Chapter 63: Junior Sister, Visiting Senior Brother
The night sky descended.
A half-moon slowly rose from the west, stars like chess pieces scattered across the board.
Led by Xiao Yunluo, the two flew on their swords for a quarter of an hour, finally arriving at the entrance of the inner sect medical clinic.
By this time, Doctor Zhou had already returned to his cave dwelling. Only a few on-duty apothecary boys were managing the medicinal herbs and account books in the clinic’s first-floor repository.
Pei Lianxue did not have an identity token, but Xiao Yunluo could use her facial recognition card.
Xiao Yunluo walked to the counter, took a breath, and asked softly, “Boy, may I ask which room the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect is staying in?”
“Hmm? It’s Young Miss. Please wait a moment, I’ll check the resident records.”
The on-duty apothecary boy recognized Xiao Yunluo and didn’t dare to be negligent. He quickly went behind the counter, brought a stool, stepped on it, and reached for a ledger from a high shelf in the bookcase. He flipped through it for a while.
The apothecary boy tilted his head and smiled, “Young Master Ye is in the Dust Fragrance Pavilion on the fourth floor. Shall I take Young Miss up?”
“No need to trouble you, thank you for your kindness.” Xiao Yunluo politely declined.
“Then Young Miss may have your own way. I’ll continue organizing the medicinal materials and account books.” The apothecary boy bowed respectfully to Xiao Yunluo and then buried his head in his work.
Xiao Yunluo had originally thought that Pei Lianxue would be happy to hear that the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect was injured and would run over to mock him, saying something like, “So this is your day? You used to bully me so badly! Now it’s your turn!”
But Pei Lianxue’s expression was not like that at all.
Her eyes were filled with worry.
As they ascended to the fourth floor, Xiao Yunluo couldn’t help but ask, “Lianxue, he’s injured, shouldn’t you be happy? The way he treated you before…”
“Ah…”
“If you wish, I can ask the apothecary boys here to play some nasty tricks on the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect.”
Pei Lianxue looked surprised. “Nasty… nasty tricks? What kind of nasty tricks?”
“Mmm.” Xiao Yunluo nodded and leaned close to her ear, whispering, “Doctor Zhou here is quite petty. Previously, Elder Chen of the Yuanyun Hall was playing mahjong with Doctor Zhou, and he kept snatching Doctor Zhou’s claimed tiles to form a kong or a pung. A few days later, two more herbs were added to the tea Elder Chen drank daily… herbs that are beneficial to health but can cause uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea.”
“?”
Xiao Yunluo covered her mouth and chuckled, continuing, “Don’t let these apothecary boys fool you with their cute and innocent appearances. They’ve learned all of Doctor Zhou’s pettiness. When they torment someone, it’s more terrifying than torture.”
“…”
“Such as deliberately causing extreme pain when changing bandages, adding herbs that induce bowel movements to the medicinal soup, or switching calming herbs for stimulating ones… their methods are outrageous.”
Hearing this, Pei Lianxue quickly interrupted, raising her voice, “No… no tricks on my Senior Brother!!!”
“Ah?! Shh—” Xiao Yunluo quickly put a finger to her lips, signaling her to be quiet. “Don’t let them hear, or we’ll both suffer.”
Pei Lianxue weakly shrank her neck, knitted her brows, and said softly, “Anyway… no tricks on my Senior Brother!”
“But you said before…”
“That was…” Pei Lianxue pursed her lips, looking at Xiao Yunluo’s face and hesitating for a moment before replying, “I’ll explain when we get back.”
“…”
Xiao Yunluo nodded with half understanding.
So, Lianxue had lied to her last time?
Her Senior Brother was actually quite good?
But why would she lie to her…
The two ascended to the fourth floor via the staircase along the edge, searched along the corridor for a while, and finally found the “Dust Fragrance Pavilion” plaque.
Pei Lianxue stood before the door and gently knocked on it.
Bang, bang—
“…”
Bang, bang—
“…”
“Senior Brother?! Are you inside?”
“…”
After knocking three times with no response, Pei Lianxue hesitated for a moment and finally gently pushed the door open.
The room was dim inside, illuminated only by the moonlight filtering through the window.
And by the window, a figure wrapped in bandages, bathed in moonlight, was crystal clear, emitting a faint blue glow.
Seeing Ye Anping on the bed, Pei Lianxue didn’t recognize him at first. She quickly put her index finger to her lips to signal Xiao Yunluo behind her, then tiptoed to the bedside.
Only then did she realize that Ye Anping was sleeping soundly.
Perhaps it was because her Senior Brother was really seriously injured…
Normally, if anyone or any animal approached her Senior Brother, he would immediately wake up, whether he was sleeping or doing anything else.
This was the first time she had ever seen her Senior Brother so unguarded.
“So badly injured…” Pei Lianxue muttered softly, and slowly reached out to gently touch Ye Anping’s face, biting her lip. “Senior Brother…”
She stood by the bedside, staring silently at Ye Anping’s face.
In this moment, the two seemed to turn into statues, motionless.
Xiao Yunluo, standing beside them, saw Pei Lianxue’s actions and immediately felt that her relationship with this Young Master Ye on the bed must be very good.
She didn’t interrupt, only glanced at Ye Anping’s face again.
After staring for a long time, she remembered that this was the young boss from the physiotherapy center in the marketplace!
Was Lianxue’s Senior Brother getting physiotherapy?
Xiao Yunluo frowned, her doubts deepening.
Why didn’t Lianxue say anything when they went to the physiotherapy center last time? She had even pulled Lianxue away then.
At this moment…
“Miss Xiyue… mmm…”
Ye Anping pouted his lips, uttering the name as if in a dream.
Upon hearing this name, Pei Lianxue, who had been watching his face, suddenly felt a pang of sadness in her chest. She bit her lip and moved her hand away from her Senior Brother’s face.
“Senior Brother, I’ll come see you again tomorrow…”
Pei Lianxue actually wanted to kiss Ye Anping’s cheek, but with Xiao Yunluo present, she felt a bit embarrassed and decided against it.
“Let’s go, time to head back.”
“Mmm…”
Xiao Yunluo nodded and then followed Pei Lianxue as she tiptoed towards the door.
Just as the two were about to leave the room, Ye Anping on the bed suddenly called out again, “Mmm… Junior Sister… you’ve grown up…”
Pei Lianxue couldn’t help but stop in her tracks, turn her head to look back, and the blockage in her heart suddenly cleared.
“Senior Brother…” She smiled slightly at Ye Anping and replied softly, “Rest well…”
After that, Pei Lianxue gently closed the door and let out a heavy sigh of relief.
At this point, Xiao Yunluo couldn’t hold back anymore and asked, “Lianxue, why did you lie to me back then? You said your Senior Brother poisoned you and beat you until you were bruised and swollen…”
“Ah… this…” Pei Lianxue lowered her head guiltily for a moment and replied, “This is true.”
“True? Then you don’t seem to hate your Senior Brother at all?”
“This is also true.”
?
Xiao Yunluo tilted her head.
She was bullied so badly when she was little, yet she didn’t hate the person who bullied her at all…
Was she just too kind-hearted?
No!
Before, Lianxue had been merciless towards the Seven Kill Gate thugs who attacked them.
So…
Xiao Yunluo frowned. “Lianxue, do you have some kind of strange fetish?”
“?”
“I saw it in a book. Some people just like to be kicked and beaten!” Xiao Yunluo said with a frown, a bit embarrassed. “Although I shouldn’t pry into other people’s preferences, this is wrong!!! You can’t be like this… This is an illness! It needs treatment!!”
Pei Lianxue was stunned and replied weakly, “I… I don’t like being beaten!”
“Then why don’t you hate your Senior Brother?”
“That’s…” Pei Lianxue didn’t know how to explain. After a moment of silence, she said, “Let’s talk about it when we get back.”
…
