Chapter 69 – We’re All Men, What’s There to Be Afraid Of?
“Wipe… your back?”
Yan Xiaosi, half-turning her head, looked at Long Hao in astonishment.
She had never washed anyone’s back before, even in her previous life as a top military doctor. So when Long Hao asked her to do it now, she was quite surprised.
Long Hao was holding the cloth, trying to twist his arm to wipe his own back, not noticing the expression on Yan Xiaosi’s face.
“Yeah, wipe my back. I have an injury on my arm and can’t do it myself, so I have to trouble you.”
During his time in the army, he often bathed in the river with a few trusted friends, scrubbing each other’s backs, thinking that since they were all men, there was nothing wrong with it.
Yan Xiaosi was surprised for a moment, but seeing him struggling with his arm and still wearing his pants, her sympathy overflowed, and she returned to his side.
“Give me the cloth.”
Long Hao handed over the cloth. Yan Xiaosi took it, rinsed it in the basin, wrung it half-dry, and started wiping Long Hao’s back.
She wiped Long Hao’s back repeatedly with the cloth, noticing that his back wasn’t very smooth. Under the dim light, she could vaguely see several crisscrossing scars on his back. Although the scars were old, they were still long enough to make her imagine the pain this man must have felt when he was injured.
Perhaps influenced by her past life as a military doctor, Yan Xiaosi stared at the scars, feeling somewhat emotional, and her hand movements slowed down.
Long Hao thought Yan Xiaosi was afraid of hurting him, and said lightly, “Those scars are old, it’s fine, just wipe with more force.”
Yan Xiaosi’s thoughts were pulled back by Long Hao’s words.
She continued to wipe Long Hao’s back with the wet cloth, using more force.
Once this man recovered from his injuries and left the broken temple, he would have nothing to do with her. What was she getting emotional about?
Long Hao’s body was injured, and she increased the pressure of her hands, causing Long Hao to wince in pain.
“You, kid, I told you to wipe harder, not to peel the skin off my back.”
Yan Xiaosi hated it when Long Hao called her a kid, and she stopped abruptly, throwing the wet cloth on Long Hao’s shoulder, “If you think I’m clumsy, wipe it yourself.”
Watching Yan Xiaosi leave angrily, Long Hao felt somewhat baffled.
Had he said something wrong? She was not even fifteen years old, and her body hair hadn’t fully grown yet. If she wasn’t a kid, then what was she?
As he finished wiping the sweat off his body and was fumbling to put on his new clothes in the dark, there was a knock on the door..
Yan Xiaosi raised her fist and gently knocked on the door, asking, “Brother Long, may I come in?”
Long Hao was holding his pants, feeling the smooth silk fabric, and his heart couldn’t help but warm.
He didn’t expect that the brat would buy him silk clothes.
“The door isn’t locked, come in.”
Yan Xiaosi entered, holding an ointment in one hand and pushing the door open with the other.
The broken wooden door creaked open, and she looked up at the broken wooden bed inside, just in time to see Long Hao holding his pants and trying to put them on.
Although the light in the room was dim, Long Hao’s two pale and long legs were too conspicuous, and she still saw them.
“Ah!”
This scene was beyond her expectation. She couldn’t help but shout in surprise before quickly turning her back.
Long Hao thought she was making a fuss, and while putting on his pants, he said, “We’re all men. I have what you have on my body, and it’s not like you haven’t seen it before. Why are you reacting so dramatically?”
“Xiaosi, what’s wrong?”
Ms. Zhong was in the kitchen, boiling water for Yan Shuqin and Yan Shuxue to bathe. When she heard Yan Xiaosi’s scream in Long Hao’s room, she thought something had happened. She asked while dropping the fire tongs with a clang.
Yan Xiaosi heard the clang and felt a sudden unease.
If Ms. Zhong knew that she had barged into Long Hao’s room and saw him with his pants not yet pulled up, she would definitely nag her for a long time.
“Mom, I’m fine, I just almost twisted my ankle. You don’t have to come over.”
“Be careful, you’re already a grown-up boy and still so impulsive in doing things.”
Ms. Zhong grumbled outside and then went back to the stove.
Yan Xiaosi and Long Hao both breathed a sigh of relief, and Long Hao quickly put on his pants.
“Your arm injury looks quite severe. I brought you some ointment that I made myself.”
Yan Xiaosi composed herself, holding the ointment and turning around boldly.
Long Hao wasn’t afraid, so what was she afraid of? It was just a man’s naked body. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen one before.
When she turned around, Long Hao had already put on his pants, but his upper body was still bare, and he was about to reach for the robe on the broken wooden bed.
The arrow wound on his arm had started to fester.
Yan Xiaosi walked up to him, glanced at the swollen wound on his arm, and couldn’t help but frown.
“I didn’t expect this arrow wound to be so severe.”
That day, she first gave Long Hao the medicine to neutralize snake venom on Four Sisters Mountain. After reaching an agreement with him, she gave him another bottle of medicine to treat his wounds after returning to the broken grass temple. She originally thought that Long Hao’s wounds were healing quickly.
“Brother Long, didn’t you use the medicine I gave you? Or were you afraid that I gave you poison and didn’t dare to use it?”
For some reason, Long Hao was somewhat afraid of upsetting Yan Xiaosi. He glanced at his swollen wound and quickly explained, “No, I used the ointment you gave me, but it didn’t seem to help much. The arrow that injured me was a devil arrow from the Rongdi tribe. The arrowhead had many barbs, and wounds caused by the devil arrow are quite severe.”
That day, Long Hao himself had pulled the arrow out of his arm, so Yan Xiaosi hadn’t paid much attention to it. Hearing what Long Hao said now, she felt goosebumps all over her body.
Pulling an arrow full of barbs out of one’s arm would tear off a lot of flesh. Just thinking about it made her feel pain in her arm, yet Long Hao had been expressionless at the time. This man’s endurance was truly abnormal.
“Try this medicine instead; it works better than the one I gave you before.” That day, she thought that after helping Long Hao neutralize the snake venom, the small wound on his arm would be no big deal, so she gave him the same medicine she used to treat Yan Shuyun’s bruises and injuries. The medicine was good for treating bruises and injuries, but it didn’t have anti-inflammatory properties.
The previous bottle of snake venom antidote had already made Long Hao believe in Yan Xiaosi’s medical skills. He took the medicine she handed him without hesitation, opened the stopper, and was immediately greeted by a strong medicinal fragrance.
Medicines made by ordinary doctors usually have a strong and unpleasant herbal smell, but the medicines Yan Xiaosi gave him all had a pleasant fragrance.
In the dim night, Yan Xiaosi’s eyes sparkled as she watched Long Hao holding the medicine bottle with a surprised expression. She smiled slightly.
This medicine, produced by her portable space, had absorbed some of the spiritual energy within the space, making it better than ordinary medicines. “This medicine is made by grinding the leaves and roots of the sweet flag plant. It has anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. First, apply some of this medicine to the wound, then sprinkle some of the sanqi powder I gave you before on the wound. It should be better in a few days.”
