When Xiao YuAn saw Yan HeQing fall off the bed-board, Xiao YuAn couldn’t help but howl in his heart: ‘His wounds! It wasn’t easy for me to stop them from bleeding, and now they’re going to split open again!!!’
Xiao YuAn really didn’t expect that Yan HeQing’s reaction would be so big. Was perhaps the Male Lead of a harem novel actually scared of women who were too direct? Xiao YuAn found this thought kinda amusing, and held back the laugh that wanted to escape from his mouth. He quickly stepped forward and pulled Yan HeQing back onto the bed-board: “Gongzi! Are you alright?! Do your wounds hurt? Do you want me to change your bandages and apply fresh medicine? Your wounds hadn’t healed yet, so don’t split them open again!”
Yan HeQing’s hair fell a bit loose, and he was extremely confused. After coming back to reality, he asked tentatively: “What did you just say?”
Xiao YuAn wasn’t shameless enough to repeat it again, and he wanted to save some face, so he coughed softly and said while helping Yan HeQing lay on the bed: “It’s nothing, Gongzi. You should rest now, I was just being careless and said some nonsense. Don’t take it to heart, I….”
Xiao YuAn’s words suddenly stopped because Yan HeQing pulled him into his arms, making him lay down in bed together with him, without saying a word.
As the sudden warmth surrounded Xiao YuAn’s body, his eyes slowly widened open.
“Let’s sleep. Goodnight.” Yan HeQing said with a soft tone of voice.
“Ah…. yes, alright.” Xiao YuAn was feeling a little bit uncomfortable.
As he felt that Yan HeQing’s breath gradually stabilized, Xiao YuAn seemed to be in a trance-like state.
He thought: ‘So, this is how it feels to be held to sleep?’
In Xiao YuAn’s memory, his mother had never held him. Whenever he recalled his mother, the first memory he thought of was her sitting on the balcony, looking thin and small, staring at the outside. And while the wind was blowing around her, her thin body seemed as if it would fall apart at any moment.
Xiao YuAn could still remember that night his mother took the sleeping pills. She tucked him in the quilt and sang him a lullaby. On that day, everything went on as usual, except for when he woke up in the middle of the night, and saw his dead mother beside him.
Who convinced her that killing herself with sleeping pills would be painless? When it was clear that his mother had died with a hideous expression on her face. She died covered in vomit and incontinence mixed together, filling the room with a foul stench.
After that, the young Xiao YuAn couldn’t sleep at night; because as soon as he closed his eyes, he would get frightened and feel cold sweat run through his body. All his dreams were about the day he found his dead mother.
This trauma wasn’t treated until he became an adult.
At that time, the young Xiao YuAn would always think: ‘How would it feel if someone hugged me, would that feel nice? And what will it feel like to be held in my sleep?’
‘Ah, so this is how it feels?’
Xiao YuAn moved his body and felt that Yan HeQing’s arm tightened a little. At this little gesture, Xiao YuAn had no other choice but to smile, close his eyes, and sleep peacefully.
In the next few days, Xiao YuAn talked to Yan HeQing as he recalled the plot of the original book. However, the only thing he could remember was the first sentence, but not what follows. Therefore, the dialogue often became somewhat strange.
For example, in the original book, Lin Shenling would say: “Listen, Gongzi, there’s Swallows. I heard the elders say that the Swallows come here every Spring….”
Since Xiao YuAn couldn’t remember the last words, he couldn’t help himself to answer: “I come here every Spring to ask the Swallows; ‘hey, why are you here?’ and the Swallows would say; ‘the Spring here is the most beautiful! Yes! The most beautiful!’…”
Xiao YuAn felt that he would be able to hold back from rambling and respect the original plot.
Another example of this was that one day, when Xiao YuAn went up the mountain, he saw a carp covered in red onyx in the stream. He remembered that in the original story, Lin Shenling also saw a red carp by the stream, and went back to tell Yan HeQing about it.
So, he also went back to find Yan HeQing and said: “Gongzi, I saw a red carp in the stream today…. uh …. a red carp fish…… ” After saying that, Xiao YuAn couldn’t remember what he was supposed to say afterwards, so he stammered for a long time: “Red carp….. yes, a red carp….. a red carp, a green carp and a donkey!”
Yan HeQing: “……”
Xiao YuAn’s words were so separated between each other, and yet, Yan HeQing didn’t question nor ignored him. However, Xiao YuAn felt that this was probably the last time the Male Lead would tolerate his “wife’s” antics.
Yan HeQing’s wounds began to gradually heal again, and there was no sign that they would split open again, which made Xiao YuAn feel even more convinced that this had something to do with the fact that he was properly following the script this time.
But….
Here comes the problem.
How come he didn’t think of it?
In the original book, the kissing and embracing each other was described with great detail, so, how will Xiao YuAn pretend to be Lin Shenling in a situation like that?!!! What’s more, what if Yan HeQing’s eyes suddenly recover and he finds out that it was Xiao YuAn beside him all along? He’ll get chopped into pieces and buried in the mountain!
Xiao YuAn was worried, extremely worried.
And while Xiao YuAn immersed himself worrying about that specific issue, two more days have passed like usual.
On this particular day, Yan HeQing was resting in the wooden cabin, while Xiao YuAn was pounding medicine outside. When suddenly, there was a rustling noise coming from the brushes not far away from the cabin. Xiao YuAn thought that it might be a badger or some other small animal, so he just threw a stone there to scare them away.
As a result, there was a cry coming from the brushes, giving Xiao YuAn a great scare.
Because it was a human voice.
As Xiao YuAn moved cautiously towards the brushes, he wondered if he had encountered an evildoer. Suddenly, a dark shadow appeared in the grass, howling and tackling Xiao YuAn to the ground.