When tears streamed down her face, Jiang Yanyi realized that she was deeper into this relationship than she had realized.

It was at this moment that she understood how much she feared losing Feng Shuo.

The promises of clarity and rationality had turned into a joke.

When they first met, he stood under the light of the fire with cool brows and eyes.

After becoming familiar, his smile often held a hint of rebelliousness at the corners of his lips, and eventually, his gaze softened unconsciously whenever he looked at her.

Memories flashed through Jiang Yanyi’s mind: the time he had sticky notes all over his forehead while playing chess in his room.

How he adamantly refused to eat vegetables when she made medicinal dishes for him.

How he pretended to be disgusted when she said she wanted to adopt a cat, yet showed a helpless smile when a kitten crawled into his boot, and how he took her horseback riding to ease her sorrow when he learned of Mrs. Jiang’s death.

As well as the time she shook a plum tree in the plum forest, shaking the snow off him…

Unknowingly, they had accumulated so many memories and past moments.

Letting go of all this felt like ripping a vine that had rooted itself deep into her heart.

Did it hurt?

How could it not hurt?

But having chosen to be honest, this was something she should have anticipated.

Feng Shuo remained silent for a long time, and Jiang Yanyi didn’t dare to look into his eyes again.

She turned her head, trying to hide her tear-streaked face, and forced a casual tone: “Did I scare you? This is the secret I mentioned earlier about hiding things from you.”

Finally, Feng Shuo spoke, his voice hoarse: “I’m sorry.”

Sorry for what? Sorry for being unable to accept her like this?

Even though she had long expected this outcome, her heart still ached at that moment.

Her mind was a mess; she had felt cold earlier, but now all her senses seemed dulled, except for her heart, which felt as if it had been pierced by a sharp knife, painfully stinging in the cold wind.

Jiang Yanyi just wanted to escape quickly.

She stood up, feeling the biting cold wind penetrate her bones without her heavy cloak.

“It’s nothing. It’s late, I should go back. Please, Your Highness, help me find a wooden ladder when you go down.” She tried to disguise her emotions, but the thick nasal tone betrayed her.

Tears flowed uncontrollably as Jiang Yanyi awkwardly wiped her face.

When someone hugged her tightly from behind, wrapping her back in warmth, she could no longer hold back her sobs.

“What nonsense are you saying?” Feng Shuo’s voice sounded like a sigh.

“If I had known my days were numbered, maybe I wouldn’t have involved you. If the fated outcome can’t be changed, and I die, how would you protect yourself?” He had once said he would teach her to ride and shoot arrows, to give her the ability to protect herself.

But if he died, with the royal family and various lords vying for his power, wouldn’t she be just like fish on a chopping board, at their mercy?

Jiang Yanyi hadn’t anticipated that this was the reason behind his apology. Mixed emotions surged within her as she choked on her words: “Aren’t you afraid of me?”

Feng Shuo turned her around and wiped away her tears from the corners of her eyes: “What’s there to be afraid of?”

“I’m just a lonely soul from another world…”

“Luckily, you came; luckily, I met you.” Feng Shuo rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “When I was dreaming, I thought, if you really weren’t here, what would I do? Now I’m telling you, Jiang Yanyi, I would go crazy.”

“If you say this is a dream, then the real world is what I dream of. I probably never want to wake up.”

“Before you, I didn’t know what it meant to like someone. After meeting you, I realized that a person’s heart can truly hold another person. When it snows, the first thing I want to do is call you to see it. I randomly found a hairpin and thought it would suit you, so I bought it. When searching for books, I found a travelogue and thought you might like it… I didn’t intentionally think of you, but when I opened my eyes or closed them, it was all about you.”

Jiang Yanyi tightly hugged Feng Shuo, burying her face in his shoulder and sobbing uncontrollably.

Feng Shuo gently stroked her long hair: “When a person forgets another, the first thing they forget is their appearance. Those initial memories are often the easiest to forget. When we’re old, perhaps you won’t remember what I look like now, but you’ll remember the years we spent together, the things I taught you, and the little habits we’ve developed over time.”

“We will grow old together. Appearance is the first thing to fade in time. For a long while, what we see will be each other’s aging faces. I won’t even mind what you’ll look like when you’re seventy or eighty. Will you still care what I look like now?”

He lifted Jiang Yanyi’s chin with one hand, tender kisses falling on her eyelids, making her cry in a muddled way: “Are you silly?”

“Feng Shuo.” Jiang Yanyi called out to him, her voice thick with nasal congestion.

“Hmm?”

“Marry me.”

“Okay.”

---

After staying out on the rooftop in the cold wind for most of the night, Jiang Yanyi fell ill the next day, feeling light-headed and weak, unable to get out of bed.

Aunt Guo got up early to cook porridge, and when mealtime arrived and Jiang Yanyi still hadn’t gotten up, she went to call her and discovered that Jiang Yanyi had a fever, her body burning hot, and her eyes swollen like walnuts.

“Oh dear, Master, how did you get so sick?” Aunt Guo was startled and hurriedly sent Yang Xiu out to fetch a doctor.

Jiang Yanyi had a headache, her eyes hurt, her limbs were weak, and she felt exhausted. When she spoke, she realized her throat was hoarse: “It’s nothing.”

“It’s definitely not nothing; you should stay in and not go out in the cold. Rest well,” Aunt Guo said, pushing Jiang Yanyi back under the covers as she struggled to sit up. Looking around the room, she couldn’t figure out how Jiang Yanyi had caught a cold. “Is it because the room is too big and one brazier can’t keep it warm? I’ll bring in another brazier.”

Aunt Guo was quick, and soon she brought in another brazier.

When Qiukui heard that Jiang Yanyi was sick, she rushed over, tears brimming in her eyes, refusing to leave Jiang Yanyi’s bedside.

They say illness comes on suddenly; Jiang Yanyi was now feeling chest tightness and nausea, unable to eat anything. If she didn’t know that this was just a common cold in her past life, she would have thought she had a terminal illness.

However, since ancient medical practices were not as advanced as in her previous life, many people died from colds, so everyone treated colds as serious illnesses.

The doctor came to check Jiang Yanyi’s pulse and prescribed medicine, while Aunt Guo went to the kitchen to prepare the medicine. Qiukui used a warm cloth to wipe Jiang Yanyi’s forehead.

Chu Yan returned to check on Jiang Yanyi, but considering his own frail health, he was worried about catching the cold himself and didn’t go in.

Last night, Jiang Yanyi had been so moved on the rooftop; now she regretted it. Why did she have to go up there in the middle of winter to put on a dramatic show of life and death with Feng Shuo?

Even if she had to lay her cards on the table, she could have chosen a safer and warmer place.

Sure enough, when emotions ran high, she didn’t think things through.

Lying on the bed, a cloth covering her forehead, she couldn’t stop sighing.

At that moment, Feng Shuo was in the study of the Wang residence, discussing matters with his advisors, and he was also sneezing constantly, his head feeling heavy.

During a break, Xing Yao couldn’t help but say quietly, “My lord, you might have caught a cold. Let the doctor in the residence check your pulse and prescribe some medicine.”

Feng Shuo raised an eyebrow: “This king would catch a cold? Ah-choo—”

The study fell silent.

The king of Liaonan, who had always only suffered from cuts and sword wounds, had for the first time caught a chill.

The author has something to say: All the soldiers: Our king is as strong as an ox and never gets sick!

The servants of the Wang residence: It’s all just rumors; he’s sick now, isn’t he?

Happy New Year! May all the bad things stay in 2020.

Jiang Yanyi was thoroughly exhausted by the cold wind and was suffering from the bitter medicine that she had to take for several days, yet she still felt dizzy and lacked appetite.

Feng Shuo, being in good health, had only sneezed a few times the day before; after taking some medicine, he was back to normal.

Upon learning that Jiang Yanyi was ill, he sent a doctor from the estate to take her pulse and prescribe medicine, but unfortunately, there was still no improvement.

In modern times, the usual duration for a cold is about seven days, and Jiang Yanyi hoped that she would recover in two more days.

Chu Shubao had started selling rouge and powder in her shop, but the business was not as good as expected. Firstly, there weren’t many female customers in the shop, and secondly, well-off young ladies were usually accompanied by maids or servants when they went out, making them cautious and unlikely to try unfamiliar products.

Chu Shubao felt a bit disheartened; seeing her business struggle, she spent most of her time accompanying Jiang Yanyi in her room.

Jiang Yanyi had a shortfall in knowledge about skincare and makeup, so she couldn’t offer much practical advice. However, having seen many beauty bloggers in the modern era promoting products, she was able to provide some ideas to Chu Shubao.

After hearing that Jiang Yanyi had caught a cold and was not recovering, Feng Shuo had Aunt Guo hire a female doctor to perform guasha (scraping therapy) on her.

Jiang Yanyi’s grandmother had been a barefoot doctor. When Jiang Yanyi was young and fell ill, her grandmother had given her guasha, but it was on her neck. The darker the color of the marks, the more serious the cold.

When the female doctor performed guasha on Jiang Yanyi, she thought about how she would need to do business again once she recovered. With a neck full of marks, she would find it hard to see anyone, so she asked the doctor to do it on her back instead.

Aunt Guo, worried that she would feel cold, added several more braziers to the room.

Jiang Yanyi lay on the mattress, wearing only an apricot-colored robe. The doors and windows in the room were tightly shut, making it somewhat dark, yet her entire back was so fair it seemed to glow, with skin as smooth and delicate as milk.

It is often said that beauty lies in the bones, not just the skin. A person with a good bone structure is more appealing in clothing than others.

Jiang Yanyi had a slender figure and a small frame, perfectly proportioned in every way.

The female doctor was older and had traveled extensively, having seen many beauties, but she had seldom encountered someone like Jiang Yanyi, who had such exquisite bone structure and skin. It made her, even as a woman, feel a hint of pity.

A small stove beside her was warming some wine. Once the wine was heated, she poured a little onto her hands and began to rub Jiang Yanyi’s back, saying, “It might hurt a bit during the guasha, so you’ll need to bear with it.”

Jiang Yanyi rested her chin on her crossed hands. Due to her illness, she lacked energy, revealing a somewhat frail appearance: “Thank you, Doctor.”

The doctor dipped the guasha board into the wine and began scraping Jiang Yanyi’s snow-white back. Although it seemed haphazard, each stroke followed the meridians and acupoints.

At first, Jiang Yanyi could endure it, but soon the pain made her tense up.

Aunt Guo watched from the side, knowing she was in pain, and comforted her: “The area we just scraped has already shown marks. Once we finish, your cold will improve, so please bear with it for a bit longer.”

She then turned to the doctor and said, “Could you please be gentle, Dr. Fang?”

Is the doctor’s surname Fang?