Su Su's emotions came and went quickly, and he recovered just as quickly. After dinner, he had returned to his usual self, except that his eye sockets and nose were still a little red, which made him look a little pitiful.
In order to coax him, Qi Hanyi had to sleep in the same bed with him again.
Su Su buried his head in Qi Hanyi's arms, not knowing what he dreamed about. He also mumbled a lot of inaudible words in his sleep at night.
Qi Hanyi held the person in his arms and did not sleep all night. He stared at Su Su's peaceful face in a trance, but his mind was filled with his crying face.
He was rarely so confused, thinking about a problem over and over again but still couldn't find the answer. Why was Su Su crying?
Was it just because of my brief description? Because my father had fought for the interests of the mermaids? Because he liked me? Perhaps these could be reasons, but they still seemed insufficient. Unless there was something else that I didn't know.
Could it be that Su Su had met his father? Qi Hanyi had this thought, but quickly denied it. At that time, Su Su was just a little shark who was born not long ago and was ignorant, as small as A Yin.
It started snowing outside the window. At first it was a sporadic fine snow, like a layer of white sand falling from the sky, which was then carried by the wind and danced in the night sky. Afterwards, the snow fell more and more heavily, like a layer of white fog between the sky and the earth. In the distance, there was a vast expanse of white, and everything became unreal.
When Su Su woke up, the ground was covered with a layer of silver, the trees had grown silver branches, and everything between heaven and earth seemed to be covered with a blanket of melted snow.
"It's snowing!" Su Su, wearing little shark pajamas, jumped out of the bedroom in three steps, ran downstairs, and rushed into the yard.
He had never seen snow in the sea. When the first snow fell, he wanted to go out and play, but at that time Su Su was still a shark and could only watch from afar through the glass. Now it is different. He has become a human and can run freely in the snow and have fun.
As soon as Su Su opened the gate, he smelled a chill in the air. He shuddered, but this was not enough to dampen his enthusiasm for playing outside. He happily rushed into the snow, barefoot, making the snow creak and leaving a row of crooked footprints on the white snow blanket.
"Hey, Madam, put on your shoes, don't go barefoot, it's cold." The housekeeper followed Su Su with a pair of cotton shoes in his hand, but he was old after all, and his legs could not outrun the happy Su Su.
"Hiss, it's so cold!" Su Su shouted as he ran, but his movements were not slow at all. Sometimes his feet slipped, and he would roll in the snow, get up and continue running.
He rammed his body against the tree, which knocked snow off the ground and soaked him all over, but he didn't even bother to brush it off.
Qi Hanyi was doing morning training when there was a hasty knock on the door. His subordinates rarely disturbed him at this time unless there was something urgent.
"What's wrong?" Qi Hanyi asked while wiping the sweat off his body.
The housekeeper just ran in from the yard, holding a pair of rubber shoes in his hands, with some broken snow on his head, and panting: "Young Master, go and see the young mistress. She is playing in the snow without even wearing shoes. I am slow and can't catch up with her. I am worried that she will freeze to death."
Upon hearing this, Qi Hanyi looked down from the window and saw Su Su, who was only wearing a shark pajamas. His bare hands and feet were frozen red, but he was still unaware of it and was squatting on the ground making a snowball.
Seeing Qi Hanyi looking at him, he waved happily at her, and as soon as he spoke, white mist came out of his mouth: "Qi Hanyi! Look, it's snowing!"
Qi Hanyi grabbed one of his thick coats, opened the window a little, and relying on his extraordinary physical fitness, jumped out of the window.
He landed on the ground lightly like a nimble snow leopard and walked quickly towards Su Su.
Su Su looked at Qi Hanyi in amazement and stopped playing in the snow: "Wow, how did you do that just now? Teach me!"
Qi Hanyi had a cold face. He picked the man up and wrapped him in his coat: "What should I teach you? How dare you run barefoot in the yard in this weather? Don't you know it's cold?"
"It's OK. I felt a little cold when I first came out, but I didn't feel it once I started playing."
Su Su found that Qi Hanyi was holding him and wanted to go back. He struggled restlessly in his cotton coat. His legs swung like a fish tail: "No, I don't want to go back. I want to play more."
Qi Hanyi was a little angry when he saw that Su Su was only interested in playing and didn't care about his body. The look between his eyebrows was colder than frost and snow: "Wipe the snow off your body first and put on your clothes."
Qi Hanyi pushed Su Su back to wipe off the snow, and then changed into dry clothes. His frozen hands and feet gradually regained feeling, and they felt numb, itchy, and swollen.
Su Su whined in discomfort, but he didn't ask to go out and play again.
Qi Hanyi massaged him and applied some anti-frostbite medicine on him. After he felt better, the two of them had breakfast together.
Su Su was fine in the morning. He watched the snow through the window and played games for a while. But in the afternoon, he felt uncomfortable.
He didn't know what happened to him, and thought it was a side effect of the medicine. He wrapped himself in a quilt and slept soundly until the evening. It was already past eight when Qi Hanyi came back from overtime. He heard from the housekeeper that Su Su didn't eat the dinner that was delivered to his room. He only drank a bowl of soup and slept the whole time.
Qi Hanyi hurriedly pushed open the bedroom door. A fluffy head popped out from under the arched quilt, with dishevelled hair and sleepy eyes. Su Su opened his mouth, his voice so hoarse that he could hardly make a sound: "Qi Hanyi, you're back."
Qi Hanyi walked to the bedside, and before he could open his mouth, he heard Su Su say with difficulty in his hoarse voice: "I think the side effects are acting up. My throat hurts, my head is dizzy, and I feel especially cold."
Qi Hanyi placed his palm on Su Su's forehead. The temperature was alarmingly hot. Qi Hanyi frowned and said, "It's not a side effect."
"Then why do I feel so uncomfortable? Is it the estrus period?" Su Su thought randomly in a daze, and his head nuzzled into Qi Hanyi's palm twice because he felt comfortable.
"No," Qi Hanyi interrupted Su Su's wild thoughts and gave a very scientific explanation: "You have a fever."
"Huh?" Su Su had never thought that a shark like him would have a fever after being frozen. Although he knew a little about this disease, he always thought it was a disease that only humans could get. He never thought that he would experience it himself one day. This made him feel a little novel, and even a little more energetic: "Is this a fever? So this is what it feels like."
"You seem quite happy?" Qi Hanyi looked at Su Su, who was already in such a state of pain, but still had no remorse and did not know how to take care of himself. Qi Hanyi felt distressed but could not help but get a little angry: "It's so cold, and you go out without wearing proper clothes and shoes. Don't you know that you will get sick if you freeze?"
"Hmm." Su Su saw that Qi Hanyi was really angry, and since he was feeling guilty, he buried his face in the quilt timidly and whined to show his weakness: "Don't be mean, I have a headache."
After all, they are not soldiers under his command, so he cannot beat or scold them. Now he has to act coquettishly even when he says a word to them.
However, Su Su had to go through all the procedures that humans have to go through when they are sick, such as getting injections and taking medicine.
Because Su Su took the mermaid medicine, Qi Hanyi was afraid that it would affect the drug's properties, so he asked Xiao You to draw a blood sample and send it to Xiang Chen's hospital to get the medicine.
The medicine was delivered to his home very quickly. It tasted a bit bitter and not very tasty. However, Su Su happily drank it all in one gulp. The medical technology of the Empire was still excellent. After taking the medicine, Su Su immediately felt that the pain in his throat was better and his nose was not so blocked anymore.
Seeing that he was in better spirits, Qi Hanyi brought him another bowl of porridge and fed him.
Although Su Su had no appetite, he ate it all up obediently as it was a rare opportunity for him to enjoy the porridge fed to him by Qi Hanyi himself.
When he woke up again, Su Su was much better. He felt a little heavy, and when he opened his eyes, he found that Qi Hanyi was afraid that he would catch a cold if he kicked off the quilt at night, so he kept pressing his quilt with his hands and feet.
Feeling Su Su's movements, Qi Hanyi opened his eyes and reached out to touch his forehead: "It's gone. Take another dose of medicine in the morning to consolidate it."
"Okay." Su Su nodded in agreement. Suddenly he remembered something and jumped out from under the quilt.
"What are you doing?" Qi Hanyi pushed the man back into the quilt: "Just a little bit dishonest."
"I just suddenly thought, since you said that the fever yesterday was an illness, not a side effect." Su Su's eyes were bright, and he looked at Qi Hanyi with hope: "Then did I succeed in taking the medicine this time?"
Qi Hanyi actually noticed this matter yesterday, but because he was not sure enough, he did not tell Su Su, fearing that if it was not true, he would be happy for nothing.
"When I prepared your medicine yesterday, I asked Xiao You to take some of your blood sample to Xiang Chen for testing. The results should be out today."
As they were talking, Xiang Chen came and stared at her with a sad expression as if she had been let down by her husband: "Why, busy man? I called you to go to the hospital for a check-up several times but you ignored me. Now that your wife is sick, you think of me."
Seeing Su Su curled up in the quilt, he changed his expression to a gentle and harmless one: "Hey, isn't this my sister-in-law? How are you? Are you feeling better?"
"Much better." Su Su smiled at him: "Thank you for the medicine."
"Hey, my sister-in-law always speaks nicely, unlike that certain person who I have to beg to go to the hospital for treatment." Xiang Chen said and glared at Qi Hanyi out of the corner of his eye.
Qi Hanyi ignored his performance and said, "Stop talking nonsense and get down to business."
"Okay, I know you care about your wife." Xiang Chen sat down on the sofa. "The genes in sister-in-law's blood are now stable, which is the main reason why there are no side effects. However, this is mainly due to the effect of the drugs that are currently taking effect. However, we have indeed detected K substance in his blood, which is a sign of his own mental power affecting gene production. However, the content of K substance in his body is far less than that of a normally differentiated mermaid, so I can't give an accurate conclusion now, and it will take some time to observe."
"In fact, the most intuitive thing is to wait a few days. If my sister-in-law's genes have not degenerated into a merman, then we can do another test and basically confirm it."
Although there was no certainty, there was finally hope. Su Su was visibly happy when he heard the conclusion.
Xiang Chen pulled Qi Hanyi into the next room and said he wanted to examine him again.
"That's perfect. I'm here now, and I've brought my equipment with me. You can't just use the excuse of being busy at work to avoid me, right?"
"I wasn't hiding from you originally." Qi Hanyi said, and followed Xiang Chen to the next room.
As soon as the door closed, Xiang Chen put away the smile on his face and said, "You know there's less than a month left, right?"
"I know." Qi Hanyi understood that Xiang Chen was referring to the time he had used special drugs to suppress the symptoms of mental collapse. The drug was effective for a total of three months, and now two-thirds of it had passed. He didn't have much time left.
Qi Hanyi put the finals before the effect of his medicine ended, because he was afraid of accidents and wanted to pave the way for Su Su before that. He has been busy recently, busy dealing with the Mo family, or trying to find the murderer behind the scenes. Because he knows that his time may not be long. Every day after the effect of the medicine ends, he may fall asleep and never wake up.
But no matter how anxious he was, Qi Hanyi showed no sign of it. He just asked Xiang Chen calmly, "How is the research going?"
"It is already possible to use machines to simulate energy and use drugs to assist in treatment, but the effect can only be used to treat patients in the early stages of mental collapse..." Xiang Chen said with a painful look on his face.
The longer Qi Hanyi delayed, the more severe his mental collapse became, and the more difficult it became. He tried his best to find a way to cure this disease, but he was unable to cure Qi Hanyi who was already terminally ill.
"It's fine. Thank you for your help." Qi Hanyi had already prepared for the worst case scenario.
He was unwilling to sacrifice an innocent mermaid because of his own death. If he really had to die, the only person he couldn't let go of was Su Su.
"But, it's not completely hopeless..." Xiang Chen thought about it with some hesitation, and finally said: "I just couldn't say it in front of my sister-in-law, but in the blood sample sent yesterday, in addition to substance K, there is actually another discovery. His blood contains a very small amount of B energy that can only be produced when mermaids differentiate. But it is too weak, I don't know if it can be effective, and the effect may even be worse than my treatment equipment. I don't know if it will work, but if it is really necessary, maybe I can give it a try."