The feeling of a sword tip pressed against his throat was colder than Su Muchen had imagined.
It was not the cold gleam of a blade seen through a movie camera, nor the casually tossed-off phrase “blades crossed” found in history books.
It was genuine sharpness pressed directly against his skin.
As long as the other person pushed his hand forward even slightly, his throat would be cut open.
Su Muchen could even feel his own pulse gently beating beneath that cold point.
Once.
Then again.
As if reminding him that he was still alive.
And that the man before him truly had the ability to make him die.
The man’s gaze was extremely cold.
It was the kind of gaze that could only come from someone who had lived for a long time amid killing and suspicion. Like a wounded beast driven into a desperate corner—even with only its last breath remaining, it would first bite through the throat of anyone who approached.
Su Muchen looked at him, yet somehow still had enough attention left to think—
If this man went to act in an ancient costume drama, just that handsome face alone would probably put a whole bunch of AI-generated actors out of work.
The prerequisite was that he did not stand there covered in blood with a sword pressed against someone’s neck.
“You… who exactly are you?”
The man’s voice was even hoarser.
His grip on the sword was steady.
But Su Muchen could tell that he was merely forcing himself to hold on.
The man’s shoulders had sunk slightly. His breathing was short and heavy. There was an extremely deep wound on the left side of his waist and abdomen, and blood had already soaked through the black python robe. Besides that, his right arm, shoulder, back, and chest should also have injuries, but they were covered by his clothing, making it impossible to tell their severity for the moment.
Worst of all, the man’s complexion was unnaturally pale, his lips bluish, and cold sweat covered his temples.
Symptoms of severe blood loss.
Su Muchen lowered his eyes to the sword and said calmly, “Take the sword away first.”
The killing intent in the man’s eyes deepened.
“Answer me.”
“I’m the new unfortunate owner of this shop,” Su Muchen said. “My name is Su Muchen. Twenty-four years old, just graduated, carrying tens of millions in debt. My current state of life is half-dead.”
Even Su Muchen found it somewhat ridiculous after saying it himself, yet it also felt as though he had finally found someone he could complain to.
Even though the other person was currently holding a sword against his neck.
“…”
The other man had probably never heard an answer like that. He was silent for a brief moment, still staring intently into Su Muchen’s eyes, seemingly searching for a flaw in his words.
Su Muchen continued, “As for where you are now, this place is called Returning Dust Studio, No. 17 Changning Alley, Old City District, Yunjing City. Although I don’t know which film set, escape room, or psychiatric hospital you escaped from, judging from the amount of blood you’re losing, if you don’t receive treatment, you’ll go into shock within ten minutes at the latest.”
The man stared at him as though trying to determine whether his words were true.
Su Muchen’s voice became even calmer.
“You don’t have to believe me. It’s your blood that’s flowing, not mine.”
The sound of rain struck the roof tiles.
The dim lights inside the shop flickered twice.
The sword in the man’s hand did not move away. Instead, it pressed forward slightly.
A faint sting came from Su Muchen’s throat.
He felt something warm seep along his skin.
His skin had probably been cut.
He frowned.
It was not that he was afraid. He was simply annoyed.
Had he somehow dug up someone’s ancestral grave?
Not only had he inexplicably ended up carrying a huge amount of debt today, but now someone had inexplicably appeared and put a sword against his neck.
“You’d better not let your hand shake,” Su Muchen said helplessly. “Although I don’t really want to live right now, I don’t want to die this ugly either. If you’re going to cut me, make it clean. Don’t cut here at the windpipe. Cut the carotid artery. That way I’ll die faster.”
The man’s eyes moved slightly.
It was as though he had finally realized that this seemingly refined and slender young man truly was not very afraid of death.
Or perhaps, he had already been pushed by fate to a point where even death no longer felt unfamiliar.
At that moment, the extremely cold killing intent in the man’s eyes seemed to fade by the tiniest amount.
But only by the tiniest amount.
The next moment, his body suddenly swayed.
The sword tip shifted with it.
Su Muchen almost immediately reached out, caught his wrist, and pressed it to the side, avoiding his own throat.
The man’s reaction was also extremely fast. Even though he was so severely injured, he instinctively seized Su Muchen in return.
But his body had already reached its limit.
The moment he exerted force with his wrist, more blood suddenly gushed from the wound in his abdomen.
He groaned and his knee slammed heavily onto the floor.
The long sword fell.
It struck the ground with a dull clang.
Su Muchen looked down at the man kneeling before him, his expression unpleasant.
“Congratulations.”
The man raised his eyes.
Su Muchen said coldly, “You’ve successfully reduced yourself to having only half a life left.”
The man’s expression darkened, and he seemed about to reach for the sword again.
Su Muchen kicked it away first.
The man’s eyes instantly turned icy.
Su Muchen remained expressionless.
“Don’t glare at me. Your blood isn’t going to flow back into your body just because you glare.”
“You dare…”
“I dare.” Su Muchen interrupted him. “I’m already carrying tens of millions in debt. What do you think I still have left to be afraid of?”
“…”
The statement sounded absurd.
Yet strangely enough, it made some sense.
Su Muchen took a deep breath, forcing himself to pull away from his chaotic emotions.
Now was not the time to think about where this man had come from.
Whether he was an ancient person, a madman, an actor, or the product of some supernatural event, at least one thing was certain—
He was dying.
And Su Muchen was a medical student. He could not stand by and watch an injured person go untreated, nor could he watch someone die right in front of him.
Especially since this man’s death would cause him a great deal of trouble.
If he died inside Returning Dust Studio, the creditors and bank would arrive tomorrow to inventory the assets and discover a corpse of a man dressed in ancient clothing inside the shop.
At that point, not only would he have to repay the debts, he would also be taken away for questioning. He might even end up carrying a murder charge.
His life was already this rotten. There was no need to unlock an additional crime-investigation side quest.
Besides, if this man died inside Returning Dust Studio, the place would become a haunted house. Then nobody would want it at auction.
“You have two choices right now.” Su Muchen crouched down and looked at the man. “First, continue glaring at me with that murderous look until you bleed to death.”
The man stared fiercely at him, his face devoid of color, yet his gaze remained vicious, as though he could pounce and bite at any moment.
“Second, shut up, cooperate, and let me stop your bleeding first.”
After a moment, the man asked hoarsely, “You know medicine?”
“I just graduated,” Su Muchen said. “Although I haven’t officially started working yet, I can at least deal with an external injury like yours. It’s more reliable than trying to survive through sheer willpower.”
The man did not understand some of those words, but he roughly understood the meaning.
After remaining silent for a moment, he asked, “Where is this place?”
Su Muchen endured patiently.
“I already told you. Returning Dust Studio.”
“What kingdom?”
Although his consciousness had already been somewhat hazy, he had still heard all the information Su Muchen had given him. Yet he had never heard of any place in any kingdom called Changning Alley, Old City District, Yunjing City.
Su Muchen’s clothing was also something he had never seen before.
Su Muchen paused and looked at the man again.
The man’s expression did not look like an act.
That confusion and wariness were too genuine. They were not things an ordinary person could fake.
Su Muchen frowned.
“You don’t know Yunjing City?”
The man did not answer.
“Then where are you from?” Su Muchen asked.
The man’s thin lips remained tightly pressed together, as though he was still weighing whether he should speak.
Su Muchen glanced at the blood flowing from his abdomen and said blandly, “If you stay silent much longer, I can just ask your memorial tablet later.”
“…”
After a moment, he finally uttered two words.
“Da Sheng.”
Su Muchen froze.
“Which Sheng?”
The man said coldly, “The Sheng in ‘sun’ and ‘success.’”
Su Muchen’s mind rapidly flipped through the historical materials he had read.
Nothing.
There had never been such a dynasty in Chinese history.
He stared at the man’s python robe. If that clothing was genuine, then the identity of the man before him was certainly extraordinary.
Then he looked toward the door at the back. It was still slightly ajar, but there was no longer any white light behind it. Only a darkness that could not be seen through remained.
Su Muchen swallowed.
An absurd thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
He remembered the paper his grandfather had left behind.
—Returning Dust must not be abandoned. When the door opens, do not be greedy.
He also remembered the legend Xiao had mentioned that evening.
—The ancestors of the Su family had once received guidance from an extraordinary person and opened a door leading to the Golden Road.
Su Muchen was silent for several seconds.
Then he raised a hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
It seemed his life had not simply jumped from normal difficulty to hard difficulty.
It had directly jumped to the supernatural-transmigration-debt-survival edition.
Seeing him remain silent, the man’s wariness returned.
“You know Da Sheng?”
“No. Never heard of it before.” Su Muchen stood up.
Then he added, “I need to do something to prove that I’m not mentally unstable.”
With that, he turned and walked toward the area behind the counter.
The man rasped, “Where are you going?”
“To get the first-aid kit.”
The man forced himself to try to stand, only to fall back down because of the severity of his injuries.
Without looking back, Su Muchen said, “You’d better not move around. Every time you move now, it’s like taking another step toward your coffin.”
Su Muchen searched around. The first-aid kit was kept beneath the counter. Xiao had told him about it earlier that day while briefly introducing the shop.
He opened it and checked the contents.
There was still quite a lot inside: povidone-iodine, normal saline, gauze, bandages, a tourniquet, medical gloves, scissors, wound-closure strips, and even some basic medication.
He did not know whether Xiao had prepared these things or whether they had originally been in the shop, but as long as they could be used, that was enough.
When Su Muchen returned with the first-aid kit, the man was already leaning against the wall, his breathing heavier than before.
His eyes were still fixed on the sword that had been kicked away.
Su Muchen followed his gaze and could not resist saying, “Even if you keep staring at it, it’s not going to fly over by itself.”
The man raised his eyes coldly and tried to glare at him, but at this point, even keeping his eyes open and remaining conscious was becoming difficult.
Su Muchen picked up the scissors.
“There isn’t time to take your clothes off. I’m going to cut them open directly.”
The man’s gaze instantly became dangerous.
Su Muchen was speechless for a moment.
“Your wound is on your abdomen. How am I supposed to treat it without cutting the clothes? Should I slowly help you take them off?”
It was as though the man had never been spoken to like this before. His expression became extremely unpleasant.
No one had ever dared speak to him with such disrespect, except for the Grand Tutor who had taught him when he was young.
Su Muchen suppressed his irritation. He was still fairly patient when it came to patients.
“If you’re uncomfortable with it, I can close my eyes while treating you. As long as you don’t mind me accidentally sticking my fingers into your wound.”
The man finally seemed to give silent permission and closed his eyes.
Su Muchen no longer delayed. With a swift motion, he cut open the black python robe.
Once the black robe was pulled apart, Su Muchen finally saw the full extent of his injuries.
It was worse than he had estimated.
There was a deep slash across his left abdomen, the edges of the wound turned outward, and blood continued to flow. There was an arrow wound on his right shoulder. The arrowhead had already been forcibly pulled out, leaving behind a bloody, mangled hole. Several whip wounds and old scars crisscrossed his back, new injuries layered over old ones, making the sight heavy on the heart.
Su Muchen fell silent for a moment.
The man slightly opened his eyes. Seeing Su Muchen’s expression, he said coldly, “Afraid?”
“No,” Su Muchen said. “I’m wondering whether the person who did this wanted to kill you or chop you into pieces and feed you to the dogs.”
The man’s eyes froze.
Su Muchen lowered his head and began cleaning the wounds, his tone indifferent.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not concerned about you. I just think whoever did this was pretty ruthless.”
“…”
Su Muchen picked up the povidone-iodine.
There was no anesthetic here, but he did not have time to hesitate.
When the povidone-iodine touched the wound, the veins on the man’s forehead suddenly tightened, yet he did not make a sound.
Su Muchen glanced at him.
“If you can’t take it, you can say so.”
The man closed his eyes, his voice hard and cold.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“Oh.”
Su Muchen increased the pressure without the slightest courtesy.
“Then that’s a relief.”
The man glared resentfully at him.
Su Muchen remained expressionless.
“Does it hurt now?”
The man gritted his teeth tightly. After a long moment, he finally forced two words through his clenched teeth.
“Bearable.”
Su Muchen thought to himself: He’s really good at pretending.
Still, he liked patients like this. It was better than someone who started wailing before he had even touched them.
He picked up sterile gauze and pressed it against the bleeding point. With his other hand, he swiftly prepared the wound-closure strips. Although he had no suturing equipment, it was better than nothing.
“What is your name?”
The man remained silent.
Su Muchen looked up.
“If you don’t want to say, that’s fine. I’ll write ‘John Doe’ on the medical record. Male, age unknown, suspected ancient-costume enthusiast.”
The man clearly did not understand half of what he said, but he understood “John Doe.”
He said coldly, “Xiao Yuan.”
Su Muchen’s hand paused.
“Which Yuan?”
“The Yuan in ‘abyss.’”
Su Muchen looked up at him.
Xiao Yuan.
The name suited him quite well.
His entire person looked as though he had crawled out from an abyss. He was dressed in black from head to toe, and his eyes were dark and icy, like an abyss itself.
But through their conversation, Su Muchen discovered that this man not only spoke a language similar to his own, even the written characters were almost exactly the same.
The wound was too deep and required stitches. There was no anesthetic, the conditions were not truly sterile, and there were no proper instruments.
But there was no other choice.
If things were really as he suspected, and Xiao Yuan was not from this world, handing him over to an official medical institution would probably cause even more trouble.
He could only secretly treat Xiao Yuan’s injuries here.
Su Muchen treated him as quickly as possible. His hands were steady, so steady that he did not look like someone who had just graduated and was facing a severely injured patient in such conditions for the first time.
Watching his efficient movements, Xiao Yuan’s gaze grew increasingly deep.
This young man from another world looked frail, without the slightest trace of internal energy. His wrist was so slender that Xiao Yuan could probably break it with one hand.
Yet when treating the wound, he was frighteningly calm.
No panic.
No screaming.
And no unnecessary pity.
Only focus, efficiency, and precision.
As though he had already grown accustomed to pressing all his fear deep into his heart, leaving behind only the parts that were useful.
Xiao Yuan asked quietly, “Are you not afraid of me?”
Su Muchen was carefully treating the wound. Hearing this, he replied calmly, “I am.”
Xiao Yuan stared at him.
Su Muchen continued, “But there’s something more frightening than you that’s already wrapped around me, so I’m not as afraid.”
Whenever he thought of the enormous debt he was about to face, Su Muchen felt that even death was no longer frightening.
Xiao Yuan fell silent.
This was the first time he had heard someone speak of fear so calmly.
As if it were something that could exist, but was not worth delaying important matters over.
Although he was injured, he had not missed a single piece of information he had learned from Su Muchen.
After treating the wound on his abdomen, Su Muchen began cleaning the wound on his shoulder.
Xiao Yuan’s face had already turned so pale that it was almost transparent, yet not once had a cry of pain escaped his lips.
This kind of endurance was not something he had been born with. It had been forced out of him.
Su Muchen glanced at him, then quickly looked away.
“Who is hunting you?”
There was originally no need to ask this question, but he was curious.
Besides, he needed to make conversation to confirm whether the patient’s consciousness was still sufficiently clear.
Xiao Yuan’s gaze suddenly turned cold. “It has nothing to do with you.”
“Fine,” Su Muchen said. “Where you came from has nothing to do with me. How you fell through that door has nothing to do with me. Whether your wounds become infected and you die has nothing to do with me either.”
Xiao Yuan: “…”
Su Muchen raised his head. “But you’re bleeding all over the floor of my shop and making a complete mess. Someone is coming tomorrow to inventory the assets. If they see this place looking like a crime scene, I’ll be in trouble.”
Xiao Yuan said coldly, “What do you want to know?”
“First, did you come from the other side of that door?”
Xiao Yuan looked toward the depths of the corridor, at the door quietly standing in the darkness, and recalled what had happened not long ago.
He said slowly in a low voice, “I was being hunted. After I was seriously wounded, I saw a streak of white light. There was a door within the light. I had nowhere left to retreat, so I entered.”
Su Muchen’s hands paused for a moment.
So this wasn’t a dream, nor an illusion, nor a case of him suffering a mental breakdown because of his enormous debts.
That door really could lead to another time and space.
His heartbeat quickened, but he forcibly suppressed it.
He had a little-known hobby: he loved reading novels. Stories about traveling to ancient times, reincarnation, and the like—he enjoyed all of them. He had never expected that one day he would actually encounter such a thing himself.
But now there was a new problem.
“Can you go back?”
Xiao Yuan closed his eyes briefly, seemingly unable to determine the answer himself.
“I don’t know.”
Su Muchen felt a headache coming on.
Wonderful.
Not only had his rundown shop produced an unidentified ancient man, it might even come with a long-term-stay service.
If Xiao Yuan were discovered by someone else, how was he supposed to explain Xiao Yuan’s identity?
He could barely support himself now. How could he possibly afford Xiao Yuan’s living expenses and medical costs?
He asked woodenly, “What is your status over there?”
Xiao Yuan did not answer immediately.
Su Muchen looked at the black python robe he was wearing and recalled that, in ancient clothing regulations, garments bearing python patterns were generally not something ordinary people could wear. He already had a rough guess.
“If it’s inconvenient to say, forget it,” he said. “Anyway, you don’t look like an ordinary unlucky bastard.”
A trace of coldness flashed through Xiao Yuan’s eyes before he quickly suppressed it.
“Seventh Prince of Great Sheng, Prince Su.”
Su Muchen: “…”
The bandage in his hand nearly slipped.
Seventh Prince.
A transmigration door, serious injuries, an assassination attempt, a prince.
If he couldn’t clearly smell the blood right now, he would have thought he had read too many palace-intrigue novels the night before and had simply lost his mind.
Su Muchen remained silent for a long while before commenting, “The competition within your imperial family is pretty fierce.”
Xiao Yuan sneered. “The victor becomes king, and the loser becomes a bandit. That’s all.”
“So you’re considered a loser now?”
Xiao Yuan’s gaze turned cold.
Su Muchen calmly reassured him, “Don’t get worked up. I just finished dressing the wound. If it splits open, I’ll have to do it all over again.”
As he spoke, he wrapped gauze layer after layer around Xiao Yuan’s waist and abdomen, adding several more layers to apply pressure and stop the bleeding.
As he wrapped him up, he couldn’t help marveling at Xiao Yuan’s physique.
He had an excellent body—eight-pack abs, well-proportioned, clearly someone who had trained before.
Xiao Yuan gave him a deep look.
The man before him really wasn’t very pleasant with his words.
Strangely, however, he was not annoying.
At least he was far more pleasing to the eye than those people who constantly spoke of benevolence and righteousness while secretly wishing to skin him alive and tear him apart.
After Su Muchen finished treating the last wound, a thin layer of sweat had appeared on his forehead.
He removed his gloves and looked at the bloodstains on the floor, his mood heavy.
He had to clean everything up before dawn completely arrived. One reason was hygiene, and the other was to avoid unnecessary trouble.
“You can’t move around recklessly. Rest for now.”
Xiao Yuan said hoarsely, “I must go back.”
Before coming here, he had been separated from his subordinates. Now he had to return and confirm their situation.
“If you go back now, are you planning to let your pursuers finish you off?”
Su Muchen’s voice also turned cold. As a doctor—although he had not officially started working yet—he could not tolerate a patient acting recklessly.
Xiao Yuan looked up.
Su Muchen threw the used gauze into a trash bag. “With injuries like yours, over here you’d be at the level where we’d send you straight to the emergency room. The fact that you’ve held out this long is already a miracle. If you act recklessly, I can’t guarantee nothing will happen.”
Xiao Yuan said coldly, “I cannot stay here for long.”
“Why?”
“My people are waiting for me.”
Those words made Su Muchen’s movements pause.
He looked at Xiao Yuan.
There was still wariness in the man’s eyes, and there was still coldness.
But when he mentioned “my people,” that almost crazed will to survive burned up once more.
Su Muchen suddenly understood.
This man wasn’t living only for himself.
There were other people behind him.
Perhaps subordinates.
Perhaps soldiers.
Perhaps… a group of people who had likewise been driven into a dead end.
Su Muchen was silent for a moment before getting up, taking a coat, and throwing it over Xiao Yuan.
Xiao Yuan looked up at him.
“Put it on,” Su Muchen said. “Your clothes are covered in blood. You’ll scare people if you go outside like that. Besides, you’ve lost too much blood. You need to stay warm.”
Xiao Yuan lowered his eyes and looked at the strangely styled coat. He did not immediately put it on.
It wasn’t only because he disliked being ordered around or because he did not want to wear such strange clothing. More importantly, he still had not lowered his guard against Su Muchen.
Su Muchen saw his wariness and said indifferently, “The clothes aren’t poisoned. People here don’t kill with clothing.”
Xiao Yuan: “Then what do they use to kill?”
Su Muchen hadn’t expected him to actually ask after his offhand remark.
He thought about it.
“Being born and not being raised, debt, housing prices, the elimination rate of medical AI, and irresponsible fathers.”
Xiao Yuan: “…”
Although he understood most of it, he could tell that Su Muchen’s tone was full of resentment, as if he were complaining.
He handed the clothes in his hand to Su Muchen and said, “Change me.”
Su Muchen silently rolled his eyes internally.
Not only did he have to save this man for free, he also had to serve this prince like a servant?
However, considering that the other man was a patient covered in injuries and probably had difficulty dressing himself, he took the clothes and briskly helped Xiao Yuan put them on.
Then Su Muchen walked over to the door.
The inside of the door was pitch-black.
He tried reaching out to touch the bronze ring.
Cold.
Silent.
There was no white light, nor any sound of wind.
It was as if everything that had happened earlier had merely been an illusion.
Su Muchen frowned and reached out, wanting to touch the darkness.
But before his hand could make contact, he immediately recoiled as if he had been shocked, feeling a tingling numbness in his fingertips.
Xiao Yuan approached unsteadily, supporting himself against the wall.
Su Muchen turned around. “Don’t move around recklessly.”
But Xiao Yuan ignored him.
He stood before the door and reached out to grasp the bronze ring.
In the next instant, the cloud-and-water patterns on the bronze ring actually lit up with a faint streak of light.
Su Muchen’s pupils contracted.
Xiao Yuan’s expression also changed.
From the crack of the door, cold white light began to seep out once more.
It was faint, but it truly existed.
“So that’s how it is.”
Xiao Yuan spoke in a low voice.
He could feel that he had some connection with this strange door. Although he still had not completely figured out how to open it, he had vaguely grasped the key to it, as though he had been born knowing how to understand it.
Su Muchen looked at him. “This doesn’t make any sense…”
The answer was already obvious.
Su Muchen felt complicated.
This door had lain dormant in the Su family for who knew how many years, yet the person who could truly open it was actually a seriously wounded prince who had escaped here from ancient times.
He suddenly had the absurd feeling that his ancestors had hidden a winning lottery ticket in the house, only for the winning information to have been written on someone else.
Xiao Yuan held the bronze ring and said in a low voice, “I must return.”
Su Muchen frowned in disapproval. “It’s very dangerous for you to go back now.”
Xiao Yuan’s injuries were severe, and he had lost a great deal of blood. Su Muchen did not know how much strength Xiao Yuan had left, but he knew that if Xiao Yuan encountered his enemies again after returning, he definitely would not escape this time.
Xiao Yuan looked toward the light in the crack of the door, his voice calm.
“I must return.”
He said it very softly, yet there was an undeniable weight to his words.
Su Muchen looked at him for a moment and knew he could not stop him.
Nor did he have the right to.
They were merely strangers who had crossed paths by chance.
In fact, they could not even be considered that.
One was an unlucky shop owner who had just taken on a mountain of debt.
The other was a prince from an unknown dynasty who had fled here for his life.
He had saved him because of professional instinct.
And also because he didn’t want Guichen Studio to become a haunted crime scene.
As for whether the other man lived or died after returning, it was never something he could control.
Yet for some reason, Su Muchen still felt a little irritated.
He quickly turned around, returned to the counter, took several rolls of clean gauze, two bottles of povidone-iodine, several packs of wound-closure strips, several blister packs of anti-inflammatory medicine, and painkillers, put everything into a bag, and stuffed it into Xiao Yuan’s hands.
Xiao Yuan lowered his head and looked at the bag of things. For the first time, confusion appeared in his eyes.
“These are to keep you alive,” Su Muchen said. “Povidone-iodine is for external use. Clean your wounds with it. Use the gauze and wound-closure strips to dress them, the same way I just did. These packets are anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing painkillers. Take them orally, one pill at a time, twice a day, after meals.”
Xiao Yuan stared at the strange objects. Although he was puzzled, he memorized every word Su Muchen said.
Seeing that he remained silent, Su Muchen assumed he was still suspicious. He sighed and added,
“If you don’t trust them, you don’t have to take them. Then you can wait until your wounds rot and you develop a fever, and heroically die in your Great Sheng.”
Xiao Yuan looked at him, suddenly feeling an urge to laugh, but suppressed it.
Although Su Muchen was sharp-tongued and spoke directly, he was far better than those people who spoke in circles while stabbing others in the back.
He suddenly asked, “Why did you save me?”
Su Muchen froze for a moment.
The question was asked very softly, yet for some reason it made the shop fall silent.
Why had he saved him?
Because he was a medical student?
Because he couldn’t stand seeing someone injured?
Because he didn’t want someone to die in his shop?
Or because, when he saw Xiao Yuan covered in blood yet still refusing to collapse, he had remembered himself many years ago?
That version of himself who had been abandoned at a boarding school, burning with fever until he was almost unconscious, yet still forced himself to get up and walk to the infirmary alone.
Su Muchen did not answer any of these questions.
He merely said indifferently, “Because you were bleeding so miserably that it was an eyesore.”
Xiao Yuan looked deeply at him.
After a moment, he suddenly let out a quiet laugh.
Very brief.
Like a sound scraped out of his chest by blood.
“Su Muchen.”
It was the first time he had said his full name.
For some reason, Su Muchen felt that those three characters sounded different coming from his mouth than from anyone else’s.
As if they had been washed by cold water, or lightly brushed by the edge of a blade.
Xiao Yuan said, “For today’s kindness, I will certainly repay you.”
As he spoke, he reached out and grasped Su Muchen’s wrist. His grip was neither light nor heavy, and his eyes fixed firmly on Su Muchen as he spoke almost like a warning:
“If I am still alive, I will return at this time tomorrow.”
Su Muchen looked at him and felt Xiao Yuan’s unusually low body temperature against his wrist.
For some reason, a wave of panic rose within him, yet he couldn’t explain what this feeling was.
He then said, “If you really want to repay me, pay me the medical expenses.”
Xiao Yuan: “What?”
“Money.” Su Muchen’s expression remained impassive. “Gold and silver are fine too. I’m not picky.”
Xiao Yuan looked at him for a moment, as though he finally understood something. The corner of his mouth pulled up ever so slightly.
“You’re short?”
“Not just short.” Su Muchen said, “I’m extremely short. So short that if you bring me a chest of gold tomorrow, I might consider being slightly more polite to you.”
An inscrutable glint flashed through Xiao Yuan’s eyes.
“Tomorrow.”
Su Muchen froze.
Xiao Yuan tightened his grip on the bag of medicine, his voice low and deep.
“Wait for me.”
He said nothing more.
The white light in the crack of the door grew brighter and brighter.
Cold wind blew from the other side, carrying the smell of blood, snow, mud, and rusted iron.
Su Muchen stood outside the door and watched Xiao Yuan walk step by step toward the light.
The man’s figure was tall. Even though he was so severely wounded, his back remained straight.
Like a broken blade that still refused to bow its head.
Just as he was about to cross the threshold, Xiao Yuan suddenly stopped.
Without turning around, he asked quietly, “Are you the only one here?”
Su Muchen thought about it and remembered there was still another person, although he did not know whether Xiao would return to this shop that was about to be auctioned off by the court.
But he still said, “Tonight, yes.”
The white light swallowed Xiao Yuan’s figure.
The next moment, the door slammed shut.
Every sound disappeared.
The cold wind stopped, but the smell of blood still lingered in the air.
Su Muchen stood there for a long time before lowering his head and looking at the floor.
The wooden floorboards were covered in blood.
Gauze, bloodstained clothing, sword marks that had been kicked aside, and fragments of the damaged outer layer of the python robe.
If not for this complete mess, everything that had happened just now would have seemed like an absurd dream.
Su Muchen walked over to the door and tried pulling the bronze ring again.
It wouldn’t open.
It did not budge at all.
He remained silent for a moment before suddenly laughing.
“…Some road leading to gold. The first thing it gives me is a floor covered in blood.”
He turned around, fetched a mop and disinfectant, and continued complaining nonstop as he cleaned.
Three-thirty in the morning.
A medical graduate who had just lost his father in name, taken on tens of millions in debt, and was about to face the crisis of having his property auctioned off by the court was expressionlessly mopping up blood shed by an ancient prince in a rundown ancestral shop that was on the verge of going under.
Halfway through cleaning, he suddenly stopped.
Then he looked up at the surveillance camera.
He put down the mop and hurried behind the counter to check the surveillance system.
The screen was completely black.
From the moment the door opened, all the surveillance footage had been disrupted, turning into large patches of static.
Only after Xiao Yuan left did the footage return to normal.
Su Muchen stared at the screen for a long time.
Finally, he leaned back against the chair and let out a long breath.
It wasn’t an illusion.
It wasn’t a dream.
And he wasn’t having a mental breakdown.
That door had really opened.
There really was a Great Sheng prince named Xiao Yuan who had barged into his shop covered in blood.
And he had even said he would bring a thank-you gift tomorrow.
Su Muchen was silent for a few seconds before reaching up and rubbing the space between his brows.
If someone had told him half a day ago to place his hopes on a seriously wounded prince who had traveled here from ancient times, he would definitely have recommended that person see a psychiatrist.
But now, he actually found himself looking forward to it a little.
Perhaps when a person was driven into a corner, they would always begin looking forward to some unrealistic things.
At least even if he was a down-and-out ancient prince, he would still have money.
After all, he was the prince’s lifesaver. The thank-you gift would surely be extremely generous.
Although accepting a thank-you gift made his pride and sense of morality feel ashamed, reality had forced him to yield.
Just then, the bell above the shop door suddenly rang.
Ding-ling.
Su Muchen jerked his head up nervously.
There was another person at the door.
Xiao stood beneath a black umbrella in the rainy night, a little moisture clinging to his shoulders.
He looked at the floor, then at the disinfectant and bloodstained gauze beside Su Muchen.
He slowly folded away the umbrella and asked with a smile,
“Business was good tonight?”
Su Muchen stared at him.
He had originally been regretting that he hadn’t dealt with this “evidence” first, but judging from Xiao’s reaction, it seemed that he knew something.
After a long while, he smiled too.
His smile was cold.
“Xiao, you’d better start explaining right now. What exactly is that door?”
Xiao shrugged, still wearing that carefree smile.
“It’s a long story. But, well… now isn’t the time to talk about that. It’s almost dawn. If we don’t clean this up properly, it’ll arouse suspicion.”
He rolled up his sleeves, took the mop from Su Muchen’s hand, and continued,
“You only need to remember one thing: you absolutely must not hand this place over to anyone. Starting now, you’d better think of every possible way to deal with those creditors and protect Guichen Studio, if… you still want to live a normal life.”