Ji Nuan did not cry easily.

However, after pushing Mo Jingshen to sit and tugging his shirt aside, she finally saw that he had more than back and head injuries. His entire body was covered in wounds. At the same time, there were beads of blood slowly rolling down the back of his head and his neck. In that instant, her tears suddenly fell.

It turns out that those people did not only keep him locked in there. She guessed that they had punished him cruelly on the first day he was captured. Mo Jingshen is not someone they can easily control; they must have given up eventually and decided to lock him up in hopes of gradually forcing him to speak.

However, things didn’t go as they expected.

Mo Jingshen was about to push her hand aside. However, Ji Nuan stayed stubbornly behind him and helped him remove his shirt. Due to the sticky blood, the fabric clung against his skin and was difficult to remove. Ji Nuan carefully tugged it down. Although the man did not move, but when she glanced ahead, she saw that Mo Jingshen had closed his eyes.

She was sure that the wounds were still hurting.

How could it not? She was pulling the fabric off of his raw flesh. How could it possibly not hurt?

“You don’t have to hold your voice in if it hurts.” Ji Nuan rubbed her tears away and considered if it was better to rip it off or slowly pulled it off. But she felt that the slower she went, the more torturous it would be.

“Will it stop hurting if I scream?” The man’s voice carried a hint of a smile; his voice was low and deep, always managing to help calm her emotions.

Ji Nuan stood up and headed to the bathroom in the cabin to retrieve a clean towel. She folded it up and handed it to him. “You can bite onto this first.”

Mo Jingshen glanced at her shiny, wet eyes and her reddened nose. His lips curved slightly as he reached out to receive the towel. However, instead of using it, he placed it aside and tugged Ji Nuan over, urging her to sit on his lap. He embraced her and raised his hand to caress her long hair. Back at the camp, no matter how they beat or scolded her, she never once cried. Now, he watched as the little woman who was fearless in the face of death cried for him.

The man’s long fingers ran through her hair and finally paused on her back. He softly and tenderly rubbed her back.

“Nuan Nuan.” The man’s warm and patient voice rang in her ears.

Ji Nuan knew that she had lost her composure. She rubbed her nose and raised her shiny, wet eyes to look at him.

“Pain is unavoidable. I’m also human. I’ll experience pain like anyone else. But this sort of physical pain cannot compare to what you’ve seen and experienced today.” He rubbed her back, gently saying, “In a place like this, having such an experience helps us realize how delicate life really is. It teaches us to treasure the peace we have and to celebrate that we’ve managed to stay alive. These wounds will recover with time. But the moment a person’s heart is wounded, the injuries will only grow deeper.”

Ji Nuan wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face there, staying silent.

“Putting yourself in harm’s way, and even using your own body as a bargaining chip to bring me away safely is something I hope will never happen again. Ever.” His arms were wrapped around her waist. Even though it had been days since he had eaten, his grip was still firm and unwavering.

She understood that the emotional turmoil Mo Jingshen had experienced today was not light.

Ji Nuan sat in his embrace obediently. She softly made and ‘en’ sound and did not refute him.

Right now, he was a patient. Everything he said was right. She was not going to argue with him or be stubborn.

“All right, these are only superficial wounds. Wipe your tears away.” The man patted her head: “Go bring over some warm water. Slowly wipe downward against the wounds on my back. This way, my shirt will come off easier.”

Ji Nuan wiped her eyes and stood up to do as he instructed. She brought the warm water over but, just as she was about to continue cleaning his wounds, she hesitated: “Your injuries are so bad. Is it a good idea to touch water?”

“At this stage, there’s no difference whether or not the injuries touch the water. Take my shirt off and disinfect the wounds after.” Mo Jingshen remained composed, showing a clear difference from her flustered state. Indeed, when faced with danger, men and women would display the differences in their composure and observation.

Ji Nuan was just about to touch the water when Mo Jingshen abruptly noticed the bandages around her hand. “Forget it, we’ll deal with it after we return. Your hands can’t touch water.”

“I’m fine. Feng Ling has already dealt with my wounds. My left hand’s fingers aren’t injured. It’s fine if I hold the towel this way. Unless you would rather have Feng Ling come in to take your shirt off for you?”

“..”

Mo Jingshen took another look at her hand. He confirmed that she knew her limits and did not speak further.

Ji Nuan dipped her hand into the warm water and gently poured some on his back. She sensed the man’s back tightening slightly, but aside from that, he did not make a single sound.

As he said, he was also human. He would also experience pain.

Ji Nuan helped to dampen the wounded areas bit by bit, before slowly tugging his shirt down. With this method, she was able to prevent most of the scabs from being ripped off.

She then cleaned the areas around his wounds with some water. After wiping off all of the blood, she picked up the disinfectant and applied it on for him.

“Mo Jingshen, bite the towel if it hurts. You’re not allowed to hold it in. It’s not as if I’ll laugh at you.”

Earlier, when Feng Ling applied this disinfectant on her hand, she was covered in cold sweat from the pain. Although she had tolerated the pain silently, how could her wound possibly compare to his? Hers was only a surface burn.

Mo Jingshen’s injuries went deep into his flesh.

The man did not reply, but she clearly heard his soft chuckle.

Her heart was aching for him, yet he still had the mood to laugh.

Ji Nuan’s originally heavy heart gradually recovered at the sound of his soft laughter. Finally, she was no longer as fearful or nervous and was able to help to disinfect his wounds quickly. She applied some simple medication and brought out some bandages, wrapping it around his body. The bandage wrapped around both his chest and his back, causing him to appear like a heavily injured man featured in an ancient television drama. It was almost as though he was wearing a white singlet.

“I suddenly regret not studying medicine back then,” Ji Nuan could not help feeling embarrassed as she softly muttered. Mo Jingshen only glanced downward and did not say anything.

Mo Jingshen’s eyes abruptly curved as he smiled: “Studying medicine is good. Studying finance is fine as well. This sort of situation where first aid is necessary doesn’t happen frequently. It’s more important to learn the difference between a first kiss and CPR early on.”

“Ah?” Ji Nuan paused in her movements of cleaning the wounds on his head. She eyed him in confusion. “What CPR?”

The man chuckled again: “All right, this isn’t the time to be talking about that. Are you sure your hand is all right?”

“It’s all right. At the very least, let me disinfect your wounds. In a humid place like this, your injuries can become easily infected.”

But..

What he had said earlier about first kisses and CPR..

Why did she find that strangely familiar? She couldn’t figure out when she had previously heard something similar..