Su Rong returned to her own tent and found Zhou Gu lying on a large bed, still deep in unconsciousness.
She came to his bedside and felt his pulse; his wrist was a bit warm, a sign of impending high fever. She immediately shouted to the outside, "Fen Ling."
"Sister." Fen Ling responded.
Su Rong asked him, "Did you prepare the fever-reducing medicine?"
"It’s being prepared. A big pot is being used because there are many people with severe injuries who might get a fever. If anyone gets feverish, they will be given a bowl of this medicine to drink." Fen Ling proudly boasted of his thorough thinking.
Su Rong nodded, "Okay."
Fen Ling peeked in to ask: "Is brother-in-law feverish?"
"A little bit."
Fen Ling understood, "I will have someone deliver the medicine in half an hour."
"Okay." Su Rong waved her hand.
Fen Ling retracted his head and ordered Bi Qing, "Sister-in-law will take care of my brother-in-law, you are responsible for taking care of His Majesty and Lord Zhang. As soon as they show signs of fever, give them the fever-reducing medicine. Regarding Ziye, Fang Yue, Langy Ying, and others, they are to be looked after by the shadow guards."
Bi Qing nodded.
After Nanchu King and Zhang Yun had settled into their respective tents and had a chance to relax, they quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Fen Ling, having given his instructions, went off to busy himself. At this time, he missed Ning Ze and Qin Ruo immensely. Ning Ze was extremely capable, dealing with post-war matters, big and small, without him having to run around and worry. Later on, Qin Ruo was just as good, and even better - he was more thorough and smarter. He didn’t only help with post-war matters, but also helped his sister with future strategies. Now that both of them were not here, he had to sort out everything by himself.
The Liu’an Prince’s fifty thousand troops had lost five thousand. It was hard to imagine that Zhou Gu and others had managed to kill five thousand troops. The Sword City’s killing spree had indeed resulted in a shocking body count.
After the capture of Liu’an Prince, his soldiers surrendered. Some of them had hidden motives which Fen Ling quickly dealt with. Soon, the remaining forty-five thousand soldiers were all incorporated into the ranks of Su Rong’s fifty thousand troops.
Besides the heavy loss of the shadow guards, capturing Liu’an Prince and inheriting his surrendered army of forty-five thousand were the biggest gains. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
The Nangong Family’s assassins, during the time they were going around in circles with Zhou Gu and others in Death Valley, had suffered a lot of losses. Later, when Liu’an Prince’s fifty thousand troops came to eradicate them, the Nangong shadow guards concentrated on killing the Nanchu King. They had thought they would succeed. But unexpectedly, Su Rong led her people from the cliff of Wanren Mountain and rescued Nanchu King and Zhang Yun while killing Nangong’s men. Seeing that they were at a disadvantage, and while Su Rong was too busy to retaliate, the remaining Nangong men had no choice but to reluctantly retreat.
Su Rong delegated all matters to Fen Ling and focused solely on taking care of Zhou Gu.
Zhou Gu looked pale due to excessive blood loss. Even in his unconsciousness, his forehead was creased. Moreover, his body appeared thinner, indicating just how precarious his life had been ever since he stepped into Nanchu.
It was all for her sake.
Su Rong used a wet cloth to clean Zhou Gu’s face, neck, and hands, washing off all the blood stains. After cleaning him, she changed him into fresh clothes.
As she finished these tasks, she noticed that he had developed a high fever. Fen Ling had just delivered the medicine on time. She had to feed him with a spoon as he refused to open his mouth. Su Rong leaned over to kiss him softly, encouraging him in a low voice, "Be a good boy and take your medicine. Wake up soon, I want to talk to you." Seemingly hearing her voice, these coaxing words indeed entered his unconscious mind and proved effective. Zhou Gu’s furrowed brow gradually relaxed, and his mouth, which had been tightly closed all this while, slightly opened. Su Rong successfully poured the medicine into his mouth.
Su Rong thought to herself, all those things written about administering medicine orally in those books must be lies, right? Zhou Gu being so cooperative while drinking his medicine made things much easier for her.
Not long after finishing the bowl of medication, Su Rong stayed by his bedside, using chilled towels to intermittently cool his forehead and neck. Zhou Gu felt as hot as burning charcoal. His originally pale face had turned bright red due to the fever. Su Rong found that every time he got a fever, it was extremely hard to reduce his body temperature. Even though this ancient remedy worked for him, he still had a high fever for two hours before finally beginning to sweat and having his body temperature slowly come down.
Su Rong heaved a sigh of relief. She changed his soaked clothes and re-dressed his wound which had been previously bandaged but was now saturated with sweat.
After a full night’s work, by the time the sky started to light up, Zhou Gu’s face was no longer red and his body temperature had returned to normal. Exhausted to the bone, Su Rong lay down beside him, closed her eyes, and fell asleep almost instantly.
So, when Zhou Gu woke up, he saw the sleeping figure of Su Rong next to him. Her face showed deep exhaustion and under her eyelashes were dark rings. He watched her for a long time before averting his gaze to look at the surrounding tent filled with items: a water basin, handkerchiefs, wine, a box of medications, a pile of discarded clothes, etc.
She had indeed personally taken care of him all night long.
Zhou Gu turned his gaze back to Su Rong, the happiness in his heart increased as he continued to look at her. She was truly lying next to him in his bed. This was something he dared not imagine while he was desperate and even in despair, when Liu’an Prince had trapped them in Death Valley with an army of fifty thousand troops set on killing them.
He knew she was extremely tired. He wanted to embrace her, touch her, kiss her, but he didn’t dare to move for fear of waking her.
Perhaps his gaze was too intense. Su Rong, who had been sound asleep, opened her eyes suddenly.
She opened her eyes suddenly and was met with Zhou Gu’s affectionate gaze. Su Rong laughed, "You’re awake? When did you wake up? Why didn’t you wake me?"
Zhou Gu’s voice was hoarse, "Just woke up."
Su Rong didn’t believe him. She quickly sat up, got off the bed, and poured him a cup of water, holding it to his mouth.
Zhou Gu slowly drank it, only then realizing how dry and sore his throat was. After drinking the water, he felt much better.
"Do you want more?" Su Rong noticed his parched lips, "You drank a lot of water last night, but because of your excessive sweating, it didn’t help much."
Zhou Gu nodded.
So Su Rong poured him another cup.
After drinking two cups of water, Zhou Gu’s speech improved, "How long have I been asleep?"
"Not very long, just one night." Su Rong didn’t expect him to wake up so soon, especially considering his severe injuries which could have kept him unconscious for two days.
She asked, "Are you hungry? Should I ask someone to bring you some rice porridge?"
Zhou Gu shook his head, "Not hungry."
He looked at Su Rong and reached out to her with difficulty, "I want you to hold me."
Seeing this, Su Rong suppressed a smile, "Okay."
This was easy.
She quickly lay back down on the bed, wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly. Then, amidst his satisfied gaze, she leaned down to kiss him.
Zhou Gu avoided, "Don’t kiss."
"I won’t be disgusted by you." Su Rong looked at him and playfully kissed him without waiting for him to protest. She didn’t stop until his lips were moist and rosy, only then did she release him.
After the fever had subsided, Zhou Gu’s face had once again turned pale. But now, after Su Rong’s embrace and kiss, his face was flushed.
Pleased at seeing this, Su Rong leaned in close to his ear and said in a soft voice, "Lord Thursday, it’s my turn now. As you rest and heal, prepare yourself to be bullied by me every day."
Zhou Gu: "..."
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