SMMW | Chapter 12

A goat suddenly rushed out and startled the horse. Yuan Hao was swept off the carriage by the horse’s tail, slammed heavily onto the ground, and spat out blood.

A sharp flash glinted past, followed by the warmth of blood. Yuan Hao cried out miserably and collapsed onto the carriage shaft, glaring red spreading through the hem of his outer robe.

A stone struck half of Yuan Hao’s body, and another, even larger stone, was just about to hit his head…

No, it cannot go on like this…

He lunged forward and shoved Yuan Hao away. Pain shot up from his calf, followed by an even fiercer pain.

“It hurts…”

It really hurt. Just an injury to the leg, and it already hurt this much.

“It hurts so much…”

Falling from the carriage, being pierced through by a blade… was Yuan Hao still alive?

“Yuan Hao!”

Wen Qing abruptly opened his eyes. His pupils were not focused, and he only stared blankly upward.

“Jianjian, where does it hurt?”

It was his mother’s voice. When he was little, his mother often called him that. After he began his studies, he became shy and refused to let her call him that anymore.

“Mother…” Wen Qing looked at his mother and called weakly.

“Yes, Mother is here.” Tears brimmed in Madam Wen’s eyes, but she still tried her best not to cry and instead did all she could to comfort her son.

“It hurts.” Wen Qing said only that one word, and tears slid down his pale face.

When Madam Wen saw that, her nose turned sore, and she could not help crying too. “Be good now. Doctor Yun already came to see you. It is nothing serious. Your leg has already been fixed with wooden splints. Don’t move around recklessly for a while. Just rest and recover, and you’ll be fine.”

“Mhm.” Wen Qing nodded obediently and let his mother wipe his face. The soft cloth brushed across his face, and he relaxed a little along with it.

“Sleep a little longer. Mother will watch over you while you sleep.”

Madam Wen gently stroked Wen Qing’s chest and hummed a lullaby under her breath, as if Wen Qing were still that babbling little child.

“I’m already so old…” Wen Qing stopped her in embarrassment.

“Bright moonlight~ scholar lad, riding a white horse~ crossing the lotus pond…” Madam Wen kept singing and ignored her son’s little awkwardness.

With his mother’s presence around him, Wen Qing felt extremely at ease. Exhaustion filled his body, and his thoughts once again grew muddled. Before finally sinking into sleep, he still managed to pick out the most important thing he wanted to ask. “Yuan Hao…?”

“Yuan Hao is fine too. He’s sleeping in the guest room next door,” his mother’s voice was very soft as it flowed into his ears, as though through a layer of thin gauze. “And it is also thanks to him. He forced himself to drive the carriage with one hand and brought you back. His right arm was fixed with wooden splints too. His injury is not serious. Just like Jianjian, he mustn’t move around recklessly, mustn’t be picky about food, and just needs to recover properly…”

Wen Qing could no longer understand what his mother was saying, but judging from her gentle tone, nothing bad had happened.

He fell asleep in peace.

The next day, Wen Qing saw Yuan Hao.

His complexion was not very good, but he still looked healthy enough. Just as his mother had said, his right arm was fixed with wooden splints.

Wen Qing could not walk, so Yuan Hao sat by his side. The two of them looked each other over, then smiled at the same time.

“Does it still hurt?” Yuan Hao asked.

Wen Qing shook his head and asked in return, “What about you?”

“I’m even more fine. Auntie knows my mother is ill and was afraid she’d worry, so she had someone send my mother false news, saying I’m staying at the academy to study. In truth, I’m staying at your house to recover from my injuries.”

“Mhm, mhm.”

Wen Qing lowered his head and tugged at the blanket. All the memories that had temporarily been set aside came flooding back into his mind.

Yesterday had been far too dangerous. Luckily, Yuan Hao was a demon and had a spell that could turn back time. So demon could be injured too? Could they not heal themselves?

Probably not. Otherwise, he would have directly healed Auntie Yuan long ago. It seemed he only knew one kind of spell.

What was he transformed from? A spirit from the mountains, an animal, or an old object that had gained sentience? If he went to the capital to take the metropolitan exam, there would be so many highly skilled people there. What if he was discovered?

He would definitely still have to cheat. Who knew whether he would be found out? Better to persuade him to study properly…

!!! Could yesterday’s danger have been the Heavenly Dao refusing to allow his existence and trying to get rid of him?!

The more Wen Qing thought, the more chaotic his thoughts became. He felt that since the two of them had already gone through a life-and-death ordeal together, there was nothing wrong with laying it all out directly. He might even be able to help Yuan Hao think of a way forward. So he gathered his courage and blurted out in one breath:

“I know your true origins now. If you do not wish to explain, I will not press you. But there will be even greater dangers in the future. If there is anything you need, just tell me. As long as it does not violate the law, I will do my best to help you.”

“In your daily studies, you work hard. Even without using crooked methods, you can still pass with high honors. Once you get to the capital, you should still try to keep a low profile and stop… stop using spells.”

He finished quickly and looked at Yuan Hao.

But Yuan Hao was holding up one injured arm, scratching at himself and putting on a monkey show, obviously not having heard a single word.

Wen Qing felt discouraged and said dully, “What are you doing?”

Yuan Hao was not used to using his left hand. He fumbled around inside his robe for half the day, not knowing what exactly he was trying to pull out. Whenever he accidentally bumped his right hand, he would bare his teeth and hiss in pain.

“Hiss, I’m, I’m looking for my money pouch. It was obviously right here.”

“Looking for your money pouch?”

“Mhm… here it is. I was thinking of going out to buy… ah, found it!”

Yuan Hao’s clothes were in disarray. With great effort, he dragged the money pouch out with his left hand and happily showed it to Wen Qing. “I’m going to buy roast duck. We’ll eat it together when I come back~”

Wen Qing did not want to bother with him anymore. “My mother won’t allow me to eat it.”

“It’s fine, we’ll do it secretly. My hand is injured, but my legs are still perfectly good. I’ll be right back. I guarantee it’ll still be hot!”

As Yuan Hao said that, he grabbed his shabby little money pouch and sneaked out.

Sure enough, less than half an hour later, Yuan Hao came back. His chest bulged out with something tucked inside, and when he pulled it out, it was a steaming hot roast duck.

With great difficulty, he used one hand to untie the knot in the string around the paper wrapping, then pushed it in front of Wen Qing.

Wen Qing said he would not eat it, but he could not withstand the other person’s warm insistence, and the rich fragrance of roast duck fat had already spread all through the air.

In the end, he did not hold out for long. You one piece, me one piece, the two of them polished off the entire roast duck. As a result, neither of them ate much dinner. Madam Wen worriedly tried to persuade them for quite a while. Wen Qing muttered and did not dare tell the truth, resolving that he would no longer follow Yuan Hao in this kind of foolish nonsense.

The next day, Yuan Hao secretly bought roast duck again. Then came the third day, the fourth day, and the fifth day.

Wen Qing began to suspect that Yuan Hao was a weasel spirit in human form. But every time he ate the roast duck, he could clearly feel his body getting better. Then he began to suspect that Yuan Hao was only using his own cravings as an excuse, while actually casting spells on the roast duck outside so that eating it would help his wounds heal faster.

Wen Qing was truly getting a little sick of it and cautiously tried to negotiate. “Can we change to something else?”

He thought, surely spells could be cast on any kind of food, right?

But Yuan Hao said, “No. It has to be roast duck. Well, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall would work too, but that’s not cost-effective. Roast duck is better.”

So the spell could only be used on roast duck. There were so many restrictions on this spell. Wen Qing thought that Yuan Hao really was a demon with very weak magic power.

At that moment, Yuan Hao was still holding up a duck leg toward Wen Qing, telling him to eat it quickly while it was hot.

No matter how tasty it was, he could not keep eating it for five days straight. Wen Qing truly could not eat anymore and weakly shook his head.

Yuan Hao became anxious and coaxed him, “Just one bite is fine. Just one bite.”

Wen Qing felt warm inside and had already prepared to give in. He tried asking, “…Can I eat it with cucumber strips?” He was a little afraid that pairing it with something else might affect the spell’s effectiveness.

Yuan Hao froze for a moment, then nodded.

Wen Qing had a servant secretly fetch the things from the kitchen. After they were delivered, the servant stood guard by the door as lookout. Yuan Hao received them at the door, carried them over, and placed them on the low table by Wen Qing’s bed.

Cucumber strips, shredded scallions, thin pancakes, sweet bean sauce, hawthorn strips, everything was ready~

Wen Qing was already quite happy just looking at it. After washing his hands, he took a thin pancake and, in order, wrapped up the duck meat. When he ate it, his eyes narrowed in enjoyment.

After finishing one duck wrap, he wanted tea. He had always been like this before too. After eating one bite of meat, he needed to drink a sip of tea to cut the greasiness.

But now, just as he was about to touch the teacup, he stopped. Quite embarrassed, he told Yuan Hao that he still needed to wipe his hands.

After rolling the duck wrap, both his hands were greasy. He could not use those hands to touch the teacup. Before this, there had not been such a problem. One hand could hold the teacup, while the other held the duck meat, and the two did not interfere with each other.

Yuan Hao’s patience was running out. Helping him take a wet cloth to wipe his hands was one thing, but…

“You’re not going to wipe your hands every single time after eating one duck wrap, are you?”

“…”

That silence was answer enough.

Wen Qing also felt that he was troublesome. He wanted to say, then I just won’t eat anymore, but in the very next moment, the teacup was already being held to his lips.

“Drink, young master~” Yuan Hao teased.

There was no other way. Embarrassed, Wen Qing drank a cup of tea from Yuan Hao’s hand.

Yuan Hao sighed, set down the teacup, and planned to roll a duck wrap for himself too.

But before his hand had even touched the pancake, Wen Qing sat nearby looking like he wanted to say something but was holding it back, and he hid it very badly.

“What now?”

“…” Wen Qing’s voice was very soft, and Yuan Hao did not hear clearly.

“What?”

“I mean, if you roll the wrap yourself…” This time Wen Qing’s voice was a little louder. “Then in a moment, you’ll also have to wipe your hands before… taking the teacup.”

“…………….”

Right after saying that, Wen Qing neatly rolled up another wrap and eagerly held it out to Yuan Hao’s mouth. “I’ll roll it for you.”

Yuan Hao lowered his eyes to look at it, then did him the honor of eating it. And honestly, done this way, it really was pretty tasty.

“One more.” Yuan Hao ordered him in a fierce tone.

Wen Qing was not angry either. He rolled another one and fed it to him.

And so, their cooperative mode was established. Wen Qing, with both hands greasy, became responsible for rolling the wraps and feeding him. Yuan Hao, with one usable good hand, was responsible for pouring tea and feeding tea, and the arrangement was unexpectedly harmonious.

As they ate and drank, the two of them started talking again about the metropolitan exam. It would be held half a year later, and they would need to set out early for the capital to settle in first.

Wen Qing said, “My maternal grandfather’s family is in the capital. Once we arrive, we can stay there directly. Brother Yuan, would you like to come with me?”

Yuan Hao naturally agreed.

So the two of them agreed that once their injuries had healed a little more, they would travel to the capital together.