Qi Gu walked on with one arm around Lin Hanzhi. Everyone else found it strange and kept glancing over, but Miao Yue took it perfectly in stride, looking as festive as someone banging gongs and drums and blowing into an erhu in front of a bridal sedan on a wedding day.
Mu Xingchen and Pubu Gesang tried to come forward and help support him, but Miao Yue drove them both back with a look.
They returned to the village chief's house pressed close together like that. Qi Gu carefully settled Lin Hanzhi onto a padded recliner, then felt his head to check his temperature. It did not feel particularly hot-certainly not as hot as Qi Gu himself.
The village chief came over. "How is he? Shall I find some Huoxiang Zhengqi Water? There should still be some in the house."
Lin Hanzhi had taken Huoxiang Zhengqi Water before. He had been little then, running wild around the estate under the blazing sun, and soon earned himself a case of heatstroke. Dizzy and miserable, he had cried nonstop.
His mother, frantic, angry, and distressed for him, had fetched some Huoxiang Zhengqi Water and poured it into his mouth.
Caught unprepared, Lin Hanzhi had swallowed a mouthful and felt the taste shoot straight to the top of his skull. It was so bitter it practically took half his life, and no matter how much water he drank, the taste seemed welded to his throat, refusing to fade and burning fiercely.
"I'm not drinking that!" he blurted out, stopping the village chief.
"How can you refuse medicine when you're sick?" In a rare show of sternness toward him, Qi Gu set his face, his brows lifting slightly in disapproval.
Lin Hanzhi tugged lightly at Qi Gu's sleeve, his eyes misted with pain. "I