NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Medicine Box
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
This box was not big and looked very battered and old, as if it had been repeatedly thrashed about roughly. Its surface was uneven and the paint had fallen off; those who did not know better would think that it had been picked up from some trash heap.
However, this small battered box gave Gu Jiao an infinitely deep sense of déjà vu.
Gu Jiao opened the box in a daze. When she saw the medicine inside, her mind buzzed.
Seriously?
It’s my medicine box!
Why is it here?!
“I’m not dreaming, am I?”
Gu Jiao pinched herself. It hurts! It isn’t a dream!
The box was also real, and the medicine inside was all genuine!
Gu Jiao remembered that the little medicine box was also beside her when the plane crashed. Was it because of that, that it came here?
But… how did it become so battered? Where’s that blindingly bright paint?
In the past, even when the medicine box was still shiny, Gu Jiao had already found it ugly. Now that it was all battered, Gu Jiao felt that it was even uglier.
However, she could not help but feel a sense of familiarity in her heart. Gu Jiao hugged the box tightly in her arms. “I won’t think of you as ugly anymore. Big Sis will treat you well in the future!”
Gu Jiao wiped the small medicine box. Fortunately, it was only broken on the outside, and nothing inside was damaged.
Gu Jiao took a few pieces of gauze and a bottle of saline from the small medicine box and disinfected the wound. She then picked out an antibacterial ointment and applied it on herself. Afterwards, she took two anti-inflammatory pills. She thought that she also had to bandage the wound, but later, she realized that there was no need.
After dealing with her injury, Gu Jiao felt a little hungry. She placed the medicine box in the cabinet and planned to go to the kitchen to find something to eat. However, before that, she needed to change into clean and dry clothes.
Gu Jiao hesitated for a moment before passing through the central room and knocking on Xiao Liulang’s door.
“What is it?”
Xiao Liulang’s cold voice came from the room.
Gu Jiao said, “I want to borrow some clothes. I haven’t washed my clothes in the cabinet, so I don’t have any spares to change into.”
Xiao Liulang did not respond for a long time. Just as Gu Jiao thought that he would not lend her his clothes, the door opened and Xiao Liulang handed her a dry garment.
The material of the long garment was rather poor, and its color was a little faded, but it was washed very meticulously.
In her previous life, Gu Jiao would never wear a man’s clothes, but the situation left her with little choice. After all, she would rather not wear the moldy ones in the cabinet!
After changing her clothes, Gu Jiao washed her dirty clothes before heading to the kitchen.
The kitchen’s quite clean. Xiao Liulang must have cleaned it up.
The rice jar was empty, but as Xiao Liulang had mentioned, there was still half a jar of cornmeal. Not only that, Gu Jiao also found two eggs and a handful of spring onions in the cupboard.
Gu Jiao took out the eggs and made two egg cornmeal pancakes. She sprinkled some chopped onions on them, then made half a pot of cornmeal soup with the leftover batter.
Gu Jiao brought the prepared food to the central room.
The door to Xiao Liulang’s room was ajar.
In her memories, the two of them always ate their own food. When Xiao Liulang cooked, he would always leave a portion in the pot for the Host, but the Host would go to the Gu family to eat most of the time.
Gu Jiao hesitated, but eventually knocked on Xiao Liulang’s door.
“What is it?”
Xiao Liulang’s cold voice came from the room.
Gu Jiao said, “I made dinner. Do you want to eat together?”
Gu Jiao rarely cooked, and even if she did, she would not make his portion. Therefore, he had planned to wait for Gu Jiao to finish first before making his own.
Xiao Liulang suspiciously eyed the closed door.
“If you don’t want to eat, I’ll eat first.” Gu Jiao wanted to wait for him, but she was so famished that her stomach was pressed against her back, and she was just short of fainting on the ground.
She had to replenish her strength as soon as possible.
Gu Jiao had just sat down; before she could pick up her chopsticks, the door creaked open.
Xiao Liulang walked out.
Xiao Liulang was not here to eat.
However, when his gaze inadvertently landed on Gu Jiao, he paused.
The long garment he had given Gu Jiao was one that was too small for him, but it was nonetheless still too big for Gu Jiao. Her thin body made the garment look baggy and clumsy.
Probably to make it easier for her to work, she had her hair and sleeves rolled up, revealing a fair and slender neck, and her bony wrists.
She was no longer as domineering and crazy as before. She simply sat there quietly, eating her food seriously.
She did not even seem like her anymore.
Xiao Liulang’s gaze paused for a moment, but in the end, he looked away coldly.
At this moment, Gu Jiao noticed him and said to him, “You’re here. Sit down and eat.”
There was another set of bowls and chopsticks opposite Gu Jiao. It was obvious that she was not calling for him as an afterthought; she had really made food for Xiao Liulang.
However, Xiao Liulang was motionless.
Gu Jiao understood what he was worried about. The Host did not have a good relationship with him, so it would be quite suspicious if she suddenly made food for him. However, Gu Jiao could not simply say that she was no longer the person she used to be.
After some thought, Gu Jiao said, “There’s not much firewood at home. If you don’t eat now, we’ll have to waste another batch reheating the food later.”
Perhaps this sentence had moved Xiao Liulang, but he finally sat down opposite her.
When the Host first met Xiao Liulang, she must have been stunned by his looks. Otherwise, she surely would not have picked him up. In the eyes of outsiders, the Host’s disdain for Xiao Liulang was because of his crippled legs, but Gu Jiao could see that it was something else.
The Host was stupid, but Gu Jiao was not. There were some things that the Host could not see through, but when Gu Jiao flipped through her memories she understood everything.
Xiao Liulang had been deliberately provoking the Host.
He did not want to consummate their marriage, and did not want the Host to get close to him.
Actually, it just so happened that she had the same intention.
Although she was teasing him, she probably could not do anything with him when it came down to it.
Gu Jiao was quickly full. She took her bowl and chopsticks to the kitchen and came out with a basket.
Xiao Liulang did not ask her what she was going to do, and she did not mention anything. It had always been like this between them.
Unexpectedly, when Gu Jiao reached the door, she suddenly turned around and said, “I wasn’t lying just now, the firewood’s really about to run out. It’s not dark out yet, so I’ll go to the back of the mountain to cut some firewood. It might rain later; if I’m not back by then, remember to bring the clothes in.”
Xiao Liulang gazed at her deeply.
The Gu Jiao of the past would not notice any changes in the weather, nor would she tell him where she was going.
After Gu Jiao left, Xiao Liulang was left behind with the food on the table which he did not know was even edible.
Their family was poor. No matter how much Xiao Liulang disliked Gu Jiao, he would not hold it against food.
He scrunched his brows, picked up his chopsticks, and picked up a piece of scallion egg pancake.