When Lu Xunguang opened his eyes, he saw Li Ying leaning against the rock wall beside him. She frowned tightly, as if she was not sleeping soundly.
She seemed to be having a nightmare. Muttering, "Lu Xunguang, don't die..."
He couldn't bear it. Propping up his body, he walked a few steps. Seeing that the clothes beside them were already dry, and the dawn on the desert island was a bit chilly, he staggered over, picked them up, and gently covered her with them.
After hitting the reef, he thought he was doomed. The dark and sticky dream seemed to stretch out countless hands, trying to drag him straight to the underworld.
"You're such a good - for - nothing. We Lu family don't have a member like you!"
"You can't even protect the one you care about most. Do you think you can be the head of the Lu family?"
Familiar voices came like wild horses running out of control, trampling wantonly in his mind. The River of Three Crossings submerged his waist, and the red - lotus karma fire burned and devoured him.
Just when he thought he was doomed this time, a familiar voice, bright as the sky and sweet as spring water, cut through the gloomy and chaotic past and pulled him out of the endless purgatory again.
"Lu Xunguang, wake up."
She said so in the dream, pressing her delicate red lips on his face, easily dispelling the aura of death that enveloped him.
Lu Xunguang's eyes involuntarily fell on her lips.
Li Ying slept restlessly. Even in the dream, she pouted childishly. Her thin lips were slightly swollen, like a newly - hatched chick, so adorable.
Was that moment when he held her in his arms real or just a dream?
Li Ying felt his burning gaze and slowly opened her eyes.
"Hey, Lu Xunguang, you're awake?"
She naturally reached out to touch his forehead. After making sure that his fever was completely gone, she suddenly remembered the propriety between men and women and quickly withdrew her hand awkwardly.
The air became subtly strange for a moment. To break the awkwardness, Li Ying cleared her throat and said, "Brother Lu, you must be hungry, right? Seafood is a stimulating food. You're injured, so you can't eat it. I'll take Maomao to see if there's anything else to eat on this island. After you're full, we'll figure out how to get back."
Her eyes always uncontrollably drifted towards Lu Xunguang's thin lips. Afraid that he would notice something strange, she picked up Maomao and ran away in a hurry.
It was just an extraordinary measure to save someone in an extraordinary period. Why should she feel so guilty!
Li Ying finally managed to convince herself to calm down. When she came to her senses, Maomao had already got into the over - one - meter - high weeds and disappeared.
This tall grass was dotted with small yellow pentagonal flowers. The feather - like leaves emitted a familiar fresh smell. Li Ying was stunned for a moment, and then her heart was filled with ecstasy!
She pushed aside several clumps of dead branches in front of her. In the sunny area, there were round fruits like red lanterns!
Li Ying plucked one fiercely and took a bite. The sweet - and - sour juice rushed into her throat eagerly.
There were tomatoes growing on this deserted small island?
Li Ying never expected that she would have such an unexpected harvest during this adventure. Overjoyed, she quickly picked all the ripe tomatoes and stuffed them into her space.
Maomao also emerged from behind the tomato vines and brought a few seabird eggs to Li Ying's feet. It shook its small pointed ears and meowed twice proudly.
Li Ying laughed. She scratched under its chin and coaxed, "Yes, yes. Thanks to our little hunter Maomao. Otherwise, we two stupid humans might starve to death on this desert island."
With the tomatoes and seabird eggs, there was food for Lu Xunguang.
He had been seriously ill. He must have little appetite. A bowl of sour and stomach - nourishing tomato drop soup would be the most suitable.
There was still some wheat flour and sesame oil left in the space. She made a shallow cross on the tomatoes, scalded them with boiling water to remove the skins, then diced them, and stir - fried them over low heat until they became mushy. Then she added water and boiled a thick red soup.
She added a small amount of water to the wheat flour to make small dough flocs. When the soup boiled, she poured in the dough flocs. When all the small dough drops floated up like small fish, she poured in the beaten egg liquid. The golden egg flower was like floating clouds, gorgeous as the sunset in the red tomato soup.
She just needed to simply season it and drizzle a few drops of sesame oil. The familiar and comforting taste of home made Li Ying have an illusion for a moment. It seemed that she was not alone, drifting in this strange world where she knew no one, but had finally returned home.
She carried the tomato drop soup to the cave. Just as she was about to call Lu Xunguang to taste it, she saw that this man couldn't stay idle. He had already got up. Somehow, he had picked up a broken firewood knife and pieced together a bamboo raft with the wrecked boat stranded on the beach and the bamboo on the island.
Maomao deftly jumped onto the bamboo raft, inspected this "temporary territory", and squinted its cat eyes contentedly, meowing twice.
Li Ying understood from its meows that the weather was calm and the wind was favorable today. They could return to the small fishing village soon. Only then did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The ancient people called tomatoes "wolf peaches" and thought that this fruit could only be admired, not eaten. Otherwise, one would surely die of poisoning. Li Ying originally thought that it would take some effort to persuade Lu Xunguang to eat this bowl of tomato drop soup. Unexpectedly, he took the coconut bowl without hesitation and gobbled it up.
After the meal, the two of them and the cat didn't delay. They got on the bamboo raft and headed straight for the small fishing village.
Grandma Sun was holding Mianmian. She was already crying like a tearful mess.
Shi Hu also looked remorseful and self - blaming. He slapped himself hard.
"I'm really damned. If I hadn't said that the burn ointment was sold out, Mrs. Li wouldn't have gone out to sea to look for medicine! If anything happens to her, I'd be a hundred times dead and still not be able to make up for it!"
It was A Man who had sharp eyes. She saw the bamboo raft from afar and exclaimed, "Look, isn't that Sister?"
Several fishing girls quickly rowed their small boats and picked the two of them up on the shore. Seeing that she was safe and sound, they all showed expressions of fear on their faces.
Everyone bombarded Li Ying with greetings. It took Li Ying a long time to get out of this warm - hearted concern. She saw that Mrs. Li and others were all gathered at the dock, and she couldn't help feeling a little curious.
"Aren't we going to continue setting up stalls in the night market tonight? Why aren't you preparing the ingredients but all gathered here looking for me?"
Mrs. Li looked embarrassed. After hesitating for a while, she still sighed honestly and frowned worriedly, "Ay, you don't know. Yesterday, all of us made a lot of money, which made Tianxiang Tower jealous. That shopkeeper Tao Zhi has come up with some new tricks again!"
"Yesterday, someone saw Yang Er leading people towards the beach. They were whispering. We're not sure what they're up to. We've just been waiting for you, the backbone, to come back and come up with a good idea!"