Lu Youling hurriedly tugged Gong Ze’s hand, speaking quickly as they walked toward the house.
“I went for a walk by the river in the evening. I was hoping to catch a fish to make some soup for dinner, and I ran into an old man fishing there.
At first, I didn’t think much of it. But when I caught my fish and was heading back, I saw the old man lying motionless by the river, half his body already in the water. It scared me to death.”
That was river water in the dead of winter!
Lu Youling rushed over and pulled the old man up, calling out to him urgently, but the old man didn’t respond.
Since his own house was closer, and because he had studied medicine, in his panic he gave the old man an emergency check-up. He determined that the old man wasn’t having a cerebral hemorrhage or a heart attack—it seemed more like a vertigo episode that had caused him to faint and fall. So Lu Youling carried the old man back home.
He boiled some medicine using herbs he had gathered from the mountain and secretly added his spiritual spring water to the decoction before feeding it to the old man.
Now the old man was out of danger. Only then did Lu Youling’s anxious heart settle, and the fear began to set in.
Although his actions counted as doing a good deed, there had been no witnesses—just him and the old man.
In his previous life in the modern era, he had heard no shortage of stories about people helping an elderly person up only to be falsely accused. Lu Youling broke out in a cold sweat.
If he hadn’t managed to save the old man and the man had unfortunately died in his house, he wouldn’t have been able to defend himself, no matter how much he tried to explain!
Even if he did save the old man, if the old man told others that Lu Youling had pushed him… As an outsider, the villagers would definitely side with the old man. Then they’d ask, “If you didn’t push him, why did you save him?”
Holy crap!
Lu Youling shuddered.
Could this act of saving someone end up backfiring on him and cause huge trouble?
For a moment, Lu Youling didn’t know what to do. He waited anxiously for Gong Ze to arrive. The moment the back door was knocked on, Lu Youling felt as if he had found his backbone. He ran to pull Gong Ze inside.
As soon as Gong Ze entered, he spotted the old man Lu Youling was talking about.
The old man’s wet clothes had been changed, and he was wrapped tightly in a blanket, lying on the kang with steady breathing. On the kang sat an empty bowl that had held the medicinal decoction, which still gave off a strong Chinese medicine scent.
Although the old man was aged and his face was lined with wrinkles, his features were still well-proportioned. His brows exuded a kind, peaceful expression. Judging by his face, he was definitely not a bad person.
His hair was neatly trimmed and styled into the era’s common slicked-back look.
Such a well-groomed appearance was rare in this day and age.
Gong Ze immediately understood—this was the protagonist top’s grandfather from the original plot.
“Are you sure he’ll wake up?” Gong Ze asked Lu Youling.
“Definitely!” Lu Youling replied without hesitation.
He was very confident in the effects of his spiritual spring water.
Besides, the old man didn’t have a major issue like a cerebral hemorrhage—he had just been chilled by the icy river water on top of feeling dizzy.
Hearing this, the serious expression on Gong Ze’s face relaxed. Then he helplessly pinched Lu Youling’s shoulders and admonished him, “Don’t be so impulsive in the future. Saving someone is a good deed, but you should have taken him to the village chief. How could you bring him home? And give him herbal medicine you made yourself?”
Lu Youling lowered his head as he listened to the lecture.
He knew Gong Ze was right, but it still made him sad.
Sad that doing a good deed had become something that required such careful consideration.
Seeing his dejected expression, Gong Ze’s tone immediately softened. “I’m not blaming you, Youling. Good deeds deserve praise. But outsiders don’t know how skilled you are at medicine. And the world has both good and bad people. What if his family members are unreasonable and blame you for what happened to him, or claim your medicine was problematic?”
“Thankfully, this old man is still alive. But if he had unfortunately died, you couldn’t have cleared your name even if you had a hundred mouths to speak.”
“…I understand. You’re right about everything.”
Lu Youling pressed his lips together and nodded.
Hearing this, Gong Ze’s face broke into a smile. He reached out and patted the little hair bun at the back of Lu Youling’s head.
“Don’t be scared. I’ll stay here with you and watch over him. Since things have already come to this, rather than calling the village chief while he’s still unconscious, it’s better to wait for him to wake up. Then I’ll go get the village chief, and the old man can serve as a witness for you.”
Lu Youling’s tense nerves relaxed. He looked at Gong Ze gratefully. “Okay.”
On his way over, Gong Ze hadn’t seen anyone searching in the dark.
This suggested that the old man usually lived alone, so there was no need to rush.
After they finished talking, Gong Ze noticed that Lu Youling was still feeling down. He suddenly smiled. “Did you eat dinner?”
Lu Youling paused. “No…”
His mind had been completely occupied with saving the old man. After bringing him home, he had changed his waterlogged clothes, helped him onto the kang, boiled medicine, heated the kang…
He hadn’t had the time or the mood to eat.
Hearing this, Gong Ze smiled and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. Unwrapping it revealed a salted duck egg and a white-flour bun. “Here, eat this to tide you over. I’ll go heat up some food for you.”
“A salted duck egg?!” Lu Youling took it, delighted.
“I was afraid you might get hungry tonight, so I specially brought this for you.”
Gong Ze leaned in and kissed his cold cheek.
Lu Youling’s mood immediately lifted. Shyly and joyfully, he hooked his arms around Gong Ze’s neck and gave his boyfriend a kiss on the lips.
They looked into each other’s eyes, couldn’t help but embrace, and their tongues tangled deeply.
When they finally parted, Lu Youling was breathless. Gong Ze kissed away every trace of moisture from his lips, leaving them a deeper, more seductive shade of red.
“Alright…”
Gong Ze patted Lu Youling’s bottom, his eyes growing darker with desire. He signaled for Lu Youling not to press his lower body so tightly against his own. “I still need to go cook for you.”
They had just gotten together, and everything still felt fresh and passionate. If they kept kissing much longer, things might get out of hand.
“Gong Er~ I missed you,” Lu Youling said reluctantly, gazing at Gong Ze.
A few seconds later, Gong Ze sighed, lowered his head, and touched his lips to Lu Youling’s eyelids.
He glanced at the unconscious old man on the kang, then pulled Lu Youling into the kitchen. He pressed him against the wooden water jar lid and slid both hands under Lu Youling’s clothes from behind, reaching toward his chest.
Lu Youling, bent over the water jar with a flushed face but eyes shining bright, eagerly turned his head and tangled his tongue with the man leaning in close.
“Gong Er, Gong Er…”
Over half an hour later.
Gong Ze crouched in front of the stove, boiling fish soup.
Behind him, a small cloth curtain hung from a nail on the corner wall, forming a tiny makeshift changing area. Lu Youling took off his pants, set aside his soiled underwear, and quickly pulled his cotton pants back on in the cold, hissing at the chill.
When he lifted the curtain and came out, he secretly folded the underwear and hid it in his pants pocket.
Lu Youling didn’t dare let the man find these traces.
Otherwise, he could still explain his flat chest as just being small-breasted, but with the evidence on his underwear, Gong Ze would see at a glance that he was actually a boy.
Watching Gong Ze boil fish soup for him, Lu Youling’s face was rosy as an apple. The feeling in his heart was just as sweet as his expression.
He washed his fingers thoroughly with soap in a basin, then picked out a few of his dried medicinal herbs, chewed them up, and carefully applied the paste to his cracked lips.
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