August 15th, the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, should be a day of admiring the lanterns and the moon, but unexpectedly it coincided with torrential rain.
The ear-splitting thunder rippled through the air, and suddenly a strong white light lit up the sky, drawing the General's estate out of the darkness.
The lightning was relentless, like a sharp arrow, a thorn. The light passing through the thin window paper, and casting the man sitting on the bedside in a demonic light.
"The skin trauma is okay, it will only take time to heal. The worst part is his eyes that were splashed with mulberry seeds." He couldn't understand who could be so vicious, they will be condemned by God sooner or later. Doctor Liu sighed, "Young Master Xin's eyes originally..."
He stopped, feeling his words were wrong, and found a slightly more euphemistic statement, "In the winter and summer, he may feel an unbearable burning sensation. Remember not to scratch or cry."
Lu Shenxing listened silently. He was home sick and did not enter the palace to attend the banquet. His mood was unclear.
The bloody clothes beside the bed still exuded a fishy smell, Xin Liang had many criss-crossing whip marks on his body, overlapping, and filled with blood and water. The skin across his while backiwas broken, fleshy, and his chest was bloody, with a barely distinguishable brand.
"Such a wonderful child..." Doctor Liu applied ointment to the wounds little by little, and couldn't help sighing, "What a goddamn..."
Listening to Doctor Liu talking, Lu Shenxing looked down and a very dark cold light flashed across his eyes, as a certain thought crossed his mind.
Xin Liang didn't cry from beginning to end, but when the pain was severe, he just frowned, his shoulders trembled and he moved lightly. Blood leaked from his tight lips.
"Young Master Xin, call it out if it hurts." Doctor Liu removed the bloody cloth, "It will also allow me to grasp the severity."
Xin Liang opened his mouth, his voice hoarse, "It's nothing."
After the pain, everything was numb.
Lu Shenxing's eyes were hot and he raised his head. Even if all of fucking Dayang died, it had nothing to do with him, but seeing Xin Liang's injuries, the first sentence when he woke up was to find out of he was okay. He felt uncomfortable with the feelings in his heart.
He wasn't a boy who would be flabbergasted. He'd been in a serious relationship before, and there had also been lovers who'd talked about marriage. He knows what his own feelings were.
It wasn't pity, he felt distressed.
There is a difference between these two words, which made Lu Shenxing unconsciously resist, avoid, and deny them.
The smell in his nose was a mix of medicine and blood, a thunder blasted in his ears, and all of Lu Shenxing's scattered thoughts rushed back together in an instant. He spit on himself for getting entangled in this shit. I was such a massive moron.
Thinking this in his heart, Lu Shenxing accidentally said it out loud.
Doctor Liu wanted to find something to break the heavy atmosphere, so he asked, "What is a moron?"
"...handsome, charming and suave." Lu Shenxing didn't even stutter.
"Then the General is indeed a moron." Doctor Liu nodded and admitted, and then asked the other person present, "Young Master Xin, don't you think?"
Lu Shenxing looked away and rolled his eyes.
Thin and dense beads of sweat rolled down Xin Liang's pale face. He heard their words and wanted to find Lu Shenxing's direction. He tried to move his neck with great effort, but it was only in vain.
Catching his movements, Lu Shenxing walked over and stood beside Xin Liang, "I am here."
Xin Liang settled down.
"Young Master Xin, don't shake, it's not easy to apply medicine like this."
Seeing Doctor Liu put his head on Xin Liang's leg, they looked a little awkward. Lu Shenxing rolled up his cuffs and said solemnly, "I'll do it."
After he spoke, he took the ointment from Doctor Liu's hand, poured some and applied it to Xin Liang's leg.
The place was touched, and Xin Liang didn't groan in pain any more. The embarrassed man trembled slightly, "Let...let Doctor Liu..."
Doctor Liu saw that the wound was about to rupture, and hurried over.
"Don't move!" Lu Shenxing grabbed Xin Liang's ankle, the vein in his temple jumped wildly, "Doctor Liu, let it be, I have to do this."
He really wanted to refute the last sentence, but then Doctor Liu saw Xin Liang's ears become red. He touched his nose and knew he'd discovered something that he shouldn't know. But since he already knew, then he should just ignore it.
Not knowing where Lu Shenxing had touched, Xin Liang's back arched and he gasped suddenly.
Doctor Liu on the side picked up the paper and blew the wet ink on it, "General, everyone is a little sensitive."
Lu Shenxing raised his arm and wiped the sweat dripping in his eyes. He glanced at Xin Liang, then at the place he had just touched. He evenly spread the layer of ointment with the pads of his fingers, unavoidably hearing Xin Liang's gasp again.
After treating all of Xin Liang's wounds and wrapping him into a big dumpling, Lu Shenxing was tired and sweaty.
"This is to eliminate scars." Doctor Liu handed over the prescription, "Soak once every half a month. Don't use hot water."
"He can't get under the hot water." Lu Shenxing interjected, "It's not rocket science."
Doctor Liu coughed, "General, follow me."
Lu Shenxing raised his eyebrows and walked behind the screen with him, "Let's talk, what's the matter?"
Doctor Liu coughed twice before saying, "Young Master Xin has a weak physique. If you are too intense, he will be overwhelmed. General, please be gentle."
"..." Lu Shenxing murmured, his tone was too quiet to discern, then he bit out through gritted teeth, "Do I look like I have a habit of being cut sleeve?"
Doctor Liu looked at him, incredulous, "Don't you?"
Lu Shenxing's face turned dark, and he turned to the door and shouted, "Old Wu, send Doctor Liu back!"
When the two were passing each other, Doctor Liu stuffed a small bottle over and said in a low voice, "Hold onto this."
Lu Shenxing took it smoothly and put it in his sleeve. By the time he realised what it was, Dr. Liu had already left out the door, got in the carriage and left.
Returning to the bed, Lu Shenxing spread the medicine on the cloth strips, staring at Xin Liang's eyes, they clearly had beautiful lines, but they are dull and lifeless.
After a long time, he covered all the cloth strips.
Xin Liang tilted his neck, "Doctor Liu is gone?"
"En."
Lu Shenxing touched Xin Liang's hanging hair, I'll avenge you.
A warm current gathered in the heart, and it rushed to his hands and feet making his feel like he was floating, Xin Liang lowered his head and buried it in the pillow, his lips bent.
What surprised Lu Shenxing was that Xin Liang suffered such severe injuries, but instead of a trace of despair and pain, his world became brighter.
In the latter half of the night, a violent wind broke out, the sky cracked, the windows clattered, and the candlesticks in the room shook, the candlelight flickering frantically before finally blowing out.
Lu Shenxing fumbled about, but before he reached Xin Liang, there was a loud clap outside the door.
The old housekeeper at the door had tears in his eyes, and Lu Shenxing had already guessed the reason in his heart.
Lu Shenxing didn't care about wearing shoes or socks, rushing out into the rain with bare feet, and quickly running into the western courtyard. He wiped the rain off his face, and his soaked shirt was tightly attached to his limbs. He shivered suddenly.
The woman on the bed lay quietly, her hands hanging by her sides, her face peaceful, her chest without any undulations.
Lu Shenxing put a strand of white hair behind her ear, then smoothed out the wrinkles and creases in her clothes.
After he'd finished, Lu Shenxing stepped back two steps, and an unknown maid cried behind him, pulling the grief if death into everyone's eyes.
The old butler knelt down, tears running down his thin, sunken face, "General, the old lady has left——"
Soon, the room was full of people kneeling. Some people wept for the one who they had been waiting on years disappearing, and some people cried to vent their worries about their future.
Lu Shenxing buried Wangshi on Mt. Hubao, where she was born. From the memories of Chang Zhou, he knew that she missed that place very much.
Fallen leaves return to their roots, and finally rest in peace.
A few days later, when three weather had cleared, Lu Shenxing received the Emperor's secret decree that circumstances had changed in Kuhai, and ordered him to set off on the same day and rush back to West Wolf City.
After Xin Liang had an accident, Xin Hongyuan, who had never cared for him, had somehow heard word, and he actually came, bringing Xin Xiaoran to take him son away.
"General Chang, I...I..." Xin Xiaoran blushed and whispered, "I want to go to West Wolf City, can you take me?"
She originally thought this person was rough and ugly, but when they met, she found that he was strong and tall, and his conversation was calm, which was not what she had expected.
And so, she thought of a plan.
Lu Shenxing swept his probing eyes back and forth and understood.
"Miss Xin, the sky is full of dust, and there have been many years of drought. There are also many snakes, insects, rats, and ants. You can't live there."
Xin Xiaoran immediately said, "I can adapt."
Lu Shenxing stretched out his hand and rubbed his forehead. She was also from the Xin family but somehow Xin Xiaoran's brain want even half as good as Xin Liang's.
I don't like skinny girls, I don't like freckles, I don't like big eyes, he thought out excuses one by one and rejected them one by one. He decided to directly chose one that would ensure he'd never suffer from future troubles.
"I don't like women."
Sure enough, Xin Xiaoran's face changed immediately and she ran away. She cried for a while before calming down and going to find Xin Liang.
"Er-ge, General Chang said he doesn't like women."
Xin Liang's body trembled, and he frowned in pain when he heard those wounds.
"He must have said that deliberately, er-ge, help me." Xin Xiaoran grabbed Xin Liang's hand as if she couldn't see his injuries, "You have been by the General's side, if you tell him he'll agree. If I can't go to West Wolf City, I don't have a chance."
Tapping the edge of the bed with his finger, Xin Liang pursed his lips, "Go and tell Dad and let him find another husband for you."
"Why?" Xin Xiaoran's eyes widened in disbelief. "Er-ge, why won't you help me?"
Xin Liang said calmly, but with a chilling edge, "Because he is mine."