Although Duan Xu had left the house after leaving Fang Xianye, he still had to climb over the wall to return to Duan's house. When Duan Xu landed quietly on the wall in the yard, he unexpectedly met Duan Jingyuan's eyes.
"It's so late? Why haven't you slept yet?" Duan Xuqi asked after staring at each other for a while.
Duan Jingyuan ran over with a lantern in hand, and said in the same surprise: "I remembered that I forgot one ingredient in my chrysanthemum wine... No, it's so late, where have you been dressed like this?"
As soon as she got closer, she saw the blood on Duan Xu's collar. Her face turned pale and she said with trembling lips: "Third brother...you...you went to kill someone?"
Duan Xu couldn't help but laugh. He walked leisurely to his yard and patted Duan Jingyuan on the head: "No, that's my blood."
Duan Jingyuan immediately caught up with Duan Xu and asked, "Are you injured? What on earth did you do there?"
Duan Xu shook his head, put his finger on his lips and said, "It's a secret."
Duan Jingyuan was so angry that his cheeks puffed up. He followed Duan Xu into his Haoyue Residence and said as he walked: "Don't try to fool me this time. If you don't tell me again, I will tell Dad..."
Before she finished speaking, she saw Duan Xu's pace slow down. He seemed to stagger and then fell to the ground without any warning. With a dull thud, he remained motionless. Duan Jingyuan was stunned and whispered, "Brother, don't try to scare me. Stop pretending and get up!"
Duan Xu lay on the stone slab in the yard with his eyes closed. Under the light, his face was pale, like a piece of white jade that was about to break.
Duan Jingyuan panicked. She put down the lantern and picked up Duan Xu, calling out, "Third brother, third brother, wake up!"
When she really hugged Duan Xu, she felt the alarming heat on him—he had a high fever. Duan Jingyuan covered his forehead in panic and raised her voice: "Third brother! Third brother!"
As if disturbed by Duan Jingyuan's voice, Duan Xu frowned and called out softly - He Simu, and then no matter how Duan Jingyuan called him, he did not respond.
Duan Jingyuan stood up anxiously and wanted to call for help, but when she saw her third brother in night clothes, she felt that she must not disturb her parents. When she looked towards the gate of the courtyard hesitantly, she suddenly felt a chilly breath, and when she turned her gaze back, she was surprised to see a familiar figure.
A tall and beautiful woman stood beside Duan Xu, wearing a red and white triple-layered gown with curved hems, and a silver tassel fluttered on her forehead. The north wind was howling, the lights were flickering, and the spooky aura on her body was three times colder than the north wind.
Duan Jingyuan finally found her voice and said with some stammering: "He... He Xiao... He Xiao."
The ghostly aura around He Simu quickly subsided, her eyes became clear again, and she nodded slightly in response to Duan Jingyuan's greeting. She lowered her eyes to look at Duan Xu for a moment, sighed, and raised her hand slightly, and Duan Xu's body was lifted up out of thin air. She then took Duan Xu's arm and put him on her shoulder.
Duan Xu rested his forehead on He Simu's neck. He dazedly reached out his hands to hug her neck, closed his eyes and whispered, "He Simu..."
He Simu glanced at him, then turned and walked towards his room, the door opened automatically. Duan Jingyuan followed them closely, and saw He Simu put Duan Xu on the bed. With a flick of her finger, his clothes automatically peeled off, revealing his scarred shoulders and chest.
Duan Jingyuan was surprised and asked, "Miss He... What are you doing?"
"Change clothes. We can't let him wear this nightgown." He Simu said calmly, and turned to Duan Jingyuan, "Go call the doctor."
Duan Jingyuan gritted her teeth, turned around, picked up her lamp and went to find a doctor. On one hand, she thought, it was a ghost, how could she leave her third brother with a ghost? On the other hand, she thought that her third brother was calling her name in his dreams, why should she worry about it? Maybe even if he was eaten by Miss He, it would be something that her third brother would not want. When she brought the doctor over with all her wild thoughts, there was no sign of He Simu in the room, and Duan Xu was lying on the bed in a single layer of clothes, covered with a thick quilt, with a wet handkerchief on his forehead, and sleeping tiredly with his eyes closed.
The doctor walked over and took Duan Xu's wrist to feel his pulse. Duan Xu frowned and called out softly, "Si Mu..."
Duan Jingyuan was stunned. She held onto the door frame, unable to describe the feeling in her heart.
The doctor could not tell what was wrong with Duan Xu's body, so he could only prescribe medicine for the fever. Duan Jingyuan asked the maid to cook the medicine and bring it to Duan Xu, but Duan Xu kept his lips tightly closed, and as soon as he smelled the medicine, he turned his head away subconsciously and refused to drink it.
Duan Jingyuan was sweating from anxiety, but suddenly she sensed a familiar cold breath. She paused while feeding the medicine, and said to her maid, "You go down first, I'll do it myself."
The maid responded and left.
Duan Jingyuan saw the red edge of the clothes out of the corner of her eye. He Simu stood beside her with his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed on Duan Xu lying on the bed.
"What's wrong with him?" He Simu asked.
"I don't know... The doctor couldn't tell either, he just said... Third Brother is very weak." Duan Jingyuan answered in a low voice.
He Simu raised his hand and threw a pill into the medicine bowl in Duan Jingyuan's hand, then walked over with the medicine bowl and sat down next to Duan Xu.
Duan Jingyuan was a little anxious and stopped him, saying, "What did you throw in there?"
"I'm looking for the elixir from the Immortal Sect. If you don't eat it, you'll die."
"Why... did you come to see my third brother?" Duan Jingyuan was skeptical.
He Simu raised his eyes and glanced at Duan Jingyuan, and said lightly: "He asked someone to meet me, so I came here, and I have met him."
After saying that, she scooped out a spoonful of medicine and placed it on Duan Xu's lips: "Open your mouth and drink the medicine."
Duan Xu frowned and turned his head away. He had already had a fever and was unconscious. At this moment, he instinctively hated the bitter taste of the medicine and would not say a word no matter what anyone said.
He Simu whispered, "You're still so afraid of bitterness. Do you have any candied fruit?"
Duan Jingyuan stood up immediately and said: "I'll go buy it right away!"
"Forget it." He Simu picked up the bowl and took a sip, then supported Duan Xu's back and kissed his lips to pry open his teeth. Duan Xu's throat finally moved and he drank the medicine.
When she left Duan Xu's lips, Duan Xu stretched out his arms and hugged her neck. There was a look of pain on his face, and it was unknown whether he was tortured by illness or something else. He closed his eyes and murmured: "Missing you... It's so painful... Ugh..."
Before he could finish, He Simu lowered her head to feed him the second mouthful, blocking his voice. He waved his arm around her shoulders without direction, and his slender fingers finally grabbed the hair on the back of her head. He raised his neck with great effort.
The sound gradually changed in tone, with the sound of lips and tongues entangled in the transition of the medicine. When He Simu let him go, he began to call her name again. He could not say it more than twice before she blocked his mouth again. In this way, he drank a bowl of medicine intermittently.
He Simu put the empty bowl aside and wanted to put Duan Xu back on the bed, but Duan Xu refused to let go. He buried his head in her neck, his cheek against hers, and said randomly: "It's so bitter... I don't want it... I don't want to drink... Simu..."
She was quiet for a moment, and finally raised her hand to pat his back, and said softly: "No more, finished drinking, Duan Fox."
He stroked He Simu's cold skin. Perhaps because he was unconscious due to the fever, he was particularly attached to the warmth of her body. He hugged her tighter and tighter, as if he had spent all his limited strength on this.
"It's so hot, Simu, I feel so uncomfortable..." He frowned tightly, as if the pain could not be relieved, and whispered: "Hold me."
He Simu stopped patting his back. She was silent for a moment, and finally sighed. She slowly moved over and stretched out her arms to hug his back, burying her head on his shoulder. Her strength was a bit scary, as if she couldn't stop holding him tightly in her arms, a hug that was integrated into her bones and blood.
It seemed as if the person in her arms was someone she couldn't afford to lose.
Duan Jingyuan was stunned for a moment, then lowered his eyes and quietly left Duan Xu's room, closing the door.
When Duan Xu woke up, it was already bright outside. The heat that had tortured him all night had faded away. He looked out the window in confusion, his eyes wandered around the room and then fell on Duan Jingyuan lying on the bed. He frowned and thought about it. Chen Ying stayed in the military camp outside the city last night, so Jingyuan took care of him all night
Duan Jingyuan moved and raised her head from her arms. She was surprised to see Duan Xu had woken up. If her third brother didn't wake up, she would really tell her parents. She reached out to touch her third brother's forehead, took a long breath, and then said angrily: "You scared me to death, third brother, what's going on with you?"
Duan Xu propped himself up and sat up, saying with a smile: "The doctor said I have a strange disease, and I don't know what's going on. Thank you for taking care of me last night."
Duan Jingyuan was stunned. She hesitated and observed Duan Xu's expression and said, "Don't you remember what happened last night?"
Duan Xu was a little surprised: "What happened?"
Duan Jingyuan hesitated for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "Miss He was here? She changed your clothes and fed you medicine, and you...you still want someone to hold you!"
Duan Xu's hand, which was rubbing his forehead, froze in mid-air. He was stunned for a long time before he said, "She... is here? Did I call her name?"
Duan Jingyuan nodded vigorously and said, "You are shouting really hard."
"He Simu." He called out her name again almost immediately. Duan Jingyuan looked at Duan Xu in surprise, then looked around, and suddenly realized, "So as long as you call her, she will appear? She said yesterday that she was asked by someone to come and see you."
There was no sign of He Simu in the room, so it seemed like it was just an accident.
Duan Xu frowned, then smiled and sighed, "So that's how it is, just one side."
The morning light illuminated the room brightly. Duan Xu was dressed in white and looked pale. He said something sad, but his round, shining eyes were smiling, as if he was bright and carefree. This was Duan Jingyuan's most familiar third brother, but she remembered Duan Xu who hugged He Simu last night.
Her heart moved slightly, and after thinking for a moment, she bit her lip and asked, "Third brother, can you act like a spoiled child? You are actually... a person who likes to act like a spoiled child, right?"
She had never seen Duan Xu act like a spoiled child. In her memory, the third brother loved to laugh, was lively, and carefree, but was never close to his father and mother, and was even a little polite and distant. It seemed that he never needed love or sympathy from anyone in his life.
So she thought that the third brother would not act like a spoiled child, would not hug a girl tightly and refuse to let go, and would say softly, "I feel so uncomfortable, please hug me."
But maybe he was a person who liked to act like a spoiled child? She always felt that she didn't really understand him.
Duan Xu was stunned. He seemed to find the question funny. He was about to answer "no", but he stopped talking for some reason.
He was silent for a moment, then said with a smile: "I am used to pretending to be weak to trick people into being soft-hearted. Maybe I have been deceiving them for too long, so the fake has become real."
Think about it, she is such a smart person. If she didn't see his true desire in his pretended weakness, how could she give in every time.
"Third brother, why do you like Miss He so much?"
Duan Jingyuan really couldn't figure it out. Miss He was pretty, but Nandu was not short of pretty girls. Miss He seemed very powerful, but what use was a powerful ghost to a human
Duan Xu thought seriously for a while, tapping his hands on his bent knees absentmindedly, and said, "When I first fell in love with her, she was wearing a light pink skirt and holding a small windmill in her hand, walking towards me in circles in the bright sunshine. Hahaha, now thinking about it, she looked a little silly at that time."
"But for me, at that moment I felt that the world was so beautiful, and she was the reason why the world was so beautiful. She was a very, very good girl, and I hoped she would love me."
Thinking about it this way, since he was seven years old until now, he has never expected anyone to love him. His lifelong wishes have always been about destruction, reconstruction, rescue and giving.
She was his only wish to "get".
He is not clear about what kind of person he is. He has a firm desire, but he has been acting for too long and sometimes cannot distinguish between the stage and the backstage.
No matter what kind of person he is, a genius, a madman, a freak or a heretic, he hopes to get her love. Then he will use all his vitality and passion, his madness and love to make her restless and obsessed for hundreds of years.