“Well, that’s a first. So you actually know your hand was burned. I thought you’d already reached the point of being heartless, reckless, and immune to pain, standing there like that and torturing yourself for nothing!”Though Yi Xuan’s words were merciless and deliberately struck where it hurt most, the worry in his eyes could not be hidden.
The moment Yi Xuan stepped into the room, he shuddered. If he had shrunk his neck earlier because Ning Xuan had frightened him, this time he shrank it because he had truly been chilled to the bone.
“How is this room so damp and cold?! Even outside in this freezing weather, it might not be as cold as your room.” As he spoke, he quickly scanned the room with a worried expression. “You don’t have floor heating in here, but why isn’t there even a charcoal brazier?” Then, as if realizing something, he asked, “Did those people withhold your supplies? Why didn’t you tell His Highness? In weather this cold, are they trying to freeze you to death?”
“It’s not as serious as you make it sound,” Ning Xuan said, amused. “Besides, I’m not as weak and delicate as you say. I’m just a servant. Making do for a while will get me through it. At worst, I’ll go ask the storeroom for some coal in a couple of days.”
“How could it be as easy as you make it sound? In winter, even gold and silver aren’t as precious as charcoal. If you could get it just by asking, do you think I’d be this angry? I would have gone to get it for you long ago!” Yi Xuan was so infuriated by Ning Xuan’s slow, unconcerned attitude that he nearly jumped. “It’s precisely because—”
“Since His Highness himself hasn’t taken it to heart and thinks there’s no need, why should servants like us be so tactless as to push ourselves forward?” Ning Xuan said with a bitter smile.
“That’s not what I meant…” Yi Xuan was suddenly flustered now that the matter had been brought up. “Do you still remember what I told you back then?”
“You’re the kind of person whose mouth doesn’t necessarily rest even when the rest of you does. You’ve said so much to me every day. If I really remembered every single sentence, wouldn’t I be stuffed to death by now?” Ning Xuan rolled his eyes at Yi Xuan in helplessness. While undressing, he tugged at his sleeve with one hand, but a tremor pulled at the injured flesh, instantly making him grimace in pain. “You didn’t come here just to watch me make a fool of myself, did you? Come help me take off my clothes. This sleeve is frozen stiff. It’s too hard to roll up.”
Yi Xuan did not hesitate. He rolled up his sleeves and reached out, only to be hurriedly stopped by Ning Xuan. “Wait, wait. Be gentle. It’s a little swollen underneath, and some of the skin is broken. It hurts when anything touches it.”
“So you do know pain? Why didn’t you keep kneeling then? Serves you right if it hurts you to death!” Yi Xuan spoke viciously, but his movements were extremely gentle. After making sure there was no place where fabric had stuck to skin, he slowly shifted the sleeve down bit by bit, almost like removing a shell.
After the padded jacket came the outer robe. After the outer robe came the middle layer. After the middle layer came the everyday garment. Only then was there the innermost undergarment.
Usually, Ning Xuan always felt that although the fabric was a little thick, these few layers still did not keep him warm at all. But now, under these circumstances, he only felt that since he was going to suffer anyway, couldn’t fate at least give him a quick death? Peeling off one layer after another like unwrapping a rice dumpling meant pulling at the wound again and again. Each time stretched on endlessly. The faint, irregular stinging pain would suddenly decide to stab him whenever it pleased. Worse, it never hurt when he braced himself for it with all his strength. The instant he relaxed and let out a breath, it would strike without warning, tormenting him until he nearly went mad.
Only when they reached the undergarment did they realize the burn was far from mild. It was disastrous. Because Ning Xuan had impulsively fought Xiao Jiu and the other two on the way back, all the blisters had been scraped open and were oozing blood and fluid. For a moment, the entire sleeve of his undergarment around that arm was mottled with alarming patches of red. Broken skin was not even the hardest part to deal with. The hardest part was that after so much time, some of the wounds had begun to scab over, and those scabs had formed together with the fabric. If the injured area were small, he could endure it and rip the cloth away in one motion. But with such a large and serious burn, who knew whether tearing recklessly would rip away skin and flesh with it? What would his arm become then?
“It’s fine. Just pull it off. At worst, only a bone will be left. I’ll even lose some weight while I’m at it.” Ning Xuan laughed carelessly. No matter how bad the burn was, it was not as though a single pull would strip the flesh from the bone like deboned meat. How thoroughly cooked would he have to be for that?
“No.” Yi Xuan refused flatly without even thinking. This person still had the nerve to joke at a time like this.
“Then help me bring in a bucket of water. Cold water. The colder the better.” Even at a time like this, a few fragments of modern knowledge still surfaced in Ning Xuan’s mind. He only wondered whether water that was at most zero degrees could provide any low-temperature numbing effect and reduce the pain.
Yi Xuan dumped wound powder, burn ointment, gauze, bruise-and-sprain salve, and various other medicines from his sleeves onto the table in a clattering pile. Looking at the setup, Ning Xuan sighed. “You really came prepared.”
“Cut the nonsense. Put on some clothes and stay put in this room.” With that, Yi Xuan rushed out the door, leaving the poor little wooden door groaning pitifully behind him.
Ning Xuan raised an eyebrow without saying anything, but warmth stirred in his heart. At a time like this, someone not kicking him while he was down was already rare enough, let alone someone willingly coming over to show concern. If Yi Xuan had not come, Ning Xuan would definitely have had to go fetch water himself. If he went out looking this miserable, who knew how many people would be so delighted they wouldn’t sleep that night?
Yi Xuan moved very quickly. Before long, he came in carrying two buckets of water and shouted, “Is this enough?” His volume and momentum startled Ning Xuan so badly that he nearly thought someone had come to rob him.
Though the experience was painful, the process itself was simple enough. He only needed to soak the formed blood scabs until they softened. Some of the smaller wound surfaces might even soak loose directly. Then, while they were not stuck too tightly, he could yank the fabric away in one motion.
After removing the bloodstained undergarment, the arm that had once been white as moonlight looked several times worse than expected. The entire arm was bright red, with some areas tinged bluish-purple. Patch after patch looked frightening. Torn skin, split flesh, and bloodied wounds blurred together in a sight that made the scalp prickle.
In modern times, a serious burn required emergency medical treatment, an antibiotic injection, and careful wound management to prevent infection. But in the ancient world, where would such things exist? Who knew what the hell antibiotics even were? Enduring the pain, Ning Xuan stretched his arm into the bucket and swished it around as a form of cleaning. Many blisters had already broken open, and he did not dare touch them with his own hand. After taking it out, he found a clean cloth and roughly dried it. Across from him, Yi Xuan began applying medicine with extreme care.
Watching Yi Xuan’s cautious and serious movements, Ning Xuan once again lost all proper form. “Aiyo, Brother Yi Xuan, I really never noticed before. You’re quite virtuous and domestic, aren’t you—aiyo!”
Perhaps Ning Xuan was the only person in the world who dared be so reckless when the painful spot was in someone else’s hands. Yi Xuan was hardly someone willing to suffer a loss. He did not need to be ruthless. He only needed to “accidentally” lose control of his strength while applying the medicine, and Ning Xuan would instantly howl as though heaven and earth had collapsed.
“I was wrong, I was wrong, alright?” Cold sweat broke out across Ning Xuan’s forehead from the pain. “Please be gentler, old man. Don’t let your hand shake and dig off a chunk of my flesh. I wouldn’t even be able to complain.”
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