Perhaps Tang Zhou had swallowed too hastily, which caused him to choke.
Shen Zhixi instinctively reached out to pat his chest to help him catch his breath, but his chest was wounded, and the coughing had aggravated the injury, causing it to bleed again.
“Mr. Tang…”
Tang Zhou coughed while shaking his head to indicate he was fine.
It took a long while for him to gradually stop coughing. His cheeks flushed red from the coughing, the redness spreading all the way down to his neck, making Shen Zhixi’s eyelids flutter uncontrollably.
It was truly because his flushed skin looked so enticing.
Even though she knew he was severely injured, his complexion and spirit were far from good, and a normal person wouldn’t harbor improper thoughts toward such a wounded man, somehow Tang Zhou always had this ability—even when coughing up blood, he could stir a restless itch in people’s hearts. He was a demon, so bewitching that Shen Zhixi felt particularly indecent herself.
“The medicine must be too bitter, right? Don’t worry, Mr. Tang, I’ve prepared some sugar beans. After drinking the medicine, have one right away to ease the bitterness. But you still need to finish all the medicine. Fortunately, this medicine only needs to be taken once a day.”
She softened her tone, coaxing him gently as if he were a child.
Hearing this, Tang Zhou’s brows twitched slightly, as if carrying a hint of awkward embarrassment.
After he finished the medicine, Shen Zhixi indeed placed a sugar bean wrapped in oil paper into his hand.
Yet he merely held it in his palm, not eating it.
When Shen Zhixi returned after setting the medicine bowl on the table, she held a small medicine bottle in her hand.
“Mr. Tang, I…” she feigned a shy tone.
Tang Zhou lifted his eyelids, his bright eyes turning toward her as he waited for her to continue.
After a pause, she spoke again.
“I… I’ll help you… help you apply the medicine. It must be inconvenient for you, and… there are wounds on your back too. I was careless last night, only giving you hot water to wipe your body, forgetting that you… I don’t know if you applied any medicine last night either.”
Tang Zhou shifted his gaze and replied, “I applied some medicine.”
Last night, along with the clothes she had sent, there was also an ointment for knife wounds. Though he couldn’t see, he had managed to apply it by touch, but there were indeed many areas he couldn’t reach.
“I… I…”
Shen Zhixi stammered, appearing very shy.
Tang Zhou naturally understood her meaning. She was willing to set aside the propriety between men and women to help him apply medicine; how could he be hesitant and ungrateful toward her kindness? Moreover, considering all she had done for him, if he kept refusing, it would seem as if he were overly suspicious and heartless.
“Then… I’ll trouble you, Miss Lily.”
His reply wasn’t entirely smooth either, as he had never exposed his body in front of any woman before.
Even the act of undoing his belt was hesitant.
But no matter how conflicted he felt, the moment the belt came loose eventually arrived.
Shen Zhixi stood right before him, watching as the belt he had undone slowly fell away. As his robe gradually loosened, the smile on her lips grew deeper, her heart racing wildly with an inexplicable excitement, almost wishing she could tear his clothes off herself.
But she had to remain reserved—pretend to be reserved.
When Tang Zhou pulled open his robe, she even had to act shy, turning her body slightly away.
For a long while, neither of them spoke.
“Is… is it done?” Finally, Shen Zhixi asked with a trembling voice.
“Yes,” he replied softly, lifting his head slightly. “It’s done.”
“…Alright, alright.”
Though she answered, Shen Zhixi still hesitated to turn back.
Tang Zhou seemed to sense this and suggested, “Miss Lily, perhaps I should do it myself.”
“No, it’s nothing, you…”
In her panic, she turned abruptly, but upon seeing his bare chest, she gasped in shock, turning away in a mix of embarrassment and fear, even taking two steps back to distance herself, not daring to approach.
Her reaction left Tang Zhou at a loss.
He grabbed the clothes beneath him, instinctively about to put them back on, when Shen Zhixi’s apologetic voice rang out, saying, “S-sorry, I haven’t… I haven’t seen a man’s… so… so… I don’t mean to be disgusted by you.”
“I know.”
Tang Zhou clutched the clothes tightly, his eyelids twitching as he insisted, “Miss Lily can just leave the ointment.”
Shen Zhixi took a deep breath and slowly turned back.
“There are some wounds you might not be able to reach. Without medicine, they’ll heal slowly, and I don’t want to see you coughing up blood again.”
As she spoke, she approached step by step.
When she stopped before him again, both of them felt inexplicably tense, lingering without action. Of course, Shen Zhixi’s nervousness was entirely feigned, but she played the part so convincingly, and with Tang Zhou unable to see, he believed it all the more.
“Miss Lily…”
“I-I’ll apply the medicine for you now.”
Though her tone was hesitant and stammering, Shen Zhixi’s face concealed a hidden smile. Her eyes, filled with restraint, resembled a wild beast eyeing its prey before the hunt, ready to devour its target whole.
She removed the wooden stopper from the medicine bottle and leaned down slightly.
A dollop of milky-white ointment gathered on her fingertip as she slowly reached out, pressing it against the knife wound on Tang Zhou’s chest.
His breath hitched, and she flinched as if startled.
“Does… does it hurt?”
He shook his head, lowering his gaze. “No, it doesn’t hurt.”
The atmosphere around them began to turn strangely enchanting at that moment—not quite reaching the level of intimacy, yet undeniably ambiguous, especially with the way Shen Zhixi looked at him, as if she could melt him.
Her hand pressed against his wound again, gently spreading the ointment over it.
Then, using her fingertip, she pressed into the ointment, swirling it in circles, smoothing it over every inch of reddened skin. When it wasn’t enough, she poured a bit more from the white porcelain bottle. Though it was an ointment, it was rather thin, and as she glanced up at him, a drop slipped from her fingertip and landed on his navel.
That area was even more sensitive, the cold wetness causing his body to tense.
“Sorry.”
This time, it truly wasn’t intentional on her part.
As she used her finger to scoop the ointment back, she realized something was off, her retracted hand pausing mid-air, unsure whether to proceed or withdraw.
What was most off, however, was Tang Zhou’s expression.
His face had actually flushed—not from pain due to injury, but from shyness, a soft pink spreading across his cheeks, with the deepest red at the roots of his ears. He kept his gaze lowered deeply, refusing to look up even a little, perhaps out of pride, afraid of being noticed.
Shen Zhixi smiled as she watched him, genuinely finding it amusing.
She hadn’t expected him to be so innocent.
Though she had never been intimately involved with a man either, she wasn’t as innocent as he was. But innocence was good—it meant he had never been with a woman before, remaining pure and untouched.
“I… I’ll continue applying the medicine for you.”
She calmly withdrew her hand but couldn’t resist stealing another glance at his well-defined abdominal muscles.
Not an ounce of excess fat, sculpted beautifully.
“Thank you for your trouble, Miss Lily.” Tang Zhou still kept his gaze lowered, knowing he couldn’t see but not daring to look at her.
She smiled, carefully wiping each of his wounds, from front to back, meticulously and thoroughly. After applying the ointment, she corked the bottle and then leaned down again, gently blowing on the still-damp salve on his back.
Tang Zhou took a sharp breath and immediately sat up straight.
While tending to the wounds on his back, he had turned sideways to make it easier for her.