Chapter 2

Ye Rui lived in a rather quaint little thatched hut. She figured the original owner must have been someone who knew how to make life comfortable; even deep in the mountains, the hut had been built cleanly and sturdily.

The original owner had fenced it in with bamboo, and in the courtyard there was a small patch of land planted with medicinal herbs. That was where Ye Rui’s hemostatic medicine had come from. Though the hut was small, it had everything it needed. All the basic furnishings were there, and even a delicate little tea set, which suggested the original owner had spent quite a bit on it.

The only downside was... there was only one bed; and it was a single bed at that.

Carefully, Ye Rui laid the woman down on the bed, then found a pair of scissors in the crude little cabinet...

“What are you doing?”

The woman tightened her grip on the knife again. Her gaze sharpened, and a trace of ruthlessness surfaced on her pale face, like a leopard poised to pounce on prey.

Ye Rui sighed, flexing the scissors in her hand, and said helplessly, “I’m cutting open the cloth around your collar so I can check your injuries. I’m a woman too; don’t be afraid.”

By the end, Ye Rui’s voice had softened, almost coaxing a child. Going head-on with this woman clearly wasn’t wise.

The woman’s eyes darkened. Of course she knew Ye Rui was a woman; precisely because she was a woman...

After a moment, as though she had made up her mind, her beautiful eyes lowered slowly, and she put down the knife. In a weak voice, she said, “Come here.”

As if resigning herself to fate, the woman closed her eyes and let Ye Rui cut away the clothing near her shoulder. The sound of tearing cloth rang out as the sharp scissors easily sliced through the fabric. Ye Rui could feel the woman’s body go rigid.

Glancing at the knife in the woman’s hand, Ye Rui couldn’t help getting a little gooseflesh. She immediately focused on examining the wound.

The flesh at her collarbone had split open and turned outward; through the mottled blood, bone could be seen gleaming white. It had clearly been a kill-or-be-killed strike. Fortunately, this woman had a strong constitution. The blade had gone off, and if it had landed in the heart, Ye Rui would have had to dig a grave.

Probably because she had dodged in time, the wound wasn’t too deep and didn’t need stitching. The bleeding had already stopped; now she only needed some hemostatic and pain-relieving medicine applied to it, and to keep it fixed in place.

But first, she had to wash the wound.

The original owner’s house only had a small amount of salt, probably something she had saved up bit by bit through careful use. Now it could only be used to clean this woman’s wound.

Ye Rui mixed up some salt water, dampened a cloth with it, and carefully wiped the wound clean. During the whole process, neither of them said a word. The woman’s brows kept furrowing and then easing, easing and then furrowing again; whenever the wound was touched, she would involuntarily catch her breath.

Once the blood and grime were finally cleaned away, Ye Rui applied some of the hemostatic medicine the house had on hand, then found clean cloth to bandage and secure the wound. She also noticed the woman’s face had gone red when her clothes were tugged down half exposed. She hadn’t expected a woman like a wolf to still be shy about something like this.

Still... that contrast was kind of adorable.

“Don’t move. Moving will only make it hurt more.”

Ye Rui looped the bandage over her right armpit, behind her neck, and back to her left shoulder, wrapping it layer by layer. Her fingers inevitably brushed against the woman’s snow-white skin and the elegant lines of her collarbone. Seeing how stiff the woman had become, her lower lip bitten pale as though she was enduring something, Ye Rui felt the woman’s light, uneven breathing drifting by her ear, and for some reason her own mind wavered a little too.

After finishing the injury on the woman’s collarbone, Ye Rui moved on to check her leg. Just as she was about to lift the hem of the woman’s skirt, the woman shrank back a little.

“I’m checking your leg injury.”

Only after Ye Rui said that did the woman relax a little. Then Ye Rui carefully lifted the skirt, revealing a blue-purple bruise on the woman’s left calf, starkly glaring against her snow-white skin.

This woman was really too pale. So pale it was almost sickly.

“I’m going to press on the injury. If it hurts, tell me; don’t hold it in.”

This woman was far too good at enduring pain. She had to be warned, or Ye Rui wouldn’t be able to judge anything.

Ye Rui pressed on the woman’s smooth, tender calf, and the woman soon frowned and cried out in pain. Ye Rui immediately let go.

“It should be a crack in the bone, not a full break. I’ll go get some medicine for the swelling and pain. Rest first.”

Ye Rui was suddenly glad the original owner had planted quite a lot of medicinal herbs in the courtyard. At first, she hadn’t recognized any of them, but that was when Hu Tu came in handy; only then did she identify their appearances and effects.

Ye Rui picked some herbs and, under Hu Tu’s guidance, prepared them into an external medicine. After applying it to the woman, she also used a wooden board to fix the woman’s lower leg in place. Only then could the injuries be considered temporarily dealt with.

Hu Tu: [I forgot to tell you something.]

Just as Ye Rui sat down to rest for a moment, she heard Hu Tu’s voice and nearly jumped.

Ye Rui: [What?]

Hu Tu: [...The task is complete. The task actually got completed!]

Ye Rui was startled, then a little delighted, then a little helpless. [So by “pick up something,” you meant picking up a woman?!]

If she had decided not to save this woman, wouldn’t that have meant failing before she even started?

Hu Tu: [Ahem. It seems so. If this task hadn’t been completed, maybe both of us would have had to become cosmic garbage.]

Ye Rui’s mouth twitched. She grit her teeth. [What does cosmic garbage mean?]

Hu Tu: [Just... being torn into pieces and scattered through the universe.]

Ye Rui nearly passed out. She really wanted to say thank you, because with you, I feel warm all year round.

Just then, the woman on the bed moved slightly and gave a faint sound. Ye Rui hurried over and asked, “How are you? Is there anywhere else hurt?”

In her previous life, Ye Rui had been a lead game planner for a AAA single-player game. She knew this too well; if this woman was the key to the first task, then the tasks that followed were probably all tied to her. She had better serve her well.

The woman shook her head, her gaze fixed dazedly on Ye Rui. Then she asked tentatively, “You don’t know who I am?”

Ye Rui froze. That question was truly bizarre. She was just a mountain savage; besides the butcher and the pelt seller, who was she supposed to know?

“Should I know you?”

The woman didn’t get angry after hearing that. Instead, she curled her lips into a smile. Though weariness and pain had worn away some of her sharpness, her eyes remained as cold and steady as blades, with a fleeting trace of interest in them. “My name is Lingchao.”

Ye Rui thought: never heard of her.

Seeing Ye Rui’s expressionless face, the woman lowered her head in thought, then said, “Tomorrow, go buy some medicine and meat back.”

Lingchao loosened the purse embroidered with a single character from her belt and placed it beside the bed. Looking up at Ye Rui, she said, “You saved me; I will surely repay you.”

Ye Rui took the purse and glanced at it casually. As for repayment, forget it. She didn’t want to get tangled up with this Miss Lingchao. “You’ll have to make do with plain tea and coarse food today. I’ll go buy supplies tomorrow.”

Lingchao took in every expression on Ye Rui’s face and asked with a smile, “From your accent, you don’t sound like someone from the Capital City?”

“I don’t really know where I’m from. Anyway, I’ve always lived in the mountains.”

After that, Ye Rui didn’t say much more to Lingchao. Her gaze was too penetrating, like a blade that could cut through skin and straight into the soul; if Ye Rui kept talking, she’d definitely be seen through. The more you say, the more mistakes you make.

She went outside to chop firewood and light a fire, then casually boiled some porridge and sliced up some of the dried meat the original owner had left behind to bring up to Lingchao. Since she was already helping, she might as well help all the way. Ye Rui supported Lingchao upright and fed her the porridge. At first, Lingchao looked at the bowl as if she meant to refuse it, but Ye Rui only smiled. “It’s not poisoned. I’ll eat some for you to see.”

Ye Rui herself took two bites. The taste was so bland she disliked it a little. “It’s only a bit plain. If I really wanted to harm you, I could’ve just shot you dead with that arrow then and there.”

Lingchao was still frowning, but in the end she only ate a few mouthfuls before giving up.

So hard to serve, Ye Rui thought.

After eating a few bites of porridge, Lingchao could no longer hold on and fell asleep. Ye Rui moved around as quietly as possible. She first prepared the external medicine for tomorrow, and by the time she finished, it was already night. Seeing her cute little bed occupied, she had no choice but to take some dried grass from the shed outside and make do sleeping on the floor for the night.

In the middle of the night, Lingchao woke once. She turned her head warily in search of Ye Rui, and only after seeing that person had spread out grass and was curled up asleep by the door did she loosen the small knife in her hand. After that, she watched Ye Rui for quite a long time. Only after confirming that Ye Rui hadn’t made any strange moves did she close her eyes and fall asleep again.

When Ye Rui got up the next morning, Lingchao still hadn’t risen. She carefully felt Lingchao’s forehead and, as expected, she had a fever. The temperature wasn’t too high, but if this went on she might leave behind a lingering illness, and this person already seemed to be in poor health.

Ye Rui cleaned up briefly, then headed out at once to buy medicine. She wanted very much to leave Lingchao a note, but she truly couldn’t read or write, so she had no choice but to give up and just hope she would stay put and not wander off.

Lingchao woke not long after Ye Rui left. A black figure then appeared by her bedside and knelt down on one knee. “This subordinate failed in her duty and let My Lady get hurt!”

The tall woman knelt there, head bowed low. Her high ponytail hung by her cheek, and she didn’t even dare glance at the woman on the bed, who lay there weak and powerless.

“They laid a trap this time and were determined to take the Prime Minister’s life. It’s not your fault. Get up.”

Lingchao—no, Xie Tinglan’s—voice was still weak. Her eyelids were heavy, but she still forced herself to stay alert as she spoke to Yin Yue. “Were they all killed?”

“They were all killed, but My Lady, they were dead soldiers. We couldn’t trace who was behind them.”

Xie Tinglan gave a cold laugh and then closed her eyes to rest. “As expected.”

“Have Huan Jing disguise herself as me. I’ll be bedridden for a month. Whoever comes to visit, and whatever happens in the imperial court, must all be reported to me one by one.”

Xie Tinglan pressed her lips together, frowning. Her head felt as if it were filled with lead; she wanted nothing more than to drift off to sleep. But in front of her subordinate, she still maintained the dignity of someone above others.

Seeing this, Yin Yue was worried. “My Lady... this subordinate can take you back.”

She hadn’t expected Xie Tinglan to intend to stay in such a crude place. This was not good for her injuries at all!

Xie Tinglan’s tone was colder than an ice lake. “No need. My condition is not suited to travel, and staying here is actually safer. This blade of mine that kills for others is too sharp and too frightening to its master; perhaps this is the perfect act of discarding the millstone once the donkey has been killed.”

Hearing the words “discarding the millstone once the donkey has been killed,” Yin Yue’s expression changed. She immediately understood what Xie Tinglan meant and said nothing more to persuade her.

“Go investigate that little hunter. If she shows any sign of something amiss, kill her.”

Xie Tinglan’s eyes turned cold. If she died, that would of course be good for some people, but the living her was of greater value. She could not make a single mistake.

“Yes.”

After feeding Xie Tinglan a pill for healing, Yin Yue left behind a purse and a bag of healing medicine before departing.

After Yin Yue left, Xie Tinglan quickly fell asleep again.

When Ye Rui returned, Xie Tinglan was aware of it. She was always vigilant; it was just that she truly couldn’t open her eyes, and the fact that Ye Rui had come back also meant this person had not, for the time being, done anything unusual in town.

Soon, Xie Tinglan smelled the scent of porridge, then medicine. Perhaps the healing medicine was taking effect; when she woke again, she was much more clear-headed. After that, Ye Rui carefully fed her more porridge. Today’s porridge had been cooked quite well, with angelica and chicken added. The chicken had been stewed until soft and tender, easy to swallow. It was rather thoughtful.

Later, Ye Rui fed Xie Tinglan medicine as well. The bitter taste rushed into her mouth, making Xie Tinglan’s beautiful features crease. But then warm fingers touched her lips, and a piece of candied fruit slid into her mouth.

“I thought you weren’t afraid of anything. Turns out you’re still afraid of bitterness. Good thing I bought candied fruit.”

Seeing how much money was in the purse, Ye Rui thought that if she was going to buy something anyway, she might as well; she could eat some too. Why not?

The corner of Xie Tinglan’s lips curved slightly. The tip of her tongue tasted the sweet-and-sour flavor, quickly dulling the bitterness in her mouth. After Ye Rui carefully laid her back down on the bed, Ye Rui herself sat eating porridge while spreading out the xuan paper she had just bought, turning a book over in her hands again and again with a troubled expression.

Xie Tinglan kept watching. She saw that Ye Rui’s grip on the brush was correct, but her writing motion was like that of a three-year-old; shaky, hesitant, and full of distress, to the point that the porridge in her mouth had to sit there while she lost focus and couldn’t swallow it.

She had thought Ye Rui would buy something valuable, but unexpectedly she had bought books instead. And from the looks of it, she really couldn’t read.

“What kind of reward do you want?”

Xie Tinglan asked, her gaze falling on Ye Rui’s hands. Her hands were covered by fingerless cloth gloves made of coarse hemp, exposing two long, elegant, slender fingers that looked almost refined. The graceful way she held the brush clashed oddly with her rough, wild clothing, creating a strange sort of beauty.

“I’ve already used your silver to buy what I wanted. The reward has already been paid.”

Ye Rui was still seriously staring at the strange characters in the book, writing them stroke by stroke with such awkwardness that it looked very green and inexperienced. She didn’t even know what the characters were or how to pronounce them, and in her anxiety, sweat was starting to gather at her temples.

No reward?

Seeing Ye Rui’s embarrassed look, Xie Tinglan’s eyes gained a little more interest. “This injury won’t heal in a short time. How about I teach you to read and write?”

Author’s note:

----------------------

Here we go, here we go~

Little Ye: You actually wanted to kill me?

Prime Minister Xie: ...

Little Ye: I nearly lost my wife!

Prime Minister Xie: But you didn’t, did you?

[doge][doge] There’ll be more tomorrow too!