Jiang Ziling covered himself well, leaving only his legs exposed. Despite that, he still seemed uneasy, fidgeting in his seat.
Su Yu, without giving it much thought, walked straight toward him and crouched down to carefully examine him.
When Jiang Ziling felt the warm touch on his leg, his body instantly tensed, and his breathing became rapid.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was fully focused, eyes closed, feeling the condition of the bone, completely unaware of his discomfort.
A moment later, Su Yu stood up and sighed softly. Jiang Ziling, nervous, asked, "Is it very serious?"
Su Yu waved her hand, "Not exactly, I was just lamenting that your parents really were quite terrible."
"This leg injury was originally just a simple fracture. If it had been treated promptly, it wouldn't have affected your walking at all. It seems they never even called a doctor for you." Jiang Ziling nodded, "My stepmother said the family had no money and it would heal just lying down for a while."
Su Yu felt a pang of heartache. Healing bones and muscles would require a hundred days of care; even normal treatment would take months, let alone his severe injury which had gone completely untreated.
The agony he must have endured was unimaginable.
Her disdain for that wicked woman, Lady Zhao, deepened even more.
Seeing Su Yu silent, Jiang Ziling eagerly pressed, "Can it still be treated now?"
After a moment's thought, Su Yu finally spoke, "The injury can be treated, but the process is extremely painful, more than most people can bear."
"I can handle it," Jiang Ziling said firmly.
Su Yu shook her head and sighed softly again, "Ah, that's not the issue. The question is whether your body can withstand it. Your injury has been neglected for years; to completely correct its alignment is unimaginably difficult. During treatment, you must remain fully conscious and tell me your sensations in real-time so that you can respond accordingly to my instructions, allowing me to treat you accurately."
"The real concern is that the pain might make you pass out," she added.
"Then, then what should I do?" Jiang Ziling asked, a look of dejection on his face.
Su Yu's tone was calm, "Don't fret too much. Once your body condition improves and your endurance increases, the treatment will be relatively easier. Moreover, I need to prepare some herbal medicines. Let's take this step by step."
Jiang Ziling nodded in agreement, "That's all we can do, Yuyu. Thank you for your efforts."
As night fell silently, Xixi came bouncing to Jiang Ziling's side, yawning heavily, obviously extremely tired.
Jiang Ziling gently stroked Xixi's head, "Daddy will heat some water for your foot bath."
He carefully picked up Xixi and stood up on one leg, but didn't notice his trousers sliding down.
This scene made Su Yu instantly speechless. Wide-eyed in disbelief, she swiftly turned around to avoid looking.
Realizing something was wrong, Jiang Ziling hurriedly grabbed a quilt to cover his vital areas, his face flushing with embarrassment, wishing he could just crawl into a hole.
"I'm sorry, I..." he stammered.
Su Yu was equally embarrassed, keen to escape the scene, and quickly said, "You, you rest, I, I'll heat the water."
She swiftly walked to the stove, skillfully igniting the fire.
After all, she had just cooked here a while ago, so the operation was quite smooth.
When the water boiled, Jiang Ziling was neatly dressed and Xixi had already peacefully fallen asleep. Su Yu gently wiped Xixi's cheeks with a cloth and carefully washed her little feet.
The little one merely lazily twisted a few times but never woke up.
Once everything was tidied up, the atmosphere inside the house once again fell into an awkward silence.
"There's only one bed here, so, we..." Jiang Ziling hesitated as he spoke.
He quickly raised his hand, solemnly promising, "Miss, rest assured, I will not offend you in any way. You can relax and rest, I'll make do on the floor for the night."
Su Yu looked around and questioned, "But I see that your home doesn't have any bedding for making a makeshift bed on the floor."
"It doesn't matter, the weather is hot, the floor is actually cooler," Jiang Ziling responded indifferently.
After some thought, Su Yu suggested, "I trust you wouldn't dare to behave inappropriately towards me, let Xixi sleep in the middle, and you can sleep on the bed."
"That, that's against propriety," Jiang Ziling said, his expression serious.
Su Yu, however, dismissed this, "Propriety is rigid, but people are living. Besides, everyone now believes we are husband and wife. If they find out you're sleeping on the floor, who knows what sort of gossip they will come up with."
Jiang Ziling was about to argue when Su Yu interjected, "It's decided then. I'm going to boil some water for you to wash up. Rest early, I'm truly exhausted."
After a whole day of rushing about, Su Yu was indeed exhausted. She quickly freshened up and neatly took off her coat, stepped over the sleeping Xixi, and directly lay down on the furthest side of the bed, falling into a deep sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Jiang Ziling watched her defenseless sleeping posture, a slight smile curling at the corner of his lips, thinking to himself: This woman is decisive and straightforward, but how could I easily cross the line that should exist between a man and a woman?
He sat at the desk, pondering, "The grain at home is decreasing day by day, and now there's an additional person. It seems I must go to that place tomorrow to check it out..."
Before dawn, Su Yu awoke as the first light of dawn began to seep through the curtains.
A dreamless deep sleep left her feeling refreshed.
She looked down at her pillow side, only to see Xixi's face, kissed by the sunlight, dark and adorably asleep.
Su Yu couldn't resist poking Xixi's cheek gently; the little one merely wriggled her body and continued to indulge in her sweet dreams.
Su Yu got up quietly, stretched her limbs, and thoroughly enjoyed the calm of the early morning.
She noticed Jiang Ziling was dozing off at the desk.
Su Yu shook her head to herself, thinking how meticulous this man was to even sleep next to the desk. Looking around, the simple room seemed to still carry the warmth of the previous day, feeling like a dream. The physical exhaustion made her fall asleep as soon as she hit the bed the night before, and only now did she have the leisure to think through their current situation.
To completely cure Jiang Ziling's leg illness obviously would take some time, and considering the unusual mute poison in Xixi, it seemed they couldn't leave this place anytime soon.
If that was the case, improving their living conditions to make life more comfortable became a priority.
Su Yu scanned the room's furnishings, a wave of helplessness wash over her: remodeling this humble dwelling, how easy could it be!
However, solving the problem of food and warmth was the primary task.
Yesterday she had turned Ziling's family's home upside down, only to find that they had run out of food long ago. She wondered how this pair of "partners" had managed to survive these hungry days.
After dressing neatly, Su Yu briefly freshened up, went over to Jiang Ziling and gently pushed him, saying,"You go lie down on the bed for a while, I need to go out."
Jiang Ziling, groggy, opened his eyes and asked sleepily, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to find some food in the mountains and gather some herbs for treating your leg," Su Yu replied.
As soon as Jiang Ziling heard "going up the mountain," he immediately became alert, struggling to get up, "No, it's too dangerous!"
Little did he know that his leg was still numb, and he fell back into the chair.
Su Yu quickly steadied him, and simultaneously covered his mouth, fearing to disturb the sleeping Xixi.