Chapter 51.2 Stubbornness

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Yan Mu dawdled around outside for a long time before returning to her own carriage.

When she arrived, Chu Cong, Ah Bu and Qi Er were already back.

Chu Cong was still nestled on the cushion, reading his book, while Ah Bu and Qi Er were bored to death¹百无聊赖 (bǎiwúliáolài) – an idiom; bored stiff; overcome with boredom.

“Where’s Yu Yuan? Didn’t he come?” Yan Mu couldn’t help but ask.

“No,” Ah Bu honestly said. “I haven’t seen him since we came back from eating.”

“……Really?” Yan Mu was a little worried.

Yu Yuan wasn’t someone who would be late. Besides, Chu Cong was still his superior, so he wouldn’t make such a mistake.

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“Oh.” Qi Er obediently followed.

Yan Mu carefully searched from one place to another.

She had searched all the places that Yu Yuan might have gone.

There’s no one, no one anywhere.

Where exactly is Yu Yuan?

Yan Mu’s face was bright red from the scorching sun.

Especially the spot above her lip was soaked with sweat and searing with pain.

She gasped for breath, trying to think of where Yu Yuan might be.

In the past, in the village, when Yu Yuan was in a bad mood, he would go and sit under the tallest tree.

Yan Mu searched around and finally locked onto a big tree on a knoll.

She ran towards the tree.

It had rained a lot that summer, and the hill was hard to walk on as it was wet and slippery.

The hem of her pink skirt became stained with mud, and it took Yan Mu some time to finally climb up the knoll.

A cool breeze blew through the treetops, rustling the leaves.

The teenager, dressed in simple gray clothing, was quietly lying under the tree.

Before Yan Mu could breathe a sigh of relief, she saw the pained look on the teenager’s face.

Instantly, her heart began to tighten²揪心 (jiū//xīn) – lit. grips the heart; anxious; worried.

“Yu Yuan?” Yan Mu patted the teenager’s face.

The teenager’s face was pale, the blood drained from his face.

Yan Mu helped the teenager up, and limped towards the bottom of the knoll.

After improving his health for a while now, the teenager had gained a lot of weight. She gritted her teeth and truly strained to support him.

“Ah Mu……” A broken moan spilled from the teenager’s mouth.

“Yu Yuan, I’m here,” Yan Mu hurriedly said.

The teenager’s eyes were closed, and he looked unconscious.

“Ah Mu, don’t abandon me……” the teenager murmured.

His body was trembling in pain, but the person he was thinking of was still Yan Mu.

Yan Mu’s eyes instantly reddened.

“I didn’t abandon you.”

I just can’t be with you.

You’ll have a better life in the future.

You’ll have power and status, and countless women who’ll admire you.

And she was just an insignificant passerby in Yu Yuan’s life.

Yan Mu wiped away her tears and struggled to help Yu Yuan as she walked towards the camp.

Luckily, she met Qi Er who’d come to help find Yu Yuan.

Qi Er carried Yu Yuan³on his back back to the campsite, and everyone was stunned to see Yu Yuan’s appearance. 

They hurriedly took over and carried him to the carriage to lie down.

There was a physician in Chu Cong’s group.

The physician frowned as he diagnosed him and asked, “Did he eat anything?”

“Yu Yuan eats and lives with us, he hasn’t eaten anything else,” Qi Er said, puzzled.

“Physician Xu, did someone poison the food?” When Ah Bu spoke, everyone tensed up.

It doesn’t matter what happens to Yu Yuan.

But His Highness…… if anything happens to him, all of them would be buried with him!

Cold sweat broke out on everyone’s foreheads, and only Yan Mu was paying attention to Yu Yuan.

Yan Mu was silent for a moment before she spoke, “He ate a yellow fruit, and it smelled extremely spicy.”

“Yellow fruit?!” Physician Xu was stunned for a moment, then anxiously said, “That’s shabu-shabu⁴涮 (shuàn)  – to rinse; to trick; to fool somebody; to cook by dipping finely sliced ingredients briefly in boiling water or soup (generally done at the dining table) fruit! It’s many times spicier than a normal chili!”

This kind of fruit was imported from the Western Regions⁵西域 (Xīyù) – a Han Dynasty term for the region west of Yumenguan (玉门关), including what is now Xinjiang (新疆) and parts of Central Asia. Due to its extreme spiciness, if someone wanted to add a special flavor to their cooking, they just needed to hang the fruit and slightly dip it into the pot, and the dish would have a unique spicy flavor.

One shabu-shabu fruit could last for a long time.

It was also because of this that shabu-shabu fruit was sold per fruit.

Physician Xu had been practicing medicine for more than forty years, and it was the first time he’d seen someone eat a whole raw shabu-shabu fruit.

He hurriedly took out his medicine-chest and started to prescribe medicine.

While he was busy, he said, “Qi Er, hurry and help him induce vomiting.”

Qi Er decisively picked Yu Yuan up and headed outside.

Yan Mu followed closely behind.

Qi Er brought Yu Yuan to a grassy area.

Yan Mu thought that Qi Er was going to dig into Yu Yuan’s throat, but to her surprise, he very skillfully placed his knee against Yu Yuan’s abdomen and pushed up.

At once, the chunks of shabu-shabu fruit were spat out.

Yu Yuan’s eyelashes slightly fluttered and he opened his eyes.

There was still a little confusion in his gaze.

His eyes were a little moist, like the clear sky after rain⁶雨过天晴 (yǔguò-tiānqíng) – an idiom; new hopes after a disastrous period; every cloud has a silver lining, as he’d just vomited.

Yan Mu hurriedly took out her handkerchief and wiped the stain on the corner of his mouth for him.

Yu Yuan’s dark eyes were looking at her, making her a little uncomfortable.

Qi Er went off to get a cup of water and a mouth-refreshing pill for him to suck on.

Yu Yuan stood up with his eyes down and didn’t speak.

Yan Mu followed suit and stood beside him, looking at him worriedly, not knowing what to say.

Only when the mouth-refreshing pill had completely melted did Yu Yuan slowly speak.

“The person who helped me up, was that you?” The teenager’s voice was hoarse.

He was actually conscious, but in too much pain. His mind was obviously extremely sober, but he simply couldn’t open his eyes.

In a haze, he seemed to hear Ah Mu crying.

Yu Yuan carefully looked at Yan Mu’s eyes.

Her bright apricot eyes were misty right now, and even her eyelids were a little red and swollen, like a little rabbit that had been ruthlessly bullied.

Was Yan Mu crying because of me?

Yu Yuan had mixed feelings.

If she doesn’t want me, why is she crying for me?

Under his gaze, the young girl’s nose reddened, and she seemed about to cry again.

Seeing that the atmosphere wasn’t right, Qi Er hurriedly found an excuse to sneak away.

For a moment, there was only the wind, the trees, the sky, and the two people staring at each other.

Neither of them would take the first step.

The young girl’s tears dropped and rolled down onto the blades of grass.

She bit her lip tightly, trying not to make a sound.

In the end, Yu Yuan sighed and stepped forward first.

He gently brushed away the young girl’s tears.

“Don’t cry anymore,” Yu Yuan sighed.

She clearly brought it up first, so why was Yan Mu the one who was crying the fiercest?

Yu Yuan couldn’t figure out Yan Mu’s way of thinking.

But after such a mess just now, he could finally see Yan Mu’s attitude.

It wasn’t that Yan Mu didn’t feel anything for him at all.

It was more like she had to stay away from him for some reason.

Yu Yuan didn’t know what Yan Mu was struggling with.

But he wasn’t going to break that layer of window paper⁷to expose something; lay bare.

He wanted to stay by Yan Mu’s side so that she would pay more attention to him.

Until one day, when the scale in her heart was tipped towards him, he could be together with Yan Mu again.

As long as he stayed by Yan Mu’s side, there would always be a chance.

With that thought, Yu Yuan’s mood improved.

He retracted his hand and said to Yan Mu, “I fainted because my stomach hurt too badly. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“It’s okay, let’s go back, Physician Xu has decocted the medicine for you.” Yan Mu subconsciously wanted to pull Yu Yuan’s hand, but remembering what she had said before, she retracted her hand rather slowly.

Yu Yuan naturally wouldn’t expose her.

He watched Yan Mu’s subconscious little movements, and the corners of his mouth curled up into a smile.

His stomach didn’t seem to hurt as much anymore.

Yu Yuan followed behind Yan Mu and returned to camp.

Physician Xu had already decocted the medicine, and Ah Bu had filtered out a large bowl of pitch-black medicinal liquid.

Yu Yuan’s expression slightly froze.

He sighed, then in a burst of energy⁸一鼓作气 (yīgǔ-zuòqì) – an idiom; press on to the finish without letup; get something done in one sustained effort, he drank the medicinal decoction in one go.

The taste of the medicine lingered in his mouth, and its weirdly sour and bitter taste made Yu Yuan feel like he’d seen hell.

He calmly⁹不动声色 (bùdòng-shēngsè) – not a word or movement (idiom); remaining calm and collected; not batting an eyelid swallowed the last sip of the medicinal decoction and put the bowl down with a feigned composure.

A small and fair hand appeared in front of him.

On her white and delicate palm, there was a piece of snowflake candy. 

“I bought this yesterday,” Yan Mu softly said.

Her eyes were still red, and it seemed like she would cry if Yu Yuan didn’t accept it.

The corner of Yu Yuan’s mouth twitched slightly, then he took the snowflake candy.

It was still that familiar snowflake candy taste.

Yu Yuan kept it in his mouth, letting it slowly melt.

The sadness in his heart had disappeared.

It was instead replaced by a slight sweetness.

Ah Mu still cared for him.

Yu Yuan’s cheeks bulged and he suddenly laughed out loud.

“W-what’s wrong?” Yan Mu asked, rubbing her eyes.

“It’s nothing. We’re about to leave, check if you’ve left anything behind,” Yu Yuan said.

He seemed to have reverted back to his old self.

“You…… you’re not angry anymore?” Yan Mu carefully asked.

“I’m not angry.” Yu Yuan looked up, and there was even a smile hanging on his lips. “Ah Mu is right. We’ve both grown up, so naturally, we can’t be as intimate as when we were young. Since Ah Mu is right, why should I be angry?”

“Ah……” Yan Mu was stunned, and the ahoge¹⁰uncountable, fandom slang, usually in the context of Japanese-style art; An exaggerated cowlick (lock of hair). In Chinese: 呆毛 (dāi máo)

Example of how ahoge looks like: on her head slightly shook.

She tried very hard to ignore the feeling of emptiness in her heart and happily said, “That’s great. It’s good that you’re not angry.”

After speaking, she happily sat back down next to Yu Yuan.

Everything seemed to have gone back to how it used to be.

Seeing that Yan Mu had turned back to her usual self, Yu Yuan inwardly sighed in relief.

It seems like agreeing to Yan Mu’s stopgap measure¹¹权宜之计 (quányízhījì) – plan of convenience (idiom); makeshift stratagem; interim step was the right thing to do.

If he didn’t promise her, then she would definitely avoid him now.

As long as Yan Mu was willing to be together with him, he would have a chance.

It didn’t matter whether he was called despicable or vicious.

Since Yan Mu had invaded his world, then he definitely wouldn’t let her run away again.

In this life, Yan Mu will never be able to get rid of me.

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Edited by: Gaze