Chapter 37: Does One Get Used to Pain?
When Long Heng hurried into Bai Xiangxiu’s room, the latter was lying down on her side with furrowed eyebrows, her forehead dripping with sweat.
It hurts, it really hurts. She gritted her teeth as she saw a shadow approach her. Lifting her head, she saw that it was Long Heng. She felt a little confused. It was hard to tell whether this was a dream. She hadn’t died but revived, but why was Long Heng before her eyes instead of the supporting male lead!
“Does, does it hurt a lot?” Long Heng asked awkwardly. His heart was distressed at the sight of her, but, he couldn’t bear the pain in her place.
“Hurts…” Bai Xiangxiu hurt enough to want to cry. She didn’t have spare effort to avoid being afraid. No matter who it was beside her, she wanted to lean against them and act like a spoiled child. Only then would her heart feel soothed.
“I… know you’re in pain. Bear with it,” Long Heng didn’t know what to do with her, but moved to sit by the bed and take her hand. Unexpectedly, Bai Xiangxiu tightly gripped his hand as soon as it was offered due to her pain. It was as if she could stop hurting just by holding it in a deathgrip. Long Heng allowed her to hold on without moving. Truthfully speaking, she didn’t look beautiful right now at all, just very fragile and weak. It moved the softest part of his heart.
She even acted this cutely before him, wanting to be soothed. This was something that no one had ever done before. His heart itched as he hoped and wished she could get better instantly. Soon afterwards, the doctor’s daughter came to deliver medicine, while the old female servants sent by the Prince’s estate came to serve her as well. But Bai Xiangxiu was in pain and didn’t want to get up to drink her medicine.
The two elderly female servants came up and spoke, “Your Highness, why don’t you go out first? We can wait upon her.” The pressure he exuded here was too great, making it impossible to feed her medicine!
Long Heng knitted his eyebrows and said, “Just do your jobs well.” The two elderly servants nodded as they busied themselves with coaxing Bai Xiangxiu to take her medicine. But how would she agree to getting up? Finally, Long Heng had to add, “Don’t make a fuss, take your medicine.” His manner was a bit stern, causing Bai Xiangxiu to feel extremely aggrieved. She knit her brows and turned aside to ignore him.
“……” Long Heng was already used to her listening to his every word. When she suddenly acted like this, he was momentarily stupefied. But he quickly realized she was just acting peevish. He had never coaxed a girl before, so he drew a blank for a while. But those two elderly servants hadn’t lived this long for nothing. They finally managed to coax her into drinking the medicine, which seemed to relieve some of her pain. She made a few remarks about how badly it hurt, only causing a slight row before falling asleep.
Long Heng released a breath while the two servants spoke. “Your Highness, we need to rub down madame’s body. We don’t know whether you…” Will keep standing here to watch? Long Heng almost choked on the air stuck in his throat. He coughed lightly twice before turning to leave.
He’d wanted to stay behind originally, but he didn’t have to skills to keep himself calm, so just decided to leave instead. Still, he thought and thought before returning to say, “Don’t hurt her.” By then, half her arm had already been exposed, as evenly white and slender as a lotus root in the water.
He’d seen female bodies before, but he’d harbored so many suspicions about them on the battlefield that his thoughts had never wandered. But before his eyes now was his woman, one that he saw in a favorable light. Naturally, some errant thoughts arose that he couldn’t hold back.
No wonder the married soldiers in the barracks would hide in a corner when writing letters back home. The garish leers that appeared on their faces when they wrote those letters, it seemed that they were thinking of the time when they would reunite with their wives! Back then, he’d found them useless, but now he felt that this was the mark of a true man! He was still young, but he’d been so busy accomplishing his goals that this was the first time he’d thought over matters of men and women.
He stood in the little courtyard outside the clinic, thinking with his hands behind his back as time passed by. Suddenly, there was a horrific shriek. Without a doubt, it’d came from inside the room.
“What’s going on?” he said angrily. He’d told them not to hurt her, but why did they cause her pain?
“It’s all right, Madame’s just had a nightmare,” the elderly servant shouted from inside. She couldn’t be blamed for not controlling her volume, the prince’s deep voice had truly frightened them all.
Nightmare? That’s right, she was a lady of the boudoir, how could she have any experience with violence and bloodshed? She must have long been scared out of her wits. Last time, she’d even turned a bit crazy from seeing a servant girl beaten to death. She couldn’t have gone directly insane this time, could she?
As soon as he thought of that, he couldn’t stand still, but immediately found a doctor to prescribe her some calming medicines. His preoccupation and everything that happened in Bai Xiangxiu’s room were all known by Song Jiaoyue, who was only a few rooms away. The shock in his heart was no less inferior than Long Heng’s.
He knit his brows and resolved to send over some good medicines as soon as he reached home. Though the Prince’s estate had them as well, it was still a form of his regards!
Meanwhile, Bai Xiangxiu furrowed her eyebrows. What nightmare? She’d woken up because it hurt, all right? She’d been pegged as having nightmares before she’d even opened her eyes. These old ladies really feared being blamed. But because of that, their actions turned even gentler as they took care of her to the greatest degree they could muster.
Fortunately, Bai Xiangxiu was young and recovered well. By the second day, she could feel that the injury didn’t hurt as much as before, though it was numb and bloated as if it had turned swollen. This time, she was clear-headed enough to discover the male lead had come to see her again. His expression was wooden, as if she owed him some money, but he still came to her side and asked, “Are you alright?”
“I’m all right, just feeling a bit pained.” Now that she was fully sober, she’d completely pushed her act of cuteness in front of the male lead to the back of her head.
“Pain…. you’ll get used to it,” Long Heng really had no idea how to comfort others, especially females. Thus, all he could do was speak from experience, but the other person didn’t seem to understand.
“Ah?” You can get used to pain? Since this guy was a military man, he probably felt that way because he was injured all the time!
But to have the Prince comfort her was really giving her heavenly levels of face. After all, she hadn’t gotten hurt for his sake. When her thoughts traveled here, her heart felt guilty as she turned aside. “Oh, this concubine understands.”
“Mm, it’s good that you do.” Hey, what am I saying? Long Heng roared with rage in his heart, but not a trace came out through his expression, which remained carefully indifferent as he looked and looked at her… In the end, the room fell completely still, an obviously awkward silence hanging in the air.
Bai Xiangxiu was falling apart inside at this very moment. Why hadn’t the male lead left yet even though things had gotten this awkward? Did he suspect her of harboring feelings for the supporting male? Was he debating on how to pinch her to death between his fingers? That’s shouldn’t be. No matter what, she’d taken a dagger for the supporting male. He wouldn’t just watch someone die without helping them out, right?
“Where’s Xiao Shi?” she strove to find a topic, hoping that the other wouldn’t think about ways to kill her.
“Back at the complex.” Long Heng’s longstanding habit was to never use two words to explain a situation when one would do. But it was clear that the silence had turned awkward again after his words. He was a bit unhappy as he stood up and said, “Recuperate for one more day before going home.”
“This concubine understands,” Bai Xiangxiu released a breath when she saw he was about to leave. Going back home would be more comfortable than staying here. At least, he couldn’t run to her place all the time under the eyes of the entire household.
But where was the supporting male? Hey, I saved you. Aren’t you going to express anything? Where’s your conscience?