Still Secretly In Love With My Enemy Today - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: 

 

The next morning, when Ye Jingwei sauntered in, I was squatting in the courtyard with Xie Huaishuang, explaining each of the plants that were now far more vibrant than they had been half a month ago.

 

Xie Huaishuang cautiously touched a petal that had unfurled half an inch, while his other hand rested quietly in mine. He had as many questions as there were swaying leaves in the yard.

 

I hurriedly flipped through my messy notes and wrote back to him just as scrawly.

 

During those fifteen days, I had set aside half an hour every day to record even the slightest changes—the kind of activity I used to consider a pure waste of time, something I would never have allowed myself to do before meeting him.

 

“You remember them so clearly?”

 

“I specifically wrote them down.”

 

Xie Huaishuang tilted his head, his eyes blinking. “You specifically wrote them down… for me?”

 

At first, I recorded them so I would have something to tell him, but gradually, I discovered that observing the magnolias, roses, lilacs, and weeping willows so closely was actually quite fascinating.

 

It turns out that when petals unfurl bit by bit, they seem to breathe in the spring breeze, their thin layers cradling the flowing sunlight.

 

Xie Huaishuang found everything novel and meaningful. At first, I thought it was because he had been cooped up in the Temple for too long, but then I realized that wasn’t it.

 

How much beautiful spring light had I missed in the past?

 

“I had nothing better to do,” I told him. “Besides… it really is interesting.”

 

Xie Huaishuang stopped studying the crabapple flower beneath his hand and turned his eyes toward me, suddenly smiling.

 

“Right?”

 

As he spoke, his eyebrows lifted slightly, and he looked at me with a hint of pride, his eyes shining like translucent amber in the sunlight.

 

I really wanted to pinch his cheek.

 

The moment the thought surfaced, I scrambled to push it back down. But like a gourd floating on water, as soon as I pushed one side down, the other popped up. After a long struggle, the only result was that the “spring pool” of my heart was more stirred up than ever.

 

Just one touch, I thought. A very, very light touch. A moment ago, the wind blew a leaf right across his cheek—why shouldn’t I be allowed to touch him like that?

 

Just once. Only once!

 

I finally raised my hand, but just before I reached him, the courtyard gate was pushed open with a bang. A gust of wind rushed in. Xie Huaishuang immediately turned his head, and only the end of his hair ribbon brushed against my fingertips.

 

“He’s awake?”

 

Ye Jingwei’s voice rang out detestably. I ground my teeth and reminded myself three times: Ye Jingwei is a miracle doctor, Ye Jingwei is a miracle doctor, Ye Jingwei is a miracle doctor. I forced a smile. “He’s awake.”

 

Xie Huaishuang whispered to me, “Is it Physician Ye?”

 

I tapped twice on his hand, pulled him up, and we both stomped our feet—we’d been squatting for too long.

 

“Looking good.” Ye Jingwei stood there with one hand on her hip, scanning him up and down. “Come here, let me check his pulse properly.”

 

I felt that Xie Huaishuang looked different than before. Previously, when Ye Jingwei checked his pulse, his eyes were always downcast, like a dim moon at midnight.

 

But today, his eyes were lifted, the sunlight winding down his forehead and cheeks. His whole being seemed to glow.

 

Basically, seeing him happy made me happy too.

 

“Alright,” Ye Jingwei withdrew her hand. “Recover for a few more days, then we’ll talk about the final detoxification.”

 

I wrote this out for Xie Huaishuang and added: “Be patient just a bit longer. Soon you’ll be able to see and hear.”

 

Xie Huaishuang nodded. His fingertips came to touch my hand, but instead of the usual fleeting contact, his thumb pressed against my knuckle and stayed there for a moment.

 

I looked up and saw his gaze falling on me as well, carrying a trace of a smile.

 

“Is that my iron puppet?”

 

Ye Jingwei stood up and walked over to tap on it. “Couldn’t you make it a bit prettier? Your aesthetic sense is truly…”

 

“What’s ugly about it?”

 

I really have nothing to say to people who lack appreciation. Xie Huaishuang had felt it carefully and said I did a great job.

 

“By the way,” Ye Jingwei turned around and pointed at Xie Huaishuang. “Tell him, don’t forget.”

 

“Don’t forget what?”

 

“What does it have to do with you? Tell him, and he’ll understand.”

 

“How does it not have to do with me?”

 

“Well, what exactly is your relationship right now?”

 

Ye Jingwei’s question cut me off mid-sentence, leaving me in silence. What is our relationship? Does what I say even count?

 

After a second of silence, Ye Jingwei chuckled again. She moved away from the iron puppet, looking at me with a cold smile while shaking her head.

 

Having no time to decipher Ye Jingwei’s internal world, I instinctively felt that Xie Huaishuang had done something behind my back again. I turned to stare at him. He was sitting there quietly, his green robes blending into the various shades of the garden. Occasionally, he would sneak a touch of a nearby peony, looking perfectly innocent and well-behaved.

 

Sensing that Ye Jingwei was leaving, he even stood up and habitually reached out his hand toward me, waiting for me to lead the way.

 

—What on earth did he say to Ye Jingwei without me knowing?

 

I still didn’t dare hold his hand like I used to when I was oblivious; instead, I grasped his wrist and pressed lightly on the center of it.

 

Xie Huaishuang looked at me, his brow furrowed. With a twist of his wrist, he broke free and grabbed my hand before I could react.

 

A slight chill instantly enveloped my fingers and palm.

 

My heart skipped a beat. I didn’t dare look at him, so I distractedly opened the courtyard gate. Ye Jingwei gave me a strange look, waved, and stepped down the stairs.

 

Xie Huaishuang, completely unaware of the chaos he had caused, moved his fingertips slightly. “Is Physician Ye gone?”

 

Normally, since he didn’t need me to lead him at this moment, he should have let go. But that slight chill remained, and it was already starting to take on the warmth of my palm.

 

“Yes, she’s gone.” I wasn’t sure if it was the sun, but the back of my ears felt hot. My writing with my other hand was embarrassingly messy. “What… what do you want to do now?”

 

As I wrote, I felt like I was completely doomed. Wasn’t I supposed to interrogate him about what he said to Ye Jingwei?

 

“Nothing.”

 

Xie Huaishuang looked up, his eyes squinting slightly in the sunlight.

 

“Just stay here… stand here for a moment. Is that okay?”

 

I had specifically chosen a south-facing house. On sunny days, the spring breeze would always swirl through the courtyard with light and dust. Amidst the rustling of leaves, I actually stood there facing him until the sun shifted and the shadows of the wall covered us completely.

 

The chill held within my right hand was gradually saturated by my own heat, becoming a pool of quiet, warm spring water. It softly submerged my fingertips, my wrist, and eventually, my entire heart.

 

“You’re doing this on purpose. You’re quite proud of yourself seeing me like this, aren’t you?”

 

I didn’t know if I was saying it to him or to myself—he couldn’t hear me anyway!

 

“Fine. Let it be on purpose.”

 

…

 

Xie Huaishuang and I both went to sleep early that night.

 

He was tired because he had just woken up and spent the whole day exploring. I was exhausted because I had stayed awake for half a month; now that the tension in my heart had eased, sleepiness came flooding in.

 

This place was originally for me, so of course, there was only one bedroom. While Xie Huaishuang was asleep, I was busy with work and worried about him, so I just dragged a chair in. When I got tired, I’d lean back, wrap myself in a blanket, and nap for a bit.

 

“You’re not planning to sleep in the chair again, are you?”

 

Before I even entered the room, Xie Huaishuang was already sitting in my chair, looking up toward me.

 

Actually, I had intended to ask him what he said to Ye Jingwei. During the day, when I relayed her words, he just nodded without explaining.

 

Knowing he couldn’t see me, I still guiltily looked away. “I’m not sleeping in the chair.”

 

The smile on Xie Huaishuang’s face faded slightly. He pushed my hand away, but quickly caught my fingertips and pulled them back.

 

“Sleep well tonight.”

 

He grabbed my wrist and used it as leverage to stand up. “You already sleep poorly, and yet you push yourself like this. Are you talking in your sleep right now?”

 

His lashes fluttered, and his brow knit together. Both emerald pools were blaming me.

 

But. But. Wait a minute.

 

“Since when do I sleep poorly?”

 

“…You really are talking in your sleep.” Xie Huaishuang surely had fifty percent of his power back now; he acted with much more confidence. With a firm pull, he forced me to sit down on the edge of the bed. “Back at Linlang Pavilion, you dreamed in the middle of the night, got up in the middle of the night, and were always tossing and turning. Did you think I didn’t know?”

 

I didn’t dare move while he held me. Listening to him count my “crimes” one by one, I couldn’t help but ask: “Were you spying on me?”

 

“…”

 

Xie Huaishuang pushed my hand away again.

 

“Lie down.”

 

He kicked off his shoes and curled up on the bed with a bend of his legs. I was horrified and shrank back.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Does he know what he’s doing? Does he know he’s sharing a bed with someone who has improper thoughts about him?!

 

“What can I do?” Xie Huaishuang laughed. “Previously I was useless and lacked the strength, but now, let me try something for you.”

 

I still didn’t dare move, terrified I’d give in to my own desires. In the dim lamplight, I didn’t dare look at him. “Try… try what?”

 

“Lie down.”

 

He repeated it, pushing me into the spot against the wall without allowing any argument. He knelt beside me, his palm pressing firmly onto my Shenting acupoint. A thin stream of heat, like warm spring water, began to flow through me.

 

“Don’t speak. Close your eyes and sleep.”

 

Every acupoint his palm passed over felt so warm. I felt myself drifting, as if soaking in a hot spring, and even Xie Huaishuang’s voice began to sound distant.

 

“Always talking about me. You don’t treat yourself very well either.”

 

I’m still doing better than you.

 

“But… well, it’s fine. You’re good to me, so I’ll find ways to be good to you. I’m not the same as I was before.”

 

I know. I know I have to praise him for being powerful tomorrow.

 

“Do you think it’s working? If it is, we’ll do this from now on. You can have a good sleep every night.”

 

Don’t do this every night. If you do, I’ll really get carried away and say things I shouldn’t say yet.

 

The “hot spring water” flowed everywhere inside me. Before I completely lost consciousness, I vaguely thought: This seems to be the first thing he did with his internal power after recovering.

 

When I woke up the next day, it was broad daylight—a rare occurrence for me.

 

A blanket had been neatly piled in the middle of the bed as a dividing line. I turned my head and saw Xie Huaishuang on the other side with his back to me, seemingly still asleep.

 

Even with the blanket between us, the distance was very short—close enough that I could smell the faint, fresh scent of herbs on him.

 

That scent made me flustered all morning. Xie Huaishuang was completely oblivious to this. While sitting in the courtyard, he asked me, “How did you sleep?”

 

I was just trying to figure out how to tell him that I should probably sleep somewhere else when I heard the sound of the wind. I looked up to see a flash of iron—a mechanical bird had left a metal slip and vanished.

 

It was a letter from the City Lord.

 

Xie Huaishuang sensed it too. “What is it?”

 

I had sent my new blueprints back a couple of days ago; it was likely just a simple reply. I slotted it into the decoding machine and told Xie Huaishuang, “Nothing. A letter from Iron Cloud City.”

 

Xie Huaishuang nodded and went back to studying Cloud-Cutter. He was usually curious about everything, but he never asked a single word about the affairs of Iron Cloud City.

 

I was waiting to see how the City Lord would praise my skills this time, but when I saw the words spat out by the machine, I froze.

 

The Temple had suddenly sent elites toward Hengzhou. It was unclear if they had discovered the scouts Iron Cloud City had stationed nearby. The City Lord wanted me to cause some trouble to distract them and cover the scouts’ tracks, as per usual.

 

It seemed like a standard mission. But, but—I glanced at Xie Huaishuang.

 

Xie Huaishuang was standing nearby, tapping his sword rhythmically, waiting for me to speak. I pulled out the iron slip, my hand tightening around it involuntarily.

 

—Did the Temple discover Iron Cloud City’s scouts, or did they find their former Priest?