Chapter 10 Fever

The bedding was newly bought; we only had time to buy one set for each person. Fortunately, it was big enough to accommodate two people.

Sensing his movement, Shang Yuji reached out and touched his half-dry hair, muttering with her eyes closed, "Let your hair dry before you sleep. Wait a little longer."

"good!"

Remembering his request for a hug while he was crawling on the floor, Shang Yuji propped herself up and, taking advantage of his posture as he leaned against the headboard to dry his hair, rested her head on his waist and wrapped one arm around his narrow waist, completing a simple hug.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the fragrance of the night-blooming cereus seems even stronger.

Having kept her eyes closed the entire time, she naturally didn't see Jiang Xi's eyes widen for a moment, and his earlobes blushed with shyness, like the red glow of the sunset.

But because it was often red and hot, Jiang Xi thought it was normal and always subconsciously ignored it.

The traditional boundaries of male-female separation have long since disappeared in the course of a year of living together. Faced with the life-or-death dilemma of hunger and cold, both morality and ethics must give way.

The consequence of yielding step by step is that the two people are no longer able to adapt to the worldly requirements of the separation between men and women. If the two are forcibly torn apart, the tearing will inevitably result in bloodshed and lingering ties.

Fortunately, Shang Yuji was too lazy to experience the "separation pain" and refused to change back to the correct way of socializing, while Jiang Xiqu's understanding of human relationships all came from Shang Yuji.

In his eyes, all of Shang Yuji's words were golden rules.

He looked at Shang Yuji, who seemed to be nestled in his arms, her eyes like rippling spring water, and his heart felt as if it were soaking in a warm pool, softly collapsing to the ground.

The dim candlelight flickered. Looking down, he could see Aji's cute nose and pouting rosy cheeks. Her soft hair spread across his waist, brushed against her neck, and mingled with his black hair on the bed, indistinguishable from his own.

Jiang Xi picked up a lock of her hair; it was fine and soft, like cool flowing water washing over his palm.

He stared at each and every strand of hair.

This is a smooth, good one!

This one is straight, good!

And this one is pretty too, that's good!

A selection process meant to be an evaluation was marred by the examiners' unconditional affirmation, which eroded fairness.

However, the examiners disagreed and stuck to their own opinion that nothing about the candidate was bad.

Even if a business student gives an answer that defies common sense, Examiner Jiang will simply raise the "full marks" sign high, wishing he could personally clear all obstacles for the student.

This competition, which lacked standardized procedures, came to an end when Jiangxi went to dry his hair.

He carefully moved down, placing Shang Yuji on her pillow, then squeezed himself into her arms, letting her jade-like arm, which had been resting on his waist, drape over his arm. He rested his head on her neck and shoulder, his stronger arm wrapping around her hands and waist, holding her tightly in a snuggling embrace.

The person who curled up and squeezed into her arms was, in another sense, tightly encircling her.

He didn't understand why he was doing this, but following his instinct to be close to her, he moved closer to her step by step.

As the candlelight flickered out, Jiang Xi nestled under the covers, inhaling the familiar and comforting faint scent of pear blossoms emanating from Shang Yuji. Sleepiness washed over her, and she gradually closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

.

The next day, the first light of dawn appeared.

Shang Yuji felt as if she had been hugging a blazing brazier all night, and that something was binding her tightly, making it impossible for her to move.

Warm breath occasionally brushed against my neck, causing a slight itch.

She frowned, and finally opened her eyes and woke up.

"..."

A perfectly rounded back of his head brushed against her chin, and Shang Yuji quickly realized that she had allowed Jiang Xi to stay overnight last night.

This person seemed to have no clear understanding of his own body size, curling himself up into a half-circle and snuggling into her arms.

She felt the restraints on her waist and arms, a tangled mess from the night before, unable to discern who was pressing down on whom, or whose legs were clamped around whom. She tried to pull her intertwined legs apart.

The person who was still asleep seemed reluctant to let it go, so they curled up their legs and wrapped it even tighter, making it even harder to break free.

Shang Yuji gave up struggling and wondered if she should go back to sleep, but was burned by Jiang Xi's burning hot body.

Is it normal for a person's body temperature to be this high?

Her still-dazed mind slowly began to work after she had just woken up. Once she came to her senses, she disregarded Jiang Xi's restraints, jumped up, and roughly checked his temperature with her hand.

It's so hot!

He has a fever!

In this era, any disease could take a life, so she had to find a doctor to treat him as soon as possible.

As Shang Yuji struggled to free herself from his restraints, she shook and called his name.

The bad news was that she couldn't wake him up at all. Having no other choice, Shang Yuji hurriedly dressed, covered him with the blankets, and rushed out the door.

Seeing that Old Chen and Wang Si had already woken up, she quickly instructed, "Jiang Xi got caught in the rain last night and has a fever. Old Chen, prepare the carriage. Wang Si, come with me and carry him to the carriage. We'll take him to see a doctor."

The two quickly agreed. Old Chen went to the back door to bring the carriage, and Wang Si, being strong, wrapped Jiang Xi in a quilt and carried her into the carriage.

As for why Jiang Langjun was in Miss Shang's room, Wang Si and Lao Chen tacitly chose not to say anything after seeing how the two got along on the way.

Shang Yuji, clutching a small bundle containing a large sum of silver notes, followed them into the carriage.

As dawn broke, there weren't many pedestrians on the road. The shops had only recently opened, and following Shang Yuji's directions, the carriage stopped in front of the clinic they had passed by while shopping the previous night.

Fortunately, the clinic was open. Shang Yuji and Wang Si brought the unconscious Jiang Xi into the clinic, while Old Chen went to find a place to park the carriage so as not to block the road.

An elderly doctor was seeing patients at the clinic, while two apprentice doctors were examining the medicinal herbs.

After Shang Yuji explained their purpose, the young apprentice led the three to a side room and instructed them to gently lay Jiang Xi on the bed: "Master will be here shortly."

Seeing her somber expression, the young apprentice comforted her, "Don't worry, young lady. My master has been practicing medicine for many years; who in Yangzhou doesn't know his name?"

My master is the most skilled physician in the world; there's no illness he can't cure!

While a confident doctor inspires trust, Shang Yuji always felt that he seemed to have unwittingly planted some kind of flag.

The old doctor entered the room carrying a cloth bag containing silver needles. Hearing the apprentice's boast, he smiled kindly and said, "Don't talk big. There are many people in this world who are more skilled than me. My senior brother is one of them."

The apprentice, having been instructed, said, "I know I was wrong."

Shang Yuji stepped aside to make room for the old doctor: "Thank you for your help, doctor."

The old doctor nodded and sat on the wooden stool by the bed: "Hey, let me take a look."

Although Shang Yuji didn't understand the current state of traditional Chinese medicine, what the apprentice said wasn't entirely wrong.

The old doctor and his senior brother are known as the two saints of the medical field, both of whom are the most skilled doctors in the world. However, the two have always been low-key and do not like to enjoy the vanity of being a divine doctor.

Rather than hoarding their medical skills to treat the powerful and wealthy, they preferred to immerse themselves in the lives of ordinary people and become part of the mainstream.

Therefore, one person concealed his identity and opened a clinic in Yangzhou, while the other traveled all over the mountains, forests, lakes, and seas to practice medicine.

The senior doctor said that he was inferior to his senior brother in one aspect, which was that he lacked the rich practical experience in treating difficult and complicated diseases.

"Fever from catching a chill... It must be from the sudden rain last night that made you feel cold. Prescribe some medicine to dispel the cold, um... um?"

The old doctor continued taking the pulse without speaking, his expression growing increasingly serious, the furrows between his brows deepening, all traces of his earlier relaxed demeanor vanishing.

"Something's not right..." he murmured. Shang Yuji, who was nearby, also tensed up when she heard this.

After an unknown amount of time, the old doctor led everyone out of the clinic, instructed the apprentice outside to cool down Jiang Xi, and then took Shang Yuji to the backyard of the clinic alone.

The young apprentice led Wang Si to a rest area in the main hall, where they could see Shang Yuji and the old doctor in the backyard, but were at a distance from them, making it difficult to hear what they were talking about.

The old doctor's solemn expression had not faded. He sighed and said, "Young lady, to be honest with you, I cannot cure this illness for the time being."

"Doctor, could you please explain in more detail?"

“If it were an ordinary doctor, he would just treat it as a common fever and prescribe medicine, but in addition to the fever, the young master has also been poisoned by a Gu.”

Shang Yuji was stunned: "Gu?"

"The matter of Gu mostly comes from the southern border region. I see that this young man has been infected with Gu for many years. If I'm not mistaken, he was infected when he was young, and the Gu has been with him for many years. In the worst case, it will be a case of one body and two lives, with the Gu causing the person to die."

The old doctor said apologetically, "I only have a superficial understanding of Gu, so I can't tell what kind of Gu you have. But I can be sure that this Gu is not an ordinary Gu that I know of."

As the wind swept through the hall, the rainwater left over from last night dripped down the eaves, hitting the blue bricks and splashing everywhere, flowing into the gaps between the bricks.

It was only a moment, but it felt like a long time had passed. In a daze, she asked, "Why did the doctor say that it's 'temporarily' untreatable?"

The old doctor said in a deep voice, "My senior brother has been practicing medicine outside for many years and has seen many kinds of diseases. He has also gone deep into the southern border region. I will write a letter to him and he can go to Yangzhou."

"But at the earliest, it will take at least two months to get here."

Shang Yuji wasn't sure how her face looked, but she knew it wasn't good: "Will he die?"

After asking, I realized that Jiang Xiqu in the book is an important protagonist, the kind who can survive to the end of the story, so he shouldn't die easily.

Wait, did the book mention that Jiang Xi was poisoned by a curse?

For a moment, she couldn't remember the contents of the book. She only remembered skimming through it. Before she even saw the ending, she fainted from anger.

Strange, Gu is definitely a key plot point, so why wasn't it mentioned in the text?

Shang Yuji calmed down quietly.

Worrying will only make you confused; don't overthink it.

Seeing that she had recovered, the old doctor continued, "Don't worry, young lady. Since the Gu has been with him for so long, it has naturally formed a balance in his body. If nothing unexpected happens, the person and the Gu will remain at peace for the next two months."

"Thank you very much, doctor. I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you with this matter."

Shang Yuji thanked the doctor sincerely, and after the doctor repeatedly declined, she paid the consultation fee and the cost of the medicine.

She returned to the doctor's office, and the old doctor performed acupuncture on Jiang Xi before leaving.

Another incense stick later, Jiang Xi finally woke up.

His head was spinning from the fever when he opened his eyes. He subconsciously ignored the unfamiliar surroundings and only noticed her worried expression.

He reached out his somewhat weak hand and placed it on her face, gently stroking it. A soft smile bloomed on his face as he comforted her:

"Ah Ji, don't be sad. Your sadness hurts my heart so much."

A note from the author:

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