It certainly hurt, but Yun Huizhou didn’t move an inch, simply letting him bite.
Lian Li didn’t let go. After opening his eyes, he looked at Yun Huizhou, wanting to see if he was grimacing in pain. Instead, he saw that the man had no expression at all. Noticing Lian Li looking at him, Yun Huizhou even asked, “Is your anger gone? If not, want another bite?”
Clearly, he was trying to coax him, but Lian Li felt as though he were being mocked. He cursed inwardly: As expected of a dense straight man; he doesn’t even know how to comfort people.
His teeth ground down, increasing the pressure once more until he tasted a hint of blood in his mouth. Only then did he release his hold.
Yun Huizhou did not withdraw his hand. Instead, he propped it beside Lian Li’s face and asked with a smile, “One bite was enough to soothe your anger? Are you sure you don’t want another?”
Lian Li pushed him. “Go away. Looking at you is annoying.”
Despite the words, Yun Huizhou could tell that Lian Li’s anger had truly dissipated.
Yun Huizhou didn’t actually follow Lian Li’s command to leave. He sat down beside him, idly twirling strands of Lian Li’s hair. This prompted Lian Li to repeatedly push his hand away in annoyance, telling him to get lost.
As he continued to play with the hair, his fingers brushed against the side of Lian Li’s face. The delicate sensation suddenly made him realize that they seemed to be a bit too intimate.
It felt as though they had truly exceeded the boundaries of Senior and Junior Brothers.
His movements stiffened, his fingers lingering on Lian Li’s face.
Lian Li shook his head impatiently, tossing Yun Huizhou’s hand down toward his neck. Feeling a bit of an itch, he kept twisting his shoulders to shrug the hand off.
As his hand fell onto the bed, Yun Huizhou snapped back to his senses.
Lian Li still had his back turned to him. Yun Huizhou stared at Lian Li’s silhouette, wondering: Does Lian Li realize that the way we interact seems to have crossed a line?
Finding that Yun Huizhou was no longer pestering him, Lian Li found a more comfortable position to lie on his side.
Neither of them spoke again.
Lian Li had already woken up late today. After all this commotion, it was already noon.
However, because they had woken up late, they had also eaten breakfast late. Neither of them was hungry yet.
“I originally wanted to go out and stroll around Linjiu City, but now that you’re injured, I suppose we can’t,” Yun Huizhou said, finding the prolonged silence awkward and suddenly striking up a conversation.
Hearing about strolling through Linjiu City, Lian Li perked up. In his past life, he had been constantly ill and had to avoid many types of food.
Since coming here, although his body was a bit weak, he could eat whatever he wanted.
In this life, this was his only real hobby.
“Actually, it’s not that serious. It doesn’t hurt that much anymore,” Lian Li turned over to face Yun Huizhou.
As a result, he pressed against the bruised spot and let out a hiss of pain.
Seeing Yun Huizhou raise an eyebrow at him, Lian Li insisted stubbornly, “As long as I don’t touch it, it won’t hurt.”
“Is that so?” Yun Huizhou remarked. “Then why were you whimpering so much earlier?”
In truth, Yun Huizhou knew exactly what level of injury a bruise like that was. Such injuries were far too common for martial artists.
When Lian Li first started learning the Lightness Skill, the injuries he sustained from falling were much more severe than this. Yun Huizhou had felt pain just looking at them, yet Lian Li hadn’t made a sound.
Back then, Yun Huizhou could still stand by and laugh at Lian Li like nothing was wrong.
This time, it was only because he had accidentally flung Lian Li away and caused the injury that he had momentarily lost his composure.
Seeing Lian Li curled up like that, he had thought the impact was exceptionally severe.
After carrying him to the bed and checking the injury, he had a good idea of the situation; it wasn’t enough to stop the boy from making a fuss.
It was just that seeing Lian Li angry and hearing him whimper made his heart soften, so he coaxed him to calm down and applied the medicine.
“You’re the one who hurt me, so of course I have to whimper a bit to let you know to be more careful with me in the future.” Lian Li pulled up his trousers and straightened his clothes.
Before being flung by Yun Huizhou this time, Lian Li truly hadn’t realized that Yun Huizhou’s hands were so heavy.
Thinking of those people Yun Huizhou had fought with lethal intent, what on earth did they suffer during their encounters?!
At the same time, it made him realize how much Yun Huizhou had held back his strength when they used to spar and Yun Huizhou would strike him with his scabbard.
Lian Li climbed out of bed and walked a few laps around the room. Finding that there was indeed no real impact, he called for Yun Huizhou to head out.
Yun Huizhou took out the gold leaves and gold beads he had counted last night, hid them in his sleeve, walked to Lian Li’s side, and said, “Stretch out your hand.”
“For what?” Lian Li looked at him sideways, but his hand obediently reached out.
“Palm open, face up,” Yun Huizhou continued.
“So much trouble,” Lian Li grumbled, yet he followed Yun Huizhou’s instructions.
With his palm spread open and facing upward, Yun Huizhou took his hand and placed the hidden gold beads and gold leaves into it. “They’re all yours.”
Lian Li looked at the gold in his hand and then at Yun Huizhou, lifting his chin. “Consider yourself sensible. I forgive you.”
Having reconciled, the two walked out of the room together, discussing where to go for fun.
They called over the waiter and gave him a few dozen copper coins to ask about the best restaurants in Linjiu City, fun places to visit, and any interesting recent events.
The waiter tucked the copper coins into his small pouch and answered enthusiastically, “Linjiu City has three major restaurants. They specialize in light and fresh flavors, sweet aftertastes, and stimulating spicy dishes, respectively. Each has its own characteristics; it depends on your preference, sirs. They are all located in the most prosperous part of the main road.”
“As for fun places, that would be Lantern Street. Our Linjiu City holds a small Lantern Festival every seven days. The next one is tomorrow night. If you are interested, sirs, you can head over then.”
“As for interesting recent events…” The waiter looked around and then lowered his voice. “News broke yesterday morning that Great Hero Zhao of the Qinghong Sword Sect has a duel scheduled for today in the woods three miles outside the West City Gate.”
“Actually, that female warrior originally set the date for seven days later. Great Hero Zhao seemed to be in a great hurry and wanted to fight yesterday, but the female warrior said it was inconvenient, and the earliest would be this afternoon.”
As he spoke, a gossiping expression identical to Jin Manjue’s appeared on his face. He said, “Supposedly, that female warrior was the one who sought him out. The terms of the bet are: if Great Hero Zhao wins, the female warrior Xin must answer three of his questions. If she wins, she will still tell him what he wants to know, but Great Hero Zhao must marry her.”
The waiter winked suggestively.
Lian Li was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then blurted out, “Alliance Leader Zhao’s son must be twenty years old by now, right?”
The waiter was also taken aback, then realized that “Alliance Leader Zhao” referred to Zhao Rong.
Though he didn’t know why this guest’s mind went to the Alliance Leader, the waiter hurried to explain, “It’s not Alliance Leader Zhao, it’s the Alliance Leader’s son, Great Hero Zhao Honglan.”
“Oh, oh.” Lian Li breathed a sigh of relief.
