Chapter 24: The Cost of Association
The walk to the Shrek Academy infirmary was quiet, the only sounds being the crunch of dirt beneath their boots and the distant, rhythmic chirping of evening cicadas.
Mame walked at a measured, unhurried pace. Despite the chaotic battle that had just concluded, his silver-white silk robes remained immaculately clean. He held the unconscious Xiao Wu securely in his arms, his posture perfect, ensuring her head rested comfortably against his shoulder so her breathing wasn't restricted.
Flanking him were the two most elite girls of this year's applicant pool. Zhu Zhuqing moved with the absolute, silent grace of a feline predator, while Ning Rongrong walked with the slightly exasperated bounce of a pampered princess forced to endure a dirt road.
As the long, wooden cabin of the infirmary came into view, Mame slightly shifted Xiao Wu's weight to free his right hand. He tapped his void-black spatial ring.
With a soft, luminescent glow, a delicate plant materialized in his palm. It was a Moon-Dew Fern, a high-grade medicinal herb known for its soothing, cool energy—perfect for stabilizing a fractured mental state without shocking the physical meridians.
Mame held the glowing fern out toward the Hell Civet.
"Zhu Zhuqing," Mame said smoothly, his tone respectful but carrying the natural authority of his persona.
Zhu Zhuqing blinked, her cold eyes dropping to the rare herb before looking up at his face. She reached out and carefully took it from his hand.
"When we enter the infirmary, locate a mortar and pestle," Mame instructed, keeping his eyes on the path ahead. "Grind this fern down into a fine paste. Do not add water. Once it is fully crushed, gently squeeze the extracted juice directly onto her tongue. It will neutralize the lingering spiritual backlash in her mind."
Zhu Zhuqing looked at the herb, recognizing its sheer monetary value. She gave a single, firm nod. "Understood."
Watching this exchange, Ning Rongrong finally let her curiosity override her aristocratic manners. She quickened her pace slightly to walk right beside Mame, her hands resting on her hips as she looked at him in total bewilderment.
"I don't understand you, Young Master Bai," Rongrong stated, her cyan dress swishing around her ankles.
Mame didn't look at her, but an amused smirk touched the corner of his mouth. "I assure you, Princess Ning, I am remarkably straightforward."
"No, you aren't," Rongrong countered, gesturing toward the unconscious rabbit girl in his arms. "You completely humiliated that Tang San guy. You refused to heal him, refused to carry him, and you spent five minutes insulting him while weeding the training field. You clearly despise him. So why are you going out of your way—and using an incredibly expensive herb—to save his teammate?"
It was a perfectly logical question from the heir of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. In Rongrong's world, investments were calculated, and helping the ally of an enemy was just bad business.
Mame let out a soft, cultured chuckle that vibrated in his chest.
"My disdain for the hypocrite is absolute, I assure you," Mame replied, his voice a smooth, icy drawl. He looked down at Xiao Wu's peaceful, sleeping face. The King Beast inside him felt a protective hum toward his adopted sister, but Young Master Bai simply projected aristocratic pragmatism.
"However," Mame continued, looking back up, "she has not done anything to offend me. During the fight at the hotel, she possessed the good sense to drag him away before I had to break his arms. She fought bravely just now, even if the strategy she was forced to follow was suicidal."
Mame flashed Rongrong a brilliant, completely disarming smile.
"I operate on a strict code of personal accountability, Princess," Mame concluded effortlessly. "I will not punish a perfectly pleasant girl just because she has terrible taste in companions. I cannot fault a rabbit for the company she keeps, but I can ensure she survives long enough to hopefully realize her mistake."
Ning Rongrong stared at him, momentarily speechless. The logic was arrogant, completely self-assured, and strangely principled. She found herself nodding slowly, a genuine spark of respect replacing her spoiled annoyance.
"You're a very weird noble, Bai," Rongrong muttered, though she was smiling slightly.
"I have been told I am one of a kind," Mame agreed dryly.
They reached the heavy wooden doors of the infirmary. Zhu Zhuqing stepped forward, pushing the doors open to allow Mame to carry Xiao Wu inside, completely unaware that the bandaged, bruised form of Dai Mubai was waiting just behind the canvas privacy screens.
Chapter 24: The Cost of Association (Continued)
The infirmary was a long, drafty wooden cabin that smelled aggressively of bitter roots and rubbing alcohol. Mame pushed the heavy doors open, gliding inside with Xiao Wu securely in his arms.
An exhausted-looking Healing Spirit Master looked up from a wooden counter, his eyes widening at the sight of the pristine, silver-robed aristocrat.
"Third cot to the left," the healer instructed quickly.
Mame walked over and gently laid Xiao Wu down, adjusting the thin pillow to support her neck. Zhu Zhuqing immediately stepped past him, locating a stone mortar and pestle on a nearby table. True to her word, the Hell Civet began methodically grinding the glowing Moon-Dew Fern into a potent, stabilizing paste.
"Zhuqing...?"
The hoarse, strained voice echoed from behind a canvas privacy screen at the far end of the cabin, shattering the quiet atmosphere.
Zhu Zhuqing froze, the heavy stone pestle stopping mid-grind. Her cold, indifferent mask hardened into absolute, freezing ice.
From behind the screen, a figure heavily wrapped in white bandages slowly pushed himself up. Dai Mubai looked pathetic. His blonde hair was matted, his torso was tightly bound to restrict his shattered ribs, and his mismatched eyes were bloodshot from the lingering pain of Mame's Sun-Ape Strike.
Mubai coughed, glaring past Mame to look at the leather-clad girl.
"You actually came," Mubai sneered, trying to project the aura of a dominant tiger, though his voice cracked weakly. "I told you not to follow me to this backwater. I don't need you checking up on me. I'm doing perfectly fine on my own."
Zhu Zhuqing's fists clenched, her dark eyes burning with a mixture of profound disappointment and fury. She opened her mouth to speak, but Mame seamlessly stepped between them.
The silver-white silk of his robes completely blocked Mubai's view of his fiancée. Mame stood at the foot of the cot, looking down at the bandaged prince with a gaze of chilling disgust.
"I see the stray cat hasn't been put to sleep yet," Mame noted dryly, his voice dropping into a lethal, mocking whisper.
Dai Mubai froze. His mismatched eyes widened in sheer, unfiltered terror as he recognized the pitch-black eyes. The phantom pain in his chest flared violently.
"You..." Mubai choked out, pressing his back against the wooden headboard. "Silver Pants..."
"Young Master Bai, if you please," Mame corrected smoothly. He leaned slightly over the foot of the bed, the heavy, suffocating pressure of a King Beast briefly making the air in the infirmary physically heavy. "You ran away from your den. You abandoned your responsibilities. And now, you sit here wrapped in gauze, barking at the one person who actually had the spine to cross an empire to find you. You aren't a tiger, Mubai. You are a whimpering kitten playing in the mud."
This time, however, Mame wasn't the only one thoroughly unimpressed.
Ning Rongrong stepped up beside Mame, her hands on her hips, her spoiled princess attitude fully armed and pointed directly at the blonde prince. Having just learned about Mame's strict code of personal accountability, Mubai's cowardly behavior looked even more pathetic by comparison.
"Honestly, is this the famous Evil Eye White Tiger?" Rongrong scoffed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "You look like a beaten dog. Young Master Bai just risked his own expensive herbs to save a girl he doesn't even like, just because it was the honorable thing to do. Meanwhile, you hide in a shack and yell at the girl who came looking for you. You're an absolute embarrassment to your own nobility."
Dai Mubai flushed a deep, humiliated red, his jaw working silently. To be dressed down by the terrifying boy was one thing, but to be mocked by the heir of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan stung his pride to the core.
Behind them, Zhu Zhuqing walked over to Xiao Wu's cot. She gently parted the unconscious rabbit girl's lips and squeezed the extracted juice from the Moon-Dew Fern onto her tongue. Only then did the Hell Civet turn her icy gaze toward Dai Mubai.
"Young Master Bai is right," Zhu Zhuqing said, her voice completely devoid of any warmth. "You ran away. Do not ever speak to me as if you have any authority over my life again."
Mubai slumped back against the pillows, utterly defeated and completely stripped of his arrogant facade.
Mame smiled—a sharp, satisfied expression. He turned his back on the broken prince and walked over to Xiao Wu's bedside, watching as the girl's breathing deepened and a healthy flush returned to her cheeks. The herb was working perfectly.
Mame adjusted his cuffs and looked at Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong.
"Ladies, I must take my leave to find my own quarters," Mame announced, his polite, aristocratic tone returning flawlessly. "However, I would ask a final favor. Would one of you be so kind as to remain here until she wakes up?"
Rongrong blinked. "You aren't going to wait? You're the one who carried her all the way here."
"Precisely why I must leave," Mame replied smoothly. "It would hardly be proper for a gentleman to linger unchaperoned over a sleeping maiden. Furthermore..."
Mame cast a slow, highly judgmental glance back toward the privacy screen hiding Dai Mubai, before looking at the main doors where he knew Tang San would be arriving shortly.
"...given the profoundly insecure, possessive, and paranoid nature of certain individuals in this room, and the one currently being dragged here by the Vice Dean... a female presence will ensure there are no tedious 'misunderstandings' regarding my intentions." Mame offered a polite bow. "I have no desire to listen to the hypocrite throw a tantrum the moment he regains consciousness."
Zhu Zhuqing gave a small, understanding nod. "I will stay with her, Young Master Bai. Thank you for the medicine."
"Think nothing of it," Mame replied.
With a final nod to Rongrong, Mame turned and glided out the infirmary doors. He stepped out into the cool evening air just seconds before Vice Dean Zhao Wuji came stumbling up the dirt path, groaning in pain with the unconscious, poison-scented Tang San slung over his massive shoulder.
Mame didn't even glance at them as they passed. He simply adjusted his silk collar and went to find the sausage vendor who was supposedly his new roommate.