Broken Bones are Fixed With Love {Beefleaf//2xuan}

Freezing Silence and Warm Comfort

(4018 words)

There was a dagger in her hand. Where she'd been keeping it, Shi Qingxuan couldn't even begin to guess. She flung her hand out, and the sound of a body hitting the floor came from the direction of the receptionist. In the same breath, the two men on the floor stopped moving.

He Xuan turned to face Shi Qingxuan, and spoke nonchalantly. The words, however, sounded like an explanation, "I gave them more than two warnings. I was being lenient..."

There was a pause before she continued, "And I leave no witnesses. Loose ends are messy, unplanned variables."

Shi Qingxuan just grabbed her by the sleeve and pulled her up the stairs, not stopping to think about the implications of that statement, "Come on, you're going to get your robes covered in blood."

He wasn't so bothered by the blood itself—he'd seen many things in his many hundreds of years of being a god. He was more worried about He Xuan and her state of mind.

She crouched next to the corpses, grabbing something from each of their necks before doing the same thing to the receptionist, retrieving their coins from behind the desk.

"Let's go," she said, walking past Shi Qingxuan. Despite wanting to get her mind off it, he couldn't hold back his questions.

"That was so cool!" that wasn't the exact thing he wanted to say, but he wasn't lying, "How did you kill them just like that?"

Also not quite the wording he wanted to use... He Xuan didn't reply, but she seemed more relaxed as Shi Qingxuan peppered her with questions. When they returned to the room, she sat on the edge of the sleeping mat with a small sigh. It was even more sparsely decorated than Puqi Shrine. There wasn't even a table, just a window and a sleeping mat.

Shi Qingxuan sat next to her with a deep breath. His stomach grumbled and he laughed a little bit, "We could've at least gotten a bath and some food before you killed the staff."

He Xuan frowned, "Are you hungry?"

"Just a little bit, it's nothing unmanageable," he waved his hand to accentuate the point before stopping with a small gasp. He raised his hands to cover his mouth and with a small quiver in his voice, asked, "Are you worried about me, Black Water?"

Shi Qingxuan knew it. He Xuan really did care about him. She simply sighed, and in a logical voice explained, "You'll heal quicker if you eat well."

"You do care!"

Another sigh, "No. I just don't want you to die."

"That sounds an awful lot like caring to me~"

"Qingxuan, I can't bring vengeance upon you if you're dead."

Shi Qingxuan didn't seem to buy it, "But you have to admit–"

"Go to sleep."

He Xuan walked out the door, effectively ending the conversation. Where she went, Shi Qingxuan had no idea, but when he woke the next morning there was a plate of steaming buns sitting next to him. He Xuan sat on the windowsill, staring out at the people walking along the streets. Nobody entered the eerily quiet inn. Either because nobody needed to, or because they knew it was no righteous place.

He Xuan had to admit she knew it wasn't the best place to stay when they first stumbled across it, but chose to use it simply because she needed to. True, Shi Qingxuan needed food and rest (though the food there was definitely below standard), but He Xuan felt they were getting a little too close and had to draw the line. It didn't work as well as she'd hoped, but it surely reminded Shi Qingxuan of what she could do.