The Rebirth Of The General Who Always Sees Himself As A Replacement

Chapter 54: Take Off Your Clothes. Seriously, Take Them Off.

“General, take off your clothes.”

As soon as Mu Zhiming said this, Gu Heyan, who was standing by the bed, seemed to have turned a deaf ear to his words. Gu Heyan’s back was as straight as a pine tree, while his head was slightly tilted towards the window, staring out. However, it wasn’t known exactly what Gu Heyan was looking at. It might even be that he wasn’t looking at anything in the first place.

Therefore, Mu Zhiming had to call out to get his attention: “General?”

Gu Heyan came back to his senses, looked at Mu Zhiming, and immediately withdrew his gaze. Then, Gu Heyan bowed his head and began to undress himself with his only uninjured hand.

“Oh….” After noticing the problem, Mu Zhiming reacted quickly by reaching out his hand to help Gu Heyan. “I’m such a fool, I didn’t think that because of the General’s injured arm, it would be inconvenient for him to undress himself. General, let me take your clothes off.”

Gu Heyan: “……”

Mu Zhiming: “General, please move your left hand.”

Gu Heyan’s left hand was so stiff that when moving it to his side, he left it dangling in the air, not knowing what to do with it.

Mu Zhiming burst out laughing: “General, you don’t need to be so nervous. Although I have never served others, I am not so clumsy that I won’t be able to take off your clothes carefully. It’s alright, I won’t touch your wound and make you feel pain.”

Gu Heyan: “……”

Mu Zhiming helped Gu Heyan remove his outer robe, placed it on the wooden frame of the bed, and began to untie the belt of his middle garment. Then, slowly and with great care, Mu Zhiming removed the right half of the garment. By now, Gu Heyan was already sitting on the edge of the bed. Half of his chest, waist and abdomen were wrapped in gauze, while his right arm was helplessly curled against his chest. The gauze had already been stained by blood and medicine, losing its original white color.

In general, Gu Heyan’s posture was tall and upright, making him look slender. If he were holding a fan adorned with ink paintings, no one would be able to refrain themselves from sighing at the Young Master’s handsome beauty, elegant appearance and remarkable grace. However, by undressing him, Mu Zhiming exposed Gu Heyan’s body, full of vigor and vitality from practicing martial arts for so many years.

But this same pale body…..was covered in scars.

He had scars from sword wounds, stab wounds, arrow wounds, and wounds that Mu Zhiming couldn’t even recognize.

These numerous scars represented the hardships and sufferings that Gu Heyan had to go through over the past five years. Such suffering, caused by his strong character and tremendous loyalty, may not even end up recorded in the annals of history.

Mu Zhiming, unable to hide his discontent, lowered his head and sighed deeply in his heart. Then, Mu Zhiming sat down beside Gu Heyan and carefully lifted the injured arm to untie the medicated gauze. Although some time had already passed, the wound didn’t seem to heal, making the still bloody and sticky wound adhere to the gauze, making it difficult to remove. Mu Zhiming looked closely at the wound, pulling it out bit by bit, trying his best to avoid causing any pain. But by doing it this way, it would take a long time to remove the gauze.

Gu Heyan said: “You don’t have to do this.”

As soon as he said this, Gu Heyan raised his left hand and tried to pull off the gauze by himself.

However, Mu Zhiming hurried to grasp Gu Heyan’s wrist, stopping him from doing so: “General, you may not care about your own pain, but I do.”

Gu Heyan: “…..”

Mu Zhiming pulled Gu Heyan’s left hand away and continued to delicately peel off the gauze from his injured arm. After a while, the gauze was finally pulled off completely. After taking a long, deep breath, Mu Zhiming took the small celadon jar and scooped up some of the ointment, only to apply it with extreme care to Gu Heyan’s wound.

Mu Zhiming moved with the utmost gentleness, as if he was protecting a delicate and fragile treasure. This, however, only made Gu Heyan feel slightly nervous and strange.

Gu Heyan had never been treated with such care before. When he was young, he always ended up getting injured whenever he practiced martial arts, and even then, he would always apply the ointments by himself. Later, when he was already part of the army, Gu Heyan was even more careless with his wounds, to the point of daring to take cold showers even with arrow wounds still present on his body.

When a person was already used to experiencing such hardship, they would naturally feel a bit uncomfortable when someone suddenly treated them with such gentleness.

Gu Heyan, who was now feeling slightly awkward, hesitated for a moment before saying: “You don’t have to be so careful. It doesn’t hurt.”

At that instant, Mu Zhiming stopped moving, raised his eyes, and glanced at Gu Heyan. As a helpless smile appeared on his face, Mu Zhiming bowed his head to continue applying the medicine to Gu Heyan’s injury. This time, however, his movements were even lighter.

Gu Heyan was taken aback by Mu Zhiming’s smile, but before he could think any further, Mu Zhiming twisted his lips and said: “When I was 6 years old, on New Year’s Day, I went with my parents to the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas to burn incense and worship Buddha. As we walked towards the temple, I stumbled against the threshold of the gate and fell heavily to the ground. Even my knees bled. My mother’s and Caiwei’s faces turned pale with fright. Everyone surrounded me, hugged me and comforted me.”

As Mu Zhiming spoke, he applied all of the ointment from the small celadon jar to Gu Heyan’s wound. Once that was done, Mu Zhiming got up to bring some clean white gauze over and continued: “My father has always had a harsh nature, so when he saw me crying, he scolded me; ‘You have such a good life that you’re always being protected and pampered by others. You have nothing to cry about.’”

“At that time, I was still quite young and didn’t know any etiquette. Since I didn’t know how I should behave, I said the first thing that came to my mind.” As Mu Zhiming carefully wrapped the white gauze around Gu Heyan’s wound, he continued: “I told my father; ‘Even if someone pampers and protects me, I’m still wounded. The wound is bleeding, and it hurts!’”

When the young son of the Duke of Yan raised his eyes, his smile was as bright as the moon of early Autumn, and far more breathtaking than any flower left in the world: “General, I know that a wound hurts even when someone protects and pampers me. So how can it not hurt when there’s no one there to protect you?”

The cool breeze curled around the trees, while warblers and swallows flew through the white clouds. Gu Heyan looked into Mu Zhiming’s bright, beautiful eyes, sighed, and thought: ‘For the rest of my life, I will feel that a day without you is like three Autumns have gone by1.’

As Mu Zhiming held Gu Heyan’s arm to tie the gauze around the wound, he suddenly heard Gu Heyan speak: “Then what?”

“What then?” Mu Zhiming was puzzled.

Gu Heyan asked more clearly: “After you fell, what happened?”

Mu Zhiming didn’t expect that Gu Heyan would be so interested in his childhood, but after assuming that it was a bit awkward and dull for the two of them to be silent, Mu Zhiming decided to continue.

‘Besides, by conversing I can also make Gu Heyan no longer focus on the pain in his arm.’

Mu Zhiming said: “So, uh…. let me think….. I think later my parents went to worship Buddha and burn incense. Since I couldn’t move easily because my knees still hurt, I sat in the Meditation Hall with Caiwei to rest. Fearing that I would go hungry, Caiwei warned me not to run away and to keep still, while she went out to buy me candied fruit skewers to eat. Not long after, an old monk came into the Meditation Hall. With a kind face, he smiled at me and said; ‘Child, it’s you’. Me, on the other hand, asked with confusion; ‘Do you know me?’”

As he spoke, Mu Zhiming had already bandaged Gu Heyan’s injured arm. Then, Mu Zhiming carefully took Gu Heyan’s arm and meticulously looked at it from side to side, then nodded his head with satisfaction as he thought: ‘Fortunately, I learned a couple of bandaging tricks from Physician Kuang. If the bandage ended up looking ugly, it would be too humiliating.’

“He knew you?” Gu Heyan’s voice was suddenly heard. When Mu Zhiming looked up, he found Gu Heyan looking at him with a hint of excitement, eagerly waiting for Mu Zhiming to continue the story.

“Uh…. That’s right!” Mu Zhiming hastened to continue the story. “The old monk then said to me; ‘I saw you fall at the temple gate. Many people surrounded you to protect you.’ I proudly replied; ‘Yes! They’re all good to me.’ Then the old monk said to me; ‘Child, you must not mistake what others do out of duty as kindness.’”

“Even though I didn’t understand what the old monk meant at the time, I nodded my head anyway. The old monk then said to me; ‘You should only be grateful to those who are genuinely good to you, not because it’s their duty to do so.’”

“Then I asked him; ‘How will I know when other people are genuinely kind to me?’”

“The old monk thought about it for a moment and then replied to me; ‘You will know. All those people, whose genuine sentiments for you that were accumulated over the years, will eventually be found by you.’”

“That’s all it is.” Mu Zhiming smiled. “General, let me help you get dressed.”

Gu Heyan came back from a trance, nodded lightly, and said: “Thank you.”

First, Mu Zhiming tied the belt of Gu Heyan’s middle garment, and then picked up the outer robe that had been left on the wooden bed frame. Mu Zhiming grabbed the robe by the collar, pulled up the sleeves, and extended them for Gu Heyan to put on.

During all this time, Gu Heyan didn’t say a single word. When Mu Zhiming asked him to hold out his arms, Gu Heyan did it. When Mu Zhiming asked him to raise his head, he did as well. By the time Mu Zhiming tied the jade belt around Gu Heyan’s waist, he couldn’t help but think: ‘Why do I think the way he behaves is so cute?’

‘No, no, no. Mu Zhiming, are you crazy?! How dare you use the word ‘cute’ to describe Gu Heyan?!’

‘I really think it’s time to ask Physician Kuang to insert some acupuncture needles in my brain!’

“Alright, there you go.” Once Mu Zhiming helped Gu Heyan put on his clothes, he proudly waved his hands back and forth. “General, if you feel that you’re not properly dressed, or feel uncomfortable, you may have to trouble Miss Juan to fix it.”

Gu Heyan murmured: “It’s fine.”

“Now that I’m done with my work, I shall retire.” Mu Zhiming smiled and saluted Gu Heyan by cupping his fist. “Um, I’ll have to come back tomorrow to bother the General again.”

Gu Heyan asked: “You…. you’ll come back tomorrow?”

Mu Zhiming replied: “This medicine must be applied for twenty-four days, so not only tomorrow, but for the next twenty-four days I will come to visit you. If the General is already tired of me….”

Gu Heyan’s voice was almost inaudible as he hurried to reply: “Not at all.”

Mu Zhiming smiled and continued: “Then it’s all good. But even if the General were to get tired of me, I ask him to be patient. After all, his health is the most important thing right now.”