Under the moonlight

Chapter 165 Still in the Mood to Argue

Zhao Meng and Li Shuo were squatting on the ground inside the tent, displaying their spoils: dozens of pistols, several submachine guns, and a box of bullets.

It was the first time either of them had ever seen these things in real life. They were a little shaky when they first held them in their hands, but it seemed to be in a boy's nature to play with these things, and they quickly became skilled at handling them. When they saw Xu Ao come in, Li Shuo was about to invite him to see their new toys, but when he took a closer look, he saw that Xu Ao was covered in bright red bloodstains and had a strip of cloth wrapped around his leg that was soaked in blood and turned red. He exclaimed and stood up, "Holy crap! They went too far!"

Zhao Meng had noticed Xu Ao's injuries earlier and quietly went to the back to get some alcohol and disinfectant cotton swabs, the same things they had brought into the shed area. "It seems good deeds really do bring good rewards. Your retribution has come to pass." Zhao Meng said, gesturing for Xu Ao to take off his clothes.

"No need for now, things are..."

"Based on my experience of being slashed, wounds on the upper body, especially the back, are very difficult to heal. And how can you know how deep the wound is without an examination? If the spine is really injured, it will be bad for your back in the future." Zhao Meng finished speaking, pursed his lips, shook his head, and looked regretful.

"Oh my god, does that mean there's no happy life then? Huang Meng, hurry up and help him over here." Li Shuo instantly understood Zhao Meng's meaning, while Xu Ao's face turned red and white in turns. "Don't talk nonsense!"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Is what you said wrong? If I really hurt you, would you still be the same as before?" Huang Meng saw Xu Ao's embarrassed look and thought he was just ashamed, so she quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.

"No, no, you didn't understand what they meant..." Hearing Huang Meng's words, Li Shuo had an "I see" look on his face, covering his mouth and chuckling. Although Zhao Meng knew that Huang Meng had misunderstood their teasing of Xu Ao, he still felt a pang of jealousy.

"I didn't expect you to be so quick. Oh, no, I misspoke, I meant you were quick to act. But hey, that's my sister, so don't try to renege on your promise!" Xu Ao was whispered in Li Shuo's ear as he passed by, with Li Shuo putting his arm around her neck.

"Although I haven't made a move yet, I won't renege on my debt. I've never even considered it," Xu Ao said with a smile, but his eyes revealed a firmness and seriousness.

Li Shuo understood his look, smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said to Huang Meng who was following behind, "Apply the medicine to him properly. I think he's quite ill!"

Huang Meng helped Xu Ao sit down in the back corner of the tent. "Bear with it!" Seeing Zhao Meng looking troubled with his back turned, Huang Meng took a step forward to hug him, but Xu Ao grabbed her hands first. "You really think I'm a child? It's okay, I can bear it. You're the best anesthetic for me. Just looking at you makes me drunk, like that character in 'Romance in the Rain' who doesn't need anesthesia to remove a bullet, just... Ah! Zhao Meng!"

"There's no other way. Tearing it open slowly, bit by bit, would take too much time. It's better to end it quickly than to suffer for a long time!"

Huang Meng watched as Xu Ao drenched in cold sweat from the pain, the dried blood on his forehead soaking through. Sweat mixed with blood slowly slid down his cheeks. Huang Meng wanted to reach out and wipe it for him, but his hands were gripped tightly by Xu Ao. Afraid of hurting Huang Meng's hands, he withdrew most of his strength, gritting his teeth and hanging his head.

Zhao Meng forcefully ripped off the shirt that was stuck to the wound on his back, exposing the entire wound. This sudden and violent treatment almost made Xu Ao faint from the pain, and Xu Ao had reason to suspect that it was intentional.

“Okay, you can continue your story now.” Zhao Meng said while cleaning the wound. Seeing Huang Meng’s anxious eyes staring at him, he smiled slightly at him. “It’s nothing, just a superficial wound. It’s much better than my wound back then, don’t worry.”

Looking at Zhao Meng's nonchalant expression, Huang Meng said with a hint of bitterness, "You must have been in a lot of pain back then too!"

"Well, thankfully, there's anesthesia. I'm not like some people who are the toughest thing on the body."

"Zhao Meng! What did you say?!" Xu Ao, who had been hanging his head and unable to speak due to the pain, suddenly became energetic like a cat with its fur standing on end, turning his neck and shouting at Zhao Meng.

The group of people gathered in front, discussing something, were suddenly drawn to his voice and looked at him. Xu Ao was momentarily speechless, the rest of his words stuck in his throat. "Um, it's okay, you guys continue."

"Zhao Meng, you better watch out." Xu Ao turned his head and said in a low voice with a fierce look. Huang Meng only cared about Xu Ao's injuries, and since they always liked to bicker, she didn't take it to heart.

Zhao Meng chuckled but didn't reply. Xu Ao turned his head and carefully observed Huang Meng's expression. Seeing that she was watching Zhao Meng apply the medicine to her very seriously, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Zhao Meng quickly said in a deep voice, "How should I put it about the wound on your back? The medicine we have here won't be enough. You need to go to the hospital to get it bandaged as soon as possible, otherwise the wound will be difficult to heal. In addition, the climate here is humid, and if the wound doesn't heal, it will get infected, and the consequences will be quite serious."

Zhao Meng applied the last bit of medicine to his hand and silently picked up the bandage to prepare to bandage. Huang Meng looked at Zhao Meng and said, "Let me do it!" Then, without waiting for him to speak, she took the bandage from Zhao Meng and went behind Xu Ao. Even though she had prepared herself mentally, tears welled up in her eyes when she saw the shocking wound on his back. In order not to let Xu Ao notice her emotional change, she tightly covered her mouth, then took a few deep breaths and pretended to be nonchalant, "I'm not a professional nurse, I won't bandage it well."

"Hey, you could tie a big bow on his head and he'd be grinning from ear to ear. How could he possibly complain? I'm going to go ahead and see how their discussion is going." Zhao Meng saw Huang Meng's sadness and, feeling stifled himself, didn't want to stay any longer, so he went ahead.

"I'm fine, really. It's just superficial injuries, no bones are broken. I'll be fine after some rest, don't worry," Xu Ao whispered to Huang Meng behind him.

"You call this nothing? You're in shambles! Zhao Meng is right, this little bit of medicine won't do any good." Huang Meng gently wrapped the bandage around his back, not daring to touch his skin at all. She didn't know how to wrap it properly, so she just used her own understanding to wrap Xu Ao's entire back with the bandage.

The bandage couldn't be wrapped too tightly; the climate here was humid and hot, making it easy to sweat, and too much bandage would hinder wound healing. Huang Meng quickly finished bandaging, tying the bandage around Xu Ao's chest. Xu Ao looked down at the girl in his arms, carefully tying the bandage, a warm feeling welling up inside him. "Huang Meng, you really have the potential to be a nurse. Have you considered it…?"

Huang Meng, who had just finished bandaging herself, looked up and asked, "What are you thinking about?" Seeing her serious expression, and knowing that she had lost a lot of weight and was probably very frightened, Xu Ao teased her a bit. While putting on Zhao Meng's black shirt, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Have you considered taking care of my wound every day after we go back, the kind of care where you wear a nurse's uniform?"

After saying that, he stood up straight and looked at her with a smile. Huang Meng frowned and thought for a while before she understood what he meant. She blushed and looked at Xu Ao with a mischievous smile. She thought he was saying sweet words when he spoke so gently, but it turned out to be vulgar language. She had even thought about it seriously for a long time.

"Xu Ao, I think you're not in pain anymore!" Huang Meng raised her fist, then lowered it, and said through gritted teeth.

"Mmm, it doesn't hurt anymore. After you took such good care of me, there's no pain at all, only comfort!" Xu Ao said, then raised his hand to ruffle her hair and left, leaving Huang Meng alone, lost in thought. What did those words really mean? Did they mean what I thought they meant? Or what did they mean?