In the dead of night, Yu Li knocked on the door of Zhou Shi’s room.
Hearing that Fu Wenxiao was sick, Zhou Shi didn’t even have time to properly dress herself. She hurriedly threw on an outer garment and rushed over. When she placed her hand on Fu Wenxiao’s forehead, the heat startled her.
She looked somewhat flustered but remained relatively calm and instructed, “Li Niang, go fetch a basin of clean water.”
Yu Li quickly fetched a basin of clean water. Following Zhou Shi’s instructions, she wrung out a towel and placed it on Fu Wenxiao’s forehead to reduce his fever.
“Li Niang, stay here and watch him. I’ll go brew the medicine.”
Leaving a quick instruction, Zhou Shi hurriedly went to retrieve the medicine they had on hand and began preparing it for Fu Wenxiao.
In the middle of the night like this, it wasn’t possible to go into town to find a doctor. When illness struck, they could only endure and rely on home remedies to lower the fever.
Yu Li sat by the bedside, changing the towel several times. By the dim light of the oil lamp, she looked at the man lying on the bed. His face was flushed red from the fever, and the pallor of his usual complexion had taken on a rare touch of color, giving him an eerie, otherworldly beauty.
Even though she didn’t particularly care about appearances, she could still tell that this man’s features were exceptional—elegant and handsome, with finely chiseled features. He carried a noble and extraordinary air that seemed out of place in this rural backwater.
His eyes were closed, his brows slightly furrowed, as if he was in discomfort.
She had never been sick before. Getting injured didn’t count, but over the past half-month, the awakening of her body had taught her what physical discomfort felt like. It was a constant torment, with no medicine able to alleviate it. If not for her habit of enduring, she wouldn’t have been able to hold on.
He must be feeling terrible now, right?
As Yu Li changed the towel again, Fu Wenxiao suddenly opened his eyes.
She paused for a moment, replaced the towel, and asked, “How are you feeling?”
He didn’t respond, but his dark eyes stared straight at her, as if trying to confirm something. Then, he weakly raised his hand to touch his own forehead and murmured, “Uncomfortable…”
His voice was very low; if not for Yu Li’s sharp hearing, she wouldn’t have caught it.
She looked at him and, for once, offered some comfort. “Mother has already gone to brew the medicine. You’ll feel better soon.”
The corners of Fu Wenxiao’s lips twitched slightly, as if he wanted to form a smile, but the resulting expression carried an indescribable mockery. In a low voice, he said, “I won’t get better…”
“What?” Yu Li didn’t understand what he meant. She reached out to feel his forehead again, thinking the fever must have muddled his mind.
“Don’t overthink it,” she reassured him. “You’ll get better.”
Fu Wenxiao’s consciousness was hazy. He couldn’t really make out what she was saying and soon closed his eyes, drifting back into sleep. He vaguely sensed that someone remained by his bedside the entire time.
When Zhou Shi brought the brewed medicine, Fu Wenxiao’s fever hadn’t subsided; instead, it had worsened.
Yu Li propped him up to feed him the medicine. He seemed to regain a bit of awareness and opened his eyes. His gaze was deep, staring straight ahead. Although his face was flushed with a sickly red, his eyes were sharp and lucid.
No matter the situation, it seemed his mind was always clear.
“Xiao Ge’er!” Zhou Shi, seeing him awake, hurriedly said, “Good, you’re awake. Quickly, drink the medicine.”
Fu Wenxiao squinted slightly, his reaction sluggish. After a long pause, he finally understood her words and opened his mouth to drink the medicine.
After finishing the medicine, he glanced at the two women at the bedside before closing his eyes and slipping back into a half-conscious sleep.
Half an hour later, Fu Wenxiao broke into a sweat, and his fever finally subsided.
Zhou Shi let out a sigh of relief.
She sat by the bedside and saw Yu Li toss Fu Wenxiao’s wet clothes into the basin of water. Unable to hold back, she said, “Li Niang, you’ve worked hard. It’s fortunate you noticed Xiao Ge’er was ill. If it had been delayed until morning…”
Zhou Shi had heard before that if a fever wasn’t reduced in time, it could burn someone into a stupor or even take their life.
The thought of such a possibility was something she couldn’t accept. She felt grateful that they had married such a sharp and attentive daughter-in-law for Fu Wenxiao.
Yu Li felt a little guilty and responded vaguely.
Even though they had shared a bed for more than half a month, she still hadn’t quite adjusted to having someone beside her. Every night in her dreams, she couldn’t help but want to strangle him and snuff out the invasive breathing that had encroached on her territory.
Fortunately, she always reminded herself that he was an ordinary person and, moreover, a sick one who posed no threat to her. Each time, she stopped herself just in time, never actually choking him.
Zhou Shi, unaware of the reason, felt deeply comforted.
There was still some time before dawn, so she said to Yu Li, “Li Niang, why don’t you rest in my room? I’ll stay here and watch over him.” She was worried her daughter-in-law might not rest well and end up falling ill too.
Though Yu Li seemed to have gained some weight recently, compared to a healthy person, she was still terribly thin, so frail that a gust of wind could blow her away. She didn’t look like a robust person at all.
She needed more nourishing.
Yu Li shook her head. Zhou Shi shared a room with two children, and Yu Li could barely tolerate the sound of Fu Wenxiao’s breathing at night. Adding two more people’s breathing would surely keep her awake.
Since she wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway, she might as well stay and keep watch.
Yu Li said, “Mother, you should rest. I’ll stay here. I can’t sleep.”
Zhou Shi thought she was worried about Fu Wenxiao and reassured her, “You don’t need to worry too much. Xiao Ge’er has a frail constitution and is always taking medicine. He often gets sick, so we keep medicine prepared at home. I’m used to it…”
At the end of her words, she couldn’t help but sigh.
As the saying goes, prolonged illness makes a doctor. Zhou Shi had also learned a lot about medicine over the years. With a sickly family member at home, she had been forced to understand basic medical knowledge and could even identify many herbs and prepare simple remedies for colds and fevers.
That was why, when Fu Wenxiao suddenly developed a fever tonight, she was able to quickly prepare a fever-reducing remedy. Thankfully, the family had a stock of medicinal ingredients.
Seeing that Yu Li was insistent, Zhou Shi eventually returned to her room to rest.
Before leaving, she told Yu Li to call her if anything happened.
Yu Li naturally agreed.
After Zhou Shi left, Yu Li sat by the bedside and reached out to touch the man’s forehead. She found that his temperature was still slightly higher than usual, likely a low-grade fever.
She looked at his complexion again. The flush on his face had faded, leaving him even more deathly pale.
He lay quietly there, his breathing faint and barely audible. She began to worry that he might not make it through the night, feeling very troubled.
She had been living comfortably at the Fu household and had no plans to move for now. If he didn’t make it, according to the customs of this world, she would become a widow. That would mean the “Chong Xi” marriage had failed. Would the Fu family drive her out?
Though Zhou Shi didn’t seem like the type who would drive people away…
After thinking it through, Yu Li concluded it was better for him to survive. After all, he was quite a good person—he even cared whether she had eaten her fill and didn’t mind that she ate a lot.
Crossing her arms, Yu Li thought about this matter very seriously as she stayed up until dawn.
At the break of dawn, Zhou Shi returned. She first checked Fu Wenxiao’s forehead and found that his temperature had dropped to a low fever. She finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She said to Yu Li, “Li Niang, go rest for a while. I’ll go find Da Zhuang later and have him go to the county to bring back a doctor to take a look at Xiao Ge’er and get a few prescriptions for him.”
Whenever there was an urgent task, Zhou Shi always turned to their neighbor Da Zhuang for help, compensating him with a small payment.
Although Zhou Shi and Da Zhuang’s father shared a family name and were from the same clan, they were separated by several generations. It wasn’t appropriate to always seek their help. After all, even with close family ties, accounts must be settled clearly.
Yu Li agreed to the arrangement.
Her body was in an awakening state, constantly uncomfortable, requiring large amounts of food and sleep to replenish itself. After staying up half the night watching over Fu Wenxiao, she was indeed exhausted.
But just as she lay down, she felt someone touching her and abruptly opened her eyes.
Fu Wenxiao, holding a blanket, was startled when he met her cold, sharp gaze. He asked, “Are you cold?”
“I’m not cold,” Yu Li replied, then sat up. “You’re awake? Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?” She herself was hungry, after all.
After Yu Li went out, Fu Wenxiao lay back on the bed and chuckled helplessly.
He really must have been muddled from the fever. Feeling cold all over due to his illness, he had woken to see her lying beside him without a blanket and thought she might be cold, so he tried to cover her.
Her heightened vigilance exceeded his expectations, suggesting her previous living environment was far from peaceful—perhaps even quite dangerous.
Yu Li soon returned with a bowl of white porridge that had been cooked to release the nourishing rice oil.
This was something Zhou Shi had specifically prepared. In this region, there was a belief that white porridge was particularly restorative. When someone in the family fell ill, they would cook fine white rice into porridge for the patient to eat, as it was thought to speed recovery.
Ordinarily, rural households couldn’t bear to eat fine grains. Only in times like these would they make white porridge.
Fu Wenxiao didn’t have much appetite, but seeing Yu Li busily tending to him, he couldn’t bear to refuse her kind efforts and forced himself to take a few bites.
Noticing her staring intently at the bowl of porridge, he realized she wanted to eat it and asked, “Have you eaten?”
“No,” Yu Li replied. “But Mother saved a bowl for me.”
Normally, they ate porridge made from coarse grains and mixed rice, so she had never tasted porridge made from pure white rice like this. Just the aroma was enough to make her mouth water.
Even though she felt unwell, her appetite was unaffected. To her, eating more and eating well was crucial for enduring the period of physical weakness during her awakening.
Although she clearly wanted to go to the kitchen and eat the bowl of white porridge waiting for her, she didn’t urge him to hurry up and finish so she could leave. This showed her good manners and self-restraint.
Fu Wenxiao silently glanced at her and quickened his pace.