Jin Se

Chapter 55

Bai Li was trying his best, but he still didn't know how to look after anyone.

He'd managed to bandage Shi Wuduan's injury, but his technique was sloppy. He'd wrapped the bandages all over his torso like he was wrapping a dumpling, trying not to cover up every inch of his pale white chest. He'd bandaged him to the point that he could hardly breathe.

Both of them ignored where the injury had come from. As if observing some kind of taboo, Bai Li did everything he could to avoid touching him. His clumsy hands shirked back from his skin like he was a shy maiden forced to do something indecent. His face was both murderous and embarrassed.

Shi Wuduan didn't know what to say either, and could only let the atmosphere get stranger and stranger.

Not long ago, they'd been at each other's throats as if one had killed the other's father or stolen their wife. They hadn't instantly become closer or more affectionate. It was more like they were commiserating over their insanely terrible luck, barely maintaining a cold facade of politeness. And yet they still somehow had a kind of unspoken coordination.

Shi Wuduan figured he might as well close his eyes, pretend he was too exhausted, and rest a while. Who knew that as he rested and rested, he fell asleep. Bai Li waited till his breath evened out and he was in deep sleep before he raised his eyes again and looked at his face. He couldn't resist lightly touching his cheek. But his hand flinched back as if he'd pricked a needle. He turned and left the cave.

Shi Wuduan was awoken by the scent of something burning. He cracked open an eye and saw Bai Li frowning at a very lopsided shish-kebab in his hand as he roasted it over the fire. Yet who knew where his mind had wandered off to.

Shi Wuduan could only quietly remind him, "You know, you should at least flip it once in a while."

Bai Li startled as he came back to his senses. The flames were almost licking at his hands. He quickly glanced at Shi Wuduan, then awkwardly averted his gaze. Apparently the contents of his daydreaming had involved him.

It took some effort for Shi Wuduan to sit up. He leaned against the walls of the cave and watched him for a while. He could only sigh that though Bai Li had focus in spades, he was severely lacking the talent.

He'd been avoiding talking to Bai Li because he really didn't know what to say. But he was afraid that the mangled thing in Bai Li's hand was the only thing he'd be able to eat. A moment later, all he could do was point out for him, "Move it a bit higher, the fire's not as hot there."

Bai Li didn't even lift his head, so focused was he on cooking that sacred shish-kebab nothing else in the wold even existed. But he did at least move the shish-kebab up a bit.

It was only a pity that he was utterly clueless. Upon hearing that the center of the flame wasn't hot, he thought matter-of-factly that the outside of the flame must be hot, so he raised the kebab too high. A while later, Shi Wuduan piped up again, "isn't... isn't your arm sore? Even if you were trying to make smoked meat, that's not how you do it."

Bai Li finally spared him a glance. He'd intended to say that it only needed to be edible, why fuss so much about the details. But when he saw Shi Wuduan, unable to sit up straight, curling one of his legs to his chest, looking exhausted yet relaxed, that hateful mask of his gone, he seemed especially pleasing to the eye.

So, on account of how pleasing to the eye he was, Bai Li moved the kebab down a bit in a rare show of patience and slowly flipped the kebab back and forth.