Su Zhan had a dream, but she could not quite remember what she had dreamed.
She only vaguely recalled seeing two girls whose appearances she could not make out, yet they wore beautiful clothes.
They stood beside a wide river, bowed to her with clasped hands, then held each other’s hands and stepped across the flowing water toward the opposite shore.
In the dream she seemed to have heard something, but the specific content was shrouded in a layer of fog.
The more she tried to recall it, the more blurred it became.
When she opened her eyes again, the sky had completely darkened.
Outside the window she could faintly see the scattered lights of the flower street in the distance.
Su Zhan stared at the ceiling in a daze, thinking groggily that this seemed to be Tang Pavilion.
Yet all these rooms looked the same, and her own room did not have such a fragrant smell…
“Why are you awake already?”
Xia Liu pushed open the door at this moment. She had probably brought in a basin of water and set it on the table.
She glanced at her, then labored to wring out a wet towel.
Su Zhan propped herself up, wanting to sit, but her entire body was still weak.
She only managed to lift herself a little before her hands trembled violently.
“Hey, be careful. Tell me what you want to do instead of fussing around for no reason!” Seeing this, Xia Liu quickly stepped forward to support her. With gentle force she helped Su Zhan half-lean and sit up.
“How long did I sleep?” Su Zhan shook her head, feeling dizzy and not very clear-headed.
“It should have been four or five shichen. You suddenly fell asleep earlier and really gave me a fright.”
Xia Liu spoke with displeasure.
In the afternoon, seeing that Su Zhan’s condition had improved a little, she had helped her prepare to descend the mountain.
But Su Zhan had insisted on properly burying Li Senior Sister’s body no matter what.
Xia Liu could not understand. To her, this Li Senior Sister was both a stranger and an enemy.
Burying her was a meaningless matter compared to bringing Su Zhan down the mountain safely.
Yet she could not win against Su Zhan’s persistence, so she had no choice but to let Su Zhan rest in place while she first dragged the corpse to find an intact room to place it in.
She planned to settle Su Zhan first and deal with the burial later.
At worst, she could make another trip alone tomorrow.
But the moment she stepped out the door, she saw Su Zhan had already collapsed on the ground, looking unconscious.
Fortunately, Su Zhan had only fallen asleep from exhaustion.
When she got close, she could still hear steady breathing.
Thinking of this, Xia Liu’s expression turned displeased.
This dumb Su Zhan had already exhausted herself to that state, yet she was still thinking about that Li Senior Sister.
“You probably haven’t slept well recently, which is why you were so fatigued. Later I’ll change your medicine for you. You can sleep a bit more afterward.”
As Xia Liu spoke, she turned and brought over the towel she had just wrung dry. She placed it on Su Zhan’s forehead and face and began carefully wiping.
“Hiss… mm…”
Su Zhan gently inhaled and let out a small nasal sound.
It felt as though she had been pricked by a needle, and her body could not help but tremble along with it.
Xia Liu’s strength was not small, and her movements could not be called gentle. But this was normal.
After all, she had never taken care of anyone before.
“Now you know it hurts?”
Xia Liu raised an eyebrow.
She wiped Su Zhan’s face once, then took the towel away and repeated the motion of wetting and wringing it dry.
She had not expected Su Zhan to have a side like a little child, unable to help but whimper when the wounds were touched.
She had thought Su Zhan would remain expressionless no matter how she was handled.
“The most serious injuries on Senior Sister’s body right now are the abdomen, chest, and both arms. The other places are better, just some external wounds.”
“Is that so… Then it’s still fine.” Su Zhan nodded and revealed a light smile.
Only these three places being injured was already far beyond Su Zhan’s expectations.
She had thought she would end up covered in wounds all over.
“Fine my ass.” Xia Liu rolled her eyes at her.
“Injured to this extent, and you can still smile.”
“You don’t know what you looked like when I was carrying you back. Covered in blood from head to toe, you scared so many people along the way.”
“At least I’m still alive, aren’t I?”
Su Zhan smiled. “Surviving a great disaster, and having Junior Sister by my side to take care of me, is already a great blessing.”
Having read the original work, Su Zhan knew what kind of words would make Xia Liu happy.
That was to follow along with Xia Liu’s words and find ways to praise her.
“Two days without seeing each other, and Senior Sister has even learned to sweet-talk and coax people?”
Xia Liu’s lips curled. Her words were unforgiving, yet the expression on her face relaxed quite a bit.
She once again held the towel and supported Su Zhan’s chin, making her tilt her head up slightly.
After wiping Su Zhan’s neck as well, perhaps feeling that the neck was more fragile than the cheeks, Xia Liu’s movements became much gentler and finer. Su Zhan felt ticklish.
After finishing these, Xia Liu let out a long breath. Just as she was about to turn around, she suddenly thought of something and asked Su Zhan,
“Does Senior Sister want to sit like this next, or should I help you lie down?”
“Just sit like this. It’s more comfortable.”
Su Zhan answered. Lying down made her chest feel stuffy, as if she could not breathe well.
“Alright. This way it’s also more convenient for me.”
Xia Liu nodded.
Then she pinched her fingertips and suddenly lifted the quilt covering Su Zhan.
Su Zhan’s body subconsciously wanted to stop her, but her hands could only lift slightly before being stopped by the stabbing pain in her elbows and shoulders… No wonder she could not use any strength.
These two places were wrapped tightly in gauze. Even if she had strength, she could not exert it.
Besides her arms, her abdomen and chest were also wrapped in a layer of gauze… No wonder she felt she could not breathe.
It turned out she was wrapped too tightly.
She suddenly remembered that Xia Liu had just said she was going to change her medicine, so she calmed down.
It was good that she could not lift her hands, otherwise this would seem pretentious.
“Mm, looks like the recovery is going well.”
Xia Liu knelt on one knee at the bedside, half-kneeling on the bed.
She leaned down close to Su Zhan’s waist and carefully examined it.
She reached out and stroked the gauze. Her warm breath brushed across Su Zhan’s skin, causing a wave of numbness.
Su Zhan felt somewhat uncomfortable. She really was not tolerant of ticklishness, especially when a pretty girl was leaning over her waist with a serious expression.
It made her think of some not-so-good scenes. The tips of her ears could not help but flush slightly red.
“Ah…”
Xia Liu stared for a long while, then suddenly sat up straight and let out a light sigh.
“What is it?” Su Zhan was puzzled. Why sigh for no reason when everything was fine.
“Nothing. I just suddenly felt that it’s a bit inconvenient again. I need to adjust Senior Sister’s position first.”
Xia Liu said faintly. “Otherwise, I’m afraid before the gauze is even removed, I’ll have already taken full advantage of Senior Sister.”
After she finished speaking, her gaze moved upward with some complexity and landed on Su Zhan’s chest… These two dumplings were really in the way.
“Alright. I’ll listen to Junior Sister.”
Su Zhan nodded. Adjusting the position was fine too.
It would save both of them from embarrassment.
If she were not truly unable to exert any strength right now, she would definitely have changed the medicine herself.
“Then Senior Sister must not move around.”
Having received Su Zhan’s agreement, Xia Liu got down from the bed.
One hand wrapped around her waist, the other passed through the bend of her legs.
She lifted her horizontally and placed her on the other side of the bed.
Only then did Xia Liu nod in satisfaction.
She sat behind Su Zhan, pinched the knot at her waist, gave it a gentle tug, and with both arms around her waist, unwrapped the gauze circle by circle.
Although this was still somewhat ambiguous, it was much better than facing each other.
Su Zhan closed her eyes and did not let herself think randomly, allowing Xia Liu to move freely.
“Pa!”
At this moment, a cracking sound suddenly came from outside the door.
Xia Liu and Su Zhan’s movements froze at the same time.
After coming back to their senses, they both turned their heads to look.
They saw Ji Xing standing at the doorway holding a wooden tray in a daze.
The teacup that should have been on the tray had fallen to the ground.