Si Yan’s fever made her delirious in the middle of the night.
Groggily, she called for her brother.
Ming Ji stepped forward to touch her forehead.
So hot. By hand, he guessed it was around 39 or 40 degrees Celsius.
Ming Ji fetched a bowl of warm boiled water and picked Si Yan up.
"Little Yan, be good, drink so water."
Ming Ji rarely coddled her, but he would when she was sick with a fever.
Si Yan, feeling the familiar embrace, opened her eyes in a daze. She looked at the water and didn’t want to drink. "Don’t want. Won’t drink."
Ming Ji persuasively cooed, "Be a good girl, darling Yan. Have so water; you’ll feel better after drinking."
Only then did Si Yan reopen her eyes and sluggishly drank so water.
After putting the bowl aside, Ming Ji intended to lay Si Yan down, but she clung to him as she did when she was a child, unwilling to let go.
"Brother, hold ," Si Yan mumbled incoherently, her voice incredibly soft and muddled.
Ming Ji was speechless. "You’re a grown woman now, still acting spoiled."
But in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to let go of her.
"Forget it, I owe you."
"Having such a handso brother hold you while you sleep, you’ve really hit the jackpot."
"Seeing how much you love , I’ll allow myself to be inconvenienced."
Si Yan, delirious from the fever, woke up in a daze and found herself in Ming Ji’s arms.
She didn’t try to break free.
Her consciousness was blurry, yet she still rembered how to curse soone out.
"Ming Ji."
Ming Ji jolted and reached to touch her head. It was still hot, but the fever had subsided a bit.
She weakly scolded, "Why are you holding ? Who gave you permission to hold !"
"From the mont I was born, you stripped away my fate! You deceived emotionally for over twenty years, pushed into a zombie horde, made hate you all, and yet wouldn’t let be with you! Then you called down lightning to strike , created earthquakes to shake , raised a Jie Ling to bully , and even tead up with Jin Yao against ! You’ve hidden so much from ; you never tell anything. It’s too much!"
As Si Yan spoke, her emotions crumbled, and she beca more and more aggrieved. "You’re just a bad brother with a nasty character! Who would ever forgive you?"
The accused Ming Ji was stunned. "But you were the one who asked to hold you..."
Si Yan, muddled by fever, quickly forgot what she had just ranted about and fell asleep again against Ming Ji’s chest.
Ming Ji was left speechless. To hold or not to hold?
Si Yan had a dream.
She dread that she was back in her childhood.
Before her eyes, two young Si Jie brothers appeared.
She was wearing a doll dress, toddling across the grass on her short little legs.
One brother was coolly aloof, with a hint of naughtiness about him, his gaze lazy.
The other brother was all smiles, his entire deanor gentle. His silver eyes twinkled like stars in the sky, and his tender appearance was like a little sun.
Both brothers smiled and squatted down, waiting for Si Yan to run over. She ran over, laughing, and they lifted her into the air.
「...」
"Awake?" Ming Ji was tending a fire in a simple stove inside the cave.
This stove had a chimney that extended out through the top of the cave for ventilation.
Si Yan’s head ached a little. She was drenched in sweat and felt sticky all over.
Si Yan sat up, feeling weak. "I need to change into clean clothes," she said.
Ming Ji stood up. "Your fever was quite severe this ti, and it’s been recurring, so it might co back. Here’s a coarse cotton garnt you can wear underneath; with a fur skirt over it, you won’t be cold. The size might not be perfect; wear it if you want."
After speaking, Ming Ji picked up a shovel and started digging through the snow at the cave entrance. Once he had dug an opening, he stepped out.
Once the cave’s fur curtain was lowered, Si Yan changed into the thick, warm clothes Ming Ji had set aside for her.
After Si Yan had changed into the clean clothes, including a fur skirt, Ming Ji re-entered. He picked up the fur skirt she had been wearing, intending to wash it.
Si Yan stopped him. "I can wash it myself."
Ming Ji said, "You’d better not. You’re so delicate a breeze could knock you over. You’re still recovering; don’t make it worse."
"Oh, and the porridge just finished cooking. Rember to eat."
Si Yan was rendered speechless.
This brother of mine really isn’t likeable at all.
Once Ming Ji had washed her fur skirt and hung it on a branch outside, he pushed aside the fur curtain, bent down, and squeezed through the narrow entrance, which resembled a tree hole, to sit on the little wooden stool opposite her.
He stretched out his long legs, which seed to have nowhere to comfortably rest.
Si Yan glanced at him and continued to sip her porridge.
The arguing was over, and the fever had passed. Her intense emotions had subsided; she could face him calmly now.
She asked him, "Do you live here?"
Ming Ji sat down not far from her and replied with a drawl, "Mhm. It’s quieter here. Good for spacing out."
Ming Ji poked the firewood and pulled out a roasted sweet potato.
It was too hot to handle, so he juggled it in his hands a few tis before taking a bite.
Seeing Si Yan watching him, he offered the partly eaten sweet potato to her. "Want so?"
Si Yan looked away. "Just eat it yourself."
He chuckled and soon finished the whole thing.
Outside the cave, the snow was thick, and Si Yan heard footsteps crunching. Soone was coming. The CRUNCH, CRUNCH of footsteps suggested there were quite a few people.
Outside the cave, a harsh male voice called out, "Ming Ji, how dare you steal our prey! Hand over our ga right now!"
Si Yan gestured to Ming Ji with a tilt of her chin.
Ming Ji spread his hands. "The Beastman leader here has already been... disciplined by . I didn’t expect any other Beastn would dare to cause trouble."
Ming Ji walked out of the cave, his posture straight. His black eyes held a hint of red, and his malevolent gaze, with just a casual glance, was enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
The several Mammoth Beastn and Snow Eagle Beastn outside the cave were stunned. They instinctively felt dominated by him, and it took them a mont to regain their senses.
Ming Ji said nonchalantly, "What’s this about?"
One of the Mammoth Beastn said with a hostile look, "Our tribe hunted several prey yesterday, and when we counted today, we found one missing. Ming Ji, you stole it, didn’t you?"
Ming Ji’s malevolent eyes narrowed. It seems I’ve been gone too long, he thought. These Beastn haven’t had a good thrashing in a while, and now they’re bold enough to target .
"You lost so at?"
Ming Ji turned back towards the cave and casually took out a scrap of at. "Is this it?"
The eyes of the Mammoth and Snow Eagle Beastn lit up imdiately, their mouths watering. "Yes, yes, that’s the piece! Now, just obediently hand over the prey you stole, and we won’t trouble you!"
Ga on Snow Mountain was already hard to hunt, and an avalanche had occurred just yesterday. The Snow Mountain Tribe hadn’t had a successful hunt in so ti; they were all famished, practically starving.
They weren’t well acquainted with Ming Ji, but they knew he was an outsider, a foreign Beastman.
He was alone and seed easy to overpower, yet his hunting skills were strong; he always brought back prey whenever he went out.
So, they had decided to target Ming Ji.
Desperate lands breed desperate people. The Beastn in this cruel environnt were truly ruthless.
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