"No need, I got it." Meng Xinian touched his nose.
He couldn’t tease her anymore, lest this kitten get annoyed and truly sweep him out the door in the middle of the night.
After his bath, Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao had already gone inside.
Both of them were not in good health, and they had had a tiring day; they were sleepy and had originally planned to wait for Meng Xinian, but Chiang Xiao had sent them off to bed.
There wasn’t much nightlife in the village, and everyone went to bed early.
It must have been about nine-thirty, and outside it was already silent.
When Meng Xinian came out, Chiang Xiao was sitting alone in the courtyard, looking up at the moon. Although she was small, her face was only the size of a palm, but her eyes were large and bright, filled with a moonlight-like gleam, extremely beautiful.
"Are you done washing?" Chiang Xiao turned around and saw him with only a shirt draped over his upper body, his solid and broad chest exposed, exuding a deep sense of male strength and robustness. "Why didn’t you get dressed properly!"
She immediately scolded him in a low voice and glared at him.
Meng Xinian felt somewhat helpless. "I accidentally got the bandage on my wound wet, and it’s too dark inside to see clearly; it wasn’t easy to deal with it."
The bathroom had no electric light, just a kerosene lamp that was dim and the space narrow, so he thought he’d deal with the bandages when he returned to his room.
But he had underestimated the night in the mountain village.
As night fell, the wind was quite cool.
Chiang Xiao frowned and said softly, "Come inside."
She went into the west room first, found two candles to light, dripped two drops of wax on the small table beside the bamboo bed, and pressed the candle bottoms onto it, where the wax solidified instantly.
Meng Xinian followed her into the west room and saw her standing by the bamboo bed with a pair of scissors, raising her eyebrows in expectation.
Meng Xinian’s voice was hoarse; it didn’t seem like a good idea.
Seeing his expression, Chiang Xiao couldn’t help but want to roll her eyes. "The door lets in a draft; if you don’t close it, the candles will be blown out. I’m not afraid, what are you scared of?"
Was he being looked down on, or was he being challenged?
Meng Xinian laughed ruefully. "I’m considering your reputation. A man and a woman alone together with the door closed, aren’t you afraid of rumors spreading?"
As he spoke, he still turned and shut the door.
"Who would spread rumors? If you don’t tell and I don’t tell, heaven knows." Chiang Xiao had him sit on the bamboo bed, took off the shirt he had draped over himself, and he was wrapped with a bandage and had one patch stuck on.
All were soaked, the medicine having seeped through the fabric.
"Where is your medicine? Your bandages?"
His military bag was already brought by Chiang Xiao to the end of the bed; she went to rummage for the medicine kit and a new set of bandages.
Her movements were quick and nimble as she snipped open his bandages, exposing a few long knife wounds and a bullet wound.
Chiang Xiao couldn’t help but inhale sharply.
Meng Xinian couldn’t help but laugh at her. "Someone who can heartlessly poke her fingers into my wound now gets scared?"
She had already calculated that an ordinary young girl’s first sight of such ugly and frightening wounds would make her scream and retreat in fear.
Chiang Xiao didn’t respond to him, just carefully opened the medicine powder and sprinkled it on his wounds. She thought of that night when she hid inside and he stood guard outside, not letting those people get a chance to break in and catch them.
These wounds were all sustained during that time; it felt as though they were closely connected to her.
Meng Xinian also stopped talking.
This was the most peaceful he had felt when exposing his wounds. The feeling was mysterious, but it was good.
After Chiang Xiao applied the medicine, she unwound the bandage and started to wrap him up.
One hand reached over his shoulder, the other from his waist to the back, her whole body almost embracing him, yet there was not a single improper thought in either of their minds.