Chapter 30: Pecs – Human or Ghost

.

I need to cool him down quickly.

Her handkerchief had long been lost somewhere.

Whispering “Forgive my rudeness,” Lin Xihe unhesitatingly reached into Wen Zhixu’s collar.

After some fumbling, she found nothing. Of course – why would a grown man carry a handkerchief?

She lowered her gaze to examine the man lying on the ground. These muscles… Who would have thought this usually tall and slender man would be so well-built beneath his clothes.

But there were no gyms in ancient times… Lin Xihe quickly pulled back her wandering thoughts.

She’d always had this weakness for handsome men since childhood. She remembered her first time entering a gym, where she immediately encountered a muscular hunk lifting weights. She’d been stunned on the spot. Just as she was holding her breath, the guy casually lifted his shirt to wipe his sweat.

That very day, Lin Xihe signed up for an annual membership.

Now, in these wild mountains.

Lin Xihe, who had “seen the world” in modern times, found her hands pressed against two firm, well-defined muscles through the fabric.

A vigorous heartbeat pulsed through her palm.

That unreliable nose of hers acted up again. Blood gushed out like a broken dam.

“Had enough feeling?” The lying man cracked open a narrow slit of his eyes.

The “red-handed criminal” sprang back, stammering excuses: “Who-who’s feeling you up! I… I was looking for a handkerchief!”

The sky darkened further as the mountain chill crept in. Beyond the insect chirps, only their breathing remained in the silence.

Lin Xihe called out, “Hey.”

Wen Zhixu remained lying on his back, unmoving.

Regaining some courage, she asked quietly: “Hey, why aren’t you saying anything?”

The man showed no signs of movement.

Could he really be dead?

The thought struck her – this godforsaken place had no emergency room, no fever reducers. A high fever could truly be fatal here.

Lin Xihe scanned their surroundings. It had rained last night – there should be a stream nearby. Her sharp nose could detect the moist air even from here.

Like a zombie possessed, she bent to tear her sleeve. The coarse servant’s clothing she wore was too sturdy. So those drama scenes where people tear their sleeves for bandages were all lies!

Since there was no handkerchief, she’d have to improvise.

As if guided by some strange impulse, Lin Xihe took off her sock and brought it close to smell: “Yuck…”

She soaked the sock and placed it on Wen Zhixu’s forehead.

“Ahem… This is called a fever patch,” she explained seriously. “I washed it, it’s not smelly.”

“You’re burning up like this, your sense of smell is probably gone anyway. Even if there’s some odor, you wouldn’t notice. Ha… haha.”

“Don’t disrespect your lifesaver, or you might get struck by lightning.”

Lin Xihe sat down beside him again.

In the quiet, her scrapes began throbbing with pain.

She studied his profile – even ill, his facial contours remained striking. Putting the patient first, she sighed and removed her servant’s outer robe, draping it haphazardly over the sick man.

“Don’t complain,” Lin Xihe curled her toes as the night wind chilled her bare feet, “My clothes are all torn from the fall, and I’m cold too.”

She muttered a few more words under her breath before turning to gaze at the dark forest: “Why hasn’t anyone come to rescue us yet?”

She was somewhat afraid—primarily worried that Wen Zhixu might be dead. In the deep of night, the pitch-black mountain forest coupled with a fresh corpse… Lin Xihe shifted closer to him and asked the “corpse”: “I fell down here. How did you end up here?”

“…Surely you didn’t come specifically to rescue me?” Lin Xihe then recalled the Letter of Annulment—it didn’t make sense.

She was like a vigilant vulture, pricking up her ears to catch any sounds in the wilderness.

Qingwu, that girl, would definitely bring people to rescue her.

The full moon was wrapped in a hazy halo, filtering out the stars across the sky.

Lin Xihe repeatedly replaced his “fever compress.”

Sitting close to him, she let out a long yawn, her mind muddled with a fleeting thought: being a nurse was truly an inhuman job.

.

“Someone’s over there!”

Someone was the first to shout, and soon after, several torches lit up the layered forest.

Qingwu raised her torch high: “Miss! Miss is over there!”

After the heavy rain, the swollen stream had turned into a small river, forcing the search party to take a detour. The mountain path was not only muddy but also covered in thorns. Everyone looked disheveled.

Qingwu paid no heed to the danger and was the first to rush to Lin Xihe’s side: “Miss! Miss!”

Lin Xihe was leaning against Wen Zhixu, her eyes tightly shut.

“Wah… Second Young Master!” Wen Ba’s voice choked up when he saw the unnatural flush on his master’s face.

First a fall from the cliff, now a fever.

The Second Young Master had rushed through the night to deliver medicine to his mother. It was his own negligence—the Second Young Master had been coughing occasionally lately. Who would have thought… he would end up unconscious?

There was only one stretcher available.

Wen Ba and Qingwu argued fiercely, neither willing to yield.

“My young master is still ill!”

“My young lady is injured!”

“What if my young master has internal injuries too?”

“My young lady fell from such a great height. She may seem fine now, but who’s to say her bones aren’t broken?”

As the two argued relentlessly, the nuns could only fret helplessly—after all, they had brought only one stretcher up the mountain.

Amid the commotion, the young man who had been lying down propped himself up and sat. The half-dry “cloth” on his forehead slipped off, and he caught it effortlessly.

The tattered servant’s robe draped over him also slid to the ground.

Wen Zhixu’s gaze fixed on Lin Xihe beside him; faint, dark red bloodstains were visible on her face.

“What are you all standing around for?” Wen Zhixu’s voice was hoarse. “Quickly place Miss Lin on the stretcher, and be careful of her injuries.”

Qingwu immediately shoved Wen Ba aside and signaled the nuns to move the stretcher next to Lin Xihe.

The nuns from the convent, being long-term vegetarians, had little arm strength, while the servants and coachmen Wen Zhixu had brought were all men.

“Wait.” Wen Zhixu tucked Lin Xihe’s “cloth” into his lapel, then bent down and lifted her into his arms.

By the faint moonlight, Wen Zhixu could see the blood on her face—it had flowed from her nose. Was it from the fall? Or a knock?

This sharp-tongued, eccentric-minded woman could also end up in such a pitiful state.

An inexplicable pang of regret flashed through his heart. Had he been too harsh on her? She had risked climbing the mountain merely to find medicine for the Emerald Phoenix.

He placed Lin Xihe onto the stretcher.

The servants lifted it, and Qingwu hurriedly took out a robe to carefully cover Lin Xihe.

Wen Zhixu followed at the rear of the group. Lin Xihe’s mud-stained feet swayed briefly before his eyes.

Why wasn’t she even wearing socks?

In a flash, he pulled out the half-dry cloth he had been warming.

A young nun peeked out curiously, her torch moving closer to Wen Zhixu.

By the torchlight, Wen Zhixu saw what he held in his hand: a pair of tiny silk socks.

“Well done, Lin Xihe…” he murmured, then couldn’t suppress a low chuckle.

Seeing his expression shift between tension and relaxation, the young nun quickly averted her gaze: Patron Wen has gone mad.

The mountain path was treacherous, especially at night. Watching his young master stumble through the stream, Wen Ba’s heart ached. He hurriedly brought the torch closer to light the way.

When overhanging branches brushed against Wen Zhixu’s arm, Wen Ba felt inexplicably irritated.

His young master had caught a chill searching for this Miss Lin. Why should the Lin family’s young lady lie comfortably on a stretcher?

Wen Ba raised his voice: “Second Young Master, watch your step.”

“What are you shouting for?” Qingwu directly thrust her torch toward his face, nearly singeing Wen Ba’s eyebrows.

“You!”

“Wen Ba,” Wen Zhixu intervened, “it’s fine.”

Wen Ba was deeply dissatisfied with Qingwu. Was this maid so insolent just because her mistress was the Lin family’s precious daughter?

What was so special about her mistress anyway!

Wen Ba kicked away a broken branch. “Second Young Master, how did you find Miss Lin on these winding mountain paths?”

“I often played behind Shu Shi An as a child.” Wen Zhixu had considered everything except the swollen stream. While crossing, a slippery stone made him lose his balance.

Thus he searched the mountains for a long time in half-wet clothes. When the night wind rose, the cold pierced like needles. Before long, his forehead grew burning hot—he had developed a high fever.

Fortunately, he had finally found her.

Though resentful, Wen Ba fell silent under Wen Zhixu’s gaze.

Wen Zhixu said to Qingwu, “Go fetch a physician to examine your young lady carefully.”

Qingwu wiped her tears: “Second Young Master, after falling from such height, will Miss really be alright?”She feared her young lady might have fallen and hurt herself again.”

Wen Zhixu studied the girl lying on the stretcher. Her face appeared dazzlingly pale under moonlight, with faint traces of blood visible.

The injuries were indeed serious.

“External wounds are treatable, but I worry about internal injuries.”

Hearing this, Qingwu burst into loud sobs: “Miss just recovered. If she doesn’t wake up, this servant won’t live either.”

Amid the weeping, Lin Xihe seemed disturbed from peaceful dreams. She frowned and buried her face deeper.

Soon, faint snoring sounds emerged from the stretcher.

Wen Zhixu: “…”

This wasn’t unconsciousness—the person was clearly fast asleep.

.

Shu Shi An.

The abbess, quite skilled in medicine, concluded after a brief examination: “Guanyin Bodhisattva blesses. Patron Lin is fortunate and protected by heaven.”

Lin Xihe had remarkable luck. Despite falling from a cliff, she sustained only minor abrasions without serious harm.

“Then why hasn’t she woken up?” Huixin blinked her tear-swollen eyes, accepting the handkerchief Huici handed her.

The mountain night was heavy with dew, yet this particular room remained warm and cozy. Huixin had even made a pomelo lantern, its dried rind emitting a faint fragrance when warmed by candlelight.

The young man leaning against the doorway remarked quietly: “She’s sleeping too deeply.Earlier on the stretcher, she had woken briefly in a daze, mumbling vaguely: “…Where’s Wen Zhixu?”

Everyone quickly made way, urging him forward to speak with her.

The girl barely managed to crack open a sliver of her eyelids, unclear if she could even see him. Wen Zhixu leaned down, thinking she must be terrified after falling from the cliff, and awkwardly comforted her, “Don’t be afraid.”

The last image in Lin Xihe’s mind was of Wen Zhixu lying like a corpse. How could he be walking so briskly now that she had woken up? Even with a fever-reducing injection, recovery shouldn’t be this fast.

Too weary to ponder, she drowsily sought confirmation from him, “Are you human or a ghost?”

“…”