“Stop talking. Sit down first.”
Su Zhiyun interrupted him.
Together with A Ran, she carefully helped him to the only wooden stool in the room that was still somewhat intact.
Jiu Baiyun almost collapsed onto it, then let out a long breath of painful air, his back slightly hunched.
A Ran was already frantically searching for things.
“I-I’ll get water and cloth, and the wound medicine I bought at the last market…”
Her voice was urgent.
She turned and started rummaging through an old wooden box in the corner of the room.
Su Zhiyun stood to the side, watching Jiu Baiyun endure the pain.
She pursed her lips, then finally asked, “Those mountain sparrows… and that masked weirdo… are they dealt with?”
Jiu Baiyun had his eyes closed, brows tightly knit, as if catching his breath.
He nodded at her question, his voice hoarse.
“Yeah… temporarily… dealt with.”
Just then, A Ran came running over with a basin of clean water, a piece of clean old cloth, and a small porcelain bottle.
“Brother Jiu, the medicine! It’s here!”
She knelt beside Jiu Baiyun, looking at his wounds, unsure where to start.
“I’ll do it.”
Su Zhiyun sighed and resignedly rolled up her sleeves.
She at least had some basic first-aid training from her previous life, which was better than A Ran’s complete inexperience.
Even though she was still wearing gloves, the disdain in her eyes was hard to miss.
Taking the cloth from A Ran’s hands, Su Zhiyun turned to her.
“A Ran, go block the door more securely. Use the table or something heavy to brace it.”
“Oh, okay!”
A Ran quickly nodded, got up, and moved the small wooden table in the room.
Su Zhiyun wet the cloth and carefully cleaned the blood and dirt around Jiu Baiyun’s wounds.
As she worked, she couldn’t help but glance at his pale profile and closed eyes.
The question about the “Fox Immortal” lingered on her tongue, but she swallowed it back.
Now wasn’t the time to ask.
Cleaning the wounds inevitably hit sore spots.
Jiu Baiyun tensed up, occasionally sucking in a breath through his teeth, but he never cried out.
“Bear with it,”
Su Zhiyun said, though her movements became even gentler as she carefully removed the grime and clotted blood from the edges of the wounds.
Afterward, she tossed the bloodstained cloth into the basin, where the clear water instantly clouded into a murky dark red.
She picked up the small porcelain bottle A Ran had found and carefully sprinkled the light, herbal-scented powder evenly over the deepest wounds on Jiu Baiyun’s back and side.
As the powder touched the open flesh, Jiu Baiyun’s body visibly stiffened, his jaw clenched, fine beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.
But he still didn’t make a sound.
A Ran, having managed to brace the patched-up door with the wooden table and a stone against its leg, ran back to Jiu Baiyun’s side, watching anxiously as Su Zhiyun applied the medicine.
Under the dim lamplight, Jiu Baiyun’s originally pale face regained a trace of color after the wounds were cleaned and the powder applied.
Finally, Su Zhiyun bandaged Jiu Baiyun’s wounds as gently as she could with the old cloth.
After finishing, she stepped back and wiped the sweat from her forehead—whether from nervousness or exertion, she wasn’t sure.
Her gaze fell on Jiu Baiyun’s slightly relaxed brow.
The room fell silent, leaving only the sound of the three of them breathing.
Su Zhiyun stared at Jiu Baiyun for a few seconds before finally breaking the silence.
She crossed her arms, a hint of skepticism in her voice.
“Hey, Jiu Baiyun,” she deliberately lowered her voice, but every word was clear, “you actually dealt with those mountain sparrows that covered the sky?”
Jiu Baiyun leaned back in the chair, half-closing his eyes, as if too exhausted to even lift his eyelids.
Hearing Su Zhiyun’s question, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and he let out a vague grunt in response.
“What does ‘grunt’ mean?”
Su Zhiyun pressed, taking half a step forward.
“So many of them! Like a tidal wave…”
She paused, then still asked, “Did anyone else help you?”
She emphasized the words “anyone else,” her eyes locked onto Jiu Baiyun’s face.
When Jiu Baiyun heard Su Zhiyun’s words, he immediately understood what she was driving at.
She just wanted to probe about the Fox Immortal…
Jiu Baiyun seemed to move his eyelids slightly.
Finally, a barely perceptible sigh escaped his lips.
“Cough…”
He cleared his raspy throat, his voice very low.
“…Sort of. There was… um, someone who passed by and gave a hand.”
He was vague and evasive, just wanting to end the topic quickly.
“Someone?” Su Zhiyun’s eyebrow shot up.
“Who? What kind of ‘someone’?”
He opened his eyes and saw Su Zhiyun’s determined expression, clearly unwilling to let it go.
Jiu Baiyun furrowed his brows.
“Why do you need to know so clearly? Knowing too much won’t do you any good.”
Su Zhiyun didn’t back down because of Jiu Baiyun.
Instead, she hugged her arms across her chest, leaning forward slightly, a knowing smile mixed with triumph on her face—the “I’ve got you” kind.
“It’s the Fox Immortal, isn’t it?”
“…”
Jiu Baiyun was silent for a moment, then turned his head slightly away.
“No…”
Even though he said that, the slight turn of his head only confirmed Su Zhiyun’s suspicion.
Jiu Baiyun was deliberately hiding something about the Fox Immortal!
“No?” Su Zhiyun dragged out the word, still keeping her arms crossed.
“Jiu Baiyun, I’m not stupid! Aren’t you hiding something from me?”
Jiu Baiyun dared not respond.
He couldn’t very well say that he was the Fox Immortal they were thinking of, could he?
And he had never admitted to being the Fox Immortal while in his fox demon transformation…
Su Zhiyun’s bright eyes fixed on him.
Jiu Baiyun felt as if the wounds on his back hurt even more.
He hadn’t expected this to be such a hassle.
Instinctively, he wanted to avoid that piercing gaze, but that would feel too deliberate.
He could only stiffly keep his head turned, his eyes falling on a bundle of incense sticks scattered in the corner of the room.
An oppressive silence filled the room.
A Ran keenly sensed the tension in the atmosphere.
She looked at the pale, frowning Jiu Baiyun, then at the scrutinizing Su Zhiyun, her small face full of confusion and worry.
She didn’t understand why Sister Su was so persistent about the “Fox Immortal” thing. Brother Jiu clearly looked so uncomfortable…
“Sister Su…”
A Ran spoke timidly, her voice breaking the stagnant air.
“Brother Jiu… he’s badly hurt… maybe… let him rest first?”
Though she didn’t know what Su Zhiyun and Jiu Baiyun were discussing, A Ran instinctively felt they should end this topic.
Su Zhiyun was startled.
She looked at A Ran, then at Jiu Baiyun.
After a moment of hesitation, she let out a heavy sigh.
“Fine… I’ll ask you again after you’ve rested…”
She was certain that Jiu Baiyun and the Fox Immortal were definitely connected.
From the fact that the Fox Immortal clearly existed but Jiu Baiyun claimed it was himself, she could tell!
Maybe they even had a good relationship!!!