As soon as Bu Jincheng blurted these words, he regretted it.
What was he even saying?
Why did he clarify right away that he was still a virgin?
Bu Jincheng gave two awkward chuckles and used a sheepish laugh to brush past the topic. “Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mean anything by it.”
…That sounded even weirder.
Xin Hexue, however, didn’t have much of a reaction, nor did he look at him with any odd expression. He merely leaned forward slightly to tie up the bamboo splint better.
As the distance closed, Bu Jincheng, whose sense of smell had gone numb from the lingering smell of blood, suddenly caught a faint and gentle cold fragrance. It was cold like snow, but not piercing…rather, it was soft and soothing.
He immediately realized it was the scent of the young man, and it indeed matched the feeling he gave off. Bu Jincheng scratched the tip of his nose in a fluster. His left hand wasn’t seriously injured, and he could still move it freely.
Xin Hexue was still adjusting the gauze on the bamboo splint, his hand tugging a little tighter. “Like this…is it better?”
He looked up, seeking the patient’s opinion.
“Mm, it’s fine,” Bu Jincheng replied absentmindedly.
He lowered his gaze, and from this angle, he suddenly saw the young man’s snow white neck. The delicate line extended beneath the crossed collar of his thin robe, and perhaps because of the wide motion while dressing the injury, the snow-white cloak that was draped over his shoulders gently slipped down along his slender back, revealing a light-colored inner garment.
The faint cold fragrance clung to the fabric and seemed a bit more intense now. The whole person exuded a fragile aura, like he would fall over with just a light push.
Bu Jincheng suddenly felt that staring like this was too abrupt and offensive, so he turned his head away toward the window lattice. He wasn’t sure if it was wind and snow brushing against the oiled paper covering the window, but there was a faint rustling sound.
“Sorry, I reminded you of something sad. My condolences.”
Xin Hexue’s voice was indifferent: “Lower your head a bit.”
Bu Jincheng obediently leaned forward and lowered his head, only to find Xin Hexue drawing closer and closer, so much so that his vision became completely focused on the faint pink pair of lips.
The shape of those lips was just right, not too thin and not too thick. From the corners to the center, the lip bead slightly protruded and they looked like the kind of lips that were perfect for kissing.
They were getting closer…
Were they about to kiss?
Bu Jincheng’s prominent Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and even swallowing felt extremely difficult.
Maybe the other party mistook him for his deceased husband because of their resemblance, and that led to some emotional transference. Although homosexuality wasn’t as popular in Dacheng as it was in the previous dynasty, it wasn’t uncommon either. However, Bu Jincheng believed without a doubt that he would, like most men, marry a woman in the future.
He wanted to say… this would be his first kiss.
So, shouldn’t he immediately, firmly, and righteously reject the other?
But…but what if the other party misunderstood his attitude and thought he looked down on him? What if a direct refusal hurt his feelings?
Besides, the young man in front of him was his lifesaver. According to common sense, such grace should be repaid. One should offer their body in return for a life-saving favor…
Wrong.
Even a drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring.
In the few seconds Bu Jincheng stared at him, his brain felt like a ball of yarn being toyed with by a cat, tangled with all sorts of messy thoughts.
After Xin Hexue looped the fine cloth for wrapping around Bu Jincheng’s neck, he pulled it back out again, then wound and tied it tightly around one end of the bamboo splint.
He let go, and the portion of Bu Jincheng’s right wrist to forearm that had been fractured was now fully suspended.
“All done.”
Xin Hexue washed his hands in the basin of water. His fingers had gotten stained with blood and traces of medicine while treating the wound. After rubbing them briefly, the stains dissolved into the water.
He glanced at Bu Jincheng, whose ears had flushed red and asked, “What were you thinking about?”
Bu Jincheng’s expression a moment ago looked as if someone had spilled cinnabar and ink across his face…truly dazzling.
The love value was like a roller coaster that kept climbing up, and once he finished wrapping the wound, it suddenly surged to the peak and stopped.
Bu Jincheng couldn’t tell if what he felt was disappointment or something else. He shook his head and said, “No, it’s nothing.”
After the bandaging was done, Bu Jincheng awkwardly shifted the topic. After the two exchanged names, he glanced around their surroundings and asked, “Why are you living here?”
To be honest, this place was remote and desolate. Even though it was near the capital, there was still quite a bit of distance.
Not to mention, Xin Hexue had such outstanding looks. Living alone like this…it would be very dangerous if he encountered any evildoers.
Xin Hexue calmly began fabricating a backstory. “I’m originally from Jiangzhou. My husband and I knew each other since childhood. He used to take good care of me and listened to everything I said. But later, he grew cold. The year before last, he said he was heading to the capital to take the imperial exam. He told me that once he got first place, he’d return and hold a proper wedding ceremony with me. But after that, there was no more news so I chased him all the way here. But then I thought, due to heavy snow sealing the mountains that year, and because he didn’t bring much travel money and his luggage was heavy, he probably died somewhere on the long journey.”
The latter part of what he said actually sounded a bit like a resentful curse, but the young man’s drooping eyelashes, pale face, and pursed lips conveyed a sense of sorrow and heartbreak, like a willow branch drifting without anchor in the wind.
Xin Hexue: [Gege, what do you think of this story?]
K had originally been observing the situation, but was suddenly called upon, [ ? ]
K’s voice was flat. Although he didn’t know what was going on, he still praised the little cat: [Very good.]
Xin Hexue: [As long as you like it ^^]
K suddenly froze.
He realized…wasn’t he the husband who used to be obedient, later grew cold, and then died?
Bu Jincheng didn’t suspect a single word of Xin Hexue’s story.
Xin Hexue explained the cause and effect. “So afterward, I settled here. When scholars come by for the exams, maybe I can lend a hand, and spare the family members of examinees from experiencing the same pain I did.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly started coughing without warning, his slender back trembling again and again.
Bu Jincheng panicked and gently patted Xin Hexue’s back. “Are you okay?”
Xin Hexue frowned. His throat had already been irritated raw from coughing, and now carried a faint taste of blood.
He covered his mouth with a handkerchief. As expected, when he coughed again, blood splattered onto the cloth. Xin Hexue subtly clenched the handkerchief in his hand.
It would take a hundred days to heal injuries to muscles and bones. Worried that the fracture might affect Bu Jincheng’s performance in the upcoming imperial exam, he infused a bit of spiritual power and blessing while wrapping his wound. He hadn’t expected it would drain him this much.
The consumption was far greater than he had anticipated. And the depletion of blessing was directly tied to how much one interfered with a mortal’s fate.
Then there was one possibility; Bu Jincheng was originally meant to die here.
In fact, thinking about it, that seemed likely. The man had lost too much blood, and there were no villages ahead or shops behind. If he hadn’t happened to be here, stopping the bleeding and treating the most severe parts of the injury in time, by the time anyone passed by, the corpse would’ve already gone cold.
Xin Hexue silently put the handkerchief away. “It’s nothing. Perhaps the weather changed and brought some chill.”
He stood up from the bedside and told Bu Jincheng, “Rest well tonight. Whatever needs to be said, let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
Bu Jincheng watched his back, but just before Xin Hexue left the room, he suddenly called out, “You…”
Xin Hexue stopped in his tracks. “Are you still feeling unwell somewhere?”
The words that had reached Bu Jincheng’s lips turned and went back down his throat. “It’s nothing. Sweet dreams.”
Xin Huexue left and the door was gently closed behind him.
Bu Jincheng slowly lay down and stared up at the beam above.
After hearing Xin Hexue’s story, he couldn’t help but conclude that the other y’s husband had either passed the imperial exam and married some official’s daughter, or had been swallowed by the snake’s jaws that he himself had narrowly escaped.
In the end, he hesitated and didn’t tell either of those guesses to Xin Hexue.
………
Early the next morning, just as Xin Hexue came out of his room, he saw Bu Jincheng waving at him. “Breakfast might take a while. I don’t think I can handle this fish with one hand.”
‘Fish?’
Xin Hexue instantly became alert.
Where had Bu Jincheng caught a fish? Could it be…
Xin Hexue stepped forward and, sure enough, saw the fish in Bu Jincheng’s hand. It seemed to have been skewered with the iron fork placed behind the door, stabbed through the tail and bleeding profusely. A strand of grass rope went through its gills, and its body was still struggling weakly.
Perhaps because his true form now was also a fish, seeing this scene made Xin Hexue feel a chill in his heart, and he felt sympathy for the same species.
If there was a prompt about the host’s favorability towards the target person, K felt that there would definitely be a [Xin Hexue’s favorability towards Bu Jincheng -10] window.
Xin Hexue began to worry. If he ever had to enter the water and cleanse his memory, wouldn’t he just happen to fall prey to Bu Jincheng’s iron fork?
His eyelashes trembled slightly, and he took the fish from Bu Jincheng’s hand. “Can we not eat fish?”
Bu Jincheng followed Xin Hexue and watched as the young man used herbs to treat the bleeding tail of the fish, then placed it into a water vat. He couldn’t help but rub his nose and ask, “Are you going to wait for it to recover and release it back into the lake?”
Xin Hexue replied softly, “Mm. Is that not okay? It looks very pitiful.”
Bu Jincheng actually didn’t quite understand this approach. To him, chicken, duck, goose, or fish were all the same, and nothing was more important than feeding one’s stomach. When he traveled across mountains and rivers, enduring wind and dew, he had even caught silkworm pupae and bamboo insects to roast and eat. Compared to that, fish was honestly a delicacy in both appearance and taste.
But, faced with Xin Hexue’s eyes that were as clear as autumn waters, Bu Jincheng swallowed back all the inappropriate words.
The young man looked like a water moon Guanyin, so he must have the heart of a Bodhisattva, unable to bear the sight of killing.
Bu Jincheng murmured, “You… are very kind. Very special.”
Xin Hexue: “…”
‘…So greasy.’
Xin Hexue silently suppressed the disgust in his eyes.
[Bu Jincheng love value +3]
He said, “There’s winter bamboo shoots in the kitchen behind the house, and smoked meat hanging by the wall.”
Bu Jincheng: “Then wait a bit…how about stir-fried winter bamboo shoots with meat?”
Xin Hexue eyed his suspended right hand suspiciously. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Bu Jincheng: “Oh, I’m left-handed.”
Xin Hexue: “…”
If he had known that, he wouldn’t have wasted spiritual energy on healing that injury last night.
………
Xin Hexue only casually ate a few bites. He was a demon, nourished by sunlight and moonlight, so eating regular food didn’t matter to him much at all.
Bu Jincheng saw him put down his chopsticks and asked, “The food doesn’t suit your taste?”
Maybe it was because he didn’t have the help of his right hand, so he hadn’t managed to cook at his usual level?
Bu Jincheng took a couple of bites himself. It seemed about the same as usual to him.
Xin Hexue shook his head and explained, “I prepared some traveling money and supplies for you. This place is too crude…so you should head to the capital first and find a place to stay, or you might miss the registration.”
The Ministry of Rites would close the registration process completely by the end of November.
Bu Jincheng picked up a piece of stir-fried winter bamboo shoots and smoked meat and placed it in Xin Hexue’s bowl. “Eat a bit more.”
“It’s not that I’m unwilling to register with the Ministry of Rites. It’s just that my essay draft, household record, and guarantee documents, all the paperwork I need, were taken along with my belongings by the bandits.”
Xin Hexue’s expression changed. “All were taken?”
But Bu Jincheng, the victim of the incident, didn’t look anxious at all. Instead, he said calmly, “The world is vast and uncertain. Fortune and misfortune are preordained. Maybe I’m just destined to have no fate with the official path, that’s why this happened.”
Xin Hexue stood up. “No.”
He was determined to help this poor scholar could take part in the spring imperial exam successfully.
Bu Jincheng saw he was about to leave and stood up in a hurry as well. “Where are you going?”
“To help you…”
Snatch it back?
Xin Hexue paused, realizing his current image was that of a sickly young master who couldn’t even lift a shoulder, not a powerful koi demon.
Even if the bandits were numerous, he had spiritual power and spells, so facing them directly wouldn’t be a problem.
Worried that Bu Jincheng might notice something off, Xin Hexue changed his excuse and said, “Maybe it was dropped on the mountain path? There are such important things, I’ll go help you search for them.”
Bu Jincheng was deeply moved, but he still tugged on Xin Hexue’s sleeve. “Don’t go. Buzhou Mountain doesn’t only have bandits…it’s a den of snakes.”
He didn’t notice how Xin Hexue’s expression instantly became ugly as he continued, “I didn’t count, but when I was fleeing, I caught a rough glimpse…there were at least dozens of snakes. The biggest one had a body as thick as three adult men linking arms.”
Xin Hexue turned his head, his voice trembling faintly, “…Snakes?”
Bu Jincheng nodded heavily.
…………
The giant snake that Bu Jincheng had spoken of was now slithering down from the mountain.
As he approached the dilapidated temple at the foot of the mountain, Hen Zhen could already smell the scent of humans. A small snake had reported earlier that morning that someone had escaped captivity during the night.
This task shouldn’t have fallen to Hen Zhen.
But the little snakes on the mountain had not yet reached a high level of cultivation. And since the beginning of winter, they had only cared about curling up and hibernating.
The snake’s body slipped into the bamboo forest and buried itself in the broad, dry bamboo leaves.
Hen Zhen’s snake pupils were sharp. Suddenly, his eyes became focused.
It was Xin Hexue.
Sprinkling realgar around the house?
The young man was wearing a thick cloak. Suddenly, his gaze glanced over toward this direction.
Hen Zhen immediately twisted deeper into the thicker part of the bamboo forest.
In this brief instant, Xin Hexue had caught sight of something resembling snake scales, and his face turned three shades paler.
The body’s instinctive reaction was very quick and intense.
Blood-red snake pupils suddenly opened wide among the gaps in the green bamboo leaves.
He saw the young man clutch the door frame, face pale, his thin back heaving as he dry heaved uncontrollably.
‘Pregnant?’
Hen Zhen’s pupils constricted sharply.
The koi demon was indeed within the suitable reproductive period.
But they had never actually consummated in the monk’s dream.
Then whose child was it?
The blood-red color brewing in Hen Zhen’s eyes deepened, as if a fire were burning in his chest.
At that moment, a scholarly young man in blue robes walked out from the dilapidated temple and gently patted Xin Hexue on the back. From the shape of his mouth, Hen Zhen could tell he said the word “child”.
The snake pupils narrowed and locked onto the man, its gaze vicious like King Yama, the blood-red boiling and reflecting the two figures in front of the house.
He wanted to gouge out the man’s eyes, cut off his tongue, skin him alive, and tear out his tendons and bones!
Bu Jincheng asked worriedly, “Are you okay?”
Xin Hexue shook his head, then turned to look at the bamboo forest. It was quiet and still, as if nothing was there.
