Chapter 384 Quiet days and deep love

After Lu Jiangbei left, He Danggui paid lots of effort to carry Duan Xiaolou onto the bed because she was also weak now. She even felt tired when she walked alone. After tucking him in, she wanted to emulate Lu Jiangbei and light a fire so she could boil some soup for Duan Xiaolou, but as soon as she got out of the bed, he grabbed her wrist, dragged her back into his arms, and covered her with the quilt.

He Danggui was shocked for a moment and then, she patted his chest and said, “Let go of me. Don’t do this. I need to cook porridge for you. Duan Xiaolou?”

With his eyes closed, Duan Xiaolou replied in a hoarse voice and sounded tired, which made He Danggui feel itchy on her forehead. He said, “Everyone can cook porridge. Just let Jiangbei do this when he comes back. Your duty is to take care of me. You should do whatever I say.”

He Danggui understood at once and asked in shock, “It turns out that you are not sleeping. You were already awake when Master Lu got here. Did you pretend to be unconscious when I carried you onto the bed?”

Duan Xiaolou didn’t answer her question but asked, “Why did he suddenly become your uncle? What happened between the two of you?”

He Danggui also felt confused about this so she shook her head and replied, “I don’t know. He said I was lonely and my family didn’t take good care of me so he insisted on becoming my uncle. I felt strange as well. He even wanted to take responsibility for me and marry me. He changed his mind so fast!” Finishing her words, she knew she had a slip of the tongue so she covered her mouth and felt nervous. Why was she still in the state of being manipulated and keeping telling truth? Was Duan Xiaolou still extorting a confession from her?

Without opening his eyes, Duan Xiaolou tightened his arms around her waist and shouted, “He wanted to take responsibility for you? Why? What did he do to you?”

He Danggui kneaded her ears for a while and explained, “He did nothing. He is an upright man. He treated me with Ba Huang Finger before and stayed alone with me in this icehouse. He was afraid I might feel offended so he said those things. Now he is my uncle. Why are you still jealous? You’re the only one I always think about and I’ve ever loved.” These words kept coming out of her mouth like the chirps of orioles and she couldn’t stop herself at all.

He Danggui goggled in surprise. What was she talking about? Was she confessing her love to Duan Xiaolou in a sweet tone that only lovers would have?

Duan Xiaolou heard it and opened his eyes. He smiled and replied, “I finally know your true thoughts. I thought I wouldn’t hear it all my life.” He touched her face and continued after a sigh, “Although I can read your mind through your eyes, I won’t believe them if you don’t say these sweet words. No matter how affectionately you looked at me before, I still think that was my misunderstanding.”

Before she could correct her “slip of the tongue”, He Danggui raised Duan Xiaolou’s eyelids with her fingers and observed his eyes. She asked in anxiety, “Why are there so many red veins in your eyes suddenly? My precious, do your eyes hurt? I’ll go get you an icy handkerchief to apply it to your eyes.”

Then, she didn’t have time to slap herself for saying weird things or think about why she called him “my precious” inexplicably. She just tried to break away from Duan Xiaolou’s embrace and get some crushed ice to make an icy handkerchief. But why couldn’t she move? Didn’t she block the main acupoints of him with silver needles so that he couldn’t exert internal force? How could he still hold her so tightly? She was already strong enough. Qing’er always praised her and called her “Popeye”, which sounded very cool.

“Clap!” She patted her head once. What was she thinking about? She couldn’t think straight at all. After a sigh, she began to think about her weird behaviors. What happened to her? After Duan Xiaolou got into the icehouse as an invisible man, she almost lost control of her whole body. She got excited and impulsive easily and she kept saying what she was thinking about verbatim… Was Duan Xiaolou really the “only” one she had ever loved? Was that her true thought? Who concluded it for her?

Right. Lu Jiangbei had left Duan Xiaolou a bottle of vulneraries. Where was it? She suddenly thought of it and remembered she had put it into her sleeve, but when she rummaged the sleeve, it was empty. She got anxious and tried to find it in her chest and waist but she got nothing. Then, she pushed Duan Xiaolou’s arms and said, “I can’t find the vulnerary for you. Let me go now! There are many red veins in your eyes. I must help you…”

“Heal me in my arms, Qingyi.” Duan Xiaolou interrupted her and asked, “Please let me hold you for a while. It’s really hard to wait for you to come back to me. I know. You need to leave here, right? You’re engaged to another man, right?” He surrounded her with the fragrance of pear blossom and made her indulge in it.

He Danggui gave up running away and lay on his chest lightly. At this time, she became very honest as she never did before and said, “Yes. Although I always think about you and feel sad when seeing you being like this, I’m already…” She didn’t say the name of Meng Xuan clearly by covering her mouth in haste. “I’m already engaged to ‘Mu Xian’. Moreover, every time I see him, I feel happy. I also care about him and respect him very much so I believe we will live a peaceful life.”

“I see. You care about and respect Mr. Mu and feel happy with him.” Duan Xiaolou said slowly, “What about me? How do you feel every time you see me? Will you feel unsafe if you marry me?”

He Danggui struggled once anxiously and pleaded, “Let me find the bottle of vulneraries left by Master Lu and bind up your wound again. Then, we can talk while lying quietly like this, okay?”

“The vulneraries are here.” Duan Xiaolou showed her his left hand and replied, “It fell out of your sleeve when you carried me and I picked it up.”

He Danggui began to recall what happened just now. She carried Duan Xiaolou who was tall and heavy with difficulty while he, in a “coma”, put one of his arms on her chest. She felt uncomfortable and pushed it twice but she still couldn’t move it away. Thinking his palm got hurt and he was suffering from Qi Deviation, she decided to ignore it. However, it turned out that he did it on purpose! He wasn’t that heavy before. When she pulled him on the tree three years ago, he wasn’t very heavy… Now she realized Duan Xiaolou would also be a rascal.

“Give it to me now!” She tried to wrest the bottle of vulneraries from his palm but failed. Then, she kept a straight face and admonished, “First, you shouldn’t hurt your body randomly because it’s the most basic filial piety. Second, your colleagues and friends are missing. To send you the bottle of vulneraries, Master Lu wasted some time he should’ve spent on saving lives and got drenched. His face became horrible as well. Thus, you shouldn’t let him down. Third and foremost, everyone in the villa has been missing but it will be hard for Master Lu to save them alone. You should recover soon and go to him to offer help. Therefore…” She tried to get the medicine bottle as big as a walnut again but she still failed. She asked in anger, “Are you giving it to me or not? I’ll leave you alone if you keep doing this!”

Duan Xiaolou’s eyes were filled with red veins now. He finally couldn’t hold on and closed his eyes but he still clenched the medicine bottle. He negotiated with her, “Answer me three questions and I will give it to you, or I would rather leave my right hand to be maimed.”

It was weird. The vulneraries in his palm were for his wound but it looked like he was threatening He Danggui with her life. He said that seriously and He Danggui felt anxious. Neither of them sensed anything strange. He Danggui pleaded, “Two or three sinews of your hand are broken. We can’t stall anymore. Saving your hand is like putting out a fire. My precious, you’re already a marquis now so please stop being childish and overlooking your injury.”

“Question one,” Duan Xiaolou ignored her pleading and asked with his eyes closed, “are you happier when you see me or when you’re with Mr. Mu? Will you choose me or him if you get a second chance?”

“There are two questions.” He Danggui reminded him.

“Answer me!”

“I…” She bit her lip once and replied carefully, “When I was with you before, all my worries could be swept away and I was happier than I had ever been. This time, however, when I met you and learned from others what had happened to you recently, I felt sad for you. Let me apply the vulneraries for you first, okay?” In fact, she still felt happy now. As long as she heard his voice and saw his face, her heart kept pounding. She hadn’t felt so excited for a long time.

But she couldn’t say such sweet words even though she was manipulated by some evil “magic power” and forced to be honest. “Gentlemen stay cautious even though they are alone.” “People’s whispers are like thunder to God and their secret movements will all be seen at last.” She heard of these sayings before. Since she had been engaged to Meng Xuan, she shouldn’t change her mind. When she stayed with a man in the same room, she should presume that Meng Xuan was also there. Only in this way could she face Meng Xuan without feeling guilty after she went back to Yangzhou City.

“If you didn’t meet him, would you marry me?” Duan Xiaolou asked his second question.

He Danggui stared at him blankly and replied, “There’s no ‘if’. He is waiting for me at home now. I should keep my words, especially to him.” She felt anxious and fluttered as soon as she thought Meng Xuan might “cry piteously” for medicine in her bedroom like a weak but arrogant man. He must’ve been worried since she had been missing for five days.

“Then, if I kill him, will you avenge his death on me and kill me, Qingyi?”

With her eyes wide open, He Danggui asked seriously, “But why? Why do you have to kill him? Can’t you just let me go and wish me a happy marriage since I’ve found my love? You did it when you returned to the capital two years ago, didn’t you?”

Hearing what she said, Duan Xiaolou opened his eyes abruptly and held the medicine bottle to his eyes. While examining it, he said slowly, “You got two answers wrong so I can’t give it to you.” Then, he threw the round white medicine bottle out of his hand. It hit the hard ice wall and broke into pieces. The blue powder in it spilled on the ground. Looking at He Danggui who was too shocked to say anything, he announced complacently, “You’re the one who makes my right hand maim. I want you to feel guilty for the rest of your life.”

After throwing the bottle and saying this, he finally closed his eyes with satisfaction, breathed steadily, and fell asleep.

Since they parted in Yangzhou City two years ago, he almost hadn’t slept because he was afraid that he might recall what they had been through before He Danggui and he “broke up peacefully”. It was nothing rare for martial arts experts to skip sleep. As long as they used proper methods and adjusted their breaths regularly, they didn’t have to sleep. However, these days Duan Xiaolou had no time to adjust his breaths or take a break. He used the ice mask to soothe his tiredness before but since it had been removed now, he couldn’t hide his weariness anymore and his eyes were full of red veins.

He thought she didn’t know how to leave the icehouse or swim out of the lake so this time she would never be able to leave him. While thinking about this, he fell asleep with ease. He had the best sleep he had had in these two years and began to dream as soon as he closed his eyes. He even snored slightly.

Without being held by Duan Xiaolou’s arms, He Danggui stumbled out of the bed and ran to where the blue powder spilled. She recognized that was the best Sinew-reconnecting cream that could reconnect people’s sinews, promote tissue regeneration, and stop bleeding. It was a secret vulnerary from western Hunan Province. Thus, she took out her dagger hastily and wiped it with the hemline of her robe. Then, she used it to scrape the powder off the ground carefully and put it on her handkerchief. While scraping it, she couldn’t help weeping. Why?

Why did they always hurt themselves badly? Why did he use his bleeding wound to bluff her and threaten her? What should she do with him? Duan Xiaolou was still childish and Meng Xuan always liked to act coquettishly. She met the two innocent and puerile men accidentally and both of them loved her. Was she lucky or not?