Chapter 1121 — Valentine's Day Special: Xiao Ning's Story, Part 6
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Unless something drove them to it, or they were desperate with hunger, wolves would not lightly approach a fire. Wei Zhao had survived in the wild before and knew this well enough.
"Oh..." Yu Ning nodded.
Wei Zhao never slept at night. He remained in a state of cultivation throughout, so that if any beast did enter the cave, he could react at once and strike it dead.
Yu Ning sat before the fire and sank into a deep sleep. She was truly exhausted - first the harrowing flight, then the madcap play, both of which had drained her strength - and so she drifted swiftly into her dreams.
She did not know how long it had been when she began to feel wretched, her whole body cold, so cold, shivering uncontrollably. Had the fire gone out? Yu Ning's eyes flew open of their own accord.
The faint stir of Yu Ning's movement had already drawn Wei Zhao back from his cultivation to the world of the living. Seeing that it was Yu Ning waking, he paid it no mind and closed his eyes once more.
"So cold... I'm so cold..." Yu Ning had noticed that the fire had not gone out, yet her body simply would not stop shivering with cold.
Wei Zhao opened his eyes again and gave Yu Ning a rather puzzled look. He himself felt no chill; on the contrary, with the fire burning, he felt quite warm indeed! But precisely because of that, something struck him as not quite right.
"What's the matter?" Wei Zhao rose to his feet and walked over to Xiao Ning's side.
"I'm so cold..." Xiao Ning was shivering so violently her teeth chattered.
Wei Zhao looked at her closely. Seeing an unusual flush upon her cheeks, he at once knitted his brows and reached out to touch her forehead.
Cold and miserable as Xiao Ning was, her mind remained clear. The instant Wei Zhao's hand touched her brow, her whole body gave a faint tremble, and a shyness and quickening of the heart such as she had never known spread through every limb...
"Hot as a coal to the touch?" Wei Zhao frowned. He had not expected Yu Ning to come down with a fever at a time like this!
Thinking back on the day, Yu Ning had been playing about in the snow for the better part of an afternoon; it must have been then that she caught a chill! At the time Wei Zhao had paid it no mind, but on reflection, Yu Ning was no cultivator. Out in the bitter cold, Wei Zhao might be unaffected, but for an ordinary person, catching a cold was the most natural thing in the world!
Wei Zhao grew anxious at once. Apart from wound medicine, he carried no other remedies on his person; the common medicines were all packed away in the luggage of Yu Ning and her party, and his silver needles were in that same luggage. Even though Wei Zhao was thoroughly versed in the healing arts, there was nothing he could do!
A cold and fever could not be cured by mere massage and manipulation. Had he his silver needles at hand, he might have brought the fever down by needling a few acupoints.
"Cold..." Yu Ning felt colder and colder, her whole body trembling, her teeth chattering without cease!
Wei Zhao hesitated, torn within himself!
Yet seeing Yu Ning shiver so, Wei Zhao crouched down, drew a deep breath, and then reached out both arms to hold her tightly, hoping by this to help her!