With his shoulder and sleeve now covered in his own blood, Min Hong could only sigh in frustration.
"Have you vented enough? He helplessly asked.
Hearing this, Chu Yuyao gazed at Min Hong's face and realized that there were no longer any trace of anger on his expression; instead, there was just a faint, sad melancholy.
Upon seeing the depth of such anguish-stricken melancholy, Chu Yuyao's heart couldn't help but sprout a flower of guilt; after all, Min Hong had not done anything to her other than defend himself.
As for the frontal grab, she also knew it was just his instinctive reflexes at work, and the three times she was spanked; that was simply out of desperation. As someone who had been abducted out of the blue, insulted deeply and recklessly assaulted, this was already the best he could have done.
Perhaps, it was because she was now calm, or maybe the spanking did clear her clouded sense of reasoning; nonetheless, Chu Yuyao started to see things from Min Hong's perspective, and the more she did so, the more her sprout of guilt grew.
"You… why'd you stop?"
After thinking about it for a while, that was all she could muster. The sheer amount of helplessness she saw in his melancholic visage had struck her good. Perhaps, if he hadn't stopped, then maybe she wouldn't have to endure the gut-wrenching guilt that was wreaking havoc within her heart.
However, upon realizing that she had lost her only face saving chip by asking such a question, Chu Yuyao couldn't help but chide her wits as she turned rosy in embarrassment.
"Ah, I've never actually hit a woman before; so it felt absolutely despicable." Min Hong bullshitted with a flat face.
He had absolutely relished the short adventure of euphoric bliss his mind had experienced during those brazen moments, and only a felt a fleeting bout of guilt. But would he release his own chip simply because she wasn't smart enough to secure hers?
To further his motion; he tore off his sleeve, revealing that a part of his flesh had practically been bitten off and still leaking slowly. Then he tried to use that torn off sleeve to bandage himself; however, he could only wince and struggle.
As for Chu Yuyao, that one sentence of Min Hong had caused her grievances to fade away, as she turned even rosier in deeper embarrassment. Then upon seeing him struggle to properly bandage one arm with the other, she instinctively reached out and took the bandage from him:
"Let me help." She said softly.
Before putting on the bandage, she then tried to check the extent of Min Hong's injury, and as such, pressed the swollen healthy flesh just outside the wound.
However, upon doing so, Min Hong grunted slightly, indicating that the swollen areas are just as hurting as the face of the wound itself.
"Sorry." She mumbled softly as her eyes dimmed a little further in guilt.
However, she couldn't help but think that Min Hong was somehow different from anyone else she had ever met. She had this nagging feeling that amongst their current generation, then Min Hong might probably be the only 'lower person' who would dare fight back against her.
She could tell from his wild and coarse eyes that he was a man who had a level of pride that not even the heavens could bend. He had chosen to rather have himself in pain than to hurt her further, and that gesture touched on her soft inner heart.
Now that she had time to think about the entire situation much more carefully, she had begun to think that, perhaps Min Hong really hadn't done anything wrong, and that it was her who just didn't know the whole story.
Furthermore, this was the first time in all her years that she had felt a trace of guilt.
"I…" Min Hong was just about to say something.
"You don't have to apologize. We… today we'll call it even. I bit you, and you…" She paused, unable to finish her sentence as her face turned rosy.
Her chest still felt somewhat different from before, and she hadn't forgotten how it felt in the moment as well.
"No, I want to say" Min Hong shook his head trying to show that he had wanted to say something else earlier.
"Everything that needs to be said has been said. This is over. What more do you want to say?" Chu Yuyao interjected with a slight hint of anger in her tone.
"Oh pretty lady, what I want to say is that you bit my left arm. Why are you bandaging my right arm?"
It was only after hearing this that Chu Yuyao notice that in her carelessness she had bound the wrong arm.
Not only did her face turn completely red, but seeing the helpless expression on his face, she couldn't help but softly curse:
"You scoundrel, why didn't you tell me before?"
Unwrapping the bandage, she then proceeded to bandage the right arm. Since it was just a flesh wound, other than hurting a bit, nothing serious happened during the banding process.
Min Hong however, was internally having the chuckle of his life.
So, this beautiful maiden at least had a bit of a conscience; his strategy of hurting himself to gain her trust had worked perfectly.
Actually, he had healing potions within his spatial ring, that would word perfectly work for both his outer and inner wounds, but he chose not to take them out in order to put on a proper show.
Originally, he hadn't been expecting his plan to work this well.
He had already decided that if his soft approach hadn't worked, then he would have doled out the harsher reprisals he had preplanned. Fortunately, she had fallen hook, line, and sinker for his trap. This had greatly surpassed his original expectations.
It was also the first time that he gained a faint favorable impression of any of the tribe bearers.
"Your little brother was being used. Shen Li wanted to use him to pressure me." Min Hong softly added.
Then he began to briefly recount everything that had happened between himself and Shen Li; this time he didn't do it to rouse her emotions; he simply did it so Chu Yuyao could get a clear picture of what truly went down, and what he had also been through.
"I'm sorry Min Hong; I've deeply wronged you." She softly apologized, feeling she had gone too far.
"Don't worry, I'm already used to this," Min Hong responded indifferently.
Although his tone was very flat, when combined with his sullen expression and helpless visage, it truly did evoke a powerful moving visual.
Upon seeing this, Chu Yuyao couldn't help but feel even more guilt. It was as if she had rubbed salt all over someone who was covered in wounds.
"Haha, don't take it so seriously. I'm just tricking you into sympathy," Min Hong smilingly added.
However, the smile on his face didn't make the young maiden feel any better, instead, she only began to feel even worse for him. In fact, her eyes reddened and she add to sniffle and gulp in order to prevent herself from tearing up.
"Crap, don't cry. I'll stop talking about it."
Upon hearing the subtle sniffle, Min Hong couldn't help but frown a bit, thinking he had overdone it.
Even if he had no fear towards the heavens, there was one thing he was definitely afraid of; the tears of a woman.
He didn't know what to do, and was slightly getting flustered as she sniffled a couple more times.
"Can you forgive me?" Chu Yuyao asked mid-sniffle with an heartbroken expression. She was truly feeling as if she was the worst person in the world.
"It's okay, this wasn't your fault. It was all caused by a different bad person so don't blame yourself." Min Hong softly consoled.
"But…"
"No buts. Leave the past in the past. Keep the good days and forget the bad ones; that's how I've done it as long as I can remember," He quickly added, unwilling to get drowned in her emotions.
"Thank you, Long Chen." With a final sniffle, Chu Yuyao dabbed the corners of her eyes as a beautiful smile began to bloom on her face.
Min Hong couldn't help but feel enraptured when he saw her smile; there was just something about her current look, especially with the slightly swollen face and red eyes, that made that smile worth the heads of a thousand warriors.
Though she might be just a tad bit inferior to Mei Lin in terms of beauty, there was something about the timid vibe coming off her that gave her one over the former. In the face of such sight, no man can remain unmoved.
Seeing Min Hong foolishly stare at her, Chu Yuyao couldn't help but ask in innocence:
"Why are you looking at me like that; do I have something on my face?"
"N-no, it's not that. It's just... you're truly beautiful; I'm sorry, please take no offense." Min Hong couldn't help but stutter in embarrassment.
"Really? Do you truly mean that?" Chu Yuyao couldn't help but ask softly as she pushed her fine hair behind her ear.
"Of that I am certain, and I do mean every single one of those words. Could it be that no one has ever told you this before?" Min Hong blurted in a heartbeat.
Shaking her head, Chu Yuyao couldn't help but heave a helpless sigh as she softly replied:
"People do tell me that every day, but you can tell that they are only doing so with a different intention; I don't trust any words that proceeds from the mouths of such people."
Min Hong could clearly see her point; it was a pitiful plight that caused his own heart to hurt for her.
Compared to the girl who had attacked him earlier, it was as if he was looking at a total stranger. He could instantly tell that this was who she really was; that, or she simply suffers from chronic multiple personality disorder.
"Let's find a place to sit. Standing like this is awkward."
Min Hong found a clean boulder to sit on, and Chu Yuyao nodded. But as soon as she sat down, she suddenly jumped back up with a cry.
"What's wrong?"
Chu Yuyao's face was completely red as she angrily replied, "In it not your fault!"
Hearing this, Min Hong quickly realized what it was and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Placing his hand behind his back, he couldn't help but caress his fingers and palm a couple of times, reliving the wonderful feeling from earlier.
Chu Yuyao took out a long blanket from her spatial ring and covered the boulder before gently sitting. But she still knit her brow slightly when she her rear end touched the surface as it was still tingling.
"About that… uh, I'm sorry." Min Hong apologized in embarrassment. Those actions of his didn't exactly fit with the image of a noble gentleman, but at that time, he hadn't been expecting to have to act like one.
Moreover, he had been very pressed by the agonizing sensation of her vicious bite, so those unadulterated actions of his weren't really to take advantage of her.
"I've never met someone as terrible as you. This is the first time anyone's ever hit me that way." Chu Yuyao's eyes reddened with grievance.
"Hey, I'm sorry alright . How about I let you hit me on the bottom too?" Min Hong tried to joke in a bid to appease her.
"Hmph, who would want to hit your butt? You're such a bad person!" Chu Yuyao snorted, but revealed a slight smile when she thought of it.
Seeing her smile, Min Hong relaxed a bit. Hitting a bearer really is an audacious feat, even for him.
"Min Hong, though this might sound weird, but I feel like you're not one to suck up to someone else just to curry favor. So, can we be friends?" Chu Yuyao asked, staring into the distance.
"Of course. As long as you don't abduct me with a net next time. To be honest, I was really worried that you were going to let go and let me fall." Min Hong accepted with a chuckle.
Chu Yuyao also laughed at the thought of how sorry a figure he had looked when she had dropped him.
After laughing together, the unfamiliarity between the two of them had became much lesser, and Chu Yuyao finally opened up to him and began to talk about things that she and her little brother had going through.
Perhaps, because it was the first time she had felt comfortable to talk to someone about anything, but she actually told Min Hong a lot.