Li Shaoling had stayed quiet beside her all along. a.s.suming that he was watching with her, Ji Weixi thought nothing of it.

After around five episodes, she s.h.i.+fted her body a little since she was starting to feel sore when she felt a sinking sensation over her shoulder.

Li Shaoling's head had simply dropped, very naturally using her shoulder as a pillow.

Ji Weixi shoved him. "Get up, Li Shaoling!"

This trick again? Clingy.

"Get up!"

Li Shaoling fidgeted a little, and said very quietly, "It hurts…"

"…"

The same trick again!

Irritated, Ji Weixi pushed him away and he simply dropped sideways, as if having lost all strength.

Sensing that something wasn't right, she went up to touch him, and only realized then that he was frighteningly warm, and his forehead was even hotter when she put the back of her hand on it.

His eyes were tightly shut and his cheeks all red, his breaths rush and even scalding.

"Wake up, Li Shaoling!"

Ji Weixi was now absolutely horrified, with her heart tightening at the same time.

His fever would not recede quickly if she used some cold object to physically lower his temperature.

What would happen if the fever fries his brain? The Li family would become a laughing stock.

Ji Weixi s.h.i.+vered, her hair standing on end when she imagined Li Shaoling turning into a handicap child playing mud with her little one.

Without further ado, she soaked a towel in cold water and covered it over his forehead, and changed into fresh clothes before going downstairs to the lobby.

After some asking, the front desk informed her that the nearest pharmacy was at least one kilometer away.

Ji Weixi went upstairs to search for Li Shaoling's car keys but couldn't find it. She hence resorted to borrowing an umbrella from the front desk and travel on foot.

Cold winds were shrieking and pulling her umbrella. Hardly able to move forward, Ji Weixi wanted very much to retreat.

Still, she did not want Li Shaoling to be reduced to a loony, chasing after her every day and calling her mommy…

Just in case, she even bought every single antipyretic available.

After the long and difficult trip, Ji Weixi returned to the hotel completely soaked, with her long hair sticking over her neck. Her clothes were also dripping with rainwater, hugging her body and accentuating her curvaceous figure.

She quickly returned to her room after returning the umbrella, and jumped in shock when the door was opened.

Li Shaoling was sitting up while leaning just beside the doorway feebly. His huge body was curled up, leaving the doorway rather narrow.

He slowly locked up beneath the yellow corridor lights, his eyes becoming distant and watery the moment he saw Ji Weixi.

His face was unnaturally crimson, and he looked at once pitiful, helpless and especially lonely as the lights illuminated him.

After staring blankly for a moment, Ji Weixi rushed to him. "Why are you here?"

"I'm afraid that you would leave me…" Li Shaoling's voice was quiet, sad and no different from an abandoned child. There were even red circles over his eyes.

Ji Weixi felt as if her heart was stabbed, torn open, and spluttering blood.

She entered and closed the door, and found him even warmer as she felt for his temperature!

Look at him now. Could he be delirious from the fever?

Ji Weixi dropped to a crouch in front of him. "Why would I leave you?"

Li Shaoling immediately hugged her, nestling his head under her neck.

"Then would you leave me?" He asked carefully.

She remembered then that he was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d and was cursed for it, and so wrapped her arms tightly around him and gently stroked his back. "I would never leave you."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

Li Shaoling freed her and smiled.

A smile that was heart-aching to see.

Nonetheless, she coaxed him gently. "Come on up. Let's have some medicine, okay?"

She had never coaxed anyone so tenderly, not even her own son—Ji Jiayu.

Li Shaoling nodded, but his body was swaying all over the place and he had no strength at all. Gritting her teeth and summoning all her strength, Ji Weixi helped him get to the bed which he dropped into, his eyes closed as he breathed rapidly and very painfully.

Ji Weixi ignored the discomfort of her drenched clothes and quickly boiled some water to make him a cup of antipyretic.

Through it all, his gaze never left her, but he also had to struggle to keep his heavy eyelids open to find her, as if he was afraid that she would abandon him.

After warming the medicine, Ji Weixi brought the cup to his mouth. "Good boy, drink."

Li Shaoling's nose wrinkled after a sniff. "So bitter…"

At the moment, he was no different from a child… no, he is in fact a child.

Nonetheless, Ji Weixi kept her patience and coaxed him. "Drink it and it won't hurt anymore."

"But it tastes bitter."

Ji Weix looked around, pursing her lips when she found no sugar. "How about I give you a kiss after you finish it?"

"Really?"

Li Shaoling's eyes brightened and he immediately gulped down the medicine, and looked at her hopefully.

Ji Weixi could not help but smile, and kissed him gently.

"Still bitter?"

Li Shaoling shook his head and smiled childishly. "So sweet."

"Lie down, get some sleep. You'll be better when you wake up—I'm taking a bath."

Ji Weixi turned to leave, when two arms suddenly coiled around her.

"Don't leave me… please don't leave me…" Li Shaoling's voice was shuddering as he begged in his childish sleep-talking. "I'll be a good boy… I'll do anything you want… just… don't leave me…"

Ji Weixi froze, stunned.

This was the first time she had seen Li Shaoling like this.

To her impression, he had always been invincible and utterly egoistic.

But today… she finally knew that it was only a front.

Had he been abandoned before?

Ji Weixi lowered her head in a bitter smile, abruptly remembering how she had left her home to survive, bullied by everyone when her mother died.

Did Li Shaoling meet the same fate before?

She saw her past self, a past she would not recollect.

Hence, she turned and hugged Li Shaoling, and did her best to smile. "Why would I leave you? You're such a good boy. I would never leave you. ever."

She seemed to be telling her past self that.

Meanwhile, Li Shaoling was not freeing her. Such a big man, and yet he still had to shrink into her arms to sleep.

Ji Weixi's clothes remained half-wet and uncomfortably damp, but she had to endure it while she coaxed and gently stroking Li Shaoling.

The only thing she wasn't doing was singing a lullaby.

Li Shaoling slept soundly, his brows throwing a faint shadow over his eyelids.

Ji Weixi reached out to touch his forehead, and promptly breathed a sigh of relief: his fever had receded.

Gently putting down the arms he was holding her with, Ji Weixi took off her clothes and went for a shower.

After coming out in a bathrobe, she lay down beside him again.

When she closed her eyes this time, fatigue like never before struck her.

There was no telling how long had pa.s.sed, but the agony in her underbelly only grew, and she thought that she was bleeding profusely beneath.

She must have caught a cold, and it was almost common for her to dance between life and death whenever she caught a cold when she had her period.

Tossing around muddleheadedly, she felt as if someone held her, and a warmth seemed to wrap around her underbelly too.

Her tightly knitted brows slowly relaxed…