《Saving The Prince Regent》 Announcement Hello everyone, we hope this message finds you well. After some discussion, we¡¯ve decided to drop Saving the Prince Regent (SPR). We¡¯ve initially chosen the story for its uniqueness (reversal of roles: female lead is more dependable, takes care of male lead). However, it has spiraled out of control in later chapters where the female lead begins to take advantage of the male lead, without asking for his consent (i.e. groping his body, forcing him into a marriage..) No matter if it¡¯s a man or woman, it¡¯s an immoral thing to do. The translators find it difficult to proceed with the story without feeling uncomfortable. We also believe in giving our readers worthwhile stories. In place, Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss (RCM) and The Empress Returns (TER) will have more releases at 4-6 chapters a week. We apologize to the readers and thank you for your understanding. Sincerely, Lunar letters Chapter 1 - Contract Husband (1) Chapter 1 ¡ª Contract Husband (1) Zhao Xi had a secret. Three years ago, she had discovered a deep valley hidden in the mountains, where no-one had set foot in years. It was lush with flourishing herbs and flowers, like a fairyland that had been created just for her. She loved it there. Whenever someone tried to persuade her to get married, she would hide in the secret valley for a few days until the pressure wore off. When a woman reached a certain age, it was impossible to avoid unsolicited advice on marriage. People she knew, people she didn¡¯t, even people from the neighboring village would try to play matchmaker for her. It bothered her so much that she would run away up into the mountains, leaving the clinic behind. However, she was eighteen years old now, undeniably an adult. As much as she didn¡¯t like to admit it, they had a point. If she kept putting it off now, it would be even harder to find someone to marry her when she got older. Sometimes, when enough people had been nagging her about it, Zhao Xi would stare at the yellowing leaves and think, it¡¯s getting cold. Perhaps it¡¯s time to find someone to warm my bed. The entrance to the valley was narrow and remote, hidden by grass. Zhao Xi pulled back the hanging rattan and crossed the long underpass. When she reached the valley proper, she called out softly. Something giant crashed towards her, crushing the weeds in its wake. It leaped forward at the last second, pinning her to the ground. Zhao Xi tried to break free of the giant creature but to no avail, it was too strong. Although it had grown a lot over the last few years, the beast still behaved like a cub, clinging to her like it would its mother. Ping An was a black bear she had found as a cub and raised secretly in the valley. Zhao Xi could barely hold him when he was an infant; it was impossible to do so now. As a fully grown bear, he was three to four times her own weight and pressed on her like giant rock, squeezing the air out of her lungs and making her face flush red. She couldn¡¯t breathe. Was that one of her ribs cracking? She couldn¡¯t shift the giant bear off completely, but she could reach his head. She touched the sides of his giant head and found a swelling along the side of his mouth. He must have stolen a honeycomb and been stung by the angry bees while she¡¯d been away. Black bears loved honey, and Ping An was no different. He¡¯d always try to steal some whenever he found it and come away with a stung snout. Honey was rare in the mountains, so Zhao Xi would try to bring some from the stores in the village whenever she could. Ping An¡¯s body was bulky and he had thick skin. He¡¯d been stung so many times by now that he wasn¡¯t scared of the bees anymore, as the stingers couldn¡¯t get through his skin. His face and mouth weren¡¯t so fortunate. He always left his honey-raiding with a miserable, swollen face. Zhao Xi touched the swelling gently. Ping An let out a bellow of pain and rolled off her to the side, letting her up at last. The poor beast seemed to be in great discomfort from his wounds. He lay next to Zhao Xi, licking his paw and looking at her pathetically, as if begging for comfort. Zhao Xi recovered her overturned medicine basket. Ping An had almost smashed it during his exuberant greeting. She took out a bottle of plaster and began applying it carefully to the bear¡¯s face. Whenever she pressed too hard, he would hide behind her hands and try to lick her fingers. His tongue was barbed, so she wouldn¡¯t let him lick her, pressing down to keep him still. Then the bear would shrink away from her and wail pitifully. Really, despite the fact he was the biggest predator around, king of the valley, he still acted like a child in front of Zhao Xi, like he¡¯d never grown up. When she was done applying the medicine, she walked around him, examining the rest of his body to make sure he hadn¡¯t picked up any other injuries or parasites. He was fine, so she gave him a light pat on the rump, telling him to go play. Ping An bolted down to the stream to fish. He¡¯d been living in the valley for some time now and knew it well. The river flowed down from the mountain and branched out into smaller streams. The bear would wait at a particularly small tributary for the fish to come. He was a patient animal. When he wasn¡¯t catching fish, he would wait for Zhao Xi near the valley entrance. He rarely strayed far from that spot, in case he missed her. He¡¯d first come to the valley as an injured cub, squeezing through the small crack. The valley was an ideal place to heal his wounds, safe, and was abundant with food. The bear had no reason to leave. After two years, he¡¯d grown so big that he was no longer able to fit through the valley entrance, so there he stayed. Food was never a worry. The valley was surrounded by mountains with plentiful resources, and Zhao Xi kept him company whenever she came to visit. The valley was vast, so she had taken the liberty of planting some herbs in a sheltered spot and even building a small cottage to stay in once in a while. She felt at home here. Ping An is catching fish, she thought. I should start a fire to grill the fish later. Most animals were territorial about their food and Ping An was no different in the beginning. He would deliberately use his barbed tongue to scratch at her hands when she came too close, warning her away from his food. After that, she had visited left often and stopped bringing honey. The bear was clever; he soon learned that pleasing Zhao Xi would make her more likely to bring him honey. It was a bright, fresh day, and a lucky one for catching fish. Ping An caught one in no time, and laid it down in front of Zhao Xi like he was presenting a treasure to an empress. Zhao Xi stroked his head approvingly, then took the fish. She rolled up her sleeves, beginning to prepare it for cooking. She had just filleted it and removed the organs when a bright flash of light stung her eyes. It wasn¡¯t the reflection of sunlight on the water, but something on the shore. She looked again and the light flashed once more. Chapter 2 - Contract Husband (2) Chapter 2 ¡ª Contract Husband (2) What was that? Curious, she set down the fish, washed her hands in the stream, and went over. It was a person. A badly injured one at that. It was impossible to tell exactly how long the man had been there, but his clothes were already dry. Wet clothes didn¡¯t dry very quickly in autumn, so he¡¯d been there at least since last night. There was a waterfall up on the cliff. If he¡¯d been washed down it, the fall wouldn¡¯t necessarily kill him, but it could definitely knock him unconscious. He must have lain as still as a corpse after being washed up on the bank, because Ping An hadn¡¯t tried to eat him. Bears didn¡¯t like dead meat, and besides there was plenty of food in the valley. Ping An might have had a curious sniff but would¡¯ve left him alone if he didn¡¯t find anything interesting. The bear was a picky eater, not a scavenger. Zhao Xi knelt down beside the body. If he¡¯d been flushed down here yesterday, then surely, he should be awake by now? It turned out the stranger was merely resting, eyes closed, to save the last reserves of his energy. His eyes flickered open at the sound of Zhao Xi¡¯s approach, gave her a calm once over, and deciding she was no threat to him, he closed his eyes again. She only touched him lightly, but his whole body trembled. He must be a very withdrawn person. Maybe he¡¯s not used to being touched by other people? she thought. She continued her examination once he settled down, lifting his head and checking for any injury to the back of his skull. He was done for if there was any damage to his brain. Fortunately, it seemed he hadn¡¯t fallen headfirst, but feet first. Still, there might be damage to his legs. The waterfall was high, the current quick and deadly. The impact from falling from such a height could shatter his bones. If he¡¯d been a woman or an old man, he would have been dead. But he was young and fit, perhaps even a warrior, so he¡¯d only broken a few bones. Zhao Xi felt his chest and collarbones with the tips of her fingers, trying to see how bad the break was. Perhaps she¡¯d used too much pressure because the man lifted his head, a look of pain creasing his face. His clothes were made of shimmering silk and a beautiful jade charm dangled from his waist. Such a man must either be wealthy or a noble. She hadn¡¯t found any clues to his identity yet. The jade hanging from his waist was broken in half, the words unreadable. The broken side of the jade was sharp and smooth, reflecting the sunlight into Zhao Xi¡¯s eyes. These things could be easily faked, however. It was the man himself that made her believe he was a noble. Although she didn¡¯t deliberately try to touch his skin, she couldn¡¯t help but notice that it felt smoother than silk. Only rich women who bathed every day in goat milk and rose petals had skin like that. Perhaps rich children did the same. If he bathed in precious milk every day, didn¡¯t have to work from sunrise to sunset like everyone else, and practiced martial arts in specialized training rooms, then it made sense he was so smooth and unmarred. Such privileged people ate well, slept well, had no material worries or pressures, and were escorted by a small army of servants whenever they left their luxurious homes. He probably had a servant that would hold an umbrella above his head whenever he ventured out, keeping the wind and the sun from his skin. Little red marks appeared instantly where her fingers pressed against him; his skin was delicate. She felt a pang of guilt, as if she was tainting him by her touch alone. Leaning over him, she found that his face was the prettiest part of him. He had exquisite features, and his eyes were bright like stars. As she gazed down into those bright eyes, she realized that she wanted to save him. I don¡¯t want to see such beautiful eyes go dark. She spoke to him. ¡°You have broken three ribs, injured your left shoulder, fractured your right hand, and you have a wound on your abdomen. You won¡¯t live past tonight.¡± The man listened in grim silence, as if he had already come to this conclusion himself. ¡°It would cost me too much to save your life. It would take all of my precious medicine and even then, I¡¯m not sure it would save you. If you live, your legs will still be damaged. I don¡¯t know you, we share no blood, so it¡¯s not worthwhile to spend all my savings and time to take care of you for however many months.¡± It would be foolish indeed to expend all her resources and effort on a stranger who was probably going to die anyway. The man seemed to accept this, lying in impassive silence with his eyes shut. ¡°Unless¡­¡± Zhao Xi started. His eyes opened. Perhaps it was an illusion, but Zhao Xi thought she saw a flicker of hope there. So, he really doesn¡¯t want to die. Maybe he just seemed calm because he thought there was no hope for him. He wants to live if there¡¯s a chance. Zhao Xi was silent for a moment, before finally laying out her condition. ¡°I want you to be my husband for a year.¡± It was customary for a man to tie up all of his hair if he was married. This man hadn¡¯t, so he must be single still. It would take at least a year for his wounds to fully heal. Zhao Xi would only need a ¡®husband¡¯ for a year. That should be long enough for her to deal with the people who kept trying to set her up with their brothers and sons and nephews. ¡°After a year,¡± she said decisively, ¡°you can leave or you can stay, depending on what you want.¡± If he left at the end of the year, she could just make an excuse and say he went to take the exam in the capital or left on business. As long as no-one thought they were divorced, she would finally be free of harassment and unwanted matchmaking. Chapter 3 - Distractions (1) Chapter 3 ¡ª Distractions (1) Those beautiful eyes of his widened in surprise. Zhao Xi could see herself reflected in his huge, dark pupils. She felt oddly calm in comparison to him. ¡°Surprised? You wouldn¡¯t be, if you were me, being called an old virgin, being pressured to marry every day¡ªif you had to deal with men sneaking in through your windows to peek at you bathing and molest you, just because you were unmarried at eighteen years old, you¡¯d understand me. You¡¯d find yourself any living man and get married.¡± In spite of what she said, Zhao Xi hadn¡¯t taken just anyone. She had a weakness for handsome men. It didn¡¯t matter if he was useless or crippled, so long as he was good-looking. Unfortunately, no man she¡¯d ever met had satisfied this requirement. Everyone said she was too picky, that she needed to stop daydreaming. Perhaps it had been a daydream before, but now¡­ She took another look at the man. Who would know? ¡°Do you agree to the deal?¡± she asked him. Zhao Xi didn¡¯t tell him that they might only be a fake couple, just in case she changed her mind. He was gorgeous; it would be a pity if she missed out on the chance to be with him for real if temptation struck. The offer was made. The choice to accept it or decline it was up to him. The man didn¡¯t say a word, didn¡¯t close his eyes. He just stared at her, unblinking. ¡°You can¡¯t talk?¡± she guessed. She was right. He had washed down last night, then dried slowly in the chill of the night, then spent all morning in the baking sun without a drop to drink. His throat must be dry as a bone. ¡°How about this,¡± she suggested. ¡°I will count to three, and I¡¯d you don¡¯t blink, that means you agree.¡± Zhao Xi then started to count. ¡°One.¡± The man¡¯s eyes moved to scan Zhao Xi, assessing her. She ignored this, counting, ¡°Two.¡± His eyelashes quivered. She stared down at him. He really had the most beautiful features: pale skin, long eyelashes. Everything about him seemed flawless, even under close scrutiny. ¡°Three.¡± Still, he didn¡¯t blink. Zhao Xi¡¯s shoulders loosened. The man was so indifferent about his own survival that she had worried he¡¯d rather die than agree to her bargain. ¡°Good, now you¡¯ve agreed, I¡¯ll carry you back to the cottage. This will hurt a bit, so bear with me.¡± It was a struggle to lift him onto her back. The man didn¡¯t make a sound, stoically allowing her to hoist him onto her shoulders without struggling. He would slip down once in a while, forcing her to jostle him back up. He was badly wounded, too weak to support his own body, which made the normally easy job much more difficult. It took her a lot of effort to carry him up to the cottage and lay the man on the bed. Since she came here so often, the cottage was fully furnished and there was enough medicine. In fact, she¡¯d planned on moving here permanently if she couldn¡¯t find a husband. The place was better stocked than her house in the village. There hadn¡¯t been time to boil any hot water yet, as she¡¯d only arrived that morning, but there was some leftover cold water she had boiled yesterday. Zhao Xi brought a bowl of water to the man¡¯s mouth. He gulped it down as fast as he could, even licking the edge of the bowl for droplets. She brought him a second bowl. This one he drank much slower than the first, his chest trembling with the effort. His thirst had made him ignore his wounds the first time, but now they pained him too much. His broken ribs sang with pain. He stopped drinking, the bowl still half full, and closed his eyes. Zhao Xi set the bowl down. ¡°You¡¯ve broken quite a few bones. I¡¯ll need to splint them with bamboo. Once I¡¯ve done that, you won¡¯t be able to take a bath, so let me clean your body first.¡± They had met less than an hour ago, but she was given the impression that he liked to be clean. His skin was so clear and pale, he must have bathed morning and night. The man¡¯s eyelashes trembled, but his eyes didn¡¯t open, and he didn¡¯t answer. She took that for agreement. The man had hardly given any sign of communication since Zhao Xi had found him. He must be withdrawn, she thought. Perhaps he didn¡¯t like to talk, so she didn¡¯t wait for him to answer. He stripped his clothes off and wiped him from head to toe. He was utterly impassive, neither refusing nor helping; he moved as Zhao Xi moved him and stayed still if she didn¡¯t. Without his clothes, she could see the full extent of his injuries. His knees were red from being bumped around and his legs were mottled with small bruises. It looked as if he¡¯d been pinched. He must have pinched himself to cope with the pain, she realized. Chapter 4 - Distractions (2) Chapter 4 ¡ª Distractions (2) Compared to his broken bones, his exterior wounds were easy to deal with. The largest wound was on his left shoulder. It looked like he had been shot with an arrow, although there was no sign of the arrow now. Since then, the wound had been soaked in cold water and burned under the hot sun. The injury was inflamed and some of the flesh surrounding it slightly rotten. ¡°This is infected,¡± she warned him. ¡°I have to cut away the rotten tissue. Are you afraid?¡± He answered her with a silent stare. I guess that means no, she thought. He¡¯s a martial arts practitioner. He must be used to getting injured by now. They were barely visible against his pale skin, but her careful touch had found many old scars. She¡¯d tried to avoid touching directly while cleaning him, but she couldn¡¯t help but notice the evidence of so many past injuries. What a pity. So much damage to such a beautiful body. Zhao Xi would never leave marks on such a fine form as his. To her, it was like seeing a flaw in a beautiful piece of jade. She wanted to remove it, but there was nothing she could do about it. Those scars were old. It was obvious they hadn¡¯t been tended to properly at the time they were inflicted, and it was too late to do anything about them now. Not unless she reopened them and treated them properly. That would be cruel. All she could do was apply some medicine and hope it would help them subside with time. ¡°Just tell me if it hurts.¡± She held the knife above the flame of a candle to disinfect the blade. A hot knife would slice off the flesh in one go, and the patient would focus more on the heat than the pain. It still wasn¡¯t ideal, but at least it would lessen his pain. The edges of the blade gleamed a dull red. Zhao Xi rinsed it off in clean water and deemed that good enough. She pulled the quilt up to the man¡¯s chest. It was autumn now and the weather was turning chilly. The man was in a sorry state. It would be a pity if he ended up dying of a fever, so she took every precaution she could. Zhao Xi wasn¡¯t naturally the nurturing type, and she rarely wasted her breath on unnecessary words, but she¡¯d already warned this man several times already. There was no more putting it off. She laid her free hand on his neck, then trailed it down his chest and underneath the quilt. The man shuddered beneath the blanket. She moved quickly, sliding the knife into his wound and swiftly cutting away the rotten flesh. It was gone before he even realized. ¡°There.¡± She cleaned the wound, applied medicine, and wrapped a length of clean bandage around his shoulder. She turned away to wash her hands. ¡°You¡¯re lucky. The archer was far enough away so the arrow didn¡¯t penetrate your shoulder. Otherwise, I¡¯d need to find another way to distract you.¡± She hadn¡¯t really been intent on molesting him. It was just a ploy to distract him long enough to carve away the infection, and it had worked perfectly. The deed was done before he even had time to react. The medicine had a soothing effect, so he¡¯d be more comfortable for the next few hours. ¡°It¡¯s also going to hurt when I tie the bamboo splints,¡± Zhao Xi told him. ¡°If you can¡¯t take it, I¡¯ll just do it while you¡¯re asleep.¡± This seemed to annoy him. He ignored her, turning away and burying his head in the pillow. Zhao Xi chuckled. She didn¡¯t mind if he didn¡¯t feel like talking. She left the cottage to look for suitable lengths of bamboo to make splints. He would probably have to stay in bed for a year; his left arm was fractured and dislocated, and he had a lumbar injury. His arm would be easy to deal with, but the lumbar injury wasn¡¯t so simple. While cleaning him, she¡¯d noticed that he seemed to have little sensation in his lower body. Unlike his upper body, he barely reacted when she touched it. Perhaps he¡¯d been born that way, but it was more likely to have been caused by his tumble down the waterfall. There was a risk he wouldn¡¯t regain the use of his legs. It didn¡¯t really matter; Zhao Xi didn¡¯t expect him to do any physical labor. He didn¡¯t need to do anything other than be beautiful. She¡¯d saved him because of his handsome features, and for someone to talk to when she was bored. When she talked to Ping An, the bear was usually asleep, or simply didn¡¯t understand human speech. He certainly couldn¡¯t respond. She returned to the cottage with two freshly chopped lengths of bamboo. They were thick and hollow, wide enough to fit a man¡¯s arm inside. Her chopping had attracted the bear toward her. Ping An seemed rather put out about being abandoned earlier. Zhao Xi sent him off to his cave to sleep. The cave wasn¡¯t too far from the cottage she¡¯d built. In fact, the bear had been instrumental in its construction, pulling all the trees back for her. Inside the cottage, she got to work, polishing the bamboo to smooth down the surface, lest it scratch the man. She padded it with a layer of cotton wool, then stitched a cover to slip over the entire splint. Her new husband was sleeping lightly. He came to as Zhao Xi approached and stared at her, silent as ever. ¡°Did you get enough sleep?¡± she asked him. ¡°If you¡¯re ready then I¡¯ll get your arm splinted.¡± Once again, no reply. Perhaps he was defending himself against her. It wasn¡¯t tying the splints that would hurt him, but the bone setting that had to happen first. If she didn¡¯t do it, his arm would heal crooked. She took hold of his arm, meaning to set it quickly, but his unrelenting stare was impossible to ignore. ¡°Why do you keep staring at me?¡± she asked. ¡°Do you want me to distract you again?¡± She was silent for a little while, then posed a question that risked earning her a beating afterwards. ¡°You¡¯re so good-looking. Have you ever slept with anyone?¡± Chapter 5 - A Peculiar Disciple (1) Chapter 5 ¨C A Peculiar Disciple (1) Her misdirection worked. The man became momentarily stunned with such a direct question, his body tensed up. Seeing this small window of distraction, she twisted his arm back, earning a small gasp of pain in reply. He¡¯s tougher than he looks, she thought, considering that setting a broken bone was actualy much painful than breaking it in the first place. She had assumed him to be soft, a stereotypical spoiled rich man. Yet he did not scream or even whimper. He might actually become someone of worth, thought Zhao Xi, noting that such toughness was uncommon. It was even rarer for people born to such privilege and comfort. Suddenly curious with her patient, she resolved to heal his injuries to the best of her abilities. Not that I actually give less than my full effort, she mused. Satisfied that she had not overlooked anything, she began to put back all of her tools in their respective shelves. She then turned her attention to his garment which she had thrown to the floor in a hurry when she undressed him. As she gently caressed the pieces of clothing, she felt that they were made of the finest silk. Such a shame, thought Zhao Xi, as she resolved to mend the many holes and tears on them after washing them. She thought of sifting through her clothes for anything that would fit him, but quickly gave up. The man was much taller than her. Besides, it¡¯s not that he would need them¡ªhe would not be walking around anytime soon. He¡¯d have to make do with her own threadbare cloak to keep out the autumn chill. Unbidden, her thoughts went to the black bear, Ping An, back when it was little. Zhao Xi thought that compared to the cub, taking care of this man would be no trouble at all. True, she had to give him his medicine every so often, feed him, bathe him with a damp cloth, and help him like a baby. But Ping An was as uncooperative as a little child, always throwing tantrums and making messes. This man couldn¡¯t even get out of bed. After washing and then hanging his clothes to dry on a clothesline outside, Zhao Xi gathered a large ball of cotton from one of the clay jars under the shade of the tree which she mashed into a smaller, firmer object as she walked back into the house. Satisfied that it would serve its purpose, she walked to the man¡¯s bedside, gently lifted his head up a few inches, and placed the cotton underneath like a pillow. She then sat on the small stool beside the bed and watched the man for a little while as he slept, his chest rising and sinking in rhythm with his gentle breathing. Zhao Xi hadn¡¯t noticed it then because she was busy recalling her training in healing but now, she could see that the man was quite beautiful. Like a painting. Or a poem, she thought. He must be the most beautiful person in the world, she mused, as the dying sun¡¯s crimson light spilled through the window and over him, making his skin and features seem flawless like a piece of jade. Zhao Xi recalled her master who kept a collection of beautiful men¡¯s portraits. Every time her master left, it was for a sole purpose: to travel every corner of the world and sleep with these men. The master once said that she meant to taste every beautiful man in the world at least once. For her part, Zhao Xi had no such dreams. Every time her master left, she would throw a few flower seeds on the ground outside the house and said she would be back when they had fully bloomed. Zhao Xi would then spend her time the medical books the master left, or explore the surrounding woods and mountains. Those flowers had bloomed three years ago, and she had long accepted that something had happened to her master. Dismissing those thoughts, Zhao Xi headed to a groove of trees to catch some spiders and scorpions for her evening meal. Fried to a crisp, both were delicious as well as nutritious, nothing to be scoffed at in any poor village where people couldn¡¯t afford to raise livestock and the woods barely had any animals worth hunting. She wondered if the man would even eat any of them, remembering her experiences with a neighbor¡¯s child. Zhao Xi offered some once to the boy who promptly ran away screaming. Word quickly spread around their hamlet, and people would make disgusted faces when she came near. They stopped after some time, but she never forgot that and swore never to discuss it again. He probably wouldn¡¯t like it either, she thought as she changed directions towards the nearby stream to catch some fish instead. With the dried mushrooms that she kept in another jar in the house, it would make for a light but medicinal soup. Zhao Xi would keep the scorpions and spiders to herself. Chapter 6 - A Peculiar Disciple (2) Chapter 6 ¨C A Peculiar Disciple (2) The man was still asleep after Zhao Xi finished with her own supper, so she simply weighed down the pot¡¯s cover with a few rocks, just in case some of the neighborhood stray cats were attracted with the scent of the fish soup. She then proceeded to her last task for the night: preparing medicine for her patient. Considering how she barely had money for simple things like food, going to the nearest town to buy modern medicine was out of the question. She walked to the back of the house with the stool. She laid it down on the soft soil, and sat on it as she waited for the tell-tale sound of snakes slithering through the grass. Zhao Xi often used venoms and other poisons for many of her concoctions, and snakes were one of her more common sources as they were all too common in the area. As such, she had developed a sort of pattern, a dance of death with the snakes. She would catch one, alive, and then extract the deadly liquid from its fangs without killing it. As intelligent creatures, they would come back after several days, when it had produced enough of their poison to kill a creature. In this case, it would be Zhao Xi. But these creatures, if anything, were predictable. They almost always took the same number of days and hourse to return as it sough revenge, and they certainly took the same path: through the fields behind the house and into the back door, hoping to catch Zhao Xi unawares. This was something she could count on to happen, like the rising and setting of the sun. Still, snake bites were painful. While she had antidoes at the ready inside the house, there was no reason for her to be careful. So, she sat on her chair, breathing controlled so she could hear more clearly. It was the only way Zhao Xi could detect them in the dark. She never brought a torch, lantern, or even a candle with her when snake-hunting, as the light would ony scare away the serpents. It was part of the laborious training under her master. Animals were even better than plants as sources of the various substances needed in concocting cures, elixirs, and poisons. Instead of actively seeking them, one would be better off luring them in traps using food or mating calls. Zhao Xi would spend entire afternoons listening to these creatures and deciphering their meaning. With that knowledge, it became easier, not just to imitate them, but to know which intonation or inflection is appropriate for a particular situation. The snakes, for example, make for noisy attackers: some would hiss noisily, some would lift their heads high into the sky, while some would even rattle their tails as a prelude to its attack. Thus, Zhao Xi was perplexed as she in the dark¡ªthere was absolutely nothing that her ears could pick up. Was the ground tonight too muddy? Did certain beasts come in to drive them off? After an hour¡¯s wait, she shrugged and stood up, stool in hand. Tomorrow¡¯s another day, thought Zhao Xi as she walked back into the house. She froze. It was the sound of a teacup shattering, possibly against the house¡¯s earthen floor. Oh dear, she thought, he must have knocked it off the table since I didn¡¯t leave a candle in his room. Lantern in hand, she entered the house¡¯s sole bedroom only to find that there was a snake on the bed, mere inches from the man who¡¯s eyes were wide open with terror. It took Zhao Xi a split-second to understand: unable to get out off the bed, much less run away, the man threw the teacup at the serpent in desperation. Speaking of the creature, it was not the one she was expecting. This one had the patterns of a species known for its near-instantaneous venom. More importantly, it was huge. And it was now raising itself in preparation for a strike. With speed more at home with a fearsome warrior than some healer hiding in a dirty hut in the countryside, Zhao Xi took two huge strides and grabbed its neck, preventing it from biting her as well as moving to bit anyone else. The rest of its body flapped noisily in struggle, but it was all over. Without another thought for the man on her bed, she walked to her table full of tools and extracted the snake¡¯s precious poison. Suddenly, Zhao Xi remembered something. Snake gall. It was the essential ingredient for many potions, including one which knit broken bones. For this reason, snake galls were much sought-after. But the healer remembered another part of her training: not to take the life of any creature unless absolutely necessary. She did not relish taking the life of the snake, especially this one which did the dance with her for quite a few times now. Yet, without its gall, Zhao Xi could not hope to fully heal the man¡¯s bones. She took a good look at the man again, and she shivered at his beauty. The decision came quite easily for her now. I am sorry, my friend, said Zhao Xi to the snake in silence. Chapter 7 - Your Name (1) Chapter 7 ¨C Your Name (1) The snake thrashed about wildly, possibly in panic and pain, as Zhao Xi held it firmly just below the head with one hand while inserting a thin, hollow needle with the other to extract the bile from its gall. She always felt sorry whenever she had to do this, but it was better than having to kill one of those creatures whenever she needed their bile for a potion. Removing its bile was not fatal, but it would always leave the snake in a weakened state. Thus, she always kept such creatures in a cage after extracting its precious fluid. Out in the wild, it would stand no chance against other animals which preyed on it, such as large birds or even the occasional hunger-crazed wolf or bear. While imprisoned, she would feed the snakes with a little brew of venom from other beasts, such as spiders or scorpions, mixed with some herbs to hasten its recovery. Having the serpent in its cage, Zhao Xi turned her attention to her patient. She was considering adding it to the medicine she was mixing to make it more potent. On the other hand, it would become unbearably bitter, even for someone accustomed to it like her. Even her bear, Ping An, was once given such a mixture and spat it out. Afterwards, it avoided her for months, associating Zhao Xi with the bitter medicine. What if the man did the same and avoided her as well? After all, she had already decided that she would sleep with the man. What if he ended up refusing her because of the medicine? In the end, Zhao Xi¡¯s training as a healer prevailed and she threw in the bile with the rest of the ingredients which were beginning to bubble in the cauldron. To make it easier for him to consume the vile liquid, she put a couple of candied fruits in a smaller bowl, placed it on a tray with the bigger bowl containing the medicine, and then brought it to the small table beside the patient¡¯s bed. She gave out a huge sigh of relief when the man, after the first sip which made him grimace, drank the whole concoction in one sitting. His was face was screwed up in disgust, but he probably understood that Zhao Xi had nothing but his health in mind so he endured the taste anyways. He then gratefully attacked the candied fruits, eager to remove the bitterness from his mouth. She thought, Perhaps he would be easier to nurse than Ping An. That was good. The more cooperative a patient was, the better for his or her chances of total recovery. Having surprassed what Zhao Xi expected would be the most difficult task of the night, she turned to the one that gave her butterflies of anticipation and excitement in her stomach. With a basin of water in one hand, she began dipping a rag in it and wiped the man¡¯s face with it. Seeing no resistance from him, she moved to his neck, and then his hands. Seeing his beautifully-manicured nails, slender fingers bordering on being feminine, and the skin of his hands having the smoothness of one who never experienced manual labor, Zhao Xi let her curiosity get the better of her. She began toying with those fingers, pretending to take extra time and care in washing each one so she could examine them more closely. Whether out of embarrassment or something else, the man ignored Zhao Xi¡¯s obvious interest. ¡°Oh my, I complete forgot. Excuse my bad manners. What is your name?¡± asked Zhao Xi. ¡°My name is Zhao Xi. The Zhao stands for morning, and the Xi for sunshine. So, I¡¯m the sunshine in the morning. What about you?¡± Silence. The man turned his head to face the nearby window, as if wishing he could avoid having to talk to her. I don¡¯t blame him at all. After all, I forced him to this contract for his life, thought Zhao Xi. Just as she decided to give him a nickname instead, he whispered hoarsely, ¡°Shen Fei. My name is Shen Fei.¡± That¡¯s a start, she thought. ¡°Which of the meanings of ¡®Fei¡¯ applies in your case?¡± asked Zhao Xi, having let go of his hands, all pretense abandoned and her attention totally focused towards the man now. The only meaning of ¡®Fei¡¯ she could remember was ¡®wrong¡¯ and she was somehow confident this was not the one. He kept silent, either out of a lack of desire to converse with her or because he was deep in his thoughts. Either way, Zhao Xi would not be dissuaded from knowing more about the man, like a shark having smelt blood in the water. She cleared her throat loudly, letting him know she was waiting on his response. ¡°Fei from ¡®Fei Ran¡¯¡± he answered, still looking out into her front yard. Zhao Xi decided not to press him, remembering that the medicine must have made his throat quite sore. She realized he must have been embarrassed being virtually nude in front of a stranger. But what can I do, thought Zhao Xi. After all, Shen Fei¡¯s clothes still needed to be washed and patched. If any of hers actually fit him, it would be very tight and out of the question, considering his many wounds all over his body. While those thoughts were running through her head, Zhao Xi¡¯s eyes were all over the smooth, blemish-less skin of Shen Fei¡¯s back. No, it¡¯s definitely blemished now, she thought, noting how the straw of her bed left red marks all over his back. This one never had to sleep on anything but a soft bed in his life, the healer thought with a grin. She resolved to go to the town center to buy a quilt to cover the straw bedding along with a few clothes for him. Maybe some food as well, the kind a spoiled and pampered man wouldn¡¯t be averse to eating. Chapter 8 - Your Name (2) Chapter 8 ¨C Your Name (2) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna Early the next morning, after serving him a meager breakfast and more of the dreaded concoction, Zhao Xi took out a dusty measuring stick so she could know the size of the clothes she would buy. Already accustomed to being seen fully naked, the man did not resist or even make a single sound when she made him lie down on the bed with the blanket drawn down. The healer considered measuring his feet as well. But his legs are still broken, he¡¯s not going anywhere, she thought. But then, Fei would need something for his feet because he would still have to go to the toilet. Speaking of more purchases for her patient, Zhao Xi resolved to buy a bottle of body wash as well, if it was available. She made her own soap bars from whatever was available around her, but these were rough. And besides, the body wash could be used to wash both body and hair, making it more convenient. Though there is the problem of where am I going to get the money to pay for all of this, she mused. Lastly, she would also need to buy a jar of honey for Ping An. The bear was stung badly yesterday when it tried to touch a beehive. It had gotten quite good at getting honey quickly, before the bees attacked. But nobody¡¯s perfect, she thought with a smile. Having finalized her mental list, Zhao Xi thought of how her patient would cope without her. On foot, the trip would take a few hours and it would take a miracle for her to be back by noon. As a solution, she went to the tree right beside the house and climbed up to a branch where a bird¡¯s nest was balanced on. She took out two of the eggs there, walked back to the house and handed it to Fei. These were usually kept for Ping An as a treat. The bear loved bird eggs almost as much as honey and would do anything for it. Birds usually wised up after the first theft of their eggs and would build another nest farther away. Zhao Xi used the bear¡¯s appetite for these and trained it to do tricks in exchange for eggs. She told Fei, ¡°If you¡¯re hungry at noon, you can just knock the eggs out and eat them raw, or you can give them to Ping An. It will be nice to anybody who gives it food. If you give the eggs to it, it¡¯ll pick fruits for you. You can eat those for lunch.¡± Zhao Xi didn¡¯t expect him to eat those raw. She was counting on it so that once Shen Fei handed over the eggs, Ping An would become friendlier towards him. After all, no matter how tame a bear is, it sill is a bear. A fully-grown one would have the strength to knock down trees, as well as the fangs and claws to go through the hardest of them. Ping An might be considered a teenager in bear years, but even it could mangle a man who couldn¡¯t stand up on his own two feet. She explained, ¡°Don¡¯t think Ping An is stupid, it¡¯s almost as smart as a three or four-year-old. It can understand some simple sentences, such as picking fruits, or pouring the water.¡± Ping An could even make a fire. But it was one of the things the bear hated so even though grilled fish was another favorite treat of hers, Zhao Xi just couldn¡¯t train her to go anywhere near a fire. Having finished her instructions to Shen Fei, she went out and called to Ping An. She stroked the animal¡¯s snout lovingly while whispering instructions to keep the crippled man safe. She knew that from the latter¡¯s eyes, it seemed silly. But she was sure the bear would probably understand half of what she was saying and it would be enough to keep the man safe. Of course, it didn¡¯t hurt that she mentioned honey, making Ping An¡¯s eyes light up with both recognition and anticipation. She saved the painful task for last. As a healer, she loved to collect all kinds of herbs. If her master lived to ¡°collect¡± male bodies, this was her obsession. Her teacher kept a drawer full of portraits of beautiful men, hers was brimming with these plants on healing, even magical properties. These ranged from common ones which grew anywhere in the forest and could be brewed into a tea to cure a cough, to a 500 year-old stalk of ginseng which Zhao Xi used to bring back Shen Fei from near death. The man¡¯s injuries were too serious. She did not have a single gold coin to her name. The only thing she had of value to the outside world were here skills, and these. And only the latter could be sold quickly. Her heart ached at the prospect of losing what took her years to collect, but it had to be done. She had resolved to save this man¡¯s life, whatever it took. A small tear came out of one eye and slid down silently. She wiped it off with the back of her hand and then grin, a thought suddenly blossoming in her mind. Zhao Xi turned back to look at Shen Fei. ¡°You haven¡¯t used the bathroom since I got you back here,¡± she said, remembering how she found his near-lifeless body on the riverbank two days ago. ¡°I won¡¯t return until later tonight. Do you want to go now, before I leave?¡± Chapter 9 - The Prince Regent (1) Chapter 9 ¨C The Prince Regent (1) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna Shen Fei¡¯s eyebrows quivered in annoyance, and he clenched his fists. Although his face was impassive, he vehemently disliked being held up in the bathroom by a girl who had seen every inch of his being, including parts that he wouldn¡¯t want anyone to see. Zhao Xi, unabated, realized that the reason for his decreased intake of food was to reduce his visits to the bathroom. Although he tried to eat less, he inevitably had to drink an entire bowl of medicine every time. He couldn¡¯t help it. If only Zhao Xi hadn¡¯t noticed, he could have held it in a little longer. The man had a strong notion of self-esteem. The more time Zhao Xi spent with Shen Fei, the more she got to understanding more about him. This man, a martial artist to the core¡ªflexible and strong and mobile¡ªhad suddenly become paralyzed, perhaps even for the rest of his life. For someone like him, having to rely on even the smallest of things like eating and drinking, must have hurt his pride to no extent, and inevitably, his ego. Zhao Xi wrapped him in a cloak and, with much difficulty, carried him to the bathroom, seeing as he did not respond. After about five minutes, she took the hopeless man back to his bed. Shen Fei, in his shame, turned away from Zhao Xi, and gazed out of the window. She wiped his hand and tucked him inside the blanket. She replaced the flowers in the vase with fresh ones and put it by the bed on the bedside table, thinking perhaps it would make him feel better. ¡°Do you want to read some books if you¡¯re bored? I have got some here, if you want to look,¡± Zhao Xi offered cautiously. She rummaged inside the box where she kept all her books. Almost all of them were medical books left behind by her master. Thinking that not everybody was inclined to read about medicine, she hunted further inside the box to find something else. The box had an assortment of literatures¡ªessays, fairytales, notes¡ªbut every one of them related to medicine, though some of them told interesting stories! He can explore the books in the box if he doesn¡¯t like these, thought Zhao Xi, with generous intention. She put the box and the books she chose, by the bedside table, gave a piece of ginger and ginseng for Shen Fei to chew on and prepared to leave him in peace. She turned to Ping An and told it to guard Shen Fei instead of whiling its time away, promising a treat of honey when she returned. Zhao Xi didn¡¯t know if Ping An understood a word she said, but she talked with it either way. The bear walked her till the entrance and watched her leave. She had to walk through the tunnel in the cave to reach the outside, and since Ping An was standing there with its enormous physique blocking the light, she almost tripped, not having adjusted to the heavy darkness inside the cave. She threw a rock at Ping An, making the bear return to its place near Shen Fei, and the light finally fell through, illuminating the way through the tunnel in the cave. The more she walked, the darker it became, but Zhao Xi didn¡¯t find it daunting having adjusted to the dark cavern. Finally, light spilled through as she walked out of the cave and breathed in the fresh air. She wasted no time in rushing back to the village, wondering if anyone had been waiting by her door for medical help. Zhao Xi always took her job seriously, it was a source of pride for her. As Zhao Xi reached her house, she was greeted by a dismaying sight: somebody had ransacked her home, smashed her things, and they had plundered the medicine she had left in the courtyard to dry. The porcelains were all shattered and lay there, mixed among the dust. Zhao Xi could see that Aunt Liu¡¯s place had been manhandled in the same way. ¡°Aunt, what in the world happened here?¡± she asked in shock. ¡°A couple of soldiers came to search for something. They raided the entire house like savages, took the valuables and smashed the rest. They show no care for people like us,¡± Aunt Liu sighed. ¡°What were they searching for?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know! Those barbarians took everything¡­ everything! I hope they burn in hell,¡± cursed Aunt Liu. Aunt Liu was on a rampage now, using words that would have made a seasoned veteran blush to his roots. Zhao Xi walked to her house and started tidying up the place, putting things back together, salvaging whatever could be saved and throwing out the rest. She wondered if she could return to the mountain by evening. She needed to visit the market, so she rented a bullock cart from an old man who charged thirty coins per day, and headed out to the city. Something was amiss in the city, the security had been tightened and the number of soldiers patrolling the city had increased. Every single person entering the city was questioned on their identity and their address, even so far as to ask for a guarantor who could verify the information given. It wasn¡¯t any easier for those leaving the city as well, each and everyone had to be searched yet again! Zhao Xi, being the only healer in the village, was known to everybody. So it wasn¡¯t difficult for her to find a villager to verify her identity and was eventually allowed inside the city, but not without being searched thoroughly. Zhao Xi sought to sell her aweto*, first and foremost. The aweto was always difficult to find; they grew on the snow mountains, usually on the highest peak where they were more commonly found. She usually waited till the snow melted to hike through the mountains for them, but finding an aweto always depended on one¡¯s luck also, since the animals were very fond of the plant. (P/R: It¡¯s a Chinese traditional medicinal plant.) Zhao Xi would sometimes get the aweto from Ping An, who would hike and hunt for these and hoard a handful. Ping An would savour awetos from time to time, while other times it treasured them as though they were its little cubs. Zhao Xi wasn¡¯t sad on selling these rare awetos, since she could always hike up the mountains to pick some. Besides, she had some of them in storage. She finally arrived at the crowded drugstore. She could see that it was ill timing because the store was at its peak and all the staff were busy weighing and inspecting the materials. Medicinal materials had to be handled carefully, and this painstaking process could take all day. There was no way that they could finish everything by evening. Chapter 10 - The Prince Regent (2) Chapter 10 ¨C The Prince Regent (2) Zhao Xi was anxious because there were wolves in the mountains and Shen Fei would starve if she didn¡¯t get to return before dark. She wasn¡¯t so much scared of the wolves as the bull she had rented. She couldn¡¯t think of forcing the poor, miserable animal to go up the mountain in that state, and couldn¡¯t make it all on her own with all of her things. It seemed likely that Shen Fei might have to go hungry tonight. Zhao Xi noticed, amidst her wandering thoughts, that the staff was being very inefficient in weighing the medicine, thereby prolonging the already slow process. As he was weighing another set of medicine on the scale, she blurted out, ¡°No defective ones there, it¡¯s three liang.¡± The staff ignored her and continued with the weighing and found that she was right. The medicine that he was weighing was exactly three liang, with no defects. He looked at Zhao Xi with a frown, opened another pack and checked the goods. ¡°That one is broken and its efficacy is affected, but the rest is good. One liang.¡± He looked at her with suspicion this time, while checking the medicine. It was exactly as she said, one Liang. ¡°That one is three lian,¡± Zhao Xi offered. With a sigh, the staff roped her in for help in the shop. With her help, the screening and weighing of medicine was done within an hour. They did have a disagreement on the last bag of kidney ferns that Zhao Xi insisted was nine liang, but which was actually two jin. He weighed them again to confirm and found out that the difference was more than one jin. However, he kept it to himself because he did not want to burden her with the truth since he had been so helpful, so he weighed the awetos for her. Zhao Xi had about ten awetos in total, and they were all top tier in terms of their perfection. He bought them all for about ten liang of silver. Zhao Xi was content with the bargain she made in the store and left for her home. The staff was still in doubt about the kidney ferns and confused by the mistake Zhao Xi made, when she seemed to be accurate in all other calculations. He weighed the ferns again. They were still irrefutably, two jin. The guy was perplexed. What went wrong? He thought. She was so indisputably accurate with all other materials except this! He was determined to get to the root of this confusion, when his eyes fell on the materials on the countertop. He realized that all other medicinal plants and herbs were dried, except the kidney ferns which were fresh. The dried and fresh materials were priced differently. He realized, with sweet relish, that two jin of fresh kidney ferns would weigh and be priced the same as nine liang of dried ones. Good heavens! She seems to be an expert on this!He thought and went after Zhao Xi to express his gratitude on saving him from such a blunder, but she was already gone. * Meanwhile, Zhao Xi was busy bargaining with a peddler on the prices of the quilts she so wanted to buy. She wanted to buy two of them so they would be enough to cover Shen Fei fully. The peddler, however, was adamant and offered to reduce the price to 320 wen only if she bought all three together. ¡°How about I give you 1000 wen for three of them?¡± The peddler froze for a moment, opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll sell them to you at a loss on my part.¡± Zhao Xi smiled, in the assumption that she had made a good bargain, took the quilts and left, all the time thinking what a deal, indeed! She tied the quilts into a bundle and placed them on the cart. She noticed a chair which she could hollow out in the middle for Shen Fei to use as a commode. The peddler offered her a good bargain if she took two together, so she decided to take an additional chair, thinking that she could place it outside, so that Shen Fei could enjoy a good amount of sunshine daily. She proceeded to finish rest of her shopping and prepared to leave. As soon as she reached the village, she unloaded the things and carried them to the cave on her own, through the mountain. She had to make two more trips to get all of them to the cave. She felt sweaty, dirty and exhausted, and rightly so! The first thing she wanted to do was feed Shen Fei, though. He must be starving! As she stepped into the house, she saw that Shen Fei was holding a book which contained her master¡¯s portraits of the most beautiful men she had met in her adventures. ¡°Do you like them?¡± Shen Fei remained silent, but Zhao Xi was undaunted, she was used to his lack of response at this point. ¡°That belonged to my master. She made a portrait of all the beautiful men she wanted to be with. She even ranked them by their looks!¡± Zhao Xi poured a glass of water, she was famished. She walked to the bed and sat on the side, flipped to the last page of the portrait book, and indicated the empty space in one of the pages. ¡°Master said the one who topped the list was so unbearably beautiful that she couldn¡¯t fathom putting it down in a portrait.¡± Zhao Xi remembered her master¡¯s eyes glazing over whenever she talked about that man, as though she would have traded her soul for a glimpse of him just once. She would rant about how she wanted to break his legs and imprison him with her for a lifetime! ¡°That man is the Prince Regent, the one who rules the country today.¡± Chapter 11 - A Wolfish Woman (1) Chapter 11 ¨C A Wolfish Woman (1) ¡°Madam rushed to the city for the sole purpose of saving the person who was poisoned by the Miao worm. However, she became so besotted with the man¡¯s appearance that she ended up threatening to save him on the condition that he sleeps with her.¡± Having finished that, Zhao Xi drank the glass of water, and left the cup by the bedside. She then took a fleeting glance at the flower pot under the bed. At its unused state, she deduced Shen Fei wasn¡¯t fond of the flower pot. It seems he was particular about hygiene and cleanliness, as he would rather hold his urge to pee than to resort to using the flower pot. Nevertheless, it was his own folly. ¡°To save his life, he had no choice but to go against his wishes, and spend a night with my master. Alas, the moment the man was cured of the poison, he immediately turned against their bargain, restraining her,¡± she said. Zhao Xi placed the flower pot back to where it used to be. She replanted the flowers on the free soil. If he had no use of it, might as well continue making it as a decoration. ¡°In order to protect me, Madam gave me some money and told me to find a mountain I can temporarily live¡ªprobably more for hiding than living. We shortly parted ways, with her leaving and telling me she would seek for me the moment she¡¯s a free woman.¡± Her master¡¯s promise echoed in her mind. After divulging this, Zhao Xi felt a sense of impatience; she couldn¡¯t keep still. Her hands started arranging the books haphazardly stocked under the bed. ¡°At the start, she did visit me once and I thought she was here to bring me away. In the end, she came to tell me that she was in love with another person.¡± The person her madam had fallen for was none other than the Prince Regent. ¡°Wen Zhu, Madam called him Wen Zhu.¡± More specifically, Shen Wen Zhu. ¡°Such a coincidence that both of you share the same family name,¡± Zhao Xi said, an indecipherable look in her eyes as she stared at him. Amidst the piercing gaze, Shen Fei¡¯s expressionless remained, revealing nothing. His eyes held irises as black as the inky darkness of the deepest part of oceans, mysterious were they as they were unfathomable. They gazed silently out of the windows, perhaps avoiding her gaze, perhaps in a different place. And it was so, for at the back of his mind, he could recall some vague memories. Three years ago, he had visited his Ninth Brother¡¯s house for an event and had met a lady. There, a lady so beautiful, graceful, blessed with a slender waist like a curving willow besotted all the attention of the men in vicinity. Yet particularly, he could vividly remember her bold gaze, seizing his profile from head to toe without the least bit of shame or fear of the bystanders ridicule. ¡°Well, let¡¯s not talk about her anymore,¡± Zhao Xi said. Shen Fei remained mute. She moved the items that she bought into the room, and gingerly placed them on a bench in the corner. A warm blanket laid on top of the pile and she used it to wrap around Shen Fei. Then she carried him up. Yesterday, Shen Fei was but a stranger to her, therefore, she always informed him beforehand what she was about to do. Especially events that violated his privacy, such as the chore of wiping his body. Perhaps having gotten used to him, Zhao Xi carried him to the side without warning this time. Due to the abruptness, Shen Fei was shocked, and the book in his hand dropped to the ground with an audible thud. But he was able to regain his bearings quickly, lifting his arm and leaning against Zhao Xi¡¯s shoulder instinctively. The girl merely smiled knowingly, before gently sitting him down onto the bench. His luxurious robes were still being dried in the sun, so she couldn¡¯t help him wear his clothes before she left. The moment he was placed onto the bench, part of the blanket fell aside, revealing his long legs. Zhao Xi tugged on the blanket and covered his legs up. She then carefully tucked every edge and corner of the blanket under his legs. After which, she took two other blankets out and laid them onto the bed. As the blankets were new, they should in fact be left out in the sun for a day before using. However, a day of waiting meant another day of discomfort for him. Zhao Xi decided to use them immediately; she would take them out to sun tomorrow instead. Zhao Xi pat the blankets to rid them of dust . The store owner had hung the blankets out in the open, under the glaze of the sun, but they were also exposed to the dust kicked up by the horse carriages that ran across the streets. When she deduced the material was void of dirt, she covered the bed with the blanket, smoothing out the creases as she did so. After completing the task, she stood again by Shen Fei¡¯s side. The man had only just noticed that she was back by his side before he was lifted up once again, this time being carried back to bed. This time, when Zhao Xi checked Shen Fei¡¯s clothes, they were finally dry. She collected them and began the intricate task of sewing the torn parts. She then folded the clothes, leaving behind a set of undergarments, and kept the others into the wardrobe. The undergarments consisted of a top and a bottom. Since Shen Fei couldn¡¯t wear them on his own, Zhao Xi lifted the blanket covering him, and helped him wear the bottom, and then the top. Chapter 12 - A Wolfish Woman (2) Chapter 12 ¨C A Wolfish Woman (2) Zhao Xi didn¡¯t want to dwell on how the man must feel. If anything, Shen Fei was like a life-size doll for her to move about and dress in clothes. Morbid frustration must be burning inside of him. She focused on the task. It was quite difficult to dress Shen Fei in his undergarments. It wasn¡¯t because Shen Fei was being uncooperative, but because of the splints on his body; she pondered if the splint should be worn above or under his undergarments. If she kept the splint under his undergarments, it would be difficult task for her, and for him a painful one. But it seemed that she underestimated the weight loss a patient undergoes; the clothes could be easily worn over the splint, and the work was finally completed much to her relief. Looking at his attire, it suddenly hit Zhao Xi that she had forgotten to buy clothes for this man. At that time, she was only thinking about rushing back and had not thought about much. Thank goodness his own clothes are now dry, else he would have to be nude again for another day. He probably wouldn¡¯t be thrilled with the idea. After ensuring that Shen Fei was properly dressed, Zhao Xi left him to cook their meal and prepare his medicine. It was well autumn, and her black bear was fond of sleeping during this particular season; it spends 16 hours a day in slumber, with the remaining 8 hours awake. It should be already sleeping right now, so there was no need to worry about feeding it; there was also the off chance it had probably found food and ate. The person she was worried about was Shen Fei. He was so picky that he refused to eat any of the fruits left on the table; all of the fruits were still wrapped in their leaves and left untouched. That meant he was hungry the whole day. Zhao Xi made the fire burn stronger, and tried to cook the porridge faster. At her haste, the strong heat caused part of the porridge to become burnt. After serving it to him, she realised that he only ate the unburnt part; the burnt part, like the snubbed fruits, was left untouched. Another thing she noticed about her patient was that he doesn¡¯t eat fatty meat either. As Zhao Xi was worried that the porridge would be too plain, she added some meat to make lean meat porridge. It was unavoidable for some of the meat grind to have fats, and he meticulously picked those out from the bowl. He also left the thickened porridge paste behind, it sat unappetizingly at the bottom of the bowl. In the end, the bowl of porridge, that could be held in both hands and of which could already be considered a small serving, had leftovers. Zhao Xi concluded: if this helpless man was left alone in the forest, he would definitelynot survive to see the next day. As with her, she wasn¡¯t picky about food, proving it so as she drank the remaining porridge in the pot. She then served him his medicine. As the concoction didn¡¯t have any snake bile this time, it wasn¡¯t as bitter as before. Also understanding that there was no point in prolonging the horrid taste from the medicine on his tongue, Shen Fei swiftly drank the potion and sucked on a preserved sweet. He then took the book that Zhao Xi had helped pick up from the floor, and continued reading. Zhao Xi left the man be, took the fats that he had picked up into a bowl, and went to feed the snake that had contributed his precious venom. Since there was nothing left to do, Zhao Xi prepared some bedding for the bench, ready to sleep on it. Last night, she had to sleep on the floor, worried of worsening Shen Fei¡¯s injuries if she had shared the bed with him. Therefore, she bought the bench to use for herself; she could sleep on it at night, and during the day, she could also move it outside and let him rest on it. After preparing the bedding, Zhao Xi lay on the bench to test it. There was a new blanket and another old blanket beneath it, softening the wood¡¯s hardness. Such luxury felt unfamiliar to her. She lay there in a daze, slowly feeling sleep creep in. The sound of pages being flicked almost sounded like a lullaby in her ears¡ªShen Fei still didn¡¯t have any intention to sleep yet. Again, Zhao Xi decided to let the man be, and got up to start wiping his hands and neck clean. Other than being picky, this man also loved being clean. During these two days, whenever Zhao Xi carried him, fed him his medicine and food, he did not stop her nor was he cooperative. It was entirely left on Zhao Xi¡¯s initiative to do so. However, it was a different story when it came to his body¡¯s hygiene: only then would he coordinate with Zhao Xi¡¯s efforts. He would close his eyes and push his head forward when Zhao Xi wiped his face, he would look up, stretching his neck when the wet towel would reach there, and he would even help adjusting his clothes to make it easier for she to wipe the rest of his body. He doesn¡¯t move either when she would wipe his hands. Zhao Xi enjoyed playing with his hands; she found his fingers beautiful as they were long, slender and pale. Before she cleaned them, she had the habit of playing for a while, stroking and pinching them, spreading them apart and looking at gaps of his fingers, tracing palm markings and the veins that ran at back of his hands. Occasionally, she would use too much strength while playing, but Shen Fei never grumbled even if it was painful. Even if his hands were the most elegant she has seen, a man¡¯s hand was truly much different from a woman. Chapter 13 - A Wolfish Woman (3) Chapter 13 ¨C A Wolfish Woman (3) After realising that this playtime¡ªto him, teasing¡ª had become her new habit, and that she would clean his hands after doing so, Shen Fei surprisingly tolerated her childish antics. Perhaps, he was afraid that she would refuse to wipe him clean if he didn¡¯t. There were times when Zhao Xi would forget to be scrupulous, casually running the wet towel over his skin, and he would keep getting her attention. She was confused at the start¡ªthe art of pantomiming was something foreign to her¡ªbut later, she understood that he wanted her to go over some spots again. This man could be considered a neat freak. Silence was their fourth companion, as Shen Fei didn¡¯t like to talk and she didn¡¯t mind him so. There was a synergy between them¡ªeven though they had met each other only two days ago, the familiarity, the comfort in the absence of conversation, felt as if they had known each other for two years. Zhao Xi understood a lot of Shen Fei¡¯s small actions, and it wasn¡¯t a problem for him to stay silent. He could rely on her to slowly figure things out and understand him better. She had another guilty pleasure; like a little ruffian, she enjoyed shocking people. When the sun rose, dawn breaking against the grey expanse, perhaps at the lack of activities to do and feeling more familiar with his new environment, Shen Fei slept deeper than the first day. Zhao Xi noticed and didn¡¯t wake him up, instead, she moved her bench out to the sun. He was still in deep slumber when she removed the blanket covering him and gently carried him out of bed. Shen Fei felt himself stirring at the warmth on his skin. His long eyelashes gently trembled as his eyes squinted into a thin line. The bright rays of the sun made him close his eyes immediately. It took a while before he reopened them as they adjusted to the light. He habitually looked at his surroundings and realised that he was no longer in the room but out in the courtyard. Zhao Xi was seated behind him, a small smile in place, and pulled him backwards till his head was no longer supported by the bench. She loosened the tie on his long hair, letting the ebony strands cascade down into a pail of warm water, and begin to wash them. ¡°We have a fine weather today. It would be a waste to remain inside and waste the sunlight,¡± she explained. She loved mornings, the tranquillity in nature and crisp mountain air filling her lungs. She also hoped that Shen Fei would have a dose of the morning¡¯s goodness. But while Zhao Xi loves the sun, she had the hunch her companion dislikes it. She discerned it from the color of his skin, pale as winter; his skin was that he looked sickly. It was obvious that a person with such countenance must hate the day and stayed indoors, and should probably be a night owl. As expected, Shen Fei used his non-injured hand to shield his eyes. The light was like an onslaught on his eyes, hurting them. Zhao Xi didn¡¯t stop him. After she had wet his hair, she crushed the beans used for showering and applied them to his head. Small bubbles appeared as she rubbed and scrubbed his hair and scalp, generously giving him a head massage. These bath beans, part of her recent purchases, were very expensive. A small bottle cost her two silvers, roughly the price of three blankets. Thankfully, the bath beans were of quality and gave off a fresh scent, making them a good value for money. Zhao Xi suddenly caught a hold of a different scent. She grabbed some strands of his hair and brought them closer to her nose to smell. The fragrance was totally different from the bath beans, much more potent, fragrant, and even resembled the scent on Shen Fei¡¯s body. It was the same with his clothes. Even though she used the same soap to wash their clothes, his clothes still smelled nicer than hers. She heard how people said this before: how important households liked to use aromatic incense. Even the laundry room with washed garment and the rest of the residence would always be lighted with incense, ensuring that the scent wouldn¡¯t dissipate with ease. Perhaps it was due to this reason that he always had a pleasant scent from the first day he came to her home. ¡°Oh, right!¡± Zhao Xi exclaimed, suddenly thinking of another matter, ¡°Are you literate? Can you recognise many words?¡± In truth there was no need to ask, the answer was so obvious¡ªthe man had the aura of a scholar. She had another thing in mind. ¡°Would you teach me please?¡± she asked. But she knew he wouldn¡¯t do so for free, or even at her behest. Therefore, Zhao Xi told her of her absurd condition: ¡°For every day that you teach me, I will not touch you,¡± she simply said so with a smile, meeting the man¡¯s dark gaze. It wasn¡¯t that Zhao Xi was illiterate, it was just that she recognised few words and didn¡¯t know how to read the more complicated terminology in her medical tomes. If Shen Fei was willing to teach her, then¡­ she was willing not sleep with Shen Fei for the time being. Chapter 14 - The Debauchee And Trickster (1) Chapter 14 ¨C The Debauchee and Trickster (1) Despite feeling tired, Zhao Xi was unable to fall asleep; a part of her felt disappointed. Shen Fei was definitely not a person with loose morals and was cautious towards her. Zhao Xi realized that whenever she got up to use the toilet during the night, his eyes were always looking at her, vigilant, almost distrustful. If she were to guess, he probably never slept during the night. Probably unaware that Zhao Xi¡¯s eyesight was good in the dark, he did his best to watch her closely; his eyes shone with determination to stay alert and keep his guard up against her. Zhao Xi saw his utmost caution, and for the first time, she felt that her master¡¯s teachings were incorrect. Madam told her that all men, like wild savages, were driven by their carnal desires. A woman only had to flirt casually and nine out of ten would be more than willing to join her in bed¡ªthe tenth man would hesitate before diving into pleasure just like the rest. Yet here was Shen Fei¡ªa man definitely different from the men her master had slept with. He was a special case who cherished his body. And to his eyes, she was a lustful succubus on the prowl to devour him. Believing that Zhao Xi would refrain from touching him when Ping An was around during the day, Shen Fei would only dare to sleep when the sun was up. His sleepless nights have turned him into a kind of vampire that only slumbers when there was sunlight. In turn, she as well, was truly becoming a feared creature of the night. For Zhao Xi, it was a futile endeavor. It seems like Shen Fei couldn¡¯t understand her. She wants a man to sleep with her willingly; even if liked that person, she wouldn¡¯t force herself on him. The bear had nothing to do with anything that was happening. Of course, her habit of playing with his hands and ogling at his body with no reservations may have caused him to misunderstand. She couldn¡¯t find the harm in that, after all, it was what her master had taught her. Like biology, men and women alike are drawn to beautiful things¡ªshe was no exception. But she realized this blatant regard for beauty was troublesome; it would be difficult for him to change his opinions about her anytime soon. Well, if there¡¯s another thing she knew, it was: Time shows a person¡¯s true heart; she didn¡¯t need to rush for him to realize her sincerity. * Zhao Xi slowly dried his hair after washing it. She inhaled the scent of his locks, tumbling the ebony locks between her fingers. His hair smelled sweet more than ever. She continued to wipe his face, hands and neck, then gave him some salt water to clean his mouth. Only after she was done did she leave him alone to rest. She was cooking porridge in the pot using hot coal, and it didn¡¯t require much attention. At the same time, she brewed the medicine and brought Ping An out for a walk. The greedy bear had gotten so fat that his tummy was protruding; if he didn¡¯t exercise, his body would weaken, and he may not be able to survive the harsh winter. Bears needed to hibernate during winter. Every year during autumn, Zhao Xi would bring the black bear with her, making it run with her and hunt at the same time. In this season, a variety of fruits could also be found everywhere. Thinking that Shen Fei might like fruits, and since she was bored, she picked the fruits during their course. Before long, she had filled her bag with delicious fruits. The fruits in autumn were fresh. Fruits that couldn¡¯t be consumed before they spoil could also be used to make buns and ferment wine. Even if she picked too much, there was always something to do with the leftover produce. After picking the fruits, Zhao Xi realized that there was still time to spare, so she cleared the rocks that had fallen off from the cliff and watered the vegetable plot and medicinal plants in the courtyard. By the time she returned, the pot had just started to boil, and the porridge hadn¡¯t turned into a mush. Zhao Xi felt lazy to stir-fry the vegetables, so she boiled them instead. The food cooking in the big pot was split into layers; the bottom layer contained porridge, and the top layer contained steamed fish, prawns, crabs and any other delicacies they had caught. She suddenly recalled that she had set out a fish basket two days ago. Ever since rescuing Shen Fei, taking care of his needs had taken up most of her time that she nearly forgot about it. Now that she remembered about it now, she quickly retrieved it, then washed it before putting it into the pot to also steam. Porridge requires a long time to cook. There was still sufficient time to steam the fish basket. Knowing how picky Shen Fei is with food, Zhao Xi was very focused while cooking. She added many different condiments to flavor the dishes, used some herbs to enhance the flavor to make the dish even more nutritious. Zhao Xi was very pleased with the finished dish and believed that Shen Fei shouldn¡¯t have any problems with it either. However, the unexpected happened. His notorious picky mouth was ever present; he removed all the herbs and spices added, discarding them to the side. After all the pepper, star anises, cinnamon sticks, and other ingredients were taken out, the contents inside the bowl of porridge was halved! He ate the fish that was left but he didn¡¯t even touch the crabs or prawns. Zhao Xi silently observed and understood he doesn¡¯t dislike them, but with only one hand, it was inconvenient for him to crack and peel the crabs and prawns. Chapter 15 - The Debauchee And Trickster (2) Chapter 15 ¨C The Debauchee and Trickster (2) Her own hands moved nimbly, cracking, peeling, picking and eating the meat from the crabs and prawns in record time. Although as a physician she was not supposed to keep long nails, she kept her nails just a bit longer on her thumb and pinky finger, so she could peel medicinal herbs efficiently. She had finished her own bowl of porridge. The man before her had already stopped eating. Shen Fei had lost so much weight that he was like a sack of bones. Since it was a rare occurrence that he didn¡¯t dislike his food, but rather found the eating process cumbersome, Zhao Xi took the liberty of taking the shells from the seafood. Due to her experience in handling medicinal herbs, Zhao Xi¡¯s hands were agile. She cracked and peeled the crabs and prawns quickly, and Shen Fei cooperated in eating one whenever it was ready, until all was gone, and the bowl became empty. Seeing the Shen Fei liked the food, Zhao Xi steamed crabs and prawns again in the afternoon. Learning from the previous meal that Shen Fei wasn¡¯t fond of herbs and spices, she decided not to add them in the dish this time. In the end, instead of eating more, Shen Fei ate less than before. As Shen Fei doesn¡¯t provide feedback, complain, or react on the food¡ªand the only way to tell he found it tasty is when he would eat¡ªZhao Xi felt troubled as she pondered over whether to add herbs and spices for dinner. Having three meals of crabs and prawns in a day wasn¡¯t healthy as they were food that cooled the body; eating too much would weaken a person¡¯s body. At the same time, crabs and prawns contain a lot of nutrition and should not be removed from the diet. Zhao Xi thought about it and decided to reduce the seafood¡¯s cooling effect by mixing some medicine. For dinner, she cooked another pot and used the same herbs and condiments. As expected, Shen Fei removed all of them. But with Zhao Xi¡¯s help on deshelling the crabs and prawns, Shen Fei ate just as much at breakfast. This meant that Shen Fei likes steamed crabs and prawns. He also had good eyesight to eb able to remove all the herbs and condiments from the dish. Zhao Xi learned another preference of his. He especially likes deshelled prawns; if the prawns were not deshelled, he would not eat even one of them. As Shen Fei knew that deshelling prawns were a chore, he never once made the request for Zhao Xi to help. If she was willing to deshell the prawns, he would eat them; if she was unwilling to deshell, then he wouldn¡¯t eat them. Having lived with Shen Fei for a few days and having tried many different dishes, Zhao Xi was only able to discover this single food that Shen Fei likes. Realizing how picky he was, such that he would not even eat half a bowl if the food was not to his liking, and watching him becoming skinnier over the days, Zhao Xi was more than happy to indulge him in this liking. After all, prawns differ from other seafood and have more nutritional value. Now that it was autumn, it was past the season for prawns. The prawns would hide in depths and were no longer easy to catch. She had to throw out three to four fish baskets just to catch enough prawns for one serving. Afraid that he would have some health problems if he kept eating them, Zhao Xi prepared some medicine to remedy the side effects. To Shen Fei, eating the prawns was such a blissful moment of enjoyment, and drinking the medicine was like crashing down into the depths of fiery hell. It is easy for different tonics to counteract against each other and cause negative side effects, therefore, Zhao Xi was very careful to ensure the medicine she brewed did not clash but neutralize each other instead. Unfortunately, this made the medicine taste more bitter than before. Shen Fei could no longer stand drinking it any longer. It was on the sixth day living with Shen Fei did Zhao Xi finally realize that he was no longer taking his medicine. * Ever since the day that she requested to learn how to read, even though Shen Fei did not acknowledge her request, he had silently agreed to the condition to protect himself. Whenever Zhao Xi took a book to him, he was always serious when teaching her how to read the words, explain its meaning and usage. It was as if nothing was too difficult for Shen Fei; he was truly erudite. As Zhao Xi was focused on learning, it took her a long time before she noticed that something was not quite right. Shen Fei was so detailed not because he was conscientious in his teaching, but because he didn¡¯t want to drink the medicine. He delayed drinking his medicine until it would turn cold. Cold medicine couldn¡¯t be taken, and so Zhao Xi would reheat it. But some of the medicine would evaporate during the reheating, leaving less tonic behind. Using this trick, the man could slyly drink only a few mouthfuls. Seeing that Shen Fei was going to such extent, she was unwilling to reveal his trick. But drinking the medicine was an important matter, as it concerned his weakened body. As such, Zhao Xi would no longer come to him for teaching when it was time to drink his medicine; all matters could wait till he was done consuming it. Shen Fei seemed to realize that his trick was discovered and started to think of other methods. He sneakily pouring the concoction away while reading, acted as if he drank the medicine and even ate the preserves after. Zhao Xi was dumbfounded as she watched this whole elaborate act just to avoid the bitter tonic. Chapter 16 - Trust Chapter 16 ¨C Trust After living together for ten days, Zhao Xi observed a change ¨C Shen Fei, who used to occupy the whole bed, had started to sleep at the inner half of the bed, leaning against the wall. The size of the bed was not exactly small, but it was not big either. If he had slept in the middle, there was ample space for him to lie down, yet now that he had shifted to the side, there was suddenly a space left for Zhao Xi to lay down too. This change caused Zhao Xi to be confused ¨C why did he suddenly shifted from his usual sleeping position? Was it because it was uncomfortable to keep sleeping in the same position? Or was it because he used to be cautious towards her and didn¡¯t dare sleep, but now that he felt more comfortable and slept soundly at night? He would turn during his sleep such that whenever Zhao Xi used the washroom at night and looked over at him, he would be sleeping at the corner of the bed. Of course there was another reason ¨C Shen Fei was finally touched by her sincerity and was willing to accept her, and decided to give half the bed to her. It was not convenient for him to move his legs, so unless he shifted on purpose, the reason of this change in sleeping position was technically impossible. But¡­ she couldn¡¯t remember having done anything special; why would he suddenly accept her? Zhao Xi was afraid that she was overthinking things and didn¡¯t try to take her relationship with Shen Fei to the next level. Instead, their relationship took a turn for the worse; she continued sleeping on the bench, and when the weather was good in the morning, she would carry him out to the courtyard to bask in the sun. Shen Fei absolutely disliked being out in the sun, and tried to find excuses to not be out. One day, Zhao Xi realised that Shen Fei had woke up before her, and was reading on the bed, his back slightly propped on the frame. As reading under strong sunlight isn¡¯t good for the eyes, taking him outside was not an option. Zhao Xi was unwilling to disrupt his reading mood; she decided to wait for him to finish reading before carrying him out. That day, Shen Fei ended up reading the whole morning, and missed out on the morning sun. As the sun in the afternoon was too hot, and basking in it may cause sunburn, Zhao Xi was unwilling to carry him out¡ªeven if Shen Fei was finally willing to be out in the courtyard¡­ At first, she thought that Shen Fei¡¯s new reading schedule in the morning was a pure coincidence. However, she realised over the next few days that it was reoccurring. Zhao Xi finally understood ¨C this was Shen Fei¡¯s ploy to avoid being carried out in the sun. Basking in the sun had some health benefits, thus, even if he tried refusing again, or struggled against her, Zhao Xi would still carry him with his blanket to the courtyard. She would make up for him cleaning his hands and face in the courtyard. Occasionally when she was bored, she would also help him wash his hair and change his clothes. He was like a life-size doll; from head to toe, she could play with him as she wanted. As he always kept silent, Zhao Xi was tempted to force herself on him so that she can pry the truth from him. As she thought deeper about why Shen Fei would leave a space in bed for her, she realised that it could be because she hadn¡¯t done immoral towards him for the ten days, and he had finally lowered his guard against her and was preparing to slowly accept her. It was definitely a good sign, although it could also be a test for her ¨C if Zhao Xi made a move on him, Shen Fei might end up being more guarded against her. Worried about that, Zhao Xi controlled herself and never made a move. As she fed him, cleaned his body, carried him out to bask in the sun, she had pretty much seen everything there was to see. She had no regrets even if she did not get to ¡°have¡± him in the end. As a physician, Zhao Xi lived her life orderly to be a role model; she wakes at early dawn preparing breakfast, brewing medicine, playing with Ping An and bringing it out for a stroll in the forest while searching for food for the three of them. Ping An likes eating fish and meat; the more flesh it has, the more it enjoys the food. Meanwhile, Shen Fei preferred eating food that are more bland, especially those that were boiled or steamed; Zhao Xi wasn¡¯t picky about food, and was fine eating the same as Ping An or Zhao Xi. One early morning, Ping An was insistent on having deer meat and caught one at night. Bears are nocturnal animals, but ever since following Zhao Xi, Ping An¡¯s sleeping behaviour changed. Despite that, once in a while, Ping An would still hunt at night, catching a deer, rabbit or other small animal prey. Despite seeing the deer meat, as handling meat would require much effort, Zhao Xi decided to cook prawns and crabs as usual instead. The moment Ping An realised Zhao Xi¡¯s intention, it started rolling around on the ground like a petulant child, disrupting Zhao Xi¡¯s cooking. Zhao Xi ignored Ping An, so Ping An went to find Shen Fei. Chapter 17 - Only A Hug (1) Chapter 17 ¨C Only a Hug (1) At the beginning, Zhao Xi was worried that Ping An would hurt Shen Fei as the bear was a jealous and possessive one. Other than taking care of patients, she took care of animals that were hurt every now and then. Whenever she released an animal that has healed and recovered well, the moment her head turned away, Ping An would attack, bite and eat the animal. Only after Zhao Xi noticed and reproached Ping An, did the beat then released the animal in his jaws. As if it had been wronged, Ping An would stick up its bottom towards her to show its displeasure. She would then have to put in effort to coax Ping An, and reassure it that she would have it as her only companion, did the bear then forgive her with much reluctance. Ping An behaved just like a child with temper. However, it had a weakness ¨C whoever fed it food will be treated like its mother. So Zhao Xi found an egg and passed it to Shen Fei to feed it to the fussy bear, helping him bribe Ping An and guarantee his own safety from its jealousy. As Zhao Xi was still worried that Ping An would hurt Shen Fei, she left some medicinal herbs that Ping An hated on Shen Fei. If Ping An ever smelled the scent of the medicinal herbs, it would run away with fear. This would ensure that Ping An would not attempt to hurt Shen Fei. Although leaving the medicinal herbs on Shen Fei might hurt the bear, Zhao Xi had no other choice. After all, in its eyes, with the exception of Zhao Xi, all other humans and animals were food. It would be better to take precaution. Of course, whenever she was around, she would keep the medicinal herbs and ensure that Shen Fei was clean and without the scent of it. She would then slowly introduce Ping An to Shen Fei, and help it become accustomed to the man¡¯s natural scent. This process would definitely take a few months to accomplish. Therefore, when Ping An immediately ran over to look for Shen Fei, Zhao Xi immediately assumed that it was going to hurt him, as she had done something that the bear might get envious and upset about. Ping An was not a stupid bear; it understood what was happening, and was also vengeful. However, shockingly, she saw Ping An curl up next to Shen Fei¡¯s bench and placed its paw on his arm. As that happened, Shen Fei raised his long and pale hand and started to pet the bear¡¯s head. Ping An then happily rolled on its back, and revealed its neck. Zhao Xi was stunned. The neck of a bear was its major weakness. A bear would only reveal its neck if it trusted the person. So far, Ping An had only done this similar act of trust to her. No other person or animal had ever received this same treatment from Ping An before. And yet, this was happening with Shen Fei? Zhao Xi was still holding the pot as she ran over to look. Shen Fei gave her a glance, and continued to pet Ping An. The bear looked¡­ very blissful. It used both its paws to hold Shen Fei¡¯s hand to guide him to continue petting it, sometimes a little to the left, sometimes a little to the right, sometimes a little lower. Almost as if it was thinking: ¡°Ahhhhh, this spot just feels too great, just a little longer here¡­¡± When Shen Fei was tired and took back his hand, Ping An would stretch over and hold his hand, wanting him to continue. There Shen Fei was, with his book on his lap, lying down in the shade in the courtyard, scratching and petting the black bear happily sprawled on the earth next to him growling in comfort and happiness. The man and the bear looked harmonious in her eyes. This time, it was Zhao Xi who felt the pang of jealousy. Ping An was never like this before. And now after a few days it was behaving like this with another person? What a useless companion. This development must have happened without her awareness. She knew that even if she asked Shen Fei what had happened between them, she wouldn¡¯t get an answer. So she held back her curiosity. This development was not a bad thing either; now Zhao Xi can leave the two of them together without worries whenever she headed up the mountain to pick herbs or return to the village to open her quaint clinic. She was always worried that if she didn¡¯t return to the village, any patients that would come looking to her for help but was unable to find her, might worsen their conditions. She would wait till Shen Fei had recovered a little more before carrying him down the mountain. By then, she would be able to care for him and the clinic as well. As for Ping An, she would head up the mountains every now and then to visit it. As bears have to hibernate during winter, and now that it was autumn, it would only be around two to three months later before the snow would start. It was important for Ping An to eat more to build up more fat, to ensure that it would have sufficient energy to store to last the unforgiving days of winter. Shen Fei would also need winter clothes, she surmised. Zhao Xi counted her money and knew it wasn¡¯t enough. It was definitely time for her to pick more herbs to resupply her store. Chapter 18 - Only A Hug (2) Chapter 18 ¨C Only a Hug (2) She recalled that two years ago she had found a ginseng. At that time, the ginseng was around 17 years of age and a little small, so she decided not to pick it. Instead, she used a red string to tie around it, and grew a few plants that naturally deterred the animals around. Therefore, she was able to prevent any predators from eating it. The red string had two reasons: first, it was to inform others that she had found the ginseng first and that it belonged to her; second, it was to tie down the ginseng. Myth has it that ginseng is able to run, and whether this was real or not, Zhao Xi decided to learn from the older folks and tied it down with the red string. Now two years has passed, she wondered if the ginseng was still in the selfsame spot¡­ Herbs that grew in the wild are often more effective, and usually can sell for a better price. Those considered of sublime quality might fetch for exorbitant prices. Perhaps she could use it to buy a better set of clothing for Shen Fei. * After feeding Shen Fei and Ping An, Zhao Xi adroitly started the hike in search for the ginseng. As luck would have it, it sat nicely hidden in its corner, neither was it stolen or eaten by animal; it was as still: waiting for her to pick it up. Harvesting a ginseng is an adverse work requiring delicate patience. As none of the roots can be broken, it took her almost four hours to pick it up. For the time it took her to traverse the mountains and gather the ginseng, it was evening by the time Zhao Xi returned. After a simple meal, she dutifully washed Shen Fei and started taking measurements. Having done this act in routine, Shen Fei no longer struggled against her in ignominy. Instead, he allowed her to turn him over and even clean his private regions, all the while his demeanour self-effacing. Mindless as ever to his private miseries, Zhao Xi¡¯s attention was held by the bruises on his body. The skin, in purple and blue blooms, were not small either; both his knees were bruised, and the skin on one of them was even lacerated. Despite the injury, Shen Fei did not show any signs of pain or discomfort on his face. She lightly stroked his injured knees and pondered silently. There were only three of them on the mountain; other than her, there was only Shen Fei and Ping An. Since Ping An now trusted him, it was impossible for it to have hurt him. That means only one possibility was left. This injury was caused by Shen Fei himself. Under what situation would he hurt himself to this extent? She carefully mulled over the scenarios, of which at the moment looked like a case of physical abuse. Zhao Xi felt suspicious and untrusting of herself; was she sleepwalking at night and beating him up before putting him back to bed? It was absurd; she was really turning to a dastard! Whenever Zhao Xi had nothing to do, she would clean his body. Therefore, she was knowledgeable regarding the condition of his body, even clearer than Shen Fei himself owing to her medicinal knowledge. There were no injuries on him yesterday when she had cleaned him, so it meant the injuries were caused after she left them earlier in the day. How it happened then was unknown. Zhao Xi thought to herself that she should investigate when the opportunity arises. For now, she pretended not to notice, and vacuously applied some medication on his bruises. She helped him wear his sleepwear, lay him down in the middle of the bed. She had no intentions to share the bed with him, lest she hurt him in her sleep when she was tossing and turning. * In the middle of the night, Zhao Xi woke up to use the toilet. Once again, she noticed that his body was situated at the edge. To her, the sight of such a large figure huddling in the corner of the bed looked pitiful. Zhao Xi contemplated for a moment, thinking prudently, before going to the bed, lightly kneeling on the soft sheets. As to not rouse him, she carefully placed her hands under the blanket. The moment her hands brushed against Shen Fei¡¯s skin, she could feel a slight tremble against her fingers. He was not asleep yet; even though his eyes were closed, his breathing was uneven. The rise and fall of his chest was regular, almost serene, whenever he slept. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to do anything.¡± Zhao Xi said softly, ¡°It¡¯s only a short hug.¡± After she said this, Zhao Xi took him into her arms and carried him back to the middle of the bed. She ensured that the blankets were covering Shen Fei properly. With a yawn, she returned to her own bench to sleep. Just as the night¡¯s disturbance ended, the man on the bed opened his eyes and gazed at Zhao Xi. Under the moonlight, there was a lady laying on her side on the bench, her hand supporting the side of her face. She looked blissful in her sleep, unawares of the worries in the world¡­ Chapter 19 - A Missing Person (1) Chapter 19 ¨C A Missing Person (1) After fifteen days had passed, Zhao Xi found more wounds on Shen Fei¡¯s body. They spread from his chest all the way down to his knees. His palms were covered in small grazes, as if he¡¯d been dragged along the ground. The only part of him that was still in good shape was his face. What had happened? She was starting to wonder if she was sleepwalking in the middle of the night and beating this guy up. But that wasn¡¯t the case. Some nights she stayed up until dawn and still found fresh wounds on Shen Fei the next day. After some time of watching carefully, she figured something must have happened while she was gone. If only she could question Ping An, but of course he was a bear and couldn¡¯t speak. It always happened while she was gone. When she was at the cottage, no change, but whenever she left new wounds would appear. How could Shen Fei be hurting himself like this while he was immobile in bed? Zhao wanted to keep an eye on him, but she was the only doctor in the village. After her fame had spread, more and more people were coming from nearby villages to seek out her medical treatment. If she stayed in the mountains all the time, she might not be able to reach urgent patients in time. What if someone died because she was too far away? She had to go back now and then to check on her clinic. Luckily, Shen Fei and Ping An got along, which saved her a lot of effort. When she was sure they could happily co-exist, she went up into the mountains to gather her herbs, then back down into the village to treat her patients. She¡¯d been running like a headless chicken between the valley, the mountain and the village. But now she¡¯d discovered Shen Fei¡¯s wounds, she couldn¡¯t concentrate on her work. Multiple times throughout the day, her thoughts went back to those strange injuries. What was causing them? Zhao Xi was so distracted that she completely forgot to buy new clothes for him. He secretly believed it was on purpose, so she could keep ogling him while he was naked, but in truth the security in the city had been raised of late and the soldiers were pulling people up on all sorts of small transgressions. She didn¡¯t want to arouse any suspicion, so she planned to go to a city further away to buy the clothes. That, however, would take at least two days. What if he starved to death while she was gone? Even if he didn¡¯t, his wounds might fester if she wasn¡¯t there to take care of them. What would she do if she came back to find him dead of a fever? No, first she needed to find out where these strange injuries were coming from. She told the villagers that she would be gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains for the next two days, and told Shen Fei that she would be running errands in the village until evening. She hid herself in the shadows in a spot where she could watch and see what exactly was going on while her back was turned. Was Shen Fei doing something? How did he manage to injure himself constantly? Or was someone else doing it to him? Zhao Xi might not be the only person who had discovered this valley. Maybe some passing stranger had found it, found the beautiful, vulnerable Shen Fei, and raped him? The thought of this sent her rushing back in a panic. She told him that she wanted to take a bath and boiled the water, but as soon as the bath was ready, she changed her mind. There was no point wasting the hot water, so she asked Shen Fei if he wanted to take a bath, knowing he wouldn¡¯t refuse. He was eager for any chance to clan himself. He never voiced an opinion or an objection, lying there passively, but taking a bath was one of the few things he would willingly cooperate with. She added the pot of boiling water to two buckets of cool river water to create a warm bath. Shen Fei raised his arms when he saw her approach, enabling her to lift him more easily. She set him on the bench to undress him, then soaked a towel in the warm water. As she wiped him down with the cleaning cloth, Zhao Xi surreptitiously ran her eyes over his skin, trying to work out whether the wounds had been caused by rough activities. Had someone taken advantage of him while she was away? If Zhao Xi¡¯s master came while she was gone, the woman could easily drug Ping An and Shen Fei and do whatever she wanted. Her master loved beautiful men. If she laid eyes on Shen Fei, there was no way he would escape unmolested. I was too careless! Zhao Xi thought in despair. If it was the master¡¯s doing, then even Shen Fei might not know where his wounds had come from. What if he believed that Zhao Xi had done it, but was forced to keep silent and uncomplaining because of how he had to rely on her now? A bitter taste filled her mouth; she couldn¡¯t ask him about it. The man had a strong sense of modesty and pride, so every time she wiped his back, he would bury his head in his arms on the bench, silent and refusing to look at her. This made it easy for her to get a look at the full scope of his injuries. She examined the bruises. To her great relief, they didn¡¯t look as if they had been caused by a fight or worse, a sexual assault. More like he¡¯d been bumping around into furniture. Just to make sure, she poked and prodded his bruises. Shen Fei had no feeling below his waist, so he didn¡¯t even notice when she pressed a little too hard. Combining her medical knowledge with her careful examination, Zhao Xi was positive those bruises were left from knocking into things. But how did he get so many? Is he some kind of masochist? Chapter 20 - A Missing Person (2) Chapter 20 ¨C A Missing Person (2) Once he was washed, she rinsed him with clean water, dried him and dressed him in clean clothes, and carried him back to the bed. When he was settled, she told him that she would be gone until evening. There were buns in the drawer if he got hungry, and he didn¡¯t need to worry about Ping An. As usual, Shen Fei didn¡¯t reply. He didn¡¯t even acknowledge her with a glance, instead taking a book down from the shelf and resuming from where he had left off. Zhao Xi was used to it by now. She changed her shoes, took an umbrella, and left. She hid in a tree in the valley, close enough to the cottage where she could see what was going on inside, but not so close that she would be seen by Shen Fei. What she hadn¡¯t accounted for was being noticed by the bear. Ping An set his giant paws on the tree and began to shake it, like she was a beehive he was trying to bring down. ¡°Ping An.¡± A voice, called from the house. It was hoarse, yet familiar. Zhao Xi was surprised to realize it belonged to Shen Fei and that he was calling for the bear. Ping An heard him and paused. He looked confused about whether to listen to the man or continue shaking the tree. Eventually, he went over to the house, leaning on the frame of the window. Standing on his hind legs, the bear¡¯s height almost blocked the entire window. Zhao Xi had to stand up in the tree to see inside the house. Shen Fei lifted a corner of the quilt to reveal a bowl covered with a handkerchief. It was the meat and eggs Zhao Xi had made that morning. She¡¯d given it to him before she left, not even noticing that he hid it. He placed the bowl by the window, giving Ping An the go ahead to eat. Naturally, the bear pushed his snout into the bowl and began to devour the food. Shen Fei¡¯s face was unusually gentle as he reached out and set a hand on the bear¡¯s head, stroking the thick fur. The pair looked quite friendly, as if they¡¯d done this many times before. That¡¯s why. No wonder Ping An accepted him so easily. He¡¯s been feeding him all along. Zhao Xi was the one who had told him that giving Ping An food could improve their relationship. She just hadn¡¯t expected the man and bear to bond so quickly. When Ping An finished the contents of the bowl, he nosed into Shen Fei¡¯s bed, looking for more. There wasn¡¯t any to be found and the bear lowered his head. Shen Fei scratched Ping An¡¯s chin, only for his hand to end up in the bear¡¯s mouth. It wasn¡¯t a real bite, just a soft, familiar gesture. Like a cub tugging at its mother. When Zhao Xi was in the yard hanging up washing, Ping An would come along to mouth and nip at her ankles, too. The bear was huge, so it took a lot of effort to get free of him, but Zhao Xi had discovered a small trick: flicking the bear¡¯s forehead. To her surprise, Shen Fei knew the trick as well. He flicked Ping An¡¯s forehead, and the bear fell down on its back with his legs in the air, too fat to get up. Shen Fei leaned on the windowsill, his hair draped over his shoulder, his eyes crinkled into a line with his smile. He smiled. He looks so handsome when he smiles. He would rather hide the food she made him to feed it to Ping An and play with the bear than talk to her. Zhao Xi was forced to reflect on herself, on her behavior and actions. Did she irritate him by being too direct? She could understand his reticence. She¡¯d threatened him when they first met, and she stared boldly at his naked body every day. If she was in his shoes, she¡¯d hate the person too. Maybe she should reduce her presence in his life to annoy him less. With time he might come to see the true Zhao Xi. She had a year, there was no need to rush things. She thought she¡¯d seen enough and was just getting ready to climb down the tree, when Shen Fei got up. He moved his legs little by little until he was sitting on the edge of the bed. Zhao Xi stared. What is he doing? She waited for him to make his next move. He shifted his legs off the bed, letting them dangle to the floor, almost as if he was going to stand up. Leaning one hand against the table, he pushed himself to his bare feet, and immediately fell down. Not surprising. He was still severely wounded, he had no feeling in his lower body, three broken ribs, and a broken arm. Only a month had passed since she found him, so there was no way he could recover so quickly. But Shen Fei was persistent. He tried again and again, getting up, falling, and repeating the process. It seemed futile, but he eventually made it to the kitchen. Gripping the shelf on the wall, he hauled himself to the eaves, dripping with sweat from his exertions. He sat there for a while, then went through the same arduous processes to get back to the bed. He brushed the dust from his clothes before he lay back down. So, that was where his mysterious wounds were coming from. Zhao Xi wasn¡¯t sleepwalking and beating him, no one had molested him. It seemed as though Shen Fei was determined not to be an invalid and was trying to train himself, increase his strength, while she was away. Relief surged through her. She¡¯d been so worried, thinking that something terrible must have happened to him. Now that she knew the truth, she could finally tend to her business. Early the next morning, Shen Fei woke to find a gift beside his bed. It as a triangular stand that he could hold on to while he was training. The cooked dishes were on the table, and the water basin and towel were placed on the stool beside the bed, where he could research them easily. The water was still warm, still steaming lightly in the early morning chill. Everything was prepared, the same as usual, but something was different about the scene. Someone was missing. Chapter 21 - Distance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder (1) Chapter 21 ¨C Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (1) Shen Fei shifted himself around, sitting on the edge of the bed. He rolled up both his sleeves and wiped his face with the damp cloth Zhao Xi had left for him. He went slow; he only had one working hand and the movement pulled at his wounds. An exotic scent hung over the room. It had a soporific effect, making everything seem soft and daydreamy, like an illusion. The sun was already high in the sky. He lay back down, figuring it was probably close to nine o¡¯clock by now. Did she get up late? Propping his upper body up, Shen Fei opened the bowl to see what dishes had been left inside. It was shrimp, the only thing he was able to eat recently. Ever since falling over the waterfall, his body was too weak to stomach rich or greasy foods. Boiled shrimp had a fishy smell, so Zhao Xi would usually add some spice to improve the taste. He didn¡¯t like it, and it took quite a lot of effort to pick it out of the dish. By the time he was done, the dishes had all cooled. The medicine was stone cold by the time he finished eating. He stared at it for a while, but eventually capitulated and drank it. He set the empty bowl on the bedside table and took the book from the pillow, intending to continue from where he left off yesterday. It was a slim book, and he was almost finished with it. Normally, he¡¯d be able to finish it quickly, but he was strangely in a sour mood today. His concentration was in tatters and eventually he gave it up, frustrated. Instead, Shen Fei decided to test out the new triangular stand. He tried to support his body with the frame but fell down after one step. He pulled himself up again. The stand was well made. The bamboo knots were tied with rope to make it easier for him to hold and pull himself up again when he fell. Not only was Zhao Xi gone today, but Ping An too. Where could they have gone? * Zhao Xi and Ping An had gone on a hunting trip. Winter was coming and most bears would go into hibernation soon. She needed to help Ping An bulk up now, or there wouldn¡¯t be enough food for him during the winter. Bears didn¡¯t have to hibernate. The main reason for it was the lack of food during winter and the difficulty of hunting. As much as bears loved to fish, if they weren¡¯t able to dry their coats after splashing around in the frigid waters, it was easy for them to freeze to death. It was easier just to hibernate until spring. Ping An only hibernated during the coldest spell, usually around the time of the heavy snow in early December. The rest of the time he was active, hunting for his food. Zhao Xi would check on him during hibernation, sometimes bringing fish she¡¯d caught or bought from the village store. She¡¯d leave them in his cave, so he had food waiting when he woke. The real hassle was taking Ping An out to hunt before the heavy snow. They had to keep hunting until he¡¯d eaten enough for winter. For the sake of convenience, she just slept with the bear, not going back home, and subsisting on steamed buns. Running back and forth was too time consuming, so she planned to take the bear hunting for three to five days, sleeping and eating on the road. The animals in this part of the valley were small, which wouldn¡¯t do. It would take too long and too much prey to satisfy the bear. She¡¯d hunt outside the area and bring back a big beast, one that could fill the bear¡¯s stomach for a few days. During this season, Ping An¡¯s only mission was to eat non-stop. A wild boar weighed 300 to 500 jin (150 to 250 kg), enough to satiate the bear for a few days, during which Zhao Xi could go home and rest. There was an old saying in the forest, ¡°Boars first, bears second, and tigers third.¡± A ranking of how dangerous it was to encounter each. Boars were strong, fat, and fierce. One of those would be great food for Ping An, but boars were pugnacious. A boar would fight until it died, especially a male one. Zhao Xi and Ping An did encounter a boar, a male one. Working together as a team, they were able to bring the beast down, but not without sustaining some injuries. Ping An was covered in scratches from the boar¡¯s fangs. The boar was crazed; even Zhao Xi¡¯s anesthetics hadn¡¯t been enough to put it down. She was injured too. When she¡¯d stabbed the boar, it had dragged her along the ground before she could retrieve her knife, hurting her back. Once the wild beast was finally dead, they dressed the meat and ate it. Zhao Xi created a rack out of some branches where she could load up the leftover meat and have Ping An carry it back. She couldn¡¯t walk fast, since her legs were battered from the fight, and she had to stop and rest every once in a while. To stave off boredom, she found a long straight stick and began to shave it, making a crutch. It would be for Shen Fei, so she worked diligently at it. There was no need to hurry, so she picked herbs on the way back to the cottage. She could sell them after they were dried. Chapter 22 - Distance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder (2) Chapter 22 ¨C Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (2) It was midnight by the time she made it home. Afraid of waking Shen Fei up, she lit the incense as she usually did, hoping the scent would deepen his sleep. There was a bottle of ointment in the drawer. She removed it carefully and set about applying it to her multitude of injuries. Ping An was waiting outside, and he wasn¡¯t inclined to be patient. He opened the door, trying to wedge himself inside. He was obviously too big and got stuck trying to squeeze through. The door frame rattled, threatening to bring the whole place down. Zhao Xi rushed over and began to push him out before he tore the whole door frame off. In the yard, she tended to the bear¡¯s wounds, washing them with warm water and bandaging them. When it was done, she sent the bear back to his cave to rest. It was already so late, and she had to go down to the mountain tomorrow. Zhao Xi took a bath and changed her clothes, then went to catch a few hours of sleep. She was up early the next morning and began preparing meals for the day. She brought the pot and stove into the room. The stove was already filled with coal, enough for it to burn all day. Shen Fei would only have to feed it new coal when the fire was about to die. When the water in the pot was hot enough to boil, she put two steamers on top, with buns, dishes, and the medicine inside. It would smell strange, with the food and medicine steaming together, but she didn¡¯t really care about that. The idea had come to her last night. Every morning, she would prepare everything needed for the day. It would be better if she could get her hands on a wheelchair. Then Shen Fei could wheel himself around and he wouldn¡¯t have to rely on her for everything. There was a urinal under the bed, and he could use the frame she¡¯d built him to get to the toilet. If he could make it to the eaves by himself, he could definitely handle getting to the toilet. The wheelchair was still necessary, though. It would make everything more convenient for him and give him a strength and sense of purpose that would be beneficial to his recovery. Zhao Xi took two buns and some vegetables before she left, planning to eat them on the way down to the village. Ping An escorted her to the valley exit and sat there, watching her leave. Her days were incredibly busy now. One day she would treat patients to earn the money for the wheelchair, and the next she would go hunting with Ping An. As a doctor, she lived rather like a man. Going hunting with a bear wasn¡¯t exactly ladylike. She¡¯d been hesitant about hunting with Ping An at first, but it turned out to be more manageable than she expected. The first year had been a learning curve, when Ping An woke a few times during his hibernation to hunt, but they gradually adapted to it together. Although her back and legs were still injured from the fight with the boar yesterday, she insisted on going down to visit her clinic in the village. Besides earning money for the wheelchair, she wanted to avoid Shen Fei. It worried her that her presence would only irritate him. She knew that in his eyes, she was somewhat a shameless, despicable person. She needed to be aware of that. She could only hope that keeping out of his way would reduce the amount of distrust and dislike he had for her. * For the second day in a row, Shen Fei slept until nine o¡¯clock in the morning. The exotic lingered over the room again, so he opened the window to air the cottage out and get rid of the smell. As he looked around the room, he found that Zhao Xi¡¯s preparations were even more thorough today. The stove was right beside his bed, with a stool close by so he only needed to move a short distance to get to it. He washed his hands, then took out the dishes with some effort, leaving only a small bowl of vegetables and a steamed bun in the steamer. He drank down the medicine. There were some candied fruits in the drawer, but those weren¡¯t what caught Shen Fei¡¯s attention. The ointment bottle that usually sat by the candied fruits had been moved. Zhao Xi prepared that ointment for his wounds, and he was usually the only one that used it. Yesterday, while she was gone, he had applied it himself and put the bottle away in the corner of the drawer. Now it sat in the middle, and the lid wasn¡¯t completely shut. Only he, Zhao Xi, and Ping An were in this valley. It couldn¡¯t be Ping An, and Shen Fei himself hadn¡¯t moved it, so it had to have been Zhao Xi. Was she injured? He carefully picked up a piece of coal and threw it into the stove. Zhao Xi had prepared the stove in such a way that it would keep burning and putting out heat all day long. She¡¯d also made up three bowls of medicine for him, which meant she planned to be back that evening. * The day slipped away easily. As the sky began to dark, Shen Fei raised his arm and let the sleeves slide down, revealing the entire limb. He had beautiful hands and arms. They were long, slender, and white, glowing faintly like a jade. He stared at it for a while, then pulled his arm back. He settled back into bed, looking out of the window. I haven¡¯t had a bath for two days, he thought. Chapter 23 - Are You Avoiding Me (1) Chapter 23 ¨C Are You Avoiding Me (1) Shen Fe could not wait any longer; he struggled to count the days patiently. Four days left, then three... Zhao Xi, meanwhile, had been so busy hunting, that she had little time to think of anything else. * A couple of days later, she returned home early in the morning to find Ping An waiting for her outside the cave, in great anguish. It had hurt himself and, evidently in too much pain to be patient, was throwing tantrums rather petulantly, hitting its head against the door and making loud whimpering noises. Zhao Xi, hurried to comfort Ping An and herded it outside the courtyard, her main concern not to wake Shen Fei. Ping An, unable to express its pain, held her legs as if begging her to extinguish its misery and to not leave it. Zhao Xi, left with no other choice, sat next to him and consoled him with almost maternal affection, rubbing its neck and making comforting, sympathetic cooing sounds. The bear, appeased, was suddenly so peaceful that it almost fell asleep in her arms. Zhao Xi decided to take this opportunity to fetch medicine for the injured animal. She crept in stealthily, trying her utmost to not make a sound. Almost like a thief, she tiptoed to the drawer to silently withdraw the medicine. She opened the drawers with great precision, and searched for a long while, unable to find it. She looked around the place, and suddenly spotted the medicine in a jade-like hand. The bottle of medicine, which Zhao Xi had prepared herself was composed of a lot of medicinal herbs and was extremely effective. Since the herbs were difficult to procure, she used the medicine stingily. There was just this last bottle left, Zhao Xi, worried that there would not be any medicine left for the man, scooped out a little bit with a bamboo stick and put it into another small bottle for her use. The medicine was rarely ever used too much; only occasionally when Ping An suffered large wounds was the medicine visibly diminished. Zhao Xi came to refill the bottle, since she needed a little bit for herself too. She reached out to grab the medicine from Shen Fei¡¯s hand. As soon as her hand touched the bottle, the bottle, to her surprise, moved back on its own. Her eyes stared at the bottle in silent disbelief for a while, then reached out to grab it again, when the bottle backed away yet again. She looked up and realized that it wasn¡¯t that the bottle had backed away by itself, but the man, holding it, who moved it away from her grasp. ¡°Are you awake?¡± Zhao Xi asked, embarrassed. The first thing she had done when she returned was to burn incense. However, she had not expected him to be roused from sleep by the noises that Ping An had made. Shen Fei stared fixedly at her and shook his head. His penetrating gaze unnerved her; Zhao Xi felt herself flush beetroot-red with embarrassment. Hunting in the mountains had made her filthy: there was a big slash in the front of her dress from the distressed beast and several small cuts from the branches, that poked her in the forest. There was hardly time for her to stitch them. Her clothes, rugged and torn, were worn by her only when she went into the hills to gather medicinal herbs or while hunting for Ping An. Her face was not much better either; it had tiny cuts, earned along with her living. She had no doubt that she looked ugly. ¡°I didn¡¯t sleep all night,¡± he said. It was the first time when Shen Fei had initiated a conversation. Zhao Xi, stunned for a moment, recovered herself. ¡°Why not? What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°I was waiting for you.¡± Her eyes widened in disbelief; Did he miss her when she didn¡¯t appear for a few days? ¡°Why were you waiting for me?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t had a bath in four days.¡± Oh. Of course, she had known he wouldn¡¯t miss her. Zhao Xi snatched the medicine from his hand with a sigh, ¡°Wait a moment, I need to apply medicine on Ping An.¡± Shen Fei lay on the bed quietly, and watched her walk out, like the most well-behaved patient. There was a window beside his bed, within his reach, that Shen Fei opened. He saw Zhao Xi in the courtyard, carefully applying medicine on the big black bear. She scooped the ointment on the back of her hand with a bamboo board, and then applied little by little onto Ping An¡¯s body. Ping An, whom the ointment stung, rolled all over the ground to avoid Zhao Xi¡¯s hands. Zhao Xi grabbed its ears and pressed it on the ground, then finished applying the medicine. After bandaging it, she simply drove away the bear. Exhausted from the restless night it had spent, the bear, walked back unsteadily as if it was drunk, to its own nest. Chapter 24 - Are You Avoiding Me (2) Chapter 24 ¨C Are You Avoiding Me (2) Zhao Xi, out of concern, followed it to its nest and emerged only after it fell asleep. She was just about to boil water, when she heard the man say. ¡°Go to sleep. There¡¯s no hurry for a bath.¡± His voice was really wonderful, like the sound of collision between pearls and jades. Zhao Xi, often, liked to deceive him into talking more. For instance, she would sometimes ask him to explain the meaning of a word to her, which she already knew, just to hear him talk. After the explanation, he always asked her if she understood. Her reply was always the same. No, tell me again. Unsuspecting, he, patiently explained it to her over and over again. Presently, he did not want to take the herbs and deliberately wasted time, which Zhao Xi didn¡¯t mind in the least. His voice: sweet and intelligent, came to her and she listened, as if hopelessly addicted to it. ¡°That¡¯s all right. It¡¯s morning now.¡± In the mornings, Zhao Xi usually cooked meals and concocted the medicinal herbs. Then she cleaned up, walked down the hill and opened the shop, where if she didn¡¯t have any customers, she would sleep for a while. ¡°I waited for you all night and I¡¯m sleepy. I want to wash tomorrow,¡± Shen Fei said, closing his eyes, as he snuggled comfortably in the quilt to sleep. Zhao Xi was suspicious of his sudden change of plans. Didn¡¯t he just say that he wanted a bath? He¡¯d been waiting all night for one, and now wants to delay it? ¡°I also need to take a bath.¡± She was the dirtier of the two of them. Even if Shen Fei could do without a bath, she couldn¡¯t. Thus, Zhao Xi boiled two pots of water and added another small pot. Initially, she had decided to live there for a long time, so she had bought everything she had deemed necessary for a comfortable living: furniture, two pots: a big and a small, and a stove for both concocting the medicinal herbs and heating meals for Shen Fei. Heating water using firewood was easy for Zhao Xi, she continued to add the firewood to make water boil, then she would add more cold water. When the water was hot enough, she scooped less than half a bucket of hot water, then mix it with cold water to make the temperature optimum. She would take a bath with this bucket and did not forget to add some cold water into the burning pot. Zhao Xi decided to take a bath quickly in the courtyard. The room was too small, and it was light already. She, personally, did not mind washing in the room, but was afraid of Shen Fei misconstruing her intentions as promiscuous. Shen Fei, however, could also watch her washing in the courtyard through his wide-open window. He could view all her activities as long as he slightly raised his head. Perhaps if it were someone else, he may have done so. But Shen Fei was not interested in watching her and stretched out his hand to close the window instead. Although the window was closed, he could clearly hear the sound of her ladling water being poured. He couldn¡¯t see it, but he could vividly imagine it. Zhao Xi was slim and taller than the average woman. She could pick him up easily, which proved her strong foundation of Kung Fu. When she wore clothes, she looked lean; when she took them off¡­ she must have well-sculpted muscles. Inexplicably, Shen Fei felt agitated; he struggled to sit up, picked up a book to read for a while, waiting until the feeling in the heart became weaker. * Zhao Xi had already finished her bath and her wet hair were wrapped in a pocket square. She wore clean clothes with the lapels wide open. Living alone with the beast for so long, she did not seem to realize that she needed to do some things privately, such as bathing and changing clothes; she just never bothered to. It didn¡¯t help that she rarely interacted with people. The only living beings she came in contact with were either the beasts in the valley or her patients who often needed to reveal a part of body to her. She looked at them very calmly, as if she were reading a book, and could also get close enough to touch and pinch without any shyness. She was not the least bit feminine. ¡°I am clean now. You can get ready for a bath.¡± Zhao Xi rolled up her sleeves and went out to prepare the water for his bath. Shen Fei pushed aside the quilt and sat up to take off his clothes, a task not very convenient for him with one hand. When Zhao Xi came back, he had not even untied the lapel of his shirt. Zhao Xi, accustomed to this, helped him take off his clothes, before moving the bench outside. She helped him bath, lying on the bench. Chapter 25 - Are You Avoiding Me (3) Chapter 25 ¨C Are You Avoiding Me (3) The washing process was very smooth because he was very cooperative. There was still water left, so Zhao Xi washed his hair and after dressing him, she put him to bed. His shining eyes betrayed that his good mood. Zhao Xi knew he liked bathing but had no idea he liked it so much. She thought: if she ever made him angry later, she could make calm him down by offering him a bath. The wooden bench was wet. It would take at least a day and a night to dry. The ground was wet too, she couldn¡¯t make a bed on the floor nor could she sleep on the bench. Zhao Xi only had two choices: the first one was that she goes down the mountains to find a place to sleep, after dinner. The second one was that she sleeps with the man in the same bed. She had always chosen the first one in the past. But she suddenly did not want to leave today. After all, it came to her: this house was hers. Why should she discommode herself and walk down the hills to sleep when she was too tired to even take a step? Zhao Xi moved the bench into the courtyard to dry in the sun and mopped the floor of the house. Because he was still weak, he never bathed outside; Zhao Xi let him wash inside the house, even though cleaning up afterwards was a lot of trouble and took no less than an hour. She shifted him towards one side of the bed and lay on the other. The bed was barely big enough for two people and although they didn¡¯t touch each other deliberately, they were still close enough for her to clearly catch the clean and pleasant complex aroma of bath beans, made from numerous herbs and oils through an extremely complicated process, and the original flavour of incense, emanating from him . She couldn¡¯t describe exactly what kind of a smell it was, but it was really good. Zhao Xi rarely slept well, but this time when she laid down for a short nap, hours seemed to have drifted past. * When she woke up, food was already steamed. She was in such a deep slumber, she didn¡¯t want to get up. All of a sudden, she was dimly aware of someone shadowing over her, his cool fragrant hair sweeping her face, ultimately, rousing her up. Zhao Xi opened her eyes to find Shen Fei propped against her body, trying to reach the iron clamp hanging on the drawer. He wanted to close the air outlet under the stove with the iron clamp so that the fire would die down and the coal would burn slowly, heating the food for long. The man, who did not seem to want to disturb her sleep, reached out his white hand to reach the iron clamp laboriously, his fingertips barely touching it. On reflex, Zhao Xi got up to help him and pulled his sleeve away, ¡°Let me do it.¡± Shen Fei was silent and only held his body away from her, then leaned back and relaxed against the bed. She stretched and got up to resume the household chores. She closed the air outlet, brought the food out, cleaned up the pot, and began decocting herbs. Then, she set up the dishes and chopsticks, and called him for dinner. They sat on both sides of the table and just ate in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Zhao Xi decided to initiate a conversation and was thinking of a suitable topic to talk about when he asked her. ¡°Recently¡­¡± he looked speculatively at Zhao Xi, ¡°Have you been avoiding me intentionally?¡± Did he realize that? Zhao Xi did not admit it. ¡°No, it¡¯s almost winter and Ping An will hibernate. I need to turn him from 300 kg from 250 kg before it snows.¡± ¡°It¡¯s unnecessary to avoid me,¡± he ignored her excuses. Shen Fei¡¯s eyes black as ink, could, it seemed, penetrate her and reach her heart. ¡°You don¡¯t owe me. It¡¯s fair deal that I want to save myself and you¡ª¡± He didn¡¯t finish his sentence, but both of them understood what he meant. He wasn¡¯t ignorant; he knew that Zhao Xi wanted to sleep with him and had deliberately dropped the hint. Similarly, he told Zhao Xi that it would be a deal between them; if she treated him, he would give his chastity to her. It was the reward that she deserved and one that Shen Fei needed to give as part of their bargain. In other words, Shen Fei was telling her not to worry about it too much in the future. Chapter 26 - Benevolence (1) Chapter 26 ¨C Benevolence (1) It was obvious that he didn¡¯t like it, but said it, anyway. For her¡ªbecause she wanted it. Was it because that he was afraid of her staying out for days, like she had done? And in order to keep her by his side, he had her give him a bath. Could it really be that simple? This man, a person obsessed with cleanliness, willing to compromise over bathing and had waited for her by the door all night long without any complaints, was suddenly revealing his innermost thoughts to her, which was very uncharacteristic of him. There must be another reason. ¡°Actually, even if you don¡¯t offer this reward, I will still heal your legs,¡± she said. He must be really desperate for her help; he was offering to sacrifice his innocence in exchange. Zhao Xi, however, wasn¡¯t surprised; during her years as a practitioner, she had seen all kinds of people. Many looked down on girls, as a result, she sometimes wore men¡¯s clothes and practiced medicine, posing as a man. She had met some bold women in her time, who would take off their clothes, offering their bodies to pay their bills. It was similar to what Shen Fei is doing now. He, though, was a bit more tactful, perhaps, only dropping hints, but this practice was well understood by both parties involved. ¡°You are paralyzed in the lower half of your body and cannot feel at all. Even the best doctor couldn¡¯t do anything about it. Why do you think I can cure you?¡± Zhao Xi asked him, genuinely curious. If one had a spinal cord injury, it was almost irreversible. He or she would be paralyzed for a lifetime; the possibility of regaining mobility was very small. The only relief: medicine could provide was to ensure that the patient¡¯s condition did not deteriorate. A cure, however, was impossible. ¡°I read your books, every one of them.¡± Shen Fei took out one of them out from under his pillow. ¡°This kind of acupuncture technique is not very popular. If what¡¯s written in the book is true, you are the only one who can cure me.¡± That technique of acupuncture was obscure; almost impossible to practice. Its requirements were difficult to procure and the conditions difficult to recreate. Zhao Xi smiled bitterly, ¡°There were a lot of things that master didn¡¯t teach me; she thought I wasn¡¯t very capable¡­clumsy too.¡± When they read the book together, there were words that Zhao Xi didn¡¯t recognize, which had to be explained to her, ultimately by Shen Fei. There were both patterns and acupuncture points described in it as treatment plans. She could barely make sense of some of the words, coming across them after more than ten years. ¡°You know how to practice the techniques.¡± Shen Fei was assured, ¡°I have seen you use it on Ping An.¡± Ping An¡¯s height, weight and strength had almost always been equal to an adult bear¡¯s as he had grown up, even though he was barely an adult. Zhao Xi used Jiuqi acupuncture on the bear, changing his body points, and allowed him to grow quickly without any struggles; this special method had played an important role in his treatment. Whether it be a human or an animal, various toxins and germs are produced in the body during puberty, which were repeatedly detoxified by her, after which, Ping An was found to be as robust as a ten-year-old bear despite being younger. Zhao Xi had mentioned accidentally that Ping An was rescued by her when she was still young. After living with it for two years, she had wanted to leave, but found that she couldn¡¯t. Baby black bears are driven out by mother bears to hunt on their own when they are three years old. They can only hunt small animals. Ping An, probably was probably injured when he encountered large animals. Considering that he lived with Zhao Xi for four years, his age, adding the three years in the valley, is easy to calculate. Ping An is about seven years old now. ¡°The Jiuqi acupuncture method mentioned in the book is the Jiuming acupuncture method, right?¡± Shen Fei has never heard of the Jiuqi acupuncture method, had heard of the Jiuming acupuncture method. While there are similarities between the two, the practice of this method was very rare. He had once heard from a lady that this technique had to be acquired at a young age with full concentration and pure talent. The needles should be inserted lightly, and each needle after the other, to a total of nine needles. People called it the Jiumingacupuncture method. The technique is very different from the others. If a mistake is made in the execution of this method, the patient may die. The practitioner must possess acutely sensitive hearing, vision, and sensation, and must be able to concentrate to the fullest to apply the technique successfully. While he wasn¡¯t sure about the other criteria, he knew one thing: Zhao Xi never lighted candles at night: She had great vision. Apart from being gifted, she had to have practiced hard at a young age and adapt to the darkness to walk, eat, drink, or pick stuff up without any difficulties in darkness. Zhao Xi often sat on a tall tree and kept watch from there every day, apparently sitting in a daze but, in reality, she practiced her eyesight and hearing. She was the successful practitioner of the Jiumingacupuncture technique, had learnt it since childhood, and her hearing, vision, and sensation were far more specialized than that of ordinary people. ¡°But I don¡¯t know the Jiuming Acupuncture method.¡± Zhao Xi told the truth, ¡°The master only taught me a few techniques.¡± ¡°Few techniques?¡± Shen Fei¡¯s elegant eyebrows lowered into a frown. Chapter 27 - Benevolence (2) Chapter 27 ¨C Benevolence (2) Zhao Xi wanted to reach out and smoothen his frown, ¡°Yes, the main acupuncture methods are for big injuries, the intermediate ones for medium injuries, and the small ones for small injuries. Anyway, there are several small acupuncture methods, the ones master said those are so easy that even kids can learn to do it. If I couldn¡¯t do them, then I was worse than a three-year-old.¡± ¡°Since I was a child, the master said that I was the stupidest child in the world, with no talent, poor comprehension, poor literature, and martial skills. It¡¯s okay for me to get a small injury myself, but if I leave the village, I will harm others,¡± she continued. Shen Fei sounded disappointed, ¡°You really don¡¯t know how to do it?¡± Zhao Xi began to shake her head, but realizing something, nodded, and then, as if thinking better of it, shook her head again. Her suddenly changed motions confused Shen Fei, who softly asked in a hoarse voice, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t know how to use the Jiuqi acupuncture method, nor the Jiuming acupuncture method, but the master taught me an ultimate technique that is typically for all kind of diseases, even for the fatal ones. When I was first learning, I didn¡¯t understand much. I asked the master to clarify, but she only said that it depends on understanding. There is no way to experiment.¡± The acupuncture method was somewhat similar to the Jiumingacupuncture method mentioned by Shen Fei, but different. She could do it, others could not. She herself wondered whether it was Jiumingacupuncture method at first, because Zhao Xi had also read the book. The master, however, adamantly said that the Jiuming acupuncture method was utter bullshit compared to her technique. ¡°You go ask someone else if they can do it,¡± her master had only said. Zhao Xi also naively ran to ask others, ¡°Have you heard of this technique?¡± Of course, none of them had. She had to give up and secretly regard it as a terrible method. Every time someone asked her what acupuncture technique she used, she was always at wits to answer. ¡°Although I¡¯m not sure how powerful the method is, there should be some hope of treating your paralyzed legs.¡± Zhao Xi looked at him sincerely, ¡°I won¡¯t lie to you, I only have thirty percent of confidence in it. Every acupuncture technique has its own risks, and I can even kill you if I am not careful enough. Are you sure you want to try?¡± If he agreed to it, it would be equal to handing over his life to Zhao Xi. There might be risks of death or quadriplegia at any time. If she doesn¡¯t try, he can still live, paralyzed for another thirty to fifty years. Normal people would choose not to take risks, but Shen Fei was far from ordinary people. This was a gamble, with his life as the bet. Shen Fei closed his eyes, his eyelashes fanned downwards, casting a reflection, like an ink painting. After a long time, he uttered the words, ¡°I believe in you.¡± Four simple words that immediately made Zhao Xi sit up, thinking that she had to shield him from the wind and rain, and to cure his legs at all costs. She finally understood the master a little bit more. ¡®Everyone loves beauty,¡¯ she used to say and just then, Zhao Xi found, that even she couldn¡¯t resist the temptation of beauty. Zhao Xi began to prepare the conditions for the practice. She took out the silver needles she had carefully kept for so long, and cleaned them delicately, one by one as if she were wiping a new-born baby. Ever since she was a child, Zhao Xi¡¯s world had been different from other children. While other¡¯s lives were full of crayons, colouring books and stuffed toys, she cut her teeth on medicinal materials, silver needles, surgical knives, and various poisons. Colourful butterflies, while beautiful to others, were recognized by Zhao Xi as their creatures with short lifespans, their existence fleeting. According to her, it was better to pick up the dead bodies after they died and handle them carefully to make them beautiful for a lifetime. If this attempt failed, Shen Fei would perhaps become more paralyzed and the affected area would extend to his waist. It would be more inconvenient to move, and she would need to take care of everything for him, or he would always be in danger and would die a helpless death. She thought of the two possible outcomes, and they didn¡¯t seem too hopeless to her. The first was that she took care of him for the next thirty to fifty years, for Shen Fei had such a strong self-esteem that he would rather stay in the ravine for a lifetime than go out and be seen and pitied by others. The second one was that, after he died, Zhao Xi could preserve his body as a whole, and soak him in a special potion to protect his body from decay or put on special medicinal materials and let him lie in bed for a lifetime. Zhao Xi had a hundred of ways to take care of his corpse; the only problem was just to choose a suitable one. Of course, it was also possible that his paralysis could be cured, and he would move around freely again, maybe even leave her. Zhao Xi¡¯s hand, wiping the needle, stopped for a second, as she seriously considered creating some accidents. She looked at Shen Fei: he had no idea what she was thinking, and sat quietly on the bed, leaning back against the thick pillow. He was so thin, his collarbone was visible, and so light, as if a gust of wind would blow him away. For a long while, he had made Zhao Xi anxious that if she did not close the window every night, he would fly out of the window like a fairy and disappear forever. While his living made her sick with concern at times, she wasn¡¯t ready to let him go. His good looks, which would no longer be the same when he was dead, made her decision easier. Forget it, she decided, benevolently. Let him live well. Chapter 28 - A Comforting Gesture (1) Chapter 28 ¨C A Comforting Gesture (1) Once Zhao Xi finished wiping the needles, she thought of the other things she needed to prepare for. She had to consider each and every contingency and take proper precautions, since she couldn¡¯t afford even a single error in the procedure and risk losing Shen Fei. For example, in case of an emergency, she needed to have ginseng tablets in his mouth to enable him to breathe. She had to replace the herbal medicines she didn¡¯t use with something useful and to prepare a separate concoction beforehand to pour it down his throat if she needed to. In addition, she went to catch a particular snake called ¡®crisp-bone snake¡¯, a rare species that only appeared in the mountains, a holy medicine for broken bones. It was magical, in its distinction that when touched or frightened, its bones would break, dividing the body into fragments; but when its body parts were put together, they would regenerate and repair by themselves, as good as new. It is not easy to catch them, though. Zhao Xi only saw it once, when there were no human beings in the valley, and it was completely tranquil. The snake was hanging from the tree, basking in the sun. Her sudden appearance scared it, and his bones snapped and fell into seven knots with a thud sound, and then united into one on the ground; it was then, very efficiently, caught by Zhao Xi. The snake was very fragile; although she did her best to raise it, it died. Its body was grounded into a powder by Zhao Xi and fed to Ping An who was seriously injured then and ate it all. For Zhao Xi, it was almost impossible to catch another one since these snakes are very timid. If someone lived close by them, they moved to another place. It has been here three years since Zhao Xi has been trying to look for another one; she has hunted down every corner, but never found one. She intended to look for it again. * Right now, she was a bit reluctant to leave the bed and played with Shen Fei¡¯s hand. After sleeping next to this person, and talking to him more, they seemed to have grown closer. This person always left a large area when he lay in bed, and that empty space tempted her to stay. Thinking that this person may die in the future and his body would turn cold and stiff, she wanted to feel his warmth whenever she could. It was still early in the day, Zhao Xi took a pair of scissors and cut his nails for him. She held his nice hands, beautiful like a doll¡¯s, at her mercy, to cut the nails. Shen Fei remained motionless throughout the whole process, making Zhao Xi feel self-conscious and shy. She couldn¡¯t help but think that if this person¡¯s legs are healed, and within a year, he¡¯s willing to grow old with her and spend a lifetime together, wouldn¡¯t it be beautiful? If she still can¡¯t move his heart within a year, then it means that they are not suitable for each other. It is natural for one to leave. Zhao Xi didn¡¯t wish to force it. She just felt sorry that such a beautiful person might die. She would never meet anyone more beautiful than him in the future, and no one will sit still, like a statue, letting her play with his hands like this without saying a word, as if he was hers. She played with his hands with confidence, acting like they were her own. Upon thinking that she wouldn¡¯t be able to play with them anymore, she sighed so deeply and in such despair that after hesitating for a while, Shen Fei raised his pale, almost transparent hand, and caressed the top of Zhao Xi¡¯s head softly. Only two shadows of a man and woman, close to each other appeared on the wall. Zhao Xi was half lying in Shen Fei¡¯s arms, when he stretched out his hand and stroked her head. When Zhao Xi raised her face, that hand had already withdrawn. Shen Fei put it into the quilt again, acting like she had dreamt it all. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything for these two days and just take care of your body. Adjust your mentality. I will practice more acupuncture on you after I¡¯m ready.¡± Zhao Xi looked at the clear sky, ¡°I have to go downtown today, and I will be back in the evening. The rice is in the pot. Don¡¯t forget to drink the medicine. I¡¯m leaving now.¡± Giving brief instructions, she took the medicinal materials she didn¡¯t need in her bag to replace them with the ones she needed downtown. She left a bit late today, so she might be home back late. She sent Ping An to hunt on its own in the woods nearby. Shen Fei might only have a few days left and Zhao Xi wanted to be with him as much as possible. She didn¡¯t care about the pharmacy down the hill nor Ping An. This time, she wanted to devote all her energy and time to Shen Fei. * The process of exchanging the medicines went well; She had the finest medicines in her collection, having replaced low-quality ones with exquisite ones. Thus, people were willing to see her and told her to come again next time. The shop, she visited was the one that sold her caterpillar fungus last time, whose store¡¯s owner knew her and often gave her some money. He wanted to recruit her as a doctor in the shop and offered her a good monthly salary. Zhao Xi, however, firmly refused. She didn¡¯t want to stay at a place for long; if her master hadn¡¯t asked her to wait, she would have left long before to other places and learnt more medical skills and experiences in order to ease her conscious about being a quack. If she had to be a quack, she reasoned, she would be a fine one. She counted the extra money she received from the owner, carefully; it was over ten tails. She wouldn¡¯t use the money for herself. The sole purpose of her life, right now, was to buy better medical equipment for Shen Fei, such as a wheelchair or maybe, another apparel. Chapter 29 - A Comforting Gesture (2) Chapter 29 ¨C A Comforting Gesture (2) It was almost winter. If he miraculously conquered death and lived, he would definitely need those things, but in case he died¡­it would be a futile practice to waste all that money in the preparations. Zhao Xi considered this dilemma, and went to browse the wheelchair, in the end. There was such a variety of them: bulky ones, lightweight ones, expensive ones and cheap ones. Originally, she had only planned on taking a look and eventually buying one that she could afford. But when saw the first one and imagined herself wheeling Shen Fei around on it, the mental image gave her such unadulterated pleasure, that she decided to buy it immediately, even though it far exceeded her budget, costing nine tails. Afterwards, she felt a little pang of pain at the expenditure but consoled herself with the images of the future she envisioned with Shen Fei. Zhao Xi went grocery shopping, then and ended up buying everything she decided Shen Fei would relish eating. Soon after, she stumbled upon a clothing store, which she stepped into without a second thought. Their salesmen were clever enough to spot Zhao Xi as an easy target and persistently convinced her to buy things she didn¡¯t necessarily need. She struggled as a ¡®necessity vs luxury¡¯ conflict raged within her, but eventually gave in to temptation as she bought a light blue men¡¯s suit for no other reason than it would look great on Shen Fei. The money she had hard earned by selling caterpillar fungus was spent, but she declared to herself that it was worth it, as long as Shen Fei looked great. However, Zhao Xi¡¯s excitement was short lived. As she was leaving the city gate, she saw a woman in front of her get arrested and being dragged away by a guard because she had bought a men¡¯s suit. No matter how much the woman tried to explain that she had bought it as a gift for her fianc¨¦, the soldiers did not heed her and mercilessly dragged away even as she yelled in fright and panic, attracting a lot of people as spectators. Zhao Xi took advantage of the chaos and retreated, rushing to the store to exchange her menswear for something else. After considering, she exchanged the suit for a white silk with red maple leaf patterns. It was extraordinarily gorgeous and obviously made for women; the guards would not suspect anything. As for the wheelchair, she was a doctor; she often received patients with injured legs or feet, she justified. The wheelchair wasn¡¯t specially for men or women. Plus no one paid attention to wheelchairs anyway, therefore, to her relief, she was allowed to leave. She had wanted to go to other cities to buy some more clothes but now she didn¡¯t want to go away for two days at a time when Shen Fei needed her with him the most. To leave him alone in the mountains with no food and no one to talk to, just pure silence; it felt like she was waiting for her imminent death. Therefore, Zhao Xi chose to take the risk. Fortunately, the guards only checked men¡¯s supplies, not women. If any of the fabrics she bought were men¡¯s, they would immediately take her away. Realization suddenly dawned on Zhao Xi. That day, when Aunt Liu said that a group of soldiers came in, searched for things and left without saying anything. They were not searching for things, but a person, a man. All masculine belongings were taken away by them, and suspicious targets would be imprisoned. For example, the woman who bought men¡¯s clothing out of the blue, claimed that it was for her fianc¨¦ when her fianc¨¦ was not present, which, of course aroused suspicion. Zhao Xi often went back and forth to the city, carrying medicines with her; the soldiers recognized her as the only female doctor in the village. There was nothing suspicious about her buying a wheelchair. Otherwise, Zhao Xi would have to spend time in prison, as well. * She wheeled the wheelchair up the hills, carrying it midway. Upon reaching home, the wheelchair did not fit the entrance, so Zhao Xi had to use the shovel to make the passage bigger and dragged the wheelchair in. Ping An had already caught a prey and having fed itself, lay near the entrance of the cave, waiting for her. When it saw her, the huge bear rushed over and stumbled on Zhao Xi, trying to embrace her. She gave a slight yield and let Ping An fall on the wheelchair. She didn¡¯t know exactly where Ping An fell, but it was wailing in pain. Zhao Xi didn¡¯t care about it. Her primary concern was the wheelchair! Fortunately, the five-hundred-kilo black bear hadn¡¯t damaged it. The store did sell good-quality wheelchairs, she happily noted. Zhao Xi wheeled the wheelchair to the door, and instead of showing it to Shen Fei first, she opened the door empty-handed and went in. Without a word, she lifted Shen Fei¡¯s quilt and holding him tightly, lifted him up. Shen Fei, who had been reading the book again, had learned the lesson from last time and he held the book tightly so that it did not fall, but instinctively he reached out to hold onto Zhao Xi, afraid of falling. She didn¡¯t show any emotions on her face, but on the inside, she was grinning with delight. She loved it when Shen Fei showed dependence on her, whether it be passive or not. She would be happy as long as he relied on her. ¡°I saw a woman who bought men¡¯s clothing was arrested today.¡± The medicine basket was placed at the foot of the wheelchair with a piece of cloth in it. ¡°I also bought men¡¯s clothing in the first place but had to replace it because of that. Otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t see me now.¡± ¡°Shen Fei,¡± Zhao Xi asked him, suddenly very serious, ¡°Are those people coming after you?¡± Chapter 30 - A Fugitive’s Secrets Chapter 30 ¨C A Fugitive¡¯s Secrets Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna From the first time Zhao Xi saw him, she knew that he was not a commoner; he was most definitely one of the rich or noble. She had assumed that perhaps he was the young master of some rich family, but who knew that his background was this illustrious! Troops everywhere were searching for him in secret, probably in fear of someone harming him, or, if his position was truly that of a noble, in fear of leaking his identity. If she hadn¡¯t happened upon the arrest of a woman selling men¡¯s apparel today, maybe she wouldn¡¯t have realized that the investigation she thought was in place to find some object, wasn¡¯t actually there to find something, but to find someone. And that someone was the silent, proud man standing before her, who would let her do whatever she wanted to him. ¡°It has nothing to do with me,¡± Shen Fei was reading as he replied, not even raising his eyes. Zhao Xi couldn¡¯t even finish some of these medical books, yet he read them with gusto, finishing all of the texts she left collecting dust. She didn¡¯t want him to be bored. Her medical consultations were free, and her patients would sometimes use books, especially old or medical texts, as payment. If she found the tomes suitable, she might even pay extra change for them. Occasionally, some people would solely bring books to her and trade for money. As such, her collection of books grew in number, filling up her bookshelf. She didn¡¯t have the time to read, so they were all read by Shen Fei. She instinctively knew what he was looking for: a method that could cure his legs. For the very purpose he was perusing these texts was because he would experiment those methods on himself; practicing what was written when Zhao Xi wasn¡¯t around. It was useful, yes. However, Shen Fei hadn¡¯t just gone lame. He had also broken three of his ribs. Any exercise, may it be for the purpose of healing his legs, was not beneficial to his recovery. Still, she found his decision venerable. As she couldn¡¯t monitor him constantly, she could do nothing to prevent his training anyway, provided, he always did them behind her back. She could only build him a tripod so he could have something for support and prevent him from bruising himself. ¡°Are you really not the person they¡¯re searching for?¡± she asked him testily. She had a gut feeling, perhaps what they call ¡°woman¡¯s instincts¡± or maybe that of a beast, that he was the missing person involved. He seemed to be the only one worthyof such an effort, with numerous people on the chase for the estimable fugitive. After half a month, the investigations had only heightened in severity. They refused to retreat until found him; they would leave no pebble unturned. Only Zhao Xi knew that he was in this hidden valley. Even if they searched, they wouldn¡¯t be able to find the entrance, as it was hidden too deep and covered with twining green vines. Unless they were to probe every corner of Phoenix Mountain, the entry would remain hidden, safely within the confines of the earth. They were on the western side of the mountain, near a treacherous cliff. It was a barren land with nothing but weeds, with no area for settlement. No one would search here carefully¡ªthe chances of finding him were almost zero. For this very reason, the search outside was still in continuation, ever causing a commotion with the denizens¡­ With the scale of their search, Zhao Xi couldn¡¯t think of a place other than this valley that could still hide someone from them for so long, and so securely. But if they were really looking for him, then why wouldn¡¯t he admit it? Was it because of his legs? Or did he choose to stay because only she could heal his palsy? Shen Fei finally put down his book, raising his head to look at her, ¡°Why do you think that it¡¯s me?¡± ¡®Because you¡¯re the only one hidden in a valley and hasn¡¯t been found.¡¯ Zhao Xi wanted to say this, but decided not to after a moment¡¯s silence, ¡°Perhaps I¡¯m supposing.¡± What good would it do her if Shen Fei admitted that he was who the troops are after? Then, they would just take him away, and they would never see each other again. After living together for almost a month, she found a predilection to having someone wait for her every day, even if he could only lay in bed and look at her so. It filled her with a strange, saccharine happiness when he asked her, ¡°You¡¯re back?¡± Just that one question was able to fill Zhao Xi¡¯s heart with warmth, and her exhaustion from the day¡¯s work would melt away. She could make dinner, boil medicine, wipe his body, and help him to bed with relish, without feeling a hint of complain. ¡°The medicinal herbs are prepared¡­ we¡¯ll find the Brittle Snake tomorrow,¡± she announced. Zhao Xi then moved the wheelchair and the person on it into the room. Her hunting partner was her pet bear. Even when Ping An was just a baby, it weighed in at one or hundred catties (around 130-260 pounds). Ping An was also rather clingy; wherever she went, it would follow. It was alright when they were going out, but it troubled her on the way back, as it would refuse to walk. She couldn¡¯t leave him behind, so she could only half-drag, half-carry the enormous bear. After so much experience, plus her love for exercise and martial arts, she had grown muscle on her arms and abs. Carrying Shen Fei now was no difficult feat. She could do it easily, even trekking a route up and alight the mountain. After all, as heavy as a grown man could be, he still couldn¡¯t beat a bear. Zhao Xi helped him onto the bed, placed the cloth on the table, organized the medicines into her carrying case, and finished her tasks by turning over the blanket and squeezing onto the bed next to him. Meanwhile, Shen Fei had been lying here for an entire day, leaving only the mattress for a while after she had returned. His body warmth still lingered in the soft sheets. With only a slight stretch of her hands or feet, she could also touch his warm body, wrapped in just a thin layer of fabric. ¡°Brittle Snakes are rare, and hard to find. Your legs might have to wait a couple more days.¡± Shen Fei couldn¡¯t feel anything below his waist. She could sneakily touch him, and he wouldn¡¯t know. But Zhao Xi didn¡¯t like clandestine acts; she wanted to do things openly. Chapter 31 - A Clueless Girl Chapter 31 ¨C A Clueless Girl Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna ¡°Lying down for long stretches of time can impair your body¡¯s circulation, consequently affecting your legs. But you¡¯ve also broken three ribs and your left hand, so you can¡¯t get up and move¡­ I have to give you a massage.¡± Zhao Xi flipped the blanket, turning to sit on his leg, ¡°In Chinese medicine, we massage acupuncture points. It¡¯ll be good for you.¡± But she was too tired, too lazy. She actually didn¡¯t want to do it. An occasional massage was passable but having to do it frequently could even disform her fingers over time. Especially with a patient like Shen Fei, where he couldn¡¯t feel anything, she would need to double the effort. Shen Fei was propped up against a high tower of cushions. Zhao Xi removed two cushions, lowering his body, and with a tug, she laid him down completely against the bed. His clothes were loose, and when she had pulled him down, the fabric rolled up, revealing his legs. Zhao Xi lifted them, straightening his clothes, and tucked the blanket under his knees. She sat on his legs; she first pressed acupuncture points on specific areas. With every nudge, she would ask, ¡°Can you feel anything?¡± She wasn¡¯t just massaging. She was also trying to test how much pressure it would take for Shen Fei¡¯s legs to feel. The point of this was to test his perception of pain. Was it really that they were completely void of any reaction? If so, it would mean he was completely crippled. Shen Fei shook his head. Zhao Xi pushed harder, ¡°What about now?¡± He shook his head again. She increased the pressure again, ¡°Can you still not feel anything?¡± Shen Fei finally furrowed his brow. After a moment¡¯s silence, he nodded, ¡°A little¡­¡± Zhao Xi had tried not to show her worry, but at last, she was ecstatic, ¡°If you can feel something, then it means that you¡¯re not completely paralyzed, and you have a chance of recovery.¡± ¡°It¡¯s only a little.¡± Shen Fei was similarly moved with her reaction, his voice hitching from its usual, flat tone. His dark, ink-colored irises reflecting Zhao Xi¡¯s figure. ¡°It¡¯s better than nothing.¡± Zhao Xi continued massaging his legs with this pressure, then, turning him on his chest, began doing the same from his back. The process was tiring, and with the arduous efforts she put, sweat droplets began falling from her forehead, rolling down onto Shen Fei¡¯s back. Shen Fei felt this, and when he turned to look at her, he earned a shove backs into the pillows. ¡°I¡¯m almost done, stop moving,¡± she merely said. He quietly laid still on the cotton, allowing her to press his legs, completely putting himself into the girl¡¯s mercy. With his condition, unable to feel anything below his waist, he wouldn¡¯t even know if Zhao Xi did anything inappropriate to him. And he was truly careless, brave enough to put himself into the hands of someone who had her eyes on him. However, Zhao Xi didn¡¯t let him down. She was well-behaved throughout, even as she finished the massage, and fell to his side in exhaustion, ¡°I can¡¯t anymore, I¡¯m tired.¡± Having focused all of her strength into her fingers for such a long time, Zhao Xi¡¯s entire hand, from her wrist to her fingertips, were trembling. Shen Fei was still lying on his chest against the pillow. He procured a handkerchief and gingerly wiped the sweat off of her face. Zhao Xi remembered this particular handkerchief. The first day she met him, it had fallen from his sleeve whilst she was undressing him and drifted beneath the bed. She had only discovered it several days after. Upon finding it, she smelled a hint of fragrance. It was definitely not hers; being made of high-quality silk, and moreover, scented. She guessed that it belonged to Shen Fei. As expected, a small ¡°Fei¡± embroidered in its corner greeted her as she unfolded it. She had washed it in her leisure time, returning it to him for further use. Now, he was using that handkerchief to wipe her sweat, his movement ever gentle and soft. His fingers, like white porcelain, occasionally brushed across her forehead. They were cool to the touch, yet she still felt it was nice. Usually, she would always play with these hands, forcing them into all sorts of positions to her fancy. Today, however, they would touch her forehead on their own accord. At that moment, the girl felt that all of the sweat and exhaustion was worth it. She hadn¡¯t done it all in vain. Perhaps, Shen Fei had grown closer to her. He was still bad at expressing his feelings, immediately retracting his hand after finishing. The pair of them went quiet, one lying on their back, and the other on their chest, for some time. She knew that it was hard for him to turn over. She sat up, flipping him on his back, and straightening him, rearranging his hair so that it rested away from the pillow. Shen Fei didn¡¯t dodge her anymore. His eyes looked at her intently. Zhao Xi was also not one from shying, he greeted his gaze with her own. The gods have their favorites; he was such an attractive, to the point of being flawless. Even an unflattering position had no effect on his perfection. She couldn¡¯t bear it. She tapped on his head with her still trembling fingers. Shen Fei raised his eyes, confused with what she was trying to do. His long eyelashes trembled in reflex, like a fluttering butterfly, lifting its wings in flight. She hurriedly covered his eyes, making the latter blink his eyes in confusion. His lashes tickled her palm, the sensation like a playful tap of a kitten¡¯s paws. ¡°Shen Fei.¡± Zhao Xi moved, crazed and adamant, her body pressed against Shen Fei¡¯s chest, momentarily forgetting the wounds on his body. Shen Fei didn¡¯t make a sound, allowing her to do so. After some thought, she sat up, scooting over to Shen Fei, stopping only when she was a finger¡¯s distance away from him, ¡°Your eyes are really pretty.¡± They were like the galaxy, wide and limitless, holding everything in their midst. In them was light, clarity, and ripples along the autumn waters. ¡°Can I kiss them?¡± Without waiting for his answer¡ªrather, rejection¡ªZhao Xi moved. Taking advantage of the fact that he couldn¡¯t move the lower half of his body, and had broken one of his hands, it being tied up in a bamboo splint, and unable to bend or move, she trapped his only uninjured hand beneath her knee. ¡°Just once, I¡¯ll be quick,¡± she bargained, like a child clueless of rights and wrongs. She held his head, slowly moving closer. He tried moving but found that he had nowhere to go. Deciding to accept his fate, he closed his eyes. It was a chaste brush of her lips. She could feel his eyes nervously moving beneath his eyelids. After Zhao Xi let go of him, he opened his orbs, his dark irises were dewy, as if it was covered with mist. They were beautiful. ¡°It¡¯s warm.¡± In the unfamiliar warmth of another person¡¯s body, there was a fragile, vibrant entity: life. Chapter 32 - A Helpless Man (1) Chapter 32 ¨C A Helpless Man (1) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna ¡°Shen Fei¡­¡± Zhao Xi was at a loss for words. She had kissed his eyes, and he had accepted it without any protest. He obviously couldn¡¯t move because of the condition he was in. So, Zhao Xi only kissed him when he allowed it, with his consent. He struggled a bit, but gave in, surrendering to her. Zhao Xi had always been different from her childhood. She liked to touch and caress and explore. She would also kiss anything she found beautiful. She had once found her master¡¯s eyes so exquisite and tried kissing them, but she was punished with the toughest and dirtiest chores for the deed. Master hadn¡¯t forgiven her for two whole years. She also knew a guy who lived next door, who had very lovely eyes. She had made the mistake of asking him if she could kiss them. He hated her then, called her to have her head checked, that she was psychopathic. He never talked to her again, always tried to avoid the places where he might find her. Shen Fei was the first person who had let her do it with no protest or anger afterwards. Zhao Xi felt glad and thankful. She wanted to help him into his wheelchair that she had bought for him and take him strolling around the mountains. She wanted to show him all the precious places she loved and treasured. But the sun was going to go down, it was getting late. Tomorrow, she thought, I will show him everything tomorrow. She was still hesitant and worried that she might have overstepped the boundary. If not angry, maybe he was uncomfortable, or disgusted. So, she did what she thought he liked- she gave him a bath. She had noticed that Shen Fei would be content for the entire day whenever he had a bath. Especially in the morning, when she gave him a bath and washed his hair, he would lounge in the courtyard and called her with his deep, melodic voice, ¡°Zhao Xi¡­,¡± to ask anything that was concerning him. Zhao Xi never heard her name uttered so beautifully than when he did it. It reminded her of all the best things in the world, like the quiet bubbling of a stream or the clinking of the precious jade. His voice was mesmerizing and deep with a little roughness. It was raw and beautiful, like a soothing symphony of nature. He didn¡¯t call her often, though, only if there was something that troubled him like the clothes blown to the grown by the winds, or if it was raining and he wanted to go back in. But he always seemed to hold back. Once she had rushed out and found him soaked and amidst a storm, as the rain kept pelting him harshly. He didn¡¯t want to bother her, and he hated to depend on the smallest thing. He would allow himself to be soaked in the rain in the hopes that it would stop after a sprinkle and he wouldn¡¯t need to ask for help. Zhao Xi took him inside that day and tried to wipe him dry as best as she could. She had boiled some water and wiped him so he wouldn¡¯t be cold and laid him down on the bed with his long hair falling down the side, so she could dry them. He would be stone-still, allowing her to finish with whatever she did, so as not to make it difficult. She enjoyed touching his hair; it was so soft, and his ears were so warm and delicate. She would sometimes lift his upper body and let him lean on her so she could clean his back, which was full of rashes from lying down. Once Zhao Xi had fallen asleep on the table on her elbow, when she woke up in the morning, her arms were numb, and she felt the pinpricks like a thousand needles poking at her arms. It was itchy and a bit painful. She realized that Shen Fei must go through this every day, in silence. So, she took care to wipe and clean his back often, trying to soothe the rashes. Shen Fei, of course, never told her about it. Whether it hurt or felt itchy, he was always trying not to burden her. Zhao Xi had taken upon herself to help whenever she could, she would take a cloth and rub the area on his back where there were rashes, asking him where it itched the most. He remained silent in the beginning when she started doing this, but occasionally, he abandoned his silence and would tell her, ¡°It¡¯s itchy there the most, just around the shoulders.¡± She longed for him to talk; his deep voice was always so beautiful. It was a pity he didn¡¯t enjoy talking. Whenever he talked a little, Zhao Xi wanted to hear more. Sometimes, she resorted to petty methods to make him speak. She would leave the food cooking in the pot and walk away somewhere, hoping he would call her. Chapter 33 - A Helpless Man (2) Chapter 33 ¨C A Helpless Man (2) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna ¡°Zhao Xi, the food is almost burning,¡± he would call. She would thank him for it and yearn for more. She wondered how he would sound when he laughed. She tried to tease him, or joke with him, hoping that she could get him to laugh at least once. But he just smiled at her and at her terrible jokes. He was so considerate that he would listen so very carefully, no matter how awful the jokes were. Sometimes she chattered away while he was engrossed in his reading, but still he would remember all her little talks. Zhao Xi had told him that she had given extra coins to the seller accidentally one day while he was focused on his reading, he still remembered. He would remind her to take care and count them correctly while shopping. He had started conversing a bit more than he used to, which was a good thing. This made her glad. She remembered when he refused to respond or ask for help when she found him in the beginning, he would try to drag himself to the bathroom and fall on the floor. She found him one night lying on the floor in pain. Shen Fei loved seafood, but it was usually hard on his digestive system. So sometimes she would find him clutching his stomach in pain at night, unable to ask for help to go to the bathroom. He didn¡¯t want to trouble her and felt humiliated to depend on these minor daily tasks. Zhao Xi found him, one morning, on the bathroom floor where he had collapsed and almost passed out in the cold. It took several moments to warm him up and recover. She mentioned to him that she was always willing to help, but Shen Fei would not stop. She felt sorry for him and understood him, but it was getting tiresome when he remained adamant and tried yet again, only to increase the difficulty for himself and for her. So, she chastised him one day that he was just creating more problems and putting himself in danger. She tried to convey to him it was perfectly okay to rely on someone for help. After trying to make him understand for the hundredth time, he finally relented and began asking her for help when he needed it. Honestly, he was difficult than Ping An. She could pinch its ears if it didn¡¯t listen to her. But with Shen Fei, his pride came in the way. Zhao Xi knew he didn¡¯t want to bother her. She knew he still felt hesitant asking for help, so she took him to the bathroom at night, before he went to sleep. She sometimes woke up in the middle of the night to check on him and asked if he wanted to go relieve himself. She tried to make it so that he didn¡¯t need to ask her if it made him so uncomfortable. She sometimes heard him sigh. She truly wished she could help him more. The only thing she could do was tuck him in the blanket and hug him tightly, so he wouldn¡¯t be cold. They only had one blanket to share anyway, and it was warmer this way. But Shen Fei was always awkward. He would go so still whenever she put her arms over him. It seemed that he had never shared a bed with anyone before. He would relax only after she fell asleep, so she knew he slept late. She always allowed him to sleep longer in the mornings, thinking that he needed his rest. Zhao Xi wanted to take him for a walk. It would be good for him to be out once in a while. He was always cooped up inside with a book and cared little for going outside. So, she decided to do it that morning. He had pretended to sleep longer at first, but once that didn¡¯t fool Zhao Xi, he got up and had breakfast. Zhao Xi had packed everything, a flask of tea and some food. She had even tried to cushion the wheelchair with some blankets so it would be more comfortable if they were gone for long. She was all set with an extra blanket, a hat for Shen Fei for warmth, and a cheery disposition. Shen Fei could do nothing but sigh, it was impossible to win with her. He sat onto the wheelchair and lamented at how helpless he felt in the face of this dreaded morning walk. Chapter 34 - Closer (1) Chapter 34 ¨C Closer (1) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna Shen Fei didn¡¯t enjoy the outdoors, so he was sulky. Nevertheless, nothing could dampen Zhao Xi¡¯s spirit. She was so lively for the both of them. She promised him a treat of beautiful scenic views of the rivers, the trees and the mountains. He groaned with dismay. The mountain trail was uneven, and sometimes it would take them hours to find a path. Shen Fei saw a fallen tree not far along, blocking the trail. He seized that moment to protest, ¡°Zhao Xi, the way is blocked. Maybe, we should¡­.¡±. Even before he could finish his sentence, Zhao Xi hauled the wheelchair along with him and put it down on the other side. Damn, that woman was tough. Granted, she had raised that bear and might have carried all its weight around every day, still her strength seemed superhuman to him, every single time. Zhao Xi noticed him looking at her in surprise. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± she asked. Shen Fei heaved a sigh, ¡°Nothing.¡± She had insisted on carrying him on her back to the destination. But he had refused flatly. She had relented, thinking it might have made him uncomfortable, so she resorted to hauling the wheelchair whenever there was a ditch, or rugged ground so she could minimize his movements. He had several broken and dislocated bones, and she wanted him to move as less as possible for him to recover. Zhao Xi knew that when Shen Fei was alone, he would try to walk and, at times, fall hard on the ground. She pretended to not know about it to give him some form of comfort. However, she checked for bruises and dislocated bones whenever she gave him a bath. She would inspect every inch of his body, asking if it hurt anywhere. If it did, there were always some broken bones, or dislocation. He let her do her routine inspection, sometimes wishing she wouldn¡¯t worry so much because he wasn¡¯t as frail as he looked. He used to be adept in martial arts and combat when he was well, so he knew the limits of his own body. He tried to walk because he felt ready for it, and tired of lying down. He took care to walk only for the duration that he felt comfortable with, which was usually the time it took three incense sticks to burn through. He took care to keep track of the medicine Zhao Xi prepared for him, so he never missed them. He had been reading the medical books she had given him, in order to learn about the various massages that he can try on himself. He was a grown man; he knew how to look after himself. Zhao Xi was always supportive, though. She had made him a tripod walking stick to help him practice his walking. She had bought him a wheelchair if he wanted to get around by himself. She was skilled in many fields. It seemed she was a builder too! When she had first arrived here, she wanted a home to settle down, but she had no skills to build things, nor any money to buy them. Once, there was a poor carpenter whose wife had been ill with tuberculosis. He couldn¡¯t afford the money for the medicine, so she treated his wife devoid of any cost. The carpenter had felt embarrassed at that and asked her if she needed any help with anything at all. She had expressed her wish in learning his skill, and he had obliged happily. While she treated his wife, he would teach her everything he knew. In time, she was able to build things of her own. After a couple of months, she had built a small wooden cottage for herself, borrowing his tools. It wasn¡¯t big, it only had a room, a makeshift kitchen and a small bathroom, but it was home, her home. Zhao Xi had never depended on anyone; she was an avid learner and knew how to apply what she learnt in real life. ¡°Shen Fei, have you ever climbed a tree?¡± she asked. Shen Fei knew what was coming, he didn¡¯t even bother to protest. Her mechanical head would definitely conjure some way of getting him up to the tree. He sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t be so melancholy. You¡¯ll see the view from up there is worth the struggle. Besides, the fruits are too sweet to refuse!¡± she said, looking at his crestfallen face. There was no way to plug her enthusiasm. ¡°How are we going to ¡®climb¡¯, then?¡± he asked. She had brought a carrying basket with her tools, she carried them everywhere for emergencies. She thought and thought for a way, and then it hit her. She could use the rope and tie it around him like a net, tie him to her back and carry him up! She knew how to weave nets, she did it for Ping An, when it wanted fishes to eat and the market nets broke easily. So, she wove her own to catch some fishes for her, as well as Ping An. Although, when winter was near it would go up to the mountains to hunt for critters. She missed Ping An, but it was an animal and had its own needs. She got to work. She raised his arms, tied the rope around him above the waist, and tied one below the waist. Then she wove the ropes around these two points to form a net enclosing his body like a cocoon. He helped to tie the ropes around him too. Since he couldn¡¯t get away from this dreadful idea, he obliged. He didn¡¯t want to fall to his death, so that was some motivation! Zhao Xi finished the net; she was satisfied with it. She got Shen Fei tied to her back with some difficulty and was ready to climb the tree. Shen Fei didn¡¯t know how she would be able to achieve it with the extra weight. But there was no stopping Zhao Xi. She inched her way up, bit by bit. Shen Fei didn¡¯t want to die, so he cooperated. His hand could still function, so he wove his arm around her shoulders and held on tightly. Shen Fei thought about this young, spirited and accomplished woman. She was a healer, practiced medicine, hunted, and built things. It seemed there was nothing in this world she couldn¡¯t do. She had told him that she had dabbled in martial arts and was awful at it. She had also told him that she was very bad in academics. But regardless of her social quirks, Shen Fei admired her. She seemed to have more than dabbled, seeing how strong she was. Being skilled at martial arts, he could gauge her expertise in it, and she seemed to be very talented at it. She was a bit confused on the academics since she always mixed up her characters, but she was super-human, accomplished in any field that came her way. She wasn¡¯t as incompetent as she always made out to be. Chapter 35 - Closer (2) Chapter 35 ¨C Closer (2) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna They had made a contract of a one-year-marriage since he had moved in with her. Shen Fei had lived a different lifestyle, an extravagant one. But he could adapt. He never complained about the cozy lifestyle, or the food he was given. He was enormously grateful for Zhao Xi, for doing what she did for him, even when she didn¡¯t need to. He tried to be as cooperative as he could. He listened to her, went along with what she wanted to do and tried to not burden her unnecessarily. He disliked being outside, but he would always oblige when she wanted it. It was the least he could do for her. Zhao Xi made it up to the closest branch, which was sturdy enough to hold the weight of two. She needed both her hands on the trunk to support the weight. ¡°Could you try to pick the fruits?¡± she asked, concerned. Shen Fei stretched out his hand and got hold of the nearest branch above his head. There were some fruits on it, but they were scattered, so he couldn¡¯t get all of them, unless he broke the entire branch. He tried, but his hands didn¡¯t have the strength that it used to. It was too much exertion. Zhao Xi looked on as he tried, thinking perhaps it was difficult for him and maybe she should just let it go. She, of course, couldn¡¯t help but admire his hands though. They seemed to be carved from white jade, looking almost pearlescent. He knew she was looking and felt embarrassed. He didn¡¯t want to disappoint her, so he tried one last time, with all his remaining energy to break it. Thankfully, the branch wasn¡¯t very long, so he managed to do it. ¡°Thank you!¡± said Zhao Xi, and he was glad to make her happy. ¡°Can we go back down now?¡± he asked, hoping she would say yes. But, alas, Zhao Xi was unrelenting. She wanted to pick more fruits, so she climbed higher. Shen Fei watched helplessly as she picked fruits and let it fall to the ground to collect there. Zhao Xi, meanwhile, was enjoying the moment as much as she could. She liked that Shen Fei was pressed so close to her, and that his hands were wrapped around her. She liked his face resting on her shoulders. She didn¡¯t want this to end. So, she climbed higher, and picked more fruits, until she deemed the pile of fruits on the ground enough to last them for a few days. Seeing this, Shen Fei hoped that they would return to the ground, but soon realized that his expectation was unfounded. She climbed higher and higher until she reached the crown of the tree. ¡°Look! Isn¡¯t it splendid?¡± she asked, parting the short branches at the front. Shen Fei looked, then, at the vast expanse of nature before him. He could see the endless mountains and forests. He could see the streams sparkling in the morning, blushing sun. The green stretch of vegetation under the measureless, azure sky took his breath away. He could see Zhao Xi¡¯s cottage and the surrounding crops, just a speck in the vastness. He could even see the small secluded space near her cottage where she had planted her precious medicinal herbs. In the middle of this infinite, cosmic presence, he felt stranded by a small thread of life. He felt comforted and amazed in the warmth of the arising sun. ¡°Why are you so silent? Are you okay?¡± asked Zhao Xi, trying to look back at him. ¡°I am just¡­this is beautiful,¡± he said, unable to accurately articulate what he was feeling. Zhao Xi smiled to herself. She had coerced him and woven a net and practically hauled him up against his will. She had felt guilty and uncertain for doing that, but she wanted to show him this view to make him have a little hope. She couldn¡¯t bear to have him look despairing all the time. And it had worked! All she wanted was just a word of assurance, just an indication that he hadn¡¯t given up on life. After a moment on the trees, Zhao Xi began to make her way down to the ground. She was very cautious in doing so because she didn¡¯t want to slip and fall. Shen Fei would suffer more than her for the fall. After finding her feet on the ground, she began to untie the ropes. The knots were so tight that she found it difficult to untie them. He stilled her hand, ¡°Let me do it. Sit down somewhere.¡± So, she sat, and the ropes were a bit less taut. He was trying to untie them as best as he could. Since his hands weren¡¯t fully up to their potential, the process was painstakingly slow. It was too much effort for him. She stood up. ¡°Just let it be. We will fix it when we get home. I will just carry you,¡± she said. ¡°Wait! I can get it to open¡­,¡± he objected, but Zhao Xi was already bending down to pick the fruits and he was flung forward. He complained all the way, but she refused to listen. She knew that it was so petty of her to be annoyed like this, but she couldn¡¯t help feeling that he was putting so much effort in untying the ropes to get away from her. He could do nothing but grumble and hold onto her. The mud had gotten all over his hands as well. He was very strict about cleanliness. She took him to a river and wiped his hands for him, but he didn¡¯t seem so forthcoming anymore. She knew that she had offended him, carrying him like this. When she finally reached home, she cut away the ropes and heated the water to give him a bath. She knew that he liked his bath more than anything else. He seemed to relax and brighten up, but it didn¡¯t last long. His face grew cloudy again as he realized that Zhao Xi had shaved him. Chapter 36 - Sudden Happiness (1) Chapter 36 ¨C Sudden Happiness (1) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna Shen Fei lay under the blankets with his eyes closed. Zhao Xi couldn¡¯t tell if he was really asleep or just faking it. He didn¡¯t respond, no matter how loud she called his name or tried to cajole him. She hadn¡¯t thought it would be such a serious matter. His reaction was even more extreme than when she¡¯d kissed his eyes or carried him up a tree. He was ignoring her utterly. She found every excuse to talk to him, trying to force him to respond. Time to eat, time to drink his medicine. Nothing worked; he lay there in silence. Zhao Xi placed everything he needed next to the bed, but when she woke up at nightfall, none of it had been touched. There were two things that Shen Fei considered of utmost importance: bathing, and his legs. He never missed a dose of the medicine for his legs. In the trunk beneath the bed were all the medical texts she owned. Some were so long and complex that she hadn¡¯t finished them, but he had read them all. All for the sake of his legs. He was so desperate to heal his legs that he was even rolling to give himself up. But now he was in such a fit of pique that he wouldn¡¯t drink the medicine or eat. Was he going to give up just like that? She spent another hour trying to wring any sign of acknowledgement out of him but got nothing. He¡¯d been like this ever since she¡¯d bathed and shaved him: silent, eyes shut, lying on the bed unmoving like a corpse. Once or twice, she feared he might actually be dead and went over to feel for a breath. She gave a sigh of relief when she confirmed he was, in fact, still alive. Just as stubborn as a mule. She set the medicine down on the table beside him. ¡°It¡¯s dark already. I¡¯ll go catch the Brittle Snake. Drink the medicine, okay?¡± Shen Fei didn¡¯t respond. He was lying on his side, facing the wall, acting as if the world around him didn¡¯t exist. ¡°In a couple of days, I¡¯ll need to give you acupuncture,¡± she explained. ¡°That¡¯s why I had to shave you, because it would get in the way.¡± There was no sensation in the lower half of his body, so she would be performing acupuncture on the entire afflicted area. Shaving him was a necessity. ¡°Shen Fei, please stop being angry.¡± She wasn¡¯t going to give up easily. ¡°If you¡¯re going to be mad, then be mad at me. Don¡¯t starve yourself. You need to take your medicine on time. You won¡¯t recover if you don¡¯t take it. Once your legs are better, then you can get rid of me and go wherever you want. To the skies or to the seas. I won¡¯t be able to stop you. Starving yourself over something so minor isn¡¯t worth it.¡± That was all she had to say. Shen Fei didn¡¯t react, and she was out of ideas. Sighing, Zhao Xi stood up and gathered the tools she needed to climb the mountain, hooked her medicinal basket onto her elbow, and walked out the door. She paused in the doorway, looking back at her husband. He hadn¡¯t moved in the slightest. Shaking her head, she shut the door. Climbing the mountain in the middle of the night was a dangerous undertaking. Plenty of wild animals liked to hunt at night, and Zhao Xi would look like an appetizing meal in the dark. Fortunately, she had Ping An with her. The scent of a bear was enough to scare off most beasts. They weren¡¯t that deep into winter yet, so food was still pretty easy to find. Most animals wouldn¡¯t risk attacking a bear unless they were starving to death. At anywhere between four to six hundred pounds in weight, with incomparable strength, even a tiger might think twice before tussling with a bear. Unless they had an accident, Zhao Xi and Ping An ought to be safe. She took out the small wooden box that once held the Brittle Snake powder, and let Ping An sniff it. His nose was very sensitive. Zhao Xi relied on the bear¡¯s strong sense of smell to find many of her medicinal herbs, ginseng, and caterpillar fungi. Ping An roamed all over the mountain, cataloguing its scents. He would know where to find anything with a single sniff and lead her to it. Today, however, the bear didn¡¯t bound off in the direction of what she needed. Ping An stood there for a long time, snuffling at the wooden box but not moving. Zhao Xi sighed. It seemed as if the Brittle Snakes had already moved on from this part of the valley. If she was unlucky, they might even have to climb the mountain and go down to the dangerous wetlands or miasma-choked forests to find the creatures. Ping An couldn¡¯t go to those places. If he got hurt, Zhao Xi wouldn¡¯t be able to save him. She decided to try their luck and climb over the mountain first. Maybe they¡¯d find some before they had to venture into any of the lowlands. The place she had in mind wasn¡¯t close. It would take her at least a night and day before she could get back. Despite that, it was actually one of the shorter routes. Some of the longer ones were three whole days away. Since they were going, she might as well gather all Ping An¡¯s winter food on the way. The search for Brittle Snake would take them on a path they¡¯d never taken before. Who knew what dangers lay in wait for them? Zhao Xi wasn¡¯t the only nervous one, Ping An was too. Chapter 37 - Sudden Happiness (2) Chapter 37 ¨C Sudden Happiness (2) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna The bear didn¡¯t like leaving his territory. He wouldn¡¯t sleep, his small eyes scanning his surroundings, his posture always tense and on guard. The bear¡¯s eyes weren¡¯t as good as Zhao Xi¡¯s but his ears and nose were far superior. She had smelled hundreds of medicines but could only find them by smell from a close proximity. Ping An could sniff them out from a hundred meters away, or further if he had passed it by recent enough to remember. These advantages were natural of course, to allow the bear to hunt. If he didn¡¯t have such keen senses, he¡¯d be little better than a blind man, waiting to become another animal¡¯s prey. The unlikely duo pushed on, stopping and starting, hunting and looking for any sign of the Brittle Snake. When they got tired, they would drop and rest where they were. If they could keep going, they did. At frequent points along the way, Ping An would grow bored of walking and sulk, forcing Zhao Xi to chivvy him along. He did this a lot, so she was used to it by now. She resorted to hauling the bear along to keep him moving. When she got tired, she¡¯d climb up on Ping An¡¯s back and let the giant creature carry her. He scarcely seemed to notice. Especially on the way back, when he was itching to get home and would bound along, Zhao Xi riding him. Ping An was five times as strong as her, but lazy. As an omnivore, he usually ate vegetables, fruit, and corn. He couldn¡¯t be bothered to run and hunt without Zhao Xi pushing him to do so. They climbed to the South side of the mountain, but there was no trade of the Brittle Snake. On the plus side, they had collected plenty for Ping An¡¯s food store. Most of it was stored in the creature¡¯s stomach, the rest split between his back and Zhao Xi¡¯s. They collected fruit along the way, too, which ate up a lot of their time. After two nights and a day had slipped past, she rushed back to tend to Shen Fei. Before leaving, she had only prepared three or four meals worth of food for him, leaving them next to the fire. All the ingredients were still raw. He would have to use his wheelchair and carry them over to the steamer on the fire. There was coal on the ground, along with a set of tongues so he didn¡¯t have to dirty his hands. But he¡¯d been so angry¡­ What if he had been starving himself this whole time, just lying there in bed and wasting away for two days? If he kept this up, his health would deteriorate. She hurried back with the speed of a loose arrow. No time to care about being dirty or tired as she rushed all the way home. When she got back to her little piece of the valley, she almost collapsed with exhaustion. Her legs were so swollen from walking she could barely keep herself up, but Zhao Xi was young and strong. After a short break, she recovered enough to pick herself up and stumble toward the cottage. It was still early in the morning; the sky was still dim. Shen Fei was probably still asleep, she thought, softly opening the door. To her surprise, he was sitting next to the bed, reading under the light. He looked up when he heard her come in. ¡°You¡¯re back?¡± Zhao Xi froze. Wasn¡¯t he angry anymore? It seemed as if he¡¯d forgotten the entire shaving incident, acting as if it had never happened. His tone was the same warmth, considerate one of a wives waiting at home to greet her husband. All her life, Zhao Xi had been waiting for other people. Shen Fei was the first person to wait for her. Her heart warmed. ¡°Mm. I picked some fruits for you.¡± She made no mention of his changed attitude, just in case it reminded him of what had made him so mad in the first place. She couldn¡¯t stand it if he went back to ignoring her. This was nice. They could start a new chapter. Setting her basket on the table, she began to take everything out. The coarse meat and fruit went to Ping An, while the soft, tasty, sweet ones were reserved for Shen Fei. There was no denying her favoritism. The bear couldn¡¯t enter the cottage, only able to watch from the window. The low sill was almost big enough for half of his body to fit through. She worried that the bear would squash Shen Fei, so she tossed a piece of fruit toward the trees. Ping An went chasing after it. He was like an oversized cat, with a tendency to bring food and all sorts of other treasures back. Once, he¡¯d brought back an entire deer and left it on Zhao Xi¡¯s doorstep. She¡¯d thought it was for her to eat. It turned out Ping An wanted her to roast the deer for himself to eat. Naughty bear. ¡°Have you eaten yet?¡± she asked, laying the fruits out on the table. She could wash them after she cooked. As she opened the steamer, she froze again. ¡°You made this?¡± There were three dishes in the steamer: green peppers and eggs, eggplants and meat, and steamed bean sprouts. Zhao Xi hadn¡¯t prepared any of these ingredients, and they shouldn¡¯t have appeared in Shen Fei¡¯s diet. The ingredients she had provided him with were all prepared beforehand ¨C fish, shrimp, other high-nutrient foods. The eggplant and green peppers were from her vegetable patch in the back garden. He must have gone and picked them himself. Sure enough, the wheels of his wheelchair in the corner were caked with dirt. Had he really gone into the garden to pick vegetables and cooked for her? Just like a little housewife, waiting for her husband to come home from work and eat. From the looks of it, the dishes were for more than one person. Shen Fei had made a portion for her. A sudden happiness swelled in her chest. Chapter 38 - A Gentle Heart (1) Chapter 38 ¨C A Gentle Heart (1) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna As soon as the happiness had arrived, it seeped out of her again. What was she thinking? Why did she limit the agreement to just one year? If she hadn¡¯t created a time limit, Shen Fei could be her husband forever. Once they¡¯d performed the marriage rite, they could be married forever unless he divorced her. Zhao Xi would never divorce him. He was so handsome; she didn¡¯t care if he sat there all day and did nothing but read. She¡¯d still be pleased. Regret filled her. She¡¯d been so naive! All she had wanted was to cure Shen Fei and have him pretend to be her husband for a year, then she¡¯d let him choose to stay or leave when he recovered. If he chose to stay, she could support the pair of them, but she also didn¡¯t want to hold him back. He was definitely someone important, rich or noble. She couldn¡¯t expect to trap him in this wild valley forever. Originally, Zhao Xi had planned to wait for him to recover then carry him down the mountain to perform the marriage rituals in the village. That plan, however, was scrapped. She had suspicions that the troops outside the valley were looking for him. If it meant not having to let him go, she¡¯d forgo the marriage rituals entirely and put up with everyone nagging her to get married. It would be worth it. Shen Fei was the first person to make her food and let her do what she wanted with him. Plus, he was just so handsome. She was sure that she¡¯d never find someone as gorgeous as him, let alone better looking. That was impossible. She knew her faults. She wasn¡¯t born of some eminent household, nor did she have any ladylike etiquette, piety, virtue, or reservation. At best, she was the lady of a humble household. To be able to keep Shen Fei for a year was a blessing accumulated from who knew how many good deeds in her past life. Regardless, if he didn¡¯t bring it up, she wouldn¡¯t either. Unless he got sick of this place, of her, and began to insist on leaving. She put the cover back on the plate and went over to his bedside. She wanted to hug him, but as she stretched out her arms toward him, she caught sight of her hands. They were filthy, covered in dirt, scrapes and scratches. She rejected the notion, frowning. ¡°I¡¯m too dirty. Eat first. I¡¯ll come back after I¡¯m done washing.¡± She¡¯d been gone for days and came home rushing through wind and rain. The dirt was one problem, her odor was another. Shen Fei prized cleanliness above all else. If she got him dirty, he¡¯d go into another sulk. Two days ago, he¡¯d spent an entire day upset because he got a hand dirty by touching the ground. Which begged the question, if he was so afraid of mess, how was he able to go into the garden, pick vegetables, and make food by himself? The answer hit her when she looked into the bucket and saw that it had been emptied of water. The bucket was twice as big as a normal one, and she had filled it before she left. She thought of the ingredients he had used: eggplant and green peppers were smooth, and freshwater bean sprouts never saw the light. They were easy to wash, so why had he needed two buckets of water to clean them? No, he must have used the rest washing his hands. She looked at the stack of shower pods in the corner. There were seven or eight less than when she¡¯d left. Zhao Xi sighed. Those were expensive. A few days ago, she¡¯d dropped one and practically overturned the stove trying to get it back. A single pod could be used four times to wash hands and bathing only required one. How did he get through so many in only two days? She went to the kitchen to boil some water to bathe and wash her hair. Thinking of Shen Fei, she heated more than necessary. He hadn¡¯t washed in two days; he must be uncomfortable by now. He liked bathing way too much, almost to the point of being abnormal. In an ideal world, he would bathe every few days, and wash his hair every few days. Shen Fei went overboard. He¡¯d make himself sick if he kept it up. She did her best to control him, wiping his body clean every day and only letting him take an actual bath on certain days. Counting the days she¡¯d been gone, today was a bath day. She washed herself first, then went to get Shen Fei ready for his own bath. He was already waiting, food untouched. Was he planning to eat after, or was he waiting for her to finish so they could eat together? Either way, she was glad he was waiting. Because of their circumstances, Zhao Xi tried to finish as fast as possible. It took about an hour, but he was still in a good mood. As long as he was clean, he was happy. Although his outward expression was mostly the same, his eyes would light up more often. Chapter 39 - A Gentle Heart (2) Chapter 39 ¨C A Gentle Heart (2) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Lunarise Proofreader: Livyuna He was still picky about food. He wouldn¡¯t eat fatty meats, peppercorn, or aniseed, but still used them in his cooking, in much smaller amounts than Zhao Xi, though. His cooking was much lighter than hers. Eating someone else¡¯s cooking gave you a view of their tastes. Shen Fei hadn¡¯t used onions or coriander, so she wouldn¡¯t put them in his food anymore. He also had a clear preference for vegetables, eating little in the way of meat. In fact, the only meat he served was to add flavoring. The three dishes he cooked were all vegetable, without a single meat-based dish. Two dried fish were still hanging in the kitchen. Shen Fei hadn¡¯t touched then. Were they too fishy, so he didn¡¯t want to touch them, or did he just not like eating fish? If she steamed fish, he would eat it, so he didn¡¯t dislike it. Perhaps he thought they were too disgusting to touch. The same might apply to meat. Perhaps he thought it was too oily and he didn¡¯t want to touch it. It seemed likely. Zhao Xi must have been staring at him for a moment too long, because he paused his chopsticks and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Nothing.¡± He lowered his eyes, continuing to pick at his food. He liked the insides of the eggplants, the parts that were cooked soft. He wasn¡¯t fond of the skin, though. The garlic added a nice flavor to the dish. But why had he cut the eggplant into long rectangles without cutting through the insides? Strange. She ate the sides and the skin, leaving the soft parts for him. Zhao Xi was the exact opposite of Shen Fei; not remotely picky, just happy to have something, anything to eat. Strong and oily, light and clean, sour, sweet, bitter, hot: she would eat them all with gusto. The meal consisted of three dishes, but Shen Fei didn¡¯t eat much. He still clung to his ideals about etiquette, and wouldn¡¯t let them go, no matter how rustic his lifestyle had become. Zhao Xi ate the rest of the food and washed it down with a bowl of tea. After washing the pots and dishes, she slid into bed next to Shen Fei, happy and satisfied. Eating a hearty meal only seemed to remind her how tired she was. Her legs were still a little swollen from the long walk. It might be morning, but she was too tired to work, so she might as well get some sleep. The rest of the chores could wait until she woke up. What was meant to be a short nap lasted until dusk. She slept straight through and woke up dazed. Opening her bleary eyes, Zhao Xi found herself hugging Shen Fei¡¯s wrist. She¡¯d been sleeping on the back of his hand. Surely, she¡¯d only been sleeping on it for a while? But when she sat up, his whole hand flushed red, like all the blood was suddenly rushing back into it. How long must she have been lying on it for the circulation to have cut off? Why didn¡¯t he wake her up? She¡¯d been asleep anywhere between six to ten hours. Had he been sitting there with his hand trapped underneath her head for that long? ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wake me?¡± A surge of guilt went through her. Shen Fei¡¯s body was already so damaged. This was his only good hand. What if she¡¯d damaged it? If something happened to this hand because of her, he would be paralyzed, trapped in bed and unable to eat or drink on his own. ¡°It was only a little while.¡± He tucked his hand under the cover where she couldn¡¯t see it. Too late, Zhao Xi had already seen it. He was lying. It had been much longer than just a little while. But he wasn¡¯t willing to admit it, so she didn¡¯t push. Still, this little detail was worth examining. Did he not hate her as much as she thought he did? He would rather let himself down, than let her down. But he¡¯d always been rather passive. No matter what Zhao Xi did to him, he never complained. Shaving him seemed to have hit a nerve, but he¡¯d expressed his anger by starving himself and ignoring her. He never tried to lash out at her. Zhao Xi was confident that beneath Shen Fei¡¯s cold exterior, lay a gentle heart. After being around each other for so long, it was more accurate to say that he spoiled her instead of the other way around. He let her take whatever liberties she liked, rarely getting angry. It was the same thing as indulging her. Zhao Xi was slowly being spoilt rotten by him. Everything she did was because of his silent permission, and she was growing more and more bold. If he hadn¡¯t gotten angry yesterday, chances where she would have done something even more out of line. It dawned on her suddenly why he would be so angry, then seem to have recovered by the time she got back. Chapter 40 - The Hunt For The Brittle Snake (1) Chapter 40 ¨C The Hunt for the Brittle Snake (1) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Livyuna Proofreader: Livyuna Shen Fei was not truly angry. He was trying to remind her to show some restraint, as there were some things that he really disliked. Of course, it was also possible that she had guessed his intentions wrongly. Zhao Xi was still trying to understand him better. She ate her food, washed the bowls, scrubbed the pots, and headed out again to catch the brittle snake. Before she left, she washed and prepared two days¡¯ worth of food ingredients. With this, Shen Fei need only to rinse them before cooking. As she knew that he liked using water, she filled the water vat full, and left the bath beans by the side. These days, Shen Fei had increasingly gotten used to moving around in his wheelchair. He could also make his own meals, eat and move around a little. Other than heading out to the courtyard, his movements were no longer as restricted. The entrance to the courtyard had a threshold. The wheelchair had to be lifted up, otherwise it wouldn¡¯t be possible to head out. Folklore has that door thresholds are meant to defend against vampires. In the olden days, mankind liked to bury coffins deep in the mountains, to prevent people from disturbing. Even though this place was secluded, people had lived here before. If it weren¡¯t for the landslide that occurred from the collapsed cliff, blocking off the entry to the valley, perhaps there would still be people living here today. When Zhao Xi first came, she walked all around the valley and saw signs of humankind having lived there. For example, she found earthen jars by the river side, and upon picking them up, saw that there were bodies of children within. This was an extremely old burial method, although some also say that it was a way to pray to the river gods. Zhao Xi¡¯s personal take was more towards the latter; because it was impossible for so many children of around the same ages to have met an accident and passed away, and then was buried using the same method. Many of these earthen jars were similar in design and had the same carving pattens. This meant that they were produced around the same time. The children¡¯s faces were also distorted revealing the pain and suffering they encountered as they died. Having learnt medicine, knew that that was the kind of expression made when people were buried and suffocated alive. The ancient people were foolish, leaving behind multiple unbelievable and cruel ways of worship. Other than burying young children in jars to be drowned alive, they would also hang coffins along the cliff. As the wind in valleys were stronger, over time, the sides of the coffins slowly erode away. Every now and then, a black wooden board would fall, and a terrible stench would be brought along with it. Zhao Xi once stood by the cliffs to look. Every single coffin held a decomposed body of which only the bones were left. Some of the bodies had clothing that had become tattered with time and hung loosely off the skeletons, while some of the bodies¡¯ clothing were still in good condition. Folklores say that when night falls, these bodies would start to move. One by one, they would jump off the cliff and down the mountain, and run into the homes of the villages nearby. And the door threshold is meant to stop them. Being unable to jump over the threshold at the door, the vampires would not be able to enter the homes. And with the arrival of dawn, these supernatural beings would return back to the mountains and lay back down to rest in their coffins. In the three years that Zhao Xi has lived in the mountains, she had never come across it before. Sometimes out of curiosity, she would sit by the side of the door and wait, but the vampires never did arrive. Instead, some curious animals would wander by; the smaller and shorter ones would not be able to cross the threshold and enter. The door threshold was extremely thick and heavy, and was not possible to be moved by herself alone. Zhao Xi would require Ping An¡¯s help. However, Zhao Xi had no intentions of removing the threshold; she was afraid that Shen Fei would venture out on his own and the surroundings were too dangerous for him. She had only grown those herbs that animals avoid around the small house. If Shen Fei leaves the small house, he would lose the protection of the herbs and may end up getting attacked by the animals. Shen Fei was unlike Zhao Xi; she had lived in the mountains for years. Any animals that cross her path were viewed as food to be cooked, and their survival were dependent on whether she felt like eating them or not. However, if Shen Fei abandoned the small house, he would become food for the animals instead. The animal kingdom was just that ¨C survival of the fittest. There is no concept of mercy or ethics. Defeat me if you can, otherwise you will be my prey. Venomous animals are different though. So long as you are bitten by them, even if it were someone like her, she would still need a long time to recover. But, if the person was Shen Fei who was at his peak health, he would still likely not be able to survive. Therefore, it was important that Shen Fei didn¡¯t go out of the house, especially so at night. If Zhao Xi would not be around, she would lock the doors in the courtyard, and scatter even more of the herbs, sulphur powder and wormwood plants around to deter animals from approaching. Even so, Zhao Xi was still worried. While all these herbs and sulphur powder may act as miasma, if the animals are hungry and desperate to feed, it is still possible for them to approach and hurt Shen Fei. Therefore, Zhao Xi started a fire in the brazier in the house, and left it next to Shen Fei. If needed, Shen Fei would be able to use the fire to attack, defending himself. Every time she leaves, she would be so reluctant that she resembled a mother about to leave her child. Only after all the chores at home have been completed, would she then head out, and even so, she would try her best to complete her tasks as fast as possible, and return back as soon as possible. Chapter 41 - The Hunt For The Brittle Snake (2) Chapter 41 ¨C The Hunt for the Brittle Snake (2) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Livyuna Proofreader: Livyun This time, Zhao Xi planned on heading to a more dangerous location. She had hunted at many other sites but was unable to find the brittle snake. So, she decided to take a risk and investigate the swamps for snake caves. Snakes love humid environments. In the depths of the valley, there was a cave that didn¡¯t receive sunlight throughout the year, and is favored by snakes. Because the cave is large, all the snakes like to gather there to reproduce. Once, when Zhao Xi stumbled into the cave, she saw thousands of snakes all around, and the stench was pungent. Thankfully, she was carrying some realgar with her, and was able to retreat safely. Otherwise, she would have likely died from the situation. Inside such snake caves, there would be various different types of these reptiles. However, the brittle snake is afraid of unfamiliarity, and under usual conditions, it would prefer not to live with other snakes. Zhao Xi¡¯s goal for this time was the swamps. The idea came to her after recalling the coffins that hung around the cliffs, surrounded by extremely humid environment favored by brittle snakes. Perhaps they would even hide inside the coffins. Compared to the swamps, Zhao Xi would prefer the cliffs. The swamps had miasma, venomous animals, and one had to exercise caution while walking. The only advantage was that she could climb the trees for a better view to check. While the cliffs would definitely be a cleaner environment than the swamps, she was afraid that her rope would be torn apart by the friction in the middle of her climb at night, and if so, she would definitely fall off the cliffs and die in a very painful and mangled mess. Considering the disrespect to the ancestors and other problems, Zhao Xi¡¯s final decision was to head to the swamps. Even though it was in the middle of the night, and the swamps was dark, spooky and wet, Zhao Xi was not frightened in the least bit. When she first arrived at this valley, she had not met Ping An yet. At that time, in the middle of the night, she would head up the mountains to pick poisonous herbs. The winds would howl and the rain sometimes fall, but she had not once encountered any major problem. It was like an unexpected discovery. As she walked through the forest, not only was she unharmed, it appeared as if most of the animals, in particular those with sensitive smell, were afraid of her. They behaved just like Ping An did when they first met; being able to smell the scent of the different poisonous herbs on her, Ping An was afraid of her and tried to keep a distance. If she was nearby, it would even grind its teeth while staying guarded against her. It took a while before Ping An became more comfortable with her. That¡¯s not to say that Ping An was no longer afraid of Zhao Xi. Even though they have been together for three years, Ping An had not once dared to show its temper or behave wildly to her. It always stayed obedient and followed her instructions. The swamp is really too dangerous for Zhao Xi to bring Ping An along. Ping An was not as agile in swinging from tree to tree. If any incident happens, it would be possible for Ping An to fall into the swamps. At that point, Zhao Xi would be helpless in trying to save Ping An, and would only be able to watch him die. Ping An won¡¯t be of much help here. Usually, Ping An would be a source of encouragement and courage to others, but Zhao Xi naturally had lots of guts, and didn¡¯t need Ping An to try to give her courage. When she was younger, she was once left on the mountains by her Madam. At the start, she was really afraid and felt helpless. Only after realizing that the smaller animals would avoid scorpions and her, and larger animals would rather circle around her rather than cross-paths, it seemed as it she was then the biggest predator of all, waiting to feast on all of them. Much later, her teacher told her that as both her hands had skinned the skin of the fiercest animal, pulled the fangs of the most venomous snake, the scent had continued to stay on in her body, and that was why all the animals feared her. So long as her body continues to have the scent of death, it would not be dangerous for her to enter the forest. Her teacher did not lie to her; Zhao Xi did not meet with any danger all these years. The only thing that she encountered was loneliness. Being by herself had been a lonely experience; waiting for someone had been a painful and difficult process to endure. Not knowing when her teacher would come to pick her, she would anticipate, and then be disappointed, again and again. Over time, her heart slowly turned cold, and her will hardened. She rarely ever felt her heart wavering again. However, a miracle had happened. She met Shen Fei who was nothing but nice to her. If anything, he deserved for his legs to be treated. Zhao Xi finally reached the swamps. As she came here to catch the brittle snake, she did not apply any of the herbs on her body, afraid that it would startle away the brittle snake. Chapter 42 - The Hunt For The Brittle Snake (3) Chapter 42 ¨C The Hunt for the Brittle Snake (3) Translator: Lunarise Editor: Livyuna Proofreader: Livyuna She had come by the swamps once before, and the route was considered quite simple to find. All she had to do was to keep walking towards the darkest and most humid areas. As she climbed the trees, her sharp eyes looked around, careful to avoid stepping on any withered branches. She also avoided the other snakes. In general, she shouldn¡¯t encounter any dangerous situations. However, afraid that it wouldn¡¯t be enough, she used a dagger to make a small cut on the tip of her finger. The blood slowly trickled down onto the ground, becoming a small puddle. She then stayed down without changing her location, waiting for the brittle snake to appear. Before long, instead of the brittle snake, she encountered other venomous animals. Her hands were suddenly full of a few bamboo sticks which had a string strung though a hole at the ends. The string had a layer of poison applied, and the moment anyone or any living thing was caught by it, there would be no chance of survival. She would only need to pull the strong lightly to contain the situation. Zhao Xi was careful not to let any animal escape. Animals share a mutual understanding; if one escapes, it would inform the others that there was a trap ahead. Sadly, there were just too many venomous animals in the area, and Zhao Xi was unable to catch every single one of them. Only after the rope was pulled up and tightened, did she then realize that one of them had escaped. There was no more purpose to waiting here anymore, she should change her waiting position. Zhao Xi found another spot that was just as damp as earlier. She used her blood as a bait, while she sat on the tree and started waiting. As she waited, dawn broke. Realizing the sky was about to lighten up, she quickly prepared her bags to return. Perhaps due to squatting for too long, she was unable to sleep peacefully at night for a long time. As she stood up, her body started swaying front and back, before losing consciousness and falling onto the ground with a thud. * The forest was very quiet and peaceful. Without Zhao Xi¡¯s disruption, Shen Fei had a good sleep. At the start, he was quite worried about Zhao Xi and would suffer from insomnia. However, after a few days, he realized that Zhao Xi¡¯s toughness was way beyond his imagination, and gradually, he was able to be less worried, and focus more on doing his own things. Every day, he would persevere on standing up and walking a little, for no longer than a minute. Now that he has more experience, he knows that right before he falls, he can use his crutch to support his body. As such, even while exercising and moving around the house, he would be able to avoid causing injuries all over his body. Shen Fei¡¯s day can be considered to be relatively structured. After practicing walking, he would return to his wheelchair and wheel himself to the small cabin to shower, before starting to cook. As he had never done it before, his culinary skills were only decent enough to make simple dishes. Zhao Xi¡¯s vegetable garden did not have much food, nor have many different types. Instead, Shen Fei reached out to pluck both cucumbers from the side porch and wondered what could be made from them. The roads in the vegetable garden were narrow, and wheelchair users would not be able to venture along the path, and could only pluck the fruits from the sides. Yesterday, Shen Fei had plucked the tomatoes as the rest were much further in and beyond his reach. Today, there were not much available for him to pluck from the sides, and all that he could do was to pluck some green pepper and tomatoes again. In the egg kitchen, there was a small pot that could be used to fry vegetables. Shen Fei has seen Zhao Xi used them before, but they were kept at a higher spot, and Shen Fei was unable to take it himself. Shen Fei took a look at the bamboo basket. He decided that he would continue steaming his vegetables as he enjoys the light bland taste. He washed the tomatoes and green pepper, diced them, added some chicken stock and mixed them around, before leaving them in the bamboo basket to be steamed. Egg whites are easy to steam; it only requires a flipping every now and then, and the end result still appears similar to it being fried. If it is still pasty, or diluted, one just has to steam it longer. At three in the afternoon, the food was ready. However, Zhao Xi was not back yet. Shen Fei was very patient and went to close the window, before laying down on the bed to read his book while waiting. At that moment, there was a disturbance at the door. Shen Fei looked up and saw that it was not Zhao Xi, but a yellow ferret, which was attracted here by the smell of the food. The yellow ferret looked at Shen Fei, before starting to move towards the kitchen with no fear. Just as it was about to take a step, it was stopped by a hand that had grabbed the back of its neck, and lifted it up entirely. She turned the yellow ferret around and faced it. The yellow ferret, which is also known as the weasel, has a very powerful weapon¡­ Chapter 43 - So Much Warmth (1) Chapter 43 ¨C So Much Warmth (1) Zhao Xi reacted swiftly and threw the weasel to the side. The shocked creature tensed up in the air, and a terrible, disturbing stench started to spread. It permeated every corner of the house, the courtyard, all the way to under the roof. After it landed lightly on the fence, it quickly scampered away. As winter had arrived, the amount of food available in the mountains had naturally reduced. Perhaps due to difficulty in finding food, the weasel decided to sneak into the house to steal some food. But ¡­ how did it sneak in? Wasn¡¯t it afraid of all the herbs and sulphur placed around the house? Zhao Xi had scattered large quantities of poisonous substances outside the house. As animals have a highly sensitive nose, they¡¯re bound to avoid it upon catching a whiff of it. There¡¯s no reason why the weasel should be an exception. Unless it had eaten some rare herb or medication or knew of the natural antidote to such poison. Is that why it wasn¡¯t afraid? If the weasel knew of a way around the poison, do the other animals know too? Of course, the weasel is very intelligent compared to the others. In fact, there¡¯s an old saying that such animals have good intuition, understanding and intelligence resembling humans. Now that it has escaped, would it inform the rest of the pack and start coming by every day? Zhao Xi had scattered those poisonous herbs and sulphur around the house deliberately, precisely to prevent animals like weasels, foxes, or monkeys from entering. These animals always cause a mess when they enter the house. The blankets, pillow, kitchen would all be destroyed or left in a terrible clutter. It wasn¡¯t that she was unwilling to feed them, but that they were always causing trouble and utter destruction. If it were something that they could take away with them, they would; if they couldn¡¯t take it away, they would break it; they would even push her precious porcelain onto the ground right in front of her as if on purpose to provoke her. Zhao Xi understood that by living in the valley, what she ate and used came from the forest, and she was definitely using part of the available resources that may be seen as a threat by the animals. However, she was only one person, just how much could she possibly eat? Since all of them were using the forest¡¯s resources, just like how Zhao Xi put up with them, shouldn¡¯t they also exercise some tolerance, instead of causing trouble and breaking things everywhere? When she could no longer tolerate their presence and no longer felt the need to tolerate them, in her fit of rage, she had scattered poisonous herbs and sulphur around her house. The animals were very alert. Upon catching a whiff of it, they immediately ran away without leaving a trace behind. Zhao Xi also finally found some peace again though some animals did still wander by every now and then, especially the monkeys. They would pluck wild fruits and use them to thrash her house, causing the exterior to be covered in the sweet goo of smashed fruit flesh, encouraging the growth of worms. Zhao Xi considered herself as quite a peaceful person who had no strong dislikes or hates her whole life. However, the only thing she truly could not tolerate were these three animals ¨C weasels, foxes and monkeys. ¡°Shen Fei!¡± Zhao Xi hid inside the room and closed the door immediately, trying to block the stench from entering. She had a special surprise to share with Shen Fei. Not caring about the situation, she slid off her bag and took out a box. ¡°I found the brittle snake, your leg can be saved now!¡± It was truly unexpected. She had spent the entire night on the tree, standing guard over the swamps to look for any movement. When dawn approached, she jumped off the tree with a loud thud. The disturbance shocked the brittle snake that was hanging down from the tree. Perhaps due to fatigue, or her being too focused on the situation on the ground, or that the night breeze was too loud and affected her hearing, she had not noticed the serpent that was hanging on the branch right above her. The bones of the brittle snake¡¯ were as its name, brittle, and when it fell onto the ground, even the crackle of its body as audible. At that time, half of Zhao Xi¡¯s body was inside the mud of the swamps. Disregarding her own situations, she had immediately pounced onto the snake and kept it in a box. Only then did she take out a rope, hung it on a tree, and slowly climbed out of the mud. As she was too dirty, she washed a little in the river before returning hurriedly. She couldn¡¯t wait to share the good news with Shen Fei. At this moment while telling him, her body and clothes were still damp. Shen Fei didn¡¯t look as surprised or happy as she thought he would be. As she approached him, she saw that he retreated slightly, and his eyes revealed his avoidance. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Zhao Xi hesitated for a moment before realising ¨C it was the stench on her body caused by the weasel. As her nose was blocked, she couldn¡¯t smell anything. ¡°Is the smell that bad?¡± Chapter 44 - So Much Warmth (2) Chapter 44 ¨C So Much Warmth (2) Shen Fei didn¡¯t answer her. Instead, he raised his arms and opened the windows. His actions were as good as an answer. Zhao Xi felt a little hurt. ¡°I¡¯m going to clean up.¡± The weasel was simply too capable; just with this incident alone, Shen Fei had become unwilling to talk to her. Zhao Xi placed the medicine basket in the corner and brought the box containing the brittle snake along with her. She boiled sufficient hot water for two person usage as usual and cleaned herself. After she was done, she was about to help clean Shen Fei when he stopped her. Shaking his head, he said, ¡°You should wash yourself another time.¡± Zhao Xi was speechless. She went to clean herself again, using some of the bath beans. Only after she smelled fragrant again, did Shen Fei allow her to carry him. The room contained some unpleasant odours. Only after the stench outside had dispersed entirely, Zhao Xi then opened all the windows to ventilate the room. She carried Shen Fei out of the house, and they had their meals far away, next to a small stream. The air was much fresher here. After eating, they did not return immediately. They stayed out in the sun for a while, brushed the pot, washed the bowl, and after realising the smell in the room had dispersed, Zhao Xi changed the bed covers and blankets. Then, she carried Shen Fei back, before collapsing on the bed, and immediately falling asleep. Perhaps due to her having found the brittle snake and finally feeling relieved, Zhao Xi felt that she had a very deep sleep. Not once did she wake in the night, nor did she have any dreams. Not knowing for how long she was asleep for, in her grogginess, she heard Shen Fei¡¯s voice calling out to her: ¡°Zhao Xi, Zhao Xi¡­¡± Zhao Xi struggled to open her eyes and realised it was day and was bright everywhere. ¡°It¡¯s still a little early, let me sleep in a little longer¡ª¡± ¡°You have been sleeping for one whole day and night already. This is the second day since you returned.¡± Shen Fei¡¯s hand touched her forehead as he said, ¡°Your forehead is really hot, are you sick? Do you need me to do anything for you? I can help you.¡± His voice sounded as if it had drifted from a faraway place, and Zhao Xi found it difficult to hear carefully. All she could was catch some of the keywords. Sick? Forehead is hot? ¡°You are sick?¡± Zhao Xi reached out to touch his forehead. Shen Fei avoided her hand and said, ¡°I am not the sick one, you are.¡± It took some time before Zhao Xi understood what was being said. ¡°I am all well, how is it possible that I am sick?¡± Her fingers reached out to take her own pulse, and she was shocked. ¡°I have been poisoned.¡± It was the miasma from the swamp. Zhao Xi did take an antidote, but as she had stayed there for too long and kept breathing in the air, the antidote¡¯s dosage was insufficient, and she had been poisoned without realising. She was definitely not expecting this. Initially, she had planned to apply acupuncture on Shen Fei today, and even before she could do so, she had fallen sick first. As she spent most of her time dealing with medicines, her body was always in a healthy state and even had some antibodies. The only reason why she would end up getting poisoned was that she had been too busy running around the last few days, and the fatigue had weakened her immune system, creating a chance for the miasma to affect her, and she ended up getting poisoned. ¡°There¡¯s medicine in the cupboard¡¯s drawer. It¡¯s the blue pill bottle.¡± When Zhao Xi left previously, she only took two antidotes with her. She ate one when she first reached the swamps and took the second when she was on her way back. Despite that, it was still too late to keep the effects of the poisonous miasma under control, and it had now spread in her body, affecting her heart and lungs. Even if she took another antidote, it would still take her another two days of rest to recover. It seems like the acupuncture to heal Shen Fei would have to be delayed by two more days. Will this make him think that she¡¯s doing it on purpose? That she doesn¡¯t want to heal him? Zhao Xi genuinely didn¡¯t want this situation to happen. She did have the thought of having Shen Fei have a small incident so that he could spend his whole life living in the valley together with her. But while she did consider it, she never once acted upon it. Every single time when she went out to hunt for the brittle snake, she had always tried her best, and her feet would even swell from all the walking she did. When she had fallen into the swamps, her first thought wasn¡¯t to ensure her own safety or well-being but to catch the snake. After bringing the snake back safely, she was even more anxious than Shen Fei and wished she could immediately start the acupuncture treatment so that he could recover earlier. Unfortunately, she was genuinely too exhausted. If she had tried to treat him under such mental and physical strain, there could be mishaps. Besides, it was too risky. As such, she had planned to push it to the next day. However, her plans were now no longer feasible. To think she was currently poisoned. As a doctor, she had a good understanding of herbs and poisons. Even if she tried to explain herself, her being poisoned sounded like a lie. Chapter 45 - The Giver And The Receiver Chapter 45 ¨C The Giver and The Receiver Zhao Xi looked up at him, trying to see from his facial expressions if he was confused or had any suspicions. However, Shen Fei was just like his usual self, looking calm and expressionless as he pushed his wheelchair towards the cupboard to retrieve the medicine. Shen Fei slept on the inside of the bed. If he got off the bed, he would definitely have to climb over her. Yet Zhao Xi had no recollection of being aware that Shen Fei crossed over her limp body. She had been in a very deep sleep, barely conscious of her surroundings. The cupboard wasn¡¯t too tall, so Shen Fei was able to reach for the medicine easily. He opened the cap, and poured it out into his palm. ¡°How many pills do you need?¡± To provide him with more ease in moving around, the bamboo planks that were holding his arm in place previously were long since removed. She had been reminding him not to use too much force, but occasional exercise wouldn¡¯t be an issue. His body was strong and healthy to begin with. With his young age, and the fact that his left shoulder¡¯s dislocation was not too serious, his recovery was smooth and rapid. Even procuring things and pouring out the medicine was now possible for him to do so. ¡°Three pills.¡± I should recover faster if I eat two more Zhao Xi was about to push the blanket away and get off the bed, but Shen Fei stopped her. He passed the pills to her, and went to get her a cup of water. The water was boiled yesterday, but was kept warm. As he was seated in his wheelchair, movement was a little inconvenient, and pouring the water required quite a bit of effort. Finally after filling it to the brim, some of it spilled while he was returning. He was only left with half a cup by the time he passed it to Zhao Xi. Zhao Xi had already placed the pills in her mouth and was waiting for him to bring the water over. The medicine was bitter as expected, but Zhao Xi didn¡¯t find it terrible. Instead, she felt quite happy. She was being taken care of. Is this how it¡¯s like when someone cares about you? All these years, Zhao Xi had never felt this way before. Not even from her teacher whom she¡¯d lived for so long. Or her Grandmaster. There was once when her teacher had passed her to a family to help take care of her. After leaving some money to them, her teacher then hurriedly left. They were a kind family, who also had a daughter who was around the same age as her. Whenever the daughter coughed or hurt herself by accident, the family would become worried and checked on her with much concern. When she fell sick, they would even stay by her side, day and night, to take care of her. At that time, Zhao Xi started thinking, if only someone would treat me the same way, how nice would it be? She could be a little lazy, refrain from training every day; even if her body weakened slightly, it would still be okay. After all, there would be people caring for her. However, the harsh reality was that she cannot fall sick. Because there was no such compassionate person looking after her. Perhaps, they would even resent her for being a burden. Only once in a while would Zhao Xi entertain such silly thoughts that if she started coughing, or hurt herself, the family would treat her the same way. When did it happen? All she received was a simple ¡°Why were you so careless?¡± And that was the end of it. There was no bandaging, and there was no taking care of. At that time she didn¡¯t understand. Her injuries were worse than the daughter¡¯s, and yet no one cared about her. Yet when it was the daughter, both of the adults even took turns to look after her. It was much later that Zhao Xi understood. She wasn¡¯t blood-related to them. She was but a mere stranger to these kind folks. Perhaps to her teacher, it was the same too. Her Grandmaster would sometimes check on the progress of her medical skills and knowledge, but would never talk to her about any other matters. Zhao Xi really desired having relatives. She tried her best to build a closer relationship with her teacher, but her teacher saw her as a burden; every day, her teacher would call her ¡°little burden, little burden¡±. When she tried to build a closer relationship with her Grandmaster, her Grandmaster gave her a side eye instead. Her Grandmaster was an old lady that gave off a mysterious and spooky impression, with not a single semblance of being kindly. Zhao Xi remembered being frightened of her. However, she was truly capable and knew everything. So long as it was related to medicine, she would teach Zhao Xi about it without withholding anything. Much later, there were people who tried to drive a wedge between them and kept asking her if her teacher or her Grandmaster was better. Zhao Xi was unaware and kept saying that her teacher was good. This angered her Grandmaster and their relationship became more distant. As her attempts to build closer relationships with others had failed, Zhao Xi¡¯s heart had given up on it, and she no longer attempted to do so anymore. It was only after she came to Phoenix Mountain did she gain a newfound companionship in Ping An. However, a bear couldn¡¯t speak and would always have the intelligence of a three to five year old child. It was possible to take care of it, but hoping for it to take care of you¡­ There was no need to even think about it as it was impossible. Zhao Xi had pretty much given up on this. Yet the heavens above had shown pity. For the first time in her life, she had the experience of how it felt for the roles to be reversed. To be the one finally receiving¡­ gave her so much warmth inside. Was it possible? Could he become family? Chapter 46 - Proposal (1) Chapter 46 ¨C Proposal (1) Zhao Xi took the bowl of water that Shen Fei handed to her and sipped. She asked him, ¡°Why are you so good to me?¡± She had essentially trapped him here in this godforsaken valley. She had made him do things he didn¡¯t want, and put him in uncomfortable circumstances multiple times, and yet he was never cross with her. He was always patient with all her antics. He even took care of her when she was sick, wiped her forehead, made her food. Aunt Liu always went on about how men were so inconsiderate and treated their women like slaves, working them hard to cook and clean after them. Zhao Xi always heard about men forcing their wives to be submissive. She never heard about men who were considerate towards their wives, or to women in general. So, it was very surprising for Zhao Xi, who had not met many people in her life, to find Shen Fei being ordinarily kind to her. She thought that Shen Fei was an exception to other men. ¡°Zhao Xi,¡± Shen Fei said, looking at her, ¡°it is not that surprising. I am just doing the most basic things to help. It¡¯s the least I can do after everything you¡¯ve done.¡± With a hesitant afterthought, he added, ¡°I don¡¯t think you have met many people in your life¡­ I am just doing what is normal.¡± Shen Fei had never heard Zhao Xi talking about anyone else than her Master or Ping An, or Aunt Liu. Her Master had left her three years ago, and Ping An was an animal that she took care of. It was hardly a substitution for human contact. Besides, Ping An needed looking after more than a child, so Zhao Xi, in fact, had spent her life mostly alone. Since Zhao Xi had spent her life with the most minimal human contact and Shen Fei realized that even the smallest things he did for her, made her most glad. She thought he was being extraordinarily kind to her. Shen Fei, in contrast, was so indebted to what she had done for him. She had saved his life and nurtured him to health. She would be away even during midnight hunting for herbs for his medicinal needs. Her feet would be red and sore, yet she never complained. She had made him a tripod and crutches, and bought a wheelchair, even when he had nothing to give back. She had done everything for him without expecting anything back, and for that, he could never be able to completely repay her. Shen Fei thought Zhao Xi too innocent and strange. She had a child-like fascination with everything around her, and yet she was hardheaded enough to hunt poisonous snakes. She was vulnerable when she talked about her Master, yet unafraid to brave the dark mountains. He admired Zhao Xi. She was kind, caring and strong. She was so self-reliant without being prideful and had killer martial arts skills to put any man to shame. The girl didn¡¯t agree with him, though. She still thought he was exceptional, different from anybody else. She wondered if everything he did was so ordinary, then why didn¡¯t her Master, or her Grandmaster, had never done anything like this? She had never been taken care of, so she thought that she was definitely special to Shen Fei, if he took the effort to care for her. Nevertheless, Zhao Xi was happy. She drank the medicine and ate the porridge Shen Fei had made for her. She was so content that she fell asleep. The last thing she saw was Shen Fei placing a cold, wet cloth on her temple to lower her body temperature. She was still a bit feverish. He had to switch the towels for other wet ones, two or three times to get her temperature to come down a little. After a while, Shen Fei slept on the bench as it was still difficult for him to get on the bed from the wheelchair. There was a blanket there, already. Usually, Zhao Xi slept on the bench because she insisted. Shen Fei would always wake up sore and aching whenever he slept on it. He felt guilty when he found out how uncomfortable the bench could be. Zhao Xi had slept on it with just a blanket for an entire month, when he had arrived to live with her in her small cottage. It wasn¡¯t until recently that they had decided to share the bed. She had never said anything about it, which made Shen Fei feel even more remorseful. Shen Fei looked at Zhao Xi across the room, sleeping on her side, half her face buried into the pillow. The other exposed half was delicate and beautiful. The conventions of beauty were hard for women. They were expected to be petite and fragile. The brutal practice of foot-wrapping was still performed in many villages, which affected the health of women, and they became physically weak. They were also married off at a very young age. Zhao Xi was the complete opposite of that. She was a hard- worker and a heavy worker; she was tall and sculpted. She emanated a kind of strength that intimidated everybody. Most men did not appreciate her, but Shen Fei admired her perseverance and tenacity and found her the most beautiful human ever. The times were changing, and most things were changing with them. If one was to walk beyond the mountains to the capital, the practices of foot-binding and child marriage were already vanishing. Women were not belittled for not having bound feet, or for being tall. Most of them refused the idea of marriage until they became financially and socially stable. In fact, the practice of foot-binding had been outlawed in the capital, which was situated at the base of the empire. However, it was unfortunate that stricter measures weren¡¯t in place and many villages in the outskirts still practiced the painful tradition in the hopes that this would attract better suitors for their daughters, which was just a remnant of a brutal stereotype. Most places moved on from foot-binding to make-up. It was, in Shen Fei¡¯s view, immensely better and wholly inventive. There were all sorts of new eyebrow shapes- willow-leaf brows, distant-mountain brows, crescent brows, etc. Many shades for lip-color, from red to mauve to even brown. It was indeed fascinating to see the artistry and creativity of many who did it. Zhao Xi didn¡¯t need any of that, but perhaps she might like it too, if she was to venture out beyond the mountains. Chapter 47 - Proposal (2) Chapter 47 ¨C Proposal (2) After two days, Zhao Xi¡¯s fever broke, and she was well again. She was sort of enjoying Shen Fei taking care of her for a change and didn¡¯t want to really get well. She wondered if she could pretend a while longer. That was her guilty pleasure, but she got over the thought soon enough when she saw how difficult it was for Shen Fei to move around. His hands still weren¡¯t functional to their full potential. Once, when Zhao Xi sat with him to eat, he had tried to hide his left hand from her view. She knew he had injured it, but he was trying so hard to hide it that she pretended not to notice so that he did not feel uncomfortable. Zhao Xi was still weak, so she rested for the day. She hoped to get well soon so that Shen Fei didn¡¯t have to take on so much. The next day, she felt well enough to crush the carcass of the brittle snake and mix it with medicinal herbs for Shen Fei to drink. She prepared the tools that she needed for the acupuncture and set it aside. She chose to acupuncture Shen Fei at night so that Ping An won¡¯t disturb her. She closed the windows and doors and sealed the gaps with cotton and cloth. She needed to focus on the movement of the muscles and the muscle sensations when she did the acupuncture, to gauge the possibility of his recovery. Therefore, she couldn¡¯t afford to be distracted, even by the sounds of the wind outside. After she finished preparing the tools and equipment, she undressed Shen Fei up to his waist, and felt the acupuncture points on his body. She was familiar with these points on his body as she was with her own. She placed the first needle at his tail bone, at the very end of his spine. Acupuncture was a tricky thing, for this particular type there were a special kind of needles. The needles were larger at the head, with a very tiny body, and a hole at the end. The hole had a tiny pearl attached to it, which was almost invisible. The body of the needle was extremely thin, so it was difficult to support the head with a certain stability. Therefore, when the needle was inserted in the skin, it slightly wobbled, emanating a bird-like hum. Not everyone could hear the hum of the needles, but Zhao Xi had keen ears and had always been able to hear it. Even her Master couldn¡¯t hear it clearly. The first needle was a success, and Zhao Xi felt hopeful. She placed the second needle with more confidence, then the third and the fourth. Nothing went wrong. The process was slow and painstaking, but she was good at it. That didn¡¯t mean she was any less stressed, though. She would occasionally wipe her brows, which were full of sweat. This wasn¡¯t her first-time performing Rupture Acupuncture, and she had always succeeded. She had done them on countless injured animals before to nurse them back to health. The wilderness had so many wounded and maimed animals, the animal kingdom was ruthless. She had found Ping An with a falling heart-rate and on the verge of death. She had cared for it and kept it locked to nurture it. Eventually, when she released it, Ping An had looked at her with eyes full of hatred for taking away its freedom. Animals were weird, she had just saved its life! Later, it got hurt again and Zhao Xi took care of it. Ping An had then grown fond of her and befriended her. Zhao Xi performed acupuncture on Ping An biannually to make sure its body was functioning well. She had last performed it when Shen Fei had arrived. Shen Fei had read so many of her medical books that by now he knew everything there was to know. Once, she had found red mushrooms in the mountain and forgotten what they were for, so she brought them home. Shen Fei was able to recognize it from one of the books he had read. Zhao Xi was impressed. He still remained in such good temperament, despite all the knowledge. He never acted arrogant. Zhao Xi looked at him lying there and thought that he might have been in pain because of the needles. He was sweating even more than her but lay down there with no objection. He must be really anxious about this; they were his legs, after all. She worked even more carefully from then on. She was feeling queasy; she had never done this on a human before. She hoped beyond hope for it to go well. She placed the final needle that was accompanied by the relieving hum. She was relieved; it was done! She couldn¡¯t relax still. Chinese medicine needed patience and consistency, he needed seven more days of acupuncture and a curing period. That would decide whether it was effective on him, or if she needed to perform the process all over again. She retracted the needles, wiped the blood from them and kept them with her other equipment. She handed a bowl of medicine for Shen Fei to drink. Then she made him turn to the other side so that she could massage his acupuncture points. This took time. Zhao Xi seemed very down. Her heart felt heavy. Shen Fei noticed this. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± he asked. ¡°Nothing,¡± she said, while she continued to massage the acupuncture points. She was glad that it had worked. When she had pierced the needles on the separate points, Shen Fei had trembled, which meant his nerve endings were still working and there was a possibility that he would recover. Zhao Xi felt great that he was going to walk again. She felt happy for him, but it also meant that he would leave her soon. She didn¡¯t think that he would want to stay here, in this valley, in the middle of nowhere. ¡°Shen Fei,¡± she snuggled close to him, buried her face in his clothes and put her hands through his sleeves to curl her hand in his, ¡°after you are well again, let¡¯s get married for real this time?¡± She didn¡¯t know what he would say. Her heart thumped against her chest and filled her with dread. Chapter 48 - Say Something (1) Chapter 48 ¨C Say Something (1) Zhao Xi knew Shen Fei would leave, eventually. She wanted to get married with him and possibly deflower him. She couldn¡¯t do that when his body was still recovering and fragile. But marriage was still a possibility, if he gave his consent. Hopefully, the soldiers who looked for Shen Fei would assume he was dead and leave him alone, so Zhao Xi could have a wedding ceremony right at the courtyard! She would plan everything. She didn¡¯t need any betrothal gift, or organizers. She just needed Shen Fei and herself to have a small heart-felt ceremony. She would never have to hear about anyone ever calling her an ¡®unwanted spinster¡¯. She would proudly call Shen Fei her ¡®husband¡¯. He would forever be bound to her! They will be a family, at last. All her dreams came to a halt when she realized Shen Fei hadn¡¯t responded to her question. ¡°Shen Fei, say something,¡± Zhao Xi said, looking at him. Her hands, inside the sleeves of his gown, were still curled in his. She held it tightly. ¡°If you want to get married, just pick a date. Why are you asking me?¡± Shen Fei sounded removed, even indifferent, as though this marriage wasn¡¯t something that was of any importance to him. ¡°But I want to know what you feel. I want to know if you want to get married,¡± she implored, feeling a bit disappointed. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what I want,¡± Shen Fei sighed. ¡°How can you say that? Is it a ¡®yes¡¯ or a ¡®no¡¯?¡± demanded Zhao Xi, sitting upright. Since her hands were inside his sleeves, he leaned on his elbow, with his back off the bed, looking at her. His toned chest was exposed, and Zhao Xi would have enjoyed gawking at him some other time, but right now, it was imperative to know his answer for her most desperate question. ¡°Tell me, Shen Fei, is it a ¡®yes¡¯ or a ¡®no¡¯?¡± she asked again. ¡°If I didn¡¯t want to, would you drop the wedding?¡± he asked back. Zhao Xi was annoyed. Shen Fei seemed to be from a very prominent family. Why would he even consider marrying a common village girl like her? Perhaps he didn¡¯t even like her enough to marry her. The more he didn¡¯t want her, the more she wanted him. So, she decided to go through with it. The Winter Solstice was coming, she would marry him then. It was an auspicious time of the year. There were ten days left. A healing period after the acupuncture took seven days, so Shen Fei¡¯s legs would be healing slowly. He couldn¡¯t run away even if he tried. She told him about it, and he hummed an affirmative in response. He didn¡¯t agree or disagree, he just nodded. Zhao Xi didn¡¯t know what he was thinking or feeling. He didn¡¯t speak after that, so she started planning for the upcoming wedding. She would have a very simple wedding, no pompous rituals needed. She would just invite people from the village for the reception and nothing else. Zhao Xi needed to get red clothes that the bride and groom usually wore at their marriage ceremony. She didn¡¯t have enough time to stitch and embroider them herself, so she needed to find a tailor or embroiderer. The material needed to be good and clothes of rich material cost a lot of money. It was her marriage, after all! She would get to have only one, ever. So, she might as well go all in. It was time, finally, to sell her five-hundred-year ginseng. She had found this particular ginseng, high up in the mountains one day. She couldn¡¯t bear to sell something so old and precious, so she had cut it up into small pieces and preserved it. Even a small amount could fetch her two hundred pieces of silver. She would keep the rest for emergencies. She had been so engrossed thinking about the preparations for the marriage that she had overlooked Shen Fei¡¯s condition. His legs weren¡¯t fully healed yet, and she still needed to observe him on the aftereffects of the acupuncture. On the second day since the acupuncture, Shen Fei was sleepy and sluggish. Even his favorite bath couldn¡¯t raise his spirits. At first, Zhao Xi thought he was just aloof because of the marriage proposal but soon realized that this wasn¡¯t it, something was physically wrong with him. He was so lethargic that a single nap would stretch to hours. He became so frail one day that he fell off while eating. He would be so low on energy that he would doze off every time. She thought he might have hypersomnia. Shen Fei would sometimes wake up abruptly from his sleep in a coughing fit. His hands and sheets were splattered with blood. Zhao Xi prepared medicine for him, but he couldn¡¯t keep it down. He couldn¡¯t keep in food either, every time he would vomit blood. So, she made him plain porridge to eat. Zhao Xi knew that there were aftereffects to the acupuncture treatment, but what Shen Fei experienced was too severe to be mere aftereffects. She was worried. She checked him again, all the points that she had stuck needles in. She checked them repeatedly, thinking she might have made some kind of mistake. She didn¡¯t find anything wrong, but she couldn¡¯t rest easy. There had to be something amiss. He should have been getting better and not worse! Chapter 49 - Say Something (2) Chapter 49 ¨C Say Something (2) Zhao Xi didn¡¯t dare sleep at night. She would stay by the bed and try to at least make him eat a bit when he woke up. He was sweating so profusely that the sheets would all be drenched. She stayed up at night wiping his forehead, hands and feet in an attempt to lower his body temperature. She made sure he was covered when she did this; she didn¡¯t want him to catch a cold. She began warming up the room by burning some coal in the oven so that he wouldn¡¯t be chilly. She took him out in the sun early next morning. The first rays of the winter sun were particularly warm and effective for his condition. She left him in the wheelchair in the sun and went inside to dig through some medical books left behind by her Grandmaster. The books were positively ancient, and the covers were all musty and fragile. Some pages were missing from the books as well. She tried reading them in the hopes that she could help Shen Fei, but the writings were hardly legible and were so complex that she couldn¡¯t recognize some of them. She despaired over the fact that she had let these precious and great texts reduce to dust. Grandmaster had passed the texts to her thinking she would care for it. These were precious manuscripts that were passed down from one generation to the next. In the early days, Zhao Xi had looked at them occasionally, trying to decipher the names of endless medicinal herbs and processes but had given up after a while. The writings were so difficult to read and usually had information of herbs and plants that had gone extinct. People had used the medicinal plants for their benefit, gathering and harvesting them but had never sown them back, so in time, they had completely disappeared. The five-hundred-year-old ginseng that Zhao Xi found were not very uncommon in the old days, but now they were almost impossible to find. The book contained medicinal recipes that usually involved ingredients which were either extinct or extremely rare, so the price for these medicines were unaffordable to the common people. Zhao Xi¡¯s patients weren¡¯t wealthy, it was hard for them to get by, as it is. Zhao Xi had thought these books useless due to the rare ingredients they used, which had become unavailable in her time. So, she had kept these precious books aside and forgotten about it. She opened these books after a very long time and did her best to read through them. She realized that the ingredients were not the most important aspect of the endless medical processes the books outlined. The way of the treatment itself was what was essential. She read through the properties and effects of the ingredients, and contemplated substituting them with the more accessible ingredients which had the most similarities with the rare ones. Even if the treatment may not be as potent, it would still be effective! She was inspired to use what she knew already and apply it in the way the books instructed, so that she can improvise and come up with something beneficial to help Shen Fei. Zhao Xi was grateful to find a section dedicated to the patient¡¯s medical history. She couldn¡¯t find anything that was close to Shen Fei¡¯s condition, but she found a case of a patient whose entire body was paralyzed which was slightly comparable to what he suffered. The patient¡¯s condition had been too severe and had ultimately died. The patient had suffered from lethargy, profuse sweating and fits of coughing up blood. He had eventually died due to heavy bleeding through the skin. Shen Fei had lethargy, sweating and the occasional coughing up of blood. But he wasn¡¯t bleeding through the skin, yet. She hoped he wouldn¡¯t. She looked at him, outside in the courtyard. Ping An was also gone these days. It had been busy hunting and gathering food for winter. She rarely saw it. It had been absent for two days. She turned back to her texts and read through, taking time to decipher the words. She didn¡¯t want to commit a blunder when his condition was already so delicate. The binding of the book was already very broken, and the writings were complex. In some places, the writings changed, possibly because other people had tried to add new and useful information on the pages. She had to tread carefully. So, she read and read and tried to get the whole picture of what went wrong with Shen Fei. She found out after extensively reading the texts that Shen Fei¡¯s body was trying to cleanse itself from the inside, and that she hadn¡¯t made an error. Chinese Medicine was about nursing the body back to health both outside and inside. The medicine she had been making him ingest was detoxifying his body from the inside, while the acupuncture was for the exterior. The combination of both these treatments were making his aftereffects more severe. His profuse sweating and coughing up blood, were just an indication of the toxins and excretions trying to leave the body. The toxins in the blood were particularly hard to discharge, so he was coughing blood. Shen Fei¡¯s wounds were also internal. The internal bleeding was causing all the problems. The excess blood was gathering in some parts of his body, causing numbness and paralysis. Zhao Xi needed to find a way to cleanse his body of the remaining toxins, and to allow the excess blood to flow out of the body. She had already begun to plan the treatment process and put safety precautions in place when she heard a faint calling of her name. She almost didn¡¯t hear it. ¡°Zhao Xi¡­.¡± She was dazed for a moment before she could wrap her head around the notion that it was Shen Fei. He was calling her. Chapter 50 - Left Behind (1) Chapter 50 ¨C Left Behind (1) Shen Fei had finally woken up. He had dozed off in the sun. And he wanted a bath. Shen Fei seriously would only think about bathing, even if the world was ending around him. Zhao Xi couldn¡¯t understand his thought process. It was cold, and Shen Fei was already sick. If he caught a cold, it might worsen his already fragile condition. ¡° I already bathed you. Perhaps you forgot in your dazed condition,¡± Zhao Xi lied, hoping it will convince him, ¡°I will get you some food, you must be hungry.¡± ¡°Zhao Xi, I don¡¯t know how long I have slept, but all the sweat feels sticky, and I really need a bath,¡± he pleaded. Zhao Xi sighed. She should have bathed him earlier when the sun was still up, but he was sleeping like the dead then. She had called him, yelled at him, but he remained undisturbed. He only woke up because of the discomfort that sweating caused him. Zhao Xi did feel that it might be mighty uncomfortable sleeping in sweat, all drenched and sticky. ¡°Alright, wait for me here. I will go and heat some water,¡± Zhao Xi turned towards the door, ¡°Shen Fei, do you want to go for a hot spring bath?¡± Shen Fei was speechless for a moment. She knew he didn¡¯t like it when he had to depend on her for a bath. He tried to wipe himself with soaked cloth sometimes, but that was hardly a bath. ¡°Is there a place where I can?¡± he asked, hopeful. Indeed, he loved his baths. ¡°Of course! I almost forgot about it, but there is a hot spring in the valley. In cold weather, hot water rises from the depths and pools in the area, but dries up in the summer,¡± Zhao Xi remembered now. The hot spring had followed this pattern for three years now. It was a mysterious spring that appeared one day out of nowhere and remained. She hoped it was still there. ¡°Is it very far away?¡± asked Shen Fei, excitedly gripping the side-arm of the wheelchair, his fingers white from the grip. Zhao could tell that he really wanted that bath. ¡°Just some walks away, not very far,¡± Zhao Xi lied. It was further than that, but she couldn¡¯t bear to dampen his spirits. It would be good for him anyway, physically and mentally. She could see that he wanted to insist to go to the hot spring but didn¡¯t want to trouble her with the request. He would never ask for anything from her, he always kept it to himself. Even if she refused, he would accept it. This was the first time he had ever shown any kind of enthusiasm, and she didn¡¯t want to disappoint him. ¡°Wait for a while. I will get ready and we will go,¡± she said. It was getting colder, and the mountains were even more chilly. The trip would be long and freezing, so she wrapped Shen Fei in thick clothes, and added an extra blanket over him. She tied the blankets around him because if the wind blew it over, he still couldn¡¯t use one of his hands properly to cover himself. She packed some towels, shower pods, some food and water. She packed two bamboo tubes with food and one more with Shen Fei¡¯s medicine. That was all she needed for now. She double-checked to make sure she had packed everything they needed and got ready for the trip. While packing, she came across the fabric that she had draped across a trunk. She had meant to ask Aunt Liu for help in embroidering and stitching the clothes to make them suitable for the wedding. Aunt Liu had two children to raise, and she wasn¡¯t suited for farming work, so she took on tailoring and embroidery to earn a living for her family. Zhao Xi could pay her for it. She was the best embroiderer she knew. She decided to bring Ping An along, it could carry the things or even Shen Fei if she got tired. Ping An usually slept during the day and hunted at night, but today its sleep patterns will be disturbed. Zhao Xi was worried about Shen Fei, he looked pale. She didn¡¯t think he could survive six acupunctures, performing just one had made his conditions so severe. She hoped he wouldn¡¯t die along the way. She made several stops to check on him. Ping An was unexpectedly helpful, it obeyed Zhao Xi diligently. Perhaps, it knew how sick Shen Fei was, and how stressed Zhao Xi was. It would help clear the path ahead for them. Ping An tried to clear the path as well as it could, snapping brambles and ripping out bushes. Zhao Xi pushed along the wheelchair through these cleared paths. With the combined effort from Zhao Xi and Ping An, they reached the hot spring in about two hours. Chapter 51 - Left Behind (2) Chapter 51 ¨C Left Behind (2) Zhao Xi heaved a sigh of relief. The white steamy fog was rising from the ground where the spring was supposed to be. She hadn¡¯t been sure if it was that time of the season where the hot spring appeared. She had hoped it did and was thankful to find it there. She checked the depth of the water with a stick. It could only reach up to the waist, but that was enough. She found some flat stones and laid them at the bottom of the pooled water, for Shen Fei to sit on. Zhao Xi undressed him and helped him into the hot water. After he was seated, she went and lit a fire to warm the food and the medicine that she had brought with her. She knew Ping An was hungry, so she left Shen Fei in the water and went with Ping An to hunt. They didn¡¯t venture far. Ping An was omnivorous. Anything that Zhao Xi provided, it ate. In fact, the bear found soft bamboo shoots that they could eat. Zhao Xi cut some of them and fed Ping An. They were heading back when they came across a rat¡¯s nest. Zhao Xi lit a poultice and threw it inside the nest. The smell drove out the rats, and they found themselves attacked by Ping An¡¯s paw or Zhao Xi¡¯s knife. They caught at least five rats, which would be enough meal for Ping An for a while. Zhao Xi returned to see that Shen Fei was pleasantly bathing in the water, with his eyes closed and resting, his back against the side of the pool. She wanted to bathe in the hot spring as well, but she was hesitant to share the same pool with Shen Fei. She didn¡¯t really mind but felt that Shen Fei might object to it, or he might be uncomfortable. So, she went to find other hot springs nearby to see if the pools were big enough to hold her. They were smaller than the one Shen Fei was bathing in, they could hardly submerge her body. She found one that was big enough to hold her if she crouched down. So, she took off her clothes and entered the pool. It was definitely relaxing. She began washing herself, but she heard the bamboo tubes exploding. She had left it to heat in the fire; it was a pity that they would have to miss a meal. She sighed. She didn¡¯t mind starving if she could have a moment more in this hot water, but Shen Fei was sick, and he needed his energy. She hurriedly put on the outer garment and went to check the food and medicine. One of the bamboo tubes had exploded. It was Shen Fei¡¯s medicine. She almost burnt her hands fishing the tubes out of the fire. She wrapped them in one of the garments nearby and took them out. Shen Fei had also heard the explosion and was looking at the fire when he saw Zhao Xi crouching down to save the other tubes, only in a light outer garment which almost exposed her chest, and her long legs. Zhao Xi didn¡¯t have time to worry about her exposed skin. She checked the tube that had exploded to see if she could salvage some remaining medicine. The lid has exploded, and the sides were broken. Fortunately, half of the medicine was still left. When she had successfully saved all three tubes, she realized that she was scantily dressed. She was thankful that it was just her and Shen Fei though, nobody else was in the area. She trusted Shen Fei, he wasn¡¯t the type of person to take advantage of other people¡¯s uncomfortable situations. She did wish he would feel something for her or like her. She went back to her pool, washed herself and scrubbed her hair. She dressed and came back to the fire. She then helped Shen Fei out of the pool and dried him. She helped him dress and tucked him back in the blankets. She tied the extra blanket around him. Since his hands were tucked inside the blankets, she fed him spoonful from the bamboo tubes. She had made bacon and rice which steamed fragrantly in the tube; she hoped he liked it. He never suggested his likes and dislikes, so Zhao Xi was still uncertain on what his favorites were. Shen Fei ate little. He would open his mouth to say he was full, and Zhao Xi would just stuff another spoonful in his mouth. In the end, she made him finish everything. Shen Fei was in a rare mood. He didn¡¯t want to go back. Instead, he wanted to look around. Perhaps he thought the acupuncture had gone wrong, and he was going to die, so he wanted to see as much as he can of the world around him. Zhao Xi considered whether she should tell him that she thought his body was trying to detoxify itself, so he was having these symptoms. But she wasn¡¯t sure of it either. So, she left him be. She didn¡¯t want to give him some false hope. Zhao Xi had her back turned to him, and she was packing their things when she heard a faint voice calling her name. ¡°Zhao Xi¡­.¡± She turned to him; he was no longer in his wheelchair. Shen Fei had fallen on the ground and was helplessly sighing, ¡°You left me behind.¡± Chapter 52 - A Price Paid In Advance (1) Chapter 52 ¨C A Price Paid in Advance (1) The mountain trail wasn¡¯t easy. It was a rugged path with bumps and peaks. It was tiring to push the wheelchair. Zhao Xi had pushed it for the entire day, and she was tired. Her hands were sore. To save herself some energy, she had turned the wheelchair and tied it to Ping An, occasionally trying to stabilize the wheelchair while the bear pulled it through. Zhao Xi was lost in her thoughts, and since she wasn¡¯t steering the wheelchair, she didn¡¯t notice a sudden lightness in weight. She had wrapped Shen Fei in blankets, so he hadn¡¯t even made a sound when he fell to the ground. Fortunately, the blankets were thick enough, so he wasn¡¯t hurt. The blankets weren¡¯t so lucky. One side had a dark, muddy patch on it. She helped him up, tried to wipe as much mud off as possible, and continued the journey. After they reached home, she took the blanket off and washed it, and hung it outside to dry. When she entered the room, she found that he wasn¡¯t reading as he always did. He was propped up on his back and gazing outside the window. His gaze was filled with envy and longing for the flying birds and the chattering squirrels in the tree. She felt sorry for him. When the choice was between staying paralyzed or risking his life for an uncertain possibility of recovery, he had chosen the latter. Zhao Xi remembered the first time she met him; she had told him that his legs might never be able to recover. Her tone had been unsure then. Perhaps he took it to mean that there was still hope. He was too proud, he would choose to risk his life even if there was a tiny possibility, than depend lifelong on somebody else. He reminded her of a dragon. In the myths, a dragon could stay stranded for eternity, but death was kinder for them than imprisonment. Zhao Xi through why anyone would choose death over a possibility of survival. But she hadn¡¯t felt the hopelessness that Shen Fei did. Maybe if she had been injured, and fallen into a valley, been found by a stranger who had access to every part of her body, unable to protest or defend herself, if she had to depend on them for even the smallest possible task, then perhaps she would feel as despairing as he would. Perhaps she would have chosen death too. Zhao Xi found that she admired Shen Fei¡¯s quiet strength. He had accepted his predicament and had persevered. He had swallowed his pride and made the most out of the situation he had. He tried to do anything he could to help himself. He read medical texts, drank his medicine on time, and exercised and massaged himself as much as he could. He worked very hard on himself and didn¡¯t let the helplessness get a hold of him. His tenacity had affected Zhao Xi, too. She had abandoned the idea of trapping him here with her. She felt guilty planning to keep him here when he tried, with every fiber of his being, to get well somehow. She had diligently hunted for the brittle snake and dedicated herself to prepare for the next acupuncture to make him better. ¡°Shen Fei, do you still want to go through with the acupuncture today?¡± asked Zhao Xi. One acupuncture had already made him sweat profusely and cough up blood. After a tormenting night yesterday, he had finally seemed a little bit better today. She didn¡¯t know if the procedure today would worsen his condition. She had never performed Rupture Acupuncture on any human before. It was a very dangerous procedure. Some patients had agreed to do it, and then changed their minds the next day. She didn¡¯t blame them. Shen Fei had been the first to consent and then go through with the process. Even when Zhao Xi had outlined the risks to his life, he had dared to undergo it. She had never come across any condition similar to his, so she had only learned from the books. However, the person in the book had died and that made Zhao Xi very anxious. She didn¡¯t want Shen Fei to die of blood rupture too. He was so young, and full of endless knowledge and potential. She couldn¡¯t bear it if he died. ¡°We don¡¯t have to do it. We can always attempt it when you are better,¡± she suggested. Shen Fei tore his gaze away from the window and looked at her, smiling sadly, ¡°If we stop today, wouldn¡¯t I have to endure everything all over again?¡± That was true. A single treatment lasted seven days. If they stopped now, they will have to repeat the process all over again, and there was no knowing how severe the next time would be. ¡°Your body is too weak right now, and it might be dangerous if we continue. We can wait until winter has passed. It will be easier to bear,¡± insisted Zhao Xi. It would be easier for him to heal once it was warm. She also guiltily felt that he would stay for a bit longer with her, if they waited. She knew that he would leave soon, after he was healed. Shen Fei shook his head, and resolved, ¡°No. It is pretty painful. Once is enough. Let¡¯s just do it.¡± Every needle struck a painful blow. It was indeed torture. The needles sometimes pierced through flesh and muscles till the bone. It was good that his legs hadn¡¯t completely lost their sensation. They would still bruise and sting. Granted that they weren¡¯t as sensitive as before, but they were still reacting to the stimulus. Whenever Zhao Xi placed the needles, Shen Fei¡¯s calves would spasm. It was an indication that her method was correct, and his legs were healing. However, the method was very painful, and he might not be able to brave it a second time. Chapter 53 - A Price Paid In Advance (2) Chapter 53 ¨C A Price Paid in Advance (2) Zhao Xi knew all this. Still, she was surprised. She had spent an eternity thinking she had done something wrong, because Shen Fei had never ever talked about the pain. Pain was good. Absence of pain meant loss of sensitivity. She had thought he was going to die, because she thought he didn¡¯t feel the pain. She was relieved. She trusted Ping An as well. It had let Shen Fei touch its tail, which meant it had accepted him as well. It was believed that black dogs know when death was coming, if a person was going to die, the dog would bite and snap and guard the door. A black bear was often compared with black dogs. It was believed that these animals had a keen sense of hearing and smell, and they knew when death¡¯s shadow fell. Once, when Zhao Xi had returned from hunting with Ping An, it had refused to leave her side. It had made a groaning sound, like a sob. She was very confused. After a while, she felt a pain in her heart. When she checked her pulse, she realized she had been poisoned. She had prepared and drank the antidote and recovered. Zhao Xi, therefore, held onto this faint hope. Ping An had never shown any remorse, or sobbed when Shen Fei¡¯s condition deteriorated, so she held onto that as a positive sign. She took a deep breath, and prepared herself, ¡°Alright then. Let¡¯s begin.¡± Shen Fei didn¡¯t speak but removed the pillows from behind him and laid down. Zhao Xi cleaned the needles repeatedly, stalling for time. She boiled the medicine and wiped his body. She closed the doors and windows and plugged the gaps with clothes. She felt calmer now and walked to the bed to start the process. Shen Fei tried to lay on his stomach, but she stopped him. ¡°It¡¯s okay. You don¡¯t need to turn,¡± she said. The procedure went on successfully. However, Shen Fei¡¯s response was different. Yesterday, Shen Fei had endured without any major reactions till the ninth needle. But today, she heard a sharp intake of breath after the third needle. He was palpitating, it was hard and more painful for him to bear. ¡°Don¡¯t move. We are almost done,¡± she said, looking at him with concern. Shen Fei tried to resist the pain and keep still. He had made a fist, and Zhao Xi could see that his nails had drawn blood from his palms. He writhed and struggled, trying to keep still. The painful procedure finally ended. Shen Fei was drenched in sweat. Zhao Xi noticed that his feet were shaking more than when the procedure was done yesterday. His calves were trembling only slightly yesterday. But today, he was shivering and shaking from calves to ankle. The pain was unbearable, and his ankle jerked. This almost unlatched the needle stuck there, and Zhao Xi hurriedly pressed him down to stop him from moving too much. Otherwise, all the effort and all the pain would have been in vain. If one of the needles broken within his skin, it would not only be extremely difficult to remove but also would undo the effectiveness of all the other needles. This was why Rupture Acupuncture was extremely complicated and dangerous. Fortunately, the needles were stronger and reliable than she thought. To her relief, they all stayed in place on different points of Shen Fei¡¯s body. Zhao Xi removed the needles one by one, and she massaged his acupuncture points. All the pain wasn¡¯t futile. It was evident that Shen Fei could feel more sensation in his legs than before. If Zhao Xi applied even a little force when massaging his legs, his brows would be scrunched in pain. This was good news. It was a radical improvement. It meant that if they continued with the process, Shen Fei would definitely recover! Zhao Xi was more careful today. Since she already knew the aftereffects, she had prepared him some medicine that would increase his blood circulation and decrease the blood stasis and stagnation. She mixed these medicines with his regular ones so that he could drink them together. Shen Fei felt fatigued like yesterday and slept a lot. When he awoke, he was covered in sweat. His sweat had a tint of red. Shen Fei was showing signs of blood rupture. Zhao Xi was worried out of her mind. She wiped the sweat as much as she could because she didn¡¯t want to scare him. With the profuse sweating, his hemoptysis also worsened. He coughed up blood and food whenever he ate or drank anything. He would even throw up the medicine sometimes. He was going pale and drastically losing weight. Zhao Xi tried to make different kinds of food, in the hopes that he could eat them. She even mixed the medicine in the food to make it ingestible. Zhao Xi went up the mountain to collect black fungus while he was asleep. The fungus sprung up from the ground whenever it rained. She would dry them properly and then soak them to cook later. They had to be dried because fresh fungi were poisonous. Sweet potatoes had also ripened in Zhao Xi¡¯s backyard. She picked some leaves, washed and steamed them. She dug up the potatoes and cut them into slices, mixing them with the porridge. Shen Fei was so very frail and weak; he was low on blood to begin with. If he kept losing blood, it would turn out to be fatal. Zhao Xi decided to prepare food with more iron and blood-replenishing foods. Shen Fei was able to ingest medicine through food more than when he drank it separately. Perhaps, when mixed with food, the bitterness was a bit tamed. So, Zhao Xi decided to mix them in the food instead. However, her expertise in cooking was limited. She didn¡¯t know many varieties to prepare. She planned to go down the mountain to the village around afternoon, when Shen Fei was asleep, to ask Aunt Liu for some of her recipes. This way, she could cook something different so that it would be easier for his body to ingest. Zhao Xi found that Aunt Liu was very occupied, so she helped her with some household chores. She asked for help with some recipes. It was already seven in the evening. She rushed back up the mountain, thinking he might be anxious or sicker. Chapter 54 - A Price Paid In Advance (3) Chapter 54 ¨C A Price Paid in Advance (3) He had a splitting headache, and he was sticky with sweat. Shen Fei had opened the window and realized that it was a month deep in November. The two trees outside the window were almost bare, the scene looked lonely, and the air was cold. If she was here, she would sternly tell him that he had lost his window privileges because he hadn¡¯t covered himself properly. He smiled to himself. He was so grateful for everything she had done, saving him, nursing him back to health, and now trying to help him recover. Zhao Xi dedicated herself in caring for him, washing him, cooking for him, carrying him to wherever he wanted to go. She would sometimes sit and read. She wasn¡¯t especially fond of any other text, but she devoured any medical texts she found. She had taken him to the hot spring several times, even when the path was so rugged and difficult. She sometimes had to lift him with the wheelchair around ditches. When he looked at her with guilt or concern, she would always reassure him that he wasn¡¯t very heavy, that he was lighter than Ping An. But he had seen her silently rubbing her wrists in pain when she thought he wasn¡¯t looking. The entire circumstance was taking a toll on Zhao Xi, and he knew it. He would find her applying medicine to her hands for the ache and soreness, in the fear that her hands would shake and ruin the acupuncture. It was impossible for Shen Fei to not feel grateful and moved. Shen Fei closed the window and inched closer to the bedside table, reaching for the jar of water. He had slept for the entire day. He was parched. He imagined her telling him off for drinking water that was so cold. She was in his head even when she wasn¡¯t physically here. Zhao Xi cared about the littlest thing. She wouldn¡¯t let him eat spicy food, wouldn¡¯t let him stay inside the whole day, wouldn¡¯t let him read all day as it was bad for his eyes. She always found one excuse or another to make him come out in the sunlight. She insisted it was good for the body. But he knew she was too impatient and too anxious to leave him alone by himself, so she took him everywhere she went. Zhao Xi was always raring to go. She didn¡¯t know what else to do if she wasn¡¯t doing everything at once. In the mornings, she would water the plants, run, practice martial arts, and went for a stroll to pick fruits. Ever since the last incident where Shen Fei had gotten angry, she hadn¡¯t forced him to climb trees again. So, she went up the tree alone and picked fruits, while he spread out his clothes at the foot of the tree to collect the fruits she dropped. Their life was ordinary, tranquil and self-reliant. He had been unaccustomed to the quiet lifestyle, but as time went by, he became increasingly comfortable and fascinated with it. Some days, both went to the riverside to fish and pick the freshly bloomed lotuses. They made wine and combed beehives. Once, the bees had attacked her. Since he was always wrapped tightly in the blankets, he was safe. She had run to him and snuggled inside the blanket with him, covering them both. Zhao Xi had a keen eyesight, she could see in the dark clearly, while he wasn¡¯t used to it. He knew that when they were snuggled together in the blankets, she would gawk at him. Her gaze was always so sharp and unignorable. She would sometimes look at him when she thought he couldn¡¯t see her. He knew she looked at him tenderly when she thought he was asleep sometimes. He put down the jar of water and pushed back the covers. He wanted to walk, but he knew what she would say. And he didn¡¯t want to undo everything that the procedure had achieved and increase Zhao Xi¡¯s trouble. While he was lost thinking about her, she finally returned, patting the flour off of her as she came in. ¡°Shen Fei, you are awake! Do you want to see what I found?¡± she asked, excitedly. Aunt Liu had been frying something that Zhao Xi had never seen before. As always, Aunt Liu had given her some of it. In the winters, everybody fried or dried the remaining food that they had, to preserve them for the winter. She had wrapped the curious biscuits to keep them warm as she headed up the mountain. She offered him some, and he took one. He took a bite of it and quite liked it. It was crisp but not greasy. He took another one, making Zhao Xi giddy with joy. She ate only one and kept the rest to heat it in the afternoon the next day, for him. She cooked fried chicken and fish for dinner. She added some vegetables, mushrooms and noodles to make it healthier. She added a lot of water to make it soupy. Shen Fei gulped down two whole bowls of the dish. He found it so tasty; he had never eaten something so simple yet so delicious. Late that night, she performed another acupuncture on him, this time up to his chest. Her hands were steady now, and she was more confident. She pressed all the acupuncture points before she stuck her needles so she wouldn¡¯t forget them. As usual, he drank his medicine after the procedure. She massaged the acupuncture points and bathed him. It was his time to sleep, he must have been tired from the acupuncture. Meanwhile, Zhao Xi washed and packed the needles. She was ready to blow out the lights to retire for the night when she realized that he hadn¡¯t slept at all. He was staring at her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you okay?¡± asked Zhao Xi, concerned. Perhaps the acupuncture had been too painful for him. ¡°I am a bit tired. Whatever you want to do, just do it quickly¡­,¡± he said, looking at her. Zhao Xi was taken aback. She was confused. It took her a while to register his words. Shen Fei¡¯s condition was growing severe. He was feeling hopeless and thought he wouldn¡¯t live for long. So, he thought he would give her what she wanted. A price paid in advance.