Night fell.
A half-moon slowly rose from the west, and the stars were scattered like pieces on a chessboard.
With Xiao Yunluo leading the way, the two of them flew on their swords for half an hour before finally arriving at the entrance of the Inner Sect Medical Center.
At this time, Dr. Zhou had already returned to his dwelling, and only a few little helpers on duty were handling the herbs and ledgers in the storehouse on the first floor of the clinic.
Pei Lianxue didn't have an ID card, but Xiao Yunluo could show hers.
Xiao Yunluo walked to the counter, took a deep breath, and asked softly, "Boy, may I ask, which room does the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus live in?"
"Huh? It's the Young Miss. Wait a minute, I'll check the medical record."
Seeing that it was Xiao Yunluo, the boy on duty ran behind the counter without hesitation, moved a bench, stepped on it, and stood on tiptoes. Then, he took an account book from the top of the bookcase and leafed through it.
The boy tilted his head and smiled. "Mr. Ye is in the Earthly Fragrance Pavilion on the fourth floor. Miss, do you want me to take you up there?"
"No need to bother. Thank you for your kindness." Xiao Yunluo declined politely.
"Then, Young Miss, take your time. I'll continue tending to the medicinal herbs register." The little helper respectfully bowed to Xiao Yunluo before burying himself in organizing the ledgers.
Xiao Yunluo had thought that Pei Lianxue would be very happy to hear that the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect had been injured and would then run over to taunt him, "Finally, your day has come too? In the past, you treated me so badly! Now it's your turn!" And so on.
However, Pei Lianxue's expression was not like that now. Her eyes were full of worry.
On the way up to the fourth floor, Xiao Yunluo couldn't help herself and asked, "Lianxue, shouldn't you be happy that he's injured? He treated you like that before..."
"Err..."
"If you want, I can ask the little helpers here to do some mean things to him."
Pei Lianxue was startled. "Mean... things? What kind of things?"
"Mm-hmm." Xiao Yunluo nodded, leaned to her ear, and whispered. "Dr. Zhou here is very narrow-minded. In the past, Elder Chen of the Raincloud Hall and Doctor Zhou played mahjong, and he grabbed the tiles that Doctor Zhou wanted, making him angry. After a few days, the tea Elder Chen usually drank had two more flavors of... well... spiritual herbs that are good for health but can make people vomit and have diarrhea non-stop."
"?"
"..."
"There are a number of outrageous tactics, such as intentionally causing people severe pain when changing bandages, putting some herbs that disturb the bowels in soups, and replacing mind-soothing herbs with mind-stimulating herbs..."
Hearing all this, Pei Lianxue quickly interrupted, raising her voice. "No... don't mess with my brother!!!"
"Ah?! Shh--" Xiao Yunluo quickly raised her index finger to her lips, signaling her to keep her voice down. "Don't let them hear you, or we will all suffer."
Pei Lianxue frowned and said in a low voice. "Anyway... don't mess with my brother!"
"But didn't you say..."
"Well, that..." Pei Lianxue pursed her lips, looked at Xiao Yunluo, and after a short hesitation, she replied, "I will explain it to you when we get back."
"..."
Xiao Yunluo nodded without fully understanding.
So it seemed that Lianxue lied to her last time?
Her brother was actually good?
But why would she lie to her...
The two of them climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, and after searching the corridor for a while, they finally found the Earthly Fragrance Pavilion sign.
Standing in front of the door, Pei Lianxue reached out and gently knocked on the door.
Knock-knock-
"..."
Knock-knock-
"..."
"Brother?! Are you in there?"
"..."
After asking three times with no response from inside, Pei Lianxue hesitated for a moment and finally opened the door gently.
The room was dimly lit, only by the moonlight streaming in from the window.
And right next to the window, illuminated by the moonlight, there was a humanoid bandaged form, his entire body emitting a faint but crystal-clear blue light.
Looking at the form on the bed, Pei Lianxue almost didn't recognize her brother, and hurriedly shushed Xiao Yunluo raising her index finger, then tiptoed her way to the bedside.
Only now did she realize that Ye Anping was sound asleep.
He must be really badly hurt... Because in the past, whenever someone, even an animal approached her brother, no matter whether he was sleeping or doing something else, he would immediately wake up.
It was the first time she had seen her brother this defenseless.
"It must hurt so badly..." Pei Lianxue muttered softly and slowly reached out to gently touch Ye Anping's face. "Brother..."
She stood by the bed, quietly staring at Ye Anping's face.
The two of them remained motionless as if they had turned into statues.
Standing aside and observing Pei Lianxue's behavior, Xiao Yunluo felt that her relationship with Young Master Ye must be, in fact, very good.
She did not interrupt, but glanced at Ye Anping's face again.
After staring for a while, she remembered. Wasn't this the little boss of the physiotherapy center from downtown?
Did Lianxue's brother have this habit of doing physiotherapy?
Xiao Yunluo frowned as her doubts flared up again.
Why didn't Lianxue say anything to her when they were at the physiotherapy center last time? At that time, she actually dragged Lianxue away...
But now...
"Miss Xiyue... um..." Ye Anping called out the name as if talking in his sleep.
Hearing this name, Pei Lianxue, who was still staring at his face, suddenly felt a pang in her heart, bit her lip, and took her hand away from his face.
"Brother, I'll come to see you again tomorrow..."
Pei Lianxue actually kind of wanted to kiss Ye Anping on the cheek, but with Xiao Yunluo present, she was a little embarrassed, so she let it go.
"Let's go back."
"Okay..."
Xiao Yunluo nodded and walked toward the door with Pei Lianxue.
And just when they were about to exit the room, Ye Anping suddenly spoke again. "Mmm... little sister... You have grown up..."
Pei Lianxue froze, turned her head to look behind her, and the heaviness she had felt in her heart just now suddenly lifted.
"Brother..." She smiled at Ye Anping and whispered. "Rest well..."
After that, she closed the door gently and sighed heavily.
This time, Xiao Yunluo couldn't hold herself back and asked, "Lianxue, why did you lie to me back then? You said your brother poisoned you, beat you black and blue, and so on..."
"Ah... that..." Pei Lianxue lowered her head, feeling somewhat guilty, and replied, "It was true."
"Really? But you don't seem to hate your brother at all?"
"This is also true."
?
Xiao Yunluo cocked her head.
She was bullied so badly as a child, but she didn't hate the person who bullied her at all...
Was she too kind-hearted?
It couldn't be!
Previously, Lianxue was merciless toward the gang from Seven Slayers who attacked them.
In that case...
Xiao Yunluo frowned. "Lianxue, do you have some kind of weird habits?"
"?"
"I read in the books that some people like to be kicked and beaten!" Xiao Yunluo frowned and said with some embarrassment. "Although I shouldn't interfere with other people's preferences, this is wrong!!! You can't do this... This is a sickness! It must be cured!!"
Taken aback, Pei Lianxue replied weakly. "I...I don't like being beaten!"
"Then, why don't you hate your brother?"
"Well..." Pei Lianxue didn't know how to explain. After a moment of silence, she said, "Let's talk about it when we go back."