Chapter 34

Chapter 34 - 34 033 Fungal poisoning personally handcrafted Chapter 34: 033: Fungal poisoning, personally handcrafted Chapter 34: 033: Fungal poisoning, personally handcrafted Thus, both bowls of mushroom soup ended up in Wen Changling’s stomach.

Thus...

Inside the room, Xie Shang suddenly heard the rustling of branches outside, a constant disturbance that didn’t seem like the wind. He used the Candle-extinguishing Bell to snuff out the fragrant wood candle and left the room.

Behind Granny Zhu’s house next door was an old sweet osmanthus tree with lush branches that reached over the wall and into Xie Shang’s yard. The branches that had been shaking belonged to this sweet osmanthus tree and the instigator was still lying on the tree.

The branches of the sweet osmanthus weren’t thick, but she wasn’t afraid of falling.

Xie Shang walked to the tree: “What are you doing up there?”

Wen Changling pressed her face against the tree bark and took several seconds to realize someone was talking to her. Holding onto the tree, she looked down: “The hedgehog is going to prick me.”

As she spoke, she puffed up her cheeks, continually blowing.

Her behavior was exceptionally odd.

“Have you been drinking?”

She shook her head, her consciousness not entirely clear but her speech faculties intact: “I’m leaking air.”

“...”

Her mental state didn’t seem right.

Xie Shang went back into the room, took out a blanket, and laid it directly beneath Wen Changling. He then turned on all the lights in the yard before heading next door.

The door next door wasn’t shut, and as soon as Xie Shang entered the yard, he saw the landlady, Granny Zhu, clutching a clay jar, retching while coaxing Wen Changling down from the tree.

Xie Shang approached and first inquired of the landlady: “What’s happened to you?”

“Ate mushrooms, got poisoned.”

No wonder Wen Changling was “leaking air”; she must have consumed hallucinogenic poison mushrooms.

“Did you call an ambulance?”

“Yes,” Granny Zhu retched even more violently.

Xie Shang first helped the old lady to rest on the side, then went under the tree to coax someone suffering deeper intoxication:

“Wen Changling, come down.”

Wen Changling pouted and continued to blow air.

The ladder was right there.

Xie Shang steadied the ladder and climbed up.

“Wen Changling.”

She turned her head to look at him.

He reached out: “Hand it to me.”

She didn’t comply, hiding her hand behind her: “Are you going to let my air out?”

Xie Shang couldn’t go directly to her for fear that, in her confusion, she might hide both hands and stop holding onto the tree, almost certainly causing her to fall. Meanwhile, she was talking nonsense about leaking air and releasing air.

“Wen Changling, what are you?”

She firmly answered: “I’m a balloon.”

“...”

She was deeply poisoned from drinking too much mushroom soup.

Worried she might fall, Xie Shang had to coax and deceive her in a soft voice: “Come here, I’ll inflate you.”

Upon hearing about getting air, Wen Changling indeed stretched out her hand, moving as slowly as a turtle. She first put one foot on the ladder, then reached out, obediently wrapping her arms around Xie Shang’s neck while pinching the fingertip that was “leaking.”

She was going to get air.

Xie Shang couldn’t care about committing any faux pas, wrapping his hands around her waist: “Hold tight.”

“Mhm!”

She was very cooperative this time, hugging Xie Shang’s neck and resting her chin upon his shoulder compliantly.

For Xie Shang, it was the first time he had so tangibly felt the difference in physique between men and women. Ever since he understood gender boundaries, he had never been this physically close to someone of the opposite sex.

A girl’s waist seemed like it could be broken so easily, even more fragile than the white porcelain vase his grandmother cherished.

He hardly dared to exert force, carefully cradling Wen Changling as they slowly descended the ladder.

The moment they landed, a finger poked at his lips, and Wen Changling seemed anxious: “Xie Shang, I’m deflating, give me air.”

Those close to Xie Shang knew that he actually had a soft spot for coquetry; otherwise, why would Gu Yihuan shamelessly tease and pester him if Xie Shang hadn’t given her sweet encouragement before?

Xie Shang looked at her, and she was very different from her usual self.

She usually maintained her independence, no matter how gentle she was, with all her social interactions she kept a safety distance that others found difficult to penetrate. Not like now, her protective shell completely shattered, she stayed very close to him without any defense, clutching the hem of his shirt without letting go.

Seeing that he didn’t move, she urged him, “Come on, blow on it.”

She was poisoned.

Xie Shang told himself that, then he bent down, his lips touched the tips of her fingers, and he gently blew. He didn’t know if Wen Changling would feel ticklish, as her fingers curled and caressed him, it made him quite ticklish.

If there really were demons in this world, he could only think of Wen Changling, her allure was unconscious and captivating like one that had just come down from the mountains.

He was somewhat distracted.

Wen Changling took her fingers away, very pleased, saying that she had “puffed up” again.

After a short while, she deflated again, then she wanted Xie Shang to blow, and so it repeated back and forth.

After probably more than ten minutes of intermittent blowing, the ambulance finally arrived. Granny Zhu’s daughter was not there, and there were no other guardians.

Xie Shang could only accompany her.

Jiahui was stunned by the scene when she first entered the emergency room.

——Wen Changling, who was usually as unapproachable as an inscrutable egg, was holding onto Xie Shang’s hand, her neck twisting like a snake.

Jiahui: “...”

What a brave sister.

Suppressing her excitement and shaking hands, Jiahui stepped forward. She wasn’t gloating over the misfortune, it was just that the corner of her mouth refused to stay down, curving up involuntarily, “Changling, what happened to you?”

Wen Changling didn’t even glance at her.

That’s alright, a small matter. Jiahui smiled kindly at Xie Shang, offering a polite courtesy, “Mr. Xie, I’m really sorry for the trouble.

Shall I take care of her?”

Xie Shang tried to pull his hand away, but Wen Changling clung to it even more tightly.

Jiahui again revealed a motherly smile.

“No bother, I’ll take care of it.”

Jiahui couldn’t have been happier, “Alright, then please continue to trouble Mr. Xie.”

Mr. Xie looked exceptionally patient and nice.

“Keep talking, what else is in the castle?”

Wen Changling sat on the hospital bed, her hand receiving IV fluid was held by Xie Shang to keep her from moving it. She leaned against Xie Shang, sharing the fantastical world that she was seeing, “There is a witch, her head is a cactus, and she wants to puncture me with her spines.”

Her eyes were wide open; in her colorful, twisted world, there were cactuses with thorns flying around. She quickly hid behind Xie Shang,” So many cactuses.”

“They all want to puncture me.”

She was just a helpless balloon: “It hurts so much.”

Jiahui: “...”

She must be dreaming.

No, it was Wen Changling who was dreaming.

Granny Zhu’s daughter, Wu Haomin, arrived, looking panicked as she grabbed a nurse and asked, “How is my mom doing?”

The bag of mushrooms was from a distant relative of Granny Zhu, Wu Haomin had previously instructed not to eat them, but the old lady insisted that it would be fine once cooked.

The nurse said, “The old lady didn’t drink much of it; she’s now out of any serious danger.”

Granny Zhu’s symptoms were much milder; she also experienced mild hallucinations. Unlike Wen Changling, she didn’t see balloons but centipedes, and said there were many of them.

Granny Zhu’s bed was next to Wen Changling’s, and she had already gone to sleep.

Wu Haomin then asked the nurse: “And what about Changling?”

Wen Changling had drunk too much of the soup.

“I’ve been punctured, leaking air,” Wen Changling said lopsidedly, stretching out her finger to Xie Shang, “Xie Shang, quickly tie me up with thread.”

In Wen Changling’s hallucination, her fingers were her air vents.

Xie Shang tied a bow on Wen Changling’s finger with thread used for suturing, to prevent the air from leaking out.

Wu Haomin: “...”

Jiahui unrighteously took photos with her phone and after snapping a few, she posted them to her Moments.

Jiahui: [Red umbrella, white handle, after eating lie down flat together.

Dry wind, white handle, grow umbrellas on our bodies together.

Friendly reminder: Don’t eat mushrooms indiscriminately.]