LSDWTWHA chapter 67

Chapter 66

Su Su’s emotions came quickly, and so did his recovery. After dinner, he returned to his usual self, except for a slight redness around his eyes and nose, making him look a bit pitiful.

In order to comfort him, Qi Hanyi once again had to sleep beside him in the same bed.

Su Su nestled his head into Qi Hanyi’s arms, dreaming of something unknown, mumbling a lot of incoherent dream talk throughout the night.

Qi Hanyi held the person in his arms and couldn’t sleep the entire night. He gazed at Su Su’s serene face, but his mind was filled with memories of Su Su crying.

It was rare for him to be so confused, turning a question over and over in his mind without finding an answer. Why did Su Su cry?

Was it merely because of the few words he had said? Because his father had fought for the mermaids’ interests? Because he liked him? Perhaps any of these could be reasons, but they still felt insufficient. Unless there was something else that he did not know.

Could it be that Su Su had seen his own father? The thought popped into Qi Hanyi’s mind, but he quickly dismissed it. At that time, Su Su was still a little shark just born and innocent, just as small as A Yin.

Snow started to fall outside the window, beginning with scattered flurries, resembling a layer of white sand cascading from the sky, dancing in the night sky in the wind. Afterward, the snowfall grew heavier, wrapping the world in a white mist, making everything appear fuzzy and unreal.

By the time Su Su woke up, the ground was covered with a layer of silver, trees sprouted silver branches, and everything in the world looked like it was draped in a fluffy white blanket of snow.

“It’s snowing!” Wearing a little shark pajamas, Su Su bounced out of the bedroom, running down the stairs and bolting outside into the yard.

He had never seen snow in the sea. When the first snow had fallen before, he had wanted to go out and play, but then he was still a shark and could only watch from afar through the glass. Now it was different; he had transformed into a human and could run freely in the snow, having fun.

As soon as Su Su pushed open the yard gate, he was met with a rush of crisp, invigorating cold air. He shivered but that was not enough to extinguish his enthusiasm for playing outside. He dashed into the snow barefoot, crunching as he left a trail of crooked footprints on the white snow blanket.

“Hey, young lady, put on your shoes! Don’t run around barefoot, or you’ll catch a cold!” The butler hurried after Su Su, holding a pair of cotton shoes, but he was older and couldn’t keep up with the spirited Su Su.

“Wow, it’s so cold!” Su Su shouted while running, his movements not slowing down even a bit. Sometimes his feet would slide, and he would roll in the snow, getting back up to continue running.

He threw himself against a tree, knocking off clumps of snow, which fell all over him, but he didn’t care to brush it off.

Qi Hanyi was in the middle of morning training when he heard a hasty knock on the door. It was unusual for anyone to interrupt him during this time unless it was urgent.

“What’s wrong?” Qi Hanyi asked, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

The butler rushed in from the yard, still holding a pair of cotton shoes, some snow sticking to his forehead as he gasped for breath, “Young master, you should go check on the young lady! She’s playing in the snow without even wearing shoes. I’m too slow to catch up with him, and I’m worried he’ll freeze!”

Upon hearing that, Qi Hanyi looked out the window and spotted Su Su, who was dressed in nothing but his shark pajamas, his bare hands and feet turning red from the cold, completely unaware of it as he squatted on the ground making snowballs.

Seeing Qi Hanyi looking at him, Su Su happily waved his hand, breathing out steaming white fog as he spoke, “Qi Hanyi! Look! It’s snowing!”

Qi Hanyi grabbed a thick coat, opened the window slightly, and, using his exceptional physical condition, jumped down from the window.

He landed effortlessly, like a nimble snow leopard, and quickly walked towards Su Su.

Su Su looked at Qi Hanyi in surprise and stopped playing with the snow, “Wow, how did you do that just now? Teach me!”

With a serious expression, Qi Hanyi picked him up and wrapped him in his coat, “What are you talking about teaching? Do you even have any idea how cold it is to run outside barefoot?”

“It’s okay! It was a little cold at first, but after I started playing, I didn’t feel it anymore.”

Su Su noticed that Qi Hanyi was carrying him back and squirmed restlessly in the coat. His legs flailed like a fish tail, “No! I still want to play!”

Seeing Su Su so focused on playing and not caring for his well-being, Qi Hanyi felt a bit angry. The expression between his brows was colder than frost and snow, “First, let’s wipe off the snow and wear your clothes properly.”

Su Su was pressed back to wipe off the snow and change into dry clothes. Gradually, the feeling returned to his frozen hands and feet, which tingled, ached, and felt swollen.

He sighed uncomfortably but refrained from complaining about wanting to go out to play again.

Qi Hanyi held him down and applied some frostbite ointment. After he improved a bit, the two of them had breakfast together.

Su Su was fine in the morning, watching the snow through the window and playing games for a bit. By the afternoon, however, he started to feel unwell.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him and thought it was a side effect of the medicine. He wrapped himself in a blanket, dozing until evening. By the time Qi Hanyi returned from work, it was already past eight o’clock. The butler informed him that Su Su hadn’t eaten dinner, having sent it to his room, but only drank a bowl of soup and kept sleeping.

Qi Hanyi hurriedly pushed open the bedroom door. A fluffy head peeked out from under a blanket, hair disheveled and eyes drowsy. When Su Su opened his mouth, his voice was hoarse to the point of being almost inaudible, “Qi Hanyi, you’re back.”

Qi Hanyi walked to the bedside and, before he could say anything, heard Su Su’s raspy voice struggling to say, “I think the side effects have come up. My throat hurts, my head is dizzy, and I feel really cold.”

Qi Hanyi’s palm covered Su Su’s forehead, and the heat was astonishing. Qi Hanyi furrowed his brow, “It’s not the side effects.”

“Then why do I feel so bad? Is it… my mating season?” Su Su, being drowsy, was rambling mindlessly, nudging his head against Qi Hanyi’s palm as it felt comfortable.

“No,” Qi Hanyi interrupted Su Su’s nonsensical thoughts, providing a scientifically accurate explanation, “You have a fever.”

“Eh?” Su Su never thought that he, a shark, could actually catch a fever from a snowfall. Although he knew a bit about this ailment, he always thought it was something that only humans would suffer from. He never expected to experience it himself one day. This felt somewhat novel to him, and he even perked up a bit: “So this is what a fever feels like?”

“Are you happy about it?” Qi Hanyi looked at Su Su, who was suffering but still seemed unrepentant, completely neglecting his own well-being. Feeling a bit distressed, he couldn’t help but feel some anger: “Running around barefoot in this cold weather—don’t you know that you could freeze and get sick?”

“Um.” Su Su saw that Qi Hanyi was genuinely angry and, feeling guilty, buried his face deeper into the blanket and mumbled softly, “Don’t be angry. My head hurts.”

He was not one of his soldiers who could be scolded or punished; now, even a bit of anger had to be met with a plea for mercy.

Nevertheless, he had to go through the routine of injections and taking medicine just like any human when ill.

Because Su Su was taking mermaid medication, Qi Hanyi worried that the efficacy might be disrupted, so he had Xiao You draw a blood sample and send it to Xiang Chen’s hospital for medication.

The medication arrived at their home quickly. It tasted a bit bitter and was unpleasant to drink. However, Su Su obediently downed it all in one go. The Empire’s medical technology was still impressive; after that dose, Su Su immediately felt some relief from the pain in his throat, and his nose was less congested.

Seeing him in better spirits, Qi Hanyi brought over a bowl of porridge to feed him.

Although Su Su didn’t have much of an appetite, he cherished the porridge that Qi Hanyi had personally made, so he obediently finished it all.

After a good nap, Su Su’s spirits improved significantly. He felt a bit heavy and opened his eyes to find out that Qi Hanyi had been pressing the blanket down to prevent him from kicking it off at night and getting cold.

Noticing Su Su’s movements, Qi Hanyi opened his eyes and reached out to touch his forehead: “No fever. You’ll take another dose of medicine in the morning to make sure.”

“Okay!” Su Su nodded in agreement but suddenly remembered something and quickly dashed out from under the blanket.

“What are you doing?” Qi Hanyi pressed him back under the blanket, “You just got better, and you can’t sit still.”

“I was just thinking, since you said yesterday’s fever was due to being sick, not a side effect.” Su Su’s eyes lit up, looking at Qi Hanyi with hope, “Does that mean my medicine worked successfully this time?”

Qi Hanyi had actually noticed this yesterday, but he didn’t tell Su Su because he wasn’t entirely sure and didn’t want to get his hopes up in case it turned out otherwise.

“When I prescribed the medicine for you yesterday, I had Xiao You take a blood sample to Xiang Chen for testing, and we should have results today.”

While they were speaking, Xiang Chen arrived. He came in with a falsely aggrieved expression, “What’s this? A busy man who ignored my calls to go for a check-up, but now remembers me because your wife is sick?”

Seeing Su Su nestled under the blanket, his expression softened to a gentle one, “Oh, isn’t this sister-in-law? How are you feeling? Better?”

“Much better,” Su Su smiled at him, “Thank you for the medicine.”

“Ah, sister-in-law speaks so nicely, unlike someone who I have to beg to see a doctor,” Xiang Chen said, giving Qi Hanyi a sidelong glance.

Qi Hanyi ignored his antics: “Stop the nonsense and get to the point.”

“Sure, I know you care about your wife,” Xiang Chen plopped down on the sofa. “Your sister-in-law’s blood indicates that her genes tend to be stable, which is the main reason why there are no side effects. This is primarily due to the medication currently taking effect. However, we have indeed detected K substance in her blood, indicating that his mental force is having an impact on his genes. But the amount of K substance in his body is far less than that of normally differentiated mermaids, so I am unable to provide an accurate conclusion yet and will need to observe for a while.”

“The most straightforward method is to wait for a few days. If sister-in-law’s genes do not regress to that of a mermaid, we can conduct another test, and that should confirm it.”

Though there was no certainty, at least there was hope. Hearing the conclusion, Su Su visibly brightened up.

Xiang Chen then pulled Qi Hanyi into the adjacent room, stating that he wanted to conduct another examination.

“Well, since I’m already here and have the equipment, you can’t keep using work as an excuse to avoid me, right?”

“I wasn’t avoiding you,” Qi Hanyi said, following Xiang Chen into the other room.

As the door closed, Xiang Chen put away his smile. “You know that there’s less than a month left, right?”

“I know.” Qi Hanyi understood that Xiang Chen was referring to the time limit of the special medication he had used to suppress symptoms of mental force collapse. The medicine was effective for three months, and now two-thirds of that time had passed. He had little time left.

Qi Hanyi scheduled the finals before the expiration of his medication because he feared any unexpected incidents. He wanted to pave the way for Su Su before then, and he had been busy dealing with the Mo family or trying to find the mastermind behind it. He knew that his time was likely short. Every day after the medication expired, he could fall into a deep sleep and never wake up.

But despite the anxiety in his heart, Qi Hanyi displayed none of it on his face. He calmly asked Xiang Chen, “How is the research progressing?”

“We can already simulate energy through machines combined with medication-assisted treatment, but the effect is only suitable for treating early-stage patients of mental force collapse…” Xiang Chen said with a pained expression.

The longer Qi Hanyi delayed, the worse his mental force collapse became, making it increasingly difficult. He strained himself to find a way to treat this ailment but could not cure Qi Hanyi, who was already in a critical state.

“That’s good. Thank you for your hard work.” Qi Hanyi was already prepared to face the worst-case scenario.

He didn’t want to sacrifice an innocent mermaid because of his own death. If he really had to die, the only thing he couldn’t let go of was Su Su.

“But there’s still a glimmer of hope…” Xiang Chen hesitated, thinking for a moment before saying, “I didn’t mention it in front of sister-in-law, but in the blood sample we received yesterday, in addition to the K substance, there was actually another finding. His blood contains a very small amount of B energy, which can only be produced during mermaid differentiation. However, it’s too weak, and I’m not sure if it will be effective; it may even be less effective than my treatment device. I don’t know if it will be useful, but if we really have no choice, maybe we can give it a try.”