Choked

As soon as Bai Shuixian reached the tree, she entered it without caring about the howling and growling of the beasts. In normal circumstances, she would show a little bit of fright. However, since she trained to become a physician, she somehow began to become one directional in thought and when someone needed, she would ignore everything to make sure they were safe.

Of course, this only went for people that were not her enemies. Bai Shuixian still had a moral line that she did not like to cross. Most of the time, she only did what was considered good-will because it was a part of her ethics.

"Ho… I thought you would be gone until midnight like usual," Zhu Jin joked although he could smell the blood and the scent of a stranger. "You seem to like to bring strangers in recently. Have you been having a period of goodness in you?"

Sighing, Bai Shuixian sternly said, "I'm not in the mood. Hurry up and take care of those beasts outside. They'll break the ward anytime now if you don't chase them off."

Getting the scary tone from Bai Shuixian again, Zhu Jin crumpled up. He then left the lobby with a sullen back as he went to chase off the beasts. As for her, she leaned the man on her shoulder and carried him to her room.

Laying him down on her bed, Bai Shuixian got out a pair of scissors and cut his clothes. She then got out a bowl of warm spring water and a cotton towel to wipe up his torso to see where the wounds came from. There was too much blood on his body for her to be able to tell where exactly he was wounded, so she could not recklessly feed him medicine.

After examining that he only mostly had bruises and that the cuts were not threatening his life, Bai Shuixian finally gave him a pill to recover from the blood loss. Then, she pulled out a needle and a special thread that was thinner than hair and started sewing up his stab wounds. Once she finished suturing, she poured a powder on the cuts to make sure the wound would not get infected.

Then, Bai Shuixian rubbed a balm on the bruises on his body before finally using a clean white cloth to wrap his torso. She did not do anything to his lower parts as there were no wounds and only his feet had a few blisters. It was probably from running away or from the forest tearing the soles of his shoes so his feet were unprotected and exposed to the elements.

It was only then that she took a deep breath and looked at the man in detail. For some reason, the man seemed to be strangely familiar to her, but she was sure she never saw him before. Only, when Bai Shuixian was distracted from his looks, she was pushed down onto the bed.

Two big hands held onto her neck, and when Bai Shuixian starred up, she saw purple eyes looking at her with a deathly stare. Holding onto the hands, trying to free herself, she made sounds of struggle. Unable to free herself from the deathly grasps of the scary man, she tried to call out for Zhu Jin's name.

Despite still being outside to tease the beasts, Zhu Jin immediately heard his name called. It was not the usual strong tone that Bai Shuixian used, so he ran fast. As soon as he reached her room, he saw that the man she saved was choking her.

With a strong punch, Zhu Jin struck the man. Due to the wounds he already had, the punch made him pass out. Finally, Bai Shuixian could breathe again and get off from the bed that was bloodied from the man.

"Tsk tsk, would you look at that? That's how he pays back his savior?" Zhu Jin remarked in disdain.

"He probably doesn't trust in anyone right now. Everyone is his enemy until he knows who they are," Bai Shuixian explained, not feeling bitter at all that she was just choked by her patient just now.

"Anyways, where did you find him?" Zhu Jin asked, still mad that she almost got choked to death just now.

"In the mountain," Bai Shuixian answered.

"He's tough," Zhu Jin commented, knowing just how much obstacles there are in order to enter the mountain.

Nodding in agreement, Bai Shuixian said, "All the wounds on his upper body must have come from his enemies. His feet were probably injured when he came into this mountain."

Sighing, Zhu Jin said, "I knew that this mountain was not nice to humans, but I forgot the extent. Living here daily with nothing to do, I've almost forgotten that aside from the beasts, the plants are also not nice."

Although Bai Shuixian wanted to nod again in agreement, she remembered that he looked familiar to her, so she asked Zhu Jin, "Hey, do you think he looks familiar?"

"Hm? Familiar?" Zhu Jin questioned. "Hm… I don't think I've seen him in the forest… I haven't seen him in the village either. Does he look familiar to you?"

At first, Bai Shuixian wanted to say something, but she decided not to, "In some ways. Maybe he's someone that Ji-gege knows or has seen before."

"Hm… That's true. Sometimes you can recognize people that they've met," Zhu Jin commented. "Alright, go take a break. Too much has happened to you lately."

Stretching her body, Bai Shuixian agreed, "Alright. I'm going to sleep in Juan-gege's room. Wake me up when the sun is rising. Oh, right, change him into some clean clothes. I'll leave the clothes on the table."

Agreeing to what Bai Shuixian asked for, Zhu Jin stayed behind to change the black clothes of the man into the silver clothes belonging to her while she left to take a long needed sleep. Examining the clothes, he wondered why she had men's clothes. Only after he put them on the man did he finally know that it was like the ones he gave her ten years ago and could adjust to the size of the wearer.

When the sun was rising, Zhu Jin woke Bai Shuixian up like she asked. She was not an early riser and liked to sleep in if she could. However, nobody knew how to cook other than her and she had a patient to take care of so she could only wake up early since she did not stock up on food for patients.

By the time Bai Shuixian finished cooking some basic congee, the sun that was barely rising was high in the sky. As she entered her room, she set the bowl of congee on the bedside table and opened the window to let the room have ventilation. A stuffy room did no good for a patient that was still laying on a bloody bed even if he was changed into clean clothes.

Once Bai Shuixian opened the window, she heard a cough. Instantly, she moved from the window and went to sit next to the man. Grabbing a cup of warm water, she waited for him to finish coughing.

As the coughing settled down, Bai Shuixian said, "Do you want some water?"

Hearing the voice of a female strange to him, the man opened his eyes to see Bai Shuixian sitting down on a chair next to the bed. Her entire body was covered, including her face so he could not see who she was. The only outstanding point about her that could allow him to identify who she could be was the white robes with the fancy embroidery.

Covering his mouth as he coughed and sat up, he responded, "Yes."

Before Bai Shuixian talked, she looked at the eyes that were different from yesterday. She was sure that when he was choking her, his eyes were purple. How did they become black?

Bai Shuixian gave him the water and commented, "You are an idiot."

The man became surprised at the words that she spoke and asked, "What?"

"You're an idiot. You could have gone anywhere, but you came to this mountain. You're asking to die. Don't you know that this mountain is covered by fog, thorny plants, and hungry beasts?" Bai Shuixian lectured with a frown, mad and confused at herself for suddenly raging out of nowhere.

He was also shocked at her willingness to lecture him and stated, "Miss, I'd rather be killed by nature than by other humans. Anyhow, thank you for taking care of my wounds and the water. I must leave now."

Frowning again, Bai Shuixian said, "You can't leave."

"You're stopping me?" The man asked with a dark tone as he tried to get up.

"It's not me stopping you, but your wounds. I'm just telling you, I won't help you get down the mountain. If you die, I won't save you again. It's a waste of my efforts to save someone who wants to die," Bai Shuixian told him. "Besides, the moment you woke up, you choked me. If not for my friend, I would have been killed by you."

"Ah… About that… I apologize," the man said with guilty eyes. "I was not in my right mind."

"I know," Bai Shuixian replied. "I am merely jesting. Anyhow, rest up some more. Your wounds are not light. Even if you have an emergency, it would be better to leave when you're fully recovered."

Hearing the rationale of the lady, the man agreed and laid back on the bed while asking, "What is your name?"

Bai Shuixian knew that her name should be kept secret from strangers that could potentially leak her surname, so she asked back, "What is your name?"

The man received his own question and frowned, "I can't tell you my name if you don't tell me your name."

"Neither can I," Bai Shuixian said.

"Why can't you?" The man asked.

"Because my identity must be kept secret or else I'll be targeted," Bai Shuixian answered according to what Xuan Yueji told her.

A few years ago, Xuan Yueji told her that she must keep her name secret at all cost because even though he managed to get rid of the Bai Clan, he was not sure if they had allies that would be willing to avenge them. Although there were many people with the surname Bai, there was only one Bai Shuixian in the empire. He warned her that unless she knew that no one could spread her whereabouts, she could not tell a single soul.

"Well, now… That's a problem…" He said, scratching his head. "Because I have the same problem."

For some reason, Bai Shuixian received another gut feeling that the man before was worthy of her help and trust. The first time was when she first saw him in the mountain, leaning against a tree. The second time was when he choked her and she was almost at death's door.

Closing her eyes for a moment and then reopening them, Bai Shuixian said, "I don't know why, but I have an instinct that you are trustworthy. My name is Bai Shuixian."

Hiding his smile when he heard the first words from Bai Shuixian, the man replied, "My name is Lin Dalong."