Never mind, it was his debt to begin with.
Xu Wen tried negotiating, “Hey, I’m taking you back to get treated, so don’t bite me. If I let go of you, deal? If you agree, just blink.”
Xiao Hanyu had a splitting headache, and his limbs ached to the point of numbness. He struggled to comprehend what was being said by this battered, blood-soaked person right in front of him, and hesitantly blinked his eyes.
Taking that as agreement, Xu Wen released his hold, then moved to the youth’s knees, hooked his other hand around the slender shoulders, scooped him into his embrace, and effortlessly lifted him up.
As a result, the youth in his arms turned his head and clamped down hard onto his collarbone, using genuine force as if to express his dissatisfaction.
Xu Wen: “…” As expected of the male protagonist, his desire for revenge was strong indeed.
Carrying a youth weighing over a hundred catties, Xu Wen was nevertheless able to walk steadily all the way from the bottom of the cliff back to Ping’an Village.
His family lived at the edge of the village, nestled against the mountains, where things became very dangerous at night with wild beasts frequently roaming about. Therefore, only their household lived in that location, largely because their family was the poorest.
In the original book, the description of the cannon fodder original body’s background and family circumstances could be summarized in a single sentence: a sickly mother, a disabled father, a mentally impaired younger brother, and a shattered home.
The ancestors of the Xu family for three generations had been pure villagers. Originally, due to his handsome appearance, honest personality, and skilled hunting abilities, Xu Father had been extremely popular among the villagers in his youth. Who would have known that on one occasion when Xu Father emerged from the depths of the mountains, he returned without any game, but instead brought back a delicate maiden.
That was Xu Mother.
Because Xu Father insisted on marrying this woman of unknown origin who had also lost her memory, he had a falling out with his extended family and split off to establish an independent household.
Initially, relying on Xu Father’s excellent hunting skills, the family was able to live happily and harmoniously. However, good times do not last long. When the original body was eight years old, his three-year-old younger brother suddenly developed a high fever, which burned away his wits and left him impaired.
Subsequently, in order to earn money to sustain his younger brother’s health, Xu Father went up the mountain and ended up breaking his leg.
Being carried back to the village by kind-hearted villagers all covered in blood at the time, he frightened Xu Mother half to death, causing her to collapse as well.
Xu Mother fell ill too. She had already contracted the roots of an illness in her earlier years, and this fright struck her down like an avalanche, leaving her recovery as slow as pulling silk from a cocoon.
She was completely incapable of doing heavy labor.
Caring for the entire family fell upon the shoulders of the original body, who had just reached adulthood. The original body also lived up to expectations, studying diligently and passing the imperial examination to become a Juuren on his very first attempt.
With this glorious scholarly honor, he could have originally opened a private school, worked as a tutor, supported his family, taken a wife, and lived a peaceful life through to the end.
Alas, because he stood in someone else’s path, he became a grievance-laden soul.
With the sole pillar of support collapsed, how was this pitiful family supposed to go on living?
Xu Wen reined in the chill within his eyes. There was a long way to go, and since he had taken over the original body’s shell, he would naturally find an opportunity to seek revenge.
The dilapidated wooden door emitted an unpleasant creaking sound. Xu Wen carried the male protagonist inside, took a quick sweep, and discovered that the original body’s home was not as cramped as he had imagined.
In earlier times when Xu Father had money, he bought this old house, built with stones and thatched straw, featuring a courtyard and three rooms. One room was occupied by Xu Father and Xu Mother, while the remaining two were originally intended for the original body and his younger brother respectively. However, after his brother’s mind became impaired, they shared a room for better care.
The extra room had consequently become a storage space filled with miscellaneous items.
“Jiashi, you are finally back, cough, cough… Where did you go?” A woman wearing patched clothing emerged from a room, steadying herself against the doorframe.
This woman was none other than Xu Mother. Her temples were already gray, showing considerable signs of the ravages of time, and her skin was rough and chapped. Her complexion, however, was frighteningly pale, and with every sentence she uttered, she coughed repeatedly, which in turn brought a trace of rosy flush to her pale cheeks.
Even so, despite her poor condition, one could still glimpse that she must have been a beauty in her youth.
Before Xu Wen could speak, Xu Mother first noticed his disheveled and battered appearance, and then caught sight of the person in his arms, causing the blood to drain entirely from her face. “Jiashi, why are you covered in blood? Are you hurt? And who is this person?”
“Mother…” Xu Wen called out somewhat awkwardly. “Don’t worry, this blood isn’t mine. I got it by accident when I saved him on the mountain.”
Xu Mother let out a breath of relief, then couldn’t help muttering, “Why are you just like your father, so fond of picking people up from the mountains without any fear that someone of unknown origin might bring disaster upon us.”
Xu Wen smiled. “If Dad hadn’t picked someone up, I wouldn’t have a mother.”
“Such a glib talker. Hurry up and take this young master to the room. Mother will go get some herbal medicine for you.” Xu Mother scolded him with a smile, her tone gentle, feeling happy in her heart.
Her eldest son hadn’t spoken with such relaxed banter in a very long time.
In the past, whenever she looked at him, she felt as though he had a massive boulder pressing down on his back, crushing her son until he could barely breathe.
It was all because of this broken body of hers and the family that he was suffering so!
Xu Mother pinched her handkerchief to wipe away the tears welling at the corners of her eyes, fearing he might see them, and immediately turned around to return to her room.
With Xu Wen’s discerning eye, he had naturally observed all of this, but now was not the right time for comforting words; tidying up the male protagonist was the priority.
Xu Wen carried the person into his own room, which contained two wooden beds one belonging to the original body and the other to his younger brother.
He decisively placed the male protagonist onto the original body’s bed, where the youth lay unconscious from his injuries, entirely at his mercy.
Xu Wen stripped the male protagonist completely bare, fetched a basin of water, and meticulously wiped away the dirt and grime from his body, leaving not even his soles untouched.
Once those unsightly stains were washed away, the male protagonist’s peerless beauty was laid out fully before Xu Wen.
The youth was exquisitely handsome, as though meticulously sculpted, with every single line proportioned to perfection, immediately revealing him to be no ordinary person.
His build was lean, yet all the right muscles were present. His skin was fair, and a thin layer of muscle gave the youth an athletic strength.
However, the crisscrossing, varying-depth scars scattered across his jade-like physique added a sense of ruinous destruction to it.
There were also several sword-pierced wounds, which were still oozing blood and causing the unconscious youth to furrow his brows tightly.
Xu Wen picked up the medicinal herbs Xu Mother had just brought in, preparing to apply the medicine according to traditional methods.
He tossed the herbs into his mouth, chewed them up, and reached for a white cloth strip to spit them into before applying them to the wounds.
However, this entire process was witnessed by Xiao Hanyu, who had woken up midway.
His pupils dilated in shock, a clear look of abhorrence flashing across the depths of his eyes as he weakly rebuked, “What are you doing!”
Xiao Hanyu watched with his own eyes as the strange man spat out a “ptoo” sound and then pressed that mass of herbs mixed with goodness-knows-how-much saliva and slime—directly onto his body.
His body involuntarily trembled from the pain.
“Audacious! What do you think you’re doing!”
He didn’t care about this bit of pain, but having that disgusting thing pressed onto him by a man was simply outrageous!
He struggled, attempting to sit up.
Xu Wen was nearly knocked off balance by him and lost his remaining herbs. He clicked his tongue mentally, pushed the cloth strip further away, and single-handedly pinned down the flailing youth on the bed with a few swift motions, issuing a silent warning:
“Behave yourself. This medicine is good for healing your wounds.”
Xiao Hanyu thrashed about even more fiercely, yet he remained pinned down like a flailing, dying fish.
Damn it, how did this man have so much strength?