Red Rose [Never Let You Go, Again Book 3]

4: Drunk Darling

"Goodness, that bad?" Yunxi quickly retreated his hand as Wei Ying clenched his fists and shuddered in the pain, Xichen holding him tight. "Maybe you should wait a while longer before walking around, come on, rest. The bones might need time to strengthen. For all we know, they're still just soft calcium, come on," Jiang Yunxi helped him up and laid him on his chest flat on the bed with Lan Wangji's help, back facing upwards.

"Like this?" Wei Wuxian whined. "How long do I have to stay like this?"

"Till you recover," Yunxi replied.

"But..." Wei Wuxian thought quickly, watching the silent husband, before an idea clicked in his head. Time to open up. Sometimes, spilling your pains to others might actually benefit you!

"Yunxi, there's something else I need your help with," Wei Wuxian groaned as he sat up on the bed. Wangji helped him up without speaking a single word.

"What is it, shixiong?"

"My right arm... I remember something shattering inside while I was tossed around in the waves. I can move it, but... Could you check, just in case?"

Hm? He's willingly giving an arm to check? That's not something our all-silently-enduring shixiong would do... Jiang Yunxi frowned as he knelt before his senior brother and held his arm, pressing his fingers along the right arm, lower and lower, checking its muscle and bone strength. At one point near his elbow, when Yunxi pressed, Wei Wuxian bit his lip.

"You can certainly bend your arm, you hugged them easily. Try stretching your arm," Jiang Yunxi instructed.

Nodding, Wei Wuxian stretched his arm — only a short distance before he shouted again. "Ouch-ouch-ouch!"

Yunxi helped him bend it back. "Show me where it pains when you stretch."

Wei Wuxian tapped the point right above his elbow.

"You must have grazed it. Not the bone, must be your triceps have torn a bit, so it hurts only when the muscle contracts while stretching your arm. I'll tie up a dressing around your neck to support your arm, it's got to heal naturally and it will," he suggested as he picked up fresh bandage-material from nearby and started wrapping Wei Wuxian's arm. Once it was well wrapped around the elbow, he formed a belt with the material and slung it around both arm and neck. "There. You can't move your arm. Since you can't lie on your chest like this, we'll do this. Hanguang-Jun, take that pillow and keep it against the wall the bed's leaning against."

Lan Wangji picked up his own sandalwood-scented pillow and fitted it on the other edge of the bed, leaning it against the wall.

"Right, help me lean shixiong against the pillow. Shixiong, I hope the pillow won't hurt your back," Yunxi spoke as he and Lan Wangji helped Wei Wuxian shuffle to and sit against the pillow.

"No, feels good," Wei Wuxian nodded.

"Great! So you'll have to stay this way. A day or two might do the trick. Don't even think of going anywhere," Yunxi ordered as he went to sit on the freed seat where Lan Wangji had been seated. Lan Wangji pursed his lips and stood at the window.

"Wait, you mean I can't use my hand? How am I supposed to get things done with my left hand! I'm not used to it..."

"Just two days, you can have a good, long soak in the springs afterwards," Xichen smiled.

"But how am I to eat?"

Jiang Yunxi stifled a grin. So this was why he'd willingly let me check his arm. Shixiong... You really are the craftiest. "Well, get someone to feed you. Jiang Cheng, will you–?"