Chef Hua
Chapter 447: Episode 245 All the Effort in Vain_2

Chapter 447: Episode 245 All the Effort in Vain_2

His skin was scorching hot, terrifyingly so. Hua Xiaomai’s mind had already begun to grow muddled, when suddenly, a jolt of awareness hit her. She desperately pushed him away. Failing to budge him, she simply pinched him hard and laughed out loud, "Stop struggling; it’s all pointless effort..."

Meng Yuhuai, pinched by her, also came to his senses and finally let go of her. He was truly displeased and stood up with furrowed brows to pour another cup of tea. He downed it in one go and shot her a sideways glance.

"Why are you glaring at me? It’s not all my fault, is it?" Hua Xiaomai retorted righteously, pointing at her own stomach, "You’re the one who made my mother and me worried for so long. Do you still have the face to glare at me?"

She lowered her head to think for a moment, then went to unbutton his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Meng Yuhuai quickly blocked her, "It’s not going to work out anyway, can you just behave yourself?"

"Who wants to make anything work with you? Let me check!" Hua Xiaomai pursed the corner of her mouth, "Shi Qingquan was carried down from the mountain, and here you are, looking completely fine. That’s hardly possible, is it? Let me inspect you properly so I can be at ease."

Indeed, Meng complied and removed his clothes, muttering, "It’s just a superficial wound. It didn’t damage the bones, and hardly two drops of blood were shed. It’s nothing."

But Hua Xiaomai wasn’t listening to him, she held her gaze on him and saw a large abrasion near his shoulder. Maybe she accidentally bumped it while clinging to his neck earlier; it was starting to bleed a little again.

It was true that the bone wasn’t damaged, but the sight of the mangled flesh was quite frightening!

"Are you stupid? You could’ve at least said something when you were hurt, couldn’t you? Doesn’t it hurt?" Hua Xiaomai complained, turning to leave. She mumbled to herself, "We don’t even have medicine at home. Normally, when the men in the village hurt their hands working in the fields, they’d just grab some herbs by the roadside, chew them up, and slap them on. Yet, I barely recognize any."

"Enough, don’t worry, it’s just a small injury. By tomorrow morning it’ll surely have scabbed over." Meng Yuhuai grabbed her arm to stop her from going, "If my mother hears any noise later, she’ll..."

"We should at least wash it with some salt water." Hua Xiaomai was insistent. She eventually brought over a small basin of salt water and while carefully washing his wound, she looked up and said, "Tell me, what exactly happened these past few days? Only you and Shi Qingquan managed to catch that gang of thieves?"

"Ha, we just stumbled upon it by accident and found the thieves’ hiding place." Meng Yuhuai laughed, "Five or six people, along with the Warehouse Guard they had kidnapped, all crammed into a narrow cave. When I went to look later, it was so packed nobody could even turn around. They were quite impressive to have hidden there for a good ten days. Initially, when I discovered them, I didn’t plan to cause a stir. I was thinking of having Shi Qingquan go down the mountain to send a message and I would stay on guard, but that guy..."

He shook his head as he reached this point and said with a mix of laughter and tears, "I don’t know if you remember him, but he’s been with the Escort Agency for many years and is a few years older than me, nearing thirty. Yet, due to his timidity and fear of taking on responsibilities, he has always remained a porter. I asked him to go down the mountain to call for help, but as soon as he stood up, his legs began to tremble, and he hadn’t taken two steps before lunging into the bushes, where he was discovered."

"What a useless teammate!" Hua Xiaomai cursed in her heart and hurriedly continued asking. "Then what happened?"

"What else could happen? I immediately dragged him and ran down the mountain, but something just felt off, and I couldn’t get over it in my heart. I feared those thieves would change their location as soon as they realized their trail had been exposed, and by then, finding them again might be harder than ascending to heaven," said Meng Yuhuai indifferently. "There was no other choice. After shaking off the people pursuing us, we found a place to hide and kept a secret watch over them. That gang was extremely vigilant; they indeed moved to another location after night fell, and Shi Qingquan and I hurriedly followed them. We didn’t dare act rashly during the day for fear of alarming them. It wasn’t until tonight, after it got dark, that we finally..."

"Just the two of you were enough to handle those five or six thieves?" Hua Xiaomai’s eyes widened. "I saw how badly injured Shi Qingquan is—and what about the blood on you? What happened there?"

"It was nothing more than gaining control of their leader first; the rest was easy after that. The blood on me is his. I didn’t take his life, just dislocated his arm," explained Meng Yuhuai with a mix of seriousness and jest. "Don’t even mention it; that Shi Qingquan really isn’t a good helper. If it had been someone else, it probably wouldn’t have been so much trouble. I’ll remember this; next time something like this happens, I’m definitely not pairing up with him again."

He spoke in a calm and indifferent manner, but Hua Xiaomai could guess just how harrowing the experience must have been by mulling it over in her mind.

"You’re still thinking about a ’next time’?" She rolled her eyes, then nodded empathetically with great vigor. "From now on, keep your distance from that guy surnamed Shi. Being so clumsy, he’ll only hold you back... But, since the thieves were captured by Lianshun Escort Agency and the Warehouse Guard is safe, Magistrate Tao’s anger should have subsided, right?"

Meng Yuhuai looked down and chuckled. "Who can say for sure? We’ll only know after seeing him tomorrow. At least the matter has been resolved, and even if his anger hasn’t completely faded, he’s unlikely to be too difficult."

...Indeed, the minds of those in power are always the hardest to read, no matter the era. Breaking one’s head over it is pointless.

Hua Xiaomai sighed and said in a soft voice, lifting her face, "I’m tired..."

Throughout the entire afternoon, her nerves had been on edge. As she relaxed, she really felt sore all over, even her eyelids were starting to fight each other.

"Alright." Meng Yuhuai smiled and nodded, stood up to boil a pot of water in the kitchen. The two of them quickly washed up, blew out the lamp, and climbed into bed. Without worrying about the heat, Hua Xiaomai couldn’t help but curl up in his arms.

Filled with the familiar scent of his body, knowing he was back safely, right by her side, and that she could touch him just by reaching out her hand, she finally felt truly at ease and peaceful. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation ticket and monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)