Jiang Fa stood up, walked to the window, and opened half of the window.
The night wind carried the bitter smell of the old locust tree in the yard and hit my face, but it was a different kind of comfort.
Just then, he heard footsteps.
His steps were light, as if he were a thief.
Jiang Fa raised his eyebrows slightly, listened for a few moments, and his expression suddenly became a little strange.
"If you don't sleep in the middle of the night, why are you here with me..."
He was hesitating whether to take the initiative to open the door, but the footsteps had stopped at the door.
Then there was no movement.
The person outside the door seemed to be hesitating, even breathing deliberately very softly, as if he was engaged in some kind of fierce psychological struggle.
Jiang Fa After waiting for a long time, there was still no knock on the door. I couldn't help but feel helpless, so I had to walk over and reach out to open the door.
As expected, the person standing outside the door was Tang Jin'er.
She obviously didn't expect Jiang Fa to open the door suddenly. She took half a step back like a kitten whose tail was stepped on, and even the things she was holding in her arms almost fell to the ground.
"Senior Brother Jiang..."
She raised her face, her almond-shaped eyes widened. In the dim light of the lantern under the eaves, her face was white and rosy, and she didn't know whether it was from the cold or from shame.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?"
She held it in for a long time before saying this.
Jiang Fa leaned against the door frame and looked at her with a half-smile, "It's my turn to ask you this."
Tang Jin'er was speechless, and the tips of her ears turned redder.
"I... I couldn't sleep, so I went out for a walk. I saw that the lights were still on here, so... I dropped by."
"On your way?"
Jiang Fa glanced at her sideways, and then scanned the empty courtyard behind her. "From the West Crossing Courtyard to my place, you have to cross most of the martial arts gym. Your road is smooth enough."
Tang Jin'er was so talked about that she couldn't raise her head and stood at the door holding something in her arms, neither going in nor retreating.
Jiang Fa Seeing her awkward look, he stopped teasing her and stepped aside. "Come in."
Tang Jin'er, as if she had been granted amnesty, walked in with small steps.
Today she wore a moon-white thin blouse with a light cyan short jacket. Her hair was only pulled into a loose bun, pinned with a plain silver hairpin. A few strands of hair hung down the side of her neck, making her whole person pure and elegant.
She is completely different from the well-dressed girl who was practicing hard on the martial arts field during the day.
"What are you holding in your hand?"
Jiang Fa glanced at the thing wrapped in blue cloth in her arms.
"This..."
Only then did Tang Jin'er remember what she meant. She quickly picked up the cloth bag in her arms and carefully placed it on the table. While unpacking it, she said, "This is the medicated bath bag I asked my family to send. It is better than the last prescription and has more medicinal properties. It is just right for senior brother."
When she said this, her expression obviously relaxed a lot.
"You are going to play in the semi-finals tomorrow. I think if you take a dip tonight, it can eliminate the fatigue accumulated in the past few days and make your energy and blood more active. You will be in much better condition when you go on stage tomorrow."
She opened the cloth bag and revealed several packets of brown medicinal powder packed neatly with oil paper inside.
Jiang Fa didn't speak, just looked down at the medicine bags, the candlelight reflected his side face, and his expression was a little complicated.
"Don't these medicines cost a lot of money?"
he asked suddenly.
Tang Jin'er quickly shook her head. "No, no, they are all ready-made medicinal materials at home. I asked the steward to deliver them. It didn't cost a lot of money."
"It's a liar."
Jiang Fa burst out laughing, "Hematochezia and Purple-backed Geranium, none of which can be bought for just one tael of silver, plus the additions of Polygonum spp. and Sichuan Wuliang. This package will probably cost thirty or forty taels."
Tang Jin'er was exposed by his words and lowered her head with some guilt.
Jiang Fa looked at her appearance and sighed helplessly.
With his temperament, he should have refused.
He didn't want to owe anyone too much, let alone something that couldn't be measured in silver taels.
But when he looked into the girl's innocent eyes, those words of rejection swirled in his throat and he swallowed them back.
"If you do this again next time, I won't accept it."
In the end, he just said it calmly.
Tang Jin'er's eyes lit up when she heard this, and she nodded quickly. "Just this time, just this time! If you win the first place tomorrow, I, I won't give it away..."
"What nonsense."
Jiang Fa couldn't hold it back and laughed softly.
This smile made his whole body soften a bit, losing the coldness that seemed to repel people thousands of miles away during the day.
Tang Jin'er was a little dazed, staring at his face in a daze, and even her breathing slowed down.
"What are you looking at?"
"No, it's nothing!"
She looked away in panic, the tips of her ears were so red that they were about to bleed, and her heart was beating so hard that she was running around like a deer.
Jiang Fa didn't criticize her, he just walked to the table, picked up a packet of medicated bath powder, and weighed it in his hands.
"I... I'll help you pour the powder in!"
Tang Jin'er didn't know where she got the courage. Without waiting for Jiang Fa to reply, she ran to the wooden barrel in the corner.
That wooden bucket is used by Jiang Fa for daily bathing. It is half a person tall and very spacious.
Tang Jin'er poured hot water into the bucket, and carefully sprinkled a packet of medicated bath powder evenly. He lifted up his sleeves and reached in to stir. After the medicine had melted and the water was at the right temperature, he straightened up with satisfaction.
"Okay! Brother Jiang, try it... No, just try it! I... I'll go back first..."
As she spoke, her voice gradually became quieter and her face became redder and redder.
Jiang Fa looked at her look like she wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawled into it. He was amused in his heart, but he stopped teasing her and just cupped his hands towards her, with a rare gentleness in his tone. "Thank you, Junior Sister Tang, for your understanding."
Tang Jin'er lowered her head and said in a voice so low that it was almost inaudible, "Then I... I'm going back to the room. You take a good soak and don't wait for the water to get cold..."
"You have a good rest, I... I'm going back first."
After saying that, she ran out of the house as if running away, and gently closed the door.
Jiang Fa Hearing her footsteps getting further and further away in the corridor, he slowly looked back.
He lowered his head, looked at the neatly arranged medicated bath bags on the table, and was silent for a moment.
The night breeze outside the window is getting cooler.
He took off his clothes and sat in the barrel.
The medicinal power of the medicated bath powder dissolved in water penetrates the skin, like countless warm thin needles, piercing deep into the flesh and blood, and turns into warm currents that slowly flow through the meridians.
He leaned against the wall of the barrel and closed his eyes, but the girl's embarrassed appearance appeared in his mind unconsciously.
This thought only flashed across his mind, and he suppressed it hard.
He took a deep breath and sank his whole body into the water, leaving only his face above the water...