The youth ultimately went out to town together with Xu Wen.
As it happened, once they reached the town, Xu Wen took the opportunity to bring this male protagonist who had injured his head to see a physician.
Yesterday, Xu Mother had merely asked the village’s barefoot doctor to hastily bandage the wound on the youth’s head; how serious the injury was and whether the treatment method was proper both required inspection and diagnosis by a more skilled doctor in town.
Ping’an Village wasn’t terribly far from town, but it wasn’t very close either. Furthermore, the road along the way was potholed, rugged, and uneven, making it quite difficult to walk.
Halfway through the journey, the sun in the sky had just climbed up, casting down sunlight carrying a hint of warmth.
The youth following silently behind stopped moving. Xu Wen turned around and saw the youth frowning as he squatted on the ground.
Xu Wen turned back and walked over to the youth, a falling layer of shadow engulfing him within it.
“Tired?”
Xu Wen’s attitude could be described as gentle, his brows resembling distant mountains, and his jade-white face surpassing the purity of snowy mountains, yet it inexplicably made one feel as though his rosy lips held a hint of enticement.
As if being lured, the youth reached out a hand toward the man, “Older brother, carry me…”
His eyes were limpid and beautiful, but no one knew what kind of crazy, tyrannical thoughts were churning inside his heart.
Brother is so beautiful… I like him so much.
No, I mustn’t frighten Brother.
Xu Wen was quite willing to carry him, so he directly leaned over and scooped the youth up. It wasn’t a princess carry, but rather a posture like holding a child, letting the youth’s buttocks rest upon his forearm.
Holding the family’s dry rations in one hand and carrying the youth with the other, Xu Wen still appeared entirely at ease.
He had changed into a garment with shorter sleeves, exposing his sturdy, powerful forearms. Because of the exertion, prominent veins stood out and muscles rippled, possessing a strength uncharacteristic of a frail, sickly scholar a sort of violent beauty.
When the youth was hoisted into the air, he instinctively reached out and grabbed Xu Wen’s hair, though he quickly caught himself and rested his hands upon the man’s shoulders. Feeling that warm, hard texture, he having never had such close contact with anyone before—felt his ears turn red involuntarily…
Brother’s strength is truly great.
The youth thought absentmindedly, feeling only that this savior was even more to his liking.
His breathing faltered for a second, and he couldn’t help shifting his hips slightly, prompting the man’s warning tone to be inexplicably laced with hoarseness, “Don’t move around.”
A knot tightened in the youth’s heart, and he dared not move around anymore.
Only then did Xu Wen let out a breath of relief; if he kept wriggling, who knew when they would ever reach the town.
He began pouring all his focus back into the journey, and thus failed to notice that the youth, whose perspective was a notch higher than his, currently had his gaze resting softly upon the top of his head, involuntarily wearing a look of infatuation.
When the edge of the town came into view, Xu Wen set him down.
The moment he was set down, the youth immediately reached out and tugged at the hem of his garment.
Xu Wen glanced sideways at him, but the youth responded with a clean, limpid smile.
Yet, Xu Wen felt there was something inexplicably bizarre about him. No matter how much the plot derailed, the persona of the male protagonist in the book shouldn’t completely unravel and turn into such a stark contrast!
Xu Wen took note of this matter in his heart, voiced no refusal on the surface, and walked straight toward the town entrance.
This was tacit permission…
The youth twitched the corners of his lips, closely trailing behind the man’s footsteps.
Along the way, the youth worked hard to establish his presence, chattering away with his little mouth and saying a great deal.
“Brother, what are we going to buy first right now? White rice?”
“Brother, are you hungry? I’m a bit hungry, I want to eat red bean cakes.”
“Brother, do you know how to cook? Is it delicious? It seems I haven’t tasted your cooking yet.”
Naturally, since all things considered, they had only known each other for two days.
“Brother, how much money do you have on you right now? The beds at home are a bit hard and dig into the waist; can we buy a softer bed?”
He really wasn’t standing on ceremony.
Xu Wen suddenly halted his steps. The youth, who had been lagging a step behind and talking nonstop without feeling hurt that no one was answering him, slammed directly into Xu Wen’s back.
The youth let out a muffled grunt of minor pain, looking up aggrievedly at the man’s profile.
Yet Xu Wen ignored his condemnatory gaze, opening his lips instead to say, “Boss, give me some red bean cakes.”
Red bean cakes?
The youth’s eyes lit up, realizing at this moment that the two of them had stopped right in front of a red bean cake stall.
He stared fixedly at the tall and upright man, extending a vigorous, slender arm to pass over a few copper coins, and then received the red bean cakes wrapped in oiled paper from the vendor’s hands—the red bean cakes he had been yearning for.
After paying, Xu Wen turned around and handed the red bean cakes in his hand to the male protagonist, “Hold onto them well, eat a few pieces to pad your stomach if you’re hungry.”
Yet the male protagonist, who had just been clamoring to eat red bean cakes a moment ago, didn’t reach out to take them this time. Instead, he stared blankly at him, a fleeting emotion seemingly flashing across the depths of his eyes that Xu Wen failed to catch, though he did sense a chilly, cold sensation akin to being targeted by something.
Xu Wen lowered his gaze thoughtfully, and seeing the youth’s dazed expression, he simply reached out, grabbed the youth’s wrist bone, pulled him closer, and then looped the thin hemp string used to tie the oiled paper packet directly around the youth’s slender wrist.
“Don’t you want to eat them? What, are you so happy you’ve been turned into a fool?”
When Xu Wen withdrew his hand, he seemed to do so unintentionally, his slightly curved fingertips brushing lightly across the youth’s wrist bone, causing a jolt to run through the other’s heart as he snapped back to his senses.
The youth looked stunned. “W-Want to eat, Brother, I just…”
Before he could finish his sentence, he cut himself off.
He was afraid that if he continued speaking, those surging, churning emotions and twisted, frantic thoughts might frighten Brother. If Brother became scared of him, terrified of him, and distanced himself from him, what would he do?
Determining to conceal it, the youth curved his lips, his voice crisp and resolute, replying with the tone a normal person should use: “Thank you, Brother!”
Actually, he wanted even more to say: Brother is truly wonderful, I want to swallow Brother in one bite so that I can stay together forever with the brother who pities me and buys my favorite red bean cakes.
But he couldn’t; right now, the time he had known Brother was far too short, and Brother didn’t like him yet…
The youth’s excited emotions suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon, sagging flat.
Disappointment spilled out from the depths of his eyes.
Xu Wen had perceived the youth’s fluctuating emotions. Although the emotional shifts were rapid, Xu Wen felt instead that such erratic and unpredictable manifestations aligned rather well with the novel’s depiction of the male protagonist.
However, given the male protagonist’s current state of confused memories, Xu Wen wasn’t worried that such an unhinged, crazy overlord would harm him, so he didn’t dwell on it and simply continued walking forward.
A gentle tugging sensation came from the hem of his garment.
Without turning his head, Xu Wen could guess that it was undoubtedly the male protagonist who had mistakenly treated him as some close brother tugging at his sleeve.
While feeling a sense of amusement, he couldn’t help letting his thoughts wander further: just who on earth was the male protagonist so close to that he couldn’t forget them even when his memories were in chaos?
Whatever, anyway, the male protagonist will soon have nothing to do with me.
Xu Wen had always been clear-headed and rational, thus silently suppressing the inappropriate flutter of emotion in his heart.