Lai Yiteng's consciousness faded in and out throughout their journey. He didn't know how long they traveled or how far they went, but there was a distinct memory where the sunrise blinded his eyes until a hand gently covered his vision.
He could only focus on heaving shallow breaths in an attempt to preserve his meager life.
Eventually he was out cold.
There were dark and brooding dreams that wound in his mind. Those of rusted shackles and agonizing silence. Then of methodical footsteps, growing ever closer. Searing pain in his legs and arms, the fear that he would become a crippled waste. Worst of all were the panicked thoughts that raced through his mind before those footsteps came in front of his cell, ones that reasoned if it were better to die than withstand another day of torment and humiliation.
...
Lai Yiteng awoke with a gasp on a plain bed within a small room. He took a few moments to regain his breathing and calm himself.
He hated sleeping on beds. His preferred place of rest was in the corner of a room, tucked into himself with one hand holding his knife.
But no matter.
There was a feeling in his gut that quite some time had passed. He was half undressed, his shoulder neatly bandaged, and there were multiple fur blankets draped over him. Lai Yiteng didn't like it and jolted upright, causing a groan to crawl out from his parched and dry throat.
Water.
He wanted to drink some water.
But first his ran his eyes over the surroundings with wariness. The room was like an old dilapidated shack with cracked walls and dust everywhere. The shuttered window was missing part of the bottom slot, where sunlight and wind filtered in.
The place was probably an abandoned one-room house.
A wooden basin with a cloth sat beside the bed, and his erhu, too. The woman's dress he wore previously was also folded and left on a small table across the room, bloodstains apparent and ghoulish on the sleek fabric.
"Fuck." His voice cracked painfully as he swore. He'd have to buy a new dress.
A. New. Dress. He'd have to go shopping for woman's clothing…again! Once had already been painful enough. But oh well, nothing to do about it now.
Lai Yiteng didn't see his money pouch anywhere and his veiled bamboo hat was also missing, so he half wondered if Xian Wu didn't just take his money and dump him here, after all. But there was no need to take his hat too, right?! That was his favorite hat.
He tried standing up and felt a sloshing wave of dizziness.
A small whimper escaped Lai Yiteng's taunt lips as he sunk back down onto the bed.
Urgh, that damned poison…he wondered what kind it was. It was too potent. Those assassins were no simple mercenaries for hire, but a group of trained elites. How did he even manage to survive?
At some point he was able to use the restroom and picked up a cup of water to refresh his throat. This still was a bit arduous and tiring. Straight and long dark hair poured over Lai Yiteng's figure messily. He did not bother to tidy it up right now.
Once Lai Yiteng finished doing the simplest of things, he glanced out the window to judge his surroundings.
He happened to see a tall figure stalking back towards the hut.
Lai Yiteng clenched his jaw. He picked up his knife and unsheathed it, but upon looking again, he also noticed that this man was wearing his veiled bamboo hat.
It was Xian Wu!
But Lai Yiteng's hat didn't suit Xian Wu very well. His colorful clothes, ragged hair, and muscular body were a complete mismatch with the dainty white veil.
Xian Wu stepped in the door and raised his eyebrows once he saw Lai Yiteng clutching a knife. Anyone would, probably. Then he spoke with an air of casual scolding, "You should lie back down, or don't blame me if you get another fever and bite the dust for real this time."
"Why are you still here?" Lai Yiteng was in disbelief, glancing at a bag Xian Wu was carrying. "What do you want from me? Why'd you steal my hat?!"
Clearly, his hat was even more important than his money pouch. As though avoiding disaster, Xian Wu carefully placed the hat back on the table. It was best to let sleeping dogs lie.
"Can't you tell I'm helping you based on the promise we made?"
Lai Yiteng sharply narrowed his eyes. "What promise? I never made any promise with you."
How could Xian Wu chose to help him based on that one flimsy conversation they had in the pottery shop? It couldn't be that Xian Wu had filthy ideas upon seeing his heavenly appearance, was it? But if he were aiming to kill him, rape him, or bring him back to Lushang Sect, he could have also done that several times over by now, and Lai Yiteng did not possess any rare treasures or valuable knowledge otherwise.
Well, besides dirt on Lushang Sect. But no one would believe a fugitive.
He didn't like the uncertainty of the situation at all.
Xian Wu just said, "Come on, just sit back down." It seemed he could care less about Lai Yiteng's prickliness and went about dumping the contents of the bag over the stove counter in the room.
Yes, there happened to be one small and decrepit stone stove.
Perhaps it would still be able to carry out the function of cooking food.
There were green onions, lotus root, some herbs, and a small bag of rice inside Xian Wu's bag. He took out a pot then started rubbing flint to light the stove. Soon enough, a vat of lotus soup was brewing over the stove.
Lai Yiteng had no choice but to slowly lower his blade and sit back down on the bed, silently exhaling a breath. His head was throbbing, and he was hot and sweaty with a slight fever. Since Xian Wu clearly wasn't interested in harming him—for now, anyway, then he could relax slightly.
Slightly.
Lai Yiteng was always the kind to be cautious upon seeing the shadow of danger. He was paranoid at all times, always alert, never willing to leave himself open and vulnerable.
"I wasn't talking about our conversation from the other day," Xian Wu said suddenly.
Lai Yiteng fiddled with his knife. "That much makes sense. I thought it was strange you could tell I was a man right away. So then...we've met before?"
"Don't remember?"
"…no."
Xian Wu shrugged, but somehow seemed a little disappointed.
"It was seven years ago. You were younger, so I guess you could forget. But it's not as though we met for only a moment. You found me collapsed at the bottom of Dust River Valley, then nursed me back to health for two weeks."
"You-" Lai Yiteng's memory was jolted. "You're that smelly beggar?!"
"Why do you say it like that?!" Xian Wu cried as though wounded and then swiveled around to Lai Yiteng with an air of exasperation. He even pointed at his own face with emphasis. "LOOK! My face is good, my figure is great! I wasn't a beggar at that time either, I was just in a slump…didn't you see how the ladies were all over me last night?!"
"Because they thought you had money."
Xian Wu gave Lai Yiteng a biting glare.
Lai Yiteng glared back, unfazed.
And so Xian Wu had no choice but to cede in this mental battle. Pride wounded, he slowly turned to tend the vat of food again without another word.
However, the appearance and tone of voice was similar to the man Lai Yiteng met in the past, now that he thought of it...so he didn't disregard his words entirely.
Maybe he was indeed that smelly waste of a beggar that he'd saved in the past.
The one who had been teetering near death in the dry wasteland of Dust River Valley…