Chapter 126: Seriously Ill
After Su Yaoguang handed the medicine packet to the headmaster and teachers, she no longer concerned herself with the epidemic matters, instead staying by Zhou Wangshu’s side with peace of mind to take care of him.
Although Zhou Wangshu was a bit more spirited, he kept having recurrent fevers. Su Yaoguang didn’t dare to leave his side at all, always staying in the room to accompany him and help him cool down.
When Zhou Wangshu woke up again, he saw Su Yaoguang with a haggard face slumped by the bedside, and a strange light flashed in his eyes.
There was ash on her face, and he wanted to wipe it off for her, but then he thought of the sickly aura on his own body and didn’t dare to reach out to touch her.
He picked up the cloak beside him and draped it over her.
Su Yaoguang was woken by him and sat up, touching his forehead: “It’s gone down again. I hope you don’t get another fever, otherwise even this older sister’s iron-clad body couldn’t endure it.”
Zhou Wangshu lowered his gaze: “It’s my fault. If not for taking care of me, you wouldn’t be this exhausted. Actually, you don’t need to bother with me. Anyway, no one is taking care of the other scholars either; the academy will send people to look after us.”
Seeing him like this, Su Yaoguang felt guilty.
“I didn’t mean to complain; I just feel sorry for you with these recurrent fevers, and I’m afraid it’s bad for your health.”
If one had to name the person in this world who least wanted to get sick, it would of course be the patient himself. He was already so pitiful being sick, and she had actually said this—it really wasn’t right. This made Su Yaoguang wish she could bite off her own tongue.
A sound of something heavy falling to the ground came from outside.
Su Yaoguang heard the sound, opened the window, and saw a scholar sprawled outside.
“Someone has fainted outside.” Su Yaoguang said as she prepared to go out.
Zhou Wangshu called out to her: “It must be someone who’s sick. Don’t go touching them randomly; just find people to carry him.”
“I’ll go take a look first.” Su Yaoguang said, “Don’t worry, I’ve covered my mouth and nose, and I’m carrying the medicine packet Jing’er made. I’ve taken care of you for so long without issue; just looking won’t be a problem.”
Su Yaoguang walked to the door, parted the man’s disheveled hair, and when she saw his appearance, her expression changed slightly. She quickly withdrew her hand to leave, but the person who should have been in a coma gripped her hand tightly and wouldn’t let go.
“Save me…”
Xiao Yanci.
“Let go.” Su Yaoguang pulled her arm back.
The man hugged her legs tightly again.
Su Yaoguang tried to struggle free, but he held on too tightly, as if he had used up all his strength in this lifetime just to grasp this one chance at survival.
“Someone… someone come…” Su Yaoguang shouted loudly.
A cough came from a sick scholar in another room: “Young lady, don’t shout. Everyone who isn’t sick has already left. The shop assistants who stayed to take care of us either got sick themselves or slipped away—they don’t dare stay in the academy at all. There are patients everywhere outside too; I heard quite a few have died in the neighboring town. Cough cough…”
Seeing no one come, Su Yaoguang believed what that scholar said.
She normally had great strength, but now she couldn’t break free from Xiao Yanci’s hold. It could only be said that for survival, even a weak scholar could display the ability to move mountains and rivers.
Of course, most importantly, her two legs were held by him, so she had no way to exert force.
Bang! Zhou Wangshu came out and kicked Xiao Yanci in the body.
Xiao Yanci felt the pain and let out a muffled grunt, then vomited a large amount of filth with a wow.
These past few days, what he had eaten was all things Jiang Yihuan got for him, and Jiang Yihuan didn’t know how to cook, so it was all meals from the dining hall. The academy hadn’t stocked grain in advance, and the porridge they boiled every day was so thin you could use it as a mirror—this showed what they’d been eating during this time. Once vomited, it was all sour water, nearly fumigating people unconscious.
Zhou Wangshu covered his mouth and nose and said to Su Yaoguang beside him: “You go inside first.”
“I’ll go find the headmaster and teachers; they have to get someone to handle things here. I don’t care about whether this person lives or dies, but we can’t just leave the other scholars unattended, right?” Su Yaoguang said.
“Yaoguang… save me.” Xiao Yanci reached out toward Su Yaoguang, looking at her pleadingly. “You said… you would take good care of me, so why ignore me?”
Su Yaoguang’s face changed drastically.
In this life, she had never said such words to Xiao Yanci; what he spoke of were matters from her previous life. From when had he begun to possess memories from the previous life? She could be certain that at the start, he hadn’t had them.
“When did you ever say you’d take care of him?” Zhou Wangshu looked her over, his tone sour. “Normally you act utterly disdainful toward him, but when I wasn’t aware, your relationship with him was this close?”
“He has delusions.” Su Yaoguang said irritably, “He’s sick, and your brain isn’t clear either? Enough, don’t stand there; be careful he passes the sickly aura to you. I’m going to find the headmaster.”
Xiao Yanci watched Su Yaoguang’s figure leave, his eyes full of unwillingness.
In his previous life, he had followed Su Yaoguang, with people chasing after him all day calling him Su Yaoguang’s son-in-law who lives with the wife’s family, saying he ate soft rice and relied on a woman to get ahead. Not only did Su Yaoguang not explain for him, she righteously questioned those people, saying things like ‘Yeah, he has a woman to rely on—are you jealous of him? You don’t have a woman supporting you, so do you want to be supported, which is why you’re saying this sour talk?’ At that moment, he felt utterly ashamed, even wanting to find a hole in the ground to crawl into. In the academy, he endured everyone’s scornful looks and could only keep studying nonstop, using his grades to shut their mouths.
Jiang Yihuan was different; she would nestle in his arms, letting him protect her and making him feel needed. Most importantly, Su Yaoguang acted crude, had an ordinary appearance, and brought no face when taken out.
In this life, after he recovered memory, he was very glad not to have become Su Yaoguang’s son-in-law who lives with the wife’s family, but instead to be by Jiang Yihuan’s side—they no longer had Su Yaoguang as an obstacle. He thought all the misfortunes he encountered in this backwater place were brought by Su Yaoguang, and as long as he stayed away from that woman, he could smoothly pass the exams for an official position and marry his beloved. However, why had things from the previous life that didn’t happen now occurred?
This illness was clearly so disgusting that everyone else stayed far away, yet she insisted on coming to take care of Zhou Wangshu. The way she willingly cared for Zhou Wangshu was even more devoted than in the previous life when she cared for him.
Why? Why? Could it be that to her, it didn’t matter who the man was? In the previous life, it was him, so she devoted herself to caring for him. In this life, it was Zhou Wangshu, so she was utterly devoted to Zhou Wangshu.
Zhou Wangshu rubbed his forehead and said weakly: “My head is so dizzy, so painful… What’s going on? Why does everything I see look like it has shadows?”
Zhou Wangshu spun in place, suddenly stepping on Xiao Yanci’s fingers.
“Ah…” Xiao Yanci cried out in agony.
Zhou Wangshu kept spinning, turning several circles.
“Ah… it hurts… you’re blind… ah…” Xiao Yanci’s throat was already hoarse beyond recognition.
When Su Yaoguang arrived with the teachers, what they saw was the sickly beautiful man swaying unsteadily there, while the one on the ground who wasn’t alive kept emitting screams and curses.
“Sorry about this, my family’s one is seriously ill, so I have to focus on taking care of him. Teachers, please watch this person and don’t let him out wandering again—it’s too frightening.” Su Yaoguang supported Zhou Wangshu and helped him inside.
