Chapter 22: Changing Attitude
When Xiao Jin raised his head, he saw Su Ying only had undergarments on, and her tiny waist suddenly appeared in front of him.
Xiao Jin's eyes darkened. It was the second time she undressed in front of him without any scruples. Did she have no sense of shame?
So she really treated him as her husband?
"Are you also like this in front of other people... So not bothered with trifles?"
Su Ying didn't pause at all. She hung the wet clothes on the branches she took back and used some roots to tie the long branches into a tripod. Then she placed it by the fire.
"Hurry up and take off your pants. Let me see the wounds on your legs." Su Ying didn't think too deeply about the meaning behind these words. She just wanted to get things done quickly, and then she could sit down and eat!
Xiao Jin's face was tense, and he felt he couldn't talk to this woman in the usual way.
"You still have medicine on you?"
"Yes. It was wrapped around my body and didn't fall off when I jumped."
"Then give me the medicine. I'll treat myself."
Su Ying thought for a moment and placed the medicine bottle in front of him. "Check if the wounds on your legs are red and festering. If it's rotten, use the medicine as soon as possible."
Xiao Jin responded indifferently.
Su Ying sat down by the fire and turned over the meat on the rack. She suddenly remembered that He Shouyi told her if she wanted the meat to taste good, it was best not to cook it over an open fire. There would be an intense smoky flavor. She could wrap the meat in a large leaf, then cover it with a layer of yellow mud and throw it into the fire. It would be ready to eat after an hour.
With that thought, she stood up and walked out of the cave.
Before Xiao Jin could speak, she had disappeared.
When Su Ying returned with a bunch of leaves, she found Xiao Jin sitting at the entrance and staring at her.
Su Ying was confused. "What are you doing here? "
"The smoke is uncomfortable, so I came out for some air." Xiao Jin said expressionlessly.
Su Ying didn't suspect anything and entered the cave with the leaves.
After seeing her go in, Xiao Jin also slowly moved using his hands. "Why did you get so many leaves? "
"I'll try making the beggar's rabbit and pheasant Uncle He taught me." Su Ying said excitedly.
She took the pheasant and rabbits off the rack and wrapped them on a large leaf. Then, she covered the wrap with the yellow mud she had brought back. After she was done, she put the mud ball with the meat into the fire to cook.
Su Ying sat by the side, adding firewood slowly. Her eyes never left the fire.
The fire was so intense. Not only were Su Ying's clothes, but her hair was also dried.
Su Ying glanced at Xiao Jin. "Have you treated your legs?"
Xiao Jin looked at her and nodded.
Su Ying looked at his calm expression and suddenly felt something was wrong. She felt that Xiao Jin's attitude towards her seemed to have softened.
Perhaps it was because she bravely jumped off the chain bridge to save him and moved his heart.
Su Ying felt it was very likely, but she didn't think much about it. She estimated it was about time, so she used a branch to break the dried mud and spread a parcel apart.
A robust meaty aroma filled Su Ying's nose when she opened the leaf.
Su Ying knocked a few mud parcels in a row and placed one cooked rabbit and the pheasant in front of Xiao Jin, together with a piece of dry food.
"This is yours, and the rest is mine."
Su Ying saw that he was still looking at the mud balls in front of her. She frowned and seemed to be struggling with her thoughts. She pushed another cooked rabbit to him. "I can only spare you one more. That's it."
Xiao Jin didn't need to eat that much. But seeing her pained expression, he accepted it without hesitation. "Fine."
Su Ying grabbed a rabbit's leg and took a big bite, not caring about the heat.
The pheasant had been cooked to a soft and sticky texture. Even without any seasoning, it still tasted exceptionally fragrant.
Xiao Jin's eating manner was exquisite compared to Su Ying's wolfing down. He didn't eat slowly, but it didn't appear he was in any hurry.
Xiao Jin didn't expect the meat to be so tasty. After eating it with a mouthful of dry food, he felt he had recovered a lot of energy.
After Su Ying had devoured all the rabbits, she leaned against the stone wall and exhaled in satisfaction.
"A day like this is really, comfortable."
Xiao Jin saw that she was leaning against the stone wall and couldn't keep her eyes open, so he pushed the fire down a bit with a branch, then slowly moved closer to the entrance. From here, he could see outside the cave.
Su Ying was so tired that she fell asleep. In her dream, she fought the zombies with a laser gun. She was exhausted, but no one came to her need. In the end, she fell to the ground. She saw a figure walking towards her.
However, his back was against the light, so she couldn't see him clearly, no matter how hard she tried to open her eyes.
Su Ying murmured and opened her eyes. She saw Xiao Jin sitting at the entrance with his back straight. The golden light outside shone into the cave, enveloping him in a Halo.
His brows and eyes looked even more profound in the golden light, and his nose bridge, which was as tall as a distant mountain, was like a sculpture. Even from a random angle, one could not find a single flaw in his side profile.
After falling into the water yesterday, the dirt on his face had been washed away, and his skin showed a faint wheat color under the sun.
Xiao Jin turned his black eyes slightly to look at her as if he felt her gaze.
"You're awake."
"Yeah." Su Ying didn't feel embarrassed at all for being caught peeking. She sat up and circulated her Qi, feeling refreshed.
Su Ying looked at the situation outside. It didn't seem like it rained anymore since they came out of the river yesterday. "Do you know where the group will be staying next?"
Xiao Jin stretched out his hand and pointed at the ground. Su Ying then realized that he had drawn a map with gravel.
"We should be at this point now." Xiao Jin used the branch to point at a specific location on the map.
"As for them, they would have settled down in the broken temple outside Yue City after successfully crossing the bridge yesterday."
"By the time we get to Yue city, they would have gone far away." The two of them were still deep in the mountains, and they didn't know when they would be able to get out
"Where are they going next?"
Xiao Jin's fingertips moved and finally stopped at a place marked in red. "If we want to catch up with them, it's tough to chase them from behind. We should get ahead of them and wait. They can't take the official road, but we can once we get out. The premise is that we have to find the nearest village and ask people to take us into the city. Then, we find a ride to Yunshui City."
Xiao Jin had been in the Imperial Court for many years and knew the officials who escorted the exiled prisoners would replenish their dry food supplies at designated places. These designated places were set by the Imperial Court and were fixed.
For a large group of hundreds of people, they had to replenish their dry food every five days at least. According to the speed of their previous consumption, they would not be able to last more than four days. There would be no more supply points from Yue City to Yunshui City, so they could only go to Yunshui.
Therefore, as long as they waited there, they would rejoin the group.