The Emperor’s Beloved Ugly Girl

16. Dumb or Not

Translator: Iris Guo

“I have no idea where the clinic is. There are too many bedsores, and we must apply some ointment on them. I have to go out and look for a clinic as soon as possible.” A’Chou looked at the bedsores on his back with a frown, “Would you just lie on your stomach for a while? The bedsores on your back are worse. If you turn over, the mucus will stick your body to the sheet, and it will hurt more.”

A’Chou looked at the sheet under him, speechless. It was really dirty, and the filth was horrifying, let alone the massive dirt. Actually, she already saw the disgusting scene when she wiped his body earlier. She said nothing and pretended that she saw nothing because she didn’t want to make him feel bad. She also skipped the private part of his body. However, at the moment, she indeed couldn’t bear it any longer. With all the filth under his body and the stink in the room, the man lying in bed must be more uncomfortable than her. A’Chou hurried back to the kitchen and found a new set of sheets and a light quilt from the baggage. She silently thanked Mrs. Duan for all the necessities that the latter had prepared. Then she rushed back to the chamber and put the bedding on the bedside. She leaned over to the man: “It’s sunny today. It would be nice if you allow me to change and wash the bedding.”

The man’s whole face was buried in the pillow. A’Chou couldn’t see his look but his disheveled hair, so she felt pretty bad again and said: “I’ll boil some water to wash your hair when I’m done.”

She stopped talking and began to wipe the man’s bottom with the handkerchief. It might be long since someone wiped there last time. His whole bottom looked totally disgusting, covered with filth and almost rotten. After using another two basins of water, A’Chou finally wiped his bottom clean. That part was inevitably more tender, and it had been covered in filth for so long that she dared not wipe too hard, so she had more difficulty cleaning there than turning him over.

Once A’Chou finished wiping, she breathed a sigh of relief and knelt on the floor to remove the sheet. First, she grabbed two corners of the sheet, and then she crawled to the bedside to catch the other two corners. However, when she was about to touch the corner against the wall, she saw him trembling. Precisely speaking, his head buried in the pillow was trembling badly, so did the messy hair.

A’Chou became very frightened, and assumed that she accidentally hurt him. She patted him on the shoulder in a flurry and asked him with great care: “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you? Are you uncomfortable?”

He didn’t respond, but suddenly stopped trembling. A’Chou was worried after all, paused, and whispered again: “Could… Could you speak? Are you dumb or not?”

She was ignored again. She wasn’t discouraged but couldn’t help sighing silently. “I’m afraid that he is dumb. What a pity!” She whispered in her heart.

She got anxious about his condition and wanted to turn him over and have a check. However, she gave up at last seeing the filth on the sheet and the bedsores on his back. She crawled over again, seized the last corner of the sheet, pulled out the filthy sheet from under his body slowly, and threw it and the shabby blanket outside.