Chapter 25 (1/2)
FRS: Chapter 25 – Unknown Love (7) [End]
Translator: Momoe Pom
Editor: Me3, Isalee
Quality Check: Isalee
First Published on Ainus.h.i.+.
As soon as he untied the outer robe, Hua HuaiXiu felt pain in his eyes.
The scorching red kept spreading across the white undergarment. Even looking at it like this made his chest tight, not to mention much pain Fan JiJing was in right now.
He reached over and very slowly lifted the undergarment.
Fan JiJing drew a deep breath. He lowered his eyes and saw Hua HuaiXiu's hands trembling slightly, as if the more nervous he was, the harder it was for him to control himself.
”It doesn't hurt.” Fan JiJing comforted him.
Hua HuaiXiu composed himself, and his hands finally stabilized. He gritted his teeth. ”Shut up.” The undergarment was finally pulled open, revealing the hideous wound underneath. Blood was seeping out of it little by little, with no signs of stopping. While biting his lips, he calmly sprinkled the medical powders over it, then tore off a strip from his innermost undergarment to bind it up.
Because the wound was on the lower abdomen, the length of the cloth strip was only enough to circle his waist once. Therefore Hua HuaiXiu had to tear down a couple more strips.
Fan JiJing laughed, ”Won't you be cold?”
Hua HuaiXiu raised his head and glared at him in a bad mood, but he discovered that Fan JiJing's lips were turning pale; his face was blue as if he was about to faint at any moment. Hua HuaiXiu hurriedly asked, ”Are you okay?”
Fan JiJing's mouth twitched. He should in fact blame himself for not foreseeing that it would take Hua HuaiXiu this long to bind up his wound. If he had known earlier, he would not have used his inner qi to make the blood run faster. But since this was already the case, he definitely should not waste this opportunity as he confessed, ”As long as Cousin is fine, everything I do is worth it.”
Hua HuaiXiu blushed slightly. If this sentence was said by anyone else, he would have a fall out with that person without any hesitation. But because this person was Fan JiJing, although he felt it was cheesy, he was still happy inside.
”Cousin,” Fan JiJing took a heavy breath, ”Did you forgive me?”
Hua HuaiXiu's body stiffened.
The impact he experienced when he found out the truth was still lingering in his body. It had precipitated and had turned into a big knot during the month he was being chased after. How could it be untied by a mere explanation of a few words?
It was easy to harm, but it was hard to forget the pain. Just like the wound on Fan JiJing's lower abdomen — it seemed like a matter of one cut, but no one knew how many days it would take for it to heal completely.
Fan JiJing sighed in a low voice, ”Cousin should hate me.”
Hate?
Hua HuaiXiu went blank for a second, then bursted out, ”How could I hate you?” If he hated him, why would he feel more worried and why would his heart ache more than anyone else when seeing Fan JiJing injured? If he hated him, why would he still firmly go on with him despite the fact that he was clearly afraid of being deceived again?
He didn't hate him.
Hua HuaiXiu reached a conclusion: he was just afraid.
The Fan JiJing before was dull and slow, but Hua HuaiXiu believed that he could grab the other person's thoughts tightly in his palms. This feeling was called 'relief'.
Now Fan JiJing had become smarter and more shrewd, but he jumped out of Hua HuaiXiu's palms; in return he grabbed Hua HuaiXiu in his palms. This feeling was called 'vexation'.
Although the heart was the same one, the different feelings were millions of miles apart.
”Is it that hard to trust me one more time?” Fan JiJing looked at him with an almost petty and lowly gaze as if he was begging him.
Hua HuaiXiu felt so stifled inside that he couldn't even speak. After quite a while, he finally said, ”Isn't it because you've deceived me before?”
”I had no other choice.” Fan JiJing seemed to envision the quivering pillar called ”resolute” in Hua HuaiXiu's chest.
Hua HuaiXiu asked, ”Why don't you tell my father?” The father he was referring to was Hua YunHai.
Fan JiJing lowered his eyelids and laughed at himself, ”Maybe because I was young and aggressive?”
”You're lying,” Hua HuaiXiu said in a suddenly cold tone.
Fan JiJing's heart palpitated as he lifted his eyes.
Hua HuaiXiu said coldly, ”Even an idiot will become smarter after being deceived so many times.”
Fan JiJing's face became even paler. He smiled bitterly, ”You won't believe even one word from me now?”
Hua HuaXiu didn't answer. Sometimes, the simpler the sentence, the harder it was to say it. The reason a lot of people made lengthy speeches was not because they felt confident and justified. On the contrary, it was because they were neither confident nor justified enough that they had to use more words to cover up their diffident.
Sometimes, the truth only took one sentence, or even one word.
Fan JiJing said, ”I've said that from now on, I will only listen to you.”
Hua HuaiXiu looked at him, his eyes fixed.
Fan JiJing did not avoid it.
”Anything?” As if Hua HuaiXiu had thought of something, a hint of astuteness flashed through his eyes.
”Yes.” Fan JiJing answered without any hesitation.
”Even if it's…” Hua HuaiXiu paused a moment. His cheeks flushed red. There were glimmers flickering in his eyes as he stared at Fan JiJing full in his face. ”…asking you to give yourself to me?” The last four words were spoken extremely softly that they were almost held inside his mouth.
”What?” Fan JiJing leaned forward as if he didn't hear it clearly, but then he immediately let out a soft groan, ”Ah!”
”Don't move around!” Hua HuaiXiu nervously examined the wound. ”We better invite a doctor to take a look. Judging by the condition of your injury, I think you need to stay in Luoyang at least for a while.”
Fan JiJing raised his hand and wiped the cold sweat on his forehead. ”I can't. There's a place I have to go to.”
”Where?” Hua HuaiXiu stared him, begging to differ.
”Jiangnan.”
Hua HuaiXiu's eye twitched.
Sure enough, the words Fan JiJing said were ”The Hua Family.”
Not far from the a.s.sa.s.sin Sect, a group of black-robed people were tied into a pile.
Zhong Yu threw away the deerskin sack in his hand with disgust. ”Using pig blood is banned in the future.”
”…” The disciples from the Huihuang Sect all looked at each other. Do they have to use human blood the next time? No, that's not right. Would there even be a next time?
One of the disciples asked, ”Zhong Tangzhu [1], please instruct us. What should we do with the rest of the people?”
”Let the a.s.sa.s.sin Sect's leader finish the last order, then hand him over to the local authorities.” The extremely violent and wicked ones had already been killed by Fan JiJing, and these leftover ones just needed some good reform…except for their leader.
The disciple asked puzzledly, ”The last order?”
”The a.s.sistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites.” Zhong Yu glanced at a certain person among the black-robed men. ”He knows.”
”Yes.”
Zhong Yu turned around and left.
”Tangzhu, where are you going? The sub-altar is this way.”
”Going home.” Before his voice fell quiet, the person had already disappeared.
Hua HuaiXiu had persuaded Fan JiJing to go back to the Hua Family several times in the past. On one hand, it was because he knew Fan JiJing wasn't having an easy life in the Jiuhua Sect. If he returned to the Hua Family, then he at least would still have the status of a young master [2]. The Hua Family was always sensitive about looking good in other people's eyes, so they would not treat him unfairly for sure. On the other hand, he could also see him all day, so he didn't need to find reasons to go out each time.
But times had changed. The Hua Family had always attached great importance to its family morals. His action of escaping from the marriage arrangement was equal to falling out with the Hua Family. Now, he was the one who could not go back. So when he heard that Fan JiJing was going back to the Hua Family, he immediately became restless inside.
For a moment, he was worried that Fan JiJing would form an alliance with the Hua Family; while in another moment, he was worrying about how the Hua Family would treat him.
He had been worrying for three days in a row. Fan JiJing finally couldn't bear the scene anymore. He pulled him over and laughed, ”I'm just going to the Hua Family to meet your father. After all, he had paid his respects to my parents' tombs before.”
Hua HuaiXiu's eyes began to tear up. Judging by this sentence, he could imagine how cold and poor Fan JiJing's childhood had been that even paying respects to his parents' tombs became an excuse for him to repay the kindness.
”I asked the a.s.sa.s.sin Sect's leader to kill the a.s.sistant Minister of Ministry of Rites. Regardless of whether he succeeds or not, I won't let you go back to the Hua Family again.” Fan JiJing tightened his grip on Hua HuaiXiu's hand as he promised, ”Maybe the Jiuhua Sect today is not as powerful as the Hua Family, but there will be one day that it will become a power which no one will dare to take lightly.”
Hua HuaiXiu blinked.
Sect and power were two different concepts. A sect that no one dared to take lightly would be a giant sect like Shaolin or Wudang, which held a certain position in the world of martial arts with virtuous, famous zhangmens and countless disciples. But a power was much more complicated. The most typical examples were the Huihuang Sect and the Demonic Sect. What Fan JiJing said sounded like he actually preferred the latter kind. Yet the former kind was probably only suitable to that dull and slow Fan JiJing.
Hua HuaiXiu surprisingly found out that he could even think of problems from the standpoint of this Fan JiJing before his eyes and even calmly accept it.
”But it is impossible for me to achieve all of this by myself.” Fan JiJing grabbed his hand and put it in front of his own chest. ”I need you.”
Hua HuaiXiu wanted to take it back, but Fan JiJing tightened his fingers and simply wouldn't let him go. He had no choice but to reply helplessly, ”Where did you get the idea that I like free meals? As long as the Jiuhua Sect is willing to set foot in the business world, of course I will use my way to bring it to a higher level.”
Fan JiJing laughed in spite of himself, ”Cousin thinks far.”
”Isn't that what you mean?” Hua HuaiXiu looked at him suspiciously.
Fan JiJing answered softly, ”It is enough for me as long as Cousin stays by my side.”
”Humph, as your servant?” Hua HuaiXiu turned his head aside to look out from the window. The corner of his mouth couldn't stop rising upwards.