He subconsciously pressed his hand to his neck, but the injury could not be hidden, so he said lightly, “Last night we went to rescue those hostages. I suffered a minor injury, but it is no matter.”
No matter his ass. This was the most serious injury Su Xi had ever seen him receive since he began marching with the army! Su Xi was both anxious and angry—anxious because she saw his clothes were neat and tidy, and his long hair tied meticulously, clearly having just bathed. Why did he bathe? Because the injury must have been serious, and he did not want the blood soaking through his robes for her to discover. Angry because she had repeatedly told him that if he were going to take action, he should tell her beforehand—yet he once again waited for her to fall asleep before completing the mission!
Su Xi clenched her teeth and said nothing as she frantically searched the shop for the hundred-percent-effectiveness wound medicine.
Lu Huan could buy this wound medicine from the shop as well, but every time he saw her frantically buying it in worry, he felt a sense of being cared about. He really liked this feeling. Therefore, he never took the medicine himself, but always used what she bought each day.
He smiled as he watched her select the wound medicine, spending a large amount of silver in one go.
When Su Xi looked up and saw the smile on the corners of Zai Zai’s eyes and brows, she could not help yelling angrily: “What the hell are you smiling at, get over here!”
Lu Huan: “……”
He suddenly discovered Xiao Xi’s fierce side.
Su Xi told Lu Huan to pull the tent curtains a bit tighter, then leaned closer. Since he refused to take off his clothes and let her check his injuries, she did it herself.
At this moment Su Xi completely disregarded any nonsense about men and women keeping proper distance. In burning anxiety she pulled aside Zai Zai’s robe, and when her gaze fell upon those wounds sprinkled with salt, she sharply sucked in a breath. It was practically mangled flesh, shocking to behold.
With injuries this severe, how had he still managed to sit there expressionless just now, copying military reports? And still smile at her as though nothing had happened?
Su Xi’s eyes turned red. She very much wanted to say—why don’t we report illness to Zhenyuan General and return to the capital first—but the words reached her lips and were swallowed back down.
Her nose felt sore. She sighed, then carefully and gently poured the wound-healing medicine over Lu Huan’s body. Only after all those wounds were coated in a thick layer of medicinal powder did she let him wrap the bandages back on and put his clothes back in order.
Su Xi felt uncomfortable in her heart—not only because she felt she had failed to take good care of Zai Zai, but also because, as time passed, it seemed that Zai Zai no longer needed her.
He possessed courage and strategy, could manage the Ministry of War well, gain the general’s favor, could lead soldiers into battle and steady the army’s morale, and could easily thwart assassination plots against the emperor.
Even when injured, he hid it from her so she would not find out.
If he no longer needed her, then what could she still do? She couldn’t really just log on every day to chat idly with him. If she did that, once he married and had children someday, he would certainly grow annoyed.
Not being needed = a useless person.
And these days he was also acting strange. The bubbles above his head hadn’t appeared again, as though he no longer opened his heart to her.
Su Xi didn’t know what to do. She rubbed her eyes, pretended nothing had happened, and said to Zai Zai: “Next time you get hurt you have to tell me, otherwise I’ll be angry.”
Lu Huan said: “All right.”
He put on his robe and tied his belt. Suddenly, a soldier outside the tent announced, “Cavalry Commandant, among the rescued townsfolk, there is a farmer’s daughter who says she is the daughter of a former imperial physician and skilled in medicine. She wishes to repay your lifesaving grace and has brought you a prepared dose of internal medicine to help you recover sooner.”
Lu Huan did not care about the medicine—after all, Su Xi’s wound powder already worked with miraculous effect.
But taking it and distributing it to the colleagues who had followed him into the enemy camp that day would not be bad, so he said quietly to Su Xi, “I’ll be right back.”
Su Xi: “Mn.”
The daughter of a former imperial physician? Su Xi, having been immersed in the game this long, instantly had a certain premonition. She opened the system interface at the top right, and as expected—she saw that under the “Harem” category, a new entry had been added: “Daughter of Former Imperial Physician, Liu Ruyan.”
She: …
This lousy game really filled every gap— even while marching and fighting, it still didn’t forget to arrange a harem for Zai Zai!
Su Xi quickly switched the interface, turning it to outside the tent. Sure enough, she saw a young woman standing opposite Zai Zai.
She paid money to unlock the original art to take a look. The woman’s features were gentle—not as delicate as the daughter of the Minister of War, nor as stunning as the daughter of Wan Sanqian—but she carried a distinct softness.
At the very least, after enabling the original art, she matched Zai Zai extremely well—her height only reached Zai Zai’s chest when he wore a cloak, appearing very small and delicate.
She took out the prepared medicine packet and said something to Zai Zai; Su Xi didn’t pay attention to the dialogue box that popped up anyway.
She only saw Zai Zai accept the medicine packet and casually hand it to the soldier behind him.
Su Xi didn’t know why her heart felt a little sour—something she had never felt before. Previously when she saw Zai Zai dodge that embroidered ball like he was avoiding a ghost, she had hated that he was so hopelessly straight, thinking his steel-straightness could never be saved.
But now Zai Zai wasn’t straight anymore. He didn’t send the girl away—instead he accepted her medicine packet.
Su Xi’s heart felt strangely out of sorts.
Perhaps it was because, back when Zai Zai was still a little milk-dumpling, she watched with an amused “spectator’s mindset,” looking forward to him liking someone so she could watch and enjoy the show.
But now, she found that Zai Zai liked to hide more and more things from her, and no longer needed her. As though he were gradually growing up, she felt a kind of forlorn sense of loss in her heart.
And this feeling became even more unbearable when she saw that another member had appeared in Zai Zai’s harem.
After all, Zai Zai truly had already reached the age to marry. Now he was not yet married, and he already was not expressing his inner thoughts to her as much. After he married, he would surely become even less able to return to the state where they talked about everything without reservation.
Su Xi lifted her eyes and glanced at the line above Zai Zai’s head—“At seventeen in Yan Country, one can marry and have children”—and only felt even more dejected.
She also did not understand why her heart felt so messy. She shouldn’t be like this, but for some inexplicable reason her heart felt unwell.
…Was Zai Zai needing her less and less?
When she saw Zai Zai return to the tent, she steadied herself a bit and switched the interface back inside the tent.
After Lu Huan sat back down at the desk, he asked, “Are you still here?”
He didn’t really need to ask this. Once he lifted his head, he could see Xiao Xi on the screen looking like she was thinking about something, somewhat listless.
She was silent for a moment before saying, “Still here.”
Lu Huan could tell she seemed a little down, but he did not understand why. Could it be that something bad had happened on her side during the brief moment he had closed the screen and left the tent just now?
Thus Lu Huan couldn’t help asking, “Why aren’t you talking, did something upset you?”
Su Xi scratched her head and said, “No.”
She couldn’t help opening the interface at the top right again. She found that although Han Yue and the daughter of Wan Sanqian had disappeared from this section shortly after appearing, this farmer girl rescued by Zai Zai still remained in this section, not disappearing.
Did this mean that compared to the previous two, Zai Zai’s affection for this farmer girl was a bit higher?
Maybe after returning to the capital this time, he could directly bring her back. Then some plot of offering oneself in gratitude could develop.
Although she should be happy for Zai Zai, once she thought of how Zai Zai had been injured and hadn’t told her, forcing her to discover it herself, her heart just felt sour.
Hehe, Zai Zai, anyway you have someone else making medicinal soup for you now, right? You don’t need your old mother anymore, right?
Su Xi was muttering this inwardly, while Lu Huan clearly felt that her emotions in the screen were somewhat low, yet he could not see why. Looking and looking, he only saw that her lips were a bit dry and chapped—probably because she had stayed too long in something they called an “air conditioner” over in her world, which made it easy to catch cold.
Lu Huan remembered how last time she had curled up in pain from menstrual cramps, and could not help worrying again. Thinking for a moment, he reminded her, “Drink more boiled water.”
Su Xi: “……”
Su Xi became even more annoyed and couldn’t help glaring at Zai Zai on the screen.
But her words still had to sound very gentle: “Hahaha okay, I will. You rest early, I’ll come see you tomorrow.”
When Lu Huan heard this, he put down his brush and asked, “Do you have something to leave for again?”
Su Xi had nothing to do. Her mind was just in chaos. Seeing the four large characters “marry and have children” above Lu Huan’s head, her eyelid twitched, and her mood fell even lower.
She said, “Mn, something came up. I’ll go first, bye-bye.”
Lu Huan felt disappointed in his heart and could only say, “Bye-bye.”
Su Xi scratched her hair and closed the screen.
She was actually quite afraid that one day Zai Zai would no longer need her, because although at the beginning she only treated it as playing a game, after a long time, her feelings for him had also grown deep.
She couldn’t clearly distinguish what these feelings were—whether it was the accumulation of daily companionship and talking about everything, or the warmth she felt from him, or the kind of emotion that came from slowly understanding each other bit by bit, gradually becoming indispensable friends.
So she was almost afraid of him growing up.
But compared to fearing him growing up, Su Xi thought she was even more afraid that one day he would truly marry and have children, and have someone by his side who could accompany him, and then he would gradually forget her.
And she, on this side, could only watch from afar.
Su Xi felt on one hand that perhaps she was overthinking things, but on the other hand felt uneasy because Zai Zai had talked with that farmer girl for so long just now.
She stood up from the desk, flung herself onto the bed, then grabbed her pillow and furiously pounded it, repeatedly casting spells on herself: “Stop thinking! Stop thinking!!”
Lu Huan, who had been staring at the screen wanting to see what was wrong with her: “……”
What’s going on? Lu Huan thought to himself. Clearly her kui-shui (menstruation) had already passed.
