"Listen! I know you are mute now but I'm pretty sure it's temporary. I, I can heal it. I'm the one that saved you and bandaged you up"

He gave her a reluctant look. He checked himself out eyeing his bandaged body before finally putting his sword down. Bai Fu can finally breathe.

They settled at the table for breakfast in awkwardness.

"Here," Bai Fu slid his bowl and chopsticks. "I know you have a lot of questions right now, but you can rest assure and eat something first. Since you can't talk you can just point and I'll try to figure out what you mean. Later I'll retrieve paper and ink from the storage shed outside. It's good that you didn't lose your hearing too."

She watched as he steadily picked up the chopsticks. "Eat," she said while making eating motions.

Once he took his first bite, Bai Fu picked up her own chopsticks and started eating. A few bites later, she heard a tap and saw the now mortal man pointing in the direction of the bowl of medicine from earlier.

"Oh that? It's Auspicious Six Treasure."

He gave her a look to tell her to elaborate.

"Auspicious Six Treasure, my own medicine. Made from the finest ingredients: onion, ginger, garlic, celery, cilantro, and sichuan pepper. This, it's really good for sickness and cooking." Bai Fu coughs a bit to prevent her from laughing. "It's best when used for birds."

The injured man stared blankly at her amused face. He didn't get the joke.

He gestured his face with a wave of his hand and then pointed to the mask on her face. "I have this mask on because I have a really ugly carbuncle growing on it. If I take it off, the whole world will treat me like trash so I keep it on," she lied.

Really, Bai Fu needed to keep her identity a secret. She didn't want him dying and then remembering meeting her. Plus, the masked man was still out there. It was a good thing she wore her mask too so he wouldn't have seen her face.

He then gestured his lack of clothing. "I took off your clothes because they were all bloodied and stinked. How else am I supposed to clean your wounds..." Bai Fu puckered her lips thinking about his tone and muscular body. She was glad she wore the mask or he would've seen her blush.

Looking up she sees his glare at her probably knowing what she was thinking.

"Don't worry! I'm a woman of honor! I didn't take advantage of you at all. You know, if I wanted to take advantage, I would've tied you up first- Ugh!" Bai Fu started laughing, "I'm joking. It's a joke."

He still didn't look amused.

"If you're finished, just leave the bowl on the table. I'll be back. I'm going to get the paper and ink. It'll be easier for us to communicate."

She got up from the table and headed outside. Coming back in record time, Bai Fu handed him the stuff. He writes quickly.

What's my problem?

"Wow, you have nice handwriting. And your problem..." Shoot! She didn't know at all. From what she knew, there were only some causes for someone to be mute when they weren't one before. Bai Fu thought for a bit. It was obvious he fainted from exhaustion and the lack of blood but... Her healing orb wasn't able to heal his mute last night, so he must have been poisoned for a long time. It was the only cause.

"Can you write down your diet?"

He nodded.

Melon, razor clam, radix root, ginseng, fragrant solomon's seal, gourd...

What in the realm! Already in the first few items listed were fine foods that shouldn't be mixed together! She looked at him and back at the list. Who the heck is he in this life?

"Some of these foods can't be mixed together such. For example, melon and razor clam can't be mixed together with radix root. If you keep consuming all these you'll die within a year. This is probably the reason why you can't talk."

The Fire Immortal was shocked.

"Don't worry at all. I know some medicine that will heal you in no time," Bai Fu said trying to cheer him up.

Medicine?

She smirked. "Yes, don't you see that my Auspicious Six Treasure got you to wake up. I'm may not look like it, but I'm a little bit good at medicine. How else was I able to save your life."

Okay, heal me.

Bai Fu smiled. She was glad that he bought her white lie.

It was the next day. Bai Fu sat from a far watching him sniff her Auspicious Six Treasure concoction. She felt bad for lying about her that medicine healing his talking problem, but she couldn't say, "Hey I'm actually a magical being and I can heal you with my touch!"

Fire immortal finally decided to drown it all down plugging his nose. Bai Fu hopped off her seat and skipped over to him. "Here, I grew these strawberries myself. They're my favorite fruit. The sweetness will help get rid of the flavor."

He picked one up from the bowl and took a bite. He looked surprised and ate the whole thing picking up another strawberry.

"Hm? Are my strawberries really that good?"

She took one herself and ate the whole thing in one bite. Immediately her face scrunched up and she slapped her thigh.

After swallowing she shouted, "It's so sour! It's not sweet at all." She heard his chuckled breaths. "You!" Bai Fu pointed at him, "How dare you make fun of me!"

She watched him get a sheet of paper and wrote:

I love sour taste.

Who in the world likes sourness? Obviously this man. Bai Fu observed him up and down with a hand on her chin.

When will I recover?

She didn't want him to be suspicious if she told him she could heal him all tonight, so she thought of a realistic amount of time for him to heal, "You'll recover in just half a month, more or less."

If I may ask, what's your age?

"I know for sure I'm older than you. So that means you better treat me with respect." Bai Fu commanded. "With greater wisdom comes greater age too, so I'm twice your age now."

The bandaged man gave her a look that said yeah right.

"Enough about me. How did you provoke those men any way?"

Fire immortal paused for a bit before writing:

People of Ling Guo.

"People of Ling Gua? What about them?"

They intruded our land and captured the women. With those crimes, everyone would want to kill them.

Bai Fu nodded her head in agreement. What a deep and thoughtful person the second prince came to be. He tapped the table to get her attention.

"Oh! I find you very admirable," and she put her fist in one hand and shook it as a gesture of gratitude.

I'm not joking.

He dropped the paintbrush on the table and sat back down in his seat looking gloomy. Was he mad? One minute he was okay, and now he's not okay.

"What do you mean? Why are you acting like this? I wasn't joking either! If those men were bad, I'm glad you took them down. You even risked your life for the people. It is admirable."

He glanced at her face and then grabbed the brush again.

Why did you save me? Don't give me the crap like a healer has a heart of a parent. I won't believe that.

"Hm... Why did I save you? You look like a gentlemen who is unparalleled in the world. The eyes you had back there said everything I needed to know."

My eyes?

"I saw determination. The strongest person survives. As a healer, I'm just responding to what I see. It is the chosen one that will live a good life at the end. So since I saved you, you should do the same and continue to save others."

He was about to write more but Bai Fu stopped him. "Let's stop here. I have to go buy more ingredients for food and buy some new clothing for you. I don't think my outfits will fit your body structure. I'll be back so take care of my house," and she left.