Evil Spirit - chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Young Princess!”

A hurried call stopped Li Jiaojiao’s laughter. She poked her head out from Duan Qinglian’s embrace and saw Shen Yunlan supporting Fang Zhiyi as they appeared.

Shen Yunlan’s clothes and hair were disheveled, her breath ragged, while Fang Zhiyi’s head drooped on her shoulder, unconscious. A large patch of blood dripped from the sleeve of his Feiyu Robe, splattering a trail of plum blossoms along the way.

“Brother Zhiyi!” The scene before her frightened Li Jiaojiao. She sprang out of Duan Qinglian’s arms and ran, her steps echoing, toward the injured Fang Zhiyi.

Pear blossoms were still falling in the courtyard, landing on shoulders, on hair, on the ground, covering the entire yard.

Duan Qinglian lowered his gaze, his pale fingers gently closing, feeling the softness of the girl’s hair that had just fallen into his palm. But everything scattered as she left.

He frowned, looking in the direction where Li Jiaojiao had run.

“Yunlan Sister, what happened to Brother Zhiyi? And you, are you hurt?”

Taking half the weight from Shen Yunlan’s hands, Li Jiaojiao turned her head to look at her.

She had long lost her usual cold beauty; her brows drooped, the corners of her eyes were red, and she looked utterly lost.

“I was too careless. While tracking that Fox Demon, I was ambushed. Fang Siwei took a claw for me…”

As the saying goes, beauties are always charming, especially someone as cool and stunning as Shen Yunlan. Suddenly, seeing her on the verge of tears stirred a deep sense of pity in Li Jiaojiao’s heart.

“It’s alright, Yunlan Sister. I think Brother Zhiyi just hurt his arm, it shouldn’t be anything serious.”

Li Jiaojiao pursed her lips into what she thought was her kindest, most friendly smile, and took out a handkerchief from her waist to offer Shen Yunlan.

“No, my hands are covered in demon blood. I fear it would soil the young Princess’s handkerchief.” Shen Yunlan paused, then refused. “Just his arm? Then why hasn’t he woken up? This can’t be delayed. Young Princess, watch over Fang Siwei, I’ll go find a doctor.”

“Ah?”

Before Li Jiaojiao could react, Shen Yunlan let go and rushed out of the backyard. The boy’s tall, strong body immediately pressed down, and Li Jiaojiao had to use all her strength to prop Fang Zhiyi up even a little.

Wait, is this really the female lead? Her emotional recovery is so fast? All the concern and attempts to get closer to the beauty that Li Jiaojiao had planned hadn’t even been spoken yet.

Once Shen Yunlan was far enough away, Li Jiaojiao took a deep breath, lifted her little foot clad in blue embroidered shoes, and counted silently.

Three, two, one.

Her foot came down hard, stomping on the black boots beneath the Feiyu Robe. A miserable scream followed, and the heavy weight on her body disappeared.

“Li Jiaojiao!” Fang Zhiyi wailed, clutching his knees and hopping in pain, calling her name resentfully.

Did this look like someone gravely injured and unconscious?

“Oh~ So you were faking it. I saw right through you.”

She had started suspecting as soon as she saw Fang Zhiyi’s wound. Who gets knocked out from just an arm injury?

Immediately, Fang Zhiyi’s expression changed. Supporting his injured right arm, he sidled up to her: “Jiaojiao, after all these years together, you have to help me out, right?”

…

Duan Qinglian remained standing under the pear tree, watching as the girl who had just shaken the tree for him still hadn’t lowered her sleeves, whispering with the boy in the dark Feiyu Robe.

The girl’s expression changed several times in just a moment-playful, frowning, her almond eyes flashing with anger before settling into resignation, far more than when she was with him. Then she turned and climbed the stairs, the somewhat annoying boy placing his hand on her shoulder, his other hand reaching into her pouch to fish out a glossy candy, which he tossed into his mouth with an infuriating expression.

The drumbeat in his chest stopped, replaced by a hollow sense of loss, as if his heart had been gouged out.

Ah, no, he never had a heart to begin with.

Duan Qinglian touched his chest, his lips curving in a stiff smile.

Perhaps he had never spent much time with others, and now he was becoming strange himself.

*

Inside the guest room, a white-bearded doctor was checking Fang Zhiyi’s pulse as he lay on the bed.

The doctor’s expression was not good. He got up to lift Fang Zhiyi’s eyelids for a look, then pinched his jaw to check his tongue.

“Strange, strange.”

Finally, the doctor shook his head repeatedly.

How could it not be strange? The person on the bed was perfectly fine.

Li Jiaojiao thought she must have lost her mind. Otherwise, why would she agree to help Fang Zhiyi hide his act of feigning unconsciousness? All this just so he could lean on Shen Yunlan’s shoulder. And now, he had dragged a bunch of people into making up lies for him.
To block Shen Yunlan’s view, Li Jiaojiao stepped forward and leaned against the bed. Suddenly, Fang Zhiyi cracked one eye open, slipped a silver ingot into the doctor’s hand, and started winking and making faces.

The doctor shot him a look that said, “I get it.”

“Miss, this young man’s internal injuries are very serious.”

What the hell?

Li Jiaojiao was stunned. These two actually managed to pull off a silent exchange that would make even a dog shake its head?

That line made Shen Yunlan’s eyes narrow sharply.

“What? Isn’t he hurt on the outside?”

The doctor stroked his beard, putting on a grave face. “The wounds go deeper than the skin. I’ve practiced medicine for years-I never misdiagnose.”

“Then… please write a prescription, I’ll go get the medicine.” Shen Yunlan seemed half-convinced and hurried over to the doctor for the prescription.

The old doctor slowly packed up his tools and put them back in his medicine chest. “No rush. I’ll write the prescription, of course. But let me remind you: the patient is weak and can’t spend the night alone. Someone needs to stay with him.”

“I understand. Thank you, sir.” Shen Yunlan, completely oblivious to the trick, even bowed and thanked him.

Such a righteous and kind heroine!

Just as Li Jiaojiao was sighing, the old doctor slung his medicine chest over his shoulder, and with a hand hidden under his sleeve, made a gesture behind his back toward the bed. Fang Zhiyi instantly shot him a thumbs-up.

…

This old man is wasted as a doctor.

After Shen Yunlan saw the doctor out, she picked up the prescription and went to the pharmacy, leaving the room finally quiet.

“She’s gone, why are you still pretending?” Li Jiaojiao yanked the quilt off.

The person playing dead on the bed immediately jumped up. “Little Ancestor! I’m actually hurt, you know. Can’t you be a little gentler?”

“Gentle? You’ve made me a liar. Not twisting your head off is already me doing right by Uncle Fang.”

The more Fang Zhiyi acted like this, the angrier Li Jiaojiao got. She couldn’t understand how the original could be so hopelessly devoted to him. Was it because she had a thing for dumb, pretty boys?

“Jiaojiao, come on, sit down.” Fang Zhiyi put on a big grin and pressed Li Jiaojiao down to sit at the edge of the bed.

Nine times out of ten, he was about to start rambling about their childhood.

“Jiaojiao, you know, ever since we can remember, our fathers got along well, and we’ve always been close since we were kids. When you came to the General’s Mansion to play, you wet your pants and I took off my own pants for you to wear…”

“Fang Zhiyi!”

She thought he’d just reminisce about their childhood mischief, but she didn’t expect him to start off with something so outrageous.

Seriously… unbelievable.

“You remember now, don’t you? And there’s more. Once, you buried yourself in the sand and couldn’t get out. Your father led everyone in the Junwang Mansion searching for you all day, and in the end, it was me who dug you out of the sand…”

“Stop.” Li Jiaojiao slapped her hand over Fang Zhiyi’s endlessly chattering mouth.

Thank you, now she understood why the original was so hung up on Fang Zhiyi.

“As long as you don’t bring up the past, everything’s fine.”

“That’s my good Jiaojiao.” Seeing Li Jiaojiao compromise, Fang Zhiyi raised his brows and grinned smugly. “By the way, do you still have any of that candy from earlier?”

He asked politely, but his hand had already reached his waist, pulling out a shiny candy from his pouch.

“Fang Zhiyi, are you some kind of eight-legged spider?!”

“Even if I am, I’m a dashing, charming young spider.” With that, he tossed the candy into the air, and the tempting sweet spun an arc before landing in his mouth.

Fang Zhiyi savored the sweetness, rolling the candy with his tongue until it slid to his right cheek, forming a little mound. He leaned against the bedhead, his tied hair and half-loose hairband draped over his shoulders, sharp sword-like brows relaxed, and his starry eyes bright.

In that moment, most of the gloom in Li Jiaojiao’s heart dissipated. A dumb pretty boy is still a pretty boy.

Moreover, Fang Zhiyi was the male lead, and his looks weren’t much worse than Duan Qinglian’s. It’s just that his handsomeness and Duan Qinglian’s were two extremes.

Fang Zhiyi was cheerful by nature. Although his brain didn’t work well most of the time, he gave off the vibe of a passionate, clear-cut young man, like a blazing sun.

Duan Qinglian was the complete opposite. He was extremely beautiful, like cold jade, like dew, like all things fragile, yet brimming with danger, just like a beautiful but poisonous flower.

Enough, Li Jiaojiao finally remembered Duan Qinglian.

“Brother Zhiyi, did you see Ah Qing?”

The person on the bed paused. “Wasn’t Young Master Duan just here? Huh, where did he go?”