Bruise on the Forehead

CHAPTER 22: Bruise on the Forehead.

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Ethan's head was starting to ache because of all this.

He kept ending up from one place to another, without stopping.

It was as if today the goddess of misfortune had woken up with the desire to mess with him a bit.

He wasn't sure how he ended up in this situation, but he was certain that simple apologies wouldn't be enough to get him out of it.

He didn't even know how he ended up here in the first place.

Just as he was about to say something to calm the girl in front of him, footsteps echoed outside the room.

Looking toward the door, Ethan noticed a man had appeared.

The man was dressed in a long green robe, embroidered with golden edges and white symbols on it.

He had a long white beard on his wrinkled face, and a perplexed expression as he examined the room.

Yan Mei, who also turned to see who had arrived, said in surprise:

"Grandpa, what are you doing here?"

'Grandpa?' thought Ethan.

Indeed, the man at the door was Yan Mei's grandfather.

He was Yan Qingshui, one of the elders of the Pavilion of Medicine.

He was passing by when he heard a commotion coming from his granddaughter's room and decided to check it out.

When he saw that the door to the room was smashed, he couldn't help but ask what had happened.

If it had been some other disciple, he would have thought they might have blown up the cauldron during refining, a rather common occurrence for beginners, but this was his granddaughter's refining room.

Since he had taught her refining, she had never blown up a cauldron, so he was confused about what was happening.

Upon entering the room, he saw that it was a mess inside too.

When he heard his granddaughter addressing him, his gaze shifted to her and he asked:

"I noticed a commotion while passing by. What happened here?" he asked while looking at the attendant still kneeling on the ground and the unfamiliar boy.

Yan Mei then explained how she was interrupted by Ethan and the attendant, specifying that she was at a crucial point in her refining process.

Yan Qingshui, hearing the account, couldn't help but shake his head.

Unlike his granddaughter, who by nature got angry easily, he was calmer.

Having understood what happened, he asked the attendant to explain himself.

"Elder Yan, it's all his fault," he said, pointing at Ethan, who, seeing this, made a face like, Why are you accusing me of something I didn't do?

"This morning the boy came to pick up a commissioned pill order from Lady Yan Mei for his sect, and I was the one who went to get it for him.

Upon my return to the waiting room, the boy had disappeared, so thinking he was nearby, I went to look for him.

Only after a while did I manage to find him, and just as I was about to ask where he had gone, the boy, for some reason, hurled himself at me.

Pushed by him, I was thrown backward and ended up crashing into Lady Yan's chamber," he said.

The attendant himself was unsure why all this happened.

His day had started well as usual, only to turn into a nightmare because of this boy, so he felt a bit resentful towards him.

Yan Qingshui and Yan Mei, hearing the entire account, couldn't help but turn to Ethan, who stood there with a somewhat surprised expression.

'So that's what happened,' he thought as he pieced together some parts of the incident.

'Although I didn't throw myself at him, but rather, I was pushed by the luminous ball, how should I explain this to them?' Ethan wondered, shivering under the gaze of the two people.

Yan Qingshui had a strange expression as he asked Ethan,

"Boy, who are you, and why did you attack the pavilion's staff?" he asked, still uncertain about what to think of all this.

Although there had been some cases where a person, dissatisfied with the result of a commission they made, took it out on the staff, this was the first time someone had dared to attack one.

Especially a person who clearly hadn't even entered the realm of body refinement.

Ethan knew he was about to jump from the frying pan into the fire, so he tried to justify himself as best he could.

"Honorable elder of the pavilion, it was not my intention to attack anyone in your pavilion.

As the attendant said, I came to pick up some pills.

But while waiting, I needed to use the bathroom, so I tried to find one, but I ended up getting lost.

During my search for the right way back, I was attacked by someone.

I don't know who it was, but the attack was strong enough to send me flying to this point.

As you can see from my face, I still have the bruise that formed because of that attack," he said, pointing to his face.

Ethan had noticed that he still had a bruise on his forehead.

The bruise had formed because Ethan was the one who collided with Yan Mei's cauldron.

Ethan didn't know this, but he had noticed it thanks to his reflection, visible on the liquid on the ground that hadn't dried yet.

He couldn't say that an ancient artifact had decided to hit him as a sign of choosing him, so he decided to rely on what he could at the moment, and the bruise came just in time.

He was sure the bruise wasn't created by the artifact colliding with him, because apart from being pushed by it, Ethan hadn't felt any pain and had been conscious for the first few seconds after the impact.

He fainted only after colliding with the attendant.

He knew his excuse wasn't the best, but there was little he could say to get out of this situation.

The other three people looked at his forehead and saw that Ethan indeed had a bruise on his forehead.

"Are you saying someone attacked you?" Yan Qingshui asked, even more uncertain about the situation.

"I believe so. The attack was sudden, so I didn't see who or what attacked me," Ethan said, still with a respectful voice, trying to seem like a victim as well.

He hoped they would buy his excuse because he really had no idea what to do otherwise.

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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:

Honestly, I would have liked the events to unfold differently, possibly in a more natural and comedic way, but my inexperience didn't help.

Oh well, I'll improve over time, at least I hope so.

As usual, if you have comments, criticisms, or suggestions, leave them below.

Have a good day.