Childhood Sweethearts Brew Wine (Part Eight)

Poor Beanie!

The Seven Old Monsters' prediction came true almost instantly...

When they followed the sounds to find him, what they saw was Beanie being chased by bees, running around like a headless fly...

Beanie’s face was covered in welts, his movements clumsy. If it weren’t for his distinctive clothes, the Seven Old Monsters would have doubted they were looking at the right person.

Soft and white, like a little steamed bun—how did Beanie end up looking like a street beggar?

Poor Beanie!

The Seven Old Monsters, hearts aching, immediately split up—some to drive away the bees, some to scoop Beanie into their arms...

Beanie had no idea how long he’d been running. With bees chasing him from behind, he could only dash forward for dear life, desperate to shake them off...

Beanie felt like his legs were filled with lead. As he kept running, his speed slowed to a crawl, and he couldn’t go any further. But whenever he stopped, those annoying bees would swarm him, stinging him until he cried out in pain. For the sake of his own life, Beanie had no choice but to keep running.

Wuwuwu... Beanie felt like he was going to die—not from bee stings, but from sheer exhaustion. He could barely see the road ahead, and was sure he’d collapse at any second. Yet somehow, he kept pushing forward, refusing to fall...

Just when Beanie thought he'd hit his limit, he somehow broke through it—his body felt like it wasn't his own, running forward on pure instinct...

That state lasted until he crashed into a cold, hard embrace...

Beanie looked up, but his eyes were so swollen from bee stings he couldn’t see who it was. He could only cling to the person instinctively and plead, "Help me."

Wuwuwu... He knew he was wrong; from now on, he'd never go to the grove again, never poke at beehives again.

"Poor Beanie."

Beanie’s pitiful state broke the hearts of the Seven Old Monsters. After Dorian’s Master carried him away, the other elders wiped out the entire hive of bees—but even that didn’t ease their anger, especially since Beanie had been the one to poke the hive in the first place...

Beanie was stung miserably by the bees, but his injuries weren’t truly serious—the bees were harmless, so he was just badly swollen and couldn’t show his face for a while. With medicine, he’d recover in a few days. What really suffered were his legs and stamina.

He’d run all afternoon—his feet were rubbed raw and bleeding, the skin peeled off completely. Worse, his strength was utterly spent, and he lay unconscious in bed for days before finally waking up...

This was definitely Beanie’s worst loss yet. The Seven Old Monsters originally wanted to blame Left Shore, but since he’d just been punished yesterday and was still bedridden, even their ruthless hearts couldn’t justify beating him again right now.

They planned to give Left Shore another forty lashes once he healed, but before his wounds were even fully recovered, Beanie woke up—and the very first thing he asked the elders was whether Left Shore had been stung by the bees.

"Left Shore got stung by the bees? Weren't those bees brought by Left Shore?" The Seven Old Monsters were baffled.

Beanie was even more confused. His lips were so swollen they looked like sausages and hurt terribly, so he could only mumble, "What does this have to do with Left Shore? The bees came on their own..."

"Wasn't it Left Shore who let the bees sting you?" The elders wondered—had they misunderstood Left Shore?

Beanie looked blank...

Well, with his pig-headed, swollen face, you couldn’t see any expression at all. Beanie just stared blankly at the elders. "Was it Left Shore? I didn’t see him. Didn’t the bees just come on their own? I saw them come by themselves?"

With his clueless honesty, Beanie cleared Left Shore of any suspicion. The Seven Old Monsters still had doubts, but seeing Beanie insist Left Shore knew nothing about it, they couldn’t pin the blame on him.

"Alright, you just focus on recovering. We’ll deal with everything once you’re healed. If it turns out Left Shore was at fault, we’ll stand up for you and punish him properly." The elders patted Beanie’s still-uninjured hand, but Beanie protested...

"Why punish Left Shore? This is between me and him—Master, you’re not allowed to interfere. I’ll beat Left Shore with my own strength." Beanie refused, absolutely unwilling to let the elders trouble Left Shore.

"A real man doesn’t tattletale."

Beanie declared righteously. His senior and junior brothers, who’d come to visit, all looked up at the sky when they heard this: Little Junior, you may not be tattling, but we’re already miserable enough. If you ever do, none of us will survive.

Well, Beanie’s fellow disciples had to admit—they weren’t really here to visit him. What they really wanted was to see just how miserable he looked...

Honestly, since they could remember, none of them had ever seen Beanie suffer such a huge loss. Under the Seven Old Monsters’ protection, if Beanie ever got a bruise on his face, they’d be the ones scolded or beaten. When had anyone ever seen Beanie’s face puffed up like a pig’s head?

But that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst was that Beanie had suffered so much and couldn’t even find the culprit—because the culprits were just a bunch of bees. The Seven Old Monsters had run out of ways to vent their anger, even at the bees...

"Poor Beanie, your face really is a sight—come here, let your senior brother give it a pinch, see if it hurts..." One of the senior brothers reached out with mischievous hands and gave Beanie’s face a squeeze...

Pop! One of the bumps burst, spraying pus all over his senior brother’s face. But the senior brother didn’t mind at all—watching Beanie grimace in pain made him feel oddly satisfied.

"Wuwuwu... It hurts so much." Beanie was about to cry. A junior brother whom Beanie had once beaten quickly stepped up: "Here, Beanie, let me blow on it for you. It won’t hurt, it won’t hurt..."

Hoo... A warm breath washed over him. Beanie yelped, "Ah—it hurts even more!"

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot I had chili at lunch—my mouth’s still spicy. I won’t blow anymore." He said he wouldn’t, but kept blowing on Beanie’s face anyway.

"You guys... you guys... stay away from me!" Beanie was in so much pain that tears welled up, and his small body curled desperately into the bed...

Wuwuwu... It hurt so much.