Saline solution might sting a bit when applied to a wound. Su Zhi was prepared for Yue Chunhan to react, but he made no sound, his expression as calm as ever.
“Next, I’ll need to trim the coagulated blood clots and damaged tissue around the edges. It might hurt. If it’s too painful, you can call out.”
Su Zhi glanced down at him, giving him a heads-up. After all, without anesthesia, trimming adhered flesh would be painful.
After rinsing, his back looked somewhat better than before, but it was still gruesome. The deep wound oozed faint traces of fresh blood after the rinse.
Yue Chunhan’s expression remained indifferent. “Go ahead. This isn’t my first injury. I can handle this much pain.”
Seeing his determination, Su Zhi bit her lip, picked up the sterilized scissors, and carefully began trimming away the damaged, necrotic tissue, foreign matter, and coagulated blood clots along the wound.
It must have hurt, but Yue Chunhan truly remained silent, only tightening his lips slightly, his eyes dark and steady.
Su Zhi sprayed some iodine disinfectant over the wound. The large area looked alarming. She found a bandage, asked Yue Chunhan to sit up straight, and began wrapping it around his chest.
Yue Chunhan’s chest muscles were solid, with well-defined pectorals and eight distinct abdominal muscles. His eyes were narrow, his nose tall and straight as he looked down at Su Zhi wrapping the bandage.
Since the wound was on his back, Su Zhi inevitably had to wrap her arms around his body to apply the bandage, an intimate gesture that almost seemed like an embrace.
From Yue Chunhan’s perspective, he could clearly see Su Zhi’s fluttering eyelashes, her full, crimson lips slightly pursed like a plump, trembling cherry. Her skin was porcelain fair, her neck slender and pale.
She looked like a doll.
“Su Zhi.” After a moment of silence, Yue Chunhan asked, “How do you know how to do this?”
Su Zhi’s hands trembled as she wrapped the bandage. Instinctively, she bit her lip and looked up to meet Yue Chunhan’s gaze. His eyes were dark, and meeting them so closely gave her the unsettling feeling of being seen through.
She scrambled for an excuse. “My… my dad was injured before, so I learned how to do this… Okay, stop moving. I’m almost done tying it off.”
Su Zhi changed the subject, her arms encircling Yue Chunhan’s waist. His narrow, muscular waist was now wrapped in layers of white bandages, partly concealing his taut, honey-toned muscles. Feeling her shallow breaths against him, Yue Chunhan raised an eyebrow slightly.
Su Zhi’s father was just an ordinary farmer. Had he also been injured by a wild animal while in the mountains, like him?
Lost in thought, he didn’t notice that Su Zhi had finished bandaging him.
Su Zhi let out a sigh of relief and was about to pull away when he suddenly grabbed her arm. Her smooth, fair arm felt slender and delicate, a stark contrast to his rugged, sun-kissed skin.
Yue Chunhan’s eyes were dark and intense as he stared at Su Zhi, exuding a strong sense of pressure for the first time.
Still wrapped in the bandages she had just applied, bare-chested, he slowly backed Su Zhi against the wall, cornering her.
Walls on both sides, Yue Chunhan stood dangerously close. The room was dim without candlelight, the night having grown dark. Su Zhi clenched her fists, feeling her heart pound wildly in her chest. Her face paled, and she bit her lower lip hard.
Yue Chunhan is dangerous.
The intuition hit her clearly—Yue Chunhan was dangerous.
He had backed her step by step into the corner, blocking her escape with his arms, leaving her to breathe only in the narrow space between them.
She pushed against Yue Chunhan, but not only did he not budge, her hands ended up pressing against his solid chest muscles.
Yue Chunhan was still injured, wrapped in bandages. Su Zhi didn’t dare struggle too hard. She turned her head to the side, taking a few quick, shallow breaths, her face stiff and unnatural. Frowning, she pushed against him, trying to speak firmly. “Yue… Yue Chunhan, you’re too close… Move back a bit…”
Yue Chunhan didn’t move away. Instead, he leaned in closer, their faces almost touching, so near they could hear each other’s faint breaths.
Her heart thudded wildly in her chest, burning with anxiety. Su Zhi felt utterly tense, a layer of mist quickly forming in her clear eyes from agitation and fear.
Her lips were full and crimson, beautifully shaped—perfect for kissing. Especially when she bit her lower lip in nervousness, the contrast of red lips against white teeth was alluringly vivid.
Yue Chunhan’s eyes darkened, almost like thick ink. Pressed close to Su Zhi, his voice was cool as he stared into her eyes and asked, “Su Zhi, when did you learn how to treat wounds like this?”
Hearing his question, Su Zhi’s heart drummed loudly, though she had expected this.
Yue Chunhan was indeed suspicious. Of course—if the original Su Zhi were here, she’d probably be too frightened by Yue Chunhan’s gruesome injury to even stay in the room, let alone treat it. Their personalities were too different. Moreover, she had acted too calmly and skillfully earlier, making his suspicion understandable.
Su Zhi quickly scrambled for a plausible explanation in her mind. She knew this conversation was crucial. If she answered poorly, not only would it arouse Yue Chunhan’s suspicion, but worse, she might be labeled a monster by the villagers.
Stiffly forcing a smile, she replied, “My dad was injured before when he fell while building a wall. I took care of him then. There’s really nothing difficult about it—just cleaning and bandaging. It’s not that hard.”
“Is that so?”
Yue Chunhan’s thin lips curled slightly, his dark eyes unreadable. It was impossible to tell if he believed her.
He didn’t step back, instead looking down at Su Zhi, who was rigid against his chest, and spoke slowly. “I thought you hated me. After all, our marriage is different from others—born from an accident. I disrupted your life, and I have the personality you despise most.”
Su Zhi’s eyelashes trembled, and she bit her lower lip harder.
“I thought you would divorce me quickly and leave with someone else, but you didn’t. You don’t seem to have any intention of running away at all.”
Yue Chunhan’s gaze lingered on Su Zhi’s tightly bitten lower lip, his eyes darkening as he leaned closer. “Su Zhi, what exactly are you thinking?”
Under the intense pressure of his gaze, Su Zhi felt her entire body tense up.
She wasn’t thinking anything. She just wanted to make the best of her situation in this unfamiliar place, to find her footing and survive here peacefully.
She had no other intentions. It was just that her personality happened to differ from the original host’s.
“Do you really want to be my wife? To stay in this impoverished household, care for a child who isn’t biologically related to you, and live with the man you once feared and hated the most? Su Zhi, is this what you want?”
Yue Chunhan’s eyes were sharp. The Su Zhi before him was beautiful, but she had lost all the flamboyant allure of the past. She resembled a trembling gardenia—pure, delicate, as if dew clung to her petals.
Her beauty was out of place in his impoverished home.
Su Zhi looked up, a misty haze gathering in her eyes. Her gaze was hazy, moist, her clear, round eyes like apricots tinged with a seductive crimson at the corners, adding a touch of allure.
Tears welling in her eyes, Su Zhi nervously confessed, “I haven’t thought that far… I just want to do my best and stay here peacefully. I don’t think you’ll always be poor, Yue Chunhan. I don’t think this home is bad. I really like Tiantian too. I have no other intentions. I… I like it here.”
Yue Chunhan’s dark eyes paused.
Pressed against the wall by Yue Chunhan’s tall frame, Su Zhi felt her breath growing ragged. Unable to hold back, she pushed against his chest with both hands. “Yue Chunhan… if you have something to say, say it properly. Please move aside first.”
Yue Chunhan’s chest vibrated as he suddenly let out a low laugh.
This was the first time Su Zhi had seen Yue Chunhan smile. Surprised, she looked up and met his slightly raised brows and eyes.
Yue Chunhan looked down at Su Zhi, his voice no longer as cold as before, instead carrying a hint of nonchalance. “Not calling me ‘husband’ anymore?”
Su Zhi didn’t react at first, tilting her head in confusion, looking utterly bewildered.
Then, suddenly, she remembered something. Her apricot eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Yue Chunhan. “You… you!”
On the night Su Zhi first crossed over—their wedding night—someone had knocked on the back window, wanting to help her elope. But knowing the outcome, Su Zhi had refused, using the excuse:
———“I’m sorry, I just love my husband more.”
Ahhhhhh!
Su Zhi finally understood what it meant to be so embarrassed you could dig a three-bedroom villa with your toes. Her face flushed crimson, her mind went blank, and she felt like she was about to steam.
Instinctively, she tried to retreat, but there was nowhere to go—behind her was the cold wall, and in front of her, Yue Chunhan watched her leisurely, one corner of his lips lifted high.
Ahhhhhh!
Su Zhi just wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. Shame curled her fingers as she desperately tried to cover her burning cheeks. If the situation allowed, she would have buried her face in the kang and rolled around.
………So, Yue Chunhan had been there all along when she spouted that nonsense? He had heard everything she said?
Husband…
No wonder Yue Chunhan’s expression had been so strange that night—he must have been shocked by her calling him “husband.”
This man, Yue Chunhan, was truly wicked! Not only did he eavesdrop back then, but now he was deliberately teasing her.
Su Zhi covered her face in shame, trying to slip past Yue Chunhan’s blockade, but in her haste, she nearly tripped over one of Yue Tiantian’s toys on the kang.
“Careful.”
Yue Chunhan grunted softly and caught Su Zhi.
This time, it wasn’t the usual kind of arm-around-the-waist hold. This was a real… embrace. They were pressed tightly together.
Thump, thump, thump…
Such a violent heartbeat.