Chapter 56: A Feverish Dream (1)
Just as Physician Liu had predicted, Lin Xueyi developed a fever in the middle of the night.
Her breathing was heavy and uneven, and her face had turned bright red from the heat. Yet despite how hot her body was, she kept shivering under the blanket.
Rong Shuyan quietly pulled another blanket over her, making sure it covered her properly.
"Yan...yan?" Lin Xueyi’s weak whisper broke the silence.
Her eyes slowly fluttered open, but her vision was still blurry from the fever. The first thing she saw was Rong Shuyan sitting beside her bed, carefully placing a wet cloth on her forehead.
For a moment, she simply stared at him.
[Am I dreaming?] Lin Xueyi wondered. [Why is Yanyan taking care of me? Has he ever taken care of anyone like this in the book?]
Her mind was still hazy, and it was becoming harder and harder to stay awake. Still, she tried to search through everything she remembered about the original story.
As far as she could remember, Rong Shuyan had never personally taken care of anyone.
Even when he cared about someone, he would always leave things like this to someone else, like Physician Liu.
But right now, he was sitting right beside her and taking care of her himself.
"Yes?" Rong Shuyan answered when he heard her weak voice. "Physician Liu prepared some medicine for you earlier. I’ll warm it up."
"Medicine? Why?" Lin Xueyi asked softly, looking confused. "I’m not sick."
"You’re sick," Rong Shuyan replied patiently as he placed the medicine over the small stove to warm it.
"I’m not..." Lin Xueyi mumbled.
As if she could prove him wrong, she tried to push herself up from the bed. Her arms trembled from the effort, but she still stubbornly tried to sit up.
"See? I can get up," she said.
Rong Shuyan turned to look at her. He was silent for a moment before letting out a soft sigh. "You’re still lying down."
Lin Xueyi blinked slowly before looking down at herself. She stared at her body for several seconds, as if she was trying very hard to understand what Rong Shuyan meant.
Moments later, she moved one hand under the blanket. "I’m sitting," she mumbled.
Rong Shuyan looked at her. "You’re not."
Lin Xueyi frowned and then she looked down again. "Oh." Her head fell back against the pillow. "I thought I was."
Rong Shuyan stared at her for a moment before realizing that the fever had left her completely confused. By then, the medicine was warm enough. He poured it into a small bowl before returning to her side.
"Come. Drink your medicine." Lin Xueyi obediently opened her eyes again.
Rong Shuyan slipped one arm behind her shoulders and carefully helped her sit up. She was too weak to support herself, so most of her weight ended up resting against him.
He brought the bowl to her lips. "Drink slowly."
Lin Xueyi took a small sip and the moment the medicine touched her tongue, her entire face twisted. "Bitter..."
"It’s medicine."
"But it’s very bitter," she said.
Rong Shuyan nodded. "I know."
Lin Xueyi immediately turned her face away from the bowl. "I don’t want it."
"You need to finish it."
"No..." she whined.
Rong Shuyan didn’t get angry. He simply waited for a moment before bringing the bowl back to her lips. "Just a little at a time."
Perhaps because she thought this was only a dream, Lin Xueyi was unusually obedient. She frowned at the bowl but eventually opened her mouth again.
Rong Shuyan patiently helped her drink, stopping every few sips to let her breathe.
Halfway through the bowl, Lin Xueyi suddenly looked up at him. "Yanyan..."
Rong Shuyan’s hand paused as he realized that she had called him that several times tonight.
Normally, she would only dare to call him that inside her head.
"What is it?" he asked in a soft tone.
Lin Xueyi stared at him through her half-open eyes. "Is your medicine always this bitter too?"
She continued in a sleepy mumble, "You drink medicine all the time, Yanyan..." Her eyebrows pulled together as if the thought truly bothered her. "Is it always this bitter?"
"My medicine is bitter." Rong Shuyan nodded, patiently answering her question. "But I’m used to it."
Lin Xueyi stared at him for a few seconds, her feverish mind slowly trying to understand his words. But then her expression suddenly became sad.
"That’s terrible," she mumbled.
Rong Shuyan raised an eyebrow. "What is?"
"You have to drink bitter medicine all the time." Her voice was so soft that he almost didn’t hear her.
Lin Xueyi lowered her eyes to the bowl in his hand before mumbling, "Poor Yanyan."
Rong Shuyan took a deep breath as he heard that. If she were awake and fully aware of what she was saying, she would probably never dare to say such a thing to his face.
But Lin Xueyi clearly thought she was dreaming. She leaned weakly against him, then looked at the medicine again.
"If Yanyan can drink it..." she murmured, "then I can drink it too."
Before Rong Shuyan could respond, she opened her mouth obediently.
He stared at her for a moment before bringing the bowl to her lips again. "Drink slowly."
Lin Xueyi took another sip, and her face immediately twisted from the bitter taste. "Still bitter..."
"I know."
She then took another sip and her eyebrows pulled together even more. "Very bitter," she protested.
Rong Shuyan nodded. "I know."
"Yanyan..."
"Yes?"
"I don’t like your medicine."
Rong Shuyan almost wanted to remind her that this was her medicine, not his, but seeing how confused she was, he decided against it.
"Then finish it quickly," he suggested her.
Lin Xueyi gave him a sleepy look, as if he had just said something completely unreasonable, but she still drank.
Rong Shuyan patiently held the bowl for her until there was nothing left.
The moment she swallowed the last mouthful of medicine, Lin Xueyi suddenly leaned her entire body toward Rong Shuyan.
Perhaps she was simply too weak to hold herself up, or perhaps she did it on purpose. Either way, she let herself fall completely against him.
Rong Shuyan quickly caught her with one arm, while his other hand grabbed the wheel of his wheelchair to keep it from rolling backward.
"Yanyan is amazing," she mumbled as she wrapped her arms around Rong Shuyan’s neck.