Chu Lian worked quickly and managed to get He Sanlang’s outer robe off. When she could finally see the dark green undershirt he was wearing, she was slightly startled.
The square patterns embroidered on the collar were so crooked that they looked like furry little worms instead. Wasn’t this the shirt that Li Yue had practised on?
He Changdi was actually wearing it! Judging from how worn the edges of the cloth seemed to be, she could guess that he wore this shirt quite often…
He couldn’t possibly have worn these clothes for so long because he thought that I was the one who made them… right?
Chu Lian covered her face with a hand. Considering He Changdi’s fickle temperament, she didn’t dare to tell him the truth behind the shirt now.
Thus, she followed the mantra ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’ and simply destroyed the shirt.
This lousily embroidered shirt that He Changdi wore the most was cut to shreds by the indignant Chu Lian…
Although He Changdi looked like a tall, skinny man, his body was actually brimming with hidden strength once his clothes were stripped away. Though his muscles weren’t overly large, they gave him an underlying aura of power.
Even though he was covered in tiny little cuts and scratches from his chest down to his waist, Chu Lian felt her cheeks heating up from looking at his body.
She murmured under her breath, “Isn’t He Sanlang’s figure a little too perfect?”
An eight-pack of abs sat on his abdomen. They didn’t look very obvious because he was lying prone right now. Then there were the two alluring lines on either side of his waist, leading down further…
Even though Chu Lian was treating He Changdi as a patient right now, she couldn’t help the blush that spread across her face.
She moved faster and stripped He Sanlang in record time before panicking and throwing the blanket over his excellent figure.
By this time, Wenlan had returned with the hot water.
“Third Young Madam, here’s the hot water. The salves are on the side table. This servant has some tasks at hand, so this servant won’t be able to help. If Third Young Madam has any orders, just call this servant.”
Once she finished speaking, Wenlan vanished from the side room. The speed of her disappearance left Chu Lian agape.
Wenlan thoughtfully shut the doors, leaving He Changdi and Chu Lian alone in the room. She hunched her shoulders and chuckled evilly.
Since there was a chance, she had to let Third Young Master and Third Young Madam spend more time together!
Even though she was just a maidservant, she had noticed that there was something wrong between the couple.
They had been here in the north for so many days, yet they had never once spent the night together. It wasn’t as if Third Young Master didn’t have any opportunities to stay overnight, either.
From her objective point of view, the problem definitely wasn’t a lack of passion between the two. Third Young Master had been furious upon hearing that Third Young Madam had been kidnapped. She and her sister, Wenqing, had been scared stiff by the bloodlust in his eyes.
Although Third Young Madam was still young, she didn’t seem to be interested in much in particular, apart from cooking gourmet food. She had never really put her full attention into anything else, even when it came to making money. However, when it came to matters that concerned Third Young Master, she had actually gotten so worried that it had been written all over her face. Third Young Madam had even personally thought of a plan to solve his problems. Didn’t that mean something?
Since the couple clearly had each other in their hearts, then all they needed was a good opportunity. They were already married anyway. If they got along well enough, there might even be a baby born next year!
There were still no male heirs in the next generation of House Jing’an yet. If their Third Young Madam managed to produce the first one, wouldn’t the matriarch favour Third Young Master’s branch even more?
Thus, Wenlan had specially left the couple alone at this time.
Chu Lian could almost feel the sweat dripping down her forehead. Wenlan’s thoughts were as clear as day to her.
However, she didn’t mind it for now. Her first priority was to get He Changdi healed up.
She glanced at the basin of hot water on the table before resigning herself to the manual labour. Chu Lian used a warm wet towel to wipe off all the dirt on He Sanlang’s body. When he was all clean, she started applying medicine to his wounds.
When evening fell, the old physician came by to check up on his patient again.
Although He Sanlang was still unconscious, his high fever was gone by now.
To Chu Lian, the old physician explained, “Madam, as long as the patient’s fever doesn’t return tonight, his condition will be stable from tomorrow onwards. He’ll just have to focus on recovery from then on.”
Chu Lian thanked the old physician and ordered Manger Qin to send him off personally.
After she had her dinner, Chu Lian stayed by He Sanlang’s bedside. When Li Xing, Li Yue, and Manager Qin saw that she was going to take the grueling night watch, they were about to offer to take Chu Lian’s place, but Wenqing and Wenlan held them back.
“What are you poking your noses into? It’s enough to have Third Young Madam alone to care for Third Young Master. Don’t worry, my sister and I will keep watch in the outer room through the night. If there’s any news, we’ll let you know immediately.”
Since Wenlan had given her guarantee, the group of people backed down and went off to bed.
Chu Lian told Wenlan to move a chaise next to He Changdi’s bed. It was warm inside the room, so she didn’t need extra blankets. A thin blanket draped over her body was sufficient.
Chu Lian picked up a book of folk stories and leaned against the chaise to read. She touched He Changdi’s forehead and palms from time to time to check if his fever returned.
It was fact, however, that Chu Lian had already gotten used to sleeping early. She had already yawned countless of times before it had even reached midnight.
In order to keep awake, Chu Lian ate some sour candied fruit, but even so, she only managed to hang on till after midnight. When she finally couldn’t take it anymore, she laid sideways on the chaise and fell asleep.
When Wenqing noticed that there were no more sounds of activity coming from the room, she crept in silently and tucked the thin blanket more securely over Chu Lian. She checked He Changdi’s temperature before leaving as quietly as she had come.
Sometime before daybreak, when the skies were at their darkest, the comatose He Changdi finally opened his eyes with great difficulty.
His vision was still rather blurry, but the first thing he noticed was the face that he had been yearning to see the most.
