There was also the matter of “Bugui.” Mo Ran had only released a tiny bit of spiritual energy at Xuanyuan Pavilion when Chu Wanning suddenly collapsed, so he had been unable to get a chance to see if the long blade was indeed the holy weapon he had possessed in his past life. But if it was, then why had Bugui resonated with Chu Wanning? And moreover, why had it caused a rebound?
Mo Ran stared at Chu Wanning, brooding while his thoughts tied themselves into a big old knot. He didn’t know how much time passed before Chu Wanning’s brows scrunched up, his eyelashes quivering like he was having another nightmare.
Mo Ran reached out and gently smoothed his brow, though he had no idea what compelled him to do it. “Shizun…”
Chu Wanning did not respond.
“Shizun… Chu Wanning… I’ve already lived two lifetimes, but could it be that there are still things about you that I don’t know?”
In short order, the innkeeper finished boiling the medicine in the inn’s kitchen and came upstairs to deliver it.
Mo Ran tasted it—ridiculously bitter, as expected. Chu Wanning hated bitter things. Mo Ran sighed and called back the innkeeper, who was about to leave.
“Innkeep, do you have anything sweet?”
“Aye… We make fresh sugar candies, but today’s batch is all gone. I can send someone to go buy some if Xianjun would like.”
Mo Ran looked at the steaming medicine and shook his head. “Never mind, then. The medicine will be cold by then, and it has to be taken hot to be effective. Thanks, though.”
“Ah, no problem. Please feel free to call on me if you need anything else.” Having said that, the innkeeper tactfully left, closing the door on her way out.
Mo Ran carried the medicine over and set it down by the bed, then sat at the edge with one hand on his knee. He reached out with the other to help Chu Wanning up. “Shizun, it’s time for your medicine.”
Mo Ran had plenty of practice feeding Chu Wanning medicine from his last lifetime. He held Chu Wanning in one arm so that his shizun leaned against him, then scooped up a spoonful of the medicine with his other hand, blew to cool it, and slowly fed it to him.
When he thought about it now, this was the second time since his rebirth that he had taken care of Chu Wanning. He disliked this person, yet he felt such unease whenever he got sick. He really couldn’t understand it.
“Bitter…” Despite being unconscious, the man in his arms could taste the medicine. Chu Wanning’s eyebrows pulled together, and he turned away, refusing to drink any more.
Mo Ran was used to this behavior. Holding another spoonful, he tugged Chu Wanning back around and coaxed him patiently. “One more. You’ll feel better after, here.” And fed him another spoonful.
Chu Wanning coughed up half of it, brow furrowing even more. “So bitter…”
“It’s sweet. The next one will be sweet, come, come.”
“Nngh…”
“The next one! Promise! It’s unbelievably sweet! This venerable one sent people to find the sweetest syrup in all the land!” Mo Ran was so distracted cajoling Chu Wanning into drinking the medicine that he forgot himself for a moment and absentmindedly let words from his past life fall from his mouth. “It’s delicious—you’ll regret it if you don’t open up. Come on.”
Just like that, he managed to sweet talk Chu Wanning into drinking the whole bowl. After the last spoonful, Mo Ran let out a breath and was about to get up and tidy things when there was a sudden flash of white. Before he could react, a slap landed soundly on his cheek.
“You liar, get the hell out!” Chu Wanning snapped.
Then his head drooped, and he went right back to sleep, leaving Mo Ran with his mouth hanging half-open, pitifully holding his cheek. He was about to get mad when the man in his arms groaned softly, like he was dreaming about something distressing, his face pale.
When Mo Ran saw him like this, he just couldn’t be angry. He didn’t have any candy, but his gaze landed on the qiankun pouch sitting at the head of the bed. Struck by a sudden idea, he took out a bottle of Tapir Fragrance Dew. Then he tapped Chu Wanning’s cheek with his hand, not too gentle but not too hard, and let that count as revenge.
“Wait here a bit. I’ll go make you some sweet dew water to drink.”
Chu Wanning didn’t respond, so Mo Ran moved to lay him back down. But when he leaned closer in the process, he heard a low exhale and a slurred mumble, “It…wronged you…”
Mo Ran froze. “What?”
Chu Wanning’s eyes were tightly closed, and his eyelashes shivered unceasingly, as if he was enduring something excruciating. Blood drained from his face bit by bit. He seemed to have fallen into another dream, one that was even more frightening than the last. He shook his head minutely, an uncharacteristically sorrowful expression appearing on his habitually impassive face.
“I…it was I…”
For a split second, Mo Ran’s heart stuttered erratically. A strange feeling flooded his chest, as if there was a secret right in front of him, from which he was separated by only one last layer of haze—a secret he was on the verge of unveiling. Staring fixedly at Chu Wanning, he asked quietly, “You what?”
“It was I…who wronged…you…”
Mo Ran felt suddenly disoriented. He didn’t know if the dim light of the candle was making him see things, but he thought he perceived a glimmer of wetness amidst Chu Wanning’s thick eyelashes.
It was I who wronged you.
The words left Chu Wanning’s lips as light as mist, but they hit Mo Ran with all the force of crashing thunder.
Mo Ran abruptly shot up from the bed and went stiff. His pupils contracted into pinpoints as he stared in disbelief at the man on the bed. Instantly his expression changed, his heart pounding like a stampede of horses and hands clenching tightly into fists. In one moment, he felt the blood in his body catch fire, and in the next, it froze over.
“What did you say? Wh…” After a moment of being paralyzed in shock, Mo Ran seized Chu Wanning by the throat, his eyes flashing with danger. The guise of guileless naivety that he had worn since rebirth vanished into thin air. “Chu Wanning, what did you just say? Say it again! Say it again!”
It was I who wronged you. I won’t blame you, in life or in death.
It was a curse that Mo Ran could never forget, a nightmare that had haunted him for two lifetimes. How many times had he closed his eyes only to hear these words sighed by his ear, though the speaker was long gone from the world?
These were words that Chu Wanning had spoken in their past life only as he lay dying. So why now would he—
Why would he—
Unless Chu Wanning had also been reborn?!