Beiji

Chapter 3 (Pt. 2)

The man on the ground showed no signs of waking, and Wan Xue retrieved his pack, about to hoist it onto his back and leave, when he noticed again the blood on Meng Yuan's clothes. Just how badly injured was he, he wondered. So he knelt beside him again and pulled back his clothing enough to see the wound. The strike that had caused his injury had torn through some of his clothes and sliced open his flesh just below his ribs, extending from his left side and partially up the front toward his stomach. It wasn't deep, but even for a man as seemingly sturdy as the emperor, an injury like this paired with running and then being punched directly next to the wound would undoubtedly be enough to push him towards unconsciousness, not to mention the blood loss it must have incurred given the red soaking through the fabric at a steady pace even yet.

What was most odd, however, was that it looked like it had been caused by a knife or a sword. Wan Xue was hardly an expert, so he didn't know exactly what type of weapon had caused the wound, but it was clearly some kind of blade. Who could have gotten close enough to the emperor to inflict such a wound?

The injury was still bleeding, and Wan Xue instinctually pressed the cloth of Meng Yuan's clothes against the opening to staunch it. He hesitated to leave, wondering if the man would bleed out on the floor of his house – or rather, of his landlady's house – if he didn't wake up in time to treat his own wound. As he retrieved a few things from his already packed belongings, he told himself this was the only reason he was assisting him. There was no need to drag her into this.

But in reality, his feelings on the matter were more complicated. He had never intentionally hurt anyone, let alone left them to die. He'd never been faced with the opportunity for the latter before, and certainly never regarding someone who had hurt him so deeply.

Even so, he cleaned the blood from the other man's flesh and bound up the wound as best he could in as short a time as possible. He had no intention of being here when the emperor woke. There was blood on his hands again, so he wiped off his hands, then checked that the wound wasn't bleeding through his haphazard bandaging. A slight groan caused his head to jerk up, and he watched as Meng Yuan scrunched up his brow and opened his eyes a slit.

This slight action caused a much more extreme reaction in Wan Xue as he pulled his hands back from the man's wound, trying to move away as quickly as possible, and succeeded instead in falling to his side. He was still in the process of pushing himself back up, ignoring the pain in his ribs, when he felt a hand on his leg – the closest part of him to Meng Yuan.

"Wait!" The man was already sitting up, his other hand clutching the wound on his side. His eyes, originally focused on his injury as well, now drifted to Wan Xue's escaping form. "Thank you," he said kindly.

That's right. Meng Yuan didn't know who Wan Xue was anymore. He could simply accept the gratitude and then leave. With a pounding heart, Wan Xue ducked his head in response and then moved his leg away from the hand on it. Meng Yuan released him without any resistance, and Wan Xue stood from the ground, walking over to pick up his pack.

"You're leaving?"

Wan Xue merely nodded, turning away and walking to his door.

But before he even had a chance to undo the bolt, Meng Yuan scrambled up from the ground and was behind him, moving much more quickly than any injured person had any right to. Before he could speak, Wan Xue had turned around, hearing the sound of his movement, and was ready to hit him again if necessary. Meng Yuan reacted instantly, putting an open hand over Wan Xue's poised fist before he'd even moved it toward him.

Whatever Meng Yuan had been about to ask was lost then, another question forming on his lips involuntarily instead. "Why are you so afraid of me?"

When Wan Xue was silent, his only response his eyes skirting away, Meng Yuan's eyes lit up with sudden hope. "Do you know me?" he asked, causing Wan Xue to look back at him. Seeing the hope in his eyes, his answer was instantaneous.