"Hey, wake up, you have a fever, you’re so hot." Ye Lu hurriedly shook him awake, taking fever-reducing medicine out of the medicine box.

Third Young Master Jun had already woken up, frowning and looking at her with a dazed expression, his headache making him watch her anxious demeanour.

Ye Lu supported him, anxiously feeding him the medicine. He felt it was pointless, as these drugs would do nothing, but he swallowed them anyway to keep her from worrying and suspecting.

"How come you didn’t know you had a fever?"

"I probably caught a chill the other day."

"Then rest here for a while, we’re not traveling today." She was extremely worried, always feeling that it wasn’t just a simple fever.

"No."

This time, Third Young Master was resolute.

"We can get out in three days, we can’t waste time, the sooner we get out, the better."

Ye Lu panicked: "But you have a fever now..."

"Fever won’t kill a person, let’s go." He picked her up directly, calmly packed up the tent, and continued on.

The more he felt his body was in bad shape, the more he wanted to hurry, because even he didn’t know what would happen next.

He hoped to hold on until they got out, but if not, at least he wanted to take her as far as possible.

He didn’t want to waste time on meaningless rest.

Ye Lu could only follow him on foot, but the unease in her heart did not diminish; on the contrary, it grew. In fact, she had felt his fever that day - not a delusion. He had been sick for several days, always hiding it from her, not wanting her to worry.

Come nightfall, they finally stopped to rest and eat. Both were silent, creating a tense and solemn atmosphere.

"You tell me, what exactly is going on with you, are you sick, where does it hurt?" Ye Lu couldn’t bear the oppressive atmosphere any longer, and asked.

"Don’t overthink it, it’s just a cold and fever, not a big deal," Third Young Master said impatiently beside the fire, his face illuminated by the firelight appeared particularly cold.

"I don’t believe it, you haven’t been right lately." Ye Lu felt more and more that something was off, and his attitude - he had become obviously distant and cold these past few days, which hurt her heart.

Since they had recognized each other, they had always been so affectionate, sweet and loving, tender and caring. His sudden coldness, avoiding eye contact, and keeping distance in every move made her feel bad.

"That’s just you being too anxious."

"I’m not." Ye Lu reached out to hold his hand, but he dodged it abruptly. She looked at him in astonishment, her eyes pained, "Does it bother you even when I touch you?"

"I’m tired, I’ll rest for a while. I’ll get up and keep watch again at 10 o’clock." Third Young Master turned his head and crawled into the tent. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Ye Lu sat outside in a daze, staring at the campfire. Even with the heat of the fire, she felt a chilling coldness inside, a feeling of loneliness and oppression.

She sat quietly outside for an hour, staring blankly at the campfire, listening to the insects and frogs in the forest, feeling so lonely.

Why was he always hot and cold towards her, keeping her from feeling his heart?

Around ten o’clock, he still hadn’t woken up. She looked sideways at the dim light coming from the tent, saw him lying on his side inside, his slender body looking much leaner, giving a sense of solitude and weakness.

Her heart ached for him, and her grievances faded. She crawled in, intending to cover him with a blanket.

As she lifted the blanket, she caught sight of a red mark on the side of his face, spreading down from the corner of his eye, like a blood-red thread, so eerie, so startling.