Chapter 54: Holy One
Nuan Nuan came in with a large green leaf, and there were several pieces of meat on it, along with two orange coloured fruits and nuts.
He walked over to where Ruan Chanchan was sitting and smiled at her when he saw that she was awake. He said to Ruan Chanchan, "I thought that you were still unconscious. I am glad that you are awake; we were really scared that you would not wake up, Holy One."
H—Holy...what?
Ruan Chanchan’s eyes were filled with confusion. She didn’t know what to say in response to such a claim. She simply stared at the mer, waiting silently for him to continue speaking.
Nuan Nuan was once again surprised. In the past, Ruan Chanchan was always looking around with a dazed look in her eyes. She was like a wooden trunk; no matter what others said to her, she wouldn’t even pay attention to them. But now the same woman was communicating with her eyes.
He could clearly see the confusion in her eyes, which relayed the message that she was not catching on to what he was telling her.
"That’s what Priestess Yuan asked me to call you," explained Nuan Nuan with a smile as he set down the large leaf that he had brought with him. He looked at Ruan Chanchan and said to her, "He told us that’s what your kind is called. Someone who is slow in learning other things and childlike but is smarter than us in matters that we don’t have the slightest bit of an idea about."
Ruan Chanchan blinked her eyes. She could feel three eclipses forming over her head. She had to admit that Priestess Yuan had some really strong filters when it came to her. How could she even spout such nonsense with her eyes open? The host of this body was a true fool. How come she suddenly became a fool who was smarter when it mattered?
Nuan Nuan knew that Ruan Chanchan was not going to speak; thus, he didn’t mind her silence. He sat down next to her and said to her, "Shao Xia hunted down a beast and brought it back. Though it’s not much, the chief asked you to get the most tender parts of the meat, Holy One."
Ruan Chanchan looked at the bloody piece of meat and almost gagged. They wanted her to eat this meat raw? Please, she was going to pass out.
"Ruan Chanchan... call me Chanchan." Ruan Chanchan said to Nuan Nuan, since the pot was already broken, there was no point in holding on to the cracked pieces of the pot anymore.
This time around, Nuan Nuan was even more shocked.
"Holy One, you can actually talk!"
Ruan Chanchan closed her eyes. The term Holy One was making her cringe so much that she wanted to crawl into a tiny hole and die there. Holy One? She was anything but holy. If these people had seen her chaotic life when she was living as Mo Qiang and other identities, they would die rather than calling her ’holy’; if she were a holy one, then the world would be ruled by the devil.
"Just call me Chanchan," Ruan Chanchan repeated. She didn’t want to be called ’Holy One’ anymore. If she heard Holy One once again, she was worried that she would be so embarrassed that she would shoot herself to death.
"Then you can call me Nuan Nuan," said the mer with an honest smile. "Thank you for saving my wife, Holy One."
Ruan Chanchan: "..."
She sighed, feeling a bit tired. She looked at the bloody pieces of meat and then said to Nuan Nuan, "You can take these pieces of meat for your wife. She is still sick—it should help her a bit."
Nuan Nuan was shocked. He shook his head and said to Ruan Chanchan, "I cannot do this. This is something that the tribe prepared for the holy one. How can I bring it to my wife? Anyway, this little bit of meat can’t fill her up, Holy One."
Ruan Chanchan turned silent.
She understood that this was the tribe chief’s way of apologising to her, as the woman couldn’t bear to lower her head and say ’sorry’, but honestly, she would have liked it if Chief Xia had just ignored this entire incident and left her alone.
"You don’t need to give this piece of meat to me," said Ruan Chanchan. "I am still weak and cannot eat anything, or else I will throw up. Since it’s going to waste anyway, you can take it for your wife. Just take it as something that the Holy One gave you..." She added with a hint of cringe.
When Nuan Nuan heard Ruan Chanchan’s words, he could no longer refuse. He nodded and then said to Ruan Chanchan, "Don’t worry, Holy One. I will bring you something good later on when you are feeling good."
Ruan Chanchan: "..." No, you don’t have to; as long as you keep this raw meat away from me, I will be fine.
"I need to take a bit more rest," said Ruan Chanchan as she looked around the cave. "Where am I?"
"Brother Daiyu brought you to his cave when you fainted," replied Nuan Nuan. "Your body was really cold when you fainted, and Brother Daiyu’s cave is the only one that is the warmest in all the cave dwellings. So, the chief allowed you to stay in his bed."
"In his bed? This is his bed?" Ruan Chanchan shrieked and jumped off the soft animal skins that were under her. She couldn’t believe that she had slept in the bed of an unmated mer; she knew very well what it meant in this era and time.
If a woman slept in the bed of a mer who had not been marked, there was a good chance that the tribe would push her into taking responsibility for the said mer because if a mer brought a woman to his bed, then it meant that he had set his eyes on her.
Ruan Chanchan didn’t want Xie Daiyu’s eyes anywhere near her!