Yu Li was momentarily stunned, then said, “You’re awake?”
The man remained silent. His dark and icy gaze continued to fix on her. His voice was hoarse as he asked, “Who are you?”
It wasn’t until he noticed the handkerchief in her hand that the man’s sharp, cold stare gradually softened.
Yu Li didn’t answer him and carefully pried his hand away.
In her eyes, this man named Fu Wenxiao, lying there, resembled a corpse, the kind that could stop breathing at any moment. Even now that he was awake, he still looked fragile and weak. She was afraid that even a slightly stronger movement from her might end his life.
She had to be cautious.
As she easily freed herself from his grip, the man’s gaze flickered slightly, as if in a daze.
He wondered in confusion, had his coma lasted so long that he had become so weak he couldn’t even hold onto a frail girl?
Seeing that he was awake, Yu Li stopped cleaning his body and instead laid him back on the bed before walking out of the room.
A short while later, Zhou Shi rushed in.
Trailing behind Zhou Shi were two children holding hands.
“Xiao Ge’er, you’re awake!”
“Little Uncle!”
The three of them happily rushed to the bedside, their faces lighting up with joy at the sight of Fu Wenxiao, his eyes now open.
Zhou Shi wept tears of joy, while the two children grinned broadly, their expressions full of delight.
Though young, they understood what death meant. Their little uncle had been unconscious for a long time, and seeing their grandmother’s constant worry, they had been terribly afraid.
Fu Wenxiao leaned weakly against the headboard, his gaze shifting to the doorway.
The girl from earlier was standing there, calmly watching the scene in the room. She seemed detached from the world, as though separated by some invisible barrier, observing human emotions and affairs from afar with a curious, distant gaze.
Her demeanor was straightforward and transparent, yet so peculiar it left one feeling unsettled.
Zhou Shi wiped her tears and said, “Xiao Ge’er, it’s such a blessing that you woke up. Li Niang really is your lucky star. She turned misfortune into fortune and brought you back from the brink of death…”
Although Fu Wenxiao had just woken up, his mind was clear. Hearing Zhou Shi’s words, he immediately felt something was off.
He looked at her and asked, “Mother, what are you saying?”
Sitting at the bedside, Zhou Shi replied joyfully, “You’ve been in a coma for more than half a month and didn’t wake up. I was so worried. I heard that a wedding to ward off ill fortune might help, so I arranged for Li Niang to marry you. The fortune-teller said Li Niang is blessed with good fortune…”
Her voice grew softer as she spoke, until she finally fell silent, sneaking a glance at Fu Wenxiao’s expression.
The two children, still holding hands, stood beside Zhou Shi, looking at him with innocent curiosity.
Fu Wenxiao finally understood why, upon waking, there had been a strange girl sitting by his bedside, helping him remove his clothes and clean his body.
So this girl was…
He glanced toward the doorway again, but the girl was already gone.
Fu Wenxiao felt a headache coming on.
He didn’t believe that his awakening was due to the Chong Xi. Even without it, he would have woken up. He just hadn’t expected Zhou Shi to resort to this method because of his prolonged coma…
“Mother, I’m sorry,” he said softly.
Zhou Shi hurriedly responded, “Xiao Ge’er, as long as you’re okay… It’s wonderful that you woke up. I was so worried…”
Thinking about his nearly half-month coma, Zhou Shi couldn’t help but lower her head and wipe away her tears again.
The two children, seeing her cry, had their eyes turn red as well. Tears welled up but they tried hard not to let them fall.
Fu Wenxiao didn’t want to say too much in front of the children. He looked at Zhou Shi and said, “Mother, I made you worry. That’s my fault.”
Zhou Shi wiped her face and, with a joyful expression, couldn’t help but say, “Xiao Ge’er, Li Niang is indeed lucky; she’s your blessing. It’s thanks to her that you could wake up this time…”
At this moment, in Zhou Shi’s heart, Yu Li’s fate seemed exactly as the old Madam Yu had described—blessed with good fortune. She firmly believed that Yu Li had turned calamities into blessings for Fu Wenxiao.
Fu Wenxiao fell silent.
He wanted to say something, but when he saw the joy on Zhou Shi’s face, he swallowed the words back.
—
With Fu Wenxiao awake, the stifling atmosphere that had weighed on the Fu family for so long finally lifted. Zhou Shi and the two children had smiles on their faces all day.
While cooking in the kitchen, Zhou Shi said to Yu Li, who was stoking the fire, “Li Niang, it’s all thanks to you…”
The more Zhou Shi looked at Yu Li, the more she liked her, feeling there couldn’t be a better girl in the world.
Yu Li blinked, feeling a bit lost inside.
So a Chong Xi really works? It’s not a scam? It seems this world might still hold mysterious forces unknown to her. She needed to work hard to restore her health.
Of course, she was happy that Fu Wenxiao had woken up. She no longer had to worry about being kicked out if the Chong Xi failed.
The herbal medicine on the stove had cooled, and since Zhou Shi was busy cooking, she asked Yu Li to take it over.
Yu Li agreed, washed the soot off her hands, and carried the bowl of medicine into the room.
The window in the room was still open. It seemed Zhou Shi had been so overjoyed earlier that she’d forgotten to close it.
Yu Li felt a bit guilty, but she reasoned that leaving the window open allowed for better air circulation, which was good for the patient’s health. She decided to pretend she hadn’t noticed and let the window remain open.
The weather was hot and muggy, and there wasn’t much wind during the day. Leaving the window open shouldn’t cause the patient to catch a chill, she thought.
When Yu Li entered, the man on the bed opened his eyes sharply.
He turned his head and saw the girl carrying the bowl of medicine. His first impression was that she was painfully thin, her face sallow and gaunt like a refugee’s. The only striking feature was her eyes—clear and bright.
Seeing that he was awake, Yu Li said directly, “Drink the medicine.”
When she saw him struggling to sit up, she belatedly realized he was a patient who had just woken up. She placed the bowl on the cabinet beside the bed and reached out to help him up.
The effort left Fu Wenxiao covered in sweat. Weak and exhausted, he leaned against the bed’s pillow, his face growing even paler, giving him a fragile and delicate appearance.
When she brought the medicine bowl to his lips, clearly intending to feed him, he said, “I can drink it myself.”
Yu Li glanced at him and bluntly asked, “Do you have the strength?”
Fu Wenxiao: “…”
Yu Li brought the bowl to his lips and held his head steady, making him drink.
This made Fu Wenxiao freeze for a moment. He glanced at her and realized the girl was serious—serious about feeding him the medicine. However, her feeding method was clumsy, as if she intended to pour it straight down his throat.
Even with his usual composure and steadfast nature, capable of calmly handling any situation, he was a bit bewildered by her actions.
“Aren’t you going to drink it?” Yu Li asked, puzzled.
Fu Wenxiao replied, “…You don’t need to press on my head.” The hand on his head was too noticeable, almost like forcing a cow to graze.
Yu Li, a beat slow to react, let out an “oh” and silently withdrew her hand, saying, “I thought you didn’t have the strength.”
Fu Wenxiao: “…”
He did, in fact, have enough strength to drink a bowl of medicine. There was no need to press his head down like feeding grass to a cow.
As he drank the medicine, a peculiar feeling rose in his heart.
This strange sensation had been there since he first woke up and saw this girl named Yu Li.
By normal standards, upon seeing her “husband,” who had been in a coma, suddenly wake up, she might have been surprised, shocked, or overjoyed…
But her expression instead seemed to say, ‘The corpse lying there actually woke up? How odd. Let me take another look.’
Although Fu Wenxiao didn’t want to think this way, he felt he wasn’t mistaken.
After feeding him the medicine, Yu Li carried the bowl out without caring about the man’s reaction on the bed.
From the kitchen wafted the fragrant aroma of food—so enticing it seemed to draw her soul away. Her “husband” who had just woken up became even less of a concern.
What she now looked forward to most was what the Fu family ate every day and what each meal consisted of.
Today’s lunch was indeed special. Zhou Shi had actually made a bowl of steamed egg.
At the meal, both Yu Li and the two children had a large piece of tender steamed egg in their bowls.
The egg was delicately steamed, a pale yellow color, trembling slightly with the lightest shake. When eaten, it was tender, smooth, and fragrant…
Yu Li was almost reluctant to swallow it.
This was her first time in her life eating steamed egg. Who would have thought there was such a delicious dish in the world?
Watching Yu Li’s expression, Zhou Shi and the two children nearly ate until they were stuffed again.
The Fu family’s meals had not been good recently. There was no trace of meat on the table—just bean porridge, vegetable soup, and salted pickles every day. Zhou Shi had once raised the two children with care, but since Fu Wenxiao had fallen into his coma, the household income had dried up, and their grain stores were limited. They had no choice but to eat these simple dishes, leading to some loss of appetite.
But now, any sense of appetite loss was gone. The two children ate quickly and heartily.
Zhou Shi felt a pang of sympathy in her heart, thinking that Yu Li must never have had anything good to eat in her own family. To be able to treat steamed egg like a rare delicacy… how pitiful.
—
The first time in her life eating such a delicious steamed egg put Yu Li in a great mood. Even when there was an extra breath in the room at night, she wasn’t as bothered as usual.
Noticing someone entering, Fu Wenxiao opened his eyes.
The room was dark, and only a faint silhouette could be seen.
Realizing who had come in, Fu Wenxiao felt a bit uncomfortable. Seeing her fumbling around in the dark, he said, “The oil lamp is on the table.”
Yu Li, assuming he was afraid of the dark, obediently went to find the oil lamp and lit it with a firestone.
The light from the oil lamp was dim, but it was better than complete darkness.
Yu Li was aware that her current body suffered from night blindness. In her previous life, this would have been easy to treat, but in this world, curing it required improving her diet first.
She walked over to the bedside and saw the man looking at her. After a moment of thought, she asked, “Do you need to wipe your body?”
In the southern region where Qingshi Village was located, the climate was humid and hot. During summer, the locals had a habit of bathing daily. There was no need to heat water; they would simply soak in the river. For those more particular, they would leave a bucket of water in the yard to warm under the sun. By evening, it would be comfortably warm and ready for use.
At the Fu household, when Zhou Shi and the two children bathed, they used sun-warmed water as well.
For the past two days, Yu Li had also been bathing every night before bed, finding it very refreshing.
However, Fu Wenxiao was a patient and couldn’t bathe, though wiping his body was an option.
Fu Wenxiao gave a soft “hmm” in agreement, then added after a thought, “Bring me a basin of water. I’ll do it myself.”
He was a clean person. Though he had spent the entire day lying in bed and only sweated a little, with no noticeable odor, he still found it difficult to sleep without cleaning up.
When Yu Li returned with the basin of water and saw him struggling to sit up, she hesitated for a moment before asking, “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”
A faint blush appeared on Fu Wenxiao’s pale face. After a moment of silence, he replied, “No need.”
Yu Li, someone who disliked forcing others, didn’t insist further since he had declined. She simply stood there and watched.
Fu Wenxiao looked at her again.
Yu Li met his gaze with a calm expression. Only her clear eyes seemed a bit blank and dazed.
After a long moment, Fu Wenxiao finally chose to speak. “Could you step out for a moment?”
Though he knew she was his “wife,” he still felt no sense of reality about it. Being stared at so directly by a young woman made it impossible for him to undress and clean himself.
Yu Li seemed to finally realize something. Letting out an “oh,” she obediently walked out.
As she left, she thought to herself that his face seemed rather red. She wondered if he was about to faint again.