Chapter 189: Sustaining Injuries (Part 1)

Shen Miao lit a lamp in the night as she wanted to tidy up the books that Shen Qiu had sent over during the day. Shen Qiu always felt that she likes reading and thinking that she would be marrying off, he had instructed people to search for single publications. Some of these single publications recorded the big events of the previous dynasty but some were also romance novels. Shen Miao had planned to gift these novels to Luo Tan and Feng An Ning and keep those books on previous dynasties, as they would perhaps come to use in the future.

Just as she was tidying up, she heard some movement outside her window. She was not accustomed to be waited upon at night so normally Jing Zhe and Gu Yu would retire early and would not be appearing at this time. She looked towards the window but there was no one. After thinking for a bit, Shen Miao open the doors and walked to the courtyard to take a look.

She was not afraid that there were bad people as there was still Cong Yang in this courtyard. If it was someone bad, Cong Yang would have long taken action. Who knew when she walked into the courtyard, she saw someone standing under the tree. She was startled and took two steps forward with the lantern and found that it was Xie Jing Xing.

Xie Jing Xing did not wear his purple long robe and instead changed into an entire body of black clothes. When he was wearing his purple robes, he was a noble gentleman but when wearing black, there was some air of a cold blooded austere around him. A lazy smile was hanging on his face as always and watched as Shen Miao walked up.

Shen Miao felt that something was wrong with Xie Jing Xing but she was unable to say what was wrong. She stood by Xie Jing Xing and asked, “Why stand here?”

If it was in the past, one feared that Xie Jing Xing would have long self invite and entered her room to drink tea.

Xie Jing Xing’s lips was raised and before Shen Miao could talk, Xie Jing Xing suddenly fell towards her.

Shen Miao unconsciously supported him but felt a large area of wetness behind him. Using the weak light from the lantern to look, it was shocking to see a large patch of blood. Because winter was too cold, one’s sense of smell was not sensitive and one could only smell the strong stench of blood when Xie Jing Xing fell onto her.

She called out softly, “Cong Yang.”

No one around answered. Cong Yang seemed to be absent.

Shen Miao was somewhat anxious. Currently in this kind of moment of anxiety, this Cong Yang disappeared at such a time. She dared not alarm others as she did not know where did Xie Jing Xing came from with a body of wounds. She half supported and half hugged Xie Jing Xing to her room and let Xie Jing Xing lie on her bed before wanted to invite a doctor over.

Just as she was about to leave, Xie Jing Xing seemed to wake up for a moment and said, “Don’t call anyone.”

Shen Miao was stunned and squatted down beside him to ask, “What about your injury?”

Xie Jing Xing struggled to take a bottle of medicine from his clothes and before Shen Miao could ask, he fainted away.

Shen Miao made a decision in that short moment. There was still some hot water in the room that she used to was her hands at night. She poured the hot water out and found a clean handkerchief to wet it and after some hesitation, she slowly untied Xie Jing Xing clothes.

Under the light, the young man’s bother was well-proportioned and slender, seemingly containing strength. Shen Miao unfathomably felt her face was somewhat hot and she did her best to move quickly.

Xie Jing Xing’s clothes were mostly stained with large patches of blood. Some of the blood had already dried and stuck onto the flesh that with the cold wind blowing, it had seemed to be integrated with him. Every time Shen Miao touches it, Xie Jing Xing would slightly frown, as if he felt uncomfortable unconscious.

For the lack of a better option, she could only look for a silver scissor and heat it up with the fire before carefully cut his clothes apart.

It was not that Shen Miao had never seen a man’s body before. Taking Fu Ming for example, she had seen it many times but it was different from facing Xie Jing Xing’s. Currently in order to protect Xie Jing Xing, she did not call Jing Zhe or Gu Yu at all and it was somewhat awkward to hold onto Xie Jing Xing’s clothes by herself.

But quickly the awkwardness on her face dissipated and what replaced was serious expression.

There were many knife wounds on Xie Jing Xing’s body and these wounds were not too deep but there were numerous cross cuts. Even though they were not fatal, but Shen Miao let that with these many wounds, just by bleeding, one’s blood would be drain off. She dared not be careless and immediately used her handkerchief that was wet with hot water to clean the blood traces around before sprinkling the medicine powder onto the wound. After unable to find clean cloth, Shen Miao could only use a chest binding cloth that she newly made to wrap his wounds. Shen Miao had never bandage others before but had seen Shen Qiu’s soldiers doing it like this so she followed suit. Even thought it was a bit ugly, the bleeding was stopped.

She then took out a few pills from the cupboard for supplementing vital energy. That was bought by Luo Tan for her, saying that when a female’s period comes, her vital energy would make one not look good and by eating this, one’s vital energy would be better. Even though Xie Jing Xing did not have a period but he had bleed a lot so this should be supplemented. Shen Miao smashed the pill up and used hot water to dissolve it before feeding it to Xie Jing Xing.

After finishing everything up, the night was so deep that domesticated animals were not making any noises. Xie Jing Xing was lying on the bed with three layers of binding cloth wrapped around him, making it look weird no matter how one look.

Shen Miao pursed her lips and planned to turn Xie Jing Xing over and also check if there are any other wounds on his body.

Xie Jing Xing’s top was wet but his pants were dry so Shen Miao only suspected that his waist, abdomen and back was injured. When she flipped Xie Jing Xing, she accidentally touched Xie Jing Xing’s tight and Shen Miao seemed to be burned by fire. Just as she was about to retract her hand, she suddenly felt that something was not right.

The skin under her hand was hard and not like the skin that was not injured before but felt like it was a thick layer of scaring. Her heart moved and she untied Xie Jing Xing trousers but saw that there was a terrible scar deep in Xie Jing Xing’s belly.

Compared to those crisscross wounds from earlier, this was very different. Even though there was many wounds today, they were not deep and thus was not fatal. The scar in front was winding and twisted and very dark in colour as it was an old injury. But even after so long, the scaring was so deep, it was enough to show that when he was injured, the wound was so deep that one could see the bone. It was shocking at sight.

When Xie Jing Xing was in Ming Qi, one did not heard that he had suffered any injuries. Could it be that he sustained these injuries in Great Liang? Shen Miao was suspicious but she discovered that there were other wounds and all the big and small wounds were so deep that the bone could be seen. Even though the wounds were healed, it made other’s heart uncomfortable. How did Xie Jing Xing live with so many life and death situations?

She did not realise that she had touched Xie Jing Xing’s legs and still wanted to continue feeling. The person on the bed groaned and grabbed her wrist. Shen Miao’s face started burning up till it was red as she thought that Xie Jing Xing was awake and misunderstood that she was taking advantage of him. She unconsciously looked at Xie Jing Xing but saw that Xie Jing Xing’s lips were closed tightly and his brows were clenched but his eyes were not opened, seemingly not awake.

Shen Miao breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she had many question on those scars, she dared not carry on feeling. Xie Jing Xing’s clothes were all torn by her and Shen Miao could only use a larger piece of cloak for Xie Jing Xing to wear and wrapped him tightly. Fearing that Xie Jing Xing would have a fever before his wounds were healed at night, she moved a stood over and sat in front of the bed.

One did not know when she fell asleep like that.

The morning light was slightly dim and the rooster begin to cry. When Shen Miao woke up, she had discovered that she was sleeping on the bed and was covered in a thick blanket. She clearly remembered that she was sitting in front of the bed watching over Xie Jing Xing but did not expect to fall asleep halfway. Most likely she was too tired that she was not even aware of being moved by others.

Her next unconscious move was to turn around and get up. Seeing that the room was empty and there was no sight of Xie Jing Xing, she was in a daze before hearing a laughter behind her, “Looking for me?”

Xie Jing Xing wore a large middle coat over. One did not know where did he found a middle clothes and he just finish washing up as there was a bead of water that flow down from his chin to his clothes. Shen Miao was looking at him in astonishment. Xie Jing Xing was so injured that he was almost unconscious but now it seemed to be full of energy that one was unable to see the critical situation he was in yesterday night.

She asked, “Is your body alright?”

Xie Jing Xing smiled, “Of course.”

Shen Miao nodded her head, “Indeed the pill to supplement vital energy is effective. Older Biao Sister did not deceive me.”

“Pill to supplement vital energy.” Xie Jing Xing frowned, “What is that?”

“It is to supplement vital energy and blood for females.” Shen Miao said without any change of expression, “During a female’s period, one pill is taken and one’s body would not feel that weak. Yesterday night I saw that you had shed a lot of blood and thought that there would be a lack of blood and fed you three pills.” She smiled gently and looked at Xie Jing Xing, “For you to recover this quickly, it seems that it is all credited to it.”

The smile on Xie Jing Xing’s lips froze.

When Shen Miao saw him in shock, her heart could not help but laughed. However she was unable to s smile because Xie Jing Xing had seisurely said, “Oh? In that case then consider touching me last night as reciprocation.”

Seeing Shen Miao startled, Xie Jing Xing smiled had become ambiguous, “Yesterday night someone was touching till somewhere.”

Shen Miao’s expression changed from green to white and back from white to green as she said angrily, “You were awake?”

“Unable to speak but one is still conscious.” Xie Jing Xing walked to the front of the table and sat down. After grooming, he felt that it was more like his residence and even poured a cup of hot tea for himself before looking at Shen Miao with a smiled.

Shen Miao hesitated for a bit before asking as she stood still, “What is with the injuries? What exactly happened yesterday?

“Doing some things for you.” Xie Jing Xing said it casually, “It is better not to go to the residence of Prince Ding the next time.” He stretched lazily, “Fu Xiu Yi really has a lot of different patterns that even I cannot swallow it down.”

“You went to the residence of Prince Dong?” Shen Miao’s eyes widen, “You went to the underground prison of the residence of Prince Ding?”

Xie Jing Xing’s gaze flashed, “Your knowledge of the residence of Prince Ding is not at all little and even know that there is an underground prison.” He said, “Correct. I went there for a walk yesterday night and resue your Pei Lang out in passing.”

Shen Miao looked at him stunned.

He did not expect that Xie jing Xing would personally rescue as Xie Jing Xing’s identity was sensitive and Fu Xiu Yi was not one who could be fooled easily. Once Fu Xiu Yi discover any clues, Xie Jing Xing would inevitable have a lot of troubles. Shen Miao requested Xie Jing Xing’s help as she knew that there were many talented people around Xie Jing Xing but did not think that Xie Jing Xing would put himself in danger.

Shen Miao could not tell the feeling in her heart but if it was the residence of Prince Ding then Xie Jing Xing’s entire body of injuries would be justified.

Fu Xiu Yi was a very cautious and paranoid person and because he also had many enemies, Prince Ding would put on an appearance, that it was impervious to criticism. As for the underground prison of the residence of Prince Ding, those who were locked there were all important criminals that were deemed so by Fu XIu Yi. Most of the spies from his enemies would be send here and as the prison was hidden, that place held a lot of secrets of the residence of Prince Din. It could be said that Fu Xiu Yi had spent a lot of effort to protect he underground prison which exceeds that of the residence of Prince Ding.

Under such circumstances, Xie Jing Xing went to infiltrate the underground prison himself and even rescued someone. It was already difficult to stay alive.

Seeing Shen Miao in a daze, Xie Jing Xing turned his head to the side and looked at him suspiciously before asking, “Why you did not ask if your Gentleman Pei is alive or dead?”

Shen Miao recovered to his senses, “Is he still alive?”

“Alive and kicking.” Xie Jing Xing’s eyebrow rose, “Not even a spark has landed on him.”

Shen Miao caught the keyword in his words, “Fire?”

“I set a fire to the underground prison of the residence of Prince Ding.” Xie Jing Xing said, “Roots are eliminated when weeds are destroyed.”