Chapter 26: At the Mercy of Others

Under the candlelight, Lü Yang saw that his knife wound was indeed quite deep. When he took off his pants, parts of the fabric had stuck to the wound, and pulling them off was very painful, making him frown.

As he removed his pants, Lü Yang immediately used the small towel Xia Yan had given him to cover that area. He made sure not a single hair was showing and everything was properly arranged. Only then did he press the towel with his hand and tell Xia Yan she could start cleaning his wound.

When Xia Yan turned around, her face was flushed red under the candlelight. But seeing that Lü Yang was well-covered, she relaxed a bit. Then she crouched down, had Sister Mei hold the candle to illuminate Lü Yang’s injured area, and took out disinfectant cotton balls to begin cleaning and disinfecting the wound.

“This will hurt quite a bit. If you can’t bear it, go ahead and cry out,” Xia Yan said to Lü Yang with experience.

“I’m not afraid of pain. Go ahead,” Lü Yang gritted his teeth. A real man shouldn’t fear pain or else he would be laughed at by two women.

“Xiao Lü, your injury is so severe…” Sister Mei looked closely at Lü Yang’s wound, her voice choking up, clearly showing genuine emotion.

“It’ll be fine once it’s stitched up. I’m pretty good at suturing,” Xia Yan comforted Sister Mei.

“Have you often helped others with stitches before?” Lü Yang asked Xia Yan tentatively.

“Well, I practiced once on a corpse model before. This time with you counts as the second time,” Xia Yan nodded.

“Oh, come on!” Lü Yang felt frustrated.

“Just kidding!” Xia Yan chuckled but didn’t say whether she had actually stitched anyone up before.

“Um… Dr. Xia, could this knife wound have damaged any nerves?” Lü Yang was very concerned about this. Because Xia Yan looked so serious like a real doctor, he unconsciously treated her as one.

“Damaged nerves?” Xia Yan paused for a moment but seemed to understand quickly. She casually replied, “Why don’t you test if everything still works normally? Then you’ll know.”

Lü Yang smacked his forehead. Right, why ask Xia Yan? If it could still stand straight later, then surely there was no problem?

“Xiao Yan, you know quite a lot…” It took Sister Mei a while to grasp what Lü Yang and Xia Yan had just discussed. Once she understood, she couldn’t help teasing them.

Xia Yan looked somewhat embarrassed. She didn’t respond to Sister Mei and instead took an alcohol cotton ball to start cleaning and disinfecting Lü Yang’s wound.

It… really fucking hurt! Lü Yang clenched his teeth tightly, his hands gripping the bedsheet. Of course he wouldn’t cry out—that would be too embarrassing.

Pain has an adaptation process. Plus, Lü Yang had grown up rough and had a higher pain tolerance than most since childhood. Soon, he relaxed amidst the pain.

“If you can’t bear it, cry out. We won’t laugh at you,” Xia Yan said seriously to Lü Yang, her voice tinged with concern, especially since Lü Yang got this badly injured because of her.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I don’t feel the pain anymore,” Lü Yang replied easily to Xia Yan, then smiled. The pain seemed to lessen a bit more.

A real man should never cry out, no matter how much it hurts.

“Hmm… I admire you. If I had such an injury, I’d probably pass out from the pain,” said Xia Yan, who as a nurse often followed her parents treating patients and learned to encourage patients at the right time to divert their attention from the pain.

Sure enough, Lü Yang felt pleased hearing this, and the pain seemed to diminish further. Being praised by a pretty girl would make any man feel a bit elated.

“Pull the towel down a bit. I need to shave… the beard here, otherwise I can’t clean and suture the wound properly…” After working for a while, Xia Yan said this to Lü Yang with a red face.

Sister Mei, who was holding the candle to help Xia Yan see, was startled when she heard the word ‘beard’ and couldn’t help giggling. Her laughter made Xia Yan’s already flushed face turn even redder, and Lü Yang felt extremely awkward.

“The beard… if shaved off… will look… very ugly. Can we not shave it?” Lü Yang asked Xia Yan gloomily.

“If the wound isn’t treated properly and gets infected, that area will become even uglier,” Xia Yan replied seriously and firmly.

“Yes, Xiao Lü, you should listen to Xiao Yan about this,” Sister Mei added, trying to persuade Lü Yang.

With no choice, Lü Yang carefully moved the towel downward, exposing the ‘beard,’ but… the roots were now faintly visible at the edge of the towel.

“Move your hand away. You’re blocking me, and I can’t shave the beard like this,” Xia Yan said to Lü Yang with a stern face again.

Hearing Xia Yan’s words and seeing her overly serious expression, Sister Mei nearly laughed again. To avoid disturbing Xia Yan, she quickly covered her mouth.

Lü Yang had to move his hand to his chest, then stared at the ceiling, looking completely at the mercy of others.

Xia Yan very carefully began shaving Lü Yang’s ‘beard.’ Honestly, it wasn’t an easy task. It was clear she was trying her best not to aggravate Lü Yang’s wound.

But at this moment, Lü Yang wasn’t afraid of the pain, but rather…

Sometimes, whether for convenience in shaving or to prevent the towel from accidentally slipping and causing embarrassment, Xia Yan would press on the towel with one hand while working with the other. The gentle pressure of her hand through the towel made Lü Yang feel a stirring down below, which worried him greatly.

To avoid any awkward accidents from that stirring, Lü Yang tried hard to distract himself. He recalled all the strange events since the Mysterious Domain opened and even deliberately pinched the wounds on his chest to focus on that pain. He used every method he could think of to force himself not to think about Xia Yan’s hand and prevent any mishaps under the towel.

This was an extremely difficult task, no less challenging than when Hua Tuo scraped the poison from Guan Yu’s bone.

…

“My legs are so sore!” Xia Yan was very thorough in her work. After crouching for a long time, she finally carefully shaved off all the beard around Lü Yang’s wound and completely cleaned and disinfected the area. Then she stood up, stamped her feet, took a needle and thread from the medical box on the table behind her, and prepared to suture Lü Yang’s wound.

“Sister Mei, bring the candle closer. My eyes are a bit blurry, and I can’t see clearly,” Xia Yan said to Sister Mei beside her after taking out the needle and thread.

“Okay,” Sister Mei quickly moved the candle closer to Lü Yang’s body upon hearing this.

Xia Yan walked over, adjusted her position for suturing, and realized that crouching made her legs sore, bending over blocked the light, and it was hard to operate. After a moment’s hesitation, Xia Yan took off her slippers, climbed onto the bed, and knelt facing away from Lü Yang’s head. She then had Sister Mei hold the candle opposite her.

This position allowed her to suture Lü Yang’s wound well without blocking the light. After gauging the placement, Xia Yan took the needle and thread and bent down.