Chapter 196: Just Like A Spoiled Little Child
When Su Ran returned to the room holding the blue fish, the water on the stove was just boiling.
She quickly took off the raincoat, first poured more than half a cup of hot water, then mixed in a bit of the remaining cooled boiled water from before, and brought it in front of Grey.
At this time, there was another layer of fine sweat on Grey’s forehead. Su Ran reached out and gently patted Grey’s face. Having just come in from outside, her fingers were a bit cool, and the contrast was especially obvious when they touched Grey’s feverishly hot cheek.
“Woo~”
Grey’s eyelids lifted slightly, but he didn’t move.
“Grey, come drink some water.”
Su Ran patted his shoulder wrapped in the quilt again, holding the wooden cup in her other hand.
As soon as she finished speaking, two seconds later, the werewolf in the nest moved a little, lifting his head with some effort and slightly opening his eyes.
Su Ran hurriedly brought the cup to his mouth, gently supporting Grey’s head with one hand to help him.
Grey’s lips were already dry, wrinkled, and pale. He seemed very thirsty himself. After taking the first sip of water, he seemed to react and gulped down more than half the cup continuously.
Then he shook his head, refusing to drink more, and instead burrowed his head into Su Ran’s embrace.
“Ao wu~~”
The sick werewolf became especially clingy, appearing particularly weak and childlike.
Su Ran reached out to tuck in the quilt for it, patting his back twice.
Then she got up and poured another cup of hot water, drinking a large cup herself in one go. After finishing, she felt her whole body warming up from inside out, and only then did she relax with a sigh of relief!
She had just been outside catching fish, standing in the rain for half a day. Although the animal hide raincoat kept her body from getting wet, the wind had chilled her through and through, and even now her body was still a bit shaky.
Grey was already sick; she couldn’t afford to fall ill too!
After drinking the water, Su Ran squatted down, added firewood to the stove, then mixed the freshly boiled hot water with cool water, soaked a towel, and wiped down Grey’s body.
The temperature on Grey’s body was still very high, but after Su Ran wiped him down, the furrowed brow obviously relaxed a lot.
Su Ran took a small wooden bowl and filled it halfway with the stored dried red mushrooms from the small storage room behind the kitchen, then brought it into the room, poured in some of the remaining hot water from the jar, and after pouring, refilled the jar with water.
Then she took the oil lamp to the kitchen to prepare the blue fish.
She gutted the entire blue fish, cleaned it thoroughly, chopped it into several large pieces, and cut three finger onions.
At this time, the mushrooms soaking in hot water had opened up quite a bit. Su Ran picked and washed each mushroom clean, then brought all the things into the room.
She first took down the jar of bubbling water from the stove in the room and set it aside, then placed a stone-made wooden basin on the stove to use as a pot.
While the pot was heating, she wrapped Grey’s top of head with clothes again, slightly covering a bit of Grey’s forehead, then walked to the window side and pushed the window gap open a little, about a palm’s width.
At this time, she added mutton fat to the pot.
After the pot was hot, she first added the finger onions, quickly stir-fried them to bring out the aroma, then removed the onions and added the chopped blue fish chunks, letting the hot oil slightly sear the chunks for a bit.
Once seared to a slight color change, she flipped them with chopsticks, placed the chunks around the edges of the stone basin, and cleared the center bottom.
Then she added the red mushrooms, gently stirring with chopsticks for a bit. Once ready, she poured the hot water from the stone pot into the basin and covered it with a small wooden cutting board used as a pot lid.
After finishing these, Su Ran took the unused things back to the kitchen. When she returned, she went to the window and closed the recently opened gap, leaving only a finger-wide small slit.
Then she added some water to the hand-washing wooden basin and began wiping Grey’s forehead, palms, and soles every few minutes.
About twenty minutes later, the wooden basin on the stove began making gurgling sounds, and the aroma of fish soup gradually filled the entire room.
Su Ran was sitting cross-legged at the edge of the heated brick bed.
The three oil lamps in the room were placed in three positions, illuminating the entire room in a warm orange glow.
She reached out to touch Grey’s forehead. It was still hot, but seemed not as scorching as before.
It was obvious that the whole wolf’s expression had relaxed compared to just now, looking much more comfortable!
Su Ran got off the heated brick bed, took the cooled water from the hand-washing basin outside to dump it, and when she returned, poured a little of the remaining hot water from the jar into the basin, then wiped down Grey’s body again.
By this time, the clothes on Grey’s top of head had long been removed by her.
While wiping his body, Su Ran glanced at Grey’s ears, which were noticeably dry and fluffy, standing straighter, and felt a slight relief in her heart.
After wiping Grey’s body, she put down the towel, preparing to check the fish soup on the stove.
But just as she was about to move, Grey’s hand sticking out from the quilt suddenly grabbed her wrist.
“Ran Ran…”
He pulled Su Ran’s hand and pressed his face into her palm: “Woo~”
Su Ran’s movement to lift her foot paused, and she looked down at the big grey wolf with tightly closed eyes but refusing to let go of her.
The wolf who was usually full of vitality and strong and majestic now looked especially fragile and soft.
Like a spoiled little child.
She reached up to touch the fluffy ears on top of Grey’s head. With her touch, those ears couldn’t help but tremble continuously.
But compared to the soggy and limp state from over two hours ago, it was much more spirited.
“Woo~”
Grey, half-asleep, let out another low whimper from his throat, accompanied by a faint stomach growl from under the quilt.
Su Ran heard it and couldn’t help but smile.
The fish soup was almost ready, and by now the entire room was filled with the rich aroma of blue fish soup. Even Su Ran herself felt a bit hungry smelling it.
What’s more, Grey, who had been tormented half the night.
“Grey, get up and have some fish soup, okay?”
The sick werewolf was especially childlike, and when Su Ran spoke to Grey, she unconsciously used a tone like coaxing a child.
She lifted the bedding spread out right next to Grey, placed the small kang table used for eating on top of the heated brick bed, right next to Grey’s nest.
At this time, Grey huddled in the quilt moved, lifted his head, and half-squinted his eyes at Su Ran: “Ao wu~”
Su Ran leaned down to kiss his nose tip and touched his cool lips.
“I’ll go get a bowl to ladle soup for you.”
As soon as she spoke, she went out to the kitchen to fetch bowls, chopsticks, and a spoon, placing them on the small table.
Then she removed the cutting board from atop the stone basin stewing the fish soup on the stove, added some sea salt powder to the soup, and gently stirred it a few times with a wooden spoon.
The fish soup in the stone pot had been boiled to a milky white. With her stirring, the aroma became even richer. In the milky white soup, the small red mushrooms had fully cooked and opened, their tiny round umbrella-shaped caps floating on the fish soup, looking especially appetizing.
