Help, I’m Being Forced to Marry a Frail and Sickly Immortal Doctor! 46

Chapter 46: Plucking a Plum Blossom for Whom

Afraid of making Yin Buran cry again, Ning Ruoque obediently “was” kicked off the bed and instead sat on the footstool by the bed.

She said in a low voice, “Sorry, I don’t have this part of the memory.”

In Ning Ruoque’s impression, the Flower Festival was no different from an ordinary day.

She was either practicing her sword or gnawing on dry rations and killing monsters in some desolate place.

Even though Yin Buran had said so, she could only imagine some dry and dull scenes.

As if scooping the moon from the water or looking at flowers in the fog, what Yin Buran described was like something that had happened to someone else.

Ning Ruoque felt sullen in her heart. She turned her head to look out the window.

The flowing clouds had all dispersed, and the bright moon hung high.

Suddenly, the flying boat shook, and the scenery changed. A cold wind whistled past her ear.

It must be Chu Xuan who had started the flying boat, preparing to return.

Ning Ruoque got up to close the window, her gaze uncontrollably sliding to Yin Buran.

The latter was still in her original, curled up sleeping posture, but she had taken the soft pillow and was hugging it like a koala, her messy white hair covering most of her face.

Ning Ruoque paced back and forth, and after several rounds, she still couldn’t help but ask.

“Yin Buran, that night… what was our relationship?”

A muffled snort came from the pillow. “We spent the Flower Festival night together. What do you think?”

Lovers.

Ning Ruoque stood there in a daze with her sword in her arms, not continuing the conversation.

“That night… I originally wanted to soak in the hot spring with you,” Yin Buran hugged the pillow tighter, complaining with annoyance and grievance, “Who asked you not to let me win even once…”

As if she were extremely sleepy, her voice became lower and lower, and the last few words were hidden in her long and drawn-out breaths, no longer audible.

Ning Ruoque continued to sit on the footstool, took out a soft cloth to wipe the edge of her sword, and let her thoughts wander.

The lack of various key memories made it difficult for her to have a sense of reality.

For example, was it she who had actively pursued Yin Buran, or was it Yin Buran who had pursued her first?

Apart from the part where the two of them had confessed their feelings for each other, had she lost more memories related to Yin Buran?

Or was it that the problem was still with Yin Buran?

Ning Ruoque wanted to know more.

“Yin Buran?”

“…”

The person on the bed did not respond. Yin Buran had fallen asleep hugging the soft pillow, still with her back to her.

Sleeping was impossible. Ning Ruoque would not let go of any opportunity to cultivate. She simply meditated while listening to Yin Buran’s movements.

The person on the bed was very well-behaved most of the time, and could maintain the same sleeping posture for a long time.

But after Ning Ruoque had circulated her cultivation technique for a few rounds, the silence in the room was broken by a few scattered, muffled coughs.

The sound was actually not loud, but it sounded particularly piercing.

Ning Ruoque’s heart instantly tightened. She stopped cultivating and stared at Yin Buran without blinking, her whole body exuding “vigilance.”

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the coughing became more and more violent, and was even mixed with some whimpers and gasps.

Ning Ruoque frowned, gently took away the soft pillow in Yin Buran’s hand, and turned her over to look.

This sight really frightened her.

The person before her’s cheeks were flushed, and her eyelashes were also wet. Her breathing was abnormally rapid.

With nothing in her arms, she curled up into a ball uneasily, and even her fingertips were trembling.

Ning Ruoque gently held Yin Buran’s wrist. So cold.

When she touched her forehead again, it was burning hot.

Her heart seemed to stop for a moment. Ning Ruoque had no time to think and vaulted out of the window in a few steps, circling to another room and knocking on the door.

“Qingtong, Yin Buran seems to have a fever!”

Qingtong was originally yawning by Qieyu’s bed. When she heard this, she didn’t even bother to put on her clothes and rushed out in her slippers.

If Ning Ruoque hadn’t pulled her, she would have almost hit a pillar.

The commotion was too loud, and even Chu Xuan was alarmed and came out to check on the situation.

At that time, Qingtong had already rushed to Yin Buran’s bed and was taking her pulse with a frown.

After a long while, she finally spoke with a worried tone, “It should be that the cold has entered her body, causing her old illness to relapse. I can only temporarily suppress it.”

After speaking, she took out a pill from her pouch, wanting to feed it to Yin Buran.

But Yin Buran was extremely uncooperative. As soon as she smelled the bitter taste, she shrank back, and in the end, she directly buried her head in the pillow, coughing until she was dizzy.

Qingtong was heartbroken, but she could only hold the medicine at a loss, not knowing what to do.

On the contrary, Ning Ruoque suddenly asked, “Does this medicine melt in the mouth?”

Qingtong nodded, and then the pill was taken by Ning Ruoque.

Before she could react, “What are you trying to do—”

Before her voice could fall, Ning Ruoque directly pulled the pillow away with force and pinched Yin Buran’s chin to prevent her from dodging.

The moment Yin Buran opened her lips, she forcefully stuffed the pill into her mouth.

Simple and crude, all in one go.

Yin Buran was so bitter that she frowned and shrank back to the corner of the bed, coughing from time to time, looking quite pitiful.

Qingtong: “…”

She knew it. Sword cultivators were completely unreliable!

Chu Xuan really couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing, praising with great enthusiasm, “Good! Good method! If your expression was a little darker, you would have the air of a demonic cultivator.”

Ning Ruoque gave her a cold look.

Chu Xuan immediately cleared her throat and became serious. “I let her soak in the hot spring to get rid of the cold when we arrived, but I didn’t expect that it still couldn’t be prevented.”

Although she had long heard that Yin Buran’s constitution was weak, so much so that she couldn’t stand the cold or the heat.

But only today did she realize just how weak it was.

“The Forging Fire Sect doesn’t have a medical cultivator who can treat her,” Chu Xuan stroked her chin and made a decision without much hesitation. “The flying boat is yours. You might as well go straight back to Azurefall Creek.”

The Forging Fire Sect’s business was spread throughout the entire cultivation world, and Chu Xuan herself was a renowned artifact cultivator. A mere flying boat was just a drop in the bucket for her wealth.

She threw the control array of the flying boat to Qingtong and looked at Yin Buran.

“Let’s part for now. I still have to go back to the Forging Fire Sect to deal with this mess. We’ll talk again after Yin Buran has recuperated.”

After speaking, she waved her hand and strode out of the room.

Qingtong did not stand on ceremony and directly increased the speed of the flying boat to the maximum, striving to return to Azurefall Creek before noon.

She even specially set up a small bed and helped Qieyu over, so that she could take care of both sides.

Ning Ruoque couldn’t help much in this aspect, so she had no choice but to find a corner where she wouldn’t be in the way and sit down.

She listened to Yin Buran’s coughing and watched her shiver even though she was wrapped in a thick cotton quilt.

The originally snow-souled and ice-postured Divine Pivot Lord, now the corners of her eyes and her fingertips were flushed red. Her long fingers grabbed the quilt, creating wrinkles, like a plum blossom crushed in the snow dust.

Ning Ruoque had never been so worried about a person.

Seeing a teardrop half-hanging on Yin Buran’s eyelashes, she felt as if her heart had sunk into that teardrop and couldn’t be fished out.

She wanted to wipe away that teardrop.

But seeing Qingtong’s meticulous care, and thinking of her own clumsiness, that she might wipe Yin Buran’s face like wiping a sword, she gave up the idea.

Fortunately, Chu Xuan’s flying boat was fast enough, chasing the wind and lightning, traveling a thousand miles a day, and finally returned to Azurefall Creek before noon.

The medical cultivator who had come to meet them early, without a word, picked up the person and sent her to Sleeping Jade Peak.

Qingtong also hurried to go, only having time to say to Ning Ruoque, “With my master here, she’ll be fine.”

The master she was talking about was the peak master of Sleeping Jade Peak, Mo Jue.

Azurefall Creek had one king, two lords, and four hall masters. Mo Jue was not among them, but her status was also extraordinary. Every time the Medicine King went into seclusion, she would manage the affairs of Azurefall Creek on her behalf.

And Ning Ruoque knew her because of her miraculous medical skills that could bring the dead back to life, and her low-key style of doing things.

She often wore a veil when she treated people and never left her name. People in the cultivation world all guessed that she was a medical cultivator without a sect.

Yin Buran had mentioned it once before, and only then did Ning Ruoque know that Mo Jue should actually be considered Yin Buran’s master’s wife.

Mo Jue practiced medicine, and idle people were not allowed on Sleeping Jade Peak.

Ning Ruoque, this idle person, had no choice but to sit on the stone steps at the foot of the mountain in a daze.

She couldn’t cultivate either, and counted the bamboo leaves falling from the sky out of boredom.

The bamboo leaves had already covered the long steps, but her heart had not yet settled.

Only when Qin Jiangli strode over did Ning Ruoque come back to her senses, stood up, and greeted her politely, “Fellow Daoist Qin.”

A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of Qin Jiangli’s mouth. “Sword Venerable, you seem to have something on your mind.”

Ning Ruoque: “You don’t have to call me Sword Venerable. Just call me Ning Ruoque.”

Qin Jiangli nodded and said gracefully, “Alright, Ning Ruoque. Are you worried about Ranran?”

“…”

Ning Ruoque lowered her eyes, which was a tacit admission.

She was already used to Qin Jiangli’s straightforward personality. Besides that, she had also heard that the Senior Sister of Azurefall Creek never lied.

Isn’t this a convenient time for her to ask questions?

“Forgive my impertinence,” Ning Ruoque chose her words carefully and tentatively asked, “Yin Buran often says that I had a past romance with her. Has she ever mentioned this to you?”

Qin Jiangli squinted her eyes, and a hint of bewilderment appeared on her dignified and serious face.

She was a little surprised. “Hmm? Isn’t Ranran still pursuing you? So you two were together before?”

Even though she had prepared herself psychologically, Ning Ruoque was still choked by her direct words, and the roots of her ears turned completely red.

After a while, she continued dryly, “Then she also said, she wants to marry me…”

Qin Jiangli was even more confused. “Isn’t that just her little trick to pursue you?”

Ning Ruoque really wanted to refute, what little trick skips the process and goes straight to the result?

But thinking of Azurefall Creek’s inherited protectiveness, she gave up.

She continued to ask, “I’ve stayed at Suwen Peak a few times. Do you have any impression?”

Qin Jiangli seemed to have heard something funny. “If it’s true, then the Medicine King would be so anxious. She didn’t even know that her precious disciple was so good at hiding people.”

Seeing that her expression did not seem fake, Ning Ruoque sighed softly. It seemed that Qin Jiangli also did not know.

As if knowing what Ning Ruoque was thinking, Qin Jiangli spoke slowly.

“I really don’t know what past relationship you two had. Ranran has never mentioned it to me.”

“But the people who are close to her all know that she likes you. As for the reason, you’ll understand if you go to her study and take a look.”

Ignoring the complicated expression on Ning Ruoque’s face, she looked at the end of the stone steps with her hands behind her back and said to herself.

“I still remember, after Ranran learned of your death, she ignored all persuasion and insisted on going to the ancient battlefield to find your body. After three days and three nights, she finally came back, dirty.”

She looked at Ning Ruoque’s dazed eyes with a faint smile. “During that time, when I passed by Suwen Peak, I often saw her hiding in the study and crying secretly.”

The word “cry,” in Ning Ruoque’s impression, was not associated with Yin Buran.

But since her rebirth, she had seen Yin Buran’s tears many times, and could actually imagine some mottled scenes from it.

Qin Jiangli had not finished.

“For the next thirteen years, Ranran asked to go down the mountain to train. I heard that she traveled alone to the snowy plains of Shuozhou in the north, and the Penglai Islands in the south, visiting both the upper realm and the human world, and even picked the plum blossoms of the Celestial Lake.”

“When I was bored, I flipped through the old issues of the Hundred Rumors Tower and found that most of these were places that you, the Sword Venerable, had been to.”

Qin Jiangli raised her hand to catch a yellowed bamboo leaf and asked lightly, “Has she never told you about such suffering?”

Ning Ruoque’s mouth opened, and her throat seemed to be blocked by something, very sore.

Qin Jiangli shook her head and sighed, “Then it was my slip of the tongue, and I said the wrong thing again.”

She flicked her sleeve and was about to go up the mountain, but was subconsciously stopped by Ning Ruoque.

“Fellow Daoist Qin…”

Qin Jiangli gently pushed Ning Ruoque’s hand away with a folding fan and winked playfully, “I don’t dare to say any more, or Ranran will have a fit with me.”

“The Medicine King is about to come out of seclusion. You should go and ask her.”

After speaking, her figure flickered a few times and disappeared at the end of the long steps.