Ah, this, this, this. Zhuang Dongqing politely declined, “Isn’t this inappropriate?!”

The guard replied, “Then how about I ask first, let Liu Fu help the master wash up and change clothes?” Noticing Zhuang Dongqing’s reluctance, the guard didn’t press further and instead took a step back. Zhuang Dongqing nodded.

The guard went inside, and Zhuang Dongqing listened at the door. Before long, Cen Yan’s weak voice came out, “Just changing clothes is fine.” Zhuang Dongqing: “……” The guard: “But you…””Just go out.” Zhuang Dongqing: “…………”

The guard came out, and they exchanged glances. He really wanted to refuse, but he was also worried about the patient getting a fever. He really wanted to refuse; if there was a fever, it would be a hassle. He really wanted to refuse, ah, but having soaked in the river, there were all those bacteria. If he didn’t clean the skin, it could lead to an infection of the wound… but he really wanted to refuse…

“Fine then.” Unable to withstand the guard’s pleading gaze, Zhuang Dongqing compromised. He was quite handy with nursing; he had taken care of his aunt before. Although he was also hiring a caregiver, he would do the parts he could. He was afraid the caregiver wouldn’t be thorough. Having studied medicine for over half a year, he had accumulated a bunch of nursing knowledge. Look, now it was coming in handy. Although he didn’t really want to showcase this skill.

The guard said, “Then I’ll go in…” Zhuang Dongqing replied, “No need, I’ll just bring the water in later.” “If he doesn’t have the strength to struggle, at least I can hold him down and clean the skin around the wound again.” That was his limit; his conscience had reached its peak.

Perhaps Zhuang Dongqing’s eyes looked too pitiful, and the guard choked up, not continuing to “plead.” Thank goodness, the ultimate situation of both of them begging each other didn’t occur. The strong liquor used to clean Cen Yan’s arrow wound was running low, so Zhuang Dongqing asked the guard to see if he could buy some liquor brewed by the villagers and then cook some porridge.

The guard went, and with the remaining half a silver hairpin, he returned with two large jars of strong liquor. It wasn’t from the family they were staying with but from the neighboring hunter’s family. The guard had checked the liquor, and it was indeed strong, and Zhuang Dongqing sniffed it and nodded. Liu Fu and the guards ate some dry rations to fill their stomachs, and Zhuang Dongqing had a little too. Cen Yan… he figured he wouldn’t be able to eat, and the guard had asked once, and sure enough, he didn’t want any.

Zhuang Dongqing wasn’t really dirty; he had just sweated a bit. He first cleaned his hands with hot water, wiped himself down, changed into clean clothes, and let the guard and Liu Fu continue boiling water. He sat quietly for a while to mentally prepare himself, then Zhuang Dongqing took a basin of hot water to find Cen Yan.

The things were all prepared by this household for their wedding, and they were actually reluctant to lend them out. The guard pretended to negotiate with them for a long time, “unwillingly” adding money, at a price that could almost buy another set of these things, to gain the right to use them. Zhuang Dongqing felt that the family they were staying with was definitely not the one where the male lead, Li Yang, had fallen into. But with the male lead’s golden finger arriving here, being able to settle down was already good enough; what more could he ask for! Zhuang Dongqing didn’t want to think about those things.

The Wang family wasn’t short on money, and the guard was being stingy and calculating, also fearing that the peasant family would target them for money. So he pretended not to be that wealthy; Zhuang Dongqing understood the reasoning behind it. Carrying the hot water into the room, he soaked a clean cloth, squatting down beside Cen Yan, and seeing that he hadn’t woken up, he first wiped his hands.

When he looked up again, Cen Yan had opened his eyes. Zhuang Dongqing felt a bit awkward and forced himself to say, “You’re awake; let’s wipe you down and change your clothes.” Cen Yan stared at him, and Zhuang Dongqing felt like his ears were being heated up. Cen Yan asked, “You came?” Boom, his face exploded. Zhuang Dongqing pretended to be calm and nodded, “Yeah, I came.”

Counting on his fingers, he said, “The river water is very dirty; there are all sorts of invisible dirty things in the river,” like bacteria, viruses, and parasite eggs, “sticking to your body is not good. Oh right, your hair needs to be rinsed with water too, and then you should change into clean clothes. It will help you recover faster; otherwise…” Cen Yan picked up on it: “Otherwise, I might get a fever, right?”

This joke couldn’t be passed over, and Zhuang Dongqing glared at him: “…Exactly!” Cen Yan said, “You’re blushing.” Boom, his face turned to ashes again. Zhuang Dongqing: “…Oh.” Cen Yan laughed, his voice still lacking strength, “Just kidding; actually, only my ears are red.” Zhuang Dongqing: “…” He was done with this; whoever wanted to come could come!

Cen Yan said, “Then I’ll trouble you.” Eh? Eh, eh, eh?! Zhuang Dongqing was stunned for a moment, his gaze drifting, “Aren’t you going to refuse?” “You said at the door that if I didn’t have the strength to struggle, you’d hold me down and do it, right?” Ah, this. Cen Yan closed his eyes, “I really don’t have the strength, so you don’t have to tire yourself out; just call someone to hold me down later, okay?”

Wait, is his hearing that good? This is too much! Zhuang Dongqing really felt his face heating up. He swallowed back his refusal, saying, “I’ll first help you with your hair; after washing it, we can wipe you down while it dries, okay?” After a pause, Zhuang Dongqing added, “Can I call Liu Fu to help? He’s more skilled at braiding hair than I am.” Cen Yan might really think he would be forced, so he nodded, very cooperative.

“…” Help, he really didn’t mean it that way. Zhuang Dongqing tried hard to ignore all the random thoughts, called Liu Fu in, and the two of them worked together to wash Cen Yan’s hair. The high ponytail was easy to undo, and after loosening the hair, they soaked it in water. Liu Fu was strong, and Zhuang Dongqing was afraid he would pull on Cen Yan and get blamed, so he took care of the hair washing himself. Still, he repeated that he was very familiar with nursing, but he really didn’t want to showcase this skill.

After washing, Liu Fu helped wring out Cen Yan’s hair, and once it was half-dry, he wrapped it up with a towel and handed everything back to Zhuang Dongqing. The candlelight flickered, and Zhuang Dongqing swallowed a few times, mustering the courage to ask, “Can you… move your hands?” Cen Yan replied, “The hand on my good shoulder is okay.”

Estimating Cen Yan’s arm length, Zhuang Dongqing suggested, “Well, you can move your hand in that area yourself. For other places, if you want to wipe and can reach, you do it; if not, I’ll help you. What do you think?” Cen Yan opened his eyes and stared at Zhuang Dongqing, his pupils light, like two pieces of amber. Zhuang Dongqing kept reminding himself to stay calm, but it was useless; his left hand still couldn’t help but scratch at his right hand.

Agree, agree, agree. Don’t say too much, don’t say too much, don’t say too much, please! He didn’t know if he had heard his prayer, but Cen Yan finally gave a faint “mm,” which counted as an agreement. Zhuang Dongqing took their blanket and set it aside, steeling himself to help Cen Yan take off his clothes. Cen Yan, who had been keeping his eyes closed, opened them again during this time.

Zhuang Dongqing felt that gaze was like a needle prick, making him uncomfortable. He unfastened the outer garment and was about to take off the inner garment when he couldn’t stand being stared at anymore and whispered, “I won’t take advantage of you; don’t look at me like that, like…” Like he was guarding against a wolf. “I’m not a bad person,” he mumbled, very quietly.

“Uncomfortable?” It was rare to hear a normal question from Cen Yan. Zhuang Dongqing nodded vigorously. Cen Yan said, “Then you can use a hair tie to blindfold me.” “Ah?” Cen Yan just stared at Zhuang Dongqing, not knowing if it was due to lack of strength or something else; that gaze could be described as gentle. Zhuang Dongqing stammered, “C-can I?” Cen Yan replied, “If it makes you feel more comfortable.”

Zhuang Dongqing really used a hair tie to cover Cen Yan’s eyes. Once it was on, he indeed seemed to relax. After covering his eyes, he felt troubled, “I want to wipe your back first, then you can lie on the bed to wipe the front, um, this…” It was hard to operate on a pile of straw. Fortunately, Cen Yan understood the meaning from the sound. He suggested, “Then let’s wipe while standing?”

“Can you stand up?” “I can stand for a bit if I lean against the wall, but you have to be quick.” “Okay.” Once his eyes were covered, Zhuang Dongqing immediately treated Cen Yan’s body like the one he had seen in anatomy class, regardless of gender, just as a subject. He took off his clothes and pants, um, the proportions were good, ah, no, don’t focus on those irrelevant things; focus on the task at hand, he was a professional!

“I’ll support you; try to see if you can stand.” “Okay.” He helped him stand, but Cen Yan’s calf had been bitten by a snake, and as he swayed, Zhuang Dongqing lost his grip, and Cen Yan pressed tightly against him. The warmth of his body quickly seeped through the clothes, and Zhuang Dongqing’s heart screamed. Cen Yan said, “Sorry.” “No, no, it’s fine.”

Holding Cen Yan steady, Zhuang Dongqing said, “Take a few steps forward, yes, yes, can you touch the wall? Good, turn around; I’ll wipe your back.” “Wait…” Before he could finish, Cen Yan had already turned around. What a beautiful waistline. No, he couldn’t indulge in male beauty; he was a professional! Zhuang Dongqing’s inner self was crying like a little cat, quickly looking away and grabbing a blanket to wrap around Cen Yan’s waist, guiding one of his hands to grip it: “Hold on!” Fortunately, Cen Yan was very cooperative.

Zhuang Dongqing twisted the cloth and began to wipe Cen Yan’s back. He was skilled at nursing, wiping quickly and well. Cen Yan had nice back muscles. There were some old scars on his body, probably left from battles. His legs were really long. Fortunately, there were no sword or knife wounds on his back, so he could sleep a bit better at night. Cen Yan thought he would have to wait a long time, but Zhuang Dongqing had his own methods, and it was quick. He took care of all the corners, and after the first round, Cen Yan hadn’t spoken yet, so Zhuang Dongqing went to the door to change the water and continued with the second round. Cen Yan felt a bit more comfortable.

By the time Zhuang Dongqing was wiping for the third time, although he hadn’t bathed, Cen Yan no longer felt that his back was dirty. Zhuang Dongqing said, “Um, for the area covered by the blanket, can you wipe it yourself?” He wouldn’t touch the gluteus maximus; that would be really weird. Fortunately, Cen Yan didn’t make it difficult for him and said, “I’ll give it a try.” “Okay.”

Zhuang Dongqing looked up, took the blanket, and turned his head away, “When you’re done wiping, let me know, and I’ll help you wring out the cloth.” There was a rustling sound, and Zhuang Dongqing knew what Cen Yan was doing, and his face felt a bit hot. “Done.” It surprisingly didn’t take long. After wringing out the cloth three times, Zhuang Dongqing helped Cen Yan onto the bed. As soon as he lay down, Cen Yan felt his hair getting pressed down. Before he could say anything, a hand pulled his hair out gently and set it aside, and Cen Yan closed his mouth again.

“I’ll go out to change the water.” Cen Yan said, “Sorry for the trouble.” He had become much easier to talk to. The water had long been boiled, and Liu Fu had helped Zhuang Dongqing change it. Zhuang Dongqing continued. Uh… the front side. “Lie back.” Cen Yan complied, and Zhuang Dongqing’s eyes, having seen so much, suddenly conjured up a terrible scene in his mind. Stop… he couldn’t stop at all… Forget it, it was like this; he liked men, what could he do? This was a test he couldn’t pass.

He had chest muscles. He had abs. Damn it, what didn’t this guy have? No wonder his little face was yellow; even a cadre couldn’t withstand this kind of test! After struggling through three rounds, Zhuang Dongqing was sweating slightly from his nose. Wiping down was simple; controlling his chaotic thoughts was hard. He used strong liquor to disinfect the area around the wound again, and Cen Yan gasped, sounding like he was panting. Ah, ah, ah, what a terrible scene!

After finishing the cleaning, Cen Yan spoke first, casually saying, “I thought Master Zhao didn’t come out and could avoid this, but as you know…” Zhuang Dongqing was surprised, “Master Zhao would do this too?” “Yeah, I, Hao San, and Xu Si, all injured, don’t want to go through his hands.” After a pause, he admitted, “But he does help you recover quickly.” The divine doctor really had a way; at this time, hygiene awareness was already ahead of the West.

Zhuang Dongqing wiped his sweat and changed the last basin of water. After wiping Cen Yan’s front and the areas he could reach, Zhuang Dongqing handed the wrung cloth to Cen Yan, letting him wipe the last part himself. This time, it took a bit longer. Zhuang Dongqing tried hard to ignore the fragmented sounds, but his ears still felt hot. “Done.” With that voice, Zhuang Dongqing took the dirty cloth, and just thinking about where he had just wiped made it feel extremely hot in his hands.

Zhuang Dongqing washed the cloth, and Cen Yan asked, “Can I take off the hair tie now?” “No!” After saying that, he felt a bit too excited, so he cleared his throat and pretended to be serious, saying, “Well, um, just feel around and wipe; there’s no need to look, right?” “Right, right?” Cen Yan paused for a moment, then softly said, “By the way, you…””?””Are you… not blushing now?” “……” Damn it, he guessed it!

Before Zhuang Dongqing could speak, he saw Cen Yan raise his hand and slightly push aside the hair tie. The view became clear, and at the moment their eyes met, Cen Yan fell silent. “Ha.” He couldn’t help it; Cen Yan laughed out loud. And Zhuang Dongqing, whose face was already very red, slowly turned an even deeper shade under Cen Yan’s laughter.