Chapter 70 -

Chapter 70: Chapter

After spending an entire hour wandering around her quiet room trying to figure out a plan, Yimei finally lost her patience.

She stood up from the bed, grabbed her own heavy blanket, and marched straight over to the side door connecting their rooms. She pushed it open and walked into Zhengyu’s dark bedchamber.

To her surprise, Zhengyu was still wide awake.

He was curled up into a tight ball under his covers, shivering uncontrollably. His lips were pale and chapped, and his chest was heaving with quick, shallow breaths. Cold sweat covered his forehead, making his messy damp hair stick to his face.

Yimei immediately dropped her blanket onto the bed and reached out, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead.

It was burning hot.

"Zhengyu?" Yimei called out, her voice dropping all its usual teasing tone.

Zhengyu opened his eyes slowly, looking up at her with a dazed, glassy gaze. He had caught a sudden, high fever from the freezing wind during their long carriage ride.

"Yimei..." he mumbled in a raspy, weak voice, his whole body trembling as he tried to pull the blanket higher around his shoulders. "Cold... it’s so cold..."

[Host! Alert!] Nine chimed in suddenly inside her mind. [Target’s body temperature is spiking fast. The combination of the winter chill and the warming salve triggered a fever!]

Yimei clicked her tongue in annoyance, though a flicker of real concern flashed in her eyes. Without thinking twice, she climbed right onto the bed beside him. She wrapped her own heavy blanket over both of them and pulled his burning, shivering body straight into her arms.

Yimei hurried over to the basin, pouring cool water into a small bowl and soaking a clean towel. She rushed back to the bed and pressed the cool cloth gently against Zhengyu’s burning forehead, letting out a soft sigh as he let out a weak groan.

"Nine," Yimei called out in her mind, her hands working quickly. "Is there any fever medication in the store?"

[Yes, Host,] Nine answered right away. [There is a high-grade fever medicine available, but it costs 5 points. If you buy it now, you won’t have enough points left to purchase the Photographic Recall skill for the acupuncture tomorrow.]

Yimei didn’t even hesitate.

"Buy the medicine," she ordered firmly in her head. "If this jerk doesn’t even survive the night, who am I supposed to learn the acupuncture skills for?"

[Transaction complete,] Nine announced. [5 favorability points deducted. Current balance: +2 points.]

A tiny porcelain bottle appeared in Yimei’s hand. She uncorked it, gently lifted Zhengyu’s head off the pillow, and tipped the sweet liquid into his mouth.

"Drink," she murmured softly, stroking his wet hair away from his eyes.

Zhengyu swallowed the medicine weakly, his dazed eyes opening just enough to focus on her face.

"Yimei..." he rasped out, his hand shaking as he reached up to weakly grab her sleeve. "Don’t... leave."

Yimei looked at his pale, helpless state, her heart softening just a little. She crawled into the bed beside him, pulling her heavy blanket over both of them, and wrapped her arms around his feverish body to share her warmth.

"I’m right here," she whispered, resting her chin against his forehead. "Just go to sleep."

Later in the middle of the night, his fever finally went down.

Zhengyu opened his eyes slowly. He felt warm and fully covered under the heavy blankets.

He moved a little and looked beside him.

Yimei was lying right next to him, fast asleep. Her face looked calm and peaceful without her usual teasing smile.

Zhengyu looked down at his hand and froze. Her soft fingers were tightly locked with his, holding onto him even while she slept.

His face grew warm, but not from the fever this time. His heart beat fast in his chest as he stared at their joined hands.

He didn’t pull away. Instead, he gently held her hand a little tighter, closed his eyes, and went back to sleep with a small smile on his face.

The next morning, bright sunlight filtered through the wooden window shutters.

Yimei slowly opened her eyes and sat up, stretching her sore shoulders. As she rubbed the sleep from her face, she realized Zhengyu was lying right beside her, completely awake.

He hadn’t tried to move or wake her up at all. He was just lying there on his side, his deep, dark eyes fixed entirely on her face.

Yimei blinked at him, pulling her blanket up a little.

"What a creep," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

Zhengyu’s lips twitched, a small smirk gracing his pale face. "Good morning to you too, wife. I was just making sure my caretaker didn’t freeze to death overnight."

"I was keeping you warm, ungrateful jerk," Yimei shot back, though she quickly reached over and pressed her cool palm against his forehead. The burning heat was completely gone, leaving his skin refreshingly normal.

[Ding!] Nine’s cheerful voice suddenly rang out inside her head. [Target’s fever has vanished! Favorability increased by +15! Current total: +17 points!]

Yimei’s eyes lit up. Seventeen points! That was more than enough to finally buy the Photographics Recall skill for Grandmaster Zhang’s acupuncture book.

Yimei pushed him slightly on the shoulder before standing up from the bed.

"So because I took care of this idiot all night, his favorability increased?" she grumbled inside her mind, crossing her arms as she headed toward her room. "Why didn’t it go up like this the other times?"

[Character Zhengyu is very strange indeed, Host...] Nine responded in her head. [Would you like to read his bio information?]

Yimei stopped in her tracks, a sharp glint in her eyes. "You have his bio details all these time nine? Show me."

Zhengyu meanwhile just kept on staring at the woman who was standing with her hands crossed making weird facial expression.

"What a creep." He whispered under his breath.