“Qiu Niang?”
Gu Qing froze for a moment. To be honest, he almost thought he had misheard.
Only when the girl gave an almost imperceptible nod did he confirm that she had indeed spoken just now.
Without a doubt, this was an excellent sign of progress.
“What about your surname?” Gu Qing pressed.
This time, the girl said nothing, merely sipping her porridge in small, quiet mouthfuls.
Gu Qing wasn’t in a hurry. There was plenty of time ahead. He believed that one day, they would gradually grow familiar with each other.
After roughly three to five minutes, the steaming bowl of meat porridge was quickly emptied.
At first, she restrained herself, eating in small bites. But soon she let go completely. Despite clearly being scalded, she refused to stop.
It seemed the child had truly been starving.
Seeing this, Gu Qing could only remind her, “Eat slowly. No one’s going to take it from you.”
After feeding her, he carried the empty bowl out. Moments later, he returned with another bowl, this one filled with a thick, dark green medicinal paste.
“Earlier was just a simple cleaning. Now we apply the proper medicine.”
The paste in his hands was made from an herb called Longxue Teng, known for promoting blood circulation, reducing inflammation, and relieving pain.
While he had no way to treat the girl’s disability for now, the bruises and small wounds covering her body were well within his ability to heal.
But to apply the medicine, her clothes naturally had to come off.
As the saying goes, the first time is unfamiliar; the second time comes easily.
In just a few quick motions, Gu Qing undid the fastenings of the robe, fully exposing the girl’s frail shoulders, then began applying the ointment carefully over her wounds.
Only at this moment did he realize that her skin was actually very fair and delicate. It was completely unlike the dirty little beggar she had first appeared to be.
She must have lived a very privileged life for a long time in the past.
The man’s slender hand gently brushed over each wound. Every pause, every touch, stirred a faint tremor.
That could be misunderstood, but it hurt.
Applying medicine was not a pleasant process, and in the days to come, it would happen many more times.
All she could do was endure it until her external injuries fully healed.
While applying the ointment, Gu Qing also took the opportunity to examine the girl’s leg.
From the knee down, it seemed completely devoid of sensation. Beneath her white skin, a strange black pattern could be faintly seen, twisting and winding as it extended from her calf up to her knee.
Gu Qing frowned deeply, quickly arriving at a diagnosis in his mind.
This was no ordinary poison, but rather a method akin to a curse. Something from the realm of cultivators.
And he, Gu Qing, was merely a mortal. Even if he had read a few medical texts, how could he possibly treat such an injury?
His thoughts drifted, and he didn’t notice that his hand had lingered on the girl’s calf for far too long, even unconsciously stroking it lightly.
To an outsider, such a gesture would inevitably carry a different implication.
Perhaps sensing something, the young physician lifted his head, just in time to meet an extremely cold gaze.
Within that pitch-black eye was undisguised disgust and chill.
Seeing Gu Qing looking at her, the girl’s tightly pressed lips parted slightly before uttering one word.
“Disgusting.”
Clearly, in her eyes, someone had inadvertently revealed his true nature. He was nothing more than a well-dressed beast with perverted inclinations.
Thinking about it, it made sense. How could someone suddenly appear out of nowhere, treat you well, and care for you, for no reason at all?
Her past misery and displacement had already forced her to see through human nature far too early.
As for whether such insults would anger this so-called pervert, she didn’t care.
The atmosphere in the side room grew heavy. Gu Qing said nothing. He didn’t try to explain himself. He simply clapped his hands lightly, dressed the girl again, then stood up and left.
Walking all the way into the courtyard, the cold air rushed into his nose and mouth with the biting wind, brushing against his face.
At some point, the snow in the sky had stopped, leaving only scattered flakes that blanketed the courtyard in white.
The young man stood beneath the eaves, gazing into the distance, mulling over the thought that perhaps this wasn’t so bad. Letting a misunderstanding form, making her think he harbored ill intent, letting her quietly resent him…
That way, when he left in the future, there would be no deep entanglement.
He had always been someone who thought things through. For instance, according to the Heavenly Book, he could have used his real name without consequence. After all, it would erase any traces of him in the end.
And yet, he still chose to use an alias.
…
…
Time passed within the small courtyard.
Because she couldn’t move, the girl could only lie on the couch, relying on her hearing to sense the activity outside the room.
The man had bought her in the morning. After all the commotion and with her falling asleep midway, night had quietly descended.
The wind and snow, which had briefly ceased, began howling again under the cover of darkness, repeatedly striking the window lattice with dull thuds.
The girl stared at the slightly trembling window, lost in thought.
If it had been before today, she would probably be curled up in a cold cellar, waiting for death to come.
Or perhaps she would have been thrown out even earlier, discarded onto the long streets to fend for herself.
If she failed to wake up the next day, she would end up like the other old beggars: stiff and frozen until the patrol officers found her and buried her in a shallow grave outside the city.
She had thought about these endings more than once.
Yet it was as if the heavens were determined to play a joke on her. Not only had she not died, she had actually been bought…
But why would anyone buy someone as useless as her?
This was a question not only the broker couldn’t understand; she couldn’t make sense of it either.
But it didn’t matter. It had long since stopped mattering, hadn’t it?
With that thought in mind, she watched numbly as the man approached step by step, lifted her up, placed her into a bamboo basket, and carried her home.
What happened next, however, was even more unbelievable. So much so that it felt like a dream.
A bowl of steaming hot porridge, a soft comfortable bed, thick new clothes to wear….everything that had once only appeared in her dreams had now become reality.
And the price?
If she had to say, it seemed to be nothing more than letting that man touch her leg.
No matter how one looked at it, it was an incredibly worthwhile exchange.
As she thought about it in a daze, she suddenly realized that ever since leaving in the afternoon, that man had not stepped into this side room again.
Had he become embarrassed and angry after being scolded by her, and come to regret it?
As expected… it was all just an absurd, fantastical dream.
Still, even if it was a dream, she hoped it could last a little longer.
This fanciful wish was interrupted by a sudden rush of hurried footsteps.
A thought naturally arose in her mind.
Had he finally made up his mind to come and throw her away?
With that thought, she looked toward the empty doorway until that tall, slender figure appeared in her sight.
Snow dusted his shoulders, and a trace of frost clung to his brows. He must have just hurried back from outside.
“There’s a tailor shop by South Bridge. The owner is quite skilled. I went to have her make you a set of winter clothes.”
He didn’t step inside. He only stood at the doorway brushing the snow from himself as he spoke casually.
After dusting off the snow, he looked up and saw the girl staring fixedly at him. The man raised an eyebrow, thinking he understood something, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
“Starving, aren’t you? I’ll go make some food.”
His voice wasn’t loud, as always. It was calm and gentle.
Yet for some reason, a sudden inexplicable sting rose in the girl’s nose.
She turned her head away, lowering her gaze.
In the next moment, a silent tear slipped down along one side of her cheek.
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