Chapter 41

The reason Xue Ling fell ill at that time was because of a severe cold.

She had spent the day volunteering outside and returned home feeling unwell. After taking some cold medicine, she curled up in bed and fell asleep.

When Wen Jiuze came back, he found her running a fever. She was unresponsive, barely conscious from the high temperature.

He had to pull her out of bed, help her put on pants, and carry her straight to the hospital.

By the time Xue Ling regained some consciousness, she was sitting up receiving an IV.

The room was filled with other patients suffering from colds and fevers, and Wen Jiuze was sitting next to her.

She vaguely registered the sound of children crying and adults coughing around her, and her heavy head was supported by Wen Jiuze’s hand.

Xue Ling instinctively looked down at herself. She was still wearing the pajamas she had put on before going to bed, and on her lower body, she had on a completely mismatched pair of pants.

Xue Ling couldn’t understand how Wen Jiuze had managed to pick out the one pair of pants that didn’t match.

“Have you gone silly from the fever? Why aren’t you saying anything?” Wen Jiuze bent down and leaned closer to her.

Xue Ling grabbed his hand and whispered, “I’m not wearing a bra.”

Do you need me to help you put that on too?

Wen Jiuze glanced at her and replied, “I didn’t notice it. It’s fine, I can’t tell.”

Xue Ling raised a hand to cover herself, weakly saying, “No, I feel insecure.”

“What should we do then?” Wen Jiuze lifted his sleeve as if to take off his long-sleeve shirt. “Should I give you my shirt to cover up?”

Wen Jiuze was only wearing a shirt on top, and Xue Ling immediately grabbed his hand desperately, sweat forming on her brow.

She felt exposed and insecure, but having a half-naked man sitting next to her would only draw more attention, wouldn’t it!

In the end, Wen Jiuze went to a nearby store outside the hospital to buy her a blanket. He also got a thermos, filled it with warm water, and brought it back.

While he was out, a mother next to Xue Ling, who was with her child, started chatting with her.

“That’s your boyfriend, right? He’s really thoughtful. Earlier, when you were dozing off and couldn’t sit up straight, he held you the whole time.”

Xue Ling, still groggy, didn’t remember it happening. She glanced at the way the mother was holding her child and wondered if Wen Jiuze had held her in a similar way.

The mother continued, “When my son was fussing and refusing to get his shot, your boyfriend told him to stop crying and stay quiet, and he actually listened! Ha ha ha.”

Xue Ling: “…” 

Given Wen Jiuze’s physique and appearance, if he doesn’t smile, he can really stop children from crying at night when he gets angry.

Not only can it stop children from crying at night, it can also frighten their mothers.

Wen Jiuze returned with the new blanket and thermos. The talkative mother next to Xue Ling immediately went silent, turning her attention to her child.

“Here, drink some warm water. Can you hold it yourself?” Wen Jiuze knelt down in front of her, opened the blanket and draped it over her, then twisted the cap off the thermos.

Xue Ling looked at him, feeling that the mother next to her was a bit biased. Sure, Wen Jiuze was tall, but what was so scary about him?

Holding the thermos, she took a sip, noticing a faint sweet and salty taste in the water. It reminded her of when she was little and had a fever. Her mom would give her a sugar-salt mixture. As she got older, she rarely saw anyone do this, as most people just drank plain warm water.

For three days, Xue Ling went to the hospital to get IV drips for her cold and fever.

On the second day, the nurse giving her the injection was a young trainee. She seemed nervous, her technique not yet skillful, and she missed the vein twice. After each attempt, she would glance at Wen Jiuze as if afraid he’d get upset, becoming more anxious with each glance. On her third try, she still couldn’t get it right.

Wen Jiuze offered to do it himself. Xue Ling’s reaction matched that of the young nurse’s.

“You know how to give injections?”

“It’s no big deal.” He had the needle in place before the nurse could even object, leaving her to finish up, awkwardly explain the process, and then hurriedly walk away.

“How do you know how to give injections—and you’re so good at it?”

“It’s simple. I learned just by watching.”

“What? You used me for practice?”

“Isn’t that better? If I missed, you could give me a piece of your mind, but if the nurse missed, you’d just have to grin and bear it.”

“…”

“Don’t worry, I’ve practiced before.” Wen Jiuze held her hand, his own hands warm.

Xue Ling pressed him to explain when and how he had practiced, but he stayed silent.

It was actually simple. He had learned this skill as a child.

When Wen Jiuze was young, his mother had heart disease and couldn’t go to the hospital regularly, so a local doctor would come to their home for IV drips. This doctor, a former classmate of his mother’s, would visit whenever she was too weak to go out.

From a young age, Wen Jiuze learned how to change IV bottles, remove needles, and hold the IV stand when his mother needed to go to the restroom. With frequent IV sessions, accidents happened sometimes—the needle would slip out, or his hand movements would be too abrupt, causing the IV site to swell and requiring a new injection.

The doctor couldn’t always be there, and after a few house calls, neighbors began to gossip about the doctor’s frequent visits. Reluctant to attract unwanted attention, the doctor stopped coming as often.

Wen Jiuze, naturally fearless, learned how to administer injections after only a couple of lessons. From then on, he would go to the clinic to pick up the necessary supplies and administer his mother’s injections himself.

That’s how he gained his experience.

Xue Ling was surprised that Wen Jiuze could give injections and was secretly hoping he’d do it again in the following days. Unfortunately, the next nurse was an older professional who was efficient and gave her no reason to call on Wen Jiuze.

After her treatment, Xue Ling rested at home for two more days, with Wen Jiuze taking care of all her meals. He would either cook himself or buy light dishes from outside, focusing on simple and mostly vegetarian options, perfectly suited for patients.

He was meticulous about her medication, remembering all three daily doses and handing her the medicine and water directly, ensuring she was taken care of until she fully recovered.

During those days, Wen Jiuze was so attentive it didn’t feel like him at all, leaving Xue Ling to wonder if she had some terminal illness that he was hiding from her.

More curiously, Wen Jiuze didn’t annoy her at all during her illness. Not once did he make her angry.

“When I’m sick, why do you stop annoying me and take such good care of me?”

“Oh, I don’t like you being sick. I want you to get better as soon as possible.”

Wen Jiuze disliked seeing others sick, and he could hardly bear being unwell himself. The feeling of weakness was unsettling. Even in dreams, he feared he might be unable to handle urgent matters that came his way.

After a light meal, Xue Ling urged Wen Jiuze to lie down in the car, wrapping him snugly.

She took out the thermos, added some salt and sugar, and shook it. Wen Jiuze watched her from inside the car. She looked thinner than before, her face pale, moving the thermos back and forth like a little mechanical doll.

Behind her, the leaden sky blurred with the city’s shadowy skyline. The wind whipped through dried grass, making the tarp by the car flap noisily.

Wen Jiuze closed his eyes.

He felt tired—a weariness like seeing the finish line but knowing he might never reach it.

For over three years, he had traveled to countless places, searching relentlessly. Even when seriously injured, as long as he could wake up, he would continue, never stopping.

But now, having found Xue Ling, the voice that had driven him forward was quieter. He had recently wondered if perhaps he should rest for a while.

Xue Ling climbed back into the car, quickly shutting the door to keep out the cold. She moved gently, careful not to disturb the blanket he was wrapped in.

Wen Jiuze wrapped her up, and Xue Ling wrapped the warm quilt back around him.

“It’s too hot,” Wen Jiuze said.

Xue Ling, trying to save power, switched back to her writing board instead of using the tablet.

“You need to sweat! Stay hydrated.”

Wen Jiuze pressed his head and said, “I’ve slept for too long. I can’t lie down anymore.”

Xue Ling thought he was acting a bit like a child and asked, “Shall I tell you a story?”

There were various hypnotic stories on the tablet that could be played for him.

Wen Jiuze replied, “Okay, let’s go with the fairy tale ‘The Frog Prince.'”

After he said that, he waited for Xue Ling to get angry and hit him, but instead, he felt a cool touch on his forehead.

Xue Ling wasn’t angry. After turning into a zombie, she took the initiative to kiss his forehead for the first time, then touched him soothingly.

Wen Jiuze stopped talking and simply lay quietly.

Xue Ling took out the tablet and played civil service exam materials softly. There were so many things on the tablet, all jumbled up, including exam materials and many question banks.

Wen Jiuze asked, “…Have you memorized these before?”

Xue Ling answered yes, saying that these were really hypnotic, and she had experience with it.

She could still recall some of the questions, but it was a pity that the things she learned—while losing so much hair—were no longer useful now.

It was impossible for her to pass the civil service exam in this lifetime.

“If I commit a crime, can you still take the civil service exam?” Wen Jiuze suddenly asked.

Maybe because he was just an ex-boyfriend, Xue Ling didn’t provoke Wen Jiuze despite his fever and simply said she didn’t know.

He continued, “Would they hire a zombie?”

Xue Ling: “…”

Xue Ling hesitated, then anxiously reached out to feel his forehead, wondering if he was delirious.

Wen Jiuze chuckled.

Seeing him restless and a bit out of it, Xue Ling thought that he might be more open to saying what was really on his mind. They say illness makes people vulnerable, after all.

Xue Ling, who was about to play some tricks, lifted Wen Jiuze’s head, let him rest on her arms, tucked the blanket around him, and patted him on the head.

“I think it’s fine now. There’s no need to go find Tai Sui.”

“With my condition, Tai Sui might not even help, so it’s best to let things go naturally, right?”

Resting his head on her uncomfortable, bony legs, Wen Jiuze rasped, “Not right.”

His voice grew softer, as if he were talking in his sleep. “Have you ever thought about how zombies don’t eat or drink? Where do they get the energy to keep moving? You feel okay now, but what if, in a couple of years, you can’t move anymore?”

What if, in two years, her body began to rot?

Xue Ling’s first response was, “If zombies could fall apart that easily, the apocalypse would be mostly over, and everyone could return to the cities!”

For anyone, that would be good news.

Wen Jiuze looked at her for a long moment, then forced a half-smile. “Thanks for the comfort. I feel even worse now.”

Xue Ling quickly patted him through the blanket. “You’re just speculating. For all we know, zombies could keep moving for decades.”

She thought of an example and said, “Fresh meat spoils quickly, but dried, tough jerky can last a long time, so technically, I have a longer shelf life than you.”

Wen Jiuze said, “You really are a genius.”

Afterward, Xue Ling watched him, a little worried.

Why does he always have so many things to worry about?

After three years as a zombie, she once thought she’d grown gloomy, but compared to Wen Jiuze, she realized she was still pretty optimistic.

It took Wen Jiuze three days to recover, relying solely on his immune system, without any medication.

As soon as he was better, he was ready to hit the road.

Xue Ling thought he planned to continue searching for Wen Yi, but Wen Jiuze said, “Let’s go see the Terracotta Warriors.”

“I don’t feel like it anymore,” she replied. She hadn’t really wanted to in the first place, she just said it casually.

Xue Ling took his map, folded it carefully, and tucked it inside a book.

“Winter’s here. It’s exhausting to keep running around. Let’s settle down somewhere for a while.” She started listing the inconveniences of living in the car.

It’s cold, fuel-consuming, cramped, and there’s no room for everything… All in all, she wanted to find a place to stay and was done with car life.

Wen Jiuze relented, “Alright, then. Where would you like to stay?”