Chapter 332: Impossible Escape
Pei Mianman was sharp-witted, and there was no way she could believe that someone of Zu An’s character would bother to send a drunk friend home, and even be willing to stay the night.
Zu An’s face went rigid. “I was looking for something too,” he admitted.
Pei Mianman probed further. “What were you looking for?”
Zu An shook his head while putting on his clothes. “I can’t tell you. It involves too many other things.”
Pei Mianman snorted. “I have my own reasons for not telling you as well.”
Zu An chuckled. “Let’s not talk about such unpleasant things then. Let’s talk about some happier things. For example, why don’t you take off your clothes…”
Pei Mianman was given a fright. She immediately took a few steps back. “What are you trying to do?”
Zu An said, “Don’t misunderstand, that’s not what I mean. Your entire body is soaked, and you’re injured as well. You’ll easily fall sick if you keep those clothes on.”
“That’s an easy problem to fix.” Pei Mianman was just about to summon her black flame to evaporate the water from her clothes. Thankfully, she recalled that using elemental power here might alarm the Wei clan’s guards.
Besides, her injuries were severe, and even drying off her clothes with the black flame was most likely impossible.
“You suffered a direct hit earlier, and there’s no way for you to escape right now. I think it’s better for you to stay here and recover.” Zu An unfolded a side of the blanket. “You can jump straight into bed after you take off all of your clothes. I won’t peek at you.”
Pei Mianman grunted. “I don’t think you have the guts to do it anyway. You know I’ll tell Chuyan if you try.” Something Zu An said tickled her mind. “How did you know that I was attacked?”
Zu An forced a smile. “I was there too. How else could I have saved you so promptly?”
Pei Mianman was shocked. “You weren’t discovered?!”
Zu An smiled. “It’s probably because I’m a man with integrity.”
Pei Mianman just couldn’t figure out how she’d been discovered while someone with a much lower level of cultivation could remain hidden. Perhaps she was just unlucky enough to have taken the bullet for him. “The person in that room has a level of cultivation that is just too terrifying. Even such a long-ranged attack almost took my life on the spot.”
She had never suffered injuries so severe ever since she’d begun her journey of cultivation.
That strike had practically destroyed all of her ki in one go.
“That’s why you need to heal up quickly! I’ll do what I can to dry out your clothes.” Zu An didn’t mention anything about helping her treat her injuries. This world was different from the wuxia novels he’d read before—external ki couldn’t be used to treat injuries the way internal qi could. He couldn’t do anything to help even if he wanted to lend a hand.
Of course, if they made the most intimate of connections through the Primordial Origin Sutra, he could treat her injuries directly. However, there was no way Pei Mianman would take him seriously if he suggested this.
“How are you going to dry them here? Don’t tell me you have some fire-element abilities?” Pei Mianman probed curiously.
“Who says you need to control fire to dry clothes?” Zu An responded in a cocky manner.
Pei Mianman hesitated a while before saying, “Fine, turn around then.”
She knew that she couldn’t just keep wearing these wet clothes.
There was no way she would have agreed if another man had suggested this, no matter how wet her clothes were. However, since it was Zu An, she was still willing to tolerate it.
The two of them had a strange relationship that fluctuated between friendship and hostility. In a strange way, under certain circumstances, they were more willing to rely on each other than anyone else.
When Zu An turned around, Pei Mianman slid out of her soaked outfit, revealing her flawless and perfect body. “You had better not look!”
“Don’t worry. If I really wanted to look, then I would do it openly and honorably. Why would I resort to peeping?” Zu An said helplessly.
Pei Mianman’s face turned red. This guy always spoke in such a roguish manner, but he was clearly much more interesting than all the other upright gentlemen she’d met before.
She wiggled her way into the blankets, then said, “I’m done.”
Zu An now turned around. Seeing how tightly she wrapped the blankets around herself, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you really that scared of me peeking at you?”
Pei Mianman snorted. “Haven’t you seen enough already?”
Her words made both their hearts tremble slightly.
Pei Mianman’s expression grew somewhat unnatural. She coughed a few times and said, “Hand me the medicine from inside my clothes.”
Zu An fished out a bottle of restorative medicine from her clothes and handed it over to her.
It was probably a good idea for him to prepare something like this as well. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a single bottle of Faith in Brother Spring on hand.
The only alternative was to try to get some from Ji Dengtu. However, what he’d done to Ji Xiaoxi was still fresh in his mind. There was no way he was getting any medicine from her dad if he ever found out about it. In fact, getting skinned alive would be getting off lightly.
Pei Mianman reached out a hand to take the bottle, but quickly pulled her hand back under the covers when she remembered that she wasn’t wearing anything right now.
“I find myself in a slightly… inconvenient situation. Could… could you take out a pill and fe-… feed it to me?” Pei Mianman said in embarrassment.
Zu An was momentarily stunned, but recovered his wits quickly. “No problem!”
He fished out a pill. Even though he couldn’t recognize what sort of medicine this was, the smell of it alone let him know that this was a high-level restorative medicine.
He supported Pei Mianman with one hand while feeling her with the other.
Pei Mianman lowered her head slightly and swallowed the pill.
When her lips touched his hand and he felt the warmth of her tongue, Zu An’s heart skipped a few beats.
His eyes couldn’t help but look further down. Pei Mianman’s movements had inadvertently exposed a large amount of soft, white skin.
“Do you want me to pull it down a little more for you to have a better view?”
Zu An instantly replied, “I would never refuse such an offer, if you’re so willing.”
“Pull it down my ass!” Pei Mianman hadn’t expected this guy to really be that thick-skinned. She pulled up her blanket at once and kicked him away. “Piss off. Dry my clothes for me! If my clothes aren’t dry, I’m going to leave with your clothes! Hmph!”
“Sure, sure,” Zu An laughed. He sat down in a corner to sort out her wet clothes, glancing in her direction from time to time.
Even though only her head was exposed, he still had to admit that this woman was beautiful.
He always saw her flirtatious and graceful side. This natural and refreshing side she showed today was completely different.
As if she could sense his gaze on her, her cheeks grew even more red. However, she didn’t say anything.
Just like that, a few hours passed. Pei Mianman sighed and slowly opened her eyes.
Zu An asked, “So? Have your injuries healed?”
Pei Mianman rolled her eyes. “I wish it were that fast. I was only able to temporarily stabilize my condition and recover some freedom of movement. By the way, how are my clothes doing?”
“They’re already done.” Zu An brought her a neatly-folded set of clothes.
“Huh? I saw you cover them in a layer of ice just now. How did you dry them so quickly?” Pei Mianman was extremely confused.
“This is called sublimation! You don’t understand physics, so I can’t really explain it to you either. Right now, what’s most important is getting you out of here,” said Zu An.
It would be even harder for her to get away once the sky brightened.
Moreover, if she tried to leave then, there wouldn’t be anyone to help her escape.
It was unfortunate that he hadn’t come in a carriage. If he had, he could just bring her out with him.
“You should put on your clothes first.” Zu An said while looking out the window. He noticed the glow of brightly-lit torches dotting the estate grounds. Clearly the Wei clan guards were still hunting for the intruder. The security was extremely tight.