Oops! My Inner Thoughts Are Ruining The Plot

Chapter 166: Chapter

Across the small cave, Xiao Chen had finally fallen asleep, his head resting against the stone wall, his breathing steady and slow.

Yueqing lay under the warm furs, but sleep would not come. Her eyes drifted over to Wenzhe, who sat motionless beside the fire. His face was deathly pale under the dim orange light, his eyes fixed on the burning coals, completely lost in his own dark thoughts.

Noticing how still he was, Yueqing carefully reached her hand out from under the blanket. She reached up to gently touch his back.

The moment her fingers brushed his skin, Wenzhe flinched violently. A sharp gasp of agony tore from his throat as he grabbed her wrist in a lightning-fast grip, stopping her dead in her tracks.

Yueqing froze. His hand was trembling, and his palm felt burning hot against her cold skin.

Without thinking, Yueqing used her free hand and yanked hard on his outer robe. With a swift, firm push, she peeled back the thick layers of leather and heavy cloth, pulling them completely off his shoulders until his entire back was bare before her eyes.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes widened in absolute shock.

Wenzhe’s back was a horrific sight. The linen bandages wrapped across his skin were completely soaked through with dark, wet blood. Several deep wounds had reopened entirely, tearing through the crude stitching. Around the edges of the red cuts, the skin was swollen, hot, and turning a dangerous, angry shade of purple—already infected from the freezing winds and his relentless horse ride through the night.

He had ridden through a blizzard, tumbled down an icy cliff, and carried her through deep snow, all while his back was literally falling apart.

Wenzhe pulled his robes back over his shoulders with a shaking hand, refusing to turn around and meet her gaze.

"Don’t look," he whispered, his voice raspy and choked with pain.

[This idiot...] Yueqing thought, her chest tightening as a strange, overwhelming wave of anger and panic hit her all at once. [He’s completely out of his mind! He’s dying right in front of me and he didn’t say a single word!]

"Shut up," Yueqing whispered sharply, cutting off his protest before he could even finish his sentence.

Wenzhe froze, his mouth snapping shut as he sat motionless on the ground, his face pale and sweating from the intense pain.

Ignoring the aching tight sensation in her cracked ribs, Yueqing carefully got up from under the furs. She stayed low to the ground, moving quietly past the glowing embers over to where Xiao Chen lay sound asleep against the stone wall.

She grabbed the heavy velvet bundle he had carried through the entire storm.

Untying the tight leather straps, she pulled open the velvet wrapping. Inside, neatly packed away from the cold, were small ceramic jars of healing salves, clean rolls of white cotton linen, a small silver knife, and a sealed bottle of high-proof alcohol meant for cleaning deep wounds.

[At least the prince brought something useful,] Yueqing thought, picking up the alcohol, the salve, and a thick stack of clean bandages.

She turned back to Wenzhe, holding the medicinal supplies in her arms, her face set in a firm, deadpan expression as she walked back over to his side of the fire.

Yueqing sat down behind Wenzhe, setting the medicine jars and bandages onto the stone floor.

"Take off your robes completely," she ordered in a low, quiet voice.

Wenzhe stiffened, pulling his torn collar higher to hide his skin. "No," he said flatly, his dark eyes stubborn. "You are injured and weak. Lie back down and rest. I will fix my own bandages."

Yueqing looked at him like he had lost his mind. "You want to dress your own back? How are you going to reach behind your own shoulder blades, General? With magic?"

She reached out and pulled on his sleeve to force the robe down, but Wenzhe didn’t budge an inch. His body stayed rigid as a steel wall, refusing to cooperate.

Yueqing let out a long, exhausted sigh. She glanced over her shoulder at Xiao Chen, who was fast asleep against the far wall.

[If the prince were awake, I would just tell him to hold this stubborn idiot down,] Yueqing thought, rubbing her throbbing temples. [Though... even that wouldn’t work. Wenzhe is way bigger and more muscular than Xiao Chen. He’d probably just throw the poor prince across the cave with one arm.]

She turned back to face Wenzhe, who was still glaring at the floor with his jaw locked tight, stubbornly refusing to let her touch his wounds.

Yueqing leaned in closer, looking straight into his dark, bloodshot eyes.

"Listen to me, Wenzhe," she whispered, her voice smooth and deliberate. "If you sit still and let me clean your back right now... I will give you a reward."

Wenzhe froze instantly. His eyes snapped up to hers, his dark gaze locking onto her face with sudden, intense focus. His jaw relaxed just a fraction, his chest rising and falling heavily.

"A reward?" Wenzhe asked, his raspy voice dropping low.

"Yes, a reward," Yueqing promised, holding his stare without flinching. "Whatever you want, as long as it’s reasonable. But only if you stop fighting me and let me fix your back."

Wenzhe stayed completely silent for three long seconds, staring at her lips before looking into her eyes.

Slowly, without saying another word, he reached up with his trembling hands, as he finally pulled his robes all the way down off his broad shoulders, exposing his bare, bloody back to her.

Yueqing smirked slightly, picking up the bottle of alcohol and the clean cloth.

[Hook, line, and sinker,] she thought, shaking her head. [Men really are so easy to manage.]

Wenzhe heard her thought loud and clear, his heart beating wildly against his ribs, but he kept his head turned away and stayed completely still, waiting for her gentle hands to touch his skin.

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