The sun had been shining brightly, but all of a sudden, the sky turned overcast. Seeing the heavy clouds, Xiao Yu stood on the shore and shouted towards Xiao Ze.
"Ze~~~ come back, the wind has picked up, having enough to eat is enough!"
Ze came over carrying a bucket, to her surprise, she discovered there were five or six small octopuses: "My Sky, we’ve actually got quite a haul here?"
"There’s also a sea eel, two groupers, and four crabs. Sister, that should be enough for us to eat, right?"
"More than enough, we could gorge ourselves silly. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s quickly get back and stew them up, and eat while it’s not raining yet."
When the siblings returned home, Xiao Yu asked Xiao Ze to bring the stuff upstairs, while she habitually went to check on the man.
The moment she lifted the curtain, she locked eyes with a pair of sharp, black pupils, startling her so much that her hand shook and the curtain fell back into place, but she quickly recovered.
"Oh my Sky, Ze, he’s awake, this man is awake."
Xiao Yu hurried upstairs, changed into various pieces of equipment in her room, and then rushed down the steps. When she lifted the curtain again, the man was still in a defensive and tense state. She quickly waved her hand at him, fastening the tent’s curtain with a piece of wood.
"Don’t be nervous, we’re not bad people. You were the one we picked up from the beach. You caught the epidemic, do you remember?" Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novᴇlfire.net
A flash of realization swept through the man’s gaze, but he quickly scrutinized her with an inquiring look, as if silently questioning her strength.
"Stop looking at me like that. Actually, my brother and I pretty much acted as makeshift doctors to pick you up. You have good physical health; I didn’t expect you to wake up so soon. Anyway, now that you’re awake, why don’t you tell me if there’s anything that feels uncomfortable?"
The man lay stiffly, slowly moving his body. Perhaps because he had been lying down too long, his whole body felt uncomfortable, especially his muscle tissue. Probably affected by the epidemic, they had become soft and lacked vitality. His entire body was in a state near death, suffocating.
He wanted to speak, but because he hadn’t used his voice for so long, especially his throat, bronchi, and lungs had all suffered to varying degrees, he let his shoulders slump in defeat.
Xiao Yu approached, extending her hand to gently support his head, but he frowned and subconsciously avoided her.
This motion made Xiao Yu feel slightly embarrassed, yet also somewhat exasperated: "Hey, I’m not trying to take advantage of you. If you think you can get up, help yourself to some water. I’m too lazy to feed you anyway!"
Wuming’s face reddened a bit from her unapologetic ridicule. He subconsciously looked outside, possibly searching for her brother?
But this only invited more merciless mockery from Xiao Yu: "Do you not realize that you’re infected with the epidemic? It’s contagious. That’s how people in our village died, and the court ordered the village to be killed off. It seems like our parents pushed us siblings out, and we drifted to this Nameless Island and survived. Now it looks like we’ve apparently saved you. Isn’t it enough that I’m taking care of you alone? You still want to drag my brother into it? I’m telling you, dream on, no way, drink it or not, it’s up to you!"
Xiao Yu let out a scoff, set the water down on the table next to him, and stood up to leave. Unexpectedly, the man was flexible despite his state, his reflexes quick as he reached out and caught the sleeve of her garment. With a hoarse voice, he strenuously uttered two words: "Thank... you...,"