Blooming Flowers, Silent Sorrow

Translator: Silvery Butterfly

The moment Xiao Bao regained consciousness, he felt as if his body had been trampled by ten oxen, with not a single part that wasn’t in pain.

Grimacing and groaning, he lay on the bed, not daring to move. Just thinking about how he got injured brought cold sweat down his back and made the pain worse, especially at the rear, which felt like it was on fire, burning all the way up to his forehead. No wonder they made him sleep on his stomach. He wondered if he’d ever be able to relieve himself normally again. Damn it, is that part of the body supposed to be used that way?

Twenty years of learning all sorts of vulgar and obscene curses boiled inside him as he mentally cursed Huai En’s ancestors.

“Your grandfather’s dead freak! Ungrateful bastard! I swear I won’t be human if I don’t take revenge for this!”

Xiao Bao gritted his teeth, his mind churning with all sorts of vicious ideas on how to take down the bastard who raped him. The most satisfying and face-saving revenge, of course, would be to rape him back. Xiao Bao, despite his self-loathing thoughts, couldn’t help but recall Huai En’s enraptured expression… It was… oh oh oh oh oh… too stimulating and enchanting to forget. Damn it, if I don’t have my way with you, I’m not a man!

Just as he was fantasizing about pushing Huai En down, stripping him, and then…

The door creaked open.

Xiao Bao was startled and painfully turned his head towards the door.

Entering was a young woman in a light green gauze dress. Her glossy black hair was casually tied into a bun at the back of her head. She wore few accessories, and her attire was not particularly luxurious, but her whole being exuded a mature and seductive charm.

Under normal circumstances, if Xiao Bao saw such a curvaceous and alluring sister, his soul would leave his body, and he’d be all smiles trying to get close. But given his current state, seeing a woman, especially a beautiful one, made his face darken.

Could it have been her who had been taking care of him? Then… back there… like that… wouldn’t she have seen everything…

Even someone as shameless as Xiao Bao felt his face burn with embarrassment. Damn it.

The young woman, seeing his pained expression and recalling his injuries, was somewhat displeased despite her experience as a healer. The moment she entered the room, the air became thick with awkwardness.

But Xiao Bao’s thick skin quickly helped him recover. “Uh… sister… where am I?”

“Ah… oh… Jin Gongzi ¹, you’re finally awake. You’ve been unconscious for three days. This is our young master’s mansion in Wujiang County.”

“Ah? Wujiang County? Why am I here?”

“It was Lord You Ying who followed the secret marks and found you and the young master.”

Xiao Bao’s face turned red instantly, and he wished he could just bang his head and die.

He had no idea what happened to Huai En afterward. He only knew that he kept fainting from the pain, waking up, and then fainting again. This happened countless times, and Huai En never stopped. It was a nightmare. He had brought it on himself, trying to steal a chicken and ending up losing the rice. Now that everything had happened, no amount of regret could change anything. He figured it was just his bad luck to have run into such a demon. That should be enough, right? But the worst part was having others see his misfortune so blatantly. It was truly humiliating.

Seeing his expression of shame and anger, the young woman quickly changed the subject. “Lord You Ying asked me to wait until Jin Gongzi woke up to ask if you would like to notify your family to come and get you or if you would like us to send someone to escort you back.”

“What? You haven’t notified my family yet?” Xiao Bao was anxious. Missing for three days—Zhao Cai, Jin Bao, and his parents must be worried sick. His father would be furious and might beat Zhao Cai and Jin Bao to death.

“No… because… Gongzi was still unconscious… and your injuries are… difficult to explain…”

Circling back to the same issue. Damn it, haven’t they ever seen a person’s buttocks torn apart? Country bumpkins.

Xiao Bao cursed Huai En again in his mind. “Good sister, please quickly inform the Jin Mansion in Suzhou, tell them I’m safe, and ask Zhao Cai and Jin Bao to come get me.”

“Alright, alright.” The young woman was eager to leave and turned to go.

“Uh, good sister…”

“Gongzi can call me Cui Niang.”

“Oh… Sister Cui… um… how is your young master?” He couldn’t help but ask, feeling a bit worried despite himself, and then started to despise himself for it.

“Our young master almost died. The doctor said he had almost bled out. Fortunately, our young master is strong and resilient. He’s out of danger now and woke up yesterday. He is currently recuperating.”

“Oh, then, you go ahead.” Hearing that he was alright, Xiao Bao still felt a bit relieved. On second thought, it was only natural to worry. If Huai En really died, how would he exact his revenge? Was he supposed to desecrate a corpse? That was too technical, and besides, he really wasn’t into that sort of thing.

For the next two days, Xiao Bao lay in bed, barely alive. His only amusement was verbally teasing Cui Niang. He later learned that this mature and flirtatious sister was not only taking care of him but was also a doctor. That meant she had seen all his humiliating injuries. However, Xiao Bao, always optimistic and simple-minded, decided to let it go and became even more shameless in front of Cui Niang.

Cui Niang wasn’t some meek, well-behaved girl either. The two of them bickered back and forth, with neither getting the upper hand. This helped Xiao Bao pass the time, relieving the boredom of being bedridden.

One evening, after dinner, someone came to visit. Seeing the person’s face, Xiao Bao was startled. “Ah? Huh? How did you recover so quickly?”

You Ying looked at him in confusion, thinking Xiao Bao must have been delirious from fever the past few days.

Xiao Bao thought for a moment and said, “You don’t happen to have a twin brother, do you?”

You Ying paused. “I do have an older brother, but we’re not twins.”

“That explains it. I saw your brother.” Xiao Bao remembered the man, bloodied and zombie-like, who had a face very similar to You Ying’s—handsome and heroic, even with a similar build.

“You saw my brother?” You Ying rushed forward, grabbing Xiao Bao by the shoulders in excitement. “He’s not dead? Where is he?”

“Ow, ow, it hurts.” The rough shaking pulled at Xiao Bao’s wounds, and the various bruises left by a certain beast’s biting, pinching, and punching all screamed in pain.

“Oh, Young Master Jin, I apologize.” You Ying quickly let go.

“Be gentle… honestly…” Xiao Bao complained, rolling his eyes. “Your brother… when I saw him, he was half-dead, very badly injured. Whether he’s alive or dead now, I don’t know.”

“Oh…” You Ying lowered his head in disappointment. After finding the young master and Jin Xiao Bao that day, he had ordered a search along the route for bodies. All the men Zuo Ying had taken were found dead, but Zuo Ying’s body was missing. You Ying firmly believed his brother was still alive.

“Young Master Jin, your two servants have arrived to take you back. Can you walk, or should they come in to carry you out?”

“No, I’ll walk by myself.” Those two idiots would definitely interrogate him about his injuries if they saw him hurt. How would he explain? ‘Oh, nothing, just got my rear end violated for a whole day.’

Thinking it over, Xiao Bao glanced at You Ying. “You didn’t tell them about… where… how I got hurt, did you?”

“Uh… Cui Niang said you heroically got injured saving our young master,” said Zhao Cai.

Xiao Bao sighed. He felt that a man as aggrieved as he was, was truly one of a kind. Wasn’t he heroic? He had heroically and fearlessly offered up his backside. How heroic indeed.

Xiao Bao slowly propped himself up with his arms, holding a push-up position for about three seconds before collapsing back onto the bed. With his weight, the sturdy wooden bed creaked loudly, and he let out a groan of pain.

You Ying found it a bit funny but didn’t dare laugh, thinking, “Is it really that painful?”

Xiao Bao glared at him, thinking, “You try sticking your butt out and getting ruthlessly pounded for a day.”

In reality, it wasn’t that bad, especially since they had been using good medicine these past few days, and the wound had mostly healed. But look who was injured here—Jin Xiao Bao, the only heir of the richest man in Jiangnan. Even a minor scrape or cough would call for a consultation with three doctors. He had been carefully protected all his life, with delicate skin and tender flesh, spoiled and unable to bear any hardship. Now, he had been bullied and couldn’t even complain. He wished he could hide in his mother’s arms and cry.

But being pampered in private was one thing; Xiao Bao cared deeply about his image. Seeing You Ying’s expression, he knew You Ying thought he wasn’t manly enough. So, he bravely propped himself up again and finally managed to get up. Then, swaying a bit, he got out of bed.

He had thought he wouldn’t be able to walk, but after getting up, he realized it wasn’t that serious. It hurt a bit, a burning sensation, but he could still pretend nothing was wrong.

Xiao Bao puffed out his soft, round belly, habitually drawing circles on it and pinching it with his fingers, lamenting the unpredictability of life. In just a few days, he had lost weight.

He took a deep breath and strode out.