When he woke up, the sky was already bright—it was early morning.
Nanxi was no longer on that cold beach.
Now, he was lying on a dilapidated wooden bed.
The burning heat throughout his body had subsided, but his leg still ached.
The boy’s calf was still mangled and twisted to the side.
Though no blood was flowing out, the bruised redness was quite horrifying.
This appearance was quite terrifying, and in reality, it wasn’t much better.
The boy could feel that his knee had almost completely flipped over.
If nothing unexpected happened, it would leave a lifelong ailment.
But the urgent matter at hand was to find something to fix his leg in place and then twist it back.
Observing his surroundings, this thatched hut seemed so poor that it only had pots, bowls, ladles, and this kind of bed left.
There wasn’t even much firewood to burn.
There was nothing for Nanxi to fix his calf with, so he decided to force it back.
He struggled to crawl down to the ground.
The dust turned his luxurious white clothes pitch black, but the boy didn’t care about that.
He grabbed a wooden stick used for kindling from beside the stove and then bit down on it.
Before Nanxi could start, a change occurred.
The owner of this thatched hut returned.
She was a tall woman with refined features and proper facial structure.
She had hair like the sunset at dusk, tied into a high ponytail with a black cloth on her head.
Her skin was a tree-like brown, which wasn’t unattractive—instead, it gave her a unique aura. The woman had a sturdy build; even through her clothes, her robustness was evident, and her chest and hips were very large.
Nanxi had never seen peaks as big as watermelons.
Though she was somewhat overly robust, her beauty could rank in the top ten among the women Nanxi had seen.
Seeing the warm jade-like, pure white boy lying dirty on the ground with a wooden stick in his mouth, the woman couldn’t help but be stunned. Surprise appeared on her face.
“Young Master, what are you doing?”
Originally, Huang Muzhi’s heart had been quite delighted.
After all, last night she had picked up a boy whose appearance surpassed that of a celestial being. This made her, who had been single for so long, think it was a dream.
After a careful look, she realized the boy was severely injured—one leg was broken.
Looking at his clothes, he didn’t seem from an ordinary family.
He must have encountered an accident and ended up here.
This instantly cooled the budding desire in Huang Muzhi.
Originally, she had been somewhat looking forward to the plot in those stories where the rescued young master pledged himself in marriage.
That said, Huang Muzhi couldn’t just leave him to die at night, so she carried him back to her hut.
But now, it seemed this boy was a bit deranged.
“I’m just twisting my leg back. Miss, could you lend me a hand?”
“So he hasn’t gone mad…”
Huang Muzhi muttered softly.
If he had gone mad, maybe she could trick him into becoming her husband.
“What?”
Nanxi hadn’t heard the soft mutter clearly.
“Nothing. How should I help you, Young Master?”
“Help me grip this leg tightly. No matter what, don’t let go.”
“Young Master, I’ve got it. What next?”
Feeling that considerable strength, the boy took a deep breath, mustered all his energy throughout his body, and with both hands, propelled himself into the air.
Then, his whole body spun.
Crack—
The distinctive popping of bones sounded, and the boy twisted his leg back.
Then he fell straight to the ground.
He had already passed out from the immense pain, leaving Huang Muzhi even more bewildered.
When he woke again, Nanxi was still lying on that dilapidated bed.
The sky had shifted from morning to noon.
His leg still hurt a lot, but it wasn’t as shocking as before.
“Young Master, you’re awake. Here’s some fish soup. If you don’t mind, drink it.”
The sturdy woman beside him, seeing the boy awake, brought him the fish soup that had been warming in the pot.
Nanxi didn’t stand on ceremony.
He picked up the fish soup and gulped it down.
The boy was truly hungry—after all, he hadn’t had a drop of water or a grain of rice for two days.
“Don’t rush—be careful not to choke.”
The sturdy woman worried from the side.
The fish soup didn’t taste good; the fishy flavor was quite strong, and only the bit of saltiness allowed one to swallow it despite the fishiness.
Compared to the meals at the Zhang residence, the fish soup was worlds apart, but the starving Nanxi didn’t care.
He’d tasted things far worse than this.
“Urp!”
After finishing the fish soup and eating the fish meat, the boy let out a satisfied, cute burp.
Then the boy asked the sturdy woman beside him.
“My name is Nanxi, no surname. Miss, what’s your name? And where is this?”
Huang Muzhi had long been staring at Nanxi in a daze. Only when she heard him call her name did she snap out of it.
“Oh… Young Master is too polite. My surname is Huang, and my name is Muzhi. This is a small fishing village called Fish Village.”
“Is that so? But I don’t know what prefecture this place belongs to?”
“Oh, oh, oh, so that’s what Young Master meant. I’m the dumb one. This place is under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou.”
“Great Liang’s Guangzhou?”
“Young Master, though I don’t have much experience, besides our Great Liang, there shouldn’t be another Guangzhou in the world, right?”
Ignoring Huang Muzhi’s confusion, at this moment, Nanxi had sunk deep into despair.
He had thought that dragon was flying toward the Lu region, but unexpectedly, it had brought him to Lingnan.
One must know that Huaniang Town was in the Shu region—these two places were separated by ten thousand li.
“Young Master, what’s wrong? Your face looks so bad.”
Huang Muzhi beside him couldn’t help but show concern for the boy, and Nanxi forced himself to appear calm as he replied to the sturdy woman.
“It’s nothing—just that this leg still hurts. I wonder if Miss Huang could temporarily take me in for a few months. Of course, I have some gold and silver on me—it’s not for free.”
Over these years, Nanxi had been saving money, estimating around a few hundred taels.
Originally, he planned to use it to buy a fine steed, but given the current situation, he could only make the best use of it.
Fortunately, Nanxi’s money pouch was still on him and hadn’t been lost in the fight.
This allowed the boy to use money to sway the woman in front of him.
After all, from her hemp clothes and this bare-bones environment, the woman was very poor.
“Young Master, don’t say that. I saved you because I wanted to—how could I take money?”
Huang Muzhi was very poor, that was true, but that didn’t mean a big woman like her could take money from a weak man, especially since this man was seriously injured.
“Miss Huang doesn’t need to be polite. You did save my life—it’s just a token of appreciation.”
With that, Nanxi pulled out a few taels of leftover silver for snacks from his pocket. He hadn’t said he’d give it all.
“This isn’t good.”
The woman still hesitated a bit, but the boy had no mood to play mind games with her.
He forcefully stuffed the money to her.
“I said it’s just a token of appreciation. Miss Huang, just accept it—consider it fulfilling my intention. At the very least, it can buy a thicker mattress, right?”
Appealing to emotion and reason.
“Alright, I’ll accept the money then. Young Master, you just rest well. In a bit, I still have to go on someone else’s boat to fish—otherwise, we’d both be drinking the northwest wind.”
“You don’t have a boat?”
“That’s right—after all, I’m poor. Young Master, do you like boats? Why are you interested in this?”