LW chapter 61

 

Zhou Yuan’s face suddenly turned panicked. He stood up and walked over to Chen Qing. “What’s wrong, Ah Qing? Are you sick? Why are you at the clinic?”

Chen Qing only looked at his arm, his voice trembling. “What’s wrong with you? How could you get injured?”

The clinic wasn’t a place to talk. Zhou Yuan pulled Chen Qing along, and Li Xin pulled Qi Shuning behind him. They quickly left.

Zhou Yuan brought Chen Qing to their temporary lodging: an inn in the city. Zhou Yuan and Qi Shuning stayed in the same room. Knowing they would talk, Li Xin took Qi Shuning away.

Back in the room, Chen Qing still seemed frightened. His face was pale, and his voice trembled. “What happened?”

Zhou Yuan told him about his experiences during that time.

This time, the government and other escort agencies jointly handled the escort mission. It was a tribute from local officials to the capital. Since it was a private transaction, the government wasn’t concerned and chose the escort agency.

They had to complete the journey well, no matter the amount of money they were paid.

However, no one knew where the news had leaked from. The entire journey was not peaceful. Mountain bandits, water bandits, and robbers harassed the entire team. When they were about to reach the capital, the bandits planned to make their move.

“It was the Geng Yousha gang.” The former Zhenwei Escort Agency escort leader said, “Recently, the court has started cracking down on bandits, and they’ve been restless.”

The Zhenwei Escort Agency and the Geng Yousha gang had previously been considered peaceful and harmonious. This time, they probably heard that the agency was in chaos, so they attacked.

Zhou Yuan tightened the bandage on his arm, the knife on his back itched to be used.

The Geng Yousha gang had fought desperately before. As long as they could seize silver, they could regroup quickly. This time, they also fought with everything they had.

Zhou Yuan had seen such things before—blood, flashing blades, and screams. He looked very calm. He was on the battlefield, where General Xiao had taught him to catch the thief first.

Zhou Yuan spotted the leader of the Geng Yousha gang at first glance. After dealing with the surrounding henchmen, he headed straight for the leader.

The Geng Yousha leader apparently didn’t expect someone to come at him directly. Zhou Yuan was very spirited at that moment, so he exchanged a few blows with the leader. They both had their wins and losses.

However, Zhou Yuan was the kind of person who could emerge from a sea of blood and corpses as the chief general. He saw the leader’s weaknesses and raised his blade, killing the Geng Yousha leader.

Once the leader died, the others scattered and had no strength left to continue fighting. Although they won, it was only by a narrow margin. Many people in the escort team were injured, and some were killed. After all,

Zhou Yuan and his team were escorts. They didn’t want to participate in the subsequent bandit suppression, but they were delayed for a while. By the time they finished, their agency was short two people. Meng Qi was slightly injured, and others were hurt as well.

Everyone at the Zhenwei Escort Agency witnessed Zhou Yuan kill the gang leader. At that moment, they were all convinced of his abilities. The escort leader gathered the two brothers’ corpses and told Zhou Yuan how to handle the follow-up matters.

After resting for a day, they didn’t delay. On the way back, they hired two or three meat escorts and earned money to pay for inns.

Zhou Yuan was eager to go home. He had never wanted to go home so badly. He wished he could travel twelve hours a day.

The escorts laughed at him. Meng Qi said it was only natural that Brother Yuan wanted to go home, since he had just gotten married. They thought that, after wiping out the Geng Yousha gang, the journey back would be smooth. Everyone relaxed their vigilance.

However, when they were about to reach the city, a member of the Geng Yousha gang snuck into the teahouse where they were resting. No one paid him any mind as he rushed straight at Zhou Yuan. Zhou Yuan was somewhat prepared. The knife cut his arm, and blood flowed all over the floor.

Zhou Yuan was angry. Although the wound wasn’t fatal, he was about to go home. If Chen Qing saw the wound, he would cry.

They caught the man, and Meng Qi volunteered to turn him over to the government. Zhou Yuan nodded and casually tended to the wound. As he approached the city gate, he saw Qi Shuning.

Qi Shuning was a mess. No one knew how the weak scholar walked back.

He was also shocked to see Zhou Yuan and was even more confused when he saw the wound on his arm.

Zhou Yuan asked him to accompany them. The escort team returned to the agency to rest. Zhou Yuan handled escort matters for two days before taking Qi Shuning to the city.

The wound on his arm had only been roughly treated. When they returned to the city, Qi Shuning saw that his arm was bleeding again. He asked Zhou Yuan to go to the clinic and have it bandaged. Unexpectedly, Zhou Yuan met Chen Qing at the clinic.

“Maybe that’s all.” Zhou Yuan said it very lightly. At least he hadn’t told anyone about the bloody fight between him and the gang leader. Still, after hearing it, Chen Qing started crying silently.

“Don’t cry. See? I came back safely.” Zhou Yuan hugged Chen Qing and wiped away his tears with little kisses.

Chen Qing wasn’t stupid. He knew that what happened couldn’t be as simple as he said. What about suppressing the bandits and seeking revenge? Just thinking about it made Chen Qing uneasy. Better safe than sorry.

What if Zhou Yuan hadn’t come back?

Zhou Yuan raised his hand and hugged Chen Qing: “Ah Qing, don’t think too much. It was just my carelessness.”

Chen Qing looked at him with teary eyes. “I promised you could go out, but I—I really don’t feel at ease now. I hope you come back safely.”

“I know, I know everything.” Zhou Yuan comforted him, saying, “Ah Qing, don’t be afraid.”

Chen Qing hugged him and cried sadly. Then, his emotions slowly stabilized. He looked at Zhou Yuan’s arm. “Does it hurt badly?”

Zhou Yuan kissed the corner of his lips again. “My skin is thick. I’m not afraid.”

Chen Qing knew he had lost control a bit, but he was very afraid. He was afraid that Zhou Yuan would become like his father. After gaining many things and then losing them, his heart would be empty and bleeding.

“Let’s go home?” Zhou Yuan packed the luggage in the room. Many of the items were things he had bought for Chen Qing in Beijing.

Chen Qing looked down and helped Zhou Yuan pack. He didn’t let Zhou Yuan carry the luggage and walked out with a big bag on his back.

Outside, Li Xin was waiting for them with the oxcart. Qi Shuning sat beside Li Xin with his head down. Chen Qing put down the bag and got on the ox cart. Zhou Yuan smiled at Li Xin, then sat in the back.

Li Xin…

Back in the village, Li Xin parked the cart for them. Then he grabbed Qi Shuning’s ear and dragged him away, leaving Chen Qing and Zhou Yuan alone.

Chen Qing was silent the whole way back. Zhou Yuan wanted to hug him, but Chen Qing gently brushed his hand away and said his arm was still injured.

When he ignored people, he sank into his own world. However, he didn’t forget to feed Zhou Yuan. After seeing Zhou Yuan unpack the luggage, he went to Aunt Sun’s house and took a chicken from the coop.

Aunt Sun hadn’t seen Chen Qing like this in a long time. Since Zhou Yuan had come along, he had become much more cheerful. He wasn’t like he was today, full of despair with his emotions written all over his face.

“What’s wrong, Aqing?” Aunt Sun helped him catch the chicken.

“Zhou Yuan is hurt. I want to make him better.” Chen Qing rubbed his eyes and said, “Mother, I’m scared.”

Aunt Sun stroked his hair and said, “Don’t be afraid. He came back safely.”

Chen Qing nodded, but he couldn’t listen to anyone right now. He kept thinking about what he would do if Zhou Yuan didn’t come back safely.

Aunt Sun went back with him and saw Zhou Yuan’s injured arm. She sighed in relief. Fortunately, only his arm was injured, not elsewhere.

She helped Chen Qing kill the chicken and put it in the pot, then left them alone.

After they finished eating, Chen Qing still ignored Zhou Yuan, but he did everything properly. He boiled water, bandaged Zhou Yuan’s arm well, and carefully scrubbed his back.

Since Zhou Yuan had been moving around all day, his arm, which had been treated that morning, was bleeding again. Chen Qing sighed, found the prescribed medicine in Zhou Yuan’s luggage, unwrapped the bandage, and rebandaged his arm.

Zhou Yuan knew the wound on his arm was still bleeding slightly and that Chen Qing might be scared because he was shy and afraid.

“I’ll do it myself, Aqing.”

Chen Qing ignored him, lifting his eyelids just enough to look at Zhou Yuan. Zhou Yuan stopped moving his hand and watched Chen Qing unwrap the bandage.

There was bright red blood, a little whitish flesh, and faintly visible bone.

Chen Qing’s eyes were red and his hand trembled slightly as he held the medicine bottle, but he steadily applied the medicine to his wound. He carefully wrapped the bandage around the wound and tied it with a neat knot.

After finishing, Chen Qing wiped his tears and ignored Zhou Yuan, going to take care of the rest.

After finishing, he returned to the room. In the past, Zhou Yuan slept outside because he said he was afraid Chen Qing would roll off the bed.

Today, however, Chen Qing pushed Zhou Yuan into the bed and slept outside himself, ignoring Zhou Yuan and leaving him only the back of his head.

He had run around for days just to sleep soundly while hugging his husband, but now his arm was hurt. Although Zhou Yuan was spirited, he didn’t dare mess around.

He moved to Chen Qing’s back and gently poked his waist, saying, “Ah Qing, I was wrong. Don’t be mad.”

Chen Qing ignored him and moved his hand away.

He seemed truly angry.

“Ah Qing, I haven’t seen you in so long.” Zhou Yuan knew how to handle Chen Qing. “I missed you the whole way.”

Chen Qing had heard those words before, and this time, he was indifferent. “Rest well,” he said.

Zhou Yuan moved to Chen Qing’s other side. “Ah Qing won’t even look at me.”

Chen Qing was forced to look at him but then turned away again. Still not looking at Zhou Yuan, he pouted. “Then tell me, how did it feel to meet bandits?”

Zhou Yuan didn’t dare tell Chen Qing about the deaths of the escorts, afraid he would be scared and sad.

But Chen Qing turned out to be much stronger than he thought. He had endured the death of his parents, which proved that he wasn’t a coward.

“Two people from our escort agency died in this incident.”

Chen Qing had been facing away. After hearing this, he paused, then turned back around and pressed his forehead against his arm.

Zhou Yuan patted his back and hummed a soft song that Chen Qing had never heard before. The last time Chen Qing had heard a song was when his father had hummed one softly to coax him to sleep when he was little.

“What song is this?” Chen Qing sniffled.

Zhou Yuan replied, “It’s a song used to comfort those who died on the battlefield. We all know it.”

Chen Qing touched the old and new scars on his body again. He asked, “Did you have any close friends back then?”

Zhou Yuan shook his head. “No, I was too tired.”

The main reason was that no one knew if they would die that day, so there was no need to cause others grief.

Even with Meng Qi and the others, they only became friends after returning and sharing a few cups of wine.

“Aqing, death isn’t that scary.” Zhou Yuan couldn’t help but say, “Aqing, you managed to endure after your father and little father died. It was hard, but you survived. I know you’re strong.”

Chen Qing shook his head. “I’m not strong. I’m scared.”

“You asked if I had friends. Back then, we didn’t dare make friends.” Zhou Yuan sighed. “I was afraid that one day, when I woke up, my friends would be gone. We had to accept too many farewells and deaths.”

Zhou Yuan placed his hand over his. “Trust me. Believe that I’ll succeed. Believe that I’ll return to you no matter what. But if death comes for me one day, believe that there’s a soul after death. I won’t go to hell, I’ll just wander the world. Even if you can’t see me, I’ll still be by your side.”

 

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