Chapter 27: A Stiff Neck

Yun Huizhou grabbed his foot, lifting it to glance at the sole.

The originally hideous wounds had all healed, leaving no scars behind.

He pushed the boy further onto the bed and remarked, “You’re too thin. If one only looked at your waist, you’d be just like a girl.”

To have his waist pinched and then be told it looked like a girl’s made Lian Li even more indignant. He raised his foot to kick him again.

This time, Yun Huizhou didn’t block it, letting him kick.

After two kicks to vent his frustration, Lian Li said, “You say that as if you’ve actually seen a girl’s waist before.”

If this were the modern world, he certainly would have seen plenty.

In slightly larger cities, there were many girls on the streets wearing crop tops, and even more in bikinis at the beach.

But this was ancient times. Although people in the Jianghu weren’t as bound by convention, female warriors generally didn’t run around exposing their waists.

Unless there had been some intimate contact.

At this thought, Lian Li narrowed his eyes and asked Yun Huizhou, “Have you had a woman?”

Yun Huizhou glanced at him, placed his saber in front of himself, and said, “My heart is set on my saber techniques, and there are no suitable girls on Drunken Dream Island.”

He said there were no “suitable” ones, but in truth, he simply hadn’t met anyone he liked.

However, such a serious answer was somewhat outside Lian Li’s expectations.

In his memory, when guys talked about this sort of thing, most would brag about how many partners they’d had. Some would even deliberately make up experiences in front of their brothers because they were embarrassed to still be virgins at their age.

It was truly rare to see someone like Yun Huizhou, who so frankly admitted he was still a “spring chicken.”

Lian Li thought, No wonder. In the future, he’ll probably fall hard for some girl.

And it would definitely be a very beautiful girl with many competitors, and since he would be the most competitive among them, he’d probably be plotted against and have his future ruined.

After making a random guess, Lian Li instantly heightened his vigilance. It seemed he would have to be more careful regarding this matter in the future.

Even though his mind was filled with these messy thoughts, Lian Li continued to press: “If you’ve never seen a girl’s waist, how do you know mine looks like one?”

Yun Huizhou held his saber and said, “I’ve seen them in paintings.”

Lian Li: “Erotic paintings?”

There was such good stuff around?

Yun Huizhou choked for a moment and said, “What are you thinking! I’ve seen portraits of women from the Western Regions.”

He gestured around his own waist and continued, “Some of their women wear very short tops, exposing their waists. And then there are the dancers kept by corrupt officials; the waist area of their dance costumes is just a layer of gauze.”

Seeing that Lian Li seemed to want to ask more, he immediately countered, “What about you? At your age in a village, you should be at the age for matchmaking, right?”

Lian Li gave him a hollow look and said, “Do you still remember how frail I looked when you rescued me?”

Yun Huizhou thought back, and who knows where his mind wandered, but he couldn’t help but let out a “pfft” and laughed.

Lian Li knew what he was laughing at. This was indeed something he couldn’t refute; he couldn’t exactly go and compare himself with Yun Huizhou.

That would be no different from seeking humiliation.

In his past life, he had handled things himself, so he naturally knew his own level.

As for this current body, it wasn’t exactly “sick,” but it was incredibly weak. It might even be worse than his past life.

He huffed twice, rolled over to face away from Yun Huizhou, and ignored him.

Yun Huizhou wouldn’t let him off, however, teasing him further. “Whether you’re ‘weak’ or not doesn’t conflict with the fact that you’ve reached the age where you should be looking for a match.”

Lian Li hid under the covers, and Yun Huizhou followed him in.

A large lump bulged on the bed as the two of them bickered and played inside.

Finally, Lian Li couldn’t take it anymore. He threw back the covers and sat up, saying, “With that sickly appearance I had, it would have cost a lot of money to get a girl to marry me. My brother and sister-in-law didn’t even want to spend the money for a normal marriage, so how could they possibly spend extra on me?”

Yun Huizhou lay flat on the bed, looking at his huffy expression. He reached out to pull the boy down to lie beside him and said, “Don’t worry. When we go back later, we’ll let Master pay for it.”

Lian Li squirmed. Thinking that by modern standards this body hadn’t even reached the legal age yet, he said, “There’s no rush. Besides, marrying too early isn’t good for girls. Their own bodies haven’t even finished growing; it’s too dangerous to marry and have children then.”

He was just muttering casually and didn’t expect an ancient man to agree with this sentiment at all.

Even in the modern world, there were many backward places where girls were married off by the time they reached middle school age, and by high school age, their children were already over a year old.

To his surprise, Yun Huizhou nodded solemnly and said, “Those girls get married when they’re only fourteen or fifteen. They still look like children. To be that small and have to give birth to such a large baby is indeed dangerous.”

“Zhao Honglan feels the same way, which is why he’s always wanted to wait a few more years before marrying Senior Sister Qu.”

Lian Li was truly surprised now. He propped himself up to look at Yun Huizhou for a while and took the opportunity to say, “Yeah, so, neither of us should be in a hurry.”

“Mm.” Yun Huizhou closed his eyes and said, “Go to sleep.”

Seeing that Yun Huizhou wanted to rest, Lian Li stopped pestering him and obediently tucked himself in to sleep.

The next morning, Yun Huizhou was the first to wake up.

After sitting cross-legged and regulating his breath for half an hour, he turned to look at Lian Li.

While meditating, he had sensed that the boy was already awake, but he had remained lying on the bed without moving.

Turning to look now, he discovered that the person was actually lying there stiffly with his eyes wide open.

When Lian Li saw Yun Huizhou finish his meditation and look over, his expression looked like he was about to cry.

Yun Huizhou: “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you getting out of bed if you’re awake?”

Lian Li: “Yun Huizhou, I have a stiff neck.”

Yun Huizhou slowly let out a confused, “Huh?”

Lian Li continued, “Right now, I can only tilt my head this way, otherwise it hurts.”

Yun Huizhou was silent for a moment, then reached out to gently cradle the back of Lian Li’s neck. He asked, “It’s the right side, right? Where exactly?”

Lian Li moved his head uncomfortably, then reached for the most painful spot and pointed. “It’s here. This is the most painful part. It even hurts just to straighten my head.”

“It’s that serious?” Yun Huizhou said, gently rubbing his neck.

“Yeah, I don’t think I can hit the road today.” Lian Li looked like he had lost all will to live. “I might not even be able to travel for several days.”

“Mm,” Yun Huizhou responded perfunctorily. “I see.”

Lian Li: “Yeah… AHHH!!!”

He instantly bolted up from the bed, breaking free from Yun Huizhou’s hand, and looked at him in terror. “Are you trying to murder me?”

Yun Huizhou asked, “Does it still hurt?”

“Of course it hurts! Wait… it seems a lot better.” Lian Li moved his neck.

It still hurt a little, but it wasn’t like before where he didn’t even dare to move.