Jiang Suizhou was sitting on a rock by the stream. He watched Huo Wujiu sitting by the water cleaning the wound on his shoulder. Then he bandaged it again.
Jiang Suizhou forced him to do so. When they arrived at the water’s edge, Huo Wujiu insisted on checking Jiang Suizhou’s ankle first. Jiang Suizhou refused, insisting that he take care of his wound first.
Huo Wujiu could not resist him.
He stood up and pulled the robe that was hanging from his elbow towards his shoulder, then turned back and walked in front of Jiang Suizhou, glaring at him disapprovingly.
“You won’t mess around this time, right?” he questioned.
Jiang Suizhou laughed. He let Huo Wujiu kneel on one knee in front of him and rested the foot he had sprained on his leg again.
“What are your plans?” Jiang Suizhou asked.
He watched Huo Wujiu lower his head and take off his shoes while answering, “Since Jiang Shunheng wants you dead, he won’t let anyone come looking for you right away. I’ll wait here until their people come, and then return in advance. In due course, just say that you fell off your horse and sprained your ankle and found this waterfront yourself. Those assassins are Pang Shao’s people. Jiang Shunheng will never know about him cultivating private assassins, so he won’t be suspicious.
Jiang Suizhou hummed in agreement: “I thought so, too.”
Huo Wujiu put his shoes and socks aside and held the arch of his foot. Jiang Suizhou was born fair, and his feet never kissed the sunlight on normal days. At this point, his skin looked so white that they seemed to glow in the sun, and his blue veins loomed, making his skin even more transparent.
When Huo Wujiu gripped his foot with his rough palm, Jiang Suizhou inexplicably felt his ears burning up.
How strange.
Nonetheless, Huo Wujiu seemingly ignored it. He took action and examined his injury.
“Bear with it,” Huo Wujiu said.
Before Jiang Suizhou could respond, he was caught off guard with a bolt of pain under his hand. Jiang Suizhou took a sharp breath and heard the crack of a bone.
“There.” He heard Huo Wujiu say, “There will only be redness and swelling, but that can be eliminated in a few days.”
With that, he tore off the edge of one of his clothes, bandaged Jiang Suizhou’s ankle and put his shoe on.
Only Huo Wujiu himself knew how relieved he felt when the cloth covered that gleaming whiteness.
He straightened up and sat down beside Jiang Suizhou.
“What about later?” Jiang Suizhou asked, “Afterward, do you have any plans?”
This was what he had wanted to ask since earlier.
He knew that Huo Wujiu in that unofficial record could escape from Jingwang Manor and leave Southern Jing back to Northern Liang. There must be something unknown in the midst of it. Now that this matter could be advanced, Jiang Suizhou realized that he was involved with it.
If he hadn’t tried every possible way to find a doctor for Huo Wujiu, Huo Wujiu’s men wouldn’t have been able to seize the opportunity to find him. When Jiang Suizhou realized that due to his planning, he had accidentally merged with Huo Wujiu’s forces and helped him, Jiang Suizhou felt quite wonderful. He even felt an inexplicable joy that he could not suppress.
When Huo Wujiu glanced at him from the side, he discovered that Jiang Suizhou eyes were shining brightly, and that he was staring at him.
He knew what Jiang Suizhou wanted to ask. Not only was Jiang Suizhou not angry, but he was happy for himself. For a while, Huo Wujiu didn’t know whether he should be relieved or not.
Huo Wujiu should celebrate that his previous worries were all unfounded, but he felt a trace of loss again.
Huo Wujiu paused and said, “Next, I’m going to get you something to eat.” As if he didn’t understand what Jiang Suizhou was asking, he stood up seemingly unperturbed and poker-faced.
“No, I mean…” Jiang Suizhou inserted quickly.
“I know what you want to say.” Huo Wujiu said, “However, didn’t you also say that you want me to protect you?”
Jiang Suizhou was a bit confused about what the connection was, so he only responded, “Yes.”
Huo Wujiu leaned down and picked up Jiang Suizhou’s sword. When he lowered his head, he found Jiang Suizhou looking at him with a puzzled expression.
With traces of helplessness in his eyes, Huo Wujiu raised his hand and patted Jiang Suizhou on the head.
“If I want to leave at this juncture, of course, I can leave anytime,” he said. “But, won’t Jiang Shunheng look for you to settle the score?”
He would seek him.
Jiang Suizhou decided to keep his mouth shut.
“So, I don’t have much of a plan.” He said, “If I stay here and see what happens, I can always wait for the opportunity to uncover their weaknesses. By then, our forces inside and outside can coordinate. This way, we can catch them off guard and also show them what it means to invite the wolf into the house.”
When Jiang Suizhou heard this, he tittered.
“The idiom to invite a wolf into the house doesn’t fit you,” he said.
“I don’t want to be a good guy either.” Huo Wujiu washed his sword in the stream, then said to Jiang Suizhou, “Wait for me here. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Jiang Suizhou nodded in response. He then watched as Huo Wujiu gripped his sword in one hand and headed for the forest.
His smile gradually disappeared, but his eyes latched on Huo Wujiu’s back. Jiang Suizhou didn’t avert his gaze until Huo Wujiu disappeared into the forest.
Jiang Suizhou knew deep inside that although Huo Wujiu said offhandedly that he wanted to collaborate inside and outside and let the Hou Zhu lead the wolf into the house, he knew that the easiest and simplest way for Huo Wujiu was to head back to Northern Liang.
He was an invincible general. His army was his hands and feet, the sharp edge in his hands.
But now, it was himself, who had bound his limbs.
Huo Wujiu did not leave, only because he promised him.
Jiang Suizhou could not describe how he felt right now.
He always had to hold himself together, both before and after transmigrating. Before transmigrating, he had parents, but his father had lovers and children, while his mother had only his father in her eyes.
Now, he seemed to possess riches and honor, but in fact, Jiang Suizhou was treading a tightrope. So many people kept an extra eye on him covetously, while many others relied on him. He was left with no choice.
But currently…
There was a man who was willing to bind his limbs, throw away his sword, and bear disgrace and a heavy burden in the hands of his enemies, just because he had promised to protect him.
Jiang Suizhou no longer seemed to be alone.
