zChapter 1293 - [Linger] Can or can’t?
Chapter 1293: [Linger] Can or can’t?
Leaving aside someone seriously injured, even an ordinary person wouldn’t live long just lying in the snow. Mu Linger took matters into her own hands and personally dragged the woman into the stone house. But Jin Zi pulled her up and frowned at the wounds on her face. “Put medicine on them.”
“Drag her in first, or she’ll die,” Mu Linger replied.
“She deserves it!” Jin Zi declared.
“You really don’t want to know about your origins?” Mu Linger huffed. She wasn’t even sure why she was angry. Whenever she talked to this guy, she’d lose her temper within three sentences.
“I don’t need you to care about my affairs! Go apply medicine.” Jin Zi dragged her towards the house, but Mu Linger shook herself free.
“I don’t need you to worry about my matters either!”
“You!” Jin Zi held back back a breath, feeling miserable as he cursed, “Mu Linger, how stupid can be you? Did you parents give you any brains? Don’t you know how dangerous it is here? Who let you come?”
Cursing me is enough, but you brought my parents into too? Mu Linger was furious. “Jin Zi, I’ll say it for the last time: I don’t need you to worry about my matters! Don’t you understand human speech? You right now, immediately, this instant, hurry up and take that woman inside! If she dies, you won’t even have time to cry!”
“It’s none of my damned business whether she dies or not!” Jin Zi had gone mad with rage.
He risked his life and braved ice and snow to force a passage through the mountains. His clothes had been soaked, dried, and soaked again multiple times, but he never stopped to change them, all the better to find her faster. But she didn’t appreciate his efforts? Wasn’t she supposed to be a crybaby? After suffering so much, wasn’t she supposed to jump into his arms and sob? Instead, she was arguing with him instead?
What kind of woman was she?
Mu Linger was angry too. Why was it so difficult to communicate with Jin Zi, this guy?
“How many times do I have to say it before you understand? Do you really not understand human speech? If she dies, you won’t be able to track down your origins anymore! Have you been searching for your identity this entire time?” Mu Linger demanded.
“You’re worried I won’t find out my identity?” Jin Zi was irate.
“I am worried!” Mu Linger fumed.
The two of them suddenly fell silent after her words, their gazes meeting before both looked aside. Very soon, Mu Linger was hastily making explanations. “I’m worried you’ll end up blaming me in the end if you can’t track down your origins! I’m not gonna take that blame!”
“Many thanks for the reminder!” Jin Zi shot back before striding over to pick up the unconscious woman princess-style in his arms. Seeing this, Mu Linger actually creased her brows—though she wasn’t aware of the action.
Jin Zi placed the woman on the only stone bed in the house before she entered and asked, “How are Big White’s injuries?”
“His blood is poisonous, so don’t touch him indiscriminately. They’ll heal on their own,” Jin Zi said coldly.
Mu Linger didn’t reply but went to the bed.
Jin Zi couldn’t stand it any longer. “You’re still not applying medicine? If your looks are ruined, you can forget about marrying anyone in this lifetime!”
She ignored him but still obediently went to dispense medicine and apply it to her face. Luckily the scratches weren’t deep, so it was possible to recover. Afterwards, she sat down and said, “Why did you come?”
“What, you didn’t want me to?” Jin Zi retorted.
Mu Linger fell silent for a while before she finally murmured, “Thanks.” If he hadn’t shown up, she didn’t know what would have happened, or whether she’d even live.
It wasn’t clear whether Jin Zi accepted her thanks, but he remained silent without saying a word. The two of them sat there while the woman remained unconscious. By the time it was fully dark, Mu Linger rose to her feet and said, “I’ll go cook.”
“Mu Linger!” Jin Zi called her back. “Who did you hope would come, then?” Things were so dangerous and she was even bullied to tears. Who else did she want to come?
“Who did you hope for most of all?” he asked.
Although Mu Linger didn’t turn around, she did stop in her tracks.
Who did I want to come? If Jin Zi hadn’t asked, she wouldn’t have considered the question. Right, I was bullied to tears. Who did I want to save me most of all? If this was the past, the first person I’d think of was Qi gege for sure. For sure!
But this time her mind had been blank. She didn’t think of anyone because she had no hope or expectations. Maybe she had finally grown up because she wouldn’t fantasize about impossible things anymore? She was quite clear that Qi gege wouldn’t show up. It was impossible for him to come.
“No one,” Mu Linger was honest. “I only wished that my martial arts was better.”
She was about to leave when Jin Zi suddenly spoke. “Mu Linger, can I ask you a question?”
Mu Linger didn’t speak, but she didn’t move either. Jin Zi walked over until he was standing behind her. She waited for him to speak but didn’t get anything. As she prepared to ask him herself, he suddenly wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly in his embrace.
He said, “Mu Linger, since your heart holds no hopes…then since I came this time…will you hope for me to come next time?”
Jin Zi clearly felt the person in his arms go stiff. He buried his head against her shoulder and shut his eyes, waiting for an answer—or rather, for his judgment. Although he knew it was impossible, he couldn’t help but ask; although he knew she didn’t love him, he couldn’t resist speaking of love; although he knew he could simply force it, he didn’t force her in the end, but only asked.
Mu Linger had long shut her eyes as soon as Jin Zi touched her. There were tears in them, though she wasn’t sure whether they were leftover from before or newly formed.
She was afraid. Of what? She didn’t know.
Although it had been ages since she thought of Qi gege, she suddenly recalled him again, though she didn’t know the reason. In her world, over a decade’s worth of a life, she had only given her love to Qi gege and no one else! But in those same years, nobody had loved her back, including Qi gege.
Was she afraid?
Or just not used to it?
She couldn’t read her own heart and realized she couldn’t even understand her own feelings. Currently, she had no strength to consider them. She only wanted to escape and hide away.
“Let go of me,” Mu Linger was all choked up.
Jin Zi instantly opened his eyes. “You haven’t answered my question yet.”
Mu Linger was about to speak when he cut her off. “Give me an answer after you’ve thought it through. I managed to wait two years, so I don’t mind waiting a few more.”
He let go as soon as he finished. Mu Linger rushed outside and hid where Jin Zi couldn’t see to burst into sobs. She didn’t even know why she was crying, only that she wanted to because she was miserable.
Why?
Why do I feel so wretched?
By the time she came back, Jin Zi had already finished cooking to wait for her. Her eyes were red from her tears, making it impossible to hide. But he pretended that nothing had happened and sat by the table with eyes lowered, a cold expression on his face. Mu Linger looked at the food on the table and was more or less distracted. It smelled so, so good! There was a bowl of bacon rice—although it only had mushrooms and bacon—cooked to a mouth-watering taste and smell.
“Eat it while it’s hot,” Jin Zi said cooly.
“Thanks,” Mu Linger sat down.
She ate a few bites before showing an expression of disbelief. This was absolutely delicious! Just a few ingredients and some simple seasoning, how did he do it? He was in such a bad mood but still had the thought to cook something so yummy?
Mu Linger was actually starving. She devoured bite after bite without stopping, but Jin Zi never touched his chopsticks. He stared at her coldly the entire time. Soon she sensed his eyes and turned around with her bowl, leaving him her back.
Jin Zi’s hands formed into fists. Does this woman care or not? She was crying so miserably just then, but now she’s in a mood to eat? He had a bad temper and even worse patience, so he wasn’t sure why this woman hadn’t angered him to death yet!
Neither of them spoke after the meal.
It was already late night and the snowy gales were huge outside. Everything was dark. The tigers, wolves, and leopards all remained on guard outside while Jin Zi and Mu Linger didn’t leave the stone house. It was a very simple place with two rooms. The bedroom was the inner room while the kitchen was the outer, with a curtain dividing both sections. The only bed had been taken by the unconscious woman, so Jin Zi and Mu Linger could only sit.
Eventually, Jin Zi went to the kitchens and spread all the thatching on the floor. He summoned a big white tiger to lie down inside before calling for Mu Linger.
“You won’t freeze to death if you sleep next to the tiger. Make do for a night,” he said coldly.
“What about you?” Mu Linger asked.
But Jin Zi only shot back, “Don’t bother about me!”
He dashed towards the bedroom, but Mu Linger stomped her feet and muttered, “Can’t we just talk properly?” She had a short fuse and was rarely patient with anything except searching for Qi gege and prescribing medicine. She didn’t know how she managed to be patient with Jin Zi again and again. If she hadn’t endured, they would be arguing with every word they said!
Mu Linger laid on the thatch and nestled against the big white tiger. Strangely enough, she started to stop fearing tigers thanks to her ample trust in Jin Zi. Beyond Big White, she didn’t fear any other tigers, either.
Although she was clearly exhausted to death, Mu Linger couldn’t fall asleep. She stared at the door curtains and wondered what Jin Zi was doing in the bedroom.
A lonely man and a single woman, but he’s not shy about it a bit!
As soon as Mu Linger thought that, Jin Zi suddenly emerged and she squeezed her eyes shut to pretend to sleep. Jin Zi found more thatch in a corner and spread it out across from her, before calling another tiger inside. He too, leaned against the animal to sleep by her side. Thus, both of them became a single man and woman lying very close in the same room. If she stretched out her leg, she would touch his.
Mu Linger was relaxed, but now she grew uneasy. A long, long time later, she snuck open an eye to see Jin Zi with his head bowed, arms crossed over his chest seemingly in sleep. Only then did she dare to open both eyes to study him.
He really was very, very good-looking. Besides Qi gege, she had never seen such a handsome man. But while Qi gege’s looks tended to the evilly seductive type, his beauty was simply very, very cold.
What kind of man was he?
As Mu Linger stared and wondered, Jin Zi suddenly moved a hand to cover his face. Mu Linger’s heart chilled before she flushed.
This guy is actually awake!