Ning Yan looked at her calmly. Seeing Bai Qingqing holding her hand up with such earnest expectation in her eyes, he took a quiet breath and said, “Four.”
Bai Qingqing let out a long sigh of relief. “Thank goodness, you’re not brain-damaged. You have no idea how scared I was—you kept getting fevers after passing out, burning hot to the touch. I was terrified your brain would get fried. Thank the heavens, thank the heavens.”
She pressed her palms together and muttered a prayer with surprising piety. When she finished, she suddenly noticed her missing sleeve and her eyes flew wide open. “Wh-what happened to my clothes?!”
The wound on her left arm had already been bandaged, but without a sleeve to cover it, the bruises she’d inflicted on herself stood out starkly, ugly and dark against her pale skin.
Ning Yan handed her a water pouch, then gently took her arm and began pressing softly against the bruises with his fingers. “You did all this to yourself? That’s some resolve.”
Bai Qingqing took a few sips of water, her spirits lifting. “I was afraid I’d fall asleep. This was the first time I realized what real sleep deprivation feels like. You can’t stop your eyelids from drooping no matter how strong your will is. But I’m clever, so I came up with a solution.”
Ning Yan raised his eyes slightly. “Pinching yourself?”
Bai Qingqing gave her thigh a proud slap. “Exactly! I tried a bunch of things, and this worked the best. Pain’s the most effective way to fight off sleep. At first, it worked great, but later on, not so much. The pain fades too fast. I even thought, if only I could keep hurting, I’d never fall asleep.”
Ning Yan lowered his gaze, letting it drift away from her bright, smiling face. He didn’t understand it—a noble girl of Xuancheng, raised with every luxury, venturing out alone for the first time, now covered in wounds, huddled in a desolate cave at the foot of a cliff. Her face was smudged like a dirty kitten’s, she wore rough men’s clothes, and ate cold biscuits with water—yet she could still smile like that, with such innocence and peace.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
To Bai Qingqing, this ordeal was the most perilous, most surreal experience of both her lives combined. She couldn’t stop herself from wanting to share her thoughts with Ning Yan.
“I was scared, yes—but I thought it through carefully. I chose this spot after weighing all the options. I made just a tiny cut, not enough to affect how I took care of you, but enough to keep myself awake. Isn’t that kind of impressive?”
If she’d had a fluffy tail, it would’ve been wagging behind her. Her dark, shining eyes sparkled with anticipation, and the words “Praise me” were practically written across her beaming face.
Ning Yan switched arms to massage hers, his tone careless. “Mm. It is kind of impressive—braver and sharper than any woman I’ve ever met.”
The grin on Bai Qingqing’s face grew so wide it almost dazzled. She let out a string of delighted, incomprehensible giggles—“Hehehehehe.”
He’d praised her! That meant she was at least somewhat useful, right? Hehehe.
“And you? Anywhere still hurting? I found some medicine in the cave, though I couldn’t be sure it matched your symptoms. But after feeding it to you a few times, your fever really did subside—you just wouldn’t wake up. I was worried, you know? And when I slept, it must’ve been hard for you to change the dressing with just one hand… Hey, stop rubbing that, you’re not supposed to strain your arm!”
Bai Qingqing deftly pulled her arm free, then knelt up on the stone slab and grabbed Ning Yan’s arm to check his wound herself.
When she saw he really hadn’t changed the bandage, her cheeks puffed with frustration. “I knew it. Can you please, for once, treat your body like it’s worth something?”