Chapter 378 No Next Time

Chapter 378 No Next Time

Su Youyue fell silent.

Thinking about it carefully, given Tuoba Xiao's personality, it was indeed impossible for him to consider Hu Sang and the others as brothers.

Seeming to know whom she was referring to, Tuoba Xiao sneered. "Hu Sang? They don't deserve the title!"

Su Youyue muttered inwardly that Hu Sang and the others were at least human; these wolves weren't even worthy of being called human, let alone brothers.

Tuoba Xiao seemed unwilling to continue this topic and, after moving his ankle again, walked forward. "Follow me."

Su Youyue hurried to catch up.

The wolves followed on either side of the group, with only the white wolf leading the way at the front.

They hadn't walked far when they saw a water source.

It was a shallow pool of turquoise water, nothing compared to the crescent-shaped oasis, but there were some poplar trees and cacti growing around it. As they approached, they could see that the cacti were covered in bright red fruits, plump and round, huddled together.

Upon reaching the spot, Su Youyue immediately focused on the fruits. She recognized them as cactus fruits, known in medicine as *Xianzhangzi*, which had the effects of quenching thirst and nourishing the stomach.

In other words, they were edible.

Just as her stomach was rumbling, seeing these fruits filled her with excitement. Without waiting for Tuoba Xiao to react, she quickly walked over and picked one.

As soon as the prickling pain from the tiny needles reached her fingers, she drew a sharp breath, took a step back, and dropped the fruit.

Looking down, she saw her fingers covered with tiny red spines.

These things have spines?

Medical books only showed sketches, and this was her first time seeing fresh fruits, so she didn't realize they had so many tiny spines. Caught off guard, she hurriedly tried to remove them.

A cold voice came from beside her: "I advise you not to move recklessly. If mishandled, these spines will only go deeper."

Hearing this, Su Youyue froze, but the pain in her fingers was unbearable. Biting her lip, she turned to Tuoba Xiao for help. "What should I do..."

The impatience in Tuoba Xiao's eyes was almost tangible, like flames about to burst forth. He, Tuoba Xiao, had always been free to come and go; even the Emperor of Dongrong dared not restrain him. Why did he have to be hindered by a woman, infuriated every day!

He knew it: women were trouble!

He truly wanted to cut her down right now to avoid further complications, but then he remembered all the restraint he had shown for her sake. It wouldn't be worth it if he killed her now, making all his previous efforts futile!

By this point, bringing Su Youyue along wasn't just about dealing with Xie Yuan; it was also about the frustration building inside him!

The young man strode over menacingly, as if ready to devour Su Youyue whole, causing her to tense up, unsure of what he would do.

To her surprise, he removed the earring from his left ear and threw it at her feet. "Remove them yourself!"

The spines of the cactus fruit were the most troublesome thing Tuoba Xiao had ever encountered. Unlike ordinary thorns, removing them required extreme delicacy and care, as any mistake would cause them to penetrate deeper, eventually embedding themselves beneath the skin, making them impossible to extract.

Young Tuoba Xiao had once suffered from these spines and never touched the fruit again.

Who would have thought this woman would be so foolish as to grab one directly?

But Tuoba Xiao had no patience to help her remove the spines.

"Or perhaps I should just chop off your hand," he said menacingly, seemingly hating Su Youyue.

After a moment of shock, Su Youyue blinked, and her eyes welled up with tears, giving her a pitiful look. "No... I can handle it myself."

After a few seconds of staring at each other, Tuoba Xiao, like a wild beast, exhaled irritably and walked toward the water source.

He didn't notice that, as he looked away, a glint flashed across Su Youyue's eyes.

She had realized days ago that being tough with Tuoba Xiao didn't work; being gentle might stabilize him. This seemed even more true now.

Moreover, after helping him set his bone, his tolerance for her seemed to have increased slightly.

Although she had this suspicion, Su Youyue didn't dare test it further, unsure where the madman's limits lay.

Picking up Tuoba Xiao's earring, she noticed it was shaped like a wolf tooth, with a small clip-like mechanism that could be used to remove the spines.

Su Youyue carefully tried to remove the spines herself, but they were indeed different from ordinary thorns, making the task extremely difficult. After struggling for a while, several spines went even deeper, disappearing and reappearing intermittently.

Realizing this method wouldn't work, she gritted her teeth and used the silver needle part of the earring to cut open the skin, trying to dig out the embedded spines.

The pain was excruciating, and her eyes welled up with tears.

If she had known, she would never have touched those fruits!

This was the most regretful moment she had experienced in days.

Tuoba Xiao had already returned with water. Looking over, he saw blood seeping from the woman's fingertips, which resembled flower buds.

He sneered inwardly, cursing her misfortune, but upon seeing her red eyes and nose, his heart grew irritable.

"Troublesome!"

With a frustrated curse, Tuoba Xiao strode over, snatched the earring from Su Youyue's hand, and forcefully began extracting the spines.

The spines had indeed gone deep. If he had a knife, he would have chosen to cut off the flesh around the fingers. Now, he could only use the clip to poke into the flesh, one by one, two by two, three by three... He felt his patience draining away.

He suddenly looked up, glaring at Su Youyue.

But he saw her red eyes, tears threatening to fall, and her lips tightly clenched, turning crimson and vivid without any makeup.

For some reason, his grip on her hand loosened.

And then, without another word, she lowered her head and continued to pick out the thorns with a furrowed brow.

Only this time, her movements were a bit gentler.

Just a bit.

The pain in her hand was no different from someone stirring a wound with a sharp instrument. Su Youyue endured it for a long while before all the thorns were finally removed. She let out a sigh of relief but looked at those cactus fruits with wariness.

She never wanted to touch these fruits again in this lifetime!

"Thank you," she said to Tuoba Xiao.

This gratitude was sincere.

Tuoba Xiao wasn’t foolish; he could tell. The expression on his face softened slightly: "You really should thank me! I’ve never served anyone like this in my entire life!"

After saying that, he added fiercely, "No next time!"