CH 4

Before sunset, at the doctor’s place, I finally learned how to eat sunflower seeds with the little medicine boy who lacked front teeth. When the doctor wiped his hands and came out of the building, the children around me disappeared.

The night wind was very cold.

I shook off the sunflower seed shells from my body and eagerly looked towards the doctor.

“The injury is very serious. Fortunately, as long as he carefully recuperates for three to five years, he won’t be disabled.” The doctor spoke a bunch of jargon solemnly, and then concluded while shaking his head, “But for him to do martial arts again… I am afraid it is not very likely.”

I couldn’t really understand what he was saying, so I picked a question that I was more concerned about: “When will it stop hurting?”

The doctor was at a loss when he looked at me.

“The wounds on his body, when will they stop hurting?”

“…This…will heal in less than a month.”

Such a long time, having to lie down for a month. I felt that he was a bit miserable. I nodded to the doctor and slipped inside to visit him.

The Shadow Guard lay quietly on the bed, breathing so softly that it was hard to perceive. The tattered clothes on his body that had mixed with blood and adhered to his wounds had all been removed, and had been replaced with layers of bandages. Probably due to the serious injuries, there was no rosy color anywhere on his body.

His hair had also finally been tidied up, and it fell softly over the edge of the bed, making his complexion look even paler in comparison.

Hey, this face is so good-looking, and I haven’t seen it on Taobao before. Could it be that I, the God of Creation, customized it myself? I’m kind of awesome.

I sat next to him, looking down at him silently, using my gaze to soothe the trauma.

“…Master.” He spoke first. “Where are your clothes…?”

“I exchanged them for money to buy medicine.”

“……”

The night was very cold.

Us two naked men were mutually silent.

“You haven’t eaten anything; aren’t you hungry?” I took out a handful of sunflower seeds from the only remaining underwear on my body, passing it over to him.

The Shadow Guard glanced at them, and painfully shook his head.

So he doesn’t like sunflower seeds. Feeling disappointed, I tucked the seeds back into my underwear.

The doctor said that he needed peace and quiet to recover from his injuries, so I quickly took my leave.

There was nowhere to go, so I squatted back outside the building to eat sunflower seeds. Yet, it was not filling.

Hungry and cold.

It felt a bit miserable to be alive.

After squatting for a long time, I heard the sound of people walking and talking in the hall. The male voice was low so I couldn’t hear clearly, but there was a woman whose pitch was higher, and a few words floated to my ears: “I already heard of robbers and bandits being rude and unreasonable, but they actually tricked their way into our Changluo!… I already thought that the materials of those clothes were by no means ordinary people’s… No problem, no problem, don’t thank me, this little bit of help is not a problem… It’s not peaceful over there either, you guys take care when you leave…”

After talking inside for a while, the woman’s voice sounded farther as she walked away. There was the sound of footsteps coming towards me, and someone put a piece of clothing on me, blocking most of the cold wind. Feelings of unspeakable gratitude flooded my heart. I turned around and saw it was the Shadow Guard — hey, why did this guy get up?

“Master, the wind is strong here, let’s go inside first.”

“Alright.“

After a while, seeing that I didn’t move, the Shadow Guard asked in confusion: ”…Master?“

“My legs are numb, I can’t stand up.” The human physical body is truly hard to control.

“…” The Shadow Guard sighed lightly, leaning over and holding my hand. Probably because I was sitting in the cold wind for a long time, his temperature seemed particularly hot.

The Shadow Guard checked my hand temperature. It was like cold stone.

Suddenly, he picked me up.

I was curled up in a strange posture.

“Wait, what about your injuries that haven’t healed?”

“It’s already fine.” The Shadow Guard carried me back into the room without any explanation, and put me down on the bed.

After putting me down, the Shadow Guard sat up and found my hands firmly placed under his armpits.

“…Master, what are you doing?”

“It’s warm here.”

“……”

The Shadow Guard resolutely forced my hands out of his armpits.

Oh!! Cold! Heartless!

The Shadow Guard expressionlessly helped me put on layers upon layers of clothes. The plain cotton and linen, without the former mess of jade ornaments, was actually comfortable to wear. It was only then that I realized he had also changed into plain robes, his hair tied low. The bloody smell on his body was long gone, and the scent of herbs hung about faintly. Hm? Where did you get clothes?

“This servant told the mistress that Master was a wealthy merchant who was robbed on the road to Changluo, so all his belongings and servants are gone. Master’s clothes and accessories were all very valuable, so the mistress trusted the story and agreed to help for a few days.” After reporting this, he repented as usual. “This servant is incompetent, and has even made Master spend so much money and show such shamefulness.”

After putting on my clothes, the Shadow Guard tucked me back into the bed and then reached out to hold my ice-pack hands. His hands were large and broad, just enough to cover my ice-pack, no, I mean my hands. When my temperature recovered a little, he conscientiously let go and took a step back, kneeling at the side of the bed.

A woman lifted the curtain and came in with a smile. Based on the voice, it was the same woman who had just talked to the Shadow Guard. She put a large plate on the table and said, “Come here, come here, I just made a few small dishes, eat it while it’s hot! I don’t know your taste, but if it’s too salty or too mild, make sure you let this big sister know.”

I cheerfully sat down, and the woman put down the food and left. The Shadow Guard refused to dine at the same table with me, which made me spend some time convincing him before he moved his chopsticks. I didn’t know how to use chopsticks, so I grabbed the food with my bare hands. After a few bites, I couldn’t help saying, “This is better than what you make.”

“…This servant is incompetent.”

You’re incompetent again? Why are you always incompetent? How old are you* incompetent?

* “How old are you” is written in English in the original text

“Does being a Shadow Guard require cooking skills? Are other Shadow Guards very good at cooking?”

“No. Most of them only know how to make a few dishes needed to maintain the body,” the Shadow Guard said.

“Then since cooking is not in the Shadow Guards’ skill range, why do you blame your own ‘incompetence’?” I frowned. “Right now, I don’t understand a lot of things, and your wrong wording is very misleading. I hope you pay attention to it in the future.”

The Shadow Guard was mute.

Not sure if he understood, I added: “I find that you always like to blame things on yourself. This is your own problem. Regardless of what your mentality is, I hope that when we talk, you can convey more intuitive and effective information to me, rather than ambiguous self-loathing. Is that difficult? Can it be done?”

“…This servant…will do as you say.”

I nodded in satisfaction. He doesn’t look stupid, so he should be able to understand.

I continued to eat after speaking. The temperature of the stir fried dishes was not low, so it hurt to grab the food with bare hands, and the temperature of the soup was even more scorching… But those floating meatballs were truly really tempting, and I thought about it over and over again, making up my resolve to grab them.

It burned so much that I wailed out miserably.

Fortunately, the Shadow Guard’s eyes and hands were quick, immediately wrapping a towel soaked in cold water around my burned hand, and the temperature dropped and eased the pain by a lot. Huh? When did you prepare the cold towel?…

“Master…” The Shadow Guard hesitated many times before asking, “Is it that you think the chopsticks here are not clean? How about, I go down and find new chopsticks…”

I shook my head in pain. “I don’t know how to use chopsticks.”

The Shadow Guard looked lifeless, unable to continue.

“Can you get me a meatball?” I had suffered a serious injury, but I still could not forget, it could be said that my appetite was like a drug addiction.

Shadow Guard hurriedly took up a new pair of chopsticks, then hesitated after picking up a meatball, looking at my face and then looking at my bowl, then finally deciding to put it in the bowl. I used my uninjured hand to dump the contents of the bowl into my mouth, chewing and carelessly saying thank you at the same time.

“…I don’t… dare…” His tone was awkward.

The Shadow Guard removed the towel, held my hand and inspected it carefully, and noted with relief that there were no burn wounds. Then he found several spoons of different sizes so I could avoid suffering a burn again. A true friend. I shed tears of gratitude.

After peacefully finishing the meal with no more incidents, the mistress of the doctor’s place came to clean up with a smile. While chatting with her, I asked about the Shadow Guard’s injury and heard that he needed to lie down for more than a month before getting out of bed. Hey, he just said that he was already fine and started going everywhere; it turned out that this guy lied to me again.

I angrily shoved the Shadow Guard back into bed, reprimanding him for a long while. The Shadow Guard’s small, pale face was hidden in the covers, and he listened quietly to my criticism, very pitifully.

Before I left, the Shadow Guard opened his mouth, seeming to have misgivings. “This servant… Although I am overstepping my boundaries, I have some questions… I would like to ask Master.” 

“Did you not hear anything I said just now? The doctor wants you to rest, so rest first.” I blew out the candle for him and moved out of the room step by step, feeling my way along in the dark. “There will be ample time for it, we are in no hurry.”

The inner room was extremely quiet, and there was a long pause before a barely audible “thank you” was heard.