Nosebleed

At dawn, the birdsong in the mountains woke Xing Ying. He checked the time—it was only half past seven. Sleeping in a tent had not been very comfortable, and his back ached slightly.

Xing Ying stepped out of the tent and stretched. When he turned around, he saw smoke rising beneath the canopy—Su Tingbai was making breakfast.

"Damn, you got up this early?"

Su Tingbai skillfully prepared the leftover shellfish from last night into seafood congee. Hearing him, he cast Xing Ying a gloomy glance.

Seeing the obvious dark circles beneath Su Tingbai's eyes, Xing Ying laughed. "No, Old Su, were you out stealing last night? Those dark circles..."

Xing Ying waggled his brows. "What, couldn't sleep with a beauty in your arms?"

Su Tingbai said nothing, tacitly admitting it.

He had been tense all night. He got up early in the morning for a cold shower, and since he could not fall asleep, he simply got up to make breakfast for everyone.

Although it was June, the mountain air was damp and heavy in the morning, making it somewhat chilly.

He had not expected Xing Ying to get up so early for once.

"Seafood congee. Want some?"

"Yes!"

Xing Ying hurriedly washed up, then picked up the bowl of congee Su Tingbai had served him and began eating.

The warm breakfast delighted him first thing in the morning, and even the chill in his body seemed to fade away.

After he finished eating, the others gradually got up as well. They greeted one another, washed up, and came over to serve themselves congee.

Shen Rui'an woke up last. It was the first time he had woken at half past eight. Perhaps he was not used to sleeping in the RV, which was why he had risen so early.

He was still a little dazed and stayed in bed for quite a while before brushing his teeth and washing his face. Then he got out of the vehicle and saw that everyone was already packing up.

When Su Tingbai saw him, he brought over a bowl of congee. "You're awake?"

"Mm, I didn't sleep well." Shen Rui'an made a small complaint as he accepted the seafood congee. "Thank you."

"Mm. Eat properly." Su Tingbai pulled over a stool and propped up his head as he watched him drink the congee.

The seafood congee was much like the homestyle version from Guangdong Province. Since they were camping and did not have all the ingredients they would have at home, Su Tingbai had only used the leftover seafood from last night to make a pot of congee.

Even so, it was fresh enough to make one's eyebrows fall off.

A pot of savory, fragrant, stomach-warming congee first thing in the morning left Shen Rui'an far more alert.

There was crab, shrimp, shellfish, oysters, and more in it. It was exceptionally fresh and delicious. A little pepper had removed the fishiness and added a slight kick, but the heat was just right and thoroughly warmed his stomach.

Shen Rui'an ate slowly, taking small bites, yet he finished a large bowl in no time.

Su Tingbai noticed that he seemed to prefer the shrimp. Since the crab had shells, he barely touched it, and Su Tingbai quietly remembered that.

Shen Rui'an did not like eating shelled foods.

After he finished eating and rested for a while, the group packed everything up and headed back.

Everything was left exactly as it had been when they arrived, aside from the pile of ashes from yesterday's bonfire. The trash had all been packed up and taken away.

Back at the resort, Shen Rui'an grew sleepy again. As he drowsily prepared to return to his room for a short nap, his nose suddenly felt itchy. He touched it and found blood.

"Blood..."

Shen Rui'an hurriedly washed his hands and used tissues to wipe away the nosebleed, but no matter what he did, it would not stop.

Su Tingbai had been worried about him, so he finished tidying up and came upstairs. When he saw Shen Rui'an clutching a bloodstained tissue, he was startled. "Why are you bleeding?"

He hastily checked him over, not caring about anything else as he used tissues to help stop the bleeding.

Shen Rui'an looked like he was about to cry. "Am I going to die?"

He rarely got nosebleeds. Instinctively, he had tilted his head back to keep it from flowing, but who knew it would not stop at all.

There was so much blood. Was he really going to die?

"It's fine, you won't. Don't tilt your head back—lower it a little."

Su Tingbai stuffed tissues into the bleeding nostril and told him not to raise his head. "Did you eat something too nourishing?"

As he spoke, he contacted a doctor to come over.

The doctor arrived quickly. After asking a series of questions, he came to one conclusion: Shen Rui'an had eaten something too nourishing.

The doctor was the village's old traditional Chinese physician. His medical skills were excellent, but he was too old to leave home and wander elsewhere, so he had opened a traditional medicine clinic in the village. Those who recognized his skill came seeking him out, and he did not have to worry much about making a living.

The old physician stroked his goatee. "If you'd called any later, it probably would've stopped on its own."

His occupational habit kicking in, the old physician went through the full routine of observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking for Shen Rui'an. After hearing of his strange illness, he could not determine the cause, but he could tell that the young man was weak internally and could not handle overly nourishing food.

He wrote Shen Rui'an a prescription.

The moment Shen Rui'an heard that, he frowned and looked pitifully at Su Tingbai. "I don't want to take medicine..."

"Haha, that works too. Every medicine has some toxicity. Then nourish yourself through food instead—it'll just take longer." The old physician swiftly wrote another sheet of paper.

Food therapy depended greatly on the cook's skill. Some food therapy recipes were not actually unpleasant, but some people simply made them taste bad.

After hearing Su Tingbai say that Shen Rui'an was somewhat picky with food, the old physician prescribed a recipe with few medicinal ingredients. He knew Su Tingbai had the means to manage it, so he held nothing back.

Su Tingbai carefully committed it to memory.

Before leaving, the old physician added, "It'd be best to give him a chicken meal every day. I guarantee that within three months, he'll be much healthier."

One chicken a day—no matter how weak he was, he would be nursed back to health.

The physician could not see any other problem with Shen Rui'an; he only saw that he was somewhat weak.

So rather than a food therapy prescription, it was more accurate to call it a chicken soup recipe.

The old physician earnestly advised, "You can't be too picky with food either. Eat more meat, less junk food, take more walks and exercise to help your blood and qi circulate. But you're too weak for strenuous exercise, so just take walks..."

He rambled on to Su Tingbai for a long time. Finally, he took his consultation fee and rode back on a villager's little three-wheeled vehicle.

He would not have bothered for just anyone. But Boss Su had invited him, hadn't he? After all, Boss Su had funded repairs for the village's terrible roads. He owed him a favor, so coming over was fine. It was not far anyway.

After seeing the old physician off, Su Tingbai began considering whether he should raise chickens.

After all, chicken appeared far too often in that prescription.

Free-range chickens raised by the villagers themselves were the tastiest.

With Shen Xiaoyao's picky mouth, would he not need the very best?

In only a few seconds, he decided that he would buy chickens from the neighboring village for the long term.

Once Shen Rui'an's nosebleed stopped, he washed his face. "That scared me to death."

"You're the one who scared me to death." Su Tingbai suspected that yesterday's excessive oysters had caused it. Next time, he would have to keep a close eye on Shen Xiaoyao. Even if he acted cute, Su Tingbai could not let him eat too much, lest he damage his health.

"Forget it, go sleep for a while." He tucked Shen Rui'an in, then went out on his little electric scooter to buy chicken.

Shen Rui'an chatted with the Shen Household for a while before falling asleep.

When he woke up, he smelled chicken soup.

Little Zhu and the others were filming with cameras.

"An'an, you're awake? Come sit."

After greeting them, Shen Rui'an obediently sat down at the dining table.

While discussing future filming plans with Little Zhu and the others, Su Tingbai pulled off a large chicken leg for Shen Rui'an and served him some chicken soup.