Cheng Xi didn"t know if something had happened to him since she had last seen him, but his condition really wasn"t that good. He had large eyebags, and when Cheng Xi pulled back his eyelids, she could clearly see red striations on his eyeb.a.l.l.s, which was a common symptom of long-term sleep deprivation.Patients suffering from emotional detachment shared several symptoms with depression, and insomnia wasn"t unusual. However, the fact that he could sleep even in this situation was somewhat strange.
Cheng Xi was certain that her punch hadn"t knocked him out, and he didn"t look like he was in a coma either. The fact that he hadn"t woken up yet meant that he was really asleep.
Anyways, regardless of why, if he could sleep, then she hoped that he would have a good night"s sleep tonight.
Cheng Xi turned off the overhead lights, only leaving a small wall lamp as a source of light. As she prepared to return to her room, her father brought out a large quilt. “Get that blanket off of him and replace it with this one.”
Cheng Xi looked at the quilt in her father"s hands briefly before silently removing the blanket currently on Lu Chenzhou"s body. Then, she watched her father push the heavy quilt onto his body. Instantly, the tall and long-limbed Mr. Lu had been submerged in endless piles of cotton.
Once her father was finished, he even caringly dug out Lu Chenzhou"s head as he said to Cheng Xi, “The living room"s cold, and this blanket is warm.” Since he was worried that the quilt would fall down, he even pushed all of the chairs in the room in front of the sofa so that he could drape the edges of the quilt on the chairs.
Cheng Xi started sweating internally. The quilt that was currently covering Lu Chenzhou was, in Cheng Yang"s words, a family treasure; Cheng Xi"s mother had bought cotton and specially commissioned someone to st.i.tch it. It weighed fifteen pounds, and Cheng Xi had once had the dubious fortune of being covered by it. Ever since then, she had been unwilling to use it again.
Nothing was wrong with it; it was simply too heavy. If Lu Chenzhou woke up in the middle of the night with the blanket draped over him, he would feel paralyzed.
Under her father"s burning gaze, Cheng Xi returned to her own room with a thin blanket in her hands. She was usually able to fall asleep quickly easily—even after this whole mess, she had started feeling sleepy once she lay in bed and read a few pages from a random book.
When she woke up, it was already morning, and there was a decent amount of light peeking through the window. She had even momentarily forgotten that Lu Chenzhou was here. When she got out of bed to use the restroom, she saw him covered in a thick, thick quilt. His posture reminded her of a large silkworm in its coc.o.o.n, half-sitting dazedly on the sofa. The sight caused her to freeze in her tracks, somewhat stupefied.
After quite a while, she finally reacted. Oh yeah, that happened last night. She walked over and asked, “Are you alright?”
Lu Chenzhou looked at her without speaking.
Cheng Xi noticed that Lu Chenzhou"s face was actually bright red. In fact, it looked like he had caught a cold. To properly diagnose him, she removed all of the chairs by the sofa, pushed aside the quilt, and put her hand to his forehead.
His temperature was indeed quite high. She then compared it to her own forehead before firmly asking, “Are you awake? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
Lu Chenzhou just looked at her for some time before finally slowly utterly two sentences: “Where am I?” and “Did you lie on me the entire night last night?”
Cheng Xi was struck speechless. “……”
Although she knew that her parents wouldn"t be home at this time of day, she still turned around to confirm that their door was closed, before turning back and saying, “What nonsense are you spouting? The quilt was just probably too heavy for you.” And then she answered his first question. “This is my mom"s place. I don"t know what happened to you last night, but you ran over here completely drenched. Then, you even fainted so I had no choice but to let you sleep here for the night.” She asked again, “Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
As she said this, she noticed that Lu Chenzhou"s eyes slowly sobered up until they finally returned to their usual coldness.
There was a moment of silence before he replied, “My throat hurts.”
Cheng Xi was somewhat surprised because she didn"t expect that he would actually answer. Regardless, she quickly recovered and nodded in response. “Then you"ve probably caught a cold. Wait here a moment.” She went to go find a thermometer so that she could check his temperature.
Lu Chenzhou actually took it from her obediently, putting it in his mouth without complaint.
When Cheng Xi had finished was.h.i.+ng up in the bathroom, he was still biting down on it. Cheng Xi smiled. “Alright, give it to me now.”
Lu Chenzhou gave her the thermometer and Cheng Xi looked at it: 38 degrees Celsius. “You have a fever. Do you want to go to the hospital?”
He looked at her. “Aren"t you a doctor?”
She laughed at his simplistic response. “I don"t know how to treat a cold.”
His eyes drooped, and he didn"t say anything. His body language obviously showed that he didn"t want to go to the hospital.
As a doctor, Cheng Xi naturally had a medicine kit at home, with pills for common colds and headaches. Without any other option, she said, “Then I"ll try to help. However, if you don"t get better, then you can"t blame me.” When she came closer, she could clearly see his face and the eyelashes curling up from his eyes. At this moment. they were drooping, just like a quiet b.u.t.terfly"s folded wings.
What was the point of a man having such long eyelashes? Cheng Xi sighed before saying, “Lift your head up.”
He lifted his head, still looking at her coolly with his chillingly frosty pupils.
She was actually somewhat at a loss for words. A moment later, she coughed dryly and said, “Open your mouth.”
He opened his mouth. Cheng Xi hesitated for a moment before she grasped his jaw, tilted his face back, and looked at his throat under the lamplight.
“Make an "Aaah" sound.”
He did, a rare moment of cooperation.
“Yes, it seems that your throat"s slightly swollen.” When Cheng Xi finished examining his throat, she looked at his tongue, and then took his wrist and measured his pulse.
He looked at her, his eyes constantly following her hands. “You know how to do this too?”
As Cheng Xi carefully measured his pulse, she said, “I took a few cla.s.ses while in university because I was curious.” She let go of him before giving her diagnosis. “From your symptoms, it seems like it"s a common cold. I have some medicine at home that you can try first. But if the symptoms persist, then I recommend that you go to the hospital.”
She got up, preparing to get him some medicine. However, Lu Chenzhou suddenly stretched out his hand and clutched her wrist tightly.
His hands were normally cold, but his palm was warm right now, which made her feel like if her skin had caught on fire.
She didn"t make a fuss or show any repulsion on her face, only turning back and looking at him with a neutral expression. “What is it?”
“Aren"t you going to ask why I came here looking for you?”
Cheng Xi actually didn"t want to ask, and she barely wanted to remember what had happened last night at all. Her current calm was entirely predicated on her pretending to not be aware of the rumors that were definitely spreading by now and her mental stance of viewing him as a patient.
From his expression, his answer definitely would not bring her any comfort.
When Lu Chenzhou saw that she wasn"t going to answer, he smiled and said, “It"s because I can"t control myself. I really want to have s.e.x with you. These few days, it"s been a constant urge, during the whole day. Why am I like this?” He tugged at her wrist, his pupils dilated.
She heard him ask, “If I do something right now, would you resist?” in a refined and courteous manner completely unbefitting those words.
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