17
He Tian didn’t actually intend for Dahuang to feed him.
When a fur kid makes a mistake, the owner was responsible.
As Dahuang’s ‘guardian’, He Tian had no choice but to find a spoon.
“I’ve never fed anyone before. You’ll have to be quick about it,” she said to the young man lying on the ground.
This truly was, in both her lives, the first time she had ever fed anyone.
Watching her scoop up a mouthful of hot soup and directly shove it towards his mouth, Rong Yan thought: “……………………………………………”
Oh, it was too hot.
Although it was her first time in two lifetimes, she wasn’t completely clueless.
She waited for a while until the egg noodle soup had cooled down, then brought it back to his lips.
Rong Yan, who had been watching her all along, hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth.
As an imperial prince, and the legitimate son born of the empress, his diet had always been exquisite and refined. The world’s delicacies, to him, were merely things to fill the stomach.
Simple fare like noodle soup would never have appeared on his menu.
However, upon taking the first bite, the look in his eyes changed.
He lifted his gaze to look at He Tian, who was feeding him the soup.
She was looking down, earnestly scooping the soup in the bowl, earnestly waiting for it to cool, not looking at him.
Then he glanced around the very simple kitchen.
Perhaps he had been hungry for too long, he thought to himself.
In his past and present lives, two lifetimes, this was the first time he had endured such prolonged hunger.
He Tian focused on feeding him and didn’t notice the change in his mood at all.
Only after finishing the entire bowl of egg noodle soup did she look up to meet his eyes. “Want more?”
Perhaps because of the hot soup warming him up, or because he’d been warming by the fire in the house, his body had finally regained a little strength. He nodded slightly.
It was very subtle; if He Tian hadn’t been watching him closely and wasn’t quite perceptive, she wouldn’t have noticed.
He Tian filled another bowl and continued feeding him.
After two bowls, having been hungry for so long, Rong Yan felt somewhat full. When He Tian asked again, he shook his head slightly.
He Tian didn’t say anything. After washing the bowls, she stood by the stove and drank the remaining egg noodle soup in the pot – the soup was just water mixed with flour paste; adding more water could make many more bowls. She had thought that if he was very hungry from fasting, she had deliberately added extra water.
As it turned out, he only drank two bowls, leaving over half the pot. It wouldn’t taste good if left until morning, so she might as well drink some now. She had already digested her dinner, and drinking it all now wouldn’t make her too full.
Rong Yan didn’t think much of it. It was her own home; it was perfectly normal for her to drink a bowl of soup whether she was thirsty, hungry, or not.
He was more curious about the three beast cubs staring at him like guardian deities.
Raising a rabbit wasn’t strange, raising a wild boar wasn’t strange, but raising a tiger was quite rare. Even in the capital, very few people kept tigers.
The strangest thing was that she raised a bunch of beast cubs together, and these cubs got along so harmoniously, as if they had intelligence. They were especially obedient to her, and now they were even consciously helping their owner keep an eye on him.
His gaze finally settled on the tiger cub.
Last night, it was he who had been dragged away by it. Later, its owner had thrown him back the same way, though not exactly the same way. She had shown a bit of kindness in the end, placing him in a hollow of a tree, sparing him from too much wind.
It had also been scolded by its owner, told not to just pick up things and bring them home, that picking up piglets was fine, but not to bring just anything home.
That remark was very cold-blooded.
But in his current situation, he would have done the same.
He just didn’t know why she had suddenly taken him in.
He knew it wasn’t because of the elderly woman. Before that elderly woman came out, He Tian had already wavered in her decision. Although her emotional change at that time was subtle, he had noticed it.
In his previous life, perhaps he wouldn’t have been so sensitive. But having died a miserable death and been reborn, he was now sensitive enough to perceive another person’s emotional shifts in an instant, let alone the fact that even after his rebirth, he still hadn’t escaped this life-and-death crisis that had claimed his life in his past life.
The only difference was that in his past life, he died.
In this life, he had narrowly escaped death by a hair’s breadth.
So, why did she waver?
Based on her actions and words last night, he was quite certain that she was not a soft-hearted person, nor someone who easily changed her mind.
Could it be that she had discovered something?
Having suffered betrayal twice from those closest and most trusted to him, Rong Yan found it difficult to trust anyone anymore, and did not hesitate to judge others with the utmost malice.
He calmly lifted his gaze towards the girl whose change of heart he could not fathom.
The fire had been burning for so long; its intensity had diminished, and the light inside the room had also dimmed, casting her long shadow against the back wall.
He couldn’t see her face very clearly, but her movements were quite discernible.
She was still drinking the egg noodle soup.
Still drinking?
Rong Yan’s expression shifted slightly.
And then he watched helplessly as He Tian finished one bowl, then another, then another, then another…
He saw four bowls, and he had no idea how many she had drunk before he started paying attention.
That was one thing, but after the sound of the spoon scraping the bottom of the pot, she stood by the stove, using her hand to peel off the crust from the pot, eating it with great relish.
If he hadn’t known what she was eating, at first glance one might think she was consuming some rare and exotic delicacy.
Sensing Rong Yan’s gaze, He Tian turned her head to look at him, eating the fragrant, crispy crust, a questioning look on her face.
After swallowing the crust in her mouth, she asked him, “You want some?”
Rong Yan was about to shake his head – that wasn’t his intention.
Due to his lack of strength, his movements were a bit slow. Before he could shake his head, he saw the girl shake hers instead, saying with a serious expression, “It’s too late, I only made this one pot of crust, and it’s just enough for me. I can’t give you any.”
Rong Yan: “…”
Seeing Rong Yan still staring at her, He Tian thought for a moment and said, “If you want some, we can make more tomorrow, and I’ll share a little with you.”
The crust was her favorite; sharing a little with him was the absolute limit.
Rong Yan’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, unsure how to react.
He Tian didn’t wait for his reaction anyway, he couldn’t speak, only nodding or shaking his head, it didn’t matter. She was busy scrubbing the pots and bowls, and afterwards she needed to hurry to sleep and regain her strength.
Seeing that she had already started treating him like part of the scenery and was busying herself, Rong Yan also withdrew his gaze.
He then saw that the tiger cub, which had been sitting there motionless staring at him, suddenly moved. It took a step forward and, with its thick, soft, fleshy paw, tentatively batted at him.
Rong Yan: “?”
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t wary, but right now he was like a piece of meat on a chopping board, unable to move, let alone speak.
He Tian, sensitive to emotional shifts, didn’t even look up as she reassured him, “He won’t bite you.”
Rong Yan: “…”
The tiger cub indeed wasn’t trying to bite him, nor did it catch him with its claws, it just batted at his clothes a couple of times.
He Tian added another sentence, “He finds you interesting and wants to play with you.”
Rong Yan: “…………” He couldn’t tell.
He Tian swiftly cleaned up the pots and bowls and asked him, “Do you want some water?”
As she spoke, she picked up the boiled water from the stove, which had been kept warm by the residual heat, and gestured to him.
Rong Yan nodded.
He Tian then brought the bowl over to feed him water.
She thought feeding water would be simpler than feeding food, and since the water had cooled to just the right temperature, she brought the bowl to his lips and tilted it up.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Rong Yan was lying flat on the ground. When she brought the bowl over, before he could even drink the water, it first splashed all over his nose and mouth.
“Ah?” He Tian quickly moved the bowl away and looked around for something to wipe his face. Searching high and low, she only found Dahuang, so she used Dahuang’s chubby paw to rub his face clean.
The furry touch, wet with water, felt sticky and very uncomfortable and itchy. Rong Yan, who happened to be unable to move, thought: “…”
Not much had splashed out anyway. After wiping him roughly clean, He Tian grabbed him by the shoulders and propped him up to sit against the wall. Only then did she continue feeding him water.
Afraid of choking him again like just now, He Tian tilted the bowl very, very gently and slightly this time.
Rong Yan, who hadn’t had a sip of water in ages and was exhausted from keeping his head down, thought to himself: “…………………………”
“Why aren’t you drinking?” He Tian asked, puzzled.
Rong Yan looked up, and his eyes, usually extremely alert to everything, inexplicably showed a trace of helplessness.
She looked down at the water in the bowl. There was nothing wrong with the water, and it wasn’t hot.
Rong Yan couldn’t answer her, so he could only continue blinking his eyes.
He Tian didn’t understand what he meant, so the two just stared at each other in silence.
Then a flash of inspiration hit He Tian. “Let’s try again.”
As she spoke, she brought the bowl over again. This time she tilted it a bit higher, and Rong Yan could reach the water to drink.
He drank the entire bowl of water in one go. He Tian thought to herself, he had just drunk two bowls of egg noodle soup and was still this thirsty. He was right by the water’s edge; going without food and starving was one thing, but why hadn’t he drunk any water?
Rong Yan, whose teeth were being pressed against by the bowl that was constantly held to his lips with force, forcing him to tilt his head back in cooperation—unable to drink anymore yet compelled to keep drinking until the bowl was empty: “………………”
He closed his eyes.
He Tian thought he was tired, and it was time for her to hurry off to sleep anyway, so she put the bowl back and added some more wood to the fire.
Just as Rong Yan thought she was about to leave, a shadow fell across his face, and then his pant leg was lifted up.
Rong Yan’s eyes flew open, and he saw the girl crouching beside him, frowning slightly as she examined the condition of his left leg.
Instinctively, he wanted to pull his leg back.
He truly had no strength left. Not to mention his leg, he felt as if even his limbs weren’t his own anymore; he couldn’t even open his mouth to speak.
He Tian looked for a good while before stating flatly, “It’s broken.”
It sounded like stating the obvious.
Rong Yan showed no reaction, not even a change in his expression. He didn’t know if this was simply her nature, or if she was used to seeing broken legs and arms. How could such a young girl stare at it so calmly for so long, and then so calmly utter the word ‘broken’?
“I’ll set it for you first…” He Tian thought for a moment. Getting a doctor was unrealistic; firstly, it was too far, and secondly, the consultation fee was too expensive – she didn’t have much money.
Saying this, she went outside to find two relatively flat and uniform pieces of firewood. She examined them carefully against the firelight, even using a cleaver to scrape off the uneven parts. Only then did she hold them up, loosely positioning them on either side of his broken leg.
“It’s going to hurt a bit.” Before starting, He Tian specifically warned him.
For Rong Yan, saying it or not made no difference; he couldn’t move anyway. But when the wooden boards actually clamped onto the broken bone, the pain still caused his mind to go blank for a moment.
When he came to, he was drenched in a cold sweat.
He Tian didn’t look at him, just kept her head down, securing the makeshift splint.
When she went on missions before, she often got injured, and most of the time she treated her own wounds. She had long since grown accustomed to it.
In her eyes, Rong Yan’s broken leg injury was quite minor. As long as it didn’t get infected, it would probably heal with some rest.
As the tinnitus faded and his vision cleared, Rong Yan’s eyelids fluttered as he looked at He Tian, whose movements in treating the wound were remarkably swift and precise. He couldn’t help but feel astonished.
Her technique was comparable to that of the Medicine King, who had followed him for years treating all kinds of injuries and illnesses.
But the Medicine King was already fifty-three. The person before him was only thirteen or fourteen. Where did she get such professional and skilled technique?
“That’s it for now,” He Tian said after securing the splint. His pant leg couldn’t be pulled back down now, so it had to be left like that. “You’ll need to be careful not to bump it.”
Seeing his pale face staring straight at her, she thought he was dazed from the pain. He Tian gently poked his shoulder. “You okay?”
Suppressing the doubts in his heart, careful not to let any emotion show, Rong Yan merely blinked his eyes gently.
Seeing he wasn’t dazed, He Tian said no more.
“You can sleep here for now,” she said, standing up. “If anything really happens, find a way to tap on the window. I’ll hear it and come check.”
As she spoke, she placed a long, thin branch by his hand.
“I’m leaving,” He Tian called to the cubs. “Time for bed.”
Xiaohui and Dahei immediately followed. Dahuang hesitated for a moment, then turned and trotted after He Tian.
The kitchen door closed, and the room instantly fell silent. When Rong Yan opened his eyes, all he saw was a flickering flame.
Not a single person, not even a cub.
The firelight reflected on his pale face. Compared to when He Tian was there, his expression now could be described as icy cold.
Even her gaze was as if steeped in poison—piercingly cold to the bone.
He stared at the dancing flames, lost in thought, when suddenly the kitchen door was pushed open. A gust of cold wind rushed in, momentarily extinguishing the flames before they flared up again.
A shadow was cast on the ground by the moonlight.
When Rong Yan looked up, He Tian had already thrown the quilt she was carrying onto him. “Cover yourself with this for now.”
Since she’d saved him, she didn’t want him to freeze to death in her yard overnight.
Her aim was good. When she threw it, the quilt unfolded and landed perfectly covering him.
“Go on,” He Tian kicked the little follower at her feet. “You’re sleeping with him tonight.”
Dahuang pattered over to Rong Yan, bit a corner of the quilt, and burrowed inside.
“This is all we have at home, no thick quilts. Dahuang is warm,” He Tian explained specifically. “He won’t bite you, don’t worry.”
With that, before Rong Yan could react, she had closed the door and left, leaving Rong Yan and Dahuang staring at each other.
“Owww~” Dahuang was very excited and yipped at him.
Rong Yan: “…”
The night was already very deep, and having expended so much energy dragging a full-grown person back from the riverbank, Dahuang, being only two months old, was long exhausted. Now, he curled up next to him, using his tail to cover most of his body, and fell asleep.
That eerie, chilling emotion from just now dissipated with the presence of a living creature beside him—one that was like a little furnace, no less.
He closed his eyes, and his tired, weak body succumbed to a deep sleep.
In the eastern room of the main house, He Tian, who had given her own thin quilt to Rong Yan, was now covered with a tiger skin. This was also one of the reasons she had insisted on shooing Dahuang into the kitchen, she didn’t know if he still remembered his mother, so it was better to keep him away from it for now.
Although the tiger skin would eventually be used under his nose anyway, perhaps when he was a bit older, it would be easier for him.
Going into town the day before yesterday and forgetting to buy bedding was really careless. Tomorrow, she would first go buy bedding, and then buy a small pot to use on the earthen stove.
Thinking these thoughts, she drifted off to sleep.
The next day, He Tian was woken by Dahuang scratching at the door.
She thought something had happened to the young man they’d brought back, the one in the kitchen, but upon getting up, she saw that Dahuang was simply hungry.
He Tian frowned slightly. “Can’t you hold on a bit when you’re hungry? Waking people up before dawn. You ate so much last night, and you’re hungry already? You must have been up to no good during the night!”
He had gone out at night to retrieve someone, a whole grown person, dragging him all the way home with his little two-month-old body. The energy expenditure was enormous.
Thinking of this, He Tian chuckled and went to cut and mince meat for him.
After feeding Dahuang, He Tian had lost her desire to sleep. It would be dawn soon anyway, so she might as well prepare breakfast. Today she was also going to make yam and tofu, and she was already impatient with anticipation.
In the kitchen, Rong Yan was still asleep. He didn’t even wake up when she came in to add water, light the fire, and make all that noise preparing the meal. If it weren’t for the rise and fall of his chest indicating breathing, He Tian would have thought he was dead.
The fire from last night had long died out. He Tian rekindled a small fire to keep him warm.
She had dug up so much wild yam yesterday; she planned to cook a nourishing yam and millet porridge and steam some scallion pancakes.
Add water to the pot, wash the millet and add it in. Peel the yam, use a knife to smash it into fine yam pieces, and put it all in the pot to cook together.
While waiting for the pot to boil, she started kneading dough. The method was the same as kneading dough for flatbread, and the firmness of the dough was about the same as well. With practice making perfect, He Tian now kneaded dough swiftly and efficiently.
In no time, she had achieved the pinnacle of dough kneading – bowl clean, hands clean, dough smooth – the ‘three cleans’.
Set the kneaded dough aside to rest. He Tian added some wood to the fire, then sat in front of the stove peeling wild scallions.
After washing the scallions clean and cutting them into chopped scallions to set aside, she began to knead the dough. Once it formed a smooth ball, she rolled it into a thin flatbread. Then she sprinkled salt, oil, and chopped scallions over the flatbread, rolled it up starting from one end until it formed a roll about five fingers wide, and then cut it into pieces about three to four fingers wide.
By the time she finished this, the pot had just come to a boil.
For simplicity, He Tian decided to steam the pancakes directly over the yam and millet porridge.
Place the steamer rack, put on the steaming cloth, arrange the pancake pieces one by one against the side of the pot. The dough she had made was just enough for one full pot.
Cover the pot and continue cooking over a low flame.
The pancakes steamed quickly. Once the water boiled and the steam was up, they’d be done in about a quarter of an hour.
Rong Yan woke up just as He Tian was lifting the lid to check the steamed pancakes.
Or rather, he was awakened by the aroma of the pancakes wafting into his nose.
The moment he woke, He Tian sensed it – his timing was really perfect.
After removing the pancakes, the yam and millet porridge was also done. The top layer was covered with a golden, golden millet film, and the yam had cooked until it was very soft. Just the smell of it was appetizing.
As for the scallion pancakes, He Tian was even more satisfied. The parts that had been against the pan had turned crispy and golden, she absolutely loved eating things with that kind of crispy, fragrant texture!
She filled three bowls of porridge and set them aside to cool, then went to check if Liu Erniang was awake.
Liu Erniang was already awake. Seeing her come in, she knew breakfast was ready. She asked first, “How is that young man from last night?”
“He should be okay,” He Tian said. “He’s awake already.”
Being awake was good; being awake meant he could live. It didn’t really matter much beyond that, as their own situation wasn’t great either. Liu Erniang didn’t ask further, not wanting her daughter to feel burdened.
“Do you want to get up and eat now? Or eat a bit later?”
Liu Erniang could already sit up by herself. “I’ll get up now. I’ve slept enough.”
It was cold outside in the morning, so He Tian helped her sit up properly, wash up, and then brought her the porridge and pancakes to eat in the room.
The yam and millet congee was soft, sticky, fragrant, and smooth. The scallion pancakes were savory and chewy, with the crispy, caramelized parts being especially delicious—crispy and crunchy, yet still rich with the aroma of scallions. It was a completely different kind of delight from “flatbread” bread and scallion oil pancakes.
He Tian, too lazy to carry things back and forth, just sat in front of the stove to eat. As she ate, she said to Rong Yan, who was quietly watching her, “I’ll feed you after I finish my meal.”
Rong Yan, who was indeed feeling unbearably hungry, thought: “…”
He could actually endure a lot. After being reborn, facing so many people from his past life who had betrayed him, he had managed to restrain himself from killing them all immediately. This wasn’t a particularly big reaction for him.
He could endure hunger too.
“Grrruuubbble…”
But he hadn’t expected that while his will could endure, his body would surrender first.
In the kitchen, where the only sounds had been He Tian eating her pancake and drinking her congee, this noise suddenly erupted. It was continuous and quite loud—hard not to notice.
He Tian stopped chewing, and even the tips of her ears twitched.
Rong Yan’s only consolation was that He Tian had her back to him. But seeing her ears twitch a few times, and her stop eating, somehow, the blood that had long gone cold throughout his body suddenly rushed up, burning all the way to his face and rushing to his head.
Rong Yan’s mind went blank for a moment from the sudden rush of blood.
He Tian paused for a moment, then turned her head to look at the person behind her.
For a living being, eating was always a very important matter. He Tian didn’t think there was anything unusual about making noises due to hunger. She just wanted to see if he couldn’t take it anymore. If he really couldn’t stand the hunger, it would be fine to feed him first.
But when she turned, she saw his handsome face flushed bright red, and his ears red enough to drip blood.
He Tian: “?”
Somehow, she suddenly curled her lips and smiled.
The girl was simply dressed, thin and pale, but her eyes were exceptionally clear and bright. When she smiled, she seemed ethereal.
Rong Yan: “…………………………”
**
Dahuang: Me, Dahuang! I can pick up pigs in the mountains, I can pick up people in the river, and I can even warm the bed at home. Who can compare to me? [sunglasses emoji]