Je vends des vêtements et j'achète du vin à boire avec toi

Chapitre 38

The farmer, who was in his forties, waved his hand and said, "Don't say that. I saved a life and don't ask for anything in return. Where is your husband?" Feng Ning pointed and ran towards Long San's side, saying, "He's there, he's there. Husband, we're saved. We've met a good family."

The farmer and Feng Ning helped Long San up, one on each side, and led him into the house. The farmer's wife hurriedly came over with a lamp to light their way. When she entered the house and saw Long San covered in mud and blood, with a deathly pale face, she cried out in alarm, completely believing the story that they had encountered mountain bandits.

The farmer and his wife whispered a few words to each other. The farmer's wife lit a new lamp and went out. The farmer's wife came over and said, "I have a small side room in my house. It used to be where my daughter lived. She got married and it's now empty. It'll be fine for you two to stay here for the night. My house is in a remote area, quite a distance from the village. If you want to find a doctor, you'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Feng Ning quickly thanked him, and the farmer then asked, "My surname is Ma. How shall we address you?"

Feng Ning answered smoothly, "My husband's surname is Zhu, and my surname is Yang." The farmer looked down at Long San's injuries and said, "Young Master Zhu's injuries seem to be quite serious."

“My husband is a businessman and knows how difficult it is to travel, so he carried some wound medicine with him, which is why he survived. However, he lost a lot of blood earlier and was chased by bandits. It was cold tonight, so he caught a cold. If it weren’t for Uncle Ma and you taking him in, I’m afraid he wouldn’t have made it through the night.” Feng Ning wiped away tears as she spoke.

At this moment, the peasant woman came over, and Uncle Ma said, "The hut is all tidied up. You can rest there first. My wife will get you some hot water and food later. Just tell me what you need."

Feng Ning responded, and Long San weakly called out, "Feng'er." Feng Ning looked down to listen, then took out some loose silver from his pocket: "Uncle Ma, Aunt Ma, thank you for your trouble. This silver is for our lodging and food expenses."

Uncle Ma frowned, and Feng Ning stuffed the silver into Aunt Ma's hand, saying, "This is for you. Life is hard for everyone, and we've really troubled you." Uncle Ma and his wife exchanged a glance and accepted the money.

Feng Ning took Aunt Ma's hand and said, "I have another request. Those bandits should have been fine after getting the money, but their leader saw my beauty and insisted on taking me away. That's why my husband fought with them and was chased all the way. We are really worried that they might find this place or that someone might ask about it. Please, Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma, keep this a secret for us."

"Those bastards!" Uncle Ma was furious when he heard this. He patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, although I, Ma Qin, am a rough man, I know about morality and righteousness. Now that I've saved you, I won't send you back to hell. Just hide here with me, and I'll keep good news for you."

Aunt Ma nodded and patted Feng Ning's hand, saying, "Don't worry."

Feng Ning wiped away her tears, pitifully thanking everyone. Then, everyone helped Long San to a small side room and prepared water, a charcoal stove, blankets, pillows, and so on. Feng Ning treated Long San's wounds again, and while Long San was meditating and circulating his internal energy to expel the poison, she ran to the kitchen and, with Aunt Ma's help, cooked a large bowl of sweet potato porridge, which she brought in piping hot.

"Long San, Long San, come and have some hot porridge. They don't have anything else, and it's too late to prepare anything else. Just make do for now, and we can arrange something else to eat tomorrow."

Long San, having gone through all that, seemed to have regained his energy. He took the bowl and spoon and began to eat. After a few bites, he looked up and saw Feng Ning staring at him. He glanced at the bowl of porridge in his hand and asked, "Is this all?"

"Hmm." Feng Ning nodded. "This bowl is huge, isn't it enough for you?"

"And what about you?"

"I'm not hungry." Feng Ning had just finished speaking when her stomach rumbled. She chuckled sheepishly.

Long San patted the spot next to him: "Come here."

Feng Ning sat down, and Long San ladled a spoonful of porridge and held it to her lips: "Eat."

Feng Ning swallowed hard and shook her head: "I won't be full from this either. Rather than both of us going hungry, it's better for you to be full. You're sick, so you should eat something. I'm fine; there will be food tomorrow during the day."

Long San held the spoon still: "I want to eat something, so let's share this bowl." Feng Ning felt a surge of sweetness in her heart and swallowed the porridge. She took the bowl from him: "Let me carry it, don't tire yourself out."

"Does your leg hurt?" Long San asked after taking a spoonful of porridge. Feng Ning looked down at her knee and chuckled, "It's fine, I'm tough."

“You carried me for so long, your legs will be too sore to lift tomorrow,” Long San said as he fed her a sip of porridge.

"Don't worry, we have blankets and food here, much better than in a cave. Get well soon, my leg is fine. At worst, we can recuperate together tomorrow." Feng Ning felt that sharing the sweet potato porridge like this made it taste even better than the finest delicacies.

That night, the two tidied themselves up, changed into the clean clothes Aunt Ma had prepared, and huddled together on the hard earthen bed. They shared the same blanket, and Feng Ning felt all the exhaustion and soreness in her body, but nestled close to Long San, feeling his body temperature return to normal after he'd worked up a sweat, she found the earthen bed incredibly warm and comfortable. In the darkness, there were no other sounds, only the breathing of Long San and herself.

Feng Ning quietly took Long San's hand, but to her surprise, Long San was not asleep. He suddenly said, "I have never heard many pretty girls sing ditties."

Feng Ning was taken aback, then gave an awkward "humph" and remained silent.

Long San then said, "I've never bitten any other girl's ear." Feng Ning couldn't hum this time, but Long San continued, "No other girl has ever carried me on her back." Feng Ning got anxious: "What are you saying? If another girl carried you on her back, you would bite her too."

“Other girls in this situation would probably just cry or run to get help.” Long San squeezed Feng Ning’s hand: “They’re not that stupid to carry a heavy man for ten miles.”

Feng Ning blinked and snuggled closer to Long San. She heard Long San say again, "They won't always make me laugh, and they won't go hungry and give me the only bowl of porridge."

Feng Ning felt very touched. She hadn't thought too much about what she was doing; it was just a natural thing to do. Now that he was talking about it, she felt that she was really quite remarkable.

"They wouldn't make up veiled insults about me calling me a pig."

"Hmph." Feng Ning retorted. Long San, however, laughed again.

The two were silent for a moment. Feng Ning hesitated for a moment, but didn't say anything. Long San squeezed her hand: "What's wrong?"

"fine."

"Speak."

Feng Ning didn't want to say it, but the two simple words Long San spoke contained a tenderness she couldn't resist, and she vaguely followed his instructions. "I was thinking, how wonderful it would have been if we had just met."

Long San was startled; he had been thinking the same thing just now.

“Feng’er…” Long San turned his head and looked at her innocent and confused childlike eyes. He couldn’t help but raise his hand to touch her face: “I’m sorry, Feng’er.”

Feng Ning gave a soft "hmm" and said, "I wronged you in the past, so you don't dare to be too good to me, right?"

"I'm afraid. What will I do if you turn back into the person you used to be?"

"What should I do if I can't change back?" Feng Ning held his hand tightly: "I'm scared too."

"Feng'er..."

Feng Ning suddenly opened her eyes wide: "Why are you calling me Feng'er?"

"Oh, aren't you called Yang Feng'er?" Long San was already quite used to Feng Ning's ability to change the subject, so he pretended to be surprised and played along with her.

"Yang Feng'er?" Feng Ning chuckled. "That name isn't bad either." She thought for a moment, then laughed again.

Long San tugged at her hair: "What about the name you gave me? What are you planning to call me? Let's make a deal, don't let Uncle Ma slip up tomorrow."

Feng Ning laughed even harder after hearing this. She said triumphantly, "Call him Zhu Longsan." She deliberately mumbled the word "Long" in her mouth, making it sound like "Zhu Tou San" (meaning "Pig Head Three"). After she finished saying it, she found it more and more funny and couldn't stop laughing.

Her happy expression was so adorable that Long San couldn't help but smile too. No matter what they encountered, no matter how bad their circumstances, she always managed to make him laugh. Long San felt that some things were irreversible; his defenses weren't as strong as he had imagined.