During this time, He Sui’an and Qi Buyan did not appear. They stayed in the treehouse next to the small wooden hut where Zhong Liang’s father lived. This was where Zhong Liang usually stayed to take care of his father.
Living in the treehouse allowed him to hear any movement in the small wooden hut. Today, He Sui’an and Qi Buyan stayed inside to listen to what Sanshan Zhenren had to say.
He Sui’an pressed her ear against the tree wall, listening intently.
She heard someone enter the small wooden hut.
Qi Buyan sat in the middle of the treehouse.
The poison Gu crawled around him, probably feeling neglected by their master. They moved closer to Qi Buyan, trying to get his attention.
Whenever these poison Gu appeared around Qi Buyan, He Sui’an would distance herself from him.
She was afraid of insects. Even though she had gotten used to their presence and tried to touch them, she couldn’t handle seeing so many at once and would instinctively avoid them.
The poison Gu were intelligent.
They rarely approached He Sui’an.
Yet, they would naturally approach their owner, the one who cultivated and nurtured them, regardless of how others viewed their owner.
The red snake still lay curled up haughtily in the corner, while the black snake slithered around a few steps away from He Sui’an, but never towards her.
Qi Buyan glanced at the poison Gu and then at He Sui’an, who was keeping her distance.
The girl was almost pressed against the tree wall.
His interest in feeding the worms waned.
The poison Gu eagerly vied for Qi Buyan’s feeding. He cast his eyes downward, throwing a few toxic insects he had casually caught from the tree this morning onto the ground. The poison Gu quickly devoured them.
poison Gu also ate insects.
Raising poison Gu involved putting various insects together, and the ones that survived became the poison Gu. Many poison Gu preferred eating toxic insects.
Qi Buyan casually tapped one of the worms with his finger, and the others, which were trying to crowd around, immediately turned and crawled away.
In the blink of an eye, there were no Gu in the treehouse.
He washed his hands with tea.
“What did you hear?” Qi Buyan asked after washing his hands, picking up a handkerchief He Sui’an had just used to wipe off the tea water.
He Sui’an had heard everything they said and relayed it to him word for word.
On quiet nights, staying in this treehouse, one could clearly hear the movements in the small wooden hut. Today was different, as the villagers of Hongye Village were talking, making it noisy.
Sitting in the middle of the treehouse, Qi Buyan couldn’t hear the sounds from the small wooden hut.
Although he had guessed what Sanshan Zhenren would do next, listening wouldn’t hurt.
Qi Buyan enjoyed listening to He Sui’an talk.
He just inexplicably liked hearing her voice.
Perhaps it was because the poison Gu he raised couldn’t speak, but now he was raising a person who could.
He Sui’an heard Sanshan Zhenren first express his concern for Zhong Liang’s father, then take his pulse. Noticing the injury on the old man’s wrist, he asked about it, and Zhong Liang made an excuse to cover it up.
Since Zhong Liang never lied, Sanshan Zhenren, who had no guard against him and didn’t understand the ways of the poison Gu, believed him. Confirming the pulse was normal, he gave some caring advice.
Zhong Liang responded affirmatively to everything.
Finally, Sanshan Zhenren said he would bring some suitable tonic for Zhong Liang’s father the next day. He believed that even though the illness was cured, some medicine was still needed to fully recuperate.
Qi Buyan had no reaction after listening.
It was as he expected.
Seeing that there were no longer many poison Gu around Qi Buyan, He Sui’an finally walked over.
Qi Buyan’s hand was reddened from the warm tea, the skin appearing pinkish-white, resting casually on the wooden table with fingertips dangling off the edge.
He wasn’t wearing his wrist guard today. The wounds on his wrist wouldn’t heal quickly, and he tried to avoid wearing the guard when he could to prevent pressure on the injury. His wrist, free from the constraint, was faintly visible beneath the loose indigo sleeve.
A silver butterfly chain dangled over the protruding bone on the side of his wrist.
He Sui’an bent down to examine his wound.
New wounds overlapped old ones.
The once beautiful wrist was now marred with indelible scars.
These past few days, He Sui’an had been applying medicine to Qi Buyan’s wounds, keeping the fresh, partially scabbed, and still somewhat bloody injuries from looking too gruesome.
“Does it still hurt?” She didn’t dare touch the wound apart from applying the medicine.
Qi Buyan replied, “It’s manageable.”
How could that be true?
He Sui’an didn’t believe him. His other wrist had a fresh cut from the morning. Today marked the third day of feeding blood to the life-sustaining Gu in Zhong Liang’s father’s body, done before the arrival of Sanshan Zhenren.
Qi Buyan didn’t want to stay here too long. He had asked Zhong Liang to spread the news yesterday. If possible, it would be best for Zhong Liang to spread the news after today so that Sanshan Zhenren would arrive tomorrow.
Seeing the still slightly bleeding wound, He Sui’an instinctively blew on it.
She had forgotten where she learned that from.
Her breath brushed over the wrist, causing a mild tickle.
Qi Buyan’s wrist involuntarily moved slightly, making the silver butterfly chain jingle.
Realizing what she had done, He Sui’an stood up straight, embarrassed. Maybe someone had done this for her before, the action of blowing on a wound was ingrained in her mind, and she did it without thinking.
“I’ll re-bandage it for you later.” He Sui’an’s eyes wandered, avoiding Qi Buyan. She had bandaged the new wound for him that morning, but he had taken it off.
Qi Buyan seemed to find it too ticklish and raised his left hand to stroke the wound she had blown on.
“No need, leave it as it is.”
He said.
He Sui’an sat on the wooden stool beside Qi Buyan, the hem of her red dress and sash draping onto the floor. The dress was long and fluffy, and as she sat close to him, the hem overlapped with his robe.
In the treehouse, there were some wild fruits Zhong Liang had picked. He had said they were edible, and He Sui’an picked up a green fruit and took a bite.
Qi Buyan noticed He Sui’an liked doing two things: eating and sleeping.
She was very happy if she had enough food and rest.
When she ate, her cheeks puffed out like a cat sneaking food, continuously stuffing her mouth. When she ate something she liked, her eyes curved like crescent moons, her emotions vividly displayed.
Sometimes, Qi Buyan wanted to crawl inside He Sui’an’s body to feel her every emotional change and see what it felt like.
The green wild fruit was very sweet.
He Sui’an handed one to Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan took it, bit into it, and found it sweet. It didn’t evoke any pleasant emotions in him, but he finished it anyway.
In the evening, Zhong Liang finally walked in.
Sanshan Zhenren had stayed in Hongye Village for almost an entire day, and although Zhong Liang hadn’t done anything to Sanshan Zhenren, he felt guilty for lying.
“I did everything you asked me to,” Zhong Liang said softly.
“Thank you for the green wild fruit,” the boy replied, seemingly unconcerned about Sanshan Zhenren.
He Sui’an nodded.
“The green wild fruit you picked is delicious, thank you, Brother Zhong.”
Seeing that they had no intention of discussing Sanshan Zhenren, Zhong Liang also dropped the subject. “If you like them, feel free to eat as many as you want. There are plenty of these wild fruit trees in the village. When I was young, I often used them to fill my stomach.”
Zhong Liang’s return to the treehouse signaled that Sanshan Zhenren and the Daoist had left Hongye Village.
They didn’t need to stay there any longer.
He Sui’an and Qi Buyan could return to their treehouse. Before leaving, Qi Buyan told Zhong Liang that they would likely leave Hongye Village the day after tomorrow.
Zhong Liang was a bit shocked. He had thought Qi Buyan would continue to oppose Sanshan Zhenren, but Qi Buyan said they would leave the day after tomorrow.
But leaving was for the best.
Hongye Village wasn’t suitable for outsiders anyway.
Zhong Liang didn’t say much, just advised them to take care as they traveled the Jianghu.
They didn’t say much to Zhong Liang either. Qi Buyan only spoke when he wanted to; although he appeared gentle and kind, he wouldn’t speak if he didn’t want to, regardless of courtesy.
So He Sui’an and Qi Buyan went straight back to their treehouse. Climbing up, He Sui’an saw the few books stacked together again.
The book that belonged to Zhong Liang was still in Qi Buyan’s pile of Gu books.
They hadn’t been apart since last night.
There were still matters concerning Zhong Liang’s father to handle in the morning, leaving He Sui’an no opportunity to hide the book. After thinking it over, she asked, “Can you go down for a bit? I want to change into a different dress.”
“Why do you suddenly want to change your dress?”
Qi Buyan looked into her eyes.
Whenever He Sui’an lied, she wanted to avoid people’s gaze. She tried hard to control herself, not to look away from him. “My dress is dirty. I got some fruit juice on it while eating the wild fruit. It’s very sticky.”
If she could, she wouldn’t lie to Qi Buyan, but she hadn’t found a chance since last night, so she had to tell a little lie.
“Alright.”
Qi Buyan went down.
He Sui’an quickly pulled the book from the pile of Gu books and placed it back in its original spot.
She couldn’t just hand the book back to Zhong Liang; it would be too awkward for both sides. Pretending she never found the book was the best solution.
After returning the book to an inconspicuous corner, He Sui’an swiftly changed into a different dress. She couldn’t say she wanted to change and then not change.
He Sui’an tied her dress belt and called down, “I’m ready.”
The silver ornaments jingled.
Qi Buyan climbed up the hanging ladder.
He didn’t look at the pile of Gu books. Instead, he untied the belt and outer robe at his waist, leaving just a plain indigo inner garment without any silver decorations. The inner garment was slightly loose, with a thin cord of the same color at the waist, which could be tied to fit the wearer’s waist.
The cord at Qi Buyan’s waist was pulled to the very end, fitting his narrow waist just right.
His waist was narrow.
He looked slim from both the front and the side.
But as someone who had accidentally hugged and touched Qi Buyan’s waist many times, He Sui’an knew that his waist was very strong.
Qi Buyan’s outer garments were adorned with silver decorations that couldn’t be removed. He usually slept in just his inner garment to avoid discomfort.
He Sui’an took out a handkerchief containing the silver ornaments for tying his hair: “One is missing.”
She felt very guilty.
“If it’s gone, it’s gone,” he said.
Qi Buyan didn’t care.
He Sui’an still felt bad: “I’ll look for it again tomorrow.”
“No need.” Qi Buyan lay down, his long hair spreading over the wooden pillow, making his face appear even more striking. “I have plenty of these things.”
She lay down too: “Oh.”
Despite his words, He Sui’an still planned to search thoroughly the next day.
“Aren’t you going to sleep holding me tonight?”
He seemed to remember the previous night.
He Sui’an was worried that Qi Buyan would think something was wrong if he recalled last night, as he was very perceptive. She immediately rolled into his arms, her body filled with warmth.
They did nothing but hold each other all night. The next morning, He Sui’an’s foot ended up on Qi Buyan again.
She had no idea how she slept.
Her head was turned outward, and her foot was directly on Qi Buyan’s waist.
The birds on the treehouse branches started chirping again, waking He Sui’an. She felt something hard and warm under her foot through the fabric. She looked up.
Her foot was on the area below Qi Buyan’s waist.
It was morning, a time when it was possible for a young man to have an erection.
Qi Buyan had woken up too and immediately felt uncomfortable. He Sui’an’s foot hadn’t moved yet, and he naturally saw it as well.
He Sui’an’s foot was small and fair, looking both incongruous and surprisingly harmonious on the indigo fabric. It seemed like he had burned her, causing her toes to curl slightly, the soles of her feet showing a pinkish hue.
She wanted to move but didn’t dare to.
