Un cœur pur dans un pot de jade

Chapitre 25

After Yan Chaohong stormed off in a huff, I awkwardly turned and went to the savage's side.

“Savage…” I sat up, my head above the savage’s head, and called out to him.

I tied a big bell around the wild man's neck so that he would notify me if he made any noise, because I was afraid that he would leave me first if he didn't make any noise.

Xu Yi is right. The savage was poisoned and had been poisoned for more than five years. He persisted until now because, just when the poison took effect, the savage used his own internal energy to resist it, which caused him to go into a qi deviation, resulting in the loss of all his internal energy and the suppression of the poison.

And this time, the mistake was entirely my fault.

The savage was weak and had a poor spleen. Xu Yi could tell by pressing his pulse that he should have fainted from hunger, exhaustion, or thirst long ago... In short, he was relentlessly torturing his body, and I think the reason for this was to find me, whose brain I had damaged.

Based on what I have seen so far, I can speculate that the wild man was searching for me all over the streets in a certain state. By the time he found me, he had already reached the limit of his physical and mental strength.

However, he kept bringing me my travel bag, boiling water for me, helping me take a bath, sitting by the bed waiting for me to fall asleep, and then foolishly running to the corner to hug the bag. Let alone someone who hadn't eaten for days and was poisoned, even someone as strong and healthy as Sun Qingshan would have been tormented half to death.

There's another point, though I don't want to admit it, but I have to. The savage couldn't speak out, but he watched me and Yan Chaohong's affair with his own eyes. What was he thinking? He must have wanted to tear me to pieces, but he couldn't bear to.

"Savage?" I reached out and patted his face, but he ignored me.

"Are you asleep?" I asked, thinking to myself, of course I'm asleep, who would care about you?

Then Yan Chaohong rushed back with the medicine soup—"Be careful, it's hot!" I was about to take the bowl when Yan Chaohong switched hands and dodged it.

With a jingle, the bell around the savage's neck rang.

Yan Chaohong leaned closer, looked at the savage, then at me, and winked at me.

I knew what he meant, so I mouthed the words with a long face and said, "He...is...ignoring...me."

Yan Chaohong raised an eyebrow and silently replied, "Watch, me!" Then, in an utterly disgusting tone, he called out, "Little Green Mountain..."

With a jingle, the bell around the savage's neck rang again.

"Let this medicine cool down first. Here," Yan Chaohong stepped forward, "let Xiao Honghong feed you a bite of Mingming's secret recipe, spinach with pork liver..."

jingle.

"Green hills open their little mouths, and the little mouths eat liver, ah..."

jingle.

"Good boy, good boy, have another piece, ah..."

jingle.

"Qingshan is indeed a good boy. Then Little Honghong will not be polite. I want to share a piece with you!"

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring...

The bell went crazy and kept ringing.

"Wild man! Wild man!" I quickly turned around and saw the wild man trembling violently with his eyes closed. "It's all because of you, you dead man!" I turned back to yell at Yan Chaohong, "What are you looking at! Something's happened, something's happened! Wild man! Wild man—!"

Yan Chaohong stood up awkwardly, muttering, "It's my fault again! She doesn't even look at how cooperative she was, and she's blaming me?"

I was too exhausted to pay any more attention to Yan Chaohong. The savage had already turned to the side, his back to me, his whole body curled up, and the bell on his neck kept ringing wildly, like some kind of death-bringing bell, making my heart pound with fear.

"Sorry, Wild Man." I put my arm around his shoulder. "Wild Man, we were just joking. Don't take it to heart, don't be angry. I didn't mean it. There's nothing between him and me. We're not like what you think. Please don't misunderstand. Let me explain, please listen to my explanation..."

"What's there to explain!" Yan Chaohong suddenly interrupted me, shouting, "What's our relationship? How come even I, the person involved, don't know? Explain it to me so I can understand too."

The savage trembled even more.

"Yan Chaohong!!" I grabbed a plate of pig liver from beside me and smashed it in his face. "Get out! Get out of here right now!! Go find someone else who knows the answer!!"

Yan Chaohong sneered, turned around, and left without taking another step.

“Savage…” I turned back to coax the savage, “Listen to me…”

The bells jingled loudly around the savage's neck again. To my surprise, he suddenly reached out and pulled on the red rope that tied the bells with both hands. But he was weak, and the more he pulled, the louder the bells jingled. The louder they jingled, the louder they jingled, and the louder they jingled, the more he pulled... In the end, he couldn't get the bells off. He was trembling and panting, his eyes tightly closed, shaking his neck wildly.

"Are you angry with me, or angry with yourself?" I turned him around and asked. "You just came back from the brink of death, can't you even cherish yourself a little?!"

The savage stopped pulling the bell and instead raised his hand. He couldn't raise his hand high enough that his fingers couldn't straighten, but he was trying to push me away.

"What are you doing?!" I grabbed his hand, then swallowed hard and took a breath. "You're sick, so don't throw a tantrum. If you're unhappy, hit me." I made him slap his hand against my own thigh. "Feels better now?" I asked. "Don't you dare flail around like that again!"

When I let go of the savage, the bell stopped ringing, and when my hand landed on the bed, he was so tired that he fell asleep.

...

People say that there should be no pauses in a conversation between two people in love, otherwise one of them will say something silly. For example, many times, saying "I love you" happens when one of them has made a big mistake and is afraid to admit it. For example, these past few days, I have said "I love you" to my boyfriend countless times.

It's incredibly strange. I've had one, two, three, or four ex-boyfriends, and none of them have ever said "I love you" to me. I've never said it to them either. But this time, because of what happened with Yan Chaohong, I feel an urge to say to Yeren, "Why don't you just marry me?"

My dad is right. If you dared to get married, there's nothing in this world you wouldn't dare to do.

I remember my mom saying that there are many temptations outside, and the threshold for cheating is low. Who wouldn't dare to get married? It's just that people think it's too much trouble to get married and then divorced.

So I think that my family's tree-planting policy was seriously flawed in my current situation, and the wild people should take it easy.

It was three o'clock in the afternoon, with a gentle breeze, auspicious clouds, and bright sunshine.

The small garden behind Xu Yi's shop leads to the bedroom on one side and the kitchen, warehouse, and outhouse on the other.

I was rummaging around in the kitchen, while Mingming was sitting on a small stool outside the kitchen killing a chicken.

Xu Yi's goddaughter, Xu Jinwan, was weeding Xu Yi's small medicinal herb field. The wild man moved a grand chair and sat in the middle of the courtyard, watching Xu Jinwan weed and sunbathing.

Actually, lately, the wild man has been acting silly and doesn't really want to talk to me or mention the past.

I didn't dare to hide the details of how I seduced Yan Chaohong and climbed over the wall, but I also can't remember what exactly happened between me and the Wild Man.

If I simply said, "I slept with that man," the savage didn't react much. On the contrary, Yan Chaohong started giving me the cold shoulder out of the blue. As soon as I turned to face him, his gorgeous oval face would immediately become expressionless.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Still worried about the wild man, I walked to the kitchen doorway, stepped on the threshold, and looked out at him.

"Young Master Qingshan," Mingming called me, then splattered chicken blood all over the ground and pointed at my face, "Your face is dirty," he reminded me.

"Oh." I raised my hand and wiped my face twice.

"It's on the wrong side," Mingming reminded her again.

"Oh." I wiped the other side.

It's getting dirtier and dirtier.

I turned and glared at Mingming.

The savage was sitting in his armchair when he heard the noise, but he didn't even turn around to look. A chubby little cat was squatting at his feet. It was Xu Yi's pet. It was small compared to me, but as a cat, it was no longer small. It was too lazy to care and would curl up at the savage's feet every afternoon, refusing to move no matter what.

It didn't move, and neither did the savage.

I went to the well to draw water and wash my face. Xu Jinwan, who was catching insects, turned around and glared at me, but I didn't dare to glare back. Last time, falsely accusing her of being pregnant out of wedlock was enough for her to tear me to pieces. Now that I'm staying at her house, medical expenses, lodging fees, food expenses, service fees, tips... all are waiting for her to settle accounts with me in full. Right now, I just want to curry favor with her and really don't want to provoke her.

So everything happened in silence, from beginning to end. The well water was cool, the sun was warm, and the two sentences Mingming said to me, along with the hen's dying cries, echoed in my ears one last time.

I vigorously wiped my face with my sleeve, marveling at how adaptable humans are. I used to live alone and even washing an apple was a hassle, which is why I like to eat grapes, but I never actually eat them because I'm too lazy to wash them.

Now that we're here, even getting a drink of water requires starting with fetching water.

However, I could not complain about any of this, but when I turned around, the savage ignored me. I could only pretend to be passing by, pretend to turn back, and pretend to be nonchalant, asking, "Do you want to eat some snacks or change your clothes?" The savage looked up at me and shook his head.

I chuckled foolishly and drifted back to the kitchen. These past few days, I'd taken care of everything for him from head to toe—bathing him, protecting him, helping him to the toilet… We should be close enough, right? Close enough, right? I even knew about the big scar on his inner thigh. Yet, I still didn't know how to communicate with him. He had a set of rules for being a good man, a model that made him perfect for me, but I felt that his kindness and gentleness towards me didn't require any response from me. He could just give unilaterally; I didn't need to cooperate at all.

Is this considered selfless love? Why do I always feel like he's just throwing a tantrum?

The medicinal porridge was ready in the kitchen. I brought it out, took a stool with me, and sat down opposite the savage.

"Don't place too much hope in me; this is the first time I've cooked this porridge today."

As soon as I finished speaking, the savage ignored me, bent down, reached out, picked up the big fat cat that was sleeping soundly at his feet, and placed it on his lap.

The fat cat didn't wake up. I stirred the hot porridge and tilted my head to look at him.

The wild man's slightly deformed fingers tugged at the cat's neck fur. He was still in a daze, looking down, wanting to lift the cat up, but he was stunned and didn't know where to hold it. He lifted it up several times and then put it down. Finally, he chose the way a woman holds a child, clumsily supporting the cat's body on one of his elbows, and with his other hand around the cat's belly, he intentionally or unintentionally grabbed a few hairs on its belly, and then stopped moving.

The little fat cat didn't wake up. Its four paws were limp and outstretched, and where it couldn't get support, its head, butt, and tail drooped down. I watched it for a long time before I suddenly let out a soft cry and realized what had happened. This cat, this cat... had unknowingly left its wild man behind and gone alone...

Little Fatty is dead.

Although it died peacefully, at least it stayed by the wild man's side for at least eight or ten days. The bond between them gradually warmed up from the ordinary. Otherwise, the wild man would not have bent down to hug it. Before, he had only seen it rub against the wild man's shoes when it woke up. This was the first time that the wild man had taken the initiative to pick it up.

But it died, and the savage must be heartbroken.

But it wasn't all bad, at least there was one less obstacle under my feet... I was relieved, when suddenly a figure appeared in front of me. Xu Jinwan had somehow slipped between me and the savage, leaned over and took the little fat corpse from the savage's hands, "Give it to me." With that one sentence, she took the little fat away.

"What should we do?" I turned to Xu Jinwan and asked, "Bury it or burn it?"

The little girl didn't even turn her head, but answered with her back turned, "Godfather wants cat bones. Remove the bones and cook them."

The savage didn't move, still keeping his head down.

"It's good to cook it," I said, deliberately trying to flatter him, "cooking it is environmentally friendly."

As a result, the little girl turned around and glared at me.

"Are you alright?" After the two troublemakers left and Mingming went into the kitchen, I turned around and asked the wild man.

The savage shook his head slightly.

"If you like cats, I'll catch you another one later. Anyway, it's springtime now, and their desires are making them sluggish. Catching ten or eight won't be a problem. Black or white, you can choose, okay?"

The savage shook his head again.

"Don't be sad anymore." I sighed, put the spoon back into the bowl, and patted the back of his hand. "Xu Yi said the poison in your body is very troublesome. You can't get angry or sad, otherwise the poison will affect your brain—do you want to become an idiot?" I asked him at the end.

The savage turned his face away to look at Xu Yi's small medicinal herb field filled with flowers and plants.

I sighed and said, "Let's eat the porridge first."

So the spoon was held to his mouth. "Open your mouth."

The savage slowly opened his mouth.

Swallow.

He swallowed slowly.

"Don't throw up!"

He raised his hand and covered his mouth with the back of his hand to prevent himself from spitting it out.

"Look how pathetic you've made me," I complained. "Yan Chaohong has cut ties with me and vowed never to speak to me again. Now you're ignoring me too. Is there no one in the world who cares about me anymore?!"

"How could you say such a nasty thing?" I cursed myself inwardly. "Isn't this just like someone who was dumped and then turned back to a savage? Is this something a human being would say?"

But if I don't say that, the savage won't pay any attention to me. After a serious illness, he became dulled in his response to all external stimuli, including me, of course.