Chapter 39

“Senior Brother? But as I’ve never had a master, how come he addressed himself as my Senior Brother? Though I lost my memory, dad must have told me everything he thought I ought to know.” In the thirteen years before the accident, like any other kid growing up in the mountains, Zixiu led a dull, boring life, having no friends and knowing little about the outside world. “Maybe someone had sent their children to learn from dad how to identify and pick medicinal herbs, but how come dad had never mentioned it to me? Is the guard lying? Or has dad been keeping something from me? What the hell is going on?

Staring at the ceiling blankly with a frown, Zi Xiu was lost in thought. After a short while, his ‘Senior Brother’ walked in with a basin of water.

“Zixiu, wash your face first so that I can apply the ointment for you.” The guard put the basin on the table, wetted a handkerchief and then wrung most of the water out of it. After that, he folded the half-dry handkerchief into a square before handing it to Zixiu swiftly.

From the time he had been inquiring about the one who slapped Zixiu in the garden to the moment he had been fetching him water to wash his face, the guard’s concern didn’t seem fake. At the thought of this, Zixiu couldn’t help feeling ashamed of himself for being so mean. After showing his appreciation politely with an awkward smile, he took the still-steaming handkerchief from his ‘Senior Brother’ and started wiping his face with it.

Nangong Du hadn’t shown up since he stormed out of the chamber in the morning. Xingyi had come a few times, but in addition to bringing a morsel of food, she did nothing, not even the hair-do for Zixiu. As his face hurt so much, Zixiu wasn’t in the mood to freshen himself up, and he looked discomfited for the moment with his hair in a mess and his clothes in disarray.

“Zixiu, I thought you had been resting in your bedroom as you were in low spirits these days, but it has never occurred to me that… you had suffered so much!” the guard said with a look of deep regret, clenching a corner of the table cloth as if he was going to tear it into pieces.

Zixiu was surprised that this guy would have been so resentful about the beat he had gotten. Feeling embarrassed to stare at him, he secretly peeped at the guard, pretending that he was wiping his face intently.

This guy wasn’t that dark and his skin was actually very fair. He looked so different from yesterday that Zixiu couldn’t see any resemblance between his current appearance and his looks the day before. Only then did Zixiu realize that this guy must have changed his appearance by using some sort of a special technique. “If it weren’t for the truth that I’m the spitting image of Princess Liuxu, that pervert would have changed my appearance with the same method! Since they can disguise a man as a woman in this way, it will be much easier to do that when the target is of the same gender. But why did he choose to disguise himself as a guard of Prince Mu’s Mansion?”

When Zixiu was in a trance, the guard suddenly raised his voice. “Zixiu, tell me the truth, was it Nangong Du?”

“Huh?” The moment he heard that pervert’s name, Zixiu felt his heart skip a beat and the handkerchief slipped from his hands and fell to the floor with a snap.

“I knew it was that son of a b*tch!” the guard shouted with a grim look.

“No! It wasn’t.” Zixiu shook his head after coming back to his senses. When he bent over and was about to pick the handkerchief up, the guard stopped him. Lifting his head, Zixiu saw his ‘Senior Brother’ looking at him with concern and pity in his eyes, which caused an upsurge of strange feelings in his heart.

To be frank, though he had suffered a lot recently, Zixiu only blamed it on his own bad luck and never felt sorry for himself. Maybe he had become numb to such ongoing misery, but at this moment, he was kind of moved.

“Senior Brother, forget it. I’m fine!” Zixiu said with a solemn look after the guard picked the handkerchief up. He was certain that this ‘Senior Brother’ was a martial artist, or he wouldn’t have been able to sneak into the princess’s bedroom without alerting the others. However, as a straight man, Zixiu thought it was shameful to ask for help because he had been bullied by a woman!

“Let me get your wound treated first.” The guard calmed himself down soon and took out a small white porcelain box from his pocket in the blink of an eye.

“What’s inside?” Zixiu thought it must have been some kind of ointment, but he still asked, as if he hadn’t got the faintest.

“The ointment,” the guard answered with a smile.

“Where did you buy it?”

“Er…” After hesitating for a moment, the guard showed a sign of shyness on his face. “I didn’t buy it…”

“You made it yourself?” without noticing the glow on the other party’s face, Zixiu chimed in.

“Yup!” The guard nodded.

“It turns out he does know a thing or two about medicine!” Zixiu bore it in mind. “But does he really have anything to do with dad?”

“Zixiu, raise you head. I’m going to apply the ointment for you.” Holding the small box, the guard suddenly revealed an uneasy look.

“Oh.” Zixiu didn’t sense anything wrong and he looked up calmly. Taking this opportunity, he widened his eyes and looked carefully at the features of the man in front of him. However, this face didn’t ring any bells with him!

“Senior Brother…”

“Hm?”

Hearing Zixiu call him, the guard responded with his hands trembling. “Ouch!” Zixiu cried out in a low voice.

The guard instantly lost his composure. “Zixiu, are you alright? Does it hurt? It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have exerted that much strength…”

“I’m fine. Haha!” In spite of the pain, Zixiu forced a smile.

However, when he turned to the guard again, he suddenly froze on the spot. “Senior Brother, what’s wrong with your face?”

“Huh?” The guard was stunned too, as if he had just realized that he himself blushed. He hemmed and hawed, having no idea what to say.

Zixiu couldn’t help but feel a little worried. “Senior Brother, are you alright?”

“It’s done!” Instead of answering his question, the guard told Zixiu that he had finished applying the ointment for him and before Zixiu could say anything else, he had dashed out of the room.

“Wait, Senior Brother! I have some questions for you!” Zixiu shouted, but received no response.