The Female Supporting Role Shows Out

Translator: thornling | Editor: thornling

Lin Dan's willingness to treat her son’s legs was already a massive favor, and the woman didn't want to take any more of her money no matter what.

Lin Dan folded the silver banknote neatly, stuffed it into the woman's purse, and said bluntly: "The sooner his foundation has been restored, the sooner I will be able to start the treatment, and the sooner my brother can see some signs of hope. This is beneficial for you, but even more so for my brother. Speaking frankly: I’m not helping you out of the kindness of my heart, but for the sake of my brother, do you understand? So do what I say and don’t argue.”

The woman finally reluctantly accepted the money, thanking Lin Dan a thousand times again.

Only after the two of them made things clear did Lin Dan begin to write the prescription, pondering as she wrote, adding and adjusting with extreme care. The woman dared not disturb her, and could only stand beside her and watch with endless awe. The two didn't even notice that, outside the open courtyard door, a carriage had stopped at some point, and a handsome man had been helped down by two guards and settled at the doorway.

The guards who followed Lin Dan, however, were very alert. They hurriedly ran out to take a look and, finding that it was the general, showed expressions of disbelief. Ever since he had been paralyzed, the general had, without exception, never stepped out of the manor again. At most, he only looked at the scenery in the courtyard, his eyes completely unfocused, as if he was in a whole other world.

But now, the general’s face was sullen, fixed on the inner courtyard, looking agitated and tense. Who he came for, the guards knew without asking.

"Reporting to the general, the young miss is inside." The guards said in a low voice.

Xue Boyong nodded slightly, then turned the wheelchair to go forward, indistinctly hearing Lin Dan converse with a stranger. He couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but couldn’t miss the sound of the words ‘my brother.’ Every ten sentences, she would bring up ‘my brother’ ten times. It could be seen that someone was constantly on her lips and in her heart.

Xue Boyong's heart, which had been filled with worry and fury, directly softened into a total mess, and his frowning brows unconsciously smoothed out, revealing a hint of a tender smile. When he had heard that Lin Dan was going to stay out all night, he almost went mad with agitation. Unable to wait even a little, he immediately told the guards to chase after her. Imagining Lin Dan staying with several strangers in a place he couldn't see, not knowing whether she was in danger, an uncontrollable impulse suddenly surged in his heart. When he came back to his senses, he realized that he had gone along with the guards. The lanterns of the Xue Manor were glinting at the end of the road, getting further and further away.

He lifted the curtain of the carriage, looking out at the all at once familiar and unfamiliar capital city, and finally sighed deeply. Stepping out of Xiaofeng Pavilion and returning to this place that he used to travel so freely wasn’t impossible after all. He had just needed a turning point and a reason, that’s all.

Lin Dan taught the woman how to massage and finished formulating a prescription. She finally walked out of the room, stretching her lazy waist and preparing to take a breather, but found that Xue Boyong was sitting peacefully under the veranda, looking at herself with deep eyes.

Her half-stretched waist retracted immediately, and she said in surprise, "Brother, why are you here?"

"I’m here to pick you up." Xue Boyong said slowly. “From now on, we have to make a new rule: no matter where you go, you must come back at night; you’re not allowed to stay out overnight." As long as he remembered that Lin Dan was not in Xiaofeng Pavilion, not nearby, he would be unable to control his agitation.

Lin Dan nodded unconsciously: "Okay brother, I’ll listen to you." Then she slapped her forehead, hurriedly saying, "Brother, I made a mistake. Let's hurry up and go back!"

"Don’t hit yourself too hard, your forehead’s all red." Xue Boyong held her slender wrist and a look of distress flashed across his eyes.

Lin Dan agreed half-heartedly again, said goodbye to the woman and the young man, and then carried Xue Boyong into the carriage. After leaving Fengtian Province, she lifted the hem of Xue Boyong's clothes to look at his legs, but her wrist was grabbed. Xue Boyong asked hoarsely,  "What are you doing?"

"I want to take a look at your legs. Brother, can you take off your pants?" As soon as Lin Dan finished speaking, the guard who was driving the carriage let out a loud cough.

Xue Boyong's cheeks flushed, and he gritted his teeth: "Little girl, don’t you know any shame?"

"Brother, your illness is the priority. If you don’t take it off yourself, I'll help you take it off!" Lin Dan threw off his hand and pulled at Xue Boyong's trousers. How could Xue Boyong let her have her way? He immediately pressed her right hand behind her back. Lin Dan conveniently flipped over and stretched out her left hand instead. The two of them wrestled in the narrow carriage, one grabbing and the other attacking in a dramatic back and forth. 

Hearing the frequent muffled thumping sounds from inside the carriage, the two escorting guards’ expressions warped, not knowing what to do with their faces.

"Is this a fight, or is it…" One of the guards held his two thumbs up and touched them together, his expression ambiguous.

"That’s not for you to speculate!" The other guard slapped him on the back of the head, forcing him to talking.

The shaking carriage finally quieted down, and Lin Dan, gasping for breath, had been pinned down by Xue Boyong, her little waist still twisting, obviously not giving up. Xue Boyong's forehead was covered with sweat, not from exhaustion but from restraining himself. He bent his waist with difficulty, trying to keep his lower abdomen away from this unruly girl, and said hoarsely, "Have you made enough trouble? How can an unmarried young lady freely take off a man's pants!"

Lin Dan turned her head and explained, "Brother, your legs need to be massaged every day. Otherwise, the muscles will atrophy!"

"There are so many bodyguards in Xiaofeng Pavilion. Just have them do it, why do you need to do it yourself?"

"My massage technique is very unique, and they won’t be able to learn it." Lin Dan firmly said, "Brother, if your legs are not cured, I will never get married my whole life. Don't preach about whatever ‘men and women must guard against each other.’"

When Xue Boyong heard this, he unconsciously loosened his hold on her.

Lin Dan sprang up immediately, pulled the quilt over his head, and then started to pull at his waistband. He held her wrist in a death grip, his cheeks red enough to drip blood. Thank goodness the quilt was covering him and nothing was visible. "Little girl, have mercy! You win!" His voice was hoarse and helpless: "When we get back, let me change into a pair of loose trousers. I can roll up the pant legs and let you take a look. Is that okay?"

"Yeah." Lin Dan finally calmed down, but as she relinquished her grip, she pinched Xue Boyong’s leg muscle at lightning speed.

Xue Boyong didn't notice, but when he tore the quilt off his head, he caught a glimpse of her unruly behavior and his cheeks became hot. This damn girl! he cursed secretly in his heart, but the corners of his mouth turned up uncontrollably.

—

There was another door in Xiaofeng Pavilion that directly led outside the manor. If Xue Boyong didn't want others in the residence to know his whereabouts, he just needed to close the courtyard door, open the corner door, and he would be able to completely isolate his courtyard from the general's manor, creating two separate worlds.

He went out and came back that night, but no one in the manor was the wiser. Everyone was asleep, silence had fallen over the surroundings, and only the lanterns hanging under the eaves swayed left and right, casting patches of warm orange light. Lin Dan wrapped Xue Boyong up with a quilt and sent him back to his room. After he changed into loose pants, she rolled up his pant legs to check his muscles. Fortunately, his physique was very robust before the injury, and although his muscles had slightly shrunken, the situation was not serious.

Lin Dan smeared herbal oil on her palms, rubbed it between her hands to warm it, and then, using her inner strength, massaged Xue Boyong rhythmically, slowly saying, "Brother, your legs are in pretty good shape. You only need to massage them twice a day to keep them in the best condition. I'll massage you once before I leave in the morning, and once more after I come back at night. That should be just about enough."

Xue Boyong looked at her slightly reddened fingertips and said with some heartache: "Can't you just do it once a day? Otherwise, this adds another thing to your list of burdens."

"It's not a burden, brother. As long as you can get better, I will try everything." Lin Dan's tone was firm.

Xue Boyong didn't speak for a long time, just gently patted her head.

—

After using the ancestral massage technique on Xue Boyong's legs for half a month, Lin Dan found that his slightly atrophied muscles had regained the strength of the past, so she did not dare to slack off. She also went to Fengtian Province every day, changing the prescription as necessary, trying to nourish the boy’s body as quickly as possible.

On this day, she got up early as usual to massage her eldest brother, but was seen by Xue Jiming, who was taking a break from the barracks. The other party was first stunned, then rushed forward in a rage to try to tear her off, only to be swatted away with a flick of her hand, flying out and violently slamming into the door, almost causing him to spit up blood.

"It's you!" Lin Dan turned her head, her face full of helplessness: "Why are you so weak? Brother can’t even walk, but he can beat me until I can’t get up. How come you can't even take one move from me? If brother hadn't been injured, I’m afraid even ten of you added together would not be his equal."

Her old man and old lady were both military doctors. The original owner grew up on the battlefield with them and had also learned martial arts. Therefore, seeing that Lin Dan was both extremely strong and very skilled, no one in the manor suspected anything.

These days, Xue Jiming had tried his hardest to gain others’ approval, but the sentence he heard the most was– you can’t compare to your eldest brother. Nowadays, even Lin Dan, who had once blindly admired him, had these words on her lips. How could he not be upset? His lips trembled, but he couldn’t refute her, so he could only rub his stifled chest and hold in his resentment.

Xue Boyong got angry as soon as he saw this foolish younger brother. Thinking of his previous engagement with Lin Dan, he felt even more discomfited. He frowned and said, "Why did you try to pull on Lin Dan just now? Don’t you understand that men and women should be separate?"

"Am I the one who doesn’t understand, or is she? How can a grown woman like her fondle your legs!" Xue Jiming was extremely aggrieved.

Lin Dan had finished the massage. She wiped her hands with a handkerchief while calmly explaining: "This isn’t fondling, it’s massage. Brother can’t exercise his legs, so they will atrophy over time. Even if they’re cured in the future, he still won’t be able to walk on them unless he goes through a lot of trouble. Currently, I massage him every day to exercise his muscles. This is beneficial for him and does not harm him in any way. "

Xue Boyong took the handkerchief from her, wiped the little girl's nails clean, one by one, and said with a smile, "Why waste your words on him. If he doesn't believe you, he can go ask Wu Xuancao."

"Xiao Cao'er has never said that your legs need to be massaged. Lin Dan, you and I were once engaged, but now you’re clinging onto my eldest brother and refusing to leave. You are truly shameless! Let me tell you honestly, even if my eldest brother never gets married for a lifetime, my grandmother and mother would still never approve of you marrying him. You’re not worthy!"

"Get the hell out of here!" Before Xue Jiming could finish speaking, Xue Boyong was already beyond furious. He crumpled the handkerchief into a ball and threw it deceptively lightly, but it smashed into Xue Jiming's chest hard, like a rock, adding injury to injury.

Xue Jiming swallowed a mouthful of blood from his bottled up emotions and said tearfully: "Brother, why can’t you recognize good intentions? One day Lin Dan’s true colors will be revealed!"

He was so aggrieved that he was about to cry. Meanwhile, Lin Dan, holding a basin of water, went straight around him without even glancing at him from the corner of her eye.