I couldn’t hold back my excitement and took a deep breath: “Can you give me some of your blood? My… my mother is seriously ill. If she can be cured, we can leave here together.”
He didn’t answer immediately, and his body seemed a little stiff. I held my breath, fearing that if he didn’t agree to my request, my mother would lose her last hope. I raised my head in panic, looking at him pleadingly with tears in my eyes.
He stared at me with a dark look in his eyes. After a long silence, he suddenly raised his arm, lowered his head, and bit his wrist. A trace of blood oozed from his lips. I realized that his blood was not like that of ordinary people. It was purple-red, just like the color of flamestone, magnificent and unusual.
I suddenly remembered that the day I went to find him after being punished by my family, the medicine he applied to me was of this color, was it his blood?
When the blood dripped onto my clothes, I came to my senses and looked around for a container. Then I saw him pointing his finger and found a kettle on the ground. I quickly picked it up, poured water out of it, and used it to collect his blood.
How much is enough to save my mother?
Seeing his blood slowly flowing into the kettle, I was worried about the lack of blood and feared that he would lose too much blood. When the bottom of the kettle was covered by blood, I immediately stopped, but I saw his lips slightly open, and a piece of blood and flesh rolled down from between his teeth and fell into the kettle. I was so shocked that I was stunned for a moment, grabbed his wrist, and tore off my belt to bandage him. Tears welled up, and I couldn’t help yelling at him, “What are you doing?!”
He wiped the blood off his lips, staggered, and stood firm by holding onto the wall. His blue eyes stared at me deeply, his eyelashes trembling slightly: “Only in this way can the blood be fresh enough. Go save your mother, I’ll wait for you here.”
I was stunned, remembering that there were guards looking for him everywhere outside. If he went home with me, he would be arrested as soon as he showed up. And my home was even less safe, so he really had no choice but to hide here.
He didn’t want to be a young saint lord or a prince, so from now on, he could only wander around the world with me. For my promise, he gave up his original self and the opportunity to walk in the daylight.
“Alright. Wait for me to come back.” I clenched the kettle tightly and looked at him. “I will definitely come back.”
When I turned around, a pair of arms hugged me tightly again.
“I will wait for you, even if it takes forever.”
After leaving the cave, I didn’t care about my tiredness and ran all the way down the mountain.
When I reached the stream, I was so thirsty that I stopped to drink water.
I just squatted down and took a few sips when I heard a rustling sound behind me. Before I could get up, I saw a dark shadow behind me reflected on the water surface shimmering with moonlight.
I was startled, turned around, and immediately felt cold from head to toe — that was a security guard in my house, who always followed my father.
He followed me all the way to where Nalin was.
I realized something and screamed, but before I could say anything, a big hand covered my mouth tightly. A strange smell rushed into my nose, and my mind immediately became confused and my body became limp. I only heard a rough laugh in my ears: “The other day when I found those paintings in your room, I thought it was the second lady’s adulterer, but I didn’t expect it was the Young Saint Lord! The Young Master is really brave, you even dared to seduce the Young Saint Lord… Hehe, one thousand gold coins, I have to tell the Master to ask for the reward!”
No, Nalin… Nalin!
I woke up with a start. It was dark all around me, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood and rot.
Where was this?
I looked around and saw a few faint lights. They were windows sealed with wooden bars. When my eyes adjusted, I realized that this seemed to be my mother’s room. Where is my mother?
“Jia’er…”
At this moment, a very weak voice came from behind me. I turned around, and the blood in my body solidified instantly, a bald figure with a bloody body was lying among the rags, and she stretched out her trembling hand to me. Her hand… Mother’s slender hand, all ten nails of which were pulled out.
“Ah!” I screamed heartbreakingly and crawled to her.
My most beautiful mother was covered with whip wounds, not a single piece of healthy skin was left, her thick black hair was shaved off, and her face was covered with scratches. I trembled as I peeled off her torn clothes, and fortunately I found that although the skin on her back was covered with scars, it had not been peeled off.
I cried and was glad that my mother had not suffered the torture of being skinned. Then I remembered something and looked at my waist, where I saw the kettle was still there. I quickly unscrewed the stopper, held my mother’s face, and fed her Na Lin’s blood.
“Jia’er… what’s this?”
“This is the medicine that can save your life. Just listen to me, Mother. Drink it.”
“Where did Jia’er get the medicine from? How could Master… allow you to come in and take care of me?”
I bit my lower lip and fed her blood bit by bit without answering. How could it be allowed? It must be because I sneaked out and was found to be related to Nalin’s disappearance, so I was also locked up.
I dare not think about what Nalin is like now. My heart will break if I think about it.
Will he still be waiting for me in that cave?
Could it be that my father had reported his whereabouts to the soldiers and that he had been captured and taken back to the palace?
Will he mistakenly believe that I had betrayed my promise to him, cheated his heart and blood, and exchanged his love and freedom for a thousand gold coins, and then left in a despicable and ruthless way without ever returning?
“Jia’er, why are you crying?”
A chill passed through my eyes, and my mother gently wiped away my tears with her nailless fingers.
I shook my head, grabbed her wrist, and suppressed those messy thoughts.
The life and death of my mother is the most important thing at this moment. In the future, I will always have a chance to see Nalin again, right? As long as I explain it to him clearly, he will definitely not blame me. Even if he blames me, after a long time, I will always have a chance to coax him back. When Mother is well, we will go away together.
After my mother drank all the blood, I poured out the remaining blood and flesh of Nalin in the kettle, carefully wiped the wounds on my mother’s body, and found the remaining clean clothes in the room to change her clothes. When she fell asleep, I realized that I was actually very hungry. If I was like this, what about my mother, who had difficulty eating? I came to the window and saw through the narrow gap that the yard was pitch black. I couldn’t see my sister anywhere. The gate of the yard was locked. I couldn’t help but panic.
The side yard was completely locked, my sister was not here, and no servant had come to deliver a meal for such a long time during the day. Did the man who was once my father want to starve my mother and me to death?
I couldn’t believe my guess and shouted outside at the top of my lungs, but my voice became hoarse, I was too hungry to have any strength, and no one responded. I didn’t know when I fell asleep, and it was my mother’s voice that woke me up. When I opened my eyes, I found that the wounds on my mother’s body and hands were scabby, and her complexion was much better. I couldn’t help but feel surprised and happy, Nalin’s blood really worked wonders.
“Where did Jia’er find the elixir? Jia’er must have put a lot of effort into saving Mother, right?”
“Mother…” I was overjoyed and cried while hugging my mother. “It was given to me by Nalin… He is my sweetheart, the best person in the world.”
“But is it the girl[mfn]He/She has the same pronunciation in Chinese.[/mfn] that Jia’er painted?”
I smiled. My mother saw those paintings and thought he was a girl.
“My Jia’er is so filial. You should have had a good marriage and married the best girl in the world.” Mother combed my hair, her tears wet my cheeks, “It was Mother who hurt you and also hurt… Baluo. He and I had no personal feelings, he just wanted to help Mother. Mother had someone I truly loved a long time ago, and the relationship should have ended long ago. It was Mother’s fault. It was Mother who was shameless and unfaithful as a woman, and I brought trouble upon you guys…”
I was startled, thinking of my mother’s beautiful handwriting and her charming poems. A woman like her should not be confined in this deep house and be a canary in a cage for her whole life. The groom, Uncle Baluo, was a very kind person to us in this house. He stepped forward, and he must have been secretly in love with my mother for a long time.
“I’ll take you away, Mother.” I buried myself in her arms and murmured, “What bullsh*t woman’s way? If Mother has someone you truly love, I’ll take you to find him. Mother is the best and most beautiful woman in the world. Father is not worthy of you.”
My mother shuddered and hugged me tighter: “Jia’er, actually, the master is not your real father, your father is Tai…”
With a “clang”, the sound of a lock being unlocked came from outside.
I rushed to the window and saw two tall and strong servants coming in with lamps. I had a bad premonition in my heart. I went back to the bed and hugged my mom. Then I heard footsteps approaching the door.
It doesn’t look like they are here to deliver food, nor does it look like they are here to let us out.
