likely to forget this incident.
It's just that this matter is too heavy and too painful for him to even mention.
Cheng Junshi poured the medicine onto Tang Qi's wound, and Tang Qi groaned a few times in pain.
But if you suppress your emotions too much, you will eventually suffer a lot.
He didn't want Tang Qi to suffer, and he didn't want him to continue living with guilt and these burdens.
Cheng Junshi wrapped his arm around Tang Qi's body from the front and applied the bandage to his body, round and round, his movements slow and gentle: "Tell me, okay?"
Cheng Junshi's words seemed to have an irresistible power. Just a simple question made Tang Qi's nose inexplicably tingle, and for a moment he almost wanted to tell everything. But in the end he just chuckled twice and said, "They're all old stories, not worth mentioning."
"But I want to hear it."
Cheng Junshi's voice was very soft, but it was enough to tickle Tang Qi's heart.
He finally let out a long sigh of defeat, hanging his head and remaining silent for a while before speaking: "I was saved. They protected me with their lives. Lin Zhengye, the original owner of this face, switched identities with me and then died in my place. So many members of the Wolf Strategy Army died at Katyu. I couldn't save them, not a single one. Zhengye..."
Tang Qi suddenly choked up again: "He wasn't even an adult yet. How much pain must he have felt when he died in my place?"
"And what about you? How much pain are you in?"
Cheng Junshi's words startled Tang Qi.
"These injuries you have, the injuries you sustained coming back from Katyu, and your... your legs. How much pain did you feel when you crawled back from the brink of death?"
Tang Qi felt his mind freeze for a moment, so stunned that he could hardly think.
How much pain was he in?
It seems no one has ever asked him about this. Even Tang Qi himself hasn't paid any attention to it.
"I...I..." Tang Qi actually wanted to say, "I'm not in pain." But when he heard Cheng Junshi's voice, he suddenly felt very wronged. He opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.
"You're in pain too, aren't you?"
Cheng Junshi carefully wrapped the bandage around his wound, making sure it was neat and even.
“But you never say these things,” Cheng Junshi continued, wrapping the cord around and around, “because you feel you have no right to cry out in pain.”
He lowered his head.
Tang Qi,
Cheng Junshi suddenly called his name. This name had been on his lips for a very long time, and today he finally had the chance to whisper it out.
You can't do that.
Tang Qi felt as if she had been stabbed in the heart. She lowered her head and chuckled a few times before slowly saying, "Cheng Wang, you really can read minds."
“Actually, sometimes I feel like I can’t live too happily,” Tang Qi said, looking up at something. “Because I even stole my life from others. They’re all dead, so why should I live well, laugh, run, jump, and stay alive?”
“This isn’t fair,” Tang Qi’s eyes became vacant, and he murmured softly, “It’s not fair at all.”
“That’s the truly unfair thing to think that way. Who says that those who are alive must suffer?” Cheng Junshi continued.
"They're letting you live because they want you to live well and be happy. If you feel guilty even about being happy, then you're not truly living; you're just not dead. If that's the case, they'll probably think it's not worth it, right?"
"Is that so?" Tang Qi slowly came back to her senses, then chuckled twice and turned to look at him: "Cheng Wang, are you trying to comfort me?"
Cheng Junshi choked, and Tang Qi burst out laughing again: "This is the first time I've ever seen you talk to me so seriously. It's amazing, just like the teacher in the school. Hey—do you remember that teacher whose hair was always sticking up?"
Upon hearing this, Cheng Junshi's temper flared up again, and he pouted and retorted, "At least half of the reason why the Master's hair is always sticking up is because of you."
Tang Qi raised her head with a rather proud look: "You still haven't said enough."
Cheng Junshi rolled his eyes at him speechlessly, but couldn't help but laugh when he saw Tang Qi's rare smug expression.
very nice.
You can still laugh, run, jump, and live.
That's great.
"Suddenly I feel that we were very regretful about those years before."
As if he thought he had misheard, Cheng Junshi froze in surprise: "What?"
“It was those years before—you have no idea how bad your temper was back then,” Tang Qi began to recount at length, “Every time I wanted to say something to you, one look from you and I had to shut up. Actually, I tried to make peace with you many times in those years and try to be friends, but Cheng Shaoqing, oh no, back then you were still Cheng Shaojiansi, you were really unapproachable back then.”
Tang Qi laughed again and said to Cheng Junshi, "If you had been this easy to talk to earlier, would we have been enemies all this time?"
Thump, thump.
Cheng Junshi's heart suddenly went out of control again.
"You said you wanted to befriend me before?"
"Yes, but Cheng Shaoqing really didn't give us any face."
Thump, thump, thump.
"You...you don't hate me?"
"Yes, didn't I say before that I've never disliked you?"
Cheng Junshi's eyes lit up: "You remembered me back then? You didn't treat me like a stranger?"
Tang Qi found it strange: "Why would I treat you like a stranger? We've been friends for a long time—oh, it was me who unilaterally considered you a friend."
Cheng Junshi suddenly became excited, as if some huge surprise had hit him in the face. He was in a daze, and his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to explode.
Tang Qi stared blankly for two seconds at Cheng Junshi's sudden smile. In the quiet space, only the increasingly loud heartbeat could be heard. Tang Qi initially thought it was her own heartbeat, but after listening carefully for a while, she realized that the heartbeat was coming from Cheng Junshi.
"Why is your heart beating so fast? Don't let anything happen to you." Tang Qi pulled away from Cheng Junshi's hand that was bandaging his wound, and leaned forward to touch Cheng Junshi's forehead—it was burning hot.
"Cheng Wang! Why are you feverish too?! You didn't get infected by me, did you?!" Tang Qi's face panicked. He didn't remember the pharmacist saying that his injury could be infected.
"No, please don't be sick. I don't have any medicine for you. You, you—" He ran his hands all over Cheng Junshi's body. "It shouldn't be contagious, right? Don't scare me, Cheng Wang!"
Cheng Junshi blushed even more from Tang Qi's unbridled groping, his whole body seemed to be burning with rage. Finally, just as Tang Qi was about to pull off his clothes to investigate, he stood up abruptly, threw away the bandage, and walked out like a wooden statue, his hands and feet moving in unison.
Tang Qi, belatedly watching Cheng Junshi slowly walk away, suddenly realized what was happening and immediately shouted after him, "If you're not Cheng Wang, are you even human? You ran away after only switching half the medicine? How am I supposed to switch it myself now! I only said a few words to you, is it necessary to hold such a grudge, Cheng Wang! Hey! Cheng Wang! Cheng Junshi!"
However, no matter how much he shouted, Cheng Junshi fled in panic without turning his head.
Hu Xingche had just brought over the decocted medicine when he bumped into Cheng Junshi, who was passing by. He was wondering what was going on when he stepped inside and heard Tang Qi's indignant voice.
"Boss, did you have a fight with Cheng Shaoqing? Why is he all red in the face?" Hu Xingche put down the medicine in his hand, let it cool off to the side, and then sat back down next to Tang Qi, asking him with a frown.
Tang Qi sighed, a hint of helplessness in his voice, and said, "No, I just said a couple of things to him, and then he—it couldn't be that he got angry because I scolded him, could it?"
He lowered his eyes and thought carefully before saying, "I don't think so. Cheng Wang shouldn't get angry so easily."
After saying that, Tang Qi felt a little insecure, and his panic intensified. Could it be that he had really angered Cheng Junshi again because of his sharp tongue? He hadn't said anything harsh, so why not apologize next time they met?
He was really at his wit's end. How could he always manage to provoke Cheng Junshi so perfectly?
"You insulted Cheng Shaoqing?" Hu Xingche's eyes widened.
"Ah... I... I did curse." Tang Qi stammered, sounding slightly guilty.
"Boss, why are you cursing at him? No wonder he's angry with you. It's one thing for him to curse at me, but why are you so rude to Cheng Shaoqing?"
Tang Qi scratched his head: "Because I felt he shouldn't be angry with me over this, and what I did wasn't exactly an insult, was it? At most, it was teasing?"
Hu Xingche was too lazy to argue with him about whether it was an insult or a joke. After the medicine next to him cooled down a bit, he brought the whole bowl to Tang Qi.
Tang Qi, however, spread his hands and picked up the bandage that Cheng Junshi had thrown down: "First come, first served. You can drink the medicine later. First, wrap this bandage around me."
Hu Xingche said "oh," put down the medicine, and sat down next to Tang Qi in a nonchalant manner. He took the half-wound bandage from Cheng Junshi and then proceeded to apply it to Tang Qi with the ferocity of a tiger.
He was too rough, and Tang Qi cried out in pain. Hu Xingche could only say, "Boss, just bear with it, just bear with it, it'll be over soon, it'll be over soon."
Then, after being coaxed by Tang Qi, he finished wrapping the cloth properly. He proudly raised his nose and chuckled, "How was it, boss? Not bad, right?"
Tang Qi: ...
Staring at the two completely different pieces of bandage, Tang Qi finally understood for the first time how the teachers in the school had viewed him and Cheng Junshi.
Okay, he's balanced now. Cheng Junshi is definitely more likable.
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