Chapter 22: Do You Want to See Me Dead?

Chapter 22: Do You Want to See Me Dead?

At the critical moment, Pei Yuhuai arrived and shoved him aside hard, but couldn't dodge in time and got wounded on the arm.

"Pei Hang!" Lan He's eyes went red instantly. He whirled around, chopped the guy's head off with one vicious swing, and went berserk and slaughtered the rest of the scum.

His frenzied appearance scared Pei Yuhuai so bad he stood frozen, his face going pale.

"Pfft..."

Lan He spat out a big mouthful of blood. His sword clattered to the ground, and he barely steadied himself by grabbing a tree trunk.

Pei Yuhuai snapped out of it and hurried over to hold him up: "You—you're hurt."

Lan He revealed a faint smile: "Did you come to find me?"

"If I wasn't looking for you, who else would I be looking for—a ghost?"

"Good, good."

His smile hadn't even faded before he fainted, collapsing all gracefully.

"Hey..."

Pei Yuhuai caught him, and up close, he could see Lan He was covered in blood, his clothes ripped to shreds, with wounds all over his body. His chest was soaked in a big patch of blood that was still seeping out.

His face was deathly pale—whiter than a corpse three days dead.

Pei Yuhuai's heart pounded, and he forgot to be scared: "Lan He? Lan He, wake up!"

After calling a few times with no response, Pei Yuhuai panicked. He grabbed Lan He's arms, slung them over his shoulders, and carried him on his back to the lakeside, propping him against the big rock by the fire.

"Lan He?"

Pei Yuhuai ripped open his clothes to check the wound.

There was a deep knife wound on his chest, surrounded by old scars that hadn't healed. It looked gruesome and terrifying.

Pei Yuhuai had never seen wounds like this. Even during their earlier intimate moments, he'd never looked closely, and most of them he couldn't see, anyway.

He never imagined the outwardly refined Imperial Advisor would have so many scars hidden underneath.

Who the hell was trying to kill him?

Pei Yuhuai carefully ripped Lan He's clothes into strips, then tore a piece from his own clean clothes to bandage the wound as best he could, finally managing to stop the bleeding.

Lan He still looked awful.

"Lan He? Lan He, wake up!"

Pei Yuhuai patted his face and gave him some water. After all that fussing, Lan He finally opened his eyes.

"You're finally awake. I thought you were gonna die here. You okay? Why do you have so many wounds?"

Lan He raised his hand with effort, tugging at his clothes, his expression unreadable: "The scars are ugly. Don't look."

"?" Pei Yuhuai's eyes widened. "Is that really the point right now?"

Ow.

Come to think of it, his ass really hurt.

Pei Yuhuai grimaced, pissed and annoyed. If Lan He had really died here today, he wouldn't have known what to do.

In that moment just now, his heart had ached.

"Lan He, you... how do you know kung fu?" Pei Yuhuai asked, trying to sound casual.

Lan He stiffened, lowering his head silently. After a long pause, he finally said: "Did I scare you just now? Are you scared of me?"

"Yes."

Lan He's heart sank.

Then Pei Yuhuai continued: "I am scared, but you were defending yourself. They tried to kill you first. You didn't do anything wrong. I won't tell anyone."

"...Thank you."

"No need to thank me. Since you're so impressive, I'll be nice."

Pei Yuhuai didn't push it.

Everyone has their own secrets and things they don't want others to know. He and Lan He weren't even friends, so no need to ask so many questions.

"Come on, let's go find a doctor for you. Don't die on me."

Pei Yuhuai carefully helped him into the carriage, and following Lan He's directions, pulled various silk cords inside.

Sure enough, the young monk driving the carriage showed up quickly.

"You're hurt this bad—can you make it? Don't die, okay?"

"I won't."

"Good, as long as you don't. But by the way, you still haven't told me—how'd you get all these other wounds? Does it hurt?"

As he spoke, he reached out to look again.

Lan He clutched his clothes tightly, refusing to let go, stubbornly insisting: "Can't look. Ugly."

"Ugly or not, let me see."

"No."

"Hey, I'm telling you—"

"Cough, cough, cough..." Lan He started coughing hard.

Pei Yuhuai's face changed immediately, and he dropped to his knees in front of him: "Don't do this to me, I'm scared. I won't look anymore, okay? Just don't die."

"..."

"Hang in there. I'll send someone to get a doctor right away. They'll be here soon—just hold on."

Pei Yuhuai paid several errand boys to fetch doctors, calling every well-known doctor in the capital to Qingwu Manor to treat Lan He.

He also sent someone to deliver a message to the Marquis's house, while he stayed at Qingwu Manor himself.

The diagnosis came back.

The doctors all said it was just external wounds and prescribed similar medicines for them, also bandaging his arm.

Pei Yuhuai held several prescriptions and stared at them, his head throbbing. He had no idea which was better—which one should he take?

Lan He lay on the bed, watching him study the prescriptions seriously, feeling warm inside, as if he had returned to his past life, when Pei Hang had taken care of him like this.

"Pei Hang."

"Hmm?" Pei Yuhuai paused for a few seconds, nearly missing it.

"Come here."

"What for? You're messing with my concentration on these prescriptions."

"I can read those. Hand them over."

"Oh right, I forgot about that. Why didn't you say that sooner?" Pei Yuhuai walked over to the bed, handed him the prescriptions, and plopped down on the edge of the bed.

Lan He took the prescriptions but didn't look at them. Instead, he looked him straight in the eye: "Pei Hang, do you want to see me die?"

Pei Yuhuai's heart lurched, and he couldn't help recalling that dream from earlier, where the boy in white had asked him the same thing.

Except it hadn't been directed at him.

But it was just a dream—why did it leave his chest so heavy?

Pei Yuhuai touched his chest and flashed a big grin: "Of course not. I'm a good-hearted guy; I'd never have such nasty thoughts."

Lan He smiled too: "Oh, really? That's good, then."

"What do you mean 'that's good'? You're making it sound like I'm out to get you. That's kind of scary. Anyway, forget it—just hurry up and check the prescriptions so we can get the medicine. Look at how bad your injuries are."

"Okay, whatever you say."

Lan He dutifully looked over the prescriptions, chose one, and handed it to Pei Yuhuai.

Pei Yuhuai nodded approvingly and patted his head: "Great, good boy. I'll go arrange it. Wait for me."

He hurried out and quickly returned.

"Your Excellency, the Grand Preceptor, I just asked the monks here, and they said you often get injured and cough up blood. Have you pissed off some big enemy?"

Pei Yuhuai looked at him suspiciously, but didn't stop walking toward the bed.

Lan He answered with a question instead: "Aren't you scared of getting dragged into my mess? Why do you still dare to come near me?"

"Why wouldn't I dare? I'm fearless, and besides, you're good-looking—the King of Hell wouldn't bear to take you."

"Heh, I'll take the young master's kind words."

"But seriously, this is too dangerous for you. What if you die one day?"

Pei Yuhuai frowned in thought, then suddenly had an idea.

"Oh, right. In a few days, I'm going to Jiyuan Temple with Rongjing for something. Why don't you come with us? Haven't you, as a lay disciple, been a long time since you sincerely worshipped Buddha? I'll take you to pay respects and get rid of the bad luck."

"Why?"