Jiang Wuyan slowly inched half her body off the platform. Xiao Jinxu walked over and squatted down right in front of her head. "Aren't you scared?"
At this height, even an ordinary person would tremble. Yet she, completely blind, was just suspended like that over the sheer cliff...
Jiang Wuyan simply said, "If you rely on yourself, you aren't afraid."
It was a flat, matter-of-fact statement, as if she were merely declaring a preference for tart fruit.
Yet it sent a tremor through the heart of the listener.
Xiao Jinxu felt a flicker of doubt. His betrothed wife was widely said to be a blessing descended from the heavens, destined not only to bring good fortune to the world, but also known for her kindness and magnanimity—especially toward her older sister, who had been branded an omen of disaster. Rather than keeping her distance from someone with such a cursed constitution, Jiang Wuyan had treated her with the utmost honor and respect.
Yet if she were truly someone who had been treated well in her life, how could she ever utter a phrase like "if you rely on yourself, you aren't afraid"?
Xiao Jinxu lowered his gaze and happened to catch sight of Jiang Wuyan releasing her grip on a stone to grope for another handhold below. The rock she had just let go of was stained with blood.
Of course it was; her hands were badly injured. Descending like this required immense physical effort. Unless someone was born without the capacity to feel pain, the mere thought of it was agonizing.
Not to mention that she had broken a leg when she fell, and it had only just been reset—she had hardly any strength in her lower limbs to begin with.
He saw that her forehead was slick with sweat, and it wasn't from exertion; it was surely from the pain.
Why hadn't she uttered a single sound?
Suddenly, he reached down, grabbed her hand, and asked with urgent concern, "Are you alright? I just saw you about to slip."
Jiang Wuyan: "..."
He didn't know if he was genuinely afraid she would fall, but his grip was fiercely strong, as though he wanted to crush the very bones in her hand, pressing right into the open wounds on her skin.
The pain made Jiang Wuyan's foot slip. She missed her footing and plunged downward, left hanging entirely by the hand he was holding.
She suspected he had done it on purpose, that he harbored some sickening, sadistic sense of amusement—even though he was asking with extreme tension, "Are you all right?"
She could no longer maintain her composure. Drawing a sharp, ragged breath, she tilted her face up toward where he stood above. "What is it... you want?"
"Does it hurt?"
He asked a completely inexplicable question.
"It hurts." She gritted her teeth, forcing the words out without any attempt at concealment. "It hurts like hell!"
The person above paused for a few seconds. Unsure whether he had simply grown bored of the game, he gave a hard heave and hauled her back up.
He steadied her, his voice sincere and earnest. "Pardon me for enduring this, but let me help you."
He was referring to her distrust of others, but lingering here any longer was out of the question. Without waiting for her reply, he hoisted her onto his back with a certain degree of force. "I'll carry you down the mountain. It will be much faster."
He expected her to resist or refuse. Instead, as if she had been waiting precisely for this moment, she clung to him without a shred of false modesty, wrapping all her limbs securely around him, her chest pressed tightly against his back!
She didn't even care about the proper boundaries between men and women.
Xiao Jinxu: "..."
His prospective older sister-in-law was truly an inscrutable, endlessly surprising... fascinating creature.
He wasn't lying. Even with a person on his back, his speed was vastly quicker than Jiang Wuyan's slow, agonizing crawl down the slope. With a few agile leaps, he landed securely at the base of the cliff.
Afterward, he didn't put her down. He kept carrying her as he sought out the direction of the village he had spotted from the platform earlier.
Jiang Wuyan didn't demand to be let down to walk on her own either. She made a quick mental calculation, arrived at a satisfactory conclusion, and promptly fell asleep plastered against his back.
She was too exhausted; she needed to rest and recover her strength first.
The "bed board" underneath her might be a bit lumpy, but fortunately, it was steady enough.
When Xiao Jinxu finally realized something was amiss, he initially thought she had suffered too severe an injury and passed out—until he clearly heard tiny little snoods humming right beside his ear. He was left utterly speechless.
With a deliberate jolt, he shook her awake, then asked with renewed concern, "How are you holding up?"
Jiang Wuyan: "..."
Xiao Jinxu resumed walking. "You're a rather strange person."
"What?"
Yet he had no intention of elaborating.
Jiang Wuyan silently curled the corner of her mouth in a bitter, mocking smirk.
Xiao Jinxu knew she was a betrothed woman. Did he think she looked completely indifferent to the boundaries between men and women? Did he think she had no regard for her husband? Did he perhaps think she lacked all wifely virtue?
"Not bad," he suddenly spoke up again, as if answering her inner thoughts. He let out a soft chuckle. "If you were going to bray at me right now about the separation of men and women, insisting on climbing down all by yourself far away from me, I'd really have a headache."
Jiang Wuyan: "..."
He always had ways of doing and saying things that caught her completely off guard.
After all the turmoil of the night, several times she had found herself unable to tell whether he was friendly or hypocritical, genuinely straightforward and reckless, or treacherous and malicious.
Xiao Jinxu said helpfully, "Do you want to sleep a bit longer?"
Jiang Wuyan: "We're almost there."
Xiao Jinxu was just about to dismiss the thought when his sharp eyesight caught the silhouettes of houses ahead.
They really were almost there... Was this woman actually blind or not?
And the journey had truly been smooth; Xiao Jinxu had carried Jiang Wuyan all the way into the village without encountering pursuers from either side.
Dawn was breaking. A few households had already risen early. Stepping outside, the villagers caught sight of Xiao Jinxu and Jiang Wuyan and froze in surprise.
Xiao Jinxu quickly explained that they were a husband and wife who had gone out to enjoy the spring scenery, only to accidentally tumble off the cliff yonder. By sheer luck, they had survived and managed to find their way here. He apologized profoundly for the intrusion and earnestly hoped the kind villagers might take in a displaced couple for the time being—their gratitude would know no bounds.
His phrasing was earnest, his posture humble, radiating absolute sincerity and harmlessness.
The villagers were simple folk. Hearing the tale, they grew immediately sympathetic and led Xiao Jinxu—with Jiang Wuyan still on his back—to a villager's home.
"This is my older brother's place. His previous wife passed away, so he lives alone now. Back when they were hoping for children, he built the house a bit bigger, so there's a spare room. The two of you can stay there for now. It's just a crude village and the houses are all like this—don't look down on it, you two!"
The person who had guided them over was a young man approaching thirty, surnamed Tao, named Tao Youcai. His skin was dark, and judging by his speech, he seemed to be a fairly straightforward fellow.
He was quite warm-hearted, not only arranging a place for them to stay, but also handing over some herbal medicine. He claimed he had plucked it from a nearby mountain hollow and that it was remarkably effective for stopping bleeding and reducing swelling; everyone in the village used it.
After Tao Youcai left, Xiao Jinxu had just helped Jiang Wuyan sit down by the hard wooden bed when the door was abruptly shoved open. With lightning speed, Xiao Jinxu pulled Jiang Wuyan into his embrace, striking the pose of a deeply affectionate husband.
The person who entered was a man in his forties with a slight hunch and a noticeable limp—presumably Tao Youcai's older brother.
Yet unlike Tao Youcai's hearty demeanor, this Tao Dachai was far more reserved and taciturn... or more accurately, somewhat gloomy. The moment he stepped through the door, his eyes locked straight onto the couple.
Especially Jiang Wuyan. Though she could not see, her sensitivity to gazes was exceptionally sharp. At that moment, she felt a profound sense of discomfort, as if she were being watched by some filthy vermin crawling out of a drain. Instinctively, she tightened her grip on Xiao Jinxu's clothes, burying herself deeper into his arms.
Cooperating fully, Xiao Jinxu held her closer, leaning his body forward slightly to block Tao Dachai's line of sight.
However, Tao Dachai had merely come to deliver food. Seemingly lacking the ability to express himself, he simply pointed his finger at a few coarse steamed buns and a bowl of thin rice gruel, signaling for the two of them to eat, and then turned and left.
Xiao Jinxu stared at the newly closed door, a smile playing on his lips. "The people in this village... are all quite enthusiastic."
Jiang Wuyan had no way of knowing whether his words were genuine or sarcastic. She gave him a shove, signaling for him to let her go.
Being held like that, with her nose filled with another person's scent, kept all the hairs on her body standing on end.
Xiao Jinxu hadn't intended to hold her indefinitely, but as he loosened his grip, some inexplicable impulse prompted him to squeeze her shoulder. "You really are much too thin."
He had no doubt that if he applied even the slightest bit of pressure, he could crush her slender, fragile little shoulders to pieces—