While Ye Cheng was treating the eighth prince in the bathroom, Tang Muxin reluctantly began to help the amnesiac general. However, she felt these people were outsiders to her small circle of friendship and couldn't help but show a sour face and curt attitude.
"I am Tang Muxin. I'll help you dress your wounds." Was the first thing she says, eyes coldly looking at the battered man. She pauses for a few seconds before dryly adding, "I hope you recover quickly." So you can leave as fast as you can.
The general nods gratefully, "Thank you. May I ask, do you know me?"
Tang Muxin blinks at the question before she comprehends the implications to such a question and immediately her face goes ugly. The first man is crippled and now this one is an amnesiac. Neither injuries are easy or fast to cure.
Meaning... these two men will be hanging onto their thighs for who knows how long.
If her attitude before was cold, it had now become completely icy. "No. If it hadn't been for Da Gong who called us over to help we wouldn't have crossed paths at all."
Duan Mengyao felt a little awkward at such an obviously chilly reception but he had no memory and is naturally anxious for any information. Thickening up his face he gives her a polite flattering smile that didn't look completely natural on his chiseled serious face. "Then I'm grateful for my stroke of luck. May I ask where this helpful young man is so this one can give thanks?"
Tang Muxin's face relaxes a bit and she smiles faintly, "Of course," she replies, her monotonous voice now with a trace of humor in it.
Duan Mengyao of course is happy that the guard was lowered a bit. Even with his memory gone his intuition and common knowledge was still present. The couple that are helping him and the other stranger is currently his life saving line. He doesn't know how he got to this state but it's very likely that whoever caused so many injuries to his person wanted him dead.
Right now it's best to lay low, see if he can regain his memories and recover well.
The young man seems friendly and easy-going but the biggest problem is the young lady who looks at him like he killed her entire family and fucked their corpses for good measure. Luckily it seems this Da Gong character is her soft spot. Could it be her child?
Tang Muxin's mouth curls up higher and her eyes turn into joyful crescents. Coupled with her baby face it made her seem very sweet, like an innocent maiden. Duan Mengyao inexplicably felt a little flustered.
While she wasn't a devastating beauty like most transmigrated people tend to become, her simple pretty appearance and plain, natural looks unhindered by rouge and paint, can be considered quite refreshing, like a daisy among roses. Not to mention she is the true protagonist of the story. It wasn't strange for the General to be a little moved at her smile.
It's pretty much a given that all protagonist halos come with beauty filters ah. If they didn't than how can all those 'normal' girls and boys get so much romantic attention in harem stories? Their mediocre, basic personality? Psh. Please bitch.
Not noticing the general's current nervousness Tang Muxin took a step to the side and gestured down. "Go ahead, he's right here ah."
The general: ?
Did he not notice the child entering the room? Even though he wasn't sure of his own identity, somehow he felt like he should have definitely have the ability to notice such things no matter how carefully a child sneaked in.
Slowly looking down his gaze finally lands onto the only presence next to the young lady.
Da Gong: "Cluck."
General Duan Menyao: …
Da Gong 'tsk'ed disdainfully at the man's dumbfounded face. Really ugly ah. "Are you sure you want to keep them baby?"
"Just for a while," Jia Hyson lazily chirps, "If the new humans don't meet the standard we can always release them into the wild when they've healed."
"Or when they die." Da Gong adds wisely. As a wise rooster who has experienced many things that most roosters don't get to, he knows that those with heavy injuries can easily lose their life even during treatment. Some animals think humans are very magical but Da Gong is aware of the limits. Even Ye Cheng who is unlike other humans and does his best to do what he can, cannot always save their lives. "Little w- Baby, you should steel your heart just in case the servants you picked don't make it through the treatment."
Jia Hyson twitched. It seems he won't be able to shake off this awful nickname in Da Gong's heart until he grows up a bit more ah. Also, even though Jia Hyson knew that Da Gong was just concerned, why did it sound a bit like he was cursing the General and eighth prince to die?
It was a bit.... handsome ah~ ♡
Bebe: 'Bebe can't tell if host actually thinks cursing people to death is an attractive trait or host is just blinded by his love for a rooster and Bebe hates you for that.'
Jia Hyson: 'Eh, it's a little of both. But love is a strong word you know, let's not get ahead of ourselves here ah.'
Bebe: '....'
Jia Hyson felt a little embarrassed by his system's silent judgement. He knew it sounded scum but he didn't like the word 'love' very much. He had always been a bit uncomfortable with using the 'L' word seriously.
Even with Sefu and Drake, it generally said in a joking tone and he would try use other words to describe his feelings for them. Like. Affection. Adoration. Infatuation.
Love was... a bit harder to admit.
Sometimes Jia Hyson felt like he didn't understand love or at least, what he views as love isn't really love. After all, if he really loved Drake with his whole heart he wouldn't have loved anyone else regardless of having the same soul right? Because who he loved is Drake, silly, sweet and stupidly endearing Drake, not someone that wasn't Drake that just happened to have part of the same soul.
And if he really loved Sefu why did he still want to sleep around and enjoy himself even after acknowledging his feelings for him? If he really loved Sefu wouldn't it be like in the stories where his heart and body would be unable to be moved by anyone else? Even now after their happy married lives had ended Jia Hyson wanted to play and indulge in debauchery once again.
Look at the stories, the movies, the scripts and the plays- they produce such moving love filled with determination and pure beauty and Jia Hyson feels like he doesn't have the ability to really contain any of that in his heart. He's broken somewhere inside and he knows it and yet at the same time he doesn't.
All he knows is his love can't really be called love. At least not a love that others can call love. What love is to other people.... he may just be incapable of it.
And that's okay. Jia Hyson may be a bit insecure about it but he wasn't unhappy with his lifestyle either ah. Sex is fun. Dating is fun. And if he can catch someone he really likes enough not to let go until they die? That's pretty fun too.
It's pretty half-hearted he admits but then again, if he only has the ability to use half of his heart, doesn't that mean for him being half-hearted is wholehearted?
Bebe: 'In short, Bebe shouldn't judge your abnormal slag outlook in life and love by normal standards.'
Jia Hyson: 'Exactly. Technically you can view me as mentally ill. Is it fair to push your standards of normalcy onto people who don't fit and then scold them for not being able to fit? That's awfully self centred and arrogant of you Bebe, tsk, tsk.'
Bebe: '...' It's really hard to refute this logic. Bebe would feel bad except the things that make Jia Hyson 'unfit for normalcy' was being a fickle unrepentant slag that's addicted to sex, emotionally playing with people and a murdering psychotic bastard which were traits very deserving of being scolded for. 눈_눈
Also, why did the topic diverge like this?!
How come most hosts are very serious and cold, disliking inefficiency and such while his own host is so chatty and likes to talk circles and make all sorts of tangents in his mind?
Jia Hyson: '...' That's not because of anything really, it's just cause I'm an author ah.
After all, you can't write a good book if your mindset isn't a little cluttered and messy.
In reality, Da Gong stares expectantly at his little worm. However the little worm seemed dazed and unwilling to communicate at the moment.
Da Gong felt a little regretful. His worm is surprising thoughtful for a worm but is also quite air-headed and likes to daydream a lot, always zoning out and staring blankly at things. Right now he was probably contemplating the harsh truth that Da Gong had provided him with about how the humans they saved won't necessarily live.
Even though the little worm is very intelligent. It is still a baby. The concept of death must be very scary for it.
Da Gong 'tsk'ed. As a righteous rooster he must take responsibility and make his baby feel better. However it's not good to disrupt the baby's thinking...
So General Duan Mengyao watches blankly as his 'savior' he was meant to thank, clucked at the nearby odd looking lizard before flapping his wings and trotting to go lay down next to the reptile. The black wing facing the skinny yellow lizard was spread out and blanketing the creature in a protective manner.
Duan Mengyao: '.......'
Was his understanding of the world gone along with his memory? Why can't he comprehend this situation at all?
Were roosters always this smart? No, we're roosters always this doting??? (」゜ロ゜)」???
Tang Muxin who is already numb to Da Gong's overbearing CEO behavior couldn't help but cover her smiling mouth at the amnesiac man's stupid confused expression. There is a bit of sympathy in her eyes but more than that there is a ticklish feeling of schadenfreude. Suddenly she felt that the man wasn't too unbearable to live with.
At the very least it won't be her at the bottom of the hierarchy anymore ah.
"Hehe," Ye Cheng who had rushed out of the bathroom at this moment, giggled cheekily as he closes the door behind him, muffling the eighth prince's embarrassed anger. After composing himself somewhat, he joins the group around Duan Mengyao's bed with a wide, friendly smile. "Hello, I am Ye Cheng, this is my friend Tang Muxin who I'm sure has already introduced herself ah. The little lizard is Xiao Bang, and this handsome fellow is Da Gong."
Da Gong clucked proudly, puffing up his feathers arrogantly. Jia Hyson who had snapped out of his daze once Ye Cheng came back, chipped in agreement before snuggling up to those fluffy side feathers underneath the rooster's wing.
Tang Muxin closed her eyes and wished she hadn't watched so much brainless idol dramas in her free time. However she still couldn't help but compare Da Gong and Jin Bao to a scene she saw once where the arrogant underworld boss is laying splayed out on a club's couch, one arm wrapped around his current pretty schmoozy of the week while surrounded by quivering yes men.
As for why she doesn't compare them to the bosses she knew in reality...
Well who asked real life bosses to be so proper and boring?! If they weren't practically your usual cutthroat businessman, they were corrupt second gen rich boys who were pretty much just assholes. Sure that's what television shows generally depict them to be as well but real life doesn't have editing or a beauty filter. _(:3」∠)_ Real life sort of sucks.
It's probably why she likes these stupid dumb over exaggeratedly unrealistic stories so much in retrospect ah.
"So, what's your name?" Ye Cheng continues to talk.
Duan Mengyao, already accepting his own situation, lowers his head slightly with some awkwardness, "I… I don't know."
Ye Cheng blinks and for a second one could actually see a touch of annoyance in his eyes.
"Huh, I didn't know he could be annoyed about this sort of thing," Jia Hyson chirps at Da Gong.
"Ye Cheng is a stupidly nice human but he is also very stingy toward other humans." Da Gong explains, happy to show off his human knowledge to his little worm. "Ye Cheng is what other humans call a 'merchant' and to be good at merchanting you have to be strict with prices and find if the good outweigh the bad."
The rooster pauses. Looking at the cute shiny eyes of his worm he felt that maybe he was speaking too complicatedly. "In short, one human is crippled and one is amnesiac. They are both adult humans. The food and clothing will be high. The cripple looks rich and well connected, there should be some benefits if he has a conscience. The amnesiac is trickier, unless someone finds him we may have to keep him for a longer time than than the other human." Da Gong tilted his head downwards so he could see Jia Hyson better, "Do you understand?"
Jia Hyson: '...' Of course I understand ah. I just didn't think Ye Cheng was actually so pragmatic.
Da Gong made a 'tsk' noise. "However even if the costs do outweigh the benefits, Ye Cheng, this dumb human, will still help them since he took them in. He calls it a 'moral code' or 'karma' or something. Seems useless. If it was laozi I would have kicked them out already."
Jia Hyson sighs in agreement. Unless the other person was attractive beyond belief or seems very useful, there was no way he would bring injured strangers into his own living space. After all, who knows if they're white eyed wolves who will steal your furniture, or rapists or an assassin sent by one of your exes.
Bebe: 'Did you really get sent an assassin?'
Jia Hyson: 'You would be surprised how many I used to get. Though to be fair, it's mainly work related than any romantic reason ah.'
Bebe: '…..You were an author.'
Jia Hyson: 'Did you forget I died because of a rival author's daughter?'
Bebe: 'Touche.'
Jia Hyson felt increasingly like Ye Cheng was probably the hardest character to understand in his point of view. He's kind to people but kinder to animals. He's laid back but clearly ambitious enough that he refused to continue his family's lifestyle as a farmer. Generous but materialistic. Softhearted but secretly stingy. Disdaining the poor on some level but unwilling to not give a helping hand whenever someone is in need. It's not over complicated but just small contradictions in a character are what make them more interesting and real.
Tang Muxin's character is fairly simple in comparison, but at the very least there's depth. Her outward personality is cold but after speaking with her telepathically for the last few days Jia Hyson realises that at the end of it all, her main core is loneliness and loss. An assassin, a spy, a doctor, these are all jobs that require an organisation, a strict set of rules and some sort of support system whether that's a handler, a direct supervisor or a fellow coworker.
In fact, Jia Hyson couldn't help but think, maybe the explanation created by the world's consciousness for Tang Muxin being so slow in the original plot was this loss of structure she had in her life. She is born in an agency and told what to do and what to learn ever since. Without that, it is hard to do things by yourself and a limited ability to think for yourself is naturally developed which is what these sort of dark organisations tend to encourage.
If a soldier is without an army to fight alongside with and a country to fight for… then what is the use of the weapons in their hand?
Fuck, that was poignant. He should write that down.
'What was poignant?' A soft voice enters his head.
Jia Hyson looks up to meet Tang Muxin's faintly interested gaze. It seems he accidentally let his last thoughts slip away a bit ah. Blinking his large golden eyes innocently he communicates in a sexy mature voice contrasting with his appearance, 'Oh I was just thinking about how my original appearance is elegant like willows by a still lake under the moonlit sky. Poignant right?'
'…Right.'
Tang Muxin felt like her transmigration buddy was getting increasingly shameless the more she spends time with him.
She turns back to focus on Ye Cheng who was grilling the amnesiac man with various questions in order to determine the severity of the injury. From the sounds of it, the man at least retained most common sense but details were not too good.
Knowing this is General Duan from the plot, Tang Muxin felt that while she wasn't happy with his presence it wasn't entirely unacceptable either. After all he is strong if nothing else and in the story he really didn't brush up much presence and therefore did not cause any big troubles, instead he helped solve various small problems the protagonist Pan Shuchun had gotten into. In short, he was troublesome but not difficult.
The other man, however… that one will be difficult.
"I should go check on the other one," Ye Cheng whispers to Tang Muxin, "It's been a while and I'm sure he's too proud to call for help."
Tang Muxin hesitates but agrees. Even though she had some doubts, she felt that Ye Cheng probably knows what he's doing. Probably.
Either way, while her current body isn't completely suitable for fighting she had no doubt that she could at least handle a crippled man if he decides to do anything to Ye Cheng. Not to mention she highly doubts Da Gong wouldn't help her out either when his human is involved.
...She wonders how she got to a point where she, a super-assassin spy, is assured by the presence of a rooster.