Chapter 68
Cheng Nuo felt that based on Bai Rui’s temperament, these two internal medicine doctors should not go to him and whine, so he could do what he should do with confidence.
Bai Rui didn’t come back in the evening, so Cheng Nuo ate dinner by himself.
In addition to more than a dozen dishes, Yu Yue put a bowl of medicinal porridge in front of Cheng Nuo and said, “I’m afraid that Madam is not used to the bitter taste of tonic medicine, so I will use the ingredients that remove the bitter taste to make porridge with them. Madam, please.”
Cheng Nuo was slightly surprised. Since it was made to replenish his body and someone else took the trouble to do it, he took two sips symbolically. The taste was light. Sure enough, non-medical pract.i.tioners wouldn’t taste it at all. He carefully identified the medicinal herbs in it, and most of them were unknown to him. It was probably unique to an extremely cold place like Snow City.
He pondered in his heart and said, “Yu Yue, where are the books related to Snow City and medical techniques stored?”
Yu Yue said, “Do you want to read them, Madam? Then this servant will send them over later.”
Halfway through the meal, Bai Rui came back. Yu Yue and the others hurriedly bowed, and Cheng Nuo stood up a little awkwardly. As long as someone else was present, Bai Rui would act very cold and unfamiliar towards him, and Cheng Nuo would try his best to cooperate.
Yu Yue hurriedly said, “I’m afraid the dishes have gotten cold, this servant will remove them and replace them with new ones.”
Bai Rui said in a flat tone: “No matter, you may retire for the time being.”
They retreated, and Yu Yue soon brought in a bowl of porridge and a pair of ivory chopsticks.
Cheng Nuo looked at the bowl of porridge in front of Bai Rui. His heart was very torn, and he didn’t know how to say it, so he could only watch Bai Rui drink it slowly. He was a little guilty and thought, let Bai Rui replenish his body; Bai Rui’s injuries were probably not healed yet.
After eating, a few attendants came in to clean up, and Yu Yue respectfully said, “Young Lord, the water is ready. Do you want to take a bath with the Madam?”
Cheng Nuo’s face flushed with irritation. f.u.c.k!
Bai Rui’s expression was as usual: “No, I’ll go first.”
While boringly waiting for Bai Rui to follow you Yue to the bathroom of the back hall, Cheng Nuo suddenly remembered something and almost jumped.
Yu Yue and Su Rong… will not wait on Bai Rui while he bathes, right? In Dream of the Red Chamber, it seemed that Baoyu* was accompanied by maids to take a bath…
(* TN: Dream of the Red Chamber is a Chinese novel. Jia Baoyu is the protagonist character of said novel. Here’s the wiki page if u wanna learn more about it.)
Somehow, he felt a little uncomfortable.
This evil cla.s.s society!
Bai Rui finally came back after washing. His newly washed silver hair was straight and shiny. He was dressed neatly. Yu Yue and Su Rong followed him dutifully.
Cheng Nuo looked at all three lord and servants and said, “Bai… Young Lord, I’m going to take a bath.”
Bai Rui said “mn” coldly and, for some reason, avoided his eyes. Perhaps because he had just taken a bath, his usually jade-like cheeks had more red.
The water was changed. Cheng Nuo jumped in and swam back and forth for two times. After washing, he quickly climbed ash.o.r.e.
Yu Yue had put clean clothes on the couch inside. Cheng Nuo wiped his body and couldn’t help asking, “Have you and Su Rong served Bai Rui since childhood?”
“Yes.” Yu Yue stood outside the screen and waited. His tone was obviously lighter than usual. “Since the young Lord was one year old this slave servant has served him.”
Cheng Nuo was stunned and said, “What was the young Lord like when he was a child…?”
Yu Yue paused and said, “When he was a child, the young Lord was naturally gifted, and the City Lord was very pleased with him.”
Cheng Nuo’s mouth twitched. He didn’t believe the second half of Yu Yue’s sentence was true, otherwise the relationship between Bai Rui and his abnormal father wouldn’t be so indifferent.
When he returned, Bai Rui sat upright at the table, holding in his hand a book related to refining, reading it very seriously.
Cheng Nuo didn’t bother him. Su Rong had sent several medical books to the table. He casually picked up one and sat down to read it carefully. However, when he opened it, Bai Rui put down his book and looked at him with a slight frown.
“What’s the matter?” Cheng Nuo wondered.
Bai Rui didn’t answer, but looked around, took a soft towel, handed it to him and said, “it’s too cold here. You better dry your hair.”
Cheng Nuo was dumbfounded. He thanked him and took it. He wiped his hair carelessly. His hair was indeed still dripping with water and according to the temperature here, it would probably freeze in a while. However, when he came in, Bai Rui didn’t look up at all. Unexpectedly, he actually knew that his hair hadn’t been dried.
Cheng Nuo found it difficult to concentrate. After reading three or four pages absentmindedly, he said to Bai Rui, “I’ll go to bed first.”
Bai Rui nodded, still holding the book.
Yu Yue and the others had arranged a quilt. Cheng Nuo wrapped another one inside as usual, climbed into bed and took off his outer shirt. His inner clothes didn’t reveal any skin anyway. It was always uncomfortable to sleep so neatly dressed.
The room was so quiet that any slight noise could be heard clearly. He felt something strange when he lay there for a while, and then he finally realized that Bai Rui seemed to be suppressing his breath, and he had not turned a page of the book he was holding for a long time.
When he remembered the previous bowl of porridge, Cheng Nuo thought with a thud in his heart, f.u.c.k, they couldn’t have put that kind of thing in it, right? He sat up and stammered, “Bai Rui, are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Bai Rui stiffened, closed the book, turned off the magical lighting device, slowly walked to the bedside and said, “it’s nothing.”
Somehow, his body was hotter than last night. Cheng Nuo’s every move attracted his attention. Even if he secretly exercised his energy, the situation did not improve. He knew he should leave in case Cheng Nuo found anything unusual, however, he knew that the time they could spend together was limited, and he was reluctant to waste any of it.
Although Bai Rui said so, Cheng Nuo was still a little worried. He reached out and touched Bai Rui’s wrist. He was surprised that Bai Rui’s temperature was actually so high!
f.u.c.k! Needless to say, the ingredients in that bowl of soup must have not been so pure!
He felt very guilty now. It was probably because of his own words, but there was no other excuse to say at that time ah…
Bai Rui was shocked when Cheng Nuo’s hand touched him, and he tried to say in a plain tone: “what’s the matter?”
Cheng Nuo opened his mouth a few times, felt out the storage bag, found out the heart-clearing essence medicine and poured it on his hand. He handed it to Bai Rui and with his neck shrunken he bowed his head: “That, well, maybe there was something in the porridge. You’ll be better if you take this medicine. It’s all my fault…”
He stammered and finished speaking very vaguely, then cautiously looked up at Bai Rui. There was no expression on Bai Rui’s face, but his golden phoenix eyes were very bright now, as if flashing with fire.
After a while, Bai Rui stretched out his hand, took the pills and swallowed them in one gulp.
He looked at Cheng Nuo without blinking and said, “you said that there is shougongsha? Don’t worry, I’ll tell them that you don’t need to pay attention to that.”
Cheng Nuo said “hmm” embarra.s.sedly, d.a.m.n it, still had to tell this thing to Bai Rui!
Bai Rui suddenly leaned down closer to him. Cheng Nuo was taken aback. Even Bai Rui’s eyelashes could be seen clearly, and his brain buzzed.
“Also, I am normal.” Bai Rui stared straight into his eyes, and the breath blowing on his face was very hot, “For you, my self-control is not that good. Next time, if this happens again…”
He paused when he said this, and quickly jumped out of bed and disappeared in an instant.
Cheng Nuo was fixed there like a puppet, and it took a long time to react, his face was hot, and his heart beat wildly.
d.a.m.n, was that the serious and aloof Bai Rui just now? It was almost as if a beast had possessed him! Bai Rui’s eyes were so terrifying just now that he had gooseb.u.mps all over his body, and he was so scared that he even forgot to breathe!
It was either an illusion, or Bai Rui was affected by the drugs and must be… must be what ah?!
Bai Rui disappeared for three days at once this time, but that medicine porridge was not delivered again.
Cheng Nuo didn’t know what he was doing, so he couldn’t help but ask Yu Yue later.
Yu Yue explained: “The young Lord left to cultivate outside the city for many years, and a ceremony will be held during his coming of age to officially ascend to the position of the young Lord. Therefore, he must be familiar with the affairs of the city now, and he will be rather busy during this time. If the madam is bored, this servant can take the madam to a place nearby to relax.”
That place to relax could cover the entire palace, and it was easy to run into the City Lord’s wives or something when going out. Cheng Nuo shook his head wearily and said, “Forget it, I’d better go to Liangyu Peak to cultivate.”
Liangyu Peak was a dedicated training ground for Bai Rui, so you won’t encounter idle people there.
When he went there, Yu Yue and the others still followed him like a tail. Cheng Nuo became impatient and asked them to wait at the bottom of the mountain and he went up alone.
There seemed to be no trace of anyone coming to the mountain peak, only the footprints left by himself, and there was no wind, and the surroundings were extremely quiet.
Cheng Nuo was bored for a long time and couldn’t help humming some tunes while having fun.
As soon as he walked onto the training ground at the top of the peak, he heard a voice say with a smile, “The young Lord’s madam is actually in very good spirits ah! Wearing male clothes in the beginning, even I was deceived.”
He was taken aback and quickly turned around to look. Bai Zhi was sitting on a rock with a smile, shaking with one leg upturned like a hooligan.
Cheng Nuo quickly calmed down and laughed: “Not really, I’m always in very good spirits.”
Bai Zhi didn’t call him a “cheap slave” this time. He felt that Bai Zhi shouldn’t take action against him for the time being.
“Mm-hmm, I understand your suffering.” Bai Zhi said with sympathy, “Bai Rui, he can’t do it, but you don’t look like a female either. You two match very well.”
“…” d.a.m.n it! How did that reach this little creep’s ears?
Cheng Nuo also said shamelessly: “Thank you, Fifth brother, for worrying about it!”
Obviously, this nauseating name disgusted Bai Zhi. Bai Zhi’s face changed abruptly, and he jumped in front of him, squeezing his chin with his hand.
Cheng Nuo quickly blocked with his arm in front of him and his body slid back a few meters. He looked at Bai Zhi vigilantly. When he went up the mountain, Yu Yue gave him a warning signal artifact; if he encountered danger, he had to ring it.
d.a.m.n it! Although his current ident.i.ty was troublesome, he was still the Bai Zhi’s sister-in-law, but Bai Zhi seemed to be a freak who could fight with his brothers…
Bai Zhi chuckled and said, “More interesting than back then, but the cheap slave is still a cheap slave. Kindly remind you that there are three snow beast burials here now. Can you endure them until those attendants arrive?”
Cheng Nuo was astonished and quickly used elemental energy to improve his perception, but did not find any sound of magical beasts in action.
Bai Zhi laughed: “Cheap slave, here.”
As he said this, he shook the storage bag, and three level four magical snow burial beasts who had been hungry for a long time scrambled to jump down and pounced towards Cheng Nuo.
Cheng Nuo had seen the scene of Bai Rui using this kind of magical beasts to cultivate, cutting them to the ground like chopping melons and vegetables. But, he is not Bai Rui ah!
He quickly rang the signal and the sharp sound immediately traveled far away. He spread his feet and ran down.
The roar of the magical beast behind was getting closer and closer, Cheng Nuo quickly leaped to a tree and sp.a.w.ned a row of iron thorns to block behind him. However, this extremely cold place was not conducive to their growth. Their hardness was lesser than in other places and it was easy for those beasts to knock them away with their fangs and claws.
Cheng Nuo’s heart sank and kept taking out the other seeds in the storage bag. Yu Yue and others still couldn’t see them, but the fangs of those beasts were getting clearer and clearer!
Bai Zhi followed behind the group of magical beasts and laughed loudly, “Young Lord’s Madam, your speed is still too slow.”
The seeds had been used up. Cheng Nuo took out the only remaining bag of overpowering drugs and scattered them back along the wind’s direction.
Bai Zhi sneered. Over the years, in addition to the water ability, he also cultivated wind abilities. With a wave of his hand, there was a strong wind, and the overpowering drugs blew away in the opposite direction.
Cheng Nuo quickly stopped his breath but still inhaled a little. His body became soft and he fell from the tree.
He looked in a daze at the snow-buried magical beast that rushed towards him and struggled to get back up.
“You can’t escape.” Bai Zhi smiled conspiratorially, “I told you, I’ll gouge out your heart and make wine!”
Gouge out your sister ah! Cheng Nuo’s eyelids were beginning to droop. He his lower lip fiercely to keep himself awake, holding the knife tightly in his hand.
Several ice blades descended from the sky, accurately nailing those snow-buried beasts to the ground. Cheng Nuo’s heart was overjoyed, it was Bai Rui! However, when a figure in white jumped down from the flying magical beast in the sky, not only did he freeze, but Bai Zhi also froze.
“Big, big brother.” Bai Zhi’s face changed and said nervously, “Why are you here?”
Bai Mu looked at him coldly, his voice as cold as ice and snow: “Bai Zhi, you have gone too far.”