Cry of the Midnight Jackdaw

Chapter One Hundred and Three,
Off the Cliff

It hurts.

The limbs seemed like they got ruthlessly torn apart by a nameless giant beast, and the bones in the whole body seemed like they were shattered hammer after hammer, only remaining with the adjoined blood and flesh still arduously propping itself up. Perhaps the lips were bit, the mouth spread with a faint bloody taste, with a slight bitterness to it.

Xiao Zuo only slightly moved his fingers, but the right arm seemed like it was climbed all over with the south border’s most poisonous bugs, and pain like dense needles spread all over from the gap of the bones, hurting so much his vision went black again and again.

He took in a deep breath, the last image left in his mind was a heat-dispelling flower grown on the side of the high cliff he hurriedly glanced at before he fell off the cliff, a pure-white one, swaying with a tremble in the winds.

“Awake now?” Xiao Zuo froze, he then parted some attention from the constant pain, and did his best to open his eyelids, and observed the place he was at.

It looked to be a not big cave, beneath him laid some hay, the right arm was simply wrapped over, and the side even burned with a bonfire, crackling as it burned.

“Still hurting a lot?” Seeing Xiao Zuo not react, He Xuan slightly knitted his eyebrows, his hand held a jar of water, and crouched down and moved it to Xiao Zuo’s lips, “Drink some water.”

“Broth……” Xiao Zuo got shocked by the hoarse tone when he opened his mouth, he paused for an instant, then hung his eyes down and got close to drink a mouthful of water, then licked the corner of his cracked lips, “Brother Xuan, this……”

“I was not careful.” He Xuan sat beside Xiao Zuo, and lowered his head down to carefully look at the simple wrapping on his right hand, “Does it hurt a lot?”

Xiao Zuo bit down on his lip, he swallowed the whimper that flowed to the side of the mouth, avoided He Xuan’s gaze, and shook his head.

“Previously, it was found that He Yang did something to my horse, but didn’t think your’s would also……” He Xuan’s eyes darkened, he tightly gripped his hand into a fist, and from the dim sunlight outside, Xiao Zuo could even see veins popping from his hand, as well as intermingling lines of red bloodstains.

Xiao Zuo froze, he subconsciously wanted to reach out with the right hand, yet was pulled back by the sharp pain, and only barely stiffly hung his hand down by his side, and asked with a pale face, “You’re…… also hurt? Is it serious?”

When He Xuan heard, he quickly shrunk his hand into the sleeves, and shook his head with a normal expression, “It’s nothing, just a small injury, how about you, other than the wound on the right hand, is there any other place hurting?”

“No.” Xiao Zuo pursed his lips, still worried about He Xuan’s injuries. He clearly did not trust his sloppy explanation, “Don’t lie to me, I just saw your hand constantly shaking.”

When He Xuan was handing water to him, because the hand was shaking, the water that leaked out from the jar slid down from the corner of Xiao Zuo’s lips into his collar, and dampened his deep-green collar.

“It really is alright.” He Xuan calmly put on the cover of the water jar, then gathered up the dry grass on the ground, “I’ve arranged for people to come find us before, they should be here soon, if you aren’t feeling well, just close your eyes and rest for a while.”

“En.” Xiao Zuo certainly felt a bit dizzy, his outer garments were already scrapped ragged, removed by He Xuan to hang at one side, so at this time, he felt cold. He hesitated for a moment, then used his uninjured left hand to secretly grab the corner of He Xuan’s clothes, then calmed his heart, and closed his eyes.

He Xuan turned and glanced at him, the corner of his eyes swept by the corner of his clothes in his hand, then inconspicuously raised the corner his lips, and draped his own outer robe onto his body along the way.

Actually, Xiao Zuo guessed right. When [He Xuan] fell down, his back got scraped by a tree branch into a big wound, he hastily used his inner robe to wrap around it, and now with the slightest of movement, it would hurt extensively, him shaking his hand just before…… was because he truthfully could not suppress it. He Xuan slightly narrowed his eyes, he stiffly straightened his back, then randomly picked up a branch on the ground, and poked around the bonfire in front.

Just when he was feeling drowsy, He Xuan heard Xiao Zuo softly murmur. He turned around and swept a gaze, and saw that Xiao Zuo’s cheeks were burned all red, his lips were so dry it was cracked, and the pitch-black lashes uneasily shook, like a hatchling flapping its wings on his heart.

He Xuan reached out and felt Xiao Zuo’s forehead, as expected, it was scorching, about to burn him into ashes.

“Xiao Zuo, Xiao Zuo!” He Xuan patted the person burned into a daze beneath him, “Don’t sleep, wake up.”

Xiao Zuo’s eyes were all glistening with water due to the high fever, the corner of his eyes were also damp, and the ends of his eyes seemed like it got brushed red from makeup, as though a yet-to-bloom crabapple.

“What is it?” Xiao Zuo arduously opened his mouth, and hazily looked at He Xuan, “I’m really sleepy.”

“You have a fever, I will go out to bring some cold water, you……” He Xuan choked up, his voice bore a never-before-seen helplessness and fear, “Don’t sleep, you understand?”

Xiao Zuo blankly looked at him, as though he did not understand what he said, and still firmly grasped onto the corner of his clothes. When he opened his mouth, each word connected to each other, like a rice cake added with a lot of sugar, “Brother Xuan…… don’t go.”

He Xuan paused from getting up, the wound on the back seemed to split open again, he could feel the sensation of the inner robe being stuck onto the flesh from the sticky blood.

“Don’t go.” The confused person on the side muttered again, his voice was even lighter now, muffled and stuck together, making He Xuan’s heart tighten up.

“En, I’m not going.” He Xuan sat back down again, and held Xiao Zuo’s fingers, prying them off one by one from his own clothes, then carefully gathered them into his own palm, “Hold on for a bit more, they should immediately be able to find us.”

“En.” Xiao Zuo closed his eyes, the fingers curled up in He Xuan’s hand, obediently not moving at all.

The surroundings sunk into an astonishing cold stillness, the mountain winds outside rolled up the rustling pines, pouring into the narrow and small cave, making the shivering bonfire to the side flicker.

He Xuan’s heart suddenly tightened, he slightly nervously gripped Xiao Zuo’s hand, and raised his voice, “Xiao Zuo! Li Nu! Don’t sleep!”

“Mm.” Xiao Zuo arduously replied, “Haven’t slept.”

“Do you want to chat?” He Xuan was worried he would sleep, and asked.

“Alright.” Xiao Zuo forcefully livened up, but his mind was still in a jumble, and what slipped out were the words he did not dare to say even after thinking it day and night, “Can you not get married?”

He Xuan froze, and turned his head to see Xiao Zuo’s tightly knitted eyebrows, the lips slightly opened like a fish struggling in a swamp, “You…… you……”

Xiao Zuo thought to something, and his eye sockets suddenly turned red, the left hand helplessly fiddled with the hay bedding beneath him, and after a moment, he dejectedly spat out a breath, “Never mind, I……”

He Xuan’s throat tightened, arduously swallowed, then forcefully suppressed the dull pain coming in to take advantage at the back, and stroked Xiao Zuo’s messy hair like he was comforting him, “Only with you.”

At this time, Xiao Zuo was so feverish his head was all dizzy, and did not realize what He Xuan said. He only blankly stared at He Xuan’s tightly pursed lips, hesitated for a while, and was about to open his mouth.

“Your Highness! Your Highness!” Several calls came from outside the cave from far to near, He Xuan’s expression froze up, then got up and went out the cave.