Back to the Countryside

Chapter 72: 熟人

[Acquaintance]

At the time when the fellow countrymen were immersed in the joy of the harvest, ‘something that could be said as not a big problem and also could be said as not a small thing’ had happened in the village. The man was fished out from the river, his entire body was covered in blood. When the villagers first saw him, they thought this person was dead, but to their surprise, he was still alive!

His face was covered in bloodstain and his wet hair was stuck to his cheeks. People could not see his appearance clearly and no one dared to touch him randomly. In the end, it was the village chief who came to take a look at him after he received the news. The village chief sent some people to invite Qi Yue here. 

Until he came over, the village chief hurriedly grabbed Qi Yue’s wrist and brought him to the man so that Qi Yue could take a look at him. No matter what, it was a human life anyway, and they could not just leave it like that.

Qi Yue crouched down and looked at the wounds on his body and frowned, those wounds were all from swords, and this man was obviously a person from Jiang Hu. Perhaps he had accidentally fallen into the river when he was being chased down by people who wanted to kill him and arrived at this place. 

[江湖 – Jiang hu , the world of martial arts]

He lowered his head and pondered, not saying a word for a while. This person, if he saved him, perhaps this would be a problem for him, especially when he hadn’t known the situation of the other party and what the ins and outs of the matter of this man. 

“Qi Xiao Zi, is he too badly injured to be treated?” Seeing that he had not responded, the village chief asked with some concern.

Qi Yue was brought back to his senses by his voice, he shook his head and said, “No, it’s just that there is too much bloodstain on his body, I can’t see clearly his wound’s condition for a while.”

As soon as he heard this, the village chief sent his son to the river to wash a cloth towel and give that man a simple wipe, as long as he did not touch the wound then it would be fine. 

When the man’s true face was revealed, the few people gathered around him drew their breath. This person was really handsome. He was no less handsome than Qi Yue, this was the first time they had ever met a man who could compare with him!

But in his heart Qi Yue was even more surprised than they were. The man who was conveniently saved by the villagers was someone he knew. Should he sighed one time for the world being small?

Actually he didn’t really know this man well, but he wasn’t a stranger either. He had met him a few times and for a man of his status to be lying here in such a sorry figure so he must have been set up by others ba! After all, he had a lot of enemies. 

Since they knew each other and had no grudges at all, Qi Yue was happy to be a good guy. It was only the exertion of lifting his hand anyway and by this, he could make the other party owe him a favour, “It’s not convenient to treat his wounds here. Why don’t everybody do me a favour and take him to my house so that he can be carefully treated?”

[举手之劳 jǔ shǒu zhī láo : lit. the exertion of lifting one’s hand (idiom) / fig. a very slight effort]

The village chief was relieved that Qi Yue was willing to put such a person of unknown origin in his own home, otherwise he really didn’t know what he should do with him.

Several people lent a hand (eagerly but somewhat chaotically) to lift him up. No matter how careful they were, they would still touch the wound from time to time. The man was bleeding again and even while unconscious, he was frowning. 

Even when he saw the injuries, Qi Yue just curled up the corner of his mouth and ignored it. Those wounds were only scary to look at anyway but in fact, it was not much of a problem. At the very least, it wouldn’t kill him.

When they reached his home, he asked the villagers to carry the man to the side room and put him into the bed. After sending them all out, he took out a bottle of powder medicine from the pharmacy room and sprinkled it evenly on the man’s wounds.

“Xiang Gong?” He Ling, who had been woken up by the previous movement, came over to look for him. He was a little surprised to see a stranger lying on the bed, “Who is this?”

“Woken up by the noise?” Qi Yue tossed the empty bottle onto the table in passing. He went to his side to wrap his arms around him, his hands rubbing his waist as a matter of habit, “Do you want to go back and sleep again for a while?”

He Ling had started to become sleepy in the recent days, sometimes for the entire day he was too dizzy and unable to open his eyes, so now he spent most of his time in bed.

“Not sleepy anymore.” He shook his head to indicate that he was fine and threw a look at the man in bed again and said, “What’s wrong with that person?”

Qi Yue glanced back at the man who still showed no signs of waking up, as he embraced He Ling to go out of the door and at the same time he said, “He was saved by the villagers. Since he was wounded, we’ll take him in for a few days. Don’t need to bother about him!”

“Don’t you need to help him change his clothes first?” That person’s clothes material was of a good quality, but it was torn and still dripping wet. It must be uncomfortable! 

“Never mind, leave him alone!” Qi Yue casually closed the door behind him, blocking out He Ling’s still somewhat worried eyes and asked : “What do you want to eat tonight? How about congee with shredded chicken, is that okay?”

He Ling’s attention was quickly distracted by him and leaving the person in the room behind to discuss the dinner with him.

The moment Xiao Yu Heng woke up, he saw an unfamiliar roof. He tilted his head and saw a wooden table in the middle of the room, a candle was lit on it and a small flame was flickering. He stared at it, blank for a moment.

The memory of the moment he fell into the river was still fresh in his mind. However, he did not have any memories of what had happened after that. He moved his body and propped himself up to sit down. He caught a faint smell of medicine on his nose so someone must have put the medicine on his wounds while he was unconscious. 

However the person who had saved him obviously was not particularly attentive. He was not even bandaged and just directly left to dry in here. 

He touched his still faintly aching chest. He sighed slightly, fortunately, that person’s ‘gong li’ was not deep, otherwise he would have lost his life.

[功力 – Gongli :  level of martial art ability or skill.]

Just as he was about to lift his leg and went out of bed, the wooden door creaked open as someone pushed it open. He looked over with a fierce gaze but saw an extremely beautiful and alluring ger walking in with something in his hand. He was stunned at that moment. 

He Ling suddenly met his eyes so he was a little startled. He stayed where he was and didn’t come any closer.

Qi Yue had gone to take a bath. When He Ling brought him some clothes, he conveniently found a set of clothes that Qi Yue hadn’t worn before. He Ling thought he would put it in this room so if the man had recovered, he could change the clothes himself. He had no idea that he was already awake.

At the time he was hesitant whether it was better for him to go out or not, the man on the bed revealed a smile. His entire face was instantly becoming seductive, it was completely different from his earlier cold and stern appearance, “Where did this immortal come from? So good looking!”

He Ling instantly regretted his action of coming over. He really should have listened to his husband and not paid any attention to this person.

Xiao Yu Heng opened his mouth, still wanting to say something, but he rapidly coughed twice instead,it was affected by the wound on his body. It began to hurt again, so he slightly wrinkled his eyebrows.

“Are you …okay?” He Ling still stood in the same place and did not move, but when he caught sight of the other party who was seemingly unwell, he could not help but ask him a question.

The man who had finally calmed his cough heard his question and took a look at his face again. He raised his eyebrows with a malicious smile, “My chest hurts so much. If you are so concerned about me, then come over here and rub it for me, okay?”

“…..”

He Ling took a deep breath and put the clothes he was holding on the table. He said, “The clothes you are wearing must be uncomfortable. This is the clean one. Since you’re awake then change into this, ba!”

“How about this beauty help me change it?” Xiao Yu Heng skillfully pulled open his own belt as he said this. What answered him was the sound of the door being closed. 

He put his hand down and restrained the smile on his face. He took a closer look around the house again, the room and the decoration in it was indeed an ordinary peasant family house, so the ger just now had not been sent by someone to lure him in?

Xiao Yu Heng dared not to be certain, even though this place was ordinary, the ger’s appearance and clothes did not look like a country ger. He was very seductive. If he seriously had the intention of □□ him, he might not likely be able to hold back.

But whether, indeed there was a conspiracy or not. Now that he was wounded, he could only take one step at a time. With that in mind, he got out of bed. He picked up the clothes on the table and looked at them carefully. The clothes were a very ordinary silk clothing that had not been tampered with.

The clothes on his body were half wet, not entirely dry, so uncomfortable to wear so he took them off and changed into silk garments. 

He had just finished dressing when the door to his room was kicked open with a ‘bang’ sound. He subconsciously made a defensive posture, but he was startled when he saw the person who came in, “Qi Yue?”

Xiao Yu Heng absolutely never expected to actually see this man in this kind of place. He had disappeared without a trace from Jiang Hu more than half a year ago, no one ever knew where he had gone! 

[销声匿迹 /xiāo shēng nì jì :to vanish without trace (idiom) / to lie low]

“It was you who saved me?” If the other party had saved him, then he could rest assured, although he didn’t know the other party very well either, at the very least they had no grudge against each other.

Qi Yue raised his hand with a calm face and tossed an object to him. He was not in  guard against him so it hit him directly in the chest, knocking him back two steps. He caught the object subconsciously, it was a white porcelain medicine bottle. This must be the medicine that used to help him heal. 

“Qi Gongzi’s way of giving people medicine is so special!” Xiao Yu Heng laughed and coughed twice before removing the cork out of the bottle and poured the pill into his mouth. He wasn’t worried at all that the other party giving him the □□. If he wanted to kill someone, there was no need to go to such trouble.  

“I’ll give you my warning!” Qi Yue flinged his sleeves and sat down beside the table, “If you act improper toward my Fu Lang again, then I’ll crippled you! (tear you up)”

He had just finished his bath and returned to his room when he was hugged by Ah Ling. He Ling was panting with rage as he said that the man he had rescued was sick in the head, and only upon detailed questioning, then he found out what had happened. This man was a real pain in the ass as usual! 

Xiao Yu Heng, however, almost choked on the pill, he rubbed his neck and swallowed it with great difficulty as he changed his expression in shock, “What did you say?

Qi Yue gave him a sidelong glance and said, “Don’t make me repeat my words!”

“You take a wife?” He wondered if he himself was so injured that he couldn’t even hear properly, “That beauty just now is your Fu Lang?

“Don’t use such a frivolous way to call him!” Qi Yue wrinkled his brow and glared at him, his tone was unpleasant, “Still want to be beaten?”

“Hahaha…” Xiao Yu Heng however held his stomach and laughed out loud, he didn’t stop until the wounds on his body started to throb, “If those admirers of yours hear this news, I’m afraid their hearts would be broken into pieces!”

Qi Yue kicked him at the crook of his leg, but the man dodged it with a nimble movement, “It seems that your wound is no longer serious, in that case, you better go tomorrow!”

“That won’t do, I still need to recover from my injuries!” Xiao Yu Heng roguishly sat down on the other side, “Since you have saved me, you must save me to the end, right?”

He was initially not really going to let him go, so Qi Yue did not argue with him, and only said, “It’s fine for you to stay, but you must remember, in front of my Fu Lang, you must not say that you know me and you can’t mention everything about me.”

“Oh? He doesn’t know your identity?” Xiao Yu Heng was even more interested, this man was always on ‘the clouds are pale and a light breeze is blowing’. He did not care much about anything. But now, he actually had someone he really loved. How could he not be curious?

[云淡风轻 yún dàn fēng qīng : The clouds are pale and a light breeze is blowing. It means that Qi Yue looks like nothing ever matters to him.]

“You don’t need to ask a lot of questions, just remember my words!” Naturally, he would not say much to him about what happened between him and Ah Ling. He was just a temporary resident guest and after his injuries were healed, naturally he would have to leave. 

“Okay, fine, fine! I won’t say anything!” 

That beauty looks like an ordinary ger who doesn’t know anything about Jiang Hu’s matter. It is indeed not suitable for him to know about those fights and killings. Qi Yue seems to be quite concerned about the other side. Or …is he afraid? Afraid that he might find out who he really is and leave him alone then run away from him?

Qi Yue stared at the night outside the window, his eyes darkened. His little Fu Lang only needed to know that he was his husband then it would be fine. His other identity was not important and also he did not need to see it.