Arc 3: Chapter 4 tw: self harm
Jiang Qian revealed no emotional ups or downs. Lin Yuan’s blood made his thin and pallid face become disturbingly beautiful.
However, his light amber eyes shook slightly, like a small pebble dropped in the ocean.
Lin Yuan wasn’t sure if this method could convince Jiang Qian that there was no harm in the medicine. If it didn’t work yet, then he would continue.
He got up from Jiang Qian’s body and sat beside him.
Luckily, Lin Yuan’s method really did seem to work, because Jiang Qian no longer scratched at the medicine on his wounds.
Jiang Qian simply lay motionless on the bed, staring above at the ceiling with empty eyes.
Lin Yuan’s eyes were full of tears from the pain, and he looked pitiful. He made another cut on his arm, endured the pain, and placed the medicine bottle in Jiang Qian’s hand and said obediently: “Jiang Qian, help me put on medicine. I’m bleeding.”
Jiang Qian gave no reaction, so Lin Yuan could only hold the other’s hand and put the medicine on himself.
After he spread the medicine, Lin Yuan showed Jiang Qian the wound and smiled softly at him. He said gently: “Jiang Qian, look, it’s okay. It’s really okay.”
Lin Yuan knew it was unreasonable for Jiang Qian to get better quickly after losing his family and experiencing terrible torture. No person, regardless of how strong or tough, would be able to get back to normal in just one day. The healing process would take time and he would have to help Jiang Qian step by step.
For now, one small goal a day was enough. Today’s goal was to convince Jiang Qian that the medicine would not hurt him.
Up until now, Lin Yuan had made a dozen cuts on himself. He didn’t know how to bandage wounds, so he let Lin Xia go get the physician.
The physician entered the room and was shocked at the sight of the little prince’s wounds. He didn’t dare ask unnecessary questions or make comments, just solemnly and cautiously cleaned the little prince’s cuts and bandaged them.
When Lin Yuan was harming himself he didn’t think too much about the consequences, he only cared about letting Jiang Qian calm down. But with his status as the treasured little prince of Prince Chu’s mansion, if outsiders knew that he mutilated himself like this, then they might even call him crazy.
Lin Yuan realized this and looked at the physician who was bandaging his wounds and said expressionlessly: “You can’t mention a word of this prince’s wounds to other people, understand?”
Did he say it right?
In those palace dramas he watched, all of the princes threatened people like this.
The physician was indeed scared into trembling and hurriedly said: “Yes, this lowly one understands. This lowly one will never allow another person to know about this matter.”
After the physician finished treating Lin Yuan’s wounds, Lin Yuan looked at Jiang Qian and thought for a bit before saying: “Does the medicine on Jiang Qian’s wounds need to be changed?”
The physician bowed and answered: “Yes, the medicine for Sir Jiang should be changed.”
Lin Yuan was worried that Jiang Qian would not trust the physician, so he asked the physician about every step on how to change the medicine and how to bandage wounds, and then let the physician and Lin Xia leave the room.
Outside the room, the physician waited until Lin Xia closed the door behind them before leaning closer and whispering: “Lin…Guard Lin, the little prince… what is going on with him?” t/n sorry, Lin Xia isn't just a regular servant, he's a bodyguard
Lin Xia’s surname followed the surname of his master. From his grandfather’s generation, his family became Prince Chu mansion’s personal bodyguards. Lin Xia and his master Lin Yuan grew up together from young.
He was loyal and devoted to Lin Yuan. He lightly glanced at the physician before saying coldly: “How dare a lowly physician like you question the little prince’s matters? Take care of your mouth, if you dare say one extra word, I will let you understand how living can be more painful than dying.”
The physician felt cold sweat run down his back when he made eye contact with Lin Xia’s fierce eyes. In Prince Chu’s mansion, Lin Xia was feared as a killer. The physician panicked: “Yes, this lowly one knows. Guard Lin please be at ease, this lowly one will never reveal a word to anyone.”
Lin Xia reminded icily: “Anyone includes the elder princess and the people around her, understand?”
The physician trembled in fear: “Yes…this lowly one understands……”
⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ୨୧ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ୨୧ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅
Inside the room, Lin Yuan unwrapped all of the bandages over Jiang Qian’s body. The other man’s densely packed, crisscrossed scars looked even more atrocious after Jiang Qian’s self-mutilation last night.
Lin Yuan used 100 of his points to buy medicine from the system store and added it to the original medicine. The system medicine would prevent the wounds from getting infected, increase the rate of healing, and relieve some of the pain.
He seriously studied Jiang Qian and was eighty percent sure that the other was his husband. To be completely sure, he lay beside Jiang Qian and rested his head against the other’s shoulder and closed his eyes. He felt the familiar feeling of safety and comfort and was now one hundred percent sure.
Jiang Qian was his lover.
Before, Lin Yuan's feelings of pity and sympathy for Jiang Qian was because of the plot. Now that he knew that Jiang Qian was his husband, an indescribable sense of suffocation arose in his chest.
Wuuu, his husband is so miserable.
Just the sight of Jiang Qian’s wounds made Lin Yuan feel pain. When he applied the medicine, he would touch the other gently and blow softly to comfort the other: “Pain, pain fly away. Jiang Qian, it doesn’t hurt anymore……”
He cautiously and slowly applied the medicine, and spent around an hour to finish treating Jiang Qian.
Lin Yuan wiped away the sweat on his face and exhaled deeply. He called someone to bring a bucket of hot water, then wrung a wet towel and wiped away the blood on Jiang Qian’s face.
After completing these steps, Lin Yuan lay down next to Jiang Qian and lightly stroked the other’s hair. He whispered: “Jiang Qian, don’t be scared. There won’t be anyone to bully you, because I’ll protect you. Don’t be scared……”
Because Lin Yuan wasn’t able to sleep well last night and he spent a lot of energy taking care of Jiang Qian, once he relaxed his nerves, he quickly fell asleep.
Jiang Qian listened to the steady and long breaths of the person next to him.
He didn’t turn his head, instead, he raised his hand ready to untie his bandages and pick off the medicine again. But the moment his hand touched the cloth, he noticed the smell of blood lingering in the air and his movements paused.
He remembered how the other’s blood dripped over his face, sticky and warm.
He remembered the towel across his cheeks, hot and soft.
He hadn’t felt warmth in a long time.
After a while, Jiang Qian’s hand fell back down.
This person also used the medicine, so this medicine…… might not be poisonous.
Lin Yuan slept until the evening, so when he woke up, he immediately felt like he was starving. Just as he was about to call someone in to deliver a meal, he suddenly recalled the information of how the two old yamen officials tortured Jiang Qian with food.
Ever since Jiang Qian came to Prince Chu’s mansion, there were too many things going on so the matter of meals was forgotten.
But Jiang Qian was traumatized by eating, and there was no way he could give rotten rice like those yamen officials. No way!
Since Lin Yuan was now the little prince, his husband was… the little princess. How could the little princess eat rotten rice?
Absolutely not allowed!
Lin Yuan pondered for a long time before asking someone to prepare a pot of ginseng chicken porridge.
He stirred the porridge and scooped up a spoonful. He held the spoon close to Jiang Qian’s mouth and said softly: “Jiang Qian, time to drink porridge.”
Lin Yuan coaxed gently: “Be good, open your mouth and drink a bit of porridge okay?”
Jiang Qian stared ahead blankly and didn’t open his mouth.
Lin Yuan ate a bite of porridge himself, and then scooped another spoonful of porridge to feed Jiang Qian. His voice was still soft and gentle: “Jiang Qian, be good. You’re so good, open your mouth and drink the porridge okay?”
Jiang Qian was as still as ever, just like a corpse.
Lin Yuan repeated this process and in this way, he fed himself six bowls of porridge and his stomach inflated. He hiccupped aggrievedly and walked over to the tan yu. He stuck a finger into his throat and began to vomit. t/n tan yu is a vase-like spittoon
He endured the discomfort and vomited until he only vomited out bile. Lin Yuan’s eyes were reddened and full of tears.
He rinsed his mouth and touched his stomach to make sure it wasn’t swollen, and then continued to let servants bring in the porridge.
“Jiang Qian, be good, drink some porridge……”
Lin Yuan wasn’t smart enough to think of other ways, he could only do this one action over and over again.
If Jiang Qian thought that medicine was poison, then Lin Yuan would hurt himself over and over again to prove that the medicine was used to treat wounds.
If Jiang Qian didn’t eat, then Lin Yuan would coax the other gently without forcing the other to eat. He ate the food himself over and over again, and vomited it out over and over again.
Lin Yuan did this for five hours, and he felt like half of his life was gone.
But Jiang Qian still did not open his mouth.
That night, Lin Yuan still slept next to Jiang Qian. The next day, he reapplied Jiang Qian’s medicine and started to coax the other to eat porridge again. For the entire day, Lin Yuan drank over 30 bowls of porridge. Because he had to vomit it all out, his throat was scratched and he even vomited blood.
His voice had grown hoarse, but his tone was still light and gentle: “Be good, Jiang Qian, drink porridge……”
This time, the man’s pale and cracked lips moved slightly.
Seeing Jiang Qian’s slightly open lips, Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up like a sky of stars. He quickly moved the spoon and fed the porridge into Jiang Qian’s mouth. His voice was extremely soft: “En, be good, drink the porridge.”
Jiang Qian directly swallowed the food without chewing.
Lin Yuan was ecstatic as long as Jiang Qian was willing to eat, slowly but surely, one day Jiang Qian would be able to eat like a normal person.
Seems that……
He could remember a little bit about himself……