“Senior brother, I forgot to give you a kind of medicine,” Luo Muge left and then returned, standing outside and speaking loudly.
Gu Jianli hastily whispered to Ji Wujing, “Why don’t you go out and get it quickly!”
Ji Wujing casually threw Gu Jianli’s clothes onto the bed and walked outside. As he passed by Gu Jianli’s side, Gu Jianli snorted lightly and turned away.
“The clothes are on the bed, go get them yourself,” Ji Wujing patted her head and pushed the door open.
“What medicine?” Ji Wujing glanced at Luo Muge.
Luo Muge took out a small red porcelain bottle from the medicine box on her shoulder and handed it to Ji Wujing.
Ji Wujing casually removed the stopper from the small bottle, smelled it, and said, “What is this? It’s not my medicine.”
“It’s medicine for Sister-in-law.”
Ji Wujing glanced at Luo Muge more and said, “Avoiding Child Pill, take one every morning for a month, continuous use can prevent pregnancy for a year. Perhaps it will come in handy.” Luo Muge paused, “Master is still waiting for me outside, I’ll go first.”
Ji Wujing looked interestedly at the small porcelain bottle in his hand, neither giving it to her nor looking up.
He put the small bottle away and returned to the inner room. With a casual glance, she saw Gu Jianli hopping on one leg towards the bed. When Ji Wujing came in, Gu Jianli had just hopped to the edge of the bed. Hearing Ji Wujing coming in, Gu Jianli hurriedly bent down to pick up her clothes. Her clothes were tossed aside by Ji Wujing, still on the side of the bed. Gu Jianli had to sit on the edge of the bed, hastily turning around to reach for them.
Just a little bit more, she would have grabbed her little clothes, but her slender waist was caught by Ji Wujing.
“Let go!” Gu Jianli hastily pulled the quilt to cover herself.
Ji Wujing pinched her soft waist and slid his palm over her waist, holding her by the front abdomen and lifting her up from the bed.
“Be obedient, my little Lili.” Ji Wujing gently kissed her forehead, picked up Gu Jianli, and placed her by the door, not forgetting to take the camisole that Gu Jianli had grabbed in a panic from her hand.
He stepped back slowly, sitting on the edge of the bed with his legs crossed, and said seriously, “Come over here. When you come over, you can have clothes to wear. If you don’t come over, you’ll never have clothes to wear.”
“You!” Gu Jianli was angry. She turned her head towards the direction of the door and shouted loudly, “Jixia! Jixia!”
Ji Wujing chuckled lightly.
Gu Jianli didn’t even see Ji Wujing’s movement. The heavy double-door low cabinet next to the door suddenly moved to the door, firmly blocking the door.
Ji Wujing said leisurely, “Calling for help is useless. Because, I have the final say.”
Gu Jianli turned her head back, glaring at Ji Wujing resentfully.
Ji Wujing smiled at her, locking eyes with her. His fox-like eyes were full of laughter and determination.
After a stalemate for a while, Gu Jianli said angrily, “Doctor Ji has said that you can’t use internal force!”
Ji Wujing was slightly startled, the smile in his eyes slowly fading. He paused for a moment, softened his tone, “It’s been over a month since the board was removed. If you don’t practice walking, you’ll really become lame in the future. Do you really want to be a hopping little rabbit forever?”
Gu Jianli pursed her lips, remaining silent.
Ji Wujing stood up, walked to Gu Jianli’s front, and stopped a few steps away from her. He opened his arms and said, “Uncle is here, you won’t fall.”
Gu Jianli lowered her head, hugging herself with a sense of grievance, her cheeks already flushed, feeling embarrassed, awkward, and angry. She remained silent for a long time, not moving.
Ji Wujing took another step forward and said, “Come.”
Gu Jianli reluctantly raised her head, looking at Ji Wujing with a mixture of anger and resentment. Her gaze swept over Ji Wujing’s open arms, and she snorted lightly before turning her head away.
Ji Wujing sighed, his palm resting on her waist, his fingers pinching the edge of her undergarment. He bent down, leaned close to Gu Jianli’s ear, and whispered softly, “If you don’t behave, Uncle might just strip off your undergarments like in the little booklet and lick them.”
Gu Jianli forcefully opened Ji Wujing’s hand, angrily shouting, “You’re a human, not a dog!”
Ji Wujing chuckled lowly. He straightened up and took a step back, using a coaxing tone, “Be good, behave.”
Gu Jianli sighed dejectedly, tentatively stepping out with her left foot, her toes touching the ground first, then slowly placing her entire foot on the ground. All the weight of her body was supported by her right leg at the back. She tried to shift the weight onto her left leg bit by bit. With each forward lean, the pain in her leg increased.
Sorrowful.
Gu Jianli sniffled and her eyes turned red.
“It hurts…” Gu Jianli’s voice choked with softness.
“I can’t hear you,” Ji Wujing said sternly, but his gaze couldn’t help but sweep over every inch of Gu Jianli’s fragrant and soft body.
Gu Jianli sniffled again, lifting her eyes to look at Ji Wujing, tears welling up in her eyes, as if reluctant to fall.
“It really hurts, so much…” Gu Jianli reached out towards Ji Wujing, grabbing his sleeve and clutching it in her hand.
“Gu Jianli, no sulking allowed,” Ji Wujing said coldly, his expression even a bit fierce.
The tear finally rolled down her cheek. Gu Jianli’s knees bent, leaning forward, and she pounced towards Ji Wujing.
Ji Wujing hesitated for a moment but didn’t dodge, letting Gu Jianli pounce into his arms.
Gu Jianli held onto Ji Wujing’s waist tightly, pressing her face against his chest, her soft voice filled with a pitiful sob, “Tomorrow, tomorrow I’ll walk. Please, Uncle…”
Ji Wujing stood silently for a while, then helplessly raised his hand to his forehead, rubbing his temples.
“Gu Jianli…”
Gu Jianli hooked her arms around Ji Wujing’s neck, trying to kiss him, silencing him.
Ji Wujing avoided her, saying, “Gu Jian…”
Gu Jianli leaned in and kissed him again.
“Gu Jianli!”
Ji Wujing straightened up, and Gu Jianli couldn’t reach him anymore.
Ji Wujing raised his index finger to tap her forehead, his tone ominous, “You’re forcing Uncle to bully you.”
Gu Jianli shook her head in distress and whispered, “I’m begging Uncle to give me one more day…”
Ji Wujing looked away, not wanting to see her like this, and asked, “Will you really practice walking tomorrow?”
“Mm-hmm!” Gu Jianli nodded vigorously like a little chick pecking grains.
Gu Jianli heard Ji Wujing sigh again.
Ji Wujing bent down, lifted Gu Jianli horizontally, and walked towards the bed.
Gu Jianli held onto Ji Wujing’s clothes on his back with one hand and covered her chest with the other, still feeling extremely embarrassed. She furrowed her brows and reached out to cover Ji Wujing’s eyes.
Ji Wujing chuckled, “You’re covering Uncle’s eyes, Uncle can’t see how to walk.”
“But you can see!” Gu Jianli stubbornly retorted.
After some thought, she muttered softly, “Anyway, I can see. Just keep walking straight ahead. Yeah, three more steps. Alright, you can put me down now.”
As soon as Ji Wujing placed Gu Jianli on the bed, she immediately climbed into it, wrapped herself in the blanket, and started putting on her clothes.
Just as she put on her pink camisole, she lifted her head and snorted at Ji Wujing.
But when Ji Wujing approached, she hurriedly exclaimed, “Uncle, I’m sorry!”
Ji Wujing pinched her cheek and chuckled, “You’re like a child.”
Ji Wujing left the room, and Gu Jianli, now dressed, quickly called for Jixia to help her to the backyard, finding two children to keep her company. She knew Ji Wujing wouldn’t misbehave in front of children!
Ji Xinglan sat on the edge of the bed, grumbling at the medicine Nanny Lin held in her hands.
“Sister Lan, you mustn’t mind the bitterness. You have to drink the medicine to get better. Otherwise, you’ll have headaches, eye pain, and throat pain, and you won’t sleep well at night!”
Ji Xinglan caught a chill again last night when she kicked off her blanket while sleeping. It had only been a month since her last bout of cold, and this time it seemed worse. Nanny Lin couldn’t afford to be careless this time.
“Bitter!” Ji Xinglan wrinkled her small, flower-like face.
Gu Jianli walked in. “Xinglan, are you not taking your medicine properly again?”
Seeing Gu Jianli, Ji Xinglan shrunk her neck, feeling slightly guilty.
“Madam, you’re here. Please, talk to Miss Lan. She listens to you!” Nanny Lin smiled.
“Give it to me.” Gu Jianli took the medicine from Nanny Lin’s hands, tasted it with a spoon to check the temperature, which was just right. But even just licking that tiny bit made her grimace from the bitterness. She couldn’t stand the bitterness either.
But she couldn’t complain about it in front of the children. She smiled without changing her expression and persuaded, “Our Xinglan is very good, she wouldn’t refuse to take her medicine.”
“So bitter…” Ji Xinglan complained in a pitiful tone.
“After you take your medicine, I’ll have Jixia buy you some candies from Shijin, the newly released ones,” Gu Jianli rubbed Ji Xinglan’s head, “Be obedient, okay?”
Gu Jianli suddenly paused, remembering Ji Wujing had said something similar to her.
“Okay, Xinglan, be a good girl, listen obediently!” Ji Xinglan picked up the bowl of medicine and gulped it down in one go. The bitterness made her eyes turn red, tears dripping down.
Gu Jianli gave her the candies, then hugged her and comforted her for a while until Ji Xinglan stopped crying and smiled.
Looking at Ji Xinglan’s smiling face, Gu Jianli suddenly didn’t feel angry at Ji Wujing anymore. She knew he was also doing it for her own good. But when she thought about Ji Wujing rudely stripping her clothes off, Gu Jianli furrowed her brows again, still feeling a bit annoyed.
That night, after Gu Jianli drank the blood-nourishing soup, she lay down. She tried not to provoke Ji Wujing, carefully turning her body to sleep facing the inside. She waited quietly for a while, not hearing Ji Wujing mention practicing walking tomorrow, so she relaxed a bit and closed her eyes to sleep.
She knew she would have to start practicing walking sooner or later, but… sigh, tomorrow’s business could wait till tomorrow…
Gu Jianli drifted off to sleep in a daze.
The next morning, Gu Jianli felt someone touching her, and her waist felt itchy. She sleepily opened her eyes and saw Ji Wujing bending down to unfasten her belt while standing beside the bed.
Gu Jianli suddenly woke up, sitting up abruptly.
She realized that her nightgown and breastband were gone, feeling confused for a moment. When she came to her senses, she found that her sleeping pants had also been pulled down by Ji Wujing.
“Uncle…” Gu Jianli reached for the nearby blanket to wrap around herself, glaring at Ji Wujing with resistance.
Ji Wujing reached for the blanket on her body. Gu Jianli held onto it tightly.
As they struggled, Ji Wujing pretended to bend down to grab her undergarments. Gu Jianli was startled and quickly let go. The blanket was snatched away by Ji Wujing.
Ji Wujing lifted her up and placed her by the door. Without even looking at Gu Jianli, he turned back to the bed, tidied up the clothes and bedding, then stood up and placed them on the beam above. He sat on the beam, smiling, “Starting today, you will walk seriously for one hundred steps every morning. Otherwise, not only will you have no clothes to wear, but you won’t even get food to eat.”
