The Passerby Female Supporting Character – Chapter 77
by Little PandaThe Atmosphere Becomes a Bit Off
Song Linlin, red-faced, finished saying a string of words in one breath. It wasn’t until after she had spoken that she felt the damp, soft sensation in her palm, only then realizing that in her momentary panic just now, she had directly pressed her hand onto the lower half of Chi Qianning’s face.
The other person’s warm breath brushed against Song Linlin’s fingers. Her palm was pressed against two soft lips, the lips slightly moist. With Song Linlin covering them so forcefully, her palm naturally became slightly damp as well.
At this, Song Linlin’s mind went completely blank. Chi Qianning witnessed all of the other’s changing expressions and couldn’t help but find it amusing deep down. However, with her mouth covered, it was inconvenient to speak, so she could only blink her eyes at Song Linlin, signaling that she understood.
Song Linlin also hurriedly withdrew her hand. She didn’t dare to look if her palm was truly wet. Panicked, she thrust her hand into the quilt, yet didn’t know where to properly place it.
Chi Qianning’s face had clearly felt cold to the touch, yet Song Linlin inexplicably felt her palm growing hotter and hotter. She had no choice but to put her hand behind her back, inwardly suggesting to herself that if she couldn’t see it, she wouldn’t feel anything unusual. This was obviously self-deception; however, some things, the more one tried to ignore them in their heart, the more unforgettable they became.
Chi Qianning stared at Song Linlin and responded to what the other had said earlier, “Alright, then let’s sleep.”
After speaking, Chi Qianning lowered her head again, burying most of her head in the quilt, and closed her eyes, appearing as if she was genuinely trying to sleep seriously.
Song Linlin had been flustered by her for so long. Now, seeing Chi Qianning close her eyes, she also quietly let out a sigh of relief. She always felt that after being with this woman, many things would become strange. Now that the other person was finally going to sleep, Song Linlin also relaxed considerably, finally able to rest properly.
Under the quilt, Chi Qianning’s hand rested on the side of Song Linlin’s waist, near her ribs. She moved her fingers downwards, her palm shifting to the soft abdomen below. However, this movement unintentionally touched the knife wound on Song Linlin’s stomach. Song Linlin was immediately stimulated by the pain and sucked in a sharp breath.
“Sss——”
Song Linlin’s body instinctively shrank back, dodging the touch of the other’s hand. The accidentally touched wound throbbed with pain. Fortunately, after so many days of recuperation, although it hadn’t scabbed over, as long as the wound wasn’t pulled too violently, it wouldn’t bleed anymore.
Otherwise, it would have been horrifying right now; clearly lying in bed doing nothing, yet her stomach suddenly starting to seep blood would definitely scare the Lin Qianqian beside her.
Chi Qianning hadn’t expected that a casual movement of her hand would elicit such a strong reaction from Song Linlin opposite her. Moreover, seeing the other’s pained expression clearly startled Chi Qianning.
She subconsciously suspected if there were enemies ambushing them from the shadows. However, within Chi Qianning’s perception, there was no one suspicious in the entire inn, and Song Linlin’s room was even devoid of any other people around.
Chi Qianning could only take a step back and suspect herself. Could it be that she hadn’t controlled her power properly, causing it to leak out and injure Song Linlin?
But this possibility was even more minuscule. After all, it was her own power; how could she not know if she had used it or not?
Unable to figure out the reason, Chi Qianning could only first concern herself with Song Linlin’s condition. She didn’t dare to touch Song Linlin again and anxiously asked, “Song Linlin, what’s wrong with you?”
“Wu… It’s nothing…” Song Linlin clutched the wound with one hand, the pain making her unable to stop frowning.
But when Chi Qianning saw her in this state, she became even more anxious. She immediately sat up in bed and, reaching out, yanked open the quilt covering them.
Then, Chi Qianning saw Song Linlin under the quilt, bent over, her upper body curled up, with her hand placed on her stomach. It seemed she was injured on her stomach.
“Song Linlin, are you alright? Are you injured?” Chi Qianning pressed urgently.
“It’s nothing, it’s nothing, don’t worry about me…”
Song Linlin extended her free hand and waved it, signaling Chi Qianning not to worry too much. The pain had come quickly and also subsided quickly; Song Linlin was already feeling much better than at the very beginning.
Seeing that the other still had the strength to wave her hand, Chi Qianning’s anxious mood calmed down somewhat. She knew Song Linlin wasn’t someone who would try to act tough. If she had truly suffered a very serious injury, she definitely wouldn’t be as calm as she was now and would have asked for her help long ago.
Since Song Linlin could still wave her hand, it certainly wasn’t a very urgent matter. However, Chi Qianning still moved closer to her and asked with concern, “What exactly happened? Why do you look like this?”
Song Linlin shook her head, forcing out what she thought was a relatively relaxed smile, and said, “It’s fine, it’s just a mere fatal wound! It’s all a trivial matter1.”
“What?!”
Chi Qianning’s heart, which had just settled, was once again sent soaring. Song Linlin’s deliberately lighthearted words truly startled Chi Qianning. She thought to herself:
What’s going on? How could Song Linlin have suffered such a serious injury?!
The most crucial thing is, having suffered such a grievous injury, how can Song Linlin still laugh so heartlessly2 like this?!
Chi Qianning quickly waved her hands and said nervously, “You should stop talking nonsense for now. Just lie down properly and don’t move. Let me handle the rest.”
After once mistakenly believing Song Linlin had died, Chi Qianning had gone through so much to find her again. She absolutely did not want to experience losing her a second time; that feeling was truly too despairing.
“It’s fine, no need to be nervous!”
Song Linlin looked at Chi Qianning sitting beside her, flustered and at a loss, and offered this word of comfort. She wasn’t in that much pain anymore; the sensation of pain had disappeared very quickly.
Lowering the hand that was clutching her soft abdomen, Song Linlin propped herself up on the mattress with her palms and sat up from the bed, facing Chi Qianning. Their lines of sight were parallel. Seeing the other still tense, Song Linlin added a few more words of explanation.
“I’m really fine! This is an old injury. Just now, you only accidentally touched the spot of the wound. Plus, I don’t have a constitution that can tolerate pain very well, so that’s why I had such a big reaction.”
“It’s been over a month since this happened. The wound isn’t nearly as severe as it was before. It’s okay that you accidentally touched it!”
Chi Qianning’s emotions rose and fell. She keenly noted the key phrase “over a month.” A wound that hadn’t completely healed in over a month definitely wouldn’t be some superficial injury.
And this wound was very likely the one inflicted when Song Linlin encountered people from the Wenxin Cult at the edge of Luojiang Cliff, left when those people attacked her.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you still had an unhealed wound here…” Chi Qianning’s expression immediately became dejected, and she spoke with some self-reproach.
Song Linlin couldn’t bear to see Chi Qianning with such an expression. She quickly waved her hand and said, “It’s alright. You didn’t even know about this, how could I blame you?”
“It was just an accidental touch, really. It didn’t even hurt that much. Don’t take it to heart.”
Chi Qianning lowered her gaze to Song Linlin’s abdomen. She had actually been able to faintly sense a bit of blood qi3 on Song Linlin before. However, at the time, Chi Qianning hadn’t thought much of it, merely assuming the other was having her monthly period4. Thinking back now, it was probably the bloody scent emanating from the wound.
For the wound to not have healed after so long, it must have been a very deep stab. The pain when she was pierced must have also been extremely intense.
Someone like Song Linlin, who was so afraid of getting hurt, being stabbed so severely by those Wenxin Cult scumbags5—Chi Qianning found it unforgivable just thinking about it. She suddenly felt a bit of regret now, that she had let those few people die so easily. That was truly letting them off too lightly6!
Seeing Chi Qianning opposite her staring blankly at her stomach, Song Linlin thought the other was still feeling guilty and quickly offered a few more words of comfort.
“I’m really alright! It doesn’t hurt at all now!”
Chi Qianning could tell that this was Song Linlin comforting her. Clearly, the one who was injured and in pain was Song Linlin, yet this fellow still had the mind to comfort others right now.
Chi Qianning nodded, raised her head, and managed a smile at Song Linlin. “Okay.”
Seeing Chi Qianning smile, Song Linlin also believed that the other was probably no longer feeling guilty. It was already late at night. Song Linlin was just about to suggest they continue sleeping when Chi Qianning spoke:
“Can I take a look?” Chi Qianning asked softly.
Song Linlin didn’t understand what the other meant for a moment and asked back, “Look at what? The wound?”
“En.”
Chi Qianning nodded. To prevent Song Linlin from misunderstanding her, she added, “I brought some top-quality wound medicine ointment with me on this trip. Since your wound hasn’t healed yet, let me help you apply a little medicine to it. It should heal faster that way.”
“Don’t refuse me, otherwise I’ll feel very bad about it…”
“Wu…”
Song Linlin thought for two seconds, then nodded. Her wound had healed so slowly, and part of the reason was that Song Linlin hadn’t applied any medicine to it at all. Previously, she hadn’t used medicine simply because Song Linlin only had forty liang of silver on her entire person. She had to save most of that money for travel expenses back to the Xuanyun Sect.
Those highly effective medicines were all very expensive. Forty liang of silver might very well not have been enough. Song Linlin had no choice but to rely on self-healing to recover from her injuries.
Later, when she had money, Song Linlin wasn’t in a hurry to buy medicine either, thinking it was better to reach her destination first and then buy some wound medicine another day.
But now that there was some readily available, and the other person had already said as much, what was there for her to be reserved about? In any case, no matter what, she wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.
Moreover, Lin Qianqian was from Piaoxue City; perhaps the wound medicine from there was even more effective than what Song Linlin could buy now.
So, Song Linlin nodded, not refusing at all. “Okay then, I’ll trouble you.”
Chi Qianning took out a small white porcelain jar. Inside was wound medicine that was very useful even for her, let alone Song Linlin. It was estimated that one application would allow the wound to heal by the next morning.
Now, both of them were sitting on the bed. Chi Qianning held the medicine in one hand, then looked at Song Linlin. As it turned out, Song Linlin just sat there in place, without making any other movements. The two of them stared at each other, big eyes meeting small eyes.
After a silence of two or three seconds, Chi Qianning finally spoke. Her voice was very soft as she said, somewhat awkwardly, “Um… if you don’t expose the wound, then I can’t apply the medicine for you.”
Only then did Song Linlin have a sudden realization, and then she also felt inexplicably awkward. Her wound was on the lower right side of her abdomen. To expose the wound meant that Song Linlin would have to at least take off her outer garment, and then lift up half of her inner garment. Only then could the medicine be applied smoothly.
Logically speaking, Song Linlin shouldn’t have felt awkward. As a modern person, she wouldn’t even feel embarrassed going out in a camisole7 during the height of summer to stay cool.
But now, with the two of them sitting on the same bed, Song Linlin looked at Chi Qianning and just felt that the atmosphere was becoming a bit off…
Footnotes
- 小意思 | xiǎo yìsi | Lit. “small meaning/token.” Often used to mean “a piece of cake,” “a trivial matter,” or “just a small token (of appreciation).”
- 没心没肺 | méixīnméifèi | Lit. “no heart, no lungs.” Describes someone who is simple-minded, carefree, thoughtless, or sometimes heartless/unfeeling.
- 血气 | xuèqì | Lit. “blood energy/smell.” Can refer to the smell of blood, vitality, or sometimes hot-bloodedness/courage. Here, it likely refers to the faint smell of blood or the aura of an unhealed wound.
- 月事 | yuèshì | Lit. “monthly affair.” A common and somewhat polite term for menstruation.
- 杂碎 | zásuì | Lit. “mixed bits/offal.” A derogatory term meaning scoundrel, bastard, good-for-nothing, scumbag. It’s quite offensive.
- 便宜他们了 | piányi tāmen le | Lit. “it’s cheap for them.” Means they got off too easily, it was too good a deal for them, they didn’t get what they deserved.
- 吊带背心 | diàodài bèixīn | Lit. “suspenders vest.” Refers to a camisole, spaghetti-strap top, or tank top.
0 Comments