Forbidden to Bully the Storybook’s Heroine – Chapter 16

Trust

“Miss Jiang…”

Song Muyun called out softly. Jiang Yao glared at her and asked, “Have you put medicine on the wound?”

Her voice was a bit fierce, implicitly carrying the meaning of if you dare say you haven’t, you’re dead.

The little fairy¹, weak all over, felt a pang of guilt from being scolded and hurriedly nodded. Her voice was soft with a sickly frailty. “I have. It might have split open a little, but it’s nothing serious.”

That’s nothing serious!

Jiang Yao glared at her, then urged, “Take off your clothes. Let me see.”

She pulled a bottle of wound medicine from her robes, feeling a little anxious. She asked her again, “Has anyone been sent to fetch a doctor?”

Her face had gone so pale.

Hearing the word “doctor,” Song Muyun’s body stiffened slightly. After a moment, she pressed her lips together and shook her head. “No. It’s just a small injury. It’ll be fine once the medicine is on. There’s no need to trouble a doctor to come over.”

A woman’s chastity² was important; few would dare call a doctor for a flesh wound. Even if one came, they would only prescribe medicine. Jiang Yao understood this, but a surge of anger still rose in her heart—not at Song Muyun, but at Murong Qing.

“Then take off your clothes and let me see.”

The snow-white zhongyi³ was faintly stained with the color of blood. She wouldn’t be at ease until she saw the wound.

Song Muyun’s cheeks flushed slightly. She turned her head to the side, nervously pinching her sleeve. “You… you should go out first. I can handle it myself.”

They were clearly both women, yet she was too embarrassed to undress in front of her.

Jiang Yao was clearly a little confused, her brows and eyes filled with puzzlement. “You can’t handle it with me here? We’re both women, what’s wrong with letting me see?”

Song Muyun even quieted her breathing. She was a young lady raised in a family of scholarly fragrance⁴ and had never exposed her body before anyone.

Today… Jiang Yao actually wanted to see her body.

“This…”

The little fairy’s brows furrowed slightly, as if hesitating. The more Jiang Yao looked at that small, spreading bloodstain, the more of an eyesore it became. She wished she could just rip her clothes off directly, but she was afraid of tearing the wound.

After a moment of deliberation, Song Muyun finally made up her mind. She pressed her pale lips together and nodded in agreement, then obediently sat up and began to undo her buttons.

Her injuries were not light. Jiang Yao, while still angry, moved closer to support her, lest she be too exhausted to sit up.

With a moment of inattention, she found herself gently gathering a fairy who was thin as a skeleton into her arms, her own arm holding her back, lightly encircling her waist.

When she had taken off her clothes, what met Jiang Yao’s eyes were the dense, shocking whip marks covering her back. From top to bottom, there was almost no unblemished flesh; at the very least, it was bruised black and blue, a horrifying sight.

Jiang Yao had never even seen a woman with such severe injuries. Women were mostly physically weaker and thus found pain harder to bear. How could Murong Qing be so heartless as to do this to the one she loved? And how could Song Muyun endure a body full of such pain?

Song Muyun also looked down at her injuries. The one that had split open was on her waist. At the time, she had been standing at the door and hadn’t moved, so Murong Qing had taken the whip and struck her heavily. It hurt so, so much, but her only worry was that the hairpin Jiang Yao had given her would be broken by the blow.

Thankfully, she had protected the hairpin well.

At this thought, Song Muyun’s lips curved into a slight smile, earning her a glare from Jiang Yao, whose eyes were full of heartache but who deliberately put on a fierce expression. “Still smiling? You’re still smiling when you’re this injured? Is this what you call ‘handling it yourself’?”

Most of the wounds were only covered with a thin layer of medicinal powder; not even a strip of fine cloth⁵ had been tied around them. No wonder they had split open.

Jiang Yao frowned. “Do you have any clean cloth? I’ll apply the medicine and bandage it for you.”

The woman’s skin was as sparkling white as jade. Now, with her top off, she was quite embarrassed, her five slender fingers carefully clutching the blanket to cover her chest. Hearing the question, she paused for a moment, her voice growing softer. “I… I don’t have any fine cloth here. Is it okay to tear a piece of clothing to use?”

She tilted her head up to look at her, her gentle eyes holding fine, broken starlight⁶, filled with trust and reliance on the person before her.

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