Cold and fever
In the second half of the night, Zhou Jianxing woke up inexplicably from her sleep, and an inexplicable feeling of palpitations made her wake up instantly.
The bedroom was completely silent, with only the faint, even hum of the air conditioner. She tilted her head, and with the faint moonlight filtering through the gap in the curtains, she noticed something was wrong with Wen Lingyi.
After returning from the rooftop, Zhou Jianxing made cola ginger tea for Wen Lingyi, but the chill of the night wind seemed to have silently invaded Wen Lingyi, and she still showed some signs of a cold.
At this moment, Wen Lingyi's cheeks were abnormally flushed, and her breathing was much heavier and more rapid than usual.
Zhou Jianxing's heart skipped a beat and he immediately reached out to touch her forehead.
The temperature from my palm was surprisingly hot.
"Sister Wen?" Zhou Jianxing's heart tightened and he gently pushed Wen Lingyi's shoulder.
Wen Lingyi slowly opened her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling, her eyes dazed and confused, clearly not yet fully awake from her coma. She groaned uncomfortably, her entire eyelids flushed a fragile red due to the fever.
"Sister Wen," Zhou Jianxing's hand was still covering her burning forehead, and her brows were furrowed with worry. "You have a fever. It's very hot. Where is the thermometer? Let me take your temperature first."
Wen Lingyi's reaction was a little slow. After several seconds, she weakly raised one hand and gently placed it on the back of Zhou Jianxing's hand. Her palm was also burning hot.
She tried to concentrate, her voice hoarse and dry: "In the cloakroom... in the low cabinet in the corner, there's a white medicine box. There should be a digital thermometer in it..."
Zhou Jianxing immediately got out of bed, ran barefoot into the cloakroom, fumbled to open the cabinet, and found the medicine box. He took the thermometer back to the bed and carefully helped Wen Lingyi clamp it.
The tens of seconds of waiting for the reading seemed particularly long, and the number jumping on the screen finally stopped at 38.2℃.
It turned out to be a fever. Zhou Jianxing looked at the number and couldn't help blaming himself.
If she hadn't insisted on taking Wen Lingyi to that remote mountain top to watch the stars, and let her be exposed to the cold wind for so long, perhaps this wouldn't have happened.
"I'll take you to the hospital." Zhou Jianxing said without any hesitation. He bent down and put his hands under Wen Lingyi's neck and knees, trying to pick her up sideways.
"No..." Wen Lingyi was so feverish that she was blurry and instinctively resisted the suggestion. She raised her hand with great effort and pushed Zhou Jianxing's shoulder, her brow twisted in pain. "Going to the hospital means getting an IV drip... taking anti-inflammatory drugs... I don't want to go. The IV needle hurts... the medicine is cold... it's uncomfortable..."
"If you don't go, what if the fever gets worse at night?" Zhou Jianxing didn't hug her forcibly. He just maintained a leaning position, looking at Wen Lingyi's eyes that were red and moist because of discomfort, and felt extremely distressed.
She lowered her head and gently kissed Wen Lingyi's hot forehead and earlobes. The heat from her lips made her even more anxious.
"Just take some antipyretics..." Wen Lingyi felt a little itchy from her kiss. She turned her head away weakly, closed her eyes, and her voice became weaker and weaker. "Anyway, in the end... I have to rely on my own body to get through it... It won't be serious..."
She paused, half-opened her eyes and looked at Zhou Jianxing, muttering: "You will always be here...with me, right?"
These words touched the softest part of Zhou Jianxing's heart.
She slowly pulled her hand out from under Wen Lingyi and carefully tucked the quilt in for her, making sure there wasn't a single gap for air to leak through. Even though she knew Wen Lingyi might not be able to see with her eyes closed, she nodded solemnly, "I'll be here. I promise."
I got up and searched the medicine cabinet for fever-reducing medicine, but found that the two boxes of ibuprofen I found had expired.
The anxiety made her hands tremble constantly, and she immediately prepared to go out to buy medicine.
The rustling sound of fabric as she changed clothes woke Wen Lingyi from her light sleep. She struggled to half-open her heavy eyelids, and in her blurry vision, she saw Zhou Jianxing sitting by the bed, hurriedly putting on his trousers.
"Where... are you going?" The usually lazy and sexy voice was made dry and hoarse by the high fever, and was almost only a breathy sound.
Zhou Jianxing turned around upon hearing the voice and saw Wen Lingyi's peach blossom eyes half-closed, which were misty with water due to high fever. Some black hair soaked with sweat was stuck to her pale cheeks and forehead in a messy manner. An abnormal blush spread from her cheeks, and her facial features, which were usually relaxed, were now tightly wrinkled due to discomfort.
Zhou Jianxing's heart felt like it was being repeatedly roasted on red-hot charcoal, or rather, being tortured.
"Don't go..." Wen Lingyi unconsciously stretched out her weak arms, her fingertips weakly hooked around the corner of Zhou Jianxing's clothes, and whispered softly, "Don't leave me..."
At this moment, Wen Lingyi had shed all her hard outer shell and was so fragile that she could be easily harmed.
Zhou Jianxing paused. She looked at the slightly trembling hand that was hooked around the edge of her clothes, then took off her pants, threw back the quilt, and crawled inside. She stretched out her arms and tightly embraced the hot body, slightly damp with cold sweat.
Then she grabbed the phone from the bedside table and quickly placed an order for cold and fever medicine at a nearby 24-hour pharmacy, choosing the fastest delivery.
"I won't go away. I won't leave you. I will always be with you." She lay on her side, hugged Wen Lingyi tightly from behind, like forming a protective cocoon, rubbed her chin lightly against her sweaty head, and repeated this promise in her ear over and over again.
Like chanting a mantra that brings peace.
Completely wrapped in Zhou Jianxing's warm and steady breath and body temperature, Wen Lingyi felt like she had fallen into the center of a huge and soft marshmallow, or like she was soaking in a soothing hot spring.
She greedily absorbed the endless heat coming from behind her, unconsciously shrinking her cold body back and pressing closer to Zhou Jianxing, seeking comfort.
Surrounded by safety and warmth, her tense nerves gradually relaxed and she fell into sleep again unknowingly.
An unknown amount of time had passed, but in the abyss of blurred consciousness, Wen Lingyi felt something warm and rough rubbing against his elbows, palms, and soles of his feet. A pungent and stimulating smell of ginger penetrated his nostrils, dispelling some of his drowsiness.
She opened her heavy eyelids reluctantly and with great effort.
Her blurry vision gradually focused, and she found herself being half-held by Zhou Jianxing, who lifted her waist and leaned against him. A cup of warm water was handed to her dry lips.
Wen Lingyi opened her lips with difficulty, only to find that her upper and lower lips were slightly stuck together due to dryness.
She leaned in Zhou Jianxing's soft and warm arms, slightly raised her head, and drank water in small sips very slowly. The warm water moistened her dry and burning throat, bringing brief relief.
After drinking the water, Zhou Jianxing gently laid her back on the bed.
Then, Zhou Jianxing took a piece of ginger that looked a little burnt by fire and carefully wiped it back and forth on her palms, soles of feet, elbows and knees.
The scent of the heated ginger became even stronger, filling the air. Her skin felt a little stinging from the friction, and Wen Lingyi couldn't help but groan softly, "It hurts..."
Zhou Jianxing paused, and his movements became gentler and slower, with much less force.
Wen Lingyi's skin is naturally delicate and she is particularly afraid of pain, so one of the things she fears most since she was a child is going to the hospital for injections and infusions.
"Washing it like this will help you sweat." In a daze, she heard Zhou Jianxing's voice patiently explaining in her ear, "Sweat more and the fever will go away easily. This is how my mother took care of me when I had a fever as a child."
For Wen Lingyi, who was half asleep and half awake, this night was broken and blurry, divided into many disjointed fragments, each of which was filled with Zhou Jianxing's gentle touch and coaxing voice.
"Be good, open your mouth and take the medicine."
"Don't lift the quilt. You have to sweat it out before you can feel better."
"Come, drink some more warm water, and drink it slowly."
"Does it hurt to rub it like this? I'll be gentler."
"Do you want to go to the bathroom? I'll carry you there."
"Can we take your temperature again? It'll be over soon."
"Your temperature has dropped a little, that's great, go back to sleep, baby."
…
After tossing and turning for most of the night, when the sky began to turn a hazy grayish-white, Wen Lingyi finally fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.
She didn't know if the fever-reducing medicine she took had finally taken effect, or if Zhou Jianxing's clumsy folk remedies had really worked, but she no longer felt the chills, the swollen and painful solar plexus was relieved a lot, and even her throat, which was so dry that it seemed like it was about to smoke, began to secrete saliva.
Several times during the process, Wen Lingyi vaguely felt Zhou Jianxing taking her temperature several times gently in her drowsiness, and her dry and chapped lips were gently moistened from time to time by a cotton swab dipped in warm water or fingertips, relieving the discomfort.
She struggled to wake up from a deep sleep, subconsciously groped for her cell phone, turned on the screen and checked the time. It was five o'clock in the morning.
The high fever in my body has subsided, replaced by an uncomfortable feeling of clammy and sticky all over after sweating profusely. My pajamas stick tightly to my skin, and the quilt is also hot and humid.
The room was filled with the faint sour smell of evaporating sweat and the lingering scent of ginger.
My head still ached slightly, but the burning sensation that made me blur my consciousness, feel sore and weak all over, and feel like I was floating in the clouds had disappeared.
The light from the mobile phone screen also allowed her to see clearly the person lying on the edge of the bed - Zhou Jianxing was lying on the edge of the bed with his face sideways, one hand unconsciously resting on the quilt, and even in his sleep, his brows were slightly furrowed.
Looking at this sleeping, exhausted face, Wen Lingyi's eyebrows knitted together, and her heart softened. She couldn't help but prop up her still weak body, leaned over, and placed a very light kiss on the top of her messy hair.
Even such a slight movement woke Zhou Jianxing up immediately. She opened her eyes suddenly, still confused, but her first action was to subconsciously reach out to Wen Lingyi's forehead and carefully feel the temperature there.
"Feeling better?" Zhou Jianxing's voice was a little hoarse. She climbed onto the bed, put one arm around Wen Lingyi's waist, and pulled her into her arms. "It's all my fault. If I hadn't insisted on taking you to the top of the mountain to get some fresh air, you wouldn't have gotten sick..."
Wen Lingyi was sweating profusely and felt very uncomfortable. After being hugged by Zhou Jianxing, she subconsciously pushed her chest gently: "Don't hug me... I'm all sweaty and dirty..."
She could even smell her own not-so-pleasant odor in the air, which made her feel a little embarrassed.
"Sister is not dirty." Zhou Jianxing tightened his arms and hugged her tighter, pressing his cheek against Wen Lingyi's still warm forehead.
Wen Lingyi stopped struggling and obediently lay on Zhou Jianxing's warm and solid chest, counting his steady and strong heartbeat.
"I don't blame you." Wen Lingyi placed her hand on Zhou Jianxing's chest. In the darkness, the ring on her ring finger reflected a faint glint. "You took me to see the stars... I'm very happy."
Boom, boom, boom, the heartbeat is regular and reassuring. Wen Lingyi's heart is also resonating with Zhou Jianxing and becoming stable.
She even began to think inappropriately: when the two of them were on the rooftop, she was wearing a thin fleece sweater, while Zhou Jianxing was only wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt, so how come she was the one who caught a cold and had a fever in the end?
Zhou Jianxing's body is really as strong as a bull.
Thinking of how she had a fever that night and was so weak in her hands and feet, and was almost half-carried and half-supported by Zhou Jianxing to go to the bathroom, and then being carried back to bed, Wen Lingyi felt a strong sense of embarrassment belatedly.
I'm afraid that the noble and elegant goddess image that I carefully maintained has been completely destroyed last night.
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