Chapter 82 That Little Girl
In the dead of winter, the north wind howled.
Because it was close to the Lunar New Year, Lin'an City was even more lively than usual during this freezing season.
The weather has been getting colder these past few days. Through the slightly open window, Shen You could hear the servants in Shenfeng Courtyard talking in hushed tones as they swept and cleaned.
I wonder when the first snow of this winter will arrive.
She turned her gaze away from the window and looked down at the man who was still lying on the bed with his eyes closed.
He had been in a coma for five or six days. His face was thin, and his already sharp jawline was now even more angular, yet his complexion remained pale.
Shen You took a deep breath, suppressing the unease and suffocation in her heart. She subconsciously tightened her grip on his hand and whispered, "Did you hear me?"
"It's been so cold these past few days, the snow might fall any day now."
"...Chu Xiao, can you wake up before the first snowfall?"
"May I?"
She has said these words many times in the past few days.
She would chat with him while he was unconscious, or she would deliberately threaten him that if he didn't wake up, she would move out of the Duke's mansion.
But he didn't react at all.
She had assumed that today would be the same.
Unexpectedly, the hand she was holding suddenly moved.
Shen You froze, his whole body stiff and unable to move.
Then he moved again.
"Chu Xiao..."
She called his name softly, her voice choked with emotion, afraid that it was just a hallucination caused by her lack of rest.
It's not an illusion.
He grasped her hand with an extremely light touch, his voice hoarse and strained, "Chen You..."
"I'm here, I'm here," Shen You finally snapped out of her daze when she heard him call her name.
"You're awake, you're really awake..."
Her eyes instantly reddened, and she reached out in a fluster, wanting to touch him, but afraid of hurting him.
"Are you feeling unwell anywhere? Does your wound still hurt?"
Chu Xiao shook his head, gripped her hand tightly, and used all the strength he had to say, "Don't go."
Shen You sniffed. "I'll go call Doctor Lin. He'll be back soon."
She tried to get up, but he stopped her.
He acted as if he hadn't heard her, only repeating, "Don't go."
"Don't be with Yao Yiqian..."
"Shen You, will you choose me?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
Only now did Shen You notice his somewhat unfocused gaze.
Her heart sank, and her fingertips went cold. "Chu Xiao, I'm not with Yao Yiqian."
Really?
“Really,” she nodded vigorously, cautiously probing, “Yao Yiqian has become a monk, don’t you remember?”
"Becoming a monk..." He paused, his usually focused and sharp black eyes now somewhat relaxed, yet he stubbornly tried to keep his gaze fixed on her. "I thought..."
"You're with him now."
Was it a dream?
He murmured to himself, somewhat unsure whether he was in reality or dreaming.
“It’s a dream,” Shen You told him decisively. “It’s a dream, forget about it.”
"It was a dream..."
Upon receiving her answer, a faint smile appeared on his pale, handsome face, as if he were finally at ease. Yet, he still held her hand tightly, stubbornly wanting to tell her.
"I dreamt that you were with Yao Yiqian, and you said it didn't matter that you couldn't have children, because it meant you wouldn't have to endure the pain of pregnancy..."
"You're married now, and you don't want me anymore..."
Among the men Shen You had previously considered, several were not good men, but Yao Yiqian was a true gentleman.
His family background, his appearance, and his demeanor are unmatched by many other men.
Aside from his infertility, he was practically the perfect marriage partner.
If Shen You doesn't even care about this shortcoming, it seems he really has nothing to offer that can compete with Yao Yiqian.
"Shen You, please don't leave me..."
"Don't go."
His thoughts suddenly became muddled again, as if he had forgotten that Shen You had just said that he was not with Yao Yiqian.
Yet he remembers the sharp and cold pain he felt when she left him in his dream with particular clarity.
He choked up, feeling as helpless as a large dog abandoned by its owner, clinging tightly to her arm and repeatedly murmuring that she shouldn't leave him.
Shen You pursed her lips and hugged him loosely, "I'm here."
"Chu Xiao, I'm right here."
She leaned down until their skin touched, and was startled by the burning heat of his body. "You have a fever!"
Chu Xiao could no longer hear what she was saying, but he kept repeating to her not to leave.
Shen You tried to get up, but was held back tightly. He shouted anxiously outside, "Someone come here!"
"Dr. Lin!"
"Someone come quick!"
Because he needed to detoxify Chu Xiao, Lin Gu visited the Duke's mansion every day for the past few days, and Uncle Chen even arranged a side room for him to rest.
Therefore, upon hearing Shen You's shout, the people outside rushed in.
In an instant, many people stood in the main room of Chenfeng Courtyard.
Although Chu Xiao closed his eyes, he seemed to be trapped in a nightmare, his forehead covered in cold sweat in the cold winter.
A strong sense of unease welled up in Shen You's heart, and the hand he was holding was even cold. "...Doctor Lin, what's going on?"
Lin Gu stroked his gray beard, his expression becoming much more relaxed.
"Don't worry, Miss Shen. Now that the Duke has woken up, he has overcome the most difficult hurdle."
“But he didn’t seem sober just now.”
How could Shen You be at ease? Chu Xiao's body was still burning hot.
Lin Gu wrote down a prescription at the table and handed it to Uncle Chen.
"The poison in the Duke of Zhenguo's body has been almost completely neutralized. However, he has been unconscious for many days and is weak, which is why he has a fever. Once the fever subsides, he will recover."
Lin Gu spoke with great certainty, and Shen You pursed her lips, her wavering heart finally settling back into place.
After taking the medicine, Chu Xiao finally stopped sweating and fell into a deep sleep again.
Shen You had been by his bedside for several days, and there were obvious dark circles under his eyes. Now, leaning against the bed, he looked exhausted.
Uncle Chen whispered a suggestion from the side, "Miss, why don't you go to the side room and rest for a while?"
If the lord were to wake up and see her like this, he would surely feel guilty and heartbroken.
“My lord, this old servant is here to keep watch. I will send someone to inform you when he wakes up.”
Shen You gently closed her eyes, feeling dizzy and lightheaded because she had barely slept for the past few days.
She knew she couldn't endure it any longer, so she didn't refuse and let Green Ivy help her to the side room.
Once the door closed, the room fell silent once more.
——
Chu Xiao had a very long dream.
The scene in his dream was chaotic and indistinct, but he could clearly hear Shen You and Yao Yiqian talking.
She said she was willing to marry Yao Yiqian.
He wanted to shout, to tell Shen You not to leave him, but no matter what he did, he couldn't make a sound.
Only when he felt solid beneath his feet and looked up did he realize that he was in the wedding hall where Shen You was getting married to someone else.
"Shen You!"
He felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and he wanted to steal the bride and take Shen You back.
But as soon as she took a step, the dream abruptly shifted, changing from the bright red of the wedding hall to a vast expanse of white.
In the cold winter outside Lin'an city, the snow was up to knee-deep.
On the official road in the suburbs, a horse-drawn carriage was stuck halfway and could not move.
The frost and snow stung my eyes, and the cold wind howled.
Twelve-year-old Shen You tightly hugged the now-cool hot water bottle, her small body huddled in the corner of the carriage, covered with a blanket draped over her by her nanny.
"Young lady, please stay inside and don't come out."
"Granny, please be careful!"
As the old woman pushed open the car door, she replied with a "okay," but her voice was drowned out by the howling wind.
As the wind and snow took advantage of the situation, they seeped into the cracks in the door. The cold suddenly invaded, and Shen You subconsciously pulled the blanket up higher, curled herself up even smaller, and rubbed against the carriage wall to move to the door.
Through the carriage door, I could hear the voices of the old woman and the coachman talking intermittently outside.
"The snow is too deep! This horse is beyond saving."
"The snow isn't going to stop anytime soon. If we stay here any longer, we'll all freeze to death."
"Get off the bus and walk back to Lin'an City."
The old woman hesitated, but the coachman's words made sense.
No one knows when this snow will stop, and if the girl keeps waiting in the same place, how can she bear it?
The old woman gritted her teeth, turned back into the carriage, and was about to speak when Shen You spoke up, "Old woman, let's go."
The master and servant helped each other down from the carriage, and as soon as they landed, their legs sank into the thick snow.
Shen You was almost numb from the cold; the tip of her nose was bright red, and her hands, hidden in her sleeves, were also red.
The wind and frost were so fierce that she could barely open her eyes, and she stumbled several times, almost falling directly into the snowdrift.
Just as she was in despair, she suddenly heard a series of indistinct sounds mixed in with the howling wind.
It sounded like horses' hooves, but also like a man's voice.
She looked up and saw a convoy of soldiers approaching rapidly from afar in the boundless snowfield.
The person at the very front sat upright on the back of a fine horse, dressed in general's armor, with a face mask covering most of his face, leaving only a pair of dark, narrow eyes visible.
He was clearly a young man, but when he looked over, his eyes were as cold and piercing as the frost and snow of the twelfth lunar month.
Caught off guard, Shen You stumbled into those eyes and instinctively flinched. Then he heard someone beside the young general ask, "Who is that ahead?"
The coachman was overjoyed and immediately called out, "The Shen family of the Marquis of Chengde is currently trapped in the snow. We hope that you gentlemen will lend a helping hand."
On a snowy day, besides the white blanket covering the ground, the sky gradually darkened.
If the master and his two servants do not receive help, they will likely freeze to death in the snow before they can even reach Lin'an City.
Shen You slowly raised his hand, which had become stiff from the wind, and said with trembling lips, "I hope you can help me, sir."
Her voice was like the whimpering of a kitten frozen in the snow, very soft and delicate, and it trembled uncontrollably.
But the young general sitting on horseback still heard it.
He stared intently at the girl wrapped up like a rice dumpling not far away, then raised his hand and pointed at the four soldiers behind him, "You four, you must ensure that the Chengde Marquis's family is safely escorted back to the capital."
"yes!"
"Thank you, young general. Thank you, young general."
The old woman and the coachman hurriedly bowed and made obeisance.
After giving his orders, the young general led the other soldiers and rode away.
Shen You stood frozen in place, snowflakes falling on her curled eyelashes, but they did not obstruct her vision at all.
Her gaze followed the tall figure on horseback.
Amidst the swirling snow, the sound of horses' hooves faded into the distance. The winter wind blew open the young general's face mask, revealing his handsome and refined face, which still retained a touch of youthful spirit. Only Shen You could see it.
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