Chapter 19: Is He an Ungrateful Wretch?

"Who on earth have you offended?" After wringing out the water from the white cloth three times, the room was filled with the smell of blood. Pan Yueqing put down the cloth, sat on the edge of the bed, and couldn't help but ask.

"Take... off my clothes..." Qi Si'an slightly opened his alluring peach blossom eyes. Ignoring the differences between men and women, he directly gave a weak but unresisting order to Pan Yueqing, "There's a... sword wound... on my back... Hurry up..."

"I'm just a young woman. How can I take off your clothes?" Although Pan Yueqing didn't care too much about the strict separation between men and women herself, hearing such words from a man still made her a bit annoyed. How disrespectful was this person? What would she do if it got spread around and she had to face others?

"…It's late at night… You can just… pretend you don't see anything…" Qi Si'an's lips were pale. After tremblingly saying such a sentence, he closed his eyes, probably in great pain.

Pan Yueqing twitched the corners of her mouth. This person was really...

She let out a sigh. She picked up the scissors again. The cold touch made Qi Si'an shiver. However, Pan Yueqing composed herself. She had done this kind of work countless times in the Changyan Army in her previous life.

"Hiss—"

She had expected that Qi Si'an had injuries, but she didn't expect them to be this serious. The deepest sword wound on his back slanted across the entire back from the left shoulder to below the waist, with the flesh and skin curling up. There were also many abrasions, some caused by the friction of the clothes, and some by the stray arrows...

Under these new wounds, there were also some thin and long bruises that were purple and blue, which should be from the wounds inflicted by a rattan cane, concentrated on the upper back.

Even Pan Yueqing couldn't help but take a deep breath at these wounds, big and small.

She fetched another basin of warm water. Using a damp cloth, she gently wiped away the bloodstains bit by bit, not daring to touch the deepest part of the wound. Pan Yueqing was the kind of person who became calmer the more shocked she was. Her hands were steady as she cleaned the wounds little by little. Finally, she turned her back and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hand. Then she said to Qi Si'an, who was shaking with pain but only groaned softly during the whole process, "The sword wound is too deep. I don't dare to touch it."

"Miss," Gu Pan and Wan'er each carried two jars of five-jin heavy wine and pushed the door open. When Wan'er saw Qi Si'an, who was shirtless and covered in scars, she was very sensible and didn't say a word. She just gently put down the wine jars and said softly, "The master brought five jars of wine. One jar is fruit wine. I thought it wasn't strong enough and useless, so I brought the remaining four jars of high-proof liquor."

"Okay." Pan Yueqing opened the wine slightly and sniffed it. Although Pan Haiyun was gentle and elegant, he still had the boldness of the people from Qin in his bones. The wine he liked was no worse than the wine brought by the military doctor of the Changyan Army back then. She turned to Wan'er and Gu Pan and said, "If you're afraid, you can go out."

Gu Pan shook her head and turned to sit at the door. "I'll keep watch. Call me if you need anything, Miss."

Wan'er then moved closer to Pan Yueqing and said, "I'll assist you, Miss."

"Bite this and don't make a sound." Pan Yueqing nodded and handed over a piece of cloth, balled it up, and motioned for Qi Si'an to open his mouth, stuffing it firmly into his mouth. Then she bit open the wooden cork of the wine jar, held it halfway in the air, and still kindly reminded him before pouring, "I'm going to pour it. Hold on."

It had to be said that Qi Si'an could endure pain very well. Besides the necessary physiological reactions, he actually only groaned softly from time to time and got through it. Pan Yueqing really wanted to knock him out with a stick. He was in so much pain, yet he still didn't pass out. It was really suffering to be awake.

She sprinkled the wound medicine on the flesh, but it seemed that even the wound medicine was of no avail for the deepest part of the wound. Pan Yueqing tentatively said, "The sword wound is too deep. I'm afraid the wound medicine..."

"…It doesn't matter…" Qi Si'an's face was deathly pale, and his lips were bloodless. He trembled and said, "Use it first..."

"Okay." Pan Yueqing didn't say any more and generously sprinkled the medicine on the deep wound.

"Are there any wounds on your legs?" Pan Yueqing looked at Qi Si'an, who was frowning and enduring the pain. She remembered correctly that Qi Si'an had just lost his legs in the arson disaster at this time. She shook Qi Si'an's face and asked.

"No..." Qi Si'an exhaled these two words weakly and then fell into a deep sleep. His furrowed brows showed no sign of relaxing.

Pan Yueqing reached out and felt for Qi Si'an's breath in front of his nose. Although it was faint, it was still even, so she let out a slight sigh of relief. She wasn't sure if Qi Si'an could survive this disaster. She looked into the distance at the ruins outside the Lotus Altar Pavilion. From the "Place That Even Ghosts Dread", there came the long cries of eagles and falcons, and from time to time, there were also the calls of crows hovering in the air.

The ominous premonition in her heart became even stronger.

"It's the hour of midnight. Haven't the master and the others come back yet?" Pan Yueqing changed into a clean set of clothes and lay sideways on the beauty couch. She really couldn't fall asleep. Although Gu Pan had volunteered to guard the door, the rustling sounds outside were enough to make her nerves tense up.

"It is said that the master and the old lady happened to encounter a disturbance at the gathering, and it was a big commotion," Wan'er held a candle and straightened the clothes on her body as she spoke softly, "When we went to get the wine, we told Uncle Fu that the wall near the Lotus Altar Pavilion had collapsed, but he said that no one could repair it for you at night."

"Miss, I feel that there has always been someone outside..." Wan'er lowered her voice. Her voice was trembling with fear, and she was really flustered, "I... I'm really scared..."

"Come and sit beside me," Pan Yueqing slightly turned sideways to make some room. She patted Wan'er's shoulder, "It's okay. We'll get through it."

Although she said so, she didn't really know how to get through it either.

The two of them leaned their heads together and were wrapped in the quilt. Before they knew it, it was early morning the next day. Gu Pan pushed Pan Yueqing's shoulder. Just as Pan Yueqing opened her sleepy eyes slightly, what came into view was Gu Pan with a blade held to her neck. There were tears on Gu Pan's face, and although she frowned slightly, she still forced a smile at Pan Yueqing, "Miss..."

"What? Are you going to act out the story of Mr. Dongguo and the wolf?" Pan Yueqing looked past Gu Pan and met Qi Si'an's gloomy eyes.

Qi Si'an pushed Gu Pan away with one hand, twirled his sword with his left hand, and placed the flat blade of the sword on Pan Yueqing's shoulder, neither too light nor too heavy. He wiped away the gloomy expression on his face and smiled faintly, "I naturally have a lot of gratitude. If you can never speak again, I'll be even more grateful to you."

"If you want to kill me, don't you want to know who I am first?" Pan Yueqing smiled, showing no sign of fear. Her slender fingers picked up the thin blade of the sword. While Qi Si'an squinted his eyes, seemingly examining her, she gently pushed the blade aside by three inches with her fingertips and smiled at Qi Si'an, "What if you kill someone who will make you regret it for the rest of your life?"

"The daughter of Prime Minister Pan is indeed extraordinary." Qi Si'an's smile appeared on his lips again. He retracted the sword and neatly sheathed it at his waist. He bowed slightly to Pan Yueqing, "I'm Shen Ping'an. Please don't spread the news about the favor of saving my life today, Miss."

Shen Ping'an? Pan Yueqing looked deeply at Qi Si'an. Well, when traveling outside, if he didn't want others to know his whereabouts, using an alias was just an alias. She nodded and stood up to return the salute to Qi Si'an, "Naturally." However, she didn't expect that Qi Si'an had such a gloomy personality. She had originally thought that saving Qi Si'an could bring her some benefits.

It was all because this person died too early in his previous life. She had only heard a lot of rumors about him. Indeed, rumors couldn't be trusted!