Her face was no longer flushed, her head was no longer burning, and her breathing had become steady once again.
Seeing Xing Lian’s relaxed brow, Yue Li finally let out a sigh of relief.
“You should be fine now.”
Ever since Xing Lian fell ill, Yue Li had been on edge.
Now that Xing Lian had recovered, she could finally set her heart at ease.
However, this experience served as a wake-up call for her.
Xing Lian’s body was fragile; staying in the freezing snow indefinitely was not an option.
She had been lucky this time that there was a small town nearby.
If there hadn’t been a town, there was no telling what might have happened.
‘Continuing the journey is out of the question. It would be better to stay here for a while,’ Yue Li thought to herself.
However, she quickly overturned that decision.
She had learned from the townspeople that there was a city dozens of miles away.
Since she had decided to interact with outsiders, it would be better to live in the city rather than the town.
The environment there would be better, allowing Xing Lian to live more comfortably.
And so…
While Xing Lian was still unconscious from her illness, she was moved from the town to the city.
When she dazedily opened her eyes, everything before her had changed.
Beneath her was a soft, large bed, and her surroundings were warm.
Just where was she?
“You’re awake. How do you feel?”
Yue Li had been guarding the bedside.
Seeing Xing Lian wake up, she reached out and touched her forehead.
“Not hot at all. It seems you’ve fully recovered.”
Xing Lian ignored her.
Her head was still a mess of confusion.
She closed her eyes and rested for a while before finally regaining her clarity.
“What happened to me? Where is this?”
“This is an inn in the city.”
“What!?” Xing Lian was startled.
They had been in the middle of nowhere before; how did they suddenly enter a city?
“It couldn’t be helped. You had a fever, so I had to bring you to the city for medical treatment.”
Hearing her say this, Xing Lian’s expression shifted through several emotions.
She remembered.
She had suddenly felt very unwell back then; it must have been the illness.
Thinking about the reason she got sick, her expression turned sour.
It was all Yue Li’s fault.
If she hadn’t forced herself on her and done those things in the freezing snow, how could she have possibly fallen ill?
The more Xing Lian thought about it, the angrier she became.
She let out a cold snort, gripped the quilt with both hands, and pulled it up to cover her head.
Seeing her like this, Yue Li was nearly fuming with anger, ‘This little ungrateful thing.’
Because she was sick, Yue Li had almost died of worry.
She had rushed all the way here, exhausted to the point of lightheadedness.
After she had taken such careful care of her, this was how she was repaid?
“Get out from there. Are you seriously angry with me?”
Yue Li reached out and pulled Xing Lian out from under the covers.
“What? Should I not be angry?”
Her body was already weak.
Being subjected to those intimate acts in the wilderness—it would have been a miracle if she didn’t get sick.
This was all Yue Li’s fault.
“I helped you.”
“But you’re also the one who made me sick!”
“You…”
Yue Li was left speechless.
Only after a long silence did she whisper a single sentence.
“But last night, you were clearly very happy too.”
Don’t think she didn’t know.
The little girl had resisted fiercely at first, but it hadn’t taken long for her to start responding.
That practiced way she cooperated made Yue Li feel incredibly bitter.
“You’re lying!”
Xing Lian’s face suddenly turned a deep crimson, though it was unclear if it was from anger or because the truth had been hit on the head.
“Whether I’m lying or not, you know the truth in your heart.”
Yue Li snorted, the happiness from earlier completely gone.
Xing Lian was angry that Yue Li had bullied her and caused her illness.
Yue Li was angry that Xing Lian held so many prejudices against her and was always being unreasonable.
Just like that, the two of them parted on bad terms.
Over the next few days, whenever they interacted, they looked at each other with nothing but disdain.
Aside from daily meal deliveries, they hardly spoke a word.
Xing Lian had no complaints about this routine.
She didn’t like Yue Li to begin with, so having less contact with her was a good thing.
But it was different for Yue Li.
She had finally managed to take Xing Lian away, yet they were constantly at loggerheads.
The relationship wouldn’t soften, and she could look but not touch—it was a form of torture for her.
Forget it, she was a magnanimous woman; how could she bicker with a young girl?
Yue Li decided to take a step back and apologize to Xing Lian while delivering a meal, hoping to proactively ease the tension.
However, Xing Lian remained unmoved, acting as if she hadn’t heard a thing.
This made Yue Li very angry, but she forced herself to endure it.
For the next ten days or so, Yue Li spoke with gentle and soft words every day, trying to reconcile with Xing Lian.
However, the girl’s attitude never changed, which eventually pushed Yue Li to the limit of her patience.
She was not a good-tempered person to begin with.
Being humble and submissive for over ten days was already her limit.
After struggling for so long, even though she had feelings for Xing Lian, she was starting to find it hard to persevere.
“Just how long are you going to keep this up?”
It was another day, at mealtime.
Seeing Xing Lian taking small bites of her food without giving her a single word or even a glance, Yue Li couldn’t hold back any longer.
Xing Lian didn’t speak, simply continuing to eat in silence.
Yue Li took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then opened them again, her tone now deathly cold.
“Little Lian, you’ve ignored me for this long because of what happened that day. At first, I thought you were genuinely angry, but now that I think about it carefully, is that really the case?”
Xing Lian stopped eating.
Yue Li narrowed her eyes and continued.
“Could it be that you’re just using that as an excuse? Are you intentionally pretending to be angry because you don’t want to have anything to do with me and don’t want me to touch you anymore… because you’re still thinking about her?”
A flicker of guilt flashed across Xing Lian’s face.
With that, Yue Li understood everything.
She was doing it on purpose, using the incident as a pretext to distance herself.
“Fine. You may look small, but I didn’t expect you to be so calculating.”
“What? She can touch you, but I can’t? What makes me worse than her?”
“You only spent a few months together; what kind of feelings could you possibly have? After being apart for this long, she’s probably forgotten you already.”
“You’re lying!”
Xing Lian snapped her head up, unable to remain silent any longer.
Yue Li could say anything else about her, but questioning her feelings was absolutely forbidden!
Fei loved her so much; how could she possibly forget her?
“I’m lying? How am I lying? You only knew each other for a few months. Do you really think she’ll keep you in her heart forever?”
“I…” Xing Lian stammered, wanting to say something to refute her, but she couldn’t find a logical argument.
After all, Yue Li was right; the time she and Fei had spent together was too short.
“You can’t say it, can you? Deep down, you know it too. The bond between you can’t stand the test of time. She only wanted you because you’re beautiful; she was just lusting after your beauty.”
Xing Lian lowered her head, her pearly teeth lightly biting her lower lip.
Was the bond between her and Fei really not deep?
Was it purely a matter of lust?
No, that wasn’t it.
She could feel that Fei liked her very much, and she liked Fei too.
They had been so happy when they were together.
She relied on her, trusted her, and felt a heartfelt warmth whenever Fei was by her side.
This had to be the ‘love’ so often mentioned in stories; Fei couldn’t possibly forget her that quickly.
But… was it really impossible?
Xing Lian’s eyes flickered, feeling utterly lost.
Yue Li didn’t know what Xing Lian was thinking, but right now, she felt furious—extremely furious.
Seeing that the little girl was physically weak, she hadn’t wanted to use violent methods.
She had intended to use gentleness to move her, but the girl simply didn’t know what was good for her.