After waking up from a nap, she felt as if she had been crushed by a roller. She ached from head to toe. Chu Qing-Yan expanded a great deal of effort to open her eyes. She planned to get up but wasn't careful and pulled at the wound on her shoulder. A burst of sharp pain woke her up in an instant.
She lifted up her right hand to cover her left shoulder, then fumbled until she touched the gauze under her cloth. The memories of the things she experienced the night before began to return one by one. Finished recalling everything, she lightly sighed. She got injured again, really bad luck! This time, she didn't know how long she would need to recuperate. It better not affect Big Block of Ice's course of travel and tempo.
Her slight movement didn't escape Xiao Xu's ears. He stood up and walked to the side of the bed. One hand lifted up the mosquito net and placed it on the silver hook, and afterwards he sat down by her bedside. "How do you feel?"
Hearing this voice, Chu Qing-Yan lifted up her head. She looked at him with eyes that had a faint watery light, at that time she thought her little life was lost for sure. But when Big Block of Ice's figure flashed through her mind, she didn't know where the strength came from, but she used it to move her body slightly to the side. Otherwise that palm strike would have hit her heart instead of her shoulder.
"It's nothing, I'm very good." The voice that was slightly choked with sobs still tried to pretend to be in good health.
The space in Xiao Xu's heart softened, his hand extended out to tuck in the quilt on her body properly. In a gentle tone, he said. "Everything has already passed, no need to be afraid."
It was rare that Big Block of Ice would be so gentle to her, the lingering fear in her heart was removed. Hearing this, Chu Qing-Yan's nose sniffled and said. "Sure enough, they are Jianghu's most dangerous people. Even their hearts are vicious. I have never seen such malicious people. To actually kill the customers then sell them as food for the next bunch of guests, then to kill the next bunch of guests. Such a cycle earned so much conscienceless money, don't know how their hearts could be peaceful?"
"People's hearts are unfathomable. The outside world is like this, the strong preys on the weak. This is only the beginning, following this there will be many more frightening things you need to face. If you are afraid, this king will dispatch people to send you back to the capital and let you be together with your parents. At the same time, this king will also dispatch people to protect you guys."
He said he was going to protect her well, but it hasn't been a few days and she was already injured. Xiao Xu started to doubt whether on this journey he could really protect her to be safe and sound.
That instant last night when he saw her spit out blood, all of a sudden his heart hurt. Starting last night, he started to question himself if in fact at that time, the decision he made to take her with him when leaving the capital was wrong.
"No, no, no, I'm not a bit afraid. Even if I was injured by a palm strike, even if that broadsword had landed, I never gave up on the hope in my heart. I knew you would definitely come to save me." When Chu Qing-Yan heard he wanted her to return to the capital, she immediately became worried. With great difficulty she was finally able to accompany Big Block of Ice, she definitely didn't want to just give up like this halfway through. Moreover, she hadn't even traveled halfway okay? They only left the capital and was on the road for a mere few days!
Hearing her trust in him, Xiao Xu's heart felt somewhat painful. Even though he finally arrived and didn't let her confidence in him down, but he still let her get injured. He couldn't help but reach out and stroke her long hair that was loose and scattered on the pillow. In a consulting manner he said. "Now we have merely traveled several days worth of distance from the capital, if you want to go back, there is still time."
"Don't want. Big Block of Ice, don't make me go back okay?" Chu Qing-Yan extended her uninjured hand to grab his hand. Both eyes glistened with tears as she said with a touch of being wronged.
"Don't act like a spoiled child, speak properly!" Every time she revealed this kind of expression, no matter how hard his heart was, it would always be softened by her. Xiao Xu held his forehead, somewhat helpless.
Seeing this trick was once again effective, Chu Qing-Yan rejoiced in her heart, and immediately planned to act spoiled to the end.
"Big Block of Ice, you don't show any understanding for me at all. I just got injured and you rush to drive me away. You aren't concerned about me at all, boo hoo, boo hoo——"Chu Qing-Yan lifted her hand to cover her eyes, her tone was mournful, as if crying full of grief.
Xiao Xu had his arms crossed and saw that she was stealthily glancing at him through the cracks of her fingers. The little fellow, sensing she had been discovered, quickly closed her fingers and sobbed. Although he knew she was pretending, he didn't know why his heart still surrendered.
"Okay, this king isn't driving you away, don't say it so pitifully. Otherwise if grandpa emperor heard this, he would think this king won't let you honor your promise to him."
Hearing this, Chu Qing-Yan immediately put away her claw, revealing a face full of being pleased with herself. Where were there even tears? Seeing the person in front of her with an appearance of I just knew it was like this, she smiled mischievously. She immediately changed the topic cleverly.
"Then how is the condition of my injury? When can I get off the bed?" She blinked her eyes and asked.
"Last night you didn't have a fever, representing that the wound didn't get infected. As long as you focus wholeheartedly on recuperating, very quickly you will be healthy and active." It's not like Xiao Xu didn't see her little thought, but he still complied with her wishes.
Hearing this, Chu Qing-Yan looked at Big Block of Ice who had traces of blood in his eyes, and couldn't help but ask. "Last night you didn't sleep at all, right?"
If it wasn't for the sake of taking care of her all night, he couldn't have appeared inside the room so coincidentally. His eyes also wouldn't have traces of being tired.
Xiao Xu rubbed her head. "It's nothing, I just can't sleep and nothing else."
"Then you should quickly go and rest! I'm fine over here. I have Xi Ning and the others to take care of me, so you should rest assured." Chu Qing-Yan immediately urged him to go and rest.
Xiao Xu saw that although she was a bit pale, her spirit wasn't bad. The most important thing was that she needed to rest right now. As a result, he nodded and got up.
When Xiao Xu exited the room, he saw Air Spirit waiting at the door. "Do you need to go in and check Qing-Yan's pulse?"
Air Spirit shook his head and said with a concerned expression. "This subordinate wants to help your highness to examine your body. Today after you fought with that black clothed person, this subordinated discovered your breathing was somewhat unsteady. Are you injured?"
Xiao Xu replied faintly. "It's nothing, don't need to be worried."
"But——" Air Spirit wanted to try and persuade but was forced to stop by the pressure from His Highness as he lifted his hand.
"Don't need to say more. This king's body condition, this king is very clear about."
Finished speaking, Xiao Xu walked into the room Lu Yi had prepared for him.
Air Spirit shook his head, no he still didn't feel assured. No matter what, he needed to check His Highness's pulse. But the decisions his Highness made, they as subordinates had never been able to change it. They had just left the capital and he was already injured, then what's to be done on the remaining road?
Air Spirit wanted to find Earth Spirit and others to discuss this, but finding them was also useless. He could only let them blindly worry and that's all!
He thought for quite a while, then when his gaze landed on the closed door behind him, a light suddenly went off in his mind. The words they say His Highness won't listen, but there was one person, her words His Highness would definitely listen to. Although he didn't want to admit it, but the situation right now won't allow him to be willful.
As a result Air Spirit knocked on the door, then a weak reply came from inside. "Come in."
He pushed opened the door and walked in. At one glance, Air Spirit saw the person lying on the bed.
"Little young master, this subordinate came to give you further diagnosis."
Chu Qing-Yan saw it was Air Spirit, so she smiled and got up. "You saved my life again, thank you for your trouble."
"Little young master, you don't need to be so polite, this is this subordinate's job." Air Spirit sat down on the chair before the bed. Afterwards, he placed his hand on her wrist, checked her eyes then tongue and finally withdrew his hand. After saying several simple sentences, all of a sudden, he hesitated somewhat on what he wanted to say.