“Antidote?”
How could I, a living, breathing person, be a medicine?
“Yes,” Su Liumeng replied, her eyes fixed on my pitch-black hair. My loose strands—uncombed and natural—seemed to tempt her to reach out and smooth them down.
“I don’t get it.”
I buried my face against her chest, listening to her heartbeat, which was growing steadily stronger.
The lingering unease in my heart began to ease, little by little, with the gradual return of her body’s warmth.
I clutched her clothes tightly, unwilling to let go.
It felt like the moment I loosened my grip, she would slip away from me completely.
“I was so scared just now,” I mumbled, snuggled deep in Su Liumeng’s arms, refusing to lift my head. My voice still carried a slight trace of tears.
“Don’t worry anymore. See? I’m fine now,” Su Liumeng tried to comfort me.
She wanted to pick me up and hold me tighter.
But her body was still stiff, so all she could do was slightly raise her arm and tilt her head.
I quietly wiped the corners of my eyes.
The more I thought about my embarrassing behavior today, the more I couldn’t bring myself to lift my face.
Su Liumeng looked down at the little head that kept burrowing into her arms, her gaze filled with a helpless amusement. Why was this girl never this clingy before?
She didn’t want Sixinian to keep dwelling on the cold poison, so she decided to steer the conversation elsewhere…
“Let me think… Who was it that kept going on about being an adult, yet is still scared to sleep alone?”
I pouted and replied in a wronged tone, “That’s only because of you! I kept calling you, and you just ignored me…”
“And besides, who said I was scared?”
“I just wanted to sleep with you, that’s all.”
The amusement in Su Liumeng’s eyes deepened. She didn’t bother exposing someone’s stubborn little act.
She had come to realize—this little Yan had become more and more thin-skinned lately.
“Yes, you wanted to sleep with me.”
“Next time… can we sleep together again?”
This had been Su Liumeng’s unspoken wish for who knew how long. She had always longed to fall asleep in the arms of the one she loved. But on countless nights, all she could do was hug a few symbolic objects for comfort.
Now that the fear and anxiety had gradually faded, the girlish shyness buried in my heart began to awaken.
I mumbled, half annoyed, half coy:
“In your dreams.”
“I have a baby now. I can’t sleep with someone else.”
“What if you roll over and crush me while we’re sleeping?”
Su Liumeng clearly caught the hidden meaning in my words—so… there’s still room for negotiation?
“I… I’ll be very careful,” she said, blinking up at me eagerly.
The frost in the room was slowly fading away. The biting cold had all but vanished, and Su Liumeng’s face…
The color in Su Liumeng’s face gradually returned to normal as she laughed and joked. Once I was sure she really wasn’t in any serious condition, my mind was instantly flooded with embarrassment at having volunteered to sleep beside her. I quickly reached out with my little hand to push her away a bit, then knelt on the other side of the bed by myself. My entire adorable little face was buried under my hair, turned away from Su Liumeng, who was now propped up against the headboard.
“I said no, and I mean no.”
My cheeks were burning red, and my tone came out slightly overbearing—though I honestly had no idea what kind of indecent place my mind had wandered to.
“When did you learn to sit like a duck?” Su Liumeng asked, staring unblinking at my bare little feet. “Just as cute as I imagined.”
“T-There’s nothing to learn about it…” I retorted indignantly, biting my lip. But then I realized I’d just given someone an eyeful. Within a second, I quickly switched to another sitting position.
I fiddled with my fingers as the sharp sting of embarrassment exploded inside my chest. Once my normal thought process finally returned, I found myself completely unable to face what I’d done tonight.
Kneeling on the bed sideways, I stubbornly refused to lift my head to look at the person on the other side.
Ah—
Just what kind of ridiculous thing was I doing?
Not only had I thrown myself into her arms, I even acted like a little kid—just because I was scared to sleep alone at night, I’d clutched my favorite blankie and obediently come running to her.
Embarrassed. Tongue-tied. My brain felt like a pot of glue I couldn’t stir straight.
In short, there was no way I could explain my feelings with just a few words.
Su Liumeng’s gaze fell on my figure in front of her, and her brows suddenly furrowed deeply.
Because I had just shifted my sitting position, she could now clearly see the underside of my other foot. Unlike the clean, pale foot on the opposite side, this one was covered in small cuts from shards of ice. Dried blood clung stubbornly to the skin, making it look quite disturbing.
“What happened here?”
Her voice was filled with panic. After a short pause to steady herself, she finally regained full control of her body and yanked me into her arms without warning.
The movement was so sudden and forceful, it felt like she was scooping up a startled toddler.
“Ah?” My eyes went blank in confusion.
My head spun like I was on a merry-go-round. Before I could even react, I was already nestled in her embrace.
“It hurts—” I let out a soft whimper, and my foot reflexively curled back a little. The injured look I wore made me seem especially pitiful.
Su Liumeng’s fingertips paused just as they brushed against the wound. Her eyes trembled involuntarily.
She had touched it gently… Was I really that sensitive?
Su Liumeng grew even more cautious in her movements.
Tears welled in my eyes from the pain, and I instinctively tried to pull my calf back.
But—
I didn’t get my way. My other, uninjured foot was firmly held in place by a warm palm that had finally regained its temperature.
The posture the two of us were in… no matter how you looked at it, it seemed just a little bit too intimate.
A strange image suddenly flashed through my mind, and I couldn’t help but start imagining something that made me want to crawl into a hole—
A scene from the depths of the earth—that’s what flashed through my mind. Right now, the two of us looked like we were on a bed, with her doing something I didn’t want her to do. I had been caught by the ankle and forcibly dragged back.
No, something was wrong with me. I bit down on the tip of my slightly extended tongue and didn’t dare tell anyone about the messy thoughts swirling in my head.
Suddenly, my body trembled, and all my attention was drawn to the sensation in Su Liumeng’s palm.
What was happening in reality made me lower my head even more.
That private, sensitive place of mine was being touched. The scalding heat from our skin-to-skin contact sent my heart into disarray without warning.
My eyes, cast downward, quietly stared at her beautiful fingertips.
Her nail polish was very light, the design simple and unassuming—no exaggerated, witch-like long nails. The pale pink floral pattern made her already elegant hands look even more refined.
Unlike her not-so-tall height, her long, slender fingers gave off a strong sense of security, as if they were born for combat—nothing about them felt dainty or weak.
Maybe it was because my own hands were too small, or maybe it was her fingers that were just naturally long.
I silently mumbled in my heart, fixating on my own shortcomings.
“Don’t move. I’ll go get some medicine for you in a bit,” Su Liumeng said patiently.
“You really need to be more careful.”
At her words—
My voice came out soft, but it sounded even more aggrieved.
“I… I was just worried about you.”
“That’s all.”
I had always known there was a wound on the bottom of my foot, and I had been deliberately trying to keep it out of Su Liumeng’s sight.
It’s just that… my brain had blanked out for a moment earlier, and I completely forgot about it.
Su Liumeng’s tone suddenly softened several times over, realizing her words had come out too harshly.
“Good girl, it’s not your fault, it’s not your fault. It’s mine—I didn’t take good care of you and ended up making you worry instead.”
There was a first-aid kit under the nightstand.
Su Liumeng pulled out a jar of black, gooey-looking ointment. I instinctively tried to pull my foot away from her grip.
My voice rose sharply, filled with alarm. “What is that weird stuff? I don’t want some sketchy dog-skin plaster!”
“Can’t you just take me to the hospital? Or better yet, just leave me alone—that’s an option too.”
I stared at her face, my tone on the verge of breaking down.
“Hmm? Leave you alone? Did your fever fry your brain or something? Look at the state you’re in and you’re still worried about bothering others?”
Su Liumeng was still holding that tar-like ointment. “Listen, I can’t do that. And besides, you got hurt because of me in the first place.”
“As for this ointment—”
“It may look a little ugly, but it works wonders. It’s a special healing salve reserved for core members of the Su family. Apply it today, and you’ll be walking like normal by tomorrow.”
“…Alright.” I reluctantly accepted her words.
The real reason, though, was that I wanted to believe her.
I shifted slightly to give her easier access to the sole of my foot.
Su Liumeng’s fingertips were a little warm as she held my ankle, and an odd emotion slowly spread in the depths of my heart.
When two people are alone, any act of physical closeness can easily stir deeper thoughts in someone who’s emotionally sensitive.
Her knuckles were strong, yet her eyes were incredibly gentle.
She didn’t look like someone who had been on the verge of freezing to death just moments ago.
After forcing the cold poison back again, the dragon blood within Su Liumeng’s body was now boiling over.
A low dragon’s roar—inaudible to others—resonated continuously within her dantian.
The most gifted heir of the Su family was in the process of being reborn once more, fully revitalized.
Suddenly, my eyes widened, my entire face flushing scarlet, and my voice stammered out awkwardly.
“You—you were just supposed to apply the medicine—why are you suddenly squeezing my foot?”
Inside the pink-toned bedroom.
The girl’s delicate, almost weightless little foot was cradled in another’s palm, gently caressed.
Her skin was smooth as milk, so soft it was hard to let go. Su Liumeng’s breathing had grown heavy.
I felt as if I’d been electrocuted, instinctively trying to pull back my uninjured foot.
“I-It’s dirty…” My voice was barely more than a mosquito’s whisper.
Su Liumeng’s heart gave a violent jolt.
She realized just how ambiguous her actions had become.
And yet… the thing I was worried about—was this.
At that moment, Su Liumeng’s emotions were incredibly complicated—her gaze especially so, as if she were defiling a sacred lotus that had bloomed atop a millennia-old snowy mountain.
She was silently reflecting on her own roughness.
“I just… wanted to test how it felt.”
Faced with a girl like this, Su Liumeng suddenly found herself incapable of telling any lies.
I shot her a resentful glance and muttered, “You really do have some unique tastes.”
“What exactly needs testing?”
As a perfectly normal human being, I truly couldn’t comprehend her behavior.
“Did you finish applying the medicine?” I looked at the blackened sole of my foot, a sight too tragic to bear.
The girl averted her eyes in mild distaste, looking even more haughty than the young lady she was treating.
I turned and sat on the edge of the bed, planning to return to my own room.
“Since you’re fine now, I’ll head back.”
Su Liumeng suddenly grabbed my arm, her tone pleading. “I’m kind of afraid of the dark… could you stay and sleep with me tonight?”
“…..”
Of course I knew she was just teasing.
But when I saw the quiet loneliness gradually welling up in her eyes, something inside me softened without reason. I suddenly felt a little unwilling to leave her like that.
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