Lu Chengwen raised his hands: "If you kill me, you're done for too."
"I'm not afraid of death!" Hua Xuening declared.
Lu Chengwen looked at her steadily. "But is it necessary?"
"The Young Master needs you dead!" she retorted.
"He's my brother, and he wants to kill me?" Lu Chengwen's voice was laced with disbelief.
"For Xuecheng, for the people of the Northern Kingdom! For the sake of all Huaxia!" Hua Xuening's words were fervent, almost rehearsed.
Lu Chengwen let out a wry chuckle. "That's what he told you? No other way to do good besides killing brothers and manipulating women?"
"I… I don't understand!" Hua Xuening stammered. "I don't need to understand! The Young Master knows everything. I just follow his orders."
Lu Chengwen's gaze softened as he studied her. "You're feeling lost, aren't you?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?" she snapped, her voice sharp but wavering.
"You're starting to question what's right, aren't you?" he pressed gently.
"Shut up!" Her voice cracked with frustration.
"Your Young Master keeps giving you tasks you don't want to do. You've doubted him, but you're too afraid to think too deeply about it, right?"
"Stop talking nonsense!" Hua Xuening's hands trembled, her resolve fraying.
Lu Chengwen's tone shifted, calm and deliberate. "Let's leave it to time to sort things out. Right now, your ribs are broken and misaligned. If they're not set soon, you'll die."
"I told you, I'm not afraid of death," she said defiantly, though her voice faltered.
"If you die, who will protect your Young Master?" Lu Chengwen's words hit like a quiet thunderbolt.
Hua Xuening froze, her eyes wide with sudden uncertainty.
"Your Young Master has a long road ahead," Lu Chengwen continued. "He'll face many enemies, stronger and more cunning with time. He needs you alive to serve him. Put down the dagger, and I'll set your bones."
"My body belongs to the Young Master. I won't let anyone touch it!" Her voice was fierce, but her hands shook.
Lu Chengwen smirked. "I've already touched you."
"You…" Hua Xuening's face flushed with anger. She tightened her grip on the dagger, but a sharp, piercing pain in her ribs made her stagger, her strength draining.
In a swift motion, Lu Chengwen disarmed her, tossing the dagger aside and tapping her acupoints to immobilize her.
"Phew…" He exhaled heavily. "You're still too green. Once your Young Master… well, does that with you, your divine consciousness will awaken. Then you'll be a clever girl, won't you?"
He grinned, trying to lighten the mood. "For now, bear with it. I'm setting your bones."
"No… please, don't touch me. I can't betray the Young Master!" Her voice was desperate, almost pleading.
Lu Chengwen sighed, his tone softening. "Don't be so old-fashioned. If I were your Young Master, I wouldn't want you dying to prove your loyalty. I'd rather you live, healthy and thriving, even if it meant another man touching you or seeing you."
"But… you…" Hua Xuening's voice trembled, caught between defiance and confusion.
"Look, you don't understand a lot of things yet. Just listen to someone who does. In a doctor's eyes, there's only a patient, not a man or a woman. Doctors who treat sensitive conditions see bodies all the time—nothing special, just flesh, just a life to save."
"Are you a doctor?" she asked, her voice laced with suspicion.
Lu Chengwen flashed a toothy grin. "Nope."
"Then why's your nose bleeding?" she shot back, her eyes narrowing.
"Huh?" Lu Chengwen touched his nose, realizing with a start that her bare upper body was indeed stirring him more than he'd care to admit. Wiping the blood away, he pressed on with his work.
[I'm really not a doctor.]
[Man, when I fed her that medicine, I knew she was… well-endowed. Looks even better than it felt.]
[Ugh, this is… inconvenient. All this… jiggling around while I work.]
Hua Xuening's face burned with shame, wishing she could faint but unable to. Lu Chengwen fumbled for what felt like an eternity, wiping his nosebleed repeatedly as he muttered, "In a doctor's eyes, a patient is just a patient, no other identity!"
"Take you, for example. Sure, you've got… impressive assets, great shape, nice feel, and right now, you can't even resist. But guess what? My heart's as still as water!"
He grabbed a roll of tissue from the side, wiping his nose again and stuffing his nostrils. "Healing people is a doctor's duty. My family runs a pharmaceutical business, so I get how patients feel."
"Let's talk about your chest, for instance. I've seen it—so what?" He grabbed her, his touch clinical but his tone teasing. "I've touched it—so what? My heart's unmoved!"
"Still as water!" he declared, grabbing the phone. "Hey, send more tissues to the suite. My nosebleed's out of control."
He continued, undeterred. "Where were we? Oh, your chest! I'm no expert in this area, but I know a doctor's duty and mission."
"To save lives and… uh, heal wounds. That's our calling." He caught himself, correcting his slip. "Would I sneak extra looks to satisfy some filthy thoughts? Nope! Would I cop a feel and secretly revel in it? Absolutely not! Would I take advantage, lingering when the job's done? Never!"
"Still as water!" he proclaimed again.
Hua Xuening, watching his performance, said coldly, "The bones were set ten minutes ago."
"Really?" Lu Chengwen blinked.
"Yes," she replied, her voice icy.
"See? That's how responsible I am! Most doctors would be done and gone, but me? I stick around to make sure."
"Are you done?" she asked, her tone biting.
"When I was six…" Lu Chengwen started, but he stopped when he saw tears silently streaming down her face.
He pulled his hands back, awkward. "I was… trying to make you less embarrassed, you know? Just… chatting to lighten the mood."
He sighed heavily.
[Great, now she totally hates me.]
[She'll probably kill me before anyone else.]
[But she's Long Aotian's lackey anyway. She'd have tried to kill me regardless, so no difference there.]
[First, I need to secure my safety, then unblock her acupoints. What's the plan?]
As Lu Chengwen pondered, Hua Xuening suddenly sprang up, a long blade in her hand, pressed against his throat. Lu Chengwen's mind went blank.
[I blocked her acupoints!]
[Was my technique that bad? Did I mess it up?]
[I'm so dead! She's got grudges from the touching and the medicine-feeding!]
At that moment, a single move from Hua Xuening would end him. They stood in silence, eyes locked in a tense standoff.
The door swung open, and Jiang Shihan's voice called out, "President Lu! I got the supplements you asked for to help that lady recover! Where are you?"
Hua Xuening glared at him, her voice venomous. "I'll kill you one day!"
With that, she leaped out the window.
Lu Chengwen let out a shaky breath. "Phew! Dodged a bullet there."
Hua Xuening, dragging her injured body, was a storm of grief and rage. She couldn't understand why she hadn't killed Lu Chengwen when she had the chance. Just a slight push, and he'd be gone.
Why hadn't she done it?
Because he seemed to understand her? Called her a pure, kind girl? Because he saved her life, persuaded her companions, and clumsily set her bones? Or… because he touched her, and some part of her couldn't bear to kill him?
Her mind was a tangled mess. If her divine consciousness hadn't been sealed, she wouldn't be this confused, this conflicted. The seal on her consciousness, meant to be undone by her Young Master—was that truly a kindness? Lu Chengwen's words echoed: it wasn't a gift, just returning what was hers.
No! How could she doubt her Young Master? Everything she was, everything she had, came from him. How could she let Lu Chengwen's slick words sway her? Was she, Hua Xuening, so fickle as to betray her master?
"Lu Chengwen," she vowed, "next time we meet, I will kill you!"
She tried to push him from her mind—his words, his thoughts, the way he seemed to see through her. But the harder she tried, the more conflicted she felt, the more she questioned her purity. Her body felt tainted, and now her mind was too, unable to silence her doubts about her Young Master.
She hated herself, despised her weakness, her inability to stay loyal in thought. Her anger had nowhere to go.
Returning to their hideout, she found an eerie silence. Barging in, she saw Bang Daomang unconscious and her Young Master missing. A swollen, pig-headed figure lay on the ground, unrecognizable.
Hua Xuening grabbed Bang Daomang, shaking him. "Where's my Young Master? Speak!"
Bang Daomang was too far gone to respond. But the pig-headed figure stirred at her voice, slowly coming to.
Hua Xuening, still seething, limped over, her voice a low growl. "Where's my Young Master?"
Long Aotian's eyes were swollen shut. He'd been battered mercilessly by Tongtuo Wang, his head used as a punching bag for what felt like an entire playoff season. Any normal person would be dead, but Long Aotian, the Child of Destiny, clung to life.
His head was grotesquely swollen, his eyes reduced to slits between puffy lids, his ears ringing incessantly, his mouth so swollen he could barely move his tongue. Only his nose kept him from suffocating.
Hua Xuening, misreading his grotesque appearance as the result of some bizarre cultivation technique, was certain he knew her Young Master's whereabouts. She pressed her sword to his throat. "Speak! Where's my Young Master?"
Long Aotian could hear her but couldn't speak clearly, his mouth too swollen to form words. He let out muffled, incomprehensible sounds.
"You won't talk?" Hua Xuening's pent-up fury—from Lu Chengwen, from herself—exploded. "Fine, I'll carve you up!"
She drove her sword into the pig-headed figure's body, twisting the blade slowly. "This spot hurts the most. How long can you hold out?"
Long Aotian's mind screamed in agony. I'm not holding out! I can't move or speak! What the hell are you doing?
Hua Xuening sneered. "Still silent? Quite the tough guy, huh?"
Long Aotian's thoughts raced. I'm not tough! Can't you wait for the swelling to go down?
The more he resisted, the angrier she grew. "I can't deal with that bastard Lu Chengwen, but I can deal with you! You're not talking? Fine, I'll torture you until you do!"
Long Aotian's spirit broke. Living felt pointless.
End it. I'm tired.
_
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