Chapter 18 Sickness Benefits? No, it's a Gentle Trap!
After the stormy night, Yun Zhan felt utterly hopeless.
He simultaneously berated himself for blushing and having his heart race like a lovesick young girl, yet he couldn't help but relive the night Yan Linye had been with him. That feeling of being carefully protected was like a feather gently tickling his heart, tickling him, and carrying a strange, indescribable flutter.
As a result, he was restless for several days in a row, absent-minded while eating, choking on water, and even temporarily put aside his beloved "points harvesting" project.
"System, am I sick?" Yun Zhan slumped weakly on the table, feeling like a wilted eggplant.
[Based on physiological indicator scans, the host is in good health with no organic lesions. Comprehensive behavioral analysis suggests suspected 'emotional entanglement syndrome' and 'late-stage assassination procrastination syndrome'.] System Xiaoqi's diagnosis was as sharp as ever, accompanied by intense dissatisfaction and contempt for Yun Zhan, this disappointing host.
“You’re the one with late-stage disease! Your whole family has late-stage disease!” Yun Zhan retorted irritably, then deflated. “I just… I just don’t know how to face him.”
There was no way to avoid it, and... it didn't seem like he really wanted to avoid it anymore. But if he didn't avoid it, every time he saw Yan Linye, his heart would start pounding in the air.
Perhaps it was because he had been thinking about it all day and dreaming about it all night, or perhaps it was because he had been caught in the rain a few days ago and was mentally exhausted, but Yun Zhan tragically discovered that he was really sick. He was dizzy, his nose was stuffy, and his throat was dry and sore—typical cold symptoms.
"Oh no, oh no, I haven't been beheaded since I transmigrated, but I'm going to die from a cold first?" Yun Zhan wrapped himself in a blanket, sniffling, feeling utterly miserable. Exchanging a single pill from the system would have been the simplest thing, but who knows what he was secretly hoping for?
Yan Linye came to see him as usual, and immediately noticed something was wrong with him as soon as he entered. He reached out and touched his forehead, and it was burning hot to the touch.
"You have a fever?" Yan Linye frowned immediately, his tone filled with obvious worry. "Why didn't you say so sooner?"
Yun Zhan was a little delirious from the fever, and said in a muffled voice, "It's nothing... I'll be fine after a nap..."
"Nonsense." Yan Linye's tone was unusually stern. He immediately ordered his servants to fetch a doctor, and then personally fetched warm water, soaked a handkerchief, and placed it on Yun Zhan's forehead.
The cool handkerchief pressed against his burning skin, making Yun Zhan groan with pleasure. He half-closed his eyes, looking at Yan Linye's handsome face so close to his own. Those usually calm and gentle eyes were now filled with clear anxiety and heartache.
Yun Zhan's heart softened again, much to his own dismay.
The doctor came to see him and said it was a cold caused by wind and cold. He prescribed medicine and told him to rest well. Yan Linye personally watched Yun Zhan drink the bowl of bitter medicine that made him grimace, and then stuffed a candied fruit into his mouth.
“It’s bitter…” Yun Zhan complained, his face contorted in pain.
"Good medicine tastes bitter." Yan Linye looked at his childlike expression, a smile appearing in his eyes, and tucked him in. "Go to sleep, you'll feel better after sweating it out."
Yun Zhan drifted off to sleep. During this time, he felt someone occasionally checking the temperature of his forehead and changing his sweat-soaked undergarments, their movements so gentle that it was as if he were fragile glass.
When he woke up again, it was already dark outside the window. He felt much better, though still a little weak. Turning his head, he saw Yan Linye sitting on a chair by the bed, holding a book in his hand, the candlelight illuminating his quiet profile.
He seemed to have been waiting for a long time.
Hearing the noise, Yan Linye immediately put down his book and looked over, his eyes asking, "Awake? How are you feeling? Are you still uncomfortable?"
A series of questions, revealing undisguised concern.
Yun Zhan shook his head, his voice still a little hoarse: "Much better... Have you been here the whole time?"
"Hmm." Yan Linye picked up the warm water glass next to him and held it to his lips. "Drink some water."
Yun Zhan drank a few sips of water from Yan Linye's hand. The warm water soothed his dry, sore throat and seemed to flow into his heart. Looking at the faint dark circles under Yan Linye's eyes, he felt a pang of sadness and a strange emotion almost overflowing.
"Brother Yan... thank you." He thanked him softly, this time sincerely.
Yan Linye gently stroked his hair, saying, "No need to thank me. Just take good care of yourself."
For the next two days, Yan Linye put aside almost all non-urgent matters and spent most of his time in Yun Zhan's room. He fed him medicine, fed him, and talked to him to keep him company, doing everything himself with such meticulous care that Yun Zhan felt like a large, helpless baby.
What Yun Zhan found most irresistible was that sometimes, when he was half asleep, he could feel Yan Linye gently stroking his eyebrows and eyes with his fingertips, or tidying up the stray hairs on his pillow. The tenderness and affection contained in those actions almost drowned him.
"System! He's taking such good care of me! Who can resist this?!" Yun Zhan lamented inwardly while Yan Linye was temporarily away.
[Based on database comparison, the target's behavior pattern matches the 'mating instinct of males during courtship towards their desired mates.' Host, you are currently enjoying courtship treatment from the enemy leader.] The system calmly analyzed.
"Seeking...seeking a partner?!" Yun Zhan's face instantly turned bright red. "What nonsense are you spouting!"
[This is the truth. The host is advised to remain alert and remember the situation of their skull.]
"..." Yun Zhan stared speechlessly at the sky (on the ceiling). Skull, skull, skull again! Could you please stop reminding him of this bleak future!
Under Yan Linye's meticulous care, Yun Zhan recovered quickly. Once he was better, that awkwardness returned. He looked at Yan Linye, both yearning for her tenderness and fearing to become entangled in it; his emotions were a tangled mess.
Yan Linye seemed to sense his unease. After he recovered, she did not get too close to him, but continued to show just the right amount of care. However, the invisible net of tenderness tightened even more.
For example, Yun Zhan found that the miscellaneous books he needed to consult would always appear on his desk at just the right time; he casually mentioned wanting to eat the pastries from that shop in the south of the city, and the pastries would appear on his dining table the next day; when he strolled in the courtyard at night, he would always "bump into" Yan Linye, who was also out for a walk, and then the two would walk side by side in silence for a while...
This kind of gradual, persistent infiltration is more irresistible than a direct pursuit.
Yun Zhan felt like a small insect caught in a spider's web; the more he struggled, the tighter he was entangled. And the "spider" that had laid the inescapable web was patiently waiting nearby, waiting for him to completely give up.
Under Yan Linye's subtle and gentle advances, these feelings deepened continuously, fermenting silently like fine wine. Meanwhile, Yun Zhan, the naive "prey," remained bewildered, spinning in the net, wanting to escape yet also yearning for its warmth.
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