Chapter 22 Recovery from illness

At night, it started to rain again.

　　Ye Annian slept on Jiang Zhu's lap without knowing who was going on. He didn't wake up from the heat until late in the night.

　　The sound of rain falling on the eaves could be heard in my ears. The candlelight in the room was dim, giving off a dense warmth.

　　Ye Anian woke up and found that he didn't seem to be lying on the kang, but sitting against something.

　　He moved slightly and noticed a faint sound of breathing coming from his ears. He turned his head slightly and met Jiang Zhu's clear eyes.

　　"Are you awake?" Jiang Zhu's voice was gentle, with a smile on his face.

　　Ye Anyian said "hmm", but his voice was still low and hoarse.

　　"Drink some water?" Jiang Zhu asked again.

　　Ye Anyian nodded.

　　Jiang Zhu reached for the teapot from the kang table next to him, poured a glass of water and brought it to Ye Anyian's mouth.

　　Only then did Ye Annian realize that the Kang table that had been at the foot of the Kang had been moved over by Jiang Zhu at some point and placed next to the two of them.

　　There were many things on the table, including a steaming teapot, an empty bowl with only a little medicine left, a needle bag spread out, a small basin filled with water, and a pile of soaked soft cotton cloth.

　　When he glanced at these, he knew that Jiang Zhu must not have slept all night.

　　"Drink, why are you dazed?" Jiang Zhu's voice sounded again.

　　Ye Annian put his thoughts back and took a few sips from his hand. His dry throat felt much better after it was moisturized.

　　However, I was sweating a lot, making it sticky and uncomfortable.

　　He was still wrapped in his own thin quilt, and it was wrapped tightly by Jiang Zhu, with only one head exposed.

　　Ye Anyian felt as if the rice dumpling had become a spirit.

　　He moved his hands, trying to stretch out from the quilt, but found that he couldn't.

　　"Don't move," Jiang Zhu held down his hand, "I'm just sweating so much, I'm going to catch a cold again later."

　　"I feel much better." Ye Anyian said.

　　Jiang Zhu raised her hand to test the temperature on his forehead: "Well, it's not hot anymore, but it's still a little hot."

　　"My body feels sticky and uncomfortable." Ye Anyian snorted.

　　"Then just be patient and wait until the fever subsides before taking a shower and changing clothes."

　　"Okay." Ye Anyian wrinkled his nose.

　　The two were silent for a while. Ye Anyian felt a little energetic now and wanted to talk.

　　But Jiang Zhu had closed his eyes and seemed to be taking a nap.

　　He endured it for a while, then lowered his voice to test: "Are you asleep?"

　　"Huh?" Jiang Zhu responded as expected.

　　"Are you still going to make house calls today?"

　　"Nothing much to do today."

"Then you can sleep more during the day. I can also cook or something." Ye Anyian said.

　　"No." Jiang Zhu opened his eyes and smiled at Ye Anyian, "If the fever breaks out again, I will have to continue to take care of you."

　　Ye Anyian:...

　　Well, he is indeed a sick man, so he won't be able to do this.

　　After a while, Jiang Zhu saw that the sweat on the back of Ye Anian's white neck had disappeared. He relaxed his hand and took out one of Ye Anian's arms from the quilt.

　　"What to do?" Ye Anyian looked at Jiang Zhu.

　　Jiang Zhu held his wrist and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing the white arms at the front.

Then he turned the palm of his hand upward, then used the index finger and middle finger to move along the ulnar side of his left forearm, from the elbow joint to the ulnar side of the wrist crease, and began to massage Ye Anian.

　　"This is called reducing the six fu organs." Jiang Zhu said, "It can reduce fever quickly."

　　He did it slowly and slowly, without using too much force, but Ye Anian's fair skin was quickly reddened, which was particularly obvious against his delicate skin.

　　"So delicate." Jiang Zhu pushed for forty or fifty times before stopping. Ye Anian's wrist was already red.

　　"Does it hurt?" he asked.

　　Ye Anyian said "Yeah", "A little bit."

　　"Patience," Jiang Zhu said, putting down his sleeves and tucking his arms back into the quilt, then taking his other arm out and rolling up his sleeves.

　　Ye Anian watched his movements quietly and let him play with her.

　　This arm was pushed forty or fifty times. Jiang Zhu stopped, looked at Ye Anyian's red arm and said with a smile, "It's like a carrot."

　　"Have you ever seen a radish that looks so straight?"

　　"I've never seen him before." Jiang Zhu said as he put down Ye Anyian's sleeves and put his hands back into the quilt, "I've seen him now."

　　Ye Anyian:...

　　Jiang Zhu held him and sat like this for a while. The rain outside gradually subsided and the sky began to light up.

　　He tested the temperature of Ye Anyian's forehead again and finally breathed a sigh of relief: "The fever has gone down."

　　Ye Anyian's forehead is now cool and has completely returned to normal.

　　Jiang Zhu got up and got off the kang. He moved Ye Anyian, who was wrapped in quilt, to the end of the kang and let him sit against the wall.

　　Then he said: "I'm going to heat some hot water for you. Just sit down and don't move."

　　"Okay." Ye Anyian agreed.

　　The door curtain moved and Jiang Zhu came out of the house.

　　Ye Anyian was wrapped in a quilt and sitting alone. Although he had sweated, his body was still sticky and uncomfortable.

　　He twisted his waist impatiently, and the little black dog ran over from nowhere, lying on his legs with its two front paws, wagging its tail at him.

　　"Are you awake too?" Ye Anyian talked to it.

　　The little black dog whined twice, shook his head and got into his quilt.

　　Ye Annian pulled the quilt with his hands while dodging: "No, you can't come in, my quilt is full of sweat."

　　The little black dog couldn't understand his words and pounced on him persistently. Ye Anyian was wrapped in a quilt and struggled to hide from side to side. One person and one dog seemed to be playing around.

　　This is what Jiang Zhu saw when he came in with a filled bathtub.

　　He placed the bathtub on the ground, picked up the puppy by the scruff of its neck, lifted it off Ye Anian and set it aside.

He said to Ye Anyian: "It must be hungry and looking for food from you."

　　Ye Anyian: "Then go and get it some food."

　　"Okay." Jiang Zhu nodded and pointed to the tub, "You can wash here, it's cold outside. I'll put a clean handkerchief and a change of clothes on the small stool for you."

　　Ye Anyian responded, and Jiang Zhu folded the undergarments and outer clothes that he had found and placed them on the small wooden stool next to the bathtub.

　　There was a soft knock on the door, and Jiang Zhu went out holding the little black dog.

　　Ye Anian then got out of the tightly wrapped quilt, took off his sweaty clothes, and got into the tub.

　　The water temperature was just right, there were some medicinal materials in the bucket, and there was a faint medicinal fragrance. Ye Anian sank his whole body into the water, leaving only his nose exposed on the water.

　　His long black hair was wetted by the water and floated on the water. When he breathed, a string of small bubbles blew out of his nostrils.

　　Because Ye Anyian was recovering from his illness, Jiang Zhu still raised the water temperature a little higher.

　　After soaking for a while, the fair skin all over his body turned a light pink.

　　Taking a bath in the slightly hot water was very comfortable. Ye Annian closed his eyes, leaned on the edge of the tub and let out a long sigh of relief.

　　The illness came and went like a mountain, and it went away like a thread. Now he felt that his whole body was alive.

　　There was a "squeak" sound as the door opened in the main room, followed by the sound of Fu Zai jumping out on one foot.

　　Then, the children's shouts of surprise exploded in the main room.

　　"Wow! Puppy!"

　　"Doctor Jiang! Puppy!"

　　Ye Anyian:...