7. Cold
"Do you want to come up and sleep with me?"
The matter was not resolved, and Lu Ping, who was busy with official duties, took the initiative to resign. He also asked him to pass on a message that he would visit again in a few days.
Ying Jianhua agreed and walked a few steps behind him, her gaze sweeping over his dark skin without leaving a trace. She thought to herself, "A monster is a monster, even his aesthetic taste is so peculiar."
Du Zhijin must have lost his mind to even look at this piece of charcoal.
"Sister, sister! Big Blackie's gone, let's go back!"
Honghua had sharp eyesight and saw Lu Ping leave from afar. She tugged at Du Zhijin's sleeve. When the two returned to the courtyard, she left behind the words, "My mother is calling me home for dinner," and ran off.
Are all kids this lively these days? Du Zhijin wondered, then pushed open the door and saw Ying Jianhua sitting at the table, and suddenly stopped in his tracks.
That expression... does she look angry?
Just as she was about to slip away unnoticed, pretending she'd never been there, a soft voice whispered in her ear: "If you're not going to eat it, feed it to the dog."
Du Zhijin: "...Eat."
I'd rather die from Three Cup Chicken than be a dog.
The atmosphere at the dinner table was too heavy, and even with her strong will, she couldn't eat. After taking a couple of bites, she began to wonder why this meal couldn't compare to the simple vegetable porridge she used to eat.
When eating vegetable porridge, Ying Jianhua would eat with her. Du Zhijin suddenly realized and quickly asked, "Why aren't you eating? Doesn't the taste suit your palate?"
The painting shows that the artist has not touched a single chopstick, and the bowl in front of him is empty, without a trace.
He covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief and said in a low voice, "I don't like meat. These flavors are too strong, and the smell makes me nauseous."
He refused to eat the food Lu Ping gave him, complaining that it smelled like coal.
"Really? I deliberately used less dogwood." Du Zhijin picked up a piece and sniffed it carefully, then hesitated. "It seems a little... Hmm, I should have added more water."
"Wait, did you cook this meal?" Ying Jianhua's eyes widened slightly, momentarily forgetting to cover her mouth and nose.
She nodded, taking credit for him: "Yes. Not only did I cook the dishes, but I also personally went up the mountain to gather all the ingredients."
As soon as she said it, she suddenly remembered that Ying Jianhua forbade her from going out or using force, and she immediately regretted it.
I hope I'm not going to get punished again...
With a heavy heart, she sat up straight and quietly began to prepare her speech in her mind. But whether Ying Jianhua had forgotten about it or not, Du Zhijin waited and waited, but the long, angry speech she had expected never came.
I peeked at what Dr. Ying was doing... Hey? Why is he eating? And he seems to be enjoying it?
Noticing her gaze drawn to her, Ying Jianhua put down her chopsticks, cleared her throat, and asked casually, "So you went hunting with Lu Ping this afternoon?"
Du Zhijin tossed a bone to the little yellow dog that had come in begging for food and casually said, "Yeah, it's in the back mountain."
Suddenly, she thought of something, looked up and gave a smug smile: "But I'm better than him. I hit two, he only hit one."
Ying Jianhua nodded, his gesture neither warm nor cold, his expression revealing neither joy nor displeasure. Du Zhijin had expected him to at least offer a compliment, but seeing this, he lowered his head somewhat dejectedly, facing the little yellow dog.
She pinched the little yellow dog's cheek and sighed silently.
Suddenly, a bowl appeared in front of her. "Is this for me?" Seeing him nod, she curiously leaned closer to smell it and commented, "It's very sweet, and it smells like beans...sweet soy milk?"
She took a sip, her eyes lit up in surprise, and her mood instantly brightened. With soy milk still on her lips, she said to him, "Delicious!"
Ying Jianhua nodded reservedly, without saying a word, but the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.
Not particularly happy, just a little bit.
Two chickens, kill one and there's still one left. Ying Jianhua was hesitating about where to keep the chicken so the whole yard wouldn't stink, when Du Zhijin had an idea first: "Why don't we sell it?"
Ying Jian looked puzzled: "Why? You need to eat meat to nourish yourself."
Du Zhijin shook his head, grabbed his hand and pressed it to his chest, his expression sincere: "Feel it, it's healed, not a drop of blood is flowing."
Upon hearing this, Ying Jianhua listened intently to her heartbeat for a while, and her brows gradually relaxed.
Six beats per breath, perfectly normal. But this excessively soft touch... wait, what is he doing? What is she doing?!
As if touched by an open flame, he abruptly withdrew his hand, his cheeks flushing red.
And then that strange voice chimed in with sarcastic remarks: "Dr. Ying is shy~ Zhouzhou, keep up the good work! Try to pounce on him soon!"
Who's shy?!
"In the eyes of a doctor, patients are not distinguished by gender; everything is for the sake of curing the disease!" He turned his back and touched his face with the back of his hand, feeling a burning sensation.
It's so hot...
"Dr. Ying?" Du Zhijin didn't understand why he suddenly got angry. He walked around to stand in front of him, bent down to look at his expression, "What's wrong? Your face is all red..."
Ying Jianhua grabbed her finger that was trying to explore, and their eyes met. He hurriedly looked away and stared intently at the thatched roof, saying, "It's nothing... I'm just a little tired from traveling today."
“But I feel like you’re sick.” Du Zhijin wasn’t fooled. He pried open Du Zhijin’s hands and examined his face carefully.
She was a sword cultivator, possessing strength far exceeding that of ordinary people; how could Ying Jianhua easily shake her? It was at this moment, as she focused intently on him, that Ying Jianhua noticed something peculiar about her eyes.
The pure black, unblemished by any impurity, had absorbed all the sunlight with its profound depth, solidifying into a mineral of time. Roughness and brightness were indistinguishable in her eyes; she couldn't tell the difference, or rather, nothing in the world was as precious as her eyes, so she didn't need to discern.
Being gazed upon by her is like being silently enveloped by quiet sunlight, making one involuntarily surrender and become utterly ruthless.
He raised his hand to block her view, his tone sounding furious and embarrassed: "Let go! And close your eyes and mouth. Am I a doctor, or are you a doctor?"
Du Zhijin silently stopped what he was doing, thinking to himself that Dr. Ying was like a prickly little yellow dog that couldn't get a bone.
————
A storm was brewing, and the wind blew away some of the already sparse thatch from the roof. Du Zhijin used a few stones to weigh down the remaining thatch, barely managing to salvage the situation.
But the situation is still not optimistic. "If the rain is heavy, we may not be able to hold on. Dr. Ying, do you have any spare tiles at home? Or are there any bricklayers in the village? Let's take precautions before the rain starts."
Ying Jianhua leisurely flipped through a book by the drafty window, seemingly unaffected by the heavy rain: "No tiles, no money."
"The medicine has been brewed; remember to drink it later."
Du Zhijin was helpless.
For some reason, Dr. Ying seemed to have suddenly developed a dementia. He not only refused to talk to her much, but also kept his distance from her. If there hadn't been only one room, he wouldn't have been that far away, and she might not have been able to hear him speak.
Since the homeowner had spoken, Du Zhijin couldn't say anything. After taking the medicine, he could only sit on the couch and wait for the heavy rain.
At 2:45 PM, Wuling Village, which should have been bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, was plunged into complete darkness. A fierce wind howled, dark clouds rolled in, and torrential rain poured down. Countless raindrops pounded against the windows with deafening "bangs," as if they were trying to break through walls and steal lives.
A sudden clap of thunder shook the tree branches violently. Du Zhijin turned her gaze to the figure on the ground with his back to her.
The dew is heavy and the frost is thick tonight; he'll surely catch a cold if he sleeps like this... She calmed herself, and a warm feeling gathered in her palm, flowing through her hand towards Ying Jianhua. Just as the invisible power radiating a faint light was about to fall on her, Ying Jianhua spoke: "Du Zhijin, don't do anything unnecessary."
The force stopped abruptly, then crumbled and scattered into every corner of the room.
Du Zhijin stared at the thatch that was gradually getting wet from the rain, and a sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.
She didn't understand. It was clearly just a minor spell that wouldn't affect her recovery at all, so why wasn't it allowed?
Dr. Ying can be quite stubborn sometimes, even more so than Xiao Huang.
The rain intensified, and the wind seeped in from all directions, even penetrating his bones.
So cold... so hot... why can't I open my eyes? They feel like they're glued shut...
When Ying Jianhua finally awoke, she felt a blur before her eyes, as if a torrential downpour was falling inside the room and the whole world was submerged in water.
He couldn't help but curl up, because only in this way could he draw a little warmth and keep his consciousness from freezing.
Something cool yet warm touched his face, and he instinctively grabbed it, like a drowning man grasping at the last piece of driftwood.
So comfortable... I want to get closer...
Thinking this, he did just that, burying his whole face in it and rubbing it against the wall.
I love the taste too... I'll stay with him forever...
Du Zhijin lowered his eyes, looking at the person in his arms whose face was covered with sickly red marks and who clung to him tightly, and sighed softly.
————
The painting should be seen waking up in a moonlit night.
Moon white?
He suddenly looked up and saw a familiar face in his dim vision.
Du Zhijin's face.
This time he didn't scream, because he didn't even have the strength to scream. Outside, the wind howled and the rain poured down, and his consciousness, like the dark sky outside, couldn't distinguish between heaven and earth.
"You're awake?" Noticing his struggle, Du Zhijin opened his eyes and asked softly.
Ying Jianhua opened her mouth, wanting to say something but unable to, her mind a jumbled mess. In the end, she only managed to utter one word: "...water."
Du Zhijin immediately got up to pour him water. After she left, Ying Jianhua discovered that he was actually sleeping on the tatami mat, covered with the only thin blanket in the house.
He suddenly began to regret why he hadn't listened to her and borrowed a few tiles, or even borrowed a quilt from the Huang family next door.
This way they wouldn't have to squeeze onto a narrow tatami mat.
"Here you go, keep it warm."
He took the bowl, drank only one sip, and then refused to drink it anymore. Du Zhijin didn't say a word, put the bowl aside, and brought over another bowl of medicine.
Noticing his questioning look, she explained, "It was made according to the handwriting you wrote in the medical book, using the most common typhoid fever medicine formula."
Ying Jianhua mustered her muddled mind to recall the prescription, and after confirming that it was appropriate, she forced herself to sit up and drank half a bowl.
After he refused to continue taking the medicine, Du Zhijin stared at him, trying to provoke him: "Since even the doctor doesn't want to take the medicine, it's only natural that I don't want to either, right?"
Dr. Ying: ......
After finishing his medicine, Dr. Ying glared at her with all his might.
Du Zhijin was in a good mood. The fact that she had the energy to glare at her meant that her illness wasn't too serious.
"What time is it now?" he asked in a hoarse voice, looking out at the dark sky.
Du Zhijin: "It's not yet Yin time. It's still early, you should sleep a little longer."
Overwhelmed by drowsiness, he lay back down, covered himself with the rather thin quilt, and stared blankly at her back as she meditated.
She was still wearing the old clothes he had given her at the beginning, a thin garment that could be blown away by a gust of wind.
Thinking he wasn't feeling well, Du Zhijin asked, "Should I go and brew some more medicine?"
He slowly shook his head, as if the jelly in his brain had been stirred up, and he actually stretched out a hand towards her, saying slowly, "Do you want to come up and sleep with me?"
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