That kiss yesterday left Gu Xing unable to sleep all night.
Early the next morning, he went to look for Xia Yiyi.
From afar, he saw Xia Wanqing walking toward him and was so startled that he wanted to find a place to hide immediately.
She was far too clingy. She would definitely stop him and talk his ear off, and he couldn’t be bothered to deal with her.
Unfortunately, he was standing beside a long wall, with nowhere to hide in front, behind, or to either side.
Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he thought, Forget it. Worst case, I’ll just scold her.
Just as the insults were about to spill from his mouth, Xia Wanqing brushed past him. She seemed to be deep in thought, her head lowered, not even sparing him a glance.
Gu Xing’s open mouth snapped shut again.
It made him look ridiculously self-important.
She didn’t see him?
Impossible!
Gu Xing raised an eyebrow, suddenly enlightened.
Xia Wanqing must be trying to get his attention. This was clearly playing hard to get.
What a scheming woman.
He definitely wouldn’t fall for it.
Gu Xing lifted his chin arrogantly and headed toward the Xia residence.
Xia Wanqing’s brows were tightly knit.
Her uncle wasn’t her biological uncle. He was a child her grandfather had adopted, raised from a young age by her mother.
Her father feared that her uncle would stand up for her, so ever since she was little, he had constantly brainwashed her, saying that her uncle was an outsider who had stolen her grandfather’s property. As a result, she had grown up treating her uncle coldly.
In order to drive him away, she had said many cruel, hurtful things.
“Get lost, you thief. I don’t want to see you!”
“Your face is ghostly pale. I don’t want anything you give me!”
“You’re not my real uncle at all. You’re just a child Grandpa picked up!”
More than once, Xia Wanqing had seen her uncle’s eyes redden as he forced a smile.
Thinking of his deathly pale face back then filled her with guilt.
With those thoughts in mind, Xia Wanqing walked into the pharmacy.
Her uncle suffered from coronary heart disease and should have been resting quietly. Yet for years, he had run himself ragged for her sake, working day and night, and ended up dying even earlier than she did.
She still remembered that before his death, he had wanted to see her one last time, but Gu Xing had suppressed the news.
Her uncle, Ruan Jiahe, had held on for three days, until he truly couldn’t anymore, before finally passing away.
Xia Wanqing had seen countless dying people in the apocalypse and knew that every breath they took was agony.
Yet for the sake of seeing her, her uncle had relied on sheer willpower to endure, only to still miss seeing her one last time.
Now that she had been reborn, Xia Wanqing would never let her uncle repeat that fate. In this life, she would make sure he lived well.
There were medicines in her spatial storage, but not everything. After all, medicine had been extremely scarce in the later era.
She didn’t notice that a pair of eyes in the shadows had been watching her all along.
Gu Huaichuan was staying overnight at a guesthouse not far from the Xia residence. From his window, he could see Xia Wanqing’s window clearly.
Unable to sleep last night, he had stared at that window all night long, rubbing the marriage application until its edges were almost frayed.
The moment Xia Wanqing went out, he saw her.
When she was about to bump into Gu Xing earlier, he had been so nervous that he crumpled the application form in his hand.
Later, seeing that Xia Wanqing didn’t say a word and simply walked past, he quietly let out a breath of relief.
But in the next instant, worry filled his eyes.
From the moment she left the house, she had looked troubled. Was she worried about her family, or heartbroken over Gu Xing?
When he saw her enter a pharmacy, Gu Huaichuan’s heart clenched instantly. His hands at his sides tightened, his fingernails digging deep into his palms.
It was all his fault. He had let Xia Wanqing get drenched in cold water yesterday.
Even though it was midsummer, she was still a girl.
Bang!
He punched the wall. The skin on his knuckles split, bright red blood flowing out.
Gu Huaichuan, you really deserve to die. Why didn’t you protect Wanwan properly?
When he saw Xia Wanqing come out carrying two bags of medicine, he hurriedly dodged and hid in the corner.
He couldn’t let Wanwan see him. Otherwise, she might get frightened again and ignore him.
Once before, Wanwan had encountered some drifters, and he had stepped in to teach them a lesson. He hadn’t expected that his one-against-three fight would scare her badly.
Wanwan had said he looked like a future domestic abuser and told him to stay away.
How could he ever hurt Wanwan?
Yet the more he tried to explain, the more fear appeared on her face. In the end, to avoid scaring her further, he could only choose to leave.
After that, no matter how many letters he wrote, Wanwan never replied, avoiding him entirely.
Thinking of the disgust in Wanwan’s eyes made Gu Huaichuan tremble uncontrollably.
Xia Wanqing, carrying the medicine, glanced suspiciously toward the corner of the wall.
Had she just seen Gu Huaichuan?
But there was no one there. Maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her.
After buying some chestnut cakes at Canglang Pavilion, she headed toward her uncle’s house.
Standing at the door, she raised her hand but hesitated, unable to knock.
Would her uncle be angry?
Suddenly, an alarmed cry came from inside.
“Master!”
Xia Wanqing knocked on the door, but there was no response.
Oh no. Something must have happened to her uncle.
Having lived a second life, she didn’t want to lose such a wonderful uncle again.
“Uncle!”
She remembered that there was a dog hole in the yard. Following the route from her memories, she found it.
Inside the antique-style room, a man pale as paper lay on the bed with his eyes closed. A cane stood by the bedside.
In his palm, a white handkerchief was stained with a glaring red blotch. Each breath sounded like a broken bellows, wheezing “heh, heh.”
Beside him, an elderly man spoke anxiously, “Master, hold on. I’ll go find a doctor right now.”
A clear female voice rang out. “I’ll do it.”
Uncle Wen shouted angrily, “Who are you? How did you get in here?”
When he saw Xia Wanqing’s face clearly, Uncle Wen froze. Two lines of tears rolled down his deeply wrinkled face.
In disbelief, he said, “L–Little Miss…”
Ruan Jiahe, whose consciousness had been fading, suddenly became clear. He trembled as he reached out, needing to pause and catch his breath after every few words.
“Xia… Xia Wanqing. Am I dreaming?”
His hand hovered in midair, afraid to touch her, fearful that this was just an illusion that would vanish the moment he did.
The girl wore her hair in two braids, her eyes large and bright—
Seeing the mixture of anticipation and fear in her uncle’s eyes, Xia Wanqing’s own eyes grew hot.
After two lifetimes, she was finally seeing her uncle again.
“Uncle, it’s me.” As she spoke, Xia Wanqing placed her hand on his wrist.
Ruan Jiahe’s eyes filled with disappointment.
So it really was a dream.
Xia Wanqing wouldn’t even agree to see him. How could she call him “uncle”?
“Uncle, don’t be afraid. I’ll give you acupuncture right away.”
Xia Wanqing took out the needle pouch she had just bought at the pharmacy and drew out a silver needle.
Just as she was about to insert it, Uncle Wen hurriedly stopped her. “Little Miss, please leave the master a way to live!”
Xia Wanqing felt Ruan Jiahe’s pulse. “Uncle Wen, I’m treating my uncle.”
As she suspected, her uncle had tuberculosis.
Fortunately, she had arrived in time. If it had been delayed by another half hour, the illness would no longer have been curable.
Whether or not Little Miss knew medicine, Uncle Wen didn’t believe her from the tips of his hair to the soles of his feet.
“Get out!” Ruan Jiahe shook his head. “I’ll pass the sickness to you. Cough, cough.”
“Uncle, believe me.”
“Little Miss, you should leave.”
Uncle Wen was so anxious he almost reached out to pull her away, but he feared hurting her and didn’t dare to act.
“Uncle Wen, believe me.” Xia Wanqing looked up, her gaze firm.
“Cough—”
A violent cough burst forth. Ruan Jiahe spat out blood, his eyes rolling back as he fainted.
“Master!” Uncle Wen cried out, frantically wiping the blood from Ruan Jiahe’s face.
“Little Miss, please watch over the master. I’ll go find a doctor.”
Just as he was about to rush out, he saw Xia Wanqing move—her hand lifting and the needle falling.
He reached out to stop her, but he was too late. The silver needle had already been inserted between the master’s brows.
Soon, several major acupoints on his body were filled with silver needles. The needle tails trembled slightly, flashing with a metallic sheen.
Her movements were calm and orderly amid the chaos. Each needle landed precisely on its acupoint, so fast they left afterimages.
The paper-white color on Ruan Jiahe’s face visibly regained a hint of blood.
Uncle Wen’s mouth fell open in shock, unable to believe his eyes.
The master seemed to be all right now.
When had Little Miss learned medicine?
“How is the master?” Uncle Wen asked cautiously.
“For now, his life isn’t in danger. He’ll wake up after resting for a bit.” She stood and walked toward the redwood washstand.
Her slender, fair hands took a clean towel, soaked it in water, and wrung it out.
Uncle Wen was still reeling from the shock that Little Miss knew medical skills. It wasn’t until Xia Wanqing returned to Ruan Jiahe’s side that he snapped back to his senses.
He hurried to take the towel. “Little Miss, let me do it. How could you possibly do such things?”
“Taking care of my uncle is only right.”
Xia Wanqing took the towel and wiped the blood from Ruan Jiahe’s lips without hesitation, not a trace of disgust on her face.
Behind her, muffled sobbing sounds rose.