The Passerby Hidden Guard Picked Up the Villain [Transmigration] - Chapter 3

He Yanzhi had just returned to the yamen when the Prefect sent someone to summon him.

Upon entering the study to meet the Prefect, He Yanzhi candidly admitted to the accidental death of Xiao Hongyin during the flogging.

“Yanzhi, do you truly believe this official is entirely ignorant of your private dealings?” The Prefect looked up from his desk, appearing exhausted.

He Yanzhi did not respond. His thoughts drifted to the forest at night, where snakes and insects were plentiful, and he knit his brows slightly.

Since the boy was a villain, he should be fine.

Seeing He Yanzhi’s distracted expression, the Prefect slammed his hand on the desk in anger. “He Yanzhi! You have a lot of nerve! Do you even know who hired you?”

He Yanzhi snapped back to reality. He naturally knew that he had been hired by a retainer of Crown Prince He Sheng, but he could not admit to it.

“Please calm your anger, Excellency. I know I have done wrong.”

He Yanzhi picked up a slip of paper that had been shaken off the desk. He scanned it quickly and saw that it was written in the secret code used exclusively between He Yu and his confidants. The message was simple: it was an inquiry about the situation regarding Xiao Hongyin.

The Prefect was in such a fit of rage that he did not care if the contents were seen. After all, he did not know that the young man before him was actually one of He Yu’s men.

He Yanzhi placed the paper back on the desk. The Prefect slumped back into his chair and let out a long sigh.

Since the dead cannot return to life, the Prefect waved his hand dismissively at He Yanzhi with a look of regret. “Fine. Once the water transport case is settled seven days from now, you will no longer need to report for duty. Out of respect for your past service, I will not pursue further charges. You are on your own from now on.”

He Yanzhi’s posture stiffened slightly. He bowed solemnly to the Prefect and carefully closed the door as he exited the study.

Suddenly, a hand landed on his shoulder.

He turned around to see Yang Kuan, whose face was twisted with worry. “Brother He, what did the Excellency say?”

He Yanzhi looked at him and said, “It is nothing. Regarding the water transport case seven days from now, the Excellency has ordered us to go together.”

Yang Kuan let out a sigh of relief and nodded. The two of them left the yamen together.

When He Yanzhi used his lightness skill to rush back to the woods, he did not see anyone at first glance. Eventually, he found Xiao Hongyin curled up in a ball beneath the roots of a tree.

Perhaps because he had been gone for too long, the youth had been unable to resist his exhaustion. He had leaned against the tree to rest and had fallen asleep without realizing it.

As He Yanzhi approached the tree, the sound of his footsteps reached the youth’s ears, causing his steady breathing to hitch.

Xiao Hongyin slowly lifted his head and rubbed his heavy eyelids. When he saw that it was He Yanzhi, he managed a small smile. “My Lord.”

He Yanzhi gave a grunt of acknowledgement and told Xiao Hongyin to follow him.

He Yanzhi led the way in a different direction, intentionally slowing his pace. The youth followed obediently behind him. The two of them soon crossed through the woods and stepped onto the streets of the western market.

They arrived at an inconspicuous alley entrance. He Yanzhi told Xiao Hongyin to hold out his hand. The youth complied, and his blood-stained hand was immediately enveloped by a pair of large, warm hands.

Xiao Hongyin instinctively tried to pull back, but He Yanzhi gripped him tightly. “Hold on. I will not look for you if you get lost.”

Thus, Xiao Hongyin stopped moving and allowed himself to be led into the alley.

Not long after they entered, Xiao Hongyin understood why He Yanzhi insisted on holding his hand.

There was a house every ten paces and a three-way junction every hundred paces. This intricate labyrinth of deep alleys was dizzying and extremely difficult to navigate.

Even though he was being led, Xiao Hongyin’s vision became blurred just by looking at the various intersections. He was forced to shift his gaze to their joined hands.

It was an excessively beautiful hand, smooth, fair, long, and powerful.

The flesh of the palm was soft and comfortable, and the thin callouses lightly grazed the back of his hand with each movement. The numbing itch was strangely pleasant.

As Xiao Hongyin felt the warmth in his palm, a look of regret crossed his face. He wondered how much blood such a fine hand had shed.

While he was lost in thought, He Yanzhi led him through several twists and turns until they finally reached the deepest part of the alley.

At the end of the alley stood nothing but a stone wall. Set into the uneven stone was an unremarkable wooden door. The door was half-covered in moss and half-covered in dust, giving off an air of total dilapidation.

Xiao Hongyin knit his brows slightly.

He Yanzhi showed no reaction. He pushed the door open and led the boy inside. Xiao Hongyin was surprised to find that behind the door was not a dark and cramped interior, but a moderately sized courtyard.

“Keep up.”

He Yanzhi released his hand, and Xiao Hongyin could not help but look around the courtyard.

The entire yard was bare, with no flower pots or greenery except for a few scattered wild flowers in the corners. On the left was a large flat area with several sword marks on the ground, the shallowest of which was a finger deep. On the right was a small pond, barely ten feet wide. The water inside was crystal clear, the moss at the bottom was thick, and a few red carp were swimming within it.

Xiao Hongyin was captivated by the red carp and stood frozen by the pond.

He Yanzhi looked back and saw that the boy was not following. He walked up behind him, and seeing him staring intently at the fish, he spoke softly. “The fish are poisonous. You cannot eat them.”

The light in the youth’s eyes immediately dimmed.

He Yanzhi took note of his reaction and told him to go inside first.

The house was not large and contained only one bedroom. The interior of the bedroom was also simple, consisting of only a bed, a table, and a chair.

After He Yanzhi brought Xiao Hongyin inside, he stepped back out of the room, leaving Xiao Hongyin standing alone by the bed with a peculiar expression.

After a long silence, Xiao Hongyin could not hold it in any longer and let out a laugh.

On the bed, a lop-eared rabbit doll sewn from cotton cloth was staring back at him.

Its irregular cotton body leaned against the headboard. Its small eyes made of red beans were uneven, giving it a look of contempt. The corners of its mouth, sewn with black thread, were slightly upturned, giving it an indescribably wicked and wild appearance.

Xiao Hongyin picked it up by its ears and held it in front of his face. He could not help but say, “What an ugly rabbit.”

As if the doll understood him, the ear he was pinching immediately detached from its head and fell back onto the bed, rolling until the red bean eyes met Xiao Hongyin’s again.

Xiao Hongyin pinched the ear in his hand and glared at the rabbit.

There were no traces of anyone else living in the room. It seemed that this rabbit truly belonged to He Yanzhi.

“A dignified assassin actually plays with a rabbit doll.” Xiao Hongyin laughed again at the thought of He Yanzhi walking out of a sea of blood with an expressionless face, a sword in one hand and a doll in the other.

He Yanzhi, oh He Yanzhi. Since that is the case, when I kill you in the future, I might consider letting this ugly rabbit accompany you on your journey.

The head and ears of the rabbit were connected by a wooden stick. Just as Xiao Hongyin was sticking the ear back onto its head, He Yanzhi happened to walk in.

“What are you doing?”

Xiao Hongyin’s expression changed, and he instinctively pushed the rabbit away. “My Lord, I…”

He wanted to explain, but He Yanzhi had no intention of arguing with him. He placed a paper-wrapped bundle on the table, and once opened, the fragrance that drifted out quickly filled the room.

He Yanzhi had gone to the market as quickly as possible. He knew that the food provided to prisoners in jail was nothing more than spoiled scraps. Given Xiao Hongyin’s temperament, he certainly had not touched a bite.

A stomach that has been empty for a long time should not be filled with too much food, so he had specifically bought easy-to-digest steamed buns.

Faced with the freshly steamed, soft, and fragrant buns, Xiao Hongyin was not afraid of the heat. He took one and began to gnaw on it in large bites. Seeing this, He Yanzhi moved the remaining buns away. Only after Xiao Hongyin finished the one in his hand and drank a cup of water did he give him another.

After watching the youth finish three buns in this manner, He Yanzhi stopped him.

“There is hot water in the woodshed. I will apply medicine in half an hour.”

After saying this, he placed the medicine bottle on the table. As he stepped out of the room, he remembered something, turned back, and took the rabbit doll from the bed. Xiao Hongyin kept his eyes on the buns. Only after the man left did he shift his gaze to the medicine bottle.

Now that there was food in his stomach, he gradually regained some strength, but it was followed by a piercing pain.

Xiao Hongyin opened the medicine bottle and saw that it was just ordinary ointment.

He gripped the bottle and went to the woodshed. Standing before the steaming bathtub, he tore off the prison clothes that were stuck to his wounds and sat down in the water.

The warm water magnified the pain across his body several times over, and Xiao Hongyin could not help but grit his teeth.

His cold body was awakened, and the blood rushed to his head under the effect of the hot water. Xiao Hongyin nearly fainted. He gripped the edge of the tub and endured this stage through sheer willpower. His body slowly relaxed as if a thousand-pound shackle had been removed.

When he opened his eyes, the clear water in the tub had turned a dark red.

He let out a long sigh of relief, wiped his sweat, and looked for a cloth.

In addition to the bathtub, there was a table in the woodshed with an oil lamp on it. The cloth was lying quietly on that table.

It was his own fault for only thinking about getting into the water when he entered. Now, the bathtub and the table were quite far apart. Xiao Hongyin stretched out his arm to reach for it, but his arm was not long enough; he was still an inch away from the cloth.

Xiao Hongyin’s gaze darkened. He straightened his body to reach for it, but he was still a finger’s length away.

He simply stood up in the bathtub. With one hand supporting himself on the edge of the tub, he leaned forward. His other hand finally managed to grab the cloth.

However, just as he was about to move back, the edge of the bathtub he was holding suddenly splintered. Losing his point of support, his center of gravity shifted, and he fell to the ground along with the bathtub.

Following a loud crash, water flooded the floor of the woodshed and flowed down the steps into the courtyard. He Yanzhi, who was practicing his sword, was startled and immediately rushed into the woodshed.

“Xiao Hongyin?”

What met his eyes was a mess: bloody water everywhere, a broken bathtub, and a certain pale figure shivering under a wooden plank.

He Yanzhi’s brow twitched. He untied his outer robe, pulled the person out from under the wooden plank, wrapped him in the clothes, and carried him back to the bedroom.

The person in his arms was flushed, and his whole body was shaking violently.

He Yanzhi thought he was startled by the sudden accident. He blamed himself for not mentioning that the bathtub had been used for a long time and the wood was brittle, so one should not use too much force when grabbing the edge. Now, he could only try to comfort him.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

He Yanzhi placed him on the bed and was about to lift the outer robe to check, but Xiao Hongyin immediately gripped the clothes and covered himself tightly.

“No, I am fine.”

The youth’s voice had a slight nasal quality, making him sound aggrieved and pitiful, much like a young bride being bullied by a tyrant.

He Yanzhi did not feel that his behavior was inappropriate. On the contrary, because Xiao Hongyin kept his head down, He Yanzhi noticed the face that was revealed after being washed. He could not help but nod to himself.

His skin was as white as snow, his lips were red, his teeth were white, and his features were exquisite. There was likely not a second person in the world who was this beautiful.

Since Xiao Hongyin said he was fine, He Yanzhi fetched the medicine again and told the person on the bed to turn around. “I will only help you apply it to your back. You can do the rest yourself.”

Hearing this, Xiao Hongyin instinctively wanted to refuse. Exposing one’s back to an enemy was no different from suicide. But seeing He Yanzhi’s serious expression, Xiao Hongyin actually listened and crawled into the quilt. He wrapped himself up and obediently exposed his back for the medicine.

“Thank you, My Lord.”

The powdered medicine was poured onto the bloody gashes. The effect of the medicine made Xiao Hongyin grip the corner of the quilt.

He Yanzhi knew it was painful and intentionally slowed his movements. However, the medicine seemed exceptionally potent. When he called out to Xiao Hongyin after finishing the back, there was no response. When he pulled back the quilt to look, he saw that the boy had fainted.

As a result, He Yanzhi had to handle the rest of the wounds for him.

After a busy night of settling the youth down, He Yanzhi returned to the courtyard. He practiced his sword for a while to clear his head, then walked into the kitchen and began to light the stove.