RNP Chapter 1034 I Want the Smell of Meat
Chapter 1034 I Want the Smell of Meat
"I'm injured here!" Su Wanwan immediately retorted.
"Where are you injured? On your face?"
"Get out!"
Tang Sanzang and the White Dragon Horse had also returned. Seeing that although she was seriously injured, she was still conscious, Tang Sanzang finally breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward, saying gently, "Female benefactor, we are very grateful to have you here today."
Su Wanwan was startled and looked up at Tang Sanzang.
Tang Sanzang clasped his hands together, his expression solemn: "If it weren't for your selfless protection, I fear I would have already fallen into the hands of the demon. I will remember this kindness."
Su Wanwan opened her mouth, then suddenly felt a little lost.
She did these things without expecting anyone to remember her kindness.
But when Tang Seng said it so earnestly, her heart suddenly felt hot and swollen, and even her eyes started to sting.
"I..." she whispered, "I'm not that good, it's just that I happen to be..."
"You almost lost your life, and you call that just in time?" Chu Yang interrupted her, his tone harsh.
Su Wanwan was taken aback by his retort, and the slight embarrassment she had just felt instantly vanished: "Wasn't the situation urgent?"
"No matter how urgent the situation, it's not your place to risk your life."
"But none of you are here!"
"So what?" Chu Yang looked down at her, his gaze deep. "So you dare to charge forward alone?"
"Then what can we do?" Su Wanwan was also getting angry at his words. Her chest still hurt, but her voice unconsciously rose a little. "I can't just watch it chase after Master, can I? If I hadn't stopped it, what if—"
"There's no 'what if'."
"How do you know there won't be a 'what if'?"
"Because I am here—"
Chu Yang stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.
Su Wanwan was also taken aback.
The two stared at each other, frozen in place, the only sound in the silence being the wind rustling through the reeds.
Finally, Sun Wukong coughed first, scratching his face: "Um...should we avoid this?"
Tang Sanzang uttered another Buddhist chant, then lowered his head, pretending not to see it.
Chu Yang looked away first, his voice lowered but still firm: "Just don't do that again next time."
"...Just because you say it's not allowed doesn't mean it's not allowed."
"right."
"On what grounds?"
"Because you're mine now."
Upon hearing this, not only Su Wanwan, but even Sun Wukong exclaimed in surprise.
Su Wanwan's ears instantly burned, and even her neck turned red: "What nonsense are you spouting!"
"What nonsense did I say?" Chu Yang said without changing his expression. "You yourself said you would stay with us, not run away, not lie, and not try to harm our master. Since that's the case, I'll naturally take charge of anything that happens."
"Who's your business!"
"You're not under my jurisdiction. Whose name were you calling so loudly just now?"
"I was just in a panic!"
"Oh, that's quite urgent."
"Chu Yang!"
She was so angry that she wanted to raise her hand to hit him, but as soon as she moved, a sharp pain shot through her ribs, and she hissed as she gasped for breath.
Chu Yang's expression immediately changed. He stopped teasing her and carried her towards the luggage parked on the official road: "Don't move. Brother Monkey, pack your things. We won't travel tonight; let's find higher ground to rest."
"I know." Sun Wukong replied, while winking at Su Wanwan, "You'd better calm down, or I'll really lose my temper."
Su Wanwan was both ashamed and angry, wishing she could bury her face in her hands. But Chu Yang was holding her tightly, and she couldn't break free. She could only stiffly mutter, "It's all your fault."
"What's it to my fault?"
"It's your fault for talking nonsense."
Did I say something wrong?
"Completely wrong!"
"Fine, you're wrong, so be it."
Chu Yang responded verbally, but his tone didn't sound like he was admitting his mistake at all; in fact, it carried a strange sense of indulgence.
Su Wanwan was even angrier, but as she got angrier, a little sweetness slowly seeped out from the churning emotions in her heart, so sweet that she felt pathetic.
The last wisp of gray-red on the horizon slowly sank, and the mist over Huiyueze completely dissipated.
The once damp, cold, and eerie water surface is now only a calm, shimmering expanse. In the distance, egrets have returned and landed on the tips of the reeds, which sway gently in the wind.
They found an abandoned teahouse on the high slope to the west.
The pavilion was drafty on all sides, but it was much safer than the marshland. Sun Wukong and the White Dragon Horse went to find firewood, Tang Sanzang spread straw mats in the pavilion, and Chu Yang placed Su Wanwan in the most sheltered corner of the pavilion, and casually put his outer robe behind her.
"Sit still," he said.
Su Wanwan pursed her lips, unusually refraining from arguing back.
She was still in pain, her chest felt tight, and her palms were raw from the black water and gravel. But sitting in the pavilion, listening to the wind, footsteps, and Sun Wukong's shouts in the distance, she felt surprisingly at peace.
Before long, the fire was lit.
Tang Sanzang took out the medicine he carried with him, took her pulse, and frowned slightly: "Your internal energy is a little disordered, but fortunately it hasn't damaged your core. You'll be fine after a few days of rest."
"That's fine then." Chu Yang took the medicine bowl, blew on it to cool it down, and held it to Su Wanwan's lips. "Drink."
Su Wanwan was taken aback: "I'll do it myself."
"Can you avoid spilling it if you do it yourself?"
"It's not like I don't have hands."
"He was still unsteady on his feet just now."
Su Wanwan's face flushed, and she reached out to snatch the medicine bowl: "Give it to me."
Chu Yang didn't let go, and the two were locked in a tense standoff, the medicine bowl almost spilling out. Tang Sanzang watched helplessly from the side, while Sun Wukong, who had just returned and witnessed the scene, burst into laughter, slapping his thigh: "You two can even fight over feeding each other medicine?"
"Who fought with him!" Su Wanwan said angrily.
"So, are you going to drink it or not?"
"……drink."
She finally lowered her head and drank the medicine from the bowl in Chu Yang's hand. The medicine was terribly bitter, and she frowned as soon as it entered her mouth. As if he had expected it, Chu Yang had a piece of candy in his other hand, which he put directly into her mouth as soon as she finished drinking.
The sweetness spread instantly, suppressing most of the bitterness of the medicine.
Su Wanwan, with a candy in her mouth, stared blankly up at him.
Chu Yang, however, seemed completely unconcerned about the action, casually placing the empty bowl aside: "What are you looking at? Afraid I'll poison it?"
"……No."
"If you don't have any, then take a nap."
Su Wanwan had a candy in her mouth and didn't say anything more.
The flickering firelight cast a warm yellow glow on the pavilion pillars and the ground. A breeze blew in from outside, carrying the dampness of distant marshes and the fresh scent of night grass. Sun Wukong baked cakes by the fire, muttering to himself, "I won't go too far next time. How dare this thing lure me away? When I'm back to my senses tomorrow, I'll turn its lair upside down."
"Didn't you already smash it today?" Su Wanwan leaned against the pillar and whispered.
"That's not enough," Sun Wukong grinned, "It scared you and your master—oh, no, you're not really a disciple."
Su Wanwan couldn't help but ask, "Who is his disciple?"
"Then what are you?" Sun Wukong's eyes darted around, and he grinned slyly. "One of my brother's men?"
"puff--"
Su Wanwan almost choked on her own saliva. The medicine she had just swallowed came back up, and she coughed until her face turned red.
Chu Yang slammed the baked flatbread onto Sun Wukong's forehead: "Brother Monkey, shut up tonight."
Sun Wukong caught the cake in one swift motion, overjoyed: "Did I say something wrong?"
Tang Sanzang coughed softly: "Wukong, stop teasing the female benefactor."
"Alright, alright." Sun Wukong suppressed a laugh and turned to tease the white donkey. "Come on, let me tell you, the one who charged the fastest today wasn't me, it was this fox—"
The white donkey brayed and threw a handful of grass at his face.
A commotion erupted inside the pavilion.
Su Wanwan leaned against the pillar, looking at the people by the fire, her heart feeling as if it were swollen to the brim with something.
She originally thought that staying was just finding a temporary place to stay. She even prepared herself to remain cautious and calculating, always looking ahead and thinking about a way out.
But I don't know when it started, those thoughts gradually disappeared.
She would worry about whether they were hungry or tired, remember who liked what to eat and who didn't, and subconsciously check the fire to see if it was burning brightly when she heard the wind at night. When Tang Seng coughed, she would first think that the dew was too heavy last night, and when Chu Yang sat against the stone for too long, she couldn't help but want to stuff the thickest straw mat into his bed.
So this is what it feels like to truly care about someone.
It wasn't the soft, gentle tone she had learned before, nor the feigned pitiful look in her eyes, nor the measured show of weakness, but something more clumsy, more direct, and more impossible to hide.
The firelight reflected in her eyes, flickering slightly.
Chu Yang turned his head and caught her staring at him. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Looking at me again?"
This time, Su Wanwan didn't rush to dodge.
With a candy in her mouth and a faint sweetness still lingering on her lips, she looked at him and said softly, "What's wrong with you?"
Chu Yang seemed surprised by her answer, paused for a moment, and then laughed first.
"Alright." He sat down next to her and draped a clean outer robe over her lap. "Here, take a look. Once you've had your fill, go to sleep. If you still can't get up tomorrow, don't blame me for tying you to a donkey and taking you with me."
"You dare?"
"What wouldn't I dare to do?"
"Try tying one up yourself."
"Let's give it a try."
Neither of them spoke loudly, yet they took turns talking, as if neither was willing to give way first.
Sun Wukong, listening by the fire, shook his head and said, "Master, it seems like this journey is going to be quite exciting from now on."
Looking at the firelight, Tang Sanzang smiled wryly, "A little liveliness isn't necessarily a bad thing."
After returning to Yueze that night, Su Wanwan needed three full days to recover before her complexion truly improved.
Chu Yang originally thought that since she was a fox demon and had some strength, after being hit like that, she would at most be listless the next day, but by the third day she would be lively and energetic, continuing to bicker and fight with Sun Wukong for cakes. As it turned out, this fox was very tough on the outside, but not as tough on the inside as she was on the inside.
She could sit still on the first day.
The next day, although she was no longer out of breath after every step, her shoulders would involuntarily tense up when going downhill, as if she were enduring something. That night, thinking no one had seen her, she went to the stream to wash her hands. When she rolled up her sleeves, the area from her wrist to her forearm was still faintly bluish. When she returned, she still had a smile on her face, and when she sat by the fire, she still stirred the vegetable leaves in the pot, as if nothing had happened.
On the morning of the third day, the group passed through the Stone Forest. The afternoon sun was scorching, and the reflections from the stone walls were dazzling. Tang Sanzang walked slowly, while Sun Wukong ran back and forth chasing away wild sparrows. The White Dragon Horse felt hot, and even the White Donkey was too lazy to bray. Su Wanwan said she was fine, but when she stopped to rest at noon and bent down to get her water bag, she swayed slightly.
Chu Yang reacted quickly and caught her arm.
"What are you trying to prove?"
Su Wanwan was about to pull her hand back when she heard this, her eyelashes fluttered slightly, and she smiled as she looked up: "I wasn't showing off, I just felt a little dizzy from standing for so long."
"Do you think I'm blind?"
"I can't just lie here forever."
"Sit down right now."
"Chu Yang".
"sit down."
His voice wasn't loud, but it left no room for argument. Su Wanwan glanced at him, and surprisingly didn't argue back. She actually sat down on the shady rock by the roadside.
Sun Wukong returned carrying a bag of wild pears. Seeing the scene from afar, he immediately perked up: "What's going on? Is this fox finally about to reveal its true form?"
"Show off your face." Chu Yang didn't even look up, unscrewed the water pouch and shoved it into Su Wanwan's hand. "Drink."
"Freshly picked pears." Sun Wukong shook his bag. "They're very sweet, want some?"
Su Wanwan took the pear and was about to speak when Sun Wukong stared at her face for a moment and clicked his tongue: "Your complexion is a little better than when you were first pulled out of the water the night you returned to Yueze, but it's not much better."
"Is that how you talk?"
"That's the truth."
"The truth isn't that hard to hear."
Tang Sanzang sat to the side, took out his medicine bag, and said gently, "Although you are a demon, that Ji Ze Mu is no ordinary evil spirit. You forcibly shattered your bones and started a fire, which has seriously injured you. You still need to rest for a few more days."
Su Wanwan lowered her head and hummed in agreement, her fingers gripping the water pouch, and did not object further.
Chu Yang glanced at her but didn't say anything.
But as they traveled westward, the temporary lodgings were either abandoned temples or village houses. The best they could find were the kind of one-story inns in towns with large shared sleeping quarters. Forget about properly recuperating; even asking for a couple more buckets of hot water would make the innkeeper hesitate for half a day. Su Wanwan didn't say anything, but Chu Yang could tell that she tried to move as quietly as possible when she turned over at night, sometimes even turning her back a little, obviously afraid of touching the wound on her chest and ribs.
He mentally calculated the distance and asked an old man selling steamed buns ahead of him, "How far is the nearest town?"
"A city?" The old man thought for a moment while carrying his load. "If you continue northwest along the main road for about forty li, you'll reach Linchuan Prefecture. It's a lively place with plenty of restaurants and inns. If you walk fast, young master, you should be able to arrive before noon tomorrow."
Chu Yang nodded and tossed two copper coins into the old man's hand: "Thanks."
As the old man accepted the money, he chuckled, "Oh my, young master, you're so generous. You don't look like ordinary people. Once you're in Linchuan Prefecture, you can go check out 'Mantingchun' in the east of the city. It's one of the best restaurants in the prefecture, with exquisite food, fine rooms, and even the hot water for bathing smells of flowers."
Upon hearing the fragrance of flowers, Sun Wukong immediately bared his teeth: "Why wash with flower perfume? I want the scent of meat."
"Get out of my way." After Chu Yang finished cursing, he did remember the three words "Man Ting Chun".
That night, they rested in a dilapidated mountain pavilion. The wind seeped in from all sides, making even the fire flicker and sway precariously. Su Wanwan sat in the corner, wrapped in her outer robe; the firelight illuminated her face, making it appear pale. Chu Yang, who had been arguing with Sun Wukong over the last piece of baked bread, glanced at the pavilion out of the corner of his eye, suddenly lost interest, casually tossed the bread to Sun Wukong, and got up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Sun Wukong asked, a cake still in his mouth.
"Watch where you're going."
"How can you see the road in the dark?"
"Let's see when you shut up."
Sun Wukong rolled his eyes and continued gnawing. (End of Chapter)