The doctor was so used to this routine.
As usual, he prescribed some medicine to reduce fever and soothe the nerves. More than once, he sighed, "You're so young. Why do you have so many worries? Life is but a hundred years. Just eat, drink, and live happily. The sky won't fall. You're still young, miss. Just have fun. Leave the rest to the grown - ups."
The doctor seemed to be in his fifties. Every word he said came from the bottom of his heart. Fu Zhen felt both guilty and grateful. "Thank you, doctor, for your advice. I'll keep it in mind."
The old doctor let out a snort of laughter. He got up and wrote the prescription by the candlelight, muttering, "Hearing your words, I know you didn't really take them to heart. Well, well, the rich are always so sentimental. At least they can afford to support your privileged life."
"I've revised the prescription. The medicine will be stronger. You should take good care of yourself this winter. If you keep over - thinking, next time I'll add more Chinese goldthread to your prescription and let you suffer in silence."
Fu Zhen was amused by him, and her heart warmed. "Okay. To avoid that bitter Chinese goldthread, I'll surely take good care of myself."
After taking the medicine and taking a bath, with all the fuss, it was well into the second half of the night.
Jade sat on the footstool, looking worried. "I'll keep watch tonight, miss. If you need anything, just call me."
Fu Zhen was helpless. "It's always the same. The fever will go down after taking the medicine. Why do you have to stay up all night with me?"
Jade disagreed. "What's so hard about it? It's just one night without sleep. I've been through it before. Anyway, miss, just go to sleep after taking the medicine. Leave everything else to me. Just relax."
Emerald also laughed. "Miss, you'd better agree with her. Otherwise, I'm afraid she'll cry."
Jade blushed and pouted. "Who's going to cry? I won't!"
Unable to resist Jade's kindness, Fu Zhen had to say, "Then you don't have to be on duty tomorrow. Go back and sleep after keeping watch."
The room fell silent again.
Fu Zhen couldn't fall asleep for a while. She just stared at the carved patterns above, and her thoughts gradually drifted away.
In her dream that night, Chen Tingfeng looked travel - worn. Although he still had his tall and slender figure, his cold and ethereal appearance, Fu Zhen knew when she stared at him that he wasn't doing well at that time.
The dark circles under his eyes didn't lie. When he stood outside the courtyard, his exhaustion was hard to hide.
Perhaps it was the most intense time of the fight for the throne. In the previous life, the third prince didn't die, and the eldest prince didn't suffer imprisonment. Chen Tingfeng not only had to guard against these two people but also had to contact court officials to strive for the greatest bargaining chip for Xie Yan to ascend the throne.
One could only imagine how heavy the burden on his shoulders was.
He had come back specially.
Fu Zhen suddenly closed her eyes, feeling a burning sensation in her eyes.
But this kind of concern had never been known to her. Why didn't he let her know? And why did she only find out so late?
After so much time had passed, Fu Zhen felt that she didn't know him at all.
In the previous life, everything had been too late.
There seemed to be a sound in her ear. Fu Zhen was lost in her thoughts and didn't notice. It was not until she suddenly felt a pair of eyes in the pitch - black night that she suddenly opened her eyes and looked outside the bed curtain. To her surprise, she was facing a dark figure.
She gasped and almost instantly shrank to the innermost part of the bed. "Who!"
She didn't try to hide her voice. Outside, Jade hesitated and asked, "Miss, are you calling me?"
Then the dark figure suddenly lifted the bed curtain and walked in. With the dim light that came in as the curtain swayed, Fu Zhen finally saw the person's face.
It was Chen Tingfeng!
She was instantly furious. She grabbed the pillow on the bedside and threw it at him. "What are you crazy about in the middle of the night! You scared me to death!"
Chen Tingfeng chuckled. He reached out and grabbed the pillow, putting his index finger to his lips and looking outside with a glance.
Jade had already gotten up and was holding a lamp, about to come into the inner room.
Fu Zhen quickly said, "Jade, you don't need to get up. I just saw something wrong. It's nothing."
Jade was a bit hesitant. "Miss, do you really not need me to come in and accompany you?"
Fu Zhen glanced at Chen Tingfeng, who was smiling faintly beside her. She thought that if Jade came in, it would be impossible for her and Chen Tingfeng to clear their names.
"No. Just go back and rest."
Only then did Jade go back with the candle.
Fu Zhen snatched back the pillow and hit him again, scolding angrily, "Breaking in without invitation makes you a thief. May I ask what this thief wants by breaking into a young lady's boudoir in the middle of the night?"
"It hurts," Chen Tingfeng groaned, but his body didn't move at all, letting Fu Zhen hit him with the soft pillow.
Only then did Fu Zhen remember that this man had just been punished by the family rules today. She stopped instantly and pursed her lips. "Why aren't you kneeling in the ancestral hall? What are you doing here?"
"I missed you," Chen Tingfeng said without hesitation. Seeing Fu Zhen's angry look, he quickly smiled and comforted her, "Okay, okay, I'm not teasing you anymore."
"Did you have a nightmare again tonight?" he asked, looking at her.
It was dark inside the bed curtain. Fu Zhen couldn't see his expression clearly. She could only hear his words, which no longer had the coldness of the past. Instead, they had a bit of gentleness that matched the night.
"… If you have nothing to do, just leave quickly," Fu Zhen said, avoiding the topic. "If people find out that we meet like this, what will happen to our reputations?"
"Only you and I know. Who else will find out?" Chen Tingfeng said indifferently, with a half - smile. "Even if something more happens between us, no one will know."
His moral bottom - line had almost dropped to hell since he had become enlightened.
Fu Zhen said coldly, "It seems that kneeling in the ancestral hall didn't wake you up."
Chen Tingfeng was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I've never been so clear - headed."
He had set his heart on her. They were destined to be entangled with each other in this life.
But he also knew that pushing too hard sometimes backfired. He had already said enough to express his feelings today. He had to let her think it over.
That night, he really didn't intend to do anything. It was just that in a daze, he suddenly learned that she had had a nightmare and a high fever again. That was why he had lost his composure and for the first time in his life, climbed through the window into a young lady's boudoir at night.
He sighed, his voice full of exhaustion. "Has the fever gone down?"
She had felt much better after taking the medicine, and the remaining fever had long been scared away by him. Fu Zhen lowered her eyes. "I'm fine."
It was him who should be the one in trouble.
He had just been punished by the family rules today, kneeled in the ancestral hall for a whole day, and didn't know if he had applied the medicine. Now he had come to find her against the cold wind. His voice was so tired that it seemed as if he would faint in front of her the next second.
Fu Zhen glanced at him. "I'm afraid someone else is having a fever now."
His breathing was much heavier. Did he think he could cover it up with a joke?
Chen Tingfeng paused and slowly smiled. "Is cousin concerned about me?"
Then, without waiting for Fu Zhen to frown and refute, he said softly, as if sighing, "I'm very happy."